Im dana bash in washington, and we are following Breaking News. We continue our special coverage this hour. Just moments ago President Biden vowed to stand with israel and condemned the Terror Attack. [ sirens ]. This attack came at sunrise. The Palestinian Terror Group hamas launched an unprecedented Surprise Attack on israel, not just on israels military, but an untold number of civilians. You can see here not even the youngest of children are being spared the horror of the attacks on civilian areas. Video appears to show hamas fighters taking civilian hostages. There are reports that hamas has taken hostages across the border, back into the gaza. The attack comes on the 50th Anniversary of the i dont remember Kipp Pufr War when arab states blized israel. It also comes on the Jewish Sabbath and a jewish holy day. At least 200 israels are dead and 1500 wounded. Hamas has fired thousands of rockets. We want to warn you that some video from hamas may be disturbing, but it is important for you to see what they are doing. Fighters are storming the Main Border Cross Sing between israel and the gaza strip and they have Infipp Interest Rated israeli cities. There have been gun battles in the streets. [ gunfire ]. Cnn teams are sde employed around the world. I want to start with cnns Nick Robert Ton who joins us by phone because he just landed and got off the plane at israels main Enter Ashl Airport where siresirens warn of possible rockets. Ill show you what happened to him on the tarmac. [ sirens ]. Reporter we literally just got off the plane. The sirens have gone off. People are taking cover we got off the bus and people are taking cover. You can hear the intercept missiles banging in the air. Everyone is taking cover. A lot of concern about whats going to happen here this night. Again, that was just a short while ago. Now i want to go to Nic Robertson who is joining us from outside the israeli town of ash cholon. You said there is a lot of concern about tonight, its 10 00 p. M. There. What are you seeing at this moment . Weve driven south of tel aviv along the main Coastal Highway that goes in the direction of gaza. Were about 15 miles from gaza outside the town of ash cholon. There has been less and less traffic on the roads, almost nothing now. I think weve arrived at the place that the road is now blocked to civilian traffic by a Police Checkpoint here. Weve seen a couple of checkpoints on the highway stopping traffic from going north, checking traffic going north. Clearly the concern that there may still be other terrorists on the loose, and Security Services want to intercept them. But all the stores down here that were seeing, theyre all shut and closed. This really is a situation at the moment where the concerns of israelis are what happens next. What are the details of what theyve witnessed throughout the day. This is horrific, as youve no doubt been hearing. Horrific for the residents of this country. They havent witnessed Something Like this in perhaps a generation or more. It is shocking and it is clear that they are bracing and having spoken with a regional diplomat as well, people bracing for potential worse yet to come. Security out on the highway now blocking traffic going south towards gaza and the area very, very quiet. Nic, as youre smoking to us, as youre headed towards ashkelon, our viewers are seeing video of some of the devastation thanks to the attacks by the Terrorist Group Hamas On and inside israel. We can see what youre headed for right now. I realize you just got on the ground. Talk for a little bit, if you will, about getting into israel and what that was like. First of all, its really remarkable that you got in considering how limited air traffic is, understandably so, because of what is going on, the bombs going off and what is going on in the sky. Iron dome is certainly protecting a lot of israelis, but not as much as people would have thought ahead of time. Were seeing that from these pictures and, of course, from the devastating and horrific photos that are online and some of the video we played earlier of the killing and capturing of civilians, older israels, younger israels, women, children, grand mothers. Watch this. Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar showing viewers a civilian woman taken from a car and kidnapped and put into the car by terrorists. Were showing this so that people get a real understanding and have a real understanding of what happened and what is happening. Maybe now in the dead of night on the ground in israel to innocent civilians, nic. Reporter and this is what shocks people here so much. This is what weve heard. This is out with the ordinary. What comes from hamas in gaza are rockets. They are not gunmen coming out into the Israeli Community and capturing, killing, kidnapping people in this brutal way. It is testament to the pilot, to the Security Services that our flight was able to land when we got in. Youve seen the situation there. Iron dome was in action. The sirens were going off. When we came through the arrival hall, the arrival board said all the other flights were canceled. It seems to be an effort by the israelis to try to allow some aircraft to come in. As we were coming out of the airport, there were a lot of people, a lot like tourists flooding into the airport hoping to catch some of those now canceled flights, catch some of those flights out. I suspect they were in a long way for the airport and trying to get clarity. The Airport Authorities are very familiar with situations like this and are able to work around these incoming Artillery Barrages that we witnessed this evening, able to