to lose four republicans on such a vote. and it is still an open question about whether they can get there or whether another candidate emerges, these two candidates deadlocked in the days ahead. >> one thing almost all of these republicans agree on -- correct me if i'm wrong -- is that the u.s. has to continue to support israel in this war against hamas. how much of a factor is that in putting pressure on these republicans to come up with a speaker? >> reporter: yeah, republican after republican that i have spoke ton recognize that there needs to be a u.s. response to deal with what's happening in israel. but the house cannot act unless they elect a speaker. and there's a question about how much money that the u.s. will request to give to israel. that will take some time to play out. but wolf, if this persists into next week and beyond, then the questions will be how quickly can they move on this new aid package for israel. wolf, other issues are still waiting as well, including aid to ukraine, funding the federal

government, all huge questions looming over the biden house republican conference, as they struggle with a way forward. >> thanks very much. "ac 360" with anderson cooper live from israel starts right live from israel starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com it is 3:00 a.m. in gaza, and you may not be able to pick it up from the microphone i'm wearing, but you can hear the steady booms of shells being fired into gaza by israeli forces. we've also throughout the day seen rocket fire coming to ashkelon to our south, hamas saying they have fired 120 rockets into the two cities today. israeli war planes have been pounding numerous locations in the territory, hitting targets the israeli officials describe as strategic to hamas. the cause also appears to be widespread destruction in

densely populated neighborhoods. israel's defense minister ordered the military to put gaza under what he called complete siege. prime minister benjamin netanyahu spoke to his people tonight, warning that what we've just seen is the beginning of his campaign against hamas, just the beginning. hamas, for its part, warned it will begin killing hostages that they have taken and broadcasting those killings if israel targets people in gaza without warning. it is here sh as we did last night, when we have to warn you about some of the images you'll see in the hour ahead. because again today new stories and new video ves have emerged t show the sheer barbarity of hamas gunmen unleashing and what they unleashed on innocent civilians up close, slaughtering hundreds. there is so much sorrow here, shrouded in the waking nightmare for those who are missing loved ones, or worse who have witnessed their abduction in

person or on social media. people like a woman named -- who saw the video of her cousin and her young children taken by hamas militants. >> institutions of the world to help kidnapped civilians. please do something to force hamas to release them alive. nothing like this happened before. we need everyone's help. we need the president of turkey. we need the everyone to help us. please. >> again, hamas claims it is holding more than 100 men, women, and children, including young children, as we've just

shown you, captive and is threatening to kill them. islamic jihad says they have 30. israel has cut off gaza. israeli forces are building near the border, ahead perhaps of a potential invasion. more than 900 israelis have been killed that we know about, more than 700 palestinians in gaza. clarissa ward joins me now from ashkelon, a city just south of here. she spent some of the daylight hours running for cover with her team in a roadside embankment, taking cover from rocket fire nearby. this is video of that moment that you're looking at. now clarissa is with me. talk just a little bit about where you were because you were very close to the border crossing where the initial -- some of the initial invasion took place. >> reporter: that's right anderson. we had gone right down down to the gaza border to link up with

the idf. they wanted to show us the first area where those hamas militants were able to breach the border and storm in, guns blazing in these pickup trucks. and there was just this line of cars that had been shot up, abandoned. many people killed. one of about 80 breaches in that border. while we were gathering some of our footage, the sirens started to alert. we heard a large number of missiles being fired off from gaza. we obviously tried to get down and get cover as soon as possible. i think really the major take away here is that we experienced a small sample of what life is like for so many people on both sides of this border, anderson, as the tempo just continues to ratchet up and up with no end in sight and no clarity as to where this is going, anderson. >> clarissa, the strikes from both sides have obviously been

continues today. have you seen really changes in the tempo of the rockets in recent hours? >> so, it's been a little bit of a mixed picture, i will say. after 24 hours of relentless bombardment, we had a few hours this evening where it was a lot quieter. that has changed in the last hour or so, as you noted at the beginning of your show, we've been hearing a lot of jets in the skies. we've been hearing quite a few strikes in gaza, which is in that direction behind me. we haven't heard so many of those rocket attacks, which we had been hearing on a pretty consistent basis throughout the day. and i think the real question now is, sort of, you know, where does this go next? obviously the focus is on the hostages, which you mentioned and talked about at the beginning of your show. but prime minister benjamin netanyahu gave a speech for the israeli people. he talked about the importance of coming together, of unity, and how this is not going to be quick, not going to be easy.

