 interception took place in Israeli airspace. The ADIF forces said, satellite, that they were completing their preparations for a significant ground operation in the Gaza Strip as the military continued to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the enclave. Military leadership has vowed to destroy Hamas with a joint and coordinated attack from the air, sea, and land. And along another front as well, alleged Israeli airstrikes targeted the Aleppo International Airport in Syria Saturday night. This is all coming from Syrian reports, just hours after two rockets were fired from Syria at Israel, and as tensions continue to rise along Israel's northern front. The International Airport in Damascus was also targeted and was put out of service back on Thursday. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to America's President Biden on Saturday for the fifth time since the war began. Biden also spoke for the first time to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, as Israel warns Gaza civilians to evacuate before beginning a ground campaign against Hamas. The US confirmed that it is sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel. It's joining the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, currently on its way here. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says, the additional carrier is being sent to deter any hostile actions against Israel or any efforts towards widening the war following Hamas' assault on Israel. This show force is coming. As Iran threatened to directly join the war, with an axiose report on Saturday claiming Iran's foreign minister threatened Israel via the UN, saying that Iran will intervene if Israel does not call off its looming ground encouraging into Gaza. That foreign minister met in Doha with Hamas political Politburo Chief Ismail Hania according to Iran's state-run media, though no details about that meaning have been released. Now for some news from the Northern Front, we are joined by our correspondent Pia Tastakobov, who is on the Northern border right now. Tell us what we know about the recent strikes on the North border and the action against Hezbollah forces. Well, Ariel, in the early morning, Sirens sounding in the upper Galilee region in the town of De Eliezer, the IDF saying that they have intercepted a suspicious target from the air. Now this comes after yesterday. Sirens were sounding in two areas late evening. Also in the eastern part of the Israeli-Lebanese border, rockets there, two rockets coming from Syria, Israel striking back. Also a strike targeted the Aleppo airport this night for really the second time in the course of a few days, a strike that is attributed to Israel. After yesterday in the afternoon, a major security incident happening with Hezbollah in the Haldov area close to Syria at the eastern part of the Lebanese border. Again, Hezbollah firing 30 mortar shells. Israel retaliating there, one Hezbollah member is said to have been killed. And that also after yesterday morning, there was an apprehended infiltration attempt there. Also in the eastern part of the Lebanese border there, Israel apprehending three Palestinians operating under Hezbollah command there, trying to infiltrate Israel. Now Israel is said to strike Hezbollah post also yesterday throughout the night. There also apprehending a squad trying to infiltrate Israel in an attempt to fire an anti-tank missile. So the tensions with Hezbollah are really spiking these days and they have been also for the course of the past week. Also many false alerts here in this area that really shows you how volatile the situation is and how sensitive Israeli air systems are. Now, Pea, you've been in the north for a couple of days now at least where you've seen the atmosphere on the ground. What's it like there? Well, Ariel, it is very tense. We are here right now in the city of Nahria, which is about 13 kilometers, 10 miles away from the Lebanese border. But also here there are not so many people on the streets. We were being told from the person responsible for the French community here in Nahria, for the foreign community in the Nahria municipality that they're really advising people to prepare their shelters. Now, we have to say that at least 40% of the population in this city does not have private shelters in their homes. So the municipality really prepared the public shelters here with food, with water really preparing the population for any possible scenario here. But they're also advising the people not to be scared. Now, this morning we've been hearing that there have been some disruptions in the navigation systems here in the area. People here are quite tense because this has been going on for a week already that there have been false alarms yesterday. Two people were hospitalized and a suspected rocket impact. That incident is also still under investigation. So is it as a very tense and volatile situation here in the north? Well, thank you, Pia, for that report from the northern border. Now, for a more in-depth look at the considerations being made, we are joined in studio by former Israeli intelligence official Avi Malamud. Thank you very much for being with us. The big question on everyone's mind is at what point does Hezbollah join this conflict? And with Iran threatening to get directly involved, what other capabilities beyond Hezbollah did they bring to the table? Well, Arielle, thank you for having me. Let's put things in wider context. One build around Israel, what we call ring of fire, which is based on three different arenas, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza Strip. Gaza Strip under the rule of Hamas and Islamic jihad is an enormously significant component in the Iranian master plan. Why? Because the Iranian has an interest to further fuel the flames of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That's the reason why we saw this repeating military rounds between Israel and Gaza Strip. The downfall of Hamas in Gaza Strip is a massive blow to the Iranian master plan. That's the reason why they are trying to deter, at this moment, Israel from expanding the war. But they and Hezbollah, Iran and Hezbollah, since they, one of these war, are finding themselves in a dilemma. Here is the dilemma. If Iran is going to send Hezbollah to the war, Iran is going to jeopardize not only the risk or downfall of Hamas in Gaza Strip, which seems to be almost imminent, but also a massive strike to Hezbollah, which is the most significant proxy of the Iranians. The Iranian dilemma is further boosted given the fact that the United States of America this time sends very clear messages to the Iranian, stay out. This message is backed by an American military operation on the ground, deployment on the ground. Here is something that the Mullah regime in Tehran has to take into consideration. Its presence in Syria, which is the most significant component in this structure that the Mullah regime has built, its military presence in Syria that he has built for the last decade, we are talking about militias, we are talking about anti-aircraft, we are talking about missile deposits and so on and so on. All this infrastructure could be eliminated within hours because today in the region there is enough aerial force to do that. This is the thing that the Mullah regime is now facing, the dilemma. So for the time being, they are trying to deter Israel by conducting double policy, sending threats to all of its proxies, starting in Yemen, going through Iraq, Syria, Hezbollah and others. And the second thing they are trying to do, they are basically initiating a very calculated small-scale, low-intensifying escalation in the Israeli-Northern border. But the dilemma of the Iranians and Hezbollah is there. That dilemma is going to increase as much as the more is expected. The Israeli ground operation in Gaza Strip is going to take place. They don't really have much time to decide. Now Hezbollah's firepower is massive. They have 150,000 advanced missiles pointed at Israeli cities as we speak. And Iran wouldn't have spent the money or the time arming them if they did not intend to use them. When that front does go hot, and it certainly seems inevitable, if not immediate, that it will go hot, how will Israel deal a knockout blow against Hezbollah to ensure they no longer pose a threat to Israel's cities? Well, there are a couple components of this questionnaire. One is, as you said accurately, Hezbollah presents an enormous threat to the state of Israel. If Hezbollah is going to be massively involved in the war, it's going to cause Israel an enormous damage and destruction. That is correct. On the other hand, we have to remember something about the Hezbollah in Iran. From the Iranian perspective, the most significant strategic objective or task of the Hezbollah is to ensure and maintain the Iranian control in Lebanon, because that presents the Iranians with a presence offshore the Mediterranean. The secondary task that could always wait, as far as the Iranian regime is concerned, the secondary task is the whole issue of the elimination of the state of Israel. In the Iranian master plan, they would not, until now, risk Hezbollah in a war with Israel. Their master plan was, and still is, to the best of my understanding, to basically be able to operate all the arenas of this ring of fire, namely Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Syria, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza Strip. According to the Iranian master plan, the most preferable scenario was that one day, when the time comes, all those components together will be simultaneously activated against the state of Israel. The activation of the Gaza Strip on Saturday by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and particularly the disastrous outcome of that, to a large extent, disrupt the Iranian master plan. I was sitting here a week ago, when the whole war started, and I said right there, I said, this is a great strategic opportunity for the state of Israel and its allies in the region to generate a positive change. We can see that happening. Well, Avi, we are going to come back to you in a little bit, so definitely stay with us. But before we do, we are going to go to the southern border, where our Middle East correspondent, Ariel Ossaran, is standing by in the border town of Stiro. We now have some confirmation from the Israeli military that they have taken out the Hamas commander that was responsible for the attacks in several Kibbutzim along the borders and the massacres there. Give us some updates, Ariel. Right, Ariel. So as the IDF continues its continuous airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, aimed at taking out key Hamas officials and also commanders. This is the latest in assassinations of key commanders that took part of the bloody rampage last Saturday. Yesterday it was the commander of the entire raid. Today it was the commander of the raid on two border communities, Nirem and Nirem. And this continues as all the while Israel continues with its shelling and airstrikes across the Gaza Strip. Now, while Israel is continuously striking, IDF spokesperson in Arabic just released a plea for an announcement that allows a safe passage through a corridor down south in the Gaza Strip between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. So starting in just under an hour and will continue for five hours. This is the second day in a row that the IDF is allowing this safe passage, this corridor, for residents in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to head south. Many listened to this call yesterday. However, the IDF also shared images of Hamas obstructing these attempts to go down south, loading up roadblocks, causing lots of traffic and making it more difficult for its people to head down south to that calls by Hamas leadership not to listen to Israel's warnings, given that Hamas is interested in keeping as many human shields as they can as they are positioned themselves in tunnels underground while the population above ground really doesn't have anywhere to go. And so in advance ahead of this corridor, Israel in the meantime not only taking out key commanders but also targeting Hamas police station in the Gaza Strip. And so attacks are continuing and will continue, I would imagine, even during this corridor but not in the area where the residents of Gaza are planning to head down south. And that's in accordance with the latest IDF statement. And Ariel, I know that you've been there for a while now and you've described the place as only 30% of its former population due to its evacuation, a bit of a ghost town, but in the light of that with this invasion with the aftermath of the horror that residents have seen over the past week, what is the atmosphere like down there? Well, it's hard to tell what the atmosphere is for average citizens because you don't see them. There are no pedestrians walking out in the street. Everyone that is here is staying close to their protective shelters because in a town like Sderot which is so close to the Gaza Strip, you only have 15 seconds to make it to your shelter and so given that this area as well as the rest of the border communities have been consistently targeted over the past few days, the residents of Sderot that have stayed, we're talking about roughly 30% in a town of between 28 and 30,000 residents. They're hunkering down at home. You don't see a lot of civilian vehicles driving around and the few that do try to make it out as fast as possible because this is, Sderot specifically is not a closed military zone but just a few, less than a mile that way, the whole strip surrounding the Gaza Strip is a closed military zone and that is because this is where the military is preparing its forces for this imminent ground invasion that is expected to take place at least according to Israeli high-ranking officials in the very near future. Thank you, Hario, for that report from the ground and stay safe out there. Back to the studio for one more element here that of course with you and ultimate our senior correspondent, we know the United States sending two carrier strike groups in a firepower to level a nation and a very obvious threat to Israel's regional enemies. What is the political considerations that the United States is going to be looking at of whether or not to activate these strike groups? I think political considerations zero. The considerations are absolutely geopolitical entirely. I really truly imagine that the Biden administration simply isn't thinking about politics, that this is above politics. They see this as part of the US commitment to its allies, statement about US commitment to its allies. At a time when China and Russia are rising powers REL and if the US-Israel bond would be broken, I think American allies around the world wouldn't be able to trust the United States. I mean, obviously Joe Biden feels this personally as does Anthony Blinken. That was very, very clear to all of us last week. But as a hard matter of real politic, this has to matter to the United States. And by the way, I think it has to matter to American policymakers and strategists irregardless of how they feel about the US-Israel relationship itself. Maybe they feel it was a mistake. Maybe they feel the United States is over-invested in Israel. Be that all as it may, the US-Israel alliance is a fact on the ground, going back decades. And if that were to be broken in any way at a moment like this, what would that mean for Ukraine? What would that mean for US allies in East Asia around the world? It could erode the American position everywhere. I think that's one of the reasons why there was such a sense of urgency here. And the need to ensure that no matter what happens, no matter what happens, that Israel wins the war. Whatever the cost, whatever the scenario, to absolutely ensure that Israel wins the war. And I think that Nabi Malamud was getting to that point, right? With the idea that these carries were there to ensure that that would happen. So I think those are the considerations. I think they're fairly decisive. I would imagine that as time goes by, and certainly as the situation in Gaza becomes more complex. I'm sure there'll be political pressure within the United States. But there still is wide support for Israel. The massacre and the scenes that we saw last week will never disappear from the public imagination. But at any rate, this is far beyond politics. This is about something much, much more essential. And we'll continue that with you, Avi. Because the United States has put the gun on the table. It's a clear threat to Iran. It's a clear threat to Hezbollah. Is it enough of a threat? Well, as I said before, for the first time, I would say, for the last decade, the United States of America basically stands in front of Iran and it said enough is enough. Up until now, there has been an ongoing, convoluting, a piercing approach to the Iranian regime. The danger was out there. It was in front of our face. We have totally and constantly alarmed about the Iranian master plan and the danger the Iranian regime presents to the region. What we see right now is the manifestation of this danger in a very severe scenario. As I said before, the United States of America right now building its military power in the region, OK? And that, as I said before, the Iranian regime now have to make a decision. If it's going to intervene, he's going to lose strategic cards because he's going to be severely beaten in Syria. He's probably going to be severely beaten in Lebanon if he's going to do a move sending Hamas and Hezbollah into the war. You don't appease evil. You eliminate evil. And I would like to add one more thing about the context of the United States of America. United States of America has lost its image as a superpower in the region basically because it was unable to project power. The most clear signal for power is the ability or the fact that you don't use the power. You only project power, and that should be enough. President Biden say one will point out right now because on the topic of projecting power, we're seeing on screen a live image of some airstrikes going down in the Gaza Strip as Israel prepares the way for ground forces in the imminent invasion they have promised. But before that, we are going to go back to analyzing the situation with the United States and its support of it. So I was saying before, Ariel, that in Biden's amazing speech, the very inspiring and powerful speech that he gave, there were many, many great things that he said. There was one word that captured my attention. The word was don't. It was meant to capture your attention. I have one word. I have one word. With a colon. Don't. There was no belly dancing of rhetoric. There was no convoluting statements. There was no calling for whatever. One word. Don't. This is projection of power. And when it is backed with actions on the ground and with the clear understanding on the other side, that the United States of America will not hesitate to use that power to secure its strategic interests. This is projection of power. This is a pivotal moment in the story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is a pivotal moment in the story of the Middle East. It is a pivotal moment in the story of the relationship of the United States of America in the region and beyond the region, as you very accurately mentioned. This is the time where the United States of America can and should rehabilitate its declining image. Can and should rehabilitate its power in the region. The United States of America can use this moment as a moment to basically come back big time in the Middle East. You say it can, you say it should. The question is, is Biden bluffing? I don't think that he is bluffing. He can't be bluffing. He made the speech to the entire world. He said there's one word, don't. I don't think he's bluffing. Look, he's sending military power. Right now, as I said before, I have to reiterate it. There is enough aerial power in the neighborhood to eliminate Iran's assets in Syria and basically take out the whole Iranian master plan and basically totally neutralize it. What about the Iranian military itself? The Iranian military, this is something very important to understand about Iran. Iran has a very vicious and sophisticated mindset and code of action. The Iranians are not sacrificing Iranians. The Iranian regime are sacrificing Yemenites, Lebanese, Syrians, Israelis, Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistani Shiites, and so on and so on. The presence of Iran in Syria is mostly based upon those militias that are begged by the Iranians. There is presence of Iranian revolutionary guards. But in the end of the day, one of the most staggering thing when you look at the Iranian master plan and the way they have been entrenching themselves across the Middle East was that they were able to deploy these armies of terror, basically sacrificing everybody in the region other than the Iranians. So one of the most significant components in the Iranian master plan of taking over the Middle East is a concept that is called the land corridor. We are looking at the Iranian attempt to create land corridors stretching from Iran, crossing through Iraq, because Iraq to a large extent is under a major Iranian influence, entering Syria and ending up in Lebanon. The critical component of that land corridor is located in Syria. In the eastern part of Syria, very close to the Syrian-Iraqi border, there is a military compound that the Iranian built. This is a transition point for the Iranian militias moving into Syria. That compound can be taken out by aerial strike in a minute. And all this land corridor could be wiped in a minute, because as I said before, there is a massive aerial force right now gathering in the Middle East that Israel and the United States should deploy, should activate if the Iranians are going to send Hezbollah into the war. Now the Iranian have to face the dilemma and they should understand. If they are stepping in, their whole master plan is going to be collapsed. So what would be the trigger for the United States or Israel to act directly against Iran? Massive involvement of the Hezbollah in the war. But Ariel's question is very specific. To act against, if I understood your question correctly, to act against Iran itself, because if Iran's entire strategy, I think I'm taking your question separately, if Iran's entire strategy is based on the fact that it won't sacrifice Iranians, maybe the strategy has to be to force them to sacrifice Iranians, at least their military targets and assets. Well, that one option, I don't think that's the right option to move in. The Iranians don't really care if they're going to sacrifice. And then it will play to the end of the day. There are enough assets of the Iranians outside of Iran and outside of the direct control of the Iranians. There are enough assets of the Iranians that are very significant for the Iranians. And those assets could be taken out. The United States of America will not attack Iranian-backed assets in Iraq, for example. That would be not wise thing to do. But Syria, that could be right thing to do. There is one more component about Syria that we have to take into consideration. There was a piece of news. The United States deployed another jet in Jordan. Why is it so significant? Because Jordan is also facing the threat of the Iranian militias in the south part of Syria. This could be a golden opportunity for the United States of America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, the states that are threatened by the Iranians. This could be a golden opportunity to take down, to dismantle the Iranian strategic structure that was built in Syria. In Syria. And when you do that, you are basically crippling totally the Iranian master plan. What should be the condition for that? The message is there. If Hezbollah is going to join the war, Syria is on the table. The Iranian assets are on the tables. And by the way, notice that. There has been some sporadic, I would even say symbolic attacks from Syria to Israel. Didn't cause anything serious, nothing so dramatic. Did you notice what was the Israeli respond? Attacking the airports of Damascus and Aleppo. The message is very simple. You will open another front. You are going to lose your major assets in Syria. Take it into consideration. And that has to be backed by actions on the ground if circumstances call for that. We have less than a minute left, so I guess if we can answer this very briefly. There's a threat on the table. You said Iran's built this ring of fire. They had in the first 48 hours before direct US involvement the opportunity to activate Hezbollah. Why didn't they? They lost the edge of surprise. Basically, the situation in Lebanon is very, very sensitive. Lebanon is a collapsing state. One of the possible outcome of a massive war between Israel and Hezbollah would be the total disintegration of Lebanon, which will involve maybe a civil war at this scenario. Hezbollah will have to divert attention to what's going on in Lebanon. And there is another significant issue. One, of course, is the American immediate ultimatum or sort of like strong American signal from the early days of the war to the Iranians and the Hezbollah that deterred them. And then there is another thing, the pictures that are coming out from Gaza Strip. Hezbollah looks at the picture, it adds to their dilemma. Thank you very much for helping us understand the why's and the how's. For everyone else, we're out of time. Stay safe out there, and stay strong. Over 1,300 casualties and over 3,000 injuries and the toll keeps climbing. We bring you the testimonies from the front line from those who managed to survive in the most graphic, brutal images so the whole world can see what Hamas did. Follow us as Israel battles a terror threat emanating from the south and the north. Join I-24 News for the real story of what's going on. In quest-a-new, 24. I hope that's what Carlos wanted to know. From where are you seeing us? All you have to do is to prepare the phone, to point to the QR's reader, and there opens a brief questionnaire. Very easy to complete. Another option is to enter the link that appears on the screen. Let's wait for your answers. And we are ready, and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unicycle. Hello, babe, and welcome to I-24 News's ongoing coverage of Israel at War. I'm Ariel Levin Waldman. We are now entering the ninth day of fighting since Hamas launched a full-scale invasion and massacre of Israeli civilians in Israel's south. Just a short while ago, on the north border in the Upper Galilee, sirens sounded after an unidentified interception took place in Israeli airspace. The ADF forces said, satellite, that they were completing their preparations for a significant ground operation in the Gaza Strip as the military continued to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the enclave. Military leadership has vowed to destroy Hamas with a joint and coordinated attack from the air, sea, and land. And along another front as well, alleged Israeli airstrikes, targeted the Aleppo International Airport in Syria Saturday night. This is all coming from Syrian reports, just hours after two rockets were fired from Syria at Israel and as tensions continue to rise along Israel's northern front. The International Airport in Damascus was also targeted and was put out of service back on Thursday. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to America's President Biden on satellite for the fifth time since the war began. Biden also spoke for the first time to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as Israel warns Gaza civilians to evacuate before beginning a ground campaign against Hamas. The US confirmed that it is sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel. It's joining the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group currently on its way here. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the additional carrier is being sent to deter any hostile actions against Israel or any efforts towards widening the war following Hamas' assault on Israel. This show force is coming. As Iran threatened to directly join the war with an axiose report on Saturday claiming Iran's foreign minister threatened Israel via the UN. Saying that Iran will intervene if Israel does not call off its looming ground encouraging into Gaza. That foreign minister met in Doha with Hamas political Politburo chief Ismail Hania according to Iran's state-run media though no details about that meeting have been released. Now for some news from the northern front we are joined by our correspondent Pia Tastakobov who is on the northern border right now. Tell us what we know about the recent strikes on the north border and the action against Hezbollah forces. Well, Ariel, in the early morning, Sirens sounding in the upper Galilee region in the town of Eliezer, the IDF saying that they have intercepted a suspicious target from the air. Now, this comes after yesterday. Sirens were sounding in two areas late evening. Also in the eastern part of the Israeli-Lebanese border, rockets there, two rockets coming from Syria, Israel striking back. Also a strike targeted the Aleppo airport this night for really the second time in the course of a few days, a strike that is attributed to Israel. After yesterday in the afternoon, a major security incident happening with Hezbollah in the Haldov area close to Syria at the eastern part of the Lebanese border. Again, Hezbollah firing 30 mortar shells. Israel retaliating there, one Hezbollah member is said to have been killed. And that also after yesterday morning, there was an apprehended infiltration attempt there. Also in the eastern part of the Lebanese border there, Israel apprehending three Palestinians operating under Hezbollah command. They're trying to infiltrate Israel. Now, Israel is set to strike Hezbollah posts also yesterday throughout the night. They're also apprehending a squad trying to infiltrate Israel in an attempt to fire an anti-tank missile. So the tensions with Hezbollah are really spiking these days. And they have been also for the course of the past week. Also many false alerts here in this area that really shows you how volatile the situation is and how sensitive Israeli air systems are. Now, Pia, you've been in the north for a couple of days now, at least, where you've seen the atmosphere on the ground. What's it like there? Well, Ariel, it is very tense. We are here right now in the city of Nareha, which is about 13 kilometers, 10 miles away from the Lebanese border. But also here, there are not so many people on the streets. We were being told from the person responsible for the French community here in Nareha, for the foreign community in the Nareha municipality that they're really advising people to prepare their shelters. Now, we have to say that at least 40% of the population in this city does not have private shelters in their homes. So the municipality really prepared the public shelters here with food, with water, really preparing the population for any possible scenario here. But they're also advising the people not to be scared. Now, this morning, we've been hearing that there have been some disruptions in the navigation systems here in the area. People here are quite tense because this has been going on for a week already that there have been false alarms yesterday. Two people were hospitalized and a suspected rocket impact. That incident is also still under investigation. So is it as a very tense and volatile situation here in the North? Well, thank you, Pia, for that report from the Northern border. Now, for a more in-depth look at the considerations being made, we are joined in studio by former Israeli intelligence official Avi Malamud. Thank you very much for being with us. The big question on everyone's mind is at what point does Hezbollah join this conflict? And with Iran threatening to get directly involved, what other capabilities beyond Hezbollah did they bring to the table? Well, Ariel, thank you for having me. Let's put things in wider context. Iran built around Israel what we call ring of fire, which is based on three different arenas, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza Strip. Gaza Strip under the rule of Hamas and Islamic jihad is enormously significant component in the Iranian master plan. Why? Because the Iranian has an interest to further fuel the flames of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That's the reason why we saw this repeating military rounds between Israel and Gaza Strip. The downfall of Hamas in Gaza Strip is a massive blow to the Iranian master plan. That's the reason why they are trying to deter at this moment Israel from expanding the war. But they and Hezbollah, Iran and Hezbollah, since they, one of these war, are finding themselves in a dilemma. Here is the dilemma. If Iran is going to send Hezbollah to the war, Iran is going to jeopardize not only the risk or downfall of Hamas in Gaza Strip, which seems to be like almost imminent, but also a massive strike to Hezbollah, which is the most significant proxy of the Iranians. The Iranian dilemma is further boosted given the fact that the United States of America, this time sends very clear messages to the Iranian, stay out. This message is backed by an American military operation on the ground, deployment on the ground. Here is something that the Mullah regime in Tehran has to take into consideration. It's presence in Syria, which is the most significant component in this structure that the Mullah regime has built. It's military presence in Syria that he has built for the last decade. We are talking about militias. We are talking about anti-aircraft. We are talking about missile deposits and so on and so on. All this infrastructure could be eliminated within hours because today in the region, there is enough aerial force to do that. This is the thing that the Mullah regime is now facing, the dilemma. So for the time being, they are trying to deter Israel by conducting double policy, sending threats through all of its proxies, starting in Yemen, going through Iraq, Syria, Hezbollah and others. And the second thing they are trying to do, they are basically initiating a very calculated, small-scale, low-intensifying escalation in the Israeli North and border. But the dilemma of the Iranians and Hezbollah is there. That dilemma is going to increase as much as expected. The Israeli ground operation in Gaza Strip is going to take place. They don't really have much time to decide. Now, Hezbollah's firepower is massive. They have 150,000 advanced missiles pointed at Israeli cities as we speak. And Iran wouldn't have spent the money or the time arming them if they did not intend to use them. When that front does go hot, and it certainly seems inevitable, if not immediate, that it will go hot, how will Israel deal a knockout blow against Hezbollah to ensure they no longer pose a threat to Israel's cities? Well, there are a couple components of this question, Ariel. One is, as you said accurately, Hezbollah presents an enormous threat to the state of Israel. If Hezbollah is going to be massively involved in the war, it's going to cause Israel an enormous damage and destruction. That is correct. On the other hand, we have to remember something about the Hezbollah in Iran. From the Iranian perspective, the most significant strategic objective or task of the Hezbollah is to ensure and maintain the Iranian control in Lebanon, because that presents the Iranians with a presence offshore the Mediterranean. The secondary task that could always wait as far as the Iranian regime is concerned, the secondary task is the whole issue of the elimination of the state of Israel. In the Iranian master plan, they would not, until now, risk Hezbollah in a war with Israel. Their master plan was, and still is, to the best of my understanding, to basically be able to operate all the arenas of this ring of fire, namely Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Syria, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza Strip. According to the Iranian master plan, the most preferable scenario was that one day, when the time comes, all those components together will be simultaneously activated against the state of Israel. The activation of the Gaza Strip on Saturday by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and particularly the disastrous outcome of that, to a large extent, disrupt the Iranian master plan. I was sitting here a week ago, when the whole war started, and I said right there, I said, this is a great strategic opportunity for the state of Israel and its allies in the region to generate a positive change. We can see that happening. Well, Avi, we are going to come back to you in a little bit, so definitely stay with us. But before we do, we are going to go to the southern border where our Middle East correspondent, Ariel Osaran, is standing by in the border town of Stero. We now have some confirmation from the Israeli military that they have taken out the Hamas commander that was responsible for the attacks in several Kibbutzim along the borders and the massacres there. Give us some updates, Ariel. Right, Ariel, so as the IDF continues its continuous airstrikes across the Gaza Strip aimed at taking out key Hamas officials and also commanders. This is the latest in assassinations of key commanders that took part of the bloody rampage last Saturday. Yesterday, it was the commander of the entire raid. Today, it was the commander of the raid on two border communities, Nireem and Niraam. And this continues as all the while Israel continues with its shelling and airstrikes across the Gaza Strip. Now, while Israel is continuously striking, IDF spokesperson in Arabic just released a plea for an announcement that allows a safe passage through a corridor down south in the Gaza Strip between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., so starting in just under an hour and will continue for five hours. This is the second day in a row that the IDF is allowing this safe passage, this corridor for residents in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to head south. Many listened to this call yesterday. However, the IDF also shared images of Hamas obstructing these attempts to go down south, putting up roadblocks, causing lots of traffic and making it more difficult for its people to head down south to that calls by Hamas leadership not to listen to Israel's warnings, given that Hamas is interested in keeping as many human shields as they can as they are positioned themselves in tunnels underground while the population above ground really doesn't have anywhere to go. And so in advance ahead of this corridor Israel, in the meantime, not only taking out key commanders, but also targeting Hamas police station in the Gaza Strip and so attacks are continuing and will continue, I would imagine, even during this corridor, but not in the area where the residents of Gaza are planning to head down south, and that's in accordance with the latest IDF statement. And Ariel, I know that you've been there for a while now and you've described the place as only 30% of its former population due to its evacuation, a bit of a ghost town, but in the light of that, with this invasion with the aftermath of the horror that residents have seen over the past week, what is the atmosphere like down there? Well, it's hard to tell what the atmosphere is for average citizens because you don't see them. Really, there are no pedestrians walking out in the street. Everyone that is here is staying close to their protective shelters because in a town like Sderot, which is so close to the Gaza Strip, you only have 15 seconds to make it to your shelter. And so given that this area, and as well as the rest of the border communities have been consistently targeted over the past few days, the residents of Sderot that have stayed, we're talking about roughly 30% in a town of between 28 and 30,000 residents. They're hunkering down at home. You don't see a lot of civilian vehicles driving around. And the few that do try to make it out as fast as possible because this is, Sderot specifically is not a closed military zone, but just a few, less than a mile that way, the whole strip surrounding the Gaza Strip is a closed military zone. And that is because this is where the military is preparing its forces for this imminent ground invasion that is expected to take place at least according to Israeli high-ranking officials in the very near future. Thank you, Ari, for that report from the ground and stay safe out there. Come back to the studio for one more element here. That of course with you, Owen Altman, our senior correspondent. We know the United States sending two carrier strike groups and a firepower to level a nation and a very obvious threat to Israel's regional enemies. What is the political considerations that the United States is going to be looking at of whether or not to activate these strike groups? I think political considerations zero. The considerations are absolutely geopolitical entirely. I really truly imagine that the Biden administration simply isn't thinking about politics, that this is above politics. They see this as part of the US commitment to its allies, a statement about US commitment to its allies. At a time when China and Russia are rising powers, Arielle. And if the US-Israel bond would be broken, I think American allies around the world wouldn't be able to trust the United States. I mean, obviously Joe Biden feels this personally, as does Anthony Blinken. That was very, very clear to all of us last week. But as a hard matter of real politic, this has to matter to the United States. And by the way, I think it has to matter to American policymakers and strategists, irregardless of how they feel about the US-Israel relationship itself. Maybe they feel it was a mistake. Maybe they feel the United States has over-invested in Israel. Be that all as it may, the US-Israel alliance is a fact on the ground going back decades. And if that were to be broken in any way in a moment like this, what would that mean for Ukraine? What would that mean for US allies in East Asia around the world? It could erode the American position everywhere. I think that's one of the reasons why there was such a sense of urgency here. And the need to ensure that no matter what happens, no matter what happens, that Israel wins the war, whatever the cost, whatever the scenario, to absolutely ensure that Israel wins the war. And I think that Nabi Malamud was getting to that point. With the idea that these carries were there to ensure that that would happen. So I think those are the considerations, I think they're fairly decisive. I would imagine that as time goes by, and certainly as the situation in Gaza becomes more complex. I'm sure there'll be political pressure within the United States. But there still is wide support for Israel. The massacre and the scenes that we saw last week will never disappear from the public imagination. But at any rate, this is far beyond politics. This is about something much, much more essential. I'm gonna continue that with you, Avi. Because the United States has put the gun on the table. It's a clear threat to Iran. It's a clear threat to Hezbollah. Is it enough of a threat? Well, as I said before, for the first time I would say, for the last decade, the United States of America basically stands in front of Iran and it said, enough is enough. Up until now, there has been an ongoing, convoluting, appeasing approach to the Iranian regime. The danger was out there. It was in front of our face. We have totally and constantly alarmed about the Iranian master plan and the danger the Iranian regime presents to the region. What we see right now is the manifestation of this danger in a very severe scenario. As I said before, the United States of America right now building its military power in the region, okay? And that, as I said before, the Iranian regime now have to make a decision. If it's going to intervene, he's going to lose strategic cards because he's going to be severely beaten in Syria. He's probably going to be severely beaten in Lebanon if he's going to do a move sending Hamas and Hezbollah into the war. You don't appease evil. You eliminate evil. And I would like to add one more thing about the context of the United States of America. United States of America has lost its image as a superpower in the region basically because it was unable to project power. The most clear signal for a power is the ability or the fact that you don't use the power. You only project power and that should be enough. President Biden say one word. Can I point out right now, because on the topic of projecting power, we're seeing on screen a live image of some airstrikes going down in the Gaza Strip as Israel prepares the way for ground forces in the imminent invasion they have promised. But before that, we are going to go back to analyzing the situation with the United States and its support of it. So I was saying before, Arielle, that in Biden's amazing speech, the very inspiring and powerful speech that he gave, there were many, many great things that he said. There was one word that captured my attention. The word was don't. It was meant to capture your attention. He said, I have one word. I have one word. With a colon. Don't. There was no belly dancing of rhetoric. There was no convoluting statements. There was no calling for whatever. One word. Don't. This is projection of power. And when it is backed with actions on the ground and with the clear understanding on the other side, that the United States of America will not hesitate to use that power to secure its strategic interests. This is projection of power. This is a pivotal moment. In the story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is a pivotal moment in the story of the Middle East. It is a pivotal moment in the story of the relationship of the United States of America in the region and beyond the region, as you very accurately mentioned. This is the time where the United States of America can and should rehabilitate its declining image. Can and should rehabilitate its power in the region. The United States of America can use this moment as a moment to basically come back big time in the Middle East. You say it can, you say it should. The question is, is Biden bluffing? I don't think that he's bluffing. He can't be bluffing. He made the speech to the entire world. He said, there's one word, don't. I don't think he's bluffing. Look, he's sending military power. Right now, as I said before, I have to reiterate it. There is enough aerial power in the neighborhood to eliminate Iran's assets in Syria and basically take out the whole Iranian master plan and basically totally neutralize it. What about the Iranian military itself? The Iranian military, this is something very important to understand about Iran. Iran has a very vicious and sophisticated mindset and code of action. The Iranians are not sacrificing Iranians. The Iranian regime are sacrificing Yemenites, Lebanese, Syrians, Israelis, Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis, Shiites, and so on and so on. The presence of Iran in Syria is mostly based upon those militias that are begged by the Iranians. There is presence of Iranian revolutionary guards, but in the end of the day, one of the most staggering thing when you look at the Iranian master plan and the way they have been entrenching themselves across the Middle East was that they were able to deploy these armies of terror, basically sacrificing everybody in the region other than the Iranians. So one of the most significant component in the Iranian master plan of taking over the Middle East is a concept that is called the land corridor. We are looking at the Iranian attempt to create land corridor stretching from Iran, crossing through Iraq, because Iraq to a large extent is under a major Iranian influence, entering Syria and ending up in Lebanon. The critical component of that land corridor is located in Syria. In the eastern part of Syria, very close to the Syrian-Iraqi border, there is a military compound that the Iranian build. This is a transition point for the Iranian militias moving into Syria. That compound can be taken out by aerial strike in a minutes. And all this land corridor could be wiped in a minutes because as I said before, there is a massive aerial force right now gathering in the Middle East that Israel and the United States should deploy, should activate if the Iranians are going to send the Hezbollah into the war. Now the Iranian have to face the dilemma and they should understand if they are stepping in, their whole master plan is going to be collapsed. So what would be the trigger for the United States or Israel to act directly against Iran? Massive involvement of the Hezbollah in the war. But Ariel's question is very specific, to act against, I understood your question correctly, to act against Iran itself, because if Iran's entire strategy, I think I'm taking your question separately, if Iran's entire strategy is based on the fact that it won't sacrifice Iranians, maybe the strategy has to be to force them to sacrifice Iranians, at least their military targets and assets. Well, that one option, I don't think that's the right option to move in. The Iranians don't really care if they're going to sacrifice and then it will play to the end of the day. There are enough assets of the Iranians outside of Iran and outside of the direct control of the Iranians. There are enough assets of the Iranians that are very significant for the Iranians and those assets could be taken out. The United States of America will not attack Iranian-backed assets in Iraq, for example. That would be not wise thing to do. But Syria, that could be right thing to do. There is one more component about Syria that we have to take into consideration. There was a piece of news. The United States deployed another jets in Jordan. Why is it so significant? Because Jordan is also facing the threat of the Iranian militias in the south part of Syria. This could be a golden opportunity for the United States of America, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, the states that are threatened by the Iranians. This could be a golden opportunity to take down, to dismantle the Iranian strategic structure that was built in Syria. In Syria. And when you do that, you are basically crippling totally the Iranian master plan. What should be the condition for that? The message is there. If Hezbollah is going to join the war, Syria is on the table. The Iranian assets are on the tables. And by the way, notice that. There has been some sporadic, I would even say symbolic attacks from Syria to Israel. Didn't cause anything serious, nothing so dramatic. Did you notice what was the Israeli response? Attacking the airports of Damascus and Aleppo. The message is very simple. You will open another front. You are going to lose your major assets in Syria. Take it into consideration. And that has to be backed by actions on the ground if circumstances call for that. We have less than a minute left. So I guess if we can answer this very briefly. There's a threat on the table. You said Iran's built this ring of fire. They had in the first 48 hours before direct U.S. involvement the opportunity to activate Hezbollah. Why didn't they? They lost the edge of supplies. Basically the situation in Lebanon is very, very sensitive. Lebanon is a collapsing state. One of the possible outcome of a massive war between Israel and Hezbollah would be the total disintegration of Lebanon which will involve maybe a civil war at this scenario. Hezbollah will have to divert attention to what's going on in Lebanon. And there is another significant issue. One of course is the American immediate. A ultimatum or sort of like strong American signal from the early days of the war to the Iranians and the Hezbollah that deterred them. And then there is another thing, the pictures that are coming out from Gaza sleep. Hezbollah looks at the picture, it adds to their dilemma. Thank you very much for helping us understand the why's and the how's. For everyone else, we're out of time. Stay safe out there and stay strong. Israel is officially in a state of war. This is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking. More than 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Help us, we don't know what to do. We just don't know anything. Entire families, including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. Good morning from Tel Aviv and welcome to I-24 News' ongoing coverage of Israel at War. I'm Ariel Levin-Waldman. We are now entering the ninth day of fighting since Hamas launched a full-scale invasion and massacre of Israeli civilians in the South. Now in the North, the military reports preliminary intelligence of a direct hit on the village of Shdulla, with Saudi media reporting that a barrage of mortars and anti-tank rockets were fired into Israel. Local media is reporting at least one severe injury. The IDF has also just announced that humanitarian corridor is open from 10 o'clock that's right now until one o'clock in the afternoon for civilians to flee to South Gaza. Now the military will not strike along this route for the next three hours. The Israeli Defense Forces said they are completing their preparations for significant ground operations in the Gaza Strip as they continue to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the enclave. Military leadership has vowed to destroy Hamas with a joint and coordinated attack from the air, sea, and land. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nyanyou spoke to Biden on Saturday for the fifth time since the war began. Biden also spoke for the first time at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as Israel warns Gaza civilians to evacuate before beginning that ground campaign against Hamas. The US has confirmed that it is sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel. There it will join the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group currently on route to Israel. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says this additional carrier is being sent to deter any hostile actions against Israel or any efforts to widen this war following Hamas' attack. That show of forces coming because Iran has threatened to directly join the war. An Axios report Saturday claimed that Iran's foreign minister threatened Israel through the UN saying Iran will intervene directly if Israel does not call off its looming ground incursion into Gaza. That foreign minister met in Doha with Hamas' Politburo chief Ismail Hanea according to Iran's state media. No details about that meeting have been released yet. But before we discuss anything else, we are going to be joined on the phone by our reporter, P.S. Stechelbach, who is on Israel's northern border. What do we know about this recent strike in Shatula? Right, Ariel. Just a few minutes ago, really shot for fire at the village of Shatula, which is located in the upper Galilee, really, really close to the Lebanese border, and we are hearing that one resident is in serious condition. There are different reports about the number of injured, at least three. Is that what we're seeing are injured? Now, we're hearing from a report that mortar shells and anti-armor missiles were fired from Lebanon towards Shula. And according to an IDF statement, the IDF is trying to strike back towards the origin of the fire in Lebanon. And that really, again, shows you how volatile and sensitive the situation there in the north is right now. There are no clear instructions from the Hong Kong command to leave areas within specific proximity to the border with Lebanon. However, we do know that smaller towns that are only a few kilometers away from the border that residents in that were recommended to evacuate. For example, yesterday, when Shnomi in another village very, very close to the border, there was almost a void of residents were actually surprised that we were able to enter as the army had to stop that village for several days throughout this week. Now, we're in Arria, which is about 10 miles away from the border with Lebanon. Here, we were just told by the municipality that they have prepared for any possible situation, that they are preparing the public shelters that has about 40% of the residents here in Arria do not have a private shelter in their homes. They're saying that they're filling the shelters with food and water to prepare for any kind of scenarios. Arria, we were talking about different scenarios of threat here in the north, not only rockets, that we've been seeing, for example, mostly yesterday night, rockets being fired from here right here into the north. This morning, there was an alert also in the Genelie area, the idea of saying that they have intercepted a suspicious target coming from the air. But residents here are also concerned for possible infiltration attempt from the ground. This is also what we've been seeing here. The Israeli army apprehending an attempt yesterday morning and also in the evening, coming from southern Lebanon, apparently, also spread by his valla. So the north is quite tense now for this recent incident in Shula. Again, thoughts were fired against towards this community. They are very, very close to the Lebanese border in the Genelie region, the upper Genelie, one in Syria's condition, and the few people also reportedly injured there in Shula, Israel. And we've been seeing for almost a week now these provocations from Hezbollah. Can you give us a quick overview of what we've seen so far? Well, premises definitely have increased and are still increasing between Israel and Hezbollah. As I said, this morning, there was an alert in the Genelie as well. Yesterday, there was a major incident where Hezbollah fired 30 mortar shells toward an Israeli army post in the area of Ardol, that it is a disputed area in the eastern area of the Israeli Lebanese border. Family close to Syria that met Israel to strike back at Shula. Later said that one of its members had been killed. Israel saying that they apprehended an infiltration attempt by a squad trying to fire an entire tank. Miss Al-Den earlier yesterday morning, another attempt by three Palestinians apparently operating under Nizmallah's command to infiltrate in the northern area of the Israeli Lebanese border close to the town of Mahmoud Ali of there, also apprehended. And really, sandwiches have increased now also against the fact of that, we see that more and more, we're asking more and more the question, what terms Iran is involved also in the ambush of last week. Now, also leading happening between the Iranian foreign minister and Hezbollah only two days ago. The area here is quite sensitive. We've seen that Hezbollah time and time again, especially in recent months, has called upon, has a certain Israel to attack Israel, has expressed solidarity for, they have poor Hamas as well. They have now saying this is also in line with what the Iran foreign minister has been saying, that they're very closely monitoring the events, monitoring Israel's looming ground, offensive in Gaza, and will respond in accordance. And we really see that the skirmishes here are increasing, especially attempts, infiltration attempts, coming from the Lebanon, which are attributed to Hezbollah. So we will be continuing to do later in the day as the situation develops. Thank you for those updates from the front. We're going to move slightly away from direct combat operations because we have to discuss the fate of between 150 to 200 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and to Gaza. The relatives of those hostages spoke out at the United Nations over the weekend to plead for the return of their loved ones that were kidnapped during that savage assault on Israeli civilian population centers. They were joined by US ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfeld, who told relatives, the United States is working to secure the release of these children who will never be the same again. Let's take a quick listen to some of these pleas at the UN. On Saturday, October 7th, Sharon and her husband David and their three-year-old twins, Emma and Julie, along with Danielle and her five-year-old daughter, Emilia, were brutally kidnapped from Kibbutz near Oz. The Kibbutz was ravaged by terrorists as they hid in their bomb shelter for hours until it filled with smoke and they could not hide any longer, at which point Sharon sent a voice note to my aunt. We're not going to make it, we love you. A video began floating around on social media of hostages in a truck, Yoni's family, and we spotted them. I can see David crouched down holding one of their baby girls, and I see Sharon and her hair from the back as she holds on to what looks like Emilia so tightly. This horrific scene will not stop replaying in my mind. Hersh is in dire need of medical care. Hersh sent two texts to his mom on that Saturday morning. The first three words, I love you. The second two words, I'm sorry. That is the last that any of us have heard from Hersh, Goldberg, Poland. We urge all civilized people to work to free Hersh and all the other hostages as soon as possible. And similar calls in Israel as the mother of hostages, mothers of hostages claim that the horror of this event eclipses much of the disunity in Israel and said this is a time for all of Israel to unite, to get their children back. Brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters. Our children are at home. I can't hear, I can't hear anything like this. We are here together. We are under, under the two of us who are already living. We are under, my father is not going to die. He is going to die three times in one fight and two. Die, die, just kill it. And now joining us on the line, someone who is part of the wider efforts to return these hostages. Professor Hagai Levine, head of the medical team at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Dr. I understand you have been working with the International Red Cross to ascertain the conditions of the kidnapped. What do we know right now? We know that at least 150 Israelis and people of other nationalities are kept as hostage civilians, innocent people that are kept hostage by the Hamas. We know that many of them have critical need for medical care, for medications. Some of them were wounded, where their arm amputated or lost a lot of blood and they need urgent medical care, not only to prevent complications and deaths, but also to prevent the torture and the suffering from their illnesses. You can see here is Ariel, a false old, and his brother, who is nine months old, who need to do a baby formula are kept. We have elderly people with Parkinson's, with dementia, who are just imagining the suffering from being hostage and not getting medical treatment. We demand from the Red Cross and from all leaders of the countries in the world to now to allow humanitarian corridor to bring medical care and medical attention to those suffering people. I must tell you, it's also against the Islam. In the Islam to torture hostages is haram. It's something that is not done and denying them for medical treatment now is haram. Doctor, we have seen nothing but videos of Hamas brutality in humanity and savagery over the past week now. Is there any indication that they have anything there to show even basic humanity in this case and let any medical intervention in? The Hamas, I hope that they will at least do the very least of being human, which of course, as you said, they didn't show. But the Hamas have collaborators and allies and people and countries and organizations that are in contact with, for example, the leaders of the Hamas are now in Qatar. So I'm sure that the leaders of Qatar can put pressure on the Hamas for the very least. Of course, we pray and hope and work for the immediate release of all these innocent civilians, but at least to get the medical care. So the leaders of Qatar and Turkey and Egypt and Saudi Arabia, I speak with healthcare professionals from these countries and all healthcare professionals around the world are united in this basic thing. If people need immediate medical care, give them the care they need, you know, the clock is ticking. Every moment, every hour, it's unimaginable, suffering and risk. It's ticking ball with someone with diabetes who does not get his insulin right now. Just imagine how horrific it is. And I can give you, we provided the red course with a list that we got from the families with specific needs. It's unbelievable. I'm going to interrupt here just to bring up another urgent breaking news updates. There are rocket alert sirens sounding in southern Israel as we speak right now. The South is once again under bombardment from rocket attack. We're going to have more on that as more information comes out. But this is breaking right as we speak. We're going to return now to Dr. Hagai as we figure out what's going on. When we met on Friday, I escorted the families for the meeting with the Red Cross. During the meeting, there was an alarm for missile attack on Tel Aviv. But I'm saying regardless of anything else, this is a humanitarian issue. We need now humanitarian corridor to allow them to get medical treatment now for the wounded and for the people within us. And as you said, this is unbelievable from nine months years old to 87 years old. It's just something we cannot accept in the world. It's a crime against humanity what they did and what they're doing now to deny medical treatment. Has your organization actually managed to make any inroads with these third party governments that might be able to pressure Hamas more effectively? We have, you know, and I'm here at the headquarters and also, you know, the Israeli government is doing what they are doing. And we got a lot of support from countries and organizations, for example, from medical and health organizations around the world. So there is a lot of activity internationally, diplomacy, the media and people that show their support. And I'm saying for the very least because people say, yes, I want to support. Put a pressure on the country leaders to demand from the Hamas and from the Red Cross, this humanitarian corridor. That is what the very least that is needed right now. And you know, it's warming the hearts that you get so much support around the world, but it's not enough. We should act. Thank you very much, Professor Levin. And best of luck with your efforts. Let's hope they bear some fruit. We're going to return now to our studio where we have a discussion panel or in front of us. This is Rafael Urshami, former senior intelligence officer at the IDF and Daniel Shek, former Israeli ambassador. Thank you for being with us as we discuss all possible aspects of the war that's been launched on us. And now that Israel is forced to respond to Daniel. We're hearing about these international efforts to free the hostage. And we're also seeing the United States has brought two carrier strike groups to intervene if this conflict goes wider. Ultimately, what do we know about how much, what situation is the United States really in here? Are they committed to this course of action or is this a threat and a bluff? No, no, I don't think there is anything of a bluff here. I don't know the contours or the outline of what they plan. But I think that in the world of diplomacy and geopolitics, moving such a significant military force into a certain area is most of all a statement, a statement of concern and of commitment. And it is certainly to a large degree in order to show solidarity and concern about the fate of Israel and Israelis, but it's not the only motivation. The United States certainly does not want this area to erupt into some kind of regional crisis that will necessitate international attention and take it away from the war in Ukraine, for example, give ideas to certain countries in East Asia. They are certainly not content with the situation that exists today, but if they can contain it to a war in the South between Israel and Hamas, I think that is the main objective currently. Now, the issue of the abducted people, that is on a different level. That's a humanitarian thing. And Professor Levine described a little bit the action that we're seeing here. The United States certainly will try and play a role. And again, not only because of its personal involvement with the number of American citizens being held in Gaza, but also because in general, the United States is an advocate of human rights and humanitarian issues. And the order of magnitude of this situation this time that we are confronting, not one or two or three abducted people, but over 100, and as Professor Levine said, from nine months to 87 years old, that is completely uncharted territory. And I really hope that both the international community, and yes, even Hamas and the people who have leverage on them will understand that this is a completely unacceptable situation. And staying with the international arena, we've seen calls all over Europe, all over the rest of the Middle East, demanding ceasefire, demanding de-escalation. Obviously, this is not something Israel can do at this time. What sort of pressure are they gonna put on us? Certainly not, but everyone in this scenario plays a role. And the international community's role is not to encourage a war to go on. Even if the French and the Germans and even the UN, they're not more naive than anyone else, and they probably understand that this is not something realistic that Israel or Hamas, for that matter, will respond to. But that is their role. Their role is to try and bring about a ceasefire, to stop fighting, to stop killing, et cetera. And they will continue to demand it. The question is, at what point, it will not just be calls for it, but escalating pressure on the sides to ceasefire. I don't think that is around the corner. Okay, we're gonna move now to you, Rafael, because I wanna look at the tactical situation on the ground ahead of this ground operation in Gaza. Ultimately, what does the Air Force need to finish accomplishing before the ground troops move in? Well, right now it is busy destroying infrastructure to disrupt the chain of command between the commanders and the warriors of the Hamas and the Islamic jihad, which forces, as we've seen, some of them to come out of their hiding places because we're also disrupting the chains of communication, command and communication, in which forces commanders to come out, to speak to their troops, to direct operations. They can't stay indefinitely hiding in the bunker, and that's when we can hit them. The Air Force also has a long, long list of targets. It's far from having hit them all. It could go on for a while, but at some point we have also to concern ourselves with entering Gaza, Gaza City. So right now they are also trying to destroy, as much as they can, also with drones, all the obstacles and traps that Hamas has been preparing for months in view of this terrestrial entry. So the Air Force is trying to destroy. For instance, there are anti-tank obstacles that have been put in certain areas that the Air Force is trying. Anything that could look like a surveillance system or a spying system on the roof, or it should be destroyed, explode mines, whatever we can do to avoid, as much as possible, all the dangers and threats that are prepared for our soldiers on the ground. And before we do anything else, we are going to move to our Middle East correspondent, Ariel O'Sarron, who is on the border of Gaza. He's in Stero. That's one of the cities on the border where you've been monitoring the situation. Give us the latest what's going on there and these preparations for ground operations. Right, Ariel, so after over 12 hours of no rockets or sirens here in the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip, siren blaring in the border community of Nakhaloz, so far we have no indication of any injuries. And generally, we shouldn't expect at least any civilian casualties given that all these border communities have been evacuated as far as the town of Sderot. It's not been completely evacuated. Still about 30% of locals remain here. Now, as for the Gaza Strip, I made calls by the Israeli military for residents of the northern part of the Gaza Strip to head their way south. The corridor that Israel had opened is currently in effect. It started about 20 minutes ago and will be open for the next five hours until 1 p.m. local time. During that time, Gazans living in the northern part of the Gaza Strip are gonna be allowed to make it down south safely as Israel has opened. This is the second day that Israel's opening this humanitarian corridor to allow a safe passage of Gazans from the northern part of the Gaza Strip, as it has indicated that that is where it's gonna be concentrating most of the fighting once it enters with its ground incursion, something that is expected to happen very soon. Thank you, Ariel. Stay safe out there. We're gonna come back to you over the course of the day for updates on this. Now, for other updates, we did just hear from the north border residents have been advised by the military to evacuate within four kilometers. It's about two and a half miles from the border and Hezbollah just took credit for the shelling of Israeli positions along the northern border. I'm gonna turn it back to Raphael in our studio to understand, well, Hezbollah hasn't formally commit the bulk of their forces to this. They're launching these sort of probing attacks at Israel to test the waters, test the response. What's their go at the probing attacks or when do they actually commit? Well, they're actually on the wait for two things. Orders from Tehran, which Nassan Hezbollah might obey or might not obey because he has a certain context inside Lebanon and also a certain calculation as to what he's risking by entering this conflict that even though he would get the order from Tehran, might not necessarily obey it because this is a huge, huge stake. And given the determination these Israelis right now, it doesn't seem very advisable to start with annoying us. Still, he has a dilemma. On the one hand, he has lost the effect of surprise and the IDF is already must its troops and equipment on the border, the present is there, we're waiting for him, we're ready for him. I must say that I'm a bit disappointed by the fact that the response of the IDF is this dosage is not good, it's not the right signal. And yet again, we're missing the deterrence point. Yet again, like we did in the South, we should strike disproportionately. Now we've had a machine gun fire or mortar fire towards us, we are now shooting back with mortar fire. No, we have to strike much harder to deter and to show that we're not afraid. We're not afraid to start with the Hezbollah, we're not afraid to lead a war of two fronts. So then Hassan Asrallah knows that. But on the other hand, he has an opportunity, he might not have again for a long, long, long time, is that half at least of the IDF is busy in the South. And having all that, all these battalions and all these divisions busy in the South and some of them busy with the West Bank, that's one time opportunity to attack the North. But for that, you would need, and that's what the Iranians are doing, you would need some more support, which is now getting indirectly by Iran who's threatening us with apocalypse as usual. But concretely, with Shi'i militias, pro-Iranian, of course, coming from Iraq into Syria, and the Iranians kind of opening or enlarging the northern front from south Lebanon, 2000 Syria, giving more scope leeway for an attack. So all now, if I would speak into intelligence terms, we need a profiler that could go into our psychiatrist, that could go into Razan Nasrallah's brain and see what he's thinking and what he's calculating. And he's a very, very calculating person, a very complex mind who will weigh the pawns and counts before he makes any move. Well, thank you very much for the analysis, and I guess that's the question hanging over everybody's head here in Israel. What happens next? We're hearing reports from that shelling on the North. There is one dead inside Israel from the attack. Hezbollah has taken credit for. We're going to give you updates on that over the course of the day. We're out of time for now. For everyone here in Israel, stay strong, stay safe. We'll be back soon. Israel is officially in a state of war. This is a very active scene, and we need to get in the car as we're talking. More than 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Help us. We don't know what to do. We just don't know anything. Entire families, including babies and children, and elderly were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant, and we are ready, and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. This particular project with a gross capacity of 103.5 megawatt will be producing around 230 gigawatt hour of clean renewable energy per year. This is where they come to claim for the rain. In fact, at this moment, global warming is affecting Bolivia, not only Bolivia, but all over the world. And we need rain for the embryos. The Vakita Reserve, we have the right ingredients, and we have to do the job. And then if we have the right ingredients and we do the job, the Vakita can be protected. Welcome to I-24 News' ongoing coverage of Israel at war. I'm Arielle Levin-Waldman. We are now entering the ninth day of fighting since Hamas launched a full-scale invasion and massacre of Israeli civilians in the South. Now in the North, the military reports preliminary intelligence of a direct hit on the village of Stulla, with Saudi media reporting that a barrage of mortars and anti-tank rockets were fired into Israel. Local media is reporting at least one severe injury. The IDF has also just announced the humanitarian corridor is open from 10 o'clock, that's right now, until one o'clock in the afternoon for civilians to flee to South Gaza. Now the military will not strike along this route for the next three hours. The Israeli Defense Forces said they are completing their preparations for significant ground operations in the Gaza Strip as they continue to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the enclave. Military leadership has vowed to destroy Hamas with a joint and coordinated attack from the air, sea, and land. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Yanio spoke to Biden on Saturday for the fifth time since the war began. Biden also spoke for the first time with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as Israel warns Gaza civilians to evacuate before beginning that ground campaign against Hamas. The US has confirmed that it is sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel. There it will join the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group currently on route to Israel. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says this additional carrier is being sent to deter any hostile actions against Israel or any efforts to widen this war following Hamas' attack. That show of forces coming because Iran has threatened to directly join the war. An Axios report Saturday claimed that Iran's foreign minister threatened Israel through the UN saying Iran will intervene directly if Israel does not call off its looming ground incursion into Gaza. That foreign minister met in Doha with Hamas' Politburo chief Ismail Hanea according to Iran's state media. No details about that meeting have been released yet. But before we discuss anything else we are going to be joined on the phone by our reporter P.S. Stechelbach who is on Israel's northern border. What do we know about this recent strike in Shatullah? Right Ariel, just a few minutes ago really shot for fire at the village of Shatullah which is located in the upper Galilee really really close to the Lebanese border and we are hearing that one resident is in serious condition. There are different reports about the number of injured at least three is that what we are seeing are injured. Now we are hearing from a report that mortar shells and anti-armor missiles were fired from Lebanon towards Shatullah. And according to an IDF statement the IDF is currently striking back towards the origin of the fire in Lebanon. And that really again shows you how volatile and sensitive the situation during the north is right now. There are no clear instructions from the home front command to leave areas within specific proximity to the border with Lebanon. However, we do know that smaller towns that are only few kilometers away from the border that residents that were recommended to evacuate. For example, yesterday when Shnomi in another village very very close to the border that was almost void of residents were actually surprised that we were able to enter as the army had closed off that village for several days throughout this week. Now we are in Aliyah which is about 10 miles away from the border with Lebanon. Here we were just told by the municipality that they have prepared for any possible situation that they're preparing the public shelters as about 40% of the residents here in Aliyah do not have a private shelter in their homes. They're saying that they're filling the shelters with food and water to prepare for any kind of scenarios. Are we're talking about different scenarios of threat here in the north, not only rockets that we've been seeing, for example, hopefully yesterday night two rockets being fired from here right here into the north this morning. There was an alert also in the Galilee area, the idea of saying that they have intercepted a suspicious target coming from the air. But residents here are also concerned for possible infiltration attempt from the ground. This is also what we've been seeing here. The Israeli army apprehending an attempt yesterday morning and also in the evening coming from Southern Lebanon apparently operated by Hizballah. So the north is quite tense now for this recent incident in Shula. Again, shots were fired against towards this community. They're very, very close to the Lebanese border in the Genedi region, the Upper Genedi. One in serious condition and a few people also reportedly injured there in Shula, Israel. And we've been seeing for almost a week now these provocations from Hizballah. Can you give us a quick overview of what we've seen so far? Well, services definitely have increased and are still increasing between Israel and Hizballah. As I said this morning, there was an alert in the Genedi as well. Yesterday there was a major incident where Hizballah fired 13 motor shells toward an Israeli army post in the area of Ardol. But it is in the disputed area in the eastern area of the Israeli Lebanese border. Fandicoats, Syria, that met Israel to strike back. Hizballah later said that one of its members had been killed. Israel's saying that they apprehended an infiltration attempt by a squad trying to fire an anti-tank missile then earlier yesterday morning. Another attempt by three Palestinians apparently operating under Hizballah's command to infiltrate in the northern area of the Israeli Lebanese border close to the town of Mahdali of there. Also apprehended. Every new sandwiches have increased. Now also against the fact of that, we see that more and more we're asking more and more the question, what turns Iran is involved also in the ambush of last week. Now, also leading happening between the Iranian foreign minister and the Hefa Nasrallah only two days ago. The area here is quite sensitive. We've seen that Hizballah time and time again, especially in recent months, has called upon, has a certain Israel to attack Israel, has expressed solidarity for, I'll say some, you have Tor Hamas as well. There is now saying this is also in line with what the Iran foreign minister has been saying, that they're very closely monitoring the events, monitoring Israel's looming ground offensive in Gaza and will respond in accordance. And we really see that the skirmishes here are increasing, especially attempts, infiltration attempts coming from the Alemanon, which are attributed to Iran. So we will be continuing to do later in the day as the situation develops. Thank you for those updates from the front. We're going to move slightly away from direct combat operations because we have to discuss the fate of between 150 to 200 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and to Gaza. The relatives of those hostages spoke out at the United Nations over the weekend to plead for the return of their loved ones that were kidnapped during that savage assault on Israeli civilian population centers. They were joined by US Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfeld who told relatives the United States is working to secure the release of these children who will never be the same again. Let's take a quick listen to some of these pleas at the UN. On Saturday, October 7th, Sharon and her husband David and their three-year-old twins, Emma and Julie, along with Danielle and her five-year-old daughter Amelia were brutally kidnapped from Kibbutz near Oz. The Kibbutz was ravaged by terrorists as they hid in their bomb shelter for hours until it filled with smoke and they could not hide any longer, at which point Sharon sent a voice note to my aunt. We're not going to make it, we love you. A video began floating around on social media of hostages in a truck, Yoni's family, and we spotted them. I can see David crouched down holding one of their baby girls, and I see Sharon and her hair from the back as she holds onto what looks like Amelia so tightly. This horrific scene will not stop replaying in my mind. Hersh is in dire need of medical care. Hersh sent two texts to his mom on that Saturday morning. The first three words, I love you. The second two words, I'm sorry. That is the last that any of us have heard from Hersh Goldberg, Poland. We urge all civilized people to work to free Hersh and all the other hostages as soon as possible. And similar calls in Israel as the mothers of hostages claim that the horror of this event eclipses much of the disunity in Israel and said, this is a time for all of Israel to unite to get their children back. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. My brothers and sisters, our kids, I can't hear the sound of the door opening. I can't hear anything like that. Don't come here, eat. Don't come here, don't come here. Don't come here, don't come here. Don't come here, don't come here. Don't come here, don't come here. My father didn't write a letter, he wrote three letters in one letter. Die, die, they smell it. And now joining us on the line, someone who is part of the wider efforts to return at these hostages. Professor Hagai Levine, head of the medical team at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. Dr. I understand you have been working with the International Red Cross to ascertain the conditions of the kidnapped. What do we know right now? We know that at least 150 Israelis and people of other nationalities are kept as hostage civilians, innocent people that are kept hostage by the Hamas. We know that many of them have critical need for medical care, for medications. Some of them were wounded, their arm amputated or lost a lot of blood and they need urgent medical care not only to prevent complications and deaths, but also to prevent the torture and the suffering from their illnesses. You can see here is Ariel, a false old, and his brother who is nine months old who need to do a baby formula are kept. We have elderly people with Parkinson's, with dementia, who are just imagining the suffering from being hostage and not getting medical treatment. We demand from the Red Cross and from all leaders of the countries in the world to now to allow humanitarian corridor to bring medical care and medical attention to those suffering people. I must tell you, it's also against the Islam. In the Islam to torture hostages is haram. It's something that is not done and denies them for medical treatment now is the haram. Doctor, we have seen nothing but videos of Hamas brutality in humanity and savagery over the past week now. Is there any indication that they have anything there to show even basic humanity in this case and let any medical interest session in? The Hamas, I hope that they will at least do the very least of being human, which of course, as you said, they didn't show, but the Hamas have collaborators and allies and people and countries and organizations that are in contact with, for example, the leaders of the Hamas are now in Qatar. So I'm sure that the leaders of Qatar can put pressure on the Hamas for the very least. Of course, we pray and hope and work for the immediate release of all these innocent civilians, but at least to get the medical care. So the leaders of Qatar and Turkey and Egypt and Saudi Arabia, I speak with healthcare professionals from these countries and all healthcare professionals around the world are united in this basic thing. If people need immediate medical care, give them the care they need, the clock is ticking. Every moment, every hour, it's unimaginable suffering and risk. It's ticking about someone with diabetes who does not get his insulin right now. Just imagine how horrific it is. And I can give you, we provided the red cross with a list that we got from the families with specific needs. I'm going to interrupt here just to bring up another urgent breaking news updates. There are rocket alert sirens sounding in southern Israel as we speak right now. The south is once again under bombardment from rocket attack. When we have more on that, as more information comes out, but this is breaking right as we speak. We're going to return now to Dr. Hagai as we figure out what's going on. When we met on Friday, I escorted the families for the meeting with the red cross. During the meeting, there was an alarm for missile attack on Tel Aviv. But I'm saying, regardless of anything else, this is a humanitarian issue. We need now humanitarian corridor to allow them to get medical treatment now for the wounded and for the people within us. And as you said, this is unbelievable. From nine months years old to 87 years old, it's just something we cannot accept in the world. It's a crime against humanity what they did and what they are doing now to deny medical treatment. Has your organization actually managed to make any inroads with these third-party governments that might be able to pressure Hamas more effectively? We have, you know, and I'm here at the headquarters and also, you know, the Israeli government is doing what they are doing and we got a lot of support from countries and organizations, for example, from medical and health organizations around the world. So there is a lot of activity internationally, diplomacy, the media and people that show the support. And I'm saying for the very least, because people say, yes, I want to support, put a pressure on the country leaders to demand from the Hamas and from the red cross, this humanitarian corridor. That is what the very least that is needed right now. And, you know, it's warming the hearts that you get so much support around the world, but it's not enough. We should act. Thank you very much, Professor Levin, and best of luck with your efforts. Let's hope they bear some fruit. We're going to return now to our studio where we have a discussion panel or in front of us. This is Rafael Yershalmi, former senior intelligence officer at the IDF and Daniel Shek, former Israeli ambassador. Thank you for being with us as we discuss all possible aspects of the war that's been launched on us. And now that Israel is forced to respond to Daniel, we're hearing about these international efforts to free the hostage. And we're also seeing the United States has brought two carrier strike groups to intervene if this conflict goes wider. Ultimately, what do we know about how much, what situation is the United States really in here? Are they committed to this course of action? Or is this a threat and a bluff? No, no, I don't think there is anything of a bluff here. I don't know the contours or the outline of what they plan, but I think that in, you know, in the world of diplomacy and geopolitics, moving such a significant military force into a certain area is most of all a statement, a statement of concern and of commitment. And it is certainly to a large degree in order to show solidarity and concern about the fate of Israel and Israelis, but it's not the only motivation. The United States certainly does not want this area to erupt into some kind of regional crisis that will that will necessitate international attention and take it away from the war in Ukraine, for example, give ideas to certain countries in East Asia. They are certainly not content with the situation that exists today, but if they can contain it to a war in the south between Israel and Hamas, I think that is the main objective currently. Now, the issue of the abducted people, that is on a different level. That's a humanitarian thing. And Professor Levine described a little bit the action that we're seeing here. The United States certainly will try and play a role. And again, not only because of its personal involvement with the number of American citizens being held in Gaza, but also because in general, the United States is an advocate of human rights and humanitarian issues. And the order of magnitude of this situation this time that we are confronting not one or two or three abducted people, but over a hundred. And as Professor Levine said, from nine months to 87 years old, that is completely uncharted territory. And I really hope that both the international community and yes, even Hamas and the people who have leverage on them will understand that this is a completely unacceptable situation. And staying with the international arena, we've seen calls all over Europe, all over the rest of the Middle East demanding ceasefire, demanding de-escalation. Obviously, this is not something Israel can do at this time. What sort of pressure are they going to put on us? Certainly not. But you know, everyone in this scenario plays a role. And the international community's role is not to encourage a war to go on. Even if the French and the Germans and even the UN, they're not more naive than anyone else. And they probably understand that this is not something realistic that Israel or Hamas, for that matter, will respond to. But that is their role. Their role is to try and bring about a ceasefire, to stop fighting, to stop killing, et cetera. And they will continue to demand it. The question is, at what point it will not just be calls for it, but escalating pressure on the sides to ceasefire. I don't think that is around the corner. We're going to move now to you, Rafael, because I want to look at the tactical situation on the ground ahead of this ground operation in Gaza. Ultimately, what does the Air Force need to finish accomplishing before the ground troops move in? Right now, it is busy destroying infrastructure to disrupt the chain of command between commanders and the warriors of the Hamas and the Islamic jihad, which forces, as we've seen, some of them to come out of their hiding places because we're also disrupting the chains of communication, command and communication, in which forces commanders to come out to speak to their troops, to direct operations. They can't stay indefinitely hiding in the bunker. And that's when we can hit them. The Air Force also has a long, long list of targets. It's far from having hit them all. It could go on for a while. But at some point, we have also to concern ourselves with entering Gaza, Gaza City. So right now, they are also trying to destroy as much as they can, also with drones. All the obstacles and traps that Hamas has been being preparing for months in view of this terrestrial entry. So the Air Force is trying to destroy, for instance, there are anti-tank obstacles that have been put in certain areas that the Air Force is drawing. Anything that could look like a surveillance system or a spying system on the roofs or it should be destroyed, explode mines, whatever we can do to avoid, as much as possible, all the dangers and threats that are prepared for our soldiers on the ground. And before we do anything else, we are going to move to our Middle East correspondent, Ariel Oceran, who is on the border of Gaza. He's in Stero. He's one of the, that's one of the cities on the border where you've been monitoring the situation. Give us the latest what's going on there and these preparations for ground operations. Right, Ariel. So after over 12 hours of no rockets or sirens here in the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip, siren blaring in the border community of Nakhaloz, so far we have no indication of any injuries. And generally, we shouldn't expect at least any civilian casualties given that all these border communities have been evacuated as far as the town of Sderot. It's not been completely evacuated. Still about 30% of locals remain here. Now as for the Gaza Strip, amid calls for these by the Israeli military for residents of the northern part of the Gaza Strip to head their way south, the corridor that Israel had opened is currently in effect. It started about 20 minutes ago and will be open for the next five hours until one p.m. local time. During that time, Gazans living in the northern part of the Gaza Strip are going to be allowed to make it down south safely as Israel as open. This is the second day that Israel is opening this humanitarian corridor to allow the safe passage of Gazans from the northern part of the Gaza Strip as it has indicated that that is where it's going to be concentrating most of the fighting once it enters with its ground incursion, something that is expected to happen very soon. Thank you, Arielle. Stay safe out there. We're going to come back to you over the course of the day for updates on this. Now for other updates, we did just hear from the north border residents have been advised by the military to evacuate within four kilometers. It's about two and a half miles from the border and Hezbollah just took credit for the shelling of Israeli positions along the northern border. I'm going to turn it back to Rafael in our studio to understand, well, Hezbollah hasn't formally commit the bulk of their forces to this. They're launching these sort of probing attacks at Israel to test the waters, test the response. What's their go at the probing attacks or when do they actually commit? Well, they're actually on the wait for two things, orders from Tehran, which Nassan Hezbollah might obey or might not obey because he has a certain context inside Lebanon and also a certain calculation as to what he's risking by entering this conflict that even though he would get the order from Tehran, he might not necessarily obey it because this is a huge, huge stake. And given the determination he's right now, it doesn't seem very advisable to start with annoying us. Still, he has a dilemma. On the one hand, he has lost the effect of surprise and the IDF has already masked its troops and equipment on the border. The President is there. We are waiting for him. We're ready for him. I must say that I'm a bit disappointed by the fact that the response of the IDF is this dosage is not good. It's not the right signal. Yet again, we're missing the deterrence point. Yet again, like we did in the South, we should strike disproportionately. Now we've had a machine gun fire or mortar fire towards us. We are now shooting back with mortar fire. No, we have to strike much harder to deter and to show that we're not afraid. We're not afraid to start with the Hezbollah. We're not afraid to lead a war of two fronts. So then Hassan Asrallah knows that. But on the other hand, he has an opportunity he might not have again for a long, long, long time is that half at least of the IDF is busy in the South. And having all that, all these battalions and all these divisions busy in the South and some of them busy with the West Bank, that's one time opportunity to attack the North. But for that, you would need, and that's what the Iranians are doing, you would need some more support, which is now getting indirectly by Iran is threatening us with apocalypse as usual. But concretely, with Shi'i militias, pro-Iranian, of course, coming from Iraq into Syria and the Iranians kind of opening or enlarging the northern front from south Lebanon, 2000 Syria, giving more scope leeway for an attack. So all now, if I would speak into intelligence terms, we need a profiler that could go into our psychiatrist, that could go into Hassan Asrallah's brain and see what he's thinking and what he's calculating. And he's a very, very calculating person, a very complex mind, who will weigh the pawns and cons before he makes any move. Well, thank you very much for the analysis, and I guess that's the question hanging over everybody's head here in Israel. What happens next? We're hearing reports from that shelling on the north. There is one dead inside Israel from the attack. Hezbollah has taken credit for. We're going to give you updates on that over the course of the day. We're out of time for now. For everyone here in Israel, stay strong, stay safe. We'll be back soon. Over 1,300 casualties and over 3,000 injuries, and the toll keeps climbing. We bring you the testimonies from the front line from those who managed to survive in the most graphic, brutal images so the whole world can see what Hamas did. Follow us as Israel battles a terror threat emanating from the south and the north. Join I-24 News for the real story of what's going on. It's of war. This is a very active scene, and we need to get in the car as we're talking. Within 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Entire families, including babies and children and elderly, were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant, and we are ready, and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. Good morning from Tel Aviv, and welcome to I-24 News' ongoing coverage of Israel at war. I'm Ariel Levin Waldman. We have now entered the ninth day of fighting since Hamas launched a full scale invasion and massacre of Israeli civilians in the south. In the north, a barrage of mortars and anti-tank rockets were just fired into the Israeli village of Shdulla. Again, David Adam, first responders, are reporting. At least one is dead, three are injured. The Hezbollah terror organization has taken responsibility for the attack, and the military has ordered a total evacuation of the border area for about four kilometers or 2.5 miles, telling everybody to get out of the area. In the south, the IDF has announced the humanitarian corridor is open. That started an hour ago at 10, and will continue until 1 o'clock in the afternoon for civilians to flee to South Gaza. The military said they will not strike this route for the next two hours. IDF also said they are completing their preparations for a significant ground operation in Gaza as it continues to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the Gaza Strip. Military leadership vows to destroy Hamas with a joint coordinated attack from the air, sea, and land. The United States has confirmed that it's sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel. We're joined by the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, which is currently on its way. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, saying this additional carrier is being sent to deter any hostile actions against Israel or any efforts to widen the war following the Hamas attack. The show of force coming as Iran threatens to directly join the war with an Axios report satellite claiming their foreign minister threatened Israel through the UN, saying Iran will directly intervene if Israel does not call off its looming ground incursion into Gaza. And before anything else, we are actually going to take an address by the Israeli military live, which will be paraphrased in English by our own alternate. I am not a professional translator. This translation is highly unlikely to be accurate. I take no responsibility for errors. Notice the channel. This is not my profession, but I will do my best after that essential set of caveats. Let's go to Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesperson. The evacuation is continuing. Hundreds of thousands have already evacuated. Hamas is investing energy to stop the process entirely. The detestifies to the possibility of the organization to, we have testimonies that we're publishing that Hamas is trying to prevent actively the civilian population moving southward in Gaza. I call you all of you to send Gaza. Hamas is trying to stop your evacuation. Leave Gaza City, go south. Leave Gaza City, go south. Go south to Gaza. There are conditions down there that will help you survive. I repeat. In that area, there are conditions that will enable you to survive. I want to speak here to the reports international media that Hamas argued that the IDF attacked a convoy that was going south. This is a false report. This is a cynical use of civilians as human shields by Hamas. Hamas is in distress and upset. Its legitimacy in the world is undermined. It's compared to ISIS. It's trying to prevent its citizens from moving south under international criticism. And it's using manipulations around the world. It's continuing and it's, we are trying to continue our public diplomacy. I think that in the coming hours, we'll see more examples. In parallel, these events, we're looking always around to the entire Middle East. We're willing to act in every area in the Middle East to defend the State of Israel. We're in high readiness in all the fronts. The Central Command, our forces are all throughout Judea and Samaria. We're in constant dialogue with settlements to protect them. We ask residents to follow orders, the Home Front Command's orders for another 24 hours online. We sent updated instructions talking about a return to studies. And from here, I want to go back and distress the importance of following instructions to try for your safety to help us to have a safe standard of life. Last night, the Chief of Staff spoke again with the head of SENDCA and spoke with other Chiefs of Staff around the world in around European countries. All support us and our intelligence efforts to help the IDF and its success in the war. We mentioned the support of the United States, which is sending an additional Air Force carrier and other craft have come and will continue to come. This is a continued strengthening, showing the important friendship between the United States and Israel and sends a message to all of our enemies in the Middle East. There is strength, that is, we have a common purpose, common fate in our preparedness in the war. We announced already to 286 families of dead IDF soldiers with Lordhead, also to families of the disappeared and taken hostage. Families that receive the harsh news and we continue to support them as much as possible and will continue to do so to the families of the disappeared and hostages. I want to promise you again, we are doing a process that is a high priority in order to get information that will help you to identify, locate your loved ones. We look to it as a high priority and we're in coordination with Ghal Hirsh who's in charge of this file and other besides the lies that Hamas is disseminating, the correct picture, we are committed to doing this. We are continuing to advance our readiness for the next coming days of the war in the last few hours. A number of civilians were experienced disruptions in their phone and GPS. That was not a cyber attack. We will continue to have strong defenses against cyber attacks against citizens of Israel. The public is requested to follow the orders of the Home Front Command and to give you quality of life during the course of the war, during the course of the fighting. Questions please. Okay, we're going to, and we are going to go back to our studio where we have Danny Aylone, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. as well as our senior correspondent Owen Ultraman with us. I want to start with you Danny because we just heard in the last few minutes right before this started with the press conference on the idea, the United States is now making plans to evacuate U.S. citizens from Israel via the port in Haifa to Cyprus. This is something I don't remember the last time this happened but is a major escalation. Are they expecting the war with Hezbollah North to go hot? Well, it means a real only one thing that they are not certain that they deterrence messages to Iran, whether by very, very sharp declarations of President Biden, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State corroborated also by a gunboat diplomacy, you know, when we have now the strike two, we're going to have two strike groups in the Mediterranean that they are not sure that the Iranians have really understood the severity and also the determination of the United States to stop the Iranians from intervention. And if they do, they will take, you know, the full responsibility for it under the, you know, the brunt of American forces here. And this is why they take it as a precaution to actually evacuate or ask their American citizens here in Israel to leave, maybe bracing the possibility of Iranians or more, I would say, logical is the Hezbollah missiles that can just rain here on Israel. Myself, I am not sure this is the case. I think that the Hezbollah and, of course, everything has to be taken with a grain of salt. You know, we know that it's very hard to decipher the, I would say the craziness and the illogical of our enemies here, the jihadists, whether it's Hezbollah or Hamas. But I think what they're doing is only as a safe face after Iran, as was the one that encouraged Hamas, the Iranians are willing to fight till the last dead body of the Palestinians, till the last dead Lebanese, till the last dead Yemenites and everywhere else in the region. So they have to show some kind of support and that they are in coordination with Hezbollah. Hence, the Iranian foreign minister is in Beirut, was in Beirut, shuttling between Beirut and Damascus to show they care, they're planning, they're doing something, they're trying to deter Israel, Iran. And this is how the context that the Iranian threat that was just given a few hours ago, that if Israel does not stop the operation in Gaza, you know, they will join. I don't think they will. But this is a way to message to their proxies here. Now, Danny, we're going to come right back to you in a moment. But first, because you've just put that in context, we're going to go to our reporter, P. Shtaklabah, who is on the north border right now, where that evacuation order is in place. Anyone within 2.5 miles, four kilometers to the border, is told to get out. Tell us what's going on there. Well, Ariel, it is a bit more than an hour ago that Hezbollah, which immediately claimed responsibility, fired mortar shells and an anti-armor missile to the northern village of Stula. We are hearing that one person was killed from that. Three others were now hospitalized, evacuated to the city of Vanaria. Apparently, this is the first civilian casualty, and I really want to emphasize this on the Israeli side here, close to the northern border. We are hearing that the IDF is closing off the area in a proximity to four kilometers close to the Lebanese border. Residents are called to be extremely vigilant. As you said, two kilometers close to the Lebanese border, people are really called to evacuate or to stay in their shelters right now. But the area that is located that close to the Lebanese border is already quite deserted. We've been in Shlomi yesterday. One of the villages, one of the towns that is about two kilometers away from the Lebanese border that is now affected by these new restrictions. The town is a ghost town, and so do many of these areas here so close to the border. Residents have evacuated days ago. Now, we are seeing an increase of the skirmishes between specifically Israel and Isballah. Yesterday, 30 motor shells were fired toward an IDF post in the area of Haldov, in the eastern area of the Lebanese border. Israel retaliating. By the way, Israel retaliating also now as we speak. When we drove here, we are about seven to eight kilometers away from the Lebanese border right now. We could hear the Israeli artillery striking back. In fact, Isballah having said that they still haven't retaliated. The journalist that was killed two days ago in an exchange of fire between Israel and Lebanon and really the area here in the north is very much ready for a looming escalation here on the northern border. Whether that will happen, whether a large-scale escalation will happen, is the question that everybody is asking here and has been asking here for the course of the week. Isballah, time and time again threatening, emphasizing their support for the Palestinian movements here, the Iranian foreign minister. Just having visited Hassan Asrallah, the Isballah leader two days ago here in the north, people are very much ready. We've just spoken to the Naariya municipality city that is about 13 kilometers away from the border. Also there are preparing their public shelters as many people here in the area and the bigger cities don't have private shelters in their homes. So the public shelters are prepared now with food, mattresses, and water here. Now the new restrictions in place. I want to repeat people within the proximity of four kilometers from the Lebanese border are called to be extremely, extremely vigilant. Also stay close to their shelters. But again, this area has deserted, has been deserted before. One, what seems to be civilian casualty here on the Israeli side, from Hisballah fire about an hour ago to the very, very northern town of Stullah village of a bit more than 300 residents and I assume that many of them had left the area before. But as you can see here, the idea of forces behind us are already, they're extremely vigilant and so are they saying the civilians should be. Thank you very much, Pia, for that report from the front state. Stay safe out there and we'll come back to you over the course of the day as the situation develops. Now before we return to our discussion of the tactical and the strategy, there is another unfortunate angle and that is that there are elements of this war that have gone international. Ever since the Hamas massacre a week ago, we have seen rallies supporting Hamas in major cities all around the world and college campuses all around the world and a massive spike in anti-Semitic hate incidents. Discuss more of this at length. We are joined by Carol Noriel, the director of the Israeli brand, Israeli wing of the Anti-Defamation League. Tell us a little bit about what we've seen and how much of a threat this is. Thank you very much. So first of all, let me just begin by saying that as a representative of a Jewish American organization, an organization that works with Jewish communities all over the world, I do want to convey, first of all, an unequivocal message from the Asperjury that is standing with Israel and seeing as the most important issue, the issue of those who were kidnapped and are being held by Hamas in Gaza. That's the first. Second, in terms of what we're seeing with anti-Semitism worldwide, so not only pro-Palestinian protests but really anti-Semitic incidents were seeing a spike globally. We just learned that the French Interior Minister announced that only last week there were 189 anti-Semitic incidents recorded that are related to the latest massacre we're seeing in the UK. We saw a large protest yesterday. We saw 29 protests in the US pro-Palestinian protests and so on. And we have to understand that what we are seeing in those protests are not only support for Hamas but also an attempt to change the narrative, to delegitimize the status of Israel as a whole, delegitimize the existence of the state of Israel from 1948. So really an attempt to shift the conversation to undermine Israel's legitimacy and right to self-defense. And again, all of this is happening in areas, in countries, in capitals where Jewish communities have large presence. And as we know from previous conflicts in 2014 with Protective Edge in 2021 with Guardians of the Wall, this has real implications on Jewish security, on Jewish communities. We see that in the street, in Jewish institutions, synagogue, community center schools and so on. And also we see that on campuses. So it's really something that one cannot ignore and governments have to take care of what they're seeing happening in their own country. And I want to underscore here, and before we get into that, just pointing out there are more rockets hitting the south as we speak. I want to underscore that these are not simply pro-Palestinian protests. We see them even before Israel began its military counterattack, praising Hamas for the massacres itself. We saw them chanting in European capitals, gas the Jews. We saw them waving swastikas at these rallies. And in so many European capitals where they've imported in mass Middle Eastern populations that are hostile to their Jewish communities, is there a significant physical threat to the lives of Jews in these capitals, in these countries? Well, we believe that words lead to deeds. That should be very clear. And when we hear those words, and there's a reason why such demonstrations, by the way, were banned in Germany and in France, because there's an understanding that, first of all, they can lead to anti-Semitic, anti-Semitism, to anti-Semitic incidents. That's one. This is clear support for terrorism and incitement. These demonstrations were banned in major cities. And I think that this really attached to how severe the situation is for Jewish communities. And I also want to say that now I think that all the words see that when there's dehumanization, demonization, the legitimization of Israel's right to exist, and Israelis and Jews, then those ideas lead to such a massacre. Well, thank you, Carol, for helping us understand the situation around the world. We're going to return now to our panel in studio. And I think, Danny, that's actually a good place to pick up. Because while we've seen this massive outflowing of support for Hamas in the middle of Western capitals across the Western world, we've also seen the governments of these nations take a rather strong stand against Hamas, some more so than others. Absolutely. This is the only response you can have. If you're decent, if you are human, this is the only response to such barbarism. And unfortunately, we have some organizations and some individuals which are just engaged in morally reprehensible activities. They're brainwashed. They're filled with hatred. Many of those are basically Palestinians, you know, who are expatriates. But unfortunately, they're also those who are useful fools in a way that maybe with a grain of anti-Semitism, they do not, and here they do not hide their sentiment towards Israel and the Jewish people. I think this is something that has to be taken seriously by governments all the way to legislation, if you need to, specific legislation with enforcement against this manifestation of anti-Semitism. Now, simultaneously, while many European governments have said they support Israel, they've also issued calls for de-escalation, for ceasefires. And in doing so, is that almost a tacit endorsement of allowing Hamas to continue its existence? Well, in a way, yes. I mean, well, I'm sure they don't mean it, but this is the real meaning of it. Because if you stop halfway, you did nothing. Then all those victims were just for nothing. And if you do not take out Hamas and neutralize it totally from its not just current military and fighting capabilities, but also future, they have to be outlawed just like the Nazis were outlawed with unconditional surrender. This is the way you deal with such Nazi-like beasts. This is how the Nazis were treated World War II. This is how the Japanese did in World War II. And the Hamas should not be any different than that. So ultimately, what are the immediate steps ahead for how Israel is going to accomplish that goal? And to ensure that the international arena supports Israel in seeing this goal to its ultimate conclusion? Well, I hope that we will get support, but we cannot count on that. But the support now from the international community is only secondary to our survival and to our security here. So we will have to focus on the United States. All we need is to be with the United States. And if the United States is with us, all the rest is secondary. They have shown this great support, which is not only an emotional support, but also it's very, I would say, very important from a strategic point of view, because the Americans, the administration, Biden himself, who is seasoned enough, he still saw the end of World War II, maybe as a young kid, as a baby, but still he is of that generation that remembers what evil is and what devastation they can do if they are not met right away. So the United States is our best friend and ally. And they are the ones that we need to keep abreast with the situation here, to work together with them. And with them, I think the European countries are also joining us. And I think, again, Biden here has shown Churchillian-like leadership also by calling on a special conference call with the major leaders of NATO and Europe, Britain, France, and Germany. And all of them are together with us. Biden understands that what at stake is not just Israel and what's happening in Gaza, although the battle right now is in Gaza. But the war is a global war where you have on the one side, you have the Western civilization. And on the other side, you have the Jihadist countries which are backed by Russia, by China, but mostly it's Iran and its proxies, North Korea. This is the real divide now. And now it's do or die for them. There is no room for any compromise. For them, it's do or die. So we want to make sure that we are not the ones that die, but they do. But that does lead to a question. Israel versus Hamas takes out a powerful Iranian proxy. If Hezbollah does not join the war, it doesn't exactly provide an opportunity to take out other Iranian proxies. In which case, has Israel and the United States actually accomplished much? Well, I would say that this would be something to be discussed very, very seriously. Right now, Israel has no interest to involve Hezbollah because we want to focus on Hamas. And once we got just route out Hamas, and that would involve some really unimaginable sacrifices also for the civil population in Gaza, which really, really feel for them, but they are not our responsibility. Hamas is the one who is perpetrating it. But I believe there are ways to do it. And again, we're not inventing anything new here. With refugees, you deal in the most effective way by moving them out of harm's way, out of the line of fire. And you build for them, let's say 10 cities, and you give them the shelter and the food and water and anything that they need. Only a few years ago, with the butchery of Assad against his own population, four million Syrian refugees fled out of Syria, two million of them stayed in Turkey in 10 cities. This is what should be done here now with the Palestinians. And before we end, thank you very much, Danny. We are going to go to our middle east correspondent, Ariel Osiron, who is on the border with Gaza in the town of Sterot, one of the border cities there. Ariel, give us the latest updates and what we know about the developing situation. Right, Ariel. So just a few minutes ago, there was a barrage of rockets aimed here at the border town of Sterot. This included interceptions overhead, according to emergency services. There are some direct impacts, and they are sending teams to the sites. I mean, you can see over my right shoulder, there's the smoke out in the distance. I don't know if you can hear the alarm blaring, but those are the indications that there's been a direct hit here. Now, we're here in Sterot, the heart of Sterot, right by the site of the police station that was overrun by Hamas terrorists on Saturday. And after three, only after three days was it purged from those terrorists. And we're here accompanying a tour of foreign diplomats that, as they were getting an explanation by Sterot authorities, there was the alarm blaring and they all had to run. And so we're talking about ambassadors from many different countries. I'm not going to name exactly at this point who they are because we're still here out in the field, but this just shows an example that ambassadors, that foreign diplomats, are witnessing on their own flesh the reality that thousands, tens of thousands of residents in Sterot and in other border communities have been living for years and more than two decades, in fact. Well, it's going to be a very important lesson that's going to be almost impossible to forget. Thank you very much, Ariel. For everyone else, we are just about out of time now. Thank you for joining us. Stay safe out there and stay strong. We'll see you again very soon. Israel is officially in a state of war. This is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking. Within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped. Help us. We don't want to do it. We just don't know anything. Entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds. Awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong. Everyone is showing up. This is the unity. I work at I-24 News since 2013 since a channel was established and I'm the defense correspondent in English since 2018. As the defense correspondent and also in my previous roles I was hundreds of times in Sderot and the Gaza border communities when Red Alert siren sounded, meaning that rockets are incoming and we all have to run to the shelters. Most of the times the rockets were intercepted, there were no casualties, no damages, and that was my report. But there was one time in the city of Sderot which made me realize we're all wrong. My colleagues and I ran to the shelter again but with us ran a group of children and their mothers. The children were crying. The mothers were supposed to help them but they were also crying. That is when I realized that what is work for me is life for them. That's where I understood that there is damage even if no building was damaged and no one was physically hurt. They're Israelis just like us in Tel Aviv and they deserve to feel the same safety and security that we feel here. Since that morning in Sderot my whole reporting has changed. No longer, no casualties, no damage, rockets intercepted and that's it. The damage is ongoing. The damage is mental for those people, for those kids who have now grown into this reality. I think they deserve much more than that from the state of Israel and I keep saying this in every report I file about rockets being fired to Sderot even if officially there are no damages and no one was injured. Welcome to I-24 News' ongoing coverage of Israel at war. I'm Ariel Levin Waldman. We have now entered the ninth day of fighting since Hamas launched a full-scale invasion and massacre of Israeli civilians in the south. In the north a barrage of mortars and anti-tank rockets were just fired into the Israeli village of Shdulla. Again David Adam, first responders are reporting. At least one is dead, three are injured. Hezbollah terror organization has taken responsibility for the attack and the military has ordered a total evacuation of the border area for about four kilometers or 2.5 miles telling everybody to get out of the area. In the south the IDF has announced the humanitarian corridor is open. That started an hour ago at 10 and will continue until one o'clock in the afternoon for civilians to flee to South Gaza. The military said they will not strike this route for the next two hours. IDF also said they are completing their preparations for a significant ground operation in Gaza as it continues to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the Gaza Strip. Military leadership vows to destroy Hamas with a joint coordinated attack from the air, sea and land. The United States has confirmed that it's sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel. Where it joins the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group which is currently on its way US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin saying this additional carrier is being sent to deter any hostile actions against Israel or any efforts to widen the war following the Hamas attack. The show of force coming as Iran threatens to directly join the war with an Axios report satellite claiming their foreign minister threatened Israel through the UN saying Iran will directly intervene if Israel does not call off its looming ground incursion into Gaza. And before anything else we are actually going to take and address by the Israeli military live which will be paraphrased in English by our own alternate. I am not a professional translator. This translation is highly unlikely to be accurate. I take no responsibility for errors. Notice the channel. This is not my profession but I will do my best. After that essential set of caveats let's go to Daniel Hagari the IDF spokesperson. The evacuation is continuing. Hundreds of thousands have already evacuated. Hamas is investing energy to stop the process entirely. The detestifies to the possibility of the the organization to we have testimonies that were publishing that Hamas is trying to prevent actively the civilian population moving southward in Gaza. I call you all of you Gaza. Hamas is trying to stop your evacuation. Leave Gaza City go south. Leave Gaza City go south. Go south to Gaza. There are conditions down there that will help you survive. I repeat in that area there are conditions that will enable you to survive. I want to speak here to the reports international media that Hamas argued that the IDF is the IDF an attack to convoy that was going south. This is a false report. This is a cynical use of civilians as a human shield by Hamas. Hamas is in distress and upset. It's legitimacy in the world is is undermined. It's compared to ISIS. It's it's it's trying to prevent its citizens from moving south under international criticism under international criticism and it's using manipulations around the world. It's continuing and it's we are trying to continue our public diplomacy. I think that in the coming hours we'll see more examples in parallel. These events we're looking always around to the entire Middle East. We're willing to act in every area in the Middle East to defend the state of Israel. We're in high readiness in all the fronts. The central command our our forces are all throughout Judea and Samaria. We're in constant dialogue with settlements to protect them. We ask residents to follow orders. The home front commands orders for another 24 hours online. We sent updated instructions talking about a return to studies and from here I want to go back and distress the importance of following instructions to follow to try for your safety help us to have a safe standard of life. Last night the chief of staff spoke again with the head of Seneca and spoke with other chiefs of staff around the world in around European countries. All support us and our intelligence efforts to help the IDF and its success in the war. We mentioned the support of the United States which is sending an additional Air Force carrier and other craft have come and will continue to come. This is it continued strengthening showing the important friendship between the United States and Israel and sends a message to all of our enemies in the Middle East. There is strength that is we have a common purpose common fate in our preparedness in the war. We announced already to 286 families of dead IDF soldiers with Lordhead also to families of the disappeared and taken hostage. Families that receive the harsh news and we continue to support them as much as possible and we'll continue to do so to the families of the disappeared and hostages. I want to promise you again we are doing a process that is a high priority in order to get information that will help you to identify locate your loved ones. We're look to it as a high priority and we're and we're in coordination with Gal her shoes in charge of this file and other besides the lies that Hamas is disseminating the correct picture we are committed to doing this. We are continuing to advance our readiness for the next coming days of the war in the last few hours. A number of civilians were experienced disruptions in their phone and GPS that was not a cyber attack. We will continue to have strong defenses against cyber attacks against citizens of Israel. The public is requested to follow the orders of the home front command and to give you a quality of life through our during the course of the war during the course of the fighting. Questions please. Okay we're going to and we are going to go back to our studio where we have Danny I alone former Israeli ambassador to the US as well as our senior correspondent Owen Ultraman with us. I want to start with you Danny because we just heard in the last few minutes right before this started with the press conference the idea the United States is now making plans to evacuate US citizens from Israel via the port in Haifa to Cyprus. This is something I don't remember the last time this happened but is a major escalation. Are they expecting the war with Hezbollah north to go hot? Well it means a real only one thing that they are not certain that the deterrence messages to Iran whether by very very sharp declarations of President Biden, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State corroborated also by a gunboat diplomacy you know when we have now the strike two we're going to have two strike groups in the Mediterranean that they are not sure that the Iranians have really understood the severity and also the determination of the United States to to stop the Iranians from intervention and if they do they will take you know the full responsibility for it under the you know the brunt of American forces here and this is why they take it as a precaution to actually evacuate or ask their American citizens here in Israel to leave maybe bracing the possibility of Iranians or more I would say logical is the Hezbollah missiles that can just rain here on Israel myself I am not sure this is the case I think that the Hezbollah and of course everything has to be taken with a grain of salt you know we know that it's very hard to decipher the I would say the craziness and the illogical of our enemies here the the jihadists whether it's Hezbollah or or Hamas but I think what they're doing is only as a safe face after Iran as was the one that encouraged Hamas the Iranians are willing to fight till the last dead body of the Palestinians till the last dead Lebanese till the last dead Yemenites and everywhere else in the region so they have to show some kind of support and that they are in coordination Hezbollah hence the Iranian foreign minister is in Beirut was in Beirut shuttling between Beirut and Damascus to show they care they're planning they're doing something they're trying to deter Israel Iran and this is how the context that the Iranian threat that was just given a few hours ago that if Israel does not stop the operation in Gaza you know they will join I don't think they will but this is a way to message to the to their proxies here and Danny we're going to come right back to you in a moment but first because you've just put that in context we're going to go to our reporter P. S. Dekalbach who is on the north border right now where that evacuation order is in place anyone within 2.5 miles four kilometers of the border is told to get out tell us what's going on there well Ariel it is a bit more than an hour ago that Hezbollah which immediately creating responsibility fired motor shells and an anti-armor missile to the northern village of Stula we are hearing that one person was killed from that three others were now hospitalized evacuated to the city of Vanaria apparently this is the first civilian casualty and I really want to emphasize this on the Israeli side here closer to the northern border we are hearing that the IDF is closing off the area and proximity to four kilometers close to the Lebanese border residents are called to be extremely vigilant as you said two kilometers close to the Lebanese border people are really called to evacuate or to stay in their shelters right now but Ariel the area that is located that close to the Lebanese border is already quite deserted we've been in Shlomi yesterday one of the villages one of the towns that is about two kilometers away from the Lebanese border that is now affected by these new restrictions the town is a ghost town and so do many of these areas here so close to the border look residents have evacuated have evacuated days ago now we are seeing an increasement of the skirmishes between specifically Israel and Hezbollah yesterday 30 motor shells were fired toward an IDF post in the area of Haldov in the eastern area of the Lebanese border Israel retaliating by the way Israel retaliating also now as we speak when we drove here we are about seven to eight kilometers away from the Lebanese border right now we could hear the Israeli artillery striking back in fact Hezbollah having said that they still haven't retaliated the journalist that was killed two days ago in an exchange of fire between Israel and Lebanon and really the area here in the north is very much ready for a looming escalation here on the northern border whether that will happen whether a large-scale escalation will happen is the question that everybody is asking here and has been asking here for the course of the week is Bala time and time again threatening emphasizing their their support for the Palestinian movements here the Iranian Foreign Minister just having visited Hezbollah the Hezbollah leader two days ago here in the north people are very much ready we've just spoken to the Naariya municipality a city that is about 13 kilometers away from the border also there are preparing their public shelters as many people here in the area and the bigger cities don't have private shelters in their homes so the public shelters are prepared now with food mattresses and water here now the new restrictions in place I want to repeat people within the proximity of four kilometers from the Lebanese border are called to be extremely extremely vigilant also stay close to their shelters but again this area is deserted has been deserted before one what seems to be civilian casualty here on the Israeli side from Hezbollah fire about an hour ago to the very very northern town of Stula village of a bit more than 300 residents and I assume that many of them had left the area before but as you can see here the idea forces behind us are already they're extremely vigilant and so are they saying the civilians should be well thank you very much for that report from the front state safe out there and we'll come back to you over the course of the day as the situation develops now before we return to our discussion of the tactical and the strategy there is another unfortunate angle and that is there are elements of this war that have gone international ever since the Hamas massacre a week ago we have seen rallies supporting Hamas in major cities all around the world and college campuses all around the world and a massive spike in anti-Semitic hate incidents discussed more of this at length we are joined by Carol Noriel the director of the Israeli brand Israeli wing of the anti-deformation league tell us a little bit about what we've seen and how much of a threat this is thank you very much so so first of all let me just begin by saying that as a representative of a Jewish American organization an organization that works with Jewish communities all over the world I do want to convey first of all an unequivocal message from the as per jewelry that is standing with Israel and seeing as the most important issue the issue of those who were kidnapped and are being held by by Hamas in Gaza that's the first second in terms of what we're seeing with anti-Semitism worldwide so not only pro-Palestinian protest but really anti-Semitic incidents were seeing a spike globally we just learned that the the French Interior Minister announced that only last week there were 189 anti-Semitic incidents recorded that are related to the latest massacre we're seeing in the UK we saw a large protest yesterday we saw 29 protests in the US pro-Palestinian protests and so on and we have to understand that what we are seeing in those protests are not only support for Hamas but also an attempt to change the narrative to delegitimize the status of Israel as a whole delegitimize the existence of the state of Israel from 1948 so really an attempt to shift the conversation to undermine Israel legitimacy and and right to self-defense and again all of this is happening in areas in countries in capitals where Jewish communities have large presence and as we know from previous conflicts in 2014 with Protective Edge in 2021 with Guardians of the Wall these has real implications on Jewish security on Jewish communities we see that in the street in Jewish institutions synagogue a community center schools and so on and also we see that on campuses so it's really something that one cannot ignore and governments have to take care what they're seeing happening in their own country and I want to underscore here and before we get into that just pointing out there are more rockets hitting the south as we speak I want to underscore that these are not simply pro-Palestinian protests we see them even before Israel began its military counterattack praising Hamas for the massacres itself we saw them chanting in European capitals gas the Jews we saw them waving swastikas at these rallies and in so many European capitals where they've imported in mass middle eastern populations that are hostile to their Jewish communities is there a significant physical threat to the lives of Jews in these capitals in these countries well we believe that words needs leads to these um that should be very clear and when we hear those words and and there's a reason why such demonstrations by the way were banned in Germany and in France because there's an understanding that first of all they can lead to anti-semitic anti-semitism to anti-semitic incidents that's one this is clear support for terrorism and incitement the these demonstrations were banned in in major cities and I think that this really um attached to how severe the situation is for Jewish communities and I also want to say that now I think that all the words see that um when there's dehumanization demonization the legitimization of Israel's right to exist and Israel Israelis and Jews then those ideas lead to such a massacre well thank you Carol for helping us understand the situation around the world we're going to return now