the breaking news continues right here on cnn. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. our special coverage of israel at war continues. we're following the very dangerous race to evacuate parts of gaza right now. the state department telling u.s. citizens in gaza they may want to move closer to the critical rafa border crossing in the southern part of gaza that's closer to egypt, because there may be very little notice if that rafa opening does open. this comes amid reports that egypt was not allowing u.s. citizens to enter the country at that crossing. more than a million civilians in gaza are under israeli orders to

try to flee to the south. an idf spokesman told me gazans should press on with the evacuation even after the safe passage deadline expired. president netanyahu visiting front line soldiers today near gaza, telling them to be ready for the next stage of this war as israeli forces pound the territory from the air and amass huge numbers of ground troops near the border with gaza. the death toll on both sides has been rising, with more than 1300 killed in israel and the number of civilians killed in gaza surpassing 2200. our correspondents are following all the breaking news in the region. ben wedeman is in south lebanon, covering evacuation efforts in gaza. oren liebermann is at the pentagon. o

oren let's start with you. we heard the state department urging americans to get closer to the border with egypt. what are you learning? >> reporter: the state department along with the biden administration are doing what they can to get american citizens out of gaza. this requires a level of coordination from not just hamas in gaza to allow the border crossing to open from their side, but for egypt to allow those americans in and at least tacit understanding from israel that they will allow safe passage. the state department says american citizens should head toward the rafa crossing between gaza and egypt and warns there may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time. it seems the state department not even sure when and if the border crossing will open, only

trying to make sure american citizens in gaza are as close as possible if it does open. the challenge is that the egyptians seem unwilling to open the border from their side unless israel allowed aid into gaza for humanitarian needs. all of the challenges or at least some or part of the challenges the state department is dealing with in trying to make this happen. there are americans working for medical organizations, humanitarian organizations and others. that is the focus of the state department at this time. >> do we know if there are u.s. vehicles on the other side of that rafa border crossing that would take these citizens, assuming they could cross into egypt, would there be enough vehicles to take them south where they could fly out, or

across the suez canal to cairo, example? >> reporter: unclear what vehicles are sitting there ready to go if and when hamas and egypt agree to open that border crossing. we do know there are u.s. forces in the region. there is a u.n. force in sinai there as peacekeepers. perhaps they could play some role. the u.s.s. gerald r. ford is off the coast of israel, not there to participate in the fighting, but as a deterrent for iran. meanwhile, there's a rapid response force, the 26th marine unit and u.s. navy force operating in the region that could be sent in. that could take part in some sort of evacuation effort if needed. no indications or orders to send them in right now. at this point, it's unclear if those american citizens are able to cross into egypt, how exactly

they would get to somewhere they could essentially get out. >> thank you very much. joining us now, the former commanding general for the u.s. army in europe lieutenant general ben hodges. we've seen relentless israeli air strikes pummelling what they described as hamas targets in gaza throughout this past week. 300,000 israeli reservists are now mobilized along the gaza border with the movement advisory for gaza's residents now over, do you think israel is getting closer to a full-scale ground invasion going after hamas targets in gaza? >> wolf, it certainly seems that way. you can keep soldiers in a crouch at a heightened sense of readiness only for a certain amount of time, and the israeli leadership will be aware of that, of course.

but i think they also want to be very careful trying to get the hostages. i imagine that's the first priority for them to recover as many hostages as possible and avoid rushing in with ground forces. obviously hamas would want them to do that. i think they're trying to find that balance. >> what do you think a full-scale israeli ground invasion of the enormous size we anticipated, what would that look like for those in gaza who are unable to escape in time? >> i expect the israelis are going to do what we would call a reconnaissance pull to put elements out there not just to go drive into town with tanks and bulldozers necessarily until they've got reconnaissance elements to gather intelligence about what's out in front of them so they're not going in blind. so a combination of ground reconnaissance as well as the