but he didn't answer the question that so many are speculating now about as to whether or not we're going to see some kind of a ground offensive or incursion inside of gaza, anderson. israel's defense minister today said he's given an order for gaza's, quote, complete siege. talk a little bit about what that might actually look like. >> reporter: well, the blockade of gaza has been in effect for well over a decade now, 16 years. but what he was talking about today was a real tightening of that. i believe the expression he used was no food, no fuel, no electricity. and you can imagine, for ordinary civilians in the gaza strip, there are 2 million people who live there. about a million of them are 18 or younger. the fear that they are experiencing right now, the voracity of the bombardment that has been going on throughout the day, the lack of any real place

for them to seek refuge or to leave the gaza strip because it is blocked off on the israeli side but also on the egyptian side. and the images that we have been seeing that have been coming out from social media from some of our colleagues on the ground, just showing the scale of some of the destruction that we are seeing inside. >> benjamin netanyahu said today, or late today, that the idf is going on the offensive against hamas, quote, like never before. i mean, this region has obviously been in conflict for years. i mean, what does that escalation potentially look like? obviously a ground incursion would be the most obvious. >> reporter: i think the ground offensive is what everyone has been anticipating. we've already crossed the rubicon, anderson, in terps of being in uncharted territory, never having seen anything like

this, certainly in the 20 or something years that i've been covering this story. but people who have been living here for a lot longer say they've never seen anything like this. we've seen a huge amount of armor, weaponry, manpower, personnel being moved down from israel alongside that border. primarily initially it seemed to be a response to dealing with the hamas militants who were continuing to run amuck in areas along that border. there were hundreds of them who infiltrated, and it took a couple of days before the israeli army felt they had a decrept grip on that. now the question is, as they remain poised there, do they push further in? and frankly, to what end? what would it look like? what would it mean for the haas tanls who are inside the gaza strip? and would it potentially really put an end to this bloody cycle of violence that has been many decades in the making, anderson?

>> clarissa, i appreciate you and your team's effort tonight. thank you. a short time ago i spoked with a woman. her friend and neighbor is missing. the story of her kidnapping is sickening, and it's also unique in that her young children were also taken, forced to walk to gaza with gunmen, with hamas gunmen. then they were, for reasons still unknown, released. we spoke just a short time ago. >> can you just walk us through what happened when your home was attacked? >> yes. we were hiding in the shelter, a friend of mine living next to me, and me. we were hiding in the closet.

and then the terrorists came and they bombed the door. the bullets and they all entered into his body. so, i was saved thanks to him. and then they pulled me out of the closet. they told me to cover myself, so i just took three skirts and put them on me, one on my legs, on on my shoulders, and one on my head. they took me to my living room -- >> so, wait, the person you were with in the closet was shot. >> he was murdered, yes. >> and you were shot as well? >> i wasn't. i wasn't. i was saved because he was next to the door, and they shot him, and they saved -- i don't know why. they just took me out of there

and i was saved. he absorbed all the bullets into his body. and when i went out, i saw him dead. >> they took you to the living room. >> they took me to the living room and then came more terrorists with the children of my friend. she is still missing. they gave me his four and a half month old and almost four year old, both traumatized. and they just gave them to me. and from there, they took me to another home. and it was a family in the shelter. and they tried to convince them to go out of the shelter. and they told me what to tell them in order to come out. thankfully they did not listen, not to me, not to the terrorists, obviously.

