 Thanks for this breaking news edition, I'm Bati 11th all coming July from Tel Aviv. Thanks for joining me. It is day 25 of war here in Israel. Rocket Alert sirens have been blaring throughout Israel's southern communities in recent hours. In the early hours of this Tuesday morning, the IDF destroyed the house of Salah al-Arori, the deputy head of Hamas's political bureau, who oversaw some of the terror groups activities in the West Bank. National Defence Forces says its troops also killed numerous Hamas terrorists during ground operations in the Gaza Strip over the past day, as well as striking some 300 terror targets. In the North, IDF fighter jets destroyed Hezbollah facility housing weapons inside Lebanon. Thus, as the exchange of fire between the Iranian Bactera group and the Israeli military continues. Israel's police and Shin Bet security agencies say that three Israelis have also been arrested in the north on suspicion of ISIS connections. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening dismissed the idea that Israel would agree to a ceasefire with Hamas, saying that those calling for one are in effect calling for Israel to surrender to terrorism, which it simply will not do. Let's go now to our correspondent Pierre Clashenlau, who is standing by for us in southern Israel. Pierre, sirens blaring a short while ago, but again this is an area that has been seen not only sirens because of the rockets coming from Hamas being shot from the Gaza Strip towards southern communities in Israel, but also as the IDF advances further into the Strip to eliminate Hamas terrorists. Right, there was a rocket alert about rocket strike actually in the central sector of the security border between Israel and Gaza on Israeli territory in the locality of Kisufim. A cow shed it seems was hit, but there are no casualties to people at least. There was also a non-crued aerial vehicle alert an hour ago in the region of Elat in the extreme south of Israel, but this drone was intercepted by the Israeli air defense in the Red Sea, not on Israeli territory. The ground offensive obviously continues. I just got a, there is another red alert in Kisufim in the same locality and the ground offensive is still going on and the IDF spokesman unit just said that there were 300 strikes on terrorist targets overnight and that the commander of the Betlahia battalion, Hamas commander, who was very instrumental in operating its terrorists in two Israeli localities who perpetrated massacres on October 7, it was eliminated. We're going to hear more from the IDF spokesperson, Riyad Mirol Daniel Agari, in about 10 minutes. Absolutely, and no doubt we'll be listening very closely to those updates as the IDF spokespersons unit provides the Israeli public as well as those overseas with updates daily on the situation. Thank you very much for that. Joining me here in studio to continue the conversation is retired colonel Dr. Jacques Neria, the former deputy head of assessment for Israeli military intelligence and the former foreign policy advisor to prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and our I-24 news senior editor, Gaya Azrael, gentlemen, thank you very much. Dr, I'd like to start with trying to make a distinction here because there seems to be consistent calls for a ceasefire in terms of fighting and consistent calls for a humanitarian ceasefire. Now, perhaps the audience needs to understand what the difference is because it appears unclear, but more so than that. There appears to be a shift in narrative from a lot of Israel's partners in the West, including the United States, who at first were calling for a ceasefire, now saying they do not back a ceasefire because they agree with Netanyahu in the sense that it allows Hamas to rearm itself and gives them the time to strategically back itself up. But at the same time, it still wants to get aid through to civilians in Gaza. So how do we draw the difference between the two? No, you don't, but you said it all. You said the difference is quite clear. Providing a safe passage between the Egyptian border to the area where right now the refugees are concentrating. Now, remember that before the beginning of the war, Gaza had 2.2 million population. Now, it finds itself with almost 2 million in the southern part of Gaza, which means that heavy toll on the infrastructure, heavy toll on the daily life. We've seen the people looting the warehouses of Unra. And it means that in a way Hamas has lost control of the population there. So the West and all those concerned want to secure a safe passage and a place where Palestinians living in Gaza can receive medical aid, can receive water and all sorts of services. We've seen the French already have advanced a hospital ship near the coast to just take all the patients that would be evacuated from the hospitals. We've seen, I would say, a national emergency both in the United States and in West Europe. All this in order to avoid a disaster that could immediately have an impact on Israeli forces and force Israel for a ceasefire that it doesn't want right now, because a ceasefire at this point means clearly victory of Hamas. You will see in a moment, you will see in a moment all those who are crying now and saying that they cannot live and they are suffering. They will go with flags and applause and send flowers and all sorts of sweets. They have won the war and this is a situation Israel cannot afford. Absolutely, gentlemen. Stay with us. I do want to continue this conversation, but I want to cross our correspondent Robert Swift standing by for us in northern Israel. Rob, I believe action happening where you are at the moment. Tell us what's going on on the ground. Yeah, the northern border is simmering as usual. You can see behind me the Israel-Lebanese border, and I'll just draw your attention first to this mount of earth to my right hand side. This is essentially, we've parked here so that we have some protection between us and the border, which as you see behind me, there's a pillar of smoke emanating from the border. The hill with the dark green trees on it, that itself at the top of it, is the Israeli-Lebanese border and there's a wall running the whole way along there with fires and smoke billowing from several locations along there. Now, we haven't confirmation of what's occurred there, but as yesterday, there was numerous mortars fired from the Lebanese side of the territory towards Israeli bases on the border, including the base that you can see there with the towers on it and another one which is just out of frame further to our left. Now, the main threat, although mortars have been used mostly, the main threat here is actually anti-tank weapons. We were actually advised to move slightly by one of the local soldiers here. There is still civilian traffic moving around here, but as you can imagine, a sitting target is much more under threat than one that's moving, so although there are still civilian cars around, we were advised not to leave our sitting in plain sight and so that's why we've moved slightly, parked ourselves behind this wall due to the numerous threats that are emanating from the border here. Correspondent Robert Swift giving us an update from the northern front. Thank you very much for that. Of course, we will be crossing live to you a little later for more updates for the time being. Stay safe. While we've been getting updates both from the southern and the northern border as well as here in studio, another complexity facing Israel and the IDF is the issue of hostages. I'll remind the viewers that on October 7th, 2500 plus more Hamas terrorists, including some civilians, came into Israel rampaging through communities and taking more than 230 hostages into the Gaza Strip. Joining me now is Ricardo Luk, the mother of Shani Luk, a young Israeli German woman kidnapped by Hamas terrorists at a music festival in Israel who was pronounced dead yesterday being Monday. Firstly, thank you so very much for taking the time to speak with us. I can't even begin to imagine your indescribable loss and pain. There's something that many in Israel as well as families of hostages are struggling with and you can attest to is the fact that they don't know this idea of being in limbo, but you now have confirmation on the fate of your dear daughter. Is there any comfort or solace at all in knowing versus not knowing? Yeah, I can just feel with all the families of the kidnapped people. It's a horrible feeling that you're really more than three weeks already of not knowing. You don't have any sign, not of life, not on what conditions they are, who is captured, who is where. And you just don't get anything like nothing, no information at all for almost three weeks. So it's really frustrating and very hard to stand. So on one side it's, at least I have some closure. I mean, we would have hoped for, we were optimistic and we hoped for a different outcome, but at least we know what happened and she didn't suffer. And yeah, and we know where she is and we will not be ending up not knowing ever. I mean, our worst fear was that the hostages will be released and she won't be one of them and then we would never know what happened to her if she's alive, if not, where is she. And this I think is the most feared outcome that could ever happen to a family. You received this incredibly gut-wrenching information, but there is no closure in terms of a proper and dignified burial for your dear Shani. I apologize profusely for bringing this up, but for the viewers who don't know, Israel's Zaka Rescue Service confirmed that a bone from the base of her skull, without which a person cannot survive, had been recovered. How does this feel to you knowing that, you said that it does bring some comfort in knowing her fate, but not that you can give her a dignified burial? Yeah, I don't want to imagine what they've done to the body and what happened there. I don't want to think about it, but from my personal view, I know that she didn't suffer. She was dead already. Her soul is already resting somewhere up. And so I don't mind anymore about the body. It's not so important for me anymore and we will create her some kind of burial just for us and the family. So you have a place to go to and mourn like a memorial. So we will do that if we have a body or not. It doesn't matter anymore for us. Ricardo, what has been the response of both the Israeli and the German governments regarding your daughter? I mean, they gave us a contact person. We were in touch all the time with the German government and they promised us to do everything to get them out. And they were in contact also with Israeli governments. But, you know, until now there is no facts, really no results yet, right? There are so many families that are still looking for their kidnapped people and they know nothing and they don't know if there is a problem. If there's no progress, there is no outcome yet. I mean, it's horrible. We're still disappointed a little bit in the governments that both of them did not manage to do anything yet. I mean, it's a long time they're already there. People need medicine. Some are injured. Some are old. Some are children, little ones. And still there's no sign that they are going to be released. So I think the parents, they start doubting in the actions that the governments are taking. It's really the top priority. How come the whole world is not reacting more? I mean, there are many people from all over the world that are captured there, that are not part of this conflict. And I don't know. We don't see any results yet. So I think