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The United Nations Security Council postponed a vote on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in an attempt to avoid another American veto. The terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad has released a propaganda video showing two of the hostages, Gadim Moses and Elad Qadzeer, both of whom were taken from Kibbutz near Oz on October 7th. And Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdallahian, is in Doha, where he's been meeting with the heads of Hamas's political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh. Haniyeh is now in Cairo, where he's meeting with Egyptian officials. Well, meanwhile, the IDF is battling the Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah, which has been firing on northern Israel from southern Lebanon. Our Zach Anders joins us now from the north of Israel. Zach, something of an escalation in the last few hours. It's a continuation of what we've seen over the last several days, or the last several weeks. These rockets and drones continue to target communities here in the north, many evacuated, but not all of the areas have seen all the citizens leave. There's still quite a few remaining in areas, especially in the valley here in the Upper Galilee, where we saw some of the rocket fire last night in the interceptions taking place. Happening against the backdrop of an attempt, a diplomatic attempt, to get Hezbollah back out of southern Lebanon and create this buffer. The U.S. is starting this negotiation, this first point of the negotiations. As a six-mile buffer, this is now differing from what the IDF and the Israelis have been publishing that it needs to be a full honoring of the 1701, UNSC 1701 agreement that pushes Hezbollah back above the Lattani River. Big concern, of course, with them being anywhere close to the border with their weapons and their arsenal, but a six-mile buffer will begin by pushing some of their weapons that the personnel on the ground has been using out of range. These ATGMs would be out of range with a six-mile buffer. That's, of course, if you can get there, if you can get Hezbollah to honor any sort of agreement like this, and then even still, they have an arsenal of Israeli estimates of some 150,000 rockets potentially at their disposal. So for that arsenal, buffer does no difference. Well, where does the Lebanese government stand in all of this? Any response from Beirut? It seems like this, you're dealing with in Beirut so many different players who have very little political legitimacy to begin with. The interim caretaker prime minister, the parliament that's trying with both hands to hang on to this, the political situation there. The economic situation is still abysmal. Of course, we all remember the 2020 port explosion they're still recovering from. It's such a fragmented political situation there. So when the US, when France in the last few days visit Beirut and meet with these political leaders, it's notably absent that Hezbollah is outside the room and operates as the dominant political force in Southern Lebanon. And with impunity, the actions that they can take and some of the policing that they do in these communities in Southern Lebanon, they are the authority. What's remarkable is that the negotiations taking place are all predicated on creating a buffer that would be filled, a void that would be filled with the LAF, the Lebanese Armed Forces, and the UN peacekeepers. The Lebanese Armed Forces is another problem altogether. Some of the soldiers have been complaining, reporting that they haven't even been getting their paychecks. So how amidst this backdrop, do you have very weak political organizations, very weak armies and structures, somehow counterbalance, counteract Hezbollah, the strong dominant force in the South? Zach, thank you very much. Zach Anders there in the North of Israel with the latest on the fight with Hezbollah. With me in the studio this hour, Yakov Lapin is a military and security analyst at the Jewish News Syndicate and the Miriam Institute. Thank you for being with us. Yakov, a lot of news coming out of Gaza today, but just to get your reaction to what's happening in the North, first of all, a rare preemptive strike by the IDF. Are we seeing a change in the dynamic here? Sorry, I think the biggest change here will come when the geographic location of the strike expands. As long as these strikes are contained to within a few kilometers of each side of the border, then I think the rules of the game, quote unquote, are in place. We have seen a Lebanese report a few days ago claiming it's unverified, that there was some sort of alleged Israeli strike far, far north, 40 kilometers north of the Lee Tani River. That is significant. If that ends up being verified, that could indicate that things are changing. But overall, I think Israel and Hezbollah remain on a collision course. Each one, for their respective reasons, is avoiding going, you know, taking that significant escalatory step for now, but the time, you know, the clock seems to be ticking. Yakov, thank you very much. Stay with this, Yakov. We're gonna go to the south of Israel now. Our Pierre Ploschendler joins us with the latest on the situation in Gaza. And Pierre, we are having reports in the Washington Post, mainly, that negotiations could be underway for another ceasefire, one which would last two weeks in return for some of the hostages to be brought home. We're just at the start of the negotiations, Laura, as far as I can understand. And there's been two meetings in Europe with the head of the CIA, with the head of the Mossad spy agency, and with the Qatari prime minister. We know what are the Israeli demands. We know what are the Hamas demands. But we don't know more than that. There's a lot of pressure pushing and shoving with a lot of information that is unconfirmed. We know that the Israeli government demands, first and foremost, the release of all women and children hostages, about 11, with the two children, the babies, Kfir Bibas and Ariel Bibas, and then also the elderly. And that message has stricken a chord with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad in the past couple of days, because they've shown five of the hostages, the elderly one, being held in Hamas's hand and Palestinian Islamic jihad's hand. So that's also one of the demands of Israeli elderly. And then also the wounded, those who sustained wounds from the October 7th massacre. The Hamas on its hand wants something which is unacceptable by the Israeli government. It demands a full stop of the war. And it demands that the Israeli forces, ground forces, withdraw to the pre-October 7th line or the pre-October 27th line when the ground offensive started. In other words, to withdraw entirely from the Gaza Strip. What will occur in the next days, weeks, we don't know. We simply know that everybody, the US, Israel are saying that it's gonna take a long time for the positions of the two camps to get closer and closer. But what's true also is that Israel will have to release Palestinians that are imprisoned into Israeli chairs and who committed murders against acts of terror against Israelis, people in the Israeli language who have blood on their hands. Which would make it starkly different to the first deal where no murderers were released, were they, Pierre. Pierre, talk us through the situation on the ground. The IDF says it is now in control of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. Is that right? Well, it is in control of the Jabalia refugee camp yesterday evening. The commander of the 162 brigade said they were in full control that the Hamas brigade in Jabalia was totally dismantled with 1,000 terrorists killed, 500 in Israeli hands, 70 of those arrested who participated in the October 7th massacres. But this morning, there were heavy bombing of the Jabalia refugee camp, what the Palestinians are calling belts of fire when you bomb an area which is dense with presumed terror targets. And the Hamas, the Nakhal Infantry Brigade of the IDF, it was published an hour ago. So for instance, a truck with a battery of long range rockets mounted on it and destroyed it as well as other caches of weapons. And they are still maybe isolated Hamas cells still working inside the Jabalia refugee camp, which means that there's still clashes in it. In Shejaya, which is just behind us, there were also fierce clashes as far as we understand. And we've seen a huge explosions. We thought at the beginning it's the destruction, the engineer destruction of a tunnel network. But in fact, Palestinian media are reporting it's 56 buildings. Now, you got to trust the Palestinian media or you don't trust them. They are affiliated to Hamas. So it's very difficult to know and the IDF doesn't talk about it. Further south, heavy pounding in Almukraqa, which is a small town, which is strategic because the Salahadin access road to Hanyunas leads to Hanyunas, which is the focal point of the offensive now with an additional brigade, which is injected in the fighting on the ground with fighting inside Hanyunas and on the Eastern, Northern and Western outskirts. Basically Hanyunas almost encircled, except for the south it seems. And two other areas, which are not yet invested by the ground forces, but are pounded, it's the central refugee camps of Nussera, Tel Buraj, Direl Balak, which are between Hanyunas and Gaza city. And then the border town of Rafah in the southern tip of the Gaza Strip facing Egypt, there too bombardments. What we know about the fighting in Hanyunas and the last soldier who died in that front, we know that the army has destroyed the houses of senior Hamas terrorists. They found tunnels or tunnel infrastructures within these houses and the fighting is going on at close range. Pierre, thank you very much. Pierre Kloshendler there with an update on the fighting in Gaza. Well, meanwhile, further evidence of how hospitals in Gaza have been used extensively by terrorist Ahmed Kahlot, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, said this to Israeli forces during an interrogation. What's your name, Mubai? Ahmed, Mohamed Hassan, Al-Kahlot. What's your name? Abu Hassan. What's your current job? Director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital. What's your current job? 1020. What's your final job? I'm the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital. 1020. What's your current job? I'm a senior soldier. What's your current job? I'm a senior soldier. I'm a senior soldier. I'm a senior soldier. I'm a senior soldier. I'm a senior soldier. They were the soldiers of the Kuba, the soldiers of the army, they were the guards, they were hiding in it, they were in it for about 10 days, then they changed to another place, and then they went to the hospital. Why did they go to the hospital? Because