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"the lead with jake tapper" starts right now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news -- welcome to "the lead." i'm pamela brown in washington, d.c. in for jake tapper. >> and i'm wolf blitzer. after the attacks and the israeli military now surrounding an inside significant areas gaza city and the bombardments continues to take a devastating stake on those inside. they cannot keep up with the amount of injured and sick cases. at least 9,000 people killed in israeli attacks on gaza according to the hamas-controlled health ministry. right now u.s. secretary of state antony blinken is headed to israel. here where i am in tel aviv, making his second wartime visit saying he will discuss "concrete steps to minimize civilian casualties." >> israel has not only the right but the obligation to defend itself, and also to take steps to try to make sure this never happens again. we've also said clearly and repeatedly how israel does this matters. >> right now i go to breaking news. look at these live pictures coming in. our camera, not far from gaza. you see what's going on over there right now. nick nic robertson on the scene. what do you see? a lot of bombs coming in, a major development going on? >> reporter: wolf, significant development that began about five minutes ago. s a significant number of flares dropped over gaza. what are you looking at right now is looking into the urban areas in gaza. you're looking at rockets coming down as well into, falling from the sky there into gaza. these flares in the sky are illuminating the ground, because there are ground forces, idf ground forces, in gaza. the city of gaza city. surrounding it. now the idf says we've heard small arms fire -- -- the illumination on the edge of gaza city. i believe i just saw a rocket fly to the right -- the illumination on the edge of gaza city. a rocket coming out of gaza city. i see no irntdce interceptions hearing that. while this is going on here it's clear to me from where i stand right now hamas, one of the other groups is firing rockets out of gaza even while they run this, under heavy fire right now. i heard at least two intercessions from the missile fields slightly to the north of us intercepting those rockets floi flying out of the city. what this tells us right now is the battle is having an intense moment as troops try to engage with hamas as they try to have illuminat illumination, trying to use this light to get their way more safely into combat with hamas. hamas, of course, the idf commanders speak about this. hamas is fighting on its own territory. it has set traps, knows where its tunnels are and how to lead idf troops entice them into a certain neighborhood to bring fire to bear on them. all of this illumination here will give the idea troops on the ground better visibility of the threats that await them. mitigate against them fullty is an attempt for them it appears, to be able, at this moment, penetrate neighborhoods that until 15 minutes ago were in complete darkness. you're seeing another flash of light on the ground there as if something detonated. i'm watching another rocket system in multiple parts, a second one coming down there into the city. it is this fire, it's very concentrated. another rocket just came down. i'm seeing that the arc of the traces after it there. this is a very intense amount of fire power going down on this confined location here, wolf. surprising, almost surprising, that hamas was able to fire out a rocket. i'm seeing flashes off to the north which is a hint to the me interceptions have been fired from up there again. possibly another intercepting another rocket. but you're seeing the flares that these often times when we're watching flares that are dropped over gaza, you will see one flare dropped, two flares, maybe. maybe three. they're drop and go to darkness. this is different. this is flare after flare after flare. illuminating this area now for, you're looking at perhaps 15 minutes now, wolf. >> you know, it's just -- a reminder to view herbs what we'r viewers what we're seeing. live outside of gaza. live pictures. a massive israeli airstrike happening under way right now towards various targets in northern gaza, as we can see there. you see the smoke and you see the rockets coming down. this is a major new development that we also saw some rockets coming in from gaza towards israel that appear to have been intercepted by israel's iron dome. their iron dome system. but we're seeing this very intense system. stand by a minute, nic. you're not far away from the drama unfolding. seems like a major new chapter in israel's air campaign against hms t hamas targets in israel pip ben wedeman, i know you're in beirut right now. when you see these live pictures coming in on this massive israeli airstrike assault on northern gaza right now, what do you think? >> reporter: well what i'm thinking is, from looking at the pictures, nic, which stood out, overlooks a fairly open area that goes to the edge of the populated parts of northern gaza. that seems to be where much of these fired flares are being focused. now obviously they're trying to make sure that those areas are clear, but after those areas you start getting into the very crowded urban parts of the gaza strip, the suburbs of gaza city, and that's where there's going to be a real danger of high civilian casualties. now, nic was quoting the israeli authorities talking about precision strikes, precise information, but what we know is that oftentimes it's not as precise as it could be or should be, and already what we've seen is the death toll in gaza well over 9,000 at this point. as they move forward into this populated areas, the death toll is likely to soar. not just that. what we've seen in the days since the ground incursion began on friday is that hamas is using maximum advantage its knowledge of the terrain. its tunnels that have been built. booby traps and whatnot and, therefore, this is going to be a very bloody fight all around for the civilians, for the israeli military to hamas and this is probably going to be a very long and difficult battle. street by street, house by house. perhaps even room by room, but clearly just looking at these pictures, they are laying down smoke, flares. there is incoming, it looks like, artillery. looking at the pictures now. artillery rockets, and obviously, there are froground troops as well. in all of mime time watching military action going into gaza, this looks like the most intense i've ever seen, wolf. >> yeah. you make a very important point. this is a very, very intense israeli