Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703 : comparemela.com

Kidnapped, dead or just missing in this moment. You even have another connection to this. You were telling my producers about a family who is staying in your home now because they evacuated their kibbutz, and i guess i should say part of a family because their parents have been kidnapped, as well . Yes. So as soon as we realized there was going to be an ongoing event. I have a 5yearold at home, and i felt the urge to flee from home to save her because this was very clear that it was not going to end any time soon. There were dozens or hundreds of armed militants with trucks and motorcycles roaming through israel and nobody knows where they are. So once we did, we immediately tried to make use of our home which was just standing empty and my sisterinlaw a day later called me up and said that there is a family, there are three girls from Kibbutz Behri which is one of the kibbutz that were most affected to the extent that right now people are saying that there is no more Kibbutz Behri, and there are three girls, adult girls. Since theyre adults they have their own rooms in the kibbutz so they live separate from their parents and their parents were kidnapped. The last that theyve heard from their parents was a text from their dad in the shelter, texting them saying udi, i am so sorry, i have to cut in. And we continue this, but we have to get over to Jer Emy Diamond right now in Southern Israel. Jeremy, whats happening . Yeah. We just had several rockets that we just saw being fired from gaza. The iron dome is intercepting overhead. We are less than ten kilometers, about six or seven miles from the gaza border, and this happens really right above our heads and behind us, what is happening here, too is we have these Armored Personnel Carriers that are in formation. These are the 16s that we have been seeing all across these communities in israel across from the gaza border is preparations, preparations, this massive mobilization that is happening of troops, 300,000 troops that are all starting to mobilize here, and im just going to get up as we yeah, making sure that everything is good here, but these are the Armored Personnel Carriers we dont know yet that a Ground Invasion is happening for certain, but what we do know is that all of the preparations that would typically be made in that kind of a moment as you prepare for a Ground Invasion, we are seeing that. We are seeing Armored Personnel Carriers staging in the gaza strip and we are seeing this massive mobilization of troops and perhaps preparations of that and what we saw was a key political moment, as well with this Emergency Government announced between Prime Minister netanyahu and the former Defense Minister and a member of the opposition, benny gantz. All of this could potentially be a prelude to a Ground Invasion. We know that the Prime Minister has said what will follow the israeli response to hamas Terrorist Attacks will be unprecedented and it will be unlike anything that israel has done before to hamas and that has everyone thinking that a Ground Invasion is what is likely coming next. Jeremy, its john berman. You are out in the open right now. If you need to move you and your crew as you were talking to us, please do so, and again, were not giving your exact location so that people dont know, we are not putting a town, we are just putting Southern Israel andnt telling people where you are and we would never reveal that. Talk to us what you are seeing and how close do you think those explosions were . Yeah. Its hard to tell exactly, but i mean, we saw the rockets we actually saw the rockets physically with our eyes coming from this direction where my Cameraman Matias is shooting right now, and from The Other Side, from the right side of the camera, we saw those iron dome intercepts heading up into the skies and going into the clouds. We didnt actually see the intercepts this time because it appears to have been hidden by the clouds and typically, you see the intercepts and hear the loud boom and then you see the plume of smoke in the air indicating that that rocket has been intercepted and one of the things that i was concerned about initially when i saw that is where is the potential shrapnel going to fall . It seems like were good at this moment. Jeremy, this is sara sidner. Because at this time yesterday there was a barrage of rockets coming over from gaza, and what have you seen in comparison with yesterday because you were out in it. You were hearing it and you were seeing the iron dome work. What have you seen in comparison . Have you seen that many rockets that have been coming out of this morning or have they been different or is this the new barrage thats started to come over from gaza into israel . I dont have the exact number, sara, but yesterday we certainly saw a pretty heavy barrage. In particular, we saw rockets yesterday being fired in the direction of the usual suspects. Ashkelon, sderot, the towns that are closest to the gaza border, we also saw rockets headed in Jer Jerusalem and to tel aviv. We had rockets in ashkelon, some of which made impact. We saw some pretty dramatic injuries and we know there were injuries from those rockets which isnt also the case, of course, given the fact that the Iron Dome System is so effective. Today we were in a different part of Southern Israel and we didnt get any Rocket Interceptions where we were there, but again, it can pop up at any time and that really is part of the psychology of this war that is beginning now and it feeds into this war footing that the country does seem to be on. In talking with israelis, civilians as well as soldiers and reservists who are being called up, there is so much, motion and it is so palpable the effect that those Terrorist Attacks over the weekend have, and not only the Surprise Element and the brutality with which hamas carried out these attacks and mowing down civilians which are simply attending a festival or killing women and children in their own homes. Reports of beheadings, truly atrocious and when we talk to some of the reservists, they say this moment is different. We feel a sense of responsibility to defend our country. These are the words of the reservists and they feel motivated to go into gaza if that is what they are called to do and to try and decimate hamas. How that can be accomplished and what kinds of preparations hamas has made for a Potential