>> and these children, they must have been terrified. were they crying? were they silent? i mean, this is -- >> they were traumatized. they were shocked. he had a bullet that crossed his foot, and the baby, he was breathing so much gunfire and his lungs were absorbing so much -- they were traumatized and they were just quiet. they kept gazing at the terrorists with terrified eyes. from there -- >> a five year old child and a four and a half month old child? >> an almost four years old child and a four and a half

month, almost five month, baby, who is still breast feeding. his mother is missing. >> how many terrorists were there? >> about eight. >> and they burned the neighborhood -- they burned the kibbutz. >> they burned everything they could, the cars, everything. they broke everything. everything is ruined. >> where did they take you then? >> they just moved me from one house to the other. and then at a certain point, they just took us through the fence. they created a hole in the fence. we started walking to gaza. more terrorists came with us. i was with the boys. he was on the shoulders of one of the terrorists, and i was carrying the baby. we just walked. they kept on saying, quick, quick, and they shouted.

he just cried, the whole situation, wanted to go down. the baby was on me, just fell asleep. i think it was just a survival mode, i guess, just a baby. just a baby. >> what was going through your mind? >> i was sure that -- i knew that they're kidnapping us. i just kept on saying to myself that maybe some women over there will take care of us and maybe they will be a little bit human to us. i also realized that they will probably be more people from israel that they kidnapped and that i have to be with the kids. they're gorgeous kids of my dear friend, who is still missing. i knew that my life is going to change, but i didn't care. i just looked at the kids all the time to see what's going on with them. that's it.

and then we crossed the border and we were, like, about -- kilometers from gaza. i already saw the houses, and then they told me to go. they released us. >> do you know why? >> i don't know why. everyone is asking me that. i really don't know why. i don't know. i thank god for that, but i don't know why they saved the kids' life and my life. they just told me to go. and then we started walking back. i wasn't sure where was i. and then we entered the gate -- and there was more terrorists there. they saw us and then i took the kids to, like, little hill of sindh and they didn't do anything to us. they just kept going to gaza.

from there, we continued walking. you have to realize that the 4-year-old, he was wounded. so, he couldn't walk. he was crawling. he was crying. it was a traumatizing experience. >> you said he was wounded. was it in his foot? you said a bullet had grazed his foot? >> yes. yes, yes. i bullet crossed his foot. yeah. >> what happened then? i mean, you arrived back. you see more terrorists leaving. what do you do? >> they didn't do anything to us. they just -- they saw me. i took the kids aside and they let us just go. they went back to gaza, and then we just continued walking through fields. i saw tents and i heard lots of bombs that were shooting. we just kept on going. i knew that we have to come back

before it would be dark. and then we entered the fence of the kibbutz. i had to bend the fence in order to get in, back to the kibbutz because they already fixed the fence that was broken. probably the army did that. and then we entered this house of one of the neighbors. and that's it. and we called the father of the kids, who was sure that his family, his whole family, was gone. >> and what about audi, their mother? i know -- i understand she was taken alive. have there been any pictures of her, videos, or anything? >> they didn't send anything. we have pictures from before the kidnapping, but we don't know what's going on with her. we don't know. she's missing. i don't know. i hope she was taken alive. i hope so. we are all hoping that.

but we don't know. we don't know anything. the situation here is israel is so chaotic right now. there's so many missing people, and there's so many murdered -- and everything is ruined. so many people are traumatized. we don't know what's happening. we're praying that she comes back, really hope that she comes back. but we don't know. >> how are you holding up? i mean, i cannot imagine -- how do you cope with something like this? >> it's a very difficult question to answer. it's just been two days. i feel it's been two months of my life. i don't know. we're just hanging in there for each other and hoping that this

situation will be over. we're overwhelmed, all of us. no one is expecting the worst, and this is the worst of, like -- the worst scenario that we -- i just -- you see? i'm not coping yet. the healing process is not -- it will take time. >> the two kids, how are they doing? i know they're with their father. they're safe, as safe as anybody is in israel. but how -- have you seen them? how are they doing? >> yeah. yesterday we came to jerusalem, and they got medical care. and today i saw them, and they were released, and they are better. they're better. they're much better. >> i'm so sorry for what you have been through. can you tell us about your

