 Thank you. I have to add that since that incident occurred, we've actually heard an uptake in the number of Israeli aircraft over our heads, both in the form of jets and drones, and there's also been a big step up in the amount of outgoing artillery fire from Israeli positions. Right, and just to reiterate, there are no so many civilians around and should not be. Well, that's right. I mean, first of all, most of the communities here, including the city of Sterotwareimba, even more so the villages further to the south where the impact was, they are essentially evacuated. But we noticed as we were driving past one of them earlier today, a series of civilian vehicles leaving. So it seems at times people do come back, they come into the villages. As we understand it, there's not many people living there. Aside from the few people who are involved in essential jobs, some of them involved in farming and others in local security. Aside from these individuals, nobody is staying in the villages, but people do from time to time come back to collect things, to collect possessions, or for other needs that they have there temporarily. And so there are a small number of civilians in the area. Right. Okay, Robert, thank you very much for that. Let's go to the studio. Ambassador Alon Liali is here with me. Thank you very much for joining us. Let me start with Turkey because, among others, you used to be the Israeli diplomatic head of mission in Turkey at the time. And you know Erdogan and you know Turkish politics and Erdogan is increasing his anti-Israel rhetoric lately. Why is he doing that? It started about two weeks after the 7th of October. He has a very soft nerve when it comes to two issues Hamas and Al-Aqsa. We knew it, we knew it, but we hope the things will not explode. But when he saw two weeks after the war that the number of casualties in Gaza is growing in bombardment, he started attacking first in parliament, then in a big demonstration in Istanbul. And he kind of gave up on us. Although there is quite a lot was going on in high level meetings and energy relations, economic relations. He was about to visit Israel? Yeah, yes. He gave up on us. He gave up on us. I think that quietly hopes that energy relations and some of the commercial relations will not collapse. But even if this will happen, he is determined. He is very much pro Hamas now took sides. And in fact, we have nothing going on. We have Turkey as a hostile country now to Israel. All right. Let's go to our friend Ayla in Turkey. And Ayla is a journalist there. Thank you very much for joining us. Ayla Janyakli. The Secretary of State Blinken is all around the place. Also has been to Ankara and met with Erdogan. What's on the agenda there? Yeah, the top U.S. diplomat was in Istanbul yesterday and met for more than an hour with President Erdogan after meeting his Turkish counterpart. And he did strike a positive note after leaving Istanbul. He had a degree after Turkey. He said that Turkey is could play a positive role in a post conflict situation in Gaza that Turkey's influence could be used to also perhaps, you know, stop the war from spreading throughout the region. I think in particular, we might think of Iran here that Turkey does maintain close relations with Iran, one of the few NATO countries to do so. And so I think there's this expectation that despite the hostile rhetoric that Erdogan has aimed at Israel, it can still play a role in perhaps, you know, the post conflict situation. Right. What would be a positive contribution of Erdogan since he lost credibility in Israel entirely? Yeah, and the role might be determined in the end, not by Turkey itself or what the U.S. wants to see, but how Israel is receptive to a Turkey led by Erdogan after, as you said, the rhetoric. You know, I guess maybe there's a cynical view of some sort that all of this is rhetorical, that as the ambassador mentioned, you know, trade does remain relatively robust between Turkey and Israel. You know, there is no diplomatic missions in either country at this moment that are open, but maybe there's still the hope that this can be repaired. There's also just the fact that Turkey does wield influence over Hamas. It has close ties. It hosts members of the organization. It doesn't consider a terrorist organization. And so therefore Turkey could play a part in somehow, you know, brokering the situation that comes after the conflict is past its most intense stages. And every now and then there are arrests of so-called Israeli spies in Turkey. That's part of the signal. That probably doesn't do much for, you know, improving relations. But those arrests did come after the head of Shin Bet was recorded and saying that Israeli authorities would pursue Hamas members overseas. And everyone responded quite angrily at the time to that. So in a sense, it could be a bit of a response to that statement. The details we have about those operations indicate that perhaps those people who were arrested were, you know, tasked with piecemeal jobs. They weren't by any means high level informants, let's say. But it clearly was also aimed at sending a message that Turkey doesn't want to see anything like, you know, like assassinations perhaps happening on its own soil. All right. Ayla, thank you very much for that. I see only one possible role for Erdogan in this situation. If we'll have an exchange of hostages and prisoners, he can take the worst guys. I mean, really, he did it also in the Gila cell case. He took the 13 bad guys to Ankara and treated them very well. And here I guess there are some big names that we nobody would like to take, not Abu Mazen. And I don't think we'll release them to Gaza. So they might, Erdogan might take them. I mean, that wasn't the agenda with Blinken. Very interesting, very interesting point. With us now is journalist Daoud Kotab. Thank you very much for joining us again. Daoud, what's the Jordanian angle in this conflict? Because Blinken is there as well. Well, Jordan is concerned about the idea of the movement of people, especially in Gaza, but they're afraid that the idea of forced or voluntary repatriation out of Gaza will be mirrored in the West Bank and this could destabilize Jordan. So Jordan's number one is to make sure that there is no attempt directly or indirectly to force Palestinians from the West Bank, especially, and Gaza to immigrate or to be forced to leave Gaza and the West Bank to Jordan. The second thing Jordan is interested in is the effect of the war on Gaza on Jordan domestically. Jordan is seeing everyday demonstrations. They're seeing protesters against the vegetable salesmen who sell to Israel. Vegetables want the Gaza vegetables cut out. So there's a lot of problems here that wants to see stability and wants to end of the war and wants to make sure people get fed in medical supplies are given to Gaza. So they want to make sure the humanitarian side is also taken care of. Will Jordan be able or would like to take part in what's called the revitalizing the Palestinian Authority, reshuffling the Palestinian Authority or something like that? Well, Jordan has no relations with Hamas. They deported the Hamas leaders in the 90s, and they've really had no serious negotiations or even contact much with Hamas, even though Khalid Mashallah and others are Jordanian citizens. Their deportation was done on a very high level security reasons. So Jordan's relations is almost exclusively with Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority. And as a result of that, I think Jordan wants to see a bigger role for the Palestinian Authority. But they also understand that there might have to be some type of compromise the way that Lebanon has his government. That there will be some type of Islamists in the Palestinian remodeled or reshuffled government. So, but yes, I think Jordan wants to be part of the post war events. They want to be involved hopefully in the construction of Gaza, but they're mostly interested in the stability of the West Bank. Jordan has been involved with air drops of humanitarian aid around Gaza. Do they take any steps to make sure it doesn't go into the hands of Hamas, like much of the humanitarian aid from Egypt does? Well, you know, there's so much you could do with food. I mean, people need food. So even if it goes to Hamas, it's not a big sin. But no, they're sending the humanitarian aid to respected organizations. But, you know, I know that Israelis have this stupidity of not wanting to give food to Gaza, but people need to live. Two million people need food. I mean, it's really a war crime. And food cannot be. It's not like gas or oil. Maybe they can be used in the guns. But what can you use food for except to eat? So I don't have any denial of food drops into Gaza, even if it goes to Hamas. I mean, this is a humanitarian thing. It's nothing to do with dual usage like fuel. It's a very simple, basic thing that human beings have. And I don't understand why the Israelis are so adapted not having any food. Well, you know, you said people need to live. You know, how many Israelis were killed. So you can understand where this is coming from. And Israel wants to kill Hamas. But, you know, 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, 10,000 children have been killed. Yesterday, the minister of culture said 40 cultural institutions were demolished. Come on, I mean, the ratio is unbelievable. And why South Africa has issued the genocide? Because what the Israelis are saying, dehumanizing things that they're doing against Palestinians is dehumanizing. Well, yeah, I mean, we don't want to compare deaths with deaths. But as the Pope said, terror is on both sides, and we need to stop this war. Alright. Thank you very much. Meanwhile, Israeli hostages or rather families of hostages took the initiative and flew to Qatar to advance negotiations somehow. Our man in Dubai is joining us now. What do we know about this initiative so far, Bestia? Well, we know that the Qataris are saying to these families that they're still at the stage of an attempted mediation. Nothing is set in stone, but the crux of a potential new deal would be the release of dozens of other hostages. That would be the concession asked to Hamas in exchange for a much longer ceasefire, the