cnn's ben wedeman is in southern lebanon. ben, hezbollah has not engaged here, certainly at the level which it could. what do you see? what's the latest on what we're seeing from hezbollah? >> reporter: hezbollah as you mentioned, yesterday hit four among israeli strikes, one, which, of course, killeded a cameraman, issam abdallah. we saw one of the direct hits by hezbollah on that position, but they don't at this point seem ready to fully engage their forces with the israelis. in fact, as becky was mentioning, the iranian foreign minister, hassan was there yesterday and he told a prime minister that one of the purposes of his visit was to ensure calm in lebanon. however, he did go on to say later when speaking to jirmts in beirut that if the israelis escalate in gaza, then all scenarios are possible. but as i said, i was here in 2006. i saw the destruction caused by the war between hezbollah and israel, and certainly among the population in this part of the country there isn't any enthusiasm for any sort of massive repeat of

let's get started with cnn's ben wedeman, who's live for us in jerusalem. ben, what is the scene where you are? >> reporter: jerusalem is relatively quiet, but certainly the area around gaza and the israeli cities just to the north of it have had a very noisy day. at 5:00 in the afternoon local time there was a massive barrage of rockets fired from hamas to the city of ashkelon. now, a few hours before that abu abedda, who's the spokesman for hamas's military wing, had warned that ashkelon would be targeted if its residents did not leave the city. and sure enough, on the dot at 5:00 p.m. local time we saw this massive volley being fired out of gaza. at the same time israeli forces struck the main port in gaza. in fact, the only port in gaza, which is normally only used by fishermen. and this is just the latest series of strikes and counterstrikes we've seen today. the israelis since last night have conducted hundreds of airstrikes on gaza. in one particular neighborhood, rimel, which is in gaza city, really reduced to rubble. now, the death toll on the pales

ben wedeman, as well. we continue to go to both of you throughout this evening. joining me now is former israeli ambassador to the u.n. and knesset member. i appreciate you being with us. you heard president biden's speech and you heard jake sullivan, as well that the u.s. is offering assistance and israel is trying to negotiate the release of hostages. what do you make of president biden's statements and the support that the u.s. is now offering. >> i am very grateful for president biden. at a time where we are still counting the number of victims, we are very happy to see the support. we appreciate that, and we believe that president biden actually intends to stay to support israel. we don't expect to see american troops on the ground, but the support and the clarity was very strong and we appreciate that. >> president biden did not urge restraint. he talked about operating under rules of war which is what a democracy is supposed to do. he also warned other countries not to try to exploit the crisis. how concern rded are you about potential involvement of hezbo

ben wedeman is at the border. i understand you're at the funeral of one of the journalists killed there. what's going on? what's the latest? >> reporter: this is a funeral for issam abdallah, a friend, a colleague, a cameraman for reuters who was killed yesterday afternoon by israeli shelling here at the border. him and a group of journalists, they all had gear that clearly identified them as journalists. they were all in an open place. but they were struck as a result of this violence that's ongoing on the border between lebanon and israel. what we saw yesterday afternoon was this was in several locations. issam was in a different location nearer to the mediterranean. we were in the central border area. let's try to catch up with them. what we saw was shelling on lebanese territory. it appears that hezbollah fired back, targeting one military position that took a direct hit as far as we could see. now, this morning the israeli military is saying that they killed several infiltrators trying to cross the border int

want to go to ben wedeman.the gaza side, an obviously worsening humanitarian crisis in the wake of this attack. >> reporter: we heard it described as dire, but that may be an understatement. you have a health system that is in the process of collapsing. hospitals apparently are completely overwhelmed. the wounded are simply being put on the ground. there are no beds left. the operating theaters are simply completely congested. of course, there's the problem of power. power, the israelis have cut off all electricity. the power, the only power plant in gaza went out of operation for lack of fuel yesterday afternoon. which basically means all the modern equipment that is used to keep people alive may not be able to run any more. in fact, the red cross put out a statement that the hospitals in gaza are at risk of becoming a morgue. in fact, it was interesting, our colleague, christiane amanpour a little while ago, spoke to a british surgeon who is in gaza at the moment. i've interviewed this doctor many times in ga

ben wedeman is in lebanon. jeremy, what are the conditions there? what have you been seeing for the last day? >> reporter: over the last several hours, we had not one but two barrages of rockets over the city. that second barrage was very close to our hotel. the boom from the intercepts of the iron dome hitting the rockets being fired from gaza in the air was very loud indicating its proximity to our hotel. when we went into the shelter on our floor of our hotel, we met a family there who spoke to us about the fear that they have been feeling over these last several days. they live in ashkelon, which is the city closer to the gaza strip that's right over my shoulder. and they said they fled over here slightly further north for try ining to get to a sense of security. and also because they do not have a bomb shelter in their home. the father said his children simply could not sleep when they were in ashkelon out of fear of rockets landing on top of them. now at the same time, what we do know is that the iron dome system is incredibly effective, but i

