 news coverage here on I24 News. I'm Bati Eleventhal. Thanks for joining me. It is day 18 of war in Israel. Rocket fire from the Gaza Strip has been renewed this morning as Hamas launched a barrage at Israeli communities in the south and along the border. Overnight, there were developments as well. US President Joe Biden and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone after the release of two additional hostages from Gaza as part of Hamas's psychological warfare. Biden welcomed the unilateral release of Narek Cooper and Yorkeved Lifshitz late in the evening. The two elderly women arrived in Israel and were taken to hospital for further examination and health checks. Their husbands, however, remain in Gaza. On the military and operational side, Defense Minister Joav Galen spoke with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, providing an update on IDF preparations ahead of an expected ground incursion into Gaza, while on the northern front, the IDF destroyed Hezbollah terror infrastructure in overnight strikes. Let's cross now live to our correspondent Hamd Salchut to a standing by for us in the north near the border with Lebanon. Hamd, a major concern from the United States with regards to a widening escalation with Hezbollah, a major Iranian proxy in comparison to some of the aid or Iranian aid that has been flowing into the Gaza Strip to Hamas, we know that they have put out a potential and possible evacuation order for almost 600,000 dual citizens in Israel and around 86,000 dual citizens in Lebanon. That's correct. The United States is completely worried about a new front opening on the Lebanon border. They are increasingly concerned about the escalation in the cross border fire that we've been seeing between Hezbollah and the Israelis. The United States raising the travel level to four do not travel and leave immediately for Lebanese territory, asking all US citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible. The Lebanese government even evacuating some of their citizens 100 kilometers along that southern border, but the Lebanese government doesn't have the means to take care of the influx of people that are moving more central and north. The Israeli government also evacuating communities within five kilometers of the border where we are now. There aren't really many people in sight. There aren't a lot of cars. There are increased military checkpoints, a heavy military presence everywhere you go in these northern communities. And the reason for that is to prevent any civilian casualties that could come about because of the exchanges of fire. As of now, Hezbollah is saying the 32 combatants on their side have been killed in the exchanges of fire. A number of Israeli soldiers have also been killed. Additionally, civilians have been killed and wounded in these exchanges of fire that the United States is hoping will be under control. Batia. Absolutely. And Hamza Ali this morning sirens going across the Gaza border communities is renewed air rockets coming from the Gaza Strip into Israel. What have we been seeing on the northern side in terms of some of those alerts has been pretty quiet. Right yesterday, there was an alert in Kiryat Shmona, a community of around 20,000 people that has since been evacuated at the orders of the Defense Ministry and the Israeli military, a siren going off there because of a drone that infiltrated Israeli airspace. The military saying that the Iron Dome successfully intercepted that over the weekend around on Friday. We did see rocket fire coming in from southern Lebanon, but for now, all right here on the northern front. Correspondent Hamza Salchuk giving us an update from the north. Let's now go live to repress by the idea of spokesperson Daniel Hageri. Kidnapped women were released. You have it at Nureed. There are now a couple of hospitals where glad to see them back to their families. And I need to remind us that their husbands are still being held captive by Hamas two out of over 200 Israelis held by Hamas in Gaza. The authorities have helped facilitate their safe return home. Egypt has a key role in the efforts to bring back the kidnap. The efforts of Egypt are effective, and we evaluate them, work in cooperation, and thank Egypt and the Red Cross for their actions. We are committed to returning all the kidnapped home and will continue to hold operational and intelligence efforts around the clock. And this is a top priority for us to bring the kidnap back home. As part of the release of Nureed and Yochevet, Hamas, the murderous group, has published a cynical video in which we can see the women receiving food. We must not be confused for a moment. This is part of the psychological terror that Hamas operates against us, but also against the entire world in order to show, allegedly, that it is a humane group. This is a cynical video that will not help us forget how murderous terrorists have infiltrated a kibbutz and captured women, elderly women, and left the children and their grandchildren. This is a criminal act and will not forget to show this to the world. Questions, please. Biden officials told the New York Times that the IDF is not prepared for the Gaza war. What do you have to say about that, about the readiness of the IDF? And would there be a war without ground offensive? The forces that are in the south, the ground troops, the reservists, the regular soldiers are ready. They continue to deepen the readiness, continue to train, continue to go over intelligence, preparing with the best equipment in order to reach the best readiness. We will operate and we will operate according to the situation that has the best conditions for us. Therefore, we improve together with the air force, the ground, so that we will have less threats on our forces. Next to that is a variety of other considerations, strategic and tactic considerations, looking at Gaza, looking at other efforts. This is what we do. At the end of the day, this is an instruction by the political level. We are prepared and determined. As for the U.S. administration, the U.S., who is a strategic partner of the state of Israel, has a variety of considerations and interests in the Middle East. It also has a lot of experience with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we learn from their experience as well, both now and in the past. We need to remember one thing. Our war is on our border. It is not thousands of miles away from the country. We're talking about a border with the state of Israel, the borders of the state of Israel. In the day that after the war we must live when on our border there is no more such threat. There couldn't be any more threats like the one we saw on October 7th. This is a decision that we will eventually ultimately need to receive on our own. Thank you very much. That was Rear Admiral Daniel Haagari, the IDF spokesperson, giving an update on the events that unfolded overnight and early this morning. With me here in studio is Shiri Fine-Grassman, the former head of the Foreign Policy Branch for Israel's National Security Council and an expert on the Abraham Accords and our Middle East correspondent, Ariel Osirin. Good morning to both of you. I'd like to start, Shiri, the idea of giving sort of both an operational update and an update of the events that unfolded last night with regards to two more of the hostages being released as part of Hamas's psychological warfare. A lot of the questions that are being posed and we heard it now was not necessarily the fact that the United States thinks that Israel is not prepared or ready for a ground offensive, but rather the bigger question being can it be possible that the IDF not just postpones but cancels a ground offensive? How then will it achieve its aims of eradicating Hamas? There's only so much that can be done via the air? Yeah, I don't believe we'll cancel ground troops going in. It's just a matter of tactically how they will go in, from what's being reported from the conversation Lloyd Austin had last night with Defense Minister Gallant is trying to share from their experience of actually bombing from the air and commando raids sporadically are much more effective than just going in like the Americans did in Mosul and trying to share their experience with other fighting ISIS and Lloyd Austin is the expert on it. And yeah, and we hear that criticism. I don't think we won't go in. It's just a matter of timing and we have to play it smart. We have to be patient. This is going to be a long war and we need to eradicate Hamas and destroy it completely. And we need to think not just militarily, but also ideologically. I mean, it's a political movement. And who's going to be there the day after, right? That is still a question that's up in the air. There is no clear strategy on that. And I think that's the biggest concern from the Biden administration, but also from Macron who's visiting today in Israel and other world leaders. That's the main. Right. It's clear that what was is not what will be. But obviously, as you mentioned, a fortune of concerns. And another major concern, not just for Israel, but many in the West is the widening of this conflict with the involvement of Hezbollah in Lebanon and other Iranian proxies in the region. Our Middle East correspondent Ariel Osirand breaks down the different threats that are endangering Israel. Hamas' surprise attack on October 7th took an unprecedented toll from Israel's Southern communities, both in terms of scope and brutality. But it also threw Israel into a rapidly escalating downward spiral on its northern border and in the West Bank, with the potential of turning into a regional conflict. And then on Thursday, this happened. The crew of the guided missile destroyer USS Carney, operating in the northern Red Sea earlier today, shot down three land attack cruise missiles and several drones that were launched by Houthi forces in Yemen. And we cannot say for certain what these missiles and drones were targeting, but they were launched from Yemen heading north along the Red Sea, potentially towards targets in Israel. And so from ballistic missiles in Iran to drones from Gaza, rockets from Lebanon or cruise missiles from Yemen, Israel is perhaps the most threatened country in the world. So what exactly is Israel up against from its various potential and current enemies? Let's start with the most immediate threat, Gaza. Palestinian terror groups, mainly Hamas, have 50 to 60,000 trained fighters, 30,000 rockets and missiles, and dozens of attack drones. To the north in Lebanon, there's Hezbollah, with 50 to 60,000 trained fighters, 150,000 rockets and missiles, and 2,000 attack drones. Poor Iranian militias in Syria have dozens of drones, while in Iraq they hold dozens, two hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones. The Houthis in Yemen, who've already thrown their tail into the fight, have hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones as well. And then there's the head of the octopus, Iran. Its national and paramilitary forces have over 3,000 ballistic missiles, some of which can reach Israel, and many thousands of attack drones. We have warned everyone that this conflict can turn into a regional battle if the aggression, brutality, killings, ongoing bloodshed, and destruction against our people in Gaza persist. With a multi-layered air defense system considered one of the most advanced in the world and the help of the U.S. Navy, Israel says its military can manage a multi-front war, but it's a scenario it and its allies hope to avoid, provided that it has not already begun. And with us in studio is our Middle East correspondent Ariel Ossaran. Ariel, we always talk about the the charter that comes out of Hezbollah, where both Iranian themselves and the Iranian officials themselves and Hezbollah refers to Israel as the small Satan and America as the big Satan. But then again, with regards to Israel, we sort of view Hamas as the lesser of the two enemies and Hezbollah as the bigger and that's largely because of the arsenal. Indeed, militarily Hezbollah poses a greater threat or challenge to Israel in terms of a grand maneuver in terms of how widely spread their infrastructure is across Lebanon. And yeah, this is not until now we've been preparing in recent months, there's been talk of a potential war in the north with Hezbollah, less focusing on what was going on down south. But indeed, the challenge of Hezbollah joining the fray, first of all, they have joined the fray. I mean, there is a war on Israel's northern border as we speak. There has been since October 7th. It's just at a lower intensity than what we're seeing