neighbor, who was murdered? what was he like? >> he was a wonderful person. he was a talented person. he was a funny person. he was a -- he was someone who wanted to live. his name is hime. hime in hebrew is life. that's the meaning of his name. and he gave life to this present. he saved me and i was able to save two kids. he just got back from a journey in india. he was a deejay. he was a professor for philosophy. he was a brilliant person, so beautiful and so gorgeous. he was a good friend. he was a good soul in this world. we're just shocked. i'm not able to understand that he's not with us. the picture of him dead is in my head, and, yeah. he was a wonderful person.

he had a very good heart. >> and he was shot to death in a closet. >> yes. >> well, i'm so sorry for what you've been through. and i wish you strength and peace in the days ahead. >> thank you. thank you so much. and i hope that things will be a bit more clear here. it's chaotic right now. >> what do you want people to know about audi, your friend, the mother of your children? >> that she's brave and she has such a good heart. she wouldn't hurt a sole. she always -- she's always smiling. she's always giving. and she's so kind and gentle.

she's such a good mother. i mean, she just had haa baby. he's four and a half months. she's just a beautiful sole really, such a good friend, such a good mother. he needs her. he needs her. they both need her. they ask -- the big one is asking. she just needs to come back. she needs to come back home. >> i hope she comes back home. abtal la, thank you. >> thank you. we are back. we have clarissa ward. clarissa, let's talk about the chaos here, which is the thing that adds to it is hamas' threat to kill hostages in the event israel attacks targets without warning. in addition to that threat, hamas is saying they will not negotiate the fate of their

hostages while under israeli fire. it would seem that they're looking to hold those people right now, a, as human shields to try to prevent a large scale israeli attack, and also as perhaps bargaining chips that they can use for palestinian prisoners later on. >> that's right, anderson. i think the anticipation has been that there would be some kind, potentially, of a deal, vis-a-vis prisoner release. we know from our colleagues in d.c., natasha bertrand and alex mar marquardt, that the companies have been actively engaged in this and trying to help facilitate or broker some kind of an agreement. but whenever you're in these situations and you're trying to make very, very difficult agreements against the backdrop of continuous bombardment and rocket fire, it becomes exponentially more dangerous for

those people who are being held. and you watch that clip, and your heart just breaks for these families, who really very few of them have any idea what's going on, where their loved ones are, if their loved ones are even alive. we've spoken to family members who have said that they've been learning about this stuff from social media because there is such chaos around the events of saturday still and who was taken and who was killed and where they may be held and whether they're still alive. and the agony of these families that are going through this protracted state of horror, of not knowing, it really has such a powerful effect on the sigh ki not just of those families, although of course primarily with them, but really of the entire country. and for obvious reasons for israelis, the issue of hostage taking is deeply emotional. so, one can only imagine what it

is like for people to sit and wait through these days hearing that bombardment, knowing that every strike could be potentially on one of their loved ones, anderson. >> clarissa, thank you. next, a closer look at how hamas functions, how it came to power, and who supports it now. we'll be joined as well by "new york times" columnist and author thomas freedman, who began reporting from this region decades ago. he's been focused on it ever since. also later my conversation with -- whose two daughters were taken by hamas.

in his address to the country today, prime minister benjamin netanyahu said, we always knew who hamas was. now the rest of the world knows. to the extent the world has seen the kind of deliberate inhumanity that hamas practices and now openly revels in, that is true. in that one sense, we do know hamas. but even if the deeds speak for themselves, they don't say enough about what gave rise to this organization, what drives it today, and ultimately how it may be defeated. without planting the seeds of the next hamas. so, for some background, here's cnn's sam kiley. >> reporter: slick propaganda, a blatant threat in public last year, hamas gunmen training on motorized paragliders.

