 Special coverage on another nerve-wracking night here in the Middle East. Guys, really, senior editor here at I-24 News. Let's have some updates. A very short update. Just moments ago, we are hearing from Egyptian sources that the Israeli hostages set to be released today have been transferred into the hands of the Red Cross. And today we're talking about five children and seven women, two of them of Russian national as part of a separate agreement between Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Alright, so it's going on as planned so far. Thank you for this update. Now we'll go to the Shiba hospital, I-24 News, Zak Anders is live there. This is where some hostages are being treated and more are expected tonight, Zak. And we've been receiving intermittent updates from the medical staff here regarding their conditions and we're hearing that for the most part, those that have been received are doing well, that they're recovering from this entire ordeal in the floors above me. We're expecting four additional hostages, freed hostages, to arrive sometime tonight at Shiba Medical Center. This is per the director of the hospital who came out and spoke some time ago. They don't know the ages or the sex of the individuals that will be arriving. We're still waiting on that exact list for who exactly will be received here tonight. We did hear from a high level source in the prime minister's office today who was speaking on the Kafir Bebas and the Bebas family. They have no indication, they tell us, that the youngest hostage was killed. They also have, he went further to say that some of the reports, the conflicting reports that suggest perhaps Hamas has bargained with or collaborated with other factions inside Gaza to swap hostages or that hostages are in control of other factions. He does not believe that the individuals or that Hamas does not know where every single hostage is and refuted that but then again could not go further and say that they have definitively received proof of life or evidence of the condition for that 10 month old infant. Here at the hospital we've been able to speak to several of the families over the last few days of the hostages released. We've been able to collect some more and more about that and here's some of what they had to say. Without getting into specific details of course when you spend your time in captivity there are consequences both physical and emotional so yes we see. We're being evaluating them for the weight loss which is about 10 to 17% of body weight for most of them and then for deficiencies everybody are getting supplements to start with and then tailored with the specific types of deficiencies that they have and we're going to follow this up but this has a meaning especially in pediatrics and the consequences of such under nutrition for such a long time for more than 50 days. So part of this and the things that the doctors are looking out for is how these freed hostages respond not just psychologically but physically too as they begin to get regular fluids and meals they've lost weight their conditions coming in are varied. They also explain that for many of the hostages the amount of food that they received in towards the later days of their captivity grew less and less available and that their bodies have responded to that they weren't getting as much food in those later days. They also were sleeping in difficult conditions. Some of them report having to sleep on plastic chairs upright it sounds like a terrible or a deal but they're here in the hospital now and receiving care. Alright Zach thank you very much at the Shiba Hospital in the center of Tel Aviv Ambassador Daniel Elon former Israeli ambassador to Washington we should say that at this stage tonight the deal expires there's no extension yet do you expect it an extension? Well I would say it all depends on proof of life from Hamas and in the right quantity if you may. The Israeli stipulation was extension of ceasefire for at least 10 hostages a day being released. So I would say that if Hamas can prove that they have 10 or 20 more then the ceasefire will be extended and then the question is what comes after that? Because once we get into the core of the hostages or they call them prisoners of war when it comes to our soldiers this may be a different category and here I think it's going to be a totally different type of negotiations and I'm not sure that Israel will even want to start these negotiations before the second stage of the military operation. Alright let's go to New York right now to the UN monthly Security Council meeting on Israeli Palestinian issues I turn for news Mike Wagenheim is live in New York at the UN with more on that Mike. That's right in fact the US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield addressing reporters as we speak we'll try to catch up with her later on but this is a high level meeting here today this isn't just the standard monthly meeting foreign ministers from China and Brazil have come in for this one high level delegates from Saudi Arabia Qatar the Palestinian Authority sent their foreign minister United Arab Emirates Jordan sent their foreign minister here today so this is all focused on the Israel Gaza war the Israel Hamas war how to move forward if to move forward at any particular pace basically everybody today stating in one way or another we're glad with where we are right now in terms of the ceasefire some say you've got to make it permanent it's got to be a truce the US at least in Linda Thomas Greenfield comments earlier today in the meeting not willing to go that far but a lot of stress on humanitarian aid a lot of stress right now on making sure that the pause lasts as long as it can given the conditions Israeli ambassador to the UN like you're done address the Security Council earlier on today look this is the anniversary today of the UN vote to partition British mandatory Palestine into a Jewish state and in Arab state we the Jews Israel accepted the Palestinians the Arabs are still fighting this battle all these years later and that's exactly what brought us to October the 7th still fighting this battle that Israel you know was willing to negotiate and compromise on and the Palestinians still aren't Palestinian foreign minister today on Milwaukee castrating essentially Israel for its role in the Hamas war so far castigating Israel as well for the lack of what he says the humanitarian aid has gone through so far to northern Gaza the UN made a separate statement today through Antonio Gutierrez the secretary general he actually said that aid is finally filtering through to northern Gaza he also said for the first time a UN official saying that the what he called the gender-based violence essentially the sexual violence the way the sexual assaults that have been documented that took place on October 7th at the hands of Hamas terrorists and other Gaza citizens inside of Israel needs to be thoroughly investigated a step above of what we've heard from the very milto statements earlier on in the week right but actually that was that was not well received in Israel let's take a listen to the secretary general Gutierrez earlier today and talk about it later the people of Gaza are in the midst of an epic humanitarian catastrophe before the eyes of the world we must not look away intense negotiations are taking place to prolong the truth which we strongly welcome but we believe we need a true humanitarian ceasefire yeah so people in Israel including some you know feminist organizations here said that Gutierrez could have been more decisive on what happened not just called for an investigation and this is not the kind of thing you would expect over 50 days after this right no certainly not and I think the pressure on him was finally piling on to make some sort of statement he did say that those sort of sexual based crimes should be or must be condemned anytime anywhere however though still very vague in who exactly the perpetrators are in those crimes even though it's been well documented what happened on October 7th even what's been let out publicly let alone what's been kept under seal so far Antonio Gutierrez is not the person here that's going to appease Israel I don't know if any UN official at this point has the ability to do that given what's taking place not only over the years but just since October 7th alone the answers are not going to come from the UN Secretary General's office the answers may come at some point from the Security Council again the US is not calling for any sort of a long-term ceasefire based on the current circumstances just making sure humanitarian aid gets through it will be interesting as some of your guests have alluded to in the what comes next part of this operation here what comes next after you know the women and children God willing have been returned to Israel and only the men and the soldiers are left at that point where does Israel go from there and what will be the reaction from the Security Council on how long Joe Biden and his administration and Linda Thomas Greenfield here at the UN will continue to give their full to almost full backing of Israel's freedom of operation there in Gaza right Mike Wagonheim in New York thank you very much back to you ambassador I loan here understood the secretary general Gutierrez he's been an enormous disappointment in Israel enormous disappointment well Portugal under the socialist movement and different governments were very much pro-Palestinian even pro Hamas I would say and and we saw the the results of this long tradition policy in the statements of Gutierrez from from day one by the way he's talking about the devastation in Gaza he didn't mention you know the devastation in Israel he didn't even make one I would say major major speech calling on Hamas to receive the ICRC the International Red Cross going into and visiting to see the well-being or the condition of the of the hostages let alone getting the list of the hostages which is just the basics in in any kind of war you know the Nazis back in the 40s you know during World War two you know this ruthless Nazis they allowed Red Cross to come into the POW camps and so so it's not you know it's not even imaginable how bad it is on the Red Cross to become such a to be rendered into some logistical support supplying ambulances just to get them back without any imprint in a qualitative way and again Gutierrez you look he says the world is looking the other way he was looking the other way when ICRC was needed to be called into action right guy let's talk about the Bebas family the two kids very disturbing news today yes so the idea for today coming out with the announcement that they have informed the Bebas family about the statement that came out of Hamas according to Hamas and of course this could all be part of their psychological where for their sadistic treatment of the Israeli public and the Israeli families according to the Hamas statement the Bebas families a family namely the mother Shiri and her two sons fear which is really the the symbol of of this war a 10 months old baby nine months old when he was kidnapped in the arms of his mother