Here in the United States and Around The World. Im wolf blitzer. This is a Special Edition of the Situation Room, israel at war. We begin this hour with the Breaking News out of israel. Hamas militants pouring across the gaza border in a Surprise Attack. Listen to one israeli womans terrifying firsthand account of the raid. Translator suddenly out of nowhere shots are coming in. They started shooting in every direction and i took the car keys and just drove and started moving forward to get out of the shots. Out of the shots. And at some point, they overtook us. We were overtaken by the shooters. They started shooting at our vehicles. We got out of the vehicles. I didnt keep driving. We took cover. Nic robertson is on the ground for us right near the gaza border in israel. So far, what have you seen tonight . Reporter this is the point where that area of israel that the Defense Forces are still going through confronting the hamas militants is taking place. We can hear it. We can see it
This is cnn Breaking News. More breaking News Coverage and israel is striking back after hamas declared war. The country is now carrying out airstrikes on the gaza strip and we are seeing unprecedented fighting inside israel like they have not seen before. Guns gunfights Playing Out On The Streets of israel. Hamas fighters even captured on Video Shooting at this vehicle and also at civilians. And while people are locked in Bomb Shelters and barricaded in their homes we are getting reports that the fighters are now attempting to break into those homes. Hamas also claims to have captured several Israeli Soldiers near the border but the idf is not commenting. This is a quickly developing situation. We want to get right to cnns hadas gold who is in the location. Reporter we just heard israel is a state of war. Number one priority is to clear militants from communities near the southern border. We know of Something Like a dozen if not more villages, towns along the border including two army
bp in its statement is apologizing for its actions and i quote from the statement, all of us at bp deeply regret the tragic loss of life caused by the accident, as well as the impact of the spill on the gulf coast region. remember seeing this video every single night for three months? well, bp s ultimate fine could still grow by billions and billions of dollars more. in february, the civil trial for bp begins in downtown new orleans. that involves the four impacted gulf coast states and the clean water act under which the fine for bp could be quadrupled if gross negligence is determined. shep: some 16 to $18 billion. thanks. we re following breaking news. a key united states ally getting ready for a possible ground war. the heaviest fighting in years between the israelis and the palestinians. now the israelis say they re calling up tens of thousands of troops. they re moving tanks and forces to the bordered with gaza and
here at the united nations, there was an emergency meeting of the security council late last night. you won t be surprised to hear no action was agreed upon. shep. shep: in the middle of all of this, it s a very unstable and frankly, unpredictable egypt. and it could be the key. yeah. egypt is absolutely a key player in this. right now it s new muslim brotherhood president, morsi, appears to be playing both sides. he has reportedly quietly given the green light to his intelligence services to put pressure on hamas to scale back on those rocket attacks, while publicly he is sending his prime minister to the gaza strip tomorrow in what will clearly be a show of solidarity with the palestinians. now, the egyptian calculation may be that by having their prime minister there, they will cause a pause in the fighting because israel will be reluctant to carry on with the air strikes and launch any kind of ground invasion while such a high
ranking egyptian politician is there. that might, of course, help the palestinians. on the other hand, any pause in the fighting also gives a little more time for diplomacy to start work. but watching what egypt s leaders say and do in the next few days is going to be key in what happens next in this very tense situation. shep. shep: indeed. jonathan hunt. israeli officials are urging people to go into public buildings and take cover in bomb shelters when they hear the warning sirens and they re hearing them a lot. we ll have context on this developing story from a form intelligence officer for the u.s. secretary of defense. first, bp has agreed to shell out a record settlement in connection with the historic oil spill in the gulf of mexico. now two of its workers face manslaughter charges. bp now admits, we lied to you again and again