i'm anderson cooper live from tel aviv.

alongside boris sanchez and alex marquardt reporting from washington, d.c. tonight the skies are still lit up in parts of israel as the israeli military carries out a fierce response in gaza. it is in retaliation they say for the unprecedented and coordinated terror offensive carried out by hamas on saturday that has continued for the last 48 hours. israel says at least 900 people have been killed by hamas. palestinian officials say over 500 people have been killed in gaza. it is not just the death toll, though, that is harrowing. the terror group says they are holding more than 100 israelis hostage. israel has not confirmed the exact number. hamas now threatening they will start executing hostages if attacks on gaza are launched without warning. we now know from two sources that the qatari government has been in talks with hamas about those hostages and u.s. officials are coordinatiing wit the qataris. we're still awaiting remarks from israeli prime minister

benjamin netanyahu. we have been expecting that any minute. we will bring that to you obviously live. earlier today you may have seen clarissa ward taking cover from rocket attacks. i want to show a little bit of what happened to her and her team earlier. >> go to the right. >> yeah. yeah. get down. down. >> you're fine. you're fine. you're fine. you're okay. you're all right. you're all right. >> okay. >> yeah.

guys. are you seeing our situation, guys? >> yes. >> okay. stay down. >> that is just a small snapshot of the situation along that border. clarissa ward joins me now from ashkelon. clarissa, explain what happened in that place and also what you have been seeing throughout the day because israeli defense spokesperson said that israel is in control now or has control of their sovereign territory, though there still may be pockets of hamas terrorists waiting to attack on israeli soil and more trying to come across still, but they believe that large-scale attacks have

stopped. is that right? >> reporter: that's right. i think they feel that they're largely in control of that part of the puzzle. and that's why they brought us down, actually, or invited us to come and see that area along the border, which was actually the first area that was breached by those hamas militants who came across in a pickup truck and started spraying the entire area, killing a lot of civilians. and while we were down there just taking some footage and doing some live shots there was, as you saw, a large volley of rockets incoming. we took shelter. and i think the important thing to take away from that, anderson, is that this is what life is like on both sides of this border for so many people. i don't know if you can hear it in the background right now, but we are just hearing a relentless pounding of the gaza strip. it's been going on now for nearly 24 hours. and i've never heard anything quite like it. we're seeing some pretty

horrifying images coming out of gaza now. we know the idf says they have cut off fuel, they have cut off food, they have cut off electricity. hundreds and hundreds of people, more than 500 killed inside gaza. and obviously that number only expected to rise. and the rockets just not letting up, either, anderson. i'm wearing this flak jacket just in case we have another barrage while i'm live with you. i want to be able to stay out here with you. but a cull of hours earlier again another large barrage right here in ashkelon. the streets are so dead you could hear a pin drop, honestly. and people just getting ready to hunker down for another night, anderson. >> so has -- you know, obviously with this large assault you've been hearing in gaza has the pace of rocket attacks coming from gaza, from hamas and islamic jihad, has that slowed?

>> from what we've seen throughout the day, it has not slowed down at all. not in the area where we were this morning. not here in ashkelon. and it's important to remember it's difficult for the idf. they can run around with these rocket launchers, set them off from any given location, and then quickly move on to the next place, which makes it incredibly difficult to respond or retaliate effectively. we heard one israeli media station telling people that they should collect enough food to potentially spend the next few days inside. and this is all happening with the kind of looming specter of some kind of an announcement potentially from prime minister benjamin netanyahu about some possibly ground invasion is what a lot of people are speculating one might be looking at. certainly we're seeing a great deal of armor and personnel, israeli military moving toward the border area. earlier on today we were at another area where we saw a

