 I arrived today at the headquarters of the division whose special forces also operate inside Shifa Hospital. There are significant findings. We are working with precision and determination. We have completed taking over and clearing the western part of Gaza City and are now advancing to the next stage of the offensive. Four more. Let's go to I-24 News Robert Swift near the Gaza border. We've seen Robert some flares before. What's the action over there? Yes. So the defense minister, you have gallant said that the operations are coming towards a conclusion in the west of the city, but that doesn't mean that the fighting in the north of Gaza as a whole is finished, as you can probably see behind me. There has been flares going up in the last few minutes, for about the last 20, 30 minutes. So it was prolonged activity with flares going up into the air and sustained gunfire. It did appear to us that this was ongoing gunfights, and that further in the distance we've also been seeing airstrikes taking place as the Israeli military continues its operations inside the northern Gaza Strip. All right. Robert Swift. Much from the south, joining me now in the studio is Ambassador Daniel Scherk, former Israeli ambassador to France. Good evening. Good evening. 41 days. How do you see it today? Well, 41 days too many. Look, I don't think that there's anything very dramatic that happens on the 41st day. I can tell you that as someone who has spent most of the last month a little bit more in the headquarters of the Forum for Families of Hostages, there is growing impatience among the families, which one can understand. There is a lot of concern about the fate of their loved ones. There are many moments of hope, but there are also many moments of hopelessness. And somebody who has quite a lot of experience in hostage situations says to me that there is a sprint stage and a marathon stage, and we're nearing the end of the sprint stage, according to him. The question is what comes next then? Well, hopefully what comes next is at least some kind of agreement about the release of hopefully all the hostages, but realistically probably not all of them, but part of them. The fact that after 41 days there has not been a significant deal for the release of a significant number of hostages, even though it's sort of a consensus worldwide that there is a category of these hostages that are so fragile that it seems obvious that they need to be released urgently. I'm talking about the young children and the elderly and the sick. What I think is of great concern, and it inspires the lack of hope and the lack of optimism that you hear around the circles close to the families. Do you think that after 41 days Israel has managed to reach a breaking point of Hamas or not yet? Look, I'm not a military expert and I can't assess this except from the statements of the army and other political leaders that have to do with it. To be honest, it doesn't look that way. It doesn't sound that way either. There has certainly been significant progress and significant things that happen, but I don't think that there's a breakdown of Hamas that looks anywhere near. Of course, the question is, we talk a lot about the diplomatic clock and the military clock and how in sync or out of sync they're going to be. I think the diplomatic clock, even today in day 41, has been unprecedented in its length. I don't remember a situation where after such really hard and terrible fighting that lasted for so long, there was still by and large, if not support, at least understanding of Israel's need to continue its military campaign. But we all know that even if it's record breaking length for the moment, it is going to come to an end at some point. I can't tell you exactly when. It might be a week or two weeks or three weeks. We don't know, but it is going to come to an end. So there's a decision to be made in Israel if you take this into consideration, if you try to calibrate the successes that you have on the battlefield with the diplomatic clock or you disregard it. You can also say, okay, we're going to go on as long as it takes, even if we pay a diplomatic price. I wouldn't recommend this, but I think it's a legitimate decision that the government has to make. We'll have to see. Right. From past experience, we've seen that Hamas was holding two hostages for years, years and years. And the question is, can Hamas still do it? Will Hamas still be able to do this? I think the comparison, you know, the theoretical answer is yes. I mean, theoretically they can, but the truth of the matter is that the situation is so diametrically different than the previous hostage situations. For example, the Shalit event. There are 240 people. Many of them are civilians. Many of them are foreign nationals. Hamas is in the middle of a war for its survival. Some of the leaders certainly have to, should fear for their lives. You know, all these things come together to create a situation that is not really comparable. To guard 240 people and to keep them out of sight of Israeli intelligence for so long seems like an impossibility. Now, I don't want to paint all sorts of possible doomsday scenarios where they release a large majority but keep a few people just for a rainy day if they need a bargaining chip. I really hope this is going to end with some kind of deal in the format of all the hostages for all the Palestinian prisoners. I think that's a terrible price for Israel to pay, but the decision if to do it or not should not be on the backs of the families of the hostages. I think and Israeli public opinion polls show this too. The number one priority is freeing the hostages. You've mentioned the diplomatic clock. The UN Security Council came up with a decision last night, quite a mild one, I should say. Yes, relatively. Yes. How do you say this? Well, I think the reason why it's relatively mild because the parties who were involved didn't want it to be vetoed. So they wanted to produce something because the fact is that until now, for 41 days, the Security Council and the UN hasn't produced anything of value. Now, I'm not saying this is necessarily of value, but at least they've produced something. So, okay, Israel is not happy with this. I guess the Palestinians just mentioned they call for a ceasefire and release of hostages. So you know, personally, I'm a little bit one track minded in the last few weeks because of my involvement with the hostage family. So any clear and unequivocal appeal for an unconditional release of the hostages, immediate and unconditional, is welcome to me. I suppose that diplomatic Israel is a little bit less happy with it because of the condemnation of Israeli operations in Gaza and the mention of Palestinian casualties, et cetera. But that's life. So the day after and the international community, do you see any appetite of the UN or other entities to get involved in the future of Gaza? If you're talking about the day after is composed of a day after militarily, security-wise. There's a day after for the reconstruction of Gaza. There's a day after of who governs Gaza and how. And there's a broader day after of a possible, you know, if you take one step, why not take ten and try and integrate some kind of local arrangement into a much broader one. There was thought of trying to integrate the end of the war and the exit strategy into some other regional trends that were interrupted by the war, like, for example, normalization with Saudi Arabia, an agreement between Saudi Arabia and the United States and possibly other factors. That is the most ambitious, I think, plan. And it would, you know, it would, I'm not saying this would be a happy ending. There is no happy ending to an event that started with such a horrific tragedy. But maybe it would bring the region and, in a sense, Israel one step closer to normalizing its situation inside. I think that international bodies will have to be parties to each and every one of these aspects of the day after. The security one, the political one, certainly the economic one, the reconstruction, all that. Is it the UN or is it other bodies maybe more regionally centered? For example, for the security, I think it's probably might be more effective to have at least a partially regional international force, inter-Arab force involved. But all this is a little bit difficult to imagine while the fighting is still going on so hard, while missiles and rockets are still falling on Israeli cities, including from very far away, and while 240 people are still held hostage in Gaza. Now, let's talk a little bit about China and the U.S. and the Middle East. President Biden has urged President Xi of China to leverage his influence in persuading Iran to refrain from actions that could escalate the Israeli Hamas War. With us now is Kareem Switi, founder and director of Sino-Israel Global Network and Academic Leadership. Thank you very much for joining us. What kind of leverage does China have over Iran? Well, it's well known that China is basically a monopoly buyer of Iranian oil, although as we know it also sells to Iraq, which opened up that $10 billion conundrum for the United States, where Iraq's payment to Iran will be funneled through Oman. But beyond that, China has a corner on the market for Iranian oil. It has a certain amount of leverage. It's true. That's why Saudi Arabia, one of the reasons why Saudi Arabia approached China to be the broker of the Saudi Iran rapprochement. They believed that because Iran is somewhat beholden to China, there was more chance of Iran sticking to the deal for a longer period of time. The question is, to what degree can China exercise that? Does it want to exercise? Can it exercise that leverage? How powerful is that leverage? I think there is some leverage there, but it is limited, and China uses it very carefully. And I believe that behind closed doors, China is likely speaking to Iran on a very regular basis about keeping the tensions in the Middle East down overall, and especially now, all things considered. We don't know how much effect they've had, because we see Iran's proxies attacking Israel, attacking the US, et cetera, from all sides. At the same time, I think we can expect that it's in China's