this hour, we're following major breaking news as israel's ground invasion of gaza appears to be near. i'm boris sanchez in washington with brianna keilar and anderson cooper is on the scene in israel. the idf says that in the past 24 hours, troops have entered gaza, carrying out raids and searching

for hostages. >> earlier today the idf dropped flyers on gaza, you see that here. these flyers telling people in the northern part of the gaza strip to evacuate south within the next 24 hours. u.n. saying evacuating more than 1 million people in one day is impossible and cnn has learned that u.s. intel warned the biden administration of the potential for a clash in the region days before the hamas attack on israel. we'll have more on that new information here in just a moment. what is the latest on the ground? >> soldiers and tanks were massing near the gaza border. we have been seeing that now for days, fighting along the northern border with lebanon has been -- there has been an uptick on that. it is conducting drone attacks on sites inside of lebanon. we're covering all angles with our reporters and analysts standing by there is a lot to get to in the hour ahead. first to matthew chance who is

here with me in tel aviv. what more are israeli officials saying about the raids they have conducted? >> the raids they conducted inside gaza they say are of limited in scope. they're not the sort of big push for the land invasion that we have all been bracing ourselves for. they're much more pinpoint, they're designed to eliminate the threat from terrorism, they say. but also designed to try and locate some of the hostages being held inside the gaza strip or look for evidence as to where they might be. and, remember, this is one of the major complications of any big assault on the gaza strip. it is densely populated. it has a network of tunnels underneath it and 100 to 150 hostages that are hidden somewhere around that very densely populated area. already hamas say that because of the intensive air strikes carried out by israel on areas of the gaza strip, air strikes that leveled entire neighborhoods in gaza city, 13

of the hostages they have taken have been killed, not verified, about up it underlines the problem military planners have considering going into gaza. >> this is something we have been watching closely for days. >> at this point it looks like a tit for tat response, israel carried out strikes on his bowl h hezbollah. it is not the kind of full scale retaliation or response that israel and many people in the region are bracing for once the gaza operation begins. hezbollah said going into gaza by land, we'll strike. in the past, they have done that. we were both there in northern israel. now, when hezbollah unleashed its arsenal of rockets on to -- >> a tough fight. >> a tough fight and potentially -- and worse now because hezbollah have a much bigger ors nall of much more powerful weapons.

this isn't that, but it is a little indication of what might be to come. >> the push for -- to try to get gaza residents to leave to the south, israel called, suggesting a million people to move to the south. a number of humanitarian organizations are saying this is catastrophic, this is impossible. we should point out hamas is telling residents not to actually go to the south for their safety. >> yeah. i think one of the reasons hamas is saying that is because they're concerned as palestinian nationalists that if palestinians leave areas like north of the gaza strip, they'll never get it back. there will be another loss of land to the israeli state. there are millions of refugees all over this region that left their lands thinking they'll go back and israel built a country on it. that's what hamas is talking about. just the humanitarian obstacle to transferring more than a million people from the north of

the gaza strip which is the most densely populated to the south, it is not feasible is what everyone is saying. the u.n., the united states, the european union, and it will complicate the already severe humanitarian crisis. remember there are more than 400,000 people in the gaza strip that have already been displaced. the hospital situation is dire. people are short of food, of water, of fuel, transfer of a million people, out of their homes, will make it so much worse. >> it will put more pressure on egypt to try to allow those people into egypt, something egypt has resisted. but egypt controls the southern border with gaza, they could allow those people in. >> they could. you're right. and that border crossing between the gaza strip, the rafah border crossing is controlled by egypt. egypt is not at the moment conceding they will open up that crossing. >> huge potential security threat and humanitarian concern to have that number of people in

northern egypt. >> i think that's what's behind it. they're worried about having palestinian militants transfer into the vsinai peninsula. this would compound problems. but, look, there are negotiations under way right now. i've been told this by israeli officials to try to get the egyptians to concede and back down. at the moment, they haven't. >> matthew chance, thank you. want to go to jeremy diamond. lloyd austin sat down with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, said that the u.s. has israel's back. jeremy diamond has been following that from ashdod. i want to get to the latest of what austin told you. first, you're at a shelter. what is happening there? >> reporter: we just came back out to the balcony, sorry. our shot is a little fluid. the sirens went off in ashdod. i heard at least two booms of the iron dome missile intercepts

