This is cnn breaking news. Hello everyone and thanks for joining us. Im Christiane Amanpour and london and we continue with our major breaking news, israel declaring its war with hamas following an unprecedented attack on israel where at least 70 people and maybe more according to officials , are dead, and 985 wounded, again, the numbers are probably already higher and expected to rise. The attack catching israel by surprise, at Sunrise Hamas launched their offensive by air, sea and land, the fighters infiltrated israeli towns and launched rockets. Scenes of Urban Warfare as gunfights unfolded between israel and hamas. The israeli president reacted saying we saw the true face of hamas a Terrorist Army whose only goal is the coldblooded murder of innocent men, women and children. I call upon the upon the family of nations, this war waged upon us mark a line in the sand. Israel is watching airstrikes into gaza were palestinian say hundreds have been killed. New video shows a Tower Collapsing in gaza city following an airstrike. Israel mobilizing its troops and calling up tens of thousands of reservists. We also heard moments ago major u. S. Airlines including delta and american are now canceling flights into israel this weekend, according to flight aware. Senior international correspondent, sam kiley is joining me now. So, lets get the latest from what you know and some of the context, sam . Reporter christine, what we know of the death toll is the israelis are saying that they lost 70 people and nearly 1000 injured after this very complex attack that was launched completely unexpectedly by hamas outside of the gaza strip using rockets largely as cover for very complex series of infiltrations by land, by sea, and in the air. According to the Israeli Defense forces, gun battles are continuing, Inside Israeli Territory and we also saw earlier in the day, the militants able to attack a Police Station or near a Police Station opening fire on civilians as well as attacking Military Bases, they been under attack, the idea that they had lost contact with one of those relatively small relative Military Bases on the other side of the gaza strip. The israelis also lost a tank and hamas is claimed to have taken a number of people hostage. These hostages have been confirmed by the Israeli Defense forces saying they are prisoners of war, that is an emphatic decision to describe them as such to make sure that they are treated properly under the terms of the Geneva Convention and theres Video Evidence of civilians that have also been taken hostage. Hamas says many have been taken inside the gaza strip. All of this adding up to a catastrophic failure of intelligent for the israelis, the likes of which havent been seen since the yonka poor or, almost 50 years ago almost to today but on top of that, this is an ongoing operation where the pledge to strike back coming from the israeli Prime Minister, netanyahu, who says they will be, hamas will be hit back in ways they could not imagine the problem for the israelis that if there are significant numbers of hostages inside the gaza strip, that kind of Military Operation is going to be extremely problematic. They will be described and used as human shields, this is Israeli Soldiers and civilians, and on top of that, theyve got the wider problem of a possible confrontation spreading into the west bank or possibly lebanon. From what you are hearing, do you think this is something that, youve touched on it a little bit, but the response by israel could in fact be and will in fact be a Ground Incursion . The pressure on the government and indeed the Military Advice may be to go in on the ground because soldiers believe that there is ultimately going to be a Military Solution to these sorts of problems, the israelis are not unique in this but they tried it in the past and it hasnt worked. Its probably inevitably what the hamas group and other militant groups in gaza have planned for, the assumption will be that the israelis want to go in on the ground and they will have planned to Counter Measures at the lease to try and deal with that, firstly, secondly, you got the problem of the hostages and then the problem of the troops coming facetoface with militants inside the gaza strip, making it an incredibly messy, very problematic environment to operate in militarily, you cant go in and flatten an entire area, there are many millions of, from memory, citizens living in gaza, its very densely populated. Weve seen is really striking at what they say are hamas headquarters in other locations already around the gaza strip but i think there will be call for a Ground Incursion and thats probably what hamas once, thats part of their trap, in planning, i suspect. They have been talking to al jazeera, senior members and saying they are prepared for the worst case scenario, prepared for a big battle, those are their words, right now, thank you. Now cnn Nick Robinson has just landed in tel aviv where sirens are going off, nick, what can you tell us from there . Reporter we