Inveil Israeli invasion are questions and thats why were seeing this take place over a period of days and we dont know how much longer is this going to go on . Are these Armored Personnel Carriers ready to go into gaza any minute . Are they staging for a later date . We dont have those answers and driving around here, we are seeing more armored vehicles. We are seeing humvees and we are seeing tanks, as well very close to the ghada border. Again, were only a dozen kilometers away from the gaza strip. Stand by, if but will, dont go anywhere and keep us posted. We will bring in retired Army Major Mike Lyons and if people can get a map up and were not showing where jeremy is, but he is in Southern Israel near the gaza border and all of these Rocket Attacks from gaza have been happening in that region right around. Does it have any Strategic Value for hamas right now . Are they actually accomplishing anything by shooting those rockets out . Probable not. No Strategic Value and this is a tactical battle, but hes in an assembly area. I was going to ask, what are we seeing . Frankly, that commander is confident that his troops are protected because if not you would see those Israeli Soldiers with helmets on and those vehicles are too close together and we saw the Iron Dome Go Off to protect it so they are confident that theyll be protected from rocket fire coming in. The thing is you hear the louder, deeper sounding explosion. Thats israeli artillery. Thats israeli artillery responding to that Rocket Attack because every time that rocket goes off that has a Return Address and israel is tracking where that is and theyre firing heavy artillery with that target. You talked about the vehicles being so very close together and we saw reservists literally standing no helmets and someone drinking a drink and quite relaxed. Listening to rockets is something that the reservists and the people of israel deal with a lot, but this is different. What would give you the clue that this Ground Incursion is about to happen, what would we see . More dispersed vehicles and you would see more battle rattle. You would see things tied down on equipment. You can tell as this fist is about to wind up is what i saw when i was participating in something similar to this, right . And so, but for right now theyre in the preparation stage. Theyre looking at different ways that they might do this incursion because this border also has a call to it. There are only certains that they can go in with the shock effect that theyll have and to the point that the enemy has defended me very well and they dont want to walk in to a death trap itself. We have this gathering of reservists the border and we have correspondents that are with them. Is there any Shock Ore Surprise to what would, if there is a Ground Incursion what would be coming at hamas. Two Different Things because the shock effect is coming when it happens. Shock and surprise are two Different Things. The element of surprise is something that commander will hold close because same as Prime Minister. That comes from the top. Theyll decide to do this because when they go theres no turning back. All right. Major, please stick around because things are developing before our eyes in Southern Israel. We mean that, stay close. Sara . We have some disturbing new information out of israel. The israeli Prime Minister spokesman just confirmed babies and toddlers were found with their Heads Decapitated in kfar aza in Southern Israel after hamas attacks in the kibbutz over the weekend. That has been confirmed by the Prime Ministers office. Let us go now to cnns hadas gold in jerusalem. This news is beyond devastating and for the families listening and for the people of israel, for anyone that is a parent and who loves children i dont know how they get through this, but this kind of thing and the way that this has happened has really changed any possibility of a relationship, a peace accord between israel and gaza and hamas. I mean, how can you when you are dealing with people who would do such atrocities to children, to babies, to toddlers . We knew children, babies and toddlers had been killed. We knew that they had been abducted and we knew they had seen their parents be abducted and left in the middle of nowhere by themselves to hopefully be rescued by a neighbor and now were hearing its even worse than we could have imagined and we were hearing reports that this had happened and now we are getting this confirmed from the israeli Prime Ministers office that babies and toddlers did have their Heads Decapitated by these terrorists when they came into kfar aza. This is a small kibbutz near the northern part of the gaza strip. It is part of that envelope of communities that sit right on the border right there. The israeli Prime Ministers office has not given a number on the number of children that this happened to, but when any israeli hears about innocent lives like this taken in such a brutal fashion, this is why i think were hearing the rhetoric from the Israeli Military and the government the likes of which i have never heard before, and whatever the Israeli Military is planning to do in gaza is going to be the likes of which we have never seen before because israel has never experienced anything like this literally since the days of the holocaust. Thats why you hear so many people refer to the days of the holocaust and this is bringing obviously, a lot of sadness and shock to israelis and also a lot of anger. Absolutely. I just want to let people know what youre looking at. We are looking at video from that kibbutz where the israeli Prime Ministers office now says that they discovered toddlers and babies with their Heads Decapitated and we saw there was a crib turned over. Hamas today is denying this. Theyre saying that theyre false Media Reports and that they strongly dismissed the claims by what they said are western media outlets. This is coming from the Prime Ministers office. We are looking at body bags there. There were so many People Killed in that kibbutz and this news is absolutely devastating to hear the confirmation of decapitated children. Do you have any sense of whether or not the families have been told there are so many people that have died, but there are Family Members waiting to understand what happened at these kibbutzes . Yeah. There are plenty of families out there that are still waiting for information about their loved ones. The Israeli Government has set up sort