and it is relevant to the story this you're going to come to us to talk about, which is what we saw today at the air base in southern israel where the second shipment of u.s. military aid to israel arrived just this week and we were the only news crew on the ground to witness that plane landing. and also as secretary of defense lloyd austin came and greeted that plane, the reason why it is relevant to what we just did now is that one of the munitions that the united states is providing israel with as part of this latest package is additional iron dome missile interceptors. and beyond that, they're also providing cluster munitions as well as precision guided munitions. i was able to speak with the secretary of defense today as he greeted this military cargo plane, landing at the air base. i asked him first of all about what this means for israel, what kind of a show of support this is. i also asked him whether he's gotten any assurances from the

israelis about how they will use this given the concern about civilian casualties. >> the show of support, it is support. it is the leading edge of more to come. >> what kind of assurances do you have from the israelis about how they'll use munitions? >> this is a professional force that is well led, so i'm sure they'll do the right thing. >> and, anderson, that was a brief exchange we were able to have with the secretary of defense lloyd austin. earlier in the day, he made some comments about the importance of upholding the rule of international law, of holding international law as it relates to the laws of war, saying democracies are stronger and more secure when we uphold the laws of war. but he also made very clear that there is no daylight between the united states and israel and he

insisted that the shipments that we saw today, the shipment that we saw earlier this week, it is only the beginning of much more u.s. security assistance to israel to come as israel prepares for the next phase of its military campaign against hamas. and he said those shipments will not only continue to flow, but that they will continue to flow at the speed of war. anderson? >> jeremy diamond, thanks so much. i want to bring in our coverage continues here, i want to bring in cnn's katie bo lillis with new reporting that u.s. intelligence did have some warnings about a prospect of more violence here from hamas, just days before saturday's surprise attack. katie bo, what did the reports say? how specific were they? >> what we have learned is that the intelligence community was circulating a pair of two separate intelligence assessments in the days leading into october 7th's devastating attack. one of them on september 28th warned that hamas was poised to

escalate with some cross border rocket fire into israel. a separate october 5th wire from the cia warned sort of generally of the increasing possibility of violence by hamas. what is important to understand here is that none of these two -- neither of these two reports provided any sort of specific tactical detail about the size, scope, scale, brutality of the attack that actually did occur on october 7th. they were sort of high level warnings that, look, the tensions in between sort of palestinian militant groups and israel are growing, this increased possibility for violence, but they weren't offering any sort of specific evidence of the planning for the attack that actually unfolded on saturday. >> do we know if those reports were passed on to israeli intelligence or it sounds like it didn't really sound any particular alarm bells because it kind of sounded like, well, there may be more rocket attacks, but nothing really too

specific. >> yeah, so this is the important thing to understand, the nuance to understand here. there is a big difference between strategic warning and kind of more tactical warning about here is exactly what is about to happen and so this was certainly in the camp of strategic warning. and i think based on what our sources are telling us for a lot of officials who were reading this intelligence, you know, they were interpreting it as, like, look there is heightened tensions in the region, something to be concerned about, something could happen here. but they were sort of viewing this as likely another round of cross border rocket fire, maybe the iron dome intercepts the missiles, maybe israel ret retaliates, maybe we seeing some like the clash that took place in 2021 but they weren't imagining these warnings were indicating something of the size and scale of what we did on saturday. as for whether or not this was shared with israeli officials, because the united states doesn't do a lot of its own intelligence collection inside gaza, it relies on israel to do

a lot of that sort of raw reporting and a lot of that collection. it takes the information and then analyzes it for itself. many officials we spoke to said it wouldn't necessarily be indicated for the u.s. to sort of turn around and share these reports or share the assessments with israel because much of the raw information in these intelligence assessments was coming from israel first place and israel wasn't raising alarm bells with the united states. >> katie bo lillis, appreciate the reporting. joining me to talk more about this and other things happening in the region is mark esper, defense secretary under president trump, author of the book "a sacred oath: memoirs of a secretary of defense." what do you make about this new information about the u.s. intelligence warning that something may be happening, some uptick, not too specific, should it have been caught? should that have raised more alarms? >> it is very interesting.

