 This is I-24 News, and first our headlines. Israel is still quiet about retaliation after Iran's attack. The U.S. and Europe side with Israel but demand an end to escalation. And back to Gaza, no hostage deal and renewed threats to invade Raffa. After the unprecedented Iranian attack, Israel is still quiet about retaliation, among the reasons is great satisfaction with the international cooperation stretching from the United States to moderate Arab countries. Here in the studio are Danny Ayalon, former Israeli ambassador to Washington, and Golan Ben-Itschak, former Shin Bet agent to talk about latest developments. As we speak, Ambassador Ayalon, there's a great debate inside Israel, inside the defense establishment, the government and so on, whether to retaliate, and if so, how? Right. Well, Jacob, I would say Iran should be punished and punished severely. The question is about the timing. And the timing should be very well calculated for best of Israel interest. Right now Israel enjoys great dividends in the international community. We are not isolated anymore. It's Iran, which is isolated. So we are, as far as our deterrence, we don't have to prove our capabilities. We showed that our superiority in terms of technology, intelligence, and of course, operations. And also, I think something that has to be very much considered is now we are a member of a team. We are not a solo player anymore, but we are with a team, a coalition, which is a real force multiplier, and that's why we have to do things also in accordance with other peoples, especially the United States' interest. And here, I think what we are going back to, from a global point of view, we're going back to the patterns of the old Cold War, when you had two camps, the Soviet Union with its communist pack, and of course, the Western alliances. And here again, we see a Western alliance led by the United States on the one hand. On the other hand, you see the terrorism led by Iran, and behind Iran is, of course, Russia and China. Yeah. So complicated calculations are going to end. On the other hand, many in Israel say this is inconceivable not to react to this. We're talking over 300 drones, missiles, cruise missiles, and Israel cannot stay quiet. Well, actually, when we think about a war, the war is only a tool to get in the end or to get the dividend, as Ambassador Eilon said, in the international field. Right now, the dividend is clear and known. And I think that Iran made a strategic mistake with the attack on Israel. So I think as long as Israel is stating that there will be some kind of retaliation, doesn't need to be now. And I think that Israel needs to exploit this opportunity and build a coalition with Saudi Arabia, with Jordan, we're talking about Jordanian pilots that intercepted the drones from Iran heading Israel. I don't remember if it's ever happened in the past. So I think that we don't need now to launch a war. We need to use the international support in Israel. We need to find ways to build a very strong coalition of the moderate Arab countries. And this will be much harder for Iran to digest the fact that now there will be a coalition against Iran in this region. Yeah. Eilon, there's a narrative that says here in Israel we should react, but not in a way that will escalate this into a war. What is the idea? Well, I don't think it has much sense into it, Jacob, because to retaliate just for retaliation, just to check the box, I think it defeats the purpose. And I certainly agree with Ghanan that it's better to just keep the sword over their head, saying there will be retaliation, but in our own choosing, and let them sweat about it. Let them start accumulating water and generators and all these things. We see already how the economy of Iran is stumbling. The real, it's just on a slippery slope. So this is in itself a great punishment for them. And we have to gauge it in a very, very sophisticated way because what is the purpose? The purpose would be either to throw Iran back in terms of their operational capabilities or and also to undermine the regime. And if an attack now will do both, I would say this is a good reason to do it, but I'm not sure this is the case now. Yeah. Bringing Dr. Walid Faris, thank you very much for joining us, Dr. Faris. The past 48 hours, what does it mean from Arab perspective? How do you see it? Well, as it was discussed on the panel before I arrived, it's true that Israel gained now a card, an additional card, which was not there a few weeks ago, even or a few months ago after October 7th, which is the formation of a de facto center of interest between the United States, which was there, the vital administration and Israel and Great Britain at some point. And of course, the rise of some members of the Arab coalition, the one that started in 2017. But I'm going to make a distinction here. That coalition, de facto coalition, meaning non-declared, is defensive. So if Iran throws another wave, a third wave of missiles and rockets towards Israel going through these Arab countries or going in general terms across the region, then you're going to find Jordanians. You're going to find the Saudis, maybe other countries as well, you know, intercepting these forces. But that's one thing. The other thing is if Israel wants to take the retaliation strike, which it can do, obviously, into Iranian airspace or Iranian territory, I don't know if at this point, at this point now, you will find Arab countries going with Israel. So it's a more of a defensive coalition and the Iranians now are surprised. Actually, I read a lot, not just from their own analysts, but on social media, which reveals more. They are kind of a shock that Jordanian pilots, yes, were intercepting these drones and the Saudis were about to and maybe other countries as well. So Israel has a card up to the Israeli leadership to decide is it more important to strike on Iran, even this is not going to change the regime, but that's a strong message or the stronger message is to have between now and few months from now a U.S., Western, almost NATO type coalition with the Arabs and Israel to descend and protect Israel. Yeah, I think it's a valid point that it was a defensive coalition. But if things do deteriorate, what's the future of this coalition? Are they only going to stand aside and wait for the Iranians to do something or maybe the future holds some more of that? If you allow me to go back like few years when the Arab coalition started, of course, was followed by the Abraham Accord, those types of coalitions were linked to a position of the previous administration, which, by the way, could become the next administration. We don't know. These are domestic politics. And that one was we consult with each other in the region. That's Abraham Accord plus the Arab coalition. And if needed be to go after the aggressive behavior of Iran, that would have been a NATO-like reaction at this point in time. The administration here is pausing for the same position. If Israel is attacked, certainly the United States across the board in Syria, Iraq, elsewhere, the Mediterranean and the Gulf will be in defense of Israel. Or if Saudi would have been attacked, the same thing for the Biden administration. But it was made clear that at this point in time, this administration is not going to go on the offensive. So, yes, to answer your question, this is going to be, in my view, at this point in time, unless Tehran makes another mistake like the Gaza war, it's going to be we wait for the Iranians. We have built a very thick red line around Israel and our Arab allies. But if the Iranian leadership decided to go beyond that, then everything is possible, then this coalition could become offensive. Now, if Israel retaliates alone, in some manner against Iran, that either will escalate or not, we don't know. But the intention is not to escalate. What would be in your estimation, the reaction of the Arab world around? What Israel has gained is the attack by Iran, which was seen around the world, regardless of the results or the failures, technological failures. Remember, when Israel was attacked on October 7, the international community minus the bad guys were with Israel, continued to be with Israel. When Israel moved into Gaza, of course, the propaganda of the Iranians and the money they have, things started to change a little bit. But in this case, Iran is a big power in the region. And Iran has militias around the region. If Israel retaliates even inside Iran, my estimate is this will be seen as a legitimate response, even if the Israelis goes alone. Now, if the Iranians and their allies, it's almost like war games now are playing, are going to respond again inside Israel. Most likely the defensive coalition would work. So the defensive coalition would be we defend our perimeter. If the Israelis have to respond because they have been attacked, that's fine. There will be statements, of course. But if Iran and its militias attack again, Israel or the Arab states, then you're going to see the functioning of the of that coalition, their facto coalition in my mind. All right, Dr. Walid Faris, I thank you very much. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. Now, the war cabinet meeting has just ended and there's a next one scheduled for tomorrow at 2 p.m. Israel time, whatever that means. I don't know, but maybe we have a few hours of wait. We don't know. Back to you, Gonen, on the question of retaliate, but not escalate. Is there a magic path there? Right now we see the retaliation inside the cabinet. We see, you know, the far right wing members of the cabinet trying to push Netanyahu into some kind of retaliation, which, as I said, I don't think that is necessarily needed right now. We don't exactly know because there are many rumors about what Gantz is saying about retaliation, what Eisencourt is saying about retaliation. We know that Netanyahu asked some members of the opposition to come and listen to what happened, maybe what he thinks about the near future, how Israel is going to respond. You know, even if we talk about retaliation, we need to ask ourselves how much the Israeli society is ready to this kind of retaliation understanding that we don't know how it's going to unfold because we saw the assassination in Syria. I don't assume that people in the in the government thought in advance that Iran is going to to retaliate situation the way Iran retaliated. So we understand that if we're going to attack Iran, this has a cost and the cost will be in the among the civilian society. So are we ready for that? I'm not sure. So there are many, many aspects that we need to calculate before we go and actually retaliate and do something against Iran. Yeah, that's part of the discussion inside Israel right now. Now, according to media reports here in Israel, the cabinet decided to retaliate and ordered the Air Force to prepare plans. What does that mean? Ambassador Alon? Well, it could be maybe and retaliation is imminent, but it could also be part of a psychological warfare. And again, it's time maybe to let Iran sweat and wait and recalculate its its steps. I think that the warning sometimes is more effective than the action itself. And that could also may lead to Hezbollah and other of the proxies to be less active at this point. Yeah, well, Hezbollah fired 100 rockets the other day together with Iran. We get we'll get into this later. But now let me bring in retired colonel Rich Hudson, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. Thank