together with her brother Ariel according to Hamas they were killed as a result of an Israeli airstrike something that Israel obviously cannot confirm the IDF says they will examine this report but they have informed the the news to the family from on behalf of the family they said that they are updated with the publicity and they're awaiting for more information to see whether that is confirmed or hopefully not so by military sources the cousin of Shiri Bebas says Hamas kidnapped them alive we saw those images the mother and her two sons in her arms all alive all in good health when they were taken he says Hamas who abducted them alive is responsible to return them as well it should be mentioned here that Hamas have and Islamic jihad have also not surprisingly used that psychological warfare or to also to spread lies we had a case of one hostage Hanna an elderly woman who PIJ already announced that it she actually died in their hands just less than a week later she was released alive we hope and pray that this would also be the case when it comes to the Bebas family and one more note about them they are some of the last children still held by Hamas this deal this extension of the deal was meant to bring back all the Israeli children still held by Hamas and over the past several days Hamas have claimed that they are actually in the hands of another terror group in Gaza that they don't have access to now they're changing the their their story and stating that they have died the IDF will be checking this but this is a kind of thing that could delay any agreement on extension of the deal it is a factor that could delay this deal we're waiting these next few hours will be very telling and it should be mentioned that the extension of the deal is an interest of Hamas in the eyes of Hamas any additional day of extension gets them closer to the ideal of stopping the war altogether they have two cards on their hands one is the international pressure that I believe at this point is not strong enough to stop Israel from going ahead with the war the other one is the hostages and when it comes to the soldiers Hamas is going to demand the complete secession of this war something that the Israeli government and the Israeli public cannot accept cannot accept absolutely the Gulf countries are very much involved behind the scenes especially Qatar I 24 years Bustin Doree in Dubai a good evening Bustin what do we know about the Qatari involvement so far beyond what we have seen on the surface walk Jacob Qatar is the only country in the world who have good relations with all the actors in this conflict so they're doing the Qataris are doing their best to extend this truce as guy just said the extension is ideal for Hamas but it's also ideal for the Qatar is a you know a good 10 years ago Hamas was able to open a representative office in Doha where Khaled Michelle and Ismail Haniyeh now sits Khaled Michelle former head of Hamas who acts as not only as a rich guy but also as an experienced figure in the eyes of the Palestinians especially since the he escaped an assassination attempt ordered by Netanyahu at the end of the 1990s and then Ismail Haniyeh current head of Hamas and in charge of all diplomatic matters and this representative office wasn't opened by the Qataris and the Palestinians on the slide it was the Americans who told Qatar to allow Hamas to set up on its soil because Washington needed to establish more concrete contacts with Gaza via the Qataris and we can see the result today with these hostage releases which will hopefully continue in the months to come even if the other side of the coin if you will is to see that in the end Qatar is supporting Hamas in a way which means that the state of Israel will probably not be able to fulfill the the mission it set itself of getting rid of Hamas are there any risks for Qatar in the long term well the Qataris may find themselves trapped by their own status as negotiators because if for whatever reason if they're forced for example by other countries to cut all ties and no longer play the role of negotiator you know Saudi Arabia has proved sprued by in the past that it can punish and isolate Qatar completely in that case all the vital benefits that Doha was deriving would go up in smoke but there are also a lot of benefits for the Qataris and I'm not just talking about their image as negotiators which brings in a lot of money because in return the US sells them sells them a lot of weapons at very competitive costs they defend their interests in all international matters but there's also an image benefits remember just two or three years ago Qatar was talked about almost exclusively in terms of its support for Islamist and terrorist groups in Syria today we hardly talk about all that anymore some will find it regrettable and then probably rightly so right now we almost forgot but there's COP 28 going on how is this affected by the war in Gaza COP 28 will start tomorrow and the regional instability following Hamas's attacks and Israel's operation in Gaza will definitely affect the conference because if this war were to become more regional it would have a greater potential to affect COP 28 attendance and therefore its likelihood of success you know you will have days nights and weekends of top people in governments addressing the crisis in Gaza rather than the climate crisis so let's see I would say we already know that Friday will be an important day as Isaac and Mahmoud Abbas will be speaking almost almost at the same time on the main stage literally one following the other and we also know that Benjamin Netanyahu and foreign minister Eliko and likely won't be attending the talks they were supposed to but you know do you obviously to the current circumstances they won't be attending the talks right Bustan Bari in Dubai thank you very much ambassador Danny I long back to you here look things are happening Qatar is flying to Israel sitting down with the head of the Mossad night and day for a long time now this is an interesting development maybe something positive long run well the Americans are really trying you know the fact that Bill Burns the head of the more the CIA who is so many things on his plate just leaving everything putting it to the side and coming here is quite substantial and it's not just for temporary ceasefires I believe he's already trying to kind of mastermind the day after because not with Hamas necessarily I mean with Hamas it's a matter of the negotiations on release of hostages against the ceasefire but the day after and the day after the Americans are actually are going to rely on Qatari administration Qatari money maybe Saudi money understanding that Gaza will need an overall you know immense immense investments and of course they do not want to see Israel there but this is another thing but before they come to Israel and tell Israel well Israel you should not occupy Gaza they should tell Israel what will be the regime over there so I believe this is part of the task for the head of the the CIA by the way it reminds me you know last time head of CIA was so much immersed in the Middle Eastern affairs was just three months before 9-11 and at that time it was here the intifada George Tennant which was then the head of the CIA was staying here day in and day out and I can tell you he was kicking himself for being here and not in Washington in his very crucial time leading up to 9-11 always kind of self or second guessing what would have happened had he been in Washington and not being sidetracked to this Middle East fiasco speaking of Washington US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said this in Brussels today I had of his visit to Israel tomorrow we head back to the region as the humanitarian pause that we helped to negotiate with Qatar and with Egypt has allowed scores of hostages to be released and to be reunited with their families we're surging humanitarian assistance into Gaza to make sure that its people have what they need to get by looking at the next couple of days we'll be focused on making doing what we can to extend the pause so that we continue to get more hostages out and more humanitarian assistance in so ambassador along the question is always what's cooking something is well the Americans have already said it more than once that basically what they would expect Israel is to have a different modus operandi a different type of military operation if indeed we go to the second stage to the southern part of Gaza because of the density of the population and they would not want to see any removal of population this is also because of a demand by by the Egyptians let's pause and listen to any guns was left dry when seeing the hostages coming home but this evening I'd like to appeal to the families of the hostages who are not back yet to those who still don't know what's happening to them your journey the families of the hostages is inexplicable and because of this heavy burden we cannot but admire your strengths and the sincere happiness for those families that they have their hostages back and the backing you give to the army and to the country in order to bring back your loved ones and when we'll bring back all the citizens of the north and the south we all embrace you and strengthen you the burden of your agony is something we think about every minute day and night another thing that strengthens us is the legacy of the fallen soldiers where we hear that from so many families mothers and fathers siblings comrades in arms and spouses who tell us continue and your mission for them and for us what kind of strength we have in this nation this is inconceivable we are now at very complex moments in a window of opportunities in the frame of the return of the hostages we shall do whatever we can in order to finish it but together with that we are also ready to go back to the fighting in every given moment including these very minutes the state of Israel is waging a very complex many arenas campaign with the responsibility of maintaining the Zionist project and forging it people want to kill us they still do and we have no other choice we must continue to fight it's not revenge we're looking for but the ensuring of our future we're not gonna stop until we bring security and take away the threat in the north and in the south we're not coming back until we operate the fighting will go on it'll be extended to any place that is required in the Gaza Strip there will not be havens until the inhabitants of all the kibbutzim in the south and villages in the north will be able to come back to their land until everybody comes back to their home I would like to relate also to the updating of the budget that passed in the government that has a few essential points in order to continue with the war but unfortunately all sorts of allocations of budgets that have nothing to do with the war itself and therefore all the ministers in my party voted against so many are enlisted hundreds of thousands of people left their homes the entire economy is jeopardized we all have to mobilize to add budgets because of political agreements that have nothing to do with the war are a stain on this