sderot, israel. how is israel expanding its ground assault? >> reporter: i sat down with israel's top tank commander to talk about how tanks are going to play a central role in the offensive in the south as today the first israeli tanks were spotted in southern gaza. as israel expands its ground offensive into southern gaza the brigadier general, the head of israel's armored corps, said tanks will once again be central to israel's war strategy. >> -- >> reporter: israeli tanks were at the tip of the offensive into gaza in october, clearing the way for infantry troops to move into dangerous and densely populated cities. ibrahim says this kind of coordination is a lesson learned from russian failures in ukraine. >> translator: we saw where they only fought with tanks alone they were more vulnerable. this overcomes almost every problem on the battlefield. >> reporter: israeli tanks are pushing through, not around residential buildings, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble to minimize the risk to israeli troops. >> that also means that you have to destroy a lot of residential buildings. >> yes, that's exactly what we do. we're firing -- we destroy but we make sure that this building is empty from citizens and we just destroy what we have to destroy. >> we've seen a lot of civilians die in gaza. >> but we make sure before that we attack gaza that citizens go so south. >> reporter: israeli tanks have also become a top target. >> they want to destroy, because for them -- >> reporter: in a series of propaganda video, general ibrahim says these fiery explosions show the tank's anti-missile systems in action. >> reporter: his troops are paying heavy price. >> translator: the first rpg that was fired hit the tank, penetrated it and i got hit by the shrapnel. >> during a visit to wounded soldiers, general ibrahim saying his corps has suffered more casualties than any other. >> translator: this is because we are on the front line, the tank corps is a corps that is winning this war. this is our war. >> reporter: general ibrahim made very clear that the cost is likely to continue to rise as the israeli is pursuing the same strategy in the south. this time they'll be facing an enemy that has prepared, learned from the ways that tanks have operated in northern gaza. while the israeli military explores the same strategy in the south, general ibrahim says it's likely to be more complicated. a seminar today at the united nations revealed horrific stories of rape and sexual violence during hamas' attack on october 7th. i want to warn viewers some of what i'm about to describe and the images you might see coming up are disturbing. survivors are sharing what they witnessed on october 7th, descriptions of women lying dead with no close, elderly woman without underwear, women with their pelvises broken, women bleeding from their private parts, descriptions of hamas' barbaric attack against girls and women. today the united nations held a special session. >> on october 7th hamas perpetrated rape and sexual violence, exploiting these unforgivable crimes as weapons of war. >> nearly two months after the october 7th attacks, the international community is finally beginning to investigate and recognize reports of brutal and inhumane rapes and sexual assaults by hamas terrorists torturing and terrorizing the people of israel. for weeks israeli police have been collecting eyewitness testimony, video and forensic evidence, detailing countless accounts of rape and sexual assault perpetrating by terrorists on israeli women and children. for weeks there has been very little outcry or condemnation from the international community including from the united states nations. >> sadly, the very international bodies that are supposedly the defenders of all women showed that when it comes to israelis, indifference is acceptable. to these organizations, israeli women are not women. the rape of israelis is not an act of rape. their silence has been deafening. >> monday the united nations held a gathering hosted by israel examining sexual and gender-based violence committed during hamas' attack on israel. hamas has denied committing any rapes or sexual assaults. >> there are exactly no circumstances that justify rape. none. rape is terror. rape is torture. >> it doesn't just strike fear in the hearts of israeli women. it strikes fear in the hearts of every woman and girl around the globe. their bodies are not -- >> the chief superintendent of the israeli police read numerous accounts of the atrocities witnessed by survivors and first responders. >> everything was an apocalypse of c corpses, girls without any clothes on, without tops, without underwear, people cut in half, butchered. some were beheaded. there were girls with broken pelvis due to repeative rapes, their legs were spread wide apart in a split. a police officer testified, i couldn't drive because there was baby cradle full of blood on the road, a baby that was outside his cradle and a naked woman lying next to the baby's body. she was naked, badly injured, bullets in her body. a witness testified we heard girls that were