one will feel safe until hamas is gone. cnn, israel. thank you to nic robertson for the report. of course, stay with cnn for the latest on the ground in israel and what s happening in gaza. thank you for joining us tonight. i m caitlin collins in tel aviv. and i m alex in washington, have a good night. welcome to the whole story i m anderson cooper in tel aviv. the attack left 1400 people dead, more than 200 people have been held hostage according to the israeli officials. many more people are still unaccounted for. in response, israel began a bombing campaign according to the hamas control health ministry with more thousands dying so far. the story is complex. . its roroots go back toto t the formation of israel in 1948. there was a military wing that perpetrated the terror attack. we have the whole story from how they were formed, what their ideology is and how they have evolved over the decades. we want to warn you that some of the images you will see in the hour may
but the question remains. why did hamas strike now likely knowing the devastation that it would provoke in gaza? hamas spokesman name checked events at the mosque earlier this year as motivation for their attack. hamas has called this operation the storm of in reference of course to the mosque compound known as temple mount a place so holy to both jews and muslims here in jerusalem. earlier this year police raided the third holiest site in islam during the month of adan and pass over just as police step inside the mosque is considered incredibly provocative and aggressive . but many experts say the timing of hamas attack has to do with mecca, the holiest place of all of islam, saudi arabia. hamamas was c concerned aboue saudi moves to build ties with israel and the u.s. one concern was that saudi money would then bolster the palestininian authorority in th west banank. hamasas looks at this worord an ememerging alliliance betwee moderate arabs and israel and de