there are americans who remain unaccounted for. i do expect, unfortunately, that the list of americans confirmed dead will rise today. >> miller went on to say that the u.s. is reaching out to any country it can with ties to hamas to get them to release those hostages. we have reported, kate, that one of those countries is qatar. there are also discussions, we are told, with the israelis, with the eej gyptians with the humanitarian corridor so they're able to get out of the gaza strip if israel decides to go in. we've heard from israeli officials that they plan to exact a harsh response to hamas for these attacks. >> alex, we will bring those remarks from the secretary of state if and when he does come to the cameras to speak and our alex is there. thank you very much, alex. ♪ ♪ top of the hour. i'm john berman with kate bolduan and sara sidner. we just learned israel has a government in the war cabinet, this is benjamin netanyahu who made the announcement moments ago all of this as hundreds of thousands israeli reservists are staged outside gaza. let's get right to becomy anderson who is in tel aviv who can explain this shift inside the government and what it means. becky? >> this is really important. what we understand is that these discussions have now been going on for some days, and i have to say there was some speculation. we got this news yesterday, but clearly, these negotiations on who is in this unity government and particularly in what will be this war cabinet have been very, very difficult, but as we understand it now, this is benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister, in unity now in a coalition government in a car cabinet with benny gantz who is the leader of the national unity party and opposition leader and former defense minister, of course, and the defense minister gallantthis is an emergency situation that is being addressed now by those who have experience of war in government here. what isn't clear is what the makeup of this wider group will be and sources have been telling me that there has been much discussion and demands made by those in opposition that the right wing ministers, the finance and security ministers beng veer, will not be part of it. all we know at this time is that benjamin netanyahu is now in unity with benny gantz and the defense minister here gallant to to address what happens next and the sense is here that what you didn't have in the cabinet, in the government until saturday morning was experience. and what you need is spencer and authority of characters in position who reflect the unity of -- of the israelis. i am being told now, i am just getting reporting on this. this is an emergency cabinet, a war cabinet at this point. >> becky, for those who -- i mean, who aren't familiar with the players within israeli politics so much, just some background here of what a big deal this is as you describe it because these are political parties and these are men who are until now, deeply hostile with each other and it does underline the scale of the crisis and how much has changed in israel since saturday. just the background, if you can offer kind of -- earth shattering is what saturday was with the hamas terror attack and this as a response to it. just the perspective on that. >> if we step back and consider what's going on for months and months as being this deep, deep division and reflected on the streets of tel aviv and reflected in this country with hundreds of thousands of israelis demonstrating and protesting against what has been israel's most right-wing government ever. this sense now that there is an absolute need to bring those who are running this country together in a war cabinet that can now address the security concerns that israel now face wes experience. there has been much talk around the judicial reform about how benjamin netanyahu and his right wing have want been focused on what israelis themselves believe is important for them and on saturday morning, you know, that was revealed. security and protection. where was -- why was there such a failure of intelligence? why is it now that israelis feel such a sense of insecurity and vulnerability? and it was to the prime minister, to organize around him, to ensure now the fingers of blame are pointed to him squarely on what happens going forward and now the crucial nature of what is in play here. the complexity of what happens next with regard of any incursion, ground incursion into gaza. the sense now that the decisionses that are made here in israel about what happens in the days and weeks ahead should not be left to a government that, frankly, didn't have the experience in cabinet to address these issues. so that now looks like the makeup that we have in what is this new war cabinet, if i can describe it as such with the current defense minister, the former defense minister benny gantz and benjamin netanyahu and heading up the decision making for the state of israel to address, as i say, the complexities of what happens next. let's just consider those. they have a ground incursion on the table. they have described by the idf saturated the southern border with troops now in anticipation, one assumes, of a ground incursion. we're not seeing that as of yet, but the complexities we've been reporting now for hours in that you have these hostages being held in various locations as described by hamas around gaza and then the wider story which is the plight of the palestinians who are in gaza. we have a thousand dead and a total siege of gaza and hospitals being bombed and no fuel now to the palace station there. palestinians do work with