pulled out from the shelters, girls that shout ed, they raped girls, burned them just after that. all the bodies outside were burned. a rescuer that arrived to a house on a kibbutz testified, inside the shower there was a body of a woman. she was without her underwear. the body was in the corner and her hands were tied. another testimony from the rape party survivor, women without clothes, some without the upper body clothes, some without the lower body clothes, blood over the lower body. everyone was full of blood, butchered. we found a woman's body dumped outside without pants, without underpants, burned. barely any hair left on her. >> videos were played from a first responder, a paramedic and a survivor of the music festival detailing firsthand what they experienced. >> translator: the two we had were bound by their hands. their hands were behind their back. there was a body of a woman that had a bloodstain on her genitalia. there was a lot of gun wounds there. shooting was targeted at sexual organs. we saw that a lot. they had a thing with sexual organs, both with women and men. the women we received, they were civilian. we mainly saw either breast amputations or gunshots dust to the breast, simply shooting from one side of the breast to the other. they were conscious when they got to us. >> translator: they laid a woman down and i understand he's raping her. he's basically shifting her position and then they pass her along to another person. was she alive, the girl they raped? yes, she was alive. she had long hair. he was pulling her hair. she's not dressed and he cuts her breast. he throws it on the road and they're playing with it. >> another survivor of the attack describes seeing a horrific rape at the nova music festival to london's "sunday times." i saw this beautiful woman with the face of an angel and eight or ten of the fighters beating and raping her. she was screaming stop it already, i'm going to die anyway from what you're doing, just kill me. when they finished, they were laughing, and the last one shot her in the head. >> they believe the hamas spokesperson said rape is forbidden, therefore, it couldn't have possibly have happened on october 7th? or do we believe the women whose bodies tell us how they spent the last minutes of their lives? who are we going to believe? >> the israeli government says there are still 17 women and children who are either still being held by hamas or are missing. they include three children, 4-year-old arielle beebe bass, 18-year-old liri albag and four women not in the military, a 26-year-old, two 19-year-olds, 32-year-old mother. hamas claims the family members were killed in an israeli air strike, though that has not been confirmed. the idf is continuing to look into the claim. a 28-year-old, a 38-year-old, 19-year-old daniella gilboa, 27-year-old inbar iman. 30-year-old . >> you might have noticed most of those women are in their teens or 20s. one of them you saw being kidnapped. she had a bloody spain soaking her pants between her legs. if you're worried what hamas may be worried to these women in their teens and 20s, you're not alone. sources tell me this is, in fact, a big fear among top israeli officials. we heard more about this fear, and that's all it is right now, a fear from the u.s. state department earlier today. >> near the end of that pause, last wednesday, thursday, when we were getting towards the end, hamas was still holding on to women that should have been the next to be released. they refused to release them. they broke the deal, came up with excuses why. ultimately i don't think any of those excuses were credible and i shouldn't get into any of them here. certainly one of the reasons that a number of people believe they refused to release them is they didn't want to hear what those women have to say publicly. i won't say fact because i don't know for a fact. >> when pushed on this, he went on to note, hamas has never given a credible reason as to why they reneged on the deal to release these women. and he doesn't know definity as to why they have not released these women. a senior adviser to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu will join us next. we're back with our world lead and the 17 women and children that hamas continues to hold hostage, not including the men, not including the soldiers. i want to bring in the senior advisor to israeli prime minister netanyahu. the u.s. state department said it's worried these young are not releasing these young women hostages possibly because hamas doesn't want to speak about how they have been mistreated. why do you think they haven't released them? >> i can only speculate. of course, we have grave, grave concerns. today the head of the children's hospital that is treating the children who have been released gave a briefing. her report was very grave and troubling. here we're talking about the small children who she said looked like shadows of children when she first met them, and they had all sorts of issues, both medical issues, physical conditions, and they obviously also had psychological trauma. we know who we're dealing with