 24 News's ongoing coverage of Israel at war. We open with that developing story, that terror attack that took place just south of Jerusalem. Three terrorists opened fire at a checkpoint and six Israelis were shot. All of them were members of security forces and at least one of which is in critical condition. Three terrorists were neutralized on the scene. They were heavily armed, M-16 rifles, pistols and axes, as well as fake uniforms to disguise as soldiers. Security forces believe they intended to carry out a much larger scale attack deep inside Israel. The terrorists were armed with M-16 rifles, pistols and axes and a huge amount of ammunition, which indicate that there was intention to probably carry out an attack on a completely different scale somewhere else. And only vigilance of the policemen who were at the checkpoint resulted in the thwarting of such an attack. And witnesses captured the very moment of the attack on cell phone cameras. You can see right here some of a gun battle between security forces and terrorists. We are now joined by Master Sergeant Dean Ellsdon, Israeli police international spokesman joining us from Jerusalem. Dean, good to have you with us. Tell us what we know about this attack and what we know about their plans. Well, so we're still in the preliminary stages gathering the evidence, but what I can tell you is that this morning three terrorists were heavily armed with M-16 rifles, with handguns and a large amount of ammunition arrived to the tunnels crossing that leads inside of Jerusalem. And thanks to the vigilance, the professionalism of all the security forces that were here, both Israel police, border police and IDF, including private security guards, they were able to thwart a much larger scale from taking place. These terrorists opened fire on our security forces, and our security forces, which here professionalism and determination, engaged them, managed to neutralize them. And large police forces then later arrived to the scene to secure the perimeter. We put a helicopter in the air. We brought canine and bomb disposal units to secure the perimeter and make sure that there were no other threats to the civilians in the area. I just want to emphasize that when we speak about the police and the border police who are on the home front, saving and defending our civilians against terror, this is what we're talking about. This terror is axed against innocent civilians, and our officers are going to do whatever it takes, even if it means being the bulletproof vest for our civilians. Dean, can we construct at this point a timeline of how this went down and what the response was like in real time? I'm not going to get into the details, because as I told you, it's preliminary investigation, but what I can tell you is that approximately nine o'clock this morning or so, the terrorists approached the checkpoint, the crossing with a vehicle, and the license plate of the vehicle was indeed confirmed to be stolen. And the suspects themselves, three individuals who we can now confirm are from the Cabron area, raised the suspicion of the officers, and that's what we believe initiated the gunfire, initiated the gun battle that prevented the larger-scale attack from taking place inside of Jerusalem itself. Dean, is there a heightened level of alert around the country now? Is this suspected to have been part of a larger plan or isolated? I can tell you that we are at war right now. Together, we're going to win the war, and we're not just saying that for no reason. The police officers, IDF soldiers are standing at a heightened state of alert because we're defending our families. We're defending our homes. And that's what we're going to continue doing. And God willing, we're going to get through this together. Okay, thank you very much, Dean, and it's good that you have your men out there right now. Now, we're going to discuss this more in studio with Rafael Urashami, former Senior Intelligence Officer with the IDF. Rafael, we've been discussing the danger of being posed by forces within the West Bank all morning long. Ultimately, we're seeing this start to flare up in these incidents like this. I guess the last question I had for the police is the same one that applies to you. Are these isolated, or is this part of a larger coordinated effort to create a new front? Of late in the West Bank, there is not real palpable, tangible coordination. But there is an unspoken coordination. They do not need to send messages, if you will, or call one another from faction to faction from cell to cell. They know that this is the order of the day, the order of the day. Whether you belong or not to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In this case, the cell comes from Hebron. Hebron is a stronghold of the Hamas. People have understood that everybody is expected to perpetrate a terrorist attack, no matter where, how, and who you are. So in this particular case, we avoided something very dramatic because what is also understood without being said in so many words is that a terrorist attack in the same mode as the 7th of October, meaning violent, cruel, ferocious, against innocent civilians. The order is clear. It was given clearly to the Hamas cells, but it is also understood by other cells, not depending on Hamas, that this is the goal. Not just kill somebody in the street, but kill him with the most possible violent way. It should look atrocious. It should look bloody. That is the new trend, if you will, of the terrorist activity. And this is a huge threat for our civilian population because they are the targets, but the army, not the police, the civilians, and especially the people who live in the settlements, they have to be very well protected right now. We're going to continue this discussion in a brief moment, but first we're going to bring in the full updates of that war in Gaza, Israeli forces gaining ground in the south. The military announcing they have captured Hamas's docks, a combined raid by the army, the navy, the air force, and the engineering forces across multiple buildings used for terror activities. Hamas has previously attempted aquatic infiltrations into Israel and makes very extensive use of seaborne smuggling routes to bring in weapons. This alongside an important morale victory, Hamas's leader, Ismail Hania's house, destroyed in an airstrike. It's just one house out of many that was built with billions of dollars of stolen international aid money, and it served as a meeting place for senior Hamas leadership. Hamas has previously said that two of Hania's other homes were destroyed, but this is the first one that has been confirmed by Israel. The IDF also showed this evidence of Hamas's militarized hospitals across Gaza, a clear violation of all rules of war. This was found at Shifa Hospital, Hamas weapons, military equipment, intelligence technology. All this came after revealing another vast case of explosives, advanced weapons, and hostage holding cells found at the Rantisi hospital just a few days ago. Israel Defense Forces announced that two more soldiers were killed in the fighting yesterday in northern Gaza, bringing the death toll in the ground operation to about 50 now. The Biden administration has continued to reject any calls for a ceasefire, though they have been pushing for more short term humanitarian pauses. Biden said this war will only end once Hamas is made powerless. And we are going to return to the studio to discuss this a little bit more major operational changes on the ground. Doc Works captured, we've seen Honey's house blown up for I think the third time now. And we're talking about raids, the destruction of Hamas's parliament. These are all very good optics victories. They give Israel a sense of victory, but a sense of victory and actual ground accomplishments are not the same thing. We're only about five weeks into the war now. We have not seen any major top level Hamas senior officials taken yet. Ultimately, how much is left to do in northern Gaza and ultimately how much will be finished there? So first of all, destroying the parliament and the villas of the rich leaders of the Hamas is not just pleasurable. It is useful. We are destroying the symbols of the regime, the symbols of dictatorship, the Palestinian people of Gaza realize that they were held hostage by these rich and powerful fanatics of the Hamas. It dissociates them from the terrorist organization. They understand very well that they're getting rid of this horrible regime. So it's only known it's got some kind of use. It's not just for us to shout victory and glory. It's useful. The commanders of the Hamas are disconnected from reality. And this is due to the fact that we have now hampered the communications inside the Hamas. The chain of communication, the chain of commands are ruptured and there's no way for them to know what is happening above ground. We might have a problem with the tunnels because we don't know where they are, exactly how we're going to find them, what we're going to find when we go in the tunnels. But they have the same problem the other way around. They don't know what's going on above ground. They have no idea what is happening in Shifa Hospital. Is the hospital evacuated? Not evacuated. When are the idea of troops going to strike and where? All these are utter ignorance. And also, as I said, they're also disconnected from the reality of the situation, meaning in their mind, in the mind of Mr. Sinoar, for instance, they're doing OK. They're doing well because they've forced us to come into Gaza where they hope to entrap us. They are forcing us into a long war that is costing a lot to the Israeli economy. They have created havoc in all the normalization process with other Arabic countries. They have achieved a lot of things. And they have created a huge trauma for the Israeli population and the Israeli security forces by this so-called success of the 7th of October, which was, by the way, now we discover a complete failure because their plan was to reach even the West Bank and other cities in Israel. So they only achieved 10% of what they wanted to achieve, which is horrible enough, of course, a huge catastrophe for Israel. But they had in mind much, much more than this. So they think that, and that's why the army has to continue and apply pressure, pressure, pressure. This is the only way. But we have still encouraging signs. First of all, more and more in the Gaza Strip, the opposition to Hamas and the normal population are hating Hamas. That's it. There is no more support for the Hamas. So that's still an achievement. And the Hamas will not come back into power, not only because the Israelis won't let it, but because the Gaza people don't want it to come back. So I think this is a big success. The rest will be to continue the pressure because the encouraging sign is the start, the start only, I'm very careful about this, the start of negotiations towards the liberation of the Israeli hostages. Until now, until a couple of days ago, the Hamas was not really negotiating. They were just playing with us. And they were cynically torturing us with this story of the hostages. Now they're really entering the bargaining process. It will take a long time. This is the Middle East. The bargaining will take a long time. But they are in it. So this shows that they're starting to be quite disquieted and they're starting to change their strategy. So it's just a confirmation that we should put the pressure on more. We should continue exactly to do what we are doing. We should destroy all the symbols of this horrible regime, all the symbols of the fanatical Islamist, jihadist, all these monuments that chant the glory of terror should be destroyed. So we know that this war is also psychological. We know that it's not just the weapons that speak. There is a lot going on in the media. There's a lot of signals sent this way and that way. Same with Hezbollah. Half of our war with Hezbollah is military. And the other one is more like psychological. By the way, right now we have good news. After what I asked