generators in gaza. so there will be some generation of electricity and provided by generators, but you know, considering what it is that israel faces is decision making now and it has been clear for some time that there was a need for -- i don't want to call it levelheadedness, but experience, and this will be -- this will be demands from the outside -- from the international community, from capitals around the world, particularly from washington demands that this war cabinet has the experience to make decisions at this time. >> becky anderson, thank you for that context. just to remind people what you're looking at on your screen there. that is gaza. it is just after 5:00. yesterday we saw an extreme barrage of rockets coming from there and then the response of lots and lots of air strikes. still, there is violence exploding there in gaza at this hour. i want to go to cnn's hadas gold in jerusalem. for more context and what has just happened with the government, you know, benny gantz, the former defense minister is known as the old guard. he is someone who believes in modesty and very well versed in how the military works. he has been at loggerheads with netanyahu many times, but in this past election a lot of people were looking to his leadership. netanyahu ended up winning and being able to form a government. can you give us some sense of what this will mean between the two men if they are able to come together, form this government for the relationship, not just with the gaza strip, but with the palestinians in the west bank. is that relationship forever fractured, forever changed because of what we have seen this attack from hamas? >> well, in terms of the relationship between benny gantz and benjamin netanyahu. benny gantz had been burned by benjamin netanyahu during the coronavirus, that crisis and there had been pressure him already prior to this war to potentially at some point maybe join a unity government to get the saudi and israeli normalization deal. benny gantz had been at the white house within the last couple of weeks which raised eyebrows about whether the white house was traying to discuss some possibility of a coalition government. obviously, we are in an entire different situation. this is an emergency cabinet, war government, that i don't think israel has seen since 1967 that benjamin netanyahu alluded to. it is going to be a small cabinet and it's not going to include importantly the more extremist right-wing members of the israeli government, people like smoltrich and these are people that said the most controversial things. this cabinet will only make decisions related to the war. they will not make other decisions related to the issues of government and the controversial judicial overhaul is on pause while this war continues. there is expected to be a seat in the cabinet for lapid who has not joined this war government, though, but what's important about this is when you look at the names of the people in this war cabinet, these are people who were former defense ministers and two former chiefs of staff of the idf and this is a message to the israeli public. we are getting a grip on this. we have the right people in charge of this bwho will be making this decision. don't worry about the other people in the cabinet. they will not beic maing decisions about this war and there is still a question here. how did it take for some long for this war cabinet to be brought together. there have been calls with ith in a few hours of saturday after that started when benjamin netanyahu started we are at war. it is amazing it took this long for it to come together. that comes to show how much divisiveness there is in israeli politics. >> hadas gold, you live there and work there and have been watching every detail of how this has unfolded and it's remarkable how long it has taken for israelis that live there. we thank you and becoky anderso. i want to toss it to john. >> this is the area we're talking about right now, gaza with some 300,000 reservists perhaps moving to that area and that is where we find cnn's jeremy diamond in southern israel. why don't you tell us what you're seeing all around you? all right. we have apparently lost jeremy's audio, but one interesting thing i wanted to point out, what you saw behind him were cars. those are the cars of the reservists who have moved to what is largely the front line right now. israel's military largely made up of reservists who drive to get on site when there is a situation like this, so it's remarkable to see what amounts to a parking lot of cars behind him. once they get out of the cars they're on duty and they very much could be involved in what could be an invasion or at minimum a siege of gaza. >> sir, great to have you with us. he was talking about what they intend to do in gaza and whether they intend to launch an invasion and friedman says what hamas wants is to trigger an israeli overreaction. hamas wants israel to be brutal in gaza. what do you think of that? >> well, i know tim very well for many decades and it was my first reaction, too, that they see a u.s.