other sorts of intelligence that they have. now, of course, the israeli general staff will be concerned about threats coming from other areas. so i don't envision 300,000 troops piling in there, but obviously they've got to worry about the west bank and hezbollah. i would think this is going to be strong, but careful. >> the palestinian ministry of health is accusing israel of targeting and killing medical and ambulance personnel. israeli attacks have killed more than 2,000 civilians in gaza. what's going on here? >> first of all, i think president biden made it clear to president netanyahu that the expectation of the united states was that israel would do everything within what's legally allowed following the law of armed conflict. so the idea that israeli forces,

even without that warning from the u.s., that israeli forces would be targeting medical personnel is ridiculous. the level of disinformation i see coming from the palestinian side is at near kremlin level of trying to confuse people about what's going on. so i think all of us have to be careful about drawing conclusions based on reports from there. >> good point. thank you. i want to go back to cnn's ben wedeman from south lebanon, covering evacuation efforts ongoing in gaza, an area he's reports from for many years. ben, you're keeping a close eye on these evacuation efforts in gaza. the huge roadblocks to getting civilians out safely, what's the latest you're hearing? >> reporter: well, that four-hour window where people were told by the israelis that

they could move south, certainly many people have taken advantage of that. at this point, more than a million people, according to the u.n., have been displaced as a result of this war. that's basically half the population of gaza. so people have taken advantage of it, but it's very difficult. we've seen basically they're loading people up on trucks however they can move out of there. it appears there's still many people left behind in gaza city, where the situation is increasingly difficult. the one water desalination plant that provided gaza with 21 million liters of water a day has gone out of operation, because it's run out of fuel, in addition to the fact that food has been cut off by the israelis and electricity and the internet. this is just going to exacerbate

the situation even further. even for those who do go to the south, where do they go? is there shelter for them? is there food for them? it's not safe to move on the roads despite the fact that the israelis announced a four-hour window to move. it's an absurdly complicated situation. the u.n. itself said asking 1.1 million people to get up and leave is an impossible task, they said. wolf. >> closer to where you are right now in south lebanon, ben, we now know there have been new artillery and rocket attacks, presumably from hezbollah near where you are into israel. what's going on? there's enormous fear there could be a second front in this war involving lebanon. >> reporter: well, shortly after 3:00 p.m. local time we started to hear a lot of explosions. this went on for about two hours

when it started to gradually peter off. we heard incoming artillery and outgoing rocket fire. hezbollah put out a statement that they targeted with precision weapons five israeli positions in an area of territory disputed between lebanon and israel, but under israeli control. now, the israelis responded to the rocket fire and also said that in the course of this exchange of fire that they detected individuals trying to infiltrate into israel. they conducted an air strike and we believe killed those individu individuals. an elderly couple in the town in lebanon was killed as a result of an israeli strike. wolf. >> we know hezbollah has a lot of rockets and missiles, presumably provided by iran in

south lebanon. what kind of numbers are you hearing? m how many missiles and rocket dos they potentially have that could be launched against targets in israel? >> reporter: well, what we've heard from the israelis is that there may be as many as 140,000 rockets in the possession of hezbollah, some supplied by iran, some of them locally manufactured. i remember many years ago being in gaza going to a workshop where militants, not hamas, were basically using local chemicals and other material to produce relatively crude weapons, but deadly nonetheless. in addition to hezbollah's rocket capabilities, let's not forget that thousands of their troops were in syria during the war there, helping bolster the

assad regime and in the process getting a lot of experience in urban warfare. having been here in southern lebanon throughout the 2006 hezbollah/israel war, i saw that hezbollah fighters are the most disciplined and best-trained nonstate fighters in the middle east. wolf. >> ben wedeman, thank you very much. right now the united states is clearly ramping up efforts to bring american citizens in israel home. the state department chartering its first flights out of israel yesterday with u.s. citizens and more flights are now on the way t since 27 americans have been killed since last week. president biden spoke with families of those unaccounted for yesterday for over an hour. athena jones is joining us from new york. what more are we learning about that zoom call and the efforts

to bring hostages home? >> reporter: hi, wolf. we did have a readout of that call from a national security official. a father of a young son who is, they believe, in the custody of hamas said that the president stressed that the u.s. government is in this for the long haul. and while they couldn't offer a lot of information, the president spent a lot of time listening to the families sharing personal stories about what they've endured during this horrific week they've been waiting for news from their families. we know that the president told them that they are in his prayers and that the u.s. government is doing everything possible to locate and bring home their loved ones. when it comes to americans who are getting out of israel, we know that more than 20,000 u.s. citizens have contacted the state department, many of them looking to leave the country. not all of them have sought help