release of several Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, as well as increased humanitarian aid for Gaza. We know that Hamas has already agreed to it and probably even instigated it in the first place since a long truce would be of great military benefit to them. And on the other side, it's Israel that's blocking the negotiations. You have Galan said it again. Sal will not stop the fighting so much so that we can wonder whether Hamas has not deliberately imposed very demanding conditions in this deal to force Israel to showcase itself as the one refusing it. Right. What should we expect to hear from Blinken and the Qataris, do you think, in this press conference that is scheduled to happen momentarily? Well, first it's a lot like the fact that these negotiations are very complex and I think the complexity doesn't just depend on how this war is unfolding from an external point of view. It also depends on how the other players in the region are competing to be seen as the Arab country that helps the Palestinians the most. Countries like the UAE, for instance, want to play a role in Gaza once this war is over, notably by bringing Mohammed Dahlan into a position of leadership in Gaza. Dahlan is the former head of security for the Palestinian Authority, a financially powerful man who lives in exile here and who was the support of the Palestinians, of the Israelis and the Americans. So this would enable the Emirates to potentially supplant the Qataris in this role of chief mediator in the Near East. But at the end of the day, it is a form of healthy competition, if you don't mind me saying so. Because still being the only intermediary allows Qatar to assert itself and remain prosperous because it makes them maintain excellent relations with the U.S. And this means investments in Qatar, advanced military equipment sold by the Americans and Qatar's geopolitical interests supported by Washington. And as far as Anteliblik in his concern, he will try to put pressure on Qatar to strong arm Hamas back to the negotiating table on a new realistic hostage deal. Blinken will travel to the UAE as well tomorrow. The Emirates are expected to request more UN General Assembly meetings in the future in order to call for true humanitarian ceasefires. In the coming years, there is likely to be more significant political support for these meetings and resolutions. But as you know, there are no vetoes in the General Assembly and its decisions are not legally binding. Back in October, it adopted a resolution calling for a sustained humanitarian truce and a cessation of hostilities. But in the end, as you remember, the real truce happened a month later and was pretty much negotiated by the Qataris alone. Thanks to their good relations with all the actors in this Gaza war. So the UAE can push for more. Blinken will witness it, but they don't necessarily have the power to do so. Okay, Bastian Bore in Dubai. Thank you very much for that. Back to the studio, Ambassador Leo. The international court is going to start discussion on Thursday regarding the complaint by the South African government against Israel. How do you see this? On Thursday, the South Africans will put their claims in front of the court. And on Friday, we will respond. Each country has a day. And then the 17 judges, the original 15 with the Israeli and the South Africans that have been added will issue their positions. And probably on several issues, the most critical one is if the court will demand holding fire, meaning stopping the war. And on the suspect that the court will in a year or two or three decide that this is genocide. So this is the critical decision. If they will hold the guns, it will be very complicated for Israel. If this will be the decision, because it will go immediately to the Security Council, probably trigger a very, very problematic American veto and more reactions internationally. There have been so many wars in the past years. So many. Some are still continuing, by the way. Look at Ukraine and other places. Why is this happening so quickly and so forcefully by the international court? The accusation on genocide will be a very slow process. I don't think the South Africans can prove intention for genocide. They will try, and they have many Israeli statements, radical statements, but they might fail. But this will take a very long process. The very fast procedure is that it says that any country, even if it was not directly damaged by what Israel does, on the issue of genocide, it can approach the court, and the court has to immediately decide if it's calling for ceasefire. And this procedure is very fast. I also don't remember such a fast process in the past, but next week we will know. We will know the decision. And if the court will decide to call for a ceasefire, the implications will be severe for Israel. Well, I don't see. Meanwhile, more terrifying stories following October 7th. A teenage girl who spent more than 50 days in Hamas captivity, speaking out about her traumatic ordeal in Gaza. Take a listen. We took her out of my father's house. We saw her laughing with her hands. We didn't even try to hurt her, or hurt her. She was all over the place, and on their backs. And then I was killed, and she was killed too. We went to Gaza. You're alive, you're dead. You don't know when it will happen, you don't know how it will happen. You know if it will happen in the future, or something will happen to you, or the consequences of your life in general. We thought about how to read, how to meet you. One day we passed by a house in Minara. Suddenly, the door opened, and there were six girls. And suddenly we realized that there were girls who were also dead. The girls were in a very difficult situation. They were injured, very difficult, and very painful. They didn't want to cry. They were afraid of themselves, or that we helped them to escape. When we were with them, it was already a time when they were afraid of every five days, because they already had no clothes on. If I remember now, it's already more than once in a few days, because the girls were also beaten up, and the attack was going on. It's also a physical attack, and also a physical attack. I can't believe at all what their situation is. But it's a hope of survival. Yeah, in Australia we are three months already inside this war. People are there in Gaza, sometimes in very dire conditions, underground or elsewhere. Israel is not succeeding in having a plan there. We are not succeeding militarily, and we are not succeeding diplomatically. I'm not an expert on how to do it militarily, but diplomatically, there is no possibility that we will stop trying. It's amazing that Netanyahu told the families that the situation in the negotiations is frozen. I mean, there is no such thing. The whole Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the whole Cabinet should work on this issue, and the reasons are not that it's not the number one priority. They still think that the military pressure is helping the release, and we see that it's not. We are three months into the war. There was one Israeli released by the Army, and some killed by the Army. So I think it's a shame, really. And I think what the families did now, going independently to Qatar, should be an embarrassment to the government. It was not coordinated with the government. And I see that Hamas is trying through Qatar to pass messages to the families that are not coming through the government to create a direct link to the families. I'm sure the families will come and will say, we heard things that the Israeli government didn't tell us. The other side of it is, will Hamas play with the families, because families cannot make a deal. They cannot release prisoners or stop the war. And maybe Hamas is playing with them, and maybe Qatar as well. The word playing is not a fair description. They have one game. Their game is to take their family members out, not to win the war. I mean, Hamas is playing with the families. Yeah, but the families are willing to do it, because that's the only hope now, after a long period of time, with no talks, that they can get something, that they can create a certain link that will bring a certain result, even if it's a small result. I must say that, you know, when I speak on this demand of an overall ceasefire, this could be seen, for instance, as a declaration of the Israel of the side that they stopped the war. The fighting can go on, but we have to be more creative. So let me show you Israeli Prime Minister speaking today this morning. Take a listen. We are not stopping until victory. The war must not be stopped until we achieve all of its goals. The elimination of Hamas, the return of all our hostages, and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel. I say this to both our enemies and our friends. This is our responsibility, and this is our commitment. Every other consideration must be set aside, and we must continue until total victory. So not stopping, by the way, that usually comes before stopping when politicians say that, you know that. No, I think Netanyahu got it wrong. First of all, all the time he says elimination of Hamas before the hostages. And this is the Israeli order, and I think this is the wrong order because Hamas will live there for some maybe years, who knows, decades, but the hostages do not have the time. Maybe not even weeks. So he must change the order, and he has to bring up a deal that will bring a certain ceasefire a month, two, three, but bring them back, and then we'll worry about the rest. But the fact that he's trying to kill Sinuah before the hostages is endangering those hostages. Very, very darn situation. No doubt about that. Alon, thank you very much for that. We'll take a break now, and we'll be right back with more special coverage here on Night 24 News. A state of war family is completely gunned down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. If this is Katari Prime Minister next to U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blicken, let's take a listen. Read on the news, or listen on the news. This is a big test for our humanity, and that forces us not to be used to this scene that we see every single day on the news. The hospitals are still being