that was a short time ago. the sound of gunfire and explosions lightsi ing -- lightg up the sky. this is cnn's nic robertson's position a mile from the border with gaza. a dramatic escalations of the conflict building to israel's official goal in all this, to smash hamas and rescue the hostages. israel's military says it has troops inside gaza, but it's not clear yet if this is the expanded operation, whether it's the beginning of that broad ground incursion that was widely anticipated for many days. wolf, how are things on your end? >> certainly intense here. civilians in northern gaza, jim, say last night was the heaviest bombardment of the conflict so far. israel's defense minister says the intensifying assaults will improve israel's chances of freeing all the hostages, more than 200. listen to this --

>> translator: we are making any effort in order to return them to us, to our country. it's very complicated effort. it's dealing with reality that we didn't know in the past. we are ready to do anything possible. this is not a secondary mission. this is a national priority. >> today the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, met with the families of the israeli hostages being held in gaza. they told him they would only support a comprehensive deal that frees all the israeli hostages at the same time in exchange for palestinians held in israeli prisons. just minutes ago, a hamas spokesman said -- says hamas would accept that, would be ready to accept that for a full prisoner swap, meaning all of the palestinian prisoners being

held in israel would have to be freed. cnn's nic robertson joining us live from sderot, israel, near the gaza border. nic, i understand you've been hearing and seeing explosions where you are throughout the day. what's the latest? >> reporter: yeah, wolf, i would say the last half an hour has been a little quieter. quiet to the point that we can hear some of the heavy armor moving right along the border fence about a mile or so from where we are. i can hear it's the heavy armor because we know what the tanks sound like when they're on the move. the heavy infantry fighting vehicles, they make a distincttive sound. that's what we can hear from along the border fence right now. it was much heavier earlier this evening, a lot of air strikes, a lot of artillery fire. tank fire, very intense tank fire from around here. but today we've been able to take an opportunity to get to some vantage points and to see exactly what the idf is doing along the border, get a look

right into the beginnings of that incursion as it's happening. racing along the border with gaza, israeli tanks and incursion force on the move. part of the idf's intensification of operations preparing the way for an expected large-scale ground offensive. that dirt track down there where you can see the dust coming up, that's the road that runs along the israeli side of the border. we've been able to hear intense gunfire from the idf shooting into gaza. tank around, as well, fired from there right into gaza. machine gun fire erupts as unseen soldiers battle for control of the fields that separate the border from the crowded gaza towns.

inside the towns, smoke rising from intensified strikes where the idf says hamas hides in underground tunnels and among civilians. israel's defense minister announcing a new phase in the war. >> translator: last night the ground in gaza shook. we attacked terror operatives of all ranks in every location. >> reporter: the tempo of battle rising noticeably friday night. power, phone, and internet services cuts cut in the north of the densely populated palestinian enclave. hospitals already short of medicine, water, and other essentials at times appearing overrun with casualties. on saturday, in apparent desperation with deteriorating

humanitarian conditions, some gazans stormed a compound looting food. >> people in gaza are dying. they are not only dying from bombs and strike, soon many more will die from the consequences of siege in both on the gaza strip. >> reporter: with nightfall saturday, the idf keeping up the pressure on hamas. the pace of strikes unrelenting as the ground offensive continues. israel's prime minister promising more to come. >> translator: the war in gaza will be long, we are going to fight in the air, ground, and sea. we are going fight and win. >> reporter: so far only a tiny fraction of israel's fighting force of more than half a million troops have crossed the battle lines into gaza. what comes next could ignite

tensions way beyond israel's borders. and it is that next move that counts for so much, wolf. not only how the operation goes inside gaza, but how it signaled to the rest of the region how hezbollah views the incursion. does it see it as a massive spike and a trigger for it to enter into action? the prime minister today talking about how there are more commanders, more fighters now in enemy territory, knowing that the country is behind them. but it's hoped this ramps up, if you will, will lead to the success or the failure and also -- also have an impact on what hezbollah and other organizations outside of israel will choose to do, how iran will potentially respond to the situation here. if it goes well for israel finish the civilian casualties are low and they can take out the hamas leadership, then there's a potential, a potential

