This is cnn breaking news. Hello everyone and thanks for joining us. Im Christiane Amanpour and london and we continue with our major breaking news, israel declaring its war with hamas following an unprecedented attack on israel where at least 70 people and maybe more according to officials , are dead, and 985 wounded, again, the numbers are probably already higher and expected to rise. The attack catching israel by surprise, at Sunrise Hamas launched their offensive by air, sea and land, the fighters infiltrated israeli towns and launched rockets. Scenes of Urban Warfare as gunfights unfolded between israel and hamas. The israeli president reacted saying we saw the true face of hamas a Terrorist Army whose only goal is the coldblooded murder of innocent men, women and children. I call upon the upon the family of nations, this war waged upon us mark a line in the sand. Israel is watching airstrikes into gaza were palestinian say hundreds have been killed. New video shows a Tower Collapsing in gaza city following an airstrike. Israel mobilizing its troops and calling up tens of thousands of reservists. We also heard moments ago major u. S. Airlines including delta and american are now canceling flights into israel this weekend, according to flight aware. Senior international correspondent, sam kiley is joining me now. So, lets get the latest from what you know and some of the context, sam . Reporter christine, what we know of the death toll is the israelis are saying that they lost 70 people and nearly 1000 injured after this very complex attack that was launched completely unexpectedly by hamas outside of the gaza strip using rockets largely as cover for very complex series of infiltrations by land, by sea, and in the air. According to the Israeli Defense forces, gun battles are continuing, Inside Israeli Territory and we also saw earlier in the day, the militants able to attack a Police Station or near a Police Station opening fire on civilians as well as attacking Military Bases, they been under attack, the idea that they had lost contact with one of those relatively small relative Military Bases on the other side of the gaza strip. The israelis also lost a tank and hamas is claimed to have taken a number of people hostage. These hostages have been confirmed by the Israeli Defense forces saying they are prisoners of war, that is an emphatic decision to describe them as such to make sure that they are treated properly under the terms of the Geneva Convention and theres Video Evidence of civilians that have also been taken hostage. Hamas says many have been taken inside the gaza strip. All of this adding up to a catastrophic failure of intelligent for the israelis, the likes of which havent been seen since the yonka poor or, almost 50 years ago almost to today but on top of that, this is an ongoing operation where the pledge to strike back coming from the israeli Prime Minister, netanyahu, who says they will be, hamas will be hit back in ways they could not imagine the problem for the israelis that if there are significant numbers of hostages inside the gaza strip, that kind of Military Operation is going to be extremely problematic. They will be described and used as human shields, this is Israeli Soldiers and civilians, and on top of that, theyve got the wider problem of a possible confrontation spreading into the west bank or possibly lebanon. From what you are hearing, do you think this is something that, youve touched on it a little bit, but the response by israel could in fact be and will in fact be a Ground Incursion . The pressure on the government and indeed the Military Advice may be to go in on the ground because soldiers believe that there is ultimately going to be a Military Solution to these sorts of problems, the israelis are not unique in this but they tried it in the past and it hasnt worked. Its probably inevitably what the hamas group and other militant groups in gaza have planned for, the assumption will be that the israelis want to go in on the ground and they will have planned to Counter Measures at the lease to try and deal with that, firstly, secondly, you got the problem of the hostages and then the problem of the troops coming facetoface with militants inside the gaza strip, making it an incredibly messy, very problematic environment to operate in militarily, you cant go in and flatten an entire area, there are many millions of, from memory, citizens living in gaza, its very densely populated. Weve seen is really striking at what they say are hamas headquarters in other locations already around the gaza strip but i think there will be call for a Ground Incursion and thats probably what hamas once, thats part of their trap, in planning, i suspect. They have been talking to al jazeera, senior members and saying they are prepared for the worst case scenario, prepared for a big battle, those are their words, right now, thank you. Now cnn Nick Robinson has just landed in tel aviv where sirens are going off, nick, what can you tell us from there . Reporter we just landed in the airport a few moments ago. We got off the plane onto buses, and the sirens sounded, everyone got off the bus and lay on the tarmac, trying to hide behind pits of Airport Equipment out there, and overhead we could hear above the sound of the sirens, we could hear the sound of what seemed to be Iron Dome Intercept