 We're seeing the first generation of solar panels now being recycled. What's exciting is we're at the forefront. What is about to happen is a tsunami of solar panels coming back into the supply chain. Welcome back to our special coverage here on I-24 News. Our correspondent, Zach Enders, in southern Israel with the latest from there, live. Zach. Hello from a checkpoint here in Starot where activity is starting to look more and more like normal with the traffic flowing again for a long time. This road was closed because the activity in northern Gaza was still quite intense. Now, northern Gaza is seemingly mostly under the IDF control. That's where the IDF says they have the greatest operational security. The south of Gaza is a different story. They have been moving into Kanyunas with intensity and force. The airstrikes have been picking up considerably. And that's with Prime Minister Netanyahu saying to expect this to intensify over the coming days and weeks. Now, what would that look like? Well, the Hamas tunnel network that is underneath Kanyunas in some places, the Israeli estimates are that they are 20 meters deep and will require violent munitions, explosives, cruise missiles to be able to penetrate the earth and disrupt that tunnel network. Now, the IDF has not shared exactly the strategy they plan for this tunnel network in Kanyunas. Of course, this would be in tandem with attempting to destroy and disrupt this tunnel network, but also does not leave out the possibility of ground forces entering into some of these spaces and attempting to neutralize the Hamas threat. But before they do so, we've been seeing quite a bit of activity of the IDF using drones and dogs to enter into these tunnels with cameras, attempt to locate the passageways, return with that information and then attempt to enter in. Of course, the big question, the big two questions being where are the remaining hostages? Are they inside this tunnel network? And where is Sinwar, who no doubt is likely holed up deep underground in some part of this infrastructure? The exact location of that is something that the IDF says they still are working to know for sure, but that they do believe they're narrowing in on that location. Alright, Zach, thank you very much for that. Israeli leaders were convinced that Hamas had too much to lose and therefore would not launch a war, and they were wrong, very wrong. I-24 News Defense Correspondent Jonathan Regiff reports on the misconception that led to October 7th. On paper, it looked like a very good plan, beneficial to everyone involved. Hamas would get much needed money for its civil employees who do not get their salaries. This money is going to pay my debts. I have to pay my delayed rents, electricity, water bill. Qatar would get the international status as the provider of Gaza and a reliable global player. Qatar is a credible state country, okay? And when we tell them what is there on the ground, what we are doing there, it's a good work. And Israel, which mostly kept quiet on the issue, did everything to facilitate it. Believing an improved economic situation in Gaza would serve as a calming factor. It began roughly five years ago. As Gaza was sinking into a major economic crisis, Qatar offered assistance to the Gaza residents. Monthly cash envelopes with anything between $15 and $40 million were brought by the Qatari envoy to the banks in Gaza, and from there, on paper, to pay the salaries of Gaza's civil workers who were desperately waiting for it. One day feels like a year to us. We have kids that we would like to raise to give them a good life. Where are we supposed to get the money for that? At the same time, Qatar was also providing fuel for the Gaza power plants to keep working for longer hours and cement for construction of buildings destroyed in previous wars with Israel. Qatar became the closest ally of Hamas. The Emir was given a hero's welcome when he came for a visit, and at least according to his envoy, peaceful days were about to come. The work which we are doing is keeping peace for the both nations, okay, both people. There was just one issue. Someone had to monitor where exactly the aid was going and whether the claims made by Hamas were actually true. They know the money that was spent went only for humanitarian projects. Not one penny was used for weapons or other things. The salaries are used for health, education, welfare, and other humanitarian cases. The money will go only to beneficiaries. Now we know who these beneficiaries really were. Muhammad Sinwar, for example, brother of Hamas leader Iqya Sinwar. Here we see him right next to the driver in what is the biggest tunnel uncovered so far in Gaza. A huge tunnel which cost millions and millions of dollars while the Gaza people are starving. The subterranean tunnel constructed by Muhammad Sinwar. This is the Sinwar project tunnel that was meant to do a terror attack. Hamas has spent millions of dollars in this project specifically. Here is another beneficiary. Five million shekels, roughly $1.5 million, were found in suitcases in the home of a senior Hamas official in the neighborhood of Jabalia along with ammunition and rocket launchers. Terror tunnels and ammunition. This is what the money was used for, but those in charge did not see it. We wanted to avoid a humanitarian disaster. That's why the money started flowing for those purposes. To avoid disease and maintain the two million people there. The plan that looked so good for five years crushed down on October 7th. Instead of avoiding a humanitarian disaster, it brought one first on the Israeli side of the border and then in Gaza. So many questions will have to be asked once the war is over. The issue of the humanitarian money funding this terror monster is one of the most important. With me in the studio is Yaqui Dayan, former Israeli consul to Los Angeles. Thank you very much for coming, Yaqui. Thanks for having me, Jacob. This misconception in Israel that blew in the face of the leadership. That will have a major impact on the future of Israeli-Palestinian relationships. Absolutely. So many consequences out of those misconceptions that were spoken about in this item. First and foremost, the fact that the Palestinian Authority can take over. This is a misconception or this is a consequence that no Israeli would agree because the Palestinian Authority supports terrorism. Sponsor textbooks that call for incitements and killing Jews and Israelis. No doubt the consequences of Palestinian workers coming not only from Gaza, but from Judea and Sumerian to Israel. As we know, so many Palestinian workers were spying and giving information to Hamas before penetrating to Israel. So that fell apart. The idea that actually you can buy quiet and you can buy peace and quiet with Qatari money. That has fallen apart. The fact that you can have countries like Qatar supporting Qatar that supports Hamas and its ideology coming into the West Bank or Gaza and continue to support any project that has fallen apart. So we can talk about so many things that faded away, that has blown apart, as you said correctly, after October 7th. Now the American idea that somehow after all that happened, we can sort of restart the whole process and eventually get to state solution. So the Americans correctly are speaking about the day after. They want to see the day after and the day after is like a big word for a long, long process. I mean, the day after starts with lowering the intense fighting in Gaza, the humanitarian aid, what will happen with the civilian population in Gaza. But it goes all the way to what Biden says, the two-state solution. And there are so many differences and gaps between Israel and the United States on those issues. Nevertheless, we have to discuss with the Americans those issues. But we can start digging into each and every one of the issues. The intense fighting, yes, Israel agrees that by the end of January there would be a shift from the intense fighting into much more accurate incursions. In Gaza. The second issue is the humanitarian aid. Israel agrees that humanitarian aid has to enter Gaza. It even opened the Camp Shalom crossing point. And that would continue, as we know. What would happen with the civilian population? Who would enter there and help the civilian population? The Israeli idea is having the moderate Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Emirates, even Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt, but not Qatar entering and doing that. The buffer zone, Israeli thinking about a buffer zone, what would be the buffer zone? Because the United States wants Israel to move back from the buffer zone all the way to the 67 lines. That wouldn't happen, at least not in the beginning. And we go all the way to what will be the process that will lead to what the Americans speak about some kind of Palestinian authority or any other entity that will come into Gaza and will control Gaza. So that would be a long discussion. So we have so many issues all the way up to this long, long process. As we said that the Americans wants to change the structure of the Middle East. They want to see the two-state solution. But at the same time, we have to understand that they share the concept of eradicating the military and the administrative control of the Hamas, which fits the Israeli vision, but it doesn't fit what will happen afterwards. So so many issues, very complicated issues. Now meanwhile there's growing tension between the military and Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is delaying taking decisions or having discussions on the day after. And what are the consequences of this? So as we know, Israel is working on the day after. The two people that are in charge on this issue are the National Security Advisor, Tsachyan Negbih, and Ron Dermer, who was already in Washington, D.C., discussing with the Americans those issues the day after. At the same time, simultaneously, the Prime Minister has political problems. He has two partners in his coalition that are not willing to discuss those issues the day after. And he's very much afraid that those partners in the coalition would break this coalition and he will have to resign and elections will come. So he has to navigate between the two, between showing the Americans the ideas and the programs and the plans for the day after, and at the same time maintaining his coalition. Now what will happen this week is that Anthony Blinken, the Secretary of State, is coming to Israel