you very much for joining us again. Give me your analysis of the American involvement in the defense again against the Iranian attack. Well, I think from the reports I've seen and talking to folks who are still doing these sorts of things, that it was an exemplary coordination exercise. I think the commander of US Central Command was in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for several days prior to these attacks. I think we had good warning and good intelligence about the nature of the attack. What I was impressed with was not just sort of giving a tip off, but the ability to coordinate among multiple allies because the US has presence in the Gulf, but also in Jordan, naval presence in the Red Sea. So sort of a layered defense. People talk about Israel's layered air defense with David Sling and with Arrow and with the different systems. But this was even a more dramatic strategic extension of that by having layer upon layer and other regional allies. So I think it's not just the provision of intelligence and the sort of warning and talking about the types of response that would be prudent, but also this coordinating action that the US led that probably with Israel being focused very much on Gaza itself, it could not have done without the United States providing that assistance. So it was an exemplary sort of action in terms of coordinated team play. Right. Now Israel is contemplating a reaction, retaliation. We don't know how, when and where. And the Biden administration said, don't do it in a phone call to Israeli prime minister. How should the Biden administration react if Israel does retaliate? Well, the Biden administration, and this is, well, I give them credit for how they comported themselves and how they coordinated this defensive support to Israel. I think it's open to criticism on how it deals with escalation and counter-escalation in general. We've seen multiple mistakes made in Ukraine. We've seen multiple mistakes made with regards to Iran and its regional activities. And I think once again, by telling and telegraphing to Tehran, here's what we won't do. Here's what we're gonna take off the table. It's a mistake. And I think Israel's right not to take that off the table because when you don't know what's your target or your counterparts, your enemy, your adversary is going to do, your risk calculations are much more difficult. So I think it's a mistake on the Biden administration's part to signal so strongly that it would not support that. I think in reality, Israel's got a difficult enough situation with the current war going on in Gaza. I think it's actually prudent not to escalate much further. Yet if Israel were to do some sort of a limited strike, especially against one of the proxy groups, again, Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, if a limited strike that did not prompt another major round of fighting there, the United States might lecture and sort of criticize, but this would not lead to a breach in the ongoing military cooperation. So, so far in your view, did the United States convey the message that it wanted to convey to its allies in the region? I think so. I think this administration has been pushed about as far as it could go in terms of, you know, there's a certain line you cross when you say, we want to de-escalate, we want to de-escalate. But when the opponent is quite convinced that they want to escalate, and which is the presence of an IRGC general at the consulate, so-called, in Damascus, is a clear sign of that. The choreography that the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has provided both the Hamas and Hezbollah, and the Houthis, they're leading a coordinated campaign against Israel. So I think the United States can talk a good game in terms of not wanting to escalate, but when it comes to the point that they're conducting a direct attack from Iranian territory to Israeli territory, you have to galvanize those allies. This is as far as the prudent restraint attack that the Biden administration has tried to pursue can go. At a certain point, you need to show your allies, look, we really do have your back, and we'll fight together in defense. And this compares well with what happened several years ago, for instance, when the Houthis launched missiles at Saudi Arabian territory and hit oil production facilities. The stunning lack of response at that time, or collective defense, I think compares favorably in this, well, the current instance compares favorably with that. I think we've learned some lessons that you can only appease Iran so far. Okay, Colonel Rich Hudson, thank you very much. Good to be with you. Thank you. It was less reported, but together with Iran, Hezbollah fired 100 rockets to northern Israel that adds to thousands over the past six months. I-24 News, Dixie Irving has more. In the days of panic that followed Hamas's October 7th surprise assault, Israel rushed reinforcements north as well as the south. Citizens of Israel, we are at war. Not an operation, not another round, but at war. So great was a threat from Hezbollah considered that Israel reportedly moved to strike the Lebanese group just days after the outbreak of war. On October the 8th, attacks from Lebanese territory began, and Jerusalem feared what occurred in communities close to Gaza could take place along its northern border. I felt like we were next. I felt like where I live, that's where they were gonna come next. Only U.S. interjection and the deployment of two aircraft carriers prevented Israel from pulling the trigger. What followed has been six months of skirmishes with nearly daily exchanges of fire across the border at times escalating dangerously. In late October, Israel began evacuating communities close to the border, including the city of Kiryat Shmona with a population of more than 20,000 people. The situation we're in now, the journey started with an expectation of, okay, it will take a week, two or three weeks, and it has ended up going on and on. You don't see the end. Initially attacks were conducted mostly by Palestinian factions located in the southern Lebanon. But quickly, Hezbollah became more directly involved. Rockets and mortar launches are frequent as are flights by explosive laden drones. One, two, three, four! But the most deadly weapon used is anti-tank missile launchers, precise and lethal. To date, eight civilians have died in attacks from Lebanese soil with 10 IDF soldiers killed. Israel has responded with artillery and tank fire and with airstrikes, killing 273 members of Hezbollah in Lebanon and to a lesser extent in Syria. Israeli attacks have also killed 53 other militants, a Lebanese soldier and at least 60 civilians, including three journalists. Escalations have occurred periodically, as was seen following airstrikes targeting Deputy Hamas leader Saleh Al-Rouri in Beirut in January. But now, following an attack on Iranian diplomatic buildings in Damascus, widely attributed to Israel, the risk of escalated war is greater than ever. The issue of the Iranian consulate is a turning point in the events that occurred from October 7th until today. While the northern front has avoided boiling over into an all-out war, that could change very quickly. As one of Iran's most powerful strategic assets, Hezbollah is tied directly into the brinkmanship, playing out between Israel and Iran. Dire implications directly affect more than 100,000 Israelis and Lebanese civilians, displaced from their homes along the border. Northern Israel is still badly hit and deserted. I-24 News, Zach Enders joins us live from there. What's the latest, Zach? Well, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for the fourth attack on the day. We have not seen any reports of civilian homes or businesses damaged or any civilian casualties reported. But the big news, as we have reached the six-month mark since the evacuation of residents of the north, overnight there was an incident involving the IDF inside Lebanese territory. Four IDF soldiers injured, one of them seriously, two of them moderately, and the third, lightly wounded when they came across what's being described as an IED, potentially a mine that was underground. This explosion was isolated, we're told, and it wounded, it was the single explosion that wounded these four soldiers who were then taken by helicopter and in the process of evacuating them by helicopter. The IAF, the Israeli Air Force, was striking targets, providing cover for that helicopter to get back out into Israeli territory. Now, watching some of the Lebanese media reports and Hezbollah's own channels, they earlier in the day did not report this as an incursion into Lebanese territory until Israeli media began to report what the IDF had shared, which is that this brigade, the Golanee brigade, was inside southern Lebanon when this happened. Now, Sky News in the UK is reporting that this took place several hundred meters inside their territory. We can't confirm that, although we're hearing similar things that this was not something just along the fence, that they were quite a ways inside their territory. It's a significant moment. This is the first time we've seen this confirmed since the start of this conflict over the last six months. That's not to say something like this has not happened. What we're working to understand more is whether or not there was some sort of engagement. And right now the signs point towards that Hezbollah did not know that this was taking place and that any Hezbollah fighters on the ground were directly engaging with the IDF in this moment and that perhaps the IAF that was striking targets around this area was providing that cover so that they could get away safely. A lot of unknowns surrounding this in particular and it was taking place about 4 a.m. The people that live up here were very close, weren't shlomi, just the Lebanese border, the blue line is right over my shoulder. The people that are living in this area reported hearing tremendous explosions and the sound of the jets early this morning. So quite an event to mark this six months since residents, civilians evacuated here. Can we say for certain that this is the first time the IDF has been inside Lebanese territory since the start of the conflict? No, but it's the first time that we've confirmed that this has taken place and the IDF has said so that they were inside Lebanese territory. Quite a remarkable moment. Okay, Zach Anders live in Northern Israel. Thank you very much for that. Back to the studio. We have just a couple of minutes. Ambas and I alone, the problem is still there. Hezbollah in the north, what to do with this? And certainly, and it's not sustainable, of course. You know, when you have more than 70,000 evacuees from the north and Hezbollah is still threatening. Well, if you go back to the first discussion, you know, about Iran, it could be a quid pro quo. You know, we let Iran go now, but in return, we get support for throwing Hezbollah back to its northern areas and completing 1701 United Nations Security Council Resolution. Right, go Dan. Seems like the Israeli government right now for the last half a year is not able to bring any solution to the people that were evacuated from the north. No diplomatic solution or any other solution. And maybe we need to change the government in order to find a way to solve the problem because apparently they can't. Yeah, well, it's complicated. Any way you look at it, the question is whether you go for a full-out war over there or not. And we don't know. It depends on Gaza as well, right? It depends on Gaza. And I think that as Ambassador Eilon said, now Israel has some credit and we need to use this credit in a way that solves the immediate problem of the northern border. So we'll get to that in a minute. Rafa Hishu and all of that, short break. We'll be right back with more special coverage here on 924 News. Don't go away. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where is she. As our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. This week on News 24, Israel under attack. News 24 in Spanish brings the analysis and the information of the events of the war, Spades of Iron. Exclusive interviews and reports from the war zone, the reaction of Spanish-speaking countries. News 24, the only medium in Spanish that keeps you informed and connected with the Latin community in Israel. News 24, only on I-24 News. Welcome back to I-24 News. We spoke about Iran. We spoke about northern Israel now to the south. And we're gonna go to southern Israel in a minute or two. Now, as the hostage negotiations are stuck again, Israel is renewing threats to invade Rafah. I-24, they call CEDEC reports. It's been one week since the IDF withdrew all but one brigade from the Gaza Strip. And now, reinforcements are on the way. In accordance with the assessment of the situation, the IDF is recruiting in the coming days about two reserve brigades for the operational missions in the Gaza Strip. The IDF is moving forward with pinpoint precise operations in Gaza. But the question remains when the operations will move to the last remaining Hamas stronghold, Rafah. We will complete the elimination of the Hamas battalions, including in Rafah. There is no force in the world that will stop us. There are many forces trying to stop us, but they will not help it because this enemy, after what it was done, will not do it again. It won't exist either. Despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming a date is on the calendar, no one else seems to be aware of this date or what exactly an operation in Rafah would look like as there are currently more than one million Palestinian civilians living in the southern Moe city. But as the international community waits to see how Israel will respond to Iran's massive drone and missile attack, the main mission remains close to home. We have not lost sight, not for one moment of a critical mission in Gaza to rescue our hostages from the hands of Iran's proxies, Hamas. With many of the 133 hostages believed to be held in Rafah, along with four untouched Hamas battalions, it does seem more of a when and not an if. The IDF will go in. Now to Y24 News, B.H. Tekelbach, live in southern Israel. It's sunset now. What's going on? Right, Jacob, although to a lower intensity, the war in Gaza does continue, although the Iranian attack has drawn a lot of attention to it and although the IDF days ago has announced that it would withdraw almost all of its ground troops, the Israeli Air Force is still very active, specifically focused on the central part of the Gaza Strip, the Nusayrat refugee camp, and its outskirts. The Israeli army is saying that in the last days it has been targeting Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad operatives. It has also found weapons depots. And earlier we also saw aerial activity going on, their explosions and the same accounts for some parts of northern Gaza that we're looking into in the late afternoon hours. We saw some airstrikes also there. Yesterday there was some confusion in some parts of the Gaza Strip. The message made round that people would be allowed to return to Gaza City and to northern parts of the Gaza Strip. So thousands of people gathered at the coastal road leading into northern Gaza. Although the Israeli army said that this was a false and that no one in the meantime would be allowed to return to Gaza City or the northern parts. Those who have made their way south in the first months of the war, Israel reiterated the message for people to flee to the southern parts of the Gaza Strip, which let many people to leave behind family and many are desperate to assess the damage that was done to their houses to just return back to their home. So yesterday there were a couple of hours when people were saying that some were led past an Israeli military checkpoint. The Israeli army also today made sure also in Arabic the Israeli army spokesperson Arabic Avigha Edri posted on X that no one would be allowed to go back to the northern parts as these zones are still active combat zones. And this is what we also saw from Southern Israel here today. Explosions are still continuing. The Israeli Air Force is active. And also when we speak about the central part of the Gaza Strip, the Nusayrat refugee camp where the Israeli operations are focused on, they're also the last remaining ground battalion, the Nahal Brigade is active with its ground forces. The brigade that is basically safeguarding the Nitzarim corridor that leads from Israel to the coast in Gaza, these brigade that is there to safeguard that corridor is also actively engaging in the fighting that is going on in the refugee camp of Nusayrat right now. Okay, Pia, thank you very much for that. Back to the studio with Gonen Ben-Itschag and Ambassador Daniel Ayalon. Rafa is still on the table apparently in what form? Well, this is very interesting. I think with the negative answer of Hamas lately, which is really outrageous. The Americans determined it as outrageous after the concessions that Israel gave in the negotiations, I think that could lead the way into a major operation in Rafa with the blessings of the Americans, maybe even to the attempt to release or rescue the hostages or at least some of them through a military operation since Hamas is closing all the doors and the windows. We will have no choice, but this could really change dramatically the landscape of Gaza because if we do go into Rafa and also seal the Philadelphia Road, which is the only gateway between Gaza and the outer world, that could really bring Hamas down on its knees. Yeah, unbelievable, Gonen. Six months over six months and hostages are still there. Yeah, I think we said in the early days of the war and beginning even before Israel entered the Gaza, that the most important thing is to bring back the hostages because this will be something that will affect the ability of the Israeli army to fight Hamas in Gaza. And actually we see now, we don't know now six months after they were kidnapped, how many hostages are alive? What's their condition? We have not even one list knowing about any of those hostages. What we know is maybe something that we know through intelligence and interrogations of Hamas members and other fractions that were interrogated during the war, but we don't know much about the hostages. And also we need to say if entering Rafa is so important, we had enough time to get ready and prepare to enter Rafa. And we didn't see... It was a date, it was a date. Yeah, that's what you said. You know, there are more than a million people in Rafa. Some of them were forced to move from the northern part of the Gaza to Rafa. And now when we prepare this operation, entering Rafa, we don't see that we prepare to do something with this population. Now, if the military says it's very important to go into Rafa, let's get ready. That's why I asked, in what form? Look, we understand that in Rafa, many of the leaders are hiding in Rafa. There are still a few brigades, maybe of Hamas staying there when we're talking about destroying Hamas, which is, again, a term that is very problematic. But if we talk about trying to destroy Hamas, of course, you can't let them stay in Rafa without taking care of Rafa. The problem is that I think everybody understands if now we'll enter Rafa, we'll bring back most of the hostages in coffins. Thinking that there are still hostages that are alive, we don't know. We don't know. And this is a big, big dilemma for Israel. Right. Let me bring in Hossein Kamal-Kharidi, former assistant to Egyptian Foreign Minister. Thank you very much for joining us again. It's my pleasure. I'd like to know what's the view in Egypt after this massive attack by Iran? Well, from the Egyptian part of view, this is an ongoing confrontation between Israel and Iran. And the title of your program is Israel at War. In fact, from Cairo standpoint, the whole region is at war. So Egypt has been calling, has been coordinating with the American administration and with Arab partners and with the United Nations in order to push for a sustainable and immediate ceasefire. With the talk in Israel about going into Rafa, I guess we are very apprehensive of the possible consequences that could happen if and when the Israeli army enters Rafa. So we are, I guess, Egypt is in close contact with the American administration. A couple of days ago, there were hopes that the United States government could convince the Israeli government out of entering Rafa. But let's hope that Israel would reconsider its position as far as sending two brigades or more than that into Rafa in order that the Israeli government has always stressed in order to destroy Hamas, something that without very much if Israel or any other country or any other power is in a position to do. Now, in the context of Iran, do you see a moderate coalition forming here together with Israel, the United States and moderate Arab states? Well, sir, the Americans have been working on that from day one. Again, if we go back to the Donald Trump administration, I guess the Americans were pushing for that. And bringing Israel into the geographic mandate of the American Central Command was the first shot in the American strategy to integrate Israel militarily, economically, into the Middle East. As far as Egypt is concerned, I doubt very much if we'd be interested to be part of any coalition against Iran. Not because we have very excellent relations with Iran, but because we doubt very much that this policy would bear any fruit. If and when Israel retaliates after the latest attack, I think it's a question of when, according to what we hear. What would be the Egyptian reaction? Well, as far as the confrontation between Israel and Iran is concerned, we are no party to this confrontation, sir. And we don't take the party either of Israel or of Iran. And we hope that the Americans would succeed in talking the Israeli out of retaliating against the latest Iranian strike against Israel two days ago. As the Iranians have officially declared that episode, this chapter has been closed, and we hope that the Israelis will close it. Let's not forget that this round of confrontation, this round of infighting between Iran and Israel started on April 1st when Israel, and I don't want to get into the reasons why when Israel attacked the Iranian consulate in Damascus, realizing fully well that according to the international law and according to the Vienna Convention or the Vienna Treaty on Diplomatic Relations, it was attacking Iranian territorial integrity. So when we, you in Israel, you do also, and in the United States and in some Western capitals, you, when you analyze the Iranian strikes two days ago, you always deal with it as if it's the beginning, but this was a retaliation on the part of the Iranians to an Israeli attack against their territorial integrity. So hopefully speaking, hopefully we hope that the Israelis would leave it at that. Okay, Hossein Kamal Haridi, thank you very much for these things. Ambassador