i'm not surprised that we had some type of intelligence at that level. i am a little surprised that there wasn't more preparation taken on the israeli end if you will to, you know, heighten the security level along the fence line, the border line between israel and gaza. i think there have been two failures if you look at the situation now. one has been the intelligence failure, but the second one is the military readiness failure to step up patrols, surveillance or what not along the border. look, there will be time for that later. that's what jumps my mind when we talk about this. >> yeah. as you said, time for that later, but cnn did do a report just -- clarissa ward was looking at what -- the hamas -- the training videos they were putting out, and we geolocated a site they built which mirrored an israeli settler community that they were doing training

on, that was very close to one of the major border crossings and visible from the air. it is remarkable that israel did not pick up any real signs of this operation, which was clearly planned for a very long period of time, involving many, many different people. >> yeah, that was a very interesting report and i read it with some good deal of curiosity, it would go back that far and it was -- should have been visible. i think there will be time later, they'll go back and dig into this. i think the immediate question when you look at these pieces of information that should have been assessed, is clearly there was a blind spot, and as you go into this next phase, where you're looking at a military incursion into gaza, and maybe some other things, i think you want to make a quick check to make sure the blind spots are no longer there. and so i think there is a need for an immediate assessment as to what happened and why and you can dig later kind of pull each and every thread later that

would be my concern. what didn't we see over the past year and why didn't we see it and have we rectified that before we step into the next phases of the operation? >> i want to ask you what you think about the idea of a million residsidents in gaza mog south in a 24-hour period, which is what israel is telling people to do, thedrped the leaflets. you have the number of humanitarian organizations saying this is impossible, it is going to lead to catastrophic consequences, hamas is saying don't leave, i understand militarily why they would not want the civilian population to leave. they want to use them as much as possible as human shields. have you seen mass migrations of people like that? is that possible? >> moving a million people in 24 hours, difficult task. i also have never seen a military on the cusp of an invasion give a warning to adversaries they're coming in and to allow citizens some time,

if you will, to flee. it is a tough situation. it was a situation brought on by these atrocious terrible barbaric terrorist acts by hamas, killing over 1300 israelis, murdering, raping, slaughtering children, the elderly and on top of that, we know that we have 130 to 150 hostages in gaza. i would like to see the u.n. agencies come out and demand that hamas release the hochstag. that would be a great gesture as well. it is a tough situation. israel has every right to proceed and i think they'll do so professionally and i think they have given fair warning and then i think, look, i'm in favor of opening up a humanitarian corridor in the south, but i would limit that to women, children and the elderly. and trying to address that side of the problem that way. >> in terms of the fight ahead, how difficult do you think it is going to be? there is the civilian component

there is the hostages to think about, and just operating in an urban environment like gaza city, i mean, it is a warren of streets and densely packed. it is -- how difficult from your perspective is it? >> very difficult. first of all, the strategic level, every day or moment that passes, you have to make sure you don't create a second front with hezbollah in the north. don't want to fight two fronts at the same time. on top of that, you have hostages. will hamas follow through on the threats to begin executing hostages, israelis, and americans, by the way, we think they have a few americans as this proceeds. at the tactical level, urban warfare is very difficult. i know from my time in the army, gulf war, urban areas, it can consume a lot of troops very quickly. i think part of what israel is doing now by flattening buildings and pummeling the area is really trying to reduce the

amount of places and spaces and floors and doors and every place that hamas can hide to ambush israeli troops as they come through and try to clear out the areas, they try to uncover the subterranean networks. it is difficult. they can consume a lot of troops. even if they're not killed or injured, you need to leave troops behind to protect the space. part of my concern is the lack of action by hezbollah in the north isn't because they made a strategic decision to sit the conflict out but maybe they made an operational decision to execute some patience and wait until the idf gets entrenched in gaza, bogged down and then they start something in the north. that would be an operational matter which i'm sure the idf is considering very carefully as well. >> former defense secretary mark esper, thank you for your time. >> a lot more from israel to

washington. concern about how the house speaker vacancy could impact the american response gop effort to find a nominee again under way now. we're live on capitol hill next.

so on capitol hill, we're following breaking developments in the republican race for speaker of the house. >> right now representatives jim jordan and austin scott are making the case for why they should be the new nominee after congressman steve scalise quit the race last night and former speaker kevin mccarthy spoke about who he is going to support. let's listen. >> i'm going to support jim jordan. >> do you think he has the votes to go to the floor? >> i think he's got -- i think he's got the votes. we'll see. >> what is your message to him? >> look, i think everybody has a right to run. i think jim is better prepared in the process to be speaker. >> so right now members are behind closed doors, hearing from jim jordan and austin scott of georgia. >> will republicans remember his name? that's going to be key. >> that's the question. cnn congressional correspondent lauren fox is on capitol hill

