gaza, i m looking out over tel aviv. it s been 22 days since the terrorist attacks by hamas caught this country, israel, and frankly much of the world, by surprise. tonight a new phase of the war against hamas rages. listen to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu earlier this evening. translator: the war inside gaza is going to be long. this is our second independence war. we ve got to save our country. we re going fight in the air, ground, and sea. i m pamela brown in washington. we are also following breaking news back in the united states. this hour, we bring you the harrowing personal stories of war. a mounting death toll and increasingly unsurvivable conditions in gaza and what we know about does s military plans include israel s matter plans including reporting on which hamas leaders israel says have already been eliminated. first we re going to start with the massive ground operation in gaza. cnn s nic robertson is live for us in sderot, israel. you ve witne
translator: we are making any effort in order to return them to us, to our country. it s very complicated effort. it s dealing with reality that we didn t know in the past. we are ready to do anything possible. this is not a secondary mission. this is a national priority. today the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, met with the families of the israeli hostages being held in gaza. they told him they would only support a comprehensive deal that frees all the israeli hostages at the same time in exchange for palestinians held in israeli prisons. just minutes ago, a hamas spokesman said says hamas would accept that, would be ready to accept that for a full prisoner swap, meaning all of the palestinian prisoners being held in israel would have to be freed. cnn s nic robertson joining us live from sderot, israel, near the gaza border. nic, i understand you ve been hearing and seeing explosions where you are throughout the day. what s the latest? reporter: yeah, wolf, i wo