 Other threats from across the Middle East, Israel's ground offensive to destroy Hamas in the Gaza Strip is about to enter its fourth month, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the war will continue many months more. In a press conference last night, Netanyahu says the IDF will not stop until Hamas is eliminated and the Strip demilitarized. He also spoke directly about one lingering aspect of the war, what to do about the southern border with Gaza that borders Egypt, not Israel, and from where it's believed Hamas smuggles many weapons, machines, and rockets. The Philadelphia Corridor, or to put it more correctly, the southern stoppage point, must be in our hands. It must be shut. It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarization that we seek. The war will continue for many more months. My policy is clear. We will continue to fight until all the objectives of the war are achieved, and the priority is the elimination of Hamas and the release of all our captives. We will not relent for a moment in our efforts to bring our captives home. We will ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. Let me introduce our panel here in studio with me. I have Rafael Yerushar a former IDF Senior Intelligence Officer, I-25 News Senior Correspondent, Owen Alternate, and I-25 News Middle East Correspondent, Ariel Oceron. Thank you all so much for being with me here. Rafael, I want to start with you with a question about Netanyahu's remarks yesterday, insisting that the war will take many more months. But noting specifically something needs to be done about this Philadelphia Corridor, which is Egyptian-controlled. He said it needs to return to Israeli hands. How would that work? Would that be a military operation, diplomatic cooperation with Egypt, and would Israeli soldiers need to once again be there 24-7 physically on that border to make it work? Yes, there would have to be. And it's a bit of both military and diplomatic. Military, for sure. It's a security problem that has to be dealt in a military way. The obstacle is the attitude of the Egyptians, who on the one hand do not want Israelis to mingle and tackle with the Gaza-Egypt border, but on the other hand do not want themselves to do anything about it, not anything about the tunnels under it, not anything about the humanitarian problem. So the Egyptians would do nothing and not let us do anything, which of course is not acceptable. We're going to have to probably look forward to a kind of diplomatic crisis, but a low-key diplomatic crisis with the Egyptians before they allow us to do what we have to do. We will do it anyway. But then the IDF will have manpower soldiers in North Gaza, they'll be stationed in North Gaza, and in the far, far southern part of the strip station in this border with Egypt to prevent tunnels and smuggling. Isn't this the very reason the IDF left in the first place? I mean, there are targets for these guerrilla-style ambush terror attacks, and now we're going to have IDF soldiers positioned continuously across the strip? Well, so long as there is no other solution, yes, because we're thinking of maybe an international force that would come in, maybe a coalition made of Arabic countries that have relations with Israel that would bring their military or police to rule the Gaza Strip, at least to have some law on order there. Many alternatives are being considered, but right now nobody else is doing the job. We are the only ones who can do the job for many months to come. Hopefully at some point, what we call the day after and that is what is lacking in Mr. Netanyahu's speech is what do we do to prepare this day after? What do we do to get out of the Gaza Strip? Who do we let in? What do we want to do to come in? These things have not been said by the prime minister. I want to ask about the American involvement here. The famous phrase going back in the Kissinger Secretary of State, a shuttle diplomacy as he shuttled back and forth between Cairo and Jerusalem and Washington to end the 73 Yom Kippur War. Now Tony Blinken, Anthony Blinken coming back and forth many times over the course of the last four months to try and negotiate a way an end to this war and a solution here. He'll be back in a few days. This comes on the back of a very testy phone call again between Netanyahu and President Biden. What pressure will the Americans have in January on the perhaps redefined phasing of the war? Well, you're right, Jeff. The shuttle diplomacy has been out there in fours, especially that memorable magical mystery tour right in the first few weeks of the war where Anthony Blinken just kept going from one capital to another, almost on the fly and a kind of frantic set of moves to try to rein in the war. Look, I think the Biden administration policy, there's going to be obviously more continuity than change. These are things that have been urged going back weeks, if not months, if not to the initial weeks of the war itself. There seems to be a military logic in Israel, though I defer to Rafael on this, independent of American pressure to move on to a new phase of the war over the next few weeks at some point as well. The Americans have decided, we should say in the meantime, not to use the leverage of ammunition as a lever against Israel with Blinken- Quite literally in this case. Right, exactly. With Blinken okaying the go ahead for sending ammunition to Israel bypassing Congress, doing that over the course of the last day. But you're right, coming here to send the message. And I think that the Biden administration will continue to want to work collaboratively with Israel to use carrots and not sticks to be patient, to try to come to consensus and not to have some kind of open clash. There's so much talk, though, about this move to a lower intensity phase where it's precision strikes only, maybe elite commando units going in and out. Not so much a softening of targets with massive airstrikes or air power. Do you think the Americans still have patience for the Israeli strategy of deep ground incursions, hunting force in war, hunting for the leadership in these tunnels? Or will there have to be a drawdown perhaps of some of those more striking ground operations? Well, listen, it seems to me that at some point there's a consensus that this phase of the war will have exhausted itself. That there just aren't the extent, there isn't anymore the extent of targets to which these kinds of big forces are needed. Again, on there too, I defer to Raphael. So it seems that there's both a military logic and a diplomatic logic for changing the paradigm and the phasing of the war. That said, Jeff, you pointed to one of the potential points, it seems to me, of disagreement, which is where should the military be stationed after this intensive phase is over? On one hand, nobody wants the Israeli military to be sitting ducks in the middle of the Gaza Strip. On the other hand, to fully pull back to the perimeter may be something, again, I defer to military expertise that Israel will be unwilling to do at this stage in the Israeli military. We'll want more of a presence inside Gaza, more of a forward position to be able to carry out the kinds of targeted strikes it wants and to be able to really control the territory and route out Hamas. So it seems to me there will be some points of friction, but it seems that the gap may narrow just as the military logic starts to point in that direction as well. I want to go back to our correspondent, Nicole Zegak, who is live for us along the Israel-Gaza border. Give us an update here on the IDF, I guess operation ongoing now about to enter its fourth month. There are still efforts to route out Hamas leaders and engage in firefights and route out these terrorists from their tunnels. Where is the IDF operating now in Gaza? We just got an update from the IDF about their recent activity specifically in the al-Shakti region, which is just north of Gaza City. I'm going to have my cameraman Daniel kind of zoom over because behind me here is central Gaza Strip. And then as we're going over, you can see it's all smoky, it's all foggy, but there are some distant plumes of smoke in the distance. And that's because this area is Gaza City, Jabalia. And then if we head more west towards the coast, that's where al-Shakti is. And according to this recent IDF statement that came out, that's where the IDF just found a kindergarten. Once again, Hamas using kindergarten children's facilities to have terrorist infrastructure as well as explosives inside this kindergarten. The IDF says that they eliminated these ready to use chargers. They eliminated the terrorist infrastructure in this kindergarten and also eliminated a handful of Hamas terrorists as well. And this is just one of the areas that the IDF continues to operate. But as you look up and down the Gaza Strip, we continue to see these plumes of smoke hearing the sounds of warfare as well as we know that not only is the IDF operating on the ground, exchanging in gun battles, artillery also firing from Israel into the Gaza Strip. And also, according to this most recent IDF statement, once again, using their naval forces as well to fire at different Hamas terrorists inside the Gaza Strip as well. So land, sea, and air, all on day 86, they continue to use all means necessary to try and gain a stronghold on the terrorists operating in the Gaza Strip. But as we see, and as according to their most recent statement, they are still operating in the center to the northern part of the Strip as well. That's where the Al-Shati region is, Jabalia, even Baitlahia, they said. They still found some more terrorists operating in that area as well and were able to eliminate them according to this most recent statement. This also, as they do, continue to go more into the central part of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian media reports coming out from the early morning hour saying that overnight continued airstrikes in the central part of the Gaza Strip, specifically the Maghazi region. And we also know a heavy, heavy hotspot in Ghanunas in the south as well. This is also a stronghold that the IDF for several weeks now has been continuing to operate in, exchanging in some fierce battles there as well. All of this fighting, also day 86, coming at a very heavy toll as of yesterday. We know the death toll for Israeli soldiers stands at 170. So it's definitely taking a toll on the soldiers, but we can't say it's not coming with advancements. We are seeing these advancements not only on the ground, but also here in Israel. We're seeing just the lessening of rocket attacks, the weakening of the capabilities of Hamas being able to fire long range rockets. However, according to a report coming out of the Israeli Army radio, they spoke to the IDF and they say that according to an unnamed official in the IDF, they're not sure if Hamas will ever lose the capability to completely fire rockets. And especially these border communities, these southern Israeli towns, they might always be at threat for possible sirens going through the air. 15 seconds to run to their shelter. The IDF isn't sure if they'll ever be able to completely eliminate that threat. But as we continue to see, they are absolutely working on it around this clock going into the fourth month really of the war here. Nicole, thank you for that live update from the Israel Gaza border. Stay safe. And hundreds of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv last night, hoping to keep the attention on the remaining 129 hostages in Gaza. As Israel continues this ground offensive deep inside the Gaza Strip, protesters say that government ministers are more worried about their own political survival than the survival of the hostages. Demonstrators say it is time now to reach another deal with Hamas, no matter the cost, to bring them home. I think that as a part of the Israelis part of, they are part of us. 129 people are hostages in Gaza. They're animals. They're monsters. And we all must come here to support the families, the brothers, the sisters. They must come home. And I think it's the job of all of us. If we won't be here, then nobody will do that. I'm afraid that the government of Israel has prioritized otherwise its political ambitions. And the hostages is not on the top priorities. In order to release these hostages, a ceasefire must be taking place. There's no other way. Netanyahu addressed this very issue in his press conference last night, arguing that the massive ground operation is the reason Hamas agreed in the first place for a partial hostage deal and may do so again. Various reports in Israeli media, Egyptian TV, and other Arabic media sources claim Hamas and Israel are in Qing closer to another hostages for a ceasefire deal. Regarding a possible deal on the hostages, if it exists, it will be carried out. I cannot tell you that this thing has been achieved. I can say that Hamas is making all kinds of ultimatums, which we did not accept. And we see a possibility, perhaps, of a shift. I don't want to create excessive expectation here. I think the way we are managing it, with a combination of military pressure and an intelligent approach to negotiations, I think this is the only way that can bring results. The threats to Israeli security not just coming out of Gaza from Hamas terrorists, but also in the West Bank, there continues to be attacks and threats, and the Israeli need to address security issues across the West Bank for an update on a new security situation. Ariel tells more. Right, Jeff. So the West Bank, Israel's activity there is perhaps not as high in the headlines as what's going on in Gaza and Lebanon, but Israel continuously active in the West Bank overnight. Ongoing significant operation in the West Bank city of Tulkarem and nearby Nour Shams camp, according to Palestinian reports there. The IDF operating at least 10 hours there, and it's still going, carrying out multiple drone strikes. This is something that we've become more accustomed to employing and attack aerial capabilities in the West Bank. Now, according to the Palestinians, three people were injured in that attack, but significant arrests of terror suspects made in the Nour Shams camp, as well as uncovering weapons, caches of weapons and explosives. Now, this comes as throughout the weekend also the IDF operated in the West Bank. Since the start of the war, we're seeing a total of 2,600 arrests of terror suspects. At least 1,300 of them are members belonging to Hamas. Rafael, are you concerned about the situation in the West Bank? Are things boiling over in the West Bank? No, I don't think so. They're not anyway boiling over as much as Mr. Siouan would have liked to and hoped it would and it didn't. There is extreme terrorist activity, but the Palestinian street seems rather quiet. You do not have a real show of solidarity. It doesn't mean that they don't feel for their Palestinian brothers in Gaza, but they don't feel the need to go down in the street and attack either settlers or the IDF. So, we are really here looking at an operation against mostly terrorists. We even have not that many lone wolf phenomena happening. So, this theater of operation is extremely active. As you said, it's not in a limelight, but it is actually very, very active night after night, especially at night. Huge operations, hundreds of troops going in, coming out, using more and more effectively the drones, attack drones. Does it look like or does this situation look like the day after of Gaza? Is this how we should employ our troops? Incursions, going into Jenin, coming out of Jenin, using the drones? It seems that it might be a rehearsal for some kind of day after in Gaza, even though there are two differences. Of course, one is the tunnels, which makes it much more complicated to control the Gaza Strip, and the second, we have to dismantle the regime of the Hamas. In the West Bank, we have a regime that is more or less working with us on the security matters. So far, I think we have a good grip on that particular front. It's probably the front that we control the best, who is a very, very good job from the central command. Also, another threat, of course, continues from off the coast of Yemen with Houthi rebel strikes. Earlier here in I-24 News Area, we were talking about the latest attack yesterday, the Houthis firing multiple ballistic missiles and launching drones at container ship. One of those missiles did hit a container ship despite the presence of this U.S.-led international coalition. The ship thankfully still seaworthy, no injuries reported. Two other missiles shot down, 17 drones had been shot down in the last 10 days alone. But this is the first successful attack since the coalition began patrolling the Red Sea waterways. And even on top of that, even another incident, newly, new information into our room from this morning, in fact. Right, Jeff. So just moments ago, the UK's Maritime Trade Operations Organization sharing an incident, reporting an incident, of three small boats approaching a vessel off the coast of Yemen, just 60 nautical miles off the port city of Hudeida. Now, there were reports of exchanges of gunfire. But once coalition forces approached the vessel, three small boats went away. And so we still don't know exactly how much the Houthis have their fingerprints on this, even though this does bear the hallmark of a potential Houthi attack. But indeed, we're seeing that despite the presence of this maritime coalition of warships belonging to the U.S., UK, France, it appears that still the waterways and the southern Red Sea, mainly the Babelmandab Strait, the navigation there is not safe. And indeed, we're receiving another report. As we get more additional information, we'll obviously update us to the nature of this incident. Yeah, we'll keep you posted here on the channel on this situation with the three boats approaching the vessel. But again, we do know this weekend, another attack, a successful attack from Houthi fighters launching ballistic missiles. This is the first time a successful missile attack on a ship in the Red Sea since the official International Coalition began patrolling nearly two weeks ago. The U.S.-led coalition, is this kind of a moment of truth? The ship was struck with a missile. Does the U.S.