 Today, 72 of the war and the IDF continues to strike Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night vowing that Israel will not stop its mission until it completes its goal of destroying Hamas. And he noted that international pressure to wrap up the ground offensive by the end of the year will not deter Israel. We are in a war for our existence, in which we must continue until victory, despite the international pressure and despite the unbearable cost that the war is exacting from us in our fallen sons and daughters. After the elimination of Hamas, the Gaza Strip will be demilitarized, will be under Israeli security control, and no element in it will either threaten us or educate its children to destroy us. Even right now, the IDF is attacking targets in Gaza. We've been seeing some of the aftermath of strikes on Hamas positions here on the channel. The IDF this morning announcing two more soldiers were killed in combat. Our defense, senior defense correspondent Jonathan Reggib is near the Gaza border in the city of Sterot with the latest Jonathan. Yes, fighting ongoing in Gaza behind us all the time. Through this morning, we've been hearing heavy artillery pounding the area behind us. This is the northern part of the Gaza Strip, Bed-Khanun, Jibalia, and a bit further to the south, Sejaia, which has been in the headlines over the past few days. Fighting is ongoing on the ground, above the ground, below the ground. This is happening here. This is happening further to the south in the area of Khanunas. No halting in the fighting is there. We see it and especially hear it. Jonathan, where is Hamas holed up? Are they still above ground in some of these strong, cold areas and camps that we've seen? Have they moved pretty much beneath ground into the tunnels entirely, hoping only to ambush soldiers? Or is it some kind of mix of the two and the IDF needs to be on full alert? It is a mix, but mostly on the ground. We have seen images of fighting above the ground, but most of the danger comes from beneath the ground. There are hundreds and hundreds of tunnel shafts all across the Gaza Strip. Hundreds have been detected, hundreds more presumably are still there, and the terrorists can come up to the ground for seconds, come up with a rifle, come up with an anti-tank missile, fire at the forces, and quickly hide back. This is the main danger, and we saw some images of this kind. There are many, many tunnel shafts all across the Gaza Strip, and we're speaking of Jibalia Sajaira, densely populated areas. At any step in any house, they can simply pop up and shoot and hide back. This is the main danger now in Gaza. Jonathan, with the IDF ground offensive still in full swing as Israel continues to grieve and mourn for that horrible killing of three Israeli hostages trying to run to safety, waving a white flag killed by Israeli troops. What is your sense on the IDF preparedness now, a new change in protocol perhaps, to try and make sure as the battles continue, it doesn't happen again? This is something that was stressed by the chief of staff, Herzi Alevi, last night in his message saying that both him and the army are responsible for this incident. And maybe the army has not been completely ready for a situation of this kind in which hostages run to the soldiers, and we just explained that a place such as Sajaira being so densely populated, so much heavy fire, and especially any face, any hand popping out of the tunnel could pose a danger and to the very difficult tasks the army already has, here's another one identifying who's a friend and who's a foe. Jonathan, thanks for that report for us live in Steroz. As Israel continues its outreach globally, reaching out to allies to help with the threats not just from Hamas terrorism and rocket attacks, but also Hezbollah attacks and Houthi strikes in Yemen on commercial ships. Today a foreign dignitary is in town about to meet with Israeli officials in the next few minutes. I, 24 News, Senior Correspondent Owen Alderman, has an update. Owen. Yeah, that's right Jeff, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his French counterpart Catherine Colonna currently meeting here at Ben-Gurion Airport in the room next to where we're standing, expected in, say, 10, 20 minutes, even a half an hour from now to step to the podiums behind me and give statements to the press. Jeff, this is a full day for the French Foreign Minister after this meeting. She will be meeting with the families of French hostages held in Gaza and then go to the Shura military base, sadly turned into a center for the purification of corpses after October 7th. Get a briefing on sexual violence and those atrocities. Go on to meetings in Ramallah before coming back to the airport to wrap the visit with the press conference tonight. Jeff, the French Foreign Minister had been expected to visit Lebanon yesterday, but what happened? A technical malfunction with their plane. So instead of going to Lebanon yesterday, she'll be going tomorrow, obviously not coincidental, to be visiting Israel and Lebanon back to back. The French government, along with the American government, very involved in the diplomacy among Israel. The Lebanese government in Hezbollah defined some way from Israel's perspective to move Hezbollah's military presence away from that northern border to enable the residents of northern communities in Israel to return to their homes and feel safe in them. People want to ask the French Foreign Minister what exactly is on the table to incentivize Hezbollah, to give Hezbollah a reason to do that and what exactly the Lebanese government can do to enforce it. So there are obviously a lot of thorny questions, but as recently as last night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that a diplomatic solution to the security issues north of the border is Israel's preferred solution. And Jeff, only after that would Israel want to go to some kind of military operation. There also, of course, is the war in Gaza itself, the issues in the West Bank, and many, many others on the agenda for these two foreign ministers. Again, we'll hear from them in a short time, but we'll imagine that Lebanon, Jeff, would top the list. Oh, and I know the press conference about to begin shortly, but, you know, the minister not meeting Netanyahu personally with the Prime Minister or other key members of the war cabinet, how influential a role at this point, diplomatically, does France have in this effort to convince Hezbollah to move away from the border fence or risk or IDF invasion? Well, Jeff, there are two issues. First of all, why is it that she's meeting one of only Eli Koh and the foreign minister and not others? In addition to scheduling issues, don't forget that the French government relatively early on, through President Emmanuel Macron himself, called for a full on ceasefire in Gaza. That obviously is something that is not to the liking of the Israeli government and has been a source of tension between the two governments. But on the other hand, as we were just talking a few moments ago, the Israeli government in a sense needs Paris, along with Washington, to help with what Israel sees as its goals and its plan A in Lebanon. So there are those two elements in a sense at odds with each other. But at the end of the day, Jeff, the France is an important European country, an important middle power globally, and an important country for Israel, certainly not a hostile government, even if there's a sincere disagreement about the course of the war in Gaza and when, most importantly, that should end. But again, an important visit from Israel's perspective and from France's perspective as well as for the odds of diplomacy in Lebanon. Again, we have to understand exactly what is being thought of and being put on the table to incentivize Hezbollah, to give Hezbollah a reason to want to move north of the Latani River, something that Hezbollah has said they are not interested in discussing, at least right now, and how exactly the Lebanese government, which has not always been in control, so to speak, of the southern part of its country, what they can actually do to enforce an agreement like that. Oh, and thanks for that preview. And the IDF continues its new round of ground training exercise in far northern Gaza, right across from Hezbollah. This special training exercise has been dubbed by the IDF Precious Time. Make of that what you will. It comes right after War Cabinet Minister Ben-Ghans said that Israel will force Hezbollah away militarily if these diplomatic efforts fail. Hezbollah drone attacks killed another IDF soldier this weekend and wounded even more soldiers. Hezbollah attacks have increased in recent days, nearly every day. There are strikes on northern communities and military posts. IDF news correspondent Zach Angers is with us near the border with Lebanon. Zach, we talk so much, of course, about Hezbollah's formidable missile, precision missile arsenal exponentially bigger and more dangerous than Hamas's. But what about these drones? I mean, a lot of these Hezbollah attacks, deadly attacks, have not been by missiles or rockets or artillery shells. It's been by the drone threat. Tell us more about that. Well, when you have pointed questions for some in the IDF or even in the American circles about the specifics of the equipment, the patriot defense, air defense systems that are situated along the northern border, when you ask them what's the difference in attempting to intercept this drone, these drones versus heavy rockets, they want to keep these answers to themselves, the cards close to the table, because they don't want to let slip some of the more specifics of these air defenses. But it's a big question, especially when these drones move considerably slower than the rockets. And they're in some regards a bigger target. They have a long wingspan so that they can fly these great distances when they're using their propellant and a lot of weight. These are heavy drones because they are laden with explosives to try and hit these targets and have a wide blast radius for when they do detonate. So when you ask how come there's been some difficulty in intercepting the drones here, you don't really get a specific or a solid answer. So it is one of the more considerable threats. We've seen the rockets intercepted and we have seen the drones slip through the air defenses here. These are likely the Iranian supplied drones. Of course, journalists have not had access to see some of the debris of these drones to know independently trying to confirm some of the details. A lot of this is being held behind military their efforts to keep these military secrets to themselves. But from the images that we do see, they appear to be these Iranian supplied drones, which are highly sought after pieces of equipment. I've seen them operate in the Ukrainian battle space this summer. The Iranians have been supplying them to Russia in Eastern Europe, and they're effective and they are very deadly. Thanks for that analysis, Zach. Be safe for us along the Lebanon border. Here in studio, I'm joined by retired IDF Colonel Dr. Jacques Nuret, former deputy head of Israeli military intelligence assessment. Thanks so much for being with us. As we awake this press conference between the foreign ministers of Israel and France, the question grows if these diplomatic efforts fail, Israel vowing to move Hezbollah away so that it is safe for Israelis to go back to their homes in the north. How would that work? How far away does Hezbollah need to be? And would this mean another ground invasion necessarily? Well, I think the odds are very difficult here. I mean, to tell you very frankly, the options are very limited, meaning that diplomatic efforts will serve nothing in Lebanon, certainly in a country that has no president, that has a transitional government, a transitional chief of prime minister, a chief of the army who is vacillating, who doesn't know if he has another mandate so you don't have a partner to talk to. And even if you have a partner, even if you're a ratifier, you agree on a certain agreement, then the only one that can ratify this agreement, according to the Lebanese constitution, is the president and there's no president. So the name of the game here is to draw, to ask Israel for more patience, for more patience and maybe something will happen in the future. Maybe so we are not talking about tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. This is what the diplomacy is about. It's about, I mean, a long range and then you have to have a lot of oxygen in your lungs in order to understand that this situation is being accepted by both France and the United States. The United States itself is asking Israel not to widen the scope of the fight. For those international requests for patience and breathing room, oxygen, it butts against the reality in Israel, the diplomatic pressure and the reality of 100,000 people who can't go home. As the French and the Americans are asking for more patience, our government and our army is getting impatient. It's impatient because of what's happening on the ground. We are in full war with Hezbollah, although limited in the scope of the geographic dimension. But still yesterday, the unconfirmed report that Israel did carry a strike inside Lebanon, deep inside 40 kilometers. So if this is going to be confirmed, then this is a different ball game. So as long as Israel can accept the fact that Hezbollah is using attack drones, is using missiles with 100 kilos as warheads of explosives, he is trying to initiate incursions into Israeli territory, firing rockets at Israeli targets and civilian targets. So as long as I mean, we are saying, okay, we do not want to take care of this front as long as we have a problem with Hamas. And but this problem with Hamas is not going to be solved tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. So how long can you ask for the inhabitants that have been evacuated to stay out of their homes? Are you talking about months? Are you talking a year? I mean, this is insane. So I mean, the basic decision at the time to evacuate maybe was the wrong one. Maybe they shouldn't have asked the inhabitants to evacuate, stay in their houses and fight Hezbollah differently. And this is what the 100,000 you're talking about are asking themselves to what extent are we going to wait and wait and wait and before we're coming, being able to come back to our... There's a sense to those, Jacques, right? Even if there's just, I believe a national sense that as Hamas, the Hamas fight, the intensity against Hamas directly day to day starts to wind down, the intensity day to day against Hezbollah starts to ramp up. First of all, we are not in the low intensity the conflict with Hamas. And the low intensity conflict with Hamas is going to happen by late January when the IDF will redeploy in Gaza, when most of the ground offensive will be terminated and we will have another position and another mission to terminate or to eradicate the leadership of Hamas. Till then, we are talking about end of January. So we're talking about a long time and facing Hezbollah, the escalation could be in a moment. If Hezbollah, by chance, hits an Israeli target and instead of hitting and killing one or two, it will be a hit that would definitely kill several Israelis. Israel as a government cannot accept this fact. The war with Hezbollah 2023 is not Hezbollah 2006. If this does become a bigger war, if this does escalate, wouldn't cities like Haifa and Tel Aviv be under attack like never before? Jeff, let us not belittle also the idea that the IDF of 2023 is not the IDF of 2006. We have some surprises in our sleeves that Hezbollah is not aware of. And we can surprise him. And as our chief of the Air Force said, that only a part of the Israeli Air Force has been used in Gaza and not the full part of the Israeli Air Force. So I mean, if we are going to enter a conflict with Hezbollah, Hezbollah is expected to lose its ground from the border till Beirut. And it will be a complete disaster for Lebanon because the bombings and the targeting of Israel will be such that even though Hezbollah would have at the beginning an advantage of launching precision guided missiles against Israeli targets, then the answer of Israel would be much more formidable concerning Hezbollah. We'll turn now more to the threat with Hamas, the ongoing ground offensive today. Last night thousands of Israelis turned out for a protest against the Israeli government and the lack of progress in a new hostage deal. The killing on Friday of three shirtless white flag waving Israeli hostages begging for help in Hebrew by Israeli soldiers broke the heart of a nation. And the family members of hostages fear their loved ones might be next that the scene might play out again amid the chaos of war. Speakers at the demonstration last night included both the loved ones of current hostages but also recently freed hostages who insists that the best way to get the rest out safely is another deal with Hamas, not more military action. 