[background sounds] rachel Air Raid Sirens ringing out over tel aviv earlier as the war in israel enters its eighth day. This as Tens Of Thousands of Israeli Soldiers are getting ready for a full scale invasion of gaza. Pete the idf issuing a statement saying forces are currently preparing to implement a wide range of operational offensive plans. Which include combined and coordinated strikes from the air, sea and land. Will hamas is responsible for killing at least 1300 now israelis, 29 of which, u. S. Citizens. Israeli Prime Minister benjamin net an a ya a hue assuring his troops that more fighting is on the way. You ready for the next stage . The next stage is coming. [inaudible conversations] rachel the New York Times reports that Israeli Forces have is delayed their initial plans as Weather Conditions in the area could worsen. Pete meanwhile, a second u. S. Aircraft carrier is on the way to the Mediterranean Sea in what defense secretary lloyd austin calls a show of force as the u. S. Continues to affirm its support for israel. Will despite that, iran now warning israel to stop fighting immediately, saying any further action they take will cause a, quote, huge earthquake for israel if their operations in gaza continue. Pete and now lets get to trey yingst live on the ground in southern israel. Trey. Reporter yeah, guys, Breaking News for you. We understand that Rocket Sirens are sounding in israels second largest city of tel aviv. Yet another indication that hamas and Islamic Jihad are still able to fire on some of these Major Population Centers despite the ongoing airstrikes targeting the gaza strip. Were talking about thousands of strikes since this began, and and yet still theyre able to fire rockets from different parts of gaza. Now, this is taking place as we do know the tension in the north is boiling along the border with lebanon. There have been three antitank Guided Missile attacks into israeli territory today, there are reports of casualties and just yet another indication that hezbollah could get involved in this fight. As we move throughout southern israel, you still see the Tens Of Thousands of troops preparing and simply waiting for those orders to enter gaza. There is a real sense that this is imminent, this could be hours away. Even last night the buzz of drones overhead, the tanks, the apcs and the Infantry Troopses already on the ground preparing. And then we did have some weather issues here, and that could have complicated what the plans are for the israelis. Remember, all of this taking place in parallel to efforts by the International Community to try and get some sort of aid into gaza or at least allow some of the foreigners who are inside gaza to exit. There are aid workers, there are palestinianamericans, people who were there visiting Family Members when this massacre took place last weekend, and the American Government along with its allies in europe, theyre trying to work with the Egyptian Government of el sisi and also with the israelis trying to security only secure some sort of passage out of gaza. Guys . Pete treying as of yesterday e it was 6,000 bombs dropped inside gaza, im sure its far more than that at point. Yet as you point out, hamas still able to launch rockets. What that gives our viewers, it gives us a sense of the depth of fortification inside gaza, the network that they have to be able to maintain these munitions and still fire them with israeli drones and helicopters and missiles raining down on the gaza strip. Has the volume of fire coming out of gaza lessened into the civilian population . Are they degrading their capabilities in your sense . Reporter theyre definitely degrading their capabilities but certainly not stopping them altogether. Hamas and islamic sky had understood that they dont have the rocket fire or the rocket stockpile, rather, to fire constantly on cities like tel aviv, so they have to sporadically launch those attacks and also reduce their total amount of fire. Their strategy appears to be that overnight after the first few days of this conflict they stop thed firing rockets. Youll have 1012 hours in a lull of rocket fire from the gaza strip, and then suddenly in the morning sirens are sounding at mustnt communities near the border and also in larger e Population Center ises like tel aviv. By the numbers were talking about initially 12,000 rockets fired in the early hours of the conflict, and now its about 200400 a day. Still significant, and they still have long range rockets they can fire, but certainly reduced since what we saw early in the war, about 1,000 a day. Will trey, quick question. We hear about electricity and water being cut off to gaza. Earlier in the ukrainian conflict, and you were there in ukraine or we heard a lot about Communications Limitations and whether or not russia was capable of cutting off cell service or internet coverage in ukraine. I know starlink plaid a big early role played a big early role. Is there any conversation about communication abilities within gaza . I know without electricity some of that would be compromised. What is communication like inside of gaza . Reporter so we know along the border the israelis have used Jamming Devices to limit the ability to get cell service in that area. When it comes to inside gaza, the Communications Minister in israel said that by saturday, yesterday, it would cut all Internet Access to gaza, but they still have some level of internet. Weve seen videos coming out of gaza, weve communicated with sources inside that are sometimes usin respond back to our message and comment