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Were following Breaking News out of the middle east. Im Boris Sanchez with Brianna Keilar in washington, d. C. Were seeing live pictures now out of gaza where we have been watching explosions lighting up the sky. We want to bring in anchors jake tapper Anderson Cooper live for us in tel aviv. We are seeing an intensification of explosions over and in the gaza city, more than weve seen in recent days. The idf, Israel Defense forces v n , have not commented on what seems to be an uptick. They have not commented on their upscale of operations targeting hamas. On a day weve been learning more about Hostage Negotiations with hamas and the humanitarian crisis in gaza growing dire by the day. There had been a lot of anticipation about a potential breakthrough of sorts in the hostage crisis. That, obviously, is now overshadowed by this. We dont know what the developments are on the hostage front. This would seem to suggest its not going as desired. I mean, you wouldnt have an intensification of the bombing campaign, one would think f they were about to release a bunch of hostages. The level of explosions weve been hearing, even in tel aviv here, feeling some of the impacts of those explosions all the way in gaza, are Nic Robertson is in sderot for us. Talk about what youve been hearing when this uptick began. It began about three hours ago. Its been heavy through the afternoon, but it really began about three hours ago, i would say. Heavy Artillery Fire and missile strikes going into gaza. There are a couple of Artillery Batteries not far away from where we are and they were both Sending Repeat heavy round after round. You could hear the guns firing. You could hear the detonations behind us. Then after that, there were the tank fire started up. Tanks were in positions close to here that we havent heard before. A lot of tank fire. Really sustained from a number of different tanks. During that time, a huge wall of smoke came up from gaza, carried on the wind through the area where we are here. You could taste it, you could smell it. It was a sort of smoke that the military would use to maneuver hidden from the enemy. We dont know if this was smoke for an incursion or the tanks being used for an incursion. When we stood here on the recent nights and seen tank fire, it means we find out the day after from the idf there has been an incursion. They were the hallmarks here of a potential incursion, but from where weve been, it is the tanks and the ar tull herry pieces Artillery Pieces and small arms doing the pieces, perhaps drowning out the negotiations going on in doha, perhaps adding emphasis to israels position. Hamas has also responded by firing its rockets into tel aviv where you are. So, you know, is what were seeing on the battlefield an amplification of positions held of those talks to create nor pressure or a breakdown in talks. What were witnessing here is a definitive uptick in tensions, in Artillery Fire and tank fire. Where it goes after tonight and what it means going forward, is not clear as we stand here. The guns doing the talking tonight. Anderson and jake. And nick, there had been a report about a large amount of smoke that had drifted across into southern israel. Is that something you witnessed and what is that . Very hard to tell. I was talking with an idf spokesperson while literally enghuflds that and asking them what was going on. The idf doesnt comment as you know in real time about operations. And they said they would have to get back to me about what it was. We saw fires on the Hillside Last Night caused by flares that had been fired up, come down, hit, set the grass afire. That was not what we experienced tonight. We experienced a huge wall of smoke that literally grew up into the sky. It was just at dusk. It was dark clouds billowing up high, you can see it moving up and up and we realized it was coming towards us. Behind me there are buildings and Street Lights here on the edge of town, and we could literally see that smoke engulf those buildings and blow past the Street Lights here on to the position we were in and then fill the sky behind where john, our cameraman, is standing right now. It was a dense smoke. It was slightly to the throat. It tingled to the nose. It wasnt smoke that gets fired like tear gas, it wasnt that sort of thing, it was a dense smoke that enveloped the surroundings, the sort of thing that is called in military terms a smoke screen for troops to maneuver under. We dont know if thats what was happening. Tanks that are mobile were firing in that area at that time. Nic, its easy to forget because israel has this incredibly effective Missile Defense system, the iron dome, but since october 7th, palestinian groups, hamas, Islamic Jihad and others, have just been blanketing israel, attempting to blanket israel with rockets of their own, roughly 15,000 rockets that they have. Theyve been largely destroyed by the i were dome. If it werent for iron dome, the israeli casualties would be in the tens if not hundreds of thousands. It seems today in tel aviv, because of the alerts, it seems like there was an increase in palestinian attacks on tel aviv and anecdotally because of the app they have for israelis in terms of the red alerts and different neighborhoods, different areas of israel, it seemed anecdotically that there was an increase in palestinian rocket attacks on israel. What was your impression in sderot, which for people not watching, is much closer to gaza. People not familiar with israeli geography in gaza. Was that your impression as well . It absolutely was. Like you, we were watching and listening to those and it was ping, ping, ping, ping, as another