-saudi-israel megadeal as a victory for a pragmatic bloc in the middle east that would be at their expense and if they, you know, do these atrocities, they could trigger a very tough retaliation in a way that would make a diplomatic breakthrough behind closed doors by the biden white house and not viable in the saudi circles. so it's possible and just one more reason why israel has to find the right balancing act between obviously protecting its citizens and going after the hamas elements who perpetrated the -- [ no audio ] and the ground operation between hamas and the other parts of the palestinian people. it's a tough balancing act for israel and it's been said by others, i know, in your program, this is the worst, you know, terror attacks since the holocaust. israel is operating in a wider network of calculations and we'll have to see how it navigates in the coming weeks. >> indeed we will. david, will you stand by for one moment? >> sure. glad to. >> i want to go to the border right now or close to the border between israel and gaza. our jer emy diamond is back up there. explain what you are seeing. >> john, this is one of the largest military mobilizations in israel's history and what we have been watching along the side of this roads right next to an israeli base in southern israel is that mobilization in akd. we have been watching thousands upon thousands of military reservists coming to this base to begin the next phase of this military operation. they are coming here, answering the call. some of them are coming before even getting their orders, and i can tell you in speaking with some of these reservists, what is really striking is how emotional this is for them. how emotional this particular mobilization is compared to the ones that we have seen in the past and that is a result of those surprise hamas terrorist attacks that took place in israel over this past weekend. the brutality that we have since learned about with which these hamas terrorists gunned down civilians. there are reports of beheadings, reports of babies, children and women having been killed and that was on the minds of all of these reservists who were here. you can still see so many of these vehicles that are parked here. these all belong to reservists who have shown up expect who have answered the call and some of them showing up in civilian clothes and some of them showing up in uniforms and packing into vehicles and heading to their next rendezvous point, but really, this whole area at one point turned into a large parking lot effectively. there was a huge traffic jam and it just gives you a sense of the scale of this effort and also the extent to which everyone here in israel has really been shaken by what took place over the weekend and shaken to their core and some of them, those of fighting age moved to mobilize. >> jeremy, you were speaking about something that was a dynamic which hasn't been focused on yet, which was the notion that if hamas was able to prepare for the scope of the terrorist attack which they carried out, they may very well also be prepared for an israeli ground invasion into gaza. what are the concerns you're hearing from the israeli side on that? >> yeah. it's exactly that, john. the sophistication, the planning of this hamas operation over the weekend and not only the fact that they were able to catch the israelis by surprise, but that they were able to cut multiple points in that border fence between gaza and israel and get miles into israeli territory, really, to carry out some of the brutal murders of civilians that they did carry out. it has really shaken people and the sophistication of that indicates that hamas likely is planning for the israeli response and given the number of israelis who were killed in those attacks, as we have heard from the israeli prime minister what is going to come next in terms of the military response, he has said is going to be unlike any military response to hamas attacks in the past. beonthe scale of 2014. beunderstand onthe scale of 2021. so everyone here seems to think the next logical step is a ground invasion and as of yet that has not been confirmeded and perhaps now within this emergency cabinet and government more decisions will be made. >> jeremy diamond in southern israel, keep us posted when you see things moving there. i want to go back now to david makovsky, thank you for your patience. it's interesting to hear what jeremy says as those forces move there and as you talk about this balancing act for israel and the need as they say to crush hamas in a much different way than they have in the past. they are talking about crushing hamas. how can you do that without, perhaps, ruining your relationships with others in the world? >> it's incredibly hard. remember, they embed themselves and they hide in mosques and hospitals and israel didn't go after them because they didn't want to hurt a hospital in the previous rounds and now you have an added complexity of a hostage situation and the whole israeli ethos of leaving no one behind and suddenly there might be 150 hostages there and that's another point of very difficult navigation. so it's not going to be easy. i'm hoping with secretary of state blinken coming to the region. i know he's just going to israel and jordan, but i'm sure he'll be working with the leaders of egypt, saudi arabia and the uae and i think here it's very important for the region to really kind of step up in a certain way. [ no audio ] there are only certain things they can say in public because of their own street, but it's very important to bring these regional players who have their own relationships with israel and all of them hate hamas. all of them, and to somehow leverage them in a way that would isolate hamas here and hopefully mitigate the civilians like having a humanitarian corridor for those who want to leave to egypt who are civilians, i think this is something u.s. diplomacy could be helpful behind the scenes that i hope will mitigate some of their damage to civilians and yet make hamas open to the brunt of israeli reprisal in the aftermath of these atrocities. >> try to isolate hamas as best you can