requests. So its an indication that they still do have a way to access the internet. Its certainly not as widespread. And this morning i saw a Satellite Image of gaza actually when it comes to electricity, and you could see that just a week and a half ago the gaza strip had power all throughout and there were lights on at night. Now theyre not picking up that type of light at night because much of the electricity to the strip has been cut and if that was controlled by the israelis. They control about twothirds of the electricity that actually goes into gaza. So there are efforts to cut those communications, but its not totally a blackout inside gaza, because we are still getting information inside the strip. Rachel trey, i was going to the ask you about the host aages and what you know about them, and also im just kind of confused how bombing back and forth, how that might interfere with the prioritization of rescuing or even negotiating for the release of these hostages. Reporter yeah, look, its a critical question here. We have dozens and dozens of people inside gaza. Were not just talking about israelis, but also foreigners that were kidnapped by hamas and Islamic Jihad when they launched this crossborder assault, and their fate is up in the air. Hamas as has a claimed, and theres no way to independently verify this, but they claim more than a dozen hostages have been killed in israeli airstrikes. So it begs the question, are these strikes actually killing the hostages that theyre planning to go in and rescue, and the simple answer is we dont know because we dont know where theyre held. Hamas claimed theyd be held in the tunnels beneath the gaza strip, but the israelis have no way to verify that. They could be holding them in a highrise e building, they coulg thoughts and in ways, they could be moving them into buildings they know are going to be hit. We just simply dont know. Given the past, it is, a, impossible to verify what they say because they lie all the time, and when they release statements, they claim they dont Kill Civilians despite the fact we have proof they killed civilians. And also they release statements urging the International Community to call on israel to cease fire, yet they still fire the from gaza. So thats the complex situation that you have here. But we should speak about humanitarian aid. There are efforts to put pressure on the Egyptian Government and the israelis to allow aid into the southern part of gaza where israel has told the gauze sans to go because we are seeing legitimate reports of people running out of food and water. And remember, there are women, children, the elderly that have been told to move south. Once they get south, they cant be starved to death, dehydrated. There is some level of International Law that requires aid to come in to gaza as this operation pushes forward to destroy hamas in the northern part of the strip. Will trey, thank you so much. Pete thank you, trey. Will let me tell you where i as was going when we talk about the services cut to gaza. It strikes me that they have to locate those hostages right now, and in order to do so theres got to be Israeli Intelligence on the ground in gaza or at least assets in gaza that can communicate back. Look, i understand in modern warfare, in modern swie craft theres a lot of spy craft theres a lot of ways you can establish communication, but i was curious what the ability is to communicate inside and outside of gaza as you try to locate hostages. This is a major intelligence operation to insure that your missiles are not landing on hostages or do your best to insure. And really quickly, treys in his car because its raining really hard. Now, youre our military guy. I mean, im a student of history, and i say this humbly, i dont know whats changed, but weathers a big deal, you know . Whether youre talking about snow or mud or rain, were talking about a Ground Offensive. Historically, i mean certainly in times like world war ii or, thats a major swing in a battle, like, what weather can play. I dont knowings pete, im asking you in modern warfare, maybe everything is so advanced now that it cant be impacted at weather, but it doesnt look rainy but trey was soak ising when he was reporting earlier. Now hes moved inside his car. Pete president were going to go a off the wall in later bit with about hostage rescues where weather played a huge role in that. And modern technology can sometimes be affected even more by weather because of how sensitive it can be. It wouldnt surprise me because Close Air Support and aircraft and huge advantages israel has that weather plays a part in delaying this, for sure. And, rachel, i thought that was a great question on the hostage side because that remains a big mystery for me right now. Rachel yeah. Pete Requesterring The Americans considering the americans which, again, 15 americans held by hamas right now, and we have, im sure theres a lot going on behind the scenes and under the surface. Rachel thats what im hoping. Pete thats what im hoping too. But in the isis situation or oh Hostage Situations, there are videos, there are demands, there are public pronunciations that we havent seen yet rachel we did see the video of the babies florida. Pete but that was rachel and that looked i outdoors. Pete that also looks like it was still in israel, a part of the operation after they had killed them in the kibbutz, i could be with wrong. I havent seen any videos of Hostages Inside Gaza which could be good or could be bad. I dont know, but you know thats top of mind will early on there was videos of some