 Israel's story to the world, I-24 News Channels. I'm Sarah Martinez and you're watching I-24 News. Today marks the 66th day of the war as Israel continues its ground operation in Gaza to dismantle Hamas and to bring back the 137 hostages still held captive in Gaza. A short while ago, a barrage of rockets was fired at central Israel with a direct hit in the city of Holon. Then again, David Adam Ambulance Services say it's treating a 45-year-old man in moderate condition for shrapnel wounds. The IDF says the terror organization is beginning to show signs it's collapsing, with dozens of Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip killed by the air force in the past day. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling on the remaining Hamas terrorists to surrender to Israeli troops, urging them not to sacrifice their lives for Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar. Meanwhile, the army has announced the death of three more Israeli soldiers, bringing the death toll of slain troops since the start of the war to 104. Turning to the northern border, the exchange of rocket fire continues between Israel and Hezbov, following a barrage of at least eight rockets fired from Lebanon at the northern city of Malot Tashikha this morning. The Shin Bet has released part of its questioning of a former Hamas communications minister, Yossif Al-Mansi. Let's take a listen. The country has returned more than 200 years ago. This is Hamas's achievement. Hamas's achievement is that people are suffering. I don't know how it is. What kind of people are you talking about, Yossif Al-Sinwar himself? All of them. They are coffee makers. They call on him to pray. There are many people in prayer who call on him to die. We're almost done. Because his existence destroyed the whole world. He became one of them. He was in the south. He took a road without a road. And there is a group of people around him in the same way. And the country is in a mess. I mean, all of them. I mean, all of them. I mean, the situation is not right. We're waiting. Who are they? What's the reason for this? With me in the studio is former Shin Bet coordinator, Gunan Ben-Itskha. Gunan, a pleasure to have you here. Thank you. I want to ask you, we just heard this Shin Bet interrogation of this Hamas former minister calling, Sinwall crazy, putting a lot of blame on Hamas, saying that Gaza has been put back 200 years. I want to get your analysis on what we just heard. Is what he's saying true? I must say, when I watched this interrogation of at least the things that he says, I have the feeling that basically it says what we want to hear. Because, you know, it's very easy to say, Icha Sinwall is crazy man, and he has the blame for what happened. He didn't consult with anybody else. But we know that this massacre was planned years before Icha Sinwall actually did it. And we know that this is not something that Icha Sinwall can do by himself. So I think that Hamas is the responsible. It's not only Icha Sinwall. It's the leaders of Hamas in Qatar and everywhere in the world. And to say Icha Sinwall is crazy, this is a very easy answer. We like to hear it, but I don't think this is the true. He also says that many Gazans hate him. How accurate is that? No doubt. You know, talking about maybe more than a million half Palestinians that needed to leave their homes to flee from northern part of the Gaza Strip to the south. I'm sure that all of them, living now in tents, going to bring water and food. They don't like this situation. So, of course, they will hate Icha Sinwall. But we need to make sure that this population is not going to hate us more than what they hate us already if things will get worse in the next few weeks. I want to address the videos that have been circulating over the past week of dozens of surrendered Gazan men stripped to their underwear and detained by Israeli troops inside Gaza. Now, some of these men are Hamas operatives. How many of them are actually terrorists? And why are they stripped down? Give us an explanation there. Okay. It's very hard to say how many of them are Hamas members. But we need to emphasize the reason why they are wearing only underwear is not in order to humiliate them. You see the videos from Gaza. You see the people that the militians that shoot at our troops with missiles. There are civilians. Okay. When you see them, you don't see them. Most of them you don't see in uniforms. Right. You see them in civilian clothes. So it's very hard to say they can carry bombs on themselves. So the reason why they are with underwear is to make sure that they are unarmed. And I think that some of them, of course, Hamas militias and in Gaza. It's very hard to say because many of the people, maybe even if they are not militias, they work for Hamas in the government and whatever. So for Israel, the only way to know it is to unarm them, to take them into interrogation and make sure whether they are militians or not. Right. Now, these videos, they weren't released by the IDF. But do you think that there's any sort of psychological tactic here by Israel to maybe scare Hamas terrorists into surrendering by seeing these images of, like you said, humiliation? I don't know if this was the intention in the beginning, but I heard yesterday the speech of Fabor Baida, the Hamas has spoken in Gaza Strip. And no doubt that he was, or Hamas was affected by those pictures because they talked in his speech about the coward, the soldiers of Israel and so on. So that's right now to fight back and give some answer to those pictures. Right. Yeah, they're very concerned about the pictures. What happens to these terrorists once they're arrested by Israeli forces? They are taken to interrogation either by the Shin Bet, either a secret service or the military intelligence. They give very valuable intelligence about many, many things about how Hamas is planning to fight Israel, about the tunnels, maybe about the hostages. So it's very, very important to get this information during the fight. And what has been some of the most startling discoveries by the Shin Bet in its interrogation of Hamas terrorists that were, who took part in the October 7th massacre? I don't know. Of course, I don't know, and even if I knew and I don't know, I can't reveal. But I do know, and I heard from colleagues that we got very important and very valuable information, intelligence from those people that were arrested and interrogated. IDF Chief Elci Ali Levy says the terror organization is starting to show signs of collapse. Is that true in your eyes? Does Sinoha understands that this is the beginning of the end for him? I don't know. In the end, it's not only what Sinoha thinks. I think we see the collapse of Hamas by the fact that civilians are talking, giving interviews to the media and talking harsh about Hamas. This is something that we never saw since the days that Hamas took over Gaza. So if we talk about science, the fact that civilians have, you know, the guts to come and speak out loud against Hamas, this is one of the signs. Go ahead and stay with me. I want to bring our attention to another story happening. It's not often that an Israel that the Prime Minister in the military want one thing and the security cabinet decides another. But that's what happened Sunday night when Israel's security cabinet rejected a push to return Palestinian workers from the West Bank to jobs in Israel proper. Now, Senior Correspondent Owen Alterman explains the reasons behind that move. Once upon a time in an October 6th world, this was the heiress crossing. The border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, with Palestinian traders and workers lining up to cross into Israel to do business or earn a living. But this is an October 7th world. And in that world, the Israeli security cabinet Sunday night rejected a move to return even West Bank Palestinian workers to building sites and farms inside Israel. Returning Gaza workers is a non-starter. The entry of workers from Judea and Samaria is exactly the continuation of the same concept that we warn against. We know what it is when they come full of hate and motivated. I'm not saying that all of them are, but it's enough that 10% of them are like that. For decades, West Bank Palestinians have been a key part of the Israeli workforce, filling jobs that Israelis don't want to do, an imported workforce, as in many developed countries. The establishment saw this as a win-win. The Israeli economy got workers it needs. West Bank Palestinians earned money to support their families. Then came October 7th, and reports that workers from inside the Gaza Strip helped the perpetrators navigate the Kibbutzim on which those workers had worked and slaughter Israelis, whom those workers had known. The security cabinet rejected the advice of the National Security Council and of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, making this a striking vote of no confidence. The politicians and likely the public do not trust those security services to keep out the bad guys, just like they didn't. On October 7th. Still with me here in studio is former Shin Bet coordinator, Gonen Ben-Itsra. Gonen, we just heard Owen Alterman's piece about the Israeli security cabinet rejecting the move to bring back West Bank Palestinians to work here in Israel. Of course, Israelis are concerned, they're afraid. But on the other hand, these do have repercussions in the long-term effects. Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah, so let's start with the politics. I must say, I'm happy that at least now the government is able to tell Netanyahu. No, because for the last many, many years Netanyahu always wanted things and everybody said yes. I think that from a democratic point of view, I'm very happy about the decision. From a security point of view, we have a problem because there are many Palestinians that are relied on working in Israel and getting their salaries from Israel. Israel needs those workers. And I think that as long as we don't let them work and we see what's going on in the West Bank, the West Bank is turning into a fire. We see that every night the IDF is entering cities in the West Bank in order to arrest terrorists, the risk is big. I can't deny it. So those people in the government that say there is a risk, they're right, there is a risk. But maybe the risk is bigger by not letting those people to come and work. And what are those consequences exactly, especially when we're seeing Hamas ideology widespread in the West Bank? We had the same talk and discussion during the Second Intifada and I remember that during the Second Intifada I was in charge of Ramallah area and I said that we need to let those people that are not involved with terrorism to come and work in Israel because otherwise they will go and take part in terrorism. You know, this is another way to get money. Eventually the government decided not to let them work and I think that many people were pushed into terrorism. So I'm afraid that some of them will fuel the ongoing heat and fire that goes in the West Bank. Gonan, do you believe that Hamas can truly be dismantled in Gaza? I think that we can destroy the infrastructure and we can make sure that Hamas will not rule Gaza. I don't think that we can kill or destroy the ideology or idea of Hamas and when Netanyahu in the beginning said we will destroy Hamas, we can't destroy Hamas, but we can destroy the infrastructure. Gonan, stay with me. I want to bring in our correspondents. Zach Anders is on the northern border with Lebanon. I'm Pia Klochander who's in the south in the Israeli city of Zderot. Zach, I want to start with you. What's the latest up there? What we see Hezbollah claim responsibility for the attack in the 7 a.m. hour here which saw a large barrage of seven rockets that were intercepted in the western half of this northern border, north of Haifa near the coast. We have not seen red alerts for the eastern half of this northern border like the location where we are here at Shemona which has come under fire multiple times in the last few days. The IDF does not say that there was any damage or injuries from this morning's parent attack. The interceptions appear successful. However, this last 72 hours here has seen several injuries. Soldiers that were wounded by an apparent drone attack that the IDF says was also intercepted the other day with two moderately wounded, multiple others wounded from shrapnel and smoke inhalation. This, of course, has been a simmering situation that has not escalated into a full blown conflict but the threat here as the IDF continues to urge residents to evacuate the threat being Hezbollah just over the border behind me, the hills and the mountains across from them. They are firing on positions with sometimes short-range weapons. These ATGMs, the anti-tank guided missiles that are fired by personnel also mortars, mortars launched by personnel on the ground. These positions are rather close which gives the IDF a tight window of time to respond with airstrikes and artillery. We've heard the outgoing artillery to try and target these Hezbollah positions before they retreat further into southern Lebanon. As they retreat, we've seen the IDF airstrikes even today targeting some of these locations. The IDF says these are points of interest including weapons storage facilities and where Hezbollah is congregating in small headquarters or staging areas where they're preparing for these attacks. Continued exchange of fire between the IDF and Hezbollah in the north and in the south, Pierre, we saw a barrage of rockets fired from presumably Hamas at central Israel just an hour ago. What's the latest where you are now? Right now it's calm, so to speak. There's still strikes in the northern sectors of the Gaza Strip. Notably Beth Hanun which has been nominally under Israeli operational control and they're still fighting at the northern outskirts of Gaza City in the Jebalia refugee camp and in the southeast outskirts of Gaza City in the Shizhaya neighborhood. Further south, there's heavy fighting in the region of Hanunez. Both within and without Hanunez is totally encircled for a few days already and there's heavy fighting also in the vicinity of Hanunez. Five soldiers from the same division were killed there. The announcement was made a few hours ago and just an hour ago. Five soldiers who were part of the same unit who were trapped into an arena of explosive charges as their unit was trying to cope with Hamas terrorists that were inside a school according to the IDF and that launched anti-tank guided missiles and heavy gunfire on the Israeli troops besieging the school. So you understand from that single incident how difficult it is and how dense the military infrastructure of Hamas is especially within civilian population center sensitive sites such as schools, clinics, hospitals, mosques, you name it, even humanitarian zones sometimes. And rocket fire goes on relentlessly. There were three events of rocket fire in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip on Israeli territory twice here in Zderot, a salvo of six rockets and then a salvo of two rockets all intercepted and earlier on one single rocket fired at Kibbutz Nachal Oz. This in addition to Tel Aviv and the vicinity of Tel Aviv, one impact, a lot of damage, one person moderately wounded. And regarding rockets just yesterday night, just overnight the IDF found something that looks like a beheave of 50 rockets ready to be launched on Israeli territory. So as long as the IDF does not assert its full control over the Gaza Strip and does not delimiterize the Gaza Strip, it will go on. It will take a lot of time before rocket fire stops completely. But there is a slowdown of rocket fire. You know, we know that a few days ago the IDF announced that something like 11,000 rockets were launched onto Israeli territory. So there's a bit more now. But they still have supply. They still have manufacturing sites in the tunnels. It's going to take time. Pierre, representatives of the UN Security Council are expected to visit the RAFA area today. What's the purpose of this visit? Humanitarian aid. We know that yesterday Israel allowed, after inspection, the entrance of the crossing of 100 trucks of humanitarian aid, be it material for shelters, water, food, medicines, as well as four fuel tanks and two trucks of cooking gas for the families that need to cook with the food that they get. That's not enough, according to the US administration. They want to triple that. The problem is the capacity of the RAFA border crossing. It's limited to 100 trucks a day, more or less. So they want to open in the coming days another crossing, the Kerem Shalom crossing, which has been closed since the October 7 massacre, because there was a massacre just nearby. They want to open this one because this one has a capacity of at least 500 trucks a day. That was the volume of aid into Gaza prior to October 7. So that's what they want now. So the US inspector wants to check probably the way of the inspections, the capacity of the RAFA terminal, and probably also the Kerem Shalom terminal, which is waiting for a US representative to start operating. And crossing over to you, Zach, in Israel's north Syrian state media reporting Israeli airstrikes around Damascus overnight. One more can you tell us about that? And this is an event that is still kind of shrouded in a bit of mystery because the Syrian armed forces are saying that they shot down what was Israeli attempted missile fire. However, the IDF, the IAF, rather the Israeli Air Force, has not confirmed any operations in Syria in the last 24 hours. They declined to comment on any of the claims that Syria was making regarding these earlier strikes that appear around Damascus. However, Syria appears to claim success in, despite the damage and the explosions that we see in independent media reports, Syria claims that they successfully eliminated the threat. So still not clear if there was any direct hits and what the target exactly was here in Syria. But if you step back in the last 72 hours, there was a strike in southern Syria that the IDF says they did target a Hezbollah leader in southern Syria that was operating a smaller cell of Hezbollah attempting to both drum up support and maintain some operational control over this area east of the Golan Heights in southern Syria, attempting to create some power and spear of influence there. This was a man that was arrested by U.S. forces in the mid-2000s turned over to the Iraqi authorities. There was a court trial where he was acquitted and allowed to leave Iraq and made his way into Lebanon, became a senior Hezbollah official. And so this does consider the IDF and Israeli sources do consider this a major effort here to eliminate some of the Hezbollah leaders, not necessarily the ones that are controlling the forces in the north where they're protected but more of the field commanders as these high-level, high-ranking individuals who are operating in the south commanding troops and Hezbollah forces closer to... Thank you very much for your updates from Israel's northern and southern borders. Still with me here in studio is Gonen Ben-Itschak, former Shin Bet coordinator. Gonen, Defense Minister Yohav Gadan says Hamas underestimated Israel's response to October 7th. Is that true? It doesn't seem like that for now because we see that Hamas is escalating the situation in the border. I know that Israel is trying to find a solution, a diplomatic solution to the situation in the north. No doubt that as long as Hezbollah is still on the border and I saw videos from the recent days showing Radoan force soldiers, militians on the border of Israel. This is something that we can't just ignore and it seems that this escalation means that Hezbollah is not very afraid of Israel for now. Right, absolutely. And we're seeing Hezbollah and Lebanon and then also the Houthis getting involved. Yeah, you know, I think that before the war it would seem almost a fantasy to think that we will have missiles coming from Yemen to Israel. Nobody thought, I'm talking about civilians about this threat. This is a threat that I think Israel shouldn't