this is cnn breaking news. >> hello, welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world as we continue our breaking news coverage of israel at war. i'm rosemary church. it is 10:00 in the morning across israel and gaza where the israel defense forces say they are conducting more large scale strikes against hamas targets. palestinian officials report gaza's only power station is not working. and hospitals are in danger of running out of fuel for generators. nearly 1200 people have been killed in gaza since saturday, according to the palestinian health ministry. hamas militants continue to fire rockets into southern israel. the israeli military says at least 189 soldiers are among the 1200 people killed in the terror attacks and we are seeing more evidence that israel may be planning a ground incursion into gaza as tanks and troops are massing at the border. that comes as prime minister benjamin netanyahu and some of his political rivals have formed an emergency government and wartime cabinet. >> we are fighting a cruel enemy. worse than isis. we saw girls and boys shot in the head. men and women burned alive. young women raped. fighters beheaded. >> our standing here together, shoulder to shoulder is a message to our enemies and most importantly, a message to all citizens of israel. we are all together. we are all soldiers. >> u.s. secretary of state antony blinken and a top hostage negotiator are headed to israel. blinken says discussions are ongoing about setting up the humanitarian corridor, to get civilians out. air raid sirens in southern israel show james cleverly running for shelter. he is there to meet with israeli leaders and survivors of the amass attacks. good morning to you. what is the latest on the large scale air strikes and what appears to be an imminent ground incursion into gaza as the troops mass at the border? >> reporter: rosemary, it was the early hours of the morning about five-and-a-half hours ago that the idf said it was carrying out waves of strikes. subsequently, the idf chief international spokesperson said that they were targeting the elite forces of hamas. targeting things like weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers. what he seemed to be saying is some of the ha mass militants who crossed into israel were suddenly taken prisoner. they have been able to identify more of the people and the facilities that were used in these attacks and to coordinate these attacks and it was this elite force that was very much involved in this attack on israel which began in the early hours of saturday morning and so they are targeting just infrastructure and weapons but also individuals who they say were part of the planning of this terror attack which happened in the early saturday. one of the big pieces of news you mention rosemary is of course the formation of this emergency government. because what hamas has done, terrorizing israelis with this attack is to unite israelis. they have never been more divided thanks to benjamin netanyahu's push for the overhaul. hamas succeeded in reuniting israelis and their bitterly divided politicians. they formed an emergency government. he went before the cameras yesterday to say why he had done so. and what hamas had in store. >> we will fight this war to indicate to our enemies very clearly there will be hell to pay. and we promise to the people of israel, when we say never again, we mean it. never again. >> we are expecting this ground invasion by israel but it is worth noting the idf says no decision has been made yet. that it may seem likely. they are prepared for all eventualities but no decision certainly by the country's political leaders has been made yet. meanwhile, they say that the idea says that more than 5,000 rockets have been fired from the gaza strip into israel, toward israel since saturday morning. we know that israel has been carrying out retaliatory air strikes, hundreds of them. we know the death toll inside israel is more than 1200 and inside gaza is more than 1100. there are still firefighters going on inside of israel between soldiers and militants from hamas. the border with gaza is almost sealed but it is not hermetic, in their words. they are seeing attempts to infiltrate into israel, especially by sea. there are skirmishes going on and there could still be a few militants inside of israel who could potentially carry out more attacks. >> elliot, thanks for that live report from london. appreciate it. when i spoke earlier with israel defense forces peter learner and i asked him about the large scale air strikes, and apparent preparations for a ground incursion into gaza. >> since the attack, the idea has engaged on a widespread attack against hamas. indeed, we are currently focused on i would say two or three different components of the operation. but primarily, those that conducted these special commander forces of hamas. they have been our effort over the past night and we are taking out their capabilities. we are striking them and we are making sure they can never be able to commit these atrocities ever again. our air force is conducting the strikes