within the region. thank you so much for lending your expertise this morn. appreciate it. >> kate? >> coming up for us we'll be staying in israel. news coming in. new reporting into cnn about the latest u.s. intelligence assessment on the key question of iran's involvement in the hamas terror attack on israel. let's get straight over to cnn's natasha bertrand who has this. this is some great reporting, natasha. what do you have? >> yeah, kate. so this marks a pretty significant shift in what the u.s. intelligence community has come to learn about iran's involvement or lack thereof. we are told that initial intelligence assessments say that iran does not appear to have had a hand in specifically carrying out or plotting this specific attack. this is initial intelligence, and it's a shift because previously the u.s. had been saying that they simply did not know and did not have intelligence to support the idea that iran was directly involved in this hamas attack on israel and now we are learning that the u.s. has since collected intelligence that directly suggests that iran was not involved and so what we are hearing is that this is preliminary, this is not conclusive and the u.s. intelligence community is continuing to gather information about what role iran may have played, but as of right now the signs are pointing to the notion according to u.s. analysts and people briefed on the information that iran did not provide explicit support and planning for this particular attack. of course, u.s. officials have continued to point to iran's longstanding support for hamas including the provision of weapons and financing and they say that this, of course, is a significant factor in terms of what hamas was able to pull off broadly and when it comes to this specific attack, we are told that preliminary u.s. intelligence suggests that iran did not play a direct role in that the iranian government was not involved as such, kate. >> talk more about what -- again, with the caveats which are important, which is intelligence is not -- is more of an art and it is not perfect and that this is preliminary and continuing to gather, but this is very important in addition because there has been other suggestions from other sources to other nations about what -- about iran's direct involvement. i'm seeing more sources not named, but diplomats and other intel sources telling other nations that iran has a more direct involvement, the intel that they are seeing. so this is important that we're hearing this from u.s. intel. >> yeah, kate. look, i think that it is murky in the sense that u.s. fiofficis has provided support to hamas and provided weaponry and funding to hamas in recent years, and so the notion that iran may not have directly participated in these attacks by hamas is, you know, it is complicated, but we are learning that u.s. intelligence officials in the preliminary intelligence that they have collected, there is some sign and some evidence that they have seen that we are not privy to, that sources have not described to us because it is so sensitive that the iranian government was not aware that hamas was going to be carrying out this particular attack. >> very interesting. great reporting from the team and you, natasha. we'll continue working the sources. thank you. >> as the u.s. grapples with what is unfolding in israel, vowing complete support for israel one congressional body is basically paralyzed and unable to faufunction because it has n leader. right now house republicans are meeting publicly to nominate the next speaker of the house and it could pretty messy and has divided gop conference is forced to come back together and pick just one person that they think could get this job done. majority leader steve scalise and jim jordan both want that gavel but is unclear right now if either has the votes to win the nomination. cnn's manu raju is joining us from capitol hill this morning. manu, you are always all over capitol hill. you get to everyone and you just got to jim jordan, one of the people who is up for a vote. what did he say? >> well, i talked to him about the process that would take place here and whether he would get behind steve scalise, the person who he is running against here and he didn't quite say directly, but he said he would get behind whoever gets 217 votes, behind closed doors and this is why it is significant. behind closed doors right now the house republicans are meeting and discussing their way forward and they'll have a secret ballot election to decide who will be their nominee to be the next speaker of the house. under current rules and that requires 111 rules. jim jordan is trying to change that along with other members it make 217 votes. that is a majority of the full house. he believes he will sort these issues out, come out from behind closed doors and unified behind one pick that could be a protracted and very messy process. y when spoke to him he said that was his ultimate decision whether it was to support another person for the job if they can get the votes and a majority of the full house. listen. >> mr. jordan, will you endorse steve scalise if he wins today. >> i'll support anyone who gets 217 votes. we have to come together. >>. >> so i can tell you though, sara, in talking to a number of members walking into this room many are still undecided even though they have to cast that very significant vote at this moment. there is so much uncertainty within the gop. can they get behind one candidate after last week's ouster of kevin mccarthy and that unprecedented vote still leaving lots of very, very raw emotions and nothing