handle for now. There is an international issue with, of course, the Marine shipment and so on. But I think the fact that Israel doesn't want to deal with that is reasonable in our situation. If we're looking within Israel itself, are there concerns within the sheen bet of Hamas sympathizers taking up arms here? I don't think so. I don't think so. Why would you think? My question is, we do see that there has been in the past, there has been ISIS inspires who have tried to carry out attacks here in Israel, terror attacks. We see them in Jerusalem and various places around Israel. The ideology of Hamas is rampant. Could that also be as rampant here in Israel? Okay, I don't think that in Israel we see that if we are talking about the Israeli Arab population, we see that basically we had no trouble and sometimes when people ask me why, I said it's very easy. This is because there are civilians of the state of Israel. I heard yesterday about by the trying to urge Palestinians to go and make some terror attacks in Jerusalem like the one we saw just a week ago. And this is the biggest threat, terror attacks that are coming from the West Bank. Right. Thank you very much for joining me. Thank you very much. We're going off for a quick rig. Don't go anywhere. We'll be back in two minutes with our rolling coverage of the war in Israel. You're watching I-24 News. We'll be right back. State of war families completely gone down in their beds. We have no idea where is she. As our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. This week on News 24, Israel under attack. News 24 in Spanish brings the analysis and the information of the events of the war, Iron Spades. Exclusive interviews and reports from the war zone. The reaction of Spanish-speaking countries. News 24, the only medium in Spanish that keeps you informed and connected with the Latin community in Israel. News 24, only on I-24 News. Welcome back and we're staying with us here on I-24 News. My next guest, Canadian-Israeli comedian and content creator, Renny Grinchpan, is known for her funny videos on what it's like being a foreigner in Israel, raising a baby with an Israeli husband where sometimes things get literally lost in translation. But these days, Renny's content has become a little more somber. Take a look. Jewish students across America, you are unsafe right now. And this is why. Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate pens, rules, or code of conduct? Yes or no? It is a context-dependent decision, Congresswoman. This was a college campus anti-Semitism hearing that happened yesterday. This question posed to the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and UPenn is an extremely simple, clear question with a very obvious answer, and yet they could not provide that answer. If the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment. Conduct meaning committing the act of genocide? I am beyond words. I am horrified. The question is so clear. Why is she smiling? Who is this monster who is leading the young generation into the future? Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard's rules of bullying and harassment? Yes or no? It can be depending on the context. What's the context? Targeted at an individual. It's targeted at Jewish individuals. When the president of a university cannot condemn open calls for genocide against a group of people, it's only a matter of time until the genocide becomes real. Freddie, if you were in that hearing, what would you say to those university presidents? I probably would be too busy crying and shocked. The first few moments of seeing that clip, my husband had showed it to me. We woke up and my jaw was on the floor. I was like, what is that? Really? Just utterly shocked. But actually somebody who I follow, he's called the older millennial, and he said that the best things that could have been said to her was, A, what is this context that you're talking about? Yeah. Where genocide is okay, calling for the genocide if someone is okay. And B, if any other group were targeted with calls for genocide, LGBT community, the black community, it would be so black and white, the response. And I think that's what's so devastating and heart-breaking and confusing. Yeah, it feels like this war obviously has more than one front. We've got Gaza in the south, Lebanon in the north. Now the West Bank is also exploding. But there's also the social media war front. And that makes it almost even more confusing. What's been the biggest challenge for you as a content creator? I think two things, staying on top of everything that's happening. The news is running so fast lately. Every single day there's something new. And you always want to have your hand on the pulse. But also I'm interested in doing pieces that are more general talking about, why is it that the young western generation of people can't side with Israel and can't understand our perspective. And I think a big part of that is it's very psychological and it's something that needs to, we need to get into their psyche and make everything as shareable and concise and to the point and everything is possible. And hopefully eventually work through their brains and get these messages across slowly, slowly. I don't think one individual video will ever do the trick. I think it's obviously a process. Do you think this is anti-Semitism that we're facing? Or do you think this is just a complete miseducation when we're seeing these American college students that are basically chanting from the river to the sea with no understanding of, if we're going to talk about context, of what that actually means. Yeah, it's a really good question. I think it's probably a combination. Exactly. But I think, when I grew up in Canada, I was taught that everybody's equal and everybody has the same default shared set of values. And I think these young idealistic kids want to believe that if Hamas or Hamas supporters in Gaza had the ability to live totally freely that they would choose a life similar to the American lifestyle with American values. And they don't understand that I think the concept of terrorism is lost on them because, you know, a lot of... Well, now we're glorifying Osama bin Laden on TikTok. So, yeah, this is a generation who's obviously born after 9-11. I want to ask you, have you received hate messages on social media? Yeah, of course. Oh, my God. I used to be kind of like a mom vlogger type thing. And I had my son every so often appear on my page, not all the time, but every so often. And I even had Mama to Oz in my bio on TikTok. And I had to remove everything because, at first, I got a lot of comments about myself. And I was like, you know what? This is fine. I can handle this. Who cares? But then people started talking about me and my son by name. And I'm good. I'm like, I could get emotional about it even right now because, of course, yeah. But it scared me. And now you're pregnant with your second child here in Israel. You're running from rockets from here in Tel Aviv. We had rockets just an hour ago, right here. And on the other hand, you're facing anti-Semitism in your home country. How do you feel about bringing another child in this world? Oh my God, what a question. You know, I think even before all of this erupted, if I were to really think about the state of the world, I probably wouldn't bring any kids into the world. As ridiculous as that sounds, just because of, you know, I really am scared for the environment and all these things. So I kind of, to use the other side's term, produce children in a vacuum. And I really don't. I try not to think about that. Because you know what? Every generation, during the Holocaust, people still gave birth. Yeah. And you still have to have hope, I think, for the future somehow. And have hope that things will change. Look how fast and quickly things have changed in the past, you know, half-century alone. Yeah. Bringing a little bit of light amidst all this darkness. There's so much fake news online. How do you, you as a social media content creator, how do you even begin to fight it? So it's funny because somebody came up to me after a conference. I gave a talk at a conference and they were like, is this going to go anywhere? What are you going to accomplish? Like it's not going to work. And I'm like, you know, we can sit back and think that way and then not doing, do anything. Or we can fight that logic and at least try, you know, at the very least try and slowly, slowly, like I said, whittle away at this chip and this block and make some progress eventually. You know, BDS was on campuses for decades before, you know, this war and SJP and all these like crazy protesters that we see on college campuses now. So they've been working the ground for decades. And I think our real work is going to start after this war. We're going to just need to keep at it and keep at Hasbara constantly forever because Israel needs it. And that's when the real world work will begin on the young people's psyche, I think. And hopefully we can go back to seeing your funny videos and like warm about life, what it's like, life here in Israel. Hopefully, you know, it feels so silly now. Hopefully. Yeah. Rene Grinchman, thank you very much. Thank you so much. On October 7th, three members of the Calderon family were kidnapped. Father Ofer, daughter Sahar, and son Erez. Both children are home now, but their father remains in Hamas captivity. In this next report by Israel's Channel 12 News, Sahar tells older sister Gaia about the abduction pardon more than nine weeks ago, the conditions in captivity and their fears for their father. Welcome to Gaia's vlog. Take one. I was with Sahar and Erez this whole time. And I've been away from them for a day now. So let's see what they're doing. Erez, you're famous now. Can I take a picture with you? I pushed it in my mouth. Cutie. Want to make a plane? Is it recording? Yes. Gaia, Gaia, come on. What, are you serious? Yes. Heck, what am I? Three years old? Patent and captivity. I'm back to the age of six. Come on. That's how it feels. Do you want to talk? What will I tell them? Let's