government I'm aware of the voices that think that we should leave the government but we are now in the most important war since the beginning of the state I don't know if ever some of their decisions that I and my colleagues had will ever be exposed I know that our joining the government is essential and I know how important it was the message that we did join to the people in Israel the soldiers in the front and the legitimacy and understanding the importance among the international nations as I said in the past we went in to this emergency government not because of political reasons but because of a mutual fate those who deal with politics and the days after is not going to deviate my colleagues and me to work for the people of Israel and all the citizens of Israel even when your shoulders hurt and it's becoming difficult I will not leave the stretcher and leave these soldiers and the hostages and the interest of the state of Israel aside because now we must we just must to prevail together and with the help of God we shall do it thank you questions did you meet the Bebas family because of this message that the family got what did you say to them about the situation can we demand Hamas to return these babies to Israel as a condition for the continuation of the agreement first of all in fact I did meet the representatives of the Bebas family it was a very painful meeting most important in its development because as we were sitting actually we got this media announcement that we're not verified but they're painful I don't know if it's true or not is it part of a psychological warfare that the Hamas is waging against us we're talking about a wonderful family agonizing strong and strengthening one another and whatever we could do is just to embrace them and be together with them we are going to continue to look for intelligence and any sign possible in order to base our knowledge and to continue to act in order to bring back the hostages soon and alive if possible and we shall continue to fight and I think that the combination of these two eventually is going to bring back the results and the second question regarding the budget is that against the agreement we decided that this government is going to deal only with things that have to do with the war and its derivations and I said there's a lot of budget that came for the security it's extended with a lot of definitions there's a deficit I understand the important economic implication but I'm talking about something very simple at this time every resource that we can direct to the family to the war effort to the families who were jeopardized the villages that were devastated people that their businesses collapsed all this has to be directed there in the demands of a lot of members in the government and this people are justified I have no dispute with them okay at the time it was okay but what we're saying at the moment now at this very difficult hour the resources should go to one way and all the other justified causes and of course education is important for the religious as well and defending vid I'm for everything later on we can put it into the budget in an organized way but we don't need political combinations to get what they need but at the moment when we are increasing the deficit and reallocating our sources because everything that was planned before was different but the reality changed in October 7 I think we have to remedy that and do it again we hear the spokesman of the UN security cancels that if the war continues we are holding a very sincere and important discourse with our greatest friend in the world the United States and of course other countries as well the prime minister does it the minister of defense even I do it if possible and we explain to them our way need to continue the military operation we have to understand we don't want to be uproot people from their homes to deport anybody we want and we need to ensure our security and we cannot allow to the Gaza Strip in its terrorist and military situation in the future and we cannot allow them to regrow in a future reality because things have changed here we are going to obtain our objectives and explain it to the world and of course a humanitarian corridor we enable that's important and will continue to do so anywhere wherever we act recently Hamas has been enhancing its psychological warfare are you ready to say that in such a scenario we should have a death penalty for the terrorists I hope we don't see such phenomena and we'll do everything in order to prevent them from doing it it's not a question of reaction this is a war we intend to continue with our attack and we'll hit whoever we need to hit I am in favor of killing all the terrorists and all this dealing with death penalty it's not fit not fit for the time or the situation it's not this murderer or that murder in it we are fighting against an army of terrorists in this situation judging them it's not relevant and more than that death penalty even today exists in the legal possibilities in the state of Israel now we don't have to legislate anything the military advocates can do it they can do it tomorrow but all this dealing is an attempt unfortunate in my mind and this mine to deviate us from the main effort to fight our enemies and to gain some political gain it's not fit for the time Adam so this is Benny Gantz former chief of staff and actually the most popular politician in Israel at the moment he joined the Netanyahu government for the duration of the war but Ambassador Ayalon is in a very delicate political situation right now because he's being already attacked by the Netanyahu base and he's trying to hold the sticks on both ends not only by Netanyahu on the one hand but also people from Lapid's party are attacking him for actually staying in the government in spite of the government doing politicking especially with the budget allocation last night or that was again I think most Israelis look at it in a very very poor way you know instead of allocating all the money for the war efforts then they're good doing it for some coalition allocations that are political of nature so basically I think Gantz had to come out I think it's a political statement more than a security statement trying to actually explain to his constituency why he is staying in the government in spite the coalition money being allocated I have to differ here I do not think that anyone responsible in this country or in this parliament would suggest that now this government has to break apart because of whatever political disagreements or budgetary issues when Israel is engaged in its most serious war since the sixth day war let's let's keep everything in perspective all right well this is exactly why Gantz is coming out to explain what you explain now and I don't think that even Lapid suggests that he should be breaking apart from this government there are some people who do of course what about the Bebas family Gantz said that he has no confirmation the Israeli military is checking that statement of Hamas one thing that comes out now and does raise some eyebrows is the fact that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu according to Israel's public broadcaster Khan has met with the Bebas family yesterday and gave them some sort of update on the condition of the family and we're going to remind our viewers again we're talking about the mother Shiri and her two sons uh clear 10 months old Ariel four years old and the father as well Yarden who is kept we believe in a separate facility this is a very sensitive topic for the state of Israel as a whole fear is the symbol of this war this young baby the toddler being dragged from his home these two redhead boys there's no one person in Israel that doesn't think about them every day that sees these pictures and doesn't wish for their safe return I want to go back to a little bit to the statements from Gantz but also from other political figures and military figures this evening are we to you statements from the chief of staff this evening saying we know what to do and we are prepared for the next stage Defense Minister Galan says if anyone has any doubt very soon we will continue the ground maneuver all over the Gaza Strip Netanyahu says there is no situation in which we do not go back to fighting until the end and Gantz just now saying the war would continue and expand to anywhere needed until uh safety is being returned security is being returned what is important here that the is the goal of Hamas in extending these negotiations forever and ever and reaching a situation in which the war stops is for Hamas wanting the situation to go back to October 6 to again controlling the Gaza Strip to skirmishes on the fence to being able to fire rockets at Israel as if nothing happened on October 7 this is something that Israel would not be able to live with and when we go back to politics this government would have you can question its validity right now but regardless of the situation now should this government not do whatever it takes to eliminate Hamas as it promised to its voters to the whole Israeli public then it will have no right to exist instead of Israel really will not have a right to exist if it cannot guarantee the safety of its citizens in their homes on the borders right with us now is Elan Tev thank you very much for speaking with us tonight Elan thank you you're the daughter of Aviva and Keith Segal Aviva your mother returned on November 26th your father your father is still in Gaza that's right what do you know about him well I know that they were they both of them were kidnapped on the October 7th from their house and I know that they crossed the border and when they were alive and that's all I know about him or things that I can say on TV and I really really hope and wish and pray that the American government and Qatar and the Israeli government and the whole world wouldn't stop all the efforts until all of the people all the Israeli citizens in Gaza return home were they your parents separated or held together can you say I can't say anything you can't say anything that well tell me how was the reunion with your mother Elan are you with tell me about your reunion and remitting with your mother sorry yes I didn't hear you sorry yeah I was asking about how was it to meet your mother again it was really really exciting it was almost unbelievable to see her walking and talking and alive because we had so many moments that we didn't really knew if we will see her again and with that bini said it was hard I think we lost this connection unfortunately one of many many stories of families that are torn apart unbelievable I'll back to you Elan if you're with me Elan no it's unfortunately we lost it let's go Ambassador Elan back to what's happening tonight we have an ongoing exchange actually we've seen pictures from the Rafa crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt beforehand but we haven't seen a guy any Red Cross vehicles or anything like that there was some footage just of a Hamas vehicles driving through the streets of Gaza next to Chanyunis there was an Egyptian confirmation about those Israelis stand as part