Ayalon, you are back to differ. Yeah, with all the respect to the Egyptian former diplomat, it was not a consulate. It was not listed as a consulate. The Iran has consulates outside of Damascus, capitals have embassies and not a consulate, but more than that, those who were killed, they were all operatives of the IRJC. No diplomat was killed. It was not a consulate and the fact that the Egyptians are following the Iranians version is a little bit frustrating. Yeah, but on the other hand, he said that it's a matter, if Israel retaliates, it's a matter between Israel and Iran, we Egyptians, we stay out of it, that's interesting. A senior American official is quoted in Israeli media now as saying that Biden would not stop Israel from retaliation. Are we seeing any cooperation between the United States and Israel on the type of, possibly the type of retaliation? The music that we hear is a music of maybe attacking some kind of attack, like an attack that we saw in the past. There were some, there was some information about an Israeli attack on drone factory in Iran. So we are talking about an attack that if Israel will decide to attack, it will be on a military facility, not a civilian, trying not to make too many casualties. And again, it might be just psychological warfare and if we'll see that indeed Israel is going to attack, probably it will be a military facility. Okay, thank you very much, both of you. Golan and Danny, first name basis, if it's okay. Israeli economy will be impacted for years to come. The cost of the war is tens of billions of dollars and rising all the time. However, the real estate market in Tel Aviv is almost back to where it was. I-24 News, Emily Francis has more on that. The Tel Aviv skyline is rising into the future with no signs of slowing down. After all, Tel Aviv has been ranked the world's happiest city. To have a city view, a sea view, a blue sky and warm weather, all year round. All year round. I mean, all year round. No, you don't get this in the States. And we plan to make good use of it. In light of the violent wave of antisemitism sweeping the world following the October 7th massacre, pride is at an all-time high and making an investment to own a home in Tel Aviv is becoming all the more enticing. And as I watch my friends and family who live abroad with antisemitism so strong, we have only one place. We have only one safe place that's ours. So to me, now that I'm here, it's a no-brainer. Even if you're not planning on living here now, the prices are going up, they continue to go up. It's a great real estate market. American Sarah Geist made Aliyah years ago with her young family. Now she and her husband took advantage of the Tel Aviv real estate market and bought this penthouse in a brand new apartment building in the Tony, new North Tel Aviv neighborhood. Before I made Aliyah, I don't know that I would have said to you I feel comfortable with real estate as an investment because in the US, you see the market go up and down and up and down and I can tell you quite honestly, almost every house we ever bought in the States, we did not make money. In Israel, you don't have those market bubbles and bursts like you do. The real estate in Tel Aviv doesn't have a lot of supply that can be afforded to allow a drop in price. Real estate lawyer Andy Schwartz affirms that the real estate market is back to where it was before October 7th and will only get stronger and more secure. First of all, the prices are quite rigid, meaning that if you want to play safe, like you're buying gold, Israel is very secure, meaning the price doesn't drop, okay? People who are buying properties in Israel are thinking for the future generation and it's like risk allotment and risk distribution of assets. In Adlan, it's three things. Location, location, location. Here, you have everything you need in order to live in the highest level you have. For over 50 years, three generations of the Ben Shalom family have put their heart and soul into their real estate projects, including restoring some of Tel Aviv's most famous historic buildings. The building in Dizengov-Esser is actually a real estate company. It's a real estate company, a real estate company. A company that was a real estate company and a developer in a location that is the best and has made it possible to live in the highest level. Tel Aviv is a lot like New York, where we don't have any kind of land to build new properties. So we really need to take something down and build something up, just like in New York. So you'll see the value of old historical, meaningful building that they represent so much. And those are being restored and being now renovated. And that's where our specialty is coming to play. Next up is a passion project along Tel Aviv's famous Park Hyarkon, in the upscale Bovley neighborhood, ideal for families. The power comes from us and it's designed to take care of the children's peace. And in fact, we realize that it's the most important thing in life, the life of our family, in our hands. And for Sarah Geist, the proof is in the pudding. Honestly, we're now most of the way through this project and everything they've said they were going to do, they've actually done, which is quite amazing. I mean, like really, without fail. Everything has been tick, tick, tick. In Tel Aviv, Emily Francis, I-24 News. Yeah, crazy place. Expert Dr. Alex Common is with us now to talk economy. Real estate in Tel Aviv is still high. Can you believe this? And still going up, this is incredible. Yeah, yeah, that's part of life in this country. Now, let's talk about the Israeli-Iranian crisis. First of all, oil prices. What's happening with this? Oil prices is just opaque. The oil-producing countries are benefiting from this crisis and they are reducing their production, Saudi Arabia primarily. And if you have less supply, the prices go up. But of course, this is completely artificial. Normally, this would be illegal to manipulate the prices, but there's nothing you can do against OPEC Plus. And so the prices go up for no real reason. Can the Saudis offset major spikes in oil prices if they want? Sadly, yes. In the past, I was very optimistic because all the countries, they used to cheat. They used to agree on reducing the production volume. And after they agreed on that, every country would sell a little bit more. And also, many countries that had production were like Canada, the US with natural gas, shale gas, and as a result, OPEC was not so powerful. Recently, OPEC became very powerful. If you take into account the fact that Russia is limited in terms of sales, Iran is limited in terms of sales. So the Saudis are very powerful and they are benefiting from every drop. Now, with two wars going on and some inflation still sticky, the United States economy and financial markets around the world are still strong. So why are they, now we are seeing a lot of jitters because of what's happening between Israel and Iran? Why is that? There is this slight speculation that if things escalate, Israel really attacks Iran dramatically. And then you would see a collaboration of countries that would support Iran, which would probably include, in addition to Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, they would also include Russia and perhaps China. And then you see the rest of the world, such as the US, France, the UK, maybe Saudi Arabia. So as a result, you can envision like a small world war erupting around this area. And so people are a little concerned about that and the prices. They are concerned about this war. And this explains the changing prices. I see the scenario very far-fetched. There was a lot of talk about economic sanctions on Iran. Now there's a new coalition and possibly G7 in this. Any chance, any meaning to more sanctions on Iran? I was very optimistic about sanctions because I'm much in favor of economic war rather than physical war, rather than people dying. I prefer people losing their wallets. Actually, if you look at what happened in Iran in the current situation, before you see that the economic situation is tragic. They have hyperinflation. The Iranian reality is worth a fraction of a dollar. It's like the last time I looked at it, it was like 900s of thousands of a dollar. So it's really, really devalued. There's a huge gap between the actual exchange rate as it is in the black market and the official exchange rate, which is completely detached from that. So if you're an Iranian, we're talking about 50% inflation, which is hell. So if you want to protect yourself, you would go to the black market and you would buy dollars and then you would sell your dollars. So a lot of your value would be lost in these exchanges in the black market. And as a result, what we see is this problem of the middle layer in the population being devastated, particularly now that there was the new year in Iran. And so I think that the sanctions are effective on the small person in the street. They're completely ineffective when you're talking about the leadership of the country. You do not see the Ayatollahs impressed by this at all. All right, Dr. Alex Komen, thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. That would be all for us. Stay tuned for more news with Kaleb Ben-David here on I-24 News. Have a good night from Tel Aviv. Welcome to this special broadcast on I-24 News. I'm Kaleb Ben-David. It is day 192 of Israel's war against Hamas. But the focus of today's meeting of Israel's war cabinet is deciding how to respond to Iran's unprecedented aerial attack yesterday morning. This is the United States and other nations who helped take part in that defensive effort that brought down the Iranian rockets and drones and now urged Jerusalem to exercise restraint. Multiple Gulf states, among them Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, reportedly passed on intelligence about Iran's plan to attack Israel, providing vital information that was the key to the success of the combined American-led effort that almost entirely thwarted the mass of assault. With Israel now hoping this can help build an anti-Iran alliance in the region. Our Middle East correspondent Ariello Saran has more in this report. Saturday's largely failed Iranian strike on Israel was massive by all accounts. And its unprecedented nature was matched only by a first-of-its-kind combination of Israel's sophisticated air defense systems and a collective defense effort from Western and Arab powers led by the United States. President Biden had no doubt about the contribution of the U.S. pilots. Hey, you guys are the best in the whole damn world. That's not hyperbole, man. Both these squadrons. You're incredible. Absolutely incredible. You made an enormous difference, potentially saving a lot of lives. And thanks to the extraordinary skill the United States helped Israel take down nearly all those incoming missiles. You're remarkable. As more than 300 Iranian drones and missiles were making their way westward across the skies of the Middle East, Israeli, American, British, French and Jordanian warplanes scrambled to shoot them down. We have a fixed policy. We confront every drone or missile that penetrates Jordanian airspace to prevent it from causing harm to Jordan or a threat to Jordanians. This happened in the past and missiles fell on Jordan and drones fell on Jordan. This is a fixed policy, everything that poses a danger to Jordan. We are confronting it. But this first-of-its-kind cooperation didn't end there. According to the Wall Street