bring one plane in, stop others. It does seem the intent is to try to keep the Airport Functioning in some way. And certainly there are a lot of pooh arriving at the bang gur january port. They should check to see if flights were coming in before going all the way to the airport. That would be my advice from what weve seen. The expectations of what can happen next are most concerning. This is utterly, utterly out with the normal, that hamas gunmen come into israel proper, kill and kidnap on this scale out of gaza, out of the ordinary. Out of the ordinary indeed. Im glad you emphasized that because people might be tuning in and saying, you know, weve certainly seen bloodshed time and time again in this neighborhood of the world, and this is a conflict which is a very complicated conflict that has been going on for you said a generation, way more than a generation. But this is different. The Picturetion S that were se the horrific tales and anecdotes were seeing from in and around gaza, people are comparing it obviously to the 1973 Yom Kippur War because its almost 50 years ago to the day. Back then, just like now, Israeli Intelligence appeared to have been caught very flatfooted. When it comes to the type of attack then and now, its very different. Reporter this is very different. People south of israel, particularly in communities around gaza, theyre used to occasionally the sirens going off, getting into shelters, used to the potential for rockets coming into gaza. But to have gunmen come out, penetrate their communities, surround houses, bang on doors, pull people from their homes, shoot people dead, families dead on the highway as weve seen today, beyond anyones expectation here. People are aware of the tensions. Theyre aware of the situation. Theyre aware of the high level of security and the potential risk. Ive been in some of these communities that have been affected over the past few years around Sera Tfrments and the other communities close to gaza, they understand that they live close to potential danger. This is not what theyve witnessed or experienced before and what will happen because of this, what may happen yet is unclear. Weve seen obviously the israeli strikes on gaza today. Yet what people in israel will have witnessed, in tel aviv this evening will have witnessed, after those strikes there was still another round of rockets coming from gaza, longrange rockets. Only a few years ago hamas rockets couldnt reach tel aviv. Now theyre landing in the streets of tel aviv. Now the sirens going off at the bag durn airport. You can hear the iron dome protecting the airport, protecting the communities around there. This is a problem that people have seen grow it seems to have taken a quantum step that will bring heightened fear and concern in peoples lives. Thats what were witnessing. A very experienced perspective you have there, Nic Robertson, because of all the time youve spent. You have incredible context. Quantum step, i got the chills, i have to be honest with you. Please dont go anywhere. We know youre on the move and will get positioned to do much more reporting. Well get back to you soon. I want to go to Cnn Senior International correspondent sam kiley. Sam, what strikes you from what weve seen today . As you answer that, ill give a little perspective. Im hearing from people i know in tel aviv who are up and down, up and down to the bomb shelter because of the sirens going off. It speaks to what nick is talking about, this is an attack that initially happened in and around the border with gaza, horrific attack on civilians. It is continuing into the evening and it is continuing well into the other parts of is israel. Reporter i think this is the most constructive attack orchestrated by the palestinians since 1948. That was israel attacking israel surprising them over the holiday period. This has come almost from within, emanating from the gaza strip, using the heavy Rocket Bombardment as a cover, distraction for what israel had been worried about for many years, which is the use of tunnels to infiltrate israeli territory. Being combined with air attacks. Using para gliders to attack over the fence and even from the sea. Hamas able to get dozens of militants into the territory, conducting Infantry Assaults in the Small Ville Lanls and even the large towns on the gazs strip, capturing individuals, even overruns areas crossing, an absolutely extraordinary site. Its probably the most fortified location in the whole of the military. They were not only able to storm it, but pop out on The Other Side and attack kibbutzes right on the gaza strip. This has been a catastrophic event from the Israeli Defense forces. Now theyll face a really serious con nun dumb. If hamas claims are true, if theyve captured civilians and soldiers and been taking them into the gaza strip, theyll be having a terrifying time, it will way on those who have been trying to trigger plans to go into the gazs strip to rid it in their view of the hamas militants. That now is becoming much more of a complex proposition. This is part of the very deliberate plans that hamas has been clearly organizing over at least a year. It was a year ago i was in the Northern West Bank town of janine where the brigades were saying that Something Like this was coming, that they were coordinating this. That from israels perspective is really problematic because the battles are ongoing. Militants are still locked in combat on the ground inside israel. We havent yet seen a reaction from the west bank or ultimately from hezbollah in south lebanon, dana. Thats another conversation about hezbollah and whether or not theyll