Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world to cnns coverage of israel at war. Im Anderson Cooper. And im kaitlan collins. President biden is warning he does not believe israel should try to reoccupy gaza, though he is adding, to 60 minutes that israel has to respond to that hamas assault that has killed 1,400 people in israel. He also says the suffering of Palestinian Civilians that is happening right now can be managed. Im confident that israel is going to act under the measures of the rules of war. There are standards that Democratic Institutions and countries go by. And so im confident that theres going to be an ability for the innocents in gaza to be able to have access to medicine and food and water. Of course the president has had multiple conversations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Tonight we have also learned from the State Department that the death toll in israel now includes 30 americans. All of this is
Im Anderson Cooper in tel aviv with john berman in new york. Youre watching cnns Special Coverage of israel at war. Israel is promising that a new phase of its war in hamas is coming, just not clear when exactly that will be. Troops have been amassing for days now near the border with gaza getting ready for an expected Ground Operation. Israel pounded the territory again today with air strikes. Officials say hamas commander who played a key part in last saturdays attack was killed. Hundreds of thousands of civilians tried to heed the idfs warning to get out. U. N. Official warns such a large scale evacuation under siege could lead to a humanitarian disaster. Anderson, there is an Important Development tonight from the pentagon as well. We learned a second u. S. Carrier strike group led by uss dwight d. Eisenhower is sailing to the middle east, sailing to the mediterranean. It is designed to sell messages to israel and proxies including lebanon and hezbollah not to get involved. The Eis
The threat of terrorists and weapons in the area and locate hostages. This is not the all out Ground Invasion. Theyve also tweeted moments ago they are striking hezbollah targets in the north inside lebanon Secretary Blinken earlier in doha qatar asking about the larger Military Offensive expected in the coming days. The way israel does this matters. The way any democracy has to deal with such a situation matters, and to that end, we discussed with the israelis, urged the israelis to use every possible precaution to avoid armed civilians. Joining me now, ben rhodes, former Obama National security adviser to president obama. Ben, what Secretary Blinken was saying today and yesterday was that israel has a right to defend itself, that the u. S. Is firmly behind israels military decisions and helping with them, but he was very pointed in, again, today especially in qatar, that theyve urged israel to try to limit the damage to civilians. How do you do that with a Ground Invasion in that urb
Murdered my people. We appreciate your personal story and sharing it. Thanks so much for your time. Thanks to all of you for being with us today. We continue to follow the Breaking News all day here on n. News central is next. Hello, everyone. Im kate bolduan. Here with john berman and sara sidner. Thank you for being with us. We are following more Breaking News out of israel. And the build up to the next stage as the idf describes it. Youre looking, were showing you pictures from moments ago as israel continues large scale strikes in gaza today. U. S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken is on the ground in israel right now and bringing with him a powerful message of totally support for israel. Saying hamas brings to mind the worst of isis. Blinken confirmed also theres at least 25 americans that have been killed. He said the Biden Administration is working closely with israel to locate and rescue the more than 100 hostages taken by hamas. On that front, secretary blinken met with israel
Have it tomorrow, well have it every day. We stand resolutely against terrorism. Weve seen the almost undescribable acts committed by hamas against israeli men, women and children. We lost 22 americans. That number could still go up. And it probably will. At the same time, we have a number of americans who remain unaccounted. We are working very closely with the government of israel to determine their whereabouts and if they have been taken hostage by hamas to work to secure their release. Israeli military is stepping up its airstrikes on hamas targets in gaza. The idea says it has been hitting Weapon Launchers today and reports ongoing clashes with militants inside israel. And this has united deeply divided israeli factions. Prime minister has announced an Emergency Cabinet and wartime cabinet. To more, lets bring in elliott gotkine. Tell us about the overnight attacks and also were hearing more and more reports about Israeli Force massing on the border. Israel said i think it was abo