of this deal another two with Russian nationality that have been transferred into the hands of the international Red Cross no confirmation yet on their arrival into Rafa crossing or meeting any Israeli officials as we saw in the past five days in the previous five days this does take some time and we know sadly from the hostages that came back that their road in Gaza was not easy at all in many cases rocks were thrown at their cars they felt like they may be lynched by the crowd as they're making their way into the border with Egypt so there's all sorts of delays Hamas obviously has to guarantee their safe return to Israel through the crossing and ensure that nothing happens to them for as long as that was even maintained while they were in captivity right and we have to stress again so far the deal expires tonight no word on an extension yet I've seen reports coming in here from Israel that Hamas may present at least for tomorrow even though there's not an agreement yet yeah so we heard Defense Minister Gallant saying today that we will exploit any opportunity to extend this current outline until we reach the end of that this outline only refers to women and children up until now before they're released there are still nine Israeli children including the Beavis family that are being held in Gaza so Israel wants to exploit this opportunity to bring all of them back home all of the women we're still talking about well over 130 Israelis that are in Hamas captivity when it will come to the next stages when we speak about Israeli soldiers that will be a whole different story a whole different deal in which Hamas would think that it has the leverage over Israel and could demand a lot more than just releasing of prisoners Hamas would demand the stopping of the war altogether something that will be according to egyptian officials would be something that will be hard to swallow for the Israelis and I say here more like a gag reflex for any Israeli to think about stopping this war before Hamas is eliminated right the best I alone maybe an extension of two three days is the easier part when it comes to the harder choice later what do you expect will happen here inside Israel well I think it's pretty much understood by everyone including the Americans especially the Americans that stage two in the ground operation will start very soon and to that effect Blinken the secretary of Lincoln is coming here just like he did in the first days of the war basically he's part and parcel of the war cabinet and it's quite interesting to see how intimately the Americans are embedded in Israeli operations and in that respect I believe that they will set the blueprint of what will be the rules of engagements and he already said you know not to uproot civil populations to minimize of course casualties to continue and this is very important to continue the inflow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and with this given I think the idea will have a free hand I'm not sure that the military operation will be a replica of what we saw until now that's the message from Biden and others at this point northern Gaza will not be the same as southern Gaza but also what I hear from the the military you know brass is that they may do the job getting Hamas rooted with a different type of operations northern Gaza is not southern Gaza and I think that first of all the territory is smaller first of all it's much more dense but I think we will see probably much more special ops than tanks okay no no just hearing from the control that we need to move on but we're still waiting for confirmation on the arrival of those hostages into the hands of the Red Cross let's go back to Alan Tief we spoke a minute ago and you were telling me about meeting your mother reuniting with her how was that like yeah so I said it was really exciting to see my mom it was almost unreal to see her walking and like meeting her and hearing all the things that she's been through for all those days that we were so worried and with that it was really painful not to see my dad with her right as we said your your father is still there in Gaza what would be your message to everybody to the world about getting him out of there I want to say that my mom's return is out of big efforts from Qatar from the US government from the Israeli government and I really really want to ask all the world and the people that can make the pressure to say that every person they can come out of this horrible place as my mom said she was in a 50 days hill we just it's our we have to bring all of them home we have to make it happen it's not they can't stay there not even one more day after I hear my mom's stories they can't stay there not even one more day how all of that affected your personal life for the past 54 days it's a completely different life like I don't even I don't I don't even feel like it's my life the last 51 days 53 days I just feel like it's a different reality I don't know how how we will like pass this period of time and and be stronger to to to go back to to real life Elan I wish you the best and hopefully we'll have better news in the thank you so much thank you very much thank you with us now is Rami Igrar former head of Mossad MIA unit thank you very much for joining us again Rami how do you see the next stage at a certain point this hostage deal will reach the very very tough part how do you see this the hostage deal is being orchestrated by the Hamas in order to survive they don't really want anybody out of jail what they really want is to survive they want to go back to the 6th of October and they go want to go back to the paradigm of rounds with Israel every once in a while they will shoot missiles at us and once in a while they will decide to do another 7th of October this I mean this effort to get the the hostages out at this time in my mind was a little bit premature because the real thing that will move the Hamas is the pressure of the Israeli military once the Hamas starts feeling our breath at their neck you will see much better deals going on Israel has to go back into fighting we do not have any other option at the end of the day we have 400,000 refugees in their own country and not only that we also cannot continue we cannot conceive a life where over the border there will be an entity like the Hamas aspiring to demolish the Jewish state and to kill all of us so at the end of the day we don't have many choices and the only real choice we have which is in concert with the fact that we want to release everyone is to go back into fighting and to accomplish what was said at the beginning I don't think that this fighting will be much different than the fighting before it's going to be slow it's going to be mystical it is there to eradicate piece by piece the Hamas operation and let me remind all of us that Hamas right now is not defeated it's not weakened it is as strong as it was before it's just underground now you see the families of the hostages and obviously continuing the war may risk them how do you balance those you know two elements you have to balance the families and all our hearts goes goes to the families there's not even a Jew in Israel that is not thinking daily about these hostages but let me remind all of us these families want to go back and live on the on the Gaza Strip border they want to go back home and they're not going to go anywhere and this country is not going to continue if we don't finish the Hamas so if you balance this country and the family there are risks of war I can also say that every day the passage the Hamas reorganizes restrengthened and this means more casualties to our soldiers that will be fighting there in the next couple of days so how do you balance that we have more questions than answers Ramayegra thank you very much thank you ambassador alone more questions than answers it's very complicated it is complicated but at the end of the day it's not so complicated it's complicated on the ground but what it's not complicated is that everybody understands including our best friends the Americans is that Hamas can no longer rule Gaza that Israel will not go back to the 6th of October once this is a the new paradigm then within this let's say main objective we can find a way and it's very important for us to coordinate with the American that this is why I think it's a very very good idea that Secretary Blinken is here by the way he's not the only one here you know the American Central Command is following what's happening in Gaza very closely including with having some representatives right here and I think you can reason with them they understand what is the operation means they have their own experience in Mosul and Fallujah in Afghanistan and I think that they are from what I understand quite impressed with the professionalism of the IDF which is doing the job in the you know in the most effective way with minimal number of casualties still the secretary is here and the ground rules for operation of second phase are being written right now all right guy we have just under a minute to headline you know still conflicting reports on whether all the Israeli hostages have been transferred to the hands of the Red Cross for now the only confirmation is regarding those two Israeli Russian nationals were transferred by Hamas to the Red Cross as part of their appreciation of the so-called efforts of the Russian president Vladimir Putin for the Hamas causes at the same time we're expecting 10 Israelis five children are part of them to be released this evening right five children and seven women all together we are seeing now the Red Cross with these hostages apparently this is the feed we get from Gaza right now and stay tuned for more special coverage here on i24 news with Benito Levine momentarily this is breaking news edition I'm Benito Levine another emotional day for the Israeli nation the next set of Israeli hostages is heading home after being held captive by Hamas for more than seven weeks since the terror onslaught on the 7th of October they have been handed over to the Red Cross and Red Cross vehicles have been seen driving through the Rafa crossing just moments ago now it's the final day of a truce deal a truce that may be extended again this time by four days day 54 of the war today's list of 10 hostages is said to include women and teenage girls and boys the Bebas family are not on the list and the IDF is looking into what it calls a cruel claim by Hamas that mother Shiri and her sons the youngest hostage 10 month old fear Bebas and four-year-old Ariel Bebas have been killed the IDF says Hamas bears responsibility for the safety of all the hostages even if Hamas did in fact hand the Bebas family to another terror faction in Khan Yunus now while families wait to receive the freed hostages at this hour 155 people remain in captivity including nine children earlier Hamas saying in a short statement that they had released to Russian Israeli hostages as a gesture to President Vladimir Putin they were handed over to the Red Cross earlier meanwhile Benjamin Netanyahu is reiterating that Israel will fight against Hamas until the end our correspondent Nicole Zedek