just landed in the airport a few moments ago. We got off the plane onto buses, and the sirens sounded, everyone got off the bus and lay on the tarmac, trying to hide behind pits of Airport Equipment out there, and overhead we could hear above the sound of the sirens, we could hear the sound of what seemed to be Iron Dome Intercept missiles banging in the sky above us. I did lose count of how many there were, perhaps i would say more than 50 banks, obviously this is something that israel has been going through, but this is what has greeted people as they are landing at the Main International airport. Quite an experience, looking at the faces of a lot of people, theres a lot of concern out there lying on the runway about what was all around them and what may happen tonight, christiane . The fact that the airport is open , i know its open and closed depending on the situation but you saw it happening in front of your eyes and its dark and that adds to the drama and the fear. Thank you very much. Lets talk now to martin, the former u. S. Ambassador to israel, and a very prominent member of previous administrations in the negotiations between israel and its arab neighbors. Ambassador, welcome back to the program. Can i ask you where you think this is going maximum asking and not just because i think you have a crystal ball but you have seen the cycles happened so many times in the past. So, i think its the correct thing we need to be worried about, because the Escalation Potential is very real here. Your reporter refer to the possibility that hezbollah could join in. Has bullock has 150,000 rockets that it could fire into the main Population Centers of israel if it gets drawn in. There could be an eruption in the west bank, more Terror Attacks there, there could be an explosion in jerusalem, highly sensitive for religious regions and of course, israel could well explode in the situation. Theres five fronts that could develop as the result of the starting of this war and israels response because israel is going to go in with great anger into gaza and i fear thousands of palestinians will die in the next week or so so the potential for escalation is very high. Ambassador, what would you advise President Biden to communicate to Prime Minister netanyahu , how is that scenario avoided . Well President Biden has got to put his arm around president netanyahu and make sure that he feels his love and support and then, try to urge some restate restraint, its impossible to do in circumstances where it was a Surprise Attack, Something Like 40 israelis taken hostage and so many killed her that is going to fall on deaf ears. Hes got to try to get influence on hamas to stop shooting the rockets in. But in essence, tried to calm things down. But in this environment, its extremely difficult to do and its likely to fail. Its really a bleak scenario. Its very bleak and deep. I want to know what you thought and i dont know what your but former Prime Minister allmond told me that yes hamas has to be dealt with but yes also, there has to be connection with the Palestinian Authority and to actually talk to people about peace. You also may have heard mustapha, a very Senior Palestinian in the west bank talk about this is a 56 year occupation, and we, too, have our right to selfdefense. I was just curious on your reaction, because you have been in the middle of these negotiations for so many decades. I couldnt help reflect on that statement because 50 years ago, they launched a supply Surprise Attack on israel he made or in order to make peace and straight afterwards Henry Kissinger was able to launch the Peace Negotiations because there was an error partner, the leader of egypt that was capable and intent upon making peace. Here we have hamas, which is intent on destroying israel and the Palestinian Authority which has no legitimacy, before this crisis erupted, and certainly now, will have no legitimacy if it holds out an olive branch to israel. The circumstances are very different and much more difficult to see how a political process can come out of that. Having said that, israel doesnt have a solution other than to try to resort to talks which obviously broke down. That will require israel to go and on the ground in gaza and youve already been discussing the consequences of that. Once israel gets into gaza, the question is, who did they get out in favor of . Who will take control of gaza, if they destroy hamas there, if they can. And that is an impossible situation, they cant make peace with hamas, but you have a situation here, which is not ripe for any political process for the time being. And each time weve seen these in this obviously is the most daring and deadly attack by hamas and all the decades that the standoff has been going on, but in every time weve seen this, weve had war, weve had israelis killed, weve had, you know, the Israelis Retaliating Into Gaza then, allmond said, comes the Public Opinion because so many civilians are killed and the whole cycle continues. And nothing is resolved, it