 Back to our special coverage of Night 24 News, Ambassador Daniel Shek is with us here, former Israeli ambassador to France and also involved with the hostages issues here in Israel. This evening, a very tense meeting between families and Israeli Prime Minister. They demand negotiations. Well, actually, let me roll back a little bit. First of all, they demand a regular meeting with the War Cabinet. They believe, and I think they have quite a strong case, that it's not acceptable that every time they feel that they need to be briefed by the War Cabinet, they have to beg, make noise, protest, send angry letters, etc., etc. The simplest thing would be to set a regular meeting once a week with the representation or with all of them, the technicalities don't matter. So that's number one. Obviously, there is great concern that there are no negotiations going on and that there is no new agreement in sight anywhere near. And with the growing number of very, very worrying testimonies coming from the hostages who returned, the fear for the lives of their loved ones grow. And the urgency of dealing with this matter grows too. So that's more or less where we are. And that happens while the fighting is intensifying inside Gaza. And there's always this conflict between destroying Hamas as one of the targets and goals of Israeli government and releasing the hostages, which are quite conflicting, right? And that's the main conflict here. They don't have to be conflicting, Yaakov, because there is a hierarchy not in the importance of the two goals, but in the urgency of them. You can set both as targets if you understand that the matter of freeing the hostages is very time-sensitive. It's very urgent because every day counts. People can die. And destroying Hamas can, you know, it's a longer-term project. There are some people in the Army who say that this war might continue until early 2025. So you might set as a main target right now to free the hostages and still have time to deal with Hamas later. I think that the main conflict right now is between freeing the hostages and the question of the pauses, the question of how to operate in Gaza without hurting the hostages, do you have enough intelligence, et cetera, et cetera? Still I'm trying to galvanize the conflict here, which that consumes Israel all the time. If you are talking about releasing all the hostages, that will definitely include seizing the attacks and the war and the ceasefire. I mean, there's no other deal on the table. There's no deal on the table. There's no deal on the table to begin with. But if we're talking about releasing all the hostages, they're not going to be released and then Hamas will say, okay, now you can destroy us, right? So you know, if you're asking me as the representative of a civil society-based organization that represents families of hostages, clearly you don't expect me to give you an answer. Because the logical answer would be this is not my concern. It's the government's problem. They have an issue, they have a, you know, it's a deal with it somehow. The question now also regarding the military, the military operations, there might be, I mean, the army claims, and I don't think there is a real argument about it, that there is also, with the military pressure on Hamas, also has an impact on Hamas' willingness to negotiate and to put a deal on the table. By the way, let me say one more thing. I don't know for certain because none of us has been inside the negotiating room in Doha or wherever these negotiations take place. But as far as I know, Israel has never put an offer on the table. It is always reacting to offers coming either from Hamas or from the intermediates. Maybe it's time for Israel to put a deal on the table and to see what happens. Maybe. Let's go to the north part of Israel now. I don't for news. Zach Andrews is live along Israel's northern border with Hezbollah in Lebanon. What's happening there, Zach, today? Yeah, within the last hour, we're seeing multiple launches in the direction of Kiret Shemona. And videos posted online show what appears to be interceptions with the Iron Dome, which indicates to us heavy rocket launches. If it's anything like in my experience the last several weeks, especially before the ceasefire, these Hezbollah positions are firing on both IDF targets and the civilian population that remains here in the north. Of course, thousands have been evacuated, but not all have been evacuated, and Kiret Shemona being the largest population area in the north here, in the north eastern most point of Israel. This is coming in early, so we still don't have exact reports of damage or any injuries, casualty figures here. It's something we're working to bring you here later in the hour. All right, Zach, thank you very much for that. Back to you later. Back to you, Ambassador Scherk here in the studio is a diplomat now, I'm going to ask you maybe. It's all connected, of course. Qatar seems to be taking sides now, blaming Israel for atrocities in Gaza. Well, what you want me to say, it doesn't help their status as go-betweens, obviously. I think they should be more cautious. And choosing sides with Hamas is also probably not the best way to pave their road into the Western developed world, which according to information coming from that country is something that they would like to see. But you know, this has to be evaluated in the long run and see. I think as a not only potential, as a proven go-between who has actually brokered the single, hopefully only the first agreement about exchanges between Israel and Hamas, they should probably be more cautious with their words. That kind of rhetoric. No, it doesn't help. I mean, if you want the trust of both sides, you have to maintain the trust of both sides. So I'm not saying that this is a reason to rule them out, but I think the atmosphere of trust in a go-between is very important, especially when on both sides, nerves are at a high level and sensitivity is very high level and everybody is listening to every word that comes out of your mouth. Right. Okay. Let's go to the south now. I don't know if any of you guys really is in southern Israel in the road where rockets from Gaza are still exploding all day long. What's happening guy? Yeah, it's an evening full of action here in the road, ongoing shelling of the IDF just behind us. It's been extremely loud over here and as well with the rocket fire as we spoke an hour ago, a massive barrage of rockets towards the cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod that followed the previous barrage towards the city of Tel Aviv and the center of Israel. And earlier this afternoon, a rocket that made a direct impact into a home in the city of Ashkelon into a home there. The mother and the two little children managed to run to shelter and miraculously were saved by that rocket that penetrated their window actually. Two other women were lightly wounded in that incident, several others were treated for shock. All of this of course is happening as the IDF continues to deepen its operation in Gaza, both here in the northern part of the Gaza Strip in the neighborhood of Sajaiyah and in Jabalia. But also as was confirmed by the IDF this evening, the Israeli military is surrounding the city of Hanyunis that is a major city in the southern part of the Gaza Strip with many Hamas strongholds, many Hamas tunnels, a lot of work for the IDF there. As the IDF chief, Herzli Alevi, defined it as the third phase of the IDF operation in Gaza with a goal of course of eliminating Hamas military capabilities, still a very long way to go for that. The mere fact guide that Hamas is still firing rockets to the heart of Israel to Tel Aviv, what does it tell you? Look, the IDF said it is close to eliminating Hamas's military capabilities in the northern part of the Gaza Strip but it's still far from completing that mission. The IDF has yet to have completely taken over the neighborhood of Sajaiyah in Gaza City and also Jabalia. These are areas where Hamas is still operating from, is still able to fire rockets towards the center of Israel and we can remind our viewers that that long ceasefire, a week long ceasefire under the deal to return the hostages was a breath of air for Hamas as it was able to regroup, to rearm, to reset itself ahead of the next stages of this war and the results are the ones that we're seeing today. This is something that the IDF certainly took into consideration when it agreed to this ceasefire. The reward was returning dozens of Israeli hostages back to their homes, mainly children and women and the Israeli military is able to deal with this threat as well but as we say that, it has been a very intense day of fighting yesterday. Unfortunately, seven Israeli soldiers have been confirmed dead today in the fighting that has been ongoing in the Gaza Strip. The rocket fire is part of the Hamas operations. The IDF is willing to handle both the rocket fire and other threats of Hamas with the goal of eliminating Hamas. Obviously, now that they had time to regroup, we could see more rocket fire. This is what we haven't seen in the days prior to the ceasefire. We can expect that should there not be a ceasefire in the coming week or two, these rocket fire will tone down as well as the IDF will increase and deepen its control over wider parts of the Gaza Strip. Right. Gai Israel, thank you very much. Meanwhile, Iran's President Raisi is about to meet with Russia's Putin on Thursday at 24 News on Alterman. Around the table to set the table, preparing for their leaders meeting later this week. The Russian and Iranian foreign ministers meeting in Moscow Tuesday to sign an agreement on working together against US-backed sanctions. Of course, this is an important step in increasing the coordination of efforts of members of the international community to overcome illegal sanctions, which the United States and its allies have made a substitute for diplomacy. That sets the tone for a busy few days for Russian President Vladimir Putin, set to travel to the UAE and Saudi Arabia Wednesday for meetings with leaders. And then set to host Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow on Thursday. For Putin, the war in Gaza continues to generate opportunities, to change the subject from the war in Ukraine, to boost Russia's soft power among the billions across the planet who identify with Gazans, to needle the United States in the heart of the Middle East. This is terrible. And when you watch how operations are performed on children without anesthesia, it certainly evokes particular feelings. All these events in fact are a direct consequence of the United States' desire to monopolize the mediation process. A renewed Russian push into the Middle East will face limits in the long term. The Biden administration still wants to move forward with its economic corridor and potentially to patch up ties with Riyadh. For now, the war gives Russia an opening. Putin will be quick to seize it. We are joined now by Ben Talblos, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Thank you very much for speaking with us. Well, we see Raisi on his way to Putin, Putin plans to visit Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. What is Putin's plan? Well, pleasure to be with you. On both fronts, we're seeing in real time now an opportunistic play. An opportunistic play by Tehran to continue to covet and receive patronage from a great power competitor of the United