area lit up in Central Israel where you are, in a whole area around tel aviv, that central area. Not so many rockets here on our location today. What i can tell you specifically from here, perhaps anecdotal, but we know from our experience here when you take out the iron dome from the equation and we understood thats what happened here temporarily, the missiles hit. They hit the building next door to us and a number of other locations here in this town. Iron dome is absolutely essential, but hamas knows that. Islamic jihad knows that. They will have, over the past few weeks, tried to analyze when their missiles get through, what pattern of missiles. How many did you fire in which direction. How many did you fire in a slightly different direction and how soon after. They try to create parnes that will defeat the ability of the iron dome. The iron dome is an intelligent computerized system that detects incoming missiles and know whiches battery to fire against them. When the battery is fired it needs to reload. Hamas will have studied this to find the weak points and perhaps thats what were witnessing this evening when i saw the lights light up and hear the pings, that was the sense it created. Jake . It seems, anderson, they dont seem to be targeting military targets. It seems to be focused on Population Centers in israel. They dont have the targeting capability. Theyre just trying to hit downtown tel aviv. Right. As jake was saying today in tel aviv there were more Air Raid Sirens at least three or four. In quite some time. Jeremy diamond is with us, in ashkelon, also very close to the border. Thats just north of gaza like on the talk about what you have been hearing over the last several hours. Well, anderson, we have been hearing really the most intense, the most sustained bombing of gaza i think ive heard in the nearly three weeks i have been in this area. The sounds, the loudness of these booms has really been unlike anything i have heard in these last several weeks, and amid all of this, what we have also heard is rocket fire coming from gaza towards right here in ashkelon. We had a siren go off an hour ago as well as earlier in the day, and it rockets, as you guys know, over in tel aviv and in Central Israel as well. All of this, you know, points to an intensification of this israeli campaign, whether or not this is the beginning of israels planned Ground Invasion of gaza is yet to be confirmed. What we are hearing is also inside of gaza, that they are getting the sense that this is indeed the most intense bombing they have had since the beginning of this conflict and we are also learning that a Palestinian Telecommunications company says all of their service has been knocked out essentially, which is something to consider as we look at the possibility that this could be the start of israels invasion of gaza. Beyond that, of course, we have to look at what has happened over the last several days. Israel has been making clear they are preparing the terrain in gaza for that Ground Invasion. Theyve been intensifying air strikes, taking out not only senior hamas commanders, but the kinds of commanders who are going out, who are in charge of Firing Rockets, in charge of commanding the kind of smaller units that would do much of the fighting inside key parts of the gaza c gaza strip and the military going in and conducting raids, targeted raids, inside of gaza. The past two nights we have seen tanks cross into the gaza border conducting raids within a couple kilometers of the border and last night we also saw the israeli equivalent of the navy s. E. A. L. S. Conducting a Maritime Raid on gaza in the southern part of the gaza strip. All of this intended to prepare the terrain for a Ground Invasion, to probe hamas responses as they see Israeli Forces approaching and also, of course, to go after the tunnels. Miles and miles of tunnels under gaza which the Israeli Military knows will be their number one challenge as they bring in a ground force, expected to bring a ground force, into the gaza strip. Okay. I want to bring in colonel Cedric Leighton if i can. Colonel, youre an air force colonel, am i correct . Thats right, jake. Absolutely. So the reason i ask is because i believe that the idf feels that they have reached basically or are about to reach the end of their the capabilities of the efficiency of the air campaign, of phase one of this war on hamas. That theyve reached the maximum that theyre going to be able to do to hamas leadership and to the infrastructure of hamas for want of a better term their war machine, their ability to wage war against israel, from the air. And they started in recent days to talk more about the miles of tunnels that hamas has spent literally 20 years building underneath gaza. And, in fact, the min sister of Defense Galant said today in a briefing on the record something along the lines of all the money that went into gaza over the years, did they build a university . Did they build a factory . No. They built tunnels and rockets. And they really describe this elaborate network and describe them as bomb proof, air strike proof, and this is something that they, a, that this is why they think they took the hostages, kidnapped these people, so as to prevent the israelis from just like fire bombing napalming the tunnels because there are 224 innocent people in there. What can they do in phase two with a Ground Incursion when it comes to the tunnels . That sounds absolutely terrifying to go into the tunnels. It certainly is, jake. Youre getting at the right point here because there is a certain separation that happens with an air campaign. You know, if you look at the american air campaigns both in iraq n 2003, as well as in