that's the problem. Absolutely. I no doubt there's going to be many questions, both now and at the end of this. Ricardo, I don't want to take up too much more of your time, but I would like you, if you're able to, to tell us about your daughter, the person she was, because I believe that we should know about her life and not just her death. Yes. Yes, we would always remember her. She was a loving person with a huge heart. She had many friends. She was an artist. She liked to travel languages, people all over the world. And she liked to dance and music. And she was peace-loving. She had so much ahead of her. But she did live a good life and she was happy. And that's the way we want to remember her. The fact that she was at a music video festival just really is a testament to the type of person that she was wanting to celebrate life, music. Ricardo, look, on a personal level, I am so, so sorry for your loss. And I hope that at some point, there is some comfort. And that's, at least in your morning, there is comfort from the state of Israel. Ricardo, look, the mother of Shani, look, a young Israeli-German woman kidnapped by Hamas Terrace at a music festival in Israel who was pronounced dead yesterday morning. Thank you so very much for joining us and for taking the time to speak about your daughter here on I-24 News. Thank you. Thank you. And still with me in studio is retired Colonel Dr. Shakneria and our senior editor, Guy Azrael. Guy, it's always difficult coming out of an interview like that, but so important that she did take the time to speak about this because this isn't just war being the military side of it, the economic, the political side. There's a human face to this. There are no words to describe the tragedy, the loss, the pain for so many families for so many Israelis, entire families that were eliminated in some cases in the Israeli communities on the border. That I think is important for the world to know the sort of tragedy that the people of Israel as a whole have suffered on October 7th, a tragedy, a massacre, an onslaught that will never be forgotten, but by anyone who lives here these days for the rest of their lives, it is a mark, it is a scar on the state of Israel and those people, our hearts are with the families. And since the number is so immense, we're talking about over 1,400 Israelis slaughtered, not even mentioning those who are kidnapped or missing. Guy, I'm sorry, I do want to interrupt you. Every one of us knows someone. Just because there's been a push by the IDF that confirms that the number of hostages currently held in the Gaza Strip have increased now to 240, obviously that number continuing to go up. Yes, that is a statement by IDF Spokesman Daniela Agari, who's speaking at this very hour. Those numbers continue to rise and just to explain to our viewers the chaos, the chaotic situation in which we're in, it is not only that over 1,400 people have been slaughtered. In so many cases, their bodies have been desecrated, have been burned, have been torched, have been beheaded, decapitated, so that it was impossible to even understand which bodies are being held. A lot of people that are missing were presumed to either be kidnapped or missing, so they could be dead in Israeli territory, there is so much uncertainty for so many families that don't even know whether their loved ones are alive or dead, whether they are in Hamas captivity, whether they are dead in Gaza soil, and so the IDF continues its very intense intelligence operation to try to gather as much information as possible about those people who were taken by these Hamas terrorists, by other terrorists like PHA terrorists and by regular Gazans who joined the party, who joined the bloodbath, who joined the opportunity to enter Israeli homes to slaughter innocent civilians and to take captive Israeli babies, children, elderly, holocaust survivors, women with them back to Gaza, and so the numbers keep changing because the uncertainty is so great, the number of missing is dropping, some of them are being declared dead, others are being found to be kidnapped in Gaza. Doctor, the IDF that is currently operating in the Gaza Strip, important to bring up, is not just trying to eliminate Hamas terrorists, but is also on the search for Israeli and foreign captives and those that are missing in the Gaza Strip, and obviously this is how some of these body parts are being discovered and obviously those numbers, as Guy mentioned, that uncertainty of now being able to confirm that this person has passed away or was brutally burnt or beheaded or whatever the case is. But there's something that needs to be highlighted as well, which is the sense of Israel is known to celebrate life, we don't glorify death, but even so, Judaism and Israeli culture also have this idea of a dignified burial. And it's why it's so important, for example, you know, with all of this happening at the moment, it overshadows the fact that for years, we have been reporting and even interviewed family members from both Hadar Gold and Anorone, Shaul's families. These are bodies of Israeli soldiers that are being held in the Gaza Strip and wanting those bodies back, not even alive, to simply be able to give them a dignified burial. How many of the Hamas terrorists, families of them, have requested that their bodies get moved across in order to give them a dignified burial? Well, we've seen, I mean, the mass burial in Gaza, this is enough to give you an idea of how they see that death. And if you hear the Hassan Nasrallah saying that the martyrs, in fact, have been given a title on their way, have died on their way to Jerusalem. This is the kind of thing that we are confronting. We are two societies, two mentalities, different totally. As you say, we celebrate life, they celebrate death. And death for them is the door to paradise, the seven, two virgins that are waiting them with green gardens and water. This is what they dream about. So life here is, in fact, only a short passage, a short passage, because, I mean, the real life is beyond death. So this is what we have here. But I would say something else on another level. The hostages are the guarantees for Hamas to survive. And they have all the interest in the world to just be careful with their lives and not to touch them and not to hurt them, because this is the only way that they finally could reach a deal with Israel. But they don't even know where half of the hostages are. Well, this is what they claim to say, because they are not keen in their quest for a deal with Israel. When this idea was, let's exchange all prisoners from one side with all hostages from the other, this was a manipulation done by Hamas in order to gain more time. And some of the Israeli public just bought the idea. Yes, let us exchange all in all. And this was never on the table. Never on the table, because there were other conditions from the Americans, from the Europeans, and from others. So you could not meet the demands of Hamas. Impossible to meet. And this is why this deal was never seriously considered. So this is one thing. The only thing that is considered right now is to take the hostages, the women, the kids, and the babies that are still there. Maybe there might be a deal that is right now tailored by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States. This is something that we have to take into account, bearing in mind that the head of the Mossad visited yesterday, visited on the weekend Qatar, and the former head of the Mossad was also there. There might be here something that can be dealt with. I am not sure, because this is exactly what Hamas is looking at. Just look at what happened yesterday. He released the video of those three women with a clear message accusing Netanyahu so that the people in Israel, the public in Israel, would just put more pressure on Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire. This is the idea. If we reach a ceasefire, we will win, because we will never go back to fighting after a ceasefire. And I want to touch exactly on that, because a deal is not just being requested or trying to be made for the exchange of hostages, but also for a ceasefire after Israel was brutally attacked. Yes, taking away the meaning for Israel and what Israel needs to do here, what are the goals of this war to eliminate Hamas, to eliminate this threat that cannot no longer live next to the State of Israel, speaking just to the point that Dr. Jacques said here, the ceasefire. Well, many in the world are calling for a ceasefire. Well, that makes sense for many people in order to allow aid to come in, in order to stabilize the situation for the well-being of the people of Gaza. But I don't need to say this myself, because former US presidential candidate and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked yesterday about the meaning of a ceasefire. And she says, people who are calling for a ceasefire do not understand Hamas. I think we can take a listen to what she had to say. People who are calling for a ceasefire now do not understand Hamas. That is not possible. It would be such a gift to Hamas, because they would spend whatever time rebuilding their armaments, you know, creating stronger positions to be able to fend off an eventual assault by the Israelis. So we're in a very different world. I don't think it had to be the world we're in, but that's where we are, and we've got to figure our way forward through it. Yes, Ms. Clinton, explaining very well here what Israel has been trying to say for such a long time that if you let off the pressure of Hamas, it will use it for its advantage to advance its military capabilities to arrange its attacks against Israel to regain its capabilities of firing rockets towards Israeli civilians. And that is why the maximum pressure on Hamas is so vital here to create operational opportunities to collect more intelligence about those captives and the world also needs to remember there's so many foreign nationals there in Gaza that are being held captive by Hamas. And to add to that what people may forget or do not know, there are some 500 US nationals in Gaza right now that Israel wants to let out, Egypt is willing to take, and Hamas will not allow them to leave the Gaza Strip. So in addition to 240 Israelis that are kidnapped, there are 500 US nationals, most of them came there to visit their families or for personal reason, they're trapped inside Gaza and Hamas would not let them out. I believe the saying is, don't let your foot off the tiger's neck. The issue is that Israel is being portrayed as the tiger. Well, you know, we are portrayed as Goliaths. And David are the Palestinians, wrongly so. After all, I mean, this is our tradition and part of our history. Anyway, I mean, we are asked to stop our hostilities, to stop the, I mean, to reach a ceasefire in order to what, to let Hamas reassess its position, reinforce its position, rearrange its columns so that they can hit us when, as we are inside the Gaza Strip. No, this is not bearable. This is not acceptable. We should continue our pressure until we hear from Hamas that they want to surrender. Which is exactly the point that Israel is making until there's an unconditional surrender. Exactly so. They cannot put through a ceasefire because that signals the surrender of Israel after what it's been through. Dr. Jacques Neria and Guy Israel, thank you both very much for joining me on this breaking news edition. For anything you missed, check out our website at i24news.tv or stay tuned at the top of the hour for more updates. Well, is officially in a state of war. This is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking. More than 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Tell us, we don't know what to do. We just don't know anything. Entire families, including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. Welcome to this breaking news edition. I'm Batia Levinville, coming July from Tel Aviv. Thanks for joining me. It is day 25 of war here in Israel. Rocket Alert sirens have been blaring throughout Israel's southern communities in recent hours. In the early hours of this Tuesday morning, the IDF destroyed the house of Salah Al Arori, the deputy head of Hamas's political bureau, who oversaw some of the terror group's activities in the West Bank. Israel Defense Forces says its troops also killed numerous Hamas terrorists during ground operations in the Gaza Strip over the past day, as well as striking some 300 terror targets. In the North, IDF fighter jets destroyed his Bola facility housing weapons inside Lebanon. This is the exchange of fire between the Iranian-backed terror group and the Israeli military continues. Israel's police and Shin Bet security agencies say that three Israelis have also been arrested in the North on suspicion of ISIS connections. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening dismissed the idea that Israel would agree to a ceasefire with Hamas, saying that those calling for one are in effect calling for Israel to surrender to terrorism, which it simply will not do. Let's go now to our correspondent, Pierre Clashen-Loe, who is standing by for us in southern Israel. Pierre Sirens blaring a short while ago, but again, this is an area that has been seeing not only Sirens because of the rockets coming from Hamas, being shot from the Gaza Strip towards southern communities in Israel, but also as the IDF advances further into the Strip to eliminate Hamas terrorists. Right, there was a rocket alert about a rocket strike actually in the central sector of the security border between Israel and Gaza on Israeli territory in the locality of Kisufim. A cow shed, it seems, was hit, but there are no casualties to people, at least. There was also a non-crude aerial vehicle alert an hour ago in the region of Elat in the extreme south of Israel, but this drone was intercepted by the Israeli air defense in the Red Sea, not on Israeli territory. The ground offensive obviously continues. I just got a... There is another red alert in Kisufim in the same locality, and the ground offensive is still going on and the IDF spokesman unit just said that there were 300 strikes on terrorist targets overnight and that the commander of the Betlahia battalion, Hamas commander, who was very instrumental in operating its terrorists in two Israeli localities who perpetrated massacres on October 7th, he was eliminated. We're going to hear more from the IDF spokesman Rihard Mirol Daniel Agari in about 10 minutes. Absolutely, and no doubt we'll be listening very closely to those updates as the IDF spokespersons unit provides the Israeli public as well as those overseas with updates daily on the situation. I'll correspond in pure caution. Glad giving us an update from the south. Thank you very much for that. Joining me here in studio to continue the conversation is retired colonel Dr. Jacques Neria, the former deputy head of assessment for Israeli military intelligence and the former foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. And our I-24 News senior editor, Guy Azrael, gentlemen, thank you very much. Doctor, I'd like to start with trying to make a distinction here because there seems to be consistent calls for a ceasefire in terms of fighting and consistent calls for a humanitarian ceasefire. Now perhaps the audience needs to understand what the difference is because it appears unclear but more so than that. There appears to be a shift in narrative from a lot of Israel's partners in the west including the United States who at first were calling for a ceasefire now saying they do not back a ceasefire because they agree with Netanyahu in the sense that it allows Hamas to rearm itself and gives them the time to strategically back itself up. But at the same time it still wants to get through to civilians in Gaza. So how do we draw the difference between the two? You said it all. The difference is quite clear. Providing a safe passage between the Egyptian border to the area where right now the refugees are concentrating. Now remember that before the beginning of the war Gaza had 2.2 million population. Now it finds itself with almost 2 million population in the southern part of Gaza which means that on the infrastructure, on the daily life we've seen the people looting the warehouses of Unra and it means that in a way Hamas has lost control of the population there. So the west and all those concerned want to secure a safe passage and a place where Palestinians living in Gaza can receive medical aid can receive water and all sorts of services. We've seen the French already have advanced a hospital ship near the to just take all the patients that would be evacuated from the hospitals. We've seen I would say a national emergency both in the United States and in West Europe. All this in order to avoid a disaster that could immediately impact have an impact on Israeli forces and force Israel for a ceasefire that it doesn't want right now because a ceasefire at this point means clearly victory of Hamas. You will see in a moment you will see in a moment all those who are crying now and saying that they cannot live and they are suffering they will go with flags and applause and send flowers and all sorts of sweets they have wandered the war and this is a situation that Israel cannot afford. Absolutely gentlemen stay with us I do want to continue this conversation but I want to cross our correspondent Robert Swift standing by for us in northern Israel Rob I believe action happening where you are at the moment tell us what's going on on the ground. Yeah the northern border is simmering as usual you can see behind me the Israel Lebanese border and I'll just draw your attention first to this mount of earth to my right hand side this is essentially part here so that we have some protection between us and the border which is as you see behind me there's a pillar of smoke emanating from the border that the hill with the dark green trees on it that itself at the top of it is the Israeli Lebanese border and there's a wall running the whole way along there with fires and smoke billowing from several locations along there now we have in confirmation of what's occurred there but as yesterday there was numerous mortars fired from the Lebanese side of the territory towards Israeli bases on the border including the base that you can see there with the towers on it and another one which is just out of frame further to our left now the main threat although mortars have been used mostly the main threat here is actually anti-tank weapons we were actually advised to move slightly by by one of the local soldiers here there is still civilian traffic moving around here but as you can imagine a sitting target is much more under threat than one that's moving so although there are still civilian cars around we were advised not to leave our city and play in sight and so that's why we've moved slightly parked ourselves behind this wall due to the numerous threats that are emanating from the border here correspondent Robert Swift giving us an update from the northern friend thank you very much for that of course we will be crossing live to you a little later for more updates for the time being while we've been getting updates both from the southern and the northern border as well as here in studio another complexity facing Israel and the IDF is the issue of hostages I'll remind the viewers that on October 7th 2500 plus more Hamas terrorists including some civilians came into Israel rampaging through communities and taking more than 230 hostages into the Gaza Strip Joining me now is Ricarda Luk the mother of Shani Luk a young Israeli German woman kidnapped by Hamas terrorists at a music festival in Israel who was pronounced dead yesterday being Monday firstly thank you so very much for taking the time to speak with us I can't even begin to imagine your indescribable loss and pain there's something that many in Israel as well as families of hostages are struggling with and you can attest to that we don't know this idea of being in limbo but you now have confirmation on the face of your dear daughter is there any comfort or solace at all in knowing versus not knowing yeah I can just feel with all the families of the kidnapped people it's a horrible feeling that you're really more than three weeks already of not knowing you don't have any sign not of life, not on what conditions are, who is captured, who is where and you just don't get anything like nothing, no information at all for almost three weeks so it's really frustrating and very hard to stand so on one side it's at least I have some closure I mean we would have hoped for we were optimistic and we hoped for different outcome but at least we know what happened didn't suffer and yeah and we know where she is and we will not be ending up not knowing ever our worst fear was that the hostages will be released and she won't be one of them and then we would never know what happened to her if she's alive if not where is she and this I think is the most feared outcome that could ever happen to a family you received this incredibly gut wrenching information but there is no closure in terms of a proper and dignified burial for your dear Shani I apologize profusely for bringing this up but for the viewers who don't know Israel's Zaka Rescue Service confirmed that a bone from the base of her skull without which a person cannot survive had been recovered how does this feel to you knowing that you said that it does bring some comfort in knowing her fate but not that you can give her a dignified burial I don't want to imagine what they've done to the body and what happened there I don't want to think about it but for my personal view I know that she didn't suffer she was dead already her soul is already resting somewhere up and so I don't mind anymore about the body it's not for me anymore and we will create her some kind of burial just for us and the family so you have a place to go to and mourn like a memorial so we will do that if we have a body or not it doesn't matter anymore for us Ricardo what has been the response of both the Israeli and the German governments regarding your daughter I mean they they gave us a contact person we were in touch all the time with the German government and they promised us to do everything to get them out and they were in contact also with Israeli governments but until now there is no no facts, really no results yet there are so many families that are still looking for their kidnapped people and they know nothing and they don't know if there is a progress there is no outcome yet I mean they're it's horrible like we're still disappointed a little bit in the governments that both of them did not manage to to do anything yet I mean it's a long time they're already there people need medicine some are injured some are old some are children little ones and still there is no sign that they are going to be released so we I think the difference they start doubting in the actions that the governments are taking is it really the top priority how come the whole world is not reacting more I mean there are many people from all over the world that are captured