States, Russia. We already know Iran has given Shahid drones to Russia. It's looking to deepen economic, military and political cooperation. But let's not forget about the reverse, not just our Russian ties tightening with Iran. Russian ties are trying to be tightened across the region. This is an opportunity Putin is looking to exploit, to press for more Russian arms sales to the region, to push back on the US and Israel in the region. And to take advantage of the hedging we see right now from US partners in the region, like Saudi Arabia and like the UAE. Let's move to the Houthis in Yemen. They are becoming a serious international nuisance, but still no major reaction to this. How do you explain that? I've long argued that they are a major international nuisance and they're a part of Iran's larger axes of resistance that was built out rather cheaply to the provision of goods that over time has included anti-tank weapons, anti-air weapons, surface to air missiles, land attack cruise missiles, suicide drones, and even anti-ship crews and anti-ship ballistic missiles, making the Houthis the most lethal and most equipped arm of Iran's axes of resistance. These are not just fired at Israel or Saudi Arabia, but fired at international maritime traffic in the Red Sea and Bobble Mended. So this requires a concerted international maritime response to push back on the Houthis there, kinetic strikes against targets that include the launch sites and storage facilities and some of these missiles by the US and coalition forces. But also we need to put our money where our mouth is. Washington needs to re-designate the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization. And the more time elapses from that de-designation in early 2021 by the Biden administration, the more foolish and politicized it looks. Right, let's watch more about what's happening there. Our Middle East correspondent Arilo Saran reports. Yemen's Houthis are escalating attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, raising concern for the safety of key trade routes. The naval forces of the Yemeni armed forces with the help of Allah Almighty carried out this morning a targeting operation against two Israeli ships in the Bobble Mended Strait. The targeted ships were the Unity Explorer and ship number nine. The first ship was targeted with a naval missile and the second ship was targeted with a naval drone. The running back militia said attacks like those on Sunday would continue until Israel ends its strikes on Gaza. But the IDF denied the ships had any connection to Israel and accused the Houthis of endangering the freedom of navigation in the region. One of the ships was damaged in a very serious way and it seems that it could be in danger of sinking and other one was lightly damaged. This is an event stemming from negative sabotage of the Houthis. We need to see how the world will answer this issue. This past weekend saw four attacks against three separate commercial vessels operating in international waters in the Southern Red Sea. Three vessels that are connected to 14 different nations which goes to show you the extent to which this is truly a source of global concern and a threat to international peace and stability. The Bahamas flagged Unity Explorer bulk carrier was attacked in the morning and then again in the afternoon by anti-ship missiles. Then the Panamanian flagged number nine reported damage but no casualties caused by a missile from Yemen. A third ship, the Sophie II which also sails under Panama's flag said it was struck as well but suffered no significant harm. The Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Carney responded to the distress calls from these ships and provided assistance. In doing so, it detected three UAVs at three different times heading in its direction and it took action against all three of those UAVs. We have every reason to believe that these attacks while they were launched by the Houthis in Yemen were fully enabled by Iran. This is also one of those allegations aimed at projections which are made in line with efforts to deviate public opinion of nations and to cover up crimes by the Zionist regime and the U.S. government. The U.S. says it will consider all appropriate responses in full coordination with its international partners but in the absence of significant action such attacks off the coast of Yemen will only increase in frequency and severity. Back to you, Ben, I'm so the U.S. is sending an envoy to the Gulf, will that be enough? Again, I believe it's necessary but nowhere near sufficient, particularly at a time when some of the GCC countries are gonna be receiving Vladimir Putin. It's certainly behooves Washington who wants to keep these countries in its orbit and actually has the capability to help patrol both the Red Sea and Bab el-Mendab with a broader international maritime coalition that it is committed to freedom of navigation there and also committed to pushing back on the Iranian threat. So here is where action and not just words is gonna be key from Washington. All right, thank you very much. And let me bring in also Enab or Cheskaya from Washington Institute. Thank you very much for joining us. Still on the Putin issue, Putin is headed to the Gulf, Raisi is headed to Moscow. What is your view on what's happening? Well, first this visit highlights that Vladimir Putin is not an international pariah that despite severe sanctions that have been put on Russia, despite so many restrictions that have been put on him through international institutions and including the International Criminal Court, he is able to make this trip. The Kremlin said that OPEC plus oil cuts are going to be discussed. And the latest reports already suggest that oil prices are rising after this announcement. So this is an important development. Does Putin think that supporting Hamas will bring him some favors from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf and the UAE? Well, Putin's traditional approach to the Middle East has always been to maintain contacts with all typically opposing sides. In other words, it grants Putin leverage, ability to position itself as a mediator, which is what he seems to be trying to do here. The difference, of course, is that Putin never directly condemned Hamas. His response to the horrific Hamas attack, if anything, showed that he is siding more with Hamas and in general, anti-American forces in the region. And yet he still offered his mediation services. But what this shows is that he is looking to, he's going to continue to deepen his relationship with Iran. And he's looking at this relationship along with the war in Ukraine. This is the bigger price. Right, because he's looking at the war in Ukraine, how does that affect the whole Middle Eastern approach? Well, the West is currently more distracted than it has been from the war in Ukraine. Domestically too, within the United States, aid package to Ukraine has not yet passed. And there's lots of questions about how this might happen. In addition to that, the United States is approaching the year of the election. So Western distraction from the war in Ukraine, it's Putin's bigger priority, and chaos in the Middle East helps him. All right, Anna Bochevskaya, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Business climate in the Middle East looks murky these days, as you know, but still in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, business people meet in Dubai, our Bastian Bori reports from there. This is my home. Jordan has withdrawn from a major water and energy partnership that included the UAE in Israel. Saudi Arabia has suspended negotiations on its entry to the Abraham Accords. Bahrain has announced that it is breaking off economic relations with the Israelis. But despite the war in Gaza, Middle Eastern entrepreneurs want to keep looking at each other, regardless of origin or religion. I think it's a temporary moment of history, what is extremely said. Of course, our biggest wish, like everybody in Israel, is we want to get free our hostages, no question about it. We want to stop the situation. To be really honest, at the beginning, we had ourself the idea, are we really making this event? Are we postponing it? What are we doing? Finally, we decided seeing the relationship between Israel and the UAE, and how friendly everything is going on and staying on at the moment. We decided we should the event now more than ever, because I think it's more important now than ever to build bridges, to build communication. In 2022, trade between Israel and the UAE jumped 109% to $2.5 billion, as compared to $1.2 billion in the previous year, making the Emirates the 16th largest trade partners of the Israelis. But the situation remains fragile for investors who prefer not to give in to the siren calls of political haggling. I was just talking yesterday to someone very prominent here in the UAE, and he was telling me that he says, I know this, he says to me, I know that what's going on in the Arab media, and I don't listen to it, and I don't follow it, and I won't listen to it because I know it's propaganda, it's built on politics, it's built on money situations, trying to influence the people, and it's a sad reality that we have to deal with. I'm not saying that Israel's perfect either, no one's very well trying, but always just to say the truth, and that's very, very important. It's still a developmental. What happened is an earthquake. It has to be said. We're not just talking about a war between two states involving only soldiers. Bad things did happen, barbarity. Everyone was shocked. But Dubai, and the region as a whole, is a platform for business, and that's what counts. Today, we're not talking too much about politics. We hope that things will calm down for everyone's benefit. We're keeping our heads down, and things will pass. It's a very turbulent time, but I'm confident things will settle down. We're in a whirlwind today, which unfortunately is considerably slowing down our business, but we're quite optimistic for the next few months. We hope that the situation will calm down in the interest of universal values. While the impact of the war in Gaza is already being felt on world energy prices, it is not yet possible to assess the consequences for bilateral trade between Israel and Arab countries. Israelis and Emirates are still hoping to break the $10 billion trade barrier in the years to come. We'll take a short break, and then more special coverage here on I-24 News. We'll be right back. State, yeah. 