targeted, schools also, and people fleeing their homes are still killed, and also the threat of forced displacement, which might lead to another new Palestinian catastrophe and also this provocative statements of some of the kinetic ministers of Israel, which we condemned them. It is also sad that we see that managing the conflict and the violence is increasing, and we believe that we need to contain this crisis as soon as possible and to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, which will also help on de-escalating the other region, and despite we look for sustainable solutions for peace in the region. However, the focus is now on the stop of the fighting and confirm that Gaza is part of the Palestinian, occupied Palestinian territory, which needs to be under the leadership of the Palestinian and the Palestinian people are the one who have, and there is no peace in the region without a peaceful solution based on the international legitimacy. Mr. Secretary, we highly evaluate our partnership with the United States of America and the continuous consultation. I would like to thank you for your support, ongoing support for our efforts that focus now on reaching a true sort of ceasefire and the release of the hostages, and we always look for a role for the United States of America to put an end for this conflict and also to reach sustainable solutions that give the Palestinian people their rights in their own state, and we also look forward for more consultation on all the different topics that we work together with your friendly country and also to improve our bilateral relation in all the aspects, political, militarily and economically. Thank you very much. Well, Mr. Prime Minister, Amit, my friend, thank you. Thank you for today and for the very good meetings that we had, and indeed, thank you for the work that we've been doing from the start since October 7th and the horrific attacks on Israel. It's now, as you said, been three months since those attacks, and this is a moment of profound tension in the region. It's in the conflict that could easily potasticize, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering. So, from day one, among other priorities, we have been intensely focused on working to prevent the conflict from spreading, and that is indeed a major focus of what is now my fourth visit to the region since October 7th. It was at the heart of discussions yesterday with President Erdogan and Prime Minister Mitsotakis. This morning with King Abdullah and Jordan and in the meetings that I just had with Ymir and with the Prime Minister. We share a commitment to ensure that the conflict does not expand, and I think we also share a commitment to use the influence, the relationships, the ties that we have with different parties in the region to try to avoid escalation and to deter new trends from opening. This is not just a regional issue. It's a matter of global concern, and that's certainly the case when it comes to the Houthi attacks on freedom of navigation in one of the world's busiest trade corridors, the Red Sea. These attacks have directly affected the citizens, the cargo, the commercial interests of more than 40 countries. They've disrupted or diverted nearly 20% of global shipping. More than a dozen shipping companies have had to reroute thousands of vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, and what that means is it takes longer to get goods to where they're supposed to go. It increases the cost, and that cost gets passed on to consumers around the world, whether it's food, whether it's fuel, whether it's medicine, humanitarian assistance, you name it. So these attacks by the Houthis, hurting people around the world, most of all, the poorest and most vulnerable populations, including in Yemen, to get remaining hostages out and home with their loved ones. Qatar was instrumental in the negotiations that led to the simultaneous release of more than 100 hostages, including American citizens, and a pause in the fighting that during that time enabled us to double the flow of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. We're deeply grateful, Prime Minister to you, to the Emir, for your ongoing leadership in this effort, for the tireless work that you undertook, and that continues to try to free the remaining hostages. To those still being held hostage, to their loved ones, to their families, I promise you this, the United States will continue to work relentlessly to bring you home, to get you together with your family and loved ones. Now, we've made some measurable progress in increasing the aid getting into Gaza, including through the opening of Karim Shalom, but it is still insufficient to meet the massive need. And then once in Gaza, the barriers to getting the aid to where it needs to go beyond Rafa remain far too high. Too many Palestinian civilians are suffering from insufficient access to food, to water, to medicine, to other essential supplies. Children, most of all. We continue to raise with Israel the need to do everything possible to facilitate the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and I will do so again when I'm there later this week. I will also raise the imperative of doing more to prevent civilian casualties. Far too many Palestinians, innocent Palestinians, have already been killed. The United Nations is playing an irreplaceable role in delivering and distributing life-saving assistance to people in Gaza, as the United Nations Security Council affirmed in Resolution 2720. We welcome the appointment of Sigurd Kog as the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator. I had the pleasure of working very closely with Sigurd Kog when she led the UN mission that successfully eliminated the Assad regime stockpile of chemical weapons. Her first hand, her professionalism, her integrity, her effectiveness. She has the full support of the United States and we expect that she will have the full cooperation of every country in the region. This morning I had an opportunity to meet with the UN staff in the World Food Program at an aid distribution warehouse in Jordan. I thank them for the genuinely heroic work they're doing putting their own lives in danger to try to get assistance to Palestinian men, women, and children. And I can say the same about other extraordinary relief workers, most of them in the United Nations system who are doing this day in and day out. We're proud to be their supporters as the single largest owner of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people. The experts that I met with this morning spoke to conditions in Gaza where over 90% of the population has acute food and security. Going days and nights without anything to eat. That can cause lifelong irreversible harm for children. An immediate increase in aid is essential, as is improving deconfliction procedures to ensure it's safe and secure delivery, including to northern Gaza. As Israel moves to a lower intensity phase of its military operation in the north, the United Nations can also play a crucial role in evaluating what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return home. Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow. They cannot. They must not be pressed to leave Gaza. We reject the statements by some Israeli ministers and lawmakers calling for a resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza. These statements are irresponsible, they're inflammatory, and they only make it harder to secure a future of Palestinian led Gaza with Hamas no longer in control and with terrorist groups no longer able to threaten Israel's security. Of course, even as we focused on our immediate goals, we also must work toward lasting peace and security. The United States has a vision for how to get there. A regional approach that delivers lasting security for Israel and a state for the Palestinian people. In my meetings on this trip, we also discussed what each country can do to provide the assurances and the incentives required to build a more secure, a more stable, a more peaceful future for the region. And my take away from the discussion so far, including here with our friends in Qatar, is that our partners are willing to have these difficult conversations and to make hard decisions. All of us feel a stake in forging away forward. All of us recognize that we have to work together. That is the only way forward. And it cannot wait. So, I look forward to carrying on these discussions with more partners in the days ahead. Thank you. The first question for the Executive Prime Minister. We see so many changes in the region and there are so many targets of leaders like Salih Al-Aroori in Beirut and also leaders in Syria and also inside Iran. What is the implication of that on the region and does have anything to do with the mediation? Targeted by the IGF including our colleague son of our colleague Mahmoud Hamza What is the situation? Is the United States condemned targeting journalists, innocent journalists and what is the situation? What is the position of the United States government in this case? Ben? Concerning your question in relation to the escalation that we witness in the region since the beginning we have warned of the expansion of the crisis and this is a likelihood and it's a threat to everyone in the region that we live in. So the importance of working together and our joint efforts need to be to stop this war to stop the spread of the conflict and that was our main focus and also took a big part of our talks with my friend Mr. Blinken the recent events that we have witnessed whether in Lebanon or in Syria are unfortunately are a violation to the severity of those countries and we can see also continuous violations however our main target, our purpose is to stop of this war and to avoid the bigger escalation in the region the state of Qatar is always seeking by working with all the parties in order to diffuse and de-escalate and we work also closely with our friends the Americans and other countries to reach that result as we have, I have mentioned before we believe that the solution is to stop this war in Gaza and we believe that will have a positive implication on the whole region I am deeply deeply sorry for the almost unimaginable loss suffered