there that are not part of this conflict and I don't know we don't see any results yet so I think that's the problem absolutely I no doubt there's going to be many questions both now and at the end of this Ricardo I don't want to take up too much more of your time but I would like you if you're able to tell us about your daughter the person she was because I believe that we should know about her life and not just her death yes yes we would always remember her she was a loving person with a huge heart she had many friends she was an artist she liked to travel languages people all over the world and she liked to dance and music and she was peace loving and she had so much ahead of her but she did live a good life and she was happy and that's the way we want to remember her the fact that she was at a music video festival just really is a testament to the type of person that she was wanting to celebrate life music Ricardo look on a personal level I am so so sorry for your loss and I hope that at some point there is some comfort and that at least in your morning there's comfort from the state of Israel Ricardo look the mother of Shani look a young Israeli German woman kidnapped by Hamas terrorists at a music festival in Israel who was pronounced dead yesterday morning thank you so very much for joining us and for taking the time to speak about your daughter in the news thank you and still with me in studio is retired Colonel Dr. Shakneria and our senior editor Guy Israel Guy it's always difficult coming out of an interview like that but so important that she did take the time to speak about this because this isn't just war being the military side of it the economic the political side there's a human face to this the tragedy the loss the pain for so many families for so many Israelis entire families that were eliminated in some cases in the Israeli communities on the border that I think is important for the world to know the sort of tragedy that the people of Israel as a whole have suffered on October 7th a tragedy a massacre an onslaught that will never be forgotten but by anyone who lives here these days for the rest of their lives it is a mark it is a scar on the state of Israel on those people our hearts are with the families and since the number is so immense we're talking about over 1400 Israelis slaughtered not even mentioning those were kidnapped or missing Guy, I'm sorry everyone of us knows someone just because there's been a push by the IDF that confirms that the number of hostages currently held in the Gaza Strip have increased now to 240 obviously that number continuing to go up that is in a statement by IDF Spokesman Daniela Agari who's speaking at this very hour those numbers continue to rise and just to explain to our viewers the chaos the chaotic situation in which we're in it is not only that over 1400 people have been slaughtered in so many cases their bodies have been desecrated they've been burned, they've been torched have been beheaded decapitated so that it was impossible to even understand which bodies are being held a lot of people that are missing were presumed to either be kidnapped or missing so they could be dead in Israeli territory in Gaza territory there is so much uncertainty for so many families that don't even know whether their loved ones are alive or dead whether they are in Hamas captivity where they are dead in Gaza soil and so the IDF continues its very intense intelligence operation to try to gather as much information as possible about those people who are taken by these Hamas terrorists by other terrorists like P.A.J. terrorists and by regular Gazans who joined the party, who joined the bloodbath who joined the opportunity to enter Israeli homes to slaughter innocent civilians and to take captive Israeli babies, children, elderly Holocaust survivors, women with them back to Gaza and so the numbers keep changing because the uncertainty is so great the number of missing is dropping some of them are being declared dead others are being found to be kidnapped in Gaza Dr, the IDF that is currently operating in the Gaza Strip important to bring up is not just trying to eliminate Hamas terrorists but is also on the search for Israeli and foreign captives those that are missing in the Gaza Strip and obviously this is how some of these body parts are being discovered and obviously those numbers as Guy mentioned that uncertainty of now being able to confirm that this person has passed away or was brutally burnt or beheaded or whatever the case is but there is something that needs to be highlighted as well which is the sense of Israel is known to celebrate life we don't glorify death so Judaism and Israeli culture also have this idea of a dignified burial and it's why it's so important for example with all of this happening at the moment it overshadows the fact that for years we have been reporting and even interviewed family members from both Hadar Golden, Anon, Shaul's families these are bodies of Israeli soldiers that are being held in the Gaza Strip and wanting those bodies back not even alive to simply be able to give them a dignified burial how many of the Hamas terrorists families of them have requested that their bodies get moved across in order to give them a dignified burial well we've seen in the mass burial in Gaza this is enough to give you an idea of how they see that death and if you hear the Hassan Nasala saying that the martyrs in fact have been given a title on their way, have died on their way to Jerusalem this is the kind of thing that we are confronting there are two societies, two mentalities different totally as you say we celebrate life they celebrate death and death for them is the door to paradise the seven two virgins that are waiting them with green gardens and water this is what they dream about so life here is in fact only a short passage I mean the real life is beyond this so this is what we have here but I would say something else on another level the hostages are the guarantees for Hamas to survive and they have all the interest in the world to just be careful with their lives and not to touch them and not to hurt them because this is the only way that they finally could reach a deal with Israel but they don't even know where half of the hostages are and this is what they claim to say because they are not keen in their quest for a deal with Israel when this idea was let's exchange all prisoners from one side with all hostages from the other this was a manipulation done by Hamas in order to gain more time and this is what and some of the Israeli public just bought the idea yes let's exchange all in all and this was never on the table because there were other conditions from the Americans from the Europeans and from others so you could not meet the demands of Hamas impossible to meet and this is why this deal was never seriously considered so this is one thing the only thing that is considered right now is to try to to take the hostages the women, the kids and the babies that are still there maybe there might be a deal that is right now tailored by Qatar Egypt and the United States this is something that we have to take into account bearing in mind that the head of the massage visited yesterday visited on the weekend Qatar and the former head of the massage was also there there might be here something that can be dealt with I am not sure because this is exactly what Hamas is looking at just look at what happened yesterday he released the video of those three women with a clear message accusing Netanyahu so that the people in Israel the public in Israel would just put more pressure on Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire this is the idea if we reach a ceasefire we will win because we will never go back to fighting after a ceasefire and I want to touch exactly on that because it is not just being requested or trying to be made for the exchange of hostages but also for a ceasefire after Israel was brutally attacked taking away the meaning for Israel and what Israel needs to do here what are the goals of this war to eliminate Hamas, to eliminate this threat that cannot no longer live next to the state of Israel speaking just to the point that Dr. Jacques said here well many in the world are calling for a ceasefire well that makes sense for many people in order to allow aid to come in in order to stabilize the situation for the well-being of the people of Gaza but I don't need to say this myself because former US presidential candidate and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked yesterday about the meaning of a ceasefire and she says people who are calling for a ceasefire do not understand Hamas I think we can take a listen to what she had to say people who are calling for a ceasefire now do not understand Hamas that is not possible it would be such a gift to Hamas because they would spend whatever time rebuilding their armaments you know creating stronger positions to be able to fend off an eventual assault by the Israelis so we're in a very different world I don't think it had to be the world we're in but that's where we are and we've got to figure our way forward through it so Mrs. Clinton explaining very well here what Israel has been trying to say for such a long time that if you let off the pressure of Hamas it will use it for its advantage to advance its military capabilities to arrange its attacks against Israel to gain its capabilities of firing rockets towards Israeli civilians and that is why the maximum pressure on Hamas is so vital here to create operational opportunities to collect more intelligence about those captives and the world also needs to remember there's so many foreign nationals there in Gaza that are being held captive by Hamas and to add to that what people may forget or do not know there are some 500 US nationals in Gaza right now that Israel wants to let out Egypt is willing to take and Hamas will not allow them to leave the Gaza Strip so in addition to 240 Israelis that are kidnapped there are 500 US nationals most of them came there to visit their families or for personal reason they are trapped inside Gaza and Hamas would not let them out I believe the saying is don't let your foot off the tiger's neck the issue is is that Israel is being portrayed as the tiger we know that we are portrayed as Goliath and David are the Palestinians wrongly so after all this is our tradition part of our history anyway I mean we are asked to stop our austerity is to stop the to reach a ceasefire in order to let Hamas reassess its position reinforce its position rearrange its columns so that they can hit us as we are inside the Gaza Strip no this is not bearable this is not acceptable we should continue our pressure until we hear from Hamas that they want to surrender which is exactly the point that Israel is making until there is an unconditional surrender exactly so they cannot put through a ceasefire because that signals the surrender of Israel after what it's been through Dr. Zakneria and Guy Israel thank you both very much for joining me on this breaking news edition for anything you missed check out our website at i24news.tv or stay tuned at the top of the hour for more updates on what's going on only on i24news in news edition i'm batch 11th all coming to you live from Tel Aviv thanks for joining me it is day 25 of war here in Israel rocket alert sirens have been blaring throughout Israel's southern communities in recent hours in the early hours of this Tuesday morning the IDF destroyed the house of Salah al-Arori the deputy head of Hamas's political bureau