is now at a hotel at the Dead Sea so let's find out the latest there because Nicole thousands of Israelis have had to evacuate their homes of course since the 7th of October many don't know when they'll be able to go back tell us more what is happening there many don't know when they'll be able to go back but more importantly they're waiting to see who's going to be coming back with them I'm with these residents that have evacuated from Kibbutz berry and more than two dozen of their community members were kidnapped now as you can see behind me here they are anxiously watching that feed as you're talking about some of the first images of the Red Cross you can't even see as people are standing up in their chairs dozens of these communities who have been uplifted from their homes in Kibbutz berry they've been staying here at the David Dead Sea resort in spa for more than 50 days now nearly two months they've been outside of their homes but you can see this is a symbol of just how strong that community is because although they might not be in their home in the south they are all still together all of them that are still here I have to add because that's why the energy in this room is so tense because so far over the past five days they have been able to welcome home 12 of their community members however as I said more than two dozen were originally abducted taking captive from from their southern Kibbutz community and so they're hoping to see the faces that were getting these initial images to see if more are going to be coming home tonight coming home back to their community are able to see their loved ones for the first time and so it's truly a mixed bag of emotions because excited is not the right word Benita but but hopeful that is certainly the energy that we're seeing here tonight hopeful indeed we wait for confirmation thank you so much for now our correspondent Nicole Zedek at a hotel in the Dead Sea thanks Nicole now we welcome to studio Yaki Dayan former Israeli consul in Los Angeles and our senior editor Guy Azrael thank you both so much for being here another tense day another emotional day let's start with you guy what update can you share first happy confirmation about the two Israeli Russian nationals that have been transferred into Egyptian territory at this moment we're speaking about Yelena Trufanov she's 50 years of age and Irina Tati 73 years old both of them are now making their way into Israeli territory after already being at the hands of the Red Cross as we still await the return of the remaining 10 Israelis that are being transferred at this hour into the hands of the Red Cross five of them children and the remaining five women of various ages and of course it's always important every single life is important every single person is important but Yaki the nation hoping of course for all the children to be freed your take on what is unfolding right now absolutely I think that the two Israeli Russians that are being released right now is another demonstration that the at the end of the day the negotiations between Hamas and Israel Israel was extremely successful because what Hamas tried to do is to release only the ones who have foreign nationality foreign passports we refuse to that and as we see Israelis are being released first and foremost regardless to their nationality now regarding the children by all means I mean this is we are so hopeful that the Bebas family is still alive and this is only a psychological warfare I think that there are still 10 10 more kids that are in captivity in hostage taken and out of them seven are going to be released today so we still have a few more hostage taken hostage and hopefully they will be released as soon as possible and and the others as well but the children is first and foremost and if the Bebas family is or I would say that the entire responsibility on the Bebas family is of the Hamas because and they cannot say that it's the islamic jihad or any other organization because we see that they work hand in hand with the islamic jihad and other terrorist organizations in the in Gaza so it's their responsibility to make sure that the Bebas family is alive and back to Israel and you can pass the responsibility within the terror factions within the Gaza strip but let's just remind the world that this all happened because of the terror onslaught and civilians ranging in age from a nine-month-old baby to elderly Holocaust survivors were abducted and have been held in captivity for more than seven weeks it is unimaginable stay with us we've got much more to discuss because we're looking at the physical and psychological recovery for these freed hostages and it's obviously going to take time as details emerge already around the conditions in which they have been held the tunnels moving to different locations the food they were given and of course the fear here's more from professor drawer Mandel from the Soroski medical center the children are in stable physical condition they are presenting various medical challenges and also psychosocial challenges that we are attending to most of them are expected to be released in the coming days to their places of accommodation except one child who is required longer medical treatment followed by rehabilitation we're being evaluating them for the weight loss which is about 10 to 17 percent of body weight for most of them and then for for deficiencies everybody are getting supplements to start with and then tailored with the specific types of deficiencies that they have and we're going to follow this up this has a meaning especially in pediatrics and the consequences of such under nutrition for such a long time for more than 50 days horrendous accounts from captivity we will unpack more of it but right now we go to our correspondent Zach Anders and he joins us from Sheba hospital in Ramat Gan so we're talking about these 12 hostages coming back home including adults and teenagers this is of course the sixth group to be set free since the truth started on Friday Zach what kinds of preparations are underway there right now as these hostages are heading home and the hospital staff director spoke with the media earlier and said they expect four here at Sheba medical center but that could change it is dependent on when this handover takes place the initial care team that's at the border that will begin the assessment will then be able to radio ahead to the hospitals here in Tel Aviv potentially hospitals closer if that's necessary and be able to communicate what exactly is needed but at the very baseline the staff here is prepared and the rooms are ready they're expecting to receive a handful at least they could in in theory take all of them if that was the case but they have been split up by team into different hospitals in Tel Aviv the the additional level of care that takes place here is is almost you it's unique to this situation it's unique to what they're experiencing because they are pulling in experts from all fields of medicine preparing for what what I've been what's been described to me as a slow re-entry they don't want to begin to psychologically begin to poke or prod too deep they they want everyone to feel comfortable and and adjust to their surroundings and have the opportunity to get a good meal and to spend time with their families before they are subjected to the tests and the blood work and the sort of things that will happen over the coming days but in the immediate the short term if it doesn't appear to be necessary it does sound like from the hospital staff as they've communicated to us that they don't want to inundate with all of their their medical skills all at once that this is a paced out and that they do every effort they can to make everyone feel comfortable thank you so much we will be coming back to our correspondent Zach Anders at Sheba hospital thank you for now still in studio yaki dayan guy asriel and now joining us as well lieutenant colonel in the reserves Doron Avital former commander in the special forces in the IDF so Doron I want to come to you because this process is underway and it's now a process that we're getting used to as a nation it's happened several nights in a row do you believe in terms of the Israeli side this is working and the truth as such needs to be extended so each day another set of hostages can make their way out of captivity back to Israel as long as those exchanges are in those terms I think the Israeli public and the government and the army the military think that we should continue and of course we are prepared to continue the campaign when it's needed I saw her see approving the the plans the battle plans of the commander of the south so we are ready there as long as there's exchange that we wait but I think it's it's it's working in our from our perspective what does that look like though let's say there is a truce extension for four days more sets of hostages come but not everybody is back home and Israel says the fighting will resume as long as today it's a question of days this is something that we contain of course the the greatest dilemma would be when we'll come to the soldiers and then the price will be a different price and then there's be a real dilemma for the decision makers to the military in terms of the horizon of the campaign and even the price that we would have to pay this would be a serious dilemma in terms of women and kids we have to do whatever we can to bring them home and then see what's up so we heard the defense ministry of gallants saying today that we will do everything in our power to fulfill this outline of releasing those women and children having said that the extension of this pause in the fighting is a prime interest of Hamas as far as Hamas is concerned every day of this pause brings them closer to the ideal of stopping this war all together this is the ultimate goal of Hamas with this ongoing delays and and the ceasefire or pause in the fighting Hamas as it sees it has two cards the first is the international pressure on Israel to stop the fighting and we see that only to a very certain extent what Israel really cares about is what the Americans are saying and for now it does seem the Americans really understand what Israel is dealing with here the other one of course is the hostages and once we complete this mission of returning all the children and and those women the next stage will be the Israeli soldiers in Hamas's hands we do not know the exact number of that but quite the substantial number of those when it comes to the return of the soldiers Hamas is not going to demand just the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners but also the complete halt of the Israeli war in Gaza and that is something that the Israeli government and the Israeli public will not agree to and that's something we will unpack in a while but Yaki I'd like your take no one knows better than the pressure coming from the United States that Guy referred to give us the sense of how that is impacting the decisions that Israel needs to be making right now so I would say that there are few tactical disagreements that we have with the Americans and there is a one major