-led coalition have to respond lest the Houthis or other proxy militias in the region become emboldened to continue their strikes? The answer is going to come from the shipping companies, right? The threat is to the global economy and the question is how is the global economy represented through the big shipping companies going to respond? I mean, this task force was put together when Maresk and another big shipping company said they simply weren't going to be able to take on the risks of sailing through the Red Sea and then on through the Suez Canal, in most cases. The interesting thing here is I believe this was a Maresk ship that was sent by the missile. After the formation of the coalition, the big shipping company said, okay, we're rerouting our ships back to the Red Sea and now this is happening. So this is a big coalition. Right, so the question is what are they going to say? I mean, if it's good enough for them, then the coalition will have done its job. Okay. Because if the shipping companies are saying we are willing, given the presence of the coalition, to ship through these lanes, through the Babelmandap, through the Red Sea, of course, onward in most cases, through the Suez Canal, even if we take the risk of having our ships occasionally be struck, then the damage to the global economy will be more or less contained and the coalition will be seen as a success. If not, then obviously there's going to have to be a response. The United States and other major powers aren't going to be able to leave this unanswered. What 10-15% of global trade passes through the straits and passes through these waterways? This isn't going to be a sustainable situation over the course of time, which is why it was an easy sell for Israeli diplomats to make the case that this is an issue of global governance and not an Israel specific issue, notwithstanding what Prime Minister Netanyahu said in his press conference last night that regardless of how the global economy and the world grades the success of the coalition, Israel will not allow an impact on the Israeli economy. Little by little, the attacks on U.S. forces or the U.S. coalition continues to escalate. We have a missile strike on a ship, right? This was Maersk. They said it's no longer safe for us to be in the Red Sea. They reroute ships. International coalition has formed. Maersk says, okay, we're going to come back to the Red Sea. Now a missile strike on one of those ships despite the coalition. This is the unanswered lingering question, a moment of truth kind of situation, but it's still an attack despite the U.S. presence. More attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and U.S. bases. It doesn't seem that the deterrence effect is working so far. Little by little, there continue to be more attacks. Well, obviously the two situations are different, right? The issue of the Bible, Mondab and the Red Sea is an issue for the global economy. It's an issue of global governance. It's a global issue that affects, of course, the United States, but not only the United States. When you're talking about U.S. military bases, that's not an issue of global governance. That's an issue of U.S. national security and U.S. interests proper. Look, Jeff, I'm less worried about this. I don't think there's any reasonable basis to doubt the ability of the United States to strike back if it feels it needs to do so. If the United States is willing to absorb these blows in the name of not escalating and not creating a regional conflict, so be it. But I think it would be foolish, it would be so foolish for Iran or other countries to actually believe the United States doesn't have the tools to respond to some kind of escalation, that it's hard for me to believe that they actually harbor those beliefs. They, of course, might be trying to make these strikes to show that there's a quote unquote cost, maybe even for domestic reasons, maybe even to show the militias that the militias have some utility and have some reason for being, but hard for me to imagine that anyone will take other than very, very seriously the U.S. ability to respond to a major escalation. The only caveat to that is, of course, there's an element to Iranian decision-making, and for that matter to Hezbollah decision-making, and as, of course, we've also seen to Hamas decision-making, there is, of course, other elements that are strategic and rational, and then there's this other element that it's irrational, almost messianic, and maybe there's something in that other element that will see some kind of opening here. And there is, of course, always that wild card, but I'm still of the view, notwithstanding that, that the dominant element in decision-making, certainly in Iran, is not messianic but rather strategic. You mentioned Hezbollah want to end our newscast talking about that threat in the north with Hezbollah continuing their attack in far northern Israel. The idea of striking weapons shipments in Lebanon, also increasingly now in Syria, is the northern front, is there an actual major front about to open on the north, do you believe, Rafael? It could. I cannot be a prophet here and read the future. It, everything looks like we're going to an escalation that could lead to a larger-scale conflict. Right now there are some diplomatic channels being open and exploited after the French, now the Americans, trying to put some kind of a pressure on the Lebanese government, which is completely dysfunctional if nonexistent. Do you think that this likes in Syria on these weapons shipments attacking commanders themselves? Is this Israel setting the stage for that next round? Yes, we are getting ready for it. We are bracing ourselves for a large scale conflict, a confrontation with the Hezbollah. It doesn't mean it will necessarily happen. It doesn't mean we want it to happen. We might also prefer some kind of a status quo and just be happy with the Hezbollah retreating a few miles above the border with Israel. We might just be satisfied with that. Or we might consider that every day, every hour that passes by makes it even more dangerous and worse for the day when we will have to tackle with this threat in a more immediate way. Meaning, should we strike now, that we can still do it, that the Americans are in the Mediterranean, that we have all our reservists there that have been trained for this kind of scenario, that our economy is in a war mode, everything is in place. If we close shop now and wait another year or two to face this problem, it will be 10 times worse. Going out for a little break here on I-24 News, we'll have more updates throughout the day. I want to thank our guests Raphael, Ariel and Owen for being part of this panel here. Wish we had better news to end the year, right? Wish we would talk about peace in Brotherhood, but this is not the case here. Certainly not now in the Middle East. Thank you both so much for your analysis. More live reporting on these developing stories here on the channel. Stay with us. We'll be back soon and thanks for watching. Is in a state of war, families completely gunned down in their beds. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well. This week on News 24, Israel under attack. News 24 in Spanish brings the analysis and the information of the events of the war, iron swords. Exclusive interviews and reports from the war zone, the reaction of Spanish-speaking countries. News 24, the only medium in Spanish that keeps you informed and connected with the Latin community in Israel. News 24, Unicamente in I-24 News. Stop until Hamas is eliminated and the strip demilitarized. He also spoke directly about one lingering aspect of the war, what to do about the southern border with Gaza, that borders Egypt only, not Israel, and from where it's believed Hamas smuggles many of its weapons, machines and rockets. The Philadelphia corridor, or to put it more correctly, the southern stoppage point, must be in our hands. It must be shut. It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarization that we seek. The war will continue for many more months. My policy is clear. We will continue to fight until all the objectives of the war are achieved, and the priority is the elimination of Hamas and the release of all our captives. We will not relent for a moment in our efforts to bring our captives home. We will ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. Let's go live now to the Israel-Gaza border, where I'm joined by our correspondent, Nicole Setic for an update. Nicole. We continue to just hear the constant sounds of war, outgoing Israeli artillery firing towards the Gaza Strip, really shaking the ground here in southern Israel, and you can see the damage that it's causing in the Gaza Strip, specifically behind me here. We have this central part of the Gaza Strip, but as my Daniel starts to pan more north in the Gaza Strip, this is where we can see some of this heavy exchange of firing, very large black plume of smoke. This area that you're taking a look at right now is the northern part of the Gaza City heading towards Jabalia, and if you go more west towards the coast, that's the area of al-Shati, where as of this morning the IDF said that that is where some of the most recent operations were taking place, not only eliminating Hamas infrastructure above ground, but Hamas infrastructure underground as well. As we know, the terror tunnels remain one of the most complicated aspects of this ongoing war. Now in this area as well, the al-Shati region, the IDF says that they also eliminated terrorist infrastructure in kindergartens. Hamas continuing to use children, civilians, as part of their human shield that they're hiding behind, but the IDF eliminating this threat, you can hear some of that outgoing Israeli artillery that is firing towards both the central part of the Gaza Strip and the northern part as well. So it has been a pretty active morning from what we've been hearing on the ground, not only with this artillery, but also the constant buzzing overhead of different helicopters and warplanes in the distance. Also did the constant sound of what sounds like gunfire happening inside, we can assume because that's what the IDF is saying. And not only are we seeing the fighting happening on the air with different Israeli airstrikes, but on the ground as well with some pretty heavy, intense gun battles even happening and some close combat ranges. As the IDF continues to work forward, you see what's happening in more of this northern central part of the Gaza Strip. All of this, as the IDF continues to try and get a stronghold, and we know a lot of the heavy, heavy fighting also happening in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, specifically Hanyunas, where even after several weeks of fighting, it remains a complicated aspect of this ongoing war effort, as it really has become a new terror hub according to the IDF. Either cold, static, stay safe for us as you continue your live reporting. Thanks so much for us for joining us here live along the border with us in studio. Here's Daniel Shek, the director of diplomacy for the hostage and missing families forum and a former Israeli ambassador to France. Daniel, thanks so much for being with me. Netanyahu's press conference last night mentioning the hostages. This comes amid the backdrop chatter really between Egyptian media, other Arabic media sources from Qatar, from the Emirates, from Saudi Arabian news as well, that Israel is inching slowly closer to some kind of framework with the deal with Hamas that may result in a multi-week ceasefire, two weeks, three weeks, even longer perhaps, but there does seem to be dialogue happening. Give us your understanding of this and perhaps just your analysis on the critical days ahead here. First of all, I have to say that mentioned is far from being enough in the eyes of the families of the hostages. It should have been top of his priorities. Even in the report of our friend, the correspondent, about this speech, it wasn't even mentioned. There were all the other priorities. So nobody in the forum of families underestimates the importance of the strategic and military and tactical necessities and priorities, but the hostages should have been way up there. So that's number one. Number two, yes, there are signs of some kind of dialogue. Again, it's been a month since the last hostages were released, since the last exchange. That is 30-something more days of hardship for the people. The 129 people still detained in Gaza and 30-something days of concern and worry for their families. So, yes, it's a good thing if there is movement, if there is dialogue, but the clock is ticking very fast for some of these people. Some of them are not in good health. We know that for a fact, and things need to speed up. So hopefully it will end with some kind of agreement. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that it's an agreement that will concern all the hostages at this point, but at least hopefully the most fragile among them. Is the Prime Minister meeting with hostages? Is there any schedule? Is there any cadence for communication with family members of the hostages? Not orderly enough. The hostages, the hostage families had asked for a long time already for a regular schedule, let's say a weekly meeting with the Prime Minister or with the other members of the War Cabinet or maybe with all the War Cabinet. They have not been able to obtain it. And each time they want to meet with these people, there's a whole process that is really degrading and unnecessary of begging and pressuring and threatening and demonstrations and things like that. It shouldn't be that way. To be honest, there should be just a regular schedule. I know it's not always a pleasant moment for the Ministers and for the Prime Minister. These people are on edge. They are very frustrated. They are very worried. They are very concerned. And sometimes they have harsh words for the Prime Minister and for the Ministers. But you know what? That comes with the job. And released Israeli hostage, Amir Shem, is speaking out in her first interview since coming home, talking about the loneliness and fear over her 54 days of captivity and also speaking about the endless cruelty and psychological torture she received from her Palestinian civilian family captors. Here's some of the interview. Mia Shem became the hostage every Israeli knew. She was in the thoughts of every Israeli soldier before going into war. She was held in Hamas captivity for weeks, injured in a small room with no daylight, sitting on a mattress while a guard was across from her, watching her 24-7. I can see his face in my mind. His eyes are burned into my memory. Sitting in front of him, she decided she will come back. She will survive this. And for the first time, she's speaking candidly on the isolation and the brutality. I was not allowed to cry. Why? Because if he will cry, we'll send you to the tunnels. I was in a tiny room, eight feet by eight feet. Two people were in it, me and a terrorist, looking at me, 24-7, examining me. I was afraid he would rape me. There's a fear of him taking his weapon and putting a bullet in my head with no warning. The room was closed. They would throw food once a day. Some days, there was no food. The kids would open the door, look inside, talk about me, laugh about me. They looked at me as if I was an animal. I was afraid anything could happen at any moment. He could touch me. Did he ever do something like that? No. No, only because his wife was outside the door. If we were there alone, something was bound to happen. In this small room, there were rules. Mia wasn't allowed to talk or move or even cry. Once I was choked up with tears, he looked at me and said in Arabic, enough, stop crying or I'll send you to the tunnel. I'm telling myself, stay strong, don't fall apart here, you'll be back home soon. That's what I was telling myself all the time. Mia understood that in order to survive, she needed to pretend, to play the cruel game of the terrorists that were sitting across from her. Once he lost it, he started crying and took his Kalashnikov. I was sure he was about to put a bullet in my head. I got close to him and sat down and asked, what's wrong? What's wrong? Why are you crying? He told me that two of his friends died in an Israeli attack. Secretly, I was elated. But I was like that, playing the game, you know? I didn't see daylight for 54 days. I also didn't move. So I was barely walking. My legs were shaking. Were you able to sleep there? Maybe for an hour? You can't really sleep when a Hamas terrorist is sitting and staring at you. I can hear the strikes, heavy strikes, massive strikes. The windows shattered on me. There were a few days when I lost my hearing. I wasn't scared from the strikes for a moment. It cheered me up. And then one day, it was completely silent. And I told myself something is happening. The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel came into effect. When the exchange of prisoners and hostages started, Mia was moved to another location. There, after almost 50 days alone, she met other hostages. We were all in the same boat. And then what? They'd help people daily who was getting released? It was a Russian roulette. It was the most difficult thing. That some were released and some others are not? She was released in the final exchange. And the moment she said goodbye to the hostages and Gaza does not leave her. On her way home, Hamas shot this video. You know your seconds away from going back home and Hamas is shoving a camera on your face. He told me, say the people of Gaza are nice. Say good things. What can I say? Your crap? Karen, Mia's mom, did everything she could for this moment. They are together again. But her best friend, Elia, that was with her at the party and was kidnapped right next to her was killed. The IDF extracted his body from Gaza. Mentally, she is still in Gaza. And no one knows how long it will take until she'll return. But physically, she's here. Exactly like she dreamed all those nights and captivity. This was my dream. I can't believe I'm here. At home. Daniel, as the IDF continues its operations deeper and deeper inside Khan Yunus, uncovering tunnels, exposing buildings or questions, perhaps of another scenario where the IDF may encounter hostages again alive. Is there hope that maybe a military intervention would be able to bring some of these hostages back to Israel alive or diplomatically this is the only solution here for the remaining 129? Obviously, the families would settle for any way possible. But the numbers are telling. Over 110 hostages were freed through negotiations and only one was released, was liberated through a military action. So I think the big worry is that there should be no repeat of this tragic incident where IDF forces encountered three hostages and mistook them for terrorists. Everybody hopes and not just the hostage families, I think every decent Israeli hopes that lessons were learned and that the troops are now more prepared for such a situation, which by any standard is a very complicated and difficult moment. And it's not at all about about blaming the soldiers for something. It'll be researched and investigated, but everyone understands the difficulty of the situation of the soldiers on the ground. But lessons have to be learned because that cannot happen again. Meanwhile, the situation continues to intensify on other fronts as well. The IDF reportedly stepping up its attacks over the weekend attacking several command posts and weapons caches in Lebanon and also increasingly in Syria. The Aleppo airport in Syria reportedly coming under attack as well as the Israel is blamed for a series of escalating strikes perhaps in preparation for an escalation in the North as war with Hezbollah may be approaching in the weeks ahead. With us now to talk about these new attacks increasingly in Syria is Professor Uzir Abid, the director of the Morsha Deyan Center for Middle East Studies at Tel Aviv University. Professor, thanks so much for being with us. What do you make of these attacks attributed to Israel increasingly in Syrian territory? Well, I mean, we know exactly actually what it is about. I mean, this has been here for years, but this time at war time, it gets kind of an extra meaning. Basically, what all these activities that are being attributed to Israel were to stop or prevent the delivery of advanced weapons from Iran to Hezbollah via Syria. We are highly familiar with the routes of these convoys of advanced weaponry. But this time, I think it comes to kind of an idea that Iran is playing