10 days ago I met with the cabinet. I begged the cabinet and we all warned that the fighting would likely harm the hostages. Unfortunately, I was right. I survived. If the agreement to release the hostages had been delayed by a week, I might not be here. The hostages are experiencing hell and they are in mortal peril. Every day, every hour, every minute is critical. Israel must offer another hostage release deal and get the international community to back it. We want to thank the ministers at the cabinet for making a deal and I am asking you, don't give up on anyone. Don't leave anyone behind. Do everything to get everyone home today and now. Every day that passes, they wither a little more and wonder why the hell no one gets them out of this hell and maybe they were actually forgotten about. My daughter was there. Every day that passes is a danger to their lives. I was there. My daughter was there. Do not abandon the hostages. We must act now. A deal is required today. Bring them home now. Netanyahu addressing this very issue in his press conference last night, arguing that the massive military operation in Gaza is the very reason Hamas agreed in the first place for a partial hostage deal and they may do it again. Netanyahu confirmed reports that new negotiations are actively underway to try and bring more hostages home. Without the military pressure, we would not have succeeded in creating an outline that led to the release of 110 hostages and only continued military pressure will lead to the release of all of our hostages. My directive to the negotiating team is based on this pressure. Cease fire, remove our troops. They have all kinds of demands. So what do we understand? As soon as we give in, Hamas has won. We are obligated to eliminate it and return our hostages, but will not give up either this goal or that goal. Back here in studio, Jacques, your thoughts here. Well, first of all, I really am not impressed by our prime minister who lost his temper yesterday. This is not the time to lose your temper, certainly when you address the Israeli public. And he has a problem. He has a very difficult problem. He doesn't know how to solve the problem of the hostages because Hamas is saying that we want to negotiate only if there is total ceasefire. And total ceasefire means, in fact, that Hamas has won the war because we haven't accomplished the basic mission of eradicating Hamas. And Netanyahu is still saying he always says that the goals of the war are two goals, bring them home, destroy Hamas. Is that an impossible goal? Look at what happened, except for the woman soldier that was evacuated at the beginning of the war, that was retrieved from our captives at the beginning of the war. All the rest are just dead bodies that we are getting back into Israel. And this is very worrying the families because every day you hear about and certainly the incident of those three is a turning point here because it stresses the fact that all those hostages are in deep danger and there is a moral debt of this state, the state of Israel vis-à-vis its citizens to free those hostages. And right now, the Israel has proven that it's not able to do so. Now, and on the contrary, they have presented a logic that is very problematic. I will tell you what's the problematic in the logic. On the one hand you say military pressure brought the Hamas to negotiate a deal. On the other hand, we say very clearly that our goal is to kill Sinwar and all his leadership. Why should I, Sinwar, accept this deal with you if you want to kill me and you want to kill my leadership? Why should I bow to your demands and accept an exchange of prisoners? This is insane. But all these questions that you're raising lead to a conclusion at some point that Hamas will not be destroyed. Well, you know, Hamas as a movement cannot be destroyed. The goal of this war is to eradicate the military and the political presence of Hamas. So they're still even now firing rockets on Tel Aviv, they're firing rockets every day. Yeah, this is the goal. But as a movement, Hamas exists in Lebanon, exists in Syria, exists in the West Bank, the West Bank. I mean, in your own, in your own Judea and Samaria, it's there. And it's in Jordan and it's as a religious movement, as a social movement and a political movement, it's there. It's part, I mean, they see themselves as representing the Palestinian people and as the Prime Minister said, at least 44% of the inhabitants of the West Bank see Hamas as their leaders and not the Palestinian authority. So we have to realize that this is a situation we have to fight to eradicate the presence of Hamas in Gaza in order to ensure our borders of all our localities that are spread around the Gaza Strip. This is the goal of the war. And right now, we haven't accomplished it. Right now, we still are in the midst of the effort and the Americans are asking us when are you going to begin the second, the fourth phase because the third phase is right now, what we are doing. The fourth phase, according to the Americans, according to what we hear here, is by the end of January, then by the end of January, the Israeli army will have to redeploy most of it on the Easter side of the border with Gaza and leave some operational groups inside Gaza in order to fight and to target the leaders of Hamas. This is what the idea is. We don't know if by the end of January, we wouldn't see any more Hamas in Gaza or we will continue because right now, the Gaza city and the Qanunists have not been completely cleaned of Hamas presence. Are you afraid that this scene, the awful tragic scene, this mistaken killing of these hostages, can that happen again? Well, you know, I hope not. I hope not. But in the heat of the battle, when you have five Israeli divisions, huge amount of soldiers getting and sometimes it's not the first time, by the way, that soldiers have been killed by friendly fire. So those divisions are just maneuvering on the ground and sometimes some units find themselves facing others. So this could happen in any war. But unfortunately this happened in a very special case where those three were without a shirt, waving a white flag and instead of just shouting in Hebrew, the help and instead of that, we just the soldiers thought they were terrorists and they shot them dead. Awful scenario, the heart still breaks across the country for that. Jacques, thank you so much for your analysis on these threats and the ongoing situation here in Israel. We're going out for a break, more news ahead, more live coverage from the north and the border with Lebanon where husband attacks continue and the south as well inside Gaza where Hamas continues to fight. We'll have more live reporting and more analysis. Stay with us we'll be back soon. Israel is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to to be fought as well. Thanks for watching I-24 News this morning for the latest live updates from Israel on the Israel Hamas war and other threats from across the Middle East. It is now day 72 of the war and the IDF continues to strike Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night vowing that Israel will not stop its mission until it completes its goal of destroying Hamas and he noted that international pressure to wrap up the ground offensive by the end of the year will not deter Israel. We are in a war for our existence in which we must continue until victory. Despite the international pressure and despite the unbearable cost that the war is exacting from us in our fallen sons and daughters after the elimination of Hamas the Gaza Strip will be demilitarized, will be under Israeli security control and no element in it will either threaten us or educate its children to destroy us. Even right now the IDF is attacking targets in Gaza. We've been seeing some of the aftermath of strikes on Hamas positions here on the channel. The IDF this morning announcing two more soldiers were killed in combat. Our defense senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev is near the Gaza border in the city of Sterot with the latest Jonathan. Yes, fighting ongoing in Gaza behind us all the time through this morning we've been hearing a lot of people pounding the area behind us. This is the northern part of the Gaza Strip Beth-Khanun, Jibalia and a bit further to the south, which has been in the headlines over the past few days fighting is ongoing on the ground above the ground below the ground. This is happening here. This is happening further to the south in the area of Khanunis no halting in the fighting as we see it and especially hear it. Jonathan, where is Hamas holed up? Are they still above ground in some of these strong cold areas and camps that we've seen? Have they moved pretty much beneath ground into the tunnels entirely hoping only to ambush soldiers or is it some kind of mix of the two and the IDF needs to be on full alert? It is a mix but mostly on the ground. We have seen images of fighting above the ground but most of the danger comes from beneath the ground. There are hundreds and hundreds of tunnel shafts all across the Gaza Strip. Hundreds have been detected, hundreds more presumably are still there and the terrorists can come up to the ground for seconds, come up with a rifle come up with an anti-tank missile fire at the forces and quickly hide back. This is the main danger and we saw some images of this kind. There are many many tunnel shafts all across the Gaza Strip and when we're speaking of Jibalia Sajaya, densely populated areas at any step in any house they can simply pop up and shoot and hide back. This is the main danger now in Gaza. Jonathan with the IDF ground offensive still in full swing as Israel continues to grieve and mourn for that horrible killing of three Israeli hostages trying to run to safety waving a white flag killed by Israeli troops what is your sense on the IDF preparedness now a new change in protocol perhaps to try and make sure as the battles continue it doesn't happen again. This is something that was stressed by the chief of staff Herzi Alevi last night in his message saying that both him and the army are responsible for this incident and maybe the army has not been completely ready for a situation of this kind in which hostages run to the soldiers and we just explained that a place such as Sajaya being so densely populated so much heavy fire and especially any face any hand popping out of a tunnel could pose a danger and to the very difficult tasks the army already has here's another one identifying who's a friend and who's a foe Jonathan thanks for that report for us live as Israel continues its outreach globally reaching out to allies to help with the threats not just from Hamas terrorism and rocket attacks but also Hezbollah attacks and Houthi strikes in Yemen on commercial ships today a foreign dignitary is in town about to meet with Israeli officials in the next few minutes senior correspondent Owen Alderman has an update Owen Yeah that's right Jeff, Foreign Minister Ali Cohen and his French counterpart Catherine Colonna currently meeting here at Ben-Gurion airport next to where we're standing expected in say 10 20 minutes even a half an hour from now to step to the podiums behind me and give statements to the press Jeff this is a full day for the French Foreign Minister after this meeting she will be meeting with the families of French hostages and then go to the Shura military base sadly turned into a center for the purification of corpses after October 7th get a briefing on sexual violence and those atrocities go on to meetings in Ramallah before coming back to the airport to wrap the visit with the press conference tonight Jeff the French Foreign Minister had been expected to visit Lebanon yesterday but what happened a technical malfunction with their plane so instead of going to Lebanon yesterday she'll be going tomorrow obviously not coincidental to be visiting Israel and Lebanon back to back the French government along with the American government very involved in the diplomacy among Israel the Lebanese government Hezbollah to find some way from Israel's perspective to move Hezbollah's military presence away from that northern border to enable the residents of northern communities in Israel to return to their homes and feel safe in them will want to ask the French Foreign Minister what exactly is on the table to incentivize Hezbollah to give Hezbollah and what exactly the Lebanese government can do to enforce it so there are obviously a lot of thorny questions but as recently as last night Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that a diplomatic solution to the security issues north of the border is Israel's preferred solution and Jeff only after that would Israel want to go to some kind of military operation there are also of course the war in Gaza itself issues in the West Bank and many many others on the agenda for these two foreign ministers in a short time but one would imagine that Lebanon Jeff would top the list Oh and I know the press conference about to begin shortly but you know the minister not meeting Netanyahu personally with the Prime Minister or other key members of the war cabinet how influential a role at this point diplomatically does France have in this effort to convince Hezbollah to move away from the border fence or risk an IDF invasion Well Jeff there are two issues first of all that she's meeting one of what only Eliko and the foreign minister and not others in addition to scheduling issues don't forget that the French government relatively early on through President Emmanuel Macron himself called for a full on ceasefire in Gaza that obviously is something that will not has not to the liking of the Israeli government has been a source attention between the two governments but on the other hand as we were just talking a few moments ago the Israeli government in a sense needs Paris along with Washington to help with what Israel sees as its goals plan A and Lebanon so there is those there are those two elements in a sense at odds with each other but at the end of the day Jeff the France is an important European country an important middle power globally and an important country for Israel certainly not a hostile government even if there's a sincere disagreement about the course of the war in Gaza and when most importantly that should end but again an important visit from Israel's perspective and from France's perspective as well as for the odds of diplomacy in Lebanon we have to understand exactly what is being thought of and being put on the table to incentivize Hezbollah to give Hezbollah a reason to want to move north of the Latani river something that Hezbollah has said they are not interested in discussing at least right now and how exactly the Lebanese government which has not always been in control so to speak of the southern part of its country what they can actually do to enforce an agreement like that Oh and thanks for that preview and the IDF continues its new round of round training exercise in far northern Gaza right across from Hezbollah this special training exercise has been dubbed by the IDF precious time make of that what you will it comes right after war cabinet minister Ben Gantz said that Israel will force Hezbollah away militarily if these diplomatic efforts fail Hezbollah drone attacks killed another IDF soldier this weekend and wounded even more soldiers Hezbollah attacks have increased in recent days nearly every day their strikes on northern communities and military posts IDF news correspondent Zach Andrews is with us near the border with Lebanon Zach we talk so much of course about Hezbollah's formidable missile precision missile arsenal exponentially bigger and more dangerous than Hamas's but what about these drones Hezbollah attacks deadly attacks have not been by missiles or rockets or artillery shells it's been by the drone threat tell us more about that well when you have pointed questions for some in the IDF or even in the American circles about the specifics of the equipment the patriot defense air defense systems that are situated along the northern border when you ask them what's the difference in attempting to intercept this drone these drones versus heavy rockets they want to keep these answers close to the table because they don't want to let slip some of the more specifics of these air defenses but it's a big question especially when these drones move considerably slower than the rockets and they're in some regards a bigger target they have a long wingspan so that they can fly these great distances using their propellant and a lot of weight these are heavy drones because they are laden with explosives to try and hit these targets and have a wide blast radius for when they do detonate so when you ask how come there's been some difficulty in intercepting the drones here you don't really get a specific or a solid answer so it is one of the more considerable threats we've seen the rockets intercepted and we have seen the drones slip through the air defenses here likely the Iranian supplied drones of course journalists have not had access to see some of the debris of these drones to know independently trying to confirm some of the details a lot of this is being held behind military their efforts to keep these military secrets to themselves but from the images that we do see they appear to be these Iranian supplied drones which are sought after highly sought after pieces of equipment I've seen them operate in the Ukrainian battle space this summer the Iranians have been supplying them to Russia in Eastern Europe and they're effective and they are