against specific locations where we know they are hiding out. stockpiling weapons, using staging grounds or preparing to launch rockets toward israel. the idea has recruited some 300,000. reservists. and we are making necessary preparations if the government instructs the military to go on a land ground force offensive. the situation is very dire. these stories come out, the magnitude of the terrorism in hamas. that strategically decided to open a war with israel is coming to surface and this is why we need to change the paradigm that we have gotten used to for so many year. >> and of course, a ground incursion into gaza is fraught with danger in one of the world's most densely populated areas where hamas knows the streets and the underground tunnels. and complicating the mission are the 150 or so hostages being held in unknown locations. probably in those tunnels. so how ready is the country for this risky mission? because many more lives will be lost, of course. >> hamas responsible for the well being of the hostages they abducted to gaza. we expect them to release them immediately. nevertheless, we are very, very certain that we can't permit this to happen again. so we are not going to sit our hands this time and we will take the fight to hamas. that's the job of the military to defend the citizens of israel. even yesterday, throughout the day, we had four different engagements with terrorists that were still hiding out in israel. and we killed five of the terrorists still in israel the last 24 hours. this is still a threat and we have to remove this threat once and for all. that is our directive as such. a ground force operation if required, we know how to operate within urban areas but that's our role, our job. to expect us to mobilize in order to defend the state of israel is what the defense force is there for. we will know how to do it and do it in order to negate hamas' capabilities to ever cause more attacks like this in the future. >> and those who have been speaking with us, we have been taking this live picture from gaza city. and the aftermath of another large scale wave of air strikes from israel. it is 9:15 in the morning there. so the mission for the ids of course is to dismantle the military capabilities of hamas. what does that mean exactly and how will that be done? >> rosemary, it's not just the military capabilities. hamas has failed the pplof gaza. instead of running the gaza strip and making gaza flourish, they have turned it into a staging ground for brutal massacres against israel. and so we are targeting hamas. they are in a state of chaos this morning after the last five days. they have no idea of their abilities and they are still struggling to understand. the end game need to be a new paradigm for gaza. a situation where hamas can no longer threaten israel again. that is what we are doing this morning. that's the end game and it needs to change. >> lieutenant colonel peter learner in tel aviv. thanks for joining us, we appreciate it. >> thank you rosemary. washington may have to reach deeper into its military arsenal to help israel at a time when a lot of ammunition and supplies are already going to ukraine. some officials believe u.s. mill tire inventories could be stretched too thin. >> reporter: concern is growing within the pentagon and the defense department about u.s. stockpiles of certain ammunition as it eyes the possibility of having the supply two wars. a war in ukraine where the u.s. is supporting kyiv. and a war in gaza where the u.s. is supporting israel. the two militaries are using very different types of ammunition. in ukraine, it is artillery ammunition that is key. the u.s. and other western countries have been sending that more than a year now. in israel, it is the iron dome intercepters. if israel carries out a ground incursion which seem to be what is being built up, then the venn diagram of needs. it is exactly what ukraine's military needs, that is where the concern is. according to one u.s. official, the u.s. constantly looks at its weapon supplies. what it has, what is coming in and what is coming out. but here is that concern about having to supply both countries. one key difference is israel has its own defense industrial base. that is able to crank out very advanced weaponry. but with netanyahu promising a long campaign in gaza and warning the country it will have to be ready to grind out a war, the needs of that fight might out-strip what their industrial base can provide and that is where israel will have to rely on the u.s. as it has done in the past. back in 2014, in an ongoing 50- day war, israel needed to pull from u.s. reserve stock tiles that are in israel to maintain its ongoing fight. and that need may creep up again. especially as israel expands its campaign against gaza. so a key question here will be what can the u.s. provide, especially as the u.s. and so many other western countries have provided so much to ukraine already. not seeing the war in gaza coming. still to come, the u.n. says there's an urgent need for humanitarian aid in gaza. as civilians seek shelter from israeli air strikes. we'll