 Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where is she. As our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Welcome to the special broadcast here on 924 News. We continue our rolling coverage, day 65 of the war here in Israel. And it's the ticking clock and the breaking point. Tensions keep on rising on the northern border. Several rounds of Red Siren Alerts heard in northern Israeli communities this afternoon as Hezbollah intensifies its fire, the idea of hitting a long row of terror targets in southern Lebanon in response. In the south, intense fighting and several Hamas strongholds in the northern part of the strip and in the southern part is more a terrorist surrender. But security officials here in Israel are clarifying from those cracking signs to full Hamas breakdown, there's still a long way to go, a long way to go but not much time to do so as the U.S. appears to be posing this soft deadline for Israel to wrap up its military campaign in the strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is saying you cannot dismantle Hamas quickly. The former is more important than the latter. In the last two days, I spoke with both Chancellor Schultz and French President Macron, as well as with other leaders. I told them that it is impossible to support the elimination of Hamas with one hand and pressure us to end the war with the other hand, which will prevent the elimination of Hamas. And I think that in this struggle, justice is with us and unity is with us. When we are united as a people and as a country, there is no force that can prevent us from doing the right thing. And we want to welcome now here in the studio Dr. David Shimoni, former intelligence official and commander-in-commander for Israel Security. Thank you very much, Dr. Shimoni, for joining us. Well, intense fighting perhaps is a term that does not illustrate well enough what is going on in the strip now because there's really not a single second as spared to an extent every single day, every single hour utilized to make more achievements underground. With that said, there's still a lot more to be done and again, as mentioned, still a long way to go until the main goal of this war is achieved as in Hamas unable to pose a threat to Israel, no more. Well, we see very intensive fighting all over the Gaza Strip. Simultaneously in the north, around the city of Gaza, there's still neighborhoods and still refugee camps that are being attacked or dealt with now by our security forces and in the south, immense operations in the Hanyunas area. Yes, time is ticking and I think, again, we have to redefine or think again about what our goals of the war are because I've been saying here that the main, the primary goal would be to release the hostages and there's a debate now among Israelis is prioritizing the military attack. Does that come on the expense of the other goal of releasing the hostages? The hostages are losing time, they're in very bad conditions as far as we know, but there are many attempts now to try to gain more and more intelligence about the hostages. Yesterday we were witnessing a failed operation to try to rescue, we don't know how many, at least one hostage, so there is information coming in from all these captured terrorists that we've been seeing even a minute ago on our screen. So yeah, we're still deep in fighting, the fighting is very intensive, much more, many more Israeli units are now involved than in the past because we actually have two fronts, one in the northern part of Gaza and one in the southern and both of them are very, very active. And either one of them is close to finish perhaps in the north, closer to finish, but still a lot more to be done there. But let's do expand on the issue you've raised on this unfortunately failed attempt to rescue at least one Israeli hostage, unfortunately an attempt that concluded not just without the rescue, but also with two Israeli soldiers severely wounded. Do you believe that this failed attempt will discourage the idea from finding and pursuing more such opportunities? No, the decision is made per case. If the commanders see that there is an opportunity, then they'll seize it, they will go ahead and try to achieve something. I think our leadership will be willing to see some kind of an entail the raids and show everybody that this is Israeli solidarity, that we do everything we can to get our hostages back, even if it's by military operation, even if it causes our forces to lose the people to have casualties, but one failure doesn't discourage any other attempts. So if conditions would be ripe, then we would see more attempts and hopefully successful. Yes, of course, and regardless of these specific rescue attempts, the Israeli security officials and Israeli leaders keep on stressing that the military pressure also has a diplomatic value in terms of the negotiations at the moment, lack thereof when it comes to the potential release of more hostages. But we want to jump now to the northern front because it's been an extremely intensive day there, as well, I-24 News correspondent Zach Anders with the I-24 News team there on the ground. Zach, an extensive wave of Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, several consecutive rounds over at Siren Alerts in Israeli communities. Let's try to recap this first part of the day. Again, as mentioned, was very packed with events. Let's put it that way. It was, Ellie, and the exchanges, of course, coming from both ends, but in Lebanon and southern Lebanon, we're seeing independent media reports showing extensive damage from the results of the IDF targeting what it says is Hezbollah infrastructure in locations throughout the south. This comes after the IDF came under fire earlier in the day by what Hezbollah is claiming was a suicide drone. The IDF says that they intercepted this projectile before it hit, but it did cause damage. It's unclear exactly how extensive the damage was, but several soldiers were wounded. We're hearing that two of those soldiers were moderately wounded and taken to nearby medical centers. A handful of other soldiers, no number was specified, were injured by the shrapnel and the smoke inhalation. So that's the latest here as we're continuing to watch for these red alerts that have slowly come across the northern border a couple of times in the last few hours. They've been fairly consistent throughout the day, but then, of course, you expand and reach back into past days, the last 48, 72 hours. This has been a very common thread. And, you know, Zach, two months on, we've heard, albeit not a war cabinet member, but a prominent Israeli leader, Viktor Lieberman, is suggesting earlier today that the IDF should be readying to some sort of operation on the ground there, because, again, two months later, and strategically speaking, in terms of the security sense of Israeli civilians, there are no prospects of them returning to their homes on the northern front anytime soon. Right. If you turn the question on what would an offensive look like? They've already laid out the terms as to what the goal or achievable outcome would be, and that's to push Hezbollah north of the Lutani River, abide by the 1701 security agreement through the United Nations, create that 30-mile buffer zone. But this is a much different dynamic than Gaza, than a confined area where the civilian population is more or less trapped and does have nowhere to go. Here, the civilian population in southern Lebanon has many of them have gone elsewhere or been evacuated by the LAF, by Lebanese armed forces. They would have the option and ability to move freely in retreat. And one of the thoughts that's prevailing in some of the leadership circles I'm hearing is if an offensive operation was to start to see some early success, what's to stop Hezbollah fighters from simply moving about the country, fleeing from this fighting, regrouping, being able to stage in other parts of the country, and then collect on other areas and attack IDF troops in different places, different times. It would be an immense challenge here because it's a different field of battle and that the operational space is massive. It's much larger in this context than it is with what the IDF is dealing in the south. Yeah, a different ballgame, no doubt about that. I-24 news correspondent, Zach Anders with the I-24 news team up in the north. Thank you very much for this. Zach, back here in studio with Dr. David Shimoni. Dr. Shimoni, in a sense, we're seeing a mirror image in the north of what we're seeing in the south, in the sense that now we're seeing a military operation in the Gaza Strip, aying in the future near or far, some sort of a diplomatic resolution. In the north, we're seeing the opposite. First, an attempt to reach about an in-between diplomatic agreement, and then no one is ruling out, quite the contrary, a military operation. I think, first of all, your description is correct, and we have to bear in mind that in the south, the Hamas initiated this outbreak of war, and in the north, Hezbollah has not. So we're responding. Even though, Dr. Shimoni, if we were at any other given point in time, what we're seeing in the north, day in, day out, totally constituted as a war. It is a war, it's a low-intensity war, it's a war of attrition, it causes us a lot of damages, of course, economic damages, psychological damages. We have tens of thousands of people who've been evacuated from their homes. We have a huge reserve army mobilized in the north, which costs us a lot of money, and the reservists don't see their kids, and they don't go to work, and they don't make money. So it's a big price, but it's not an all full-scale war, and I believe it will not escalate to, I hope, it will not escalate, I hope our leadership will not feel tempted to do a big major operation in the north, and will try to move or drive the Hezbollah to the north. I think in the beginning of the war, we've seen Israel retaliating directly to rocket launchers from Lebanon, so these fire rockets, we destroy the launchers. If we see a squad of anti-tank missile terrorists approaching the border, we try to hit and destroy this squad. But in the past few days, we see that Israel is selecting targets that are not necessarily those who fire on us, and they are, first of all, a lot of attacks are on the ground forces of Hezbollah, the Red One horse forces. We're saying casualties on Hezbollah's side, yeah. Because what happened in the past year, Israel did not, Israel ignored, absorbed, contained, yeah. This is slow movement of Red One forces from the north to the border. We didn't try to stop it, and now I think we're trying to hint and to encourage them to move back. Again, together with, I believe, intervention by, diplomatic intervention by the Americans, by other powers. The