And you can bring your own device. Oh, and all on the most reliable 5g Mobile Network nationwide. Wireless that works for you. Its not just possible. Its happening. You are live in the cnn newsroom. Washington along with my colleague erin burnett in tel aviv. It is midnight in israel and the beginning of day nine of israels war with hamas. Israel prepares the world at this crucial hour. Its military is working toward the next stages of war and that likely will include a Ground Invasion into gaza. More than 300,000 soldiers are at the border as we speak awaiting orders from Israeli Defense forces and turn it over to mike colleague in tel aviv. What can you tell us . Reporter the Prime Minister as he mentioned, those troops are awaiting orders. The Prime Minister is underscoring the readiness. He posted a video online of his visit with troops at the frontline. Israel as he mentioned has ordered those troops to the border and ordered more than 1 million civilians to evacuate for their own safety. Today the State Department is urging Palestinian Americans and gaza to move closer to the crossing into egypt. It is called the Rough A Crossing. To the u. S. State department confirmed the american death toll in israel has climbed now up to 29 americans confirmed dead. Today we visited and that is right near where netanyahu actually went in today to visit the troops. 1100 people live there and some more dead. Could smell the death. It is a distinct and immediately recognizable horrible smell to any human being. We saw these tractors, airplane toys, all burnt and destroyed. Inside one home in the kitchen you can see it was the microwave, the fridge still full of food. I saw medicine dispenser, bullet holes in almost every single home and and arabic that says a lot bar and the word victory. Everywhere you see the destruction idf soldiers, on patrol, onduty in what is now a death zone and an active fighting area. Incredibly sobering to see it. You see the life that was in the midst of being lived. Childrens playing, kids homework just completely destroyed. That hoard smell, again. One of the things i know you are hearing this time and again and we are hearing it as well in washington, when we ask the questions, they want the world to recognize the horrors of what took place during these attacks by hamas. You got that sense up close and personal today. 20 talk to people, even at this stage i know everybody is holding their collective breath but there must be a growing sense of awareness as to what is about to happen next. Reporter there is. There is a feeling that you even from a psychological and emotional perspective which worries on so many levels, you cannot sit in a state of readiness and pause and wait for an entire country for too long. You have to actually decide what the next stage will be and move on it. You have a country where businesses are still not fully open. You have kids not all the way in school. You have all of these things on hold. As you have those Hundreds Of Thousands of troops on the border. There is a palpable sense and even when you talk to people, they think it will be tomorrow. These are civilians but they get this feeling that it is imminent that it is about to happen. That is definitely the sentiment and overall feeling that is palpable. Is a great sense of tension and anticipation of something about to happen. Did you observe some of this Military Readiness . We talked to a reservist earlier on the program who was explaining to us, they feel very much prepared to do what is next, what is going to be called of them. This one reservist said, i dont know whether or not im going to see some of my friends and fellow soldiers again on the other side of this. You get that sense as to what is about to take place. Reporter absolutely. Today, we were at a buffer zone between the gaza border and where the military is blocked off. The settlement was right along that border but there is an area of Military Readiness. We could observe quite a bit of is really artillery that we were driving through. You are on dirt roads and you can see all of that there. We have seen a massive buildup with tank brigades, special forces, it is all very visible. They dont really want you to film it now and that has been a change over the past few days, but it is very much a there, it is very much in place and again, when you have Hundreds Of Thousands of soldiers and continuing that indefinitely without taking action, from a logistical perspective it defies reason. Erin, standby, we will have more of your incredible report coming up in just a few moments. First i want to go to Matthew Chance in northern israel. Matthew, i want to check in with you. If you can tell us what you are and what you are standing in front of. It sounds as though there was a prolonged exchange or rocket fire between israel and hezbollah along the northern border. We heard some of that from our colleague. What can you tell us . Reporter we are on the other side of that confrontation. With israeli troops in the north of israel. Very close to the lebanese border quite close to the Syrian Border as well a short distance from here. You can see we are with some Israeli Forces that have begun to gather and camp in this very volatile region. Of course a majority of Israeli Forces bolster themselves for a possible