out all cards, all proxies in order to put some pressure on the borders of Israel. When it comes to both Lebanon and Syria, one should say also Yemen. And from behind, we have those pro-Iraqi militias, which are named in Arabic, Iraqi Hezbollah, which means Iraqi Hezbollah. And this is something that we have to just make sure we are aware of, because there is sort of a regional escalation. And this whole thing actually makes Israel be very, very careful, but must be, as I said before, highly aware of the sensitivities, especially as the United States is here. And definitely, this equation is becoming so different from before. Israel, we should say, is having kind of a foci on Gaza. Hezbollah is capitalizing on that together with Iran. But it is obvious that Israel would have to deal with that militarily. I myself actually don't think that any diplomatic political, as some would say, effort would bear some fruits when it comes to how to make Hezbollah being retreated to 1701, or there are one forces actually which are situated on the fence would go back. I do believe that only military efforts are going to have kind of an outcome positive, I hope, in that sense. And this is why I think that Israel actually has to just take the time consider in what way actually it is going actually to attack or to retaliate. Israel should take the initiative. But this time, it must be in cooperation, very, very careful and friendly with the U.S., because the U.S. here in order to prevent regional war, which goes against its own interest. Professor, you don't believe that diplomatic solution may work here regarding Hezbollah abiding by 1701 UN resolution. Do you believe that this question, as you mentioned, comes of initiative? Will the IDF strike first? Is the IDF being held back, perhaps, by the Americans, by the American pressure to resist a major strike? Or might Hezbollah or even in Syria would receive a major escalation taking the initiative there to attack Israel first? We're in the midst of a regional escalation. But I hope that Israel, in kind of a delicate manner, would know how to explain its great friend, the U.S., that when it comes to Israel's fate, not less than that, Israel must take an action. As I said before, the Foucai is on Gaza. But basically, Israel should come up with an initiative later on. I'm not actually telling the IDF when, how, and why. But I would think, I think that Israel should come up with something that would be very, very unexpected, at least in the eyes of Hezbollah. I hope that Israel would have the keys for the initiative. Israel would be actually the force which would initiate and not be dragged to what Hamas, now Hezbollah, is doing. I think that the 7th of October has provided Israel with a better lesson. And I hope that Israel would, even if it is very difficult these days, to do that because we are at war. But lessons must be learned. And first and foremost is to have actually the initiative on your side. How this whole thing is going to be ended up. What the end game is, we know what Israel should have, because nobody is going to get back home without Red One forces actually being got rid of. And at the same time, this whole thing of 1701 should be implemented. What I'm afraid of is you know, half bait solution. So 10 kilometers or something like that. And then once again, actually, we're going to have the same scenario. It is for Israel to prove to its citizens that the 7th of October has changed by all means and standards. It's modus operandi. I hope some conceptions and some other things that are definitely related to the civilian and even psychological spheres. Professor, thank you so much for being with us. So nice to have news. Thank you. Daniel, we're at a period now where many of these reservists here in Israel have been called up for their enter their 90 days or more period of service in the IDF. There's a question on the impact diplomatically of having such a mass call up of conscription. The impact certainly economically and culturally here in Israel. And the questions into the new years, we're back to enter a new year. What the plan will be for hundreds of thousands of reservist soldiers who are called up? Well, we we tend to measure the lengths of this war by the military needs and the military, what the military demands, what the objectives would demand. But there are other there are other components to this equation. There is the economic one. Clearly, Israel can't live without a significant part of its productive workforce. So that has to be taken into consideration. There are diplomatic considerations. There is sort of a timeline that the United States and other allies are putting in front of Israel. So I'm not saying the war will end abruptly at some point because of any of these. But the war plans might be influenced not just by the tactical needs of the IDF. There might be other considerations. There is also the issue of the hostages, if there will be a demand for a lengthy pause in in the fighting. Many think that that would be the opportunity for the IDF to sort of change into phase three, what we like to call, which is the long term fight against Hamas. Similar to what we see, perhaps in the West Bank, where there's overnight raids, commander raids, even possibly, but certainly not the physical presence in the entire Gaza hundreds of thousands of IDF soldiers. I think that clearly is excluded as a long-term solution. But we heard that thing last night mentioned the Philadelphia corridor, which may be a sticking point here. If this is to return to Israeli control, how do you avoid then having to have Israeli soldiers around the clock physically manning positions, both in North Gaza and South Gaza? And isn't this the very reason the IDF withdrew in the first place? They're sitting ducks deep inside Gaza. Well, I honestly don't know what the prime minister meant exactly. He didn't go into detail. But I don't know anyone in the IDF or in Israel who has nostalgia for the Philadelphia crossing, the Philadelphia road. There are only bad memories there as you described. There were many, many people killed there. But on the other hand, clearly, this is a this is a weak point in any any plan, and it will necessitate a very close cooperation with Egypt. Egypt will have to have some kind of responsibility for not allowing this to be the easy passage of arms personnel, etc., in underground tunnels. Daniel, thank you so much for your analysis here with us in studio. We're going out for a break. Stay with us more news ahead. When we come back again, more live reporting from the field as the Israel Hamas war continues and more expert analysis from our guests in studio and abroad. Stay with us. We'll see you soon. Is in a state of war, families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where you see as our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well. will not stop until Hamas is eliminated and the strip demilitarized. He also spoke directly about one lingering aspect of the war. What to do about the southern border with Gaza that borders Egypt only not Israel and from where it's believed Hamas smuggles many of its weapons, machines, and rockets. The Philadelphia corridor ought to put it more correctly, the southern stoppage point must be in our hands. It must be shut. It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarization that we seek. The war will continue for many more months. My policy is clear. We will continue to fight until all the objectives of the war are achieved. And the priority is the elimination of Hamas and the release of all our captives. We will not relent for a moment in our efforts to bring our captives home. We will ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. Let's go live down to the Israel-Gaza border where I'm joined by our correspondent, Nicole Setic for an update. Nicole. We continue to just hear the constant sounds of war outgoing Israeli artillery firing towards the Gaza Strip. Really shaking the ground here in southern Israel and you can see the damage that it's causing in the Gaza Strip. Specifically behind me here, we have this central part of the Gaza Strip, but as my Canyon man Daniel starts to pan more north in the Gaza Strip, this is where we can see some of this heavy exchange of firing. Very large black plume of smoke. This area that you're taking a look at right now is the northern part of the Gaza City heading towards Jabalia. And if you go more west towards the coast, that's the area of al-Shati, whereas if this morning the IDF said that that is where some of their most recent operations were taking place, not only eliminating Hamas infrastructure above ground, but Hamas infrastructure underground as well. As we know, the terror tunnels remain one of the most complicated aspects of this ongoing war. Now in this area as well, the al-Shati region, the IDF says that they also eliminated terrorist infrastructure in kindergartens. Hamas continuing to use children, civilians as part of their human shield that they're hiding behind. But the IDF eliminating this threat, you can hear some of that outgoing Israeli artillery that is firing towards both the central part of the Gaza Strip and the northern part as well. So it has been a pretty active morning from what we've been hearing on the ground, not only with this artillery, but also the constant buzzing overhead of different helicopters and warplanes in the distance. Also did the constant sound of what sounds like gunfire happening inside, we can assume, because that's what the IDF is saying. And not only are we seeing the fighting happening on the air with different Israeli airstrikes, but on the ground as well with some pretty heavy, intense gun battles even happening and some close combat ranges. As the IDF continues to work forward, you see what's happening in more of this northern central part of the Gaza Strip. All of this, as the IDF continues to try and get a stronghold. And we know a lot of the heavy, heavy fighting also happening in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, specifically Hanyunas, where even after several weeks of fighting, it remains a complicated aspect of this ongoing war effort, as it really has become a new terror hub according to the IDF. Either cold, static, stay safe for us as you continue your live reporting. Thanks so much for us for joining us here live along the border with us in studio. Here's Daniel Schecht, the director of diplomacy for the hostage and missing families forum, and a former Israeli ambassador to France. Daniel, thanks so much for being with me. Netanyahu's press conference last night mentioning the hostages. This comes amid the backdrop, a chatter really between Egyptian media, other Arabic media sources from Qatar, from the Emirates, from Saudi Arabian news as well, that Israel is inching slowly closer to some kind of framework with the deal with Hamas that may result in a multi-week ceasefire, two weeks, three weeks, even longer perhaps. But there does seem to be dialogue happening. Give us your understanding of this and perhaps just your analysis on the critical days ahead here. First of all, I have to say that mentioned is far from being enough in the eyes of the families of the hostages. It should have been top of his priorities. Even in the report of our friend the correspondent about this speech, it wasn't even mentioned. There were all the other priorities. So nobody in the forum of families underestimates the importance of the strategic and military and tactical necessities and priorities. But the hostages should have been way up there. So that's number one. Number two, yes, there are signs of some kind of dialogue. Again, it's been a month since the last hostages were released, since the last exchange. That is 30-something more days of hardship for the people. The 129 people still detained in Gaza and 30-something days of concern and worry for their families. So yes, it's a good thing if there is movement, if there is dialogue. But the clock is ticking very fast for some of these people. Some of them are not in good health. We know that for a fact. And things need to speed up. So hopefully it will end with some kind of agreement. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that it's an agreement that will concern all the hostages at this point. But at least, hopefully, the most fragile among them. Is the Prime Minister meeting with hostages? Is there any schedule? Is there any cadence for communication with family members of the hostages? Not orderly enough. The hostage families had asked for a long time already for a regular schedule, let's say a weekly meeting with the Prime Minister or with the other members of the War Cabinet or maybe with all the War Cabinet. They have not been able to obtain it. And each time they want to meet with these people, there's a whole process that is really degrading and unnecessary of begging and pressuring and threatening and demonstrations and things like that. It shouldn't be that way, to be honest. There should be just a regular schedule. I know it's not always a pleasant moment for the Ministers and for the Prime Minister. These people are on edge. They are very frustrated. They are very worried. They are very concerned. And sometimes they have harsh words for the Prime Minister and for the Ministers. But you know what? That comes with the job. And released Israeli hostage, Amir Shem, is speaking out in her first interview since coming home, talking about the loneliness and fear over her 54 days of captivity and also speaking about the endless cruelty and psychological torture she received from her Palestinian civilian family captors. Here are some of the interview. Hello. My name is Mia Shem. I'm 21 years old from Shoham. At the moment, I'm in Gaza. They have operated on my hand here at the hospital. They have taken care of me. They're giving me medicine. Everything is okay. The only thing I'm asking is that you bring me home as soon as possible to my family. Mia Shem became the hostage every Israeli knew. She was in the thoughts of every Israeli soldier before going into war. She was held in Hamas captivity for weeks, injured in a small room with no daylight, sitting on a mattress while a guard was across from her, watching her 24 seven. I can see his face in my mind. His eyes are burned into my memory. Sitting in front of him, she decided she will come back. She will survive this. And for the first time, she's speaking candidly on the isolation and the brutality. I was not allowed to cry. Why? Because if you will cry, we'll send you to the tunnels. I was in a tiny room, eight feet by eight feet. Two people were in it, me and a terrorist looking at me 24 seven, examining me. I was afraid he would rape me. There's a fear of him taking his weapon and putting a bullet in my head with no warning. The room was closed. They would throw food once a day. Some days there was no food. The kids would open the door, look inside, talk about me, laugh about me. They looked at me as if I was an animal. I was afraid anything could happen at any moment. He could touch me. Did he ever do something like that? No. Only because his wife was outside the door. If we were there alone, something was bound to happen. In this small room, there were rules. Mia wasn't allowed to talk or move or even cry. Once I was choked up with tears, he looked at me and said in Arabic, enough! Stop crying or I'll send you to the tunnel. I'm telling myself, stay strong. Don't fall apart here. You'll be back home soon. That's what I was telling myself all the time. Mia understood that in order to survive, she needed to pretend to play the cruel game of the terrorists that were sitting across from her. Once he lost it, he started crying and took his Kalashnikov. I was sure he was about to put a bullet in my head. I got close to him and sat down and asked, what's wrong? What's wrong? Why are you crying? He told me that two of his friends died in an Israeli attack. Secretly, I was elated. But I was like that, playing the game, you know? I didn't see daylight for 54 days. I also didn't move. So I was barely walking. My legs were shaking. Were you able to sleep there? Maybe for an hour? You can't really sleep when a Hamas terrorist is sitting and staring at you. I can hear the strikes, heavy strikes, massive strikes. The windows shattered on me. There were a few days when I lost my hearing. I wasn't scared from the strikes for a moment. It cheered me up. And then one day it was completely silent and I told myself something is happening. The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel came into effect. When the exchange of prisoners and hostages started, Mia was moved to another location. There, after almost 50 days alone, she met other hostages. We were all in the same boat. And then what? They tell people daily who is getting released? It was a Russian roulette. It was the most difficult thing. That some are released and some others are not? She was released in the final exchange. At the moment, she said goodbye to the hostages and Gaza does not leave her. On her way home, Hamas shot this video. You know your seconds away from going back home and Hamas terrorist is shoving a camera on your face. He told me, say the people of Gaza are nice. Say good things. What can I say? Your crap? Karen, Mia's mom, did everything she could for this moment. They are together again. But her best friend, Elia, that was with her at the party and was kidnapped right next to her, was killed. The IDF extracted his body from Gaza. Mentally, she is still in Gaza and no one knows how long it will take until she'll return. But physically, she's here, exactly like she dreamed all those nights in captivity. This was my dream. I can't believe I'm here. At home. Daniel, as the IDF continues its operations deeper and deeper inside Hanunis, uncovering tunnels, exposing buildings, there are questions perhaps of another scenario where the IDF may encounter hostages again alive. Is there hope that maybe a military intervention would be able to bring some of these hostages back to Israel alive or diplomatically this is the only solution here for the remaining 129? Obviously, the families would settle for any way possible. But the numbers are telling. Over 110 hostages were freed through negotiations and only one was released, was liberated through military action. So I think the big worry is that there should be no repeat of this tragic incident where IDF forces encountered three hostages and mistook them for terrorists. Everybody hopes and not just the hostage families. I think every decent Israeli hopes that lessons were learned and that the troops are now more prepared for such a situation, which by any standard is a very complicated and difficult moment. And it's not at all about about blaming the soldiers for something. It'll be researched and investigated. But everyone understands the difficulty of the situation of the soldiers on the ground. But lessons have to be learned because that cannot happen again. Meanwhile, the situation continues to intensify on other fronts as well. The IDF reportedly stepping up its attacks over the weekend attacking several command posts and weapons caches in Lebanon and also increasingly in Syria. The Aleppo airport in Syria reportedly coming under attack as well as the Israel is blamed for a series of escalating strikes, perhaps in preparation for an escalation in the North as war with Hezbollah