very deadly thanks for that analysis Zach be safe for us along the Lebanon border here in studio I'm joined by retired IDF colonel Dr. Jacques Nauré former deputy head of Israeli military intelligence assessment thanks so much for being with us so as we awake this press conference between the foreign ministers of Israel and France the question grows if these diplomatic efforts fail Israel vowing to move Hezbollah away so that it is safe for Israelis to go back to their homes in the north how would that work how far away does Hezbollah need to be and would this mean another ground invasion necessarily well I think the odds are very difficult here to tell you very frankly the options are very limited meaning that diplomatic efforts will serve nothing in Lebanon certainly in a country that has no president that has a transitional government a transitional chief of prime minister a chief of the army who is vacillating who doesn't know if he has another mandate or not so you don't have a partner to talk to and even if you have a partner even if you ratify you agreed on a certain agreement then the only one that can ratify this agreement according to the Lebanese constitution is the president and there is no president so the name of the game here is to draw to ask Israel for more patients for more patients and maybe something will happen in the future maybe so we are not talking about tomorrow or the day after tomorrow this is what the diplomacy is about it's about a long range and you have to have a lot of oxygen in your lungs to understand that this situation is being accepted by both France and the United States the United States itself is asking Israel not to widen the scope of the fight for those international requests for patients and breathing room oxygen it butts against the reality in Israel the diplomatic pressure and the reality of who can go home as the French and the Americans are asking for more patients our government and our army is getting impatient it's impatient because of what's happening on the ground we are in full war with Hezbollah although limited in the scope of the geographic dimension but still yesterday the unconfirmed report that Israel did carry a strike inside Lebanon deep inside 40 kilometers so if this is going to be confirmed this is a different ball game so as long as Israel can accept the fact that Hezbollah is using attack drones is using missiles with 100 kilos as warheads of explosives he is trying to initiate incursions into Israeli territory firing rockets at Israeli as Israeli targets civilian targets so as long as we are saying okay we do not want to take care of this front as long as we have a problem with Hamas but this problem with Hamas is not going to be solved tomorrow or the day after tomorrow so how long can you ask for the inhabitants that have been evacuated to stay out of their homes are you talking about months are you talking a year I mean this is insane so I mean the basic decision at the time to evacuate maybe was the wrong one maybe what they shouldn't have asked the inhabitants to evacuate stay on their in their houses and fight Hezbollah differently and this is what the 100,000 you're talking about are asking themselves to what extent are we going to wait and wait and wait and before we coming being able to come back to our there's a sense though Jacques even if there's just a I believe a national sense that as Hamas the Hamas fight the intensity against Hamas directly day-to-day starts to wind down the intensity day-to-day against Hezbollah starts to ramp up well first of all we are not in a low intensity the conflict with Hamas and the low intensity conflict with Hamas is going to happen by late January when the IDF will redeploy in Gaza when most of the ground offensive will be terminated and we will have another position another mission to terminate or to eradicate the leadership of Hamas till then we are talking about end of January so we're talking about a long time and facing Hezbollah the things can the escalation could be in a moment that if Hezbollah by chance hits an Israeli target and instead of of hitting and killing one or two it will be a hit that would definitely kill several Israelis Israel as a government cannot accept this fact the war with Hezbollah 2023 is not Hezbollah 2006 if this does become a bigger war if this does escalate wouldn't cities like Haifa and Tel Aviv be under attack like never before Jeff let us not belittle also the idea of the idea of Hezbollah 2023 is not the idea for 2006 we have some surprises in our sleeves that Hezbollah is not aware of and we can surprise him and as as our chief said chief of the Air Force said that only a part of the Israeli Air Force has been used in Gaza and not the full part of the Israeli Air Force so I mean if we are going to enter a conflict with Hezbollah Hezbollah is going to is expected to lose its ground from the border till Beirut and it will be a complete disaster for Lebanon because the bombings and the targeting of Israel will be such that even though that Hezbollah would have at the beginning an advantage of launching precision guided missiles against Israeli targets then the the answer of Israel would be much more formidable concerning Hezbollah. We'll turn now more to the threat with Kamas the ongoing ground the last night thousands of Israelis turned out for a protest against the Israeli government and the lack of progress in a new hostage deal the killing on Friday of three shirtless white flag waving Israeli hostages begging for help in Hebrew by Israeli soldiers broke the heart of a nation and the family members of hostages fear their loved ones might be next at this scene might play out again amid the chaos of war speakers at the demonstration last night included both the loved ones of current hostages but also recently freed hostages who insists that the best way to get the rest out safely is another deal of Kamas not more military action Ten days ago I met with the cabinet I begged the cabinet and we all warned that the fighting would likely harm the hostages unfortunately I was right I survived if the agreement to release the hostages had been delayed by a week I might not be here the hostages are experiencing hell and they are in mortal peril every day every hour every minute is critical Israel must offer another hostage release deal and get the international community to back it we want to thank the ministers at the cabinet for making a deal and I am asking you don't give up on anyone don't leave anyone behind do everything to get everyone home today and now every day that passes they wither a little more and wonder why the hell no one gets them out of this hell and maybe they were actually forgotten about my daughter was there every day that passes is a danger to their lives I was there my daughter was there do not then the hostages we must act now a deal is required today bring them home now Netanyahu addressing this very issue in his press conference last night arguing that the massive military operation in Gaza is the very reason Hamas agreed in the first place for a partial hostage deal and they may do it again Netanyahu confirmed reports that new negotiations are actively underway to try and bring more hostages home without the military pressure we would not have succeeded in creating an outline that led to the release of 110 hostages and only continued military pressure will lead to the release of all of our hostages my directive to the negotiating team is based on this pressure ceasefire remove our troops they have all kinds of demands so what do we understand as soon as we give in Hamas has won we are obligated to eliminate it and return our hostages but we will not give up either this goal or that goal back here in studio Jacques your thoughts here well first of all I really am not impressed by our prime minister who lost his temper yesterday this is not the time to lose your temper certainly when you address the Israeli public and he has a problem he doesn't know how to solve the problem of the hostages because Hamas is saying that we want to negotiate only if there is total ceasefire and total ceasefire means in fact that Hamas has won the war because we haven't accomplished the basic mission of eradicating Hamas Netanyahu is still saying he always says that the goals of the war are two goals bring them home destroy Hamas is that an impossible goal look at what happened except for the woman soldier that was evacuated at the beginning of the war that was retreated from our captives all the rest are dead bodies that we are getting back into Israel and this is very worrying the families because every day you hear about and certainly the incident of those three is a turning point here because it stresses the fact that all those hostages are in deep danger there is a moral debt of this state of Israel vis-à-vis its citizens to free those hostages and right now Israel has proven that it's not able to do so and on the contrary they have presented a logic that is very problematic I will tell you what's the problematic in the logic on the one hand you say military pressure brought Hamas to negotiate a deal and we say very clearly that our goal is to kill Sinwar and all his leadership why should I Sinwar accept this deal with you if you want to kill me and you want to kill my leadership why should I bow to your demands and accept an exchange of prisoners this is insane all these questions that you're raising lead to a conclusion at some point that Hamas will not be destroyed well you know Hamas as a movement cannot be destroyed let's be the the goal of this war is to eradicate the military and the political presence of Hamas so they're still even out firing rockets they're firing rockets every day this is the goal but as a movement Hamas exists in Lebanon exists in Syria, exists in the West Bank West Bank I mean in your own Judea Samaria it's there and it's in Jordan as a religious movement as a social movement as a political movement it's there it's part I mean they see themselves as representing the Palestinian people and as the prime minister said at least 44% of the inhabitants of the West Bank see Hamas as their leaders and not the Palestinian authority so we have to realize that this is a situation we have to fight to eradicate the presence of Hamas in Gaza to ensure our borders of all our localities that are spread around the Gaza Strip this is the goal of the war and right now we haven't accomplished it right now we still are in the midst of the effort and the Americans are asking us when are you going to begin the second the fourth phase because the third phase is right now what we are doing the fourth phase according to the Americans according to what we hear here in January then by the end of January the Israeli army will have to redeploy most of it on the Easter side of the border with Gaza and leave some operational groups inside Gaza in order to fight and to target the leaders of Hamas this is what the idea we don't know if by the end of January we wouldn't see any more Hamas in Gaza or we will continue because right now the Gaza city and the Qanunists have not been completely cleaned of Hamas presence are you afraid that this scene the awful tragic scene this mistaken killing of these hostages can that happen again well you know I hope not I hope not but in the heat of the battle when you have five Israeli divisions huge amount of soldiers getting and sometimes it's not the first time by the way soldiers have been killed by friendly fire so those divisions are just maneuvering on the ground and sometimes some units find themselves facing others so this could happen in any war but unfortunately this happened in a very special case where those three were without a shirt the white flag and instead of just and they were shouting in Hebrew the help and instead of that we just the soldiers thought they were terrorists and they shot them dead awful scenario the heart still breaks across the country for that Jacques thank you so much for your analysis on these threats and the ongoing situation here in Israel we're going out for a break more news ahead more live coverage from the north and the border with Lebanon where husband attacks continue and the south as well guys over Hamas continues to fight we'll have more live reporting and more analysis stay with us we'll be back soon Israel is in a state of war families completely done down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well thanks for watching i24news this morning for the latest live updates from Israel on the Israel Hamas war and other threats from across the Middle East it is now day 72 of the war and the IDF continues to strike Hamas targets across Gaza last night Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing that Israel will not stop its mission until it completes its goal of destroying Hamas international pressure to wrap up the ground offensive by the end of the year will not deter Israel we are in a war for our existence in which we must continue until victory despite the international pressure and despite the unbearable cost that the war is exacting from us in our fallen sons and daughters after the elimination of Hamas the Gaza Strip will be demilitarized will be under Israeli security control and no element in it will either threaten us or educate its children to destroy us the IDF continues a new round of intensive ground training meanwhile in the north of Israel the beginning of this training session in the far north near the border of Lebanon has been dubbed by the army precious time that's the nickname it comes right after war cabinet minister Benny Gantz warned Israel will force Hezbollah away from the border fence militarily if ongoing diplomatic efforts fail Hezbollah's own attacks this weekend killed yet another IDF soldier and wounded two more Hezbollah forces have attacked Israeli northern communities and military posts nearly every single day and Hezbollah attacks have been intensifying in recent days with us now is I-24 news correspondent Zach Andrews along the northern border Zach it's a clear warning from Benny Gantz the war cabinet minister will respond with military force if needed do we have any timetable or estimates I guess on when an actual offensive may have to begin in the north to push Hezbollah away no official timeline but it does appear that with the rhetoric entering a new atmosphere that that movement towards some sort of action here is getting closer the amount of exchanges have intensified over the last several days and it does seem with this timing of the training exercise that is taking place as we speak that there is some impetus to make this 1701 agreement reality to push Hezbollah north of the border somewhat apparent that this timeline is getting closer and closer tell me more about the drone attack that killed this IDF reservist wounded multiple others as well this seems to be a very powerful tool in Hezbollah's arsenal and the question being how many of these drones does Hezbollah have in its arsenal right now the independent estimates haven't pinned a solid figure as they have with the believed number of rockets and other pieces of equipment that they have these are drones that have likely been smuggled in through Syria via Iran and they're powerful weapons they have much greater delivery of explosives than other conventional means than these ATGMs the guided missiles that are being launched they can be packed with explosives but they do move much slower and they fly along the horizon you can see them with the naked eye as they approach targets one of the questions is the air defense is how different in a success rate are the air defenses here from the rockets versus the drones and we've seen these drones penetrate Israeli airspace and make direct hits so it does appear that Hezbollah has had success with these of course yesterday we saw an unfortunate death of a soldier here in his two other younger soldiers wounded and this is not the first time that's happened here in the last hour we've seen another what a parent strike on a community on the north here it's not clear if this was another drone impact yet we're waiting for confirmation ongoing situation right now Zach thanks so much for that update in Tel Aviv thousands of Israelis turned out last night for a protest the government's lack of progress in creating a new hostage deal the killing on Friday of three shirtless white flag waving Israeli hostages by Israeli soldiers broke the heart of a nation and the family members of hostages fear their loved ones might be next that this exact situation they repeat itself amid the chaos of war speakers at the demonstration included both the loved ones of current hostages but also recently freed hostages who insist that the best way to get the rest of the hostages out safely is another deal with Hamas ten days ago I met with the cabinet I begged the cabinet and we all warned that the fighting would likely harm the hostages unfortunately I was right I survived if the agreement to release the hostages had been delayed by a week I might not be here the hostages are experiencing hell and they are in mortal peril every day every hour every minute is critical Israel must offer another hostage release deal and get the international community to back it we want to thank the ministers at