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

ben wedeman in southern lebanon for us.en, thank you so much. >>> for more information about how you could help humanitarian efforts in israel and gaza, go to cnn.com/impact or use your mobile device to scan the qr code on your screen right now. >>> just ahead, we'll speeng with a spokesperson for the israeli defense forces cwho wil join erin and as isreal prepares for the next stages of war. our special coverage continues in just a moment. >>> welcome back to our special coverage of israel at war. you're looking at live pictures of gaza, again quiet at 12:39 a.m. local time and i want to bring back my colleague erin burnett to talk about what may be coming next. erin, this looks similar to what we saw 24 hours ago. and i suppose this entire region is just on the edge of its seat at this point. and i wonder if the question has to be raised, you know, how much longer can the israelis wait if they're going through something like this, because obviously as images start flooding in to people's living rooms around the world of w

ben wedeman, cnn, jerusalem. >> ben wedeman, thank you so much. back with me is peter bergen and also kim dozier. when you look at those images that we have seen today and just now from ben, how is this being perceived in the arab world? >> well, when you look at things like the before and after picture of a mosque that the israeli defense forces say, openly, we took it out because there was a command and control center inside. it becomes a he said she said situation. who do you trust? in israel they believe the defense forces. across the arab world, they think the holy site just got hit and it is like, well, show us the intelligence. that, combined with all of the pictures of the destruction and the reports that there are 2.3 million people inside gaza, a very tiny place, and there are no exits. they've been going to u.n. schools, that's an area that supposed to be safe. they are saturated, there are more than 100,000 people in all the schools. there is no room. people don't know where to go, that is inflaming tensions across the arab world. anger

ben wedeman, cnn, jerusalem. we want to get the latest information now from the israeli defense forces and joining me now from tel aviv's idf spokesperson major libby weiss. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> so, it has been three days since the terror attacks began. what is the latest on the airstrikes and, of course, returning rocket fire and are there any remaining breaches along the border? >> as you mentioned we are now in the third day of this national tragedy following the amos massacre on saturday morning. the situation is a very dynamic one that is changing constantly. right now we are at more than 900 israeli casualties from the attack on saturday, thousands of injured and, of course, dozens of hostages that were impact in to the gaza strip. the situation along the border with gaza in those a civilian communities appears to be more controlled than in previous days, but, of course, the idf is working constantly to make sure that there are no hamas terrorists still operating

ben wedeman is joining us again from southern lebanon. you've been there is a couple days now. anything new that you are learning at this hour? i know that it is getting late and very dark there. >> reporter: what we've seen is that over the last two days, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of cross border fire between hezbollah and israel. not only hezbollah, but the military wing of hamas, its men based here in south lebanon. they seemed a focus on its surveillance and communications and observation positions. they also hit some communities as well according to the israeli medical authorities. one man 40 years old killed and several others were injured in one of those strikes. now, in the afternoon, there was a solely of rockets fired in to israel, but it turns out that was not hezbollah, it was hamas' military wing. those rockets were intercepted by the iron dome system. but as a result of all of this cross border fire, a four kilometer deep closed military zone has been declared on the israeli side of the border. also struck was the interim force known asunifi

. >>> in the meantime, joining me now is ben wedeman, who is on the ground in southern lebanon. ben, some news to get to you on and get your reaction to. eight days after this terror attack, we're learning that the president of the palestinian authority is now condemning hamas for what happened. what do you make of that and what's the significance of that? >> first of all let's look at the context in which he made that speech, that statement. it was ant speech, it was ant message to the united states or to israel, it came in the form of a report on wafa, the palestinian news agency about a phone call he had with nicolas maduro, the president of venezuela. in that phone call, he said that the actions of hamas do not represent the palestinian people. he went on to call for the end of attacks on civilians, but he also said, the so-called israeli aggression on gaza has to end. so, yes, this comes in a rather back ended form of condemnation of the hamas attack, and rather late in the day, considering how much has happened since the seventh of october. sorry, it's starting to rain very

>> all right, ben wedeman, thank you very much. and, as ben said, all those crowds in ramallah were gathering outside the residence of mahmoud abbas, he was the first to pull out of the summit that president biden was going to go to in amman. that was of course followed by king abdullah and president asisi. president biden is literally in the air on his way here walking into an extremely volatile situation. kayla tausche is live from the white house. what are you hearing about concerns for the president during this trip, especially given that while they would try to anticipate everything, they did not know that they would be dealing with widespread protests around the region because of a hospital strike and a summit that got called off as a result? >> reporter: well, there are always risks, erin, which is one of the reasons why information around presidential travel to war zones, be it ukraine or israel, is always very tightly guarded. but they are calculated risks and members of the president's team made a decision last night that