of central command, centers where people can come and get more information. The unfortunate reality of whats happening now is theyre being requested to bring dna samples of their loved ones to hopefully be able to match them with remains or potentially if they were hostages, but there are still people out there who do not know what has happened to their loved ones and do not know if they were killed or if they were taken or what the status of their situation is. Back to that hamas statement, i find it kind of unbelievable because they also said they denied the palestinian Freedom Fighters were killing children and targeting civilians when we literally have video of these guys, of these militants, of these terrorists doing exactly what they say theyre not doing to civilians and to children. They probably have, obviously, have proof of this. There is video of so much of what happened and the terror that unfolded there. Hadd a hadas gold, thank you so much for bringing us this very difficult news. Sara, we just want to give people a sense of where this is taking place. Kfar aza right here, you see on your map just outside gaza. This is now where officials from the Prime Ministers office say they have seen proof of babies decapitated. Kfar aza right there. This is the site right here, riem is where the Music Festival was and this is where we saw yesterday and i want to give people the sense of a small space of where everything is taking place right now, kate . Major, you were with us and i saw your face when we reported the news. What question do you formulate about other than what is the point . Im sorry what is the point . Israel is at total war now. They are fighting not only a kinetic war. They are fighting now in the Propaganda War and what eisenhower did during the holocaust. The soldiers that came upon that, no words. You cant describe it, but thats what the Israeli Government has to do now. They have to let the world see whats going on here because this information will travel with this accelerant we call social media and israel has to recognize that theyre in that war, too. Im losing it now because i just cant just the thought of it when you think of what that means to the family, but i do want to ask you, when you hear that, hamas has been deemed a Terrorist Organization by the United States and others. It is still the government of gaza. Yeah. How do you deal with them . How does this whats the endgame here . That is something and weve heard this from the Israeli Government, and from the israeli reservists and those who are fighting. They said this is isisstyle executions. These are isisstyle action. So what now . Yeah. Were good the u. S. And israel are good at this conventional warfare and weve been fighting this war with the nonnation states for the past 30 years, 30 years. Theyre backed and we dont have a deterrent against them and frankly, i listen to the report about the iranians are not involved, please, that does not pass the Kibbutz Behri<\/a> which is one of the kibbutz that were most affected to the extent that right now people are saying that there is no more Kibbutz Behri<\/a>, and there are three girls, adult girls. Since theyre adults they have their own rooms in the kibbutz so they live separate from their parents and their parents were kidnapped. The last that theyve heard from their parents was a text from their dad in the shelter, texting them saying udi, i am so sorry, i have to cut in. And we continue this, but we have to get over to Jer Emy Diamond<\/a> right now in Southern Israel<\/a>. Jeremy, whats happening . Yeah. We just had several rockets that we just saw being fired from gaza. The iron dome is intercepting overhead. We are less than ten kilometers, about six or seven miles from the gaza border, and this happens really right above our heads and behind us, what is happening here, too is we have these Armored Personnel Carriers<\/a> that are in formation. These are the 16s that we have been seeing all across these communities in israel across from the gaza border is preparations, preparations, this massive mobilization that is happening of troops, 300,000 troops that are all starting to mobilize here, and im just going to get up as we yeah, making sure that everything is good here, but these are the Armored Personnel Carriers<\/a> we dont know yet that a Ground Invasion<\/a> is happening for certain, but what we do know is that all of the preparations that would typically be made in that kind of a moment as you prepare for a Ground Invasion<\/a>, we are seeing that. We are seeing Armored Personnel Carriers<\/a> staging in the gaza strip and we are seeing this massive mobilization of troops and perhaps preparations of that and what we saw was a key political moment, as well with this Emergency Government<\/a> announced between Prime Minister<\/a> netanyahu and the former Defense Minister<\/a> and a member of the opposition, benny gantz. All of this could potentially be a prelude to a Ground Invasion<\/a>. We know that the Prime Minister<\/a> has said what will follow the israeli response to hamas Terrorist Attacks<\/a> will be unprecedented and it will be unlike anything that israel has done before to hamas and that has everyone thinking that a Ground Invasion<\/a> is what is likely coming next. Jeremy, its john berman. You are out in the open right now. If you need to move you and your crew as you were talking to us, please do so, and again, were not giving your exact location so that people dont know, we are not putting a town, we are just putting Southern Israel<\/a> andnt telling people where you are and we would never reveal that. Talk to us what you are seeing and how close do you think those explosions were . Yeah. Its hard to tell exactly, but i mean, we saw the rockets we actually saw the rockets physically with our eyes coming from this direction where my Cameraman Matias<\/a> is shooting right now, and from The Other Side<\/a>, from the right side of the camera, we saw those iron dome intercepts heading up into the skies and going into the clouds. We didnt actually see the intercepts this time because it appears to have been hidden by the clouds and typically, you see the intercepts and hear the loud boom and then you see the plume of smoke in the air indicating that that rocket has been intercepted and one of the things that i was concerned about initially when i saw that is where is the potential shrapnel going to fall . It seems like were