to be done here in the house including aid to israel, aid to ukraine and taking steps to avoid a government should thedown until they elect the next speaker of the house and that's why this moment is so significant and will he get behind the next person for speaker. >> manu raju, thank you as always for your excellent reporting. we will take a break here. first, some pictures there live from gaza. it's 5:30 in the evening there, and you still see those huge plumes of smoke. we will have much more on the war between israel and hamas ahead. here in the bay, our cars and all of our stuff where we want to go. but, our cars can't take us e with unpaid tolls. vehicles with overdue, unpaid tolls may not be able to renew their registration until outstanding balances are paid. payment assistance is available. visit bayareafastrak.org/ase so go pay your unpaid tolls y and keep your wheels on the ! emergency government and war management cabinet. this just news in. we learned this just moment ago the government will not pass any laws or make decisions that does not concern the conduct of the war and that's according to the announcement made by benjamin netanyahu and yoav gallant. senior fellow, david miller joins us now. no one better than you to explain this, aaron. why is this significant? in 30 seconds or less for our audience, why does it matter that these feuding political factions in israel are coming together a bit? >> i mean, this is the first piece of good news, john, i think in a long -- as we are about to enter a long, dark tunnel. number one, you are bringing in benny gantz, former minister of defense and they will blunt the influence, seems to me, of the more extremist right-wing ministers in the government, that's number one, the overmaul, it's not just dead on a temporary basis and it is dead permanently. given what we are about to face, this is not an issue of weeks or probably even months. this emergency government, unity government i suspect is the wave of the future and that unbalanced anything to counter the fundamentalist extremist nature with some cooler heads and some serious deep, military experience, on balance, good news amidst a lot of very depressing accounts. >> that is really important perspective of what it means today and will mean going forward, aaron. what good news -- good news for israel? what does, obviously, the most immediate hamas -- and the hamas-led government in gaza, what do they see this as? what is the message to them? what would they hear from this or should they? >> well, i think for sure it creates the urgency and the imminence, perhaps, of a major israeli moving campaign into gaza. a matter of days, if not weeks. i think there's really no significance with this for hamas and the real significance, kate is this represents not just the headline, but i think this represents a trend line and it is a very important trend line because you have the most extreme right-wing government in the history of the state of israel pursuing annexation policies on the west bank and trying to undermine israeli democracy. i think both of those initiatives, frankly, are going to stall and i know i'm being pejorative here, some adult supervision into this. will it contain what the israelis are going to do in gaza? i think that's a central question. it is up, and i hear former military intel folks and they're all saying we need to, quote, change the reality, unquote, in gaza. what does that mean? the eradication of hamas as a think going force and military force? a new political reality, a semi-permanent israeli reoccupation of gaza? a u.n. transitional force funded by government -- elected by palestinians and funded by gulf money in an effort to create a new future for gaza? i mean, we have real uncertainties without much precision on where we're headed. >> absolutely. aaron, thanks for jumping on. aaron david miller for us. sara? >> we've been just talking about this, and a classified briefing for house members just finished minutes ago to get the latest on what is happening in israel. one of the congressmen in the room is jared moskowitz and is on the house foreign affairs committee. we have heard one striking thing that has come out of the briefing that the u.s. has collected specific intelligence that really does cast doubt that iran was directly involved in the surprise attack by hamas on israel. can you give us and our viewers any sense of how you understood how the intelligence agencies came to that initial conclusion? >> yeah. thanks for having me. obviously, i'm not going to talk about classified information, but what i would say is that's being slightly misinterpreted. what i will say is that is still an ongoing process. they were clear about that that they are still gathering intelligence on that matter, but that there's no initial intelligence that shows that. before we jump conclusions that iran was not involved in this attack, let the intelligence community please finish their investigation. however, what i would say and was super clear to everyone in the room even before we received this information, this is publicly known, obviously, that iran has been financing hamas, training hamas, communicating with hamas and providing cyber technology throughout the last coming years and iran is complicit in the act, if not indirectly and also directly. >> and i agree with you and i make very clear that this is an initial assessment because it is very clear that they said look, we don't have a full conclusion and they're in the throes of trying to figure this out, but in the interim you talkeded about iran's involvement. it has been a