Pleased to say, Orly Goldschmitz, Spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy here in the UK, is with us this morning to talk about lots of things, not least the fact that two more hostages have been released. Tell me about the operation.

It was not an easy operation. We knew about those two hostages for some time already, but we needed to find the right time for the operation to succeed.

So you knew where they were for some time?

We knew where they were for some time, yeah. They were hidden in an apartment where civilians are living. They were on the second floor, and they were evacuated in an hour, in the middle of the night. They are safe. One of them is 60 years old, the other one is 70 years old. They're safe. They're now in hospital with their families in Israel. It's very good news for us. We still have 134 hostages in the Gaza Strip. You have met some of the parents of those hostages, so you know the agony for them. We have heard that they're being tortured. Some of them are being abused physically, sexually, so we need to do everything we can in order to get our hostages back home.

Do you know where some of the other hostages are being kept?

I cannot comment on that, but I'm sure we have some information. We know that some of them are used by Seignoire and others as human shields. They are hidden in the tunnels together with them. It's a very difficult operation for us, but we will make sure everything we can in order to have them back home.

Perhaps you can confirm these figures, 67 people, including civilians civilians died during this operation.

I cannot confirm the numbers, but I can tell you that we really are trying to do everything we can in order not to harm civilians. The problem is that Hamas are They're constantly hiding behind civilians. They're using them as human shield. They're using children, women, families. As you saw, they are putting hostages within houses of families, normal families, regular people. They're hiding under UN schools, UN facilities in mosques. So from the moment that Hamas are using their own people as human shield, it becomes very, very difficult for us to avoid civilian casualties. But of course, every loss of life is a tragedy. We don't want that to happen.

It's a heavy civilian price, though, isn't it?

It's a heavy civilian price. If Hamas decided to surrender and bring us our hostages back, everything could end today.

What's the latest on the Israeli offensive in Rafe? What is the plan?

As I've told you, there are still a lot of hostages that we need to get back, and we need to make sure that Hamas no longer has the capabilities to harm Israelis. We know that they're still in Raqqa, so we will make sure before we go into a grand invasion that there is a safe plan to evacuate the civilians so that we will really minimize the civilian casualties. Like I said before, if Hamas wants to surrender, this can end without a grand invasion in Raqqa.

One and a half million people in Raqqa or in the environs, where will they go?

There will be a plan for them to evacuate. Where? It's something that is been decided, that has been thought of clearly, and our Prime Minister has said that they will not go into Raqqqa before there is a clear plan for them to evacuate, for them to find a safer place.

But they're basically up against the fence. With Egypt. There's nowhere else for them to go unless they start to move north again.

But you do understand that if we leave it like that, Hamas will still be there. They still have the capabilities to harm us, and they are being-But this is a separate question.

You're You're saying that there are places for them to go? I'm asking you where that is.

I'm saying that there will be a plan for them to go. It can be maybe going back up north where places are safer, but we will not do anything that will harm civilians on purpose. We are not trying to target civilians at all. On the opposite, we're trying to do everything we can in order to avoid civilian casualties. We've sent leaflets in the past, and we've even helped civilians to evacuate from the north to the south while Hamas were trying to shoot at those civilians. Our war is only against Hamas. There are the terrorists who, on the seventh of October, have decided to go on a war against us. They were the one who murdered our families. They were the one who kidnapped our people. There are still two children there. There are still 19 women who've been sexually abused. There are still a hundred and plus hostages that are mistreated. We need to make sure that Hamas no longer is able to harm us. I can tell you something, when Hamas will be off the ground, Palestinians will have a better life because Hamas are stealing food from there, they're stealing money from them.

How can they have a better life when most of their infrastructure from the images that we have seen has been destroyed?

It has been destroyed because Hamas is in power. But when Hamas will no longer be in power, we are all hoping that there will be-Israel will help rebuild Gaza. Israel is not willing to live with enemies on the other side. Whenever there'll be a different body that will understand that they cannot teach their children to hate us and that they cannot reward people to kill Jews, then we'll be able to discuss, and we're hoping to live in peace with our Palestinian members.

Who will be in charge in Gaza?

It's something that's been discussed together with our allies, together with the Arab world, something that will be discussed, and we will find, hopefully, a solution that will last. We want to live in peace with our neighbors. We achieved peace with Egypt, with Jordan, with Morocco, with the UAE, with other countries.

How much longer before you, in Israel, IDF, Israel, Netanyahu's opinion, you rid the Gaza strip of Hamas?

We don't want to rid the Gaza strip of the Matt. We want to get rid of Hamas. Hamas. Sorry. We are thinking about another month, but I'm not-But there's no plan in place for what happens once Hamas has gone. I'm not an expert in military actions, so I cannot speak for that. But I can tell you that we don't want to harm civilians. I can tell you that we want to get rid of Hamas. That's one of our goals. I can tell you that we want to make sure our hostages are back home within their families.

If Hamas hands back the hostages, then you will not advance on Rafa.

If Hamas and back our hostages, we need to discuss that because as I said, as long as Hamas is in power and has the capabilities to harm us, we cannot let that happen.

You would understand that if-So even if you advance on Rafeh, even if the hostages are released, the ones that are still with us, hopefully they are many, then the IDF will still advance on Rafeh because the Israeli aim is to rid the Gaza Strip of Hamas.

The Israeli aim is to make sure Hamas cannot harm Israelis, cannot threaten Israelis, cannot kidnap, murder Israelis. We will have to do whatever we will have to do in order to be sure that we are safe along our borders. I'm sure your country would do the same. Every country need to make sure that their people are safe.

What I'm trying to get at is no matter what Hamas If Hamas does, Netanyahu will still move on Raafal.

That's not true. If Hamas surrenders, Netanyahu will not move. Netanyahu has no problem with Raafal. His problem and our problem is with Hamas terrorists.

What was your view on the would-be Labor MP standing for election at the end of this month and his comments about the events of the seventh of October.

As you know, I'm a foreign diplomat. I'm not going to comment on domestic issues, but I can tell you that from the beginning of this war, the Labor Party, as well as the government, have been clear in the fact that Israel has the right and the duty to defend itself from Hamas. I want to thank both the Labor Party and the government for that.

Okay. Thank you for taking the time to join us. We do appreciate it. Thank you.