there to keep some of those enemies at bay. but if the perception goes against israel more strongly than it is today, then this really could escalate, wolf. >> this is clearly a critical, critical moment in this war. nic robertson in sderot, israel, outside of gaza, thank you very much, and stay safe over there. right now i want to bring in our special guest, tom nides, former u.s. ambassador to israel. he understands the region well. ambassador, thank you so much for joining us. we should disclose that tom is also married to our colleague, executive vice president virginia mosely. sources tell cnn that progress was being made in the negotiations for the hostages, more than 200 being held in gaza by hamas. are you surprised that israel would choose this time to intensify its aerial and ground assault? >> well, i think as you know the president's objectives have been very clear from the get-go on this. one is to eliminate hamas as a threat to the state of israel, which i think we all agree needs

to happen. and two is to get these hostages out. and i think it's very important that the united states and israel, which i'm very confident, have had many conversations with many at the white house, they're in constant contact between israel and, obviously, in qatar and all the parties involved, and obviously i know the white house is very much focused on trying to get those hostages out. at the same time, they are very focused on the humanitarian issues that are going on in gaza. as you know, this fight is not with the palestinian people. it's with hamas. and at the same time, trying to make sure that hezbollah and iran don't get involved. so it's a very complicated puzzle, and i'm quite confident that the administration is focused very clearly on the objectives at hand. >> earlier today, ambassador, israel's defense minister said that intensifying israel's assault on hamas right now will actually, in his words, help hostage negotiations. what do you make of that?

>> listen, wolf, you know, my heart breaks for these families. think about what these families are going through in israel and trying to get their loved ones. there's little kids, there's mothers, grandmothers, there's americans that are sitting there. obviously i know these people well, i know the defense minister in israel well. i know the prime minister. i know that they'll do everything they possibly can to get these men and women out of gaza. remember how we got here -- these people were kidnapped by hamas and are being hidden and used as human shields against -- against their will. they need to be released. we need to do everything we can to release them. and i am sure, i'm confident israel is doing whatever they can to accomplish that goal, as well. >> does a full israeli ground incursion into gaza against the hamas targets to try to destroy hamas and destroy the infrastructure, its weapons and all of that, make it potentially more likely that hezbollah or

even iran for that matter could be drawn into this war? >> listen, you know the region well. these are real threats. i'm confident that the president and the secretary of state and jake sullivan, national security adviser, are focused on making sure that doesn't happen. when the president says multiple times superpowers don't bluff, i think he's dead serious. he sent a strong message to hezbollah and iran and the proxies, don't get involved. so i'm confident that through our actions and the actions of our allies that they will stay at the sidelines. obviously it's a worry as it's a worry for everyone. >> as you know, the u.s. now has not far away from where i am over here along the mediterranean, the u.s. has two aircraft carrier battle groups, strike groups, in the eastern mediterranean not far from stall or lebanon for that matter or even gaza. you think that's enough to keep iran, to send a message of deterrence to iran out of this

conflict? >> well, listen, again, i'm obviously not in the administration, but i think it's shown by what this president has done vis-a-vis ukraine and sent a very strong message to the russians. we've got the ukrainians' back, we have disrael's back. i think it's clear that when the administration says something they mean it. by sending the two aircraft carriers there with all the other operations that are in the region, i think the iranians are going to make a very serious calculation. do they want to get involved in this given the amount of operational constraint that we have in the region. i think at the end of the day that answer will be no. >> president biden, of course, had one word of advice to the iranians right now -- his one word, don't. tw that's what he said, don't. the crisis is said to be worsening by the hour. should the u.s. exert for pressure on israel to try to ease the suffering of

palestinian civilians in gaza? >> listen, i am confident that secretary blinken and the white house is working the israelis every day about this. it breaks my heart. we see these pictures that are going on in the hospitals for palestinians -- this fight is not with the palestinian people, it's with hamas. make no mistake. so we need to to make sure we do everything we can to open the corridors for more continuing humanitarian aid. listen, i know there's been some question of getting even americans out of gaza which hamas has stopped. there's -- there's evacuations not happening in northern gaza that hamas is stopping and trying to keep them in harm's way. again, i want to be clear, we need do everything we can to help the innocent palestinian people that are suffering here. i don't like it one iota, i know the white house doesn't like it. none of us do. so remember how we got here -- what hamas is doing, they do not care about the lives of the