for for a few days to be proactive instead of reactive, we have now at this moment an attack of the Air Force under Lebanon that is proactive, not answering an attack from the Hezbollah, not out of the blue. But I would say initiative of the IDF to strike the Lebanon right now with our Air Force. And before we continue this discussion, we are going to turn our eyes to the southern border. Our correspondent, Pierre Kloschenler, is standing by just outside of Sturro, overlooking Gaza. Pierre, give us the latest in the battle on the ground there. Right. I'm going to show you with Dean Barenbaum, the small sector of the northern part of the Gaza Strip, which you can see here, which is quite active right now. You have on the left of your monitor a white screen. This is a smoke screen, rockets from the Israeli Air Force, where we're targeting some area there. And probably there are ground forces in the area that need that smoke screen in order to operate safely. And then on the right of your monitor, you're going to see some gray smoke. And this is from a bombing. It doesn't seem to be an Air Force bombing, maybe an artillery bombing. And this is close to the vicinity of the Indonesia Hospital, which is one of the hospitals that have been encircled by the IDF and contains still in it patients, medical personnel, and also some population that displaced itself and seek shelter in that hospital. And for a few days already, the Indonesia Hospital has been the focus of some of the IDF bombing. Not the hospital itself, but the vicinity of it. Now, we hear that there was fighting not long ago near the University of Gaza City. And then earlier on overnight, the marina of Gaza City was taken over. 10 terrorists were killed, 10 shafts of tunnels were neutralized. What we also know is that on the humanitarian front, it's quite active also. Two areas of Gaza City, Shia and the Turkmen neighborhood, have been benefiting from a tactical humanitarian pose. The residents are urged to move to the Salahadin access, which is open from 9 to 4 PM local time, 9 AM to 4 PM for six, seven hours, like every day. And other neighborhoods of Gaza, who are still the focus of operations, also there, the Israeli Army urged the residents to move aside, to go east of Gaza City to the Salahadin access that could bring them to safety or to more safety, at least in the southern part of the Gaza Street. Because in the central and southern part of the Gaza Street, there's still bombing, such as in Hanyunas earlier. And that bombing has been going on since the 7th of October since Hamas inflicted a war on Israeli territory. Well, definitely a lot of action on the ground behind you, Pierre. We're going to be back with you as that situation changes. Stay safe out there. That said, these terror groups aren't just located in Gaza. A massive counterterror raid in Germany just took place. Police raided 54 locations suspected of Hezbollah-related activities. Germany's Interior Ministry opened an investigation of the Islamic Center of Hamburg. They've long been under observation by German intelligence services saying that the Islamic Center promoted revolutionary Iranian doctrine and supported the prescribed Hezbollah terror group. The Interior Ministry said German intelligence believes that the Islamic Center exerts significant influence or full control over some other mosques as well as groups. Now, they promote a clearly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel attitude. Said authorities are examining whether it can be banned and materials seized during these searches will be evaluated. It's worth noting that earlier this month, Germany implemented a formal ban on activity by or in support of Hamas and also dissolved Samadona, a group that was behind a celebration of Hamas's October 7th attack, following this pledge made by Chancellor Olaf Scholz after the attack. Now, for much more on this, we are joined by Polina Gav, our Berlin correspondent. Polina, it's good to have you with us. What do we know about what exactly was found in these raids? Well, police is not sharing any sort of specific information regarding the nature of this alleged support that this organization and also five other organizations in Germany that are suspected of being linked to it. What kind of support it was offering Hezbollah? We don't know just yet. We also don't know exactly what was seized during these raids. But as you said, the hope is that this will be sufficient evidence to ban this organization, to ban its activity on German soil, which has been the subject of much criticism, especially in Hamburg for many years. Local politicians have been hoping for such a ban, complaining exactly about the influence that it's been exerting, the Iranian-inspired influence it's been exerting that contained, of course, strong anti-Semitic and anti-Israel elements. This is part of an ongoing trend that we've seen in Germany even before the war in Gaza started, where Germany is trying to minimize the influence that foreign countries like Iran, like Turkey, and like Saudi Arabia have over its local Muslim community even launching local programs to train imams in Germany to make sure that the messages that they then pass on are in line with Germany's constitutional values. This seems to not have been the case with this organization. And there are two especially major masks that it was operating in Hamburg. Exactly what it was seized, as I said, we don't know just yet. But the hope is for politicians that this would be enough to institute such a ban to ban this organization the same way that Hezbollah has been banned in 2020. And therefore, any sort of support, be it financial or ideological, is enough before authorities to take action. Polina, when we're talking about large scale raids like this, are we talking about simply things that go against, as you said, the German constitutional values? Or was there a very legitimate intelligence threat that there were imminent attacks being planned by Hezbollah supporters? Well, at least according to the information provided by the Interior Ministry, the precipice for this raid has been simply from a part of the investigation that this organization is violating Germany's constitution and goes against its values. There has not been any specific information regarding a planned attack or any sort of strategic tactical support that was landed to Hezbollah and its activities against Israel. But as I said, that's enough simply ideological support, not to mention fundraising that we have seen on German soil in support of other banned organization. That is enough for the German authorities to take action, even such large scale action. We're talking about about 300 officers taking part in raids across seven federal states, 50 for our locations. This is quite a significant raid indeed. Definitely. And as that information goes public, I'm sure we're going to have you back to explain exactly what was found. Thank you very much, Polina, for breaking that down for us. Thank you so much. We are now joined to talk about another topic that is the massive nationwide effort to bring back Israel's kidnapped people, hostages of Hamas. It's been the topic of so much discussion here in Israel and so many different ways of showing support with us now in studios, Berkeley Spiegelman, a lighting designer, a partner who believes that art can be a venue to raise support. Yes, we certainly think that we can contribute with our best. I guess a few weeks ago, I'm trying to understand how I'm going to say it. I'm sorry. Just explain the initiative that you've done. So a few weeks ago, Nadab Bernal, which is the artist that basically led all this project, called me and said that they have an idea about the hostages because we're sitting at home. There is no work. And all we see and all we hear and all we feel is what's going on. And we think about the people and the little kids that are being hostages. And he told me that they have an idea. I jumped right in. And in these times, the only thing you can do is help in what you do in your real life. And what we know to do is art. And we decided to do this massive project of a huge neon sign saying, bring them home together with 239 mannequins dressed like just a normal to explain and to show the amount of people that have been kidnapped and try to ripple and echo this message around the world and have a clear image to make everybody see how many people they are. And these are normal people that been took out of their houses. Do you believe big art projects like this are simply an outlet for people's pain? Or do you think they can actually bring about any real change? I believe both, to be honest. I think there were more than 200 volunteers in this project. And I know for a fact for myself and also for everyone that had been helping us that it was an outlet. It was a way to release the pain, to release the frustration. But as well, I believe that if we send this message around the world and a lot of people understand how important it is to bring them back, I think it may help. And I think by this way of using our jobs, our art, it's sending a message. And these images that we made are being published right now all around the world on Facebook and social medias. And I hope it will help us. And have you been contacted by artists from around the world that might want to replicate this sort of exhibit that might want to spread the message? We hope that we will. We're trying to work on it right now. We believe that if this will happen somewhere else, it will help a lot. What has been the public reaction to your art? What's been the perception and the reception? Here in Israel. And abroad, if there has been any. So I'm getting only good reflection. Everybody's saying that we're doing a great job, and they're proud of us, and yeah. And everybody hoping that it will help. As someone who's Israeli and partakes and feels the same pain as so many other people in Israel right now, what do you say to artists around the world, many of which have taken the side of the Palestinians and Gaza and are tending to erase Israel's suffering and forget completely about the fate of innocent hostages? So I've been talked to some artists around the world. I don't think they erase in our suffering. What I think they do is they get the images that they have and they get what they get in the media in their countries. And they're trying to do what they think best. I'm trying to explain them our side. I'm trying to send everybody the message of how much suffering there is in my country right now. But in a way, I also understand them, because they want to help the situation. They see a lot of people suffering. And I don't think they understand completely the situation. It's a very difficult situation, and I thank you for the work that you've done to raise that sort of awareness. Hope it has a positive impact on the world. Thank you both for being with me in studio to discuss all of this and more. For everyone else, though, we are out of time, at least for now, but we will see you again in just about a half hour for our next broadcast. Until then, thanks for watching. Israel is in a state of war. Families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where we see it. Our soldiers are fighting on the front line, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. News 24 en Español trae el análisis y la información de los acontecimientos de la guerra, espadas de hierro. Entrevistas exclusivas reportes desde la zona de guerra, la reacción de los países hispanoparlantes. News 24, el único medio en Español que te mantiene informado y conectado con la comunidad latina en Israel. News 24, únicamente en I-24 News. Good afternoon from Tel Aviv, and welcome to I-24 News' ongoing coverage of Israel at war. I'm Ariel Levin Waldman. We open with that developing story, that terror attack that took place just south of Jerusalem. Three terrorists opened fire at a checkpoint, and six Israelis were shot. All of them were members of security forces, and at least one of which is in critical condition. Three