bosnia with the serbians in the late 90s, there was a certain point where there was a degree of saturation that was achieved and in this particular case you have a limited area that you can deal with. You only have 130 or so square miles. You have a limited area in which the hamas forces operate in and youve got those tunnels that you mentioned. So when it comes to bombs that can actually penetrate the ground and go into Something Like a tunnel area, theyre basically limited to, at best, abili about 100 feet or so. Thats the most they can cause damage at. That would affect entrance, affect shallow tunnels and things like that. But what youre looking at is probably deeper tunnels and when it comes to this part, what the israelis have done, theyve basically softened up the terrain and now with phase two of the operation, ther still going to use some Air Components to do it and thats what were seeing tonight and israel and gaza. What else is happening is that the Ground Forces are beginning to move and based on who im hearing from Nic Robertson and Jeremy Diamond and you, we are looking at a clear effort to go in on the ground and to select certain areas perhaps where they think the hostages are also the Command Elements of hamas are located. This is the next phase of the operation. The potential second phase of the operation has begun this evening. We do not have confirmation on what is happening on the ground. We have our reporters in ashkelon and sderot. Were going to take a short break and our coverage continues in just a moment. Rear admiralal. Lets listenen in. Theyre g going to save yo life. The enemy is launching missiles and if youre going to safe spaces youre going to save your life. Recently we managed to get man alerts from citizen regarding troubles with the application of the Central Command. This application is one tool in order to let you know and alert you in real time. There are alerts and telegrams of the Central Command. Use all the tools in order to be informed. So far, we notified 310 dead soldiers and 229 abductees. Our hearts are with the abductees in the shabbat evening. World report committed for the National Commission to return them home. We are summarizing the third week of the war. Hundreds of thousands of idf soldiers are around the borders of the state. In the air, ground and sea, in order to pro the the state. Protect the state. In the last day, we see many more rockets launched towards israel. I said, and im going to say again, we have good protection for the state of israel, and we know how to deal with threats. We saw the air force. This is not not a defense. Please listen to the instructions of the Central Command and the safe spaces are saving lives and were going to intercept as many as possible, but its not automatic. You expose the hospital to activity didnt mean the idf is going to attack there. Is there going to be any deal for the ceasefire for hostages . Were going to bring Additional Information and many more videos of interrogations of terrorists and bring Additional Information regarding using infrastructure, by using hospital, all civil infrastructure, useing the civilians as a live human shield. We cannot let terror be active from hospitals and attack our citizens. With cannot let it happen, not the state of israel, it will not let it happen. Regarding the rumors about a deal with the hostages, i advise you not to deal with rumors. We are talking terror and psychological terror and hamas. We are going to bring you reliable information, give it to the families and then update the public until then dont give into the psychological terror of hamas. Last question. Few targets supposed to be safe and continue the School Activity that were defined by the Central Command, were attacked today. We are trying in the shadow of war, with the coordination of the municipalities, and ashkelon, and the rest of the municipalities were going to review and if we can have routine to let thunderstorm have education, Education System working, its a big dill aemma,t we are in charge of it, the Central Command, and the public will know about the instructions. Shabbat shalom. That was rear admiral Daniel Hagari of the idf saying the Ground Operation in his words is expanding. The exact size and scope he did not go into. Colonel leighton is joining us as well, colonel, to you, what does that mean, Ground Operation expanding . So, anderson, i think what were seeing here is more moves by the Israeli Forces using armor and possibly Infantry Units and squads going into target areas is what it sounds like at the moment. Now, this, you know, incursion may take the form of a Massive Movement of forces or it may take a the form of a smaller, more precise Special Operations like movement. We dont know that yet, obviously, but it seems as if this is the start of that particular movement that will, perhaps, gain them a little bit more territory, perhaps theyre going after certain targets. It seems to also be done in concert with both air activity as well as naval activity, so it seems to be a multipronged approach using all the elements of israeli idf, Israeli Defense force power, that could mean theyre going after targets in the north it seems like, more gaza city and the area south of there. Basically say the northern half of the country right now seems to be the center of interest. There could still be activity in the south, of course, and other areas, but we havent heard about that yet. Colonel leighton, in terms of a Ground Operation at this phase, can they bring in Close Air Support . Weve seen some movement of helicopters, but its mostly munitions dropped are by airplanes or Artillery Fire. In an operation like this, obviously, troops