keeps getting kicked down the road. Do you think thats whats happening or is this a much more serious threat to israel than youve ever seen . Its clearly a serious threat. But the biggest problem for israel is its total System Failure from the intelligence to the defense to the deterrence to preparations for dealing with the hostage situation. The dysfunctional government, over the judicial reforms so weve got a situation where the potential partners on each side, for some kind of solution dont exist at the moment, and im afraid, its going to be more war, christiane, before we can get to talking about peace, and thats tragic for the israelis, tragic for the palestinians maybe everybody will come to their senses, eventually. What im afraid, its far too soon to predict that. Thank you very much for your wisdom and we send you our very best wishes. Joining us now is the former israeli ambassador to the United States, michael rn. Thank you for being with us. Hello, christiane. You heard martin, a great friend of israel, longtime negotiator, has been around the block for so many decades on this issue, and his prognosis is bleak , israel is left with a very difficult option and theres no necessary end in sight to this war right now. Do you agree . Unfortunately i agree, i would make a finer point, and that is, many analyst, and i include myself among them, at have been predicting this for sometime, because of the rather unique confluence of strategic and geopolitical circumstances. Israel perceived as we, america perceived as not being involved. I havent heard iran very much on today, the iranians, are afraid, afraid of the impending saudi israeli peace which may result in Saudi Nuclear station. They are afraid of donald trump returning to the presidency and these analysts again, myself included saying that iran could trigger a war and stop this process, and nobody is talking very much about the piece today. And yes, this could escalate. I do not see the Israeli Government being able to withstand Public Opinion which is going to demand a different and to this, the previous five rounds added in a stalemate. Years ago, this is 12 years ago, a soldier was taken hostage, and what it did to pasta policy, now we are talking about dozens of hostages, penetration of our buildings, farms, dozens of civilians killed, we dont even know how many. Israeli Public Opinion will not be satisfied with return to the status quo but will hamas, will it remain quiet, doubtful. Will there be mounting attacks within israel, very probably. Hezbollah, Will Hezbollah Sit by side . 150,000 rockets in their hands, but its more of the fact that those rockets are buried underneath 200 villages in south lebanon, in houses and the houses are occupied families in the israeli army has been training to go, weve been talking about a potential, Regional Conflict. This is the beginning. Its not even the end of the beginning, and people in washington i believe have to be thinking about a, how United States will stand behind israel, the world it will be watching very closely to see how the United States stands by its allies, thats been attacked in an unprovoked manner by an organization which desires israels destruction. Its not about a Peace Process, if anything, its because of a Piece Process with saudi arabia let me ask you about that, actually i want to start, we will talk about the morning after but youve mentioned twice the Peace Process and israel apparently has been quite keen to normalize beyond just the uae and the other arab states that it has but also with saudi arabia, and i know it might seem early days in this war, to be talking about this but since you brought it up, i want to play for you something about this specific issue that a lot of people have been talking about, where does this end up now . I spoke to the Prime Minister of cutter about the specific issue and where they saw the issue of israel and saudi arabia normalizing, this was obviously before todays event, just take a listen we will get it organized but anyway, basically what he said was we actually dont have an is an issue with israel, our situation is about the palestinians and its about getting that palestinian situation normalized, and you heard mustapha on the show talking about, this is a 56 year occupation that they too have the right to defend themselves, and this seems to be whats clear okay weve got the qatar Prime Minister. I really want you to react to this. We dont have a war as a region. The reason we have the conflict with israel is over the occupational. What we are asking for is the safety of the palestinians. That came out in 2001 and countries have adopted that. We believe that the starting point should be between the israelis and the palestinians. Normalization happening between countries, at the end of the day, no one has the right to question that, no one has the right to question our Foreign Policy but we think from our perspective the israelis issue is of the palestinians. Qatar, straight on that, the unmistakable message and