assault which we are expecting in the south in gaza about 250 miles to the north of your. People and soldiers are bracing for the possibility of a second front opening, a Rocket Barrage , a Ground Incursion from across the border in lebanon. And possibly elsewhere as well as i mentioned. There have been some exchanges of fire. You mentioned some Artillery Fire that has been going out from the israeli side toward lebanon. That was in response to a mortar attack, im told by the local soldiers. There has also been rockets fired from syria and there has been an israeli response to that as well. You can see a huge buildup of forces here in preparation for the possibility of that getting a much bigger confrontation. At the moment, israeli Officials Say that the level of confrontation in this part of the country is not at the point of escalation. That is the phrase they use. It is not big enough yet to warrant a fullscale escalation. But, the israelis are also warning that if it does breach that point then they will take decisive action. They have appealed to hezbollah the iranian backed militia to say, dont provoke the destruction of lebanon. That is an overt threat that if there is a massive barrage of missiles across the border from lebanon from hezbollah, the israelis will respond in kind and with strength. Thats the situation here. At the moment it pretty quiet apart from the isolated incidents we have spoken about earlier. Has below has not launched a fullscale strike yet on this part of israel, but lets see what happens in the next few days because there is all sort of concern of the regional reaction once that very provocative, very bloody Ground Operation in gaza gets underway. Matthew, are you getting the sense that and maybe it is impossible to read the minds of what is going on Inside Hezbollah has below is try to provoke the israelis into opening up a second run . I suppose the israelis have to be wise to that. What is your sense of that . Reporter i dont think so at this point. I think it would be unfair to say the hezbollah are trying to provoke a second front. But both sides are eyeing each other with caution. Israel does not want a second front to open because it is preoccupied with the situation in gaza to the south but also because it knows very well that the palestinian rockets that have been fired at its settlements over the course of the past week and beyond that pale into significance compared to the strength of the rocket arsenal, the Missile Arsenal that has below has at its disposal. It is supplied directly from iran. It is essentially under the command of iran as well and at the moment israel is doing everything it can to make sure that fullscale war does not break out. I think by the same token, hezbollah is not necessarily gunning for a second front at the moment either because it knows what will come. Not only does israel have significant antimissile defenses in this region but it is made quite clear it will strike back hard. There is also u. S. Forces in the Aircraft Carrier group off the coast of israel in the Eastern Mediterranean that could well be brought in to a confrontation if hezbollah were to unleash its Missile Arsenal on northern israel. If that step is taken, if that rubicon is crossed, we will be in a very different geopolitical and fighting situation in this part of the world. No question about it. That is a very critical point to make. Matthew, thank you so much. Stay with us. Standby as well. It is a very active, intense night across israel, across gaza. We will have more on this is the region looks like it is preparing and is on the brink of a significant escalation in the war between israel and hamas. Stay with us we will be right back in a moment. Welcome back in tel aviv. It has been one week now since hamas fighters attacked multiple sites in israel. A slaughter that has shocked the world. More than a week later many families still do not know what is happening to their loved ones. Loved ones who have not been seen or heard from since the horrific attacks and among them are the parents of 19yearold israeli soldier. She is in her second year of mandatory Military Service and was stationed not far from the gaza border. Her family has not heard from her since a few hours since the attacks began. Her mother joined me now. Sharon, i know your little girl, your 19yearold daughter, you are helping every moment to hear from her, to hear something about her. Can you tell me what you know, as best as you were able to get from her, what happens that saturday morning to her . Saturday morning started with a Missile Attack and i called her and i couldnt get any connection. Finally, she texted me at 9 30 a. M. Saying mom im okay, dont worry about me, i have no reception. And then i texted her back, i love you and replied, mom, dont worry, i love you too. And that was it. I havent heard from her since. It has been eight days now from this black saturday, as we call it. And i miss her. I miss her so much. Reporter i can only imagine. It is your child for the idea is that she is missing. They have not given you horrible news. They say she is missing. Are they telling you what they are doing to locate her . Have they said whether they think she is being held as a hostage or any sort of information at all . The idf is in contact with us