by your colleague all that I do I am a parent myself I can't begin to imagine the horror that he's experienced not once but now, not twice this is an unimaginable tragedy and that's also been the case for, as I said far too many innocent Palestinian men women and children civilians also journalists Palestinian and others the committee to protect journalists has found that now some 70 journalists have been killed in Gaza one is far too many and the value that we place upon their work your work and bringing information facts to the world it's never been more important so this is why we are pressing the need not only of making sure that humanitarian assistance can get to people who need it but that people are protected from harm from this conflict in the first place and ultimately it's why ending the conflict and finding as we just discussed a genuinely durable lasting peace where Israel does not have to fear the repeat of October 7th and men women and children can live in peace and security in Gaza in the West Bank wherever they may be so on the second U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Doha Qatar that was a live statement and some answers to questions Ambassador Arlon Liel here in the studio first of all he was really concerned about the escalation the possible escalation of war here in the region he started with this and you see that this is like the main object right now main objective of the Americans I think on Thursday we have the international court starting I think the increase in violence we had today a day of a lot of fire in Gaza in the West Bank and in Lebanon and I don't know what's going on in Syria so when they say escalation it's really a meaningful amount so on this issue the court is looking at this with a microscope they really examine the amount of casualties every day and he said two things in addition to it one that 90% of the Gazans have a difficulty of supply of food and the third thing is the displacement these two issues are critical on the issue of genocide the issue of genocide doesn't only count the number of dead which is over 20,000 now displacement and hunger are also of genocide when you take this speech now of Blinken and you give it to the court they have all the evidence that a catastrophe is on the ground and they have to stop it so if we'll have three more hectic days like we had today we are coming to the court with a big disadvantage Thank you very much about D'Oliel now this is really the unbelievable story of Danielle Aloni who happened to spend the weekend with her family on October 7th in southern Israel and found herself really in a horror movie take a close watch she wasn't supposed to be there at all but the family insisted that she come for the holiday and so on that black Sabbath Danielle Aloni found herself in the safe room in Kibbutz Niroz together with her 6-year-old daughter Amelia and her sister Sharon Aloni Cuneo and her husband David and their two twins Yuli and Emma when the terrorists closed in on their house and set it on fire David escaped through the window together with little Yuli Danielle, Sharon and the two girls remained in the smoke in the safe room we realized that the house was being burned down my sister left a message that we were being burned and we probably wouldn't make it out we accepted our fate that we would die here by inhaling smoke or fire depending on which came first just an understanding understanding fear, there are no words what can you do, will you be scared you'll be dead in a second you won't feel anything anymore after I covered my daughter with a blanket maybe the smoke wouldn't penetrate or penetrate it more slowly and I hugged her tightly and I told her I'm sorry, we're going to die we no longer had much strength in our bodies we had been in the safe room for 6 hours my sister helped me open the window there were a number of terrorists standing in front of us with guns drawn I closed my eyes waiting for the barrage we heard shots outside then I opened my eyes because they weren't shooting and they just pointed at us told us like that and signaled we should get out and we're already exhausted they literally pulled us out it was a relief when you suddenly realized that you weren't being shot at that after all you were being taken somewhere or that it would be a lie to say otherwise yes, yes, because we were waiting for it and you realized at that moment, that from that point you have to live moment by moment absolutely at this point we were being taken and I didn't know anything this cart they were waiting for arrived, they picked us up, started driving what's going on here it's a horror that cannot be explained in words I think there are still no words in Hebrew that can describe this horror that new words need to be invented to describe what happened there that day I was sure it was a lynching they just kept giving me blows from behind the head and the back we arrived in Gaza they told me to get up and they took the girl from my hands Emma, they took the girl from her mother's hands it's that they didn't know that I'm not her mother I'm just her mother for there do they just physically take her from you? yes and that was the moment I managed to open my mouth and start shouting no, no, my daughter my daughter, no he made out like this and here a curtain fell over my eyes there's some mechanism at work a mechanism that represses what I saw because I don't remember who the girl was handed over to I don't know which direction they went in I failed to protect my daughter she's like my daughter, she's my girl I don't wish for any mother to have to go through this test you said it was a horror movie imprisonment they took us down the tunnels they took you straight down to the tunnels yes, a prison anyone can understand imagine, you saw in the movie you saw articles in Israel about people sitting inside prison facilities but if I were to ask you how you imagine tunnels first of all it's total darkness they have infrastructure, electricity water in places meant to house people the passages are total darkness what, it's hot it's humid, no air it's not hot it's insanely humid the clothes, wet all the time smelly, no air no air what, is it hard to breathe? yes, we got to the first tunnel which was probably some sort of stopover where I saw people there I saw adults, ties a handcuffed boy I think I saw a few more handcuffs there what did you see on their faces? shock, fear this unknown this situation that the reality that we were thrown into from one moment to the next when we entered the next tunnel and I saw the injuries people who were so bruised with open wounds with bruised faces people who had already seen their loved ones murdered outside were there and all these things my daughter also saw there was someone who came once and collected a list of medicines real medical treatment, never the situation is not good there the situation is that there are especially when many people are crammed together what do you mean crammed together take me to this room imagine a room roughly this width mattresses like for refugees one next to the other, close together that means everyone with their own breasts with injuries and everyone is crammed next to each other and the snoring and the voices and the diseases what did you do there all the time you were the mother of a 6 year old girl what did you do first of all, lots of dead hours telling stories it beautifies the painful reality I told her that we are here but why are we here all the most special children and put them in this place to protect them from these booms outside you see, booms happen outside but they don't happen here we're safe here I would tell her that every day we are here brings us closer to getting out we would choose a gift for each day we were there and I had everything all the gifts every day I would take a moment in the day next to me and I would start praying to God listen to the voice of a girl and praying for our return for our release for everyone's health and I would ask my daughter to repeat every sentence after me and when she would go to sleep Shuliran's song, Lament would play in my head a lot Shuliran's song it's like... like a prayer which is like such a prayer like a call to the holy one blessed be he, be here for me as a mother you mobilize forces that I'm not sure were even there before you stay in captivity I will do everything everything so that my girl will get through this trauma in the most gentle way in the most quote-unquote gentle way that a child can have and you do everything you beg for food sometimes you beg to shower her even if we can't shower you find the strength for her what a test of parenthood this is the test of my life it was a test of my life and I marked everything with a tick everything yeah, story of Daniela Lonnie stay tuned for more special coverage here on I-24 News with Benita Levine have a good night from Tel Aviv date 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 this is breaking news addition I'm Benita Levine it's exactly three months since the darkest day in the 75 year history of Israel it's been a long time since the date of war it's been a long time but now it was a long time since old times the meaning of the war the meaning of the war 25-year history of Israel, exactly three months since that surprise Hamas terror onslaught in southern Israel in which more than 1,200 people were murdered, most of them civilians. Scores of people abducted from a music festival, from their homes, and from army bases on the 7th of October. 