interest to make sure this war does not escalate. Now, if you look at China's point of view, are the Chinese interested in a quiet Middle East or not necessarily? Well, exactly. I think totally quiet. I think it's up for grabs. It's not necessarily something that they are concerned about. But they're absolutely existentially concerned that the conflict does not blow up in very wide proportions that would limit the delivery of energy to China. Because if there is a cut of six or more percent of oil from this region to China, it's existential. The price of oil reaching $250 or $300 a barrel due to some major war is existential for China. So it has an active interest in keeping the conflict to a minimum. So in this regard, the United States and China are on the same page? They are. It's difficult for China to be on the same page as the United States. And that is, I think, one of the reasons why we have seen China refuse to call out Hamas, use the term Hamas, or say that Hamas is a terrorist organization, because the United States is full-throatedly supporting Israel. The two aircraft carriers and their frigates accompanying them were a very powerful statement to China. And I think it made many of U.S. allies and ally wannabes to open their eyes and take note. I just returned from China and Japan a few days ago, and I heard quite a lot about the impressive nature of U.S. support that was shown for Israel. What is exactly the temperature now of the relations between China and Israel? It's not warm. And rightly so. The Chinese behavior with respect to what happened on October 7th has been very problematic for Israel. The view of the Chinese, and they made it very clear to me while I was there, is that, yes, what happened on the October 7th was horrific. However, the response is disproportionate. Clearly, the Chinese are having a very hard time understanding the existential threat that we feel and that we see when Hamas stands up and says, we will commit October 7th over and over until we're done with the job. And for us, this pulls up our trauma from 70 years ago, and it takes a lot of effort to get the Chinese to try to put themselves in our shoes. They're very big on numbers. And in general, they're very big on statistics and numbers, and they have a hard time with the fact that 1,400 of us were killed and 240 captured, but 10,000 Palestinians have died. And that is the very simple math that they do that makes them say Israel is in the wrong. Israel has gone too far. Okay. Karis, thank you very much. It's a pleasure, and look forward to happier days. Oh, yeah, we all. Thank you. Back to you, Ambassador Schach here in the studio. By the way, China, we had better times between Israel and China. Is there still hope for warming up? Yeah, there's always hope. Diplomacy is not a diplomat. No, I mean diplomacy in general. It's not a static situation. There are ups and downs. I mean, I don't want to compare. Obviously the comparison isn't fair, but look at the relations between Israel and Turkey, how many times they went from super warm to the verge of war. So yeah, with China, it's more complicated, it's also slower. China doesn't move very fast. China has interests in this region, which I think China's appetite has grown in the last few years. Decades ago, there seemed to be a complete disinterest beyond Security Council, UN, and public statements. China was focused on other areas of the world. In the last few years, it seems that they are more active here. And that may have an influence also on relations with Israel. Which doesn't mean, I mean, I'm not the greatest expert on the details of these relations. It doesn't mean that they've stopped cooperation in a number of fields, economic, agricultural, and maybe even defense and security and intelligence. But diplomatically, I think they are keeping the distance from Israel for reasons that concern their interests more generally. I don't think that, or if I should put it simply, it's nothing personal. Yeah. Oh, you've mentioned Turkey. That looks personal a little bit, right? Yeah, that is entirely personal. What's the deal with Erdogan? Well, whoever understands Erdogan should please raise their hand. I'm interested to hear. He's an unpredictable person, an unpredictable personality. And as you say, everything is personal. He makes it personal. He's volatile. He's explosive. And there are good days and there are bad days. And the gap between the good and the bad is huge. And it happens in days. We all remember just a few months ago the moments of falling back into each other's arms after years of cooler relations. Suddenly everything is wonderful and the interests of both sides are completely invested in rebuilding the relations. And the ambassadors were there and Israel has an amazing ambassador there, Yrit Lilian. But then suddenly something happens and at the beginning of the war it was still, you know, was testing the waters feeling and then suddenly it collapsed. And once it collapses, it's all the way the other side Israel is compared to the worst war criminals in history and accusations, which doesn't mean that in a few months from now suddenly there won't be a revival. But the truth is that in Israel, including myself in these studios more than once, when the revival started a few months ago, a year ago, I cautioned. I said, you know, Israel should better be restrained and cautious in its reaction because it's very volatile. Right. Families of Israeli hostages are marching to Jerusalem. It's the third day, I think, in a desperate effort to bring attention to their tragedy. I-24 News, P.S. Tekelbach is now live with them. Hi, P.A., give us the latest there. Hi, Jacob, indeed it is the third day. These families, and we're speaking about dozens of families, started their march on Tuesday. They're started in Tel Aviv and on Saturday they're expected to arrive in Jerusalem and they want to rally there in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence there to really draw more attention on the hostages and to demand further that it should be the first priority of the politicians there. Now, as you can see here, they are now coming together here in the evening after having marched several kilometers today. They have earlier been in Mudi'in, now in Latron. Many of those families are here basically, Joe have joined the march since Tuesday. What they're singing now is akhshav, which means now in Hebrew, which is basically their main message to release the hostages now and to reach a hostage release deal now. And what we've been hearing earlier is that they do demand one deal, which will bring about the release of all the hostages, because we have received several reports in recent days that deals are on the table that would include the release of only elderly people or children or women only. Many of the people that are here this evening demand the release of all the hostages, of course, as soon as possible. We are speaking about almost 240 people, all of them with names, with stories, with lives and with families who incredibly miss them and, of course, worried about them. Don't forget, Jacob, not only haven't they seen their families for more than five weeks now, but also they do not know in what state they are. And we've been hearing from people telling us that they love ones need medical attention. And this is also one of the main demands here to get the Red Cross to access these hostages in Gaza and attend to them medically. And the goal of this rally is to really voice the demand, but also to just create a sense of being together, because these five weeks have been obviously incredibly difficult for those families, and this rally gives them a sense of being together in a sense of community here as well. So they will remain here this evening. They will listen to some music here, and they will speak, and they will also hold up the signs with the pictures of their loved ones that are in Gaza currently. And then they will continue tomorrow until they arrive to Jerusalem on Saturday, Jacob. The message is clear cut. They say now and everybody, they want the release of everybody right now. That's the message very hard to implement maybe, but that's the clear cut message, right? Right, that is the message as soon as possible now. But also, of course, including everyone, a deal needs to be reached. This is the clear cut message that we've been hearing all throughout the evening that includes everyone, not only women, not only children, not only elderly, but really everyone. And now, of course, and many of them have the feeling that this is not the top priority of the government, and they've been calling upon politicians to get in touch with them and to also include them in possible hostage deal negotiations, to talk to them, to get in touch with them. We're speaking about really dozens of families who are going on that march, you have to imagine. We're speaking about several days where people really march. They sometimes take buses for some parts of the legs here. But we speak about families who really are desperate, who are trying to really shout, to really shout out their message here. This is what we've been hearing all throughout the day. And now they're coming together. And this is a calm evening here, coming together, listening to speeches, listening to the stories of those who have been kidnapped, families speaking about their loved ones that are currently in Gaza. But also, of course, to just, again, as I said, to create that sense of community and of being together. And of course, also to create the feeling that they're actually doing something. Right. Pia, thank you very much with the families. Ambassador Sheik, you were involved with this as well. Is there a partner on the other side to talk deals now? Look, to be quite honest, the Forum of Families does everything except negotiate with Hamas, clearly. We don't have the authority or the possibility to do that. But I think that the fact that this is a single issue organization entirely at the service of the families and their loved ones enables these people to demand the obvious, all the hostages immediately. Is it realistic? I don't know, probably not. And I'm certain that the families, at least those, well, all the families, they will be overjoyed for those who will be released. They will, of course, be sad if their loved ones are not included. One can only imagine what they are going through. But the demand, everybody immediately is a natural one. All right. Thank you very much so far, Ambassador Sheik. We'll take a break now, and we'll be right back with more special coverage here on iPhone 4 News. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Welcome back to iPhone 4 News. Special coverage of the war. Israeli war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, called Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau today, to protest his criticism of Israel. Take a listen. I urge the government of Israel to exercise maximum restraint, as the world is watching. On TV, on social media, we're hearing the testimonies of doctors, family members, survivors, kids who've lost their parents. The world is witnessing this, the killing of women and children, of babies. This has to stop. The minister here is Ambassador Daniel Sheik. What's the delivery politician has its own politics at home that they have to adhere to? First of all, yes. Politicians have domestic politics on their minds, too. It's a natural thing. We've had sort of a similar situation a week ago with Emmanuel Macron and his famous or infamous BBC interview, which he then had to explain, and he called Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog and tried to explain that he was misunderstood and that in the rest of the interview he did balance things out. I don't know if Prime Minister Trudeau will do the same thing. And I'm certainly not going to justify this, but I do have to say one thing. If you look coldly at the situation, the events of October 7th happened on October 7th. That is 41 days ago. The events in Gaza happen every day. So they are fresh in the minds of people who watch. They don't necessarily go into the minute details of what the IDF has done or has not done to warn civilians. They simplify. You know television better than anybody probably in this country. Leaders have some responsibility to balance things out. That's what I'm saying. I'm not trying to justify it, but I'm trying to analyze this a little bit coldly. And that plus the domestic politics, which I know better about France, a bit less about Canada, might result in certain leaders feeling that occasionally they need to make a statement of this kind. We'll have to see over time if that remains the position of Canada and the position of Trudeau himself, or if it was a one-off that he needed to put on record, and then he will go back to a more balanced position. Or it might be an indication, as I also felt with Macron, that this might be the beginning of what we talked about in the previous half hour about the predictable erosion in this coalition of solidarity with Israel. But still, we haven't heard from Macron in a few days now, right? Maybe... Do you miss him? No, it's true. What does it tell you that maybe he backed away a little bit? Yeah, I think he wanted to... He needed to make this... You know, Macron in French, he's called Monsieur en même temps, Mr. at the same time, because it's one of his favorite phrases. He's a sophisticated thinker, so he often uses this phrase. He says one, two, three, four, but at the same time, five, six, seven, eight. And so he was in the first few days of this conflict, of this war. I think he and most of his political leaders, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and other ministers were squarely behind Israel, really unequivocally. And maybe he needed to counterbalance it. He was under a lot of criticism because of it, so maybe he needed to counterbalance it, and then he called Herzog to counterbalance the counterbalance, and there's, you know, there's a pendulum. Right. And now he's just keeping quiet for a few days. What about the rest of Europe, by the way? Again, you know, it's going farther away. There is... I've been starting to read things that maybe Europe should turn its attention back to the war that is close out to home in Ukraine. We all know that Ukraine has felt a little bit neglected over the past month, so European sources and European leaders might turn their attention again to the eastern part of their own continent. But I think, you know, it's a fair guess that they won't completely lose interest in what is happening here. All right. Let's go back 41 days ago, October the 7th, the Kibbutz was buried just near the border with Gaza. 10% of the population of these Kibbutz was slaughtered on this day. And now let's hear part of the story of the children who survived in Bury. Before we start talking, it's important for me that you feel comfortable and free to talk about whatever you want. If there's something that you don't want to talk about, then really, don't talk about it. Tell me a little bit about how you are feeling today. How are you? Why? Do you miss them? What? Earrings. Oh, wow, really beautiful. Who bought that for you? Grandma? Grandpa? What was the hardest part? How did you know what to do? How did you know what to do? I don't know, I just put everything on the table. And what, you pushed it hard? We ate to do everything. What were they shouting? Do you know how many hours you were in the safe room for? When she called us, she said she was in the safe room. You know, the last time, she would tell him to tell him. And we were very surprised. Do you think about her a lot? What do you think? What do you miss the most? Did you like it? It was amazing. I started writing to my friends. It was fun to write. I mean, you started saying good-bye to your friends or Radze. Then I left three in the morning. I wrote a letter. She left me. And I'm alive. And then we all went outside the safe room. There were a lot of people around us. And there were a lot of things that Radze needs to see. And were you able to, or did you leave them out? I left them out. Also in the safe room. I tell myself, it's the same thing. I leave it to myself. It's a secret and I'm afraid of it. But I think it's not. I also left my father in the war. He was in the army. In the war. My father, who came to take care of her. He was one of the most visible people. He came to open the door. And then they opened the doors of their rooms. And then they put them in a cage. What was Grandma's name? Bess. Apparently they were beautiful. From a little bit. Mom, you need to take my picture. Take all the best pictures of me. I left my grandmother, who left me for four days. And we went to a new place. What's hard about being in the hotel? Is it that you're not at home? Not at home. It's really hard that you're not at home. You eat the same things every day. And eat the same food. Now the food was tastier at Barry's. Yes. Every day they would eat. There was a house in Snitzel. There was a stove. There was a stove. There were burgers. There was a pan. There was a pan. There was also a pan. There was also a pan. There was also a pan. How's your new school? How's your new school? Why? Why? What do you miss the most? Who lives here? Don't you want to stay and sleep here? Yes, do you think so? I can't sleep at night. I can't sleep without someone else. Someone else with you? Yes. And was it also before or is it only after it happened? It happened. When she was in the neighborhood, for example, I was afraid to come to the neighborhood because I would get caught. That's why I don't want to sleep at night. Every little town, a small village, a big park, a small zoo, there were animals that were afraid of me. Because I would always be confused with what would happen. Also here in the hotel room? Are you okay? Would you like a break? Are you good friends? Yes. Really? Thanks to him. Wow, it's so great to have a friend like that. So now it helps you, of course, you're together. Tell me, is there anything you want to say to our government? If I had something to say to the head of the government, then I would tell him to do everything he can to bring my knowledge and my knowledge forward. I don't know if it's time to talk to the head of the government about these things, but with some kind of power, when they do something, to bring back our families and our ancestors. In a place, I would open up. It's just a joke. Like this, a part of the state of Israel is no longer with us. And how can it not be with us? Yes. Because what needs to be talked about. I'm afraid. I'm afraid that I'll go back to my old home because of what we've been through. Because even now, they're not coming back, they're not coming back. That I want to go back home. Yes. What's the most here? My room. My room. My house. I'm going to visit my friends. I'm going to visit my relatives. I'm going to visit a big house like this. Wait, wait, wait. It was... It was what they did to us. We couldn't... What do you mean? That they did something. Tell me, do you believe everything will be okay in the end? There's always a happy ending. Right. So maybe we'll be able to fix everything in the end. So here, we'll even have a happy ending. Optimistic. Yana Yofi. The kids of Kibbutzbury, unbelievable. Unbelievable. Just young kids. Next thing, three Jewish students are suing New York University over anti-discrimination policies claiming their civil rights were violated. With us now is Gerard Filiti, Senior Counsel at the Law for Project. Thank you very much for joining us. Do you think they have a case? I think they absolutely have a case. As an alumni of New York University, I am incredibly proud of the students who had the courage to come forward and file this case. That is the most difficult thing that a student can do. A Jewish student who is facing discrimination and the hate that they're sealing on campus every single day. For them to have the courage to come forward and fight for their civil rights. It's absolutely amazing. And I think that they have a very strong case. Help us a little bit. What's the obligation of the university here? Is this a matter of free speech or something else? It's not about free speech. It's the obligation of a university to provide an environment that is free of hostility and discrimination. Basically, the university needs to provide an environment