palestinian people. they're focused on a jihadist movement to try to destroy the state of israel. in the meantime, we've got to protect, get the hostages out, and also protect the innocent palestinians that are suffering and get whatever we can to help them. >> the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, a man you know well, he said today that this is israel's second independence war. the first, of course, was in 1948 when israel was established, that was israel's independence. he says israel now is literally fighting for its very existence in this war with hamas. what do you say? >> listen, it breaks my heart. i had a conversation today with a friend in israel who lost three of his children. come on. what -- just think about this, wolf. you know this -- you've been in the region, you've worked in the region, you understand this well. this is -- would be like 350 million americans knowing someone, a family, relative, who

died in 9/11, the twin towers. that is what israel is going through. every single citizen in that country has faced what is unbelievable tragedy that they have never thought could happen. and so listen, yes, do i think this is essential for the state of israel security, without question. do i think it's important for its deterrence, absolutely. so i'm -- obviously my heart breaks for what israel is going through, and they have to do what they need do to deter this deterrence -- deter hamas from doing what they intended to do which is destroy the city of israel and create a regional war. that's their objective. that's what we have to stop. >> ambassador tom nides, thank you so much for joining us. >> stay safe, wolf. >> all right. thank you. hostage negotiations led by qatar are ongoing right now despite the escalation on the ground in gaza. but efforts are becoming increasingly more difficult. cnn's becky anderson spoke to a

spokesperson for qatar's ministry of foreign affairs earlier today. he's an adviser also to the qatari prime minister. here's part of that conversation. >> reporter: to be quite clear, the talks and mediation to effort the release of civilian hostages, possibly praviner e ex--- possibly a prisoner exchange at this point, have not collapsed, correct? >> no. i believe they are still going. they're still working on it. as i said, it's becoming more and more difficult with the current escalation, this escalation that is happening right now. one of the most terrible escalation that's have happened in the region in a really long time is making it more difficult. as i said, on the logistical side, they're just moving people, doing a land incursion and the increased bombardment. but also from a political side, of course, you know, mediation only works when you have this -- under this kind of conflict, this confrontation between both sides it becomes more difficult. it's still ongoing, and we can't

give up. we can't give up on this, on all sides. nobody in the region can tired to give up and leave it to the military people to decide what happens in the future. >> reporter: what can you provide us in terms of the details of these talks? >> well, obviously, becky, i can't get into the details of this because our main concern now is getting the hostages to their families and making sure that the mediation succeeds, and that would be very difficult, you know, right now if we share a lot of the details. but as you heard today from prime minister netanyahu and from the spokesperson of hamas we are talking around the area of more hostages coming out, talking around the idea of a prisoner exchange. we are optimistic that we're heading toward all civilian hostages, but obviously it's a fluid situation on the ground. we still don't know what. happen. >> reporter: do we know how many civilian hostages there are held in gaza at present? >> i'm not sure to be honest anybody knows.

we have our number that our -- we've discussed through the lists we get from various countries about the foreign citizens who are held hostage. we have the numbers on the israeli side, numbers on the palestinian side. but these numbers are not necessarily always the same. but the important thing here is that both sides acknowledge that the civilian hostages need to go out immediately, and both sides and especially hamas has said directly that they are willing to see hostages go out. we have to work toward that as soon as possible. >> we'll have much more just ahead of our coverage, special coverage from israel. that's coming up. plus, there's also breaking news back in the united states on the campaign trail. mike pence suspends his presidential campaign. what it means for the 2024 presidential race.

. despite israel's ongoing ground operation, and it's a major ground operation in gaza right now, a spokesperson for qatar's

foreign ministry, as we just heard, telling cnn that hostage negotiations are still ongoing right now. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has promised the families of the israeli hostages that he will exhaust all options, his words, exhaust all options, to bring their loved ones home. joining me now is a man whose sister's family escaped the hamas terrorists after they were kidnapped in kibbutz. he has been missing -- she has been missing ever since. gilly, thank you so much for joining us. can you tell us what you know happened? i know there's a lot of questions. what do you know happened? >> yeah. we know for sure that my sister was kidnapped along with her husband and their little girl, 3 years old, from their house, from her parents' house -- his parents' house. they were taken to gaza, and they managed to escape the car nearby the border, running for

their life with the child in the arms of my sister. running away from four armed terrorists shooting at them. and just at a certain point my sister understood she cannot run fast enough from people seeking to kill her and her baby. she passed the baby along so he could run faster, her husband, so he could run faster and find hiding spot, andly did. and he managed -- and he did. and he managed to stay there for over 24 hours until he reached kibbutz back when the troops were already there. but my sister couldn't do it well enough, and she -- the last time he saw her, she was hiding behind a tree, to find shelter from the bullets. and i was there for almost a whole first week, around the kibbutz, going with troops in and out this area, nearby the border trying to find any clues that she might have left. and after really extensive

