 Holland, National Unity Party Leader Benny Gantz and member of parliament and former chief of staff, Gaddy Eisencott. It's day six of the war between Israel and Hamas, rocket siren sounding in southern Israel just moments ago, warning of incoming rocket fire in the Gaza border communities and in Nirim as well, Nativa Asara, Ashkelon, and earlier in Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem. And as Israelis wait for answers about the intelligence and operational failures six days since the start of the Hamas terror onslaught, IDF chief Herzi Halevi issuing this public statement just a short while ago. We haven't done any investigation yet. We are busy 23 hours a day attacking and hitting Hamas. We haven't done any investigations yet, but we do have an understanding. We are responsible all year round for intelligence, defence, offence on the southern front as well as the other sectors. We didn't make it. We will learn. We are now at war. We are now at war. Let's go live to our correspondent, Pierre Klushendler. He's in Storot in southern Israel. And Pierre, we know a direct hit in Storot a little earlier. The last update we heard, one person had been injured. What more can you tell us this hour? Storot has been harmed hit by rocket today. There were a few instances of rocket barrages on the city of 30,000 inhabitants before the war. Now, the toli is important from the latest barrage of rocket. One woman is between life and death, fighting for her life. And two others are severely wounded. And one other is moderately wounded. That's the toli at this point. Now there have been other instances since then. There's been an anti-tank missile shot at Netiva Asara, which is further up north in that direction. But the village has been consumed by the fighting on Saturday and no one lives there apart from the army. So there were no casualties, only damage on an abandoned house. Now there's been a rocket fire in the central sector facing the Gaza Strip, near two localities also abandoned, Ena Shloshah and Niroz, and Mirim, sorry. And right now the situation is calm, if not the punctuating fire of artillery shells by the Israeli army or of tank shells also by the Israeli army. But you can see behind me the city looks like a ghost town. Mayor Davidoff said earlier that's probably 30 to 40% of the residents of the city have left voluntarily, without any assistance to other safer places, and he has begged the government to allocate 120 million shekels, which is about $30 million, to allow the full evacuation of this city for the 10 coming days at least. Live from Storot, that is our correspondent Pierre Kloschendler. Thank you so much for that update, and of course we will be coming back to Pierre for regular updates throughout the coming hours. We welcome retired Major Dan Fetherman, Executive Director at the NGO Sharaka, and Political Commentator Daniel Scheck, former Israeli Ambassador to France. Thank you both so much for being here. Still such a tough time in the country, such a raw time, still so difficult to process these details that we keep on hearing. We are speaking to so many survivors, and so many people are still waiting for word on their loved ones. I want to start with you and the latest developments up north across from Syria, and we're hearing that there were strikes, air strikes, specifically potentially two, and we know that Israel doesn't normally admit to these strikes, but we're hearing it could be different this time around. What more is known about the activity up north and how worrying is this front at this juncture? Sure, thank you. Yeah, we've been concerned about what's happening on the northern border. We always are, of course. But one of Hamas' strategies, the main strategy, was to conduct an attack that was so brutal that it would elicit an equally aggressive Israeli response that would drag the region into a huge war to upset the peace agreements that were taking place. They want to drag Hezbollah into the war. Hezbollah seems to be testing the waters. There was reports yesterday of an anti-tank missile fired in an Israeli position. Israeli artillery responded, maybe Palestinian factions in Hezbollah territory. Now what we're seeing from Syrian news sources, this was not yet confirmed by Israeli sources, was supposed Israeli airstrikes against what seemed to be Iranian arms transfers convoys through eastern Syria on the Syria-Iraq border. And we know that that's how Iran usually transfers arms, either overland through Iraq or through civilian flights from Iran to Syria. And those would have seemed to be taken out. And this is a message from Israel. If I'm reading this correctly, Iran stay out of it, Hezbollah stay out of it. But also trying to neutralize and cut off the supply of advanced arms from Iran to Hezbollah. The message to stay out of it was something we heard very clearly from President Joe Biden not so long ago with such emotion and such passion when he said no one should test and no one should join. What is unfolding right now? He was so horrified at the atrocities. And we heard earlier Benjamin Netanyahu say Hamas is ISIS and it will be crushed in the same way that ISIS was crushed. We know that Anthony Blinken is meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu. As we speak, talk to us, Daniel, about the message of Anthony Blinken being how right now all of this is unfolding at the same time. Well, as you said, Minita, on top of the political and human statement of President Biden and on top of the military presence, the physical military presence of the United States here with the aircraft carrier comes now a diplomatic presence, a statement of solidarity. But also, at least on the most pressing issue of the hostages, there is coordination to be made between the U.S. and Israel, not only because there are American citizens among the hostages. Twenty-five of them, according to Anthony Blinken. And that is not necessarily the final number. But also because the Americans, as President Biden said, want to offer their help and assistance in dealing with this. I also believe that Anthony Blinken will want to try and maintain as long as possible this very unusually unified international front behind Israel. And that is also something that he will want to discuss with his interlocutors. By the way, I know that he's going to meet American family members of confirmed hostages. So I think that is the main issue. As for your question about here, it is an American interest that this does not spread. It's not just for helping Israel. Local crises have, local fires have the tendency of spreading. And the United States doesn't want this part of the world to become an all-out crisis focal point. And talking about this all-out crisis, we have on our screens French family members who are also waiting for answers over and above the 25 Americans that we know of who are missing. Obviously, we don't know the full count, the number of people that are being held hostage right now. No, between 15 and 25 French citizens missing. In Gaza, absolutely. And the full scale of it and the sheer terror of it is something that is keeping so many people across the region at night. I want to bring in our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Ultiman. He joins us from our studios here in Tel Aviv and so much unfolding at the same time, Owen. And we know that Anthony Blinken is not only meeting with families who are waiting for answers, but he also has an important meeting with the newly formed emergency unity government. Tell us what's at stake here. That's right. He gets needed to speak directly to those five, the three who have voting rights in that cabinet and the two observers. The people who are in theory at least going to be making the key decisions moving forward. So he will behind closed doors be able to share with them the American opinion, both of course American support for Israel. But also again, we've heard him and Joe Biden in those exceptional speeches, exceptionally emotional speeches that we've heard, including the one just a few hours ago by Anthony Blinken. Also say that Israel needs to follow the rules of war. So I'm sure that will be part of that discussion as well. You know, going back to talking about the foreign nationals who are among the hostages taken by Hamas. One wonders if Hamas really fully understood this when it put together its planning. If it understood the enormous headache it would have, both in terms of its public diplomacy and its actual diplomacy, by holding so many foreign nationals in Gaza. It seems to me it's just a hornet's nest for Hamas. It's just a set of problems that they don't need, that don't really help them advance their interests. Listen, we in Israel know just how many people here hold two passports. We also know, and this I assume Hamas is quite aware of how many foreign nationals work in those border Kibbutzim on the Gaza border. But one wonders if they fully thought through the impact it would have when so many foreign passport holders would be held by them and just how many governments it starts to involve. Governments that Hamas would want to have some positive impact from their perspective on those government's political positions and on the views of the public. So just a question