at the end of the week and he will have to show and discuss with him all the plans for the day after. So he will have to bring it to the cabinet, the war cabinet for sure, and maybe maybe the wider cabinet that takes decision has the political and the judicial right to take decisions. So he will have to bring it and we will have to see how he juggles between the two, between the political problem that he has and the necessity to present it in front of the Americans. Yeah, it's called time. That's what happens in Israeli politics. Time, time and more time. Ruth Wasserman-Lander is with us, former Israeli diplomat in Egypt, among others. And I want to ask you about Egypt, Ruth. Do you have any hopes that the Egyptians could pull something off as the main brokers now for a hostage deal? Well, it seems to me as if the Islamic Jihad and the Hamas delegation, a very senior delegation of senior people who actually don't live in the Gaza Strip necessarily, but rather outside of the Gaza Strip, that's how senior they are, made their way to Egypt because they wanted, to me it seems, they wanted something from Egypt that perhaps is a little bit difficult to organize, like some kind of freedom of maneuver in response to some kind of giving Egypt back the center of stage. Because it's very obvious that Qatar in this particular regard has the center stage because it has the most leverage over Hamas. Not a big honor, but it is what it is. I'm not sure that Egypt was able or willing to do anything that those senior leaders of the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad wanted to get. So we perhaps see a kind of a pull and take from those leaders as per who will take the center stage in terms of the negotiations. Now we see suddenly that Qatar came back and said, yes, the Hamas is feeling a little bit that they are perhaps ready to speak about some kind of a deal. I believe because of the military pressure. I think that Egypt is playing constructive role. It has a problem with Hamas. It has a problem with the potential leakage of Gazans and or Hamas operatives into its region. It knows exactly why it doesn't want anything to do with them. They are part of the Muslim Brotherhood. They understand this and yet they want to maintain their position and hegemony in the region on the one hand. They also want to maintain the stability as much as they possibly can and prevent the leakage. So it's not some kind of a leadership role. Having a constructive role in this scenario, however, in my humble opinion doesn't mean that Egypt would have an active role here because having leverage over Hamas means that Hamas gets something that is less constructive from the player. And the question is, who has an interest to give that to the Hamas? All right. Stay with us. Back to you, Yaki, in the studio. The question of hostages. That's the main issue that bothers Israelis right now. And again, the question is, can the Egyptians deliver anything here? That's a big question because as we know, the Hamas is not speaking in one voice. And eventually at the end of the day, the one who dictates everything is Sinwar. Who is located is sitting in Gaza. What happens is that the Americans who are the most constructive partner in that, and we see the commitment by the president himself to the hostage issue, was pressuring Qatar as much as he can. Again and again and again, speaking to the Prime Minister, speaking to the Emir, so many phone calls, putting a lot of pressure on the Qataris. And the Qataris manage to move the leadership that sits in Doha in Qatar itself. But the problem is that those are not the ones who take decisions. At the end of the day, the ones who take decisions are sitting in Gaza and they say only one thing. As long as Israel doesn't stop completely the war, they are not starting to negotiate. And when we see and hear about the ideas coming from Egypt and Qatar, those are not speaking about stopping completely the war. So I would say that the negotiations for the time being is being taken in parallel lines and nobody speaks to anyone on a concrete terms that can actually lead to a deal at the end of the day. Ruth, let's talk a little bit about the day after. And the Egyptians have been talking about it. We've mentioned before that Assisi said that Gaza should be demilitarized. And we see that the offer, the original Egyptian offer had something like an interim government together with Hamas, which was of course rejected by Israel immediately. Are the Egyptians looking for any future leadership there? I think that the Egyptians want Gaza like, how should I put it, a little bit diplomatically, like we want to grow bananas in the Bahamas at the moment. They don't want Gaza. They don't want anything to do with Gaza. They've been offered Gaza and the leadership there of several times. The last thing that they want, they understand that this is a huge problem. I think that they do however want to stay regarding one, preventing the leakage of instability into their territory. And two, having some kind of a hand and foot in the tenders that will be involved in rebuilding Gaza, which is a good thing. It's good for Jordan. It's good for Egypt, et cetera. But first and foremost, we need to get the hostages back and we need to get rid of Hamas, which is a win-win for everyone. The question is, and I beg to disagree a little bit with my colleague, I think that the Americans, however constructive a role that they're playing, and they're playing a hugely constructive role. And honestly, I don't know what Israel would do without such an amazing ally in the region, seeing eye to eye. However, in terms of the pressure on Qatar, there is a very, very long way to go. And Qatar should be named a terrorist-supporting country. Very significant and concrete steps should be taken in terms of legislation. These are the making funding of Qatar in money to academic institutions, think tanks and so on in the United States. First of all, see-through, transparent. And second of all, a lot of things need to be disallowed, given that Qatar is a terrorist-supporting country, or return all the hostages without condition. And there are alternatives to where the bases and the huge economic interests of the U.S. granted known, these are huge issues to be taken into account, granted. But the repercussions of living Qatar, as is, as a non-member but still a part of NATO, a kind of a reliable, seemingly responsible member of the international arena, is they're horrific, and they're horrific not only for Israel, for Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and of course the United States and Europe. The repercussions are huge because it is funding terror, it is funding cells and terror activities quietly with buying influence. But this will have repercussions in the near future. Just a few remarks. I mean, A, you can't touch Qatar right now. Qatar is playing a very significant role in the negotiations. So you can't make actually the things that route has said that should be taken by the Americans. That cannot be taken now. Hopefully at the end of the road, once Qatar is irrelevant to any negotiations, then you can move against Qatar, but I don't see it happening, definitely not now. The second point is Egypt is extremely significant in any process that will be taken within Gaza, because as Ruth mentioned correctly, I mean, they are extremely worried about the instability. And what is being discussed now is the Philadelphia Corridor, is the border between Egypt and Gaza. We have to remember that all the smuggling, all the weapons that entered Gaza entered through Egypt, not only through tunnels, but also through trucks. And that will have to be discussed with the Egyptians as well, and the Americans are playing a significant role here. So any solution or any process that will be taken in Gaza will have to include the Egyptians in a very significant way. Yeah, more on that, Ruth? I just want to say that regarding the Philadelphia crossing, we're very obviously and unfortunately smuggling did go on. Otherwise, there's no other possibility of understanding how all the weapons that have gotten into Gaza got in there. Israel had to have absolutely no choice but to take military control over the Philadelphia line on the Gaza side, and of course cooperate with the Egyptians on their side. But it cannot really allow itself to take any chances on that. That's regarding the Egyptians. Of course, continue to forge the very strategic and important relationship despite the sensitivities that Israel has with the Egyptians. Again, I beg to disagree. I think if there is any time that the Qataris can do anything is now not to disown them, but to say and to mean that they can be disowned. If they don't do what is required from them and what is required for them because they're the only ones that actually do have the real leverage is to get those hostages back. Yaki. Any positive incentives that can be put on Qatar, yes, the Americans are using it. The Qataris eventually, and we see it especially now in this phase on the negotiations regarding the hostages, their control and their influence is extremely limited. Because eventually at the end of the day, they can pressure the Hamas leadership that is located in Doha, but their leverages over Sinoir is minimal. And this is why this negotiation is not moving. And this is why the Egyptians have taken a much more significant role than the Qataris because the Qataris, their pressures are limited right now. Egypt has more influence inside Gaza. So Egypt is playing a much more significant role. But at the end of the day, we have to remember, we are speaking about an Islamic fundamentalist who has no limitations, who can massacre and massacre so many Israelis. So this is the person that we are dealing with. And when we hear about all those negotiations and plans and ideas, let's release all the prisoners for all the hostages. Because those are talks that eventually are taking place between us, the Israelis or the Israelis and the Egyptians, but are not involving the Sinoir and the Hamas leadership inside Gaza. They are very strict and we have to pressure them more and more in a military way in order for them to cave, in order for them to change their way of negotiating. Because for the time being, we have to understand that the leverages over them are limited. Right. Ruth, we have about a minute to sum up. Yeah, just one more comment. You know, Sinoir didn't only murder and massacre Israelis. He was