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00:00I mean, Israel is just basically waiting and preparing.
00:05The Israeli prime minister says that Israel is ready for any scenario.
00:09The Israeli spokesman for the army gave a televised
00:14a national address last night saying, you know, we are very prepared
00:18for any scenario.
00:20We ask citizens to be vigilant.
00:22But as of right now, there's still no changes to the home front command.
00:28In other words, the public has not been told to stay near shelters
00:33or to go into those safe rooms or to stay off the streets.
00:38But I can tell you can feel the tension even here in Jerusalem,
00:43which is not even expected to be a direct target.
00:47But as we saw back in April when Iran launched over 300
00:52ballistic and cruise missiles and drones towards Israel,
00:56some of those were shot down over Jerusalem.
00:58And certainly we heard those huge blasts and sirens went off here.
01:03So everyone, you know, is bracing for this response.
01:07We do know that the U.S.
01:09has increased their naval presence here in the region.
01:15And that Netanyahu, the prime minister, spoke last night with the American
01:19president, who, again, reaffirmed
01:24America's commitment to Israel's security.
01:26And it's clear that the U.S.
01:29is talking with its allies and those here in the region.
01:33Jordan, Egypt, the UAE, others
01:37to try to get together a similar coalition,
01:40which helped Israel in April shoot down most of those rockets.
01:46Now, Hania was believed to play a key role
01:49in negotiations surrounding a potential truce.
01:51Where does this then leave those discussions?
01:56Well, it's clear that the ceasefire negotiations are now on hold
02:01and it's unclear when they'll be picked up again.
02:05You know, that was expected.
02:06And obviously, the Israeli political leadership,
02:10the prime minister made a calculation that it was in his estimation
02:15and perhaps the defense establishment backed him.
02:18It was more important to take Hania out
02:22than to keep him in his position as the negotiator.
02:26Let's remember Ismail Hania was no moderate.
02:31That's for sure.
02:32He was as against
02:36opposed to the existence of the state of Israel as any other
02:40in the Hamas leadership.
02:42He had not shown he was able in the last six months
02:46to get Yachis Sinwar, the military leader in Hamas,
02:49to show any flexibility with this deal.
02:52He couldn't get out the women and young girls that Hamas is holding.
02:58And it appears that the Israeli government
03:01didn't see his role in the ceasefire talks as that effective or important
03:06after six months.
03:08Clearly, this doesn't help the ceasefire talks because they're now on hold.
03:13And there is some anger here in Israel
03:16from the families of the hostages and the public
03:20that, you know, they're asking a lot of questions why
03:24they couldn't have waited to kill Hania until after a deal was done
03:29and that, you know, they feel that this is going to endanger
03:32further endanger the lives of their loved ones who are now
03:37they just marked 300 days in captivity yesterday.