 has declared full support for Israel. Combat operations are heating up on the northern front as well. The Israeli Defense Forces say at least seven missiles were fired over the past 24 hours at towns and military posts on the northern border by the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group. This comes as Hezbollah announces a day of rage against Israel. After the Hamas terror group claims Israel struck a densely populated hospital in Gaza, the IDF denied these false allegations and provided video evidence showing a failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch against the hospital. Palestinians and much of the Arab world blamed Israel nonetheless saying it had struck the medical facility and that hundreds had been killed. The IDF also shared this aerial footage collected by a military drone showing a blast that they say is inconsistent with Israeli weaponry. The blast site lacks the telltale craters made by military-grade high explosives used in Israeli ordinance and the blast appears to have occurred in the building's parking lot. IDF radar detected outgoing rocket fire at the same moment of the blast and that will occur last night and intercepted communications between terror groups indicating that the Islamic Jihad fired the rockets. The army determined there were no air force ground or naval attacks in the area at the time of the blast on the Al Ali Baptist Hospital and it's noteworthy that all of these claims have been verified by open source intelligence. So far there have been 450 failed rocket launches from Gaza. Let's take a quick listen to the IDF spokesperson's unit. I can confirm that an analysis of the IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza passing in close proximity to the Al-Hali Al-Madi Hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit. Intelligence from few sources that we have in our hands indicates that the Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza. I repeat this is the responsibility of Islamic Jihad that killed innocents in the hospital in Gaza. And to tell us more about President Joe Biden's visit we are now joined in Tel Aviv by Mary McAuliffe I-24 News correspondent with the American administration saying that they had some hard questions to their friend Israel during this visit. What does that mean? That's right Ariel. So the message of president here is trying to convey once he's going to be on the ground in Israel he is coming on a solidary in support trip so he is here to say that he is standing behind the people of Israel after the horrible events that happened on October 7th and coming here to show that support in person on this visit but he's also here as part of his efforts to try and contain this war and to try to prevent it from escalating into a wider war with other regional actors getting involved. This is one of the main messages and one of his main tasks when he's here on the ground as we know we have been discussing over this past week US officials as well as other Western officials have been on the ground here in Israel all the while trying to get some kind of negotiation done trying to interact with this humanitarian aid trying to get humanitarian aid and trying to get some of these refugees outside the Gaza Strip working with Egypt and Jordan other regional partners to try and prevent what they're saying could be a looming humanitarian catastrophe as Israel proprietors to go into the Gaza Strip with this massive operation that is planned. So this is one of the main things that he will be discussing with Israeli officials to try and prevent this from spiraling out of control and trying to put pressure on the Israelis to make sure that they know exactly what they're doing when they're going into Gaza to see if they have an exit strategy and also try and see how they can prevent Iran and Hezbollah from also getting involved into this war which would significantly change this operation here on the ground. So this is a message that we're going to hear from President Biden. This is his main task. Well thank you very much Mary for the explanation. We'll be coming back to you over the course of the day particularly once Biden has landed to understand what exactly is going on there. Now before anything else though, we are going to turn to our studio discussion panel that includes our senior correspondent Owen Alterman as well as our intelligence analyst Rafael Urashalmi. I'm going to start with you Owen because we were just talking about Biden's visit and we have already seen that Biden's visit was supposed to include a visit to other Arab nations to discuss regional affairs particularly those related to this war. That's been canceled. Has the US reached the limits of its influence? No, I don't think the US has reached the limits of its influence. It's obviously horrible timing with the events at the hospital last night. Of course the Israeli military has said and I think have every reason to be believed that Israel didn't do it. That being as it may, Mahmoud Abbas is in an impossible position and I think it can be understood why he wouldn't want to go to Amman or stay in Amman for that meeting. And that's essentially what the national security spokesperson John Kirby said on the flight, on the flight from Washington to Tel Aviv. Look, it's obviously Biden would have wanted that meeting in Amman as a kind of counterbalance to the solidarity visit here in Israel. And really they're putting an even stronger emphasis in this public face on the issue of the humanitarian situation in Gaza which is obviously something he sees as being very, very important going forward. Look, it's not happening. I don't think it's the end of American influence in the region. I don't think it's the end of American influence in the Arab world, far from it. But certainly explains and exposes just how delicate the situation is and how hard it is going to be for the United States to manage all of this and to keep all of America's allies on one side, on one team. Something that had really been looked at as being a very promising trend in the years and even months and even weeks leading up to this war. Obviously at risk now and the United States is going to do everything it can to keep all its allies on side. And America has spent years now attempting to build a regional alliance against Iran and its influence in the region. And we're starting to see some extreme discontent even amongst that alliance. Do we risk losing everything that America has been trying to build in this war? I really don't think so, Ariel. Even at this hour, I don't think so. And I've felt this way since the very first hours of when this war started. Look, everything that Muhammad bin Salman said a month ago in New York is still true today. It's still true today. He still has the same vision for his country. He still has the same, I think, incentive to send a costly signal, right? Of normalizing with Israel. That's still there. The geopolitics are still there of the Saudis' desire to have a solid and a more solidified relationship with the United States. All of that is just as true today as it was a month ago. Obviously the war affects Arab public opinion, the Saudi government and all governments in the Arab world have to be attentive to that. But I do think on the other side, we are going to go back maybe later rather than sooner, although I actually tend to think sooner rather than later. Back to the normalization track and back to the vision that was so promising. And it was talked about from the podium at the United Nations and the sidelines of the opening of the General Assembly. I think we're going back there. Obviously there's a huge challenge here in the short term. Joe Biden is going to have to manage that. The Israeli government's going to have to do its part. But I think we are going back there. And for now we have a president who has shown strong support for Israel and parallel has shown a real commitment to the humanitarian situation in Gaza. And I think Ariel is a kind of a different message. If I have a minute to say so, a different message than we've heard from the White House and the United States in the past, particularly Democratic presidents. What do I mean? In the past, what we've heard from American presidents is asking Israel for restraint, right? Basically taking the military side and the civilian side and wrapping them together in one package and telling Israel to use restraint in its military tactics and its military strategy in order to spare civilians. What Joe Biden is doing is different. He's separating the two. He's not calling for restraint in the military side. He is saying go all at it. Go all at it. We're not going to tell the Israeli side to stand down. We essentially give Israel carte blanche to go after Hamas and to take Hamas out in the Gaza Strip. But in parallel with that, in parallel with that we want steps taken to protect civilians and to manage the humanitarian situation inside Gaza. So there are these new concepts, right? Of the safe zones of the humanitarian corridors and all the rest that we haven't seen in past operations or wars. And I think are an attempt to separate the military side to let the Israeli military do what it feels it needs to do with full American support. But at the same time, prevent two million Gazans from starving, essentially, because that's the impact if food and water are not brought into the Strip. Well, we are going to continue this discussion in just a few brief moments. But first, we're going to get the latest updates from the southern border where a defense correspondent Jonathan Regev is standing by to tell us what's developing there. Jonathan, what are the latest military preparations? What do we know about what's going on inside Gaza? So basically, still the same messages from previous days. Israel telling Gazans to head south, saying that the corridors to head south are still open, meaning Gazans will flee along those corridors will be spared. But the aim is to make sure that the northern part of the Gaza Strip is as open as possible. On another front, two more Hamas officials are killed overnight, one of them a rather senior official in charge of the anti-tank squads in Gaza. An anti-tank, let's remember, quite a strong, a powerful weapon. Not so much is like the rockets that are fired into Israel. The anti-tank fire that has a very short range, but is lethal, especially when directed towards the Israeli military forces who are perhaps concentrated in areas close to the border. That's why anti-tank fire is lethal. And one of the commanders of the anti-tank squads has been killed overnight. And another one who's also in charge of acquiring weapons and involved in the maritime force of Hamas has also been killed. The Israeli policy is this. Anyone of the Hamas officials beat military wing, political wing, any wing there is who pops up from the underground Gaza compound where they're all hiding, anyone popping up is eventually detected and killed. Well Jonathan, we're going to be coming back to you over the course of the day for more updates from the south and front. Stay safe out there. And we are now going to return to our panel here in studio, this time to intelligence analyst Rafael Urashalmi. One of the big stated goals of the American military has been to prevent this from becoming a regional conflict. That's what the carrier groups are standing there as a threat for, but we're already seeing riots in just about every single US and Israeli embassy across the Arab world. We saw a drone attack not that long ago against an American air base in Iraq. Is it too late? Has it already become regional? No, not at all. It likely to have set for the political domain the same in the military domain. Nothing has changed. However tragic the incident was however cynically it was being exploited by the media and by the enemies of Israel. This incident doesn't change anything on the ground and doesn't change anything regionally. The declarations by Mr. MBS are declarations for the media and the ground we have the same policy, geopolitical equation. The Iranians and the Hezbollah have their plans that we don't know what they are. I'm not sure they know themselves. Maybe they're waiting for an opportunity to attack or not, but this doesn't change. It just gives them a bit of leeway to say like we're doing it because of, but that's not because of they have their own calculations. So where the security problem is is for Israeli citizens first, especially in Turkey and Morocco, they have to evacuate. But also for Jewish communities in the world. And I think for most democratic countries as well. Countries like Germany, England, France that showed support. So far the victims of terrorist attacks were not even Jews or Israelis, they were just people. So that's a security problem, but that security problem is separate from that war. It doesn't impact that war. It's something separate. I think also that the most important thing is that we didn't do it. It's important for us as Jews, as persons to know that we didn't do it, but also that Joe Biden will know this afternoon in the coming hours that we didn't do it. Because that's, that would be a game changer. Would we have done it? First of all, we would have to say we're sorry we made a mistake, but we haven't done anything. We have actually followed to a tee whatever Joe Biden said from the start, the conditions of his support were full support, but we have to respect the rules of engagement of a conventional war, and we have to respect certain humanitarian rules and limitations to our action to spare the Gazan people, which we are very happy to do so. I don't think we needed Joe Biden to tell us to do so, but we are doing it anyway. And this is very important now to show him that we are doing that, and that, you know, the communication war is important, but the most important is also to give this information, the communication between services, secret services, between armies and between governments. We're now, that's more important now than the communication war that might impact Jews abroad or whatever. It is to show them in a professional, indeniable way that we didn't do it, that we have all the elements to show for it, that the Hamas has zero element of all the constituencies in the Hamas version, and just they will see for themselves that we didn't do it, there's no changes, nothing different this morning than yesterday morning, the support has to be the same. We have to show it not only to Joe Biden, I think Joe Biden, if after this visit reaffirms his support for Israel and says, guys continue, that will be the proof that he's been convinced by what was shown to him. Yes, please. No, please, a couple of just points to pick up what Raphael was saying. First of all, I think it would have been appropriate for the President of the United States or his spokespeople to say quite clearly, we obviously are going to independently check this with our own sources, that's the responsible thing for the United States to do. But when we have the Israeli military saying something, and a terrorist organization saying something, our presumption until proven otherwise is to believe the Israeli military. I think that would have been an appropriate thing to say, it wasn't exactly said in that way. So but presumably once the information is shared and once the US reaches its own conclusions, it'll be that way. So I don't know if we have time to fully talk about this right now, but the fact that the IDF spokesperson's office waited so long to get information off is a step that is going to lead to the deaths of Israelis. Israelis are going to be killed because of that delay. It may sound like hyperbole, and I understand that, but the feeling I had last night was the same feeling we had in the first morning of the war, when the soldiers didn't come to those Kibbutzim, and people were left undefended in their houses. I felt like our country was left undefended, that our military wasn't defending us in the media, that our military wasn't defending our good name, and that we were left out there defenseless. And in an indirect way, this is an event that's going to cause people to die. And I understand that accuracy is important. We in the media must understand that, and there has to be a balance between accuracy and speed. But something needed to be done at a much earlier stage on video before the camera, even without definitive information, because the alternative led to a media catastrophe. Of course, those media organizations also bear significant responsibility, but so do we for not doing the minimum to defend ourselves in the schedule and in the timeframe that was demanded. And we are going to continue this in just a brief moment, but first we're going to get some updates from the northern border. We're hearing about four injured soldiers in Hezbollah missile attack, as well as Hezbollah moving war materials into position to launch an offensive. We're going to turn to our correspondent Hamda Salhout, who is on the border right now with the latest. That's right, Arielle, four members of the Israeli military injured in the anti-tank missile attacks overnight. The Israeli military saying that those injuries are moderate to light. Hezbollah is denouncing what happened in Gaza, saying that today will be a day of unprecedented anger, unprecedented rage and response to that. They're also protesting the visit of U.S. President Joe Biden. There were protests at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon, protests in the south of Lebanon, protests all over Beirut, some of them carrying Palestinian flags, but some of them carrying Hezbollah flags, an indication that perhaps they might get involved. U.S. sources are saying that if Hezbollah were to attack the Israelis, would get some reassurances in the form of military aid, perhaps to assist on the northern border. Some sources on the other side are also saying that Hezbollah is looking to attack to kind of divert the attention away from what's going on in Gaza, perhaps get more military activity going on in the north. So a lot of unanswered questions here, a lot still up for discussion, but it's really a wait and see kind of game at this point. Okay, thank you very much, Hamda, for the latest, from the border to discuss more of what's going on on the northern front. We're going to return to our panel here in the studio at Rafael. We've been seeing Iran issuing threats to directly join the conflict or to activate their Hezbollah proxies. We've seen over the course of the past day, Hezbollah moving massive arsenals of rockets and other military gear around in Lebanon into position to use it. Is this no longer a bluff? Are they about to commit? And if they are, should Israel preempt? Should Israel preempt? That's the big question. You will ask, you know, it's when you go to the doctor, one will give you a pill and the other one will send you to the emergency ward. So if you will ask Israeli generals of the IDF today, some will advise a preemptive strike. Some will say we have to have deterrence. We have to show we're not afraid, take, be proactive. So whether that should be simultaneous with our offensive in the south or first we deal with the south and then we deal with the north. If we are the first ones to act, of course, they're there. That's one school. Another school doesn't advise this is the school that seems to be predominant right now, meaning dosage, avoiding escalation. We're not not saying that we should not attack, but not now because we're busy enough down south. So this, this is a matter of opinion to be discussed by our generals then to be presented to the political level, which today is pre represents the main strategic problem of Israel. We have a political level, the government today that is not quite competent and that is not taking sharp decisions fast enough stuttering, I would say, and that's very big hindrance for the military. There are rumors not confirmed yet by usually credible journalistic source that Benjamin Netanyahu would have sported some kind of initiative by the IDF and the secret services of a certain operation that could have been a game changer. So that's has to be confirmed, but there is a frustration, but we can't change where democratic country the government decides. On the other side, the Iranians, there is balance. Are they really just testing us? Are they just observing what's going on to make the decision or is the decision really taken? And they're just waiting for the right moment. We are waiting for the right moment to enter Gaza. They're waiting for the right moment because their dilemma, what is it? On the one hand, they have no effect of surprise and we are already must in the north. The Americans are there in the Mediterranean. I don't think they had that in their plans. They didn't think the Americans would come anyway in that car. And so with so much power and fleet in the Mediterranean, so they might be deterred. On the other hand, they have here an opportunity that might not present itself for a very long time, meaning half, at least, let's say half of the IDF is down south. Right now, they just had this incident that gives them a bit of legitimate emission. So they might be tempted and if they see any sign and that's why I say it's very important that we show a quick decision and firm decision at all levels, including political, if they feel any weakness, the first sign of weakness, that's what started the first thing. Even though the Hamas planned it for a year before, the army said to the government, there is a problem, the enemy is feeling that we are weakened by the political turmoil, by the societal divisions in Israel. So now we're also weakened. We mustn't show that signal. Now we are not in their heads. What will they decide? I think Nasrallah, we need a profiler just to try and understand his logic. But one thing is for sure, the advantage with him is a little more rational than Sinwar and Haniyeh and Mashal. He's got to show much more to lose. He doesn't act in a vacuum. I mean, the Hamas in Rengazar didn't do what they want. Who's going to tell them otherwise? He's still inside a country like Lebanon with a completely dysfunctional government, if even there is a government. But there is an army there. There's a population there. Hezbollah has a status in this. So it's a bit different and it might not obey Tehran as fast as we think. And Tehran themselves, they have to make their own calculations. But yet again, when you deal with religious fanatical persons, the rational is only a third of their calculations and the rest, it's Allah orders them what to do. Just to add one thing to what Rafael is saying, if you look at the transcript of John Kirby's briefing to reporters on the plane over, it's there's very, very strong hints between the lines that the United States does not want to see a preemptive Israeli strike on Hezbollah. The message is going to be that we don't want this conflict to spread. Those are essentially the words that he says that President Biden is bringing with him. And that's a very, very strong hint of what the United States wants to see at least in terms of the Israeli side of that decision making. Which really leads to my follow up question because the understanding is if Hezbollah acts, those carrier groups level Hezbollah. But if Israel preempts, does that change the American calculus? I don't think so. I don't think so because I think the American interest is the same. The American interest is to guarantee that Israel wins the war. That's why the United States is here that no matter what, at the end, the result is an Israeli victory in the war. Of course, there's the question of what happens and the process and the price and the price. But the result is meant to be guaranteed. So no, I don't think that changes it. But it is certainly the case that if the United States is supplying Israel with two aircraft carrier strike groups, massive diplomatic support, and soon probably huge financial support, that the United States has every right to exert some level of influence over the decisions that are being made. And that's essentially what the Biden administration is saying. I think for exactly that reason, Arielle, if we are going to have to risk our forces in a war with Hezbollah, then we want some level of control and confidence over how that war starts and over trying to prevent that war. That I think is essentially the message that John Kirby is telegraphing, not in so many words, but not too far from that. On that flight over that Joe Biden is I think going to be bringing to the war cabinet later today. I think that of course the Americans don't want to be dragged into a war in the region. And of course it's absolutely fair with the size of the support they're giving us that we should comply with some of their requests, the minimum of court is there I would say. But they are not only here to support us. Let's be realistic. They're here for America. They're here because they want to ensure the stability of this region. The last thing they want is the chaos here. So they came here to like make sure that the conflict is limited to what it is the stability of the United States Alliance Systems around the world, which is I think no less important and certainly very much on the minds of the industry. And continue what was started before. Continue this approach towards the Saudi Arabia, towards all the Arabic State. And that's what they want to secure. And we're going to see what happens with that development excess over the coming days, whether or not has bullet commits or not. Thank you both very much for your analysis of the situation. For everyone else, we are just about out of time at least for now. We will see what the top of the next hour with breaking news as the war situation develops here in Israel on both the northern and the southern fronts and all the ramifications that might have going forward. For everyone out there, stay safe and stay strong. Over 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues. We bring you first hand testimonies from the front lines, from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas. Follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north. Get the inside scoop on what's going on only on I-24 News. 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. Help us, we don't want to do it. 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. 24 News' ongoing coverage of Israel's war against Hamas's murderers. I'm Ariel Levin Waldman. This war has now entered its 12th day and U.S. President Joe Biden is set to arrive at 10 o'clock a.m. local time in just about an hour. For a solidarity visit after the United States has declared full support for Israel. Combat operations are heating up on the northern front as well. The Israeli Defense Forces say at least seven missiles were fired over the past 24 hours at towns and military posts on the northern border by the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group. This comms as Hezbollah announces a day of rage against Israel. After the Hamas terror group claims Israel struck a densely populated hospital in Gaza. The IDF denied these false allegations and provided video evidence showing a failed Islamic jihad rocket launch against the hospital. Palestinians and much of the Arab world blamed Israel nonetheless, saying it had struck the medical facility and that hundreds had been killed. The IDF also shared this aerial footage collected by a military drone showing a blast that they say is inconsistent with Israeli weaponry. The blast site lacks the telltale craters made by military grade high explosives used in Israeli ordinance. And the blast appears to have occurred in the building's parking lot. IDF radar detected outgoing rocket fire at the same moment of the blast and that occurred last night and intercepted communications between terror groups indicating that the Islamic jihad fired the rockets. The army determined there were no air force ground or naval attacks in the area at the time of the blast on the Al-Ali Baptist hospital and it's noteworthy that all of these claims have been verified by open source intelligence. So far there have been 450 failed rocket launches from Gaza. Let's take a quick listen to the IDF spokesperson's unit. I can confirm that an analysis of the IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza passing in close proximity to the Al-Ali al-Madi hospital in Gaza at the time it was hit. Intelligence from few sources that we have in our hands indicates that the Islamic jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza. I repeat, this is the responsibility of Islamic jihad that killed innocents in the hospital in Gaza. And to tell us more about President Joe Biden's visit, we are now joined in Tel Aviv by Mary McAuliffe, I-24 News correspondent with the American administration saying that they had some hard questions to their friend Israel during this visit. What does that mean? That's right, Ariel. So the message of President here is trying to convey once he's going to be on the ground in Israel, he is coming on a solidarity and support trip. So he is here to say that he is standing behind the people of Israel after the horrible events that happened on October 7th and coming here to show that support in person on this visit. But he's also here as part of his efforts to try and contain this war and to try to prevent it from escalating into a wider war with other regional actors getting involved. This is one of the main messages and one of his main tasks when he's here on the ground. As we know, we have been discussing over this past week, U.S. officials as well as other Western officials have been on the ground here in Israel all the while trying to get some kind of negotiation done, trying to interact with this humanitarian aid, trying to get humanitarian aid and trying to get some of these refugees outside of the Gaza Strip, working with Egypt and Jordan, other regional partners to try and prevent what they're saying could be a looming humanitarian catastrophe as Israel proprietors to go into the Gaza Strip with this massive operation that is planned. So this is one of the main things that he will be discussing with Israeli officials to try and prevent this from spiraling out of control and trying to put pressure on the Israelis to make sure that they know exactly what they're doing when they're going into Gaza to see if they have an exit strategy and also try and see how they can prevent Iran and Hezbollah from also getting involved into this war, which would significantly change this operation here on the ground. So this is a message that we're going to hear from President Biden. This is his main task. Well, thank you very much Mary for the explanation. We'll be coming back to you over the course of the day, particularly once Biden has landed to understand what exactly is going on there. Now, before anything else, though, we are going to turn to our studio discussion panel that includes our senior correspondent, Owen Alterman, as well as our intelligence analyst, Rafael Urashalmi. I'm going to start with you, Owen, because we were just talking about Biden's visit. And we have already seen that Biden's visit was supposed to include a visit to other Arab nations to discuss regional affairs, particularly those related to this war. That's been canceled. Has the US reached the limits of its influence? No, I don't think the US has reached the limits of its influence. It's obviously horrible timing with the events at the hospital last night. Of course, the Israeli military has said and I think have every reason to be believed that Israel didn't do it. That being as it may, Mahmoud Abbas is in an impossible position. And I think it can be understood why he wouldn't want to go to Amman for or stay in Amman for that meeting. And that's essentially what the National Security Spokesperson John Kirby said on the flight, on the flight from Washington to Tel Aviv. Look, it's obviously Biden would have wanted that meeting in Amman as a kind of counter balance to the solidarity visit here in Israel. And really they're putting an even stronger emphasis in this public face on the issue of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which is obviously something he sees as being very, very important going forward. Look, it's not happening. I don't think it's the end of American influence in the region. I don't think it's the end of American influence in the Arab world, far from it. But certainly explains and exposes just how delicate the situation is and how hard it's going to be for the United States to manage all of this and to keep all of America's allies on one side, on one team, something that had really been looked at as being a very promising trend in the years and even months and even weeks leading up to this war. Obviously at risk now and the United States is going to do everything it can to keep all its allies on side. And America has spent years now attempting to build a regional alliance. We are opening with a special breaking news broadcast as the Israeli military is about to present the full spectrum of evidence that it was in fact the Islamic jihad behind a rocket strike on a Palestinian hospital that has reportedly killed hundreds of people. Now remember that all of the evidence that Israel is about to present has already been confirmed by open source intelligence analysts around the world, oftentimes using public sources. As soon as that press conference starts, which you are about to see, you're seeing on screen the setup which is about to begin, we are going to be taking that live. It will be in English and for any parts such as questions in Hebrew, we will be providing live translation. Until then we joined our joint in studio by senior correspondent Owen Alterman to help break down the issues and why it is so important. In the immediate aftermath, five minutes after that rocket fell on that hospital, there was a press conference with dead babies all around. And the entire Arab world was screaming for Israel's blood. Is this going to change anything? Well, listen, a couple points. First of all, let's start with the most important and central point, right? The Israeli military, the professional military of a democratic country has now had more than 12 hours to thoroughly check the situation to put its message together, to get to firm conclusions and are about to present them in a professional way. This is the military, by the way, RL that not only has fighters and spokespeople, it also has lawyers. It also has lawyers. So I think it stands to reason that the Israeli military does not target hospitals where there are hundreds of people and that the Israeli military should be believed in what it has to say and is going to present the evidence behind its conclusions and we're about to see that's the most important thing. That said, a couple of other very, very important points. What happened last night was frightening and unacceptable in that for more than two hours, the IDF spokesperson's unit left this country completely defenseless. I felt like the first morning of the war, hearing the people calling the media from their homes inside of Kibbutz with gunmen all around and the army not there to protect them. RL, the international media in the Arab world and international public opinion was out attacking us last night for hours and the army wasn't there to defend us. Our country was left defenseless the soldiers didn't show up they weren't there. We were watching TV we were writing each other on Twitter and the soldiers left us in the field defenseless with the whole world attacking us. It's unacceptable. Accuracy is very important and the army has a responsibility to be accurate and there has to be a balance of course between accuracy and speed but something should have been done. This was an emergency. This was an emergency and it should have been treated like an emergency that demands urgent action. And there should have been within minutes someone from the military on a video it could be a handheld telephone doing a Skype simply saying we don't target hospitals. We're checking this as soon as we can. We're professional military from a democracy we're not a terrorist organization. There have been rockets in the past that have fallen inside Gaza and killed people. So it's certainly a possibility here and we're going to be checking everything we're going to be getting you the information as soon as we can. For now we have a handheld Skype. That is something maybe the Arab world and given the intensity of public opinion would have ignored but major western news media outlets could not have ignored that and it would have left it would have given Israel a sense of defense and given our country a sense of voice in a very very trying few hours. And absolutely there's one side of blood libel is something we've come to expect from the Arab media but we saw widespread condemnation from Europe as well but did they not have at least some basic duty to try to verify independently before taking the word of a terror organization responsible for crimes against humanity. I am not aware and I say this with some caution. I'm not aware of European governments coming out and fingering Israel for the attack. I know there are many in Europe and the UN around the world who came in and condemned the strike but of course use the word strike. There's an implicit understanding of whose responsibility because they failed rocket launch is not a strike. A strike is an intentionally carried out action. I'm pretty sure a dictionary would show us that. So there is that implicit understanding of the word and many did use the word certainly from the UN including this morning by the way. I believe but I don't know that anybody explicitly pointed the finger but in shaping the way people experienced this in the first few hours and it was such an intense event that people are experiencing it emotionally in the minutes and hours after it happens not the next day not the next morning not in the history books in the here and now and shaping that emotional experience that people are going through is the job of a spokesperson's unit. It's the job of the military it's there there to defend the country and they left Israel defenseless and I'm so frustrated I'm so angry I'm so angry about what happened and again and the feelings that it engendered in so many of us in real time. That said look the spokesperson's unit has recovered its footing acted professionally since coming out with his firm conclusion a few hours later about to present its evidence in English. By the way the emphasis put on Hebrew media I forgot to mention this there were leaks to Hebrew media in the first few hours Ariel Hebrew media is pretty much irrelevant doesn't matter if you're leaking to Israel's Channel 12 okay in this situation Channel 12 does not matter in this situation you need to be in touch and giving information directly to international media outlets because that's where the threat is. Okay and hold on it looks like someone is ascending to the podium right now no not quite yet so until they do this entire debacle with propaganda one-sided narratives flat out libel was hanging over President Joe Biden's visit to Israel where Joe Biden's entire okay hold on we will come back to this because this speech is starting now minor tactical difficulties first while we do that we were about to mention how this was hanging over the Biden visit to Israel where he had basically said that there is a condition for American support and that condition is you do not strike civilians you make a clear distinction between Hamas between the civilians and you go after Hamas with all your strength but leave the civilians out sort of look Israel does not target civilians that's never been a serious charge leveled at the Israeli military the charge is not that the charges somewhat different we'll talk about it later it seems like they finally got their sound issue over their fix so we are going to take this press conference live now responsible for the strike at the Al-Hali Al-Ma'dani Hospital in Gaza we did an immediate review with all relevant branches of the IDF this is what took place on Tuesday October 17th at 6.15 p.m. a barrage of rockets was fired by Hamas to Israel then at 6.59 p.m. a barrage of around 10 rockets was fired by Islamic Jihad from a nearby cemetery it was at a time that 6.59 p.m. when there were reports of an explosion at the Al-Hali Al-Ma'dani Hospital in Gaza City according to our intelligence Hamas checked the reports understood it was an Islamic Jihad rocket that had misfired and decided to launch a global media campaign to hide what really happened they went as far as inflating the numbers of casualties they understood with absolute certainty that it was a rocket misfired by Islamic Jihad that damaged the hospital analysis of our aerial footage confirms that there was no direct hit to the hospital itself the only location damage is outside the hospital in the parking lot where we can see signs of burning which I will show later no cratering and no structural damage to nearby buildings as opposed to the damage caused by any aerial munition which would have been of different nature we would have seen craters and structural damage to the buildings both of which haven't been haven't been identified in this incident the size of the damage we see here is due to the warhead of the Islamic Jihad rocket but most of the rocket's propellant is still evident due to the short flight of the rocket because the launch failed the following visual evidence shows infrared imagery of the parking lot you can see the central locations of fires some debris of rooftops no craters can be identified I want to show you that myself this is the area of the hospital okay we are showing the parking lot and the hospital okay those are in red spots this is not in infrared so you can understand it better this is the parking lot this is the parking lot you can see the parking lot also now in this picture shown here okay after math after the hit there is no structural damage to the building the walls stained intact there are no craters here all of the above which I said no structural damage the walls stay intact no craters these are the characterized that shows that they're not an aerial ammunition that have hit the parking lot we also have examples of what air-to-ground ammunition creator looks like as you can see they do not exist in this instance many immediate outlets immediately reported the unverified claims by Hamas those were lies spread by Hamas I want to make something clear it is impossible to know what happened as quickly as Hamas claimed they knew that was have that have that should have been an initial warning sign for many unlike Hamas the IDF launched an immediate examination which was overseen at the very highest levels of command this professional review was based on intelligence intelligence operational systems and aerial footage all of which which we crossed checked the evidence which we are sharing with you all confirms that the explosion of the Halil Mahadani hospital in Gaza was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket that was misfired here are the four main parts of the examination process first we confirmed that there was no IDF fire by land, sea or air that hit the hospital second our radar system tracked rockets fired by terrorists from within Gaza at the time of the explosion I will show you the trajectory analysis from the barrage of rockets confirms that the rockets were fired close proximity to the hospital in addition there are two independent videos which show the failure of the rocket launch and the continuation of rocket flight towards the ground within the Gaza Strip falling in the hospital compound third we have intelligence some that will some that will be shared here of communication between terrorists talking about rockets misfiring the terrorists realize that the rocket has misfired and made specific reference to the Halil Mahadani hospital I would want to let everybody hear the conversation and I will do the translation in English I'm telling you this is the first time that we see missile like this falling and so that's why we are saying it belongs to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad what? they are saying it belongs to the PGI it's from us it looks like it who says this they are saying the the sharp nail from the missile is local sharp nail and not like Israeli sharp nail what are you saying Abu Amar but God bless it couldn't have been found another place not the hospital to explode never mind yes Abu Raji they shot it from the cemetery behind the hospital what? they shot it coming from the cemetery behind the Mahadani hospital and it misfired and fell on them there's a cemetery behind it yes the Mahadani is exactly in the compound where is it when when you enter the compound you first enter the compound and don't go towards the city it's on the right side of the Mahadani hospital yes I know it we have cross checked intercept with other intelligence sources to confirm this accuracy it is common for rockets that are fired to Israel to land short and fall inside Gaza these rockets fall short of Israel and have caused Palestinian casualties during this war we have counted approximately 450 rockets that misfired and felled inside Gaza Palestinian civilians pay the price I want to show you the footage these are fed launches during this war until now these are all fed launches that felled inside the Gaza Strip and some of them of course created casualties among the Palestinians themselves and one of them was in the hospital al-Hali el-Mahadani we are also sharing this information with our partners first and foremost the United States we want the maximum transparency because we take any incident involving civilians very very seriously unfortunately many in the media immediately reported the statements coming out from Hamas controlled in Gaza which blamed Israel instead of waiting for the examination of a credible information from the IDF some media outlets ran with Hamas lies some of those headlines are still up have not been corrected I understand the desire to break news but I hope you will all agree the accuracy and credible information comes before speed the IDF acts in accordance with the international law in conclusion this incident shows how allegations in this case false and baseless allegations made by terrorists against Israel can spread and flame tension in the region I will now answer questions Jeremy Diamond, CNA Hey, I'm Michael Garry Jeremy Diamond, CNA thank you so much I'm wondering if you could first explain how an Islamic Jihad rocket could have caused this much death and destruction and then second of all I'd also like you to address the question of credibility because frankly the IDF is a less than perfect track record with the issue of credibility among other incidents the Israeli government initially claimed that it was armed Palestinian militants who killed the journalist Shireen Aguacle which we know is not true so why should the world trust you now because of the importance of credibility and in the past we had our ourselves were fast to go to conclusions this is why in this event we took the time took us more than five hours we wanted to double check everything make sure we're credible again we wanted to double check everything make sure we're credible opposed to the other events that you mentioned and I will want to answer your first question I'm saying it again what I understand the assessment is there were people in the parking lot probably taking refugees or whatever that came into the parking lot staying in the parking lot not inside the hospital itself is what we understand then what we understand because the rocket flight due to the rocket flight that was very very short because the launch has failed the existence of propellant made a larger explosion than the war had itself and it caused the damage of explosion that we see of the burning cars here okay because of the existence of a large amount of propellant inside this is the reason all those cars have been burned and probably the people were in this parking lot just a follow up one of the difficulties with independently verifying a lot of this information is the fact that journalists are not able to go into Gaza right now okay so will you open access for journalists to be able to go into Gaza I believe there are journalists now some journalists now in Gaza and I can tell you another thing Hamas has closed the area he's trying to take evidence from the area the area is now closed I ask you to send the journalists now in Gaza street go to the hospital take evidence if you see it in panel yeah good morning thank you President Biden says he doubt made and so are millions of people not just throughout the Middle East but elsewhere in the world whoever was responsible for this many will still conclude that if you weren't already bombing Gaza with thousands of strikes there wouldn't have been so many people in the hospital and this attack would not have happened in other words whatever justification explanation you can put on it many people are just going to conclude it's Israel's fault I will answer to an important question we have been calling for a couple of days now for the population in Gaza City and its arounds to go south from Wadi Gaza because Hamas is using them as human shield Hamas tries in every way to keep the population by threatening by taking car keys and other other things blocking the roads he wants the population in Gaza City because all the infrastructures of Hamas the terrorist infrastructures down beneath the tunnels and in buildings among other innocent civilians also in sensitive locations like nearby hospitals and in masks etc etc all of this logic is based that the population will be a human shield this is why he's so freaked out when people are moving south into Wadi Gaza we encourage the population to do so because we put more effort in Gaza City because Hamas control system is mostly in Gaza City that is the main reason we carried out our attacks because we were massacred on Saturday we did not do an initial attack on Gaza we had a massacre on Israel an historical massacre which the world haven't seen it's a Hamas ISIS massacre in a huge scale we didn't start we have to fight we have to fight this is the reason we're fighting we're trying to minimize the casualty of the population we're encouraging to go south into Wadi Gaza when we can provide as much a secure area for the population we keep on encouraging them to do so That's just a brief follow up Yeah We've already encouraged people to move south and unfortunately it's proved that that hasn't been safe either the bombings continue in places like Hamas and towards Rapa where people are trying to go just finding how does this alter your plans for a ground operation if it has to be considered? We are now going to share in this following hours an area of a safe zone for the Gaza that went south into Wadi Gaza and we are trying to create the conditions and the corridors Yes, we do attack in different areas but when we attack we attack by intelligence we try to minimize the population in those areas before we attack that's the logic and about the next stages of the war I will not talk about here of the next stages of the war ABC, Jeremy Boyne Thank you very much Do you think that the governments or do you think that the governments that condemned Israel last night will believe your explanation? I'm referring to Jordan, Egypt Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates I think all of the countries that you mentioned are watching the BBC carefully and looking carefully what the BBC said and I hope after our aftermath that shows it was cross-checked and we took the time because we didn't want to be non-reliable and we didn't want us to infect without credibility I hope the BBC will now share this investigation and those countries will listen to the BBC and we will also share United States and more intimate and also United Kingdom a more intimate review so the BBC can show it and those countries those Arab countries that you mentioned which is very important for Israel of course from the Abraham Accords and other countries who also would be threatened by Hamas Isis ideology should understand our war what Hamas Isis did on the massacre on Saturday is not nothing to do with Islam people killed babies people killed families women were raped women were raped people were beheaded this is against Islam this is against Islam any Arab country will show me a fatwa it goes with Islam this is against Islam Hamas Isis it's not one terror activity it's a scale massacre of the governance of the Gaza city of Gaza which is Hamas Hamas made a scale massacre which is a govern it's the sovereign it's a sovereign massacre this is why Hamas Isis we must fight it if I just follow up on that you're essentially saying that these Arab governments what the BBC made of their minds they came out with their statements long before I fired so I mean I'm impressed do you think we have so much clowns in the world also to be honest they have their own sources of information which is why they moved those statements came from the highest level foreign minister and so on I guess in the first time because people feel empathy with hearing that someone bombed an hospital or when they see people are dying so they go out and do statements and it's okay and I'm not blaming of course they're being emotional yeah I say I think and it sounds reasonable but now after evidence being shown and I think it it serves Hamas Hamas is a terror like Isis it's media and sword he wants to go to the media he wants to be viral that creates a viral imagery so after the conversation you heard when they say it islamic jihad he said okay now we're gonna take the benefit out of it and we're gonna show the world and they know it's gonna be viral so I'm not blaming anybody to showing it I'm just trying to now fix it because we were blamed before that that when we're too speed and and to that we're asking are you credible we're taking the time to be credible sometimes the speed defects it Patrick Kingsley New York Times Thanks Admiral I had some technical questions in your footage that you released last night some of that footage was filmed by Al Jazeera our team assessed that at least one of your emissions appears to be coming in a different direction to the one which you have set in your map is traveling north westerly not north westerly your map suggests second of all did you fire did the IDF fire any indome interceptors for artillery emissions at 6.59 p.m from Israel into Gaza thirdly can you share the intercepted audio of the Hamas members that you just played I think that would be important for our assessment A lot of questions Patrick I don't remember all the questions I don't know how much time Hospital officials said that smaller strikes targeted the hospital on Saturday and that they were warned by foam by Israeli officials to take care of the hospital do you have any response to that and finally is there any evidence of secondary explosions okay let's start with the first first thing iron dome we do not intercept inside Gaza okay iron dome we do not intercept inside Gaza this is not an iron dome issue under iron dome is used for preventing the rockets to being hit in Israel that's the first question second question those independent videos which we showed of the failure that you mentioned are not only the force element of the check it's not we didn't based our effects on those independent videos it's extra so I hear what the New York Times says and it's extra and the reports that you mentioned about telling the the hospital to be evacuate earlier days before I will check it I do not know the answer and I want to give you an answer which is incorrect and you asked about the secondary explosion in the in the parking lot what again what we see here in the picture and this is which this is the most important thing aerial munition doesn't look like that aerial munition of Israel would have caused intact to the walls it would have caused the crater okay and it makes completely logic as much as we know that most of this damage was done due to the propellant existence not just the warhead because of the short range because the launches failed because yeah because those those rockets should have been gone far away to Israel so you have a large existence of propellant regardless how credible the evidence is that you show that this explosion was not caused by an Israeli munition your enemies are going to still blame Israel and it's the fact that many of these Californian civilians have been killed since this military operation began are you losing information war and given how important that is is there a a potential to maybe change tack this is you said this is going to be official said it's going to be a long war are you not losing it using so much military power on Gaza's bit or the last of the millions there okay so we'll try to answer the second question before that because I think it's so it's important the information war is a hard war it's a hard enemy to win because this enemy has built his logic very very wisely using the population as a human shield Hamas pictured himself in the world as a charity organization donating money for the poor for the poor gazon of Hamas while we see all the money that came to Hamas most of it goes to tunnels goes to this scale massacred operation all the donations for many countries in the world including Europe second of it we've seen and also UNRRA had verified it that Hamas is stealing gasoline food and also we found in Israel during the massacre the kits of the medical kits were UNRRA kits used by the the terrorists we are fighting something that is hard to explain he's using the donation that you send is using the UNRRA possessions that are meant to go to this the poor gazon those poor Palestinians that were hijacked by Hamas and he's using it he took all the gasoline that could have helped for desalination inside the Gaza for six days it could have gone gas for hospitals he took it it to his own infrastructure military infrastructure military the terror infrastructures to that needs this gas this is who we fighting against this is who we fighting gets and we have to win this information war with evidence not with false uncredible statements we have to win it with evidence we have no other way we must stay moral we must play accord the international law we have no other way otherwise we won't be a democrat liberal country and this is what we fighting it's a democrat liberal country fighting any Hamas ISIS controlled gazon area with innocent civilians Palestinians that is using them as a human shield that is the event that is the event we fighting we have to fight we cannot live next to our borders with Hamas ISIS governs that will threaten our civilians and do massacre where you rape women beheaded the bodies kidnapped babies do you understand that while we speak babies are being held in Gaza women young girls that went to a music festival of being held in Gaza dead bodies are being held in Gaza old people old people some of them were in the Holocaust are held now in Gaza how come you take old people how come you take babies how do you kidnap this kind of more than almost 200 people have been kidnapped how do you do some of them are foreigners this is what we fighting and now they're going to show videos of those hijacks they want to terrorize the family we will not be terrorized we we have our values we know what we fighting for we know what we fighting for we fighting for our country we fighting to be with our values a moral country that is a democrat visuals as president biden arrives we'll be returning to that as soon as the press conference is over but returning to that first you're still struggling with the information war because Palestinian civilians are being held in Israel you're saying that your culture is really hostage babies in Gaza and yet you're still struggling with the information war because Palestinian civilians are being held in Israeli bond government but it's is there another way if that's what I'm asking and can you just ask that question about your assessment on casualty please you can say this is not another round in Gaza casualty is inflation we understand from intelligence this is not that something else we share it with the government we understand that the mask has fallen down we are living next to ISIS governing Hamas state we cannot we cannot live like that in the world that's a world problem that's just Israeli problem it's a world problem this can shift away exactly like ISIS it can shift away to Arab countries have fallen down we are living next to ISIS governing I would say cynically that if we cannot we shouldn't ask Ichi Sinuah and Muhammad Dev in the world it's all a whole world problem that's just an Israeli problem why is it happening to them this can shift away other countries in the world can make it can shift the mass around them with no conditions and bring off it can shift away every hijacks that we share cynically show us the way you do that ask Ichi Sinuah show us the way you do that and we will do that we understand we have no other way to fight that the way we're fighting Anshu, fair for other times and since it's already been passed on to the Americans at the other Western allies were the Americans involved in the examination debriefing process and did they at any point provide you with the satellite footage that they had to promote the area no we used only our systems Anshu and we will provide all this information today to the Americans and not just the Americans what did you get any any no cooperation from any other source outside and in your opinion we are credible with our information with our intelligence with our system there are the intelligence is credible all along the intelligence community in the world with the Five Eyes etc this will be very very credible information that any country will rely on and of course our footage Emery the Air Force way to review things is very very credible in the world and if those things will show credible to any liberal democracy we'll start with the last question I think it's the most important one there is a completely difference between the Gazan Palestinians and Hamas as a sovereign it wasn't like that all years everybody knows that it's a completely different thing and most of the Gazan Palestinians are not Hamas as a sovereign military and politically but we must take the sovereign the govern down that's for your first question then you asked about in the beginning in the about the intelligence we understand there is a cemetery nearby the Al-Hali al-Mahdani hospital and they probably fired from the cemetery as they mentioned the self in the conversation and they also refer to an Islamic jihad failure which they were are using as a propaganda against Israel and if you can remind me the other question you asked okay okay you write that Hamas is all along Gaza but most of us military infrastructure and governing infrastructure are in Gaza city and his area this is why we're asking to go south to Wadi Gaza okay and that is it's not for it's until we finish what we need to finish in this area where he has a governing and military and terrorizing from this area of Gaza city and its peripheral to Israel but yes we are we will attack in all Gaza by intelligence and we will attack by international law and before that we'll be based on intelligence and which we will try always to minimize the casualties of civilians AFP Patrick Can you give us a little response please this very serious incident that just occurred in the hospital do you think it will delay or prevent you to launch a ground operation inside Gaza if it's actually what you're planning to do this is a very serious incident because civilians were casualties this is why we take it seriously this is why we took our time to be credible again this is why we took our time to be credible and we didn't jumped into statements so we take it very very seriously and I think the world should hold up Islamic jihad and everybody knows who's funding Islamic jihad Islamic jihad is 100% funded by Iran the rockets of Islamic jihad are funded by Iran I repeat it Iran funds Hamas but it does 100% for Islamic jihad Islamic jihad cause the casualties in the hospital in Al-Halil Ma'adani hospital the casualties of Islamic jihad the rocket is being funded or delivered from Iran Iran caused this death in Al-Halil Ma'adani hospital in the end of the day the stages of the war I will not talk about them here just a follow-up question how are you planning the population in the Hamas the guys inside Gaza knowing as you are saying that they are using the population as human shields this is isn't it an impossible task? I think for us during our 75 years here in in this region before we came here we were in other places and some of the Israelis were here for a long long years ago but we are used to impossible missions and we understand it's a complex mission because Hamas has hijacked not just our hijacked hijacked Israelis babies women old old women and others he hijacked the Gaza population he hijacked them they could have been prospered you know that Israel brings in Gaza workers by thousands they bring in Gaza workers to make economy in Gaza better we bring them in to make it more prosperous that money goes some of it goes to Hamas and then Hamas executed he doesn't want Gaza prosperous he doesn't care about economy he cares about jihad and I don't know if it's even jihad anybody in Islam can explain this event the Islamic world the Islam can explain what we're seeing here kidnapping babies raping women beheading people by a government scale country operation massacre here's an poll with Fiona Holt is there a risk from the classified intelligence that you just exposed of sources and methods you played a singles intelligence conversation of Islamic jihad for the general public shortly after it happened they can see the transcript they can see which phones you were tapping because they were debating about whether or not to close the singles intelligence in public we have to be credible credible here we take our own risks this is what I have to say I-24 Robert good morning you discussed the fact that you have shared intelligence with the US and with the UK what other countries have you shared intelligence with? I want to be accurate we are going to share more intelligence that I have shared here with our friends first of all United States then other countries in Europe we're going to share it okay this is what I said I want to be accurate and can you tell me which other countries you intend to do this with and will there be any of your neighbors in the Middle East who you intend to share the intelligence with? it will be the decision of the government and I'm sure we're going to make the right decision in order to make everybody clear who is to blame we have how they're told how it's one question for you for the audience please we have to be the question was how did we not how did we not learn we had an event like that a couple of years ago in Jibalia and it took us a couple of hours and then the world and the media it caused the damage to Israel we have to be credible you mentioned Serena Buakle you mentioned other we have to be credible this is our lesson learned we have to be credible with the world we have to be credible with the media we are a country a liberal democracy it means that the freedom of press and being credible to the press is an essence to Israel it will take us time and it did take us time yesterday because it's not Jibalia it's a hospital it's in a larger scale we had to be accurate and double check and double check and double check and now come and show you the evidence Hayley Meyer Bluebeard yes, hello Admiral I have a question regarding the potential ground offensive I understood from your answer that that is still planned has the U.S. advised in any way to try and delay this operation? I'm here to talk about the event of the of the hospital Ali El Mahadani but the war the target of the war is to take out Hamas ISIS governcy sovereignty terror sovereignty out we will use all the measures we need at the time comes in the right time to do though to do them Mary's view Bern? I have a question Mary's over financial time last night in the videos we provided the foreign after the parking lot in the hospital and also in the post explosion image here we don't see any people we don't see any bodies how do you explain that? because we are trying to be careful because we haven't seen also the evacuation of the body and I don't know the number of the case and maybe they're inflating according to our intelligence so we have to be accurate but you can see and I guess it might be true that people were thinking that the parking lot is a safe zone but unfortunately Islamic jihad failed rocket failed in this parking lot and this might have caused this event of casualties as you mentioned thank you very much thank you very much everyone for coming and thank you very much okay all the materials ACP you just saw the evidence presented by the IDF that it was in fact the terror group of Palestine and Islamic jihad behind that rocket strike on the hospital we have a panel in studio to discuss that with us that would be Mark Shulman of Newsweek at Jack Naria of Israeli Intelligence and of course our senior correspondent Owen Alterman I saw some faces during that panel some people thought the evidence was not as well presented as it should have been let's open with you Owen because you were definitely a little non-plus by some of that and plus by others certain parts I have to be very clear certain parts look overall I thought I thought Denadari did a great job either the evidence presentation actually that part was superb at the beginning well organized well presented explained in a clear way so I thought it made the case extremely well a few questions I think could have been answered in a more direct way I think that for example the first question asked by a British journalist before the one from Jeremy Bowen of the BBC I think could have been answered in a much sharper way but it's a long news conference REL I think you can pick here or there and this question or that by the way the answer to Jeremy Bowen of the BBC was priceless right you know you're asking about the Arab government so you believe well it's up to you to report it I that that was that was terrific another thing that was an important thread throughout the press conference is what we talked about before the press conference and I talked about in a very decisive and I think emotional way before the press conference was the balance between accuracy and speed and Daniel Ligari defending his units performance last night and saying listen we prioritized accuracy to the entire the expense almost entirely of the issue of speed we put speed completely to the side and focused only on accuracy so that we were certain that what we presented would be 100.0 percent correct and that we wouldn't get caught I question whether that was really the right balance mistakes that they spoke that the spokesperson unit made in the past but again that's a debate that will continue what actually looks like that takes up just about all of our broadcast but we're going to be staying with that most of you for the next part of the broadcast we're going to be back on air in about 20 minutes because President Joe Biden of the United States is landing we're going to be covering the possible aspects of that and the ramifications for the region and for Israel's war against Hamas so stay tuned for that we're going to be right back covering that and for all the Israelis out there stay strong officially in a state of war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking but then 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped help us we don't want to do it 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 this particular project with a gross capacity of 103.5 megawatt will be producing around 230 gigawatt hour of clean renewable energy per year we came out here where they see us to complain about the rain yes in fact in these moments global warming is affecting Bolivia and not just Bolivia but the whole world whole and we need rain for the embryos the Vakita reserve we have the right ingredients and we have to do the job and then if we have the right ingredients and we do the job that the Vakita can be protected 100 israelis kidnapped by Hamas and Tegazza range in age from infants to the elderly and we've seen pictures of some of these elderly elderly women being dragged into the Gaza Strip among them is Edina Moshe who was last seen being spirited away from Kibbutz near Oz by terrorists on the back of a motorcycle after they had attacked the Kibbutz and murdered her husband Moshe well joining us now is her grandson a Gyal Raka and he joins us from the town of Haifa Gyal tell us a little about you tell us about your grandparents they're very wonderful people they lived in in heroes for over 50 years my grandfather lost his brother on Yom Tupur war my grandma was the caretaker for all the kids in the Kibbutz and always was happy to help to anyone who needed any help until Saturday when Hamas invaded the Kibbutz where they were locked in the Mamad my grandma got a call from a neighbor grandson she was calling her because she saw on Facebook the dead body of her grandma that was shot by the terrorists who took her and killed her after that they came to help their house where they tried to open the Mamad my grandfather held it as best he can they couldn't get inside so they tried from the window where they shot him and killed him and then kidnapped her and then set the place on fire while looting everything they had burning everything to the ground even everything ruined taking more and more and more people from heroes killing so many and we learned only after that from the video that she's in Gaza we hope she's okay but we don't know no one tells us anything and now the first thing we want is for her to get her medicine she's a sick woman she has a heart monitor and she needs her medicine daily because she wouldn't