ben wedeman, thank you very much. and "outfront" now, dr. barbara zin, she's an american pediatrician who is stuck in gaza right now. she was there on a medical mission to treat children when hamas launched its terror attack on israel. dr. zin, thank you so much for joining us. i know you're hearing these airstrikes that are going on in gaza right now. it must be very, very scary. what have you been experiencing? >> well, i happened to be walking on the beach. i volunteered the palestinian children's relief fund, and was walking with one of their employees and his daughter on the beach when things started. we went for a walk at about 6:00. then about 6:30, we could see some missiles and the iron dome missiles encountering them. and, yeah, since then, we were told to stay in the hotel. there is two of us here, and we are just waiting to leave, really. >> as you know, israel has been striking various targets in gaza throughout the day in response to the hamas terror attacks that have been going on against israel. you were there on a routine mi

ben wedeman up here on the board between israel and lebanon, and we are going to go to gaza, and i can show you that situation there where erin burnett is in southern israel, and this is the border here, gaza here, and egypt here, and she is not far from gaza here, and egypt here, and in this region here, and erin, what are you seeing now? >> all right. so we are just, just over a ridge from a major staging area from the israeli tank battalion, john. this particular tank battalion were in saturday among the first to go in saturday afternoon, and now staging and resupplying and they say they are ready. that is what we have seen, because we have been spending the time going up and down along this gaza border. right now, we are about three miles away from gaza border, itself, and as you and kate have been saying we are 10 miles from the egyptian border, and right here on the south, where there is massive staging of the israeli force, and when you are hearing that going by, those are all military vehicles. i will say, also though, they are bussing in the troops on buses, and literally coac

ben wedeman, cnn, southern lebanon. >>> a u.s. senate delegation in israel was forced to take shelter in tel aviv yesterday. chuck schumer posted a picture of himself, staffers and mitt romney in a bomb shelter. schumer led the bipartisan delegation to israel and spoke to erin burnett. >> we came to a simple message to the israeli people. we have your back. we feel your pain and america will stick with you in this most difficult time. we had three missions. to let israel know we're for them. to find out what israel's needs are. had discussions of the military, diplomatic and intelligence needs that israel had. we wanted to show this was bipartisan. i went with two democrats and two republicans. >> and senator rosen. in this time of partisanship, this is one area where the congress is united. we're going to pass soon -- we're going to put together a strong package. we are not going to wait for the house. we are hopeful that if we pass, it will pressure the house to vote one way or another. >> secretary blinken is coming back. he is

cnn's ben wedeman has more on what palestinians are enduring. we must warn you some of the images you're about to see are graphic. >> reporter: desperate calls for help, the dead, dying and injured covered in dust and blood. israel's wrath is now unleashed upon gaza. the israelis say the building was hit without warning. they didn't ask us to evacuate. they didn't say anything. suddenly we heard the airstrike and we ran to the building and found it had completely collapsed. around 75,000 people in gaza have been displaced according to the u.n. relief and works agency. in this cramped strip of land along the mediterranean, 2 million palestinians are now in the crosshairs of an enemy bent on revenge for hamas' surprise attack which left hundreds of israelis dead and thousands wounded and dozens now in hamas captivity. by evening the death toll in gaza was approaching 700 with almost 4,000 wounded according to the palestinian health ministry. monday evening this spokesman for hamas issued a grim warning. they'll start executing civilian hostages an

ben wedeman, you're such a wealth of information. thank you so much for your reporting there on the lebanon/israel border. let's send it back to my colleague wolf blitzer. >> sara, our special coverage will continue after a break. . >>> joining us, the former israeli prime minister ehud olmert. it's been a week since that truly heinous hamas terror attack on the people of israel. what's your assessment of how the government and military have handled the response? >> i think the real response hasn't started yet, wolf. it's about i don't think there will be one message on ground right away. it needs to be done in a very careful manner in order to target -- [ no audio ] >> i think our connection is not good right now. we'll try and strengthen it and get back to the former israeli prime minister. let's take a quick break. >>> there are growing signs right now that israeli troops are about to move on gaza. we are watching this very closely. we're also trying to reestablish our connection with the former israeli prime minister ehud olmert.

i want to go to ben wedeman in southern lebanon. n, let's talk about this outrage we've seen over the last 12, 18 hours in the middle east. the u.s. embassy in beirut advised americans to avoid the embassy. what have you been seeing? >> reporter: anderson, in the last 24 hours there have been fairly large protests at the bottom of the hill leading to the american embassy which is about half a mile up the hill. they were throwing rocks and fireworks at lebanese's security forces. they were responding with tear gas and water canons. they didn't manage to break through the barrier that's always in place at the bottom of the hill to prevent exactly this sort of eventuality. the u.s. embassy in beirut is highly fortified and employees of the embassy -- american staff in the embassy can't simply walk outside. they're under very strict restrictions when it comes to moving and beirut. the mounting tensions in lebanon and across the region are starting to have an impact. the state department has told families of embassy employees and nonemerg