may be approaching in the weeks ahead. With us now to talk about these new attacks increasingly in Syria is Professor Uzair Abbi, the director of the Moshe Deion Center for Middle East Studies at Tel Aviv University. Professor, thanks so much for being with us. What do you make of these attacks attributed to Israel increasingly in Syrian territory? Well, I mean, we know exactly actually what it is about. I mean, this has been here for years, but this time at war time, it gets kind of an extra meaning. Basically, what all these activities that are being attributed to Israel were to stop or prevent the delivery of advanced weapons from Iran to Hezbollah via Syria. We are highly familiar with the routes of these convoys of advanced weaponry, but this time I think it comes to kind of an idea that Iran is playing out all cards, all proxies in order to put some pressure on the borders of Israel. When it comes to both Lebanon and Syria, one should say also Yemen. And from behind, we have those pro Iraqi militias which are named in Arabic Iraqi Hezbollah, which means Iraqi Hezbollah. And this is something that we have to just make sure we are aware of because there is sort of a, I would say, kind of a regional escalation. And this whole thing actually makes Israel be very, very careful, but kind of, but must be, as I said before, highly aware of the sensitivities, especially as the United States is here. And definitely this equation is becoming so different from before. Israel, we should say, is having kind of a foci on Gaza. Hezbollah is capitalizing on that, together with Iran. But it is obvious that Israel would have to deal with that militarily. I myself actually don't think that any diplomatic political, as some would say, effort would bear some fruits when it comes to how to make Hezbollah being retreated to 1701 or there are one forces actually which are situated on the fence would go back. I do believe that only military efforts are going to have kind of an outcome, positive, I hope, in that sense. And this is why I think that Israel actually has to just take the time consider in what way actually it is going actually to attack or to retaliate. Israel should take the initiative. But this time it must be in cooperation, very, very careful and friendly with the US because the US here in order to prevent regional war, which goes against its own interests. Professor, you don't believe that diplomatic solution maybe there was, you may work here regarding Hezbollah abiding by 1701 UN resolution. Do you believe that this question, as you mentioned, comes of initiative? Will the IDF strike first as the IDF being held back perhaps by the Americans, by the American pressure to resist a major strike? Or might Hezbollah or even in Syria, would we see a major escalation taking the initiative there to attack Israel first? We're in the midst of a regional escalation. But I hope that Israel in kind of a delicate manner would know how to explain its great friend, the US, that when it comes to Israel's fate, not less than that, Israel must take an action. As I said before, the focus is on Gaza. But basically Israel should come up with an initiative later on. I'm not actually telling the IDF when, how and why. But I would think, I think that Israel should come up with something that would be very, very unexpected, at least in the eyes of Hezbollah. I hope that Israel would have the keys for the initiative. Israel would be actually the force which would initiate and not be dragged to what Hamas slash now Hezbollah is doing. I think that the 7th of October has provided Israel with a better lesson. And I hope that Israel would, even if it is very difficult these days to do that, because we are at war, but lessons must be learned. And first and foremost, is to have actually the initiative on your side. How this whole thing is going to be ended up? What the end game is, we know what Israel should have, because nobody is going to get back home without Red One forces actually being gut-read off. And at the same time, this whole thing of 1701 should be implemented. What I'm afraid of is half-baked solutions, so 10 kilometers or something like that. And then once again, actually, we're going to have the same scenario. It is for Israel to prove to its citizens that the 7th of October has changed by all means and standards. It's modus operandi. I hope some conceptions and some other things that are definitely related to the civilian and even psychological spheres. Yeah. Professor, thank you so much for being with us. So nice to have you for news. Thank you. Daniel, we're at a period now where many of these reservists here in Israel have been called up for, they're entering their 90 days or more period of service in the IDF. There's a question on the impact diplomatically of having such a mass call-up of conscription, the impact certainly economically and culturally here in Israel. And the questions into the New Year as we're about to enter a new year, what the plan will be for hundreds of thousands of reservist soldiers who are called up? We tend to measure the length of this war by the military needs and what the military demands, what the objectives would demand. But there are other components to this equation. There is the economic one. Clearly, Israel can't live without a significant part of its productive workforce. So that has to be taken into consideration. There are diplomatic considerations. There is sort of a timeline that the United States and other allies are putting in front of Israel. So I'm not saying the war will end abruptly at some point because of any of these, but the war plans might be influenced not just by the tactical needs of the IDF. There might be other considerations. There is also the issue of the hostages if there will be a demand for a lengthy pause in the fighting. Many think that that would be the opportunity for the IDF to sort of change into phase three, what we like to call, which is the long-term fight against Hamas. Similar to what we see perhaps in the West Bank, whether it's overnight raids, commander raids, even possibly. But certainly not the physical presence in the entire Gaza Strip of hundreds of thousands of IDF soldiers. I think that clearly is excluded as a long-term solution. But we heard that thing last night mentioned the Philadelphia Corridor, which may be a sticking point here. If this is to return to Israeli control, how do you avoid then having to have Israeli soldiers around the clock physically manning positions, both in North Gaza and South Gaza? And isn't this the very reason the IDF withdrew in the first place? They're sitting target, sitting ducks deep inside Gaza. Well, I honestly don't know what the Prime Minister meant exactly. He didn't go into detail. But I don't know anyone in the IDF or in Israel who has nostalgia for the Philadelphia crossing, the Philadelphia Road. There are only bad memories there, as you described. There were many, many people killed there. But on the other hand, clearly, this is a weak point in any plan, and it will necessitate a very close cooperation with Egypt. Egypt will have to have some kind of responsibility for not allowing this to be the easy passage of arms personnel, et cetera, in underground tunnels. Daniel, thank you so much for your analysis here with us in studio. We're going out for a break. Stay with us more news ahead when we come back, again, more live reporting from the field as the Israel Hamas War continues and more expert analysis from our guests in studio and abroad. Stay with us. We'll see you soon. Is in a state of war, families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line. But the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well. IDF will not stop until Hamas is eliminated and the strip demilitarized. He also spoke directly about one of the lingering unanswered aspects of the war, what to do about the southern border with Gaza that borders Egypt only, not Israel and from where it's believed Hamas smuggles weapons, machines and many rockets. The Philadelphia corridor ought to put it more correctly. The southern stoppage point must be in our hands. It must be shut. It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarization that we seek. The war will continue for many more months. My policy is clear. We will continue to fight until all the objectives of the war are achieved. And the priority is the elimination of Hamas and the release of all our captives. We will not relent for a moment in our efforts to bring our captives home. We will ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. What means studio is retired IDF colonel Dr. Jacques Nerier, former IDF deputy head of assessment with military intelligence. Thank you so much for being with us here in studio. Your reaction to Netanyahu's remarks last night insisting that the war will go on for many more months saying Israel needs to control this Philadelphia corridor, which for Israelis brings back many, many painful memories of basically sitting ducks targets Israeli soldiers in the far southern corner of the Gaza Strip. Is there an alternative, though, to Israeli control of this area? Well, first of all, there's no alternative. If you don't control the corridor, then you cannot stop the smuggling weapons and equipment and merchandise. I mean, you have tunnels that you can just drive cattle inside. You can cars. The trucks go there. And when Ceci took over, and he was threatened by all the jihadists that had very strong ties with Hamas. So he just embarked on an operation of flooding and just undigging all the tunnels that were along the border. There were about more than 100, more than 100. Some of them were flooded by water, by sea water. And the Egyptians understand very well that this is the only way that serious weapons can get to Hamas. And the proof is that only yesterday the Hamas, I mean, the army showed our leaders weapons which came from China. I mean, they cannot fly, they cannot reach the sea. So the only way is through the Sinai Peninsula. So this is a very, very important aspect of the war. It means that we will have to negotiate again with the Egyptians about the modalities of how we handle the border. The Egyptians don't want the responsibility. They don't want the responsibility. And they feel that they might be threatened by the Israeli presence there. And I think that this is something that should be settled in negotiations between us and the Egyptians. And I think that the Egyptians understand very well the danger of the Hamas being the Muslim brethren, I mean, offspring of the Egyptian Muslim brethren. But doesn't that raise the question then, you're going to have IDF soldiers having to be stationed indefinitely in the far north of border, the northern part of the strip where the IDF has operational, full operational control. There'll be soldiers in the north. There'll be soldiers in the far south. Many of them targets for ambushes or guerrilla-style attacks. Isn't this the exact scenario why the IDF left in the first place? Well, you know, we have to learn lessons from the past, definitely. I mean, when we were, when we occupied Gaza completely, we were just controlling only two main streets. I mean, the fact that we had more than 52 the paratroopers' companies there didn't help us much to control the whole area. So what the prime minister didn't say yesterday, he didn't say what sort of intensity he was meaning. Is it a low-intensity war? Is it a high-intensity war? In my view, what he meant was the fact that after the third stage of controlling the surface of the, I'm talking about the surface, not the underground of Hanyulis and Gaza, the IDF will have to redeploy, will have to redeploy. Most of the units will be out of Gaza. They'll be deployed along the border on a perimeter that will stretch from the Egyptian border till the Israeli border in areas in the north. And with the garrison remaining inside of commandos and special troops that can be on the border and just continue the war by specific operations against identified and non-identified targets. This is what he meant. He didn't mean that the war was going, I mean, with this scope of units, 300,000, only in Hanyulis, you have now seven brigades, seven brigades, which is enormous. I mean, it's a flood. It's impossible to imagine the quantity of units that are on the ground. And luckily, there's no crossfire. And each unit is not shooting the other one. So there will be only redeployment and the war will continue until we finish with the hitting or just finally finding Sinoir in his refuge and just taking him out. Let's get an update also from our correspondent, Nicole Zedek, who is live for us along the Israel-Gaza border. Nicole, when we've been checking in with you throughout the morning, we could hear your artillery firing and the IDF strikes in Gaza. What's going on where you are? We continue to hear that outgoing artillery and see the massive plumes of smoke really in the background in the central part of the Gaza Strip. Now, the latest update I have for you at this hour comes from an IDF spokesperson in Arabic continuing to urge residents specifically of the Al-Baraj region to evacuate. And this is where we have seen a lot of that heavy, heavy fighting, some massive plumes of smoke in this central area, not only encouraging residents in Al-Baraj, but also some of the surrounding neighborhoods as well to move to the Al-Bala, the shelter in that region. Now, that means that we're going to continue to see heavy, heavy fighting happening in that area. The IDF spokesperson in Arabic not only encouraging residents there, but also in Qanunis, just as you're talking about with all of these different brigades operating in Qanunis, it remains a heavy hotspot for terrorist activity. And that means for IDF activity as well. And so they're still telling any residents who might remain in the area to evacuate to this shelter as well. However, they're going to open different bypass routes. One of those bypass routes, it is not the Salah al-Din highway. This remains, even though it's the main highway, the IDF spokesperson says residents do not get on this highway. It is a very active military zone. And anyone who does cross into the area is in danger of possibly being injured. Now, in addition to these different bypass routes that the IDF is going to continue to open to allow the flow of residents, they're also opening some different bypass routes to encourage the flow of humanitarian aid and trucks. In fact, that same spokesperson said today from 10 to 2 in one of the neighborhoods in Rafa, there's going to be a humanitarian pause in the flight fighting this time to allow more humanitarian trucks to get in as well. And this is all of course under the backlash of different international pressure, encouraging more of this humanitarian aid to get in. And Israel, for the most part, although they claim that they are allowing and trying to get as much humanitarian aid in, it's not up to the same guidelines that the international media might want to see. Even on Friday, we didn't even see the number of trucks coming from the Karim Shalom crossing and the Rafa border crossing. It didn't even cross 100. And really what the international pressure wants to see is closer to 200, if not more humanitarian aid trucks. So we are saying a pause in the fighting to allow some of the distribution of that aid. And but as the IDF spokesperson continues to tell residents where to go, saying exactly where some of this fighting might be moving, it is up to the residents to heed that precaution to listen, move to these different safe places that the IDF is allowing them to operate in. What to make of the significant decrease in rocket fire out of the Gaza Strip? Is Hamas's dwindling arsenal of rockets coming to its end? Well, it has been nearly a 24 hour lull that we've seen in this southern border communities. It's been nearly 24 hours since we've seen a rocket fire from Hamas to the southern border communities. But according to a new report coming out of the Israeli army radio talking about some unnamed IDF sources, they're not sure if the threat from Hamas rockets will ever completely disintegrate when it comes to the southern border communities. The IDF is attacking hard. They're not only eliminating Hamas terrorists, Hamas launch sites and capturing some of the weapons as well and definitely diminishing their long term capabilities and their long firing range capabilities when it comes to central Israel. But these southern border towns where you have 10, maybe 15 seconds to get into a shelter, the IDF isn't sure that the constant threat will ever completely be diminished, but they're absolutely working towards it and the more that they do go in and take more of the weapons and continue to eliminate some of these launch sites, the threat is slowly dwindling day by day, but it is still there. Nicole, thank you so much for that live update. We'll move on to some other regional threats. An update to a story we talked about earlier in the day here on the channel with several boats from off the coast of Yemen that were approaching shipping vessels, cargo containers in the Red Sea, proceeding to come closer to the shipping containers with and ignoring the commands of the international shipping coalition led by the US warships to back away. Three of the four ships were sunk. The crews have been killed. Again, the boats had ignored commands from the international coalition of warships to back away. They were sunk. It's unclear if they were Houthi ships, but they did come off the coast of Yemen near the Houthi controlled area. This comes on the back of an attack yesterday, a successful attack from the Houthis where a ballistic missile struck a container ship in the Red Sea. No injuries from that strike. That ship, by the way, still seaworthy. But that was yesterday the first successful attack on a ship since the beginning of this American-led international coalition of warships that is patrolling the Red Sea to protect vessels and tankers. An American warship shot down two other ballistic missiles that were fired during the attack, in total over just the last 10 days. This international coalition has shot down 17 drones and four missiles and has sunk four boats over just the last few days. The October 7th massacre deeply shook the Middle East and the repercussions still being felt around the region and the world. I, 24 News, Middle East correspondent Ariel Oceran shares the challenges, but also the opportunities amid this fast-changing region. Until October 7th, there were high hopes for big changes in the Middle East. Talk of U.S. mediated peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which in turn would spread to other Arab countries, created much anticipation. But then, after thousands of Hamas terrorists rampaged through southern Israeli communities and IDF bases, slaughtering, burning, and kidnapping everything in their path, the delicate house of cards collapsed. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia affirms its categorical rejection of the continuation of aggression, occupation, and the forced displacement of Gaza's population. The Kingdom holds the occupation authorities responsible for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people and their properties. We are certain that the only way to guarantee security, peace, and stability in the region is to end the occupation's siege and settlements. But sidelining Israel's Saudi normalization for the unforeseeable future was only one of the effects of that dark October 7th on the region. It also saw the solidification of the Iranian axis of proxies. From Iraq to Lebanon, all the way to Yemen, Tehran's branches all began to attack Israel. We're in a multi-arena war. We are being attacked from seven different sectors, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran. We have already responded and taken action. And I say here in the most explicit way, anyone who acts against us is a potential target. There is no immunity for anyone. In an attempt to get a better understanding of how the region as a whole was affected by the October 7th attacks, I-24 News reached out to journalists in the region to give their perspective. One of them is a journalist from Yemen. We blurred his face and distorted his voice for his safety, speaking with an Israeli-based news outlet. Perhaps the most surprising front to many has been the continuous drone and missile attacks by the Houthis in Yemen towards Israeli territory, and then at international commercial ships navigating through the Red Sea. The Yemeni armed forces affirmed their continued support for the Palestinian people as part of the religious, moral and humanitarian duty, and confirmed the continuation of operations in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea against Israeli ships, or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine, until the food and medicine needed by the Gaza Strip are brought in. But according to the journalist in Yemen, the Houthis are simply the ones pulling the trigger in service of their patrons. Beyond emboldening the Iranian axis, the October 7th attacks also seem to have affected the streets in many of the region's capitals in support of the Palestinians. I see a lot of change among the awareness of ordinary people who never really paid attention to political issues of the Palestinian situation. I've seen, especially in Arab countries, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, many of the countries are really much more involved now. And I think we've seen also progressives and young people around the world taking up the Palestinian cause in a much more powerful way than we've ever seen before. With Jordan and Egypt. Besides threats, there are some silver linings that have emerged from the horrific attacks on Israel and ensuing war in Gaza. Not only the American-led Maritime Coalition aimed at ensuring the safe navigation in the Red Sea, but that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan all intercepted Houthi drones and missiles over their territories on their way to Israel. An indication that Jerusalem does have shared strategic interests in the balance of power in the Middle East. Well, I think Arab countries are trying to be peacemakers as much as they can. They're trying to provide material support to people who are in terrible need. And I don't think we've seen a major shift, especially in countries that have had normalization relations with Israel. The leaders are still insisting on keeping some form of relationship, even though public opinion has changed. And so with the war in Gaza in full steam and further escalation with his balloon to horizon, the October 7th attacks seem to have changed not only Israel, but the region as a whole. Now Israel finds itself at a critical juncture, a regional war, or increased regional cooperation. Whether or not it's up to Israel to decide what the outcome will be, that still remains to be seen. Ariel, talking at length there, Jacques, about the threat and potential of a regional war. Do you believe that the front with Lebanon will not be successfully handled diplomatically and we may have a war and a level of destruction that we have not seen before between them? If I may, before tackling with the Lebanese issue, I think that there are two elements in Israel that the 7th of October has just made very clear. First was the containment policy of the government concerning Hamas and concerning Hezbollah has proven to be a failure. This is one second making peace with the Arabs and without the Palestinians and forgetting about the Palestinian issue as if it doesn't exist was is also a failure. This is what transpires from what I hear right now from the what was said by Osirhan. So this is something that we have to remember that we have to reshape our policy in accordance to the reality. As far as Lebanon is concerned, I think that we have reached a situation where war is almost unavoidable. Why is it so? Because Hochstein comes with the proposal that says that we have to mend the fences concerning the territorial issue between Lebanon and Israel. There are 13 points of litigation between us and Lebanon, and he thinks that by solving that there will be no ground for Hezbollah to continue on its attack. Whereas Hezbollah says that there's more than that. There are seven other villages that were evacuated in 1948 and he wants them back and they're deep inside Upper Galilee. This is something that Israel cannot accept. And the Hezbollah ideology is certainly an ideology that has just pronounced the fact that Israel is on the verge of disappearing. Hassan Nasrallah said it and we are the beginning of the end of the Zionist entity. Now add to this also the fact that the former ambassador to Lebanon, Shia, who is just leaving right now her position, has declared only the day before yesterday that the Shabbat farms were Lebanese and that unless Syria will give its assent for that. So it means that they have already a position that is anti-Israeli. I mean there's nothing we can get from them. Whereas we have to give everything, the Shabbat farms, we have to give the 13 points and what do we get? We get Hezbollah still on our border. So and the fact that we cannot bring and convince 80,000 Israelis who left their homes there back to their homes as long as Radoan units are under the windows, they're just under the window on the fence, means that we have nothing but Manu military to use in order to just to put Hezbollah way far from our border. So thanks for that analysis. This is grim as it may be important to hear. Also tonight some news to talk about world capitals on high alert for New Year's Eve celebrations, especially in Europe. There are fears of terror attacks. French police specifically saying there is quote a very high terrorist threat tonight. France's domestic intelligence chief says that they're deploying 90,000 police officers around the country, 6,000 officers in Paris alone twice as many as last year. With me now is journalist James Jackson joining us from Berlin to talk more about the threats tonight. James, how acute are these threats? Is it a general sense or is there acute fear intelligence of cells trying to commit acts of terror? There aren't any particular fears for tonight in the sense of cells that they've identified and aren't expecting. But it has to be said that there have been in recent weeks a number of terror cells, particularly in Germany, that there has been arrested, some in association with Hamas. And for example, the Cologne Cathedral has been searched for bombs. So there are specific threats. But what the French Interior Minister is talking about here is more of a general very high threat partly because of tensions around within the country and across Europe surrounding the Israel and Hamas war in Gaza. Tell me more about the existence of underground terror cells in Europe. I know the recent arrests in Germany, France now on very high alert. Are they threats in terms of having weapons caches stored? Do they have support from a militia group? How will they, is this the threat of a lone wolf attack? Tell me more about the kind of underground cells that may be operating. Well, as I explained on your show a few weeks ago, there was an arrest made in Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark of five people, I think it was around five people who were associated with Hamas and particularly the militant wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassim Brigade. So that was a specific threat that there has also been a potential threat related to Cologne Cathedral and a number of around Germany, which was supposed to attack around this winter. But I have to point out that we don't know how close they were to actually carrying something out. So Hamas did appear to have an underground weapons cache in Europe, in Germany specifically, although it looks like they actually lost it. So it doesn't seem like they were particularly close to an attack. And we don't know if there were actually any weapons or particularly dangerous weapons found there. And the fact that the police haven't and German politicians haven't played this threat particularly high ahead of Christmas could indicate that it wasn't that serious. So we don't want to alarm anyone when there is clearly a lot of tension and there are some people who would be willing to take advantage of that. But I don't think this should get in the way of anyone enjoying their New Year's Eve. France is deploying 80,000 police officers, Berlin is deploying 4,000 in the capital alone. So there's plenty of security measures. And I don't think that the risks, although the risks are high, I don't think this should get in the way of people enjoying their New Year's Eve. James Jackson, thank you so much for your analysis, joining us in Berlin. Jacques Neret, thank you so much as well. Just a word, they don't need weapons. In the Christmas market in Germany, they drove a car inside. In France, they drove a truck and killed 80 in Nice. And you have the the Bataclan also with two weapons only created havoc and 115 were killed. So the very limited weapons with big damage. Thank you Jacques again for that analysis. We're going out for a break. We have more reporting ahead here on the channel, more live updates from the field as the war continues and more in studio guests and reporting with our panel. We'll see you soon. Thanks for watching. I 24 news is in a state of war, families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines. But the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well. In recycle. What's exciting is we're at the forefront. What is about to happen is a tsunami of solar panels coming back into the supply chain. I 24 news this hour for the latest live updates from Israel on the Israel Hamas war and the other threats from across the Middle East. Israel's ground offensive to destroy Hamas in the Gaza Strip is about to enter its fourth month and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the war will continue many months more in a press conference last night. Netanyahu says the idea will not stop until Hamas is eliminated and the strip the militarized. He also spoke directly about one of the lingering unanswered aspects of the war. What to do about the southern border with Gaza that borders Egypt only not Israel and from where it's believed Hamas smuggles weapons machines and many rockets to Philadelphia. The Philadelphia corridor ought to put it more correctly. The southern stoppage point must be in our hands. It must be shut. It is clear that any other arrangement would not ensure the demilitarization that we seek. The war will continue for many more months. My policy is clear. We will continue to fight until all the objectives of the war are achieved and the priority is the elimination of Hamas and the release of all our captives. We will not relent for a moment in our efforts to bring our captives home. We will ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. What being in studio is retired IDF Colonel Dr. Jockner a former IDF deputy head of assessment with military intelligence. Thank you so much for being with us here in studio. Your reaction to Netanyahu's remarks last night insisting that the war will go on for many more months saying Israel needs to control this Philadelphia corridor which for Israelis brings back many many painful memories of basically sitting ducks targets Israeli soldiers in the far southern corner of the Gaza Strip. Is there an alternative though to Israeli control of this area. Well first of all there's no alternative. If you don't control the the corridor then you cannot stop the smuggling weapons and equipment and merchandise. I mean you have tunnels that you can just drive cattle inside. You can cars that you know the trucks go there and when Ceci took over he his and he was threatened by all the jihadists that has that had very strong ties with Hamas. So he just embarked on an operation of flooding and and and just undigging all the tunnels that were along the border. They were about more than a hundred more than a hundred. Some of them were flooded by water by by seawater and the Egyptians understand very well that this is that this is the only the only way that serious weapons can can get to Hamas. And the proof is that only yesterday the Hamas I mean the army showed the our leaders weapons which came from from China. I mean how I mean they cannot fly. They cannot reach the sea. So the only way is through through the Sinai Peninsula. So this is a very very important aspect of the war. It means that we will have to negotiate again with the Egyptians about the modalities of how we how we handle the border because the Egyptians don't want the responsibility. They don't want the responsibility and they they feel that they might be threatened by the Israeli presence there. And I think that this is something that to be settled in negotiations between us and the Egyptians. And I think that the Egyptians understand very well the danger of the Hamas being the Muslim brethren. I mean off off spring of the Egyptian Muslim brother. But doesn't that raise the question then you're going to have IDF soldiers having to be stationed indefinitely in the far north of border in the northern part of the strip where the IDF has operational full operational control. There'll be soldiers in the north. There'll be soldiers in the far south. Many of them targets for ambushes or guerrilla style attacks. Isn't this the exact scenario why the IDF left in the first place. Well you know that we we have to learn lessons from the past definitely. I mean when we were when we occupied Gaza completely we were just controlling only two main two main streets. I mean the and the the fact that we had more than 52 the paratroopers companies that didn't didn't help us much to control the whole the whole area. So what the prime minister didn't say yesterday. He didn't say what sort of of intensity he was and he was meaning. Is it a low incentive intensity war. Is it a high intensity war. In my view what is what he meant was the fact that after the third stage of controlling the surface of the I'm talking about the surface not the underground of Kanyulis and Gaza the IDF will have to redeploy will have to redeploy most of the third the units will be out of the of Gaza. They'll be deployed along the border on a on a perimeter that will stretch from the Egyptian border till the Israeli border in in areas in the north. And with the guard guards are remaining inside of commandos and special troops they care that can be on the on the border and just continue the war by specific operations against identified and non identified targets. This is what he meant. He didn't mean that the war was going I mean with this scope of of units 300,000 only in only in Kanyulis you have now seven brigades seven which is enormous. I mean it's a flood that said it's impossible to imagine the quantity of units that are on the ground and luckily there's no crossfire and that each unit is not shooting the other one. So there will be the only redeployment and the war will continue until we finish with the hitting or just finally finding a Sinoir in his refuge and just taking him out. Let's get up there also from our correspondent Nicole Sedeck who is live for us along the Israel-Gaza border. Nicole when we've been checking in with you throughout the morning we could hear the artillery firing and the IDF strikes in Gaza. What's going on where you are? We continue to hear of that outgoing artillery and see the massive plumes of smoke really in the background in the central part of the Gaza Strip. Now the latest update I have for you at this hour comes from an IDF spokesperson in Arabic continuing to urge residents specifically of the Al-Baraj region to evacuate and this is where we have seen a lot of that heavy heavy fighting some massive plumes of smoke in this central area not only encouraging residents in Al-Baraj but also some of the surrounding neighborhoods as well to move to the the shelter in that region. Now that means that we're going to continue to see heavy heavy fighting happening in that area. The IDF spokesperson in Arabic not only encouraging residents there but also in Khan Yunus just as you're talking about with all of these different brigades operating in Khan Yunus it remains a heavy hot spot for terrorist activity and that means for IDF activity as well and so they're still telling any residents who might remain in the area to evacuate to this shelter as well however they're going to open different bypass routes one of those bypass routes it is not the Salah al-Din highway this remains even though it's the main highway the IDF spokesperson says residents do not get on this highway it is a very active military zone and anyone who does cross into the area is in danger of possibly being injured. Now in addition to these different bypass routes that the IDF is going to continue to open to allow the flow of residents they're also opening some different bypass routes to encourage the flow of humanitarian aid and trucks in fact that same spokesperson said today from 10 to 2 in one of the neighborhoods in Rafe there's going to be a humanitarian pause in the flight fighting this time to allow more humanitarian trucks to get in as well and this is all of course under the backlash of different international pressure encouraging more of this humanitarian aid to get in and Israel for the most part although they claim that they are allowing and trying to get as much humanitarian aid in it's not up to the same guidelines that the international media might want to see even on Friday we didn't even see the number of trucks coming from the Karim Shalom crossing and the Rafe border crossing it didn't even cross 100 and really what the international pressure wants to see is closer to 200 if not more humanitarian aid trucks so we are saying a pause in the fighting to allow some of the distribution of that aid and but as the IDF spokesperson continues to tell residents where to go saying exactly where some of this fighting might be moving it is up to the residents to heed that precaution to listen move to these different safe places that the IDF is allowing them to operate in what to make of the the significant decrease in rocket fire out of the Gaza Strip is Hamas is dwindling arsenal of rockets coming to its end well it has been nearly a 24 hour lull that we've seen in this southern border communities it's been nearly 24 hours since we've seen a rocket fire from Hamas to the southern border communities but according to a new report coming out of the Israeli army radio talking about some unnamed IDF sources they're not sure if the threat from Hamas rockets will ever completely disintegrate when it comes to the southern border communities the IDF is attacking