going forward. Oh, and stay with us. We've got more to discuss. I want to bring Dan in now and talk about the international support, not only the US, which we are seeing literally being discussed right now with Anthony Blinken. But Chancellor Olaf Scholz offering military help significant in and of itself. Is it necessary? What does it say when these important Western nations are coming, speaking out and offering assistance right now for Israel? The show of support, the offers of support are what's most important right now. We've had numerous rounds of fighting in the past with Gaza and we've received a lot of criticism, a lot of pushback from the international community. Usually it's only the United States that's willing to clearly stand by our side. And even then the so-called strategic hourglass of international support is limited. The horrific attacks were so barbaric, both in the level of horrificness, if that's a word even, and the scope of the attacks that we're seeing unprecedented full amount of support from the international community. Realizing this really is Israel's 9-11. Realizing that, as you opened, that Hamas is ISIS. And so no, we don't need European military support. But their willingness to offer it shows how much they are standing by us in this hour of need. And from the region, from our new friends and partners across the region, we're not seeing such claims of support. But the level to which they have stepped up their willingness to condemn Hamas's actions and call it out as terrorism is also something new. Much more gradual, you have to look between the lines. That's how things are communicated in this region. But it is something that is a big step up from the previous rounds of fighting that we've seen. To that point, Ursula von der Leyen, the EU, condemning the horrors that were unfolding here, you know the region well. What did you make of that response? Clearly, as I said, there is a broad quote, unquote, a credit line for Israel. There's a lot of support because of the I would have gladly passed on this credit line if it was gained at a terrible, terrifying price. But it has created such awe and such lack of comprehension because of the enormity and the cruelty of what happened here that there is this unusual credit line. But make no mistake, it doesn't cover everything. And it certainly isn't unlimited in time. So, you know, Israel has a window here where it has broad freedom of action in Gaza. I say broad, not total, but broad. And it should make the best of this window because it is going to close. We are going to talk about that window a little bit later. But first, let's go to our correspondent, Batja Leventhal. She joins us from Ashkelon from the Barasi Lai Hospital. What update can you share this hour? What is the latest there? But into the first few days of the war, we're shocked and awe here at the Barasi Lai Hospital in Ashkelon, which is quite or relatively far down south, obviously not as close to the Gaza border as the periphery, villages and towns and cities, but still considered very far south. And the shock and awe being that the hospital was running on emergency mode, the staff as well, not fully understanding exactly what they had been hit with. Today being day six, the medical staff, a lot of the patients that were likely and a little bit more moderately wounded that have been discharged are coming out, speaking to the media, and there is a fortune of anger. There's a lot of anger, a lot of questions being asked. How did this happen? Where do we go from here? What is going on? A lot of them not necessarily seeing the news. So they've got no idea what is happening in terms of the defensive capabilities at the moment, where the IDF is, where it's striking. If Gaza is at the moment getting hit, there's been zero communication with them because of the fact that they've been treated here. And so we've seen a lot of that anger, a lot of the questions that are no doubtedly will have to be answered in the coming days, in the coming weeks, even in the coming months, following what is unfolding between Hamas and Israel. But there's also an amazing sense on the ground here of a need to help. And I'm not just speaking about the actual staff in terms of the medical staff, but there's been a fortune of NGOs on the ground. I'm hoping we can show you a little bit later. We're not allowed to turn the camera for the time being because there is IDF presence here that are not allowed to be on film. But there's organizations that have set up almost impromptu trestle tables with food. And food making sure that not only the hospital staff and some of the people that are being treated here have food, but also for the media workers here. For anyone coming in that needs a bite to eat, they have been setting up. And it's almost like these trucks, the same way the ambulances are coming in, are coming in every few hours to replenish the food. We've seen a couple of ambulances coming in a little bit early. And we've been told that a lot of the strikes that hit Sterot, which is further south closer to the Gaza border, a lot of the people there that were injured are being brought here to be treated. And so we have seen some of those ambulances. There hasn't been sirens for the last hour or two, at least in Ashkelon for the time being. But if there is right behind us, the hospital being fortified in itself will be rushing to safety there. But that's the latest in terms of what's happening on the ground here in Ashkelon, in particular at the Barsilai Hospital. Well, let's hope that it does stay calm. Thank you so much from Ashkelon correspondent Bacha Leventhal. Thank you so much. Back in studio, I want to bring Dan in on an issue we touched on a little bit earlier, and that is what happens next. There is a window period in which Israel has to act, but it has risks involved. There is no doubt talk of a massive ground operation in Gaza. Strikes are continuing, but they are only targeting infrastructure at this juncture. What does the next step look like through your perspective? Sure. Israeli leaders, IDF strategists at this point will need to make a very, very tough decision. I don't envy them on that. If you send in a massive IDF ground invasion to retake Gaza to clear out Hamas one by one, if you're going to topple the Hamas, that seems to be the only way to do it. And that is replete with many, many risks that you avoid with airstrikes. And part of the reason why the IDF and the State of Israel has not done it to this point is because it's so risky. We have now, as the ambassador said, a line of credit, which I agree with him. I wish we didn't have it. We have, in other words, a strategic timeglass, an hourglass, with the sands dripping down. The more, and there's a number of ways to calculate that, you have to look at Israeli public opinion, which is incredibly supportive. But if we go in, you're going to lose a lot of Israeli soldiers. That's something to take into account. There's going to be more possibly Israeli civilians dead. And as far as the international community is concerned, and this is the key point, you are, whether you like it or not, going to cause a humanitarian catastrophe as far as Palestinian civilians. And that is and possibly have to retake and reoccupy the Gaza Strip until a different Palestinian government or some kind of caretaker government can be put in. It's incredibly complex. Many people will be hurt in the process. It's not clear if the international line of credit, so to speak, will last through such an operation, which could take weeks or even months. So how long is that credit, so to speak? Already the Egyptians are reluctant to open the humanitarian corridor. What does it look like the day after? Well, Benita, there are too many question marks for the moment. We don't know. As Dan said, the tipping point or the countdown will really start in Israel with the ground operation if there is one. The international one is more impacted actually by the airstrikes than by ground operations because the airstrikes are causing huge destruction. And and that those are images that international community doesn't like. So for the moment, it's we're being spared the usual condemnations of disproportionate reaction, etc. But they will emerge. I can't tell you exactly how long it will it will take. But it won't be endless. Certainly it won't last for many weeks and certainly not not months. There is the real humanitarian issue now also, which is an international one. It's not again, it's not just solidarity with Israel. There are many governments involved. And I think what Owen said earlier that Hamas may have found itself in a conundrum that it didn't plan for with many governments involved might have an impact also on the length of that window. Let me bring Owen in on that exact point. Your thoughts, Owen, because we've been discussing in recent days already the morality issue, the ethical issue, the legal issue around the fact not only that civilians are going to be involved, but these hostages are being held. And it's not clear where at various points in the Gaza Strip. If Israel goes in, if it tries to flatten Hamas, some of these hostages could very well be in the firing line. Yeah, it's obviously a huge moral question, Benita. And