 Thank you for watching I-24 News. We're coming to you live from Tel Aviv on this day 59 of Israel's war with Hamas. And Israel has been under attack this Monday from terrorist firing rockets, both from Lebanon and Gaza. This is the IDF defends its operations in the south of Gaza, instructing civilians to leave the conflict zone via a new humanitarian corridor. The United States confirms there are no negotiations to free the 137 hostages still being held in Gaza. This is Qatar ramps up the pressure for a ceasefire. And Iraq has claimed that five members of a pro-Iranian militia were killed in an airstrike on the northern province of Kokut overnight and it has vowed to respond. Well, those are the latest headlines this hour. Let's go to the north of Israel. Our Pierre Stechelback is standing by with the latest. Pierre, what's happening? Right, Laura. Well, the northern front is definitely heating up again after we've experienced a calm period during the ceasefire with Gaza. Now, as Bala has vowed to make their actions dependent on what is happening in Gaza between Israel and Hamas there. Now, we see that after the ceasefire, definitely the front is heating up. We have seen several launches coming from southern Lebanon into northern Israeli territory today. The latest was rocket science blaring in Kiryat Shmona and also Tel Chai community even further north, very close to the Israel-Lebanon border, Kiryat Shmona is a town of more than 20,000 civilians living there. They have almost all been evacuated even before the ceasefire as Kiryat Shmona and the area in the very eastern part of the Israel-Lebanon border have gotten under constant fire, both anti-tank missiles, rockets and motor shells from Hezbollah and Lebanon. As a result of that, the Israeli military was striking back with artillery. They were saying that they also targeted a weapons depot belonging to Hezbollah in the Arab Bala Ramshe area, which is more in the center part, center western part of the Israel-Lebanon border. Earlier, we also had sirens in the communities of Stula and Matat, which is also located at the very western part of the Israel-Lebanon border. Again, here the Israeli air force striking back to Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, targeting a command center and other infrastructure there. And this is quite what you have seen before the ceasefire. These regular skirmishes, Hezbollah targeting Israel with anti-tank missiles, motor shells and also rockets. The Israeli military retaliating for that. Today, they will know casualties reported, but what we saw yesterday was that an anti-tank missile hit the community of Betelel, again in the very eastern part of the Israel-Lebanon border, injuring 11 among them soldiers. They were brought to hospital. That just really shows you how, again, how volatile this front is and how the tensions are rising again here, Laura. All right. Thank you very much, Pia. Pia, second back there. In the north of Israel, where Hezbollah continues to fire missiles, joining us in the studio this hour. Ruth Wasserman Landa is the former member of the Knesset and former co-chair of the Abraham Accord Parliamentary Caucus. Good to see you, Ruth. Let's talk about what's happening in the southern Gaza today because the IDF said it attacked some 200 Hamas targets overnight. Very heavy air strikes and the conflict zone is moving south. Tanks rolling towards Khan Yunus, the Sinwa stronghold. How do you see it developing so far? So there's an adamant decision by the military, the IDF and the decision makers in Israel on the political front, to really go for the objective and the target of destroying Hamas capabilities, destroying a lot of the fighters that are not the highest at the top, because we know that they are underground, but at least the medium level operatives that are in that particular area. The IDF, I believe, understood at some point that Hamas was no longer ready to negotiate. I wanted to say good faith, but nothing that it really does is good faith. But in the sense, there was a feeling that Hamas was starting to play more games than usual at some point of the negotiation, closer to the end of the ceasefire, the previous ceasefire. And they said, Hamas said that there were no women that they had in their hands. And there were 17 women still being held, according to the IDF? In my humble opinion, unless I'm wrong, there are either 17 or even 20 women held, many men, many elderly, at least 10 elderly above the age of 70. And of course, two children, two babies. Yes, yes. So after that was said to the IDF, there was a decision that if the Hamas will respond to anything, it will be more force. And that's what we're seeing right now with the thanks for running into Kanyunis. Okay, stay with us for a moment. I want to head to the south now, because our correspondent Jonathan Regev is there with the very latest. Jonathan, what's happening this hour? We know that things do tend to heat up at night, don't they? Yes, they might. And we're hearing that for the past two hours or so, very heavy pounding over the city of Kanyunis, which is the second largest in the Gaza Strip, but the largest one to which is Israeli forces have not entered yet. Gaza City, though not completely conquered, is encircled and acting there is much more difficult for Hamas. Kanyunis is still under their control, and we're hearing very strong pounding of Israeli forces. We can assume that it can be sort of a pretext to an Israeli, a possible Israeli land incursion. Kanyunis, the home, the home front for Ilya Sinwar and other Hamas officials. There's also quite a big thought that many of the hostages are held somewhere in the Kanyunis area, so this is what we're seeing. And at the same time, Hamas still was able to fire today to Beersheva, even to Central Israel, and also to the various communities around the Gaza border. And they have still managed to fire rockets today, haven't they, Jonathan? Any idea you know how many rockets Hamas still has after, or is it 10,000 bombs have been dropped on Gaza in the past two months? They still have. If the initial thought at the beginning of the war is that they have some 15,000 rockets and the initial barrage on October 7th left them with quite a lot and they fired in, there are still rockets there. I don't think we can assume that Israel can hit every Hamas terrorist and every single rocket. The war might end with an Israeli victory, but still with rockets somewhere around the Gaza Strip. There's still ability even to fire to Central Israel. The numbers have decreased dramatically if we compare them with a month ago, but the ability is still there. Jonathan, thank you very much. Jonathan Rickards there in the south of Israel and Ruth Westman Land is with me in the studio. And the offensive in Gaza is getting increasingly complex now. We know that the IDF has declared that north-south road, the Salah Adin Road, now part of the conflict zone. The civilians are being moved from place to place. The IDF is trying to get them out of harm's way. But this is really adding to the international pressure on Israel to halt what it's doing. Of course. First of all, Israel is held to measures that are unusual and very, very high, differently to other armies in the world. But we also, Israel holds the IDF and its own army to very, very high standards, no matter what the international media says. And there are lots of steps being taken by the IDF to try and to harm civilian Palestinians as least as possible. The less the better. However, given the fact that Hamas is hiding in and amongst these civilians themselves, either in schools, in hospitals, near playgrounds, in civilian institutions, it makes it very, very difficult. And the military can only do so much. We saw the ICC chief prosecutor alluding to that and saying that he believed that Hamas was using civilians as human shields. It's very difficult to understand or to comprehend how anybody would not see that. It's see-through. It's just there. All the evidence is there. However, there are many people and many groups of interests that do portray a message and do nurture a kind of a narrative in which Hamas is not doing anything wrong. And these are, in fact, innocent civilians that are indeed lore-held captive by their own people, by their own leadership, which is very tragic. You were once an diplomatic envoy to Egypt for the Israeli government. I want to ask you about Cairo then because, of course, you've got this heavy bombardment going on. The civilians can't leave Rafer to go into Egypt because the Egyptians have said they won't accept any of them. I mean, what are your thoughts on that? Do you think Egypt is kind of hurting the Palestinian civilians even more? And do they have an obligation to them? Look, the entire world has an obligation. It's very good to cry out in the U.N. You need to take care of Palestinian civilians. It's very good by Iran to cry out for the Palestinian civilians. Never mind it's hurting its own civilians and its own population. They say it very often. However, I do understand the Egyptian stance. They know what is Hamas. They know what are the Palestinians in Gaza. They've experienced it in their own, not even backyard, but in and within their own territory. From their point of view, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are exactly the same. Indeed, they are the same. And they do not want to jeopardize the security of their own territory. If they allow some Palestinians to enter into their zone, they know what is anticipated. They know that the Hamas will try and use these civilians and or infiltrate themselves in and amongst those civilians. They know what the Hamas is. There's no fooling them. And therefore, they close the borders. Are people complaining about that? Are people coming to the Egyptians saying, why are you not taking in those Palestinians? No. Such as the Emiratis, for