 This special broadcast here on 924 News Day 60 of the war here in Israel, the Israeli War Cabinet meeting this hour, the families of the remaining 137 hostages, alongside some of the hostages been released as new, horrific details continue to be revealed on what Hamas terrorists are doing to Israeli hostages, including drugging them on the day of their release. So their trauma, physical and mental will not be visible. Doctors are now saying the initial hope that their again physical and mental state relatively reasonable, now completely refuted. And both American and Israeli officials are saying Hamas is not releasing the remaining women in captivity, all young women, because they don't want them to speak up about the sexual abuse they are going through in captivity. Meanwhile, in the north, Hezbollah keeps on the fire towards Israel, the idea of hitting terror targets in return. And in the south, the battle over Hamas's bastion of hanuiness is gaining momentum. This is rocket fire, persist towards Israel. And we want to begin this broadcast by heading down south at 924 News Correspondent Pierre-Claude Chandler, standing by there with the I-24 News team. Pierre, thank you very much for joining us. Well, direct hit in the city of Ashkelon. Rocket fire continue all along. Right, an hour ago, even less, three interceptions on the sky here in this direction, but a direct hit on a house, on a building in Ashkelon. Now, Ashkelon with two women in their 60s, four people stricken with anxiety, including two kids. Ashkelon is the hardest hit city in the country, with over 1,300 rockets targeting this southern city and over 700 impacts. Now, 70,000 people out of a population of 140,000 are without private shelter. That makes the city even more vulnerable. Just a few moments ago, there was another strike, rocket strike, very close to here in Kibbutz, Lachaloz. Yes, and Pierre, about an hour ago, humanitarian pause in the fighting concluded. What does it look like now? What did it look like during this pause? Well, no, the pause was very localized in one of the neighborhoods of Rafa in the southern, in the southern Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt. Rafa is being bombed, but it's not the focal point at this point. It's Hanyunas. And there's a lot of intense activity, including intense aerial strikes, pounding Hanyunas itself. And also in the past hour, Direl Balach, which is one of the central refugee camps south of Gaza City, north of Hanyunas. Now, the army is progressing on two axes, the Salahadil Axis, which cuts across the Gaza Strip from north to south, east of Gaza City, which was used as a humanitarian corridor until the ground offensive started on December 1st in the south. That road now is used as an operational corridor. The second corridor, the second corridor of incursion by the Israeli armies from the Israeli territory westward toward the city of Hanyunas. Now, Palestinian witness yesterday evening already, we're saying to Palestinian media affiliated to Hamas emanating from Gaza that they could see tanks one kilometer away from Hanyunas. So the thrust is to take Hanyunas because this is probably the most important stronghold of Hamas. It's also where Yahya Sinoir, the political leader of Hamas and Muhammad Def, the military leader of Hamas, are originated from. I, 24 News Correspondent, Pierre Colchandler, thank you very much for your reporting today. And from south, we're now heading to north. I, 24 News Correspondent, Pierre Sekelbach, on the near the Israel-Lebanon border with the I-24 News team. Of course, Pierre, thank you very much for joining us. Well, Hezbollah continues its attacks on against Israel, the IDF hitting terror targets in southern Lebanon in return. What can you tell us? Right, Eliebel, these cross-border attacks do continue. We've seen a number of them also throughout this day, throughout today. So far, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for four of those cross-border attacks. One was conducted in the HaRdov area, the very eastern part of the Israel-Lebanon border at a point where the Golan Heights, Lebanon and Syria come together, a disputed area. Then the rest of the attacks three were conducted in the area of Kiryat Shmoner, also at the eastern part of the Israel-Lebanon border. No casualties, no injuries were reported. But rocket fire was launched yesterday at the same area of Kiryat Shmoner. This is the city of more than 20,000 residents, most of whom have been evacuated way before the ceasefire, during the ceasefire residency in the north. And also, of course, the civilians on the Lebanese side experienced some form of calm. But it seems like we're back to routine, the routine that we learned, that we got to know before the ceasefire, those cross-border attacks coming, first and foremost, from Hezbollah, but also other militias in southern Lebanon. And, of course, the Israeli military retaliating with both artillery, but also from the air. And we've seen an example of that also today throughout the day. The Israeli army saying that they targeted Hezbollah infrastructures such as weapons, depots, and launch sites. Now, yesterday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 12 attacks in total, 12 attacks on to northern Israel. And this is something that we've seen really all along the Israel-Lebanon border in the west, in the eastern, in the center. And this is quite the pattern that we have seen before the ceasefire. And Hezbollah, as time and time again, said that they were making their actions dependent on Israel's actions in Gaza. So it just makes sense, according to their reason, that they now continue with their cross-border attacks, that they now resume the clashes with Israel now that the war is again in full pace. Another incident today was the entry of a foreign aircraft, of a hostile aircraft in the Margaliot area, again at the eastern part of the Israel-Lebanon border. That aircraft fell down, again here not causing any casualties. But of course, these incidents are very sensitive and obviously need to be investigated. But it just shows you what I just told you about what happened only until now, until afternoon today. Just gives you an image of how we're back to Routini in the north and we're seeing the usual clashes happening between Israel and Hezbollah. And it's any other point in time, Pia, this new normal, as you're describing it, would have been considered a full-scale war, but not now. I, 24 News Correspondent Pia Stakalbach, thank you very much for your reporting today. And we're joined now in a studio by Colonel Gwischa Yakubovich, former head of the civilian department of Koglat. Currently, Yakubovich, thank you very much for joining us. And speaking to the point that Pia was just making, and before we zoom in further on what is unfolding and will be happening in the Gaza Strip, can Israel really allow itself to be linear as in addressing one threat first, another threat second, this element first, that angle later? It is all happening at the same time, so shouldn't there be a response to all those elements at the same time? There's actually a war from the north, from the south, and from the east. So the idea is actually dealing with three fronts. Now it's all about the process. Okay, let's talk about the process. Usually, by the way, it happened in 67, we were attacked from three fronts. So usually there's three armies though. Yes, it was three armies, something else. We all understand that here. We are talking about a different battle zone, civilians. If we just look at Gaza and what the idea of Spokesman showed, it's like the whole Gaza Strip became a combination of a terror base combined with the civilian population. So this is a total different reality, I agree. But the principle that the IDF fought 67, three arenas always, the IDF attacked at one arena and defended what we see here is that the IDF attacks at three arenas and defends the home front. Right. Okay, so actually it's four fronts. It's not three, because at three, the IDF attacks and the home front command is actually with Iron Dom, with the police, with all the other forces and all the other technologies is defending the civilians. We just heard about a house that got a direct hit from Gaza. That's the front. That's the new front. It's another arena. But we are actually in the middle of one of the most important tests of this war, the occupation of Hanyunas, if I may say so. I don't know if it's occupations, taking control. The encirclement. The encirclement of Hanyunas. The IDF is already inside the center of Hanyunas. It's not only in the Mawasi, it's not only on Salahadin road. The heart of Hanyunas. The IDF is at the heart center of Hanyunas. I think they already reached to the house of Hezboar. It's quite close to the main road, Salahadin. That was the humanitarian road that was used for the humanitarian crossing from the north to the south. But in that part, in Hanyunas, the IDF published some flyers and messages. So the people will use the sea road that they will go to the west. And from the west, they will continue to Rafa. And they will reach to Telsultam. It's quite close to the Egyptian border. But this is one of the most important tests of this week. If the IDF will complete the mission in Hanyunas, will that be the trigger to change the war or the arena in the south from a war of attrition to an attack reality? That's one of the exams that we will need to face in the following 48 hours. But before you elaborate more on that and this transition from war of attrition to an attack, when it comes to Hanyunas, also with both practical meaning in terms of Hamas' ability, the terror infrastructure, the command there, and the symbolic nature of Hanyunas. We cannot ignore it. The birthplace of Yehissinuar and Muhammedaf and also, again, the the stronghold of Hamas in the south. Turning it into such a symbol, similarly to what happened a few weeks ago with the Shifa hospital slash terror infrastructure in the north, turning it into such a symbol entails a risk as well, not to perhaps deliver the outcome, the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment, so to speak. Yes, I want to present a different angle. I think that the symbolic achievements or the symbolic targets were already achieved. The Gaza city, the heart, core, the center, the most important district, the most important city, the city that symbols Hamas sovereignty was actually, the mission was accomplished. And I think yesterday or two days ago, the idea of one of the most important buildings of the... The governance. The governance of that. What the idea is focused now, and I see the speed, okay? It's really, really fast, compared to what I was thinking that will happen, because we analyzed the situation two days, three days ago, and we will discuss it, that it will be a surgical war in the south. And as it looks like, time is against us. A scarce resource nowadays. Time is against us. And this is, I believe, why the idea of moves really, really fast to complete and to surround Khanunas as fast as possible, to save as many Israeli hostages as possible. That's the main goal. And as we speak, and as we've mentioned at the opening of the broadcast this hour, the War Cabinet is meeting with the families of the hostages taking part in