that's safe and welcoming for all students, especially minority students and Jewish students are a minority people. So they are entitled to these civil rights protections, regardless of any speech rights that anyone else has. They can't feel threatened. They can't feel that they need to hide. They need to be able to go to school and enjoy the same benefit of their education that every other student has. And when the university creates or allows an atmosphere of this pro-hamas hatred to manifest itself on campus, their rights are being denied. So I'm just trying to understand what do you expect the university to provide a physical protection, not allowing demonstrations by Hamas supporters? Where's the line? The line is all of the above. They need to take reasonable action to protect Jewish students. For example, there was an altercation, a physical fight, a pro-Palestinian demonstrator went after a Jewish student at the library a week or two ago. University security sat by and did nothing. This is unacceptable. They need to protect the safety of Jewish students. When you have people creating an atmosphere where they're yelling pro-hamas chants, this is an atmosphere where Jewish students cannot function. The school has an obligation to remedy that. They have to make it clear that you cannot target Jewish students, that these types of activities are hurtful and that they're providing an environment that's not safe. So what can they do? They can crack down, especially on student clubs like Students for Justice in Palestine that promulgate this hate. They can put place restrictions on protests. They can place restrictions and punish students who violate the code of conduct. And none of this has NYU done so far. This is why you see a lawsuit. And this is why at the Lawfare Project, we're seeing students from across the country coming to us, saying we're seeing this on our campus as well and we need help. NYU is not the only school where this is happening. Yeah, well, NYU is like in Manhattan in the middle of New York, which has a great Jewish population. What about other universities? How would that affect other universities? Well, unfortunately, the way the legal system works is it might help make it things better on other campuses, but it doesn't because a lawsuit that's filed in New York affects New York. It does not affect Washington DC, where students at George Washington are suffering. Or California, where students at Berkeley at the UC system are suffering. So we need students to come forward who are brave enough like these NYU students and say this is a problem on our campus. We need help. We need to file a lawsuit as well because without a lawsuit, you're not going to see change. All right, Gerard Feliti, thank you very much for that. Thank you. Best of the check back to you here in the studio. That's part of the rise of anti-Semitism worldwide. A major, major problem, probably more than ever than anybody else thought. Correct. There's a huge rise. I mean, from the top of my old age, I can tell you that this is not a new phenomenon, that when violence flares here in the region, there is a surge of anti-Semitic behaviors and anti-Semitic incidents worldwide. I have to say that since I spent most of my career in Europe and especially in France with the largest Jewish community in Western Europe, but also the largest Muslim community, that was more typical for Europe than it was for the United States. And I think that that is the big change in the last decade that there is a sudden that the U.S. has joined the rest of the world, quote, unquote, in this phenomenon. And although in the United States, it's still a relatively small phenomenon, it's noisy, but it's small in numbers. I think anti-Semitism qualifies in those cases where it's wise to combat it even when it's very small because it tends to grow very quickly. Right. All right. We'll finish with that. Who's going to do the laundry when everybody's fighting in the front line? So someone is bringing washing machines to the soldiers and 24 years orishapira reports on that. A group of ultra-orthodox paid a special visit to IDF soldiers in southern Israel. They brought washing machines and did laundry in the field for the soldiers. Even before the war, we felt we were part of Israeli society, but now this feeling has become stronger. We support our brothers no matter how they look, whatever they are wearing, and if they have or don't have a yarmulke, we are one family and one people. It's part of a special initiative carried out by Ezr Lachayal, or age the soldier, an organization based in Qfar Qabad and operated by the Qabad movement, an ultra-orthodox outreach organization. We have a call center and we are also operating through an application. They receive calls with requests from soldiers on the ground. They send the request to our warehouse. They call the units and verify they still need it and then they send it to the unit. This is not the first time we're seeing projects like this. The Museum of Science in Jerusalem and people from the Midburn Festival developed portable baths for the soldiers at the front. The organization also provides different equipment to the soldiers and even gives massages to them. So far, we've received around 700 calls. It's a huge number of calls asking for equipment and help. We have ground units who provide laundry, food, and a lot of good spirit. Some wonder if this special bond will last after the war. In the meantime, Israelis from different backgrounds and places continue to support each other. This is it for now. Eight of war families completely gunned down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Welcome to this special broadcast on I-24 News. I'm Khaled bin David. It is day 41 of Israel's war against Hamas and the IDS operation remains focused on Shifa Hospital believed to be the site of the terror group's main underground command center in northern Gaza. Now an initial foray into one of the buildings in the complex revealed some weapons and military equipment and a computer with photos of some of the hostages being held in Gaza. The IDS says it's continuing its searches in the Shifa complex. Rocket fire from Gaza continued to be launched into southern Israel as remissals and anti-tank weapons from Hezbollah and other terror groups in south Lebanon across the border into the north of the country. The deaths of three soldiers in the Gaza battlefield were announced today, bringing the toll of fatalities in knife front to 51. And there was another death in the Jerusalem area as a military police officer was killed in a West Bank terror attack on the tunnel road from Gush Etzion to Jerusalem. Five others were wounded and three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in that incident. Let's start in the northern front and go to our correspondent Ariel Osirhan who is just south of the Lebanon border with Israel. And Ariel, according to reports, Iran has told Hamas they won't directly intervene in this conflict, but it's proxy. Hezbollah does continue its pressure of making those launches across the Lebanese border. Roy Kalev, obviously you're referring to the letter that Ismail Kani, the head of the IRGC's Quds Force, sent today to Ismail Aniyah, the head of Hamas who is not in the Gaza Strip. He is believed to be in Qatar. But obviously commending, praising the October 7th attack saying that they will continue to do everything they can for the Palestinian cause. Obviously, saying continuing to do everything they can, they're not engaged in a fully, full-out scale war with Israel. But as you alluded to in your lead, the northern border has been flaring up consistently and gradually since October 7th. In fact, today there was a concentrated surge of attack on Israeli military border outposts as well as border communities between noon and 4.20 in the afternoon. There were no less than eight separate attacks carried out by Hezbollah all across the northern border, the west central and eastern part of the border with Lebanon. Israel responding with strikes, artillery, and also according to reports in Lebanon, airstrikes, the latest of these strikes, reports in El Chiam in the southern, the southeast part of the border with Lebanon of an Israeli tank, artillery shell that fell there. Hezbollah also, after a couple days of not announcing its casualties, naming the 75th and 76th of its fighters who have been killed by Israeli strikes since the start of the war. And so while they're not doing everything they can do, they're indeed sending a lot of these soldiers to fight and many of them are being taken out by IDF forces, whether prior to their attacks on the border or moments after. All right, as you say, Hezbollah paying a price for even the what it is doing in there on the northern front. I'd also like to thank you for that. We're joined in the studio by Ambassador Daniei Alon, the former Israeli ambassador to the US, former deputy foreign minister of Israel and chairman now of Silver Road Capital. And Yossi Melman, a very well-known intelligence and defense commentator and co-author of the book Spies Against Armageddon. And gentlemen, stay with us because as I mentioned, the focus now is on Shifa Hospital. And we do have a report that was prepared by our defense correspondent looking at Shifa and what has been found there. Let's take a look at that. In any normal place, hospitals are where lives are saved and illnesses are cured. Gaza is anything but a normal place. If you follow me behind the MRI machine, I'll show you what our troops exposed just minutes ago. In military terms, this is a grab bag. Grab and go of a Hamas combatant. And if you zoom in and we get some light over here, what you'll be able to see is military equipment. There is an AK-47. There are cartridges, ammo. There are grenades in here, of course, uniform. And all of that, this was hidden very conveniently, secretly behind the MRI machine. The MRI machine is just one hiding place along with various others. And when our troops opened this closet here, which is in the main part of the clinic, this is what they found. These weapons have absolutely no business being inside a hospital. The only reason they're here is because Hamas