And you can bring your own device. Oh, and all on the most reliable 5g Mobile Network nationwide. Wireless that works for you. Its not just possible. Its happening. You are live in the cnn newsroom. Washington along with my colleague erin burnett in tel aviv. It is midnight in israel and the beginning of day nine of israels war with hamas. Israel prepares the world at this crucial hour. Its military is working toward the next stages of war and that likely will include a Ground Invasion into gaza. More than 300,000 soldiers are at the border as we speak awaiting orders from Israeli Defense forces and turn it over to mike colleague in tel aviv. What can you tell us . Reporter the Prime Minister as he mentioned, those troops are awaiting orders. The Prime Minister is underscoring the readiness. He posted a video online of his visit with troops at the frontline. Israel as he mentioned has ordered those troops to the border and ordered more than 1 million civilians to evacuate for their own safety. Today the State Department is urging Palestinian Americans and gaza to move closer to the crossing into egypt. It is called the Rough A Crossing. To the u. S. State department confirmed the american death toll in israel has climbed now up to 29 americans confirmed dead. Today we visited and that is right near where netanyahu actually went in today to visit the troops. 1100 people live there and some more dead. Could smell the death. It is a distinct and immediately recognizable horrible smell to any human being. We saw these tractors, airplane toys, all burnt and destroyed. Inside one home in the kitchen you can see it was the microwave, the fridge still full of food. I saw medicine dispenser, bullet holes in almost every single home and and arabic that says a lot bar and the word victory. Everywhere you see the destruction idf soldiers, on patrol, onduty in what is now a death zone and an active fighting area. Incredibly sobering to see it. You see the life that was in the midst of being lived. Childrens playing, kids homework just completely destroyed. That hoard smell, again. One of the things i know you are hearing this time and again and we are hearing it as well in washington, when we ask the questions, they want the world to recognize the horrors of what took place during these attacks by hamas. You got that sense up close and personal today. 20 talk to people, even at this stage i know everybody is holding their collective breath but there must be a growing sense of awareness as to what is about to happen next. Reporter there is. There is a feeling that you even from a psychological and emotional perspective which worries on so many levels, you cannot sit in a state of readiness and pause and wait for an entire country for too long. You have to actually decide what the next stage will be and move on it. You have a country where businesses are still not fully open. You have kids not all the way in school. You have all of these things on hold. As you have those Hundreds Of Thousands of troops on the border. There is a palpable sense and even when you talk to people, they think it will be tomorrow. These are civilians but they get this feeling that it is imminent that it is about to happen. That is definitely the sentiment and overall feeling that is palpable. Is a great sense of tension and anticipation of something about to happen. Did you observe some of this Military Readiness . We talked to a reservist earlier on the program who was explaining to us, they feel very much prepared to do what is next, what is going to be called of them. This one reservist said, i dont know whether or not im going to see some of my friends and fellow soldiers again on the other side of this. You get that sense as to what is about to take place. Reporter absolutely. Today, we were at a buffer zone between the gaza border and where the military is blocked off. The settlement was right along that border but there is an area of Military Readiness. We could observe quite a bit of is really artillery that we were driving through. You are on dirt roads and you can see all of that there. We have seen a massive buildup with tank brigades, special forces, it is all very visible. They dont really want you to film it now and that has been a change over the past few days, but it is very much a there, it is very much in place and again, when you have Hundreds Of Thousands of soldiers and continuing that indefinitely without taking action, from a logistical perspective it defies reason. Erin, standby, we will have more of your incredible report coming up in just a few moments. First i want to go to Matthew Chance in northern israel. Matthew, i want to check in with you. If you can tell us what you are and what you are standing in front of. It sounds as though there was a prolonged exchange or rocket fire between israel and hezbollah along the northern border. We heard some of that from our colleague. What can you tell us . Reporter we are on the other side of that confrontation. With israeli troops in the north of israel. Very close to the lebanese border quite close to the Syrian Border as well a short distance from here. You can see we are with some Israeli Forces that have begun to gather and camp in this very volatile region. Of course a majority of Israeli Forces bolster themselves for a possible assault which we are expecting in the south in gaza about 250 miles to the north of your. People and soldiers are bracing for the possibility of a second front opening, a Rocket Barrage , a Ground Incursion from across the border in lebanon. And possibly elsewhere as well as i mentioned. There have been some exchanges of fire. You mentioned some Artillery Fire that has been going out from the israeli side toward