i believe jeremy diamond and alex mar t alex mar quiet, the number is 224. alex, what can you tell us ability the state of negotiations given the fact that air strikes are intensifying in gaza and ground operations are expanding according to the idf. >> it's hard to imagine that what we're seeing now doesn't hugely complicate the prospect of getting at least some of those 200 hostages out. that was what was being aimed for by the negotiators that were led by qatar, at least in the next hostage release, which we had thought might come in the coming hours or days, could have dozens or as many perhaps as 100. but seeing what we are now, obviously, that throws frg into flux. we have been cautioned by u.s. officials repeatedly throughout the day that things are extremely fluid. as it touch and go. you did hear in the press conference given by admiral hagari, he was asked about the deal in the works and spoke about it dismissively. he said i advise you not to listen to rumor, hamas is a terrorist organization and people should not give into the psychological terro

and children and civilians being impacted by this war between israel and hamas. >> thank you, jeremy diamondin ashdod here. and talking to the people who had fled from ashkelon to ashdod because they felt that they would be safer. over to jeremy. sara? >>> we have disturbing new information after the prime minister's office said that babies had been beheaded, they walked it back, but this new information coming in is extremely disturbing. the prime minister's office has released and i am quoting here, horrifying photos of babies burned by the hamas monsters. and he says that hamas is inhuman and hamas is isis, the three photos show two babies whose bodies have burned beyond recognition. and a third that is blood stained. it is a very small baby, an in infant. netanyahu posted the pictures and we won't show them to you are right now, because they are extremely disturbing. and we want to make sure that for the families to just make sure that we are not showing those images to you as they are where you can see every horrible thing. that is where we are right now in this conflict. i think that t

jeremy diamond is live for us in jerusalem. the way the defense minister was talking about this, it does sound like israeli troops going into gaza is a foregone conclusion. what is the latest there? >> reporter: it certainly feels like that. when we were driving around yesterday, what we witnessed in these towns all around the gaza strip is a massive mobilization effort that is under way here in israel. more than 300,000 reservists have already been called up. and we are also seeing a massing of tanks, of arrest tilgry and armored personnel carriers in key staging locations around the gaza strip. this is all a signal that israel is preparing for a possibly massive operation inside of gaza, a possible ground invasion. but as of yet, we did not have that political decision, that official order that that been given by the israeli prime minister. we have heard a lot of fire and brimstone from benjamin netanyahu as well as the defense minister as you mentioned. but what is important to keep in mind is we don't know how long this sta

jeremy diamond is there in ashkelon. tell us what the last couple of minutes have been like. >> reporter: well, not only have we been hearing these really loud thuds, the sound of outgoing artillery fire, but also, of course, bombs being dropped on gaza which can sometimes are so loud that they shake the windows and the walls of this hotel where we're staying in ashkelon. which we're ten kilometers away from the border with gaza. what we are also hearing which is interesting, anderson, is we're hearing a lot of helicopters which is the kind of activity that we have not heard over the last several weeks. we've been hearing the bombardments, feeling them. but what we haven't been hearing is helicopters that have been constantly buzzing overhead in the area over the last couple of hours. so that's just an interesting data point here as we try and figure out exactly what this expansion of ground operations by the idf announced this evening actually is. we know that israeli military and political officials have been telegraph

let's go straight to cnn's jeremy diamond in sturat. what are you seeing right there? >> reporter: well, what we have been hearing over and seeing over the last hour or so is continued aerial bombardment of gaza, artillery fire outgoing from very close to our position. and we also just saw moments ago a barrage of rocks fired from gaza towards cities in israel, including where we've been based, just to the north as well as the central israel in tel aviv. all of this is happening nearly 24 hours after israeli forces moved into northern gaza, as the idf announced it is expanding its ground operation inside of northern gaza. overnight, we are told by the idf that they struck 150 undergrounds targets in northern gaza and that explains the loud intense bombardment that we were hearing overnight. really the loudest, most intense, most sustained bombardment that we have seen in the three weeks since this war began. what we also saw today, fred, as we were traveling along the border with gaza, we visited some of these positions, staging grounds, where days ago, we saw hundreds

and talking to some of the families in just a bit here, but first i want to start with cnn's jeremy diamondjeremy, we have secretary of state blinken, he is here for the second time in a week. that tells you a lot about the u.s. involvement with israel as it tries to deal with the ramifications of the terror attack that happened a week and two days ago. jeremy, what are you learning right now about everything? there are americans that are trapped in gaza, there are palestinians that are in an incredible amount of danger trying to get out of gaza and, of course, you have the potential ground offensive by israel that is expected to happen at any moment. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, sara. and all of those issues are top of mind for the secretary of state as he meets today with the israeli prime minister, as well as the israeli president, the israeli opposition leader and defense minister, all of those meetings are on the books but the timing and scheduling of those meetings keeps changing which tells you how in flux this situation currently is. over the last several days we have had confli