the hospital is safe, because they don't use the hospital. So you go to the hospital, then you go to the military station. Do you go to the police station? No. Do you go to the hospital? Yes. What do you mean? There was a police station in Hamas, and two of the guards. I remember the name of them. The first of them was Amisha, the director of the police. There was a place for the soldiers. There was a place for the guards, the police guards. There was a place for the guards. There was a place for security. There was a place for security. There was a place for security. There was a place for security. That was the director of a hospital in Gaza, admitting to the IDF that he was a member of Hamas and that the hospital was used. Yakov Lapin is still with us in the studio. This is the same hospital director who has given numerous interviews to Western media outlets about the suffering of Palestinian civilians. This is a very serious question. All of Gaza's hospitals, like so many of its mosques and its schools, are Hamas command posts. This is a very valuable confession which goes into great detail, detail that only a hospital manager who also doubles up as a Hamas Brigadier General could provide. Those in the world that are still interested in learning about how Gaza has turned into the world's largest terror base will have a plethora of information from this confession. And it shows the challenges that the Israeli Air Force and the ground forces have when it comes to targeting. Not a single hospital has been directly bombed, even though it has lost. Every hospital that operates in this way, according to international law, has lost its defense as a civilian site. But of course there were no direct strikes. There were special forces that go into these hospitals, conduct military operations in a very targeted way, and attempt to decrease harm to noncombatants to the extent possible. This is the very difficult dilemma, the strategic challenge that Hamas has deliberately put Israel in. It's forcing Israel to choose between self-defense and not fighting. And since not fighting is not an option, of course they're going to tailor their strikes to the challenge at hand. Hospitals are terror bases, and so are countless other civilian sites across the Gaza Strip. Let's talk about some of the negotiations that are going on. We spoke about the potential ceasefire deal that's being discussed. There are reports that 40 hostages could be freed under deal which would include a two-week ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners, including murderers and terrorists. That's going on on one hand. On the other, you've got the Hamas chief, Haniyeh. He's in Cairo. And there's a report in the Wall Street Journal that Hamas is holding secret talks with its rival Fatah about ruling Gaza together and pushing for a Palestinian state. All of this going on behind Sinwa's back because that's something he would not ever agree to. Right. Well, the thing is that any concept of Hamas having a role in the future leadership of Gaza is a Hamas fantasy. Even if it's coming from internal arguments within Hamas, it's still, as far as Israel is concerned, a fantasy in Israel will have the ability to enforce its policy in terms of who will rule Gaza. Even if it's not ruling Gaza directly and an autonomy eventually set up, it will still be able to send in forces wherever it likes in the future post-war Gaza. Regarding the hostage deal that may or may not be forming, I think that the most important thing that the asset that Hamas is after right now is time. They want to prolong the ceasefire for as long as possible because they hope almost desperately, I would say, that this will turn into a dynamic that will let the Hamas leadership survive. And if the Hamas leadership survives- When you said the Hamas leadership, do you mean the Hamas leadership in Doha or do you mean Sinwa? In the Gaza Strip. Sinwa and his friends. Mohammed Deff is firing those injured as previously thought. The leadership structure wants to survive this war so that it can emerge and declare victory. That's what they're looking for. And Israel has no intention of giving them that. So this is the main gap between them. The issue of how many terrorists are released is almost a side issue. It's not as important as time. And I think that Hamas, it's opening position in these negotiations, calling for a general ceasefire. That reflects what they really want. They want this to turn into a full permanent ceasefire. That's not going to happen as far as Israel's concerned, but Israel's showing flexibility. It's saying we're willing to talk about a week, perhaps more, perhaps two weeks, tactical withdrawal of forces at the end of the high intensity stage of this war. It's flexible, but Hamas is deluding itself if he thinks it's going to get a permanent ceasefire. And that's what it wants the most. Well, it's going to be about altering the momentum of the war, isn't it? A two week pause in the fighting. That's double what we saw in the last ceasefire. Hamas could do a lot with that. Absolutely, tactically, yes. I think we have to treat these reports with some skepticism. And also, it's not the full picture. At some point Israel is going to change gears in Gaza either way. Whether there's a ceasefire or not, it's going to move to a lower intensity phase. The military objectives, many of them will have been met. There won't be a need to keep this many forces in. And maybe Israel is timing that ceasefire for that change of gear, that down gear, so to speak. It could be aiming to do that. But either way, that's going to happen. So I don't think that we should read too much into these reports or take them at face value. At the end of the day, the war will continue for many more months in different phases, with or without this ceasefire and with or without a deal. Okay, Yakov, for now, thank you very much. Well, anti-Israel protests have exploded in major cities around the world, including in the United Kingdom. The latest target, the fashion store, Zara. It's not Israeli or even Jewish-owned, but that hasn't stopped pro-Palestinian supporters from harassing shoppers, even if they're not 100% sure what they're doing. Let's take a look at this. So I'll tell you in a minute why they're supposed to be protesting Zara, but let's ask them why they think they are. Can someone explain why we're protesting Zara, please? Anyone? What's that going to do with Zara? Zara's funding them. Sorry, you just said Zara's funding. Zara says something disgusting about Palestine. We asked why you're protesting Zara. The reason... Wait a minute, this case is going to tell us. The reason is because of their campaign. The one that was filmed in September? Yeah. So before October? I don't know what the... You know exactly... Someone tell me why we're buying Starbucks. Get lost. Well, the person trying to talk sense to the protesters in that video is the very brave Joseph Cohen. He's the founder of the Israel advocacy movement, and he joins us now. Joseph, thank you for being with us. It will be news to the IDF that they're funded by Zara. A big surprise. She was a big surprise to most of the shoppers as well. And truthfully, half of the protesters themselves, they all gave different explanations as to why they were there and none of their stories lined up. Well, I mean, we're laughing because it's so ridiculous, but this is actually very scary, isn't it? You've been doing this for years now, challenging anti-Semites, anti-Israel protesters, sometimes at great risk to your own safety. We saw the guy there trying to grab your camera. Since October 7th, the anti-Semitism seems to be going completely off the scale. I mean, do you feel that it's becoming more dangerous in the UK? Unquestionably. So I don't know of a Jewish family here that hasn't had discussions around the future of Jews in this country. Anti-Semitism, according to police reports, which are far more conservative than NGOs, they've reported a 775% increase in anti-Semitic incidents. So there is no question that anti-Semitism was on the rise. And while we can laugh at those protesters and the ignorance of their lack of knowledge as to why they're there, underpinning that is actual hardcore old-fashioned anti-Semitism, a belief that Jews wield such control over major corporations that they can use these corporations like Zara, a fashion brand, to advance Zionism. So yes, anti-Semitism is on the rise. What we just witnessed there was anti-Semitism, and the future is very uncertain for Jews in Europe. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I've seen you get into these debates with very violent Islamists, but part of the reason your advocacy is so effective, you do stay calm. Clearly, you not only know your Judaism, you also know a great deal about Islam. I've seen you shame some of these protesters by actually quoting Islamic teachings back at them. How did you become so knowledgeable about Islam and your own faith as well? So I actually came to Haslurah and Jewish rights campaigning through interfaith. I started building bridges with Muslims to try and encourage tolerance within both communities of each other, and that introduced me to the Muslim community. I studied their scripture, the Hadith, the Koran at great length, and I used that knowledge to try and build relationships with Muslims that can be allies to the Jewish people and the Jewish state to try and turn hostile people into friends. And the content that I create has now reached millions of people every single month, and the overwhelming majority of them are actually Muslims, so it's going relatively well. We are winning over large numbers of Muslims to Israel's right to exist and to the Jews being a friend rather than an unknown enemy, which is the case in most of these conversations. That's really good to hear. Lately, though, in the UK, especially, we've seen a lot of Islamists, people who either deny outright or try and justify the Hamas massacre, coming on pretty well-known TV shows. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about. Some of them have really extreme views. Do you think it's better for these people to be platformed and let the British people hear them or do you find this upsetting? I actually think there's something more sinister going on there. What we're finding is major personalities, effectively trading in the dead, trading in dead Israelis, dead Palestinians for views. They will host prominent Islamists and then boast of their ratings. And it creates this vicious cycle that the more of a platform they give these people, the more views it brings them and the more it just feeds this cycle of demonization. And so it's very concerning that hardcore voices from the Islamist side are being platformed on many major networks and channels. Yeah, it's all about the ratings, isn't it, sadly? And do you think that the British police and the authorities are doing enough to keep Jews safe? And do you think the UK is a safe place for Jews? The police are completely out of their depth. I've watched protesters chanting kheba kheba yahyahu jash Muhammad Sayyud, a genocidal chant in front of them and they're completely oblivious as to what is being said. I've seen the police online defend someone screaming, may Allah curse the Jews and screaming the Islamic State while holding the black standard, which was the Al-Qaeda flag, and the police came to this person's defense and declared that the black standard is the Al-Qaeda flag was just a declaration of faith. It was just the shahada. So we have the police are completely unable to recognize the jihadi threat that's coming from communities within the UK. And that is what is making the Jews incredibly vulnerable. I don't think the Jews are safe in the UK and I think they're becoming increasingly less safe as the days tick on. Well, there's always a hope for British Jews here in Israel. Joseph Cohen, keep up the good work. Great to talk to you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Well, time for us to take a very short break. We'll be back right after this. Don't go away. Well, is in a state of war, families completely gunned down in their beds. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. This week on News 24, Israel under attack. News 24 in Spanish brings the analysis and the information of the events of the war on iron swords. Exclusive interviews and reports from the war zone. The reaction of the Spanish-speaking countries. News 24, the only medium in Spanish that keeps you informed and connected with the Latin community in Israel. News 24, only on I-24 News. Hostages are still not home. There are angry anti-Israel protests going on all around the world. It can all feel pretty hopeless. So it is reassuring that Israel's good friends are showing up to lend support. Among them the American actor and comedian, Michael Rappaport. He's been here almost two weeks and he does seem very much at home. In this place and to know the story and to hear the story and we've seen so much on social media and on the news but when you're actually in here and you know that people were hiding in these safe rooms which are for bombs while I'm hearing explosions and this is like takes your fucking breath away and to just know the horror and the fear that these are like regular regular Joe Schmo regular people hiding for their lives in this whole little neighborhood. This is like a small little like the only thing I could compare is like something like northern California neighborhood or upstate New York type of neighborhood to be just terrorized by motherfuckers who came in here with the intent to kill. And I'm delighted to say Michael is with me in the studio now. Welcome, thank you for being with us. Glad to be here and I appreciate you having me and you know I told you I watched the channel so. That's good to hear, that's great to hear. We just saw footage of you there visiting the carnage in Kibbutz Berry. You've been visiting the Kibbutz, you've also been with the families of some of the hostages. It seems as though this atrocity has really affected you personally. Is that right? It has affected me personally the entire situation, the massacre, the fact that it's 75 days and there's still so many hostages and there's so many people dealing with the heartbreak of what's already happened. The soldiers that are fighting and the soldiers that are going down. And just the whole incident and all the aftermath of it is upsetting. And of course to me it's a separate situation but the anti-Jewish sentiment, the anti-Israel sentiment, I could just say in my country and in my city is very very upsetting. To ask you about that because you grew up Jewish in New York City. Did you ever experience anti-Semitism growing up and how do you feel about the scenes that we're seeing in the city now? In Penn Station yesterday we've seen Jewish businesses being targeting people who are visibly Jewish being physically attacked. How has the city changed? Well I never experienced anti-Semitism in my life growing up in New York spending a lot of time in Brooklyn and my whole young adult until I was 19. I never had face to face. To be honest with you, I really started to hear and see a lot of anti-Semitism on social media in the last, I'd say nine years, blatant anti-Semitism. I don't like the anti-Semitism in New York. I don't like Jewish people feeling uncomfortable. I don't like Jewish businesses being harassed and attacked and vandalized. And I don't like the poster rippers. This whole sort of, it was like a, it was adding insult to injury. The incident itself was one thing and then you're like this unimaginable anti-Jewish sentiment. The moment, the same day, and certainly the 8th, October 8th, celebrating and invigorating and all these words and quotes and these rallies, it's been, I think, a surprise to a lot of people. It's been surprising to me and I don't like it. I'm not comfortable with it. I don't like it. I don't support it. And it makes me angry, it makes me upset. It makes me scared for all Jewish people. I don't like it, especially in Manhattan. I mean, it's young people, isn't it? A lot of the time. We've just had this poll out that says, the majority of young people see Jews as an oppressive class. And a lot of people also saying the best solution to the conflict here would be to just hand the country over to Hamas. I mean, what's happening to the young people in America? They're so uneducated and so misinformed and all the participation trophies that we've been talking about, the jokes, the Gen Z, interviewing their feelings, the bathrooms, the pronouns, all of that, the Kanye West, all of it has been a stew and now we're eating that stew with the young people. It's turned into anti-Jewishness, anti-Semitism, anti-Israel and it's blatant and it's in the open and only with Jewish people would it be accepted. It wouldn't be accepted with black people, Chinese people, Puerto Rican people, Asian people, gay, lesbian. Any other to be openly like that is only with Jewish people. Kind of a blind spot for progressive politics. Yeah, it is. And I have my thoughts as to why but it would only be accepted so openly with Jewish people in Israel. I mean, you're a successful fellow comedian, let's talk a bit about Hollywood because this issue seems to have kind of divided Hollywood a little bit. Early on we had this letter, 700 artists signed it, condemning Hamas very strongly and then there was a bit of a scuffle with the writer's guild, wasn't there? They didn't want to condemn Hamas and someone else pointed out why you stood with me too and you stood with Black Lives Matter. Why can't you stand with Jews? What do you think is the future for Hollywood and do you think a lot of relationships will be broken? I can't say, I can say, I think for some relationships we broke and I think Hollywood will eventually figure out what makes money. At the end of the day, it's a business and it's my business and it's a great business, it's a flawed business like any other business. But they'll figure out what makes money, what sells. They have been sort of pushing agendas and stereotypes of best friends and all these kinds of stereotypical characters for the last four or five years. They'll figure out what needs to happen, what sells, what doesn't sell. And as far as the support, people are taking, people are paying attention. I can say, Jewish people in Hollywood are paying attention and people that are understand the situation and have spent a little time to educate themselves are paying attention. Again you can be not agree with the politics of Israel, you can not agree with this war, you can not agree a bunch of things. The anti-Jewishness and the blatant anti-Zionist and the blatant anti-Semitism is when it's not okay. That's one of the arguments that people on the progressive side use. They say, oh, we're not anti-Semitic, we have nothing against Jews. We just don't want Israel to exist. It's Zionism that we don't want. This is all that fancy, slick, cute way of you're full of shit. See, we stop saying you're full of shit. We stop doing that and this is why we're hearing too many opinions and opinions are great but doesn't mean they're necessarily valid. It's bullshit. It's bullshit. I know you're bleeping this. I know you're bleeping. I just want to say this, I'm only cursing because they're bleeping. I know they're bleeping. I'm in control of what I'm doing. If this was live, I wouldn't curse. Thank you, Michael. We appreciate it. It's difficult to offend our audience. You have Ashkenazi heritage, right? I think your grandparents came from Eastern Europe, so obviously they escaped the Holocaust. No, they didn't. They would have been targeted. Two generations ago had to deal with anti-Semitism and now it is back rearing its ugly head again in a different form. Do you think America is safe for the Jews going forward? I think America is safe for the Jews in the big picture. Do I like what's going on? Does it make me comfortable? No. Am I conscious of where I'm working in New York City? Yes. Am I aware of my surroundings more since October 7th? Yes. But we're not going anywhere. Israel is not going anywhere. Jewish people are not going anywhere. Am I saying it's the best time to be Jewish in terms of safety in America, in New York City, in cities? But also it's a lot of what we see on the media, the clips, they're more frightening. Because before I was- The clips of people being harassed and- It sucks. It's real. But it's not like every single corner is we're not at that point. We're far from that point. And I urge people to remind themselves, especially in New York and other people that are seeing that we see all these horrible things in the clips and the clips are making all of us crazy in every way, shape and form. But I could say for New York I'm walking comfortably. I'm paying attention but I'm walking comfortably. You're such a strong advocate for Israel. I'm surprised to hear that this is your first visit. Why did you never come here before? Well I never came here before because I haven't been to a lot of places. If you went over my travel of resume it's not very impressive. Not a big traveler? No. I've never been to London. So I'm not a big traveler. As far as Israel and there's a lot of places I just- I don't know why. I don't like flying. Is it what you imagined? Well I'm here in a very unique time. And so many people talk about their trips to Israel and their first trips to Israel being this magical thing. And although my first trip to Israel, this trip to Israel is not like the normal first trip to Israel coming during a war. It has been magical beyond belief. And I say that seeing