example, who have taken Palestinian children, wounded children, into their hospitals. And the Emiratis have done much more than that. They've even built hospitals, even though the Egyptians have done that as well. So the Egyptians are actually playing a constructive role. However, they don't want to have this instability leak into their territory. Very understandable, given the nature and the characteristics of the of the makeup of the population. But that leaves a huge question mark as to the hypocrisy of other nations, perhaps those sitting in the UN and criticizing Israel, perhaps like Qatar, that can take in many Palestinians into its own territory, not only the leaders of the Hamas who live there in prosperity and so on. Ruth, for now, thank you very much. Well, 137 hostages are still being held. Two, though, have made it back home. Maya and Itai Rege, brother and sister, who were released by Hamas terrorists just a few days ago, are now back home in Herzliya. They were greeted with crowds of well wishes, and now Emily Francis was there as they pass by. All is quiet here now, but a short while ago, this whole stretch of Herzliya was teeming with people, screaming with joy, singing Hatikva, carrying Israeli flags. It was really the first time that we've seen people visibly excited and smiling in a long time, and that is because we got to see firsthand, as you're about to see in the video, Maya and Itai Regev returning home to safety here in Herzliya. After spending a few days in the hospital, the brother and sister duo were taken hostage from the Nova Festival. They were then released separately, but they were able to reunite in the most emotional way at Soroka Hospital in Bersheva. With Maya suffering a leg injury, she did have to undergo surgery. But tonight, people were waiting for hours and hours to be able to usher them home, to celebrate their arrival. They even splashed the van with confetti. There were balloons. There were people singing. There were people rejoicing, people of all ages here, just to give them a warm welcome as they are finally able to be where they want to be more than anywhere, which is home with their family. So one reason to celebrate, but we cannot forget, there are still 137 hostages that are in Gaza and a lot of upset families that are still looking for answers, having a very hard time getting answers from the War Cabinet and government officials. So we cannot give up on bringing all of the hostages home. But one silver lining in the meantime, being able to see a brother and sister both surviving this horrendous nightmare and being able to come home to their family. I'm Emily Francis, back to you in the studio. And that is very typical of the way this whole country has really thrown their arms around all of the hostages who have returned home. And joyous scenes, very much tinged with sadness as everyone remembers the 137 people still being held. Well, more details have emerged about the conditions that some of the child hostages were kept in during captivity in Gaza, half-starved, often beaten and subjected to psychological torture as well. This is Efrat Bronhalev. She's the CEO of Schneider Children's Medical Center, where many of the three children were treated. But none of us could imagine, not even me, that I see the toughest children that come to us during these last 30 years, the toughest conditions, the toughest medical situations that we have to deal with. None of us have seen such a tough situation as receiving those 19 children, six mothers, and one grandmother back from captivity during these last 10 days. We heard stories of two sisters being together in captivity with nobody else around them, and the older sister deciding how much she will eat so that she can keep some of the food for her 80-year-old sister. So she would not eat for days so that her young sister should eat. Can you imagine such a decision being made by a 15-year-old girl? The last time that I've read about it was about 80 years ago in the history books of us, Jews without their state. Visibly upset, CEO of Schneider Hospital there. Ruth, then as she pointed out, it is reminiscent of the Holocaust, isn't it? First of all, I know Dr. Efrat Bronhalev very well. We served together. Actually, we spent one year in Harvard. Efrat is a very tough person, and as she said, she saw many difficult cases of children in very difficult medical conditions, and she is moved. She is upset. One can hear from her voice. One can hear from her facial expressions, and one absolutely cannot understand how anybody else could not be, given the fact that civilians, children, elderly, women were taken into captivity from their own beds, from a party, from civilian life, having done nothing other than being Jewish and Israeli, and others who were in the vicinity who weren't Jewish or Israeli, like Thai citizens who will work as helping hands on the agricultural farms were also taken. It's inhumane, it's heartbreaking, it's tragic, and what is more tragic is the fact that there is a narrative running around the world with people saying that this didn't happen, that the Israelis are making this up. It's inconceivable, inconceivable to me. Yeah, it's pretty shocking the way people have denied it in some cases and seeking to downplay it in others. Let's hope all those children get a full recovery. Well, Qatar is calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Khartani earlier today as a senior delegation from the Biden administration arrived in Israel to discuss plans for a post-war Gaza. Qatar brokered the seven-day ceasefire, which saw Hamas free over 100 hostages, but one were women and children. Hamas is still holding 137 people, including the Bebas children, four-year-old Ariel, and his baby brother, Qveer, who's just 10 months old. On Friday, the terrorist group broke the truce by failing to provide a list of additional hostages to be released and by firing rockets into Israel. To talk more about Qatar's role in all of this, we're joined by Hossein Abdul Hossein, who's a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, the FDD. Great to have you with us, Hossein. Would you say that the U.S. and Qatar are now on the same page when it comes to pressuring Israel to agree to a ceasefire? I wouldn't know as far as saying that the U.S. and Qatar are on the same page, but I would note that the U.S. praise that it's been levelling toward Qatar is really uncalled for. I think Qatar is brokering something that has not matured enough, and I think before it matured, Hamas was trying to capitalize on what they were doing, and Qatar was giving them a hand in doing so. Well, what do you think Qatar wants exactly, Hossein? Because officials have said that it will be impossible for Israel to destroy Hamas, but Israel says it won't stop the fighting until all of the hostages are returned and Hamas either surrenders or is destroyed. The short answer is the spotlight, attention. Qatar loves attention. They love to be in the spotlight. They've been paying billions and billions of dollars sponsoring all sorts of terrorist organizations, whether the Taliban or Hamas, and even to somehow, even ISIS was for many Arabs known as the organization of the two Hamas after the previous emir and his prime minister. I think that they do that because they want to be in the spotlight, and more often than not, they end up giving promises like they did with the Taliban, and these promises are never materialized. And I think they're trying to do the same now with Hamas. They promise on behalf of Hamas, but as we've seen, Hamas doesn't always go by whatever promises that Qatar makes. Would you say that this conflict has strengthened or weakened Doha's ties to the West? And what about its ties with other Gulf states, the moderate states like the UAE and Bahrain, for example? With other Gulf states, I think they've come to a conclusion that they can just have detent between them. So they're not really allies, but they're avoiding any kind of clash of conflict between the two sides. But this does not mean that they are on the same page or they are in love with each other's policy. In the West, I think for the time being, Western capitalists, especially Washington, think that they can use whatever leverage Qatar has with Hamas. But I don't see Qatar surviving this. I think all this connection, all this support, all this instigation that comes through, all the soft power muscle that Qatar has, I think all of this will eventually come back to backfire against Qatar. And I think when the war ends, Qatar will find itself in a tough spot. Well, quite. I mean, what does this tell us who said about the extent of Qatari lobbying in Western capitals, particularly in Washington? Well, to my mind, Qatar is the biggest lobbying spender. I think for such a small nation, they have the most muscular influence peddling machine on the planet. And they use it often. Like I said, most of the time it's for attention seeking, but they use it in ways that are against the interests of many Western nations, especially the United States. So I think it is time, and I know that many circles in Washington are working, are looking at scrutinizing whatever Qatar has been doing over the past two decades. I think now some are finally waking up that Qatar is playing not the best role, it's playing an adverse role with its foreign policy, and it's time to stop Qatari. I think now everyone is busy, but moving forward, I expect everyone to start focusing more on stopping Qatari. And we can see how deep its diplomatic tentacles have gone. There's a report in Axios that Jared Kushner, the President Trump's son-in-law and the former official in his administration, held his own meetings with Qatar's Prime Minister in New York this week. So it's not just the Biden administration, Qatar also has ties with Republicans as well. Is there going to be a reckoning across the board, do