hard they're not only eliminating Hamas terrorists Hamas launch sites and capturing some of the weapons as well and definitely diminishing their long term capabilities and their their long firing range capabilities when it comes to central Israel but these southern border towns where you have 10 maybe 15 seconds to get into a shelter the IDF is insured that the constant threat will ever completely be diminished but they're absolutely working towards it and the more that they do go in and and take more of the weapons and continue to eliminate some of these launch sites the threat is slowly dwindling day by day but it is still there Nicole thank you so much for that live update we'll move on to some other original threats and update to a story we talked about earlier in the day here on the channel with several boats from off the coast of Yemen that were approaching shipping vessels cargo containers in the red sea proceeding to come closer to the shipping containers with and ignoring the commands of the international shipping coalition led by the us warships to back away three of the four ships were sunk the crews have been killed again the boats had ignored commands from the international coalition of warships to back away they were sunk it's unclear if they were Houthi ships but they did come off the coast of Yemen near the Houthi controlled area this comes on the back of an attack yesterday a successful attack from the Houthis where a ballistic missile struck a container ship in the red sea no injuries from that strike that ship by the way still see worthy but that was yesterday the first successful attack on a ship since the beginning of this American-led international coalition of warships that is patrolling the red sea to protect vessels and tankers and the American warship shot down two other ballistic missiles that were fired during the attack in total over just the last 10 days this international coalition has shot down 17 drones and four missiles and has sunk four boats over just the last few days the october 7th massacre deeply shook the middle east and the repercussions still being felt around the region and the world i-24 news middle east correspondent aerial os around shares the challenges but also the opportunities amid this fast changing region until october 7th there were high hopes for big changes in the middle east talk of us mediated peace between israel and saudi arabia which in turn would spread to other arab countries created much anticipation but then after thousands of hamas terrorists rampage through southern israeli communities and idf bases swattering burning and kidnapping everything in their path the delicate house of cards collapsed the kingdom of saudi arabia affirms its categorical rejection of the continuation of aggression occupation and the forced displacement of gaza's population the kingdom holds the occupation authorities responsible for the crimes committed against the palestinian people and their properties we are certain that the only way to guarantee security peace and stability in the region is to end the occupation siege and settlements but sidelining israel's saudi normalization for the unforeseeable future was only one of the effects of that dark october 7th on the region it also saw the solidification of the iranian axis of proxies from iraq to lebanon all the way to yemen terran's branches all began to attack israel we're in a multi arena war we are being attacked from seven different sectors gaza lebanon syria judaea and samaria iraq yemen and iran we have already responded and taken action and i say here in the most explicit way anyone who acts against us is a potential target there is no immunity for anyone in an attempt to get a better understanding of how the region as a whole was affected by the october 7th attacks i-24 news reached out to journalists in the region to give their perspective one of them is a journalist from yemen we blurred his face and distorted his voice for his safety speaking with an israeli-based news outlet the perhaps the most surprising front to many has been the continuous drone and missile attacks by the houthis in yemen towards israeli territory and then at international commercial ships navigating through the red sea the yemen armed forces affirmed their continued support for the palestinian people as part of the religious moral and humanitarian duty and confirmed the continuation of operations in the red sea and the arabian sea against israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied palestine until the food and medicine needed by the gaza strip are brought in but according to the journalist in yemen the houthis are simply the ones pulling the trigger in service of their patrons mahar beyond emboldening the iranian axis the october 7th attacks also seem to have affected the streets in many of the region's capitals in support of the palestinians i see a lot of change among the awareness of of ordinary people who never really paid attention to to political issues of the palestinian situation i seen especially in arab countries george and egypt saw the arabia many of the countries have really much more involved now and i think we've seen also progressives and young people around the world taking up the palestinian cause in a much more powerful way than we've ever seen before like the journalist in yemen kutab too believes that the war in gaza has put a strain on israel's existing peace agreements with jordan and egypt if the both peace treaties have held on so far but on a very thin ice i think that there is strong opposition in both countries to their countries continuing the peace agreements but more importantly i think people want civilian lives to be saved besides threats there are some silver linings that have emerged from the horrific attacks on israel and ensuing war in gaza not only the american-led maritime coalition aimed at ensuring the safe navigation in the red sea but that saudi arabia egypt and jordan all intercepted houthi drones and missiles over the territories on their way to israel an indication that jerusalem does have shared strategic interests in the balance of power in the middle east well i think arab countries are trying to be peacemakers as much as they can they're trying to provide the material support to people who are in terrible need and i don't think we've seen a major shift especially in countries that have had normalization relations with israel the leaders are still insisting on in keeping some form of relationship even though public opinion has changed and so with the war in gaza in full steam and further escalation with his balloon the horizon the october 7 attacks seem to have changed not only israel but the region as a whole now israel finds itself at a critical juncture a regional war or increased regional cooperation whether or not it's up to israel to decide what the outcome will be that still remains to be seen aerial talking at length there's rock about you know the threat and uh potential of a regional war do you believe that the front with lebanon will not be successfully handled diplomatically and we may have a level of war and a level of destruction that we have not seen before between them if i may before the tackling with the lebanese issue i think that there are two elements in the in israel that have that that the 7th of october has just made very clear first was the the containment policy of the the government concerning the concerning hamas and concerning his mother has proven to be a failure this is one second making peace with the arabs and and without the palestinians and forgetting about the palestinian issue as if it doesn't exist was is also a failure this is what's what transpires from what i hear right now from the the what was said by by australian so this is something that we have to remember that we have to reshape our policy in according to the reality as far as lebanon is concerned i think that we we have reached a situation where war is almost unavoidable why is why is it so because hockstein comes with the proposal that says that we have to to amend the fences concerning the the territorial issue between lebanon and and and israel there are 13 points of the litigation between us and and lebanon and he thinks that by solving that there will be no ground for hezbollah to continue on its attack whereas hezbollah says that there's more than that there are seven seven other villages that were that were that were evacuated in 1948 and he wants them back and they're inside deep inside upper galilee this is something that israel cannot accept and the and the hezbollah ideology is certainly an ideology that has the bay that has just pronounced the fact that israel is on the verge of of disappearing the hasa nasala said it in we are the we are the beginning of the end of the the zionist entity now add to this also the fact that the the the former ambassador to the to lebanon shia who's just leaving right now her position has declared only the day before yesterday that the shama firms were lebanese and that and unless syria will give it's a scent for that so it means that they have already a position that is anti-israeli i mean that there's nothing we can get from them whereas that we have to give everything at the shama firms we have to give the 13 points and what would what do we get we get the hezbollah still on our on our border so and the fact that we cannot bring and convince 80 000 israelis who left their homes there back to the to their homes as long as red one units are under the windows they're just on the window on the on the fence means that we have nothing but the manu military to use in order to just to to put his by the way away far from from our border so thanks for that analysis is grim as it may be important to hear also tonight some news to talk about world capitals on high alert for new year's eve celebrations especially in europe there are fears of terror attacks french police specifically saying there is quote a very high terrorist threat tonight francis domestic intelligence chief says that they're deploying 90 000 police officers around the country six thousand officers in paris alone twice as many as last year with me now is journalist james jackson joining us from burlin to talk more about the threats tonight james how acute are these threats is it a general sense or are there are there acute fear intelligence of of cells trying to commit acts of terror there aren't any particular fears for tonight in the sense of cells that that they've identified and on it are expecting but it has to be said that there that there have been in recent weeks a number of terror cells particularly in germany that that there has been arrested some in association with hamas and for example the cologne cathedral has been searched for bombs so there are specific threats but what the french interior minister is talking about here is more of a general very high threat partly because of tensions around within the country and across europe surrounding the israel and hamas war in gaza tell me more about the existence of underground terror cells in europe i know the recent arrests in germany france are now on very high alert uh are they threats in terms of having weapons caches stored do they have support from a militia group so i mean how will they is this the threat of a lone wolf attack tell me more about the kind of underground cells that may be operating well um as i explained on your show a few weeks ago there was an arrest made in germany the netherlands and denmark of um five people i think it was around five people who were associated with hamas and particularly the militant wing of hamas the accustomed brigade so that was a specific threat that there has also been a potential threat uh related to cologne cathedral and a number of around germany which was supposed to attack around this winter but i have to point out that we don't know how close they were to actually carrying something out so hamas did appear to have an underground weapons cache in europe uh in germany specifically although it looks like they actually lost it so it doesn't seem like they were particularly close to attack and it doesn't we don't know if there were actually any weapons or you know particularly dangerous weapons found there and the fact that the police haven't and german politicians haven't played this threat particularly high uh ahead of christmas could indicate that it wasn't that serious so we don't want to alarm anyone when uh there is clearly a lot of tension and there are some people who would would be willing to take advantage of that but i don't think this should be get in the way of anyone enjoying their new years eve france is deploying 80 000 police officers berlin is deploying four thousand in the capital alone so there's plenty of security measures um and i don't think that the risks although the risks are high i don't think this should get in the way of people enjoying their new years eve james jackson thank you so much for your analysis joining us in berlin jock nere thank you so much as well just the word they don't need weapons they they in the christmas market in germany they drove a car inside in france they go they they drove a truck and killed 80 in nice and you have there you have the the the bataclan also with two weapons only created havoc and 115 were killed so the very limited weapons with big damage thank you jack again for that analysis we're going out for a break we have more reporting ahead here on the channel more live updates from the field as the war continues and more in studio guests and reporting with our panel we'll see you soon thanks for watching israel is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well his country was moving closer to a normalization deal with israel in iran opponents of the regime had just quietly marked a year since masa amini was murdered by security forces for failing to cover her hair a killing which had sparked an unprecedented challenge to the islamic regime trade between israel and the united arab emirates was booming in the west bank amid a spike in terrorist attacks the idf was carrying out almost daily raids on palestinian cities like gin and nablas peace seemed more distant than ever then on october 7th the jewish holiday of everything changed our middle east correspondent era has this report october 7th there were high hopes for big changes in the middle east talk of us mediated peace between israel and saudi arabia which in turn would spread to other arab countries created much anticipation but then after thousands of hamas terrorists rampage through southern israeli communities and idf bases slaughtering burning and kidnapping everything in their path the delicate house of cards collapsed the kingdom of saudi arabia affirms its categorical rejection of the continuation of aggression occupation and the forced displacement of gaza's population the kingdom holds the occupation authorities responsible for the crimes committed against the palestinian people and their properties we are certain that the only way to guarantee security peace and stability in the region is to end the occupation siege and settlements but sidelining israel's saudi normalization for the unforeseeable future was only one of the effects of that dark october 7th on the region it also saw the solidification of the iranian axis of proxies from iraq to lebanon all the way to yemen tehran's branches all began to attack israel we're in a multi arena war we are being attacked from seven different sectors gaza lebanon syria judaea and samaria iraq yemen and iran we have already responded and taken action and i say here in the most explicit way anyone who acts against us is a potential target there is no immunity for anyone in an attempt to get a better understanding of how the region as a whole was affected by the october 7th attacks i24 news reached out to journalists in the region to give their perspective one of them is a journalist from yemen we blurred his face and distorted his voice for his safety speaking with an israeli-based news outlet but perhaps the most surprising front to many has been the continuous drone and missile attacks by the houthis in yemen towards israeli territory and then at international commercial ships navigating through the red sea the yemen armed forces affirmed their continued support for the palestinian people as part of the religious moral and humanitarian duty and confirmed the continuation of operations in the red sea and the arabian sea against israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied palestine until the food and medicine needed by the gaza strip are brought in but according to the journalist in yemen the houthis are simply the ones pulling the trigger in service of their patrons so beyond emboldening the iranian axis the october 7th attacks also seem to have affected the streets in many of the region's capitals in support of the palestinians i see a lot of change among the awareness of ordinary people who never really paid attention to to political issues of the palestinian situation i seen especially in arab countries georgia and egypt so there are many of the countries are really much more involved now and i think we've seen also progressives and young people around the world taking up the palestinian cause in a much more powerful way than we've ever seen before like the journalist in yemen kutab 2 believes that the war in gaza has put a strain on israel's existing peace agreements with jordan and egypt the both peace treaties have held on so far but on a very thin ice i think that there is strong opposition in both countries to their countries continuing the peace agreements but more importantly i think people want civilian lives to be saved besides threats there are some silver linings that have emerged from the horrific attacks on israel and ensuing war in gaza not only the american-led maritime coalition aimed at ensuring the safe navigation in the red sea but that saudi arabia egypt and jordan all intercepted houthi drones and missiles over their territories under way to israel an indication that jewsland does have shared strategic interests in the balance of power in the middle east well i think arab countries are trying to be peacemakers as much as they can they're trying to provide material support to people who are in terrible need and i don't think we've seen a major shift especially in countries that have had normalization relations with israel the leaders are still insisting on keeping some form of relationship even though public opinion has changed and so with the war in gaza in full steam and further escalation with his balloon horizon the october 7 attacks seem to have changed not only israel but the region as a whole now israel finds itself at a critical juncture a regional war or increased regional cooperation whether or not it's up to israel to decide what the outcome will be that still remains to be seen well to discuss how the conflict has impacted cooperation between israel and its gulf allies we can head to abu dhabi we're joined by lawi al-sharif peace activist and expert in arab-israeli relations great to see you lawi thank you very much for joining us so looking back um has this been a success for iran in terms of derailing the peace between israel and its partners in the gulf temporarily laura first of all good to see you and good to see everyone and i hope inshallah that the new year will