everything the heartbreak the devastation seeing the resilience seeing the sparkle that people still have in their eyes seeing the city seeing the pride that people have in Israel even though people are critical seeing the pride that people have in being Jewish seeing the people together all sorts of people and all those things the emotional journey of this trip has been magical. It hasn't been I went to the Dead Sea trip I'm not going to the Dead Sea this trip because me and my wife have already made a promise to come back but I'm so glad that I'm here and we've extended our trip twice and I couldn't be just I couldn't be more happy that we came. A lot of Jews who come here say they feel like they came home with a family it's like being part of a big family It is like being part of a big family and the Israeli people the people that live here are so warm and so just have a spirit it's like this people it's like a world it's like a sort of a stereotypical thing you hear about these people's spirit of Israel it's a parent as soon as you hit the ground Have you been to Jerusalem? I was I did some tourist stuff I was at the market during the day I was at the market last night on a Tuesday night and walking around and I was I made a fake re-proposal to my wife just the emotion of that place and the beauty of that place and the history of that place took my breath away that was one of the more positive things from the trip because a lot of what I've seen has been horrible it's been horrible and it's take take on my breath away and not a good way it's been horrible to see Kibbutz Berry to be at Kfar Asa and talk to families that are still waiting for their kids their fathers to come home and that has been horrible it's been horrible and heartbreaking and so frustrating Do you feel like it's important what you're doing you're bearing witness you can carry the message you can tell people what happened because there are a lot of people trying to deny that it ever happened at all 150% the fact that people are trying to deny what happened is again it's only with Jewish people in Israel even that would come out of their mouth you know we see a lot of terrible things a destruction in Gaza no one would say this is fake this isn't happening nobody would say that only with Jewish people would you deny what happened 75 days ago and continue to deny it it's crazy how's your Hebrew horrible next to nothing it's not an easy language I have a couple of words but I don't want to embarrass myself or offend anybody it's next to nothing it's terrible any plans to learn we want to come back and learn 100% I would love that have you been to the north of Israel yet I've been to the north I can't remember the name of the city but I had a great experience further than that and I can't remember it's oh I don't know you know I'm not saying you've got the other fight of course in the north that's concerning Israel has to fight Israel has to fight and United States has to stand and continue to stand by are you proud of how the US government has stood by Israel I love what Biden has said I don't love the sort of good cop bad cop of Kamala Harris I don't like it and we see it Kamala we see the good cop bad cop we're not stupid we see the old good it's like the same NYPD blue okay we've seen that routine for years I don't like and they're bullshit I haven't liked them to begin with I think they're totally full of shit I like what you know Bernie oh yeah that was unexpected yeah that was unexpected I like what Hillary has said and it's funny say it again, Federman's good too and the funny thing is is because Bernie and Hillary when you talk about Gen X Gen Z they're like they have Bernie tattooed on their body and now they're like fuck Bernie and Hillary yeah well we're out of time Michael but you've given a lot of people a lot of comfort coming to see us here in Israel I came for people Michael Rappaport thank you thank you so much the lovely Michael Rappaport there now a new initiative which is raising awareness of the plight of the 129 hostages who are still being held for 75 days after the Hamas attacks on Israel a bouquet of yellow flowers has become a new symbol of hope and resilience well with me in the studio with her yellow bouquet and you're part of this new initiative to kind of bring awareness to the horrible situation of the hostages and their families and of course this is personal for you you've got two good friends who are still being held Ziv and Gali twin brothers tell us a bit about them, what happened so Ziv and Gali are 26 year old twin brothers who live in Khoraza they've lived their entire lives I've known them from school and Ziv has become the closest friend to me the closest person to me and on October 7th they were both taken hostage kidnapped from their homes just innocent civilians to this day we don't know their whereabouts we know they're kidnapped we don't know their health situation we're very worried about them we're worried about the fact that the Red Cross hasn't visited them any of the hostages or given them any medical care or any medicine at all and this initiative is a huge part of raising awareness of the fact that there are still to this day 129 people innocent civilians being held hostage in Gaza some of which are elderly men, women, a baby as well people who could be my grandparents, my brothers my sisters and it's been 75 days I'll repeat that number because it is a shocking number and it should shock everybody 75 days that we don't know where our loved ones are and how they're doing it and what situation they are in all we know is that they're held by a terrorist organization and so this initiative of a bouquet of hope of yellow flowers by the Kadar Foundation of culture and education by Dr. Avram Kadar they've so generously donated these beautiful yellow flowers that yellow symbolizes the symbol of the hostages of captivity to raise this awareness and to keep this on the topic of the day that there are still hostages there as we're speaking and every single day every single second their time is running out and it's not just a slogan their time is running out we've heard that from testimonies of people who came back from captivity we know about somewhat of what their conditions are not good to say the least and this initiative is to remind us and to have some hope and to fight for them to come back to us to bring every single one of those 129 people back home Are you worried people are forgetting about them? Yeah, I'm 100% worried about it I am feeling like they're starting to be forgotten now that a ceasefire isn't really on the table and now that most of the children have been released and most of the women in Israel it's still on the topic but I'll say outside in the outdoors world it's not and we've started spreading outdoors last week we also have this initiative other than in Tel Aviv in the hostage square every single Friday from 10 to around 12 we also had it in New York and in Florida and we're planning to continue as much as we can so that people will remember every single Friday I come back home with a bouquet of yellow flowers and every single week it stays on my table in my house and they die and then another week comes by another Friday I come back home with another bouquet of flowers and it's been it is a symbol of hope because I do believe with all my heart we have hope that's all we can really hold on to I do believe that what we're doing raising awareness that's what can help to bring them back to us as you say some of the hostages thankfully are back with their families we've been hearing kind of more and more about the conditions they were held in and aside from the the physical horrors the lack of food the physical violence one theme that keeps you know you keep hearing is that one of the worst things was to think that you've been forgotten that no one was trying to get you home that's something really heartbreaking to think about isn't it 100% and I always try to put myself in their shoes as much as I can and I would want to know that my country and my family and friends are doing everything in their power to bring me back which is what Gali and Ziv's family is doing and all of the amazing families of the form of the hostages and missing that's what they're doing that's their lives have stopped that's all they're doing is trying to bring their loved ones back other than the amazing symbolization of the yellow flowers another thing is that all of the income from the flowers goes directly to the form of the hostages and missing families so that's another thing it's a horrible situation to be in isn't it because it's so tragic to see the funerals on the news day after day isn't it people burying their sons their loved ones so many people were murdered by the terrorists but these people are you know they're still alive there's still hope but how do you know people can't move on as you say like their families frozen they can't move on with their lives you were telling me you're a student do you feel like you can open a book and get back to your studies again life is frozen isn't it it's exactly that life is frozen for me for 129 people's families behind every single person family and friends and relatives there are so many people whose lives have completely stopped each person is an entire world and life can't go on until they get back to us tell us about your friends about Ziv and Gali what kind of guys are they Ziv and Gali are really really funny that's what everybody would say about them and they have the kindest heart I always told Ziv that he has the biggest heart I've ever seen he's the nicest person that I know he always puts himself before others they both do they take care of their disabled father they're very very loving towards their family and their nephews and they love playing soccer they love watching soccer they love traveling together they do everything together they work together as well they're identical twins no but there's so much similarity in between them especially about their hobbies they like to hang out together and they have a lot of mutual friends and they work together and just in general it's for me it's really heartbreaking to think of how such good people like how does this happen to someone that good how does it happen to anyone and that they shouldn't be there and that it's surreal for me to see them on a poster and not in real life did they grow up in the acrobats yes in Kvaraza Kvaraza of course was one of the worst hit specifically their neighborhood the neighborhood of the young people was one who was struck really really hard and it would mean so much to of course the families but also the communities to have those boys back of course well yellow bouquet of flowers I can't think of a nicer gesture a nicer symbol so if you want to show your support for the 129 hostages