also kayla tausche and ben wedeman in southern lebanon and senior military analyst retired general mark hertling and national security correspondent jim sciutto. kaitlan, let's start out with you. early on he was linking essentially vladimir putin and hamas, both supported by iran. both, he says, wanting to destroy a democratic neighbor. >> yeah, a neighboring democracy. that was the line that stuck out to me the most, beyond the lessons he believe should be imparted for israel, similar to what he believes the u.s. did after 9/11. of course he is someone who voted for the iraq war as a senator. he has later said he regretted that vote. and he seems to be clearly trying to send that message. he was clearly doing so when he was here, and tonight saying that hamas and vladimir putin are very different. obviously hamas is this terrorist group that the u.s. says operates out of gaza. putin is a world leader. but he was saying they both have the same goal, and he was using that link to say this is why we should continue funding not only israel and the iron dome that we've seen intercepting ro

>> ben wedeman in southern lebanon. ben, thanks very much. joining me now to discuss is former israeli prime minister naftali bennett who enlisted in the reserves. i appreciate you being with us. i wonder what you made of president biden's visit here and the message that he sent? >> well, it was a very meaningful visit to know that america stands on the right side of history and stands beside israel in our fight against this nazi-type regime in gaza with the murder rate, the severed heads of little babies because this will be a long and protracted and tough war, and we're going to need the time to get the job done. so this is very meaningful. >> one of president biden's stated goals about coming to israel was try to deter the conflict from expanding, given the fact of the blast of the hospital and the claims of hamas about it early on and the canceling of the meeting in jordan with others in the region, with king hussein, al sisi in egypt and mahmoud abbas, do you think more could have been accomplished? how significant would it have been for

cnn's ben wedeman has our report. >> a guided missile makes a direct hit on an israeli tank. the video, released by hezbollah's media weighing, underscores the dangerous and sometimes deadly standoff between the groups fighters and israeli forces on the tense border between lebanon and israel. since hamas's surprise attack on israel a week and a half ago, sporadic strikes and counterstrikes have flared around the rugged mountainous frontier. there have been dead on both sides, combatants and civilians. the tensions have been enough to rattle nerves and prompt israel to impose a four kilometer deep closed military zone on its side of the border, but still not enough violence, perhaps, to precipitate an all out war, so far. hezbollah thought in more than a month-long war with israel in 2006 and, since then, with iran's, help has grown only stronger. in the southern tone of -- the group supporters staged a small rally in support of gaza. repeating the usual slogans of dust israel, death to america. our history shows slogans aren't enough for us, hezbollah parliament member tells

jake. >> ben wedeman in southern lebanon, thank you so much. nick robert sown is live in sderot. and you've been watching israeli tanks and troops heading toward gaza. how does this strike fit into this expanded offensive that we've been seeing from israel? >> reporter: the idf have been saying that the way that the ground forces are operating is that when they identify a location where there is a hamas strong hold, they call in air strikes. so this fits it exactly. because the idf is saying, high value, hamas target, with other hamas fighters in a tunnel and that is a target. and the ground forces call in the target and we know because we're standing here and we witnessed and hear the explosions all through the night and all through the day. that there are some bunker-busting munitions being dropped in gaza to target these tunnel networks. so it fits it precisely. and i'm hearing heavy machine gunfire over my shoulder here which is the direction of the refugee camp and gaza city. but until last night, i was hearing that gunfire over this shoulder, which tells me that the troops

cnn's ben wedeman is live on the ground following the launch of israel's counteroffensive. >> reportermoments after an air strike, desperate calls for help, the dead, the dying and the injured covered in dust and blood. israel's wrath is now unleashed upon gaza. the israelis say it hit the building without warning. they didn't ask us to evacuate, they didn't say anything. suddenly we heard the air strike and we ran to the building and found it had completely collapsed. around 75,000 people in gaza have already been displaced according to the u.n. relief and works agency which deals with palestinian refugees. in this cramped strip of land along the mediterranean, 2 million are in the crosshairs of the enemy, leaving hundreds of israelis dead and thousands wounded and dozens now in hamas captivity. by mid afternoon, the death toll in gaza was approaching 600 with almost 3,000 wounded according to the palestinian health ministry. gaza and israel have gone to war many times before since hamas took control. this will not be yet another brief outbreak of attack and counterattack before a ret

ben wedeman is joining us from southern lebanon near the israel will border. ben, we've seen protests erupt in much of the arab world right now. what's the situation like now? >> reporter: well, it's late at night so there's not much going on but certainly during the day we saw the second protest near the u.s. embassy. it's north of beirut. protesters were throwing rocks at the security forces. they were responding with tear gas and water cannon. obviously, the situation in lebanon in particular because of the potentially explosive situation on the border with israel is sending jitters throughout the diplomatic community. the united states has authorized family members of the staff at the embassy in beirut as well as non emergency personnel to leave if they so desire. the united kingdom has just put out an advisory to british subjects in lebanon saying that leave now if you, because perhaps you won't be able to get a flight out of hereaf after. let's keep in mind that in 2006 when the war between hezbollah and lebanon began, one of the first things the israelis