they also showed meticulous planning for fighting in builtup areas, all historic failure of israeli intelligence. hamas videos of the start of their assaults from gaza were published within hour of their launch. once a branch of the brotherhood, won sunni -- platform of social reform and resistance to israel. riddled by corruption and incompetence, rival -- launched attacks immediately against the movement, which denies the right of israel to exist at all. in the end, hamas won control of gaza. and its grip on the enclave of around 2 million people tightened as israel and egypt largely sealed it off, causing intense humanitarian problems. hamas responded with waves of rocket attacks against israel that got worse as the years went by. israel, counterattack from the air.

and with ground assaults that left thousands dead and hamas still in charge. but iran's influence has been key to hamas' military power. >> the iranians have trained palestinian engineers in order to establish presidential records act manufacturing in gaza. we know the iranians have provided production equipment which you need to gaza and other places as well. >> reporter: israel knows it must battle hamas on its own turf. and hamas will draw on the experience of iran-backed hezbollah, which ravaged israel's armor in 2006. all the while trying to protect the lives of at least 130 hostages that hamas says they will kill if israel's attacks continue. dealing with violent groups backed by iran, a country that's bent on destroying israel and building a nuclear weapon that could do just that. sam kiley, cnn.

>> some perspective now from "new york times" foreign affairs columnist, who's been covering the region and writing about it since the 1980s, who's best selling account "from beirut to jerusalem" is considered required reading for students in the middle east. why do you think this attack happened now? why did hamas choose to strike now? was it divisions within israel that they sense the looming saudi deal? >> i have to believe that the looming saudi deal was a big factor in this because we're talking about something that would have been a fundamental geopolitical shift in the region. saudi arabia normalizing relations with israel ties up between israel and really the rest of the muslim world, possibly indonesia, malaysia. it would be a huge strategic shift. but more importantly, anderson, it also would have had to have been done as part of a deal that would have strengthened the legitimacy of hamas' arch rival

because the normalization between israel and saudi arabia could only have been done if israel also made concessions to the palestinian authority, giving it greater control over certain areas on the west bank, strif control, putting some kind of freeze and settlements down and basically reviving hopes for a two state solution. i think it sensed that israel was completely distracted by needless judicial coup inside and the two game together probably. >> the big question of course about the level of iran's involvement, u.s. officials have said they haven't seen a smoking gun. but certainly iran supports hamas, islamic jihad certainly. >> yeah, again, no one i think has a smoking gun, but at the same time, iran's overriding interest in not seeing its two arch enemies, israel and saudi arabia, forge an agreement together, i think is really

apparent there. otherwise, the thing is even beyond being barbaric, even more senseless and stupid, than it appears if hamas just did this on some fling for no apparent reason other than had the resources. it's now visited just tremendous destruction on itself, on palestinians in gaza, and maybe lost a strategic number of weapons that it will hopefully never be able to threaten israel again. i can only believe it has something to do with that iran -- with that saudi-israel normalization deal. >> the israeli government has called for a complete siege of gaza. benjamin netanyahu spoke today, did not specifically talk about a ground incursion, but certainly that would seem to be in the cards or certainly a strong possibility. we all know that the difficulties of that, the inherent dangers in that, we

know the international outrage that will grow as conditions deteriorate in gaza and the civilian population suffers. israel risks a lot in a ground invasion, not just of blood of their people, their soldiers, but also in actually being able to get what they want. i mean, doesn't it -- it can actually go in -- it can actually play into the hands of iran, can't it? >> well, you know, in these kind of moments, anderson, i always ask myself -- and i'm sure israel is asking itself -- i hope it is -- what does my enemy want? and then let's do exactly the opposite. so, what do israel's enemies want right now? iran and hezbollah and hamas? they want israel to occupy gaza, get it meshed in a door-to-door, house to house fighting there, kill a lot of palestinian