136 people remain in captivity inside Gaza. The youngest is baby Kfir Bebas, who was nine months old at the time of the terror attacks. Efforts to secure a hostage release deal are ongoing, with relatives of some of the hostages returning from meetings in Qatar. Israel has vowed to continue with its retaliatory ground operation until the Hamas threat is eliminated. The IDF saying overnight it had dismantled the Hamas military framework in the northern Gaza Strip and is now focusing on central and southern Gaza. The Israeli death toll in the operation is at 176. There is no verified toll out of Gaza, with Hamas officials saying more than 22,000 people have been killed. Meanwhile, tensions flaring across the northern border with Hezbollah, launching barrages of rockets at northern communities. Israeli chief Hassan Nasrallah pointing fingers at Israel for their targeted assassination of Hamas deputy Salah al-Aroori in Beirut last week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is speaking out on the security threats from Hamas and Hezbollah. Let's take a listen. We must not stop the war until we complete all its objectives. The elimination of Hamas, the return of all our hostages, and the promise that Gaza won't pose a threat to Israel anymore. I am saying this to our enemies and to our friends. This is our responsibility and this is the commitment of us all. We need to put aside any other considerations and continue together until total victory. This victory will only be achieved if we complete our goal and when we will bring back the security to the people of the north and south as one. I suggest that Hezbollah learn what Hamas has already learned in recent months. No terrorist is immune and we are determined to protect our citizens and return the residents of the north safely to their homes. It is a national goal shared by all of us and we act responsibly to achieve it. If we can, we will do it in diplomatic ways, and if not, we will act in other ways. Now for the latest on the ground, we cross live to our correspondent Robert Swift. He joins us from southern Israel. So, Rob, rocket fire towards the south earlier in the day, one Israeli woman in her twenties likely wounded after a rocket hit the southern community of Yakini on Amos Shav. What update can you share right now? That's right. So, we're looking at the north of the Gaza Strip and it has actually been relatively quiet. There's not been sound of battle coming from there and this is in line with the IDF statement that is significantly dismantled Hamas's ability to fight in that area. However, as you say, there was a launch of a rocket or possibly a mortar at the community of Yakini, which is just to the south of us. As that rocket alarm went off, we actually heard what sounded like a mortar being fired. Either this was part of the attack or it was possibly an IDF response to it. One person likely wounded there with damage to a building where that projectile landed. Now, since then, we've heard an increase in the amount of Israeli aircraft and drones in the air overhead. And there's also been an increase in the amount of outgoing Israeli artillery. This does show that although the Israeli military does seem to be happy with its progress in the northern Gaza Strip, there is still threats coming from that region. What more is known about the IDF strikes on Hamas's nuclear forces, finding arms, finding tunnels, destroying rocket launchers? What update can you share? The Israeli military is gradually making its way through. I'm talking about more about the actions to the south of us. We are still hearing no sounds of battle, but they're much more distant to the south. So the Israeli military are going essentially street by street and wrapping up the opposition that it finds there. It's unclear how much longer this fighting will go on. It could be some time yet. They have made some announcements today with regards to successes they had, including the discovery in underground armory of components that could be used to make missiles, essentially rockets that would be far more accurate and could strike long distances at Israeli cities. And briefly, the humanitarian aid coming into the Gaza Strip, bring us up to speed on the relative developments on that front. That situation does remain pretty critical. Save the Children today made an announcement saying that since the beginning of the war around 10 children per day have had either one or both legs amputated, and that just underlining the severity of the situation there with the death count heading towards the 23,000 figure already. There is attempts to put additional aid trucks into the Gaza Strip, but many aid organizations have pointed out the fact that the Gaza was already dependent on aid before the war began. And so what aid is arriving now is simply insufficient for the requirements that are there. And there's the added problem that due to the damage and the ongoing fighting inside the Gaza Strip, once aid gets inside Gaza, it then needs to be distributed. And that remains a difficulty with that causing the problem of both hunger and the possibility of diseases spreading within the Gaza Strip. And of course, also making sure that that aid gets to Palestinian civilians. Thank you so much for now, correspondent Robert Swift, live from Southern Israel. Thank you, Rob. And now for more insights, it's a pleasure to welcome to studio Yaakov Lappin, military and strategic affairs analyst at the Jewish New Syndicate and Research Fellow at the Alma Center. Thank you so much for being here in studio. Yaakov, three months exactly since the 7th of October, since that terror rampage. And right now, 136 hostages remain in captivity inside the Gaza Strip. We know there are efforts right now. There are talks in Qatar. We also know families are going to be speaking out in Tel Aviv in the coming hour. We will go there live, but from a military perspective, three months in, your assessment on how the fighting is going and what it all means for those hostages. Three months in, Gaza City and Northern Gaza, which was at the beginning of this war, the epicenter of Hamas, has been dismantled in terms of Hamas' military framework. And what that means is that Hamas has no brigades, no battalions in Northern Gaza and Gaza City that are functioning. The battalion commanders have been killed. Over 8,000 terrorists have been killed in total. Probably several thousand more injured and taken off the battlefield. We probably have more than 50% of Hamas' fighting force unable to fight, either killed or seriously injured. And that is a significant achievement for the IDF. The underground infrastructure in Northern Gaza largely dismantled. And in terms of what's happened in Northern Gaza, we now are left with cells conducting guerrilla hit-and-run attacks without commanders, without coordination. All this, what this means is that Hamas in Northern Gaza does not have the ability to coordinate and control large amounts of terrorists, to direct firepower, to gather intelligence, all the things that this terror army was doing. In Northern Gaza, it's down to cells. In central and southern Gaza, the picture is different. We are seeing still intense battles in central Gaza, in places like Buridge Camp, and lots of progress being made in the underground infrastructure demolition by the IDF's engineering forces and special forces. Southern Gaza is the real final battleground. That's where Hamas' last stand is being made as an organized terror army. That's where probably a lot of the hostages are being held. That's where the senior leadership is probably still hiding. That's why the fighting there is the slowest. All of those factors, when you put them all together, means that the IDF has to progress at the slowest possible rate to avoid as many mistakes as possible. I mean, this is going to take several more weeks at least before we see results, I think. And the more pressure Hamas feels in southern Gaza, the more likely it will be to enter into negotiations, once again, for those hostages. Something we will talk about in more detail in a short while. But right now, let's go to our correspondent, Zach Anders. He joins us from northern Israel and what an intense weekend across that northern front. Zach, major barrages of rockets fired from Lebanon towards northern communities on the weekend. And today, a building in the town of Matula was hit. What is the latest? What can you share? Well, Hezbollah taking responsibility for six attacks today. And the damage that we have seen from a structure in Matula appears to come at a hotel. This is, it's not clear if this was occupied or had been part of the evacuation in the hotel was closed. This is right there on the border in many of these places. It is evacuated and these businesses are closed. We're still waiting for confirmation. There has not been any reports of significant casualties on the north. No reports of casualties, I should say. And that is a good sign. We're still waiting for some confirmation from the IDF as to the scope of some of these attacks. It also appears that a radar site again was targeted today. And this does seem to be the MO of Hezbollah to continue to target these radar strikes and attempt, they say, to blind. Zach Anders, we're going to have to leave it there. We're going from the north to Tel Aviv. Let's go straight to hostage square. They were attentive, attentive, familiar with our stories and shelled sympathy to us. They view this as a humanitarian crisis and view the release of the hostages as their top priority where it also serves the bigger objective as they see it, which is creating regional stability. They asked us to reflect on history, looking at historical conflicts and how they've been solved in the past. And when looking at history, you see that most of these conflicts, if you want to solve them for a long time, it's not just by military force. There needs also to be discussion. There needs to be talk between the parties. Today, after almost 100 days, the gap between the sides is still large. They believe the Qataris that some sort of temporary pause in the fighting will expedite the negotiations that will enable to bring hostages back home alive. We also expect them to pursue humanitarian aid to the hostages, including providing medical attention and doctors visiting the hostages and providing medical aid. We have no time. The more time that we wait, the more hostages will not come back alive. The families will continue to meet anybody anywhere in order to enhance the release of the hostages alive as soon as possible. Good evening. My name is Ronan Yutram, the father of Oman Yutram, 22-year-old American citizen. We live in New York, and we're here to try and do everything we can to release our son and all the other hostages. The U.S. families met last week several senator delegations, which reflects the U.S. people commitment to release the hostages, which focus on the six live