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 be fought as well. The I-24 News special coverage, let's talk a little bit about the internal effects of the war on Israeli politics. With me in the studio is Amir Oren, and also joining us, Gil Hoffman, to talk about this. Amir, let me start with you. There are assumptions in political circles, and in the Israeli media that Prime Minister Netanyahu will resign. He definitely doesn't think so. The only time he resigned as leader was in 1999, when he was defeated by Ehud Barak for the prime ministership, and then he resigned as leadership of the Likud, or he resigned as the finance minister under Sharon for another reason, only to stay on as leader of the Likud. But resigning, not as part of a plea bargain in his trial, which he now has an interest in delaying as much as possible, because the district court judges have allowed him to keep running the country and the war and delay the trial at least as much as his attorney asked. This is right now unthinkable, resigning on principle because his conscience all of a sudden pained him. Abba Ibn used to say about Moshe Dayan when Dayan said that his conscience is clean. Ibn said, of course, if you don't use your conscience, it stays clean. Gil, another assumption is that the pressure will be so intense on Netanyahu to resign. The moment that this war is over, we're gonna go from focusing on beheaded babies to beheading BB. There were protests for 40 weeks in the streets and now all those people are angrier and I've got the family members of every victim in Gaza, every soldier who died in Gaza, a lot of whom come from Netanyahu's Likud base and it's going to be an uproar that's going to be very difficult, but 64 members of Knesset, if as long as they still want Netanyahu to be around, it might take a commission of inquiry to bring him down and you need to appoint a judge for that. That's hard to do when all the judges are tainted politically one way or another. It took a while and more than one election to bring down Golda and bring in the only person who was seen as clean. The ambassador in Washington, Yitzhak Rabin, we've got a long way to go before Netanyahu can be forced from office, no matter how big his failures were in this war. Amir, there are some signs of resistance within the ruling party, the Likud party of Netanyahu, which is usually steadfast behind him no matter what. Well, people are usually thinking about their own self-interest and about the longer range. As long as Netanyahu was considered a mandate magnet, they lined up behind him. Now he's more of a burden. What Gil said is obviously true. There is a consensus in the country, perhaps only one quarter of the country is not against Netanyahu, but you can't see the mechanism to force him out yet. And having said that, you know your political history of the United States on the fifth day of the Yom Kippur War, all of a sudden Vice President Agnew resigned and Gerald Ford became Vice President and eight months later, all of a sudden he is president. So right now we don't know whether an Edelstein or some other semi-obscure politician could be the consensus interim leader of the Likud in the run-up to the elections because there will be early elections. Yeah, well, we're in the realm of speculation, of course, I wanna ask you, Gil, about the whole political map of Israel. It seems to be changing in front of our eyes. We don't know exactly how. Look, first of all, inside Likud, what we don't know is if there'll be any courage. Not from Edelstein, Barkat didn't want this report to come out that came out yesterday. It's one thing to speak privately that they don't want Netanyahu to be Prime Minister anymore. It's another thing for them to openly say they want to get rid of Netanyahu. Yulia Edelstein who stood up to the KGB, he was the one who had enough courage to do it a year ago or two, and that didn't get him anywhere. And as you said, Jacob, the political map in Israel is changing. There's this center emerging led by Benny Gantz that statesmen like and the people of Israel seem to want that according to the polls. They certainly don't want anything left-wing and then the left will be even more in shambles than it was before. If you have a center that has been at the elements of the right, the center, and what used to be the left, it'll be a very big challenge for anyone to defeat that. Again, Benny Gantz certainly has his way paved to the prime ministership if an election would happen. And again, you've got 64 members of Knesset who seem united to prevent that from happening. Right, the best of Shack, you were here with us as well. What's gonna be the political scenery here? Look, if rationally in a normal political situation in any country after such a debacle of such magnitude, such a failure of the contract between the state and its citizens, the normal order of events is that the person at the top of the pyramid resigns. That's how things work. And it shouldn't even take a commission of inquiry because he is the top. So he has responsibility and all the investigations come after that. There are only two problems. As Amir Al-An just said, resigning is not part of Benjamin Netanyahu's DNA. He doesn't recognize this as an option. And rationality is not exactly what mostly governs the political scene in Israel. So I tend to agree with Gil Hofman that this is going to be an uphill battle. As oddly as this may seem because of what happened and because of the polls that show that the coalition has not lost by a small margin its majority by a huge margin. But as he said, there are still 64 fingers in the Knesset which are for the moment united around him. But you know, you never know. You never know. You never know. But there is a wild card. Yeah, well, I'll get to this in a moment because the Netanyahu trial, if he wants a plea bargain in about six months time before he is about to testify, he will resign as part of the plea bargain. Well, I wrote this down. Gil, before you go, I'm gonna ask you what are the prospects of yet another elections in Israel? If Netanyahu thinks that he could stay in power and we could by initiating an election. And if he thinks that nobody else will be able to form a government. So he could be interim prime minister for two elections, three elections, five elections. And then his cold politics would make him do that. I tend to think though that when polls are that bad, he won't take such a risk that these 64 would unite and say, we know we're all going to be harmed if an election would happen. And they would do everything possible to prevent it even if the people of the Israel are so angry at them. Unfortunately, the way it works in this really political system is that if politicians are seen as doing well, they would have an interest in going to an election to get another four years. But if they're seen as doing badly, then they have an interest in staying in power and they're seen as doing very badly. All right, Gil Hoffman, thank you very much. Back to you here, Amir. So you said that the try and a plea bargain is obviously one very important vector. But the amount of public anger. I mean, we are after almost a year of huge demonstrations in the streets. This is not coming out of nowhere. What's going to happen on the street? That's another unknown because civic society, the uprising, the protests, and even the get out the vote campaign which we will see. Maybe there will be this time around a huge percentage of voters who are no longer indifferent and will come out in droves while the Likud supporters will be too ashamed to go and vote. They will not vote for someone else, but they will stay home. So we may see an upheaval. And as you had in your conversation with Gil, there will be several center parties and the right center left, Gidon Saar and Naftali Bennett together or separately, Yael Lapid. Gantz will not get the numbers he has now. He will get somewhat lower. But nevertheless, they will be able to form a coalition with the support of at least one Arab party. Perhaps two, not only Mansour Abbas, but also the joint list because Ahmed Tibi and Aiman Oda who announced his resignation or retirement, but who knows, they will support a government which is moderate. And according to President Biden's platform should strive for a two state solution, which again is something that Ambassador Shek will vote for. So we already have one vote. Yeah. Okay. Let's move to the military front. IDF, Chief of Staff Ertia Levy spoke a short while ago on the battlefield and on the prospect. Let's take a listen. The military pressure we are exerting and that we have been exerting for weeks is inflicting severe damage on Hamas. And this brings us closer to achieving all our goals, including the main objective of bringing back the hostages. I met with commanders fighting in northern Gaza Strip. They were very clear that they are ready and willing to do everything to bring back the hostages to hit Hamas, try it. I see their wisdom. They know how to make these two objectives complimentary and not contrasting. We are truly doing everything to bring back the hostages. I want to say a few words about the northern border, the Lebanese border. Hezbollah chose at the end of the ceasefire to open fire. We anticipated it, we prepared for it, and we act resolutely against anyone who harms or prepares to harm Israeli civilians, IDF soldiers, or creates a threat to our territory. We are indeed focused on the Gaza Strip, but at the same time, we continue many operational activities with the purpose of bringing a better reality, a much better reality to the northern border. This is IDF chief of staff, Amir Oren. He spoke relatively in length today, also answering questions. So what's your take on it? He repeated the priorities of the government, which the military, of course, executes, to focus on Gaza. It is not self-evident, because there are calls even within the Netanyahu government to shift to the north once and for all, every once in a while it's once and for all, to take care of Hezbollah. So no, General Halevi said, we focus on Gaza right now. They are at the core, the redoubt of the Hamas in Hanunas, in addition to their mopping up in the north. And obviously, he wants the troops to get the acclaim that they deserve no matter how many failures General Halevi himself and his colleagues at the top of the IDF have already announced that they are responsible for. So it is this delicate dance between the brass, the top generals, and the fighting soldiers who are doing, obviously, a very good job, and some of them are dying. Right, and the bottom line, the main message is the IDF is pursuing attacking Gaza, Hanunas, and the area. The doctrine right now is fast and furious because there is an American pressure, not yet a deadline, but we are two weeks away from Christmas Eve. After that, one doesn't see a president Biden permitting Israel to go on fighting, hurting civilians, and all of that. Right. Meanwhile, Israel issued an unprecedented travel warning to Israeli travelers, including to Western countries like France and the UK. Jonathan Sashadati, 24 News UK correspondent is with us. Jonathan, this is, it shows a lack of confidence in British authorities, I would say, if a country tells its citizens, don't go there. You could say that, but at the same time, the UK has been quite upfront in the past about the level of threat from Iran domestically, not just to visiting Israelis. There were reports not that long ago that Iranian proxies had been mapping the Jewish community in the UK for potential attacks should Israel make any move on Iran's nuclear facilities. And things, of course, will only have got worse now with the engagement of Israel in Gaza, as well as that. There have been numerous times when the intelligence services here in the UK have actually warned Britons that they foiled Iranian plots to assassinate or attack people here in the UK, both British nationals and Iranian nationals working here. So I think it's an acknowledgement of the level of danger that's existed before the war that perhaps only make things worse for Israelis who might be coming here. And add to that, of course, those regular and quite large protests against Israel that have been taking place in Britain almost weekly, they've been making many Israelis already in the country quite afraid to go into