and we are all looking for her. We believe she was kidnapped by hamas by isis and we dont know where she is and there are several more girls from her base and we ask for help to get them all back. We dont know where they are. I dont know where my girl is and i miss her. I miss her so much. You know, every day is like a nightmare because i cant sleep. I cant eat. I cant breathe. This is a living for all of us since that day. I dont know where she is. Reporter sharon, and the text she sent you you said, im in a safe room, there is no reception. He responded i love you. Just to give her support, its your child, i love you and she says okay dont worry about me i love you too and that she gives you three hearts. I know that she is in her second year of service with the idf. Can you tell us about how she felt about being a soldier . How she felt about being on that base and the military . She loved it. She thought she was doing something important. Her job was important. She loved doing it. She felt she is doing something important. She loved doing that. Reporter could you tell us a little bit about her and her plans for the future . Who she is . We are looking at pictures that you shared with us of her and she does have that very contagious smile and a real joy that comes through in the photos. She was a typical teenager. She likes music. She likes to listen to taylor swift and harry styles and a few months ago when maroon 5 was in israel we went to the concert. She loved going to parties. What teenagers do at her age. She didnt have much time between finishing high school and enlisting into the army and when she was about to get into the army she wanted to go to america. She wanted to have a big trip and go to university. All the things. Reporter hopefully she will be able to do those things. Our thoughts are with you and the unimaginable ways you so you can breathe, i know everyone watching could understand it is incredibly. Thank you so much for talking about her and sharing her with us and we hope that you will be getting good news and we will be right back as our breaking News Coverage continues after this. Here in the bay, ous and all of our stuff where we want to go. But, our cars cant take us e with unpaid tolls. Vehicles with overdue, unpaid tolls may not be able to renew their registration until outstanding balances are paid. Payment assistance is available. Visit bayareafastrak. Org ase so go pay your unpaid tolls y and keep your wheels on the we are looking at some live pictures of gaza. Is 12 25 a. M. In gaza as the Israeli Defense forces are preparing for what they are calling the next stages of this war. It sounds very ominous. The Prime Minister that yahoo is down at the front earlier today speaking with his soldiers. Intentions are mounting across israel. President biden has spoken with both of the leaders of israel, and yahoo and of the Palestinian Authority. Learning about the number of americans killed in last weeks attack has now risen to 29 american lives lost. Lets discuss more with seth of massachusetts. He serves on the house arms services. I appreciate you being here. Right now we just dont know what happens next but it sounds as though that something is imminent. What are your thoughts . We were just showing these quiet pictures of gaza a few moments ago, but all indications are that an escalation is going to be happening soon. I think thats right. It is pretty clear we all know what is coming which is a Ground Invasion of gaza and there are a lot of different ways this could go. But as a veteran of a few ground envisions myself, four tours in iraq, i can tell you there are a lot of sticks that israel can make in the coming days. Is going to be a very tough operation. Is not going to be easy to fight through an urban environment like that. Would be very difficult and if israel is not careful to make sure that as many innocent lives are preserved as possible , they run into this problem that we call insurgent math, or they risk grading more insurgents, recruiting more people to the cause than hamas fighters that they actually kill. How israel conducts this operation is critical not just for the safety of the people of gaza, for the safety of the people of israel, but ultimately for their success in this war. Earlier this afternoon we spoke with a spokesman for the Israeli Defense forces and he was indicating that palestinians who were asked to leave, ordered to leave Northern Gaza have a little more time to make their way to southern gaza, perhaps this is what israel wants the world to hear. They want to give the palestinians as much time as possible to move to that southern part of gaza, but he was very clear later on in the interview that is really Defense Forces are prepared to move in and that they will stay in that part of the world for as long as they think it is necessary, to take out the leadership of hamas and i asked him, does that mean days and weeks . He seemed to indicate that yes, they are prepared to stay as long as the mission takes. That seems to go to the question that you raised, the concern that you raise, which is they may be stuck in some very hard fighting in the days and weeks ahead. Thats right. We went into Afghanistan Inking it would be a few weeks or months, we went into iraq thinking it would be a few months longer