the cabinet for making a deal and I am asking you don't give up on anyone don't leave anyone behind do everything to get everyone home today and now every day that passes they wither a little more and wonder why the hell no one gets them out of this hell and maybe they were actually forgotten about my daughter was there every day that passes is a danger to their lives I was there my daughter was there do not abandon the hostages we must act now a deal is required today bring them home now Netanyahu addressing this very issue in his press conference last night arguing that the massive military operation in Gaza is the reason Hamas agreed in the first place for a partial hostage deal and the reason they may do it again Netanyahu did confirm last night the reports that new negotiations are actively underway to try and bring more hostages home with the military pressure we would not have succeeded in creating an outline that led to the release of 110 hostages and only continued military pressure will lead to the release of all of our hostages my directive to the negotiating team is based on this pressure ceasefire remove our troops they have all kinds of demands so what do we understand as soon as we give in Hamas has won we will eliminate it and return our hostages but will not give up either this goal or that goal back here in studio I'm joined by Yaakov Lapin military and strategic affairs analyst at the Jewish news syndicate I want to ask Yaakov let's start with the Hamas before we move to Hezbollah ongoing threats from around the region the twin goals here of toppling Hamas destroying them militarily while also freeing the hostages as a primary goal many have said that those two are going to be in conflict that they both cannot happen as a primary objective simultaneously did the killing of these three hostages crystallize that is it now clear that militarily the remaining hostages that's not their salvation the only way is diplomatic I don't think so first of all I doubt that we would have gotten the 110 that were released out without the intense military pressure that was applied on Hamas and its leadership to begin with now going to the next phase this is definitely more complicated and the tension between the two goals is more pronounced but at the same time these hostages are the survival insurance policy of the Hamas leadership so that it's not like they're intending to let them go if Israel releases pressure on the hostages is for Israel to pull back and to enable the Hamas leadership to survive so there is not an inherent tension if Hamas's leadership feels that the sword is on its neck so to speak it may decide that it wants to bite off a little bit more time a few more days and that's when a new deal could come into effect and there's just one more scenario that I think we need to take into account if the leadership starts to crumble the idea might be able to enter into the leaders and offer them ad hoc deals at a local level without the long circle of Qatar and the Hamas leadership and that's another avenue that I think we need to keep in mind I want to ask about the reported blocker the main blocker and boy it's a big one in Qatar which is that Israel willing to negotiate Netanyahu confirming he's resuming negotiations last night but that Hamas his position is so but our condition our primary condition is that there must be a full and permanent ceasefire and that goes back to exactly what I was just saying Hamas views the remaining hostages as its insurance policy for its survival and the only way it could start to change that view is if its survival is in any case under threat so that's why the more pressure that it feels the more inclined it will likely be to reach further deals I don't know about releasing but certainly creating new opportunities for exchanging hostages for terrorists I think the main goal here for Hamas is to buy itself time the more acute it feels the pressure the more it will want to buy itself time even if it's just a few days the IDF Yaakov admitted they did not prepare or train for or even contemplate the possibility that the hostages would be running around above ground during active firefights in terror compounds in buildings that obviously happened in the length of this trench of killing how confident do you believe that this scenario will be avoided or could this exact same thing unfortunately happen again we know that the battlefield in Gaza is chaotic and the forces are under fire there from 360 degrees in the past six weeks these forces have had to learn how to fire all around them to stay alive and there have been booby traps there have been attempts to lure them in there have been calls and fake baby crying recordings this is the kind of environment that they're operating in I think that should be the basis of the discussion there's no such thing as 100% but I'm confident based on what the IDF has been saying that it conducted a very in depth after action review it has now notified all field commanders and through them the soldiers that this is now a scenario that as the battles rage more hostages could find themselves free either they're abandoned by their captors or they manage to get away and I think that that's going to filter down to the soldiers and hopefully this horrible tragedy will not repeat itself let's go to I-24 News Senior Defense Correspondent Jonathan Reger for us near the Israel-Gaza border Jonathan are there firefights today and military action today already between the IDF and Hamas yes absolutely Jeff we're in Sderot and very close to us are the towns of the northern Gaza Strip Sanon and not far from us is also which has been unfortunately in the headlines over the past week and we're hearing bombardments all the time therefore there's fighting inside Gaza this is here also further south in Chaniunas as far as the Israeli army is concerned the fighting is ongoing yes there are lessons to learn from what happened on Friday morning in that incident with the hostages yes the Israeli army is also aware that there might be some kind of negotiations between Israel and Qatar regarding some kind of hostage deal all that is true but at least as far as the forces on the ground are concerned they're fighting no one has told them otherwise tell me more about the tunnel threat does it still exist as the IDF at this point have control of underground tunnel network hundreds of tunnel shafts jeff have been exposed the assumption is that hundreds more exist and I had the chance to visit over the past few days one of those tunnels a massive tunnel jeff one that cars could easily drive in one that could serve hundreds of terrorists to infiltrate into Israel these are tunnels that are within the Gaza Strip not outside but all over the place there's electricity there's very strong cement there's water there's ventilation there's everything you need Hamas has been getting millions and millions and millions of dollars that were supposed to build hospitals to build schools to build mosques to build a life and instead that they were building terrorism that's all that this has been funding and I saw it with my own eyes it's still there and the danger of the tunnels is all over the place all right Jonathan Reger for us in stay road thank you so much for that update back here in studio what do you feel Yaakov is the next phase of this war inside Gaza I think the emphasis will be on Kanyunas there are reports of growing numbers of terrorists that are streaming in from other parts of Gaza as sort of the last stronghold so above ground and underground there has to be the center of gravity of this phase of the war we still have mopping up operations in Jabalia in Shujiya and northern Gaza but really I think the main fighting is going to be happening in the southern Gaza Strip and of course the tunnels the tunnels is where the Hamas leadership is hiding and the IDF is already starting to display publicly new tactics a few days ago it released footage of how it planted explosives and a camera and set off the explosives when terrorists were passing by that is a new technique in subterranean warfare we're getting increasing reports of experimentation with flooding those tunnels which it seems to me would be an attempt to cause the terrorists to surface it wouldn't necessarily destroy the tunnels so causing them to surface is one goal and the second goal would be to eventually just destroy the tunnels altogether and all of this of course has to be done with caution and intelligence because at least some of the hostages are being held down there it's fair to assume so Hanyunas and the tunnels I think that is the main thing going forward let us transition then from Hamas to Hezbollah and the question perhaps about both of them do you believe in your analysis how likely is it that the IDF may have to have a ground incursion into Lebanon at the same time that there are still forces actively engaged inside Gaza so when we talk about the north I think we can outline what's known and what's unknown and then draw our conclusions from there what's known is that Israel will not tolerate a status quo in which Hezbollah death squads, red one elite units and other Hezbollah units are located and deployed along the border able to infiltrate and go on killing sprees just like they had planned to do Hamas's attack on 7th of October was copy paste of what Hezbollah had planned for northern Israel and that status quo is finished to surprise Israel's concern now it's giving diplomacy a chance and that's actually in Israel's interest for now because it wants to prioritize completing most of the mission of the high intensity conflict stage in the Gaza Strip at some point and I think this is going to happen the next month month and a half maximum two months military forces will start freeing up from the south they'll be deployed north and that's when Israel will look to advance the diplomatic efforts have come along I think it's fair to be skeptical about the chances of those efforts and then Israel will have to make a decision will it enforce a buffer zone or will it not and if it does how Hezbollah will react is another question and those are the basic questions that will set up the next phase of this conflict. Is there a chance some sort of in between military and diplomatic solution that it won't be forcing Hezbollah 20 kilometers away even more to the Latani but there'll be some kind of buffer zone as you mentioned there may be battles but it will result in a face-saving maneuver for both Hezbollah and the IDF would that be sufficient or even that risk of still daily artillery bombardment on the north the threat won't be sufficient to return life to the north. That is a realistic scenario it could happen but even if it does happen I don't know how long that would hold for because let's assume that Israel is able to get hold of this buffer zone without getting into a large scale war that's one scenario. Okay so from let's say theoretically from literally against the border to maybe 3-4-5 miles away which is still within range and the question is who would enforce that. Hezbollah will still try to send civilians so-called civilians you know it's terrorists in civilian clothing to the border it's going to play tricks all the tricks that we've already seen and you know UN resolution security council resolution 1701 will be violated I think we can take that as a given but let's assume that Hezbollah plays along with this for a while and pulls back most of its forces 5-6 miles away. What about Hezbollah's stockpile of arsenal it's huge arsenal of rockets precision guided missiles the things that threaten you know greater televieve is that going to be allowed to continue indefinitely that is also a huge threat so even if we get the border situation resolved for the short term that doesn't solve the problem of Hezbollah's firepower arsenal and I think you know Israel's whole reckoning here after 7th of October is not to let monsters grow even if it's further back from the border so that's a separate question that will have to be answered well for now as you mentioned for the time being giving diplomacy a chance more on that let's go to I-25 news senior correspondent Owen Alderman on that effort even right now with an important key visit from an Israeli ally Owen tell us more yeah Jeff just a few moments ago the press conference ended with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his French counterpart Catherine Colona following their meeting spoke to reporters asked answered a couple of questions including from I-24 news let's hear a bit what they had to say particularly from Eli Cohen some charged words on the issue of a potential ceasefire in the last war the Hamas terror organization celebrate last week's UN General Assembly resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire no wonder they celebrate it it's exactly what they wish for let me send a clear message to the international community to the UN member states if a terror organization celebrates your decision it means you have made a wrong decision I came back today to reiterate France's support for Israel and its right to defend itself particularly through the framework of international human rights of which we demand to respect fully as well terrorism is a threat beyond the borders of Israel it concerns us all collectively find ways to fight effectively against it so Jeff you hear in those soundbites a little bit about the strategies of each foreign minister Eli Cohen coming out and speaking about this issue of a ceasefire by the way of course not coincidental the French government relatively early on came out and called including from the President Emmanuel Macron himself for a full on ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Catherine Collonna stood at the podium and called for an immediate humanitarian pause that she would see turning into a longer ceasefire you heard Eli Cohen's view of that certainly consistent with the view of the Israeli government in full and after Catherine Collonna her approach seemed to be on one hand to express a kind of full-throated solidarity for Israel by the way after this meeting she's heading to the Shure Army base to get a briefing on sexual violence during the atrocities again to put an emphasis on October 7th and on Israeli suffering but at the same time not backing away from the ceasefire and ending her statements talking about the need for solidarity with both Israelis and with Palestinians so Jeff on one hand an effort to give full-throated support for Israel on the other hand an effort to balance that support with support for Palestinians and particularly Gaza civilians as well on the issue of the northern border and that's what we had our eyes and ears out for I think you were talking about it in studio before we came on Eli Cohen spoke to that because this is going to work with the French government in spite of their call for the ceasefire and the Gaza Strip which is angered people in Israel the Israeli government want to work with Paris to try to have Paris use its influence and contacts to build that diplomatic solution across the border in Lebanon we heard Prime Minister Netanyahu talk last night and we heard Foreign Minister Eli Cohen speak a short time ago about how a diplomatic solution is still Israel's preferred solution for dealing with Hezbollah and the French might be able to help Israel get their I-24 news we also asked the French minister about it because Jeff it's interesting she didn't mention Hezbollah or Lebanon in her prepared remarks a striking omission given I think how important that issue is to Israelis in the way they approach the French government but saying that she will go to Lebanon tomorrow and deliver strong messages to the Lebanese government and by extension to Hezbollah All right Noah thank you so much for that update as the diplomatic effort rams up back here in studio I want to ask Milo Terriou and we talked about this the stockpile of Hezbollah weapons obviously the Hezbollah of 2023 it's not the Hezbollah of 2006 but separate from the missiles and the precision guided missiles and just the sheer quantity of missiles that the Hezbollah has let alone artillery fire why don't they ask what the drones the drones are killing soldiers they're killing civilians or injuring civilians and they're big slow moving heavy bomb-laden kamikaze drones they appear to be slipping through some of the aerial defenses that are shooting down rockets and missiles do we have any idea why Israel's defenses at some point seem to struggle against the drone attacks and how many of them does Hezbollah have is this something that Israel is not properly accounting for when we talk about missiles and rockets what about the drones okay so let's start with the second question how many do they have so the estimates actually vary quite wildly I've seen some low grade estimates talking about you know 300 and I've seen much more in my opinion realistic estimates one put out by the Alma Center which is a defense research group in northern Israel which estimates that Hezbollah has 2000 UAVs that has stockpiled that number that to me seems like a realistic number that's the kind of drone firepower that we're looking at most of them have been imported from Iran some of them probably constructed locally with Iranian