French, yeah, yeah, to try. To try to restore the old 1701 resolution. And existing UN resolution on precisely that. And yet the first forces to flee the area once push comes, came to shove already, were unifil forces. So yeah, this policy, this infamous policy of containment, if you will, being put to trial yet again. But we want to head now back to the ground, to the southern front. I-24 News correspond on Piaz Takalbach with the I-24 News team. They're on the ground. Piaz, thank you very much for joining us. Well, US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, saying at this hour that we, the Americans, that are talking to the Israelis about a timeframe, but the objective is to eliminate Hamas. Essentially, the epitome of a soft deadline, if you will. Right, Elia, this is also what we've heard from the Israeli side that basically it is not possible to demand that Israel dismantles Hamas to an extent that it won't be able to govern Gaza anymore, both politically and militarily, dismantle Hamas, but also at the same time, demand to end this war within a certain timeframe. However, we have heard those warnings coming from the US reports that the US is demanding to end this war until the end of the year, which would give Israel about three weeks. And this is also something that Hamas has to take into consideration that it is not known, indeed, when this war will end on the ground because we do know that Israel demands more time in the Israeli political and military establishment. Voices are saying that this might even take months up to a year, the statements regarding the timeframe of this war are very, very differently. What we're seeing from Hamas is that they seem to fire less rockets. We have seen a 20-hour lull in rockets from Gaza until rocket fire was resumed today at noon with several rockets towards communities very close to the Gaza border, also the city of Sturrat, where we're at right now, included no reports of casualties, but that kind of shows you that Hamas is still trying to show their ability to fire rockets, however they do seem to show some form of restraint in terms of not to waste any more of their resources as the fighting goes on and very fiercely goes on and different parts all throughout the Gaza Strip earlier, we could really see plumes of smoke arising from the northern area, where we hear we can look into the neighborhoods of Bed Hanun and Bed Lehe at the very northern part of the Gaza Strip. Smoke arising from several different locations that we do know that fighting continues in Jabalia, Refugee Camp, also in Shajai, a neighborhood of Gaza City, and the fighting is focusing now on Khan Yunus, the second largest city of the Gaza Strip, the biggest city in the south there, and the Israeli army has just published a statement saying that since the resumption of activities, since the end of the ceasefire, which was a little bit more than two weeks ago, they targeted 3,500 targets in the Gaza Strip, belong to Hamas and other militias in Gaza, and since basically the beginning of this war, since the 7th of October, they targeted more than 22,000 targets, and again, the goal that was declared by Israel was the complete dismantling of Hamas, which might take a lot more time at the same time, humanitarian organizations are warning that the crisis is worsening the UN food program saying that they're not able to do their work and the civilian population is suffering from, of course, a lack of food, water, and also housing there as the sentiment on the ground is that there is no safe space in Gaza. Well, the Israeli army at the same time is on a daily basis providing information in terms of how to find safe routes to get to safe areas that are set not to be targeted. However, the sentiment on the ground in Gaza is different. And humanitarian aid day in and day out that is entering the Strip, much of it, unfortunately, looted by Hamas itself. That's the situation on the ground. I-24 News, of course, my name is Pia Secobar. Thank you very much for this. Back here today with Dr. David Shimoni. To that point, exactly, Dr. Shimoni, let's call it a spade-a-spade because the amount of fuel that is entering the Strip now is higher than the amount that entered the Strip during the ceasefire days. It's, you know, we're talking about rules during wartime and making comparisons to other wars and unheard of. I think there's some problem with symmetry between us and the behavior of the Hamas. We are a state. We are a member of the United Nations. We try to adhere to the rules of war, to the laws of war as much as we can, and the Hamas are not burdened with these considerations. But I believe that we're dealing with almost two million civilians now in the south of Gaza, more than a million who have fled from the city of Gaza and its surroundings, and they have no housing there, and they need food, and they need medication, and they need a- But again, are entering the Strip on a daily basis since essentially the first day of the fighting there? Yes, I think in this area, people are saying we are succumbing to American pressure. We're not. These are our values. We do not want to harm the civilians if we don't have to. That's, again, an opposite of what we see from Hamas. They are destroying their own civilians. They're destroying ours. All of their war efforts to hit Israeli civilians, Israeli towns, to take civilian hostages. We adhere to the rules of war not only to accommodate the United States. This is how a state should behave. And yes, it's a problem because we know that Hamas is confiscating a lot of the relief supplies that is intended for the civilians. There's not much we can do about it. Again, I think your correspondents are reporting in the past few days that we see that Hamas is starting to collapse. And we see resistance by Gaza's civilians talking against the Hamas, something that was unheard of, say, two weeks ago. So eventually, I believe this huge military pressure that Israel is applying now in Gaza, I don't think anybody can withstand it for a longer period of time. And I believe, eventually, the Hamas will collapse. And these relief supplies will go to the civilians they need it. Again, the rules of war say that when you occupy territory, then you are responsible to what's happening there. And we are, in a way, responsible to 2 million people. Both half of them are refugees from the north. We have to keep them alive. We have to keep them healthy. We don't want plagues to outbreak there. So yeah, it's a dilemma, because we say we won't supply anything unless you release our hostages. These were, perhaps, a statement, but underground. It was not the case, not even for half a day. Again, humanitarian aid entering the strip from more or less the first day of fighting there. Earlier you quoted Victor Lieberman, who said, as an advice to our leaders, don't make big statements that you know that you won't be able to keep them later. Well, if that's the rule, I don't think that any leader will be immune from paying the toll on that. But these are not just the rules of war, but also the rules of peace. Words that cost little money. Dr. David Shimoni, thank you very much for joining us. And as the war on the ground continues, concern is growing about the well-being, the health, the state of the remaining hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip until this hour, day 65 of the war, Red Cross visits, still not granted to Israeli civilians captured by Hamas service. More testimony now from Israeli survivors of Hamas captivity, who were released earlier last month rather during the ceasefire. Let's take a listen. My name is Dina Moshe, and I returned from Shebih to Hamas. I stayed there with my good friends, from Kibbutz-Niroz, who stayed there and supported a lot. They were all very brave, with difficult moments, and with very difficult moments. I am Roitman, 77 years old. I lived in Niroz, from there, I was buried in a tractor. I was in the tractor, in the tractor's trailer. At home, they did me with a lot, with a lot of trouble. My name is Margalit Moses, I am from Kibbutz-Niroz, in Shabbat, on October 7th, I was sent to Minhara. I spent the night in the tractor's trailer, and I took it with me, so that I could sleep. And after that, I had the time to sleep, and take the trailer with me. My name is Ayar Egeb, I was born with a little brother, and with one of my best friends. I am Ayar Egeb, I was 54 days old, and my parents live here in Nitzach. They are very difficult, but I will talk about it, whether it is Arab, whether it is the whole family, whether it is the mentality, the difficulty, the difficult moments. Every day, he comes home, it's not normal, at 0 a.m., the parents are angry, and the mother-in-law is simply angry. We were in the tractor's trailer, and we came here to talk, to eat rice and bread. I was very hungry, for the first few weeks, I thought that I was hungry. Because I was hungry, I was almost out of food, I was almost out of food, the food was very important to me, that I had a problem, or a problem. Remember my story, I eat new foods, because I was hungry. I was 49 days old, I was in a physical condition, and every day that passes, it becomes more and more difficult. The situation of being in the buildings, or wherever you are not, it's a very difficult situation to deal with, and if you are poor, you are not. I ask, I know that many people work, on this line, but there are other people, who are very tired of living outside. I ask that you do a lot, a lot of work, in order to make everyone happy. The days are very difficult, one day it is like a peaceful week. In Anna, they went on like this, that first of all to free everyone, to return home, and then, with the documents, they say, I'm still there, I know what will happen there, I know what will happen there, I have to go back to Tomer, and all of you leave now. As much as possible. Thank you very much for watching. Have a peaceful night as much as possible. Well, is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where we see, as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Welcome to the Special Broadcast here on 924 News. We continue a rolling coverage, day 65 of the war here in Israel, and it's the ticking clock and the breaking point. Tensions keep on rising on the northern border. Several rounds of Red Siren Alerts heard in northern Israeli communities this afternoon as Hezbollah intensifies its fire, the IDF hitting a long row of terror targets in southern Lebanon, in response in the south, intense fighting in several Hamas strongholds in the northern part of the strip, and in the southern part is more a terrorist surrender, but security officials here in Israel are clarifying from those cracking signs to full Hamas breakdown, there's still a long way to go. A long