large staging ground for tanks. so clearly something is afoot. no one knows exactly what. and of course this ever-present fear of what this means for these hostages particularly in light of this latest threat from hamas that they would begin potentially executing and broadcasting that execution of civilian hostages. really kind of making it even a murkier picture as to how israel can try to thread the needle of doing what it says it needs to do in gaza while at the same time trying to protect the lives of those who may be still held there. and just on the piece you mentioned as well, anderson, about the number of hoft sxjsz how we don't have a good sense, the idf has come out and said they've notified 30 families or the families of at least 30 hostages. that doesn't mean there aren't more, but it certainly means

there are at least 30 families who will not be sleeping well tonight, anderson. you can just see behind me there, that's gaza in that direction there. >> we should also point out on the hostage front many of the families that we have spoken to say that they have not heard directly from israeli authorities and they have been getting confirmation as best they can -- you're getting more incoming. is that incoming or outgoing? >> i don't think it's incoming. i think that was outgoing. but it was a little closer than what we've heard before. i think it's okay. i mean -- yeah. >> most of the families are finding out about their loved ones being held hostage by watching sick videos that hamas has posted online on telegram and other channels like that. clarissa, we're going to come back to you. i want to bring in cnn's nic robertson. he is also along the border. he's no sderot, israel.

nick nic, what have you been seeing? >> reporter: yeah, literally in the last couple of minutes, the last two minutes while you've been talking to clarissa, hearing and seeing rockets being fired up out of gaza. we were here last night. initially those rockets were not being intercepted. that could wo indicate to me they were headed further north into central israel because the way the iron dome defensive system works it's interlocked across the country and the system will use the best available iron dome interceptor to bring it down. so if the missile is calculated on going on a long trajectory, it will be picked up later in its flight. so we saw several, i would say half a dozen missiles taking off, flying northwards but not intercepted, which again would be potentially an indication that they're headed north, potentially toward central israel. we did see a couple of others that were intercepted on the horizon, and that would be potentially explaining some of the noises that clarissa could

hear. i could hear you two having the conversation about what was happening, what clarissa could see and hear. and we had, if you will, perspective from just perhaps -- we're perhaps ten miles away from where clarissa is just about two miles from gaza, just further down the side of the gaza strip. it's right behind us here. so we sort of have another, if you will, picture, vantage point on the rockets that are being fired and also the impacts on gaza. it's quite quiet right now in terms of impacts but we have been hearing them. the sounds of what sounds like artillery from here that we have been seeing in this area today, outgoing as well. and just an hour ago at this location there were a group of police border officers here all taking shelter in the rocket shelter just here because there was again a barrage of rockets coming in on this location, on sderot.

of course we took shelter at the same time with them. but it is hamas that dictates of course when it's going to fire, where it's going to fire. the interceptors take them down as best they can, and then the response from the israeli defense forces to try again to see where they were launched from and try to take out those -- anyone perpetrating a launch or those launch sites so they can't be used again. and it is so difficult for the israeli defense forces because hamas has been doing this a long time and it is a cat and mouse, if you will, to try to take out the launchers before they happen. anderson? >> nic, in terms of it's been now 60 hours plus. it's a little hard to -- the time is hard to tell here. it's all sort of blended together. but 60 hours plus since this surprise attack occurred. has the posture you're seeing

among israeli forces on the ground where you are, is it different in the last 12 hours than it was, you know, 24, 48 hours ago? is there a sense that the chance of there being actual hamas terrorists hiding on the ground somewhere in sderot, around there, is that -- has that reduced significantly? >> reporter: i would say the chance of terrorists being on the ground has reduced. at this time last night we were in the center of sderot and even later into the night there was an ongoing operation, a few hundred yards from where we were to try to chase down two to three suspected hamas militants who were in that area. there was an operation ongoing to do that. today it's different. there is still a sense of very high security. but the big change to your point in the past 12 hours that we're seeing is a much greater level

