you're live in the cnn newsroom. i'm jim acosta. new tonight the pentagon is sending a second aircraft carrier to the eastern mediterranean. this comes as israel's military readiness is preparing for the next stage of war. that means likely a ground invasion into gaza. the soldiers are at the border. meanwhile, president biden has been working the phones today, speaking with the palestinian authority. president mahmoud abbas who has called for an immediate end to the attacks. abbas stressed the need to

provide essential supplies to the palestinians. meanwhile, president biden spoke with benjamin netanyahu. their fifth phone call since last saturday. today netanyahu posted a video online of his visit with israeli troops at the front line. now to matthew chance who is in northern israel for us. matthew, our colleague erin burnett is also standing by in tel aviv. we'll get back to her when we can. what can you tell us about what is happening? obviously the concerns continue. that thing could escalate to where there is a northern front and there might be some continued escalation between the israelis and hezbollah. what's the latest on your end? >> well, it's very tense up here in northern israel. as the country prepares for that widely anticipated ground offensive in gaza, the real focus of concern, i suppose in

the region is what will happen in northern israel. just across the border in lebanon, which is just a short distance from here, hezbollah, the iranian-backed militia there have a vast arsenal of missiles. basically pointed in this direction. and if it decides to unleash those weapons in response to the land incursion into gaza by israeli forces, that will be a game-changer. the israelis have said they will strike back hard and they've warned the hezbollah militia not to take that step across the red line. they said they don't want the second front. but if it does open, they'll respond in force. you also have u.s. forces, as we've he saiwe've been reportin world's largest aircraft carrier is there. there's another uss carrier group heading in that direction as well.

and that is meant to the u.s. government says, show a message of deterrence. but of course, it could also be used, these aircraft carriers, they could be used as platforms to strike countries in the region, to strike hezbollah. for instance, if there is a concerted attack on northern israel by that lebanese iranian-backed militia. at the moment. there hasn't been that level of escalation reached. there have been some confrontation. mortar rockets fired across the border from lebanon and that has been responded to by the israeli military with artillery fire. there have been missiles fired from syria as well across the border into israel. across the border into israeli military officials and an israeli response to that as well. what we haven't seen yet is that big destructive all-out attack

by hezbollah on northern israel. so look, it could still happen. and we hope that it won't. but certainly the israelis say that they are prepared for any kind of an attack like that. >> all right. thank you very much. please keep us updated on how things are developing. thank you very much. erin burnett, i understand you have the prime minister neftali bennett with you. >> reporter: yes, i'm here with the former prime minister. and here, it is 2:00 in the morning. and you are awake. you have been in meetings. it doesn't seal like anyone in the israeli government is sleeping right now. what is the latest as you're able to tell us? >> we're still licking our wounds and have not identified all the slaughtered israelis. that's one process. right now in the south, it seems

like we're on top of things. and here and there there are a bunch of terrorists jumping out but we by and large kill them. we're in a lull right now. waiting for the next phase. the next phase is our counter attack on gaza. the big murder event is behind us. now we'll hit back within days. >> within days. and i guess that's the question. we trito spain a sense of ominous waiting. businesses aren't open. the kids aren't in school. you can't wait like that for long and it sounds like you're not anticipating waiting like that for long. >> i can't say exactly how long but what i can tell you is that across the board in israel, everyone, wall to wall, are eager to hit back. i've been visiting various units. i myself was a combat soldier.

the enrollment rates are about 130% which means people who already were discharged years ago are insisting to join and fight. make no mistake, while our hearts are shattered, our spirits are strong and we'll hit back. >> you talk about 130%. i've met a few of them. a yoga instructor who said i'm done. i came back in. >> i also wanted to do it but they didn't let me because i'm a former prime minister. >> too high profile. i was there today and you've been to these scenes. it is impossible to describe. one soldier was telling me, he's been serving for decades. never seen anything like it going into a house. the specific story, the house had been burned but it was locked. he found a girl baby inside shot

once in the head on her back. these are the unspeakable. have you even had a chance to process this? maybe you never will. >> no. it's too early for that. young girls gang-raped and murdered and then burned. their arms tied behind their backs. >> we saw the zip ties. >> a mom who was pregnant, the baby torn out. horrible things. you know, since israel's establishment, we've never seen anything like this. the last time we've seen anything near stuff like this was the holocaust. and we founded the state precisely so this would never happen again. so we've got to fix this. we can't change history but we can shape the future.