this meeting also. Hostages were released last week during the ceasefire. The testimonies that are coming out currently at Kobović are gut-turning. No other way to put it. How do you bring about the release of the remaining hostages? The diplomatic route seems to be a dead end at this moment. The quote, unquote, honest broker, Qatar, is just today blaming Israel of war crimes. The broker that is supposed to mediate as a hostage release agreement. How do you do that? In the Arab world, especially in the Middle East, we need to understand that there is a huge difference between declarations and actions on the ground. So yes, the Egyptians and Saudi Arabia and Qatar and Dubai, everybody, they will declare what they must. They will say what they must say. They will send aid. Actually, they are really disappointed, Gazans. The Gazans are very disappointed. Hamas are very disappointed from them because they expected them to join, to this war of the flood of Jerusalem. Everybody joins, really. Yes, they state statements. Other than the Houthis, meanwhile, that are creating havoc for the Americans. We always said that the Houthis, I've been saying that here for almost... I'm your witness. I've been saying this from the beginning. When the Houthis say something, they are the only ones who mean it. And they are the only ones who actually did something, except Hezbollah. But the other Arab countries, they must pay the tax of statements. They will continue stating. And yet, even though so far Israel is not really engaged in the talk of the day after, we are getting a better understanding of what it is going to look like. And one of the main stated principles so far on behalf of Israel is that there must be some sort of a buffer zone between Israel and the Gaza Strip when the war ends. And yet, perhaps on the even philosophical level, Colonel Yakubovich, if there's a need for a buffer zone, it means security is not restored. If you need a guarded border, it means that there's a threat on the other side of the border. And this is exactly the stated goal of this war, that there will not be a threat from the Gaza Strip no more. Yes, I agree. But as we said, time is against us. This is not a typical arena of a war in the Middle East. For example, Syria, Assad. He killed more than one million civilians, citizens from his own people. And we didn't see such a pressure on Assad, a pressure on Iran to press Assad. Or we've seen what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yemen, we've mentioned Putin. Nobody really cares. Nobody cared about those people. I think they have a different blood. I don't know. It's maybe it's blue or maybe it's pink. Because when it comes to Gaza, when it comes to the West Bank, it's like the whole world is against Israel. So we are, we are in a war, in a very complicated war with civilians, with humanitarian aid, with Hamas, a horrible terror organization that uses the civilians as human shield. Only today, Palestinian Islamic Jihad published a video from street fighting. And on that street fighting, you see kids that they use as human shield. So what do you expect? And the whole world is against us. So we need to achieve what we can achieve in the time in the time that we've got to remain. And from my, my expertise, as I see the end of this war, and it's already knocking on our doors, the end of this war, we will see that the idea will surround the Gaza Strip from the north, from the east, and I hope from the south also. It means Hamas will have no border between Gaza and Egypt. It's something that we have to agree with the Egyptians. I believe that the crossings between Egypt and the Gaza Strip will not be operational anymore. And the only crossing, all goods that will enter to Gaza will enter through Kerem Shalom, the triangle border between Gaza, Egypt and Israel. Kerem Shalom is quite a big crossing. And it can provide the facilities and the services of security checks. And we will need to restore some civilian immediate needs like electricity, health services, food, and maybe by achieving that, okay, and that will be the best, I believe, with the circumstances that we are at, I believe that we'll be able to grow with the Arab countries and with Egypt. And yet, I don't really see clearly a scenario in which a foreign Arab country is willing to take over the civilian duties while allowing Israel full security freedom in the Strip in a similar manner it has in the West Bank. But we will put a stop right here currently at Kobovoch because we want to head back to the ground, to the Southern city of Ashkelon, the hardest hit city when it comes to rocket fire. And today, this afternoon, direct hit, yet another direct hit in Ashkelon. And we want to head now to I-24 news senior correspondent, Gai Israel, standing by their guide. What can you tell us? Absolutely so, Ali. It's the hardest hit city since the start of this war and an illustration of the danger from these rocket fire just over an hour ago. Direct hit on this building right behind me is our cameraman Rotem, can show you right now what we're talking about is a rocket that hit directly into that building, right at the top floor. From there, it continued down the building, striking several flats there. We just spoke to the emergency teams here saying that the rocket made its way to another flat under the main floor where two children were hiding in the shelter. The lives were saved, thankfully, thanks to the fact that they rushed to the shelter. Over here in Ashkelon residents have some 30 seconds to rush to shelter. Two women that were right here in the parking lot were lightly wounded from shrapnel. Those two children and several other residents here were treated for anxiety. Obviously, the residents here are quite disturbed by what they're seeing, but the results could have been a lot more worse than what we see here right now. As we speak, you're in Ashkelon and we're here in Tel Aviv. We're hearing our red siren alerts once again, the central Israel, the Tel Aviv area and many, many, many other communities in central Israel as we speak are rushing to shelter yet again. And that brings us a guide to this because obviously Hamas's rocket ability is dwindling, and yet despite the now weeks-long IDF operations there, Hamas doesn't just have the ability to fire rockets towards Israel, it is doing it as in not close to say we're out of the game. They're still fighting and willing to fight. Well, of course, Hamas will continue to fire rockets for as long as it is able to, and yes, the rocket alert sirens ringing now in Tel Aviv, Givatayim, or Yehuda, Ramat Gan, just mainly many major cities in the center part of Israel, sending millions of Israelis to shelter right now as the IDF continues its ground operation, both mainly in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, but also starting to operate in the southern part. Hamas will continue to launch rockets as long as it can, and obviously the threat is real. Residents need to listen to the guide. As we speak from our studios in the Jaffa Port, we are hearing the interceptions and according to our count at least 12 interceptions. These moments over the Tel Aviv skyline that you're now seeing on your screen, and yes, very much so, a guy important note there, that's the home front command. Instructions are saving lives day in, day out, so adhering to them is of paramount importance. The war is far from over, and the threat of rockets, plural rather, very much exists. A guy earlier today, one of the heads of the local councils in the south said, well, if anyone thought that civilians, residents of southern Israel will go back home in January, as in less than four months from now, forget about it. Yes, the sense of security is something that has been completely violated on October 7th. Residents here close to the border want the government, the IDF, to reassure them that they will not be under the threat of rockets or of terrorists infiltrating their communities, as we saw on October 7th. That is still very far from reality that is on the ground, as the IDF continues its operation. Hamas is very much still active in all parts of the Gaza Strip, and the sense of security is something that will be very difficult for the government to guarantee to the residents that that is even more significant for the residents who are right on the border. In some cases, residents are less than a mile away from certain neighborhoods in Gaza, making the threat so real that you can see with your very eyes the homes across the border in Gaza. And likewise, when we had the protests on the border, this operation is far from being over. We're speaking about months to come for more fighting in Gaza until the IDF can secure some sense of safety for the residents. And by the way, here in the city of Ashkelon, the residents were not evacuated, at least not by the government. They have to flee on their own if they want to find shelter in the center. They were not supplied with alternative accommodation in the center, with the very few of them that you don't have any shelters. Those were given some alternative accommodation. But this is a large city, over 150,000 people, and most of them are still here, are still under this threat of the rockets, as we see, also in the more northern and deeper parts of the country throughout these two months of the war. Right. And Guy, it seems indeed like a very heavy barrage towards Israel, towards central Israel. Many interceptions were heard. And we are, of course, keeping close tabs on the results of this barrage of rockets, hopefully no direct hits, hopefully indeed all interceptions. But rocket fire, the war continues in full swing, no doubt about that. At 24 News, a senior correspondent, Guy Israel in Ashkelon. Thank you very much for this. Back here in the studio with Colonel Grisha Akhbovich. Colonel Akhbovich, it relates perfectly to the point we've been discussing, Ash, with moments ago, if there's a need for a security buffer zone, is security restored? And this question is applicable to the Gaza Strip, to the northern border, to the West Bank, and yes, to Israel altogether. How can security be restored? What would be the moment where we will say, all right? We have to achieve this achievement. I believe that when the war ends in Gaza, we will be able to achieve that, not only by what will actually, how will the reality look like, but with our free access and free reaction in the Gaza Strip. So it's about also the policy towards the future of Gaza Strip. About the last barrage, what we see is the high intensity of the war. As I mentioned that it moves really fast. We see that Hamas understand. It's interesting that we say fast because others are saying it feels too slow. It's really fast. We need to understand that almost everything there is booby trapped. And there is a very, very clear process how to move in such a reality. What we see now is Hamas feeling that the rope is around their neck. So they are emptying all their stocks. Right. The remaining stock. The remaining stock. They also, it also shows us how well they prepared to this war. Right. Right. Right. And we're seeing now live on our screens, the live images from the site of the direct hit in the city of Ashkelon this afternoon. And as we speak, police forces are scanning