good at this moment. Jeremy, this is sara sidner. Because at this time yesterday there was a barrage of rockets coming over from gaza, and what have you seen in comparison with yesterday because you were out in it. You were hearing it and you were seeing the iron dome work. What have you seen in comparison . Have you seen that many rockets that have been coming out of this morning or have they been different or is this the new barrage thats started to come over from gaza into israel . I dont have the exact number, sara, but yesterday we certainly saw a pretty heavy barrage. In particular, we saw rockets yesterday being fired in the direction of the usual suspects. Ashkelon, sderot, the towns that are closest to the gaza border, we also saw rockets headed in Jer Jerusalem<\/a> and to tel aviv. We had rockets in ashkelon, some of which made impact. We saw some pretty dramatic injuries and we know there were injuries from those rockets which isnt also the case, of course, given the fact that the Iron Dome System<\/a> is so effective. Today we were in a different part of Southern Israel<\/a> and we didnt get any Rocket Interceptions<\/a> where we were there, but again, it can pop up at any time and that really is part of the psychology of this war that is beginning now and it feeds into this war footing that the country does seem to be on. In talking with israelis, civilians as well as soldiers and reservists who are being called up, there is so much, motion and it is so palpable the effect that those Terrorist Attacks<\/a> over the weekend have, and not only the Surprise Element<\/a> and the brutality with which hamas carried out these attacks and mowing down civilians which are simply attending a festival or killing women and children in their own homes. Reports of beheadings, truly atrocious and when we talk to some of the reservists, they say this moment is different. We feel a sense of responsibility to defend our country. These are the words of the reservists and they feel motivated to go into gaza if that is what they are called to do and to try and decimate hamas. How that can be accomplished and what kinds of preparations hamas has made for a Potential Inveil Israeli<\/a> invasion are questions and thats why were seeing this take place over a period of days and we dont know how much longer is this going to go on . Are these Armored Personnel Carriers<\/a> ready to go into gaza any minute . Are they staging for a later date . We dont have those answers and driving around here, we are seeing more armored vehicles. We are seeing humvees and we are seeing tanks, as well very close to the ghada border. Again, were only a dozen kilometers away from the gaza strip. Stand by, if but will, dont go anywhere and keep us posted. We will bring in retired Army Major Mike Lyons<\/a> and if people can get a map up and were not showing where jeremy is, but he is in Southern Israel<\/a> near the gaza border and all of these Rocket Attacks<\/a> from gaza have been happening in that region right around. Does it have any Strategic Value<\/a> for hamas right now . Are they actually accomplishing anything by shooting those rockets out . Probable not. No Strategic Value<\/a> and this is a tactical battle, but hes in an assembly area. I was going to ask, what are we seeing . Frankly, that commander is confident that his troops are protected because if not you would see those Israeli Soldiers<\/a> with helmets on and those vehicles are too close together and we saw the Iron Dome Go Off<\/a> to protect it so they are confident that theyll be protected from rocket fire coming in. The thing is you hear the louder, deeper sounding explosion. Thats israeli artillery. Thats israeli artillery responding to that Rocket Attack<\/a> because every time that rocket goes off that has a Return Address<\/a> and israel is tracking where that is and theyre firing heavy artillery with that target. You talked about the vehicles being so very close together and we saw reservists literally standing no helmets and someone drinking a drink and quite relaxed. Listening to rockets is something that the reservists and the people of israel deal with a lot, but this is different. What would give you the clue that this Ground Incursion<\/a> is about to happen, what would we see . More dispersed vehicles and you would see more battle rattle. You would see things tied down on equipment. You can tell as this fist is about to wind up is what i saw when i was participating in something similar to this, right . And so, but for right now theyre in the preparation stage. Theyre looking at different ways that they might do this incursion because this border also has a call to it. There are only certains that they can go in with the shock effect that theyll have and to the point that the enemy has defended me very well and they dont want to walk in to a death trap itself. We have this gathering of reservists the border and we have correspondents that are with them. Is there any Shock Ore Surprise<\/a> to what would, if there is a Ground Incursion<\/a> what would be coming at hamas. Two Different Things<\/a> because the shock effect is coming when it happens. Shock and surprise are two Different Things<\/a>. The element of surprise is something that commander will hold close because same as Prime Minister<\/a>. That comes from the top. Theyll decide to do this because when they go theres no turning back. All right. Major, please stick around because things are developing before our eyes in Southern Israel<\/a>. We mean that, stay close. Sara . We have some disturbing new information out of israel. The israeli Prime Minister<\/a> spokesman just confirmed babies and toddlers were found with their Heads Decapitated<\/a> in kfar aza in Southern Israel<\/a> after hamas attacks in the kibbutz over the weekend. That has been confirmed by the Prime Minister<\/a>s office. Let us go now to cnns hadas gold in jerusalem. This news is beyond devastating and for the families listening and for the people of israel, for anyone that is a parent and who loves children i dont know how they get through this, but this kind of thing and the way that this has happened has really changed any possibility of a relationship, a peace accord between israel and gaza and hamas. I mean, how can you when you are dealing with people who would do such atrocities to children, to babies, to toddlers . We knew children, babies and toddlers had been killed. We knew that they had been abducted