we're going to hit back on hamas until we destroy them. we'll kill every hamas snake possible. >> you've made it clear that israel doesn't have the desire to have gaza. this is specifically about hamas. how do you draw the distinction? everyone knows it's not easy but how will you do it from an operational perspective? >> that's a very important question. hamas's m.o. is to embed civilians as defense. so what we're doing is the following. we set a line pretty much in the middle of gaza and we told all people living north of that line to have moo to the south. vacate it and they are. the vast majority are moving southward. we don't want to kill civilians. we never do that. within a short time frame, once north of gaza is empty, anyone there by definition is hamas.

and then we'll hit every hamas installation, person, anyone related. anyone related to the organization, anyone who assists the hamas, and it will be very, we're going to unleash our power. >> a question though. to state the obvious. when you announce you're going to do something, if you're a hamas fighter, why would you stay around? i'll put aside that moving 1.1 million people is impossible in a short period of time. but you're telling them what you're going to do. so how then do you expect them to stay? >> well, we're going to hit them, we'll hit in all places and since there are major operations centers and headquarters are there -- >> yes. >> this will be meaningful. now, at that point they'll have to make very tough decisions for the hamas themselves. where they go, et cetera. i'm no longer prime minister so at this, at this time, so, that

is the plan. we're going to make a clear distinction. anyone south of gaza city, everyone has to be south of the city from our perspective. that's the safe alleghany. >> how strongly do you feel that rafah border, it's already the most densely populated place in the world and you're trying to double it. >> it's not the most densely placed in the world. that's a misconception. new york is more dense. paris is more dense. there is a misconception. there is enough land there. it is not fun but there is a huge difference between temporary refuge and burning babies and raping young girls. so this is highly proportional and even weigh under the

threshold. it will be tough. we won't prevent it from coming in. we won't provide them. israel has no duty to have another country with anything. if other countries want to provide water or medicine, et cetera, that's theirs to do. we're fighting from my perspective a nazi state. but again, we won't target civilians. >> i don't know if you heard the news but warrioren lieberman was here for a long time. they've deployed another strike group to the region which is an incredibly high rate of readiness. i don't know if you are aware of that. what do you read into that? >> basically, what america is doing, first of all, i have to thank president biden, my friend, and the administration, and the people of the united states of america. at this very tough moment for

israel, you're showing what friendship means and what being a dependable ally means. this is very meaningful. on a more concrete dimension, it is basically a signal to hezbollah in iran. don't have any thoughts of entering this battle because you're going to get hit hard. not only by israel but by others. >> in the north, matthew chance was just reporting from there. it is obviously a very dangerous place a. journalist was killed there. you're not seeing the same conflict there. do you anticipate it will remain that way? what do you need, coordination between hezbollah and hamas at this moment? >> this pressure on hezbollah to enter, because hamas is beginning to be in a much tougher situation than they

envisioned. but hezbollah cannot surprise us now because we're there. we were taken by surprise by hamas. in war you never want to attack an enemy who is waiting for you and that's with a we're doing. waiting for them. it would be tantamount to that. and since he claim that he's the protector of lebanon, i think it would be a big mistake for him to turn himself into the destroyer of lebanon. >> how do you feel right now about the fact that in jordan, king abdullah and in egypt, they are not opening their doors to large numbers of refugees? do you think that they should? >> i'm not going to give advice to both of them. they have their own interests.

at the end of the today, we're not out to hurt the gaza people but we're also not responsible for them. we have no responsibility for an enemy state or any state. so whoever really cares can come and help. can come and allow them in or whatever. it's simply not our problem. >> and then in terms of where your meetings are. one other question everyone is asking, when you make this move, the next few days, everyone knows, you said you're going to do. what is your intelligence about iran's response? >> that's also a good question. iron is sort of the head of this octopus and it has various arms. it has syria. it knows that we will allow ourselves to hit it on the head

in certain circumstances. they have many power centers. i think it would be a grave mistake for them to enter. >> all right. thank you very much. very glad to see you. obviously these late hours of the night, early hours of the morning. and i think it is important to say the reason neftali bennett is here, like sole in the top levels of the israeli government, they're working through the night, too. to your questions about when this hangs, they're staying up all night doing these things. human beings can only do that for so long. >> it's been a lot of long hours for everybody. thank you very much for your time. we appreciate it. we'll be right back.