than that and 20 years later we were still in those wars. The problem again is that if the mission is to destroy hamas, but by being there antagonizing the civilian population, killing innocent people, you are going to recruit more people to the cause. You might be killing hamas fighters but they are busy recruiting more people and it is not that hard to recruit fighters for the opposition if they see their families getting wiped out. This is a very difficult operation. In the First Marine Division in iraq, we had our Division Motto which is no better friend no worse enemy than a United States marine. That meant for our enemy, you would find no fear fiercer fell. We will hunt you down and kill you, dont oppose us but on the other hand, the first part of that phrase, no better friend, is really important too. If israel doesnt show that they can take care of the civilian population, fundamentally it is smarter for the civilian population to side with the idf then to side with the hamas terrorists, they are not going to win the long war. They are not going to win the long battle. What i hear out of israel, a lot of talk about the tactics on the ground for how they take out hamas, i dont hear much about this Bigger Picture strategy to produce a longterm viable political solution for all of the innocent civilians in the gaza strip. The innocent civilians need to see a future that is not just a war or they will simply join the other side. Just shifting to the connection to some domestic politics, the House Of Representatives still does not have a speaker at this hour, what are the risks of not having a House Speaker during this Major International crisis . There is significant. They are in two big categories. We cant do anything as the United States congress. We cant even pass a simple resolution to our support for israel. We cant pass bills to get aid to israel, any additional aid they might need that requires congressional support for we havent been able to provide any aid for ukraine or any of the other International Issues around the globe. That is the fundamental problem that we face right now. But the other problem is that our adversaries, russia and china, are looking at the United States right now and just seeing this dysfunction. The gop civil war that has consumed the house has the risk of consuming american politics at large and thats how our adversaries are making it out. The United States, this democracy is dysfunctional. They cannot work. I think in the long run we are going to see that part of the reason hamas chose this time to attack israel is because of all of the domestic political dysfunction in the netanyahu government. So we are at a National Security risk ourselves in america if our adversaries cs as lyrically week. When you dont have a speaker for the first time in American History in the House Of Representatives, it is hard to argue that we are not experiencing some serious political dysfunction. Republicans as you know have nominated jim jordan as their next House Speaker. Can you work with him . We will try to work with anyone. Democrats have been offering to publicans from day one to produce a compromised speakers, someone we can make a deal with. Democrats might even support in a speaker election, Something University in the House Of Representatives. We are going way out there as democrats to help the gop solve this problem but speaking to some of my republican friends, as they were leaving washington for the weekend, they are incredibly frustrated to the point of just being angry, despondent at the total dysfunction in their conference. This is a gop civil war. Jim jordan is on one extreme side of that. Is an extremist that republicans somehow think was going to get enough votes to be speaker. What my republican friends say and they tend to be more moderate is that he is not going to have the votes to be speaker so he probably wont be speaker but we might go through several more days of dysfunction within the gop caucus as they try to figure out if he can get the votes on the floor. Congressman, seth moulton, appreciate the time. Thank you so much. In the meantime israel as we have been reporting all afternoon and this evening, they say they are preparing for the next stages of war. What that might look like next, stay with us. We are continuing to follow the Breaking News at this hour. Egypts Foreign Minister telling cnn earlier this evening that the Rough A Crossing between gaza and egypt is open according to how they view things. Aerial has rendered the roads on the gaza side inoperable according to the egyptians at this hour for joining us to talk about this at the department of homeland security, julia, a retired u. S. Air force colonel. What do you make of what the egyptians were sent to our colleague this afternoon . There side of that crossing is open. That doesnt necessarily answer the question as to whether or not folks cant get across. That brings up this whole issue of israelis have said they want palestinians to leave Northern Gaza, headed toward store than gaza. That is going to create a chokepoint. It will create a problem down there. Absolutely. A huge humanitarian problem. In essence when the border is open except it is close. Because the road was apparently hit quite severely, it really means that in essence the border is not