and what we're going to see down south. And in terms of the frequency of Israeli strikes, but with over between 40 to 50 Hezbollah operatives killed in exchanges of fire, daily attacks on Israeli border outposts, they're part of this of this fight. The question is whether they will further escalate that. And that is, I think, something that Iran would like to see. That's why they sent their foreign minister to Lebanon just days after October 7th to make sure that Hezbollah is part of this is going to engage. But at least according to the intelligence assessment in Israel in recent years, albeit we need to take those with grain of salt after what happened earlier this month. But indeed, the sense in regarding the northern threat is that Iran has been pushing for Hezbollah to attack Israel, to engage with Israel more and more in recent years. Hezbollah, Hassan Asrallah, the leader, has been keeping those attempts pretty much at bay given the dire situation that Lebanon is in. But again, if you're talking about the small devil and the big devil, the U.S. is already engaged in this fight, not only in downing cruise missiles and drones sent from the Houthis in Yemen to towards Israel, but also pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria have been attacking American bases in recent days since October 7th, multiple attacks. And that is also one of the reasons why President Biden left his press briefing the other day, because this is something that has the U.S. concerned. And that's why they're working very closely with the Israeli side, and also asking to postpone the ground invasion, at least according to reports, to try and bring a unified posture moving forward in this escalating situation. I'm Middle East correspondent Ariel Osseron. Thank you very much for breaking that down. And moving from the military angle to the diplomatic, many in the West have expressed their steadfast support for Israel's right to self-defense. Many senior officials in the United States and Europe have converted their words into action by visiting the Jewish state in recent days. This morning, French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Tel Aviv for a solidarity visit. He began by meeting with families of the hostages. And now, as we can see, he is meeting with the Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and later will be meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the meantime, they're speaking in English, so let's dip in for a little bit. We are breathing in with major pain that we've never suffered as a nation since our establishment, and we've suffered a lot of pain throughout our history. I see families day in, day out, or breathing, praying, crying, emotionally suffering so much, and the entire nation is suffering with them. But we are a strong nation, and we are committed to overcome, and we are committed to destroying our enemies. The situation, though, is extremely complicated and fragile. On the one hand, we are demanding the full and immediate release of all of our citizens who are abducted and hijacked. And the immediate release, as we have seen, clear crimes against humanity. We are seeing the suffering of young and old. Thirty children, Mr. President, thirty children are out there kidnapped by Hamas terrorists who carried out one of the worst atrocities in modern times. And I know I've heard your expressions. We've spoken quite often in the last two weeks. I know how much you care for our nation, and your visit here is a clear expression of solidarity. I know you met families of hijacked and kidnapped people. And I know that you share with me the same feeling that there's no difference, none at all. And I said it to the families themselves between an Israeli citizen or anyone who holds another citizenship, parallel to Israeli citizenship. At the end, all Israelis are one soldier, citizen, and foreign national. They're all one, and for us, we want them back immediately. We are following very closely the situation in Lebanon. I think Hezbollah is playing with fire. I think their Iranian empire of evil that is backing them and operates day in, day out to destabilize the Middle East and the region is playing with fire. And I want to make clear, we are not looking for a confrontation in our northern border or with anyone else. We're focused on destroying Hamas infrastructure and bringing our citizens back home. But if Hezbollah will drag us into all, it should be clear that Lebanon will pay the price. Lebanon cannot be a sovereign member of the international community. Its citizens carrying a Lebanese passport, but when it comes to attacking Israel, they're not responsible. We don't sit that way, none whatsoever. And by international law, we have the full right to defend ourselves. And finally, Mr. President, like you, we're extremely worried and disturbed as to the immense rise of anti-Semitism around the world, also in your country. We care for our brothers and sisters of Jewish communities all over the world for their well-being and safety. And I think the international community must take strong actions to protect the Jewish citizens all over the world. Thank you for coming to Israel and sharing your support with us. Please, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your word. Let me tell you that if I'm here with my delegation, it's indeed first to express our support and solidarity and share your pain. What happened on the 7th of October is an awful terrorist attack against your people, your nation. It's right. And it was an immense shock for the whole planet, especially in France. I'm here to express our solidarity today and tomorrow. I spent a while with some families of B Nationals, and I saw some families having lost children, brothers, and some other families waiting for the stages. I do share your view. The first objective we should have today is the release of all the stages without any distinction because this is an awful crime to play with these lives of children, adults, old people, civilians, and soldiers. But I want you to be sure that you are not left alone in this war against terrorism because I speak here on behalf of a country which experiences terrorist attacks unhappily. And you were there at the time. And I think this is our duty to fight against these terrorist groups without any confusion, without, I would say, enlarging this conflict. And I share the warnings you passed, but targeting clearly these terrorist groups, organizing targeted operations is a necessity. I want you to be sure that we stand shoulder with you and your nation, and we will do whatever we can to restore peace, security, and stability for your country and the whole region. This is why we passed several messages as well to other potential terrorist groups targeting or wanting to join this operation. And clearly we want as Bola, we passed very clear messages, and we start discussing together. We will discuss now. I will discuss with Prime Minister Netanyahu. We have a lot of things to do together. What happened will never be forgotten, for sure. Thank you. And we will be here today, tomorrow, and the day after for peace and stability because these people were killed just because they were Jewish and they wanted to live in peace. Thank you. Thank you very much. Those are live images we've just finished listening to a brief press conference between the Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, who landed in Tel Aviv earlier this morning being a Tuesday on a solidarity visit. Still with me in studio is Shiri Fine Grossman. Shiri, this was quite a remarkable, I mean, to be expected because we know the stance that Macron has put out in the last two weeks. But pretty remarkable that Macron, besides saying that he is standing with Israel shoulder to shoulder apart from calling Hamas terrorists, he's also drawn very much the European and the US line of we are giving you our support and solidarity, but make showing you target those in Gaza, its terrorist infrastructure. Yeah, I mean, what we've seen right now, the statement by Macron, I think it's it's just wonderful to see I'm touched as an Israeli and I think it doesn't go without saying. I think the French are very, very much concerned. You have to understand, you know, Lebanon is traditionally very much a French, you know, former colony and they're very much integrated in Lebanon politics and trying to rehabilitate it. They have 6,650 soldiers in Unifil that are their concern for their lives in a manner if there is an escalation with Hezbollah. They're also very much concerned to seeing Islamic, you know, ISIS and Islamic radical terrorism rising is raising its head in France, like we said, he just mentioned the events of November 15 with the Bataklan theater. So the French have a lot of interest here. But what we're seeing is compassion. And that doesn't I don't think it goes without saying. And yes, I mean, the French are, you know, for the two state solution. And they I have former colleagues who say, you know, if you would support the two state solution, it'd be much easier for us to support you. It'd be much easier to gather a coalition to help you to fight Hamas together and Hezbollah together. And, you know, I'm an expert on the Abraham Accords. And and we almost reach a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia. And that's still grabbable. But it goes through politics. And we have to stop playing local politics and think about regional politics, global politics. And how do we build coalitions? Like Hamas said, he definitely built a coalition with Hezbollah, with Iran, with others. They're getting the support of Russia. We need to be smart, to outsmart them. And this is the time to do so. Absolutely. And obviously, as you mentioned, there's a time and place for each thing. But right now what we need is our friends giving us compassion, solidarity, their support. And we're seeing that quite a lot in terms of them, as I mentioned, not just in words, but in actions. Physically coming to the ground in the middle of a war zone is a massive feat. And I think another issue that Macron perhaps deserves a lot of credibility and respect for is that he's swimming against the current. You have to remember how many by no means a dig at the immigration policies of France, but a fortune of immigrants from the Middle East in France that tend to share the pro-Palestinian narrative. A lot of them, as you mentioned, the Bataclan attacks also engaging in some form of supporting terrorism. So he does need to be commended for that as well. Definitely. I mean, what we're seeing from France is I was so pleasantly surprised, even from the first days with the Eiffel Tower lit up, and taking a stance and arresting people with death to the Jews saying and all that. They've been very forceful. It's a national interest, but it's also it's standing up with us and showing the support for us. And Macron, he wants to be a global leader, and he is taking a stand. He's really showing his leadership here, and we should all praise him for it. Absolutely. Credibility, where credibility is due. Shiri Fine-Grassman, thank you so very much for being with me here in studio. Stay with us. We'll have more updates at the top of the hour and our breaking news editions. Israel is officially in a state of war. This is a very active scene, and we need to get in the car as we're talking. Within 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. We just don't know anything. Entire families, including babies and children and elderly, were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant, and we are ready, and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. Coverage here on I24 News. I'm Bati 11th Olm. Thanks for joining me. It is day 18 of war in Israel. Rocket fire from the Gaza Strip has been renewed this morning as Hamas launched a barrage at Israeli communities in the south and along the border. Overnight there were developments as well. U.S. President Joe Biden in Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone after the release of two additional hostages from Gaza as part of Hamas's psychological warfare. Biden welcomed the unilateral release of Narek Cooper and Jochevet Lifschitz late in the evening. The two elderly women arrived in Israel and were taken to hospital for further examination and health checks. Their husbands, however, remain in Gaza. On the military and operational side, Defense Minister Joav Galant spoke with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin providing an update on IDF preparations ahead of an expected ground incursion into Gaza, while on the northern front the IDF