 of the I-24 News headquarters in Tel Aviv. Welcome to our viewers around the world. Let's get to this on Friday, February the 2nd, 2024, day 119 of the war. There's some conflicting reports about whether there has been a deal. Qatar's foreign minister in a talk at Johns Hopkins University in Washington said that Hamas had given, quote, initial positive confirmation, his words, to a deal. But then Hamas quickly denied it, saying Qatar jumped the gun. There are several sticking points, and we'll break it down for you all in just a moment. The Pentagon says that Defense Secretary and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant had a call yesterday. On that call, they discussed Israel shifting gears in Gaza to a very low-intensity fight, a diplomatic solution to Israel's fight with Hezbollah and stability in the West Bank. Meantime, on the ground in Gaza, the IDF says it has almost finished operations in Khan Yunus and is ready to move towards the border with Egypt. Defense Minister Yoav Galant. We must persevere until we complete our missions, and it is much more difficult for Hamas, believe me. They don't have weapons, they don't have ammunition, they don't have the ability to treat their wounded. They have 10,000 eliminated terrorists and another 10,000 terrorists who are wounded and not functioning. This is a serious blow that erodes Hamas' abilities. The Hamas Khan Yunus Brigade boasted that it would stand strong against the IDF. Today it is dismantled, and I'm telling you that we are completing the mission in Khan Yunus and we will also reach Rafa and we will eliminate anyone there who is a terrorist who is trying to attack us. We're getting word from Syria there have been some airstrikes within the past several hours. Two areas, Said Azanab that's near Damascus, it's a stronghold of Iranian militias. And near Akraba in southern Syria, the area has been targeted several times by alleged Israeli airstrikes within the past few months. Now also you should know that British Foreign Secretary David Cameron says the UK should officially, could officially recognize the Palestinian state after ceasefire in Gaza, but without waiting for Israel and the Palestinians to come to any agreement. Take a listen to the foreign secretary. What we've always said is we believe in a two state solution, a secure Israel within its borders and a secure and stable Palestine within its borders. That's long been our position. And of course as part of that, Britain along with other countries would recognize Palestine as a country and recognize Palestine at the United Nations. And what I'm saying is of course that can't come at the start of the process, but it doesn't have to be the very end of the process. It could be something that we consider as this process, as this advance to a solution becomes more real. It's being called the Biden Doctrine. It's an American plan for Israel to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, deal with Iran and American recognition of the Palestinian state. You heard the UK foreign secretary just a moment ago, but now here's the American plan, I-24 news senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alderman breaks down the plan that will radically change them the least. More talk of a change in approach in Western capitals with new reporting that the Biden administration is looking into recognizing a Palestinian state now not after a final status deal on the conflict from both Axios and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman behind the scenes, the administration thinking what British foreign secretary David Cameron is saying. We should be starting to set out what a Palestinian state would look like, what it would comprise, how it would work. As that happens, we, with allies, will look at the issue of recognizing a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations. The Biden administration reportedly wants to attach big caveats to recognition, according to Tom Friedman, that the state only come into being once it has a set of defined credible institutions and that the Palestinian state be demilitarized. Recognition would also reportedly be part of a package to include normalization with Saudi Arabia, a priority for Israel and a huge incentive for Jerusalem, despite the reservations. With an accord or without an accord, the state of Israel must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River. That's a necessary condition. It clashes with the principle of sovereignty. What can you do? Meaning that Israel would both get a Saudi deal in hand and also could argue that Palestinians don't meet the criteria set for statehood, not demilitarized and not with the institutions needed. Still a heavy lift for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his right-wing allies, but a package that could be worth a flexing of muscles. While we're talking about the President of the United States, the President of the United States did sign an executive order yesterday declaring a national emergency that would allow him to sanction four Israelis, settlers involved in violent incidents with West Bank Palestinians. They are David Chai Khazai, Eitan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman, and Yinon Levy. These four were sanctioned by the United States. And here's now the U.S. Secretary, U.S. State Department Secretary, spokesman Matt Miller. Without betraying too much of our private diplomatic conversations, I will say we have had some very frank conversations with them about extremist settler violence. And that includes some very detailed conversations where we have presented cases to the Israeli government or example, you know, cases of settler violence that where we have seen reports and where we have seen documented settler violence and asked them to take action. And we have seen them take some action. What we have seen, and I should say, we have seen since those interventions over the past months, six weeks, two months, we have seen the level of extremist settler violence come down somewhat, not come down enough. We want to see more. Reacting to U.S. President Joe Biden's executive order sanctioning settler extremists, Prime Minister Netanyahu's office says in a statement that the vast majority of residents of Judea and Samaria are law abiding citizens, many of whom are fighting right now an active and reserved duty to protect Israel. Israel acts against all violators of the law in all places. This comes from the PMO, the Prime Minister's office. And the statement continues. And therefore, there is no place for drastic steps on this matter. We're joined now live Professor Etan Golboa. He's the head of Center for International Communication at Barlain University. Thanks so much, Etan, for joining us this morning. Good morning. Good morning. Let's talk about these settlers. First of all, these four were singled out for having violent altercations with Palestinians. But are they being singled out specifically for some political gain by the American administration? Yes, I think the statement that singled them out has nothing to do with the situation in the ground. It has all to do with Biden's election troubles. He has been under pressure from a number of groups in his Democratic Party, primarily the so-called reformists and the Muslims and the young people. And he's not doing well in public opinion polls. Trump is leading him everywhere. And even in the swing states, yesterday he was in Michigan. There is a huge Muslim community in Michigan, also many progressives. So I think that the statement was designed to counter the full support of Israel in its war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza and less connected to what is really happening in the West Bank. But these settlers, I'm making sure I understand this right. It seems as though the administration is putting these settlers on the same level as Iranian terror groups, as West Bank terror groups, as Gaza, as Hamas, Russian oligarchs that are funding the war. So they're on the same level as those guys? Yes, I think it's a wrong way to deal with a problem. Israel has an independent law enforcement agency. It prosecutes and punishes everybody who violates the law. This is what Prime Minister Netanyahu said the other day. And he is right. But as I mentioned, domestic politics play here a major role, not the substance of the issue itself. Great. Let's talk now about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin while we're talking about the Americans. The Defense Secretary Austin said that this was really some, this is some sort of moment in the Middle East right now that they're going to try to avoid a wider conflict. Let's take a listen to what he had to say. Our teammates were killed by radical militias back by Iran and operating inside Syria and Iraq. In the aftermath of the vile Hamas terrorist assault on Israel on October 7th, terrorist groups backed by Iran and funded by Iran have tried to create even more turmoil, including the Houthis attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea. So this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East. We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region. But we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests, and our people. And we will respond when we choose, where we choose, and how we choose. Aitana, are we at a point right now where the genie's out of the bottle? There's no there's no way that this will not turn into a wider conflict? No, I don't think so. First of all, the United States began to take military action against the Houthis only when it became clear that international shipping has been encountering substantial damage, not before that. The Iranians pro Iranians militias in Syria and Iraq attacked 165 times American bases in Syria and Iraq. The United States has about 900 soldiers in Syria and about 2500 soldiers in Iraq, all are there to deal with the remnants of Daesh. And so the US policy towards both the Houthis and Iran has been quite soft. Well, I think about a week ago, those pro Iranian militias killed three American soldiers and wounded about 34, 35. And still the United States is speaking about retaliating at the time and the place of their choosing. And those pro-Russian military movements in Iraq and Syria have stated that they are seizing attacks on the United States. So I think that the situation is not promising, is not encouraging, but we are not yet on the way to a much wider Middle Eastern war. Yeah, but what it seems like a ton is that there's an expression in the US where we say you can't turn a battleship. You could turn a small boat, but you can't turn a battleship. Is that what's happening with the United States? The United States is sort of a battleship that can't really effectively quickly react to something? No, I don't think so. I think that there are all kinds of calculations. We should remember that from the beginning of the war against Hamas, terrorism, Gaza, the United States warned Iran and Hezbollah from expanding the war. And the reason is very simple. The United States has too many crises and warfare in the world, in Ukraine. There's much tension now in Asia, between China and Taiwan, North Korea and South Korea. And there's still the ongoing war in Gaza with the participation of Iran's proxies. So the goal has been and is still to prevent a major Middle Eastern war. And the United States has accumulated tremendous military power in the Red Sea. It has been using some of that power against the Houthis targets. And that's the way to deal with them. But it remains to be seen how that commitment to punish the pro-Russian militias operating in Syria and Iraq would take place I assume that it would have to happen this week. Hey, I'm gonna have you one final question has to do while we're talking about President Biden and the whole idea of trying to tamp down the regional conflicts. He's come up with this plan that's been called the Biden plan, the Biden doctrine. This is basically the idea here of three pronged idea. One deal with Iran, the other deal with Gaza, the other deal with Hezbollah. What do you make of this doctrine if you've read through it? And then also, is this some sort of going back to almost our first discussion just a few months ago? Is this sort of a last-ditch effort in an election year? Exactly. Biden needs a major peace achievement in the Middle East, primarily to silence those who are criticizing him for supporting Israel too much in the war in Gaza. So one option is to solve once and for all the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The idea is, first of all, to get rid of Hamas. So you mentioned earlier a statement made by David Cameron, the foreign minister of Britain, who said Britain is considering recognizing a Palestinian state, providing that Hamas is not going to be there. So Hamas has, first of all, to leave Gaza. And secondly, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States are thought of as providing both the huge amounts of funds necessary to construct Gaza, to reconstruct Gaza. But they say we are not going to invest even a cent if Hamas stays there and if there is a good chance for resumption of hostilities sometime in the future. So Biden's idea is to exploit the situation here like what happened after the Yom Kippur War for a major movement toward Arab-Israeli peace. But there's a long way to go before this could be realized. The first thing to do is to get Hamas out of Gaza and find a way to bring in either the Palestinian Authority or some other international factor. The Palestinians had an independent state in Gaza for almost 15, 60 years and they failed to use the opportunity to achieve peace with Israel. Instead, Hamas turned out Gaza into an Iranian fortress fighting Israel all the time. So we are a long way, we have a long way to go before we can respond to that idea and which depends to a large extent on Israeli willingness and Palestinian willingness to have their own state. Aitan Gilboa from Abarlan University Center for International Communications. Thanks again for joining me this morning. Thank you. You know, as Aitan mentioned that the first step is first to take care of what's happening in Gaza. There is a deal on the