for us. what are you hearing about the debate? >> reporter: yeah, so, right now they're behind closed doors and if it feels a bit like groundhog day up here on capitol hill, it is because we have done this candidate forum before, just a few nights ago. but the expectation as members are still asking questions in the room behind me of the candidates, trying to understand more about their positions. of course, everyone is looking to see whether or not jim jordan will have the support to win the nomination in that room. but, again, it is a different question entirely if he would have the 217 votes he needs. i talked to one member going into this meeting, just a fut mi few minutes ago. she said she believed that no one is going to solve this today. >> the american people, they need that confidence that the entire body is moving in one direction and i think jim jordan is the guy who can get -- >> have you had an opportunity

to vote for the rules change? >> people are very emotional right now. so, there is a lot of venting going on, but at the end of the day, we have to get behind the candidate and move. i think jim jordan is the guy to do it. >> and there becomes a moment where republicans will have to decide, even if not everyone agrees with jim jordan's position, even if some have concerns about him, there does become a moment when republicans have to decide if they're going to rally around him in part because they need a speaker. they need a speaker to try and pass more funding for israel, more funding for ukraine. they need a speaker to make sure the government doesn't shut down before that november 17th deadline. and that is what so many republicans inside that room are worried about. that's the question right now. what comes first. if it is not jim jordan, who comes next, and if you can't find consensus around any one candidate, what does that mean for getting anything done up here on capitol hill? >> it is an important question.

we should note austin scott said that if jordan wins the nomination, he would support the congressman from ohio. thank you for the update. >> all of this is unfolding on the hill as we are seeing escalating attacks in israel. >> joining us to talk about the national security implications of all of this is josh rogan, columnist for "the washington post" and a former spokesperson for the u.s. mission to the united nations, the former director for syria and lebanon on the national security council. josh, first to you, how might this ongoing battle, this chaos in the house of representatives to find a speaker impact israel's war against hamas? >> well, we're already seeing that dysfunction in washington, in the house of representatives, is slowing the u.s. ability to respond to not just the israel war, but a bunch of different crises around the world. the temporary spending bill passed has no funding for ukraine. and so the congress is going to

have to figure out a way to continue ukraine funding sometime within the next month or so. israel will require $5 billion, $6 billion for munitions and equipment and other things that it is going to need to prosecute the next phase of this war. then you have a lot of lawmakers who want to add taiwan to that the argument that, well, why are we giving arms to these countries after they get attacked. probably we should bolster the defense before they get attacked. republicans want to throw some border money into that in order to get something from the administration to make it all go down. that's a very complicated set of bills, that's a lot of money, not a lot of time left and none of that can start until there is a speaker of the house. and we don't know when that is going to be. these words are only getting worse. >> how are you expecting this to play out, you have at this point in time israel warning gazans north of the wetlands there, almost half of the population of

the gaza strip that they need to move south, the u.n. is calling this impossible, israel is saying that is shameful. and then you're also, of course, watching hezbollah. how big is this going to get and how do you expect this to play out? >> yes, it is the first time we really hear israel dive in and say, hey, we are -- we need u.n. to -- that gives insight into what they're planning ahead. i also found it telling by the way that the united states has emphasized heavily that they want to open humanitarian corridor. john kirby said they're working with israel and egypt to push for that. and the reason is again not only because they expect a number of civilian deaths because the u.s. government and i have been on the other side of this, the u.s. government doesn't want to tell israel, hey, restrain yourself. this is a situation where israel was attacked and very gruesomely

as we all know. i expect the war to be very brutal. i expect a high number of civilian deaths, the real tragedy of this situation is that the majority who die are innocent civilians on both sides and i'm glad you talked about lebanon, it is the real wild card here. if i were a u.s. intell analyst, i would say violence coming from hezbollah against israel is moderately likely and the reason i would put it there is because it presents an advantage for hezbollah at a time when israel's resources are focused on gaza to open another front. it is not an advantage to israel at all and i don't think they want that. but hezbollah and hisrael have been preparing for a showdown. and we know hezbollah has already rocked the boat. there have been shootings where israel responded to strikes. taken there are some concerning stories from the ground about setting up war centers in certain towns allowing other aggressive behavior to take place in the south.