terrorists were neutralized on the scene. They were heavily armed, M-16 rifles, pistols, and axes, as well as fake uniforms that disguise as soldiers. Security forces believe they intended to carry out a much larger scale attack deep inside Israel. The terrorists were armed with M-16 rifles, pistols and axes, and a huge amount of ammunition, which indicate that there was intention to probably carry out an attack on a completely different scale somewhere else. And only vigilance of the policemen who were at the checkpoint resulted in the thwarting of such an attack. And witnesses captured the very moment of the attack on cell phone cameras. You can see right here some of a gun battle between security forces and terrorists. We are now joined by Master Sergeant Dean Alsdan, Israeli police international spokesman, joining us from Jerusalem. Dean, good to have you with us. Tell us what we know about this attack and what we know about their plans. Well, so we're still in the preliminary stages gathering the evidence, but what I can tell you is that this morning, three terrorists were heavily armed with M-16 rifles, with handguns, and a large amount of ammunition arrived to the tunnels crossing that leads inside of Jerusalem. And thanks to the vigilance, the professionalism of all the security forces that were here, both Israel police, border police, and IDF, including private security guards, they were able to thwart a much larger scale from taking place. These terrorists opened fire on our security forces and our security forces, which here, professionalism and determination engaged them, managed to neutralize them, and large police forces then later arrived to the scene to secure the perimeter. We put a helicopter in the air. We brought canine and bomb disposal units to secure the perimeter and make sure that there were no other threats to the civilians in the area. I just wanna emphasize that when we speak about the police and the border police who are on the home front, saving and defending our civilians against terror, this is what we're talking about. This terror is axed against innocent civilians and our officers are gonna do whatever it takes, even if it means being the bulletproof best for our civilians. Dean, can we construct at this point a timeline of how this went down and what the response was like in real time? I'm not gonna get into the details because as I told you, it's preliminary investigation, but what I can tell you is that approximately nine o'clock this morning or so, the terrorists approached the checkpoint, the crossing with a vehicle and the license plate of the vehicle was indeed confirmed to be stolen and the suspects themselves, three individuals who we can now confirm are from the Kavron area, raised the suspicion of the officers and that's what we believe initiated the gunfire, initiated the gun battle that prevented the larger scale attack from taking place inside of Jerusalem itself. Dean, is there a heightened level of alert around the country now? Is this suspected to have been a part of a larger plan or isolated? I can tell you that we are at war right now. Together we're gonna win the war and we're not just saying that for no reason. The police officers, IDF soldiers are standing at a heightened state of alert because we're defending our families, we're defending our homes and that's what we're gonna continue doing and God willing, we're gonna get through this together. Okay, thank you very much, Dean and it's good that you have your man out there right now. Now we're gonna discuss this more in studio with Rafael Urshami, former Senior Intelligence Officer with the IDF. Rafael, we've been discussing the danger of being posed by forces within the West Bank all morning long. Ultimately, we're seeing this start to flare up in these incidents like this. I guess the last question I had for the police is the same one that applies to you. Are these isolated or is this part of a larger coordinated effort to create a new front? Of late in the West Bank, there is not real palpable, tangible coordination but there is an unspoken coordination. They do not need to send messages, if you will, or call one another from faction to faction, from cell to cell. They know that this is the order of the day, whether you belong or not to the Hamas and Islamic jihad. In this case, the cell comes from Hebron. Hebron is a stronghold of the Hamas. People have understood that everybody is expected to perpetrate a terrorist attack no matter where, how, and who you are. So in this particular case, we avoided something very dramatic because what is also understood without being said in so many words is that a terrorist attack in the same mode as the 7th of October, meaning violent, cruel, ferocious, against innocent civilians. The order is clear. It was given clearly to the Hamas cells but it is also understood by other cells not depending upon Hamas that this is the goal. Not just kill somebody in the street but kill him with the most possible violence in a violent way. It should look atrocious. It should look bloody. That is the new trend, if you will, of the terrorist activity. And this is a huge threat for our civilian population because there are the targets, not the army, not the police, the civilians. And especially the people who live in the settlements, they have to be very well protected right now. We're gonna continue this discussion in a brief moment but first we're going to bring in the full updates on the war in Gaza. Israeli forces gaining ground in the south. The military announcing they have captured Hamas's docks, a combined raid by the army, the navy, the air force and the engineering forces across multiple buildings used for terror activities. Hamas has previously attempted aquatic infiltrations into Israel. It makes very extensive use of seaborne smuggling routes to bring in weapons. This alongside an important morale victory Hamas leader Ismail Hennios house destroyed in an airstrike. It's just one house out of many that was built with billions of dollars of stolen international aid money. It served as a meeting place for senior Hamas leadership. Hamas has previously said that two of Hennios other homes were destroyed, but this is the first one that has been confirmed by Israel. The IDF also showed this evidence of Hamas's militarized hospitals across Gaza, a clear violation of all rules of war. This was found at Shifa Hospital, Hamas weapons, military equipment, intelligence technology. All this came after revealing another vast case of explosives, advanced weapons and hostage holding cells found at the Rantisi hospital just a few days ago. Israel Defense Forces announced that two more soldiers were killed in the fighting yesterday in northern Gaza, bringing the death toll in the ground operation to about 50 now, the Biden administration has continued to reject any calls for a ceasefire, though they have been pushing for more short-term humanitarian pauses. Biden said this war will only end once Hamas is made powerless. And we are going to return to the studio to discuss this a little bit more major operational changes on the ground. Doc works captured, we've seen Hennios house blown up for I think the third time now. And we're talking about raids, the destruction of Hamas's parliament. These are all very good optics victories. They give Israel a sense of victory, but a sense of victory and actual ground accomplishments are not the same thing. We're only about five weeks into the war now. We have not seen any major top-level Hamas senior officials taken yet. Ultimately, how much is left to do in northern Gaza and ultimately how much will be finished there? So first of all, destroying the parliament and the villas of the rich leaders of the Hamas is not just pleasurable, it is useful. We are destroying the symbols of the regime, the symbols of dictatorship. The Palestinian people of Gaza realize that they were held hostage by these rich and powerful fanatics of the Hamas. It dissociates them from the terrorist organization. They understand very well that they're getting rid of this horrible regime. So it's only known it's got some kind of use. It's not just for us to shout victory and glory. It's useful. The commanders of the Hamas are disconnected from reality. And this is due to the fact that we have now hampered the communications inside the Hamas. The chain of communication, the chain of commands are ruptured and there's no way for them to know what is happening above ground. We might have a problem with the tunnels because we don't know where they are exactly, how we're going to find them, what we're going to find when we go in the tunnels. But they have the same problem the other way around. They don't know what's going on above ground. They have no idea what is happening in Chifa Hospital. Is the hospital evacuated, not evacuated? When are the idea of troops going to strike and where? All these are utter ignorance. And also, as I said, they're also disconnected from the reality of the situation. Meaning in their mind, in the mind of Mr. Sinoir, for instance, they are doing okay, they are doing well because they've forced us to come into Gaza where they hope to entrap us. They are forcing us into a long war that is costing a lot to the Israeli economy. They have created havoc in all the normalization process with other Arabic countries. They have achieved a lot of things and they have created a huge trauma for the Israeli population and the Israeli security forces by this so-called success of the 7th of October, which was, by the way, now we discover a complete failure because their plan was to reach even the West Bank and other cities in Israel. So they only achieved 10% of what they wanted to achieve, which is horrible enough. Of course, a huge catastrophe for Israel, but they had in mind much, much more than this. So they think that, and that's why the army has to continue and apply pressure, pressure, pressure. This is the only way, but we have still encouraging signs. First of all, more and more in the Gaza Strip, the opposition to Hamas and the normal population are hating Hamas, that's it. There is no more support for the Hamas. So that's still an achievement. And the Hamas will not come back into power not only because the Israelis won't let it, but because the Gaza people don't want it to come back. So I think this is a big success. The rest will be to continue the pressure because the encouraging sign is the start, the start only, I'm very careful about this, the start of negotiations towards the liberation of the Israeli hostages. Up till now, until a couple of days ago, the Hamas was not really negotiating. They were just playing with us and they were cynically torturing us with this story of the hostages. Now they're really entering the bargaining process. It doesn't take a long time. This is the Middle East. The bargaining will take a long time, but they are in it. So this shows that they're starting to be quite disquieted and they're starting to change their strategy. So this is just a confirmation that we should put the pressure on more. We should continue exactly to do what we are doing. We should destroy all the symbols of this horrible regime, all the symbols of the fanatical Islamist, jihadist, all these monuments that chant the glory of terror should be destroyed. So we know that this war is also psychological. We know that it's not just the weapons that speak. There is a lot going on in the media. There's a lot of signals sent this way and that way. The same with Hezbollah. Half of our world with Hezbollah is military and the other one is more like psychological. By the way, right now we have good news. After what I asked for for a few days to be proactive instead of reactive, we have now at this moment an attack of the air force under Lebanon that is proactive, not answering an attack from the Hezbollah, not out of the blue, but I would say initiative of the IDF to strike the Lebanon right now with our air force. And before we continue this discussion, we are going to turn our eyes