table. Let me be joined now by Professor Joby Mikhail. He's the senior research fellow for the INSS and the Miskav Institute. Coby, good to see you again. Morning. Good morning, Coby. Let's break down this last, at least the last bit that we've been received in terms of what this deal might be. Six weeks pause, 136 of the hostages, 35 days, 35 hostages, three to one. These are all numbers. But what's the real deal? First of all, I'm not sure that there is a real deal, that there is a real formula that was agreed between Israel, the United States, Qatar and Egypt. Now Hamas has to agree to the formula, which is a general frame. Once Hamas will accept it, then the real negotiation will begin about the numbers and about the length of the phases and so on and so forth. So did Qatar jump the gun by saying that there was a deal in place that seems as though something Hamas said is that Qatar jumped the gun? Yes, and Qatar actually, after announcing yesterday that there is a deal and Hamas is in, they changed their announcement and there is no deal yet. Hamas is still considering the formula and there will be a sort of a journey, a time that will take between the acceptance of the formula by Hamas and then the actual deal. I hope that Hamas will reject because it is not a good deal for Israel. Actually, it is a sort of a deal that was imposed on Israel, mainly by the Americans. The Americans do not want to say that they are willing to see an entire war. So they are talking about a long ceasefire or a long pause and they want to believe that by having some phases in this deal, we will have some pauses and the some pauses or the accumulation of the some pauses will be the total seizing of the war. Before Israel succeeded to accomplish successfully the mission and I think that the numbers which were put there on the table are also very exaggerated and the basic logic, the basic idea that Hamas will be with the hand on the shelter in the sense that they will dictate how it will go with regard to the rhythm of the deal. I think that this is also a sort of a problem and the last thing that I can say in this regard is the basic idea that Hamas does not hold all the hostages in his hands. Hamas doesn't have the control over the whole hostages because some of the hostages are held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, by other factions, maybe by even civilians. So here's a question for you. Do you set impose by the Americans? Is the idea of a recognition of a Palestinian state something of an imposition by the United States and the UK to speed up something? I'm not sure at all because the Palestinians when the British and the Americans are talking about the idea of Palestinian state or recognizing in a Palestinian state, they refer to the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas. And the Palestinian Authority is irrelevant actor for the time being. First of all, they have to go through a very significant reforms process. Prime Minister Hamad Ishtaya already announced two or three days ago about the big reform plan that the Palestinian Authority intends to go through. Personally, I do not believe that the Palestinian Authority is right for such a process currently. And I don't believe that this is a very serious plan. And therefore all the talks about the Palestinian state are very theoretical thoughts. Kobi Mikhail from the INSS and Ms. Govins is the former Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs. Thanks again for joining us this morning, as always. Unlike any other country in the world, the women in Israel are not only in the military, they're on the front lines. It's not every day that a young American woman will postpone college, drop everything and join the F and serve as a lone soldier in combat unit. Emily Francis introduces us to a 21-year-old NYU freshman from Manhattan. It's my second time here in Bay Area. And again, the stories that you hear, it's endless. This group of women from New York City came to Kibbutz Baere to witness firsthand the horrors of October 7th. Mireille and Natalie Manicharian are a dynamic mother-daughter duo with a strong sense of purpose. I am the co-president of VITO USA, the Women International Zionist Organization. VITO is present in 38 countries around the world and all the money raised is to help maintain the projects here. I couldn't be more proud to represent VITO, obviously. I think I'm a mini-miray, but I will continue to raise for VITO and support Israel in any way that I can while I'm abroad until I make aliyah. Natalie grew up in the comfort of Manhattan, but her strong sense of Jewish identity is in her DNA. Wearing your Jewish star is not only, ah, I'm a proud Jew. I stand with Israel. And for me, there's not a lot of that going on right now. And I know a lot of my friends who are Jewish who took off their Jewish stars, who took down their menorahs. And to me, that's folding in the face of the enemy. And I am not prepared to do that. At the age of 17, Natalie felt a soul calling to postpone university and come to Israel to serve in the IDF as a lone soldier. This was the first gut feeling I had in my life where I was so certain. I had never been more certain about something amidst so much uncertainty. How did that go down for you when she told you that? Honestly, I had a dream when I was 16 that I came here and I wanted to serve. And my father said, no way. You go back to Brazil with me. When my daughter said she wanted to serve, she didn't know she was going to be in combat, but she wanted to serve. I was so proud. And I kind of lived vicariously through my daughter. But I also felt a responsibility as a Jewish mom to give her the freedom to be who she wanted to be and never clip my daughter's wings. Not only did Natalie enlist, but she also wanted to be drafted into an intense combat unit, even though mom did have sleepless nights at first. And you're getting your hands dirty in a combat unit. Let me tell you. What was the name of your unit? Um, the unit is men and women. And it mostly focuses on like combat training and also incorporating it into search and rescue training. I was in Egypt for a period like right on the border. And then we went to the West Bank near Ramallah. They were actually the only men and women combat unit to enter Gaza, to enter Gaza in this war. Natalie finished her IDF service only a few months before the October 7th massacre. My basic training was in a base called Zikim, which unfortunately was attacked on October 7th, right on the border of Gaza. Guilt is a good word. Um, it was just I was mourning my whole country and I couldn't do anything about it, right? I couldn't go to Israel to mourn people that died, right? Whether it was going to a funeral, I couldn't do that. And then I had to be in New York and seeing these protests. It was the most powerless feeling of all time, right? Because right the day after October 7th, as much as we were all mourning, we were all so sad. We were all geared. We wanted to go and fight. We wanted to go. We were ready for it. I was. I couldn't leave my apartment. Now she's a 21 year old college freshman at NYU. Yet no military training could have prepared her and other Jewish students for the hate crimes and physical violence against Jews that ensued on university campuses. You can stay on top of the news here on I-24 News on TV, online and on your phone with the I-24 News app. I'm Albert Lewerton reporting from Tel Aviv. The news continues right after this break. You're watching I-24 News. The only media in Spanish that keeps you informed and connected with the Latino community in Israel News 24, only on I-24 News. Albert Lewerton of the I-24 News headquarters in Tel Aviv. Welcome to our viewers around the world. Let's get to this on Friday, February the 2nd, 2024, Day 119 of the war. There's some conflicting reports about whether there has been a deal. Qatar's foreign minister in a talk at Johns Hopkins University in Washington said that Hamas had given, quote, initial positive confirmation, his words, to a deal. But then Hamas quickly denied it saying, Qatar, jump the gun. There are several sticking points and we'll break it down for you all in just a moment. The Pentagon says that Defense Secretary and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant had a call yesterday. On that call, they discussed Israel shifting gears in Gaza to a very low intensity fight, a diplomatic solution to Israel's fight with Hezbollah and stability in the West Bank. Meantime, on the ground in Gaza, the IDF says it has almost finished operations in Khan Yunus and is ready to move towards the border with Egypt. Defense Minister Yoav Galant. We must persevere until we complete our missions, and it is much more difficult for Hamas, believe me. They don't have weapons. They don't have ammunition. They don't have the ability to treat their wounded. They have 10,000 eliminated terrorists and another 10,000 terrorists who are wounded and not functioning. This is a serious blow that erodes Hamas's abilities. The Hamas-Khan Yunus Brigade boasted that it would stand strong against the IDF. Today, it is dismantled, and I'm telling you that we are completing the mission in Khan Yunus and we will also reach Rafa and we will eliminate anyone there who is a terrorist, who is trying to attack us. We're getting word from Syria there have been some air strikes within the past several hours. Two areas, Saida-Zanab that's near Damascus, it's a stronghold of Iranian militias. And near Akrabah in southern Syria, the area has been targeted several times by alleged Israeli airstrikes within the past few months. Now, also, you should know that British Foreign Secretary David Cameron says the UK should officially, could officially recognize the Palestinian state after ceasefire in Gaza but without waiting for Israel and the Palestinians to come to any agreement. Take a listen to the foreign secretary. What we've always said is we believe in a two-state solution, a secure Israel within its borders and a secure and stable Palestine within its borders. That's long been our position. And of course, as part of that, Britain along with other countries would recognize Palestine as a country and recognize Palestine at the United Nations. And what I'm saying is of course that can't come at the start of the process, but it doesn't have to be the very end of the process. It could be something that we consider as this process, as this advance to a solution becomes more real. It's being called the Biden Doctrine. It's an American plan for Israel to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, deal with Iran, and American recognition of the Palestinian state. You heard the UK foreign secretary just a moment ago, but now here's the American plan. I-24 needs senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alderman breaks down the plan that will radically change them to least. More talk of a change in approach in Western capitals, with new reporting that the Biden administration is looking into recognizing a Palestinian state now, not after a final status deal on the conflict. From both Axios and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, behind the scenes, the administration thinking what British Foreign Secretary David Cameron is saying. We should be starting to set out what a Palestinian state would look like, what it would comprise, how it would work. As that happens, we, with allies, will look at the issue of recognizing a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations. The Biden administration reportedly wants to attach big caveats to recognition, according to Tom Friedman, that the state only come into being once it has a set of defined, credible institutions, and that the Palestinian state be demilitarized. There's a number of countries that are members of the UN that still don't have their own military. Recognition would also reportedly be part of a package to include normalization with Saudi Arabia, a priority for Israel and a huge incentive for Jerusalem, despite the reservations. With an accord or without an accord, the state of Israel must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River. That's a necessary condition. It clashes with the principle of sovereignty. What can you do? Meaning that Israel would both get a Saudi deal in hand, and also could argue that Palestinians don't meet the criteria set for statehood, not demilitarized and not with the institutions needed. Still a heavy lift for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his right-wing allies, but a package that could be worth a flexing of muscles. While we're talking about the President of the United States, the President of the United States did sign an executive order yesterday declaring a national emergency that would allow him to sanction four Israelis, settlers involved in violent incidents with West Bank Palestinians. They are David Chai Chasdai, Eitan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman and Yinon Levy. These four were sanctioned by the United States. And here's now the U.S. State Department Secretary Spokesman Matt Miller. Without betraying too much of our private diplomatic conversations, I will say we have had some very frank conversations with them about extremist settler violence. And that includes some very detailed conversations where we have presented cases to the Israeli government or cases of settler violence where we have seen reports and where we have seen documented settler violence and asked them to take action. And we have seen them take some action. What we have seen, and I should say, we have seen since those interventions over the past months, six weeks, two months, we have seen the level of extremist settler violence come down somewhat, not come down enough. We want to see more. Reacting to U.S. President Joe Biden's executive order sanctioning settler extremists, Prime Minister Netanyahu's office says in a statement that the vast majority of residents of Judea and Samaria are law abiding citizens, many of whom are fighting right now an active and reserved duty to protect Israel. Israel acts against all violators of the law in all places. This comes from the PMO, the Prime Minister's office. The statement