Ill be back at 6 00 p. M. Eastern for our special coverage for israel at war. Thank you for watching. Im wolf blitzer. Special breaking News Coverage continues right now with erin burnett outfront. Good evening. Welcome to a Special Edition of outfront. Israel at war. The breaking developments, the death toll rising as the sound of sirens and explosions can be heard across southern and Central Israel after a Surprise Attack by hamas. An israeli official said at least 300 israelis have been killed. The former Prime Minister of israel Neftali Bennett telling me the ultimate death toll will be much higher. And tonight there are reports that gun battles are still taking place nearly 24 hours after militants first entered israel by land and sea and air, firing 2,200 rockets, according to israel. And this new video, which im going to show you now, shows heavily armed hamas fighters moving through one neighborhood. You can hear the scream as militants try to force their way into homes. Theyre just people at home. Militants forcing their way in. The terror is hard to even comprehend. Tonight there are other horrific scenes of israelis being kidnapped off the streets. In this video you see a woman. Her face covered in blood as shes taken from the trunk of a jeep and shoved into the back seat. Her arms appear to be zip tied. According to hamas, they are present in all a it is of the gaza strip. Of course, the Hostage Issue complicates israels efforts to respond. This enormous and highly coordinated assault was a catastrophic failure of intelligence, and in the words of israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, what happened today has never been seen in israel. And tonight the situation on the verge of exploding into an Even Deadlier conflict. The Military Wing of hamas warning israel of a, quote, Earth Shattering response after israel responded to this attack, air strikes hitting a group of high rises in gaza. The buildings as you can see, collapsing. Palestinians say at least 230 of their people have been killed since israel returned fire. Tonight at the white house, President Biden and his administration are closely monitoring the situation and our team of reporters are standing live. Nic robertson is in gaza and Oren Lieberman is in washington. I want to begin with nic just over a mile from the gaza border. Obviously, were 24 hours into this now. You are in the wee hours of the morning. What is the latest there right now . Reporter yeah, were Hearing Fighter Jets overhead. Were Hearing Explosions in the vicinity of gaza. If we look up here, you can see there are, these Illumination Flares being put up in the sky. Just below that flare, thats the beach area and the hamas militants were trying to land on that beach as recently as this evening. Weve been told. That zone behind me, more flares in the sky above it there, that is looking down toward gaza. That is the area below those flares where it is an active military ongoing situation with Israeli Defense forces, trying to round up over hamas militants that have gotten into israel today. The fight is still going on. Were seeing Military Traffic coming and going up and down this road. Helicopter gun ships as well. Were hearing the machine guns firing into that area. All of this began unraveling, unfolding in an utterly unexpected way for Israeli Citizens just less than 24 hours ago, the early hours of saturday morning. In the early hours of saturday, israelis work to a sudden assault from gaza militants. The Surprise Attack claimed by the Palestinian Militant Group hamas, a complex and massive operation marking a steep escalation of hostilities. The attack began with a huge barrage of missiles fired from gaza. Thousands of rockets, some making direct hits on targets across southern israel. Under the cover of the missiles, a large scale infiltration began as hamas militants crossed by land, sea and air, even using paragliders to cross into israel. Videos from Border Crossing stations show hamas fighters storming into israeli territory a few miles away in the border town, hamas was seen driving and opening fire at civilians. The gunmen tore through the streets, leaving a trail of casualties behind. The full extent of the casualties is unclear. But hundreds have been killed and more than 1,000 injured on both sides. A spokesman for the Israeli Defense force gave a frank assessment of the situation. A very severe morning in israel. A combined defense by hamas, ground, air and sea. The numbers are not clear but the numbers are substantial. A very severe morning. We are very much now focused on sending forces to these locations where there is ongoing fighting. Reporter during the raid, some faters took israelis as hostages and Prisoners Of War. The Israeli Military said videos geo located by cnn Show Militants taking Civilians Captive in southern israel, and gaza. A woman is seen forced out of her car and into the custody of hamas. Israel retaliated hitting multiple targets. In gaza city, two highrise buildings collapse. The unrest continuing late into the night with both sides trading rocket fire as we touched down at Ben Gurion International airport outside tel aviv, air traffic was halted as sirens wailed and travelers took cover. Literally just got off the plane at ben gurion. 