lebanon. That was in response to a mortar attack, im told by the local soldiers. There has also been rockets fired from syria and there has been an israeli response to that as well. You can see a huge buildup of forces here in preparation for the possibility of that getting a much bigger confrontation. At the moment, israeli Officials Say that the level of confrontation in this part of the country is not at the point of escalation. That is the phrase they use. It is not big enough yet to warrant a fullscale escalation. But, the israelis are also warning that if it does breach that point then they will take decisive action. They have appealed to hezbollah the iranian backed militia to say, dont provoke the destruction of lebanon. That is an overt threat that if there is a massive barrage of missiles across the border from lebanon from hezbollah, the israelis will respond in kind and with strength. Thats the situation here. At the moment it pretty quiet apart from the isolated incidents we have spoken about earlier. Has below has not launched a fullscale strike yet on this part of israel, but lets see what happens in the next few days because there is all sort of concern of the regional reaction once that very provocative, very bloody Ground Operation in gaza gets underway. Matthew, are you getting the sense that and maybe it is impossible to read the minds of what is going on Inside Hezbollah has below is try to provoke the israelis into opening up a second run . I suppose the israelis have to be wise to that. What is your sense of that . Reporter i dont think so at this point. I think it would be unfair to say the hezbollah are trying to provoke a second front. But both sides are eyeing each other with caution. Israel does not want a second front to open because it is preoccupied with the situation in gaza to the south but also because it knows very well that the palestinian rockets that have been fired at its settlements over the course of the past week and beyond that pale into significance compared to the strength of the rocket arsenal, the Missile Arsenal that has below has at its disposal. It is supplied directly from iran. It is essentially under the command of iran as well and at the moment israel is doing everything it can to make sure that fullscale war does not break out. I think by the same token, hezbollah is not necessarily gunning for a second front at the moment either because it knows what will come. Not only does israel have significant antimissile defenses in this region but it is made quite clear it will strike back hard. There is also u. S. Forces in the Aircraft Carrier group off the coast of israel in the Eastern Mediterranean that could well be brought in to a confrontation if hezbollah were to unleash its Missile Arsenal on northern israel. If that step is taken, if that rubicon is crossed, we will be in a very different geopolitical and fighting situation in this part of the world. No question about it. That is a very critical point to make. Matthew, thank you so much. Stay with us. Standby as well. It is a very active, intense night across israel, across gaza. We will have more on this is the region looks like it is preparing and is on the brink of a significant escalation in the war between israel and hamas. Stay with us we will be right back in a moment. Welcome back in tel aviv. It has been one week now since hamas fighters attacked multiple sites in israel. A slaughter that has shocked the world. More than a week later many families still do not know what is happening to their loved ones. Loved ones who have not been seen or heard from since the horrific attacks and among them are the parents of 19yearold israeli soldier. She is in her second year of mandatory Military Service and was stationed not far from the gaza border. Her family has not heard from her since a few hours since the attacks began. Her mother joined me now. Sharon, i know your little girl, your 19yearold daughter, you are helping every moment to hear from her, to hear something about her. Can you tell me what you know, as best as you were able to get from her, what happens that saturday morning to her . Saturday morning started with a Missile Attack and i called her and i couldnt get any connection. Finally, she texted me at 9 30 a. M. Saying mom im okay, dont worry about me, i have no reception. And then i texted her back, i love you and replied, mom, dont worry, i love you too. And that was it. I havent heard from her since. It has been eight days now from this black saturday, as we call it. And i miss her. I miss her so much. Reporter i can only imagine. It is your child for the idea is that she is missing. They have not given you horrible news. They say she is missing. Are they telling you what they are doing to locate her . Have they said whether they think she is being held as a hostage or any sort of information at all . The idf is in contact with us and we are all looking for her. We believe she was kidnapped by hamas by isis and we dont know where she is and there are several more girls from her base and we ask for help to get them all back. We dont know where they are. I dont know where my girl is and i miss her. I miss her so much. You know, every day is like a nightmare because i cant sleep. I cant eat. I cant breathe. This is a living for all of us since that day. I dont know where she is. Reporter sharon, and the text she sent you you said, im in a safe room, there is no reception. He responded i love you. Just to give her support, its your child, i love you and she says okay dont worry about me i love you too and that she gives you three hearts. I know that she is in her second year of service with the idf. Can you tell us about how she felt about being a