continues, and therefore there is no place for drastic steps on this matter. We're joined now live Professor Etan Golboa. He's the head of Center for International Communication at Bar-I-Lan University. Thanks so much, Etan, for joining us this morning. Good morning. Good morning. Let's talk about these settlers. First of all, these four were singled out for having violent altercations with Palestinians. But are they being singled out specifically for some political gain by the American administration? Yes, I think the statement that singled them out has nothing to do with the situation in the ground. It has all to do with Biden's election troubles. He has been under pressure from a number of groups in his Democratic Party, primarily the so-called reformists and the Muslims and young people. And he's not doing well in public opinion polls. Trump is leading him everywhere and even in the swing states. Yesterday he was in Michigan. There is a huge Muslim community in Michigan, also many progressives. So I think that the statement was designed to counter the full support of Israel in its war against Hamas, terrorists and Gaza and less connected to what is really happening in the West Bank. But these settlers, if I'm making sure I understand this right, you're putting that it seems as though the administration is putting these settlers on the same level as Iranian terror groups, as West Bank terror groups, as Gaza, as Hamas, Russian oligarchs that are funding the war. So they're on the same level as those guys? Yes, I think it's a wrong way to deal with a problem. Israel has an independent law enforcement agency. It prosecutes and punishes everybody who violates the law. This is what the prime minister, Antonio, said the other day, and he is right. But as I mentioned, domestic politics play here a major role, not the substance of the issue itself. Great, Etan, let's talk now about Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin while we're talking about the Americans. The Defense Secretary Austin said that this was really some, this is some sort of moment in the Middle East right now that they're going to try to avoid a wider conflict. Let's take a listen to what he had to say. Our teammates were killed by radical militias back by Iran and operating inside Syria and Iraq. In the aftermath of the vile Hamas terrorist assault on Israel on October 7th, terrorist groups backed by Iran and funded by Iran have tried to create even more turmoil, including the Houthis, attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea. So this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East. We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region. But we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests, and our people. And we will respond when we choose, where we choose, and how we choose. Etan, are we at a point right now where the genie's out of the bottle? There's no there's no way that this will not turn into a wider conflict? No, I don't think so. First of all, the United States began to take military action against the Houthis only when it became clear that international shipping has been encountering substantial damage, not before that. The Iranians pro Iranians militias in Syria and Iraq attacked 165 times American bases in Syria and Iraq. The United States has about 900 soldiers in Syria and about 2500 soldiers in Iraq. All are there to deal with the remnants of Daesh. And so the US policy towards both the Houthis and Iran has been quite soft. Well, I think about a week ago, those pro Iranian militias killed three American soldiers and wondered about 34, 35. And still the United States is speaking about taking about about retaliating at the time and the place of their choosing. And those pro-Russian military movements in Iraq and Syria have stated that they are seizing attacks on the United States. So I think that the situation is not promising, is not encouraging, but we are not yet on the way to a much wider Middle Eastern war. Yeah, but what it seems like a ton is that there's an expression in the US where we say you can't turn a battleship. You could turn a small boat, but you can't turn a battleship. Is that what's happening with the United States? The United States is sort of a battleship that can't really effectively quickly react to something? No, I don't think so. I think that there are all kinds of calculations. We should remember that from the beginning of the war against Hamas, terrorism, Gaza, the United States warned Iran and Hezbollah from expanding the war. And the reason is very simple. The United States has too many crises and warfare in the world, in Ukraine. There's much tension now in Asia, between China and Taiwan, North Korea and South Korea. And there's still the ongoing war in Gaza with the participation of Iran's proxies. So the goal has been and is still to prevent a major Middle Eastern war. And the United States has accumulated tremendous military power in the Red Sea. It has been using some of that power against the Putin's targets. And that's the way to deal with them. But it remains to be seen how that commitment to punish the pro-Russian militias operating in Syria and Iraq would take place. I assume that it will have to happen this week. And I'm gonna have you one final question has to do while we're talking about President Biden and the whole idea of trying to tamp down the regional conflicts. He's come up with this plan that's been called the Biden plan, the Biden doctrine. This is basically the idea here of three pronged idea. One deal with Iran, the other deal with Gaza, the other deal with Hezbollah. What do you make of this doctrine if you've read through it? And then also, is this some sort of going back to almost our first discussion just a few moments ago? Is this sort of a last-ditch effort in an election year? Exactly. Biden needs a major peace achievement in the Middle East, primarily to silence those who are criticizing him for supporting Israel too much in the war in Gaza. So, one option is to solve once and for all the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The idea is, first of all, to get rid of Hamas. So, you mentioned earlier a statement made by David Cameron, the foreign minister of Britain, who said Britain is considering recognizing a Palestinian state, providing that Hamas is not going to be there. So, Hamas has, first of all, to leave Gaza. And secondly, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states are thought of as providing both the huge amounts of funds necessary to reconstruct Gaza. But they say we are not going to invest even a cent if Hamas stays there and if there is a good chance for resumption of hostilities sometime in the future. So, Biden's idea is to exploit the situation here like what happened after the Yom Kippur War for a major movement toward Arab-Israeli peace. But there's a long way to go before this could be realized. The first thing to do is to get Hamas out of Gaza and find a way to bring in either the Palestinian Authority or some other international factor. The Palestinians had an independent state in Gaza for almost 15, 60 years and they failed to use the opportunity to achieve peace with Israel. Instead, Hamas turned out Gaza into an Iranian fortress fighting Israel all the time. So, we have a long way to go before we can respond to that idea and which depends to a large extent on Israeli willingness and Palestinian willingness to have their own state. Eitan Gilboa, from a Bar-Ilan University Center for International Communications. Thanks again for joining me this morning. Thank you. As Eitan mentioned, the first step is first to take care of what's happening in Gaza. There is a deal on the table. Let me be joined now by Professor Choby Michael. He's the Senior Research Fellow for the INSS and the Misgov Institute. Choby, good to see you again. Good morning, Choby. Let's break down this last, at least the last bit that we've been received in terms of what this deal might be. Six weeks pause, 136 of the hostages, 35 days, 35 hostages, three to one. These are all numbers, but what's the real deal? First of all, I'm not sure that there is a real deal, that there is a real formula that was agreed between Israel, the United States, Qatar, and Egypt. Now Hamas has to agree to the formula, which is a general framework. Once Hamas will accept it, then the real negotiation will begin about the numbers and about the length of the phases and so on and so forth. So did Qatar jump the gun by saying that there was a deal in place that seems as though something Hamas said is that Qatar jumped the gun? Yes, and Qatar actually, after announcing yesterday that there is a deal and Hamas is in, they changed their announcement and there is no a deal yet. Hamas is still considering the formula and there will be a sort of a journey, a time that will take between the acceptance of the formula by Hamas and then the actual deal. I hope that Hamas will reject the deal because it is not a good deal for Israel. Actually, it is a sort of a deal that was imposed on Israel, mainly by the Americans. The Americans do not want to say that they are willing to see an entire, so they are talking about a long ceasefire or a long pause. And they want to believe that by having some phases in this deal, we will have some pauses and the some pauses or the accumulation of the some pauses will be the total seizing of the war. Before Israel succeeded to accomplish successfully the mission. And I think that the numbers which were put there on the table are also very exaggerated and the basic logic, the basic idea that Hamas will be with the hand on the shelter in the sense that they will dictate how it will go with regard to the rhythm of the deal. I think that this is also a sort of a problem. And the last thing that I can say in this regard is the basic idea that Hamas does not hold all the hostages in his hands. Hamas doesn't have the control over the whole hostages because some of the hostages are held by the Prasim Islamic Jihad, by other factions, maybe by even civilians. So here's a question for you. You said imposed by the Americans. Is the idea of a recognition of a Palestinian state something of an imposition by the United States and the UK to speed up something? I'm not sure at all because the Palestinians, when the the British and the Americans are talking about the idea of Palestinian state or recognizing in the Palestinian state, they refer to the Palestinian Authority not Hamas. And the Palestinian Authority is irrelevant actor for the time being. First of all, they have to go through a very significant reforms process. Prime Minister Hamad Ishtaya already announced two or three days ago about the big reform plan that the Palestinian Authority intends to go through. Personally, I do not believe that the Palestinian Authority is right for such a process currently. And I don't believe that this is a very serious plan. And therefore, all the talks about the Palestinian state are very theoretical thoughts. Komi Mikhail from the INSS and Ms. Gavins is the former Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs. Thanks again for joining us this morning, as always. Unlike any other country in the world, women in Israel are not only in the military, they're on the front lines. It's not every day that a young American woman will postpone college, drop everything and join the F and serve as a lone soldier in combat unit. Emily Francis introduces us to a 21-year-old NYU freshman from Manhattan. It's my second time here in Bayre. And again, the stories that you hear, it's endless. This group of women from New York City came to Kibbutz Bayre to witness, first-hand, the horrors of October 7th. Miray and Natalie Manicharian are a dynamic mother-daughter duo with a strong sense of purpose. I am the co-president of Vito USA, the Women International Zionist Organization. Vito is president in 38 countries around the world. And all the money raised is to help maintain the projects here. I couldn't be more proud to represent Vito, obviously. I think I'm a mini-miray. But I will continue to raise Vito and support Israel in any way that I can while I'm abroad until I make aliyah. Natalie grew up in the comfort of Manhattan, but her strong sense of Jewish identity is in her DNA. Wearing your Jewish star is not only, I'm a proud Jew. I stand with Israel. And for me, there's not a lot of that going on right now. And I know a lot of my friends were Jewish who took off their Jewish stars, who took down their menorahs. And to me, that's folding in the face of the enemy. And I am not prepared to do that. At the age of 17, Natalie felt a soul calling to postpone university and come to Israel to serve in the IDF as a lone soldier. This was the first gut feeling I had in my life, where I was so certain. I had never been more certain about something, amidst so much uncertainty. How did that go down for you when she told you that? Honestly, I had a dream when I was 16 that I came here and I wanted to serve. And my father said, no way, you go back to Brazil with me. When my daughter said she wanted to serve, she didn't know she was going to be in combat, but she wanted to serve. I was so proud. And I kind of lived vicariously through my daughter. But I also felt a responsibility as a Jewish mom to give her the freedom to be who she wanted to be and never clip my daughter's wings. Not only did Natalie enlist, but she also wanted to be drafted into an intense combat unit, even though mom did have sleepless nights at first. And you're getting your hands dirty in a combat unit. Let me tell you. What was the name of your unit? The unit is men and women. And it mostly focuses on combat training, and also incorporating it into search and rescue training. I was in Egypt for a period, like right on the border, Al-Hareif was called. And then we went to the West Bank near Ramallah. They were actually the only men and women combat unit to enter Gaza in this war. Natalie finished her IDF service only a few months before the October 7th massacre. My basic training was in a base called Zikim, which unfortunately was attacked on October 7th, right on the border of Gaza. Guilt is a good word. It was just, I was mourning my whole