who are still being held in Gaza and of course we are talking about potential ceasefire just reports but it would be up to 40 hostages and we know that the priority would be elderly people women I mean it's horrible but they would be quite far down the list wouldn't they they would but at least there would be a list at least some people will get back to us and that's a start yeah we need to get that number down alright well Noah hope that you'll be reunited with your friends as we are for all the hostages thank you very much and thank you alright and again if you want to show your support for the 129 hostages still being held by terrorists in Gaza you can take part in this initiative remind me of the name of the Zertikva it's Hope alright we're going to take a very short break here on 924 news do stay with us we'll have all the very latest for you after this don't go away made for me a unique concept in Israel custom made men's fashion to your measurements made for me designer of all your events schedule your appointment at www.madeforme.co.il made for me official dresser of i24 news good evening ladies and gentlemen there are phrases that you know from where they come from look here and the package and the packages that you already know where they go the international packages to your people access our website www.recargas.altis.com.co select the packages and type the number that you want to place the packages they also receive the double package of 8 dollars or more Altis, the global network of the dominicans is in a state of war families completely gunned down in their beds we have no idea where is she the soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well news 24 only on i24 news watching i24 news we are coming to you live from Tel Aviv on this day 75 of the war with Hamas and Israel is reportedly considering a two week ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of some of the 129 hostages still being held that's according to the Washington Post and Axios talking about 40 hostages there are reports that the leader of the other terrorist group Palestinian Islamic jihad is headed to Cairo for talks demanding an all for all principle that means all of the hostages for all Palestinian prisoners well earlier the terrorist group released a propaganda video showing two of the hostages Gadi Moses and Elad Katsia both of whom were taken from Kibbutz near Oz on October 7 the United Nations Security Council has postponed a vote on a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and attempt to avoid another American veto the IDF has discovered and destroyed a cargo truck in which Hamas was hiding long range missiles the IDF released the name of another soldier who was killed in combat in the south of Gaza he is Master Sergeant Uriel Cohen in the reserves 33 years old from Sao Hadassah that brings to 134 the number of IDF troops who have fallen in the fighting in Gaza well with me in the studio this hour Dr David Shimoni from Israel Security Organization will be with you in a moment Dr Shimoni first let's head to the south of Israel our Pierre Clashendler is there with the latest on the fighting in Gaza and Pierre the latest on a possible ceasefire deal in order to free hostages right but we don't know much as you know there's a fog of war and it's quite hazy behind me and I think that there's also a fog regarding the negotiations the indirect negotiations via Qatari and Egyptian mediation and CIA involvement and Mossad involvement in order to release more hostages it's very difficult to know what we know is the starting positions of both sides Israel wants the release first of all of all the women and children that are still held hostages something like 11 women and children including Ariel and Kfir Bibas who is only 11 months old now he celebrated 11 months in captivity a couple of days ago and then there are the elderly Israelis that are held hostages and we've seen two videos one from Hamas, one from Palestinian Islamic jihad and it seems that the message or Israel's demand has taken a chord with Hamas and Islamic jihad the center sign of life of these five hostages who demanded their release in a dictated message by their jailers and then there's also the wounded those who sustained wounds during the war and massacred and who might be alive all that for maybe two weeks of lull in the fighting but Hamas's position is completely opposite to Israel's position it wants an awful whole deal it wants an end of the fighting full stop and it wants a full withdrawal of Israeli ground forces from the Gaza Strip unacceptable by Israel whose ordered omissions have been defined as dismonking Hamas preventing from Hamas being a terror threat any longer securing the communities along the southern border with Gaza and freeing the hostages so that goes contrary to Israel's demand and everybody agrees that the negotiations will take a longer time than the previous round of negotiations which allowed the release of over 100 hostages held by Hamas Thank you very much in the south of Israel with the latest on the possible ceasefire negotiations with me in the studio this time Dr. David Shimoni is a former intelligence officer with the Commanders for Israel Security thank you for being with us David so we've got all these separate reports going on potentially 40 hostages released in exchange for a two week ceasefire deal we've just seen more videos released Palestine and Islamic Jihad also trying to get in on the negotiations it seems as well where do you think this all stands at the moment? We have no idea we're lacking a lot of information about what's going on it's a very complicated negotiation process it's hostages negotiations so there's a lot of information and a lot of lies and a lot of false statements so until we see a final deal and we see the actual exchange of hostages for prisoners we will not know I think the Hamas now is talking about a deal that will include everything which means a release of all of the hostages a release by Israel of all of the prisoners at the end of the war Did Israel do that? I believe Israel should look into that proposal I think maybe Israel should initiate that proposal because I think the primary goal now is to get all of our hostages back alive as soon as we can and if possible to end the war Israel's condition Can Israel end the war without destroying Hamas? Well it depends what you call destroying Hamas Killing or capturing Sinoir? Killing or capturing Sinoir will be a very symbolic thing and it will look good on television but he will have a deputy and his deputy will have a deputy and so eliminating Hamas Hamas has between 20 and 40,000 fighters in Gaza I don't think we have a plan killing all of these 20 to 40,000 fighters but if there is a big deal in which Hamas lays its weapons and its leadership is allowed safe passage out of the Gaza Strip then that's another way of getting Hamas potentially or somewhere else whoever would accept them whoever would accept them that's another way of getting rid of the Hamas regime in Gaza and I think it should be explored and the other part of the deal will be to release Palestinian prisoners in the last ceasefire agreement, no murderers or terrorists were released Can you see Israel releasing hardened murderers, terrorists? I hope Israel does that Yeah, of course I have no bad sentiments about these I hate the murderers and the terrorists Reminded that Sinoir was released he was given medical care in Israel the price with prisoners for getting back our hostages is meaningless we can release all 6,000 prisoners there will be talk about the terrorists that were captured during this war there's debate in Israel who will give them legal counsel The Nukfa who is still alive would be freed If we can get all of our hostages back now If they demand now that we hand Jerusalem to the Hamas we will not do that or dismantle the IDF but if we're talking about exchange of our hostages for their prisoners I will give them all of the prisoners and get all of our hostages back Even if that means another October 7th we don't know They have said they want to do it If we're talking about a two week ceasefire who can assure us that something will not erupt again and happen again I think we should try to form an idea of what the end of the war looks like and if we have an opportunity to end it with the goal of getting back all of our hostages and ending the regime of Hamas and Gaza by any way I think we should explore that On that note of what Gaza might look like the day after whatever that day might look like there are also reports in the Wall Street Journal some Hamas officials have been holding secret talks with their rivals Feta about rolling Gaza together Would that be acceptable? I don't think so I think we now determined Hamas to be a terrible cruel enemy after what happened on October 7th I don't think we can find any ground to cooperate with Hamas as a legitimate regime You know in Israel there's a debate about the Palestinian Authority also in the States who is giving us a lot of support for the pressure so the Palestinian Authority should be maybe modified in a way but they should be the ones who take control of Gaza, of the West Bank You would like to see Mahmoud Abbas in control I don't think Mahmoud Abbas is going to be in control for a long time maybe they leave him as a symbolic figure but eventually I believe they will install a new government and that new government again, there's a lot of criticism against the Palestinian Authority and it's justified they're corrupt, they're weak they're losing their popularity They provide financial incentives to terrorists? They provide salaries to terrorist families they do that, it's not acceptable by us but they accept Israel as a state they will negotiate with Israel but not a Jewish state I'm not sure about that I'm not sure about that I'm not sure about that they accept Israel as the state it is now and they negotiate with us and they have agreements with us unlike Hamas, whose goal is to destroy Israel completely so we have a potential partner in the Palestinian Authority as I say, a modified Palestinian Authority Thank you let's go to the north of Israel where the IDF is battling the Iranian backed Lebanese based terrorist group Hezbollah and the IDF has carried out pre-emptive strikes air strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon today let's get more with Zach Andrews who joins us live from northern Israel Zach North appears to be quite heavy and frequent throughout the morning hours as the IDF was apparently targeting Hezbollah positions we have not seen any red alerts yet today but that's not to say that there hasn't been some attacks along the border not every incident raises the red alerts here especially when it's these ATGMs the anti-tank guided missiles that are being fired but these