and we knew they had seen their parents be abducted and left in the middle of nowhere by themselves to hopefully be rescued by a neighbor and now were hearing its even worse than we could have imagined and we were hearing reports that this had happened and now we are getting this confirmed from the israeli Prime Minister<\/a>s office that babies and toddlers did have their Heads Decapitated<\/a> by these terrorists when they came into kfar aza. This is a small kibbutz near the northern part of the gaza strip. It is part of that envelope of communities that sit right on the border right there. The israeli Prime Minister<\/a>s office has not given a number on the number of children that this happened to, but when any israeli hears about innocent lives like this taken in such a brutal fashion, this is why i think were hearing the rhetoric from the Israeli Military<\/a> and the government the likes of which i have never heard before, and whatever the Israeli Military<\/a> is planning to do in gaza is going to be the likes of which we have never seen before because israel has never experienced anything like this literally since the days of the holocaust. Thats why you hear so many people refer to the days of the holocaust and this is bringing obviously, a lot of sadness and shock to israelis and also a lot of anger. Absolutely. I just want to let people know what youre looking at. We are looking at video from that kibbutz where the israeli Prime Minister<\/a>s office now says that they discovered toddlers and babies with their Heads Decapitated<\/a> and we saw there was a crib turned over. Hamas today is denying this. Theyre saying that theyre false Media Reports<\/a> and that they strongly dismissed the claims by what they said are western media outlets. This is coming from the Prime Minister<\/a>s office. We are looking at body bags there. There were so many People Killed<\/a> in that kibbutz and this news is absolutely devastating to hear the confirmation of decapitated children. Do you have any sense of whether or not the families have been told there are so many people that have died, but there are Family Members<\/a> waiting to understand what happened at these kibbutzes . Yeah. There are plenty of families out there that are still waiting for information about their loved ones. The Israeli Government<\/a> has set up sort of central command, centers where people can come and get more information. The unfortunate reality of whats happening now is theyre being requested to bring dna samples of their loved ones to hopefully be able to match them with remains or potentially if they were hostages, but there are still people out there who do not know what has happened to their loved ones and do not know if they were killed or if they were taken or what the status of their situation is. Back to that hamas statement, i find it kind of unbelievable because they also said they denied the palestinian Freedom Fighters<\/a> were killing children and targeting civilians when we literally have video of these guys, of these militants, of these terrorists doing exactly what they say theyre not doing to civilians and to children. They probably have, obviously, have proof of this. There is video of so much of what happened and the terror that unfolded there. Hadd a hadas gold, thank you so much for bringing us this very difficult news. Sara, we just want to give people a sense of where this is taking place. Kfar aza right here, you see on your map just outside gaza. This is now where officials from the Prime Minister<\/a>s office say they have seen proof of babies decapitated. Kfar aza right there. This is the site right here, riem is where the Music Festival<\/a> was and this is where we saw yesterday and i want to give people the sense of a small space of where everything is taking place right now, kate . Major, you were with us and i saw your face when we reported the news. What question do you formulate about other than what is the point . Im sorry what is the point . Israel is at total war now. They are fighting not only a kinetic war. They are fighting now in the Propaganda War<\/a> and what eisenhower did during the holocaust. The soldiers that came upon that, no words. You cant describe it, but thats what the Israeli Government<\/a> has to do now. They have to let the world see whats going on here because this information will travel with this accelerant we call social media and israel has to recognize that theyre in that war, too. Im losing it now because i just cant just the thought of it when you think of what that means to the family, but i do want to ask you, when you hear that, hamas has been deemed a Terrorist Organization<\/a> by the United States<\/a> and others. It is still the government of gaza. Yeah. How do you deal with them . How does this whats the endgame here . That is something and weve heard this from the Israeli Government<\/a>, and from the israeli reservists and those who are fighting. They said this is isisstyle executions. These are isisstyle action. So what now . Yeah. Were good the u. S. And israel are good at this conventional warfare and weve been fighting this war with the nonnation states for the past 30 years, 30 years. Theyre backed and we dont have a deterrent against them and frankly, i listen to the report about the iranians are not involved, please, that does not pass the Red Face Test<\/a> on any level. Do you know if theres a distinction between directly involved in the planning of this and what is obvious in reality which is they have been funding and helping them for years. They are exact theyve been funding and helping them for years. This is part of what just lead to this news about what we just learned about these babies. We have Nuclear Deterrence<\/a> and the destruction between us, russia and china and whats that and whats the deterrence from the countries of iran and we have to come up with some other level of deterrence and to me, its a conspiratorial deterrence. If we think that your progress will lead to Something Like<\/a> this, we will look at this as an existential threat. This is clearly, all fingerprints are on iran and it doesnt pass the Red Face Test<\/a>. Major, stick around. We have a lot of developing news right now. Our Jeremy Diamond<\/a> seeing Rocket Attacks<\/a> over his head in Southern Israel<\/a> and saying babies and toddlers were found decapitated in the kibbutz of kfar aza. Some 1200 People Killed<\/a> in the hamas Terror