and the two deceased U.S. citizens. We are planning to meet Secretary of State Blinken after meeting him with the, after he met with the president, after meeting him with the president before the holidays. We expect to hear from him and update on the visits in the region as well as understand how the U.S. plans to get immediate release of the hostages. We thank all of those involved in hosting us in Qatar and hope to continue the communication with them. We call on Qataris as well as other parties in the region to double up their efforts with ultimate urgency. Our expectation is to see progress in the negotiation and a quick release of our loved ones. Thank you. Thank you for coming in. We have no other comments at the moment. Thank you. Live from Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, the families of some of the hostages speaking out on their return from meetings in Qatar, Yakov Lapin, what a moving appeal from families waiting for three months for word on their loved ones getting to speak with Qatari leaders getting to speak with Anthony Blinken and hoping for more answers when he gets to the region in the coming days. What do you make of that call for some kind of pause in terms of the fighting to secure a deal? What will it mean not only for the families but also for that fighting on the ground that you were describing earlier? Israel has been offering that pause. It already observed a pause like that to enable the first round of hostage releases and it's put an offer on the table to do another pause. And of course, what those families are going through is unimaginable hell. Every day that they continue to campaign for their loved ones is heroic and all we can do is salute them and offer them as much support as possible as fellow citizens. It's just unimaginable hell what Hamas is doing to these people and everything they do to try and secure the freedom of their loved ones is completely commendable and understandable. When you're looking at this from a strategic perspective, Hamas views the remaining hostages as some kind of insurance policy for the survival of the leadership. And as a result, it's going to be more difficult to press Hamas to agree to another deal. And still possible, it's just more difficult because this time the leadership understands that once it releases more and more hostages, that will take more and more restraining factors if we can call them that off the IDF's operation in southern Gaza. So they have an interest in, unfortunately, keeping these hostages. And the only way that I can see to undo that is to apply more and more military pressure until the knife is at the throat of Yehissinwar and his inner circle and they understand that they either negotiate now or they lose their lives. We're going to discuss that in more detail very shortly right now. Let's go back to Tel Aviv. Our correspondent, Nicole Zedek, is at Hostage Square. The latest there, some moving urgent appeals there from relatives of the hostages. Definitely an urgent appeal and that is the main message we're hearing from some of these family members. Time is running out behind me here in Hostage Square. There's a ticking clock, 92 days and counting. And as we near the 100th day, these family members say that's exactly why they went to Qatar to speak to some of these negotiators that have been mediating some of these hostage release efforts because they say they will go anywhere and speak to anyone as long as it means it could help some of their family members get home sooner rather than later. They said that these Qatari officials met them with open ears, listened to all of their concerns that they had to say. But still, nothing seems to be on the table and as we're hearing from some of these reports from what actually happened there, although the family didn't mention anything about it tonight, those Qatari officials says what happened earlier last week with the targeted killing in Beirut of Salah al-Arouri, it's making the negotiations with Hamas even more complicated. And officials reportedly told some of the family members that they have to remember. Qatar, they say, are the mediators. They're not in control of Hamas. And so while these family members are going to Qatar voicing their concern, voicing their pain also for the fact that they have not seen their loved ones for 92 days after they were ripped out of their communities, they're continuing to voice that pain to the officials that they hope will listen to them best and actually have a say in how and when they might be able to return home and return home safely as well because that's some of the main concern from any of these family members. We know 136 hostages, but not all of them are alive. More than 20 of them have been confirmed dead by the IDF, but their bodies still held captive in Gaza. So for the family members that their hostages right now are believed to be alive, they say time is running out. The conditions they're being kept in is crucial for them to not only be released, but if they're not released tomorrow, then they also need medical attention. That was also something these family members talked about, urging more medical attention and trying also to pressure some of these Qatari leaders to have that be involved in the negotiations for not only humanitarian relief, possibly let into the Gaza Strip, but humanitarian relief for the hostages who desperately need some medical attention. Thank you so much. I'll correspondent Nicole Zidic as hostage square in Tel Aviv, more to come from Nicole in the coming hours. Thanks, Nicole. And still with the story, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Qatar meeting with Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Tani in Doha just a short while ago, the Qatari Prime Minister sharing this update about a possible hostage release deal with 136 hostages still being held by Hamas inside Gaza. Let's take a listen. Actually regarding the negotiations, it has been ongoing. Yes, we both have challenges ups and downs throughout the process and of course having one of the senior leader of Hamas being killed is something that can affect such a complicated process. Yet we are not giving up. We are moving forward. We are continuing our discussions with the parties and trying to achieve as soon as possible an agreement that can bring a ceasefire and the humanitarian relief and the release of hostages. I have a little bit of a lag to understand why on one level, as I say about this, the better except to say that we are relentlessly focused on bringing everyone home and this was the subject of our conversations this evening as well. Antony Blinken and Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Tani in Doha just a short while ago, in a studio and it's interesting to hear the Qatari Prime Minister saying that the targeted assassination last week in Beirut of Salih al-Arrouri, ostensibly by Israel, has scuppered in a way progress in terms of a hostage deal but let's call a spade a spade, there wasn't a hostage deal on the table was there? There was none. In fact, prior to that assassination Hamas was making completely ridiculous demands such as calling for the end of the war and for Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza. So I don't think that we need to take these Qatari claims at face value, let's not forget that Qatari and Hamas are quite close, a little bit too close for comfort when it comes to these messages and Qatari think is actually being used in this case by Hamas to send out messages to try and pressure Israel to take its foot off the military gas. So we shouldn't be naive about the purpose of these messages, Hamas' interest in conducting negotiations has nothing at all to do with what happened in Beirut. Their interest is again, obtaining survival for their leadership and if they can't get that they'll try and buy time to try and create these dynamics for the Hamas leadership in Gaza to survive. That's their primary objective and they're going to try and squeeze that out as much as possible going forward. We are going to be hearing from IDF spokesperson Daniel Higari in his daily briefing shortly when that happens we will go there live. But before we went to Tel Aviv we were talking to my colleague Zach Anders up north and we know there was a major barrage of rockets early on Saturday morning and then more today talk to us about what is transpiring in terms of the Hezbollah front at this juncture. Well, today it's been cleared for publication that Hezbollah launched long range anti-tank missiles at the Air Force control base up on Mount Miroun. That's a serious attack. That is a display of Hezbollah's capabilities and they can do a lot more than that. I think we need to take that very seriously. Their ability to target sites in a precise manner is what makes Hezbollah so much more dangerous when it comes to rocket firepower than Hamas. And going forward we're seeing the so-called low intensity war continue. Rage on in the north with no obvious end in sight. And I think, again, I've been saying this for a while, the Elf into the room is Hezbollah's presence in southern Lebanon. It's not whether the Rudd-1 unit go back and forth from the border. They can pull back by a couple kilometers. The next day they can be right back on the border. They're based in these 200 Shiite Lebanese villages, which there's no separation between the civilian and the military terrorist mechanisms of Hezbollah. They're completely intertwined. Hezbollah calls this the resistance society. And we have to understand the depth of this, how deeply embedded this is in southern Lebanon. This is the real problem. This is what threatens northern Israel. And I haven't seen negotiations touch on that, which is the real issue. When Anthony Blinken gets here in a few days time, that needs to be his top priority, your thoughts? Yeah, absolutely. I think that we need to understand that the problem here is that Hezbollah's forced buildup and its capabilities throughout southern Lebanon and beyond, of course, Beirut and the Beka Valley. But we're focusing now on southern Lebanon. That is the threat to northern Israel. That's what has to be dealt with if people who are displaced from the north, more than 80,000 people, if they're going to start feeling confident enough to come back, they need to see that those capabilities have been dealt with. It's not going to be enough to place some sort of cosmetic plaster on this and say they moved back three kilometers or even to the Tani River, when in two days they can be right back at the border. That's not what's going to solve this crisis. And they certainly can't move back until they feel safe and secure. Something we will discuss in more detail after this very short break. Yaakov Lapin stay with us. A quick break now, but when we get back, our rolling coverage continues on this breaking news edition. Stay tuned. With dozens of correspondence throughout the world, brings the truth from Israel to hundreds of millions of people in scores of countries. They have completely gone down in their beds. De la frontière qui sépare l'Israël, the state of emergency and war in Israel. Bringing Israel's story to the world. I-24 News Channels. Now on Hot. This breaking news edition, I'm Bernice Levine. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Israel later this week, as we were discussing earlier on in the show all part of his Blitz seven stop tour to the region exactly three months into the war. He's already touched down in Turkey and Jordan and Qatar on his way here. Senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Ultiman has the details. If it's Sunday, this must be Jordan. As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken jets through Amman on his tour of the Middle East. Here, meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah. This after stops in Turkey and Greece. And before stops in Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt. These are not necessarily easy conversations. There are different perspectives, different needs, different requirements, but it is vital that we engage in this diplomacy now. Blinken is juggling at least three balls. The first one, preventing all out war in Israel's North. Doing what he can to incentivize his Bala to get to yes on a diplomatic agreement that allows Israelis to return to Northern communities feeling safe. Here, Blinken is part of a larger Western push. It is imperative to avoid the regional escalation in the Middle East. Absolutely necessary to avoid the Lebanon being dragged into a regional conflict. And the second juggling ball, the war in Gaza itself. Where Blinken will continue to push Israel to lower civilian casualties, up the flow of aid and move on to the next phase of the war. And then the third ball, Gaza's day after. Where Blinken has now laid out some of the clearest American thinking yet. And we also talked about the role that Turkey can play both in the day after for Gaza in terms of the challenging questions Governance, Palestinian government's security rebuilding. So the United States is moving to bring in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to help Rangaza. How does Israel feel about that? Blinken will presumably find out. Israel is stop seven on his tour. And now we take a deeper look at what is happening up North. And we welcome Gidi Harari, the head of the first response unit and member of the emergency community squad of Moshav Shahar Yashuv in Northern Israel. And what a beautiful part of the region that is up North, very close to the border with Lebanon. So Gidi, we know that there was rocket fire out of Southern Lebanon on this day and major barrages over the weekend as well. So talk us through your weekend. What did you experience up North? What can you tell us? Well, it was a very busy weekend, actually. It wasn't the first time that the shooting was so heavy this weekend. It was unpleasant, but it's not something that we are not used to it lately. No doubt you are becoming more and more used to it. Your Moshav is mostly evacuated. Where are community members staying? How long has it been since they left? The community started to evacuate around the 10th of October. But formally, the Moshav were evacuated on the 22nd of October. Most of the community are in hotels around Tveria, Taboria. About 95% of the community was evacuated. And actually, they are starting to to feel unpleasant in the hotels. It's not that the hotels are very good and they are treating them very well. But to be in a hotel room for three months, it's after two weeks, it's not a pleasure anymore. There's no doubt about it. It must be so frustrating for the more than 80,000 Israelis evacuated from their homes waiting to find out that the all clear has been given that it's safe to come back to their homes where they belong. But clearly that is a long way off. What are your thoughts given that you know the region so well? What do you think about the chance of a diplomatic solution up north to create some kind of buffer zone? What are your thoughts of that being a realistic option right now? But, frankly, I believe that it's not an option. At the end of the day, the Hezbollah, as a proxy of the Iranian revolution, wants to exterminate Israel, wants to fight Israel, this is the raison d'etre of Hezbollah. And they haven't been complying 1701 till the 7th of October. So there is no reason why they will do it from now on. I believe that we have now once in a lifetime opportunity not to finish with Hezbollah. We cannot finish Hezbollah because it's not only a terrorist organization, it's also a legitimate party in the Lebanese parliament. So it's not the same like Hamas. But yes, we should fight them and we should show them the way to go further to the north and not to be on the border with Israel. But if there was a proper resolution and it was properly enforced would that change people's minds about coming back? What is it going to take for those communities you described staying in hotels for weeks on end? When will they feel safe if it were to be properly enforced and there was a proper buffer zone? Would that be enough for families, including yours, to want to come back to their homes where they belong? What you describe now is what was supposed to be since 2006 and it didn't happen. So there is no reason why it will happen from today on. The UN is not a real force on the ground and they are not complying the 1701. So no one believe in it. And frankly, I think that is the famous phrase in the movie when you have to shoot, don't talk. That's all. We spoke to another community member up north in recent days when I asked him about his concerns around Hassan Asrila's next move because of course, as you would well know, he vowed to respond to that assassination in Beirut of Saleh al-Arouri last week. This resident up north said, be my guest, they are ready for a military interaction because they felt that diplomacy wasn't the way to go. Do you think that is the sentiment of many up north right now, three months into this war? Yes, I do. And are you confident that Israel can handle that? I believe that Israel is strong enough to handle it. We are not going to conquer Lebanon or conquer South Lebanon. There are a lot of things to do without conquering Lebanon. We don't need to go to Beirut now. The army, the IDF knows how to do it. And the population here is ready to to absorb it and to get a real solution to the north. And certainly the whole nation is clear that what happened on the 7th of October can never happen again, not up north, not in the West Bank, not in the South, not in any part of this region. Stay safe, we so appreciate you speaking to us, Gidi Harari, and we hope that your family gets to come back safely to your beautiful home. Thank you very much for speaking to us today on I-24 News. Stay safe. Still with me in studio, Yaakov Lapin, and that reiterates exactly what you said about the feeling up north right now. People want to be able to live in their homes where they belong. That's right, and it's all sort of coming back to the same ultimate lesson, which is that we can no longer in this reality allow terrorist, Iranian-backed forces to control territory and freely build up capabilities and assume that when the day comes and war will break out, we'll be able to deal with those capabilities and just let them build on and on and threat grows. It's the lesson that we learned so painfully on October 7th is now going to have to be applied in one way or another, in my opinion, on the situation in southern Lebanon because the sooner that Israel begins to downgrade Hezbollah's capabilities, the less it will have to face further down the line. And the more we kick the can down the road, and it will be very clear for those northern residents, but for everybody in the country, then the Hezbollah monster will only grow larger and larger. And I think this is the time dilemma that we're facing here. There are all kinds of tactical, strategic considerations and pressures coming in from all kinds of directions. And Israel is always a peace-seeking country. It does not seek conflict ever. It's not in its nature as any democracy, but the threat from Hezbollah has grown monstrous. And the more time that's allowed to grow, the worse it's going to get. What did you make of Gidi's comment that some kind of military operation or exchange in that part of the region wouldn't necessarily have to affect Beirut in any way? It's very difficult to know what the exact plans are. The focal point of any operation I would assume, and this is purely my assumption, would be on southern Lebanon because that's the part that, you know, that's where the capabilities most threaten northern Israel. But if Hezbollah starts firing from Beirut and they have missiles in Beirut, let's not be, you know, have any confusion about this. They have missiles in Beirut. They have missiles in the Beka Valley as well. They've got scud missiles. They've got long range precision guided missiles all over Lebanon. So those sites would have to be hit in any full-scale scenario if we reach that. So if this reaches a full-scale conflict, I very much doubt that we could hand everything into southern Lebanon. I have pretty big doubts about that. Something we will have to wait and see if it does unfold that way at all. There was another curious development out of Lebanon. I'd like your input. Hackers hacked into the big screens at Rafiq Hariri International Airport in Beirut, publishing