strikes do see the plumes of smoke raise up over southern Lebanon they are significant in the last week alone 17 Hezbollah militants have been killed per Hezbollah's own reporting through Lebanese media channels that's a very significant number in the last week alone considering that the numbers stand at 117 total since the fighting began averaging fatalities from Hezbollah militants daily it's a very serious situation that both sides find themselves in but for Hezbollah with this continued appetite for fighting as their casualties mount you do have to question where does this go from here all right Zach thank you very much indeed Zach Andrews there in the north of Israel well there is a third front as well in this war the Iranian backed Houthi rebels in Yemen who have been harassing international shipping in the Red Sea for several weeks now but China and the United States could potentially team up to set up a military task force to end the threat of terror and piracy posed by the Houthis our correspondent Ariel Levin Waldman weighs the interests and what's at stake a multinational coalition will confront Houthi terrorism and piracy in the Gulf of Aden Iran backed groups attacks on ships in the region these attacks have to stop they need to stop they're unacceptable the United States our allies and our partners will do what we have to do to counter these threats and to protect these ships since the announcement the number has swelled to 19 countries nine of which wish to remain unnamed primarily from the Arab world which can't be seen to even nominally be taking the side of Israel in this conflict but the threat falls most heavily on this region with a little bit in perspective some six countries border the Red Sea the Red Sea is a conduit for 10 to 15% of all global trade 8% of global grain trade and 12% of global sea born oil trade but the United States is seeking another superpower in the alliance one with massive influence over the Houthis master Iran China imports the overwhelming majority of Iran's oil meaning China can force Iran to rein in its dogs attacks on international shipping by the Houthis don't just harm those ships and those individuals they harm the United States they harm China they harm the interests of every country and so yes we would welcome China playing a constructive role in trying to prevent those attacks from taking place China is responsible for close to 15% of global export so it has a clear reason to support freedom of movement on the seas but Task Force 153 is fraught with peril to open kinetic operations against the Houthis risk dragging the entire world into a regional war in the Middle East something that leaders, particularly China have been insistent on avoiding but as the Houthis grow bolder and are now posing a threat to the entire global economy the region is already locked in war Dr. David Shimone is with me in the studio and does the fact that you know you have the US Defense Secretary come here and declare that the US will lead this new international Task Force does that take some of the pressure off Israel as it's already battling Hamas and Hezbollah? Definitely I think the Houthis made a mistake the beginning of the war since the beginning of the war they were considered in Israel like a pest they were sending every now and then a rocket or a cruise missile and a drone into Israel adding to the effort of our anti air defense systems and stuff like that but and nobody paid a lot of attention to that but now they became an international problem, an international crisis they're threatening the passage of commercial ships in the all the trade sure the entire Far East the entire Far East trade I mean China, India Japan Korea are depending on these naval routes so they became now a focus of the international community it's international sea piracy and it will be dealt with by an international coalition as you noticed Israel is not even a member of this coalition it's mainly the United States and other big powers England and France one token Arab state Bahrain joined the the band we still don't see other countries that are directly involved like Saudi Arabia and Egypt quite because Egypt is one of the worst affected countries it's losing billions of dollars in refugees definitely because a lot of the boats will be heading to the Suez Canal everybody has their considerations and their interests and their politics also unintended consequence perhaps but it's kind of advanced this idea for a new route you'll remember that President Biden came up going overland across Saudi Arabia and cutting out this shipping route railroads all over the that should also make things again offer another option to transport goods all over the world that's a big plan and for us it was very tempting because it goes together with having good relations with Saudi Arabia and with other states again we will say that October 7th in a way happened or was initiated by Hamas because of this big move towards some kind of a major agreement in the Middle East that does not include the Palestinians all right Dr. David Shimoni for now thank you well lots of reports going out about a potential ceasefire deal in exchange for the release of some of the hostages the number 40 hostages is being talked about an Israeli official has said that it's still negotiations nothing is final and Palestinian officials saying that a breakthrough could be possible so a lot of details still up in the air but let's take a listen now some of the families of the 129 people who are still being held some of them have been meeting with the Prime Minister today take a listen we held an intimate meeting about 19 families with the Israeli Prime Minister the meeting was generally positive I feel there was listening the meeting was held in an intimate fashion that allowed us to say what we're feeling what we want, think, demand the Prime Minister addressed the issues I prefer not to specify exactly what was said in order to allow all of the families to meet with the Prime Minister in this format of intimate meetings to allow the Prime Minister to invite the rest of the families that did not attend today's meeting I think every family should get the opportunity to say what they think, feel, want to hear directly from the Prime Minister not through us or through the media after the Prime Minister finishes this round of meetings with all the families then we can sit together, all the families sum up, share insights and decide if we want to respond to anything at this moment I'm asking you to respect our decision to not reveal the specifics of the meeting there was listening, there was a positive atmosphere and I am glad we got this opportunity tonight the bottom line, we understand efforts are being made, processes are underway of course we did not get all the details but the conversation was respectful and it's important during these meetings Well, to talk more about the potential hostage release we're joined by Auri Slonim former Special Advisor to Ministers of Defence on Hostage and Missing People thank you very much for being with us we've got a lot of reports flying around haven't we but we are getting a clearer idea of what each side is willing to do in exchange for what As I am a member of the Hostages Headquarter in Tel Aviv and we in this headquarter we are gathering from October 8 in the morning and we are having a big house for all the families including the nice lady that talked before me and we try to give them all the atmosphere of families who are in such an awful and cruel situation so this is part of our role here we are all volunteers we have 15,000 volunteers and regarding your question from my experience my experience includes many many negotiation part negotiation and negotiation that everybody within the period of starting and end things will change from west to east so the best way for us for everybody including the families is to know first that there are some negotiation we know who is negotiating on our side there are very very professionals like the head of the Mossad and some more officers they are very experienced very wise but the whole situation is very is a big complex and what is our wishing the families and I believe most of our country country woman is to have it in one stage and not to spread it not to spread it again on some stages which is I believe very cruel waiting every night to know if your deer is in the list and also the number which are talking about the number which is only part small part of the group that is there yeah it's horrible we are talking about a third or less than a third of the hostages of course everybody wants all of the hostages to come home but how do you you are the experts but is it wise for Israel to be talking about the price it is willing to pay we are hearing reports about an all for all deal that's what palestinian islamic jihad is asking for about an end to the war I mean how do you go into a negotiation with a group that doesn't place any value at all on human life I think it's one of the toughest negotiations which I experienced for the last 37 years because of several reasons number one is the situation of those hostages who are there and the same for the families who are here and as we are talking about partial release it's very cruel very cruel for everybody number two we are dealing with not with the country not with the state and the rules are not equal between them and us we have parliament, we have government we have public opinion and I believe they it's not nothing so from our side we would like to have all of them in one piece, in one stage and I'm not referring to the war stopping it or having a a pause whatever and if there is a need for a short pause, it's okay but I believe that it is nothing against our willing to have them all in one piece and I'm not part of the negotiation but I know as others I know that it exists and it won't be so short has Hamas come to this point because of the military pressure that Israel is putting on it I think that within the result of the negotiation within the results there will be a pause not a ceasefire but a pause which is a very short and limited pause in the war and exchanging passages like prisoners who are here so I believe that they would like to have their prisoners I don't want to compare but their prisoners who were imprisoned here for murder for awful things and we will have it we will have this exchange because I think that the cruelty of the whole situation demands it you'd be willing to release Palestinian terrorists and murderers I'm not discovering any secret but I believe that the initiative the last initiative I have heard and read in public in open is that Israel is willing to release prisoners even some what they called heavy prisoners I hope not many for releasing of this group who is there in such an awful situation we saw