when we talk about hamas. we're dealing with a brutal organization capable of the most horrific violence. the fact that they took a 9-month-old baby hostage, 2-year-olds, 4-year-olds, it's truly horrific. unfortunately, we're very lucky we managed to get over 100 people out during the humanitarian pause. thoes people who remain, we have to be very, very concerned about their fate and have no illusions about who is this enemy we're dealing with, hamas. >> mark, what do you make by the comments by the secretary of defense, lloyd austin, that ultimately the campaign has been so brutal by the idf that you may be strategically losing the larger battle by chasing the palestinian people into the arms of hamas? so we're having a close dialogue with the americans. they are our best friend, and we take seriously everything that they say and we are very attentive. but i think ultimately when this war is over, hamas' path of extremism and radicalism and terror, horrific terror as we've just discussed, will be discredited because the people of gaza when they're finally free of this autocratic regime, they'll be able to speak out. though they might not be in love with israel, there's all sorts of reasons for historic animosity, there will be pent-up anger against hamas for bringing this crisis. they know, the people of gaza know who started this war. they know why israel is responding. they know that hamas refused to release more hostages and, therefore, the humanitarian pause was not extended. the people of gaza know this better than anyone else. when this is over, i'm sure you'll see an explosion of pent-up rage by the people of gaza against hamas for everything they have brought upon gazans. >> that might be wishful thinking, mark. there are a lot of innocent people being killed by bombs that israel is raining down upon gaza. and even if, as i know the idf believes that israel has killed 5,000 members of hamas, that's thousands of innocent people including women and children, babies that israel has killed. even if it's an accident, even if it's collateral damage, it's a lot of innocent lives killed by israel. >> so you are correct that we don't want to see a single innocent civilian caught in the crossfire between the idf and the terrorists. we're making a maximum effort. we've been leafletting and urging people to leave areas of conflict. the truth is that most areas did vote with their feet and exit areas of combat. wisely so. we don't want to see a single gazan civilian caught in the crossfire. we're working against a brutal enemy who deliberately wants to use gazan civilians as a human shield to protect its war machine. it makes our job that much more difficult. i've seen the numbers. i can't share with you yet. when this is over, we can have a serious discussion when the fog of war is behind us. i'm convinced every single civilian death, especially children, is a tragedy and we don't want to see it. in comparative numbers -- if you compare israel to perfection, of course we'll fall short. when you compare to other western armies fighting terrorists, i think israel will not come out badly. i think it will be seen that the idf has done everything humanly possible to try to safeguard human civilians. >> it's very hard to believe that when one of our producers lost nine members of the family, not members of any group, nine people just trying to live their lives. >> first of all, i extend my sorrow to him and my i'm thinks. but if i saw your report correctly, please correct me if i say something wrong, that happened in northern gaza, in gaza city where a month ago we asked all the civilians to leave. most of them did. there was like 1 million people there, there was only a couple, or ten thousands left. i don't know what happened. i don't have the specific circumstances. i know there's deadly combat going on now in the north still between the idf and hamas terrorists, yes. we don't want to see anyone caught up in the crossfire. why didn't they heed the advice and leave the area. >> you can't blame them. >> i don't blame them. >> there's fighting in the south now. i've been asking this since october 7th. where are these people supposed to go? >> at the beginning it was easier because the fighting was concentrated in the north and we asked people to move south. that was relatively simple. i'm not saying totally simple. just go south of the river. now we're being more specific because it is more complicated in the south, we've actually designated areas in the south which are safer areas, there's a number of them. we've shared the maps with the united states. it's been shared also with the u.n. and the other humanitarian organizations. we have to hit hamas in khan yunis. they have a network of tunnels. if we want to destroy hamas' military machine, and we must, we have to act in the south as well. senior hamas commanders are there under the ground in khan yunis. we can't not go there. in going there to defeat hamas, we're also going to make a major effort once again to try to safeguard civilian lives. that's why we're urging people to move to the new areas we've specified. as the ground operation starts, i can assure you that the escape routes, the humanitarian corridors that will allow civilians to get out of harm's way will still be there. >> thanks so much. >> thank you, sir. a slew of new warnings today about donanald trump i if he weo win ananother termrm. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. a stark warning in our 2024 lead. a special issue of "the atlantic" magazine lays out a detailed compelling case about specifically what could happen if donald trump returns to the oval office. two dozen essays by atlantic writersout line how the threats to democracy will be bigger than ever before potentially changing america forever. some of them joining us now. jeffrey goldberg, let me start with you. these essays talk about how trump could carry out a revenge, a retribution presidency. what could happen to nato. how women will be targets. how trump could get away with it all. you write the country survived the first trump term, a second term if there is one will be much worse. tell me about why you decided to publish such a sprawling account of what might happen, the impetus of this issue? >> i think people have normalized the possibility of trump coming back to office. we get used to anything -- to the credit of human beings, we can get used to anything. i think we're too accustomed to the idea that he's coming back, and i don't think people understand that the trump who comes back is going to be very different than the trump we had the first time. the trump we had the first time, culminating on january 6th was a pretty troubling phenomenon. i think this time he's coming bent on revenge. david fromme has a very excellent essay about that. he's coming with the idea of revenge. he knows how government works, he knows how he was thwarted the first time. he's not going to be hiring the so-called grownups. you remember jim mattis, rex tillerson. >> bill barr. >> bill barr to keep him in check. no more people keeping him in check. it wouldn't be surprising, and ann is an expert on this, it wouldn't be surprising to see him pull out of nato. >> let's talk about that. ann, your essay focuses on nato, the european treaty existing since world war ii, basically to be a check on what was then the soviet union, now russia. as trump once said, i don't give a shit about nato. that's my second shit. oh, my third. every time i'm quoting somebody -- every time i'm quoting trump. you argue even if trump is leaving nato, it might not matter. you write when i ask people what would happen to europe, ukrainian, even taiwan and south korea, if trump refuses to observe article 5, all of them agree that faith and collective defense could evaporate quickly. explain what that looks like. >> what people don't realize is nato isn't just a treaty. it's a kind of psychology. it's not that russia is afraid to attack poland because we wrote something down in a treaty and somebody signed it and ratified it. it's because he genuinely believes that, if he attacks poland or germany or britain, that the united states will come in and all the nato countries will come together and fight. once we have a president who makes it clear that he won't do that under any circumstances, even if there's pushback, even if the military starts shouting, even if the senate tries to prevent him, that psychological barrier is down. and then really at any moment when putin says, right, all these arms are coming into ukraine via poland or romania, why not hit the train stations they're coming in on? without the assurance that the united states will do something about it, he's, therefore, much mover likely to do it. of course, once we lose the assurance of collective defense in one part of the world, then why would we have it in another part of the world. you can't trust america to help its nato allies, then why would america help taiwan or south korea. >> remind our viewers, article 5 has only been invoked once. that was when? >> to help the united states after 9/11. >> can i add one point of this? the american military is bigger than the combined militaries of europe. in other words, putin knows without the u.s., if the u.s. withdraws from the scene frngs he could have his way in a way he wouldn't have others. >> mckay coppins, loyalists, lap dogs and cronies. in a second trump term, there would be no adults in the room. it's a point john carl made earlier in the show about how there will be no cipollones, no bill barrs. trump believes jeff sessions and bill barr, his two attorneys general betrayed him, even though they were just doing their job, what would happen to the justice department under a second trump presidency? >> trump has already made clear he wants to use the justice department to visit revenge on joe biden for one, other political enemies. he also wants to use it to protect himself. he's obviously currently in the process of going through many lawsuits. what i've heard repeatedly talking to people in trump's orbit, he will prioritize in all positions, but especially attorney general obedience over everything else. he wants an attorney general who will