the central area in Tel Aviv and elsewhere to make sure there's no debris that can cause immense damage. As unfortunately, we've been witnessing in recent weeks, Colonel Yakubovich, before we wrap up this broadcast, perhaps a short comment on your end on the report, not a new notion and yet resurfacing again, literally resurfacing on the idea to flood the tunnel infrastructure with seawater and by that and the threat, but also take a big risk if hostages are there. There are two major risks here. One is the hostages. We need to make sure that when we do that, they are out of risk. And two is the day after. Let's not forget that before the war, October 6th, 2.2 or 2.3 million people in Gaza were about to be left without a drop of water because the majority of the water that they used was from the underground water from the aquifer. So when you flood the tunnels, you actually make sure that the aquifer is empty. It means collapsed. So somebody will have to build a diesel plant and it takes four years. And there are consequences. And as you've said, with everyday passing, we're getting closer to the end, not to the beginning, for better or worse. We're not sure, quite tight. And as we speak, Sirens in the north, south, center, north Israel is still under rocket threat from all across the board. We are taking a break, but we'll be back at the top of the hour with all the latest updates from the ground. Thank you very much for watching. Not every day that you see cowboys tilling the land of Israel. But these passionate men and women are here with a purpose much bigger than themselves. Up until October 7th, you know, the job was just straightforward. We were helping the farms. And then when October 7th, after the atrocities happened, we, our job just went to a new level because the foreign workers were leaving. The men and women that were called up into the reserve duty had to leave, which pulled the farms basically empty. So yeah, today is taking the old tomatoes out and tying up these so they can come in and get the new crops in. Joshua Waller and his big family are Christian farmers from Tennessee who moved to Israel 14 years ago with a big mission called Hyovel or in English, serveisrael.com. It's looking good. It's going all the way through. There you go. Oh, it's good. It can all stand there anyway. No, it looks good. We'll just wrap it up now. I can remember back on the farm in Tennessee, there was a Israeli flag with a menorah right in our living room on top of our piano. We were raised with the understanding, Christian Zionist understanding, that if Israel ever needed help, we would be the first to be here. You know, we'll harvest up to 400 tons of grapes in a year, handpicked. We'll plant just this year before the war. We planted 20,000 vines and trees together. Like after October 7th, Joshua and his family brought dozens of volunteers from all over the United States to help keep the agriculture alive and flourishing during the war. But these are like perfectly edible. You can just take them off and eat them for lunch right now or eat them for a snack. But yeah, the color is amazing. And Josiah Hilton of Virginia Beach is already a veteran of four years. The story here and it's a huge part of the nation of Israel is, and I think that's something we kind of lose around the world is the agriculture and getting back to farming and you know, growing your own food and that kind of stuff. It's how the world goes around because you can't you can't live without the farmers. So here, especially in Israel, even though there's a big war and there's so many people fighting for their lives in Gaza, you still have to keep the farms going. And there's not a famine during wartime. So we're privileged and we're blessed to be here to be able to help the farmers and and do what we can. I can't I can't go into Gaza and fight. So I'm gonna I'm gonna help here on the farms. These men and women are proud to call themselves Christian Zionists because they are a faith based community who live by the word of God. Right now, there's a there's a movement around the world of people who are saying, you know, Zionists are evil and Zionists are whatever the colonizers and there's all this really it's just nonsense. But Zionism is based on a biblical concept. Zionism is based on the fact that the Jewish people belong in the land of Israel. And so we created this shirt. It's hashtag proud Zionist. We're not we're not afraid to be called Zionist. I'm not ashamed of the term Zionist. Somebody calls me a Zionist. That makes me proud. God doesn't change his mind when he makes a promise. That's just it. It's solid. It stands that way forever. And so when he chose the Jewish people, that was that was that was that was it. And we we don't argue with God. We say, okay, that's great. You made a choice and we we're going to back that up. We're not arguing with God and to be here to be a part of it has been a huge honor. Who was Itai? Second Samuel chapter 15 tells a remarkable story. Itai was a man from Gath who brought his 600 man army to Jerusalem to join King David. Joshua and his family also host a popular podcast called the Israel guys. And since October 7th, they've managed to raise millions for Operation Itai to help first responders keep safe. And then the second part is is actually bringing those supplies in. So we've airlifted the first million dollars of equipment has arrived and slowly we're bringing the rest of it in. We've got about two and a half million now. Joshua cites a famous quote by author Mark Twain when I asked him what their message is to the millions of people around the world spewing anti-Semitic and anti-Israel vitriol. Mark Twain said, tell us what the lies travel around the world 10 times while the truth is still getting its boots on. That's the truth and tiktok lace the boots yet right. Yeah, still sitting. He's just trying to get the boots on right. So unfortunately, that's the that's the news and and tiktok and and instagram and all these these entity, you know, with twitter and all the stuff x like all these things are horrible. They they accentuate the fact that lies travel so quickly. And that is an issue with this next generation. They're seeing the bad before they get any chance to even understand the good. Kibbutz Mishmara Emek, Northern Israel. This has become the new home for the residents of Kibbutz Nakhal Oz in the Gaza envelope where dozens of people were murdered. At around 628, we heard the siren. I entered the safe room and closed the door. I started to think that this may be a bigger event. A day before it, we rehearsed for a special event to mark 70 years of Nakhal Oz. We heard red alerts one after the other. I started to text my friends at around seven. I started to get messages from my friend saying there are terrorists outside our homes. I didn't want to believe it. In the beginning, we thought it was something local. Only a few terrorists only in the house. The power went off in my apartment at around 7 a.m. They told us not to leave the safe room, to lock it and to stay quiet. At 11 a.m., I was left without a battery and without electricity. After a few hours, I thought about escaping the safe room. At a certain point, I understood that the terrorists were getting closer. I heard screaming in Arabic. They got inside my neighbor's home. At that point, I thought that I could go out and maybe be with my neighbors, but something inside me told me not to go out. I stayed for 12 more hours. Retrospectively, this is what saved me, because if I would have left the room, I wouldn't be here today. Among the hundreds of evacuees are several young people. They are members of an organization called Tocereta Arets. This organization was established 12 years ago in order to strengthen communities across Israel. We have 1,300 young people in 16 different communities, from Kiriach Mono in the north to Demono in the south. We are in centers for young people. It could be either the young members of the community who decided to stay or the people from other places who move. Most of the communities of Tocereta Arets are in urban areas. The one in Nakhal Oz, however, was unique. In 2014, Nakhal Oz had a tremendous disaster. They lost a 4-year-old child who died from a direct rocket hit. Following this disaster, Nakhal Oz almost lost all of its young residents. Most of the young families left the kibbutz. They had to close the kindergarten because there were no kids left in the kibbutz. Nakhal Oz understood that its future is held by the young generation, so they turned to Tocereta Arets and asked us to bring new people here. And there is a discussion among us because this is not where we usually build our communities. But we decided to go for it because we understood the great significance of it. Members of Tocereta Arets say that even though they were not born in this small community, they fitted in perfectly as they took part in the daily routine of the kibbutz. We have a couple, a girl from Tocereta and a member of the kibbutz who met in Nakhal Oz, and last week they got engaged. I came for two years to the student program, and I decided to stay after I finished it. After October 7, members of Tocereta Arets decided to move to Mishmara Emek with their friends from Nakhal Oz, despite the fact that they are not original members of the kibbutz, and many of them have families in other places in Israel. At the end of the day, I don't have family, kids, or property in the kibbutz. I only rented an apartment there. This is what was so beautiful, that the kibbutz took us into consideration when they evacuated. We are part of the activities here. It is still complicated, just like in any other place where young people live. I also ask myself if I'm a full member of the community or not. But at the end of the day, I now feel I'm a part of the community, like it or not. The name Tocereta Arets refers to a famous song by one of Israel's acclaimed poet Natan Alterman. The song speaks about the lack of unity in the Jewish community in the land of Israel in 1938 following the Great Arab Revolt. The director of Tocereta Arets says that in this case, it is quite the opposite. We often sing this song. It is a familiar song in Israel, but in Tocereta Arets, there is a lot of unity. If you'll come to one of our general meetings, you will find Israeli society in all its colors, shapes and forms, working together. Nachal Oz is now a closed military zone and access to it is extremely limited. However, some of the residents, including members and veterans of Tocereta Arets, say that they cannot wait to return to this small community adjacent to the Gaza border. On October 7th, Hamas terrorists kidnapped 29 residents of Kibbutz-Beri, among them 11 children. These torn and burnt toys collected from the Kibbutz tell the stories in place of their owners. These toys are eyewitnesses to what children went through there after fires, abuse, massacre, and that is what is left after these horrible atrocities. Those toys that were found say two things. Either the kid was rescued and didn't take it with him, or the child is not with us anymore, and the toy will never go back to its owner. Lilaach, one of the Kibbutz-Beri residents, recalls what happened there on the Shabbat of October 7th. I was in a shelter