to our panel in studio and I think Danny that's actually a good place to pick up because while we've seen this massive outflowing of support for Hamas in the middle of western capitals across the western world we've also seen the governments of these nations take a rather strong stand against Hamas some more so than others absolutely this is the only response you can have if you're decent if you are human this is the only response to such barbarism and unfortunately we have some organizations and some individuals which are just engaged in the morally reprehensible activities they are brainwashed they're filled with hatred many of those are basically Palestinians you know who are expatriates but unfortunately they're also those who are useful fools in a way that maybe with a grain of anti-semitism they do not and here they do not hide their their sentiment towards Israel and the Jewish people I think this is something that has to be taken seriously by governments all the way to legislation if you need to specific legislation with enforcement against this manifestation of anti-semitism now simultaneously while many European governments have said they support Israel they've also issued calls for de-escalation for ceasefires and in doing so is that almost a tacit endorsement of allowing Hamas to continue its existence well in a way yes I mean well I'm sure they're they don't mean it but this is the real meaning of it because if you stop stop halfway you did nothing then all those victims were just for for for nothing and if you do not take out Hamas and neutralize it totally from it's not just current military and fighting capabilities but also future they have to be outlawed just like the Nazis were outlawed with with unconditional surrender this is the way you deal with such a Nazi-like beast this is how the Nazis were treated World War II this is how the Japanese did in World War II and the Hamas should not be any different than that so ultimately what are the immediate steps ahead for how Israel is going to accomplish that goal and to ensure that the international arena supports Israel in seeing this goal to its ultimate conclusion well I hope that we will get support but I'm not we cannot count on that but the support now from the international community is only secondary to our survival and to our security here so we will have to focus on the United States all we need is to be with the United States and if the United States is with us all the rest is secondary they have shown this great support which is not only an emotional support but also it's very I would say very important from a strategic point of view because the Americans the administration Biden himself who is seasoned enough he still saw the end of World War II maybe as a young kid as a baby but still he is of that generation that remembers what evil is and what devastation they can do if they are not met right away so the United States is our best friend and ally and they are the ones that we need to keep abreast with the situation here to work together with them and with them I think the European countries are also joining us and I think again Biden here has shown um Churchillian-like leadership also by calling on a special conference call with the major leaders of NATO and in Europe Britain France and Germany and all of them are together with us Biden understands that what at stake is not just Israel and what's happening in Gaza although the battle right now is in Gaza but the war is a global war where you have on the one side you have the western civilization and on the other side you have the jihadist countries which are backed by Russia by by China but mostly it's Iran and its proxies North Korea this is the real divide now and now it's do or die for them there is no room for any compromise for them it's do or die so we want to make sure that we are not the ones that die but they do but that does lead to a question Israel versus Hamas takes out a powerful Iranian proxy if Hezbollah does not join the war it doesn't exactly provide an opportunity to take out other Iranian proxies in which case has Israel and the United States actually accomplished much well I would say that this would be something to be discussed very very seriously right now Israel has no interest to involve Hezbollah because we want to focus on Hamas and once we got just route out Hamas and that would involve some really unimaginable sacrifices also for the civil population in Gaza which really really feel for them but this is they are not our responsibility you know Hamas is the one who is perpetuating it but I believe there are ways to do it and again we are not inventing anything new here with refugees you deal in the most effective way by moving them out of harm's way out of the line of fire and you build for them let's say 10 cities and you give them the shelter and the food and water and anything that they need only a few years ago with the butchery of Assad against his own population four million Syrian refugees fled out of Syria two million of them stayed in Turkey in 10 cities this is what should be done here now with the Palestinians and before we end thank you very much Danny we are going to go to our middle east correspondent Ariel Osiron who is on the border with Gaza in the town of starot one of the border cities there Ariel give us the latest updates and what we know about the developing situation right Ariel so just a few minutes ago there was a barrage of rockets aimed here at the border town of starot this included interceptions overhead according to emergency services there are some direct impacts and they are sending teams to the sites I mean you can see over my right shoulder there's the smoke out in the distance I don't know if you can hear the alarm blaring but that's those are the indications that there's been a direct hit here now we're here in starot the heart of starot right by the site of the police station that was overrun by Hamas terrorists on Saturday and after three only after three days was it purged from those terrorists and in we're here accompanying a tour of foreign diplomats that as they were getting an explanation by starot authorities there was the alarm blaring and they all had to run and so they were talking about ambassadors from many different countries I'm not going to name exactly at this point who they are because we're still here out in the field but this just shows an example that ambassadors that foreign diplomats are are witnessing on on their own flesh the reality that thousands tens of thousands of residents in starot and in other border communities have been living for years and more than two decades and in fact well it's going to be a very important lesson that's going to be almost impossible to forget thank you very much Ariel for everyone else we are just about out of time now thank you for joining us stay safe out there and stay strong we'll see you again very soon over 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside school on what's going on only on i24 news because we go subsea and we utilize the hydrostatic pressure the weight or the water above your head we're able to save energy I'm Tel Aviv and welcome to i24 news's ongoing coverage of Israel at war I'm Ariah Levin Waldman we are now entering the ninth day of fighting since Hamas launched a full-scale invasion and massacre of Israeli civilians down in the south the IDF is currently striking it has bullet positions in Lebanon after terrorists there fired mortars and anti-tank missiles at an Israeli military base this comes just after another hezbollah incident firing a barrage of mortars and anti-tank rockets into the Israeli village of Shdulla Magendavira Dome first responders report at least one dead in that case with three more injured in the south the IDF has announced that a humanitarian corridor is still open from 10 o'clock until 1 o'clock in the afternoon for civilians to flee to south Gaza the military will not strike this route for the next hour but residents in Gaza report Hamas is directly preventing any evacuations we'll have more on that in just a moment the IDF said it is completing preparations for a significant ground operation in Gaza as they continue to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the enclave military leadership has vowed to destroy Hamas with a joint and coordinated attack from air land and sea while the united states confirmed they're sending a second carrier strike group the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin saying the additional carrier being sent to deter further foreign hostile actions against Israel this show of forces coming as Iran threatens to directly join the war an Axios report over the weekend claiming Iran's foreign minister threatened Israel through the U.N. that Iran will intervene if Israel does not call off its looming ground incursion into Gaza now we're going to go more into revelations of how Hamas is directly preventing civilians from fleeing the war zone we actually have an audio recording of a phone call between Israeli intelligence officers and their contact in Jabalia Gaza among other claims he said that the terrorists have confiscated their belongings and their car keys to keep them from getting to safety so and for more on this we now go to the south border Ariel Ocerano our Middle East correspondent in Sturro a border town there Ariel you just saw a tour of Sturro with former ambassador Danny Danone and the current ambassadors of various European nations what did they say was it enough to grasp the inhuman cruelty of what Hamas did there well real the the cruelty also took place with the atrocities committed here on Saturday last Saturday morning but also in the border communities but the reality here now is pretty much a reality that unfortunately locals here have known for the past over two decades and that's the reality of constant barrages of rockets so as we were accompanying this tour of foreign diplomats with Danny Danone is also the four former Israeli ambassador to the UN the timing was I mean very it was crazy timing because as he was giving his explanation by the police station that was conquered by Hamas terrorists there was a red alert siren and there was a interception overhead in fact our cameras managed to get this exact moment let's take a look at what happened here just a short hour ago if you look back you have the green door over there you all see the green door in a case of a missile attack we all run to this green door and go downstairs to the shelter okay I want to thank him for coming my friend the mayor is attending a funeral unfortunately you know you heard about the number of people who died from the road and I want to thank the deputy mayor for coming to meet with us so that so as you could see the timing was indeed surreal now there were a few indications of direct impacts here in the town of Sderot but no no reports of casualties or injuries as a result of that and so as you could see these foreign diplomats got a firsthand account experience to what thousands of Israelis have been experiencing not only since last Saturday morning but pretty much for the past two decades here in the town of Sderot well thank you very much Ariel from that report from the border now we're going to look at some other incidents on the border as well and we are joined first by Ali Naqh deputy mayor of Ashdod that's a town in southern Israel which is usually the first line of bombardment for Hamas's rockets just after Sderot itself Ali what have you seen over the past week what have people been telling you what has life been like there unfortunately we are pretty much used to this kind of a war condition missiles shutting at us and we are trying to be as much as close to the bomb shelters as possible and with no need we don't go outside of course unfortunately this time the things that changed that was the fear of penetration terrorists into the territory of Ashdod and people was really frightened about this and there was even some shootings going on on the streets of course we are all alerted about what's going on since this operation this is not something that is going to be finished in a week or two but as we understand it might take a long time and of course right now it's meanwhile okay and we got an opened an aid center for soldiers and citizens of Ashdod are coming and giving whatever they can including money to our soldiers and myself and our volunteers are going to the army bases even to the Gaza area to deliver those goods we understand that if you continue for a few weeks so people will have much more problems especially handicaps elderly people families with kids with special needs and of course also regular families that we all understand that being closed in the apartment with children and small children for a long period of time it could cause a real some sort of inconvenient or problems with the time so we are trying to be ready for that too so that the issue is not the rockets that we are used to but the period of time that all this operation or war will take place. Ali one of the complaints that I've heard from people living in these border regions is they feel the government has at least for almost 20 years now more or less abandoned them to take rocket fire and not actually solve the problem in Gaza is their confidence among your people that this time the government has the will to see this mission due to the end and finally deal a death blow to Hamas. You understand that nobody actually knows what will happen and how it will evolve the situation all I can tell you that looking back unfortunately the government and the prime minister did not solve this problem from the routes and actually demolish the power of Hamas or other organizations of being a threat to the Israeli citizens of course first of all to those who are living close to the border as we understand right now as we see it with the army troops and in TV and everywhere we understand that right now the attitude has changed and they really look very let's say decided to go forward with the bigger plan of trying to take off Hamas from Gaza and any other terrorist or weapon that they're there will be they able to finish this mission what will happen in the north border I can tell you that the the Israeli citizens and the citizens in the south as Ashdod they want to give the army and the government all the space and all the time that they need to solve this problem and once and forever as much as possible we really hope it will happen this time we are ready to you know be in this situation for a long period of time as long it will be let's say the last time it will happen how much the international arena how much our allies and how much the international community will give us the opportunity and how much guts our government has this is something that we all have to watch and see of course of course there are still voices that are doubtful about our government being able to finish what they're started looking once again and in our history and understanding that unfortunately they never finished what they started and they always went to the easier solution of trying to some sort of looking for a compromise or some sort of agreement with the organization that their only will is not to agree with us and not to be leaving peace with us but just to destroy us I hope now everybody in Israel in government all around the world understand the situation much more clearly thank you very much Ali from that look from the ground and stay safe out there while we all pray for more safe and peaceful days ahead thank you so much we're going to take a quick look at the north border now where our reporter p.s. Dekelbach is on the ground where there have been some significant developments as the firefights pick up in intensity with the Hezbollah terror organization on the northern border and Pia what can you tell us about what's going on out there right now right Ariel the Israeli army and the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon are currently exchanging fire after at least one or two anti-tank missiles have been fired from southern Lebanon into Israel this comes about two hours after the incident in Stula where mortar shells were fired from southern Lebanon by Hezbollah toward this Israeli village very very close to the border one person was confirmed to have been killed in that incident three more are injured when we're we're evacuated to hospital in Nariah now this area that close to the Lebanese border in a proximity of two kilometers people are really advised by the Israeli army to stay in their shelters until further notice the area in the proximity of four kilometers to the Lebanese border people are called to be extremely vigilant not to walk outside but we also have to say that these areas that I located that close to the Lebanese border have been quite empty people have already left throughout the week the army had closed off many of these areas many of these towns and villages even before now of course that incident it seems to be the first civilian casualty in this war here the northern front the question remains whether an escalation with Hezbollah is on the horizon here after really skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah have increased we could hear the Israeli artillery from where we're at right now we're about seven or eight kilometers away from the border earlier we've seen a helicopter striking the area that really borders the southern Lebanon here now yesterday there was a major incident in the area of hard off further east of the border with Lebanon where Hezbollah fired 30 mortar shells toward an Israeli army post Israel striking back and apprehending a squad trying to infiltrate Israeli territory in that incident Hezbollah said one of its members was killed now a few minutes ago confirming that another operative was killed on the Hezbollah side and we also had an infiltration alert in Mehtullah also at the very east of the Israeli Lebanese border that later turned out to be false alert and we have seen quite a few false alerts in different areas in the Galilee region in the eastern region of the Israeli Lebanese border here false alerts of infiltrations and a strikes that turns out as I said later to be false but that really shows you how volatile and how sensitive the area here is in the north we've been to the city of Nariah before where we also saw how public shelters are being prepared and now we've been to Shlomi yesterday a village a town that is less than two kilometers away from the Lebanese border now completely shut off for any civilian movement there also their shelters were open and were prepared but again the northern area is quite deserted also if you're that close to the Lebanese border you will hear the boom either of an impact or an interception before you actually get their alert before they actually will be siren this is why this area is extremely dangerous as of now mario well thank you very much pia for those reports from the north keep yourself safe out there and we're going to take a quick look at Gaza you're seeing some airstrikes that just took place to the smoke rising from some of those sites this is part of a preparatory bombardment campaign as the Israeli air force attempts to soften the targets to make the way for the ground troops when they go in a little safer to eliminate Hamas positions and ambush sites that they could use to strike at Israeli troops now for more on all of this we are joined in studio by Dr. Jack Nariah former deputy head of assessment at the Israeli military intelligence thank you very much Jack for being with us the big question that everyone's been asking for about a week now that we sort of hinted at with piaz reporting from the border hezbollah are they out are they in they've been launching these probing attacks are they going to commit well i would say the the final the final conclusion yes they're going to intervene they're going to intervene because they're committed they were the ones that devised the plan together with Iran and and gave Hamas and the Islamic jihad a copy exact copy of the plan that they had prepared since 2011 vis-a-vis israel i mean this is exactly it was copied and you could see that two months ago when there was this big drill and exhibition done by by hezbollah blowing the the wall and then entering the israel territory so-called israel with motorcycles exactly what happened with the border of Hamas hezbollah has said has said from the very beginning that there is a red line from from its from its point of view the red line is the grounding cushioned by israel forces into Gaza and if this happened there the commitment of of hezbollah will be such that they cannot evade it and they will intervene right now we are as i call it an appetizer they're just nibbling at at several areas and you know you could see exactly what what is their intention on the north you have metulla you have misgav am you have margagliot and then the the central the the central front with stula and then you know that naria and then of course slomi and and roshan ikrah hanita these these are the places where hezbollah intends to to penetrate and to take over the place if he if he can he will reach a naria this is definitely so so i think that you know one has to remember the the second lebanese war in 2006 that kasim suleimani at the time was sitting by hasa nasrallah and imad murni the military chief of hezbollah and giving them advice we know that carney the actual the chief of the the elkuts division is in lebanon and i imagine that he is giving the same advice to the hezbollah leaders so i mean let us understand very well that a ground offensive in in gaza will will trigger a response from from hezbollah this response can it can be proportionate but certainly un proportionate according to israeli standards because we might be hit by ballistic missiles from deeps inside lebanon or from the intervention of proxies from syrian territory and from ballistic missiles coming as far as the iraqi iranian border now we also know that this was in many ways an intelligence failure by israel to plan and not the only one before we continue we had some statements to that effect by army chief of staff hersey so let's hear that first i think that that his phrasing was we did not fulfill the mission i think there is no doubt that the state of israel did not fulfill the mission the results speak for themselves that very night about 2.5 hours before the attack which began at 6.3 o a m there were intelligence indications which led to the shin bet chief being summoned to the shin bet headquarters at 4 a.m and thereafter there was a conversation with the heads of the military both the shin bet and the military assessed on the basis of the evidence before them that this did not anticipate what we all ultimately suffered again these matters will be looked into a quick correction that was something that may not hurt you how levy but before we go on on that let's just continue what exactly we saw a major intelligence failure that led up to this israel not actually gaining deterrence against the terrorist in gaza ultimately what does israel has to do to maintain deterrence against the northern front as well because they are a lot stronger than hamas has ever been there's a big difference between combat intelligence and strategic intelligence i advise is bala not to try to check our attack and intelligence because it is most accurate and the targets are definitely in a in a in a data bank and we know exactly what to do if we have to confront the hisbala what we saw earlier with sarah negby was in fact the effort done by the government to build up in order to accuse in fact the the military establishment together with the shabak of the responsibility but in fact what happened on the ground what everything that's happening is is the the the result of a policy of containment that successive government in israel just uh the nourished we wanted to negotiate with hamas we nurtured the beast we fed the beast we gave him everything we just allowed donors coming from from kata we let them do and we thought and we wanted to see that the hamas is deterred and as such he is interested only with economy he wants to he wants to rule and and avoid any any problems from the population and criticism so this is why they want to concentrate on economy and this was a big mistake a huge mistake strategic mistake that was that filtered and went down to the the lowest echelons and the higher echelons this is why i mean that we just this was one failure the second failure was the failure of the concept of defense in in gaza we thought that the wall we built with four billion shekels with all the electronics around it with all the cameras would just wear would be enough to deter the the hamas and this was the this was definitely wrong and we forgot we took all the weapons from all the alert alert teams all over the gaza the gaza front and just we said there's no need for that we will intervene and what happened on saturday was that the first helicopter intervened 45 minutes 45 minutes after the the attack and then when he when when the helicopter arrived at the at the scene he was directed the differences he could not know exactly where is the main effort he just fired all his ammunition and he went back to the to to replenish his ammunition there was no technicians on the ground he had to take the ammunition on on his own and put it in the helicopter this is the kind of this is the kind of failure that has to be investigated understood and learned and these are the lessons of the for israel and not right now what is going to happen the what is going to happen is certainly very clear we have to to read between the lines and understand when you say we want to get rid of hamas we want to get rid of the military presence and the and the and the political presence of hamas in gaza hamas is a is a movement it's a move it's it's living in lebanon it's living in syria it's living in jordan it's living its leaders are either in berut having baklava or in istanbul eating shawarma or in katar this is i mean this is we have to compare what would happen to hamas to what happened to daish it lost its territorial basis but it's still there and before we continue on this we're going to continue on that intelligence failure with a report about just how deep it really went this report from cnn shows the government facing growing criticism for a major intelligence failure over that attack the idea for now saying it will investigate the terror group's use of half a dozen training camps in gaza after their locations were reported by cnn clarissa ward has these details propaganda videos put out by hamas revealed chilling details about the years of preparations that went into saturday's bloody attacks right under israel's nose analyzing metadata from the videos a cnn investigation can reveal the presence of at least six training sites inside gaza one just 720 meters from the most heavily fortified and patrolled part of israel's border in that camp hamas recreated an israeli compound with elements of the nearby border crossing including an insignia of the era's battalion the videos show they even practiced taking prisoners and zip tying their hands at the camp satellite imagery indicates the camp was constructed within the last year and a half at two other locations in the southern part of gaza hamas trained for their audacious paraglider assault rehearsing takeoffs and landings at all six sites two years of satellite imagery reviewed by cnn shows no indication of offensive israeli military action the imagery instead shows that in the last two years some camps even expanded into surrounding farmland and that there was activity in the last several months at the camps the stunning revelations raised questions as to how hamas was able to train so openly so close to the border for so long and why israeli officials were unable to pick up on and prevent the october 7 attack and we've been talking to the former deputy chief of assessment with the idf jack narya to explain just how deep the training went for these atrocities how serious it was and ultimately how committed the terror groups around israel have been which books the question what will the response be we have the united states sending these two carrier groups to try to dissuade hezbollah from entering the war you say it doesn't matter hezbollah is going to enter the war what happens so as you said earlier the training lasted for the last two years but definitely a year from the year earlier there was this meeting in beirut with khani and with hezbollah and the islamic jihad and hamas where the plan was devised and accordingly hamas just began training according to that plan and we saw that i mean that the intelligence was not blind we saw that but the assessment was wrong we said that this is only a training they have no intention because the philosophy the doctrine told you that they are they are deterred they are interested in economy they don't want to to fight israel so that you let them grow on your border and the the and you just thinned the deployment of the army to the maximum and left villages and kibbutzim and moshaveem and army bases with nobody to to guard them nobody to protect them and we saw in several in several cases that the army reached those kibbutzim and those moshaveem were attacked only six to ten hours later they were left to their own their own destiny where it not those said those those heroes on the ground i think i think we would be in a very difficult position they would have reached bear sheva with no problem with that it's a sobering reminder of how deep one failure can go in the absolute destruction that could be sound by that it's it's dark it's sobering it's terrifying to realize how close it could have gotten that's all the time we have and as much as i want to say i'm glad you're with us it's just a very grim look at the situation well you know this is i'm sorry that this is the this is it but this is yeah it is you cannot change it unfortunately thank you very much for everyone else stay safe out there the situation is obviously not good and there is heavy speculation that the war could get a lot more intense in the coming hours or days so stay safe and to all israelis out there stay strong the country will get through this israel is officially in a state of war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity and more than 3 000 injured and the war with hamas continues from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by hamas says israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24 news your people in rd access our website rechargas.tis.com.co selects rechargas and digits the number which you want to place the recharge also they receive the double balance in recharges of 8 dollars or more at the global network of the dominicans and welcome to i24 news ongoing coverage of israel at war i'm aria levin mortem we are now entering the ninth day of fighting since hamas launched a full-scale invasion and massacre of israeli civilians down in the south the idf is currently striking it has bola positions in lebanon after terrorists there fired mortars and anti-tank missiles at an israeli military base this comes just after another hezbollah incident firing a barrage of mortars and anti-tank rockets into the israeli village of shtula magendavira dome first responders report at least one dead in that case with three more injured in the south the idf has announced that a humanitarian corridor is still open from 10 o'clock until 1 o'clock in the afternoon for civilians to south gaza the military will not strike this route for the next hour but residents in gaza report the hamas is directly preventing any evacuations we're going to have more on that in just a moment the idf said it is completing preparations for a significant ground operation in gaza as they continue to conduct widespread airstrikes on terror targets in the enclave military leadership has vowed to destroy hamas with a joint and coordinated attack from air land and sea while the united states confirmed that it is sending a second carrier strike group the eastern mediterranean to support israel with us defense secretary lord austin saying the additional carrier being sent to deter further foreign hostile actions against israel this show of force is coming as iran threatens to directly join the war an axe us report over the weekend claiming iran's foreign minister threatened israel through the un that iran will intervene if israel does not call off its looming ground incursion into gaza now we're going to go more into revelations of how hamas is directly preventing civilians from fleeing the war zone we actually have an audio recording of a phone call between israeli intelligence officers and their contact in javalea gaza among other claims he said that the terrorists have confiscated their belongings and their car keys to keep them from getting to safety and for more on this we now go to the south border ariel osir on our middle east correspondent in sterot a border town there ariel you just saw a tour of sterot with former ambassador danie danone and the current ambassadors of various european nations what did they say was it enough to grasp the inhuman cruelty of what hamas did there well real the cruelty also took place with the atrocities committed here on saturday last saturday morning but also in the border communities but the reality here now is pretty much a reality that unfortunately locals here have known for the past over two decades and that's the reality of constant barrages of rocket so as we were accompanying this tour of foreign diplomats with danie danone is also the former israeli ambassador to the un uh the timing was i mean very it was crazy timing because as he was giving his explanation by the police station that was conquered by hamas terrorists there was a red alert siren and there was an interception overhead in fact our cameras managed to get this exact moment let's uh take a look at what happened here just a short hour ago if you look back you have the green door over there you also see the green door in a case of for missile attack we all run to this uh green door and go downstairs to the shelter okay i want to thank him for coming my friend the mayor is attending a funeral unfortunately you know you heard about the number of people who died from the rot and i want to thank the deputy mayor for coming to meet with us so that so as you could see the timing was indeed surreal now there were a few indications of direct impacts here in the town of sderot but uh no no reports of casualties or injuries as a result of that and so as you could see these foreign diplomats got a firsthand account experience as to what thousands of israelis have been experiencing not only since last saturday morning but pretty much for the past two decades here in the town of stilett thank you very much ariel from that report from the border now we're going to look at some other incidents on the border as well and we are joined first by ali nacht deputy mayor of ashto that's a town in southern israel which is usually the first line of bombardment for hamas's rockets just after sderot itself ali what have you seen over the past week what have people been telling you what has life been like there unfortunately we are pretty much used to this kind of a war condition of missiles shutting at us and we are trying to be as much as close to the bomb shelters as possible and with no need we don't go outside of course unfortunately this time the things that changed that was the fear of penetration terrorists into the territory of ashto and people was really frightened about this and there was even some shootings going on on the streets of course we are all alerted about what's going on things this operation this is not something that is going to be finished in a week or two but as we understand it might take a long time and of course right now it's meanwhile okay and we got an opened an aid center for soldiers and citizens of ashto they're coming and giving whatever they can including money to our soldiers and myself and our volunteers are going to the army bases even to the Gaza area to deliver those goods we understand that if you continue for a few weeks so people will have much more problems especially handicaps, elderly people, families with kids with special needs and of course also regular families that we all understand that being closed in the apartment with children and small children for a long period of time it could cause real some sort of inconvenient or problems with the time so we are trying to be ready for that too so that the issue is not the rockets that we are used to but the period of time that all this operation or war will take place. Ali one of the complaints that I've heard from people living in these border regions is they feel the government has at least for almost 20 years now more or less abandoned them to take rocket fire and not actually solve the problem in Gaza. Is there confidence among your people that this time the government has the will to see this mission through to the end and finally deal a death blow to Hamas? You understand that nobody actually knows what will happen and how it will evolve the situation all I can tell you that looking back unfortunately the government and the prime minister did not solve this problem from the roots and actually demolish the power of Hamas or other organizations of being a threat to the Israeli citizens of course first of all to those who are living close to the border as we understand right now as we see it with the army troops and in TV and everywhere we understand that right now the attitude has changed and they really look very let's say decided to go forward with the bigger plan of trying to take off Hamas from Gaza and any other terrorist or weapon that they're there will be able to finish this mission what will happen in the north border I can tell you that the Israeli citizens and the citizens in the south as Ashdod they want to give the army and the government all the space and all the time that they need to solve this problem and once and forever as much as possible we really hope it will happen this time we are ready to you know be in this situation for a long period of time as long it will be let's say the last time it will happen how much the international arena how much our allies and how much the international community will give us the opportunity and how much guts our government has this is something that we all have to watch and see of course of course there are still voices that are doubtful about our government being able to finish what they are started looking once again and in our history and understanding that unfortunately they never finished what they started and they always went to the easier solution of trying to some sort of looking for a compromise or some sort of agreement with the organization that their only will is not to agree with us and not to be leaving peace with us but just to destroy us I hope now everybody in Israel in government all around the world understand the situation much more clearly thank you very much Ellie from that look from the ground and stay safe out there while we all pray for more safe and peaceful days ahead thank you so much we're going to take a quick look at the north border now where our reporter p.s. dekelbach is on the ground where there have been some significant developments as the firefights pick up in intensity with the hezbollah terror organization on the northern border and pia what can you tell us about what's going on out there right now right ariel the israeli army and the hezbollah militia in southern lebanon are currently exchanging fire after at least one or two anti-tank missiles have been fired from southern lebanon into israel this comes about two hours after the incident in stula where mortar shells were fired from southern lebanon by hezbollah toward this is their israeli village very very close to the border one person was confirmed to have been killed in that incident three more are injured when we're we're evacuated to hospital in the area now this area that close to the lebanese border in a proximity of two kilometers people are really advised by the israeli army to stay in their shelters until further notice in the area in the proximity of four kilometers to the lebanese border people are called to be extremely vigilant not to walk outside but we also have to say that these areas that i located that close to lebanese border have been quite empty people have already left throughout the week the army had closed off many of these areas many of these towns and villages even before now of course that incident it seems to be the first civilian casualty in this war here the northern front the question remains whether an escalation with hezbollah is on the horizon here after really skirmishes between israel and hezbollah have increased we could hear the israeli artillery from where we're at right now we're about seven or eight kilometers away from the border earlier we've seen a helicopter striking the area that really borders the southern lebanese here now yesterday there was a major incident in the area of hard off further east of the border with lebanon where hezbollah fired 30 mortar shells toward an israeli army post israel striking back and apprehending a squad trying to infiltrate israeli territory in that incident hezbollah said one of its members was killed now a few minutes ago confirming that another operative was killed on the hezbollah side and we also had an infiltration alert in metula also at the very east of the israeli-lebanese border that later turned out to be false alert and we have seen quite a few false alerts in different areas in the galilee region in the eastern region of the israeli-lebanese border here false alerts of infiltrations and airstrikes that turns out as i said later to be false but that really shows you how volatile and how sensitive the area here is in the north we've been to the city of naria before where we also saw how public shelters are being prepared and now we've been to slomi estre a village a town that is less than two kilometers away from the lebanese border now completely shut off for any civilian movement there also their shelters were open and were prepared but again the northern area is quite deserted also if you're that close to the lebanese border you will hear the boom either of an impact or an interception before you actually get the alert before that actually will be siren this is why this area is extremely dangerous as of now mariel well thank you very much pia for those reports from the north keep yourself safe out there and we're going to take a quick look at gaza we're seeing some airstrikes that just took place to the smoke rising from some of those sites this is part of a preparatory bombardment campaign as the israeli air force attempts to soften the targets to make the way for the ground troops when they go in a little safer to eliminate hamas positions and ambush sites that they could use to strike at israeli troops now for more on all of this we are joined in studio by dr jack naria former deputy head of assessment at the israeli military intelligence thank you very much jack for being with us the big question that everyone's been asking for about a week now that we sort of hinted at with pia's reporting from the border hezbollah are they out are they in they've been launching these probing attacks are they going to commit well i would say the the final the final conclusion yes they're going to intervene they're going to intervene because they're committed they were the ones that devised the plan together with iran and and gave hamas and islamic jihad a copy exact copy of the plan that they had prepared since 2011 vis-a-vis israel i mean this is exactly it was copied and you could see that two months ago when there was this big drill and exhibition done by by hezbollah blowing the the wall and then entering the israeli territory so-called israel with motorcycles exactly what happened with the border of hamas hezbollah has set has set from the very beginning that there is a red line from from its from its point of view the red line is the ground incursion by israeli forces into gaza and if this happened the the commitment of of hezbollah will be such that they cannot evade it and they will intervene right now we are as i call it an appetizer they're just nibbling at at several areas in the you know you could see exactly what what is their intention on the north you have metulla you have misgav you have margaliot and then the the central the the central front with stula and then you know that naria and then of course slomi and and roshan ikrah hanita these these are the places where hezbollah intends to to penetrate and to take over the place if he if he can he will reach naria this is definitely so so i think that you know one has to remember the the second lebanese world in 2006 that kassim suleymani at the time was sitting by hasa nasrallah and imad murni the the military chief of hezbollah and giving them advice we know that khani the actual the chief of the the court's division is in lebanon and i imagine that he is giving the same advice to the hezbollah leaders so i mean let us understand very well that a ground offensive in in gaza will will trigger a response from from hezbollah this response can can be proportionate but certainly un proportionate according to israeli standards because we might be hit by ballistic missiles from deeps inside lebanon or from the intervention of proxies from syrian territory and from ballistic missiles coming as far as the iraqi iranian border now we also know that this was in many ways an intelligence failure by israel to plan and not the only one before we continue we had some statements to that effect by our meat chief of staff hersey halevi so let's hear that first i think that that his phrasing was we did not fulfill the mission i think there is no doubt that the state of israel did not fulfill the mission the results speak for themselves that very night about 2.5 hours before the attack which began at 6.30 a m there were intelligence indications which led to the shin bet chief being summoned to the shin bet headquarters at 4 a.m and thereafter there was a conversation with the heads of the military both the shin bet and the military assessed on the basis of the evidence before them that this did not anticipate what we all ultimately suffered again these matters will be looked into a quick correction that was something that may not hurt you how levy but before we go on on that let's just continue what exactly we saw a major intelligence failure that led up to this israel not actually gaining deterrence against the terrorist in gaza ultimately what does israel has to do to maintain deterrence against the northern front as well because they are a lot stronger than hamas has ever been there's a big difference between combat intelligence and strategic intelligence i advise he's but not to try to check our attack and intelligence because it is most accurate and the targets are definitely in a in a in a data bank and we know exactly what to do if we have to confront the he's but what we saw earlier with sarah negby was in fact the effort done by the government to build up in order to accuse in fact the the military establishment together with the shabbat of the responsibility but in fact what happened on the ground what everything that's happening is is the the the result of a policy of containment that successive government in israel just uh the nourished we wanted to negotiate with hamas we nurtured the beast we fed the beast we gave him everything we just allowed dollars coming from from kata we let them do and we thought and we wanted to see that the hamas is deterred and as such he is interested only with economy he wants to he wants to rule and and avoid any any problems from the population and criticism so this is why they want to concentrate on economy and this was a big mistake a huge mistake strategic mistake that was that filtered and went down to the the lowest echelons and the higher echelons this is why i mean that we just that this was one failure the second failure was the failure of the concept of defense in in gaza we thought that the wall we built with four billion shekels with all the electronics around it with all the cameras would just wear would be enough to deter the the hamas and this was the this was definitely wrong and we forgot we took all the weapons from all the alert alert teams all over the gaza the gaza front and just we said there's no need for that we will intervene and what happened on saturday was that the first helicopter intervened 45 minutes 45 minutes after the attack and then when he when when the helicopter arrived at the scene he was directed differences he could not know exactly where is the main effort he just fired all his ammunition and he went back to to to replenish his ammunition there was no technicians on the ground he had to take the ammunition only on his own and put it in the helicopter this is the kind of this is the kind of failure that has to be investigated understood and learned and this these are the lessons of the for israel and not right now what is going to happen the what is going to happen is certainly very clear we have to to read between the lines and understand when you say we want to get rid of hamas we want to get rid of the military presence and the and the and the political presence of hamas in gaza hamas is a movement it's living in lebanon it's living in syria it's living in jordan it's living its leaders are either in berut having baklava or in istanbul eating shawarma or in katar this is i mean this is we have to compare what would happen to hamas to what happened to daesh it lost a territorial basis but it's still there and before we continue on this we're going to continue on that intelligence failure with a report about just how deep it really went this report from cnn shows the government facing growing criticism for a major intelligence failure over that attack the idea for now saying it will investigate the terror group's use of half a dozen training camps in gaza after their locations were reported by cnn clarris award has these details propaganda videos put out by hamas reveal chilling details about the years of preparations that went into saturday's bloody attacks right under israel's nose analyzing metadata from the videos a cnn investigation can reveal the presence of at least six training sites inside gaza won just 720 meters from the most heavily fortified and patrolled part of israel's border in that camp hamas recreated an israeli compound with elements of the nearby border crossing including an insignia of the era's battalion the videos show they even practice taking prisoners and zip tying their hands at the camp satellite imagery indicates the camp was constructed within the last year and a half at two other locations in the southern part of gaza hamas trained for their audacious paraglider assault rehearsing takeoffs and landings at all six sites two years of satellite imagery reviewed by cnn shows no indication of offensive israeli military action the imagery instead shows that in the last two years some camps even expanded into surrounding farmland and that there was activity in the last several months at the camps the stunning revelations raised questions as to how hamas was able to train so openly so close to the border for so long why israeli officials were unable to pick up on and prevent the october 7 attack and we've been talking to the former deputy chief of the former chief of assessment with the idf jack naria to explain just how deep the training went for these atrocities how serious it was and ultimately how committed the terror groups around israel have been which books the question what will the response be we have the united states sending these two carrier groups to try to dissuade hezbollah from entering the war you say it doesn't matter hezbollah is going to enter the war what happens so as you said earlier the training lasted for the last two years but definitely a year from the year earlier there was this meeting in beirut with khani and with hezbollah and the islamic jihad and hamas where the plan was devised and accordingly hamas just began training according to that plan and we saw that i mean that the intelligence was not blind we saw that but the assessment was wrong we said that this is only a training they have no intention because the philosophy the doctrine told you that they are they are deterred they are interested in economy they don't want to fight israel so that you let them grow on your border and the and you just thinned the deployment of the army to the maximum and left villages and kibbutzim and moshaveem and army bases with nobody to to guard them nobody to protect them and we saw in several in several cases that the army reached those kibbutzim and those moshaveem were attacked only six to ten hours later they were left to their own to their own destiny whether it not those said those those heroes on the ground i think i think we would be in a in a very difficult position they would have reached beirut sheva no problem with that it's a sobering reminder of how deep one failure can go and the absolute destruction that could be sewn by that it's it's dark it's sobering it's terrifying to realize how close it could have gotten that's all the time we have and as much as i want to say i'm glad you're with us it's just a very grim look at the situation well you know this i'm sorry that this is the this is it but this is yeah it is you cannot change this unfortunately thank you very much for everyone else stay safe out there the situation is obviously not good and there is heavy speculation that the war could get a lot more intense in the coming hours or days so stay safe and to all israelis out there stay strong the country will get through this with 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with hamas continues we bring you firsthand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by hamas follow us as israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24 news the questionary is very easy to complete another option is to enter in the link that appears on the screen we wait for your response it of war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped we don't want to do we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity thank you for tuning in today is the ninth date israel's war with hamas i'm ariel margolitan our ongoing coverage here on i24 news of the war continues the ground invasion by israel to the gaza strip is looming hundreds of thousands of civilians have evacuated from gaza city in light of israeli warnings that the population should flee the idf says that it has evidence that hamas is trying to prevent people from heading to the south of the strip by putting up checkpoints and barriers in the north of israel anti-tank missiles were fired at the community of from lebanon killing one civilian and injuring a few more is in the northern border p in the last hour i understand another barrage of anti-tank missiles at israel exactly ariel at least three anti-tank missiles were fired by his bala toward israel the incident in shul about three hours ago where missiles were fired towards that very northern community killing one what seems to be civilian the first civilian casualty in the northern front here and injuring three others who were evacuated to hospital in the city of naria now up until i would say an hour ago we could actually hear the israeli artillery responding to fire coming from his bala we've also seen a helicopter striking closer to the border with lebanon here we can hear the engines of tanks you're very close in this area we are where we are at right now about seven to eight kilometers away from the lebanese border because it is currently impossible to get any much closer to the border the israeli army has closed off the area an proximity of four kilometers to the border they're recommending residents to stay extremely vigilant the area and the proximity of two kilometers to the lebanese border residents are recommended to really remain in their shelter center further notice but ariel we have to say that this area so close to the lebanese border has been deserted people have been evacuating throughout the week there have been villages and towns that have been closed off throughout the week by the israeli army of course here and there there are always people who decide to stay who decide to remain in their villages but also yesterday we have been in the community of shlomi also two kilometers away from the lebanese border it was a ghost town it was a visit very very deserted area as the skirmishes between israel and his bala have really increased throughout the week in recent days only yesterday his bala feigned 30 mortar shells toward an israeli army post in the in the eastern part of the lebanese border in the hardov area this area a disputed area israel striking back apprehending a squad trying to infiltrate and fire an anti-tank missile one his bala operative has been killed his bala his bala in recent hours also confirming that another operative has been killed we are hearing here afar that israel his bala is still exchanging is changing fire here in the area in the north has been very very tense throughout the week residents are really recommended to prepare their shelters as i said much of the northern communities here are already deserted as there is no red alert there is no siren but we know the capabilities of his bala what we're seeing is of course not a showcasing of those capabilities his bala backed by iran has the ammunition and then the military abilities to harm israel's not only north but south of there as well how do idf officers and and intelligence interpret what we're seeing from his bala in the last few days a missile here three there not full force well it seems to be as if his bala is testing the waters we have been hearing the iran inform minister but also his bala leader hasa nasrallah and his deputy is saying that they are very closely monitoring the developments in israeli proceedings in gaza as well iran has said that they are not interested to join in the war but that they are forced to in case the the ground offensive was about to start him again emphasizing that they are very closely watching the the activities here now the skirmishes have really increased throughout the week with infiltration attempts as well and this is a real threat here a threat that civilians and also of course the israeli army is aware of the threat of infiltrations we have seen that also yesterday morning a squad of three palestinians apparently operating under his bala command trying to infiltrate also in the eastern area of marga leot infiltrating an israeli town they were apprehended but it is not only the threat of airstrikes which of course his bala is capable to do and it's capable to do a lot more than what we've seen as of now these are skirmishes these are waves of escalations that come down after a couple of hours they usually now the area here has been closed off as of now but other areas have been closed off after security incident have then been opened up again but the threat of infiltrations is also what israeli forces here on the ground are are warning against and also what civilians are very aware of especially after everyone in the country has seen the horrible images from last weekend p.s thank you very much keep us posted we're looking at images from gaza city at the moment israel is bombarding in gaza and again the question of the israeli land infiltration into gaza is looming lutan calderon reserves dorana vitale former commander of the special forces in the idf joins me here now in studio thank you very much for being with us israel has troops lined on the fence with gaza many of them are saying that you know they won't all come back we're hearing more and more from soldiers there that there is great fear also among the israeli military on the consequences of such an infiltration into the gaza in full force into gaza and the main question is when is that meant to happen israel told the palestinian population to flee said it would give a 24 hour warning those 24 hours have long passed yeah i mean i don't want to time the the window for what the opportunity for the idf went to strike and went to start the offensive there's clear many criteria for example even the weather we really have to weigh everything in and when the army is prepared then he moves in and start the offensive clearly every soldier that goes to fight and some of the soldiers this is their first time must carry some fear but it's all it depends very much on those commanders that can instill some sense of confidence and lead them wisely into the battle so i think the real challenge would be once this battle if we do start is the wisdom that will invest in the moves that we are going to make in gaza that the the targets are that we know effectively what we want to achieve that we everything is coordinated we really attest not only for courage but only for why is there military management and that's what we expect from our army we're hearing from the government that this is not going to be a short operation in gaza like what we've seen in the last 17 or so years not three days not four days it's going to be something much longer because the objectives are very different if you need to draw the objectives of this war with regards to Israel toppling Hamas we know is one what are some of the other objectives i think the way it was defined to the army is the first of all dismantling all the military capabilities of Hamas this is a big aim a big target to and a big to me this to me this it won't be easy and of course to top top of the Hamas i want to also to emphasize that in terms of targeting all those operatives that were implicated with this horrible attack as well as a long memory we'll find everybody in the end even people that are outside of Israel so the context should be more the context of gaza dismantling their ability to shoot dismantling on the military infrastructure and of course whoever is in gaza to to capture and kill so this is the context it's a big mission giving the circumstances of gaza the highly populated the highly populated zone fighting from in this area which is always for every army all through the history of mankind was a challenge it was hard to comply with i i me myself i'm the generation of the lebanon wars to remember berut and the fighting in berut along the camps of sabra and shatila so how to do this how to do it wisely how to achieve those goals how not to risk your soldiers too much this is a real task and it's a real task ahead for the Israeli army while we're speaking there were sirens sounding in the south of israel this is an everyday practice now for the last week and very sad to say but something the villages towns and kibbutz around the gaza border are used to for for two decades now almost the us is sending another warship it is confirming that it's sending another warship other than the us is rusevolt and evacuating its citizens now anybody who would hear that from around the world would be alarmed would the americans know that we don't know is this situation going into a larger regional war or is it a common practice for the americans and others even the ukrainians don of it all the ukrainians are evacuating their citizens from this role i don't think it's a common practice but i do think that the fear from escalation to original conflict is always present in this context just think about the force that his balai's have has in the lebanon and see the condition of lebanon is syria he ran in the in the back of course what we have in the west bank we have all the time we have a mini war in the west bank for the last year and it has been a little bit intensified in the last few days so those are real challenges and i think the us have to project the possibility of applying its forces specifically in the context of the north if need if it's needed again i want to bring you back to 82 in the lebanon war in the end berut the conclusion of the war fighting berut marines american marines were present there so it's not uncommon in the history of the middle east but a clear sign of the americans that they don't de-escalation they want and they don't escalation but they have to make sure by projecting force and the ability to employ their forces if if if it's necessary the one of italy you're staying with me we now want to turn to our arielle oseran who's on the northern border with gaza sorry southern border with the gaza of course uh yeah arielle your update we understand that there are um fresh alarms there now um any barrages that you're hearing of yes aria we can hear the barrages very well as the interceptions uh took place overhead just 10 minutes ago a fresh barrage of rockets to sderot and the close the surrounding border communities around the gaza strip we heard at least four interceptions we saw four interceptions above our heads and according to emergency services there are reports of direct impacts no no official word as to how many injuries if at all the results of those direct impacts but uh from the latest statement from madah that's israel's uh emergency services there are teams uh deployed along the way uh to go in and determine what the outcome of this latest barrage of rockets was but we're here outside the completely demolished police station where a couple hours ago uh former member of khanessa died then on an israel's former ambassador to the un gave a tour to foreign diplomats here and as he started his explanation there was a siren and they all ran to the uh shelter kind of giving them a uh a direct taste of what the residents here of southern israel have been uh experiencing not only since last saturday but as you said in studio this is the reality that has been going on here for nearly 20 years so take a look to the at the scene that happened here just a couple hours ago and then let's take a listen to denon himself talking unfortunately we lost more than 1300 people mainly civilians women and kids were butchered here we are fighting for our life and we are going all the way this time we are not going to do a limited operation and stopping the middle of the operation we have to go in together we have to find the hamas terrorist we have to hand them down and kill them it's going to take a lot of courage from the communities in israel but we are ready the people of the road are ready the people in israel are ready for them we are at war it's fight of humanity against barbaric terrorists and i think every man in a democracy should support israel in this world i'm curious as to what you were hearing from foreign diplomats with regards to the release of the hostages that are held by hamas in gaza since last saturday babies children the elderly women men of course probably more than 130 people were not sure about the number were they relating to that issue at all look ariel they did voice their shock and and and utter surprise that and sadness regarding the issue of hostages but there was no if you're looking for a diplomatic solution coming out from this tour from this vision and i'm sorry to disappoint but no one was really giving any official statement besides saying how how devastating it is how sad these stories are that keep piling up and this is something that not only the foreign diplomats are being exposed to but also i think the fact that they they witnessed being in the line of fire kind of helps them understand the gravity of the situation but indeed regarding the the hostages this is a source subject that many israelis are are pushing for world for global awareness but as of now there has been a no movement in the direction of bringing them back and we need to bear that in mind while israel is planning the land invasion into gaza we need to remember that there are citizens there and that there are negotiations i'm certain that are going on behind the scenes thank you very much ariel um lieutenant colonel reserves another front that israel is keeping its eye on is the west bank and overnight their operations in the west bank now we're used to these operations are happening in the last six months or so mostly in the janine refugee camp in the northwest bank but this time it seems different 49 different people were arrested in the west bank has there been a different pattern of activity for the idf in the west bank since the attack on syria there's no question the last thing we want is that chamas operative or islamic jihad operative or other operatives reacting to what's going on in gaza doing any terrorist act and then this would provoke the settlers and then we'll have a whole new scene so i think there's preliminary arrest of those chamas operatives is a necessary step we have to keep the west bank under control the northern samaria that was very active you remember the last few months it's necessary i mean we have the northern front the northern front it can escalate to a war we have our forces we have our plans we don't know the west bank because the west bank can spill into to israel itself this is very and we have to really be much in guard there and i think this is the move that we're made in the last few days or so now let's talk about the palestinian authority and perhaps the day after what are we hearing from ahmoud abbas with regards to the situation in gaza because i don't think that we're hearing him often enough and and what are the plans that israel and perhaps other regional powers with the united states have for the palestinian authority in gaza the day after i think we have to be frank in the beginning we wanted strong condemnation or something of the sort but i think we have to understand the delicate situation in which he is in because he represents the palestinian case and cause and of course he and of course hamas is his enemy as well as ours so and of course we would have liked to see if gaza if hamas is dismantled we would love to see that we would love and i'm saying it now i'm not sure israeli authorities would have said it a year ago we would love to see the palestinian authority in gaza but this would not be easy because the palestinian authority got really weak through the i don't know who can should take responsibility for it but we have a weak palestinian authority that hardly can command the northern samaria so to give you the gaza it might be a big issue but after this i wouldn't call it a crisis this terrible war that we are in the midst of i think we will have to see we will see a reshaping of the middle east i mean such a war doesn't go without some reshaping with with far-reaching consequences we saw it in the yom kippur war in the egyptian front i suspect god forbids the war ends and the casualties are not enormous reshaping of the middle east would be essential what would that look like i think the in many respects the saudi initiative was a move in this direction in many respects we've said it in this studio that hamas and not only hamas everybody that doesn't want to see any resolution in the middle east would have liked to to intercept and break the possibility of this of this venue and right now it's broken for sure but i think and the world is us of course but the world also is so devastated by what he has seen i would think that we and our allies and