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and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. >> hello, welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world, i'm rosemary church. we are continuing coverage of breaking news out of the middle east where fighting is ongoing between israel and hamas two days after the militant large scale surprise attack, the israeli military says it's severely degraded the capability of hamas that keeps up strikes and on the ground troops are battling hamas militants inside israel, hamas claim to go have

launched a missile attack on a southern israeli city, militants say a hundred rockets were fired in response to israeli defense forces targeting safe houses, israeli police say the rockets attack made a direct hit on apartment building as hamas claims to now be holding more than a hundred hostages in gaza including high ranking israeli officers. insides early the death toll from the attack has climbed past 700. at least 260 were killed at a music festival and we are debting new details and images from that day and want to warn or viewers you may find this next video disturbing. dashcam footage from one car shows militants shooting and killing people at point-blank range before looting their belongings. the video has no audio but sheds lights on the terror that unfolded saturday at the

festival site near the israel-gaza border. we go now to israel to get a firsthand account of the fight against hamas. major livy weiss is a spokesperson for the israeli defense forces joining us from tel aviv. what is the late else you have on overnight airstrikes from both sides? and of course fighting on the ground. >> thank you for having me. the battle that you have described is truly ongoing as we speak. we know that hamas terrorists are still fighting israeli soldiers in a handful of civilian communities in israel along the gaza border and of course this is going to be a long operation and we are now really in the early stages of beginning to mourn horrific massacre that we experienced two days ago at what the biggest massacre of israelis since the

establishment of the country so it's a tense certainly dynamic time right now and the fighting continues here within israel as we speak. >> and israel doesn't yet have full control of the borer areas but when might that happen, do you think? >> well of course it is a top priority for us and we know there are civilians being held whom by hamas in those communities so this is the main mission of the military and our main focus. >> you mention those hostages because hamas is now claiming that they have more than a hundred hostages. we don't know if that is the actual number but how difficult will it be to bring them all home safely? and is a ground incursion inevitable into gaza you think? >> well of course bringing them home safely a top priority. so many of us here in israel are

directly impacted when you see images of the elderly of children of entire families who have been kidnapped we are all devastated so of course it is a top, top priority to bring them back alive and at this stage, every option is on the table for the military and then, we will assess the situation as it develops and then determine what comes next. >> and talk to us about the capabilities of hamas because we've never seen this level of sophistication and coordinated attacks, land, air and sea. it's just extraordinary and on top of that, the fact that it was with the intelligence within israel not getting any indication that that was playing out. that is alarming, not just for it happening two days ago but what this means for future attacks. so, talk to us about that and how that is being explained to

the people of israel, how intelligence in israel didn't pick up on this. >> what we've been monitoring hamas' development in the last decade and of course it's something we have been expressing and echoing every opportunity we understand hamas' entire mission and reason for existence is to wipe israel to have map and they're open about that and their investment over time of millions of dollars into their weapons systems into their military capabilities is something that we have certainly been drawing attention to or trying to for the world to understand that. in terms of the surprise of it or the military preparedness, it's now our main focus is on the battle as it unfolds rights now. of course later on will be plenty of time to address those questions but when we see hamas's development and hear

what they've said and see the amount of money invest reynolds their military capabilities we understand clearly this it was their goal. this was never a small terror organization doing something kinds of a small grade, home made snare yoemt we are talking about a very advanced mitd with a purpose for committing terror. >> and what about the families of the hostages? some of them are saying they're not getting any information from israeli authorities telling them what may happen or what is happening with their loved ones. what's happening with that communication? >> the military has start overseeing all communication with those families of civilians and military personnel and it's a tragic situation for us living here first and foremost as

people, we are devastated by what we are seeing and hearing and everyone is doing the maximum possible to deliver accurate information that is vetted and to try to provide resources and information as we receive it and know that it's true. >> spokesperson major livy weiss thank you for talking with us and appreciate it is. >> thank you. >> and cnn's nadya is joining us from london. what likely comes next? that is the big question everybody is asking. >> certainly the focus what is the next space of this response by hamas, we heard from prime minister benjamin netanyahu speaking over the weekend and this initial response as the first phase and what continues to be the priority for israeli defense force on the ground is securing authorize areas on the