in Beri for 27 hours, without water, food, without any possibility to go out under ceaseless fire from rockets, RPGs, and small arms. Lilaach survived the Hamas massacre, but her loved ones were taken hostage. For more than a month, she's had no information about them. We don't know anything about them. Nobody tells us anything. The Red Cross is not even trying to reach them. Seems like it's not interesting at all to the United Nations and other organizations that should take care of them. One of the people Lilaach is waiting for, 9-year-old Emily Hand, was first reported killed and is now believed to be held hostage in Gaza. I think one of the friends who was rescued from the Kibbutz saw somebody's body and thought that it's her, and told them about that. But later on, there were testimonies about her walking with Raya and Hila, taken by terrorists in direction of Gaza Strip. The lives of Israelis today are full of uncertainty, as they don't even know whether their loved ones are alive or not. The only thing left to do is to speak up and make the world understand what happened on October 7th. It doesn't matter if you're a fan of Israel or not. It is only about being human and supporting humanity. We address each mother, each woman around the world and ask how they can continue their routine. When they know about 10-month-old baby taken hostage and being in Hamas' captivity alone, we hear, we cannot continue our routine. The world needs to understand that it is not possible to keep silent. The world needs to understand that it cannot continue its routine when there are children taken hostage. Now these are our kids, but next time it can be any kid around the world. It can be my kid, it can be your kid, it can be any kid abroad. The organization, Free Our Kids, is in a race to reach ambassadors and international organizations. All the time, every single day, we are sending letters to the Red Cross, UNICEF, United Nations, so they will hear our cry. And after this event, we will also send the pictures. While Israeli officials are making an effort to bring the hostages back, they also remind the world about Israel's right to defend itself. Unfortunately, people don't realize what really happened. They try to forget it, and we can't forget, and we can't forgive. And we have all of the legitimate that we need to vanish Hamas. This terror organization needs to be out of this world, not only for Israel, also for the rest of the free world. Residents of Kibbutz Berry were not the only ones who came to the exhibition. They were joined by neighbors from other southern Kibbutzim who survived the massacre. On that Saturday, I had bicycle training, and there was a heavy rocket barrage. We decided to cancel the class and go back home. On the way there, we ran into 15 terrorists lying on the road who opened fire at us. It felt like a car crash, the windows shattered, a tire exploded, and my ears were ringing. We turned around with the back of the car towards them. They ceased fire. My friend's father got out and shouted, Hey, soldiers, don't shoot at us. At first, we were sure that they were our soldiers. Itai and his team managed to escape and get first aid. In the meantime, his parents were in a shelter at home, knowing their son was wounded and not capable of helping him. The only thing they could do was hope for the best. We personally faced miracles on that Shabbat as Itai was not killed and was not kidnapped. But after we got these miracles, for us as residents of the area, it's important to bring hostages back. That is the first mission. The residents of southern communities live with the hope that they will soon see their kidnapped friends, relatives, and children. But in the meantime, all they have left of them are these mementos and memories. Driving through the pastoral village of Matula, you would never know it's surrounded by enemy territory. This is Falkile. No, this is Lebanon. You can see the border. And for Mayan Weinberg, who recently finished his army service, war has called him to reserve duty. You can see there, they have eyes with them there. The daily I work with this vehicle in my yard and do a lot of stuff. Mayan is making the rounds in Matula while the 2,000 residents are evacuated. What is it like being here right now when everybody's evacuated and you have Hezbollah people, what you can throw a stone and hit them? That's how close. The Hezbollah people are not new to me. I can show you my phone. It's all with stones with Hezbollah before. This is weird to be in Matula because I can't go home to my parents' home. I can't go to my apartment. I can't walk around in Matula. Matula has become a full-time military base for the IDF during the war, where almost daily, Hezbollah sends short-range anti-tank missiles. All their windows were broke here and here. And IDF soldiers are needing to respond quickly. This is the tank's work, right? They drove like in and out. They're using Nuntet anti-tank missiles. Their range I think is about four kilometers, something like that. So it's very close, proximity. So you need to utilize and make sure that it's effective. So they're aiming it on houses. So only this morning we had a direct hit on a house, Gino family. One of the many farms in Matula, which has been an agricultural hub for over a century. You like it, we? Oh, thank you. Try it like this and then... There's an interesting story because we were trying to get some of our young people to come and help take out the fruit because in a week or two, this whole thing goes to waste. And we were working on that and we actually had people volunteering and willing to come and what not. And then a night before, we got a situation very close to this area. So everything was like, yeah, black down, you can come in, you can come out. The fact that we are here now is actually pretty unique. Matula is the northernmost city in Israel. We're the only village in Israel surrounded in three directions by the border of Lebanon to the east, north and west. The only way into Matula is from the south. Founded by nearly 30 pioneer families in 1896, you could feel the history with original stone homes and buildings still standing. And nearly half of the original family's descendants still live here. Usually it's full of life and it doesn't look like this. Clearly you had a lot of IDF tanks coming back and forth. We have a beautiful, beautiful community. Please come visit us when the war is over. Yes, we will. And so that's Lebanon right there. Yeah, that is why we cannot move further from this point because we're going to be revealed and it's, we like you. So we want you to stay safe. During times of peace, Matula is also a popular tourist destination for nature lovers. So normally when we're not in this situation, you could just wake up and you take a walk. You can drink coffee and you just look at this view every morning. Not bad. You can look at this view still now, but in normal days you can look over this way, over those ways in the normal days to Lebanon. You can see from here a UN base. You see this? Oh, that's a UN base. This is UN base. And what are they doing? Now, hiding. See, when you stand there and you look towards Lebanon, it's a beautiful country. I want to think that there are some beautiful people over there that also suffers from the fact that Hizballah and Arduan forces are taking over. And, you know, hurting their prosperity and their right to live peacefully. These days, it's the IDF that is using the local community center as their military command center with eyes and ears looking at what is happening on the other side of the fence. There is a game of youngsters from Lebanon coming into one of our spots over there and then using like the laser tags and just like pointing at you when you are walking or just, you know, hanging up laundry to dry. And then you get like a red point. Funny to them, less funny to us. When this war is over, many will come home. But the question remains whether they will ever feel totally secure. If someone has to leave, it's Hizballah. This is our land here and our community for 127 years. We would always stay and be here. If we leave, it will be like a domino effect. People will have to leave Kiryat Shmoner, Tiberias. And in the end, it will get all the way to Tel Aviv and Israel will become even tinier. This isn't an option. I'm not looking at it. It's like, oh, we owe them. It's just us, the best we can do. I want to live here because I think here you can be the perfect life you can live in Israel. We need to see a significant act of security and safety. We need something real to happen, something that comes with visuals, right? You can't just like react, react, react. And then the dust, you know, comes down and then they're, okay, it's over. Go back to your houses. That will not happen. A darling, right? Is he up for adoption? He's up for adoption, but he needs a family that knows what they're dealing with. Already at first glance, it's clear. This is not another kennel. The expressions in the eyes, the scars on the body, and the fur. Every dog here has his own horror story. Welcome to the home of the lost dogs, of the residents of the Gaza envelope. And the families were kidnapped. Abducted. So they are here alone. No matter how many volunteers there are, and no matter how much warmth and love is given, no one will replace the real family. Pictures from other happier days. Rimon and Gev together with the dogs they loved so much. On the morning of October 7, terrorists raided Kibbutz Nirem, kidnapped Rimon, and gave to Gaza. The three dogs escaped and survived and Mubrotia, Tova, Rex, and Sweet Gray, who were now left alone. These dogs were like the children they didn't have yet. Tova was like Rimon's baby. Rimon also had a special permission to go with Tova everywhere, just like a blind man and his guide dog. That's how Tova was for Rimon. While encountering the terrorists, a dog was suddenly discovered in one of the vehicles that was attacked and hauled with bullets. They couldn't get him out. He tried to bite everyone who came close, until a volunteer came and managed to rescue him. How is he now? He still is. He has fears. You notice it's not that smooth, but much better than in the beginning. He already plays with us, plays with the dogs. From Nativ Haasara, she was hit by shrapnel. She was there for two weeks alone, hit by shrapnel. Even a small burn that she has on her back, what you see. You also see the sign she has. She was taken care of. She had a haircut. She was disinfected. What's her name? Chicha. We called him Novo. He doesn't have a name yet. Did they find him in Gaza? Soldiers found him and brought him. Many of the owners of these dogs were murdered. Others were kidnapped. Dogs were also kidnapped to Gaza. Wow, dogs. Ibrahim, the dogs came from inside Israel. Maybe he bites. And there are also stories with a happy ending. Dogs that were frightened ran away and were found, and are now reunited with their surviving families. Here, now she just realized. Pay attention. Only now did she realize it. Come on, come on, come on. Who's a good dog? Who's a good dog? Is this a home for lost dogs? These are different dogs in every respect, because their owners are different, because their families are different. On normal days, the shelter