searches, we got to the conclusions that she was just taken again in the same area without probably, without struggle. there was no blood or injuries. so we are assuming it's kind of assumption that she was taken and being held hostage -- >> you assume she's being held hostage in gaza now. >> yes, in a healthy form, hopefully still now. because we have no idea what they are doing while she's there. >> what are you hearing from the idf, the israel defense forces, from the israeli government about what they're doing? >> they do not update us about the different information or efforts that they're doing. i think that it's very wise of them. i don't think that we are supposed to be updated because i trust that they are doing massive intelligence efforts and negotiation efforts. i don't think it's -- in our interests that every family will know and i will be able to tell you that. but i believe they are doing so. my sister is also a german citizen. i've been through in the last few days in germany meeting with

many officials and with the german media and public and also with the foreign affairs. i know they are also doing an extensive efforts in -- >> the german government is trying to help? >> yes, absolutely. they're trying to help my sister, all the german citizens, all the citizens there as a whole. so i don't know exactly what they're doing, but i know they are also doing pressure. you can't believe we know the u.s. is doing pressure. i just -- at the point that we are right now, we are already after a few round of manipulation by hamas that kind of signal that maybe we're going to do a humanitarian act, maybe we're going to see mothers or children, the children over there, ill people. we see right now that it does not progress, so i think that we are on the verge of a crucial point that much more pressure needs to be put on hamas and different actors that are related to these efforts. >> i've been asking a lot of the

family members that i've been here now yesterday and today here in israel how they feel about this new stage of israel's operations in gaza. the military moving in on the ground right now in big numbers. how do you feel about that? >> i don't have a specific feeling about this ground operation. i have an overall worry that every day increases because we know that my sister is in the worst hand possible now on earth. i believe -- also you maybe heard today our minister of defense saying that the ground operation and the attempts, the desire to release hodges, -- hostages are not conflictional. i believe him. i believe the different efforts of professionality of our military. so i think that this pressure is vital. i think hamas tries to severely manipulate us as families, as civilians, to think that they

can control what they are doing. so i trust that this pressure is also vital, and i hope they are doing it very wisely, very calculatively. i see it's been done in stages. so i hope it's also an effort that is related to the ability of the military to release them. >> what do you want our viewers in the united states, indeed around the world, to know about your sister? >> first of all, i want them to know that my sister in no way would like me to talk about her on tv. she would not like this publicity at all. she was a very timid and introverted person. just a few days, she celebrated -- i don't think it was a celebration, but she celebrated her 36th birthday, and we did it in a rally with 25,000 germans that sang with us "happy birthday" song. so we feel in commitment. we feel this alliance. honestly, i don't think she would -- i think that i will have to give a lot of

explanations once she gets back. and she just needs us back, needs her daughter back. she needs to be safe at home. i think that this is -- this is all she wants. >> yeah. well, we hope she's going to be home very, very soon, and we wish you only the best. >> thank you. time is really running out. so we hope that this is going to happen extremely soon, and all actors are completely on it. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. we're covering all the breaking news here in israel as well as in gaza as israel enters a new phase in its military operations against the hamas terrorists. stay with us. much more of our special coverage right after this.

israel's siege on hamas appears to be inten fewing. the sound -- intensifying. the sound of gunfire and explosions. nic robertson joins us live. what's the latest on your end? are you seeing more activity on your side of things? >> reporter: yeah, we are, jim. listening to artillery going out from a battery, big artillery battery to the south of where we are, hearing big rounds go in, flying through the sky. there were flares being fired up a short time ago. the flares, we often see the troops using those to illuminate the ground around them or in front of them to get better vision on where the enemy may be. also this evening, hearing a lot more helicopter activity and some very intense, heavy machine gun fire, as well. that was in this direction which is right along the northern border of gaza strip. there you're hearing some of the

artillery being fired out there. no jets at the moment. but i did hear what sounded like a missile potentially being fired from what appeared to be the helicopter on where the sound of the helicopter was coming from. so a lot of different assets are going brought into this border fight at the moment. again, we don't know how many troops have crossed over the border today inside of gaza. the prime minister was talking about more commanders, more fighters in enemy territory. exact numbers we don't know. what we are seeing is the intensity picking up, and certainly although it's not at the level it was at earlier this evening, it is continuing. the fight very clearly going on. it erupts, it falls back. it erupts, it falls back. that's the pattern right now, jim. >> all right. nic robertson, thank you so much. stay close, we'll be back to you as things develop obviously throughout the night. we appreciate it very much. let's discuss more wita mem