as was said before, we don't envy the people who have to make these. I do think though in this situation, two things. Number one, the attacks are so severe. The sense of a loss of security is so severe that I think that the Israeli public, I don't know that we've yet seen polling on this. By the way, I hope we start to see polling in some of these issues soon. Because I think it'll help us understand where the public is at. I think that the Israeli public might be willing to take some more risks on that issue in the name of removing Hamas, of ending Hamas control over the Gaza Strip with all of the costs that that would involve this being one of them. Again, the status quo is simply untenable. And I think people will be willing to take risks, including that one, to get there. Another point on the humanitarian issue, it's not only the airstrikes, it's also this issue of food and water. The Israel's energy minister came out again today and said there will be no food or water, electricity, or fuel going into the strip as long as the hostages aren't released. You can understand why that's a very popular position among the Israeli public. But the reality beneath it, we've talked about this before, is it's not a very good strategy. Because at the end of the day, Israel is simply not going to starve 2 million people. It's just not a realistic plan to starve 2 million people and deny them food and water. It's simply not gonna happen. The country's not going to do that. It's the only thing that these statements achieve is it lets a few ministers make statements like this and win political points in time when that simply shouldn't be something we're worried about. And of course, and more worrisome, gives ammunition, the very little that they have, right to Hamas's defenders and social networks and international public opinion. This is something they can point to. And if I were Hamas's lawyer, I would go right there. So again, that I think is a bigger risk and a bigger danger to getting that strategic hourglass, and I love the metaphor by the way, having the sand starting to flow through. I think it's that step that's even more risking that than are the airstrikes themselves. And I think the first major strategic blunder of course, other than the initial mourning, right? The first major strategic blunder in the response that we've seen the Israeli government make. Dan, you're nodding. I hate to agree with everything he says, that's the problem. But tell us why you are. Because there's a lot of pressure from the Israeli public right now that wants revenge, that wants, as he said, quite accurately to regain a sense of lost security. People are so angry. People are not just angry. They're terrified. And they feel there needs to be a retribution. This is the first time you don't just hear back of reestablishing deterrence because so many people were killed. And I remember past scenarios where we talked about if a rocket would have fallen on one kindergarten and killed 20 kids, we would have to respond with such massive force. Well, this is not 20 kids now. This is 1,300 kids. And this is still 100, 100 plus 150 children and women and men and elderly people and captivity. This is a scenario of such scope that we never had imagined. So the Israeli public, rightly so, is demanding revenge, is demanding to return its own sense of security and confidence, something that was stolen away on that Shabbat morning. And the decision makers are going to have to make a very careful calculation between balancing that, between balancing the actual military needs of how to weaken or neutralize Hamas, between the international clock, which is balanced both by Palestinian casualties and wanting to not have a humanitarian disaster. And as the ambassador said, the other countries involved. I've got 10 seconds. Your thoughts very quickly. It's very difficult to be smart when you're angry. So that's the conundrum that our government, our war cabinet will need to tackle. And exacerbating the situation, making people more angry. We're just hearing a patriot has been fired up north. And it's fine. We're looking into the report. We'll bring you all the details in our next update. Thank you, gentlemen. Stay tuned to I-24 News. Israel is officially in a state of war. This is a very active scene. And we need to get in the car as we're talking. More than 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Tell us we don't know what to do. We just don't know anything. Entire families, including babies and children and elderly, were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant. And we are ready. And we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. Is que sabes desde donde vienen. They are coming. Recargas que ya sabes hacia donde van. En vía recargas internacionales, Altiz a tu gente en RD. Accede a nuestra página web. Recargas.altiz.com.be. Selecciona recargas y digita el número al que deseas colocarle la recarga. Además, ellos reciben el doble de balance en recargas de 8 dólares o más. Altiz, la red global de los dominicanos. New edition, I'm Benita Levine, live in Tel Aviv. Hamas is ISIS. And just as ISIS was crushed, so will Hamas be crushed. That's the clear message from Benjamin Netanyahu as he meets with Anthony Blinken in Tel Aviv, the US Secretary of State, telling the Israeli Prime Minister at defense headquarters a short while ago that the US is here and they're not going anywhere. The death toll from the Hamas killing rampage is now at more than 1,300 new details on the scale of the attack emerging on Thursday, with the IDF saying more than 2,000 to 3,500 terrorists were involved in the initial brutal assault and that they erected an ISIS flag in at least one location. Now around 1,500 terrorists were killed in Israeli territory. Others managed to escape. The two leaders lambasting the Hamas atrocities. Let's take a listen. Hamas has shown itself to be an enemy of civilization. The massacring of young people in an outdoor music festival, the butchering of entire families, the murder of parents in front of their children and the murder of children in front of their parents, the burning of people alive, the beheadings, the kidnappings of a young boy, not only kidnapped, molested, hurt, attacked, and the sickening display of celebrating these hearts, the celebration and glorification of evil. The message that I bring to Israel is this. You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there by your side. Now the two are set to meet with members of the newly formed emergency unity government in the coming hours, including Defense Minister Joav Galant, National Unity Party Leader Benny Gantz, and member of parliament and former chief of staff, Gaddy Eisenkott. It's day six of the war between Israel and Hamas, rocket sirens sounding in southern Israel just moments ago, warning of incoming rocket fire in the Gaza border communities and in Nirim as well. We are on the Tiva Asara Ashkelon and earlier in Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem. And as Israelis wait for answers about the intelligence and operational failures six days since the start of the Hamas terror onslaught, IDF chief Herzi Halevi issuing this public statement just a short while ago. We haven't done any investigation yet. We are busy 23 hours a day attacking and hitting Hamas. We haven't done any investigations yet, but we do have an understanding. We are responsible all year round for intelligence, defense, offense on the southern front, as well as the other sectors. We didn't make it. We will learn. We are now at war. We are now at war. Let's go live to our correspondent, Pierre Klushendler. He's in Storot in southern Israel. And, Pierre, we know a direct hit in Storot a little earlier, the last update we heard. One person had been injured. What more can you tell us this hour? Storot has been harmed hit by rocket today. There were a few instances of rocket barrages on the city of 30,000 inhabitants before the war. Now, the toli is important from the latest barrage of rocket. One woman is between life and death fighting for her life. And two others are severely wounded. And one other is moderately wounded. That's the toli at this point. Now, there have been other instances since then. There's been an anti-tank missile shot at Netiva-as-Sara, which is further up north in that direction. But the village has been consumed by the fighting on Saturday. And no one lives there apart from the army. So there were no casualties, only damage on an abandoned house. Now, there's been a rocket fire in the central sector facing the Gaza Strip. Near two localities also abandoned, Enash-Losha and Niroz, and Mir'im, sorry. And right now, the situation is calm, if not the punctuating fire of artillery shells by the Israeli army or of tank shells also by the Israeli army. But you can see behind me the city looks like a ghost town. Mayor Davidoff said earlier that probably 30% to 40% of the residents of the city have left voluntarily without any assistance to other safer places. And he has begged the government to allocate 20 million shekels, which is about 30 million dollars, to allow the full evacuation of this city for the 10 coming days, at least. Live from Storot, that is our correspondent, Pierre Kloschendler. Thank