welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. this hour israel s leaders are preparing for the next stage of their war against hamas. they say it s a likely ground invasion of gaza. while israel s military hasn t officially announced, three officials have told the new york times will be to wipe out hamas top political and military hierarchy and capture gaza city. an incredibly risky ground invasion will likely feature bloody street-by-street combat made more impossible by the miles long network of deep tunnels. once and if the israeli military moves in, the united nations warns further conflict would spiral into a, quote, abyss in the middle east as the conflict spills over borders, a fear echoed by iran s foreign minister who says regional war could be unavoidable. to gaza s north, israel s military is exchanging fire with the lebanese group hezbollah which the u.s. considers a terrorist group. there israel ordered the ak asian of 28 villages, and hezbollah, like hamas, is ba
Bond formed during 8-month captivity helped Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv survive, supporting each other through tough times, even picking up some Arabic from watching Al Jazeera; Almog's mother emphasizes urgency of securing release of remaining hostages
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, pushing a ceasefire plan that the UN Security Council later supported in an