maybe tell what happened in the kibbutz. Because, you know, there are a lot of stories. True. The fear you experience there. Yes. Do you understand the fear of death? You know that mom came to the kibbutz and then she found your and dad's shirt behind the safe room where you escape from the window. Not behind. No. In the bush. In the bush, yes. And she found the shirt. And I was freaking out. Then when she was freed, she came back and told me what had happened. They just got out and dad told her, take off your shirt because it was white. They were both wearing a white shirt. Dad and her, he told her, take off your shirt because it stands out. Because there were a lot of holes in the bush. It was badly hit. I don't know how they didn't catch us for two hours. Yes. And we saw the whole thing. We were in the first neighborhood. The first row in the kibbutz that they entered. They entered in a crazy rush as if they were drunk from... It said some of them took drugs. Makes sense. Hard drugs. Yes. That's what made it possible to be so. Crazed. Animals. Without thinking about it. They didn't have to think. It was like living in a movie to them. You understand? It was like I was in a movie. The bush they were hiding in was in front of the fence. Where all the terrorists entered from. They saw all of them. From this side there was a road that everyone passing by could see us. So we went right into the bush and crouched down and we were quiet and I couldn't move. I was uncomfortable. I lost sensation in my legs. When did you split up from Dad? Because you said he told you to run to another place and you didn't notice. Dad told us when we actually got to the bush, he said, if someone catches us or grabs us, we run over there. He showed where we set a place. Eris and Dad ran there as we agreed and I couldn't move because of my legs. Oh, you tried to move and couldn't? Yes, I couldn't move and my feet were showing so someone was actually standing in front of me and I also only saw his feet. And I saw that he had a weapon and he shot right in my direction. He shot near your feet? Yes, he shot and then I got out of that bush. Then I saw that they were taking Eris. Oh, really? I saw that. You didn't tell me that. Didn't I tell you? Oh, you actually saw Eris being taken. I saw a boy with a black shirt because he was wearing a black shirt and one or two people just took him and he went. These children put them down and leave them here without arming them. Those ones, without hurting them, don't hurt them. Eris, before they took him, he tried to climb. It was like a space between two walls and he just climbed with his legs and hands. He tried to climb to the roof. He almost reached the roof. But some terrorist came in and said to him, get down. No. No? He said that a terrorist came to him with a gun like that, pointed at the gun and told him come. Oh, okay. As if to climb down. Wow. What a smart boy he was. Yes. I just remember him shouting. I don't know if he shouted, but he said, enough, enough, enough. The guys are careful with these ones. And Dad, you haven't seen him? I didn't see Dad at all. Even when I ran away, I don't know, I didn't see him. I guess he was running fast, so I didn't see where he went. Eris saw Dad being beaten badly. Yes, he saw them dragging Dad on the floor. Oh, he saw him being dragged on the floor? I think that's what he told me. I saw my father's Jeep on fire. Then within 15 minutes, the whole neighborhood was filled with all the citizens of Gaza. They opened the gate there. It's like I was inside Gaza. That's how it felt. Only in your house, in the yard of your house. Yes, yes. In my safe place, I heard lots of gunshots and screams from all around. I was stressed out. How stressed? I thought they were going to kill me. I said, well, I'm going to die. Then suddenly I ran to the other side because I didn't know what to do. And I thought that I would be able to escape from there. Then I came there and 10 men, terrorists, just looked at me and then they approached me and I sat down on the floor. To show them that do what you want, I'm with you. No, I was just scared. Then two terrorists just picked me up and took me and put me on a motorcycle. At half past nine, were you still at the kibbutz? At ten, they took me. Now that Sahar is back, we know exactly what's happening there and we know that it's impossible to survive something like this for so long. We were terribly worried about him, terribly. Especially since the only thing we know is that he was beaten like crazy. And probably injured. I can't believe they settled for letting him bleed a little. I don't know, the situation there is not good. Physically, the food, the water, the conditions. That is in danger. Because hostages do not receive even the basic needs to survive. We really worry about our father and we want him to come back. He deserves to see his family. All the people still there, they deserve to come home. It's not just our father, it's the fathers of many families. Yes, Aris saw that he was in a bad condition. I also know from Sahar and Aris that the idea of constantly bombing is right next to them. It doesn't matter where they are. It's really incessant and scary bombings. I'm going to bug Aris a bit. What are you filming? Make a pretty face. Eating donuts for Hanukkah. Handsome. If you didn't know, Sahar, when she came out of captivity, she looked like a model. Absolutely not. As if she'd come off the catwalk. Absolutely not. Wow, God. When Sahar and Aris came back, I think it was a crazy moment. Sahar looks at me and says, I love you, I love you. I grabbed her head and told her, everything is fine, I'm here. And finally, I could calm her down and take care of her properly. You see that these are the same children, the same siblings that you really waited for. Just with added fears, not feeling comfortable, not feeling safe anywhere. It's the fear of going out. It's the fear of sleeping alone in the dark. It's not trusting anyone. It's a great trauma they experienced. In my opinion, we'll never go away. And everyone will find their own way of coping. And with me in studio is I-24 News anchor Kalev Ben-Divide. Kalev, I want to take a quick listen to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who says Israel, not the US, will decide when to end its war against Hamas and Gaza. Let's take a quick listen. We have these discussions with Israel, including about the duration, as well as how it's prosecuting this campaign against Hamas. These are decisions for Israel to make. But Hamas has decisions to make too. It could get out from hiding behind civilians tomorrow. It could put down its arms tomorrow. It could surrender tomorrow, and this would be over. Kalev, it's a different type of messaging than what we've heard from Washington in the past few weeks. Just a few weeks ago, Blinken was saying that Israel needs to wrap up, not within months, within weeks, its operation. Yeah, I would say this. Israel is going to decide, but we're nudging it to a certain decision. I think Blinken is responding to reports, which Washington has denied that emerged just in the past few days, saying that the US has given this kind of firm deadline to Israel. Right. They wanted to wrap up, they wanted to wrap up first one report saying by the end of the year, second by wrap it up by the middle of January. So I think Blinken was responding to those reports. The US officials, by the way, publicly have denied those reports saying that there was a firm deadline giving to Israel. You have to wrap it up by this particular date. So I think Blinken was responding to that. But at the same time, yes, as you said, the US has been urging Israel to move quickly or move the military operation as quick as it can for a couple of reasons. One is the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which also impacts on Middle East policy for the United States. We've seen attacks on criticism of the US. They were the lone veto at the Security Council, which is sort of uncomfortable position for the US to be in. The other day on that resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Also, we've seen increased attacks on US forces in the Middle East in places like Iraq and Syria sparked by the Israel Hamas conflict. And we also have to say there's some domestic political considerations. Elections around the corner. President Biden, there were elements in his party, the progressive left elements that aren't happy with the way the war, Israel's conducting the war necessarily. And President Biden, though he's being opposed in the unopposed, basically in the primaries, he needs that part of the Democratic party to support him in the general election against Donald Trump or someone else. And so he doesn't want to see this bleed over to the election campaign. Kolev, you mentioned a ceasefire. Where do negotiations stands between the US, Qatar, or Egypt and Israel to bring back those hostages, the remaining hostages? There's some conflicting versions. Just yesterday, Israel has said there are no current talks. They said Hamas violated the last ceasefire, would not provide a list of female hostages or kinds of speculation as to why that was. So Israel said it was Hamas that broke over the talks. Hamas, of course, is saying differently. And then the prime minister of Qatar yesterday speaking in Doha, what's called the Doha forum, saying that, oh, there are still discussions, the process going forward. He didn't specify who was talking with who. Presumably, it's mainly Qatar speaking with the US and maybe Qatar speaking with Hamas and the US speaking with Israel. But right now, it's not looking as if, to my mind, that's going to be a ceasefire. I think that might only change if there's a point where the Hamas leadership, Mohammed Def and Iqi Sinwar are really trapped at the end game and they may try to bargain hostages even for their freedom if they can. And Jake Sullivan is also expected to make a visit to Israel again. Well, again, the nudging. I don't think it's a coincidence, Jake Sullivan coming as the US wants to see two things. They want to