when i'm talking about allies it's not only us european union i'm talking about egypt jordan palestinian authority i would count as an ally would like to see some kind of resolution and if saudi arabia enters in something can be worked out but this is really far-reaching consequences into the future i'm afraid we would have to go for terrible events in order to be able to get to such a promising future in the meantime it's war and it will be a rough war a long war and the north right now is skirmishes and so on but it might go if we invade gaza it might go full-blown escalation okay in gaza itself at the moment more than one million people have fled northern gaza now the towns in the north of gaza like hanunas for example have already been evacuated now the idf wants to evacuate gaza city as far as we understand hundreds of thousands of residents of gaza city have already evacuated from their homes and moved south to the towards the border with with egypt this is what a palestinian civilian from gaza was saying in a recorded call with an idf officer um to israel the face of hamas has been clear for for decades resolved although we'll talk about the responsibility perhaps later of the israeli government to the situation in in gaza in terms of what hamas grew to become with these envelopes and suitcases of money that arrived from kata on a quarterly and monthly basis um but but the cruelty of hamas is something that is known to us for many years towards its own citizens of gaza and now colonel doran vitale it's preventing its own citizens from fleeing yeah i think they have an interest to block this movement because they know that we take into account the possibility of hurting civilians it's part of our makeup so for for sure for them it it complicated our ability to act and they want instead of meeting us head on in the battlefield they prevent they're trying to prevent of them of their civilians to go south and we have to try to keep pushing them out because the civilians because we really don't want to hurt civilians the damage is terrible also to the population of gaza so this is part of their philosophy part of their ideology what can we do explain to me the paradigm in uh egypt and the relationship between israel and egypt many me included uh are unclear uh about the reports coming from israel and from cairo with regards to the coordination between the two countries vis-a-vis the the the palestinian refugees that are now supposed to flee gaza israel has bombarded the uh hanunas uh sorry the rafa crossing um in in order to prevent palestinians from crossing although some israeli officials have called palestinians to cross into egypt and i understand that the egyptian position is a clear position to prevent palestinians from from crossing i think the egyptians so so where is the coordination between israel and egypt and is there a plan by israel or a desire at least by israel to to to make the palestinian population move to go to egypt i mean there are some people in the israeli politics that might think that the egyptian in the end would like to take those refugees they would not they never did they never did they don't want they don't want any business with gaza don't forget that they have a big problem they used to have with the muslim brothers with the president for the muslim brothers the we shouldn't forget the events of the arab spring and for them gaza is a problem that israel has to tackle of course we are very well in sync intelligence wise but policy wise for them to let those refugees enter egypt and then to find them handling the gaza population in their territories of course it's not within their own interest or the way they think about the situation but there are an ally in the middle east so we have to work out with them some kind of resolution in the end so as far as egypt is concerned and as far as israel is concerned then the population of gaza stays in gaza i don't think i if anyone in israeli political echelon thinks that the consequence of this a wall would be the deportation of gaza gaza population to other territory then gaza i think is completely off the gaza population state of kids people people might live but in general the idea that there's some resolution on the moon for the gaza the gaza problem is is not realistic okay so far the point is the hamas from a military perspective from a military perspective we were fighting israel fought the i go back to the war in lebanon 82 the lebanese population they moved they shifted they got back to the house there was a war within populated cities like sidon or beirut and so on so this is part of the challenge is hamas infrastructure though not spread out throughout the gaza strip from north to south i mean now israel it seems yes it seems like now israel is is channeled towards the north of the strip pushing the population to the south are we expected to see the opposite i don't want to speculate about the future of the moves and i'm not completely familiar with the the sudden the southern front in terms of the infrastructure of hamas and i think not in those studies we would never know more than what does our military people know and do right now what would be the what would be the next stage i don't know okay we talked about what the day after would look like for the palestinian authority perhaps or the day after in gaza if it were at least for israel and its allies egypt saudi arabia potentially to decide what would the day after look like for israel for israeli society and for israeli generals and government ministers including the prime minister i think many of these generals you've you've worked with in the past many of the generals were under my command including the the chief of staff herzi and the commander of the north in the end i mean after this war would be won decisively i hope of course we'll have to see what happened and people would have to take responsibility but i think responsibility for for what went wrong but i think in the end the political consequence would be tremendous if people think that bibi netanyahu would stay in power after israelis will understand the full scope what has happened i suspect not i suspect also that the long standing strategy of bibi netanyahu we can admit honestly failed completely and i'm talking not only about palestinian authority hamas but also in some sense the iranian context in which we didn't play with our allies and we're trying to play on our on our own and right now we rely on our allies so i would suspect there would be dramatic changes okay don't ever tell please stay with us we're gonna take a short break now if you're joining us now alarms sounding in the south of israel one person was killed inch to line the northern border after anti tank missiles were fired by hezbollah into israel later israel was shelling in south lebanon in response to that attack and hezbollah continues to attack a military post of israel in the northern border we're gonna take a short break we'll have all the latest from you when we come back stay with us 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with hamas continues we bring you firsthand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by hamas follow us as israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i24 news yeah because we go subsea and we utilize the hydrostatic pressure the weight or the water above your head we're able to save energy made for me a unique concept in israel custom made men's fashion to your measurements made for me designer of all your events schedule your appointment at www.madeforme.co.il made for me official dresser of i24 news the ninth day to the war with hamas more than 1300 israelis have paid with their lives earlier today the foreign minister elie koh and met with some of the bereaved families in israel's devastated southern communities let's take a listen to one of the residents who lost her son and husband in last week's attack how did i find out that my son was murdered i received a video on whatsapp is it even possible this is how i should find out that my son was murdered i need to see a video of my son being shot in the head tell me how we got here i'm not looking for someone to blame i'm not a hero i'm a bereaved mother who lost a husband a fireman who saved his sons he jumped on a grenade shot three terrorists and eliminated them gill has been preparing for this his whole life we're not heroes we've been saying for years in itiva sarada we are hanging on a thread near the gaza border and we ask for help not only in terms of businesses and agriculture which are collapsing we're asking for help and protection like all other citizens in the country by the way the lady that you're seeing beside her with the pink jacket is the french foreign minister hopefully hearing every word your aunt and dealer joins us now here in studio and then you're one of the survivors from the nova music festival correct um thank you for coming into our studio how are you rather fine getting better every day uh you know you get stronger and stronger but uh yeah you gotta you know keep looking forward and i'm surrounded by loved ones and family friends you look great thank you for coming into our studio you look good too tell me what happened who did you go to the party with let's start imagine it was a nice party before everything uh changed honestly i've been i've been telling the story quite a few times already i think the the mental strength is like it's really immense i'm just saying it again and again but i i believe it's important to to tell it uh you know no matter how many times until i can i'll try to tell it a shorter version and um i'll just say that we're all looking forward for this event you know the nova festival together with parallelo it's like a really big production in brazil of over 3000 people were supposed to come dj's best lineup um so i came there with my friend joining another another group of like 12 15 people uh it was like five in the morning four four thirty and once we decided to just you know have fun and you know dance and whatever you're supposed to do in this kind of event um six a.m six thirty um you see all these rockets in the top of our top of our head it was quite funny in the beginning because you know no one's really uh really focused on what's really going on you know there's rockets firing and there's still music going on because no one can hear the sirens because it's still music and it's surreal right here in the south of israel and you're probably saying to yourself we're at a party and there is rockets being fired because that's a reality in the south and sadly as we've said the residents of the south have been accustomed to this for like 17 years unfortunately yeah the residents of the south you know the whole nation released it for the past uh many years um we know the drill you know the policemen the police told us to take our stuff and leave before that he told us to wait they did everything accordingly everyone knew the drill you know no one's really excited also about about it of course there were some that were panicking more um but once we saw the rockets we went to the tent to the camp we packed our stuff went to the car um i suggested my friend let's just let's just wait for all the traffic to to mellow down for a bit because there's like 3 000 people trying to get out so once we were waiting um i you know i thought maybe it's a better idea to take the other road because there was less there were less people taking that road and then it came to be um the decision that basically saved our life um so you want to take a right which is south um the north road went to beri and the one in the south went to rain the ones in the north got shot first okay terrorists blocked it these are the things we understood only later while we're in the event no one really understood what's really happening and i'll tell you in a bit um we're taking right um suddenly see this woman doing a U-turn hitting the car in front of me and you want to understand why would she hit the car in front of it was it was also like very weird because she did pretty slowly um so the door opened you see full blood everywhere everywhere and she she was shot on her left knee uh basically her whole leg was cut off um she was she was even crying or anything she was just not conscious i mean she was there's no conscience there was no nothing she was um she she didn't have anything to say she was she was kind of dying in front of me you're in the car at that time or you leave the car i'm next to her i'm next to her we're all surrounded by her giving her help you know we're trying to block her wound um we're trying to give her water you know there are a lot of people around her um and you don't understand where why would this happen like i mean they're just rockets suddenly they see a woman injured in her leg and her her knee is shot and she doesn't know what she's what she's where is this going um a few seconds later here gunshots coming everywhere like one after another and i've been in the army for you know three years combat unit i know what how gunshots uh how do they i mean what they sound like yeah you know what they sound like but this was kind of like a not a idea of kind of a gunshot i would say so from that moment forward we went to the river uh next next to the next to the road and not by car anymore no we left we left our car at that point i told my friend let's just leave our car here just leave our stuff here we don't know what's going on no one really knew what's going on but let's you know it's a safe move to do from that point just go to the river wait there wait things wait for things to chill out just relax and you know worst case we're just gonna you know come back we stay in the river and these gunshots keep coming and they keep coming closer and closer and you know people are just still in shock um after this whole night no one's sleeping everyone's like so exhausted like what's going on like we just thought we just thought these are just rockets you know we know the drill with rockets we don't know the drill with people shooting you from everywhere you don't even know where the bullets are coming from but my instinct kind of told me that this coming from north and a bit south south is where the woman was coming from so danger was coming from that that way and that way and of course west is Gaza so the only way is going east so we're walking east and you know putting your heads down suddenly these gunfire gunfires come more towards us you know on top of our head like literally we just put our head down and you see the bullets flying on top of us so at that moment um you know i kind of told myself i have nothing to lose i might as well document this and uh i've sent you the footage you can control later on but um i you know i didn't let anyone know i i really believe it's going to be fine i told everyone to just you know put their head down just keep keep moving east keep moving east and you know people just not focused sometimes uh at some point but uh the ones that did uh you know they put their head down they went to the bush and you just kept walking um how long how long did you continue walking for and again how do you know which way to go you said east i didn't east is a very general direction i just opened my maps uh my maps and i didn't have much battery on my phone but uh you know i put my phone on flight mode so i could save some battery open the maps i saw the closest it wasn't really the closest there were closer ones uh like neti vote was i think was north of us but there was patish which was east it was a straight line there's also a fakim i don't know my instinct told me to go to uh patish and also we were you with it this time i was with my friend my good friend adav just one friend one friend the whole group we didn't know where they are i just know a few of them we we spoke to each other we sent ourselves like live locations you know it's it's very hard to locate each other in in the in the river and like what's going on there um so we kept walking east meantime we see these gunfires rockets behind us and uh again no one really knows what's going on but we've been walking for more than four hours you know no water no food um you know i think there's like 300 rockets during that whole time at least we kept walking it was uh kind of a kind of a survival you know survival uh expedition because no one really knew how much how long are we supposed to walk i mean for like more than three four hours we're like wondering what's going on back there you see smoke everywhere like this like are we in this like world you feel like you're in an action movie and also while there are gunshots i was still kind of um i don't have to call it scared but because i really didn't know what's going on i refuse to believe that this is just terrorist trying to invade and close us down from all sides and just meantime slaughtering people if i would know that maybe i would act a bit differently but i don't regret in any way i reacted because because i was if i wasn't panic i would leave first and i would get shot if i would if i would wait too long i would be like the ones that are like my friends that that stayed there got kidnapped you know so i kind of everything i was very lucky but there were people that are much less lucky than i am so let's talk about them uh as well you and your friend managed to make it to patish yeah to the end um we got there and luckily that's uh that's that's a town the village that was not attacked civilians came to pick us up as well civilians came to pick you up what happened to the rest of your friends so most of them got saved but again there's some that um got kidnapped we don't know where they are so makes sense that they're probably kidnapped and you don't know you don't know what's your condition over there what are their names do you who is it can you say some of rather not i'd rather not say um because it's hard already but uh you know there's one friend that died his name is ilan um he got his funeral a few days ago he was even he was a closer friend to my friends so for them i guess it's even harder we heard all kinds of stories when we got to patish you know because again no one really knew what's going on even if we got there after all these all these hours um so you get to get to hear all these stories from all these people and you you hear all the horrors and people can't find their relatives and it's all just it was a genocide it was a genocide and that's when i you know thought you know i mean this is this is this can't be possible i mean be out what i mean out of proportion so yeah i mean this is ices level how does it make you feel nowadays and this is my last question to you when you see pro-palestinian propaganda from around the world distributing video saying there is no evidence that 260 people were slaughtered at a nature party how does it make you feel and what do you say to these people it's very frustrating before i came to this interview i actually got a message from the italian press from canale cinque it's one of the known ones in italy i gave him my interview a few days ago and she told me is it true that 200 hostages were freed two days ago i told her where did you hear this nonsense and she she sends me this article of this of this woman and two kids being freed right there was one there was this there was this thing but it wasn't 200 hostages you know it's a very it's not even close i told her i wasn't mad at her you know these are things that you just assumed that they're just there's so many false accusations so many false news fake news everywhere and what you should do is just be patient about it and do show them the right way i mean i i told this is nonsense i mean you can just hear all the news i don't know if you fall out jazeera i don't know what news even out jazeera didn't didn't say that which is quite quite weird so she was double checking with me in case it's ready i did diplomacy programs such as stand with us you know being a zionist it's very important it came from my parents you know they're my mom's italian my dad's american you know they came to israel to do aliyah so it's really in my blood i mean i think it's disgusting to see in the world i mean there's so many evidence outside you know you have to be blind to i mean let's see it okay and we have to do everything right now for explaining the truth and spreading it and sharing these stories although it's not that easy and you know make people understand that you know the reality we live in and once and for all maybe people understand what what you know what we should do i mean this is a really important turning point in history definitely and i believe that we'll win and we're strong Jonathan Dilo thank you very much for first of all for surviving to tell and second just for telling that story i know how difficult it is but you know how important it is thank you very much for coming into our studio not only children and entire families have lost their loved ones in this attack in the south animals too who survived terror were left to starve for days some good people went down to the kibbutz and rows and towns to rescue them in the last few days and try to find some new homes for them or to find and locate their owners or for flin as a volunteer with the united group for pets rescue or fill uh how many dogs and cats and what other mammals or did you find there right now there are over 500 cases that we are trying to help and i'm gladly can share that over 100 pets already found the way back to their owners and uh lots of them are in shelters or foster homes and we'll keep on going we have a lot in front of us but before i talk about the pets it's an opportunity for me to send my condolences to the families and it's such a terrifying situation that i'm the next item to talk about pets when you had this such an emotional and an amazing interview with the guy that been with you a few minutes ago you know i feel there are many there are many sides to this tragedy that we're all experiencing and and we are all doing what we can these days what you're doing is is is heartwarming tell me how when was the first moment that you guys decided that it's safe enough to go down south to attend to these pets well first of all the rescue organization was established to address the complexity of of rescuing animals in the war zones we have brought together a number of independent groups sorry no i i couldn't hear you for a moment oh so i'm sorry it's probably network problems so and after like two or three days into the into the war there were many initiatives and independent groups that started to act simultaneously in in the field and we decided to to establish a one one group one hotline that will address the cases and so that we can work in more organized and efficient way and you're talking about a hundred uh or so pets whose owners have been found what are you doing meanwhile with with the remaining 400 or so well first of all we have the rescuer rescuers from the field they have a green light from the IDF and the authorities to go into the war zone to meet the either the soldiers that found the the pets or work along the information that we give them once we rescue the pets they bringing them into our emergency area in bed comma and there and we connect the owners or the foster homes and we have volunteers that takes the pets from the from bed comma to all over israel we also have medical crew veterinarians some corporates that were in the field of packs that are working with us and we actually create a well organized database so that we can cross references information and return the animals mainly to the owners but if we can reach the owners to shelters other shelters in israel or foster homes of course now tell me about the condition of many of those pets they're sensitive souls many of them i know so many dogs myself that are just went in alarm sounds in israel because there is a rocket attack that they could shake for hours and some of them are on on medications as well what condition did you find these pets in so most of them are in kind of a trauma and panicked and when they hear the sirens or of course the bombing and the gunfires they ran away confused we found a lot of dogs and cats and kind of starved and dehydrated and the first thing the first aid is to to hug them to give them love to give them food and to support them and then to calm them and and find the the right solution for them and we also rescued parrots and fishes and donkeys it's not just about dogs and cats that are the main pets of course but whatever we can help we are doing our best i'm not sure many of our viewers can adopt a donkey in their homes but i can surprise you but we we we reached a few farms up north of israel and the center of israel that they can help with horses and donkeys as well yeah fantastic fantastic but i am guessing that you have many dogs and cats etc that are looking for families for people who are looking to adopt where can they meet them online offline yeah so first of all we have a hotline it's the number is asterisk 6137 i'll say it in hebrew also it's this is the main hotline we have a lot of volunteers that waiting to take incoming calls and right now we ask pet owners to contact us in a single number so that we can work in an ordinary manner on the database we also call for volunteers for the rescue volunteers that can go to the war zone to the fields with the IDF authorization and especially those with the professional background a veterinarian or people with a rescue background and we have hundreds of volunteers that want to help us with foster homes and mobility to the pets thank you of it will part here remember the number our viewers it's a 6137 star star yeah thank you thank you so much of it we have to turn to the south because we're hearing about a possible infiltration of terrorists in of akim arielle also on your update right arielle so indeed just receiving confirmation by the IDF that there is a suspected terrorist infiltration in the community of of akim it is a bit further east and south to where i'm standing now not exactly one of the border communities but it's fairly close to the border pretty much halfway between between the border the Gaza border and the southern city of forces have been sent to the area to see if indeed this is this is true but this comes this coincides with rocket launching there was a red alert siren about 10 minutes ago in other border communities and so this is the the the way the day has been going yeah arielle earlier today as well a terrorist was caught near kibbutz near um do we know about that other incident earlier today if it was a new infiltration or was he there since last saturday right arielle so to my understanding and the and what the IDF spokesperson is saying is that since saturday there have not been any new infiltrations and so all these reports of terrorist infiltrations into these border communities or communities and a second and third line from the border these are terrorists who infiltrated on saturday and have since been waiting either for the right moment or for orders now we're talking about around 40 to 45 terrorists who have been caught who have been eliminated or arrested following the events of saturday morning and so this is indeed a significant security threat but as far as the IDF is concerned there's there's full control over all the towns and they're just waiting with increased military presence throughout the area for these terrorists to raise their head and then they're they're caught quickly there have been no civilian injuries from these terrorists who have appeared since saturday the same 40 to 45 that i was talking about there have not been any civilian injuries due to their infiltration or to their raising their heads they were immediately caught or or any they're taken out by israeli okay there's a there's a red alert now siren going off here in televiv we can't hear it here and there's in our studio cool is that because it's in the center of the town center center of the city it's in her tselia her tselia right about the charon televiv the control room is telling me these are cities north of televiv in the parameter of televiv of course and we'll give you all the latest usually it takes a minute and a half or so between the moment that the siren goes off and the impact either in the sky or on the ground of course these israeli cities are surrounded by iran dome of course defense systems so we'll have all the latest for you the moment that's something like this it comes into our studio right arielle arielle you're you're saying in televiv and her tselia there's a minute and a half but in the border communities and in the town of sderot we're talking about 15 seconds often you hear the interception even before you realize that the siren is going off and you have time to make it to the shelter so hopefully all our viewers in central israel also those who aren't our viewers are in a safe room had they have time to make it in there but that's why so many of these border communities such as sderot and these other towns have been evacuated because simply there's there's hardly any time today currently there are about 15 percent of residents of the town of sderot have stayed we're talking about a town of 32 35 thousand people and so these border communities really have no time to make it to the shelter they've gone cities in central israel they have a little more time and they can continue some resemblance of a normal life even though since last saturday life pretty much everywhere in israel is far from normal yeah we're seeing live images from televiv people some of them fleeing some of them moving a bit more cautiously into secure and safe spaces where you're seeing there is people who are demonstrating for the release immediate release of the hostages that are held with hamas if that's not enough they're under missile attacks as well right now when we're seeing the skyline of televiv there as mentioned alerts at this moment just a minute ago let me exact in her tzilia ramata sharon the north of televiv all these places people are being called to enter the safe rooms and the shelters donna vitale i want to ask you what we call in in hebrew sheila tom but maybe you would have the answer is it possible to completely eradicate a terror organization i think history tells us that it's possible i mean i says i wouldn't say completely eradicated al qaeda would say completely eradicated but it's not an effective power in the context for example of iraq and syria or the concern context of afghanistan al qaeda so it's possible but it's very important to remember that this terror organization is within the context of the palestinian case in the end though it's islamic radical islamic ideology and everything practice really the horrors of isaac so but this complicates the issue because it's it has some affinity with the population itself it's not completely decapitated from the from the population so we'll have to show our hands we'll have to dismantle them and we'll have to hunt them also abroad and then hopefully create a different future for this area but it will go for a long whole war we have to understand it you mentioned isis for example isis was not a ruling party governing 2.2 million people exactly as i'm saying so this is and this is what i'm saying that this is a different story we shouldn't forget this is a terror organization that is associated with a population it was governing the population for a long time but in the end it's in it's necessary and i think also limiting the power of the muslim brotherhoods in egypt we saw that it did happen so right now they have to be dismantled and we'll see what's next thank colonel and reserves don't have it all thank you very much for joining us you're leaving us for now but we're not going anywhere we want to turn back to arielle osiran in the south perhaps before we talk about the situation in the south arielle do you have any updates from televiv and ramata shawar in her tilia where sirens were sounding just moments ago unfortunately i don't have any updates regarding i i don't have any updates and thankfully there are no reports so far of injuries or direct impacts the moment we receive such information we will share it with you but i want to take you back a couple hours where i'm standing here in sderot right near the demolished police station that was overrun by hamas terrorists on saturday and there was a three-day firefight here so earlier today israel's former ambassador to the un danie danon and he's a member of kineset he he toured with foreign diplomats here to show them the situation here in sderot and as he was talking to them there was a red alert siren and they all had to rush to the the bomb shelter right near where i'm standing right now let's take a look at that scene that unfolded live on our camera here earlier today unfortunately we lost more than 1300 people mainly civilians women and kids were butchered here we are fighting for our life and we are going all the way this time we are not going to do a limited operation and stopping the middle of operation we have to go in together we have to find the hamas terrorists we have to hand them down and kill them it's going to take a lot of courage from the communities in israel but we are ready the people of the road are ready the people in israel are ready for that we are at war it's fight of humanity against barbaric terrorists and i think every man in a democracy should support israel in this world so real as you could see that unfolded and in real time and those foreign diplomats got a taste of of what residents of southern israel have been experiencing not only since last saturday but for many many years here nearly two decades now what was interesting is just before the that clip started the deputy mayor who was a company member of kineset danone he he pointed out to the nearest bomb shelter which is the one that everyone ended up running to that was really moments before the siren blared and that's the reality here in these border towns you have to given the the close proximity to the gaza border and the short amount of time you have to make it to the shelter you really do have to at every moment know where the closest shelter is you also it helps knowing where where's west that's gaza where the rockets are going to come from also where to protect yourself just an example of the complex reality here down south and these foreign diplomats got a got a taste of it and their visit here ariel thank you very much keep updating us as events unfold there dr. david shimoni from commander is for israel's security joins us now in studio thank you very much for for joining us i want to ask you about israel's strategy with regards to the land operation in gaza israel gave an alert to the people of northern gaza to move to the south of the strip what is israel planning to do in the north gaza and will north gaza remain in its size the same as we know it today or do you think that after the operation israeli plans or to annex or re annex parts of it i hope our plans will end with the destruction of the military abilities of the hamas these are the declared intentions of our government these are the declared aims of this war so as as we've been seeing for over a week now there is mainly air force activity in gaza but the purpose of the one of the purposes of the air force activity is to provide the idea better conditions should they decide to enter the gaza strip should you're not determined that israel is going to do that we understand that this is looming and underway it is and as you can see it's also it didn't begin yet except for a very small incursion yesterday to to rescue some bodies of people who were kidnapped the purpose is not to invade gaza the purpose is to stop the activities of hamas if it can be done without a ground activity that's the best i don't think it can be done without ground activity i believe we'll see some invasion but not necessarily the huge invasion that we envisage of 200 000 troops marching into into gaza i hope we will try to restrict it to hit strategic areas in gaza to get vantage points for our intelligence for our air support of course to try to get to the hostages and naturally the main concentration of enemy is in the tunnels underground and there'll be there must be some activity to go and penetrate these tunnels now many of these tunnels are both under gaza city itself as far as we understand but also in the southern part of the gaza strip are we expected to see the reverse announcement by israel in a couple of days or weeks telling the population to flee from the south back to the north in order for israel to treat take care of the southern parts in the infrastructure of hamas there okay so your question uh illuminates the complexity of the situation because uh i'm sure your audience knows that five minutes ago we were under attack here in tel aviv by by rockets trying to attack civilian targets in israel while we are trying to concentrate on military and the reason to ask the uh or encourage the population in gaza city to leave to the to the south is maybe hopefully to save lives of civilians in in gaza you're asking if once we do that and they try to they manage to clear the gaza city from terrorists uh could we see the reverse yes we might we might see the reverse again the purpose is to destroy the military uh capabilities of hamas and to save as many civilian lives as possible on both sides now your organization has been promoting normalization with the the arab world and i believe also with the palestinians in the last few years in light of what's happening right now do you think that there is also a hidden opportunity where we're grieving but in in the most extreme grievances in history those moments have also yielded a different reality do you think there's also an opportunity here for change and if so what would that change look like and and what role would states like saudi arabia egypt take in that change definitely there is a no an opportunity here um we don't know exactly what motivated the hamas to open this uh operation and this terrible slaughter uh in the south but one of the reasons for them to do that is their fear that there is going to be a peace arrangement in the middle east with saudi arabia maybe with other big muslim countries like malaysia like indonesia and um and i believe they have the fear that excludes the palestinians exactly uh they are they are afraid that this big uh a major scheme will exclude them and they will not be included or they're there what they define as their rights will not be fully fulfilled and maybe that's one of the reasons that hamas initiated this uh this attack but to answer your question yes there is an opportunity uh i hope it will be exploited because it's not only the conditions around us it's also the conditions within us we have to reach a political decision that this is what we want again when you wage war okay you want to destroy your enemy you want to win the war but eventually you want to have a political plan and a diplomatic plan and i believe there is now an opportunity to reach that and is there a plan as well as far as you know with government well first of all our movement the commanders for the uh security of israel we have a plan of disengagement in the west bank it's a gradual plan a committee implemented starting now um i think one of the problems within our decision making mechanisms is that there's no consensus in israel what is the plan okay we are very funny country we don't have agreed upon borders within israel i'm not talking about the international community but within israel there's still an argument what are our borders and before we settle our differences i think it would be very difficult even to negotiate to negotiate a big change nevertheless there is an opportunity now i think it should be exploited i think we should deal with the palestinian issue i hope the west bank will not blow up within these a few hours of days and i hope eventually out of this terrible mess and terrible massacre in the south we will be able to achieve a lasting peace in the middle east okay i want to hear what the best case scenario according to you looks like uh but first we have to turn to piaz takobach in the northern border on the northern border where piaz i understand that just about 15 minutes ago another missile or missiles were shot at israeli posts army posts right arielle we're talking about his bala firing anti tank missiles at least four as we know as of now for today we can occasionally hear the booms also of israeli artillery retaliating we also earlier saw helicopters striking the area very close to the lebanese border now here behind me you cannot see because it's behind this mountain range behind me is the israeli village of stula which was attacked by his bala barrages earlier at noon one person the first civilian casualty here up north confirmed to have been killed three others have been evacuated to hospital in narya we occasionally still hear the booms as i said here in this region now the israeli army after that incident closed off the area in proximity of less than four kilometers to the border the residents were advised to stay near to shelters now this area has been opened up again until a proximity of two kilometers away from the border this is where we are at right now we're about three kilometers away from the lebanese border this situation here in the north has been quite a volatile ariel the skirmishes between israel and his bala have increased only yesterday we saw 30 mortar shells being fired as an ad in israeli army post in the area of hard dove east from us as well one his bala operative was said to be killed there today his bala saying another of their members was killed in an israeli strike then an infiltration attempt in the wake of the firing of mortar shells yesterday another one yesterday morning that was both of them were apprehended by the israeli army yesterday morning three palestinians crossing into israeli territory under his bala orders the situation here tends residents here know that they have to be prepared public shelters are open but many of the areas here so far up north are already deserted as residents many of them have evacuated to other areas in israel now tell me about this evacuation process i know some of the districts regional councils as they're called in israel have guided or recommended that their citizens leave is this being done in an organized way by the government with buses with a ministry of transportation taking part or are people just leaving with their own cars fleeing something that could develop into a war zone well as of now we do not see any movement of fleeing also this could be dangerous now a mass amounts of people fleeing the the areas as i said people have gradually evacuated already throughout the week that does not seem to have been anything coordinated by the government the different regional councils recommending this but of course it is very hard to force citizens to leave their own home so also yesterday when we were in the village of shlomi two kilometers away from the border there were here and there are still residents who said that they simply did not want to leave and it is very hard also for the israeli army of course to really uh you cannot basically enforce this it's not feasible to force these residents to leave their homes they're appealing to them using their own reasoning to to evacuate to safer areas here what the regional councils are really actively doing is preparing the shelters to put mattresses and shelters we've just been to the city of naria a major city here in the northern area that we're saying we spoke to the municipality they were saying that they're stocking up food and water in those shelters of course keeping them open and just raising the awareness among the public because we're not only talking about possible strikes from the air we're also talking about possible further infiltration attempts we have seen that all over again this week we've also seen a few false alerts which really shows you how vigilant israeli forces are and they're appealing they're calling upon people to be the same to just be vigilant and very very aware of the very volatile situation here up north okay any word from hezbollah today they have taken responsibility for the shooting earlier at the stula where one person died a few others were injured any word from hezbollah basically what they have been saying today is that they still did not take revenge for a journalist on the lebanese side of rotors journalist that was killed two days ago they're attributing that strike on israel they're saying they have not taken revenge for that now but over the course of the past few days statements from hezbollah have been saying that they're very closely watching the developments here in israel at the gaza border that any further escalation could lead to them joining this war meetings between hezbollah leader hassan asrallah and the iranian foreign minister the same wording is there that they're watching the events closely and that any further israeli atrocities israeli escalation a possible the looming ground offensive in gaza could lead to them joining the frontier okay piers takabakh thank you we'll be back with you momentarily dr david shimoni first of all i do want to hear what you're the best case scenario that you think could come out of this for israel for the palestinians for gaza let's start with that and then i want to talk about the north just because we didn't finish that discussion well my best scenario would be the destruction of the hamas i totally agree with that with that and the hamas being replaced by the palestinian authority taking taking over taking power and managing things there especially civilian affairs welfare hospitals schools rebuilding the the gaza strip and the city of gaza i'm sure there'll be a lot of international support to that and a longer range of course i would like to see a separation between israelis israeli mostly jewish population and a palestinian population also in the west bank okay we'll talk about the northern front in a bit i now want to turn to europe where germany and france have banned pro-palestinian protests while in the uk yesterday a large protest in support of the palestinians took place after the one in new york now ali barrett joins us now live from london ali thanks for joining us first of all tell us about that demonstration in in london how many people attended what were you hearing there and what is the reaction from the authorities in london vis-a-vis berlin and paris that are forbidding such demonstrations at this time well the uk government position on this is very clear which is that they say that it is wrong for anyone to be supporting visibly hamas out on the streets of london or any other british town or city but that protests are allowed to go ahead which are in support of the palestinian people for example the metropolitan police have been making it very clear as well that they will facilitate any demonstrations and protests that take place lawfully but they and the government are stressing that anyone who does show support for a prescribed terrorist organization which hamas is in this country that that is potentially a criminal offense and that that would be something that would lead to the potential for arrest for example the protest we saw in london on saturday various different estimates about how many people attended the organizers were talking about believing that there were hundreds of thousands of people there i think that probably that is on the upside of estimates it's probably tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands but it certainly was a large protest and there were also demonstrations in support of the palestinian people in other british towns and cities as well so it is probably safe to say that in the uk as a whole on saturday there were hundreds of thousands of people attending those types of rallies now for the most part they were peaceful for the most part they passed off without incident that said there were around 15 arrests we think nationwide and as a result of various episodes that broke out at those rallies at those demonstrations as i say the uk police stressing that any kind of show of support for hamas would be a criminal offense and would be the kind of thing that would lead to police intervention but for people out on the streets in support of the palestinian people those demonstrations are being allowed to continue here in a way that as you suggest is not being allowed to go ahead in some other european countries tell me more about the reactions this sunday from the british government with regards to what israel experienced here of course last week and continues to experience with the constant barrages of rockets we just had one on televieve and her to lia romato show on north of televieve and with regards to israeli plans to infiltrate the gaza strip by land as well the british government is standing we know with the united states supporting israel fully how long do you think or how far would this support go whether it is in time or whether it is in terms of objectives that are achieved well we've been hearing a lot from the foreign secretary james cleverly today who has been speaking in a series of interviews and he has been reiterating that full support from the uk for israel of course we've also seen that military deployment from british authorities we've seen patrol surveillance aircraft or any beginning flights in the region we are seeing a naval deployment heading towards the eastern Mediterranean as well and we're told that that will be partly to show support for israel but partly also to potentially be involved in a humanitarian operation at some point james cleverly he's has been reiterating that the uk is fully in support of israel but he's also been pressed on humanitarian concerns and he has been saying that when he has conversations with his israeli counterparts that he always stresses the british position which is that there is full support for israel after the terrorist attacks of last weekend but that he says he continues to remind his israeli counterparts that the uk wants to see civilian casualties minimized as much as possible and that the uk position of course is that the international law should be respected as well and he says he's been stressing today james cleverly that that's exactly what israel itself has been saying that it wants to make sure that it respects international law in its response as well so the british position remains clear and is being reiterated by the foreign secretary james cleverly over and over again that idea of full support for israel but wanting to see civilian casualties minimized as much as possible and also wanting to try and ensure that this doesn't spill over into a more wide more broad regional conflict as a result of what took place in israel of course all the way you're mentioning is of course concerns on the on the governmental level and also reactions from government i don't want to ask you about what we're seeing on the street there's a rise in anti-semitic crimes across europe in the united states in the last week i've heard i'm hearing from friends who live in london they're saying never has the uk been so silent yeah that is a real issue for debate here in the uk i mean you could take for example sporting events and there's been a big row here about exactly how far for example the football association should go given that there is a match between england and italy due to take place at wembley stadium in on tuesday and as far as we know the israeli flag for example is not going to be beamed on to the wembley arch or the way or the exterior of wembley stadium in the in a way that we have seen for some other countries in the wake of other terrorist atrocities over recent years now this is the events in israel are going to be marked we understand that there will be a silence at that particular match but there is a an ongoing debate about why exactly the football association to pursue that particular example isn't going further than it is now when you mention anti-semitic incidents we've been hearing from jewish charities here in the uk that they've been seeing they think a fourfold spike in anti-semitic incidents till since the attacks by hamas of last weekend we've also seen the uk government pledging support for jewish communities up and down the country pledging extra funding as well to make sure that things like security can be beefed up at jewish schools and at synagogues as well here in london several jewish schools actually closed at the end of last week saying that it was a safety issue that they thought it was just much more easy for their pupils to not turn up to school towards the end of last week and and so there's real concern among jewish communities here in the uk about their safety and i think you're right as well that there is certainly a questioning of why there hasn't been potentially more visible support in some areas since those attacks took place ollie i want to ask about your colleagues our colleagues if i may the bbc it's a news organization owned by the state funded by the state considered to be one of the most prestigious in the world i highly respect this personally but it is one that refuses to call hamas terrorists this is as you mentioned a terror organization according to uk law how do you explain that well the bbc says that it's not its place to describe the organization in that way when it comes to the attacks of last weekend but you're quite right to say that it's hugely controversial indeed government minister after government minister in their interviews on the bbc and on other media outlets actually have been heavily criticizing the bbc for not going further with its language now the bbc will say this isn't about this particular group or this particular set of attacks in israel that this is just how its policy works when it comes to language and the description of individuals and groupings and organizations but it's very much a controversy here in the uk i mean we saw at the end of last week a message coming from the royal family in which hamas were described as terrorists and that led some critics of the bbc to say look if the royal family can use that description can use that word why can't the the public broadcaster here in this country as i say the bbc insisting that's just simply how its policy how its standards work when it comes to language but it's a huge issue for debate here in the uk and from the prime minister downwards cabinet ministers have been critical of the bbc in that regard very very strange i wish them all the best at the bbc and continuing excellent journalistic work i just doubt if they would have thought the same if it were their babies women children that were abducted slaughtered as innocent civilians just mesmerizing i have to say and and not understandable at all neither to me nor nor to many around the world and i hope that they do change their policy soon ollie barrett this has been fascinating thank you very much for joining us from monday okay yeah dr david shimoni back here to our reality we have just one minute left a word about hamas being a terrorist organization or not other than the bbc i think there is quite a consensus around the world now that hamas needs to be eradicated right not only that the arab world the last week rhetoric around the world is making hamas and isis as the same thing hamas being an extension of isis and uh yeah so i think the entire world is agreeing apart from the bbc in other words okay david shimoni you're staying with me we're going to take a short break now we're going to be right back with a lot more from all of the fronds in the south in the north and here in the center of the country state well is officially in a state of war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity because we go subsea and we utilize the hydrostatic pressure the weight or the water above your head we're able to save energy i want to turn to it's huck live unknown he's the former israeli ambassador to the united nations in geneva and to egypt thank you very much uh for joining us thank you thank you good to see you can you try and help me and our viewers make sense of the egyptian policy around gaza in the last week um how do you interpret their complete closure of the fence not allowing gauzans to flee into cyanide although israel has said go a few days ago well ian if you would like to understand you know what is the egyptian position concerning what's going on in gaza you have to take into account several levels in the egyptian if we are talking about relocated palestinians from gaza into the cyanide territory i think that the president abel fatah sisi will refuse it categorically egypt fought the yom kippu war in order to restitute cyanide for egypt it is part and parcel of the egyptian territory and not to give it to the palestinians the other level possible is if we are talking about refugees egypt has received during the last 10 years more than 11 million refugees so one one and a half million palestinians refugees who are by definition temporary in cyanide egyptian might consider it under certain circumstances number four number three and i think this is the most feasible in my mind if the palestinians will leave north gaza toward the south and they will be on the border between gaza and egypt or the rapha crossing i think that the egyptian will consider to give some humanitarian help to these people but not to relocate in cyanide so it is a little bit complicated but i think in the mind of abel fatah sisi help the palestinians is okay relocated i don't think that he is ready for that now egypt has been circulating videos of trucks and trucks that are standing at the border in the rafa crossing wanting to enter the gaza strip that's according to egyptian sources and they're saying that israel is preventing that completely another thing that i would like you to try and help us understand assuming that this is indeed humanitarian assistance and not ammunition or anything of that sort look this is not the first time that the egyptians are closing opening re-closing reopening the rapha crossing they do it for their own interest or their interpretation what is the national security for them not for the palestinians and not for the israelis this time i think that the egyptians of the fatah sisi understand very well that israel has no choice after the atrocities and what happened i think that he understand and i think in deep in his heart he will not cry if israel will crash hamas but he has to take into account the palestinian issue quote and quote and this is why from time to time he will open the crossing and and and closing the crossing etc but one thing he understand very well without the consent of israel now he can do nothing so this is why he called he by the way he called for a meeting of his national security committee and they decided to call for a regional meeting between all the leaders in order to stop the fighting at the fatah sisi understand that at this moment israel cannot stop because stopping now means another round against hamas in a few while or in a few times but why is it understand this very well why isn't it's actually but now why isn't israel allowing egypt to enter the gaza strip with that humanitarian aid well this is the policy that nothing will go in or out in order that the population would put pressure on hamas and in order that hamas will go out from uh and the places where they are fighting israelis to put their arm down and that's it to leave to leave gaza so israel think that by closing everything not only from the egyptian side but from the israeli side including electricity including water you put pressure on hamas and this is something which have been tested to be very effective now gaza used to be the problem for egypt for many years before the 1967 war when it was reoccupied by israel from the egyptians one thing that startles me and perhaps you can shed some light as an egypt expert for so many years egypt has been putting gaza on siege just as much as israel has there is so much criticism around the world of course the arab world but also generally among human rights activists etc with regards to israeli occupation in gaza and then the siege of the israeli imposes on gaza there is a border there is this raffa crossing that we were talking about it's very hypocritical isn't it i mean there is an arab country bordering with gaza why isn't there and i'm sorry for being naive here but it's a question that i've been asking for for years and i i don't really understand there is a border why couldn't that border be open and provide a lifeline to the palestinians for years look uh to be i mean look don't make any any mistakes the the israeli has no struggles when it comes to its interest if the interest of israeli national security interest to close the crossing they will close in if even if the people inside gaza are starving if they have to shoot against the palestinians and they did it in a few years ago when they crossed the border without the permission of the egyptian army and they shoot some people egypt is working for its own interests this is exactly the way between gaza and egypt when the egyptian security forces they flattened two kilometers all houses were destroyed nobody opened his mouth and now there are there are not houses you know in this part of the border between gaza and egypt it's all flattened and egypt did not give even compensation or another place to leave to that people so when it comes to the security national security or interest in egypt the egypt will behave only according to that we're seeing earlier today hamas leaders meeting with iranian leaders in doha in qatar if anybody had doubt with regards to the connections between hamas and iran and the fact that iran sponsors hamas of course with those uh uh suitcases of of cash performerly now with credit cards uh shipped from uh qatar to to gaza here's another proof that they all work in collaboration with one another uh we're going now itzhak lebanon thank you for for staying with us we're going to briefing by the idf let's take a listen i'm not sure what we're seeing in the images is that an idf officer is speaking those ids are very powerful approximately six kilograms of tmp shape charged the idf is showcasing there to foreign press ammunition that was found in gaza uh or uh in uh israel also by terrorists let's listen in i think if the war will continue and our forces will work for people on the ground in the gaza street so we'll see about five times of what you can see here the idf spokesperson uh making sure was talking about we have to be careful with the strikes that we see in gaza and assuming it's the idf given what you have here sadly the the sound quality uh isn't uh great there but it would be interesting uh to see what the uh what's imprinted on some of these shells and and and how and and where they could be uh traced uh to uh dr david uh shimoni this meeting today that takes place between uh hamas and um iranian officials uh in uh doha i think israel uh perhaps was too vain to think that uh it's can consequent attacks on iranian soil would not yield such an operation uh backed by uh iran on israeli soil finally it happened i think for many years it will be investigated exactly uh what the israeli intelligence knew what it did not know uh what the israeli government knew and what it did not know um but but for now the picture is is is quite clear do you think we if israel uh um really goes ahead with entering gaza uh by land uh will we see a greater involvement of iran in this game i believe so first of all we know that uh the hamas and the gaza population cannot sustain without uh help from outside it's a closed uh system uh they don't have their own uh resources uh they're depending on uh international funding and uh now it's uh directed uh by uh doha via katar uh but there's a lot a lot of iranian interest in uh in in hamas there's a lot of iranian interest in khizbollah as well because one of the uh the the the ways that iran is trying to deter the idf from attacking iran is the understanding that they can activate uh rocket launching from gaza and from lebanon in case we do something in in iran so the picture is much much greater than just fighting the hamas and gaza of course so just explain to me why are we not seeing a greater involvement of uh khizbollah at this moment is this because of the american aircraft carrier the british aircraft carrier that are making their way to this area or that are in this area already each each uh party does its own calculations and uh for khizbollah uh i think they will act only on direct orders from iran because uh i don't think they would like to get involved now in a major war there'll be again we're talking about the idf spreading its efforts between the south and the north the idf can prevail both fronts at once we would try to avoid it i think if we can but the khizbollah knows that it will cost them dearly we're also talking about how each one of these parties are preparing for war and i think the khizbollah has not completed its preparations because they are trying to stockpile a precision guided weapons they still do not have enough to totally shut down the country of israel so for them the fact that on saturday morning last week the hamas invaded and slaughtered israelis is not necessarily a reason for either hamas either khizbollah or israel to start a war on the northern front thank you a fourth anti-tank missile fired into israel by khizbollah uh that's the latest that we're getting into our newsroom at the moment piastakelbach on the northern border right daryl skirmishes and firing between israel and khizbollah has continued for hours now and now latest news is that there is a security incident in the broader area of kirjat shmone four towns and villages where the residents were asked to remain in their shelters we're talking about the villages of manara yiftah embargo leoton ramot naftali if we don't have any information about what that security incident entails again residents are asked to stay in their shelters and roads to those localities are blocked off as of now now for hours we've been hearing a shelling between israel and his bala his bala no saying that this is part of retaliation for the killing of a journalist two days ago writer's journalist on the lebanese side of the border in a strike that his bala attributes to israel now these skirmishes have really increased recently tensions are high in the north israeli army blocking off roads occasionally also blocking off certain areas and then opening them up again only earlier we had that major incident in stula where missiles were fired killing one civilian three others were injured the area in the proximity of two kilometers to the border with lebanon has been closed off and is still closed off so that means that no civilians can enter that area as of now and those civilians who remained in that area are really asked to stay as close as possible to their shelters if not in their shelters aria thank you pia and me while i can update you and our viewers that the first cabinet meeting government meeting of the new emergency government that was founded in israel just two days ago took place it started with a moment of silence in respect of the victims of this attack by hamas or the 1300 in number and netanyahu says in that meeting we will dismantle hamas a message that we've already heard from the prime minister a message that the entire israeli establishment repeats time and again well there have been numerous more than numerous what am i saying there have been countless initiatives by people in israel to jump in where the government and the idf have been lacking either with providing support to families that have been evacuated from southern communities or northern communities by now or in replacing all sorts of government institutions that haven't been working we're hearing of equipment that some of the reserves units are missing and also some food that people are longing for at the front rosita panini the co-founder and ceo of the myriam institute joins us on that topic exactly thank you very much rosita for coming into our studio tell me about what you've been up to the last week thank you so much for having me so i woke up on sunday morning and i thought to myself after being glued to the tv the whole saturday because i experienced 2014 what happened then i knew that the soldiers will be in a great need for food because they are in several different fronts so i said to myself i have a good friend his name is nesha edry who owns a whole wedding hall i called him up and i said to him nesha no events are happening in the south what can i take over your kitchen and he said to me come over it's yours open it up do whatever you want and what i did was i wrote in few groups i need volunteers i cannot even start and begin to tell you what kind of response i got i got a response overwhelming i have what sort of people any kids elderly anyone that you can imagine young people before their service after their service anyone that like i have about 70 to 90 people every day we prepare about 1500 meals wow and we send it to the fronts at the in the south and in the north what sort of food do you make i mean you said the troops due to your experience you knew that the troops would be needing food is that because they are they don't have enough supplies of food or do you mean that they would need good food i think they need good food i think they need warm good food not just the sandwiches that they get or the manot crab that they get honestly i think that they all complain about the manot crab they all complain about the sandwich that after two hours they become soggy so what we do we do an individual packing of meat some carbs and some vegetables for them and we add to it some letters from kids i have moved my whole community here in televiv with the children and i asked to put letters because the the officers that are responsible for the units they tell me you know what the letters are much more important important because it really raises their spirit so we're doing that we're putting some our hearts and souls and what can cheer them up what amazing and it gets the children involved as well 100% 100% yeah now tell me about delivering these these fantastic dishes from what i hear that you're preparing how do you get to the soldiers especially in days like those so we also have volunteers that are drivers it's a whole group and a team of drivers that it's all online we speak to them we you put the direction that you want the food to move to and they apply to what they could do i have some gentlemen's who are joining us with making the food who are willing to take the food to the soldiers sometimes the officers will get to us but most of the time we maneuver the food to them and have you received any special requests by now oh my god i was up until 12 30 last night because shabbat ended just getting on my phone please can you send 50 meals here 150 there this morning i got a 750 and i i i have to say i can't say no because i know that every request that we get is definitely something and somewhere and they understand that they need it there now who is financing this rosita so my organization i i have a non-for-profit we i co-founded with the benjamin anthony and a non-for-profit organization