guidance and funding drones are a problem for air defenses they're not an insurmountable challenge but when they're mixed in with other kinds of firepower and we've seen Hezbollah do this recently strike a single location for multiple locations using rockets mortars and drones you could get air defenses to start focusing on the rockets and the mortars those are faster moving targets and then the drones are slower they fly lower at a lower altitude and all of that makes them harder to detect we already saw that in Ukraine and I'm sure that Hezbollah drew lessons from that so this is a problem and even if some are shot down we see that some have a deadly effect and continue to move in so that is certainly something that's going to continue to accompany us Doug of the War Cabinet Ministers publicly now saying that they expect the Gaza envelope towns to be able to return home in January they've made these comments repeatedly in recent days that in the next few weeks they expect the situation to be safe enough that tens of thousands of families can go back to the south there's no even estimate for the north there's an understanding that the status quo is no longer sustainable but there's no even estimate for the north what do you think? Well this is exactly why Israel is going to have to tend to this problem decisively after it stabilizes the southern front the Gaza arena it's going to have to provide an answer and it's going to have to demonstrate very clearly that the northern residents look Hezbollah cannot do what Hamas did on the 7th of October if it's able to demonstrate that people will return home and if it's not people will rightly refuse to come home and that's on the War Cabinet and the defense establishment to prove to its citizens that it's changed the situation fundamentally 100,000 families waiting for that clarity Yaakov thank you so much for being with us we're going out for a break but more live reporting updates from the field in the north and more in-studio analysis and reporting we'll be back soon stay with us right here on I-24 News Israel is in a state of war families completely gunned down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well thanks for watching I-24 News this morning for the latest live updates on Israel on the Israel Hamas war and other threats from across the Middle East it is now day 72 of the war and the IDF continues to strike Hamas targets across Gaza last night Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing that Israel will not stop its mission until it completes its goal of destroying Hamas he noted that international pressure to wrap up the ground offensive by the end of the year will not stop Israel we are in a war for our existence in which we must continue until victory despite the international pressure and despite the unbearable cost that the war is exacting from us in our fallen sons and daughters after the elimination of Hamas the Gaza Strip will be demilitarized will be under Israeli security control and no element in it will either threaten us or educate its children to destroy us the IDF continues a new round of intensive ground training meanwhile in the north of Israel the beginning of this training session in the far north near the border of Lebanon has been dubbed by the army precious time that's the nickname it comes right after war cabinet minister Benny Gantz warned Israel will force Hezbollah away from the border fence militarily if ongoing diplomatic efforts fail Hezbollah drone attacks this weekend killed yet another IDF soldier and wounded two more Hezbollah forces have attacked Israeli northern communities and military posts nearly every single day and Hezbollah attacks have been intensifying in recent days with us now is I-24 news correspondent Zach Andrews along the northern border Zach it's a clear warning from Benny Gantz the war cabinet minister that Israel will respond with military force if needed do we have any timetable or estimates I guess on when an actual offensive may have to begin in the north to push Hezbollah away no official timeline but it does appear that with the rhetoric entering a new atmosphere that that movement towards some sort of action here is getting closer the amount of exchanges have intensified over the last several days and it does seem with this timing of the training exercise that is taking place as we speak that there is some impetus to make this 1701 agreement reality to push Hezbollah north of the border somewhat apparent that this is this timeline is getting closer and closer tell me more about the drone attack that killed this IDF reservist wounded multiple others as well this seems to be a very powerful tool in Hezbollah's arsenal and the question being how many of these drones does Hezbollah have in its arsenal right now the independent estimates haven't pinned a solid figure as they have with the believed number of rockets and other pieces of equipment that they have these are drones that have likely been smuggled in through Syria via Iran and their powerful weapons they have much greater delivery of explosives than other conventional means than these ATGMs the guided missiles that are being launched they can be packed with explosives but they do move much slower and they fly along the horizon you can see them with the naked eye as they approach targets one of the questions Brent in a success rate are the air defenses here from the rockets versus the drones and we've seen these drones penetrate Israeli airspace and make direct hits so it does appear that Hezbollah has had success with these of course yesterday we saw an unfortunate death of a soldier here in his 50s two other younger soldiers wounded and this is not the first time that's happened here in the last hour we've seen another what a parent strike on a community on the north here Sasa it's not clear if this was another drone impact yet we're waiting for confirmation an ongoing situation right now Zach thanks so much for that update in Tel Aviv thousands of Israelis turned out last night for a protest against the Israeli government's lack of progress in creating a new hostage deal the killing on Friday of three shirtless white flag waving Israeli hostages by Israeli soldiers broke the heart of a nation and the family members of hostages fear their loved ones might be next that this exact situation may repeat itself amid the chaos of war speakers at the demonstration included both the loved ones of current hostages but also recently freed hostages who insist that the best way to get the rest of the hostages out safely is another deal with Hamas ten days ago I met with the cabinet I begged the cabinet and we all warned that the fighting would likely harm the hostages unfortunately I was right I survived if the agreement to release the hostages had been delayed by a week I might not be here the hostages are experiencing hell they're in mortal peril every day, every hour, every minute is critical Israel must offer another hostage release deal and get the international community to back it we want to thank the ministers at the cabinet for making a deal and I am asking you don't give up on anyone don't leave anyone behind do everything to get everyone home today and now every day that passes they wither a little more and wonder why the hell no one gets them out of this hell and maybe they were actually forgotten about my daughter was there every day that passes is a danger to their lives I was there my daughter was there do not abandon the hostages we must act now a deal is required today bring them home now Netanyahu addressing this very issue in his press conference last night arguing that the massive military operation in Gaza is the reason Hamas agreed in the first place for a partial hostage deal and the reason they may do it again Netanyahu did confirm last night the reports that new negotiations are actively underway to try and bring more hostages home without the military pressure we would not have succeeded creating an outline that led to the release of 110 hostages and only continued military pressure will lead to the release of all of our hostages my directive to the negotiating team is based on this pressure ceasefire remove our troops they have all kinds of demands so what do we understand as soon as we give in Hamas has won we are obligated to eliminate it and return our hostages but will not give up either this goal or that goal back here in studio I'm joined by Yaakov Lapin military and strategic affairs analyst at the Jewish news syndicate I want to ask Yaakov let's start with the Hamas before we move to Hezbollah ongoing threats from around the region the twin goals here of toppling Hamas destroying them militarily while also freeing the hostages as a primary goal many have said that those two are going to be in conflict that they both cannot happen as a primary objective simultaneously did the killing of these three hostages crystallize that is it now clear that militarily the remaining hostages that's not their salvation the only way is diplomatic I don't think so first of all I doubt that we would have gotten the 110 that were released out without the intense military pressure that was applied on Hamas and its leadership to begin with now going to the next phase this is definitely more complicated and the tension between the two goals is more pronounced but at the same time these hostages are the survival insurance policy of the Hamas leadership so that it's not like they're intending to let them go if Israel releases pressure the goal of holding these hostages is for Israel to pull back and to enable the Hamas leadership to survive so there is not an inherent tension if Hamas' leadership feels that the sword is on its neck so to speak it may decide that it wants to buy itself a little bit more time a few more days and that's when a new deal could come into effect and there's just one more scenario that I think we need to take into account if the leadership starts to crumble the IDF might be able to enter into negotiations locally with hostage takers and offer them ad hoc deals at a local level without the long circle of Qatar and the Hamas leadership and that's another avenue that I think we need to keep in mind I want to ask about the reported blocker, the main blocker and boy it's a big one in Qatar which is that Israel willing to negotiate Netanyahu confirming he's resuming negotiations last night but that Hamas' position is we will agree to a deal but our condition is that there must be a full and permanent ceasefire and that goes back to exactly what I was just saying Hamas views the remaining hostages as its insurance policy for its survival and the only way it could start to change that view is if its survival is in any case under threat so that's why the more pressure that it feels the more inclined it will likely be to reach further deals I don't know about releasing all of them but certainly creating new opportunities for exchanging hostages for terrorists I think the main goal here for Hamas is to buy itself time the more acute it feels the pressure the more it will want to buy itself time even if it's just a few days The IDF Yaakov admitted they did not prepare or train for or even contemplate the possibility that the hostages would be running around above ground during active firefights in terror compounds in buildings that obviously happened and led to this tragic killing how confident do you believe that this scenario will be avoided or could this exact same thing unfortunately happen again? We know that the battlefield in Gaza is chaotic and the forces are under fire there from 360 degrees in the past six weeks these forces have had to learn how to fire all around them to stay alive and there have been booby traps there have been attempts to lure them in with dolls and fake baby crying recordings this is the kind of environment that they're operating and I think that should be the basis of of the discussion there's no such thing as 100% but I'm confident based on what the IDF has been saying that it conducted a very in depth after action review it has now notified all field commanders and through them the soldiers that this is now a scenario that as the battles rage more hostages could find themselves free either they're abandoned by their captors or they manage to get away and I think that that's going to filter down the soldiers and hopefully this horrible tragedy will not repeat itself Let's go to I-25 News Senior Defense Correspondent Jonathan Reger for us near the Israel-Gaza border Jonathan, are there firefights today, military action today already between the IDF and Hamas? Yes, absolutely Jeff, we're in Sderot and very close to us are the towns of the northern Gaza Strip Beth-Khanun not far from us is also Sajaiah which has been unfortunately in the headlines over the past week and we're hearing bombardments all the time therefore there's fighting inside Gaza this is here also further south in Khanunas as far as the Israeli army is concerned the fighting is ongoing yes, there are lessons to learn from what happened on Friday morning in that incident with the hostages yes, the Israeli army is also aware that there might be some kind of negotiations between Israel and Qatar regarding some kind of hostage deal all that is true but at least as far as the forces on the ground are concerned they're fighting, no one has told them otherwise Tell me more about the tunnel threat does it still exist as the IDF at this point have control of underground the underground tunnel network hundreds of tunnel shafts Jeff have been exposed the assumption is that hundreds more exist and I had the chance to visit over the past few days one of those tunnels a massive tunnel Jeff one that cars could easily drive in one that could serve hundreds of terrorists to infiltrate into Israel these are tunnels that are within the Gaza Strip but all over the place there's electricity there's very strong cement there's water there's ventilation, there's everything you need Hamas has been getting millions and millions and millions of dollars that were supposed to build hospitals to build schools, to build mosques to build a life and instead that they were building terrorism that's all that this has been funding and I saw it with my own eyes it's still there and the danger of the tunnels is all over the place Alright Jonathan Reger for us in Stay Road thank you so much for that update back here in studio what do you feel Yaakov is the next phase of this war inside Gaza I think the emphasis will be on Hanyunas, there are reports of growing numbers of terrorists that are streaming in from other parts of Gaza as sort of the last stronghold so above ground and underground Hanyunas seems to be the center of gravity in this phase of the war we still have mopping up operations in Jabalia, in Shudjia and northern Gaza but really I think the main fighting is going to be happening in the southern Gaza Strip and of course the tunnels the tunnels is where the Hamas leadership is hiding and the IDF is already starting to display publicly new tactics a few days ago it released footage of how it planted explosives and a camera and set off the explosives when terrorists were passing by that is a new technique in subterranean warfare we're getting increasing reports of experimentation with flooding those tunnels which it seems to me would be an attempt to cause the terrorists to surface it wouldn't necessarily destroy the tunnels so causing them to surface is one goal and the second goal would be to eventually just destroy the tunnels all together and all of this of course has to be done with extreme caution and intelligence at least some of the hostages are being held down there it's fair to assume so Khan Yunus and the tunnels I think that is the main thing going forward let us transition then from Hamas to Hezbollah the question perhaps about both of them do you believe in your analysis how likely is it that the IDF may have to have a ground incursion into Lebanon at the same time that there are still forces actively engaged inside Gaza so when we talk about the north I think we can outline what's known and then draw our conclusions from there what's known is that Israel will not tolerate a status quo in which Hezbollah death squads, Rudwan elite units and other Hezbollah units are located and deployed along the border able to infiltrate and go on killing sprees just like they had planned to do Hamas's attack on 7th of October was copy-paste of what Hezbollah had planned for northern Israel so that status quo is finished as far as Israel's concern now it's giving diplomacy a chance and that's actually in Israel's interest for now because it wants to prioritize completing most of the mission of the high intensity conflict stage in the Gaza Strip at some point and I think this is going to happen in the next month month and a half, maximum two months military forces will start freeing up from the south they'll be deployed north and that's when Israel will look and see how well advanced the diplomatic efforts have come along I think it's fair to be skeptical about the chances of those efforts and then Israel will have to make a decision will it enforce a buffer zone or will it not and if it does how Hezbollah will react is another question and those are the basic questions that will set