country and I couldn't do anything about it, right? I couldn't go to Israel to mourn people that died, right? Whether it was going to a funeral, I couldn't do that. And then I had to be in New York and seeing these protests. It was the most powerless feeling of all time, right? Because right the day after October 7th, as much as we were all mourning, we were all so sad, we were all geared. We wanted to go and fight. We wanted to go. We were ready for it. I was. I couldn't leave my apartment. Now she's a 21-year-old college freshman at NYU. Yet no military training could have prepared her and other Jewish students for the hate crimes and physical violence against Jews that ensued on university campuses. You can stay on top of the news here on I-24 News on TV, online and on your phone with the I-24 News app. I'm Albert Lewerton reporting from Tel Aviv. The news continues right after this break. You're watching I-24 News. Lewerton at the I-24 News headquarters in Tel Aviv. Welcome to our viewers around the world. It's Friday, February the 2nd, 2024, day 119. Some conflicting reports about whether there has been a deal. Cutter's foreign minister in Washington said Hamas had given initial positive confirmation, his words, to a deal. But then Hamas quickly denied it, saying Cutter jumped the gun. There are several sticking points. We'll break it all down for you in just a moment. The Pentagon says Defense Secretary and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galan had a call yesterday. On that call, they discussed three things. One, Israel shifting gears to a low intensity battle in Gaza. Two, a diplomatic solution to Israel's fight with Hezbollah. And three, stability in the West Bank. Meantime, on the ground in Gaza, the IDF says it has almost finished operations in Kanyunis and is ready to move towards the border with Egypt. Here's Defense Minister Yoav Galan. Hamas must persevere until we complete our missions. And it is much more difficult for Hamas, believe me. They don't have weapons. They don't have ammunition. They don't have the ability to treat their wounded. They have 10,000 eliminated terrorists and another 10,000 terrorists who are wounded and not functioning. This is a serious blow that erodes Hamas' abilities. The Hamas Kanyunis Brigade boasted that it would stand strong against the IDF. Today it is dismantled. And I'm telling you that we are completing the mission in Kanyunis and we will also reach Rafa and we will eliminate anyone there who is a terrorist who is trying to attack us. I-24, Zach Anders is live at the Israel-Gaza border. Zach, break down the deal that's reportedly on the table for us. Hi. Good morning, Albert. Well, four days ago, the officials from the U.S., Qatar, Egypt met in Paris to discuss the framework of a deal. They all went back to their respective countries. And it did appear through reporting that came out later in the week that there were positive reactions from both sides that Israel and Hamas had at least reached some sort of common ground on a few key points or at least enough to where a deal could be considered on the Hamas end. Hamas has drawn some very hard red lines through this. They've asked for the full expulsion of the IDF, the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu has already said that's not going to happen. So it did seem that this deal was on shaky ground, maybe that there was still quite a bit of distance. And then yesterday, Qatar signaled that Hamas was positively responding to this latest deal. Now, again, we don't have the full text. We don't know exactly what is in the deal, what could be agreed to. But that sign that came from Qatar, it did seem like there was some positive something to go off here and that perhaps a deal would be close. There was some celebrations as we muted celebrations as we saw in hostage square as people were really receptive to the idea that there could be a new hostage deal, a new ceasefire. But then late last night, as the U.S. State Department was giving a briefing, they say they did not seem or hear of any real firm response from Hamas, that this is not something that they expected. They said that there's still sometimes several more days that they expect until they'll hear back from Hamas and the political leaders that are outside of Gaza right now that are responding, participating in this deal. So really as it stands right now, we do not know one where some of these figures stand on the text of the deal. And we don't know the text of the deal itself either. We don't know the particulars. So we just can't say right now how far apart both sides are. Great, Zach Anders, thanks so much for giving us up to speed as to what that deal is supposedly on the table. Thanks again. He's joined that Zach Anders, I-24 News Correspondent in the South of Israel. Let me now join, get us joined in studio now by Colonel Dr. Jacques Naria, the former deputy head of assessment for Israeli military intelligence. He's also the former foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Karabin. Thanks so much again for joining us this morning, Jacques. So is this a deal to begin a deal or is this a deal? Well, I would like to use maybe Mao Zedong words. I mean, this is a first step in a 1,000 mile march. So this is really the very, very beginning of any negotiations. And we are still several steps behind any conclusion of a deal. It might take weeks. It might take even months before we reach an understanding with Hamas, the exchange of people, of names, and what sort of quality terrorism they would like to be released. And how many of those quality terrorists would Israel be ready to release? What about those who committed the massacre on the 7th of October? Are we going to release them also? Is this part of the deal? There are lots of unknown things today. And I think that basically we are on a hazy ground and we are hearing lots of noises. And these noises serve as pressure on the other side, like what the Prime Minister declared yesterday. No stop of the war. We will not release thousands of terrorists and so on and so on. And this has been echoed on the other side, that without ending the war, then nothing would be even considered. So we are here in a situation where behind the scenes, there's a lot that is going on and it will take time. And we have to be patient because, and we cannot jump all the time because, I mean, the families are there and hectic and every small information that leaks out just raises the hopes and then suddenly it comes down. So I think that it is a very serious issue. And even though it's top priority, it doesn't mean right now that Israel has stopped its military operations in the Gaza Strip, even though we are closing to a situation where we might, because of logistic problems and because of other considerations, we might have a pause in the actual fight in the Gaza Strip beyond Chanyulis. I mean, I'm talking specifically about the corridor, the Philadelphia corridor, the crossing point in Rafa and Rafa city. So these are issues that are right now being discussed in Cairo by a delegation, by an Israeli delegation, in order to give the Egyptian assurances that Israel will not allow Palestinians to cross into the border and go into Sinai, which is one of the main reason of panicking that is happening in Cairo. But this comes at a time when, while Israel and Qatar and America and a few other people in Egypt in the room trying to work out a deal, this comes at a time when Israel isn't saying, you know what, we're shifting gears, we're making it low intense, we're doing it because the Americans want us to, but really we can't be shifting gears into a low intense. No, I think you have to consider what's going on right now in Gaza. At first we had between four and five divisions in Gaza, maybe even six at a certain time. And right now we have six brigades. This is the situation. I mean, there's also a need for Israel to rest, to take all the troops, to withdraw all the troops that were engaged since the 7th of October, just to rest a little bit, to reorganize, to retrain. And then this is why I'm saying that we might just reach a point where we have to stop, I mean, temporarily. It's not something that will last for long, but at least, I mean, till we decide what to do with Rafah with the crossing point and with the corridor, it will take some time. So we have just to reorganize. And this is what's happening right now. Let me, let's talk about this Biden doctrine. I want to let our viewers understand what that is. It's an American plan for Israel to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, to also deal with Iran. It also has American recognition of a Palestinian state. I-24 New City diplomatic correspondent Owen Alterman breaks down the plan for everyone to take a look at. More talk of a change in approach in Western capitals, with new reporting that the Biden administration is looking into recognizing a Palestinian state now, not after a final status deal on the conflict from both Axios and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. Behind the scenes, the administration thinking what British Foreign Secretary David Cameron is saying. What we've always said is we believe in a two-state solution, a secure Israel within its borders and a secure and stable Palestine within its borders. That's long been our position. And of course, as part of that, Britain, along with other countries, would recognize Palestine as a country and recognize Palestine at the United Nations. The Biden administration reportedly wants to attach big caveats to recognition, according to Tom Friedman, that the state only come into being once it has a set of defined credible institutions, and that the Palestinian state be demilitarized. Recognition would also reportedly be part of a package to include normalization with Saudi Arabia, a priority for Israel and a huge incentive for Jerusalem, despite the reservations. With an accord or without an accord, the state of Israel must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River. That's a necessary condition. It clashes with the principle of sovereignty. What can you do? Meaning that Israel would both get a Saudi deal in hand and also could argue that Palestinians don't meet the criteria set for statehood, not demilitarized and not with the institutions needed. Still a heavy lift for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his right-wing allies, but a package that could be worth a flexing of muscles. You should know there's a little room here because there are reports that Saudi Arabia would be willing to accept a political commitment from Israel. That's the term political commitment to create a Palestinian state rather than anything actually more binding. And the reports go on to say that it's a bid to get a defense Packard Washington approved before the American election that occurs in November. Let's talk a little bit about this idea of the UK and the US recognizing a Palestinian state. Is it more a message to the Palestinians or to the Israelis? Well, I think basically it's a message for both Palestinians and Israel because for the Palestinians, it means that we are going to push for recognizing a Palestinian state, but you have to reform your Palestinian authority. We will not accept Palestinian authority as it is for Israel to say, OK, just a commitment concerning the Palestinian state. And we are getting closer. When I hear our Prime Minister talking about security, we are very much near the Rabin doctrine about security between Israel responsible between the sea and the river. So this is our responsibility, security and responsibility, the Jordan Valley, all the Jordan Valley, all the ridges that are surrounding the Jordan Valley. This is basically a demilitarized zone in between on the Palestinian side. This is this is basically the idea that Rabin had in mind. And I think that it is echoed right now by by Netanyahu, the change, by the way, which is a very big change. This is the first time that he is expressing himself in this issue. Till now, he did not express himself now because of the situation he's talking about. But the big question is what happens when you when you recognize the Palestinian state? You have four and a half million Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and other places. What would become of them? Because the Lebanese have enough refugees that will ask the Palestinian to leave. You have a state. So go to your your own state. And the same will happen in Syria and the same will happen in Jordan. So this is a very, very difficult question. Would Israel accept the fact that four and a half million Palestinians just pour into the West Bank? This is the situation that has not been even contemplated. So how many Palestinians are there right now in the West Bank for our viewers to understand roughly about about three and a half million Palestinians. So three and a half million plus four and a half. If you count that make seven and a half million against Israel of 9.6 West Bank, maybe another million without you're not. And you have 2.5 million Palestinian Gaza. So add to it where we are right now we are even between us in Israel and the Palestinian or more or less. And then if you add four and a half million, then there's a majority of Palestinians. So but that also what it does not do if any idea of a recognition of a Palestinian state, it does not say to the Palestinian, the new Palestinian state, you need to reform your idea of conquering Israel. Basically, you have to reform the whole ideology. I mean, the whole ideology that there was a letter signed by Arab fat on the 9th of September 1993, recognizing the state of Israel. But it is not enough. It is not recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. And this was this was a mistake at the time that we did not pay attention to this issue because it was not on the air. But right now we have to be to be certain that the Palestinians will not teach hatred hate against Israel hostility. The education system will teach peace instead of war. And encouraging terrorism is normal on the table. We have to fight terrorism and they have to fight terrorism. Otherwise, there's no way that we can we can