i've been i lived in the u.s for the last 38 years i have a non-for-profit that's called the miriam institute i work with the state department i bring officers and cadets to poland and to israel to learn about what israel is all about and i have donors my donors who are in the united state fantastic causes but very far away from cooking 100 but they understand the needs we express to them but that's not the only thing that we do we are going to supply the soldiers with many other items nothing that they need to fight with yes not like the vests and the helmets that you hear that nobody can get but you know like knee pads and maybe they would need some some other things that they really essentials for them so i have some great people in the u.s who are willing to donate i've been having things that are already being shipped to us over here like simple socks underwear that they they have no time to wash their stuff we need to provide them with anything that's possible that will make them like first aid kit that the soldier can have on him just in case you mentioned vests for example and i want to bring in dr. david shimone as well into the discussion and ask both of you we have seen israel cope with a disaster that is the worst that it's experienced since the foundation of the state 75 years ago 1300 dead in one day an infiltration of 1500 terrorists and yet israel has been through enough wars to learn lessons and we speak about how strong israeli military are is for deterrence etc and then on the other hand as you're saying well zeta all of us are getting messages from reserves personnel we're saying we don't have vests we don't have helmets we don't have how does israel come to a situation where one of the strongest armies in the world is so badly equipped and unprepared i wouldn't say the army is badly equipped i think everybody has everything and everything they need within the timetable that it is needed we have to take into account as far as we know over 360 000 troops reserve troops were called to service within 48 hours it's a huge logistic challenge and nobody expected over 100 of the soldiers to appear because as you know in the last months politicians were badmouthing the idf its commanders soldiers were protesting reservists were protesting and i think what we see now together with this very exciting initiative by rosita and your team shows that the people of israel support and it's more a matter of wanting to help to be available to provide to the soldiers i don't think that there is one israeli combat soldier who is intended to go into war who is not very very well equipped and supplied so i would like to strengthen the point of reservists 360 000 at 48 hours it's a lot we have never had that before you know i remember in 2014 we took 100 000 reservists and even then we had shortage so i think it's not a matter of preparing ourselves so much we didn't have time to even prepare ourselves and the other issue that i see is what's the capability within the country itself to have so much supply so we have to go out there but then you have to be approved by the state department and with everything that enters israel so that also creates an issue within the capability of supplying for the demand that is right now that needed so i think that's these are things that we definitely need to analyze for the future because our neighbors are here and hopefully yes we are the strongest in the neighborhood but we still need to understand how what are the things that surround in us that we need to strengthen ourselves with but before we we part i want to ask you dr. david shimone about the hostages situation there has been different sorts of discourse coming from both the politicians and the military the military has been saying that there is going to be no discussion with the terrorists of hamas with regards to the release of the hostages or any hostages exchange any prisoner exchange deal in exchange for the hostages until fighting is over on the other hand some we've heard other voices saying that we need to negotiate constantly are there according to your knowledge negotiations happening throughout this whole war or are the parties indeed waiting to the moment after first of all regarding the statements we are dancing a very delicate dance between credibility of announcements and deception and in the case of hostages i i believe deception is also a tool that is utilized i believe there are negotiations i don't think it's the government of israel negotiating with hamas but i'm sure that people all over the world are initiating contact and trying to first of all to obtain information and to secure the welfare of the hostages and provide them with medicine that they need and with information about their well-being but also trying to find the solutions to to release them okay dr. david shimoni rosita panini thank you very much both of you for coming into a studio today and thank you our viewers for watching our coverage here on i-24 news continues next so don't go anywhere this is the ninth day this rules war with hamas thanks for watching wherever you are in the world we hope that you're keeping well 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with hamas continues we bring you firsthand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by hamas follow us as israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside school on what's going on only on i-24 news and we need to get in the car as we're talking within 100 soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity this breaking news edition i'm benita levine coming to you live from tel aviv it's day nine of the war between israel and hamas details of the planning ahead of the massive terror attack involving civilian massacres are emerging a plan more than a year in the making a plan that has seen more than 1300 people shot tortured and butchered at a music festival festival and at several kibbutz and moshavim in southern israel a plan that has seen hamas compared to isis and has drawn repeated calls for the terror group to be eliminated a plan that now sees at least 150 people being held hostage inside gaza that's according to israel's current assessment the hostages ranging in age from a nine month old baby to an 89 year old man it's not only israelis impacted by this horrific attack those killed and those missing include nationals from 43 different countries in total 148 foreign nationals have been killed 143 are missing now the idf has since struck several hamas terror sites in the gaza strip including high-ranking hamas and palestinian islamic jihad members the idf has repeatedly warned gaza residents to leave the northern part of gaza and is so far holding off on its ground response giving more time for evacuations the un says so far more than 423 000 palestinians have already left their homes several world leaders condemning the terrorist spree which started on saturday the 7th of october the united states showing its unwavering support with the visit of both secretary of state anthony blinkin and loyde austin the u.s defense secretary saying he knows isis and hamas is worse than isis on the ground in the north israel is striking hezbollah posts this hour after the terror group there claimed responsibility for another anti-tank guided missile attack on the lebanon border the fourth this morning hezbollah claims it targeted an israeli tank the idf confirming troops were targeted on the border adding that earlier one person was killed and three were wounded so for more details now we go live to our correspondent pierce dekelbach she is on the northern border so pierr idf targeting hezbollah sites in response to this anti-tank guided missile attack on the border therefore this morning we can hear the noise behind you what is the latest right now omita at least for anti-tank guided missiles will fire toward israel by hisballah within the past couple of hours and we've been time and time again hearing the booms in the israeli artillery striking back as of now the idf is striking hisballah targets in southern lebanon then early at noon the incident stula where the first civilian casualty was registered in the very very northern village of a bit more than 300 residents three injured there which have been evacuated to hospital now that first civilian casualty here at the northern border at a time where really tensions are very very high we're talking about an area where stula is located for example that is only a few hundred meters away from the border and the idf has now blocked off the area in a proximity of two kilometers to the lebanese border for civilian movement that means that the very few residents who remained in these localities are really advised to stay close to the shelters if not in their shelters but you do see that quite a lot of the towns and villages that are that close to the lebanese border have already been deserted have become ghost towns of course it is very difficult to really evacuate entire towns and villages as residents still then decide to remain in their homes but we've seen also throughout the last days that time and time again the israeli army has blocked off certain areas in the north there have been infiltration attempts yesterday evening his bala squad trying to infiltrate into israel has been apprehended before that 30 mortar shells were fired toward an army post yesterday morning another infiltration attempt through palestinians under his bala command trying to enter the area of margagliote in the eastern part of the israeli lebanese border also there now we have been receiving reports about a security and ongoing security incident there no more information about that as of now but in four israeli cities and villages in that area margagliote where yesterday morning the infiltration attempt happened residents are said or are called upon to stay in their shelters as of now and you really do feel that the area stands the area is very very volatile his bala has said that they are now retaliating for that journalist that was killed in southern lebanon the writer's journalist two days ago in what his bala says is an israeli strike so this is what we're seeing now is a retaliation in escalation with his bala is looming the question that is very very present here of course is if and when it will happen as of now we have been seeing that also municipalities are preparing their public shelters as not everyone of course especially in bigger cities such as naria for example we've been this morning not everyone there has a public has a private shelter in their homes some municipalities are making sure to open their public shelters and to also really equip them we're talking about mattresses we're talking about food and water reserves so residents are also prepared for a possible escalation but the situation has been tense really over the course of the past days sir berita thank you so much stay safe we will be coming back to our correspondent pierce tekelbach on the northern border between israel and lebanon news just in now israel's emergency unity government is holding its first meeting at this hour prime minister benjamin netanyahu opening that meeting with a moment of silence in honor of the israeli victims of the war and its fallen soldiers we work around the clock in teamwork with the united front the unity within us conveys a clear message to the people the enemy and the world i saw our wonderful warriors who are now on the front line they know that the entire nation is behind them they understand the magnitude of the task they are ready to act at any moment to exterminate the bloody monsters that rose up against us hamas thought we would break up we will break up hamas and we're also hearing that benjamin netanyahu is going to be speaking shortly with the families of the hostages those are the people kidnapped and taken from israeli territory into gaza on saturday the 7th of october meanwhile the idf has repeatedly warned gaza residents to leave the northern part of gaza and is so far holding off on its ground response giving more time for evacuations satellite photographs show hamas blocking gaza residents from heading south to the humanitarian corridor at the rougher crossing the un saying so far that more than 423 000 palestinians have already left their homes this palestinian civilian from gaza spoke to an idf officer on the phone let's take a listen i'm up and so for more we welcome to studio our correspondent guy israel and retired colonel amit asa former member of the israeli security agency thank you both so much for being here there is so much to unpack so many developments all at once guy i want to start with you developments as we heard from pier up north concerns obviously about what is unfolding inside the gaza strip right now bring us up to speed across the region yes so obviously over the past several days hezbollah continues to attempt to inflame the situation on the northern border as well that threat of the anti-tank missiles is a serious one for the idea if it's pretty difficult to defend yourself from these very accurate cornet missiles and we know that earlier in the day there have been some at least injuries or some sort of casualties from these missiles and as you said that is the fourth just today the idea is hitting back is firing towards lebanese territory obviously that does not seem to deter hezbollah as it is continuing to inflame the situation there yeah i'm interrupting you because red alert sirens are sounding right now as we speak in nakhal oars those sirens indicating rocket fire coming towards nakhal oars once again yeah the rockets do not stop we saw just an hour ago rockets right here in tel aviv i was on the main highway on aya lon hundreds of cars had a having to pull off on the side of the road seeking shelter obviously impacting millions of israeli civilians living in the air of tel aviv in the greater area a daily occurrence at this point for sure and look israel has at least the idea doesn't expect to stop all the rocket capabilities of hamas so quickly that would inquire that ground offensive that the idea is preparing for and until then we're seeing serious strikes of the israeli air force on gaza mainly on northern gaza where the residents have been asked to evacuate and it will take that ground offensive in order to destroy all of hamas's military capabilities that is impossible to do just from the air amit i want to bring you in on exactly this the situation unfolding across several fronts at this point your take on where things stand right now it is day nine of the war and for some it sounds like it's just getting started particularly up north your assessment um what i see now and we all know that above all the iranian are controlling everything uh and this is part of their plan as we know khizballah is connected to the iranian because of the shia and they are also soldiers of iranian so if we are taking the wide view about all this conflict somebody is it control it from the up down is khizballah and hamas they are all soldiers of the same main idea of destroying israel as we're speaking more sirens are sounding again in some of the southern communities right now the border communities in the south of israel near the gaza border again indicating that rockets are being sent right now towards israeli communities most of which let me add have been evacuated your assessment of the weapons capabilities coming out of gaza right now it's day nine and there's still rockets is it likely there are many many more your take yeah i think that uh they will not stop until we will hit them in the ground because they know they know that we will hit them from the air and they are building shelters for years now we gave them the the ability to do it we gave them the time to do it we gave them the money that gets in to the to build all these shelters and they know how to hide it so what i estimate is that we will see rockets until we will get them inside the ground very deep and i estimate that uh it will be very very deep and to get this kind of a job you have to go out in so share with us your expertise on what that ground invasion could look like and what it means because if and when it happens and it looks increasingly likely that it will happen that is a red line for Hezbollah so yes as you're saying israel needs to respond and stop this rocket fire and all other plans emanating out of the strip right now but it comes with serious risks your take on how that's going to look yeah of course what i'm going to say just my private point of view and Hezbollah is waiting just because they want the world to see that they are waiting actually they are not waiting they know the plan from the beginning they know that we will get in together and they know the sign for them to attack from the north so i expect them to do it any minute and any day now they will not wait for us what i can say about it that we have to strike them before we have to strike them as we needed to to do a strike on the Hamas in the Gaza before they attacked us when you attack before they will have the surprise and you will not be in the place that we are now and talking about that surprise details are emerging around the scale of the planning ahead of the 7th of October and it is extensive it includes several training camps right near the border under Israel's nose how is it possible that this was not detected it was going on for months and months right across the border it's a big question the big question just somebody will have to answer it after the war now we have to concentrate on fighting but after the war somebody will have to put his hand on the table and to say i needed to know and i didn't certainly many many questions that need to be answered thank you so much stay with us we've got more to discuss but right now let's go to our correspondent Mary McAuliffe she joins us from Ashkelon she's at the Barasi Lai hospital so we know Mary that sirens have been sounding and Nakhal Oz just a short while ago are the parts of the southern border communities what update can you share from Ashkelon specifically hi good afternoon Benita yeah so here in Ashkelon it's actually been a bit of reprieve for residents who are living in the city of course they've faced incessant rocket barrages ever since this began over a week ago but we haven't had any sirens in this city overnight the last one was 9 p.m last night so again as i said it's a bit of a rest for these residents who have been continuously mostly staying in their home as yesterday they saw rockets after rockets yesterday evening as they continue to try and pound targets and cities inside israeli cities many of the residents here are really not leaving their homes nothing is really open in the city as it continues to be the situation and as they continue to remain in high alert mode and mary i understand that there are so many patients they're still waiting to be treated give us an idea as well in terms of the plans in place if sirens do in fact go off again near Ashkelon what it means for the patients inside the hospital and what it means for the medical staff the nurses the doctors who are working there as well when sirens sound off what kind of plan is in place there absolutely benita so luckily for those patients and for those hospital workers who are here and have been working really around the clock to treat patient patients that have been coming in from the south ever since this did begin last saturday they've seen a steady stream the stream of those they take in and has luckily gone down a little bit in recent days as many of the residents here in this area have left and we haven't had really really serious rocket impacts in the city in the past couple of days but the good news for them is that this entire area this entire complex that you see behind me is a fortified shelter so all the patients inside the healthcare workers they can continue working when there are rocket alert sirens you can see all these people here behind me if sirens do go off everybody simply flees inside for the 15 or so minutes that you are supposed to stay inside after a rocket siren alert goes off so that is at least the good news that they can continue working that the residents here in this area can be safe but we are also seeing an outpouring of residents here at the hospital simply people who live in the city who have come to bring food and coffee and just provide supplies and support to both the patients who are here at the hospital but as well as the staff workers and all of the medical teams that are working really around the clock to treat those who have been injured in the past week so many initiatives around the country people banding together making food organizing parcels trying to help communities in need thank you so much for now i'll correspond to Mary McAuliffe from Barasi lie hospital in Ashkelon thank you Mary now earlier today the foreign ministers of israel and france meeting with some of the many bereaved families from those southern communities we've just been talking about let's take a listen to one of the residents who lost her son and her husband in the Hamas terror onslaught how did i find out that my son was murdered i received a video on whatsapp is it even possible this is how i should find out that my son was murdered i need to see a video of my son being shot in the head tell me how we got here i'm not looking for someone to blame i'm not a hero i'm a bereaved mother who lost a husband a fireman who saved his sons he jumped on a grenade shot three terrorists and eliminated them gil has been preparing for this his whole life we're not heroes we've been saying for years in itiva asarada we are hanging on a thread near the gaza border and we ask for help not only in terms of businesses and agriculture which are collapsing we're asking for help and protection like all other citizens in the country unimaginable situation for families they're still waiting for answers now on the diplomatic front saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman has met with u.s secretary of state anthony blinkin during which he voiced support for gaza and the palestinian people adding that the kingdom seeks to intensify communication and work to calm the situation and stop the escalation in gaza blinkin on the other hand highlighting the united states unwavering focus on stopping terrorist attacks by hamas securing the release of all hostages and preventing the conflict from spreading he called their meeting very productive and israeli lawmaker and former ambassador to the u.n danita nun took several ambassadors on a tour to the southern city of starotte earlier when sirens sounded he was joined by ambassadors from the check republic south sudan kosovo and albania and they got to see firsthand what it means for people to run to shelters now for more senior correspondent oan ultiman joins me in studio and retired colonel amit asa is still here as well so much to discuss but i want to start with that hot wrenching message from a woman in israel who had to see on video details about what happened to his son and her husband the agonizing wait for clarity it just serves to speak all this time later nine days in how many people are still waiting for word and clarity on exactly what happened certainly the country is still grieving and still is sitting with this terribly unimaginable situation such a heavy heart oan so much agony so much grief so many pictures so many conversations so many interviews extensively covered not only in israel's media this time but around the world given the enormity of the in the depth of the tragedy benita there's also political story here too you know she's speaking to a minister and there is consistent there's been constant criticism and growing criticism in israel that the government has not done enough to meet with the families to to go to the area near the gaza strip to those border communities to really immerse themselves in the situation and be seen there and be seen there and to really mobilize for the response to the humanitarian response on the israeli side for the civil response on the israeli side in terms of setting up government agencies to really care for these families and for the traumatized people the way they should be obviously the government starts in a big big big hole right given the intelligence and operational failures by every account right at the first day of the war but even beyond that and what's happened since they had the government has not really failed in large parts of the public to win back the public's trust through what it's doing in the civil in the civil response the military response the army i think has gradually won back more public trust there is i think a cautious sense of satisfaction with the military response so far but in terms of the response on the civil side right helping the families helping the communities a lot of ongoing frustration and no matter what happens in this war this government is going to on the other side have a real reckoning potentially with voters although of course the better the results from the war from the perspective of the public of course the better the political standing of the government will be but again this issue of being able to show empathy being out there meeting with the people we saw an example there benita but it hasn't been seen by the israeli public to be enough so i think watch for the government to ramp that up trying to respond to the criticism amid given your security background what is your take on the emergency unity government focusing right now on war focusing right now on the next plan of action do you have faith or you confidence that israelis will have that security that sense of stability back and it will happen soon your take obviously we see that security is inside it's not just war in the borders we see that everybody can be hurt inside israel it can be inside cities it can be inside settlements it's going to be inside villages and the the secure that the the public have to to feel is because you have measured everything to secure people inside of the of the country not just the border not just army not just getting into a war inside it's just giving them back the secure feeling is putting measures into security inside homes right now we're looking at live images on our screen the idf conducting it strikes in gaza these are live images on your screen right now the idf targeting hamas sites in gaza right now and amidst that raises another important issue and it's a crucial one the world is watching on how civilians are getting out of that scenario right now the rougher crossing at the border egypt is closed at right now and that certainly complicates issues if people can get there over and about that we have satellite photographs showing hamas trucks blockading stopping civilians from leaving and a phone call that we played a little bit earlier on in the show we heard a civilian saying they are being stopped from leaving what happens next look the hamas taking hostage not just israelis all the population in gaza are hostage by hamas hamas is the organization that deal with all the cruel things that we see not just against the israelis years over years they're taking hostage all their population so this population wants to be safe now and we can count on it we can say to them go out because we're going to track any one of them until they will be dead so get out we can't count on your safety anymore oh and we know anthony blinkin is busy with some serious shuttle diplomacy across the region and he's coming back tomorrow to israel break down the kind of discussions that he is having right now across this region well first start with the obvious leader this isn't the standard diplomatic visit right where you make an announcement you have an announced itinerary it's very stage managed and you go back home this seems to be a kind of improvisation right he came here first then he went to the gulf then he decided to go to it's Saudi Arabia now making an impromptu visit back here shows that the diplomacy is very very active and he seems to be carrying messages from one back to the other of course that the most recent stop in Saudi Arabia is the most intriguing right going back to riyadh to meet with muhammad bin salman of course muhammad bin salman is in an absolutely impossible position right a month ago coming out in favor of normalization with israel i think his interests on that haven't changed all the circumstances in the short term certainly have changed dramatically we certainly will be watching to see what comes out of all the meetings as they happen oh and ultiman i met us a retired colonel thank you both so much for being here for this edition of our breaking news coverage and that is where we end for now i'm venita davine until i be of our rolling coverage continues shortly stay tuned this is i-24 news breaking news edition 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with hamas continues we bring you first hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by hamas follow us as israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i-24 news because we go subsea and we utilize the hydrostatic pressure the weight or the water above your head we're able to save energy news edition i'm venita davine coming to you live from tel aviv it's day nine of the war between israel and hamas details of the planning ahead of the massive terror attack involving civilian massacres are emerging a plan more than a year in the making a plan that has seen more than 1300 people shot tortured and butchered at a music festival festival and at several kibbutzim and moshavin in southern israel a plan that has seen hamas compared to isis and has drawn repeated calls for the terror group to be eliminated a plan that now sees at least 150 people being held hostage inside gaza that's according to israel's current assessment the hostages ranging in age from a nine month old baby to an 89 year old man it's not only israelis impacted by this horrific attack those killed and those missing include nationals from 43 different countries in total 148 foreign nationals have been killed 143 are missing now the idf has since struck several hamas terror sites in the gaza strip including high ranking hamas and palestinian islamic jihad members the idf has repeatedly warned gaza residents to leave the northern part of gaza and is so far holding off on its ground response giving more time for evacuations the un says so far more than 423 000 palestinians have already left their homes several world leaders condemning the terrorist spree which started on saturday the 7th of october the united states showing its unwavering support with the visit of both secretary of state and loyde austin the u.s. defense secretary saying he knows isis and hamas is worse than isis on the ground in the north israel is striking hezbollah posts this hour after the terror group there claimed responsibility for another anti-tank guided missile attack on the lebanon border the fourth this morning hezbollah claims that targeted an israeli tank the idf confirming troops were targeted on the border adding that earlier one person was killed and three were wounded so for more details now we go live to our correspondent pierce dekelbach she is on the northern border so pierr idf targeting hezbollah sites in response to this anti-tank guided missile attack on the border therefore this morning we can hear the noise behind you what is the latest right now omita at least four anti-tank guided missiles were fired toward israel by hisballah within the past couple of hours and we've been time and time again hearing the booms and the israeli artillery striking back as of now the idea of is striking hisballah targets in southern lebanon then early at noon the incident stula where the first civilian casualty was registered in the very very northern village of a bit more than 300 residents three injured there that which have been evacuated to hospital now that first civilian casualty here at the northern border at a time where really tensions are very very high we're talking about an area where stula is located for example that is only a few hundred meters away from the border and the idf has now blocked off the area in a proximity of two kilometers to the lebanese border for civilian movement that means that the very few residents who remained in these localities are really advised to stay close to the shelters if not in their shelters but you do see that quite a lot of the towns and villages that are that close to the lebanese border have already been deserted have become ghost towns of course it is very difficult to really evacuate entire towns and villages as residents still then decide to remain in their homes but we've seen also throughout the last days that time and time again the israeli army has blocked off certain areas in the north they have been in filtration attempts yesterday evening his bala squad trying to infiltrate into israel has been apprehended before that 30 mortar shells were fired toward an army post yesterday morning another infiltration attempt through palestinians under his bala command trying to enter the area of margalliot in the eastern part of the israeli lebanese border also there now we have been receiving reports about a security and ongoing security incident there no more information about that as of now but in four israeli cities and villages in that area margalliot where yesterday morning the infiltration attempt happened residents are said or are called upon to stay in their shelters as of now and you really do feel that the area stands the area is very very volatile his bala has said that they are now retaliating for that journalist that was killed in southern lebanon a rotors journalist two days ago in what his bala says is an israeli strike so this is what we're seeing now is a retaliation in escalation with his bala is looming the question that is very very present here of course is if and when it will happen as of now we have been seeing that also municipalities are preparing their public shelters as not everyone of course especially in bigger cities such as naria for example we've been this morning not everyone there has a public has a private shelter in their homes so municipalities are making sure to open their public shelters and to also really equip them we're talking about mattresses we're talking about food and water reserves so residents are also prepared for a possible escalation but the situation has been tense really over the course of the past days sir benita thank you so much stay safe we will be coming back to our correspondent pierce tekelbach on the northern border between israel and lebanon news just in now israel's emergency unity government is holding its first meeting at this hour prime minister benjamin netanyahu opening that meeting with a moment of silence in honor of the israeli victims of the war and its fallen soldiers we work around the clock in teamwork with the united front the unity within us conveys a clear message to the people the enemy and the world i saw our wonderful warriors who are now on the front line they know that the entire nation is behind them they understand the magnitude of the task they are ready to act at any moment to exterminate the bloody monsters that rose up against us hamas thought we would break up we will break up hamas and we're also hearing that benjamin netanyahu is going to be speaking shortly with the families of the hostages those are the people kidnapped and taken from israeli territory into gaza on saturday the 7th of october meanwhile the idf has repeatedly warned gaza residents to leave the northern part of gaza and is so far holding off on its ground response giving more time for evacuations satellite photographs show hamas blocking gaza residents from heading south to the humanitarian corridor at the raffa crossing the un saying so far that more than 423 000 palestinians have already left their homes this palestinian civilian from gaza spoke to an idf officer on the phone let's take a listen i'm out and so for more we welcome to studio our correspondent guy israel and retired colonel amit asa former member of the israeli security agency thank you both so much for being here there is so much to unpack so many developments all at once guy i want to start with you developments as we heard from pier up north concerns obviously about what is unfolding inside the gaza strip right now bring us up to speed across the region yes so obviously over the past several days hezbollah continues to attempt to inflame the situation on the northern border as well that threat of the anti-tank missiles is a serious one for the idea if it's pretty difficult to defend yourself from these very accurate cornet missiles and we know that earlier in the day there have been some at least injuries or some sort of casualties from these missiles and as you said that is the fourth just today the idf is hitting back is firing towards lebanese territory obviously that does not seem to deter hezbollah as it is continuing to inflame the situation there yeah i'm interrupting you because red alert sirens are sounding right now as we speak in nacho or those sirens indicating rocket fire coming towards nacho or once again yeah the rockets do not stop we saw just an hour ago rockets right here in tel aviv i was on the main highway on aya lon hundreds of cars had having to pull off on the side of the road seeking shelter obviously impacting millions of israeli civilians living in the air of tel aviv in the greater area a daily occurrence at this point for sure and look israel has or at least the idf doesn't expect to stop all the rocket capabilities of hamas so quickly that would inquire that ground offensive that the idf is preparing for and until then we're seeing serious strikes of the israeli air force on gaza mainly on northern gaza where the residents have been asked to evacuate and it will take that ground offensive in order to destroy all of hamas's military capabilities that is impossible to do just from the air amit i want to bring you in on exactly this the situation unfolding across several fronts at this point your take on where things stand right now it is day nine of the war and for some it sounds like it's just getting started particularly up north your assessment um what i see now and we all know that above all the iranian are controlling everything uh and this is part of their plan as we know gizbala is connected to the iranian because of the shia and there are also soldiers of iranian so if we are taking the wide view about all this conflict somebody is it control it from the up down this gizbala and hamas there are all soldiers of the same main idea of destroying israel as we're speaking more sirens are sounding again in some of the southern communities right now the border communities in the south of israel near the gaza border again indicating that rockets are being sent right now towards israeli communities most of which let me add have been evacuated your assessment of the weapons capabilities coming out of gaza right now it's day nine and there's still rockets is it likely there are many many more your take yeah i think that uh they will not stop until we will hit them in the ground because they know they know that we will hit them from the air and they are building shelters for years now we gave them the the ability to do it we gave them the time to do it we gave them the money that gets in to the to build all these shelters and they know how to hide it so what i estimate is that we will see rockets until we will get them inside the ground very deep and i estimate that uh it will be very very deep and to get this kind of a job you have to go out so share with us your expertise on what that ground invasion could look like and what it means because if and when it happens and it looks increasingly likely that it will happen that is a red line for hezbollah so yes as you're saying israel needs to respond and stop this rocket fire and all other plans emanating out of the strip right now but it comes with serious risks your take on how that's going to look yeah of course what i'm going to say is just my private point of view and hezbollah is waiting just because they want the world to see that they are waiting actually they are not waiting they knows the plan from the beginning they know that we will get in together and they know the sign for them to attack from the north so i expect them to do it any minute and any day now they will not wait for us what i can say about it that we have to strike them before we have to strike them as we needed to to do a strike on the Hamas in the Gaza before they attacked us when you attack before they will have the surprise and you will not be in the place that we are now and talking about that surprise details are emerging around the scale of the planning ahead of the 7th of october and it is extensive includes several training camps right near the border under israel's nose how is it possible that this was not detected it was going on for months and months right across the border it's a big question the big question just somebody will have to answer it after the war now we have to concentrate on fighting but after the war somebody will have to put his hand on the table and just say i need it to know and i didn't certainly many many questions that need to be answered thank you so much stay with us we've got more to discuss but right now let's go to our correspondent Mary McCullough she joins us from Ashkelon she's at the barzi lie hospital so we know Mary that sirens have been sounding and nacho us just a short while ago other parts of the southern border communities what update can you share from ashkelon specifically hi good afternoon benita yes so here in ashkelon it's actually been a bit of reprieve for residents who are living in the city of course they space incessant rocket brogues ever since this began over a week ago but we haven't had any sirens in this city overnight the last one was 9 p.m last night so again as i said it's a bit of a rest for these residents who have been continuously mostly staying in their home as yesterday they saw rockets after rockets yesterday evening as they continue to try and pound targets and cities inside israeli cities many of the residents here are really not leaving their homes nothing is really open in the city as it continues to be the situation and as they continue to remain in high alert mode and mary i understand that there are so many patients they're still waiting to be treated give us an idea as well in terms of the plans in place if sirens do in fact go off again near ashkelon what it means for the patients inside the hospital and what it means for the medical staff the nurses the doctors who are working there as well when sirens sound off what kind of plan is in place there absolutely benita so luckily for those patients and for those hospital workers who are here and have been working really around the clock to treat patient patients that have been coming in from the south ever since this did begin last saturday they've seen a steady stream the stream of those they take in and has luckily gone down a little bit in recent days as many of the residents here in this area have left and we haven't had really really serious rocket impacts in the city in the past couple of days but the good news for them is that this entire area this entire complex that you see behind me is a fortified shelter so all the patients inside the healthcare workers they can continue working when there are rocket alert sirens you can see all these people here behind me if sirens do go off everybody simply flees inside for the 15 or so minutes that you are supposed to stay inside after a rocket siren alert goes off so that is at least the good news that they can continue working that the residents here in this area can be safe but we are also seeing an outpouring of residents here at the hospital simply people who live in the city who have come to bring food and coffee and just provide supplies and support to both the patients who are here at the hospital but as well as the staff workers and all of the medical teams that are working really around the clock to treat those who have been injured in the past week so many initiatives around the country people banding together making food organizing parcels trying to help communities in need thank you so much for now i'll correspond to Mary McAuliffe from Barasi lie hospital in Ashkelon thank you Mary now earlier today the foreign ministers of israel and france meeting with some of the many bereaved families from those southern communities we've just been talking about let's take a listen to one of the residents who lost her son and her husband in the Hamas terror onslaught how did i find out that my son was murdered i received a video on what's up is it even possible this is how i should find out that my son was murdered i need to see a video of my son being shot in the head tell me how we got here i'm not looking for someone to blame i'm not a hero i'm a bereaved mother who lost a husband a fireman who saved his sons he jumped on a grenade shot three terrorists and eliminated them gil has been preparing for this his whole life we're not heroes we've been saying for years in itiva aserada we are hanging on a thread near the Gaza border and we ask for help not only in terms of businesses and agriculture which are collapsing we're asking for help and protection like all other citizens in the country and an imaginable situation for families they're still waiting for answers now on the diplomatic front saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman has met with us secretary of state anthony blinkin during which he voiced support for Gaza and the palestinian people adding that the kingdom seeks to intensify communication and work to calm the situation and stop the escalation in Gaza blinkin on the other hand highlighting the united states unwavering focus on stopping terrorist attacks by Hamas securing the release of all hostages and preventing the conflict from spreading he called their meeting very productive and israeli lawmaker and former ambassador to the u.n. Danny Denon took several ambassadors on a tour to the southern city of starot earlier when sirens sounded he was joined by ambassadors from the Czech Republic South Sudan Kosovo and Albania and they got to see firsthand what it means for people to run to shelters now for more senior correspondent Owen ultiman joins me in studio and retired colonel Amit Asar is still here as well so much to discuss but i want to start with that hot wrenching message from a woman in israel who had to see on video details about what happened to his son and her husband the agonizing wait for clarity it just serves to speak all this time later nine days in how many people are still waiting for word and clarity on exactly what happened certainly the country is still grieving and still is sitting with this terribly unimaginable situation such a heavy heart Owen so much agony so much grief so many pictures so many conversations so many interviews extensively covered not only in israel's media this time but around the world given the enormity of the in the depth of the tragedy benita is also political story here too you know she's speaking to a minister and there is consistent there's been constant criticism and growing criticism in israel that the government has not done enough to meet with the families to to to go to the area near the gaza strip to those border communities to really immerse themselves in the situation and be seen there and be seen there and to really mobilize for the response to the humanitarian response on the israeli side for the civil response on the israeli side in terms of setting up government agencies to really care for these families and for the traumatized people the way they should be obviously the government starts in a big big big hole right given the intelligence and operational failures by every account right at the first day of the war but even beyond that and what's happened since they had the government has not really failed in large parts of the public to win back the public's trust through what it's doing in the civil in the civil response the military response the army I think has gradually won back more public trust there is I think a cautious sense of satisfaction with the military response so far but in terms of the response on the civil side right helping the families helping the communities a lot of ongoing frustration and no matter what happens in this war this government is going to on the other side have a real reckoning potentially with voters although of course the better the results from the war from the perspective of public of course the better the political standing of the government will be but again this issue of being able to show empathy being out there meeting with the people we saw an example there Benita but it hasn't been seen by the Israeli public to be enough so I think watch for the government to ramp that up trying to respond to the criticism amid given your security background what is your take on the emergency unity government focusing right now on war focusing right now on the next plan of action do you have faith are you confident that Israelis will have that security that sense of stability back and it will happen soon your take obviously we see the security is inside it's not just war in the borders we see that everybody can be hurt inside Israel it can be inside cities it can be inside settlements it's going to be inside villages and the the secure that the the public have to to feel is because you have measured everything to secure people inside of the of the country not just a border not just army not just getting into a war inside it's just giving them back the secure feeling is putting measures into security inside homes right now we're looking at live images on our screen the IDF conducting it strikes in Gaza these are live images on your screen right now the IDF targeting Hamas sites in Gaza right now and amidst that raises another important issue and it's a crucial one the world is watching on how civilians are getting out of that scenario right now the rougher crossing at the border Egypt is closed at right now and that certainly complicates issues if people can get there over and above that we have satellite photographs showing Hamas trucks blockading stopping civilians from leaving and a phone call that we played a little bit earlier on in the show where we heard a civilian saying they are being stopped from leaving what happens next look the Hamas taking hostage not just Israelis all the population in Gaza are hostage by Hamas Hamas is the organization that deal with all the cruel things that we see not just against the Israelis years over years they're taking hostage all their population so this population wants to be safe now and we can count on it we can say to them go out because we're going to track any one of them until they will be dead so get out we can't count on your safety anymore Owen we know Anthony Blinken is busy with some serious shuttle diplomacy across the region and he's coming back tomorrow to Israel break down the kind of discussions that he is having right now across this region well first start with the obvious meter this isn't the standard diplomatic visit right where you make an announcement you have an announced itinerary it's very stage managed and you go back home this seems to be a kind of improvisation right he came here first then he went to the Gulf then he decided to go to Saudi Arabia now making an impromptu visit back here shows that the diplomacy is very very active and he seems to be carrying messages from one back to the other of course that the most recent stop in Saudi Arabia is the most intriguing right going back to Riyadh to meet with Muhammad bin Salman of course Muhammad bin Salman is in an absolutely impossible position right a month ago coming out in favor of normalization with Israel I think his interests on that haven't changed all the circumstances in the short term certainly have changed dramatically we certainly will be watching to see what comes out of all the meetings as they happen Owen Ultiman I met us a retired colonel thank you both so much for being here for this edition of our breaking news coverage and that is where we end for now I'm Benita Devine and Tel Aviv our rolling coverage continues shortly stay tuned this is i24 news breaking news edition it's officially in a state of war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity this particular project with a gross capacity of 103.5 megawatt will be producing around 230 gigawatt hour of clean renewable energy per year Tito reserve we have to write ingredients and we have to do the job and that if we have the right ingredients and we do the job that the Vakita can be protected in news edition I'm Benita Levine coming to you live from Tel Aviv it's day nine of the war between Israel and Hamas details of the planning ahead of the massive terror attack involving civilian massacres are emerging a plan more than a year in the making a plan that has seen more than 1,300 people shot tortured and butchered at a music festival and at several kibbutzim and moshavim in southern Israel a plan that has seen Hamas compared to Isis and has drawn repeated calls for the terror group to be eliminated a plan that now sees at least 150 people being held hostage inside Gaza that's according to Israel's current assessment the hostages ranging in age from a nine month old baby to an 89 year old man it's not only Israelis impacted by this horrific attack those killed and those missing include nationals from 43 different countries in total 148 foreign nationals have been killed 143 are missing now the IDF has since struck several Hamas terror sites in the Gaza Strip including high ranking Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad members the IDF has also repeatedly warned Gaza residents to leave the northern part of Gaza and is so far holding off on its ground response giving more time for evacuations the UN says so far more than 423,000 Palestinians have already left their homes several world leaders condemning the terrorist spree which started on saturday the 7th of october the united states showing its unwavering support with the visit of both secretary of state Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin the U.S defense secretary saying he knows Isis and Hamas is worse than Isis so for the latest developments we go live to our correspondent pia kloschendler he joins us from Storot in southern Israel so we know siren sounded earlier in some southern communities pia at the same time we're also hearing the red cross is demanding Hamas grant immediate access to hostages held in Gaza bring us up to speed on the latest developments down south well we've been scoring the area of the Gaza border and we've seen some deployment ground stages by armored vehicles that we cannot show to the media in order not to divulge their positions and also in order to keep the safety of the soldiers and of the media at the same time but we've seen some starts of ground stage deployments in the vicinity of the Gaza border we've seen also patrols of hammered jeeps manned by reservists that are scoring the area because there are still fears of infiltrations this morning just near Sderot in Kibbutz near Arm there was an infiltration by two terrorists one was killed we don't know about the fate of the other one but these are terrorists it's not even an infiltration these are terrorists that are still here nine days after they infiltrated onto Israeli territory onto Israeli soiled during that slaughter on october 7th and now these are patrols that are on the Israeli soil and not on the fence between Israel and the Gaza border and that shows you the volatile situation and the fear that they are still terrorists in the area in the meantime Defense Minister you have gallant mate soldiers on the security border between Israel and the Gaza Strip and he spoke about a war between the man of darkness versus the man of light and you imagine that the man of light are the Israelis and the man of darkness as the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad terrorists well we certainly hope for days where there is light across the region thank you for now correspondent Pierre Kloschendler joining us live from Sderot in southern Israel we will be coming back to pier in the coming hours now for a week the eyes of the world have been on southern Israel and the Gaza Strip but even the Gaza arena might ultimately prove a sideshow should the war expand to Lebanon, Syria or even Iran itself at this last hour Israel striking Hezbollah posts after the terror group claimed responsibility for another anti-tank guided missile attack on the Lebanon border the fifth time this morning and a short while ago Iran's foreign minister saying Iran cannot remain a spectator if what he calls the aggression against Gaza continues senior correspondent Owen Ultiman looks at the dilemma facing Iran to cut Hamas loose or to risk losing everything in Doha on Saturday he was all smiles Iranian foreign minister Jose Namer Abdullah greeting Hamas leader Ismail Hania in the capital of Qatar and in Beirut on Friday too he had been all smiles Amr Abdullah Yann happy with his work and playing coy with what comes next of course the resistance has kept on the table all possible scenarios on the other fronts the zero hour for any action against the crimes is also at the hands of the resistance the resistance of course is Hezbollah with Iran even at this hour separating itself formally from the group even as Hezbollah is widely recognized as Iran's proxy is Iran and its network facing Israel a top readiness and the United States set to be parked offshore with two aircraft carrier strike groups Iran and Hezbollah since day one of this war are finding themselves in a dilemma here is the dilemma if Iran is going to send Hezbollah to the war Iran is going to jeopardize not only the risk or downfall of Hamas in Gaza Street which seems to be like almost imminent imminent but also a massive strike to Hezbollah and indeed that dilemma Axios reported Iran passed Israel a message through the United Nations warning of Iran's direct entry into the war should the Israeli campaign in Gaza intensify the decisions in Tehran are fateful ones by design or by accident the clock for Iran is ticking to high noon and Israel hopes that for Iran's proxies from Gaza to Lebanon to Syria and beyond that the clock is ticking so for more insight we welcome to studio Israeli Palestinian relations expert colonel in the reserves Grisha Yakubovich former head of the civilian department of Kogat in the IDF and former ambassador Abhi Pazner the former Israeli ambassador to France and Italy and former world chairman of Karen Hayas so thank you gentlemen both of you for being here in studio nine days in Grisha I want to pick up with you on the report we just heard the concerns around Lebanon Syria and Iran pulling the strings breakdown what is unfolding right now from a security perspective across the region Hamas started the war and actually all the players entering all of them each one of them with their own dilemma so Hezbollah are in a dilemma if they will join the war if they will open a node in front the ones who will pay the price will be the people of Lebanon now the people of Lebanon understand that that if another chaos will happen in Lebanon like in 2006 they are going to pay the price for that so they need to wait and to see what will be the developments in the Gaza Strip or to wait and for an order from Iran their sponsor because they are an Iranian proxy simple as it is Syria they're also in a dilemma Assad is a let's say in captivity at the hands of Iran okay he's a doll he's a puppet on the stream and he's managed by Iran and there is a division that was moved from dear Azul to Kunetra the border in Syria with Lebanon and they are also waiting to an order to engage or not we just saw the beginning of that okay a watershed that was launched or a missile from Syria so is it another front we've been talking about a multi war arena it means Lebanon Syria Gaza or Gaza Lebanon Syria and Iran and there is a dilemma of Iran if they will also participate and it depends because I believe that the moment that they will understand that their front post is about to collapse Hamas it looks like they will do something to interfere because they don't want to lose their investment it's a huge investment and they are also in dilemma because then they will lose what they got from the west recently okay and people are talking differently to Iran no sanctions let's see what can we do maybe talk maybe nuclear abilities and other stuff and we have Russians back in all of that yes or no I think it will be checked and for Putin it's a celebration because the whole world is focused on what's happening between Israel and Hamas and Lebanon so he can do whatever he wants to do in Ukraine and as we've seen in Idlib a continuous bombing I'm going to stop you right now because we're going to pick up on that shortly right now we need to go to our correspondent Khamdes al-Hut joining us from the northern border I understand interceptions happening as we speak Khamdes what can you tell us Benita if you could see just in the distance there the iron dome active after red alerts were issued for communities just below the Lebanon border remember there is a closure anywhere that is four kilometers near the Lebanon border now the iron dome intercepting those missiles you can also see in the distance the Lebanese positions that the Israeli military has struck in retaliation for the fifth time today tit for tat exchanges of fire at the border the iron dome now activated intercepting those missiles while the Israeli military continues to strike Lebanese territory you can hear also booms and explosions in the distance that's the iron dome working let's discuss the possibility of Hezbollah entering this war yesterday the Iranian foreign minister arriving to Qatar is saying that there are no guarantees specifically if Israel enters a ground operation inside Gaza Hezbollah will get involved let's also remind our viewers of the arsenal Hezbollah has back in June they did a weapons showcase showcasing a lot of the different types of capabilities they now have of their new weaponry they are stronger than any branch of the Lebanese military they've got upwards of 150 to 200,000 rockets in their arsenal but what wasn't on display there were the larger more destructive ballistic missiles that no one really knows what they are like since 2006 the last time we really saw any sort of weaponry being used from them so the Israeli military on high alert as this conflict is now shifting to a multi-front war and we heard just a short while ago Iran's foreign minister saying that Iran cannot remain a spectator if what he calls the aggression against Gaza continues so break down the connection here we are waiting to hear confirmation if and when the IDF is going to open up its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip talk us through the lucky timelines what are you hearing from experts right now well look the Iranian foreign minister's statement yesterday in Doha was clear and I have it here on my screen quote if the attacks of the Zionist against the defenseless citizens and the people of Gaza continue no one can guarantee the control of the situation and the non expansion of the conflict remember these groups like Hezbollah are backed by Iran they are watching closely they are waiting to get involved in the conflict last week Palestinian factions operating in the south have been saying that they are eager to join the fight but they need the the go the green light from Hezbollah to really get involved they need their approval for any sort of rockets or weaponry that is going to be issued at the moment there are still fears of infiltration people crossing through the border today for a fifth time that exchange of fire in Israel the Israeli military Benidah remaining on high alert as the Iranians are now involved somehow in this conflict correspondent khamdesal hoot live from the northern border we will be coming back to you stay safe khamdes and now we go across to the south and our correspondent Mary McAuliffe joins us from Bari Zilai hospital in Ashkelon so sirens just moments ago in the north we know earlier there were sirens in some parts of the south give us an update what are you seeing and hearing from Bari Zilai hospital absolutely right Benidah so about an hour ago there were some sirens that ring out in border communities here in Ashkelon there haven't been any sirens since later in the evening last night but we did see a massive barrage at rockets that were fired at Ashkelon overnight luckily there were no injuries and nobody needed to be treatment from those rocket brogues many of the residents here in this area have gone and fled to safer parts of the country as they do continue to be pounded by this rocket fire continuously having to run into their shelters due to the constant rockets that are being fired from Gaza towards this area but as I said it has been a little bit of quiet for the residents here since yesterday evening but what we are seeing we just about an hour ago we also saw earlier today visitor visit from the french foreign minister who was here on the ground in Israel on a support and solidarity visit and he was here touring this hospital facility he met with the director of the hospital he saw the damage where a rocket hit this hospital just down the road in one of their other complexes earlier in the week and he was updated on the situation here got a security briefing and the situation with the soldiers who are still actively fighting the french foreign minister pledging that france can do everything it will be able to to try and assist with the rescue mission to try and bring back some of the hostages who are being held in the Gaza Strip so this is just one of many different visits from some of israel's western allies who have come and have been on the ground here to express their support and to tell them that they are standing behind Israel in this difficult time and we are also hearing Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to be meeting with relatives of some of the people who are being held hostage still in Gaza and that should be happening in the coming hours for now thank you very much to our correspondent Mary McAuliffe live from Barzilay hospital in Ashkelon thanks Mary now turning to the diplomatic front Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during which he voiced support for Gaza and the Palestinian people adding that the kingdom seeks to intensify communication and work to calm the situation and stop the escalation in Gaza Blinken on the other hand highlighting the United States unwavering focus on stopping terrorist attacks by Hamas securing the release of all hostages and preventing the conflict from spreading Blinken also calling their meeting very productive and Israeli lawmaker and former ambassador to the UN Danny Denon took several ambassadors on a tour to the southern city of Storot when siren sounded he was joined by ambassadors from the Czech Republic South Sudan Kosovo and Albania who got a first-hand look at what happens when siren sound warning of incoming rocket fire so for more in studio still with me avi Pazner former Israeli ambassador to France and Italy and we're also joined by our senior diplomatic correspondent Owen Altman thank you both for being here avi i want to start with you there is so much to discuss on the diplomatic front but i want to start with the fact that Anthony Blinken has been here he's left he's visited a range of regions very very quickly and he's back here tomorrow talk to us about the important message he needs to be getting across right now while we wait to see the next moves in the war on day nine thank you very much you know the very fact that Blinken was here went to Saudi Arabia it's coming back here but we are in the middle of a serious crisis a serious crisis and it's not enough to change messages Blinken comes here to tell us about what he found out in those Arab countries it's true that there is a lot of lip service support for the Palestinian Gaza I don't believe for one moment that Muhammad bin Salman really cares about Hamas but politically from an arabic point of view he cannot now continue his relation his effort to build a relationship with Israel he has to be in the arab can but why is Blinken coming back I think you hear we heard the escalation on the northern front there is clearly every day now more and more and more incident locally incidents for the time being but there is an escalation on the northern front and it seems more and more possible that his bala might go into into the war now also mrs corona the french foreign minister is here on her way to Lebanon she she's here solidarity visit it's okay but she goes away with a message to Lebanon and we see the Lebanese government responsible for what is going if it is going to happen from the side with all the consequences that this country which is by the way in a terrible economical situation there are two hours electricity in Beirut I mean they are there but if his bala really joins the fighting then the country must expect a big Israeli retaliation and it's true we're not speaking up we're not going to say yes we're going to do that and that and that and that but the very fact that we are silent and sending diplomatic messages they have to be very careful oh and people in this region closely watching the words out of the Saudi crown prince given that before the war it seemed that steps were definitely getting closer and closer and warmer to some kind of normalization what did you make of the message that was sent by Muhammad bin Salman right now I did it look that way but uh the Saudi crown prince said it in his own voice right every day we're getting closer to normalization that was just a month ago look he's in an impossible position as Abid just explained obviously has to have a certain kind of messaging for his own public and for publics around the Arab and Muslim world that said what was true in September is still true today and it's going to be true in November and it's going to be true next year the Saudi interest in terms of what Muhammad bin Salman wants to see is the vision for his country and his need to show and pay a costly signal to show how serious he is about that vision all of it points in the medium or long term for the normalization of my opinion to be back on in the short term it may be maybe complicated although you know I put out a thought experiment on Twitter I'm just going to see your reaction what if what if Muhammad bin Salman were there in that room with Anthony Blinken and say Mr. Secretary in exchange for Israel stopping the campaign in Gaza instant normalization I'll sign the piece of paper right now that's a big what if what result right and I meant it as a thought experiment and what was I in a sense I think trying to get at is that Saudi Arabia has a lot of leverage here this is a country that Israel want to listen to that Israel want to cooperate with that Israel might even be willing to make concessions with even given the stakes of this war even given the objectives that we as a public right and a military government want to achieve and even given what we faced this is one player that even