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. Nothing incoming here. Everyone is taking cover. A lot of concern about what will happen here. Reporter the israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu has been unwaivering in his message that israel is at war with hamas. Now, israel rushes to regroup with its allies, despite the Intelligence Failure that appeared to lead to the attack. It is clear that the true force of the israeli governments response is yet to come. And thats what were seeing here. As weve been here the last two or three or four hours now, weve been able to hear the increase in the fight activity, an increase in the number coming from the gaza area, an increase in the flashes from the sky. It is not clear. If you can point the camera over there to that light on the horizon. That is probably five or six miles away. That is the rock. Thats one of the areas the hamas militants stormed into earlier today and it is not spirely clear if the Israeli Defense forces still have full control of that area. So the hits going and coming down, israeli hits coming down on gaza. At the same time, Israeli Defense forces still trying to get back control of all of their own territory. Thank you very much. Well be speaking to a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense forces in a moment. Obviously the white house was very clearly caught off guard by this as well. What is the response from there . Reporter well, senior officials have raised concern about the surprise nature of this ambush with one intelligence official telling cnn there will need to be an afteraction report to determine whether there was intelligence this was coming and it was simply missed or whether there was just a massive blind spot. Tonight, a Senior Administration official denying that there was a warning from a third country such as egypt that this attack was coming and saying the focus at this moment is on keeping the violence contained and figuring out how best the u. S. Can support israel. Tom end, the white house is acknowledging that there are unique challenges here in washington posed by the lack of a current speaker of the house of representatives, as well as the lag of a permanent ambassador from the u. S. To israel. They said they have to figure out how to get that aid in a quick, fullsome and timely manner to israel and there could be an announcement as soon as tomorrow. President biden says that support will be unwaivering and rock solid, and he had a warning to any party hostile to israel not to exploit these attacks. Tom end, the white house and senior officials have said that it is too early to determine whether iran had any involvement in the attacks overnight but suggested that iran is a longtime been factor of hamas and cannot be denied. At the white house tonight. Outfront now, lieutenant come them conrickas, i appreciate your time. Im very sorry to be speaking to you tonight and i know you are sleepless again as you work through the night. Nic robertson was five or six miles away. He said it was unclear if hamas had full control of the territory. Are you able to answer that question . Does israel have full control . It is, unfortunately, i cannot yet say that we have regained full control over all of our communities and all of our sovereign territory. There is still fighting ongoing in southern israel. Our Special Forces and reserve forces are going door to door, house to house, reaching out to all the israeli civilians that were holed up there during the day, and rescuing hostages. One such situation just ended positively in a kibbutz where the israeli hostages were released by israeli troops and they were held by terrorists. The terrorists were killed. There is still fighting ongoing and i dont think we can say with confidence that we have regained full control of the area until the crack of dawn tomorrow. It is an unprecedented situation here in israel. The unprecedented attack, the sheer brutality of the violence against our civilians. The fact that they have paraded women, elderly, children and men into gaza. That they have taken such a significant number of israelis into gaza and are holding them captive. It is something that we have not faced before. And in an unprecedented attack will call for an unprecedented response against hamas. You talk about a significant number of hostages and you were saying there, thank goodness, there has been one situation that has ended positively. The hamas militants were killed by members of the idf and that. How many israeli hostages were rescued . And how many more do you think are out there . I know it may be hard for you to be specific. Are we talking hundreds of people . Are we talking dozens of people . We are most likely talking dozens of people at this time but the numbers are very dynamic. Im sure youre familiar with the term, the fog of war. This is an extremely foggy situation. We have today, during today, there were more than 25 active fighting events inside israel. Locations like communities, idf bases, and places of gatherings where there were active terrorists fighting. Either taking hogs or running crazy on the streets, killing civilians. Now were down to a significantly lower number but not yet over. The bigger, most important figure, i think, is unfortunately, the number of israelis held in gaza. I cannot say how many but i can say that it is a substantial number of civilians, as well as military personnel. Some are programmed alive, according to video footage, and some are presumed not to be alive. It is an extremely delicate