live in peace or coexist with the Palestinians. The reason I bring this up is because even of a recognition of a Palestinian state, you still have Hezbollah and Hamas going on television saying, we'll conduct another October 7th and we'll continue going with it. Doesn't seem like that. It seems to be we're nowhere near common ground there. The Palestinian issue is like a ticking bomb. If you take care of it and diffuse it, then I think that most of the hostility, I mean, there will be no ground if the Palestinians accept Israel as a state, as a Jewish state. And there's there's a piece between us and the Palestinian. Why should the Hezbollah or other militias or other factions fight against it? There might be. And this is why there's a there's a commitment. There should be a commitment of the Palestinian Authority or the Palestinian state to become that will fight. He will fight terrorism. He will be part of the of the of the fight with Israel, which is right now really fantastic. This you're you're talking about the it's a pre imagination. You can do whatever you want. It's unicorns and rainbows. Exactly. So exactly. So Jack, you know, one of the things we should talk about is about the settlers in the West Bank. I just want to let our viewers know the president of the United States signed an executive order declaring a national emergency that allows him to sanction for Israeli settlers involved in violent incidents with the West Bank Palestinians. They are David Chai Chastai, Etan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman and Yinon Levy. They are the four. Here's a little bit. I want to bring you a little bit of sound bite now. This is from the US State Department spokesman Matt Miller. Without betraying too much of our private diplomatic conversations, I will say we have had some very frank conversations with them about extremist settler violence. And that includes some very detailed conversations where we have presented cases to the Israeli government or example, you know, cases of settler violence that where we have seen reports and where we have seen documented settler violence and asked them to take action. And we have seen them take some action. What we have seen, and I should say we have seen since those interventions over the past months, six weeks, two months, we have seen the level of extremist settler violence come down somewhat, not come down enough. We want to see more. So reacting to this, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office put out a statement. Here's what the statement says. The vast majority of residents of Judea and Samaria are law abiding citizens, many of whom are fighting right now an active and reserved duty to protect Israel. Israel acts against all violators of law in all places. And the statement goes on to say, and therefore there is no place for drastic steps on this matter. Jack, why did the American government feel it necessary to be involved in what's going on in the West Bank now? Well, this is part of their policy in order to in a way to calm the apprehensions of the Palestinian Authority, that they are not all the way with Israel and that they are the critical of things that happen on the ground. And that things, I mean, even in Israel, there's the criticism about the behavior of very, very extreme settlers there. I mean, the real, the fringe, the far right wing. Far right wing. And I mean, we saw that in several occasions when they burned the whole houses. A town of Harar, one of them apparently went on a attack on settlers in Harar. It was a very bad incident. They burned, I don't know, about 100, 200 cars and houses. And I mean, this is really was a situation that's unbearable and unacceptable for most of Israelis. I mean, those those fringes do not represent Israel, do not represent the public, the Israeli public. And I mean, in a way, I mean, if we are, if this government, because of coalition problems will not take care of them, then there's somebody outside who would just tell us what to do. But is this really the right time to be discussing the situation? And when you have a middle of a war, you've got, you got nine front, seven fronts, I should say. Well, the war is always an excuse for everything, no elections, not to deal with the settlers, not to do anything. Just sit down and just wait. And this is not the case. I mean, life continues and we have to there's war on the one hand, and we have to continue the war and the effort. On the other hand, we have also to behave as a country, as a state that respects law and order. So then what do what now to what should happen now when in terms of the settlers, if there is a Palestinian state, you have all those people that are there? Well, you know, we we talk, we talked earlier, I think two days ago about the Trump solution. The Trump solution was redrawing the boundaries. And I said, I said very plainly here that that without without deciding on the borders of the Palestinians say that there will be no solution. And in this in this solution, we have to take to take into account that the Israelis that live, it's about half million Israelis that live in the in the West Bank, in the in Samaria and Judea, we have to take care of the security, the security also. And this is why the plan, the Trump plan just has changed the boundary in order to just give those those localities the right to continue to exist on the spot. So that they will not be uprooted. That won't be anything. That's not instant. It'll take years down the line. Well, yeah, we're talking about a scheme that will take years. Jack Nairi, a former deputy head of assessment for the Israeli military intelligence, former foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Rebian. Thanks again for joining us this morning, as always. You know, tomorrow marks 17 weeks since October the 7th, 15 year old Daphna and her eight year old sister, Ella Eliakim spent 51 days in captivity after being kidnapped by Hamas. Their kibbutz was Nahal Oz and now Daphna is recounting what happened to her and her family on October the 7th. Getting back to normal while being a teenager trying to deal with life on its own has become a challenge. Take a look. It's 65 days that they've been here, adapting to life's new reality since their release from captivity in Gaza. 15 year old Daphna and eight year old Ella getting used to a new house in the city to a reality without daddy Noam, without his partner, Dickler, and their stepbrother, Tomer, who were all murdered on that dark Sabbath. I brought my backpack from Nahal Oz. There's blood on it. My father's blood here and on my pencil case. It was Tomer's backpack. Now it's with me. It's pretty, right? Through no choice of their own, they became all our girls. Two sisters kidnapped from their beds to Gaza alone, without mom, without dad, forced to leave behind all that ever made them feel safe. Now they have to try to relearn how to live. What's the hardest part of going back to a routine? That I don't have my father, who used to wake me up for school, so him not being here for that? Tomer and I used to walk to school together every day. Hence the backpack. It's like keeping him with me. I can't talk about it. I'll cry. It's hard. Is it okay if we talk about that Sabbath? Yes. It started in the morning with the sirens, a lot of red alerts, and then a half an hour later, I think maybe an hour, they entered the kibbutz. Then my father came into my room with Dickler and Tomer, and put the three of us, myself, Tomer and Ella, under the bed, and told us to be quiet. They came in the house and started shooting, shot the door and hit my dad in the leg. Then they pulled us from under the bed. They were live streaming it. One of the most memorable videos from the 7th of October is a wicked Facebook Live, the terrorists filmed in Daphne and Ella's home. The video shows father Noam wounded in the leg with a shocked and scared Daphne at his side. Ella is sitting on Dickler's knees, Noam's partner. Her son Tomer is taken outside by the terrorists. Only a few days later will the full video come out, showing them taking Tomer out for him to knock on neighbors' doors to lure them out. Did you understand where they took him? They said they need a Tomer to go open the doors to the houses so that people would come out. They said he'd be okay that they wouldn't harm him as long as he didn't try anything. Then the Hamas terrorists took us to our car and drove off. And then some other terrorists shot at our car, thinking we were civilians trying to escape. They shot and killed Dickler. She died instantly. They took us to Gaza. So many people tried to reach us and harm us, so the terrorists took us up to an apartment and kept us there until an ambulance came. What were the days like over there? Difficult. All I could think of was how my family was, my friends, what's happening in Israel, if they got to the whole country, if they destroyed Israel, if they had conquered it. Two weeks before their release, they were moved to the tunnels there. They met five kidnapped young women who remain in captivity. This is Liri. This is Nama. This is Romi. Agam. You were with the four of them together? Yeah, and Emily Damari as well. It was on the third day of releases that their names showed up on the list. Around six o'clock in the evening, wearing long braids, Daphna and Ella could suddenly be seen walking towards the Red Cross' white cheap. Do you remember the moment of your return? Not really. I thought it was, I thought maybe it was a bluff that I was still in Gaza. 136 others remain health-hastaged by Hamas. You could say on top of the news here on I-24 News on TV online and on your phone with the I-24 News app. I'm Albert Lewitsch and reporting from Tel Aviv. The news continues right after this break. Well 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 line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. 24 News headquarters in Tel Aviv. Welcome to our viewers around the world. It's Friday, February 2nd, 2024, Day 119. Some conflicting reports about whether there has been a deal. Cutters foreign minister in Washington said Hamas had given initial positive confirmation, his words, to a deal. But then Hamas quickly denied it, saying cut or jump the gun. There are several sticking points. We'll break it all down for you in just a moment. The Pentagon says Defense Secretary and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galan had a call yesterday. On that call they discussed three things. One, Israel shifting gears to a low intensity battle in Gaza. Two, a diplomatic solution to Israel's fight with Hezbollah. And three, stability in the West Bank. Meantime on the ground in Gaza, the IDF says it has almost finished operations in Kanyunas and is ready to move towards the border with Egypt. Here's Defense Minister Yoav Galan. We must persevere until we complete our missions. And it is much more difficult for Hamas, believe me. They don't have weapons, they don't have ammunition, they don't have the ability to treat their wounded. They have 10,000 eliminated terrorists and another 10,000 terrorists who are wounded and not functioning. This is a serious blow that erodes Hamas's abilities. The Hamas Kanyunas Brigade boasted that it would stand strong against the IDF. Today it is dismantled. And I'm telling you that we are completing the mission in Kanyunas and we will also reach Rafa and we will eliminate anyone there who is a terrorist who is trying to attack us. I-24, Zach Anders is live at the Israel-Gaza border. Zach, break down the deal that's reportedly on the table for us. Hi, good morning, Albert. Well, four days ago, the officials from the U.S. Qatar, Egypt met in Paris to discuss the framework of a deal. They all went back to their respective countries. And it did appear through reporting that came out later in the week that there were positive reactions from both sides that Israel and Hamas had at least reached some sort of common ground on a few key points or at least enough to where a deal could be considered on the Hamas. And Hamas has drawn some very hard red lines through this. They've asked for the full expulsion of the IDF, the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu has already said that's not going to happen. So it did seem that this deal was on shaky ground, maybe that there was still quite a bit of distance. And then yesterday, Qatar signaled that Hamas was positively responding to this latest deal. Now again, we don't have the full text. We don't know exactly what is in the deal, what could be agreed to. But that sign that came from Qatar, it did seem like there was some positive something to go off here and that perhaps a deal would be close. There was some celebrations as we muted celebrations as we saw in hostage square as people were really receptive to the idea that there could be a new hostage deal, a new ceasefire. But then late last night as the U.S. State Department was giving a briefing, they say they did not seem or hear of any real firm response from Hamas that this is not something that they expected. They said that there's still sometimes several more days that they expect until they'll hear back from Hamas and the political leaders that are outside of Gaza right now that are responding, participating in this deal. So really as it stands right now, we do not know one where some of these figures stand on the text of the deal. And we don't know the text of the deal itself either. We don't know the particulars. So we just can't say right now how far apart both sides are. Great, Zach Anders, thanks so much for getting us up to speed as to what that deal is supposedly on the table. Thanks again. He's joined that Zach Anders, I-24 News Correspondent in the south of Israel. Let me now join, get us joined in studio now by Colonel Dr. Jacques Naria, the former Deputy Head of Assessment for Israeli Military Intelligence. He's also the former foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Thanks so much again for joining us this morning, Jacques. So is this a deal to begin a deal or is this a deal? Well, I would like to use maybe Mao Zedong words. I mean, this is a first step in a 1000 mile march. So this is really the very, very beginning of