all the arabs who israel has normalize, say the same thing. Its early days obviously because of what has just happened but that is the endgame, right . Isnt it the endgame . I dont know if its a game at all, thats the problem. Im being honest with you i mean a strategic resolution. I think you can have a better management of a conflict and not necessarily a resolution and thats been the problem for decades. Weve been looking for Solutions LikeEndgame Solutions where none are possible. The president of the Palestinian Authority has been in office 18 years in a four year term, he doesnt run again because he knows hamas would take over. Imagine if there were Palestinian State on the west bank, imagine if this happened not just in his relatively sparsely populated is ready i live in south tel aviv, i see brown from my back window. Again, i cant speak for government, i think i can speak the majority of israelis by saying we would very much desire to have a solution to the palestinian problem, to have peace with them, of course we want that, but right now, what does it mean to have a Palestinian State thats going to turn into gaza literally overnight, and the reason they are alive is because we keep them alive, we prevent hamas from knocking them off and its disturbing to listen to his interview and say we have a right to defend ourselves, the palestinian right to defend ourselves mean killing well and women and children, holding them hostage . I watched a picture of a Palestinian Terrorist making a v sign over a 90yearold israeli woman in a wheelchair. Is that legitimate selfdefense against any political situation . The vast majority of israelis, maybe even the extreme left well understand that right now theres no better solution to managing the situation. I can think of many ways to do that but right now the big issue now is how is the United States going to stand by its israeli ally as we are facing the possibility of a very real possibility of a Regional Conflict and how are we going to think about the morning after . We will keep getting those you know, talking to you about it, thank you so much for being with us. The breaking coverage of this unprecedented situation continues right after a break. We will be right back. Back with our breaking news, war in israel, hamas launched a surprised attack which may have international ramification. Authorities are Warning Airlines to exercise caution. U. S. Embassy Personnel In Jerusalem are sheltering in place. Lets go to natasha bertram, rather he was officials are watching every development. What are we hearing from where you are at the State Department . The Secretary Of State released a statement of course contending this taxing we will remain in close contact with her israeli partners and he reiterated that theres never any justification for terrorism. The secretary has been at the white house all morning attending meetings and calling for foreign counterparts. Director burns of the cia also canceled a planned trip to a National Security conference this weekend in order to remain in washington and help provide support to President Biden and National Security discussions according to a source, and the Secretary Of Defense lloyd austen, has also spoken to his israeli counterparts, to reiterate the u. S. Support for the israelis amid this ongoing situation and also, to ensure that the israelis will have what they need to defend themselves in the coming days. And that is key here because the u. S. Has a significant stockpile of weaponry inside israel, one of the biggest war reserves that the u. S. Has in the world that israel could potentially tap into if they get permission from the United States and if this conflict continues to escalate. It remains to be seen how this will continue to unfold bidens National Security team is trying to get a handle on it at this point. You talk about National Security and the cia chief, are you hearing anything about what might have happened in the intelligence world . Even the United States . I think its safe to say that officials written large were caught offguard and they are certainly going to have questions about what israel new. It appears that the israelis were also caught offguard, so the question would be, how did the israelis allow Something Like this to happen, allow such a largescale attack, something the israelis have said repeatedly that they would be able to detect. Lone wolfe attacks are harder to detect but this kind of planned attack, something that the israelis would presumably be able to detect in their own backyard, so questions will be discussed of course between the u. S. And israelis about how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again, christiane. They managed to tell the world what was happening when russia invaded ukraine. Itll be interesting to find out, thank you so much, natasha. U. S. Airlines are diverging and canceling flights down for israels main airport. Aviation correspondent pete montagne joins us. What can you tell us . This is a very bold bulletin