have details after the break. the u.n. security council is set to meet friday to discuss the crisis in israel and gaza. palestinian authorities say more than 1100 people have been killed incrueling women and children. israel's blockade on the enclave has closed off access to electricity, food, fuel, and water. the red cross says hospitals in gaza risk turning into morgues as they lose power. despite this, many families are turning to hospitals seeking shelter from israeli air strikes. listen to one woman outside gaza city's main hospital. >> when the air strikes hit, we ran barefoot. we were pushing our children, walking with them one hour-and- a-half. we were on foot and got tired. we have children who are one year old, less than one year or age two years. they are all victims. they are all women, children. what did they do? >> cnn'sn has more on the storiment some of the video you are about to see is disturbing. >> reporter: yet another round of israeli air strikes. another neighborhood in gaza decimated. the injured are many, but so are the dead. in the north of this tiny besieged enclave, survivors of the strike on the neighborhood are left to come to terms with all they have lost. >> we are civilians. not a single resistant fighter was here. not a single person here was carrying even a bullet. why? why are you targeting civilians? >> there are body parts scattered everywhere. there are still people missing. we are still looking for our brothers, our children, it's like we are stuck in a living nightmare. >> reporter: more than two million palestinians including almost a million children live in the densely populated gaza strip. an area which has been under a land, sea, and air blockade enforced by israel since 2007. israel says it is targeting hamas infrastructure, focused on destroying the group's military capabilities. but humanitarian workers in gaza say it is civilians that are paying the highest price. >> we are extremely worried that what is happening now is totally unprecedented. entire areas, not just one area. the entire areas are being wiped. and destroyed. as we speak. there are air strikes. very, very, very crowded area. >> reporter: according to authorities in gaza, homes, schools, and even medical facilities have been targeted in this latest round of air strikes. wednesday, four palestinian paramedics were killed on duty. and as israel's aerial bombardment of gaza intensifies, hospitals are quickly being overrun. >> i was sleeping and then suddenly, everything started falling on us. this 11-year-old says. someone came and helped me out. they took me straight to the hospital. but i don't know what happened to all of my sisters. >> reporter: the israeli government has declared a complete siege on the gaza strip. meaning no food, no water, no electricity, and no fuel. a move condemned by the united nations and characterized by human rights watch as an act of collective punishment tantamount, according to the ngo, to a war crime. the death toll in gaza is rising rapidly. with more than a thousand people killed so far. but there is also deep concern over the fate of more than 100 israeli and other citizens held captive here by hamas. threatened with execution if israel strikes gaza without warning. the idf has told civilians in gaza to evacuate. but safe spaces under a blockade are almost impossible to come by. and with a possible israeli ground incursion on the horizon, for the overwhelming majority of civilians here, there is simply nowhere safe to turn. still to come, with hamas believed to be holding 150 hostages in gaza, the families of those taken captive are desperately pleading for their release. with fears growing, their loved ones could now be used as human shields. goli, taste your goals. goli, taste your goals. want to come back to the situation in gaza. more than 330,000 people have been displaced in gaza as israel ramps up its bombardment. more than 1100 people have been killed including women and churn. joining me now is dr. sam, a surgeon working as chief of hospital in gaza city. thank you, doctor, for talking with us at this very difficult time for you. doctor, can you hear us there? i'm not sure. it looks like our shot as frozen. can you get confirmation of that? doctor, are you still on the line? all right, we are going to go to our live pictures. at this stage, we see u.s. secretary of state antony blinken has arrived at the airport in israel. the top u.s. diplomat set to meet in the coming days with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. secretary blinken says he has also been discussing a possible humanitarian corridor to get food and medicine into gaza and get civilians out. we know a number of americans are unaccounted for after saturday's horrendous attack by hamas militants there. blinken will be looking for answers on that issue. we know at this point, it is thought some of the hostages are americans. he has with him an actual fact a hostage negotiator, a top hostage negotiator. i have nick on the phone live with us. all right. it is a report. let's go to nick's report now. >> reporter: we are seeing