up the next phase of this conflict Is there a chance some sort of in between military and diplomatic solution that it won't be forced in Hezbollah 20 kilometers away even more to the Latani but there'll be some kind of buffer zone as you mentioned that there may be battles but it will result in a face-saving maneuver for both Hezbollah and the IDF would that be sufficient or even that risk of still daily artillery bombardment on the north the threat won't be sufficient to return life to the north? That is a realistic scenario it could happen but even if it does happen I don't know how long that would hold for because let's assume that Israel is able to hold this buffer zone without getting into a large-scale war that's one scenario. Ok so from let's say theoretically literally against the border to maybe 3-4-5 miles away which is still within range easily. And the question is who would enforce that? Hezbollah will still try to send civilians, so-called civilians you know it's terrorists in civilian clothing to the border it's going to play tricks all the tricks that we've already seen and resolution 17.01 will be violated I think we can take that as a given but let's assume that Hezbollah plays along with this for a while and pulls back most of its forces 5-6 miles away what about Hezbollah's stockpile of arsenal it's huge arsenal of rockets, precision-guided missiles, the things that threaten you know greater Tel Aviv is that going to be allowed to continue indefinitely that is also a huge threat so even if we get the border situation resolved for the short term that doesn't solve the problem of Hezbollah's firepower arsenal and I think you know Israel's whole reckoning here after 7th of October is not to let monsters grow even if it's further back from the border so that's a separate question that will have to be answered. Well for now as you mentioned for the time being giving diplomacy a chance, more on that let's go to I-25 News senior correspondent Owen Alderman on that effort even right now with an important key visit from an Israeli ally. Owen tell us more yeah Jeff just a few moments ago the press conference ended with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his French counterpart Catherine Colonna following their meeting spoke to reporters, answered a couple of questions including from I-24 News let's hear a bit what they had to say particularly from Eli Cohen some charged words on the issue of a potential ceasefire in the Israel Hamas war the Hamas terror organization celebrate last week's UN General Assembly resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire no wonder they celebrate it's exactly what they wish for let me send a clear message to the international community to the UN member states if a terror organization celebrates your decision it means you have made a wrong decision I came back today to reiterate France's support for Israel and its right to defend itself particularly through the framework of international human rights of which we demand to respect fully as well terrorism is a threat beyond the borders of Israel it concerns us all and we must collectively find ways to fight effectively against it so Jeff you hear in those soundbites a little bit about the strategies of each foreign minister Eli Cohen coming out and speaking about this issue of a ceasefire by the way of course not coincidental the French government relatively early on came out and called including from the President Emmanuel Macron himself for a full on ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Catherine Collonna stood at the podium and called for an immediate humanitarian pause that she would see turning into a longer ceasefire you heard Eli Cohen's view of that certainly consistent with the view of the Israeli government in full and as for Catherine Collonna her approach seemed to be on one hand to express a kind of full-throated solidarity for Israel by the way after this meeting she's heading to the Shure army base to get a briefing on sexual violence during the atrocities again to put an emphasis on October 7th and on Israeli suffering but at the same time not backing away from her government's call for a ceasefire and ending her statements talking about the need for solidarity with both Israel Israelis and with Palestinians so Jeff on one hand an effort to give full-throated support for Israel on the other hand an effort to balance that support with support for Palestinians and particularly Gaza civilians as well on the issue of the northern border and that's what we had our eyes and ears out for I think you were talking about it in studio before we came on Eli Cohen spoke to that because this is I think the Israeli government's incentive to work with the French government in spite of their call for the ceasefire and the Gaza Strip which has angered people in Israel the Israeli government want to work with Paris to try to have Paris use its influence and contacts to build that diplomatic solution across the border in Lebanon we heard Prime Minister Netanyahu talk last night and we heard Foreign Minister Eli Cohen speak a short time ago about how a diplomatic solution is still Israel's preferred solution for dealing with Hezbollah and the French might be able to help Israel get their I-24 news we also asked the French minister about it because Jeff it's interesting she didn't mention Hezbollah or Lebanon in her prepared remarks a striking omission given I think how important that issue is to Israelis in the way they approach the French government but saying that she will go to Lebanon tomorrow and deliver strong messages to the Lebanese government and by extension to Hezbollah Thank you so much for that update as the diplomatic effort ramps up back here in studio I want to ask Militaro and we talked about this the stockpile of Hezbollah weapons obviously the Hezbollah of 2023 it's not the Hezbollah of 2006 but separate from the missiles and the precision guided missiles just the sheer quantity of missiles that the Hezbollah has let alone artillery fire why ask what the drones the drones are killing soldiers they're killing civilians or injuring civilians and they're big slow moving heavy bomb-laden kamikaze drones they appear to be slipping through some of the aerial defenses that are shooting down rockets and missiles do we have any idea why Israel's defenses at some point seem to struggle against the drone attacks and how many of them does Hezbollah have is this something that Israel is not properly accounting for when we talk about missiles and rockets what about the drones let's start with the second question how many do they have so the estimates actually vary quite wildly I've seen some low grade estimates talking about 300 and I've seen much more in my opinion realistic estimates one put out by the Alma Center which is a defense research group in northern Israel which estimates that Hezbollah has 2000 UAVs that has stockpiled that number that to me seems like a realistic number that's the kind of drone firepower that we're looking at most of them have been imported from Iran some of them probably constructed locally with Iranian guidance and funding drones are a problem for air defenses they're not an insurmountable challenge but when they're mixed in with other kinds of firepower and we've seen Hezbollah do this recently it strike a single location for multiple locations using rockets mortars and drones you could get air defenses to start focusing on the rockets and the mortars those are faster moving targets and then the drones are slower they fly lower at a lower altitude and all of that makes them harder to detect we already saw that in Ukraine and I'm sure that Hezbollah drew lessons from that so this is a problem and even if some are shot down we see that some have a deadly effect and continue to move in so that is certainly something that's going to continue to accompany us Doug of the war cabinet ministers publicly now saying that they expect the Gaza envelope towns to be able to return home in January they've made these comments repeatedly in recent days that in the next few weeks they expect the situation to be safe enough that tens of thousands of families can go back to the south there's no even estimate for the north there's an understanding that the status quo is no longer sustainable but there's no even estimate for the north what do you think? this is exactly why Israel is going to have to tend to this problem decisively after it stabilizes the southern front the Gaza arena it's going to have to provide an answer and it's going to have to demonstrate very clearly the northern residents look, Hezbollah cannot do what Hamas did on the 7th of October if it's able to demonstrate that people will return home and if it's not people will rightly refuse to come home and that's on the war cabinet and the defense establishment to prove to its citizens that it's changed the situation fundamentally 100,000 families waiting for that clarity Yaakov thank you so much for being with us we're going out for a break but more live reporting updates from the field in the north and in the south in studio analysis and reporting we'll be back soon stay with us right here on I-24 News Israel is in a state of war families completely gunned down in their beds we have no idea where she is our soldiers are fighting on the front line but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well thanks for watching I-24 news for the latest updates on the Israel Hamas war and other threats from across the Middle East it is now day 72 of the Israel Hamas war the IDF continues today to strike Hamas terror targets across Gaza Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night vowing that Israel will not stop its mission until it completes the goal of destroying Hamas he noted that the international pressure to wrap up the ground offensive perhaps by the end of the year will not deter Israel from this mission we are in a war for our existence in which we must continue until victory despite the international pressure and despite the unbearable cost that the war is exacting from us in our fallen sons and daughters after the elimination of Hamas the Gaza Strip will be demilitarized will be under Israeli security control and no element in it will either threaten us or educate its children to destroy us the IDF even right now continues to strike terror targets across Gaza we have seen the aftermath of some of those aerial bombardments on the channel the IDF confirming that several more soldiers have been killed today two more soldiers in combat our senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev is in the southern city of Steroat near the border with more on the IDF's mission Jonathan in the wake of a horrible killing on Friday when three Israeli hostages were shot mistakenly by IDF soldiers amid the heat of battle is there a risk that this exact scenario might happen again the fog of war leading the IDF perhaps to open fire on their own the answer unfortunately is yes we can speak about it here on television but on the ground it's different three people that you don't know are approaching you are they really hostages are they terrorists disguised as hostages are they hostages that Hamas is sending as a trap to perhaps to drag the IDF soldiers into some kind of a trap everything is possible and therefore the fog of war as you called it is a very tricky and dangerous as the soldiers did not as it seems did not act according to the rules of conduct and what they're expected to do but we have to understand that the environment that they're working on is far from being a sterile one we can sit here about it and debate it and analyze what has happened and we have the time for that they have to decide in a split of a second if they're seeing a friend or a foe it's a very risky business Jonathan I want to ask about the the firefights and the scenes of urban combat so much of it now focus in the communists which is towards the southern part of the Gaza Strip the IDF has announced in different announcements in different words that they have control of areas in the north but yet we still see ambushes and scenes of deadly battle in the north of Gaza as well where the IDF presumably can you explain that more more control yes total control absolutely not this is a very densely populated area with many many houses and narrow alleyways and a terrace can pop up from every such house from every such alleyway you don't know how many tunnels there may be in each street in each house and therefore is the IDF controlling the area yes did they reach every terrace every mortar shell every anti-tank missile every tunnel shaft the answer is no and this is the problem in a war such as this one there are hundreds of tunnel shafts that can appear anywhere and of course a completely possibly unknown underground world below it therefore control on the ground yes total control of the underground world absolutely not thank you so much for that update in the south meanwhile in the north the tensions continue to escalate with more Hezbollah attacks deadly attacks in recent days now the IDF has opened a new round of ground training in far northern Israel this special training session has been dubbed by the IDF precious time and the military training session comes after war cabinet minister Benny Gantz warned that Israel will force Hezbollah away from the defense militarily if diplomatic efforts fail Hezbollah drone attacks this weekend killed yet another IDF soldier and wounded two more soldiers Hezbollah forces have attacked Israeli northern towns and military posts nearly every single day in the last few weeks and these attacks have intensified in recent days let's go live now to the far north of Israel where I'm joined by I-25 news correspondent Zach Anders we're still waiting for the exact conditions of the two soldiers that were injured in yesterday's drone attack along with the one that was killed a man in his fifties a reservist that was killed in that drone attack two other younger soldiers were wounded we have yet to learn of the status of their injuries or the where exactly they have been taken for medical treatment we're still putting some of that together and Zach tell us more about the Hezbollah arsenal here we know that the Hezbollah has been stepping up their attacks in recent days still primarily limiting themselves to towns in the north or near the northern border but their arsenal is quite formidable overall in case this does turn into a more wider conflict it is very formidable the number of heavy rockets or drones that they have at their disposal isn't exactly clear through some of the assessments that have been made by the US their numerous some of the rockets potentially in the over in the hundreds potentially in the thousands of rockets throughout the country the question being with the heavy amount of LAF and unifil presence the United Nations interim force peacekeepers that have been in southern Lebanon part of their task and their role with the LAF is preventing arm shipments or the movement of weapons into the south they don't have the resources they say or the facilities to manage large widespread operations to stop all movement but they really apparently have been focusing on the big pieces of equipment artillery and things that you would see you know vehicles by trucks so a lot of this movement of weapons has been taking place apparently in civilian vehicles moving Hezbollah's moving around the south with whatever whatever possible they can they can get close to the border so the question being how much of their arsenal or weapons have been already stored in the south and would they be transporting large caches of weapons should something erupt that's I think one of the things we're hearing from the IDF is that's a lot of intelligence gathering efforts is to try and understand where some of these weapon caches are or they've been built up and should some wider spread conflict break out knowing and understanding which points of congregation for some of the this equipment would be on the list of targets that thanks so much for that update for us in the north with me now when studio is retired IDF Colonel also of the Israeli security agency I mean thanks for being with me I'll start in the south with the Hamas threat and then we'll move to the ongoing situation in the north Israel has said Netanyahu says we have two goals one is not more important than the other destroy Hamas but also bring home all the hostages now after this killing of the three hostages by the IDF those two goals are they conflict with each other must one take priority over the other because we can't have both at the same time first it's not a priority it's an advantage and taking an advantage during the war because these two goals are going on parallel lines all the time the IDF is concerning the both parallel and not every any one of them is not better than the other and if we have an advantage and we have an opportunity to make some effort in the war of attacking we will attack if we have any opportunity to save some some lives of the hostages we will do it again it's goes poorly it's not this one against the other we have to understand that it's thinking of for IDF now Netanyahu says that we have begun negotiations they've got nowhere reportedly Hamas's