ben wedeman, cnn, beirut. >> we are taking a short break. we'll be back after this. >>> as the war against hamas enters its third week, it seems children often and the stories are heartbreaking. we have to warn you this next story contains graphic images, some viewers may find disturbing. >> reporter: why, why have you gone, my son, he wails. he wanted to be a pilot. you're only sleeping, kissing his boy's lifeless body. every day of this war has brought pain, pain no parent ever wants to live through. every 15 minutes in gaza, a child is killed. more than 1,500 children killed so far in a war that's only just beginning. a war they didn't choose. for which they are paying the heaviest price. those who live haunted by what they have survived, they still have parents to hold their hands. this 10-year-old still doesn't know a strike that left him injured the way his mom, dad and three sisters, he's not the only one to left to comfort him. he wakes up and cries. they give him pain killers and he goes back to sleep, she says. i'm worried about th

cnn's ben wedeman has more on the devastation in the region. >> the gaza city neighborhood once known as -- the sands, reduced to ashes. its residents retrieve what they can, which isn't much. [sound of artillery] israel continues to pound the strip, targeting, it says, hamas infrastructure. residents in shock are asking why. but >> [speaking in a non-english language] >> i got married this year, says this woman. what did i do? what have we done? they've destroyed an entire neighborhood. he says he never fired a rocket. it is one of the most densely populated patches of land on earth. bombs crashing in a crowded neighborhoods, really differentiate between fighter and civilian. the death toll rises by the hour. causes hospitals are overwhelmed with the wounded, including infants. around 40% of the population of gaza is under the age of 15, according to the cia. the information ministry in gaza reports that nearly 170 buildings have been destroyed in more than 12,000 residents have been damaged. tens of thousands have fled their homes, seeking refuge in u.n. schools convert into shelter

ben wedeman, cnn, southern lebanon. >> the head of u.s. central command has arrived in tel aviv to meet with the israeli military chief of staff and a u.s. marine rapid response force is heading to the waters off the israeli coast to help bolster the u.s. presence in the middle east and keep the war from escalating into a regional conflict. cnn's oren liebermann has details. >> a marine rapid response force is headed to the waters of the coast of israel according to u.s. officials familiar with the plans, as the u.s. commits a growing number of military assets to the region that are converging near israel, even as the biden administration is avoiding becoming directly involved militarily in a very hot conflict. the 26th marine expeditionary unit is currently on the uss baton, a amphibious assault ship, in the gulf of oman, according to u.s. officials. but according to that official, it's moving towards israel. it's unclear if it will join other u.s. navy of sits in the eastern, bexar or maine in the red sea off the coast of southern israel

ben wedeman, cnn, southern lebanon. >> when we come back here, more on the deadly explosion at a gaza hospital. if israel did, it then? why why now? just hours before the u.s. president of arrives for a visit? also ahead, conservative congressman jim jordan struggling to get republicans to change their votes and elect him as house speaker. some are not budging. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. >> twin minutes past the, hour welcome back, please from gaza today blasted a hospital, believed to have killed hundreds of palestinians. just who is to blame remains unclear. boston officials say the hospital was hit by israeli airstrike, israel defense forces and denied any involvement, saying islamic jihad is to blame. a warning, some of the images coming from the s

here is correspondent ben wedeman. >> reporter: south lebanon remains in a state of high tension as far continues to be exchange between israel and militants in lebanon. saturday afternoon, artillery rocket and small arms fire echoed across the mountains in the disputed farms area between lebanon and israel. the most prolonged exchange yet. israeli military said 30 mortar rounds were fired from leading lebanon into israel. hezbollah put out a statement claiming its fighters had used precision weapons to target five israeli positions including is released surveillance. late saturday, they put out video showpr communications and surveillance equipment at those positions. the official lebanese news agency reported that an elderly couple was killed when an israeli ground struck their house in the lebanese town of shaq bond. has blood said one its fighters was killed in confrontations with israeli forces. earlier in the day, residence at the southern lebanese town of eltayeb came out to mourn the killing of reuters cameraman well-known in the middle east press corps for his work in conflict

let's go to ben wedeman there in southern lebanon. n, what are you learning and able to observe yourself? >> reporter: erin, what we have been hearing is fairly distant thuds. we understand that most of the action is going on to the southwest of us. and this is really sort of in line with what we've seen over the last four days. hezbollah will attack israel military positions and the israelis will respond, this sort of level of violence is at a level where perhaps you can say the water is being kept hot but not boiling over because it would appear that at the moment neither hezbollah nor israel want to become involved in a full-scale war at the moment. however, we are hearing statements from iranian leaders, iran, of course, the main backer of hezbollah, which would indicate that this holding of the line in terms of maintaining a certain level of violence but not crossing what the israelis have called the threshold of escalation, the supreme leader of iran, has said if atrocities if gaza persist, muslim and resistance forces could lose