gaza strip infiltrated by hamas fightsers saturday. we heard hour ago from ids international spokesperson with an update saying 7-8 areas are still not under control by the idf. they're still engaging in firefights on the ground with hamas fighters and we heard from that ids spokesperson saying this is taking longer than anticipated. they hoped to be in a better position this morning but it's not the case. what we have seen overnight and reports by teams in southern early continued rocket fire from within gaza into israeli territory, many of them intercepted by early's defense system but of course some making landfall hitting targets including an apartment building in ashkalon and strikes in gaza carried out by idf, saying

they're targets egg hamas command centers but there is rising concern for the situation on the ground in gaza. remember this is a tiny enclave densely populated that's been under land air and sea blockade enforced by the israeli government since 2007 so there's huge concern for the civilian death toll that could result from these strikes and we have to underscore the facts that hamas fighters have taken israeli citizens and soldiers captive and held them hostage in gaza so there's concern these civilians and soldiers from israel could be caught in crossfire. it is anticipated that the military response by the idf will be stepped up. we will continue see trieks in gaza but what really many are looking outs for is potential for a ground incursion in gaza. now of course there has been no confirmation by the idf or israeli government no independents case at this point

in time it's imminent but it is anticipated given the fact there are israeli citizens hostage on the ground in gaza that a significant ground presence by the idf will be necessary in order to extricate these hostages but we have seen past threats of ground incursions wes reservists called up and it has become a question when rather than if this will take place. now there is huge concern for the escalation of this conflict. we know that israel will inflict a severe response to this attack by hamas. they are still very much focused on securing those border regions but we have heard calls from regional leaders for tensions to be dees claitdz for fear this could gets beyond anything anyone has seen before. >> what has been the international reaction so far? >> well, we have heard across

the board expressions of condemnation of saturday's violence and the continuing violence we are seeing on the ground in prael by hamas but also solidarity from world leaders with the israeli leaders not least in europe and u.k. we have seen the israeli flag flown across cities in europe and there has been staunch support as expected the united states. we have heard from president biden who is in doongt with israeli authorities including prime minister netanyahu pledging military support for idf saying it's on the way and the u.s. will continue to stand by early but of course, in the region there has been real cause for this tensions for this to bees chaitd. turkish government says turkey sends ready to mediate a deescalation of tensions.

we know jordan saudi arabia egypt all key players in this conflicts and have been for decades calling for ends to the violence condemning the attacks we have seen by hamas and calling for tension to be deescalated but we heard from a saudi foreign ministry over the week highlighting that they in their view hold the international community and israel partly responsible for their failure to up hold the rights and freedoms of the palestinian people which they see as a potential cause for this attack by hamas. >> nada from london thanks for that report. appreciate it. as we have been reporting hamas says it is holding more than 100 hostages in gaza including high ranking israeli officers. families of those captives say they're desperate and are plead for their safe return. cnn's becky anderson spoke with some of them. >> [speaking hebrew].

>> it was noah rights end and threatened, he says. >> it's so sorry. >> it's okay. you don't want to believe it even though you can see it's your daughter. he now wants this video to be seen widely 25-year-old noah seen on the back of a motorcycle beak driven away, her boyfriend is seen here with two men holding his hands behind his back. a dark plume of smoke can be seen in the background. they've been among the more than 1,000 people partying at an all night music festival in southern early near the gaza border and

it was raised by armdz hamas militants early on saturday morning. her father says noah and abby were kidnapped. their whereabouts are known but are assumed to be held in gaza. >> i'm sad at this moment. she's my only daughter. >> parents, family members, wives, husbands filled with horror and despair thinking about the fate of their loved ones. in this video that's been circulating widely on line a woman is seen in a back of a truck as a militant puts a scarf over her head. cnn has not been able to verify it but yani of the sharon region told cnn his wife and two daughters age 5 and 3 were visiting their grandmother near the gaza border. he lost contact with them on saturday morning and suspected