them in the clips we saw them on TV we heard what is going there I think it's one of the most cruel situation of human being on earth absolutely I think we can all agree with that thank you very much Dr. David Shimoni thank you to you as well we're going to take a short break here on I-24 news stay tuned more live coverage coming up right after this is in a state of war families completely gunned 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 what I saw today was unbelievable the devastation on the homes the destruction the scenes still that you could imagine it was like something out of a movie and still also the smell overpowering it was an important day for me and to show the viewers of I-24 news but it was a difficult challenging day this was the home of Yaniv Ohana to see basically a modern day pogrom and to feel the vulnerability we live in Israel we are so dependent on the army and the government to provide security to see how all of that can be overturned in the course of one day I think it really makes us understand how fragile our lives are and how much we're going to have to fight for our existence, our very existence in this corner of the world welcome to this special broadcast on I-24 news I'm Khaled Bendevi this month marks the 38 years since I started as a journalist in Israel and nothing was like the last two months this has been the most challenging, most emotional most heartbreaking and in some ways the most complex story that I've had to cover during that time and never I felt the kind of responsibility that I had to present this story to the world in the right context with the right facts and to really speak Welcome to I-24 news we're coming to you live from Tel Aviv on this day 75 of the war with Hamas and Israel is reportedly considering a two week ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of some of the 129 hostages still being held that's according to the Washington Post and Axios talking about 40 hostages there are reports that the leader of the other terrorist group Islamic Jihad is headed to Cairo for talks demanding an all for all principle that means all of the hostages for all Palestinian prisoners well earlier the terrorist group released a propaganda video showing two of the hostages Ghadi Moses and Elad Katsia both of whom were taken from Kibbutz near Oz on October 7th the United Nations Security Council has postponed a vote on a resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza the IDF has discovered and destroyed a cargo truck in which Hamas was hiding long range missiles and today the IDF released the name of another soldier who was killed in combat in the south of Gaza he is master sergeant Uriel Cohen in the reserves 33 years old from Sao Hadassah that brings to 134 the number of IDF troops who have fallen in the fighting in Gaza well with me in the studio this hour Dr David Shimoni from Israel Security Organization will be with you in a moment Dr Shimoni first day let's head to the south of Israel our Pierre Clashendla is there with the latest on the fighting in Gaza and Pierre the latest on a possible ceasefire deal in order to free some of the hostages we don't know much as there's a fog of war and it's quite hazy behind me and I think that there's also a fog regarding the negotiations the indirect negotiations via Qatari and Egyptian mediation and CIA involvement and Mossad involvement in order to release more hostages it's very difficult to know what we know is the starting positions of both sides Israel wants the release first of all of all the women and children that are still held hostages something like 11 women and children including Ariel and Kfir Bibas Kfir who is only 11 months old now he celebrated 11 months in captivity a couple of days ago and then there are the elderly Israelis that are held hostages and we've seen two videos one from Hamas, one from Palestinian Islamic jihad and it seems that the message or Israel's demand has taken a chord with Hamas and Islamic jihad the center sign of life of these five hostages who demanded their release in a dictated message by their jailers and then there's also the wounded those who sustained wounds during the October 7 massacre that might be alive all that for maybe two weeks of lull in the fighting but Hamas's position is completely opposite to Israel's position it wants an awful deal it wants an end of the fighting full stop and it wants a full withdrawal of Israeli ground forces from the Gaza Strip a position which is totally unacceptable by Israel because ordered admissions have been defined as dismantling Hamas preventing from Hamas being a terror threat any longer securing the communities along the southern border with Gaza and freeing the hostages so that goes contrary to Israel's demand and everybody agrees that the negotiations will take a longer time than the last round of negotiations which allowed the release of over 100 hostages held by Hamas Pierre, thank you very much Pierre Kloshender there in the south of Israel with the latest on the possible ceasefire negotiations with me in the studio this hour Dr David Shimoni is a former intelligence officer with the commanders for Israel's security thank you for being with us David so we've got all these separate reports going on released in exchange for a two week ceasefire deal we've just seen more videos released Palestine and Islamic Jihad also trying to get in on the negotiations it seems as well where do you think this all stands at the moment we have no idea we're lacking a lot of information about what's going on it's a very complicated negotiation process it's hostages negotiations so there's a lot of misinformation and a lot of lies and a lot of false statements so until we see a final deal and we see the actual exchange of hostages for prisoners we will not know I think the Hamas now is talking about a deal that will include everything which means a release of all of the hostages a release by Israel of all of the prisoners and the end of the war Israel did that I believe Israel should look into that proposal I think maybe Israel should initiate that proposal because I think the primary goal now is to get all of our hostages back alive as soon as we can and if possible to end the war Israel's condition Can Israel end the war without destroying Hamas? It depends what you call destroying Hamas Killing or capturing Sinwar? Killing or capturing Sinwar will be a very symbolic thing and it will look good on television but he will have a deputy and his deputy will have a deputy and so eliminating Hamas, Hamas has between 20 and 40,000 fighters in Gaza I don't think we have a plan of killing all of these 20,000 fighters but if there's a big deal in which Hamas lays its weapons and its leadership is allowed safe passage out of the Gaza Strip then that's another way potentially or somewhere else whoever would accept them whoever would accept them that's another way of getting rid of the Hamas regime in Gaza and I think it should be explored and the other part of the deal is to release Palestinian prisoners in the last ceasefire agreement no murderers or terrorists were released Can you see Israel releasing hardened murderers, terrorists? I hope Israel does that Yeah of course I have no bad sentiments about these I hate the murderers and the terrorists Yeah he was released he was given medical care in Israel the price with prisoners for getting back our hostages is meaningless we can release all 6,000 prisoners there'll be talk about the terrorists that were captured during this war you know there's debate in Israel who will give them legal counsel If Hamas and Nukvah were still alive would be freed all of our hostages back now Would you be prepared to pay any price? Not any price if they demand now that we hand Jerusalem to the Hamas we will not do that or dismantle the IDF but if we're talking about exchange of our hostages for their prisoners I will give them all of the prisoners and get all of our hostages back Even if that means another October 7th We don't know They have said they want to do We don't know if we're talking about a two week ceasefire who can assure us that something will not erupt again and happen again I think we should try to form an idea of what the end of the war looks like and if we have an opportunity to end it with the goal of getting back all of our hostages and ending the regime of Hamas and Gaza by any way I think we should explore that On that note of what Gaza might look like the day after whatever that day might look like there are also reports in the Wall Street Journal some Hamas officials have been holding secret talks with their rivals Feta about rolling Gaza together Would that be acceptable? I don't think so We have now determined Hamas to be a terrible cruel enemy after what happened on October 7th I don't think we can find any ground to cooperate with Hamas as a legitimate regime You know in Israel there's a debate about the Palestinian Authority also in the States who is giving us a lot of support and pressure so the Palestinian Authority should be maybe modified in a way but they should be the ones who take control of Gaza of the West Bank You would like to see Mahmoud Abbas in control I don't think Mahmoud Abbas is going to be in control for a long time maybe they leave him as a symbolic figure but eventually I believe they will install a new government there and that new government there's a lot of criticism against the Palestinian Authority and it's justified they're corrupt, they're weak they're losing their popularity They provide financial incentives to terrorists They provide salaries to terrorist families they do that it's not acceptable by us but they accept Israel as a state they should negotiate with Israel but not a Jewish state I'm not sure about that I'm not sure about that I'm not sure about that they accept Israel as the state it is now and they negotiate with us and they have agreements with us unlike Hamas whose goal is to destroy Israel completely so we have a potential partner in the Palestinian Authority as I say the Palestinian Authority Thank you Let's go to the north of Israel where the IDF is battling the Iranian backed Lebanese based terrorist group Hezbollah and the IDF has carried out pre-emptive strikes air strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon today Let's get more with Zach Andrews who joins us live from northern Israel Zach These strikes we can see with the cameras pointing north appear to be quite heavy and frequent throughout the morning hours as the IDF was apparently targeting Hezbollah positions we have not seen any red alerts yet today but that's not to say that there hasn't been some attacks along the border not every incident raises the red alerts here especially when it's these ATGMs the anti-tank guided missiles that are being fired but these strikes