do exactly what he says when he says it and not question his orders. so to that end, some of the names that have been floated, josh hawley, ted cruz, mike lee, pam bondi in florida. these are people that donald trump believes will do exactly what he tells them to do. really that is the ethos that i think he hopes to reign overall his government. he wants people at the high profile level and the rank and file, people who can bend to his will because he feels he was burned by the deep state in his first term and he doesn't want to repeat that. >> for instance, he just declared he would do everything he could against msnbc the other day because he doesn't like their coverage because they're a progressive channel. what might that look like? >> he could use the justice department to, you know, try to -- there are a number of mechanisms. he's talked about trying to bring the fcc into the white house and use that to decide which networks he can punish or shut down, revoke their license. msnbc is not -- it's a table network. >> not gov ernd by the fcc. >> right. he could try to use the justice department to provide innovative new ways to crack down on them legally. the attorney general is one thing. the question is what about the rank and file lawyers at the justice department who, for example, have to file subpoenas or do the actual work to put these lawsuits together? part of the work that's been dog is that he wants to essentially politicize up to 50,000 federal workers with this plan that he has put in place through an executive order that would make it so that everyone at the justice department is on board with his agenda, and if they're not, they could be fired at will. >> absolutely chilling. everyone stay with me. we're going to take a quick break. we'll be back with the team from "the atlantic" in one second. we're back with the 2024 lead and the team from "the atlantic" out with a special issue today laying out what could happen if donald trump wins the 2024 election. jeffrey, you want to talk about a piece that tom nichols has. you have 24 different essays about how things might change for the worse should donald trump be elected for a second term. the military is supposed to be removed from politics. >> right. remember donald trump has directly threatened to prosecute the now former chairman of the joint chiefs mark milley who he thinks subverted trump. what milley did was stand up in defense of the constitution. the worry is there's an extremely stringent process for picking generals, very apolitical process, always about competence, about sterling character and experience. there's a real worry that trump will reach down into the pool of colonels, a much bigger pool, and pick people again who are obedient to him. the thing trump never learned about what he called his generals. they're not his generals. they're the country's general, they defend the constitution. they report to the president, but mandated by law to resist illegal orders. so the worry in the next trump administration if there is one is he will pick people again as he might do in the justice department, pick people to be generals who are loyal to him and not to the constitution. that is a serious anxiety that people should have. >> liz cheney this morning on the "today" show said it's very possible that if trump is turned to the white house, this might be the last presidential election in our lifetimes because he could subvert the constitution, subvert democracy, that he is just president until his death, which sounds silly, but if you know history, there is democratic backsliding. people out there google democratic backsliding. there are countries who have thriving democracy and then they don't anymore. >> the way it happens, it's slow at first and then all at once. this is what you hear all the time. look, a lot of the things that we talk about could happen -- that might happen in the second trump termite sound paranoid or alarmist, but the reality is you have to look at the record of the man who is seeking the presidency. he has shown time and time again that he doesn't acknowledge democratic guardrails. he doesn't care about democratic institutions. he cares about himself and his own preservation of power. so what the basement of that -- what the floor of that is open for debate. but i think none of us are going to err in being too cautious about speculating about what happens. i think it's all rooted in his own record and what he's saying out loud. >> after january 6th, it's really hard to argue anybody is paranoid. >> no. i don't think anybody can now be paranoid. it's also important to remember that after january 6th the rest of the world has been watching what's going on in the united states. some of what we're seeing already, whether it's the russian invasion of ukraine or the breakdown of order in the middle east, some of that is happening because people no longer quite trust the united states. some of these processes have already begun. >> all right, jeff, anne, mckay, thanks one and auld for being here. i wish i could say it's an up lifting issue. it's not, but it is a must-read, "the atlantic" magazine. today marks 250 long days and evan gershkovich has been lolocked up behind b bars inin . his paparents willll join me n . first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.” connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you. we are back with our world lead. 250 days ago today american journalist evan gershkovich was detained in russia. his crime, practicing journalism. the fsb on march 29th detained him on trumped up speaker johnson espionage charges for which the russians have provided zero evidence. 