to the southern border, our correspondent Pierre Kloschenler is standing by just outside of Sturro, overlooking Gaza. Pierre, give us the latest in the battle on the ground there. Right, I'm going to show you with Dean Barenbaum the small sector of the northern part of the Gaza Strip, which you can see here, which is quite active right now. You have on the left of your monitor a white screen. This is a smoke screen, rockets from the Israeli air force where we're targeting some area there and probably there are ground forces in the area that need that smoke screen in order to operate safely. And then on the right of your monitor, you're going to see some gray smoke and this is from a bombing. It doesn't seem to be an air force bombing, it may be an artillery bombing. And this is close to the vicinity of the Indonesia Hospital, which is one of the hospitals that have been encircled by the IDF and as contains still in it patients, medical personnel, and also some population that displaced itself and seek shelter in that hospital. And for a few days already, the Indonesia Hospital has been the focus of some of the IDF bombing, not the hospital itself, but the vicinity of it. Now we hear that there was fighting not long ago near the University of Gaza City and then early around overnight, the marina of Gaza City was taken over. 10 terrorists were killed, 10 shafts of tunnels were neutralized. What we also know is that on the humanitarian front, it's quite active also. Two areas of Gaza City, Shejaia and the Turkmen neighborhood have been benefiting from a tactical humanitarian pose. The residents are urged to move to the Salahadin access which is open from nine to 4 p.m. local time, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for six, seven hours, like every day. And other neighborhoods of Gaza who are still the focus of operations, also there the Israeli army urged the residents to move aside to go east of Gaza City to the Salahadin access that could bring them to safety or to more safety, at least in the southern part of the Gaza Street, because in the central and southern part of the Gaza Street, there's still bombing, such as in Hanyunas earlier and that bombing has been going on since the 7th of October, since Hamas infected the war on Israeli territory. Well, definitely a lot of action on the ground behind you, Pierre, we're gonna be back with you as that situation changes. Stay safe out there. That said, these terror groups aren't just located in Gaza. Massive counterterror raid in Germany just took place. Police raided 54 locations suspected of Hezbollah related activities. Germany's Interior Ministry opened an investigation of the Islamic Center of Hamburg. They've long been under observation by German intelligence services saying that the Islamic Center promoted revolutionary Iranian doctrine and supported the prescribed Hezbollah terror group. The Interior Ministry said German intelligence believes that the Islamic Center exerts significant influence or full control over some other mosques as well as groups, and that they promote a clearly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel attitude. Said authorities are examining whether it can be banned and materials seized during these searches will be evaluated. It's worth noting that earlier this month, Germany implemented a formal ban on activity by or in support of Hamas and also dissolved Samadona, a group that was behind a celebration of Hamas's October 7th attack, following this pledge made by Chancellor Olaf Scholz after the attack. Now, for much more on this, we are joined by Polina Gav, our Berlin correspondent. Polina, it's good to have you with us. What do we know about what exactly was found in these raids? Well, police is not sharing any sort of specific information regarding the nature of this alleged support that this organization and also five other organizations in Germany that are suspected of being linked to it. What kind of support it was offering Hezbollah. We don't know just yet. We also don't know exactly what was seized during these raids. But as you said, the hope is that this would be sufficient evidence to ban this organization, to ban its activity on German soil, which has been the subject of much criticism, especially in Hamburg for many years, local politicians have been hoping for such a ban, complaining exactly about the influence that it's been exerting, the Iranian-inspired influence it's been exerting that contained, of course, strong anti-Semitic and anti-Israel elements. This is part of an ongoing trend that we've seen in Germany even before the war in Gaza started, where Germany's trying to minimize the influence that foreign countries like Iran, like Turkey and like Saudi Arabia have over its local Muslim community, even launching local programs to train imams in Germany to make sure that the messages that they then pass on are in line with Germany's constitutional values. This seems to not have been the case with this organization. And the two especially major masks that it was operating in Hamburg, exactly what, as it was seized, as I said, we don't know just yet. But the hope is for politicians that this will be enough to institute such a ban, to ban this organization the same way that Hezbollah has been banned in 2020 and therefore any sort of support, be it financial or ideological, is enough for authorities to take action. Polina, when we're talking about large-scale raids like this, are we talking about simply things that go against, as you said, the German constitutional values? Or was there a very legitimate intelligence threat that there were imminent attacks being planned by Hezbollah supporters? Well, at least according to the information provided by the Interior Ministry, the precipice for this raid has been, simply from a part of the investigation that this organization is violating Germany's constitution and goes against its values. There has not been any specific information regarding a planned attack or any sort of strategic tactical support that was landed to Hezbollah and his activities against Israel. But as I said, that's enough, simply ideological support, not to mention fundraising that we have seen on German soil in support of other banned organizations. That is enough for the German authorities to take action. Even such large-scale action, we're talking about 300 officers taking part in raids across seven federal states, 50 for our locations. This is quite a significant raid indeed. Definitely, and as that information goes public, I'm sure we're gonna have you back to explain exactly what was found. Thank you very much, Polina, for breaking that down for us. Thank you so much. We are now joined to talk about another topic that is the massive nationwide effort to bring back Israel's kidnapped people, hostages of Hamas. It's been the topic of so much discussion here in Israel and so many different ways of showing support. With us now in studios, Berkley Spiegelman, lighting designer, a partner who believes that art can be a venue to raise support. Yes, we certainly think that we can contribute with our best. I guess a few weeks ago, I'm trying to understand how I'm gonna say it. I'm sorry. Just explain the initiative that you've done. So a few weeks ago, Nadav Bernal, which is the artist that basically led all this project, called me and said that they have an idea about the hostages, because we're sitting at home, there is no work, and all we see and all we hear and all we feel is what's going on. And we think about the people and the little kids that are being hostages. And he told me that they have an idea. I jumped right in. And in these times, the only thing you can do is help in what you do in your real life. And what we know to do is art. And we decided to do this massive project of a huge neon sign saying bring them home together with 239 mannequins dressed like just a normal, to explain and to show the amount of people that have been kidnapped and try to ripple and echo this message around the world and have like a clear image to make everybody see how many people they are. And these are normal people that have been took out of their houses. Do you believe big art projects like this are simply an outlet for people's pain or do you think they can actually bring about any real change? I believe both, to be honest. I think there were more than 200 volunteers in this project. And I know for a fact for myself and also for everyone that had been helping us that it was an outlet. It was a way to release the pain, to release the frustration. But as well, I believe that if we send this message around the world and a lot of people understand how important it is to bring them back, I think it may help. And I think by this way of using our jobs, our art, it's sending a message. And these images that we made are being published right now all around the world on Facebook and social medias. And I hope it will help us. And have you been contacted by artists from around the world that might want to replicate this sort of exhibit that might wanna spread the message? We hope that we will. We're trying to work on it right now. We believe that if this will happen somewhere else, it will help a lot. What has been the public reaction to your art? What's been the perception and the reception? Here in Israel. And abroad, if there has been any. So I'm getting only good reflection. Everybody's saying that we're doing a great job and they're proud of us. And yeah, and everybody hoping that it will help. As someone who's Israeli and partakes and feels the same pain as so many other people in Israel right now, what do you say to artists around the world, many of which have taken the side of the Palestinians and Gaza and are tending to erase Israel's suffering and forget completely about the fate of innocent hostages. So I've been talked to some artists around the world. I don't think they erase in our suffering. What I think they do is they get the images that they have and they get what they get in the media in their countries. And they're trying to do what they think best. I'm trying to explain them our side. I'm trying to send everybody the message of how much suffering there is in my country right now. But in a way I also understand them because they wanna help, they wanna help the situation, the sale of people's suffering. And I don't think they understand completely the situation. It's a very difficult situation and I thank you for the work that you've done to raise that sort of awareness and hope it has a positive impact on the world. Thank you both for being with me in studio to discuss all of this and more. For everyone else though, we are out of time at least for now, but we will see you again in just about a half hour for our next broadcast. Until then, thanks for watching. There are phrases that you know from where they come from. Look here. And the package for when. And charges that you already know where they go. On International Recharges, Altis, your people in R.D. Access our website, recargas.altis.com.b Select charges and type the number you want to place the charge. In addition, they receive the double balance in charges of eight dollars or more. Altis. The global network of the Dominicanians. In a state of war, families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where she is. Our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. The Israel story to the world. I-24 News Channels. Welcome to this breaking news edition. I'm Benita Levine, coming to you live from Tel Aviv. Israel is intensifying its operation to eliminate the Hamas terrorist organization nearly six weeks since their terror onslaught in southern Israel on the 7th of October. The IDF is today stepping up operations at the Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest medical facility, which it maintains is located above a Hamas terror command center. It's a complicated operation, eliminating terrorists while making sure civilians aren't hurt. The IDF has been delivering incubators and medical aid to that complex while allowing