civilians, and completely erode the moral high ground that it has right now, which does have real value. that's what they want. they don't careless about their people. if they did, hamas would have been governing gaza in a completely different way. i hope that israel can achieve its goals of restoring its deterrence, getting its hostages back. but doing it in a way that -- end to hamas. these are hard calls, i recognize. but you don't want to underplay it. you don't want to overplay it. but i hope israel does not have to go into gaza, or if it does, doesn't go far or deep. >> is it possible, though action for israel to avoid going into gaza? if they want to stop hamas' military capabilities moving forward from being able to do the same kind of attack, what other option is there? >> well, i think that one of the things that hamas has done, again, which, sort of, leaves you wondering what they were

thinking, among many things, is that they've shown israel every vulnerability it had in gaza. and they did that for the purpose of inflicting, you know, 7 to 800 civilian and military casualties on israel. but now how are you better off? how are the palestinians of gaza better off? you've just shown israel that it had all these vulnerabilities. they will -- the israelis will study this. they will close them. hamas is now -- a lot of weapons, also showing israel what new missile technology it had. so, i think there's a lot of things that israel can achieve in the long run that will leave hamas much more weakened without having to go in and try to re-occupy the place. because maybe there's only one thing worse than hamas controlling gaza, and that's nobody controlling gaza, or israel having to control gaza.

so, you know, this is -- this problem hasn't been insoluble for so many years for a reason. i think this is a time for israel to do deep thinking about how deep it gets in. i'm sure they are. but i think this is a really -- some critical decisions are going to have to be taken here. >> there are, i'm sure, plenty of civilians in gaza who oppose hamas, who don't like the hamas regime. and yet they don't really have anywhere to go. the idf will say, go to other areas, but it is so densely packed, it is very difficult for civilians in gaza. >> that's why, anderson, some problems are, kind of, insoluble. unless israel wants to completely occupy gaza and nurture a completely different kind of palestinian government there and stay there, probably

multiple generations it would take, it's going to have to deal with some form, most likely, of hamas. i think the point is to put hamas in a situation where it can never do this kind of attack again, where it's on the defensive in international circles, and is -- but i think deterrence is the only outcome here. you're not going to remake gaza. you know, the notion of completely transforming that situ situation through military means is just not going to happen. >> tom freedman, thanks for your time. appreciate it. >> you bet. coming up next, we're going to take you to a hospital helping those with injuries from the war and share the story of a young father critically wounded trying to defend his home.

you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? it's true. plus, when you buy your first line of mobile, you get a second line free. there are no term contracts or line activation fees. and you can bring your own device. oh, and all on the most reliable 5g mobile network nationwide. wireless that works for you. it's not just possible. it's happening. is it possible my network could take my business to the next level? it is with comcast business. powering all your devices with gig-speed wifi. and you get fast downloads and uploads. pick it up! pick it up! oh we got this! because it's powered by the next generation 10g network. more speed for your business? it's not just possible. it's happening. get started for $59.99 a month for 12 months. plus, ask how to get an $800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle.

comcast business, powering possibilities. at the top of this hour, we mentioned that some of the images coming to light of what happened in the terror attacks on saturday are -- they're just hard to fathom, let alone watch. i want to show you something that was captured on dash cam of the car, one of the cars in the desert near that music festival, where more than 260 people were slaughtered. in this video, you see this armed gunman with an assault rifle run into the frame gestured and firing toward the man at the bottom right of the frame. unclear if the man is hit. a moment later action he's dragged away. then at the center of the frame another person, a gunman, appears -- or a person is taking cover. you can see him beneath the back end of that car. this is in the desert.