put them here, because they use this place, like many other hospitals and ambulances and sensitive facilities inside the Gaza Strip for their illicit military purposes. So there's calisthenics of rifles here, even ammunition. The War of Narratives is a difficult one. Even after these images, Israel understands very well there will be those who try and undermine this evidence. Inside the very same cabinet that houses medical equipment, you can see all kinds of standard military medical stuff. We found another go-to bag, this bag here. And again, we opened it up in order to make sure that it's safe to touch and show. So please don't give me any of that. You open it up and you place it there. This is the bag that we found and the stuff that was in it. This is what was found in the hospital building itself. The assumption is that there may be tunnels under Shifa Hospital used exclusively for terror purposes and much more such evidence could be found there. And you'll see, as our correspondent says in that piece, the assumption is that elsewhere in Shifa there is much more to be found. But you did, I noticed in one of your tweets ways, a kind of cautionary warning about whether too much emphasis has been placed on Shifa and there could be disappointment if some of the expectations are not met to what's to be discovered there. Well, indeed, I think it was... There was too much build up by the IDF and echoed by the Israeli media raising the expectations that maybe the hostages would be found there beneath the hospital, probably many terrorists. And so far, there is no evidence for that. There is evidence, however, that the hospital was used as a command for Hamas. But we realized it from day one after the IDF raided a few other hospitals, like the Rantisi Hospital. Weapons were found in equipment and explosives. Right. Danny, there are, as I also alluded to by Jonathan Regev, a war of narratives here. And the question is, of course, Israel, on one hand, as you said, kind of built it up, but maybe in part that may have been necessary in order to even conduct this kind of operation because, of course, there's a lot of international criticism for Israel, that is, for the IDF is operating in this hospital area. Right. I guess the Joker was not found yet. But we are just starting. And remember, this Shifa complex has actually 14 different buildings. Right. They have only gone into the first one. That we know of. There may be some... We're expecting Daniel Higari, the IDF spokesman to speak tonight. It might be that they're... Absolutely. So it is true that it had to be some buildup in order to convince the international community of the necessity to go into a hospital because this is not the place in a war that you would expect soldiers to storm in. However, Israel was very, very cautious. There was no bombardment. There was no airstrikes. They went in with ground operation special units who took a real risk by going themselves into the hospitals. And indeed, they were encountered by five Hamas terrorists outside that were killed. But since then, you know, I don't know if any other military operation or an army that would bring in incubators and medical equipment into the hospital, which really, that went a long way in really gaining legitimacy first and foremost. I don't care about legitimacy anywhere else, but with Biden. And Kalev, if you saw Biden's speech today in San Francisco... Right, and we'll show some of the clips later in the program where he does talk about Hamas. So gentlemen, let's go to the south in our correspondent, Robert Swift, who is in steel rope by the Lebanon border. And yes, the focus of Robert on Shifa Hospital there. And of course, there are other operations going on in the ground in Gaza as well. But a focus on the hospital and the question of whether there's going to be... The IDF is going to, if and when, goes underground, so to speak, find more of this kind of evidence indicating either information on the hostages or the military operations of Hamas. Yeah, indeed. The focus today of the operations inside Gaza are very much on the hospital itself, particularly the information that the Israeli military has produced showing the Hamas activities there. So far, they have produced, you know, around 10 assault rifles and various other items, laptops of the sort, which the Israeli military have said is indications of Hamas's activity there. But there is still, you know, much of the outside world is holding its breath, waiting to see a bit more misunderstood from the Israeli military has said that its intelligence indicates, and the U.S. has agreed with this intelligence, that there is significant Hamas infrastructure underground in the hospital. And the search to find these tunnels and whatever Hamas fighters, hostages, or additional intelligence that can be found there, that is ongoing. This being the second day of the raid inside that hospital. Right. And, Robert, I want to ask, and I think if we have a map of it, we could pull it up on the Gaza port. By the way, we're seeing flares above the skies of Gaza. That, of course, indicates that the likelihood of ongoing ground operations there, maybe in Shefa Hospital. But I want to talk about the Gaza port, which was the IDF said it was able to get full control over. And that itself is strategically located quite close to that Shefa Hospital complex. Yeah, so first of all, regarding the flares, you're right, there has been activity here for the last few hours. Intermittently, there's flares going up. More significantly, there's often sustained gunfire that goes along with them. So indicating that the combat operations are very much ongoing behind us. Now, Defense Minister Yov Galant has said that essentially the west of Northern Gaza Strip has been pacified, let's say. But there are other areas of the Northern Gaza Strip where fighting does appear to be continuing. And that's what it seems like we're seeing behind us. With regards to the port, the Israeli military is essentially continuing to push out its control of the surface. You know, yesterday it was able to take control of Shefa Hospital. Now the port, there's additional key bits of infrastructure in the Northern Gaza Strip that they're able to take control of. But it's worth bearing in mind that much of the critical infrastructure to Hamas, that is underground. And that is where much of the IDF's focus is, even if the actual prospect of entering there is a very dangerous proposition. It is, and in fact, we saw that in the incident last week when five soldiers were killed by a booby trap to the entrance of one of those tunnels. So certainly there's a risk involved there. Robert Swift, thank you for that. Well, let me ask you, you'll see both the risks involved in dealing with those, entering those underground complexes. And what Danny said, which is trying to create the justification for entering, for example, these hospital areas like Rantisi and Laika Shefa, could that have given Hamas enough of time to, for example, evacuate some of both its fighters, even cross down to the southern part of the Gaza Strip but also even take some of the hostages with them who might have been in those locations earlier? Absolutely. The IDF found in Shefa indications that the hostages were there or at least were taken in the first day once they were kidnapped. And I think the proper term to be used are hostages and kidnapped persons. Right. And they found their laptops with photos, laptops that were taken from homes in the rural communities around Gaza. Now, I think the Israeli authorities, IDF, the government, and as it is reflected in the public, are torn between two pullers. One, the generals, the IDF, the Minister of Defense are saying, be cautious, it's going to be a very long campaign. And that's why Israel is acting very slowly to avoid casualties as much as possible. On the other hand, the public is anxious to see or to, that a victory picture is produced. And therefore, you see, we are going from one extreme to another. When you enter Shefa Hospital with the rising expectation that the miracle will happen and the hostages will be there and it is not happening, then the people are disappointed. On the other hand, the military is saying it's a long, long battle. We have to move slowly, slowly. And so far, only half of Gaza, less than half of the strip has been taken. And that's only the above ground. Yes, exactly. What was called already 10 years ago, the Gaza Underground, the Gaza Metro, has 400, 500 kilometers of tunnels and piers that they pop up and kill soldiers. So this is the reality. And people, I think, have to live to the reality and to understand that it's a long, long battle. Joff Gallant said that only by the end of early next year, two months from now, maybe more, some of the evacuees will return to their communities. So we have to be very realistic about this war. Okay, gentlemen, we do have actually some breaking news. There is an announcement here by the IDF spokesperson. You can look at that photo here. I'm going to just read it. The body of the abductee, the late Yehudid Weiss, was recovered by IDF forces from a building near the Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip. In the building where the late Judith was found, Judith or Judith, military equipment and weapons, and an RPG missile were also found. The late Judith Weiss, Judith Weiss, she is from the battery. Well, gentlemen, I think we were expecting perhaps some dramatic announcement or, as you said, more evidence coming when the IDF spokesman, Daniel Higari, speaks. Usually it's about now, maybe later. But it looks like this was one of the announcements. They have recovered the body of an abductee in that area. Evidence that, of course, there was somebody there. Also, Khaled, I think it's important to know that the terrorists of Hamas had four or almost five weeks to prepare let's say in the beginning, they were not sure that how serious is Israel in entering Gaza all the way, including Shifa. But for the last two weeks, they have been sure that we are coming in, which is enough lead time for them to do a cover-up operation and to leave as much, to take out as much evidence as they can and maybe even to cover some