any negotiations. And we are we are still several steps behind any conclusion of a deal. It might take weeks, it might take even months before we reach an understanding with Hamas, the exchange of people, of names, and what sort of quality terrorism they would like to be released. And how many of those quality terrorists would Israel be ready to release? What about the those who committed the massacre on the 7th of October? Are we going to release them also? Is this part of the deal? There are lots of lots of unknown things today. And I think that basically we are on a hazy ground and we are hearing lots of noises. And these noises serve as as pressure on the other side, like what were what the Prime Minister declared yesterday. No, no, no stop of the war. No, we will not release thousands of terrorists and so on and so on. And this is and this has been echoed on the other side that without without ending the war, then nothing will would be would be even considered. So we are here in a situation where behind the scenes, there's a lot that is going on and it will take time and we have to be patient because and we cannot jump all the time because I mean the the families are there and hectic and every every small information that that leaks out just raises the hopes and then suddenly it comes down. So I think that it is a very serious issue. And even though it's it's top priority, it doesn't mean right now that Israel has stopped its military operations and in the Gaza Strip, even though we have we are closing we are closing to a situation where we might because of logistic problems and because of other consideration, we might have a pause in the in the actual fight in the in the Gaza Strip beyond beyond Hanulis, where I mean, I'm talking specifically about the corridor, the Philadelphia corridor, the crossing point in Rafa and Rafa the Rafa city. So these are issues that aren't right now being discussed in Cairo by by delegation by Israel delegation in order to give the Egyptian assurances that Israel will not allow Palestinians to cross into the border to cross the border and go into Sinai, which is one of the main the main reason of panicking that is happening in Cairo. But this comes at a time when while we're while Israel and Qatar and America and a few other people in Egypt in the room trying to get things to work at a deal this comes at a time when Israel isn't saying you know what we're gonna we're we're shifting gears we're making it low intense we're doing it because the Americans want us to but really we can't we can't be shifting gears into a low intense. I think you have to consider what's going on right now in Gaza. At first we have we had between four and five divisions in Gaza, maybe even six at a certain time. And right now we have six brigades. This is this is the situation. I mean, there's also a need from for Israel to rest to take all the troops all the troops that were engaged since the 7th of October, just to the to rest a little bit to reorganize to retrain. And then we do this is why I'm saying that we might just reach a point where we have to stop. I mean, temporarily, it's not something that will last for long, but at least I mean, till we decide what to do with Rafa with the crossing point and with the corridor, it will take some sometimes how we have just to reorganize and this is what's what's happening right now. Let me let's talk about this Biden doctrine. I wanted to let our viewers understand what that is. It's an American plan for Israel to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia to deal to also deal with Iran. It also has American recognition of a Palestinian state. I 24 new senior diplomatic correspondent when ultimate breaks down the plan for everyone to take a look at more talk of a change in approach in Western capitals with new reporting that the Biden administration is looking into recognizing a Palestinian state now, not after a final status deal on the conflict from both Axios and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman behind the scenes. The administration thinking what British Foreign Secretary David Cameron is saying what we've always said is we believe in a two state solution a secure Israel within its borders and a secure and stable Palestine within its borders. That's long been our position and of course as part of that Britain along with other countries would recognize Palestine as a country and recognize Palestine at the United Nations. The Biden administration reportedly wants to attach big caveats to recognition. According to Tom Friedman that the state only come into being once it has a set of defined credible institutions and that the Palestinian state be demilitarized. Recognition would also reportedly be part of a package to include normalization with Saudi Arabia a priority for Israel and a huge incentive for Jerusalem despite the reservations. With an accord or without an accord the state of Israel must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River. That's a necessary condition. It clashes with the principle of sovereignty. What can you do? Meaning that Israel would both get a Saudi deal in hand and also could argue that Palestinians don't meet the criteria set for statehood not demilitarized and not with the institutions needed. Still a heavy lift for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his right wing allies but a package that could be worth a flexing of muscles. You should know there's a little room here because there are reports that Saudi Arabia would be willing to accept a political commitment from Israel. That's the term political commitment to create a Palestinian state rather than anything actually more binding and the reports go on to say that it's a bid to get a defense Packard Washington approved before the American election that occurs in November. Let's talk a little bit about this idea of the UK and the US recognizing a Palestinian state. Is it more a message to the Palestinians or to the Israelis? Well, I think basically it's a message for both for both Palestinians and for both and Israel because for the Palestinians it means that we are going to push for recognizing a Palestinian state but you have to reform your Palestinian authority. We will not accept the Palestinian authority as it is for Israel to say, okay, just a commitment concerning the the Palestinian state and we are getting closer. When I hear our prime prime minister talking about security, we are very much near the the Rabin doctrine about security between the Israel responsible between the sea and the river. So this is our responsibility security responsibility. The Jordan Valley, all the Jordan Valley, all the ridges that are the surrounding the the Jordan Valley. This is basically and a demilitarized zone in between on the Palestinian side. This is this is basically the the idea that Rabin had in mind. And I think that it is echoed right now by by Netanyahu. Which is a change, by the way, which is a very big change. This is the first time that he is expressing himself in the in this issue. Till now he did not express himself now because of the situation he's talking about. But the big question is what happens when you when you recognize the Palestinian state, you have four and a half million Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and other places. What would become of them? Because the Lebanese are have enough refugees that will ask the Palestinian to leave. You have a state. So go to your your own state and the same will happen in Syria and the same will happen in Jordan. So this is a very, very difficult question with Israel accept the fact that four and a half million Palestinians just pour into the West Bank. This is a situation that has not been even contemplated. So how many Palestinians are there right now in the West Bank for our viewers to understand roughly about about three and a half million Palestinians. So three and a half million plus four and a half. If you count that make seven and a half million against Israel of 9.6 West Bank, maybe another million without you're not and you have 2.5 million Palestinian Gaza. So add to it whether we are right now we are even between us in Israel and the Palestinian or more or less. And then if you add four and a half million, then there's a majority of Palestinians. So but that also what it does not do any idea of a recognition of a Palestinian state. It does not say to the Palestinian, the new Palestinian state, you need to reform your idea of conquering Israel. Basically, you have to reform the whole ideology. I mean, the whole ideology that there was a letter signed by Arab fat on the 9th of September 1993 recognizing the state of Israel, but it is not enough. It is not recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. And this was this was a mistake at the time that we did not pay attention to this issue because it was not on the air. But right now we have to be to be certain that the Palestinians will not teach hatred, hate against Israel, hostility. The education system will teach peace instead of war and encouraging terrorism is no more on the table. We have to fight terrorism and they have to fight terrorism. Otherwise, there's no way that we can we can live in peace or coexist with the Palestinians. The reason I bring this up is because even of a recognition of a Palestinian state, you still have Hezbollah and Hamas going on television saying we'll conduct another October 7th and we'll continue going with it. Doesn't seem like that. It seems to be we're not at the we're nowhere near common ground. The Palestinian issue is like a ticking bomb. If you take care of it and diffuse it, then I think that most of the hostility, I mean, there will be no ground if the Palestinians accept the Israel as a state, as a Jewish state. And there's a peace between us and the Palestinians. Why should the Hezbollah or other militias or other factions fight against it? There might be. And this is why there's a there's a commitment. There should be a commitment of the Palestinian Authority or the Palestinian State to become that will fight terrorism. He will be part of the of the of the fight with Israel, which is right now the really fantastic this. You're talking about the it's a pre imagination. You can't do whatever it's unicorns and rainbows exactly. So exactly. So Jeff, you know, one of the things we should talk about is about the settlers in the West Bank. I just want to let our viewers know the president of the United States signed an executive order declaring a national emergency that allows him to sanction for Israeli settlers involved in violent incidents with the West Bank Palestinians. They are David Chai Hastai, Eitan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman and Yinon Levy. They are the four. Here's a little bit. I want to bring you a little bit of sound bite now. This is from the U.S. State Department spokesman Matt Miller. Without betraying too much of our private diplomatic conversations, I will say we have had some very frank conversations with them about extremist settler violence. And that includes some very detailed conversations where we have presented cases to the Israeli government or, you know, cases of settler violence that where we have seen reports and where we have seen documented settler violence and asked them to take action. And we have seen them take some action. What we have seen and I should say, we have seen since those interventions over the past months, six weeks, two months, we have seen the level of extremist settler violence come down somewhat, not come down enough. We want to see more. So reacting to this, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office put out a statement. Here's what the statement says. The vast majority of residents of Judea and Samaria are law-abiding citizens, many of whom are fighting right now in active and reserved duty to protect Israel. Israel acts against all violators of law in all places. And the statement goes on to say, and therefore, there is no place for drastic steps on this matter. Jack, why did the American government feel it necessary to be involved in what's going on in the West Bank now? Well, this is part of their policy in order to, in a way to calm the apprehensions of the Palestinian Authority, that they are not all the way with Israel, and that they are the critical of things that happen on the ground. And that things, I mean, even in Israel, there's the criticism about the behavior of very, very extreme settlers there. I mean, the real, the fringe, the far-right wing, far-right wing. And I mean, we saw that in several occasions when they burnt the whole houses. Atat of Harar, one of them apparently went on a attack, settlers in Harar. It was a very bad incident. They burnt, I don't know, about 100, 200 cars and houses. And I mean, this is really was a situation that is unbearable and unacceptable for most of Israelis. I mean, those, those fringes do not represent Israel, do not represent the public, the Israeli public. And I mean, in a way, I mean, if we are, if this government, because of coalition problems, will not take care of them, then there's somebody outside who would just tell us what to do. But is this really the right time to be discussing the situation? And when you have a, you're in the middle of a war, you've got a, you've got nine front, seven front, so I should say. Well, the war is always an excuse for everything, no elections, not to deal with the settlers, not to do anything. Just sit down and just wait. And this is not the case. I mean, life continues, and we have to, there's war on the one hand, and we have to continue the war, the war effort. On the other hand, we have also to behave as a country, as a state that respects law and order. So then what should happen now in terms of the settlers, if there is a Palestinian state, you have all those people that are there? Well, we talked earlier, I think, two days ago about the Trump solution. The Trump solution was redrawing the boundaries. And I said very plainly here that without deciding on the borders of the Palestinians, say that there will be no solution. And in this solution, we have to take into account that the Israelis that