see the Israel booster humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip and take greater care, not to harm civilians. Also, he wants more discussions on that end game the day after. What happens the day after Hamas is defeated and the day after is already starting to come on us. We see Hamas losing control in the northern Gaza Strip. We saw reports this morning that the Prime Minister has assembled a secret team. We all know about it now. But a team of his closest advisors, Zachi and Negbi, the head of the National Security Council, Minister of Regional Affairs Ron Dermer and security officials to start talking concretely about the day after the US wants to get in on those discussions and wants to start getting some answers from Israel. So that's my question. Do the US and Israel share the same vision of Gaza after the war? Well, if you mean the current Israeli government or Benjamin Netanyahu and the US, no, for sure not. There's two specific points that they've been, they've been giving conflicting views on. One, whether the Palestinian Authority, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, will have any role. The Israel says no or not unless there are some major changes in the Palestinian Authority, the end of incitement against Israel, the pay for sleep policy, where the PA pays money towards terrorist families, and also maybe some of the individuals that have involved. Maybe Mahmoud Abbas himself, whereas the US has been more forth-willing saying, yes, we want to see reform, but we need to see the PA there. And the other is discussion about whether Israel is going to make some kind of security zone in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians are not going to be able to approach the border fence even by a distance of a couple of kilometers. And the Strip is only, you know, something, I think something like 10 kilometers or whatever, it's short, so that is another point of contention. Speaking of the US, the UN General Assembly will meet again tomorrow to discuss another resolution on humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. I want to take a listen to what Democratic US Senator Bernie Sanders had to say about a supposed ceasefire. Terms of a permanent ceasefire. I don't know how you can have a permanent ceasefire will come up, was said before October 7th and after October 7th, that they want to destroy Israel. They want a permanent war. I don't know how you have a permanent ceasefire with an attitude like that. Kolev Bernie Sanders seeking a different stance there compared to other Democrats. Very interesting, very interesting, because Bernie Sanders known as one of the leaders of that so-called progressive wing of the Democratic Party that's been very critical of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians and it continues to be. And Bernie Sanders kind of splitting with his base, that base a little bit for him, saying, you know, I don't see how you could have a permanent ceasefire right now while Hamas on the power, which is the Israeli position. Very interesting to see Bernie Sanders take that view. And it just shows you maybe the impact, the shock of October 7th. And we do have to say, there are people in the so-called liberal progressive camp, I would say leftist camp, I would say leftist progressive camp in the U.S. that have shifted somewhat since October 7th. A sort of reckoning moment with the situation here. Absolutely, yes, Kestrel Nefesh as we call in Hebrew, a soul searching that they've done. Bernie Sanders may be one of them, but we have to say the majority though, still not, still primarily putting the blame on Israel for the situation. Specifically in American University campuses, Kaleb Ben-Divide, thank you very much for joining me. Pleasure. We're going out for a quick break. Don't go anywhere, we'll be back in two minutes with our rolling coverage of the war in Israel. You're watching I-24 News, we'll be right back. Made for me, official dresser of I-24 News. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. A state of war, families completely gone down in their beds. We have no idea where is she. As our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Welcome back and thanks for staying with us here on I-24 News. If you're just joining us today, marks the 66th day of the war as Israel continues its ground operation in Gaza to dismantle Hamas and bring back the 137 hostages still held captive in Gaza. Earlier today, a barrage of rockets were fired at Central Israel with a direct hit in the city of Holon. Again, David Adam Services treated a 45-year-old male in moderate condition for shrapnel wounds. The IDF says the terror organization is beginning to show signs it's collapsing with dozens of Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip killed by the Air Force in the past day. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling on the remaining Hamas terrorists to surrender to Israeli troops, urging them not to sacrifice their lives for Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar. Meanwhile, the army has announced the death of three more Israeli soldiers bringing the death toll of slain troops since the start of the war to 104. Turning to the northern border, the exchange of rocket fire continues between Israel and Hezla, falling a barrage of at least eight rockets fired from Lebanon at the northern city of Ma'alot Tal Sihat this morning. Our defense correspondent Jonathan Regev brings us the latest on the operation in Gaza. House to house, alleyway to alleyway. This is what urban warfare in the dense Gaza neighborhoods looks like. While the IDF forces are massive but exposed, the small Hamas squads, much more familiar with the narrow streets, appear from the tunnels for just a few seconds. They hope to score with an explosive device or an anti-tank missile The IDF's aim is to hit them from the ground or from the air before they do it. Hundreds of terrorists have been killed just in the past few days. Hundreds more understand this will be their fate if they continue fighting and choose instead to surrender among them some top officials. A group of crazy people led by Yahya Sinwar destroyed everything. They destroyed the Gaza Strip and took it 200 years backwards. Hamas itself may be trying to portray images of resilience in Gaza but the former minister is telling a different story. Hamas, the Qasam Brigades and especially Yahya Sinwar are responsible for the situation. This is my opinion but also the opinion of the people. They are saying that Sinwar and his people destroyed us and we have to get rid of them. The images of surrender are coming from the north of the Strip. The hope is to see them soon in the south. That is why the IDF is pushing forward towards Chanyunes in order to keep this going supplies are constantly provided to the forces for those deep inside they come from the air. The 98th Division is operating in Chanyunes. We keep providing them in every way possible. Together with the Air Force and the technological and logistical unit we provide them with all types of supplies from the air. Our division is able to do that even when there is no way to reach our commando fighters by land. The constant logistical assistance along with a massive firepower should eventually lead to victory in Chanyunes as well. At 24 News correspondent Zach Anders is on the Israel Lebanon border. Zach, what's the latest there? We have received a little bit more info about this earlier rocket attack that began in the 7 o'clock hour this morning in the western half of this northern border just north of Haifa. It does appear that seven rockets were fired from southern Lebanon and the IDF has now struck that position where the rockets were launched. This is a normal occurrence if you could put it in that context of just daily back and forth with the Hezbollah exchanges that are taking place in southern Lebanon. They'll fire and then retreat further north inside the country trying to escape these IDF retaliatory strikes. We're seeing more from the IDF the retaliatory strike appears to hit structure that apparently was nearby one of these locations. In the last 24 hours the IDF says that Hezbollah was firing from a UN base from a United Nations facility that were firing in close proximity. The United Nations has since released a statement issuing that they did receive damage nearby to their location based on what appears to have been the IDF retaliating on this position. Of course that's a very tense situation considering the United Nations involvement in southern Lebanon here and their presence of not only aid but of security forces as well. And this is against a backdrop of apparent strikes in Syria in the last 24 hours as well as a movement inside Iran with apparent small explosions that are being seen on social media. Of course how that all ties together is yet to be seen. But for regional stability here there continues to be these military exchanges happening in many different places and continuing to expose this northern front. Zach Anders, thank you for that update and from the northern border to the southern border, Pierre Klochenler is in Sderot. Pierre where are the remaining Hamas strongholds in the Gaza Strip at this hour? There are three major strongholds that are being assaulted by the Israeli ground forces. There's other strongholds that haven't been touched yet by the ground forces. The three zones of fighting are Jebalia in the northern outskirts of Gaza city in this direction and then in the southeast outskirts of Gaza city and then south of Gaza city in and the vicinity of these are the three major make or break ground offensives at this moment. Make or break because the IDF believes that the political leadership and the military leadership of Hamas are located in Hanyunas since the onset of the ground offensive. They moved from Gaza city which was basically the Hamas hub to Hanyunas that has become the Hamas hub. There is the most important fighting because if they manage to decapitate so to speak the military and political leadership of Hamas then there is a great