safe passage for those who can flee the fighting. Overnight, IDF fighter jets destroying the Gaza home of Hamas political chief Ishmael Chaniyeh, a home that was being used as a meeting place for senior terror leaders. The IDF also capturing the Hamas harbour in Gaza. Senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev has more on the discovery so far inside Shifa Hospital. Let's take a look. In any normal place, hospitals are where lives are saved and illnesses are cured. Gaza is anything but a normal place. If you follow me behind the MRI machine, I'll show you what our troops exposed just minutes ago. In military terms, this is a grab bag. Grab and go of a Hamas combatant. And if you zoom in and we get some light over here, what you will be able to see is military equipment. There is an AK-47. There are cartridges, ammo. There are grenades in here, of course, uniform. And all of that, this was hidden very conveniently, secretly behind the MRI machine. The MRI machine is just one hiding place, along with various others. And when our troops open this closet here, which is in the main part of the clinic, this is what they found. These weapons have absolutely no business being inside a hospital. The only reason they're here is because Hamas put them here because they use this place, like many other hospitals and ambulances and sensitive facilities inside the Gaza Strip for their illicit military purposes. So there's Kalashnikov rifles here, even ammunition. The War of Narratives is a difficult one. Even after these images, Israel understands very well there will be those who try and undermine this evidence. Inside the very same cabinet that houses medical equipment, you can see all kinds of standard military medical stuff. We found another go-to bag, this bag here. And again, we opened it up in order to make sure that it's safe to touch and show. So please don't give me any of that. You open it up and you place it there. This is the bag that we found and this is the stuff that was in it. This is what was found in the hospital building itself. The assumption is that there may be tunnels under Shifa Hospital used exclusively for terror purposes and much more such evidence could be found there. So for more insight, we welcome to studio military and strategic affairs analyst, Yakov Lapin from the Jewish New Syndicate and Miriam Institute, Yakov. Thank you so much for being here. Let's start with that report we've just seen. Certainly not the normal equipment one associates with a hospital. What do you make of what was shown there by the IDFs, Jonathan Conriquez? So we were shown a significant number of firearms, AK-47 cartridges, grenades, Hamas protective suits, ceramic vests and tactical radios and laptops which were used likely for command purposes for commanding cells. Now I think what we have to keep in mind is that this is what was left in that MRI department at Shifa Hospital after Hamas vacated. After it took off its uniform, put on civilian garb and escaped, perhaps they escaped through other means, but they also escaped through with civilians. So this is what they weren't able to take with them. So let's try to imagine what was there before the IDF arrived, likely a lot more. This is obviously a Hamas terror base that was set up in the hospital and my assumption is that as the IDF moves forward and takes more and more control of the hospital scans it, it's a large compound. They're going to find much more evidence, likely underground in bunkers in that compound about what Shifa was really used for. Talk to us about the technology involved here. We're talking about an underground network, a terror command center, as you say. It's a massive complex and it's going to take time. What kind of technology is involved in getting to that underground center? The IDF has a whole host of intelligence that it can use to try and find the exact locations of these bunkers. It can use visual analysis, looking for irregularities on the surface area. It can use human intelligence when it gets interrogating prisoners. It can use electronic communications that were intercepted. So it can put together this comprehensive picture by piecing together the various parts of the puzzle. And then based on that, they will move forward. And they're moving very, very slowly because Shifa is, of course, a very sensitive site. It is also a real hospital. There's no obvious question about that. And it's treating people and it should continue to do that to the extent that's possible. But it doubled up as a Hamas terrorist base. And so this explains the IDF is very slow taking over of the site as it continues to deliver humanitarian and medical supplies to the hospital all at the same time. So we have to be patient. But I have no doubt that we'll see much more coming out of Shifa in the coming days. A complicated operation indeed. Yaakov Lepp and stay with us. There's much more to discuss. But right now, let's go to our team on the ground. We cross first to our correspondent, Pierre Kloschendler. He joins us from southern Israel. So Pierre, rocket siren sounding in some Gaza border communities in recent hours, including Farazza and Nachal Oz. What is the latest in southern Israel? And what's the latest across the border as that fighting continues inside Gaza right now? Right, as you mentioned, the last rocket strike on communities facing the northern sector of the Gaza Strip, Nachal Oz, Farazza, which were sites of massacres on October 7 was at 11.22 local time AM, local time to be precise. The other rocket attack in the southern part facing the Gaza Strip in Shifa was, and near its track was at around 9 AM local time. Since then it's been quiet. In the back here, facing the Gaza Strip, the northern sector of the Gaza Strip, the front is very active. Although the IDF has already claimed control of the northern part of the Gaza Strip, as well as Gaza City, there are still pockets of terrorists and infrastructure and tunnel shafts and all that is part of the ongoing activity in the background. There was just a recent explosion near in the vicinity of the Indonesia hospital that has been a focal point in the past two or three days, buildings around the Indonesia hospital where there are nests of terrorists have been bombed relentlessly. And it seems that there is some sort of cooking pressure tactic on the hospital to extract the medical personnel with the patients and the people who displaced themselves in the compound of that hospital because the IDF believes that as in Renteci Hospital or Shifa Hospital, this is also a hotbed of Hamas infrastructure. Now there's been also, yeah, please, please Benita. Now continue as well because there's much concern, obviously Pierre, about the humanitarian corridors for people who want to flee from the fighting. What is the latest on that front, Pierre? Right, you're talking about the humanitarian front and indeed it is a front for the IDF and it goes in conjunction with the operations. What's going on right now is that as in every past day, there is the Salahadin access which sections the Gaza Strip from north to south, east of Gaza City, which is a humanitarian safe passage for the population that has remained trapped in the battleground. And there is a special call for the residents of some neighborhoods of Gaza City, such as El Tufar, Daraj, Sejaia, Turkmen. All these neighborhoods, the residents are urged to go towards Salahadin and move south of the Gaza City River. In addition, there are two localized humanitarian pauses in the fighting in two neighborhoods of Gaza City, in the Turkmen neighborhood and Sejaia, which is east of Gaza City, facing Nahal Oz. And there, from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m., you have a humanitarian post. Now, what's more intriguing is that overnight the Israeli air force dropped flyers in East Hanyunas, in villages such as Housa'a or Banisuhela and urged the residents to move and seek shelter south of Hanyunas. Hanyunas is in the central part of the Gaza Strip. And that's not part of the ground offensive which started in October 27. That means that could foretell of the enlargement of the ground offensive to those, to Hanyunas. Why Hanyunas? Hanyunas is very important because it controls the central refugee camps of El Burej, Nusairat, Direl Balach. But it's also the hometown of Mohamed Def and of Yahya Sinoir. And these two men who are actually the leaders of the military branch of Hamas on one hand and of the political branch of Hamas on the other inside the Gaza Strip, these two men may seek refuge in the place that they know best amongst the people that they trust the most. And therefore, Hanyunas becomes suddenly a focal point. Now, there's been targets killing or not killing, but bombing of terror targets inside the central part of the Gaza Strip and as well as the southern part of the Gaza Strip near Rafah. But it seems the focal point of the next stage of the invasion, stage three, would be maybe, according to the flyers that the residents got overnight, the central part with Hanyunas. Thank you so much. We will be coming back to our correspondent, Pierre Kloschendler in Southern Israel. Stay safe, Pierre. We will be getting more updates from him in the coming hours. And still in studio, military and strategic affairs, analyst, Yaakov Lapin. So I want to pick up on what we just heard from Pierre there. These flyers being disseminated around the Kanyunas area. We've been talking about the northern Gaza Strip for weeks now. It seems the focus is also going to turn to the southern part of the Strip. Talk us through the significance of what fighting will look like there and this new landmark, so to speak, of Kanyunas. So look, there's no question in my mind that the ground offensive is going to sooner or later head south. Just to put that at the top of everything else, it's going to head south. There is no way that the IDF is going to say, look, we're finished in northern Gaza. Now we're withdrawing from the Strip. No, this is going to continue throughout the entire Gaza Strip. And it's going to be done section by section. But I think what the IDF wants to do now, before it begins moving south, is to make sure, first of all, that what's left of the Hamas terrorist army in northern Gaza cannot reposition itself and rebuild once the IDF starts moving south. And that's why I think we're still seeing all of these strikes occurring on the ground from the air, from the sea. The naval forces are very much involved in this as well, taking out the Gaza Harbor, which was a central base for implementing terrorist attacks and trying to sneak terrorists into Israel northwards. So we're just seeing the systematic elimination of Hamas targets, whatever is left of them, and making sure that they cannot be rebuilt. And then when that is done, I think we're going to see the center of gravity of this offensive start to move south into the areas that we just heard in the report. Another interesting target was that of the home in Gaza of Ismail Khania, which was apparently a location where senior officials used to meet and have discussions about their next plan of action, so to speak. That being taken out, what is the significance of that? What does it mean? And what is the message being sent there when a home like that is destroyed? Well, look, it was used for operational planning and implementation of terrorism, so that makes it a military target. But it's also more than that, it's symbolic. And it's sending the message that there's simply no place for Hamas, either the regime or the terror army, in the post-war era that will follow. There will be no place that was used, no site that was used, overground or underground, that will remain intact. And the IDF is simply going through its entire target list and eliminating everything overground and underground that was used by Hamas to perpetrate this massacre and plan further atrocities. So the message is there's no room for Hamas, not overground, not underground. It ultimately, it's a simple message, and we're seeing it implemented