strategic disagreement we have with the Americans but at the end of the day and I'll say what they are but at the end of the day there is a complete understanding that the military power and the administrative power of the Hamas both should be eradicated and it's agreed by the Americans and the Israelis and there is no doubt that the war is going to continue now when we speak about the tactical disagreements the humanitarian supply that including gasoline and all of that that was a disagreement that Israel eventually expected accepted the conditions that the Americans set that was the first the second one which Tony Blinken the Secretary of State is coming tomorrow and he will insist is that the when the war resumes the entire fighting is going to be looked differently in the south than the north which means it's going to be much more I would say concentrated or less less less broader war than it was conducted in the in the north here we have a major disagreement and I can tell you that it is one who has two kids in the in Gaza now I can tell you that we should definitely reject the American request about the about the south and we are speaking about the strategic disagreement that we have is obviously about the day after because the Americans already speak about the two-state solution all of that but what Israel is saying and rightly so is beside the fact that there is no one now credible partner in the Palestinian Authority within the Palestinian Authority then can take over Gaza the the Khamas is only the tactical problem of of the region Iran is the strategic problem of the region and if we want to make a significant change in the region we have to deal not only with the Palestinians or not only with the Palestinian issue but rather with the Iranians as well something we're going to talk about in a very short while gentlemen stay with us we've got dramatic images on our screen right now you can see something we've seen several nights in a row now and you can see these ambulances waiting for the hostages to be freed and handed over obviously there will be medical tests immediately let's find out exactly what it entails we bring in our Middle East correspondent Ariel Osir and he brings us the latest from Urim Junction Ariel what is happening where you are what can you tell us about the process for these hostages to come back home right beneath us so a lot of anticipation here in Urim Junction where in a few hours time the convoy bringing home the 12 Israeli hostages who are who are expected to be released by Hamas too Israeli Russians have been already released that is according to the IDF saying that according to information that it has the two women Yelena Tropanov and Irina Taty they have been handed over to the Red Cross and are in their way to Israeli territory still no official confirmation or announcement regarding the remaining 10 five women and five children expected to be released in this sixth wave sixth group of hostages to be released now as for the process usually as it's been going on until now over these over the in the five previous rounds there is an expected announcement that they are handed over to the Red Cross then that they have arrived in Israeli hands after crossing through the Rafa border crossing into Egypt those images that you were talking about earlier I imagine those are the Egyptian ambulances on the Egyptian side of the Rafa border crossing but prior to that the hostages still have to be handed over to the International Red Cross and as of now we have not received word that that has happened but once they are handed over to the Red Cross as expected then travel through the Rafa border crossing into Egypt they'll be greeted by a IDF group of officials who will give them an initial examination and then bring them over across the border to Israel from there they will travel to Khatserim airbase and expected to pass through Urim Junction where I am standing right now after that they'll be airlifted to hospitals in central Israel for further medical examination but also in addition to that as important if not less the much anticipated reunification with their families we've seen heart-filling and heartwarming images over these past five days of these much anticipated unifications and so hopefully those will be images that we will see this evening sooner rather than later and we just saw an image moments ago of a vehicle going past a Red Cross vehicle to Israeli Russians inside to reiterate that the Russians who have been freed are Israeli Russian citizens and they have been freed a little bit earlier than the other group of hostages as soon as we get an update we will be coming back of course to our Middle East correspondent Ariel Oceran for the latest there from Urim Junction thank you so much and we wait for that moment when we can see the families reunited thank you so much Ariel. Yaki Dayan I want to come back to you about exactly that because we see these beautiful moments of families being reunited but there are a range of emotions because at the same time a lot of these people have been in captivity and haven't any idea of exactly what unfolded on the 7th of October and some of them have had to find out that their loved ones were killed seven weeks ago it's beyond devastating. Beyond this is sadness mixed with happiness because many of them many of the hostages lost their family members and they are coming back to split families broken families it's a long long battle uphill battle psychological one as physical one so but you know the good thing is that as an Israeli society we are extremely united now and they are being embraced embraced by by all the people and I'm sure that they will be helped a lot but anyhow it's going to be an uphill battle all the time we have to remember that we are dealing with monsters with with a terrorist organization that slaughter draped beheaded people on October 7th and not only that but treated the hostages badly they are not letting Red Crescent enter and see those hostages just yesterday and all the an old lady came back and and she's fighting or two days ago she's fighting for her life exactly she was badly treated over there and she was 84 she's 84 so hopefully she'll she'll survive that and we are wishing her all the best but we have to remember that those moments are moments of happiness but they are definitely mixed with with a lot of sadness people that are still in captivity still in captivity and people that lost their beloved ones and just to illustrate what Jackie said just here when we speak about these two hostages that are being released today well Yelena Tripano first of all both of them are residents of near Oz Kibbutz near Oz Yelena was kidnapped together with her son and his partner both of them are still in captivity and as for Irena she was kidnapped while her husband was slaughtered in front of her eyes just to illustrate the extremely terrible reality that both of them have to deal with one of them losing her husband the other one knowing that her son and his partner are still in Hamas captivity and and no word about when will they be able to see daylight at all not to speak about coming back to Israel Doron from a strategic point of view we talk about Hamas manipulating Israelis lying the videos the games putting people on a list and then they don't appear reporting that an elderly woman had died in captivity days ago only for her to be on a list of the hostages freed the mental games and now we add in the Bebas family and the way this has been handled the cruel cruel claim from Hamas that they have been killed it is not confirmed Israel is unable to confirm it at the point but talk to us about that Hamas strategy of duping the public over and above the trauma we've been discussing here I think Hamas doesn't only play in the battlefield he plays in the public opinion field he plays with the psyche of the Israeli society I think there also his ballad idea was to crack the Israeli society from within we saw the rift in the Israeli society in the last year or so and they were thinking this is the crack where they can enter and they keep doing it also those psychological manipulation trying to put a wage between those two aims of the war defeating Hamas and releasing the hostages and using the leverage of releasing the hostages and preventing the possibility that we continue the campaign and defeat them in the end so this is a cool enemy we have to be coolheaded when we play with those players I mean the pain is real but we have to be strategic players and how to win this campaign and they certainly knew that the Bebas family had become a symbol and specifically baby a nine month old baby fear Bebas had become the symbol of what had happened here and it's blatantly obvious that every Israeli wants to see this child survive wants to see this family come home to be safe and just to live their life you're so right Benita I mean they became a symbol the Bebas family the ten month old redhead beautiful baby and and the family they all became a symbol in Israel and the Hamas knows it extremely well they're playing with as dawn mentioned they're playing with the minds of the Israelis it's a psychological warfare we should be ready that this kind of warfare will continue already they they declared about one one of the hostages that she was killed and and eventually she came back we were very happy to see that but we have to remember that this those are the monsters that we are dealing day in and day out and we should be ready for that that's part of the negotiations with those monsters that's exactly I think if these news would sadly turn out to be correct and as we know the Bebas family was captured while they were all on their feet the mother was holding her two sons in her hands as you can see here all were safe safe and sound and when they were taken away if they were murdered by Hamas and you know Hamas attempts to claim that they were killed as a result of an Israeli airstrike that's part of the lies that Hamas continues to tell us as he did in the case of Hannah one of the hostages they said has died and eventually returned to Israel if that turns out to be correct that would cause a lot of pain a lot of anger in Israel but beyond everything it will be another reminder for Israel but I think for the entire world as well as to what Israel is fighting against against what sort of evil Israel is trying to eliminate the evil of Hamas and it's an evil that has several layers as well because over and above what we're discussing right now Yaki something you alluded to a short while ago the Red Cross activity or lack of activity in itself the Red Cross didn't get too feared by us a nine-month-old baby now ten months old didn't get to elderly people didn't get to people who were sick it's unacceptable you work on the international arena how was this allowed to happen for seven weeks yeah I agree I mean the Red Cross is really serving as a as a get taxi as a taxi company just you know transporting the hostages from one place to the other you know the all-high idea of the Red Cross and being supported by Switzerland that this is a neutral organization that should