destroyed his voluntary infrastructure in overnight strikes. Let's cross now live to our correspondent Hamda Selkut who is standing by for us in the north near the border with Lebanon. Hamda, major concern from the United States with regards to a widening escalation with Hezbollah, a major Iranian proxy in comparison to some of the aid or Iranian aid that has been flowing into the Gaza Strip to Hamas. We know that they have put out a potential and possible evacuation order for almost 600,000 dual citizens in Israel and around 86,000 dual citizens in Lebanon. That's correct. The United States is completely worried about a new front opening on the Lebanon border. They are increasingly concerned about the escalation in the cross border fire that we've been seeing between Hezbollah and the Israelis. The United States raising the travel level to four do not travel and leave immediately for Lebanese territory, asking all U.S. citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible. The Lebanese government even evacuating some of their citizens a hundred kilometers along that southern border, but the Lebanese government doesn't have the means to take care of the influx of people that are moving more central and north. The Israeli government also evacuating communities within five kilometers of the border where we are now. There aren't really many people in sight. There aren't a lot of cars. There are increased military checkpoints, a heavy military presence everywhere you go in these northern communities. And the reason for that is to prevent any civilian casualties that could come about because of the exchanges of fire. As of now, Hezbollah is saying the 32 combatants on their side have been killed in the exchanges of fire. A number of Israeli soldiers have also been killed. Additionally, civilians have been killed and wounded in these exchanges of fire that the United States is hoping will be under control. Latia. Absolutely. And Hamza Ali this morning sirens going across the Gaza border communities as renewed air rockets coming from the Gaza Strip into Israel. What have we been seeing on the northern side in terms of some of those alerts has been pretty quiet. Right yesterday, there was an alert in Kiryat Shmona, a community of around 20,000 people that has since been evacuated at the orders of the Defense Ministry and the Israeli military, a siren going off there because of a drone that infiltrated Israeli airspace. The military saying that the Iron Dome successfully intercepted that over the weekend around on Friday. We did see rocket fire coming in from southern Lebanon. But for now, I'll fight here on the northern front. Correspondent Hamza Salchuk giving us an update from the north. Let's now go live to a press by the idea of spokesperson Dango Hageri. Kidnapped women were released. You have it at Norit. There are now a couple of hospital where glad to see them back to their families. And I need to remind us that their husbands are still being held captive by Hamas, two out of over 200 Israelis held by Hamas in Gaza. The authorities have helped facilitate their safe return home. Egypt has a key role in the efforts to bring back the kidnap. The efforts of Egypt are effective and we evaluate them working cooperation and thank Egypt and the Red Cross for their actions. We are committed to returning all the kidnapped home and will continue to hold operational and intelligence efforts around the clock. And this is a top priority for us to bring the kidnap back home. As part of the release of Norit and Yochevet, Hamas, the murderous group has published a cynical video in which we can see the women receiving food. We must not be confused for a moment. This is part of the psychological terror that Hamas operates against us, but also against the entire world in order to show allegedly that it is a humane group. This is a cynical video that will not help us forget how murderous terrorists have infiltrated a kibbutz and captured women, elderly women, and left the children and their grandchildren. This is a criminal act and will not forget to show this to the world. Questions, please. Biden officials told the New York Times that the IDF is not prepared for the Gaza War. What do you have to say about that? About the readiness of the IDF? And will there be a war without the ground offensive? The forces that are in the south, the ground troops, the reservists, the regular soldiers are ready. They continue to deepen the readiness, continue to train, continue to go over intelligence, preparing with the best equipment in order to reach the best readiness. We will operate and will operate according to the situation that has the best conditions for us. Therefore, we improve together with the air force, the ground, so that we will have less threats on our forces. Next to that, there is a variety of other considerations, strategic and tactic considerations, looking at Gaza, looking at other efforts. This is what we do. At the end of the day, this is an instruction by the political level. We are prepared and determined. As for the U.S. administration, the U.S., who is a strategic partner of the State of Israel, has a variety of considerations and interests in the Middle East. It also has a lot of experience with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we learn from their experience as well, both now and in the past. We need to remember one thing. Our war is on our border. It is not thousands of miles away from the country. We're talking about a border with the State of Israel, the borders of the State of Israel. In the day that after the war we must live when on our border and there is no more such threat. There couldn't be any more threats like the one we saw on October 7th. This is a decision that we will eventually ultimately need to receive on our own. Thank you very much. That was Rear Admiral Daniel Haagari, the idea of spokesperson giving an update on the events that unfolded overnight and early this morning. With me here in Studio Shiri Fine Grassman, the former head of the Foreign Policy Branch for Israel's National Security Council and an expert on the Abraham Accords and our Middle East correspondent Ariel Osirin. Good morning to both of you. I'd like to start, Shiri, the idea of giving sort of both an operational update and an update of the events that unfolded last night with regards to two more of the hostages being released as part of Hamas's psychological warfare. A lot of the questions that are being posed and we heard it now was not necessarily the fact that the United States thinks that Israel is not prepared or ready for a ground offensive but rather the bigger question being, can it be possible that the IDF not just postpones but cancels a ground offensive? How then will it achieve its aims of eradicating Hamas? There's only so much that can be done via the air? Yeah. I don't believe we'll cancel ground troops going in. It's just a matter of tactically how they will go in from what's been reported from the conversation Lloyd Austin had last night with Defense Minister Gallantz is trying to share from their experience of actually bombing from the air and commando raids sporadically are much more effective than just going in like the Americans did in muscle and trying to share their experience with other fighting ISIS and Lloyd Austin is the expert on it and we hear that criticism. I don't think we won't go in. It's just a matter of timing and we have to play it smart. We have to be patient. This is going to be a long war and we need to eradicate Hamas and destroy it completely and we need to think not just militarily but also ideologically. I mean it's a political movement and who's going to be there the day after? That is still a question that's up in the air. There is no clear strategy on that and I think that's the biggest concern from the Biden administration but also from Macron who's visiting today in Israel and other world leaders. That's amazing. Right. Clear that what was is not what will be but obviously as you mentioned a fortune of concerns and another major concern not just for Israel but many in the West is the widening of this conflict with the involvement of Hezbollah and Lebanon and other Iranian proxies in the region. Our Middle East correspondent Ariel Ossaran breaks down the different threats that are endangering Israel. Hamas' surprise attack on October 7th took an unprecedented toll from Israel's southern communities both in terms of scope and brutality but it also threw Israel into a rapidly escalating downward spiral on its northern border and in the West Bank with the potential of turning into a regional conflict and then on Thursday this happened. The crew of the guided missile destroyer USS Carney operating in the northern Red Sea earlier today shot down three land attack cruise missiles and several drones that were launched by Houthi forces in Yemen and we cannot say for certain what these missiles and drones were targeting but they were launched from Yemen heading north along the Red Sea potentially towards targets in Israel. And so from ballistic missiles in Iran to drones from Gaza, rockets from Lebanon or cruise missiles from Yemen, Israel is perhaps the most threatened country in the world. So what exactly is Israel up against from its various potential and current enemies? Let's start with the most immediate threat, Gaza. Palestinian terror groups mainly Hamas have 50 to 60,000 trained fighters, 30,000 rockets and missiles and dozens of attack drones. To the north in Lebanon there's Hezbollah with 50 to 60,000 trained fighters, 150,000 rockets and missiles, and 2,000 attack drones. Poor Iranian militias in Syria have dozens of drones while in Iraq they hold dozens, two hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones. The Houthis in Yemen who've already thrown their talon to fight have hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones as well. And then there's the head of the octopus, Iran. Its national and paramilitary forces have over 3,000 ballistic missiles, some of which can reach Israel and many thousands of attack drones. We have warned everyone that this conflict can turn into a regional battle if the aggression, brutality, killings, ongoing bloodshed and destruction against our people in Gaza persist. With a multi-layered air defense system considered one of the most advanced in the world and the help of the U.S. Navy, Israel says its military can manage a multi-front war, but it's a scenario it and its allies hope to avoid, provided that it has not already begun. And with us in studio is our Middle East correspondent Ariel Osir and Ariel. We always talk about the the charter that comes out of Hezbollah where both Iranian themselves and the Iranian officials themselves and Hezbollah refers to Israel as the small Satan and America as the big Satan. But then again with regards to Israel, we sort of view Hamas as the lesser of the two enemies and Hezbollah as the bigger and that's largely because of the arsenal. Indeed militarily Hezbollah poses a greater threat or challenge to Israel in terms of a grand maneuver in terms of how widely spread their infrastructure is across Lebanon. And yeah, this is not until now we've been preparing in recent months there's been talk of a potential war in the north with Hezbollah less focusing on what was going on down south. But indeed the challenge of Hezbollah joining the Frey, first of all they have joined the Frey. I mean there is a war in Israel's northern border as we speak. There has been since October 7th. It's just at a lower intensity than what we're seeing and what we're going to see down south and in terms of the frequency of Israeli strikes. But with over between 40 to 50 Hezbollah operatives killed in exchanges of fire, daily attacks on Israeli border outposts, they're part of this fight. The question is whether they will further escalate that and that is I think something that Iran would like to see. That's why they sent their foreign minister to Lebanon just days after October 7th to make sure that Hezbollah is part of this is going to engage. But at least according to the intelligence assessment in Israel in recent years albeit we need to take those with grain of salt after what happened earlier this month. But indeed the sense in regarding the northern threat is that Iran has been pushing for Hezbollah to attack Israel, to engage with Israel. More and more in recent years Hezbollah or Hassan Asrallah the leader has been keeping those attempts pretty much at bay given the dire situation that Lebanon is in. But again if you're talking about the small devil and the big devil the