of deployment of military hardware. we've seen areas of clusters of 20 or more tanks. we weren't seeing that 24 hours ago. we're seeing many more troops out on patrol. really experienced israeli defense force troops, the older troops, not the younger recruits, the older troops in the open jeeps with the guns pointing out at the ready with their nightvision goggles on at the ready. really, you know, experienced israeli defense forces out on patrol. multiple groups of them on patrol. so we are seeing closer to the border here with gaza a heavier, a more ready deployment. but the sense also as well that there's more and more and more of it coming in. we've literally seen this coming past us here. what i can see on the military vehicles is equipment that's going to be off-loaded at some of the sites we can expect to be set up around here. the local headquarters. the artillery sites that get dug in around here with the

howitzers. we've seen some of the heavy mechanized artillery guns. they look like tanks. they're much bigger. that looks like the lights in this neighborhood have just gone off. it's not clear why. but that's the nature of the situation at the moment. the paraphernalia, the military paraphernalia, if you will, that is increasing and we're just seeing more and more and more of it come in, anderson. >> nic robertson, you and your team please be careful. we'll come back to you. we're expecting now to hear from benjamin netanyahu. we have been told he's going to speak in about 12 or so minutes or 13 minutes from now. we will bring that to you obviously live. families all over israel are waiting, desperate for word of their loved ones after this weekend's attack. at least nine u.s. citizens are known to be dead according to u.s. officials. many others are still missing. among the missing is itali chen, a dual citizen of the u.s. and

israel who's serving in the israeli defense forces, in the armed corps. chen was on the gaza border during the assault. his father says he last heard from his son this last weekend when he called from a military base that was under attack at the time. joining me now is ruby chen, itali's father. ruby, i am so sorry we're taltalk ing under these circumstances. tell us about what happened. >> first of all, it's itay. that's the pronunciation. anderson, thank you for having me and allowing me to amplify my voice on this platform. the call saturday morning was of course a very short call. he was under bombardment coming in, basically saying that they're under attack, and that was the last we heard of him. what we do know is that he was active and was seen two hours

afterwards. but beyond that point no one has seen him. so we have received official from the idf claiming that his official status is missing in action. what does that mean? it means that nobody is able to identify him since a couple of hours in saturday morning. no one has seen him in the hospital. he has not been identified. and no one has seen him in a morgue deceased. so the only thing that the idf has to say is we don't know where he is. and i think after 60 hours of here in israel i think it's a fair assumption to say he might not be in israel as we speak. and as a u.s. citizen growing up in new york city my children are

also u.s. citizens. and they are israeli citizens as well. and here is the challenge i think of someone like myself, how do we view ourselves and who do we want, you know, to actively take part in helping us finding our son. >> have you heard anything from the u.s. government? >> so we of course reached out to the embassy here in tel aviv. we reached out to the state department. my congressman. we've done what we can. but at the end of the day the u.s. is taking a back seat to this investigation. and here's something i'd love to ask you, anderson. what's happening now in gaza is really unfortunate. but i am sure in a very short time there will be many, many, many palestinians with american

passports, dual citizenships, that will be calling up the state department and the president of the united states saying help us, we need to get out of here, we are american citizens. they view themselves first suddenly as an american citizen. and they want to be treated as an american citizen. and i would argue that i want the same type of treatment. i today with my family went in front of the u.s. embassy asking the u.s. embassy to treat us first and my son as a u.s. citizen. a u.s. citizen is missing in action. the very things the u.s. can do independent of what the israeli forc forces can do. and if he is indeed missing in action and might even be a p.o.w., i think that the u.s. at a minimum needs to demand that any p.o.w. that it is holding

needs to be treated according to the international law. which states that you need to take care of the prisoner, you need to identify him, you need to allow the red cross or the u.n. to visit and see what is the status of that prisoner. we unfortunately do not get that treatment at the moment. president biden and secretary of state, we have great respect for them. they are saying all the correct things that we expect them to say. but again, we believe that they could be more active in the actions to be taken to identify and find these u.s. citizens that are missing in action. >> ruby, there are so many families, as you well know, here going through what you are going through. and it is sickening and just horrific. it's impossible for anybody to imagine what these families are going through, what you are going through. can you just talk a little bit