chance that Hamas will start dismantling at least that's the conception of the army. Now in these three zones of fighting there's also casualties. Five of the soldiers that their death have been announced publicly by the IDF occurred in Hanyunas near a school on the eastern outskirts of the city which was booby trapped with many explosive charges. The ground forces wanted to invest the school because they were Hamas terrorists that were launching anti-guided tank missiles at the troops as well as gunfire. So when they besieged that school part of the unit entered and was trapped into that arena of explosive charges and five of them died yesterday. So that shows you not only the ferocity of the battle and there's a lot of close range battle but also it shows you the density of the military infrastructure of Hamas which can be underground but which can also be in very sensitive sites such as schools clinic hospitals mosques you just name it and that's the reason why the offensive is methodical and slow even behind me in the northern sector which is supposed to be under full Israeli operational control there are still residues of resistance there are still clashes such as in Bethanon just behind me there were a lot of strikes on Bethanon earlier in the morning and that shows also that is very prudent because there are also 137 hostages maybe in the tunnels maybe in buildings so the IDF has to act very cautiously and also the humanitarian dimension you don't want to kill non-involved civilians Thank you very much for that update from Steylott. In studio with me is defense correspondent Jonathan Raghav Jonathan why is fighting in Gaza more difficult than in the northern border? Fighting in Hanyunas a bit more difficult than Gaza city and let's understand a bit the differences the area of Hanyunas is much wider than the area of Gaza where Pierre was just standing right next to it is the Gaza border and the distance to the sea is very short 5-6 kilometers and you're already on the shore meaning the whole width the Gaza strip if we're looking at how wide it is in the northern Gaza strip it's about 10 kilometers in the southern part in the southern part of the Gaza strip Hanyunas it can be much wider therefore in Gaza city there's no other choice for the incoming forces but to basically take down a lot of the buildings understanding that there may be anti there may be terror squads waiting in those buildings and along with those buildings collapse many of the booby trapped buildings booby trapped encirclements where Hamas was hoping to drag the Israeli soldiers to the area of Hanyunas being much wider is not as densely populated at least the eastern part which is closer to the border not as densely populated as Gaza city there are some agricultural fields and therefore you cannot take down a whole building because there's no building in that agricultural area but there are IEDs as the forces come in there are IEDs and they hit the soldiers in Gaza city in Jebalia and Sajayia all those names mentioned many of the buildings were taken down and all the explosives taken down with them in the area of Hanyunas they're hidden under agricultural land and waiting for the soldiers coming in that is why fighting within the Hanyunas area may be a bit more not necessarily more difficult but can cost more lives than it did in Gaza eventually the Israeli army can come in and will come in but it can come along with more casualties and still remains Hamas's complex tunnel system which has obviously been more developed since the last time IDF troops were there on the ground in Gaza I'm assuming absolutely if we're looking at the situation now in 2014 the infrastructure that Hamas is built is completely different that's on one hand and on the second end we spoke back in 2014 of a ground incursion of two kilometers maybe three kilometers that's as far as Israeli army went in not even close to what we're seeing now the aim there was to reach the Gaza opening of the tunnels which came into Israel and destroy them two kilometers maybe sometimes three kilometers into Gaza that's it now we're speaking of the whole Gaza Strip with everything that is involved in it the populated areas the agricultural areas which we mentioned a whole completely different scenario Jonathan we've we're deep into the operation now but the question that keeps on coming back especially from our international viewers abroad is how did this even happen how did October 7th happen how was it possible that Hamas who was training just right at the border just a hundred meters away from the border how did the IDF and security and intelligence apparatus how did we miss this it's what is incredibly sad it happened on October 7th a day after October 6 when Israel marked 50 years to the Yom Kippur war when exactly the same happened there were so many signs indicating what Hamas is just about to do just as back then there were so many signs indicating what Egypt and Syria were about to do but the Israeli leadership especially the intelligence community were under a certain impression that Hamas is deterred, that Hamas is weak, that Hamas has no plans of doing anything of this kind and incursions somewhere along the border perhaps there were observation posts right there on the border saying hey we see them they're training right there in front of us something's happening that is true and the soldiers did say that those soldiers mainly female by the way female soldiers warned again and again and again we're seeing them training we're seeing them coming closer to the fence we're seeing them hiding things in the ground under the fence but no one listened to them because in the higher echelon there was a certain concept saying that Hamas is deterred, that Hamas is weak that Israel conducted two separate operations in less than a year against the Islamic jihad targeting the Islamic jihad and Hamas refrained and Israel interpreted that as Hamas is deterred and Hamas is only Hamas only wants to deal with the welfare of the Ghazan community that was the perfect disguise Hamas was constantly preparing for this Israel saw what was happening it saw but it refused to believe and it cost us with October 7th Absolutely and a quick update here Russia's deputy foreign minister has spoken with Hamas representatives and demanded the release of hostages still held by the UN General Minister Vladimir Putin spoke to each other I don't know what that means but might be connected Jonathan Rygev thank you very much for that update I want to bring in another voice into the conversation Marcus Sheff he's the CEO of Impact SE that's an international research and policy organization that monitors and analyzes education around the world Marcus thank you very much for joining me I'm very curious to hear about Impact SE's recent report on UNRAS schools in Gaza Western funded UN agencies where most of Ghazan's children are taught what were your findings there Well the I think major findings and the most important findings in relation to UNRAS is what they teach children every single school day and you know if you look at the terrible events of October the 7th in fact told you that children are taught in UNRAS schools in Gaza in the West Bank that suicide bombings are glorified to cut off the necks of the enemy that Jews are sinful liars and fraudsters and they will be annihilated and UNRAS has its own material about a fire bomb attack from Jews which they call a barbecue party and that Jews control many in politics students are punished by teachers for not connecting Judaism the religion with murder you know master M&G had taught us the most important things in life to die as a martyr killing infidels means they will go to heaven dying is preferable to living you know I could go on but if you put all these examples and these are just some of examples of the material in textbooks taught by UNRAS and then you look at those terrible events about October the 7th the rape and the murder of those things excuse me you put them together clearly there is connective tissue there is a link and then if you consider that those 3,000 terrorists that came over the border that October the 7th morning the majority of schools in Gaza are UNRAS schools so you'd have to be the world's greatest statistician to take a wild guess that those terrorists went to UNRAS schools so you know ultimately the material that they have been indoctrinated with day after day, week after week month after month this laid the groundwork for their dehumanization of Jews, dehumanization of Israelis and to conduct those terrible terrible acts you know clearly there is a lot more material that we found UNRAS schools celebrating and supporting the October the 7th attack UNRAS teachers and employees writing on their facebook about their support for the attacks and that Jews should be killed and that no mercy Marcus I just want to cut you off here for a second because these were UN employees these are western funded bodies organizations that are in charge of the education of young children has the UN and UNRAS responded to your report UNRAS is in a constant state of denial whether you know this is because they genuinely cannot believe that teachers would do this you know I find that hard to believe you know I think that UNRAS is frankly a failure on every measurable level except for its PR I think it's a superb PR it has a very good PR budget it has an office on K Street in Washington so that it can lobby the American government and that they are good at everything else I feel you know they have just entirely been unable to do this basic thing of duty of care in educating young people in standards of peace and tolerance and you know if you look at UNRAS this enormous organization literally the biggest organization in the United Nations that deals with one set of refugees those are Palestinians while UNHCR works in 76 countries with 20,000 employees as opposed to the 30,000 of UNRAS it is a business frankly and it operates like a business it inflates the number of those in its care and it drives this unique funding model where which