open for any of these people. So now what we have. Has been coming from the egyptians . Absolutely. What they are saying is we are opening things up for you. The problem is that it is close. Even though you say it is open. So, that is kind of the game being played right now. They want to look at internationally but they do not come absolutely do not want any of the refugees on their side of the border. They dont want masses of Palestinian Refugees coming across. Juliet, we havent touched base with you this afternoon. What are your thoughts . We were shown some live images of gaza a few moments ago. It is eerily quiet but when we were talking with the Israeli Defense forces earlier this afternoon, we were getting all indications that it is a matter of time. This is imminent. And they are trying to put out a forwardlooking face in all of this, they are giving the palestinians as much time to get out. It sounds as though we are talking about hours, not days or weeks. These are peoples homes and it is a dense area so you are not going to have a fast evacuation. Cedric was saying, you are pushing against a wall now. We dont have that border that has any capacity to bring, relieve that stress. You are essentially moving 1 Million People to wear their is already another Million People. The egyptians who want to play this game of saying that they are on the palestinian side have always been on horrible about the palestinian issue in gaza. You are going to have this pressure point. What does this mean . I have no doubt in my mind israel can do a lot of harm. Theres no question about it. Its hard. They will be in an urban warfare but they certainly are against an unarmed civilian population. They want to target hamas leadership and how you do that one hamas is among civilians and you have a couple hundred miles of tunnels is, lets say we have seen that before. Is a very hard mission. The challenge now is, what is going to be for the telecine and civilian soon so that there are alternatives to either a Refugee Crisis or radicalization. Thats not going to flow through the idf for israel. Thats going to flow through the palestinian suspect whatever we think about the Palestinian Authority, it is better than the terrorist group hamas. Thats what we need to begin to build up. It has to be office unless israel is prepared to occupy the west gaza for a very long time, we know what that looks like. We have tried it before in the middle east. A viable Governing Structure has to be simultaneous with a Military Mission at this stage. Yeah. Colonel, julia raises a good point and this is a difficult Military Question for the israelis. They are saying they want to go into gaza, take out the leadership and so on but if you are doing it in an urban combat environment, we are talking about two things happening at the same time. Absolutely. House by house, street by street trying to go into tunnels , this could be brutal. This is going to be brutal. This will be brutal. The problem is, every plan falls apart once you make contact with the enemy. In a case like this where there is so many friction points, urban conduct, all kinds of things can go wrong. This is one of those moments were any Good Intention of just going in after the hamas leadership, taking them out one by one, or whichever what it is, all of that falls apart once by accident you hit the shopkeeper down the street. That is the kind of thing that is going to happen and in this very charged environment, the israelis are going to have a heck of a challenge when they deal with that kind of fallout and it is going to be political as well as a military challenge. Julia, one has to think that the israelis are mindful of the American Experience during the war on terror. Seth moulton was making this point that they thought going into afghanistan was going to take a short period of time and that iraq was going to take a short time but that is not what took place. Right. A war based on retribution or Military Action may satisfy a particular need at this stage which is trying to get as much hamas leadership as possible. As we have all been said, it is 2 Million People and we certainly know not all of them are hamas. Either you are committing to the kind of warfare that we know what it looks like, a lot of civilians lost. We shouldnt talk and platitudes. This is what it means. Israel will be willing to accept that because it is worth the price of getting leaders of hamas or you try to get the leaders of hamas and then build up a governance that will deal with the humanitarian crisis that is unavoidable at this stage. You move mode when killing people up to a wall which is what egypt is and you have a humanitarian crisis again, the alternatives are the Palestinian Authority and the United States getting israel to recognize those alternatives. Breakpoints from both of you. I really appreciate the discussion. We will turn back to you as the hours go on. Thank you very much. We are keeping an eye on what is taking place about to take place in gaza. Doctors without borders is urging israel to maintain safe zones and periodic ceasefires in gaza. The Groups Executive Director joins us next. Stay with us. Rs time to win is running out in our prize packed kick off the savings Monopoly Game hurry in to play for your chance at over 25 million in prizes