given all of that even given all of that has real leverage maybe even second only to the United States so I think it's really worth watching not only what Muhammad bin Salman says right because what he says is important but maybe not fully reflective of his thinking but also what he does and to think out of the box about what he can offer and at what stage of the process he can offer it Oh and ultimate of your personal stay with us we've got more to discuss right now though I want to go to New York we welcome Natalie Sanandaji she survived that music festival the Nova party on Saturday and she is now back in the United States Natalie thank you so much for speaking to us I cannot imagine what you have been through in the past week and a day take us back if you will to Saturday morning the 7th of October you were at that music festival take us through your recollections we were at the festival thousands of young Israelis just coming to have a good time to dance at around 6 30 from my campsite at the festival I was one of the only Americans at around 6 30 one of the girls Israeli girls came up to me to tell me there have been some rockets that have been sent our way they wanted to keep me calm let me know that this happens sometimes this is something that is a reality for most Israeli kids this is something that they grow up with this is something that they're used to I don't think if there was a festival anywhere else in the world and suddenly rockets were being intercepted right over their heads that they would stay so calm and they would say oh it's okay it'll probably just be a few it's normal for the area that we're in this will be over soon that wouldn't that wouldn't happen anywhere else but these kids grew up with war as a reality nobody understood the severity of the situation when the rockets first started coming they thought that it would just be a few rockets and that's it right now you guys are actually showing a video of the bathrooms being shot at the festival the first time I saw this video was yesterday and this is something that hit me very hard because when the rockets first started coming and they shut off the music and the security of the festival asked us to please evacuate the premises and go to our cars I asked my friends I knew that we would have a long drive home at this point we thought it was just rockets and that we would all drive out of here safely I asked my friends you think I can just go to the bathroom for a second before this long drive and they said yeah go to the bathroom I was in those bathrooms maybe I don't know how long before the terrorists came and started shooting at them but I was there and seeing that made me realize how much my life was in danger and that I could have been in those bathrooms when they came and they started shooting we evacuated waited to our cars and the party security asked us to all please start going in a specific direction we were in a field you couldn't drive on most of this field and we're all trying to get down the same road the security eventually asks us to turn around and to go in the other direction at this point we started to get a little bit confused a little bit more worried the rockets kept coming and we had a feeling that there was something else coming that we were not informed of yet once we started going in the other direction the security started yelling at everyone to please get out of their cars and start running because the fact was that so many cars in such a confined space was making us an easy target we sat in our cars we didn't understand why they asked us to get out at first until we heard the first gunshots and that's when we realized that the terrorists were right next to us they had come on foot they had guns and we were thousands of children with nothing to protect ourselves as soon as we heard the gunshots we opened our doors and we just started to run everyone was running in different directions nobody knew what direction was safe nobody knew where they were coming from every decision we made on what direction to run in was a decision that either saved our lives or got us killed or got us kidnapped at a certain point I remember we were running and a bunch of kids that were at the festival were hiding in a ditch and we contemplated whether or not to hide in the ditch or keep running and then we heard more gunshots and we decided to run instead of instead of hiding in this ditch and later on one of my friends that was with me told me that the kids that hid in the ditch got shot and that they're no longer with us and that could have been us if we made one wrong decision we ran for about four hours unbelievable for the first two hours there was nobody around us to protect us most of the security that was at the festival was killed trying to help everyone go in the right direction after about two hours we did come across a police officer he didn't seem to have much information either all he had on him was a handgun and that wasn't even much to protect us with but he walked with us he walked by our side and we asked him if he's able to call anyone to send help to send back up but right away we heard that the the terrorist had taken over the nearby police station it had taken over their radio station and we heard them screaming on his walkie-talkie he couldn't even call for backup for anyone to come help us because if he said where we were they would have hurt us and he would have came for us what's going through your mind at this point what are you thinking at this point all I can think about is all the people that didn't make it out that weren't as lucky as me all the people that were killed all the people that were kidnapped and my biggest fear right now is that it's only going to get worse before it can get better and I fear for all of my friends and all of my family that's still there so many people that were at the festival that got lucky that survived the festival are now re-enlisting in the army and putting their lives at risk once again to protect their people to protect their country we're hearing that and we are blown away by the bravery of people who have survived this attack people like you who are prepared to speak out now and other people who are prepared to go back and fight we are learning more and more details every single day about exactly what emerged and the scale of what unfolded thank you for sharing your ordeal stay safe thank you thank you for having me israel is officially in a state of war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity in news edition i'm bonita levine coming to you live from tel aviv it's day nine of the war between israel and hamas details of the planning ahead of the massive terror attack involving civilian massacres are emerging a plan more than a year in the making a plan that has seen more than 1300 people shot tortured and butchered at a music festival and at several kibbutzim and moshavin in southern israel a plan that has seen hamas compared to isis and has drawn repeated calls for the terror group to be eliminated a plan that now sees at least 150 people being held hostage inside gaza that's according to israel's current assessment the hostages ranging in age from a nine month old baby to an 89 year old man it's not only israelis impacted by this horrific attack those killed and those missing include nationals from 43 different countries in total 148 foreign nationals have been killed 143 are missing now the idf has since struck several hamas terror sites in the gaza strip including high ranking hamas and palestinian islamic jihad members the idf has also repeatedly warned gaza residents to leave the northern part of gaza and is so far holding off on its ground response giving more time for evacuations the un says so far more than 423 000 palestinians have already left their homes several world leaders condemning the terrorist spree which started on saturday the 7th of october the united states showing its unwavering support with the visit of both secretary of state antony blinkin and loyde austin the u.s defense secretary saying he knows isis and hamas is worse than isis so for the latest developments we go live to our correspondent pia kloschandler he joins us from starot in southern israel so we know siren sounded earlier in some southern communities pier at the same time we're also hearing the red cross is demanding hamas grant immediate access to hostages held in gaza bring us up to speed on the latest developments down south well we've been scoring the area of the gaza border and we've seen some deployment ground stages by armored vehicles that we cannot show to the media in order not to divulge their positions and also in order to to to keep the safety of the soldiers and of the media at the same time but we've seen some starts of ground stage deployments in the vicinity of the gaza border we've seen also patrols of hammer jeeps manned by reservists that are scoring the area because there are still fears of infiltrations this morning just near starot in kibbutz near ham there was an infiltration by two terrorists one was killed we don't know about the fate of the other one but these are terrorists it's not even an infiltration these are terrorists that are still here nine days after they infiltrated onto israeli territory onto israeli soil during that slaughter on october 7th and now these are patrols that are on the israeli soil and not on the fence between israel and the gaza border and that shows you the volatile situation and the fear that there are still terrorists in the area in the meantime defense minister you have gallant made soldiers on the security border between israel and the gaza strip and he spoke about a war between the man of darkness versus the man of light and you imagine that the man of light are the israelis and the man of darkness as the Hamas and palestinian islamic jihad terrorists well we certainly hope for days where there is light across the region thank you for now correspondent pia clausian led joining us live from starot in southern israel we will be coming back to pier in the coming hours now for a week the eyes of the world have been on southern israel and the gaza strip but even the gaza arena might ultimately prove a sideshow should the war expand to lebanon syria or even iran itself at this last hour israel's striking hezbollah posts after the terror group claimed responsibility for another anti-tank guided missile attack on the lebanon border the fifth time this morning and a short while ago iran's foreign minister saying iran cannot remain a spectator if what he calls the aggression against gaza continues senior correspondent owin ultiman looks at the dilemma facing iran to cut Hamas loose or to risk losing everything in doha on saturday he was all smiles iranian foreign minister jose and amir abdulayan greeting hamas leader ismail hania in the capital of katar and in beirut on friday too he had been all smiles amir abdulayan happy with his work and playing coy with what comes next of course the resistance has kept on the table all possible scenarios on the other fronts the zero hour for any action against the crimes is also at the hands of the resistance the resistance of course is hezbollah with iran even at this hour separating itself formally from the group even as hezbollah is widely recognized as iran's proxy as iran and its network face in israel at top readiness and the united states set to be parked offshore with two aircraft carrier strike groups iran and hezbollah since day one of this war are finding themselves in a dilemma here is the dilemma if iran is going to send hezbollah to the war iran is going to jeopardize not only the the risk or downfall of hamas in gaza street which seems to be like almost imminent imminent but also a massive strike to hezbollah and indeed that dilemma axios reported iran passed israel a message through the united nations warning of iran's direct entry into the war should the israeli campaign in gaza intensify the decisions in tehran are fateful ones by design or by accident the clock for iran is ticking to high noon and israel hopes that for iran's proxies from gaza to lebanon to syria and beyond that the clock is ticking too mid so for more insight we welcome to studio israeli palestinian relations expert colonel in the reserves krisha yaku bobech former head of the civilian department of kogat in the idf and former ambassador abhi pasner the former israeli ambassador to france and italy and former world chairman of karen hyersword thank you gentlemen both of you for being here in studio nine days in krisha i want to pick up with you on the report we just heard the concerns around lebanon syria and iran pulling the strings breakdown what is unfolding right now from a security perspective across the region hamas started the war and actually all the players entering all of them each one of them with their own dilemma so hezbollah are in a dilemma if they will join the war if they will open a node in front the ones who will pay the price will be the people of lebanon now the people of lebanon understand that that if another chaos will happen in lebanon like in 2006 they are going to pay the price for that so they need to wait and to see what will be the developments in the Gaza Strip or to wait and for an order from iran they're a sponsor because they are an iranian proxy simple as it is syria they also in a dilemma asad is a let's say in captivity at the hands of iran okay he's a doll he's a puppet on a stream and he's managed by iran and there is a division that was moved from dir azur to kunetra the border in syria with lebanon and they are also waiting to an order to engage or not we just saw the beginning of that okay a watershed that was launched or a missile from syria so is it another front we've been talking about a multi war arena it means lebanon syria gaza or gaza lebanon syria in iran and there is a dilemma of iran if they will also participate and it depends because i believe that the moment that they will understand that their front post is about to collapse khamas it looks like they will do something to interfere because they don't want to lose their investment it's a huge investment and they are also in dilemma because they and they will lose what they got from the west recently okay and people are talking differently to iran no sanctions let's see what can we do maybe talk maybe nuclear abilities and other stuff and we have russians backing all of that yes or no i think it will be checked and for putin it's a celebration because the whole world is focused on what's happening between israel and khamas and lebanon so he can do whatever he wants to do in the ukraine and as we've seen in idlib he continues bombing i'm going to stop you right now because we're going to pick up on that shortly right now we need to go to our correspondent khamdas al hut joining us from the northern border i understand interceptions happening as we speak khamda what can you tell us benita if you could see just in the distance there the iron dome active after red alerts were issued for communities uh just below the lebanon border remember there is a closure anywhere that is four kilometers near the lebanon border now the iron dome intercepting those missiles you can also see in the distance the lebanese positions that the israeli military has struck in retaliation for the fifth time today tit for tat exchanges of fire at the border the iron dome now activated intercepting those missiles while the israeli military continues to strike lebanese territory you can hear also booms and explosions in the distance that's the iron dome working let's discuss the possibility of hezbollah entering this war yesterday the iranian foreign minister arriving to qata to saying that there are no guarantees specifically if israel enters a ground operation inside gaza hezbollah will get involved let's also remind our viewers of the arsenal hezbollah has back in june they did a weapons showcase showcasing a lot of the different types of capabilities they now have of their new weaponry they are stronger than any branch of the lebanese military they've got upwards of 150 to 200 000 rockets in their arsenal but what wasn't on display there were the larger more destructive ballistic missiles that no one really knows what they are like since 2006 the last time we really saw any sort of weaponry being used from them so the israeli military on high alert as this conflict is now shifting to a multi-front war and we heard just a short while ago iran's foreign minister saying that iran cannot remain a spectator if what he calls the aggression against gaza continues so break down the connection here we are waiting to hear confirmation if and when the idf is going to open up its ground invasion of the gaza strip talk us through the lucky timelines what are you hearing from experts right now well look the iranian foreign minister's statement yesterday in doha was clear and i have it here on my screen quote if the attacks of the zinus against the defenseless citizens and the people of gaza continue no one can guarantee the control of the situation and the non expansion of the conflict remember these groups like hezbollah are backed by iran they are watching closely they are waiting to get involved in the conflict last week palestinian factions operating in the south have been saying that they are eager to join the fight but they need the the go the green light from hezbollah to really get involved they need their approval for any sort of rockets or weaponry that is going to be issued at the moment there are still fears of infiltration people crossing through the border today for a fifth the time that exchange of fire in israel the israeli military bonita remaining on high alert as the iranians are now involved somehow in this conflict correspondent khamdesal hoot live from the northern border we will be coming back to you stay safe khamdes and now we go across to the south and our correspondent mary macaul of joins us from hospital in ashkelon so sirens just moments ago in the north we know earlier there was sirens in some parts of the south give us an update what are you seeing and hearing from baracy lie hospital absolutely right bonita so about an hour ago there were some sirens that ring out in border communities here in ashkelon there haven't been any sirens since later in the evening last night but we did see a massive barrage of rockets that were fired at ashkelon overnight luckily there were no injuries and nobody needed to be treatment from those rocket broads many of the residents here in this area have gone and fled to safer parts of the country as they do continue to be pounded by this rocket fire continuously having to run into their shelters due to the constant rockets that are being fired from gaza towards this area but as i said it has been a little bit of quiet for the residents here since yesterday evening but what we are seeing we've just about an hour ago we also saw earlier today visitor visit from the french foreign minister who was here on the ground in israel on a support and solidarity visit and he was here touring this hospital facility he met with the director of the hospital he saw the damage where a rocket hit this hospital just down the road in one of their other complexes earlier in the week and he was updated on the situation here got a security briefing and a situation with the soldiers who are still actively fighting the french foreign minister pledging that france could do everything it will be able to to try and assist with the rescue mission to try and bring back some of the hostages who are being held in the gaza strip so this is just one of many different visits from some of israel's western allies who have come and have been on the ground here to express their support and to tell them that they are standing behind israel in this difficult time and we are also hearing benjamin netanyahu is likely to be meeting with relatives of some of the people who are being held hostage still in gaza and that should be happening in the coming hours for now thank you very much to our correspondent mary macaul of live from barzi lie hospital in ashkelon thanks mary now turning to the diplomatic front saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman has met with u.s. secretary of state anthony blinkin during which he voiced support for gaza and the palestinian people adding that the kingdom seeks to intensify communication and work to calm the situation and stop the escalation in gaza blinkin on the other hand highlighting the united states unwavering focus on stopping terrorist attacks by hamas securing the release of all hostages and preventing the conflict from spreading blinkin also calling their meeting very productive and israeli lawmaker and former ambassador to the un danida nun took several ambassadors on a tour to the southern city of starot when siren sounded he was joined by ambassadors from the check republic south sudan kosovo and albania who got a first-hand look at what happens when siren sound warning of incoming rocket fire so for more in studio still with me avi puzner former israeli ambassador to france and italy and we're also joined by our senior diplomatic correspondent oan ultiman thank you both for being here avi i want to start with you there is so much discuss on the diplomatic front but i want to start with the fact that anthony blinkin has been here he's left he's visited a range of regions very very quickly and he's back here tomorrow talk to us about the important message he needs to be getting across right now while we wait to see the next moves in the war on day nine thank you very much you know the very fact that blinkin was here went to Saudi Arabia it's coming back here but we are in the middle of a serious crisis a serious crisis and it's not enough to change messages blinkin comes here to tell us about what he found out in those arab countries it's true that there is a lot of flip service support for the palestinian gaza i don't believe for one moment that muhammad mensulman really cares about hamas but politically from an arabic point of view he cannot now continue his relation his effort to build a relationship with israel he has to be in the arab can but why is blinkin coming back i think you hear we heard the escalation on the northern front there is clearly every day now more and more and more incident locally incident for the time being but there is an escalation on the northern front and it seems more and more possible that his bala might go into into the war now also mrs colonna the french foreign minister is here on her way to lebanon she she's here solidarity visit it's okay but she goes away with a message to lebanon and we see the lebanese government responsible for what is going if it is going to happen from the side with all the consequences that this country which is by the way in a terrible economical situation there are two hours electricity in beirut i mean they are there but if his bala really joins the fighting then the country must expect a big israeli retaliation and it's true we're not speaking up we're not going to say yes we're going to do that and that and that and that but the very fact that we are silent and sending diplomatic messages they have to be very careful oh and people in this region closely watching the words out of the saudi crown prince given that before the war it seemed that steps were definitely getting closer and closer and warmer to some kind of normalization what did you make of the message that was sent by muhammad bin salman right now i did it look that way did uh the saudi crown prince said it in his own voice right every day we're getting closer to normalization that was just a month ago look he's in an impossible position as abhi just explained obviously has to have a certain kind of messaging for his own public and for publics around the arab and muslim world that said what was true in september is still true today and it's going to be true in november and it's going to be true next year the saudi interest in terms of what muhammad bin salman wants to see is the vision for his country and his need to show and pay a costly signal to show how serious he is about that vision all of it points in the medium or long term for the normalization of my opinion to be back on in the short term it may be may be complicated although you know i put out a thought experiment on twitter i'm just to see your reaction what if what if muhammad bin salman were there in that room with antony blinkin and say mr secretary in exchange for israel stopping the campaign in gaza instant normalization i'll sign the piece of paper right now that's a big what if what result right and i i meant it as a thought experiment what was i in a sense i think trying to get at is that saudi arabia has a lot of leverage here this is a country that israel want to listen to that israel want to cooperate with that israel might even be willing to make concessions with even given the stakes of this war even given the objectives that we as a public right and the military and government want to achieve and even given what we faced this is one player that even given all of that even given all of that has real leverage maybe even second only to the united states so i think it's really worth watching not only what muhammad bin salman says right because what he says is important but maybe not fully reflective of his thinking but also what he does and to think out of the box about what he can offer and at what stage of the process he can offer it oh and ultimate avipasnera stay with us we've got more to discuss right now though i want to go to new york we welcome natalie sanandaji she survived that music festival the nova party on saturday and she is now back in the united states natalie thank you so much for speaking to us i cannot imagine what you have been through in the past week and a day take us back if you will to saturday morning the 7th of october you were at that music festival take us through your recollections we were at the festival thousands of young israelis just coming to have a good time to dance at around 6 30 from my campsite at the festival i was one of the only americans at around 6 30 one of the girls israeli girls came up to me to tell me there have been some rockets that have been sent our way they wanted to keep me calm let me know that this happened sometimes this is something that is a reality for most israeli kids this is something that they grow up with this is something that they're used to i don't think if there was a festival anywhere else in the world and suddenly rockets were being intercepted right over their heads that they would stay so calm and they would say oh it's okay it'll probably just be a few it's normal for the area that we're in this will be over soon that wouldn't that wouldn't happen anywhere else but these kids grew up with war as a reality nobody understood the severity of the situation when the rockets first started coming they thought that it would just be a few rockets and that's it right now you guys are actually showing a video of the bathrooms being shot at the festival the first time i saw this video was yesterday and this is something that hit me very hard because when the rockets first started coming and they shut off the music and the security of the festival asked us to please evacuate the premises and go to our cars i asked my friends i knew that we would have a long drive home at this point we thought it was just rockets and that we would all drive out of here safely i asked my friends you think i can just go to the bathroom for a second uh before this long drive and they said yeah go to the bathroom i was in those bathrooms maybe i don't know how long before the terrorist came and started shooting at them but i was there and seeing that made me realize how much my life was in danger and that i could have been in those bathrooms when they came and they started shooting we evacuated waited to our cars and the party security asked us to all please start going in a specific direction we were in a field you couldn't drive on most of this field and we're all trying to get down the same road the security eventually asks us to turn around and to go in the other direction at this point we started to get a little bit confused a little bit more worried the rockets kept coming and we had a feeling that there was something else coming that we were not informed of yet once we started going in the other direction the security started yelling at everyone to please get out of their cars and start running because the the fact was that so many cars in such a confined space was making us an easy target we sat in our cars we didn't understand why they asked us to get out at first until we heard the first gunshots and that's when we realized that the terrorists were right next to us they had come on foot they had guns and we were thousands of children with nothing to protect ourselves as soon as we heard the gunshots we opened our doors and we just started to run everyone was running in different directions nobody knew what direction was safe nobody knew where they were coming from every decision we made on what direction to run in was a decision that either saved our lives or got us killed or got us kidnapped at a certain point I remember we were running and a bunch of kids that were at the festival were hiding in a ditch and we contemplated whether or not to hide in the ditch or keep running and then we heard more gunshots and we decided to run instead of instead of hiding in this ditch and later on one of my friends that was with me told me that the kids that hid in the ditch got shot and that they're no longer with us and that could have been us if we made one wrong decision we ran for about four hours unbelievable for the first two hours there was nobody around us to protect us most of the security that was at the festival was killed trying to help everyone go in the right direction after about two hours we did come across a police officer he didn't seem to have much information either all he had on him was a handgun and that wasn't even much to protect us with but he walked with us he walked by our side and we asked him if he's able to call anyone to send help to send backup but right away we heard that the the terrorists had taken over the nearby police station it had taken over their radio station and we heard them screaming on his walkie-talkie he couldn't even call for backup for anyone to come help us because if he said where we were they would have hurt us and it would have came for us what's going through your mind at this point what are you thinking at this point all I can think about is all the people that didn't make it out that weren't as lucky as me all the people that were killed all the people that were kidnapped and my biggest fear right now is that it's only going to get worse before it can get better and I fear for all of my friends and all of my family that's still there so many people that were at the festival that got lucky that survived the festival are now re-enlisting in the army and putting their lives at risk once again to protect their people to protect their country we're hearing that and we are blown away by the bravery of people who have survived this attack people like you who are prepared to speak out now and other people who are prepared to go back and fight we are learning more and more details every single day about exactly what emerged and the scale of what unfolded thank you for sharing your ordeal stay safe thank you thank you for having me israel is officially in a state of war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity king news edition i'm bonisa levine coming to you live from tel aviv on day nine of the war between israel and chamas news just in eight israelis are wounded in the latest rocket barrage up north across the israel-lebanon border now this all happening just after new details emerge about the start of this war the planning ahead of that massive chamas terror attack involving civilian massacres a plan more than a year in the making a plan that has seen more than one thousand three hundred people shot tortured and butchered at a music festival and at several kibbutzim and moshavin in southern israel a plan that has seen chamas compared to isis and has drawn repeated calls for the terror group to be eliminated a plan that now sees at least 150 people being held hostage inside gaza according to israel's current assessment the hostages ranging in age from a nine month old baby to an 89 year old man it's not only israelis impacted by this horrific attack those killed and those missing include nationals from 43 different countries in total 148 foreign nationals have been killed 143 are missing now the idf has since struck several chamas terror sites in the gaza strip including high ranking chamas and palestinian islamic jihad members the idf also repeatedly warning gaza residents to leave the northern part of gaza and is so far holding off on its ground response giving more time for evacuations the un saying so far more than four hundred and twenty three thousand palestinians have already left their homes several world leaders condemning the terrorist spree which started on saturday the seventh of october the united states showing its unwavering support with the visit of both secretary of state antony blinkin and loyde austin the u.s. defense secretary saying he knows isis and chamas is worse than isis so for the latest we now go to our correspondent mary mccullough she joins us from ashkelon at the barzi lie hospital mary what's the latest update what can you share at this hour hi venita it's been an unusually quiet day here today in ashkelon which of course we're very near the israel gaza border this is a city that has seen massive amounts of rockets fired here including last night where there were very large barges fired at the city most of residents are not leaving their homes the shops are closed and most are remaining as close to shelter as they can here at the hospital though it has become a bit quieter than the madness and the chaos that was earlier in this week as they were taking dozens and dozens of injured both soldiers and civilians from the fighting that has broken out in the past week or so fortunately for the hospital workers here today it has been a bit quieter and we haven't seen very many people coming in but they are still remaining to treat a number of patients here some of them who remain in difficult situations difficult conditions but we are also still seeing the visit from the french foreign minister he was here earlier today and expressing his support and solidarity with israel live from ashkelon our correspondent mary mccullough thank you so much for that update stay safe mary now for a week the eyes of the world have been on southern israel and the gaza strip but even the gaza arena might ultimately prove a sideshow should the war expand to lebanon syria or even iran itself in the past few hours israel striking hezbollah posts after the terror group claimed responsibility for another anti-tank guided missile attack on the lebanon border the fifth on this day and a short while ago iran's foreign minister saying tehran cannot remain a spectator if what he calls the aggression against gaza continues senior correspondent owen ultiman looks at the dilemma facing iran to cut khamas loose or risk losing everything in doha on saturday he was all smiles iranian foreign minister josey namer abdulayyan greeting hamas leader is smile hyenia in the capital of katar and in beirut on friday too he had been all smiles amir abdulayyan happy with his work and playing coy with what comes next of course the resistance has kept on the table all possible scenarios on the other fronts the zero hour for any action against the crimes is also at the hands of the resistance the resistance of course is hezbollah with iran even at this hour separating itself formally from the group even as hezbollah is widely recognized as iran's proxy as iran and its network face in israel at top readiness and the united states set to be parked offshore with two aircraft carrier strike groups iran and hezbollah since day one of this war are finding themselves in a dilemma here is the dilemma if iran is going to send hezbollah to the world iran is going to jeopardize not only the the risk or downfall of hamas in gaza street which seems to be like almost imminent imminent imminent but also a massive strike to hezbollah and indeed that dilemma axios reported iran passed israel a message through the united nations warning of iran's direct entry into the war should the israeli campaign in gaza intensify the decisions in tehran are fateful ones by design or by accident the clock for iran is ticking to high noon and israel hopes that for iran's proxies from gaza to lebanon to syria and beyond that the clock is ticking to midnight and as we are speaking red alert siren sounding as we speak in some of the border communities in the south including near um that happening just seconds ago but it's to the north where we find our correspondent khamda sahud she joins us from the northern border and khamda the last we heard eight israelis have been wounded in the latest rocket barrage across the northern border what update confirmation can you share but you know the israeli military says that nine rockets were fired from southern lebanon and they are now working on striking those rocket launching sites a hezbollah spokesperson speaking earlier is saying that the intensity of in the exchange of fire was actually just a warning to israel and it's not his bulla's indication that they're going to join the war however in southern lebanon the palestinian faction hamez says that they sent those rockets giving a statement quote the al-qasem brigades in lebanon bombed shlomi and naharia and they're surrounding northern area in occupied palestine with 20 missiles in response to the continuing situation in gaza there have been several military reinforcements that the israelis have been sending to the north as they prepare for what could be a multi-front conflict i'll remind you his bulla's weaponry is much stronger than what we see out of gaza you can actually hear fighter jets overhead here heading toward that northern direction his bulla has a military arsenal but we don't exactly know what's there in 2016 they said they had around 150 000 short-range rockets but we still haven't seen those longer more ballistic and destructive missiles they also have handheld weapons that can destroy drones there's really a lot that is still unknown and should they choose to enter this conflict it could be a situation that israel finds itself stretched thin not only in the south but also in the north thank you so much correspondent khamdesahut live from the northern border more to come from khamda in the coming hours and days now in studio we welcome benjamin antony co-founder and CEO of the meriam institute benjamin thank you so much for being here in studio it's got so complicated that now when there's rocket fire from the north coming towards israeli territory we need to unpack whether it's from hezbollah whether it's from hamas whether it's from a palestinian faction and what that exact message might mean your take on what is brewing up north as we speak so i think that what we've all witnessed to last shabbat morning last saturday morning was the result of the over intellectualization of the assessment of our enemies now it's not the time to lay into the senior defense establishment and the government of the state of israel at this moment that will come but you mentioned that this was a complex situation i actually believe it might but need to be rather simple explain why we have examples from our past we have the sixth day war of 1967 during which the state of israel facing the potential of a multi-front campaign launched a preemptive strike specifically against the egyptians to the south and as a consequence won that war swiftly and decisively we also have another lesson from the past the yom kippur war where the states of israel waited and waited and waited and i would rather see as if it is to be the case of a multi-front war follow the example that we saw in 1967 during the sixth day war and issue the example that we saw in 1973 during the yom kippur war so let me say it clearly we face a situation where our society is reeling emotionally from what took place adjacent to the gaza strip but there is an additional anxiety everybody who's wondering what will chis bala do to us i don't think that that is the sign of a country and a people who know self-determination i think the very definition of zionism is actually to determine our own future and therefore i would say i would like to see as one citizen of israel a definitive categorical preemptive strike on chis bala's capabilities on their rocket capabilities in the north without delay let's take out one front let's do it either simultaneously or prior to whatever awaits us inside the gaza strip but let's not wait until they decide what way they will rain down upon us and just to put this into context we fought a war with rockets coming in from the gaza strip for 51 or 52 days during operation protective edge in 2014 i had a personal briefing with then commander of the northern formation of the israel defense forces with a specialty on lebanon his name was major general noam tibon he's been in the news for acts of heroism of late as well he told me that at that time his bala was armed to the capacity where they could fire rockets in the number of 2200 per day that cannot be tolerated and it would be a crime were it to be tolerated and accepted but when iran says it cannot remain a spectator how does that change your assessment your suggestion as we speak it merely reinforces it what we have to do is defang the beasts that are on our borders and we need to do that precisely because we don't know when one enemy will add itself to the already existing list of our enemies so we need to take out hamas we need to take out his bala inside and lebanon and that will of course deter iran from coming in because his bala is actually there at the deployment of the iranians what do you make of the concerns around the hostages who are being kept in Gaza right now that a ground operation or an attempt to eliminate hamas which is what israel is planning to do would mean for the chances of those hostages being brought back to safety and of course deeply deeply concerned for our hostages we have an estimated 150 individuals there it's not just our elderly our infirm our women our men our soldiers it's also our unborn children there are pregnant women potentially there who are being held hostage as well I don't know what the fate of those hostages will be nobody knows and the reason is because the attack was so depraved and the number of hostages that they took was so indiscriminate that we are in uncharted territory we have to push on we have to strike hamas we have to topple hamas whether or not we're going to whether or not there's the political will and indeed international support will be sustained and whether it will remain as strong as it's been thus far that is an enormous question egypt has closed the rougher crossing exacerbating the situation for those who are trying to flee for the palestinian civilians who are trying to flee notwithstanding that there is satellite imagery showing hamas tracks blockading stopping civilians from leaving notwithstanding the fact that israel told civilians to leave the area and we had a recording earlier on in our shows of the idf speaking to a palestinian civilian saying that hamas was stopping them from leaving talk to us about the humanitarian crisis that is going to be unfolding you made mention of the optics from the international arena when hundreds and thousands of palestinians are trying to get to some kind of safety when this ground operation takes place listen i think the state of israel has done more than is required of a nation in the situation that we find ourselves in order to reduce to its lowest level the number of civilian casualties on the other side namely the palestinian arabs who live there inside the gaza strip but i have to tell you my appetite for concern for civilians is fully satiated by my concern for my own civilians the citizens of the state of israel who are also our soldiers who are also our citizens that's where my concern begins that's where it ends now with regard to the movement south i can tell you if hamas does not cynically prevent them from moving south the israel defense forces is more than capable of securing a corridor through which they're able to exit specifically the northern part of the gaza strip to safety down in the south with regard to what's going on the raffa crossing we'll wait and see there's time to work there the key right now is to get the palestinian arabs out of northern gaza into the south and then we will deal with what awaits them at the border crossing and in a new development israel turning on the water pipes in southern gaza that happening just a short while ago we obviously will keep watching to see the developments out of gaza as well as along the southern communities thank you so much for your insights benjamin antony co-founder and ceo of the merian institute appreciate you being here in studio now we go to our correspondent nicole zedek she joins us from rammle where benjamin netanyahu is meeting with families of those hostages we were talking about a little bit earlier people who were kidnapped abducted on saturday last week and taken across into gaza nicole what update can you share well as i'm speaking to you right now benita prime minister benjamin netanyahu is speaking with some of those family members along with representatives that are representing the families of those who are taking hostage and missing as of this morning we know that number is now at least 126 people that's 126 family members that are worried about their loved ones for more than a week now and they're furious benita there's a lot of anger out here as well because they're calling on the israeli government and the israeli military to do more they say how has this gone on for more than a week that we don't know exactly where our loved ones are and if they're safe and for the 126 people then their family members that do know they are taking hostage some people speculate it could be dozens more whether that's 150 or some speculations even 200 and so a lot of the family members also who don't know where their family members are they're missing and that's also posing a major concern for so many people because they're questioning which option is better benita if their family members have been taken hostage or if they were killed and this is the reality that so many family members and friends are facing right now exactly not knowing where their loved ones are so the hostage situation is a very very critical one and as we see down south as the israeli military is preparing for a ground invasion that makes the hostage situation that much more complicated and so that's why the family members the the friends the those representing all of those that have been taken want to meet with these leaders such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make sure that the government is doing everything they can to get their loved ones out of the Gaza Strip as soon as possible and as safely as possible so right now as we speak that's exactly what's happening behind closed doors here at the home front command center an imaginable pain for those families not knowing this uncertainty certainly exacerbating an already traumatic situation correspondent Nicole Zedek live from Ramle thank you very much for that update Nicole and as we continue with our coverage more sirens sounding in the southern communities near the Gaza border including in Nakhal Oz that happening just seconds ago we keep on hearing about more and more sirens they all indicate rocket fire heading towards residential parts of Israel and now we speak to another survivor of Saturday's Hamas terror attack and we bring in Yair an IDF soldier who was wounded while on active duty he joins us from central Israel Yair thank you very much for speaking to us take us back to Saturday where exactly were you near Kibbutz Sufa tell us your story first of all hello I was based in Sufa in the in the base there in our military base um just another weekend we were closing um then 6 30 6 o'clock um sirens start going and we're um we're woken up to big big rockets and booms hitting our hitting our area we then go into shelter um from there we're told uh that something serious has happened we must all go get our gear and uh and fight um we do that and then just as I exit the front gate to go do what we need to do um we're opened that up fire there were 10 terrorists there um just started shooting at us we take cover behind this uh these big rocks that create this shape um me and four of the friends um off the back my friend gets shot right in the thigh it goes all the way to his backside um and then we are we enter a battle for an hour an hour and a half where uh they shot shot RPGs at us through grenades um just had 10 times the weaponry I was in there wasn't a very even fight but uh we fought we were more accurate we were better uh we were smarter and we managed to kill a few and enough for them to decide that an alternative way into the base was the only way into the base yeah I understand you were wounded how are you doing how is your recovery um yeah I was wounded uh one of the grenades hit me in a few different spots uh very very black wounds I have a couple in my head one in my chin that uh that they took out and uh there's one in my leg that is is still healing and is the reason that I'm not able to go back yet um it's a little infected but within a week or two please god I'll be I'll be back with my friends there are certainly many who will be watching this who will be shocked to hear you talk about when I go back I understand you only had 15 days left till the end of your service how do you feel about going back as this war continues um so yeah definitely wasn't part of my plans all of this we already had a book Thailand you know my you know my mates um but uh this is what it is and we've already all accepted it and uh going back isn't uh obviously it's no one's dream to take part in these type of things um but it's just what's right that's what's important and um it's it's all there is you know we have one country one place for the Jewish people to be and uh it's not really uh if I want to if I'm feeling like it it's it's just happening it's uh it's what's right and what's important and your air it was obviously such a massive devastating knock on saturday give us an understanding now as the next phase of this war seems to be falling into place the sentiment your understanding from within the IDF other soldiers how are they feeling what are their emotions like as the next phase looks set to start very soon the the the the the general understanding between everyone is that it we have to hit them and we have to hit them very very hard there must not be a Hamas after this this time um too long have we been patient with them we they shoot their rockets they do their weekly terrorist attacks and we just take it um and no longer now is the now is the time where we are we are going to from what I understand we are going to we are going to eradicate Hamas um and uh that's just what will be yeah yeah from central Israel thank you very much for speaking to us thank you for sharing your story of course be safe and now we go to our correspondent Pierre Klushendler he joins us from Storot in southern Israel so we are hearing more rocket alerts happening in several parts of the south update us from your perspective thank you Pierre there's a bad wind coming from the south uh of the security uh border from emanating from the Gaza Strip a bad wing of rockets rockets fire now it's in Lachal Oz which is a few kilometers down south of this city which is practically an abandoned city by its residents a city of 30,000 but probably 90 percent of the residents have left and there are some lonely cars driving as you've just seen or lonely walkers with a tormented gaze that are walking in in the city but you can see all the stores are closed the silence of the city is only punctuated by the booms of the shelling of the Gaza Strip right now by the alarm of one of the shop that was ignited probably by one of the explosions by the buzz of the uncrewed aerial vehicles that are patrolling the skies of Gaza and this is about it the city now is in the hands of the security forces and there is basically no residents that are staying in this city that has been hard hit earlier at around 11 a.m there was a direct hit on the house which burnt no casualties only damage because the residents had left already and yet as we're speaking to you Pierre we're seeing siren sounding in near Yitzhak in your arm and several parts nearby obviously you say many of the residents in the southern communities have been evacuated nonetheless what is being made of the arsenal that Hamas still has the weapons capabilities it still has still nine days in and rocket fire sirens are becoming part of the daily norm I don't know figures about the arsenal of Hamas their short-range mortar shells their rockets but they do have an arsenal what we sense is that they're trying to save that arsenal in the sense that the rocket fire is less intense that at the beginning of the world declared by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad so they're trying to save those rockets for days to come probably this is why it's not a flurry of rockets usually it's just four or five rockets and that's it but given that it's always dangerous to be in the streets like we are so where we are there is a protective shelter that Daniel Nour will show you we're just next to it because we're 15 seconds away from the rocket fire three kilometers away from the Gaza Strip but most importantly 15 seconds away so here we are safe and the residents those who have decided to stay probably have a shelter because up until now they're where there are buildings that do not have a proper private shelter in their homes thank you so much that is our correspondent Pierre Kloschendler joining us live from Storot in southern Israel lots more to come of course from Pierre in the coming hours and we leave you with news just in we are hearing that Israeli fighter jets are striking targets up north it's not exactly clear what those targets are but it follows the latest barrage of rockets up north Hezbollah targets we are getting confirmation as we speak are being targeted that's after eight Israelis were wounded in the latest rocket barrage up north that is happening right now as we speak Israel is retaliating to that latest rocket barrage up north targeting Hezbollah sites right now and that's where we end this breaking news edition I'm Vanessa Levine live in Tel Aviv stay tuned our coverage continues 1300 people murdered and more than 3000 injured and the war with Hamas continues we bring you first-hand testimonies from the front lines from those who survived and all the records of the atrocities by Hamas follow us as Israel fights terror from the south and north get the inside scoop on what's going on only on i-24 news this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unicycle this breaking news edition i'm Vanessa Levine coming to you live from Tel Aviv on day nine of the war between Israel and Hamas news just in eight Israelis are wounded in the latest rocket barrage up north across the israel-lebanon border now this all happening just after new details emerge about the start of this war the planning ahead of that massive Hamas terror attack involving civilian massacres a plan more than a year in the making a plan that has seen more than 1300 people shot tortured and butchered at a music festival and at several kibbutzim and moshavin in southern israel a plan that has seen Hamas compared to isis and has drawn repeated calls for the terror group to be eliminated a plan that now sees at least 150 people being held hostage inside Gaza according to israel's current assessment the hostages ranging in age from a nine month old baby to an 89 year old man it's not only Israelis impacted by this horrific attack those killed and those missing include nationals from 43 different countries in total 148 foreign nationals have been killed 143 are missing now the IDF has since struck several Hamas terror sites in the Gaza Strip including high-ranking Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad members the IDF also repeatedly warning Gaza residents to leave the northern part of Gaza and is so far holding off on its ground response giving more time for evacuations the UN saying so far more than 423 thousand Palestinians have already left their homes several world leaders condemning the terror spree which started on saturday the 7th of october the united states showing its unwavering support with the visit of both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin the U.S. Defense Secretary saying he knows ISIS and Hamas is worse than ISIS so for the latest we now go to our correspondent Mary McAuliffe she joins us from Ashkelon at the Barsi lie hospital Mary what's the latest update what can you share at this hour it's been an unusually quiet day here today in Ashkelon which of course were very near the Israel Gaza border this is a city that has seen massive amounts of rockets fired here including last night where there were very large barges fired at the city most of residents are not leaving their homes the shops are closed and most are remaining as close to shelter as they can here at the hospital though it has become a bit quieter than the madness and the chaos that was earlier in this week as they were taking dozens and dozens of injured both soldiers and civilians from the fighting that has broken out in the past week or so fortunately for the hospital workers here today it has been a bit quieter and we haven't seen very many people coming in but they are still remaining to treat a number of patients here some of them who remain in difficult situations difficult conditions but we are also still seeing the visit from the French foreign minister he was here earlier today and expressing his support in solidarity with Israel live from Ashkelon our correspondent Mary McAuliffe thank you so much for that update stay safe Mary now for a week the eyes of the world have been on southern Israel and the Gaza Strip but even the Gaza arena might ultimately prove a sideshow should the war expand to Lebanon Syria or even Iran itself in the past few hours Israel striking Hezbollah posts after the terror group claimed responsibility for another anti-tank guided missile attack on the Lebanon border the fifth on this day and a short while ago Iran's foreign minister saying Tehran cannot remain a spectator if what he calls the aggression against Gaza continues senior correspondent Owen Ultiman looks at the dilemma facing Iran to cut Hamas loose or risk losing everything in Doha on Saturday he was all smiles Iranian foreign minister Hussain Amir Abdullah Yian greeting Hamas leader Ismail Hania in the capital of Qatar and in Beirut on Friday too he had been all smiles Amir Abdullah Yian happy with his work and playing coy with what comes next of course the resistance has kept on the table all possible scenarios on the other fronts the zero hour for any action against the crimes is also at the hands of the resistance the resistance of course is Hezbollah with Iran even at this hour separating itself formally from the group even as Hezbollah is widely recognized as Iran's proxy as Iran and its network face in Israel at top readiness and the United States set to be parked offshore with two aircraft carrier strike groups Iran and Hezbollah since they one of these war are finding themselves in a dilemma here is the dilemma if Iran is going to send Hezbollah to the war Iran is going to jeopardize not only the the risk or downfall of Hamas in Gaza Street which seems to be like almost imminent imminent imminent but also a massive strike to Hezbollah and indeed that dilemma Axios reported Iran passed Israel a message through the United Nations warning of Iran's direct entry into the war should the Israeli campaign in Gaza intensify the decisions in Tehran are fateful ones by design or by accident the clock for Iran is ticking to high noon and Israel hopes that for Iran's proxies from Gaza to Lebanon to Syria and beyond that the clock is ticking to midnight and as we are speaking read alert siren sounding as we speak in some of the border communities in the south including near that happening just seconds ago but it's to the north where we find our correspondent Hamda Sahud she joins us from the northern border and Hamda the last we heard eight Israelis have been wounded in the latest rocket barrage across the northern border what update confirmation can you share but you know the Israeli military says that nine rockets were fired from southern Lebanon and they are now working on striking those rocket launching sites a Hezbollah spokesperson speaking earlier is saying that the intensity of in the exchange of fire was actually just a warning to Israel and it's not Hezbollah's indication that they're going to join the war however in southern Lebanon the Palestinian faction Hamas says that they sent those rockets giving a statement quote the Al Qasem brigades in Lebanon bombed Shlomi and Naharia and they're surrounding northern area in occupied Palestine with 20 missiles in response to the continuing situation in Gaza there have been several military reinforcements that the Israelis have been sending to the north as they prepare for what could be a multi-front conflict I'll remind you Hezbollah's weaponry is much stronger than what we see out of Gaza you can actually hear fighter jets overhead here heading toward that northern direction Hezbollah has a military arsenal but we don't exactly know what's there in 2016 they said they had around 150,000 short-range rockets but we still haven't seen those longer more ballistic and destructive missiles they also have handheld weapons that can destroy drones there's really a lot that is still unknown and should they choose to enter this conflict it could be a situation that Israel finds itself stretched thin not only in the south but also in the north thank you so much correspondent Hamdas Ahut live from the northern border more to come from Hamda in the coming hours and days now in studio we welcome Benjamin Anthony co-founder and CEO of the Miriam Institute Benjamin thank you so much for being here in studio it's got so complicated that now when there's rocket fire from the north coming towards Israeli territory we need to unpack whether it's from Hezbollah whether it's from Hamas whether it's from a Palestinian faction and what that exact message might mean your take on what is brewing up north as we speak so I think that what we bore witness to last Shabbat morning last Saturday morning was the result of the over intellectualization of the assessment of our enemies now it's not the time to lay into the senior defense establishment and the government of the state of Israel at this moment that will come but you mentioned that this was a complex situation I actually believe it might Bonita be rather simple explain why we have examples from our past we have the six-day war of 1967 during which the state of Israel facing the potential of a multi-front campaign launched a preemptive strike specifically against the Egyptians to the south and as a consequence won that war swiftly and decisively we also have another lesson from the past the Yom Kippur war where the state of Israel waited and waited and waited and I would rather see as if it is to be the case of a multi-front war follow the example that we saw in 1967 during the six-day war and issue the example that we saw in 1973 during the Yom Kippur war so let me say it clearly we face a situation where our society is reeling emotionally from what took place adjacent to the Gaza Strip but there is an additional anxiety everybody who's wondering what will Hezbollah do to us I don't think that that is the sign of a country and a people who know self-determination I think the very definition of Zionism is actually to determine our own future and therefore I would say I would like to see as one citizen of Israel a definitive categorical preemptive strike on Hezbollah's capabilities on their rocket capabilities in the north without delay let's take out one front let's do it either simultaneously or prior to whatever awaits us inside the Gaza Strip but let's not wait until they decide what way they will rain down upon us and just to put this into context we fought a war with rockets coming in from the Gaza Strip for 51 or 52 days during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 I had a personal briefing with then commander of the northern formation of the Israel Defense Forces with a specialty on Lebanon his name was Major General Noam Tibon he's been in the news for acts of heroism of late as well he told me that at that time Hezbollah was armed to the capacity where they could fire rockets in the number of 2200 per day that cannot be tolerated and it would be a crime were it to be tolerated and accepted but when Iran says it cannot remain a spectator how does that change your assessment your suggestion as we speak it merely reinforces it what we have to do is defang the beasts that are on our borders and we need to do that precisely because we don't know when one enemy will add itself to the already existing list of our enemies so we need to take out Hamas we need to take out Hezbollah inside and Lebanon and that will of course deter Iran from coming in because Hezbollah is actually there at the deployment of the Iranians what do you make of the concerns around the hostages who are being kept in Gaza right now that a ground operation or an attempt to eliminate Hamas which is what Israel is planning to do would mean for the chances of those hostages being brought back to safety and of course deeply deeply concerned for our hostages we have an estimated 150 individuals there it's not just our elderly our infirm our women our men our soldiers it's also our unborn children there pregnant women potentially there who are being held hostage as well I don't know what the fate of those hostages will be nobody knows and the reason is because the attack was so depraved and the number of hostages that they took was so indiscriminate that we are in uncharted territory we have to push on we have to strike Hamas we have to topple Hamas whether or not we're going to whether or not there's the political will and indeed international support will be sustained and whether it will remain as strong as it's been thus far that is an enormous question Egypt has closed the rougher crossing exacerbating the situation for those who are trying to flee for the Palestinian civilians who are trying to flee notwithstanding that there is satellite imagery showing Hamas tracks blockading stopping civilians from leaving notwithstanding the fact that Israel told civilians to leave the area and we had a recording earlier on in our shows of the IDF speaking to a Palestinian civilian saying that Hamas was stopping them from leaving talk to us about the humanitarian crisis that is going to be unfolding you made mention of the optics from the international arena when hundreds and thousands of Palestinians are trying to get to some kind of safety when this ground operation takes place listen I think the state of Israel has done more than is required of a nation in the situation that we find ourselves in order to reduce to its lowest level the number of civilian casualties on the other side namely the Palestinian Arabs who live there inside the Gaza Strip but I have to tell you my appetite for concern for civilians is fully satiated by my concern for my own civilians the citizens of the state of Israel who are also our soldiers who are also our citizens that's where my concern begins that's where it ends now with regard to the movement south I can tell you if Hamas does not cynically prevent them from moving south the Israel defense forces is more than capable of securing a corridor through which they're able to exit specifically the northern part of the Gaza Strip to safety down in the south with regard to what's going on the Rafa crossing we'll wait and see there's time to work there the key right now is to get the Palestinian Arabs out of northern Gaza into the south and then we will deal with what awaits them at the border crossing and in a new development Israel turning on the water pipes in southern Gaza that happening just a short while ago we obviously will keep watching to see the developments out of Gaza as well as along the southern communities thank you so much for your insights Benjamin Antony co-founder and CEO of the Miriam Institute appreciate you being here in studio now we go to our correspondent Nicole Zedek she joins us from Ramle where Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with families of those hostages we were talking about a little bit earlier people who were kidnapped abducted on Saturday last week and taken across into Gaza Nicole what update can you share well as I'm speaking to you right now Benita Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is speaking with some of those family members along with representatives that are representing the families of those who are taking hostage and missing as of this morning we know that number is now at least 126 people that's 126 family members that are worried about their loved ones for more than a week now and they're furious Benita there's a lot of anger out here as well because they're calling on the Israeli government and the Israeli military to do more they say how has this gone on for more than a week that we don't know exactly where our loved ones are and if they're safe and for the 126 people then their family members that do know they are taken hostage some people speculate it could be dozens more whether that's 150 or some speculations even 200 and so a lot of the family members also who don't know where their family members are they're missing and that's also posing a major concern for so many people because they're questioning which option is better Benita if their family members have been taken hostage or if they were killed and this is the reality that so many family members and friends are facing right now exactly not knowing where their loved ones are so the hostage situation is a very very critical one and as we see down south as the Israeli military is preparing for a ground invasion that makes the hostage situation that much more complicated and so that's why the family members the the friends those representing all of those that have been taken want to meet with these leaders such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make sure that the government is doing everything they can to get their loved ones out of the Gaza Strip as soon as possible and as safely as possible so right now as we speak that's exactly what's happening behind closed doors here at the home front command center an imaginable pain for those families not knowing this uncertainty certainly exacerbating an already traumatic situation correspondent Nicole Zedeck live from Rumley thank you very much for that update