want to survive if she won't get it we try to talk to everyone who can but until now no one actually talked to us back just some like DNA testing and stuff like that but nothing more than that right yeah just hearing you talk it's almost it's unimaginable I'm it's just as unimaginable what you're going through and terrible how old is your grandmother your grandmother she's 17 unbelievable have the authorities been in touch with you the Israeli authorities we know they've been slow to act but a Gail Harsh has been appointed as a coordinator has anyone been in contact with you yet from the from the authorities with me no personally but with I think with my articles and and aunts but I think nothing really like substantial we don't really still know anything we just collected some data like ID and stuff like that but nothing more than that we still know nothing we have no clue what happened to her where exactly is she in Gaza we know nothing we're just in the dark Gael this you know we're an international channel so I want to give you the forum to speak outside of Israel to people are watching abroad and people maybe from governments and what your message to them today is in dealing with the situation with your grandmother being held hostage help us we want to know where she is we want to take care of her we want her to have the medicine and we want to get her back that's the first priority we want to get her back she's she's not sick she's sick and we miss her we really want her back she she has almost no value for them please give them back so so then so after we like we were found out the whole tragedy I really looked into it looked into it I went to visit my brother's girlfriend in the hospital and I spoke to the guy who was with them the whole time and saw everything in his eyes actually so the story goes like this they were at a party now the nature party they're having good time and all of a sudden there was missiles and first they weren't even sure what was going on they thought it was just like fireworks they weren't even sure what was happening and everyone was just having good time and and slowly but surely they realized that it's missiles from Gaza and people started like getting some people you know some people in Israel they're used to it so they'll take it easy some people will freak out some people will leave some people will stay and my brother was the kind of guy who never never nothing nothing ever really got to him everything was always like take it easy it's all good you know everything's gonna be all right and that's really how he was big hero in this whole story and and they started they started leaving the party and and he was like don't worry he kept on telling his girlfriend don't worry everything's gonna be fine we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna leave we're gonna go and then they realized that there's actually there's actually terrorists in the party shooting down people and they hear their gunshots and and people still are not sure what's going on because even the terrorists that were there they came on on Israeli uniform Israeli Israeli military uniform and and I can imagine how that is for people who want to come to help and they start shooting at them I mean that's not it's crazy and so so so actually so they they get they start running they start they start running and then they they with my brother told his girlfriend lie down on the floor and put your hands on your head and just we'll wait here until until it like calms down a bit and then we'll keep going and that's that's what they did and they they kept on running and they got to this this dumpster this big it's a big metal dumpster and there was two of them and they saw a bunch of people go into one of them and they decided to go into the second one and and they went into the dumpster and they were there for about four hours four five four and a half hours and the whole time David was like telling everyone don't worry he was the one who was like okay let's go into the second one the dumpster who was helping people the whole time he was really being like his girlfriend said that he was just such a hero and he was completely calm the whole time and he was really really just a big hero there and and what happened after that is they were in the dumpster for hours and they started hearing arabic talking and then gunshots everywhere and ala wakabah ala wakabah and that's what was going on for like a good like hour or so or and they were freaking out but he was really the whole time he was just telling everyone don't worry just keep quiet they're coming to get us and my brother at this time actually sent one of my good one of our good friends he sent him a message saying help help help and he started like he didn't really know how to explain it he just said you don't understand what's going on here I need your help and slowly he already understood by himself he sent him the location of where he was and and and then and then his phone his phone ran out of battery and my friend didn't hear from him anymore my friend is connected to the army he's very high up so he decided he he he he he spoke to everyone and as much people as he could to get to on that location and they were supposed to get there as soon as possible and at this time my brother was the people people were the people in this dumpster were actually hiding underneath underneath garbage bags on on top of each other just like hoping for their lives like really hoping that there's any anyway and and at a certain point the terrace just walked up in front of my brother my brother was always on top he was he didn't want to hide and he was like making sure that that everyone's okay and he he was like I was just telling them don't worry we're gonna get out of it he was always checking to see what's happening and then he would and he would bend down and he would look up for a second and then at a second the terrace just showed up in front of him and he like got up for a second and he just before he could have done anything he just shot him and he killed him and uh and there were about 10 and someone told me 10 some and the guy who was with them told me 10 and my brother's girlfriend told me 16 it's about I'd say 10 to 16 people were in there and only four came out alive and one of them is my brother's girlfriend and she's she got shot and she's now recovering in the hospital so Daniel and Norm went to the festival of peace and love in the south district in Israel they went with thousands of kids to celebrate life to celebrate love on saturday morning they were attacked and murdered and slaughtered and raped and burned by the Islamic jihad by the Hamas and by the civilians of Gaza you know Danielle was born in california in the united states she was the happiest kid ever and everybody really loved her and she grew up as an amazing young girl and woman for everybody loved and she loved everybody Noam grew here in Israel and is a real man they met in the army and have planned to spend all of their lives together yes we have found I went down south with my friend Issa Al-Ziv and we have found the car that they were in what happened they were in the music festival and I guess missile starts hitting the location there were a group of seven kids that fled with their cars Noam and Danielle with their friends turned south and I've seen a truck with three terrorists up north coming and we've saw the trails of at least three Kalashnikov guns from the back of the car ripping the car and two at least one came with a motorcycle from the front and we've seen the vicious inhuman attack of four or five kids that were in the car that had no chance to defend themselves they have done nothing to hurt anyone except to come and celebrate life and love and peace We're talking a lot in the abstract perhaps but I mean it is an absolute unthinkable nightmare for any human being to have your family members taken by terrorists into enemy territory and in some cases in the last few days I must have taken entire families many many Israelis are suffering that agony right now one of them I'm very sad to say Sharon Calderon Sharon's cousin Ofer was taken along with his 11 year old son Erez his 16 year old daughter Sa and the children's grandmother Karnela another cousin Noia was also taken it's it's very hard Sharon I'm so sorry this has happened to you can you can you tell us a bit about your family and what happened Last Saturday we woke up about 6 30 in the morning and to alarm we have a lot of alarms we live next to the gas stream and the alarm tell us to get into a safe place because we have there is bombs so we got into the safe safe place and then the terror attacks terror attacks started we had in our village was full of terrorists that was shouting and were shooting and killing and decided to just destroy everything and get into houses and knocking on our doors and windows and yelling that I'm here to kill you we'll never see a light a daylight again we were like this 24 hours almost 24 hours in our next village the the orphan live with his daughter and his son daughter Sahar and his son areas and the terrorists got into their house and then they decided to go out through the window and run away at 8.30 in the morning we got their last message for them that they hide in bushes and they're very afraid and the terrorists is very close to them and since then we didn't hear anything from them we don't know anything if they're okay if they're not it's there like we just heard this report you know hearing the rockets overhead we need to become clear that this was something different something unusual something much more dangerous so in the first place we thought it was like only only missiles like we like there was sunrise the music was really good and then we look back and we saw dozens of missiles above our head everyone were trying to escape we got into the car me and my friend tried to go to the side of Bering and then like we drove there and then we heard shooting like machine guns yeah and then everyone to turn around to the other side the same events happened on the other side I still thought it was only two terror attacks and not as big as it was after everyone ran away to the fields we abandoned the car and everything we had only like it took the backpack they had already and ran away we tried to hide from from the bombs first because we didn't thought that the terror attack was that massive people were running to the other side and then after a minute they got back screaming because we heard gunshots from their side as well so you decided at one point to get out of the car that it was safer to go on foot to just run off basically into the desert it was like a traffic like all the traffic stops because of that many people we ran away like we ran away for six hours 15 kilometers to to the east side we needed to hide like I would hide I hid it in a bush for an hour because there were a shotting above my head at that time I stayed with one friend that we saved each other's life like when we were hiding in the bush I had like an eyelash that fell on my fell on my on my cheek and he asked me this is a good time for me to pray and make a move and make a wish I prayed for my life and for him and I still have many friends that didn't go back and I thought I'd say we'll go we'll be back we want to turn now to Yossi Landau commander of Zaka the Hebrew acronym for disaster victim identification this rescue and recovery organization the organization of angels largely made up by volunteers Mr. Landau you've been doing this most difficult job for over three decades now you have seen things right let's put it that way but what you have seen in recent days eyesight can't even see really you know I just saw the pictures that you posted and it took me a back flash from two days ago and it's only a drop but what what do you saw could you share with us sir some of what you've you've been seeing in recent days as you said I'm more than three decades doing this horrible work and I would call it holy work absolutely okay and this holy work is not it's it's not only for Jewish people we do this for every religion we don't care it's if if it's by accident it's for accidents any unnatural death but when I was called on Saturday when I left my family it's a holiday Saturday I left my family and just left to steroid and when I got over there and I saw the bodies piled up in the on the street all over and I was on the fire I was trying to fight I fought back with my friends and so you know and then I went on the road and picked up all the shattered bodies and burned bodies for no reason I'm used to it I would say I'm used to it that's the limit but then when it's a little bit hard I'm sorry yeah I know of course because I just got home after five days not being home you know and when I'm in the field I don't think about it but when we go home and you start to think about it yeah it gets a little bit harder it's difficult of course and when we went in and I we then nobody's gonna get interfered from what I'm gonna say now but when I go into a house well this is my team right over there um when I go into a house and I see a woman on the stomach I decide we have to turn around because that's the way we have to put our heads up we have to put it into the to the body bag and you know and now I'm not prepared what I'm gonna see you know we saw blood to see a gunshot wound in the back of the head but when we turn over and we see good morning and welcome to i24 news ongoing coverage of Israel at War I'm Arielle Levin-Walgman you are seeing on screen a live feed as President Joe Biden of the United States is landing in Israel set to arrive for a visit of solidarity after the U.S. has declared full support for Israel at war we're going to turn to our panel in studio made of our senior correspondent Owen Ultman as well as Mark Schulman of Newsweek to break down this situation just ahead of the visit there is definitely a huge groundswell shift in attitudes in Israel towards President Biden Mark we were talking about this just a moment ago let's go more into that absolutely from the moment he gave his speech to you on the second day of the war Israelis suddenly felt like they had a leader that someone really cared about them that suddenly the president of the United States had our backs it was a sea of change Israeli public opinion prior to this had been sort of lukewarm towards Biden figuring well he's an old man and who knows who knows what he's doing today of course almost every Israeli you speak to says thank God Biden is the president and he would be elected overwhelmingly as the prime minister of Israel right now if he was to run so he's a very very popular man because he stood up and said all the right things was one of the greatest speeches that he certainly made and a really excellent speech for any president and of course the fact that he's coming here right now shows resolve that we've never seen before Yeah, Ariel we're about to see the pictures on our screen as this plane nears the tarmac and Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport the president of the United States getting out in the middle of a war in Israel's in Israel's most difficult hour if you will another emotional moment you know I said it a few days ago there's something we didn't know about the year 2023 we didn't know this a month ago we didn't know this a few weeks ago we didn't know the 2023 was going to be a high watermark in the relations between Israel and the United States that's something we didn't know it's been a big big big surprise a kind of light in the midst of all of the darkness of this war and it's because of the president it's because of how he's responded it's because of the policy moves and the military moves but more important it's because of that speech it's because of the emotion and the sincerity the genuineness and it is going to be an emotional visit for all involved I suspect for the president himself I chore for his Israeli interlocutors and for the wider public in Israel and around the Jewish world who are going to be watching this and for Israel's supporters around the world we're going to be watching this visit I think an emotional few hours and certainly the landing itself that we're going to see in a few minutes that itself maybe one of the emotional high points of the next few hours the president of the United States landing in the state of Israel in the middle of a war with rockets being fired with sirens almost I almost certain to sound right during the course of this visit I think it's the first time in history that a president has gone into a war zone telling in advance that he's coming in other words he had Biden had gone to Kiev but it was complete secrecy the few times that presidents have gone to Afghanistan it was in complete secrecy only afterwards was the press informed here it was announced in advance to the whole world to know President Biden is going to be landing approximately at this hour courage also the fact that he's willing to do that this shows a great deal of courage and identification with us and before we continue this discussion we are going to go live to our reporter Mary MacAuliffe in Tel Aviv who is going to be covering exactly this because the president has just landed and hasn't stepped out of the plane just yet the question is what is on the president's agenda while he's in Israel what's the significance of this journey that's right Ari 11 woman this is a trip that is packed with significance of course as you have been discussing in studio a visit by the sitting US president while Israel is in the midst of war coming to the Middle East when in recent years we have seen the US administrations try and distance themselves and from the Middle East and try and disengage from their entanglement in the Middle East instead we are now announcing the president on the ground saying trying to do everything he can do to try and prevent this from widening into a larger conflict trying from preventing other actors in the region from getting involved in this conflict this is absolutely his number one goal so while he's here he will be discussing this with Israeli officials he will just be discussing humanitarian aid this is something US officials have been working very intently on the past week trying to facilitate trying to deal with the Gaza refugee situation as well as getting aid trucks into Gaza but importantly he's also here to show his solidarity with Israel he'll be meeting with some of the families of those who are held hostage inside the Gaza strip to hear their stories to hear some of the anguish from these families so he'll be doing that as well so it's solidarity but also coming with these difficult questions and before he took off we heard from those inside his administration saying that they will also be looking into the incident at that hospital in Gaza last night and doing their own investigation and own analysis on what exactly happened as of course Israel is denying responsibility all of this footage and evidence that it says proves that it was a failed Gaza rocket but the U.S. officials are saying they want to look at it themselves and determine what happened now Mary it's not just hard questions for Israel but for President Joe Biden himself we know that at least 31 victims of Hamas's rampage in the South were American citizens and an unknown number of Americans are currently being held by Hamas what are the American plans to help resolve that situation absolutely Ari well we know for some time now we have had American forces on the ground here in the country special forces who have been meeting with the Israeli military and have been actively involved in the hostage situation and the efforts to try and rescue them as Israel prepares to launch a large scale operation inside the Gaza Strip Israel says it is ready to bring that to the next stage of this operation so the American officials are here on the ground they are working hard to try and release these Americans we know the foreigners are a major focus now for diplomatic efforts trying to get foreigners who are inside the Gaza Strip out as well as for those special forces teams who are here on the ground who are to get those who are being held hostage inside the Gaza Strip so it's absolutely a very complicated task for the U.S. President and I think that is why we are seeing such an extraordinary show of support of him here on the ground while Israel is in the midst of this war definitely something unprecedented that we mentioned before in the studio at Mary thank you very much and we'll be back with you over the course of the day for further analysis on the President's visit before that though we are going to come back to our panel in studio for further analysis directly here we've been saying about what a big deal it was this unprecedented wartime journey by a sitting president of the United States that announced in advance but it was also said coming in that it was going to come with some hard questions for Israel as well from a friendly neighbor but the question is what are these hard questions and what is it going to cost Israel okay the biggest hard question and I think it's a hard question we're all asking ourselves what next we all know we want to eliminate Hamas but what happens after Hamas is eliminated until now we've never done this for two reasons one the cost in soldiers because it's going to be a costly assault let's put it that way but at this point it's not really relevant we've lost so many soldiers just from their attack that that's not a consideration and civilians of course civilians more even much more so but the second part is we've never had a good plan what happens when once we get rid of Hamas and I still think that's one of the biggest problems we're facing besides conquering the actual strip and Hamas itself what do we do the day after and Biden wants to know that we have a plan I mean Blinken was here and stayed up until four in the morning meeting with our war cabinet trying to discuss that the second question is this issue of humanitarian aid for the Gaussian people it's something by the way we now see prime minister Netanyahu I believe that yes this prime minister Netanyahu there on the tarmac walking to greet the united states president president Biden presumably about to go down those steps and be greeted by the Israeli prime minister in the middle of a war kind of precedent seems to say the least public you know here it is on TV worldwide and our enemies can see it I think the other the question of humanitarian aid the united states feels very strongly that we need to provide some sort of aid for all the refugees or they have to provide some sort of aid as somebody has to Israel still emotionally has a problem with that why should they get any aid while all our hostages are being held and they're not giving us any sign of life so the question is what sort of agreement can be reached relating to that it's probably in our interest to find a way of giving them some sort of humanitarian aid but again without any price without having to tell us what the state of the hostages are I don't know I don't know what what the Israeli government willing to do but Biden is here to try to work that out you know it's a bear hug he loves us he's loving us with all his heart and he really truly does love us but again his view of this is slightly different than ours and we'll have to find a way to make sure the views are the same in the course of the next day just to take a moment and speak to what we're seeing on screen of course that's Air Force One the words the United States of America across the tarmac of course you have the ambulance of Israel's Maghende Vita Dome equivalent of the Red Cross or Red Crescent there in the foreground and Prime Minister Netanyahu himself on the tarmac to greet President Biden often in true state visits that the president makes there's the president of Israel Isaac Herzog of course there's pomp and circumstance I remember when Donald Trump landed here during his presidency the bans of course none of that given the circumstances is being very very different and a very very different kind of visit but much more emotional in its own way and there's the door itself of the airplane with the US president about to step through it and walk down those stairs shake hands with the president and Prime Minister of Israel in the middle of a war Ariel Mark these are just extraordinary scenes I imagine he's going to hug them to be honest with you we'll have to see but I would bet he's going to hug at least one of them if that falls in which is notable because until just a few weeks ago if you asked what's the relationship between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Biden someone would say well there's a lot of daylight between the two absolutely there was a lot of daylight but all the issues that were between them are currently irrelevant and no one actually believes that Prime Minister Netanyahu will be Prime Minister a year from now and the reality is Israel is in trouble and Biden cares and right now Netanyahu is the Prime Minister and he's coming to help that's what it amounts to so let's discuss some of the major issues on the agenda here we have some very very basic knowledge of what the man's schedule what his agenda is let's take a look at what some of that is and what we think the highlights of the trip works showing solidarity is one thing where there's got to be some meat and potatoes behind this too well the meat and potatoes of course is going to be the another announcement of the U.S. aid package that he's planning if Congress ever gets its act together the meat and potatoes will be some sort of plan for humanitarian aid and maybe something relating to houses we don't know about that and don't forget President Biden is going to be sitting with Israel's war cabinet in the defense ministry headquarters the military of course an extraordinary we have started with Secretary Blinken just a few days ago but an extraordinary event that he's going to be there at the table where the big decisions are being made in managing this war something that as far as I understand hasn't happened in this country in 50 years and there he is about to come there he is two thumbs up that is President Joe Biden descending from Air Force One to meet with Israeli leadership in the middle of a war to show American support and as mentioned to help coordinate the war effort there it is a hug yep exactly as you predicted right there the two showing support because the point right now to show is that there is no daylight that of course Israeli President Isaac Herzog next to Prime Minister Netanyahu unbelievable scenes to be quite honest with you I mean I've been in the studio for the last many years and a lot of historic moments this is a really unbelievable moment to see this this is a moment a milestone in the relationship between Israel and the United States between the Israeli and American peoples a proud moment I think for Jews around the world for Israel's supporters around the world I hope for Americans in the United States and around the world and for many many others but there is the President you can see the expression on his face and the emotion again a President who was not afraid to show emotion in difficult situations and where is he can wear his feelings on his sleeve and he has in over the course of this war and he is there with Israel's leadership and being the most pro-Israel President in American history it turns out Israelis will not forget this moment will not forget his speech will not forget the fact that there's one U.S. aircraft carrier off our coast and another one coming and there they're getting down to business look they're going in the cars this is a short visit we're in the middle of a war there's work to be done so by President Biden is heading for a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu after that an expanded meeting as we mentioned with his team and Israel's war cabinet right remember those five decision makers at the top of the pyramid in terms of managing this war and he will be sitting three who are voting members so to speak and two are observers President Biden is going to be in the room with them discussing and asking as John Kirby the National Security Council spokesman said tough questions we there see President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu getting into that van I think we can make them out in the back of the crowd and all the security personnel there and again don't forget viewers a siren could go off at any moment a siren could go off at any moment we saw low left shots the German chancellor and his entire plane have to lay on the ground on that very tarmac at the airport last night so this is a president who is coming here understanding that Hamas could be firing a rocket at him at him any moment I also want to think that he's going to add a little bit of wisdom you know people make fun of his age but he comes with an awful lot of wisdom and a war cabinet while having a lot of war experience does not have all that much diplomatic experience and you know I hope he brings that experience with him he's been involved in US foreign relations since the 1970s it's worth mentioning that as you said before this could be a very foundational critical and game-changing moment for Israel and United States relations and the last time Israel has been in a war for its survival on this scale was 50 years ago during the Yom Kippur War another foundational moment the American approach to Israel was quite different than Biden's and this compares quite favorably I think from Israel's perspective in every way and Arielle foundational for the Israeli West relationship also a milestone maybe turning point for Israel's relationship with the Democratic Party and I think it's so very important for the future of the relationship that this is all happening in a sense under a Democratic president obviously a Republican president one would imagine would be extremely also supportive of Israel Israel has a tradition of bipartisan support but we've seen that fray over the last few decades and the fact that a Democratic president is doing this and using his bully pulpit to talk about it and potentially bringing with him parts of the Democratic coalition is also extremely important for the depth and for the stability and for the future of Israel's relationship with the United States and the American people since 19 since the Yom Kippur war our relationship has changed dramatically the amount of integration between the United States and Israel in terms of the army the fact that US stores equipment here in Israel the joint exercises at the US Air Force and the Israeli Air Force do together there's a there's that degree of an ally that wasn't previously but in 1973 Israel was one of those countries in Israel excuse me the United States helped now Israel's considered an ally and President Biden is doing what you do for an ally helping when time time of need comes and I think this will never be forgotten and all of the emotion around and don't forget in terms of the practical help and in your time about Mark and also in a very practical way the iron dome system right if a siren does go off maybe when a siren does go off in a place where Joe Biden is in during this visit he will be protected and he will be protected in large part because of the policies of his own government under Democratic presidents under Republican presidents with huge support in the United States Congress a symbol of the US Israeli partnership the iron dome system that has saved so many lives here in Israel and continues to save so many lives both Israelis and indirectly of Palestinians too by the way and that is going to be the iron dome system that Joe Biden has helped support is now going to be used to protect Joe Biden now we're talking about how this visit has been so critical and will be so critical for Israel's security in the days ahead but it's also worth noticing that American credibility is very much on the line here a disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal under this presidency means that there is a lack of belief in the United States as a Middle East player we see China now eyeing Taiwan this is critical for the United States Ari, all these pictures are not only being watched here in Tel Aviv they're not only being watched in Washington they're being watched in Moscow they're being watched in Beijing they're being watched around the world they're being watched in Kiev they're being watched in Kiev too right you're right this is not only about the United States standing by Israel's side with all the emotion wrapped up in this relationship that Joe Biden has put on such vivid display this is also America's message to its rivals around the world that the United States stands by its allies in their darkest hours in their most trying times part of America's reputation has been helped in terms of its help to Ukraine certainly Biden has done an excellent job of getting all the allies to support Ukraine and no one can question his ability there but yes this is this is very important this is the whole part of the whole question America is not is not leaving the world scene as some people would like it to do it's very much a part of the world scene it's using its power where it can no one else could put an aircraft carrier off our coast the United States is not only watching in Kiev they're watching these pictures in Taipei as well absolutely because this is a critical moment of whether or not the American Empire will stand the test of the next decade or so that's right now we see I believe this is the motorcade leaving the airport again this is there's a lot of emotion wrapped up in the visit and all the pictures we just saw of the president landing but this is the motorcade going through the streets of Tel Aviv we can recognize the Bauhaus building off in the distance and you're not sure it's the motorcade quite yet it's on the motorcade they couldn't be here yet maybe you're right because if they're just at the airport wrapped up in the moment but yeah there's a matter of mass as well there's a matter of mass as well but somebody is going through the streets of Tel Aviv again showing that this is a working visit as well with the crowd and schedule this is going to take place in the hotel right there on the Kamensky Hotel that's right the Kamensky Hotel right there on the Tel Aviv prom not across from the beach ironically maybe they're going to come by close to us to the studios here on the way to the Kamensky right about a half hour walk if you walk fast from our studio and there is the Kamensky Hotel relatively new hotel on Tel Aviv's scene obviously not seeing 24 and tourists these days but at least on this day has a more important visitor if you will and I'm sure that that hotel will remember this for a very very long time and we're going to get a quick view from inside Israeli politics as well that would be a member of Israel's parliament Kareem Alharar the Yesh Ateed Party ultimately the big question is we're talking about this from the geopolitical standards here but from Israel's perspective from the perspective of the political establishment what does this visit mean well I think it's a visit that says that the US stands with Israel we have a share of values the president of the the United States have shown his friendship and his belief in the Israeli side of the story you know we've woke up on Saturday morning to a butcher a massacre that was in near the strike of Gaza and Israel is not the same since and we have a mission we have a mission to neutralize the horrible organization of Hamas who's like Nazis abducted raped and killed and violated every international law on this day and ever since they're still launching missiles uh they're still doing horrible things and unfortunately in the international media they do a symmetry and there is no symmetry Israel is the victim here it's not the one to blame and I think that's the visit of the president of the United States shows that they believe in Israel and they want to help Israel and they know why now Korean we've said for years that America and Israel are closest allies in the region but until now there's never been a show of support at this scale moving from an ally into more than just a partner it seems to be in many ways redefining the relation between the two nations I don't know if it's redefining but I think that no states has been through what Israel has been through this last Saturday I mean we're a sovereign country and Hamas did something that is you know compared to 9-11 and our best ally the United States and its president are showing their belief in Israel and its right to defend itself by itself and with help from friends it seems that all of Israel and the United States have rallied together in a show of unity behind the behind the war effort behind forming a unity government here at home one of the questions that many of our viewers have had is why has yet Yerlepid not been part of that unity process Yerlepid is saying over and over we are united there's no coalition and reputations in this war against Hamas against terror we don't need to have seats in the government to help the government in whatever it takes to and to support to show our support I don't think there is a need for a larger government we need it to be you know efficient and the big large government is not an efficient one well Korean thank you very much for the view from Israel's capital a view from inside of how this is being seen here and keep safe out there as well just like everyone else that's involved in this war one way or another we're going to turn back to our panel here in the studio to continue talking about Biden's historic visit to Israel in the midst of a war we've been talking about why it's such a big deal but we really have to get down to the brass tax of what's on the table there are two carrier strike groups sitting off the coast in the Mediterranean there is a gun on the table pointed at Hezbollah and possibly as far away as Tehran if you get involved if you make this into a regional conflict we're right here we've gotten a firepower to level a nation are you going to make us use it well that's the big question are they yeah well look first of all you're right both symbolically and literally we're turning from the emotional moment of Joe Biden landing at the airport to being on his way to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and again with the full work cabinet because obviously there's a crowded agenda there's a crowded agenda and the United States has a lot at stake here has put a lot at stake because for the reasons we talked about because it's important to the United States itself not only to Israel but to the United States and its own interests itself by the way we already see people I believe outside the Kepinski Hotel they're holding up posters I believe those are posters of some of those who have been taken hostage in Gaza father I believe of that girl they're showing right there I look the reality is so far the Israeli assessment is the USS Gerald Ford that's off the coast has so far deterred Hezbollah and Iran whether it will continue to do so is a question if they haven't struck until now they may be brought in if things get really tough in Gaza but so far they've been deterred this would not be a good time for them to strike Israel despite the fact that we're in Gaza we also are fully fully mobilized and then we haven't been since the O'Kip War frankly to this extent so it's really not a good time for a surprise attack because you can't have a surprise attack plus you have the Americans there the Gerald Ford is now off the coast the Eisenhower left Virginia I believe yesterday so it'll take about five or six days of sailing to get off our coast but the reality is it's a very powerful strike force and Barton has made clear he'll use it he's not afraid to use force he's a throughout his career he's one of those people who's been not afraid to use force and I think Hezbollah and more importantly Iran you understands that if Iran directly gets involved I have absolutely no question the United States will get involved if it's Hezbollah it's a question of whether we need them it's a question of whether we want them to get involved that will have to see what happens but if Tehran gets involved Barton has made it clear that the United States will intervene on our side and good for that because we need we need that extra help if Tehran gets involved and certainly in the past 24 hours we have seen Hezbollah moving their war assets towards the border getting their rockets and their artillery into position and trying to use the Islamic jihad strike on the hospital as a Cassus belly to possibly enter the war which means the deterrence might be wearing thin look they're going to do it when they decide to do it based on their own interests to a large extent also based on how how much they fear what's going on in Gaza are they willing to lose Hamas in other words is the Iranian Hezbollah Yemeni alliance so to speak amongst the Shiites with Hamas of course being Sunni but that group of terrorist organizations are they willing to lose Hamas completely we do not know but right now I think they've decided it's not a good time to attack there's also the issue of Lebanon that Hezbollah has been trying to make themselves somewhat a normal political party and Lebanon is in chaos without any of this the last thing the Lebanon needs right now is a war with Israel to say the least yeah I mean but again don't forget what the most important item the top of the agenda I think from Joe Biden's perspective and the administration's perspective here which is the humanitarian situation in Gaza and here Joe Biden's message I think it's so important viewers to pay attention to this his message is different than what we've heard from foreign leaders including US presidents in the past why what have we heard in the past asking Israel to show restraint right that's been the kind of magic word at least a few days into an operation what does that mean it means you take the military side the civilian side you wrap them all together and you connect them and say Israel you need to restrain your military goals and tactics because of the civilians they're one thing what has Joe Biden done something different he separated the two on the military track he says full speed ahead right full speed ahead I'm not going to dictate to Israel what his goals are and is just about said that he agrees with those goals of ending Hamas control over the Gaza Strip so on the military side no restraint if you will but also in parallel separate from the military side but in parallel to take care of civilians right and because of the separation of the two we've seen these for the Israeli Palestinian conflict new concepts of safe zones we heard it from the IDF spokesperson by the way during the presser a short time ago that those are about to be announced safe zones inside Gaza the humanitarian corridor the idea of providing humanitarian aid I don't know that it's 100% clear that we're going to get a US Israeli deal on this today it seems to be the president's expectation one would imagine that that will be done but this is a different approach maybe it's a nuance but it's a crucial nuance a different approach and I think one that will be much much easier for the Israeli public to accept and for the Israeli government and military to work with I think this is a president who's saying I'm a friend I see things maybe slightly different you have a government that's not all that sensitive to world-dependent to say the least I am sensitive to world-dependent for your sake not for my sake for your sake I am sensitive I want this to succeed I want you to be able to have as much time as possible to eliminate Hamas but I also know that it will serve your purposes if we don't see scenes of starving people in Gaza if somehow humanitarian support is going to be given to some some of the people and yes Hamas will get some percentage of it but compare to how many Hamas people you are killing and destroying that's a small price to pay for scenes on not having scenes on the TV saying Israelis cause live you know widespread starvation in Gaza people are dying from dehydration or all sorts of other things I think Biden really has our interest at heart when he does this we have a government like I said who's not always that sensitive we generally have never been let's be honest the public at this point that's not always so sensitive right we're not that sensitive and rightly so to some extent but maybe we don't want to spite our you know we want to we want to do things that are not in our interest and I think Biden in this case has our interests at heart and I think he's right to try to push us to do something in this area there'll be some negatives to it but I think it's worth it and that's a critical time to say because we've been talking about this gushing of emotion right now but nations don't have friends nations have interests and right now it is in the U.S. interests well there's actually two splitting these interests here one they don't want a larger regional conflict but two there isn't opportunity in front of them to possibly knock Iran off the board once and for all should they take the opportunity well listen if you look carefully at what John Kirby the National Security Council spokesperson who's traveling with President Biden when he said on the plane and you look closely at what he said there's a very very very heavy hint there between the lines that he for example talked about this just you know earlier on in our broadcast that he does not want to see a preemptive Israeli strike at his Bola the United States policy here is it does not want to see a wider conflict it doesn't want to see his Bola in Iran initiate that that's why those aircraft carrier strike groups are either here or on the way and by implication does not want Israel to initiate it even if there might be some strategic or tactical logic at some point in the war for Israel to do so one wonders though as Ariel as you mentioned could that position somehow change if there seem to be a quote unquote strategic opportunity with all the massive risks massive risks that that involves of initiating an escalation against his Bola in order to take it down that's one of many many very difficult questions I think that lie ahead but certainly for the moment the United States sending very very strong signals that that is something it does not want to see does not want to see a complication to that extent there's no question about very complicated war for it will make it more difficult to totally eliminate Hamas and the Gaza Strip which is our highest priority and will change the balance here if Hamas does not exist if we can undermine them for for a generation then that could make a change it open all sorts of possibilities because remember Hamas since the very beginning since the 1990s they are the ones who sponsored the bombings right after the Rabin assassination that turned this country against the Rabin peace initiative and elected the prime minister Netanyahu for the first time it was Hamas all the way through that has been the rejectionist part of the Palestinian movement and was done everything they can throughout its history to eliminate any chance of any peaceful reconciliation between us and the Palestinians so if you take them off the board who knows what the possibilities might be and the United States is looking towards that day with those possibilities look Hezbollah ultimately is a Lebanese organization they may for reasons of Iran be very hostile to us but ultimately we have no conflict with Hezbollah we have a conflict with Hamas they're part of the Palestinians and we have a conflict going back hundreds of years at this point but we have no conflict with Hezbollah we have no land conflict and we're talking about maybe a hundred maybe one mile square and in the Shaba farms that is under dispute but we have no dispute with Hezbollah Hezbollah at one point could just disappear and become a part of Lebanese society if Iran would let them but with Hamas we always have this dispute now eliminating the rejectionist part of the Palestinian movement may have some real consequences that could open up all sorts of possibilities not this year not next year but Faghi is down the road now we're looking at the empty streets of Tel Aviv empty of course I'm sure cleared because the president's approaching but also as we all know empty because of the war and so many people taken off before we saw the Kempinski Hotel you know as we all know these are places and we see the Bauhaus architecture in some places even eclectic buildings as we all know this is central Tel Aviv this is an area that especially the nice fall weather would be filled with people on the boardwalk on the beach in normal times a great time for foreign tourists to come to the country after the Jewish holidays are over and while the weather is not of the heat of summer or the potential rain of the depths of winter but instead we have the president of the United States coming here in the middle of a war and we see everybody there and having been here a few an hour ago I could say they blocked off multiple routes so that no one would know exactly how the president is actually arriving so this is one of two different routes that he could come by and we should say I don't think that US presidents usually go into the center of Tel Aviv and I don't think that this is something that I mean obviously the Israeli security forces can handle it at any rate there are less people less cars on the road but we don't usually see I don't think a US president going to central Tel Aviv because of course Jerusalem is Israel's capital not of course recognized by the United States that's where the offices of government are that's where the military cemeteries the Holocaust Memorial those are the places the western wall where presidents and heads of state usually focus their attention but during war of course the six circumstances very different here during war the center of the government is now in Tel Aviv that's right that's where the defense headquarters are and that's where Netanyahu's office is during the course of the war Tel Aviv is the center of Israel's government this week and unfortunately for a number of weeks coming here absolutely and we've been talking about the United States and it's possible participation at least at the bare minimum its support in this war but from the US perspective in the US interest there is a possible complication the United States just got out of 20 years worth of forever wars in the Middle East and the public absolutely does not want to get involved in what could be another one another reason the president has been putting so much pressure on Israel what are you going to do after you take out Hamas what's the risk here is this another forever war in the making I don't think it's a forever war but you're right to point to potential political trends down the road in the United States you're absolutely right obviously Americans see this through the prism of 9-11 I think it's a flawed metaphor it's one that's obviously been thrown around over the last week and a half there's something to it but it's there are flaws to it Americans by the way have compared the problems with the US response to 9-11 as you're pointing Arielle with the problems as critics often friendly critics see with Israel's response here there I think the situation is such simply entirely different I just don't really see the comparisons kept in the broadest of all possible frames but look you're right Americans have not wanted American involvement in the Middle East Americans are tired of war there's no question about that and that the Israeli public should know that but when push comes to shove if it's absolutely necessary I think this president will do what has to be done I mean that's the reality I don't think he's going to worry about if Americans you know public support is there right now public support for Israel and the Congress and is overwhelming at the moment do Americans want to see American soldiers die in the Middle East absolutely not we don't want to see American soldiers die in the Middle East we prefer them just to send us equipment send us arms and keep your carriers off the coast as the deterrent that's what we hope to be that's what we hope will happen but is it possible look the Americans also put on the table at the possibility that they would use their resources to free American passengers I don't think it's going to happen but it has to leave another complication for Hamas to worry hmm monitoring all the Israelis what happens if the U.S. sends and it seals in I don't think it's going to happen but it's a possibility American made it clear it considers that a possibility so you know Americans don't want to see Americans on the ground here but if push comes to shove they'll be here and that aside there's not much talk of American ground troops here and we have to remind ourselves and remind viewers this hasn't been part of Israel's national security strategy we all know the line from just about every speech given by newly prime minister Israel will defend itself by itself so that's always been Israel's doctrine there is maybe an exception made here in a doomsday scenario in terms of air power but no one's expecting ground troops we're going to return to this discussion in a brief moment but first we are going to go to the southern border where our reporter our defense correspondent Jonathan Regev is standing by as there were just another fuselage of rockets out of Gaza towards the border Jonathan what is the latest yes it happens in the communities which are right on the border fence Kisufim and Akhal Oz these communities are practically empty as of last week all of the civilians they're left these are some of the most severely hit areas all of the border communities so iron dome siren sounding there Hamas is still firing and it's proving that and if there's any anyone who thought their ability is over then last night all of central Israel was experiencing sirens two or three times and there's constant sirens over there in the south and and and this is the reality Biden or not on the ground the battle is ongoing do we have a rough idea of how many rockets Hamas has fired so far in this conflict and what their general idea of the that's the estimate of the arsenal side hose before this war very interesting this is this was a question that was brought up to the international spokesperson of the IDF and a briefing I attended yesterday so so the numbers have increased a bit but yesterday he was speaking about 6500 rockets already fired so the number today may is a bit higher when he was asked how many rockets are still left the answer is we we cannot know for sure the estimates at the beginning spoke of some 15 000 rockets or so all together meaning that even after a week and a half barrage as if if this estimate is true Hamas fired less than half of what it has Jonathan stay safe out there and we're going to be coming back to you as the situation develops we're going to return to our panel in the studio now I will note Mark that their rockets fire we just saw was directed at the southern communities not anywhere near the center of Israel no I'm surprised the fact that they didn't fire at the center of Israel at this moment the fact that they've had certain certain success in timing look I was surprised Saturday morning I was sure at 615 in the morning they were going to fire rockets but they didn't so the reality is maybe they're not capable as we think maybe in daylight they're not as capable of timing it in the same sort of way as they are at night I don't know I would have really expected to see rocket fire right now I'm glad it hasn't happened I'm glad for the United States it hasn't happened quite honestly it would have been a bad scene to see the president of the United States running for cover so so far it hasn't happened we'll see what happens in the next few hours I can't believe we'll get through the whole visit without some attempt to fire rockets at Tel Aviv I mean an image are one of the president of the United States having to run for a shelter or something similar is that ultimately to the enemies of Israel's benefit or is that something that actually reinforces the resolve of Israel's allies well is that a great question you're right you can think about it both ways right and by the way this happened of course last night to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz his plane on the tarmac last night at bengurian airport ready to take off for Germany as siren and there's video from journalists of everyone getting off the plane and lying on the ground and covering their heads and hearing the booms of the Iron Dome overhead presumably but you're right Ariely it is possible to see it both ways look we experienced something broadly similar at the Israeli Knesset a few days ago the opening of the winter session where in the middle of the session itself with the member of Knesset at the podium twice twice sirens went off inside the building and all of the members of Knesset had to leave the plenum which is not a secured space and go to the hall nearby all the journalists the same and we were there and this this happened in real time and you're right it can be seen as a kind of picture of victory if you will for Hamas and for the terror groups it can also be seen as as a kind of Israeli resilience going right back in and continuing on the work of democracy so you're right but I certainly agree with Mark and it's a feeling widely shared here in Israel that these few hours are going to be hours where we are going to see rockets fired where Joe Biden is to try to make this impact because the feeling is that although you are right that it may in a sense help sort of put on screen and on bold display the the situation that we are in here in Israel I think the feeling is that on balance it helps Hamas more than it helps us it only helps them in the domestic support so to speak and the Palestinian people that's more than anything else here we're attacking the president of the United States we're strong sort of that's right and in terms of showing what we live what we're living through I think the events of last Saturday have been strong enough that we don't need to show anything more than that but it'll help the Palestinian they'll help Hamas if they do it within the Palestinian people absolutely for their part because you mentioned Owen Olaf Scholz having to duck for cover himself Olaf Scholz is the chancellor of Germany he's not the world hegemon he's not the United States that's right that's right and you're right of course it has more of an impact when it's the president of the United States then even a country is powerful and as important and as important for Israel as Germany is you're absolutely right which is but again this goes to the risks of this trip right there were plenty of serious people in Washington and the United States who aren't sure the president should make this trip people wondering on Twitter last night after what happened at the hospital whether he should be making this trip there are risks in terms of the images of a siren and what that would mean of course we should be very clear because of the iron dome that is supported by the United States government including this administration there's very very very little physical risk to the president you're talking about a 0.0 with many many zeros until you get to a 1% but there are diplomatic risk will we really come out with an agreement that Joe Biden can take home on this issue of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip which is so important to the Biden administration and to many Israeli and American allies is he going to come out it I think I feel it feels like there's some uncertainty although one would imagine there's not much uncertainty if he's making the trip and there have been so many meetings held by Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin over the course of the last year as we are seeing motorcycles and cars coming through I wonder if they're getting close to the hotel itself there comes one of the big beast the beast I guess it's called the president travels in the next one down we never they never know which one the president is in they go back and forth and of course planning for these visits I can only imagine on short notice by the U.S. Embassy is enormously difficult and complicated because of the security requirements for the U.S. President but there it is there's the flags of the United States and Israel on that car is that the president is that the there's a seal of the president on the second one presidential cars of the flags of both the United States and Israel going through the streets of Tel Aviv to the Kempinski Hotel in the middle of the war with the risk of Hamas firing rockets essentially at the president and they're going to the hotel for a meeting between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu we've talked the symbolism we've talked about the weapons resupply and the strategic and the tactical needs here let's talk about some of the human aspect we know that on the president's agenda is meeting with the families of hostages people that were seized by the murderous terrorist dragged into Gaza under absolutely nightmarish circumstances still languishing without medical care ultimately what can the president of the United States bring to the table here his empathy he's known to be the most one of the most empathetic presidents in American history it's between what he's gone through with his children being killed and his wife being killed and all of the life he's lived he's one of the most empathetic people around they knows how to be empathetic he knows how to share the pain and everyone who's ever met him in those circumstances have come away feeling just a little bit better that someone who really someone who really cares about it and I'll get a feeling for meeting president Biden that he really cares about them they'll feel that whether they'll be able to translate that into actual action that's a whole other question but all the people who will meet will feel the president of the United States really cares about my story he really cares about my son my daughter my father wherever it might be and that he will bring and in some levels that's what he's done to the whole country he's brought his empathy to the country and he's been the national shrink to some extent in the sense of bringing that empathy that he's so really good at no one questions anything about the ability of that's his president to be empathetic and he's shown it here and we'll show it without a doubt to the hostage families when he meets with them and he has won over huge slices of the Israeli public and Israeli society really across the political spectrum not only the right but into the far right this president has won fans over the course of the last and made believers even those who are deeply skeptical over the last week and a half and mark you're absolutely right his ability to share from his own family tragedy and connect with people who are suffering enormous tragedies we saw that by the way with Secretary of State Blinken when he met with the families also someone who who is extremely able and skilled at doing that and don't let's not forget how many as you mentioned before mark how many American hostages and American fatalities there are look the American embassy estimates there are 600,000 American citizens living in Israel country the population of 10 million so simply by the law of averages there are going to be people who are taken hostage who are killed who are wounded who are family members of those who are taken hostage killed or wounded who are Americans it was unclear according to John Kirby National Security Council spokesperson if those that the president meets will be Americans themselves one would imagine they would be but there are plenty of American citizens affected as part of the wider Israeli public and I'm going to bring another voice into this now that would of course be our correspondent Mary Olyph in Tel Aviv we've been talking in the studio Mary about how the president could represent empathy for the families of the hostages but the president doesn't just represent empathy he represents power as the strongest man in the world head of the world hegemony that is the American empire is there any plans any possibilities that the American military and the American administration can bring that sort of power to bear in this negotiation to try to recover some of these hostages well that's certainly the plan or at least the hopes why else would a sitting U.S. American president be coming in the midst of a war to be on the ground himself he's just coming for a day so it's absolutely a show of power to have the sitting U.S. president here in the country to show that the U.S. one stands with Israel but that the U.S. is prepared to take many actions and try and get back these hostages we also saw that earlier last week then when the U.S. sent an aircraft carrier to the region as well as more deployments since then so we are definitely seeing a robust American response to have Biden here on the ground it is certainly just furthering that goal and we do know that Biden is planning to meet with the families of hostages so he will likely be giving the same message to those families that America is standing behind Israel that they are here and prepared to do whatever they can to try and assist Israel in its efforts to free this hostages but that's also one part of why they're here but he's also trying to also put pressure on Israel itself and trying to facilitate the opening of this humanitarian aid quarter into Gaza Strip so he's here with many different objectives and trying to give many different pressures but the pressure is both on Arab leaders in the region who are also trying to facilitate this deal but also on Israel and doing anything they can to try and prevent this from turning into a wider regional war that would involve even further involvement from America so that's the main thing that we are going to hear from President Biden that is his main mission objective as he's here Mary both Biden and Netanyahu are about to speak very shortly making an address on this situation nobody in this industry has a crystal ball but in this case we have a general good idea of what we think he's going to say what is Biden going to say absolutely so we heard even before Biden took off we've heard many statements coming out of the US administration since this began on October 7th and throughout that he has first of all expressed his support in solidarity saying he stands behind Israel America stands behind Israel we've heard very forceful very powerful and very emotional worlds coming from the US president in the wake of these horrific attacks we are likely to hear more of that we are also likely to hear the US mission saying their stated objective is also to ask Israel the tough questions the hard questions to try and get some answers out of Israel as it prepares to launch the next phase of its operation into Gaza so we're likely to hear these kinds of words we don't know how much of that will come out in the press conference whether he'll reserve those words and those hard questions for behind closed doors as he meets with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu but we do absolutely know that this is on the agenda this is what administration officials have been saying for the past week that they are working diligently around the clock to try and prevent this from escalating out of control and try and also to put pressure on Israel to see what can be done but to figure out whether they're actually going to admit that in the press conference whether he's going to give actual stated goals and objectives from the American administration and what he actually concrete steps he wants to take or things he wants to achieve while he's here that we'll have to wait and see if we actually hear that directly from the president himself absolutely thank you very much Mary we're going to return to our panel and studio beginning with you Mark because you sort of had an idea of what the president's going to say the question is what does the Israeli government want to hear right now the Israeli government just wants to hear I'm here to support you I'm here to give you whatever needs you have I'm here to be here for the Israeli people that's what they want to hear they don't want to hear publicly the humanitarian aspect of it although they'll hear it privately they may even hear it publicly to some extent the president has to be careful in that in that way but I think everything the Israeli people government wants to hear we're about to hear from President Biden and oh there they are in the room it looks like it's about to start as they have met the moment they begin speaking I suppose we are going to go immediately back to that until then we'll continue with this discussion here we're talking about what they want to hear what they don't want to hear okay he's beginning Mr. President Joe I want to thank you for coming here today and for the unequivocal support you have given Israel during these trying times a support that reflects the overwhelming will of the American people I've seen your support every day in the depth and breadth of cooperation that we have had since the beginning of this war a level of cooperation that is truly unprecedented in the history of the great alliance between our two nations we see that support in your steadfast commitment to provide Israel with the tools we need to defend ourselves we see that support in the clear message you've sent our enemies not to test our resolve and in the two American carrier battle groups that you sent to the region to back up those words with action but above all Mr. President the world sees that support in the moral clarity that you have demonstrated from the moment Israel was attacked you've rightly drawn a clear line between the forces of civilization and the forces of barbarism you describe what Hamas did as sheer evil it is exactly that Hamas murdered children in front of their parents and parents in front of their children they burnt people alive they raped and murdered women they beheaded soldiers they search for the secret hiding places where parents hid their children and just imagine Mr. President the fear and the panic of those little children in their last moments as the monsters discovered found out their hiding places Hamas kidnapped women, children elderly Holocaust survivors I know you share our outrage on this and I know you share our determination to bring these people back on October 7th Hamas murdered 1400 Israelis maybe more this is in a country of fewer than 10 million people this would be equivalent to over 50,000 Americans murdered in a single day that's 29-11s that is why October 7th is another day that will live it in for me Mr. President you rightly said that Hamas is worse than ISIS the German Chancellor who visited here yesterday said that Hamas were the new Nazis you're both right and just as the civilized world united to defeat the Nazis and united to defeat ISIS the civilized world must unite to defeat Hamas I can assure you Mr. President Israel is united to defeat Hamas and we will defeat Hamas and remove this terrible threat from our lives the forces of civilization will prevail for our sake for your sake for peace and security in our region and in the world Mr. President for the people of Israel there's only one thing better than having a true friend like you standing with Israel and that is having you standing in Israel your visit here is the first visit of an American president in Israel at a time of war it is deeply deeply moving it speaks to the depth of your personal commitment to Israel it speaks to the depth of your personal commitment to the future of the Jewish people and the one and only Jewish state so I know I speak for all the people of Israel when I say thank you Mr. President thank you for standing with Israel today tomorrow and always Mr. Prime Minister thank you very much look folks I wanted to be here today for a simple reason I wanted the people of Israel the people of the world to know where the United States stands I've had my great Secretary of State here he's been here for a lot but I wanted to personally come and make that clear terrorist group of moms has slaughtered has been pointed out over 1,300 people and it's not hyperbole it's just slaughtered slaughtered and including 31 Americans is part of that and they've taken scores of people hostage including children you said imagine what those children hiding from Hamas were thinking it's beyond my comprehension to be able to imagine what they're thinking beyond my comprehension they're committed evils that and atrocities that make ISIS look somewhat more rational you know Americans are greedy with you they really are and Americans are worried Americans are worried because you know there's this is not an easy field to navigate what you have to do but the fact is that Israel as they responded to these attacks it seems to me that have to continue to ensure that you have what you need to defend yourselves and we're going to make sure that occurs as you know and we have to also bear in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and it has brought them only suffering you know years ago I asked the secretary of state would he and I work in the senate to write something for a man he said he wrote a line that I think is appropriate he said it's not we lead not just well I won't go into it I'll wait later taking too much time but the point is this that I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Qazi yesterday and based on what I've seen it appears as though it was done by the other team not you but there's a lot of people out there not sure so we've got a lot we've got to overcome a lot of things and also means encouraging life-saving capacity to help the Palestinians were innocent caught in the middle of this