from the state department, but that's a large number we're dealing with. we know that the first charter flights landed in athens yesterday evacuating americans from israel. we know american airlines has announced that its flights today, tomorrow and monday are going to be on larger aircraft so they can fit more people. delta is also adding three more flights from athens to jfk to help with that transfer on monday, tuesday and wednesday. so a lot of moving parts here as the u.s. government tries to ensure u.s. citizens are safe. >> not easy getting in or out of israel right now. the airport outside of tel aviv shut down for all practical purposes and the u.s. carriers seem to have cut back dramatically if not cancelled almost all flights in and out of israel. still to come, the former israeli prime minister yair

lapid will join us live as our special coverage of israel at war continues. plus, the humanitarian crisis in gaza is growing more and more dire. we'll take a closer look at efforts to try to get tens of thousands of people to safety.

egyptian authorities are reportedly not allowing american citizens to cross the border from gaza into egypt. they say the border crossing must be used to get aid into gaza. this is happening while the humanitarian crisis in gaza is clearly deepening right now. i want to go to raphael romo in jerusalem. what's the latest you're hearing on the situation over there at that egyptian border with gaza?

>> reporter: yesterday the u.s. state department told people that there might be a possibility that the border could be open so they could cross into egypt and flee gaza. the problem was that when egyptian authorities realized that people were coming, apparently they decided to block the worborder? why? they want to get assurances that humanitarian aid for people in gaza is allowed to cross before they open the gates to let americans and other foreigners into egypt. it's a situation that is going on right now with many people. we heard from a palestinian official who told cnn that people have been waiting there for hours, many sitting in the street just waiting for that opportunity to get away from gaza, get into egypt and be away from danger. what i can tell you is that this palestinian official said that hundreds of palestinians with

foreign passports flocked to the rafah border crossing and have been there. he said the gates are closed and no one is being let through. as you know and as we have previously reported, secretary of state antony blinken was here a couple of days ago meeting with regional leaders. he was trying to find a way to help civilians in gaza and at the same time trying to find the solution to the problem of as many as 150 hostages, some americans taken captive by hamas in the first days of the terror attacks. it's a situation that is very complicated right now for people who want to flee gaza and are unable to do so. >> i want to go to selma abdullah zeez. what's the latest on the mass

evacuation of northern gaza? >> reporter: that six-hour window announced by the israeli military expired a little while ago. hundreds of thousands, if not more, are still caught in the cross hairs. the united nation says there are no safe places in gaza. there is no guaranteed refuge for families there. the evacuation order called on 1.1 million people to leave their homes in the north in just a matter of hours. rights groups said that was impossible. they couldn't set up humanitarian infrastructure quickly enough in the south of the country, that this was occurring under a complete siege of the strip. that means gazans are soon running out of fuel, food and water. what's important to remember is what about people who are not able-bodied, who are too wounded

to go south? this is disturbing images of a father and son in hospital in gaza. you can see the boy is badly wounded. his father is also wounded in that image. the boy is whispering to his dad, don't worry, don't be scared, it's okay. you have to remember when you look at pictures like that, that is a boy who has grown up in war his entire life. hamas seized the strip in 2007. there have been multiple conflicts across the years on the gauza strip, this densely populated enclave. as the humanitarian situation worsens on the ground, prime minister netanyahu saying this is only the beginning. there are hundreds of thousands of israeli troops on the border. a potential ground incursion would occur. rights groups warn this could be an absolute catastrophe.