developments this evening that really indicate just how much israel is getting on a forward footing for a potential incursion into gaza. tanks are firing in that area. we are about two miles away from the gaza fence and we have not seen tanks firing there before. we were hearing exchanges of heavy machine gunfire a mile- and-a-half that way. just over the hill there. small community there, the israeli defense force discovered three hamas operatives in a cell there. they are engaged in a heavy fire fight. there were flares put up in the sky to get better visibility on the area. at the end of the fire fight, the three hamas operatives neutralize. indicative of the fact there are more troops on the ground. they are beginning to find the very last remnants of the hamas leftovers for the weekend, if you will. those hamas operatives came over the border. didn't go back. they have been holding out. now they are being discovered. this whole area now, a massive tight security operation here as we see more and more troops, heavy artillery pieces dug in, in fields around here. and we have heard howitzer firing, hitting the launch sites. we have had rockets fired on several occasions out of gaza. the interceptions going on herement the whole feeling here is tense. it is more security. it is more troops of an up tempo right now, you never know how long the lull will last. more heavy shelling and missile strikes. this is a very volatile situation. >> nick with that report. so funerals have begun for victims of the hamas attacks in israel. several people volunteered to help grave diggers who are working overtime. israel's main cemetery for israeli leaders and military personnel. mourners gather on wednesday for the funeral of an idf soldier who was killed on saturday. nearly 190 victims of the attack have been identified as military service members. family and friends also attended the funeral of a young woman who was killed while attending the nova music festival. she is the granddaughter of the israeli national football team coach who was also killed. desperate families of the hostages taken by hamas are pleading for their release with some telling cnn they want the public to see the video of their loved ones being abducted in the hope that they will be found. a warning, this report contains disturbing images. >> reporter: they are festival goers, little children, sons and daughters, old and young. now held hostage by hamas. social media video of some of the abductions have gone viral. but the stories of these victims are still coming to light. this is nine month old kasir and his brother, three-year-old arial. believer abducted from their home along with their mother sheri, their dad, and two other family members. this horrifying video of their capture, shari clearly terrified, is the last time the family was seen alive. a relative told our anderson cooper she is in agony. >> i want my family back. i want my family back. >> reporter: also among the hostages, several americans. pauline goldberg, described as a hero for his actions inside of a bomb shelter. >> several people independent of each other said your son and his friend amer saved our lives. anybody who is alive because as grenades are being thrown in, they were tossing them back out. >> reporter: his parents say he sustained a critical injury. and was later kidnapped by hamas militants. joni asher is pleading for the release of his family, too, after seeing a video of a scarf placed on his wife's head by militants. she was believed abducted with their two daughters ages five and three. >> when my wife was with me on the phone, she told me the terrorists of hamas entered the house. i tracked her mobile phone. i saw the location is in gaza strip. >> reporter: hamas says the hostages are spread out across the gaza strip. israel fears to be used as human shields. in a chilling warning, the group threatened to execute hostages if israel continues its assault of the enclave. the hostage horror complicates netanyahu's mission to obliterate hamas. but on the israel gaza border, the country's defense minister is refusing to hold back. >> i released all restraints. the gloves are off. hamas will no longer exist. we will destroy everything. >> reporter: so far, israeli air strikes have killed more than a thousand palestinians including children, according to officials in gaza. but for the hostages, no indication of rescue efforts yet. and as israel intensifies its attacks on gaza, and prepares for a potential ground defensive, desperate families fear their loved ones could be caught in the cross fire. the biden administration says military aid to both israel and ukraine are top priorities. but congress can't act until house republicans elect a new speaker. on wednesday, steve scalise was picked as the gop nominee for the top job over jim jordan, but scalise's chances of winning a floor vote are already in doubt. >> reporter: republicans are growing fearful that steve scalise's path to the speakership may be getting much smaller amid opposition from members of the hard right and others as well who are not yet sold on his