moments ago, president biden addressed the israel-hamas war while speaking at the national dinner in washington, d.c. >> the humanitarian crisis in gaza, innocent palestinian families in the vast majority had nothing to do with hamas. they're being used as human shields. yesterday, i spoke for over an hour with the family mental of those americans still unaccounted for in a zoom call. they've endured in agony of not knowing what's happening. it's one thing to lose someone you know you're going to lose and you're there with them and hold their hands like i was able to do with my son. a very different thing to get a phone call i got years ago, saying there is been an accident. your wife and daughter are dead. i'm not sure your boys are going

to make it. the uncertainty of those two or three hours, trying to get back to find out. it's the worst feeling in the world. gut-wrenching. and yet another reminder that hate never goes away. it only hides. it hides under the rocks. i thought being so deeply involved in the civil rights movement when i was able to convince of all people strom thurmond voting in the voting rights act in the last year. i thought, you can defeat hate. guess what happened? hate just hides under the rocks until there is a little oxygen blown under, like happened. what happened in charlottesville. just a little bit. and it comes roaring out again. folks, we have to reject hate in every form. history has taught us again and

again, antisemitism, islam phobia, hopo phobia, they're all connected. hate toward one group left unanswered opens the door for more hate toward more groups more readily. but here's what it shows. the antidote to hate is love. the answer is solidarity. standing up for everyone -- >> let's talk with the unfoaling situation in israel and gaza with retired u.s. general, former deputy assistant secretary in the middle east. i guess we just learned that the u.s. is sending another aircraft carrier group, strike force group to the mediterranean near israel. what do you make of that? >> well, i think it is meant to be a very, very clear sign. not only to iran but to hezbollah and lebanon.

if you decide to attack, we've got the capabilities to stop you. if they don't like that message of deterrence, it is clear the united states is not just drawing a red line like president obama did in syria. but in this case, it certainly sounds like president biden is serious. >> and general, what is your sense of where thing stand right now? the prime minister of israel, netanyahu, went down to the front line earlier today. met with some of the forces there on the ground. i guess presumably, gearing up for an invasion. right now, as we're looking at some live pictures of gaza at 2:22 in the morning their time, it is eerily quiet right now. is this the calm before something very big and violent happens? >> it could be. and i would suspect at the granular level, at the troop

level, they're getting some sleep right now. the good commanders are telling their troops, get some sleep. for those guys not getting sleep. they can't get to sleep. they're probably cleaning their weapons, putting more batteries in their night vision goggles. the worst thing is when they hit the line of departure, 38 already tired. they're going over their pres precombat checks. they're waiting for the execution order. it may not come tonight or tomorrow night or the night after that. but it also provides an opportunity for that humanitarian crisis that is evolving right now, provides more and more opportunity for those gazans to get out of there and get down to the south so they won't be part of this. >> we talked with an idf spokesperson today. and he indicated to some extent that they were giving people in

gaza bit more time to get out of that northern area. move to the southern part of gaza. you know, it goes without saying that not all of them are going to go. and i'm just curious, what your thoughts are. we heard the former prime minister neftali bennett talking to my colleague a short time ago. and he seemed to be saying that the israelis want to hit hamas. they want to hit them very hard. they want the make a statement. if they're doing it in an area somewhat densely populated with people who may still be on foot trying to evacuate that area, at the time, they're trying to hunt down and rout out leaders of hamas. it doesn't take military experts to figure out this could be a very messy situation. >> yeah. i think it's been very clear they've established specific humanitarian corridors from these people leaving gaza and heading south. i would not expect to see military operations anywhere

near those for a couple of weeks. i think that this initial bravado that was broadcast by the israeli leadership, the military leadership has probably done exactly as you say. tell these people to relax. we can do this right. we can do this sensibly. as the old saying goes, let's not rush to failure. >> yeah. but your sense of it, if this is a densely populated area. they said maybe it's not the most densely populated. there is no question about it. we were talking about with some other guests. this question of, if the point of the operation is to rout out and crush the hamas leadership but you're doing it in a fashion that involves street by street, house by house, urban combat, does one get in the way of the

other? >> come on, jim. you remember 20 years ago. our marines going through fallujah. and it is exactly the same scenario. the only difference is that you can put nine fallujahs into the city of gaza. it is that big. 45 square kilometers. there is no doubt. urban combat, particularly with the presence of civilians. and if they're still there, they will not be friendly civilians. that's the toughest kind of warfare necessary. you can be sure the hamas military leadership is holed up in there and they're ready to fight. of course, while the hamas political leadership is enjoying their five-star hotels in doha. >> right. and the prospect that hostages could get caught up in this. >> hostages will be. i think, but i will tell you, i think that's already been accounted for. i found the most interesting comment over the last couple

days is when secretary of defense lloyd austin said, we want them to show resolve. he did not say we want them to show restraint. to me, that's the difference in how america sees this. how american military sees this and israeli leadership sees this as well. i certainly hope restraint will be shown. i hope this will be a short war. the leadership will be turned over and the hostages returned. i don't see it at this point. >> all right. thank you very much for your time. we appreciate it. and we'll have more on all this straight ahead. be right back.