situation. I think that will influence future decisionmaking in israel, or how we continue here. And it is something that we havent faced before but we are determined to put a swift end to. Absolutely. So when you talk about an unprecedented response, the Hostage Situation plays a crucial role in that. Are there any communications between israel and hamas, directly or through Anyin Interneed areas to try to get the civilians back . Even if there were, im not sure that i would be aware of them. But based on previous situations, that is not how hamas operates. They launched this attack into israel in order to abduct israeli civilians and soldiers, to kill as many as possible israelis. Thats why they launched this outstanding operation that they did. Something weve never seen before. I dont think they would try to negotiate so soon but that is, i think, besides the point. We need to make sure the border is sharp and defended and no further attacks into israel, and we have already started striking military targets in gaza, and it is important at this time, that this is an Important Message for me. This is how it started. Were in the first day of the war in israel. This is how it started. And there will be images in the coming days and weeks of a difficult situation inside gaza. But we urge people to remember, this is how it started. It started with a hamas attack into israel, unprovoked and unprecedented. This is why we are responding and we will respond with tremendous force. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. I know, you have not slept and you will continue to work in these early hours until dawn. Thank you. Thank you. Our breaking News Coverage continues here. Were going back to the ground in israel where Palestinian Militants have fired more rockets. People are rushing to bomb shelters. Plus, hamas claiming that dozens of israelis were taken as hostages and you just heard the colonel talking about this situation. Our next guest said his wife and two daughters were taken hostage. The moment that it happened was caught on camera. New video into cnn coming in right now. Scary moments has the attack unfolded. Hundreds of people running from gunfire at a festival. This as several images are coming out of innocent civilians being captured as hamas launches this attack on israel. Those are the people running, as you can see from the festival. And then the hostages still being held by hamas, as far as we know. You just heard the spokesperson for the idf talking about dozens of hostages. We want to show you some video that we have here of a woman. It appears to show a woman being pulled from the trunk of a jeep at gunpoint. Her wrists appear to be tied behind her back. Several men are yelling out. This all caught on camera. One man also sharing this video saying it shows his wife and two young children, his young daughters, 5 and 3 years old, being taken to gaza. Now, cnn hasnt been able to independently verify this video but we are going to be able to speak to him in just a moment. Those are his wife and children. First, hadas gold is out front. What are israeli officials saying about the hostages . It sounds like even talking to the idf moments ago, this is very dynamic situation. They dont even seem to know full numbers. I think that erin, at this point, they do have a sense of the numbers. They are being very cagey about the details and they are working out exactly who was where and what happened. They have confirmed that both Israeli Soldiers and civilians have been taken as what they call Prisoners Of War. This is in addition to people being held hostage in southern israel, who had been taken from israeli territory into gaza. We know of at least one situation that had just been resolved in the last few hours, although we know firefighting is continuing. I know these numbers in terms of Prisoners Of War taken by hamas, they are said to be in the dozens. Were not talking about one or two or even five. Keep in mind in previous situations, a single israeli prisoner of war has launched wars, has caused massive prisoner exchange, it has been a major, major situation. These are not just soldiers. As weve been seeing from these videos, as weve been seeing from accounts from israeli families, these are civilians including children, some of whom have been taken from the streets, from their homes. Israeli or hamas militants had infiltrated israeli towns and going house by house and trying to get into these houses and take people out. This is an incredible situation that israel has never been in before. It is being likened to israels pearl harbor or even worse. Right now israeli officials are saying there are 300 israelis killed. More than 1,500 injured. These numbers are likely to rise. There are still towns in southern israel that have not been completely cleared of militant activity. And the rockets are continuing as we speak. Im still getting notifications of red alert sirens going off in southern israel. It has been quieter for the rest of the country in jerusalem. We had our own fair share of rockets targeting jerusalem today. Tel aviv had a barrage a few hours ago. Those have quieted down for now but they are continuing. This is a very tense and unfolding situation. The Israeli Military is attacking the gaza trip with air strikes. So far only air strikes. It has not been a Ground Invasion yet. The Israel Military sending out a warning to israelis in gaza telling them