about how you are trying to find out information. i talked to one mother whose daughters have been taken by hamas, and she's scrolling through telegram, awful hamas videos on telegram, just desperately searching for any images of her daughters in captivity. what does a parent do in this situation here right now today? >> yeah, so that's one option. i don't think it's a healthy option. we're trying to put the pieces together of the big puzzle. what we do not know happened with itay over the last 60 hours. talking to different people that are in hospitals that might have seen him, that should have seen him, that are close to other people that might have seen him. there's also the unit itself that are trying to put the pieces together themselves. hand in hand, to try to put the

pieces together, they still have to do a lot of fighting. and i think at least today the priority is first to fight back and to do what is needed and then take care of the injured and finding those that are missing. it's unfortunate. and going back to the united states, resources that the united states has in its possession is second to none. and if the united states makes a decision that it understands that yes, these are citizens that are israelis but also americans, and if they are first americans then they should be doing much more in order to find these citizens that are missing. >> ruby chen, i'm sorry we're talking under these circumstances. i appreciate your time and we'll continue to keep in touch with you and we wish the best for you and your family and for all the hostages and their families. >> if i could just add one small thing, anderson.

my younger son -- >> sure, ruby. >> -- is having a bar mitzvah this week, ceremony. if you know, the bar mitzvah ceremony is when a child reaches the age of 13 and he becomes an adult. so we plan this weekend for all of us to be together, and that's why itay actually stayed at the base last weekend in order to be home this weekend. we still very much hope that we will be able to celebrate this bar mitzvah ceremony with all of our families together. and here again, i plead to president biden that, you know, values of the united states, you know, affecting our people wherever they might not be, please do all in your power to make sure that we know, you know, where our son is and be able to celebrate as we wanted to just a week ago. >> ruby chen. thank you. soon on cnn israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is expected to speak.

we will be bringing that to you live. of course. we're going to take a short break. we'll be right back.

any minute we are expecting

to hear from israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. we of course are going to bring that to you live. this as we learn that the u.s. military is moving key assets to israel as the country conducts widespread strikes in gaza. bigger strikes, no doubt, to come. america's largest and most advanced aircraft carrier is moving closer to israel's coast. squadrons of u.s. fighter jets are being deployed to the region. cnn's m.j. lee joins me now live from the white house. m.j., president biden has pledged full support to israel. he certainly needs congress to act in order to pass a larger aid package. the house is currently without a speaker, which from this vantage point just seems an incredibly awful time for this. where do things stand? >> reporter: anderson, you saw over the weekend how swiftly president biden moved to direct his team to first and foremost bolster american military presence in the region. as you mentioned, a u.s. aircraft carrier has been deployed to the region.

scores of fighter jets have also moved to the area. and this is of course in part deterrence and also in part just wanting to avoid a situation where the conflict ends up spilling beyond israel's borders. that is a huge priority for the administration right now. but anderson, as you mentioned, we've heard the president personally pledge more aid to prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and there is very much this complicating factor on capitol hill, where we are in a situation without a permanent speaker of the house and really without a resolution in hand. lawmakers and u.s. officials that we have been speaking to over the last 48 hours or so, they are basically saying this is a unique situation, we've not been in this position before. so they are really going to have to figure out how a potential future aid package to israel, how that can actually move forward on congress. >> u.s. officials are telling cnn that the u.s. remains in touch with the qatari government, who have been in

talks with hamas about the hostages in gaza. do we know anything more about that? >> yeah, our understanding right now is that the qataris are playing a bit of a mediating role with hamas, that they have been in touch with the terror group in part about the hostages that are being held in gaza and given that reality u.s. officials are communicating with the qataris about the situation. now, this is potentially significant because we did hear over the weekend an israeli minister saying that americans are among the hostages being held in gaza. so if that ends up being true, of course this situation with the qataris and the role that they are playing could stand to be very, very important. and this of course is in addition to the nine americans that the administration has confirmed have been killed in israel. they don't yet fully know exactly how many americans are missing in israel. and of course getting just a full accounting of how many