be should get a process to any hostage wherever he is and this is not the case here we have to remember that we are dealing with a very cruel terrorist organization and it's extremely hard but nevertheless we don't hear the Red Cross claiming against the Hamas so yes they have to deal with that but with them but nevertheless they have to do their work and insist on that and call the word upon if the Hamas is not letting them and not just serve as a taxi company driving the hostages from Gaza to the Rafah crossing point and very very briefly talk to us about the women's rights groups the human rights groups where were they and I'm talking about specifically in the US Yaki not only in the US and the UN organizations you know women were raped were brutally mutilated horrible things happened on the 7th and and we hear again and again about women women rights groups and all kinds of groups in the US and in Canada and in other places just not recognizing that such things happened they are denying the truth they are rape deniers although that the whole issue is to defend women and this is very unfortunate and I see that as a combination of a lot of anti-Semitism it's aimed against Israel and it is also a combination of ignorance and it's a pity it's a pity because eventually it shows how the UN in general and those organizations specifically are not playing a fair game when it comes to Israel and to Jewish women raises so many questions Yaki Dayan thank you very much for joining us here in studio always appreciate your insights Guy and Doron are going to stay with us and we are expecting that daily update that briefing from the IDF's Daniel Higari it should be happening soon if and when it does happen we will of course bring it to you live so make sure you stay tuned to this breaking news edition now as discussions continue over that possible extension to this current truth which we've been discussing here in studio and questions are asked about the day after the war which we've also been discussing many are still asking how the Israeli intelligence community were blindsided by the Hamas terror assault in southern Israel on the 7th of October more than 1200 people were killed and thousands wounded at that music festival in their homes and on bases plus more than 240 people were abducted on that day our senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev has more in this report the Israeli intelligence community seen by many as the best in the world filled with talented people and outstanding resources but as we now learn also filled with plenty of arrogance leaders of Hamas being interviewed three or four days before the attack saying that we are going to attack in a few days the whole the whole area so I mean where where are the people there where they asleep where they absent as opposed to the previous thought there was no intelligence regarding the widespread attack of October 7th various reports and Israeli media now suggest sources within the intelligence community coming from the esteemed 800 unit warned about it but were ignored they even heard communication in Hamas drills saying we killed the entire kibbutz why were they ignored the reports suggest those warning were not high-ranking officers and those above them ignored the warning saying there's no chance Hamas will attack for those who were part of this community the behavior of the high-ranking officers is far from surprising vanity vanity vanity I know all I know better than you who are you a sergeant to tell me that the the Hamas is going to attack I am the responsible cynically enough October 7th came 50 years in a day after the previous time Israel was surprised in similar circumstances junior officers presented plenty of evidence of an incoming attack just ahead of the Omkipur war but those above them refused to listen the people who fought back then gave their advice to the current commanders but were also ignored we must never think that we know everything and that we are protected from everything we should always be worried and careful 50 years later the lessons were clearly not learned many questions still remain unanswered so to that point here in studio still senior editor guy Azrael lieutenant colonel in the reserves Doron Abital former commander in the special forces in the IDF and we now welcome colonel in the reserves Ita Maria our former deputy head in the Israeli national security council and director of the commanders for Israel's security thank you so much for being here and I'd like to start with you and your take on this developing situation as we speak we are seeing the six set or group of hostages on their way back to Israel having been in captivity for more than seven weeks and at hand is the discussion over a potential extension to this current truce for another four days is that a good idea I believe it's a good idea for both sides tell us why the Israeli side have an interest to release as many hostages that we can get back more than that I think that the Hamas have a very strong interest to have another day or two and even many more days to try to organize itself to try to cover things that they don't want us to know to try to reorganize some of the units to try to nominate new commanders to those units that lost their commanders and they believe on top of all that that as far as we will wait with another ground operation the endgame will be that somebody will stop us from going ahead for good and this is exactly what the Hamas is looking for how concerned are you though about the Palestinian security prisoners who are being released from Israeli jails at the same time heading back to the West Bank heading back to East Jerusalem what kind of concern does that raise for you at this juncture it is a concern but it's not a very serious concern compared to other threats that we have I think that those that will survive or will be in the West Bank will be under real I would say even some kind of control of the Israeli intelligence and they understand very well that once they will even dream about joining again all kind of terrorist activities that will be stopped long before and we need to remember that during the time in jail they don't play games only they speak with each other they develop themselves they organize themselves so a prison is not really an objective place to I'm going to stop you right now because we were just looking at images on our screen these are the latest images of the current group of hostages you can see them it's a scene we have seen all too often armed men masked men Hamas terrorists cheering crowds you can see these women being escorted into a vehicle you can see a red cross assistant so to speak from the images we can see right now and we can see the waving it's become almost farcical looking at hostages who've been held captive for this time waving at armed masked terrorists Doron Avital talk to us about what we're looking at right now no we've been talking about the psychological campaign of Hamas this is really orchestrated like a Hollywood movie you see the players you see the others those Hamas players you see the crowd this is place for their advantage in terms of what they want to show to the Arabic world to their civilians in Gaza and to the people maybe in the West Bank so this is really their sign of victory but of course we'll meet them in the battlefield and we think we hope it will end differently you really ask yourself how is Hamas expecting this to be good PR for itself as we see how heavily armed those terrorists are with their face covered but beyond that look at the masses around those two poor hostages that are being released now there's other footage showing hundreds perhaps thousands of Gazans here you have it surrounding their cars you can just imagine what sort of fear they're experiencing all the curiosity for that for those Jewish hostages there in those cars the masses surrounding the cars and we heard the other hostages that were released saying they feared for their lives they feared that they're about to be lynched and and and this is perhaps the most surreal situation here where these Hamas terrorists those who captured them those who slaughtered over 1200 Israelis are the ones now having to protect them from the crowd of Gazan so-called civilians so so called uninvolved civilians who are also looking to get their hands on those Israeli captives it is completely surreal situation and and and what horror for these two women as they hope to make their way into Israeli territory we know in this case of these two Israeli Russian nationals there are already outside of Gaza in Egypt on the way to the Israeli border if I may I have another point looking at these pictures I am worried that the Hamas will it will become some kind of excuse for the Hamas to say that they have difficulties to release more hostages and they will they might say that the crowd stopped them from doing it pushed them not to do it there is a risk they are not ready to do it now they will delay it let's see what will come next because every day we saw this crowd bigger and bigger and bigger and nothing is real it's all of it is well planned by the Hamas and look at the faces of these women in the vehicle waving again it's something we've seen each night these hostages ostensibly waving at their captives it is as I said before farcical to think how this is all being staged but can you imagine the fear first of all we don't know what these women have been told we don't know if they are fully briefed about exactly what is happening and that they are about to come safely back to Israel and can you imagine seeing a crowd like that the shouting the jeering the flags and the phones also to ruin your take we saw in recent days it's not just Hamas there are other terror organizations front and center as the sun falls Islamic jihad for sure and also we are not sure about hostages that are located among civilians also I think it's a show for Hamas to indicate that the civilians are with them because we are all the time trying to say well there's Hamas the civilians we don't to hurt civilians they want to say we are the true representative of I think all of us understand it's a show it's a show and yesterday we saw Islamic jihad terrorists together with these Hamas terrorists actually kissing each other in a some show twisted show of solidarity the only good indication in the good quote unquote indication for us that Hamas has command on the territories in terms of other exchanges that he can command the Islamic jihad to bring him the hostages I hope so so if we have the other deals that we can so-called trust him that he can execute what he promises of what is agreed upon we need to remember that all these or most of these hostages still have husbands and fathers still in captivity and they understand that they will not follow exactly those that they they got and we know that previous hostages that were released got messages to wave and to say that they got very good treatment remember these people know that the relatives are still there and everybody and they were told we watch you and we heard yesterday that they told the children that if