a message said to be on behalf of a Christian organization called Soldiers of God. Now the message was a call to Hezbollah not to use the airport in the Lebanese capital to smuggle weapons from Iran to Lebanon. The message saying it is bad enough that you caused the port to explode. Now you will cause Beirut Airport to explode. It says, quote, in the name of God and the people Rafiq Hariri Airport is not the airport of Hezbollah and Iran. Hassan Asrallah, you will not find support if Lebanon is plunged into war. You bear its responsibility and its consequences. Yaakov Lepp and your thoughts. Well, unfortunately Rafiq Hariri Airport is Hezbollah's airport. It fully controls that airport and controls the security and it very likely uses that airport to smuggle weapons in from Iran just as it uses Beirut's naval port to do that and the roads that are connecting Lebanon to Syria. So it's got these three different ways to smuggle in Iranian weapons and it's doing it all the time. This is a good attempt, I guess, to put pressure on Hezbollah. But the question is who is the target audience here? I have to ask. And I guess it would be non-Hezbollah supporting Lebanese people. The problem is they have no sway on Hezbollah. They can shout from today to tomorrow. Hezbollah has the guns in Lebanon. Hezbollah has the power. Hezbollah will decide if Lebanon goes to war or not and I don't think it matters at all what other Lebanese people or even the government says about that. And by extension, what Iran wants to see unfolding as well? Of course, the Shura Council, as I mentioned a few times, the Shura Council, that is the real decision-making forum that's going to decide if Lebanon is going to be dragged into war or not. And the people who sit on that are Hassan Asrallah, his senior inner circle, and members of the IRGC and the Iranians. This is the forum that makes decisions about Lebanon, not the Lebanese government, not the Lebanese parliament. They have no say, no influence on this and it would be nice if the international community could recognize that very basic reality that these are the people who are really making decisions and they're not going to be swayed by appeals from any Lebanese civilians. What would a potential war with Israel mean for Hezbollah internally in terms of the factions within it, in terms of various proxies as well? Could that blow up, so to speak, into something concerning? Well, the conventional wisdom and a lot of people say this is that Hezbollah doesn't want to sacrifice Lebanon in a war. I actually have serious doubts about that statement because Hezbollah looks at what happened after the 2006 Second Lebanon War and everybody says this was a war that caused great deterrence. But if you look at Hezbollah today in 2023, it's more than 20 times... I'm going to stop you right now because Daniel Higari is about to speak, the IDF spokesperson. Let's take a listen. This is the start of the war of Hamas, Hezbollah, who has decided to join the fighting sent by Iran and without a reason. Due to the deep damage to Hamas in recent weeks in all arenas, Hezbollah has fired yesterday towards IDF bases in the north. As a result, the aerial control unit was damaged in Mount Meron. It is important to emphasize that the damage will be fixed thanks to pre-readiness. The system continues to operate and is being backed up. We investigate the event. There were no injuries in this attack. We struck Hezbollah assets in a site that was used by Hezbollah's ground-to-air missiles. Before and after the fire, some of them were not able to launch on time. We continued the attacks throughout the day. These hurt the Reduand forces significantly. Our focus on Reduand forces is moving these forces away from the border. We continue to try and create a new reality in the north. We have a challenge in the north and we are ready for it. We are spread out throughout the border and in high readiness in defense and attack. The chief of staff held a military assessment in the West Bank. Reservists are operating in the area. I have conducted over 40 operations for terror thwarting. A border police officer was killed overnight in Jineen. In the early mornings of the hours, terrorists has killed an Israeli civilian. Forces are still on a manhunt for the perpetrators. The chief of staff has congratulated the activity of the forces. We will continue to thwart terror in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, our forces continue to focus on dismantling Hamas' abilities in the center and in the south part of the Strip. I wish to address the families of the hostages. Today, we mark three months to their kidnapping to Gaza. I want to assure you, the IDF is doing and will continue to do everything in order to create the conditions to bring them back home. There is a lot of activity. Most of it is covert. All of these activities are for the one goal of creating the military pressure to bring them back home questions. Was there, shouldn't there have been a more severe response to the strike of Hezbollah yesterday? The damage to the aerial system yesterday, as the system still works, it is backed up. We will investigate. We'll improve. We need to improve our defense in the area. Our strikes in Lebanon are very serious. They're significant. One of the areas that we're trying to dismantle are the ground-to-air missiles in those units that were built by Hezbollah over the years in order to hurt Israel's aerial control. We took a lot of abilities from Hezbollah. As we speak, Israeli fighter jets are operating freely in Lebanon, in fuel supremacy, thwarting the tail threats over the state of Israel. I do not wish to address other activities, only what I choose to do this evening. Despite the fact that we saw that the Hezbollah has caused the damage to the facility, was there a plan for a more serious response? I understand that hurting the facility is being perceived as damage. Yesterday, Hezbollah has lost over seven terrorists, including the past day, seven of its forces that are going to funerals now. In South Lebanon, there are no injuries in the state of Israel. One facility was hurt that facility is operating. We took abilities from Hezbollah that it built over years. Israeli fighter jets are operating in Lebanon freely, ready to hit any target. This is what needs to be presented to the public. We have another challenge, and that is to push Erdogan forces away from the border to create a new reality. This is not a competition. We have a challenge of creating a new reality in the northern border. We'll continue to do this systematically. As for the Gaza Strip, it is still divided. There is a corridor. We're operating in the corridor. There are civilians who remain in the north. There is no movement between the south and the north, with the exception of humanitarian aid that does reach the northern part of the Gaza Strip. You're watching a live update there. IDF spokesperson Daniel Higari delivering his daily briefing and taking questions exactly three months into this war, still with me in studio, Yakov Leppen. And he's discussing all the fronts we've been talking about, also assuring families of the hostages they are doing everything that they can. Covert operations, as he described it, to create the situation that would enable all the hostages to get home safely. Your thoughts? Well, yeah, I think that's a reference to special forces activities in the tunnels of Hanyunas. We know that special forces are operating in the tunnels of Hanyunas, and these are the most sensitive sites for Hamas' leadership. I would assume that they're mapping things out. They're building a much more comprehensive intelligence picture than what the IDF can obviously share with the public. And I think he's referring to that gradual, accumulative pressure that's building on Hamas' leadership under those tunnels as a way to secure either a future deal, some sort of rescue operation, or another option that we're not aware of. But I think that he's talking about that building pressure in Hanyunas. That's what I would interpret that as. And your sense from Daniel Higari right now of the IDF capabilities in terms of handling what's happening up north, concerns around the Red One forces, and also the ongoing fighting in the Gaza Strip at the same time. So, I mean, I think that the IDF would obviously optimally prefer to have as many ground forces as it could deployed on the northern front before any kind of escalation occurs. It makes sense from a military perspective to want to hold off a little bit. And as more and more brigades free up from Gaza, they can go home, they can rest, they can join the workforce. That creates more military manpower that can be deployed up north if and when needed. I don't agree with the idea that Hezbollah has sustained massive damage since October 8. It's good that Israel is taking action, but this is very limited action. We have to be honest about this. Hezbollah has tens of thousands of terrorists losing. 150 is not what's going to make the difference. And most of them are not from Red One. This is not what's going to push Hezbollah back from the border. And I hope I would assume that that's clear for everybody who's making the decision. But it's important to say it as well. This won't be it. This is not going to bring about the desired achievement what the northern residents are waiting for. So we'll have to deal with that reality. But to present low intensity conflict as the solution to the threat that Hezbollah poses is unconvincing. Military and strategic affairs analyst Jacob Lapin always appreciate your insights on all the developments across the region. Thank you so much as always for being here in studio. Now a teenage girl who spent more than 50 days in Hamas captivity is speaking out about her traumatic ordeal inside Gaza. Her father was murdered by terrorists in front of her on the 7th of October before she was abducted and dragged into the Palestinian enclave. More in this report. It's been more than a few days since the terrorists have also been abducted and the attack is going on and taking place. And it's also a physical and psychological experience. I can't believe at all what their situation is but what hope is there for them.