you think? It absolutely, not only the Democrats. I think Qatar has, you know, has both favor with the Democrats, with the Republicans and with everyone in between. But the meeting with Kushner, I think, tells me that there's somehow on the back foot, they wouldn't have to summon all of this power and muscle or connections, were they not facing some backlash. And from what we read in the report, the Qatari Prime Minister was trying to make the case that whatever looks like trouble-making behavior was approved by Washington and to an extent by Israel. And I think they're doing this as a some sort of defense mechanism. They understand what's coming and they understand the blowback. And I think they're trying to preemptively push back against it. Hossein Abdel Hossein at the FDD, thank you. Thank you. And with Vassim Alanda that's with me in the studio. It's, you know, it's an interesting one, isn't it? Qatar is a non-NATO major ally of the United States. Joe Biden was one who upgraded their status, yet here they are hosting the leadership of Hamas. Qatar is a very, very complex phenomenon. I think that it is what it is and it has been what it has been for many years. But perhaps what had happened on October 7th has sort of raised everything to the surface. And I think more people are beginning to understand that which has been happening between the lines and behind closed doors. And that is one, paying for a lot of the professors and a lot of the narrative that is heard throughout the campuses in the United States. That's been a wake-up call for a lot of people, hasn't it? A huge wake-up call. It is absolute havoc, anti-Semitic havoc, anti-Israeli and this always ends up anti-West, just a matter of time. And this is something that is bought, a narrative is bought by certain funding and that funding funnels back to Qatar. Also, it sort of has been seen to sit on the fence, but it hasn't really been sitting on the fence. On the one hand, it's an ally of the United States. It has the United States has many interests. But as you say, it's hosting the Hamas leadership for years in huge prosperity, in a huge difference to the population in Gaza and mostly in the West Bank and actually sitting and saying outright in a very nonchalant manner, our interest is to have Hamas stay. They've said this. They've said this in Arabic. They've said this in English. And I wonder why the West refuses to hear. I think there is an awakening to actually hearing what they're saying. They are one with Hamas. Now, once there is a realization, as there is in the UK, in Germany, in the United States of America, that the Hamas is a terrorist organization. And if Qatar is one with Hamas, what does that make Qatar? Yeah, it's so crazy to think this country hosted the World Cup not so long ago. Exactly. I'm not sure if that would happen. And there are 300,000 Qataris. We need to understand this phenomenon of measure as well as compared to the impact in the international arena. Well, their news network and all the rest of it. They didn't have a lot of reach, don't they? Ruth, thank you very much today. We're going to take a short break. Stay with us. Much more to come after the break. We're going to talk a bit more about Iran and its proxies attacking U.S. interests in the region. And Iran has threatened to respond after members of a pro-Russian militia were killed in an airstrike in Kirkuk in the north of Iraq. Much more coming up next. Stay with us. 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 lines. But the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. Welcome back. A statement by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group, which represents several Iraqi armed factions with close ties to Tehran, says that five of its members have been killed in a U.S. airstrike and has found retaliation. This is the day after Iraq's Prime Minister, Al-Sardani, warned Washington against any attacks on Iraqi soil and after over 70 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas. Well, to talk more about that, we're joined by Shukriya Brados, International Security Analyst and Middle East and Iran Specialist. Thanks for being with us, Shukriya. Great to see you again. Thank you. What is the state, Shukriya, of the relations between the United States and Baghdad? And are attacks by Iranian-linked groups on U.S. assets actually pushing Iraq closer to Iran? Thank you. Thank you for having me. You know, for Iraq, Iraq needs the U.S. in both economy and security. If U.S. want to stop supporting Iraq in security perspectives, we know the government will fall. And Iraq still needs the U.S. for security and training of their forces for what they call the hidden ISIS cell. And for the economy perspective, it's more important is if they close the embassy of the U.S., if Iraq want to close the embassy, which is what Muqtada said as the government of Iraq to do it, which the government didn't do that. Why? Because they know if U.S. do, if they close the U.S. embassy, if they cut this relation with the U.S., the government will fall. With the following government, consequently, they will have a protest. They will have a, already we have people who dissatisfied with the government which backed by Iran. So that's how the governments care to do more against the U.S. But we have another report telling us Iraq needs the U.S. economy not just for the people. We have a report telling us billion dollar of the Iraqi fund is missing. It shows that Iran not just using Iwanis budget or fund to support this militia group, it's using Iraqi budget and fund to support the militia groups in the region too. Because the Iraqi, the only militia groups, they don't get Iran's support, Hashashabi and Iraqi militia groups, which tells you the story that why they don't get that support because they already have the Iraqi money and Iraqi's money is going someplace in the Middle East in supporting this militia group. That's how the relations look like when it's coming to the U.S. and how Baghdad needs U.S. for this all outcome and this income for the government. And in Iran case, Iran's have, they know very well they need Iraq, like it's a play yard for Iran, it's a great zone. So they're using Iraq and they know U.S. doesn't want to have any increasing tension in Iraq. This has another reason. For the U.S., they know there is a missing support or decreasing support for the Hashashabi after the fit of ISIS. And why is that? Because the Hashashabi after the fit of ISIS, the way they act in the Sunni regions, importantly the Sunni region and among the Kirkuk and other region of Iraq, is make this militia group to be, to see the way people in Iran seen IRGC. People are hating. So just to interrupt you, what is Iran's long-term goal then here? Is it to kind of export the war between Israel and Hamas into Iraq and to stir up more instability there? Iran's trying to put a pressure on U.S. in Iraq. They knew U.S. don't have that much option to attack back or to, the most attack that U.S. have done since starting this attack on U.S. bases in which the number is more than 70, as you said. U.S. is trying to calm down the situation, trying to not increase the tension. And Iran knows that very well because with the war in Ukraine, U.S. doesn't want to have another war in the region and extending that Hamas, war to the region. So Iran knows that very well. So what they do, they're trying to put a pressure on the U.S. in Iraq. And they have, they can achieve few goals in these attacks. First, they can decrease the pressure on Hezbollah and put the pressure on the U.S. in through the Iraqi militia group in Iraq. And U.S. cannot retaliate or cannot react in that case. Why? Because militia groups, they're losing, they support inside of Iraq. They need to use this nationalism that's increasing in Iraq against U.S. How they can use it the way we can see in a statement of the Iraqi government and these militia groups, they say U.S. has to have a respect for the Iraqis' sovereignty, which is the goal. Iran pushing that militia group, we're using that rhetoric to using the feeling that people now are more nationalism than the religious in Iraq because the base of the data we have and the process after 2019, they call it Tashrini's protest shows that the people in Iraq, they're asking Iran to withdraw from this country, stop intervening the internal affairs. So that's the reason they know that they need the enemy, they need to push people in that perspective. And Iran knows that very well, that's how they use it. But how much they can, they want to engage in that war. We know that Iran doesn't want to have this war expanded to Iraq. As they say, Iraq is Iran's great zone. They keep using that region for their own interests. And there is an interesting phenomena in that war we can see is another case we can actually develop on that is about the proxies, proxy group. Was the Iraqi militia using right now? They're using their own proxies too. We have a new name coming after the Hashashabi. And this new name, they don't want to take a responsibility because Hashashabi now is the one of the Iraqi forces. They have a budget in the Iraq government. So they are kind of the now legal force. So they created new name, new forces to attack you as basis. Okay. So it's a fascinating subject and very complex as well. But as you say, another kind of area of conflict that Iran is trying to blow up as it is all across the region. Shaquille, great to talk to you. Thank you very much. Shaquille Bradouste. Thank you. All right. Complete silence and then vague statements. That's how UN women responded to the overwhelming evidence of rape and sexual torture by Hamas terrorists on October 7th. It took the group two months to come out with a statement. Protesters who are angry at this apparent indifference to Israeli women are taking part in a demonstration today outside the UN headquarters in