who oversaw some of the terror groups activities in the west bank the Israel defense forces says its troops also killed numerous Hamas terrorists during ground operations in the Gaza Strip over the past day as well as striking some 300 terror targets in the north the IDF found two jets destroyed a Hezbollah facility housing weapons inside Lebanon this is the exchange of fire between the Iranian-backed terror group and the Israeli military continues Israel's police and Shin Bet security agencies say three Israelis have also been arrested in the north on suspicion of ISIS connections Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening dismissing the idea that Israel would agree to a ceasefire with Hamas saying those calling for one are in effect calling for Israel to surrender to terrorism which it absolutely will not do let's go now to our correspondent Robert Swift who is standing by for us in northern Israel Robert speaking about this over the course of the last couple of days evidently the main front of this war being the south but tensions are heating up in the north and cause for major concern why there are major concern because essentially they don't stop they're continuous every day there's one or two skirmishes nothing that ever escalates into full blown war between Hezbollah and the Israeli military but every day there's something yesterday we saw an anti-tank attack which the Israeli military responded to with mortar fire of its own with artillery and with airstrikes overnight but even now as I'm speaking to you there's some of these small skirmishes are taking place if you look over to the border which is just behind me and the hill behind me you'll see that there's a lot of smoke coming from there now we've not had confirmation of what's caused that smoke but we have seen in the last 24 hours that often when Hezbollah fires mortars into this area it causes fire and we have been here in a few bangs we can smell the smoke in the air and there's actually just a small amount of ash is falling on to us where we're standing this is ash from the burning trees it seems and also just about two minutes ago we heard at least two shots from Israeli artillery responding to what appears to be an attack from the Lebanese side of the border so these are continuing you know these sorts of skirmishes constantly take place and we just look up to the other side to Roy my cameraman's right hand side you'll see the border where the wall zigzags to the right hand side of that that is Lebanese territory and that gives you an idea of how close this community that we're standing in that gives you an idea of how close they are to the border and essentially how close they are to being within weapons range of the Hezbollah fighters which are operating on that side of the border absolutely I want to thank you and the cameraman for showing us down because that is evidence right there of exactly how close you are to the Lebanese border this evidently is not a conflict between America and Afghanistan across an ocean this is right here on our doorframe correspondent Robert Swift thank you so very much for that update and with me here in studio to analyze this further our senior defense correspondent Jonathan Ray Jonathan the New York Times has put out a report showing satellite imagery that was taken yesterday that shows the substantial scale of Israeli tanks built up about 5 kilometers inside the Gaza Strip now war has two sides to it and so yes while Israel is advancing its operation inside the Gaza Strip there's also a map that has come out from the Israeli side showcasing how this all started by mapping out very clearly the attacks against Israeli civilians and we look at this map you can clearly see the different points of where the attacks were in Israeli territory which is just striking but also which of the people were kidnapped missing and which were murdered yes and we're seeing it on the map first let's remember and let's remind perhaps the international community which may have forgotten because all they see are images from Gaza this is what happened on October 7th this is what made this war begin had this not happened we wouldn't be at war right now but it did happen and we're seeing this map where where did the vast majority of the Israelis were killed massacred by the the beasts of Hamas terrorists came in and we saw especially in the area of two focal points in the southern part of the Gaza border and the central part of the Gaza border both very close to the border itself these are the communities which were severely hit these are the places and there we can see it again you can see where for example the Bari massacre that's where the party took place and just to the north of it we see Kibbutz Bari both of these locations very close to the Gaza border itself this is where a lot of much of the massacre took place Khwarazah the community that we're seeing now also I've been to Khwarazah tens of times Khwarazah sits right on the border itself same as Nativa Sara which we're seeing right now Nativa Sara is a community which ends on the border fence itself and therefore all the terrorists had to do were go in with the using their paraglides coming in and come in the city of O'Fakim which we're seeing now rather further from the Gaza Strip the farthest point I believe 15 miles or so from the Gaza border itself this is how far the terrorists were able to infiltrate into Israel and there was great concern at the time now we're more than three weeks away but there's great concern that the terrorists would continue O'Fakim is on the way to Be'er Sheva Be'er Sheva city of 200,000 Israelis known as the capital they give the capital of southern Israel O'Fakim is roughly halfway between the Gaza border and Be'er Sheva these are things that did not happen because as much as there is criticism on the Israeli security establishment and there should be criticism for what happened those attacks were stopped that day yes the terrorists did infiltrate and cause massive damage in Israel but those attacks were stopped the terrorists were not able to make it to Be'er Sheva they were not able to make it to Ashkelon roughly seven or eight miles north of the border itself a city of 160,000 people those attacks were stopped and now Israel is striking itself but I think we should all remember when we saw this map this is what ignited this war Israel is not sending its troops into Gaza it's tanks because it wants to Israel is sending its tanks into Gaza because of this because of what happened this is a war that has been inflicted on us cause grave damage on a terrible morning on October 7th Israel is striking and Israel cannot afford Hamas to be there anymore loud and clear I'm hoping we can bring the images back on the screen I just want to for the viewers that were watching this I believe that the red dots in these communities all around the Gaza border are those that have been murdered and you can see there is just plenty of them but those black dots are the ones that indicate those that have been kidnapped or are considered missing and we're seeing near us near us is a kibbutz on the southern part the Gaza border near us roughly I think some 70 people from this community have been kidnapped these are all the names of people by the way these are not names of areas when you're looking at this map this is a zoom in of a kibbutz and these are the names of people that have been kidnapped missing exactly everyone and we're seeing in other locations we see more red than black specifically near us we're seeing a lot of black dots so many people from this community have been kidnapped they're now in Gaza waiting to come home their families who are still here waiting for them to come home near us is the community which has been mostly affected by kidnapping there was lots of killing there as well but a lot of kidnapping from the specific community also from other communities if we're speaking I'm not sure exactly of the numbers no one is really sure of the numbers but you keep changing every day from near us we're speaking of roughly 70 people kidnapped out of 240 that means that many people were kidnapped from other places as well from army bases communities and so on near us is the community that has been strongly affected by kidnapping and those are people that have to be brought back earlier the idea of spokesman Rea Admiral Daniel Haagari gave the media and the Israeli public updates especially regarding the hostages we unfortunately were at that point taking a soundbind from one of the Israeli German hostages that found out their mother that found out that they were indeed murdered and so we did not take the press conference live but I'm hoping that our senior defense correspondent Jonathan Rea gave will paraphrase or translates what Haagari had to say earlier in particular with regards to the hostages we gave messages to the families 240 hostages I'm saying this and the number is up to 240 because the identification process it takes time and some of those people are not Israeli citizens and identifying them is more complex it takes time currently the number is 240 we told the families of 240 hostages we will continue to do everything possible everything possible to bring them back home so far we gave we gave announcements to the families of 315 IDF soldiers we embrace the soldiers and continue to walk with them all along the way our senior defense correspondent Jonathan Rea gave thank you both for the translation as well as for your analysis here this morning I'm going to go now to our correspondent Pierre Kloschendal who is standing by for us in southern Israel Pierre what is the latest on the ground late into this Tuesday morning as Jonathan mentioned there was a rocket strike in Niroz and one house was hit but the houses there are abandoned so there is no casualty there was also a rocket strike in Nirem which is also in the area of the localities facing the central sector of the Gaza Strip earlier on in Netiva Sara which is facing the northern tip of the Gaza Strip earlier on in Kisufim in the central sector facing the central sector of the Gaza Strip it hit a cow shed but no casualties among human being at least and that's the reality here punctuated by artillery fire from an artillery position that is close by from where we stand the roaring of the fighter jets just above us as we speak the situation is the same the offensive the ground offensive is progressing Daniel Agari Rirad Niro IDF spokesman said that there are very close range combats between the ground forces of the Givatri Infantry Brigade and the terrorists and there are numerous casualties among the Hamas terrorists Correspondent Pierre Clush and like giving us an update just to mention that you were also looking at live images next to Pierre of the Gaza border as Israel continues as we can hear in the background there it's offensive to root Hamas terrorists out of the Strip moving on for weeks Israeli News Channel 12 followed families of the missing and kidnapped as they worked tirelessly to find any information about their loved ones' fates and advocating for those held hostage by Hamas in Gaza to be brought home Here's more about some of the victims harrowing stories in this report The seventh floor of this prestigious Tel Aviv tower looks like any other office but the employees here are people whose worlds were turned upside down in the blink of an eye on that bloodstained Shabbat the people closest to them in the world were kidnapped by Hamas to Gaza since then they've been alternating between despair and hope as