and well at any rate that's that's who we are not just me but I mean that's who the United States is and it's just not the example our powers power example it's almost as important the world's looking we Israel has a value set like the United States does and other democracies and and they're looking to see what we're going to do so Mr. Prime Minister I'm very happy to be back in Israel with you thank you for having me and I'm looking forward to having a thorough discussion about where everybody goes from here but thank you and I want to say to the people of Israel their courage their commitment their bravery is is stunning it's really stunning I'm proud to be here thank you and it appears they are not going to be taking immediate questions so we'll return to our discussion here with our senior correspondent Owen Altman and Mark Shulman of Newsweek we've seen this message of support the statement by President Joe Biden to ensure that Israel has everything needed to defend itself there have been some limitations on that in the past I'm going to pass that one to you Mark because today the United States has not delivered huge quantities of ground penetrating bunker busting munitions that Israel has previously said is necessary to strike deep at the underground tunnels that Hamas has the United States has not delivered in-air refueling planes that Israel has said is necessary to strike Tehran's reactors if they choose to pursue this conflict as far as its backers in Tehran the question is is that possible to change in this round of negotiations first of all the tankers are on order the only question is can Israel get to the front of the line with the tankers right now Israel has very very old tankers converted 7.07 a lot of planes from 50 years ago basically but it could move it to the front of the line in terms of the excuse me the bunker busting bombs that's the thing I believe the United States has supplied Israel with some number of them until now I also believe we've manufactured our own by now I don't think we're waiting for for the United States keep in mind the fact that Israel's defense industries are in some ways more advanced than the American defense industries and and make changes quicker we just don't have the production capacity that the United States does so I think we'll see that I don't think from the best of my knowledge there's nothing the United States is holding back that would in any which way impact the Gaza campaign and would in any which way impact our ability to respond to Hezbollah most of the armaments that we're getting from American planes in the last week are mostly back up in case we get into war with Hezbollah everything we need for Gaza we've we've had of course we learned from the Ukraine conflict that conflicts that last a long time using an immense amount of munitions and that's always a concern because no one prepares themselves for for a long war and it looks like we're going to have a relatively long war yeah actually I want to go back to the president and the prime minister sitting there in the hotel giving their remarks look I think rhetorically and visually it wasn't one of Joe Biden's stronger performance it didn't measure up of course to the incredibly high emotional and rhetorical bar that he set with that first speech and his other comments over the course of the last week there was of course a strong at the end when he looked at the camera and wasn't speaking to Netanyahu he was speaking to us he was speaking to us that was the high moment of this he's speaking to us and he said I'm so glad to be here I'm and you're talking about our curbs I'm proud to be here and that left that hanging in the air is the end he did say as the incident at the hospital that from what he's seen it looks like the other team has done it I suspect that the Israeli public was looking for something more decisive at this point from the US president to say that from what I've seen we know we are confident and to give a more of a sense of confidence in how he sees that incident but beyond that look we heard him talking about why he's here in the solidarity and the need to separate Hamas from the civilian population and Gaza which we always knew was an important priority for the president for the administration for the United States and obviously pretty close to the top of the agenda for this visit I mean I just remember an 80-year-old man just got off a 12-hour flight so I mean I'm sure he travels more comfortable than you and I travel but still is a 12-hour flight and you know we should keep that in mind as well and we're going to add another voice there because we are joined online by Dan Perry International Affairs Analyst and Managing Partner of Thunder 11 Dan, what is your take on what we just saw at this speech there? What do you think we should make of this? Biden obviously loves Israel and he feels Israel's pain for what happened on October 7 and he I think felt it personally to be here to comfort the people of Israel and to deliver a message to Israel's enemies and around the region that Israel has America's back all that is clear however it's also clear that Israel does not have carte blanche to do anything in Gaza and I think Biden tried to balance his sense that he has to give Israel support and that that has strategic value around the region with the need to temper Israel's response there's no way to avoid that conclusion I don't think and as regards as regards the hospital I agree with Owen he equivocated someone he didn't have to say that there are people that just don't accept your explanations perhaps it is because Biden was on a plane during the time that it became rather clear that Israel's explanations are almost certainly true given all the proof that has been presented I think in fairly compelling and somewhat rare fashion I mean I've been at these events before as a journalist where Israel's explanations were less than fully compelling at this point I think what happened to the hospital is rather clear and I have to think that it will be made clear to him during the meetings to come and in the coming minutes and hours and I would think that once that happens he will make his understanding public and you think the president making his understanding of the facts clear will have a wider effect on many people in the European media in the European world that we're a little less than willing to accept these conclusions Absolutely look I think Israel is paying the price for previous cases where they weren't fully credible and that's a real shame because the credibility the idea of spokesman and of Israel in general is a democratic country that does not want civilian casualties and does not exact revenge but rather tries to reach a goal I think it's important that Israel maintain that credibility and in this case I think it has that's my assessment I wasn't there but from what I've seen it has it is important because if the opposite narrative holds way and it is seen by global media as he said she said situation that isn't really clear and maybe it's true that Israel attacked the hospital for whatever reason and killed a large amount and a number of people that has not just a devastating effect on Israel's moral position but also strategically it has the effect of closing Israel's window of opportunity as they call it to achieve the otherwise highly defensible goal of weakening Hamas if not removing it from power it has the potential if Israel's explanations are not accepted to become a sort of a covered kind of moment from one of the Lebanon wars where it just sort of shuts down the operation so horrified is the world from what I see that would be unfair and yes it would be extremely helpful if Biden made that clear well thank you very much Dan Perry we're gonna keep you on board because at the top of the next hour for our next broadcast you will be back with us for everyone else we are out of time at least for now but stick around top of the hour we are going to continue our rolling coverage of Israel at war covering all of the different angles that are now making themselves clear and developments along each front so stay with us and stay strong 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24news this particular project with a gross capacity of 103.5 megawatts we'll be producing around 230 gigawatt hour of clean renewable energy per year at Tito reserve we have the right ingredients and we have to do the job and that if we have the right ingredients and we do the job that the Vakita can be protected of Israel at war I'm Ariel Levin Waldman we're on the 12th day now of that war US President Joe Biden in Israel you just heard him speaking mere moments ago a message of solidarity and a promise to Israel to give the country whatever it needs to prosecute its war against Hamas to the fullest but with a caveat Israel must ensure that it draws a distinction between Hamas and its murderers and the people of Gaza who are not to be treated as members of the war who are not to be targeted and of course the challenges in fighting amongst a civilian population now to break down what we just saw a little bit more we actually have former Israeli ambassador to the United States on the line with us that is Michael Oren Michael it is good to have you on here you have more experience than almost anybody else with all of the figures that were just sitting at that meeting what is your read on this Hi Ariel it was an extraordinary moment as you've mentioned I've been involved in the U.S. relations for many decades both as a researcher and a practitioner and I don't think I've ever seen a moment like this even the greeting when the president came down from the plane you know its protocol you shake the president's hand you don't give him a big hug and the kind of hug by the way that Biden gave to Netanyahu was the bunny hug with the slaps on the back everything's going to be okay I've never seen a moment like that and of course there's no protocol really there's no photographs there's no band playing the Star Spangled Banner there's no inspection of an honor guard it's straight to tell you not to Jerusalem you know not to Yad Vashem right to a hotel and down to business and the business of course will be conducted behind closed doors in a strange arrangement with the various runners going between the prime minister and the security cabinet it's a bad comparison I couldn't help but thinking about the way the the United States was conducting negotiations with Iranians for a while you know with runners going back and forth and not being face to face but okay it is a very big difference and that is Biden has come here in an extraordinary way to show support for the state of Israel and it's I still have you okay that it's not every day that a president comes here to any war area it's extraordinary the president did it last February he went to Kiev during the middle of the of a war it wasn't easy for him he had landed Poland and traveled 10 hours by train but he had to go really back in history he took it back to 1963 John Kennedy's a visit to Berlin during the Berlin crisis to find a president who's willing to do this and by the way it's not without criticism in the United States why is the President of the United States seeking to risky himself in this way so then the message the message was one again of unequivocal support of unequivocal understanding empathy we did not see any change no diminishing of the green light he gave us to do what we have to do in Gaza in his first speech in fact he reiterated his commitment to backing us both in the presence of his naval forces the two carrier groups in our area by the way that's a massive massive military force I've visited these aircraft carriers they are you know they're just into 70 75 war planes they're incredible arrays of systems tomahawk missiles Aegis anti-eight missile systems is extraordinary but also to provide us with munitions vital munitions that we almost certainly going to need is this this work progresses and then the caveat the caveat that was in his first speech where he said and I'm almost quoting him the United States military acts according to international law we expect the Israeli military to act across international law raised some eyebrows here people saying don't we always act according to military war isn't the IDF the most world army in the world he said it Tony Blaniken Secretary of State reiterated it several times during his visits here and now the president said again and what's the code here he's saying you can go in you the idea can go into Gaza you can uproot Hamas do what you have to do but you have to be cared you have to make a distinction between the Palestinian civilian population and Hamas and that is not always an easy that too is not an easy message for many Israelis to hear there's a general feeling there's really public that there isn't much of a distinction that the civilians of Gaza voted for Hamas they cheered on Hamas a great number of them participated in the massacres of October 7th some of them may be holding hostages as well not such a distinction and it's a hard one but the United States has to make it has to make it in order to maintain its alliances throughout the region and I think the president ought to do it in order to maintain his support from home particularly from his own party and if you're following the American press you see a rising criticism of Israel of course but also the president's handling influential columnist like Tom Freeman calling on the president to tell Israel that we actually cannot go into Gaza we should not go into Gaza that we've we've drawn enough vengeance exact enough vengeance on the Taliban so far enough let's negotiate for the hostages I think that what wasn't said I think was at least as significant and it's this Ariel the United States not only wants to see humanitarian quarter opened and the provision of essential foodstuffs and water the Palestinian refugees who have fled northern Gaza's trip for the south I think the president wants to know what our end game is he wants to know about the day after will Israel be left holding the keys to Gaza will someone take those keys will it be an international and inter Arab force the Palestinian authority be involved in this it's interesting that that Mahmoud Abbas the president of the Palestinian Authority was supposed to meet together with President Ossisi of Egypt and king of Dullard Jordan in the summit in Amman that was supposed to follow this was canceled because of the incident at the hospital last night but that Biden was willing to meet with Abbas who only a few weeks ago gave one of the most anti-Semitic speeches that I can recall denying the Holocaust yet accusing the Jews of bringing the Holocaust onto ourselves just a egregiously anti-Semitic speech shows you the president is still interested in reanimating the peace process and still looks sees Mahmoud Abbas as a partner in that process I would even go far to say and I'm not in the business of prophecy that the socialist thing is a free lunch and that when the smoke clears on this war the United States will come back to us and say listen we did this for you during the war now we expect you to make serious concessions in the peace process I would not be a bit surprised so all that is what's not being said Ariya if I have a second I'm going to talk about the hospital incident I actually want to go into that last part you mentioned there about the day after the war and some of the caveats one of the biggest things that you've always written about is the idea of no daylight between Israel and America and when it comes down to these policies do you see these caveats and these possible prices in the future as something that could develop that could actually open up a rift between the two when it comes down to what happens next well the daylight refers to the degree to which those risks which always exists Ariya we always have risks it's not either about the peace process or about Iran they're always risks the question is whether you broadcast them outward and I think the president has intimated there he is in his administration's concern about about civilian casualties he's not doing what John Kerry and his boss Barack Obama did in 2014 which was to make it very public insofar as not just to not they denied us the resupply of vital forms of ammunition that we ran short of in 2014 here comes president Biden is not only is he keeping all these rifts behind the scenes for the most part he's actually preempting supplies of vital munitions to us that to me is extraordinary listen I know this man okay I've worked with him this is a person who cares passionately about the state of Israel about the Jewish people I heard him I heard his his a's referred to him as he thinks he's half Jewish and this is genuine with him you cannot in any way question his sincerity and his commitment to Israel it's um it is deep and I say the same thing about Tony Blankin and I think you heard him say that talked about this Jewish who is his stepfather his grandfather it's genuine but but the president his secretary of state are members of a certain party those certain party has has a growing opposition to them they're going against the grain here and they're going against the grain in Washington where the only source of bipartisan the only issue that achieves bipartisan support is isolationism neither Republicans nor Democrats want the United States to get involved in further foreign entanglements in the world certainly not in the Middle East and here comes Joe Biden and sends two carrier groups two massive military flotillas to our area and it's this now you have to when you deal with the United States you have to sort of also you have to pan back we tend to see everything through an Israeli lens but in Washington they see through a global lens and the message here is not just to the people of Israel the message here is to the leaders of China the message is the leaders of Russia it is the message is is categorically message is America's back after more than a decade of withdrawal from just about everywhere America's back and it's an extraordinary moment living through an historical moment we don't know how this is going to mushroom how it's going to snowball and the next days the next couple of days will be crucial well thank you very much Michael Orrin for a look inside Washington and Israel at the top of leadership from a former ambassador who is probably the most knowledgeable person or one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on that subject we are however going to get some follow-up right now from our correspondent Mary McAuliffe who is in Tel Aviv covering Biden's visit Mary we saw the speech we saw the statements tell us a little bit about what comes next because I believe that Biden and Netanyahu are currently having the non-public meeting where they actually have to discuss the hard issues not just the sentiments that's absolutely right Ariel so everything that we heard in President Biden speaking with Netanyahu was a message we were expecting to hear expressing his support in solidarity with the people of Israel calling also specifically on the Israeli people telling them how much he admired their bravery and their courage and their commitment to their country and to defend their country only mentioning briefly the civilian issue the humanitarian issue as well as the bombing in Gaza of course at the hospital last night and the issue of what Israel's denying responsibility for that event it seemed Biden had accepted Israel's version so far but he didn't speak too much in detail about that incident this is likely something that they will be going into detail in that closed door meeting as well as what pressure America will be putting on Israel as it does try and negotiate some humanitarian deal that will allow aid convoys into the Gaza strip they did not discuss this much in their meetings only giving vague comments about how Israel must act and everybody in the area must act to try and safeguard the lives of fit civilians in the area this is likely to be the backbone and the core of the discussions with Netanyahu behind these closed doors trying to nail down more some of those details and outline some of the steps that the Americans would like to see as Israel prepares to move forward inside the Gaza strip and are we expecting any sort of follow-up addressed by the two of them after these closed door negotiations we have a better idea of what actually took place it's very possible but we should caution that to say what exactly they said behind those closed doors there's a reason they gave a brief meeting before that some of the inner workings the details as well some of the intelligence that Israel is likely to give to the Americans we shouldn't really expect to hear much of those specific finite details of what goes on between that meetings we can probably expect more statements coming out of Biden later today especially after he also meets with the families of those hostages who are being held inside the Gaza strip as America says it is continuing to work to try and free those hostages so we can likely expect to hear another statement about that and absolutely when that happens we will come back back to you to help us break that down that was our correspondent Mary McAuliffe in Tel Aviv now we're going to recap some of that speech by playing some of the critical parts that were said between president Joe Biden and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu Mr. President you rightly said that Hamas is worse than ISIS the German chancellor who visited here yesterday said that Hamas were the new Nazis you're both right and just as a civilized world united to defeat the Nazis and united to defeat ISIS the civilized world must unite to defeat Hamas Americans are grieving with you they really are and Americans are worried Americans are worried because we know there's a this is not an easy field to navigate what you have to do but the fact is that Israel as they respond to these attacks it seems to me that have to continue to ensure that you have what you need to defend yourselves and we're going to make sure that occurs as you know and we have to also bear in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and it has brought them only suffering I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday and based on what I've seen it appears as though it was done by the other team not not you and for more on this we are once again joined by Dan Perry International Affairs Analyst Dan you have a background with the AP that dates back as far back as anyone can remember and we see the critical need to express the moral access of this war because you see so few cases where it's obvious the side the savagery of one side and the restraint that is often put on the other something that was once again reiterated by President Joe Biden at this meeting something that's playing out in boardrooms across media outlets around the world right now in the aftermath of that strike in Gaza on that hospital by the Palestinian Islamic jihad ultimately this moral access how much is this going to play into what we see happening over the coming weeks ahead it's it can't be critical unless there is an understanding in the world that we're looking at an absolute global historic singularity where almost any means are justifiable in order to achieve your ends it's interesting to me that Biden again very publicly and prominently mentioned ISIS just as a German chancellor mentioned the Nazis you know I was involved in coverage as Middle East editor of AP of the effort to dislodge ISIS from from Mosul in Iraq and Iraq in Syria and other cities and once there was a crossing of the Rubicon leading to an understanding or at least a conviction that ISIS simply had to be removed come what may then the gloves really were kind of off and I mean I can't I can't address the morality of it I don't know if it's right I just know that it's true that the Americans and the coalition were willing to take action that led to the deaths of probably around 10,000 civilians and Mosul who didn't vote for Islamic State even some of them might have supported it so it's certainly a fact I listen to Ambassador Warren talk about how the Israelis many of them don't distinguish between the Gazans and Hamas I would hope he's wrong and in my own assessment living here as well I think he is there is anger in Israel more than anger rage an absolute burning rage at the savagery and butchery and barbarity that we saw but I think I think Israelis by and large understand the two-point something million people of Gaza are also in a way hostages Hamas it's true that a majority of Gazans voted for Hamas in parliamentary elections in 2006 and that was not their finest moment but that has very little to do with support for Hamas being the executive authority in Gaza today I mean I'm not a betting man but if I were I would bet Hamas would be thrown out of power if there was a free election in Gaza today so I I think Israel does absolutely have a wide open burst to taking action to remove Hamas from power if it can in Gaza I think if Israel ends up taking out 50,000 Hamas nicks in Gaza in Gaza I think even that wouldn't shock too many people in the world but to kill thousands of civilians that are not of all is another matter altogether as I say not without precedent given the war against the Islamic State that America itself led but highly problematic and if I look at what Biden is really saying with his presence here and with the two carrier groups parks just off coast basically which is really two spectacular statements yeah its support understanding and a genuinely heartfelt feeling of being by Israel's side and of a moment that is global historic but it's also a bit of a bear hug with the Americans so intimately involved in the planning with Blinken going over actual plans with Biden here in person undoubtedly with his teams getting into details about what Israel plans I think alongside all the sympathy that's being expressed there are going to be hard questions about whether Israel really is prepared for the savagery of the ground invasion for the complexity of an occupation of Gaza if it came to that and maybe primarily whether it's wise for Israel to go in there with guns blazing and tanks rumbling to achieve an outcome that may be not a punishment to Hamas and Iran but perhaps a reward because certainly their strategic goal is to prevent peace with Saudi Arabia to maximize mayhem in Palestine to cause contagion in West Bank and Hezbollah and if you look at two options in Vegas and or don't invade Gaza I'm pretty sure that the former invade Gaza makes it more likely for Iran to achieve its strategic ends which are to create mayhem in the Middle East and send the whole region to flame so these are complicated questions and I think Israel needs to keep in mind the rage righteous rage can clarify sure but it can also be an extremely poor council it's a very interesting conundrum that you've just detailed there Dan before we do anything else though we are going to cross over to our northern border where our correspondent Hamdas is waiting we're hearing again about those reports overnight for injured soldiers anti-tank missiles preparations by Hezbollah for a larger offensive what are the developments on Israel's northern front well Ariel that's right just in the last couple of hours the Israeli military saying in an interview that the teams that they have will be prepared in the north they're sufficiently prepared to take on Hezbollah and that the consequences will be severe last night there were demonstrations in Beirut and in southern Lebanon those demonstrations are still going on now people raising both Palestinian and Hezbollah flags I'll remind you the Palestinian factions operating out of southern Lebanon have been eager to join the fight but they do need to go ahead from Hezbollah who is said to be preparing itself militarily for an all-out war with the Israelis now sources are saying that a final decision will be made between Beirut and Tehran however the Iranians have been coming out and saying that they have nothing to do with this that this is a Palestinian fight and they are merely supporting the Palestinian cause however they are prepared if Hezbollah should choose to enter this battle now the Israeli military reinforcing a lot of different places in the north making sure that northern front is secured because a lot of additional information is coming out that perhaps Hezbollah would like to take away the attention of what's going on in the south what's going on in Gaza perhaps delaying that ground invasion even further we did hear from Hezbollah you know in the last few days saying that all of this was just a warning to Israel these exchanges of fire were simply a warning and it's not an indication that they'll get involved in the conflict but if there is a ground invasion inside of the Gaza Strip both Hezbollah and the Iranians are saying that all bets are off and they can't really guarantee who's going to get involved and who's going to stay out so everyone all eyes on the northern border today tomorrow and in the weeks to come definitely Hamda because that's where everything has a massive potential to just conflict rate thank you very much keep yourself safe out there that was Hamda Salhu our correspondent in the north we're going to return to the studio where we have our senior correspondent Owen Alterman sitting with us just break down everything that we've just heard we've seen one of the big questions an interesting question that Dan Perry brought up just a few minutes ago is ultimately these strategic goals is Israel smashing Hamas going to be leaving a power vacuum that perhaps Iran could exploit the follow-up to that is is there even a choice anymore because Israel has to do something to prevent another tragedy if so how far does America have Israel's back Israelis are sick of worrying about the devil they don't know at least in Gaza that ended on October 7th we have the devil in every sense of the word that we do know and that's the focus the devil we don't know can come later all right people are willing to take their chances that's the bottom line obviously there has to be a plan for the day after reports in Israel channel 13 that the foreign ministry has started to put a plan together that gets to where the consensus would be anyway that the best of bad options from Israel's perspective to have a weak let's be honest Palestinian authority go in and try to run Gaza as for the United States having Israel's back the United States is essentially guaranteed that Israel will win the war that's why the aircraft carrier strike groups are here on their way come what may Israel is going to win the war there's a question of what the price is along the way I think a more troubling scenario in a sense is Ariel for the Israeli public is a Hezbollah that's left intact after this war because we've seen the impact of having an intact Hamas how does this country on the day after the war come to terms with the fact that there are similar even worse threats for those living just kilometers just miles from the Lebanon border it's a question mark of massive proportions for the society and how it feels one very quick comment is something that came up with both Jen Dary and Michael Orr and this issue of civilians in Gaza under international law and I have experience working on international humanitarian law feeling support for Hamas does not change your status as a civilian it's simply a black and white question if you don't directly participate in the hostilities okay you are a civilian with all of the protections that civilians enjoy by the way the Israeli military is also my viewers has plenty of lawyers its activities have to be approved by lawyers and there are professional lawyers who know the law who enforce the law and the military follows the law what people say in television studios God help us often okay it's undisciplined it's uneducated and it's shallow and it's a very problematic because it shapes public opinion in a very problematic way now there are obviously complicated questions about balancing right the need to hit military targets and the need to protect civilians without going too deeply into it I think we have to have bring on experts to confirm that I'm right but I think the fact that the threat against Israel now is so much greater given what happened means that that balance can be struck maybe in a different way but it doesn't mean civilians aren't protected civilians and it doesn't mean that if you show support for but if you feel support for Hamas if you voted for Hamas if you would vote for Hamas doesn't change the fact you're a civilian and you get the protections that a civilian get it's up to the military to decide exactly how to strike the balance with those protections obviously a lot of very difficult questions and in the roughly minute we have left we've talked about this guarantee to win the war we've spoken about the challenge the devil we know and the devil on the northern border in the light of that there's this last angle we haven't really discussed can these really people ever trust this institutions and government again after this I don't know and that's a question for the day after and really the day during I honestly don't know how to restore trust because Ariel it's about our own security can we feel safe in our own apartments and in our own neighborhoods can we feel safe living in the environment can we feel safe that the police is going to to take care of us that the intelligence services are going to take care of us at the military that the government is has at least enough good good faith in terms of the way it's acting I really don't know those are the big questions that might even eclipse how big the war is but they are questions for tomorrow as you said questions that will have to be answered in the future because right now it is a fight for Israel's survival and as we speak there's another rocket barrage Israel's south even as we end our show for everyone else out there stay tuned for our updates at the top of each hour until then stay strong stay safe 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 a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped help us we don't want 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 and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues firsthand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas Loas says Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24 news there are phrases that you know from where they come from see here and the package for when and recharge that you already know where they go on international charges your people in rd access our website recargas.altis.com.co select charges and type the number that you want to place the charge also they receive the double balance in charges of 8 dollars or more Altis the global network of the dominicans of Israel at war I'm Ariel Levin Waldman we're on the 12th day now of that war US President Joe Biden in Israel you just heard him speaking mere moments ago a message of solidarity and a promise to Israel to give the country whatever it needs to prosecute its war against Hamas to the fullest but with a caveat Israel must ensure that it draws a distinction between Hamas and its murderers and the people of Gaza who are not to be treated as members of the war who are not to be targeted and of course the challenges in fighting amongst a civilian population now to break down what we just saw a little bit more we actually have former Israeli ambassador to the United States on the line with us that is Michael Oren Michael it is good to have you on here you have more experience than almost anybody else with all of the figures that were just sitting at that meeting what is your read on this Hi Ariel it was an extraordinary moment as you mentioned I've been involved in U.S. relations for many decades both as a researcher and a practitioner and I don't think I've ever seen a moment like this even the greeting when the president came down from the plane you know it's protocol you shake the president's hand you don't give him a big hug and the kind of hug by the way that Biden gave to Netanyahu was the bunny hug with the slaps on the back everything's going to be okay I've never seen a moment like that and of course there's no protocol really there's no photographs there's no ban playing the Star Spangled Banner there's no inspection of an honor guard it's straight to tell even not to Jerusalem you know not to Yad Vashem right to a hotel and down to business and the business of course will be conducted behind closed doors in a strange arrangement with the various runners going between the prime minister and the security cabinet it's a bad comparison I couldn't help but thinking about the way the United States was conducting negotiations with Iranians for a while with runners going back and forth and not being face to face but okay it is a very big difference and that is Biden has come here in an extraordinary way to show support for the state of Israel and it's I still have it okay that it's not every day that a president comes here to any war area it's extraordinary the president did it last February he went to Kiev during the middle of a war it wasn't easy for him he had to land in Poland and travel 10 hours by train but he had to go really back in history he took it back to 1963 John Kennedy's visit to Berlin during the Berlin crisis to find a president who's willing to do this and by the way it's not without criticism in the United States why is the president of the United States risking himself in this way so then the message the message was one again of unequivocal support of unequivocal understanding empathy we did not see any change no diminishing of the green light he gave us to do what we have to do in Gaza in his first speech in fact he reiterated his commitment to backing us both in the presence of his naval forces the two carrier groups in our area by the way that's a massive massive military force I visited these aircraft carriers they are you know they just into 70-75 war planes they're incredible arrays of systems Tomahawk missiles Aegis anti-missile systems is extraordinary but also to provide us with munitions vital munitions that we almost certainly going to need is this is this war progresses and then the caveat the caveat that was in his first speech where he said and I'm almost quoting him the United States military acts according to international law we expect the Israeli military to act across the international law raise some eyebrows here people saying don't we always act to the point of military war isn't the IDF the most world army in the world he said it Tony Blaniken Secretary of State reiterated it several times during his visit here and now the president said again and what's the code here he's saying you can go in you the idea can go into Gaza you can uproot Hamas do what you have to do but you have to be care you have to make a distinction between the Palestinian civilian population and Hamas and that is not always easy that too is not an easy message for many Israelis to hear there's a general feeling there's really public that there isn't much of a distinction that the civilians of Gaza voted for Hamas they cheered on Hamas a great number of them participated in the massacres of October 7th some of them may be holding hostages as well not such a distinction and it's a hard one but the United States has to make it has to make it in order to maintain its alliances throughout the region and I think the president ought to do it in order to maintain his support from home particularly from his own party and if you're following the American press you see a rising criticism of Israel of course but also the president's handling influential columnist like Tom Freeman calling on the president to tell Israel that we actually cannot go into Gaza we should not go into Gaza that we've we've drawn enough vengeance exactly enough vengeance on the Palestinians so far enough let's negotiate for the hostages I think that what wasn't said I think was at least as significant and it's this Ariel the United States not only wants to see humanitarian corridor opened and the provision of essential food stuffs and water for this the Palestinian refugees who have fled northern Gaza's trip for the south I think the president wants to know what our end game is he wants to know about the day after will Israel be left holding the keys to Gaza will someone take those keys will it be an international and inter Arab force will the Palestinian authority be involved in this it's interesting that that Mahmoud Abbas the president of the Palestinian Authority was supposed to meet together with President Ossisi of Egypt and King Abdullah Jordan in the summit in Amman that was supposed to follow this was canceled because of the incident at the hospital last night but he that Biden was willing to meet with Abbas who only a few weeks ago gave one of the most anti-Semitic speeches that I can recall denying the Holocaust yet accusing the Jews of bringing the Holocaust onto ourselves just an egregiously anti-Semitic speech shows you the president is still interested in reanimating the peace process and still looks sees Mahmoud Abbas as a partner in that process I would even go far to say and I'm not in the business of prophecy that this is those things a free lunch and that there when the smoke clears on this war the United States will come back to us and say listen we did this for you during the war now we expect you to make serious concessions in the peace process I would not be a bit surprised so all that is what's not being said Ariya if I have a second I want to talk about the hospital incident I actually want to go into that last part you mentioned there about the day after the war and some of the caveats one of the biggest things that you've always written about is the idea of no daylight between Israel and America and when it comes down to these policies do you see these caveats and these possible prices in the future as something that could develop that could actually open up a rift between the two when it comes down to what happens next well the daylight refers to the to the degree to which those risks which always exists Ariya we always have risks it's not either about the peace process or about the Iran they're always risks the question is whether you broadcast them outward and I think the president has intimated their his and his administration's concern about about civilian casualties he's not doing what John Kerry and his boss Barack Obama did in 2014 which was to make it very public insofar as not just to not they denied us the resupply of vital forms of ammunition that we ran short of in 2014 here comes president Biden is not only is he keeping all these rifts behind the scenes for the most part he's actually preempting supplies of vital munitions to us that to me is extraordinary listen I I know this man okay I've worked with him this is a person who cares passionately about the state of Israel about the Jewish people I heard him I heard his his aides referred to him as he thinks he's half Jewish and and this is genuine with him you you cannot in any way question his sincerity and his commitment to Israel it's it is deep and I say there's anything about Tony Blainman and I think you heard him say that talked about this Jewish roots his stepfather his grandfather it's genuine but but the president his secretary of state are members of a certain party the certain party has has a growing opposition to them they're going against the grain here and they're going against the grain in Washington where the only source of bipartisan issue that achieves bipartisan support is isolationism neither republicans nor democrats want the United States to get involved in further foreign entanglements in the world certainly not in the Middle East and here comes Joe Biden and sends two carrier groups two massive military flotillas to our area and it's this now you have to when you deal with the United States you have to sort of also you have to pan back we tend to see everything through an Israeli lens but in Washington they see through a global lens and the message here is not just to the people of Israel the message here is to the leaders of China the message is the leaders of Russia it is the message is is categorically message is America's back after more than a decade of withdrawal from just about everywhere America's back and it's an extraordinary moment living through an historical moment we don't know how this is going to mushroom how it's going to snowball and the next days the next couple of days will be crucial well thank you very much Michael Oren for a look inside Washington and Israel at the top of leadership from a former ambassador who is probably the most knowledgeable person or one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on that subject we are however going to get some follow-up right now from our correspondent Mary McAuliffe who is in Tel Aviv covering Biden's visit Mary we saw the speech we saw the statements tell us a little bit about what comes next because I believe that Biden and Netanyahu are currently having the non-public meeting where they actually have to discuss the hard issues not just the sentiments that's absolutely right Ariel so everything that we heard in President Biden speaking with Netanyahu was a message we were expecting to hear expressing his support in solidarity with the people of Israel calling also specifically on this really people telling them how much he admired their bravery and their courage and their commitment to their country and to defend their country only mentioning briefly the civilian issue the humanitarian issue as well as the bombing in Gaza of course at the hospital last night and the issue of what Israel's denying responsibility for that event it seemed Biden had accepted Israel's version so far but he didn't speak too much in detail about that incident this is likely something that they will be going into detail in that closed-door meeting as well as what pressure America will be putting on Israel as it does try and negotiate some humanitarian deal that will allow aid convoys into the Gaza Strip they did not discuss this much in their meetings only giving vague comments about how Israel must act and everybody in the area must act to try and safeguard the lives of the civilians in the area this is likely to be the backbone and the core of the discussions with Netanyahu behind these closed doors trying to nail down more some of those details and outline some of the steps that the Americans would like to see as Israel prepares to move forward inside the Gaza Strip and are we expecting any sort of follow-up addressed by the two of them after these closed-door negotiations we have a better idea of what actually took place it's very possible but we should caution that to say what exactly they said behind those closed doors there's a reason they gave a brief meeting before that some of the inner workings the details as well some of the intelligence that Israel is likely to give to the Americans we shouldn't really expect to hear much of those specific finite details of what goes on between that meetings we can probably expect more statements coming out of Biden later today especially after he also meets with the families of those hostages who are being held inside the Gaza Strip as America says it is continuing to work to try and free those hostages so we can likely expect to hear another statement about that and absolutely when that happens we will come back back to you to help us break that down that was our correspondent Mary McAuliffe in Tel Aviv now we're gonna recap some of that speech by playing some of the critical parts that were said between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Mr. President you rightly said that Hamas is worse than ISIS the German Chancellor who visited here yesterday said that Hamas were the new Nazis you're both right and just as a civilized world united to defeat the Nazis and united to defeat ISIS the civilized world must unite to defeat Hamas Americans are greeting with you they really are and Americans are worried Americans are worried because we know there's a this is not an easy field to navigate what you have to do but the fact is that Israel as they responded to this attacks it seems to me that have to continue to ensure that you have what you need to defend yourselves and we're going to make sure that occurs as you know and we have to also bear in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and it has brought them only suffering I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday and based on what I've seen it appears as though it was done by the other team not not you and for more on this we are once again joined by Dan Perry International Affairs Analyst Dan you have a background with the AP that dates back as far back as anyone can remember and we see the critical need to express the moral access of this war because you see so few cases where it's obvious the the savagery of one side and the restraint that is often put on the other something that was once again reiterated by President Joe Biden at this meeting something that's playing out in boardrooms across media outlets around the world right now in the aftermath of that strike in Gaza on that hospital by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad ultimately this moral access how much is this going to play into what we see happening over the coming weeks ahead it's it can be critical unless there is an understanding in the world that we're looking at an absolute global historic singularity where almost any means are justifiable in order to achieve your ends it's interesting to me that Biden again very publicly and prominently mentioned ISIS just as a German chancellor mentioned the Nazis you know I was involved in the coverage as Middle East editor of AP of the effort to dislodge ISIS from Mosul in Iraq and Iraq and Syria and other cities and once there was a crossing of the Rubicon leading to an understanding or at least a conviction that ISIS simply had to be removed come what may then the gloves really were kind of off and I mean I can't I can't address the morality of it I don't know if it's right I just know that it's true that the Americans and the coalition were willing to take action that led to the deaths of probably around 10,000 civilians in Mosul who didn't vote for Islamic State even some of them might have supported it so it's certainly a factor I listen to Ambassador Oren talk about how the Israelis many of them don't distinguish between the Gazans and Hamas I would hope he's wrong and in my own assessment living here as well I think he is there is anger in Israel more than anger rage an absolute burning rage at the savagery and butchery and barbarity that we saw but I think I think Israelis by and large understand that the two points something million people of Gaza are also in a way hostages Hamas it's true that a majority of Gazans voted for Hamas in parliamentary elections in 2006 and that was not their finest moment but that has very little to do with support for Hamas being the executive authority in Gaza today I mean I'm not a betting man but if I were I would bet Hamas would be thrown out of power if there was a free election in Gaza today so I think Israel does absolutely have a wide open burst to taking action to remove Hamas from power if it can in Gaza I think if Israel ends up taking out 50,000 Hamas nicks in Gaza in Gaza I think even that wouldn't shock to many people in the world but to kill thousands of civilians that are not of all is another matter altogether as I say not without precedent given the war against Islamic State that America itself led but highly problematic and if I look at what Biden is really saying with his presence here and with the two carrier groups parked just off coast basically which is really two spectacular statements yeah its support understanding and a genuinely heartfelt feeling of being by Israel's side and of a moment that is global historic but it's also a bit of a bear hug with the Americans so intimately involved in the planning with Blinken going over actual plans with Biden here in person undoubtedly with his teams getting into details about what Israel plans I think alongside all the sympathy that's being expressed there are going to be hard questions about whether Israel really is prepared for the savagery of a ground invasion for the complexities of an occupation of Gaza if it came to that and maybe primarily whether it's wise for Israel to go in there with guns blazing and tanks rumbling to achieve an outcome that may be not a punishment to Hamas and Iran but perhaps a reward because certainly their strategic goal is to prevent peace with Saudi Arabia to maximize mayhem in Palestine to cause contagion in West Bank and Hezbollah and if you look at two options in vade Gaza and or don't evade Gaza I'm pretty sure that the former in vade Gaza makes it more likely for Iran to achieve its strategic ends which are to create mayhem in the Middle East and send the whole region aflame so these are complicated questions and I think Israel needs to keep in mind the rage righteous rage can clarify sure but it can also be an extremely poor council it's a very interesting conundrum that you've just detailed there Dan before we do anything else though we are going to cross over to our northern border where our correspondent Hamas is waiting we're hearing again about those reports overnight for injured soldiers anti-tank missiles preparations by Hezbollah for a larger offensive what are the developments on Israel's northern front well Ariel that's right just in the last couple of hours the Israeli military saying in an interview that the teams that they have will be prepared in the north they're sufficiently prepared to take on Hezbollah and that the consequences will be severe last night there were demonstrations in Beirut and in southern Lebanon those demonstrations are still going on now people raising both Palestinian and Hezbollah flags I'll remind you the Palestinian factions operating out of southern Lebanon have been eager to join the fight but they do need the go ahead from Hezbollah who is said to be preparing itself militarily for an all-out war with the Israelis now sources are saying that a final decision will be made between Beirut and Tehran however the Iranians have been coming out and saying that they have nothing to do with this that this is a Palestinian fight and they are merely supporting the Palestinian cause however they are prepared if Hezbollah should choose to enter this battle now the Israeli military reinforcing a lot of different places in the north making sure that northern front is secured because a lot of additional information is coming out that perhaps Hezbollah would like to take away the attention of what's going on in the south what's going on in Gaza perhaps delaying that ground invasion even further we did hear from Hezbollah you know in the last few days saying that all of this was just a warning to Israel these exchanges of fire were simply a warning and it's not an indication that they'll get involved in the conflict but if there is a ground invasion inside of the Gaza Strip both Hezbollah and the Iranians are saying that all bets are off and they can't really guarantee who's going to get involved and who's going to stay out so everyone all eyes on the northern border today tomorrow and in the weeks to come definitely Hamda because that's where everything has a massive potential to just conflict rate thank you very much keep yourself safe out there that was Hamda Salhu our correspondent in the north we're going to return to the studio where we have our senior correspondent Owen Alterman sitting with us just break down everything that we've just heard we've seen one of the big questions an interesting question that Dan Perry brought up just a few minutes ago is ultimately these strategic goals is Israel smashing Hamas going to be leaving a power vacuum that perhaps Iran could exploit the follow-up to that is is there even a choice anymore because Israel has to do something to prevent another tragedy if so how far does America have Israel's back Israelis are sick of worrying about the devil they don't know at least in Gaza that ended on October 7th we have the devil in every sense of the word that we do know and that's the focus the devil we don't know can come later all right people are willing to take their chances that's the bottom line obviously there has to be a plan for the day after reports in Israel Channel 13 that the foreign ministry has started to put a plan together that gets to where the consensus would be anyway that the best of bad options from Israel's perspective to have a weak let's be honest Palestinian authority go in and try to run Gaza as for the United States having Israel's back the United States is essentially guaranteed that Israel will win the war that's why the aircraft carrier strike groups are here on their way come what may Israel is going to win the war there's a question of what the price is along the way I think a more troubling scenario in a sense is Ariel for the Israeli public is a Hezbollah that's left intact after this war because we've seen the impact of having an intact Hamas how does this country on the day after the war come to terms with the fact that there are similar even worse threats for those living just kilometers just miles from the Lebanon border it's a question mark of massive proportions for the society and how it feels one very quick comment is something that came up with both Jen Dary and Michael Orr and this issue of civilians in Gaza under international law and I have experience working on international humanitarian law showing support for feeling support for Hamas does not change your status as a civilian it's simply a black and white question if you don't directly participate in the hostilities okay you are a civilian with all of the protections that civilians enjoy by the way the Israeli militaries also my viewers has plenty of lawyers its activities have to be approved by lawyers and there are professional lawyers who know the law who enforce the law and the military follows the law what people say in television studios God help us often okay it's undisciplined it's uneducated and it's shallow and it's a very problematic because it shapes public opinion in a very problematic way now there are obviously complicated questions about balancing right the need to hit military targets the need to protect civilians without going too deeply into it I think we'll have to have bring on experts to confirm that I'm right but I think the fact that the threat against Israel now is so much greater given what happened means that that balance can be struck maybe in a different way but it doesn't mean civilians aren't protected civilians and it doesn't mean that if you show support for not sure but if you feel support for Hamas even if you voted for Hamas if you would vote for Hamas doesn't change the fact you're a civilian and you get the protections that a civilian get it's up to the military to decide exactly how to strike the balance with those protections obviously a lot of very difficult questions and in the roughly minute we have left we've spoke about this guarantee to win the war we've spoken about the challenge the devil we know and the devil on the northern border in the light of that there's this last anger we haven't really discussed can these really people ever trust this institution and government again after this I don't know and that's a question for the day after and really the day during I honestly don't know how to restore trust because Ariel it's about our own security can we feel safe in our own apartments and in our own neighborhoods can we feel safe living in the environment can we feel safe that the police is going to to take care of us that the intelligence services are going to take care of us at the military that the government is has at least enough good good faith in terms of the way it's acting I really don't know those are the big questions that might even eclipse how big the war is but they are questions for tomorrow as you said questions that will have to be answered in the future because right now it is a fight for Israel's survival and as we speak there's another rocket barrage Israel's south even as we end our show for everyone else out there stay tuned for our update to the top of each hour until then stay strong stay safe for 1,300 people murdered and more than 3,000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24 news it 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 but in a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped 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 breaking news coverage of day 12 of Israel's war against Hamas i'm at 11th thanks for joining me for the next two hours as we take a look at the latest unfolding in this unprecedented conflict when actions speak louder than words and a welcome gesture to Israel wearing a blue and white suit you as president Joe Biden is touched down in the Jewish state with a solidarity visit now well underway Biden landed at 11 a.m. local time and was greeted at Ben-Gurion International Airport by both the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli President Isaac Herzog all three embracing in a hug the reception has had none of the usual formalities and circumstance surrounding a U.S. presidential visit but rather exemplifies the long-standing support and friendship between Jerusalem and Washington the U.S. president is visiting the military headquarters in Tel Aviv sitting down to talk with high-level Israeli political and security officials and meeting with dual American citizens that have lost loved ones or have relatives kidnapped by Hamas into the Gaza Strip Biden's short but strong visit also comes as Israel works hard to show the international community by means of both visual and audio evidence that Gaza terror faction the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was in fact responsible for a failed rocket launch that landed on the Strip's main hospital Al Shifa a strike that killed 200 to 300 people according to most sources the ruling Hamas terror group has inflated those numbers to at least 500 earlier Biden and Netanyahu gave statements to the media here is some of their press conference Mr. President you rightly said that Hamas is worse than ISIS the German Chancellor who visited here yesterday said that Hamas were the new Nazis you're both right and just as a civilized world united to defeat the Nazis and united to defeat ISIS the civilized world must unite to defeat Hamas Americans are grieving with you they really are and Americans are worried Americans are worried because we know there's a this is not an easy field to navigate what you have to do but the fact is that Israel as they responded to these attacks it seems to me that have to continue to ensure that you have what you need to defend yourselves and we're going to make sure that occurs as you know and we have to also bear in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and it has brought them only suffering I'm deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday and based on what I've seen it appears as though it was done by the other team not not you The idea of spokesman Rea Admiral Dangal HaGhari accused the Hamas terror group of purposely misleading international media outlets by claiming a failed rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip that killed hundreds take a listen I can confirm that an analysis of the IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza passing in close proximity to the Al-Hali Al-Madi hospital in Gaza that the time it was hit intelligence from few sources that we have in our hands indicates that the Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza I repeat this is the responsibility of Islamic Jihad that killed innocents in the hospital in Gaza Now the IDF has also released a recording of an intercepted phone call between two Hamas terrorists who discussed the failed Islamic Jihad rocket that landed on the Gaza hospital take a look And joining me here in studio to discuss all this further is Neri Zilber, a journalist and a junk fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Daron Avital, a former commander of the IDF Special Forces Gentlemen Thank you Good afternoon to you and thank you very much for being here Two major topics definitely making the new cycles in Israel in particular today Biden visiting the region and of course this phone call as well as other audio and visual proof that factions within the Gaza Strip did indeed strike that hospital that's caused international condemnation I want to start with Biden being in Israel momentous and also unprecedented visits all formalities out the window What can we expect from a visit at this level? It's a remarkable visit during wartime in Israel by U.S. President it's never happened before and obviously it's a first of all a very strong sign of support personally by the U.S. President by Joe Biden that he has as he said Israel's back that his support for Israel is ironclad and he's shown that by coming here personally if you walk in the streets of Tel Aviv today a lot of people are out because a lot of Israelis know that even Hamas and also Hezbollah won't fire on Tel Aviv while the U.S. President is here it's a very strong iron dome or an American iron dome in addition to the military defenses the two U.S. carrier groups that Biden has sent to the region along with the ammunition and weaponry that comes from the U.S. to help the Israeli war effort so both in symbol and in action Biden is really supporting Israel to the hilt Well that's an interesting point because as we were speaking about over the last couple of days knowing that Biden was coming to the region when he made a solidarity visit to Ukraine Russia was aware of this they were made aware of this they were made of his agenda his travel plans and where he was so that they knew not to strike in that area but we've seen over the last couple of days high-level American officials that have had to run for cover so how is Biden actually making sure that he is protected in a war zone possibly even the German counselor I think had to take out as he was climbing to his airplane yes I'm sure I'm in Hamasin I hope it's not that stupid to fire when the president of the U.S. is coming for a visit it's a public visit it's very interesting the words that Biden has chosen it was carefully chosen words when he said this is a very difficult field to navigate and I think he came not only to show solidarity for sure he came in this context but also to help us navigate the dilemmas that right now we have to are facing us and facing baby so it's interesting a show of solidarity but also a show that says I'm here we are here and we'll help you navigate together because the dilemmas are hard right not only dilemmas with regard to actually prosecuting the war in terms of how Israel goes about not harming civilians and non-combatants inside Gaza but also the entire hostage issue with the over 200 likely Israelis and other foreign nationals held hostage including many Americans and that's also something that Biden personally has gotten involved in he actually met with relatives and loved ones of hostage victims even before the Israeli Prime Minister did last week We'll get to the hostages in just a moment but we have to address the strike because and I'm hoping that we'll be putting up the visuals but there is footage of the strike which appears to be actually hitting the parking lot of the hospital no doubt still in the same vicinity still targeting in a sense the facility itself but hitting a parking lot so where does Hamas get 500 or at least 500 civilians non-combatants killed I think they they were very fast to use it in the advantage and the Israeli idea I think rightfully so wanted to have the facts checked and verified before coming out and explaining what had happened there and that this is there this is the jihad Islamic rocket so I think in the beginning they used it it really actually succeeded to cancel the summit that was planned for Biden with the PA president and Abdullah so they are very quick on media but it's clearly not us and thankfully it's not us and thankfully we have those this kind of intelligence to show the facts and it will be completely verified that this is a misfire of Islamic jihad gentlemen stay with us I do want to cross to our I-24 news correspondent Mary McCall if he was covering Biden's solidarity visit on the ground in Tel Aviv Mary what can you tell us it's been an intense morning for Tel Aviv having to navigate the traffic for many of us getting to work also just goes to show how important this visit is we were discussing a lot of the formalities out of the window but again a U.S. president in Israel in a war what can you tell us absolutely so in addition to all the checkpoints and the heavy heavy police presence that's been on the ground since very early this morning expecting his visit also overhead here we've heard a number of helicopters who have essentially just been patrolling the shoreline and flying right over that area where these meetings between Biden and Netanyahu who are taking place there have also been Israeli police ships cruising the coast who are right so definitely a heavy presence as the American president does come here under war and we heard strong messages from Biden saying how important it was for him to be here on the ground to not just say the words that he's been saying over the past week or so and he has come out so forcefully and so strongly condemning what happened on October 7th condemning Hamas and saying that America stands behind Israel and will continue to do so but his presence here on the ground setting an altogether completely different message and taking that to an even stronger and deeper point so this is a message that we heard from Biden expressing his solidarity also commending all Israelis for their courage their bravery and their commitment to defending their country as we continue to see strikes and rocket attacks being fired from Gaza into Israel and as Israel does prepare to launch this next stage of its operation a very important time for the US president to be here and to contain his message one of support but also saying that he'll be asking the tough questions to Netanyahu as they are meeting privately on what Israel exactly plans to do next how they're planning on safeguarding the lives of civilian in this war and what exactly the end goal is here and Israel's exit strategy because the last thing America wants to see is Israel get bogged down inside the Gaza Strip Israel for its part is also saying it has no plans to occupy the Gaza Strip with this operation so the question is how is Israel going to get out what are their plans for after they finish this operation to eradicate Hamas? Right, Marion as we've been speaking about obviously actions speak far louder than words but Biden is going to be under a microscope by not just those in the region but a lot of the world in terms of the actual rhetoric the words that he uses with regards to this conflict that is now unfolding you mentioned the White House saying that tough questions are going to be asked but are we going to be seeing tough actions being put down where America says these are our red lines we are willing to give jurisdiction and freedom to do a whole range of things but these are our red lines don't cross them absolutely about it so that is the big question we know America has come out and said that it stands behind Israel but it also is very concerned about civilian casualties in this war so that's why we're also going to see Biden and Netanyahu discussing the issue of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip trying to lease some of these convoys as well as trying to get some of the foreigners that are inside the Gaza Strip out these are the main priorities as Israel prepares to go into the operation this is the main focus for the U.S. president especially with American hostages on the ground in Gaza Strip as well as Americans in the Gaza Strip not being held hostage but still nonetheless trying to get out before this operation really truly gets underway so these are what we're going to hear from Biden this is his main task here whether or not we're actually going to hear what America's red lines are remains to be seen much of what Biden and Netanyahu talk about will not be released to the public this we can be sure of but we are likely to see more statements from Biden as he concludes his visit as he continues to meet with Israeli officials and as he meets with the families of those hostages who are being held by Hamas Charizban and Mary McAuliffe on the ground in Tel Aviv covering the U.S. president Joe Biden's historic and unprecedented visit here in Israel will be crossing back to you a little later for more updates still with me in studio is Neri Izzalba and Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Daron Avital obviously this speaks volumes from what this means to Israeli leadership in particular Benjamin Netanyahu hasn't had the easiest of relationships at least currently with Joe Biden he's had a longstanding relationship with Joe Biden but at least given the extremities in his government that's caused a little bit of friction but what does this mean to the Israeli public that he is here? It means everything to the Israeli public you can just see the outpouring of Israeli adulation last week when Biden first began giving these public speeches and public comments about what happened on October 7th the atrocities committed by Hamas very very strongly in Israel's corner but also showing great empathy for the Israeli public as people here know watching Israeli television channels there are no more commercials given the wartime and the national grief so instead of commercials they were airing clips of Biden's comments as a sort of rallying cry for the Israeli public both directly and also to