New York where we now find our senior US correspondent, Mike Wagenheim. Mike, what's happening? Yeah, that demonstration took place earlier today and now in the room behind me here in the United Nations headquarters itself. There's an event hosted by the Israeli mission that has drawn an overflow crowd. I've been to a lot of events here at the UN. I've never seen an audience like this. There's no seats in the hall. Cheryl Sandberg, the famous philanthropist, activist, tech executive gave a speech today in which she was near tears. She said that this conflict and the accusations of rape and the evidence of rape and other sexual assaults goes beyond politics. She said, and I'm quoting here, if we can't agree that rape is wrong, then we've accepted the unacceptable. And then the question will not be what's happening in the Middle East, but what is happening to our humanity. Also giving a speech today at Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Senator, also near tears in her speech. She drew a rousing ovation when she said the UN must condemn Hamas for their actions on October 7th specifically with regards to rape and sexual assault. She said that she saw closed footage within the Senate itself, which she said was haunting and unspeakable in terms of the evidence that there were rapes and sexual assaults committed there by Hamas on October the 7th. The event is continuing here, but obviously there's a lot of anger in that room and a lot of distress over the lack of action by the UN in terms of these accusations and the mounting evidence. Eladir Don, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations said that while UN women finally came out and said that there should be a thorough independent investigation of those accusations and the evidence presented so far, he said it's the UN itself that needs to be investigated for its lack of action and its lack of compassion in this matter. All right, Mike. Thank you very much, Adeeb. Mike Wagenheim there in New York where that protest took place earlier today. Ruth Wasserman Landers with me in the studio, former MK, former diplomatic envoy to Egypt. Ruth, insult on top of injury I think is the expression. It is absolutely sickening how one organization after another just completely ignored the overwhelming evidence of rape, sexual torture, mutilation of young women, girls, children and in some cases men as well by Hamas terrorists. You know, apart from it being shocking, inhumane, sickening and very, very, very hurtful. I think that one should look at the UN as a body, look at the fact that Iran as a country with untold human crimes perpetrated against their own women are the chairperson, the chairmanship of the Human Rights Committee in the United Nations. What does that say about the organization? Well, quite this overwhelming evidence from Iran in the aftermath of the Masa Amini killing by the Iranian security forces killed for not properly covering her hair. Women who went out to protest were routinely rounded up, beaten. Girls who had been poisoned, girls, teenage girls in schools that had been poisoned because they did speak out. But let's put that aside for a second and look at what had happened. There is proof, but you know what? The proof was brought by the perpetrators themselves. Israelis didn't stand and videotape, film the heinous crimes that were taking place. They were actually filmed by the perpetrators themselves and they were showing off to the world, speaking in Arabic, which many people in the world understand and can hear. And I feel that this message is not accepted by the Muslim world because you know I studied Islam. I studied the Quran. This is haram. This is not Islam. Well, I wanted to attention to something you posted on social media. Really shocking. One of the hostages, it was Moran, I think. We spoke to her brother, a young woman who'd gone to the festival to sell jewellery. And when she was found by the terrorists, which they filmed, and you posted on social media, people can go and find it, but they said what they were going to do to her. Plainly in Arabic, they said it. It wasn't something that was difficult to find. It's out there. They made sure that it would be out there in a way that they would encourage others to see what men, of course, in inverted commas they are. And they said this one would be a sex slave. Pardon me for being brutally honest, but this is what it was. And there are more videos. Now, the reason why Israel is not posting this systematically on social media is because we sanctify life, we sanctify the privacy of these women and the sensitivity of the families of those kidnapped because we still have women in captivity held by the Hamas. That's why Israel doesn't do as it wishes with this kind of information. And the fact that a lot of people in the Muslim world say this could not have happened, I feel in a way this is a psychological war because it's difficult to accept that people of your religion would do something like that in the name of your religion. This is not Islam. This is haram in Islam. No, I would just add not just in the Muslim world either. There have been people casting doubt on the testimony. More so the hurtful, inhumane, unapologetic denial of the horrors that women had experienced. Yeah, after the believable women slogan went around the world. All right, I've got another Ruth to bring in. This is Professor Ruth Halperin-Kadari. She served for 12 years on the UN committee on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. And she's now on the civil commission of October 7 crimes by Hamas against women and children. Professor Halperin-Kadari is with us now. Thank you very much for joining us. And before we get on to the UN women response, can you tell us a bit about the evidence that exists against Hamas when it comes to rape and sexual torture? Because there are people around the world saying that it didn't happen. Yes, we are in the midst of another battle, the battle for truth, the battle against the campaign of fake that Hamas started launched right after October 7. And in sheer contrast to what they did on October 7, broadcasting in real time, the atrocities that they committed, coming into Israel equipped with body cameras so that they can actually broadcast everything. After that, perhaps when realized that it could work against them, they started this very, very sinister campaign of denial. But there is abundance of evidence. Unfortunately, most of those women who were assaulted had been murdered immediately after the rape, after the assault. And some of those who survived were presumably taken hostages to Gaza. But there are eyewitnesses who did witness rapes. I watched at least one testimony of a woman who hid in the bushes, who described not far from her another woman being raped by several men. There is the video of the woman who had been taken hostage explicitly exhibiting signs of sexual assault, bleeding. There is footage of many bodies who were found all in the same, exhibiting the same signs of assault and mutilation that were performed on them before shooting them to death. There are testimonies of the first responders who found bodies in several locations, again all exhibiting the same signs, the same method. And then there are the testimonies, the statements given by Hamas terrorists who are being interrogated by the security services, talking about the orders and the instructions that they were given to mutilate and to capture and to rape women, children, teenagers, leaving no doubt that all this was a premeditated plan to use rape and to use sexual assault as a weapon of war against Israelis on October 7th. And rape is a war crime. You've worked with international bodies, as I pointed out, on rape and violence against women. It took UN women two months to come out with a very wordy, vague, ambivalent statement. How does this compare to the response of other cases of rape as a war crime, for example in Bosnia or in Ukraine? So Ukraine is a good example because it only happened recently and it took you and women less than a month to express brave concerns on reports of sexual assaults that Russian troops were committing in Ukraine and to call for a rigorous investigation and to put emphasis on the investigation that was already going on at that time on the issue of sexual violence so the comparison is very, very clear. In all their tweets and in all their statements until this very last weekend, UN women did not attribute sexual violence to Hamas and did not even clearly name Hamas as the perpetrator of the war crimes and they did not use the wording of crimes against humanity with respect to Hamas on October 7th. So I share the criticism and the outrage against the silence, the too long, the long silence that UN women and in fact all the human rights, international human rights community responded during these past two months. Why do you think there is this indifference to Israeli women? I think it's a combination of several factors. I think that for many of these bodies it's very difficult to step out of the conventional framing of Palestinians as the ultimate victim and Israel as the ultimate aggressor or oppressor and this time the equation actually flipped around. It's very difficult for them to recognize this bearing in mind that two days after October 7th Israel started its defensive attack on Gaza and since then what the world is seeing is only pictures of the devastation that does take place in Gaza and the climbing numbers of casualties including of women and children and all those atrocities of October 7th remains something of forgotten history. So it's more difficult to raise concern about them at present and I'm afraid to say that there's probably also a reflection of the constant double standard with which UN is treating Israel, the higher standard that it holds Israel up to and possibly also anti-Semitism is embedded in the