cnn's jeremy diamond is in sderot for us, just about a mile from the gaza border. , tell us what you're seeing and hearing today. >> reporter: well, share ration we've been here for the last several hours and during that time we have been going a lot of outgoing artillery fire, there are a couple artillery positions near where we are standing and we have been seeing the result of the destruction wrought on gaza by those strikes and the air bombardment carried out by the israeli air force. you can see an explosion that just went off right behind us, this is the city that the northeastern most city in the gaza strip. you can see the plume of smoke raising above there. this is the imagery we have been seeing over the last several hours and the last several days as israel has been expanding its ground operations inside of gaza. what we have been -- what we have learned this morning is that the idf in recent days has carried out more than 600 strikes being after weapons depose, anti-tank launch positions as well as underground tunnels and staging positions for those hama

want to go to jeremy diamond. lloyd austin sat down with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, said that the u.s. has israel's back. jeremy diamond has been following that from ashdod. i want to get to the latest of what austin told you. first, you're at a shelter. what is happening there? >> reporter: we just came back out to the balcony, sorry. our shot is a little fluid. the sirens went off in ashdod. i heard at least two booms of the iron dome missile intercepts and it is relevant to the story this you're going to come to us to talk about, which is what we saw today at the air base in southern israel where the second shipment of u.s. military aid to israel arrived just this week and we were the only news crew on the ground to witness that plane landing. and also as secretary of defense lloyd austin came and greeted that plane, the reason why it is relevant to what we just did now is that one of the munitions that the united states is providing israel with as part of this latest package is additional iron dome mis

jeremy diamond, cnn, ashkelon. >>> joining us now robin wright, from the new yorker.ood morning to you. secretary blinken has said for as long as america exists, israel will not have to defend itself alone. even the president's domestic critics have praised his support for israel. but when we see the civilian cost in gaza, for 4600 dead, 1600 of them children. 14,000 plus wounded. does the humanitarian situation in gaza have -- could it stress or strain the relationship between the u.s. and israel, between biden and netanyahu? >> well, president biden has consistently talked to thei israeli leadership about the need for restraint when it comes to civilians in gaza. he's made that point in every comment to the american people as well. so this is clearly a focus. and yes, i think it will cause tensions with united states if we see vast pictures of children and women, noncombatants killed in the conflict in the same way we felt moved by the atrocities that hamas carried out. this is a moment, just as isreal go to war, so does the united states face the dangers of being s

jeremy diamond, thank you.to get more from the white house where the president is set to take his second oval office address since taking office. he previewed that he is going to be asking for a massive aid package from the u.s. congress. what are we expecting to hear from him in terms. not just selling it to lawmakers but to the public who will be listening? >> reporter: this is going to be a direct appeal to the american people for why the u.s. has a national security interest to sustain the fighting in ukraine and to come to israel's defenses in an even bigger way. senior officials tell cnn that the president is going to make the argument that the cost of inaction is far higher than the cost of authorizing the funds that we've now learned the white house is going to request. it's going to be a strikingly large package, about $100 billion through next september. about $60 billion of that is going to be earmarked for ukraine, and rest of it would go toward israel. taiwan readiness, securities measures on the u

jeremy diamond is along the israel/gaza border. nada, what are you learning about this strike on the jabalya camp? >> reporter: well, look, wolf, we've been seeing devastating airstrikes like tonight's airstrike for over three weeks now with a devastating civilian toll. but the images, the videos that we have seen emerging from the jabalya refugee camp have been horrifying, to say the least. and, of course, there is still question over the full extent over the civilian death toll and the casualties we've heard from doctors on the ground who say that there are hundreds amongst those killed and injured in this latest airstrike. but, of course, as we know, there are still people believed to be buried beneath the rubble of what once were their homes. people still digging, searching hopeful that there may be survivors. but as we have seen for more than three weeks, devastation like this always comes with a horrifying death toll. take a look at the scene. horrifying scenes of utter despair. where is she, this man pleads. but everything h

you have egypt, and egypt, as of yet, has not opened that crossing to our knowledge, jim. >> jeremy diamond in jerusalem for us. jeremy, stay close by. we'll get back to you. thank you so much. let's get immediate reaction from lieutenant colonel jonathan of the israeli defense forces. lieutenant colonel, thank you very much for joining us. we appreciate it. if you don't mind, if i could just pick up on what jeremy diamond was just talking about a few moments ago and help us sort out what is happening at the rafah crossing. my colleague, wolf blitzer, spoke with the egyptian foreign minister just a short time ago and the foreign minister insisted that crossing is open as far as they're concerned on the egyptian side of things, but that is not what we are hearing. perhaps you can help us sort this out. what information can you provide? >> yeah, the -- what i understand that hamas is doing is -- all humanitarian efforts to alleviate the situation. they have been obstructing and actively stopping gazan civilians in the north from going south as we have directed them to do. and i have also seen