very, very efficient in murdering and massacring a lot of Palestinian oppositionaries through himself. And that's why he became known as the, I don't know what's the right term in the right diplomatic term, but the master of massacre of Hanyunas. The butcher of Hanyunas. The butcher of Hanyunas, exactly. Just to top off the very optimistic tone that we are talking with. Unfortunately, I don't have any more, more optimistic view to end off with. Right. Ruth, thank you very much for your time. And Yaki, stay with me for the rest of the program. We'll take a short break and we'll be right back with more. Stay tuned. In a state of war, families completely gunned 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, to be fought as well. I like efforts to push back Hezbollah to the 1701 U.N. decision line in Lebanon. It seemed futile so far. The risk of escalation rises by today. I had 24 years senior correspondent Owen Alterman reports. America's point man on Lebanon, trying to do on land what he did at sea. With Amos Hockstein reportedly set the flight back into Beirut this week to try to broker a deal that would bring quiet to the land border between Lebanon and Israel. The way he did last year with the border between zones at sea. The most important piece of this agreement is that it is the entirely in the interest of each country to not violate it and to move forward. The background now of course is the war and the element of it on the Israel-Lebanon border where the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has been firing for months at communities on the Israeli side. And the Israeli military has responded by firing at Hezbollah targets. The Biden administration wants the situation contained below the threshold of a wider war as does the French government. Israel has killed more than 130 Hezbollah fighters. Israeli attacks have intensified. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a warning. We have approved operational plans for the continuation of the fighting. If Hezbollah expands the war, it will absorb blows that it has not dreamed of and Iran as well. Hockstein's apparent plan to incentivize Hezbollah to move its troops away from the Israeli border in exchange for apparent Israeli concessions on marking that border in at least some of the 13 points of dispute. The Biden administration does not want a full-scale war. Israel's plan A is not to have a full-scale war. And the Lebanese public does not want a full-scale war. Which all point to the sides getting to a deal that forestalls a full-scale war. At least for now. And with this, let's go to the Israeli-Lebanese border for some live updates with the IDF guy Azriel, which is there. Hi, guy. Good evening, Jacob. I'm not sure everyone is not interested in a full-scale war. At least judging on what we're seeing here, just earlier this afternoon, two anti-tank missiles fired towards an IDF post on the ridge of Ramim. That is the area right behind me, very close also to the city of Kirachmuna and right on the border with Lebanon. The IDF returning artillery fire towards the source of those anti-tank missiles. And also earlier this morning, IDF fighter jets struck the village of Ramya in southern Lebanon where the IDF says Hezbollah has been striking Israeli forces. This, of course, comes after we heard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking just this morning saying we will restore security in the north and be it by diplomatic or military means if needed. Of course, we're talking about 80,000 Israelis who are displaced from their homes. We've also heard from some of the residents today from lobby 1701. That is the same UN decision that you just mentioned calling for the government to act more decisively against Hezbollah to stop this threat. For now it seems that these residents are not coming back home anytime soon. Right. Thank you very much, guy, from the north. Back to you, Yaki Deyani here in the studio. Nothing was resolved with Hezbollah before with diplomatic means. We have the history in front of us. Why should we believe this time it will work? Yeah, so let's start with 1701, the Security Council resolution that was taken after the 2006, the Second Lebanon War, which says basically two things. One is pushing back the Hezbollah northern to the Littani River, and having a significant UNIFIL force that would prevent them and Lebanon's force preventing them from returning. As we know, it took months for the Hezbollah to come back to the border, and the UNIFIL forces that are located there in the southern part of Lebanon are irrelevant. So 1701 is not in the discussion. What the Americans are trying to do now are two things. One, they understand that they want to prevent a full-scale war, absolutely. I mean, the last thing that they want to have is to be involved in a full-scale war during an election year 2024. They don't want to see that. They want to prevent that in any possible way. But it was conveyed by Israel that Israel cannot go back to the status quo that existed on October 7th. We have 70,000, 80,000 refugees in our country that are not going back to their homes because of the situation, and will not go back if things are not being changed. So as we saw, Amos Hochstein is working very hard, together with the French, but especially the Americans, to make a change diplomatically, trying to engage as we saw in the maritime agreement, which was an agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government. What kind of leverage does the American have on Hezbollah? So the only leverage that they have is that the French don't want to see Lebanon falling apart. It's already a rock state. They understand that if a full-scale war starts, Lebanon, especially the infrastructure and everything there, will collapse completely. And the Lebanese are trying to push with their very minimal leverages over the Hezbollah and trying to convince them that they don't want to see an overall war because they understand that they will lose Lebanon that is already in a state of catastrophe, especially economically. They are in a state of catastrophe. Yeah, Lebanon, we should say, Lebanon, but Hezbollah is having a fun. So the two different things between that and the war that is being conducted now in Gaza is, A, there are no hostages in Lebanon, and B, it's a country, it's a state. So they don't want to fall apart. There is a lot of skepticism in Israel that those diplomatic maneuvers will help, will assist to push Hezbollah back at least 10 kilometers. I mean, no one speaks about the Litani River now. They're speaking about the Kornet range, which means the anti-tank missiles range, to push them back to this point. Everybody is extremely skeptic. This is why we see an escalation, a daily escalation. And it's not only this front. It's the Syrian front. It's even further than the Syria. So this is what it's going on now. And if we don't see some kind of a military diplomatic solution, interim solution, that will hold, then we are bound to have a full-scale war, something that the Americans don't want to see. But it's necessary for the Israelis to receive the legitimacy from the Americans because we need the weaponry from the Americans. We need the diplomatic umbrella from the Americans. So you need the legitimacy from the Americans. So this is why you have to exhaust any diplomatic possibility that you have. Right. Complicated, as we said. Meanwhile, overwhelming testimonies of extensive sexual assault by Hamas against Israeli women are surfacing. With us now is Yael Sherer, founder and director of survivors of sexual violence advocacy group. Thank you very much for speaking with us. It takes time, but it's slowly coming out. I'm sure you understand that we've known about this for quite some time. From the first week after the Hamas attack on the south, it's been very clear to us that this has happened. I'm sure that everybody understands that coming forward with this is quite difficult, but we do have survivors. I just want to point out that we have survivors now of both genders and have from the beginning. What is the scope of this sexual assault? Can you give us an idea? I don't want to quote numbers because I do think it's quite irresponsible. The police investigation is still going on. I know people are very interested in the numbers, but I think it's not something that we'll ever be sure of. So many of these crime scenes were burnt down, bodies were burnt down, and I do think we'll have a difficulty arriving at a certain number. And I think the truth is we'll never know how many men and women were raped or sexually abused that day. I think that's the truth. What about those who survived? We have quite a small number, as I said, of both genders, both women and men. And I think more people will come forward, but I can't imagine we'll see a large number. Really, I don't. I think many of them did not survive. We know that there were executions of people who were sexually assaulted and raped. We saw a number of bodies that can be identified as victims of this crime. And I think, yeah, I think people will come forward with time. And as you've mentioned, there's an investigation going on. How to bring justice to this all? I don't know if we can say justice at this point, as well as now holding hundreds of people who were on Israeli ground on that day and the days afterwards that were fought. I am not sure with regards to those numbers how we can prosecute them, but the Israeli government does have intention to prosecute them. This is a very complicated police investigation. So many witnesses, so much ballistic, so many crime scenes, more than a thousand crime scenes, so many bodies. This is going to be a really hard task because I know the people who are involved personally and have worked with them before. And then I have a great belief that we are trying to do what's right for the victims. But using the word justice, I don't know if there's justice in this case. I don't know if we can ever provide real justice to these people. Yeah, Elcher, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. South Africa has filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice accusing it of crimes of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. With us now is Nitzana Durshan Lightner on the legal issues here. Thank you very much for joining us. How do you see this claim by South Africa? It's a joke. It's simply a joke. The South African country, unfortunately, has been against Israel since