throughout the entire war every single day. Jacob Lappin, stay with us. Much more to discuss, because there are several fronts in this war, and now talking of which. Let's go north. Our correspondent, Zach Anders, is in northern Israel. So Zach, siren sounding in the northern community of Stuller earlier, warning of incoming rocket fire. What is the latest update there? And I understand more developments across the northern front as well. What can you tell us? Right, and we're still working to bring confirmation if those strikes did impact or cause any injuries. Right now, the IDF has not released any more information. They have, however, said that they have used their fighter jets to strike locations inside Lebanon once again. Of course, this would be a very large headline in weeks before October 7th, but since October 7th, this has been a very frequent event with the Israeli Air Force in simultaneous action with ground operations, outgoing artillery, which we have heard throughout the morning, striking, the IDF says, these Hezbollah positions just over the border. And again, that red alert was in for Stuller in the morning hours, and we're still working to bring more information about potential hits or injuries. Give us an idea, Zach, of the number of residents, people who live up close to that border who have evacuated in recent weeks, and your sense of the number of people who are still choosing to stay close to the border regardless of what is going on as we speak. Well, if you speak to some of the IDF forces, the soldiers that have been up here for some time, they will tell you that things have kind of slowly started to see some people want to return. That was that initial push of people when about a week after October 7th, when the activity here on the northern border really did heat up and heat it up very quickly. A lot of people did evacuate. Of course, many still have evacuated and are in locations all throughout Israel. Many have been provided accommodations through the Ministry of Tourism. They're in hotels, but others feel as though they don't have that option. They cannot leave either their homes or their communities. They're trying to maintain their livelihoods here. So some of the IDF soldiers that are manning these checkpoints and mostly telling people it's probably the best that you turn around or that you don't continue on into XYZ territory or community. Some of them have told me that they are seeing more people that want to return, but their message hasn't changed. The IDF and the ministries here continue to tell people, no, it is not safe. This conflict is continuing to escalate and that they are better served and safer and the southern central parts of Israel. Certainly sounds like that is the case. Appreciate the update. Correspondent Zach Anders, live from northern Israel, more to come from Zach in the coming hours. Jacob Leppin still in studio military and strategic affairs analysts so much has been made about Hassan Nasrallah and when and if he decides to get fully involved. How much of that is up to Iran? Give us the sense of what is at play right now. Right. And this report reminds us that out of the 250,000 or so internally displaced Israelis, 60,000 of them are from the north and they absolutely have every right to expect a clearer solution about their safety going forward. When it comes to Hezbollah and Iran decision making, we can try to go with one theory which is that Iran has instructed Hezbollah. Hezbollah is completely funded and sponsored and under the auspices of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iran has made good on its investment by telling Hezbollah your job in this war for now is to keep Israel distracted, to not allow Israel to fully focus on its mission of destroying Hamas. But and there's a very important but here don't go past the threshold of war. And as a result of that directive that we're seeing from Iran, we're seeing Hezbollah so far basically keep its attacks within a certain area of the north and we're seeing Israel reciprocate in a certain area of southern Lebanon with both sides exchanging those blows. Of course, this entire conflict in the north is initiated by Hezbollah and Iran and Israel is responding and both sides are attempting to stop it from turning into a full scale conflict. But that doesn't mean it won't happen. As the Americans like to say, unintended consequences, this entire situation is rife with the potential for unintended consequences. And therefore, even if the Iranians have told Hezbollah keep them distracted and don't do more than that, it could easily at any moment turn into something more than that. One rocket, one retaliation. One mistake. One mistake and we could be in a full scale situation. And that's why I refer to the northern arena as the elephant in the room. Even if we assume that they're not looking for war we could just as easily find ourselves in one anyway. Certainly a very troubling elephant in the room as you put it. Yakov Lapin stay with us much more to discuss. We've got news just in the war cabinet is set to meet tonight. We're hearing amid reports of progress on a hostage deal that coming through just moments ago the war cabinet meeting in the coming hours tonight local time amid reports of progress on a hostage deal and talking of which it's been more than five agonizing weeks for the relatives of the 239 hostages still being held by the Hamas terror group in Gaza all abducted during that brutal terror assault on the 7th of October. Families have been marching to Jerusalem with a message for local authorities and for the world. Our correspondent Pierre Stekelbach is with them on the way to Jerusalem. Pierre, what is the latest there? What can you tell us? What are the families saying? Rabinita, as you can see, supporters of those family are gathering here in the city of Moudain. The march itself is expected to arrive in a short amount of time. They have started their march in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and they're expected to arrive to Jerusalem on Saturday where they do want to rally in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residency in order to really apply also political pressure. But what we've been hearing from them is that this is also a way to keep in action to keep in motion because this has been really an agonizing five weeks for them. We're speaking about 239 people, stories, lives, names, and of course family members who are left without anything to do or anything really normal life for five weeks now, so this is a way of them to keep moving both politically but also to just keep their movement and also get together with other families here and also to show their presence on the roads of the country just like here in Moudain. And I'm here with Cheyenne Newman. He's a resident of the city who decided to come here and show solidarity Chey. Can you tell me again why did you decide to come out today? I came here to support all these families. I feel all the ache and the sadness of them, and I'm with them and with all the other citizens of Moudain to let them feel that we are with them and we support them and we really want, just like I said before, that all the hostages will come as soon as possible, although there is war and there are soldiers there, we want them back. We want them here. We want them to be with the families, to be happy again and to feel life. Now, do you think that a rally like this, a protest like this, if you will, will have any political implications? Will that cause anything? Will that cause any political action? I think that every person here in Israel that's coming to support in every place, it's another support, it's another koach, another strength that bring the hostages back and bring the reality to be again just like it was before. Shai Numan, thank you very much, and just like Shai, many people here from the city of Moudain have come together with Israeli flags just to show their empathy and their solidarity with those dozens of families who are on their way since Tuesday, really, they're expected to arrive here to the municipality very, very soon, and the plan is to visit the family of Noah Marziano, an IDF soldier who was kidnapped in Tugasa. Her death was announced two days ago. The families are going to visit that mourning family there in their home and after that, they will continue their march to Laton where they will rally this evening and tomorrow they will continue their way to Jerusalem. Again, they have been on their feet since Tuesday just to create a sense of togetherness, to create a sense of action, to create a space where those families can connect and to be together and to actually do something instead of just waiting in these really unimaginable five weeks that are behind them, and of course on Saturday to arrive to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to show their faces there and to make their demand once more heard to return the hostages as soon as possible and to apply all political pressure that is able to be applied there in that unimaginable situation for these families that are expected to arrive here very soon, Benita. And Pierre, as everybody knows too well right now, the 239 hostages include babies, children, women, the elderly, peace activists as well, and now we're hearing more and more reports about a potential hostage deal. What is the sentiment about that potential deal? What it will involve? Some families say all hostages or nothing. What is the latest feeling on the ground in terms of what it's going to take in terms of some kind of deal to get these hostages back home where they belong? Obviously, Benita for all of those families, the first priority right now is to get their loved ones back for many, whatever it takes, because again, these families have been without their loved ones, without any notification about the situation that loved ones are in for five weeks, now 41 days since the kidnappings, this is an unimaginable situation. So there are people who say, okay, they would agree to a hostage deal, they would support a hostage deal that would first and foremost achieve the release of women and children first. There are those who really are pressing for the release of all of the hostages at once so there are different sentiments here on the ground, but obviously for each and every one of them, the first or the biggest wish that they have right now is to hug their loved ones again and to be reunited with them and also to just receive a message about them. We've also been hearing the demand to let the Red Cross access those hostages and Gaza just to cater to their medical needs, especially when we speak about the elderly and children and also of course we do know that there are people who have medical conditions that need to be attended to in Gaza right now and again, not only that they did not see or did not hug their loved ones for the past five weeks, they have been without any notification about their situation, their health situation as well. So this is also one of the major demands to achieve the Red Cross to visit those hostages that are in Gaza right now. It's unfathomable to think that these families in many cases don't even know if their loved ones are alive or not, never mind their particular health conditions and efforts to get medication to them. For now, thank you very much, correspondent Pierre Stechelbach, live from Modi Inn on the way to Jerusalem, more to come from Pierre in the coming hours. Well, we're taking a very quick break now. When we get back, our breaking news coverage continues two minutes and we're back. This is I-24 News Breaking News Edition. Stay tuned. A state of war, families completely done down in their beds. We have no idea where we see as our soldiers are fighting on the front lines, but the general perception is something that certainly needs to be fought as well. This week on News 24, Israel under attack. News 24 in Spanish brings the analysis and the information of the events of the war, Spades of Iron. Exclusive interviews, reports from the war zone, the