of the women, you know, the famous, the infamous taking of noah, that was her name do you remember from the Music Festival . And there was videos that followed. I dont know if that was inside of Gaza Or Southern Israel in a hostage scenario. And weve also seen some of the children that hamas rachel hes saying he thinks that happened i thought it was in gaza too. I assumed that. Pete all a of it felt like as part of the churn of the moment, right in of the horrible atrocities. Im talking about the incaptivity, staged videos that youve seen in the past. And again, i dont know if thats good or bad. But, you know, hopefully the reports are wrong that hostages have been killed from airstrikes, but if theyre moving them around, youre hitting hamas headquarters and thats where theyre being held, thats a possibility. Rachel i saw a report from somebody whose grandmother was taken, and she said i hope my item is with the children because i know shell be taking care of them and helping to soothe them. Yesterday we had a woman on whose, you know, whole family,ing you know, or was taken including a 12yearold nephew. And she just said we dont want bombs, we dont want tears, were ready for peace, we just want our family home. So there are, you know, a lot to think about here, and i really hope that were not relying just on rescue missions, that we have, you know, Heads Of State saying dont touch a hair on these peoples heads because all hell will break loose. And i think thats where were at right now. Were on the brink potentially of world war iii. Were seeing our battleships coming in to the area. Its getting really tense. Will whale, part of that well, or part of that, you would hope, that conversation always comes back to iran. And so when you discuss the role of iran who is now warning through the u. N. , sent a message through the u. N. , that if israel invades gaza, quote, irans Foreign Minister stressed that iran has that its red lines. He said that if the Israeli Military operation continues and especially if israel follows through on its promise of a Ground Offensive in gaza, iran will have to respond according to sources. And then that is why the suspicion is thats the suggestion of why weve position Aircraft Carriers in the mediterranean. Rachel interestingly, the Biden Administration is saying, dont worry, iran is not participating in this war. I have no idea how they are so certain of that given everything that we know so far, but heres this video. In this moment we dont have anything that shows us that iran was directly involve in this attack, in planning it or car willinglying it out. Its not like the iranians were going to be able to get all 6 billion at a time. So the idea that even if they had started to draw on that fund that it would be able to fund hamas is just not true. We dont have specific information that ties iran to this attack. We have not seen any e evidence, specific evidence, that iran was directly involved with these specific sets of attacks. Rachel this is astounding to me, these apologists, because its the 6 billion. Its not the 6 billion. It is the sabses that they have lifted sanctions that they have lifted and has enriched iran to the tune soft of some say 4050 billion. Theyre selling oil to the chinese. Every indication is that theyre involved, but the Biden Administration is so committed to this deal with iran that was started under the Obama Administration that that they revived when biden got into office. And this is really whats playing behind it. Were going to have a clip right now id like to skip to john ratcliffe, if we could, because he believes, we talked earlier on the couch about intelligence failures. He believes that that relationship with iran, some of the infiltration of iran into our own intelligence may have had something to do with that. Listen. Well, clearly there was an intelligence failure. You know, both by israel and by the United States. Both governments have admitted, you know, an element of surprise to all of that. You know, i think that, you know, one of the things that may contribute to that is the fact that,s as youve talked about, larry, the United States and israel for the first time theres been daytime between our countries daylight between our countries because of the approach that this administration has taken in courting iran, in begging iran, pleading with iran, enriching iran. And, you know, that the has filtered down into the relationship between our intelligence communities and, you know, i hope that that hasnt contributed to, you know, a lack of sharing important intelligence, but its very clearly something that is in play. Pete you know, its also hamas is not hiding from the connection to iran and neither is iran. They held a meeting yesterday in qatar, the head of hamas along with a top official from iran. Publicly. Embracing each other. So at this point iran is owning that aspect of it. Theyre threatening an escalation because theyve seen appeasement from the United States of america. For whatever reason, the soft proiranian approach has been the default of this administration. Contrast that with bombs being drop on the head of Qasseming Soleimani which everyone said was a are reckless move by donald trump, but it sent a strong signal to iran of where we stood. And now weve got Aircraft Carrier groups in the mediterranean which we would threaten to use but we really dont want to which makes it the worst of all scenarios because iran has a lot of leverage. Will this cannot be separated from what is a major story receiving very little coverage, and that is