be a prosperous year where peace will be dominant in the region that is about the shame so i'm very optimistic about that but answering back to your question i said yes temporarily i think things were moving fast um when the crown prince of saudi arabia talked about the peace uh that every day uh saudi arabia is getting closer to peace having peace with israel and also bringing benefits to the palestinians as well this is something that we have to mention the ui was doing lots of work with israel and things now are on hold because of this war but it's not uh you know laura let me tell you something i believe the leaders of this region realize so well that it's inevitable to have a permanent peace in the middle east with israel being a player in the region this is what the crown prince of saudi arabia said and this is what other leaders believe and it's also it's also um a permanent policy by the ui to minimize the conflicts minimize the tensions and making peace and neutralizing all the conflicts so it's been posed just temporarily well one gulf state has been in the headlines uh more than others uh over the past few months and that is katar this war has exposed its close ties to both hamas and the muslim brotherhood has that raised concerns in the gulf well you know katar now has um after ali ola agreement katar agreed to many things to uh to come along with its with with its gulf neighbors and i believe many prominent analysts see that katar is uh or has a lot more to do with this but i believe that the leadership of katar uh will come to um to a stage where they realize that there has to be a permanent peace in the middle east where israel is is part of it and uh whatever the tensions that are going right now i believe they will be solved very soon i believe the leadership of katar really wants uh to have um a stable middle east even though some things or some other things in the uh on the surface don't necessarily indicate so but eventually because they agreed on ali ola agreement and i believe that it's the it's in their interest to support a stable middle east the ua e has taken a very different path and has really paved the way in terms of getting humanitarian relief to gaza the first country to set up uh field hospitals inside the gaza strip why has that been so important do you think to the leadership because the leadership wanted to send a very important message that it is true that the leadership of the ua e carries a lot about the peace in the region making peace with israel in 2020 it's a big believer in the imrahama courts but it will not it did not does not and will not abandon the palestinian people as people this is a very important thing the ua e criminalizes muslim brotherhood movement the ua e criminalizes uh political islam movements but it would never criminalize the palestinian people and it would stand with the palestinian people and with their suffering and it would do whatever it can do to minimize this kind of suffering this is why it established the field hospital this is why it it sent so many aides uh the gallant night uh operation gallant night initiated by the by the president of the ua e sent this important message so it's very important to know laura that the palestinian people uh the ua e cares for them and we all do and we all believe that the palestinian people living in dignity is very important for any peace process that will move forward after the war inshallah laway thank you very much indeed laway al-shareef uh a happy and blessed new year to you thank you so much thank you laway to all the i-24 staff thank you so much same to you well as israel responded to those attacks by hamas egypt's proximity to gaza meant that it was thrust into the conflict early on kairu rejected any attempt to allow gazon refugees into the saino peninsula even temporarily it facilitated aid transfers through the rafa crossing and sought to mediate a hostage release deal egypt and israel have a peace treaty dating back to 1979 as this war put that treaty under strain we're joining us now dali as the other is an award-winning egyptian writer and political analyst great to see you dalia thank you for joining us and um egypt first of all is very much against any kind of resettlement of gardens in saini even temporarily why is egypt so opposed to hosting calisthenian refugees on its territory thank you laura and happy new year and to everyone uh to you and to everyone uh it's always a pleasure to be with you uh it's a good question actually egypt's policies uh egypt's the policies adopted by the egyptian state toward is the war in gaza and how to deal with the palestinians how to deal with the peace uh or the potential of peace in the middle of this war is is characterized by confusion there is a lot of confusion in the decisions made by the egyptian state most of it is determined by domestic issues one of the main highlights for this confusion is how egypt is looking at the refugee crisis that is resulting from this war egypt on one side speaks all the time about the importance of the palace of of ensuring that the palestinian people are safe ensuring that the palestinian refugees will be treated properly but at the same time it refuses to open the borders for the palestinian people to get into saini to receive medical aid or perhaps to stay temporarily until they go back on one side egypt is concerned you have like it's it's i would i would call it legitimate concerns but i think they are somehow exaggerated was exaggerated uh for political domestic political reasons some of these legitimate concerns is the fears that hamas militants may leak into saini with refugees who are trying to get into the country uh or the palestinian people i mean who are trying to get into the country another concern is the economic burden of hosting the palestinians at this time while egypt is suffering a severe economic crisis but i think all of these are not reasons good enough for the egyptian state to refuse to uh host the palestinian people at least temporarily in saini because in 2014 for example we have seen a similar situation when the egyptian state opened the door for the palestinians they stayed for a while uh and received medical aid and so on and when the war ended they returned it back together well quite and i mean in the midst of this conflict president sisi was returned to power in elections he faced no real threat to his power but is there a risk now in egypt that hamas's sister organization the muslim brotherhood could take advantage of the situation laura unfortunately what the massacres that hamas committed on october 7 created a momentum for islamist extremist islamist is all over the region and it allows them to go back to the surface again to leave the public opinion in arab countries in my country egypt the muslim brotherhood has been launching attacks on everyone who spoke against hamas including myself they are now influencing media they are all over social media they are bringing back to the front the rhetoric of this muslim versus jewish war and i think this will not hurt only israel on the long term or even the medium term it will also hurt the arab state that has been fighting again is this extremist islamic rhetoric for a while including egypt the united arab emirates saudi arabia that's why it's important for this country to realize that their exaggeration in bending to the public rhetoric that's going on right now against israel is actually hurting them it's not only it's not it's not gaining them any political ground in their countries but actually it is hurting them and just briefly dahlia israel and egypt have had strong cooperation for years in terms of security and will that cooperation stay intact do you think uh to be honest there are a lot of bruises to the relationship between egypt and israel i'm sorry to say that and to see that but i think uh egypt still has and the main reason why these bruises exist mainly is because post-countries acted in a way that was misunderstood by the other country so i think yes it will influence the relationship for a while but thank god it has not broken the bond of trust yet between egypt and israel so it's important for the two countries to take the initiatives to fix that before it's too late don't wait until the war is over just work now on uh rebuilding this bond of trust by working on the on on the palestinian issue or the israel-palestinian conflict together dahlia thank you very much indeed and a very happy new year to you dahlia ziada thank you thank you and happy new year to all of you thanks a lot thank you well peace between israel and the palestinians seems more remote than ever many of those who were murdered in the kibbutzim on october 7th were pro-peace activists who drove garrsons to israeli hospitals and a recent poll of palestinians in gaza and the west bank shows the vast majority supported the october 7th attacks samayas elijlawi is a fatah activist and the chairman of the jewsland development fund he joins us now thank you very much for being with us samir good to see you and it all seems pretty bleak at this stage doesn't it do you have any hope for a peaceful solution between israelis and palestinians in 2024 well definitely despite the fact that maybe this was the saddest year in in our history sadness have been prevailing for the last three months we have been seeing victims that have lost their lives on both sides i have never imagined that this conflict will come to a level where our victims will have no names and no graves so it's beyond the imagination what has happened on the 7th of october and and later and but but i think there is no other option but for both israelis and palestinians to live together and coexist and try to get out of this together and i'm optimistic that maybe 2024 will be the year for security and peace for israelis and palestinians you know this war has stopped a process a huge diplomatic process that was supposed to enhance peace in the middle east it was supposed to bring the sohudis into the abrahman accords and through this process also to push the palestinian issue and this was stopped by the war and i'm confident that this war will stop through reactivating this process again it is with the intention and the goodwill of the international community and the regional neighbors maybe we will be able to stop the war and begin momentum again to the expanding the normalization and peace to include the sohudis the palestinians and you know it's it's a five six birds that can be shocked by one stone if if the sohudis are able to bring the israelis and palestinians and come together to into a regional this accords there's more international interest yeah then then then there will be no way for hezbollah or the huthis or the iranians to be interfering more and more in the stability of of the region so in one stone we can hit similar birds thank you samet and i just want to ask you you know in your mind what will a post khamas gaza look like um several palestinian names have been talked about um ahmed dahlan is one of them um do you have any preference for who could be a potential leader for the palestinian people well i'm sure it's going to be a collective leadership partnership among uh uh names like muhammad dahlan and nasa kudwa uh marwan balghouti you know the young generation of fatih that has been uh waiting so long uh for a change in the leadership a generation that is more pragmatic that is more accountable that is more transparent that will try to be uh attached to the people convincing to the palestinian people and be positive in finding ways of cooperation with all the regional countries and working very hard in with with an israeli partner to try to exit from this circle of violence both the palestinians and israelis desperately need to live in peace security human dignity rights and i'm sure that responsible leadership including a new leadership from from the palestinian side and maybe we are expecting also change of leadership on in israel because israelis are also not very much happy from their current leadership and would like to see more moderate leadership on the israeli side if this happens then the star will align together and we will have the needed conditions for progress towards peace i'm confident 2024 we will be able to get out of of these feelings of anger sadness and be more into uh towards uh tolerance towards accepting the other side working with the other side we will achieve peace very soon despite these sad days let's hope you're right samia let's hope we have a much more peaceful 2024 happy new year to you thank you very much samir sinish lawi there well on february 6 turkey was struck by a devastating earthquake which killed more than 50 000 people israel was one of the first nations to respond with search and rescue teams but in israel's hour of need ankara chose not to return the favor turkey's president erdogan instead lashed out at the jewish state and said it was wrong to call humas terrorists by the end of the year he said israel's prime minister net and yahoo was no different to hitler well joining me to talk about that hi a tan yana rochak is a turkey expert at the jewsland institute for strategy and security thank you for being with us hi tan good to see you and other than iran i mean president erdogan has been the fiercest critic of israel hasn't since october 7th and this despite the fact that turkey of course is a nato and us ally and just explain the thinking behind odewan's position well first of all i would like to make a point here that you mentioned in the beginning of the of our of the broadcast regarding the earthquake we witnessed such a huge sharp u-turn this is really unbelievable before the war we also witnessed a bilateral summit between benjamin etaniao and president erdogan at the sidelines of the united nations and now unfortunately we have seen the end of the normalization that could usher a new era a golden era between israel and turkey and of course nowadays we have to deal and we have to cope with the circumstances with the ramifications of this current fighting in the gaza strip and as you mentioned mr erdogan adopted a very pro hamas a very pro-palestinian approach and i believe that this is something related to his past he is considered as an islamist we know him very well he is considered as a muslim brotherhood ideology person and of course this is making things much more complicated he doesn't believe and not anymore i mean i mean he does not believe that israel is a strong state in the middle east this is a very important paradigm change in the eyes of the turks and besides that when i'm looking at these latest statements i also see that there's also another alarming phenomenon which is the banalization of the holocaust for instance yesterday the turkish president openly criticized the israeli premier the prime minister benjamin etaniao that he's you know similar to adolf hitler i think this is of course from an israeli point of view and from a western point of view of course this is something really unacceptable and we are seeing the same kind of behavior in the turkish press for instance a couple of weeks ago i happened to see a news coverage at the milliet newspaper that they compared the gaza strip compared the gaza strip with oschwitz and they compare they keep comparing the israeli soldiers with the nazis so this is very problematic so we have to see if that relationship improves in 2024 what we are i'm very skeptical but let's hope dr koyena rotec thank you very much thank you for having me time for a short break when we come back israel is also at war on its northern front and with yemen's who sees for the next israel is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well she'll end of year program on i24 news and as if the war with hamas was not enough israel also has to contend with a better trained better armed iranian proxy to the north the lebanese sheik group hezbollah began attacking israel on october 8th the united states moved two aircraft carriers to the region to serve as a deterrent there have been tit for tat clashes close to the border ever since forcing thousands of civilians on both sides to flee their homes well for more we're joined by david dowd hezbollah and lebanon senior fellow at the foundation for the defense of democracy is great to see david and the hezbollah leader ever since october 8th hassan asrallah has been criticized even mocked in the arab world for not doing more to support gaza at the same time he's lost well over 100 fighters in the conflict with israel would you say he's standing this year has been damaged in the region it depends on the perspective you're looking at it from i think within uh resistance axis circles uh he's at least hezbollah's own circles he's doing what hezbollah is capable of doing um and it's not a minor contribution right the attacks that have been occurring on the northern border which um has escalated in recent days since the killing of the iranian official in syria uh have succeeded in um dividing israeli forces along two fronts this has slowed the effort in gaza it is calling up more reserves this tax the israeli economy it has led to the displacement of thousands of israeli civilians there is a war on the northern front effectively and hezbollah has opened it unilaterally well clearly israel will not accept the status quo uh going into 2024 with hezbollah there poise to carry out another october 7th in the north is an all-out war inevitable david or can it be avoided um i think it can be avoided in the short term but i do think it is inevitable hezbollah is an organization that by its dna is uniquely dedicated to the destruction of the state of israel of all countries um it is threatening and has been threatening since february 11th sorry february 16th 2011 secretary general hassan asrol has been threatening uh what he is called the liberation of the galilee this is an attack that would unfold exactly like october 7th um they are eventually along with the rest of their resistance act as partners uh preparing for a future major regional war against the jewish state which they hope will destroy israel uh this is something that they are saying will come that they are preparing for so war is inevitable it's a matter of when it'll happen this big war will happen so if israel is capable of delaying it for now or deterring israel or hezbollah for now so long as the organization exists the threat of a major war remains and israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu denied that the u.s president joe biden had prevented him from attacking hezbollah early on um is u.s support for israel more of a hindrance than a help when it comes to dealing with the threat in the north i think it's a complicating factor in many ways um the united states has a certain fixation if you will on um this idea of saving lebanon this idea that lebanon is a partner that it must be distinguished from hezbollah and that the more you strengthen the lebanese state the more you can weaken hezbollah it's a approach that we've had in the united states since at least 2005 it's one that hasn't borne fruit but the the the the idea sticks um i think u.s efforts uh since the beginning of the war since october seventh have aimed at as you know containing the war to the israel gaza front and minimizing damage or minimizing opening other fronts um lebanon is included in that we've sent uh senior envoy almas hawkstein