Journal, even before the launches, Saudi Arabia and the UAE shared intelligence with the Americans, thus forming an unprecedented defensive line of radars, fighter jets and air defense batteries. This provided Jerusalem with a crucial advance warning, but perhaps also an opportunity to establish a new regional partnership. We have an opportunity here to establish a strategic alliance against the serious threat from Iran, which threatens to put nuclear explosives on the heads of these missiles. This thing could be a very serious threat. The U.S., Israel and its allies stand shoulder to shoulder to defend against this threat. Meanwhile, as it pushes back against international criticism and anticipates an Israeli response, Iran says it notified its neighbors 72 hours prior to the strikes on Israel in an attempt to reduce tensions in the region. We are not after American individuals or bases in the region. We sent a message to the White House early Sunday that our operation would be limited and minimalistic and aim a legitimate defense and punishing the Israeli regime. And so even before the Israeli retaliation against Iran, Saturday's attack has the potential to become a strategic opportunity for Israel in a time when it desperately needs it. Even just in the past couple of hours, that the war cabinet may have decided already on a, quote, painful response to Iran, but also having to take into account U.S. concerns about escalation. That response to Daniel Hulgari is going to give a briefing in half an hour to guide the spokesman. What could that response look like? I think that there's a certain dilemma here, because on the one hand, certainly Israel feels the need to respond. It came under a very serious attack contrary to what the Iranians said, and certainly the multi-layered air defense system and plus the military partners helped stop the vast majority of the attack, and that's a wonderful layer of defense that we saw. But that doesn't actually excuse Israel of its commitment to signal to the entire region that anybody who fires this number of heavy ballistic missiles, swarms of drones and cruise missiles can just assume that there will be no response. That's a very problematic message for Israel to send to this region, and so the pressure is on. On the other hand, Israel does not want to get bogged down into an endless exchange of fire with Iran right now. It's got other things on its security agenda. First and foremost, Rafah in the Gaza Strip and finishing the war in Gaza is very important. We have over 60,000 Israelis who are internally displaced people in the north. We have not resolved the problem with Hezbollah, and that may entail a serious escalation in the north. And last but not least, there's also the Iranian nuclear program, which cannot be divorced from the situation with Iran. That is at a very alarming stage. So the security menu of issues that Israel has to deal with is very large. So if Israel does respond, I would assume that it's going to strike a blow at some sort of important capability like a missile base of the IRGC, but it will try to avoid... In Iran or located outside Iran, perhaps in Syria or Lebanon? It really depends, I think, on the balance here that Israel wants to strike. You know, there are original options as well. There are all kinds of Iranian targets in Syria, high-profile targets, weapons production sites in Syria as well. It depends on the balance that the war cabinet wants to strike here. It certainly wants a signal that there will be a response, but it wants to be able to focus on other priorities as well. And I think that those factors are what will guide Israeli decision-making going forward. Right, Ambassador Oren, as Ariel Osiron laid out, there are some longer-term opportunities for Israel in terms of building a regional alliance, but in the short-term it has to deal with deterring Iran and the shorter-term goals may complicate the longer-term ones. Indeed. There's a notion circulating in Washington now that this is the grand opportunity to implement the Biden doctrine, which is that you link Israel with a front of resistance against Iran, which would include Jordan, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, perhaps even Kuwait, against Iran. In there there's also kind of a Saudi-Israel rapprochement. Israel does not go into Rafah at the end, but U.S. and Israel will sort of take responsibility for the Philadelphia route and return for an open-ended ceasefire as we'll get whatever passages are left alive back. That's the grand vision, and this is the opportunity to do that. But the United States is very concerned that Israel's operation, if and when it goes off, could sort of undermine this process. So Israel, at one point, has to keep America on board, keep its allies in the region on board, but it has to reestablish its deterrence power because defense, and the defense was magnificent, let's say the defense was extraordinary, but defense is not deterrent. But can it do that? I mean, is there a response that can achieve both those aims? Iran is a target-rich environment for the idea. So is it the nuclear facilities? Is it Hezbollah? Is it the IRGC? Is it sites as you mentioned in Syria? The Iranians have taken actions against our sea vessels, sea-going vessels. We can do the same with their sea-going vessels. They have a whole string of fuel facilities along the Persian Gulf. Each one of them would light up the night sky with very little munitions involved. All right. I'm just going to add, but all of those could set off a wider escalation. We don't know once it gets going. I want to go to our CEO's correspondent, Mike Wagenheim, because we're speaking about U.S. concerns. Ambassador, I'm talking about the Biden Doctrine in the Middle East and President Biden actually meeting with the Prime Minister of Iraq, a country that played a role in those events yesterday. Some reports of some of those missiles and drones may have been coming from Iraqi territory, from militias there, allied with Iran. So, Mike, also a tricky moment for President Biden. That's true. And not only that, but reports as well that a non-zero number of those projectiles were shot down by U.S. military station there in Iraq as well. This is a delicate balancing act, not only for President Biden today, but also for Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Sayyid al-Soudani. Iraq has kind of played or tried to play that middle ground between good relations with the West, including the United States, and maintaining good relations with Iran as well. Obviously, that brings about a number of concerns for the U.S. There's been a lot of talk about the future of the U.S. military footprint in Iraq, but U.S. officials have told us and other outlets that that's not going to be a super focus of the meetings this week. In fact, no other Iraqi military leaders are making the trip to Washington to accompany al-Soudani. So, these conversations are more about economics, about trade, about those concerns, including very, very top-of-the-list item, energy dependence on Iran, and U.S. trying to weed Iraq off that energy dependence on Iran. And that could have a domino effect throughout the region. And also, by the way, not by the way, Elizabeth Sarkoff, the Israeli-Russian researcher who was kidnapped in Iraq, U.S. officials said that her case will be brought up today by President Biden in his meetings with the Iraqi Prime Minister as well. So, definitely an opportune time for those conversations. It's been a long time for al-Soudani. He took over in Iraq a year and a half, close to two years ago now. This is his first trip to Washington because a lot of these tensions that have been going on, it really hasn't been a welcoming environment for him per se because he hasn't been able to move as much as Washington would like him to on a number of these issues. So, much to discuss this week, not only with Biden, but al-Soudani making the rounds in Washington through the State Department, through the Pentagon, through Congress to have these in-depth talks on a number of critical issues here. All right. And Ariel, as you laid out, I should say even though officials in the UAE told our correspondent there they're denying some of these reports of cooperation, but the question is whether Israel could leverage it and how much is that going to weigh in, if at all, its response that we may see even in the coming days in terms of moderating it or taking that longer vision into account? Look, this is not the first time that Israel has brought up the need or the potential benefits of such a regional alliance. Even Galant talked about it, or Ghan's calling it MIA, this Mediterranean alliance for air defense. But given, I think we shouldn't jump the gun quite yet. We did see an operational cooperation take place in real time. I think this was necessarily premeditated too much in advance, and so cooperation on the fly with a well telegraphed attack in advance. That doesn't translate to the same coordination and cooperation in a time of war. In addition to that, if we're looking at the willingness of these relevant actors to over the table admit to cooperating with Israel, Jordan is saying that they didn't have a choice, that there was a security threat, but the UAE is denying it, and why is that? It's also because Iran has threatened any country that helps, saying that they would attack any country that helped Israel thwart the attack or that will help Israel launch an attack from its territory. So there is still a lot of sway for Iranian deterrence in the region. It hasn't affected Jordan fully, but as far as the Gulf partners are concerned, it does dampen any chances for a real breakthrough in the immediate future regarding anything like that. All right. I want to thank Mike Wagenheim for joining us for this discussion, Mike. Now, all of these events, of course, are connected intimately to the war that's being fought in the north, primarily, of course, with the Iranian proxy Hezbollah, as it is. It is six months ago today that construction worker Mofid El-Azir and IDF Lieutenant Amitaz Figrenov became the first fatalities killed by Hezbollah fire in northern Israel. Those deaths and the ones that followed led to the evacuation of more than 60,000 residents, living in proximity to the Lebanese border. And Israel's conflict with Hezbollah and its sponsor Iran has now intensified the dimensions that move well beyond that battle still raging in Gaza. Rob Swift looks at the half-year of conflict on Israel's northern front. In the days of panic that followed Hamas' October 7 surprise assault, Israel rushed reinforcements north as well as the south. Citizens of Israel, we are at war, not in operation, not another round, but at war. So great was the threat from Hezbollah considered that Israel reportedly moved to strike the Lebanese group just days after the outbreak of war. On October 8, attacks from Lebanese territory began, and Jerusalem feared what occurred in communities close to Gaza could take place along its northern border. I felt like we were next. I felt like where I live, that's where they were going to come next. Only U.S. interjection and the deployment of two aircraft carriers prevented Israel from pulling the trigger. What followed has been six months of skirmishes, with nearly daily exchanges of fire across the border and times escalating dangerously. In late October, Israel began evacuating communities close to the border, including the city of Kiryat Shmona, with a