you so much for that update. And of course, we will be coming back to Pierre for regular updates throughout the coming hours now for more in-studio. We welcome retired Major Dan Pfeffermann, Executive Director at the NGO Sharaka and Political Commentator Daniel Scheck, former Israeli Ambassador to France. Thank you both so much for being here. Still such a tough time in the country, such a raw time. Still so difficult to process these details that we keep on hearing. We are speaking to so many survivors, and so many people are still waiting for word on their loved ones. But I want to start with you and the latest developments up north across from Syria. And we're hearing that there were strikes, air strikes, specifically potentially two. And we know that Israel doesn't normally admit to these strikes. But we're hearing it could be different this time around. What more is known about the activity up north and how worrying is this front at this juncture? Sure, thank you. We've been concerned about what's happening on the northern border. We always are, of course. But one of Hamas' strategies, the main strategy, was to conduct an attack that was so brutal that it would elicit an equally aggressive Israeli response that would drag the region into a huge war to upset the peace agreements that were taking place. They want to drag Hezbollah into the war. Hezbollah seems to be testing the waters. There was reports yesterday of an anti-tank missile fired in an Israeli position. Israeli artillery responded. Maybe Palestinian factions in Hezbollah territory. Now what we're seeing from Syrian news sources, this was not yet confirmed by Israeli sources, was supposed Israeli airstrikes against what seemed to be Iranian arms transfers convoys through eastern Syria on the Syria-Iraq border. And we know that that's how Iran usually transfers arms, either overland through Iraq or through civilian flights from Iran to Syria. And those would have seemed to be taken out. And this is a message from Israel. If I'm reading this correctly, Iran, stay out of it. Hezbollah, stay out of it. But also trying to neutralize and cut off the supply of advanced arms from Iran to Hezbollah. The message to stay out of it was something we heard very clearly from President Joe Biden not so long ago with such emotion and such passion when he said no one should test and no one should join. What is unfolding right now? He was so horrified at the atrocities. And we heard earlier Benjamin Netanyahu say Hamas is ISIS and it will be crushed in the same way that ISIS was crushed. We know that Anthony Blinken is meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu as we speak. Talk to us, Daniel, about the message of Anthony Blinken being here right now while all of this is unfolding at the same time. Well, as you said, Minita, on top of the political and human statement of President Biden and on top of the military presence, the physical military presence of the United States here with the aircraft carrier, comes now a diplomatic presence, a statement of solidarity, but also at least on the most pressing issue of the hostages, there is coordination to be made between the US and Israel, not only because there are American citizens among the hostages. 25 of them according to Anthony Blinken. And that is not necessarily the final number, but also because the Americans, as President Biden said, want to offer their help and assistance in dealing with this. I also believe that Anthony Blinken will want to try and maintain as long as possible this very unusually unified international front behind Israel. And that is also something that he will want to discuss with his interlocutors. By the way, I know that he's going to meet family members, American family members of confirmed hostages. So I think that is the main issue. As for your question about here, it is an American interest that this does not spread. It's not just for helping Israel. Local crises, local fires have the tendency of spreading. And the United States doesn't want this part of the world to become an all-out crisis focal point. And talking about this all-out crisis, we have on our screens French family members who are also waiting for answers over and above the 25 Americans that we know of who are missing. Obviously, we don't know the full count, the number of people that are being held hostage right now. No, between 15 and 25 French citizens missing. In Gaza, absolutely. And the full scale of it and the sheer terror of it is something that is keeping so many people across the region at night. I want to bring in our senior diplomatic correspondent, Owen Ultiman. He joins us from our studios here. And Tel Aviv and so much unfolding at the same time, Owen. And we know that Anthony Blinken is not only meeting with families who are waiting for answers, but he also has an important meeting with the newly formed emergency unity government. Tell us what's at stake here. That's right. He gets needed to speak directly to those five, the three who have voting rights in that cabinet and the two observers. The people who are, in theory, at least going to be making the key decisions moving forward. He will, behind closed doors, be able to share with them the American opinion, both, of course, American support for Israel. But also, again, we've heard him and Joe Biden in those exceptional speeches, exceptionally emotional speeches that we've heard, including the one just a few hours ago by Anthony Blinken. Also say that Israel needs to follow the rules of war, so I'm sure that will be part of that discussion as well. Going back to talking about the foreign nationals who are among the hostages taken by Hamas, one wonders if Hamas really fully understood this when it put together its planning. If it understood the enormous headache it would have, both in terms of its public diplomacy and its actual diplomacy, by holding so many foreign nationals in Gaza, it seems to me it's just a hornet's nest for Hamas. It's just a set of problems that they don't need, that don't really help them advance their interests. Listen, we in Israel know just how many people here hold two passports. We also know, and this, I assume, Hamas is quite aware of how many foreign nationals work in those border kibbutzim on the Gaza border. But one wonders if they fully thought through the impact it would have when so many foreign passport holders would be held by them, and just how many governments it starts to involve, governments that Hamas would want to have some positive impact from their perspective on those government's political positions and on the views of the public. So just a question going forward. Oh, and stay with us, we've got more to discuss. I want to bring Dan in now and talk about the international support, not only the US, which we are seeing literally being discussed right now with Anthony Blinken. But Chancellor Olaf Scholz offering military help significant in and of itself, is it necessary? What does it say when these important Western nations are coming, speaking out and offering assistance right now for Israel? The show of support, the offers of support are what's most important right now. We've had numerous rounds of fighting in the past with Gaza and we've received a lot of criticism, a lot of pushback from the international community. Usually it's only the United States that's willing to clearly stand by our side. And even then, the so-called strategic hourglass of international support is limited. The horrific attacks were so barbaric, both in the level of horrificness, if that's a word even, and the scope of the attacks that we're seeing unprecedented full amount of support from the international community, realizing, this really is Israel's 9-11, realizing that, as you opened, that Hamas is ISIS. And so, no, we don't need European military support, but their willingness to offer it shows how much they're standing by us in this hour of need. And from the region, from our new friends and partners across the region, we're not seeing such claims of support, but the level to which they have stepped up their willingness to condemn Hamas's actions and call it out as terrorism is also something new, much more gradual. You have to look between the lines. That's how things are communicated in this region, but it is something that is a big step up from the previous rounds of fighting that we've seen. To that point, Ursula von der Leyen, the EU, condemning the horrors that were unfolding here, you know the region well. What did you make of that response? Well, clearly, as I said, there is a broad, quote, unquote, a credit line for Israel. There's a lot of support because of the, you know, I would have gladly passed on this credit line if it was gained at a terrible, terrifying price. But it has created such awe and such lack of comprehension because of the enormity and the cruelty of what happened here that there is this unusual credit line. But make no mistake, it doesn't cover everything, and it certainly isn't unlimited in time. So, you know, Israel has a window here where it has broad freedom of action in Gaza. I say broad, not total, but broad. And it should make the best of this window because it is going to close. We are going to talk about that window a little bit