to go to certain safe areas, as they are calling them, where they should evacuate to. It is very complicated there. Whatever air strikes attack, the Israeli Military may want to undertake in the gaza strip, they have to keep in mind the number of hostages. Hamas has said they have taken these Prisoners Of War to strategic locations throughout the gaza strip trying to use them as shields of some kind. This is an incredibly tricky and dangerous situation for the entire region. Thank you very much. Live from jerusalem tonight. And i want to go now to israel, desperately looking for his wife and children after he saw them in this viral video. As he saw this video, they appeared to be taken hostage near the gaza strip. And i am so suffering for what you are suffering through. I dont think any parent can truly comprehend your daughters, your wife. I know your daughters are very young. 5 and 4 years old. Do you have any idea, any idea where they are . I have no idea where they are right now. But earlier this morning, they were visited in kibbutz and my motherinlaws house on the kibbutz. They were taken by hamas to gaza strip. My motherinlaw, my wife, my two daughters, which are 5 years old and 3 years old, and i lost contact with them about 11 00 a. M. When my wife was on the phone, she told me that the terrorists of hamas entered the house. Later the conversation was disconnected. Later on i managed to track her mobile phone by using google and i tracked her mobile phone and i saw that the location is in gaza strip, in gaza. And later on, i saw the video which confirmed that my wife and my daughters were taken, like you see in the video, that is on social media, that everyone saw. And all day long, i talked to press and i tried to talk to officials from the state. No one talked to me yet. I dont even know what the situation regarding the hostages and the situation is not looking good. My wife and motherinlaw also have german citizenship. So with your permission, i would like to approach the german government, the german Prime Minister, dear mr. Olaf schultz, my wife, taken with her mother, a german citizen today by Hamas Terrorists to gaza. I beg you, if you can please help us, we are begging for your help, if you can do something to succeed to take my kids and my wife out of there as soon as possible. Yoni, i cannot imagine the fear that you have right now. As you hope that they will be safe. When you first saw that video, and youre saying now that you have been able to see the tracker move to gaza. So you knew something was wrong. Something that happened. Your call had been disconnected. How did you even process this video when you actually saw these images . It wasnt something that maybe you were afraid had happened or in your imagination. That this was real and theres video. As soon as i was disconnected with them, the phone was located on her in gaza, i immediately suspected that they were abducted. Later when i saw the video, there was no doubt in my mind, they recognized them, surely, my wife, my two little daughters so i know for sure they were taken. And i have nothing to do but talking to the press and all day long im trying to send pictures to reporters trying to get to officials and i cant succeed. Well, yoni, im very glad i had the chance to speak to you. I hope they hear it. And of course you are in our hearts, and your wife and children. Thank you so much. Yes. We say good night to yoni. These are live pictures from where Nic Robertson is. What are you seeing and hearing . Reporter literally what weve just witnessed. Heres another barrage of rockets. The iron dome missiles come up to intercept the missiles coming from gaza. Youll hear the explosions. This iron dome being fired up all around us. It is illuminating the sky here. The bangs intersecting from gaza couple miles away. Literally exploding in the sky above us here. This is what weve been seeing happening over the past, perhaps, 10 or 15 minutes. Ill go silent so you can listen to it. And thats how it is. As quickly as it begins, its over. The iron dome missiles. They are tracking and intercepting the rockets that come from gaza. They were able to detect where the rockets are flying. Then they fired up and they intercepted them in the air. You can see where the impact bursts were. Ill go quiet and we can listen. Thats israels iron dome system working to protect the people of israel this evening. Those missiles are coming out of gaza, perhaps two and a half, well, gaza is two and a half miles away. The missiles are coming from within gaza there. For the citizens, the israeli civilians who live in the towns, zakim, ashkelon, ashdod who live along the coastline here, these iron dome rockets are protecting them and their families. And this is very much how the situation is playing out this evening. It is very dynamic. Weve heard Helicopter Gun ships supporting the Israeli Defense ships on the ground. Weve seen a Tank Maneuvering down here earlier on. We saw what appeared to be a big column of Israeli Special forces taking off up the highway here, going someplace we dont know. It is a very, very active night here right now. Nic, watching you, i think, youre literally watching what the idf come them was just saying. Youre saying they cant control israel right now. It controls all of its own territory. There is still active fighting. Now, you talk about 2,200 rockets. Youre witnessing more attempts coming in even