for the dogs of the evacuees and the murdered and kidnapped is used as a boarding house and a place for training. A bit like us, the dogs here are also still in shock from what they experience. They receive a lot of warmth, love and food here. We have a good nation, and throughout this month, they take care of us and contact us about how to donate. For dogs, like for humans, it'll take some time for rehabilitation for a new beginning. In the meantime, they are here, perhaps also to remind us, in the midst of infinite evil, that there is also unconditional love. Turning a hotel room into a kindergarten, one of the many challenges facing the Eshkol Residence Association. These communities near the Gaza Strip, devastated by the October 7th massacre, are trying to rebuild a sense of normalcy far from home. Our task is to meet the needs of the Eshkol residents. There's housing and food, of course. But on top of that, there's also schooling, making sure the children are looked after. The residents need to be cared for, both physically and psychologically. People have left home with nothing, and some have nothing left. And then, of course, we want to reconstruct communities so that people can regain a sense of belonging. There are needs that necessitate substantial financing for communities that have suffered tremendous losses. This is one of the six organizations that are being helped by the In Unity We Rebuild organization, a volunteer platform that connects donors with vetted Israeli associations. Our goal is to enable anyone around the world, whether they're Jewish or not, to have a trusted platform to help the victims of the massacres and the reconstruction of the affected areas. People can get in touch with us, and we offer them a follow-up of the aid provided thanks to their donations. After October 7th, 30 volunteers from the city of Hadha-Sharon joined forces to do their bit. It was unthinkable to remain inactive while Israel was going through such a crisis. We immediately got in touch with six organizations operating on the ground, including associations of local residents affected by the massacres, an association that helps loan soldiers and United Hatzala, which provides emergency relief throughout the country. We work with them and make sure they get the donations they need. Since the start of the war, donations have been pouring in. All over the world, people are stepping in to support Israeli associations in need. We get help from all over the world, from the United States and Europe, of course. But there are also people from Australia and from Saudi Arabia who are involved. It's growing. But there's still a long way to go. The Eshkol Residence Association, for example, still lacks the resources to help young people. It's crucial that we help young people. They're one of the hardest-hit populations. The 32 villages in the Eshkol Council all share the same secondary school, so everyone knows everybody. All the kids have lost loved ones or had friends kidnapped. Our job is to give them as much peace of mind and self-confidence as possible. Whether through sport, yoga, or meditation exercises, we try to help them regain a sense of normalcy. In a state of war, families completely gunned down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. The special broadcast here on I-24 News is we continue our rolling coverage on day 60 of the war here in Israel. Heavy barrages of rockets towards Israel's south center and north this hour, at least 15 rockets fired towards Israel's Tel Aviv area, including impact. As you can see now, on screen, directed in the third century of Eshkolon, as well, this as the IDF battle over Hamas Bastian of Hanunas is gaining momentum. IDF forces are said to be at the very heart of Hanunas and this hour, the Israeli War Cabinet meeting the families of the remaining 137 hostages. Some of the hostages who are released are taking part in this meeting, too, pleading. There is no time. New horrific details continue to be revealed on what Hamas terrorists are doing to Israelis in captivity, including drugging them on the day of their release. So their physical and mental trauma will not be visible. Doctors are now saying if the initial hope that their state is relatively reasonable, now it is completely refuted. And both American and Israeli officials are saying, Hamas is not releasing the remaining women in captivity, all young women, because they simply do not want them to speak up about the sexual abuse that they're going through. Sadistic, psychotic, monstrous acts on October 7th and since. We want to begin this broadcast in the field, so we want to head now to the Israel-Northern border. I-24 News correspondent Zach Anders with the I-24 News team there. Zach, thank you very much for joining us. Well, another day of war in the north, another round of sirens just past hour. What can you tell us? Well, before the latest sirens in the last half hour, our Hezbollah through Lebanese media channels had already claimed responsibility for four attacks today. This in the last half hour would be the fifth, should they claim, responsibility. It targeted Idmet and Arab al-Ramshi on the northern border north of Haifa here. It does not appear, as the IDF says, that there were any damage or injuries, casualties in these latest strikes within the last half hour that they fell in open areas. This is also another day where Israel says its airspace was violated by an aircraft that appears to have been either intercepted or failed. It also fell in an open area. The IDF says that it is in the process or has already been recovered by the IDF and that will be a significant moment to determine. Unlike in the past when it has been described as drones, they're describing this as an aircraft. Of course, the language may be impactful here or it might be more of the same. We'll have to wait and see. Yeah, more in the same. And yet that every other given point in time, what we're seeing in the north on a daily basis would have been dubbed a full-scale war and yet not now. Right. It is remarkable to just see how often these strikes occur, how many people are subjected to evacuation notices knowing that they can't return home because of the constant fighting that is taking place here. But it is taking place somewhat at a distance. Hezbollah is using the open terrain to their advantage to attempt these strikes and then retreat further into southern Lebanon, which then warrants the IDF to have to respond, not with ground forces, but with air strikes. And the IDF says they continue to target these positions where either mortars or heavy rockets or some of these drones are launched and they do so with their aircraft inside sometimes Lebanese airspace and they're targeting not just the points of origin but also some of the structures that they apparently notice where Hezbollah is operating from before they make their way to these strikes. Of course, the IDF has a significant advantage with the intelligence gathering here and the ability to see with these high-resolution observation balloons where all of this activity is taking place. Yes, and this is perhaps one of the most frustrating elements in this war, both in the south and in the north, that despite the superiority, the military advantage Israel has when it comes to the actions of the ground. It is far more limited than its enemies. Classic asymmetrical war with a brutal vicious enemy. I-24 News correspondent Zach Anders on the Israel-Lebanon border. Thank you very much for this. Much more from Zach, of course, throughout our broadcast this evening. And from north we're heading now south to the southern city of Ashkelon, yet another direct hit there after a barrage of rockets in this past hour. Very heavy barrage of rockets towards Israel center. I-24 News senior correspondent Guy Israel is joining us from there, Guy. Let's begin with the barrage to the center of Israel, to the Tel Aviv area and many other communities. Impact of what we call debris, but we need to clarify when we say debris, we're not talking about, you know, sprinkles of rockets. We're talking about massive parts of the rockets that are hitting ground and creating immense damage. And luckily, many times, not no harm in human life. As I didn't really, it goes to emphasize the importance of sticking to the regulations of the home front command, be it in Tel Aviv areas we saw just less than half an hour ago or here in Ashkelon two hours ago, those who listened to the guidelines of the home front command, seek shelter, who remain in shelter for at least 10 minutes. After the sounding of the alerts, these will keep safe. And the injuries that we see are from people who are either too curious to seek shelter, wanting to film the interceptions or do not even have enough time to run to shelter, as was and in this case here in Ashkelon, we saw at least one hit in Tel Aviv with quite an extensive damage on the street. And here in Ashkelon, just two hours ago, a direct hit from a rocket into the top floor of this building behind me is our cameraman Rotem Ben-Chemok and I'll show you right now. It is quite incredible to see that massive hole in the building where Ellie, a mother and her two children were having lunch just two hours ago as they heard the sirens, they ran into shelter miraculously. All of them safe thanks to the shelter. The only injuries were right here in the parking lot two elderly women that did not have enough time to rush to the shelter. Other ones who were hit by shrapnel. We can also see the damage to the shrapnel in all the buildings in this neighborhood. It's a quite an extensive damage from this direct hit. In addition, several others including children were treated for anxiety. This is just one of so many spots of direct hits this time in Ashkelon, emphasizing the threat of these rockets and the importance of sticking to the guidelines. Ellie. And Guy, yes, perhaps just to stress once again the home front command instructions. Not just rushing to shelter, but staying in shelter for at least 10 minutes. After the alarm, because this debris, the shrapnel that we're seeing has a potential of creating a whole lot of damage. Guy, before we let you go this hour in Tel Aviv, the war cabinet is meeting the families of the 137 remaining hostages in this meeting. Some of the hostages who were released and they're leaving no room for doubt every minute there in Hamaske activity in the hands of those brutal, cruel terrorists. Is risking their lives. Obviously, moments of fear for the families as the IDF continues its operation in Gaza. They're seeking answers from the government. We did see one successful round of hostage release last week that ended when Hamaske decided to continue and fire rockets into Israel. Eventually Israel and the IDF realized Hamaske is not looking to go ahead with the next stage of a hostage release deal. And that is why the fear grows among those families. The number of Israeli hostages has been updated today to 138 Israelis being held at the hands of the Hamaske group in Gaza. They're demanding answers from the government about the possible negotiations for perhaps another hostage release deal from what we hear. So far, such a deal is not in the cards. Hamaske is not looking to give anything that Israel will be willing to supply. The