long involvement. they support hamas and they support hezbollah and there have been rockets from jordan into israel. what do you think the u.s.' involvement should be knowing that they are in the background and this is happening rid now where israel has a fight on two fronts? >> number one, the united states needs to engage on getting back american citizens. that's priority one, in my opinion. american citizens are missing at the moment. the united states will be doing everything we can to get our hostages back. number two, the united states needs to do everything it can not just to show israel that we're with them, but to show the international community that the united states stands steadfast with their ally israel and that we will do everything that they need us to do so that they can defend themselves against these barbaric attacks and the largest attacks in 50 years and the largest amount of jews killed in a single day since the holocaust. we need to explain to the iranians and to hezbollah and to the region and this is my -- no decision was made. this is for the president to decide. my position is that if hezbollah were to attack israel on any consistent basis, and would they try to move forces into israel, that would require the united states to intervene with our military force. >> i do want to make sure, i meant lebanon because that is where hezbollah exists. i'm curious, there has been discussion of the $6 billion that was iran's oil money that was unfrozen for humanitarian purposes. do you think at this point in time knowing what the u.s. knows and for their past involvement with these groups that they should completely cut that off no matter what it was going to be used for? >> yes. let me say a couple of things. my district and when i was in the state house in florida, represented mike levinson who the iranians took hostage and died in their hands. i believe the united states has to do everything it can to get back american hostages at all point in time. i was against the $6 billion being a part of that deal and what i would say to make it clear. none of that money, none of that money has left the fund that it is currently in that qatar is involved in. none of that money has moved at all. whether it should move, without having a specific policy that that money is frozen and my guess is that money is going nowhere under the current situation. >> all right. i do want to ask you, you have talked about and we have all been watching the horror, the terror that has unfolded in israel with so many people, 100 to 150 people taken hostage. babies massacred, mothers, grandparents also killed. so that sorrow is unfolding there in israel, but there is also great sorrow in gaza at the moment, and doctors without borders says that the situation in gaza is catastrophic. the hospitals are overwhelmed. the number of wounded is extremely high. there is a constant influx into the hospitals in the gaza strip, and if you look at that happening, there is the cutting off of water, electricity and fuel supplies and they're saying it's unacceptable and it punishes the entire population and deprives palestinians of really basic needs. what do you think should be the u.s. message and the u.s. action in trying to mitigate civilian deaths in one of the most densely populated citieses on earth? >> let me make three points on that. obviously, we've seen barbarism committed by hamas and not just the killing of infants. i was at that kibbutz just a month ago and the 40 babies being murdered there and most of the population in the kibbutz. to see a holocaust survivor taken hostage, i mean, the idea that she survived the holocaust and now she's a hostage again. jews are never going back to those times, and so what's happening in gaza now, we have to be clear. what's happening in gaza, that's hamas' fault. the situation in gaza is hamas' fault. it's hamas' fault for the fact that they've taken none of this aid that they've gotten over the years to help the palestinian people and it's hamas' fault that they committed genocide in israel and now israel has to respond to make sure hamas is eliminated. with that said -- >> i'm getting -- i'm getting to the point. >> i just want to say that you had mentioned that hamas' fault and hamas does know that when they strike israel there is going to be a response, a major response, but there are still civilians, obviously. 2 million people live there. there are many, many civilians and they don't know what to do. >> i was getting to that point which is, listen, israel needs to be doing everything it can to minimize civilian casualties. i can tell you the united states not once, not twice, not three times, but every single conversation we are having with israel, we are making that point to make sure that we are minimizing civilian casualties, that we're opening on up corridors. obviously, i'm deeply concerned about innocent civilians being killed and i'm also concerned about a humanitarian crisis breaking out in the gaza strip, but we have to remember again that the reason this is happening is because hamas decided to create a 9/11-style, vent and put every innocent palestinian in the gaza strip in great peril. >> representative jared moskowitz, thank you so much. i know you are hard at work and i know you've been in and out of hearings and thank you for clarifying and explaining what has happened in those hearings, vis-a-vis, iran and its involvement potentially in this -- with hamas. thou so much. we will be checking in with you when you can if you can give us new information. >> we have an interesting and different angle on this. from the