they may have been abducted. later that day his suspicions confirmed when he saw the video. the woman was his wife. he told cnn he wants the video to be shown in the hopes of getting them home safely. >> there was no doubt in my mind. i recognized them surely my wife my two little daughters that were on this car, so i know for sure that they were taken. >> the israel defense forces told cnn it's taking pains to establish the exact number of hostages taken emphasizing the complicated nature of the situation and so far they estimate there are dozens, possibly more in captivity. yakov has a message to whoever is holding his daughter. you have casualties just like we could. this is an opportunity to connect between the two nations

to reach an honest peace and for now he sits at home and waits for news, taking comfort from his family and noah's friends. >> she's a very special kid, so loving, so giving. i miss her so much. it's only been would be and a half days. can i not believe she's gone he says. she made this house so alive. now it's like this house is empty without her. becky anderson, cnn, tel aviv. >> just horrifying. still to come our breaking news coverage continues on the deathly fighting between ream and hamas. i'll speak with a political scientists about the conflicts.

>> israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has vowed, quote mighty vengeance on hamas as troops continue to fight on the ground more than two days after a highly coordinated surprise assault.

netanyahu has warned israel of a long difficult war as the death toll rises both sides. this video by reuters appears to show idf soldiers patrolling on the border. a spokesperson for israeli defense forces tells cnn they're not in full control of all border areas yet. he says, the military is working to secure the border while hunting down any remaining hamas operatives inside israel. a source tells cnn members of congress were told sunday evening that four american deaths have been confirmed in israel and the toll is expected to rise. earlier, u.s. secretary of state blinken told cnn that washington is working overtime to verify reports of missing and dead americans. that follows comments from the israeli minister of triaging

affairs who said americans are among the hostages held in gaza. u.s. president joe biden has pledged full support to israel in the wake of the attacks telling benjamin netanyahu in a call additional assistance from the suspect on its way. sources tell cnn that israel is requesting precision iron bombs, i'm dome interceptors and other things from the u.s. and president biden has promised to ramp up support for israel in coming days. u.s. officials say the purpose of these military deployment social security to deter any expansion of the fighting beyond israel's borders. more from washington. >> the u.s. is sending a carrier strike goop yusei gerald ford to the eastern mediterranean sea as it watches the beginning of a war unfold and israel promising a long-term campaign in gaza.

the purpose of the strike group including the carrier and destroyers is not to get involved in the fighting or take part in the early campaign against gaza. instead it's a message to others in the region outside israel. president biden warned other actors in the region telling them not to get involved or trying to exploit this opportunity without naming them that was a clearly a message to iranian backed hezbollah in lebanon and in syria a message of deterrence to them not only that carrier trying group heading from the western med to eastern med but fighter jets heading to the region. they won't go israel but other areas where u.s. fightsers are based as warning to iran not to carry out aggression or take advantage. israel we have learned has requested certain arms from the united states. in particular, precision guided

munitions as well as iron dome interceptors and those are the two munitions early israel has used at this points in gaza so it makes sense they're requesting more of that. then israel iron don't has been very busy intercepting rocket attacks from gaza press much since this began with opening rocket fire so iron dome has played a critical role and israel looking for more of those missiles. israel has stocks and uses them but there is understanding israel can tap into u.s. stocks as emergency. defense secretary austin and his israeli counterpart spoke on sunday. seems they'll be keeping up communication just to make sure the u.s. is giving israel what

it has what it is wants and what it needs, president's joe biden and many in the biden administration promising full support for israel. warren lieberman in washington. >> in new york competing rallies by supporters of israelis and palestinians, the pro-palestine rally got under weighed sunday afternoon near times square. organizers described it is as a way to stand with the people of palestine, and their right to, quote, resist apartheid occupation and oppression. new york's governor condemned the event while new york mayor said the people have the right to protest even though he strongly disagreed with it claiming it celebrated a horrific incidents. nearby counterprotestors showed their support for israel and the hundreds killed during hamas's attack on the country. the u.n. security council took

no action sunday following emergency meeting over the fierce fighting between israel and hamas and israel ambassador to u.n. called the assault ruthless terror attacks like enning then to 9/11. >> the unsecurity council failed to agree on statement following attacks to israel which has killed hundreds of people. u.s. deputy ambassador told reporters the u.s. once expecting that and pleased several members of the council did speak out about hamas attacks. >> when you say protecting civilians we are very much concerned about the impact of this invasion by hamas not just on civilians, right in that immediate area but in the region this conflict would grow and we don't want to see that happen and obviously our thoughts are with all civilians that are hurt but what we need to focus on is ongoing terrorist violence committed by hamas.