US is already engaged in this fight not only in downing cruise missiles and drones sent from the Houthis in Yemen to towards Israel but also pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria have been attacking American bases in recent days since October 7th. Multiple attacks and that is also one of the reasons why President Biden left his press briefing the other day because this is something that has the US concerned and that's why they're working very closely with the Israeli side and also asking to to postpone the ground invasion at least according to reports to try and bring a unified posture moving forward in this escalating situation. I'm Middle East correspondent Ariel Osseron thank you very much for breaking that down and moving from the military angle to the diplomatic. Many in the west have expressed their steadfast support for Israel's right to self-defense. Many senior officials in the United States and Europe have converted their words into action by visiting the Jewish state in recent days. This morning French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Tel Aviv for a solidarity visit. He began by meeting with families of the hostages and now as we can see he is meeting with the Israeli president Isaac Herzog and later will be meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the meantime they're speaking in English so let's step in for a little bit. We are believing in with major pain that we've never suffered as a nation since our establishment and we've suffered a lot of pain throughout our history. I see families day in day out or believing, praying, crying emotionally suffering so much and the entire nation is suffering with them but we are a strong nation and we are committed to overcome and we are committed to destroying our enemies. The situation though is extremely complicated and fragile. On the one hand we are demanding the full and immediate release of all of our citizens who are abducted and hijacked and the immediate release as we have seen clear crimes against humanity. We're seeing the suffering of young and old 30 children Mr. President. 30 children are out there kidnapped by Hamas terrorists who carried out one of the worst atrocities in modern times and I know I've heard your expressions we've spoken quite often in the last two weeks. I know how much you care for our nation and your visit here is a clear expression of solidarity. I know you met families of hijacked and kidnapped people and I know that you share with me the same feeling that there's no difference none at all and I said it to the families themselves between an Israeli citizen or anyone who holds another citizenship parallel to Israeli citizenship. At the end all Israelis are one soldier, citizen and foreign national. They're all one and for us we want them back immediately. We are following very closely the situation in Lebanon. I think Hezbollah is playing with fire, I think their Iranian empire of evil that is backing them and operates day in, day out to destabilize the Middle East and the region is playing with fire and I want to make clear we are not looking for a confrontation in our northern border or with anyone else. We're focused on destroying Hamas infrastructure and bringing our citizens back home but if Hezbollah will drag us into all it is it should be clear that Lebanon will pay the price. Lebanon cannot be a sovereign member of the international community, its citizens carrying a Lebanese passport but when it comes to attacking Israel they're not responsible. We don't sit that way none whatsoever and by international law we have the full right to defend ourselves and finally Mr. President like you we're extremely worried and disturbed as to the immense rise of anti-Semitism around the world also in your country. We care for our brothers and sisters of Jewish communities all over the world for their well-being and safety and I think the international community must take strong actions to protect the Jewish citizens all over the world. Thank you for coming to Israel and sharing your support with us. Please Mr. President. Thank you Mr. President. Thank you for your word. Let me tell you that if I'm here with my delegation it's indeed first to express our support and solidarity and share your pain. What happened in the 7th of October is an awful terrorist attack against your people, your nation. It's right and it was an immense shock for the whole planet especially in France. I'm here to express our solidarity today and tomorrow. I spent a while with some families of the nationals and I saw some families having lost children, brothers and some other families waiting for the stages. I do share your view. The first objective we should have today is the release of all the stages without any distinction because this is an awful crime to play with these lives of children, adults, all people, civilians and soldiers. But I want you to be sure that you are not left alone in this war against terrorism because I speak here on behalf of a country which experiences terrorist attacks unhappily and you were there at the time and I think this is our duty to fight against these terrorist groups without any confusion, without I would say enlarging this conflict and I share the warnings you passed, but targeting clearly these terrorist groups, organizing targeted operations is a necessity. I want you to be sure that we stand shoulder with you and your nation and we will do whatever we can to restore peace, security and stability for your country and the whole region. This is why we passed several messages as well to other potential to all these groups targeting or wanting to join this operation and clearly we want as Bola we passed very clear messages and we start discussing together we will discuss now I will discuss with Prime Minister Netanyahu we have a lot of things to do together what happened will never be forgotten for sure thank you and we will be here today tomorrow and the day after for peace and stability because these people were killed just because they were Jewish and they wanted to live in peace thank you those are live images we've just finished listening to a brief press conference between the Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron who landed in Tel Aviv earlier this morning being a Tuesday on a solidarity visit. Still with me in studio is Shiri Fine Grossman Shiri this was quite a remarkable I mean to be expected because we know the stance that Macron has put out in the last two weeks but pretty remarkable that Macron besides saying that he is standing with Israel shoulder to shoulder apart from calling Hamas terrorists he's also drawn very much the European and the and the US line of we are giving you our support and solidarity but make sure when you target those in Gaza it's terrorist infrastructure yeah I mean what we've seen right now the statement by Macron I think it's it's just wonderful to see I'm touched as an Israeli and I think it doesn't go without saying I think the French are very very much concerned you have to understand you know Lebanon is traditionally very much a French you know former colony and they're very much integrated in in Lebanon politics and trying to rehabilitate it they have 60 650 soldiers in unifil that are they're concerned for their lives in a manner if there is an escalation with Hezbollah they're also very much concerned to seeing Islamic you know ISIS and Islamic radical terrorism rising is raising its head in France like we say he just mentioned the the events of November 15 with the Bataklan theater so the French have a lot of interest here but what we're seeing is compassion and that doesn't I don't think it goes without saying and yes I mean the French are you know for the two-state solution and they I have former colleagues who say you know if you would support the two-state solution it'd be much easier for us to support you it'd be much easier to gather a coalition to help you to fight Hamas together and Hezbollah together and you know I'm an expert on the Abraham Accords and and we almost reach a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia and that's still grabbable but it goes through politics and we have to stop playing local politics and think about regional politics global politics and how do we build coalitions like Hamas said he definitely built a coalition with Hezbollah with Iran with others they're getting the support of Russia we need to to be smart to outsmart them and this is the time to do so absolutely and obviously as you mentioned there's a time and place for each thing but right now what we need is our friends giving us compassion solidarity their support and we're seeing that quite a lot in terms of them as I mentioned not just in words but in actions physically coming to the ground in the middle of a war zone is a massive feat and I think another issue that Macron perhaps deserves a lot of credibility and respect for is that he's swimming against the current you have to remember how many Bono means a dig at the immigration policies of France but a fortune of immigrants from the Middle East in France that tend to share the pro-Palestinian narrative a lot of them as you mentioned the Bataklan attacks also engaging in some form of supporting terrorism so he does need to be commended for that as well definitely there I mean what we're seeing from France is is I was so pleasantly surprised even from the first days you know with the Eiffel Tower lit up and taking a stance and you know arresting people with you know death to the Jews saying and all that they've been very forceful it's it's a national interest but it's also it's it's standing up with us it's showing the support for us and Macron you know he always he wants to be a global leader and he is he's taking a stand he's really showing his leadership here and we should all praise him for it absolutely credibility where credibility is due sherry fine grassman thank you so very much for being with me here in studio stay with us we'll have more updates at the top of the hour and our breaking news editions over 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i-24 news coverage here on i-24 news i'm bati levendor thanks for joining me it is day 18 of war in israel rocket fire from the Gaza Strip has been renewed early this morning as Hamas launched a barrage at israeli communities in the south and along the border strikes which continue there's following the release of two additional hostages from Gaza late yesterday evening as part of Hamas's psychological warfare on the northern border the idf also destroyed his bullet error infrastructure in overnight strikes in a recent address to the public idf spokesperson rare admiral dangle hagari told the nation to be prepared for long weeks of fighting ahead meanwhile on the diplomatic front french president emmanuel macron has landed in tel aviv for a one-day solidarity visit meeting with families of french victims and the israeli leadership here's macron speaking a short while ago with his israeli counterpart isaac hertzog like you we're extremely worried and disturbed as to the immense rise of anti-semitism around the world also in your country we care for our brothers and sisters of jewish communities all over the world for their well-being and safety and i think the international community must take strong actions to protect the the jewish citizens all over the world targeting clearly is still always groups organizing targeted operations is a necessity i want you to be sure that we stand shoulder shoulder with you and your nation and we will do whatever we can to restore peace security and stability for your country and the whole region well let's cross now live to our correspondent pia stekelber who is standing by for us in the south of israel pier not even 10 minutes has passed and rocket fire has renewed again in the communities near the south and the israeli border and all this comes as the idf is warning the nation and in particular israelis do not become complacent with regards to the slower level of rockets being seen shots over the border from khamas into israel right but yet has been a comparatively quiet morning we have seen incoming rocket alerts twice this morning the last time only 10 minutes ago in some of the communities south from us bordering the southern part of the gaza strip here communities that are supposed to be also widely evacuated at this point now now the idf has been striking targets in gaza really throughout the night the latest idf statement saying that 400 targets were struck we're talking about operational tunnels command centers we're also talking