way to go, but not much time to do so as the U.S. appears to be posing this soft deadline for Israel to wrap up its military campaign in the strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is saying you cannot dismantle Hamas quickly. The former is more important than the latter. In the last two days, I spoke with both Chancellor Schultz and French President Macron, as well as with other leaders. I told them that it is impossible to support the elimination of Hamas with one hand and pressure us to end the war with the other hand, which will prevent the elimination of Hamas. And I think that in this struggle, justice is with us and unity is with us. When we are united as a people and as a country, there is no force that can prevent us from doing the right thing. And we want to welcome now here in the studio, Dr. David Shimoni, former intelligence official and commander at Commanders for Israel Security. Thank you very much, Dr. Shimoni, for joining us. Well, intense fighting perhaps is a term that does not illustrate well enough what is going on in the strip now because there's really not a single second spared to an extent every single day, every single hour utilized to make more achievements underground. With that said, there's still a lot more to be done. And again, as mentioned, still a long way to go until the main goal of this war is achieved as in Hamas, unable to pose a threat to Israel no more. We see very intensive fighting all over the Gaza Strip, simultaneously in the north around the city of Gaza. There's still neighborhoods and still refugee camps that are being attacked or dealt with now by our security forces and in the South immense operations in the Hanunas area. Yes, time is ticking and I think again, we have to redefine or think again about what our goals of the war are because I've been saying here that the main, the primary goal would be to release the hostages. And there's a debate now among Israelis is prioritizing the military attack. Does that come on the expense of the other goal of releasing the hostages? The hostages are losing time. They're in very bad conditions as far as we know. But there are many attempts now to try to gain more and more intelligence about the hostages. Yesterday, we were witnessing a failed operation to try to rescue. We don't know how many, at least one hostage. So there is information coming in from all these captured terrorists that we've been seeing even a minute ago on our screen. So yeah, we're still deep in fighting. The fighting is very intensive, many more units, Israeli units, are now involved than in the past because we actually have two fronts, one in the northern part of Gaza and one in the southern. And both of them are very, very active. And either one of them is close to finish, perhaps in the north, closer to finish, but still a lot more to be done there. But let's do expand on the issue you've raised on this unfortunately failed attempt to rescue. At least one Israeli hostage, unfortunately an attempt that concluded not just without the rescue, but also with two Israeli soldiers severely wounded. Do you believe that this failed attempt will discourage the idea from finding and pursuing more such opportunities? No, the decision is made per case. If the commanders see that there is an opportunity, then they'll seize it, they will go ahead and try to achieve something. I think our leadership will be willing to see some kind of a entailment raid and show everybody that this is Israeli solidarity, that we do everything we can to get our hostages back, even if it's by military operation, even if it causes our forces to lose people, to have casualties. But one failure doesn't discourage any other attempts. So if conditions would be ripe, then we would see more attempts and hopefully successful. Yes, of course. And regardless of these specific rescue attempts, Israeli security officials and Israeli leaders, keep on stressing that the military pressure also has a diplomatic value in terms of the negotiations at the moment, like thereof, when it comes to the potential release of more hostages. But we want to jump now to the northern front because it's been an extremely intensive day there, as well, I-24 News correspondent Zach Anders with the I-24 News team there on the ground. Zach, an extensive wave of Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, several consecutive rounds over at Siren Alerts in Israeli communities. Let's try to recap this first part of the day. Again, as mentioned, was very packed with events. Let's put it that way. It was, Ellie. And the exchanges, of course, coming from both ends, but in Lebanon and southern Lebanon, we're seeing independent media reports showing extensive damage from the results of the IDF targeting what it says is Hezbollah infrastructure in locations throughout the south. This comes after the IDF came under fire earlier in the day by what Hezbollah is claiming was a suicide drone. The IDF says that they intercepted this projectile before it hit, but it did cause damage. It's unclear exactly how extensive the damage was, but several soldiers were wounded. We're hearing that two of those soldiers were moderately wounded and taken to nearby medical centers. A handful of other soldiers, no number was specified, were injured by the shrapnel and the smoke inhalation. So that's the latest here as we're continuing to watch for these red alerts that have slowly come across the northern border a couple of times in the last few hours. They've been fairly consistent throughout the day, but then of course you expand and reach back into past days, the last 48, 72 hours. This has been a very common thread. And you know, Zach, two months on, we've heard, albeit not a war cabinet member, but a prominent Israeli leader, Viktor Lieberman, is suggesting earlier today that the IDF should be readying to some sort of operation on the ground there because again, two months later and strategically speaking in terms of the security sense of Israeli civilians, there are no prospects of them returning to their homes on the northern front anytime soon. Right, if you turn the question on what would an offensive look like, they've already laid out the terms as to what the goal or achievable outcome would be and that's to push Hezbollah north of the Latani River, abide by the 1701 security agreement through the United Nations, create that 30 mile buffer zone, but this is a much different dynamic than Gaza than a confined area where the civilian population is more or less trapped and does have nowhere to go. Here, the civilian population in southern Lebanon has many of them have gone elsewhere or been evacuated by the LAF, by Lebanese armed forces. They would have the option and ability to move freely in retreat. And one of the thoughts that's prevailing in some of the leadership circles I'm hearing is if an offensive operation was to start to see some early success, what's to stop Hezbollah fighters from simply moving about the country, fleeing from this fighting, regrouping, being able to stage in other parts of the country and then collect on other areas and attack IDF troops in different places, different times. It would be an immense challenge here because it's a different field of battle and that the operational space is massive. It's much larger in this context than it is with what the IDF is dealing in the south. Yeah, a different ballgame, no doubt about that. The I-24 news correspondent, Zach Anders with the I-24 news team up in the north. Thank you very much for this. Zach, back here in studio with Dr. David Cimoni. Dr. Cimoni, in a sense, we're seeing a mirror image in the north of what we're seeing in the south, in the sense that now we're seeing a military operation in the Gaza Strip, eyeing in the future near or far some sort of a diplomatic resolution. In the north, we're seeing the opposite first and attempt to reach about an in-between diplomatic agreement and then no one is ruling out, quite the contrary, a military operation. I think, first of all, your description is correct and we have to bear in mind that in the south, the Hamas initiated this outbreak of war and in the north, Hezbollah has not. So we're responding. Even though, Dr. Cimoni, if we were at any other given point in time, what we're seeing in the north, day in, day out, totally constituted as a war. It is a war, it's a low-intensity war, it's a war of attrition. It causes us a lot of damages, of course, economic damages, psychological damages. We have tens of thousands of people being evacuated from their homes. We have a huge reserve army mobilized in the north which costs us a lot of money and the reservists don't see their kids and they don't go to work and they don't make money. So it's a big price, but it's not an all full-scale war and I believe it will not escalate to, I hope it will not escalate. I hope our leadership will not feel tempted to do a big major operation in the north and will try to move or drive the Hizballah to the north. I think in the beginning of the war, we've seen Israel retaliating directly to rocket launchers from Lebanon. So they fire rockets, we destroy the launchers. If we see a squad of anti-tank missile terrorists approaching the border, we try to hit and destroy the squad. But in the past few days, we see that Israel is selecting targets that are not necessarily those who fire on us. And they are, first of all, a lot of attacks are on the ground forces of Hizballah, the Red One horses. We're saying casualties on Hizballah's side. Because what happened in the past year, Israel did not, Israel ignored, absorbed, contained, yeah. This is slow movement of Red One forces from the north to the border. We didn't try to stop it. And now I think we're trying to hint and to encourage them to move back. Again, together with, I believe, intervention by a diplomatic intervention by the Americans, by other powers. The French, yeah. Yeah, to try. To try to restore the old 1701 resolution. And existing UN resolution on precisely that. And he had to de-first forces to flee the area once push came to shove already, were unifil forces. So, yeah, this policy, this infamous policy of containment, if you will, being put to trial yet again. But we want to head now back to the ground, to the southern front. I-24 News correspondent Pia Steckelbach with the I-24 News team, they're on the ground. Pia, thank you very much for joining us. Well, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken saying at this hour that we, the Americans that are talking to the Israelis about a timeframe, but the objective is to eliminate Hamas. Essentially, the epitome of a soft deadline, if you will. Right, Elia, this is also what we've heard from the Israeli side that basically it is not possible to demand that Israel