world reaction towards October 7th massacre including these gender-based assaults and sexual violence atrocities that were part of the October 7th attack. Professor Ruth, thank you very much indeed for talking to us. Thank you. Israel's allies in Washington are pressing for a plan for post-war Gaza. Israel has two objectives destroy Hamas and get back the hostages but the United States says that Israel must come up with a plan for the day after the war. Our senior correspondent Owen Ataman reports. Before the day after in Gaza the day itself has to end but if the war in fact drives Hamas out of power then three different types of regime could rule the strip. We have said that any security responsibility that they take on because of the military operation in Gaza needs to be temporary. The first, reoccupation by Israel with Israel governing two million Gazans seen by almost all as a bad outcome but still the default. If the war ends with Israel in control then Israel would need to find a taker to replace it. Fail to find someone and Israel would be stuck. In defining that future in shaping that future for Gaza for the West Bank and ultimately for a Palestinian state Palestinian voices have to be at the center of that. And so the second option Palestinians governing Gaza either the Palestinian authority revitalized Palestinian authority or some other structure run by Palestinians. In Washington and beyond seen as the better choice a skeptical Israel will try for deep change in Palestinian education and policies toward terrorism. We will do everything to ensure that Gaza does not return to pose a threat to Israel and that there is no element in it that educates its children and terrorism. And then the third option in international force enticing say Saudi Arabia or the UAE to take on influence in Gaza. All right that report there by our senior correspondent Owen Altman on plans for a post war Gaza with Wasserman land and that is something that must be on the minds of Israeli politicians. I think that it's very important that Israel does begin to lay down some stepping stones regarding the day after in all because there is going to be that question on the table the United States is very adamant about it and there is this question and rather than having a dictated by different parties not only the US but other parties I think that Israel should put down some concepts that are very very important to it. One is obviously the issue of security. There is no question about at least in the minds of the leadership and the leaders in Israel as well as the IDF that the Hamas needs to be made away with not only the Hamas by the way but other terrorist organizations like the Islamic jihad and so on. So hypothetically speaking if we are have made away with 90 percent of the capability and the leadership of the Hamas presence and the rest of the terrorist organizations what should be done then. So the idea what the United States is pushing is that the Palestinian Authority should move back to Gaza because of course at one stage they were in charge of Gaza weren't they or Fatah was. Right but what had happened and this is an important point to perhaps spotlight and to emphasize they left Gaza immediately after we had left Gaza in fact the IDF left in 2005 the Hamas weren't democratically elected as is often the popular thought they took power mainly by force and not only by force but by brutal force which they also carried out against the Fatah operatives. They had one in election in 2006. They had an election they had an election. It was a so-called election but the end of the game was that they took the power by force and threw out of the windows after shooting them in the kneecaps those Fatah operatives that ran back to the IDF forces. So the question is can the Palestinian Authority in its current status only 86 is a young man but even people like Bargouti whose name is popping up this guy murdered endless number of Israelis is he the person that is going to promise the security that Israel seeks for its civilians and also all the incitement and the indoctrination which we seen the schoolbooks and the syllabus in the Gaza Strip one can see that in the West Bank as well we need to make a way with that before we can speak about a Palestinian leadership even Muhammad Dahlan there are many good names and one should not speak about a foreign entity taking over either the Gaza Strip or the West Bank certainly not Israel forever but there needs to be some kind of a rebuilding a refreshing of the educational system the infrastructure monitoring the kind of sermons that are being given in the mosques the incitement the horrid hatred that is being fed to the young children and that will take some years do you think the Prime Minister is right to flat out reject any suggestion that the PA should take over in my humble opinion he's right the current Palestinian Authority cannot unfortunately be trusted in its form in its current form its corrupt plus it cannot secure the security that we seek and this is obvious we just need to look at the West Bank we have endless endless terrorist operations being stopped by the Shabak we cannot afford to have them on two fronts it's exchanging one menace for another and that's not to say that all Palestinians are that it's just to say that they are tragic they don't have power but they're held captive by very very very poor leaderships okay and uh very rich terrorist groups as well who've had millions and millions of dollars millions of dollars that they've put into a war machine and their own pockets rather than the people themselves all right Ruth great to talk to you Ruth Wasserman thank you very much thank you and that's it for me do stay tuned though our live coverage continues here on i24 news Kaleb Ben-David is back he'll be in the studio in just a few minutes stay with us a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where she has our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well welcome to this special broadcast on i24 news i'm Kaleb Ben-David it is day 59 of Israel's war against Hamas IDF commanders say they have almost completed their operations to establish full control over the northern half of the Gaza Strip and are now expanding their operations in its southern half the focus is on the Khan Yunus area where the Hamas leadership is embedded Israeli authorities are urging civilians in that area to relocate via safe corridors to areas set along the coast and the southern Egyptian border meanwhile Hamas continues to launch rockets from Gaza at southern and central Israel in the north his baller also continued its daily barrage of cross-border aerial attacks Israel responded with air strikes on targets in Lebanon linked to the Iran backed militia and as Israel continues to celebrate the return of some of the hostages being held by Hamas family members of those still being held in Gaza by Hamas are demanding a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the war cabinet at a news conference today they question whether the government is doing enough to get their loved ones back home following the expiration of the ceasefire with Hamas and suspension of negotiations over further hostage releases now following this the government's coordinator for the hostages and missing reserves Brigadier General Gal Hirsch said a meeting with the war cabinet would take place tomorrow here is Daniel Lipschitz the grandson of Jochevet Lipschitz who was released from Hamas captivity during the ceasefire while his grandfather Odede is still being held captive in Gaza we are facing a very difficult emotional situation where the heavy disaster along with this ominous silence has led 136 families to despair we understand the escalation of the war due to the breach of the ceasefire by Hamas we request a meeting with the war cabinet to receive updates on the fate of our family members now now tomorrow now if you don't have time for us we would go to somewhere else and we would find the one who would represent us and stay with the hostages just a short time ago the town of Herzli just north of Tel Aviv celebrated the return of two of its young residents who were held captive in Gaza our Emily Francis was there and she filed this report a short while ago this whole stretch of Herzli was teeming with people screaming with joy singing Hatikva carrying Israeli flags it was really the first time that we've seen people visibly excited and smiling in a long time and that is because we got to see firsthand as you're about to see in the video Maya and Itai Regev returning home to safety here in Herzli after spending a few days in the hospital the brother and sister duo were taken hostage from the Nova Festival they were then released separately but they were able to reunite in the most emotional way at Soroka Hospital in Bersheva with Maya suffering a leg injury she did have to undergo surgery but tonight people were waiting for hours and hours to be able to usher them home to celebrate their arrival they even splashed the van with confetti there were balloons there were people singing there were people rejoicing people of all ages here just to give them a warm welcome as they are finally able to be where they want to be more than anywhere which is home with their family so one reason to celebrate but we cannot forget there are still 137 hostages that are in Gaza and a lot of upset families that are still looking for answers having a very hard time getting answers from the war cabinet and government officials so we cannot give up on bringing all of the hostages home but one silver lining in the meantime being able to see a brother and sister both surviving this horrendous nightmare and being able to come home to their family I'm Emily Francis back to you in the studio welcome home Maya and Itai let's jump to the north and our correspondent Pia Stecobach who is in the Kibbutz Ayelet