jeremy diamond got a look at the latest round of u.s. military aid that arrived in the country. >> reporter: tonight, u.s. support for israel looks like this, a hulking u.s. military transport plane bolstering against hamas landing at the air base, where cnn received exclusive access as airmen offloaded cargo. military cargo planes just landed here in southern israel. it is bringing fresh u.s. weapons and ammunition for israel's fight against hamas. today the secretary of defense lloyd austin coming here to inspect the shipment, vowing the u.s. military support for israel will continue to flow at the speed of war. >> i know how hard you've been working. you've been hustling to get this here as quickly as you could, and a lot more follows this. >> reporter: this was the second shipment of military equipment to israel just this week, delivering precision decided munitions, artillery shells, and iron dome missiles, which help protect civilians from hamas rockets. >> it is support. it is the leading edge of more to come. >> what kind of assu

jeremy diamond is near the border of sderot, and what are you seeing?> as we enter the fourth day of this expanded ground operation, we are continuing to hear the bombardment of gaza, and intense fighting going on between the hamas militants and israeli forces on the ground. we can hear the machine gun fire over the last several hours, and what we have been able to see thanks for the photo journalist mattias jerome, the area behind me over the shoulder, the destruction -- destroyed buildings, and this is also the area where we have seen the tanks going by, and the fighting ongoing with the israeli forces and hamas militants. we have seen the plumes of smoke emerge as we hear the outgoing artillery and the hitting outside of gaza. we have learned that the israeli forces have struck over 600 targets including underground tunnels and command centers that hamas is maintaining below the gaza strip. also, we are learning where the israeli forces are operating as you can hear some more outgoing there to the side of me now, and a plume of smoke emerging off cam

. >> i want to go to cnn's jeremy diamond and ben wedeman is in southern lebanon for us. my, you have spoken to israelis as they took shelter today. obviously, this is something they are used to, particularly in those areas by the gaza border. what are you seeing now? >> reporter: yeah. these last couple of hours, anderson, have been very quiet on the israeli side. we have not had any red alert sirens in this area for several hours. instead, the main thing that we are hearing is the rumbling of israeli air strokes and artillery fire on the gaza strip. very loud, vibrating the windows at our hotel here, more intensity than we have heard in recent nights. only giving us a small sense of how intense the air strikes must be for people on the ground there. earlier, we did have two different barrages of rockets on the city here over the course of an hour and a half or so. that second barrage came very close to our hotel. we know that based off of how loud the sound of the iron dome intercepting the rockets was. then we saw the plumes of smoke right overhead. as i was in the shel

jeremy diamond is in the 20 miles north of gaza. 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

i want to get on the ground in jerusalem where cnn's jeremy diamond is right now. jeremy, the sun is rising momentarily, it is day four of this horrific conflict. how is the israeli government responding? >> well, for, just as hamas is surprised terrorist tech this past weekend in israel was unprecedented in scale, the israeli government is also making it very clear that it's response, its military campaign in gaza is also going to take on new proportions never before seen. israel has already formally declared war on hamas and we have heard the defense minister say that they are now officially laying a full siege of the gaza strip, allowing no food, water, electricity, or fuel into that enclaves. and the israeli prime minister, in an address late monday night, making clear that he wants to eliminate hamas. making clear that he wants the military campaign that is government now waging will be unprecedented in scale. what really shows us that it is, perhaps, going to be unprecedented to the fullest extent is what has yet to come. and, what we are seeing building on th

as we hear from jeremy diamond, living your life under rocket fire can leaves your nerves raw even when running mundane errands. >> go inside. >> reporter: this is life in ash ke lon. the most fired upon city since hamas launched its rockets 12 days ago. fear still grip some. other ignoring the siren's whales. >> we were outside. we are very careful. when we're inside, bod is protecting us. every missile has an address. >> reporter: in a city where 90% of businesses have closed, this supermarket is a lifeline. >> there's a lot of businesses that are closed. but the supermarket is working. people have to eat. they have to drink. >> you come once a week? >> once a week. we're very afraid. >> reporter: getting to a bomb shelter isn't an option for everyone here, prompt ing the city evacuating thousands. >> we still have around 35,000 people that actually leave without shelters. so each and every rocket, it means it's at risk for them. we are trying to find solutions for them. >> reporter: more than 1200 rockets have targeted ashkelon. while most are intercepted by the iron dome, 200 have m