and money saving offers like this, and this, or even this. Plus, you still have a shot at up to 100,000 in guaranteed prize money. Stop in while you can still win and shop your Favorite Brands sporting the kick off the Savings Monopoly Tag for unlimited bonus game tickets at Lucky International criticisms with the call for the citizens of Northern Gaza to evacuate to the south. Doctors without borders, the medical group, has been Running Health care programs in gaza for more than 20 years. The International Humanitarian organization is calling the time frame of israels Evacuation Order of gaza outrageous. Thats their executive word. The Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders joins us now. I appreciate your time. I want to try to get an understanding of what you see from people on the ground in gaza right now. What is the situation for your teams in gaza right now . Reporter erin, we have more than 300 there and theyre fleeing for their lives, if not working in the hospitals trying to maintain of what is left of a shattered Health Care System. Some of my colleagues are international. The vast majority are palestinian. Theyre there with their families. And we are asking for safe passage for them to leave. Many of them have sheltered in the south. They made the middle of the night very harrowing journey with hundreds of other cars to a u. N. Compound. Its a school, actually, where people are sleeping on blankets and mattresses on the floor, fearing the worst. Because there are thousands of them there. Many people trying to flee and our colleagues are caught up in this as well. So that Evacuation Order obviously, it sounds like, your teams went through that and moved as far south as they could. Even if they wanted to leave the country, right now theyre not able to. Theres no border by which they would be allowed to leave. What are the immediate medical needs . When you talk about how dire the situation is, what does that mean . It means a lot of people were not able to flea. It is just unreasonable to expect 1. 1 Million People to flee. Mixed into that you have patients, youve got sick and injured people, people with disabilities, youve got the elderly who may have mobility problems. Not everyone has been able to. Its just impossible to imagine that. Those who have arrived in the south are reporting that theres a really serious shortage of water. Were asking for clean Drinking Water at the very least to be assured for these thousands of people. We also see that there is a looming shortage of food and of just about all the necessities of life. The Health Care System is, was always extremely fragile. We considered it a humanitarian chronic emergency over many, many years. And now its a complete catastrophe. So with that shortage of water, the inability of people to get out. Were really beside ourselves, just calling for safe passage for people to be able to go through that rafah crossing and to leave without prejudice. To find safety. Under humanitarian law, they should be allowed to do so. And obviously, egypt has refused to open that border. The United States has been trying to negotiate that for Palestinian Americans, to be clear. That would not apply to many of the people youre talking about. Very few of the people in the gaza strip. But that border remains closed to absolutely anyone. What is the time frame here . In terms of, you talk about water. You talk about food. If even putting aside a possible Ground Invasion, more bomba bombardments, those things israel is in control of. In terms of food, fuel, how much time do you have left before you have a truly crucial lifethreatening disaster on your hands . Things like water. Yeah. It doesnt take long. Its a necessity of life. And thats why it is so urgent that water be made available to these people. As i say, you were asking, 1. 1 Million People on an order to shift location in a matter of hours to another part of gaza. We are going to see people suffering severe consequences of dehydration, including young children. And this is a very young population for the most part. Also, without access to the functioning Health Care System, without access to hospitals, where people really were not only being treated for their injuries from the war but all the other things. You have women delivering babies. Some of them will be premature. They need to be incubators. To run the incubator, you need electricity. If you dont have that, you need a diesel generator. All these things will create collateral damage. Everyone there feels like they are likely to be collateral damage. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Of course, no matter what happens, as israels operations reaches the next stages, as they call them, there is a humanitarian crisis in the offing. We are working on Breaking News as israel says it is getting ready for the next stages. Well be right back. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. Im jim acosta. Good evening. A short time ago the State Department confirmed the american death toll from the hamas attacks has climbed. Meanwhile, israel has put the world on notice. It is planning for the next stage of its war with hamas. Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu posted a video online of a visit with his troops at the border. A Ground Invasion seems more