air assault on northern gaza right knew. not far away from where nic robertson is north of gaza right now. you see the rockets coming in pounding and pounding. clearly in the past when israel has undertaken a massive air assault like this it sets the stage for a ground invasion that's about to come in. i suspect that's what's going to happen in this part of gaza as well as israeli ground troops, tanks, artillery will move in after this area is pounded with these heavy airstrikes that are ongoing right now. we're showing viewers live pictures of what's going on in gaza. really, really intense. back to nic robertson. you have a much better sense what's going on and you say you've not seen anything along these lines. here comes some more rockets into gaza, israeli planes flying overhead. give us your sense of enormity of this development right now? >> reporter: wolf, i'm standing next to our cameraman who is filming this. we have a high vantage point overlooking gaza, and it looks to us as if this is on the northern edge towards gaza city. as ben said, there is open ground from the border fence that you saw or you're about to see because i'm seeing it in realtime, a big flash coming out from the epicenter of that smoke. this is the biggest, most sustained use of flares, and it appears smoke as well on the ground. we've seen in recent days beginning of the incursion how the idf used heavy smoke to blanket the area. this is a military tactic so that they can move in unseen. we're seeing it again now. we're seeing big flashes at the southern end of that smoke, and what the idf is describing this evening is a very new situation for them. a much stronger situation for them. whereby they say they have encircled entirely gaza city. if they have encircled gaza city as they say, it's potentially cut the north off, the north of gaza strip off from the south of gaza strip. potentially means the israeli now are blocking any hamas in the north, north of the gaza strip from escaping to the south. so you now are watching a battle in some ways, you know, one of the team here just talking about it. in some ways it is sort of medieval in that it is surrounding a city. you're seeing the smoke and the flares and the flashes. all coming from an area that is now constrained and contained within idf forces. and as ben was saying, the civilian casualtiesing on the ground, people have been told to get out of the way. they don't know how to get out of the way. they're stuck in houses. stuck in their homes and are getting caught up and killed in high numbers during this operation, but what we're witnessing now are efforts by the idf to mitigate casualties for their own force operating in hamas territory. territory that the hamas troops and hamas fighters have been able to potentially lay booby traps, set areas drawing israeli troops into to use these armored-piercing rocket propelled grenades using effectively against israeli armored tanks and armored fighting vehicles. so this battle, really that we're seeing now kicked off 20 minutes ago now. 20, 25 minutes ago, and it's intense in this area around gaza city. you are continuing to see the rockets come in from above. the flashes at the southern end of the city. underneath this we don't know how many idf forces are actually on the ground. the boom that you're hearing is artillery going off behind me as well and probably what's causing the flashes you may be seeing on the left of your picture. a lot of flash there and northern end of gaza strip, oop. looks like something coming up out of gaza. a rocket that didn't go far. perhaps it fell short, but anything that comes up from the ground is most likely, from a center that's most likely hamas or another group inside gaza. anything out of the sky like this rocket right now that would be coming down from israeli aircraft or potentially artillery fighting, wolf. >> this helps explain why the israelis for days now have been telling people in northern gaza, get out of there. go to the south. because that northern gaza area will be a major target as we see right now. enormous israeli airstrike against various targets right in northern gaza. not far from the israeli border. not far from the road where nic robertson is standing by. i want to get analysis right now. dramatic pictures you see all the rockets coming in the northern gaza right now that are about to hit. just watch this for another second. you can see the the flames coming up after these rockets hit the ground. joining us now, professor of middle east studies and international affairs at the johns hopkins university of school of advanced international studies in washington, d.c. my alma mater. professor, thanks so much for joining us. as we always say, i wish we were meeting under different circumstances. what's your reaction? you see these pictures, see what's going on. it's truly extraordinary, this new phase in this war that's going on if you're in israel, between israel and hamas. you're an expert on the area. give us your analysis. >> militarily you described it very well. it's a major operation. perhaps the next phase in this war that israel is actually encircling gaza city and preparing to take over the city and fighting and flushing hamas out of it. but interestingly, it's coming at a time when president biden called for a pause and secretary blinken has said he's going to israel to seek humanitarian pause in this conflict. it's difficult to look at these pictures and the stage fighting is to see how that pause can happen. i mean, israel is obviously escalating right now. it's unlikely to back down until the job is done, and it's difficult to see if they now entered the phase of captures gaza, how that cause can come about? which means the humanitarian set ofsures the united states is facing how to manage this conflict and around the region will be much more difficult. >> you know, it's interesting, professor, that you're a real scholar and you know this area well. my own sense when i see intensity of this israeli air assault on north gaza, designed also not only to set the stage for a ground assault into gaza by israel, but also designed to send a powerful message potentially to hezbollah in lebanon and even to iran right now. you guys start up from there, when hamas what they're doing in gaza, israel will do to you in lebanon right now. to give them second and third and fourth thoughts about expanding this war. what's your sense of that? >> that's absolutely true. i think from the very beginning particularly because the israeli military and israeli intelligence were caught off guard by the attack on october 7th. israel very