about several khamas commanders who were said to be killed and we're standing here in sterota the point where you can actually see the northern part of the gaza strip behind me we're looking into bet hanun and this comes while the preparations really here at the border have been going on for more than a week the preparations for this looming ground offensive there are tens of thousands of reservists waiting for the call and the sentiment at least in the israeli public is that a ground offensive is needed to eliminate hamas in gaza as it has been declared the goal of this war by israel's leadership and the israeli military is preparing this offensive from the air meanwhile calling upon people to continue to move the people in gaza to the southern part of the strip but reports from the ground in gaza suggests that the south too is being attacked from the air and residents don't have a safe space to go to but meanwhile many return to the northern part that you're looking into right now where some of them at least have their houses to go back to at least they they assume so at the time the humanitarian situation the humanitarian crisis is worsening in gaza a humanitarian aid has been arriving through the crossing with egypt the rafa crossing for three consecutive days now but we're talking about 20 trucks and less carrying for food water and medicine and this is after hundreds of trucks have entered the strip before the war every day so it is considered to be a drop in the ocean only and israel still opposes the delivery of fuel as it fears hamas will in fact confiscated to use it for its own infrastructure now the us have emphasized the importance of continuous arrival of humanitarian aid but it said that now was not the time for ceasefire talks which is something that humanitarian organizations and the un have called for the us is saying not before all of the hostages are freed by hamas this of course happening against the backdrop of more than 200 hostages being held in gaza still by hamas now last night we know that two more were released bringing them number of the release hostages to four but the army is concerned that further hostage releases by hamas could actually lead the political leadership to delay the potential ground incursion as foreign governments are also of course involved in the possible release of the further hostages the israeli army represents the position that actually beginning that ground incursion now could further apply pressure on hamas and could possibly also help the release of further hostages correspondent piaz deco back giving us an update from the south thank you very much for that and stay safe as those rockets continue to be fired from the gaza strip into israel and joining me now from ramata sharon in central israel is retired colonel miri eisen director of the international institute for counterterrorism at reichmann university and herds lea good morning to you miri this is obviously just in the last moments of speaking it appears that the idf's twitter page in arabic has released two aerial shots of fuel and gas canisters just by the border indicating that hamas already has the fuel that it says that it needs more of into the strip and perhaps running on that narrative again that hamas is going to be taking a lot of the a lot of the facilities or at least the medicine the food the water the necessities coming into the gaza strip for themselves one of the things batia that i think is the hardest for you for me for all of us is that we all would like the civilians in the gaza strip to get the medicine to get the food that the hamas would not be using them using all of us using them as human shields using the hostages as the bait to come in this is the worst kind of war that hamas is imposed and this is all part of their pre-plan it's called attack try and wow show everybody what you can do and then play the victim hide behind the real victims and in that sense i'm most worried about hamas telling the civilians come back to the north because they're telling them to come back because they want to use them as human shields i am worried that hamas will take whatever comes into the gaza strip and in that sense we're all going to look at that worsening crisis we would all want to help those people hamas is not going to let that they want those pictures out there they do not care about their own sacrifice they say it in their own words it is a terrible situation and mary amango macron the french president arrived in israel today on a one day solidarity visit but he is also making the rounds for being the potential first western leader and foreign leader that is likely to be meeting with mahmoud abbas the head of the palestinian authority in ramallah it almost feels that the palestinian authority has been completely absent from the narrative for the time being in especially in the fact that they may be seen as the force that could replace hamas in the gaza strip so i'm going to use some of the words that you just said is like a force in that sense and i i don't want a history lesson but i need to put things into perspective hamas rule over the gaza strip they are a hybrid terror organization they have both been i can't call it sovereign it's not like they've taken any responsibility for the two million people there but when they took it over they took it over from the palestinian authority in the gaza strip so it isn't that you could just bring the palestinian authority and they're the ones who are going to be able to take it over mahmoud abbas himself had been willing initially to also meet the prime minister of britain and perhaps president biden you remember the people who were here last week he is in between a rock and a hard stone i think it's easier for me to be able to stand out clearly and talk that i am for the palestinian people i can be for the palestinian authority but i'm going to clearly say that hamas needs to be destroyed if mahmoud abbas says that batia it's pretty much the end of his presidency which in any case is so problematic in the west bank there's enormous support for hamas these horrific atrocious acts have been supported with handing out candies in the city of hebron and the city of jenine it's a very scary situation right and that's been a situation that many around the world are following in particular those that tend to have a more open mind with regards to the conflict and not buy into the international narrative and a lot of the bias that's put toward israel being that there needs to be a distinction between hamas as you mentioned a hybrid terror organization that seems to be getting funding and support by iran as do many of its proxies in the middle east and the palestinian people but it's very hard to then separate the palestinian people into being an innocent group of people and share in their plight when there's many of them that are currently holding israeli civilians hostage we know that it's not just hamas but it is civilians that also came into the state of israel to partake in in what we've called quote unquote the party of killing jews and of taking hostages because again they will also promise ten thousand dollars if they brought back hostages into the gaza strip but also as you mentioned scenes of regular citizens handing our candy celebrating the brutality of what was done to israel so i'm going to keep my humanity and i'm going to hope that mothers and children and for that matter fathers in that sense that there are those out there that killing the jews killing israelis killing human beings kidnapping them torturing beheading mutilating them is not what they want not in their present and not in their future and i absolutely understand and talk about the depth of the challenge when most definitely on saturday and as it continues now in these two weeks the voices coming out of the gaza strip are not about hey what we did was wrong no no no the voices coming out of the gaza strip are we're losing watch out we're now victims it's so challenging for me i'm going to still root and vote and hope that we israel will stay on that moral ground and we're there right now we would never target the civilians and when people come back and see their home is gone let's go inside together and find the remnants of the terrorist cache of weapons of how it was being used as a booby trap of what it was along the way those are the targets that we're targeting when i look at the numbers and i understand that the numbers are intense and when we target the terrorists and we have killed many terrorists in the gaza strip over the last two weeks they are hiding behind their own families it is horrific their families support them if they're with them even for that bacha look at what israel did we put out a bulk of again the posters that we send out the leaflets that we sent in and we said if you stay with the terrorists we will see you as terrorists remove yourself move away from them don't allow them to use you as cover so we're trying to be in our clearest way to do that distinction even as you said clearly they do not necessarily live that distinction but we need to try to do so i think very important as well to to touch on that distinction by by saying that you can be for the palestinian plight you can be in support and wanting palestinians to also be able to live in peace to have the necessities that they leave and to be able to send their children to good educations good schools but you can also stand on the side of condemning khamas i want to thank you very much retired colonel atrocities absolutely i want to thank you so much retired colonel miri eisen director of the international institute for counterterrorism university for joining me this morning thank you about you i want to cross our life to our correspondent khamdas al-khurt to get an update on what's happening on the northern border khamda it was relatively quiet this morning but we've seen that rocket fire is slowly praising itself over the border from khamas into israel and what we've seen as well as the idea of spokesperson rhea admiral dangle hagari saying do not let your guard down this halt in firepower may just be because they're reserving some of their arsenal does that also possibly mean that we could be seeing an attack from the north right batia so the situation here in the north while quiet for the time being it is constantly developing meaning that when a ground invasion inside of the gaza strip happens when the israeli military makes larger decisions when it comes to combat the northern front might change as well remember last week we heard from the iranian foreign ministry who said that once that ground offensive begins inside of the gaza strip there are no guarantees as to who can get involved last week hezbollah spokespeople releasing comments saying that this is just a warning to the israelis it's not an indication that hezbollah is getting involved however there have been deaths on both sides of the border since the exchanges of fire began we're talking about 32 combats on the hezbollah side and dozens of israeli soldiers on this side who've been killed or injured including civilians we've also seen two foreign workers injured because of an anti-tank missile that was fired in the north we actually have to continuously move locations here in the north because the israeli military has declared it a military zone there had they have evacuated a lot of these areas within five kilometers of the border because of the fears of civilians getting in the way when there are these exchanges of fire they're trying to reduce those numbers of casualties so the israeli army along with the defense ministry ordering the evacuation of tens of thousands of israeli communities and the same goes for the other side of the border in lebanon around 20 000 people along the 100 kilometer border have moved more north more central and northern parts of the country as both countries now reeling for what's to come batia right and and khamdei is lebanon equipped mind you hezbollah is part of the politics in the country but at the end of the day it also has its own governing system are they equipped to handle the influx of citizens fleeing from their southern border more towards the center towards areas like the capital beirut we know that israel has been trying to upgrade a lot of its bomb shelters in the north but also as you mentioned making sure to move civilians out of harm's way are we seeing the same sort of capacity being done on the other side as well well look people who have been fleeing for other cities like beirut inside of lebanon the government has said that they simply don't have the means