no other refugee agency the other one UNHCR in the United Nations no other refugees in the world get and that is that you can frankly be a descendant of a descendant of a refugee and still be counted by UNRAS and therefore still get funds as you say from the international community this is a situation which I think is the very basis of the problem with UNRAS but you know when we look at the education system and that is the majority of UNRAS budget and that is what we are focused on it is absolutely horrifying and no UNRAS provaricates UNRAS provides excuses UNRAS does not do what it needs to do which is teach peace and tolerance educations in neutral UN agency therefore it is frankly not fit for purpose the whole idea that their oversight is in-house their accountability is in-house the complete lack of transparency this I think we can no longer allow to happen if there is not proper transparency proper oversight proper accountability within UNRAS we are just going to go back to where we started UNRAS is without a shadow without absolutely no problem in relation to the radicalization of children in its schools that has to stop and it has to stop now and those countries who support UNRAS have to be part of a solution and not continue to perpetuate the problem which is UNRAS Marcus chef thank you very much for your insight today harrowing testimonies from survivors of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th continued to surface the Belia family was visiting their grandmother's house in Ophakeem in the Gaza Strip when terrorists began to attack all 10 family members including a one month old baby escaped through a window and hid for hours on their neighbors roof the one who heroically covered for the family that was the last one to make his way out through the window was Ariel Belia before he managed to get out he was killed by a terrorist now his widow Shoshana Belia tells us the story and we started to hear bliss off bliss off he came out of the house because he was my wife because everyone was big outside and he said let's go to the second place he opened the window and he tried to see what was going on there we saw two soldiers two soldiers with vests and from the the other side of the window he was shot with a gun he was shot with a knife and shot behind the wall he shot the two soldiers he saw the gun and he had to shoot them he told them don't look at me I will shoot you and we saw it from above and he shot the the bullet we went to the last room where there were children fighting Ariel took something to protect herself to protect ourselves, he was right he found it very small he took it and he stood on the ceiling he stood behind the ceiling and said to the ceiling I told him Ariel was shot here I shot him I shot the children and I heard their voices in the house one came in and he called the other he called Ahmad he opened the window he called Ahmad to come and he heard the two talking and they were in front and I told Ariel I shot him I shot the window and I told him what was wrong with you and he said don't tell me everything is fine I am fine I shot the window and I looked at him and he opened the window he opened it and he shot the first one outside and he shot the second one outside the window and then he shot me and then I saw the window on the right I shot him and he came and I shot him I saw the door I saw the children I saw the children I thought they were coming they were coming they were coming and I called and I told them what was wrong and they told me everything is fine and I told him I am going to see what is going on and I am going to see what is going on and they told me don't shoot don't go anywhere because if you shoot and they shoot they will come and kill us and they will kill the children and they will kill us there was a moment when his son his little son and he just shot me I tried to shoot and he really shot me and he shot me and my father even told me to shoot and I said let's do it we are dead the first thing we saw they told me I told them he was going to die he was going to die it was a matter of seconds and he said he is dead I started to cry I started to cry it wasn't much time they told us that we need to get out and I didn't want to go back and they said we need to get out we are going out for a quick break but don't go anywhere we will be back in two minutes with our rolling coverage of the war in Israel you are watching I-24 news we will be right back in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where we see as our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well there have been countless memorable moments in the past six years but for me the one that stands out the most was the first time that I had ever personally heard a rocket siren sounding in Tel Aviv and at that moment we were live on air in studio I will never forget the moment our senior producer said to me in my ear the sirens of sounding in Tel Aviv the control room was going to the shelter with me in studio at the time were Michael Herzog a former Brigadier General today the Israeli Ambassador to the United States and Arsene Ostrovsky an international human rights lawyer and their responses were completely different Michael Herzog was calm and composed and on the other hand Arsene Ostrovsky was trying to phone his family and check in to make sure that his loved ones were okay the camera that normally faces us was hoisted from above there was an overhead shot of the three of us in studio you could see colleagues going to the shelter if you looked at the glass behind the studio and obviously we lost contact with our team on the ground our reporters in Ashkelon and all the witnesses that we were speaking to during that time when rockets are coming towards a residential area they don't distinguish between race, religion political views, cultural views they just intend to harm civilians and that moment being in studio hearing those interceptions overhead was the most real coverage I have ever been involved in welcome back and thanks for staying with us here on I-24 News it was supposed to be a celebration of music and peace turned into the deadliest concert attack in history the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival in southern Israel on October 7th left hundreds of partygoers butchered, killed, raped and kidnapped innocent young men and women who just wanted to dance and have a good time were slaughtered this next report is a compilation from the party that turned into a massacre a warning to our viewers footage is triggering when I was alive that's when I realized that this video is a mistake but if not I love you the line of the movie and the name of the movie is actually written from the images of the social media because it was the generation of the generation that was involved who gave all the time at all times the smiles, the love the world as much as it was and I didn't have one that didn't work out following the attacks of October 7th and the content that you just witnessed the subsequent failure from international bodies like the United Nations to condemn Hamas activists around the world have taken to creative ways to bring attention to the victims of the attack attending a reception for Finland's the presidential palace the president of the Jewish community of Finland Yaron Nadbonik wore a hashtag bring them home now necklace that's a dog tag that many Israelis have been wearing in the name of those hostages to bring them back home well his wife Gali's dress featured the name of the hostages still held in Gaza and doing we now from New York is New York City Councilwoman for the 48th district in Brooklyn thank you very much for joining me thank you so much for having me you recently attended the annual Manhattan Republican Club Gala where you wore a striking blue and white evening dress emblazoned with the Israeli flag we can just see there right there on your screens tell me what pushed you to make this statement you know I woke up on Friday morning realizing that I have this gala to go to it's gonna have a couple thousand people attending and I wanted to go bringing a message of support for Israel and I just had this idea that I could wear a dress with the flag of Israel and that would send a strong message to New Yorkers and to really Jews around the world and not just Jews everyone around the world that we support Israel that you know there are people in New York City who support you who stand with you who will fight for you that's what we've been doing it's been really tough also here in New York City seeing the glorification of Hamas watching what's happening in our college campuses and a lot of Jews in New York City are afraid right now to express their identity to express their support for Israel even to wear a star of David or to just identify as Jews and that is extremely scary in the United States of America in 2023 and so I wanted to kind of send a message that we should not be afraid we should not stay silent we should be proud and we should be loud and you know continue supporting Israel publicly in any way that we can we can see that dress right behind you tell me what were some of the reactions at the gala the reactions were incredible so many people came over to me and took photos and I was so excited to see this amazing dress but as you know people can tell on social media there's so much hatred they've actually some activists as they call keyboard warriors on twitter actually you know put blood on the dress and so and also placed me in a photo on top of Gaza as if I'm a terrorist or a Nazi I've been getting calls on my phone asking for adult Eichmann so you know they're obviously portraying me and Israel as a terrorist they're lying they're Hamas sympathizers it does not intimidate me I will continue fighting for what I believe is right as a councilwoman how do you deal with this and all these hate messages well I have to say you know in New York City there are 51 members of the city council and it's been really tough to be a loud voice for Israel to even standing against anti-Semitism a couple of months ago I