boardroom to the front lines, an israeli canadian man just left the tech company he started in new york to go fight with the idf in israel. he says he could not sleep after hearing about the hamas are trot terrorist attack. he booked the first flight he could find and he is with us now. thank you very much for being with us. we see you. what made you decide to go back to israel? >> it was a pretty quick decision. we all saw the news on friday night of the massacre that was going on that surprise all of us. immediately my two brothers were called back to the army. my friends in my unit were called back and there was no way i was going to stay in new york without going back to serve. so got on the first flight, came back and joined my unit. >> you've been back since the weekend. what have you seen? >> i mean, it's -- it's been tough for everyone. it's a war. it's nice to see the entire country coming together and forgetting politics for a second and everyone is supporting each other, but it is a situation no one wants to be in. >> my mom and dad drove me to base and they haven't seen this many vehicles in the road since my dad was in the army urg did the lebanon war. >> you have been in the idf obviously, before, how does it feel different this time? >> look, when you are in a reserve duty it's usually not for a war. you have missions here and there. you are training and guarding and you come, you train and go back to your family and it's hard, but its part of the duty and if can be fun sometimes, but this is different. every single reservist and i speak on behalf of myself and not the idf, every single reservist has come knowing that they're joining a war and that there will be some israeli soldiers who won't come back from that war. >> look, i don't want you to reveal any details that could compromise your security or anything of that nature, but do you know what you will be doing? do you anticipate that before this is over you could be inside gaza? >> there are, unfortunately, more than one conflict zones and every combat soldier knows that at one point or another we may be in that conflict zone and that's what we're preparing for. >> of course, i mentioned gaza, but there is potential for tension, if not direct military action in the north as well against hezbollah. noy, we do appreciate you being with us. please stay safe. >> send us your prayers and we'll see you on the other side. >> obviously, a lot going on. we are getting breaking news about the israeli government, plus news about the situation on the ground. our live special coverage continues right after this. as israel prepares to take out hamas in gaza and as they get back the hostages they've taken and as they are seeking shelter from the air strikes that are now coming in on them the reality of the grotesque brutality of the hamas attack is coming into further focus. armed terrorists pouring into israel without warning, raiding communities, targeting everyone that they could, entire families wiped out and no one unaffected. so many people searching for their families and loved ones now. i want to bring in udi goren, he's fled to cypress for the time being and he has more than one family member believed kidnapped by hamas. thank you for your time. your cousin who you grew up with, his brother-in-law from your kibbutz. you believe that they are believe to be kidnapped and in gaza gaza right now. what do you believe happened to them? >> that's right. so my entire family on my mother's side live in a kibbutz which borders gaza and they were pretty much the first to be affected on saturday at 6:30 in the morning, gunshots were heard and my cousin, my second cousin and his brother-in-law were a part of the emergency squad that the kibbutz has for these kind of emergencies. so they were the first one to jump out and try to tackle these people. obviously, they were outnumbered. they didn't stand any chance. as the rest of my family fled to the shelters they themselves were captured and the last time that their phones were traced they were in the gaza strip. >> is there any -- since it's all happened i've heard of more -- more than one family seeing images popping up later on in the days since, have there been any images of proof of life or anything that you can grasp on to? >> the this point, no. at this point we don't know what happened to them. our only hope is that since we did have a trace of their cell number that they weren't left dead on the side of the road. >> talk to me about your uncle. you told my producers that he was in a house with his family. >> right. >> and they had to hide -- they were hiding under beds as the terrorists came to their house. how did they survive? >> they literally hid under the bed. you guys keep mentioning and you know, in the israeli consciousness, the holocaust stories are still very much alive. all of my four grandparents are holocaust survivors so hiding under the beds takes us back 90 years to these exact same stories that brought our family to israel, and yes, so as soon as they realized something was happening they -- so again, this is my mother's cousin, the guy who kidnapped, his uncle and they hid under the bed and heard knocks on the door and there were many videos coming out of people using security cameras and showing how hamas terrorists knocked on their door and tried to force themselves in and luckily, god knows why they didn't kick the door down, but they knocked on the door, they hid and they kept going to the next house. >> it's -- in hearing your story, it is so clear how no one is unaffected. everyone knows someone, more than one person that is