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israeli officials believe as many as 150 people were taken hostages during hamas's brutal

assault last weekend. they are hoping for signs of life as hamas is claiming the idf shelling has killed some of those held hostage. i want to bring in an idf sld, expected to return to active service in the next day or two. his grandmother seen in this video kidnapped last week as she cried for help. she's 84 years old. she's lived in her kibbutz since she was 18. she has five grandchildren. she is one of at least 78 people taken from her community which is a population of just 800. warren knows about 50 of those people kidnapped. and i can't even comprehend what that is like to know 50 people are possibly a hostage right now. you don't know their situation. your grandmother, your family received what's app messages from her saturday morning. so you're getting messages from her.

then her phone went dark. it didn't go dark until that evening. have you been able to piece anything together about what happened? >> we know that she cried for help. she yelled, help me, help me, in hebrew. the neighbor goes outside the house, tried to shoot the terrorists but there were so many so he comes back home to save himself. he saw her and then he saw them take it out of her house. that's all we know. we got the video tuesday night, three days after. and that's all we know. we didn't see another photo of her in gaza, nothing. we don't have any more information. >> but i know that on saturday and sunday, you could have, of course, given what the news was, you could have been for sure

worried that she was dead. when you find out on tuesday that that video posted on facebook that she could be alive. i mean, in a sense, it must have been an incredible sense of relief, although an incredible fear about where she is. have they told you about anything being done to find her? >> not a single thing. nothing. they didn't talk to us at all. at all. they didn't have any new information. don't say anything about negotiating to bring them back. nothing. >> and the claim that more were killed in an air strike in gaza. we don't know a lot. but it's possible that that happened. do you have any message to the

idf about how they are handling the hostage situation? >> i just want my grandma and all the kidnapped people to come home safe. that's all we want. of course, we need to protect us but we need to consider that 200 people or 150 people, israeli citizens, are now in gaza strip. i don't know what happened. i don't know if someone in the idf know where are they. all i know is my in anana is th and they strike all the time and she might die. >> your grandmother, 50 people that you know, an overwhelming thing for anyone watching to even understand. on top of that, you're a soldier yourself. i know you'll be going back to

active service in just the next day or two. are you ready? >> no. i don't think anyone is ready for this fighting. anyone in the country knows someone that has been killed or kidnapped or, i don't know. everyone is broken. we try to do the best we can to continue our lives. to save our country. and i'm not ready. i don't know when i will be ready. but it's something that needs to be done. i have two wars to fight. one is the fight of my country and one is the fight of my family. the mental health of my family, and the fight on my grandma. >> thank you very much for telling us about her, sharing your thoughts with us and your

story. thank you. i hope you will keep us updated on your grandmother. we'll be right back with our breaking coverage. >> thank you very much. i just want to say one more thing. we need to make sure that they have medications. we need to make sure they got support because there's a lot of elderly people in there and they don't have their medicine. they need them to live and i don't know what can happen until they come back. i don't know. you need to ensure that you do everything you can. i don't know what our government will do. no one talks to us. >> all right. i hope they will talk to you and give you more information. i hear that. there are elderly and people who desperately need those medications. thank you very much. please stay safe yourself as you

return to duty. and we will be right back.

multiple sources tell cnn the intelligence community warned of the potential for conflict between israel and hamas. more with cnn natural sift and former deputy of national intelligence, beth, i appreciate you coming in. what's going on with this intelligence failure? it's unclear if these assessments were shared, i suppose. but some of the intelligence that the u.s. had was from israel. >> absolutely. and there's some reporting that some of the very specific things that hamas was doing in terms of training right out in the open, that the israelis knew about

those things. so i can explain things by very technical things like, they were relying on technical means and they didn't have good assets. but really, it's about the human mind, and about how the mindset of the israelis to think, not able to have the imagination to think that hamas was capable of these things and to take that information and to say, this is different instead of putting it into the same box with the same assumptions and having very linear analysis. that's what most intelligence failures are about. >> it's that expression we heard after 9/11. a failure of imagination. we were showing this video. showing hamas terrorists. their propaganda video but instructive to everybody outside the region to see what they were up to. what is incredible is that some of this training was going on within a mile of the israeli border? >> yes. >> how did they not pick up on