people have no place to shelter, no place to hide. the person moves slightly a couple times. another gunman opens fire on that person, close range. we don't show you that. the person stops moving. then a short time later, other gunmen begin to loot, going through their victims' pockets, going through the car, taking what they can, and then taking at least one of the passengers, a woman, who seemed to be hiding in the backseat. they pulled her out and they took her away. we don't know what happened to her. that, of course, is only part of the picture. we want to take a moment now to highlight the new reality for thousands of people wounded in this conflict. more than 2,500 in addition to more than 900 killed in israel so far. palestinian officials reporting nearly 700 people killed there, more than 3,700 wounded in gaza. cnn's becky anderson went to a hospital in tel aviv that's treating victims. >> reporter: the sound becoming ever more present for so many

families caught in the cross hairs of war. families like the schindlers, praying their their beloved -- survived. the 33-year-old was at home with his wife and six kids, when militants attacked the area around his house. as he tried to fight back, he sustained heavy injuries and is now in critical condition. he lives in a kibbutz called caram shalom in southern israel, next to the border with gaza, the location mere steps away from where hamas militants bulldozed through the border, tearing down a section of the fence. an image that has come to define this historic moment in the decades-long conflict. [ speaking in a non-english language ] they threw a grenade on the door in front of him. he flew on his back. i thought he'd died, so i didn't even cry for help, his wife told me. his face badly beaten.

one arm amputated. the other left with only two fingers on his hand. he's being treated here in the medical center, the largest in israel. it's been taking in victims with the most severe injuries. so far, the hospital says over 150 of the nearly 3,000 wounded have arrived here since the fighting began on saturday morning. this man, a director at the hospital, says the types of injuries he's seen are mostly gunshot or shrapnel wounds and blast injuries. there are currently 42 patients l in critical condition, and the situation, he says, could get much worse. >> we are looking at the potential for a ground incursion. should that happen, what sort of numbers can you expect here, and what sort of injuries? >> unforeseen.

it probably would be triple or quadruple numbers. it can get worse, but we are ready. we are training ourself for many, many years. >> sadly, this is not the first conflict houchlt are things different? >> it's the combination of civilians and military. so, usually in the last conflict, most of the casualties were armed soldiers. >> for his family, this isn't the first time they're going through this pain. over a decade ago, they lost his 24-year-old brother after he was shot by militants during a flare up of tensions between palestinians and israelis. [ speaking in a non-english language ] he had his whole life ahead of him, his mother says, such wickedness, such cruelty. it take mess back 13 years coping with this masser can. this monstrosity, it's so difficult. but despite the horror, they remain positive. they have no other choice. [ speaking in a non-english language ] we believe he will get out of this alive and everyone else who

was injured will too. we want peace. this is all we want, his wife says. a desperate plea for hope echoed by so many other innocent families on both sides of this conflict. >> becky anderson joins me now from tel aviv. this hospital is clearly preparing for whatever influx of patients may come. >> yeah, absolutely right. and just to under score, this is the largest hospital in israel. it's here in tel aviv. and it's been accepting the very worst injuries, those patients that are most critically injured. and they're getting injured, as this young man was, in the kibbutz right on the border with gaza, treated there first with whatever treatment and then moved to this hospital.

so, that's where he is at the moment. they say that they can cope with whatever the scale of injuries that are likely to come in going forward. but in discussions with the director, it was clear he's really concerned about what those injuries might look like and the scale of those injuries and if indeed there is an incursion in gaza. he said that's his real concern, the scale. he said it could be two, three, four times the numbers that we are looking at just now. and this is after, what, just three days, anderson. >> becky anderson, thanks so much. next, what the israeli defense force has to say about the threat from hamas to kill civilian hostages if air strikes target gaza without warning. i'll talk with a spokesperson for israel's defense forces.

again, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said today that strikes on gaza are, kw quote, just the beginning, and the israeli military will attack hamas with a force, quote, like never before. as the group threatens to dkill hostages and broadcast it if air strikes continue without warning. lieutenant colonel, appreciate

it you being with us again. so, the threat by hamas about killing israeli hostages, how would that impact the way the idf approaches things in gaza? >> it's not a surprise, i think, to hear such a threat from an organization that has been planning and willing to take civilians, drag them into gaza, and use them as bargaining chips. so, it doesn't come as a surprise. and it is an acextremely comple situation that we are dealing with at this stage. public sentiment in israel and outcries of families that are looking for their loved ones, seeking information, seeking clarity, is of course very clear and very evident in israel. and it influences events.