from this, they said theres a real risk to aviation because of this attack and they say that, to airlines, they should exercise extreme caution due to the ongoing conflict situation. I want to read this to you from the israeli Civil Aviation authority, the ongoing conflict between israel and gazabased extremists are advised to review Security Threat information and the thing they are underscoring care is to expect delays and maybe even carry extra fuel because of what is happening in the area. 43 flights into the Tel Aviv Airport have been canceled, 15 in total, 21 delayed. Whats happening now here in the usa is that airlines that operate flights to israel are canceling those flights, delta and American Airlines both have flights from jfk planned for today and tomorrow, those have both been canceled. United airlines has canceled a flight tomorrow in fact it had a flight in route to tel aviv from San Francisco today. A 13 hour journey, about seven hours into it. The airline decided it was simply too risky and turned the flight around. And on the way back to San Francisco, so a very dangerous and fluid situation. Indeed, and to your point, our colleague, Nick Robinson who was on the air moments ago, having just landed there, obviously there were delays as well and there were sirens that went off and they could hear explosions as they all hit the ground in the distance. You mentioned American Airlines and or eus airlines, and this notice has gone out sort of far and wide, do you think International Airlines are also following the same proportions . This is an international notice, the International Civilization authority, the authority say they will continue to update this and look at the risk to flights coming in and out of israel, and the situation will develop. This is potentially just the opening salvo, and they will continue to reassess and make sure because we know theres a risk to aviation. So they really have to be careful re. Thank you so much. Now we are of course following the the latest developments in special coverage continues right after a break. My sport p. Contra Costa CollegeSaw Potential in me that i didnt know i had. Focus. Determination. Drive. Contra Costa College helped me blaze the trail. Now im a comet, and theres no stopping me. Come on, this is your shot. Take it. Join the team at contra Costa College. Start today at contracosta. Edu we are monitoring the latest developments from washington after hamas launched unprecedented attacks against israel. The Biden Administration faces a situation involving the palestinians, the u. S. Played a Critical Role behind the scenes when violence erupted between gaza and israel two years ago. I want to bring in White House Correspondent mj leave for more. Mj, in the past, white house officials have always tried to work with the parties, with their allies. Its always been known that the u. S. Holds the most credibility and influence in that situation. It seems that the landscape is somewhat changing . Thats right, christiane, and i dont have to tell you that you officials, as they are monitoring the situation and trying to get a clear assessment of what actually went on, there are some serious questions that are emerging, even as that Intelligence Gathering Activity is happening in the first few hours of the attack. One very serious question is, why did the israeli seem so wholly unaware of this sort of scale of attack that was headed their way . Israeli officials have been pretty open in saying in the aftermath of this attack that they were essentially caught offguard, that is going to be deeply concerning for u. S. Officials. Theres also just the question of what is Benjamin Netanyahu going to do next . President biden, spoke with the Prime Minister earlier today. He would have some sense as to where his Frame Of Mind is at, the statement we got from the white house didnt offer much clue, then theres the question of are there any openings or diplomacy Going Forward for the u. S. I think you make a very good point about sort of the political landscape, the regional landscape, just changing, literally, overnight. So any conversations that you have u. S. Officials might have been a part of, any diplomatic conversations that the u. S. They have been a part of, concerning The Middle East, i think it is safe to say that those conversations are at the very least, on hold right now. Christiane, the president does remain at the white house. We know he is receiving constant updates from his Security Team and that is going to continue throughout the day. There are these key questions that are emerging in the aftermath of these attacks. And mj, i dont know if you are getting a sense of this but there is a sense in the international community, that the u. S. Sort of got rusty, if you like, in the matter of negotiating in The Middle East particularly between israel and the palestinians. The importance of that issue has gone off the boil, so theres a lot of potential catch up to be done now. Are you getting that sense . I think that is