nomination to be speaker of the house. it is a challenge for him at the moment. he needs to get 217 republicans to support him for the speakership. he won 113 votes and three of those votes were from nonvoting delegates. so he has essentially 110 members who vote on the house floor who need a lot more. we expect dozens of those who voted against scalise and jim jordan to support scalise on the floor. but there are others who say they will vote for jim jordan though jordan himself has urged his supporters to back scalise and end this paralysis in the house and the aftermath of that unprecedented vote last week to oust kevin mccarthy from the speakership. despite those calls from jim jordan, they are making it clear they plan to vote against steve scalise on the floor making it difficult for him to win the speakership. >> you can vote for jordan on the floor. vote for jordan. >> it is hard to say. but i think we will have to go several rounds and i will not move from that position. i'm talking to different people in different camps. and figuring out where they were. that can be conservatives, moderates, democrats, and figuring out what the next steps might be. >> the timing of the vote is still uncertain. republicans came out of the wednesday meeting hoping to have a vote by wednesday afternoon and maybe even the evening time to elect scalise as a speaker. thursday remains a possibility as well. scalise does not have the votes. the question is does he go to the floor? does he dare republicans to vote against him? does he grind it out like he did, like kevin mccarthy did in january winning the speakership after 15 ballots. some worry there is no chance. all key questions continue to loom over the gop at this time. the house cannot vote on any legislation until the speaker is elected. still to come, a look at how hamas pulled off the deadly attack on israel last weekend. and the shadowy militant leader possibly behind the violence. we are back in just a moment. a official based in lebanon claims that the militant group repaired for the attack on israel for two years. sam kiley has more on the assault and the shadowy figure that may be behind it. the report has graphic content. >> reporter: a brazen political move. hamas demands that the u.s. negotiate the release of american hostages on russian tv. >> there are also prisoners in the u.s. hamas members sentenced to life in the u.s. we demand the u.s. frees our sons. the u.s. conducts prisoner swap. it did one with iran. why wouldn't it conduct one with us? >> reporter: confirmation of part of the intent behind the hamas assault in israel. they were enabled by a failure of israeli intelligence plotted by the shadowy hamas officer they call the guest. only two photographs exist of him who is nearly 60. he is known as el defe because he blitzes a different location every night. he is the master mind or monster behind the murder of more than a thousand in israel. and the kidnapping of about 150 hostages. >> from the beginning, he was very much interested in fighting. >> reporter: in the 1990s , he was believed to be behind a wave of atrocities in israel. in 2014, he is believed to have lost an arm and an leg in an israeli air strike aimed at him that killed his wife and daughter. the last two years, hamas has pretend today focus on welfare, not warfare. all the while, hamas was preparing this big attack. israel meanwhile invested in automation and sensors. high-technology iron wall around gaza. and focused forces on the west bank. hamas encouraged israeli complacency. then last weekend, it hit hard. attacking communication towers and automated machine guns with drones. overrunning command and control centers killing senior officers among them, three colonels. and, unleashing terror on thousands of civilians. the israel defense forces found hamas anti-tank mines and other heavy weapons. a sign they may have planned for a longer stay. the shocked infantry attack the brutal from the start or degenerated into a massive massacre as israeli defenses collapsed. it shifted attention and power to hamas. >> he has become like a guard to some of the palestinians. because of what he has done. >> reporter: many palestinians are dismayed by the massacre and the bloodshed that followed but with the lives of hostages in his hands, the guests now has an unwelcome place in america's mind. sam kiley, cnn. and still to come, warnings of hamas posting graphic videos online. i will speaks with an effort about misinformation already spreading on social media and what parents should watch out for. schools in israel, the united states, and the united kingdom are advising parents to shut down their children's social media accounts over concerns that hamas could up load or broadcast disturbing videos. in tel aviv, a school parent's association expects videos of hostages begging for their lives to surface on social media. they are telling parents to delete apps like tiktok, x, and instagram from their children's phones. and there are also concerns hamas could exploit social media algorithm. misinformation about the israel hamas conflict was already