live, it's about half a million Israelis that live in the West Bank, in Samaria and Judea, we have to take care of the security also. And this is why the plan, the Trump plan, just has changed the boundary in order to just give those localities the right to continue to exist on the spot, so that they will not be uprooted. That won't be anything. That's not instant, it'll take years down the line. Well, yeah, we're talking about a scheme that will take years. Jack Nario, former deputy head of assessment for the Israeli military intelligence, former foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Rebim. Thanks again for joining us this morning, as always. You know, tomorrow marks 17 weeks since October the 7th, 15-year-old Daphna and her eight-year-old sister Elia Kim spent 51 days in captivity after being kidnapped their kibbutz was Nahal Oz and now Daphna is recounting what happened to her and her family on October the 7th. Getting back to normal, while being a teenager trying to deal with life on its own has become a challenge. Take a look. It's 65 days that they've been here, adapting to light's new reality since their release from captivity in Gaza. 15-year-old Daphna and eight-year-old Elia, getting used to a new house in the city to a reality without Daddy Noam, without his partner, Dickler, and their stepbrother, Tomer, who were all murdered on their dark Sabbath. I brought my backpack from Nahal Oz. There's blood on it, my father's blood here, and on my pencil case. It is, it was Tomer's backpack. Now it's with me. It's pretty, right? Through no choice of their own, they became all our girls. Two sisters kidnapped from their beds to Gaza alone, without mom, without dad, forced to leave behind all that ever made them feel safe. Now they have to try to relearn how to live. What's the hardest part of going back to a routine? That I don't have my father, who used to wake me up for school, so him not being here for that? Tomer and I used to walk to school together every day. Hence the backpack. It's like keeping him with me. I can't talk about it. I'll cry. It's, it's hard. Is it okay if we talk about that Sabbath? Yes. It started in the morning with the sirens, a lot of red alerts, and then a half an hour later, I think maybe an hour, they entered the kibbutz. Then my father came into my room with Diklah and Tomer, and put the three of us, myself, Tomer and Ella, under the bed and told us to be quiet. They came in the house and started shooting, shot the door and hit my dad in the leg. Then they pulled us from under the bed. They were live-streaming it. One of the most memorable videos from the 7th of October is a wicked Facebook live, the terrorists filmed in Daphne and Ella's home. The video shows father Noam wounded in the leg with a shocked and scared Daphne at his side. Ella is sitting on Diklah's knees, Noam's partner. Her son Tomer is taken outside by the terrorists. Only a few days later will the full video come out, showing them taking Tomer out for him to knock on neighbors' doors to lure them out. Did you understand where they took him? They said they need a Tomer to go open the doors to the houses so that people would come out. They said he'd be okay that they wouldn't harm him as long as he didn't try anything. Then the Hamas terrorists took us to our car and drove off. And then some other terrorists shot at our car, thinking we were civilians trying to escape. They shot and killed Diklah. She died instantly. They took us to Gaza. So many people tried to reach us and harm us, so the terrorists took us up to an apartment and kept us there until an ambulance came. What were the days like over there? Difficult. All I could think of was how my family was, my friends, what's happening in Israel, if they got to the whole country, if they destroyed Israel, if they had conquered it. Two weeks before their release, they were moved to the tunnels. There, they met five kidnapped young women who remain in captivity. This is Liri, Nama, this is Romi, Agam. You were with the four of them together? It was on the third day of releases that their names showed up on the list. Around six o'clock in the evening, wearing long braids, Daphna and Ella could suddenly be seen walking towards the Red Cross's White Cheap. Do you remember the moment of your return? Not really. I thought it was, I thought maybe it was a bluff that I was still in Gaza. One hundred thirty-six others remain held hostage by Hamas. You could say on top of the news here on I-24 News on TV, online and on your phone with the I-24 News app. I'm Albert Lewitton, reporting from Tel Aviv. The news continues right after this break. 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. I-24 News headquarters in Tel Aviv welcome to our viewers around the world. It's Friday, February the 2nd, 2024, day 119 of Israel at war. Some conflicting reports about whether there's been a deal Qatar's foreign minister in Washington said Hamas had given initial positive confirmation, those are his words, to a deal. But then Hamas quickly denied it, saying that Qatar jumped the gun. There are several sticking points. We'll break it down for you all in just a moment. The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yov Galant had a call yesterday discussing three things. One, Israel shifting gears to a lower intensity battle in Gaza. Number two, diplomatic solution to Israel's fight with Hezbollah. And three, stability in the West Bank. We're now getting word that there's apparently been airstrikes in Syria within the past several hours. Two areas, Saeeda Zanab, which is near Damascus. It's a stronghold of Iranian militias and near Akraba in southern Syria. The area has been targeted several times by Israeli airstrikes in recent months. But this comes as President Biden approved plans for American airstrikes in Syria. We'll find out what happens in just a moment. Meantime on the ground in Gaza, IDF says it has almost finished operations in Khan Yunus and it's ready to move towards the border with Egypt. Here's the Defense Minister Yov Galant. We must persevere until we complete our missions. And it is much more difficult for Hamas, believe me. They don't have weapons. They don't have ammunition. They don't have the ability to treat their wounded. They have 10,000 eliminated terrorists and another 10,000 terrorists who are wounded and not functioning. This is a serious blow that erodes Hamas' abilities. The Hamas-Khan Yunus Brigade boasted that it would stand strong against the IDF. Today it is dismantled. And I'm telling you that we are completing the mission in Han Yunus and we will also reach Rafa and we will eliminate anyone there who is a terrorist, who is trying to attack us. Within the past hour we've had rocket sirens in the north and in the south we're getting word of some intense combat. I-24 News Correspondent Zach Anders is live at the Israel-Gaza border. Zach, what's the latest? Well, I jumped to the north here for a moment. That was quite a barrage of rockets that just occurred in the last hour. The IDF is saying that there has not been any reports of casualties. And we're still waiting on a full damage assessment that some of these fell in open areas. As many as 20 rockets potentially fired in this barrage, we're going to call them rockets for now and wait until the official IDF confirmation as to the type of weapon used here, which is an important distinction. But a serious event happening in the north. Again, no casualties reported. Zach, there was a number put out yesterday that some 80 homes in the north have been directly hit by some sort of aerial, whether it's a rocket, a missile or something from Lebanon. Yeah, and the reporting goes even further to the extent of the damage per community. Hundreds of homes have had some form of damage that have taken place in these attacks. It's mostly confined to these areas that are right there on the border, that are repeated targets for Hezbollah to fire on these positions. And that's what frustrates the people that live there in the north because they feel, as though certain communities that have been totally evacuated for personal safety, are the ones that are being targeted and almost systematically destroyed with the homes over and over again. And they've called on the IDF to recognize the fact that these areas are hotspots that they keep getting hit and that they need to understand where the point of origin where this fire is coming from and eliminate that threat. The IDF has not explained or gone into great detail as to how these areas continue to come under fire. But again, that's a really a main point of frustration for the people that have evacuated and know that their homes are constantly being hit. And Zach, let's quickly talk about the South intense fighting from door to door house to house. Yeah, the IDF says that now 20 Hamas have been killed. They did not provide a specific timeframe in Khan Yunus. This is systematic or emblematic, rather, of what we've been seeing in the last week. Heavy fighting, as the IDF says, they're getting closer to controlling this space in Khan Yunus. And from what we were hearing rumblings earlier in the week as this ceasefire proposal was potentially gaining steam, that the IDF, the mechanisms within the military apparatus was seeing then a timeline that they were looking at. Okay, if a ceasefire could come and really it's a political decision, so it could come rather quickly at any moment, you know, the handshake and the deals on the table. So the IDF was looking at where do we need to be if we have to stop fighting and what areas do we control? Remember, they're controlling much more area and space across the Gaza Strip now than they did during the November ceasefire. And the personnel, the force level is considerably, it's roughly the same, but it's again considerably spread out and covering more area. So the key consideration there was where the force is going to be in Khan Yunus, Khan Khan Yunus be under the IDF control by the time a ceasefire is initiated. And it does appear that that is what they've been pushing towards. Great, Zach Andrews giving us the latest update from the south of Israel right now. Thanks so much, Zach. Let's talk about that political aspect of things, Martin Hemmel, political international security analyst joins me here in studio. Martin, good morning. Good morning. So a deal maybe, maybe not on a table, a framework of a deal not on the table. These little leaks that come out every hour on the hour. Is it sort of a negotiation tactic to kind of just say, hey, here's the things we're floating. Here are the Troballoons. It might be partly a negotiating tactic. It might just be leaks by various officials who want to get the story out to some degree. But what's clear is that this is an evolving process. It's not finished. There's a lot of give and take and it's not going to be a big headline. That's it. There's a deal and just come up like that. But the idea for Netanyahu and what the people here in Israel are looking for towards him and towards the government, I mean, I saw a demonstration yesterday. I know that the demonstrations have been muted in a lot of ways from the hostage families, but there was an ad hoc demonstration yesterday here in Tel Aviv. They want something. Is this something? They want their families out. Regardless of the cost, they want their families out. They are willing to trade every Palestinian prisoner, stop the war for now. They want this to be the number one goal. And then if the government wants the goal, destroy Hamas afterwards, that's up to the government. But basically, they say you guys, meaning the government, you basically made big mistakes. It's your responsibility. You've got to bring them back home and then deal with the war. You know, a lot of what's been discussed is also just the idea of American pressure, whether it's discussion of a two-state solution, whether it's discussion of tactical Palestinian state. Is this really the US and the Europeans basically saying, guys, you need to settle this or we will do it for you? I think they're already getting to the point where they figure we're going to have to do this for you. They're not going to be able to pressure Israel into it, but they're going to make the situation where the dialogue is going towards something that does bring some representative, some sort of local Arab representative group that's going to run Gaza. They're trying to create that dynamic. And it's very clear. They want to get this ceasefire going. Let it go for six weeks. And they're going to go full blast with negotiations about what kind of Palestinians should be there, what kind of Arab force. And they're going to force Israel to respond to it. Yes or no. And I think that's enough point that Netanyahu is very well of. So if there's a ceasefire on prisoners, the United States and the Arab States are probably going to push very hard for some sort of deal for a day after that will keep the ceasefire going. In fact, it's being called the Biden doctrine. I want to let our viewers get up to speed on that one. It's an American plan for Israel to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia to deal with Iran and American recognition of a Palestinian state. I-24, new senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Alderman breaks down the plan that will radically change the Middle East. Take a look. More talk of a change in approach in Western capitals, with new reporting that the Biden administration is looking into recognizing a Palestinian state now, not after a final status deal on the conflict from both Axios and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. Behind the scenes, the administration thinking what British Foreign Secretary David Cameron is saying. What we've always said is we believe in a two-state solution, a secure Israel within its borders and a secure and stable Palestine within its borders. That's long been our position. And of course, as part of that, Britain, along with other countries, would recognize Palestine as a country and recognize Palestine at the United Nations. The Biden administration reportedly wants to attach big caveats to recognition. According to Tom Friedman, that the state