central London or to go out on the streets. And that, of course, is something that the organizations in Israel who are monitoring the risk will be looking at. The UK is classed as level two by the Israelis, which isn't the highest risk level, but it is an increased risk level, which they say means people should practice more caution, more caution than usual, more caution than before if they're coming here. But it's not advice not to come to the UK just yet. Right, true. At the same time, except for Jewish institutions or Israelis, what's the atmosphere on the streets of London, the UK these days regarding the tensions in the Middle East? It's a good question because there have been these enormous protests, hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets. On the one hand, that is something that might suggest there is a lot of public opinion behind the Palestinian cause and against the Israeli cause, but polling shows that it's a little bit more complex than that. And while that might be a very vocal and loud portion of the issue, it's not necessarily the majority. In fact, many people do have a more sophisticated understanding of what's going on in the Middle East. Some have sympathy for both sides. I think people feel an intractable conflict which is being acted out now in the most terrific way for people outside of the area to watch. So there's an enormous amount of sympathy for the pictures coming out of Gaza, of the suffering that's going on there, but also still a very solid level of support for Israel's right to defend itself. And of course, that extends all the way up to the government and even the opposition with a few blips and a few bits of dissent within the main two parliamentary parties, the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. There is still broad support, especially from the government, for Israel's right to defend itself. But of course, that's always underlined with the caveat that Israel should be very careful about the humanitarian needs of those in Gaza. All right, Jonathan, thank you very much from London. Here in the studio, Ambassador Sheik, formerly Israel's ambassador to France. Also, Israel is traveling to France, were warned not to expose their fact that they're Israelis or Jews. The same deal, not a recommendation to refrain from visiting the country, but to exercise caution. Look, Israel has been the target of such travel warnings hundreds of times from nearly every country in the world. So that's how it works. Sometimes it goes back to you. And it's not as if the French authorities are not aware of what is going on on the streets in Paris with the numbers of anti-Semitic incidents spiking in an unprecedented way. And France is a country at risk of terrorism. They have, unfortunately, a long list of presidents. So I can't say it's completely unwarranted. Right. Briefly. Bearing in mind that it's very dangerous in Israel now and it's very dangerous abroad, the only safe place is in the air in between. But still, this is a very large list and a very large warning. We haven't seen this before. But governments hide behind such lists for insurance reasons. We told you the decision is yours. Be warned. It's up to you. Right. You see any chance that they will even go further and tell people not to go to a certain place? Only if they have solid intelligence that there are plots, as was the case with Turkey a few months ago. But right now, no, it's just a general caution. All right. Now to Brussels, where Jewish students at the Free University of Brussels are experiencing a surge of anti-Semitic incidents. I, 24 News, met with leaders of the Belgian Jewish Students Union. Here's the story. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen. On Belgium University campuses, Jewish students live in hiding. They no longer feel safe. Here at ULB, the Université Libre de Bruxelles, anti-Semitic incidents have been increasing since October 7. Actually, it's horrible. We feel really alone, isolated. We feel like we're shouting into the void. It's really, right now, it's a disaster what's happening on campus. Attacks on Jewish students and verbal aggression are a common phenomenon. In pro-Palestinian demonstrations, taking Israeli civilians hostage is legitimized. The October 7 massacre isolated Jewish students. No organization condemned the acts of Hamas. And what's worse, the UEJB, the Belgium Jewish Students Union, has been ostracized from student structures. Hamas propaganda is unprecedented. The terrorist organization that publishes crimes on TikTok and yet receives support from all over Europe. We've also noticed it with organizations we used to work with. Suddenly, nothing. There's no more talk of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, no more talk of the UEJB, and there you have it, the abandonment, the isolation of Jewish students, and it started from there. Confronted with this hostility, Jewish students no longer fit in. They're forced to hide their identity. It doesn't necessarily show on your face that you're Jewish. If you don't wear a kippah, if you don't wear a maghende vide, nobody's going to know that you're Jewish. And so you're not going to be directly attacked on campus like someone else, like other people, other religions that have much more distinctive signs. So the acts we do record are those occurring when we identify ourselves as Jews on campus. But on the rare occasions when Jews do show up, they're targeted. There was a pro-Palestinian demonstration that was allowed on campus. As students, we used to presale for non-political events at lunchtime with the UEJB. It was our annual ball, which we do every year. We were simply attacked by students who were part of the event, who came to tell us that we were Zionists, that we were Zionist terrorists, that wherever we Jews are, we cause problems. Someone on our committee was called a Jewish spy. When they talk about the UEJB, because we put up posters for the release of hostages on campus, they say that they're going to organize purges. They're going to make patrols during the night to encircle us. And so it's perceived as a very complicated situation because it's a whole audience talking about someone who's in the group and who's now afraid to say she's Jewish. For the UEJB, the response from the University Libre de Bruxelles is too weak. Contacted by I-24 News, the University's press office gave no response. To students, the administration says it lacks concrete cases of antisemitism for taking action. We really felt we had no reaction from the UEJB. We had a meeting but nothing concrete. What we're asking for is something concrete. They were waiting for concrete action too, to the point of asking ourselves, and we asked ourselves, are we waiting for a Jew to be stabbed on campus before we get any concrete action? Confronted with these difficulties, however, Jewish students are not giving up. They continue to defend their values. Every day, they put up posters of the faces of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas. Of course we ask ourselves questions about our future. I think that's natural. But if we're in the UEJB today, we're in charge of this organization. It's also because we hope and want to build a future for Jews in Belgium. We don't want to say to ourselves today, there's no future. We're leaving. No, we're not leaving. We'll stay here. We'll fight here. For Israel, for the Jewish community here, for Jewish life in Belgium and in Europe more generally. But today, it's not easy. But anti-Semitism goes beyond campuses. For the presidents of the UEJB, the wave of attacks facing the Belgium Jewish community must be a cause for concern at all levels, because it is the future of Jews in Belgium that is at stake. And Europe more generally has a huge responsibility to ensure that Jews are safe in Belgium and Europe. So this means measures taken by the academic authorities, but at all levels, or by political leaders who today are taking a stand to preserve the Jewish community. Are we now asking politicians to campaign for Israel? No, that's not what we're asking. All we're asking for today is to preserve Jewish life in Belgium, to make sure it has a future, and I think that's the least we can ask for. Since October 7, the number of anti-Semitic acts committed each month in Belgium has increased tenfold. According to the UNIA, a Belgium anti-discrimination organization, this rise will mobilize the country on December 10. This is March against anti-Semitism. A word from you, Ambassador Schaik. Is there any chance of turning this around of anti-Semitism in Europe? Well, I don't know about anti-Semitism in Europe. Let's say that history doesn't make us very hopeful that you can suddenly turn this around, but I'll say this about Belgium. We saw a report about student bodies and campuses, but this is not the only problem in Belgium. I have Belgian friends who are ashamed to admit that they are Belgians today, because the level of criticism among the top-level politicians in Belgium is such that it is not reasonable anymore. And some Israelis remember maybe the statements made by the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium while visiting Gaza. So, you know, Belgium is going to take the presidency of the EU in January 1st. We are not going to have much fun with that. And still, how can you try and turn things around? Look, I don't speak for the government anymore. I don't know exactly what you can do. Probably if the war stops, that might help. But is that a reason to stop the war? No, unfortunately it is not. All right. Thank you very much. Amir Orain, thank you. Ambassador Schaik, thank you. This is it for my part. Stay tuned for more special coverage here on I-24 News with Benita Levine. Have a good night from Tel Aviv. 