do as you see the plumes of smoke raise up over southern Lebanon they are significant in the last week alone 17 Hezbollah militants have been killed per Hezbollah's own reporting through Lebanese media channels that's a very significant number in the last week alone considering that the numbers stand at 117 total since the fighting began averaging fatalities from Hezbollah militants daily it's a very serious situation that both sides find themselves in but for Hezbollah with this continued appetite for fighting as their casualties mount you do have to question where does this go from here thank you very much indeed in the north of Israel well there is a third front as well in this war the Iranian backed Hussi rebels in Yemen harassing international shipping in the Red Sea for several weeks now but China and the United States could potentially team up to set up a military task force to end the threat of terror and piracy posed by the Hussis our correspondent Ariel Levin-Walburn weighs the interests and what's at stake a multinational coalition will confront Houthi terrorism and piracy in the Gulf of Aden following the Iran backed groups attacks in the region these attacks have to stop they need to stop, they're unacceptable the United States, our allies and our partners we'll do what we have to do to counter these threats and to protect these ships since the announcement the number has swelled to 19 countries 9 of which wish to remain unnamed primarily from the Arab world which can't be seen to even nominally be taking the side of Israel in this conflict but the threat falls most heavily on this region on the border of the Red Sea the Red Sea is a conduit for 10-15% of all global trade 8% of global grain trade and 12% of global seaborne oil trade but the United States is seeking another superpower in the alliance one with massive influence over the Houthi's master Iran China imports the overwhelming majority of Iran's oil meaning China can force Iran to reign in its dogs attacks on international shipping by the Houthis don't just harm those ships and those individuals they harm the United States, they harm China they harm the interests of every country and so yes we would welcome China playing a constructive role in trying to prevent those attacks from taking place China is responsible for close to 15% of global exports so it has a clear reason to support freedom of movement on the seas but Task Force 153 is fraught with peril to open kinetic operations against the Houthis risk dragging the entire world into a regional war in the Middle East something that leaders, particularly China have been insistent on avoiding but as the Houthis grow bolder and are now posing a threat to the entire global economy the region is already locked in war Well Dr. David Shimone is with me in the studio and does the fact that you know you have the US Defense Secretary come here and declare that the US will lead this new international Task Force does that take some of the pressure off Israel as it's already battling Hamas and Hezbollah? Definitely I think I think the Houthis made a mistake the beginning of the war since the beginning of the war they were considered in Israel like a pest they were sending every now and then a rocket or a cruise missile and a drone into Israel adding to the effort of our anti-air defense systems and stuff like that but and nobody paid a lot of attention to that but now they became an international problem, an international crisis they're threatening the passage of commercial ships in the all the trade sure the entire Far East the entire Far East trade I mean China, India Japan Korea are depending on these naval routes and so they became now a focus of the international community it's international sea piracy and it will be dealt with by an international coalition as you noticed Israel is not even a member of this coalition it's mainly the United States and other big powers like England and France one token Arab state that Bahrain joined the band we still don't see other countries that are directly involved like Saudi Arabia and Egypt quite because Egypt is one of the worst affected countries it's losing billions of dollars definitely because a lot of the boats would be heading to the Suez Canal everybody has their considerations and their interests and their politics it's also unintended consequence perhaps but it's kind of advanced this idea for a new route you remember that President Biden came up going over land across Saudi Arabia and cutting out this shipping route railroads all over the yeah that should also make things again offer another option to transport goods all over the world that's a big plan and for us it was very tempting because it goes together with having good relations with Saudi Arabia and with other states again we will say that October 7th in a way happened or was initiated by Hamas because of this big move towards some kind of a major agreement in the Middle East that does not include the Palestinians Dr. David Shimoni for now, thank you well lots of reports coming out about a potential ceasefire deal in exchange for the release of some of the hostages the number 40 hostages is being talked about an Israeli official has said that it's still negotiations nothing is final and Palestinian officials saying that a breakthrough could be possible so a lot of details still up in the air but let's take a listen now to some of the families of the 129 people who are still being held some of them have been meeting with the Prime Minister today take a listen we held an intimate meeting about 19 families with the Israeli Prime Minister the meeting was generally positive I feel there was listening the meeting was held in an intimate fashion that allowed us to say what we're feeling what we want, think, demand the Prime Minister addressed the issues at this stage I prefer not to specify what was said in order to allow all of the families to meet with the Prime Minister in this format of intimate meetings to allow the Prime Minister to invite the rest of the families that did not attend today's meeting I think every family should get the opportunity to say what they think feel, want to hear directly from the Prime Minister not through us or through the media after the Prime Minister finishes this round of meetings with all the families then we can sit together all the families some up, share insights and decide if we want to respond to anything at this moment I'm asking you to respect our decision to not reveal the specifics of the meeting there was listening, there was a positive atmosphere and I am glad we got this opportunity tonight the bottom line we understand efforts are being made processes are underway of course we did not get all the details but the conversation was respectful and it's important during these days Well to talk more about the potential hostage release we're joined by Auri Slonim former special advisor to Ministers of Defense on hostage and missing people thank you very much for being with us we've got a lot of reports flying around haven't we but we are getting a clearer idea of what each side is willing to do in exchange for what As I am a member of the Hostages headquarter in Tel Aviv and we in this headquarter we are gathering from October 8 8 in the morning and we are having a big house for all the families including the nice lady that talked before me and we try to give them all the atmosphere of families who are in such an awful and cruel situation so this is part of our role here we are all volunteers we have 15,000 volunteers and regarding your question from my experience my experience includes many many negotiation part negotiation and negotiation that everybody within the period of starting and the end things will change from west to east so the best way for us for everybody including the families is to know first that there are some negotiation we know who is negotiating on our side they are very very professionals like the head of the Mossad and some more officers they are very experienced very wise but the whole situation is a big complex and what is our wishing the families and I believe most of our country women is to have it in one stage and not to spread it again on some stages which is I believe very cruel waiting every night to know if your deer is in the list or not and also the number which we are talking about the number which is only part small part of the group that is there it's horrible we are talking about a third or less than a third of the hostages of course everybody wants all of the hostages to come home how do you you are the experts but is it wise for Israel to be talking about the price it is willing to pay we are hearing reports about an all for all deal that's what palestinian islamic jihad is asking for about an end to the war how do you go into a negotiation with a group that doesn't place any value at all on human life I think it's one of the toughest negotiations which I experienced for the last 37 years because of several reasons number one is the situation of those hostages who are there and the same for the families who are here and as we are talking about partial partial release it's very cruel very cruel for everybody number two we are dealing with not with the country not with the state and the rules are not equal between them and us we have parliament we have government we have public opinion and I believe they it's not nothing so from our side we would like to have all of them in one piece in one stage and I'm not referring to the war stopping it or having a pause whatever and if there is a need for a short pause it's okay but I believe that it has it is nothing against our willing to have them all in one piece I'm not part of the negotiation but I know as others I know that it exists it won't be so short how must come to this point because of the military pressure that Israel is putting on it I think that within the result of the negotiation within the results there will be a pause not a ceasefire but a pause which is a very short and limited pause in the war and exchanging hostages and from that side prisoners who are here so I believe that they would like to have their prisoners I don't want to compare but their prisoners who were imprisoned here for murder for awful things and we will have it we will have this exchange because I think that the cruelty of the whole situation demands it will be willing to release Palestinian terrorists and murderers I'm not discovering any secret but I believe that the initiative the last initiative I have heard and read in public, in open is that Israel is willing to release prisoners even some what they call heavy prisoners I hope not many for releasing of this group who is there in such an awful situation we saw them in eclipse we saw them on TV we heard what is going there I think it's one of the most cruel