senior international correspondent ben wedeman is in beirut with a closer look. >> death to america. death to israel shouts the plaster of ceremonies who rally beirut southern suburbs. to a crowd of a few hundred supporters of hezbollah and shia ally who don't want to be passive by standers to the blushed in gaza. they want the resistance to liberate palestine. words and slogans like these are not new but at the death toll in gaza soars, passions are reaching the boiling pointerier there week twice process in order of beirut tried to reach the american embassy stopped only by fire police with tear gas and water cannon. image of unauthorize evidence demonstrations to stop the israel war in gaza, in georgia where roots are traced back to palestine they call in the government to shut the israeli and american embassies but in lebanon it's not only protests on the border with israelites just a notch below war. in south lebanon every day hezbollah is striking israeli targets 4, 5, 6 times a day. mere in beirut they're holding rallies talking about doing more but so far just talk. hezbollah

ben wedeman at the israel-lebanon border. keep us posted there. kate? >> from the lebanese, israel-lebanese border, and down towards the southern israeli border where erin burnett is with us once again. and erin, every time we have come to you, there have been troop and tank movements, and what are you hearing from the sold soldiers? >> all right. kate, we are by a staging corner near the gaza border, and near the egyptian border, and we saw another bus going in, and each one has a troop of about 50, and we have been searing them for hours here at this particular staging situation. we can see all of the staging here. and behind me over the hill, we saw six rockets in the past 20 minute, and those rockets were coming from hamas here, and they were intercepted by the iron dome. they were essentially come over the small town o f ofakim, and that is where we heard those rockets here. >> and this is not far from gaza which is egypt here. and now, nic robertson is over at sderot near gaza, and what y you seeing here, nic? >> yeah, john. typically this time of

a cnn ben wedeman reports that top military leaders say it is impossible to determine if they are striking hamas or innocent civilians as hamas embedded itself within the palestinian population. >> the gaza city neighborhood once known as the sands, reduced to ashes. its residents retrieve what they can, which isn't much. israel continues to pound this strip. targeting it said hamas infrastructure. residents in shock are asking why? i got married this year. what have i done. you destroyed an entire neighborhood. he said he never fired a rocket. and this is one of the most densely populated patches of land on earth, bombs crashing into crowded neighborhoods, rarely differentiate between fighter and civilian. the death toll rising by the hour. while gaza's hospitals are overwhelmed with the wounded, including infants. around 40% of the population of gaza is under the age of 15 according to the cia. the information ministry in gaza reports that nearly 170 buildings have been destroyed and more than 12,000 residences damaged and tens of thousands have fled their homes seeking shelters in schoo

cnn's ben wedeman is in southern lebanon for cnn right now. t have you been seeing as there is concern that if israel -- if and when -- embark on this ground invasion that the fighting could increase and lebanon could get pulled into this war? >> reporter: we are hearing a lot of this cross-border fire. today it wasn't just hezbollah, there was focusing mainly on israeli military positions along the border. but also the military wing of hamas got involved, and they claim to have fired 30 rockets into the upper galilee region. but i'm -- it's important to keep in mind that even though this area than perhaps 2006 during that war back then. but hezbollah is being very careful to keep it within certain limits to avoid a full-scale war. it seems to be wanting to show that it is supporting hamas by doing some action here without going all the way. keep in mind just a few months ago the israeli defense minister said that if hezbollah decides to launch a war on israel, israel will bomb lebanon back into the stone age. so there is a certain hesitance an

first cnn's ben wedeman in southern lebanon right now. ben, first of all, what do we know about what led to this israeli strike? >> reporter: according to the israeli military, the target of this strike on the jib bally refugee camp was ibrahim beyadi, who they say was the hamas commander of the central jibadhi battalion, saying he was responsible for sending what are described as elite operatives into israel on the 7th of october in that surprise attack. he apparently, according to the israelis, was -- is responsible for military operations, hamas military operations in the northern end of qugaza, where o course israel has started this ground incursion last friday. we also know, however, is that as a result of this air strike, according to the head of the nearby indonesian hospital, there are 400 people either dead or wounded as a result. and this putting further strain on a health system in gaza that is in a situation of collapse. egypt, jordan, other countries in the middle east have harshly condemned this attack, which as you yourself