there um we've sent lewid austin uh to israel uh secretary of defense lewid austin to israel and there have been previous reports that have indicated us concern that israeli not hezbollah israeli attacks are going to be the ones that escalate on the northern front there were reports earlier than the wall street journal one that you're referring to and did you talk about uh that suggested that uh defense minister galant had asked prime minister netanyahu to uh launch a preemptive strike on hezbollah and lebanon i'm not preemptive it would be given the the attacks that are going on uh but that the one thing that restrained prime minister netanyahu was uh pressure from the american administration not to bring lebanon into the circle of hostilities so i think american uh american support or at least american interference uh as it relates to the northern front has constrained israel's hand from doing what it should or needs to do we appreciate it thank you david daoud at the fdd thank you well there is another front in this war a saudi-led coalition fought yemen's hoothies for seven years but failed to defeat them now they've declared war on israel firing missiles at the red sea city of elat and sometimes misfiring and pitting egypt instead while its fighters use uavs and drones to attack commercial shipping in the red sea the united states has created a multinational task force to protect shipping the hoothies though appear undeterred well hoothies expert dr elizabeth kendall from gertan college at cambridge university joins us now thank you very much indeed for being with us dr kendall um from being kind of a thorn in the side of the moderate gulf states the hoothies have gone on to become a major menace uh to global shipping presenting a real threat to the world economy do you foresee their demise in 2024 or are they just too difficult to defeat i do not foresee their demise i think that they've managed to pitch their attacks to create maximum disruption but without quite pushing america and its allies over into being in a position where they can take existential action against the hoothies so i think the hoothies are going to continue and the reason for that is that they've managed to find a method of grabbing maximum international attention a method of ensuring that what's happening in gaza and in israel is linked to much broader international interests that are at once to do with global trade shipping financial markets and they've carried with them some in the arab world who feel that they're sticking up for the palestinian underdog and the only ones who are actually managing to make waves and perhaps persuade the israel america and their allies that they might need to make some concessions so no no end in sight here and if we go back to uh before this war i mean the hoothies have just signed a peace deal with the saudis they had a level of sympathy in the united states which still hasn't designated them as a terrorist organization but now they're attacking you know not just israeli linked ships but indians ships americans ships british ships and is there a risk in this international attention there is certainly a risk that this calibrated escalation continues and it could easily spiral out of control for example if the hoothies miscalculates if they end up sinking a ship if they end up actually killing crew then i don't think there would be any option but for military retaliation the thing about what's recently happened in the domestic war that you just mentioned is that the hoothies and the internationally recognized government supported by the saudi side in yemen in the domestic war have have managed to reach an agreement this happened uh well it was announced on the 23rd of december which means that they are now on allegedly on a path towards a ceasefire and towards yemeny yemeny political processes now that makes the west's position much more difficult in taking action against the hoothies whether that's military action or whether that's designating them redesignating them as a foreign terrorist organization because what might happen is that that pushes the hoothies to opt out of the recent agreement that's about a week old now and and therefore the west will be blamed for having done that rather than the hoothies so what's been happening inside yemen on the domestic front has greatly strengthened the hoothies hand on the international front dr elizabeth kendall thank you so much you're welcome well iran has unleashed a wave of war and conflict across the region via its proxies from gaza to lebanon to iraq yemen and syria it has managed to albeit temporarily freeze israel's further integration in the region and it is ramping up uranium production as well according to the un's nuclear watchdog the ia ea well joining us now shakria brados is an international security analyst and specialist on iran thank you very much for being with us shakria great to see you would you say the 2023 has wound up being a good year for the islamic republic and will we see a reckoning in 2024 thank you for having me you know we have a discussion whenever whenever we go they're asking us okay what is the islamic regime's gain is that successful in that policy of destroying medallist stability my answer is depends how you define the interest if you define iranian regime's interest in destroying the medallist yeah they've been successful on that because the regime's foreign policy is based on how you're going to unestabilize the region based on the two goals first forcing americans to withdraw from region and secondly to destroy israel that's their goal and for inside of iran we know the regimes since they achieved the power 1979 till now they haven't been successful in giving people the simple service as a government's responsibility so that's the reason the inside of iran they are failed safe outside of iran in the region they've been successful in supporting their militia group when the western countries european and america were busy with making deal how to have a diplomatic solution for iran's problem in the region they try to get to approach to this regime without knowing or i am i'm sure they know but they try to to with the definition of the people some people in the teen tanks in dc they try to show them okay there are two sides of the iranian regime one is reformist and they are willing to deal with the western countries and one is the hardliner so let's support the reformist so we can avoid the hardliner to achieve power in iran but what we we we saw in this after 7 of october it become clear for the western country in america that iranian regimes it is not the different inside the the regime's structure is the one regime with the goal of the how to destroy what americans trying to build in the region trying to civilize for the not just for the american and israel's interest for the for the middle east centuries like gulf countries for the arabias for instance is as an example of how these countries trying to have a better relation with iran trying to bring the iran to the relations and the economic and to to have a more diplomatic relation so in in terms of the response from the united states under president biden would you say that response has been too weak how has it been read in terran has iran kind of been testing the americans and how would they rate the response unfortunately the first day when biden arrived to the office because his policy was defined based on the obama's policy to deal with the regime so regime found it okay the easiest government the most supporting the deal is in the power in the white house so what they did they tried to increase the attack on us bases in iran and syria and what we have seen in in the latest attacks on us isis coalition the coalition gave ices in in our bill the attack on us forces we have three injured and one of the severe injured of the iran the u.s. forces in the white and then the attack followed by another attack in the close to our bill province but what was u.s. reaction after the three of these its force been injured was attacking the kathabah as well as bases in the white which been second attack on this kathabah as well as bases but that's a retaliation or that attack on these militia groups bases not going to stop stunning regime to attack us bases again and let's remember we are approaching to custom ceremony anniversary of the killing of the custom ceremony and if u.s. not stand strongly against these attacks we will have a more attack from iranian bag militia groups not just in iraq we know when they're trying to retaliate or they swear to have a custom ceremony to revenge in iraq but we will have an increasing attack in syria iraq and for hosie in hosie's attack in the international ships route two okay shukria thank you very much indeed we appreciate it shukria brados thank you and happy new year to you do you too thank you well before their world was turned upside down on october 7 israelis had been very much preoccupied with domestic politics prime minister netanyahu and his government seemed determined to push through a controversial judicial overhaul ignoring massive street protests and numerous warnings from washington it's no secret the relationship between the prime minister and president biden was under strain but in israel's darkest hour those differences were swept away and its strongest ally did not disappoint or to talk more about that relationship and the outlook for 2024 i'm joined by a clipper d may the founder and president of the foundation for the defense of democracies thank you very much for joining us good to see you again and i mean it's true isn't it america was at israel's side just days after the hamas attacks and has been steadfast in its support ever since but looking at the bigger picture is washington's reluctance to tackle iran or even talk about iran putting israel in peril long term well yes i think it's putting israel in peril i think it's putting the us in peril i think it's it's vital if you're going to do strategy if you're going to do foreign policy is to recognize the reality you face and the reality you face is you have had in iran a very oppressive regime a regime that's oppressive to its own people a regime that is a danger to the people of the region lebanon is essentially uh a colony of the islamic republic of iran um basa bashar al-asad in syria has been restored to power he's killed over 500 000 of his people he also is a client of iran the houthi rebels who are shooting at ships in the who are entering the red sea heading to the towards us who has canal that's a client of iran mas is a client of iran hezbo we can go on and iran is now in a relationship both with uh with with putin's russia and with communist china now i mean one should be recognizing that and then saying i'm thinking about how to deal with that and in particular what it would mean should the islamic republic of iran acquire nuclear weapons this should be more than israel's problem but no question that it is very much israel's problem um and a sort of ring of fire is is around israel right now and that ring of fire is comprised entirely really of clients of the islamic republic of iran when you look at uh american polls uh a most recent one shows that most americans do support israel but that figure slips dramatically when you look at the under 25s is american support for israel in decline in the long term it's certainly in danger and it's in danger because of what we've seen take place over more than a generation uh on our university campuses and that's the growth of a sort of neo marxist ideology sometimes called woke d i uh critical race theory essentially it says that in this world there are simply oppressors and oppressed victims and victimizers if you are the oppressed anything you do is justified if you're an oppressor nothing you do to defend yourself is ever can ever be justified um the basis of who is a victim and who is a victimizer has most to do with ethnicity skin color um there are the white oppressors jews are considered to be adjacent to white oppressors israel is considered a colonial country even though even though it is ridiculous to think that a jew in the jewish quarter or jerusalem a jew in the judean hills a jew in the judean desert is somehow a colonizer or an imperialist actually i believe i imagine you will understand you understand and believe that israel is for the first time in thousands of years um is a rejection of colonialism and imperialism because for 2000 years the land that is israel was under various empires from from different parts of the world that is not what israel is but what the people are learning on college and i and learning i put in quotes because it's more indoctrination is not that and that's a real danger to israel and it's a real danger to the united states because these young people in college at the age of 18 who have read very little are told you don't need to learn much you don't need to study history you just need to be woke you just need to know who the good guys are who the bad guys are and get out the street and protest in favor of the of those you like and against those you don't like this is a rejection of international law it's a rejection of a lot of things and our colleges need a lot of work to be cleaned up and become what they what they should be citadels of great learning and just very briefly um both netanyahu and biden uh face political challenge in 2024 what is your outlook for the relationship well my my hope is that the relationship between the us and israel stays very strong israel is america's most reliable ally and in many ways it's most valuable ally um that said i have no idea whether either netanyahu stays in power or whether biden stays in power that kind of political prognostication is probably is beyond me the two men seem to have a not a bad relationship not a not a great relationship perhaps but i'm not going to tell you how the 2024 elections are going to turn out in the united states i i don't know i think i think as i think you know a majority americans don't want to see another uh a campaign of president biden versus ex-president trump and yet that looks like what we're heading towards very on people don't want to that's what the front people are going to get and i certainly i'm not qualified to talk about israeli politics and how that plays out clifford d-bay we appreciate it thank you very much a very happy new year to you same to you well war never really left us but in the last two years its scale and its impact on international stability has raptured it up western militaries have been reorienting themselves from counter insurgency to combating peers such as russia and china what lessons will they draw from the fighting in ukraine and around israel's borders as well with more his our correspondent robert swift the israel gas offence was protected by some of the best border security technology in the world remote gun turrets underground sensors to detect tunneling and surveillance balloons the aqua barrier was built on the assumption that we have a very technology uh singing the busy and the other thing that we will tell us when someone is approaching the fence this one collapsed hamas simply went through it with demolition charges and pickup trucks overwhelming the defences with force of numbers and a few drones believing that its high tech defences suffice israel let other more basic considerations fall by the wayside israel adopted in the last i think 20 years asymmetric balance between technology and the number of units manpower that it needs on the field it looks like israel thought in its in its calculation that the high technology will bring advantage to the battlefield instead of represent of manpower inside it since the october 7th attack a number of former israeli generals have argued for an expanded idf budget and footprint ukraine fighting on a very different battlefield also sees its manning levels as a problem unfortunately manpower is still super important because we get back to the scales of massive armies of million strong armies which is absolutely weird which is absolutely unnatural to the state of our modern society locked in a stalemate with a larger foe its chief of staff argues that advances in technologies like electronic warfare are needed to break the deadlock in the 21st century the development of science and as a result the advancement of armaments and military equipment inevitably led to the changes in the tactics of its use the enemy didn't stay behind either you see what is happening specifically in the last few days we have a powerful confrontation specifically in the technological aspect both of the wars defining 2023 show a blurring of low and high technologies on the battlefield in ukraine the first large example of state on state drone warfare the howitzer the shovel and the trench as seen on the fields of the first world war are as important as the quadcopter and in gaza urban siege warfare reminiscent of stalingrad is being waged by the middle east's most technologically advanced military but low and high tech solutions should not be viewed as opposites in conflict but as complementary israel will continue to be a country that relies very much on technology but we have to understand that there are areas and places that you cannot rely only solely on technology you have to go sometimes back to human beings and sometimes two technologies that are not always the cutting edge the infantry soldier on the ground present in war for millennia can become a high tech tool when equipped with the latest weapons sensors and communications devices even a badly equipped insurgent can become part of the developing information war space when kitted out with a gopro and an internet connection kiv has repeatedly demonstrated the significance of this front in modern war ukraine and gaza's battles have shown that often a low tech solution can be the best counter to a high tech innovation so we have a pretty weird situation in which simple but smart and cheap solutions really change things on the battlefield as can be seen in the use of trenches or cage armor to protect from the prying eyes and drop munitions of drones both wars have also shown that quantity has a quality all of its own and that high tech doesn't need to mean expensive whether that means in terms of expendable munitions or massed infantry a lesson that western militaries many of which have downsized in recent decades may wish to heed don't be in a hurry as israel did to move ahead and to make your armed forces let's say much more smaller in order to give the technology to serve you instead of them of them know it's coming together as the threat of state on state warfare grows western militaries will take heed to the developing technological shifts on the battlefields of ukraine and israel or sooner or later learn the hard way it's not sure that the era of wars is over unfortunately that's not sure no peace is guaranteed absolutely not peace and guaranteed and the moreover there is an illusion that western nations can have small armies well armed armies of motivated professionals who want to do that unfortunately that may not be true because the the epoch of universal peace that we hoped for in the west in here it seemed to be over well that brings us to the end of this special program thank you for watching and from all of us here a very peaceful and prosperous 2024 to you keep with us on i24 news goodbye