the ANC took over. And in the beginning they tried to claim Israel or Israel apartheid state and then a war criminal. And now committing genocide for the most justified war ever that Israel took upon itself. The South African government decided to go to the ICJ to charge Israel for genocide. And note that they went to the ICJ and not to the ICC because usually the ICC is the place to bring war crimes allegations or crimes against humanity from a country against each other. But the South African government decided to go to the ICJ because if you recall, they pulled out from the ICC because they didn't want to arrest Vladimir Putin when he came to visit South Africa and there was an arrest warrant against him issued by the ICC for the war against Ukraine. So here you have a country that is siding with a potential war criminal because Vladimir Putin was under the investigation of the ICC for committing genocide, for committing war crimes in the Ukraine war. And you see who's standing next to it, who's doing everything in can in order not to arrest Vladimir Putin and issue him to the International Criminal Court. So this is the perspective Israel should look at this allegation against it in the war in Gaza. Now, what about crimes against humanity against Hamas, Iran, which supports it? Definitely. So the truth to be said is that Hamas is a real war criminal here. Hamas in October 7th took the liberty to massacre 1200 Israeli residents and kidnapped 242 its territories. They did it in the most brutal way. He murdered, he dismembered, he beheaded, he raped, he burned people alive. This is really what you would call genocide. And the leaders of Hamas should be brought to justice in the International Criminal Court or in any tribunal that has international law jurisdiction. And this is what I believe Israel should do eventually. Israel now is trying to indict all those who participated in the massacre in October 7th and to bring them to trial in Israel. And the way for it to do it is to simply blame them for conspiracy to take part in a genocide against Israel. And those who can go to the International Criminal Court, like our organization, like Surat al-Din, or any other human rights organization, should definitely go and bring indictment for war crimes, crimes against humanity, against the leaders of Hamas, against the Yixin War, against Khaled Mashal, Muhammad Def, all those who planned, initiated, and carried out this horrific massacre. All right. And Sana, thank you very much for that. Sana Darshan Leitner, thank you. My pleasure. Southern Israel near the Gaza border was devastated on October 7th. Before people forget and life continue, there are efforts being done to preserve and document. Here's I-24 News, Orish Shapiro. Archaeology is often used to document and preserve items from the ancient history. This time it's being used to do the same thing to something which occurred only a few months ago, the Hamas onslaught of October 7th. This is a massive project. I think it must be the biggest and most complex project ever undertaken in Israel of this nature. I'd say furthermore that it's not just complex in as much as it is very integrated from the technological point of view, but added to that there is this tremendous sense of urgency. Everything has to be done at the best possible level, at the fastest possible time, with the greatest possible sensitivity. It's a joint project of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, the Ministry of Heritage, and the Kuma Administration, a special body which was established after October 7th. The main goal is to document the devastation of the Gaza envelope area. We create a base, a 3D, very detailed base for the memory, for the virtual museum that will happen, for many, many other uses of the 3D model after those buildings here would be demolished. We'll have the exact copy of those buildings in the computer and we can build our memory on top of that. The 3D model of those buildings, which is really, really accurate, would be an evidence that can be used either in court or either in the public domain, in the social media, to confront the claim that didn't happen, which is already happening. And I think the third main objective is to be a warning sign. What happens when extreme religious is attacking you, is confronting you in the most brutal way. The project is taking place in several main locations in the Gaza envelope. Kibbutz near Oz is one of the places which suffered the most from the Hamas attack. The group, consisting of cameraman, archaeologists and experts, is using advanced technologies to get the best possible results. We're using a few methods of photography. First, high resolution cameras, Sony cameras for very high resolution, 61 megapixel cameras. We're using drones to take photos from above and we are also using LiDAR scanners. It's a laser for the best resolution and we merge all these technologies together to get the best model that we can get. The first house the team is walking on belongs to the Akir family, who managed to survive the attack after they escaped and hid in a safe room adjacent to the house. Ron Bahat, a resident of near Oz, says that despite the sensitivity of the issue, he believes in the value of this project. Something happened here that never happened before. I think it is significant to document and to commemorate it. I think that some of those who have been here don't fully understand the importance of documenting the event for the next generations. On the one hand, there is a call to rebuild the Kibbutz and bring life to what it was before. On the other hand, it is clear that it is important to show what happened here. It is clear that some of the people are not even at this stage of thinking ahead about collecting evidence. I believe that this project is top priority. This burn structure was the local kindergarten of near Oz. We can still see traces of the life that was here before the fire, such as happy new year cards made only two weeks before the attack. The 3D model tries to give one the opportunity to tour this site, which is inaccessible to most people. As you can see, it's all black. It's all burnt. It's really hard to see. So what we do is we use a bright flash. When we photograph, basically we shoot the whole area with the digital camera from all the areas around to give a clear view of every feature that we see. And you can see it in the model later on. There were no people here, because it was Saturday morning. So the kindergarten was left as it is. And you can see the ash layer is set on the tables and all the stuff. Our next stop is the house of Oded and Jochevet Lifshits, close to the Kibbutz fence. The elderly couple was abducted to Gaza and only Jochevet has so far returned. Photographer Maya Hadash tells us about her personal interest in this project, which is different from most of her work. It's a very technical work. I always need to understand the 360 perspective of the building and what is the drone getting from above and what I need to complete. How can I complete the drone from different angles, also from ground level and up level, and also inside. This is also a question of the line between observation and voyeurism. In recent weeks, we have seen hundreds of people come to view the broken houses of the Gaza border, something that may be disturbing for some and significant and meaningful for others. You got to see it. It's like everything bad that happens to the Jewish people. You need to record it. It's like the camps in World War II. It's like where the pogroms happened. You need to preserve some of it. The next stage is to collect the data and create a 3D model and maps. This is done at the IAA headquarters in Jerusalem. The process goes like this. We have experts who collect data in the field. All the data is downloaded to the system and here is where we analyze and start modeling. We have a huge amount to date of pictures of the houses. Here we can check which structure was documented. For example, here in this map I can see each house and check if it was documented and at which level of documentation it is. So it's like a relay race. There are people who collect data, people who receive the data, those who process it, and those who builds the model. Each stage depends on the other stage. Using this application helps us to see the process and to verify that nothing gets lost on the way. It is still unclear what the final usage of this project will be, on which platform it will be shown, and whether it will be available to the wider public. Professor Moshe Kane from the Hadassah Academic College also talks about the ethical and social questions, such as the possibility that people will regard the project as akin to a video game. People who wish to deny will deny. We are living in an age of artificial intelligence, of fake reality, fake news. People who want to say that it's not real, they will say it. We're all familiar with the various 3D games which are created at the highest level of realism, but the same technologies can be used for much more serious and much more important historical documentation. This project may also improve the current process of modeling and documenting historic sites, says project manager David Zell. The buildings that we have that were attacked have a lot of many, many small details, so we need to use even higher resolution and better technologies than we use normally in Antiquity site to be able to actually create 3D models of all the small details inside the buildings, all the books that were, all the remaining of the bombs that were exploded, all the remains of the building that were actually burned. So we use a much higher resolution than we usually use in Antiquity sites for this project. There is no doubt that October 7 was one of the most traumatic events in the history of Israel, and even today the battle for the narrative is going on in social media and the press. The people of this project hope to contribute their part in this long fierce fight and to keep this moment in history alive for ages. As our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Welcome to this special broadcast on I-24 News, I'm Khaled bin David. It is day 86 of Israel's war against Hamas on the last day of 2023. At year's end, the IDF expanding its operations in central and south Gaza with a former minister of religious affairs in the Palestinian Authority, Yusef Salameh reportedly killed and airstrikes on the Almagazi neighborhood. Two more IDF fatalities also recorded bringing to 172 the number of combat deaths in Gaza. On the northern front, the military reportedly intensifying its airstrikes on targets in south Lebanon and Syria in response to continuing his bullifier across the border. In the Red Sea, the U.S.