later. But first, let's go to our correspondent, Batja Leventhal. She joins us from Ashkelon from the Barazilaya Hospital. What update can you share this hour? What is the latest there? But either the first few days of the war were shocking or here at the Barazilaya Hospital in Ashkelon, which is quite or relatively far down south, obviously not as close to the Gaza border as the periphery, villages and towns and cities, but still considered very far south. And the shock in all being that the hospital was running on emergency mode, the staff as well, not fully understanding exactly what they had been hit with. Today being day six, the medical staff, a lot of the patients that were likely and a little bit more moderately wounded that have been discharged are coming out, speaking to the media, and there is a fortune of anger. There's a lot of anger, a lot of questions being asked. How did this happen? Where do we go from here? What is going on? A lot of them not necessarily seeing the news, so they've got no idea what is happening in terms of the defensive capabilities at the moment, where the IDF is, where it's striking, if Gaza is at the moment getting hit. There's been zero communication with them because of the fact that they've been treated here. And so we're seeing a lot of that anger, a lot of the questions that are no doubtedly will have to be answered in the coming days, in the coming weeks, even in the coming months, following what is unfolding between Hamas and Israel. But there's also an amazing sense on the ground here of a need to help. And I'm not just speaking about the actual staff in terms of the medical staff, but there's been a fortune of NGOs on the ground. I'm hoping we can show you a little bit later. We're not allowed to turn the camera for the time being because there is IDF presence here that are not allowed to be on film. But there's organizations that have set up almost impromptu trestle tables with food and food making sure that not only the hospital staff and some of the people that are being treated here have food, but also for the media workers here, for anyone coming in that needs a bite to eat, they have been setting up. And it's almost like these trucks, the same way the ambulances are coming in, are coming in every few hours to replenish the food. We've seen a couple of ambulances coming in a little bit early and we've been told that a lot of the strikes that hit Sterot, which is further south, closer to the Gaza border, a lot of the people there that were injured aren't being brought here to be treated. And so we have seen some of those ambulances. There hasn't been sirens for the last hour or two, at least in Ashkelon for the time being, but if there is, right behind us, the hospital being fortified in itself will be rushing to safety there. But that's the latest in terms of what's happening on the ground here in Ashkelon, in particular at the Barsilai Hospital. Well, let's hope that it does stay calm. Thank you so much from Ashkelon. Correspondent Batja Leventhal, thank you so much. Back in studio, I want to bring Dan in on an issue we touched on a little bit earlier and that is what happens next. There is a window period in which Israel has to act, but it has risks involved. There is no doubt talk of a massive ground operation in Gaza. Strikes are continuing, but they are only targeting infrastructure at this juncture. What does the next step look like through your perspective? Sure. Israeli leaders, IDF strategists at this point will need to make a very, very tough decision. Don't envy them on that. If you send in a massive IDF ground invasion to retake Gaza to clear out Hamas one by one, if you're going to topple the Hamas, that seems to be the only way to do it. And that is replete with many, many risks that you avoid with airstrikes. And part of the reason why the IDF and the state of Israel has not done it to this point is because it's so risky. We have now, as the ambassador said, a line of credit, which I agree with him. I wish we didn't have it. We have, in other words, a strategic time glass, an hour glass with the sands dripping down. The more, and there's a number of ways to calculate that, you have to look at Israeli public opinion, which is incredibly supportive. But if we go in, you're going to lose a lot of Israeli soldiers. That's something to take into account. There's going to be more possibly Israeli civilians dead. And as far as the international community is concerned, and this is the key point, whether you like it or not, going to cause a humanitarian catastrophe as far as Palestinian civilians. And that is, and possibly have to retake and reoccupy the Gaza Strip until a different Palestinian government or some kind of caretaker government can be put in. It's incredibly complex. Many people will be hurt in the process. It's not clear if the international line of credit, so to speak, will last through such an operation which could take weeks or even months. So how long is that credit, so to speak? Already the Egyptians are reluctant to open the humanitarian corridor. What does it look like the day after? Well, Benita, there are too many question marks for the moment. We don't know. As Dan said, the tipping point or the countdown will really start in Israel with the ground operation if there is one. The international one is more impacted actually by the airstrikes than by ground operations because the airstrikes are causing huge destruction. And those are images that international community doesn't like. So for the moment, we're being spared the usual condemnations of disproportionate reaction, et cetera, but they will emerge. I can't tell you exactly how long it will take, but it won't be endless. Certainly it won't last for many weeks and certainly not months. There is the real humanitarian issue now, also which is an international one. Again, it's not just solidarity with Israel. There are many governments involved. And I think what Owen said earlier that Hamas may have found itself in a conundrum that it didn't plan for with many governments involved might have an impact also on the length of that window. Let me bring Owen in on that exact point. Your thoughts, Owen, because we've been discussing in recent days already the morality issue, the ethical issue, the legal issue around the fact not only that civilians are going to be involved, but these hostages are being held, and it's not clear where, at various points, in the Gaza Strip, if Israel goes in, if it tries to flatten Hamas, some of these hostages could very well be in the firing line. Yeah, it's obviously a huge moral question, Benita, and as was said before, we don't envy the people who have to make these. I do think though, in this situation, two things. Number one, the attacks are so severe, the sense of a loss of security is so severe that I think that the Israeli public, I don't know that we've yet seen polling on this. I, by the way, hope we start to see polling in some of these issues soon, because I think it'll help us understand where the public is at. I think that the Israeli public might be willing to take some more risks on that issue in the name of removing Hamas, of ending Hamas control over the Gaza Strip with all of the costs that that would involve this being one of them. Again, the status quo is simply untenable, and I think people will be willing to take risks, including that one, to get there. Another point in the humanitarian issue, it's not only the airstrikes, it's also this issue of food and water. The Israel's energy minister came out again today and said there will be no food or water, electricity or fuel going into the strip as long as the hostages aren't released. You can understand why that's a very popular position among the Israeli public, but the reality, Benita, and we've talked about this before, is it's not a very good strategy because at the end of the day, Israel is simply not going to starve 2 million people. It's just not a realistic plan to starve 2 million people and deny them food and water. It's simply not gonna happen. The country's not going to do that. So the only thing that these statements achieve is it lets a few ministers make statements like this and win political point in time when that simply shouldn't be something we're worried about. And of course, and more worrisome, gives ammunition the very little that they have right to Hamas's defenders and social networks and international public opinion. This is something they can point to, and if I were Hamas's lawyer, I would go right there. So again, that I think is a bigger risk and a bigger danger to getting that strategic hourglass, and I love the metaphor by the way, having the sand starting to flow through, I think it's that step that's even more risking that than are the airstrikes themselves. And I think the first major strategic blunder, of course, other than the initial morning, right? The first major strategic blunder and the response that we've seen the Israeli government make. Dan, you're nodding. I hate to agree with everything he says, that's the problem. But tell us why you are. Because there's a lot of pressure from the Israeli public right now that wants revenge, that wants, as he said, quite accurately to regain a sense of lost