Attack<\/a> in israel. Disturbing new details and our live special coverage continues right after this. From us you can see the black smoke rising up there on the breeze. Thats the aftermath of the impact of those heavy Artillery Shells<\/a> and these are changed days over the past couple of days. The artillery also being used by the Israeli Defense<\/a> force as well as the air strikes on gaza. We saw huge fields with perhaps half a dozen to a dozen Heavy Artillery Pieces<\/a> in today. Other fields full of infantry and armored fighting vehicles. When you are around this area right now, the security is much tighter with a 30man foot patrol just going past this building here in the past few minutes. The security is much tight or the road getting access to places i dont know if you caught that, but that was the impact of one of those Artillery Shells<\/a>. We are a couple of miles away from it so i think you get the idea of just how loud it might be down there. It literally rattles the windows of this building that were in a couple of miles away. So we have those Artillery Units<\/a> out on the field and theres a lot more security on the roads around here. A lot more troops around this town, as well. Its not a civilian area. Its a Military Area<\/a> and you feel things amping up, building up for whatever the next Military Step<\/a> is. A lot of people say it might be an incursion, but what you are seeing from that artillery typically that weve seen in the past artillery used in this way to soften up the ground ahead of an incursion of some type. We dont know when it may happen or if theres been an order made for it, but this is the tempo of the battle here tonight and this almost continuous, step by step artillery strikes over into gaza. John . Nic robertson is in sderot which is literally overlooking gaza here. Nic, the sequence as was just described to us by major mike lyons is occasionally what happens is rockets come rockets come out of gaza and he says they come with a Return Address<\/a> and israel can shoot artillery into where the rockets are coming from. How much back and forth have you seen today . Yeah. As well, you can wait until they shoot or you see where they shot from last time and you want them to prevent them from shooting and you want to use iron dome missiles which are more expensive and more complex, but rather than wait and attack the site right after, you deny them the site and you know where theyve been using them over the last few days and you deny them those fields. You continue with this barrage of artillery. So they cannot get out and launch them. So it feels, at the moment, its less a tit for tat. Its less rockets from gaza and then artillery fired in at the moment because when the rockets do come theyre intercepted by the Missile Defense<\/a> system, iron dome. But this is fluid. It will go both ways. We hear fighter jets coming on station over here rid aght afte rockets are fired from gaza. Theyre looking for launch sites and its the signature of where you have hamas on the ground and even if you miss them you can deny them that in the future. They want to fire these Weapons Systems<\/a> with a degree of accuracy. So they do have designated positions that they want to fire them from on designated trajectories and calculated and designated angles of elevation and so many degrees if its firing at this location. So many degrees higher, perhaps its going to tel aviv and all these sorts of things. Hamas has to have some certainty about these locations of fire, its precision of fire and right now artillery will help interrupt that and fighter jets and guided munitions will also be a part of that package as well, john. Nic robertson for us. We just heard one last explosion there and keep us posted, nic, as to what you see. Lets go back to kate. Also lets go back to the House Of Representatives<\/a> because House Lawmakers<\/a> they wrapped up a classified briefing on the attack on israel what is known and what they are learning. Joining me now is the top democrat on the House Foreign Affairs<\/a> committee, congressman meeks. Thank you so much for jumping on, obviously, in a classified briefing there is a lot you cant tell me, but can you give me a sense of what your sense is and the briefing out of top officials . That the United States<\/a> and the president ial administration is focused on making sure that israel has what it needs to defend itself, that and im still, kate, on the part of the babies being beheaded i know, congressman, i was going to ask you about that. Were just i mean, i yeah. Your reaction to that. Did you your reaction or if you have heard anything more about that or if you were able to get this greater sense of the enormity of the horror in this briefing and what youve heard . Its just unbelievable. Weve heard reports previously. I have been going back and forth. We didnt have the confirmation. Im hearing for the first time the confirmation while i was waiting listening to the story, and ive got to tell you, it just i just my soul is hurting. It just shows you the evil of hamas and its people that are carrying out these horrendous, unspeakable, indefensible killings, babies i just it is just and there is a lot that weve been focused on and i agree and i just apologize because it has really just got to me. There is absolutely no reason to apologize because theres no way to wrap your mind around how anyone could do this. This is a war crime. This is worse than a war crime. Its not okay. I said this inside the classified meeting and its not classified because i said it. Make sure that we are going after hamas and its leaders wherever they may be. Wherever they may be. We cannot stand as human beings to have such nonhuman acts take place from the terrorist individuals and so weve got to stand and i think thats what came out of this meeting with israel and moving forward to make sure that hamas no longer exists. We just cant be silent. We cant stand by the way side in that regards. The focus of this has to get rid of hamas. The news is how do you take this is the everything is hard. There are no good options. How do you take out hamas with the least amount of damage to civilians in gaza . There are so many children that are in gaza, as well. How do you do it . You are absolutely correct. Look, weve been talking about that and were trying to figure out how we make sure that we get some humanitarian aid into those individuals. Look, hamas is so terrible. They