however, judging by the activity on the ground, i think that it is rather clear what the idf is doing. we have not stopped firing at hamas from the air, despite events. and i am not sure that we will stop firing. i think we're in such a delicate and complex situation that would require very hard decisions by our senior commanders, not only related to this topic but other topics as well. this, for sure, being the most sensitive and difficult issue, a dilemma. but the -- i know you just spoke about it with thomas freedman and discussed it with others. the issue here is that we have been tasked with mitigating or

making sure that hamas doesn't have any military capabilities at the end of the war. and that will be achieved. what happens on the way and how we implement, that task will be seen. but at this stage, we continue to strike from the air. and there are plans to of course expand that. and troops, there reserves, and the regular units that are amassing along the southern border are readying for their tasks. >> you said earlier on cnn today that israel now has full control of the sovereign tricep of its own territory in the south. there may still be fighters here and there. what about the wall, the actual border itself, which was breached at a number of locations. that was widdled down over the last several days. we're coming on now 72 hours

once it's dawn here, it'll be 72 hours since this terror attack large-scale began. are there still breaches in that border that you are very concerned about? >> yeah, the border fence and the whole defense system along the border is being mended as we speak. there are earth-moving equipment. there's earth-moving equipment and heavy engineering tools that are being used. and our engineers are hard at work with patching up the fence and re-establishing our defenses. in support of those operations, our combat troops, we have attack helicopters hovering above, and we have aerial support with armed drones and tanks in covering positions to name but a few things. that is, of course, a very, very basic concern because it is

through these many openings that the hamas terrorists were able to create in offense that the hundreds of hamas terrorists were able to pour in and to bring about the destruction and the killing that they did in israel. so, that has been amended. i'm getting reports of additional clashes in southern israel between our troops and hamas units. there are still attempts of hamas to break through and to send different suicide missions into israel to kill civilians or to kill soldiers. and there is information of that as well happening as we speak. so, by no means is the southern area of israel quiet and returned to stability. it's definitely not the case. hamas and islamic jihad are trying -- >> let me just -- let me follow

up with you on that. you said -- and i want to see if these are two different things. you said that there are clashes between units, hamas units and israeli forces. is that inside israel itself or are those clashes of units attempting to breach the border? >> both actually. there are hamas terrorists that have tried in multiple locations to breach the border. in locations that were breached before or in other locations, they have been thwarted, all of them. and there are other reports of ongoing battle between israeli troops and hamas terrorists inside israel as well, probably terrorists that were either left behind or have been able to infiltrate by other means. there is a thick fog of war in this current situation, and it seems as if hamas is very, very committed in trying to inflict

more damage and kill more civilians and military in israel. we are responding to that. southern israel is now saturated with israeli troops. and we will see again. it's always simpler when the light comes up, when the sun rises, and we'll be able to get a better picture of what's going on. i think that today, later today, there will be good opportunities for the world to see the carnage because we're going to allow access to other news agency -- i know that cnn reporter ves have been down there and interviewing people and showing. and i hope that other outlets will do the same and show the world what really is -- what really happened in southern israel and why we are in this situation. >> lieutenant colonel, i appreciate you're being with us tonight. thank you.

more now on the people who are waiting for word on those who have been taken, the situation so chaotic that we've been seeing often the first indications people have of their loved ones have been kidnapped is when their videos are posted on sites like telegram. that's how -- found out that her former husband had been taken along with his new family and her daughters, 15-year-old dafna and 8-year-old ella. >> when we met maya, she was scrolling online, looking at hostage videos, searching for new pictures of her captures daughters. >> when did you learn that your daughters were missing? [ speaking in a non-english language ] >> my sister sent me a photo of my daughter sitting on a mattress in gaza, she says. it was posted by hamas. the writing in arabic says, dress her in prayer clothes. it's better. [ speaking in a non-english