of the piers and some of the tunnels that would reach from the Shifa Hospital down to the metro area underground. This is why it's kind of a very, very painstaking, slow operation to look for all those openings that were covered up. But at the end of the day, I'm sure they take weeks, but they will get to the bottom of it. Right, and they did find, as you said, whatever they did cover up this body was found. You'd advice, I imagine we're going to get more in just hopefully in the coming minutes we'll get more details of the recovery of her body. And you're supposed to meet tonight, I think it's actually supposed to begin at 8.30 local time, just in a little over 10 minutes. That agenda has never made public either before or after. A lot of talk, though, I mean, two assumptions would be continuation of this operation in the hospital and talk of a possible hostage deal. What are the chances, I mean, that something like that could happen? Well, I think that finding the body of the hostage will accelerate the negotiations in order to release hostages. Because more bad news are expected. These people are, the hostages are already 40 days in captivity. Old women, babies, and they have... Supposedly, according to information, we only gleaned from a letter from Sarah Netanyahu, a woman who gave birth to a baby. Yes, indeed. So the faster we move and at least release as much hostages as possible, the better. And I think this is one of the purposes of convening the cabinet tonight. The gap is not that wide between the two sides. Hamas demands five-day ceasefire. Israel is ready for a pose. Israel is ready for three days. It is already agreed upon that in return for the hostages that would be released 50, 60, 70s, mostly women and children and babies, Israel would release Palestinian female terrorists from Israeli jails and young terrorists underage. Let's be clear, though, when they say children, we're talking about minors, there are 18 who have committed terrorist crimes including murders. Some of them committed terrible, but this is the reality and therefore Israel has to make a decision. The cabinet has to make a decision. The war can go on, but the hostages must be released as soon as possible. Time is not on Israeli side in this matter. I do want to clarify with Yossi's statement that what you just said, that's been reported in the media sources and local media. It's not been confirmed, but what we've seen Danny in the past is these kind of details are leaked out in advance to gauge the public reaction to see if the public would be willing to release, even if it's a 17-year-old who's committed a terror act to release them in the return for the women and children. That could be what happened here. How do you gauge the reaction? Would the public ready for it? Or would it be for the release of a fair number of hostages? Well, you see, it's quite amazing that you see a lot of the... There are quite a few groups. First and foremost, the group of the families, which is really, I think, the most important one to look at. But even many of them say they are coming against a ceasefire. They say bring them out together all or nothing because everybody understands that the Hamas is trying to trickle down or just drip drip the hostages in order just to gain time to regroup then it may never be a solution for all of them. All right. Now, I've mentioned international pressure. That is certainly a factor here on Israel. One of those who has been pressing Israel is the European Union's foreign policy chief, Joseph Borrell, and he's been somewhat critical of Israel's operation in Gaza. Well, today he did arrive here for the first time since October 7th, and he joined the Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Kahl, for a visit to Kibbutz Berry to see firsthand the site of Hamas atrocities. Here's what he had to say, though, afterwards. And not far from here is Gaza. And one order don't justify another. Innocent civilians including thousands of children have died in the past weeks. We know that people are also forced to leave their houses and need assistance. They need food, water, fuel and protection. Israel has to be defended. And today, even today, another terrorist attack has happened in Israel. So it's an everyday fight. But one thing is to defend Israel. And another thing is to take care of the people in need. And that's why the European Union, together with supporting the right to defend to Israel, is also asking for humanitarian assistance for food, water, fuel and protection. Well, I would not quite call that a ringing endorsement of Israel's operation. I should note that Jose Borrell has been less supportive than some of the individual national leaders to the British Prime Minister or the German Chancellor. I think I've been much more supportive. But the question is, it was Ellie Cohen sitting next to the Prime Minister who said Israel might have a two to three week window which barely sounds enough to achieve the kind of strategic goals, as Jesse said. Yeah, but I think it was a mistake and I think he was slightly reprimanded by the Prime Minister, quietly at least. Not to put it out for the two and three months but also vocally reprimanded by other members of the government. Also, right, right, right, right. Because even if it is true, which I'm not sure is the case, you shouldn't say it out loud because then you prepare, then the Hamas knows all they have to do is hold for two more weeks and just lay low and nothing will happen to them. I think we have more than two or three weeks. All we have to do is make the Americans Europe with all due respect. It's less important in terms of its influence and in terms of its contribution to the geo-strategic situation that will emerge after this war. And for the Americans, the day after is very important and in order to ensure a day after which will be stable, prosperous with some hope of a major change, you have to eradicate Hamas. The former governments, but in some way certainly they're still the same Prime Ministers policies certainly on the Palestinian issue or on Gaza. Yes, he is Israel doing enough right now in order to maintain the level of support it's going to need to carry out its operation, even just on the military side. This is exactly the balance that Israel is trying to maintain. And I think that the Israeli international community that the IDF is doing its utmost to prevent mass casualties. According to Palestinian figures, so far 11,000 Palestinians were killed a lot of children. It's a huge number. We can't confirm those figures. So that's the Palestinian so relatively to the massive attack by Israel destruction, which you see in Gaza. It explains why the relatively the number of casualties is low. And this message has to be reached out to the world that Israel is not going after the Palestinians not even after Gazans. It's only aim is to eradicate Hamas. Yes, he moment and that's not for brief break, but we'll be back in just a few minutes with war on our special coverage Israel's war against Hamas. 24 news channel broadcasting from Israel with dozens of correspondence throughout the world brings the truth from Israel to hundreds of millions of people in scores of countries. The state of emergency and war in Israel bringing Israel's story to the world I-24 news channels now on hot We'll come back to this special broadcast on I-24 news still with me Ambassador Danny A. Alon and Yossi Melman. I do want to just again repeat the breaking news that we had just in the last few minutes the Israel Defense Forces announcing that they had discovered the body of Yodit Weiss or Yodit Weiss there in the area of the Shifa hospital. She was kidnapped from Kibbutz Berry on October 7th that is her husband Shmuluk who was with her. He was murdered on Kibbutz Berry on October 7th. Yodit Weiss was kidnapped into Gaza. She was a 64 years old apparently she was also a cancer patient her body found in the area of Shifa hospital. We don't know yet though the cause of death in fact maybe that could be with the fact that her body was found. We don't know we're still waiting for Rear Admiral Daniel Hogarty the idea of spokesperson to give us a briefing maybe we'll have some of those details. Now in the meantime we have the weeks of disagreement the United Nations Security Council last night finally passed a resolution on the Israel Hamas conflict. It calls for quote urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip. It does not demand a ceasefire and that the United States for example said it would not accept. It also doesn't condemn or even fact mention the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7th. Now 12 members of the council voted in favor with the United States, the UK and Russia abstaining. Now here's comments from the envoy of the United Arab Emirates which supported the resolution and the reaction from the Israeli envoy to the UN. Israel must cease attacks on foreign objects. They must uphold the special protections afforded by international law to hospitals and schools and they must ensure safe and unhindered humanitarian access. Israel will continue to do whatever it takes to accomplish this goal. Mr President as much as we all wish to believe that this resolution and this council could have an impact on genocidal terrorists the situation on the ground proves otherwise. The reality is that Israel has no choice but to continue with our mission to obliterate Hamas's capabilities and bring our hostages home. From all let's go to our senior US correspondent Mike Wagenheim in New York and Mike the Security Council has been wrangly for weeks over a resolution finally arrived at one that I guess the US and Russia either agreed on or didn't disagree enough and just ended up abstaining in the vote. It was a rare rare moment right before the Security Council session got away walking into the chambers together where the envoys from the United States and Russia, Linda Thomas Greenfield and Vasily Nbenzia respectively walking and talking together. You never see US and Russian officials doing that so they apparently reached some understanding that neither would veto nor would they vote for or against it. They simply abstained the US and the United Kingdom