demand of Hamaske is a complete halt to the war, not a ceasefire, not a pause as we saw, but a complete halt in this war of Israel and the government was very clear the war will not end until the main goal of eliminating Hamaske's military capabilities in Gaza will be fulfilled. That is still very far from happening and therefore we do not see a hostage deal coming in the coming days at least. Yes, truth is very cool. These days I-24 news correspondents, senior correspondent Guy Israel and the southern city of Ashkelon, much more from Guy, of course, throughout our broadcast later on in the evening. And now we want to welcome here in studio Lieutenant Colonel Doron Avital, former commander of the Special Forces of the IDF, Lieutenant Colonel Avital. Thank you very much for joining us. Well, the IDF is releasing more information, creating a clearer picture on what the IDF forces look like at this hour in the Gaza Strip, continuing the operations in the north, but the focus is definitely in the south rather, most notably Hanyunas, which is both practical, strategic target, but also one with a whole lot of symbolism. First of all, Hanyunas, right now we think that the leaders of Hamas are hiding there, then we also have a great suspicion that many of our hostages are there. So this is the new target of the IDF going south, in fact entering from the east north to the west, declaring and announcing to the public, to the civilians in Gaza what they should evacuate in order that this campaign continues. So this is the main objective right now of the IDF, and then of course we have the fighting in the north, in Sa'ajia, where the Golani Brigade was sent to close a story that goes back to 2014, when they were hit very heavily there. And so the north, deepening our stronghold in the north, thinking how to solve the tunnels issue, fighting through Hanyunas, fighting against some timeline that might come along the way in terms of pressure from outside, trying to minimize casualties of civilians, and thinking also in the winter that is coming today, it's not only a fog of war, it's a little bit foggy in the landscape of the world. It's supposed to be making a comeback later on this week, and I've been asking the following questions, many of our guests, but you always provide your own insight, Elton and Colonel Evital. When it comes to the weight of Hanyunas, I'm circling back a few weeks ago to the earlier stages of the war, when there was a lot of attention on the Shifa hospital slash terror compound, and to an extent, and I'm saying it carefully, to an extent, the higher the expectations, the higher the disappointment to an extent. Is it strategically speaking, right to put such an emphasis on Hanyunas in terms of the objectives that Canon will be achieved underground? I think in the end, in the battlefield, there's also necessity, right? Now, this is the only target available in the south, which really is heavy. We know that there are commanders there. We don't know where the Sinoir is there, but if he's there, we want to nail him down, and of course, we have the hostages issue that seems to be in the south, not in the Gaza. And as you're going to war, you don't know what the prospects are. The intelligence is being gathered as you go forward. And I don't see any other vision for the war, then also to have hold on Hanyunas, and of course, deepening our control on Gaza, they still have capabilities. They were shooting to the center, to Tel Aviv right now, to Ashkelon earlier in the day, so we have to continue this campaign and hope also that we can force them to some kind of deals along the way in terms of the hostages. Not just the capability, but also the desire, the drive to keep on the fight. And in this respect, perhaps, another quote-unquote surprise in this respect is Hamas is not just offensive abilities that we've seen, but also their defensive state of mind, as in not so many direct confrontations. Their defense strategy is to hide. Yeah, this is a guerrilla strategy. We had it in different worlds. If you go back to Vietnam, you hide, when you have seen the opportunity, you come out from the tunnel of whatever you try to hit with RPG or weapons, some Israeli soldiers, and they can cause casualties, but not to get into a full-front assault against confrontation with us. So this is part of the structure you mentioned, the asymmetrical war, the feature of this kind of war. But as they are being cornered, in the end, they might be forced. They can, I don't know, what kind of an end game would be in the end whether the possibility of surrender is even available in the future. And you know, we hear so many global leaders urging a ceasefire. The end of this war, the easiest way to get to it is very simple, surrender on behalf of Hamas. I know what's talking about is a feasible option. There was even this scenario of 82 Lebanon, the scenario of the PLO. Is it possible? I'm not sure, but I don't see any other option than pushing them militarily and expecting also some hostage. And in this respect, Lieutenant Colonel Vitali, during the ceasefire, we were talking a lot about the international pressure, but most notably, of course, the pressure from the Americans who said it publicly, not just behind closed doors. The humanitarian toll, as in the harm of civilians, cannot match what we've seen in the northern part of this trip. And in this respect, it seems that the IDF has been... Not just more questions, but more creative in the sense that this block division strategy, this interactive map, because at first we said it's either or either an aggressive, short, decisive action or a longer, more surgical one, but that necessitates time. Here we see perhaps a hybrid combination of both. The ability to hit aggressively and yet surgically. Yeah, and try exactly. I mean, we have the capabilities in terms of the weaponry, but of course the question is intelligence. And this is where civilians are getting caught in the crossfires when the intelligence is not good enough or the intelligence is misleading. In the end, it's a dynamic world. The intelligence comes in. You have to act within some window of opportunity and then you follow some intelligence and many times it works and you hit some leader of Hamas but sometimes it has a terrible toll in terms of casualties of civilians. The humanitarian thing is a crucial thing. It's a sort of something that we have to take into account this way from the beginning I said and I think this is our strategy right now. We don't... In terms of the aid that comes in in terms of enough fuel, we don't play around with this, let them have it and let them confront us in the battle field. And to that point, at the end, Colonel Vital, a couple of days ago, if I'm not mistaken, it was Sunday night, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin without a doubt, a staunch Israeli supporter had an interesting remark on that specific issue and perhaps it was not presented to the Israeli public that way but we'll have a whole lot of time to discuss that after the war that the humanitarian issue is not a matter of aiding the population there because he said it's when you push a civilian population into the arms of the enemy, you're essentially turning a tactical victor into a strategic problem. Yeah, I think this was important insight of a completely concurrent agree. America has some experience in Iraq in other fields of Afghanistan for sure. And of course, you have to be very careful because when you're in the way to achieve some objective, you can undercut the objective by using the wrong tactics or the wrong measures. It's a very important lesson to any military man. And I think it's a very important insight that I hope the world cabinet was hearing and trying to follow. Yeah, not a humanitarian issue per se in the in the dovish terminology but rather a military objective. The objective in the end, it's some kind of if I may say an economy of risk. So sometimes when you act aggressively you just push the risk to another time, to other soldiers, to other warfare. So you have to be very careful on how you do this war with this very dense population in Gaza. I hope, I think the idea is, knows this insight but it was important to hear it from. Yes, absolutely. Let's end Colonel Avital with all the respective tactics and strategy on the ground. We want to shift the focus now to what seems to be the tip of the horrors, iceberg rather, Israeli eyewitnesses to the terror of October 7th. Female activists, world leaders led this special session at the UN condemning the global silence on Hamas using rape and mutilation and sexual abuse the mouth cannot even say out loud as a weapon of war. And they use testimonies and facts while calling out the hypocrisy around the world when it comes to the rape of Jewish women and men. Here's more from this UN session but with a warning, those images you're about to see are graphic. On October 7th, Hamas committed crimes against humanity. They raped, murdered and violated Israeli women. Usually the United Nations is a place where Israelis have to defend their actions but this time they had center stage calling out the brutal violence against women on October 7th. Hamas had committed rapes. We saw bodies of naked women. Morg workers say the bodies show trauma consistent with rape. They bent someone down and I realized he was raping her and then he shot her in the head. Her pants are pulled down and she is half naked. The legs will spread out. And women's organizations chose to be silent against Hamas violence. And calling out the deafening silence, denial and vocal vitriol against Jewish people that ensued. The world has to decide who to believe. Do we believe the Hamas spokesperson who said that rape is forbidden therefore it couldn't have possibly happened on October 7th? Or do we believe the women whose bodies tell us how they spent the last minutes of their lives? Who are we going to believe? We found a woman's body dumped outside without pants. Without underpants. Burned. Barely any hair left on her. They even displayed horrific eyewitness testimonies. We found a woman's body that was in her body at the moment. She is a woman of color. She is also a woman of color in the area of women of color. It is very interesting. She had a lot of women of color. Also for women and women of color. The women who came to us as human beings were, we see, at least, women of color. Or women of color. Only women of color. Just a woman of color of a different color. She is not a woman. She is a woman of color. She is a woman of color. She is just a woman who is wearing this. And if she is walking like this, she will see that she is a woman of color. What's more, is the overwhelming amount of women protesting in hate and anti-Semitic rallies around the world. Especially, when it's taken so many decades and centuries for women to find a voice and speak out against rape and violence. When people use the language of feminism while brushing aside gender-based violence because of the identity of the victims, they're sending a clear signal that women's rights are negotiable. That rape is sometimes okay. That some women have more dignity than others. That is more than hypocrisy. It is a betrayal of all women. Because when our agency can be traded