Nicole and as we continue with our coverage more sirens sounding in the southern communities near the Gaza border including in Nachal Oz that happening just seconds ago we keep on hearing about more and more sirens they all indicate rocket fire heading towards residential parts of Israel and now we speak to another survivor of Saturday's Hamas terror attack and we bring in Yair an IDF soldier who was wounded while on active duty he joins us from central Israel Yair thank you very much for speaking to us take us back to Saturday where exactly were you near Kibbutz Sufa tell us your story first of all hello I was based in Sufa in the in the base there in our military base just another weekend we were closing then 6 30 6 o'clock sirens start going and we're we're woken up to big big rockets and booms hitting our hitting our area we then go into shelter from there we're told that something serious has happened we must all go get our gear and and fight we do that and then just as I exit the front gate to go do what we need to do we'll open that up fire there were 10 terrorists there just started shooting at us we take cover behind this these big rocks that create this shape me and four of the friends off the bat my friend gets shot right in the thigh it goes all the way to his backside and then we're we enter a battle for an hour an hour and a half where they shot shot RPGs at us through grenades just had 10 times the weaponry I was in there wasn't a very even fight but we fought we were more accurate we were better we were smarter and we managed to kill a few and enough for them to decide that an alternative way into the base was the only way into the base yeah I understand you were wounded how are you doing how is your recovery yeah I was wounded one of the grenades hit me in a few different spots very very like wounds I've a couple in my head one in my chin that that they took out and there's one in my leg that is still healing and is the reason that I'm not able to go back yet it's a little infected but within a week or two please God I'll be I'll be back with my friends there are certainly many who will be watching this who will be shocked to hear you talk about when I go back I understand you only had 15 days left till the end of your service how do you feel about going back as this war continues so yeah definitely wasn't part of my plans all of this we already had a book Thailand you know my you know my mates but this is what it is we've already all accepted it and going back isn't obviously it's no one's dream to take part in these type of things but it's just what's right that's what's important and it's it's all there is you know we have one country one place for the Jewish people to be and it's not really if I want to if I'm feeling like it it's it's just happening it's it's what's right and what's important and your era it was obviously such a massive devastating knock on Saturday give us an understanding now as the next phase of this war seems to be falling into place the sentiment your understanding from within the IDF other soldiers how are they feeling what are their emotions like as the next phase looks set to start very soon the the the the general understanding between everyone is that it's we have to hit them and we have to hit them very very hard there must not be a Hamas after this this time too long have we been patient with them we they shoot their rockets they do their weekly terrorist attacks and we just take it um and no longer now is the now is the time where we are we are going to from what I understand we are going to we are going to eradicate Hamas um and uh that's just what we'll be yeah yeah from central Israel thank you very much for speaking to us thank you for sharing your story of course be safe and now we go to our correspondent Pierre Kloschendler he joins us from Storot in southern Israel so we are hearing more rocket alerts happening in several parts of the south update us from your perspective thank you Pierre there's a bad wind coming from the south of the security border from emanating from the Gaza Strip a bad wind of rockets rocket fire now it's in Nachal Oz which is a few kilometers down south of this city which is practically an abandoned city by its residents a city of 30 000 but probably 90 percent of the residents have left and there are some lonely cars driving as you've just seen or lonely walkers with a tormented gaze that are walking in in the city but you can see all the stores are closed the silence of the city is only punctuated by the booms of the shelling of the Gaza Strip right now by the alarm of one of the shop that was ignited probably by one of the explosions by the buzz of the uncrewed aerial vehicles that are patrolling the skies of Gaza and this is about it the city now is in the hands of the security forces and there is basically no residents that are staying in this city that has been hard hit earlier at around 11 a.m there was a direct hit on the house which burnt no casualties only damage because the residents had left already and yet as we're speaking to you Pierre we're seeing siren sounding in near Itzhak in near Amin several parts nearby obviously you say many of the residents in the southern communities have been evacuated nonetheless what is being made of the arsenal that Hamas still has the weapons capabilities it still has still nine days in and rocket fire sirens are becoming part of the daily norm I don't know figures about the arsenal of Hamas their short range mortar shells their rockets but they do have an arsenal what we sense is that they're trying to save that arsenal in the sense that the rocket fire is less intense that at the beginning of the war declared by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad so they're trying to to save those rockets for days to come probably this is why it's not a flurry of rockets usually it's just four five rockets and that's it but given that it's always dangerous to be in the streets like we are so where we are there is a protective shelter that Danielle will show you we're just next to it because we're 15 seconds away from the rocket fire three kilometers away from the Gaza Strip but most importantly 15 seconds away so here we are safe and the residents those who have decided to stay probably have a shelter because up until now they where there are buildings that do not have a proper private shelter in their homes thank you so much that is our correspondent pia kloschenler joining us live from starot in southern israel lots more to come of course from pia in the coming hours and we leave you with news just in we are hearing that israeli fighter jets are striking targets up north it's not exactly clear what those targets are but it follows the latest barrage of rockets up north hezbollah targets we are getting confirmation as we speak are being targeted that's after eight israelis were wounded in the latest rocket barrage up north that is happening right now as we speak israel is retaliating to that latest rocket barrage up north targeting hezbollah sites right now and that's where we end this breaking news edition i'm beneath the levine live in tel aviv stay tuned our coverage continues israel is officially in a state of war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking within a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity this particular project with a gross capacity of 103.5 megawatt will be producing around 230 gigawatt hour of clean renewable energy per year here where they come to claim for the rain if in fact in these moments the global warming is affecting bolivia and not only bolivia but all over the world and we need rain for the reserve we have the right ingredients and we have to do the job and that if we have the right ingredients and we do the job that the faquita can be protected of the war in israel it's the ninth day and all eyes are on the inevitable ground invasion in the south and the possible escalation in the north we'll start off with i-24 news pierre clochan layer in the road southern israel pierre yes hi we're just hearing the booms of probably israeli shelling but earlier on there were alerts along the security border with the Gaza Strip like a bad wind starting from the south going to the center and then to the north since they wrote a house was directly hit and burnt uh at 11 am but it's been relatively quiet here we're going to go to the only shop we found that is still open because probably 90 percent of the civilians of this city of 30 000 inhabitants have left already and we're here and the only people that are here are russian-speaking people maybe foreign workers i don't know there is this man who's talking to a journalist and uh who told me earlier that he's just guarding his home his family has been uh sent to safer places uh the owner of the shop is around here uh mark mark is i-f mark he doesn't know how to tell me how he feels he just tells me how can we all feel i don't know what to do don't forget what happened a week ago i don't feel anything just tell the truth he says but basically what happened here eight police officers were killed uh the police station was raised we don't know about the number of civilians who were killed here they don't know i don't know i've been trying to reach the municipality they don't answer me right now but all the people that have remained probably 10 percent of the city of 30 000 inhabitants are people that are usually on social welfare they have nowhere to go they have nowhere with all many of them are single or if they're married they sent their family away here just around here you have security forces and basically this city has been invested by security forces army police and journalists this is the sad situation in Zderot with the remaining residents with a very tormented gaze Jacob yes thank you very much Pierre i think there's also some sorts of sirens around the area so take care of yourself and um guys really i'm a funny senator editor here in the studio let's recap uh some of the events of today with uh eyes to the north right quite a lot long and as you mentioned rockets in the south now mainly around the city of Ashkelon one of the biggest cities in the north of the Gaza Strip a barrage of rockets there sirens are heard Israelis are asked to remain in shelters but yes most of the events this afternoon are happening on the northern border nine rockets fired out of Lebanon into Israeli territory this afternoon five of them intercepted by the iron dome system in addition to that five anti-tank missiles fired towards Israeli territory the Hezbollah group claiming responsibility for at least some of them and we know of at least one Israeli civilian that was killed from one of those anti-tank missiles several other civilians uh were wounded and the gf is attacking all day long correct the idea of his responding with fire now towards these areas where the missiles were launched from and i can remind our viewers that we already have four Israeli soldiers killed this week just from these incidents with Hezbollah on the northern border in addition to everything that's happening in the south and of course these are quite dangerous those anti-tank missiles they're both very accurate and very deadly mad russian made and targeting usually Israeli tanks in this case they hurt civilians as well in addition we're reporting on an exchange of fire that's happening right now on the northern border the residents of the city of metulla were asked to remain locked up in their homes in fear of an infiltration of terrorists on the border the idea we know there is some and gay is some exchange of fire there right now the idea is checking whether there was an infiltration let's go now live to i-24 news honda silhout in the north with your view from there honda jacob several explosions heard in the distance as the Israeli military is currently striking Hezbollah positions inside lebanese territory we're hearing from the Israeli defense minister who says that israel is not interested in a war with Hezbollah saying quote we have no interest in the war in the north and we don't want to escalate the situation we heard earlier from Hezbollah a spokesperson releasing a statement saying that the exchanges of fire today the five different instances were just a warning and that they don't mean that Hezbollah is going to join the conflict exactly now there were also rockets that came in from southern lebanon the iron dome intercepting them the al-qasem brigades in southern lebanon claiming responsibility for that saying they fired around 20 but the Israeli military is saying it was around nine now a lot of tension remains here on the northern border with israel and lebanon as the Israeli military is currently engaged in gun battles reported in several different locations residents caution to stay indoors as this war is proving now to be a multi-front conflict honda thank you very much we'll get back to you later here in the studio with me amir oren a veteran military analyst are we getting closer to a full blown conflict in the north uh jacob may i answer something you didn't ask first uh politician um you're answering me with a question right um you know uh this may be too obvious for us here to even mention but it is worth uh telling our audience that here we are in jaffa a heavily arab part of televiv and hamas is rocketing jaffa as well as all other towns cities settlements in israel regardless of the makeup of the population they don't discriminate between jews muslims christians when they launch their rockets so it is worth at least as a footnote just uh to mention it now what is happening up north first of all it is obviously good for his bala as well as their iranian mentors to have israel mobilize 350 000 troops for the foreseeable future if they can put israel on edge to keep it and have israel being distracted from the south because of the fear of a second front why not they probably don't want to escalate right now because the israeli defense forces and everyone else are ready for them they would like to initiate something uh as a surprise first blow they also probably don't want to go to israel into attacking his bala for fear that israel will use it as a step ladder the first the bottom um stage is gaza the second stage is lebanon and then leapfrog to iran so they would like as a token contribution to the palestinian struggle to do whatever they are doing up north which we just heard but not too much not yet not yet but still we've seen an escalation of sorts today there's no doubt about that yes in in normal times this would have been enough for israel to go on a major operation but right now it is not opportune right now israel has to take care of hamas because these are the declared war aims to uproot hamas um and topple its uh rule and get rid of the leaders and having said that right of course uh whole previous assumptions about hamas were fault as we just saw last week we just last week we heard so many idf commanders saying hamas is no interest in war so also with regards to his bala attacking now we should take everything under proportion there's always that possibility especially when the idf is so heavily involved but tomorrow tomorrow we may have another commentary we are only in the business of commentary uh in the news if we are wrong we are not intelligence chiefs they may pay with their careers they cannot be wrong of course they are sometimes sure uh back to the south about 30 000 residents of sderot were evacuated today here are some of them we live in sderot because of the situation it's very dangerous here we're waiting to leave to a lot because terrorists especially because terrorists it's no picnic to live here the feeling is not good the kids are traumatized they're not sleeping at night to return here i will because my child is in nursery at the hospital no other choice but i believe that when he is released from the nursery we won't be here we go through this for some years unfortunately my children were born into this situation and this is how we go on yeah the civilian prize is unbelievable this time we are joined by Ruth Wasserman lander a former knesset member um Ruth 126 families were told by idf that their relatives are hostages inside gaza how will israel deal with this issue first of all uh yeah kovat like to say that um the situation is absolutely unbelievable um and uh almost unprecedented in the world um where little children women uh grandmothers uh civilians unarmed civilians who were viciously attacked on saturday um are held hostage i'd just like to remind the world that this is what we're talking about so these are not um armed civilians i'm talking about families of hostages who are civilian um how is this going to be taken care of first of all these uh a special unit uh set up um uh a person who is appointed by the prime minister has taken um the responsibility over overseeing that each and every family has one or two or three people taking care of the civilian needs and uh army personnel taking care of any information that is relevant to their loved ones um more than that of course uh is better left unsaid this is not something that will be discussed over the media but i'd just like to say that the um the situation i'm personally volunteering in this uh specific unit in order to be in touch with the families um the situation for these families in terms of their um emotional state is of course it's difficult to describe the um it's inhumane as i said and the viciousness of the situation is something that uh israel has never experienced before not even in the yom kippur war yeah um on that issue um on here here in the studio um operationally um the idf and other branches of the security apparatus here in israel i have to operate inside gaza at the same time try to maybe negotiate something let's look at the president of entebbe uh the rabbin government um when it negotiated with the hostage takers who were protected by idiamine's uh soldiers first of all gave in to the demands because they couldn't withstand the fury of the family and because they didn't have good answers for what would have happened if the hostages started executing the hostage takers started executing hostages and then the government would have surrendered and then the families would have asked what about our loved ones who were already executed it was only when the hostage takers extended their ultimatum the deadline that the military operation became feasible now at that time when there were 100 hostages similar to the number here the government um took into account the possibility that 10 or 20 either hostages or of the rescuing force could be killed it seemed like a terrible but acceptable ratio here now if it uh became possible to gather intelligence and to plan an operation in which not all of the hostages survived and not all of the members of the elite units charged with the mission they probably would have done it but short of that and if they even know where the hostages have been taken to dispersed uh perhaps with Hamas leaders in order to serve as human shields or human vests as the case may be the government will have to negotiate and this is probably what secretary Blinken is coming to Israel from Qatar and Saudi Arabia tomorrow to do because you can see the outline of a possible deal in which the Hamas leadership would be spared the execution which the IDF is preparing for them they could be expelled evicted to Qatar or Turkey in return for the safe passage of the hostages and perhaps including a full release of prisoners from Israeli jails um uh that's the first time i'm hearing about a possibility of the Hamas leadership staying around they so far correct me if i'm wrong the talk was about women versus women wishful thinking yeah that's wishful thinking sorts of reports about possible mediation suggestions by Qataris by the Egyptians Hamas learned the lesson of hafez Assad after the al-Kippur war everything has a price the list of prisoners their condition medical supplies then the release of the wounded or elderly children in this case and eventually the release of the others for everything Israel will have to pay in the syrian case israel withdrew from the Kounetra area which it conquered in 1967 and here too Hamas if it has these bargaining chips it is not going to give anything just for Biden's blue eyes or brown whatever they might be let me bring in mr. Amjata from the british middle east center thank you very much for joining us um what are the reunification for the middle east uh in all of this for for the Arab world in all of this i mean first of all i would like to convey you my condolence to the people of Israel for for the lives they lost at the hand of those savage Hamas terrorists i would like to also say to the Israeli people that the world has changed most of the arab and the muslim world has have changed and we firmly and strongly stand with the people of israel against those savage iran-backed is like terrorists and we are very saddened at this time about what's happening in in in gaza in israel where we see that Hamas has not only kidnapped children but also burned women and killed elders from israel and now they are blocking the people of gaza from moving out of the war zone i think how the middle east looks at this there's a crime there is there is a peace there is a militias terrorist militia as a fact israel and israel has the right to defend itself how will the Arab world uh split on this can we define the moderates and the extremists once and for all if you know what i mean i mean let me uh it depends uh let's how we can look at this for example let's look what's happening inside gaza now we know we understand that yesterday Hamas has bombed people on the evacuation route in gaza they literally the explosion was was caused by Hamas homemade designed that bomb to to link it to israel and intimidate those who are following the instruction because they need them they will use them as the human shield the bomb blasted on the bridge of over where why the gaza aimed to block in and the exit routes to northern gaza now a lot of the media are of media uh they they had this they distributed this uh such uh uh and they were playing there the same video again and again even though they knew the truth that that that uh it was it was Hamas who made this and those are the media outlets to be honest they should be ashamed of themselves for distributing iranian propaganda the same iranian propaganda by the way that they tackle in syria in yemen in iraq in lebanon yet when it comes to israel they buy it somehow instead of asking why hamas does it uh this they they just play it and another look the questions the the the way the arab people are thinking right now and a lot of people who are following on this first they have two messages yes we stand in unity with with both israel and the people of gaza against this ruthless palestinian terrorists too we do understand what's happening we're not like him the ones who are just following on the media al jazeera the the audience and the population of the arab world is not what al jazeera is talking is speaking about talking about from what i understand for example israel has urged the citizens to evacuate its own citizens to evacuate uh from from areas and cities near near gaza even though there was there was an air of caution in the atmosphere however when israel extended the same call to the palestinian people to move from north to south with international efforts working to create a humanitarian corridor for all some criticize it and guess what they called it force displacement apparently unconcerned about the army rolling ensuring a human safety combatant terrorists in in gaza and and preventing civilians from becoming caught in conflict on both sides i mean if there is a building burning and someone asks you to to to evacuate is that force displacement excuse me this is saving your life but then but then we do we do have the palestinian lobby that has a tighter grip on on on some of our media arab media than than my grandma's holds on her secret cookies jar stash they labeled the word the what the palestinian terrorists and hezbollah did in syria from displacement force displacement and with no combatant for of any terror as what they called it back then they called it evacuation but when israel says hey let's get out of the battlefield zone in gaza it's suddenly it's called the force displacement it's it's it's like they want a front row seat for a chaos or cheering for till iran and islet region when the question raises a lot of people in the in the social media arab media are asking why the arab correspondent in israel they haven't met any of the families of those families in israel those families of babies who who were killed by hamas and none of them were ready to even expose yesterday's video which hamas literally used a doll and he said that that was a baby killed by israel and then they deleted it immediately from their webpage why the arab media some of the arab media didn't cover or mention that there's a lot of question there's a lot of questions i'm just thank you very much for that i'm going to go back to you ruth uh you have been following the uh the world especially the gulf states uh what do you think would be the reaction the day after so first i think that we need to look at what's happening um not only um with the gulf the arab gulf states but also with countries that are closer to us and it's very important to put things into context egypt for example has closed its borders to palestinian refugees despite the fact that uh egypt has always propagated a pro-palestinian approach this is uh something that needs to be discussed perhaps not in the media but with leverages from the international arena in order to perhaps allow the palestinians that are held hostage i'm talking about the uh civilians that live in the gaza strip they're held hostage by the hamas as well my colleague just said um that the hamas is preventing from civilians from palestinian civilians from escaping from the regions where the idf will be bombarding and the idf is warning those civilians in order for them to escape and in order to save their lives but the hamas is preventing that allowing these palestinian safe passage into egypt temporarily with um security and promises from the international arena that this is indeed temporary until the fighting will be over and then they will be rehabilitated again in the gaza strip is something that at the moment the egyptians will not hear of and this is something to take into account likewise with jordan now the vast population is very much in favor as amjad taha i said the vast population in the arab muslim world is uh perhaps aghast at the heinous crimes that were perpetrated on saturday by the hamas operatives which were literally inhumane the massacre the burning the raids the beheading of babies the insanity that was going on there at this point uh Ruth let's take a listen uh secretary of state is speaking of course jordan uh Bahrain cutter the united arab emberates saudi arabia now here in egypt and the purpose of um seeing all of our partners was first and foremost to listen to them to hear how they're seeing this crisis and to look at what we can do together uh to deal with many of the concerns that it's raised what i've heard from virtually every partner was a determination a shared view yeah this is secretary of state uh anthony blinkin on a tour here uh in the middle east back to you Ruth uh on the day after uh do you foresee an effort by golf states and other maybe uh modern nations uh to get gaza back on track some sort of a marshal plan or something like that right so the reason why i was giving the context is because it has to do with the day after the day after would need the cooperation of egypt jordan the gulf states and the palestinian authority in the west bank because something needs to be put as a kind of a leadership in place of the vacuum that is going to be there after you know eliminating the the uh the the terrorists that actually uh took hostage of that uh of that piece of land and i'd like to mention that this is a complex situation because the palestinian authority now is providing finances to each and every family of a killed hamats operative now this is important to understand this is a reason and this is the money that the international arena is giving the palestinian authority that's not to say that the palestinian palestinians in the west bank do not need the social welfare the infrastructure the employment opportunities they do but again there's an issue with the leaderships turning away the money to terrorism and to things that are not conducive to peace and that has to do with the day after so what needs to happen and this is something that the the countries in the abraham accord's agreement and the united states are talking about and are trying to concoct how do we get a leadership that will truly not only rehabilitate gaza physically but truly take care of the palestinian people not in the manner that they were not taken care of until today by a leadership which is either corrupt or terrorist driven this is insanity that the region is inside and will continue to be in unless there is a true comprehensive solution and this is something that all the countries in the region not only will gain from because of the stability and the prosperity that it will allow but they need to lend a hand in the making of israel cannot do it alone okay ruth was on lander thank you very much for that um guy you have some quotes from the secretary several updates let's start with anthony blinkin speaking there in the termack he's saying the u.s. supports israel both with words and with actions israel has the duty to defend itself and prevent the returning of this event also an update on the story we reported on at the start of the show that exchange of fire in the north that fear infiltration while that event is over it seems that was errant fire and there was no infiltration from the north i'd like to speak a little bit about gaza well we heard just this afternoon the israeli government admitting that he it has enabled the supply of water to southern gaza we have a quote from israeli um energy minister israel cuts and he's explaining uh that decision saying the decision to open the water at a specific point for the residents of southern the southern gaza strip was agreed upon between netanyahu and president biden and it goes together with our policy that enables to strengthen the general siege the unprecedented siege on gaza without power without water without fuel until we eradicate hamas obviously doesn't really go with that uh with that policy but there was to give incentives to the residents of northern gaza to go south where they can have water i guess that's part of it uh meanwhile all the time rockets and sirens in southern israel i-24 news mary mccullough is in uh barzilla hospital mary hi there yes we are inside the barzilla hospital just in ash columb maybe about 30 minutes ago we saw a massive rocket barrage from gaza overhead we saw numerous interceptions by the iron dome we saw the medical teams were responding we still don't have any official confirmation about if there were any direct hits from rockets but we are seeing some imagery and reports coming out that some rockets might have fallen inside the city but again we don't yet have information about any of the injuries now but i just to show you what's going on in ash columb that this continues to be an area that has been hard hit we are in the barzilla hospital right behind me you can see this wing connecting two different wings of the hospital that was hit earlier in this week the damage still very apparent luckily at the time there were no injuries because this entire area had been evacuated after the war broke out and to bring them to a safer part of the hospital most of this hospital is a shelter so people present patients who are here and hospital workers can continue to work even while there are rockets overhead that they don't have to stop what they're doing go places so they moved everybody from this area into a safer part of the hospital but we'll walk inside just to show you some of the damage here and this was a part of the hospital that served they had women's organizations here they had children units here all of the shattered glasses on the window we can see walking through this hallway almost all of the windows have been completely blown out it's a bit dark so hopefully we can see a bit you can see most of the windows have been blown out there's still shattered glass all throughout the floor adam shulman behind the camera we'll just point down there so you can see we won't walk too far that way because they say it is still quite dangerous here it's very unsteady this bridge that was connecting two different parts of the hospital of course this part of the hospital is now completely unusable even when after this is all over and the rocket sirens stop in the city of ashkelon it will take some time to get this part of the hospital back up and running all right mary thank you very much at bersler hospital in ashkelon thank you madam call 514 news hamas is trying to block citizens from leaving southern gaza here's the head of the hamas political leadership ismael haniel not there there will be no migrating from gaza and no migrating from the west bank no migrating from gaza to egypt and here i would also like to salute the stance of our siblings in egypt who maintain that egypt is indeed a country and is our sibling and a refuge and is welcoming to the palestinian people but not on the grounds of migration or displacement and neither of us can accept that and i say to my siblings in egypt our decision is to stay with our country so your decision is our decision and standing here in the face of the Zionist plan that is supported by the american administration we will make it fail god willing so back to you omir and here in the studio he releases statements still for how long well we we see that ismael ania is still alive so mark the time it's 6 30 or so on a sunday october the 15 let's see whether these are famous last words or whether he still has some gas left in it but you know 12 and a half years ago on april the 7 2011 was the maiden launch and intercept of iran dome and obviously it has had a fantastic record 90 plus of intercept but it is not perfect so it turns out that the biggest fans of iran dome are in the hamas why because had they not believed in the effectiveness of iran dome they wouldn't have dead launched towards jerusalem it can hit a laxah and if these muslim rocketeers they're fired towards jerusalem obviously they trust iran dome to intercept it what happens if the iran dome doesn't who is going to be blamed yeah uh is he safe in katar not only is he safe in katar for now because katar also hosts al ode the very important american base but he may be the vanguard for other members of the hamas leadership if they are evicted and as part of a deal but it doesn't mean that if they leave katar they are safe and immune on the contrary they may be only safe in katar and in excel sort of a devil's island right yes two comments one about the iran dome of course saving so many human lives of israeli civilians over the past decade but many would also argue that the iran dome is the fact that we reached this point iran dome has enabled israel to live next to gaza gave israel a sense of confidence maybe a full one absolutely it enabled israel to live next to a thriving islamist radical terror group that wants to annihilate the state of israel it created that false sense of security for israeli civilians while hamas was not keeping quiet well he had other plans for targeting israelis as for the comment about indiscriminate targeting of israelis of people by the rockets well that ground in invention that infiltration that onslaught that we saw on saturday yes it did hurt many civilians of other countries and also of other religions but let this be very clear the ideology of hamas is nazi like that ideology of wanting to slaughter israelis for being jewish this is not the case isis hamas does not plan to target egyptians because egypt blocks the rafa crossing let us be very clear this is an ideology targeting jewish people and that is the biggest onslaught of jews since the holocaust and the world must not forget that right david makovsky is joining us now thank you very much let's talk a little bit about the american angle you know there's a bipartisan mission here in israel now of senators uh maybe finally they can agree on something uh how long will israel have that line of credit from the united states to act in gaza well it's a great question it's going to be with you uh it's too soon to know i just think the more israel is able to distinguish between hamas and gazans the longer the more breathing space i mean to me what was striking you just showed that clip of ishmael hania telling the people not to move but by all accounts hundreds of thousands of gazans have defied hamas and have gone to the south and now people say well there might be some hamas people meld in with them yes i'm sure but it shows that israel is trying to make that distinction and it shows that the people of gaza are starting to lose their fear of hamas and think the israeli threats are more credible we haven't seen this before uh this to me i think is is huge news and the more successful this move is a moving people to the south and getting out of harm's way uh i think it's it's that's will give israel more space so i hope israel keeps making that effort to find a way for civilians in the southern part of the country i know it's important to the president who has been fantastic in his support of israel but has always added that word about the rules of war and uh blinkin has said in his comments jake sullivan this morning on the tv new the sunday tv news shows uh so i think this is the key and i know it's not hermetic people die innocents die in war but the more efforts you make the the more um the the it's the moral thing to do and it will give israel more breathing space in the united states i've seen some reports that uh american officials are a bit worried that there's no plan for the day after uh are they i think there there's a certain nervousness you certainly don't want to talk about it too soon publicly because it could impact the fighting itself uh i think we've got to think creatively about uh options uh the arab world i think needs to be somehow a part of this day after approach you know could this mean i'm just throwing it out as a maybe i'm not saying for sure some sort of egyptian uh interim trusteeship until the pa is ready to take over israel has to know there's somebody solid on the arab side that will focus on rebuilding and not on terrorism egypt certainly has always viewed gaza as political quicksand never has wanted to get involved no one is saying that egypt should take over in any uh uh final sense but i think you need some sort of interim effort by the arabs to until the pa is ready and that might take years and that means working closely with israel israel has no territorial ambitions on gaza but it just wants to be safe it doesn't want to live with like an ices next door and i think that's very understandable right stay with us david i want to um ask you amir about the day after you know the americans in the u.s uh military they have what they call a phase four plan for stability uh stabilizing operations and starting reconstruction however they have been burned by nation building and they don't want to repeat the mistakes of iraq of afghanistan of libya of somalia so many other kinds so they don't want to be responsible for whatever happens in gaza it is possible to get donations contributions from japan from some european countries from the united emirates however on provided that they don't see another round in a few years where everything gets back to rubble and and that means that there will have to be a grand compromise a grand deal in which not only will israelis feel secure but there will be no need to retaliate in a few years time against gaza and go back to the whole vicious circle david uh inside the united states uh do you see an optic in anti-semitism in universities colleges towns and cities yeah but campuses are their own kind of micro system ecosystem i visited 173 college campuses and you they're not all the same they're very different i know in israel it's all the campuses are burning down it's not exactly like that but there's no doubt it's going to get much harder last week there were vigils in support of israel and most camp in many of the campuses and i think it's going to get tougher when the images on cnn and other cable um are going to show the ground war and gaza so that's going to be hard it is true um yakov that the that the jewish community is taking steps uh when some former leader from us had about a day of rage suddenly there was police protection of synagogues and and the president speaks about this openly um so but i wouldn't get um you know i wouldn't take this to an extreme i think people are taking precautions but there's no sign right now that i see quantitatively of uh you know in terms of a of a of a surge in anti-semitism but you have to always take precautions the progressive wing of the democratic party um i don't need to ask anything you just go go ahead go ahead no no i tell you know what's the question are they gonna change or uh are they going to uh get more traction in the party how do you see it this is i mean this is why the president's statements in my point uh my part was so important because yes they reflected moral clarity yes they reflected empathy yes they reflected true material assistance with the aircraft carriers iron don't interceptors ammunition etc uh but and then they reflected a sense that he gets the dna of zionism you know that defense that stateless jews are defenseless jews and there's no israel no jew is safe all that's true those four factors that made the president's remarks so remarkable were true but the fifth point is he was willing to incur a political cost and i think right now some of these certainly some of the squad members have kind of you know been more nervous of being too outspoken right after a story of women being raped and babies beheaded and uh but what i don't know is to what extent that the the media focus now shifts to a brown war in gaza i expect we're going to hear more of them and i think the president will stay strong uh he won't allow let's say a security council resolution to pass but if he feels and gets back to my earlier remarks that if is israel is not seen as taking precautions on um distinguishing between hamas and and the gaza i think um you know the more progressives are going to be the help you know are going to be more vocal and the president privately privately will will say hey what's going on here so i think he's he's taking a strong stand no matter what some of these progressives say but i think he's going to be you know he might be more in the defensive if a ground operation lasts too long how you define too long is yet to be seen right that's a big question uh david makovsky thank you very much no i'll be with you thank you i'm here you know the uh congressional black caucus is moving a bit to the center also hakim jeffreys uh has been elected a minority leader and could be the next speaker that's good news and apac obviously is trying to help those more centrist um black uh candidates or serving carmen however if you look at joe biden he is probably the last great zionist in the white house we will not see his kind anymore um no one else born in 1940s let's not talk about donald trump that's another case but no one else born in the 40s seeing israel uh being in israel even in 1973 no one else is going to emerge on the american political scene so we have to enjoy it and use as much as we can of it and also consider his constraints to that point exactly cnn survey just released today uh checking israel's military response to hamas attacks fully justified by age well uh strong support for 65 years and older 81 in support when you go down to 50 to 64 years old 80 uh sorry 56 between 35 to 49 years old 44 support and then when you go down to 18 to 34 the support goes down to 27 percent that's the difference 27 percent to 81 percent in the higher age uh limit that's incredible number very worrying i think survey for israel not that this is anything new nonetheless uh the younger generation is not there yet yeah yeah thank you for that we've been kept debated by the personal stories in this uh terrible times now let's listen to the unbelievable story of professor if tach kebner who saved his brother's life uh thank you very much for joining us professor um take us to uh that black saturday nine days ago how how did it all start cover seven saturday morning we were supposed to be very quiet and peaceful place peaceful morning in the beautiful place where we live in in an absurd village that is called an or tech or or school region we're supposed to be quiet the people who's doing their office agriculture their job or just waking up in a very peaceful life in a beautiful place but unfortunately with a massive missile attack they are mass terrorists force the international border to a different country who murder who raped and to do such animalities what what was the purpose of doing that and then is no tell me your personal your personal story from your eyes then hell started so we live in a place with about a thousand people live in in the past few months we had a car stolen a massive car stolen we decided to expand uh and people that shouldn't be reacting response and in case of security issue and then get expanded to a 68 people that are ready to react to avoid car stolen and it was happened a few times so we were well prepared when it happened in october set so this was a group got a message and go and fans could stop something as big as going on we all jumped to the fence and the gate and then the Hamas terrorist came into the main gate luckily my brother decided and to close the gate it was literally standing them standing in front of the Hamas the pickup in front of 15 heroes that was well prepared with with our PG without weapons way more than what we had and luckily he was able to fight to give them a fight and with the pistols with the with his other friends and in this competition and he gave me a call i got shot in my shoulder please come pick me up i have to go to the hospital i'm not an MD but i'm a professor of the faculty of medicine and i see the bullet got in from the shoulder but no i don't see any evidence of the bullet going off so i'm realizing you can go through the lung through the stomach with the liver and it's a severe medical condition that has to be actually in hospital as much as as fast as possible so we go from the big gate on the east side of the village and we go to the road to the off-road that merging with the with the main road go to the hospital to the Serova hospital and then he told me be careful there might be many more out of them watch out so we get closer to the road i'm looking the left side it look clear but when i'm turned to the right side when the way to the hospital yako i'm i'm sitting in front of myself about it i don't know 500 feet on my eyes unrealistic it was like illusion to pick up truck with about 10 Hamas terrorists in each of one of them five inside five outside and about five more cycles doing it so it's approximately 30 Hamas terrorists literally in front of me they take me back in the to to understand what actually i'm seeing but when i they start the massive shooting on the car i had i had not a driving but i had a test i was three so i'm going backward about 40 miles per hour where two motorcycles trying to to catch me i'm going backward really really fast be able very likely to lose the u-turn while there's a massive shooting by water yelling i got hit again and we luckily go back to the mushaf and yelling in in in the whatsapp group a man voice message that we got hit again and we have to get a rescue to get him to the hospital as fast as possible it's such a piece of luck in the story there was an ambulance in the place we live and without a driver so one of the guy went to get a key he came back with his with his ambulance and we went through the off road about about one hour off road and the backside of our village until we find the safety road to hit the main road so we took a step about one hour almost two hours to get to the hospital so we got shot in two different areas two different places in in with an unrealistic rescue journey and luckily he's he's had a surgery a few days ago he's now better and better he's better unbelievable what can i say uh if talk again thank you very much for sharing this with us thank you can i can i see one can i see one more thing please sure we live in mushaf and abso the mushaf and abso was passed part of the m m 1982 peace agreement it was only sent here in 1982 i'm promise to anyone everyone that this place will be stronger stay here and we keep support the agriculture of israel as we did and even better thank you very much thank you guy it's difficult to hear these stories and myself just this morning i happened to be at one of the hotels one of the centers where the survivors of this massacre met where the community of kibbutz mefal sim was reunited today they initially was were taken to various spots and today they all came together to the same hotel for the first time all these people meeting each other after the trauma that they've experienced it was hard to stop the tears watching people meeting the people who saved their lives and we are getting rockets on televieve right now as we speak there's a rocket alarm in televieve right now is where the residents in televieve are asked to run to shelters we can see there are staff behind us in studio running to shelter right now as all civilians need to do i'll just complete that story yeah there are horrors that all of these people have experienced was very touching to see the people who saved their lives meeting them for the first time those members of the security unit of the kibbutz were able to stay off the terrace and now as we speak there's a massive barrage of rockets all over israel at this point from the south until televieve and the towns around televieve as well so people are running to shelters right now we probably heard some intercepts uh-huh in the distance right not not a very clear thunder but we did hear the noise right still sirens around the center of the country and and center of televieve and around it's usually happens late happens later like at 9 p.m. or so but it's not instead of 9 it's not in addition to it's just the beginning is it never right never is a bad time to kill some jews some israelis that is the strategy of hamas we're hearing some more bangs in the air obviously interceptions um it's a real barrage of rockets more than more than a few quite a few booms exploding over our heads i'm not sure if our viewers can hear it yeah that's a live shot of televieve the skies of televieve right now uh a little cloudy and it was raining today so uh it as opposed to um previous days uh you cannot clearly see in 1991 when the first scuds hit televieve people believed that it was just a thunderstorm yeah this was the missiles in the this was just the first instance of missiles hitting televieve right now it's almost a routine but you know if i still have a few moments to yeah um as long as we get away from that awful saturday the impact recedes yes we hear the stories of the survivors and the plight of the hostages and we keep hearing the missiles and the intercept however it is not a fresh story and you're an expert on the media you know what the top story in the new york times right now is baseball baseball it's october the playoffs world series so and this this uh is now uh below the fault of course remember what happened uh year ago ukraine right 600 days yeah where is ukraine you know it's uh it's it's life we we are well aware of that uh so uh we are still uh looking at televieve now and the whole center of israel under uh rockets and sirens no report of casualties no report of casualization reports of interceptions so far understand um and uh we are just uh you know waiting for the clear the clearance for everybody to come back here people are coming back uh perhaps another tragedy of course of this conflict and of israel's uh conflict with with hamas in particular in gaza is the fact that for so many years most of these rockets in most instances were directed at israel's south and to ashkelon ashdod and of course the border communities that helped both the israeli government but i think the israeli public in general to look away at this problem and say okay it's maybe a regional a very territorial problem there in the south not something that impacts the state of israel well all of that really blew up in our faces yeah we have to stop meeting god this way said the iron dome missile yeah to the hamas rocket yeah that that that is something that will have to change dramatically in the israeli psyche uh you know very well the military you know the uh strategy this is the most searing experience in israel's history ever including all previous wars this is uh something unlike any other experience image impact we ever had yeah we will have uh to uh to see to see what what's the impact and then of course there's the question of his behind the north which is uh basically the same thing only bigger yeah but regardless to make it clear to our viewers the impact of what happened were transpired on the saturday uh that was a watershed moment not just in the history of the conflict with hamas or no with the palestinians but a watershed moment in the history of the state of israel and israeli civilians the israeli citizens will not forgive an israeli government this government that is in power right now or any future government if it enables a situation like this to repeat this is a trauma that israelis will not be willing to tolerate again the human suffering the casualties of more than 1300 israelis slaughtered by hamas terrorists uh up to 200 of them kidnapped at the hands of these radical uh muslims of uh of hamas the people of israel will not agree to live under that threat anymore this is something that will have to change yakov lavin is with us now a military analyst we want to talk about the impact of things on the israeli mindset and also the prospects of escalations uh while we're seeing interceptions in the air of uh is this dilaviv what are we seeing uh yakov lavin are you with us i am with you yes all right so uh do you see an escalation coming well it depends on how you define escalation but if we're talking about a ground offensive to the gaza strip in order to demolish uh the hamas terrorist army and political regime i think that's completely inevitable and could happen anytime it seems like the security cabinet is going over the final versions of what that ground operation could look like there are of course multiple versions uh that the idea of general staff will be presenting to the cabinet will be recommending to the cabinet but the decision will be the cabinets and in the staging areas on the border with the gaza strip the idea has amassed very large numbers of forces as we know armored infantry artillery uh engineering corps etc and and they're waiting you know they're waiting for the green light so that phase seems to be inevitable and i would say that we are now at the end of the beginning of the gaza war the end of the beginning yeah and or the beginning of the beginning because i'm back to you amir uh people here are talking in terms of months some even more impossible impossible because 350 000 reservists have been called up the economy will grind to a halt uh nerves will be wrecked uh it's uh easy and perhaps uh it's even effective for psychological warfare uh impact on the other side to talk about weeks and months and occupation but it's surreal it won't happen even though Israel has gone on operations for even 50 days uh in 2014 uh these were mostly regular forces conscripts and very few reservists Israel cannot send into battle three four five divisions made up of reservists for long periods without breaking the entire country apart it must do it if there is an existential threat but not in order to take care of two relatively minor threats like Hamas and Hezbollah regardless of the fact that Hamas managed to murder 1300 Israelis i i don't necessarily think that the the israeli public would agree with that uh assumption of yours for most israelis that you ask uh anyone on the streets or or in or in service if you hold them this is a reality that cannot continue that cannot be allowed and the israeli public from many people we speak to and we hear also that we interview here every day for the past week are saying to the government do whatever it takes to eradicate this threat right but amir said it before when time passes things may change um yakov Lapin back to you um how will israel change after all this i think it will change in every way um i think militarily the fact that um tragically false and wrong assumptions guided the intelligence community when it comes comes to Hamas and dare i say Hezbollah regarding the ability to deter these entities which prove to be Hamas's case non-existent regarding the ability to manage and stabilize them which prove to be non-existent i think all of these assumptions will pretty quickly be thrown to the side thrown and thrown into the garbage can the idea of um co-existing alongside islamist entities that build up military terrorist capabilities i think will also be consigned to the dustbin of history um when it comes to you know political changes i have no idea but i have no doubt that there will be widespread political changes and of course in terms of society you know we're dealing with a national trauma uh which presses on all of the buttons it's israel's darkest moment most difficult moment and of course you know we'll be seeing the effects of this for for generations well uh what you're saying means getting into lebanon with Hezbollah that's what it is that it's there already um look the idea that Hezbollah is deterred i think uh i personally am not convinced of that assumption at all if we look at their behavior and and you know these attempts to tell them that they're about to make a mistake um it Hezbollah knows what it's doing Hezbollah knows what the risks are and it's still firing anti-tank missiles from from lebanon into israel so i think we really need to update our thinking our concepts about these islamist radical um entities they are not scared of war they believe that they can take over the ruins of the places that they have governed in the past and that they can grow stronger that they can build a better figure um and i'm sorry at this point uh we'll cut to the families of the hossages speaking in tel Aviv guy what are they saying the adults the youths the children the women all of them without difference of sex or religion we need to do this immediately none of the targets will come on top of the other we established at the same time a headquarter with endless abilities and info with hundreds of family members and volunteers and experts we work on this for eight days we're in touch with the israel with a national system we managed to sometimes we do not agree with them but we do everything to bring our loved ones back the whole of the people of israel supports us we cannot handle the amount of volunteers we cannot respond to the amount of people that want to help us we are dedicated solely to this goal to bring our loved ones home as quickly as possible are you satisfied with the answers you received from the prime minister my name is du diesel manovich the moment i understood what has transpired i took everyone i know everything i have entire floors in a tel Aviv tower dedicated all the work it brought every expert needed will bring people from mars if needed all the experts in order to help ourselves we're all family members to stand to this task where we have difficult experiences some of us fall along the way because they're being told that there's no one to bring back anymore but we continue because there's no other way we are not willing we're not willing to be we came and there's not before not after not about matara there is one goal and bring them back as quickly as possible not on account of any other goal unlike all the statements about what will come first etc we do not replace the state we do not know to answer all the questions we will do whatever is possible in order to bring them back in the best state possible we're working to deliver medicines to those who at need we can bring we can help we can bring information we do not know what state they're in the prime minister met with us within hours after speaking to him all right so uh basically there was a first meeting between Israeli prime minister and the family's guy just a minutes ago it ended and they said they got a promise that this would be one of the goals of the war to release the ostriches a point that was not 100 clear beforehand not only that it contradicts what the national security advisor tzachia negbi said last night last night he said it is impossible to negotiate with someone you are out to eradicate which sounds logical but was devastating to the families what netanyahu said to them according to the families is in a way going back on what hanegbi recounted as a worry now there is some logic to what hanegbi did not say in 2006 when israel set the return of the two abducted soldiers regev and goldwasser as a war aim and it failed it meant that its war campaign failed now netanyahu under pressure by the families also set this goal and it is very effective for the families to have set up their organization because they can present demands that the israeli government wouldn't when they meet with blinken for instance they will probably meet him tomorrow when he returns to israel they can put their demands their requests their what mr zalmanovic just said regarding the medical supplies they can conduct a sort of non-official negotiation while the israeli government keeps its distance officially but in effect the israeli government will be behind it yeah also you know when netanyahu said this to the families he can he can say a lot of things and it means that when you are planning the military operation you cannot go where they may be you cannot send your armored column to a place where they might be held isn't this obvious even the obvious must be said explicitly all right guy it's an impossible dilemma for the israeli defense establishment for the israeli government on the one hand saving human lives is a prime priority of a state like israel of a country that has done so much to return its its citizens and its soldiers in the past of the of course well remember what has been done in order to release gilal chalit the israeli soldier captive in gaza just over 10 years ago and nonetheless i do not go back from the other statements i made here and that is that the israeli public is willing to do whatever he takes to eradicate humas's military capabilities can that be done at the same time as maintaining the lives of the israeli captives there will be very difficult to do and israel is not the only actor here for president biden this is being framed as the hostage crisis yes there is israel against humas but for the president with some 20 americans or dual nationals but nevertheless carrying american passports held in gaza it's a hostage crisis and he must bring them home and i think very important again to remind our viewers we are talking about kidnapped israelis as young as nine months old babies we saw we saw this heartbreaking pictures of a mother holding on to her two toddlers in her hands covered in a blanket taken away by humas terrorists the uh these are not just israeli soldiers kidnapped in in battle these are innocent civilians babies elderly people taken away made of medicine as mr. salmanovic mentioned we have not seen any atrocities of these sorts anywhere else in the world when it comes to kidnapped civilians and the world needs to remember this there is no precedent to this yeah also there were some reports surfaced now in israeli media about a mediation move between the states katar about the women and children something like that we cannot verify one of many reports israel itself has not confirmed any of these obviously efforts are being made the u.s wants to release at least its citizens wants to make an effort at least for the women and children we have not heard from the israeli government mercy that's an oxymoron yeah okay now um survival story with us now is a reserve lieutenant colonel yosi tubu thank you very much for joining us uh first of all how are you and according to situation i will say that i'm good fine okay uh take us to saturday how was it from your uh perspective okay so at the saturday morning i'm and i have a call that there is an emergency situation at the south i'm at the reserve and i took my uniform i took my gun and my private car i'm going to my unit uh during the way i get a text message from all the kind of security uh citizens that send me a message about the situation there about the problem with the terrorists i understand that it's uh it's very difficult uh combat going to be and but i didn't recognize and didn't realize what i'm going to to see and when i get to a road two three two this is the road the main road that cross from the north to the west to the south uh eight terrorists come out from the trees and start shooting in my car you can see my car now this is the after the event when i come back after three days i found my car there this is how she looks i don't know how the car didn't hit me but it made the car stop uh because the engine failed so i get down take my weapon and shooting back on the terrorist and there was a nuchba unit have all the defense all the m16 scolache and everything with them and i succeed to hit one of them and he fell down and then i uh understand that i don't have enough ammo to deal with this situation so i ran to the to the east side of the road and run during my run they made the continue to run after me and shoot and i see all the bullet just going to my face to my head and and i look to my right and i see a big grass that was very dry so i can jump inside during the shooting i have one bullet in my leg and when i jump in this grass you can see me inside the grass i uh my shoulder get out and come back and i stop breathing sit down stairs put in my head down and they come all around me i don't know how they they can see me because at the back of me there was a a a lot of grass so they can't see me but i hear them speaking i understand a little bit Arabic and i understand that they look of the officer they look to find me i understand they want to make a kidnap and and i i know that i i can't allow it to happen so i prepare with my gun that anybody will come i want to shot to shot with the eight bullet that i left and it was a miracle that they didn't find me and during this way i'm texting to my to the military unit and giving direct the exact direction where i am the exact location and giving the specific details about how to recognize the terrorists and the car they stole the stole the Israeli car with the yellow license so i understand that everybody that will come in front of them going to think that a mistake that they are friendly but and i must to give the direct details because i need to alert everybody around us do not come in and take them down when they see them after one hour some special units start fighting with them but the problem was that there was at the north the unit of Israel i was in the middle was the terrorist and the south was me so all the bullets that the Israeli that our units shoot just cross inside the the bush that i was inside and and even when the event all the combat finish and i can't go out because i don't know that if there is a verified that i didn't know that i'm inside and i don't want them to think that i'm a terrorist and shoot on me so i wait another three hours till a specific unit have connection with me and we make a confirmation that i am the one that they wait for him and they are the unit that come to rescue me and just a three o'clock at three p.m i rescue from from this event and took me to the hospital amazing story you'll see i'd like to thank you very much for sharing this with us thank you and wish you health and all the best thank you very much thank you very much okay let's take a listen chuck schumer senator schumer the democratic leader is speaking here in israel together quickly and three to show that israel's support is bipartisan behind me are two democrats and two republicans we have a lot of partisan divisions in america but this isn't one of them now israel israeli forces have already begun the work to extinguish the threat of hamas that is an it a goal that is has to happen has to happen there's also an important mission to rescue hostages taken by hamas many of whom are women children elderly some are americans as i said we met with some of the families of these hostages today as a parent or grandparent it's truly heart wrenching we we we wept as they told their stories there was such beautiful brave people and every second seems like a day as they're wondering what has happened to their child to their parent to their brother to their sister and we told them we would do everything we could including speaking to the president next week who had talked to these parents as well but we're going to talk to him next week about the us doing everything it can to help get the hostages relieved the biden administration and the israeli government have assured us that are that's happening now these are two necessary tasks eliminating the threat of hamas once and for all and freeing hostages but these tasks are made more difficult because unlike hamas civilized democracies like the us and like israel must hold themselves to a higher standard the biden administration has underscored that democracies like ours are stronger and more secure when we uphold the rule of law we echo that to every to the prime minister of israel and to every israeli official we met we told them that as well as military assistance intelligence assistance diplomatic assistance we wanted humanitarian assistance and i said to them find the fastest safest and most efficient way to do so we also told them it was really important to and it's difficult we know it's difficult but still we have to to minimize civilian casualties in gaza as senate majority leader as i mentioned the highest ranking jewish leader in american history i'm doing everything in my power to ensure the senate delivers the support israel needs to accomplish these military intelligence and humanitarian goals we will not just talk we will act we will work to move this aid through the senate asap and the israeli leaders made it clear to us they need the aid quickly we heard from what the israeli leaders about what is needed and in munitions we heard about precision guided bombs we heard about iron dome replacement we heard about 155 millimeter mortars we heard about jay dams and many other things and we also talked about what kinds of intelligence help they needed and well as diplomatic help that we might be able to do as well the needs of course are quickly