determined to send a message to the region it's still strong and willing to inflict a great deal of pain if attacked. however, the israeli military campaign has also had a tremendous amount of impact in terms of humanitarian catastrophe causing civilian deaths playing out in the arab streets in very, very big ways. it's very difficult to appreciate from far away real anger and anguish in the region, and that itself is a concern fe united states allies, because it could destabilize governments in egypt, in jordan, across the region, and right now it looks like the humanitarian catastrophe is perhaps the greatest reason why this conflict may actually escalate. so whether the united states and israel are trying to warn everybody in the region not to escalate, on the other hand, pressure on the region for escalation including with hezbollah and iran, also across the arab world, comes from the pictures playing out among the public. so, you know, that's the part the complexity and why the united states feels that to prevent escalation of this conflict in the region, it has to come to israel and try to seek some kind of a humanitarian pause, because the two pictures we're seeing are conflicting one another. the very difficult to maintain peace in this region, prevent escalation, if the cost of israeli destruction of hamas is going to be thousands of palestinians that are killed, because that is really enflaming the region in ways it can get out of control. >> this is a nonstop israeli air assault on various targets in northern gaza we're seeing live here on cnn. this is our camera showing the world was going on and this camera is in southern israel, not far from gaza and where nic robertson is with the professor, stay with us. bri bring in retired cnn analysis, the colonel what do you think? a dramatic development? looks like a whole new phase in what's going on in this war. >> yeah. that's potentially right, wolf. what you're seeing is something that would be possible when you have beginning of an air campaign. now, in this particular case we've had a lot of air activity from israelis for the last week or so, and this is, an escalation of that. as far as types of weapons they're using, you know, looks like they're using various types of precision-guided munitions. potentially also some artillery there but nic robertson has a closer view than i. as we're looking at this, there is some very key elements that seem to be part of an air campaign, wolf, and that air campaign is designed to not only soften up the target but in this case really make it impossible for the hamas fighters to stay in their positions, and it seems to be part of the effort to encircle gaza city, which seems to be the israeli plan right now. >> and quickly, colonel, my recollection from covering the iraq war was before the u.s. sent ground troops in they would launch a very detailed, very intense air assault to set the stage whether in fallujah or mosul or other places. is that what we're seeing now? what irsrael is doing? setting the scene for various ground assaults in areas in northern gaza? >> highly likely, wolf. i think that's exactly what we're seeing right now. reminds me a bit of what happened in baghdad. the shock and awe phase of the second iraq war, and this is similar to that. might be more scaled but intense when on the ground in an area like that. you definitely realize that you're enveloped by a lot of fire power at that point. >> certainly is a lot of fire power right now. live pictures showing viewers in northern gaza right now. an intense amount of air assault against various targets in northern gaza. everybody stand by. valle nasr, nic robertson, ben wedeman and colonel, stand by we'll continue to cove the breaking news. a major new developments unfolding right now. we'll have more live breaking news coverage right after this. we're back live here in israel watching all the breaking news unfold. very dramatic, dramatic and powerful images as you can see. major explosions and flares seen over northern gaza right now. israel's air assault is nonstop. going on now for almost a half hour. cnn's nic robertson is on the ground for us in staehrrote israel. what us through what you're seeing. >> this is, filming into gaza, into hamas-controlled area in gaza. we believe this is a town that's about two and a half miles from where we are standing right now and what appears to be happening is that the idf that's been on the outside of this very dense urban environment appears to be making some kind of assault from there. it has been under relatively heavy air assault for the past three weeks, but now we have witnessed a lot of flares coming down for about half an hour. those flares we've seen coming down now, we have not witnesse a number of flares illuminating the area for such a sustained period in almost four weeks we've been here watching idf forces in action in gaza. this is different. there appears to be a smoke screen on the ground as well. it all appears to indicate that the idf is trying to sort of move forces in and around this area. earlier this evening's idf said they now surrounded the large nearby city of gaza city. about six and a half miles from where we're standing a little bit to the south. they have surrounded that indicating almost they have potentially cut off the northern part of gaza strip from the southern part of gaza strip. the activity has eased off now. we've been watching not only flares, not only smoke screens on the ground. i'm hearing fighter jets. we're still seeing huge flashes of illuminations's if i'm hearing a fighter jet we'll probably hear explosions momentarily from the flashes that very likely are from missiles dropped in and around that area right now. we've been hearing artillery fire booming coming from positions around them. behind us. landing in gaza city. also seen in the middle of all of this, wolf, we have seen hamas fire rockets out of gaza city. we've heard and seen the interceptors take down what appeared to be at least two rockets fired out of gaza. what is happening precisely on the ground right now, we do not know. but the idf has described this area as the enemy's stronghold. that the hamas there has effectively been using armor-piercing rocket-propelled grenades fired at tank crews and infantry troops in armored fighting tanks. the idf slowly notching up the death tolt ofl of troops. very, very dangerous. not just for the idf. many civilians are in there right now in fear suffering as they have been caught, unfortunately, at the idf would say, collateral damage in this ongoing offensive against hamas. >> yeah. very important de