20 days later a moscow court denied him bail in a closed door hearing and sent him to the notorious prison where evan has been since. 55 days after he was detained, his pretrial defense was extended. on day 85, they held up the extension. on day 148, another extension. day 244, extended a third time until january 30th. if convicted, evan faces 20 years in prison. evan's mother ellen joining us now. do you have any hope today, this 250th day of your son's unfair detention? >> well, we are still -- we embrace the american trait of optimism. we are still very, very hopeful that the ( that rings in my ears every single day. that he's going to do whatever it takes and that he understands our pain. as a parent. that will bring evan home. and u.s. government will act and do whatever it takes to bring evan home. after 250 days, over eight months, that's what we are hopeful. >> yeah, i went through this with the reed family. trevor's home. so it can happen. what has the u.s. government, what has the biden administration shared with you about the effort to get evan home? >> unfortunately, we know as much as public at large. we're not privy to what the u.s. government is doing behind the scenes. we prappreciate that they're working very hard. evan has missed his birthday celebration. we kept a table for him. a chair for him for thanksgiving and he's going to miss christmas and holiday season. >> ella, "the wall street journal" story today said evan got 300 pages of letters all translated into russian for his 32nd birthday in october. his friends even made a mailing list, website to keep folks updated. how has this outpouring of support helped evan if at all? >> he's in moscow which is a tough one. it's designed to isolate you. to break you down. and the letters that he receives gives him a lifeline. to keep his spirits up. he needs to fight every single day. as he put it in his letter to me that it's like swimming against the stream. every single day. he's fighting to keep his spirits up. his mental strength. his physical strength. he exercises. he walks outside of his cell. it's six steps, six steps, sticks steps and six steps. it's tough. and we are urging the united states government to bring evan home after 250 days. and over eight months. >> we've heard evan's friends and colleagues talk about his wit, his humor, his empathy. what do you miss most about him? >> all that and a lot more. i miss my son. >> yeah. i can't imagine. ella, what best way for people who don't know evan personally, what's the best way for them to support him? >> to support him is writing letters. keep up the positive attitude. he, don't talk to him about in past tense. evan is thinking about his future. we are waiting for him. and we expect him to come back and every day's a day too long and we want him to come back. >> mikheil, what do you want the world to know about evan? >> president biden called him absolutely courageous. he is a journalist. he went for a report to let the world know what's going on. it was important work. he's a young man. he's a journalist. i want him home. >> we all want him home. we all want him home. and he needs to come home now. ella and mikheil, thank you so much. we will -- >> thank you. >> we're going to stay on top of this story until he's home. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> and we'll be right back. expelled republican congressman george santos appears to already have a new line of work and if for some reason you really miss hearing his voice, you can shell out 200 clams and get your very own personalized video message from the so-called former congressional icon. that's what his biography says on cameo. it's unclear how many of these he's making but for those willing to pay for it, you can get your hands on santos giving a pep talk. we know of at least one person who bought one. embattled democratic senator of new jersey, bob menendez got one thanks to john fetterman. it was kind of a needling as it were. he will be on news night at 10:00 eastern on cnn. you can follow me on facebook, instagram, threads, x, on the tiktok at jake tapper. if you ever miss an episode, you can listen to the show whence you get your podcast. our coverage continues with one mr. wolf blitzer in t"the situation room". i will see you tomorrow. happening now. new warnings that donald trump's re-election could pose a grave threat to american democracy with republican liz cheney sounding the alarm about a potential dictatorship. the urgency heightened with the nation on the brink of 2024 and the lead off republican co