>> we'll have more of our special coverage of israel's war on hamas right after a quick break.

right now thousands of gazans are fleeing south as israel prepares to enter the next stage. joining us now is yair lapid, a former israeli prime minister. thank you so much for joining us. i want to get your reaction to last week's horrific attack by hamas and your message to the israeli people and the world right now. what is your bottom-line message right now? >> well, my bottom-line message, i'm the son of a local survivor. last saturday was one single day

in which most jews were killed since the holocaust, since 1945. this is not going to happen again. the bottom line is we're not going to rest until hamas is out of gaza. we will not rest until the last hamas fighter is out. they butchered kids and raped women and kidnapped 1300 israelis and thousands are wounded and because i have to go every three hours to the bomb shelter with my daughter with special needs and she doesn't have words and i have no way of explaining to her why is it terrorists are trying to kill her the same way people were trying to kill her grandfather 75 years ago. >> we're going to show our

viewers a video of prime minister netanyahu visiting with israeli troops near the gaza border today, asking them if they are ready for what's to come. i do you believe a ground incursion into gaza will begin imminently? >> i think we're going to do everything that is necessary and probably an incursion is part of this in order to make sure hamas is gone from gaza. we have tried to live next to them, and the result was beheaded babies. so now we're going to do whatever is necessary to make sure hamas is no longer in gaza. >> so you believe israel's objective is to destroy hamas, to capture or kill the leadership of hamas and destroy their weapons? >> yes. we will not rest until this happens, because what happened last saturday is not going to

happen again. we were taken by surprise. nobody is denying this. it's painful and it's alarming but now we are not surprised anymore. we are angry and we are determined that this will not happen again. if we don't want this to happen again, we have to make sure hamas is out of gaza. >> as you know, in gaza the idf's order for what's called safe passage for palestinians in the northern gaza has run out. palestinian civilians heading south have come under fire at the same time. gaza authorities say at least 70 of them have been killed. the u.n. has called israel's evacuation order impossible. are you willing to accept huge numbers of civilian casualties in gaza as the cost of eliminating hamas? >> you're directing the question to the wrong people. you should ask hamas this. we're working with the united

states. president biden has said so. and with the u.n. trying to make a safe passage for the people of southern gaza. the only body that prevent this is hamas because they're using their own children as human shield because this is part of their propaganda because they want this to be reported in cnn. hamas knows how to work and make sure that those people will be moved to the southern part of gaza. they know we're coming in, so they're trying to use their own people as human shield. i think you'd be rather move this question from us to hamas. >> i know in recent days you decided not to join this emergency wartime cabinet led by the prime minister netanyahu, the former defense minister benny gantz and the current defense minister.

do you have confidence in this new cabinet to lead israel through this war? tell our viewers why you decided not to participate in this new coalition? >> i don't care about politics now. it's the least thing on my mind. i mean, babies are being killed. we're going to work together and make sure we come out of this together. there are some technicalities that are not important to me or the israel people. ten days ago, we were all about politics. now we don't care about politics. we need to protect ourself and this we're going to do together. >> at least for the time being, you're going to stay out of that new coalition?

>> yeah, but i'm working with them. i spent most of the day down south in those ghost towns we have now there, and i'm talking to government ministers and with the prime minister and we're working together. we have some differences, but they're not important right now and we're going to work together for the good of the country and to win this war. >> i don't know if you saw it, but there was a jerusalem post poll that just came out and found that 86% israelis including 79% of coalition supporters say the surprise attack by hamas was a failure of the country's leadership. how do you respond to that? do you have confidence in netanyahu to protect israelis down the road? >> well, wolf, 100% of israelis are convinced that we should not deal with this right now. right now all we have to do is fight this war and win it. there will be time for this. nobody is denying the fact that it was a horrible failure here,

both of intelligence and leadership, but this is not the time. i mean, we didn't finish half of the funerals yet. we have people held in captivity, young women, children inside gaza by terrorists who might do the most horrific things to them. so we will deal with the failures, because this is what you do. the israeli defense army is a learning organization that was brutally honest with itself in terms of exploring the mistakes that were made, but this is not the time. right now we are at war. >> cnn has verified video showing hamas training for its attack against israel two kilometers from israel's most fortified border with gaza. you acknowledge it was an intelligence failure for israel not to anticipate this hamas