abstained because the resolution didn't explicitly condemn Hamas and their massacre on October 7th. Russia abstained because there wasn't a broader call for a fuller ceasefire but rather humanitarian causes sufficient enough that humanitarian aid could filter through but yes the Security Council on try number five finally able to get it done and by the way important to note in a broader context this resolution was worked on not by the five permanent members of the Security Council the ones who have the veto power but the ten elected members of the Security Council led by Malta were the ones that actually developed and negotiated the text. All right so but let me ask you Mike it doesn't mention Hamas, condemn Hamas but what it does call for humanitarian causes and causes is something the Israeli government already greased for is this a setback or not for Israel in the Security Council. I don't think it matters in the broader sense I think Israel if you look through that resolution itself is living up it always depends on somebody's interpretation of what sufficient means or number of days means but in a broader sense Israel is already fulfilling those particular initiatives which is why the United States didn't see fit to veto the resolution to begin with. The Israeli officials there at the UN continue to express their anger that the Security Council and the UN in general can't see fit to really condemn Hamas or they equivocate between Hamas and Israel but that's neither here nor there when it comes to the resolution itself in terms of fulfilling the terms of that resolution. Alright well I think what's much more important to Israel is what the US President Joe Biden has to say about the conflict now he has been occupied for the past couple of days meeting the Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Asia Pacific Summit in San Francisco but he's been asked there about the Israel Hamas conflict he roundly condemned Hamas in his comments but he also had something else to say so let's listen. I made it clear to the Israelis that to be me enters war cabinet but I think the only ultimate answer here is a two state solution that's real. We got to get to the point where there is an ability to be able to even talk without worrying about whether or not we're just dealing with, they're dealing with Hamas that's going to engage in the same activities they did over the past on the 7th but I can't tell I'm not a fortune teller I can't tell you how long it's going to last but I can tell you I don't think it ultimately ends until there's a two state solution I made it clear to the Israelis I think it's a big mistake for them to think they're going to occupy Gaza and maintain Gaza I don't think that works. Joe Biden basically laying it all out right there laying out his broader policy in public view that this conflict needs to be resolved through a two state solution going further than just you know the end of Hamas but really toward a broader vision for the region Kalev and putting the onus on Israel here if they're not going to quote-unquote reoccupy Gaza then what is the solution the United States has floated a couple things which are unacceptable in reality to Israel so there is still broad disagreement or at least a lack of some common vision on what is to come not five years down the road ten years down the road but the day after Hamas it's still very much up in the air exactly how these two partners are going to move forward here on figuring out what to do all right Mike Wagenheim as you said Joe Biden going further than and certainly the current Israeli government has been ready to go talking about the day after Mike Wagenheim in New York thank you for that and let me let me ask you gentlemen that the yeah you see really for the first time Joe Biden really putting it out and indicating he at least wants to start hearing discussions about the political where where is this military conflict going to and the question is whether this current government whether Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to be able to give him answers and if there'll be implications or consequences if he doesn't well I think the U.S. government the Joe Biden administration has been trying from day one to get an answer from the Israeli leaders and especially for Prime Minister Netanyahu what is the end game how Israel visualized the day after once the war is over I think all Israeli American envoys who came here from Defense Secretary to the President to Anthony Lincoln they tried to understand what would be what will happen once the war is over United States is providing Israeli with leeway you can keep going battling and hitting and damaging Hamas and disarming Hamas and ruin its military capabilities and Hamas as a government but what will come after that and Netanyahu especially is not ready to answer that question he opposes the idea that was proposed by the U.S. administration that once the war is over the Palestinian Authority will take will move in will enter Gaza and will form a civilian government there not a military civilian government but Netanyahu will not ready to answer it and certainly would pose political problems for him in the constellation of the current government I do want to go back to our correspondent down on the Gaza border there Robert there's of course the important news coming out this evening the discovery apparently of the body of Yehudid Waiz who had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Barry on October 7th minister you have gone on early in the day and hinted at some new information something dramatic coming out of that area of sheaf hospital and it looks like this is it at least for now that we know Yeah indeed like you say for now it was one of the directors of the hospital earlier said to Al Jazeera that the IDF had been taking out a number of bodies we don't have a confirmation on how many bodies were killed but you know you could understand that there may be additional hostages who have been killed that were among that number now we have had one of them confirmed with this news and it's possible that there will be more but like I said we don't have the exact number so it's unclear if if that news will come out but that is all part of the reasons for the Israeli military going into Al Shifa hospital the fact that the Israeli military has indicated that its intelligence suggests this is very much a center of gravity for Hamas in the Gaza Strip that it is a military headquarters essentially and they've also been releasing information today indicating that fact now there's still a question mark over you know how much evidence for this are going to find will Hamas have been able to leave that area prior to the IDF coming in today and there is much trepidation from outside observers as to what evidence the Israeli military will provide with the Israeli military earlier saying that it does have additional information indicating that there is significant infrastructure still to be opened up underneath the hospital I just want to be careful on the terminology because we don't know if your device was in a sense killed we know she was a cancer patient apparently and we don't know if maybe the denial that's one way if you could say her being killed the denial of the proper medical care unfortunately several of the hostages taken were elderly people or even some younger individuals that had special medical needs and we are now in a period 40 days after and certainly that will raise concern about the fates of those individuals we'll get maybe more Daniel he will is now scheduled to speak at 9 o'clock so I guess we'll get more information hopefully get more information about the circumstances under which the device is discovered and about her death in that briefing Robert Swift there down on the Gaza border thank you for that now of course this news about one of the hostages just really brings home concern over the well-being of those hostages 239 that were confirmed that being very cautious could be more we don't know there was a march there is an ongoing march of families of the hostages and loved ones from Tel Aviv Jerusalem started a couple of days ago they're making their way to Jerusalem scheduled to arrive at the prime minister's office on Saturday later on Saturday our Pia Stakobach has been with that march she did file this report early let's take a listen it is the third day these families were speaking about dozens of families started their march on Tuesday they started in Tel Aviv and on Saturday they're expected to arrive in Jerusalem and they want to rally there in front of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence there to really draw more attention on the hostages and to demand further that it should be the first priority of the politicians there now as you can see here they are now coming together here in the evening after having marched several kilometers today they have earlier been in Mudiina many of those families are here basically Joe have joined the march since Tuesday what they're singing now is akhshav which means now in Hebrew which is basically their main message to release the hostages now and to reach a hostage release deal now what we've been hearing earlier is that they do demand one deal which will bring about the release of all the hostages because we've received several reports in recent days that deals are on the table that would include the release of only elderly people or children or women only many of the people that are here this evening demand the release of all the hostages of course as soon as possible not only haven't they seen their families for more than five weeks now but also they do not know in what state there and we've been hearing from people telling us that they loved ones need medical attention and this is also one of the main demands here to get the red cross to access these hostages in Gaza and attend to them medically and the goal of this rally is to really voice the demand but also to just create a sense of being together because these five weeks have been obviously difficult for those families and these rally gives them a sense of being together in the sense of community here as well so they will remain here