let's go to ben wedeman joining us from lebanon. b ben, what's the response in lebanon and across the middle east? >> reporter: this incident set off a fire storm of protest and anger across the arab world. in beirut, we understand thousands of protesters have gathered in the square at the bottom of the hill that leads up to the u.s. embassy north of beirut. the protesters are trying to break through barriers set up by the lebanese police who are firing at protesters with tear gas. in addition, hezbollah has called for a massive demonstration in the capital of beirut to condemn what they say was the israeli attack on that hospital. on the west bank there are protests against israeli, but also against the president of the palestinian authority. there have been clashes with palestinian security forces and people are chanting for the downfall of him. in jordan protesters gathered outside the israeli embassy. fires were set around the embassy. some protesters tried to break inside. jordan security forces stopped them. in turkey there hav

ben wedeman, cnn, jerusalem. >>> joining us now, dr.bbas who serves as director general of gaza's health ministry. thank you for joining us. you can give us an update on the state of health care there in gaza? understandably some communication issues there. we'll try to get back in touch with him. we'll be back in a moment. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. >>> welcome back. families in israel are desperately searching for any information on missing loved ones who may have been taken hostage by hamas. one man says the last time he heard from his daughter was while she was on her way to the mousse he can festival where militants gunned gownned down s civilians. >> and she has given dna samples in case she was gu

our ben wedeman is in beirut.onder, as this warning has gone out for a number of days now to u.s. citizens, are thee heeding that warning and what are the level of concern for the safety of u.s. citizens in that country? >> reporter: i think the immediate concern is that in the event there is an escalation of the situation and israel does a repeat of what it did in the beginning of the 2006 war, the airport will be struck by israeli aircraft and it will be out of actionmen and that is wh happened in 2006. the u.s. had to deal with evacuating thousands of americans. keep in mind that lebanon has many dual lebanese u.s. nationals. tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of them many living in south lebanon. now we know there have been people moving from the border area towards the northern part of the country which is believed to be safer but the concern is there and among people here, obviously there is concern. several airlines have stopped -- have canceled all of their flights to beirut. i flew in today

. >> ben wedeman is following these developments and he joins us live from rome. ben, this is such a tragic incident. i've been looking at the italian media this morning. people describing the scene as a apoca apocalyptic. what more can you tell us about how the victims are doing, those that have been moved to hospital and also any preliminary investigation into what may have caused this? >> reporter: we understand that among the victims, there are children and the victims were sort of sent to a variety of hospitals in the area. but this happened just before 8:00 p.m. yesterday evening when this bus which was an electric bus crashed through the guardrail and fell 15 meters down to railroad tracks below. now, the investigation is only just beginning. the prosecutor for the city of venice has gbegun an investigation. they are looking now at the cctv footage of that bridge where the accident took place. now, there are a variety of hypotheses they are looking at, one is that perhaps the driver who was a 40-year-old italian citizen with six or seven years of experience

our ben wedeman in beirut, we'll continue to cover this war from that side of the border. and we continue to cover the war in israel on every front as well as the plight of civilians in gaza which continues as negotiations are underway, not just for the release of hostages but for the possibility of some hehelp for gaza.a. i'm jim m sciutto, w we'll be b afteter a shorort break. you want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. with reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. fellas, fellas. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪

ben wedeman has more on what palestinians there are enduring and, a warning, some of the images in ben'sort are graphic. >> moments after an israeli airstrike on gaza's refugee camp, a desperate calls for help. the dead, the dying, and the injured covered in dust and blood. israel's wrath is now unleashed upon gaza. the israelis say that they hit the building without warning, they didn't ask us to evacuate, they didn't say anything. suddenly, we heard the airstrike and we ran to the building and found it had completely collapsed. around 75,000 people in gaza have already been displaced, according to the u.n. relief and works agency which deals with palestinian refugees. in this cramped strip of land along the mediterranean, 2 million palestinians are now in the crosshairs of a new bent on revenge for hamas as a surprise attack, which left hundreds of israelis dead and thousands wounded and dozens now in hamas captivity. by evening, the death toll in gaza was approaching 700, with almost 4000 wounded according to the palestinian health ministry. >> translator: -- monday evening this pokes

i want to go now to cnn's senior international correspondent, ben wedeman, reporting live from southern lebanon, another hot spot in this conflict. ben, as israel is preparing for what is going to be next in gaza, which everyone is assuming will be a ground war, it's pushing for civilian evacuations, while also defending against attacks from inside lebanon. give us some sense of what is happening where you are. >> reporter: in the last half hour or so, sara, we have heard some distant thuds to the south of us in the direction of the border with israel, and certainly this afternoon we heard a prolonged -- there was a prolonged period of thuds and whatnot coming from the direction of the disputed area between lebanon and israel. in fact, we also heard volleys of rockets going out of lebanon into israel. now, according to the israeli military, 30 mortar rounds were fired into israel, hezbollah has said that it hit five positions in the sheeba farms area. israel said during the exchange of fire, they detected a team on the lebanese side that seemed to be prepared to fire an anti-tank missil