away, none of us are safe. Israeli authorities also called out the propaganda of Hamas and the fact that Hamas uses rape as a weapon of war while the world watches. Israel suffered the most brutal massacre since the Holocaust. The atrocities committed by Hamas were more barbaric than ISIS. Some say more cruel and barbaric than the Nazis. Babies were murdered and beheaded. Families were bound together and burnt alive. Children were executed in front of their parents and parents in front of their children. After those crimes against humanity, another crime, the crime of the global community's silence on those horrific acts. And to that point exactly, the Prime Minister's office will be holding a special screening tonight to leaders of the Arab community's plural here in Israel of the painful and yet important film documenting what happened on October 7th from the first hand documentation of Hamas terrorists themselves at this movie that is often dubbed the movie of whores was screened around the world and of course here in Israel and tonight an important screening to the leaders of the Arab community here. And we do want to end this broadcast perhaps with the silver lining because we want to share with you this video taken today of a little five-year-old Emilia Aloni on her first day back at Kindergarten reuniting with her teachers and friends Emilia and her mother, 44-year-old Danielle Aloni were among the first group of hostages to be released over a week ago now. Let's take a listen. Yes, the pure joy and gratitude and happiness of a little girl going back to her friends in Kindergarten going back to life after witnessing what no girl should ever experience captivity by the hands of terrorists. This is it from us for now but we will be back at the top of the hour with all the latest updates from the Ground Eye 24 News team spread from North to South here in Israel. Thank you very much for watching. See you at the top of the hour. 24 Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well. To the special broadcast here in I-24 News as we continue our rolling coverage on day 60 of the war here in Israel heavy barrages of rockets towards Israel's south center and north this hour at least 15 rockets fired towards Israel's Tel Aviv area including impact. As you can see now on screen directed in the third series of Ashkelon as well this as the IDF battle over Hamas Bastion of Hanounis is gaining momentum. IDF forces are said to be at the very heart of Hanounis and this hour the Israeli War Cabinet meeting the families of the remaining 137 some of the hostages who are released are taking part in this meeting too pleading there is no time. New horrific details continue to be revealed on what Hamas terrorists are doing to Israelis in captivity including drugging them on the day of their release so their physical and mental trauma will will not be visible. Doctors are now saying if the initial hope that their state is relatively reasonable now it is completely refuted. And both American and Israeli officials are saying Hamas is not releasing the remaining women in captivity all young women because they simply do not want them to speak up about the sexual abuse that they're going through sadistic psychotic monstrous acts on October 7th and since. We want to begin this broadcast in the field so we want to head now to the Israel northern border I-24 news correspondent Zach Anders with the I-24 news team there Zach thank you very much for joining us well another day of war in the north another round of sirens this past hour what can you tell us? Well before the latest sirens in the last half hour our Hezbollah through Lebanese media channels had already claimed responsibility for four attacks today this in the last half hour would be the fifth should they claim responsibility it targeted Idmit and Arab al-Ramshi on the northern border north of Haifa here it does not appear as the IDF says that there were any damage or injuries casualties in these latest strikes within the last half hour that they fell in open areas this is also another day where Israel says its airspace was violated by an aircraft that appears to have been either intercepted or failed it also fell in an open area the IDF says and that it is in the process or has already been recovered by the IDF and that will be a significant moment to determine unlike in the past when it has been described as drones they're describing this as an aircraft of course the the language may be impactful here or it might be more of the same we'll have to wait and see yeah more in the same and yet that every other given point in time what we're seeing in the north on a daily basis would have been dubbed of a full-scale war and yet not now right it is remarkable to just see how how often this these strikes occur how many people are subjected to evacuation notices knowing that they can't return home because of the constant fighting that is taking place here but it is taking place somewhat at a distance Hezbollah is using the open terrain to their advantage to attempt these strikes and then retreat further into southern Lebanon which then warrants the IDF to have to respond not with ground forces but with air strikes and the IDF says they continue to target these positions where either mortars or heavy rockets or some of these drones are launched and they do so with their aircraft inside sometimes Lebanese airspace and they're targeting not just the points of origin but also some of the structures that they apparently notice where Hezbollah is operating from before they make their way to the these strikes of course the IDF has a significant advantage with the intelligence gathering here and the ability to see with these high-resolution observation balloons where all this activity is taking place yes and this is perhaps one of the most frustrating elements in this war both in the south and in the north that despite the superiority the military advantage Israel has when it comes to the actions of the ground it is far more limited than than its enemies a classic asymmetrical war with a brutal vicious enemy. I-24 News correspondent Zach Anders on the Israel-Lebanon border thank you very much for this much more from Zach of course throughout our broadcast this this evening and from north we're heading now south to the southern city of Ashkelon yet another direct hit there after a barrage of rockets in this past hour very heavy barrage of rockets towards Israel center I-24 News a senior correspondent guy Israel is joining us from their guy let's begin with the barrage to the center of Israel to the Tel Aviv area and many other communities impact of what we call debris but we need to clarify when we say debris we're not talking about you know sprinkles of rockets we're talking about massive parts of the rockets that are hitting ground and and creating immense damage and luckily many times not no harm in human life as I didn't really it goes to emphasize the importance of sticking to the regulations of the homefront command be it in Tel Aviv area as we saw just less than half an hour ago or here in Ashkelon two hours ago those who listen to the guidelines of the homefront command who seek shelter who remain in shelter for at least 10 minutes after the sounding of the alerts these will keep safe and the injuries that we see are from people who are either too curious to seek shelter wanting to film the the interceptions or do not even have enough time to run to shelter as was and in this case here in Ashkelon we saw at least one hit in Tel Aviv with quite an extensive damage on the street and here in Ashkelon just two hours ago a direct hit from a rocket into the top floor of this building behind me is our Cameron Rotem Ben-Chemok and show you right now it is quite incredible to see that massive hole in the building where Ellie a mother and her two children were having lunch just two hours ago as they heard the sirens they ran into shelter miraculously all of them safe thanks to the shelter the only injuries were right here in the parking lot two elderly women that did not have enough time to rush to the shelter are the ones who were hit by shrapnel we can also see the damage to the shrapnel in all the buildings in this neighborhood so quite an extensive damage from this direct hit in addition several others including children were treated for anxiety this is just one of so many spots of direct hits this time in Ashkelon emphasizing the threat of these rockets and the importance of sticking to the guidelines Ellie and Guy yes perhaps just to stress once again the home front command instructions not just rushing to shelter but staying in shelter for at least 10 minutes after the alarm because this debris the shrapnel that we're seeing has a potential of creating a whole lot of damage Guy before we let you go this hour in Tel Aviv the war cabinet is meeting the families of the 137 remaining hostages in this meeting some of the hostages who are released and they're leaving no room for doubt every minute there in Hamas captivity in the hands of those brutal cruel terrorists is risking their lives obviously moments of fear for the families as the IDF continues its operation in Gaza there are second answers from the government we did see one successful round of hostage release last week that ended when Hamas decided to continue and fire rockets into Israel eventually Israel and the IDF realized Hamas is not looking to to go ahead with the next stage of a hostage release deal and that is why the fear grows among those families the number of Israeli hostages has been updated today to 138 Israelis being held at the hands of the Hamas terror group in Gaza they're demanding answers from the government about the possible negotiations for perhaps another hostage release deal from what we hear so far such a deal is not in the cards Hamas is not looking to give anything that Israel man of Hamas is a complete halt to the war not a ceasefire not a pause as we saw but a complete halt in this war of Israel and the government was very clear the war will not end until the main goal of eliminating Hamas's military capabilities in Gaza will be fulfilled that is still very far from happening and therefore we do not see a hostage deal coming in the coming days at least yes truth truth is very cruel these days i-24 news correspondent senior correspondent Guy Israel in the southern city of Ashkelon much more from Guy of course throughout our broadcast later on in the evening and now we want to welcome here in studio Lieutenant Lieutenant Colonel Doronovital commander of the special forces of the IDF Lieutenant Colonel Avital thank you very much for joining us well the IDF is clearing releasing more information creating a clearer picture on what the IDF forces look like at this hour in the Gaza strip continuing the operations in the north but but the focus is definitely on the south most notably in the south rather most notably Hanyunas which is both practical a strategic target but also one with with a whole lot of symbolism yeah of course first of all Hanyunas right now we think that the leaders of Hamas are hiding there then we also have a great suspicion that many of our hostages are there so this is the new target of the IDF going south in fact entering from the north from the east