to handle an influx of the population i mean 20 000 additional people coming to the city the government has said it does not have the funds to house these people to support them remember lebanon has been in an economic downturn for nearly half a decade now so the situation there is dire and if a country were to hit this if a war were to hit this country the situation would be dire on so many levels there are no jobs the infrastructure is poor there is nowhere to go so if a war were to break out the situation would be catastrophic absolutely and perhaps a lot of the citizens there can try and demonstrate against a war breaking out as we know that on the israeli side no one wants to see more war because the economic the political ramifications are just too huge and as you mentioned for a country like lebanon that has been through so much already they just can't handle it themselves either correspondent khamdes al-khut reporting from the north thank you so much for that update now moving on to a different angle and since khamas's unprovoked attack on israel there has been an unprecedented escalation in anti-semitism and calls for violence against israel and zionists in fact some put that percentage at get this over 1000 percent of an increase now aiding and abetting that violence is unfortunately some media coverage that refuses to call khamas terrorists and have been quick to call out israel over possible war crimes that after verified and independent reports turned out to be committed by the very terror groups in the gaza strip themselves that bias then filters down into the public who is groomed by it and buys a lot into the misinformation here is one such example from london well joining me now from a tel aviv is british journalist and middle east expert tom gras tom that tube driver has since been suspended but my question is do people actually realize when they chant free palestine that they should probably add to that from khamas and other terror groups or that from the river to the sea chant literally calls for the genocide of all jews and in that sense possibly even arab israeli so make up part of the population in this country as well well it's hard to say whether everyone making the chart from the river to the sea quite understands what's involved but certainly informed people do certainly academics or bbc reporters understand exactly that chant is for the eradication of israel they would not chant for the eradication of any other country on earth i mean it's genocidal so um i think that you know the bbc is the national institution in britain and not only britain it broadcasts in dozens of languages across the world to tens of millions of people using taxpayers money to do so is definitely inflaming not just hatred of israel but blatant anti-semitism it's gone way beyond its remit as a broadcaster both in the content but also in the omission uh from what they say if can i just provide one example for example for example i on the quest of the hospital um that was bombed but there was rocketed by islamic g hat i said to a bbc reporter i know you do realize that hamas hit a hospital in israel a day after october 7th they hit the barzali hospital in the southern city of ashkelon damaging the hospital the day after they injured a nurse from india in ashkelon and the bbc reporter just said i don't care i mean it's blatant prejudice they certainly are aware of what information they are selecting to give and what they are selecting to not give absolutely i just want to point out to our viewers that there are rocket sirens that are sounding indeed gaza border communities again we did see a low almost this morning but in the last couple of hours there have been barrages being shot from the gaza strip into israel and as you mentioned there is this question of whether we're talking about unconscious bias or simply just blatant due hatred and anti-semitism and as you mentioned with regards to that gaza hospital blast the bbc admitted that it made mistakes in its coverage and yet it still won't call hamas terrorists why how can the possible raping beheading and burning of of not just idf officials but also women children the elderly be considered anything else militants don't do that and neither do freedom fighters well the bbc claimed that they don't use the word terrorist in other conflicts but that is not correct just this past few days two swedish soccer fans were shot dead by an islamist gunman when they went to a match in belgium and the bbc used the word terrorist about that incident i should also point out they've then said to me when i've asked them well we don't use it in the middle east just in europe and i said well you know when your own correspondent frank gardner was injured in an attack in south arabia some years ago he was injured in an al-qaeda attack the bbc called that terrorism so you do use it in a middle east conflict uh contest so they are very disingenuous in their use of language but i'd like to say there's been a lot of people talking about the use of the word terrorist i think there's a bigger problem than that and that is just the misinformation so you constantly have on screen on bbc a figure for civilian death toll in gaza without explaining that this figure is provided by hamas is totally unreliable almost certainly exaggerated so of course the ordinary person the ordinary viewer is going to think well of course we sympathize with the panathenas of course israel isn't taking enough care to avoid civilian casualties if thousands of civilians have been killed by israeli airstrikes in the last two weeks and i would say we have no evidence whatsoever that thousands of civilians have been killed other than hamas's claims and we know perfectly well that hamas is unreliable and the bbc and other conflicts would not for example take isis's figures or al-qaeda's figures and just broadcasting them without even mentioning not only people saying them are isis or al-qaeda i think it is important to mention that with those figures coming out of the hamas run health ministry and other palestinian authorities in the gaza strip that there is no distinction being made between the hamas terrorists that are being targeted and killed versus the innocent civilians that happen to be in harm's way because they are used as human shields now with that being said it's also important to note that while criticism on the bbc is increasing and evidently rightly so it is not all bbc journalists because there have been countless journalists that have resigned from their positions all come on air to personally either apologize or admit into their mistakes and we're also seeing that sort of flowing now into a lot of other international media for example cnn there's a lot of liberal or genuinely progressive journalists and anchors that tend to now be questioning a lot of the people that they normally bring on that are pro-palestinian voices and so important to note that there is somewhat a shift but also that there is this mainstream narrative against israel well i'm not sure i share that assessment i have i watch the media a lot from all kinds of stations and i have not seen a lot of people come on they've been former bbc staffers when it's too late now criticize the organization they're no longer working for including the previous head of bbc television has written articles for the data telegraph in london criticizing the organization but i'm not suggesting they're not by the way fair reporters at the bbc of course some of them are fair but overall no i don't think they've apologized at all or gone back at all i'd also say since you mentioned figures that even the hospital incident rocketing in gaza which hit a car park of the hospital not the hospital there's no evidence at all that more than 20 30 people fatalities happen that's what european intelligence agencies say so they're still reporting it as hundreds of casualties there is a kind of misunderstanding that israel is scrupulous about its information even now they're counting one by one to identify bodies not to exaggerate the number of hostages for example is probably higher than the official figure but they don't want to exaggerate whereas on the other side we have an entirely unreliable organization we don't believe everything that i don't know vladimir putin says right we don't believe what north korea says why should we believe what hammers says about numbers of figures i'd also just point out about antisemitism a lot of it is subconscious so there was a famous phrase about the germans after the holocaust by an israeli psychoanalyst who said with great irony the germans will never forgive the dunes for auschwitz so i would say the bbc will never forgive israel for not bombing a hospital they want israel to behave badly so they can then say look at that terrible israeli state that we should delegitimize right i think even without behaving badly tom gras if i if i may be so bold to say that that unconscious bias tends to seep through even without israel giving them due cause i want to thank you so very much british journalist and middle east expert tom gras for joining us today thank you now since the heinous attack by khamas against israel on october 7th individuals and organizations across the world mainly from jewish communities have sought to export military supplies for israeli soldiers some of these suppliers include advance body armor vest clothing to protect against radar infrared and other types of sensors and helmets to provide ballistic protection unfortunately the best intentions to protect israeli soldiers have run afoul of many of these nations that export because of their control regulations but with firsthand reports from various army units in the country their critical military equipment is in short supply this well needed influx of defensive gear has found a way to get to the front lines and here to discuss that more with me in the studio is os zechan voy a local designer i believe that you've been making some kind of tactical gear for the idf and in collaboration can you explain a little bit more about it yes of course we started this initiative approximately 10 days ago i served in a special development unit that supports finding proper solutions for combat needs we've been educated properly to find fast solutions while understanding that if we don't find them fast there might not longer be relevant during the first few days of the war me and a few friends were trying to find solutions for immediate needs and pretty fast after that we gathered up a group of amazing people that volunteered since then and for almost two weeks now we delivered over 300 products to people in the front line soldiers we are currently running towards the 1000 products what kind of products tactical gear initially a lot of soldiers needed gear that actually is custom made for them the military our military have enough gear but some of this gear actually need to be custom made for people because of their sizes therefore we didn't really have a lot of time to get ready after october 7th so during the first few days we gather together a bunch of friends that are some some of them have experience with specific tactical gear fabricating in the military both with fashion designers and myself and together we built really an amazing group of people that are working around the clock for almost two weeks now we're getting a lot of support from locals we're getting a lot of support from people in the u.s. and around the world and we're not going to stop until someone will tell us to stop how is it that people in particular from abroad can assist you with getting we know that there's been a fortune of course to be able to get tactical gear and proper protective gear to the soldiers on the front lines in particular that we're being warned that this could go on for weeks how can they assist you so i leave the broad for seven years and during my time living abroad i met amazing people over there as well that are now volunteering as well to help us with raising funds and donations from specifically at the moment the u.s. we are getting a lot of messages from people from all over the world that actually wants to help and we're trying to sort out that issue as well people have to remember that our initiative is only 10 days old but the amount of things that we managed to achieve during those 10 days are amazing so at the moment we have a landing page that you can go there and donate money and i'm using my own instagram page to show what we're using what we're doing and what we're using the money for fabulous so people can reach out to you directly as well as on the