dismantles Hamas to an extent that it won't be able to govern Gaza anymore, both politically, militarily, dismantle Hamas, but also at the same time demand to end this war within a certain timeframe. However, we have heard those warnings coming from the US reports that the US is demanding to end this war until the end of the year, which would give Israel about three weeks. And this is also something that Hamas has to take into consideration that it is not known, indeed, when this war will end on the ground because we do know that Israel demands more time in the Israeli political and military establishment. Voices are saying that this might even take months up to a year, the statements regarding the timeframe of this war are very, very differently. What we're seeing from Hamas is that they seem to fire less rockets. We have seen a 20-hour low in rockets from Gaza until rocket fire was resumed today at noon with several rockets towards communities very close to the Gaza border. Also, the city of Sterot, where we're at right now, included no reports of casualties, but that kind of shows you that Hamas is still trying to show their ability to fire rockets. However, they do seem to show some form of restraint in terms of not to waste any more of their resources as the fighting goes on and very fiercely goes on and different parts all throughout the Gaza Strip earlier. We could really see plumes of smoke arising from the northern area. Where we hear, we can look into the neighborhoods of Bet Hanun and Bet Lehe at the very northern part of the Gaza Strip. Smoke arising from several different locations there. We do know that fighting continues in Jabalia, Refugee Camp, also in Shajri, a neighborhood of Gaza City. And the fighting is focusing now on Hanun, it's the second largest city of the Gaza Strip, the biggest city in the south there. And the Israeli army has just published a statement saying that since the resumption of activity, since the end of the ceasefire, which was a little bit more than two weeks ago, they targeted 3,500 targets in the Gaza Strip, belong to Hamas and other militias in Gaza. And since basically the beginning of this war, since the 7th of October, they targeted more than 22,000 targets. And again, the goal that was declared by Israel was the complete dismantling of Hamas, which might take a lot more time at the same time humanitarian organizations are warning that the crisis is worsening the UN food programs, saying that they're not able to do their work and the civilian population is suffering from, of course, lack of food, water, and also housing there. As the sentiment on the ground is that there is no safe space in Gaza, while the Israeli army at the same time is on a daily basis providing information in terms of how to find safe routes to get to safe areas that are set not to be targeted. However, the sentiment on the ground in Gaza is different. And humanitarian aid day in day out that is entering this Strip, much of it, unfortunately, looted by Hamas itself. That's the situation on the ground. I-24 News Correspondent, P.S. Sackobach, thank you very much for this. Back here today with Dr. David Shimoni. To that point, exactly, Dr. Shimoni, let's call it a spade of spade because the amount of fuel that is entering the Strip now is higher than the amount that entered the Strip during the ceasefire days. You know, we're talking about rules during wartime and making comparisons to other wars and the path unheard of. I think there's some problem with symmetry between us and the behavior of the Hamas. We are a state. We are a member of the United Nations. We try to adhere to the rules of war, to the laws of war as much as we can. And the Hamas are not burdened with these considerations. But I believe that we're dealing with almost two million civilians now in the south of Gaza, more than a million who have fled from the city of Gaza and its surroundings and they have no housing there. And they need food and they need medication and they need a train. But again, are entering the Strip on a daily basis since essentially the first day of the fighting there? Yes, I think in this area, people are saying we are succumbing to American pressure. We're not. These are our values. We do not want to harm the civilians if we don't have to. That's, again, an opposite of what we see from Hamas. They are destroying their own civilians. They're destroying ours. All of their war efforts are to hit Israeli civilians, Israeli towns, to take civilian hostages. We adhere to the rules of war not only to accommodate the United States. This is how a state should behave. And yes, it's a problem because we know that Hamas is confiscating a lot of the relief supplies that is intended for the civilians. There's not much we can do about it. Again, I think your correspondence are reporting in the past few days that we see that Hamas is starting to collapse. And we see resistance by Gaza civilians talking against the Hamas, something that was unheard of, say, two weeks ago. So eventually, I believe this huge military pressure that Israel is applying now in Gaza, I don't think anybody can withstand it for a longer period of time. And I believe, eventually, the Hamas will collapse. And these relief supplies will go to the civilians they need it. Again, the rules of war say that when you occupy territory, then you are responsible to what's happening there. And we are, in a way, responsible to 2 million people. Both half of them are refugees from the north. We have to keep them alive. We have to keep them healthy. We don't want plagues to outbreak there. So yeah, it's a dilemma because we say we won't supply anything unless you release our hostages. These were perhaps a statement, but underground. It was not the case, not even for half a day. Again, humanitarian aid entering the strip from more or less the first day of fighting there. Earlier, you quoted Victor Lieberman, who said, as an advice to our leaders, don't make big statements that you know that you won't be able to keep them later. Well, if that's the rule, I don't think that any leader will be immune from paying the toll on that. But these are not just the rules of war, but also the rules of FISA. Words that cost little money. Dr. David Shimoni, thank you very much for joining us. And as the war on the ground continues, concern is growing about the well-being, the health, the state of the remaining hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip until this hour, day 65 of the war, Red Cross visits still not granted to Israeli civilians captured by Hamas service. More testimony now from Israeli survivors of a Hamas captivity who were released earlier last month rather during the ceasefire. Let's take a listen. My name is Dina Moshe, and I returned from Shebih to Hamas. I stayed there with my good friends, from Kibbutz-Niroz, who stayed there for a long time. They were all very brave, with difficult paths, and unwavering moments. I am Ophelia Roitman, 77 years old. I grew up in Niroz, from there, to my home. I was in the tractor, in the tractor's trailer. At home, they did me a great job in the house. My name is Margalit Mozes. I am from Kibbutz-Niroz, in Shebat. I have a family in Oktober. My parents are from Hera. I use the tractor's trailer at night. I took it with me, so I could sleep. The other one was with the tractor, and I took the tractor with me. My name is Ayar Egeb. I was born with a small brother, and with one of my best friends. I am Ayar Egeb. I was 154 days old. The days I work here are tough. I am talking about whether it is the harvest, the family, whether it is mentality, the hard work. Every day there is a lot of sleep. It is not normal. At night, it is 0 a.m. The farmers are hungry, and the food is simply delicious. We went to the farm there. We went to the farm to eat rice and bread. I was very hungry. For the first few weeks, I thought I was hungry. Because I was hungry, I was almost out of food. I was almost out of food. My food was very important to me, whether I had a problem or a problem. I remember the story of the farm. I ate new foods, because I was full of food. I did not eat for 49 days. There were physical problems, and every day it was more and more difficult. The situation of being stuck in buildings or where you are not in, it is a very difficult situation. And if it is difficult, it is not difficult. I ask, I know that a lot of people work on this field, but there are other people who are very willing to live outside. I ask that you do a lot, a lot of hard work in order for everyone to survive. The days are very difficult. One day it will be like a peaceful week. In Anna, they came to take that first of all, and leave everyone, to return home, and after that, I am still there, and I know what is going on there. I know what is going to happen there. I have to return home, and all the things that are happening now. As much as possible. I am addressing this suggested deadline for Israel to wrap up its operation in the Gaza Strip, saying that the war can end tomorrow, can end today. Hamas just needs to put down its arms, and the war will be over. It is that simple, and yet far from being the case, both in the North and in the South, the idea for continues its operations there, and we will leave you with those images of the Gaza skylines as both artillery and ground operations there persist. At the top of the hour, Laura Steller will continue our rolling coverage here on I-24 News. Until then, you can always stay updated by following us online, I-24News.tv, or on social media. We are there, continuing to bring you all the latest updates from Degran and of course all the analysis on what is happening and what will be happening here in the studio. Thank you very much for watching. Have a peaceful night as much as possible. Dozens of correspondents throughout the world brings the truth from Israel to hundreds of millions of people in scores of countries. Bringing Israel's story to the world, I-24 News channels, now on Hot. Israel is in a state of war, families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Doing I-24 News on this, day 65 of Israel's war with Hamas, fierce fighting continues across the Gaza Strip. The IDF says battles are underway in the north, Jibalia, Chejaia, Ambit Hanun, and in Hanunis in the south of the Strip. The IDF says it's eliminated around 7,000 Hamas terrorists since the beginning of the war and struck more than 22,000 targets. Qatar's Prime Minister has called for a ceasefire and says there is no other way to free the 137 hostages who are still being held in the Strip. Sheikh Hatani says that the Gulf state is still involved in mediation. The Indians have been arrested in Cyprus suspected of planning to carry out attacks against Israeli citizens living on the island. Cypriot