this? or did they see it and think -- i think that there was what we call in the business, denial and deception. i suspect that they did pick up quite a bit of this. but they just thought that the line that hamas was giving them, they were picking up indications that it was about the west bank. not about gaza. or they weren't ready to go. so they saw this training but they didn't think it was happening any time soon. and they didn't put all the pieces together to see that it would be this really very elaborate combined operation. so i think that this is the kind of thing in hindsight, you know, it becomes very, very clear. in the moment, you know, you just don't do it. and the u.s. intelligence community, we've had our own failures. we understand this. when you look at what happened to them. this probably isn't the time for

them to be thinking too much about it but they have to actually address this issue of, do they have enough intelligence to conduct these operations now in terms of going into gaza, eliminating the hamas leadership, and trying to rescue these hostages? >> one has to think they're going back and reexamining the intelligence that they were banking on going into this operation. if the stuff they had before wasn't reliable, what do they have now? let me ask but the news of the day which is the pentagon sending this second aircraft carrier group into that region. what does that tell us? >> well, israel has to do two things right now. they have to figure out the hamas problem and try to solve that. they have to try to reestablish deterrence. because what hamas did, maybe it's a tactical failure. maybe, you know, they were defeated in a lot of ways. strategically, they have succeeded in shattering this image of invincibility for

israel's security and intelligence organizations. >> israel is vulnerable. >> yes. so what does the u.s. do? we bring in the second carrier to show the seriousness that we are taking this. and saying -- >> there are other actors. >> absolutely. so this is what blinken's tour around the region was about today as well. going to qatar and the foreign minister of iran was in qatar today. he was meeting with the head of hamas. a political group. he was also meeting with the officials in qatar and you know they're telling them, do not escalate. >> all this out in the open to put the u.s. and israelis on notice as well. >> all right. thank you very much. appreciate it. more on the breaking news coming up. a live report from israel straight ahead. stay with us.

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as the conflict between israel and hamas worsens officials across europe are warning of rising anti-semitic sentiments. this is very troubling. what are you learning? >> reporter: jim, there had been a rise in acts and speech over the course of the years and always with a very close link with what was happening in the middle east. this time as well with tensions running as high as regionally, the expectation and fear was the tensions would be felt here in europe and so it's proven. far from the front lines of the

israel-hamas floor, many european jews say they're not just feeling the pain of what's happening there but also feeling the potential ramifications much closer to home. in france, at the great synagogue, a prayer is held for the people of israel. it's a fervent prayer. after reports of anti-semitic incidents in parts of europe, after hamas laufermgd its assault on israel more than a week ago and israel's subsequent bombardment of gaza. >> first of all it's important to be present whenever the jewish people are in danger. unfortunately we're used to this kind of gathering and this kind of prayer. we're tired of it all. nevertheless we have to respond in unity. >> reporter: france is home to europe's largest jewish population as well as the largest muslim population in western europe.

urging the citizens to be united though the french police used a warning and tear gas for the people which had been banned by french officials citing concerns about public order. there are fears of further unrest in france. 10,000 police officers have been deployed to protect synagogues and jewish schools and on friday france raised its security alert to its highest level. after a knife i tack at a school was linked to the conflict between israel and hamas. the uk is also stepping up security after reports of increased anti-semitic incidents. the british nonprofit organization that monitors anti-semitism says the numbers of incidents that was reported to them last week has increased 300% compared to the same period last year. tensions and times spilling out

onto the streets of london where flyers of israelis reportedly kidnapped by hamas were torn down. >> this is for palestinians. >> it's children, it's nipt people. >> what about the children in palestine. >> reporter: germany now says it has a zero tolerance policy towards anti-semitic acts and will ban all activity about hamas and the officials say they can do no less. >> protecting jewish life in germany is part of the identity of our democracy. the security of jews in democracy is at its core. only if they live in peace and security can our country as a whole do so. >> reporter: pro palestinian protests remain banned here in france. that didn't prevent people from gathering once again this afternoon. 19 arrests made there.

also today, both the louvre and another location evacuated for bomb threats, a reminder and indication just how tense the situation remains. >> absolutely. melissa bell, thank you very much for that report. we appreciate it. now for joining me this evening. see you back here tomorrow starting at 5:00 eastern, our special coverage of israel at war is next with my colleagues with, john berman and anderson cooper.