missiles banging in the sky above us. I did lose count of how many there were, perhaps i would say more than 50 banks, obviously this is something that israel has been going through, but this is what has greeted people as they are landing at the Main International airport. Quite an experience, looking at the faces of a lot of people, theres a lot of concern out there lying on the runway about what was all around them and what may happen tonight, christiane . The fact that the airport is open , i know its open and closed depending on the situation but you saw it happening in front of your eyes and its dark and that adds to the drama and the fear. Thank you very much. Lets talk now to martin, the former u. S. Ambassador to israel, and a very prominent member of previous administrations in the negotiations between israel and its arab neighbors. Ambassador, welcome back to the program. Can i ask you where you think this is going maximum asking and not just because i think you have a crystal ball but you have seen the cycles happened so many times in the past. So, i think its the correct thing we need to be worried about, because the Escalation Potential is very real here. Your reporter refer to the possibility that hezbollah could join in. Has bullock has 150,000 rockets that it could fire into the main Population Centers of israel if it gets drawn in. There could be an eruption in the west bank, more Terror Attacks there, there could be an explosion in jerusalem, highly sensitive for religious regions and of course, israel could well explode in the situation. Theres five fronts that could develop as the result of the starting of this war and israels response because israel is going to go in with great anger into gaza and i fear thousands of palestinians will die in the next week or so so the potential for escalation is very high. Ambassador, what would you advise President Biden to communicate to Prime Minister netanyahu , how is that scenario avoided . Well President Biden has got to put his arm around president netanyahu and make sure that he feels his love and support and then, try to urge some restate restraint, its impossible to do in circumstances where it was a Surprise Attack, Something Like 40 israelis taken hostage and so many killed her that is going to fall on deaf ears. Hes got to try to get influence on hamas to stop shooting the rockets in. But in essence, tried to calm things down. But in this environment, its extremely difficult to do and its likely to fail. Its really a bleak scenario. Its very bleak and deep. I want to know what you thought and i dont know what your but former Prime Minister allmond told me that yes hamas has to be dealt with but yes also, there has to be connection with the Palestinian Authority and to actually talk to people about peace. You also may have heard mustapha, a very Senior Palestinian in the west bank talk about this is a 56 year occupation, and we, too, have our right to selfdefense. I was just curious on your reaction, because you have been in the middle of these negotiations for so many decades. I couldnt help reflect on that statement because 50 years ago, they launched a supply Surprise Attack on israel he made or in order to make peace and straight afterwards Henry Kissinger was able to launch the Peace Negotiations because there was an error partner, the leader of egypt that was capable and intent upon making peace. Here we have hamas, which is intent on destroying israel and the Palestinian Authority which has no legitimacy, before this crisis erupted, and certainly now, will have no legitimacy if it holds out an olive branch to israel. The circumstances are very different and much more difficult to see how a political process can come out of that. Having said that, israel doesnt have a solution other than to try to resort to talks which obviously broke down. That will require israel to go and on the ground in gaza and youve already been discussing the consequences of that. Once israel gets into gaza, the question is, who did they get out in favor of . Who will take control of gaza, if they destroy hamas there, if they can. And that is an impossible situation, they cant make peace with hamas, but you have a situation here, which is not ripe for any political process for the time being. And each time weve seen these in this obviously is the most daring and deadly attack by hamas and all the decades that the standoff has been going on, but in every time weve seen this, weve had war, weve had israelis killed, weve had, you know, the Israelis Retaliating Into Gaza then, allmond said, comes the Public Opinion because so many civilians are killed and the whole cycle continues. And nothing is resolved, it keeps getting kicked down the road. Do you think thats whats happening or is this a much more serious threat to israel than youve ever seen . Its clearly a serious threat. But the biggest problem for israel is its total System Failure from the intelligence to the defense to the deterrence to preparations for dealing with the hostage situation. The dysfunctional government, over the judicial reforms so weve got a situation where the potential partners on each side, for some kind of solution dont exist at the moment, and im afraid, its going to be more war, christiane, before we can get to talking about peace, and thats tragic for the israelis, tragic for the