population of more than 20,000 people. The situation we're in now, the journey started with an expectation of, okay, it will take a week, two or three weeks, and it has ended up going on and on. You don't see the end. Initially, attacks were conducted mostly by Palestinian factions located in the southern Lebanon, but quickly, Hezbollah became more directly involved. Rockets and mortar launches are frequent as are flights by explosive-laden drones. One, two, three, four. But the most deadly weapon used is anti-tank missile launchers, precise and lethal. To date, eight civilians have died in attacks from Lebanese soil with 10 IDF soldiers killed. Israel has responded with artillery and tank fire and with airstrikes, killing 273 members of Hezbollah in Lebanon and to a lesser extent in Syria. Israeli attacks have also killed 53 other militants, a Lebanese soldier and at least 60 civilians, including three journalists. Escalations have occurred periodically, as was seen following airstrikes targeting Deputy Hamas leader Saleh Al-Rouri in Beirut in January. But now, following an attack on Iranian diplomatic buildings in Damascus, widely attributed to Israel, the risk of escalated war is greater than ever. The issue of the Iranian consulate is a turning point in the events that occurred from October 7th until today. While the northern front has avoided boiling over into an all-out war, that could change very quickly. As one of Iran's most powerful strategic assets, Hezbollah is tied directly into the brinkmanship, playing out between Israel and Iran. Dire implications directly affect more than 100,000 Israelis and Lebanese civilians displaced from their homes along the border. And let's go now to our correspondent, Zach Anders in northern Israel near the Lebanese border. And another typical, I'm afraid to say kind of day there, of crossfire across the border, Zach. Here we are, six months, a little more than six months in. Yeah, and today's a unique day. This is the six-month mark for when those civilians at large started evacuating. We have the Alma Center, the Israel Alma Center located here in the north, does a tremendous job of putting together some of the numbers and they released their six-month assessment. They have pinned over 1,400 attacks that have taken place from southern Lebanon, targeting communities here in the north. 40% of those roughly have been at civilian areas, homes, businesses, places of worship. The roughly 60% of the attacks are taking place at military installations. Many of those have been somewhat deserted. The IDF has pulled back a large presence of the human element that are at these observation posts right on the border because they've come under fire so often, so frequently, like the one I see behind me. Right along the ridge, we're in Slomy now. It's a unique feeling to be here and to be so close to the border, six months in and to see the different moments where there's been rockets that have been fired, hit this home, there's been a rocket that's been fired, burned that tree. It's just a mosaic of different moments that have been stretched out over the six-month period, so it doesn't seem all that violent, but when you put it all together, it has been a tremendous amount of fire and rockets that have punished some of these areas. Today, we have seen Hezbollah claim responsibility for five attacks at this point in the night, and we are also seeing the IDF strike several positions, including Hula, which is within a mile of the blue line, the border between Israel and Lebanon. Lebanese media channels reporting that there are casualties, including some civilians that were caught up in the fire that has taken place today. We can't independently confirm that, but this is Lebanese media reports that we're following again. Intensely, as this continues another day after a six-month mark, we'll continue to stay on this. Right. We should also mention these four Golanese soldiers that were injured in an explosion device on a mission along the border, actually, according to reports, even crossing the border. So the IDF continuing to take casualties there. Zack Anders in the north, thank you for that. And in fact, since October 7th, the IDF has been strengthening defenses in the north to prevent infiltrations and escalations from Lebanon and Syria. Brigadier General Issyr al-Shomaer, who commands that front, outlines the measures the army has taken over this period in this report that we've adapted from Channel 12 News. We are now entering the military zone on the border with Lebanon. There are certain places where we will have to run because there are open areas and they are watching us. If we come under fire from automatic weapons or mortars, we will have to lie on the ground, hands on our head. They're watching us right now? Much less than before October 7th. But, yes, even if we have to go to Lebanon, we will have to go to Lebanon. Now? Much less than before October 7th. But, yes, even if we pushed a good part of them back several kilometers from the border, this also limits the firing at our territory and on our forces. What's the difference between what you're doing now and the mission of four or five months ago? We have changed our vision and our reading of the situation. We kill everyone who comes near the border. We are equipped with all the necessary military resources, which are much more important than before. Jamer, commander of the division of the northern border facing Hezbollah, taking us to the western border. The kibbutz we walk through is practically empty. This pastoral place has become the first line of defense of the army of Israel, while waiting for the war which everyone is preparing for. Could you help us understand how the forces are positioned on the ground? First of all, Hezbollah is comparable to an army. It is organized. Its pure middle organization is military. It has divisions, brigades, soldiers and reservists. It has command units and others who go into combat against our forces. But its ideology remains comparable to that of all terrorist organizations. It has many forces at its disposal, and I do not take its threat lightly at all. But we are much stronger than them. Can we go in now to Panema? Yes. Panema. Did Hezbollah manage to surprise you, and how? It has different means and varied combat techniques. Like drones, for example? Yes, for example, although it is a tool that we already knew about, they evolve and are more dangerous each time. Between October 7th and 8th, I was convinced that Hezbollah was going to launch an attack comparable to that of Hamas in the south. If Hezbollah had attacked alongside Hamas in the south, where would we be today? In a much more difficult situation. What do you mean? We would have some wounded. I think their men would have succeeded, at least for a while in taking control of different sectors. But we would have regained control very quickly, and the pressure we would have exerted on them would have been good and important. Why should we squat? We heard an unusual noise and were checking the terrain before continuing. We position ourselves here. This is our buffer zone on the Israeli side. This is the buffer zone between the border and the first houses, and our presence here allows us to maintain the advantage. And if by mistake our enemy thinks he can advance as far, he will find many surprises on his way, us first. Yaakov is the IDF ready to prevent an October 7th attack across the border in the north. And a reality that maybe we might see if there is an escalation in the coming days following that Iran attack. I think the IDF is ready for that scenario today. It's got lots of forces up in the northern border. It's on a very high level of readiness, as we just saw in that report, through overt and covert means. I think the situation is incomparable to what it was prior to October 7th on the northern border. There's a lot of military forces, armored corps, infantry, special forces, lots of surveillance and intelligence being gathered. So there is definitely a good degree of readiness. I think the problem is not that. The problem is the civilian situation. The fact that civilians can't live there, that it's been turned into a no-go zone for Israeli civilians, that is the problem. That is the elephant in the room. That is the situation that cannot continue. It's an infringement of Israeli sovereignty, and only some sort of ground maneuver could actually change the ground reality. The ground maneuver into Lebanon, Michael, that start involving diplomatic considerations, political considerations, the fact that Israel is fighting on other fronts now as well. I mean, is this something... And the United States is trying to pre-empt that, as it will, with the Amos-Hochstein mission. So the Amos-Hochstein mission, a very experienced diplomat, I know him quite well, is trying to impose retroactively UN Resolution 1701 from 2006. It was negotiated by Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, and by our foreign minister, Cipri Livni. It called for Hisbola to withdraw its forces north of the Tani River about 20 miles north of our border. It called for Unifil to take up the space in between and create, basically, a demilitarized zone. And you know how well that worked out. It didn't work out at all. Hisbola was back the next day. Unifil sat around and polished its boots and did nothing else. I think the same idea is to have Hisbola pull north to the Tani and perhaps have the Lebanese army move in between us. But we're going to have a number of problems with this. We have some basic differences of opinion with the United States. We actually, the United States thinks there's a country called Lebanon. We do not. We think it's a country called Hisbola. The United States thinks there's such a thing as the Lebanese army. We do not. We think it's a branch of Hisbola. So you're going to have Hisbola guarding Hisbola. It's going to be very difficult for us. And the bigger quarter question is what leverage does the United States have to get Hisbola to draw quite literally under Israeli fire north of the Tani? All right. Well, that is a big question. And unfortunately, until we see that kind of movement, it's hard to imagine those people, those residents are going to feel safe going back to their homes on the border. Gentlemen, stay with us. We are going out for a very brief break. But we will return with more on this special broadcast tonight, 24 News Day 192 of Israel at war. We'll be right back. Must reach the whole world. The I-24 News Channel, broadcasting from Israel with dozens of correspondence throughout the world, brings the truth from Israel to hundreds of millions of people in scores of countries. Bringing Israel's story to the world. I-24 News Channels, now on Hot. Welcome back to this special broadcast. Israel at war and I-24 News. They're with us, Yakov Lapin, ambassador of Michael Lauren and our aerial also on an aerial. We have an update from the IDF chief of staff just in the past few minutes of statement. Yes. So IDF chief of staff, Herzelevi, visiting the Nevatim Air Base in the south, the same air base that did sustain minor damage as a result of the Iranian attack. So visiting that base to show that this base is still operational. It was operational even after it was struck by the Iranian missiles. But in this visit, he's speaking to soldiers there, Air Force personnel, and reiterating Israel's warning to Iran saying that launching so many missiles, cruise missiles and drones to the territory