on the ground ideally would have some level of air support. Do you know what that will be in this kind of Ground Operation . Yeah. It depends on how they want to employ that, anderson. Yes. They can bring in Close Air Support and that can take several different forms. Most likely it would be Helicopter Air support, so rotary wing assets but also fixed wing assets and there are two missions that fixed wing aircraft the normal fighter jets like an f16 or f15 could carry out and those missions are very much in line with Close Air Support missions. It is not the only thing those aircraft can do, but they can be very much used for that. It would be a little bit difficult for them to do it in a very crowded area. They would have to deconflict, in other words, make sure they dont target their own, dont hit their own forces, but they can absolutely use both rotary and fixed wing assets to perform Close Air Support missions and i would expect them to do it. Colonel leighton. Thank you. Well take a short break and our coverage continues in a moment. Were back in tel aviv. The Israel Defense forces announced that Ground Operations in gaza are expanding. Were not exactly sure what that means but we have seen intensification of air strikes in gaza. Lets go back to Nic Robertson who is in sderot, which is closer to gaza than we are right now. Nic, right now were trug to ascertain based on what the idf is saying how big this expansion is, whether this is the beginning of phase two in terms of a sizable Ground Operation, sizable incursion into gaza, or if this is a somewhat larger infiltration of israeli troops into gaza as weve seen off the last few nights . Yeah. I think the key will come to understanding that tomorrow morning when the idf give clarify, if they do, but each of the past few days theyve spoken about how their troops went into gaza in the limited incursions with specific objectives, came out. Tomorrow morning if they say theyve left troops behind, then that will be indicative of a larger scale operation getting under way. Just heard a the fire jet fly through the sky there. No explosions heard, so apparently no missile dropped from that jet, but still hearing detonations, not as many as before and more distant from Artillery Fire going into gaza. For us here the two things that have stood out this evening have been the sustained tank fire and weve seen tank fire over my shoulder a couple of nights ago, on the horizon, the distinction the tank fire was outgoing from close to here from a number of tanks that have gone silent. Is it because theyve rolled forward in an incursion . We dont know this is time. The smoke that filled the sky earlier was another thing we hadnt seen before and it really felt and looked like, because it hung in the sky for 20, 30 minutes maybe, that it was a type of smoke that the military used to maneuver forces so they cant be seen by the enemy. We dont have the details. The idf are not confirming or giving detail what were observing. Im hearing a drone up there. Another artillery round fired in. I think were going to see this through the night, ebb and flow, probably, but the key thing i think at this moment are not just here for the citizens of gaza and not just here from the citizens of israel, but all around region, groups like hezbollah will be watching so closely and so carefully about whether or not this is the big Ground Incursion because for them, that could be a trigger for further action for them. So far they havent escalated, but theyve indicated that if there is a full Ground Incursion, they may escalate. Is israel being careful how it arrives at a full Ground Incursion to just try to head off hezbollahs response . There are a lot of things we dont have facts on at the moment. We can only analyze, jake, anderson. And i just want to make sure that you and nic get a chance to weigh in on something that israel did earlier today. The idf, i thought was potentially significant, they announced there was a specific hospital in gaza that they were saying, they were accusing of being command and control center of hamas, i forget the name of the hospital i think i know what it is but they were saying specifically a hospital in gaza, i believe a functioning hospital in gaza, they were accusing it, i cant we should point out something they have also said in the past which is that often, according to the idf, hamas has set up command and control functions Underneath Hospitals and elsewhere. Long accused. They have long said that hamas embeds itself within the populace. Last time i was in gaza, which i dont remember what year it was, during a lesser conflict, you know, the building i was in, you could see Hamas Rockets being launched from neighboring buildings. Its not as if anybody in gaza is aware where rockets are being launched from because they are being launched from civilian neighborhoods and those sites move around. Nic, i dont know if you heard that reporting, im sure you did, but that did seem significant in terms of the fact that they were going to start more directly targeting sites like that. Yeah. If memory serves me, i think it was the al shifa hospital, one of the principal hospitals in gaza city, that cnn has interviewed some of the senior staff members, possibly the director, possibly other doctors, interviewed them in the hospital there about the deteriorating conditions in the hospital. The idf has warned the doctors, warned the hospital, warned the hospitals, that they need to empty and clear out. Its been very clear that the idf suspects nefarious activity and theyve laid that out in detail and leased these graphic images that show precisely where they think the underground bunkers are underneath that