americans are killed, wounded and missing, that is another sort of big priority for the administration going forward and in the coming days, anderson. >> m.j. lee, thanks very much. israel's defense minister said today that he had ordered the -- what they term the complete siege of gaza. we probably will hear more about that from benjamin netanyahu, who we expect to speak any moment now. they're talking about cutting off food, water, electricity, fuel. gaza is surrounded on three sides, as you know, by israel and egypt. by water on the fourth side. i want to trnurn now to cnn senr security analyst peter bergen. university of arizona professor. a complete siege of gaza. i've spent time in gaza city, under attack. talk a little about what that means, particularly for the civilian population. we can talk about the military component against hamas but the civilian population just in

terms of how did they get out of the way? there's not a lot of places to go in gaza. >> no, there isn't. it's one of the most densely populated places on the planet with 2 million people in a very small space. but anderson, i wanted to pick up on the qatari issue because as you recall, the five americans that were held by iran for so long, qatar was instrumental in getting those five americans released from iran. and has also been instrumental, for instance, in getting american journalists who are held by al qaeda released. so the fact they are involved in these discussions, anderson, is a really good sign because they actually have some ability to influence hamas and also some ability to be seen as sort of a neutral player in the region. >> what does -- what are the rules of siege warfare? i mean, does this -- how is this going to work from your vantage point? or what's it going to look like? >> well, i mean, i think it's

going to be terrible for the civilians in gaza. i mean, we've already seen hamas threatening to execute hostages if this -- israeli strikes continue. generally speaking people who take hostages don't execute hostages because dead hostages really don't help them for whatever they're seeking, whether it's prisoner exchange or some form of leverage. but we have seen of course with isis executing american prisoners in the past that it can happen. >> by the way, hamas has said that they will start executing prisoners -- or i shouldn't say prisoners. executing these hostages that they have kidnapped if israel does not give advance warning of attacks. >> yeah. and i think we can take those warnings seriously. they've certainly shown that they're willing to kill hundreds of civilians already. typically, they -- you know, when you take a hostage you don't do that. but this is not a. ical situation. and unfortunately, with more than 100 hostages hamas has

unfortunately a lot of opportunities to kill who they want should they choose to go down that road. so it's a very difficult situation. but i think the threats should be taken at face value. >> and peter, i think it's just important to point out for folks who haven't spent time in gaza or the region, hamas is the government in gaza. this is not some rogue force holding hostages on the territory of gaza. they are in control of gaza. they run gaza. they broach no dissent in gaza. so even civilians who don't like hamas, they live under the reign of hamas. >> yeah. it's a -- i mean, they were elected at one point, but they run gaza as a dictatorship. they don't tolerate dissent of any kind. and i think the situation with

the hostages is very, very worrisome. i am hoping that the qatari intervention will produce some kind of outcome that will be helpful. not only do they have leverage with hamas but qatar has also provided funding to gaza. so they can play the role of the honest broker. >> peter bergen, thank you. appreciate it. waiting for word from benjamin netanyahu. expected to speak any moment. much more of our coverage just ahead. from israel.

you are watching cnn's special live coverage of israel at war. i'm anderson cooper in tel aviv. tonight the death toll rising on both sides as israel says it has regained all communities briefly held by hamas militants from gaza. health officials there say 560 palestinians have been killed in gaza in retaliatory air strikes from israel. over the weekend hamas hit israel with a multipoint attack killed at least 900 people according to israeli army radio. the u.s. says at least nine americans are among the dead. hamas claims it has at least 100 hostages. an islamic woman says hamas has taken her cousin's family. the video shows militants, terrorists seizing the cousin and her two small children.