authorities managed to foil the plot with the help of Israel's Mossad spy agency. Those are the top stories this hour. Let's go straight to the south of Israel. Our Pierre Stechelbach is in Stelot for us now. Pierre, tell us the latest this hour on the fighting inside Gaza. Right, Laura. Well, fighting is going on in several different locations all across the Gaza Strip. Early on, we could see plumps of smoke arising from the northern parts. From here, we could look into the neighborhoods of Bet Hanun and Bet Lahia. Smoke arising there. We constantly hear the sound of Israeli outgoing artillery and also airstrikes is what we have seen. There's the sound of drones in the air. And earlier, we could also hear a machine gun fire here in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Apart from the northern part, we do know that battles are ongoing in Shajai, which is part of Gaza City. And of course, in Hanunis, which is the second-largest city in the Gaza Strip, the biggest city in the south. And this is where the Israeli army is pushing forward with its ground offensive, as this is where the idea of this is expecting important Hamas functionaries to hide out possibly in those tunnels. There has been rocket alert sirens heard. They have been heard here throughout the day in the south. However, significantly less than what we've seen in recent weeks, also since the resumption of fighting after the end of the ceasefire. There was a 20-hour low in rocket launches from Gaza until rockets resumed today at noon. No casualties were reported when rockets were launched at the community seer very close to the border. There was Ron Red Alert Siren here in the city of Starrot as well, again also here. No casualties, which might indicate that also Hamas is trying to save energy now, as nobody really knows when this war will be over. And Hamas needs to show some form of restraint and order to hold out until whenever this war will end, Laura. Let's talk about there in Starrot, in the south of Israel, with the latest on what's happening inside Gaza. Well, with me in the studio this hour, Lieutenant Colonel Doron Avital is a former commander of the Special Forces in the IDF. Thank you very much for being with us, Doron. So if you could resume for us, if you will, the progress that the IDF has made in Gaza, particularly since the ceasefire collapsed. I think deepening in the north and, of course, the move to Hanyun is where we think the top commanders are and we think that many of our hostages are. So the deepening of the Insaajia and Jibaleh, those two refugee camps, this is the first fighting there. And you know that the Golanib Brigade, that has a long memory from the 2014 campaign where they lost many of the soldiers. They are back in Insaajia trying to close the loop or close the account, as they say, in those terms in the Army. But Hanyun is a major objective and our top commander on hostages. And also we see a lot of prisoners. I mean, this is a new... The question is whether this is a breaking point because we see more and more... We're talking about the suspected Hamas terrorists who surrendered. We've seen lots of pictures of them. If this is a big indication, if indeed they are being investigated, we'll have to see what the kind of alliance there with Hamas. But if this is a terrorist player, soldiers of Hamas, then this is a big... This means that there is a breaking point as Golan was indicating. Let's hope Hanyunis is important, top commanders of Hamas and our hostages that might be in Hanyunis. Also there was this failed attempt to rescue a few of our hostages, which we might see more and more of those attempts if there's more intelligence coming from the field into the troops about the location of hostages and so on. And of course the tunnel, the infrastructure of the tunnel is still a big obstacle. All right, Dohan for now. Thank you very much. Well, the war with Hamas has highlighted the difficulties of reporting from Gaza. The lack of foreign journalists on the ground means that news outlets are reliant on information that comes from the Hamas-controlled health ministry. My next guest met with Hamas officials regularly during her two decades as a journalist covering the conflict. Elaine Prussia now teaches at Florida Atlantic University. She's the digital director of Media Lab at FAU and she joins us now. Elaine, thank you very much for being with us. And as I said in the introduction there, you did meet with Hamas officials on numerous occasions. What did those meetings, those encounters, tell you about the terrorist group and its intentions? Well, the focus of a piece I recently wrote for CNN opinion was focused on talking about those meetings and the extent to which I think Hamas officials successfully would try to present themselves as kind of logical, maybe more moderate than you think, more relatable than you would think. They would say things to us and interviews like, well, we don't really know when, you know, an operation as they call it is going to happen. And, you know, there was a portrayal of a political wing versus a military wing, as if they were almost independent of each other, which I think in the fullness of time, it becomes apparent that that probably was never fully true. But that was one of the things that they would, you know, often explain to us. And, you know, they would talk sometimes about, well, we would consider a long-term Houdna or truce with Israel. And, you know, I think that they were pretty adept, actually, at speaking to foreign media to, you know, try to, you know, present a good face for Hamas when people would come to visit Gaza, including myself for many years. And what about reporting on the current conflict then? Because when it comes to death toll figures, for example, especially the number of civilians who have been killed, you know, can journalists trust the figures that are coming out of Gaza? Well, it's really hard to verify figures. I think even for Palestinian journalists, I keep in touch with a few of them who I've worked with over the years in Gaza. I think it's really impossible to verify. I mean, that said, you know, there's very clearly, you know, a very high death toll, a lot of death and destruction happening in Gaza. But in order to actually go and verify numbers, I mean, you'd have to go to visit, you know, separate hospitals. It is difficult to know what the numbers are. I mean, I'm saying this, of course, and I'm living in the US now. But, you know, we've seen some cases where, you know, the death toll figures were just, you know, very kind of round numbers, ballpark figures. And it would become very difficult to actually know if those numbers were accurate. And I'm talking historically on the last big war I reported on when I was based in Israel, which was 2014. You know, there were sometimes gross estimates, to be honest. You know, sometimes they said, oh, most of the people Israel killed were civilians. And then a year later saying, oh, no, actually, we lost hundreds of fighters when they, you know, speaking to, you know, an Arabic media outlet a year later. So, you know, there's a lot of, you know, skewing of the figures sometimes, you know, which again isn't to say that there aren't, you know, actually real people dying, including civilians. But, you know, it's impossible for anybody, certainly the foreign media, but also I think the Palestinian media as well to verify the numbers or any real information that Hamas gives out. And do you think the foreign news outlets then are making it clear enough that they are counting on, depending on Hamas information? Well, I think some are. I do kind of keep a close eye on that. And I noticed that some will say, you know, the Hamas run Ministry of Health and that these numbers could not be independently verified. But other times it just says, you know, the Gaza Health Ministry. So, you know, just the average reader or viewer, you know, know about, you know, the problematic nature of the information that you're getting. I can't say for certain. I would say that I think media should be maybe more careful about repeating that for the viewer or listener or reader that numbers could not be verified. We've had more and more Palestinian civilians lately criticizing Hamas on Arabic language media. Did you encounter any gardens who were willing to criticize Hamas when you spoke to them? I mean, how difficult is it for ordinary Palestinians to speak out? I would say over the years for sure there were a lot of people who were critical of Hamas. Most of the time, if they were critical, they did not want to be quoted by name. There were a very select few people who were prominent, who maybe would say things that would be slightly critical or what Hamas really needs to do now is think about the people of Gaza as opposed to the next attack. So it was often very delicately worded if it was connected to somebody's actual name. There are a lot of things that you can find off the record. You might know there's a new video series called Whispered in Gaza where you can learn about what people are saying. Another thing I reported on extensively I know this is going back a few years, but in 2007, when Hamas took over Gaza and drove out Fatah, a lot of those people escaped, many of them severely injured to the West Bank and I interviewed a lot of those people about what it was like living under Hamas. So I think there is some criticism. There is at the same time, when people feel themselves under siege, they will kind of rally around the flag or whoever seems to be in charge. So I'm also seeing polls that say Hamas is more popular than it was. So it can be really difficult to tell because we say, oh, okay the poll says more Palestinians support Hamas than ever. But does the average Palestinian trust when someone calls them on their cell phone and says we're doing a poll, you might think well, I don't know who this pollster is. I can trust them and that's how most polling is done these days. So maybe you're going to give an answer that you think Hamas would want to hear because you're not sure you can trust the person at the other end of the line. So I think even polling to try to say we have a real finger on the pulse of what average Gazans think right now is really problematic and difficult to get a true reading on that. Well yeah, it's interesting because polls also if you break them down currently show more support for Hamas in the West Bank than in Gaza from the people who have lived under Hamas for 17 years. So I think that's an interesting difference as well. But just going back to what we were saying in the beginning about how the group tries to present itself. I mean, how interested, how important is it to Hamas, how they are viewed internationally but especially in the Arab world? Well I think the fact that the October 7th attack was committed with a lot of go-pros on the heads of the people who committed it showed that they really wanted to document it and share it. And I think some of us might find that footage not only horrifying but also kind of documenting crimes. I think for them it was showing we're doing something, we did this attack, we succeeded in doing it. And for some people in the Arab world it might be showing and certainly for some Palestinians this kind of revival of resistance that they haven't seen in a long time. Many of them feel disappointed in the leadership of the Palestinian authority under Mahmoud Abbas, Abu Mazen. So there's some degree of okay, people across the world were not even talking about the Palestinian issue two months ago and now it's on the front pages every day. So from their point of view it might be viewed as a success. But I do think that the strategy with dealing with the foreign media has been slightly different for many years. And what I wrote about in the piece that I just published, there are a number of people who are very capable of communicating in English about their grievances and their reasons for doing what they're doing. And it's quite interesting because it's often not the same message that you'll see or hear in the Arabic media. Well, going to talk to Elen. Thank you very much indeed, Elen Prashat. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Well, Qatar's prime minister has called for a ceasefire in Gaza and says there is no other way to release the 137 hostages still being held in the strip. Sheikh al-Tani says it is still involved in mediation. Israel disputes that any talks are underway. Well, those hostages who were released as part of a week-long ceasefire agreement last month to speak out about what they endured during their time in captivity. Take a listen. I was in Nidos from there, to be honest in the tractor. I was in the tractor in the trailer of the tractor. At home they did me a lot in a big room in the house. My name is Margalit Moses. I'm a senior officer in the Sabat in October. I was brought to Minhara. I used to use a truck and I took it with me so I could sleep. And the other person was the truck driver and took me with him. I was called to the camp I was written with a small brother and with one of my best friends. I was in the camp and they were there and they were very difficult. But I'll tell you whether it was the car, the family, the mentality, the hard work. Every day they were like a dream. It wasn't normal at night the truck drivers and the truck driver were just happy. We found the truck there. We went to eat and it was very bad. I was very hungry for the first few weeks I thought that I was hungry. Because I was hungry I was almost without food. Food was very important for me to have a problem with the situation. I remember the story of the truck I eat new foods when I have food. 49 days I didn't eat. It was painful. It was painful for me and every day it was more and more difficult. But the situation of being in buildings or where you are not there is very difficult. It is very difficult and if you are not I ask I know that many workers are interested in this but there are more people who are very busy I ask that you do a lot, a lot of work in order for everyone to be busy, busy. The days are very difficult. One day it is like a peaceful week. In Anna they came to take that first of all to free everyone to return them home to work. Omar is still there and I know he will be there. I have to go back to Omar and all of you will be there now. As you know. The IDF says it is unable to create the conditions needed for a hostage release deal. Your thoughts on that please. Let's see the interviews before my interview of old ladies of children of civilians they are not soldiers so it is not a kind of war that the soldiers are fighting against soldiers. It is a crime against humanity. It is not a regular exchange of POWs or something like that. It is a crime, a real crime. So what I think is that this crime can be solved by 24 hours of exchanging all these hostages which are mostly civilians who are attacked Saturday 7 of October in their beds. It's not a regular exchange of prison support. So I think that even without looking at these interviews I believe that it is one at a time. I never I never such a war crime such a war crime against humanity like that and we are talking about 137 more who are there, old people old ladies most of them were returned but two babies old men who are sick without their medicines, without everything so I believe that talking about this episode is not like talking about a war and looking for the way how to exchange the POWs. No. It's a crime and it should be resolved in one day, 24 hours bringing back home all of them and I believe that the war the war is going on. I believe that the IDF is doing great work but looking at these people hearing their modest words regarding what would happen to them there in the hostility is a mass and the whole world should be with us. So I mean there is a debate here in Israel isn't there about whether it is the military pressure that the IDF is putting on Hamas or if it's negotiations to release more Palestinian prisoners for example which will mean the hostages are released. Where do you stand on that? Should the military campaign continue fighting and try and get some kind of deal? My point of view is one who dealt 37 years with POWs and MIAs and especially in that case which is civilians as I told you now and the first priority is to get out this human being out of hell and bring them home. I hope they will they will stay alive. Who knows? So this is number one. Number two I believe that what the army is doing is from my point of view is something that should bring some other conditions of trying to live together in this area but as you see the other side is keep on fighting keep on trying to do I believe the same the same cruel things even now to our hostages. So I believe that the two issues first of all bringing back bringing back these ladies, these men, old men, these youngsters back home and about the fighting we could talk some day after that. My point of view though trying to put yourself in the mind of Hamas why would they agree to release all of the hostages because once they're out of the conflict zone Hamas doesn't have anything left does it? I mean the Americans have said Israel can go ahead and finish them off the IDF is doing a good job it's not in their interest is it to hand over all the hostages and we have to bear in mind as well I think that I cannot dive into the brains of such such enemy if they are doing these cruel things I don't think that they are thinking the same way as you do as I do so this this dive is above my imagination but there's no interest in is there for them to hand over the hostages they have they have interest because at the end of the day they did such a crime that it cannot be it cannot be a last forever because in a certain day we will stop the war one of us and we'll have to think about our future so having done such an unhuman may last forever at the end of the day we have to live together sometimes in this area all right thank you very much indeed thank you very much your thoughts on that this is a real dilemma so we do think that military pressure exerted on the Hamas would help us or push them into either negotiation table in some deal it can be a scenario like 82 with the PLO everybody remembers this from the Lebanon war this is a possibility and of course by pushing them we might find yourself in a situation on the grounds when either rescue operation or negotiation on the ground can take place one hostage has been assessed there was one I failed attempt two days ago I mean the spokesman for the IDF reported on this it doesn't mean it's not possible because as long as the intelligence can be employed by the forces and the ground things can happen the special forces are there they're waiting for this opportunity but of course one thing we have to know for sure this phase of the war cannot end without end to the hostage crisis I mean it's not like the phase of the war can end no negotiation, no deal no releasing of the hostages so in some sense this is the stopping rule for this failed phase of the war that the hostages dilemma is solved in one way or another and I think this is in the mind of all the military people and the political leaders of this one Thank you very much we're going to take a short break when we come back we'll talk more about those comments by Qatar's Prime Minister he says that talks are underway to try and reach a hostage release deal we'll take a short break we'll be back after this Is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where she is our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well engaged in efforts to secure a new ceasefire in Gaza and Fremont Israeli hostages speaking at the Doha forum today Qatar's Prime Minister said that Israeli airstrikes were hurting the hopes of a deal 137 hostages are still in the strip Israel says no negotiations are underway to free them 110 hostages all but one of them women and children were freed in a Qatar broker deal earlier this month Qatar disputes Israel's claim that it's the military pressure the IDF is putting on Hamas and not negotiations that will see the remaining hostages freed and in the last hour Hamas has warned that not a single hostage will leave Gaza alive unless the group's demands are met let's take a listen to the Qatari Prime Minister though those have been released through negotiations they were not released because of the military campaign right now declaring the objective to release for this military campaign as for releasing the hostages it's proven its failure for more than 60 days no single hostage been released there was just one case that's been released safely and the last rescue mission that there's really claimed led to the killing of the hostage well with us now Brian Cattoulis is the Vice President of Policy at the Middle East Institute he joins us now from Doha where he's attending the Doha forum thank you very much indeed for being with us so we just heard from the Qatari Prime Minister there he and Hamas appear to be very much on the same page both calling for a ceasefire Hamas going a bit further saying that not a single hostage will leave Gaza alive unless the group's demands are met but would Hamas really agree to a ceasefire without any of the military pressure that Israel is putting on it it seems like the evidence from the first month of the conflict is that it would not have released any of these hostages it's probably some combination of diplomacy and military pressure that's the factor here that led to not nearly half of the hostages being released and these