security. People are so angry. People are not just angry, they're terrified, and they feel there needs to be a retribution. This is the first time you don't just hear back of re-establishing deterrence, because so many people were killed. And I remember past scenarios where we talked about if a rocket would have fallen on one kindergarten and killed 20 kids, we would have to respond with such massive force. Well, this is not 20 kids now. This is 1,300 kids. And this is still 100 plus 150 children and women and men and elderly people in captivity. This is a scenario of such scope that we never had imagined. So the Israeli public, rightly so, is demanding revenge, is demanding to return its own sense of security and confidence, something that was stolen away on that Shabbat morning. And the decision makers are gonna have to make a very careful calculation between balancing that, between balancing the actual military needs of how to weaken or neutralize Hamas between the international clock, which is balanced both by Palestinian casualties and wanting to not have a humanitarian disaster. And as the ambassador said, the other countries involved. I've got 10 seconds, your thoughts very quickly. It's very difficult to be smart when you're angry. So that's the conundrum that our government, our war cabinet will need to tackle. And exacerbating the situation, making people more angry. We're just hearing a patriot has been fired up north and it's like we're looking into the report, we'll bring you all the details in our next update. Thank you gentlemen, stay tuned to I-24 News. This particular project with a gross capacity of 103.5 megawatt will be producing around 230 gigawatt hour of clean renewable energy per year. And we need rain for the Sembradios. These last 10 years, I have not been in many areas of conflict. Kilometers only from the south of Mosul. For me, the most intense mission, but also certainly the most exciting and the one that brought me to Mosul in June 2017, to cover the fierce battle between the Iraqi army forces with whom we were embarked and the terrorists of the Islamic State organization who had made of this city their caliphate in Iraq a few years earlier. After having crossed a Mosul in ruin, we finally found ourselves in the middle of Casbah, in the west part of the city, near the most combats and bombardments of the international coalition. We are here a few hundred meters away from Mosque, nourishing ourselves. We went from house to house to stay covered by Daesh snipers before arriving on a roof at the level of the front line where the Iraqi young soldiers were able to spread their arsenal and their firepower in front of our cameras. It is only after having attended this war theater that I took the measure of what I was coming to live. When the information fell according to which a French television team had been killed by an explosive machine, a mine in the same place where we could find ourselves a few days earlier. Israel is at war. Since the early hours of the morning, Israel has been facing infiltrations of terrorists, kidnapping of Israelis and a barrage of thousands of rockets emanating from the Gaza Strip, the biggest and bloodiest attack in years. Tune in for our extensive and rolling coverage of the Hamas deadly attack on Israel. With reporters on the ground in depth analysis and most updated and accurate information, stay tuned with I-24 News. This is Breaking News Edition. I'm Benita Levine, live in Tel Aviv. Hamas is ISIS and just as ISIS was crushed, so will Hamas be crushed. That's the clear message from Benjamin Netanyahu as he meets with Anthony Blinken in Tel Aviv, the US Secretary of State, telling the Israeli Prime Minister at defense headquarters a short while ago that the US is here and they're not going anywhere. The death toll from the Hamas killing rampage is now at more than 1,300 new details on the scale of the attack emerging on Thursday with the IDF saying more than two to 3,500 terrorists were involved in the initial brutal assault and that they erected an ISIS flag in at least one location. Around 1,500 terrorists were killed in Israeli territory. Others managed to escape. The two leaders lambasting the Hamas atrocities. Hamas has shown itself to be an enemy of civilization. The massacring of young people in an outdoor music festival, the butchering of entire families, the murder of parents in front of their children and the murder of children in front of their parents, the burning of people alive, the beheadings, the kidnappings of a young boy, not only kidnapped, molested, hurt, attacked, and the sickening display of celebrating these horrors, the celebration and glorification of evil. The message that I bring to Israel is this, you may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists, you will never ever have to. We will always be there by your side. Now the two men meeting with members of the emergency unity government, including defense minister Joav Galant, national unity party leader Benny Gantz and member of parliament and former chief of staff, Gadi Eisenkart. It's day six of the war between Israel and Hamas, rocket sirens sounding just a short while ago, warning of incoming rocket fire in Storot, Rotev-Azer, Gavim and Sapir College, that's just a short while ago. And earlier in the day, two airstrikes in Syria with fingers pointed at Israel and up north, Israel launching a patriot missile near the city of Zvat, which later emerged was in response to a false alarm. Now we go live to Ashkelon. Our correspondent, Batja Leventhal, is at the Bari Zilai hospital, and we know sirens are sounding in several parts of the south. What update can you share right now? Right, Benita, those sirens going off closely to the envelope of the Gaza Strip in the communities just surrounding it. They have been going off all through the morning and even the early afternoons. And now as we head into the late afternoon and the early evening, the same situation, what was interesting this time around, however, was that those rockets were shot over Ashkelon into an area called Ashdod, also along the coastline. It's about a 30-minute drive from where we're currently standing at the Ashkelon-Bari Zilai hospital. It's about 27 odd kilometers away. So Ashkelon for the time being being spared, but this is the first time that we've seen rocket alerts going off in Ashdod. No reports at the moment of any casualties or any interceptions, which is quite interesting because normally we do hear those reports at the interceptions if there are no casualties. For the time being though, we do hear some of the booms in the background. A lot of the time those are the interceptions happening near the Gaza border. Again, while we may be about 20 to 30 minutes away from Ashdod, the same relies of us going south, meaning we're about 20 to 30 minutes away from the border communities as well. And so it's relatively loud. We can hear those booms going off. For the time being Ashkelon relatively spared, there was one alert that went off just as we arrived at about 2.33 p.m. local time here. But for the time being a relative calm, what is what we're seeing on the ground right now is while there may be a relative calm speaking in terms of the military operations on the ground, there is not a relative calm with regards to a lot of the citizens and the residents of Israel, a lot of them including hospital staff coming out and expressing a fortune of anger and frustration now that the dust has settled a little bit and the fog of war has cleared just a little, but that the state of Israel truly knows what they are up against and what they're in for. There's a fortune of unanswered questions, but again, officials both in the defense establishment and the politicians saying those questions are gonna have to wait for now. There's a bigger priority at stake. Thank you so much. Correspondent Bacha Leventhal Lai from Barazi Lai Hospital in Ashkelon. Now as Israelis wait for answers about the intelligence and operational failures six days since the start of the Hamas terror onslaught. IDF Chief Heretzi Halavi issuing this public statement just a short while ago saying Hamas head Yahya Sinwa is going to be targeted. Let's take a listen. The IDF is fighting merciless terrorists who've committed acts that are unimaginable wherever there are people, wherever there is humanity. Yahya Sinwa, the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip decided on this abominable attack. Therefore, he and the entire system under him are dead men. We will attack them and we will dismantle them. We will dismantle their system. The IDF under my command understands the magnitude of the hour and the magnitude of the task that rests on our shoulders. The IDF is responsible for the security of the country and its citizens and on Saturday morning in the Gaza Strip, we did not live up to this. We will learn and question, but now is the time for war. So for more, captain in the reserves, Guy Poran co-leader of the Air Force Pilots protest and former Air Force pilot and our senior diplomatic correspondent, Owen Ultiman, are both in studio. Six days, the war is in and it's still hard to process the gravity, the brutality, the sheer evil that unfolded in this country, Guy. How worried should Yahya