-led naval coalition to protect shipping reportedly draws first blood from the Houthis with 10 of the Yemeni rebel fighters killed when American naval forces opened fire on three boats that were attacking a freight ship. And it's on breaking news this evening. Initial reports of a terror stabbing at the entrance to the Mishor Adumim commercial center that is just outside Jerusalem in the West Bank to security guards lightly injured. The terrorist neutralized will update that as more information comes in. Now the war cabinet is scheduled to meet this evening reportedly to discuss the conduct of the Gaza offensive along with a possible hostage deal broken by Egypt. This comes following reports of a visit by an Egyptian delegation to Israel over the weekend though those claims were denied by sources in Cairo. So where is the war in Gaza going now? An intensified push into Gaza's south? Or perhaps a ceasefire enabling a hostage deal? Our senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev breaks it down. Two months into the IDF's ground operation in Gaza, questions are rising as to the end strategy of the current high intensity phase and a move on to the next phase. On one hand there's still constant firefights with Hamas terrorists especially in the area of Chanyones. We found here plenty of enemy infrastructure. There was a terrorist here with a Kalachnikov that tried to shoot at our soldiers. We killed him and caught another terrorist and took him for interrogation. Along with that Hamas officials are also being killed. One of them is Abdel Fattah Mali, the closest associate of Ichiya Ayash who was known as the engineer and responsible for various terror attacks in the 1990s. On the other hand there's a feeling that in the current phase the IDF is not able to reach the hostages or the Hamas senior leadership and some other way is now needed. When will Israel head for that other way? The prime minister may have set the goal for that. The Philadelphia corridor or to put it more correctly the southern end of Gaza must be in our hands. No other solution can ensure the demilitarization we seek. The Philadelphia corridor separates Gaza from Egypt and the assumption is that huge amounts of weapons were and maybe still are smuggled to Gaza in tunnels running under it. On paper Egypt seems to refuse any such move and Israel needs Egyptian backing for another crucial move, a hostage deal. Families and protesters believe the government is not doing enough in that field. I'm afraid that the government of Israel has prioritized otherwise its political ambitions and the hostages is not on the top priorities. A possible hostage deal, the control of the Philadelphia corridor the effectiveness of the IDF's current tactics many critical issues for the future of this war but none of them with a concrete solution at hand. Well, let's go to our correspondent Zach Anders down in a steel road near the Gaza border and Zach I just want to mention now IDF just now releasing latest statistics showing a marked drop in the number of rocket launches from the Gaza Strip in the in recent days. Today I believe there was even only one siren down there. I mean I don't want to spread optimism but we've gone from there were 75 launches per day right after October 7th that's gone down to 14 launches per day in the week from the 22nd of December to the 27th and today I believe it only just even one such I'm talking about the south now and perhaps a hopeful sign for those communities especially in and around the Gaza Strip. Yeah, we're in Sarote here where this checkpoint that we're standing I remember in the early days this was completely restricted there was no traffic loud all of these roads were closed now the road is open and the traffic is flowing around northern Gaza Strip and this the IDF says is with them having more operational control over the northern Gaza Strip but you'll remember we were on air together I believe last week when we saw launches coming out of the northern Gaza Strip and this is after the IDF told us that they have more operational control and what does that look like? Well they have basically on the surface level moved so much troops forces equipment into northern Gaza that they can see down every street they can not just with the air in the surveillance drones but physical forces on the ground can see down every street is noticing all the activity much many of the civilians most of the civilians have left Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip not to say that they all have not have left but it is much much different reality than what we saw at the beginning of this war and it's now shifting focus as we mentioned many times to Khan Yunus and the southern Gaza Strip but for the rocket launches again these rocket launch sites can protrude just above ground they can sometimes be basically buried and then just the opening covered temporarily then remove the covering and they can fire on points all throughout Israel these are really hard to detect these launch sites so you do need to physically walk down every street look in every yard every building complex to search for these launch sites and it sounds like that's what they've been doing the rocket launch sites that are located in the southern Gaza Strip are going to again pose that same challenge IDF has not clarified to us how many of these sites they've eliminated but you can only imagine that the remaining sites are going to be the ones that are probably the most hidden the hardest to find the hardest to locate just given how the ones that were able to be detected from the air with the drones and what have you have been struck and attempted to be eliminated but again some of these sites I've had one inside the IDF tell me some of these sites potentially haven't even detected a launch yet that they haven't fired from some of these positions so they wouldn't be able to be detected traditionally with the aerial surveillance because they just haven't fired a rocket yet all right, of course that threat still still remaining and one shouldn't be overly optimistic but still those are encouraging figures there Zach Anders down in steel road you could see busy traffic behind you looks like a normal night Zach Anders thank you for that but even as we have a decrease of rocket and aerial attacks in the south it seems to be on the increase in northern Israel and just minutes ago an alert from home from command of enemy aircraft penetration in the region of the southern Golan Heights residents there are advised to take in a protected area immediately stay there for at least 10 minutes so alerts in the southern Golan and as we've seen much more in the north lately than in the south joining us in studio reserves IDF Colonel Grisha Yakubovic former head of the civilian department of Koga and then Israeli-Palestinian relations expert Grisha will get to the north in a bit but first of all let's talk about a lot to break down about what's happening in and around Gaza let me just get to that these statistics just put out by the IDF pointing to this market decrease in rocket attacks as Hamas and the other terror groups running out of ammunition running out of opportunity to fire him or are we being are we allowing ourselves to be lulled a little by this decrease perhaps they're keeping some of that ammo fire for later on when they may be really cornered personally I don't like those statistics because we've we've seen that whenever some officials some that's a minister declared that we did that and we did that Hamas succeeded to show us that we are wrong okay this is the IDF I should note these statistics out of the IDF the idea statistics if I will conclude the full team launches in average today it's a decrease of 80% right that's the numbers right and then in the last day even Fioro would seem from the south yeah but this is this is not something that was not expected when Hamas started this war we described their strategy in parallel six accesses one of them was fire management so they prepare themselves the last ten years to the the great war to the big war the flood as they named it and they assumed that the war will last 60 days okay maybe not more than maybe three months maximum right like similar wars in the past like the rounds of escalation that we already have similar for military actually they did the same mistake that we did they prepared to the war that already right happened and not to the war that is suppose that that that will come and this is exactly what we also did but they did not expect that the idea for the government of Israel will really mean that Hamas regime will collapse if that's the real that's the real attention so they are reducing with that strategy the fire management so if they plan to launch I don't know five launches to Tel Aviv a day they reduced it to once a day and then and then we've seen the decrease during the weeks and now it's will be maybe once a week or I will not be surprised if they will surprise us after hearing all those the text is that suddenly they will launch rockets I don't know to Hedera or to Tel Aviv or to I don't know where so I prefer to be careful with my assessment and to say that Sinwar planned this war well and I'm sure that he also planned surprises well let me ask you on a practical level the residents those communities around the Gaza Strip those whose homes have not been completely destroyed have been away now for over for close to I said 86 days the question is is this decrease enough of a reason to maybe giving permission and reopening some of those communities or is that still too risky given what's the fighting this that's continually going on you go down there you hear the boobs every you know every few minutes from the Israeli side is it too risky to allow them to come back now I think that we see this process already started the idea is just declared today or yesterday that five brigades will be released from the war so it starts with the operational environment reality or the battlefield so if you reduce forces it means it's safe enough to start and let's say live again so it will be okay for yet more the highs will be okay for zeroes for example but I'm sure that the kibbutz seem that are actually