show the Israeli public that the US president and by extension America was standing firmly behind them during this war Adore on a big question is will the Arab world will the Palestinians will the tariff actions in the Gaza Strip be listening to the words of America we know that there's only three countries that tend to have a massive influence on Hamas being Qatar, Egypt and Turkey do they actually care much for the western world? I think Egypt for sure I mean Egypt has its own red lines we heard Assisi today proclaiming no way Palestinian refugees would cross the border offering us to settle them in the western negative but for sure Egypt is an Egypt in the end is an ally in this conflict they have the Islamic brothers as a threat inside the Egypt but of course they have their own interests so we have to work it carefully and having the Americans on our side it's very important I think also the Jordanians is very important and we have the Saudis in the back it's how to recall but we had the Saudi initiative in the back which I'm sure after this war will end will come back to the table so yes many players have different interests here but the US positioning and the US as the guy that navigates the story is important and they would listen yeah for sure I want to point out to our viewers that we are expecting the US President Joe Biden to be giving a statement obviously when he does cross live we'll be taking that pressure so that you can hear his comments but in the meantime I want to go to our correspondent Hamda Selkhut who is standing by for us on Israel's northern border with Lebanon Hamda reports coming out that four soldiers were wounded in early morning Hezbollah missile attacks we know that at least for now fire in the south seems to be halted in lieu of US President Joe Biden's visit in Israel what can you give us in terms of an update from the northern border that's right Batia for Israeli soldiers wounded lightly to moderately in exchange of fire along the northern border the Israeli military retaliating hitting Hezbollah targets now just about an hour ago was reported that the Israeli military struck targets in Lebanon with artillery reports of three casualties on the Lebanese side coming out this hour as well Hamas says that three members of the faction were killed trying to infiltrate the border on October 14th we're also hearing that they are having a press conference currently in the south of Lebanon there have been protests throughout the country for Hezbollah to act to get involved in this conflict the United States has told Israel not to strike preemptively not to hit any targets preemptively out of fear of this conflict expanding into two separate fronts in exchange they're offering some reassurances perhaps boots on the ground Air Force naval assistance but we do know it'll be military assistance but what kind still yet to be seen so all eyes are on the northern border as this conflict is perhaps now escalating into a larger front about here Israel telling Hezbollah don't threaten us don't do anything stupid across the border because we will retaliate and it will be seen as a mistake but obviously Israel being in adversaries with both Hezbollah and the Hamas terror group perhaps not necessarily listening but is Hezbollah nervous to be crossing lines at the moment with the United States and their presence in the region look I think when it comes to groups like Hezbollah they don't care about what the United States has to say they don't care about what the West has to say sources have been saying that there are discussions going on in between Beirut and Tehran as to when Hezbollah will get involved in the conflict reports are saying that they are preparing themselves militarily perhaps even moving weapons there are not a lot of visuals of this obviously because of what can and can't be shown in southern Lebanon but if Hezbollah were to act the Israeli military has told them their response will be firm their response will be deadly their response will be destructive so a message to Hezbollah but whether they are taking that warning seriously is up for debate Correspondent Khamdeh Selkut giving us all the latest updates from the northern border between Israel and Lebanon will be crossing life to you a little later for some more updates in the meantime let's go from north to down south now to our senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev who was near the Israel Gaza border Jonathan it was 12 hours of quiet of lull but then sirens started going out again in border communities near Gaza that is true though there were sirens here in Sderote where we are also in the other border communities we did not hear in this the sirens that there were about the hour the last hour any damage injuries casualties of course most of these communities are quite empty so very few people left what we can still see here is a reminder of what happened here on that Saturday morning here in Sderote for example look at the scar completely torn apart bullets windows shattered there's blood inside and again this is one of many this is we're driving in Sderote the city has gone through a cleanup but not entirely look at this for example just the inside of this car witnessed what happened here on that terrible terrible Saturday morning you can see it from inside there's blood there's carnage inside not only in homes we see it but in cars and there are plenty of these in Sderote still parked the municipality the homefront command took most of them especially those on the roads in the first few days the roads of the area were blocked by cars looking like these even burned burned up now most of them are gone but still walking through the roads still walking through the communities there's still there's still reminders here to what happened on a terrible terrible Saturday morning Jonathan a little bit of the criticism perhaps coming out and I say criticism likely is that by the time Joe Biden made it to Israel apart from what we saw the US Secretary of State and the US Defense Secretary as you mentioned a lot of the reminders the raw reality of what went down in the south is going to be cleared out removed taken to forensics for more investigations and questions is it likely that Joe Biden will be heading to the south and if so what is he likely to bear witness to there I don't expect the President of the United States to head down south just the fact that he arrived to Israel at a state at the state of affairs the current state of affairs that's that's impressive by itself we have seen the dignitaries here here's Dorot for example two days ago we met with a former French Prime Minister for example and of course diplomats and Israel Foreign Diplomats come here all the time I don't think we'll see in President Biden or others or Secretary Blinken coming at least not for the moment now it's of course the role of Israeli diplomacy to make sure that the images that we saw here cars like this homes other terrible images they resonate throughout the world of course now when when when things are shifting and and and difficult images are coming out of Gaza as well it is very important that images such as this one and the many many others who were filmed for the past 10 11 days they resonate all around the world Adonathan around 20 to 30 thousand residents in the South Armenia in Sturot where you currently have relocated or evacuated out of the South to more of the central and more of the northern communities in Israel what was it like driving down there this morning what is it like in the city is it pretty much a ghost town or is there a percentage of the population that has stayed and why the the assumption is that 85 to 90 percent of the population have left that means that out of the city of 25 000 people were speaking or roughly maybe 3000 that are still here we spoke to some of them and they're saying this is our home we do not want to leave some have pets that they they want to make sure that that are fine and and we have met a few of them all of the families that say we we don't see any children here there's not much to do of course for for the children people are people have to here in Sturot people have to stay very close to protect the shelters all the time and those people are refugees word is used mainly to describe Palestinian suffering there are many refugees now from from Sturot from the the Gaza border communities even from northern communities who have been told to move away from home I'm so many times global leaders have spoke about Palestinian refugees how about Israeli refugees they didn't do anything apart from being murdered in their home and now many of them had to flee let's see if there is any global outcry about that likely we'll be hearing from U.S. President Joe Biden about that as well our correspondent senior correspondent Jonathan Reagan down in the South thank you very much for that update I'd like to remind our audience that we are still waiting for the U.S. President Joe Biden to be giving a statement and as soon as he does we'll be taking that live but in terms of an update on his agenda we can tell you that the war cabinet which includes Defense Minister Yoav Galant War Cabinet Minister past IDF head Benny Gantz and War Cabinet Observer Gadi Eisencott also a past IDF head are entering an area in the Tel Aviv hotel where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden are meeting the war cabinet is scheduled to host Biden once he finishes a meeting with Netanyahu who is also part of the war cabinet managing Israel's Gaza campaign Biden and Netanyahu are finishing up their one-on-one meetings which are not being broadcast publicly and after making their meeting they will then be making public statements and convening the war cabinet of which President Joe Biden will be sitting in so you can see live images from the hotel at the moment it's a very brand new hotel actually in Tel Aviv where they will be meeting and that is why so many of the streets in Tel Aviv at the moment have been shut down in order to allow for that meeting in order to allow for the security ramifications as well again the leader of the free world in Israel in a wartime scenario cannot be easy from a security point of view as soon as they do start speaking we will go to that live in the meantime I want to continue the conversation here in studio with Neri Zilba and Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Doron Abital live images at the moment of a potential press conference again a huge statement that Biden is in the region obviously not all of the discussions happening between Biden and Netanyahu are going to be broadcasted the media and understandably because we're talking about one of the biggest allies of the state of Israel and we're also talking about a friendship that may have been strained in more current times but it's been longstanding and so no doubt there's about to be pretty frank and open conversations which perhaps the media should not be twisting in terms of their words but we do need to discuss prior to this the international community because we are looking at a UN Security Council vote that is supposed to be happening today on what happened necessarily with the hospital but they want to perhaps reword the document now since the whole rhetoric and narrative around it has changed Yeah, I think many of many leaders in the western world were jumping the gun too fast even I think the Canadian the other world for sure but I have the vested interest for sure and they ignited this rage of Palestinians everywhere but I'm saying for example the Canadian to do the Canadian Prime Minister so don't jump the gun in a conflict like this and I think we have clear evidence that it's not us and we have to do whatever we can PR wise and to show it and I think Biden said it was the other team this was the wording he was using so it's not only Biden but also the UK has now come out and said the same sentiments so has Italy but the point is these are western allies what about regional partners I mean it will take time for them to admit such a thing even the Egyptian even people that we in some sense are in close intelligence ties like we have the Egyptian intelligence I want to make a point about the fact that Biden is in the war cabinet this is really unprecedented that Biden sits with our generals the Benny Gunn Eisen got in the war There will no doubt be speaking in English for him to be able to understand as well of course of course and we have to say this isn't you know they're not going to start taking our maps probably in going into the tactics it's a show but he did outline he did outline some very firm lines I think he said too in 60 minutes it would be a mistake to take Gaza to take the Gaza Strip again he was talking about the scope that is limited in terms of ground incursions so I think we see a president that really intervenes in our tactical planning this is new this is unprecedented okay it's it's part of the new game I think the IDF generals and even this work habit would probably agree yeah for sure President Biden I know guns I know guns and I was in court I served with both of them in guns for sure shoulder to shoulder for sure this Israel doesn't want to take the Gaza Strip again but a ground incursion or some dramatic move to undermine the military capabilities of Hamas is is essential but I'll make two important points to my mind in terms of Biden and then the what happened in the hospital yesterday number one Biden isn't here because really of Gaza and Hamas I mean he's here in terms of the concern for civilian life on the other side inside Gaza and obviously civilian life that was brutally taken away in southern Israel but the US is here both the president and the aircraft carriers and everything because of one thing and one thing only and that's the threat of Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies all around Israel getting involved and turning this into a two or multi-front war that's really the American concern in terms of Israel's core national security and so you talk about you know Biden and Yahoo relationship I think for Biden himself it goes much deeper he cares deeply about Israel he himself identifies as a Zionist and so given the threat that may develop if and when Israel goes in on the ground and Hezbollah maybe gets involved the US from the president on down is making it very clear that they may have to actually deal with America and not just Israel fighting what could be an expanded war and then in terms of the hospital I was actually at the press conference this morning that the IDF spokesman Daniel Higari gave to the foreign media I think the most convincing piece of information or evidence about what and what did not happen last night at the hospital was the after-action picture that came out this morning of the parking lot next to the hospital that was hit there was no real deep crater that would indicate a missile strike the damage was extensive but relatively contained burned cars and most interesting to my mind we still have not seen images either from inside Gaza or even from the IDF or anybody of the bodies of the people of the victims if they're really like the Gazans claim 500 people dead somebody would have taken a picture that's a you know that's a massacre on a scale you know that we've saw on October 7th by the way but those images to the best of my knowledge have not come out yet and there's maybe a reason why I want to point out to our viewers we're still looking at live images there on your screen of a press conference that is said to take place the Biden and Netanyahu talks appear to be running over time but as you mentioned the IDF spokesperson's unit having a really difficult job having to explain and show both audio and visual proof that these actually happened in their territory by their tariff actions and so I want to go now to an IDF spokesperson Major Doron Spielman thank you very much for joining us here on our breaking news edition of the I-24 news desk we're still waiting for more statements to come out from both the U.S. President Joe Biden and also Benjamin Netanyahu but something that is really overshadowing their meetings barring obviously the looming conflict that is on the ground at the moment is the fact that a major hospital in the Gaza Strip was struck but it wasn't struck necessarily by Israel my question to you is how does the IDF spokesperson's unit deal with the haters that are simply not interested at this point in admitting perhaps we rushed to conclusions too quickly and we made a mistake well I think here the real issue that we have to draw with is actually members of the international press not your outlet but many of them who actually turned to Hamas a terror organization as a verified source meaning if there was an explosion near a hospital that we know immediately Hamas blamed Israel on many many international media it's took this as a verifiable fact and ran it and allowed as you mentioned haters throughout the world to jump on this that Israel's committed in atrocity we know now with absolute certainty on every single level as the spokesman Hagari explained and as I'll explain that this was not Israel and so I think the real focus of our efforts needs to be not on the haters haters are going to hate anyway it's on the actual press themselves they need to understand if you want truth you have to wait for the idea it's going to take a little little time but speed is secondary to accuracy we are going to be accurate well i'd like to get your comments on something because a lot of the obviously as an international and Israeli based news organization i24 news has been posting a fortune of the clips from both interviews as well as some of the atrocities from the south in the field but a lot of the comments that we are getting when we do post information that has been verified and certified by the IDF from a lot of perhaps I would say either the haters or the misinformed is how can you trust what the IDF is saying where is their certification and their verification coming from and so I'd like to ask you if you had the opportunity to comment to some of those people what exactly would you tell them so look I think that you have to understand there are many many sources first of all the idea has a record if this had been an IDF rocket we would have said this is an IDF rocket we would take responsibility the ultimate responsibility wrestling Hamas we are the ones who give a credible report it takes hours no one can know within seconds who or how actually an explosion took place this is a fundamental that we really have to understand the spokesman's unit also much of the information that was provided was information actually that came from Al Jazeera now I don't think anybody's going to label Al Jazeera as an Israel supporter or as marching and Zionist parades the most compelling footage was actually Al Jazeera who took a live video of that rocket being shot you can see it was fired you can see the rocket malfunctioning you can see it hurdling back to the ground in Gaza and it landed at 659 is around the time that this took place within one minute after that is when the call started coming out from Hamas it was an explosion in the hospital at the same time we've released audio phone calls between two Hamas commanders speaking to each other in Arabic around the same time in which they admit that they actually knew that this was Palestinian Islamic Jihad they identified a rocket that was shot from a cemetery so I think that what we understand is Hamas we cannot hold them accountable for press an organization that has no no qualms about coming into Israel murdering civilians slaughtering babies certainly have no hesitation whatsoever in line to the international community the issue is if you want the truth has to come from the idea and you have to wait for it to come so major what would be considered a success with regards to the spokesperson's unit putting out all of this visual and audio evidence for these international media organizations to retract the original articles that they wrote or an apology actually given that perhaps they rushed to conclusions look if obviously if there would be an apology that they rushed to conclusions it would be incredible I don't know many media organizations that would have the courage to actually do so I think it would be very commendable and that is in fact what needs to be done they blitzed the world with messages such as Israeli strikes at hospital in Gaza they took Hamas an ISIS-like organization as a verifiable source they need to issue an apology barring the mischievous apology what we would expect is from this point forward they understand that anything that they do they have responsibility not only to their viewers they have a responsibility beyond their viewers because when they put out false information like this we can see it causes riots all throughout capitals throughout the entire world there's a much farther reach in the media they have responsibility just like we have a responsibility to follow international law the media has a responsibility to follow a code of ethics you check your sources before you put them out if they do that I would consider it a win that's going to be interesting to see what comes out now that all this evidence is available and whether some of these international media organizations either attract or as you said best case but unlikely scenario they actually apologize for the information that they put out but in the early days of the war a lot of the criticism even with some of these international media organizations that were on a very I would say thin line becoming somewhat sympathetic to Israel's cause because of the images coming out knowing it was an unprovoked attack they seem to be spinning very quickly in the other direction saying Israel needs to provide evidence that babies were butchered that women were raped and that we had the burning and beheading of babies toddlers and so surely if Israel needs to be held to such a cruel account of having to provide such gruesome and or terribly atrocious images to the public to be able to say here's the truth surely Khamash should be held accountable for the exact same thing if 500 people were unfortunately killed in a strike regardless of where it came from surely those images would be flooding the media outlets as well because we have not seen them I absolutely agree with you and I can tell you in the media branch this double standard is really what makes us ill we have to jump through so many cubes to as you said explain massacre babies we have to have Zaka who gathers the body parts write an official letter we have to release painful pictures that don't only go to them but every young child in the country somehow has gotten access via phones or whatever just approved to them and Khamash admits a trend you know it acknowledges or or announces I'm sorry a tragedy blames Israel no one double checks and there's absolutely no proof not a single picture has been released showing the disaster in the hospital and of course from our perspective what we've seen from satellite photographs the rocket actually didn't even hit the hospital the rocket landed in a parking lot next to the hospital the hospital building is intact anybody in Gaza can see the hospitals intact we see it from the air if there was only in the parking lot I doubt there were 500 people in the parking lot again my heart goes out if you've been one person was killed by Khamash's terror campaign but I think we need to understand there is an ongoing remeditated terror plan that includes deceiving the media and deceiving the international community in order to put pressure on Israel so we don't destroy them so that they can then regroup rebuild and carry out their next attack and we're hoping this time that the world will not fall for this Major how can ordinary citizens help your cause we've had a fortune of people riding to us both Jews and non-Jews saying they want to be able to get this information out they want to share it with the world but not sure exactly which platforms to do so again a lot of the haters coming out often commenting on their posts having them taken down what is your message to the community that so badly wants to assist you in your job of making sure that the information that is credible and viable gets out to the mainstream masses so first of all that's an excellent question and there is a tremendous outpouring of support throughout the entire world from nations throughout the world from normal civilians that really do understand the truth here and want to help what we've said is that the most effective thing for them to do is on social media follow our messaging follow the IDF sites follow your news broadcast and the other broadcast that are really dedicated to the truth and immediately go on your social platforms and become active that is where the battle is unfortunately for the younger generation many of them are tied into the social media networks they're very easily impacted and affected they need to hear your voice there's a lot of voices out there that are yelling lies there's a lot of voices of hate let the voices that support Israel overwhelm them and that will be a victory if not in the battlefield in the battlefield of social media IDF spokesperson Major Doron Spielman who joined me from Tel Aviv I'd like to thank you both very much for your time as well as your words Thank you so much Absolutely and we still want to continue the conversation in studio with Neri Silva as well as Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Doron Avital while we are waiting for those statements to be made by US President Joe Biden and possibly the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gentlemen we have been notified that the meeting between Biden and Netanyahu was running late but that is now done and that the war cabinet is now meeting as we were talking about just before we went to the IDF spokesperson pretty besides unprecedented amazing moment that Biden is literally huddling with the wall cabinet in their discussions I mean the commander-in-chief sitting with our commanders in it's really unprecedented as a military man and I could not have imagined it but the situation calls for it I mean he wants to see what's up in the southern front and as you mentioned the northern front and the possibility of escalation original escalation that goes farther and really ignites the whole region this is really the greatest fear that the Americans the US has and we included for sure to tackle the Hezbollah by itself I mean we can handle it it should be clear we don't need those carriers but of course we need the support of the US and if things extend in a magnitude that I mean as it is this event took us to a different landscape so it's hard to imagine to which new world we are now entering so the US here Biden is here it's a global issue and we hope it's not escalates very fast right now and it's a deterrent right? nobody wants to have the Americans launch missiles or airstrikes in Lebanon or Syria or Yemen except as our correspondents have been pointing out Hezbollah and Hamas doesn't really take kindly to the words of the United States no it is a warning he's a human I mean it's a warning For Hezbollah also to evaluate its forces it's not easy right? but yes the Iranians and also the Lebanese and you know those types of individuals all across the region have been issuing all kinds of threats over the past week and a half none of them have materialized so far because they A. know the power of the IDF and B. because the Americans have entered it so strongly in words and also deeds so they have to at least think twice if not five times before they actually escalate because they may at the end of the day be facing Joe Biden and his decision perhaps to actually get involved in a real way militarily they have to take that into account we can remind the audience in a different conflict there's not similar conflict the 82 the first Lebanon war the U.S. in the end actually joined our forces in Beirut I was there we met the American Marines but this was towards the end of the war after the sabrush of Tila but they were peacekeepers yeah peacekeepers but then a few months later 200 Marines soldiers got killed in this terrible terrible explosion they weren't backing the Israeli war effort they were trying to to calm the situation this is a very different scenario and as Doron said it's an unprecedented time in Israel and unprecedented that the American president is directly and personally getting involved in a conflict precisely due to the fact that he's concerned and America is concerned that it could escalate into a wider regional war look the people actually making the decision ultimately if his Bala gets involved and all their proxies all across the region on the side of Hamas will be Iran and Biden is hoping that through these actions here in Israel today and as words last week and the actions by the U.S. military the decision makers in Iran will actually reconsider their rhetoric and their decision making and actions at least heed to those warnings so another angle that Joe Biden is in the region obviously for is to address the situation of hostages there have been numerous women, children, men, elderly civilians in essence that have been taken into the Gaza Strip by Hamas I want to go down to Elat the southern most city in Israel where I'm joined by Jonathan Dekelchen the father of Sagi Dekelchen who is missing I'm not even going to begin to ask you how your family is doing because I can't begin to imagine the unfathomable pain and devastation all of you must be going through but I would like you to tell us a little bit about your son and how you found out that he was missing well first thank you for having me today and Sagi's 35 year old father of the two beautiful little girls aged three and six and his wife is now seven months pregnant he was brought up on the cubots with the rest of my children cubots near oath and our cubots like so many others of the border communities was attacked on October 7th early in the morning and Sagi was one of the first people to spot the infiltration and alerted our civilian security team and the rest of the community to go into the bomb shelters we have attached bomb shelters all the communities around Gaza and then he and the other young men on the security team began to engage observe and engage the terrorists what Sagi didn't know at the time and took a little while to ascertain was that the few that the 10 or so terrorists that he first saw were actually part of a group at least 170 heavily armed well-trained terrorists that came to rampage through our cubots alone and over the course of the next two hours the handful of guys lightly armed on the cubots as I said observed and engaged in expectation that the Israeli army would show up within minutes and handle this problem it took nine hours for the army to arrive at our cubots and at around 8 30 in the morning the surviving members of this security team decided that it pretty much all of us lost and they kind of all went to their their individual homes to defend their families which is what Sagi did in between 8 30 and 9 30 in the morning last Saturday he engaged in hand-to-hand combat outside the bomb shelter door with his wife and two little daughters behind it engaged with Hamas terrorists in his home and slightly outside that went on for about an hour and then all contact was lost with Sagi as contact was lost with all members of the security team by that time at the time that the army the Israeli army swept through the cubots nine hours later there were many many dozens of people on the cubots including Sagi who were absolutely there at the moment of attack who were missing they were not amongst the murderer but rather they were missing some were seen being taken hostage others were seen on Hamas generated clips video clips posted on Hamas social at social media websites but there are many dozens who neither this nor that and you know were identified but we know for absolutely certainly that they are in Hamas custody has there been any visuals of Sagi that you've been able to identify of him being taken into the Gaza Strip do you just knowing your heart of hearts that he has been taken captive and has anyone from the government spoken to you about what's being done to A. bring your son home safe and B. the fact that he's missing in the first place well we know not just Sagi there are dozens of missing people from like your books alone many of their cell phones were later geotracked into the Gaza Strip they didn't walk there they didn't evaporate clearly they've been taken we don't know in what condition quite honestly I don't know if my son is alive or dead wounded or a core or anything else as far as contact is concerned the government we were notified that he is missing and several days ago by an army officer came down here beyond that in technical communication and I go yeah our families have no communication with the Israeli government beyond that I hope it's not too personal Noel to ask Jonathan but you as President Joe Biden is in the country at the moment obviously a series of meetings both with political and with military officials in the country but no doubt also going to be meeting with those dual citizens of both American and Israeli nationality that have got loved ones that have been kidnapped missing or perhaps have actually died at the hands of Hamas does your son have dual nationality and regardless of whether he does or doesn't do you believe that Biden being in the region is somehow going to assist in bringing him home well I was born in the United States and lived there until I was a young man moved to Israel in 1981 so all of my kids not just said he had American citizenship what I can say which I don't know to what degree the intervention of an American president can influence the rate or the way in which all of the hostages not just the Americans that have dual citizenship but all I'm absolutely certain more than 200 hostages in total being held by Hamas I can say however that unlike my own government here in Israel the United States government through the State Department through the embassy and even through conversations video conversations with President Biden I have absolutely no doubt that the president himself and the administration are entirely committed to the welfare of these hostages both the American the dual citizens and those of other nationalities including the Americans or I'm sorry including the Israelis that of itself is a comfort although we have not gotten any concrete information and from the Americans or from the Israelis Jonathan I wish more than anything I could tell you that I 24 years myself included are able to get a message out to your son but unfortunately I don't have that power we don't know where he is if he's being held in the Gaza Strip if there is by some miracle that your son is able to hear you right now what is the one thing that you would tell him well I know my son is in the Gaza Strip that's not a question and I wish you would stop questioning that there are dozens of people that didn't go anywhere they didn't go for a walk out in the fields they these missing people were taken in some condition from Hamas or by Hamas in the Gaza Strip what I would tell my son if he could see this is that we will get you out we will get you out we're going to turn turn heaven and earth over twice and we will find a way to get you and all of the other hostages that dozens from our people so long and all of them will get you home Jonathan I just want to clarify by no means that I mean to offend you by insinuating that your son was not in the Gaza Strip I think what I meant to put out was we don't know necessarily where in the Gaza Strip he is being held or whether or not he's being held by Hamas the terror organization underground on top of ground or whether it's by some of these civilians that have actually taken a lot of the hostages into their own homes I also want to thank you very much for taking the time to come on to I-24 News and to speak to us about a topic that is just gut-wrenching to say the very least well I thank you for your concern thank you very much it's still with me in studio Neri Zilba and Daron Avital I want to ask you there was a comment that was put out that Hamas would consider releasing some of the hostages in particular those that have dual nationality if Israel stops striking on Gaza how is the statement like this being viewed internationally again we're not talking about military hostages these aren't IDFs soldiers or troops we're talking about women children the elderly and even innocent civilian men yeah it's true the hostage issue is really one of the greatest dilemma that we are facing in fact one of the best generals Israeli had Nitsana Lone was appointed to handle the whole I mean not the humanitarian issue but how to handle it from a military perspective to any other perspective like negotiation so I'm not sure how true how valid this information is if they want to separate the hostages to different groups and try to do some kind of process it would be again a dilemma that will have to take we'll have to consider of course if there's a ground incursion so we have to think of military option that would be part of an element in the ground incursion with respect to the hostages we had in the past hostage issues like the antebe issue but this is in a different scale in a different military in urban landscapes so this is a terrible terrible problem of course the unit that I commanded is one of those unit that would have to consider how to do it I trust if there's one general in the Israeli army that I trust on this issue is the one that was appointed and let's see how do we solve this dilemma we have to do any effort possible to rescue those hostages right I want to just point out that there is some commotion going on at the David Kempinski Hotel in Tel Aviv where Biden and Netanyahu are set to speak and as soon as they go live we'll bring that to you in the meantime Neri an impossible dilemma on Israel's hands at the moment because again we know hostages are in the Gaza Strip but no idea where they are we're having a look at the moment on your screen of live images of Biden sitting next to Benjamin Netanyahu just after the war cabinet Anthony Blinken the US Secretary of State appears to be on the on the right hand side of Biden as well so this being the war cabinet meeting they do appear to be sitting in front of both Israeli and American flags flags that we often see together not just in times like this but all throughout the cities we are going to now jump into this and go live to hear what both US President Joe Biden as well as Benjamin Netanyahu and the war cabinet have to say to lead as a president this will be a different kind of war because Hamas is a different kind of enemy while Israel seeks to minimize civilian casualties Hamas seeks to maximize civilian casualties Hamas wants to kill as many Israelis as possible and has no regard whatsoever to Palestinian lives every day they perpetrate a double war crime targeting our civilians while hiding behind their civilians embedding themselves in the civilian population and using them as human shields we've seen the cost of this this terrible double war crime against humanity that Hamas is perpetrating in the last 11 days as Israel legitimately targets terrorists civilians are unfortunately harmed Hamas is responsible and should be held accountable for all civilian casualties we saw the cost of this terrible war crime yesterday when a rocket fired by a Palestinian terrorist misfired and landed on a Palestinian hospital the entire world was rightfully outraged but this outrage should be directed not in Israel but at the terrorists as we proceed in this war Israel will do everything it can we have asked them and will continue to ask them to move to safer areas will continue to work with you Mr. President to assure that the minimal requirements are met and will continue to work together to get our hostages out Mr. President the road to victory will be long and hard but united in purpose and with a deep sense of justice and the unbreakable spirit of our soldiers and our people Israel will prevail thank you Mr. President thank you Mr. Prime Minister in the wake of Hamas's appalling terrorist assault it was brutal inhumane almost beyond belief what they did this cabinet came together and standing strong standing united and uh I want you to know you're not alone you are not alone as I emphasized earlier we will continue to have Israel's back as you work to defend your people we'll continue to work with you and partners across the region to prevent more tragedy to innocent civilians 75 years ago your founders declared that this nation would be one based quote based on freedom justice and peace based on freedom justice and peace the united states stands with you in defense of that freedom in pursuit of that justice and the support of that peace today tomorrow and always we promise you nothing changes same in washington it does appear that they are making sure that both national and international media leave the room again this is the war cabinet that is meeting along with some extra presence there from both the American and the Israeli sides so those statements obviously coming through and I want to discuss that here in studio we still have Doron Avi Tal with us but we now bring in our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Altman Owen brought you in just on time listening to the speeches what comments do you have to say from them well listen I guess we get a sense of where the situation stands in terms of how the two governments see this humanitarian support to Gaza and Netanyahu committed Israel to meet in quote minimal requirements right and not more so the United States is able to get that kind of commitment from Israel we'll have to see that fleshed out and exactly what that plan looks like that obviously was high on the agenda for this US president the groundwork had been laid with the visit by Secretary of State Joe Biden and also I think of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that seems there's something seems to have been achieved although obviously everybody is going to be very very interested in the details also you couldn't escape the impression that when Joe Biden spoke at the end and talked about standing by Israel today tomorrow and always of course it wasn't just a message for Israel we talked about this earlier on in the day but this was a message for America's allies around the world and it resonated and you could feel it resonate even through the television screen and how this is this is interpreted and heard in Kiev in Taipei in Moscow in Beijing and around the world the US president coming to Israel in the middle of a war with the risk of sirens and sitting there with the Israeli Prime Minister and delivering this message of course to the Israeli people and to the American people but to many many other people's in the four corners of the earth It's 2 p.m. local time here in Israel and so we do want to wrap up the past hour as our diplomatic senior diplomatic correspondent and ultimate alluded to a strong message but actions here are speaking louder than words wearing a blue and white suit you as President Joe Biden finally touched down in the Jewish state with his solidarity visit now well underway Biden landed at 11 a.m. local time and was greeted at Ben-Gurion International Airport by both the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli President Isaac Herzog or three embracing in a hug The reception has had none of the usual formalities and circumstance surrounding a US presidential visit but rather exemplifies the long standing support and friendship between Jerusalem and Washington The US president is visiting the military headquarters in Tel Aviv sitting down to talk with high level Israeli political and security officials as he is doing right now as we recap with the war cabinet he'll also be meeting with dual American citizens that have lost loved ones or have had relatives kidnapped by Hamas into the Gaza Strip Biden's short but strong visit also comes as Israel works hard to show the international community by means of both visual and audio evidence that Gaza terror faction the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group was in fact responsible for a failed rocket launch that landed on the Strip's main hospital Al-Shifa a strike that killed 200 to 300 people according to most sources the ruling Hamas terror group has inflated those numbers to at least 500 Earlier in the day Biden and Netanyahu gave statements to the media here's a little bit from that earlier press conference Mr. President you rightly said that Hamas is worse than ISIS The German Chancellor who visited here yesterday said that Hamas were the new Nazis you're both right and just as a civilized world united to defeat the Nazis and united to defeat ISIS the civilized world must unite to defeat Hamas Americans are grieving with you they really are and Americans are worried Americans are worried because we know there's a this is not an easy field to navigate what you have to do but the fact is that Israel as they respond to these attacks it seems to me that have to continue to ensure that you have what you need to defend yourselves and we're going to make sure that occurs as you know and we have to also bear in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and it has brought them only suffering I'm deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday and based on what I've seen it appears as though it was done by the other team not not you I want to continue the conversation in studio but first I do want to clarify that al-Shifa is currently receiving many of the wounded in the strike that occurred at al-Akhli Baptist hospital in the Gaza Strip Doron obviously we've been talking about the and precedence of a visit like this how was it to actually see the visuals of Biden sitting or at least huddling with the war cabinet for lack of a better word with some of his Israeli and American counterparts yeah for me to see him sitting with Ben Gantz head of the army Eisencourt head of the army Ron Dermer and Galen and actually sitting in the war cabinet this is a different picture than I don't think we could have imagined it before this terrible conflict I mean I think I was emphasizing earlier that his the words he was crafting when he said I came here to help you navigate the field the the field of the dilemmas in this conflict I mean it's not only a show of support but also is there to help us navigate those dilemmas that we are facing in this in the southern front and if God forbids also in the northern fronts and you are very much right talking about the zoom out of the world picture we have this major conflict in Ukraine now this conflict erupts here so the world is now shaking and the US has to play its hand and coming here showing that he's here that he's present that he is a commander in chief that he has the carriers to support him in the Mediterranean this says that we're in in a totally new landscape and the US has to assert itself and try of course to help us in this in the context of this terrible conflict I mean everything especially the sending of two aircraft carrier strike groups but also this visit is meant to send a very very clear message that the United States is guaranteeing guaranteeing that Israel will win this war we don't know how we don't know what the price is going to be but we know that ultimately Israel is going to win the war and that's because of the United States it's because of the both physical and metaphorical aircraft carriers that Joe Biden has been sending and obviously it is greatly touched the Israeli people and given all of us I think a great sense of confidence but certainly it redounds far beyond our shores gentlemen stay with me I 24 news correspondent Mary McCauliffe is covering Biden's solidarity visit on the ground in Tel Aviv Mary just a short while ago sirens going off in Stemelton and other communities in the south of Israel over the last couple of days Tel Aviv has been heavily targeted as have central cities once the situation on the ground at the moment in lieu of Biden's visit that's right Batya so overnight there was a brief lull in the rocket fire about 12 hours where no rockets were fired from Gaza or no red alert sirens at least were ringing out in Israeli communities about 10 a.m. that changed and once again we saw the resumption of rockets being fired so far this morning we've only really seen them concentrated in the southern area so the southern border communities very very near the Gaza border but they have seen a lot of rocket sirens this morning the big question of course was as Biden comes here to Tel Aviv as Israel is in the midst of war last night we had very powerful explosions overhead in Tel Aviv is if they would decide those in the Palestinian Gaza Strip would decide not to send rockets as Biden is here on this mission or if they were going to send rockets and target Tel Aviv to see the U.S. president the sitting U.S. president sent into a shelter from rockets from Gaza Strip overhead that has been the big question that is what we are waiting for so far we have had no rockets in central Tel Aviv at this moment but we do know Biden is of course meeting with the war cabinet as we speak so he's meeting with all many different ministers from within Israel's political establishment those who are sitting on the current war cabinet to hear the latest situation on the ground and to hear from them what exactly Israel's plans are. Right Mary and I'll remind some of some of our viewers that perhaps don't know there's a fortune of people with dual nationality in the state of Israel given it the law of return what we call Aliyah and so many people many Jews in the diaspora coming to Israel over the last couple of decades to be able to live in the state of Israel there's been somewhat concerned that the state visits by the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and also the U.S. President Joe Biden will be focusing on only their citizens but Joe Biden is stressing that all citizens that are currently being held hostage they will work at and making sure they get back into Israeli territory safe. Absolutely Abadia so we certainly of course have heard the messages and we can of course say that of course the American hostages are going to be a number one priority for the American president just like the German hostages are going to be a priority for the German Chancellor who was here but that does not mean they are only concerned about their own citizens their own residents of nationality who are inside the Gaza Strip right now they are been actively working with Israeli officials throughout since October 7th really and we've even seen them on the ground some American military forces special forces who have been on the ground trying to assist in this Hossi rescue mission and of course that's for all hostages who are inside the Gaza Strip and we have heard this message Biden has strongly condemned the actions of October 7th and everything that has happened since then and he is calling on all the people all the people of the world to notice these atrocities to pay attention to not turn away that they should do everything they can to try and stand behind Israel this is absolutely the message that we have heard America is with Israel this is the main message Biden came to convey what's happening now in the war cabinet is a very different messaging and how Biden will be talking to Netanyahu privately and how he'll be talking to the war cabinet likely we're not going to know exactly what his message is for them but the main message the most important message is that America is behind Israel absolutely and that definitely a message that is resonating as we've been discussing in studio as well not just with Israelis but with many of America's allies as well as Israel's allies in the region and far beyond correspondent Mary McCauliffe thank you very much for that update on the ground in Tel Aviv still with me in studio I'll see a diplomatic correspondent Owen Altman and reserve lieutenant Colonel Jordan Avital I want to shift gears to looking at the international angle because something that has been overshadowing Biden's visit apart from the obvious being the war but has to be the strike on the Gaza hospital and what we were discussing earlier was how difficult it is to a lot of the Jew haters and the anti Israel haters to be able to convey that message to be able to get the international media to turn around and say not only do we attract but we apologize the bigger concern is where Israel's regional partners including those that just signed accords with a few years ago with the normalization of the Abraham Accords well you're right to point at that as a major point of contention here Bacchia look I have been very clear as much as I could on Twitter and then emotionally this morning look I understand the need for accuracy from the spokesperson's unit I get it I understand there have been problems in the past there's always a balance between accuracy and speed but I think a balance that's 100% on the side of accuracy and 0% on the side of speed quite frankly led to disastrous results there had to be a quicker response I can't tell you how angry and how frustrated I and I think many many Israelis were last night where I think we felt undefended I have to say Bacchia the feeling for me it felt as it was as if it was the first morning when those people were in their homes and saying where is the army where are the soldiers here to defend us they were just left completely defenseless and I felt as if our country an international public opinion was being left defenseless by our army because our spokesperson's unit was not out there fighting them and fighting them with the facts or at least the facts is best that they could establish them at that moment and there had to have been a different balance there had to be a faster response of getting somebody on video in English quickly I was just so frustrated to see leaks you know where leaks were happening Bacchia to Hebrew media Hebrew media channel 12 was getting the information why why that's not the audience for this information the audience for this information is not within Israel beyond Israel and I think the fact that they came albeit with a very organized and professional response but hours late caused tremendous damage obviously the international media is certainly not off the hook certainly not off the hook and to believe even with a comma Palestinians say as was in the New York Times when it's information from a terrorist organization okay that has every incentive to lie by the way it's not pal it's technically to its Palestinians say but this isn't the Palestinian authority this isn't the legitimate representative internationally recognized of the Palestinian people this is Hamas saying that and so the information was presented in a devious way both by those who were presenting the information and those who were disseminating it and now it was left to the IDF spokesperson to do I thought on the whole on the whole a terrific briefing this morning that hopefully can lead to repairing some of the tremendous damage that was caused but you're right Bacchia the group of human beings that is caught between the hammer in the anvil if you will of course the governments in countries that have relations with Israel have made peace with Israel or on the verge of making peace with Israel and those governments have a very very difficult job they have to be attentive to their public opinion for their own survival in a situation like this on the other hand while I've been very forgiving to those governments over the course of the war it is difficult to see government official government statements that repeat lies when these are governments that are at peace with us and have ties with us and that in many cases we've built trusting relationships with or in in the process of building trusting relationships with so it is very troubling I suspect that in the in the big picture is those complicated relationships with these countries this is something that the policymakers are willing to let slide if you will and to have those relationships focus on their more traditional strengths of intelligence and security cooperation but that does show how much regression there has been even if I'm more optimistic in the medium to long term how much regression there's really been over the last week to week and a half but it's not just coming from the international commedia or even the situation with regards to as you mentioned the Abraham Accords are our new allies in the region it's also coming from long standing so what is it allies in the region like Jordan and Egypt well in the end it was verified we didn't do it it's important we have to make all the PR needed in order to convey this message outside and since the facts are so clear in this matter it's not like disputed so we are in a better positioning and I'm not sure yesterday whether the idea could be faster in terms of delivering the facts because I think in the end we have to stand up as an accurate source of information and this what separates us and them we are a country we have an idea we verify the facts we check where the air force where the airplanes in the area where the Israeli attacks they were none then check the facts and I think in the end it's concluded verified and I hope everybody gets the picture right for sure our allies in the area they have to navigate their public opinions they have to rule their people and I think intelligence security cooperation is important for us so there's the level there are two levels to the discussion there's the public level in which they navigate the way they think they should and there's the other level and Egypt is a good example Egypt versus Hamas versus the Muslim Brotherhoods we are in some sense we're in the same side of the of this this theater but they have to it's a it's a complicated issue and let's hope we work it out I'm glad the facts were straightened and I hope everybody would know about it gentlemen I want to bring another voice into the conversation Professor Eitan Gilboa the head of the Center for International Communication at Bari Lan University and a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security who joins me from Haudashanron in Central Israel Professor thank you very much for for joining in on the conversation obviously as we've been discussing a massive event that has overshadowed or at least taken some of the attention from Biden's visit from the overall war to what exactly happened in the Gaza Strip with regards to this hospital the Italian defense minister coming out and saying not only does he now believe the verified information reported by the IDF but we should be urging punishment for both Hamas after the Gaza hospital strike for their lives as well as the international media what do you have to say to that first of all the damage was not just to public opinion the event in Gaza destroyed one of the plans of President Biden to go to Jordan and to meet the heads of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority to discuss the next phase in the war as well as perhaps the day after so in fact Hamas and Islamic she had were successful in sabotaging and disrupting Biden's plans this is a very difficult situation for the military because I think it takes time to verify and find out because if you make a mistake then your credibility goes down on the other hand I do not want to exempt the mass media especially in the western in the west in western liberal countries they have in this case as in other cases involving Hamas and Islamic Jihad they have failed professionally and ethically to find out what really happened they decide they know that Hamas is lying all the time that journalists in Gaza are completely controlled by Hamas and Jihad and therefore I think that we have severely criticized the way they have professionally and ethically performed at this time Professor I'd like to challenge you if I may based on what our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Altman was alluding to earlier that yes there is the conversation of speed and accuracy and at this point accuracy does come before speed but we do need to talk about with regards to that speed just how long it took them to verify the information leaving many in the media many of my colleagues and also many just Jews in the diaspora saying please please can this information come out that it was not Israel that struck the hospital Yes I think the problem is with the lesson learned with Shikrin Abu Ali I think that that the military was very quick to say that Israel did not kill her then it found out that she was killed by an Israeli bullet so the Shrin Abu Aqla story I think has somehow distorted the ability of the military to do a faster job on the other hand I think that we have to think practically about public opinion in the world we would not have been able to convince Muslims radical left anti-Semitic right about who who did the bombing there who did the explosion but there are many people in between those who support Israel and those who are against Israel that we have to present to them the evidence and convince them that in this case and perhaps in other cases Islamic jihad and Hamas are lying all the time but I want also to emphasize that for many years Israel has neglected what we call public diplomacy operations it should have established long time ago an infrastructure a group of officials and experts in public relations and public diplomacy to handle these kind of cases and it seems that we have not learned sufficiently lessons of the past in building such capability to accompany military operations Professor stay with us I do want to bring in our guests to join in the conversation before I ask you to respond to that we're talking about the effect on public opinion and evidently so many people saying this is a battle that's just already lost because trying to convince a lot of these people that hide behind the anti-Semitism and the anti-Zionist rhetoric are just never going to come to the table to understanding that this is credible and also authenticated evidence well obviously you're never going to you're never going to convince the haters right you're never going to be able to convince people who are dug into anti-Israel and hostile positions that are hostile to Israel that's not the playing field Israel is obviously after the persuadables is after the persuadables and there are many many many persuadables not only the United States but also in Europe there are many millions of people who want to get factual information who want to understand and then want to take an informed position and that informed position but you may not always be a position that Israelis like or at least that Israelis like in full but the minimum that Israel can demand is that those positions be formed on the basis of facts and the minimum that Israelis can demand from the Israeli authorities is to get those facts out look a a time Gilbaugh there are no bigger experts in public diplomacy in this country I do think though that this is not an instance of a lack of a public diplomacy apparatus that apparatus maybe it could be better but it exists it's out there the problem is that apparatus didn't have anything to work with last night Israel time because there was no information put out there for them to be able to look to because the information just wasn't there and the spokesperson's you know the IDF you know I'm under what a time Gilbaugh's view is but it's I think widely seen as one of the stronger parts right and one of the better functioning parts and in some cases even one of the more cutting edge parts of Israel's public diplomacy apparatus and look there's this very difficult balance between accuracy and speed we heard Daniel Hagaari defend his unit's position at the press conference earlier today and referring to although not in name but referring to exactly the Shirin Abouakla case that we just heard about from Eitan Gilbaugh but you can't help but escape the conclusion that the balance the pendulum simply swung too far in the other direction to very very detrimental results but again look that is at this point in the past that the next task now is to get this information out to really to hold international incredible international media outlets feet to the fire to have them put out the credit correct information and to have them do internal investigations on what happens and of course to get positive statements from governments we have one from the foreign secretary from the British foreign secretary you mentioned the Italian defense minister and obviously I suspect we'll be getting more and more over the course of the day including something more definitive from the U.S. president Doran I want to get your response because I saw you nodding your head when professor brought up the Shirin Abouakla incident I'll remind our viewers we talk about an American Palestinian journalist who was working for Al Jazeera on the ground that got caught in the crosshairs of an operation between the IDF and armed Palestinian militants in the West Bank why was that such an important point to be brought up here with regards to where we are now because I think credibility is a real asset that you have to maintain over the long haul and we can't allow self to lose credibility and if we're too fast and then lose credibility then who knows what's the next event and who knows whether when we are right somebody would believe us out there so we are I'm emphasizing we are state we're an army we have an infrastructure we give the fact we never lie otherwise nobody would believe us and it's part of the way we conduct war so I think the point the point made by Etan was right I think also he did mention a very valid point about the fact that they actually just succeeded to dismantle the summit that's right and this is a real issue because I think handling I keep saying allies though I know it's sometimes we have we talk about Egypt, Jordan allies in but I think it's important to get the original in this context and I think this is the way Biden sees it this is the way our intelligence sees it and to miss the summit because of this event this is too bad I hope we'll work out some other way to work it out and we also when I say allies I also talking about the PA because when Biden says well Hamas doesn't represent the Palestinian cause he says that somebody else that represent the Palestinian cause so we have to rally our allies together in this conflict it's important Biden is here to do it too bad that they succeeded to intercept this important initiative Professor Etan Gilboa not just the summit that seems to be postponed or at least canceled at this point but also the rougher crossing is now closed because Egypt says there's too much damage from the strikes obviously the US president in the region at the moment wanting to make sure humanitarian aid goes through is Egypt cooperating Egypt is in a difficult situation because she is fearful of history in the past millions of Palestinians just cross the borders of Syria Lebanon Jordan and stay there forever they don't want to see that happening again especially when the Palestinians themselves are talking about this war as another Nakba 2023 Nakba on the other hand does not have to be the same case here obviously the United States and other European countries are very much concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and I don't think we can do much longer complete isolation of Gaza from food and from medicine in electricity this is not going to work especially if the war is going to to be long so so this is a dilemma don't think that we have received sufficient answers I think that when Blinken says we need to supply to allow humanitarian assistance and then he's told that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are going to control it and he said well if they control it we will find a solution this is very complicated Professor Etan Gilboa with the head of the Center for International Communication at Bari Lan University and a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security thank you very much for joining us on our breaking news edition here on the I-24 News Desk to our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Ultiman and reserve lieutenant Colonel Zoran Abital stay with us we have more to come after this quick break 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 a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped help us we don't want 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 this particular project with a gross capacity of 103.5 megawatt will be producing around 230 gigawatt hour of clean renewable energy per year the keto reserve we have the right ingredients and we have to do the job and then if we have the right ingredients and we do the job that the Vakita can be protected thanks for staying with us on our rolling and breaking news coverage of day 12 of Israel's war against Hamas when actions speak louder than words and a massive welcome gesture to Israel wearing a blue and white suit U.S. President Joe Biden has touched down in the Jewish state with his solidarity visit now well underway Biden landed at 11 a.m. local time and was greeted up in Green International airport by both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli presidents Isaac Herzog or three embracing in a hug the reception has had none of the usual formalities in circumstance surrounding a U.S. presidential visit but rather exemplifies the long standing support and friendship between Jerusalem and Washington the U.S. President is visiting the military headquarters in Tel Aviv sitting down to talk with high level Israeli political and security officials as he is currently doing right now as we're on air 2.30 p.m. local time with the war cabinet which also includes other Israeli and American aides and will be meeting with dual American citizens that have lost loved ones or have relatives kidnapped by Hamas into the Gaza Strip now Biden's short but strong visit also comes as Israel works hard to show the international community by means of both visual and audio evidence that the Gaza terror faction the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group was in fact responsible for a failed rocket launch that landed on one of the Strip's main hospitals a strike that killed 200 to 300 people according to most sources the ruling Hamas terror group has inflated those numbers to at least 500 earlier Biden and Nisanyahu gave statements to the media at the war cabinet meeting here is some of that this will be a different kind of war because Hamas is a different kind of enemy while Israel seeks to minimize civilian casualties Hamas seeks to maximize civilian casualties Hamas wants to kill as many Israelis as possible and has no regard whatsoever to Palestinian lives in the wake of Hamas's appalling terrorist assault it was brutal and humane almost beyond belief what they did this cabinet came together and standing strong standing united and I want you to know you're not alone you are not alone as I emphasized earlier we will continue to have Israel's back as you work to defend your people we'll continue to work with you and partners across the region to prevent more tragedy to innocent civilians meanwhile idea of spokesman Maria Admiral Daniel Higari accused the Hamas terror group of purposely misleading international media outlets by claiming the failed rocket was launched by the Palestinian-Islamic Jihad was in fact an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip that killed hundreds take a listen I can confirm that an analysis of the IDF operational systems indicates that a barrage of rockets was fired by terrorists in Gaza passing in close proximity to the Al-Hali Al-Madi hospital in Gaza that the time it was hit intelligence from few sources that we have in our hands indicates that the Islamic Jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza I repeat this is the responsibility of Islamic Jihad that killed innocents in the hospital in Gaza taking that evidence further the IDF has also released a recording of an intercepted phone call between two Hamas terrorists who discussed the failed Islamic Jihad rocket that landed on that Gaza hospital take a look this is how the rocket is so I will tell you after the photo of the Islamic Jihad what? so they will tell you about the Islamic Jihad this is from the IDF it looks from the IDF where is the IDF? I will tell you the rocket was fired that the rocket was fired not like the rocket was fired what the f**k I swear to God from the IDF it was fired in the Gaza Strip what the f**k this is a very long time this rocket was fired from the IDF what? this is from the IDF this is a very long time since the IDF was fired the IDF was fired this is the IDF but you have the IDF in the Gaza Strip where do you go to the IDF? I go to the IDF I go to the IDF I go to the IDF in the Gaza Strip in the Gaza Strip oh that's it let's cross our live to our correspondent Hamda Salkhouta standing by for us on Israel's northern border with Lebanon it's been relatively quiet for the first 12 hours of the day in the south but those rocket sirens sounding over Steroz and other communities in the south of the country again Israel is at war with Hamas but skirmishes are breaking out on the northern border with Hezbollah what's the latest? that's right Batya so far just one exchange of fire reports the three casualties on the Lebanese side protests continuing inside of Lebanon from Beirut to the south we also do know that the Lebanese official airline has moved some of their planes to Turkey in anticipation for war additionally the U.S. embassy inside of Beirut updating their travel advisory to level four telling Americans do not travel to Lebanon and those who are there to leave immediately the caretaker government inside of Lebanon says it's not interested in a war but Hezbollah and other factions are saying otherwise making military preparations today