proposed a resolution a simple resolution to proclaim a day to end Jew hatred there was nothing controversial about that resolution and we had six members of the New York City council who did not vote yes some of them abstained some of them voted no but a no unending Jew hatred in New York City in 2023 what a shame what an embarrassment to me and you know for Holocaust survivors who are watching this it's just incredibly scary to see this in a place that's supposed to be a place of acceptance and tolerance for all that was once a refuge to Jewish immigrants and also I proposed a resolution to Khadim Hamas and that resolution didn't move in New York City which has the largest Jewish population of any city in the world outside of Israel tell me you represent parts of South Brooklyn with a significant Jewish population how are you ensuring their safety so we have a mayor who is responsible for the safety of all New Yorkers and I think he's you know he's been trying it's it's tough with the radical left in New York City screaming very loudly the anti-police rhetoric the bail reform that we have in New York State but I am doing everything I can on my part we work closely with the police the NYPD is has really been amazing I have to give them a lot of credit they do what they can there's been a lot of this anti-police sentiment here and a lot of police officers have retired and moved to other states but I try whatever I can we've also created patrol groups we have a patrol group in the Asian community that we've created there is a group called Shomrim that's been around for a while we work closely with them when there's not enough police people call me from all over New York City because I've been loud and anti-semitism I haven't been silent I've been putting pressure on the people in office the people in charge to make sure that we are safe and that they're held accountable when they don't speak up and they don't you know they don't help I want to get your reaction to those Ivy Leagues American Ivy League school presidents who have failed to condemn anti-semitism and calls for genocide against Jewish students on campus I have to say the world is shocked to see this at Penn and Harvard and MIT I am not this has been going on for a long time I've been following this since 2015 they there have been these protests on college campuses for years now and nobody has been paying attention to it nobody has been held responsible the group that's really across across all college campuses called Students for Justice in Palestine they are anti-semitic anti-Israel they scream and yell they're anti-Israel anti-semitic rhetoric outside inside the schools and nobody has been doing anything about it last year we held an unprecedented hearing in the city council exposing anti-semitism and I had asked the University of New York 26 campuses all over New York City I had asked them do you know what it means when they say anti-fada do you know what it means when they yell globalized anti-fada do you understand that those calls lead to violence these people have no idea what these things mean these groups are outside the universities inside the universities screaming and yelling for anti-fada for an annihilation of the Jewish people in the state of Israel these universities have no idea what this means and they have not taken any precautions or committed to any action combating anti-semitism on their campuses their students do not feel safe just a couple of months ago at one of our schools we had kids locked in a library because pro-Palestinian protesters were yelling and screaming and knocking on their doors and they were scared to death they were shaking in their knees so the school had escaped through a back door exit and then said that everything was safe we had a situation at Hillcrest High School here in Queens where a teacher was they were threatened to execute a teacher and there was a riot the day after and the administrators just don't understand why this is happening it's really systemic and I'm doing everything I can to speak out and hold the people in leadership accountable New York City Councilwoman Ina Vanikov thank you very much for your insight today Thank you so much for having me As Jewish people around the world celebrate Hanukkah the festival of lights and miracles has taken a whole new meaning this year after the October 7th massacre the largest massacre of Jews in a single day after the Holocaust displaced residents of Israel south returned to Kibbutz Beri one of the main communities targeted by Hamas terrorists on that fateful day and dedicated this year's first candle lighting ceremony to those killed and pled for the release of all Israeli hostages take a look it's Hanukkah the festival of lights and Jews around the world are celebrating here in Kibbutz Beri on the Gaza border targeted by Hamas terrorists on October 7th the celebrations are mixed with feeling of sorrow and despair a group of volunteers and members of the Kibbutz gathered Thursday to light the first candle of Hanukkah it's very chilling to be here it's my first time here this holiday is one of victory our victory will be completed when all the Israeli hostages will return home this was a part of a project led by the Brothers in Arms organization special ceremonies took place in 25 communities of the Gaza envelope in Beri one of the participants was Kamele Haute Rishai the grandmother of 13-year-old Gali Tarshensky who was abducted on October 7 and later released the moment I met Gali again was something I can't express in words my heart exploded from happiness but also from huge pain from all my granddaughter had to face I see this event as an opportunity to light a small light which will become bigger and bigger hopefully we'll have a big light and all the hostages will be released and will eventually return to being a normal country another participant was former lawmaker Haim Yelin who has become a popular public speaker since October 7 we asked Haim about the meaning of the holiday which represents hope and miracles following the horrific events that occurred here I don't understand miracles I can only say that we buried many friends and it was very hard for all of us I hope that today as we light the first light of Chanukah miracles will start to happen at least 90 people were murdered in Baere on October 7 and 30 were abducted as days go by more and more evidence of the horrific attack comes to light but residents of this small community are still determined to come here and to celebrate the Jewish holiday and to hope for a better future in Baere in the entire region Let's cross over to our correspondent Pierre Klochenler who is in the southern Israeli city of Zderot Pierre, what's the latest where you are? Well, we know that there's heavy fighting for the past 8 days in 3 combat zones the Jabalia refugee camp on the north outskirts of Gaza city in Shejahia in the southeast outskirts and in the Hanyunas area Hanyunas being encircled from without and fought for from within at this moment we also heard from the IDF that there was heavy fighting in Betchanun which is supposedly nominally under full IDF operational control Betchanun is just behind me and there were according to media reports affiliated to Hamas north western outskirts of Gaza city Sheikh Raduan also heavy fighting and strikes in addition there are air strikes in the central area of the refugee camps of El Mourazi Direl Balak El Borej Nusserat and also in Rafa also air strikes and the fighting is ferocious especially in those 3 zones because there is close combat and hence 5 soldiers of the same unit were killed yesterday and their death was announced publicly today because they fell into a booby trapped area now with a lot of explosive charges as they were trying to neutralize Hamas terrorists who were hiding inside a school and were firing anti-tank guided missiles Israeli troops and gunfire as well so the combat is very ferocious and it goes slowly methodically and very cautiously 137 hostages still remain captive in Gaza by Hamas one woman who was released a few weeks ago from Gaza said she met 3 hostages who told her that they had been sexually assaulted by their captors and heard a similar story about a 4th attack that's Tren Goldstein Almog she was held hostage and released 10 days ago with her 3 kids she lost her husband and one of her son during the October 7 massacre she knew that her husband and her son had been killed because on the way to the Gaza Strip there had been killed from close range and their body were only recovered 3 days later she explained that the conditions were tough she was threatened she was threatened to be handcuffed because the the abductors thought that she was moving too freely really there were a lot of IDF bombing and the places where they were abducted were shaking because of the shock waves of the bombing she said indeed that she heard first hand testimony of 3 women who said they had been sexually assaulted who remain in the Gaza Strip right now there was also a male abductees who were hit by their abductors she said there was not enough food they were moved from place to place a very stressful situation a very difficult situation and she was also one of the people who carried messages to families of other abductees in order to tell them that their relatives were still in Gaza and alive that's the most important thing about her 3 kids she said that they showed a lot of stamina they were trying to keep themselves busy writing diaries drawing things that they encountered and experienced during their captivity I think that all these diaries and drawings were confiscated by the abductors before they were released a difficult situation and this is also one of the reasons why the IDF is working cautiously to spare the lives of the hostages although we know that one of the hostages a couple of days ago in an attempt to release him died in a attempt to release him and two soldiers were severely wounded we know of only one female soldier at the onset of the ground offensive that was released by the IDF forces up until now only one