of Israel will be met with a response. I joined that with other reports that Israel is finalizing its plans to retaliate against the Iranian strike in addition to the diplomatic avenue that's going on with the partners. Israel is, while it's taking its time, not responding immediately. It's raising the level of tension at least into Iran saying that Iran did for 13 days following the attack that they responded to according to them in Damascus. All right, signs. You might see that response soon. And we'll bring you the Daniel Hagaris comments from the Nevatim in the coming minutes. And now, as we just said earlier, this is Mark's six months since over 60,000 residents of the northern north of Israel were evacuated. They're still waiting to return to their homes and communities after living out of suitcases for half a year. The question, though, is when? Well, for more, we're joined now by Josiah Dekanu. He is a resident of the northern community there of Natua in northern Israel. Maybe a word of explanation, Josiah, because Natua is one of those communities which actually was evacuated. You're speaking to us from there. So briefly just explain your situation and that of your family. Right. So I was evacuated on October 16th with my family. However, both of my son-in-laws and my son were called into active duty on October 7th, like by 9 a.m. And they weren't called into active duty to go to Gaza but to guard these borders, which is right behind me, like one mile behind me. So I was evacuated with my family. However, I come up here because my sons are up here. I come up and I help the Kitaz Kona Newt, which is the city or civil defense force under the military. Yeah. And so if my son's going to be up here, I come up here. And also I have to say that this is our home and it took me 40 years to get here. The people of this town are amazing. They took us in like none other. And so if there's citizens here, then I want to be here. So how has it been for your family who have been also evacuated? Basically kind of I say living uncertainty, living out of suitcases I guess for six months now. Oh, it's, you know, okay. So when we were first evacuated, we were put in a hotel room. Then we, and my daughters with their husbands right up here, they didn't want to be as far as Natanya, you know, because if they get a six hour leave or a 24 hour leave, they want to be able to see their husbands. So we rented one house for a month and a half. Then we rented a house for six months. Now my daughter signed a lease for a year this week. And I mean, it's tearful. My son-in-law was on leave. He came in and moved some of the furniture from Natua. And it's indescribable, you know, how long this has taken. And we're in real jeopardy of potentially losing the North and not to Hespelagh directly but indirectly because there's a growing percentage of people that are having to settle down and talking about not coming back. Right. So let me ask you, what's it going to take for you and the other, your neighbors up there to feel secure enough to come back there? What would you have to see or hear to feel secure to be living with your family there a mile from the Lebanese border? You know, that's a controversial kind of question. You know, at the beginning, everybody up here is tired of being in hotels or being away from their home and being impacted on their income. And so we're all wanting this to get started that we have to push back Hespelagh. We can't live with this kind of uncertainty. We can't live with the threat of incursion. However, and I absolutely agree with that, I was sitting with some soldiers, there's soldiers that come in, you know, often and I was having coffee with them and I'm talking to them and they're joking around and I'm wanting to picture them. You know, they're sitting there holding their coffee and smiling and I'm sort of taking these snapshots of them. I didn't know them before this. And then all of a sudden it sort of hit me, these snapshots were too familiar to the before photos that we put out of fallen soldiers. And, you know, it's like I would gladly give up my home so that those guys can go home. On the other hand, we know our neighbors and we know that, you know, let's say all of Israel said, okay, we'll give up Natu'la and Natu'a and Shlomi. Okay, we'll give up Kiran Shemona. Six months from now, we're going to have to do a cost analysis on Akko and two years from now on Haifa. And so it's inevitable, in my opinion, I don't think diplomacy is going to work with the folks that we're dealing with on the other side of that wall that is like less than a mile behind me. I think the only way is we're going to have to create a new form of security up here and that's going to require some cost. All right, well, Josiah, however it's resolved, we wish that you and your family will be reunited in your home up there in really one of the most beautiful patches of stretch of territory in Israel. So we hope to see that you all back there one day. Josiah Dekano, thank you for joining us on I-24 News. Thank you for having us. You know, the whole town is appreciative that you're giving our perspective out there for the world, so thank you. We appreciate it. Thank you. It's tough up there, but we're going to move now from the north to the south of Israel, the Gaza Strip. As the IDF continues with pinpoint operations in Gaza, two reserve brigades have been called up to boost forces there. Military activity is focused in the central and northern parts of the Gaza Strip. The question remains if and when that activity will move south to Rafa. Nicole said that has the latest. It's been one week since the IDF withdrew all but one brigade from the Gaza Strip. And now, reinforcements are on the way. In accordance with the assessment of the situation, the IDF is recruiting in the coming days about two reserve brigades for the operational missions in the Gaza Strip. The IDF is moving forward with pinpoint precise operations in Gaza. But the question remains when the operations will move to the last remaining Hamas stronghold, Rafa. We will complete the elimination of the Hamas battalions, including in Rafa. There is no force in the world that will stop us. There are many forces trying to stop us, but they will not help it because this enemy, after what it was done, will not do it again. It won't exist either. Despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claiming a date is on the calendar, no one else seems to be aware of this date. Or what exactly an operation in Rafa would look like as there are currently more than one million Palestinian civilians living in the southern most city. But as the international community waits to see how Israel will respond to Iran's massive drone and missile attack, the main mission remains close to home. We have not lost sight, not for one moment of a critical mission in Gaza to rescue our hostages from the hands of Iran's proxies Hamas. With many of the 133 hostages believed to be held in Rafa, along with four untouched Hamas battalions, it does seem more of a when and not an if. The IDF will go in. Well, for more, let's go to our correspondent, Pia Stackobach, who's on the Israel-Gaza border. And, Pia, that is the question people are asking now. Talks about delaying even an operation in Rafa. In the meantime, Israelis still have to, in some degree, maintain its presence and continue its operations there just across the Gaza Strip border. Right, Kalev, well, the question when and if Israel will go about with its grand incursion into Rafa connected to the potential retaliation for the Iranian attack. Meanwhile, Israel's air force is still active in Gaza. It is focusing its operation on the central part of the Gaza Strip, the Nusayrat refugee camp and its outskirts. The Israeli army today said that it was going after Palestinian Islamic jihad and Hamas operatives there. That it also seized weapons depots there. And we know that specifically in that area on the central part of the Gaza Strip, Nusayrat, this is where the Israeli army's activities have been focused on already in recent days. We saw some explosions there in the late afternoon and also in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. This is where we saw and heard some explosions there. So this is an indication for the fact that the air force is still very active there, despite the Israeli army saying that it withdrew much of its ground forces. We also do know that one battalion that is right now still stationed in the Gaza Strip, the Nachal Brigade, that is supposed to safeguard the Nitzarim corridor that military road to the Gaza coast, it was also active in these operations in the central part of the Gaza Strip. So you do also have the involvement of ground forces there. Specifically when it comes to the northern and central part of the Gaza Strip, Gaza City and north of Gaza City. This is where there was some confusion among Gaza residents. Yesterday thousands of them gathered at the coastal road, the road that leads to northern Gaza. They were surrounding an Israeli army checkpoint that was close because the message spread that the Israeli army was allowing residents to return to Gaza City and to the northern parts of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army yesterday and also again today made clear that this was not the case, that nobody would be allowed to return to the northern areas. However, thousands of people are desperate to return to their homes to assess the damage, to look for loved ones that might be under the rubble or still sheltering somewhere in the north or in Gaza City. But again, the Israeli army made it clear today that this was not the case as the northern part of Gaza was still in active combat zone. And all right, Piaz Takobach there on the Israel Gaza border. Thank you for that. And Ariel, an update. Of course, all this is tied into the hostage situation. Many of them believe to be in Rafah and some update on that. Right. So with these stall negotiations or the latest round taking place in Cairo, the world was waiting for the response from Hamas to the proposal drafted by the American, Qatari, and Egyptian mediators. And according to a briefing by an Israeli official, Hamas's response to the deal included a willingness to release only 20 hostages in exchange for a six-week ceasefire. This is less than half than the original amount that was discussed. The Israeli official in his briefing noted that Hamas uses ridiculous excuses in its response saying that either the remaining amount between the discrepancy between 20 and 40, 45 is because that gap, either the people are not alive or they don't know where they are. Basically saying this official, that the answer that Hamas gave had far-fetched elements and it's turning the whole proposal upside down, saying that the conclusion is that Hamas is dragging its feet. It is not interested in the deal and the ceasefire continues to hope for regional escalation. This is according to Israeli official regarding the response from Hamas regarding the proposal drafted by the mediators on the ceasefire hostage deal. Yaakov, there was some reports, as certainly Peter alluded to it, reports of Palestinians making their way north to North Tegazza. Other indications of bakery starting up, Israel, the IDF operating the Nusrat Camp north of Rafah, maybe clearing it out for refugees to return, which seemed to be setting the stage for Rafah, but that is really being called into question now. Right, well, I think the most