Hamas holding a press conference in the south calling on people to continue demonstrations to continue taking to the streets holding Palestinian flags holding Hezbollah flags to really get the message across that they are outraged so we've been hearing from sources both in the Middle East in the United States that Hezbollah is making preparations for a full-scale war the United States advising Israel against any preemptive strikes the Israelis saying that if Hezbollah strikes first the response will be deadly it will be bold and it will be a catastrophic loss to them but remember the types of weapons capabilities that Hezbollah has will change this war we are talking about really sophisticated weaponry an arsenal of hundreds of thousands of short-range and long-range rockets that could wreak havoc in Israeli territory so a very sensitive situation here as the front in this war continues to expand Batia and Hamda just a short while ago from the war cabinet meeting that obviously includes the US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but other American and Israeli officials Biden said that the United States stands with Israel as well as other countries because they have shared values of freedom, justice, and peace critics coming out and saying that not only is this a message to the allies in the region of both America and Israel but a warning to those that don't share the same values namely Iran and its proxies right so the Iranians at Hezbollah don't really care what the United States has to say they don't really care about these same type of shared values perhaps as the United States they do things differently in this region in this part of the world the United States also even offering Israel reportedly assurances if Hezbollah were to strike those assurances would be militarily to show Israel that they are not alone in this fight but like I said Hezbollah's capabilities will change the way this war is played out we are also hearing that there will be a decision made between Beirut and Tehran about Hezbollah's next moves but the Iranians have come out and said that this is not their issue this is a Palestinian issue if Hezbollah wants to get involved they will but the Iranian proxies are speaking out like I've been reporting throughout the last couple of weeks Palestinian factions in southern Lebanon are eager to join the fight telling Hezbollah they're ready but they need them to take the charge so really all eyes continue to be on the northern border as the front expands correspondent Hamza Selkut thank you very much for the latest updates stay safe out there still with me in studios I'll see your diplomatic correspondent Owen Altman and also joining us in studio Shachar Mei the press officer at Israel aid a locally based international non-government humanitarian aid organization and before we get to the work of your incredible organization I want to continue the discussion there's an angle that we haven't yet spoken about on air at the moment the Jewish diaspora obviously there's a huge amount of pain and devastation and an outpouring of just grief and hope and all these mixed emotions and just today in light of Biden being in the region we saw that both Rome and Berlin had bomb threats on synagogues in the area so many people are likening Hamas to ISIS and to the Nazis but are we actually regressing to some of the scenes in Europe that we saw in World War II no I think that takes it far too far but obviously what happens here it doesn't doesn't stay here this isn't Las Vegas it goes and it revounds around the world including of course to the Jewish diaspora I was incredibly struck and touched in the first week of the war especially by the response from American Jews really almost all the way across the political spectrum and to just see how connected they felt toward us and toward our country and I always felt that that was there beneath all of the difficult political arguments and the reports and even polls that show distancing of the two Jewish communities over the course of the past few decades I always felt that beneath it there was a real love and a real sense of connection and you just saw that come out in the wake of the massacres and in the wake of the pogroms because the use of the word pogroms of course isn't an accident the scenes from the Gaza border communities Bacchia were of a peace with Jewish pogroms pogroms of Jews in the Middle Ages and American Jews and Jews around the world were not shy about saying that right and obviously conjured memories of the Holocaust even though of course the Holocaust was entirely different in terms of scope and scale but the feeling that this was a medieval act and recounted scenes from that we read on the morning day of Tisha Abav in the summer from the liturgical poems I think really struck a chord with Jews around the world obviously there are more brass knuckles issues the issue of security it's become an issue in the United States in particular for largely different reasons right it's not only those who are anti-Israel which is the focus right now but also of course the far right and what happened in Pittsburgh and what happened elsewhere so this is an issue that I think sadly American Jews have become accustomed to and have come to terms with over the course of the last decade and certainly in Europe long before then and obviously it's something that is coming to a head but I suspect the infrastructure is there to be able to handle the threats themselves and I want to bring the press officer at Israel into the conversation as a journalist obviously serving on a different kind of front line in terms of making sure that we're getting the news out but obviously as a Jew and as an Israeli there's been a fortune of people that have been reaching out to many of us here saying you know how are you doing and I think the response is pretty much the same living in the central communities physically fine but psychologically along with the rest of the country not well what is Israel currently doing to assist the mental side of what is no doubt also a psychological war Yeah, absolutely so Israel is an international aid group and this is the first time that we have ever felt compelled or been moved to work in Israel due to the scale of this crisis that we're seeing and for the past 22 years we've worked in over 62 different countries 100 different disasters and one of the areas that we've always specialized in is mental health and psychosocial support in crisis situations so since last week Monday we've been working first and foremost in evacuation centers that are hosting people who have been evacuated from the Gaza border communities as well as people who have self evacuated in a multitude of different contexts we're seeing entire communities evacuated together into hotels and we're also seeing groups of people that have self evacuated into apartment buildings hostels all sorts of different situations and across the board the mental health needs are incredibly high both for the people who witnessed the worst atrocities and for as you noted the people who just living through this crisis right now so Israel has been working first to provide child friendly spaces places where children can still be children and partake in educational activities and activities to help them process the trauma that they're working through as well as parents spaces to help parents figure out how to speak with their children about these events how to relieve their own stress and not pass it on distributing resilience kits for families who left in a hurry and just any sort of activity that can keep children occupied and give them a sense of routine as well as training grassroots volunteers from around the country in all sorts of different initiatives people who have never been exposed to this type of work so not only training them in psychological first aid to be able to respond on the ground with the people that they're working with but also in self-care in burnout prevention and in the prevention of vicarious trauma as you do this work and as you're confronted with other people's darkest moments at our own darkest moments from a logistical point of view I'm assuming a lot of the people are coming on also as volunteers do you have enough people on the ground to be able to assist you so we've seen an enormous volunteer across the country into self-organized initiatives also with other civil service initiatives around the country and so there is there are many people coming forward in order to help and to be part of this response the other role that it's already has taken on has been more so one of coordination given so many initiatives functioning at once it's been very important to create structures that allow the aid and the volunteers to get efficiently to where they need to go we're seeing so many people who want to help and a huge need for an overarching structure to allow them to do so What is going to be and perhaps this is too early to ask this question but I don't think there's many Israelis or Jews that have fully come to the as Owen put it the scale and scope of what's exactly unfolded in the last 12 days in Israel are we going to be moving forward with a nation that is psychologically traumatized by what's happened how do you provide that kind of mental care to almost 10 million people I think the best answer that I have for you right now is something that was said to me by one of our so-called SISCO social experts as we were leaving the hotel for the day with evacuees and she said to me we're not yet dealing with post trauma we're not post anything yet and right now what we can do is provide space provide support for people while they are going through this day by day and any form of constancy so that they know that there is somebody there to turn to and that's really the best we can do right now stay with us I don't want to continue the conversation with both of you but I do want to check in with our Mary McCauliffe our correspondent who is covering Biden's solidarity visit on the ground in Tel Aviv both Biden and Netanyahu had a private meeting before the war cabinet that evidently running late the two leaders having spoken numerous times on the phone before Biden touched down in Israel but obviously face to face a much different conversation that is happening at the moment at the David Kempinski hotel where these two officials both on the Israeli and the American side are meeting along with their aides that's right Batya so following the private meeting between Biden and Netanyahu we saw the ministers who part of Israel's war minister cabinet showing up towards to the hotel and Biden and Netanyahu are now involved in that meeting as long as with a number of different American officials including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken as well as members of National Security Council who are on the ground with Biden for this trip that meeting is underway of course we have seen American diplomats over the past week actively involved in Israel's next operations they want to be kept abreast of everything that's going on as they also are trying to facilitate this humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip yesterday and sneak Blinken sat in a war cabinet meaning for over seven hours so certainly we're seeing that Americans very actively involved and Biden is definitely getting the latest situation update and hopefully hearing more about what Israel's actual plans are as it does prepare to take this to the next stage of the operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip Mary there's a fortune of concern coming from our American viewers and audience of Biden being in what is undoubtedly an active war zone here in Israel and for the time being he's in a relatively safe space in the central of the country in Tel Aviv that has largely been spared by a lot of the atrocities that have happened in the south and in the northern border what is the security like at the moment on the ground surrounding the US president no doubt pretty intense of course Batya well right now the main concern towards Tel Aviv as everybody living here in Tel Aviv knows is this rocket fires rocket fires that continue to be fired from the Gaza Strip last night we had very very powerful explosions that were heard overnight several times in Tel Aviv of course the hotel that in which they're having these meetings of course has a shelter they will be taken in the event that rocket sirens do go off so far we haven't seen any rockets fired at Tel Aviv although they have been in the border communities but on the streets most of the streets are blocked there's a very very heavy security presence on the ground obviously to try and safeguard the motorcade as it came in as the motorcade came in it was also accustomed by a number of helicopters who are flying overhead accompanying the president on this journey we've also seen Israeli police boats who have been patrolling the coast just over my shoulder going back and forth along that coastline as well as planes overhead so certainly all steps are being taken by both Israelis and the American security officials to try and safeguard the president while he's here to try and make sure that these meetings can go on as planned and to protect his safety while he's here because it is obviously an active war zone and it's very remarkable for the American president to be here at this time so all steps were taken to try and make sure this meeting could go on as planned right no doubt an incredible image of seeing the US president Joe Biden in a bomb shelter having to take cover from sirens and as you mentioned personnel on the ground trying to make sure that doesn't happen for as long as he's here correspondent Mary McCullough in Tel Aviv thank you very much for joining us for the last two hours and giving us all the updates from Biden's solidarity visit now speaking of those rockets I do want to head down south to our senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev who is near the Israel Gaza border Jonathan the morning started off with quiet and a lull but that has since evolved over the course of the day true but having said that it's not a not a very heavy day when it comes to rockets as Mary just said there were no sirens in central Israel and even he plays us further south that do usually get sirens such as Ashdod for example and the same I think goes for the north we've not heard of any incidents in the northern border I think everybody is allowing and again it's a speculation it seems as if at least for now at least up until now all of the sides involved are allowing this visit to pass by quietly it means nothing about what will happen once the president leaves usually at this time at this time of the day approaching 3 o'clock 3 p.m. usually we'd have a few incidents up in the northern border anti-tank fire or UAVs and more rockets on more widespread areas not only Gaza border communities but further north so far it has not happened I do suspect we'll see quite a lot of that after the American president lives in the afternoon all right and Jonathan obviously the crowd is also taking in an unprecedented time as well as the US president being into the streets of Tel Aviv traffic was cut off people trying to make their ways in different places but the south speaks a whole different image and we can see behind you completely desolate what has it been like in steroids knowing that thousands have been evacuated but also that the city is pretty much a ghost town the city is pretty much a ghost town and speaking of a city of 25,000 people by the way the place where I'm standing this is the main street of the city where you'd usually have plenty of cars people passing by this is the street in town with the most shops the most restaurants this is a time of day when usually kids go back from schools so this street would be full of people now you can see completely empty the only people we're seeing are journalists like us not a lot of presence this is a city of roughly 25,000 people the estimates are that up to 90% of the people have left meaning less than 3,000 people currently here in Sterot and they're mostly at home Correspondent senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev reporting from the south all day today appreciate very much you consistently dipping in to give us updates there continue to stay safe and wrapping up the conversation here in studio still with me is our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Ultiman and Shahr may be press officer at Israel aid and Shahr I want to just finish the conversation before we got updates from both Tel Aviv and our Southern team by and I hope you will mind me challenging you on this but Israel aid as you mentioned an international organization that has been very quick to have boots on the ground in terms of helping at least in the most recent times and correct me if I'm wrong but Ukraine with regards to its ongoing war with Russia Morocco with its devastating earthquake Turkey with its devastating earthquake as well Israel really ever asks for this to be paid back for something in return but where all these countries at the moment in terms of sending aid in terms of sending hospital staff medics any kind of assistance to Israel I mean it's an interesting question at the same time I am neither a diplomatic expert nor a political expert I will say that in all of the places that we have responded and we have been on the ground from Turkey to Morocco and to Ukraine there has been an international call for humanitarian assistance whether that be in search and rescue or in long-term humanitarian humanitarian assistance to rebuild and often humanitarian aid groups from abroad are responding to an active call on behalf of the government of a country in which we respond in I will say that on our behalf this is the first time that as an Israeli organization we are responding here in the country which is pretty remarkable in and of itself yes working in Israel has never been part of our mandate but the scale of this crisis and the feeling that it really is all hands on deck here for such an unprecedented event and given that not all of our staff is Israeli our staff around the world is mostly local to the places that we work in but we do have quite a lot of staff here in Israel that are both based in Israel that are Israeli many of them from the south and who have been personally affected by this crisis as well and so while as our first concern was for the safety of our the safety and security and well-being of our staff their communities and their families I think it is pretty unanimously felt across the organization that it was our responsibility to bring the decades of humanitarian expertise that we've gained outside of Israel and in large scale emergencies and crises and be able to contribute however we can now and I want to continue on that line of speaking particularly about Turkey and Morocco Morocco obviously part of the Abraham Accords a country that we've just reestablished ties with after years but also Turkey rekindling ties both seeming to be somewhat hostile to Israel at the moment even the foreign ministry putting out a warning I believe just yesterday alerting Israelis that are in both Turkey as well as Morocco to either make their way back to Israel or to just be on very high alert right and Turkey explicitly telling Israelis to leave it was about alert at the highest level look this war is putting to the test Israel's ties across the Middle East there's simply no way around it even as I continue to be optimistic for the middle to long term certainly for the Abraham Accords countries or for the Abraham Accords countries to be obviously the short term is extremely difficult about you we talked earlier about the stress put by the hospital incident on this even though we didn't do it we didn't do it we didn't do it and yet it still tests our ties with these countries with shows the enormity of the challenge you know in a situation like Egypt we were talking about before Israel's ties with Egypt would be three intelligence officers in a room we've made a lot of progress in the last few years and that a lot of that progress has been rolled back we'll have a lot of work to do on the day after senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Altman and also the press officer for Israel Shachar May thank you both very much for joining me in studio this does bring us to the end of our two hour broadcast with me about 11th all here in studio and I do want to wrap up some of the numbers that we have for the time being 1400 are still are still clarified murdered on the Israeli side with over 4500 wounded almost 200 families of Israeli captives have now been notified by the IDF more than 3000 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed with casualties over 11000 that being wounded people in the Gaza Strip again the IDF as well as Israel many officials working very hard to clarify that that rocket strike on a Gaza hospital was in fact from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad emanating from the strip US President Joe Biden in the region and we'll have much more coming up next 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside school on what's going on only on I-24 news Preparar el teléfono apuntar elector de QR y allí se abre un breve cuestionario muy fácil de completar otra opción es ingresar en el link que aparece en la pantalla esperamos vuestras respuestas it's all war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking but in a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped tell us we don't want 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 this is breaking news edition I'm Benita Levine live in Tel Aviv on an historic day at an historic time US president Joe Biden is in Tel Aviv right now Air Force One touching down on Wednesday morning on day 12 of the war this is the moment the American leader and Israeli Prime Minister hugged on the tarmac at Ben-Gurion International airport a similar embrace for President Isaac Herzog an historic show of solidarity during wartime Benjamin Netanyahu thanking him for the unprecedented US support the two then holding a private briefing and now they are meeting with Israel's newly formed war cabinet later the US leader will meet with families whose relatives are being held captive by Hamas inside Gaza the US has already dispatched two aircraft carrier groups to the region the death toll from the Hamas killing rampage in southern parts of Israel on Saturday the 7th of October is at more than 1400 in response the IDF continuing to target Hamas sites in Gaza earlier in the day the IDF providing evidence that the overnight blast at a hospital inside Gaza was in fact a misfire by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and that a call has been recorded in which Hamas operatives acknowledge as much yet the terror groups immediately blamed Israel as did many Arab nations Biden saying he has been shown footage and it appears that the blast quote may have been caused by the other team let's take a listen to some of the leaders comments after their first meeting a short while ago this will be a different kind of war because Hamas is a different kind of enemy while Israel seeks to minimize civilian casualties Hamas seeks to maximize civilian casualties Hamas wants to kill as many Israelis as possible and has no regard whatsoever to Palestinian lives in the wake of Hamas's appalling terrorist assault it was brutal inhumane almost beyond belief what they did this cabinet came together and standing strong standing united and I want you to know you're not alone you are not alone as I emphasized earlier we will continue to have Israel's back as you work to defend your people we'll continue to work with you and partners across the region to prevent more tragedy the innocent civilians and as we are speaking rocket sirens are sounding in Nakhal oars that happening just a few moments ago we will be going to the south a little bit later in this broadcast but first we go north our correspondent Hamdas is near the Israel-Lebanon border in Hamda the world is watching Hezbollah is watching as Joe Biden assures Benjamin Netanyahu quote we will continue to have Israel's back as you continue to defend your people what is the latest what developments can you share up north Benita good afternoon just one exchange of fire seen today reports of three casualties on the Lebanese side overnight Hezbollah striking into Israeli territory injuring four members of the Israeli military the IDF saying that those injuries are moderate to light now inside of Lebanon protests have been taking place raising Palestinian flags Hezbollah flags in an effort to get the group involved inside of Lebanon the caretaker government is saying they do not want a war they want to keep calm along the border the US embassy inside Lebanon raising the travel warning the advisory to level four meaning do not travel and if you are a US citizen in Lebanon they are asking you to leave the national carrier the airline of Lebanon has moved planes to Turkey previously in fears of a war breaking out so they could be able to transport people to and from so that some of those planes perhaps won't sustain any damage if there is a war the United States has previously asked Israel not to preemptively strike Hezbollah in return for assurances which would probably be militarily in the Israelis warning Hezbollah that if they do choose to escalate the tensions along the border the consequences will be severe Benita Correspondent Chameda Sahut in the north near the Israel-Lebanon border thank you very much for that update stay safe Chameda and now for more we welcome to studio Israeli-Palestinian relations expert Colonel in the reserves Grisha Yakubovich the former head of the civilian department of Kurgat in the IDF and our correspondent Guy Azrael and we obviously are going to be unpacking the significance of the show of support this unprecedented show of support President Joe Biden in Tel Aviv right now meeting with the war cabinet but before we get to that guy I want to bring you in because we are hearing just moments ago that the towns in the north the Israeli towns up north near the Lebanon border are being told to evacuate there was a perimeter of around two kilometers that has now been extended to five kilometers what details can you talk us through what's going on there let me just break that down the government ministers have just approved on their behalf the option of evacuating Israeli civilians from two to five kilometers from the border we already know that those up to two kilometers from the border have already been evacuated now they enable the evacuations of more but that is still to the discretion of the IDF and the security establishment merely a government decision that enables the IDF to do so if it feels that there is an urgent security need to get them out of danger and we've seen so many incidents so many lethal incidents on the northern border emanating from Hezbollah firing into Israeli territory both at IDF forces but also at Israeli civilians with casualties and as we're speaking rocket sirens alerting residents of Beersheba in the south as well and in various parts of that city also alerting of incoming rockets not everybody is liking what is unfolding right now and Tel Aviv as the US president and the Israeli prime minister meet with the war cabinet Grisha your take on the unfolding developments right now and how significant it is that the US support is so obvious the optics right now Air Force One on the Tarmac and the president and the prime minister meeting with the war cabinet as we speak You know Benita I'm surprised and I want to share the surprise with you I expected five years you know the president is landing and I expected that we will see missiles coming out of Gaza as a very warm welcome well I understand that if it didn't happen it means something bigger is happening it's like he's still here no rockets from Tel Aviv attacks in Iraq you know two drones that some pro-Iranian group sent and the US army succeeded to stop it and six US helicopters there doing things so is that the message that actually the support is sending a very clear message don't mess with us so this is what I see now and this is the change from what I saw this morning because honestly I expected to see rockets coming out from you know they launched yesterday as the as Mr. Blinken and Mr. Blinken Anthony Blinken and the experience and the German Chancellor also as did Olaf Scholz the German Chancellor as well so if nobody launches rockets from Gaza while the US president is here that's that means something we're going to unpack more of that in a short while but another development earlier on in the day the idea releasing footage and aerial photographs saying there is an increase in the number of failed launches from the Gaza Strip spokesman Daniel Higari saying the Hamas terrorist organization continues to use Garson citizens as human shields and to use sensitive civilian compounds for military purposes now here is the recording of a phone call between Hamas operatives showing that the hospital explosion overnight was immediately identified as being caused by a misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket let's take a listen I'm telling you this is the first time that we see missile like this falling and so that's why we are saying it belongs to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad what they are saying it belongs to the PGI it's from us it looks like it who says this they are saying the the sharp nail from the missile is local sharp nail and not like Israeli sharp nail what are you saying Abu Amr but God bless it couldn't have been found another place not the hospital to explode never mind yes Abu Raji they shot it from the cemetery behind the hospital what they shot it coming from the cemetery behind the Mahdani hospital and it misfired and fell on them there's a cemetery behind it yes the Mahdani is exactly in the compound where is it when when you enter the compound you first enter the compound and don't go towards the city it's on the right side of the Mahdani hospital yes I know it and now for more we welcome Tomer Aviram senior cyber security analyst at Cynet Tomer thank you so much for your time let's start with the role of viral videos in this war Hamas filming atrocities on Saturday the 7th of October the videos of hostages being held as well also being released give us your sense of the way another tool used in this war are the videos that are going viral so cyber security attacks especially during war time is a strategic and logical plan when it comes to a national state threat actors we can see that I mean in the past year we see a growth of 70% against Israel in cyber security attacks especially coming from Iran I personally don't think that Hamas has the technology to attack especially in cybersecurity I think it's coming from most of the time Iran or some kind of a threat actors that related to the Hamas and their agenda and I think that we need to understand that once they kidnap and they have all those resources available to them we need to expect a lot of growth in cyber security attacks we just heard there Daniel Higari talking about the evidence that the IDF has about what happened overnight in Gaza that blast at that hospital and the aerial photographs showing that it was not an Israeli attack it was in fact from Palestinian Islamic Jihad the evidence is there but how do people know what to believe when they see footage how are they to ascertain what is real and what is fake I think that these days it's really hard to understand what is fake and what is not especially with all the AI technologies and all the editing that you can do but I think that everyone has their own agenda and their own beliefs always there will be someone with some kind of conspiracy that will try to accuse someone or maybe accuse Israel in that attack but I think that the evidence are there we can see those videos and we know that the IDF did a thorough investigation and it took about I think five hours and then they released that make it even more valuable to know that Israel is not part of this attack Thank you so much Tomer Abiram senior cyber security analyst from Sinet we appreciate you speaking to us on this breaking news edition stay safe back to Grisha and you made mention of the fact that you're surprised there hasn't been more of a response out of the Gaza Strip in terms of rockets since President Joe Biden arrived just in terms of an update the meeting with the war room is still underway as we speak and it is expected that the president will meet with relatives of those waiting for word of what is happening in Gaza in other words the people who were abducted on Saturday the 7th of October who are still being held there talk to us about the kind of message that Israel is giving to the US president to explain the intricacies involved in the operation that is likely to take place in Gaza in the coming days or weeks well from out how I understand the picture the idea continues with the mission to eliminate Hamas abilities and Israel is trying to avoid from innocent civilians to get hurt that's why Israel continues with the messages to cross to the south to the area of the Mawasi the Mawasi is an area as some Israelis remember it's Gush Katif it's an open area so if anybody wants to send aid to Gaza from the international community they can build tents there it's a it's a wide area that can contain all those people it's a dilemma with the people who were kidnapped into Gaza it's not you know we are saying people it's like it became some sort of a number we're talking about kids women all people let's not forget them ALDS some of them Holocaust survivors also let's not forget that and what disturbs me actually it brings me back to the second world war it's like from what I understand maybe the first one to be released if at all would be the ones with with the second nationality like the you know international nationality not only Israeli and it's some sort of a selection it's like it's I don't know how even to understand it but it takes me there you know I'm a son to both Holocaust survivors so it's automatically takes me there I think that we should we should we should we should do it simple okay everybody so we will help to everybody and there's no other option for me at least there certainly is so much that is difficult to comprehend about what has unfolded in the last 12 days that meeting underway in Tel Aviv continues let's find out more we go to our correspondent Balir Sladin he joins us right now live and Balir it's another strong message of support from President Joe Biden after his first discussions with Benjamin Netanyahu those meetings continue what update can you share right now well yes the meeting continues and we should mention that the meeting that was between the U.S. President and the Prime Minister of Israel was actually more than an hour so it's double the time that was supposed to be and even the families of the kidnapped people in Gaza have been waiting for the U.S. President's meeting for a long long time but that is very necessary because the U.S. President is right now in the war cabinet the cabinet that was actually created recently with the new minister's guns and the icing cut Biden is here of course and this is the unprecedented that the U.S. President is not only showing solidarity with Israel but he also is inside the cabinet the war cabinet that is a message to the Israelis and also to other players in the area to the Israelis maybe it shows that Biden not only wants to support them but he also wants his both hands on the steering wheel as some people would say because he wants to make sure about other factors of this war because the U.S. maybe of course as Biden said that wants to give an open check to Israel to actually change the situation in Gaza in regard to Hamas but other concerns are inside Biden's mind one of them is of course the humanitarian crisis there the humanitarian situation in general he wants to make sure that all the players in this are you know supporting this whole situation Egypt and Israel in particular other concerns that Biden doesn't want this conflict to spread around in the Middle East in general because of his Arab allies and also because he cares about the coming election in 2024 he doesn't want the Middle East to be at war at that time that wouldn't look good of course for him other concern is of course the kidnapped the U.S. kidnapped people in Gaza strip and we should say that there is or there are some points that Biden doesn't agree with the Israelis about which is specifically the day after what will happen after this whole thing ends Biden of course as we heard him in previous interviews he said that he doesn't support the occupation of the Gaza strip in general he wants other plans maybe Israel doesn't share that plan until now at least we didn't hear it from the leaders of Israel but Biden as I said he wants his hands on the steering wheel he wants the this situation in the future that won't it won't be you know beneficial for the U.S. any occupation of the Gaza strip maybe handing the Gaza strip to the Palestinian authority maybe other players can be responsible for the Gaza strip but he does not support the occupation of the Gaza strip so he is here right here behind me still the cabinet is going on these are the concerns that we know about from the sources that we have inside Biden's the media and we will wait of course for the official statement after the cabinet ends no doubt there is much to iron out during that meeting thank you for now correspondent Balir Sladin live from Tel Aviv we will be coming back to our team on the ground there for regular updates right now though let's go to our senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev he joins us from Storot in the south and we know that sirens have sounded in just the last half an hour in various parts of the south we know in Tel Aviv is where the meeting is continuing what update can you share for us right now Jonathan maybe a little hint of what the evening may look like Benita the sirens sounded in Berbershiba Berbersheva the largest city of southern Israel and city not on the Gaza border itself meaning in Storot in the last two hours or so we had two sirens but not a lot of rockets and sirens throughout this morning and early afternoon in the Gaza border communities same could be said for the north where I don't think there were any incidents up to this hour if we look back yesterday and the day before these were quite eventful up in the north and plenty of sirens in the south it seems as though maybe all the parties in the area are waiting for US President Joe Biden to leave but the first sign of what may the coming hours may look like maybe we already saw that with the sirens in Berbersheva does that mean we may see sirens further and in communities further north and central Israel perhaps the morning has been relatively relatively quite down here in the south I suspect it will not stay like this for the rest of the afternoon in the evening hours and of course when you hear Joe Biden saying we will continue to have Israel's back as you continue to defend your people that's certainly a message communities in the south will be wanting to hear right now from the US President yes the communities would want to hear that the only issue is that the people of the communities are not here the city of Sderot where I am a city of 25,000 people the assessment is that up to 90% of the people have been evacuated meaning less than 3,000 people here the streets are deserted you see many more journalists than actual people living here and all of the other people of the southern communities they were evacuated from their communities which were so terribly hit on that Saturday morning they're mostly trying to recover from that terrible morning and yes it's always good to have a message of support from the United States but all that will not put behind the terrible incidents which took part here and in the neighboring communities a week and a half ago devastating situation indeed senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev live from Sderot appreciate the update thank you Jonathan back in studio Guy and Grisha Guy you have an update for us yes we just reported on these rocket alerts in the south of Israel next to the city of Beersheba and now we're getting reports of a security incident in that area just north of Beersheba in the original console of Neishiman that is where the kibbutz of Khatserim is residents there have been instructed to lock up in their homes in fear of a possible infiltration of course things have been relatively quiet on the ground in Israeli territory over the past few days as the first task of Israel of the IDF was to clear Israeli territory out of the many terrorists that infiltrated Israel on that terrible Saturday thousands of them now another possible incident we know they've been coming both from the sea and from the ground it is also if there was such infiltration still unclear whether this is a new infiltration or was it terrorists who were hiding waiting for the right moment 12 days since that first attack whether they found refuge among Bedouin communities among other areas in the south waiting for another moment to surprise the Israeli forces it is impossible to know the exact number of those who crossed into Israel the number of those who crossed back we've seen thousands of bodies as well of these terrorists that were killed on Israeli territory the IDF is checking this it's an ongoing incident and for now residents are asked to remain locked up in their homes in fear of a possible infiltration and Grisha obviously the risks involved with a US president arriving here Air Force One touching down in Tel Aviv we saw it just hours ago huge risks involved in terms of not only his personal safety and security but exactly what Guy is explaining that there may be several incidents unfolding across parts of the country at the same time yes it may happen I'm sure it's not something new from Gaza it's the remains if at all okay if at all we need to wait and to do it in a situation of course it's an ongoing situation so if at all it's somebody that succeeded somehow to hide somewhere and it's the last that's the remains of this wave of attack from October 7th So what do you see as the message that Benjamin Netanyahu needs to urgently get across right now he needs to have a plan in place there are concerns about Hezbollah up north obviously also watching what unfolds and he needs a slate a tick so to speak to act what is the message he needs to get across urgently to President Joe Biden as for now what we see is a war of messages okay we just got the declaration from Asafi the head of the Executive Council of Hezbollah saying if and if and if and if they have a collage of 11 terrorists already dead and the message is very clear if you start with us we have we are backed and we will return fire and you will suffer Colonel in the reserves Grisha Yakubovich Guy Azrael our correspondent thank you both so much for being here in studio and that is where we're going to end for now for this edition of our Breaking News coverage we will be back shortly I'm Benita Levine in Tel Aviv our team of reporters is out and about with all the latest developments on the ground as they happen so stay tuned to i24 news we leave you with live images out of the West Bank and we will keep bringing you the latest developments from around the region stay tuned this is i24 news Breaking News edition for 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the South and North get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24 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 we have the right ingredients and we have to do the job and then if we have the right ingredients and we do the job that the faquita can be protected this is breaking news edition I'm Benita Levine live in Tel Aviv on an historic day at an historic time US President Joe Biden is in Tel Aviv right now Air Force One touching down on Wednesday morning on day 12 of the war this is the moment the American leader and Israeli Prime Minister hugged on the tarmac at Ben Gurion International Airport a similar embrace for President Isaac Herzog an historic show of solidarity during war time Benjamin Netanyahu thanking him for the unprecedented US support the two then holding a private briefing and now they are meeting with Israel's newly formed war cabinet later the US leader will meet with families whose relatives are being held captive by Hamas inside Gaza the US has already dispatched two aircraft carrier groups to the region the death toll from the Hamas killing rampage in southern parts of Israel on Saturday the 7th of October is at more than 1400 in response the IDF continuing to target Hamas sites in Gaza earlier in the day the IDF providing evidence that the overnight blast at a hospital inside Gaza was in fact a misfire by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and that a call has been recorded in which Hamas operatives acknowledge as much yet the terror groups immediately blamed Israel as did many Arab nations Biden saying he has been shown footage and it appears that the blast quote may have been caused by the other team let's take a listen to some of the leader's comments after their first meeting a short while ago this will be a different kind of war because Hamas is a different kind of enemy while Israel seeks to minimize civilian casualties Hamas seeks to maximize civilian casualties Hamas wants to kill as many Israelis as possible and has no regard whatsoever to Palestinian lives in the wake of Hamas is appalling terrorist assaults brutal inhumane almost beyond belief what they did this cabinet came together and standing strong standing united and I want you to know you're not alone you are not alone as I emphasized earlier we will continue to have Israel's back as you work to defend your people we'll continue to work with you and partners across the region to prevent more tragedy to innocent civilians and as we are speaking rocket sirens are sounding in Nakhal Oz that happening just a few moments ago we will be going to the south a little bit later in this broadcast but first we go north our correspondent Hamda Sahut is near the Israel-Lebanon border and Hamda the world is watching Hezbollah is watching as Joe Biden assures Benjamin Netanyahu quote we will continue to have Israel's back as you continue to defend your people what is the latest what developments can you share up north Benita good afternoon just one exchange of fire seen today reports of three casualties on the Lebanese side overnight Hezbollah striking into Israeli territory injuring four members of the Israeli military the idea of saying that those injuries are moderate to light now inside of Lebanon protests have been taking place raising Palestinian flags Hezbollah flags in an effort to get the group involved inside of Lebanon the caretaker government is saying they do not want a war they want to keep calm along the border the U.S. Embassy inside Lebanon raising the travel warning the advisory to level 4 meaning do not travel and if you are a U.S. citizen in Lebanon they're asking you to leave the national carrier the airline of Lebanon has moved planes to Turkey previously in fears of a war breaking out so they could be able to transport people to and from so that some of those planes perhaps won't sustain any damage if there is a war the United States has previously asked Israel not to preemptively strike Hezbollah in return for assurances which would probably be militarily and the Israelis warning Hezbollah that if they do choose to escalate the tensions along the border the consequences will be severe Benita Correspondent Hamda Sahut in the north near the Israel-Lebanon border thank you very much for that update stay safe Hamda and now for more we welcome to studio Israeli-Palestinian relations expert Colonel in the reserves Grisha Yakubovich the former head of the civilian department of Kogat in the IDF and our correspondent Guy Israel and we obviously are going to be unpacking the significance of the show of support this unprecedented show of support President Joe Biden in Tel Aviv right now meeting with the war cabinet but before we get to that Guy I want to bring you in because we are hearing just moments ago that the towns in the north the Israeli towns at north near the Lebanon border are being told to evacuate there was a perimeter of around two kilometers that has now been extended to five kilometers what details can you share talk us through what's going on there yeah let me just break that down the government ministers have just approved on their behalf the option of evacuating Israeli civilians from two to five kilometers from the border we already know that those up to two kilometers from the border have already been evacuated now they enable the evacuations of more but that is still to the discretion of the IDF and the security establishment merely a government decision that enables the IDF to do so if it feels that there is an urgent security need to get them out of danger and we've seen so many incidents so many lethal incidents on the northern border emanating from Hezbollah firing into Israeli territory both at IDF forces but also at Israeli civilians with casualties and as we're speaking rocket sirens alerting residents of Beersheba in the south as well and in various parts of that city also alerting of incoming rockets not everybody is liking what is unfolding right now until Aviv as the US president and the Israeli prime minister meet with the war cabinet Grisha your take on the unfolding developments right now and how significant it is that the US support is so obvious the optics right now Air Force One on the Tarmac and the president and the prime minister meeting with the war cabinet as we speak you know Benita I'm surprised and I want to share the surprise with you I expected five words you know the president is landing and I expected that we will see missiles coming out of Gaza as a very warm welcome well I understand that if it didn't happen it means something bigger is happening it's like he's still here no rockets from Tel Aviv attacks in Iraq you know two drones that some pro-Iranian group sent and the US army succeeded to stop it and six US helicopters there doing things so so is that the message that actually the support is sending a very clear message don't mess with us so this is what I see now and this is the change from what I told this morning because honestly I expected to see rockets coming out from you know they launched yesterday as the as Mr. Blinken landed Anthony Blinken had the experience and the German Chancellor also as did Olaf Scholz the German Chancellor as well so if nobody launches rockets from Gaza while the US president is here that's that means something we're going to unpack more of that in a short while but another development earlier on in the day the IDF releasing footage and aerial photographs saying there is an increase in the number of failed launches from the Gaza Strip spokesman Daniel Higari saying the Hamas terrorist organization continues to use guards and citizens as human shields and to use sensitive civilian compounds for military purposes now here is the recording of a phone call between Hamas operatives showing that the hospital explosion overnight was immediately identified as being caused by a misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket let's take a listen I'm telling you this is the first time that we see missile like this falling and so that's why we are saying it belongs to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad what? they are saying it belongs to the PGI it's from us it looks like it who says this they are saying the sharp nail from the missile is local sharp nail and not like Israeli sharp nail what are you saying Abu Amar but God bless it couldn't have been found another place not the hospital to explode never mind yes Abu Raji they shot it from the cemetery behind the hospital what? they shot it coming from the cemetery behind the Mahdani hospital and it misfired and fell on them there's a cemetery behind it yes the Mahdani is exactly in the compound where is it when when you enter the compound you first enter the compound and don't go towards the city it's on the right side of the Mahdani hospital yes I know it and now for more we welcome Tomer Aviram senior cyber security analyst at Sinet Tomer thank you so much for your time let's start with the role of viral videos in this war Hamas filming atrocities on Saturday the 7th of October the videos of hostages being held as well also being released give us your sense of the way another tool used in this war are the videos that are going viral so cyber security attacks especially during war time is a strategic logical plan when it comes to a national state threat actors we can see that in the past year we see a growth of 70% against Israel in cyber security attacks especially coming from Iran I personally don't think that Hamas has the technology to attack especially in cyber security I think it's coming from most of the time Iran or some kind of a threat actors that related to the Hamas and their agenda and I think that we need to understand that once they kidnap and they have all those resources available to them we need to expect a lot of growth in cyber security attacks we just heard there Daniel Higari talking about the evidence that the IDF has about what happened overnight in Gaza that blast at that hospital and the aerial photographs showing that it was not an Israeli attack it was in fact from Palestinian Islamic Jihad the evidence is there but how do people know what to believe when they see footage how are they to ascertain what is real and what is fake I think that these days it's really hard to understand what is fake and what is not especially with all the AI technologies and all the editing that you can do but I think that everyone has their own agenda and their own beliefs always there will be someone with some kind of conspiracy that will try to accuse someone or maybe accuse Israel in that attack but I think that the evidence are there we can see those videos and we know that the IDF did a thorough investigation and it took about I think five hours and then they released and that make it even more valuable to know that Israel is not part of this attack Thank you so much Tomer Abiram, senior cyber security analyst from Sinet we appreciate you speaking to us on this breaking news edition stay safe Back to Grisha and you made mention of the fact that you're surprised there hasn't been more of a response out of the Gaza Strip in terms of rockets since President Joe Biden arrived just in terms of an update the meeting with the war room is still underway as we speak and it is expected that the president will meet with relatives of those waiting for word of what is happening in Gaza in other words the people who were abducted on Saturday the 7th of October who are still being held there talk to us about the kind of message that Israel is giving to the US president to explain the intricacies involved in the operation that is likely to take place in Gaza in the coming days or weeks Well from out how I understand the picture the idea continues with the mission to eliminate Hamas abilities and Israel is trying to avoid from innocent civilians to get hurt that's why Israel continues with the messages to cross to the south to the area of the Mawasi the Mawasi is an area as some Israelis remember it's Gush Katif it's an open area so if anybody wants to send aid to Gaza from the international community they can build tents there it's a it's a wide area that can contain all those people it's a dilemma with the people who were kidnapped into Gaza it's not you know we are saying people it's like it became some sort of a number we're talking about kids women all people let's not forget that LDS some of them holoca survivors also let's not forget that and what disturbs me actually it brings me back to the second world war it's like from what I understand maybe the first one to be released if at all would be the ones with with the second nationality like the you know international nationality not on Israeli and it's some sort of a selection it's like it's I don't know how even to understand it but it takes me there you know I'm a son to both holoca survivors so it's automatically it takes me there I think that we should we should we should do it simple okay everybody so we will help to everybody and there's no other option for me at least there certainly is so much that is difficult to comprehend about what has unfolded in the last 12 days that meeting underway in Tel Aviv continues let's find out more we go to our correspondent Balir Sladin he joins us right now live and Balir it's another strong message of support from President Joe Biden after his first discussions with Benjamin Netanyahu those meetings continue what update can you share right now well yes the meeting continues and we should mention that the meeting that was between the U.S. President and the Prime Minister of Israel was actually more than an hour so it's double the time that was supposed to be and even the families of the kidnapped people in Gaza have been waiting for the U.S. President's meeting for a long long time but that is very necessary because the U.S. President is right now in the war cabinet the cabinet that was actually created recently with the new minister's guns and the icing cut Biden is here of course and this is the unprecedented that the U.S. President is not only showing solidarity with Israel but he also is inside the cabinet the war cabinet that is a message to the Israelis and also to other players in the area to the Israelis maybe it shows that Biden not only wants to support him but he also wants his both hands on the steering wheel as some people would say because he wants to make sure about other factors of this war because the U.S. maybe of course as Biden said that wants to give an open check to Israel to actually change the situation in Gaza in regard to Hamas but other concerns are inside Biden's mind one of them is of course the humanitarian crisis there the humanitarian situation in general he wants to make sure that all the players in this are you know supporting this whole situation Egypt and Israel in particular other concerns that Biden doesn't want this conflict to spread around in the Middle East in general because of his Arab allies and also because he cares about the coming election in 2024 he doesn't want the Middle East to be at war at that time that wouldn't look good of course for him other concern is of course the kidnapped the U.S. kidnapped people in Gaza a strip and we should say that there is or there are some points that Biden doesn't agree with the Israelis about which is it specifically the day after what will happen after this whole thing ends Biden of course as we heard him in previous interviews he said that he doesn't support the occupation of the Gaza Strip in general he wants other plans maybe Israel doesn't share that plan until now at least we didn't hear it from the leaders of Israel but Biden as I said he wants his hands on the steering wheel he wants the this situation in the future that won't it won't be you know beneficial for the U.S. any occupation of the Gaza Strip maybe handing the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority maybe other players can be responsible for the Gaza Strip but he does not support the occupation of the Gaza Strip so he is here right here behind me still the cabinet is going on these are the concerns that we know about from the sources that we have inside Biden's media and we will wait of course for the official statement after the cabinet ends no doubt there is much to iron out during that meeting thank you for now correspondent Balias Ladin live from Tel Aviv we will be coming back to our team on the ground there for regular updates right now though let's go to our senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev he joins us from Storot in the south and we know that sirens have sounded in just the last half an hour in various parts of the south we know in Tel Aviv is where the meeting is continuing what update can you share for us right now Jonathan maybe a little hint of what the evening may look like Benita the sirens sounded in Berbersheva the largest city of southern Israel and city not on the Gaza border itself meaning in Storot in the last two hours or so we had two sirens but not a lot of rockets and sirens throughout this morning and early afternoon in the Gaza border community same could be said for the north where I don't think there were any incidents up to this hour if we look back yesterday and the day before these were quite eventful up in the north and plenty of sirens in the south it seems as though maybe all the parties in the area are waiting for U.S. president Joe Biden to leave but the first sign of what may the coming hours may look like maybe we already saw that with the sirens in Berbersheva does that mean we may see sirens further and in communities further north and central Israel perhaps the morning has been relatively relatively quite down here in the south I suspect it will not stay like this for the rest of the afternoon in the evening hours and of course when you hear Joe Biden saying we will continue to have Israel's back as you continue to defend your people that's certainly a message communities in the south will be wanting to hear right now from the U.S. president Yes, the communities would want to hear that the only issue is that the people of the communities are not here the city of Zderot where I am a city of 25,000 people the assessment is that up to 90% of the people have been evacuated meaning less than 3,000 people here the streets are deserted you see many more journalists than actual people living here all of the other people of the southern communities they were evacuated from their communities which were so terribly hit on that Saturday morning they're mostly trying to recover from that terrible morning and yes it's always good to have a message of support from the United States but all that will not put behind terrible incidents which took part here and in the neighboring communities a week and a half ago devastating situation indeed senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev live from Zderot appreciate the update thank you Jonathan back in studio Guy and Grisha Guy you have an update for us yes we just reported on these rocket alerts in the south of Israel next to the city of Beersheba and now we're getting reports of a security incident in that area just north of Beersheba in the regional council of Neishiman that is where the Kibbutz of Khatsarim is residents there have been instructed to lock up in their homes in fear of a possible infiltration of course things have been relatively quiet on the ground in Israeli territory over the past few days as the first task of Israel of the IDF was to clear Israeli territory out of the many terrorists that infiltrated Israel on that terrible Saturday thousands of them now another possible incident we know they've been coming both from the CEN from the ground it is also if there was such infiltration still unclear whether this is a new infiltration or was it terrorists who were hiding waiting for the right moment 12 days since that first attack whether they found refuge among Bedouin communities among other areas in the south waiting for another moment to surprise the Israeli forces it is impossible to know the exact now exact number of those who crossed into Israel the number of those who crossed back we've seen thousands of bodies as well of these terrorists that were killed on Israeli territory the IDF is checking this it's an ongoing incident and for now residents are asked to remain locked up in their homes in fear of a possible infiltration and Grisha obviously the risks involved with a U.S. president arriving here Air Force One touching down in Tel Aviv we saw it just hours ago huge risks involved in terms of not only his personal safety and security but exactly what Guy is explaining that there may be several incidents unfolding across parts of the country at the same time yes it may happen I'm sure it's not something new from Gaza it's the remains if at all okay if at all we need to wait and to intervene situation of course yeah it's it's an ongoing situation so if at all it's somebody that succeeded somehow to hide somewhere and it's the last let's say remains of this wave of attack from October 7th so what do you see as the message that Benjamin Netanyahu needs to urgently get across right now he needs to have a plan in place there are concerns about Hezbollah up north obviously also watching what unfolds and he needs a slate a tick so to speak to act what is the message he needs to get across urgently to President Joe Biden as for now what we see is a war of messages okay we just got the declaration from Asafi the head of the executive council of Hezbollah saying if and if and if and if they have a collage of 11 terrorists already dead and the message is very clear if you start with us we have we are backed and we will return fire and you will suffer Colonel in the reserves Grisha Yakubovich Guy Azrael our correspondent thank you both so much for being here in studio and that is where we're going to end for now for this edition of our breaking news coverage we will be back shortly I'm Benita Levine in Tel Aviv our team of reporters is out and about with all the latest developments on the ground as they happen so stay tuned to i24 news we leave you with live images out of the west bank and we will keep bringing you the latest developments from around the region stay tuned this is i24 news breaking news edition 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 within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped help us we don't want to do we just don't know 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 news edition let's take you live to Tel Aviv and no one understands that better no one feels that more than present the united states folks there's a an irish poet and he wrote a line i said too long a suffering makes a stone of war the longest suffering makes a stone of war the thing that i found is just this real quick meeting with all of you your hearts have turned to stone you're going to reach out for the first time that i wore the six-day war and she was telling me and all of a sudden she looked at me and she said would you like a photograph i guess she just got up and walked out there outside her office without looking at me she turned she looked at me and she said and i said i am and she said don't worry we jews have a secret weapon in the heart of the united states and i think the security and safety of jews will ride as anchors in israel that's what i think it's about it's core and so more to say but i'd like to talk for watching live images right now us president joe biden us secretary of state antony blinkin and the us charged affairs stephanie hallett all meeting soon with relatives who are waiting for word on the hostages who are being held by the hamas terror group in gaza the us president touching down in tel aviv in recent hours air force one on the tarmac of bengurion international airport on day 12 of the war this is the moment the american leader and israeli prime minister hugged on the tarmac there a similar embrace for the president it's an historic show of solidarity during wartime benjamin itanyahu thanking him for the unprecedented us support and that meeting with the families is about to happen shortly and when it dies we will bring you details but right now let's find out what is happening on the ground we go live to our correspondent pia stekelbach she's in the north near the israel lebanon border so joe biden assuring benjamin itanyahu a little earlier quote we will continue to have israel's back as you continue to defend your people the whole world is watching gizbola is watching iran is watching talk to us about the latest developments in the north pier well benita has bala and irana certainly watching and this week along they have reiterated time and time again that they are specifically observing the events in gaza and they will make their involvement in this war dependent on israeli actions in gaza now after the strike on the gaza hospital the ahli hospital leaving an estimated number of 800 people dead a strike that is attributed to israel in the arab world his bala might be forced to react and actually a few moments ago an idf statement said that shots were fired onto an israeli observation post here very close to the lebanese border and i want to step out of the frame for you to see which outpost which post we are actually talking about we can still see some of the remaining smoke which has been caused by his bala fire into israel israel is retaliating to the origin of the fire of course benita the northern border remains to be tense factions like his bala and iran have said that they are willing to intervene once israeli atrocities increase in in gaza of course joe biden and the us displaying their solidarity with another aircraft carrier being placed in the mediterranean sea but also the israeli government reacting and now deciding to enable the evacuation of residents that are living as close as five kilometers to the border here to lebanon that comes after the area that is close as close as two kilometers to the border has been evacuated already earlier this week this really shows you how vigilant also israeli authorities are here in the north to make sure that the area that has constantly come under his bala fire will be cleared of civilians of course it is very difficult and here we see or we hear booms as well here coming from right behind us we hear here about 10 kilometers away from the lebanese border but israeli authorities making sure that the area that is as close to up to five kilometers to the border will be as void as possible of citizens as the skirmishers between israel and his bala are continuing benita stay safe live from the israeli lebanon border that's our correspondent pierce dekelbach thank you for that update and now for more we welcome from washington ben taliblu senior fellow at the foundation for the defense of democracies thank you so much for joining us from dc benham to start your insights the show of support unprecedented the us president here during a war we saw the images of air force one on the tarmac and tell aviv the hugs with benjamin and yahoo and the president as well your thoughts on what is unfolding right now between these two close allies well it's a pleasure to be with you and i hope you and all your staff and associates at i-24 are safe and will remain safe here in washington we've been watching the conflict unfold and do think about our friends and acquaintances abroad at this time nonetheless to your question it's essential for joe biden to continue to communicate the message that he just did deliver in that earlier segment publicly and privately to audiences government and non-government across israel which is a show of unwavering non-partisan American support this is in the U.S. moral interest this is the U.S. strategic interest and actually it can help prevent the war from spreading and spreading in the worst possible ways Iran and its proxies as your previous correspondent mentioned are watching waiting trying to respond to the onset of the war in Gaza by trying to threaten the multi-front campaign or a multi-front war against the state of Israel trying to prevent Israeli officials from achieving their stated aims as to retaliating or potentially even destroying Hamas and having this strong U.S. show of resolve not just the carrier but the U.S. president actually meeting with the Israeli prime minister can help bridge that gap can help send that strong signal or resolve which can potentially have deterrent dividends both against Iran's proxies as well as against the terror patron itself the Islamic Republic of Iran So Benham help with the pieces of the puzzle together when we look at the role that Tehran is playing right now on the one hand we're talking about Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad inside Gaza there is a strike right now as we speak in the West Bank Syrian never mind Syria the Iranian entrenchment which has been going on with proxies for months and months now and of course in Lebanon we are looking at live images on our screen right now out of Lebanon where Hezbollah is watching as well and watching what is unfolding as we speak in Tel Aviv talk to us about the pieces of this puzzle how they all fit together well across the heartland of the Middle East and in particular in conflict zones the Islamic Republic has tried for over four decades to violently export its revolution in places where it did not have ideological resonance in places where it did have ideological resonance it was where there were marginalized folks it was downtrodden dispossessed peoples where the Islamic Republic's message of violence carried some kind of residence Iran over the years has been able to create or co-opt different proxy groups that it controls ultimately and it control the cycle of violence they can control this kind of cycle of hatred and in every one of those jurisdictions you mentioned Syria there's the Assad regime Iraq there's the Shia militias Yemen there's the Houthis Lebanon as you know there's Hezbollah in the Gaza Strip there's certainly Hamas in Palestine in Islamic jihad and then of course there is the individual or lone wolf acts of terror that the Islamic Republic has been able to be behind and support to help get weapons traffic to in the West Bank so trying to create a multi-dimensional circle of fire against the Jewish state while also of course trying to watch and wait to see what events are going on on the ground between Israel and Gaza to threaten to open up a different domain but right now the Islamic Republic is benefiting from the way the issue the way that conflict is being covered in the air press and it's trying to push back on what you've seen over the past few years which is this wave positivity of Israel in the Arab world this wave of normalization agreements that you've seen and actually one reason that I personally believe that the pale green light was given from Tehran to its proxies even though there is more of a diffuse mechanism of control here is simply because of the positive signs and the news you were seeing about the potential Saudi Israeli repulsion which as you know that is on hold the Islamic Republic is hoping that's not a temporary hold it's hoping that it's a hold as long as possible but Iran is trying to divide America from its regional partners and America's regional partners from one another using the scenes from the current conflict and talking about nations in the region Joe Biden was supposed to go later on in the day to Jordan and meet with King Abdullah also Egypt Abdul Fattah El Sisi and Mahmoud Abbas from the Palestinian Authority that meeting not happening anymore reports that they might be speaking on the telephone later but talk to us about the significance of that meeting if it was in fact to have happened and now the fact that it's being pushed out the fact that it can't happen is certainly a setback for US foreign policy in particular the diplomatic element one remembers the Confliction Agreements after other Arab-Israeli wars and in particular Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy but the inability to have the US president land or even speak overtly directly and publicly with other pro-American or at least moderate Arab leaders in the heartland of the Middle East is again I would say a setback for US diplomacy in the region and is a piece of news and is or something that Iran and its self-styled axis of resistance benefits from again Iran is trying to get everyone to disconnect the dots Iran is trying to separate America from its regional partners it's trying to make sure that America's message is quarantined even though the US president as you mentioned may be able to deliver the same message over the phone the lack of that public image the lack of that embrace between America and Arab leader while the conflict is going on and while Arab media is covering the conflict the way that it is ultimately redounds to the Islamic Republic's interest Thank you so much Ben and Ben Tel Aviv please stay with us we may be coming back to you a little bit later on for now live from the Washington DC that is Ben and Ben Tel Aviv senior fellow at the foundation for the defense of democracies and we go from Washington to Tel Aviv let's go back to our correspondent Balir Sladin so we know we just saw a short while ago the president of the United States the US secretary of the United States all standing there talking about the next plan of action and going to meet with families who are waiting for word on the hostages being held captive by Hamas in Gaza what update can you share right now thank you Yes and also about two minutes ago the president of the United States tweeted on platform X that he's proud to be in Israel and he is here to honor the courage commitment and bravery of the Israeli people people are grieving with the following of the last week's attack so that's what the US president is actually tweeting at the last few minutes he came here of course to show solidarity but also to discuss many issues that are in concern of the American people of his administration in particular the president of the United States while he is meeting with the families of the people that were kidnapped to Gaza and the hostages he of course discussed with the Israeli leaders the concerns that he has about this war he is of course is not interested in expanding this war to come to Hezbollah or maybe Iran to be intervening in this whole thing because he doesn't want a regional war during an election year that's what we understand from sources close to him and of course the humanitarian crisis the humanitarian situation in Gaza that is a huge issue for the Biden administration but maybe most importantly the day after what will happen in the future he is against occupation of Gaza he is planning to discuss with the leaders of Israel the course of actions and of course the plan to the future what will happen will the Palestinian Authority take over Gaza will other players in the region such as Jordan or maybe Egypt will take over Gaza and deal with the 2.3 million Palestinians there he is here to show solidarity on one hand but on the other hand he wants to show also the Israeli leaders that he needs his hand also on the wheel of this war he doesn't want the extremist as would some people say to lead this toward you know regional war or religious war or even occupation of Gaza so that's why he is here right now we're waiting of course for an official statement after these meetings after meeting also with the Israeli president his counterpart Yitzhak Herzog and then we will understand more about what has been discussed and what may be understand also some of the solutions that were suggested to regarding this whole war that is going on Correspondent Balia Sladin live from Tel Aviv we will be coming back to you for more details as they emerge out of those meetings thank you so much for now and now we go from Tel Aviv to Storot in the south we're joined by our correspondent Ariel Osoron so we just heard their president Joe Biden taking to Twitter to say he is proud to be in Israel to honor the courage commitment and bravery of the Israeli people and perhaps none so brave as those in the southern communities what is the latest there where you are right now Ariel right Benita those living in the southern communities who have stayed but also the mass majority of them who have already evacuated and that is because this area continues to be under constant rocket fire from the Gaza Strip about 10 minutes ago rocket barrage of rockets launched towards Kibbutzoufa that is right in this area here surrounding the Gaza Strip there has been no indications of any injuries or damage caused by this now regarding Biden's visit apparently he referred to the reason why he adopted Israel's stance on the explosion that occurred at the Ahli hospital in the Gaza Strip yesterday he said that one of the reasons that he adopted the Israeli position that it was a failed rocket launched by Palestine Islamic jihad is because he received similar information that corroborated that from his own Pentagon from the from the DoD and so that indicates is another indication as to why the Biden administration is supporting the fact that it is in fact Hamas or a Pij terrorist that launched the rocket that hit the Ahli hospital now while the rocket launches towards southern Israel continue there is also having been reports of Israeli strikes in in the recent hours but earlier today the IDF reiterating its call to the residents of Gaza city and the northern part of the Gaza Strip to continue to make their way down south saying that indicating the area of El Mawasi which is in West Hanyounis where they which is in the southern part of the Gaza Strip they're saying that that area is will be for international humanitarian aid it will be provided there and that is where they're instructing the residents of Gaza to go to avoid any civilian casualties in its continuous strikes Thank you so much live from Storot our correspondent Ariel Osaran we will be coming back to Ariel of course throughout the coming hours and now we go back to Washington and Ben and Ben Teliblu senior fellow at the foundation for defense of democracies is still with us and Ben and your thoughts on the sentiment in the United States right now about this trip by Joe Biden two carriers are in the region we just heard right now the U.S. president has taken to Twitter to say America is grieving with the people of Israel and obviously reiterating throughout the afternoon his support for Israel difficult to assess in a developing situation but your take on the sentiment across the U.S. right now about what is unfolding in Tel Aviv Well certainly as you may know large swaths of Washington if not all of the official Washington's continues to stand with Israel and agree with Israel many people in Washington do have friends family acquaintances people they've met over the years working on foreign policy matters affected by the Gaza the Hamas terror attack just over a week ago but beyond Washington of course unfortunately there are many things that are political many do support the trip but many do had concerns about the timing the safety some of the optics of the trip and this is more of a partisan framing that you may have seen kind of a contrasting of the Israel theater with the Ukraine theater this factors into certainly U.S. domestic debates where there's a rising tide of isolationism both on the left flank and on the right flank they can look different they feel different and then there's something I personally find to be the most important which is this rising anti-Israel tide in American campuses simply sealing off for closing the door on the atrocious terror attack by Hamas and then opening the door to you know overt criticism Israel for any kind of military response against that terror entity in Gaza and the instrumental use of evolving headlines like the attack on the hospital that you had mentioned which in early reporting was misinformed as an Israeli strike and then continues that continues to factor into U.S. domestic debates but nonetheless official Washington and you know mainstream conventional American opinion continues to support the trip and can use to see it through an important measure or see the trip as an important measure of the evolving important U.S.