>> all the institutions of the world that help kidnapped civilians, please do something to force hamas to release them alive. nothing like this happen before. we need everyone's help. we need the president of turkey. we need the king of egypt. we need everyone to help us. please. i'm sorry i'm so emotional . >> cnn's hadas gold is in jerusalem for us tonight. hadas, hamas has just issued a

new threat involving civilian hostages. can you talk about that? >> yeah, so this threat was in a televised statement where hamas warned that if israel strikes targets in gaza without these warning knockers, this is something that israel's known to do, that before they strike a high-rise building or target they will often either drop these knockers on the top of the roof that makes this noise or sometimes they'll even call people directly warning them to get out of the building before they destroy it. but now hamas is saying that if israel strikes targets without those -- >> hadas, i have to interrupt you. i'm sorry. prime minister benjamin netanyahu has begun to talk. let's listen in. [ speaking in a non-english language ]

[ speaking in a non-english language ] >> we're going to bring in hadas. we're having a problem obviously with translation. hadas gold, can you just talk about what is he saying? >> yeah, so so far what i've been able to catch he says israel has never seen such atrocities before. he says israel always knew who

hamas was. he says now the whole world does. he says hamas is isis, making the comparison of course to the islamic state, saying -- essentially suggesting that people thought that hamas was something else, now saying hamas is isis. he's saying last i heard was the first objective is to secure the communities along the border and to seal the border fence. that's all i've heard so far, anderson. >> okay. let's continue to listen in. >> i can keep translating. okay. [ speaking in a non-english language ] >> he's talking about trying to get the international community to support israel and he's been doing this now for a few days. the number one priority right now is to bring people together. our inner divisiveness is now

over. when we are united, we will win. he's calling for the opposition leaders to immediately have an emergency unity government without exceptions, similar to what happened in the six-day war. he says we are just starting. israel, we are just starting. we are starting to beat them. what we're seeing in gaza is just the beginning, saying that they have killed hundreds of militants and they will continue. he says he's in regular contact with president biden and he would like to -- and he is thanking the united states for

their support. he's talking about the carrier ship now off the shores of israel, that it's there waiting to support israel. he is talking about the support that israel's received from around the world. and he's warning now about fake news and disinformation that he says is spreading online. and he's saying that it's fake news that egypt or others had warned israel ahead of time that this operation was going to take place. he says he knows everybody wants immediate results but warning that this will take time. but he promises to all the citizens of israel that at the

end of this all the enemies -- he promises the citizens that at the end of this all the enemies will know that they cannot beat israel . he's now talking about a video about an israeli soldier helping each other or supporting each other.

he's now talking about the appointment of a special minister in charge of the hostages, and they will do everything they can to bring them back. he says we are all families of the hostages. he says that they have lost entire families. young and old, disabled, soldiers, police and security officials, jews and non-jews. he says together we will win, together we will get over this. only together.

he says there are difficult days ah ahead. and he says that they will win this war. to bring light to our people. he's now quoting the bible. he says the people of israel will live. >> i want to bring in cnn's oren liebermann who has also been listening and translating along. oren liebermann, talk about what the prime minister has said. >> well, at its most basic level that was the message prime minister benjamin netanyahu had no choice but to put out right now. and we were listening as he said

israel will win this war. again, that's a promise he has no choice but to make right now, warning the citizens of israel that this will not be a quick or easy victory. also of course warning hamas, which he compared to isis right at the beginning there, warning them that israel is only beginning to carry out its attacks. he said at one point that the enemies of israel would remember the strength of its response and the strength of israel for generations and that this was a mistake on the part of hamas. i'll have to go back and listen to it, and i didn't hear hadas pick up on it in her excellent translation there as she was listening. but he didn't promise a ground incursion. he didn't say that was imminent, i don't think. we'll have to go back and double check on that. but we're seeing right now the airstrikes from israel. that's the beginning of the campaign. netanyahu said, and he said this will take time. he said he appointed a hostage negotiator, gad hirsh. rather a minister in charge of hos hostages, gad hirsh. that's one of the major focuses here, to try to in some way