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 frontline, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. And until every one of them, all of the 137 still being held in Gaza are back, we will not stop working for their release. They're held in horrible conditions. We're starting to hear the testimonies from those who came back living through hell. Before releasing the hostages, they gave them pills, planazepam, a mood stabilizer. To make them feel high and look calm in pictures, this pill, if you're not used to it, it would give you a feeling of high, even if you are in a very poor mental state. This is Breaking News Edition. I'm Benita Levine. Take a look at this moment on Day 60 of the war. This is five-year-old Emilia Aloni going back to kindergarten in Israel. Emilia was one of the youngest hostages held by Hamas terrorists for more than seven weeks in Gaza. She and her mother were freed during the hostage release deal last week during the brief truce in this war. Children playing with their friends, it should be a normal part of any child's day. The families of the remaining 138 hostages still being held captive for nearly two months since the Hamas terror rampage on the 7th of October are hoping similar reunions can play out if their loved ones are released. A heated meeting was held with the war cabinet in Tel Aviv in recent hours. The families calling for Israel to do whatever it takes to bring all hostages home. Qatar is said to be brokering another deal. Meanwhile, Rocket Fire has again been sent from Gaza to the south and parts of central Israel on this day and from southern Lebanon to northern Israel yet again. A building was hit in Ashkelon earlier in the day and an empty school was hit in Tel Aviv in recent hours. Fighting continues inside Gaza, a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip seems imminent while the IDF is still fighting in the northern part of the enclave. A short while ago, the IDF releasing the names of two more soldiers who have fallen in combat. Staff Sergeant Major Matan Damari, 31 years old, a commander in the 215th Brigade in the artillery corps and 23-year-old Staff Sergeant Major Eli Eliyahu Kohen, a combat soldier in the 551st Reserve Commander Brigade. More in this report by our Senior Defense Correspondent Jonathan Regev. Fighting is raging all across the Gaza Strip as Hamas strongholds are being targeted one after the other. One of those is Jabalia just to the north of Gaza City. It is a very densely populated area where terrorists can pop up from a tunnel shaft practically anywhere. IDF forces striking from the ground and from the air have now encircled Jabalia, one of the last standing strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip and are now carrying out the dangerous mission of clearing this area of terrorists to further establish Israeli control here. There should be no stopping. Keep on pushing forward until victory here and you should know that the next missions are already planned. This is the next mission. Chanyones is the biggest city in the southern Gaza Strip. This is the birthplace of Ichyasinwar and Mouchama Def, the political and military leaders of Hamas in Gaza. This is also the place Israel believes many of the hostages are being held. There's been no ground incursion here yet, but the very heavy artillery and airstrikes suggest that it is coming. We pursued them in northern Gaza. We're now pursuing Hamas in southern Gaza too. We will operate in maximum force against Hamas terrorists and infrastructures while minimizing harm to the civilians that Hamas places around them as shields. It will be a difficult challenge as the vast majority of the Gaza Strip population, more than two million people, is concentrated in this area. While Israel is trying to protect them, Hamas has no problem, or maybe even an interest in sacrificing them all. So for more insights it's a pleasure to welcome to studio a major general in the reserves, Etan Dangot, former military secretary to three ministers of defence and former co-ordinator of government activities in the Palestinian territories in the IDF. And our senior diplomatic correspondent, Owen Ultiman, gentlemen, thank you both for being here in studio. It's a day with a heavy heart because we know that emotions are very high. The families of the hostages that are still being held captive in Gaza meeting earlier in the day with the war cabinet, something we will unpack a little bit later on. But I want to start with you, Etan. And the rocket fire, the barrage of rockets earlier on in the day. We saw a hit and a building in Ashkelon. We saw an empty school being hit in Tel Aviv. We saw shrapnel falling in Tel Aviv. Your sense of the fire power, so to speak, coming out of the Gaza Strip, day 60 of this war. Yes, first of all, I would like to mention that we lost seven soldiers that was published. And it shows you how it's difficult and how is the soldiers are fighting in some occasions face-to-face because the area of the combat that you have, the piers, the tunnels, the destroyed buildings that are high-heating there and especially from the piers gives kind of a way of a war that the enemy is hitting itself in the underground tunnel and then coming up with kind of cooperation in a local area and it brings the soldiers, infantry, tanks, engineering with the fire that are receiving and supporting from artillery and airstrike is creating many, many arenas of fighting and instead with it we succeed now to be in the central part of Jibalia, of Sarjahia and even in Hanyounes. Now will be the completing of surrounding this area as I see. You mentioned the launchering of rockets. It was to Beersheva yesterday evening, today morning to the central area of Israel. Mainly we are not putting it in the highest priority while thousands of soldiers are fighting. We are taking later on but we are centralizing on supporting the movement of the underground forces in this area. We are in a critical days in order to complete the mission around Hanyounes and complete the mission in the north part of Gaza before we will have to deal a lot with the piers and the underground tunnels. The meaning of launchering rockets and I'm not going to deny it the fact Hamas is not still yet lost is power or breaking the movement we are on the process and we are achieving achievements one after the other in order to create. We need patience, we need time but we are going quietly very well besides of course fallen of soldiers that is said for us. On the other end I'm still saying that with this kind of movement to the south you see that more and more the rockets are launching towards for example Beersheva there is yet opportunity especially from the area between Hanyounes to Rafach in launchering for the long range but it's going more and more down and you see more and more calculating number of rockets that are ready once in two days but this will be together with the effect of beating and succeeding to continue with the goal and then you will see a reduce we will not stop the launchering during all this war it can be even the last day of the war that you will see some kind this will take months in order to clean and to lose the Hamas capacity to launch a rocket but the number of rockets are going lower rapidly. Stay with us we've got much more to unpack as you say with the ground operation more and more risks being taken as well the death toll in terms of Israeli soldiers so far is at 81 and as more and more fighting unfolds you say it's going to take a long time certainly many concerns about what is unfolding right now inside the Gaza Strip rockets stay with us let's find out more from our correspondent guy Israel he joins us from southern Israel in Storot right now and guy good to see you but many tensions earlier on in the day sirens in several parts of the south earlier including Ashkelon and Ashdod and as we've been talking about that building hit in Ashkelon earlier what is the latest in the south what update can you share right now absolutely all over the country from Bershiva to Tel Aviv Ashkelon and Ashdod we've been to that site of the rocket hit in Ashkelon that building directly hit by a rocket a mother and her two little children have managed to escape into the safe room recklessly their lives were saved there as the rocket penetrated their living room through the main window two other women were wounded in that incident from shrapnel several others treated for anxiety as well now we're here in the city of Storot hearing a lot of IDF shelling as the operation on the ground continues both close to here in the northern part of the Gaza Strip but certainly also so in Hanyun is an important city in the southern part of the Gaza Strip conformation from IDF chief Hurtzi Alevi this evening that IDF troops are there surrounding the city that is going to take quite some time for the Israeli military to take over that city that is considered a stronghold of Hamas and back here another element perhaps of what the Israeli military has to deal with is the weather it's been pouring rain here throughout the afternoon certainly not making the life of the Israeli soldiers any easier as they have to deal with this pouring rain and presumably also the mud on all parts of the Gaza Strip this evening this is something that the IDF was well aware of as it was forced into this war by Hamas on October 7th and knowing it's going to take long months as Mr. Dengot has just reiterated this is part of the operation this is part of what is going on ongoing rocket fire this is a Hamas attempting to fire as much as it can especially in the north where the IDF is at least now attempting to eliminate all of Hamas's strongholds and we're talking mainly about the neighborhood of Sajia in Gaza city and also at the town of Jibalia this is where Hamas strongholds are still holding on and it's going to take the IDF quite a few more days to take over these parts completely as it continues its maneuver in the southern part of the Gaza Strip the IDF also saying the fighting there near Khan Yunus is some of the most intense fighting yet we'll wait to see what Daniel Hagaari the IDF spokesperson has to say when he makes his daily briefing in the next while and of course when that happens we will go there live so much to our correspondent Gaya Israel in Storot in southern Israel meanwhile as we mentioned earlier the families of the hostages are calling for the release of all hostages of all ages from captivity at the hands of Hamas Sheer Siegel's mother Aviva is one of the hostages freed after being held for more than seven weeks in Gaza she is begging for her dad Keith to get to come back to his family too he has more on her mother's horrific ordeal let's take a listen my mother came back with testimonies I can't listen to them I need a psychologist to come over to our home to sit with my mother and listen to the stories because I can't bear to listen to them I can't listen to her talking about how they were handcuffed how they were abused they were not given medicine or medical care there were rumors that the conditions were okay that they were given food they didn't receive food Hamas didn't give them water while we speak there's a holocaust a three hour drive from here and we sit here drinking coffee talking and thinking everyone will be okay no, everything will not be okay why is it so important now to topple Hamas over bringing my father home I try to explain to my mother why is it more important for Netanyahu and the rest of the cabinet members and not to bring her husband back home heart-wrenching to hear more and more testimonies about what happened in captivity Owen Ultiman, we keep on hearing more and more details the families are understandably angry these are the families wanting word on what will happen the fate of the 138 hostages still being held captive we know there was a heated meeting earlier on in the day your sense of the big decisions the war cabinet needs to be making right now more and more details are coming out about that meeting, Benita really even as we speak absolutely dramatic the families there not hearing what they wanted to hear from the war cabinet in some cases not even feeling that they were heard even though Prime Minister Netanyahu afterwards said that they were heard loud and clear but obviously a lot of tension and Benita going back to what you were talking about with Eitan Don goes just a few moments ago there's the sense in Israel in this entire process that this war that the situation of the hostages that it's all slowly reaching a climax in terms of the fighting as Eitan eloquently explained to us the fighting itself reaching a climax the IDF having now encircled and now moving into Khan Yunus where the leadership of Hamas may well be in maybe living and maybe hiding in tunnels and making their last stand there's a sense maybe in retrospect there will have been an incorrect sense but never the lens of sense that Khan Yunus is where Hamas is going to make its last stand and the IDF is there saying it's in the heart of Khan Yunus so again giving you a sense of how the fighting seems