and this is because it is in hezbollah's benefit and subsequently in iran's benefit to have an attack on all sides. >> this is video from earlier today of southern lebanon where israeli drones were striking hezbollah targets. there was some exchange of fire there. josh, on the question of regional players getting involved in this conflict, and the question of intelligence, what is your concern over how much this can escalate into a regional conflict. i allude to th question because there is a disparity between the u.s. officials saying that iranian leaders, for example, were surprised that hamas carried out these attacks while israeli intelligence says that iran gave the green light to hamas to carry this out. >> right, well, the first thing i think we should note here we don't know what all the intelligence says yet. they're thinking clearly things are amiss. we have to wait to see what

we -- who knew what and when. i think there is a great possibility that certain iranian figures were surprised, and others were not surprised and that could have played the disparity there. it is a game of deterrence. and when iran and hezbollah say if you raze gaza, we're going to open up the second front or the rest of the axis is going to open up a war on israel. that is a threat. and when the united states moves an aircraft carrier into the eastern med that could deter that threat. the truth is that these things have a pattern of escalating when you engage in brinksmanship, a tendency to push the limits. that's where everyone is trying to avoid. no one knows how to avoid it. and it seems clear israel is going to do some pretty extensive operations in gaza, and of course they're worried about israeli security, but secretary blinken, the biden

administration, they worry about a much bigger map and that's where you see the divide. the administration doesn't want to tell israel in public. hey, you better think about this. you can be sure in private they're saying help us manage this thing from getting out of control. and i don't think they're there yet. >> cnn also reporting that the u.s. intelligence community had at least two intelligence assessments that they provided to the biden administration, based in part on the way as israeli provided intel, warning of an increased risk for a conflict, for a conflict between the palestinians and israel in the weeks ahead. and then we saw what happened over the weekend, this horrible massacre. there is a difference between being told, hey, something is cooking and then being told something very specific. and 2020 is hindsight. but what are you thinking and what kind of soul searching is this going to bring about? >> well, just as here after 9/11, i expect a massive

intelligence review in israel. and of -- to identify all the mistakes and vulnerabilities and how they rectify that in the future. but with this had in particular it sounds more that they were talking about tensions increasing in general. and tensions have been increasing significantly particularly since netanyahu took office last december and that's because of a series of policies, his government took, that were provocative things like expanding settlements in the west bank. and doing so very aggressive by the way. so tensions have been growing generally. but the intelligence identified that the major threats currently were coming from the west bank and northern border with lebanon. and the problem with that, by the way, all intelligence agencies do that. when you have certain threats every year, you identify where the major threats are, you

allocate resources based on that, you move people around. you focus your efforts or money on certain regions or individuals or groups or whatever. and it is very clear that the border, they had come to rely on the security system they set up in the south and a number of things fell apart that caused this crash of dominos that led to this horrific terrorist attack. >> thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. still ahead, the desperate situation for civilians in gaza. 1.1 million people told by israel to evacuate their homes in the north, an order described as impossible and one that hamas is now countering as well. we'll be right back.

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right now, rapidly developing situation here on the ground in the middle east. israel defense forces say they have begun carrying out raids in gaza, involving both infantry and armored forces. officials say they're searching for more than 150 hostages, taken by hamas a week ago. the raids add new challenges for the more than 1.1 million palestinians warned to evacuate northern gaza. they have been told to move south. homes in the north have already been cut off from electricity, fuel and water. cnn's nada bashir has more on the growing humanitarian crisis going on in gaza. some of what you will see is graphic. >> reporter: as dawn breaks in gaza, now under bombardment by israel for seven days, a

sinister warning from the skies. telling all civilians in northern gaza to evacuate southwards. we're seeing our children killed right in front of us, they're starving us of food, of water, we have no electricity, nothing. this isn't a life. and now they tell us we have to leave. but we don't know where we will end up. hamas leaders have called on civilians to remain steadfast, and stay put. accusing israel of engaging in psychological warfare. but families desperate for some semblance of security gather their belongings. and while they are unsure of what waits them in the south, one thing is clear, there is no guarantee of safety wherever you are in gaza. it happened to our grandfathers, and now it is happening to us. we are being forced out. gaza is being destroyed. nothing is left. it is a catastrophe.