secure the release of hostages. but that is a defiant netanyahu in the face of what at this point is effectively pretty much an outright hamas victory trying to gird the state of israel for what's coming ahead, which he clearly portrays as what may very well be a long and difficult war to try to restore deterrence, to try to save and protect the people of israel on the gaza border and beyond, and to try>> orrin, stay with me, i to bring in hadas as well as clarissa ward. >> thank you for jumping in there, by the way, hadas. i'm not sure why there wasn't a simultaneous translation to that. what stood out to you and to orrin's point, did you hear anything about a ground incursion? >> i didn't hear anything about a ground operation. he was talking about grand language saying what will come to you are enemies will resound with them for coming, and not

making any sort of promisees on what factually this operation will look like in the gaza strip and not making any specific, also addresses to what's potentially happening on the northern border, as well. he's trying to bring the israeli people together. he did make a reference to what's happened in israeli society over the past few months directly connected to his government's attempt to change the judiciary, saying that it's time to put divisions aed and that people have to come together and through people acting as one will they be able to defeat the enemy, and he called for an immediate unity government, the same that happened in the six-day war and there has been calls for that, and some have placed conditions on the government and placing opposition leaders to join a unity government without any conditions. >> hadas, if you can explain just for folks who have not been following the politics of israel very closely or as closely,

certainly as you over the last six months to a year, can you explain why he is calling for unity and why that is such an important call for people in israel given the demonstrations that have taken place here? >> when benjamin netanyahu took back power late last year he did so with the most right-wing extremist and israeli history and that alone was divisive. on top of that his govern set out to completely reshape the judiciary, to give the political parties in power more power over the supreme court, over how judges are selected and over the powers that the spouk has to stop government actions. that have passed this as law and this has triggered regular protests in the streets of israel, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of israelis every single week since january have taken to the streets to protest this government. i have never seen israeli society so divided over an issue

than what has been happening over the past few, and it's led to military reservists vowing they would not serve and they would not heed the call to serve because of this judicial overhaul. i don't know that anybody anticipated the type of security situation that israel would be faced as they have been in the last few days because as far as we understand, there haven't been a mass number of reservists who have refused to serve, they said very early on that they are alling on all of the reservists to heed the call to serve at this moment. >> and hadas, just in term of what happens next on the ground here -- actually, you know, let me go to clarissa ward who i think we have with us now. i think she dropped out -- and we lost her again. this say very fluid situation and just the technology of having all these people live particularly from the border region. i appreciate you all bearing with us. hadas, just in terms of the

military operation now, we are 60+ hours into this response to the attack that occurred saturday morning around 6:30 a.m. talk about what stage this military operation is at because we've been seeing massive explosions in gaza itself, but the question of are israeli troops going to enter into gaza? it's a fraught question and the big unknown at this stage. >> just look at the numbers. 300,000 israeli army reservists, israeli military reservists have been called up and that has never happened, such a fast and massive call-up being called up to serve in addition to the active duty. so you can only just assume that that is partly in prep pagz for a potential ground incursion, but something that needs to be kept in mind is what's happening on the northern border. there have been several

instances this morning of mortar shells and rockets being fired and infiltrators trying to make their way across. the military confirming they engaged with these infiltrators and they were firing at targets along that border. if hezbollah gets involved that is a major consideration here and a major possibility that completely changes the nature of this conflict in ways i don't think we will have ever seen before. >> yeah. hadas gold, we will take a short break. our coverage from israel continues in just a moment.

♪ ♪ i'm anderson cooper live from tel aviv alongside boris sanchez and alex marquardt in washington, d.c. buildings in gaza in flames as the military air assault on hamas continues through the night. israeli prime minister benjami