evolving over time so we will work with the israeli government and the biden administration to assemble the most generous package possible when i return to washington i'm going to direct senators murray reed and carden heads of the most relevant committees to work with their ranking republican members and the biden administration to pull together a package that the senate can take up as soon as possible hopefully within the next few weeks now that people will ask what about the house we're not waiting for the house we believe if the senate acts in a strong bipartisan way it may indeed improve the chances that the house even with its current dysfunction will act so the bottom line is that october 7th is a day that will no doubt live in infamy my guess is i'll think of it every day for the rest of my life just as i think of 9 11 every day for the rest of my life and now we just want to be clear to the israeli people during these such difficult times i talked i just asked for random israelis the guy driving the car waiter at the restaurant and two others i bumped into every one of them knows somebody who's close to them who has been lost so it's such a difficult time but we know the difficulty of their task but we also know success the elimination of the threat of hamas is vital israel has a right to defend itself and eliminate the threat to hamas to make sure if this evil never happens again our prayers are with all of those killed and taken hostage their families the thousands injured may the memories of the dead be a blessing and a source of strength to all of us as we navigate this challenging future with fortitude of spirit and solidarity of purpose jackie i'm not that talk that was that was the senate majority leader chak schumer democrat from new york we may hear shortly from mitramini this is a bipartisan mission here in israel of some five or six senators uh daniel on former israeli ambassador to washington what can i tell you a show of bipartisanship that we haven't seen in a long time on anything jacob you're right i mean this this war has changed a lot of paradigms on the ground here in the region things that we are not seeing the end of it but also politically and in the united states this is the first time i see a bipartisan support for israel in a coordinated way you know even when they supported israel you know the democrats were supporting on one thing that they were not talking to each other now we see them you know talking together as you mentioned on a joint delegation coming here and and this is immensely immensely important and i think that this hopefully will lead or at least i mean this would be the the ideal that it would lead to a more bipartisan cooperation on other issues we need a strong america i mean what we see here in mitramas we need a strong america we need a strong america after the russian invasion to ukraine after the threats of china to invade taiwan of course all the iranians subversion in the region so hopefully we will see a change in washington as well and maybe even here in israel i don't know after the war change in washington will start in israel maybe maybe all right maybe i think for news defense correspondent jonathan reggae is here jonathan it's been a busy day another one and more so in the north which is somewhat a new level uh take us there yes and there seems to be a a a division of work between the libanese branch of hamas and khizballa khizballa is the one in charge of the anti-tank fire and we saw i think five different instances of anti-tank fire towards a military bases or or cars driving right along the northern border these anti-tank missiles they're they're meant for a very short range but they're extremely lethal cornet especially russian made and and they're very lethal this is khizballa is in charge of that hamas is in charge of the rockets which are fired all the way to the area of high fine of course places closer to the border and and yes the israel is closely closely watching what is happening on the northern border and israel is well aware of the dilemma of khizballa should it keep harassing and we're hearing what may be interceptions there's no siren but i do see people running to shelter now yeah it's quite close and uh if things are shaking here it means it's very close it was it was close um regarding the north um khizballa is not yet perhaps decided if it should keep just harassing israel as it does until now and and let's understand harassing israel we're speaking of roughly i think 10 people so far killed on the northern border and regular times this would be a pretext for war but now israel is mostly preoccupied on the southern border how will khizballa go what will happen if and when a ground incursion happens we don't know i don't know if khasan asrallah knows what i do know is that the iranian foreign minister met with hamas officials met with khasan asrallah himself went back and forth between damascus and katara and beirut closely closely watching the northern border one thing that we have to say hamas said as far as they're concerned was very successful in their in in their operation because they quote israel by surprise there may be an operation but in the north it will not catch israel by surprise anymore israel is ready right uh very marked so uh so let's move to the northern front hamda selhut that when front is corresponded he's there hamda what's going on jake up good evening all quiet now but we have heard israeli jets buzzing overhead after that tit for tat earlier today five exchanges of fire reports of infiltrations people advise to stay and in their homes shelter in place because of the volatile situation now if khizballa enters the conflict we're looking at a semi regional war here i'll remind you khizballa's arsenal is not like what they have in gaza they have up to a hundred and fifty thousand minimum rockets stockpiled we don't know the capabilities of their long range more destructive weapons in a showcase in june they were able to show media some of their new handheld devices that are able to target aircrafts as well the israeli military the defense minister himself is saying that he's not interested in a conflict with his balan if they were to enter they would pay a very heavy price now both the lebanese populations and the israeli population here at the northern border are extremely wary of the situation they are extremely scared of a conflict breaking out because of the more sophisticated weaponry that could come out of southern lebanon i'll also remind our viewers that palestinian factions operating out of southern lebanon are also ready to engage in the fight of the eqa sambergates claiming responsibility for the rocket fire that happened earlier today the iron dome able to accept some of the rockets that were fired but however if this were to turn into a multi-front conflict israel is looking at a war that could stretch for an extended period of time and hezbollah is saying that it's ready okay ramda thank you very much for that meanwhile israeli chief of staff is telling soldiers in the south we are going into gaza so no doubt about that on the line from lebanon now is a foreign journalist that will remain nameless thank you very much for joining us yes yes my pleasure there's the lebanese government there's hezbollah and there are the people of lebanon and let me start with them with all that has been happening in this country do they need another war no they absolutely do not and most people here are very worried about the prospect of a war with israel very few lebanese people that i've spoke with think that a full-blown conflict will erupt but most do expect that the violence we're seeing on the israeli border will only get worse um and people feel totally helpless about this it's very hard for lebanese people to leave the country with such a low-ranking passport and most people don't have the means to leave anyway so whether people here believe it or not they're trying to convince themselves that there won't be a war because there is very little that they could do anyway uh you know israel said just the other day that the lebanese government would be responsible meaning they will pay the price for any escalation do they understand that in beirut yeah the lebanese government does understand that but it's also limited in its ability to restrain hezbollah which most believe has a has a stronger military than the government itself hezbollah of course operates within the lebanese state as a political party while also flaunting its independence from the states it's very unique dynamic um the lebanese government has been keeping its cards close to the chest but last thursday the cabinet met to discuss the situation and after the meeting lebanon's caretaker prime minister nachi nikati said that and i quote the council of ministers strongly condemns the criminal acts committed by the zionist enemy in gaza and will and we affirm solidarity with the palestine people in their struggle but solidarity doesn't mean support so i have another quote here from lebanon's minister of economy who said that and i quote a war would be disastrous for lebanon lebanon is on a fine line where it could fall apart completely so lebanese politics are as complicated as ever but it seems like the sunni prime minister is making statements that are quietly on the side of hezbollah while the christians really want to stay out of it all right thank you very much for that on the phone from lebanon um yakovlapin back to you um the fact that uh israel warns the lebanese government uh is something that we've seen before uh what what does it tell you well i think you know when it comes to uh hezbollah it will have no effect warning like that and hezbollah will decide whether to increase its participation in this war or not according to its own interests exclusively um in fact i would even suggest you know if we're honest about it the idea of a lebanese state is is somewhat of a fiction the largest armed force is not under the control of the government it's an iranian proxy so when we talk about lebanon it's somewhat of a fiction what we're dealing with here is hezbollah stand controls the whole of southern lebanon and much of the rest of the country now when israel makes these uh threats it is basically informing hezbollah um that uh people take the gloves off completely and bring devastation to lebanon just like it is doing uh to gaza and it is making hezbollah very aware of that fact i think that that is a completely legitimate message to send but the the target audience here is it's hezbollah itself because i think the lebanese government has no influence whatsoever on hezbollah's decision making only iran does um jennathon when um the idf says lebanese government is responsible what is the actual meaning of this in the future it means uh israeli officials have said many times if a war erupts on the northern border we will take lebanon back to the stone age and israel has the physical ability to do it i don't think it will happen simply because we're seeing how much how much of a problem it is doing something similar to gaza how much criticism there is already after the terrible attack last saturday morning after the fact that what 1400 israelis were were killed and many others kidnapped any brutal terrible attack and still there's criticism of israel bombarding gaza not even close to bringing gaza to the age of stone doing the same to lebanon which has very close ties to france which has ties to the united states i don't think it's possible but infrastructure here and there the beirut airport will be out of service the beirut port will be out of service everything inside on will be out of service and i ask again so so what the was was the beirut airport out of service in 2006 yes did it change anything in the notion of lebanon is lebanon in charge of lebanon or is an iranian proxy in charge of lebanon and the answer we all know it khizballa is in charge of lebanon eventually it's it's just like yakov lapin said it's not it's not the government of lebanon which will decide what will happen with with this war it's a government of iran as as as terrible as it sounds khizballa lebanon is nothing more currently than an arm of the of the iranian of the iranian regime there are many many factors in lebanon which oppose khizballa which really do not want to see a war with israel not in the this dire economic situation that lebanon is going through and not in any other case but they're too weak and and and the there's the one strong factor in lebanon is khizballa eventually it's up to them theny ambassador island i want to ask you about the situation inside israel politically inside israeli society which was torn for the past nine months it it doesn't disappear in a second or two even though there's all this unity talk and all of that where do we stand on this well jacob well the israeli society now is in a mode which is a necessary mode of survival which means that we must be united at least for now i mean we have a war to win after the war there will be a lot of time for investigation and some recrimination and probably even as i see it a huge political change and i won't be a bit surprised if we will see new alignments maybe even new parties maybe some realign reorganization of of existing parties getting together getting apart i don't think that netanyahu can survive this politically politically not only i mean we see it in the polls but i think within liqud also i think the liqud also is pretty much understanding that netanyahu anymore is a liability not an asset there are of course those who are we call them the the bibis team the bibis just like the trumpets no matter what they would support him but i think they are diminishing in numbers and in quality and i think this is where we will see a change i'll just say that many times i've heard those assessments that netanyahu is done politically uh you know that uh but i never said it this is the first time i say it's the first time he said it okay so yeah it takes it takes some courage to state this uh publicly but it's possible um what about the military uh jonathan um military said already we we are to blame so what will happen the day after again many there's a call that we've heard many times this is not the right time but maybe it is the right time maybe some people are saying it's it's too early to put to put a blame maybe it's too late to put the blame well the the chief of staff said you know i i'm taking responsibility but i have a war to win again i it's true the chief of staff and the whole upper military echelon have a war to win after that this is my assessment i'm speaking out of my own stomach let's call it this way nothing nothing that i know and nothing official i don't believe that a chief of staff can stay at the head of the army after such a thing i don't believe that the head of the military intelligence directorate can stay after such a thing you can be almost sure that when there when there will be a committee to investigate the events of that saturday morning it will blame mostly the military echelon we know that because there have been cases in the past if we go back exactly 50 years to the yonki poor war the agronaut committee they blame the military echelon they blame the chief of staff where to resign they blamed the the head of the military directorate where to resign the political echelon by by the committee they were left aside and they resigned by themselves later when it comes to the military echelon i i'm almost certain that this will be the case now for the political echelon i don't know i don't know if benjamin etaniao is gold amir i don't know if if if you have gallant is is is mushe dayan i don't know that but but we have a precedent in israeli history in which all the blame was put on the military echelon and we've heard her tia levy said we are to blame they acknowledged it very well i don't believe that all the top echelon can stay there but yes now they have a war to win for the moment in one front possibly in two fronts possibly in three fronts or four there's west bank there's syria who knows so now it's time to fight after that there have to be changes because the trust of the israeli public in their army was torn apart we grow in israel with the notion that we have the idf to protect us and that trust was completely torn apart last saturday yeah uh meanwhile the big boom that we've heard was because the rocket uh just fell to the sea nearby and and and a rocket fell to the sea there's no siren the the question was why there's no siren the iron the the the sirens are activated when rockets are headed to populated areas many times rockets do fall in open areas with no siren simply because the iron dome is not activated it activates when when it detects that the rockets are headed to populated areas the sea is of course not a populated area therefore the the the rockets are allowed to fall that of course it makes a very loud boom but there's no siren and thankfully there's also no no injuries and no damage from that specifically because it landed in the sea all right thank you jonathan um we're going to talk now to ifa sigal thank you very much for joining us ifa um tell us about schlommie so uh we just uh we just attended a memorial service unfortunately we could not attend the funeral they buried him and uh into his hometown and then i gave him and it's a closed military zone as i stood up north and he puts up north um the the ceremony was amazing there were so many people we heard the stories of how he was just this guy that we we know he was loved by everyone and the story of heroism what happened that day on saturday um schlommie left his house um saturday morning six o'clock in the morning to go for a bike ride uh this is a hobby of his and then he heard the sirens of the the red alerts and he went to one of the shelters and he met a few other people in the shelters and they waited there in the shelters and then terrorists came and and started firing into the the shelter where they were staying after that one terrorist took a grenade and threw the grenade inside the shelter it turns out that schlommie even though he was injured and uh they shot him in the leg and he was bleeding heavily he he was able to grab the grenade and throw it back the at the terrorist killing the terrorist um he then took the body of the terrorist and put it on some of the people that were in the shelter to try to protect them uh um maybe to make them make it seem like they're they're not alive maybe to protect them with the body of the terrorist rather bullets that might be fired later on and uh and so he taught one of the other guys that were there how to help him uh do a tourniquet on his leg so he won't to stop the bleeding and then he asked him to go and ask for help obviously at that point no one knew the uh the scope of of everything that was going on in the Gaza envelope and so he they were hoping that he would just run to the next the kibbutz nearby and and get some help and so he ran and he was able to to make it but unfortunately by the time that they were able the army the idea of everywhere were able to go back to that shelter and and look for survivors uh schlommie was already killed and so uh it took days for us to find out what happened to him i mean his family's children he has four children he has three siblings everyone were worried sick for for days and eventually on on friday um his body was finally identified and the family got the horrible news that uh that schlommie's gone yeah that's terrible uh tell us a little bit about him what did he do what did he like to do uh schlommie was in the military for for many many years and this this is a guy i mean you should have you should have heard the stories today in the in the memorial service i mean this is a guy everybody loved i mean you can see one of the pictures uh the smile i mean i think that's his signature um you know that's everyone knows him by that smile everyone everyone today mentioned uh this amazing beautiful smile that he has and uh it's just a guy known in the family known by everybody everyone said it today that he was just this guy that you would go to to help to to help cheer everybody up to help organize to to help everybody was a person that just you know was very connected to his family amazing relationship within you know the with the with the children with the brothers and the sister and um so many friends came up today even in a time of war even though it was driving all the way up north so many people showed up so many people wanted to respect him to honor him and so it was just beautiful to watch because that that was the type of person that he was if i i thank you very much uh uh we are very sorry for your i'm very sorry for your loss and thank you for sharing this with us thank you well thank you for having me so what about friends i thank you uh janathan um we've seen many stories like this when the military uh was dysfunctional shocked in a way disorganized these are the individuals who were the heroes yes it should not be this way but it is and and yes individuals were heroes they saved many many lives the tragedy we're going through is horrible and it would have been far worse unless these individual people and and i think of course it's it's on a different scope and a different level but but if we're looking at everything that the state has done since then for nine days and what individual people are doing since then for eight days i'm sorry um we're seeing that the individuals are operating and the state is not operating it comes in the way of fundraising food for soldiers um helmets vests whatever everything is or clothes for for those who had to be evicted from from from from their homes tens of thousands of people from the Gaza border communities who were evacuated out of their homes with with clothes and and that's it now now the state is picking up it has to be said now the state is finally functioning funding and everything else but for for almost a week it was all about individuals only individuals were were were were operating and and and the state was not there and it's the same here when the army we do know that there are many bravery stories coming from from the army from units themselves but if this is the final result and then not enough the the army there are many stories about bravery but too many stories come from individuals and they should have come from the army itself right um we spoke before about the bipartisan senate mission here in israel let's listen to senator mit romney there's a war being waged a war being waged against free countries against democracies against freedom and it's being waged by hamas and russia and china india excuse me uh iran there are there are there are nations iran russia china that want to overthrow democracies generally and and uh subvert the cause of freedom and backing away and saying hey we're not going to worry about it is not going to end their effort that war would only continue and spread further and ultimately involve more and more of humanity so we're involved in the world because it's in america's interest it's in israel's interest it's in all of our ally's interest it's in the world's interest so senator mit romney republican of course daniel alone former ambassador to uh washington he's taking the global view representing the republican party today right yes absolutely yeah absolutely and uh and we see really there is a i think even an understanding today in in washington and probably more and more trickling down to the world to the wide american society the grassroot is that uh what we see in gaza i mean this is where the war is but actually the entire campaign is on you know worldwide and that the united states is facing actually a um an axis of evil if you will iran and it's a proxies but behind iran are russia and china you have north korea on the wings and at the understanding is that the line that has to be drawn on the sand you know goes now in in gaza because the way the world treats the hamas which has perpetrated nothing less than crimes against humanity this will be a signal and a lesson to the entire world not just the region so if we want to keep iran at bay and his bala and the hooties and you know chinese in in taiwan and so on and so forth it has to be a decisive win here and this is why we see it's not just an emotional friendship of course that the americans have but it's also a very cold and calculated strategic thinking right and there's another um exactly the isan hour yes uh how is this taken uh janathon in israel this american we are not used to this american firepower around uh there were talks we'll have her back and so forth but this is happening we always grew the notion that israel can defend israel by itself um maybe maybe we should rethink and yes maybe we should need america on our back if there's two or three or four fronts is israel able to deal with that by itself the army is constantly saying yes that israel is ready and can deal with everything by itself i think it's very good to have america on our back in as far as statements such as those we've heard from president biden from secretary of state blinken and and all the statements that we heard here and if if if another front erupts certainly with with a power such as khizballah which is is very strong yes not as strong as israel not as strong as the idf but it's it's a strong power it's it's good to have america and over the years and you you've reported about this uh there were joint exercises between israeli forces and american forces so this is not an entirely new thing yes this is not entirely new thing and many times in those exercises the americans the visiting americans they have said if israel needs her back we will need it now israel needs the back of the united states not unclear israel was caught by surprise israel was caught not as not as strong as it is it wants to think that it is so so therefore we do need america's back is it is it going to be passed statements and into actions i don't know but but it's always good to have america on your back yes and now as we speak the number of casualties uh has gone to 1400 1400 and possibly not the end of it i don't think there was ever a bloodier day in the history of israel i i don't in the entire war of independence the worst war six thousand people were killed yes of course the proportion of the population of israel at the time is different but but but the bloodiest day in israel history terrible terrible terrible and unbelievable disaster thank you very much both of you here in the studio and all of our guests uh here and around the world uh we'll be continuing our special coverage here on night only four years momentarily with kelev bendavid have a good night from television made for me a unique concept in israel custom made men's fashion to your measurements made for me designer of all your events schedule your appointment at made for me official dresser of i-24 news good evening ladies and gentlemen officially in a state of war this is a very active scene and we need to get in the car as we're talking more than a hundred soldiers and civilians have been kidnapped we don't want to do we just don't know anything entire families including babies and children and elderly were butchered in their beds awaken the giant and we are ready and we are strong everyone is showing up this is the unity you're this particular project with a gross capacity of 103.5 megawatt will be producing around 230 gigawatt hour of clean renewable energy per year we need rain for the embryos welcome to this special broadcast on i-24 news i'm kelev bendavid it's day nine of israel's war against hamas the death toll of israelis stands now at at least 1400 and fatalities in gaza climb over 2300 that's according to palestinian sources the idf continues to pound gaza from the air ahead of a likely ground invasion and is urging its residents to head south while hamas continues to fire rockets into south and central israel exchange is a fire also across the lebanese border today as his bala continues to test israel's resolve midi's diplomacy is also intensifying with u.s. secretary of state anthony blinkin meeting with the saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman anizis president abdo fatah al-sisi this ahead of a return visit to israel tomorrow we'll just jump right down now to the border town of stirrote and our correspondent pia klosher and la pierre stirrote final evacuation for civilians carried out today perhaps a sign that we are on the cusp of the next stage of this war yes and on the other hand we are not there yet ready i guess the israeli army is not ready i guess for a ground invasion at this particular moment in time it's going to take a few more days maybe to prepare all the people that have been called up remember this 360 000 people mobilized there's been quite a lot of problems with equipment vest protective vests for the fighters most of the combatant units are in the rear right now they don't want to be too close to the border because they don't want to become a target to hamas but we've seen some deployment of armored vehicles at certain staging grounds we cannot show you the pictures because the soldiers say for obvious reasons that this is dangerous for their safety and our safety but we've scored the area we haven't seen yet you know the armada of the israeli defense forces they're still in the rear many of them most of them are still training before the ground invasion and but the plans we understand that the plans the operational plans are almost ready and an order will be given in a few in the next coming days we don't know exactly when obviously here in sterot it's been quiet since 11 a.m or less when there was a direct hit on an abandoned house because as a resident told me one of the last residents in this city of 30 000 inhabitants he says that if this morning they were now there's a tank coming to us on a semi-trailer this is a common image of what's going on right now you can see the mercava tank which is just here with an israeli flag on top of it this is a common image this is not the staging ground i was talking about but one of the residents told me that only 10 percent of the 30 percent of this city of 30 000 inhabitants who remains here this morning are still here and most of them are people on social welfare isolated people people elder people who don't want to leave their homes people who have no jobs no direction really in life people that are quite lost you can see on their gaze the tormented feeling that they have i spoke to a shop owner he told me i can't even talk about my feelings i don't know what i feel but what i know is that we are all together that's what he told me earlier in one of the only maybe the only shop in sterot that's still open for the soldiers and the security forces calip all right sterot first time i believe it's been evacuated completely unprecedented and clearly what is going to happen in the coming days is also going to be unprecedented pia klosch handler in sterot so thank you for that we do expect the idf spokesperson rarando daniel hargari to speak in a few minutes we'll go straight to that when it happens in the meantime in our studio former israeli ambassador of france in italy avi pezner of redwood israeli diplomat and adviser to prime minister and our defense correspondent jonathan reggaev and avi we see anthony blinkin meeting mbs uh muhammad bin samar asadi arabia president cc of egypt key players coming back to israel tomorrow the question is israel going to continue to get that green light uh from the united states to go ahead to the next phase of the war which couldn't go which certainly will involve many civilian casualties in gaza and for how long will it have to operate i think we are going to keep the green light from the united states because the united states understand that israel has to respond to this horrendous attack has to respond also for its own standing in the middle east israel i mean there can be no situation that you kill 1400 jews and you get away with it and i think it is clear to blinkin and to biden and to at cc and muhammad ben salman everybody expect an israeli ground operation and the question is in what condition will it take place and here we heard that today israel agreed already to let water into the southern part of the gaza strip this is the part where we ask the people to flee too so there is some kind of coordination with the americans also maybe with some arab states including saudi arabia who says now that they don't want now to deal with the normalization certainly with egypt but everybody understand caliph israel will have to respond to that atrocity because if we don't all our deterrents falls apart in this part of the world so it's more the how to do it that if to do it right you mentioned those people fleeing in the gaza strip we uh that is they've been told to the residents of northern gaza and gaza city if we have that map to show they have been told to to the south though there are reports of gaza of hamas terrorists who have been trying to block the palestinians from going from north to south i don't know if we have this clip from the idf actually they had a phone call with a resident of gaza talking about it i don't know if we have that but we'll put that up because they are hundreds of thousands are trying to get to the south reportedly but hamas continues to try to use them as a human shield all right don't know if we have that uh okay we do have that clip let's play it uh yes and let's listen if we have that from the jake sullivan the u.s. national security advisor he was actually relating to that in comments earlier today if we have that we have been working round the clock we have an entire dedicated team that is working on nothing but this helping american citizens who are in gaza be able to get safe passage through the border crossing to egypt uh that has been difficult because of the ongoing operations and frankly because hamas has intervened in some cases uh to make it hard for uh palestinians palestinian americans and others to be able to travel to the border crossing and get through all right uh i want to come to you that on jonathan but first i do want to go to a correspondent hamd the salkhut who is in the north of israel we're not going to identify exactly where because that area in the north has been coming under fire from across the uh lebanese border israel of course also returning fire to his bala positions and mourning his bala do not get involved in this conflict increasingly though hamda that looks like it might be a difficult situation up there right the israeli defense minister is warning hezbollah he says he doesn't want a conflict with them on the lebanese border and that they will pay a heavy price should they choose to get involved today tit for tat retaliation the fire starting in lebanon the israeli military retaliating hezbollah retaliating to the israeli retaliation a total of five instances there palestinian factions operating out of southern lebanon sending in a barrage of rockets the iron dome able to intercept some of those hezbollah is saying though a spokesperson for the militant group in lebanon giving a statement today saying that what happened today was just a warning and it's not an indication that hezbollah is going to join the wider conflict the iranian foreign minister speaking yesterday said that really it's only a matter of time and that no one can control the situation on the ground especially if there is a ground operation inside of the gaza strip now unifil the peacekeeping organization on the blue line that's the israeli lebanese border said that one of the rockets actually hit their headquarters in nakrura and their peacekeepers were sheltering at the time and are working to verify where that rocket came from right now it is all quiet though we are hearing the israeli military planes buzzing overhead circling lebanese positions earlier today they did target several hezbollah posts and really it's only a matter of time before we can see a multi-front war in this conflict all right khan the sahut there right near the lebanese border thank you for that and janathan again she calls khan the calls it tit for tad it's not a full out war but clearly hezbollah is sort of pushing the envelope here and it's threatening maybe giving this as a preview if you if there is a ground invasion well there will be a more serious attack and the question is is the military ready for what we've called the multi-front war the the army is saying yes the army is saying that they are ready and we know that despite the situation in the south a lot of resources have been moved up north to to prevent anything happening on the northern front so the army is saying yes but but we saw that that hamas is able and capable to inflict major major damage and and and he's by la as well and one thing though that that he's by la has lost is the element of surprise if there's one reason why hamas was so successful in its in its terrible operation on that Saturday morning it's due to the fact that it took israel completely by surprise he's by law will not have that anymore because israel is is literally on its edge but they have the abilities they have the the the amount of manpower and sophisticated manpower sophisticated resources so so the army is saying yes we are ready but a multi-front war will be very very difficult right the french foreign minister in israel today in fact meeting you have a holding meetings now with french citizens here confirming that 19 french citizens were killed in the attack president macron has been affirmed for even in france new laws i even outlawing expressions of support for hamas but again the question is how much france can go along with this dealing of course with its own muslim population over time being clever i must say i am pleasantly surprised by the french official position it is really you know a position which favors israel which understands israel which understands what we have been going through and you know the visit of the french foreign minister is extremely important not only because it's french israeli relation but after israel she goes to lebanon and i'm sure that she goes there with a message or a warning maybe a big warning that we see lebanon as a state the lebanon president lebanon prime minister lebanon government as responsible for what happens in the relationship between us and them meaning that even if the khizballah decides to open a full-fledged hostility we will see lebanon the state of lebanon as responsible with all the consequences hala with all the consequences and i think we don't speak too much about that and i think it is good that we do not make too much public warning what we will do to lebanon if khizballah attacks us but the message will be clear and i hope it will be heeded in berut and i think this is the main purpose how that thought we're going today in the higari the idf spokesperson our six anti-tank missiles were fired towards a number of idf posts and israeli communities as a result a civilian was killed and civilians and soldiers were wounded the forces responded immediately towards the origins of the fire in addition earlier rocket fire was executed towards the galilee we intercepted most of the rockets idf forces on the ground and an air of struck hezbollah infrastructure throughout the day the war started with a murderous attack of the hamas ter group we embarked on the war in gaza backed by the world the hezbollah group operates on the northern border in order to challenge israel during the war in gaza it does so under the guidance of iran and it risks the state of lebanon and its citizens israel has a strong army that is ready and willing to fight on both fronts and more or willing to and ready to fight hamas and bring security we're following the developments on the northern front in full cooperation with the u.s. in order to ensure that the security interests of the state of israel are maintained as for the instructions of the homefront command in the north the roads are open at this moment there are no special instructions for the residents when receiving an alert you need to enter the safe zone the offensive operation in gaza over the past several days we have prepared the idea for the next stages in the war the chief of staff is in the area is meeting the warriors and meeting the fighters making the plans fighters who are well ready to fight and win we continue with the wave of strikes in gaza we took down several hamas commanders that led the murderous attack on israel by air by sea and on the ground every terrorist who was involved in this murderous attack his elimination his top priority starting in the morning hours hamas have restarted the fire towards israel i wish to emphasize the importance of the guideline guidelines of the homefront command maintain your security i mean follow the instructions maintain them allows us the war effort without any damages to the homefront as far as evacuating the population from the city of gaza southwards we continue to evacuate the population from gaza southwards hamas is determined to keep the residents of gaza as human fields this is a test of control for it over 600 000 gazans have already evicted from the city of gaza southwards i call again here to the people of gaza go south for your safety and the safety of your families we have created for you corridors of movement from the gaza river south there are conditions that enable your presence there the conditions are there hamas attempts to spread fake news under which the idf is striking the residents that are evicting idf allows the people of gaza to evict safely hamas is under immense crash pressure it is loosest legitimation in the world and in the public we will expose its lies we'll continue to do so hamas must not think we still have many targets and ready for massive waves of strikes as much as needed we operate according to international law in order to heart as many as infrastructure of terror and terror operatives with minimum civilians this is the difference between us and our enemies in juda and samaria in the home front command in the center command we continue to engage in fights in all arenas in south and north as well the idf and the shin bet have arrested since the start of the war in the west bank over 200 hamas wanted operatives and we will continue to eliminate terror we are engaged in an immense effort as far as the kidnapped this is a top priority for us led by two headquarters an intelligence operational headquarter by nitzan al mog and another one by lior carmelie that is in touch with the families of a kidnapped the operational headquarter includes hundreds of reservists they operate from saturday in order to locate any trace of information that could clear the information and create operational opportunities we also use civilian companies that bring in advanced technologies that are already operating at the same time our headquarters is operating by creating the real-time picture of the situation they are in touch with the families civilians and soldiers the contact with the missing is dealt by the police and the idf is helps as much is helping as much as needed the idf is also assisting gal here she in charge of the kidnapped with dozens of reservists in order to learn about the whereabouts of those kidnapped the dear families of the kidnapped i know that for you every matter every second is an eternity we will do everything possible everything in order to bring your loved ones home the operation of identifying the those fallen continues around the clock the investigation of the police is operating together with the homefront command this is a sensitive national mission in order to bring them to burial as quickly as possible the identification process of some of the fallen requires technological means this is long and complicated it will take time accuracy comes in front of speed we must not be wrong it's in such an important issue we use all the information and all the checks in order to ensure that every fallen be he a civilian or soldier is being buried in a respectable way we have informed the families of 289 idf fallen soldiers and 155 kidnapped our hearts are with the bereaved families who receive the difficult news we are facing weeks of war the idf is ready to complete the plans by air sea and ground we will run the operation with determination and we'll stand up to our mission that we gave and that was rear admiral daniel hagari the idf spokesperson giving an update on the current the military situation well for more let's go and speak with tal heinrich she is a veteran journalist who is now joined the government the israeli prime minister's office as its representative to the national public diplomacy directorate essentially one of the government's spokespeople she's joining us from televieve we've just heard on the military side of the operation tal but there is another side the public diplomacy side i talked about getting the world showing the world what hamas is doing and that will help the idf gain time to carry out the operation it thinks it's need to do how is the government doing that and is it being effective in doing that well collab we are nine days after the october 7th massacre and after nine days as you sort of elude the international media and people outside this country are more starting to become more focused maybe on the pictures coming out of gaza and are forgetting why we launched this counter offensive and what we're doing there we're not in gaza to deter hamas to degrade hamas to contain hamas we are in gaza the idf is operating there right now in order to dismantle hamas uh prime minister nethny i was defined the goal of this operation very clear it is first and foremost to make sure that by the end of this operation and we will finish it on our terms hamas we lack the motivation to hurt us again as they did and they will lack the military capabilities to hurt us as they did so this is what we're doing and prime minister nethny out just a few hours ago i'm sure that you guys were reporting he also met with some families of those who were abducted earlier in the week he uh was uh down south meeting with soldiers of one of the southern brigades he also met with families who lost loved ones and what he describes is a few things first he sees fire in the eyes of the idf soldiers some of them have lost friends over the past week um so he describes that this kind of fighting spirit it's something that he hasn't seen before and also when he talks to the families who were affected by hamas's isa style atrocities they are also telling him that it is israel's moral duty to make sure that hamas is dismantled right uh we did cover that uh meeting uh one of the parents of the um uh of one of the hostages there said the prime minister has told them that israel can achieve its aim uh that you've described uh basically taking out hamas or at least its military capability without endangering the lives of the hostages but but that is going to make it quite difficult for the idf operating this thing and is the government now prepared after let's be honest after being a little slow in dealing with that situation of the hostages and the sensitivities of the family uh is ready to deal with what may be coming in the next few days well everyone knows that the situation of having people and so many of them over 120 were abducted into the gaza strip in such brutality and in such scope is making things very complicated obviously one of the goals of this operation is to bring them back and israel has been calling on hamas to unconditionally release them we are also calling on the international community to send such a message is very unequivocal message of this kind because just you know let's remind the viewers here it's not only israeli citizens to were abducted are in gaza right now there are different nationalities or dual citizenship holders that are there right now so uh the prime minister also sent out a warning do not touch them do not hurt them we will come for you terrorists one after one right now uh lastly uh secretary of state danthony blinkin reportedly will be returning tomorrow certainly will be meeting uh with the prime minister perhaps bringing some of the messages uh from the uh arab states at least publicly egypt's president cc mob and ben salman of saudi arabia expressing some support for the palestinians raising the humanitarian cause what is the prime minister how is he going to answer anthony blinkin if for example there's some pressure from the u.s some reporting about maybe for a a temporary uh huma ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into gaza or something like that well we'll wait and see uh what secretary blinkin brings as he's meeting with the prime minister tomorrow as you just reported but if you heard the shared press conference the statements that they delivered uh just a few days ago before he had it to the gulf then you probably know that there's no daylight between them second both prime minister netanyahu and secretary blinkin were uh very much on the same page when they did two things compared humas to isis when loyton austin came here he said that it's even worse than isis because he's seen isis and then the second thing that both prime minister netanyahu said and secretary blinkin was uh that this is the time of moral clarity and uh both israel and the united states have the same definition of moral clarity when it comes to this war all right tal hindriff now a spokesperson uh for the israeli prime minister's office thank you for joining us on i-24 news now good to see you color uh let's go back to the issue uh gentlemen of those civilians in gaza uh as we heard early and we listened to that uh uh that tape that oh i do want to do we have that uh side of the prime minister on the assages let's take a look at that because that that was an interesting comment the prime minister specifically announced to us that one of the objectives of this war is to bring our loved ones back and in the best condition possible he also said this is objective of bringing our loved one back is not impacting or hurting the effort of eliminating the hamas and the other objectives of the war well i want to come back to the issue of the hassas gentleman but first i want to go to the united states because the argument to dispute the battle at least the public diplomacy a battle over the israel's war with hamas is certainly not limited here that's being fought out in different arenas of public opinion that includes us universities which have long been ideological battlegrounds over the israeli palestinian conflict even more so this past week that's been especially so so at harvard university whose president claudine gay released an initial statement on the hamas attacks that critics said lacked moral clarity even walking damned was a letter signed by 30 student groups that essentially blamed israel for the hamas a massacre that in turn led several business figures and ceo's many of them harvard grads to declare that alarms they would not hire anyone who supported that statement additionally the israeli billionaire idan o'fair and his wife bacha who are major donors to harvard quit one of its executive boards well certainly someone in the in the in the midst of that uh discussion is professor alan dershowitz the professor emeritus of harvard law school and he joins us from miami florida professor dershowitz what do you have to say about your alma mater right this evening it doesn't surprise me harvard has had a terrible history when it comes to jews there were groups at harvard in the 1930s who marched in favor of nazis harvard gave an honorary degree to a nazi in the 1930s many of the university supported nazism thousands of people marched around where i live in new york on york avenue in favor of nazis 30 000 people went to madison's square garden to support nazis lindberg supported the nazis there were many supporters of nazis and that's what's going on today you have harvard students supporting nazis and harvard ought to treat them exactly as if they were in favor of lynching blacks in the 1920s or in favor of raping women or in favor of destroying and shooting up gays it's exactly the same thing you can't have a double standard harvard can't say oh we don't get involved in these issues we stood in our heads over the issue of george floyd one black man who was killed by police unjustifiably filled with with drugs filled with alcohol with a long criminal history and harvard wouldn't stop reckoning and changing its curriculum it's about time harvard reckoned with its virulent anti-semitic past with its quota system with its support of nazis with even in my time when i was in harvard it granted an honorary degree to von weiziker one of the people who was supportive this whole family or supportive of of nazi so harvard has a real real reckoning to do and its current president who doesn't seem to know very much about the history of harvard is part of the problem not part of the solution her three statements are are you know increasingly tough against hamas but boy it took alumni telling her that they would cut off funds for her to even make any statement and to this day she is still not condemned the 30 student groups imagine if 30 student groups at harvard supported raping women or supported lynching blacks or supported shooting gays i guarantee you president gay would be out there condemning it in the strongest terms she wouldn't talk about freedom of expression because freedom of expression includes her freedom of expression her freedom to establish the moral clarity as president summers of harvard said you know universities should say we're neutral and we won't say anything about anything but this is his exact words harvard has forfeited that prerogative by taking positions on the killing of blacks on the killing of gays on ukraine why why why won't they attack their nazi students who have signed these petitions blaming everything on israel they certainly would attack anybody who blamed rapes on women who blamed attacks on gays on the gay lifestyle who blamed the lynching of blacks on there being quote uppity as they used to happen at the time harvard has to have a single standard i you know larry summers and i together have 100 years at harvard i have almost 60 years at harvard and i can tell you i am disgusted disgusted at harvard disgusted at yale disgusted at nyu disgusted at the city university of new york all of whom have failed their mission of moral clarity all right professor alan der schwarz i think you have definitely made yourself pretty clear there thank you for joining us on i24 news thank you for this issue you have to i'm sorry would you repeat that professor der schwarz there's no room for ambiguity or ambivalence here you have to be clear one sided and morally certain this is not an issue for ambiguity all right professor alan der schwarz thank you for that well here's one of the reasons why many people certainly feel that way we've presented plenty of stories over the past week of tragedy and trauma in the wake of the chamas attack across the Gaza border there's also no shortage of accounts of heroism and survival to stemming from that terrible day one of those is of syrit curtsman a young woman who together with her husband yonatan and 14-month-old daughter zohar spent some 26 hours in their homes safe room that was on kibbutz alumim while terrorists went on a spree of death and destruction just outside their door syrit lesnick curtsman joins us now from the city of netanya where i presume she and her family have taken shelter syrit tell us in your own words about those 26 hours of terror so just like you said it was horrifying it all started at 6 29 a.m when we woke up from a sound that unfortunately is kind of familiar to us it was the missiles from gaza and i ran to my daughter's room i picked her up and brought her into the bomb shelter um but then something was a little bit different something was a little bit odd the missiles just didn't stop coming um we looked at my husband and we said like okay something is going on um if i go out of our story right now i zoom out a little bit and see what's going on outside what happened was is that the terrorist actually did this missile attack and while the missiles were coming obviously we have a drill our drill is to go into the bomb shelter we want to live so we go into the bomb shelter um and the terrorist actually that during that time while we were in the bomb shelter is when they were able to break through the the fence and actually invade many many kibbutz team um only at around seven thirty uh we're talking about an hour here that we're just in the bomb shelter being told not to leave at seven thirty we were told to lock the doors um lock the windows make sure everything is completely closed because that there are terrorists on the kibbutz we um um right away did obviously what we were told we were very shocked because we never in our craziest dreams imagined that something like that can happen um but our story my personal story being in the bomb shelter for 26 hours with my husband and my child it was very intense and very how do you can i just ask how you i'm sorry how did you deal with your your child doing those hours especially right so between six thirty to seven thirty when it wasn't clear exactly what's going on we were able to run out and grab some diapers and some wipes and just get our yogurt from the fridge so she can eat something because usually this these uh occasions that happen we know it happens and it takes about 10 minutes you're in and out you know the bomb shelter um it's it's horrible to say it like that but that's how we've been living um but what happened here and what's so amazing about my kibbutz's story is that we have uh emergency security team and when the terrorists came into the kibbutz the first group because they came in from eight separate places um on the fence around the kibbutz well the first group they came in from the back of the kibbutz in the back of the kibbutz is um you guys can see the pictures of our farm of our milk farm and some agriculture and what happened was is they came in from there and like I said our drill is that there's missiles you have to go into the shelter so they knew exactly where their victims are because we were all in the shelter we all like I said have the want want to live um and so they came and they went right where the foreign workers live they went into their shelter and slaughtered them they killed 16 um of our foreign workers the rest are actually leaving the country tonight and then while they were slaughtering the foreign workers they called up our emergency security team this emergency security team is all volunteers they're men that work in different jobs we have one of them is a professor one of them works in agriculture one of them is the engineer and they all volunteered to keep us safe and what happened was is that they were able to get to that point on the back of the kibbutz and stop those terrorists from entering the community where we all live um and they did that at every single point where the terrorists tried entering and that's how our lives were saved these people are neighbors these people are my friends and now they're just heroes that saved our whole entire community's lives um slowly slowly we're learning more and more information about how our lives were saved because um they they just we just heard in the news the other day of a group of soldiers that were actually on their way to beri to kibbutz berri which we all unfortunately heard how that story ended and on the way they saw about 50 terrorists coming towards us towards alumim and they were able to stop them there unfortunately a soldier was also killed at that point um and again these are soldiers that risked their life soldiers that's life lives were taken so i can be alive so my daughter can be alive and so my husband can be alive and these heroes just like you mentioned that there there are horrific stories but they're also heroes here and they're those are the stories that need to be heard and we need to tell these stories and and really bring strength and faith to our nation because these people are amazing and i think that's what makes our nation so special and united that we we know how we we always have hard time through history the jewish nation is always um always going through difficult times this may be one of the roughest ones but we always fight and we survive and we win and that's what we believe is going to happen now uh as as a nation and as a kibbutz that's what we're that's kind of what's going on in our kibbutz too we're just looking forward and trying to understand how and when we will we we we will rebuild our kibbutz and the whole area of otef asa which now we're trying to change the name to otef israel right all right so read i just i'm just briefly uh am i correct your husband now has been called up for his reserve duty am i correct in that yes well i just want to say you have an experience like that we certainly wish him the best and we wish you and your whole family him a safe return and your whole family a safe return to kibbutz alumim uh and to the future and and to the building of your future there thank you so much for joining us thank you gentlemen quite an inspiring story i want to give you a chance to react to some of the things we've heard uh there it's quite a difference going from that kind of story and then hearing the outrage for example of professor dershowitz towards some of the things that he's hearing and experiencing for example in his alma mater yes you know it's amazing kalev we know the united states how come that the universities have turned to be anti-semitic not only pro-hamas but anti-semitic i don't want to generalize but certainly there is that there is those elements you know and i agree with every word that professor dershowitz it is disgusting that the reaction especially at harvard but not only at harvard on the day that 1400 jews were massacred they blamed the jews on the very day on the very night they blamed the jews so there is something rotten in this system of american universities and i don't know what can be done because you know it's not something that you can tell the government of the united states go and make order in your university but maybe what israel should do and maybe not only israel also the jewish community after we finish with what we have to finish now but afterwards to launch a campaign in the american university a real information has barra campaign to explain you know there are jewish organizations i was going to say there are a stand with us there are there are other jewish classes that's not enough not enough well certainly maybe that are clearly a focus now jonathan i want to go back to the question the issue of the hostages uh prime minister benjamin netanyahu having its first meeting that was in rambler with families of hostages there assuring them uh that the ivf is going to both work with their the safe return uh but at the same time carry out its uh main mission of uh of basically taking down chamas its leadership its military capabilities that is going to be a very difficult uh narrow line to walk uh in when this operation finally gets underway yes and first of all we heard about a half hour ago from from the idea of spokesman i think for the first time we heard the number 155 this is a number we've not heard before now we have then and but i want to say there have been other reports unofficial some based on stuff on social media and some based on reports out of gaza putting the number higher even even higher but officially this is the first time we're speaking of 155 which is a very very high number uh working on on first invading gaza taking out chamas which is a an extremely difficult task by itself while trying to secure the the the safety of the hostages or i i can only assume our spread all along underground gaza it's it's it's a terrible task and and and i simply don't know how it's done i we we can totally understand the desire of israel to see chamas crushed down and eliminated we at the same time we can also completely understand the the the desire of those families to see their loved ones back i mean they've had a severe terrible trauma already um so so it's it's a it's a very narrow line as as you have said and the israeli army will have to work along this line very carefully it's it's a a a dreadful task really all right uh i want to go now to an occult setting who was at uh bengurian airport of course we're a situation where most of the normal flights are canceled but the airport is still uh involved in flights both taking foreign nationals out of the country many airlines and nations have arranged flights and of course allow still operating with special flights we're still trying to bring israelis especially those young israelis abroad who are resourcing the idf back in what's uh going on there and exactly i mean when you drive to the airport right now it it really is like a ghost town but you know that it is very difficult for people to be getting in and out because so many of the flights are delayed when you look at the screen it's really just red line after red line after red line canceled delayed canceled delayed so that's exactly what we're seeing here at bengurian airport and the reason that we were here is actually because the french foreign minister was here after doing a whole tour of the south earlier today and and she came out here to the airport to address the press to talk about really the solidarity that they're standing with israel right now she's one of the many western allies that has actually come here to israel to continue to show their support not only to stand with israel also saying that they're going to be donating different medical equipment for some different mobile units on the ground here in israel but also continuing to talk about the hostage situation uh that was the main main key point of what she wanted to address here because that is what so many people are worried about here in israel club earlier today we were also at the home front command base center where is really prime minister benjamin netanyahu met with a representative for some of the families and now we know that the hostage number has increased now at least 155 confirmed people are taken hostage and so as the french foreign minister was addressing the press here she said that's definitely uh something that she wants to tackle and it's one of the main priorities for so many people here prime minister benjamin netanyahu also addressing the representative saying that it is one of his key priorities and many of the families right now collab they are outraged that it's been more than a week and 155 loved ones are still taken hostage being held in the gaza strip they're urging the state of israel to do more but it's a very complicated situation so hearing from israeli prime minister netanyahu hearing from these different french representative other western allies and continuing to show their support and really trying to tackle and address this hostage situation that seems to be one of the key focuses from many of the different foreign nationals right now all right uh nicole said deck uh there at benjamin airport uh thank you for that uh i mean this is this hostage situation is it's a problem for it's a challenge let's put it that way for this israeli government there's now no emergency unity god wartime government on several levels both dealing with the israeli uh public and as you said there were so many foreign nationals uh french uh americans germans maybe others uh there and that is going to be i'm just going to say reports president uh isaac art song apparently appearing on cnn presenting documents uh this evening which even hamas documents that were captured which talk about even doing uh something we've only seen isis do public execution of hostages i hope we will not see that but here i think we have to make a too strong effort one which is a priority is to destroy hamas its leadership but at the same time there must be a big effort to try and see what we can do for these hostages and this question if i know the israeli public well with every day that passes the question of the hostages is to become more prominent more prominent and it is understandable 155 maybe 200 who knows right those are our our own flesh and blood so the israeli public will demand from the government that how and i agree with jonathan i agree with you it's very difficult they are hidden in tunnels and spread all over the catastrophe but this has to be a priority a priority because if not then the government would have failed also in that and i don't think the government wants to fail and as you said kaleb we have now a an emergency government the white government reflecting all sides of the society and the side the society will want to see the government dealing seriously with that issue only today has the prime minister met with the families and i don't know whether anybody else have has met them in the last few days right you know it is important i should know that gail hirsch the former idf officer would point it to the job he's a good man dealing with the hostages it is claimed either he or the people working with him have contacted each and every one of his families at the state perhaps took you know the perhaps a lot on the late side we have to say it has to be said but it looks like maybe now the government is getting its footing and we also heard daniel hughari the idf spokesperson also say the army now appointing special officers to deal with this it's only yes kaleb you're right but it's only in the last two days or three days yeah that the issues is is being that i can understand the shock and the horror and everything and the and the 1400 that of course but those are our people our people we have to do whatever we can to get them out of this hell because they are in hell i don't know what in what condition they are held right you are now speaking about public execution like i says it's doing i don't know i hope it's only propaganda okay i hope it's only propaganda but you know the hamas is an organization who is capable of doing that kind of thing and we have to to launch a warning about that if that happens then what we will do will be even more terrible than what we are planning now all right finally there are reports of air raid sirens over the past five minutes there in the south jonathan just give us a yes again on on the gaza border communities and unstopping it's it's true that perhaps the level at least in the south has has gone down compared with the previous days but it's it's not as if it stops and it was well we ran here to shelter what about two hours ago Hamas still has the ability let's remember we spoke of Gaza overground where all the civilians are they're the ones suffering the underground Gaza that's where the leadership is that's where the rockets are held and and they appear for a minute fire and go back you can be sure Kalev that those people the Hamas leadership underground they have enough water they have enough electricity they have enough fuel they have enough everything it's only the people in Gaza overground that suffer and that's where the rockets are hid and and they appear for a minute fire and go back I just want to just clue it to our viewers that about 15 15 minutes before this broadcast began the air raids they were 20 about a half hour there was a