now. Reporter and thats despite the fact that we know the idf have been targeting areas within gaza. Hamas Militant Areas within gaza where they believe rockets are fired. Theyve been targeting them through the day. It seems very clear and not surprisingly, in their planning, hamas knew there would be a response from the Israeli Defense force when they began with that salvo of 2,200 missiles this morning. They clearly protect the missiles will they choose other Launch Positions for the missiles. Theyve been doing it a long time. Despite the attacks going into gaza this evening, hamas still able to fire several salvos out. Each time the iron dome Defense Systems kick in. That is in response to another salvo of missiles being fired from gaza. I would say in the last 10, 15, 20 minutes perhaps, weve had at least four significant salvos fired out in this area alone. And we were able to see salvos being intercepted further south of us in the direction further down the gaza strip in that direction. And nic, one other thing you mentioned that you saw as the rockets are coming in. The iron dome, israels Missile Defense system which they have made clear they will be seeking more support from the United States. You mentioned the israeli commandos that you saw in that operation. Also a reminder, what youre witnessing right now, live commando operations, hostage rescue situations, all of this is happening in realtime. Who knows where that particular group was going . Reporter absolutely. The check point here is the limit of confirmed israeli 100 . When you go further, you get to the area that was infiltrated. If you go over the hill to the side here, and just point the camera to the electricity piles, just over that hill is the sea. We were told earlier this evening, hamas militants tried to come in to israeli territory from the sea over there. That was this evening. So it is very active. It is happening in realtime. Troops are moving by here. Tanks are moving by here. Iron dome intercepts are happening literally over our heads. And just on the horizon there, one of those battles for a direct confrontation between the ibf and hamas militants where you can see the light on the skyline, that vicinity, we understand there is still active operationson going. Or have been until very, very recently. Thank you. Well continue to go to nic as he witnesses more of what is a war and what is an operation for israel. Still right now struggling to retain and defend the limits of what is defined as its own territory 24 hours after all this began. Retired Lieutenant Colonel with the seventh army. He was in israel dozens of times providing air defense support to their army. He visited their Election Headquarters as well. Robin wright is with us, from the international center, and phillip smith, fellow at the Washington Institute for near east policy. Im very grateful to have all three of you. General hertling, you see what nic is witnessing. These are live pictures from where he is, about five to six mile away. What do you make of this . This is all happening now. Were 24 hours into this and the idf admits that they have still not been able to retain, to gain back control of all of their territory. A couple things. First i would say what youre seeing, what nic is seeing in very courageous reporting is a lot of rockets. [ inaudible ] not unusual coming out of gaza. Thats what theyve done since they established themselves in the early 2000s. What is interesting to me, when i woke up this morning, the other synchronized assaults. Nic mentioned the naval assault. There have been drones being used. The forces going off in other directions through the gates. The drones they have been using. The denial of services from cyber attacks. This is a very synchronized assault by hamas. This is an organization that in the past has only used rockets and artillery as well as suicide bombers. They have never attacked the way theyre attacking now. Capturing prisoners, killing soldiers. Dr to that effect, the S Synchronized Nature of this, this clearly took months to plan. This isnt just a small thing. The ordinary rocket situation. This is unprecedented in its scale, in its scope and land, air, sea, the hostages, all of it. How surprised were you to see hamas able to do this . With whatever support they may have had. Whatever help, whatever assistance. How surprised were you to see this . I think everyone was surprised by the sophistication of this attack. The multiple layers. And what is striking is just how vulnerable israel is. This was not just an Intelligence Failure by israel but also by its closest allies, including the United States. That no one saw that this was multiple layer, very sophisticated, far more advanced than any extremist militia among the palestinians has been able to do. As this plays out, i think there will be a lot of questions about how does israel protect itself down the road . And can you actually eliminate hamas as a threat . You may be able to behead it, eliminate some of its leaders, attack a lot or destroy its equipment. But how will israel in the long term be able to deal with an issue that at the end of the day, is really political in nature and there is no sign of any willingness by either side to compromise. That means that even if this is a cessation of hostilities, that the issues that led to this attack are still out there and still dangerous. Out there and in many ways, still