close to the border will not be the ones that will get back home and for that the idea and the government of Israel will have to do something totally else right including rebuilding which would take years to do it's not only rebuilding Kalev it's to do more than that it's to make sure that they will feel secure enough that something like that would never have ever happened again right that's the difference as you mentioned the five brigades being released I'm going to relate that to something else that is happening today which is the return of universities to full studies many of those serving in Gaza are students in those universities there's been a big debate about it in Israel but the decrease in manpower the reopening of universities are we moving to a different stage of the war now that's where a war where it's going to be fought we know it's moved from the north to the south and central Gaza but also in which the way operations are carried out more pinpoint operations different types of tactics that we've seen during these first three months of the conflict well I will divide it to the north and to the south it's I think it's two different issues and I will start with the north I think that the United States support the back that we got from President Biden and the coalition right that actually started I think today their actual fights with the Houthis right which we'll get to later but we feel that all the state of Israel feels and is I think that this assessment is that we can feel quite secure because we are backed by our allies right the meaning if Lebanon will start they will have an issue with somebody else and maybe not with us okay well I want you to hold that thought because we're going to go to the northern border right now because there is breaking news another alert there guy Azrael or our editor and news editor correspondent is up there near the Lebanon border we're just talking about a decrease in rocket alerts from Gaza guy it seems the opposite going on in the north and of course even just this evening what is the latest from there in northern Israel yes more alerts and in this case not even rockets but different threat sirens have been ringing less than 10 minutes ago in the community of Keshet in the Golan Heights for a hostile aircraft penetration of course that is just by the Syrian border just northeast of where we are residents have been instructed to remain in shelters for the next 10 minutes until that danger goes away and of course we've seen quite a lot of action today here as well next to the Lebanese border where we're standing the IDF confirming a short while ago that two anti-tank missiles were fired towards an IDF post near the region of Ramim right behind us next to the city of Kiryat Shmona no injuries in that incident but the IDF has struck back with artillery we also know that the IDF struck with helicopters and tanks Hezbollah posts in southern Lebanon earlier today and of course we heard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at the government meeting this morning saying or at least vowing to restore the security in the north and he said be it by diplomatic or military means if need to and of course we also heard from the residents the lobby called 1701 named after that famous UN decision has been urging the government to act more strictly with more power more force against Hezbollah some 80,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes right here in the north they're asking for more decisive action in order to change the situation and eliminate that threat to push Hezbollah further away from the border right but there is we have we see a more extensive IDF action at least in the number of targets they're hitting in range across south Lebanon we're in the heightened rhetoric from Israeli officials warning Hezbollah and I think one in the international community that if this fire keeps up Israel will have to also intensify its efforts but the reaction of Hezbollah seems to increase its attacks maybe in response to the decrease in attacks from Hamas in the south guy it doesn't seem like the message is getting through to Hezbollah or that the message is sufficiently strong for it now to dissuade it from continuing these attacks not just rocket attacks but drone penetration seems increasingly to be a tactic as clearly the doesn't seem like Hezbollah is being deterred quite at all we heard from the deputy chief of Hezbollah just today saying Hezbollah will not slow down its attacks against Israel for as long as the fighting in Gaza continues that is no surprise we don't see Hezbollah is caring too much about what happens to south Lebanon of course the consequences of a wider escalation between Israel and Hezbollah would be catastrophic both for Israel and of course for Lebanon as well but touching on that point exactly today in the government meeting we heard some very rare voices of ministers within Netanyahu's government arguing against the current policy of this sort of limited conflict we heard ministers near Barkat and Amichai Shikli really questioning the response of the IDF of the Israeli government right now saying that 130 or so Hezbollah terrorists killed so far is not something that really deters Hezbollah that is not enough to change the equation here that is very clear telling Netanyahu that he is in the same conception of perhaps that we saw before October 7th and they things need to change very interesting to see those different opinions from within the government right now some ministers asking for more decisive action already right now in that war with Hezbollah all right a guy Israel there by the Lebanon border northern Israel thank you for that Grisha we'll go to the northern but I want you to finish your point about though the battle in the south and the change in the south and where that battle in Gaza is going especially after we heard Prime Minister Netanyahu in the clip last night specifically citing certain strategic points that have to be achieved including taking control of the so-called Philadelphia quarter which is at the extreme southern end of the Gaza Strip bordering on Egypt I want to connect a strategy to politics for one minute operationally to start a war with Gaza the idea was supposed to conquer to catch to get Philadelphia first because this is the way to make sure that nobody will be able to smuggle weapons right or that leaders such as or leaders that can so if you look at the map that is shown now we see Philadelphia the border between Gaza in Egypt the borders of the border so I would expect operationally that the first thing that Israel will do is actually to block them and it was not done why it's a little bit sensitive we have the Egyptians there and the moment this area this road this corridor will be hold or will be in Israeli let's say effective security responsibility it means is responsible on 2.1 million people according to the international law or if the Egyptian or if it will be done without the coordination with the Egyptians the Egyptians can say guys this is yours you decided to take it to be in this or to get the responsibility all the aid that came to we don't care anymore now it's your problem few questions that I have is the opening of Kellem Shalom crossing 3 weeks ago is a preparation for that maybe is it connected with the declaration of Bibi Netanyahu the prime minister yesterday that in any future scenario Philadelphia will be in Israeli hands I think another one foreign minister today saying Israel is ready to allow aid to get into the Gaza Strip from the sea from this new so-called Cypriot corridor from Cyprus I don't remember this in HD but a week ago the minister of defense said no to that okay but we but we need to be aware to the to the things in between to the meaning in between and the meaning in between is it's not happening yet because the moment you do that you would be expected by the Egyptians to reach with a solution or to come with a solution about the day after who will control the Gaza Strip let's say that you do that and it's in your responsibility Israel is not prepared to send aid to Gaza to two and something 2.1 million people and the expectations as the prime minister said some Palestinian local governance regime I don't know it's not really clear I think personally that the only option is the Palestinian Authority nobody wants them let's be clear about it nobody wants the Gazas not Egypt they close the border not Jordan by the way they met as a CC and the Judean King met last week and the first declaration came out of there is no Palestinians will enter to Egypt and to Gaza there's another initiative now I've seen an hour ago that Tony Blair was appointed to lead a process I'm sorry but was that confirmed though I'm not sure that was confirmed I'm going to clarify report to help settle Palestinian refugees to countries that would accept them not all Palestinians but some Palestinians who want to leave Gaza it's not official it's only I don't know that idea was floated a month ago already in UK Prime Minister Tony Blair but we see a ridiculous situation that the Arab world doesn't want them in I don't know rumors about maybe countries from Europe that would accept some of those refugees who will want to do it the meaning of what I'm trying to say or the outcome of that is that the moment there will be an agreement about who will control the Gaza Strip the day after it will be connected to Philadelphia the moment the idea will move into Philadelphia it means decisions will be taken or the moment decisions will be taken of who will control the Gaza Strip the idea will move to Philadelphia it's connected to each other all right I was just going to pause to note that there was supposed to be a discussion again this is based on reports the war cabinet's discussions are secret there was a report that they would start to discuss today after Prime Minister Netanyahu specifically delayed that discussion and continues to delay it and continues to insist that has to wait until Hamas is defeated this is not official also it's only it was leaked in a way I don't know I understand what you're saying all right I'm going to Agris Yakubovich stay with us we're going to go out for a brief break but I just want to still report on that breaking news out of Jerusalem not Jerusalem but out of Mishor I do mean Jerusalem is an industrial area in the West Bank just east of Jerusalem just east of Malaya do mean you're seeing their footage now we're getting