hospital, as several locations were pointed out on their detailed map of the hospital and its sort of specifically where they thought the underground bunkers are. Its not something were able to clarify. Its something that is denied from the palestinian side. But what we have been able to witness is some of the impacts of munitions on gaza and you can see in some places, where there are multiple exits of plumes of smoke that come out of the ground some distance from the original impact which creates the impression that a Tunnel Complex was hit and the explosive and the smoke that comes out from it has come out at other points on the tunnel. I would add to What Anderson has said, the rockets fired out. In gaza, my only experience in gaza, too, you can see where tunnels are being dug at the edge of civilian housing. Some are very well hidden, clearly we dont ever get to know where they are but you can see because there are huge mounds of dirt. I think the idf has a certain amount of knowledge where some of the tunnels are, but other areas are shrouded from their view and the hospital is clearly an area theyre pointing to that they believe they have accurate intelligence about. Its not something at this point that we can have specific knowledge of, at least i dont feel i do at this moment. Yeah. I will point out its not something that doctors working in a hospital would talk about either. Right. When interviewed on camera. Right. No doctor in a hospital in gaza, who is very well aware where hamas is in their neighborhood, theyre very well aware if hamas or Islamic Jihad is Firing Rockets over their hospital, they are not going to talk about that on camera for, i assume, because they are concerned about their own safety from hamas. We have seen hamas drag people through the streets on the back of motorcycles their bodies through the streets, i witnessed that with my own eyes, and that is something which can happen to anybody. Nic, well check back in with you and take a short break and our coverage continues. Welcome back. Were live in tel aviv. Right now the idf has announced that Ground Operations in gaza are expanding. Of course, that is a big concern for those who have loved ones who were taken hostage, who were kidnapped by hamas roughly three weeks ago on october 7th. Alex and jeremy have new reporting on the Hostage Negotiations. I believe Jeremy Diamond and alex mar t alex mar quiet, the number is 224. Alex, what can you tell us ability the state of negotiations given the fact that air strikes are intensifying in gaza and Ground Operations are expanding according to the idf. Its hard to imagine that what were seeing now doesnt hugely complicate the prospect of getting at least some of those 200 hostages out. That was what was being aimed for by the negotiators that were led by qatar, at least in the next Hostage Release, which we had thought might come in the coming hours or days, could have dozens or as many perhaps as 100. But seeing what we are now, obviously, that throws frg into flux. We have been cautioned by u. S. Officials repeatedly throughout the day that things are extremely fluid. As it touch and go. You did hear in the Press Conference Given by admiral hagari, he was asked about the deal in the works and spoke about it dismissively. He said i advise you not to listen to rumor, hamas is a terrorist organization and people should not give into the psychological terror of hamas. Speaking with a number of u. S. Officials in the past few moments they do not believe that talks have collapsed. They believe the talks are ongoing, how close they are to any success remains unclear. One u. S. Official told me theres no scenario until the hostages are freed we would stop pursuing talks. Another official calling this a tug and pull. And so, you know, there was a difference of opinion between the u. S. And israel about what was more effective to get these hostages out. The israelis were saying it was the Military Pressure that had succeeded in pressuring hamas to get the four hostages weve seen out so far, whereas, the u. S. Had been pushing for a pause sorry, delay as well as for a humanitarian pause so that there could be more time to get the hostages out. Obviously, this is really going to complicate things, i think, jake anderson. Jeremy diamond, one of the other complications weve been hearing from former israeli officials and Hostage Negotiators is that hamas may not have their hands on all of the hostages. Islamic jihad early on nuz conflict claimed that they had as many as 30 hostages. There may be even individuals or families or sort of mafia groups that may have taken people as well. Thats right. In fact, it appears even hamas doesnt have an accurate count of how many hostages are held by other groups in the gaza strip. As alex was saying, the efforts to try to free these hostages complicated by what israel is now describing as expanding its Ground Operations inside the xwaz strip. The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been facing a convergence of political factors as he prepares to make the decision how and when and how extensive this Ground Operation inside of gaza would be. On the one hand the families of the hostages demanding, naturally, understandably, that releasing those hostages, getting their Family Members back, be made the number one priority of the israeli government. On the other hand we are clearly dealing with a population in israel so shocked by these Terrorist Attacks carried out by hamas nearly three weeks ago, that they want to ensure that they are the last Terrorist Attacks carried out by hamas and want hamas to be decimated and taken out of power as the israeli Prime Minister has vowed to do inside