Hashachar right near the border with Lebanon and Pia again another day of rocket attacks from Hamas and Israel responding sharply as the war in the north just like the war in the south has really returned back to the levels it had before the ceasefire right Kalev well we are seeing the same skirmishes that we have seen before the ceasefire the residents here have experienced a relative calm during that week long ceasefire but now it seems back to the situation how it was before we have seen a number of attacks coming from southern Lebanon and the Israeli army striking back as per protocol there were rocket alert science blaring in Kiryat Shmona and Tel Chai which is at the very eastern part of the Israel-Lebanon border as a result of that the Israeli army striking back with artillery according to an Israeli army statement they targeted among other targets a weapon depot belonging to Hezbollah now we do know that there are also other groups such as Hamas and southern Lebanon operating but Hezbollah is the one main focus of the Israeli army when targeting southern Lebanon earlier today also rocket alert science blaring in Stula and Matat which is on the other side on the western part of the Israel-Lebanon border again is the Israeli military from the air striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon both infrastructure and also as another statement mentioned a command center of Hezbollah now throughout the day there were no reports of casualties on the Israeli side but yesterday evening there was an anti-tank missile attack again at the eastern side of the border in the community of Bet-Hilel that injured 11 people also among them soldiers they were hospitalized so that really just gives you an impression of how volatile the situation is and how full of tension now if we speak about those communities Kiryat Shmona being one of them also Stula they are mostly or majority void of civilians because they have been evacuated at the very beginning of the war in the first phase before the ceasefire all communities in the proximity of five kilometers to the border residents that were called upon to leave because it is dangerous for civilians to be there because of of course rocket attacks but also anti-tank missiles and mortar shells but when we speak about cities like Kiryat Shmona it's a city of more than 20 000 residents you will always have civilians who remain behind because people are leaving their homes in the north without really knowing when they will be able to come back as the threat that Hezbollah poses is expected to persist also after the war in Gaza will end all right that's true and the big concerns still that that situation could explode potentially explode there along the northern border Piaz Dakobach thank you for that and I'll just remind viewers we are expecting the IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Higari to give his nightly briefing within the next half hour we'll bring you that live as it happens joining me in studio is our Middle East correspondent Ariel Osiron and our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Altman Owen pressure on the government coming from the hostages really rising up to new levels from those families who did not get to see all of their loved ones returned reports now there'll be a meeting the first specifically between the family members the forum of the families of hostages and the war cabinet specifically and the government is going to have to be prepared to answer some tough questions and demands from those families well the families doing what they should Caleb they're advocating for their loved ones know the saying in the Jewish tradition if I'm not for myself who will be for me and that's the story of these families they are there advocating day in day out for their loved ones who are in the tunnels of Gaza or taken by Hamas or other organizations and they'll be able to to have their time with the work cabinet to speak to those five men directly and to tell them how they feel and to be able to channel their passion and obviously their ability of the families to raise awareness for the loved ones has been incredibly impressive since day one the the forum that they've put together the ways that they have found through their exhibitions through the posters around the world to get their message out this has been the strongest foot for Israeli diplomacy including as we know a call from none other than the UN Security Council for the hostages not Kalev to be released as part of a deal or negotiation or truce but to be released unconditionally the Russians did not veto that by the way all of that said obviously we're in this point in time where you have this very very difficult balance between the imperative to free the hostages and the imperative to win the war against Hamas proper we're coming out of the week-long truce where thankfully so many hostages were released the government has decided in the time for the time being to strike a different balance it seems that the government has majority support although maybe not entire maybe not consensus support but majority support among the Israeli public so obviously the families will continue to make their case but it's in the hands of the war cabinet and really the broader Israeli public to strike the proper balance between the imperative that they present but the other imperatives that the security situation and the rest of the context of the Gaza war presents as well right well speaking of the security situation let's jump to our seated defense correspondent Jonathan Regev down many other Gaza border in the town of steroid and Jonathan the focus now turning from the north of Gaza where the IDS says it's almost managed for complete control to the southern half of Gaza specifically that Han Yunis area air strikes increasing number reports of some tanks unconfirmed perhaps entering into the area and of course that's where it's believed the senior Hamas leadership is now a sconce there that is true first senior Hamas leadership if there's any of them in the northern part of the Gaza strip the city of Gaza itself they fled in the first stage of the ground offensive as Israeli forces came in and also let's Han Yunis is the place of birth the native place for Ikea sinwar for example and many other Hamas officials so it's a natural place for them to hide as Israel is coming in and it was said loud and clear by Israeli officials and minister of defense chief of staff that once the ceasefire is over the one that ended on Friday the next stage would be heading south to the area of Han Yunis and that is what is happening we're seeing massive airstrikes in artillery to the area of Han Yunis throughout the afternoon I think we can expect a ground offensive in the area in the coming days right and pressure coming from the ground offensive pressure coming from the U.S. and Europe but especially Israel's concern the U.S. to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza to what degree could that change the mode of fighting or the mode of operations in a place like Han Yunis which is still presumably heavily populated with civilians as opposed to what happened in the north of Gaza that's true you cannot tell the people of Han Yunis to go south because that's Han Yunis is already there and Han Yunis is already full of with people who fled from the north therefore it will be densely populated Israel doesn't want to hurt civilians as it is and with the American pressure to refrain from that even more so so Israel is creating what is called sort of trying to create safe zones in the area known as Mawasi which is just to the west of Han Yunis close to the sea that is where the civilians we are advised to go will they all make it there probably not there will be civilian casualties also let's remember Hamas is hiding behind the civilian civilian population that is serving the Hamas leadership and terrorists as human shields so it will have an effect Israel is trying to minimize that effect by letting those residents where exactly they can go to be safe all right and Jonathan Regev down in sterot please you stay safe too rocket attacks continue to be launched across across southern Israel as we said earlier thank you Jonathan now with the return of fighting in Gaza comes the resumption of a daily death toll for the IDF troops who are in combat there those casualties have now reached 74 after three more were announced today they are sergeant major in the reserves Neria Shair sergeant first class in the reserves Ben Zussman and sergeant bin Yameen Yahoshua Needham authorities also confirmed the death of Yonatan Samarno he was killed at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th his body is still believed held in the Gaza Strip now some of those funerals were today along with that of Colonel Asaf Hamami who was also killed on October 7th but whose death was only announced over this weekend Hamami was commander of the Gaza division southern brigade and he was the senior IDF officer taken by Hamas although his body remains also are still being held in Gaza his funeral was held today at Tel Aviv's Kiryat Shole cemetery with thousands attending here's what his wife and mother had to say there at half past six in the morning I will cut from the sirens in complete shock something didn't make sense to me nothing made sense that day I sent you a message about picking up our son alone but you already were not answering at this time together with Tomer and Kirill the two brave heroic soldiers you had already gone into battle I know how much responsibility was placed on your shoulders the burden of responsibility is what motivated you it filled you and it filled me you were always the first to leave as the last of the fighters on every occasion stone throwing or false alarm with your own hands you uprooted every herb that grew and blocked you cleaned and repaired every fence and wall