landing page for more information great oh it's a very local designer thank you so very much for being with me and for your unbelievable initiative helping the soldiers on the front line we'll be right back with more breaking news stay with us over 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by hamas follow us as israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i-24 news breaking news coverage here on i-24 news i'm batty levendol thanks for joining me it is day 18 of war in israel rocket fire from the Gaza Strip has been renewed early this morning as hamas launched a barrage at israeli communities in the south and along the border strikes which continue this following the release of two additional hostages from Gaza late yesterday evening as part of hamas's psychological warfare on the northern border the idf also destroyed his bullet error infrastructure in overnight strikes in a recent address to the public idf spokesperson rear admiral dangle hagari told the nation to be prepared for long weeks of fighting ahead meanwhile on the diplomatic front french president imango macron has landed in tel aviv for a one-day solidarity visit meeting with families of french victims and the israeli leadership here's macron speaking a short while ago with his israeli counterpart isaac earthhog like you we're extremely worried and disturbed as to the immense rise of antisemitism around the world also in your country we care for brothers and sisters of jewish communities all over the world for their well-being and safety and i think the international community must take strong actions to protect the the jewish citizens all over the world targeting clearly is still always groups organizing targeted operations is a necessity i want you to be sure that we stand shoulder shoulder with you and your nation and we will do whatever we can to restore peace security and stability for your country and in the whole region well let's cross now live to our correspondent pia stekelbach who is standing by for us in the south of israel pia not even 10 minutes has passed and rocket fire has renewed again in the communities near the south and the israeli border and all this comes as the idf is warning the nation and in particular israelis do not become complacent with regards to the slower level of rockets being seen shots over the border from hamas into israel right but yet has been a comparatively quiet morning we have seen incoming rocket alerts twice this morning the last time only 10 minutes ago in some of the communities south from us bordering the southern part of the gaza strip here communities that are supposed to be also widely evacuated at this point now now the idf has been striking targets in gaza really threw out the night the latest idf statement saying that 400 targets were struck we're talking about operational tunnels command centers we're also talking about several hamas commanders who were said to be killed and we're standing here in sterota the point where you can actually see the northern part of the gaza strip behind me where you're looking into bet hanun and this comes while the preparations really here at the border have been going on for more than a week the preparations for this looming ground offensive there are tens of thousands of reservists waiting for the call and the sentiment at least in the israeli public is that a ground offensive is needed to eliminate hamas and gaza as it has been declared the goal of this war by israel's leadership and the israeli military is preparing this offensive from the air meanwhile calling upon people to continue to move the people in gaza to the southern part of the strip but reports from the ground in gaza suggests that the south too is being attacked from the air and residents don't have a safe space to go to but meanwhile many return to the northern part that you're looking into right now where some of them at least have their houses to go back to at least they they assume so at the time the humanitarian situation the humanitarian crisis is worsening in gaza a humanitarian aid has been arriving through the crossing with egypt the rafah crossing for three consecutive days now but we're talking about 20 trucks and less caring for food water and medicine and this is after hundreds of trucks have entered the strip before the war every day so it is considered to be a drop in the ocean only and israel still opposes the delivery of fuel as it fears hamas will in fact confiscated to use it for its own infrastructure now the u.s. have emphasized the importance of continuous arrival of humanitarian aid but it said that now was not the time for ceasefire talks which is something that humanitarian organizations and the u.n. have called for the u.s. is saying not before all of the hostages are freed by hamas this of course happening against the backdrop of more than 200 hostages being held in gaza still by hamas now last night we know that two more were released bringing them number of the release hostages to four but the army is concerned that further hostage releases by hamas could actually lead the political leadership to delay the potential ground incursion as foreign governments are also of course involved in the possible release of the further hostages the israeli army represents the position that actually beginning that ground incursion now could further apply pressure on hamas and could possibly also help the release of further hostages correspondent p.s. deco back giving us an update from the south thank you very much for that and stay safe as those rockets continue to be fired from the gaza strip into israel and joining me now from ramata charon in central israel is retired colonel miri eisen director of the international institute for counterterrorism at reichmann university in herds lea good morning to you miri this is obviously just in the last moments of speaking it appears that the idf's twitter page in arabic has released two aerial shots of fuel and gas canisters just by the border indicating that hamas already has the fuel that it says that it needs more of into the strip and perhaps running on that narrative again that hamas is going to be taking a lot of the a lot of the facilities or at least the medicine the food the water the necessities coming into the gaza strip for themselves one of the things batia that i think is the hardest for you for me for all of us is that we all would like the civilians in the gaza strip to get the medicine to get the food that the hamas would not be using them using all of us using them as human shields using the hostages as the bait to come in this is the worst kind of war that hamas is imposed and this is all part of their pre-plan it's called attack try and wow show everybody what you can do and then play the victim hide behind the real victims and in that sense i'm most worried about hamas telling the civilians come back to the north because they're telling them to come back because they want to use them as human shields i am worried that hamas will take whatever comes into the gaza strip and in that sense we're all going to look at that worsening crisis we would all want to help those people hamas is not going to let that they want those pictures out there they do not care about their own sacrifice they say it in their own words it is a terrible situation and marie mango macron the french presidents arrived in israel today on a one day solidarity visit but he is also making the rounds for being the potential first western leader and foreign leader that is likely to be meeting with mahmoud abbas the head of the palestinian authority in ramallah it almost feels that the palestinian authority has been completely absent from the narrative for the time being in especially in the fact that they may be seen as the force that could replace hamas in the gaza strip so i'm going to use some of the words that you just said is like a force in that sense and i i don't want a history lesson but i need to put things into perspective hamas rule over the gaza strip they are a hybrid terror organization they have both been i can't call it sovereign it's not like they've taken any responsibility for the two million people there but when they took it over they took it over from the palestinian authority in the gaza strip so it isn't that you could just bring the palestinian authority and they're the ones who are going to be able to take it over mahmoud abbas himself had been willing initially to also meet the prime minister of britain and perhaps president by you remember the people who were here last week he is in between a rock and a hard stone i think it's easier for me to be able to stand out clearly and talk that i am for the palestinian people i can be for the palestinian authority but i'm going to clearly say that hamas needs to be destroyed if mahmoud abbas says that batia it's pretty much the end of his presidency which in any case is so problematic in the west bank there's enormous support for hamas these horrific atrocious acts have been supported with handing out candies in the city of hebron in the city of jenine it's a very scary situation right and that's been a situation that many around the world are following in particular those that tend to have a more open mind with regards to the conflict and not buy into the international narrative and a lot of the bias that's put toward israel being that there needs to be a distinction between hamas as you mentioned a hybrid terror organization that seems to be getting funding and support by iran as do many of its proxies in the middle east and the palestinian people but it's very hard to then separate the palestinian people into being an innocent group of people and share in their plight when there's many of them that are currently holding israeli civilians hostage we know that it's not just hamas but it is civilians that also came into the state of israel to partake in in what we've called quote unquote the party of killing jews and of taking hostages because again they will also promise ten thousand dollars if they brought back hostages into the gaza strip but also as you mentioned scenes of regular citizens handing out candy celebrating the brutality of what was done to israel so i'm going to keep my humanity and i'm going to hope that mothers and children and for that matter fathers in that sense that there are those out there that killing the jews killing israelis killing human beings kidnapping them torturing beheading mutilating them is not what they want not in their present and not in their future and i absolutely understand and talk about the depth of the challenge when most definitely on saturday and as it continues now in these two weeks the voices coming out of the gaza strip are not about hey what we did was wrong no no no the voices coming out of the gaza strip are we're losing watch out we're now victims it's so challenging for me i'm going to still root and vote and hope that we israel will stay on that moral ground and we're there right now we would never target the civilians and when people come back and see their home is gone let's go inside together and find the remnants of the terrorist cache of weapons of how it was being used as a booby trap of what it was along the way those are the targets that we're targeting when i look at the numbers and i understand that the numbers are intense and when we target the terrorists and we have killed many terrorists in the gaza strip over the last two weeks they are hiding behind their own families it is horrific their families support them if they're with them even for that bacha look at what israel did we put out a bulk of again the posters that we send out the leaflets that we send in and we said if you stay with the terrorists we will see you as terrorists remove yourself move away from them don't allow them to use you as cover so we're trying to be in our clearest way to do that distinction even as you said clearly they do not necessarily live that distinction but we need to try to do so i think very important as well to to touch on that distinction by by saying that you can be for the palestinian plant you can be in support and wanting palestinians to also be able to live in peace to have the necessities that they leave and to be able to send their children to good educations good schools but you can also stand on the side of condemning khamas i want to thank you very much retired colonel atrocities absolutely i want to thank you so much retired colonel miri eisen director of the international institute for counterterrorism at reichman university for joining me this morning thank you about you i want to cross