take part in this, which seems to be one of the many goals that the Hamas Terrorist Organization has, which is to spark something that will ignite a wider conflict in that region. Were watching and following this Breaking News out of israel. Well take a very quick break and our Breaking News will continue in a moment. Welcome back to our Breaking News coverage. We want to show you some video of an incident an attack that happened on the border with gaza this morning. Hamas terrorists took over an israeli tank, and they didnt just take over an israeli tank if we have the video we will show it as soon as were ready. There you go. They took over the tank and pulled out the israeli soldier. This is one of many, many images, many realities of a war that hamas started with a Terror Attack on israel. This in particular is on a member of the israeli military. Many others weve seen are attacks and terrorizing, killing, taking Hostage Members of the israeli public, civilians. [ shouting ]. This is a very coordinated, longplanned attack inside israel. I want to talk more about that. I want to bring in james clapper, the former director of National Intelligence and now a cnn security analyst. Director clapper, thanks for joining me. The first question is, knowing what you know about the intelligence networking capabilities in that region by israel, how did this happen . Well, dana, thats the question of the hour. We regard Israeli Intelligence services as one of the premier intelligence capabilities on the globe. Notably shin bet, their Domestic Intelligence organization has always been well wired, at least in the past, in the west bank and hamas. Israelis have an extensive Surveillance System all along the gaza. They have a capable tig nall intelligence capability. So its really quite surprising. It really took me aback to see the apparent surprise and, as you said, the israelis getting caught flatfooted which really took me aback. Im also quite impressed with the complexity of this multidimensional attack on the part of hamas. Ive never seen anything like that before, to include apparently a cyber dimension of denial of service which adds further confusion to the israelis and their reaction. I just want to put this in perspective for our viewers in the united states, viewers who are watching around the world, particularly in the united states. I have heard from israelis saying this is our 9 11. Its hard to make a comparison, but when you think about the scope of the attack, the surprise, the use of civilians, the killing of civilians, and now apparently, which is very different from 9 11, taking Civilians Hostage obviously to use as a Bartering Chip for whatever it is that they want. Do you think that that is an important way to put this in context and to view this . Yes, unfortunately i do. I couldnt help but think back on 9 11 and, of course, the extensive critiques and criticisms of the Intelligence Community notably by the 9 11 commission which cited the Intelligence Community for, quote, its lack of imagination and a failure to connect the dots. I couldnt help but reflect on that phraseology in this case. I think perhaps the israelis had sort of a stereotypical image of hamas military capabilities and did not expect them to be able to mount such a sophisticated multiprong attack and on such a surprise basis. I think, unfortunately, it is an aft comparison. There will be lots of time to look back, to analyze what went wrong on the intelligence, but we are very much in the here and the now with sirens going off far away from the border with gaza, inside israel. We heard from our reporter hadas gold that it was even happening earlier in jerusalem. Ive been in touch with people in tel aviv, happening there as well. Given that, if you were the director of National Intelligence right now and you were in the Situation Room with President Biden, what would you be telling him . What would your advice be . Hopefully i would have benefit, if i were in that situation, of some extensive conversations, dialogue with Israeli Intelligence, my opposite member. I think probably all the u. S. Intelligence community is reaching out to counterparts and connections and colleagues in israel to try to understand their perspective and also, of course, what we could do to help them particularly from an intelligence perspective even throw its kind of late. I would be sharing whatever insights i gain from those kinds of conversations and dialogue with Israeli Intelligence counterparts and would be teeing up ways that we could assist the israelis. Director james clapper, former director of National Intelligence and cnn analyst, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your expertise and the experience that you have putting this all in perspective for all of us. Thank you so much. Well have much more on the Breaking News unfolding right now in israel. Well be back in a moment. Fear and terror are spreading across israel as rockets continue to rain down on civilians following a Surprise Attack from the terrorist group hamas. [ explosions ]. That was a hospital in israels Southern District of president cashkelon earlier in the afternoon. The video appears to show hamas fighters kidnapping israeli civilians, taking them hostage. One woman described to our Affiliate Station in israel the terror theyre facing. Translator suddenly out of nowhere shots are coming in. They started shooting in every direction and i took the car keys and just drove and started moving forward to get out of the shots, out of the shots. At some point they overtook us. We were overtaken by the shooters. They started shooting at our