Sinwa be right now? How worried should I be right now? Yahya Sinwa, it's not you, let's not make the comparison. Well, you know, I'm sure he pretty much knows that he's a dead man walking. However, unfortunately, I think this has been something that he knew quite a while ago. It has nothing to do specifically with the current situation. These people are not afraid of dying, we've seen that. He deserves to die and in fact, every Hamas warrior deserves to die after what the atrocities that have happened. I am worried that in the process of doing what we should do, there will be as little casualties as possible. First of all, to our soldiers, to our civilians here in the home front, and for innocent people who just happened to be in the middle of this crisis. Yeah, and let's be honest, Yahya Sinwa is probably not all that worried because he having a great old time in a tunnel or a bunker, right? Potentially under the hospital in Gaza city and letting everybody else go die for him, especially the civilians in Gaza. Not really, it's quite strong rhetoric out of her Tia Levy. It's a message that Israeli citizens may well need to hear right now that there is going to be some tough action, some urgency in a response. People are very angry. Yeah, but we still, and again, I say this not for the first time, but we still haven't heard the magic words that Israel's going to end Hamas control of Gaza. We talked about this last night. We've heard about dealing a tough blow to Hamas. We've talked about killing Yahya Sinwa. When have we not talked about that? But Israelis need to hear, I think, or I as an Israeli need to hear, the government actually commit itself to a definable, measurable, and yes, difficult objective that they can be measured against at the end of this war. Obviously, an objective that has a lot of costs. But I think by committing themselves to that, committing themselves to something that is not automatic that they can do, that's how they're going to get the public's confidence back. Because another mean-faced speech, frankly, in my opinion, isn't going to do it. There are red alert sirens. I'm going to interrupt you. Your news just in. Red alert siren sounding up north. We're going to go straight to our correspondent, Pia Steckelbach. She is in northern Israel, near the Lebanon border. Siren sounding in the south a short while ago. But now we're hearing up north too. What can you tell us, Pia, in the Galilee? Right, Benita. Sirens sounding in a few areas here in the Upper Galilee. As of now, we do not hear any sirens that can change very, very quickly. Of course, this day has been very, very quiet so far, Benita. There have not been any alarms that we are at here in the north. As of now, we are less than 10 kilometers away from the Gaza border. However, the atmosphere here has been very, very tense. You do not see people walking outside on the streets. Shops are closed. People stayed home close to the shelters. Of course, after yesterday, a major alert was triggered falsely as it turned out later here in major areas in the north that really much added to people's anxiety here in the north. As of course, the tensions with Isballah, with Lebanese Palestinian factions in Lebanon are really spiking these days. Israel's army has mobilized 360,000 reservists. Many of them are stationed here in the northern area in an expectation that the scene here very much might turn into an active fighting zone. As of now, this day has been quiet, but it is a very tense calm here. We do see quite a lot of army vehicle movement on the roads here. We also saw a tank earlier. We have been told by residents that army is patrolling soldiers, are patrolling villages here in the area to really avert any infiltration attempt. We've seen an infiltration attempt not far away from here yesterday as well. So people have been telling us that they are very much anxious because they are very close to the border here. As of now, it has been quiet, but now of course, rocket sirens were sounding in some of the northern communities here, Benita. Well, it might be relatively quiet where you are, but it isn't quite in Syria. An airstrike or two, we're hearing, also targeting Damascus airport, apparently out of order. What updates are known out of Syria? It's difficult to assess, but what are we hearing? Does not react, does not claim any responsibility, but it has become quite a common practice for Syrian targets that are connected to Iranian weapon deliveries or to Iranian targets in Syria to be targeted in recent months as well. All of these attacks are usually contributed or are usually thought of being Israeli targets. Of course, Israel is very vigilant to target any Iranian weapon delivery, any weapon delivery that might, in the end, harm Israel in Syria as of now. The airport was also targeted, for example, in the end of August, setting it out of action. This is what we are also seeing now. I don't think we have received any reports in terms of casualties as of now, but we are hearing that the airport is out of function. For now, the airport in Damascus. Now, we have seen some water shelling here in the area coming out of Syria in recent days, so it might be very likely that Israel is trying to prevent any attack from Syrian factions, possibly Palestinian factions or Iranian factions inside Syria to join the scene here now. Correspondent Pierre Stechelbach, live from northern Israel near the Israel-Lebanon border. Thank you very much for that update. Take care up there, Pierre. And back in studio, Captain Guy Poran, a person to ask about what is going on across Syria and potentially across Lebanon in terms of Israeli capabilities, air force capabilities, specifically the training involved, the targets involved, the extent of what could be on the horizon, so to speak. Well, I think that there is no doubt in anybody's mind, including, I hope, the Lebanese, that the capabilities of the Israeli Air Force and the Israeli armed forces in general, as far as being able to act in Lebanon and in Syria, are very, very, very strong. What is going to unfold, I think that it's very hard to say at this point in time. I believe that it is Israel's entrance and intentions at the moment, unless the Lebanese or the Hezbollah leaves them no choice to try to keep that second front relatively calm, and that makes a lot of sense when, you know, focus on the south. However, I think that we're obviously preparing ourselves, and I know that the Air Force is preparing itself for the situation where it's going to be another, otherwise it's going to be a second front and everything is open out there. I don't think that there's anybody, certainly not me, who's able to say how things are going to unfold. You were instrumental in the protest movement against the judicial reform, the reservists, reserve pilots not going to join up. They weren't going to volunteer if the scenario played out, and we do know there are 300,000 reservists who have been called up. Clearly everyone is on board right now. Do you regret that stance? No, not at all. And our moves were not to say, we never did say that we're not going to participate in case of any emergency. We, some of these pilots, a significant number of them have halted their stop, their training on reserve, assuming that the main front, the main effort for us at this point in time is to guard democracy. However, the moment that we realized, I'm talking about the first hour where it was obvious that Israel is under a massive external attack, not only all the pilots that were called immediately reported to their squadrons, but many, many of the others that were not called actually showed up. There was 150% show up. And this is, I'm not at all surprised because these two things are on a separate level. Every Air Force pilot is as patriotic, if not more, than any other Israeli soldier, any other reservists. But at the same time, so that means that all the protests, everything that we've been doing before has been put aside. You're not seeing any demonstrations. You're not seeing anything right now. But I can tell you that when this war is over, and I hope it will be as early as possible, things are not going to evaporate. On the contrary, a lot of what we were protesting against, we believe was the reason or helped this disaster and the failures that we've seen in the last few days. But we are currently not doing anything about it because this is the moment for war. The focus is on war. Afterwards, things will be different. Your insights on this issue, Owen. Well, listen, I'm not going to get into the question of whether the government's policies or emphases had a connection or an impact or caused what happened on Saturday. I would say a highly charged discussion and it's not a discussion I'm personally going to participate in. I do think though, Benita, that there is a strain of thinking in Israel over the last few days. One that says that each side is in a sense at fault because it was bothered by the wrong things, right? On one hand, there's a camp that says the government and the coalition were too focused on, for example, having the military be involved in protecting settlers and certain settler activities in the West Bank and that distracted a focus from other obvious fronts that needed