demand is we will release the hostages but our starting point we must have a full ceasefire permanently your reaction to that I'll give you my opinion because I'm not in the intelligence deeply now because we are not there but my opinion and we didn't hear from Sinuah for long time what we hear now is the spokesman from Lebanon be attention that last announcement that we had is not from the inside I think that Sinuah doesn't have any real connection from the outside and the last thing that it will not be any negotiation until the war will stop the attack will stop and this is what we see now and hear from the Hamas members spokesman from the outside with no change meaning maybe we don't have any communication do you think Sinuah might be wounded or killed I can't say that but it's a sign for us and I think that we have to take these actions in a very sensitive way because this is a very good sign for Israel because if you are watching all the activity in the south we can deeply be in action for a long time from now even if we are controlling the north we can see that controlling up ground it's not meaning that it will stop from the down so we have to achieve something else if we will achieve like our leaders coming down and killed in this war maybe it will be the breaking change point for this war to be surrender and then it will stop and Israel is trying to understand maybe what point we are exactly and how to move on we don't have any sign for it but he is saying we will press because he wants to see if there is any information that we can get from the inside do you think time might be running out for this ground offensive not just from international pressure also domestically we have hostages that have been killed mistakenly by the IDF we have dead bodies being pulled home now the support for the ground offensive we see the big protests in Israel is the time coming to an end for this big operation yes from the point of the hostages and what the deadly things happened and unfortunately it was a mistake maybe but we cannot judge these soldiers until we will be there for 72 days inside fighting we will be able to judge them but still unfortunately an act that happened but from my point of view I am optimistic if they could get out from somewhere that they will they will hold it maybe others will be able to get out from the captivity of the Hamas and it is very good sign for us that something is happening there if somebody get the opportunity to get out this is optimistic on the issue of the hostages thousands of Israelis turned out last night for a big demonstration in Tel Aviv demanding new progress in a hostage deal the killing on Friday of those three shirtless white flag waving Israeli hostages by Israeli soldiers broke the heart of a nation and family members of hostages their loved ones could be next amid the chaos of war speakers at the demonstration last night included both the loved ones of current hostages but also recently freed hostages who say that the best way to get the rest out safely is another deal with Hamas 10 days ago I met with the cabinet I begged the cabinet and we all warned that the fighting would likely harm the hostages unfortunately I was right if the agreement to release the hostages had been delayed by a week I might not be here the hostages are experiencing hell and they are in mortal peril every day every hour every minute is critical Israel must offer another hostage release deal and get the international community to back it we want to thank the ministers at the cabinet for making a deal and I am asking you don't give up on anyone don't leave anyone behind do everything to get everyone home today and now every day that passes they wither a little more and wonder why the hell no one gets them out of this hell and maybe they were actually forgotten about my daughter was there every day that passes is a danger to their lives I was there my daughter was there do not abandon the hostages we must act now a deal is required today bring them home now Netanyahu addressing this very issue in that press conference last night arguing that the massive military operation in Gaza was the very reason in the first place Hamas agreed for a partial hostage deal and the reason it may do it again Netanyahu also confirming the reports that new negotiations are actively underway to bring home remaining hostages without the military pressure we would not have succeeded in creating an outline that led to the release of 110 hostages and only continued military pressure will lead to the release of all of our hostages my directive to the negotiating team is based on this pressure ceasefire remove our troops they have all kinds of demands so what do we understand as soon as we give in Hamas has won we are obligated to eliminate it and return our hostages but will not give up either this goal or that goal as Israel intensifies its outreach with allies to help handle the growing regional threats the French foreign minister is here in Israel today to meet with our counterpart and also to push for diplomatic efforts to end the fighting with Hamas perhaps more significantly Hezbollah in Lebanon I-25 News senior correspondent Owen Alterman has more Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen met with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna here at Ben-Gurion Airport earlier on in the day they spoke at the podiums you see behind me and had this to say Eli Cohen about the issue of calls for a ceasefire in Gaza the Hamas organization celebrate last week UN General Assembly resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire no wonder they celebrate it's exactly what they wish for let me send a clear message to the international community to the UN member states if the organization celebrates your decision it means you have made a wrong decision that's a charged message with the French Foreign Minister standing next to Eli Cohen of course the French government at a relatively early stage through President Emmanuel Macron himself having come out and called for that ceasefire that the Israeli government sees at this stage as so unwanted on another issue the two sides may well see eye to eye the issue of Israel's northern border and finding a diplomatic arrangement to move Hezbollah's military presence away from the border north of the Tani river here's what Foreign Minister Colonna had to say to a question from I-24 News I'll be in Beirut tomorrow and France just like its partners is calling on its Lebanese counterparts to do everything they can to avoid a flare up in Lebanon that would make it the first victim and I'll be bringing that message to Beirut our partners there I believe feel similarly I would like to add that very clear messages have been sent to Hezbollah as well so that the security of Israel end of Lebanon I must add should not be threatened even more Hezbollah for the Israeli government this is a tricky visit on one hand the deep disagreements about the war in Gaza even with the full-throated expressions of support for the Israeli public from Foreign Minister Colonna the fact that the French government has come out as such an important European power calling for a ceasefire obviously brings in tension with the Israeli government to make the understanding in Israel that the French government is certainly not a hostile actor and also has an important role to play in the diplomacy with Lebanon given France's ties with Lebanon and its special relationship with Lebanon and the express desire of the Israeli government through the statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night and the statements here at these podiums from Foreign Minister Eli Cohen earlier on today that the Israeli government wants a diplomatic solution in Lebanon as a plan A and a military operation only as a plan B Owen Alterman, I-24 News at Ben-Gurion International Airport Back here in studio you wanted to make a point to me about the hostile situation and then we'll move to Hezbollah Yes, another thing that we have to understand in the issue of hostages in the Israeli public is that it's about the value the value of Israeli to have the life of one that we can and bring them home ceasefire we can do we will not stop the war ceasefire we can do and the army can do a ceasefire but the issue of value of getting back people back home it's a very large issue in Israel and especially in the Jewish religion so I think it will be the next step for us North, there seems to be this sense that as the major high intensity battles wind down in Gaza there's a preparation for a ramping up in Lebanon what is your sense? Again, what is Nasrallah is playing with us is the play of the red line the red line meaning if we cross the red line maybe Israel will get into a kind of conflict more than we have and we can see Israel is bombing now it was an event more than 40 kilometers to the north it's northern El Nabatir and the side is not long from there and Hezbollah is waving against that missile that was hurting Sasa Kibbutz and Kibbutz Sasa is not on the border so we are pushing these lines against each other doesn't that line break? I think Israel is waiting for the coalition of the French and the Americans to save some time and to try to do something diplomatically to get Hezbollah back into south Lebanon but unfortunately Nasrallah have deep deep inside all his system near the border so we cannot leave it until we will lead him to do it Israeli ministers the war cabinet ministers they have said publicly we expected in January the tens of thousands of Israeli families who live in the Kibbutz team in the areas in the Gaza envelope we expect them to be able to return home the situation in the south will be stable enough the south can come back they are not saying anything about the north they are not giving any timetable what do you expect how much longer can these 100,000 families who have to evacuate stay like this we have refugees inside Israel we have to understand that it's more than 130,000 people are not in their homes and it's a very big issue in Israel because you cannot do it for a long time we are talking about some stability that we'll have in the south but we know that we have to deal with Hezbollah someday and the time is clicking that's why I think the diplomatic and the political and the cabinet of war is not giving us the sign to get back don't prepare to get back to home because we will have the conflict in the north I mean give me your analysis if there is a major conflict in the north with Hezbollah the Hezbollah of 2023 not the same Hezbollah from 2006 the IDF is not the same army either would this be an extremely intense extremely difficult deadly conflict but short a ground invasion lasting a few days a week or two or is this a scenario that expands regionally perhaps in something that lasts months I think first regionally if you will watch it from the wide screen of us we know that Tehran is holding the cards with the Hezbollah and we will not get Hezbollah the permission to do anything without something that they will hear from Tehran but still if Israel will get into action Hezbollah will have to act against Israel and I think it will be a local one as we saw in the Hamas but still we're afraid that it will be regional because Hezbollah is not Hamas for Iran we have a lot of militia Shia militia of Iran spreading all over the Middle East it's something like more fit more than 50 like also is Shia militia but the best militia of Iran is Hezbollah is the biggest and the important militia of Iran so if it will be some kind of reaction in the north maybe it could be something gradual so maybe that's the argument against the war maybe Iran doesn't want Hezbollah now is not the time to do it Iran I think from the first place it wasn't the right time even we know that Hamas started this war without any permission and they are very angry about it and they have to pay some price for the Hamas but still they are not agreeing they don't want to get into it but if they will push to get into it it will be something that we can't expect and as you said it will be very intense in the north more than in what we saw in the south side Hezbollah with his forces like all the Radoan forces in the north is not Hamas is more prepared equipment deeply in the ground it will be very intense action still I think IDF is preparing for it it's not a surprise anymore it's not like in the south and we will see more missiles to the center of Israel we will see action on the border we will see drones getting into Israel it will be very difficult but IDF is preparing for it and also the arm that we are getting now from the United States aid is preparing for this action exactly Thanks so much for your analysis here going out for a break more live reporting coming up from the southern border with Lebanon as the threats from Kuzbel intensify their daily attacks continue into Israel also reporters in the south of Israel where the war with Hamas continues now in day 72 also more experts and analysis in studio to discuss the threats and more stay with us we will be right back and I 24 news Israel is in a state of war families completely gunned down in their beds we have no idea where is she as our soldiers are fighting but our personal perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well this week in news 24 Israel under attack news 24 in spanish brings the analysis and information of the events of the war iron swords exclusive interviews and reports from the war zone the reaction of the spanish-speaking countries news 24 the only medium in spanish that keeps you informed and connected 24 only in I 24 news I 24 news channel broadcasting from Israel with dozens of correspondence throughout the world brings the truth from Israel to hundreds of millions of people in scores of countries completely gunned down in their beds the state of emergency and war in Israel bringing Israel's story to the world I 24 news channels now on hot thanks for watching I 24 news for the latest updates on the Israel Hamas war and other threats from across the Middle East it is now day 72 of the Israel Hamas war the IDF continues today to strike Hamas terror targets across Gaza prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night vowing that Israel will not stop its mission until it completes the goal of destroying Hamas he noted that the international pressure to wrap up the ground offensive perhaps by the end of the year will not deter Israel from this mission we are in a war for our existence in which we must continue until victory despite the international pressure and despite the unbearable cost that the war is exacting from us in our fallen sons and daughters after the elimination of Hamas the Gaza strip will be seized will be under Israeli security control and no element in it will either threaten us or educate its children to destroy us the IDF even right now continues to strike terror targets across Gaza we have seen the aftermath of some of those aerial bombardments on the channel the IDF confirming that several more soldiers have been killed today two more soldiers in combat our senior defense correspondent Al Jazeera of stay wrote near the border with more on the IDF's mission Jonathan in the wake of that horrible killing on Friday when three Israeli hostages were shot mistakenly by IDF soldiers amid the heat of battle is there a risk that this exact scenario might happen again the fog of war will leaving the IDF perhaps to open fire on their own the answer unfortunately is yes we can speak about it here on television but on the ground things are of course completely different three people that you don't know are approaching you are they really hostages are they terrorists disguised as hostages are they hostages that Hamas is sending as a trap to perhaps to drag the IDF soldiers into some kind of a trap everything is possible and therefore the fog of war as you called it is a very tricky and dangerous affair yes the soldiers did not as it seems did not act according to the conduct the rules of conduct and what they're expected to do but we have to understand that the environment that they're working on is far from being a sterile one a sterile one we can sit here about it and debate it and analyze what has happened and we have time for that they have to decide in a split of a second that they're seeing a friend or a foe and that is obviously a very risky business Jonathan I want to ask about the firefights and the scenes of urban combat so much of it now focused in the communists which is towards the southern part of the Gaza Strip the IDF has announced in different announcements in different words that they have control of areas in the north but yet we still see ambushes and scenes of deadly battle in the north of Gaza as well where the IDF presumably has more control can you explain that more more control yes total control absolutely not this is a very densely populated area with many many houses and narrow alleyways and a terrace can pop up from every such house from every such alleyway you don't know how many you don't know how many tunnels there may be in each street in each house and therefore is the IDF controlling the area yes did they reach every terrorist every mortar shell every anti tank missile every tunnel shaft the answer is no and this is the problem