negotiations are very difficult because they're basically negotiations with an entity that did what it did on October 7th it not only murdered and named people it filmed it and it took babies and elderly children so it's really hard to negotiate with groups like this I think it's some combination of both the diplomacy and the military force and I think it gets harder because of the nature of the different groups that are holding some of the hostages and also because of the profile of some of the hostages especially the men and those who are serving in the Israel defense forces so it's probably a combination of both diplomacy and the force that gets some of these people home. The view here in Israel is that most Arab countries including Egypt and Jordan and also the moderate Gulf states and the UAE are very hopeful that Israel will destroy Hamas they see the terrorist group as a threat to their own stability and this isn't the case really with Qatar though is it? Well I would also say I mean I was just in Dubai and I have met with Jordanians people from across the region I actually think within all of these countries there's a diversity of views including in the power structures but Qatar definitely has a pre-existing of Hamas some of their political leadership are here you know they're here in Doha right now they've had a relationship that the current Israeli government and the previous Israeli government before Netanyahu's actually quite relished they asked the Israeli government they asked Qatar to actually send in some of this money that would end Hamas in this failed blockade that obviously didn't work because October 7th happened so yeah they have a different view of Hamas like Hamas terror groups in Syria they sponsor Al Jazeera so they're different from some of their other countries in the region but I wouldn't necessarily you know I think there's a diversity of views the Jordanian foreign minister was also on the stage today in that same forum and he was saying things that were quite similar to what we heard there from the Qatari one as well. Yeah the Jordanian foreign minister started Israel quite harshly didn't he you know which is nothing new but he actually went a step further and accused Jerusalem of trying to displace Palestinians from Gaza. Yeah that's a worry because several Arab leaders not just Jordan but Egypt have heard the words that have been uttered by some of the Israeli ministers when they heard this Nakba 2023 this operation is Nakba 2023 or some of the harsh language and then there's been op-eds from some in Israel that have proposed actually that so that causes a lot of concern for countries especially those neighboring Israel I think it provokes what I think is an unconstructive dialogue that doesn't actually lead to hostages coming home or a cessation of the hostilities that leads to the disarmament and ending Hamas as a threat it's sort of a noise I think it's I hope it's not going to happen it's not I think in anyone's interest to see the forceful displacement of hundreds of thousands of not millions of people but it's out there right and this is I see it as sort of an unnecessary unfortunate distraction to the core issues at hand which is bringing people home getting innocent people out of the crosshairs inside of Israel inside of Gaza and then trying to get to some sort of sustainable end state and I don't see that happening with a group like Hamas right now right well Israel would also argue that it's other aim is to destroy Hamas so that it cannot carry out another attack as it did on October 7th because the group has of course made it clear that it does want to do that again and again yeah no that's clear and that's why you see the Biden administration and Secretary Blinken just a few minutes ago reaffirming its support for Israel's right of self defense and also this goal of eliminating the threat of Hamas I think there's a dispute of what does that actually mean and what's interesting is there's a gap between the United States and some of its closest Arab partners including those that have peace treaties with Israel about the definition of what that actually means how do you eliminate the threat of Hamas and that to me is where the real discussion is because Hamas inside of Gaza according to Israel Defense Forces Briefings that I went to was at 30,000 in terms of fighters they've killed quite a lot but there's a separate thing of killing sort of the political ideas and other things and answering the question of what comes next which I think is a real challenge just to go back to what we were talking about in the beginning about Qatar I mean if Qatar fails to get a deal to free the remaining hostages does that put its own relationship with Washington in some kind of peril because the Gulf State will to a certain extent have lost its usefulness and there will be questions about why it's still hosting the leadership of a terrorist group yeah I think it also I think there already are questions being raised in Congress and inside of the Biden administration about this relationship and if it doesn't if it doesn't help bring more of the hostages home I think there'll be more pressure on it I also think the nature of Qatar's relationship even though it doesn't technically recognize Israel it's kind of an open secret that Israeli military forces they have some presence here inside of El Udeid base ever since Israel went into CENTCOM not a big presence but they there's cooperation behind the scenes so a lot of that I think there'll be increased scrutiny if there's not progress in these negotiations I hope there is because these people need to be home with their families and I ran into some U.S. officials today also who are working on this case and I know people are working really hard but it's just go back to the thing I said earlier really difficult to negotiate with entities that actually just murdered and maimed innocence and took babies and elderly like you know what it's hard to sort of build trust and confidence even in that negotiation process Thank you very much great to talk to you Great talking to you Well the French Navy says one of its warships shot down two drones coming straight towards it from a Yemeni port city held by the Houthi rebels the latest incident in the Red Sea comes after the group threatened to attack all ships bound for Israel our correspondent Araleh Saran reports a dangerous escalation in the Red Sea threatening one of the world's most important trade routes the Yemeni armed forces here by announced the prohibition of the passage of ships heading to the Zionist entity of any nationality if the Gaza Strip does not receive the food and medicine it needs these ships will become legitimate targets for our armed forces in our effort to ensure the safety of maritime navigation we warn all ships and companies against dealing with Israeli ports within hours that threat came true the French Navy said one of its warships in the Red Sea downed two drones launched in its direction from Houthi control territory in Yemen meanwhile Washington has reportedly urged Jerusalem not to respond to recent attacks by the Houthis but Israeli National Security Council chairman Christian Egbi said in an interview on Saturday night that if the international community does not deal with a threat posed by the Houthis Israel will be forced to act this is essentially a naval blockade Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke with President Biden, the German Chancellor and other world leaders and informed them Israel is giving the world time to prepare to prevent this because this is a global issue if they don't act as well Up until now there have been no casualties as a result of multiple Houthi drone and missile attacks on Israeli territory or on international ships operating in the Red Sea the Houthis goal is believed to be forcing the international community to pressure Israel in stopping its war against Hamas by jeopardizing trade routes in the region so far only more nations have joined in the effort to support Houthi attacks as the escalation at sea continues Well with us now Dr. Elizabeth Kendall is a Middle East expert at Gertin College at Cambridge University also joining us tonight from Doha thank you very much indeed for being with us Dr. Kendall first of all the Houthis seem completely undeterred don't they week by week they're stepping up the rhetoric they're stepping up the attacks how do you explain this kind of determination they have to attack Israel and the United States as well Well it seems part of a calibrated strategy to escalate by increments we started this with verbal warnings from the Houthis we then moved on to launching of missiles and drones okay many of them fell short that then pivoted to attacking Israeli linked shipping and now that's broadened without yet again to attack any shipping that's linked to Israel or headed towards Israel so it seems part of a broader strategy probably aimed at gaining maximum publicity at testing everyone's red lines and at complicating efforts to resolve the crisis between Israel and Gaza and in terms of their weapons capabilities their training the resources that they have at their disposal what do you do in the Red Sea Well the Red Sea certainly is a better option for them it seems than the missiles and the drones that they had been launching because the range of those was thought to be up to about 2000 kilometers but the Red Sea offers a far richer steam for launching their attacks and they seem pretty capable at them it's not so much the damage that they will cause to themselves it's the knock-on effects for trade for shipping routes and for well I guess for financial markets for the insurance premiums and the general international worry what it does is it drags the Israel-Gaza conflict into a much broader sphere way beyond that of Israel and Palestine exactly what the United States was trying to avoid well starting a war with Israel and the US doesn't come cheap I mean what does this mean for the civilian population in what is of course the Arab world's poorest country It's yet another complication in a war that has lasted around nine years so far and for many inside Yemen it proves that the Houthis are not as good as their word they're actually managing however to their support base more through these kinds of attacks though it's a slightly double-edged sword for them what it means to answer your question for the civilians inside Yemen is yet another obstacle in the way of it's occurring between Saudi and the Houthis which had been on the cards and there are documents ready but it's just an extra added complication but I think the real impact of this for the Houthis or the real design behind it it's not just domestic to galvanize its own domestic base it's also regional to prove