certainly going to be a kind of criticism perhaps that usf officials confront in the aftermath of these attacks. Look, diplomacy is something that President Biden of course, has to work on every day, that is a part of his job, and particularly, when it comes to the situation with israel, look, weve been talking about this all morning, the president has taken real pride and eus officials have pointed to the brokering of this deal between israel and saudi arabia, that the u. S. Has played such a key part in and until recently, they said look, they had at least indicated, i think we are close to getting this across the finish line, if israelis would be okay with some of these concessions that we are pushing forward to be made it to the palestinians. Again, we are in a completely new world now, given the scenes coming out of israel, given the scenes that are coming out of the ground over there, and given just sort of the scale of the attack that we are seeing, israelis, just seem completely unprepared for. Thank you so much, and of course, that will be dealt with in good time, the Real Question is what is going to happen next . More on our breaking News Coverage of this dangerous situation. We will be right back. We are back with a breaking news, lets bring in cnn security analyst bob baer, bob, welcome to the program. You have spent a lot of time studying and even meeting members of hamas. This is a very sophisticated operation, am i right . It is, extremely sophisticated. Theyve gotten better over the years. One, theyve gotten off telephones entirely, no cell phones, no land lines, they know the exchanges for instance in gaza are run by Israeli Intelligence. That palestinians have figured this out. Theyve moved all of their operations out of bases, white what we may call bases and apartment, they are scattered, they depend upon the strength of weak ties that means messages are sent by courier and Guerrilla Warfare Cells that dont know each other so effectively. Defeated Israeli Intelligence. I will not call this an Israeli Intelligence failure as such because gaza progressively, over the years, theyve gotten out of touch with the palestinians there. For instance, Israeli Intelligence officer wouldnt dare go into gaza because they would get caught and put in a basement. You know, bob, you say that right now, the hamas leaders are talking and posting on Telegram Tweets and the rest. One is saying of course this is the armed wing, they are saying they have dozens of israelis and they captured them during the Surprise Attack. They said we bring good news to our Palestinian Prisoners and they have been secured, quote, in places and resistance tunnels. Tell us what you know about infrastructure but secondly, good news to our Palestinian Prisoners . This is more than just a Prisoner Exchange operation, isnt it . It is. They are going to hold these people, itll be very difficult to launch rescue missions. First of all, finding them will take months, and sending troops into god is extremely dangerous. They will be ambushed. This could go on, its a nightmare for Benjamin Netanyahu to deal with, and theres still a lot of hamas prisoners in israeli prisons. They want them back what else do they want. Is this just about getting the Palestinian Prisoners back . One of these former spokespeople said this is a pearl harbor type of moment for israel. The attack infiltrated, and they say its not exactly, i invasion of israel since 1948. This will shake tel aviv like never before. What hamas wants, above all, is a regional war. What they would like to do is d them into this, they have rockets buried in southern lebanon, and they would like hezbollah to open up, and jordan, they want to destabilize the government and get the palestinians there to react. And then, of course, theres syria. So israel is in a very bad neighbor, and hamas hope is to inflame this thing through The Middle East, and especially break any relations between saudi arabia and tel aviv. What role, then, will the u. S. Play in partnership with israel, in terms of obviously support, but especially intelligence . Well, theres not much the United States can do. The United States has always deferred to israel on intelligence collection on gaza and the west bank. The United States has the same problem, theyre not up on cell phones, theres no metadata for these people. I was able to go there as a journalist and sit down with hamas, but thats hardly the kind of intelligence the cia needs. What did you find out . When did you go and what did you find out, i mean in terms of the storytelling as a journalist. I was tracking a Suicide Bomber that hit an israeli target. This was about a decade ago. And they walked me through how he was recruited, i went to his funeral, how he was handled, how they prepared the car, and what they were determined to do. And even at that point they were saying theyre getting off cell phones, because they knew the israeli capabilities and the met metadata and the rest of it. This is a disciplined organization. The