important thing right now is, first of all, that the IDF maintains this corridor, the Netsarim corridor, which enables them to screen who is moving from southern Gaza north. That is a mechanism that enables the IDF to make sure that terrorists from southern Gaza, central Gaza, don't go back into Gaza City because they have to pass through a checkpoint, they have to pass through that corridor, and that's why Hamas wants the IDF out of Netsarim corridor. That's why this is such a central demand by Hamas, not to mention their insistence that the war ends, which is part of the whole reason why they took the hostages in the first place. I think the Rafah operation, not only is it a necessity for the Gaza War, but for Israel's entire long-term continuity, if it doesn't complete this war, if it doesn't finish off the last bastion of Hamas that will endanger, in the long-term, the achievements of this war, the disbanding of most of Hamas' terror army, because from Rafah, Hamas can take Gaza back eventually. If its leadership is allowed to survive, if those battalions are allowed to survive, if it has control over the border with Egypt, from which it can smuggle weapons, they will start building back, and that would be a disastrous strategic development for Israel, and also it would be a great advantage for Iran. So it's impossible to separate these two things, the war with Iran and the war with Hamas are the same war, and it will pain Iran greatly if Israel does finish off its proxy in the Gaza Strip. Okay, but Michael, the Prime Minister must take into account also the hostages that was not good news that we heard, given these numbers, given the concerns over the fates of the so-called, I guess, humanitarian hostages. We're talking about the elderly, young people, women and minors. And this is going to make, again, hard decisions for Prime Minister Netanyahu in the coming days. I spend the days, and most of my days, on the Israeli news, and the Israeli news, particularly those news stations, that are more to the center, center-left, and you have tremendous amount of criticism of the government, of Netanyahu, with the accusation that they could reach a deal, if they wanted to reach a deal, they don't want to reach a deal. Netanyahu wants to remain in office as a means of doing so. Objectively speaking, I don't know why Hamas would actually give up hostages right now. Think of the hostages as assets, and why would they give up those assets? The United States, the world is saying to Sinwar, you know, hold on. The more Israel kills Palestinian civilians, then eventually there'll be a break, and eventually we'll start imposing a ceasefire. Just hold on for another week or two. That's the message, and I just wish that in Washington we'll hear you and see that the fight against Hamas is the same as the fight against Iran. They don't see it, they see it completely different. And the message has been to reinforce Hamas's sense that why should we give up anything, time is on our side. Alright, well we'll see if some of that message gets through. We are going to move away from Israel for a moment. Last week, Sydney, Australia, was shocked by a mass-stabbing attack that turned out to be an act of, not an act of terror at least, of political or religious or Middle East issues. Now today, Sydney was stunned again by a stabbing attack, this time on a prominent and controversial clergyman, that at this stage appears it may have those connections. Natasha Kerchak has the story. A terrifying week for Australia. Two mass-stabbings within just days of one another. The one major difference is that today's attack in Sydney was live-streamed, with a number of mass-stabbing shockwaves across the public. That's Bishop Mar-Marie Emmanuel, a prominent Australian bishop at an Assyrian church that's home to many worshippers who fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria. The Christian Orthodox church leader is known for his popular TikTok channel, that amassed a large online following after his public criticism of COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccines went viral. Sticks say that those who have received the vaccine, the death rates out of those who were vaccinated were more than the ones who died because of the coronavirus. It's just another type of flu. Today, hundreds of thousands of followers watch his live-streamed services on social media on the daily, where he preaches fire and brimstone, cherishes anti-LGBTQ views, and even discusses international geopolitics. Apart from claiming that Satan founded the United Nations, he also has a lot to say about the ongoing Israel Hamas war. With all love and respect, I'll say this to our beloved Jews and Palestinians. Until we accept Jesus Christ of Nazareth, there is and will never be peace. It was during one of these sermons at the Christ the Good Shepherd church in Sydney that a man dressed in dark clothing can be seen approaching the bishop before striking him down. Alo Akbar, or God is Great in Arabic, can be heard in the background of the video. Several other people then attempt to intervene, leading to a total of four people being injured in the attack, all men between the ages of 20 to 70. Police have since arrested the stabber, but mass chaos has ensued. This marks the second mass stabbing in just three days in Sydney. After six people were killed in a separate knife attack in a mall in the Bondi area. Locals are outraged. I would say definitely really shocked and very disgusted, disgruntled. It's really frustrating to see something, cannot expect something like this to happen in Sydney. So really very disheartening. Following the latest incident, police vehicles were attacked by an angry crowd of about 2,000 people rioting in an attempt to prevent the stabber from getting medical treatment. For now, the motive remains unclear, but what is clear is that if attacks of this nature continue to be commonplace, Australian security are going to have to answer to the public. Alright, let's go to where Admiral Daniel Hagar the IDF spokesperson. Good evening. I have arrived this evening to Neva Team Base together with the general chief of staff. We have met the commander, the teams, the technical teams. They have all taken part in the operation Iron Shield. The base is completely operational, continues to send jets out to missions. Chief of General Staff has said his appreciation for the work done by the pilots thanks to which the Iranian attack was a thwarted, the attack that was on its way to Israel and was thwarted almost without entering Israeli airspace. The Neva Team operation continues around the clock. You have also seen the hits taken by the Iranian attack. We're talking about only minor damage to infrastructure where all in all four hits were taken. One near a runway, two in an open space and one other near a building that caused it minor damage. This building was being built, was under construction. All of these hits will be corrected in the next few days. This base is operational around the clock. This building is operational during the operation Iron Shield and today as well jets have taken off from this base to defend Israel. The IDF including all its systems continues to be alert and prepared to defend Israel. We can constantly assess the situation and follow the developments in the north during operational activity near the fence on the Lebanese side. Our defensive action on the border caused four IDF troops to be injured due to an explosion we're still looking into following that the troops were quickly evacuated with help from the air and from land. One of the troops was injured severely and was evacuated to get treated in hospital. I would like to send good health wishes to those injured. The IDF combat jets have attacked during the night a series of targets of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The IDF continue to operate in the Gaza Strip as well. Today we have killed dozens of terrorists and have damaged terror infrastructure. Last night, almost at midnight we have decided after an assessment to remove the limitations from the home front. I want to reiterate that it is the citizen's safety that is the most important. I know that the implications on the economy, the kids, work and home are very, very grave and therefore we release as soon as we can. We relieve these limitations yesterday because of the security situation we were able to do that only near midnight. Only almost at midnight. If we were able to relieve these limitations earlier we would have done so and if we will have to reinstate these limitations we will do that too. The home front command is doing tremendous effort to make sure together the local authorities to alleviate and relieve wherever possible. We are at war on several fronts and the threats change in magnitude and frequency and so do the directives. The directives can change even in any change immediately. Tonight too, here from never team base, we did not forget for one moment the 133 hostages are still being held in Gaza in difficult conditions. In this base too the only thing that the pilots and the technical team when they go in their jets all they can think about is how to help these hostages return home as quickly as possible. We will continue to do everything in our power in order to help them return home. Questions? We just heard Debrea and Daniel Higari there at the never team air base in the Negev that grounds were hit by those rockets from Iran though. Damage was not significant he said but we do have an update on some of the subjects we were talking a little bit before in Rafah the timing of it. Yeah so apparently during our discussion on Rafah the ears of the office of the defence minister were burning because they just issued a statement saying that defence minister Gaan told the discussion this evening regarding preparations for a Rafah operation. This includes preparation to evacuate the civilian population there. We have emphasized that preparations must be made in accordance to the cabinet's decision and so that is also an indication that the cabinet has approved the starting to move regarding this operation in Rafah this is according to the latest statement by the defence minister. We are playing into what we said before but of course the prime minister under political pressure also to keep the pressure on Hamas after you know we saw that Hamas has no intention of reaching a deal no matter what was offered to it we're seeing the beginning stages of the Rafah operation in my opinion a statement like this would not be put out if the operation would not be approved probably sooner rather than later it's going to take according to estimates that I've seen about two weeks to evacuate the civilians from Rafah there are probably more than a million and a half civilians that have to be moved out of harm's way we have just about 30 seconds left but that's something the US has demanded of Israel move those civilians out of harm's way the United States hasn't really helped Israel with it too and as it says a lot of experience with moving people away from disaster areas the United States doesn't want us going into Rafah in a kind of absurd way both Hamas and the United States are using that civilian population as a type of human shield in a different way the Hamas is using the Palestinian civilians as a physical shield and using them as a diplomatic shield either way the apricot is the same Israel they do not want Israel moving into Rafah it seems like Israel though is