metastasizing. To that question, i want to show some image thats we have out of tehran tonight. And this shows iranians celebrating hamas. After the attacks today in israel, there were celebrations on the streets in tehran. What does this signal . These images, this response, when we talk about what happened hear, who aided, abetted, made it happen. What does this say to you . That 100 iran was behind it. And i think it is a bit of a mischaracterization to say merely hamas was behind it. A number different factions controlled directly by the iranians, new groups, too, all active in this really cohas hive operation. The iranians are putting their feet down. Why is this . They have domestic tension in their own country. Beyond that, you have a lot of other issues with the proxy forces and forces in iraq, syria, lebanon, this is a great way to send a signal that iran is able and capable of projecting its power. General hertling, when you hear israel, and we hear this from every single israeli official, the Defense Forces and the government. That this is unprecedented and the response will be unprecedented in scale in return. It will be tremendous. That it will be an onslaught. We continue to hear that. In light of what youre seeing here, the cohesive nature, right . Of what we have witnessed and are still witnessing, when you hear this, what do you think that actually means . Well, im bracing for it, to be honest with you. It will be devastating and much worse. Im a student of the israeli army but it will be much more devastating than they have ever done before in terms of putting down terrorists, hezbollah, hamas, jihad, you know, they will go in and they wont be precise. It will be a devastating attack inside of gaza because of the capture and killing of Israeli Citizens. I believe there will be revenge taken by the Israeli Soldiers going into the strike. Were already seeing the first with the air force. It we will see a ground assault. Because they dont have great intelligence about what should have predicted this attack, it will be much more difficult for them to go through that area that has 2 Million People in it and have safe and secure areas. Obviously, the Israeli Intelligence forces are known for being among the worlds very best. This is the krem did he la creme. The United States. Two of the groups which one would expect in any world that we thought we were living in would have known this was coming. Something so big and so grand and involving so many people. Yet everyone seems to have been taken by surprise. What is the most likely explanation for what is frankly such a shocking failure . Well robin, go ahead first. I think they didnt use the technology that we have today that they probably had runners who related messages, that they went down to primordial means of communication so they wouldnt be tracked. Its still shocking given the Human Intelligence that israel and mossad have managed to accumulate over the years, that they still didnt have any inkling this was about to happen. General . Yeah, intelligence only works if you focus that intelligence on a specific area. The main enemy of israel is hamas. But yet, the government of israel has been primarily focused on the west bank and the territories. So when you shift the focus from your main enemy to a secondary area, youre going to lose that. The United States has lost it, too, because we coordinate with israel. If theyre not getting the intelligence, were not getting the intelligence either. All of you will be back with me in just a few moments. I appreciate that and well see you in a few moments. Next, we have the breaking News Coverage continuing. President biden saying the United States is ready to offer all appropriate means of support to israel. What does that mean . How involved is the United States about to get . 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We keep hearing about, its unprecedented, massive, its cohesive, its coordinated, land, sea, air, how did it actually unfold . It unfolded on a sleeping nation. 6 30 in the morning. Thats when the Rocket Barrage began to be fired from gaza down here into israel. I want you to notice something. These three Strike Points here, because these would roughly coincide with what we have typically known to be the Rocket Capability of hamas down here. Their lowest level rockets, maybe six miles or so. Their mid level rockets out here. When you Start Talking about rockets that can hit tel aviv with any kind of reliance, then youre talking about the possibility that would be iranian technology, Something Like that. Those are more missiles than rockets if you appreciate the difference between the two. In any event, the other thing to note, this was a true raining of fire upon israel at that hour. Why would that matter so much . Think about what nic was talking about a while ago. The whole iron dome system. One of the ideas, one of the theories of Military Defense and attack for a long time has been, if someone has a system that will stop a lot of your rockets, fire a whole lot more. So we dont know how many were actually fired. As nic noted, probably north of 2,000 at least. That puts a lot of pressure on the system and that also creates chaos, that creates the door for the second stage of this. At 7 40, one hour and ten minutes later, we started to see the movement from all the ports and land of actual troops, fighters moving out of some in the air with