>> earlier israeli ambassador said hamas was geelts of war crimes while envoy to the united nations says only now does the world and history care when israelis are killed. united arab emirates currently on the security council thought progress had been made but there will be more meetings ahead. >> i think the situation is stark and the council members are highly concerned but we understand we are in a dynamic complex situation in a state of flux and that all council members have to use both their international and bilateral channels to try to call for calm and deescalation. >> the security council received remote briefing from the u.s. special envoy for the middle east, every mow the security council holds session on the palestinian question. things may be changing now on the agenda. richard roth cnn. >> still to come the u.s. planning to accelerate support for israel as the country

grapple's with the unprecedented deathly attack by hamas militants. we will have details after the break.

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>> and israeli military fish says israeli troops are still fighting against hamas on the ground inside israel. this coming two days after the million and group launched a large scale surprise attack that has killed hundreds. the israeli military is also keeping up strikes on gaza saying it has severely degraded the capabilities of the hamas. overnight hamas claimed to have launched a missile attack on the southern israeli city of ashkalon. officials say hundreds of rockes

were fired targeting safe houses. sgroing me now is reuben hazan from the hebrew university. in the midst of this surprise attack by hamas a lot of comparisons are made to the 1973 war. how much did that 50 year anniversary play into this attack by hamas you think? >> oh, i don't think had anything to do with it. let's remember, we are commemorating yom kippur over two weeks ago so while it might fall closer on the regular calendar this has already passed.

i think what hamas is doing is much more related to what has happened in israel over the last year and not what happened 50 years ago. you have to remember that ever since the elections which were november of '22 a new government was formed in december and in january they announced that e-they -- they were going to begin to dismantle the judicial branch. since israelis have been protesting in the streets, some of the reserve troops have not shown up and this was an internal weakness that was perceived by hamas and you can leave it up to our neighbors to take advantage of the fact that we are internal hi divided over what our government can legitimately do or not do with a slim majority in parliament and hamas used hurricane terrible division much more than the 50th

anniversary of the yom kippur war. >> do you think that distraction that disunity in the country played into the fact that israel which is known for understand intelligence didn't pick up at all on any of these sophisticated attacks from land air and sea? is it that distraction and what does it say about the future? it must by incredibly alarming if attacks like this on this sophisticated scale could be carried out again without intelligence picking up on it. >> well, that's a major question and we will have to look into this. but this is not the time. we are still under attack. there are still terrorists that are hunting down civilians inside israel proper. we have to clear israel out first and then go from the defensive to the offensive. and when this conflict ends, it's not going to be a short one, we will have to ask

ourselves what happened and here, this is where i would agree with your earlier question, we will see parallels to the 50-year-old anniversary of the war where were caught completely by surprise and today retreat on multiple fronts. the difference between then and now and s is that we retreated largely in uninhabited areas and now we are fighting inside villages and kibbutzim and villages where thousands of terrorists have killed almost a thousand israelis and these are just the official numbers we have. the numbers are likely to go much higher so this is going to have to be addressed. israel's intelligence and military failure, up until now is going to have to be addressed but right now, we are circling the wagons and we are trying to

clear israel of terrorists and then we will take the battle to them. >> and once that is done or even just before is done, the u.s. of course and other nations will be eager to find some resolution to this war to, try to risk lebanon and hezbollah be drawn in. how soon could a cease-fire effort or something like that get underway you think? >> well here we are at a quandary because this type of attack which we have never seen has put the israeli population back together in one cohesive unit and what they're demanding is that their government strike back, that the relationship we've had with hamas since israel with drew unilaterally from gaza in 2006 and hamas took over within a year, the relationship we've had with them

is that if they show us calm we will show them calm and what we have learned is that while we show them calm what they're doing is arming and preparing to attack or livian population and butcher women and children. the fact that hamas holds and again these are unofficial nurjs over a hundred israeli hostages ranging from an 85-year-old woman to a two-year-old child shows that the government is incapable of doing what it needs which is go after them, but this is going to be a long conflict and until we realize that these peoples lives can be saved or not we might be forced into some sort of negotiation, rather than all out confrontation with hamas and as you correctly stated, the most important thing right now is that the conflict not spill over onto other fronts. hezbollah in the north is the most dangerous one and i think