from that that was the entrance to the Mishor I do mean commercial zone a lot of shopping outlets there businesses apparently a Palestinian came attempted to stay up to security guards at the entrance they were lightly wounded but the attacker was neutralized was shot dead we'll have more on that story as it develops that's the first footage we're getting out of that incident stay with us we'll be back in a few minutes with more on this special broadcast it's New Year's Eve elsewhere but in Israel it's primarily the evening of day 86 of Israel's war against Hamas we'll be right back in a few minutes brings the truth from Israel to hundreds of millions of people in scores of countries this special broadcast on I-24 news day 86 of Israel's war against Hamas well it's going to turn away from Israel for a moment and look over to London Jonathan Sacha Doty is certainly familiar to our viewers as the London base UK correspondent for I-24 news but he does plenty of other things as well including co-hosting a podcast called peace talk together with Moitas Khalil a Muslim Egyptian journalist and that's dedicated to coexistence and dialogue well it sounds like just the thing one needs online these days but when it brought up the October 7th attack on Israel the social media joint Metta apparently decided the podcast was breaching guidelines on Facebook and censored it perhaps highlighting what some have charged is a double standard on the platform when it comes to Israel Jewish content here's a bit of the opening of peace talk to get a sense of what we're talking about I'm Jonathan Sacha Doty a Jewish journalist based here in London and I am Moitas Khalil Mizo Muslim Egyptian journalist based in London Jonathan peace talk coexistence sounds great but what what happened with Facebook why would that be objectionable great question we thought it sounds great but what do I know we thought when Mizo and I started peace talk it was really a way of us both exploring something that we discovered since working together professionally two years ago he's an Egyptian Muslim journalist who's worked for one of Egypt's leading newspapers who'd come to the UK a couple of years ago to study his masters in Israel studies at SOAS not known to be the most pro-Israeli institutions here and he's been studying here since then that's when we met while I was working on some material which involved Arabic and he was translating it for me and since then we discovered a shared interest in peaceful coexistence and discussions between us from our very different backgrounds so it was a natural transition from our personal and private discussions on camera and discussing it in a way that the whole world could hear from not just us but a variety of other voices often from around the Middle East including you've seen there Kobe Mikhail who's familiar to many viewers of I-24 but also Fatima Ilhabi a Bahraini peace activist who's visited Israel herself is engaged in holocaust education even watched that 47 minute film put together by Israel of the Hamas GoPro footage from October the 7th and spoken out very much against it all these important voices were people we thought the world needed to hear more from but as soon as I uploaded the Fatima Ilhabi episodes to Facebook they actually automatically pulled it and told me that it contravened their rules about dangerous people and organizations which just seems outrageous seeing as what we were doing was calling out Hamas's dangerous ideology. Right and the reason we're highlighting at Jonathan besides the fact we don't want to see you is it's maybe an example of what some see as a much bigger problem which is a double standard on some of the social media platforms. Facebook TikTok in particular has been cited some have also spoken of Twitter and Instagram where content which is either supportive of Israel highlights some of the things for example that happened on October 7th is censored while much more inflammatory material which may be directed against Israel or even beyond against you somehow managed to slip through. Exactly Caleb I think that's the issue when this happened there seemed to be no good explanations that I could think of one was that they deliberately pulled this down because it showed Arab voices from around the Middle East who were interested in peaceful coexistence rather than the extremism that we saw from Hamas and the other Muslim Brotherhood affiliates around the region and from Iran as well or because it was some sort of algorithmic automated thing that couldn't spot that we were actually critiquing Hamas I mean our podcast involved Mata looking at the Hamas Charter in its original Arabic and then us discussing the nuances of the precise words they used in relation to the protests going on around the world. Ridiculous ones like boycotting the fashion store Zara which has nothing to do with Israel so bearing that in mind there was no good solution either there was a deliberate thing to sense the voices that the world needs to hear more from or it was an automated thing which seems able to pull down our podcast covering peaceful coexistence but not able to spot blatant and outrageous anti-Semitism that seems to get left up on the platforms that Mata runs even when Jewish people and other people reported on mass either way they don't come out of this well and it seems that their censorship is heavy-handed but also indiscriminate. Right and finally since that happened to many of our guests and I'm sure to many of your viewers is there any recourse in this case in dealing again with a massive I guess global bureaucracy like Facebook or the company parent company Mata? Well I put an appeal to Mata in fact they have this body called the Oversight Board which they claim is independent but of course it's like sending a complaint into a vacuum it says you've submitted it you might hear from them in a few weeks but they don't promise to look at all cases so I rather give an up on the idea that they might come around or come to their senses certainly on topical matters like what's going on in the Middle East now it will be a bit too late if they do restore that issue but viewers can of course watch our podcast on YouTube and on Spotify where I hope they will find it because they didn't pull it down and we're delighted to be sharing really important voices who are interested in examining the nuances of what's going on in the Middle East with broad sweeps and very black and white visions that are given in parts of the world like here in the UK Alright well certainly we hope those viewers find it there and that Facebook comes to recognize crucial differences between content Jonathan Satshidori co-host of Peace Talk and our correspondent in the UK thanks for joining us and happy new years Jonathan Thanks Caleb, happy new year and we're back with Grisha Jakobovic I want to go back I do have an update from the north the IDF says now regarding that Red Alert in the southern Golan further to the report of the activation of a warning about the entry of a hostile aircraft into the skies of Israel the event has ended we don't know if that was Grisha false alarm or the IDF has handled the situation but let's go back to now northern Israel because we are seeing the situation first of what we discussed earlier which is the decrease in rocket attacks from Gaza we've seen an increase in his border aerial attacks of various kinds from the north and growing debate as was mentioned by Guy even within the government itself about how the government should be reacting to it Ahmad Abdelhadi the representative of Hamas in Lebanon said today officially that Suleymanin and Mughni visited Gaza a few times visited actually in Gaza an Iranian high official Suleymanin that was killed exactly four years ago I think in two days Nastalallah is going to give his monthly or yearly whatever speech on that anniversary on that anniversary January 3rd and it was reported then but I think that nobody believes in that but Suleymanin actually visited Gaza and he is the guy that advised Hamas to build the tunnels so I think it's obvious that rockets that will be launched from Gaza from Lebanon will be coordinated sure and I think that this is also part of the strategy that when Sinwar will manage his location will have to monitor his abilities he will get support from Hezbollah in the north and we see that we see that the last week and we see now the escalation from the Syrian arena also this is not the first time that it started I think it's connected to what happened in Syria two days ago where four Hezbollah members were killed by some attacks in Syria and later on some Iranians and some fitamayoun also that belongs to Iranian militians I think it's all connected eventually it's the connection between all the renas so the question is what should you be doing now in the north because clearly the current strategy is not deterring Hezbollah and in fact we have seen an intensification of Hezbollah just in the last few days I think that what we see is exactly what Israel understood and it's monitored as the ammunition in Gaza or the launches from Gaza are reduced and as Israel will enter deeper and will be actually close to catch Sinwar we will see the flames from the north raising to make sure that Israel focus now Israel understands that this is why the last week and a half Israel hits Lebanon harder than what Hezbollah expected it's like a message a clear message to Hezbollah guys if you want to have more you will get more we are not afraid this is a language okay this is the Middle Eastern language if you want to shoot don't talk and this is what Israel is doing Israel is shooting 134 Hezbollah terrorists were killed since the war started and I think that Hezbollah actually and Guy mentioned it earlier that Hezbollah and I want to be really careful here but I think that Hezbollah actually offered the equation how to stop the war in the north and they said the moment Israel will stop fighting Gaza it will be stopped in the north all right okay it means for me okay the understanding is very clear we have no attention to escalate the situation in the north we don't want to continue with the pressure of Hamas Hochstein that is going to land in Lebanon this week the French the US and other other pressures because we don't want to check we don't want to see if you are really serious about us Hezbollah moving north into the Littani the resolution of the UN 1701 because Israel actually declared it will be done or