only come into being once it has a set of defined credible institutions and that the Palestinian state be demilitarized. Recognition would also reportedly be part of a package to include normalization with Saudi Arabia, a priority for Israel and a huge incentive for Jerusalem, despite the reservations. With an accord or without an accord, the state of Israel must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River. That's a necessary condition. It clashes with the principle of sovereignty. What can you do? Meaning that Israel would both get a Saudi deal in hand and also could argue that Palestinians don't meet the criteria set for statehood, not demilitarized and not with the institutions needed. Still a heavy lift for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his right wing allies, but a package that could be worth a flexing of muscles. There is a little wiggle room here. There are reports that Saudi Arabia would be willing to accept a political commitment from Israel. That's the term political commitment to create a Palestinian state rather than anything that's actually binding. So the reports go on to say that there's a bid to get this as part of a defense pact with Washington approved before the American presidential election, Martin Himmel. This does seem like it's happening 2024, where February six months before the election, this seems like this is some sort of Biden doctrine is sort of an election ploy. Yes, I think he wants to, first of all, make progress in the Middle East shows he's a statesman and he wants to make progress with his own political party, which is giving him a lot of heat because there's no political solution for what's going on in Gaza and everywhere else. And so he's basically two fronts to have challenges there. But he's going to have a big problem with Prime Minister Netanyahu because the Prime Minister's key goal is to stay in power. And he seems to be relying totally on two very extreme right wing parties that have nothing but absolutely nothing to do with the Palestinian state and not to show any intentions for it. So unless he's going to bring in other parties like, you know, like the Pete and others to come in, he's, and then he has to trust them, which is a big deal. Then centerist parties like that, then it's going to be a non starter. This whole idea of the Biden doctrine also speaks to all those crowds in the US. I mean, there are October 7th deniers that are disrupting city hall meetings all across the country. There are pro-Palestinian who don't know River Sea. They don't know which one is which, but they're chasing through all the areas of New York, chasing down Jews and screaming at them. It seems as though what he's doing there is sort of saying, in some way, appeasing that crowd too. Absolutely. He is trying to appease that crowd because they're also coming to his campaigns, disrupting the campaigns, making it look more difficult when he's dealing with other issues like black issues in the United States, et cetera. And he wants to put a stop to that. And he wants the progressive wing of his party to be behind him. That's very, very important. He wants to vote for Michigan, for example, where there's a large Arab Muslim voting block there. It's a very Michigan's a key state. He needs those votes. And this is a way of placating them to some degree. But a Trump presidency, let's presume it's a Trump presidency or even a Haley presidency, doesn't change the equation to what's happening here. You would think so. But if a Trump president comes in and Prime Minister Netanyahu is the Prime Minister, all bets are off on everything because Trump, for Trump, important thing is Trump. And he sees Netanyahu as almost a traitor who did not back him at a key moment when he said the elections were fake. But does that resurrect the Abrahamic Accords? Or does it shift a little bit because of what happened after October 7? Hard to go into the mind of Trump. But the Republican Party, I think, is very pro-Israel, very much in backing of Israel per se. And I think they would like to keep the Abrahamic Accords. And we mean the Abrahamic Accords. There's this issue of two states and Palestinian statehood mentioned there. There is a mention. There's a tweet going out right now from Gideon Sauer, who says recognizing a Palestinian state is short-termism at its worst. It's saying to the Palestinians, murder as many Jews as possible, rape their woman, take their hostages, and you'll be rewarded with a state. So is this the issue that Netanyahu is facing internally also? Why go to basically rewarding what happened on October 7th? Of course. This is the type of pressure that's keeping him from avoiding, that's keeping him from accepting in any form a Palestinian state. And it's going to take serious political skills and serious political maneuvers to try to get somewhere where the Saudis and the Emiratis and others, the Egyptians, will accept some sort of recognition of Palestinian national identity. And at the same time, Israel will keep its place in recognizing security. I think the key to it is that Netanyahu and the government has to come out and say, look, we are staying in these regions as a secure force. We're going to be monitoring it, whether there's a Palestinian state or not. If that can be answered, if they can come to the public and reassure it, then I think that is a way that maybe Biden can move this somewhat forward. Martin Himmel, international security expert. Thanks so much again for joining us as always in the studio. The Israel Hamas War has presented many challenges for Israeli society from survivors to hostages, soldiers to effective family. Everyone has a story to tell. In the sex report that's adapted from Israel Channel 12, we're going to explore the lives of the spouses of injured soldiers and civilians. Take a look. House, this is my bed. I open it every morning. I close it like this again so that there will be some space here. My blanket, the closet, the shampoo conditioner. And all in all, you live very near in Ramat Gan. We live 10 minutes drive from here. So why are you here all the time? Because there is no option. I didn't think at the age of 24 that I would face these things, that I would learn to take the first steps with my friends. We would be changing diapers. He would be sedated and ventilated and me next to him, holding his hand. And I don't know how we will wake up and what he remembers and what he doesn't remember and what he saw. During the day, Shir is head of the lone soldier section at the Tel Hashimer base. At four in the afternoon, she arrives here at the Tel Hashimer hospital. She and Evitar are 24 years old, only together for a year, but exceptionally committed. He is a paratroop company commander who was critically wounded while defending Kibbutz Kisofim on October the 7th. We wanted to be free and travel and we said, come on, let's take a trip after the army. And suddenly you say, how will we be able to do all these things that we dreamed of? A wedding? Will he manage to dance all evening the way I want? Which apartment will we move to? Because we need to move to one with accessibility. What was the hardest thing you went through during this period? Evitar was sedated and ventilated for 10 days. When he started to wake up, we realized that we had to monitor what happened to him. His grandfather passed away. In the days when he was sedated and ventilated, on October 7, six fighters from your company fell and we were called here and there. And it was a very, very difficult day. One day I said to him, Evitar, I want to be normal. I want to cry to you now about how annoying work was. And I feel like I constantly have to be calm and strong and optimistic and happy and smiling and everything is fine. And I just want to tell you now about this annoying day I had. What a magnificent wall. This wall is a piece of genius because in the first week then I was on a high because I didn't die. But then you realize it's going to be long and you get depressed. Then Barr caught the depression and then she brought all these pictures and it just made a change. And do you know that picture that attracts the most attention is this one? Yes. This is a picture. I have not seen him like this. Started with a uniform after I got here. From the moment he realized dad was injured, he was alone in uniform and went with it for two consecutive weeks. He slept with it. He went to kindergarten with it. He went to classes with it. You know, he walks through the kibbutz. People salute him. Saul is five years old. He has been living with his grandmother in kibbutz maor for a month. Mom only comes on weekends. The rest of the time, she's in the hospital. Michael has between hundreds and thousands of shrapnel pieces in his body. There's almost no organ that was not damaged. A few days ago, he came out of intensive care and got stronger. Now Barr is making up for what he went through. Yes. I'm afraid. Let's lower the shoulder. Let's lower the hand completely. I will release the shoulder. Yes. Hold it. Don't move. When he started waking you up, then your eyes rolled back like this. And I remember that I really started shaking and she said to me, yes, he's waking up. Talk to him. Then I started telling you, Michael, I'm here. You're in Tel Aviv. Saved. Michael, I worry about you. Michael, you're out of it. And that's how I talk to you for many hours. I was constantly waking up. Every two days, I had anesthesia. They do some kind of test. They changed my bandages. And every time I woke up, I was still inside Gaza. I had to fill sacks, load in the mines. He would send me on missions, Gaza missions. We need to clean the weapons. And then it took a while for it to pass. It's you every hour, right? Wow. Somewhere, Barr became a parker. Absolutely. And also maybe a psychologist or a social worker. So I can also deal with the mental things that are super complex, just like the body injuries. The couple's daughters quite quickly and reluctantly became nannies as well. This has difficult consequences for them and also for married life. You have two children that you haven't finished breakfast with. I found myself in the first few days shell-shocked. I had panic attacks every time I took it one step too far. Then I realized that in order to hold on and to be there for Michael, I had to look after myself as well. After two and a half weeks in intensive care, I realized that I had to move. I had to move my body. I didn't sleep for two weeks. I walked. I found a treadmill here inside the hospital. I just walked, ran, cried. Every day I go to shower, although it is very difficult for me to leave the ward. Very difficult for me. Going to shower, dressing in clothes I like, putting on perfume, putting on hair cream, putting on face cream. I don't give up on myself. Michael has a song that he particularly likes. For many years, a song by Idan Ahmedy, when Saul missed dad, he would ask to sing it with his mom on the piano. When I was evacuated in the helicopter, they gave me painkillers. They gave me ketamine. The doctor said it could either be very good for you or very bad for you. So to keep my morale up, he said maybe I should sing a song or something. And that was the song I was singing or a singing out of tune. I was really out of tune, but it kept my spirits high. And then I came here and I found out that they have been singing it together. And then the first time Saul came to visit me, of course, we sang it together. What do you miss the most? Normality, routine. I often catch myself saying, I wish I had just gone to work today. In the simplest way, I just wanted to end. Of Abital, Amichai and their six children live in Kibbutz, Karem Shalom in the western most house, closest to the fence. The terrace attached an explosive device to the door of the safe room. Amichai lost one hand. Does it scare you that he will be different when he returns? He's your love. He is my love, and he remains my love. I married Amichai because he was a very caring person. That's what was important to me, that he would really be a person who sees me, who knows what I need and who also knows how to give me these things. And they didn't take that away from him. It still remains. I always had someone to help me. And now I'm alone. There is nothing that helps me. And it's very insufficient. We did everything together. And now this togetherness remains only on me. Is there anything you need? So just yesterday I told someone that this is the hardest question they ask. Because right now, when I sit and talk to you, I don't need anything. But if someone knocked on my door and said, I came to do the dishes for you, I would happily let them in. And if someone came and told me, I'm with the kids now, go to the mall for two hours, don't worry, I would let them in. Saying what you need is very difficult. Do you feel invisible? Sometimes, yes. When they come and ask how he is and forget to ask how I am, and it's no less a struggle in the end. Both of them are crazy struggle that I don't wish on anyone. There really isn't any association or group that takes care of the shells of the families. Michael, Evitar and Amihai are currently not expected to be released from the hospital. Barr, Scher and Avital want them so much at home, but are also afraid of what the homecoming will bring. And meanwhile, love conquers all, even severe injuries. Hello. How are you? How was it? Is everything good? So I caught you on the way. On the stairs, I went. We walked. Beautiful, beautiful. We progressed to one. That's it. I gave her a heart attack on October 7th, and from there, she's only with me all the time. Even when I was sedated and ventilated, she held my hand every time to make sure I was the right position, that everything was fine. What do you find yourself telling her the most? I tell her, thank you. You haven't asked her to marry you yet? No, that's later, because right now I can't kneel. You should know that at last count, there are 13,794 wounded since October 7th, and still 119 days in, and hostages 136. Stay on top of the news here on I-24 News, on TV, online, and on your phone with the I-24 News app. I'm Albert Luiton reporting from Tel Aviv. The news continues right after this break.