attack on israel? don't israelis deserve answers now, or does this have to wait for a formal commission to review what happened? israelis are really worries about this enormous failure. >> of course they're worried. as i said, there will be time for this. right now it's way too early and we're preoccupied with other things. there's one thing i can tell you already. we made the mistake of thinking we are all sharing at least a basic standard of what being human is. we were trying our best, as you know, to give them work permits, to make sure they were able to have a living dawn in gaza. i mean, we were supplying with everything they needed for a long, long time. what we got in return is beheaded children. so now we have learned that lesson and we are going to work accordingly. >> what's the lesson you've learned from that? >> that hamas should be out of gaza and will be out of gaza and

we will make sure those people will not be able to harm us again. >> so assuming you succeed in destroying hamas in gaza and remove their leadership, destroy their weapons, who will be in charge of gaza? >> well, this is a question everybody is dealing with. my thinking is it will have to have some sort of combination between the international community and the palestinian authority, but this is way early to discuss this. >> but it's something important to consider down the road if you succeed in this military mission. >> i agree. one of the things we have learned is that you don't go into a military operation without having a clear exit strategy. as i said, the exit strategy, to my mind, but still this is going to be debated, is to find a way to bring back the palestinian authority to gaza. i don't think it's in israel's interest to run the lives of the

2 million people who live in gaza right now. but we have to concentrate now on fighting hamas and also to prevent other arenas to become part of this, mainly hezbollah in lebanon. >> how concerned are you about a second front opening up between israel and southern lebanon, where there are thousands of missiles that potentially could be directed at northern israel? >> of course i'm concerned and everybody is. we are thankful to president biden and his team, because they got involved in this, making sure hezbollah, syria and iran, who's behind hezbollah, understand that we know what they're doing. we were caught by surprise once. we won't be caught by surprise twice. as i've said, we are not surprised now. we are angry and it's a bad idea to mess with us right now. we are at the peak of our readiness and alertness. therefore, i don't think it would be in their best interest

to try to screw with us now. it's an opportunity to thank president biden and his team, because they were extremely helpful, including the fact that two american carriers are now on our borders making suropve the have the backing of our ally and friend. >> i want our viewers to listen to what president hertzog said. >> first of all, we have to understand as a state in a way that has built a machine of evil right at our doorstep, it's an entire nation out there that is responsible. it's not true. this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it's not true. they would have risen up.

they could have fought against that evil regime which took over gaza in a coup d'etat. >> what's your reaction to that, prime minister? >> well, it's the same view in different words. as i said, hamas is in charge, hamas is accountable to anything or everything that is happening now to the people of gaza. if they want to make sure there will be free passage to the southern part of gaza, they can do it. they have these capabilities. as i'm telling you, right now hamas is the only organization or the only body preventing the people of gaza from clearing from the battle zone. the reason people do not understand this is because this level of horrifying evil is uncomprehendible. the reason they're doing this is

because they want us to discuss it on television. >> do you think the palestinian population in gaza should have risen up and gone after hamas? >> well, i think they shouldn't have elected hamas in 2006. i mean, they knew better than everyone that this is not a regime, this is a terror organization. those people are terrorists. they're not going to change. they're not even palestinian nationalists. they are part of a pan-arabic islamic fundamentalist terror network, and they want everybody to be either their version of islam, which is a very radical, twisted version of islam, or dead, jews, christian, moderate muslims, everybody. >> yair lapid, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. thank you for the support. still to come, u.s.

intelligence warned that was a potential for violence days before the hamas attack against israel. we have details, new information coming in right after the break.

sources say while there were warnings of increased activity by hamas, those warnings did not detail anything like what happened when the attacks unfolded. it's also unclear if any u.s. assessments were actually shared in advance with israel. i'm joined by a former cia operative. what do you make of this apparent intelligence failure by israel and other countries, including the united states, to not be aware of this upcoming terrorist attack in advance? >> it's an enormous intelligence failure. this attack was very sophisticated, took thousands of people to carry it out, it was very disciplined on the part of

hamas, the military that knew what they were doing. as we know, wolf, they're operating out of tunnels. it's impossible for overhead to catch some of this planning. yes, fine, they were training on parag paragliders, but that doesn't really tell you much. unless you know about the planning, you can't prepare for it. as for the egyptian warning and cia picking up indications of it, these happen all the time, but it's not actionable intelligence and that's the real problem. >> i know you spent extensive time in the middle east and you had hundreds of hours of interviews with hamas prisoners in israeli. help us better understand the hamas mindset on why they decided to carry out this major terrorist operation that has now forced the entire israeli military to mount what is certainly going to be an imminent ground invasion into

