close, could bring some of the hostages home very soon, but i don t want to get into details or things because nothing is done until it s done. and we have more to say, we will. but things are looking good at the moment. sandra: at this hour, awaiting updates from both the state department and the pentagon on the war in the middle east of a the president there says a hostage deal with hamas is very close and he is optimistic. and also an update is expected from the pentagon a short time from now after the u.s. military carried out an airstrike last night, killing several militants from iranian proxy group. a lot to learn in the coming minutes and hours. hello, welcome, john, great to be with you. john: good to be with you as well, sandra. john roberts in washington. america reports . an agreement could be announced at any moment but what we know at this hour about the hostages. the deal on the table would free about 50 israeli women and children in exchange for 150 pales
happening right now, the secretary of state, tony blinken, is on a mission, back in israel for the third time since the october 7th hamas terror attack. we re going to be hearing from tony blinken, we believe n a short time. tony blinken also spoke just a short time ago. listen to this. we stand strong for the proposition that israel has not only the right but the obligation to defend itself and to do everything possible to make sure that this october 7th can never happen again. how israel does this matters and it is very important that when it comes to the protection of civilians who are caught in the crossfire of hamas s making that everything be done to protect them and to bring assistance to those who so desperately need it. blinken saying standing next to the president of israel that how israel does this matters. that s part of the discussion today. this moment appears a critical one in the israel-hamas war. idf forces now say they have gaza city completely surrounde
kicked off of the presidential ballot based on his role january 6th. and the first major test that the president is speaking with israel and ukraine and another possible government shutdown. sara sidner is in israel, and i m kate bolduan with john berman in new york. this is cnn news central. this morning a rapid intensification of israel s assault on gaza on the air and on the ground, and israeli troops are inside of gaza now as the israeli military is hunting for hamas and what is believed to be more than 200 hostages in that underground tunnel system underneath gaza. in the sky, new strikes and new explosions as u.n. security officials prepare to meet amid urgent calls for a pause in the bombing. so desperately needed food, water and medical supplies needed to get into gaza. we will go to jeremy diamond near sderot, and you are hearing the steady drum baeat of explosions and what are you seeing in this hour? just over my right shoulder, you are seeing the plume of
what i m just discussing here. the means that they chose to conduct this operation, the scale of it, very small. limited attack. and what they attacked itsself a military base likely no civilian casualties and maybe no military casualties either. that is sending a message to iran but, also, demonstrating that they are not going to stand for iran attacking israel. and not responding. brian: i understand it is correct that there is there is significant drone activity here. this is where they build the bulk of the drones. i understand, too. a lot of their oil fields around here, i guess those are also ripe sites. do you agree, general? did they pick the right place? and with the suns up and cameras get on it. what are you going to be looking for to see how effective this strike was? i m not strike had much effectiveness in taking any significant military capability