-Israel relationship that being said there are some including yours truly who do support the trip but have concerns concerns for example that today October 18th the day President Biden touched down on Israel is also the day the Biden administration permitted U.N. sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile program to last just prior to coming on this show I was looking at Iranian headlines bragging about the legal ability to test and transfer ballistic missiles and sell and receive related technology you cannot disconnect the dots you cannot disconnect Iran from a mosque you cannot disconnect the conflict in the Levant in the eastern Mediterranean to what is going on in the Persian Gulf and across the heart of the Middle East you cannot have one policy towards the terror proxy and a fundamentally different policy towards the terror patron so if there is a certain kind of frustration this is one angle for it certainly a concern shared by many on this day thank you so much appreciate your insight Benham Bentelablu live from Washington and if you're just joining us now these are live images on our screen out of Lebanon protests erupting right now these are live images out of Lebanon right now now as we were just discussing with Benham the idea of releasing footage and aerial photographs that's after that blast overnight that hit a hospital inside Gaza there is a recording of a phone call between Hamas operatives showing that the hospital explosion was immediately identified as actually being caused by a misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket let's take a listen to more from the IDF so for more our correspondent guy Israel is here in studio and guy obviously a hospital being hit an explosion happening reports out of the Hamas health ministry on the amount of people who have died and then we get the evidence the IDF displaying the evidence the aerial photographs the footage this telephone call saying it was Palestinian Islamic Jihad this is nothing new we've seen so many attacks so many stories like this of misfiring of terrorists out of Gaza hitting Gaza residents civilian population time after time this incident really stands out but we've seen others in previous years this is part of the operation of Hamas Hamas just hours sorry just minutes before this failed launch announced that it's going to strike Israel with new missiles these may be the new missiles that were misfired just another example of the cynical use of Hamas of the civilian population in Gaza these are the victims of Hamas and when Israel wishes to eliminate Hamas's military capabilities it does so eventually also for the people of Gaza I can remind our viewers Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip many years ago living thousands of Israeli settlers out of their homes in hope for a better future the result was they elected the residents elected Hamas Hamas's remaining power and invested all of its resources into building its military capabilities now is the time that Israel says no more to that and we showed images a little bit earlier of protest action in Lebanon we also know a general strike announced in the West Bank and again we will keep bringing new developments as they emerge here on our breaking news edition but right now a personal account on their killing rampage that unfolded on the 7th of October we welcome Chaim Arias a pediatrician who works in Nativot and he joins us from Kibbutz Almog Chaim thank you so much for speaking to us you're living in Moshev Shuvah I understand you were called to a field hospital where you help people wounded from Barry take us back if you will to the 7th of October it's been a long a long few days but you know for me my personal account has started in the morning we heard a a red alert which unfortunately was sort of you know not so uncommon and does not bother us at all we got the kids got my mom odd but then I started hearing live gunfire gunfire like machine gunfire so I knew something was wrong turned my phone on and we didn't know exact in situation but we knew something really bad was happening the guys in my Moshev were very quick to quickly try to put up some patrols and guys got on roofs we try to organize and basically we were just sitting there hearing awful things for many hours and then around 1 or 2 p.m I forget exactly I was called to the front of the Moshev if you look at the map Shuva is just right behind like Saad and maybe right behind the Alameen so they were bringing all the casualties back to the intersection of Shuva so out in the gate there the Militia had put like a like a field triage center basically and right now there was little to no resources we had one army doctor myself there was another nurse in the Moshev that came out to help me another doctor with what we had and then we just saw wave after wave after wave of injured people the majority were soldiers that were fighting terrorists but we also had civilians you know we sorry it's difficult to speak about I haven't really spoken about this so much yet but we did we're putting people in private cars sort of coming in with you know stable gunshot wounds and limbs whatnot we would just put them in private cars other people in Moshev were driving them to Soroka the hospital we were putting people in a military that they'd ride along with a young mother who had a blip wound to the chest and I took her to Nativo to switch her out with a more advanced ambulance that could take her to Soroka and she just kept asking you know where are my kids and I don't know and came back and it just it went on and on and on until the finally in the evening we had a little bit more support we had a Hatsala and Mada and more army support or in real resources but it took a while to get things under control and then in the evening time it was too much we had to step away and the as I understand it it went further into the night and and then they also had in the same area recovery for a lot of the bodies a lot of the bodies were brought back to Shuva as well and just to say one thing about the community the the folks that stayed back a lot of the men stayed back in the Moshev the the the following week to help help out the the army based the idea moved in and sort of made that a forward base so a lot of guys stayed back and helped to to care the soldiers and it was and it was such a beautiful thing that the community come together like that unbelievable so it's such a yeah such a situation Chaim I can hear the trauma in your voice I cannot imagine what you have seen an experience but you are one of many here who responded to this traumatic and tragic day in the history of this country thank you for sharing your account thank you for speaking to us we appreciate it and we wish you strength and your community strength Chaim Arias from Kibbutz Almog in the south thank you for being here on i24 news take care thank you and with that we end this breaking news edition our rolling coverage continues shortly I'm Benita Levine in Tel Aviv thank you for watching let's take you live to Tel Aviv there stands that better no one feels that more than President of the United States Mr. President folks there's a an Irish poet that what creates the longest suffering makes the stone of the heart the longest suffering makes the stone of the heart and that's this real quick meeting with all of you as none of your hearts have turned to hands she was telling me it was which it was she kept flipping the maps up and down behind her and all of a sudden she looked at me and she said would you like a photograph and I thought if that's unusual and I guess she just cut up and walked out there to her outside her office without looking at me she turned she liked it and she said you look worried so I said I am and she said don't worry we Jews have a secret weapon in our place else to go well the truth of the matter I think the security and safety of Jews worldwide is anchored in the great continued violence of the state of Israel that's what I think it's about and it's core and so watching live images right now U.S. President Joe Biden U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the U.S. Charged Affairs Stephanie Hallett all meeting soon with relatives who are waiting for word on the hostages who are being held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza the U.S. President touching down in Tel Aviv in recent hours Air Force One on the tarmac of Ben-Gurion International Airport on day 12 of the war this is the moment the American leader and Israeli Prime Minister hugged on the tarmac there a similar embrace for the President it's an historic show of solidarity during wartime Benjamin Netanyahu thanking him for the unprecedented U.S. support and that meeting with the families is about to happen shortly and when it dies we will bring you details but right now let's find out what is happening on the ground we go live to our correspondent Pierce Steckelbach she's in the North near the Israel-Lebanon border so Joe Biden assuring Benjamin Netanyahu a little earlier quote we will continue to have Israel's back as you continue to defend your people the whole world is watching Hezbollah is watching Iran is watching talk to us about the latest developments in the North Pier well Bonita Hezbollah and Irana certainly watching and this week alone they have reiterated time and time again that they are specifically observing the events in Gaza and they will make their involvement in this war dependent on Israeli actions in Gaza now after the strike on the Gaza hospital the Al-Ahli hospital leaving an estimated number of 800 people dead a strike that is attributed to Israel in the Arab world Hezbollah might be forced to react and actually a few moments ago an IDF statement said that shots were fired on to an Israeli observation post here very close to the Lebanese border now I want to step out of the frame for you to see which outpost which post we are actually talking about we can still see some of the remaining smoke which has been caused by Hezbollah fire into Israel Israel is retaliating to the origin of the fire of course Bonita the northern border remains to be tense fractions like Hezbollah and Iran have said that they are willing to intervene once Israeli atrocities increase in Gaza of course Joe Biden and the U.S. displaying their solidarity with another aircraft carrier being placed in the Mediterranean Sea but also the Israeli government reacting and now deciding to enable the evacuation of residents that are living as close as five kilometers to the border here to Lebanon that comes after the area that is as close as close as two kilometers to the border has been evacuated already earlier this week this really shows how vigilant also Israeli authorities are here in the north to make sure that the area that has constantly come under Hezbollah fire will be cleared of civilians of course it is very difficult and here we see or we hear booms as well here coming from right behind us we are here about 10 kilometers away from the Lebanese border but Israeli authorities making sure that the area that is as close to up to five kilometers to the border will be as void as possible of citizens as the skirmishers between Israel and Hezbollah are continuing Bonita stay safe live from the Israel-Lebanon border that's our correspondent Pierce Deckelbach thank you for that update and now for more we welcome from Washington Benham Ben-Talablu senior fellow at the foundation for the defense of democracies thank you so much for joining us from DC Benham to start your insights the show of support unprecedented the US president here during a war we saw the images of Air Force One on the tarmac and Tel Aviv the hugs with Benjamin Netanyahu and the president as well your thoughts on what is unfolding right now between these two close allies well it's a pleasure to be with you and I hope you and all your staff and associates at I-24 are safe and will remain safe here in Washington we've been watching the conflict unfold and do think about our friends and acquaintances abroad at this time nonetheless to your question it's essential for Joe Biden to continue to communicate the message that he just did deliver in that earlier segment publicly and privately to audiences government and non-government across Israel which is a show of unwavering non-partisan American support this is in the US moral interest this is the US strategic interest and actually it can help prevent the war from spreading and spreading in the worst possible ways Iran and its proxies as your previous correspondent mentioned are watching waiting trying to respond to the onset of the war in Gaza by trying to threaten the multi-front campaign or multi-front war against the state of Israel trying to prevent Israeli officials from achieving their stated aims as to retaliating or potentially even destroying Hamas and having this strong US show of resolve not just the carrier but the US president actually meeting with the Israeli prime minister can help bridge that gap can help send that strong signal or resolve which can potentially have deterrent dividends both against Iran's proxies as well as against the terror patron itself the Islamic Republic of Iran So Benim help with the pieces of the puzzle together when we look at the role that Tehran is playing right now on the one hand we're talking about Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad inside Gaza there is a strike right now as we speak in the West Bank Syrian never mind Syria the Iranian entrenchment which has been going on with proxies for months and months now and of course in Lebanon we are looking at live images on our screen right now out of Lebanon where Hezbollah is watching as well and watching what is unfolding as we speak in Tel Aviv talk to us about the pieces of this puzzle how they all fit together Well across the heartland of the Middle East and in particular in conflict zones the Islamic Republic has tried for over four decades to violently export its revolution in places where it did not have ideological resonance in places where it did have ideological resonance it was where there were marginalized folks it was downtrod in dispossessed peoples where the Islamic Republic's message of violence carried some kind of resonance Iran over the years has been able to create or co-opt different proxy groups that it controls ultimately and it can control the cycle of violence they can control this kind of cycle of hatred and in every one of those jurisdictions you mentioned Syria there's the Assad regime Iraq there's the Shia militias Yemen there's the Houthis Lebanon as you know there is Hezbollah in the Gaza Strip there is certainly Hamas and Palestine in the Islamic jihad and then of course there's the individual or lone wolf acts of terror that the Islamic Republic has been able to be behind and support to help get weapons traffic to in the West Bank so trying to create a multi-dimensional circle of fire against the Jewish state while also of course trying to watch and wait to see what events are going on on the ground between Israel and Gaza to threaten to open up a different domain but right now the Islamic Republic is benefiting from the way the issue the way that conflict is being covered in the air press and it's trying to push back on what you've seen over the past few years which is this wave positivity of Israel in the Arab world this wave of normalization agreements that you've seen and actually one reason that I personally believe that the pale green light was given from Tehran to its proxies even though there is more of a diffuse mechanism of control here is simply because of the positive signs and the news you were seeing about the potential Saudi-Israeli repulsion which as you know that is on hold the Islamic Republic is hoping that's not a temporary hold it's hoping that it's a hold as long as possible but Iran is trying to divide America from its regional partners and America's regional partners from one another using the scenes from the current conflict and talking about nations in the region Joe Biden was supposed to go later on in the day to Jordan and meet with King Abdullah also Egypt Abdel Fattahal Sisi and Mahmoud Abbas from the Palestinian Authority that meeting not happening any more reports that they might be speaking on the telephone later but talk to us about the significance of that meeting if it was in fact to have happened and now the fact that it's being pushed out The fact that it can't happen is certainly a setback for U.S. foreign policy in particular the diplomatic element one remembers deconfliction agreements after other Arab-Israeli wars and in particular Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy but the inability to have the U.S. president land or even speak overtly directly and publicly with other pro-American or at least moderate Arab leaders in the heartland of the Middle East is again I would say a setback for U.S. diplomacy in the region and is a piece of news and is or something that Iran and its self-styled axis of resistance benefits from again Iran is trying to get everyone to disconnect the dots Iran is trying to separate America from its regional partners it's trying to make sure that America's message is quarantined even though the U.S. president as you mentioned may be able to deliver the same message over the phone the lack of that public image the lack of that embrace between America and an Arab leader while the conflict is going on and while Arab media is covering the conflict the way that it is ultimately redounds to the Islamic Republic's interest Thank you so much Ben and Ben Tel Aviv please stay with us we may be coming back to you a little bit later on for now live from the Washington DC that is Ben and Ben Tel Aviv senior fellow at the foundation for the defense of democracies and we go from Washington to Tel Aviv let's go back to our correspondent Balir Sladin so we know we just saw a short while ago the president of the United States the U.S. secretary of the United States all standing there talking about the next plan of action and going to meet with families who are waiting for word on the hostages being held captive by Hamas in Gaza what update can you share right now thank you Yes and also about two minutes ago the president of the United States tweeted on platform X that his brow to be in Israel and he is here to honor the courage commitment and bravery of the Israeli people he said that the American people are grieving with the following of the last week's attack so that's what the U.S. president is actually tweeting at the last few minutes he came here of course to show solidarity but also to discuss many issues that are in concern of the American people of his administration in particular the president of the United States while he is meeting with the families of the people that were kidnapped to Gaza and the hostages he of course discussed with the Israeli leaders the concerns that he has about this war he is of course is not interested in expanding this war to come to Hezbollah or maybe Iran to be intervening in this whole thing because he doesn't want a regional war during an election year that's what we understand from sources close to him and of course the humanitarian crisis the humanitarian situation in Gaza that is a huge issue for the Biden administration but maybe most importantly the day after what will happen in the future he is against occupation of Gaza he is planning to discuss with the leaders of Israel the course of actions and of course the plan to the future what will happen will the Palestinian Authority take over Gaza will other players in the region such as Jordan or maybe Egypt will take over Gaza and deal with the 2.3 million Palestinians there he is here to show solidarity on one hand but on the other hand he wants to show also the Israeli leaders that he needs his hand also on the wheel of this war he doesn't want the extremist as would some people say to lead this toward regional war or religious war or even occupation of Gaza so that's why he is here right now we're waiting of course for an official statement after these meetings after meeting also with the Israeli President his counterpart Yitzhak Herzog and then we will understand more about what has been discussed and what may be understand also some of the solutions that were suggested to regarding this whole war that is going on Correspondent Baleas Ladin live from Tel Aviv we will be coming back to you for more details as they emerge out of those meetings thank you so much for now and now we go from Tel Aviv to Storot in the South we're joined by our correspondent Ariel Osoran so we just heard their President Joe Biden taking to Twitter to say he is proud to be in Israel to honor the courage commitment and bravery of the Israeli people and perhaps none so brave as those in the Southern communities what is the latest there where you are right now Ariel Ray Benita those living in the Southern communities who have stayed but also the mass majority of them who have already evacuated and that is because this area continues to be under constant rocket fire from the Gaza Strip about 10 minutes ago rocket a barrage of rockets launched towards Kibbutzoufa that is right in this area here surrounding the Gaza Strip there has been no indications of any injuries or damage caused by this now regarding Biden's visit apparently he referred to the reason why he adopted Israel's stance on the explosion that occurred at the Ahli hospital in the Gaza Strip yesterday he said that one of the reasons that he adopted the Israeli position that it was a failed rocket launched by Palestine Islamic jihad is because he received similar information that corroborated that from his own Pentagon from the from the DoD and so that indicates is another indication as to why the Biden administration is supporting the fact that it is in fact Hamas or PIJ terrorists that launched the rocket that hit the Ahli hospital now while the rocket launches towards southern Israel continue there is also haven't been reports of Israeli strikes in the recent hours but earlier today the IDF reiterating its call to the residents of Gaza City and the northern part of the Gaza Strip to continue to make their way down south saying that indicating the area of El Mawasi which is in West Chanyounis where they which is in the southern part of the Gaza Strip they're saying that that area is will be for international humanitarian aid it will be provided there and that is where they're instructing the residents of Gaza to go to avoid any civilian casualties in its continuous strikes thank you so much live from Storot our correspondent Ariel Osaran we will be coming back to Ariel of course throughout the coming hours and now we go back to Washington and Ben and Ben Taliblu senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies is still with us and Ben and your thoughts on the sentiment in the United States right now about this trip by Joe Biden two carriers are in the region we just heard right now the US President has taken to Twitter to say America is grieving with the people of Israel and obviously reiterating throughout the afternoon his support for Israel difficult to assess in a developing situation but your take on the sentiment across the US right now about what is unfolding in Tel Aviv well certainly as you may know large swaths of Washington if not all of the official Washington's continues to stand with Israel agree with Israel many people in Washington do have friends family acquaintances people they've met over the years working on foreign policy matters affected by the Gaza the Hamas terror attack just over a week ago but beyond Washington of course unfortunately there are many things that are political many do support the trip but many do had concerns about the timing the safety some of the optics of the trip and this is more of a partisan framing that you may have seen kind of a contrasting of the Israel theater with the Ukraine theater this factors into certainly US domestic debates where there's a rising tide of isolationism both on the left flank and on the right flank they can look different they feel different and then there's something I personally find to be the most important which is this rising anti-Israel tide in American campuses simply sealing off for closing the door on the atrocious terror attack by Hamas and then opening the door to over criticism Israel for any kind of military response against that terror entity in Gaza and the instrumental use of evolving headlines like the attack on the hospital that you had mentioned which in early reporting was misinformed as an Israeli strike and then continues that continues to factor into US domestic debates but nonetheless official Washington and mainstream conventional American opinion continues to support the trip and can use to see it through an important measure or see the trip as an important measure of the evolving important US-Israel relationship that being said there are some including yours truly who do support the trip but have concerns concerns for example that today October 18th the day President Biden touched down in Israel is also the day the Biden administration permitted UN sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile program to last just prior to coming on this show I was looking at Iranian headlines bragging about the legal ability to test and transfer ballistic missiles and sell and receive related technology you cannot disconnect the dots you cannot disconnect Iran from Hamas you cannot disconnect the conflict and the Levant and the Eastern Mediterranean to what is going on in the Persian Gulf and across the heart of the Middle East you cannot have one policy towards the terror proxy and a fundamentally different policy towards the terror patron so if there is a certain kind of frustration this is one angle for it certainly a concern shared by many on this day thank you so much appreciate your insight Ben and Ben Tellerbleu live from Washington and if you're just joining us now these are live images on our screen out of Lebanon protests erupting right now these are live images out of Lebanon right now now as we were just discussing with Ben and the IDF releasing footage and aerial photographs that's after that blast overnight that hit a hospital inside Gaza there is a recording of a phone call between Hamas operatives showing that the hospital explosion was immediately identified as actually being caused by a misfired Palestinian Islamic jihad rocket let's take a listen to more from the IDF and so for more our correspondent guy Israel is here in studio and guy obviously a hospital being hit an explosion happening reports out of the Hamas health ministry of the amount of people who have died and then we get the evidence the IDF displaying the evidence the aerial photographs the footage this telephone call saying it was Palestinian Islamic jihad this is nothing new we've seen so many attacks so many stories like this of misfiring of terrorists out of Gaza hitting a Ghazan resident civilian population time after time this incident really stands out but we've seen others in previous years this is part of the operation of Hamas Hamas just hours sorry just minutes before this failed launch announced that it's going to strike Israel with new missiles these may be the new missiles that were misfired just another example of the cynical use of Hamas of the civilian population in Gaza these are the victims of Hamas and when Israel wishes to eliminate Hamas's military capabilities it does so eventually also for the people of Gaza I can remind our viewers Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip many years ago living thousands of Israeli settlers out of their homes in hope for a better future the result was they elected the residents elected Hamas Hamas has remained in power and invested all of its resources into building its military capabilities now is the time that Israel says no more to that and we showed images a little bit earlier of protest action in Lebanon we also know a general strike announced in the West Bank and again we will keep bringing new developments as they emerge here on our breaking news edition but right now a personal account on that killing rampage that unfolded on the 7th of October we welcome Chaim Arias a pediatrician who works in Niti Fort and he joins us from Kibbutz, Almog Chaim thank you so much for speaking to us you're living in Moshav Shuvah I understand you were called to a field hospital where you help people wounded from Bari take us back if you will to the 7th of October it's been a long a long few days but it's for me my personal account has started in the morning we heard a red alert which unfortunately was sort of you know not so uncommon and it does not bother us at all we got the kids got my mamad but then I started hearing live gunfire gunfire like machine gunfire so I knew something was wrong turned my phone on and we didn't know exacting situation but we knew something really bad was happening the guys in my Moshav were very quick to quickly try to put up some patrols and guys got unroofed we tried to organize and basically we were just sitting there hearing awful things for many hours and then around 1 or 2 p.m I forget exactly I was called to the front of the Moshav if you look at the map Shuvah is just right behind like Saad and maybe right behind Almogh so they were bringing all the casualties back to the intersection of Shuvah so out in the gate there the militia had put like a like a field triage center basically and right now there was little to no resources we had one army doctor myself there was another nurse in the Moshav that came out to help me another doctor and we basically did what we could with what we had and then we just saw wave after wave after wave of injured people the majority were soldiers that were fighting terrorists but we also had civilians you know we sorry it's difficult to speak about I haven't really spoken about this so much yet but we did we're putting people in private cars sort of coming in with you know stable gunshot wounds and limbs or whatnot we would just put them in private cars other people in the last 10 years I've been in many areas of conflict one kilometer just from the south of Mosul for me the most intense mission but also certainly the most exciting and the one that led me to Mosul in June 2017 to cover the Feroz battle between the Iraqi armed 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 at the nearest combats and bombardments of the international coalition we are here a few hundred meters away from the Mosque nourished it is the same we went from house to house to stay covered Daesh snipers before arriving on a roof at the level of the front line where the young Iraqi soldiers were able to spread their arsenal and their power of fire in front of our cameras it is only after having left this war theater that I took the measure of what I came 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 found ourselves a few days earlier thirteen hundred people murdered and more than three thousand injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on I-24 News this is breaking news edition I'm Bernice Levine coming to you live from Tel Aviv on an historic day at an historic time US President Joe Biden is about to deliver remarks from Tel Aviv from that podium on your screen after he's held discussions with Israel's newly formed war cabinet just a short while ago Air Force One touching down on Wednesday morning on day 12 of the war this is the moment the American leader and Israeli Prime Minister hugged on the tarmac at Ben-Gurion International Airport a similar embrace for the President and historic show of solidarity during wartime Benjamin Netanyahu thanking him for the unprecedented US support later the US leader met with families whose relatives are still being held captive by the Hamas terror group inside Gaza the US has already dispatched two aircraft carrier groups to the region the death toll from the Hamas killing rampage in southern parts of Israel on Saturday the 7th of October is at more than 1400 in response the IDF continuing to target Hamas sites in Gaza earlier in the day the IDF providing evidence that the overnight blast at a hospital inside Gaza was in fact a misfire by the Palestinian Islamic jihad and that a call has been recorded in which Hamas operatives acknowledge as much Israeli Channel 12 caught the exact moment that rocket launched from inside Gaza hitting the hospital yet the terror groups immediately blamed Israel as did many Arab nations Biden saying earlier he has been shown footage and it appears that blast quote may have been paused by quote the other team also a short while ago reports that he said that he has had info from the Pentagon supporting what Israel is saying in terms of that strike it was in fact at the hands of Palestinian Islamic jihad something we will unpack a little bit later on in this broadcast and obviously when the president does speak from Tel Aviv we will take you there live right now though we go to the south our correspondent Ariel Osaran is in Storot Ariel what update can you share this hour as we wait to hear the closing remarks from President Joe Biden at the end of this Blitz historic trip Right Benita so over the past hour there have not been any sirens sounded in the community surrounding the Gaza Strip or here in Storot all the while though we've been hearing as Israeli Air Force jets whether they're attack jets or fighter jets or surveillance drones flying overhead all the while now as as the days progress from last Saturday more and more details but also more and more bodies have been identified and Israeli police releasing a statement just a short while ago announcing that 732 bodies of civilians have been identified so far that consists 80% of all the dead civilians since last Saturday and of them just over 600 have already been buried and so earlier this week we reported on the around the clock efforts by Israeli forensic officials to try and identify as many of the bodies so now we're getting the latest update 732 Israelis dead Israelis have been identified since last week but obviously they're that they're still 20% of dead Israelis that have not yet been identified and their families are still waiting for final confirmation as to what happened to their loved ones difficult to imagine what those families are going through something no doubt President Joe Biden will address when he does make his closing remarks until after that for now thank you very much to our correspondent Ariel Osaran live from Storot now in Studio we're joined by correspondent Guy Azrael and our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Ultiman so many developments unfolding at the same time thank you both for being here Owen you have been tracking developments throughout the day since touchdown Air Force One arriving at Ben Gurion International Airport we saw that embrace between Benjamin Netanyahu and Joe Biden and as well with the president Isaac Herzog talk us through the optics of this day as we wait to hear the closing remarks from the president the US president here in Tel Aviv on day 12 of a war right and those closing remarks are going to be very important Benita and we're going to be looking there for the substance but to start actually where you started and I think you're right with the optics and with the symbolism look the emotional peak came at the start the emotional peak came at the start we saw the video I think just a few moments ago of Joe Biden walking down those steps embracing Prime Minister Netanyahu also President Isaac Herzog there as well that's the picture that was important for the president to get out to the world that he is here that as Prime Minister Netanyahu said the only thing better than standing with Israel is standing in Israel because the physical presence in all that involves sends an invaluable message and a message that that can't be replicated by any other means to the Israeli public to the rest of the region to Israel's enemies and to America's allies around the world which I think is no less important and I think front in front of mind for the U.S. president this is certainly beyond the geopolitics this is obviously and we've seen this over the past 12 days this is an issue he feels this is an issue he feels we saw that of course with his speeches in the opening days of the war with his emotions on the tarmac with the families of the hostages and those who have been killed and throughout the course of this visit as well he has had some better performances speaking and some worse over the course today we're about to see his closing remarks which are going to be especially important as for the substance too I believe the president is coming to the podium President Joe Biden let's take a listen live from Tel Aviv single message you're not alone you are not alone as long as you're forever we'll not let you ever be alone most importantly I know the recent terrorist assault on the people of this nation has left a deep deep wound more than 1,300 innocent Israelis killed including at least 31 American citizens by the terrorist group Hamas hundreds hundreds of young people at a music festival the festival was for peace for peace gun down as they ran for their lives scores of innocence from infants to elderly grandparents Israelis and Americans taken hostage children slaughtered babies slaughtered entire families massacred rape beheadings bodies burned alive Hamas committed atrocities that recall the worst ravages of ISIS unleashing pure unadulterated evil upon the world there's no rationalizing it no excusing it period the brutality we saw would have cut deep anywhere in the world but it cuts deeper here in Israel October 7th which was sacred to a sacred Jewish holiday became the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust it was brought to the surface painful memories and scars let by millennium anti-Semitism and the genocide of the Jewish people the world watched then it knew and the world did nothing we will not stand by and do nothing again not today not tomorrow not ever to those who are living in limbo waiting desperately to learn the fate of a loved one especially to families of the hostages you're not alone we're working with partners throughout the region pursuing every avenue to bring home those who are being helped captive by Hamas I can't speak publicly about all the details but let me assure you for me as the American president there's no higher priority than the release and safe return of all these hostages to those who are grieving a child a parent a spouse a sibling a friend I know you feel like there's that black hole in the middle of your chest you feel like you're being sucked into it the survivors remorse the anger the questions of faith in your soul starting at staring at that empty chair sitting in Shiva the first Sabbath without them they're the everyday things and small things that you miss the most the scent when you open the closet door the morning coffee you share together the bend of a smile the perfect picture of a laugh the giggle every little boy the baby for those who have lost loved ones this is what I know they'll never be truly gone there's something that's never fully lost your love for them and their love for you and I promise you we'll be walking along some days and say what would she or he want me to do you smile when you pass a place that reminds you of them that's when you know when a smile comes to your lips before a tear to your eye that's when you know you're gonna fully make it that's what will give you the fortitude to find light in the darkest hours and when terrorists believe they could bring down bring you down bend your will break your resolve but they never did and they never will instead we saw incredible stories of heroism and courage the Israelis taking care of one another neighbors forming watch groups protect their kibbutz opening their homes to shelter survivors retired soldiers running into danger once again civilian medics flying across rescue flying rescue missions and off duty medics at the music festival caring for the wounded before coming victim before becoming a victim himself volunteers retrieving bodies of the dead so families could bury their loved ones in accordance with Jewish tradition reservists leaving behind their families their honeymoon their studies abroad without hesitation and so much more the state of Israel was born to be a safe place for the Jewish people of the world that's why I was born the long said if Israel didn't exist we'd have to invent it while it may not feel that way today Israel must again be a safe place for the Jewish people and I promise you we're going to do everything on our power to make sure there will be 75 years ago just 11 minutes after its founding President Harry S. Truman and the United States of America became the first nation to recognize Israel we stood by your side ever since we're going to stand by your side now my administration was in close touch with your leadership from the first moment to this attack we're going to make sure we have what you have what you need to protect your people to defend your nation for decades we've ensured Israel's qualitative military edge and later this week I'm going to ask the United States Congress for unprecedented support package for Israel's defense we're going to keep iron dome fully supplied so we can continue standing sentinel over Israeli skies saving Israeli lives we've moved U.S. military assets to the region including positioning the USS Ford carrier strike group in Eastern Mediterranean with the USS Eisenhower on the way to deter to defer further aggression against Israel and to prevent this conflict from spreading the world will know that Israel is Israel is stronger than ever and my message to any state or any other hostile actor thinking about attacking Israel means the same as it was a week ago don't don't don't since this terrorist terrorist attack took place we've seen it described as Israel's 9-11 but for a nation the size of Israel was like 15 9-11's the scale may be different but I'm sure those horrors have tapped into so some kind of primal feeling in Israel just like it didn't felt in the United States shock pain rage an all consuming rage I understand and many Americans understand you can't look at what has happened here to your mothers your fathers your grandparents sons daughters children even babies and not scream out for justice justice must be done but I caution this while you feel that rage don't be consumed by it after 9-11 we were in rage in the United States while we saw justice and God justice we also made mistakes I'm the first dress president to visit Israel in time of war I've made wartime decisions I know the choices are never clear or easy for the leadership there's always cost but it requires being deliberate it requires asking very hard questions it requires clarity about the objectives and an honest assessment about whether the path you're on will achieve those objectives the vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people Hamas uses innocent families in Gaza as human shields putting their command centers their weapons their communications tunnels in residential areas Palestinian people are suffering greatly as well we mourn the loss of innocent Palestinian lives like the entire world I was outraged and saddened by the enormous loss of life yesterday in the hospital in Gaza based on the information we've seen today that it appears as a result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza the United States unequivocally stands for the protection of civilian life during conflict and I grieve I truly grieve for the families who were killed or wounded by this tragedy and the people of Gaza need food water medicine, shelter I asked the Israeli cabinet who I met with for some time this morning to agree to the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza based on the understanding that there will be inspections and that the age should go to civilians not to Hamas is to agree the humanitarian assistance can begin to move from Egypt to Gaza but let me be clear and if Hamas diverts or steals the assistance they will have demonstrated once again that they have no concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people and on one end as a practical matter it will stop the international community from being able to provide this aid we're working in close cooperation with the Governor of Egypt the United Nations and its agencies like the World Program and other partners in the region to get trucks moving across the border as soon as possible separately I ask Israel that the global community demand that the international Red Cross be able to visit hostages I just demanded that the United States fully adjust demand that the United States fully supports today I'm also announcing 100 million dollars of new U.S. funding for humanitarian assistance in both Gaza and the West Bank this money will support more than one million displaced and conflict affected Palestinians including emergency needs in Gaza you are a Jewish state you are a Jewish state but you're also a democracy and like the United States you don't live by the rules of terrorist you live by the rule of law and when conflicts flare you live by the rule law of wars what sets us apart from the terrorist is we believe in the fundamental dignity of every human life Israeli Palestinian Arab Jew Muslim Christian everyone it can't give up what makes you who you are if you give that up then the terrorists win and we can never let them win you know Israel is a miracle a triumph of faith and resolve and resilience over impossible pain and loss think about October 7th the Jewish holiday when you read about the death of Moses a tragic story of a profound loss to an entire nation a death that could have left helpless hopelessness in the hearts of an entire nation but though Moses died his memory, his messages, his lessons have lived on for generations of the Jewish people as well as many others and just as the memory of your loved ones will live on as well after reading the story of Moses' death those who observed the holiday began reading the Torah from the very beginning a story of creation reminds us of two things first that when we get knocked down we get back up again and we begin anew and second and when we're faced with tragedy and loss we must go back to the beginning and remember who we are we are all human beings creating an image of God with dignity humanity and purpose in the darkness to be the light unto the world is what we're about you inspire hope and light for so many around the world that's what the terrorists seek to destroy that's what they seek to destroy because they live in darkness but not you not Israel nations of conscience like the United States and Israel are not measured solely by the example or power and we're measured by the power of our example and that's why as hard as it is we must keep pursuing peace must keep pursuing a path so that Israel and the Palestinian people can both live safely in security and dignity and in peace for me that means a two-state solution must keep working for Israel's greater integration with its neighbors these attacks have only strengthened my commitment and determination and my will to get that done I'm here to tell you the terrorist will not win freedom will win so let me end where I began Israel you're not alone the United States stands with you I've told the story before and I'll tell it again of my first meeting with an Israeli Prime Minister 50 years ago as a young senator I was sitting across from Golda Meir at her desk in her office and she had a guy named a guy who later became Prime Minister sitting next to me just before the 1973 Yom Kippur War and she flipped the maps up and down telling me how bad things were and how terrible they were all of a sudden she looked at me she said would you like a photograph I looked at her she got up from her desk and walked out into that hallway I think it's marble flooring walked out in the hallway and walked out in there a bunch of photographers standing in front of us we're standing shoulder to shoulder without her looking at me she said to me knowing I'd hear her why do you look so worried Senator Biden and I said worried like of course I'm worried and she looked at me and she didn't look she said we don't worry Senator we Israelis have a secret weapon we have nowhere else to go but today I say to all of Israel the United States isn't going anywhere either we're going to stand with you we'll walk beside you in those dark days and we'll walk beside you in the good days to come and they will come as you say in Hebrew which I'm not going to attempt to just do because I'm such a terrible linguist I'll say in English the people of Israel live the people of Israel live Israel will be safe, secure, Jewish, and democratic state today tomorrow forever and God protect all those who work for peace God save those who are still in harm's way thank you very much US President Joe Biden delivering a strong passionate message right now live in Tel Aviv telling the people of Israel you are not alone saying in English the people of Israel live the Hebrew words would be I'm Israel Chai the US President speaking after his discussions with Israel's newly formed war cabinet in Tel Aviv and he had a strong message saying Israel must again be a safe place for the Jewish people you are looking at images on your screen from earlier on in the day as he arrived as Air Force One touched down and he embraced the Prime Minister and the President to unpack what we just heard I'm joined in studio still by our correspondents Owen Ultiman and Guy Israel so Guy let's start with you a strong message coming from the US President lots to unpack but let's start with that main message and again he said any hostile actor thinking of getting involved don't this is the message that really reassures a lot of Israeli citizens today such a strong message from Israel's greatest ally which just happens also to be the world's greatest power so no better entity to have by your side other than the US and in your soil on Israeli soil President Joe Biden no stronger message than that a lot in that speech by Biden speaking among other things about humanitarian aid to Gaza saying that he discussed this with Israeli officials in this cabinet and we did hear from an Israeli official just a short while ago just moments before Biden took to the podium saying that Israel refuses any humanitarian aid to Gaza from its territory we know that aid will come out of Egypt and saying also in light of the American demand Israel discussed with the US on alternatives that would only guarantee minimal supply of food medicine and water to ensure life as long as this supply does not reach Hamas Israel says it refuses humanitarian aid until the kidnapped are not returned also vowing unprecedented aid to Israel replenishing iron dome batteries it's a good thing that he is delivering the message quote you are not alone because as he ended those remarks siren sounding in the Gaza border communities once again Owen Ultiman the compassion the empathy of Joe Biden was clear to see your takeaways wonderful performance another wonderful performance by this by this US president and it again at a poignant moment obviously did a covering ground he'd already covered including of course the Golden Ears story at the end not the first time maybe a bit of a like the grandpa always tells the joke because he likes the punchline so much and the whole family but at any rate look another wonderful performance showing emotion showing empathy connecting to the Jewish tradition which I think is so important to so many people in this country connecting to the American tradition connecting to his own personal history of loss so many of us have experienced loss in our own families and we can connect to that a message to the families directly affected all of that there those are the things we had also seen of course a stronger emphasis here on if you will the but on the other side on the issue of the civilians in Gaza the humanitarian situation and there yes as Guy said there seems to be a deal here and the Israel is not official Israel hasn't acknowledged it we have a senior Israeli official going on background and just about acknowledging it Israel saying no no humanitarian need but yes to life sustaining humanitarian need as long as it's not used by Hamas that's consistent with but Joe Biden said look the reality is this was had this had to happen sooner or later Israel is not going to want to or be able to allow two million Gazans to serve medicine this is the pill that Israel had to swallow Guy Israel Owen Altman thank you both for being part of this breaking news edition if you're just joining us now that quote again from Joe Biden remembering his discussion with Golden Mayer when she said we Jews have a secret weapon we have nowhere else to go this is breaking news edition I'm Benita Levine stay tuned Israel is at war make an investment in Israel bonds it is the most powerful and direct way to stand with Israel visit israelbonds.com and invest now 1500 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24 news the news edition I'm Benita Levine coming to you live from Tel Aviv on an historic day at an historic time US President Joe Biden is about to deliver remarks from Tel Aviv from net podium on your screen after he's held discussions with Israel's newly formed war cabinet just a short while ago Air Force One touching down on Wednesday morning on day 12 of the war this is the moment the American leader and Israeli Prime Minister hugged on the tarmac at Ben-Gurion International Airport a similar embrace for the President an historic show of solidarity during war time Benjamin Netanyahu thanking him for the unprecedented US support later the US leader met with families whose relatives are still being held captive by the Hamas terror group inside Gaza the US has already dispatched two aircraft carrier groups to the region the death toll from the Hamas killing rampage in southern parts of Israel on Saturday the 7th of October is at more than 1400 in response the IDF continuing to target Hamas sites in Gaza earlier in the day the IDF providing evidence that the overnight blast at a hospital inside Gaza was in fact a misfire by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and that a call has been recorded in which Hamas operatives acknowledge as much Israeli Channel 12 caught the exact moment that rocket launched from inside Gaza hitting the hospital yet the terror groups immediately blamed Israel as did many Arab nations Biden saying earlier he has been shown footage and it appears that blast quote may have been paused by quote the other team also a short while ago reports that he said that he has had info from the Pentagon supporting what Israel is saying in terms of that strike it was in fact at the hands of Palestinian Islamic Jihad something we will unpack a little bit later on in this broadcast and obviously when the president does speak from Tel Aviv we will take you there live right now though we go to the south our correspondent Ariel Osaran is in Storot Ariel what update can you share this hour as we wait to hear the closing remarks from President Joe Biden at the end of this Blitz historic trip Right Benita so over the past hour there have not been any sirens sounded in the community surrounding the Gaza Strip or here in Storot all the while though we've been hearing as Israeli Air Force jets whether they're attack jets or fighter jets or surveillance drones flying overhead all the while now as the days progress from last Saturday more and more details but also more and more bodies have been identified and Israeli police releasing a statement just a short while ago announcing that 732 bodies of civilians have been identified so far that consists 80 percent of all the dead civilians since last Saturday and of them just over 600 have already been buried and so earlier this week we reported on the around the clock efforts by Israeli forensic officials to try and identify as many of the bodies so now we're getting the latest update 732 Israelis dead Israelis have been identified since last week but obviously they're that they're still 20 percent of dead Israelis that have not yet been identified and their families are still waiting for final confirmation as to what happened to their loved ones difficult to imagine what those families are going through something no doubt President Joe Biden will address when he does make his closing remarks until at the end for now thank you very much to our correspondent Ariel Oceran live from Storot now in studio we're joined by correspondent Guy Azrael and our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Altman so many developments unfolding at the same time thank you both for being here Owen you have been tracking developments throughout the day since touchdown Air Force One arriving at Ben Gurion International Airport we saw that embrace between Benjamin Netanyahu and Joe Biden and as well with the president Isaac Herzog talk us through the optics of this day as we wait to hear the closing remarks from the president the US president here in Tel Aviv on day 12 of a war right and those closing remarks are going to be very important Benita and we're going to be looking there for the substance but to start actually where you started and I think you're right with the optics and with the symbolism look the emotional peak came at the start the emotional peak came at the start we saw the video I think just a few moments ago of Joe Biden walking down those steps embracing Prime Minister Netanyahu also President Isaac Herzog there as well that's the picture that was important for the president to get out to the world that he is here that as Prime Minister Netanyahu said the only thing better than standing with Israel is standing in Israel because the physical presence in all that that involves sends an invaluable message and a message that that can't be replicated by any other means to the Israeli public to the rest of the region to Israel's enemies and to America's allies around the world which I think is no less important than I think front and front of mind for the US president this is certainly beyond the geopolitics this is obviously and we've seen this over the past 12 days this is an issue he feels this is an issue he feels we saw that of course with his speeches in the opening days of the war with his emotions on the tarmac with the families of the hostages and those who have been killed and throughout the course of this visit as well he has had some better performances speaking and some worse over the course today we're about to see his closing remarks which are going to be especially important as for the substance too I believe the president is coming to the podium President Joe Biden let's take a listen live from Tel Aviv single message you're not alone you're not alone as long as you're forever will not let you ever be alone most importantly the uh I know the recent terrorist assault on the people of this nation has left a deep deep wound more than 1,300 innocent Israelis killed including at least 31 American citizens by the terrorist group of Moss hundreds hundreds of young people at a music festival the festival was for peace for peace gun down as they ran for their lives scores of innocents from infants to elderly grandparents Israelis and Americans taken hostage children slaughtered babies slaughtered an entire family's massacre rape beheadings bodies burned alive a mosque committed atrocities that recall the worst ravages of ISIS unleashing pure unadulterated evil upon the world there's no rationalizing it no excusing it period the brutality we saw would have cut deep anywhere in the world but it cuts deeper here in Israel October 7th which was sacred to a sacred Jewish holiday became the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust it is brought to the surface painful memories and scars left by millennium anti-Semitism and the genocide of the Jewish people the world watched then it knew and the world did nothing we will not stand by and do nothing again not today not tomorrow not ever to those who are living in limbo waiting desperately to learn the fate of a loved one especially to families of the hostages you're not alone we're working with partners throughout the region pursuing every avenue to bring home those who are being helped captive by Hamas I can't speak publicly about all the details but let me assure you for me as the American president there's no higher priority than the release and safe return of all these hostages for those who are grieving a child a parent a spouse a sibling a friend I know if you feel like there's a black hole in the middle of your chest you feel like you're being sucked into it the survivors remorse the anger the questions of faith in your soul starting there staring at that empty chair sitting in Shiva the first Sabbath without them there are the everyday things and small things that you miss the most the scent when you open the closet door the morning coffee you share together the bend of a smile the perfect picture of a laugh the giggle every little boy the baby for those who have lost loved ones this is what I know they'll never be truly gone there's something that's never fully lost your love for them and their love for you and I promise you you'll be walking along some day to say what would she or he want me to do you smile when you pass a place that reminds you of them that's when you know when a smile comes to your lips before a tear to your eye that's when you know you're going to fully make it that's what will give you the fortitude to find light in the darkest hours and when terrorists believe they could bring down bring you down bend your will break your resolve but they never did and they never will instead we saw incredible stories of heroism and courage most rarely taking care of one another neighbors forming watch groups protect their kibbutz opening their homes to shelter survivors retired soldiers running into danger once again civilian medics flying across rescue flying rescue missions and off-duty medics at the music festival caring for the wounded before coming victim before becoming a victim himself volunteers retrieving bodies of the dead so families could bury their loved ones in accordance with Jewish tradition reservists leaving behind their families their honeymoons their studies abroad without hesitation and so much more the state of Israel is born to be a safe place for the Jewish people of the world that's why I was born the long said if Israel didn't exist we'd have to invent it while it may not feel that way today Israel must again be a safe place for the Jewish people and I promise you we're going to do everything on our power to make sure there will be 75 years ago just 11 minutes after it's founded President Harry S. Truman and the United States of America became the first nation to recognize Israel we've stood by your side ever since we're going to stand by your side now my administration was in close touch with their leadership in the first moments of this attack we're going to make sure we have what you have what you need to protect your people to defend your nation for decades we've ensured Israel's qualitative military edge and later this week I'm going to ask the United States Congress for unprecedented support package for Israel's defense we're going to keep Iron Dome fully supplied so we can continue standing sentinel over Israeli skies saving Israeli lives we've moved U.S. military assets to the region including positioning the USS Ford carrier strike group in the Eastern Mediterranean with the USS Eisenhower on the way to deter to defer further aggression against Israel and to prevent this conflict from spreading the world will know that Israel is Israel is stronger than ever and my message to any state or any other hostile actor thinking about attacking Israel means the same as it was a week ago don't don't don't since this terrorist attack terrorist attack took place we've seen it described as Israel's 9-11 but for a nation the size of Israel was like 15 9-11s the scale may be different but I'm sure those horrors have tapped into so some kind of primal feeling in Israel just like it didn't felt in the United States shock pain rage an all-consuming rage I understand and many Americans understand you can't look at what has happened here to your mothers your fathers