they search for every scrap of information they can find out about their loved ones journalists were with them at the family's headquarters demonstrations, ceremonies and meetings all for one goal to bring the hostages home My name is Merav Lishem Gonen and I'm the mother of Romy Gonen Romy was at the party on Saturday morning at 10.15 I had my last conversation with her I spoke to her and she said Mom, I think I'm going to die I told her you're not going to die you're not Romy, you're not going to die you're going to live we're going to get you out of there always remember this I love you, you are a beloved girl then I said to her Romy, then I heard her say hello Mom, and that's it and she didn't say anything anymore the families of the kidnapped headquarters was established by volunteers as a small support group but found itself replacing the state and becoming the most important organization in the fight for the hostages return I'm Natalia Benzvi the mother of Sigev Benzvi my son Sigev was kidnapped to Gaza and the last time I spoke with him was on Saturday at 6.36 in the morning at 9.42 the last signal was from Jabalia that's when they took him and my heart fell when was the last time you saw him Friday night you said Mom, I'm going out I didn't want him to leave I said what aren't you tired of parties already you've done it all if something happens to Sigev I will not live I will not live for one second in this world one second do you have any other children I love my children I love my children my children and my grandchildren are a great light in my life but I will not forgive myself I am his mother and I did not bring him home safely one of the most important things in our family is Friday night dinner and Omer never misses a Friday night dinner even on the day he went to this damn festival before that the whole family sat together it's an unbearable pain it's fun that we can do it there are five of us but now I realize that there are only four standing here with Omer in the photo he must be returned he must come back 21 year old Omer Shemto from Herzliya is the youngest of Malachi and Shelly Shemtov's three children he was kidnapped from the party in Ra'im and is seen being taken to Gaza in a Hamas video time stopped on Saturday at 9 in the morning the last time Omer called two days ago on the final day filming Mayrov was on her way to another meeting Shelly took part in another ceremony of the kidnaps and missing and Natalia Benzfi received news that her son Sagiv would not come home alive his body had been identified joining me now in studio is Jonathan Elchory a public diplomacy advisor and LGBTQ plus activist thank you so very much for being here with me you were born in southern Lebanon you were telling me just prior to us going live on air your father also served in the south Lebanese army which collaborated with Israel once upon a time which is hard to imagine now but I'd like to ask you two parts of a question the first being how the Lebanese public currently views what's happening in Israel versus how the Lebanese public feels toward their own government and Hezbollah that takes a huge part of Lebanese social, economic and political life yeah well these are fantastic questions but I think that I wanted to elaborate a little bit more you mentioned that I'm part of the south Lebanon community that came here that worked alongside with the IDF from 1982 even a little bit prior to that till May 2000 and the reason for that is because a lot of the south Lebanon army and a lot of Lebanese also not only from the Christian communities but also from Muslim and Druze communities that saw that the Palestinian terrorism that we have in the Middle East is the only way that we have to survive and we've seen that only if we will collaborate and make sure that the minorities in the Middle East will protect each other that's the only way that we have to survive because during the 70s and during the 80s during the Lebanese Civil War the Palestinian terrorism that were run by the PLO and Yasser Arafat they have done the same thing that now we're seeing Hamas doing in the south of Israel empowering people, burning people alive this is something that we've experienced since the 70s and since the 80s and I think that today our main goal and I think this is how also a lot of Lebanese people seeing it is that they don't see themselves part of going and joining the war against Israel because they know that at the end of the day this terrorism that happened to Israel will lead eventually to happen in Lebanon and we can see that Hamas and Hezbollah and ISIS they're all different faces to the same coin and a lot of the Lebanese people are seeing that we have seen in the last week a lot of online petitions that are calling for Lebanese politicians not to join or to force Hezbollah not to join the war against Israel because they know that eventually the destruction of Lebanon and many of the Lebanese today know that suffering from this economic crisis they're having in the last five years suffering from wrongdoing and a lot of corruption in the government joining a war will eventually bring Lebanon to its knees and as we're sitting here I'm looking at your necklace and it's just you are a Christian you are an Israeli you speak Arabic you are literally the walking breathing definition of multi-culturalism of coexistence in Israel I believe that you are as an activist trying to engage the both the Muslim and the Christian community in Israel what exactly are you engaging with here in terms of trying to advocate on behalf of Israel as you mentioned I'm Israeli I'm Christian I'm Lebanese I'm from the LGBTQ plus community and I support Israel this is something that is super crucial for the message that I say out loud and putting the necklace on is not only being supportive and not only being showing my identity to the world but also saying to the Jewish people that we're here for you we're here to support you and to say to the Israeli people as well that we will do everything in our power to engage outside to the world and this is what I've been doing in the last I can say almost 10 years but in particularly since the catastrophe of October 7th I've been doing it in Arabic to the Christian and to the Arab world outside of Israel that needs to understand that what happened by Hamas terrorist organizations something that is against humanity something that is is unimaginable and I think one of our main issues today is that a lot of what's called progressive movement in the world they don't see Israel in its multicultural they don't see Israel in its diversity and it's all of our mosaic of people that we're having here and a lot of we have also disagreements on a lot of things they don't see that and what Israel has been through is that we went through the legitimization of Israel and what the Israelis have been through is that we've been through dehumanization and if I will be honest with you I don't know if we should persuade this view of trying to bring people to our side and being pro-Israeli pro-Israeli in order to go against these savages the Hamas terrorist organization and what they did you don't have to be Zionist in order to go against it you just need to be a human being and we need to remind the world that we are humans that Israel is because Hamas didn't question who's Jewish and who's not they just killed everyone that came in their way and this is something that needs to be told this is something that the world needs to understand I see a lot of people ripping off pictures of kidnapped babies and kidnapped women and kidnapped elderly and this is something that you know I can't imagine on what's going on is that they stopped seeing us as humans and we need to bring that back again Jonathan El-Hori thank you so very much for being with me here in studio to share that and thank you for your incredible work that you do of reminding the world that this is about human beings and nothing more and this is what we're doing in a few days I'm flying with a delegation from Diplo Act in order to just speak about the stories of the people who are kidnapped and the people who were murdered by this atrocities that Hamas did in south of Israel it's a big task to take on and someone has to do it and I thank you so much for rising to the occasion to be able to do it and thank you for coming to studio today thank you very much also with us here in studio is Mark the chairman at one family an organization that offers social, financial and emotional assistance to victims of terror as well as an intrapreneur and philanthropist thank you again as well for being here there is for lack of a better word a situation of complete chaos and uncertainty we have tens of thousands of soldiers of reservists on the front lines we have families that are displaced literally been ripped apart from the fact that their loved ones have been murdered, kidnapped saying the country's political economic situation the country is in a disarray how is the organization trying to assist with this and you've been doing so for decades why is this time different well one family has been dealing for the last 22 years with individual events that occur every in the beginning it would occur perhaps every week or two after that every month or two and then much later even less when you're dealing with one offs it's different but the process or the message that I think we bring to the individuals is the same message for the group of Israel as a as a unit I think it basically I'll start by telling a story that I think gives you the whole picture my son when he was like four and a half years old my wife tells me I was out of town he cries at night I've asked him why he doesn't tell me so one night when I was back I put him to bed and he burst into tears and I said what are you crying about he said you're gonna die and I said I might I hope that won't be I hope I won't but if I do there's other people around who are gonna take care of you they won't be the same won't be the same we took them for a evaluation my wife and myself and him and the other evaluation the doctor said the problem is very simple you're bringing home to this to your table all the stories that you have during the day this one was murdered and this one was kidnapped this one was killed and you gotta don't talk about that stuff in front of the kids just keep them away from it completely here it's different because it's on every TV and there's no way you can keep them away from it never mind TV it's on social media which is exactly where this generation is getting it from it's on TikTok videos on Instagram absolutely right the answer is a few fold the first thing is kids need to know that their parents are there to protect them kids need to be smothered in love and mom and dad have to tell the kid I'm here to protect you and if they feel protected whether it's an illusion if they feel protected they'll have an ability to function on the issue of the chaos in the country that's really on a massive scale I think that one of the problems that one family will have in dealing with the future cases is that they're all coming in at once instead of piece by piece but the way the strategy that we use I think it applies to the whole nation the strategy we use is people need to feel comforted and they feel safe how do you feel safe? you feel safe as you have friends who are with you and you feel like we're in this together it's not just me by myself in my house you're my neighbor I can go to you, you're my friend I can call you the whole of Israel is in this together if