vehicles. We got out of the vehicles. I didnt keep driving. We took cover. Israeli Officials Say at least 200 people are dead and nearly 1,500 others wounded. Lets get some analysis and reporting on whats happening there. I want to start with my colleague here, oren liebermann. You spent a lot of time on the Ground Reporting for cnn in israel. You are very much in touch with sources there. What should our audience know right now . I want to emphasize what we heard Nic Robertson say earlier, this is a quantum step in a different direction. I have seen many rounds in my nearly six years of fighting between israel and gaza. These two opponents know each other well, stare across the border at each other, just hundreds of meters of apart. Israel is supposed to now how they think and hamas does the same for israel. Theres apparently a gaping hole that hamas noticed and exploited. As Nic Robertson pointed out, that has been thrown out. I want to quote a line from a couple of israeli ministers say, what was will not be. A way of saying whatever the arrangements were before and whatever agreements they could come to between israel and hamas, using turkey or egypt as mediators, thats in the past. The question, what does israel do now . Theyre very much at the beginning of their response. Does it just include Ground Incursion or also an aerial assault . What is clear is that defense secretary lloyd austin spoke with his israeli counterpart and promised not only a little support, but ongoing support over the coming days. Perhaps that includes what we saw in 2014 when they were able to tap into u. S. Defense stockpiles in israel. Israel still trying to figure out what to do. Can you repeat that line youre hearing from the various ministers. [ Smoking Global Language ]. An arrangement of agreements they can reach after escalation to get back to a ses fire. Even if there was never an acknowledged ceasefire, they would always say if the rockets will be met with quiet, that is now the past. Israeli ministers moving on from that. From a Military Point of view, colonel layton, what does that tell you, when its not just israel saying all bets are off. Thats what hed say in america, but perhaps one of the goals of hamas, which is to pull in other parts of the region, maybe even and including hezbollah which has how many rockets . They say about 150,000 in southern lebanon, supposedly buried there or at least deployed in that region and ready to attack israel possibly. What youre looking at is the possibility of a major conflagration in The Middle East if this is not contained. This is exceptionally serious. What youre looking at is not only getting the other groups like hezbollah involved, but also iran which has significant ties to hezbollah. You also have the arab nations, and many of them have at least elements within their population that are extremely sympathetic to the palestinian cause. This could escalate in a very wild way if its not carefully contained. Okay. Everybody stand by and just to add a reminder of what Prime Minister netanyahu said earlier, citizens of israel, we are at war, not in operations or in rounds, but at war. Well talk more about what that means and what is happening on the ground as night is very much there in israel. Its very dark and it is not over. Stay with us. Welcome back to cnns special coverage of this Breaking News, hamas Terror Attack, multiple attacks, continuing attacks on israelment i want to read the new statement we got from israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said what happened today has never been seen in israel. We will take mighty vengeance for this black day. He also said israel will reach every place hamas is hiding. I tell gazas people to leave those places now. I tell hamas you are responsible for wellbeing of captives. Israel will settle the score with anyone who harms them. That again is a brand new statement from israels Prime Minister. I want to bring in kimberly dozier, Longtime National security reporter who has seen a lot of war. You certainly have been in this region, kimberly. What are your thoughts and what are you hearing from your sources . Well, watching this play out, im reminded of the first and the second uprisings. Both of those started from what seemed like minor incidents at the time, the first one from a car crashing into two vehicles full of palestinian workers and killing and injuring many, and the second one was sparked off by aerial cher roanes visit to the moss North Korea Jerusalem which is adjacent to or on top of a very sacred jewish space. Its the site of the two previous jewish tellamples that were destroyed. That also kicked off an uprising. It seems in this case what the hamas fighters are hoping is that through the violent, horrifically successful nature of this attack, they will inspire palestinians across the west bank who are angry with the Israeli Security forces treatment and regional actors will also step in. The risk is that, as weave all been talking all day, saying israel will likely invade gaza in some manner, shape or form to root out the attackers, to root out the network. If that attack goes too far, as perceived by outside actors, thats when you could see what israel calls the ring of fire around it attacking. Hezbollah with its 100,000plus missiles to the north in lebanon, syrian militants with missiles also supplied by iran according to middle east officials, so israel could be confronted with attacks on all sides. At this point its just a kernel. We have days and weeks of this to play out. Its 10 44 p. M. In gaza city. Youre looking at a live picture of gaza city. As we