of the house armed services committee. congressman, thank you so much for being here. as you can see and as we've been reporting all day, the israeli military says it's expanding its ground operations in gaza. what does that do, how does that complicate matters when it comes to getting these hostages out? >> well, we don't know actually what the calculation is to this. nobody ever wants to do urban combat. i did nearly seven months in combat, and it was hellish. even then we had a very much an overmatch compared to the insurgents and terrorists we were fighting. so my interpretation why we were doing this is they had no other option, as there was the only option they had to get those hostages out, unfortunately. >> yeah. and we'll have to see what the outcome of all there is in the coming days. but you served in iraq, correct? what can you tell us about the challenges of fighting in an urban environment like this? that is what the israeli

soldiers are going to be up against in the weeks ahead. >> the thing about urban combat -- and this is just the unfortunate truth and something that i found out the hard way -- is that you could be the most sophisticated military in the world with the best technology, but when you're getting into a city -- it basically becomes equal. why does it become equal, because, you know, especially countries like the united states and other countries listen to the rule of war, and we have to search houses by houses and look for insurgents or what supports them. terrorists will hide behind civilians. they will hide in areas that they are supposed to be off limits to hiding. they will booby trap their own people. they will booby trap buildings and take them down while you're in them. there's so many things that i saw over there that they did that, you know, still unfortunately haunt me to this day. it's a very slow process. but you have to go slow because everywhere is a threat. you know, it is a 360-degree threat environment.

and now you have the added thing such as drones that i didn't have back in my day. they can be extremely dangerous, too. >> and so do you think this is the best way of going about things for the israelis, if they say that their mission is to root out hamas, crush its leadership, take them out, is getting into this kind of an urban combat environment the way to go about it? do you think based on your experience? or do they not have a choice? >> yeah, i think it's more they didn't have a choice. here's why -- your country was -- had a sophisticated invasion by its organization that is more of a regular military than a terrorist organization. they were able to penetrate, kill 1,400 of your citizens, actually hold off your professional idf for a while, and then kidnap 200 of your citizens and make them hostages going back. this is a very different threat than the normal just fire rockets and/or occasional incursion. we certainly wouldn't stand for something like this at this point. i think they have no choice but

to actually try to eliminate hamas as a military existential threat to israel or else they're going to find themselves again dealing with this in a couple of -- potentially couple of years or sooner, and it could be other countries -- other elements getting involved like hezbollah, for example, and others organizations like islamic jihad or something else like that. >> and some of your fellow democrats are at odds with the president on his support of israel. they're in the progressive wing of the democratic caucus, as you know. they're -- some calling for a cease-fire between israel and hamas. what are your thoughts on that? >> look, i think number one calling for a cease-fire when israel we know will not take it is probably not the best idea. we need to be calling for israel to do its best to reduce civilian casualties, to open up humanitarian pathsways for people to move, and for people to actually bring in, you know, food aid and things of that

nature. and the other end of it, we have to remind the people that we're not dealing with a civilian government. we are dealing with a terrorist organization that is using civilians using hostages as human shields. unfortunately in this scenario the booeskt best -- the best we can do is give support to israel, give them the intelligence they need so they target terrorists and we encourage them to reduce civilian arm. something i did on the armed services committee, i led a civilian harm task force to try to reduce that along with other actual veterans. our recognition of what happens during urban combat and, you know, the best we could do is to protect these palestinians, to make sure that we work with israel and try to encourage our other partners to try to get the hostages out in other ways to get humanitarian in. >> all right. congressman, our time is tight tonight. we appreciate you coming in and discussing all this with us. we appreciate it. we'll have you back again soon. thanks for your time. >> thank you.