by let's say the nice way international pressure or we will force you to do that and I think that Hezbollah wants to avoid from that reality all right so who's paying the price for it are these tens of thousands of Israelis who have been forced to leave their homes but let's not forget also 100,000 in Lebanon I don't know if that's consolation for the tens of thousands of Israelis who should stay with us now as we've been mentioning 86 days out from the events of October 7th and still more and more stories the full facts of what happened at the Nover music festival some more horrifying than others for example stories about the sexual atrocities just emerging this weekend about what happened at the Nover festival now for Aviv Bar Hanim the festival was the happiest day of his life which turned into the worst day of all a day in which his luck and resourcefulness stood by him and saved him first from a death trap in a shelter and later from the terrorists who were after him while running for his life a couple from the infernal that was unfolding there more on that story in this report which we've adapted from Izio's channel 12 news At the moment, the people, the music was released we realized that we had to get it I thought that where all of our efforts I had a great success I went through hundreds of meters from the right side of all the steps that we made I got to Be'eri I went there to the airport and later we started to get there to get to the people we had 30 or 40 people on the plane and in the end I had to pass and I had to go outside to the airport so I looked behind the plane and as soon as I saw that people wanted to get to us and we needed to get out and at the same moment that we were getting out I could hear the sound of the plane at the same moment I went back to the plane and the people who were flying and I ran to the plane I went to the plane and I started to get on the plane and at the beginning of the plane I noticed a group of people who were also on the plane who asked me to go to the airport and we passed the airport and I saw the flight of the airport a hand that was holding the plane I saw that all the flights that come to the airport and the first flight that comes he went back to the airport and he went to the airport and he was alone he went to the gyms and I saw everyone in a car in stress at that moment I realized that I couldn't go to the airport I was sure that he would see them I went back to the airport to get to the airport I almost got to the airport at the airport and there I heard really loud noises and I already saw the flights coming from the airport and at that moment again I crossed the road I went to the airport at the airport and at that time I was trying to think what I should do that I should get to the airport that I don't know if it's a flight or a flight to the airport that I know that they are flying again to get to the airport at the airport at the airport we are adjusting or or making sure that every different part of the ship with the different characteristics and different operational needs will get the correct answer we've managed to capture some of the terrorists some of them took part in the October 7th massacre we continue to take care of the underground terror tunnel infrastructure to minimize the rocket fire towards Israel and other terror infrastructure tonight 2024 will begin the objectives of the goal require prolonged campaign prolonged war and we are preparing accordingly we are wisely managing the forces underground these forces allowed them to refresh and to pursue the training that is needed in every unit in the IDF we continue to the skilled process of all the different commanders and then they are going back to the ship to fight we are also addressing again the issue of the reservists to their families, to their work, to their life as early as this week it will allow a significant a significant relief on the economy, on the society but the war will continue in the coming year and we will still need them these adjustments are due to the different conditions on the ground the IDF must look forward and plan forward the continuation of war throughout this upcoming year the war in Gaza the IDF continues its combined operations from air, from sea from land the forces are on high alert they are fighting every second with a significant aerial umbrella above them assisting, rescuing doing whatever is needed for 87 days this cooperation is unprecedented on the battlefield we haven't seen such a cooperation in any other campaign this is the force this is the strength of the IDF of the Israeli society of its reservists this is the national goal the national strength there is no such scenario that land forces did not get back up or assistance from the air to get medical attention etc there is no change in the instructions in the orders for the IDF soldiers in Gaza any soldier who identifies a threat will do whatever it needs to do in order to eliminate the threat any other statement is simply false at the same time we are making sure that we are keeping up adjusting the use of force there is a lot of there are a lot of civilians there and we are making sure that we are targeting the enemy and not the civilians we are minimizing those who are not involved in the north today as well we completed a wide range of Hezbollah terror targets in the village of Ramya Hezbollah turned many villages there in southern Lebanon to a war zone Hezbollah to Hamas citizens of Lebanon there are human shields for it and we will continue to operate in southern Lebanon and anywhere that Hezbollah is using to to pursue terror against us they will meet our forceful hand today the academic year began many of the reservists are still on the front lines this is another opportunity to express our deep profound admiration to your dedication to the compromises you are making we will do whatever we can with the government institutes and the education system to provide them all the support they need in order to go back to school, universities all the other things they need have we is it true that in the past week we've seen new instructions being released by the IDF chief of staff on the operations of the forces on the ground I repeat what I said and it's important for the public to understand when a soldier identified a threat a fire someone threatening with fire we will apply all the needed mechanisms to make sure this fire stops and that our soldiers are not harmed alongside this the IDF chief of staff every week sometimes even once in a few days adjusting the procedures the instructions what does it mean for example there is an Gaza change because we're moving a population from this place to another so we're updating the instructions we're doing it all the time this is the professionality of the army that's it as for the forces this too is the professionality you're looking ahead you cannot stay in the same situation every different area in Gaza for example Hanyun there's a very certain modus operandi above ground underground today we eliminated a whole lot of terrorists and terrorists surrendered this is an operation with a certain boundary certain guidelines to this operation in a different location with a different pattern of action we can release some of the forces if we can we will do because this is the right thing to do to go back home to their families especially the reservists to go back to the economy and might very well that we will need them yet again so we need to allow them to refresh themselves the IDF is looking ahead commanders in the different courses and training they will go back to train some more and then we'll go back to the battlefield is the IDF supposed to operate in Arafa as well I will not at this podium will let the enemy know what we're about to do we got the objectives of the war and in order for us to achieve those objectives we will dismantle the Hamas strongholds to do it wisely in a sophisticated manner we don't need to give the enemy the information now the more information the enemy has the better so it's better for us they'll be surprised as much as possible alright we just heard we're at Daniel Higari the IDF spokesperson we're coming out of that briefing now back to the studio he did relate to a subject we discussed earlier the redeployment of some IDF forces out of Gaza in a sense perhaps reducing to some degree the amount of troops there he also related to and we should give some background on that saying that those troops that are in Gaza ground troops carrying in Gaza carrying out ground operations are receiving sufficient air support that is in response to some figures in the government who make claims that air strikes have been reduced perhaps due to international pressure exposing IDF ground troops the spokesperson Daniel Higari totally refuting that just an update on that stabbing incident in the west bank we have now two security guards 124 year old, 122 year old that were admitted to the mountscope with hospital with stab wounds they're in stable condition the Palestinian terrorist was apparently neutralized shot dead on the scene Grisha Yakovic we've seen a I would say a fairly significant uptick in terrorist activities in the west bank as well as in the last couple of weeks as well as Israeli response IDF response to it well if I counted correctly this is the first terror attack the last three days in Hebron yeah this is the fifth this is the fifth the fifth terror attack Mazmouriyah Hebron I have it listed here it bothers it really really bothers let's add to that that the IDF are doing a great job it's actually very difficult sensitive but it's very significant operations in Jenin, in Tulkara, in Nurashams fighting I would say Iran abilities in the west bank the west bank is part of the seven arenas that were mentioned by minister Gallant if we remember that last week and I said that we are facing nine arenas not seven because I added to that the economic arena with the Houthis and I added the United States arena in Syria and Iraq also and we need to be prepared for surprises when it comes to the Houthis and when it comes to Hezbollah I don't know maybe the new plans in 2024 since midnight will be an economical siege on Israel but the west bank is something that really bothers me where is the PA so Mahboud Abbas plans to be the next president or to continue that that is about replacing just stated that if Israel will enter the Philadelphia it will be an end to the PLO agreements something is really really