more than 2 million people live in a tiny besieged gaza strip. still under a blockade enforced by israel in 2007, more than half of those are now being told to move. the norwegian refugee council characterized the evacuation order which holds no guarantee of safe return as an act of forcible transfer. in other words, a war crime. meanwhile, the u.n.'s refugee agency for palestine says the scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone chilling. there are more than 1.4 million people in gaza. these are ordinary palestinians, who live in the gaza strip, with their families, including pregnant women, children, children with disabilities. >> reporter: an ongoing siege makes access to food and safe water is running out. the u.n. world health organization warned that hospitals here have only a few

hours of electricity each day, pushing gaza's already crumbling healthcare infrastructure to the brink of collapse. at the hospital, the bodies of those killed in the air strike lay shrouded outside. there is, doctors say, simply not enough space in the morgue. they were all innocent civilians. women, children, the air strikes came suddenly and destroyed all our homes, with children still inside, and now we don't even know where we can bury our dead. enough, please, enough. in less than one week, israel has dropped more than 6,000 bombs on gaza. the equivalent to the total number of air strikes carried out, during the 2014 israel-gaza war which lasted 50 days. and while there continues to be widespread condemnation of the collective punishment the people of gaza are being subjected to

there is every indication that this war will only intensify. and many here feel that the world has abandoned them. nada bashir, cnn.

republican house members have been locked behind closed doors now for roughly an hour and a half, hearing pitches from two members who put themselves forward to be the next speaker of the house, jim jordan and austin scott vying to get the gavel. but if either of them can is still an open question. >> let's talk about this with david chalian, cnn political director and host of the cnn political briefing podcast. we keep meeting like this.

all over again. here we are. where is this headed? >> well, i don't -- we'll learn where it is headed. obviously jim jordan heading into this vote if you remember had amassed 99 votes so one might imagine he'll be able to get the nomination perhaps. but as we just learned with steve scalise, that and a buck 25 might get you a cheap cup of coffee. it is not clear yet there is a path for jim jordan on that. that's the immediate, you say where are we going, i think this is -- it is clearly a problem for the republican party and clearly can be sort of displayed as a side show, but i don't think it is a side show. i think we should heed what congressman mike mccaul said. you china and russia on a daily basis trying to undermine american democracy and this is what is being put on display. there is -- america's standing gets undercut with every passing

day that the country shows it is not able to actually even govern itself properly. >> so, it is not going to be steve scalise. tough road ahead for jim jordan and austin scott. who is else is there? >> we don't know. kevin mccarthy couldn't, that's why he was ousted. he wasn't able to do that and i know there are some folks who still float his name as a possibility here. there are other names out there that get mentioned, like could patrick mchenry who is serving in this interim role, kevin hearne of oklahoma, who when steve scalise was poised to become speaker was going to make a play for majority leader, he is a fallback? right now he's supporting jordan. tom cole is mentioned also at times as sort of a senior statesman. but there is nobody in this republican conference right now who clearly has 217 votes. remember, that's because it is such a narrow majority. they only have four votes to lose. if a republican member is going to become speaker, on solely

republican votes. >> ron desantis said, you know, this is -- what a clown show, i think he said, austin scott was saying it looks -- makes us look like a bunch of idiots. to your point, the world is watching and it is -- it is kind of embarrassing. >> it is embarrassing. no doubt. it is, you know, one of our two major political parties just in complete disarray, inability. they have the majority. what do you to with the majority? you govern. i think it is all those things, but it is also a little bit more serious than that. and i mean, this entire next year, the threat to american democracy, the strength of american democracy is going to be tested in this upcoming presidential election and this is not a good way to get started when you're trying to demonstrate that you know how to run a democracy. >> it is not just foreign leaders watching. also voters to your point. a lot of those republicans that help them win a majority in a tenuous position in their districts. >> imagine the democratic

that could be cut as they try to hang onto the majority of this clown car situation that you have going on. >> david chalian, always appreciate the perspective. >> sure. still ahead, update on the fighting in gaza and what the israeli response could look like in the hours and days ahead. stay with cnn. we're back in moments.

welcome back to our continuing coverage of the war in israel. just yesterday i spent some time with idf spokesman rear admiral daniel hegari at the site of the music festival where more than

260 israelis were slaughtered. i talked to him about what lies ahead. how different is this football going to be on the ground? >> i know it's a tough place to fight. >> well will do what we need to do, in order to get this goal that isis won't govern gaza. and any country that hosts hamas isis, they also need to know if they with interfere, out against us we understand completely what we are seeing now. we have no other place to go. >> this just in from israel.

israel's prime minister has said, quote, i'm telling you, it's only the beginning. i'm not going to give you additional details, but it's only the beginning. stay with us for cnn's special coverage.

we just have had a massive barrage of rockets. >> i'm so sorry. >> it's okay. >> that pain is echoed b