breaking news today in the republican presidential race from vice president mike pence, he is suspending his campaign. kristen holmes joins us live from las vegas where pence made the announcement. i'm sure it took a lot of people by surprise in that auditorium. >> reporter: yeah, it really did. and we are told that was on purpose, that pence's team had tried to keep it close to the vest. that they had been cagey with the remarks putting them into the teleprompter, that they didn't give them to the event organizers ahead of time. and when you look at where pence's campaign stood it doesn't seem that surprising. he had had a lot of trouble gaining support, gaining traction, as well as gaining that fundraising money particularly ahead of that third debate which is just in two weeks. he still hadn't qualified despite the fact that there -- they had held a number of fund raids raise -- fundraisers in recent days. one adviser said, yes, that did

play a huge facor. something else that played a factor was the idea that the lane that pence once believed existed within the republican party just didn't anymore. take a listen to pence. >> traveling across the country over the past six months, i came here to say it's become clear to me there -- to me this is not my time. so after much prayer and deliberation, i have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today. now i'm leaving this campaign, but let me promise you, i will never leave the fight for conservative values, and i will never stop fighting to elect principled republican leaders to every office in the land. so help me god. >> reporter: and jim, given please poll numbers, given those fundraising problems, it's not that surprising that he dropped

out. this is still a very significant moment for the republican party because when you look back at 2016, pence was chosen to be trump's running mate because he was the republican party. they wanted to assuage these establishment republicans who just really weren't sure if they could get behind donald trump. and now you're looking two cycles later and there's no room for pence within the republican party. i asked if he's going to endorse any of the other candidates. i have not heard back yet. it does seem like that would be something that he would do, just given how he has been and how his pasture has been during there -- posture has been during this race. >> yes. i'm sure mike pence thought when he became donald trump's vice president that he would have a shot at becoming president. and that's just not panning out obviously for lots of different reasons we can't go into now. we don't have time. we'll talk about it again later on. thanks very much. we appreciate the reporting today. this was moments ago in lisbon, maine. a candlelight vigil being held

for the victims of the mass shootings in nearby lewiston. at least 18 people were killed in two separate shootings. of course shocking the community there and the entire world. the victims ranged in age from 14 to 76 years old. it's the deadliest mass shooting in the u.s. just this year. after a multi-day search the shooter was found dead yesterday, killed by an asarnt self-inflicted gunshot wound. you can see that vigil unfolding right now in the town of lisbon, maine, as that state and this country mourns the 18 people who died earlier this week. we'll be right back.

back now with our breaking news coverage. israel at war. israel is accusing hamas of using gaza's largest hospital as a command center. palestinian authorities in gaza reject that claim. we have more on the impact of this war on palestinian civilians and a warning. this report contains distressing images. >> a flash of light. over the chilling imposed darkness that engulfs gaza every night. a glaring promise of more death and destruction. the ongoing siege and a communications blackout plunging gaza into eerie silence. what little video has emerged so far paints a picture of the devastation of israel's bombard m. scene of incomprehensible loss.

shrouded bodies. the latest amongst thousands of victims. israel said it is targeting hamas. now also expanding its ground operations. a retaliation they say to the ham hamas terror attacks of october 7th which left more than 1,400 dead and others held hostage inside gaza. but in the besieged strip of land, the number of palestinians killed rises with each air strike. the situation here is dire. our homes were destroyed in the air strikes. six of our family members were killed. what can we do? we are all living through this. this was the scene on friday at the hospital. the largest in gaza. now not only a lifeline to thousands of patients, but a sanctuary to tens of thousands, including children displaced y

the war. we're not even asking for food, water. we're asking for safety, for security. our men, women, our children, they've all been killed. many have come in the hope that hospitals will remain a safe haven. but this safe haven is now being characterized by israel with no verifiable evidence as a potential target. >> the red buildings as i mentioned are buildings that hamas is using. >> it is a claim rejected by palestinian officials gaza and say the hospital is son-only uso treat patients but the k consequence of such allegation is feared by many. any suggestion that this hospital could be viewed as legitimate target. for d >> i've been walking in all parts.

in the basement, different clinics, different buildings. i've been there night and day. peacetime, wartime. all over. i have never seen anything that could look like or function as some command center. >> on and on, israel's air strikes lay waste to this already ravaged enclave. artillery shedding now adding to the devastation. the people of gaza gripped by constant cycle of mourning. still struggling to comprehend this endless nightmare. death now woven into the very fabric of their lives. c cnn, jordan. >> thank you very much for that report. to our viewers, thanks so much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer from tel aviv. >> i'm jim acosta in washington. we'll be back at 6:00 tonight.

our coverage continues from israel with jake tapper. that's next. see you tomorrow. good night.

welcome to "cnn newsroom." i'm jake tapper. i'm standing on a rooftop looking out over tel aviv. it's just after 2:00 a.m. here and in gaza, a a new phase of war begins, it has been 22 days since th