more attention that the government was involved in focused on certain things domestically in certain sectors of their constituency and that took away their focus from the borders and from these areas. On the other hand, from the political right, a charge that the protest movement was focused on things that were frivolous. Some saying, for example, don't forget, just the day or two before the war started, we were all concerned about what would happen in Tel Aviv on the night after the Simchatura holiday. Would there be a separate gender, separate dancing and how that wouldn't have an impact? Some say that the protest movement, writ large, was focused on things like that, which are less important. Listen, at the end of the day, this is a country and a society. Israel is Athens, not Sparta, right? We aren't Sparta, we're not just a military camp or a democratic society where people care about the country and its identity and we'll come back to it on both sides once the war is over. And certainly, you can feel the unity right now. People are all feeling the security threat and are unified at this juncture in their response. Now, let's go to our correspondent, Pierre Klushender. He joins us from Storot in southern Israel, siren sounding just a short while ago. What update have you got right now? There is no damage, no casualties in the latest spate of rocket attack over the city of Storot. It actually, I think, targeted the nearby Kibbutz of Mefalzim. Nonetheless, we're at the police station, but the new police station, because the police station was destroyed. And there is a ceremony here, but we cannot show it to you live for obvious security reasons because Hamas might be monitoring our transmission. But what I can tell you is that many police officers are here with the minister of national security, Tamar Ben-Gvir, in the fight on Storot on Saturday, 10 police officers were killed, seven were wounded. No, sorry, seven were killed and 10 were wounded. And tens of citizens were killed in that invasion by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists. So this is a city that has been harmed, hit so many times, but this time it was really, really, really strong. And as a result, the mayor of Storot has urged the Israeli government to allocate something like $30 million in order to assist for the evacuation of the total population of Storot, those who remain. And about 60 to 50% of this city of 30,000 inhabitants remain in Storot, but they need to leave, says the mayor, at least for the next 10 coming days. Right now we don't know what is the outcome of that plea by the mayor of Storot, but the police wants to project a sense of law and order. And this is why just five days after the police station was destroyed, a new police station is coming up in an inauguration headed by the Minister of National Security, Tamar Ben Gvi. We have been looking while you were talking at the footage of it being destroyed. We know there was a long standover lasted for hours at that police station at the start of the Hamas rampage. Talk to us about what is known about what unfolded at that time. Briefly, please. Well, there are very hectic details. We know that police officers sacrifice their lives. They were surprised like anyone else. And of course, there were acts of bravery in order to foil the attempt of the terrorist to take over the city because as I think it was the chief of staff or the Minister of Defense who said a couple of days ago, Hamas' goal was not just to massacre and slaughter, it was to hold on Israeli territory. So those police officers who were on duty and there were not many acted in such a way that Hamas never managed to invade the city really. Live from Storot, thank you so much for that update correspondent, Pierre Kloschendler. Stay safe, we will be coming back to you, of course, in the coming hours. Guy, you wanted to respond. Yeah, I just wanted to comment on something that Owen said earlier about the fact that the government hadn't actually clearly said that they're going to destroy or finish with Hamas. No, no, no, they haven't clearly said that they're going to make sure that Hamas is not in control of Gaza. That's what hasn't been said. Right, and maybe, and I agree with you that this is something that the Israeli people were waiting to hear, but maybe they haven't said it because one, they are not sure that are able to do it and more important is because the Israeli public have no trust in such bombastic declarations anymore after it's been, it heard this kind of declarations, we're going to destroy Hamas over and over and over again. It never happened. Well, wait a second. First of all, on the able, I certainly hope you're wrong and I think I speak for 10 million Israelis or almost 10 million Israelis in saying that, but again, I defer to true military tactical experts on that question. On the second, but the reality is we've heard even more bombastic comments about Hamas. We're going to deal them a huge blow. We're going to make them fall, but these are definable and measurable goals and therefore there's no real commitment behind them. There's no real promise to them. There's no real horizon to them. There's nothing in them that would really be able to be something different, something that would give us confidence if you're able to commit yourself to a definable measurable goal, right? To say I'm going to commit myself and you can measure me against this, right? That's saying I am making you a promise. This government has made us no promises. Yeah, but that's the problem. This government, you think, are able to say measure me against my promises after everything that they've done and any Israeli citizen, any normal Israeli citizens will believe that they actually can deliver what they are committed for? I think making definable, measurable objectives and goals and having the public able to hold you to them is an extremely important part of getting confidence back. Gentlemen, thank you. I need to stop you there. Owen and Guy, thank you so much because we need to go to Emma Halali. She is the president of the European Union of Jewish students. She joins us from Brussels. Thank you so much for waiting to speak to us. Concerns around the globe, around a potential uptick in anti-Semitic incidents since the start of the war on Saturday. What can you share about the reaction to the war in various parts of Europe, please? Yeah, so what can I share? It's mostly the student perspective. So basically, we all know that the hatred of Israel has always fueled anti-Semitism on our campuses. And this is something that I thought the channel actually two weeks ago. But we saw since the start of the war last Saturday in France, for instance, that there has been more than 100 anti-Semitic attacks that were reported. So I think it's huge. And it also goes together with the French Union of Jewish students, shocking findings of last survey that 91% of Jewish students have been victim of anti-Semitism at school. So I think we should keep those numbers in mind when seeing this rise of anti-Semitic attacks across Europe since the start of the war. Something else also I wanted to mention, the Fundamental Rights Agency last survey of 2019, it was on young European Jews and their experience of anti-Semitism. And it mentioned to the extent to which Israeli-Palestinian conflicts affect how safe European Jews feel in Europe. And 1% of them said that Israeli-Palestinian conflict affects them at least a little. And 37% said it affects them a great deal. And I'm pretty sure that if we were to recount the survey today, this number would reach a level no one wants to see and face. Well, certainly we will be watching and we'll be analyzing, analyzing how the outrage is felt in different parts. This is such a barbaric situation. Such depravity has unfolded here. It will be so fascinating to see exactly what you say, what those polls look like. How safe do you feel right now? To be fair, we had this discussion with my office members, with the student leaders because we are representing EUGS, is representing national student unions, and every leader that is vocal on what is happening in Israel and is trying to spread awareness are being targeted, are being unsafe. We are trying to not pay attention to the threat because otherwise we cannot leave and we live in the free society, we live in the free Europe. We need to remember that the founding fathers of Europe didn't want that for us. And especially that Europe has been built on this promise of never again. Emma Halali, unfortunately, I need to leave it there. This conversation will continue. The concerns are real. Thank you so much for being part of Breaking News Edition. And this rolling coverage continues. Stay tuned. Israel is at war. Since the early hours of the morning, Israel has been facing infiltrations of terrorists, kidnapping of Israelis, and a barrage of thousands of rockets emanating from the Gaza Strip, the biggest and bloodiest attack in years. Tune in for our extensive and rolling coverage of the Hamas deadly attack on Israel. With reporters on the ground in depth analysis and most updated and accurate information, stay tuned with I-24 News. Encuesta News 24. We hope you want to know what we would like to know from...