we can have that kind of attitude which I think people the way we do today there is a sense of the unity of the people of Israel but camaraderie it's a support group it's a massive support group where people need to feel that they are they know who they can go they know who they can call and that gives them a sense of peace and a sense of quiet in the 30 seconds that we have left of the broadcast I want to ask you mentioned all of us being together and I think that's how we will truly recover from this we're a nation that survived the horrors and we're built off the horrors of the Holocaust we have to survive this as well I would just say one more thing which gives me courage I feel like I'm kind of watching I'm living in a movie the Bible tells you what's going to happen and when it's going to be gathered and there's always prophecies of what will happen and you can just wake up in the morning and read the prophets and read the Bible and you say I've got the movie I know exactly what's going to happen next and I have a sense of confidence that we're going in the right direction and it's going to end well Mark Bellsberg, the chairman of one family and organization that offers social, financial and philanthropist I, as an Israeli, want to thank you on behalf of the state for the incredible work that you do and continue to do because at this time it is so needed and just so important and thank you for being here as well and that brings us to the end of this breaking news edition if anything you must make sure to check out our website at i24news.tv first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24news welcome to this breaking news edition I'm Batya Levendor, coming to you live from Tel Aviv thanks for joining me it is day 25 of war here in Israel rocket alert sirens have been blaring throughout Israel's southern communities in recent hours in the early hours of this Tuesday morning the IDF destroyed the house of Salah al-Arori, the deputy head of Hamas's political bureau who oversaw some of the terror groups activities in the west bank the Israel defense forces says its troops also killed numerous Hamas terrorists during ground operations in the Gaza Strip over the past day as well as striking some 300 terror targets in the north the IDF found to just destroyed a Hezbollah facility housing weapons inside Lebanon this is the exchange of fire between the Iranian barrack terror group and the Israeli military continues Israel's police and Shin Bet security agencies say three Israelis have also been arrested in the north on suspicion of ISIS connections Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening dismissing the idea that Israel would agree to a ceasefire with Hamas saying those calling for one are in effect calling for Israel to surrender to terrorism which it absolutely will not do let's go now to our correspondent Robert Swift who is standing by for us in northern Israel Robert we've been speaking about this over the course of the last couple of days evidently the main front of this war being the south but tensions are heating up in the north and cause for major concern why? because essentially they don't stop they're continuous every day there's one or two skirmishes nothing that ever escalates into full blown war between Hezbollah and the Israeli military but every day there's something yesterday we saw mortar fire and anti-tank attacks which the Israeli military responded to with mortar fire of its own with artillery and with airstrikes overnight but even now as I'm speaking to you there's some of these small skirmishes that are taking place in the border which is just behind me and the hill behind me you'll see that there's a lot of smoke coming from there now we've not had confirmation of what's caused that smoke but we have seen in the last 24 hours that often when Hezbollah fires mortars into this area it causes fire and we have been here in a few bangs we can smell the smoke in the air and there's actually just a small amount of ash is falling on to us where we're standing this is ash from the burning trees it seems and also just about two minutes ago we heard at least two shots from Israeli artillery responding to what appears to be an attack from the Lebanese side of the border so these are continuing these sorts of skirmishes constantly take place and if we just look up to the other side to Roy, my cameraman's right hand side you'll see the border where the wall zigzags to the right hand side of that that is Lebanese territory and that gives you an idea of how close this community that we're standing in that gives you an idea of how close they are to the border and essentially how close they are to being within weapons range of the Hezbollah fighters which are operating on that side of the border Absolutely, I want to both thank you and the cameraman for showing us that because that is evidence right there of exactly how close you are to the Lebanese border this evidently is not a conflict between America and Afghanistan across an ocean this is right here on our doorframe Correspondent Robert Swift thank you so very much for that update and with me here in studio to analyse this further our Senior Defence Correspondent Jonathan The New York Times has put out a report showing satellite imagery that was taken yesterday that shows the substantial scale of Israeli tanks built up about 5 km inside the Gaza Strip now war has two sides to it and so yes while Israel is advancing its operation inside the Gaza Strip is also a map that has come out from the Israeli side showcasing how this all started by mapping out very clearly the attacks against Israeli civilians and when we look at this map you can clearly see the different points of where the attacks were in Israeli territory which is just striking but also which of the people were kidnapped missing and which were murdered Yes and we're seeing it on the map first let's remember and let's remind perhaps the international community may have forgotten because all they see are images from Gaza this is what happened on October 7 this is what made this war begin had this not happened we wouldn't be at war right now but it did happen and we're seeing this map where where did the vast majority of the Israelis were killed massacred by the the beasts of Hamas terrorists came in and we saw especially in the area of two focal points in the southern part of the Gaza border and in the central part of the Gaza border both very close to the border itself these are the communities which were severely hit these are the places and there we can see it again you can see where for example the Bari massacre that's where the party took place and just to the north of it we see Kibbutz Bari both of these locations very close to the Gaza border itself this is where much of the massacre took place Khwarazah the community that we're seeing now also I've been to Khwarazah tens of times Khwarazah sits right on the border itself same as Nativa Sara which we're seeing right now Nativa Sara is a community which ends on the border fence itself and therefore all the terrorists had to do were go in with using their paraglides coming in and come in the city of Ofakim which we're seeing now rather further from the Gaza Strip the farthest point I believe 15 miles or so from the Gaza border itself this is how far the terrorists were able to infiltrate into Israel and there was great concern at the time now we're more than three weeks away but there's great concern that the terrorists would continue Ofakim is on the way to Bersheva Bersheva city of some 200,000 Israelis known as the capital of the they give the capital of southern Israel Ofakim is roughly halfway between the Gaza border and Bersheva these are things that did not happen because as much as there is criticism on the Israeli security establishment and there should be criticism for what happened those attacks were stopped that day yes the terrorists did infiltrate there was massive damage in Israel but those attacks were stopped the terrorists were not able to make it to Bersheva they were not able to make it to Ashkelon roughly seven or eight miles north of the border itself a city of 160,000 people those attacks were stopped and now Israel is striking itself but I think we should all remember when we saw this map this is what ignited this war Israel is not sending its troops because it wants to Israel is sending its tanks into Gaza because of this because of what happened this is a war that has been inflicted on us cause grave damage on a terrible morning on October 7th and now Israel is striking and Israel cannot afford Hamas to be there anymore loud and clear I'm hoping we can bring the images back on the screen I just want to for the viewers that were watching this I believe that the red dots in these communities all around Gaza border are those that have been murdered and you can see there is just plenty of them but those black dots are the ones that indicate those that have been kidnapped or are considered missing and we're seeing Neroz Neroz is the Kibbutz on the southern part of the Gaza border Neroz roughly I think some 70 people from this community have been kidnapped these are all the names of people by the way these are not names of the Kibbutz and these are the names of people that have been kidnapped and missing exactly everyone and we're seeing in other locations we see more red than black specifically Neroz we're seeing a lot of black dots so many people from this community have been kidnapped they're now in Gaza waiting to come home their families who are still here waiting for them to come home Neroz is the community which has been mostly affected by kidnapping there was lots of killing there as well but a lot of kidnapping from the specific community also from other communities if we're speaking I'm not sure exactly of the numbers no one is really sure of the numbers but you keep changing every day from Neroz we're speaking of roughly 70 people kidnapped out of 240 that means that many people were kidnapped from other places as well from army bases, communities and so on Neroz is the community that has been strongly affected by kidnapping and those are people that have to be brought back now earlier the idea of spokesman Rea Admiral Daniel Haagari gave the media and the Israeli public updates especially regarding the hostages we unfortunately were at that point taking a sound bind from one of the Israeli German hostages that found out their mother that found out that they were indeed murdered and so we did not take the press conference live but I'm hoping that our senior defense correspondent Jonathan Rea gave more paraphrase or translates what Haagari had to say earlier in particular with regards to the hostages we gave messages to the families of 240 hostages I'm saying this and the number is up to 240 because the identification process it takes time and some of those people are not Israeli citizens and identifying them is more complex it takes time currently the number is 240 we told the families of 240 hostages we will continue to do everything possible everything possible to bring them back home so far we gave we gave announcements to the families of 315 IDF soldiers we embrace the soldiers and continue to walk with them all along the way our senior defense correspondent Jonathan Rea give thank you both for the translation as well as for your analysis here this morning I'm going to go now to our correspondent Pierre Kloschenda who is standing by for us in southern Israel Pierre what is the latest on the ground late into this Tuesday morning