engineer that was killed with a cell phone that exploded, they learned a lesson from that. The israelis dont have any good Human Sources inside gaza, otherwise they would have found out about this. So its very much a black hole for the israelis, and theres no easy out. What netanyahu is left with is simply bombarding gaza, but that is going to risk a regional war. And what about look, now is obviously a very difficult time to talk about any political developments. But are there any that are likely . I heard just on this program in the last hour, we heard from the former Prime Minister of israel, weve heard from others about the fact that, essentially, any idea of trying to keep talking to the palestinians, the twostate solution, some kind of resolution, its just not even happening. There doesnt seem to be any attempt whatsoever, not just by the israelis, but also by the u. S. And the greater international community. Well, christiane, first of all, youve got the problem of the settlements. Theyve picked up since oslo, as you know. Netanyahu is dealing with the right wing. He needs to appease them. And then youve got hamas, this was a Suicide Attack at the end of the day. So youre dealing with two sides that are nowhere near talking to each other and bringing back oslo, for instance, is a nonstarter. And right now were in uncharted waters, where this is going to go. Thank you for your perspective. Thanks for joining us today. I want to bring in Victoria Coates for perspective, the former adviser for The Middle East and Vice President of Foreign Policy with the heritage foundation. Tell me, you know, the armed wing of hamas says theyve captured dozens of israelis, theyve been secured in safe places. Youve seen some of the tunnels, what can you tell us about the difficulty of that underground infrastructure . Thank you, christiane. Good afternoon. This is a very complex, sophisticated architecture that hamas has been engaged in over the course of some years now, and its one of the reasons its always been very, very hard to get significant assistance into gaza, because hamas would hijack anything that could be used for construction to build these very deep, very large you can drive through them tunnels into israel, and the israelis have spent a lot of time and treasure on technology to detect the tunnels. Theyve had some success with that, but clearly the palestinians have gotten around that, and were able to mount this really incredibly sophisticated, complex attack. But now they say theyre putting these hostages that they say they have into some of these tunnels. I mean, what option does that leave those i mean, obviously the israelis have always been very determined to get any prisoners and hostages back. Thats really the ongoing horror of this attack, is that we have theyre saying dozens, that could be any kind of number of israeli mostly civilians, but also reports of idf soldiers being among the captured. This makes it utterly impossible for any progress to be made on any kind of deal for the palestinians. I mean, the real problem here for the Palestinian People is that hamas has completely shut off any avenues for a deal for them. And so this is going to be an unfolding horror in coming weeks and months. My hope is that the israelis do have ways that they can detect and penetrate these tunnels, get these people back, and finally get rid of hamas as a regional actor that is just clearly hellbent on spreading violent mayhem. Victoria, thank you very much. Now, cnns breaking coverage of this unprecedented situation is continuing right after a quick break. We will be back. Hows the chicken . The prawns are delicious. Oh, i have a shellfish allergy. One prawn. Very good. Did i say Chicken Wrong . Tired of people not listening to what you want . Its truffle season ah thats okay. Never enough truffles. How much are they . Its a lot. Oh okay im good, that its like a priceless piece of art. Enjoy. Or when they sell you what they want . Yeah. The more we understand you, the better we can help you. Thats what u. S. Bank is for. Huge relief. Yeah. This is cnn breaking news. Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining us. Im Christiane Amanpour in london. Were continuing with our major breaking story, that is israel declaring it is at war with hamas, which follows an unprecedented attack on israeli soil today. At least 70 people, and many, many more are dead and wounded. Nearly 1,000 wounded. Those numbers are expected to rise. The Palestinian Terrorist group hamas launched an offensively air, sea and land at sunrise. Their fighters infiltrated israeli towns and launched more than 3,000 rockets into israel. Some Israeli Citizens and soldiers are being held as hostages, and israel says prisoners of war. Also, a short time ago, sirens and more than a dozen loud booms could be heard across tell a leave. Hamas says its fired more than 150 rockets against the city. This was the scene earlier when Nic Robertson and others took cover while at the airport. [ sirens ] so everybody hittin