because the truth is that your job is to protect the residents so that they can live happily anywhere Asaf my beloved son the light that you spread cannot be extinguished the spirit you had and the good you did and that you spread will not be stopped Ariella big loss Asaf Khamami thousands were at that funeral as we said held a very senior position head of the Gaza Brigades the the southern brigade there along Gaza Strip but unfortunately as Israel now proceeds especially in the south along with those mopping up operations the north it is going to have to expect and be prepared to absorb some heavy casualties that's going to be some very dirty fighting in the south also that Hanyun is densely populated in some ways maybe even as much more so than in Gaza City and it's going to be a tough challenge so if we're looking at what you know the IDF is not explained is not describing exactly where each of its combats here or where it meets pockets of resistance but according to Hamas indeed most of the fighting is currently carrying out in the eastern part of Gaza City still in the north Shadjia there are forces advancing to the south but in the south we're mainly talking about airstrikes and very significant airstrikes according to reports coming out from Gaza we're talking about at least a hundred airstrikes in one hour right and that's the rate that they're describing and that does kind of remind us prior to the ground operation in Gaza City that there was a significant wave of airstrikes prior to that so this could be what we're seeing right now take place in south Gaza's biggest city this is where the remaining commanders operational headquarters of Hamas is believed to be we know that Yahya Sidwal the head of Hamas and Gaza, Mohamed Def the head of the military wing they're originally from Chanyunis and they have always been there and they're not expected to leave that's at least according to what they're saying on Palestinian side but indeed in addition to the airstrikes in Chanyunis the fighting in Shadjia the eastern part of Gaza City those are the two main points of conflict right now but there are still also clashes taking place in Betchanun and Betlahia and the in the northeast northwest and as the forces continue to prepare to make their way down south indeed there'll be more pockets of resistance but at least according to the military commanders on the ground they are pleased with the rate of the and the pace of advancement of the forces I think if we look at what the previous wave was how it how it took place when the northern part of Gaza was conquered I think we're seeing a similar dynamic the beginning of that part starting to play out in the south as well right but as it advances beyond the military there are going to be two types of pressure on the Israeli government oh it from casualties as casualties mount in the IDF and the other is going to be diplomatic pressure as far as it's concerned mainly concerned about from the United States which has repeatedly said and that was more even more vocal about it we want to see fewer civilian casualties fewer than we saw in the operation in the northern Gaza Strip we know there are significant civilian casualties we don't want to give figures because we can't rely on Hamas to give accurate numbers but there are going to be those casualties and that could play into how Israel conducts its operations there in the southern half of the Gaza Strip it doesn't have quite the same bank and that bank on the same necessary support that it had in the first stage of the war listen Kalev was at Anthony Blinken's press conference during his visit here in his to Israel on Thursday he laid out markers the United States doesn't want to see more displacement of civilians we're seeing Israel asking civilians to leave their homes right the United States wanted to see more care and civilian casualties again we don't know exactly the scope of the civilian casualties but it seems in general contours you know according to what Ariel was just saying along the lines of what Ariel was just saying to be relatively similar to what happened in the north the United States wanted more humanitarian aid to come into the Strip Anthony Blinken even talked about commercial goods moving away from the basics of human life to actually restock stores with commercial goods so Kalev we're very very far away from the markers that Anthony Blinken himself laid out for the Israeli government meaning one of two things either a there's significant tension behind the scenes between these two governments because it's certainly not out in public right we have not for all of those markers the United States laid down last week we have not heard the Biden administration coming out Kalev and enforcing them or coming out opposing the steps that Israel has taken which are in contravention of what they themselves said just a few days ago so either there's tension okay or there's an understanding that this will go on for a short period of time and then the absence will shift let's go to Daniel Agari the idea of forces are continuing to widen ground operations we are fighting an entire Gaza Strip very meaningful strikes based on intelligence we are preparing our ground operation in center of gravity for Hamas and the entire Gaza Strip we conducted a number of operations with the navy the our force that led to the assassination of terrorists and taking of infrastructure they're coming out of the tunnels and they're we're trying to help our forces our forces are acting with determination with professionalism we're going from building to building tunnel to tunnel we're not going into protected areas they're protecting themselves this is how they are acting in a protected way but in their places where there are face-to-face battles and there are those but our forces are determined to kill the terrorists to win every battle and to continue to do at it every place where they do with a go it's a Jihad Jabalia in every place we meet the enemy key staff conduct a situational assessment with the commanders and the fighters inside the Gaza Strip he heard their lessons the operational lessons from the fighting and from the centers of gravity he gave emphasis to the fighters especially in order to decide in on the field how to give the best operational answer so that we saw in our in updated assessment in the Kyriac in the north we attacked targets of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon IDF forces used artillery to attack the source of fire to the state of Israel I continue to call to the public to follow the instructions the update instructions of the home front command which save lives in the north in the center and in the south 137 hostages that were taken on October 7th are still held in Gaza today the president of the Red Cross came to the Gaza Strip came in from Egypt and went back to Egypt the Red Cross has helped much in terms of held the hostages during the pause we continue to demand from international organizations around the world to to confirm the the status of our hostages and to give them medicine it's and and medical checkups it's a basic demand of every organization in the world to do this we have the moral obligation to continue to do everything take every effort to bring everyone home we strengthen the families and we continue to update them with all the information we have questions discussing asking about whether on October 7th there were commandos and units that were moved from the Gaza border area to Samaria we are not hiding things from the public all this issue of what happened on October 7th from the intelligence perspective operational perspective and all the forces everything will be taken care of through a detailed investigation that we will do i'll answer specifically this question because the public is very interested in it over the course of last day even in this at this stage the dispassion of forces did not change and did not change in the months leading to the 7th of October the decision over what to do with forces in all of the the arenas is done every week in a situational assessment the location and the question of where the forces are we will investigate it in a deep way and will give us the operational ability during the four to do so i confirm that forces future forces were directed every weekend we decide where the forces go according to a security assessment and where do we direct our forces and we will investigate i am compelled to add we will investigate this we did move forces and this will be taken care of in a deep assessment professional assessment and we'll give a full answers to the public i want to say something else we're asked often about investigations about intelligence the issues intelligence and forced dispersion we are in the middle of the war at this point we can start to gather the figures and to investigate in different stages we are going to take a brief break we will be back with what's more in three minutes so stay with us the i24 news channel broadcasting from israel with 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 i24 news channels now on hot the negotiations if and when they should proceed next right hi kelev yes we've been all over the place today a lot going on we are like you said in front of the idf headquarters it's not so crowded tonight they did have a plan for a very very big sit-in basically the families spoke earlier today and the war cabinet did agree to meet with them they say tomorrow they say they needed more time to get all the officials to be there to meet with them but this came after a press conference very angry families you know obviously elated of the return from last week but we still have 137 still in captivity in gaza and this is basically what they said after the security cabinet they said they ignored the families for three days and humiliating us they literally said they are ignoring and