reaction of Spanish-speaking countries. News 24, the only medium in Spanish that keeps you informed and connected with the Latin community in Israel. News 24, únicamente en I-24 News. Welcome back to this Breaking News Edition. I'm Benita Levine. Our coverage continues. A terror attack at a checkpoint south of Jerusalem on Thursday morning, local time. Three terrorists driving up to the West Bank checkpoint and opening fire, wounding six people. Police say all three gunmen were killed by Israeli forces at the scene. Medics say one man in his 20s was in critical condition. The road that links Jerusalem with settlements in the southern West Bank was closed as a search was conducted for potential accomplices. Police commissioner Corby Shabtai was on the scene shortly afterwards. Let's take a listen. The terrorists were armed with M-16 rifles, pistols and axes and a huge amount of ammunition, which indicate that there was intention to probably carry out an attack on a completely different scale somewhere else. And only vigilance of the policemen who were at the checkpoint resulted in the thwarting of such an attack. Still in studio, military and strategic affairs analyst Yakov Lapin and joining us now, our senior defense correspondent, Jonathan Regev. So Jonathan, let's start with this shooting attack. Earlier on in recent hours, we're hearing M-16 rifles brandished in broad daylight. Talk to us about what is known. M-16 rifles, handguns, axes. So this was clearly not an operation or an incident that was meant to end at the checkpoint, but something further than that. There are also dates, which dates in water, which can be used by terrorists to hang on for quite some time. We saw in Gaza that the terrorists were able to hang on in the ground for three, even four days, eating only dates and drinking water. The amount of ammunition found. M-16, M-16's handguns, axes, a lot of ammunition, they indicate that the plan was for something much bigger than this. We're also hearing reports that did not confirm that this time that there were double plates, meaning perhaps, perhaps yellow license plates on the car, maybe Israeli license plates on the car. So it was to be less suspicious. The intent was to have a very big terror attack that didn't happen. It was fortunately stopped at the checkpoint just south of Jerusalem. The three terrorists killed. Six Israelis injured among the personnel of the checkpoint. One of them in severe condition. The others in moderate and light conditions all taken to hospitals in Jerusalem. We're obviously, for obvious reasons, the attention is mostly to Gaza also on the northern border. But let's remember, the West Bank is an active arena. It has not become less active than it was two months ago when we were speaking about this practically every day. And this continues to be the case. Since the beginning of the operation, we're speaking of more than 100 terrorists killed, more than 1,000 terrorists arrested. Very big numbers. And yes, most of the attention is in Gaza, but it's not as if the forces can lay down in the West Bank. There are constant incidents happening every day. Every day, we're not reporting them because all of the focus is on Gaza. And here, we're looking at those images in broad daylight. Yaakov, just at a checkpoint towards the West Bank, talk to us about the concerns. As we've been discussing, we know what's happening in the Gaza Strip right now. We know what's happening on the northern front. But the West Bank is simmering as this all unfolds. Well, even in normal year, the Shin Bet, the domestic intelligence agency, thwarts 4 to 500 terror plots from the West Bank every single year. So the threat has always been large. And now, it's going to be even larger. I think that there is going to be an effort both by localized terror cells and by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the West Bank to try and set this arena alight. And it's taking a lot of intelligence to prevent that. And the cells that slip through the radar, those are the ones that we see conducting the attacks. And that requires a very rapid response, as we saw today, to prevent that from turning into a disastrous attack. And of course, this was a very severe attack. But as the police chief said, it could have been so much worse than it already is. So this arena is absolutely a challenge, an ongoing challenge. And I think that Hamas, one of its hopes and ambitions in conducting the October 7th mass murder attack is to set the West Bank alight to weaken, to topple the Palestinian Authority, and to upend the entire regional agenda in the West Bank. So this is exactly what Hamas wants to see. But it would have wanted to see so much more of this. So the fact that this is not happening to the extent that it could is some consolation for Israeli security interests. How does this all play into those reports in the Washington Post that the initial attack on the 7th of October wasn't set only for southern Israel? The plan, according to that report, was for brutal attacks as well inside the West Bank? Well, it lines up perfectly with Hamas's ambition, which is to create a direct linkage between Gaza and the West Bank to topple the Palestinian Authority, which they've been trying to do for years, and to become the dominant Palestinian Islamist force instead of Fatah, instead of the Palestinian Authority. So that is an expression of that ambition. The attempt to reach the West Bank from Gaza by terror cells is a direct expression of that ambition and the entire strategic aim of upending the security and regional order that has been in place, replacing it with war, replacing it with chaos, and igniting every possible arena with a real emphasis on the West Bank. That that is an expression of what Hamas tried to do and has so far absolutely failed to do. I think it's important to say has failed to do, but certainly that's what it wants. Jonathan, the Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbas, where does he fit into all of this right now? Some are suggesting the day after in Gaza is going to involve Palestinian Authority involvement. And now we're seeing right now attacks like this in broad daylight, targeting civilians inside Israel at a checkpoint as well. What are you expecting to hear, if anything, out of the Palestinian Authority leader at this juncture? There's what we're expecting to hear, but there's above the ground and under the ground. Above the ground, you don't expect any sympathy on part of the Palestinian Authority towards anything Israel does. I wouldn't even be surprised if they'll find a way to blame Israel for the attack this morning at the checkpoint and say that three Palestinians were brutally murdered. It would not be surprising at this time. Having said that, the Palestinian Authority is, I would say they're not very sad, not sad at all to see Israel taking strong steps against Hamas in the West Bank. You just spoke about this. You just spoke about the fact that Hamas, if their terrorists were able to make their way from Gaza to the West Bank, which was not very far, or Fakim is already not too far from the West Bank, if they would be able to do that, that'd be a major blow to Israel. That would also be a major blow to the Palestinian Authority. And it could perhaps lead to certain transitions within the Palestinian Authority. But of course, that's something that they cannot say out to the public because of the public support that Hamas says in the West Bank for the moment. The civilian population in the West Bank is not going through what the civilian population in Gaza is going through. That is why they perhaps allow themselves to express a lot of support for Hamas, as those who take care of the Palestinian protectors of the Palestinian interest. But as far as the Palestinian Authority, they're very happy to see Hamas crashed, especially in the West Bank, where they pose a threat to their government. And let's remember, Hamas is in control since 2007 in Gaza. Who did they take this control over by force? Whose people did they literally throw off from the roofs? It was Fatah people. Therefore, the Palestinian Authority, I'm quite sure they're not sad at all to see Israel taking very strong steps against Hamas people in the West Bank. Do not expect them to make any public opinion out of it. They will keep it quiet. Regarding the next day in the Gaza Strip and whether the Palestinian Authority will be there or not, I'm not sure. Israel has tried it before since a disengagement in 2005. It worked for two years until they were toppled by Hamas. And Mahmoud Abbas himself, let's remember the man is 88 years old, not very healthy. He personally will probably not be part of what comes in the day after someone else from Fatah. Perhaps no one really knows. Jacob, briefly, your take on exactly what we're hearing, the role or lack of role of Mahmoud Abbas right now. I very much agree with this assessment. And I would just add that if we look at the West Bank as a model, the reason the Palestinian Authority wasn't toppled there is because the IDF goes in every night and eliminates Hamas, Palestinian Islamic jihad, and local terrorist threats. That will have to be replicated in the Gaza Strip, a version of that in order for any autonomy that is run there in the future to stand up and not be toppled by Hamas. There has to be a kind of copy-paste with adjustments to that model in the Gaza Strip. Otherwise, Hamas will come back. Jacob, Jonathan, stay with us. More to discuss. But right now, let's check back in with our team on the ground. We go back to our correspondent, Pierre Kloss. He's in southern Israel. Pierre, what update can you share this hour? Well, there's been a little lull in the bombing of terror targets, of presumed terror targets, in the vicinity of the Indonesia hospital as well as in Jibalia, where there was a lot of activity this morning. We know that the Israeli army took over the marina of Gaza City. 10 terrorists were killed. 10 tunnel shafts were divulged and are neutralized. We know there was also some gun battle near a university in Gaza City. And that's on the operational front. Now, on the humanitarian front, it's also very active. The corridor that goes from north to south along the Salahadin access has been reopened this morning from 9 AM to 4 PM local time. The residents of certain neighborhoods of Gaza City are urged to use that corridor and move south. There are two localized humanitarian poses in the fighting from 10 AM till 2 PM until in 20 minutes from now. In two neighborhoods of Gaza City, the Turkmen neighborhood and Shejaia, which is basically facing the Kibbutz Nahal Oz, which was the site of a massacre on October 7. And in addition, there have been flyers dropped this morning over the Betchanun area near the Indonesia hospital. Flyers dropped by a near-force transport aircraft, AirCulis C-130. And the same happened overnight on neighborhoods in eastern Hanyunas near the Gaza border with Israel. Three localities were urged to move south and seek shelter with the UNRWA 10 camps or in the area of El-Muassi. You have these guys that are here demonstrating their solidarity with Israel, I suppose, with the Israeli flag. And I've been trying to explain to you what the humanitarian situation is in the Gaza Strip. Now, these three villages have been requested, urged by the Israeli army, to move south, seek shelter in the 10th camp that UNRWA, the UN Relief Fund for Refugees from 1948 and their descendants up until today, to move there in those shelters or to the dedicated area that the IDF has suggested, the El-Muassi area, which is southwest of the Gaza Strip, west of the city of Rafah. That means, probably, that the ground offensive that started on October 27 will expand to south of Gaza and we certainly will be watching to see how that expansion unfolds. For now, thank you so much to our correspondent, Pierre Kloschendler, live from southern Israel, more to come from Pierre in the coming hours. Thank you, Pierre. Right now, let's go back to one of the developing security updates, a