to be slowly reaching its climax why now why in this way it has to do with operational reasons and also diplomatic reasons but the fighting reaching its climax and alongside that the issue of the hostages reaching its climax the sense that there's no real negotiations going on right now the sense that many of the hostages may be in that same Khan Yunus maybe in those same tunnels the same places that the military is targeting and one of the major subjects according to all accounts that was discussed at that meeting was the impact of the IDF bombardment on the hostages the fear that the freed hostages expressed because it wasn't only family members this time right meeting with the work cabinet with some of the freed hostages themselves telling their stories directly to the decision makers and talking about how how scary it was for them in their places of capture in their places of captivity hearing the IDF bombardment and the fact that that could could threaten them so this is all reaching a climax at nine o'clock local time less from an hour from then an hour from now we're going to have that press conference with Prime Minister Netanyahu Defense Ministry of Galan and Benny Gantz and that press conference seems to have been scheduled as a response to that meeting and they're feeling the need to speak directly to the Israeli public even though they had a press conference in Netanyahu in Galan's case just three days ago but what will they say we'll have to see but what I think they may say is Netanyahu may simply have to go to the country and say we need to free the hostages but to tell the Israeli public that the price now simply might be too high it might be ending the war allowing a mosque to survive and live for another day to do another October 7th and another October 7th and another October 7th the way you hear Sinwar described and we know this from our own recent past the Gilad Shalit on 2011 which yet led to the celebration of the freeing of a soldier but also brought upon this country disaster so there are hard choices to be made as you said it's all reaching a climax which is why we're going to hear from our leaders so soon after they spoke to us just a few days ago we don't know what they're going to say but again it may simply be a message that the price right now would be too high and of course when that press conference does happen at the top of the hour we will bring it to you live and there are reports that the prime minister did tell families of the hostages that there is no chance to free everybody that is the report coming out of that meeting obviously as Owen is explaining when we hear directly from the leaders in the war cabinet we will be able to verify the messages that have been given to the families and at a time that's where I want to bring you in exactly what Owen was detailing the fact that this heavy fighting is happening right now in parts where hostages may be being held as we speak how does this impact the trajectory of the fighting right now there is I may say it between the military operational goal and the releasing of the hostages sometimes these two points are running and supporting each other especially the operational activity and sometimes it's creating negative relations and in such movement you create a weakness to the other side while we are speaking about the hostages but when you analyze it at the end what are the alternative the alternative was former that Hamas refused to fulfill the first agreement that has been done they still didn't fulfill the releasing of children and women and opportunity to go to another stage they stop it after the sixth day was the topic that we identify already that Hamas is not there now while reaction are active there is a kind of for the immediate there is a risk for refugees yes but nevertheless I think that with it the Israel armed forces considering each intelligence information that is coming before and during this operation changing it during the maneuvering and trying as they can in order not to hit or to risk an area where it estimate that hostages is there I cannot sit here in this studio in these conditions to say yes it they will not damage it's a war it can happen but there is no the second alternative from Hamas you see that the negotiation also is not exist and this organization is understanding this murderers only one language that is by power and for their life the leadership of Hamas will think differently so in my opinion we can estimate first of all the first coming 48 hours are very important the north in those area that we are now there and especially in the area in the south in creating a new reality in Gaza what does it mean that we will control around two thirds of the area of Gaza we can create corridors that's separating between Rafah, Chaneunas and from Chaneunas to the north part of Gaza it means that it's a step also to break the civilian leadership or entity of Hamas in Gaza and in this fighting they are losing dozens of terrorists but the main power Hamas is still under the ground there is a problem with the way how to release hostages if it will come a real time information that there someone we can release we will do it and we prove already that we can do it but Benita I will not be surprised in and about 84 hours to 72 hours and that is something I think that I'm against the way that people are telling everybody are going that will be some kind the negotiation is continuous all these moments it's not continuous in a full speed but it's running that under such a pressure will come and will be raised a new offer especially by Qatar that is very worried to the future of Hamas entity that if I can estimate and think after a week in this area of fighting where the results will show pressure and more and more small close circles around the leadership of Hamas it will bring more opportunity to release on the other end I think that some of the statement of the prime minister this evening were very heavy and were have to be taken considering to tell the families you have to tell the truth and sometimes the truth that is not said is also something you can tell them also and not touch deeper the emotion problem that we have and we are in this time when I spoke about when I started the relationship between maneuvering and releasing of the hostages is now under a tense. These rules are complicated. I wanted to highlight something that Eitan just ended on because it's so very important we were told by our leaders at the beginning of this war that the two goals winning the war proper and freeing the hostages were consistent with each other to achieve one is to achieve the other to try to win the war is to try to win the war but also put pressure on Hamas to free the hostages we saw the fruits of that strategy with the pause and thankfully more than 100 if you include those foreign nationals more than 100 hostages released but there is another argument that at some stage that process runs its course and the two goals undermine each other do are different from each other do require different decisions and do require trade-offs and choices and the sense is at least at this moment that that may be the case and that's what the families felt and for that matter that's probably what the prime minister felt as well and one would imagine that's the dilemma that they are going to present to the country tonight in that press conference hopefully with the kind of sensitivity that is required for the families but also within a candid explanation to the country of what the choices are what the trade-offs are and how the decisions are being made keeping in mind what Aitan said that we may welcome back to a place where the two are consistent and we can go back to again freeing the hostages without hurting the war effort it certainly raises questions as well as to which countries or organizations or entities could also be putting pressure on Qatar to make sure that these hostages are freed which brings me to another point the president of the International Red Cross traveled to Gaza on Monday calling for increased protection of civilians there the organization is said to be a neutral intermediary it's providing aid to Gaza and has helped escort hostages and patients from the enclave but it hasn't managed to gain access to any of the hostages held in Gaza in more than eight weeks to provide proof of life or to distribute medicine President Miryana Spoliarek is calling for a military de-escalation and for all sides to find solutions other than military ones let's take a listen we have to find solutions to this we can't turn away from what is evidently a moral failure in the face of the international community I'm calling on all parties on everyone who has an influence to de-escalate and to find other the military solutions to what is an immense suffering of the people on both sides we have to protect the rights of the people we have to protect the rights of the civilians we have to protect the rights of the de-escalate we have to protect the rights of the hostages and Eitan Dungart we've discussed the Red Cross role or lack of role for many weeks now what do you make of the sentiment we're hearing right now first of all after few weeks she is here the president of the Red Cross she is here because she felt there is a small earthquake under her legs about the future of her organization this organization is working for one side and to the other side that is calling Israel and Jewish it's a different story I'm sorry to tell you I'm going to stop you right now Daniel Higari the idea spokesperson is about to speak let's take a listen this is the 60th day of the war we are fighting in Chaneunis the headquarters which is made of two dominant divisions that are the center of the terrorist organization the divisions of Agaza and Chaneunis our forces are advancing the four battalions were located in the entire scope because of terrorist infrastructure the terrorist took a significant part in October 7 where they went out into the state of Israel and came back into the heart of Chaneunis we are determined to eliminate the terrorists as we did in the northern part of Gaza parallel to that we continue to fight in the north our forces are fighting in the heart of Jabalia and Sadzahiyah in every stronghold there are attacks from air and from land and a lot of terrorists are eradicated and it's important to understand we publish our video clips from the field when our forces are clearing the area and we see terrorists coming out of the shafts and we kill them sometimes face to face when we identify from the air we fight if we see somebody face to face we kill them we do that in Jabalia in Sadzahiyah and Chaneunis all together we attacked more than 20,000 targets in the northern part of Gaza today we published a special document most of the people in the picture were eradicated from the head of the battalion and other people who are in the picture this documentation shows the usage of Hamas of the terror underground and also in the north this is the documentation that we bring from the field together with additional materials that we expose how Hamas built its method and uses the citizens as human shields and we got into these senior people underground and killed them in the north military aircraft attacked in south of Lebanon including military locations where terrorists were active the chief of staff visited today in the southern command and he said we are focusing on Gaza