this is why the united states is sending a carrier force, including some ve vessels that e capable of intercepting because they want to send a message not to hezbollah but to iran if they force hezbollah to join in conflict, then this is a conflict that iran itself will be held to blame and that they might be facing a middle east that is now kwiebt different where certain arab nations are not condemning israel and the united states over the last year might have seemed to be at odds with israel but when it comes to butchering innocent civilians united states and israel stand side by side. >> thank you for your analysis and perspective. appreciate it. u.s. officials tell cnn they have not linked iran to the attack's on israel this weekend but are still trying to determine if it played any role.

cnn's m.j. lee has more now from the white house. >> u.s. officials tell cnn that at this moment in time there is still no smoking gun that makes a directs connection between iran and hamas attack in israel over the weekend though officials of course point out there is a history of iran funding and aiding hamas as one u.s. official put to it cnn of course iran is in the picture and have been supporting hamas and hezbollah for a number of years and it does appear that u.s. officials are also more openly pointing to the possibility and the likelihood that it will be found that iran had played a direct role in helping to plan and execute this deadly attack. e aware also of administration briefing that was held with lawmakers to share information about what the administration knows so far and one of the things that was

shared tonight with lawmakers is that four americans at least have been confirmed dead in israel officials also warning that number could rise in coming days, this of course all unfolding as the u.s. is continuing to determine what additional assistance could be offered to israel in the coming days. there have been military assets that have quickly mobilized into the region and one key pointing discuss in coming days is whether there could be additional assistance that is offered to israel but of course one complicating factor is that congress is in a state of paralysis with not a permanent house speaker in the role so it's unclear right now and administration officials say they are very much in a unique situation because they don't know exactly what a non-permanent house speakwear action they might be able to

take even if there was consensus around a new assistance package for israel. m.j. lee cnn the white house. >> the families of israeli hostages are december pratd for information about their loved ones. earlier i spoke with ruby chin serving the israeli defense forces. i asked ruby what israeli officials were telling him. >> what we have been updated is from the idf, israeli defense forces, the commander is in charge of notifying the different first relatives of those that are missing in action, so that is the exact definition and what does that mean? it means that since saturday morning, no one has been able to

identify him. no one has seen him in the hospital and he's not one of the deceased meaning he and his team have vanished, meaning missing in action. >> and what would you like to share with us about your son? >> yes, so he is a wonderful kid. as i said, he's born and raised on u.s. culture, very big basketball fan. he grew up adoring kobe bryant, which was a bit difficult to me as i'm a new york knicks fan but you know, that's how kids are. his younger brother, alon is about to celebrate his bar mitzvah, which is the jewish

ceremony for becoming from a kid into a man and this is supposed to happen this saturday. we are praying and hoping that we will be able to celebrate this together with our family. >> we will be right back with much more of our breaking news coverage. do stay with us.

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♪ ♪ the l'or barista coffee and espresso system. now brewing peet's coffee. >> welcome back everyone. among the israelis hamas has kidnapped are young people celebrating a jewish holiday at a music festival near the gaza border but the hamas gun men who stormed the site didn't take hostages, they also murdered hundreds of festival goers. the images of the aftermath we are about to show are graphic as clarissa ward saw when she visited the site. >> what happened just off this quiet border road was a

massacre. the bodies of the perpetrators remain while the fate of many victims is unknown. organizers of the supernova music festival satisfy thousands of young people had gathered to celebrated the end of the who will days. after 6 a.m. hamas militants launched a bloody attack. >> we are just now on the approach to the kibbutz that was shot up. we see the bodies of two hamas fighters. i think there are more this way. >> many of the victims spent hours in hiding waiting to be rescued calling their loved ones. >> many of them are still missing. many of them are dead. it's been difficult to try to debt a precise number. >> now a volunteer group that handles human remains says at

least 260 bodies have been found at the festival site. the government here took a bold step releasing an image of scores of body bags in a tent where investigators were task e with identifying them. >> so you can see over here the body of at least one other person. i don't think you want to get too close.

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