this evening they will listen to some music here and they will speak and they will also hold up the signs with the pictures of their loved ones that are in Gaza currently and then they will continue tomorrow until they arrive to Jerusalem on Saturday I just want to clarify that was about an hour ago because the event was just breaking up at that point so those people hadn't even gotten the news of the death of one of the hostages and imagine what the reaction would be we even heard it there saying the concern about people receiving problem medical care Well, the family's central committee prepared almost from the first day consulting Israeli doctors a list of medicines that Israel demanded to bring to their families like Judith Weiss cancer patients and the babies that needed supplies and the Red Cross hasn't refused to do it or tried to do it but they must reject the offer and it's very, very dangerous we don't know what kind of treatment they are receiving or received in the past at the hospitals now at least two three hospitals have been taken over by the IDF I don't know what is the fate of the other hostages who might be in other hospitals Right and even young I just reminded the pictures to giving out hostage videos which we like Israeli media have not shown last week of one of the elderly hostages and a young man whose mother I had spoken to who apparently also suffers from medical condition as mad at condition and this is Yes, you see I mean even if they didn't suffer from medical conditions prior to the kidnapping imagine what they are taking into narrow channels with no light no air or very limited air no fresh air and their conditions can easily deteriorate it Danny I would imagine as this march goes as I said before they're actually in the middle they're sort of camping out there right outside Jerusalem they get to the Prime Minister's office presumably perhaps Saturday night they'll probably be joined by many more people there kind of a kind of demonstration that we have actually not seen since the start of the war when we had the judicial the protest of the judicial reforms the kind of pressure that is going to be on the Prime Minister and the entire government and certainly on the war cabinet and Benny Gantz and you have gone to agree to a hostage deal even if the conditions may not even match some of the expectations that have been made Yeah, no things that the heat is just creeping up and the pressure on the government and especially on Netanyahu is really almost getting to be unbearable but at this point I don't think it's in his hands I think Hamas is really controlling this event unfortunately and they are playing with the emotions of the families they are very cruel very ruthless employing all the tricks in the book of psychological warfare with the hope that Netanyahu will succumb first and will agree to a fewer number of hostages being released for a longer time of ceasefire for them Right, there was even a talk and in some of those details that came out that there would be perhaps it would be staggered you'd have ten a day for each day of a ceasefire again Hamas trying to control the narrative and said terms of a deal I want to turn away from Gaza for a moment and also from the Lebanon border because there is another front in this war so to speak and that is the West Bank which does continue to boil as you mentioned early in the program today three terrorists were neutralized after they opened fire at security forces at the tunnel checkpoint between the Gush Etzion and the West Bank to South of Jerusalem itself five Israelis were injured in that attack and one corporal Abraham Patner of the military police died of his wounds just in the last hours or his death was just announced in the last hours may his memory be a blessing Jonathan Regiff has more on today's attack in this report They were well equipped, well trained and ready to carry out a major attack The terrorists were armed with M-16 rifles, pistols and axes and a huge amount of ammunition which indicate that there was intention to probably carry out an attack on a completely different scale somewhere else and only vigilance of the policemen who were at the checkpoint resulted in the thwarting of such an attack The three terrorists arrived this morning to the checkpoint known as the tunnel checkpoint just south of Jerusalem probably hoping to pass by and head into the city but they were stopped The car is the suspicion of the personnel in the checkpoint We got out of the car and began shooting at our forces In the gun battle the three terrorists were killed At least six Israelis were injured in the gun battle and were quickly treated by emergency services on the ground We saw various people lying on the floor and began treating them Our team treated four people One of them is in severe condition Two in moderate condition and one in a light condition After the initial treatment the three terrorists arrived in Jerusalem The Israeli attention is obviously directed at Gaza and the northern border but the West Bank arena is constantly active as well The incident this morning at the tunnel checkpoint is just the latest reminder A serious incident the question is Yossi It's interesting to put that in the context of what we learned the other day that some of the planning for the October 7th attack is still a possibility of some of these Hamas terrorists making it to the West Bank I would say that seems implausible but everything that happened on October 7th now seems implausible But clearly that was a strategy that the Hamas had in mind at least really elevating the level of violence in the West Bank Is that still a possibility given the kind of attacks we saw today? Certainly settlers would behave There is a growing number of incidents in the West Bank The chief of staff warned a week ago, two weeks ago and called for a calm He talked to the leaders of the settlers in the West Bank Hamas certainly is calling for increase the attacks on Israelis and on the West Bank and Judea Samaria Jews So the situation there is very very sensitive and I think it's the last thing that Israel would like to see is that the new front is being opened We are already confronted in the north by Hezbollah indeed with the kind of war of attrition on small scale the Yemenites, the Houthis are firing luckily enough all of them were intercepted so far by the firing rockets So the last thing that we need now is another front in the West Bank But politically a problem for Benjamin Netanyahu there was a one Jewish or a settler extremist was given a warning there but every move by that does present political problems for Netanyahu on his right flank but also an operational problem for the military because as Yossi just mentioned the last thing that the IDF needs is open another front by the way this is exactly what the Hamas was expecting to have a multi-front attack on Israel they thought that they would lead the way and then maybe Hezbollah will join the Hamas in Judea and Samaria maybe even Israeli Arab some elements here will join but the only one that they can control the only fear that they can somewhat control is Hamas in Judea and Samaria they cannot tell Hezbollah what to do they certainly cannot tell Iran or the Houthis what to do but with Hamas in Judea and Samaria they are trying their best and they do not need much incentive anyway to attack luckily I think that the Israeli the Shin Bet and Israeli military and all the other security services they care about it because obviously all the focus is on the southern border with Gaza but on a daily basis or a nightly basis many Hamas operatives and terrorists are being detained being killed in action which we have seen for example in Tokam the other day where you don't even eat in one sitting 200 Hamas operatives have been detained arrested and killed as you said we're almost not paying the money elsewhere in Gaza let's go back to Gaza for a minute because a couple of times in this broadcast we mentioned the cynical willingness of Hamas and other terror groups there to exploit Israel's concerns over civilian casualties as well as the world's willingness to condemn Israel for supposed acts against civilians now one tactic was disclosed in a recorded conversation just released today by the IDF which two members of the Palestinian Islamic GI terror group discuss how weapons provide baby strollers let's take a listen to that and here in kind of in a nutshell is the challenge facing the military in Gaza you see are they going to stop every baby carriage now can you imagine what kind of photos pictures that's going to make now that they know that those are being baby strollers are being used to carry anti-tank weapons we shouldn't be surprised Hamas was capable and is capable of doing atrocity possible in the world and therefore we shouldn't be surprised at all baby strollers hospitals kindergartens all these sites were used as a warhouse weapon armaments war rooms, command rooms I believe that the evidence that is provided by the IDF photos and voices will convince some part of the international community maybe the leadership not necessarily the public but it's so difficult in our world with all these conspiratorial theories and fake news to convince the majority that what you see is the reality is the truth that's the world we live in unfortunately that is the case of deep fakes and fake news in this kind of way what the Palestinians are doing they have not committed any murder or slaughter on the 7th it's all Israeli technology AI technology all produced by Israeli AI can you believe it there is no end to their cynicism to their evil that they practice we are coming to the end of this hour of the broadcast I want to thank Daniel Higari to stay with us and please do stay with us we are going to continue in the coming hour we do expect the IDF spokesperson Daniel Higari to give his nightly briefing and perhaps news about Yehudid Weiss the hostage's body was apparently discovered there in Gaza today stay with us we will be back with more of this coverage on I-24 News Israel is at war make an investment in Israel bonds it is the most powerful and direct way to stand with Israel visit israelbonds.com and invest now