spreading online. >> reporter: this might look like a video of a real soldier firing a real rocket at an aircraft. it was put on x with the caption more power to you hamas. but it's not real. it is actually a clip from a video game. despite that, it has been viewed more than half a million times on x. the viral clip is just one of many pieces of misinformation that spread rapidly on the platform in the hours after hamas launched a surprise attack against israel. after elon musk took over twitter, he laid off thousands of employees including many thousands responsible for combating misinformation on the platform. now, the company relies on community notes. a crowd used user generated fact check system like this one. added to the bottom of a post. before a blue badge was proof a person or organization was who they said they were. but now, anyone can buy a verified account with a blue check mark. and those accounts are boosted by x's algorithms and the people who run them have the chance to make money from their post. this was chaired by a blue badge account and has been viewed 2 million times. it purports to show hamas militants capturing senior israeli officials but this is false. it >> joining me now is leila, associate editor at the atlantic council's digital forensic research lab. appreciate you being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> as we saw in that report, we are already seeing a flood of misinformation and disinformation on the israel hamas war circulating on social media platforms and graphic material. what needs to be done to combat this problem? >> yeah, so the online information environment surrounding this conflict is being flooded with disinformation, misinformation. and tons of graphic and horrific footage. the pipeline we are seeing in terms of this information is originating on telegrams where there is a lack of robust content moderation systems. it allows the militant group to up load this graphic content and that pipeline is continuing onto twitter where we are seeing as the report mentioned the team that works on trust and safety has been essentially gutted at twitter and x. that as allowed the proliferation of really graphic footage and misinformation to spread online. the way to combat that is we need to be bringing these experts and these content moderations in about what is permissible online and what is a tough decision to make. it is even tougher because a lot of this content is spreading in arabic and hebrew. that makes it all the more difficult to really get a sort of control over the spread of this conflict. so what is required is expertise in terms of being able to understand the delicate nature of this. and understand the local context, the language. making decisions that are considerate and thoughtful what is allowed to be online. what is no. in terms of the graphic content i think we have seen the european union put out an order for elon musk and mark zuckerberg to clomp down on this. that requires content moderation. >> the big concern is what happens if hamas carries out its threat to broadcast the murder of hostages. parents in some schools are urged to delete their kids'd social media accounts in advance of this horrifying possibility. but what should the social media companies be doing to try to get ahead of this? they can't even get on top of the misinformation. >> yes. exactly. the flood, the speed which we are seeing the pace of this information, the graphic content spreading is enormous and it is very hard to clomp down on it. and, what that requires is what is in place to recognize this graphic content is the action against it but it must be precise and that requires expertise. the solution is to implement the systems proactive and able to flag this content before it reaches people which it should not reach and traumatizes children. >> you mentioned, too, that the eu has warned of penalties for social media companies that allow disinformation to circulate on their platforms. but how tough should those penalties be? elon musk doesn't seem very worried ant it at all. >> yes, so we did see that the eu put out a 24 hour notice. and they have responded. they will begin removing new accounts that are associated with hamas. and partnered with the global internet forum to combat terrorism. those are good steps to try to limit the spread of this. but the fine, there is a fine associated with not taking action and i believe it is about 6% of revenue which is quite significant. and there needs to be consequences that will be felt. because the harm that can emerge, is very real. it can already inflame a fraught situation. >> leila joining us from dubai. many thanks helping us out with this complicated issue. >> thank you. >> and thank you for joining us this hour. i'm rosemary church. cnn's breaking news coverage of israel at war continues next with max foster. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular 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reporters about his agenda before leaving the u.s. >> the united states has israel's back. we have the back of the israeli people. we have their ba