powered parachutes, and some by knocking down barriers and moving out. And in fairly short order, thats when all accounts on the ground say this is the result. People with rocket launchers, rifles, guns, running through the streets of israel. And not just a few, substantial numbers. Erin . So all right, youre walking it through 6 30, 7 40, which it does seem so coordinated, that each was a stage, a specific stage. The Prime Minister, of course, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the attacks orchestrated by hamas were on a level that, quote, has never been seen in israel. So once the militants breached that border, you talk about at that point there being Hostage Situations, but what happened next . What happened next was a demonstration that they were not content with merely striking and retreating like has often been seen before. In this case they started going into some of these military facilities around here, that shows a degree of not only coordination but confidence, the notion that youre actually going after the areas in this country that theoretically would be the most prepared to repel any kind of attack. And yet that seems to be exactly what happened. And then there were the raids on the towns. You were mentioning a little while ago where, in fact, we had reports of people being taken hostage, people being shot at on the streets, civilian populations. All of this points to exactly what weve been talking about all day here, the idea that this represents a much more coordinated, deeper, wellplanned assault than anybody would have expected in the past. Thats right. Thank you very much. Tom foreman. I want to go now to adam smith, democratic congressman and chairman of the House Armed Services committee. Chairman, i appreciate your time. Obviously you have been closely monitoring the situation, briefed as as much as the information has been coming in. President biden is very clear, the United States is ready to offer all appropriate means of support. Israel hears that. They are making it very clear they appreciate that. But what does that mean to you, chairman . How involved will the United States get . Well, i think first of all the Intel Sharing Piece is the big thing that well be involved with up front. And you know, part of it is as your analysts have been doing a great job, what went wrong, how can we shore that up. We will look at weapons systems, if theres something we can do to help israel. This is a profound threat, not just israel but i think to u. S. Interests, but also to global stability. Clearly iran played a role in this. This is an effort to ramp up conflict, to push the terrorists forward, and to create a very, very dangerous situation. The u. S. Will stand with israel in any way necessary. So israel has promised a massive response. Residents in gaza have been told to get out. Massive weve been told tremendous, it will be unproduce dented in scale as this unprecedented in scale as this attack has been unprecedented. For you and as americans try to understand whats happening, what the implications may be, is the United States going to back anything that israel does in response . Does israel have a blank check for lack of a better term from the United States, at least, for anything it chooses to do . Well, as a fundamental misunderstanding in that question. The u. S. Does not control what israel does. And i think a lot of people misunderstand that. Israel will do what it feels like it needs to do to defend itself and protect its country. And we dont have a veto over that. And certainly in this moment we are not going to be communicating with israel and telling them how they should engage in protecting themselves. Now look, in any conflict we do not endorse, you know, any methods, you know, purposefully targeting s ing civilians, a wh bunch of things. Thats what im getting at. The spokesperson for the Israeli Defense forces a few minutes ago was making it clear that because of what has happened to israeli civilians, to prepare yourself for the images you may see on your screen in gaza in coming days. Very clearly saying that civilians there may die, and the images may be horrible. But saying to the world, remember how this started. Right, so they are giving that warning. I think certainly in this case israel will not take the precautions that they frequen ly have taken. They will not strike targets and will not target civilians. In they believe militants are in an area, without question given the nature of this attack, israel will err on the side of taking out the militants and be willing to risk that. And thats understandable given this attack and given the destruction that the terrorists have rained down on israeli civilians. All right. I appreciate your time, congressman. Thank you so much. Thanks, erin. Next, our Breaking News continues. Well take you back to the ground in israel where our Nic Robertson was forced to hit the ground shortly after arriving. Explosions and sirens rang out overhead, and of course right now at about 22 30 in the morning in israel, again, barrage of rockets around where he is tonight. Plus, israels former Prime Minister joins me on his own family rushing to shelters today as the country was under attack, and how israels Intelligence Agency failed to see the attacks coming. In the morning after hamts launched more in decades. Taking hostages and Firing Thousands of rockets. Right now intense fighting is st