itself as a regional power to fulfill perhaps the bidding of Iran and to give itself more leverage in the talks that are ongoing with Saudi Arabia and then of course internationally to occupy bandwidth of Israel and its allies at a time when they really ought to be concentrating all of their efforts on resolving Palestine Israel conflict so it works for the Houthis at those three levels at once Dr. Elizabeth Kendall thank you Adora Navitalis with me in the studio so a lot on Israel's plate you know to put it mildly fighting in the south and north and the Houthis as well So a few remarks first of all let's go back to the Prime Minister of Qatar and I think the point he was making is that military rescue operation we would not result with the outcome we want and he was mentioning actually the failed attempt that we were making any proposed negotiations? Yeah exactly so he thinks negotiation if there will be an effective deal it can be the final stage of this third phase of the war this is a possibility but we have to have an effective stage it was a very interesting analysis I mean there are now players on a world stage blocking those trade I want to mention the audience that we had at least two wars the 67 war for sure and even the 56 war the British and the French it was on the account of closing blocking the Suez Canal or blocking the passages of the Red Sea so this is critical and I think we made the remark that all of us agree and acknowledge that this is an international game we expect and want the coalition to play along with us and I think the coalition right now says to us and the US at the forefront says let us handle this issue this also a reminder of the 91 Gulf War. But all the hunting the issue. Okay it's a question of taking the time organizing the forces in the meantime in the preventive measure they're working their way pretty good so and I want to remind the audience that in 91 in the Gulf War we were hit by the Scud missile by Saddam Hussein from Iraq so I think this is a broader issue of course Israel can has the capabilities to act also against some limited targets with the Khutim but it's a question of the greater coalition working out this puzzle. So they want to you know not have Israel deal with the all of these threats? Exactly also for sure because it's also a global issue this trading roots the effect not on Israel and a lot and commerce coming to Israel coming to Europe this is an international issue and the Khutim are playing a strange or game and I think the coalition and the French the British the U.S. and us will have to define the tactic and the strategy how to handle it together. Echoes of the 1950s and the Suez. Exactly so we are talking now on a global scale of this conflict right now. All right thank you. Well voters meanwhile I headed to the polls in Egypt where President Assisi is widely expected to win a third six-year term Egyptians are not grappling not only with the war on its border but also a deepening economic crisis and rampant inflation well according to a report in the Arab Al-Akhbar newspaper Cairo is preparing for an influx of refugees from Gaza for more on that we're joined by Haitham Haitham 9 he's a junked fellow at the FDD the foundation for the defense of democracies great to see you Haitham so I mean is there any threat politically to Assisi in this election and what level of turnout are we likely to see? Thanks for having me Laura and no threat to President Assisi at all other candidates are barely recognized by voters plus the Hamas-Israel war didn't give them any chance to market themselves to the public just in the past two months everyone in the country has been following the war 24-7 obviously this boosted President Assisi popularity on the street unlike other candidates he comes from a military background and the Egyptian public likes to have a leader like that in such regional critical times Assisi understood that very well and he played on this sentiment as well he met with his military advisors few times in public and visited domestic military exhibitions exhibitions and all of this to boost popularity and increase public trust in him as for the turnout point this remains to be seen but for the rocker the turnout in 2014 was 37% in 2018 it was slightly low 41% and this time the government has been trying to get as many citizens as possible to pooling stations so this has to be this has to be remains to be seen by the election committee. And of course Hi Sam Cairo has repeated again and again it will not accept any refugees from Gaza whatever is going on inside the Gaza Strip now that we've got these reports in the newspaper that Egyptians are in fact preparing to accept some kind of influx from Gaza Egypt has no choice but to take some refugees from Gaza one Israel's counter-terrorism campaign to dismantle Hamas is going to continue for quite some time the United States supports Israel in its war just to be stable link and said Israel will be the one making the decision to end the war two winters almost there life conditions for civilians in Gaza is getting worse every day and lastly hosting refugees could be utilised by the CCRU for international public relations benefits by making such a decision on humanitarian grounds. Are they concerned about Gazans taking matters into their own hands and just trying to storm the border at Rafa because we saw the Egyptian authorities trying to construct an additional barrier there in the last few days. Yes this concern has been going on from day one of the conflict Cairo has been consistent in its messaging this is why they intensified the presence of security forces on the side of the border and have been building extra layers of walls and all of this to avoid the embarrassment that have been back in O8 when Hamas operatives infiltrated the borders. Egypt worries so much that Hamas and other terror groups will infiltrate the borders and will use its borders in the future to attack Israel which could harm the peace treaty between the two sides. Not to mention also they could harm internal Egyptian national security by attacking tourism and creating a mess within the country. Hi Sam Hassan and at the FGT. Thank you very much. Attempt that a pro-Palestinian protest were quickly contained in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday a small group of demonstrators tried to use the event to call for a ceasefire in Gaza but they were not allowed to hold signs or chant quite a difference from the large anti-Israel protest we've seen across western cities in recent weeks. Let's take a listen to some of the would-be protestors. So today we are marching together with civil society all around the world that are present here at COP and we are marching because first of all because it's a human rights day, 75 years after the human rights declaration actually and we are fighting for all the injustice and the human rights violations across the globe and in particular like we are asking for a ceasefire now and also we are asking for this space being the UNFCC space, the UN space dealing with the climate emergency space where the civil society voice could be heard. We want to include the message of ceasefire because we always say very clearly that there is no climate justice without human rights. We're joining us now from to by our correspondent Bastia Bore So Bastia it would appear the UAE is in no mood for rowdy anti-Israel protest especially while the climate summit is still going on. Initially the Emirati authorities were quite rare to see such a demonstration which nevertheless gathered several hundred participants being allowed on UAE soil on condition though that the demonstrators made the link between Gaza and the climate so the main message on the placards was no climate justice without human rights and that's exactly what this guest just said in reference to the situation in Gaza which was a smart calculation from their point of view because before the march they've had a week of threats to debudge these participants if they were to raise the issue of Palestine in a political way but they were walking around the summit venue wearing lanyards in the colors of the Palestinian flag. Everything was going well until the United Nations security staff heard people chanting from the river to the sea which is, you know, this Palestinian political slogan referring to a Palestinian state neglecting the existence of the state of Israel and which was considered off-limits and as a result their kefies were confiscated along with boards calling for a ceasefire the people with lanyards were not allowed into certain buildings and they were barred not by the Emirati police but by the UAE staff the United Nations staff which led some to say that it was not the UAE presidency or authorities that have been restricting their space but countries like the United States that have been allegedly pressuring the United Nations to deny them the right to march. So at the end of the day I think both sides are happy with the outcome of it the protesters because they were still able to get their message across and the UAE as well because the UAE is trying to minimize the impact of the war in Gaza on climate negotiations and this march ended without too much drama. Yeah it certainly looks very different to the march as we've seen in places like Paris and London lately so it was the UN authorities and not the Emiratis who kind of limited the protest. Well what about the summit then Bastia as it draws to a close? Has it been overshadowed by the war? Yes we're seeing very few Iranians very few Israelis too Israel was supposed to send at least a thousand diplomats but in the end there were only around 20 we're seeing countries like Jordan and Egypt much less inclined and expected to reach a consensus with the West and even withdrawing from environmental projects including that included Israel and the UAE and other countries we heard Turkish President Erdogan and South Africa's president openly accusing Israel of committing war crimes in their speeches that were actually supposed to be about climate in front of thousands of delegates so the war in Gaza is very local in its military aspect but very global as well in its political consequences and it is also worth noting that the environmental impact of this war and of wars in general the impact on water on air on soil all bombarded burns contaminated by chemical leaks this subject has been with remarkable consistency unfortunately completely forgotten not only by COP28 but by successive cops Bastian thanks very much Bastian Borghi there reporting from Dubai well time for us to take a very short break when we come back we'll head to the north of Israel where the IDF continues with its battles with the iranian backed terrorist group Hezbollah that and more coming up next next