are the worst enemy of the Palestinian People<\/a>. What they do is use innocent palestinians as human shields. It is clear from just listening to your reporting they are firing bombs from certain buildings and they have Palestinian People<\/a> around those buildings and israel has no choice, but to fire as indicated where they see that fire coming from. Theyve got to fire and destroy those buildings to stop the the incoming that are happening that is happening. So and so the govern am, the administration that i have spoken to in a nonclassify session has said that they are working and talking and trying to find ways to make sure that we can get some of them out of the gaza strip. I dont want to talk and cant talk about that specifically because we dont know, you know, hamas is so terrible they will go and kill their own folks who dont agree with them or know that there is a path way out. So we dont want to discuss that, but weve got in looking and figuring out that we have american citizens still in gaza, and so we want to make sure that we are able to get them out and we have to make sure we get the hostages that are being held. Some of the specifics i cannot talk about, but know that there is within the administration and the dialogue and conversation in trying to work with the Israeli Government<\/a> to figure out how we get them out. Such a mess. Congressman, thank you as always for your time. Thank you for your humanity. Thank you for having me, kate. Sara . All right. Officials say at least 1,055 people have now been killed in gaza. This is happening as the u. S. Is working to get americans and other civilians out of the gaza strip. We are speaking to Cnns Christiane Amanpour<\/a> next. Found with their Heads Decapitated<\/a>ed in Southern Israel<\/a>, but the picture you are looking at is actually gaza. That is the information that we have just gotten from a spokesperson from the israeli Prime Minister<\/a>s office of Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>. Israeli Defense Forces<\/a> found the bodies of those innocent children after the hamas attack over the weekend at a kibbutz. Hamas has denied reports that attacked children, but it has denied reports that it had killed anyone and we saw the clear view on video of killing civilians. The death toll continues to rise in israel. At least 1200 people have been report killed. They are afraid the death toll will continue to rise as they go and grasp the enormity of that Terror Attack<\/a>. The death toll in gaza is rising, as well. Now more than a thousand People Killed<\/a>. At this moment the u. S. Government is in talks with countries including israel and egypt to get americans and other civilians who were in gaza out of gaza. With us now, cnn chief International Anchor<\/a> christiane amanpour. Christiane, another huge bit of news that we learned within the last few hours is the formation of an Emergency Government<\/a> inside israel, what they are calling a war cabinet. What is the difference that you cross party unity at a time like this even though there are deep divisions between all the various players on the political side inside israel and most particularly, weve been reporting this a lot over the last year when, you know, so much of the country was out protesting the current government and there has been quite a lot of anger directed at Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> and his socalled Security Apparatus<\/a> who are these ideological farright extremists who have demanded as part of keeping him in power to be part of the govern am. These are people that the u. S. Were very, very concerned about, people like bengvir and smotrich and now this carnage has unfolded and this massive breach has unfolded. So the previous Prime Minister<\/a> in waiting, opposition benny gantz, also a general, has agreed to come into an emergency War Cabinet Government<\/a> with netanyahu to try to, i guess, he would say, to professionalize the government and its Military Response<\/a> at this particular time. So i think thats the reason for that and they need to make sure they have for them, the best hands on deck. I do want to ask you something. Benny gantz in 2019 as he was looking to try and be the leader of the government said something about, you know, Destroying Gaza<\/a> and sending it back to the stone age. He is a former Defense Minister<\/a>. He is very well equipped to understand how that might happen and how that might try to rid gaza of hamas, but what are the realities, if this Ground Offensive<\/a> happens, what are the realities in trying to get rid of hamas with all of the tunnels and all of the things that i have have built up over the years and if they do it, then what . What happens in the future . What is the endgame there and how difficult will it be . Well, the truth is an actual objective has not been formally and properly laid out. The wording is that we want to decimate, degrade and change the State Of Play<\/a> on the ground, calling what happened in israel which is absolutely true, a gamechanger and therefore they need to change the rules of the game inside gaza. Are the Defense Minister<\/a>, the current Defense Minister<\/a> yoav gallant has said publicly he is taking all restraints off idf forces. What does that mean . Already weve seen whats happening in gaza and the allowed pleas for people including palestinianamericans and many, many Palestinian Civilians<\/a> for there to be some kind of help and distinction between civilians and hamas, but you know that hamas has embedded itself with so many civilians over the many, many years that have been in charge there. The other big issue is that yoav gallant again has placed Gaza Under Siege<\/a> and therefore we are already hearing that the electricity is about to end because they have no fuel. They have been told that they will get no water, food or anything like that in and this, again, the u. S. Or the u. N. , for sure has said that that is a crime under International Law<\/a> and that kind of state of siege, of collective punishment of the civilian population and people in the u. N. Again have appealed for humanitarian corridors for civilians. That does not look like its going to happen. We hear also that there are third Party Negotiations<\/a> attempting to negotiate some kind of Hostage Release<\/a> on both sides. Weve been hearing this since monday. Nobodys formally wanting to come out and say it, but you can imagine there