our live to our correspondent khamdas al-khurt to get an update on what's happening on the northern border khamda it was relatively quiet this morning but we've seen that rocket fire is slowly praising itself over the border from khamas into israel and what we've seen as well is the idea of spokesperson rea admiral dangle hagari saying do not let your guard down this halt in firepower may just be because they're reserving some of their arsenal does that also possibly mean that we could be seeing an attack from the north right batia so the situation here in the north while quiet for the time being it is constantly developing meaning that when a ground invasion inside of the gaza strip happens when the israeli military makes larger decisions when it comes to combat the northern front might change as well remember last week we heard from the iranian foreign ministry who said that once that ground offensive begins inside of the gaza strip there are no guarantees as to who can get involved last week hezbollah spokespeople releasing comments saying that this is just a warning to the israelis it's not an indication that hezbollah is getting involved however there have been deaths on both sides of the border since the exchanges of fire began we're talking about 32 combines on the hezbollah side and dozens of israeli soldiers on this side who've been killed or injured including civilians we've also seen two foreign workers injured because of an anti-tank missile that was fired in the north we actually have to continuously move locations here in the north because the israeli military has declared it a military zone there had they have evacuated a lot of these areas within five kilometers of the border because of the fears of civilians getting in the way when there are these exchanges of fire they're trying to reduce those numbers of casualties so the israeli army along with the defense ministry ordering the evacuation of tens of thousands of israeli communities and the same goes for the other side of the border in lebanon around 20 000 people along the hundred kilometer border have moved more north to more central and northern parts of the country as both countries now reeling for what's to come batia right and and khamdei is lebanon equipped mind you hezbollah is part of the politics in the country but at the end of the day it also has its own governing system are they equipped to handle the influx of citizens fleeing from their southern border more towards the center towards areas like the capital beirut we know that israel has been trying to upgrade a lot of its bomb shelters in the north but also as you mentioned making sure to move civilians out of harm's way are we seeing the same sort of capacity being done on the other side as well well look people who have been fleeing for other cities like beirut inside of lebanon the government has said that they simply don't have the means to handle an influx of the population i mean 20 000 additional people coming to the city the government has said it does not have the funds to house these people to support them remember lebanon has been in an economic downturn for nearly half a decade now so the situation there is dire and if a country were to hit this if a war were to hit this country the situation would be dire on so many levels there are no jobs the infrastructure is poor there is nowhere to go so if a war were to break out the situation would be catastrophic absolutely and perhaps a lot of the citizens there can try and demonstrate against a war breaking out as we know that on the israeli side no one wants to see more war because the economic the political ramifications are just too huge and as you mentioned for a country like lebanon that has been through so much already they just can't handle it themselves either correspondent khamdes al-khut reporting from the north thank you so much for that update now moving on to a different angle and since khamas's unprovoked attack on israel there has been an unprecedented escalation in anti-semitism and calls for violence against israel and zionists in fact some put that percentage at get this over 1000 percent of an increase now aiding and abetting that violence is unfortunately some media coverage that refuses to call khamas terrorists and have been quick to call out israel over possible war crimes that after verified and independent reports turned out to be committed by the very terror groups in the gaza strip themselves that bias then filters down into the public who is groomed by it and buys a lot into the misinformation here is one such example from london well joining me now from a televe of his british journalist and middle east expert tom gras tom that tube driver has since been suspended but my question is do people actually realize when they chant free palestine that they should probably add to that from khamas and other terror groups or that from the river to the sea chant literally calls for the genocide of all jews and in that sense possibly even arab israeli to make up part of the population in this country as well well it's hard to say whether everyone making the chart from the river to the sea quite understands what's involved but certainly informed people do certainly academics or bbc reporters understand exactly that chant is for the eradication of israeli they would not chant for the eradication of any other country on earth i mean it's genocidal so i think that you know the bbc is the national institution in britain and not only britain it broadcasts in dozens of languages across the world to tens of millions of people using taxpayers money to do so is definitely inflaming not just hatred of israel but blatant anti-semitism it's gone way beyond its remit as a broadcaster both in the content but also in the omission of what they say if can i just provide one example for example i on the question of the hospital that was bombed but there was rocketed by islamic g hat i said to a bbc reporter i know you do realize that khamas hit a hospital in israel a day after october 7th they hit the barzali hospital in the southern city of ashkelon damaging the hospital the day after they injured a nurse from india in ashkelon and the bbc reporter just said i don't care i mean it's blatant prejudice they certainly are aware of what information they are selecting to give and what they are selecting to not give absolutely i just want to point out to our viewers that there are rocket sirens that are sounding indeed guards are border communities again we did see a low almost this morning but in the last couple of hours there have been barrages being shot from the gaza strip into israel and as you mentioned there is this question of whether we're talking about unconscious bias or simply just blatant due hatred and anti-semitism and as you mentioned with regards to that gaza hospital blast the bbc admitted that it made mistakes in its coverage and yet it still won't call khamas terrorists why how can the possible raping beheading and burning of of not just idf officials but also women children the elderly be considered anything else militants don't do that and neither do freedom fighters well the bbc claimed that they don't use the word terrorist in other conflicts but that is not correct just this past few days two swedish soccer fans were shot dead by an islamist gunman when they went to a match in belgium and the bbc used the word terrorist about that incident i should also point out they've then said to me when i've asked them well we don't use it in the middle east just in europe and i said well you know when your own correspondent frank gardner was injured in an attack in south arabia some years ago he was injured in an al-qaeda attack the bbc called that terrorism so you do use it in the middle east conflict contest so they are very disingenuous in their use of language but i'd like to say there's been a lot of people talking about the use of the word terrorist i think there's a bigger problem than that and that is just the misinformation so you constantly have on screen on bbc a figure for civilian death toll in gaza without explaining that this figure is provided by khamas is totally unreliable almost certainly exaggerated so of course the ordinary person the ordinary viewer is going to think well of course we sympathize with the palestinians of course israel isn't taking enough care to avoid civilian casualties if thousands of civilians have been killed by israeli airstrikes in the last two weeks and i would say we have no evidence whatsoever that thousands of civilians are being killed other than khamas's claims and we know perfectly well that khamas is unreliable and the bbc and other conflicts were not for example take isis's figures or al-qaeda's figures and just broadcasting them without even mentioning the only people saying them are isis or al-qaeda i think it is important to mention that with those figures coming out of the khamas run health ministry and other palestinian authorities in the gaza strip that there is no distinction being made between the khamas terrorists that are being targeted and killed versus the innocent civilians that happen to be in harm's way because they are used as human shields now with that being said it's also important to note that while criticism on the bbc is increasing and and evidently rightly so it is not all bbc journalists because there have been countless journalists that have resigned from their positions all come on air to personally either apologize or admit into their mistakes and we're also seeing that sort of flowing now into a lot of other international media for example cnn there's a lot of liberal or genuinely progressive journalists and anchors that tend to now be questioning a lot of the people that they normally bring on that are pro palestinian voices and so important to note that there is somewhat a shift but also that there is this mainstream narrative against israel well i'm not sure i share that assessment i have i watch the media a lot from all kinds of stations and i've not seen a lot of people come on they've been former bbc staffers when it's too late now criticize the organization they're no longer working for including the previous head of bbc television has written articles for the data telegraph in london criticizing the organization but i'm not suggesting they're not by the way fair reporters at the bbc of course some of them are fair but overall no i don't think they've apologized at all or gone back at all i'd also say since you mentioned figures that even the hospital incident rocketing in gaza which hit a car park of the hospital not the hospital there's no evidence at all that more than 20 30 people fatalities happen that's what european intelligence agencies say so they're still reporting it as hundreds of casualties there's a kind of misunderstanding that israel is scrupulous about its information even now they're counting one by one to identify bodies not to exaggerate the number of hostages for example is probably higher than the official figure but they don't want to exaggerate whereas on the other side we have an entirely unreliable organization we don't believe everything that i don't know vladimir putin says right we don't believe what north korea says why should we believe what hammers says about numbers of figures i'd also just point out about anti-semitism a lot of it is subconscious so there was a famous phrase about the germans after the holocaust by an israeli psychoanalyst who said with great irony the germans will never forgive the dunes for Auschwitz so i would say the bbc will never forgive israel for not bombing a hospital they want israel to behave badly so they can then say look at that terrible israeli state that we should delegitimize right i think even without behaving badly tom grass if i if i may be so bold to say that that unconscious bias tends to seep through even without israel giving them due cause i want to thank you so very much british journalist and middle east expert tom grass for joining us today thank you now since the heinous attack against israel on october 7th individuals and organizations across the world mainly from jewish communities have sought to export military supplies for israeli soldiers some of these suppliers include advanced body armor vest clothing to protect against radar infrared and other types of sensors and helmets to provide ballistic protection unfortunately the best intentions to protect israeli soldiers have run afoul of many of these nations that export because of their control regulations but with firsthand reports from various army units in the country that critic