soldier . How she felt about being on that base and the military . She loved it. She thought she was doing something important. Her job was important. She loved doing it. She felt she is doing something important. She loved doing that. Reporter could you tell us a little bit about her and her plans for the future . Who she is . We are looking at pictures that you shared with us of her and she does have that very contagious smile and a real joy that comes through in the photos. She was a typical teenager. She likes music. She likes to listen to taylor swift and harry styles and a few months ago when maroon 5 was in israel we went to the concert. She loved going to parties. What teenagers do at her age. She didnt have much time between finishing high school and enlisting into the army and when she was about to get into the army she wanted to go to america. She wanted to have a big trip and go to university. All the things. Reporter hopefully she will be able to do those things. Our thoughts are with you and the unimaginable ways you so you can breathe, i know everyone watching could understand it is incredibly. Thank you so much for talking about her and sharing her with us and we hope that you will be getting good news and we will be right back as our breaking News Coverage continues after this. Here in the bay, ous and all of our stuff where we want to go. But, our cars cant 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 we are looking at some live pictures of gaza. Is 12 25 a. M. In gaza as the Israeli Defense forces are preparing for what they are calling the next stages of this war. It sounds very ominous. The Prime Minister that yahoo is down at the front earlier today speaking with his soldiers. Intentions are mounting across israel. President biden has spoken with both of the leaders of israel, and yahoo and of the Palestinian Authority. Learning about the number of americans killed in last weeks attack has now risen to 29 american lives lost. Lets discuss more with seth of massachusetts. He serves on the house arms services. I appreciate you being here. Right now we just dont know what happens next but it sounds as though that something is imminent. What are your thoughts . We were just showing these quiet pictures of gaza a few moments ago, but all indications are that an escalation is going to be happening soon. I think thats right. It is pretty clear we all know what is coming which is a Ground Invasion of gaza and there are a lot of different ways this could go. But as a veteran of a few ground envisions myself, four tours in iraq, i can tell you there are a lot of sticks that israel can make in the coming days. Is going to be a very tough operation. Is not going to be easy to fight through an urban environment like that. Would be very difficult and if israel is not careful to make sure that as many innocent lives are preserved as possible , they run into this problem that we call insurgent math, or they risk grading more insurgents, recruiting more people to the cause than hamas fighters that they actually kill. How israel conducts this operation is critical not just for the safety of the people of gaza, for the safety of the people of israel, but ultimately for their success in this war. Earlier this afternoon we spoke with a spokesman for the Israeli Defense forces and he was indicating that palestinians who were asked to leave, ordered to leave Northern Gaza have a little more time to make their way to southern gaza, perhaps this is what israel wants the world to hear. They want to give the palestinians as much time as possible to move to that southern part of gaza, but he was very clear later on in the interview that is really Defense Forces are prepared to move in and that they will stay in that part of the world for as long as they think it is necessary, to take out the leadership of hamas and i asked him, does that mean days and weeks . He seemed to indicate that yes, they are prepared to stay as long as the mission takes. That seems to go to the question that you raised, the concern that you raise, which is they may be stuck in some very hard fighting in the days and weeks ahead. Thats right. We went into Afghanistan Inking it would be a few weeks or months, we went into iraq thinking it would be a few months longer than that and 20 years later we were still in those wars. The problem again is that if the mission is to destroy hamas, but by being there antagonizing the civilian population, killing innocent people, you are going to recruit more people to the cause. You might be killing hamas fighters but they are busy recruiting more people and it is not that hard to recruit fighters for the opposition if they see their families getting wiped out. This is a very difficult operation. In the First Marine Division in iraq, we had our Division Motto which is no better friend no worse enemy than a United States marine. That meant for our enemy, you would find no fear fiercer fell. We will hunt you down and kill you, dont oppose us but on the other hand, the first part of that phrase, no better friend, is really important too. If israel doesnt show that they can take care of the civilian population, fundamentally it is smarter for the civilian population to side with the idf then to side with the hamas terrorists, they are not going to win the long war. They are not going to win the long battle. What i hear out of israel, a lot of talk about the tactics on the ground for how they take out hamas, i dont hear much about this Bigger Picture strategy to produce a longterm viable political solution for all of the innocent civilians in the gaza strip. The innocent civilians need to see a future that is not just a war or they will simply join the other side