humiliating with us so i think obviously they're they're speaking out did i guess get them to agree to meet with them tomorrow but obviously they're still upset you can see some people behind us not really the the families directly affected so the the good news is they are supposed to meet tomorrow but even better news was was really the emotional experience of being in her tilia tonight it was it was the first time that i personally have seen anybody smiling anybody cheering we had maya and itai reggae returning home they were the brother and sister that we've been hearing so much about crying over a brother and sister that went to the the music festival they were taken hostage they were then separated and they reunited together in the hospital in bersheva in saroka was an emotional reunion with maya needing to get surgery on her leg and both of them being able to come home tonight and there were just crowds of people singing holding Israeli flags watching them come home was really just a moment to embrace but again we cannot forget that this is uh not the end of this and whether negotiations will continue over the release of the other hostages remains to be seen we know that uh there are reports that they are trying to include the women and children that are left uh you know in the category one with the elderly and the sick we also know that there are male hostages that are suffering from all kinds of illnesses to begin with so still a very very tenuous situation here right and of course we need to remind viewers Israeli officials say it was Hamas that failed to live up to the conditions that were placed on the arrangement uh to present lists proper lists of people that they would release Hamas failed to do so and Israel and also then relaunched military activity and causing Israel to continue with its military operation uh in Gaza Emily France's outside IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv uh thank you for that I did mention earlier that a delegation of U.S. officials are reportedly heading to Israel this week perhaps even arriving tomorrow the mission said to be to press the government on the so-called day after the IDF military operation concludes or succeeds in eliminating the Hamas threat now of course the day after is yet to dawn on Gaza but speculation has been on for weeks about what that new sunrise might bring our senior diplomat and a correspondent Owen Altman gives us a quick outline of its possible directions before the day after in Gaza the day itself has to end but if the war in fact drives Hamas out of power then three different types of regime could rule the strip we have said that any security responsibility that they take on because of the military operation in Gaza needs to be temporary the first reoccupation by Israel with Israel governing two million Gazas seen by almost all as a bad outcome but still the default if the war ends with Israel in control then Israel would need to find a taker to replace it fail to find someone and Israel would be stuck in defining that future in shaping that future for Gaza for the West Bank and ultimately for a Palestinian state Palestinian voices have to be at the center of that and so the second option Palestinians governing Gaza either the Palestinian Authority revitalized Palestinian Authority or some other structure run by Palestinians in Washington and beyond seen as the better choice a skeptical Israel will try for deep change in Palestinian education and policies toward terrorism we will do everything to ensure that Gaza does not return to pose a threat to Israel and that there is no element in it that educates its children and terrorism and then the third option in international force enticing say Saudi Arabia or the UAE to take on influence in Gaza all right a little cut short there but I do want to go to a if those who may question is it too soon for us to start talking about the day after when Hamas has lost control of the Gaza Strip well questions being asked if that's already the case let's take a look at some footage that was taken of an a truck that arrived in the Gaza Strip if we have that footage you see crowds there mobbing the a truck in other words these a trucks come we assume that Hamas would take control of the of that equipment and then perhaps distribute it under any forum there you see we believe it's in southern Gaza possibly Hanyunas and you see just a mad rush to get goods off of that vehicle which came in through the Rafah crossing Ariel also on what are we looking at there is this a sign that things are just breaking down there and at least on the civil level even in southern Gaza Strip Hamas is lost control of its the population look Aleph these images don't look good for Hamas's rule in the Gaza Strip now it's hard to discern exactly where in the Gaza Strip this is taking place but my understanding is that this is in recent days happening now the guy who's filming the video he's saying for over water over water they're fighting over water and that indicates what the truck was bringing in and it it could indicate one of two things one that indeed Hamas has lost effective control over the Gaza Strip over the resources over the distribution of the resources even though it's not it's job to to to circulate the humanitarian aid coming in to the Gaza Strip but I do want to raise another another option and another thought in that I think is what we saw following the images of the looting of the Unra warehouses yes that also there there was a lot dozens if not hundreds of trucks worth of supplies humanitarian aid were looted from there it wouldn't surprise me if this is actually the flip side it's Hamas trying to create chaos to allow its people to get a piece of this humanitarian aid a piece that it cannot get legitimately because there are there are a lot of eyes looking into what's going into Gaza so you know automatically it is more likely to believe that these are scenes of a crumbling leadership of a crumbling command and control situation in the Gaza Strip but or even at the same time it could we could also be seeing Hamas trying to create chaos and in that chaos take what it can what it can get its hands on for its own military purposes given that Israel is surveying the humanitarian aid trucks prior to entry there isn't a lot of fuel going in and so this war as opposed to all previous incidents where there was a significant escalation and foreign aid was brought in there is a lot of awareness regarding the ability of Hamas to get its hands on this humanitarian aid so what we see are civilians looting a humanitarian aid truck but what could be be beneath the surface is that some of these civilians are indeed embedded Hamas who are trying to just get whatever they can at the expense of these civilians who themselves have to resort to looting to sustain themselves or perhaps Hamas wanting to wanting to see scenes like that filmed creating the same reinforcing the sense of a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and as we mentioned the head of the Red Cross who got a positive shout out from Daniel Higari this evening even though other Israeli officials have been quite critical the Red Cross for its failure to see hostages but since the IDF is cooperating with the Red Cross on the return of hostages it has to still work with them but oh and bringing that scene back to your report the day after is coming soon clearly and then you could argue in the northern Gaza Strip where Israel is now in a mopping up operation still in fighting but may have soon complete control over it questions the US is going to be asking those US officials reportedly coming you're gonna want to know what is the plans for Gaza but politically what can this government among these alternatives realistically say what can prime minister Netanyahu realistically say about that I think the key at the end of the day Kalev is to give the Saudis an incentive why it's good for them to take this project on I mean what's in it for MBS that's the bottom line why is it that he should put himself on the line and take on the difficult chalice of taking on Gaza what's in it for him how would the benefits for him outweigh the costs and their obvious costs of taking on governance of a place like Gaza what's in it for him we saw for example Qatar didn't actually directly govern govern Gaza but they saw it as a place where they could expand their footprint in the Middle East and their geopolitical power maybe the argument can be made to Riyadh that you are in a sense replacing Iran right Iran had a proxy in Gaza you can now have a proxy in Gaza it's not only Iran that can play the proxy game around the Middle East you and Saudi Arabia can do the same and as long as we are in a world where we have proxy networks around the Middle East maybe an undesirable world but as long as we're in that world why can't two play this game and when you think about it but this is a strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea it's between Egypt it's a slice of historic Palestine maybe the argument can be made in Riyadh that the Saudis have something to gain by being there that actually expands their geopolitical influence and geopolitical power albeit with significant risks that's what I think the Israeli government for that matter the Biden administration need to do all right I'll just note the the Saudi political culture hardly known for its risk-taking but this is a different this is a Saudi political culture that the Crown Prince very much wants to change on the other hand we should know they involve themselves very much in the reconstruction of Lebanon to a significant degree and politically there as well that's true but we'll see Gaza's and it goes as you're starting to make my it's hard to imagine a place even worse than Lebanon in terms of the situation there are obvious there are obvious costs and risks you have to make the case