your grandparents sons daughters children even babies and not scream out for justice justice must be done but I caution this while you feel that rage don't be consumed by it after 9-11 we were in rage in the United States while we saw justice and God justice we also made mistakes I'm the first year as president to visit Israel in time of war I've made wartime decisions I know the choices are never clear or easy for the leadership there's always cost but it requires being deliberate it requires asking very hard questions it requires clarity about the objectives and an honest assessment about whether the path you're on will achieve those objectives the vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people Hamas uses innocence innocent families in Gaza as human shields putting their command centers their weapons their communications tunnels in residential areas Palestinian people are suffering greatly as well we mourn the loss of innocent Palestinian lives like the entire world I was outraged and saddened by the enormous loss of life yesterday in the hospital in Gaza based on the information we've seen to date it appears a result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza the United States unisquivocally stands for the protection of civilian life during conflict and I grieve I truly grieve for the families who were killed or wounded by this tragedy and the people of Gaza need food water medicine, shelter today I asked the Israeli cabinet I met with for some time this morning to agree to the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza based on the understanding that there will be inspections that the age and go to civilians not to Hamas is to agree the humanitarian assistance can begin to move from Egypt to Gaza let me be clear and if Hamas diverts or steals the assistance they will have demonstrated once again that they have no concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people and it will end as a practical matter it will stop the international community from being able to provide this aid we're working in close cooperation with the government of Egypt the United Nations and its agencies like the World Program and other partners in the region to get trucks moving across the border as soon as possible separately I ask Israel that the global community demand that the international Red Cross be able to visit hostages I just demanded that the United States fully adjust demand that the United States fully supports today I'm also announcing $100 million of new U.S. funding for humanitarian assistance in both Gaza and the West Bank this money will support more than 1 million displaced in conflict-affected Palestinians including emergency needs in Gaza you are a Jewish state you are a Jewish state but you're also a democracy and like the United States you don't live by the rules of terrorist you live by the rule of law and when conflicts flare you live by the rule law of wars what sets us apart from the terrorists as we believe in the fundamental dignity of every human life Israeli, Palestinian, Arab, Jew, Muslim, Christian, everyone they can't give up what makes you who you are if you give that up then the terrorists win and we can never let them win you know Israel is a miracle a triumph of faith and resolve and resilience over impossible pain and loss think about October 7th, the Jewish holiday when you read about the death of Moses a tragic story of a profound loss to an entire nation a death that could have left helplessness in the hearts of the entire nation but though Moses died his memory, his message, his lessons have lived on for generations of the Jewish people as well as many others and just as the memory of your loved ones will live on as well after reading the story of Moses' death those who observed the holiday began reading the Torah from the very beginning the story of creation reminds us of two things first, when we get knocked down we get back up again and we begin anew and second, when we're faced with tragedy and loss we must go back to the beginning to remember who we are we are all human beings creating an image of God with dignity, humanity and purpose in the darkness to be the light unto the world is what we're about you inspire hope and light for so many around the world that's what the terrorists seek to destroy that's what they seek to destroy because they live in darkness but not you not Israel nations of conscience like the United States and Israel are not measured solely by the example or power and we're measured by the power of our example and that's why as hard as it is we must keep pursuing peace must keep pursuing a path so that Israel and the Palestinian people can both live safely in security and dignity and in peace for me that means a two-state solution must keep working for Israel's greater integration with its neighbors these attacks only strengthen my commitment and determination and my will to get that done I'm here to tell you the terrorist will not win freedom will win so let me end where I began Israel you're not alone the United States stands with you I told the story before and I'll tell it again of my first meeting with an Israeli Prime Minister 50 years ago as a young senator I was sitting across from Golda Meir at her desk in her office and she had a guy named a guy who later became Prime Minister sitting next to me just before the 1973 Yom Kippur War and she flipped the maps up and down telling me how bad things were and how terrible they were all of a sudden she looked at me she said would you like a photograph I looked at her she got up from her desk and walked out into that hallway I think it's marble flooring walked out of the hallway and walked down there a bunch of photographers standing in front of us were standing shoulder to shoulder without her looking at me she said to me knowing I'd hear her why do you look so worried senator biden and I said worried like of course I'm worried and she looked at me and she didn't look she said we don't worry senator we Israelis have a secret weapon we have nowhere else to go but today I say to all of Israel the United States isn't going anywhere either we're going to stand with you we'll walk beside you in those dark days and we'll walk beside you in the good days to come and they will come as you say in Hebrew which I'm not going to attempt to do because I'm such a terrible linguist I'll say in English the people of Israel live the people of Israel live Israel will be safe, secure, Jewish and democratic state today, tomorrow, forever and God protect all those who work for peace God save those who are still in harm's way thank you very much US President Joe Biden delivering a strong passionate message right now live in Tel Aviv telling the people of Israel you are not alone saying in English the people of Israel live the Hebrew words would be I'm Israel Chai the US President speaking after his discussions with Israel's newly formed war cabinet in Tel Aviv and he had a strong message saying Israel must again be a safe place for the Jewish people you were looking at images on your screen from earlier on in the day as he arrived as Air Force One touched down and he embraced the Prime Minister and the President to unpack what we just heard I'm joined in studio still by our correspondents Owen Ultiman and Guy Israel so Guy let's start with you a strong message coming from the US President lots to unpack but let's start with that main message and again he said any hostile actor thinking of getting involved don't this is the message that really reassures a lot of Israeli citizens today such a strong message from Israel's greatest ally who just happens also to be the world's greatest power so no better entity to have by your side other than the US and in your soil on Israeli soil President Joe Biden no stronger message than that a lot in that speech by Biden speaking among other things about humanitarian aid to Gaza saying that he discussed this with Israeli officials in this cabinet and we did hear from an Israeli official just a short while ago just moments before Biden took to the podium saying that Israel refuses any humanitarian aid to Gaza from its territory we know that aid will come out of Egypt and saying also in light of the American demand Israel discussed with the US on alternatives that would only guarantee minimal supply of food medicine and water to ensure life as long as this supply does not reach Hamas Israel says it refuses humanitarian aid until the kidnapped are not returned also vowing unprecedented aid to Israel replenishing iron dome batteries it's a good thing that he is delivering the message quote you are not alone because as he ended those remarks siren sounding in the Gaza border communities once again Owen Ultiman the compassion the empathy of Joe Biden was clear to see your takeaways wonderful performance another wonderful performance by this by this US president and again at a poignant moment obviously did a covering ground he had already covered including of course the golden ear story at the end not the first time a bit of a leg like the grandpa who always tells the joke because he likes the punchline so much and the whole family but at any rate look another wonderful performance showing emotion showing empathy connecting to the Jewish tradition which I think is so important to so many people in this country connecting to the American tradition connecting to his own personal history of loss so many of us have experienced loss in our own families and we can connect to that a message to the families directly affected all of that there those are the things we had also seen of course a stronger emphasis here on if you will the but on the other side on the issue of the civilians in Gaza the humanitarian situation and there yes as Guy said there seems to be a deal here and Israel is not official Israel hasn't acknowledged it we have a senior Israeli official going on background and just about acknowledging it Israel saying no no humanitarian need but yes to life sustaining humanitarian need as long as it's not used by Hamas that's consistent with but Joe Biden said look the reality is this was this had to happen sooner or later Israel is not going to want to or be able to allow two million Gazans to start medicine this is the pill that Israel had to swallow Guy Israel Owen Altman thank you both for being part of this breaking news edition if you're just joining us now that quote again from Joe Biden remembering his discussion with Golden Mayer when she said we joys Jews have a secret weapon we have nowhere else to go this is breaking news edition I'm Vanessa Levine stay tuned El 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 but then a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped help us we don't want 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 because we go subsea and we utilize the hydrostatic pressure the weight or the water above your head we are able to save energy come on from Tel Aviv on this day 12 of Israel's war with Hamas speaking from Tel Aviv just a short while ago the US President Joe Biden told Israelis they were not alone and that Israel must once again be a safe place for the Jewish people to sit I come to Israel with a single message you're not alone you're not alone as long as the United States stands and we will stand forever will not let you ever be alone we'll walk beside you in those dark days and we'll walk beside you in the good days to come and they will come as you say in Hebrew which I'm not going to attempt to do because I'm such a terrible linguist I'll say in English the people of Israel live the people of Israel live Israel will be safe, secure, Jewish and democratic state today tomorrow and forever well the president was speaking shortly after taking part in the cabinet war meeting along with Israeli leaders he also spoke about the explosion at the hospital in Gaza City last night take a listen we mourn the loss of innocent Palestinian lives like the entire world I was outraged and saddened by the enormous loss of life yesterday in the hospital in Gaza based on the information we've seen to date it appears a result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza the United States unequivocally stands for the protection of civilian life during conflict and I grieve I truly grieve for the families who were killed or wounded by this tragedy and throughout the day the IDF has been releasing visual and audio evidence to prove that it was not behind the explosion at that hospital in Gaza City we'll have more on that in a moment first though let's go to our correspondent Balesh Ladin who is in Tel Aviv where that statement took place a short while ago Balesh strong support for Israel from the president of the United States and also a pledge to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza yes well we heard that the president is actually leaving right now we heard all the cars that he are coming with him and he's on his way to Ben-Gurion airport after that statement that you said that he actually said that he supports Israel he stands beside Israel but also other things that he heard from him now the prime minister's office can confirm what Biden said about the humanitarian assistance to Gaza the prime minister's office talks about letting the humanitarian aid food and water come from the Egyptian border only to the civilians in Gaza that's of course after what Biden said about giving 100 million dollars to the Palestinian civilians in Gaza alongside of course a military package huge one as he said from the congress he will ask for it for the Israeli side Biden in his speech compared what happened on the 7th of October to 9-11 he even said that it's 15 times 9-11 so that shows of course the support but on the other hand it shows that Biden actually said that we made mistakes after 9-11 maybe he intends to talk about the war in Iraq maybe he intends to talk about the 20 years of war in Afghanistan that he actually of course wasn't in support of and stopped the war in Afghanistan so he doesn't want Israel to do the same in Gaza with the revenge with the anger that is inside the Israeli people he wants to make sure that Israel responds to this decisively against Hamas against what he calls the tourist organizations there but not against civilians he doesn't want him as a president to be supportive of a country that actually at some points many pictures of civilians being killed just like what we saw yesterday are out in the world that doesn't look good for him that doesn't look good for him of course politically in the course of this election year so the president is here for that humanitarian aid and again the statement constains what all the Israelis wanted to hear a huge don't to Hezbollah and Iran on the border do not intervene in this conflict Valir, thank you very much, Valir Saladin there well throughout the day Israel has been releasing evidence to prove it was not responsible for a blast at the Ali hospital in Gaza last night in which dozens of possibly hundreds of civilians were killed the figures cannot be confirmed a misfire Palestinian Islamic jihad rocket was the cause the IDF said here's our Robert Swift resume a blast at the Ghazan hospital on Tuesday night was quickly labeled by Hamas as the work of Israel but by the following morning Israel's military responded declassifying intelligence to share with international news outlets intelligence from few sources that we have in our hands indicates that the Islamic jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in Gaza it's not uncommon for Gaza's homemade artillery to misfire with the rocket that reportedly struck al-Hali hospital being just the most deadly example Israel says signals intelligence intercepted from a phone conversation between two Hamas operatives shortly after the blast was released as further evidence in the middle of that additionally the army said that the destruction caused at the hospital was inconsistent with an airstrike lacking an impact crater or structural damage to the buildings extensive burn damage was likely caused by the rocket's fuel which had been intended for a much longer flight Israeli media has rallied around the explanation but in the eyes of some western and Arabic media Israel has a credibility problem and information from its hands is suspect particularly after Israel's handling of the fatal shooting of the journalist Shirin Abu-Akhle last year but one key actor that Israel needed to convince buys the evidence presented and based on what I've seen it appears as though it was done by the other team not you but there's a lot of people out there not sure having been shocked into silence in the opening hours of Hamas' attack last week the IDF is eager to regain the initiative in the information war well to talk about all of that I'm joined in the studio by Colonel Grisha Yekhovich former head of the civilian department of Kogat in the IDF and our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Altiman as well welcome to you both Grisha your initial interpretations of those comments by the US president a short while ago well it's an amazing support it's a statement it's not that we are only standing the fleet it's number one okay is here and I think that we feel as the state of Israel that we are backed by the strongest state in the world it's amazing what about what he had to say about delivering aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza how can the United States or any other power ensure that that aid goes to civilians and not to Hamas nobody can ensure something like that I've been there I did it in the past and only two days ago Hamas stole diesel and food from UNR warehouses so nobody nobody can really make sure that only the people will get it I understand the pressure I understand the needs and it's also served the operational approach that if we are asking the IDF is asking the people to move to the southern part to the Mawasi area what used to be Gush Katif in the past so an aid will not come from Israel like we did in the past from Erez or from Kerem Sharam it will come probably from Egypt it means the Egyptians will open the crossing because they close it with concrete so some of the aid will enter there and international community officials that are in Gaza will have to make sure that the people will have it and it will also encourage the people who are left in Gaza maybe to leave the north and to move south Owen a strong message of support it couldn't have been stronger could it 15 September the 11th evoking the Holocaust expressing his sheer horror what happened on October 7th but he did also seem to be telling Israel you know be cautious don't make mistakes like we did after September 11th that's right there were two parts of the speech you weren't there right the first part full of empathy and commitment to Israel and to its cause and to its people talking speaking really directly to bereaved families and families of hostages of course he met with families just a short time before he gave that speech Laura weaving into Jewish tradition American history his own personal history of loss from his own family so all of that was there this is the Biden we've come to know in the last 12 days isn't it from his past speeches but you're right there was the second part of the speech and more of an emphasis here than in his previous speeches and of course speaking to the humanitarian situation in Gaza as well into the lessons of America's post-September 11th response by the way I personally and if we have time over the course of the evening here in Israel we can speak to this I don't think that the analogy or the comparison of America's strategy and mistakes if you will after September 11th are really comparable or applicable if you will to Israel's situation now be that all as it may the humanitarian situation look as a matter of reality okay putting aside the ethical issues the legal issues as a matter of reality it was never realistic for Israel to starve 2 million people in Gaza and if you don't allow food and water and medicine for that matter in that is going to be the result not a realistic policy for Israel as I explained on Twitter you know Laura when the apple fell from the tree it didn't levitate in the air it fell on Isaac Newton's head and in that sense reminds me what I said about the judicial overhaul over the course of the year up until the war never a realistic policy it was always going to come to this where at least life-sustaining aid was going to have to go into the strip but again Joe Biden says he wants to make sure that that aid does not make its way into the hands of Hamas we saw Unra tweeting earlier this week that armed men had stolen food and medical supplies what is to stop that happening again how can Israel resolve this dilemma nothing's to stop it from happening again but that's not Israel's responsibility Israel is not responsible if Hamas goes and steals 36,000 liters of diesel or whatever it was or steals the food Israel's response I don't know if it's Israel's responsibility that's a delicate word but Israel's de facto responsibility let's put it that way is allowing the aid to go in from Egypt that's Israel's de facto responsibility aid that is life-sustaining I'm not talking about commercial goods or things that are not life-sustaining that's clearly carved out by the Israeli cabinet there is discretion on that I suspect but Israel simply cannot allow 2 million people to be starved never a realistic policy so it was always going to get to this result it got to this result during the visit of the U.S. President which has some diplomatic significance for the relationship between Israel and the United States there are many perils for people living in Gaza of course many if not most of them not of Israel's making including the fact that Hamas could well steal the food and the medicine for its own needs and leave its people to starve of course that's a possibility but Israel can't be seen either by the outside world or for that matter by itself as taking part in an episode of mass starvation which is what would happen if food and water aren't brought into the strip so this was a necessary even automatic consequence and as you were saying with Grisha it also in a way may fit into Israel's broader strategy of the war in a different sense as well Grisha and what do you think of that do you think that Israel will now soon allow humanitarian aid into Gaza is Egypt on board with that Egypt has said it will allow humanitarian aid and it will not accept any refugees we need to look at the bigger picture so first of all I disagree to the definition that Israel starts this is Hamas who starved the people Hamas were the ones who started this slaughter this raid and killed innocent people Hamas understood what are the consequences to that and they are the sovereign entity in Gaza and it's their responsibility so if people in Gaza have no food no diesel no water no nothing first of all it's their blame and it's their responsibility we need to be clear about it now I don't expect them to work according to international law or it's over western values like we do so automatically the demand is from Israel because we are the ones that are more let's say valued as a society so yes it will be unlogic to allow aid to come from Israel not from Erez not from Kerem Shalom it's logic also for the bigger picture to release a little bit pressure from Egypt because a CC declared and said no Gazans will enter to Egypt now it's an Arab country okay this is one of the biggest greatest Arab countries in the Middle East so he said no to the Palestinians the Abdullah the king of Jordan also said no to the Palestinians not because they fear that they won't be allowed to return there's a fear that they will be permanently displaced that's the fear that's being expressed there's no fear to that because the only way in and out from Gaza for years is from through Egypt so there's no fear okay it's a statement and it's a little bit to release also the pressure inside Egypt let's not forget we share 223 kilometers of a border from Kerem Shalom to Elat and with Gaza it's only 14 so there are a huge interest between us in Egypt and we also need to help the United States to empower this Sunni Western support coalition in the Middle East and this is part of it well as you know relations between Israel and the Arab world are under significant strain at the moment most notably following the explosion at the hospital in Gaza last night we saw you mean the lie well exactly I mean the foreign media outlets were very quick to run with the Hamas information and that story is quickly unfortunately Israeli media did it one retraction after another and in fact while we're on that point I'll just read out from the White House their statement this is the White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrian Watson she says while we continue to collect information our current assessment based on analysis of overhead imagery intercepts and open source information is that Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday it began with media outlets running the story that this was an Israeli airstrike on a hospital they then walked that back as Israel released video and audio evidence of a missile falling down onto the hospital we're now hearing that it hit a car park the number of casualties cannot be confirmed all of this extremely damaging for Israel's can I try and simplify it please I had a debate an hour ago with somebody from Gaza on the Arab channel and he said something very important like how if Israel failed last Saturday the October 7th with all the technology and not knowing about this terrible atrocity yeah from Gaza and Hamas so how can we know without technology that this is actually what happened so so let's simplify it I've seen I've got a video from Gaza from an Ahli hospital now it's an Ahli Ma'amadani hospital I know the place I've been there at least 100 times during my career okay inside former mayor of Gaza city yeah I've been the last time yes I've been inside it's in Palestine Palestine Square El-Omari street okay I know the place no like probably nobody else the parking is very small first of all it cannot contain 500 people okay it cannot and during the years also added buildings this is number one number two but I think the reports were that people were sheltering inside the hospital I believe the hospital has 80 beds inside it's a small hospital okay the parking is very small we've seen the cars there there's if somebody takes you know from the air the map and calculate a per square meter there is not enough room there for 500 people so how come 471 died this is part of the Hamas lie industry okay like they lied with the crisis in Gaza they said Shifa is about to stop functioning there's no electricity and I saw today videos of wounded people being entered to the emergency room and it's with full light so as I told you yesterday they pulled the humanitarian card and they are trying to use it now again let's let's go back to Ahli because this is a lie okay where is the crater when a bomb falls from F-16 or an airplane you see a crater and a big one okay let's look at the walls okay nothing they are they are standing well as I say the international media is walking back what it was reporting but this is my problem no walk back I mean this is the problem yeah this is the problem actually the international media supported Hamas narrative after failing last Friday October 13th when they called to the whole Arab world to stop an uprise against Israel in the West and to flame the borders around the world yeah around the world actually okay and and they failed and actually by this lie with an event that never happened that Jihad Islamic jihad did it they are they succeeded actually to flame in Jordan there are demonstrations against the embassy and the US embassy and in Egypt and in Lebanon and in other places we are always falling to this trap that Hamas is always using thankfully I mean the truth does seem to be getting out there now what are we nearly 24 hours later but I mean outlets like the New York Times the BBC others were very quick to seize upon the Hamas narrative you see in the media they're not saying the Hamas controls Gaza health authorities which is what they are no information comes out of of Gaza without Hamas in say so Palestinian say exactly strictly speaking that's true but when you use the word Palestinian say in a big New York Times headline you're implying this comes from the Palestinians the Palestinians legitimate government Javierine friends that's not Hamas that's the Palestinian authority that's the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people that's where you have Palestinian say it's extremely misleading not to mention the fact that as Grisha said the entire thing was one big giant lie lie this was intentional I think that's quite clear as the spoke both literally and figuratively clears and Laura you talk about retactions I haven't I've it's been a busy day I confess but I haven't seen retractions in major international media not corrections but corrected headlines I've seen a gradual walk back as more information has been released for Israel we've had a discussion I you know I've been on Twitter and had some strong words in the studio about the balance between speed and accuracy coming out of this in the IDS spokesperson's office right which was slow off its feet at least in the eyes of the audience yesterday not having anything to say for two or three long hours and leaving Israel entirely unprotected against all of this before coming out with a statement and coming out with it with a damn darn good press conference this morning Israel time presenting all the evidence in a comprehensive way and explaining and documenting and presenting what seems by all accounts to be a compelling case and of course now we have governments coming on board primarily the U.S. government again they haven't 100 percent come to their conclusion but over the course of the day are going more and more in that direction but we still see and it's troubling he said she said in international media on one hand the Israeli at this point I'm not talking about last night but at this point a military of a democracy that conducted a professional investigation presented the evidence to the world versus a terrorist group that just over a week ago slaughtered 1,300 people and is every reason to lie so it's just extremely distressing and frustrating I think from Israel's perspective to continue at this hour to see that he said she said as it's presented what I'll say is that for example the BBC they're calling it an explosion a blast rather than a strike that language is key isn't it because a blast cannot be caused by an airstrike is that right could be caused but it's not automatically caused it's ambiguous isn't it it's a more neutral more neutral choice of words and you're right that the language describing what happened that noun you're right has changed Laura but the two arguments at least as far as I checked for example the New York Times just you know shortly coming up are presented in equal measure the Gazan authorities say X and the Israeli authorities say why are we in the New York Times threw up our hands because we don't know what to do with it and our article says we can't independently verify this or that look the U.S. government is coming up with his own information significant Jewish community living in New York that actually put lives at risk last night didn't it I hope not I hope not but certainly information like this going out there when it's false of course it has the possibility and I would say even with the facts getting out the probability of at least indirectly leading to lives being lost so there's a lot of responsibility to go around and a lot of responsibilities not met and again we can only hope that the truth ultimately wins out because the truth certainly wasn't able to win out at the real hour of need okay well uh as this is all going on in Gaza Israelis on high alert on its northern border because the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah has said that it's ready to join the conflict I-24 News Defense correspondent Jonathan Regif has this report More than 150,000 rockets at least 5,000 of them covering the entire Israeli state hundreds if not more of those rockets are precision guided meaning they will head right to their target carrying amounts of explosives far bigger than anything coming from Gaza this is what awaits the Israeli home front if a full on war with Hezbollah erupts those on the battle field itself will have a major challenge of their own Hezbollah's elite units known as Rad 1 Force are made up of thousands of well-equipped fighters who also have plenty of battle experience gained on the Syrian front their plan which was just executed by Hamas in the south is to invade border communities and army bases kill and kidnap as many civilians and soldiers and create the same major panic seen on the Gaza border on that terrible Saturday morning where did all this giant arsenal come from those behind it are not doing a major effort hiding it before coming here I had the chance to meet with the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah Hassan Nasrallah David Koleh Muhtaramah Hezbollah Estimates say Iran transfers up to 700 million dollars annually to Hezbollah mostly in highly sophisticated weapon systems these are exactly the weapons which Israel targets time and time again when they're in Syria before they head to Lebanon many of those systems are hit but many others still go through other funding methods are drug trafficking money laundering and donations the money keeps coming in and until there will be a massive global move against it that money will continue to flow and Hezbollah will continue to act as the Iranian arm right on Israel's northern border Grisha things are heating up in the north what can we expect when will has what will get involved if at all well what I can say is that the face of the events is increasing event after event event after event it's not messages anymore it's actual events cornet missiles anti-tank missiles into Metula into tanks it's tip for tap yeah so if in the morning it was only messages live pictures coming to us now the Lebanese border go on Grisha continue yeah so as it's an escalation if I can understand I I also believe that the Iran is behind it President Biden is about to leave so it's already the events who are going to escort us the moment Air Force One leave the state of Israel so we will see probably rockets launched from Gaza and I think that the border in Lebanon will get a little bit more will get warmer if I may say it that way and what might that look like what more rockets Israel evacuated this actually gave a possibility to all the settlements that are five kilometers from the border to be evacuated it means it was messages during the day and I it looks like it's gonna it's gonna be there's gonna be more action okay and this evening this night and tomorrow as the U.S. President Joe Biden departs Israel after the day by the way nobody dared launch in the rocket to adhesive yeah that doesn't get that we had a day after the Gaza envelope to the border communities but that's just about it oh yeah there's one in Bashar I think okay we're gonna take a short break thanks guys stay with us we're gonna take a short break could you stay with us back with more right after this 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 a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped tell us we don't want to do it 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 when in Israel bombs it is the most powerful and direct way to stand with Israel visit israelbonds.com and invest now made for me a unique concept in Israel custom made men's fashion to your measurements made for me designer of all your events schedule your appointment at www.madeforme.co.il made for me official dresser of i24 news please and gentlemen watching i24 news we're coming to you live from Tel Aviv on this day 12 of Israel's war with Hamas there have been reports of rockets being fired at central Israel the US President Joe Biden has just left after spending several hours here today earlier he offered a strong statement of support for Israel and he also corroborated Israel's version of version of events regarding what happened in Gaza last night when there was an explosion at a hospital that killed an unknown number of civilians Hamas claimed it was an Israeli airstrike Israel very quickly released evidence to prove that it was a rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic jihad and there is still no sign of that Israeli ground offensive into Gaza let's go to Sterot in the south of Israel our Ariel Osaran is there Ariel what's happening well Laura as US President Joe Biden left Israel perhaps simultaneously a barrage of rockets launched towards Israel sirens heard in communities like Petah Tikva and Hoda Sharon we have no indication yet of any impact or casualties as a result of these barrages of rockets but we will update you when we can and following the visit moments after the speech Biden finished his speech Israel s Prime Minister s Office released a statement announcing that the wartime cabinet had decided to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza through Egypt not from Israel this is going to be limited to food, water and medicine for the civilian population located in the southern Gaza Strip and as long as these supplies do not reach Hamas according to the Prime Minister s Office statement any supplies that reach Hamas will be thwarted how are they going to stop them reaching Hamas Ariel well the statement by the Prime Minister s Office did not specify that but given that the American and Israeli teams convened for many hours discussing also perhaps the each side's intent or key points for this continuation of the war I believe that has been discussed some form of supervision would is to be expected who will be carrying out this inspection that remains unclear at this point in time all right thank you Ariel Ariel Osaran there down is Stavot well the Arab world erupted in anger last night following news of an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City news of the incident also prompted Jordan s King Abdullah to cancel talks with President Joe Biden Egypt and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Hussain Abu Bakr Al Mansour is a writer and academic he was born and raised in Egypt and he joins us now thank you very much for being with us Hussain it is clear isn't it that in the Arab world or in a large part of the Arab world perhaps whatever evidence Israel produces they will continue to say that that hospital explosion was Israel's fault it's true it's just because of the established bias among the Arab societies is strongly a pro-Palestinian and very suspicious and dismissive of usually of everything that Israel said also it's just the way that the story was initially reported as everybody knows as an Israeli strike that that attacked a hospital leading to collapse and a very large death number that initial reporting already activated a very strong emotional response among large segments of Arab populations that is very hard to restrain afterwards even if the initial reporting turns out untrue and as more reporting now on evidence is surfacing that we're refuting this initial reporting it's just there is there is no way to just restrain this emotional response you can see that in the coverage of the Arab media already yesterday for example on many networks with our Jazeera, Sky News, Arabia you had journalists discussing that even if this turns out eventually Islamic Jihad field rockets is still the fault of Israel moreover you do have the momentum on the political side in Arab states if you're talking about Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE they have always since this the war started they've always wanted to find a way to restrain Israeli action they want to contain the war and even stop it as much as possible so this is an opportunity for pressure on Israel so the momentum is sadly is out and it's really hard to bring back is there any sympathy at all do you think in the Arab world for the campaign to eliminate Hamas we know that they have made the lives of Palestinians miserable for many years the problem is that sadly and this it's not the first time that this happens the framing that this is not a war the prevalent framing is that this is not a war against Hamas it's the war against the Palestinians so it's a war between Israel and the Palestinians and once that framing takes shape then it's obviously obviously side with the Palestinians the Arab brothers a much weaker side and so on and so forth so I would say sadly and especially after last night the momentum the emotional momentum is overwhelmingly to the side of the Palestinians there were as a war started parts of Arab society is not to mention Arab governments and Arab intellectuals and Arab media figures who did sympathize who did condemn Hamas very harshly and they were sympathizing cautiously with Israel's objective to destroy Hamas many of those people will find it now much harder to express this opinion actually been talking with many friends in Arab countries since last night about all of this and it seems that it's things significantly got harder over the past a 12 hours for them to express those opinions so I would imagine that there is some number left of the people who are sympathetic especially that a lot of people don't like the Muslim Brotherhood on Hamas to begin with but it's becoming much much more difficult for them to express opinion publicly giving the as I said the overwhelming current emotion response Hussain I want to ask you about Egypt the president's in a bit of a tight spot isn't he because Egypt is the only country that controls the border into Gaza which is not Israel why is this such strong opposition to accepting refugees even if it would be temporarily there are some good reasons Egypt has some good reasons to strongly oppose this and which still doesn't mean that it's an easy problem to solve or it's the right thing to do first of all there are not much humanitarian considerations most of the considerations are political and security related since the Arab Spring has had a even before that very tense relationship with the Hamas terrorist organization that's been ruling Gaza there have been clashes directly between the Egyptian military and Gaza including for zero in the Arab Spring in 2011 in which Hamas elements crossed the borders and killed members of the Egyptian military the relationship between Hamas and the former regime of Auschwitz president Mohammed Morsi and of course the ties between the Islamic jihadist insurgency in Sinai that the Egyptian army has been fighting for quite some time and radical groups in Gaza suspicion that they've been getting help from Gaza actually most probably that they've been getting a lot of help from Gaza all of this makes the Egyptian regime look at the situation very cautiously afraid of the elements that might enter Egypt from Gaza secondly there is a fear that this refugee population is going to become permanent that is this happened in the past of course with Lebanon this happened with Jordan this happened with other places other reasons have to do domestically with the situation of prison CC himself prison CC has been suffering from a very a huge decline in popularity given the harsh conditions of the Egyptian economy the brutal crackdown and civic liberties so I don't think that prison CC is in a position to be seen and to be berated by Al Jazeera and your usual suspects somebody who's collaborating with Israel or helping Israel sadly all of these security and political considerations ultimately completely overshadowed completely a sideline in a humanitarian consideration about helping the people in Gaza and that's why Egypt is still resistant to this all right Hossein Abu Bakr Mansour he's the project director at the endowment of Middle East Truth thank you very much Hossein we appreciate it thank you well let's get a reaction to what we just heard Hossein Abu Bakr Mansour there outlining Egypt's reasons for not wanting to take on refugees from Gaza well I have to say that Hossein was quite objective like he he said it from a very let's say professional angle and I can understand the tents in Egypt the president he didn't mention numbers so when Hamas attacked the Egyptians in 2011 they killed 17 Egyptian soldiers this is one of the reasons why a CC implemented a different policy toward the Gaza trip after the Muslim Brotherhood I just want to clarify one thing about the hospital okay it's not that nothing happened there okay a rocket shot there it's not there there was an explosion I know it's there was an explosion because maybe somebody could understand that I denied that something that happened it's also impossible that 400 people die because there's no room for that maybe 20 or 30 Israel cannot put the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in jeopardy we cannot jeopardize it okay it's very important is it in jeopardy maybe it looks like but it isn't so we that's what I said previously we need to find or to release air to release pressure from the Egyptian side there are already trucks something like 200 trucks waiting there and we need to help the Egyptian president to show to the Arab world that he is the one that supports people of Gaza and it's okay and he prefers to deal with the problem inside Gaza and not inside Sinai and we also understood it's from Hossein he was quite honest about it yeah listen this is a very very sensitive issue for Egypt sensitive issue for for the Palestinian public as well because of history but it's a very sensitive issue for Egypt because of Egypt's national security the last thing that Egypt wants Laura are tens of thousands or from Egypt's perspective God forbid hundreds of thousands of random Gazans to be crossing the border without Egypt being able to know who they are the security situation in Sinai over the past two decades has been sensitive even without a flow of migrations such as that one so this is the last thing that the Egyptians want and we've heard out of Amman and both Amman and Cairo it's the expression that this is a red line this is something that they're not going to allow and from their perspective it can certainly be understood by the way the Egyptians are making an argument that it's not an Israel's interest either to have people in Sinai given the length of the Israeli Egyptian border and the fear that the Egyptians have and argue that Israel should have as well that extremism could simply spread along that border and not be contained quote unquote if you will to Gaza by the way it's also worth a footnote that we saw at least one statement from the European Union concern about the war because of the potential for migration to Europe and so of course watch this space and how sensitive that issue is to Europeans and they like all are worried about Israel's security in the Middle East but more most importantly and centrally about their own national security so it will be interesting to see how much traction that concern gets in European circles as the war goes on Jordan, Egypt they were supposed to be sitting down with Joe Biden today the king of Jordan scrapped that meeting I mean these are two countries which receive billions of dollars in US military aid what is the message that they're sending how can they they are part of the Arab world demonstrations in Jordan thousands of people charging over the embassies inside Jordan and let's not forget that 78% of the population in Jordan are actually Palestinians so what do you expect that the king do collaborate with President Biden or with us I think that he took the right decision for him but just one comment Hossein mentioned about the emotional response I didn't see the emotional response October 7th after 1300 rays were slaughtered by Hamas okay there was no emotional response of thousands of people charging over embassies that belong to the PA I think there was some criticism early on wasn't there that those actions were un-Islamic and they should not be yeah but there was no emotional response like he mentioned okay because a rumor that actually turned out as a lie created an emotional response that thousands of people are trying to destroy embassies the Israeli embassies and the United States embassies okay so I don't think it's an emotional response this is hate but that's the result of many many years of indoctrination isn't it if you look at that's a response of many years of excitement yes this is many years of peace top down and doing nothing bottom up but that's the fear here because especially in Egypt maybe less so in Jordan but especially in Egypt even more so in the Gulf States we've made so much progress I mean what did Israeli Egyptian relations used to look like right three intelligence officers in a basement some place right or or on a secured line that was that was the relationship between Israel and Egypt but it's changed in the last few years and it's changed under Sisi and very very cautiously very very gradually he's is increased the space for people to people ties and including tourism including flights and we've seen it again very cautious very slow nothing like the normalization with the UAE for example and now I think the fear is that that's we're just we've just gone backwards in the last 12 days of course this is Hamas's aim and the aim of Iran and its proxies again I continue to be optimistic for the middle of the long-term but you can't help escape the short-term conclusion of how much we've regressed do you think that this will set back Arab-Israeli ties decades if it will it means the Abraham Accord failed this is what Iran actually wants to achieve there is a meeting that was just conducted in Saudi Arabia with the two ministers of foreign affairs the Saudi one and the Iranian one this is by the way maybe the explanation why Saudi Arabia asked resident of Saudi to leave Lebanon maybe they know something that we don't know but if those relations will between Israel and the UAE Bahrain and others will actually I don't know stopped or freezes or canceled it means the Shi'i radical approach is winning and I think that this is this was actually the goal of the United States President visit here in Israel okay actually stating that we are here we are here to back you all and I believe that I got some hope from the visit that we will see a growing coalition okay the Arab Western supportive coalition growing and Biden spoke to that in his closing speech talked about the importance of continuing peacemaking in the Israeli Palestinian track and also the issue of normalization on the wider Arab-Israeli track he spoke to those and said very clearly that he intends to continue to pursue them after the war and he also did speak about the two-state solution which is perhaps something people in Israel don't want to hear right now but nobody wants to hear about it that doesn't forget that since June 2007 we are in reality of a three-state solution okay the state of Hamas town in Gaza the state of Mahmoud Abbas Fatah Fatah becoming Fatah Stan after I heard today demonstrations calling for Mahmoud Abbas to resign and support Hamas sorry to interrupt you because I want to bring someone in because the death toll in Gaza as we say is impossible to verify the figures are released by the Hamas-controlled health ministry it is indisputable though that civilians in Gaza are suffering terribly in this war my next guest is the author of Unveiled How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam her name is Yasmin Muhammad and she's with us now thank you Yasmin thank you for being with us thank you so much for having me so Yasmin your father I understand was born and raised in Gaza what did he make of Hamas yeah so yes he was born and raised in Gaza lived there his whole life until you know it was time for him to go to university and that's when he went to Egypt so when he was living there he didn't have to deal with Hamas but he did from afar from Canada have to watch how terrorists basically overtook his homeland so he would go back to Gaza every few years he had a YouTube channel where he would speak about this all the time he was always sharing videos and pictures of what Gaza looked like before Hamas and before you know the brotherhood before all of these you know Islamic extremists and he hoped that one day Gaza would somehow rid itself of all of these characters and that it could go back to being what it was when he grew up there do you believe that Hamas is controlling information coming out of the territory do you think that any journalist in Gaza can report freely knowing what you know about Hamas no absolutely not no person can even speak freely in their own homes they have to be careful what they say what neighbors might hear what people who they think are friends might hear anybody who disagrees with Hamas they are a terrorist group they are a violent terrorist group and so if you speak up against them you are it's a death sentence you know they will destroy you and they will destroy your family we've seen you know sometimes people from Gaza you know when they've tried to rise up when protesters have tried to speak up they just get mowed down there are certain campaigns like whispers from Gaza where people from Gaza try to speak up about what's going on there but of course they have to do so risking their lives and protecting their anonymity so no it's like it's like Iran or Afghanistan or any of these other states that are being controlled by extremists the people are not free absolutely not many people some people anyway are saying that Palestinians are indistinguishable from Hamas they say look they voted for them polls show they support them they support violent struggle against Israel do you agree with that I mean some people in Gaza of course do support Hamas but they're talking about voting them in 18 years ago when a lot of the people living there now weren't even born yet or weren't at voting age and once you know people could say this and people did say the same thing about Iranians under the Islamic regime they're like well they voted for them well they voted 40 years ago once you get a terrorist regime and power you can't vote them out and it is very frustrating for me to hear that kind of thing especially from Americans who are very unhappy you know under Trump for example so would they like it if people just went around saying well Trump is indistinguishable from every American no of course not sometimes people can get voted in or groups can get voted in and then people half the population don't like them or they change their mind they like the Gazans for example when they realize we don't even have clean water we don't even have functioning electricity we don't have safety for our children so they realize that they were duped by Hamas's propaganda and lies and they no longer want them in power but what can you do at that point vote them out this is not a you know they're not in a democratic nation where they're not free to just vote them out and so they're stuck but polls do show that there are a lot of people I think it was like 50-50 you know it's not that you know I wish it was higher but you know you have to also keep in minds that people are even worried when they're filling out these polls because they don't know who's going to see them and who's going to read them and is it going to get traced back to them so oftentimes you know they could just be answering what they think is is the safest answer for them and their family you've written a book about western liberals and radical Islam and how would you say that the narrative in some parts of the west in the media in academia has legitimized Hamas yeah it's really disheartening it's like you know that when I wrote my book it was criticizing what I could see was happening and I never actually imagined it would come to the point that you would find politicians and you know university leaders actually justifying terrorist acts you know it's it's sickening there's there's even even no matter what grievances the Palestinian people have or the Ghazan people have no matter how much you support them and you empathize with them there's no way that you can ever justify murdering people that are going to a music festival going into people's homes and burning entire families like the kinds of atrocities that Hamas did I honestly expected that nobody would have a single word to say I mean that was one of my first tweets is I never thought that anybody could even dare to start to try to justify their actions I'm actually really really shocked that it's not just people who are indoctrinated into extremists to slam that are justifying their actions but it's like no we've seen it it's a lecture from Harvard and all sorts of institutions I mean given all the horrific violence that we've seen in the last in the last couple of weeks do you have hope for the future do you think that Palestinians and Israelis can live alongside one another I think that that's a really difficult question because it's like asking me you know if Jewish people would be comfortable living alongside you know Germans after World War II it's a very risky question and it's one that I wouldn't even want to even ask a Jewish person at this point because we're so in the the destruction and the rawness I mean I was speaking speaking to families who's have family missing and like two three-year-old twin daughters and you know I have daughters myself and you know you just how can you even start to think about you just want to do anything you possibly can to make sure something like this never happens again and I think that's going to always be the most important goal going forward well Yasmin thank you so much for talking to us we appreciate to we appreciate your bravery Yasmin Muhammad is the author of Unveiled How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam Her father was born and raised in Gaza thank you so much Yasmin thank you well just very quickly before we go Gwisher do you want to react very quickly to what you just heard one thing she is very brave very brave very brave lady there are diversities of opinions in the Muslim world as there are in in societies everywhere and it's important for us to remember that and to remember not again not as the US president said not to wrap two million people under one flag yeah okay all right we'll leave it there we're going to take a short break when we come back we'll head north we'll see what's happening on Israel's northern border as it stays on high alert amid fears of some kind of offensive by the terrorist group has followed that and more coming up say with us 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24 news Vakita reserve we have the right ingredients and we have to do the job and that if we have the right ingredients and we do the job that the Vakita can be protected official dresser of i24 news good evening ladies and gentlemen welcome back you're watching i24 news we're coming to you live from Tel Aviv on this day 12 of Israel's war with Hamas the US president Joe Biden has now left Israel he spent several hours here earlier today and took part in a cabinet war briefing he then made a speech giving a strong message of support for Israel he said Israelis were not alone that Israel must once again be a safe place for the Jewish people the United States has also backed what Israel had to say about that explosion at the hospital in Gaza city last night saying that it was indeed a misfired rocket by terrorist groups well we can head to the north of Israel now where the country is on high alert amid fears that the terrorist organization Hezbollah might join the conflict Joe Biden earlier today had one word for them once again he said don't Pia Stechelbach is there Pia what's happening Well Laura actually for the most part of the day it has been quiet yet the northern border however for the past couple of hours Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire and you can actually see the result of that here behind me three at least three fires being triggered up there and the mountain close to the Lebanese border from impacts from the Lebanese side and really confrontations between Israel and Hezbollah happen in different areas along the border today a video that Hezbollah published shows their efforts to shoot down the surveillance cameras and radar systems of the Israeli military posts along the border Israel has been striking back toward the origin of the fires with artillery and a short while ago the Israeli military also issued a statement saying that it targeted a squad from the air in an attempt to launch mortars into Israel and earlier this evening also an alert being triggered in the area of Kiryat Shmona that is located in the eastern Galilee region and in the nearby area of Kubotsmanara a village that is really sitting on the Lebanese border one person was lightly injured from anti-tank missiles one of several that was launched from southern Lebanon and really the concern here Laura is that the communities in close proximity to the border are going to be less protected the communities in a proximity of two kilometers to the Lebanese border have been evacuated already earlier this week now the Israeli government deciding this afternoon to expand that area to five kilometers residents there are called upon to leave the area and seems like the one behind me really show you the reason because shelling between Israel and Hezbollah can break out at any time really endangering residents especially when it comes to Hezbollah firing those anti-tank missiles Laura Pia, thank you thank you very much Pia Steckel back there she's up at Israel's northern border and I'm joined in the studio now by a Colonel Amit Asa former member of the Israeli Security Agency the ISA thank you very much for being with us what are your thoughts about what's happening in the north everybody is concerned about Hezbollah joining the fighting what is your interpretation of what's been going on the last few days first we have to understand that we're controlling everything is Iran from the up from above from the strategy is to move on with small pieces with small soldiers at the at the field before they will do that term and at the end they will not do nothing it's just somebody will do the job for them so first they worked with the Hamas and they know what happens now and Hezbollah is next Hezbollah has to to decide if there are there will be there's the soldier of Iran here in the region and they have to know that they will lose a lot but it's a possibility and it's just a green light from Iran and they will go in we saw protests erupt on the streets of Arab cities last night in Ramallah for example in Aman how under control is the situation in the West Bank look West Bank is Palestinian Gaza is Palestinian the connection is the both they are working together they are brothers they are the ones the same the same thing to happen they want everybody wants Israel to be out of it it's even though Hamas murdered Fatah supporters when they took power in 2000 it's not a matter of supporting it's a matter of not being against okay against terror so everybody is there is there for the to win this war for them is Israel is not exist anymore it's the legitimate all the way of Israel here in the region in Hamas in Fatah in the West Bank wherever Hamas was doing this kind of terror attack but it's just a sign for us that everybody could do it and everybody if they want to do it they will do it also from the West Bank there have been obviously Hamas was armed heavily we've seen the weapons that were seized from inside Israel which is barely a fraction of the arms that they have managed to amass over the years in recent months we've seen significant IDF raids on places like Janine Nublis stopping them from building up these weapons capabilities was that enough and are the arrests in recent look fortunately we are there we are in the region of West Bank to be sure that there will not be this kind of arm as we see in the Hamas because Hamas we left them alone as we say Oslo leave them to build themselves for years and it was in our eyes I mean we were literally under a drought we were literally transferring Israel was literally helping the transfer of money to Hamas is that correct yes of course we are giving them all the opportunity to to deal with what they want they could do a region of Riviera in Gaza with the money that they got from everybody to to build themselves instead of that they build the tunnels they build tunnels but it's not the same in the West Bank because we are there this is the only reason when we left Gaza we left them to do whatever they want when we are here in the West Bank we can control it we can be in the places that we think that they are organized we can think that they are building the the ability in arms and in weapons and but we are there they can't do what the Hamas did in Gaza still we have the the the threats we have the threats because we see what do we have in the camp of Janine we see what do we have in the middle of of Nablus of Shchem so they have the the ability but we are there to control it so a pretty bleak outlook then in terms of Israel will have to keep an iron fist in terms of security control on these towns and cities for the significant future what do you think of that when you just heard US President Joe Biden talking about two states look Joe Biden here is to to give us his support to do the right thing for my point of view is handle all the tourist organization here in the region and to say one word to all of the Palestinian live the violent live the thinking that Israel is not is legitimate in this area live this thinking live with us we are on you but you have to understand that we are here and this is what I'm telling all the time to the Palestinian the majority of the Palestinian is not radical is not is not placing themselves in the in the side of terror but still they're supporting them they have to say no they have to say no to the leaders they have to say no for the terror have to say no for the violent this is the way that the conflict will end okay stay with this Colonel Assa because I want to bring in Dr. Nazir Alamari he's a writer and political commentator who was born and raised in Georgia thank you very much sure for being with this Nassir good to see you again Nassir what do you make of King Abdullah's comments and his decision to cancel the talks with the US President Joe Biden today thank you for having me I think King Abdullah had no choice but to appear angry after what happened last night the news last night in the Middle East and even today was that the Israelis bombed a hospital and it wasn't until this morning that there was doubt as to what really happened and whether Islamic jihad was actually responsible but when that first broke out the streets in Jordan were flooded with people the Israeli embassy was they attempted to attack it demonstrators attempted to attack it so King Abdullah probably thought that a Biden visit would only make it look like he's coordinating with the Biden administration who's a closely allied with the Israelis and that's why it was canceled he's trying King Abdullah is trying to balance the fact that he's an American ally with the fact that Jordanians who are for the most part Palestinians in terms of population are angry and they blame Israel for everything that happened including what Hamas did so this is a very tough balancing act for the king who is otherwise a trusted U.S. ally Do you think that however much proof the IDF and now the Americans provide as to what happened last night with that hospital that it was in fact misfired terrorist rocket will there be any anyone in Jordan who believes the truth who believes what happened I think the truth is important even when people say they don't want to hear it or if they deny it I think putting that information out there and I don't think what is was what was put out there is adequate I think it needs to be more detailed more intelligence needs to show that this wasn't the Israeli bombing it's really important even when the Arab world is polarized and people are want to blame Israel for everything I think the truth matters however I agree with you no matter what one says this there is a huge cultural and political divide between Israel and the Arab Arab world and the death of civilians on both sides makes things really difficult to talk about peace or bridging the gap between the two peoples however I believe that you know Hamas does not have a future in Gaza I think despite what people say in terms of supporting Hamas I think they have seen this model fail people died civilians died and civilians on both sides are paying a heavy price and there is no change of attitudes and the Israeli government or the American stance or the Arab street stance so something needs to happen because whatever has been happening over the last two weeks has not move the needle toward the peaceful coexistence unfortunately no far from it well I mean officially it doesn't look like it right now but officially Israel and Jordan have peace they have had peace since 1994 a cold peace certainly but there is a level of cooperation isn't there for example in terms of sharing water I mean could that be in peril could we be looking at the rupture of relations between Israel and Jordan I don't think so I think Jordan is heavily reliant on U.S. aid and also reliant on strategic alliance between Israel the United Arab Emirates Gulf countries in to solve real economic problems in Jordan so the king has been pushing for these projects knowing full well that Jordan cannot survive as a country without Gulf investments without cooperation with Israel on water resources however the street in Jordan does not see it the same way they want the king to take tougher stance against Israel of course he knows that he can't because he is an U.S. ally and he is an Israeli ally too despite what's happening and he's no friend of Hamas either so he has a tough balancing act and I think what has been happening in Israel and some of the statements by the Biden administration does not help him to look like he's making an effect or impacting what is happening in the region Dr. Naseer Alamari thank you very much indeed thank you and just to remind you I'm joined by Colonel Amit Assa a former member of the Israeli Security Agency and we are also joined now by Danny Ayalon he's the of course former Israeli Ambassador to the United States good evening did you Danny I should start by asking you about that visit by President Biden he's now left Israel he was here with a strong message of support he also said he was committed to delivering aid to civilians in Gaza your thoughts well it was an extraordinary visit an historic one one of a kind never would did we have a visit of a president during a war and he said plenty was yes and of course showing all this you know unequivocal support I think it's also a message to the region of deterrence and to the world the United States is back not only in the Middle East but it's back in its leadership position whereby it's leading the camp of the democratic countries of the countries of the of freedom and human rights against the axis of evil which is run basically by Iran and the Ayatollahs with all the proxies you know the the global jihadists and also supported by China and Russia this is the divide today the United States have gone a long way today to reassert its leadership and I believe the world will be much safer after this war with Hamas is over Colonel Asa you're a former security agent we just had Nasser Alamari there speaking about the explosion at the hospital last night in Gaza he said that it would be good and I've heard this from others across the Arab world as well it would be good if Israel would get out more information as a former security agent will we be able to get that kind of information out and what would it look like is there the intelligence I think that the IDF was giving the information the right information and the right pictures that will be the information that we need to understand that it's not our missile okay you can see very clear at the place that the rocket hits the parking place and just a few cars was burning it's not that complicated to understand that it's not our missile it's not our bomb okay if it was our bomb targeting this hospital the hospital was down so it's just you have to see the pictures so can Israel provide satellite imagery showing that the building is still standing I think IDF did it did it already and you can see it very clear but as we said it's not a matter of information of truth it's a matter of what you want to hear and what you want to say and if in the world the Arab that support the Palestinian act of terror wants to use this kind of event for them for the propaganda against Israel they will use it it doesn't matter if it's truth or not and Danny this comes at a time of course when a lot of people are consuming a lot of news very rapidly via social media things are not verified journalists are not verified you've also got the more traditional reporter class trying to be first with the story it was quite shocking wasn't it to see several western news outlets including the New York Times and the BBC running with the Hamas propaganda and putting that out straight away without verifying anything Laura it is shocking it is morally reprehensible it is I would say downright anti-Semitic it they were gloating like they were happy to show the destruction died by Israel as if we are just like the Hamas and they without checking without verifying and not only that taking a long time to correct the record and keep it straight yeah I mean because this not only puts Israelis at risk it puts Jews around the world at risk oh absolutely absolutely because by doing that right you are they're trying to put Israel as the culprit here they're trying to put Israel as the bad guy here and to give some legitimacy and to give some cause for this anti-Semitic Islamist to