do, oren, again, to come back to what the israeli Prime Minister said just moments ago, that what we saw today has never been seen in israel, and we will take mighty vengeance for this black day. More than 200 israelis killed in a period of several hours and hundreds, if not more than a thousand more wounded. In my nearly six years there, we were never even close to numb lers like that. That gives you an idea of just how seriously israeli and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu view this. The question, of course, is what is his next step . How does he respond . Theyve already carried out air strikes hitting terrorist infrastructure in gaza. Kim mentioned a Ground Incursion. I think there are a lot of people who think thats likely. Thats an incredible risk in and of itself. Thats difficult urban warfare in one of the most densely Populated Areas on earth. Gaza. In gaza. Youre stepping into that and putting your troops into that where they have a clear advantage as opposed to in israel where youre supposed to have the advantage. Thats a very difficult decision and you have to decide whats your goal there . Are you trying to decapitate hamas . Thats incredibly difficult to accomplish. Were going to sneak in a break. We have reporters on the ground getting the latest information. Were going to bring that to you. Well be right back. Youre looking at live pictures out of gaza. It is 10 50 p. M. There, and there is the tension there, its indescribable, as were hearing from our reporters and others on the ground in that region. We want to give you a better sense of the geography of where things are happening and what is happening. Cnns Orrin Lieber Mann is with us, as is retired air force colonel cedric leighton, and they are going to break down where this is happening. Dana, thank you. Col colonel, when we talk about the palestinian territories, we are talking about the west bank and gaza. But here, were just focused on gaza, where israel controls the sea, the northern border and the eastern border. How could have that happened to catch israel so offguard . Yeah, thats a really great question. What youre looking at a is really small area of territory. So densely populated, but the fact of the matter is, the palestinians, were really looking how to circumvent israel intelligences. They knew they had to get off the phones, use couriers and other more primitive means to communicate with each other. When they did that, they were able to, it looks like, prevent the israelis from really learning what they were up to, and that, i think, gave them the element of surprise in this case. You say primitive means, yet israel is known for its ability, frankly, its spy technology, from the air or signals interception. Was this hamas simply going lowtech to beat israelis ability to pick up on any of this . Yeah, i think it was. And whats really interesting about this is the fact that, you know, when you go into this area, you look at all of the different elements that are that is right here, you can see that israel has really flanked by so many different rivals at this particular point in time, and former enemies, some of them are current enemies, and the very fact that they were able to do this, i think, indicates that they went lowtech in order to prevent hightech means of detention. And that allowed them to go in and in essence take the israelis by surprise in a way they werent expecting. And in many ways, you think of surprises as being something that you dont expect, but this is even more than that, it gets to a deeper level than that. President joe biden warned other parties not to get involved in this conflict. What and who and where was he referring to with that comment, as we look around the borders of the state of israel . One of the key players is right here in lebanon. When you look at the forces that are at play here, you look at hezbollah, which is backed by iran, which is off the map on The Other Side here. You also look at forces in syria. Many of them have gone after israel, as well. And then you look, of course, at the west bank, which has the plo and you have the nonhamas entities right there working in a way that can also array themselves against israel, and could potential wly have an up rising here. Colonel, thank you. Orrin, colonel, thank you so much for that. Were going to have much more on your Breaking News straight ahead. Cnn is on the ground in israel. Were going to have a live report next. This is cnn Breaking News. Im dana bash in washington. We continue our special coverage this hour, israel at war. Its civilians under attack. At sunrise, the Palestinian Terrorist group hamas launched an unprecedented Surprise Attack on israel. Tiny children crouching in terror, you see it there, and you hear the sirens screaming and rockets raining down on civilians. That is happening in areas all across israel. Make no mistake, the civilians are very much a target here. This video appears to show hamas fighters taking civilian hostages. And there were Reports Hamas is taking hostages across the border, back to gaza. The timing appears motivated, courthouse, and calculating. The attack comes on the 50th Anniversary of the Yom Kippur War when arab states blitzed israel. Taefds attack also comes on the Jewish Sabbath and came on a jewish holy day. At least 200 israelis are dead, and nearly 1,500 wounded. Hamas has fired hundreds of rocks. Israel has retaliated with air strikes on gaza. More than 230 palestinians, they say, have been killed. We want to warn you that video we are going to show you from hamas may be disturbing
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