north to the west declaring and announcing to the public to the civilians in Gaza was they should evacuate in this campaign continues so this is the main objective right now of the IDF and then of course we have the fighting in the north in Sarjia where the Golani brigade was sent to close a story that goes back to 2014 when they were hit very heavily there and so the north deepening our stronghold in the north thinking how to solve the tunnels issue fighting through Hanyunas fighting against some timeline that might come along the way in terms of pressure from outside trying to minimize casualties of civilians and thinking also on the winter that is coming today it's not only a fog of war it's a little bit foggy in the land in the landscape of the world to be making a comeback later on this week and I've been asking the following questions many of our guests but but you always provide your own insight and kernel of ital when it comes to the the weight of Hanyunas I'm circling back a few weeks ago to the earlier stages of the war when there was a lot of attention on the she for hospital slash terror compound and to an extent and I'm saying it carefully to an extent the higher the expectations the higher the disappointment to an extent is it strategically speaking rights to put such an emphasis on Hanyunas in terms of the objectives that cannon will be achieved underground I think in the end in the battlefield there's also necessity right now this is the only target available in the south which really is heavy we know that there are commanders there we don't know where to see noir there but if if he's there we need we want to nail him down and of course we have the hostages so the issue that seems to be in the south not in the Gaza and you know as you go into war you don't know what the prospects are the intelligence is being gathered as you long as you go forward and I don't see any other vision for the world then also to to have hold on Hanyunas and of course deepening our control on Gaza they still have capabilities they were shooting to the center to Tel Aviv right now to Ashkelon earlier in the day so we have to continue this campaign and hope also that we can force them to some kind of deals along the way in terms of the hostages not just the capability but also the desire the drive to keep on the fight and in this respect perhaps another quote unquote surprise in this respect is Hamas is not just offensive abilities that we've seen but also their defensive state of mind as in not so many direct confrontations the their defense strategy is to hide yeah this is a guerrilla strategy we had it in different worlds if you go back to Vietnam you hide you when you have seen the opportunity you come out from the tunnel of wherever you try to hit with RPG or a weapon some Israeli soldiers and they can cause casualties but not to get into a full-front assault against confrontation with us so this is part of the structure you mentioned asymmetrical war of this the feature of this kind of war but as they are being cornered in the end they might be forced they can I don't know what kind of an end game would be in the end whether the possibility surrender is even available in the end of thinking and you know what we hear so many global leaders are urging a ceasefire the end of this war the easiest way to get to it is very simple surrender on behalf of Hamas side no one's talking about it as a feasible option even there was even this scenario of 82 Lebanon the scenario of with the PLO is it possible I'm not sure but in I don't see any other option than pushing the militarily and expecting also some hostages and in this respect Lieutenant Colonel Vitaly during the ceasefire we were talking a lot about the international pressure but most notably of course the pressure from from the Americans who said it publicly not just behind closed doors the humanitarian toll as in the harm of civilians cannot match what we've seen in the northern part of the strip and in this respect it seems that the idea has been not just more questions but more creative in the sense that this this block division strategy this interactive map that because at first we said it's either or either an aggressive short decisive action or a longer more surgical one but that necessitates time here we see perhaps a hybrid combination of both the ability to hit aggressively and yet surgically yeah and try exactly I mean we have the capabilities in terms of the weaponry but of course the question is intelligence and this is where where civilians are getting caught in the crossfires when the intelligence is not good enough or the intelligence is misleading in the end it's a dynamic war the intelligence comes in you have to act within some window of opportunity and then you follow some intelligence and many times it works and you hit some leader of Hamas but sometimes it has a terrible toll in terms of casualties of civilians the humanitarian thing is a is a crucial thing it's a sort of something that we have to take into account this way from the beginning I said and I think this is our strategy right now we don't in terms of the the aid that comes in in terms even of fuel we don't play around with this let them have it and let them confront us in the battle field and to that point it was in Colonel Vital a couple of days ago if I'm not mistaken it was Sunday Sunday night US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin without a doubt the staunch Israeli supporter had an interesting remark on on that specific issue and and perhaps it was not presented to the Israeli public that way but we will have a whole lot of time to discuss that after the war that the humanitarian issue is not a matter of aiding the population there because he said it's when you push a civilian population into the arms of the enemy you're essentially turning a tactical victor into a strategic problem yeah I think this was important insight of a completely concurrent agree America has some experience in Iraq in other fields of Afghanistan for sure and of course you have to be very careful because when you're in the way to achieve some objective you can undercut the objective by using the wrong tactics or the wrong measures it's a very important lesson to any military man and I think it's a very important insight that I hope the world cabinet was hearing and trying to follow yeah not the humanitarian issue per se in the in the dovish terminology but rather a military objective in the end it's some kind of if I may say an economy of risk so sometimes when you act aggressively you just push the risk to another time to other soldiers to other warfare so you have to be very careful on how you do this war with this very dense population in Gaza I hope I think the idea is knows this insight but it was important to hear it from yes absolutely listen colonel Avital with all the respective tactics and strategy on the ground we want to shift the focus now to what seems to be the tip of the horrors iceberg rather Israeli eyewitnesses to the terror of October 7 female activists world leaders led this special session at the UN condemning the global silence on Hamas using rape and mutilation and sexual abuse that the mouth cannot even say out loud as a weapon of war and they use testimonies and facts while calling out the hypocrisy around the world when it comes to the rape of of Jewish women and men here's more from this UN session but with a warning those images you're about to see our graphic on October 7th Hamas committed crimes against humanity they raped murdered and violated Israeli women usually the United Nations is a place where Israelis have to defend their actions but this time they had center stage calling out the brutal violence against women on October 7th Hamas had committed rapes we saw bodies of naked women morgue workers say the bodies show trauma consistent with rape they bent someone down and I realized he was raping her and then he shot her in the head her pants are pulled down and she is half naked the legs spread out and women's organizations chose to be silent against Hamas violence and calling out the deafening silence denial and vocal vitriol against Jewish people that ensued the world has to decide who to believe do we believe the Hamas spokesperson who said that rape is forbidden therefore it couldn't have possibly happened on October 7th or do we believe the women whose bodies tell us how they spent the last minutes of their lives who are we going to believe we found a woman's body dumped outside without pants without underpants burn barely any hair left on her they even displayed horrific eyewitness testimonies the women who came to us as survivors we can see whether they are still alive or just in the years just to see from the side of the other side because we are in the middle she didn't get hurt she was shot to the head she was shot to the head and she was shot to the head she was shot to the head and she was shot to the head He didn't go for a ride What's more, is the overwhelming amount of women protesting in hate and anti-Semitic rallies around the world especially when it's taken so many decades and centuries for women to find a voice and speak out against rape and violence When people use the language of feminism while brushing aside gender based violence because of the identity of the victims they're sending a clear signal that Israel's rights are negotiable. That rape is sometimes okay. That some women have more dignity than others. That is more than hypocrisy. It is a betrayal of all women. Because when our agency can be traded away, none of us are safe. Israeli authorities also called out the propaganda of Hamas and the fact that Hamas uses rape as a weapon of war while the world watches. Israel suffered the most brutal massacre since the Holocaust. The atrocities committed by Hamas were more barbaric than ISIS. Some say more cruel and barbaric than the Nazis. Babies were murdered and beheaded. Families were bound together and burnt alive. And were executed in front of their parents and parents in front of their children. After those crimes against humanity, another crime, the crime of the global community's silence on those horrific acts. And to that point exactly, the Prime Minister's office will be holding a special screening tonight to leaders of the Arab community's plural here in Israel of the painful and yet important film documenting what happened on October 7th from the first hand documentation of Hamas terrorists themselves at this movie that is often dubbed the movie of whores screened around the world and of course here in Israel and tonight an important screening to the leaders of the Arab community here. And we do want to end this broadcast perhaps with the silver lining because we want to share with you this video taken today of a little five-year-old Emilia Aloni on her first day back at kindergarten, reuniting with her teachers and friends. Emilia and her mother, 44-year-old Daniela Aloni were among the first group of hostages to be released over a week ago now. Let's take a listen. Yes, the pure joy and gratitude and happiness of a little girl going back to her friend in kindergarten, going back to life after witnessing what no girl should ever experience, the activity by the hands of terrorists.