attack Israeli and Jewish targets this is wrong and something should be done with it including including some judicial issues and and take them even to court I mean this is lives a danger around the world hasn't it these reports I'm sorry these reports this report you can see it all over the world and I think that this is propaganda that we know and we saw it all the years against Israel legitimate of what we are doing here and putting us the blame of everything that is happening to the Palestinian society it's not it's not new and Israel has won this will be a long war we're going to see more episodes more incidents like this yes of course it will be because it's a war and when information is yes and when there is a war and there is civilians civilians will have to to pay the price all right and the Palestinians have to to understand that they are paying the price for the Hamas actions not for the Israeli action Israeli just respond for what we have in front of our eyes well those headlines will be worsening an already tense situation intelligence experts have warned that the conflict here risks spreading into Europe and that attempted terrorist attacks are likely two people were shot dead in Brussels this week by an ISIS supporter Joe Brown has this report terror in the Middle East spilling over into terror into Europe and a chilling sense of deja vu from recent history in Brussels on Monday night two Swedish nationals were killed and one other was injured after a gunman opened fire in the Belgian capital ahead of the European soccer championship qualifying match between Belgium and Sweden the perpetrator a 45-year-old Tunisian immigrant who was previously flagged by authorities as being radicalized was killed by police the following morning he said in a video posted online that he had killed people quote in the name of God whilst the Belgian government announced where his legions is may have been the man claimed to be inspired by the Islamic state in the same statement the Swedish nationality of the victims was mentioned as the possible motive for the attack this comes a few days after a teacher was stabbed to death in the northern French city of Arras by a former pupil who allegedly shouted Allah Huakba the Arabic phrase for God is great while carrying out his attack French president Emmanuel Macron has called for immediate action to stop the spread of Islamic extremism whilst members of his cabinet have drawn parallels between what is happening in Europe and the Middle East the atmosphere of jihadism or of a decision to act has been evidence since last Saturday I myself spoke of it several times before the Arras attack a certain rejoicing is taking place among the targets that we monitor in radical Islam and we think like other western intelligence services that these messages this praise of terrorism this very clear wall to be able to commit anti-Semitic acts under the pretext of anti-Zionism make it easier for jihadis to act Islamic extremism in Europe has settled down since the ISIS inspired spike in the mid 2010s but now with the situation between Israel and Hamas the world is holding its breath hoping that the past is not a blueprint for the future all right that report of the risks to not only Israelis but Jews around the world and everyone in fact as Islamist terrorist attacks are expected to be attempted in European cities Danny and we've seen those protests around the world haven't we in London in Paris in Brussels all across Europe a terrifying time to be Jewish in Europe Yes and I think it's mostly Islamist elements which are taking a hold in major pockets in Europe and in other places also some in the United States and I believe the only way actually to do away with them there is no reasoning with them they are brainwashed they are filled with hatred whether they're Islamist or not Islamist some are being just useful idiots for them the only way to do with them is by taking legal measures and I think there should be legislation and enforcement of the legislation there have already been emergency measures announced exactly just like supporting Hamas just like Nazis outlawed the supporters of Hamas ISIS should be outlawed I just want to ask you about some comments by the Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in the last 10 minutes he said at the end of this war not only will Hamas no longer to be in Gaza but the territory of Gaza will also decrease what do you read into that I don't know and it's I really it's too early to say I'm not supporting any kind of enigmatic declarations by government officials this is not the time to do it I think at the end of the day we will have to work together with the United States but also with the other countries in the region which are in the same boat in it with Israel you know Hamas the Islamist Jihadist movement is just as a mortal enemy to Egypt regime and to the the regimes in Egypt and Jordan Saudi Arabia the Abraham Accords Morocco as they are to Israel so we do have a real stake here to work together it is too early to say what would be the architecture after we are done with Hamas but certainly one thing is certain is that Israel should not stay in Gaza for the long run that means after clearing Kada Hamas after an and can I ask you Danny because I've seen you on international news networks this week can I ask you to clarify because you've called on Egypt to take in some Palestinian refugees can you just make it clear that you don't intend for those refugees to stay refugees you don't want people to leave Gaza absolutely not Laura the only concern I have in Israel has is their well-being we do not want to them to be in harm's way because of Hamas because people are taking your comments and misconstruing them right listen there's a precedent in Turkey in Turkey just about 10 years ago when the the poor citizens of Syria were butchered by their own leader Assad they took refuge in Turkey just across the border and Turkey took them by the way with a lot of international aid Turkey got a lot of money for it like four billion dollars for that and this is what I'm suggesting now because we cannot just and this is what I'm at I'm I'm I'm telling the our Egyptian friends you cannot just put your hand in your head in the sand because they guys are going to go and and and flee the area anyway either they do it in an organized manner manner with you or a stampede over the Rafa border which would be bad for everyone so just saying for now Egypt is saying it's a non-stop of course not they have to say that they have to say that but if reason prevails there are ways to go and do it thank you very much all right time for short break stay with us much more still to come 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24news within 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped 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 Matt this is i24news coming to you live from Tel Aviv just a few moments ago we heard the interception of a rocket right over our heads the barrage of rockets being fired at Central Israel right now this is a live feed you're looking at a barrage of rockets just a couple of hours after the US President Joe Biden boarded Air Force One to leave he's been in Israel throughout the day issuing a strong message of support earlier today for Israel in its war on Hamas that war now in its 12th day and as you can see the skies of Tel Aviv people running to the shelters right now as a barrage of rockets is fired by Hamas they're still firing rockets even after 12 days of heavy airstrikes will join me in the studio Colonel Amid Asai is a former member of the Israeli Security Agency and our regular Danny Ayalon is the former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Danny despite 12 days of airstrikes on precedented airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza they're still firing those rockets yeah and this is why this ground operation is unavoidable you know they're dug in there is an underground city you know way down and fortified with the bunkers but it's interesting that during the President Biden's visit here there were no shots there were no rockets shot here yeah we had a bit of peace didn't we this afternoon because they were warned and but they've said the British Foreign Secretary had to run to the shelf so the U.S. Secretary of State there were rockets being fired the U.S. Defense Secretary why stop at the U.S. President I want because the because the U.S. administration they take the the safety and security of the President very very seriously they don't leave anything by chance you know he's the most let's say protected he's the most powerful man in the world absolutely and and they are very meticulous in planning so before coming here they have their ways to send the messages whether it's to Iran or Hezbollah or even to Hamas that if they dare shoot when the President is here you know it is vicinity then it's like a declaration of war on the United States with all the with all the the consequences and it worked and I think there was also an understanding the way I know the Americans working there was a big they got some guarantees you know whether it's Qatar for the Hamas or others that the President will not be shot at and indeed we saw the entire duration of his visit it was clear no shots whatsoever there were a few but only down south and Hezbollah was acting up a little bit up north but in a very very close proximity proximity to the border they didn't come anywhere near where the President was in terms of the airport or in Tel Aviv or even in Jerusalem so they do have some lines it seems evidently let's talk I mean as I let's talk about the campaign to destroy Hamas which is what Israel is set out to do how is that campaign going so far as the Palestinian report they are reporting of 3200 Hamas members that killed until now and 11,000 11,000 wounded so as we understand they have casualties they have it's step by step we know that most of them are under the ground they know that this possibility of idea of getting into the Gaza Strip is a possibility that was on the table all time so they prepare themselves for it so most of them we understand that they are underground in the tunnels in the bunkers and they are waiting from time to time they are putting their head up and through some missiles on us but most of them are inside on the ground deep underground some of those tunnels 70 meters underground is that right sometimes 70 meters I don't believe it's 70 meters because who knows the the Gaza area Gaza is full of sand and the water is getting from the sea very high level of water so you can't dig more than few doesn't offer and it's not possible to destroy these tunnels from the air if you know the place it's exactly we have the bombs that can get into the bunkers we have bombs that can get into bunkers in the in Iran nuclear place so we need to know the exact place that we want a bomb because this kind of a bomb underground into the bunker will do damage also outside and we know what we have outside we have hospitals we have schools they build all the bunkers under it so we have to be very specific we have to be very careful with what we are doing it's a surgery it's a surgery that's why we have to go in we have to do step by step very easy it will take time it will take a lot of time but we have the time we have the patient they are in the bunkers they don't have food they don't have water well for now but there is pressure on Israel to allow humanitarian aid I'm talking about the the terrorists inside the bunkers I'm not talking about the population my point is that the aid meant for the civilians might get to Hamas they will not get anything because we are closing all the borders and all the all the ways to get this aid into the to the fighters of the Hamas okay all right let's go to Starrot our Middle East correspondent Ari Loseran is there a barrage of rockets just fired at Central Tel Aviv right a barrage to Central Israel including Tel Aviv Rishon Lezion other major cities obviously they did not launch this is the first launch of rockets to Tel Aviv since President Biden left Israel but I do want to point out to the conversation that was in studio that during Biden's visit in Israel there were 14 barrages of rockets launched towards Southern Israeli communities while it might have not been towards Tel Aviv Southern Israel was indeed continuously targeted throughout the day now as for the recent announcement by Israel's Prime Minister's office regarding the decision by the War Cabinet to allow the entry of limited humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip via Egypt so earlier you asked me who will supervise this and there wasn't a clear answer so now Egyptian Foreign Minister Sam Achukri gave interview to Saudi TV El-Hadath saying that Egypt the UN and the Egyptian Red Crescent will be responsible for supervising the entry of humanitarian aid from Egypt into the Gaza Strip so at least to that question I didn't leave you without an answer thank you Elan thank you for that clarification there have indeed been fires rockets fired towards Southern Israel throughout the day we should point out why the U.S. President was here none though towards Central Israel well the conflict here is having reverberations around the world today in Berlin a synagogue the Kahal Adas Israel synagogue was fire bombed fortunately nobody was there here's the German Chancellor talking about that earlier today and I want to say specifically that I am also outraged I am personally outraged that some people are shouting and doing these things and that is an attitude that I am convinced I share with the citizens of Germany and we stand together for the protection of our Jewish citizens as well see sadly since this conflict broke out there has been a very scary rise of anti-Semitism here at home on top of the past years when we saw already a steady rise in anti-Semitism and to himself has done so much over the years to fight anti-Semitism the increase in incidents we've seen over the past week is utterly sickening and this government will do whatever it takes to keep our Jewish community safe you heard the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak there and the British Government has expressed strong support for Israel but on the streets of British cities there have been huge pro-Palestinian marches including in London while caught up in that an Iranian human rights activist who for over 200 days now has been protesting at the UK's failure to label the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation Fahid Behesti is with us now Fahid thank you very much for being with us can you tell us what happened to you and about your protest thank you thank you very much for having me yes I have been in front of foreign office for 238 days 8 months now in order to put IRGC Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards corpse on the list of terrorist organisations the first 72 days I was on hunger strike I lost about 20kg 2 weeks in hospital and then I came back to my camp but what happened Saturday it was unbelievable in middle of London because we put the flags of Ukrainians as the victims of IRGC after this event I put the do you have me yes we can hear you Fahid keep going yes then I put the Israeli flag as another victims of IRGC then when they had the demonstrations they attacked three times our camp has been attacked but I don't call these pro-Palestinians they were carrying the picture of Qasem Soleimani they were carrying the picture of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the supreme leader of Iran they were chanting to me they were going to kill me they were chanting to me we're going to cut your neck and then when the police arrest the guy who was threatened me to cut my neck he found a big knife with him so they came they broke the flags on the third attacks and then I couldn't let that happen I went after them I got the flag back and that was the scene which gone viral and you know I was I was lucky police were there about 150 you know police forces that were there and otherwise I wouldn't be here talking to you today today now that's what I'm saying this is not this is our war this is not just your war this is our war you know against terrorism and we cannot even take one step back well yeah I mean it's terrifying and you're an extremely brave man Vahid I mean to to have faced up to that but as as you rightly point out it is not just Jews and Israelis who are the victims of the IRGC of the Iranian regime it's also of course the Iranian people who have suffered gradient and continue to suffer and I think of Masih Alina Jad another brave activist who has had several attempts on her life in the United States I mean are you confident in the security forces do you think this is a big wake-up call for the security establishment in the UK and elsewhere I hope so I hope so because you know we are in 21st century in middle of Europe and then we see our democracy is showing like this what happened on Saturday what I witnessed 24 hours before this event police was advising me constantly to bring the flags down I said there is no way I do that we are living the free democratic country they have their flags we have our flags we have our reason they have their reason we can talk but there is no way I bring this down so we fight for our values for we fight for our democracy and there is a price I'm willing to pay that price doesn't matter what you know what price is that but this is again I emphasize this is a war against terrorism it might be a long war but we have to be in it we have to be strong and we shouldn't even take one as the backbone it's remarkable over here that you someone who was born in a repressive dictatorship is having to give lessons on free speech and democracy to a British policeman in London in 2023 I mean this is is the state of the world right now it's in we have no choice we have to stand for our values here I said to them 25 years ago I came from Iran after two times has I have been arrested and when I came into UK I had my freedom of speech my basic human rights I'm not going to let them take it away easily from me but it's not just for myself I have to stand for other people's human rights other people's values these days this is a very crucial moment we're writing a history and we cannot back them because these people these terrorists they do not any understand any language damn pressure this is what I have been shouting for past eight months to our prime minister to our foreign minister they I said there is the only way that IRGC can respond can be respond respond to is pressure and a strong leadership and we have to show them this by prescribing the order we look we lost you just at the end there Vahid but thank you very much Vahid Maheshdi and we'll have to wait and see if the British security establishment takes those claims seriously and does act very worrying there from Vahid Maheshdi brave Iranian activist living in London well 11 days after Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel and committed some of the worst atrocities since the holocaust the world's worst hostage situation remains many families changed forever we've got this report now by Ismail Mahneem out and Erica Jackson on the many many harrowing accounts of what happened to the people of Israel that day and we do caution you there are disturbing images and there are disturbing stories take a look the funeral of Dikla and Tomer Arava was held in a limited presence of family and close friends Dikla's funeral was scheduled for Monday morning but just before the family received the news it was dreading the body of Dikla's son Tomer was also identified on Monday at noon they were buried side by side here we say our final goodbye and can't digest that we won't see each other again we apologize for not being able to do something for you to be with us on Saturday morning the Arava Alikim families were in their home in Kibbutz Nakhal Oz when it was attacked by more than 100 terrorists the Hamas guys are here inside the house I'm currently shot in the foot the family's home was one of the first to be reached by the terrorists they shot the father of the family Noam in the leg and took the family captive the terrorists took 17-year-old Tomer with them and used him to lure other families out of the protected areas when they came out they were murdered a method of operating that could have been taken from the Nazi playbook then they knocked on the door of the security room and said open in Hebrew they took someone Israeli with them someone from the Kibbutz a boy they took him to knock on doors to say he needed help and to encourage people to come out the horrifying video was taken from Dikla's cell phone and distributed via her Facebook Live a video that many saw on Saturday morning it's become burned into minds as one of the most difficult visuals of the entire horrific event you can see how the terrorists sit the family members in the living room of the house force them to identify themselves and demand answers about other family members who were not in the Kibbutz at the time at the end of the video their traces disappear and they were declared missing until Monday the family received the news that they found Dikla's lifeless body on Monday they identified Tomer's corpse I saw countless times that awful live video and even there you exuded calmness and confidence you wrap everyone around you like a lioness you didn't let anyone get close and hurt the children and Tomer our beloved the noble of the soul the 17 year old with supreme mental powers he gave us strength just by seeing him in his greatness functioning in an admirable way this was chapter two for Dikla and Noam Tomer is Dikla's son from a previous marriage and Noam is the father of 14 year old Daphna and eight year old Ella also from a previous marriage Noam is still missing and the girls as well photos of them were published on the day of the abduction from what appears to be Hamas captivity in Gaza we all continue to pray for Noam Osher, beloved of your heart and his daughters Daphna and Ella so beloved by you looking forward to their safe return from captivity soon healthy and whole the world stops but so continues so empty and so full of your being we demand their return that the Israeli government will do everything it can and not give up on them we are full of hope we are getting back to you quickly and completely a family that woke up on the Sabbath in their peaceful home in a kibbutz a Sabbath in which entire families were divided and wiped out horrible horrible violence against men women and children and of course many people still being held Amidst we're just talking about the hostages 199 people are being held right now in Gaza we don't know if they're dead or alive their families are going through an absolute living hell babies, young children elderly people we know the stories is this having an impact on how Israel conducts its military offensive in Gaza right now look intelligence it's not just to look for the to the members of the Hamas underground intelligence of working all the time to find out where they are where these hostages is kept and to make some measures to put somebody in this area to put them out this is what intelligence are they intended to do and that that this is its work from now until the end of the war every place that we need to free hostages we will do it first this is one of the intelligence main issues now on the table they're working on it and it's not just looking for Hamas members on the the ground is looking where are they and they will spread it okay they know that they are very sensitive we are very sensitive about the hostages and they are using it they are using it against us and that's why they released a video earlier in the week of one of the it's one of the the way for them to this war this psychological propaganda war but it's quite interesting to note you know that the the Americans together with the two strike forces you know with the Eisenhower carrier and the Gerald Ford they also sent and they made it a point to make it known 2000 Marines I mean they're not here to help Israel we do not fortunately need American boots on the ground but the official reason that they're here is to check the possibility of actually releasing the hostages by force if the if the conditions will something that likened it to the force that went in tracked down Osama bin Laden exactly and the same thing is with the Germans you know the Germans also have a few abducted a few hostages in Gaza and the Germans are also thinking of moving or advancing a unit which is also trained in releasing hostages yeah there are many nations touched by this hostage crisis right and in that case Hamas has brought it on his head I don't think that they have planned it that way but the fact that they are like citizens from more than 20 countries it's a major major complication for them okay all right well let's talk about how this country is really coming together in the wake of one of the worst episodes in its history if not the worst episode in its history the brothers in arms organization is operating a special headquarters in one of the kibbutz team in the south where volunteers are collecting food and equipment and also going out on rescue and delivery missions are corresponded or we should peer over there here in this picturesque kibbutz not far from the Gaza border messes of volunteers have gathered to assist the hard-heat people of the south on sunday morning we created this control unit we didn't know exactly what to do we decided to set up this headquarters here a place close to the Gaza border this headquarters which was established right after the brutal Hamas assault on october 7 doesn't only help with supplies and food but also with evacuation missions i24news joined a team of elderly people who came to support the people of the south we have three missions today the first one is to bring people from Niti Vot the second one is to bring a package to berri and the third is to evacuate a woman and bring her to Jerusalem each unit here has four people and two cars in each car we have someone with a weapon and a driver our first stop was at Niti Vot about 10 kilometers from the Gaza Strip which has been bomb barred by rockets the next destination is kibbutz berri this was one of the main targets of the Hamas slaughter the team is asked to deliver a package to one of the residents here the road is closed by the IDF and the team brings the package to one of the soldiers one of the volunteers here is Shauli Levy whose granddaughter was kidnapped and taken to Gaza decided to take action and join the civil effort my heart hurts now but as you can see the activity here is distracting and that's the most important thing for me right now ever since the war erupted we are seeing more and more initiatives like this where residents are taking action it's just one more example of the uniqueness and strength of the Israeli society so just a reminder of where we are this hour on day 12 of Israel's war with Hamas the US President Joe Biden has left Israel he spent several hours here earlier today in which he backed Israel over what happened at the hospital in Gaza City last night where there was an explosion the United States backing Israel in that it was misfired terrorist missile and not an Israeli airstrike airstrikes on Gaza continue on Hamas targets there have been a barrage of rockets fired at Central Israel in the last hour as well we'll keep you updated thank you Amit Asa thank you Danny Ayalon stay tuned our coverage continues on this day 12 of Israel's war with Hamas goodbye 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 a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped help us we don't want 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 love it this particular project with a gross capacity of 103.5 megawatt we'll be producing around 230 gigawatt hour of clean renewable energy per year we have the right ingredients and we have to do the job and that if we have the right ingredients and we do the job that the faquita can be protected deeply saddened and outraged by the melancholy yesterday and based on what i've seen it appears as though it was done by the other team not not you welcome to this special broadcast on i24 news i'm caliban david day 12 of israel's war against hamas so president joe biden land in israel meet with prime minister benjamin netanyahu and other top officials and offer his support for israel quote doing what it needs to defend itself but he also pressed israel to take in account the suffering of gaza civilian population and the israeli government said it would allow egypt to bring in food water and supplies provided these did not end up in hamas's hands rockets continued to be launched from gaza into israel through the day as it fire into the country's north from lebanon by hezbollah and the other terror groups there israel also continuing its airstrikes on gaza but presented evidence it was a misfired rocket launched by palestinian islamic jihad that set off last night's explosion at the al ali hospital i've seen a diplomatic correspondent on ultimate prepared this report on the extraordinary visit here today by us president joe biden do we have that hold on we're going to see if we have that report all right let's move on israel has pushed back against claims okay we are going to that package now peak came at the start the president of the united states landing in israel in the middle of a war joe biden greeted by a nation on edge but thankful before heading off to work as emphasized earlier we will continue to have israel's back as you work to defend your people this will be a different kind of war because hamas is a different kind of enemy while israel seeks to minimize civilian casualties hamas seeks to maximize civilian casualties biden's visit was another key milestone in the war with deep symbolic meaning but also a full agenda biden not only met with israeli prime minister benjamin itanyahu and president isa kerzog but also sat with israel's five-man war cabinet trying to ensure the war doesn't spread to lebanon or elsewhere and getting a partial deal on aid to gazon civilians is it agree the humanitarian assistance can begin to move from egypt to gaza let me be clear and if hamas diverts or steals the assistance they will have demonstrated once again that they have no concern for the welfare of the palestinian people biden's visit also came just hours after tuesday night's blast at the hospital in gaza city with the president batting away claims israel is to blame based on the information we've seen to date it appears a result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in gaza the united states unequivocally stands for the protection of civilian life during conflict biden also met with bereaved families and families of hostages there and in all the stops making emotional overtures to israelis a show of solidarity and partnership with the country at war and israel has pushed back against those claims that its forces were responsible for the explosion at al ali hospital in gaza last night a misfied palestinian islamic jihad rocket was the cause according to the idf which presented evidence gathered by its intelligence forces robert swift has a story a blast at the gaza hospital on tuesday night was quickly labeled by chamas as the work of israel but by the following morning israel's military responded declassifying intelligence to share with international news outlets intelligence from few sources that we have in our hands indicates that the islamic jihad is responsible for the failed rocket launch which hit the hospital in gaza its not uncommon for gaza's homemade artillery to misfire with the rocket that reportedly struck al ali hospital being just the most deadly example israel says signals intelligence intercepted from a phone conversation between two chamas operatives shortly after the blast was released as further evidence the army said that the destruction caused at the hospital was inconsistent with an air strike lacking an impact crater or structural damage to the buildings extensive burn damage was likely caused by the rocket's fuel which had been intended for a much longer flight israeli media has rallied around the explanation but in the eyes of some western and arabic media israel has a credibility problem and information from its hands is suspect particularly after israel's handling of the fatal shooting of the journalist shireen abu achley last year but one key actor that israel needed to convince buys the evidence presented and based on what i've seen it appears as though it was done by the other team not you but there's a lot of people out there not sure having been shocked into silence in the opening hours of hamas's attack last week the idf is eager to regain the initiative in the information war and joining us in the studio we have shelly talmeron a member of the israeli parliament the kineset from the asian tea party and ambassador danie i along the former israeli ambassador to the us and former deputy foreign minister shelly your party has decided to remain in opposition but it's supporting the government during the war from the outside it's also has been very close to maybe in some ways closer to president biden's position than the coalition the visit today what did it achieve you think for israel during this war with hamas well first of all thank you for having me i think president biden's visit was enormously important for the state of israel first of all we truly appreciate the support that president biden and his his administration is showing to israel coming here has so many meanings besides the the the presence here and the moral support he chose the world that the united states states is with us and also all many many different countries that support israel during these trying times these are historic moments really we've never experienced such a barbaric massacre in one day in israel and i think his support is very very important he chose the world that israel is fighting this terror organization hamas which is i think even worse than isis it's unprecedented the horrible horrible things that they've done to our civilians our babies our women and children all these people taken into hostage it's unexplicable there are no words to describe what happened here on saturday a week and a half ago and we truly appreciate biden's support and also his support with equipment and army equipment and all the rest of the things that the administration is doing now for the state of israel all right and danie a lot of discussion whether this would be a love hug or a bear hug from president biden or maybe a combination of both certainly the support was there for israel to his cooperation but he did press israel it seems on the humanitarian issue a little bit of bear hug but mostly a love hug and on the humanitarian issue actually i think it's also israeli interest of course to do it in a way that will not harm our own operations going after hamas but to the extent that we can help the poor population in gaza and help them directly without any aid and material falling into the hamas who is looting all these things the humanitarian aid that is given to the to the gaza people i think we should do it because not only i think we owe it to biden for his as a request to biden but also i think it will allow israel's legitimacy to go on and actually allow us the latitude and the time we need to do away with hamas all right i want to jump to our senior u.s. correspondent mike wagenheim in washington dc mike as president biden was here in israel plenty of politics and diplomacy there in washington and new york centered around the israel hamas conflict let's start with washington that's right as we speak right now jack lu the ex-obama official treasury secretary chief of staff on and on it goes is being fried right now by republicans in the hearing room of the senate foreign relations committee lu nominated as the ambassador to israel it looked like the process was going to be gummed up for quite some time however the urgency of the matter right now with the conflict between israel hamas has really forced both sides of the isle to at least put his nomination up for a vote being held right now we spoke before the hearing with the new democratic chair of the senate foreign relations committee jewish by the way ben cardin to get his thoughts on the nomination of jack lu here's ben cardin earlier on today i think the hearing will demonstrate that secretary lu is not only fully qualified he has the background the experience the integrity that we need the confirmed ambassador and he's the right person i think this hearing will demonstrate that well that's one side of the thinking kaalev but on the republican side they've got a history with jack lu and is specifically his advocacy of the iran nuclear core during his time as an obama official in fact senator marco rubio read a loud testimony from a report which found that lu misled congress during his statements on the iran nuclear court in related matters we spoke one on one with senator tim scott another republican member of the senate foreign relations committee he said hey while lu's heart is in the right place in terms of israel his past policies means he doesn't make the cut here's tim scott earlier today yeah one of the things i heard from jack lu was a his support for israel which i think was positive b unfortunately his actions in the obama administration are inconsistent with the position she's taking i'm certain i'm certain that he does have passion and compassion for the people of israel without any question however his leadership as a part of the obama administration his support of the jcpoa or the nuclear deal creating a runway to a nuclear iran is a terrible idea from my perspective second thing we had a serious conversation about the importance of the six billion dollars being used for hostages i think that four hundred million dollars in the obama administration that becomes six billion dollars during the biden administration both are disasters creates a market for hostages and third i would suggest that being prepared to be the ambassador to israel means that you have have to have unequivocal support for the nation of israel i find him wanting based on the past challenges with the jcpoa and the current negotiations that have been happening over the last several months on a new nuclear deal of some former fashion well tim scott of course running for the republican presidential nomination and mike mike let's turn to new york city the u n security council taking up the israel gaza conflict today that's right one more thing by the way the senate foreign relations committee is expected to hold a vote on louis uh nomination coming up next week a positive vote would send it to a full vote but to the united nations that's right another resolution being fronted this time by brazil to try to bring about a humanitarian pause not a ceasefire but a pause that was language that was negotiated into the text of brazil's resolution it was postponed from a vote last night to one this morning and once again a resolution from the security council fails first it was russia earlier this week now it's brazil and the united states was the one that vetoed brazil's resolution 12 members of the 15 member body voted for it russia and the uk abstained the us vetoed it why linda thomas greenfield the ambassador says it's because it did not include standard definition of mic i'm sorry we're gonna have to cut you off uh however i'm gonna have to cut you off we're at no dam at hog already i the have the sponsor speaking the conducted against israel the idf struck the sources of the fire and the infrastructure of hezbollah in lebanon in addition we took down a squad of terrorists that fired mortars in the region using a drone are offensive in the gaza strip we and the generals security service took down the commander of the anti-tank missiles in the gaza in addition we took down a terrorist who fired an anti-tank missile near kisafim the ground forces the reservists continue the preparations and practice in all levels of command for the next stage of the war yesterday evening Hamas spread an evil lie against us as if we attacked a hospital we checked the facts and presented proof that this is an utter lie this morning before the arrival of the U.S. president we held a briefing to journalists with which proofs and evidence were shown we presented to the world the truth following the accurate report the U.S. president and other countries immediately presented our stance we must stand of the world not to accept the lies of the Hamas organization that has proven its cruelty in the massacre on saturday will not accept what it presents when it has no credibility for truth and facts they do not exist for him and the IDF is working according to the international law and committed to facts credibility is important for the rest of our work we have great challenge with legitimacy against an enemy that has no value for truth and uses many populations around the world this is a national responsibility to fight for legitimacy although each in his area we conduct many efforts to report factually and in real time to the IDF spokesperson units hundreds of reservists were joined together with Israeli authorities and foreign ministry we're working around the clock the work for legitimacy is difficult and sometimes frustration but the Ryu has no other option we must fight we as shown proves that the residents of the idea of Gaza are being used as human shields where rockets are being fired near hospitals we will continue to expose such testimonies all the time since the start of the war executed 450 failed launches that fell inside the Gaza Strip and caused the deaths of innocents in Gaza we will continue to expose all the failed launches of Hamas and Islamic jihad in one hand Hamas is preventing residents of Gaza to evict southwards where an area is waiting for them and risks their lives inside Gaza some of them are being killed like those families who were near the family near the hospital so far we have given notices to families of 303 IDF fallen soldiers and 199 kidnapped we feel the pain of the families and we hug them at this difficult time the data in our hands is updated on a daily basis according to the evidence that we find it has to do with operational work investigations and we are updating the families we must continue to follow the orders of the home front command I repeat our defense is not complete it is very good but it's not complete what saves lives is the public's obedience to the instructions of the home front command continue to follow the instructions on our website questions families of it they kidnapped protested against the humanitarian relief to Gaza why does Israel allow this all right we just heard Rear Admiral Daniel Hargari the IDF spokesman speaking a lot of it talking about the IDF's evidence presented saying it was a Palestinian Islamic jihad misfire that caused that explosion in the Gaza hospital Shelly in your resume you were both in the air force an operations officer so you know about those operations such as we're taking place in Gaza you also served as a spokesperson for the air force and in the army tell them let's talk about the challenge that the army faced in this time to get out that real-time intelligence as quickly as possible something that let's be honest in the past in a lot of past circumstances the idea the spokesperson was not able to do that well it's very complicated you know it's it seems very easy on the outside maybe for the media because they put out the information as fast as they can and I can understand that but I think what the IDF did yesterday was the responsible thing to do they wanted to check and recheck and recheck and be sure of the information that they're putting out to the media and I think as an officer in the air force you know I was almost seven years in the air force I was an ops officer and then I was a spokesperson and I have a lot of experience with these kinds of operations and I know from both sides first from as an ops officer what happens in the operation room when you control this kind of operation and what happens on the spokesperson side and I can tell you that sometimes the information doesn't go out as fast as we want it to go out but it's the responsible thing to do and I think today the IDF proved in every way possible with the recorded conversation with the footage with channel 12's footage that they showed out that we can see that the information that the Hamas send out was wrong and this was a misfired missile that fell on the hospital you can see also with all the pictures and all the information that they're putting out that there is no crate on the ground you can see that the burning is on the parking lot you can see that there is not a direct hit to the hospital all the information is showing that there was no airstrike from our side and I think that President Biden said it with his own voice his resources also confirmed that we are right and this was not Israel's fault and I can only say that I'm very sorry that a lot of media throughout the world rushed and blamed Israel before checking the facts and explaining things in the aftermath is very complicated because you have to wait and see that the information is true and correct before you put it out there Right, you don't want to correct a correction Right, exactly that's a lot more complicated when you have to explain something after everybody's already believing that it happened so I'm very sorry for that and I can tell you I spent a lot of time in the operation room and I know from my experience that every time that we had any source of doubt if there were children around or any kind of innocent civilian we would stop the operation and not go through with it so my experience shows me that we're truly a moral army we don't want to target civilians we only want to target Hamas and that's why we told the popularity in Gaza the population the population sorry we told the population to go to the south of Gaza and leave the north so that we don't harm civilians but unfortunately Hamas is stopping the people from going down south they're not allowing them to do that so that they can use them as human shields that is a horrible, horrible fact Danny there's an expression the young people use the haters gonna hate this evidence is not going to convince those people who are simply opposed to Israel's positions but one key member of the world audience maybe the most important one was Joe Biden and making that statement today that was the most important perhaps achievement of this campaign that the idea had to do quickly overnight Oh absolutely and this was corroborated and verified and was repeated by other decent members of the international community like the British foreign minister and others so now this is beyond doubt or any dispute but I think what we see here with all those who are jumping the gun so happy to blame Israel or to believe everything that Hamas is putting out is downright anti-Semitism especially with you know what Hamas is and I believe that there is only one measure against it which is to outlaw this things and enforce this legislation because supporting Hamas is like supporting the Nazis and there are many countries with this anti-Nazi sentiment legislation I think this is the only way and Kalev you were right you cannot convince them these guys either they are brainwashed they are filled with hatred you know many of them are jihadist believers in themselves or if they're not Islamists they are I would say useful idiots by the Islamist in any way there is no point of trying to convince them but just to outlaw them all right Shelly I don't want to get too much into internal Israeli politics as I said Yashatid is in opposition it's supporting the government on its warp of the conduct of the operation but it has been critical including a party leader today on some of the let's say domestic on the home front issues so let me ask you what does Yashatid or you want to see this government be doing now that it hasn't done in terms of the home front well first of all I have to tell you that the past week and a half we found ourselves cooperating between all the parties in the Knesset right so after very difficult months that we had before the war and the difficult conflict that we had now for the past week and a half everybody's cooperating Yashatid is supporting this government fully from the outside we are all committed we are all together to fight the Hamas I can tell you that we established a sort of operation room in the Knesset where all the members of the Knesset take part we help the civilians we help soldiers we help reserve soldiers and we do many many things to help the home front and of course we want to support the government in its efforts and when it's time to ask questions we will do so and also if we think that some of the things are not done correctly then we raise our hands and say let's do it this way and we try to influence as much as we can I can tell you that the cooperation right now between all the parties is very good all right, Shelly Talmaron member of Knesset for the Yashatid party thank you for joining us I know you have to move on Ambassador Danny Ayalon you're staying with us and please do stay with us as we continue our coverage an extraordinary day US President Joe Biden coming into the war zone in Israel we'll have more on that and our continuing coverage of Israel's war against Hamas day 12 we'll be right back after a few minutes Israel is at war make an investment in Israel bonds it is the most powerful and direct way to stand with Israel visit israelbonds.com and invest now good evening ladies and gentlemen 1,500 people murdered and more than 3,000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24 news you need to get in the car as we're talking within 100 soldiers and civilians have been killed 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 welcome back to this special coverage of i24 news day 12 of Israel's war against Hamas and it was a day of continued air raid sirens we just had one in Tel Aviv about a half an hour a little more than half an hour ago there have been several during the course of the day of course in that Gaza border area let's go down to our Ariel also on a Middle East correspondent who is downstaffed in a steroid I believe yes Ariel what's the situation there been a lot of people have left the city most of them but still it is a target of Hamas Red Kalev only 10% of the local population here in the city of Sadevot have remained we're talking about a city of 35,000 people now while there haven't been any sirens heard around the country for the past hour just a few minutes ago we did see a few rockets intercepted overhead not quite sure where they were heading but indeed all the while we hear Israeli artillery don't know if you could hear that boom just now but every few moments Israeli artillery also jets heard overhead is surveillance drones this also in Gaza they're reporting of of an increase in the rate of Israeli airstrikes over the past few hours since President Biden left Israel all right thank you Ariel also on thank you for that we are getting some reports of sirens here in the Tel Aviv area not in our particular there are sirens in here in the Tel Aviv area but not in South Tel Aviv where we are will follow up on those sirens if we can I believe though we do have now we're just showing you the Tel Aviv skyline there but I don't know if that's the area in which we'll see rocket interceptions not seeing anything there we'll come back I'm not seeing there it's live yes but I'm not seeing anything there so let's let's move on unless we'll just wait one more second we're seeing some live images of the Tel Aviv skyline there but we are not seeing any rocket fall or the Iron Dome system go off so let's let's come back to that okay well Mark Regev may be in there we were going to go to the Mark Regev the senior advisor to Prime Minister that's now but he may be in the air raid shelter right now because he's in the Tel Aviv area we're still with Ambassador Danny Elone and of course Owen Altman our senior diplomatic correspondent you've been covering the Biden visit all day oh we just heard it we just heard a boom here in the studio there was an interception and it's interception another one and we just heard another one we heard it and we a little bit of a vibration so even though it's in another the it was in another Tel Aviv it appears that there was an interception now in the skies above Tel Aviv interesting Hamas waited until President Biden left oh yes Danny can they wait Hamas waiting until apparently not willing to a lot of those are betting the other way by the way well maybe Hamas realize there would be a mistake to fire on the president with the six fleet and the two largest aircraft carriers I think and the United States has just off the coast can live in international warfare and and war laws you know if you are targeting ahead a legitimate head of state an elected head of state this is a war crime and this is actually a declaration of war and I think that Hamas even Hamas did not they're doing that I think Iran was warned Hezbollah was warned and I'm sure that knowing the Americans you know how meticulous they are and how well prepared they are they wouldn't put their president at risk if he had not been assured beforehand that nobody will fire near him or his vicinity during his visit here in Israel all right we have to say they didn't wait very long until after he left to resume their fire on Israel's head state of course we're on a state of well you've been covering that visit of president Biden today and the question is if Israel got everything it wanted or more than it even perhaps wanted from the US well we obviously don't know the details and frankly since shouldn't know the details of what was exactly described close to hold to hold that thought because we have our Pierre Kloschandler he is out on the Tel Aviv I understand you've taken shelter rightly so Pierre what's the situation well the situation is fine I don't have yet any update whether there were hits impacts we heard an explosion but it could be an interception we don't know yet from the rescue services of Maghen David Adam whether there were any direct impacts or people wounded casualties we don't know nothing at this point but it was a second alert in one hour just after president Biden left and obviously the president at least in Tel Aviv skies and in the center of the country is a great deterrent because there were no alerts and it was very quiet apart from the localities near the Gaza border Bersheva and the northern border of course all right Pierre Kloschandler there in Tel Aviv in the shelter as he rightly should be thank you for that Pierre also coming under fire today along with the south and the center was the north of Israel facing fire from across the Lebanese border several rockets and fire anti-tank mortars fired across that border let's go to a Pierre Stecovach who's in the north we're not designating her exact location deliver late Pierre give us a little on what the situation in the north is Red Kalev according to a statement of the Israeli army today since the afternoon hours 10 anti-tank missiles were fired as well as 10 rockets and several mortar bombs coming from southern Lebanon into Israel really they have been skirmishes all across Lebanese border it's a very long border they have been for example rocket sirens hurt in Kiryat Shmone an anti-tank missile causing one a person to get lightly injured in the kibbutz really sitting on the border also there in the east and region of the Galilee the Hezbollah militia publishing a video showing its fighters how they're actually shooting at surveillance and radar posts at Israeli military posts of course here the fear is there that we might see similar scenes that we've seen in the south we're talking about infiltration attempts that have happened really all across the week the Israeli army up until now really able to preventing any attempts of infiltration here at the northern border but the area here in an area up to two kilometers away from the border has already been evacuated now the Israeli government today approving that an area as close as five kilometers to the area can be evacuated because really people here have been suffering from that tense situation since really the beginning of the war of course the images of Biden being in Israel his statements of solidarity with Israel also being heard in Tehran and also by Hezbollah they've also been saying that they make their entry to into the war dependent on activities and actions in Gaza as of now the northern front is heating up and continues to heat up we haven't seen a full blown escalation yet but the tensions here are very high all right P.S. Takobach there in Israel's north now let's go to and speak with Mark Regev veteran diplomat who is now back in the prime minister's office as a senior advisor to prime minister Netanyahu Mark thanks for joining us let's talk about today's visit by president Biden did prime minister Netanyahu what was the achievement what what what what were the achievements that prime minister Netanyahu sees were achieved by this really extraordinary visit today well you're right Kaleb it was an unprecedented visit I don't think as the prime minister said we've never had an American president visit during wartime and I think his visit was another manifestation of what we're seeing is very very strong and consistent U.S. support for Israel in this crisis and let's just go through that with your permission number one America has been expressing in its words from the president down the president the secretary of state who was here the secretary of defense who was here the the leader of the Senate who was here one after another unequivocal support for Israel a total condemnation of Hamas's terrible attack on Israel on on on October 7th they have the Americans have compared Hamas to ISIS the Americans have compared Hamas's attacks to Nazis they have really drawn a line in the sand and shown global moral leadership but it's not just the words Caleb their actions the fact that he came today the fact that they've moved the two aircraft carrier strike forces to the eastern Mediterranean the fact that they've beefed up their military readiness they are sending a message to regional actors who might think this is an opportunity to expand the conflict this is an opportunity to catch Israel off guard this is an opportunity to exploit the crisis in Gaza and America is saying we're watching that's a crucial message and I think the prime minister was speaking for all Israeli citizens when he said thank you President Biden we appreciate the support we we we know we have a friend in the United States in the White House we have friends in Congress the American people if you look at the recent polling support for Israel is at a record high this is a good relationship and at this time of crisis we Israelis are deeply grateful that America is supporting us all right Mark now of course of course President Biden also urging Israel to take into consideration the humanitarian needs of civilians in Gaza and urging Israel attacked according to the rules of law and the cabinet today did in fact issue a statement saying it would approve Egypt supplying water and food provided it doesn't go into the hands of Hamas this has been a some a little bit of a contentious issue within the the government I say the coalition maybe talk about that a bit so look the decision is clear as long as we've got some 200 Israelis held hostage in Gaza the crossings into Gaza from Israel are closed and there'll be no humanitarian relief not from Israel but in response to a quest from the president we we are not opposed to the Ratha crossing that connects Egypt to Gaza for that being used for humanitarian support we're not opposed to that we have only one condition we say we want assurances we want guarantees we want safeguards that any aid going into Gaza goes for who it is intended to goes to the people of Gaza we had a story just the day before yesterday where tankers of petrol came into the Gaza Strip supposedly to go to the generators at the hospitals in Gaza there were concerns that the hospitals in Gaza wouldn't have electricity they needed their generators and that's something Israel has no problem with but we learned afterwards that part of that fuel was hijacked and taken away stolen by Hamas for its military machine now that's unacceptable it should not just be unacceptable to Israel it should be unacceptable to the entire international community donations to the people of Gaza to support them humanitarian should go to the people of Gaza and if Hamas is stealing that aid if Hamas is siphoning off that aid to its military machine there should be no tolerance for that whatsoever All right, and finally I want to ask you this someone who was dealt in the arena of public diplomacy Israel making an all out campaign to present evidence that the bombing of the Al Ali Hospital in Gaza was the result of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad misfire do you think Israel successfully has made that point in that international arena I think everyone who is reasonable is convinced that Israel's case is ironclad people who are not reasonable I'll leave them out of it they are inconvincible but we showed two photographs one film taken by Al Jazeera not known for being a friend of Israel showing missiles going up and going down over the hospital a second film taken on the Israeli side of the border showing the same thing and third the intercept by military intelligence clearly heard of the Hamas people admitting knowing that it was a Islamic Jihad rocket so this is really interesting because not only does Hamas know the truth that it was an Islamic Jihad rocket but they are lying deliberately for their own propaganda purposes and those who choose to believe that it was an Israeli rocket are either misguided or they're just brainwashed I can't explain otherwise all the facts as President Biden said indicate that this was an Islamic Jihad rocket and we know from past rounds of fighting that a large percentage may be up to a third some members give it a bit lower but that a large proportion of these rockets do fall short they do malfunction they do have accidents I remember in 2022 when we had the fighting with Islamic Jihad there was one case of a family in a refugee camp in Gaza and everyone said oh it was Israel's fault Israel's fault and we showed then conclusively that it was an Islamic Jihad rocket that that failed and fell short inside Gaza it was the same last night and I hope next time the international media is given Hamas propaganda that there's been some atrocity and that Israel is responsible I urge them to be cautious I urge them to be skeptical of Hamas propaganda we saw what happened last night and it could happen again we've got to be I urge them Hamas has no qualms whatsoever about killing innocent people we've seen that over the last two weeks but they also have no qualms about killing the truth they're experts at killing the truth All right Mark Gregev see advisor to prime minister in the prime minister's office thank you for that My pleasure sir I want to go back to Owen and let him finish the point about this visit today by President Joe Biden Well first there's a point about Mark Gregev listen Kaleb we've had 360,000 Israelis called into the military as reserves but there are obviously lots of people fighting but you see a case like Mark Gregev someone who was out of government but essentially got the felt like he got a reserve call right and is now back in working for the prime minister's office so another frequent guest on our channel Jonathan Conriquez from the IDF spokesperson's office also back at literally He's part of the army He's part of the military so it's right but at any rate just seeing how across Israeli society people people are involved and it touches every host household as for the visit look the did Israel get what it wanted first of all got the visit itself right the visit itself with all of the emotional resonance with all of the emotional resonance of Joe Biden walking down that plane we put that in that report at the top of the show and of course that remarkable speech another remarkable Biden speech that closed the trip Israel also seems according to what we've seen in public and in reporting to have gotten what it wants in terms of the latitude to continue the campaign by the way Kalev that is not inconsistent with what we've heard from Joe Biden before maybe we'll have time a little bit later to unpack that of course there were concessions that Israel needed to make particularly on the issue of the humanitarian aid and there I repeat what I have said over the course of the last week or more denying food and water to 2 million people in the Gaza Strip is simply not a realistic policy putting aside any ethical or legal debates it is not a realistic policy as I keep saying the apple that fell from the tree didn't levitate on the air it hit Isaac Newton in the head and as we talked about so many times with the judicial overhaul another unrealistic policy proposed all the way in a very different kind but also unrealistic put forward by the government was doomed to fail at least in this totality that's the same here so getting at least food water and medicine into the Gaza Strip is something that it was it was bound to happen simply by a matter of reality and before our eyes we're seeing it happening as for where it goes through and what else goes in there the Israeli government will have more latitude but in terms of essentials for sustaining life Israel will be allowing that at least allowing that to go through it's not realistic to believe that there was any alternative all right then we heard the complexities with things like fuel for example now it does seem that president Biden did get what he got what he got what he wanted from his visit to Israel but it didn't get everything that he wanted from a visit to the Middle East his planned summit in Jordan with three Arab leaders did not go through first day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pulled out following that Gaza hospital blast and of course hesitations from King Abdullah of Jordan Egypt's president Abdo Fatah Al-Sisi was also supposed to have taken part in that summit which he had never came out through but he did have this to say today in response to suggestions that he allowed Gaza residents to seek at least temporary refuge in Sinai the idea of displacement or displacement of Palestinians from the strip to Egypt simply means that something similar will also happen which is the displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan and thus the idea of the Palestinian state that we are talking about and the international community is talking about remains unimplementable because that land exists but the people do not exist and therefore I warn of the danger of this matter if there is an idea for displacement there is the Negev Desert in Israel it is very possible to transfer the Palestinians there until Israel finishes its declared mission of liquidating the resistance or armed groups such as Hamas, Islamic jihad and others in the Gaza Strip and then return them again if it wants to that was in President Sisi's meeting with the German Chancellor Olaf Schultz who was of course in Israel yesterday Danny Akson beginning to suspect that maybe President Sisi saw at least the coverage given in the Arab press Al Jazeera and etc by comments you made which were not well received by as you could see by President Sisi and others the fact of Egypt offering temporary perhaps temporary refuge to some of the residents of Gaza during at least during the conflict well they cannot shirk their responsibility first of all it's talking about human lives you know we're talking about more than a million maybe million and a half Palestinians who are caught in harm's way and they are also may some of them held hostages by Hamas they are not going to stay they have two options either to go to the sea and drown nobody wants that or go down south to the Egyptian border and here the Egyptians have a choice either receive them in an orderly manner and get the support and cooperation from the international community who will also pay handsomely for them just like they need to Turkey Erdogan received four million refugees fleeing from the butchery of Assad in Syria a few years back and you know put a tent city and he got a lot of money for that right at Jordan also of course and Jordan of course I think I want two million yes right right and so he could do the same there's nothing that really compromise his position or security of Egypt now granted he wants to show that he is very much caring about the Palestinians and he doesn't want to see what they call another nakba but nobody's talking about that we're talking about a temporary I wouldn't even call it displacement a temporary visit in the Sinai there are vast expenses of area there which could be secure it's nowhere near any urban areas in Egypt itself they have a military administration over there in Gaza so everything could be well managed and they will get not only the sympathy but money from the international community now if they do not get those refugees in a manner really in an orderly manner then what choice do they have a stampede a stampede which doesn't is not going to look very pretty so I hope the Egyptians will come to their senses I have no illusions that they will not do it freely they will not want to show that they are encouraging that or supporting that maybe they want to be seen as being enforced to do that just for own internal consumption all right well you did hear President Sisi say well as you should have put them in the in the negative which would be you know what I'm saying I think that's a particularly realistic idea but speaking of difficult choices that got made we don't know as you said Owen you much we don't really know what we said we should know if there was at one point a face-to-face meeting just between present discussion just between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu we don't really even know what was said in that one of the things we've heard that the Americans want to know which has not been discussed at the highest level here publicly is the day after right what happens we know the mission has been supported the United States is supporting the Israel's mission to to at least take away the Hamas military capacity to rule the Gaza Strip and threaten Israel from it but then what happens next right well a couple points first of all I think I speak for the vast majority of Israelis is to say we are we are done worrying about the devil we don't know we're done worrying about the devil we don't know we've seen the devil that we know we saw it on October 7th we saw it in Simchaturan our holiday and we're done worrying about the devil we don't know and we're willing to take our chances on who that devil or not devil will be that's that of course there's a need to think about the devil unless it's of course unless it's the same devil that's of course the issue I mean somebody of course I mean if the if the war doesn't succeed and it's in its objective of toppling and ending Hamas control over the Gaza Strip then there is no real day after in this sense right but assuming that the objective is achieved which is the assumption sort of pregnant in the question obviously the day after has to start to be considered it is being considered at least in the public discussion here in Israel collect to make a long story short there are only bad options I think by emerging consensus the least bad of the bad options from Israel's perspective is the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza where it was before 2007 why is it a bad option because the Palestinian Authority's relationship with the Israeli government particularly with the Israeli right in this government is very very complicated and fraught also the Palestinian Authority is struggling in governance in the West Bank that's been a huge story over the past couple of years and to govern Gaza will only be many times more difficult for them so what's to give us confidence that they're actually going to be able to succeed in the task that said the other alternatives are much worse an international force what country can be trusted to be there and to sacrifice its soldiers potentially and its soldiers lives on behalf of keeping the peace in Gaza what country has the incentive in the national interest to do so it's a question that doesn't really have much of an answer well people have suggested maybe a pan-Arab force countries like Egypt certainly does have an interest even Saudi Arabia even the Gulf States it's hard to imagine that they'll really do this in a way that will give the Israeli public confidence I think that's the emerging view so the other alternatives all seem to be and of course Israel reoccupying the strip is seen as a worse alternative so that's the emerging consensus here in Israel there are obviously a lot of details about how to make that happen concern about the image of the Palestinian Authority going in after an Israeli conquest let's say so questions about having some kind of interim step this is the discussion here in Israel and then the Palestinian Authority be quote invited by the United Nations to come in so obviously it's still a lot to be worked out and there seems to be better or for better worse be a lot of time to work it out because by all accounts this is a war at least according to the conventional wisdom a war that's not going to end soon all right then I'll just move back to the human side President Biden meeting with families American Israeli Americans Israelis with American citizenship who have either suffered losses of their loved ones or being hostages being held hostage in Gaza and of course that has to remain that is still Israel's primary goal here that's gotten support from President Biden oh well that's a big issue in the