gaza. >> the problem for the israelis is that hamas today, the military wing is the islamic state. they will not compromise or come to a rational truce. they intend to destroy israel. when i would see these guys in israeli prisons, there was a would-be suici bomber. i said what are you going to do when you get out of prison? he said, i'm going to walk back into israel and blow myself up. it's uncompromising. the fact is hamas needs to be thrown out. it's a death cult. there's no other way to describe it. >> what are you bracing for now? what do you anticipate will happen in the coming days? >> the israelis are going to walk into an ambush. hamas is going to come out of these tunnels, blow themselves up. they refer to themselves as martyrs.

this is going to be a horrible long slog to get to the bottom of gaza. frankly, i hear the far-right in israel talk about this. it's almost as if you have to drive the palestinians into egypt, because there is no alternative leadership. f fatah is not going to come back and rule palestine. it's not going to happen. it's a horrible dilemma for netanyahu. >> what do you think he should do? >> you know, he probably has to drive them into egypt. i'm not supporting that. i'm just saying from a strategy point of view, i don't see that israel has another choice. >> thank you for your expertise. >> thank you. we'll be right back with more news.

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cnn is now learning more details about that deadly hamas terror attack on a music festival in israel where some 260 people, mostly young people, were killed. it is believed to be the single deadliest attack by hamas during their infiltration into israel last saturday, one week ago. anderson cooper goes inside the site of that music festival, where the signs of devastation and terror caused by hamas are still apparent. just a word of caution to our viewers, this story may be difficult to watch. ♪ >> reporter: the music was playing, the dance floor packed when the rockets began. just three miles from the border with gaza, it didn't take long for hamas gunmen to arrive.

some festival-goers were able to get to their cars, but many were killed before they could get a away. this soldier has never seen anything like it. >> this is a mar ssacre. i don't have any recall of memory in the history of israel since it was established from this kind of event. >> reporter: the bodies and body parts of the dead have been removed, but people's processions are strewn all ar around. the carnage is clear, burned-out cars, bullet holes, bloodstains on seats. from some cars, the idf has retrieved dash cam videos that show hamas gunmen roaming the site for hours, shooting freely. under the car, you can see a man hiding. he moves slightly, then stops. a gunman runs right up to him and shoots him point-blank in

the head or upper body. >> i don't know how people can explain this. i don't have the words to explain it. then running away with on motorcycles with girls to gaza. >> reporter: fleeing east across open fields was the only way out for many, but they were easy targets. others sought safety in nearby bomb shelters. this is dash cam video of a hamas gunman tossing a grenade into a shelter. when a man runs out to escape, they fire on him repeatedly. in another shelter north of the festival site, about 30 people tried to hide. a man named noam cohen recorded inside. you can hear the panic in the voices asking what's going on. we aren't going to show you what happened next. cohen says hamas gunmen repeatedly tossed grenades into

the shelter. people inside were blown apart. it's one of the most gruesome videos we've ever seen. this is some of the aftermath. noam cohen survived hiding under body parts. that's him, terrified, but alive. we found a shelter yesterday evening. someone had put a curtain up over the doorway, but nothing could hide the smell as you enter. my cameraman neil hals wworth, who's experienced a lot of war, began to wretch and stepped outside. there's bloody handprints on the wall, there's blood smeared on the walls. you can see probably these are either bullet holes or from the grenades that were thrown in here. body parts have already been

collected from here, but blood-soaked clothes and shoes remain. this looks to be a bloody handprint. the shelter is 15 feet long, maybe 6 feet wide. the idea of so many people packed in here standing shoulder to shoulder terrified and screaming, it's incredible that anybody was able to survive. there are other shelters like this, other tragedies still to be discovered. the full horror of what happened here is just starting to come to light. anderson cooper, israel. >> you can see a new episode of "the whole story" tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. eastern. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>