of gaza. We know that as israel tries to destroy some of these tunnels inside of gaza and we are now getting some sirens here so were going to move inside for cover, but we know as all of this is happening, anderson, those tunnels represent a risk for those hostages taking out those tunnels as they remain there. Go inside, jeremy. Go inside. Alex, were going to take a quick break as jeremy heads inside. Lets squeeze in a quick break and well be right back. Want to keep going . We can keep going. Were going to continue on. Alex, what you just saw you heard the sirens likely intercepters from the iron dome. Firing up there. Well check in with Jeremy Diamond as soon as hes back on camera as well. Alex, in terms of the hostages, israel had dropped leaflets several days ago asking residents in gaza for any information that if they had witnessed anything with hostages, that there could be rewards for them if they contacted israeli authorities which gives a sense of the scope, the importance israel is putting on trying to get the hostages back, if they are being kept in the underground tunnels as one of the hostages who has come out said she did at some point was in a tunnel, that complicates israels ability to really destroy these tunnels. It certainly does. And it would essentially hold them back from pummeling that hamas infrastructure as hard as they would like. No doubt, the efforts to get these hostages back has been hugely complicated by the fact that they are not all in one place. As weve said they are in bunkrs n tunnels, being held by different groups, and so i think thats part of the reason youre seeing that call to gazans by the idf to give them as much information as possible. There was a huge concern by the u. S. , by the administration, that if and when this Ground Incursion were launched, that essentially it would torpedo any efforts to get these hostages out. Thats why there has been a concentrated effort, very politely in public, to pressure the israeli government. The administration saying repeatedly, you know, its up to the israelis to decide when they go in and when they launch this incursion, but we heard, you know, pretty clearly from Secretary Of State Antony Blinken what would be needed right now are humanitarian pauses. We never heard any american officials calling for a ceasefire because thats something that israelis have ruled out, but you have heard the americans and europeans calling for a pause in order to help get those hostages out and in order to help get aid in. So as we were discussing what a deal could look like for the release of what we had thought might be a bigger group of hostages, in terms of what hamas might have gotten, what we believed was being discussed was, aid going into gaza, fuel going into gaza, a temporary ceasefire that would allow the movement of these hostages to get out of the gaza strip, perhaps the injured moving to out of gaza into egypt to get treatment. But, of course, we have not seen that deal come to fruition. It looked like it was on a pretty good trajectory. A lot of cautioning going on but a lot of positivity. One official who was involved in the conversations, going so far to say there was a breakthrough, i dont think theres any official right now to say the least who thinks that this that a Hostage Release would be imminent as we see whats happening in the gaza strip today, guys . Alex, remind us of the 224 hostages, 224 individuals, some of them children, that hamas kidnapped on october 7th, how many of them are americans . Around a handful is what the administration is saying. There are still some ten americans who have been unaccounted for, but according to the white houses john kirby, they believe a handful of the 220 plus are american. The biggest number of foreigners are actually thai citizens, people from thailand. A lot of workers from thailand who go to israel, so there are civilians, both israeli and foreign, but guys, also important to note, there are a number, and we dont have the specifics, a number of Israeli Soldiers in there. There was a thinking that perhaps hamas might try to get rid of all the civilians but hold on to the Israeli Soldiers for a potential trade for Palestinian Prisoners down the line. Right. The other thing to remember there is Something Like 500 to 600 palestinian americans in gaza and according to both the americans and the israelis, while theyre not trapped in tunnels with hamas, hamas wont let thunderstorm leave. So they are in a different sense also prisoners of hamas, although they are in Southern Gaza, but they are also in a different Sense Prisoners of hamas. Were going to take a short break and our coverage continues go ahead, alex. Sorry. I was going to say quickly just because theyre in Southern Gaza doesnt mean theyre safe. We saw a bombing in khan yunis overnight. And that complication that youre talking about, jake, is because you have interests of hamas who have not done anything to open up the gates to head into egypt, you have the israeli bombing that continues which is threatening the movement of people around there. You have seen the egyptians who sources tell us havent necessarily done enough to help get those hundreds of foreign citizens out of gaza. Theres not one reason in particular they cant leave, but rather, the State Department is telling us and multiple sources that this is an extraordinarily complicated puzzle. The administration is expressing hope that americans can get out in the coming days, but it has been more than two weeks with no answers for those hundreds of american citizens. Well check in shortly and be right back. To duckduckgo on all your Devie Duckduckgo comes with a built n engine like google, but its pi