are huge, huge urgency to that, not least because thats going to be a consideration, a massive consideration of israel and when israel does send in a ground force. And christiane, on The Other Side<\/a> of the screen we can see as the sun is setting in gaza, you can see just how dark it is as The One And Only<\/a> Power Station<\/a> in gaza reports that the power is out and generators that are there, they will have or will soon be running out of fuel. This is our first look at what power out in gaza is going to mean, and to your point about how civilians that want to get out of harms way, want to get out of gaza, what theyre up against in doing so. There are these thirdparty talks about potentially getting humanitarian corridors out. An Idf Spokesperson<\/a> was out with us earlier in the show, and i asked her where the idf thinks that civilians in gaza should go if they want to get out of harms way. Let me play what she said. First, i would say if they do receive any kind of advanced warning to simply put distance from where they are and go somewhere else even within the strip. Beyond that, there is another border that the gaza strip has with egypt, and i cant speak to that situation at this stage. Just showing kind of to your point, the lack of clarity on exactly what its going to look like going forward. Its not open. The other side is not open and the people in gaza do not have anywhere to go. The israelis have said they are going to tray to warn people when they bomb, but we were talking to a Doctor Inside Gaza Last Night<\/a> who said the warning amounts to a sport of a first tap, quote, unquote, small rocket warning people and hopefully they can get out in time before the big ones, the big bombs come down and level the buildings which is whats happened. They are, according to the u. N. , some 150 or so thousands who have taken refuge at u. N. Facilities including enra as its called, schools and other facilities and thats a small percentage and really it goes to the question that sara also asked, what is the endgame because is, for instance, hamas Setting Up Traps<\/a> for Israeli Forces<\/a> as has been warned and does it want to drag israel into a quagmire and does it want to spark a regional conflagration and even if israel wants to decimate hamas, then who takes over . Does Israel Reoccupy<\/a> . Who then . What then . There are so many questions, but israels aim right now should not be misunderstood and it is to retain and regain the deterrence that it has lost since saturday. Christiane amanpour, we do appreciate you being with us as we look at the sun setting literally over gaza and now dark because the one Power Station<\/a> as kate points out has stopped generating power. Much more on this ahead including desperately waiting for answers. Up next, we will speak with a rabbi near chicago who is speaking up for some of his congregants and their families are searching for them after they went missing after the hamas attack in israel. Well be back. A somber warning from the State Department<\/a> this morning saying the death toll of americans in israel is expected to rise again today. At least 14 americans are dead after the hamas attacks, with even more missing, and that leaving communities waiting anxiously for any updates. One of the communities, outside of chicago, joining us now is rabbi, the codirector of evanston. Your congregants, your families, they are missing their loved ones, judith and natalie missing daughter, mother are among those missing. We will put up their pictures. What do you and the family know about what happened to them . I just got off the phone with Family Members<\/a> a few minutes ago. And to say they are full of grief, fear, pain, is an understatement. One of the things they conveyed is the endless frustration to be sitting in a situation where they have no answers and they are just waiting and waiting with a glimmer of hope to find out something, even to find out their loved one is still alive, that kind of waiting is unbearable. When was the last time anyone had been in contact with them . Judith is one of the members of our congregation. She is a regular attendee and all of our programs, a really special woman, giving, generous, shes the type of person who is the first one to come out and help whenever somebody needs something, she always comes over to give for our children on a personal level and spends Holiday Dinners<\/a> with us, someone who is caring and giving and loving and her daughter natalie is the same, like mom, like daughter, she just graduated from Deerfield High School<\/a> here in illinois, 18 years old. They had been talking about this trip for weeks. Judith has been talking excitedly about this, rosh hashanah, the high holidays and the joys hidays when suddenly this atrocious act of terror transpired, and they were staying at the time in a kibbutz. So we know that was attacked, killing, murdering, taking hostages. We have not received word of their whereabouts. Apparently we assume they were taken hostage. Rabbi, thank you very much for your time, thank you for speaking up for the families. As a faith leader, i think its important all people should realize this transcends religious and cultural differences. Every person with the Human Conscience<\/a> should be feeling devastated at this time, and we are asking for everyone to open our hearts and say a prayer for judith, natalie, all of the people of israel with a swift and clear victory. We should be able to see loved ones again and id also like to say in every act of kindness that we do, in our part of the world, it makes a world of difference, when we cheer goodness for someone else, it reverberates around the world. So i would like to ask that everyone say a prayer, please life the shabbat candle. Thank you for your time. This will be a long haul in a very deadly war. I want to share before we leave you, the last pictures here that we are looking at at 6 56 almost 7 00 in the evening and gaza and that gives you an idea of what is happening. The Electricity Grid<\/a> is down. They have no more fuel, the one Power Station<\/a> is out and thats why you are seeing it almost completely dark and gaza except for those who have generators. Thank you so much for Stick Sticking<\/a> with us, this has been an extremely difficult time, extremely hard hour with all the news coming out including the decapitation of children and babies. 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