Militia groups. That began just over a week ago. Now, in those instances, militants used drones and rockets to attack multiple u. S. Installations in the region. The pentagon says those attacks left 21 americans with minor injuries, one u. S. Contractor died of a cardiac van. There is a precedent here. The u. S. Has launched similar airstrikes in syria, including last march, when another u. S. Contractor was killed by a Militia Drone in syria. Defense Secretary Austin described the overnights strikes as quote, selfdefense. And in his statement, called them separate and distinct from the israel hamas conflict. But of course, iran is a backer of hamas. All of it putting u. S. Forces in a delicate position, trying to protect personnel while avoiding a larger war in the middle east. As Secretary Austin put it in his statement, quote, if attacks by irans proxies against the u. S. Forces continue, we will not hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people. Lets go right no
Im Boris Sanchez with Brianna Keilar live in washington, d. C. Anderson cooper is in tel aviv where sirens are going off. Anderson . Yeah. These Air Raid Sirens have started 30 seconds before we came on air. We saw one interceptor going up from iron dome. We have not seen heard any explosion and now it seems like sirens are down. It would seem whatever it was, was either intercepted at a greater distance or its done. Oh. That was an interception. Just took a while, perhaps, for the sound to reach us. Theres low cloud cover so its a little hard to see exactly all the rockets when they come, they come from that direction, obviously, the direction of the gaza strip. Today Secretary Of State Antony Blinken was back here in tel aviv meeting with israels Defense Minister and newly formed cabinet. Thats one of the big developments that occurred on the ground today in israel as the Military Gears up for the next phase of the war. Fighter jets struck hezbollah targets in lebanon as well. Cnns N
The Breaking News continues right here on cnn. Im wolf blitzer in washington. Our special coverage of Israel At War continues. Were following the very dangerous race to evacuate parts of gaza right now. The State Department telling u. S. Citizens in gaza they may want to move closer to the critical rafa Border Crossing in the southern part of gaza thats closer to egypt, because there may be very little notice if that rafa opening does open. This comes amid reports that egypt was not allowing u. S. Citizens to enter the country at that crossing. More than a million civilians in gaza are under israeli orders to try to flee to the south. An Idf Spokesman told me gazans should press on with the evacuation even after the Safe Passage Deadline expired. President netanyahu visiting front line soldiers today near gaza, telling them to be ready for the next stage of this war as Israeli Forces pound the territory from the air and amass huge numbers of Ground Troops near the border with gaza. The
Good morning. Welcome to cnn this morning. Et im victor blackwell. And im amara walker. Were in the final window of the Safe Passage Window for people to evacuate to the south. Gazas Health Care Facilities in the north say they will not be evacuating, saying this warning is a Death Sentence for patients. The Israel Defense forces is accusing hamas of actively trying to stop people from leaving so that they can use them as, quote, human shields, but hamas says that israel is still carrying out air strikes. Now, cnn has verified videos from the scene of a large explosion along an Evacuation Route south of gaza city. We want to warn you this video is disturbing. Yeah. This was recorded friday before the Safe Passage Window was set up. Look closely here. Youll see the plumes of smoke, the cars burping. Hamas says 70 people were killed in this strike, 200 others were wounded. Cnn has reached out to the idf for comment on any air strikes in that area. Now, the sudden surge of people into Sou
Has updated its list of vetted organizations that you can trust. Go to cnn. Com impact, or text relief to 707070 to donate. So grateful to those who reached out. Thank you for joining us on this incredibly busy week. Cnn newsnight with abby phillip starts right now. In just moments, israels 24hour deadline expires for civilians to evacuate ahead of a possible Ground Invasion of Northern Gaza. And the anger and panic there is intensifying tonight. Civilians who are in the line of fire have nowhere to go. Im abby phillip. This is newsnight. Im actually terrified. Im trying not to show it. I dont even know if im going to live through the next minute. Translator new years no water for us to drink, no water for us to wash ourselves with so that we can pray. They bombed our schools. Many people have been killed. Its not fair for children like us. Why is this happening to us . Hamas, which launched the horrific attacks that began this conflict, is telling civilians to ignore the Evacuation Wa