in a war such as this one there are hundreds of tunnel shafts that can can can appear anywhere and of course a completely possibly unknown underground world below it therefore control on the ground yes total control of the underground world absolutely not so nothing ready for us thank you so much for that update in the south meanwhile in the north the tensions continue to escalate with more Hezbollah attacks deadly attacks in recent days now the IDF has opened a new round of ground training in far northern Israel this special training session has been dubbed by the IDF precious time and the military training session comes after our war cabinet minister Benny Gantz warned that Israel will force Hezbollah away from the border fence militarily if diplomatic efforts fail Hezbollah drone attacks this weekend killed yet another IDF soldier and wounded two more soldiers Hezbollah forces have attacked Israeli northern towns and military posts nearly every single day in the last few weeks and these attacks have intensified in recent days let's go live now to the far north of Israel where I'm joined by I-24 news correspondent Zach Anders for an update on the Hezbollah attacks Zach and we're still waiting for the exact conditions of the two soldiers that were injured in yesterday's drone attack along with the one that was killed a man in his 50s a reservist that was killed in that drone attack two other younger soldiers were wounded we have yet to learn of the status of their injuries or the where exactly they have been taken for medical treatment we're still putting some of that together and Zach tell us more about the Hezbollah arsenal here we know that the Hezbollah has been stepping up their attacks in recent days still primarily limiting themselves to towns in the north or near the northern border but their arsenal is quite formidable overall in case this does turn into a more wider conflict it is very formidable the number of heavy rockets or drones that they have at their disposal isn't exactly clear through some of the assessments that have been made by the U.S. their numerous some of the rockets potentially in the hundreds potentially in the thousands of rockets throughout the country the question being with the heavy amount of LAF and unifil presence the United Nations interim force peacekeepers that have been in southern Lebanon part of their task and their role along with the LAF is preventing arm shipments or the movement of weapons into the south they don't have the resources they say or the facilities to manage large widespread operations to stop all movement but they really apparently have been focusing on the big pieces of equipment artillery and things that you would see you know vehicles by trucks so a lot of this movement of weapons has been taking place apparently in civilian vehicles moving Hezbollah is moving around the south with whatever whatever possible they can they can get close to the border so the question being how much of their arsenal or weapons have been already stored in the south and would they be transporting large caches of weapons should erupt that's I think one of the things we're hearing from the IDF is that's one of their main points of intelligence gathering efforts is to try and understand where some of these weapon caches are or they've been built up and should some wider spread conflict break out knowing and understanding which points of congregation for some of this equipment would be on the list of targets that thanks so much for that update for us in the north with me now when studio is retired IDF colonel Amita former member also of the Israeli security agency Amit thanks for being with me I'll start in the south with the Hamas threat and then we'll move to the ongoing situation in the north Israel has said Netanyahu says we have two goals one is not more important than the other destroy Hamas but also bring home all the hostages now after this killing of the three hostages by the IDF those two goals are they in conflict with each other must one take priority over the other because we can't have both at the same time first it's not a priority it's an advantage and taking an advantage during the war because these two goals are going on parallel lines all the time the IDF is concerning the both parallel and not any one of them is not better than the other and if we have an advantage and we have an opportunity to make some effort in the war of attacking we will attack if we have any opportunity to save some lives of the hostages we will do it again it's not this one against the other we have to understand that it's parallel thinking of for IDF now Netanyahu says that we have begun negotiations they've got nowhere reportedly Hamas's demand is we will release the hostages but our starting point we must have a full ceasefire permanently what is your reaction to that I'll give you my opinion because I'm not in the intelligence deeply now because we are not there but my opinion and we didn't hear from Sinwa for a long time what we hear now is the spokesman from Lebanon last announcement that we had is not from the inside I think that Sinwa doesn't have any real connection from the outside and the last thing that he said that it will not be any negotiation until the war will stop the attack will stop and this is what we see now and hear from the Hamas spokesman from the outside with no change meaning maybe we don't have any communication do you think Sinwa might be I can't say that but it's a sign for us and I think that we have to take these signs in a very sensitive way because this is a very good sign for Israel because if you are watching all the activity in the south we can deeply be in action for a long time from now even if we are controlling the north we can see that controlling up ground it's not meaning that they will not dig from the down so we have to achieve something else if we will achieve like our leaders coming down and killed in this war maybe it will be the breaking change point for this war to be surrendered and then it will stop and Israel is trying to understand maybe what point we are exactly and how to move on Netanyahu is not giving us any sign for it but he is saying we will press because he wants to see if there is any information that we can get from the inside do you think time might be running out for this ground offensive not just from international pressure also domestically we have hostages that have been killed mistakenly by the IDF that are being pulled home now the support for the ground offensive we see the big protests now in Israel is there a time coming to an end for this big operation from the point of the hostages and what the deadly things happened and unfortunately it was a mistake maybe but we cannot judge these soldiers until we will be there in two days inside fighting we will be able to judge them but still it's unfortunate an act that happened but from my point of view I'm optimistic if they could get out from somewhere that they will they was holding maybe others will be able to get out from the captivity of the Hamas and it's very good sign for us that something is collapsing there if somebody get the opportunity to get out on the issue of the hostages thousands of Israelis turned out last night for a big demonstration in Tel Aviv demanding new progress in a hostage deal the killing on Friday of those three shirtless white flag waving Israeli hostages by Israeli soldiers broke the heart of a nation and family members of hostages fear their loved ones could be next amid the chaos of war speakers at the demonstration last night included both the loved ones of current hostages but also recently freed hostages who say that the best way to get the rest out safely is another deal with Hamas 10 days ago I met with the cabinet and we all warned that the fighting would likely harm the hostages unfortunately I was right I survived if the agreement to release the hostages had been delayed by a week I might not be here the hostages are experiencing hell and they are in mortal peril every day every hour every minute is critical Israel must offer another hostage release deal and get the international community to back it we want to thank the ministers at the cabinet for making a deal and I am asking you don't give up on anyone don't leave anyone behind do everything to get everyone home today and now every day that passes they wither a little more and wonder why the hell no one gets them out of this hell and maybe they were actually forgotten about my daughter was there every day that passes is a danger to their lives I was there my daughter was there do not abandon the hostages we must act now a deal is required today bring them home now Netanyahu addressing this very issue in that press conference last night arguing that the massive military operation in Gaza was the very reason in the first place Hamas agreed for a partial hostage deal and the reason it may do it again Netanyahu also confirming the reports that new negotiations are actively underway to bring home remaining hostages without the military pressure we would not have succeeded in creating an outline that led to the release of 110 hostages and only continued military pressure will lead to the release of all of our hostages my directive to the negotiating team is based on this pressure ceasefire remove our troops they have all kinds of demands so what do we understand as soon as we give in Hamas has won we are obligated to eliminate it and return our hostages but will not give up either this goal or that goal as Israel intensifies its outreach with allies to help handle the growing regional threats today to meet with our counterpart and also to push for diplomatic efforts to end the fighting with Hamas and also perhaps more significantly Hezbollah in Lebanon I-25 News senior correspondent Owen Alderman has more the Hamas terror organization celebrate last week's UN General Assembly resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire no wonder they celebrate it it's exactly what they wish for let me send a clear message to the international community to the UN member states if a terror organization celebrates your decision it means yours may a wrong decision that's a charged message with the French Foreign Minister standing next to Eli Cohen of course the French government at a relatively early stage through President Emmanuel Macron himself having come out and called for that ceasefire that the Israeli government sees at this stage as so unwanted on another issue the two sides may well see eye to eye the issue of Israel's northern border a dramatic arrangement to move Hezbollah's military presence away from the border north of the Letani river here's what Foreign Minister Colonna had to say to a question from I-24 News I'll be in Beirut tomorrow and France just like its partners is calling on its Lebanese counterparts to do everything they can to avoid a flare-up in Lebanon that would make it the first victim and I'll be bringing that message to Beirut our partners there I believe feel similarly I would like to add that very clear messages have been sent to Hezbollah as well so that the security of Israel and of Lebanon I must add should not be threatened even more For the Israeli government this is a tricky visit on one hand the deep disagreements about the war in Gaza even with the full-throated expressions of support for the Israeli public from Foreign Minister Colonna the fact that the French government has come out as such an important European power calling for a ceasefire obviously brings in tension with the Israeli government on the other hand I think the understanding in Israel that the French government is certainly not a hostile actor and also has an important role to play in the diplomacy with Lebanon given France's ties with Lebanon and its special relationship with Lebanon and the expressed desire of the Israeli government through the statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night and the statements here at these podiums from Foreign Minister Ali Cohen earlier on today that the Israeli government wants a diplomatic solution in Lebanon as a plan A and a military operation only as a plan B. Owen Alterman I-24 News at Ben-Gurion International Airport Back here in studio you wanted to make a point to meet about the hostile situation and then we'll move to Hezbollah Yes another thing that we have to understand in the issue of hostages in the public the Israeli public is it's about the value of Israeli to have the life of anyone that we can and bring them home ceasefire we can do we will not stop the war ceasefire we can do and the the army can do a ceasefire but the issue of value of getting back people back home it's it's very large issue in Israel and especially in the Jewish religion so I think it will be the next step for us so let's move to the north the threat from the north there seems to be this sense that as the major high intensity battles wind down in Gaza there's a preparation for a ramping up in Lebanon what is your sense again what is Nasrallah is playing with us is the play of the red line the red line meaning if we cross the red line maybe Israel will get into some kind of conflict more than we have and we can see Israel is bombing now it was an event more than 40 kilometers to the north it's northern El Nabatir and the side is not long from there and Hezbollah is waving against that missile that was hurting Kibbutz and Kibbutz is not on the border so we are pushing these lines against each other at some point doesn't that line break I think Israel is waiting for the coalition of the French and the American to save some time and to try to do something diplomatically to get Hezbollah back into south Lebanon but unfortunately Nasrallah have deep deep inside all his system near the border and he will not leave it until we will lead him to do it Israeli ministers the war cabinet ministers they have said publicly they have said we expected in January the tens of thousands of Israeli families who live in the Kibbutz team in the areas in the Gaza envelope we expect them to be able to return home because the coalition in the south will be stable enough that those who had to leave in the south can come back they are not saying anything about the north they are not giving any timetable what do you expect how much longer can these 100,000 families who have to evacuate stay like this we have refugees inside Israel we have to understand that it's more than 130,000 that's the issue in Israel because you cannot do it for a long time still we are talking about some stability that we'll have in the south but we know that we have to deal with Hezbollah someday and the time is clicking that's why I think the diplomatic and the political and the cabinet of war is not giving us the sign to get back to home because we will have the conflict in the north give me your analysis, your sense if there is a major conflict in the north with Hezbollah the Hezbollah of 2023 not the same Hezbollah from 2006 the IDF is not the same army either would this be an extremely intense extremely difficult deadly conflict but short a ground invasion lasting a few days a week or two or is this a scenario that expands regionally perhaps in something that lasts months even I think first regionally if you will watch it from the wide screen of us we know that Tehran is holding the cards with the Hezbollah and will not get the Hezbollah the permission to do anything without something that they will hear from Tehran but still if Israel will get into action Hezbollah will have to act against Israel and I think it will be a local one as we saw in the Hamas but still we're afraid that it will be regional because Hezbollah is not Hamas for Iran we have a lot of militia Shia militia of Iran spreading all over the Middle East it's something like more than 50 also the Houthis is Shia militia but the best militia of Iran Hezbollah is the biggest and the important militia of Iran so if it will be some kind of reaction in the north maybe it could be something gradual so maybe that's the argument against the war maybe Iran Hezbollah now is not the time to do it for Iran I think from the first place it wasn't the right time even we know that Hamas started this war without any permission and they are very angry about it and they have to pay some price for the Hamas but still they are not agree and they don't want to get into it but if they will push to get into it it will be something we can't expect and as you said it will be very intense in the north more than in what we saw in the south side Hezbollah with his forces like all the Raduan forces in the north is not Hamas is more prepared more equipped and deeply in the ground and it will be very very intense action still I think the IDF is preparing for it it's not a surprise anymore it's not like in the south and we will see more missiles to the center of Israel we will see action on the border we will see drones getting into Israel it will be very difficult but IDF is preparing for it and also the arm that we are getting now from the United States aid is preparing to this action exactly Thanks so much for your analysis here we are going out for a break more live reporting coming up we have reporters on the far northern border with Lebanon as the threats from Hezbollah intensified