they will not well behave they know exactly where they live and they will come and kill them first of all confirmation from the IDF now that these two Israeli Russians are in Israeli territory together with I'm going to stop you because Daniel Higari is about to speak the IDF spokesperson they're now undergoing initial medical examination and they will be transferred to the hospital where they will meet their families we continue to advance this evening to fulfill the outline to return the hostages as agreed upon dear families it is difficult to imagine the pressure and uncertainty you're feeling our hearts are with you we will update you with any information that comes to our knowledge and then we'll update the public this evening and in the coming days Hamas still holds 159 hostages taken on October 7th as we explained this is an updated number based on intelligence information and the missing and the number of missing that is changing as well according to the information and the examinations that we're making we give it to the families and now I will I am updating this to you here please do not spread unverified information and rumors stick to the reports of IDF spokesmen we examine every piece of information validity of the information that Hamas publishes this evening as well but regards to the Bebas family we are in constant contact with the family the responsibility for the safety of all the hostages is on is fully on the Hamas terror group Hamas and dangers the hostages including women and children that must be returned we operate in all the intelligence and operational means in order to return the hostages home IDF fighters are set in the cause lines in Gaza they took down three terrorists who posed a threat to our forces and violated the pause over the night we investigated the forces and we understand that they struck the forces that threw the explosive at them yesterday and today we took down terrorist IDF troops continue to operate with determination against any threats in a joint cop operation of the IDF the Shin Bet and border police the fighters took down Muhammad's senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic jihad the IDF together with the security groups operates on all fronts we will operate against any threat the IDF is ready to fight and fulfill the goals of the war in Gaza the chief of staff have coordinated the security assessment in the northern front with the readiness for the remaining stages of the war the IDF is ready today for the rest of the war I call you the public to continue to follow the guidelines especially at this time where we don't hear sirens in recent days I call on you to follow the guidelines remember remember that this can change any moment these instructions save life questions other indications that Hamas is lying about the Beavis family no order is being given about the pause when with this fighting resume we are set both to renew the fighting and to continue the outline for as long as we can return hostages according to as we did in the past several days we will do so but if that will not be possible our forces are ready to continue and fight we will do be ready to do so at any time I say again there can be a violation I want to make it clear to the public we are ready to continue the fighting now if there is a violation we are ready as if there is no outline of a pause tomorrow we are ready to continue fighting but as long as we can return hostages and there are still women and children as was agreed upon that can be returned we will be set with our operational forces to fulfill this outline this is a top priority at this stage as for Beavis family as we mentioned here the responsibility for the Beavis family is on the Hamas terror group Hamas carries the responsibility we have updated that they are responsible for the hostages there are negotiators there are other players and we agreed on women and children the responsibility for the Beavis family is on Hamas as they do for the rest of the hostages we examine every information and we'll continue to examine it we've updated the family and only after we did so we've given a notice to the media and we'll continue to do so regarding the release of hostages is there information about the fact that why did the Red Cross not access the other Israelis said several times that we call on the world to demand of the Red Cross as it does in every other place in another case to visit and see the hostages Hamas is a cruel terror group and murderous one it does not listen to the instructions or the way it happens in the world we'll continue to demand this it is the responsibility of the world I say this again the Red Cross is making efforts but we must demand of Hamas to allow the Red Cross to see hostages and ensure their well-being this is its duty as it does in other countries the Red Cross aids in assisting the hostages out this is not something to be taken for granted it is complicated and it does so in a good manner thank you IDF spokesperson Daniel Higari at his daily briefing and taking questions there from the media many pressing questions Colonel on the reserves Itamar Yara what stood out for you that briefing is important I want to get specifically to start to the Bebas family and what Israel knows and what Israel is going to do I don't know anything that the Chief of Staff and IDF Spokane doesn't know but I don't believe anywhere that comes out of Hamas people for good and for bad it's very clear that Hamas tried to play all kind of psychological war against us I will not be surprised that they will be found as two days ago some ladies were found short time after the Hamas announced that they have no idea where exactly they are it's it's a show it's a play and it's a very cruel crucial and cruel play that the Hamas play with us with the families it's not human I think that every word that we will use is not strong enough related to what was said about the Red Cross again I'm not surprised I would like to remind us and everybody that Israeli prisoners in the hands of the Hamas didn't see any Red Cross representative for five years and more the actualist was in in Hamas hands for four I believe five years and four months he didn't see any Red Cross guy to be frank I don't blame Red Cross because Red Cross is not a military group that can force anybody to do anything what we see is that Hamas don't play according to any kind of international law any kind of human you know base and again my expectations from the Hamas is so low that I'm not surprised by that as well that said what is different this time round is that of the hostages and we're hearing the update from Daniel Higari now 159 hostages they come from a range of countries and the pressure in terms of the United States has been real and they could have been a lot of pressure on Qatar who have been a hosting some of the leaders of Hamas in great luxury from what we understand and are brokering these deals as well surely Doha could have put pressure on the Red Cross and said get your ducks in a row I'm sure that every time that president Biden speak with the the Qatari leaders the prime minister and others he mentioned it and he tried to push them and to press them but Qatar and again it's not a surprise Qatar is a is a some kind of a state they try to play games with everybody one day they work for the Iranian the other day they work with the Americans and only to remind us the biggest US military site in the Middle East is located in Qatar they try to become some kind of the leader of the Middle East and the leader of the Arab world and they are in a competition with Egypt and we see it in this case they're in competition with Saudi the competition with everybody and they try to play the game now and from the other side the Americans and even us try to be polite with them why only because it's not the case that we like them it's because we need them and they are effective in a sense on releasing hostages and in this case I think it's it's fair to do it I want your take as well because I know you're going to be leaving us shortly about mention being made of this pause being violated and what it means in terms of the hostage release that hopefully could happen over the next few days if there is another violation if there is fighting some kind of incident inside Gaza what does that mean for the deal that could be extended as we speak I don't have a very clear answer I think that the case by case the commanders on the ground and the high level decision makers will have to handle the situation and we'll have to take the decisions and I'm sure that the Hamas understand that they can't expect to understand exactly what will be the Israeli response of every violation but we all need to know that even if the two sides and there are more than two sides in this case there are many players on the ground what makes the whole story much more complicated but even if at least Hamas and Israel have a similar interest to go on with this kind of day-by-day agreement if I may even though it's not there is no signature anywhere but with this kind of understanding I would say even though these are the interests of the two sides it doesn't mean that miscalculation of one side can't explode everything we saw similar situations with Hezbollah we saw these kind of things war and fighting is the world of unknown we need to remember it it's not something that you can plan and then to expect that everything will go according to your plan and we need to deal with it as the Israeli side need to deal with as good as possible and lastly you made mention of Hezbollah and obviously it has been quiet on that front during the time of this truth but it still is simmering up there how worried are you if this extension ends if this deal comes to an end and fighting does resume as Benjamin Netanyahu says they are ready to continue fighting when this is over and to eliminate Hamas how concerned are you about what Hezbollah might decide to do next I said in this studio together with some of the colleagues here weeks ago that the chances that Hezbollah will join the celebration so called is not very high and the main reason for it is there are two main reasons first of all because the on the tactical level outside the operational level the Hamas took from Hezbollah one of the major elements of Hezbollah plans and this is the whole issue of surprising the Israeli side no time to surprise now and the Israeli side is much more ready now compared to what the Hezbollah had in his plans but there is a strategic issue as well I think that for the Iranians and there are those that try to you know organize the whole scene the Iranians are not happy but they agree to lead Hamas or to close even an eye on Hamas activities because Hamas is important for them but it's very kind very specific kind of importance the story between Iran and Hezbollah is much different Hezbollah is much more important for the Iranians because Hezbollah is there as part of the whole line Iran Iraq Syria Lebanon and the Mediterranean and the Iranians will not lose Hezbollah because Hamas opened fire one day and this is the main difference and because of that