ben wedeman is covering it for us. the humanitarian crisis in gaza seems to be growing worse by the hour. >> reporter: in fact, wolf, the u.n. is describing it as dire and i think the u.n. is rather understating the case. it seems cattrophic, in addition that the death toll in gaza has now exceeded 1,500. accounts according to the palestinian health ministry, is in a state of collapse. all the things you need to run a hospital are slowly running out. the fuel for the generators to keep the hospitals running and medicine and basic supplies are simply not being replenished. therefore, we're seeing in hospitals all around gaza, many of the injured are simply put on the floor in the corridors. there are no beds left. operating theaters are beyond capacity. according to the united nations, there are 50,000 pregnant women in gaza who now have no access to healthcare, partially because of the fighting but partially because the health workers and all the facilities are being focused on treating the injured. speaking of the inj

cnn's ben wedeman has more. >> strike after strike after strike.very strike is followed by an israeli counterstrike. combatants and civilians killed on both sides. hezbollah is testing just how far it can go, hitting israeli targets with out igniting a full scale war. but the stakes here are treacherously high. if hezbollah makes a mistake, these really military's chief of staff worn on a tour of the border, it risks, in his words, annihilation, annihilation, annihilation. hezbollah isn't wavering. we're not afraid of israel, and we're not afraid of the americans behind them, hezbollah parliament member has seem -- tells me. and behind hezbollah stands iran, whose foreign minister warns if diplomatic efforts fail to stop israel's attack on gaza, the opening up of new fronts is inevitable. in south lebanon, could be that front. in some places, a wall separates lebanon from israel. and others, it's wide open. from a hill by the border, you can pure down into israeli border towns like -- now largely abandoned, but for soldiers scurrying from house to

cnn's ben wedeman is in beirut. ben, how involved are hezbollah militants at this hour? >> reporter: they're very involved in what are becoming fairly regular and violent skirmishes on the border between lebanon and israel. today, in fact, hezbollah put out a video that seemed to show a guided rocket or missile being fired at an israeli position, at troops in an israeli position on the border. now, the hezbollah claims that it killed and injured several israeli soldiers. the israelis have yet to comment on this incident. but certainly, so far, since saturday, we know that three hezbollah fighters have been killed in incidents with the israelis whether that's air strikes, helicopter strikes, mortar or artillery barrages. israelis acknowledged three of their troops have been killed, as well. we also note in addition to hezbollah being involved, for instance, palestinian and islamic militant troops here in lebanon claim to have launched a cross border attack as well earlier this week. but hezbollah it seems wants to do enough to show that it's sort of part of the theater at

ben wedeman in southern lebanon. stay safe over there, ben. thank you very much. >>> just ahead our breaking news coverage of israel at war will continue. i'll speak live with the chairman of the senate intelligence committee mark warner. he has been fully briefed on what's going on. >>> there is more breaking news we're following right now. multiple u.s. defense officials are now telling cnn roughly 2000 american troops have been ordered to prepare for potential deployment to israel. those forces would operate in what is being described as a support role only, helping the israelis with logistics, but not in direct combat with hamas. this comings as a u.s. marine rapid response force is already heading toward waters near israel. let's discuss this and more with the chairman of the intelligence committee democratic senator mark warner of virginia. thank you so much for joining us. these moves come, as you well know, just as two u.s. aircraft carrier battle groups are also heading to the eastern mediterranean. what do you see as the potential ex

cnn's ben wedeman reports. >> reporter: south lebanon remains in a state of high tension as air fire continues to be exchanged. saturday afternoon, artillery rocket and small arms fire echoed across the mountains in the disputed sheba farms air in the most prolonged exchange yet. the israeli military said 30 mortar rounds were fired from lebanon into israel, while hezbollah put out a statement, claiming its fighters had used precision weapons to target five israeli positions, including an israeli surveillance post. late saturday, the group's media wing put out video showing precise hits on communications and surveillance equipment at those positions. the official lebanese news agency reported an elderly couple was killed when an israeli round struck their house in the town of sheba. he h hezbollah said one of its fighters were killed in confrontations with israeli forces. earlier in the day, residents of a town came out to mourn the killing of a reuters cameraman, well known in the middle east press corps for his work in conflict zones around the region. friday afternoon, abdullah wa

ben wedeman joins us from lebanon. you have reported extensively in gaza throughout the years. talk to us about what that would be like on the ground in gaza with this continuing blockade. >> the situation was grim even before this war began, but certainly what we have seen is a dramatic, catastrophic deterioration of liveing conditions in gaza. yesterday at 2:00 p.m. local time, the only power plant in gaza shut down because of lack of fuel. now hospitals who have backup generators and storage facilities for that fuel, but they say they are quickly running out. we have heard from the palestinian ministry of health that this hospitals are at total capacity, the beds are full, the injured are basically lying on the ground in the hallways. the system is essentially collapsing. now the international committee of the red cross has put out a statement, which you have referred to as well as erin, but i want to read this critical paragraph. it says as gaza loses power, hospitals lose power, put ting newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk. kidney dialysis stops a