palestinians maybe everybody will come to their senses, eventually. What im afraid, its far too soon to predict that. Thank you very much for your wisdom and we send you our very best wishes. Joining us now is the former israeli ambassador to the United States, michael rn. Thank you for being with us. Hello, christiane. You heard martin, a great friend of israel, longtime negotiator, has been around the block for so many decades on this issue, and his prognosis is bleak , israel is left with a very difficult option and theres no necessary end in sight to this war right now. Do you agree . Unfortunately i agree, i would make a finer point, and that is, many analyst, and i include myself among them, at have been predicting this for sometime, because of the rather unique confluence of strategic and geopolitical circumstances. Israel perceived as we, america perceived as not being involved. I havent heard iran very much on today, the iranians, are afraid, afraid of the impending saudi israeli peace which may result in Saudi Nuclear station. They are afraid of donald trump returning to the presidency and these analysts again, myself included saying that iran could trigger a war and stop this process, and nobody is talking very much about the piece today. And yes, this could escalate. I do not see the Israeli Government being able to withstand Public Opinion which is going to demand a different and to this, the previous five rounds added in a stalemate. Years ago, this is 12 years ago, a soldier was taken hostage, and what it did to pasta policy, now we are talking about dozens of hostages, penetration of our buildings, farms, dozens of civilians killed, we dont even know how many. Israeli Public Opinion will not be satisfied with return to the status quo but will hamas, will it remain quiet, doubtful. Will there be mounting attacks within israel, very probably. Hezbollah, Will Hezbollah Sit by side . 150,000 rockets in their hands, but its more of the fact that those rockets are buried underneath 200 villages in south lebanon, in houses and the houses are occupied families in the israeli army has been training to go, weve been talking about a potential, Regional Conflict. This is the beginning. Its not even the end of the beginning, and people in washington i believe have to be thinking about a, how United States will stand behind israel, the world it will be watching very closely to see how the United States stands by its allies, thats been attacked in an unprovoked manner by an organization which desires israels destruction. Its not about a Peace Process, if anything, its because of a Piece Process with saudi arabia let me ask you about that, actually i want to start, we will talk about the morning after but youve mentioned twice the Peace Process and israel apparently has been quite keen to normalize beyond just the uae and the other arab states that it has but also with saudi arabia, and i know it might seem early days in this war, to be talking about this but since you brought it up, i want to play for you something about this specific issue that a lot of people have been talking about, where does this end up now . I spoke to the Prime Minister of cutter about the specific issue and where they saw the issue of israel and saudi arabia normalizing, this was obviously before todays event, just take a listen we will get it organized but anyway, basically what he said was we actually dont have an is an issue with israel, our situation is about the palestinians and its about getting that palestinian situation normalized, and you heard mustapha on the show talking about, this is a 56 year occupation that they too have the right to defend themselves, and this seems to be whats clear okay weve got the qatar Prime Minister. I really want you to react to this. We dont have a war as a region. The reason we have the conflict with israel is over the occupational. What we are asking for is the safety of the palestinians. That came out in 2001 and countries have adopted that. We believe that the starting point should be between the israelis and the palestinians. Normalization happening between countries, at the end of the day, no one has the right to question that, no one has the right to question our Foreign Policy but we think from our perspective the israelis issue is of the palestinians. Qatar, straight on that, the unmistakable message and all the arabs who israel has normalize, say the same thing. Its early days obviously because of what has just happened but that is the endgame, right . Isnt it the endgame . I dont know if its a game at all, thats the problem. Im being honest with you i mean a strategic resolution. I think you can have a better management of a conflict and not necessarily a resolution and thats been the problem for decades. Weve been looking for Solutions LikeEndgame Solutions where none are possible. The president of the Palestinian Authority has been in office 18 years in a four year term, he doesnt run again because he knows hamas would take over. Imagine if there were Palestinian State on the west bank, imagine if this happened not just in his relatively sparsely populated is ready i live in south tel aviv, i see brown from my back window. Again, i cant speak for government, i think i can speak the majority of israelis by saying we would very much desire to have a solution to the palestinian problem,