as Jonathan mentioned there was a rocket strike near Oz and one house was hit but the houses there are abandoned so there is no casualty there were also there was also a rocket strike in Nirem which is also in the area of the localities facing the central sector of the Gaza Strip earlier on in Netiva Sara which is facing the northern tip of the Gaza Strip earlier on in Kisufim in the central sector facing the central sector of the Gaza Strip it hit a cow shed but no casualties among human being at least and that's the reality here punctuated by artillery fire from an artillery position that is closed by from where we stand the roaring of the fighter jets just above us as we speak the situation is the same the offensive the ground offensive is progressing Daniel Agarri Rerad Miro IDF spokesman that there are very close range combats between the ground forces of the Givacri Infantry Brigade and the terrorists and there are numerous casualties and fatalities among the Hamas terrorists Correspondent Pierre Clashen like giving us an update just to mention that you were also looking at live images next to Pierre of the Gaza border as Israel continues as we can hear in the background there it's offensive to root Hamas terrorists out of the Strip Moving on for weeks Israeli News Channel 12 followed families of the missing and kidnapped as they worked tirelessly to find any information they can about their loved ones' fates and advocating for those whole hostage by Hamas and Gaza to be brought home Here's more about some of the victims harrowing stories in this report The seventh floor of this prestigious Tel Aviv Tower looks like any other office but the employees here are people whose worlds were turned upside down in the blink of an eye On that bloodstained Shabbat the people closest to them in the world were kidnapped by Hamas to Gaza Since then they've been alternating between despair and hope as they search for every scrap of information they can find out about their loved ones Journalists were with them at the family's headquarters demonstrations ceremonies and meetings all for one goal to bring the hostages home My name is Merav Lishem Gonen and I'm the mother of Romy Gonen Romy was at the party on Saturday morning at 10.15 I had my last conversation with her I spoke to her and she said Mom, I think I'm going to die I told her you're not going to die, you're not Romy, you're not going to die, you're going to live we're going to get you out of there I told her, Romy, I love you always remember this, I love you you are a beloved girl Then I said to her Romy, then I heard her say hello Mom, and that's it and she didn't say anything anymore The families of the kidnapped headquarters was established by volunteers as a small support group but found itself replacing the state and becoming the most important organization in the fight for the hostages return I'm Natalia Benzvi the mother of Sagiv Benzvi My son, Sagiv, was kidnapped to Gaza and the last time I spoke with him was on Saturday at 6.36 in the morning At 9.42 the last signal was from Jabalia that's when they took him and my heart fell When was the last time you saw him? Friday night, you said Mom, I'm going out I didn't want him to leave, I said Are you tired of parties already? You've done it all If something happens to Sagiv I will not live I will not live for one second in this world one second Do you have any other children? grandchildren I love my children My children and my grandchildren are a great light in my life but I will not forgive myself I am his mother and I did not bring him home safely One of the most important things in our family is Friday night dinner and Omer never misses a Friday night dinner even on the day he went to this damn festival before the whole family sat together it's an unbearable pain There are five of us but now I realize that there are only four standing here with Omer in the photo he must be returned he must come back 21-year-old Omer Shemto from Herzliya is the youngest of Malachi and Shelly Shemto's three children He was kidnapped from the party in Reim and is seen being taken to Gaza in a Hamas video time stopped on Saturday at 9 in the morning the last time Omer called two days ago on the final day of filming Meirav was on her way to another meeting Shelly took part in another ceremony in the square of the kidnapped and missing and Natalia Benzvi received news that her son, Sagiv would not come home alive his body had been identified Joining me now in studio is Jonathan El-Hori a public diplomacy advisor and LGBTQ plus activist thank you so much for being here with me you were born in southern Lebanon you were telling me just prior to us going live on air your father also served in the south Lebanese army which collaborated with Israel once upon a time which is hard to imagine now but I'd like to ask you two parts of a question the first being how the Lebanese public currently views what's happening in Israel versus how the Lebanese public feels toward their own government and Hezbollah that takes a huge part of Lebanese social, economic and political life these are fantastic questions but I think that I wanted to elaborate a little bit more you mentioned that I'm part of the south Lebanon army community that came here that worked alongside with the IDF from 1982 even a little bit prior to that until May 2000 and the reason for that is because a lot of the south Lebanon army and a lot of Lebanese also not only from the Christian communities but also from Muslim and Druze communities that saw that the Palestinian terrorism is taking control over our villages and we've seen that only if we will collaborate and make sure that the minorities in the Middle East will protect each other that's the only way that we have to survive because during the 70s and during the 80s during the Lebanese Civil War the Palestinian terrorism that were run by the PLO and Yasser Arafat they have done the same thing that now we're seeing Hamas doing in the south of Israel from the Gaza Strip butchering, slaughtering people, burning people alive this is something that we've experienced since the 70s and since the 80s and I think that today our main goal and I think this is how also a lot of Lebanese people seeing it that they they don't see themselves part of joining the war against Israel because they know that at the end of the day this terrorism that happened to Israel will lead eventually to happen in Lebanon and we can see that Hamas and Qizbala and ISIS they're all the same faces to the same coin and a lot of the Lebanese people are seeing that in the last week a lot of online petitions that are calling for Lebanese politicians not to join or to force Qizbala not to join the war against Israel because they know that eventually it will lead to the destruction of Lebanon and many of the Lebanese today know that suffering from this economic crisis that are having in the last 5 years suffering from wrongdoing and a lot of corruption in the government joining a war will eventually bring Lebanon to its knees and as we're sitting here I'm looking at your necklace and it's just you are a Christian you are an Israeli you speak Arabic you are literally the walking breathing definition of multiculturalism of coexistence in Israel I believe that you are as an activist trying to engage both the Muslim and the Christian community in Israel what exactly are you engaging with here in terms of trying to advocate on behalf of Israel yeah well as you mentioned I am Israeli I'm Christian I'm Lebanese I'm part of the LGBTQ plus community and I support Israel this is something that is super crucial for the message that I say out loud and putting the necklace on is not only being supportive and not only showing my identity to the world but also saying to the Jewish people that we're here for you we're here to support you and to say to the Israeli people as well that we will do everything in our power in order to carry the message outside to the world and this is what I've been doing in the last I can say almost 10 years but in particularly since the catastrophe of October 7th I've been doing it in Arabic to the Christian and to the Arab world outside of Israel that needs to understand that what happened by Hamas terrorist organizations something that is against humanity something that is is unimaginable and I think one of of our male issue our main issues today is that a lot of what's called the progressive movement in the world they don't see Israel in its multicultural they don't see Israel in its diversity they don't see Israel in its all of our mosaic of people that we're having here and a lot of we have also disagreements on a lot of things they don't see that and what Israel has been through is that we went through the legitimization of Israel and what the Israelis have been through is that we've been through dehumanization and if I will be honest with you I don't know if we should persuade this view of trying to bring people to our side and being pro-Israeli because you don't have to be pro-Israeli in order to go against these savages the Hamas terrorist organization and what they did you don't have to be Zionist in order to go against it you just need to be a human being in the world that we are humans that Israel is because Hamas didn't question who's Jewish and who's not they just killed everyone that came in their way and this is something that needs to be told this is something that the world needs to understand I see a lot of people ripping off pictures of kidnapped babies and kidnapped women and kidnapped elderly and this is something that I can't imagine on what's going on is that they stopped seeing us as humans and we need to bring that back again Jonathan El-Hori thank you so very much for being with me here in studio to share that and thank you for your incredible work that you do of reminding the world that this is about human beings and nothing more yeah and this is what we're doing in a few days I'm flying with a delegation from Diplo Act in order to just speak about the stories of the people who are kidnapped and the people who were murdered by this atrocities that Hamas did in south of Israel it's a big task to take on and someone has to do it and I thank you so much for rising to the occasion to be able to do it and thank you for coming to studio today thank you very much also with us here in studio is Mark Belzberg the chairman at one family an organization that offers social financial and emotional assistance to victims of terror as well as an intrapreneur and philanthropist thank you again as well for being here there is for lack of a better word a situation of complete chaos and uncertainty we have tens of thousands of soldiers of reservists on the front lines we have families that are displaced literally been ripped apart from the fact that their loved ones have been murdered, kidnapped or either missing the country's political economic situation the country is in a disarray how is the organization trying to assist with this and you've been doing so for decades why is this time different well one family has been dealing for the last 22 years with individual events that occur in the beginning it would occur perhaps every week or two after that every month or two and then much later even less when you're dealing with one-offs it's very very very different but the process or the message that I think we bring to the individuals is the same message for the group as a unit I think it basically I'll start by telling a story that I think gives you the whole picture my son when he was like