terror attack earlier, as we reported already at a checkpoint south of Jerusalem on Thursday morning. Three terrorists driving up to the West Bank checkpoint and opening fire, wounding six people. Police say all three gunmen were killed and now we have new developments on this story. Senior defense correspondent Jonathan Regev, what details can you share? So first, we can say that the car did arrive to the checkpoint with Israeli license plates, what we call here yellow license plates, trying to perhaps present themselves as Israelis and go through to Jerusalem and carry out their attacks. It's the fact that they created suspicion among the personnel, the security personnel, that basically instigated this whole thing and prevented a much, much bigger attack inside Jerusalem. We can tell that by the amount of ammunition that they had in the car. Second, we have identity of two of the three terrorists, as it seems. Two of them connected to Hamas. One of them is Abdel Kader Kawasme, known to be a Hamas activist. His father is Abdallah Kawasme, whoever lived here and was following events 20 years ago. He remembers the name, Abdel Kawasme, who was a senior. Hamas terrorist operating out of the city of Hebron, which was killed by Israeli forces 20 years ago. So that's one terrorist. The second one, Hassan Mamun Kapisha, and his father was actually one of the prisoners who was released in the Shalith deal in 2011 and deported to Turkey. Also connected to Hamas. So we can assume, we've been speaking all morning about the fact that this is not a lone wolf attack. This is something coordinated. If three people come into a checkpoint with an Israeli license plate with so much ammunition, this is something that has been well-planned far from being a lone wolf attack. As it seems, if two of the three names are connected to Hamas, we can probably assume that Hamas is the one behind it, trying to bring also the West Bank into this war so far. They've not been successful, and let's hope it remains this way. And Yakovic speaks to how vigilant people within the country need to be right now. This is not only a situation unfolding in the Gaza Strip right now. 100%. People need to be vigilant. There is a heightened terror alert for the whole of the country. These kinds of cells can try and infiltrate, and people need to be on guard. And this looks like a Hamas effort, as we were just talking about before this update, to activate the West Bank arena. I would add to that that Iran has also been very busy over the past year trying to get terror funds into the West Bank, trying to smuggle weapons, firearms, IEDs. And they may have been disappointed with the results so far, so this could also be linked to an Iranian push saying, look, we've invested quite heavily here in terrorist capabilities. Where the attacks, we can't rule out some kind of Iranian push either to set this arena aflame, which is something that Ayatollah Khamenei himself has said is an Iranian goal. So the Iranian fingerprints can't be ruled out either in one way or another. Yaakov Jonathan, disturbing developments. Thank you for your insight. Stay with us right now. We're going to be taking a deeper look at the Hamas threat, which we've just been talking about, the ideology behind the terror group, a group that aims to annihilate Jews. Yaron Avraham grew up as an Israeli Arab. His family sent him to be educated at the most radical mosque in Gaza and a few years later, he did the unthinkable. He decided to convert to Judaism and serve in the Israeli army. Our French senior defense correspondent, Matthias Inbar, has his story. Let's take a look. I was nine years old. One of my sisters, who was 16, was murdered by my brothers in the name of so-called family honor, a murder inside the house. I was a child. I didn't see it happen. It was in the next room. But we heard everything. I knew what had happened there. You can imagine what a night it was. Very cruel, very difficult. She was the one I was closest to out of all my siblings. I started asking questions. What happened to her? Where did she go? What did you do to her? And as soon as I started asking questions, they felt in danger and decided to get me away from the house. They probably felt threatened by my question. Didn't want me to know what happened. They knew I heard and saw some things that night. So they probably felt it was putting them at risk. And here, your parents decided to send you in the 1980s or so to a mosque, the most difficult mosque. That's right. They sent me to Gaza. I don't know if they knew the level of education in this mosque or if they simply wanted to get rid of me. I found myself in a mosque, one of the most extreme in Gaza. There, I began to get a very radical education, which was supposed to prepare me for a martyr's death, what we call becoming a Shahid. By all means necessary. I mean, it's a very cruel education, very difficult. Most of it is structured around death. You're forced to remember every morning that your ultimate goal is to return to the ground as quickly as possible. So it's walking in cemeteries, being taken to see terrorists killed by the IDF, kissing them, their hands, their feet, to get inspiration so that we want to be killed like them. The highlight of this training, we were all 13 or 14, taking us in groups. They'd make us lay in a real grave for 10 to 15 seconds while they stand over us and read aloud verses from the Qur'an to inspire us, to evoke the feeling of the moment of ascension when the soul rises to heaven. Half of us almost didn't make it out of there because we were so scared. Personally, it took me almost 15 years to get over that experience. What you're telling is something unbelievable. And I've even heard in another interview that it is so radical that they can even commit murder in front of your eyes. There was an incident in which two children, 13-year-old boys, who were suspected of being intimate with each other, at around 4 a.m., we were pulled out of our beds. They explained to us what the kids were accused of, then they just cut their heads off right in front of us. They did this to make an example out of them, to instill fear. This thing we witnessed, to normal people, it sounds very extreme, but we lived in an environment of death. It's like we're living in an environment of death Islam is a religion that sanctifies death. Certainly, for this group, many actions are punishable by death. And from their point of view, two boys being inappropriately intimate or doing such things inside the mosque, this is something they cannot stand. This is one of the most severe offenses in Islam. It's not a thing of the past. It's still happening to this day. People still flee Gaza and the West Bank over this. Even Israeli Arabs who have these different inclinations they run away from home. And if they are caught, they are punished immediately. Three to four months ago, a girl who took part in the Pride Parade was murdered at the entrance of her village as soon as she returned from the parade. This happened inside of Israel. So in Gaza, in a mosque like this, it's not regarded as extreme. This is what I'm trying to convey. This is the message. That these things there are not seen as extreme. They advocate death, and it also links to what we saw on October 7th. This cruelty did not surprise me. I was surprised they succeeded, but not what they've done. I don't want to shock you, but what happened on October 7th is not even the height of their cruelty. They have many, many more methods. They hate Jews simply because they are Jews. There's no other reason. They say it's because of the occupation? In the Quran it's written that the land of Israel was given to the people of Israel. In the Quran, not in the Bible. We were taught blind hatred with no rhyme or reason. It's just a religious matter. So what's behind such hate? It's because of their bigotry. And you came out with Jewish and religious symbols. You come out of this nightmare. There's no other word. And you say to yourself, I want to be a fighting soldier, in the Givati brigade serving in Gaza. The first thing I wanted to do when I left, the first thing I did, is to study Judaism. I discovered something that was completely new to me. Something that in Judaism in Israel and in general in the Western world is taught from a young age, the sanctity of life. I discovered that I'm allowed to live. I'm allowed to dream. Jews took me in. They didn't ask questions. Didn't care if I was Arab or not. They let me stay in their home. They gave me food. They kept me safe from all my brothers. Kept me safe from dangers. These people instilled in me confidence, a certainty that I am a human being like any other. Taught me the sanctity of life, which means go learn, go grow, go be a human being, go to the beach, have friends. I didn't even know how to thank them. I didn't know how to behave with ordinary people, how to have a conversation with them. I didn't even know how to eat, because there you've eaten a certain way. I didn't know how to hold a knife for a fork. They had to teach me everything starting from scratch. When you see soldiers inside the Gaza Strip, what does that do to you? It makes me want to be there. I would like to come full circle when I was a human being who sanctifies life. The same earth I smelled from the grave, I want to smell it today, wearing Tefillin, holding the Israeli flag. I left that place. I literally left the grave. Today I have a family. I am alive. I have a mission to bring the truth to light. You told me right before we started that you were 500 meters from Shifa Hospital as a Givati soldier. At that moment, what do you say to yourself? I was still very angry about what I went through. I was still very angry. But I knew I am on the right side. The goal of the Jewish soldier is not to murder, not to kill. We see it even now. Soldiers risk themselves to give children in Gaza water as we saw a couple of days ago, to give them food, to give them an opportunity to escape, an opportunity to leave, an opportunity to keep themselves safe. What the Muslims didn't do on October 7th, they didn't give anyone a chance to say, didn't give women a chance to escape. They did horrible things to women, children, babies in front of their families. That's the difference. Me, whether in the past, when I was in the army, today, and even now as I'm in the reserves, I stand for the people who sanctify life. I want to fight for the truth. The problem is with this radical Islam, which is also spreading in Europe and in other places. And I know for a fact that those who are currently protesting in Europe are not the Europeans. It's not the Europeans who are against Israel. It's the Arabs who are against Israel. For years, and during the guardian of the walls, I have been warning anyone who would listen that they are capable of the horrors we saw them commit last month. People didn't believe me. They told me I'm exaggerating that it's not possible that they are not capable of such things. These days I tell people in Europe, in the U.S. and in other places, it's not possible to stay safe and keep their children safe, keep their daughters safe. They are saying in interviews that they want Sharia law. They want Islamic law. They will not move from this. In Islam, the sanctity of the land is greater than the sanctity of life. Every place they reach, they see as Muslim territory. Anywhere, not only in Israel. People think this is Israel's problem. People should thank Israel. The world should stand up for the right of Israel and the whole world. Israel is fighting for the sanctity of life. Thank you very much for being with us. It was a pleasure. Chilling insights in that interview, Yaakov Lepp and your takeaways. It's an extraordinary interview and if we focus on the things that he said, the brainwashing that occurred at that Gazan mosque, the insights that he shares, I think it's so important to listen, every day. Essentially what's happening there is worshiping death. It's a death cult. And then he changes sides and discovers the sanctity of life.