because that's where the hostages are but we also have a continuous effort to bring a better reality in the northern border as well we're doing it day in day out and today also we attacked in Lebanon for this objective in the home front I call upon the public to continue to be alert to listen to the directives which are life saving with these shrapnels all over the country and it's important to adhere to all the directives of course the force is limited by our enemies but you cannot be complacent 138 hostages are still held in Gaza I said 138 because we determined today that one of the missing ones was defined as hostage we have a moral obligation to bring all the hostages back and to continue with this effort all along we gave the announcement to the families of seven soldiers who fell in battle this is a heavy price the fallen are heroes they are the ones who enable us to materialize the objectives of the war and to secure our safety questions what can you say about the situation of the women in captivity because the IDF spokesperson Daniel Higari delivering his daily briefing day 60 of the war in Eitan I'm going to come straight to you your assessment much of what we've been discussing since this broadcast started in the Gaza Strip concerns at North and also saying if there are sirens in the country listen adhere to the rules get to a shelter yes more and first of all more and more we are aware that if we are not fulfilling all the instructions to wait 10 minutes being in the shelter or in any place that we are defended according to the instructors by the on-front command there is a a risk that is falling kind of pieces from the boat from the rocket and from the iron dome together that is coming from there and suddenly fallen and this creating damage to a full vehicle burning it or a serious damage so the population that is used that the success of iron dome can be watched by eyes and after one two minutes are start to go outside they are risking their life we have to fulfill 10 minutes completely secondly concerning what is supposed to be in the future we have the risk that is lanchard from the from Hamas from the south but don't forget the north the north with Hezbollah maybe we will talk about it later but in this part the events has been increased today by Hezbollah over shooting and creating towards Israel because the same and much more serious can become from the north as well so we have to get used to understand the life of the population the strength of the population is first of all depend on fulfill the instruction until now 99% of the population are really looking at it seriously and fulfill it and we are going to go to our team on the ground in the north for an update very shortly to follow up on exactly those developments up there close to the border between Israel and Lebanon but Eitan is back to the Red Cross we were talking about it a little bit before we went to Daniel Higari because you were talking about the response from the Red Cross or the lack of response from the Red Cross and it's come at a cost after 8 weeks and what she said the president of the Red Cross is not a it's not a speech is only a soft words in my opinion we are in a serious situation women are raped for what's going underground they need medical treatment they need medical eyes they need to be seen by someone who is not belong to Hamas and how she can stand the first sentence that I expect from her if from Gaza I demand from the Hamas to open the doors that my representative will come and visit the kidnap people there especially the elders for a lot of time I would like myself to lead my delegation and bring with me a package of medicine that was she supposed to say and not brief us about human and both sides and such words that you can put in a wash machine and not in a reality underground look the end of the day the Red Cross has to be studiously neutral that's its mandate she works in very very narrow parameters I do think that more could have been said of course about the hostages although we both know Aitan at the end of the day it's up to Hamas or it's up to the Israeli government not only to negotiate a provision in agreement for Hamas to allow the Red Cross to go but to actually enforce it which was not done again I don't envy those who have to make the difficult decision because enforcing it might have been bringing fewer hostages home so maybe the right decision was made you could argue about it but in a sense it's our choice of course Hamas is obligated under international law to let them in it was a war crime to take the hostages in the first place so let's not get that wrong either the other thing we have to understand the Red Cross needs to operate inside the Gaza Strip if it wants to operate inside the Gaza Strip it has no alternative but to some degree maybe not to work with Hamas but not to work against Hamas it's simply a reality on the ground what does it mean it means that they have to be careful what they say about Hamas or they can't serve civilians in the Gaza Strip and I understand what the consequences of that are for Israel and I think it's fair for us in a studio to point out that the Red Cross at the end of the day in addition to being studiously neutral has that conflict of interest so that everyone understands when she speaks that she is bound by that conflict of interest I'm not accepted because she is not belonging to Gaza she is not living in Gaza demand that if she can if she can fulfill her job she has to resign she is here because she get demand to enter to such conflict and by the symbol of the Red Cross she has to see open doors and she had to say it natural loudly and in a way that is not Sao Chi's support any side now there are people who are were dropping inside a depth of tunnels not giving anything raped and women and men together what's going there and she has to say first sentence I'm here in Gaza I respect the damage to the civil population okay I receive it I cannot receive that her first sentence should not be what happened on the 7th of October and she demand to see these people she doesn't care about how it will be solved she needs to give them the basic treatment that it should be as a human being and by the way Benita two sentences I think we are looking on the last 48 hours you see that some of the international movement like WHO that made a statement that they were called by Kogat coordination of government activities to move ahead a storage of medical and the Kogat said we didn't say it's a lie secondly you see also another kind of the ICC the head of the ICC or the main category that came to visit Israel and was he he said and I was surprised the first time you get some balance from his words after he visited the area that is the meaning that people when coming see and watching so from that lady I would expect to be on her professionality to be much more straight and not going in a large circle of this kind of thing the ICC is in a different position than the Red Cross it doesn't have staff on the ground in the same way there aren't two million civilians that it is charged to deal with it's a difficult situation it's a complicated situation our job here in the studio is to say that she may not be able to be completely honest and so viewers understand when they are listening to the Red Cross it doesn't have a halo effect whose ability to tell the truth may be limited that's our job but her job is to do the best she can to serve civilians in my opinion the meaning of her visit to Gaza she will not be treated by Hamas even they didn't like it that was an opportunity to stand and to talk to the camera and to say the thing that she is responsible for what does that mean to come to see the hostages to see it loudly in Gaza to give them medicines that's in Gaza, yes this is our duty I also want to add that after 8 weeks in captivity we know that there are people in their 80s who haven't had medication they haven't been visited by anyone by the Red Cross we know that there are babies a baby in captivity come on this is the Red Cross needs to get there and help them this is an ongoing war crime that Hamas is responsible for Hamas is not allowing them to get the visits Hamas reportedly according to our government committed to allowing the Red Cross to come in and still has not let them in that's where the fault lies and sure it would be nice if the Red Cross would do more or could do more to advocate for the hostages but if they are unable to do so we need to explain that they are unable to do so and we need to explain that they have a conflict of interest so their halo effect is not seen that way around the world and our job is to continue to advocate for those hostages where even the UN Security Council said that they need to be freed not through a deal not through a quid pro quo but unconditionally and even the Russians didn't veto it stay with us because we are going to unpack more there are many many questions around the international reaction organizations human rights organizations women's organizations to their responses or lack of responses we will discuss this in more detail right now Israeli survivors of the October 7th terror onslaught activists and the ambassador to the United Nations have held a special session at the UN condemning the world silence on the brutal sexual assaults and rapes committed by Hamas terrorists something we've just been discussing here in studio now they share testimonies and evidence while calling out the hypocrisy around the world when it comes to the rape of Jewish women here's more from the UN session but a warning that these images are graphic and disturbing on October 7th Hamas committed crimes against humanity they raped murdered and violated Israeli women usually the United Nations is a place where Israelis have to defend their actions but this time they had center stage calling out the brutal violence against women on October 7th Hamas had committed rapes we saw bodies of naked women the bodies show trauma consistent with rape they bent someone down and I realized he was raping her and then he shot her in the head her pants are pulled down and she is half naked their legs were spread out and women's organizations chose to be silent against Hamas violence and calling out the deafening silence denial and vocal vitriol against Jewish people that ensued the world has to decide who to believe do we believe the Hamas spokesperson who said that rape is forbidden therefore it couldn't have possibly happened on October 7th or do we believe the women whose bodies tell us how they spent the last minutes of their lives who are we going to believe we found a woman's body dumped outside without pants without underpants burnt barely any hair left on her they even displayed horrific eyewitness testimonies we believe that rape is forbidden that's what we believe there was a time when we believed that women and women women who came to us were alive we saw that either they were still alive or they were only alive simply because of the other woman's body they came to us she didn't feel she was walking to the side she was walking to the side she was just looking down and she was walking like this like a horse what's more is the overwhelming amount of women protesting in hate and antisemitic rallies around the world especially when it's taken so many decades and centuries for women to find a voice and speak out against rape and violence when people use the language of feminism violence because of the identity of the victims. They're sending a clear signal that women's rights are negotiable, that rape is sometimes okay, that some women have more dignity than others. That is more than hypocrisy. It is a betrayal of all women because when our agency can be traded away, none of us are safe. Israeli authorities also called out the propaganda of Hamas and the fact that Hamas uses rape as a weapon of war while the world watches. Israel suffered the most brutal massacre since the Holocaust. The atrocities committed by Hamas were more barbaric than ISIS. Some say more cruel and barbaric than the Nazis. Babies were murdered and beheaded. Families were bound together and burnt alive. Children were executed in front of their parents and parents in front of their children. Still so difficult to listen to the testimonies, see those images, hear the evidence, perhaps those international organizations we were talking about a little bit earlier might like to take a look as difficult as it is and then perhaps their tune might change. Now, turning to the disturbing spike in antisemitic incidents on college campuses in the United States, the presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania are answering house lawmakers at a hearing in Washington nearly two months after the Hamas terror attack on Israel. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce says the hearing called Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism will focus on specific incidents on each campus as well as administrators responses. So we cross live to our senior U.S. correspondent Mike Wagenheim in New York and he joins us from outside Columbia University. Mike, a disturbing spate of antisemitic incidents on some of the most elite campuses in the United States. What details have emerged so far from today's hearing? What can you tell us? It's pretty amazing, Benini. You mentioned I'll get to the hearing just a moment here at Columbia University specifically. Coming up this week, there was a meeting planned at the School of Social Work by a group of students in support of the Palestinians called Explaining the Counter Offensive of October the 7th. Yes, they were going to explain how a revolutionary violence should be used to counter what they called imperialism. Now the School of Social Work here said the meeting wasn't approved. They shut it down, but it just goes to show you what's happening on some of the campuses, at least at the student level. Now to today's hearing specifically, those three university presidents were put on the spotlight and put on the defensive for much of that hearing. The good news is, I guess from a Jewish and Israeli perspective, is that all three of them recognize that there are issues with antisemitism on the campus, major issues, and they all recognize that something needs to be done about it at the campus level, at the federal level. What have you? Where they really diverge between their answers and what many representatives there in the committee expected of them was, well, what are you actually doing about it? What can be done about it? What is within your power to do something about it? And that's where I think the representatives, especially Republicans on that committee, weren't really getting the hard answers that they were looking for. The university presidents expressed, you know, the necessity of free speech on campus, but where does that actually diverge into bullying? Where does that actually diverge into intimidation? Where does that diverge into the threat of violence? And they were asked very pointed questions. Well, what about from the river to the sea? Is that a genocidal call that should lead to student discipline? Well, as the president of Harvard said, we follow our policies. But what are those policies actually entailed? What punishment has been meted out for those kinds of statements? If any end, she really couldn't give an answer to that. Well, what about the call for globalizing the intifada? Is that a direct call for violence? And the answer was, well, we have policies in place to deal with that. But again, no specific answers on what those policies actually entail and if they've led to any sort of punishment. So the bottom line is, yes, a recognition that Israel has a right to exist. Yes, a recognition that more needs to be done to root out anti-semitism. But where exactly that line is drawn, as to what constitutes anti-semitism, what constitutes a threat to Jewish students on campus really went unanswered at this hearing today. Boggles the mind, what you're describing right now. And we know that in recent days, we heard Senator Chuck Schumer speaking out against rising anti-semitism, also urging all Americans to fight it. So in terms of the campus context, what kind of appropriate action can universities be taking here? So all students and all staff frankly feel safe at these elite learning institutions. Well, it all goes back to as the president of Harvard said, Claudine Gay, we'll follow our policies. But again, what are those policies entail? Some of them have specific disciplinary measures handed out for acts like bullying, for acts like intimidation. But again, it's very subjective. What exactly that constitutes? Should it be handled at the student level with some sort of code of conduct? Should it be handled more than university level, where maybe it can be more in line with federal policies? Should it be handled at the federal level? Remember, all three of those universities whose presidents attended those hearings today are under official civil rights investigations by the U.S. Department of Education. Those investigations started either under President Trump or were initiated under President Biden, both of whom have taken actions against anti-semitism on college campuses. Divergence of ideas as to exactly not only what should be done, but at what level should it be handled? Does it really have to go to the level of the federal government getting involved or can it be handled the right way at the university level efficiently with the university presidents that are in place? Many detractors say it's got to rise to the federal level to get something done. Senior U.S. correspondent Mike Wagenheim, live from New York. Thank you as always. Many questions remain unanswered. In Israel, there are reports that Israel has prepared plans to flood the Hamas Territorial Network under the Gaza Strip with water pumped from the Mediterranean Sea. The Wall Street Journal is citing U.S. officials outlining how the IDF set up five large water pumps near the Shatti Camp in Gaza City last month. More in this report. In an unusual plan to tackle a serious threat, the Wall Street Journal reported late Monday that Israel finished assembling a system of large pumps to flood Hamas' vast underground tunnel network with seawater. According to the report, the IDF set up five large water pumps near the Shatti Camp in northern Gaza capable of flooding the terror tunnels under the strip. When we talk about the tunnel system, we have to understand that there are two aspects to it. There's the vertical aspect, which is the shafts of which there are hundreds and hundreds, 800 have already been found, 500 have been destroyed, and they present a tactical threat to any Israeli forces operating in Gaza. But there's the other aspect of it, and that's the 500 kilometers of underground tunnels. I call that the horizontal part of it, which not only are networks under the cities, but connect the cities to each other. The goal of the weeks-long process would be to gradually flush out Hamas' terrorists and potentially hostages from the tunnels with the aim to render them unusable. It's one of many methods to destroy the tunnels, and it's great, important to the Israeli military to destroy the tunnels, because this is the way that Hamas is trying to survive this war, and after, of course, to claim that he is victorious. In other words, the destruction caused by the IDF above ground would force the international community to impose a ceasefire, with Hamas protected from Israeli strikes. Israel reportedly informed the U.S. of the option early last month, prompting a discussion in Washington regarding its costs and benefits. There are two downsides that one is for sure, and the other one is a we don't know. The one for sure is damaging the aquifer under Gaza. In other words, there's an environmental question here that has to come into play. But even leaving that aside, the substrate of Gaza is sand, as you can see in what you're showing on the screen right now. Sand absorbs water, and it's not clear at all whether these tunnels will actually flood, even with massive amounts of water being pumped into them. They may get a foot or two of water on the ground, but will they actually flood to the point where they can't be used is an open question. The idea of flooding tunnels in Gaza is not new. Back in 2015, Egypt flooded hundreds of underground tunnels between Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula, used for smuggling and by Islamist groups. The Egyptians destroyed everything within 20 days. The flooding of the tunnels caused them more damage than 50 days of Israeli airstrikes. All the tunnels have collapsed. While some of the hundreds of tunnels did survive the flooding, the benefit of such a strategy seemed clear. Now the question is whether the leaked information is intended to only frighten Hamas or is indeed Israel's next move in its campaign to uproot Hamas from beneath the ground. For more, Major General in the Reserves, Eitan Tangot, the viability Eitan, first of all, of flooding tunnels in terms of the fighting A and B, obviously the implications which are top of mind for every Israeli. What about the 138 hostages potentially in some of those tunnels? Exactly. First of all, we have to look that the tunnels are the strategic tool that Hamas says in this war because on the ground, we beat them. They escaped. They are using the tunnels. They are not standing to kind of a fight. We succeed to be in places that were symbols from the past, like 2014, that we are not able to enter. Till now, we're founding 800 peers that we have on the ground. And 500 of them were explored and they were trying inside some materials. The problem is twice. First of all, how to deal? We don't know exactly the net of 500 kilometers of tunnels, but I think we can identify where are the major central tunnels that are coming to some areas. Where is the command and control and the storages? Secondly, we have to be aware for each step we are doing of whether it's risking or not risking the hostages. And this is something that with all the creative idea of tunnel flooding or other kind of opportunities that we are trying to do, I believe the solution will be only such kind of mixed ideas that if we succeed to identify the central places and we have some success in one or two central places, it will have the kind of psychological impact on those who are in these tunnels with bombs that can enter to some of these tunnels, but above all, and this is something that stop us for doing, it's the future of the hostages and try to save them. Eitan, thank you so much as always for your insight. So appreciate you being here in studio. Owen, you're going to be staying with us. We are going to be taking a very short break and as you say, top of mind, no matter what unfolds on the ground, Israel is waiting for word on the 138-