jeremy diamond files this report from ashkelon. >> reporter: this is life in ashkelon. the most fired upon city in israel since hamas launched its first rockets 12 days ago. here, fear still grips some. others carry on, ignoring the sirens. >> translator: when we're outside, we're very careful. when we're inside, god is protecting us. every missile has an address. we don't need to be afraid. >> reporter: in a city where 90% of businesses have closed, this supermarket is a lifeline. >> there's a lot of businesses that are closed. >> they're closed. >> but the supermarket -- >> is working because people have to eat, they have to drink. >> you come once a week or? >> i'm very afraid. if they send now rocket, i must lie on the road and put my hands on my -- >> head. >> reporter: getting to a bomb shelter isn't an option for everyone here, prompting the city to help evacuate thousands. >> we still have around 35,000 people that actually live without shelters. each and every rocket means a direct risk for them. so we are trying to find a solution for them. >> reporter: more t

>> jeremy diamond, appreciate it. nic robert son as well. we'll come back to you over the course of the next several hours. u.n. relief chief warns gaza is being, quote, strangled by israel's siege and bombardment. the palestinian prime minister says israeli air strikes killed 2800 people and food and medicine are in short supply. supplies are running out. joining me now is the regional director of the world food program. cnn saw five fuel trucks enter gaza from the south. your united nations agency have you heard anything more about access opening up? >>. >> well, look we have food at the border now in egypt and we have food moving to the border in egypt. there is a large convoy ready to move in, but unfortunately, the convoy did not move. it didn't cross the border. inside there are hundreds of thousands of people who were on the move who are in their homes, who are in shelters, they have no water, they have no food, they have no electricity, they have no bathroom, and they have no fuel. the situation is becoming absolutely catastrophic. i

we will go to jeremy diamond near sderot, and you are hearing the steady drum baeat of explosions and what are you seeing in this hour? >> just over my right shoulder, you are seeing the plume of smoke that is the result of an explosion inside of gaza, and this is coming as israeli forces have been expanding their grand operations inside of gaza over the last several day, and just today, the idf spokesperson saying that israel is going to continue to add troops as part of the offensive inside of the gaza strip. we have been seeing throughout the day and hearing the sights and sounds of war as we are hearing the outgoing artillery fire from where we are right now, and jets circling overhead, and drone activity as well, and we have also saw earlier, just an hour ago or so, some smoke appearing to emerge from just across the northern border of gaza in southern israel, and not exactly clear what it is from, and appeared to be some kind of explosion from the israeli side of that border from gaza, and we know that fighting is ongoing between the israeli fosforces a we have been hearing the

jeremy diamond, cnn, sderot. >>> at least four russian citizens were reportedly among those killed by hamas in israel, but the russian president has so far chosen not to condemn hamas for the attack. the kremlin says vladimir putin is concerned about the number of civilian casualties, but he's largely blaming u.s. policy for what's happening in the middle east. cnn's fred pleitgen has our report. and a warning. some of the video is disturbing. >> reporter: after hundreds of israelis were slaughtered by hamas near gaza, condemnation and condolences poured in from around the world, but not from russian leader vladimir putin. now in his first comments, instead of empathy, putin blasting the u.s. >> translator: this is a clear example of the failure of the united states policy in the middle east which tried to monopolize any settlement between israelis and palestinians. >> reporter: kremlin-controlled tv followed suit, mocking both america and israel for allegedly being caught off guard by hamas' attack. >> translator: mossad and its famous counterintelligence, as well as the u.s. and the

cnn's jeremy diamond, reports. >> a military base and southern israel, columns of israeli tanks stand at the ready. awaiting orders for an invasion of what everyone expects, but no one has yet commanded. this is the country on war footing. >> israeli military with 300,000 reservists. this is one of the largest mobilization efforts in the country's history, and is in the mobilization effort in action. you are witnessing thousands of reservists, israelis from across the country, coming to this military base in southern israel to prepare for this military campaign. >> it's not just the scale that makes this a different. >> i've been on other campaigns in the last 30 years. never something like this. >> the shocking brutality of hamas's surprise attacks is still reverberating. >> every person has lost someone. every person. >> to wednesday morning, until monday morning, i came here. i came here to enlist in the army and fight them. >> it's an emotional moment. >> very emotional, yes. you see children die, and kidnapping. it's like animals. it's not human. >> driving down east of the gaza

cnn jeremy diamond as the latest from israel. >> reporter: u.s. support for israel looks like this..s. military transport plane bolstering the war effort against hamas. where cnn secured exclusive access as air men off loaded cargo. >> military cargo planes just landed here in southern israel. bringing fresh u.s. weapons and ammunition for israel's fight against hamas. today, the secretary of defense, lloyd austin coming here to inspect the shipment. vowing that u.s. military support for israel continue to flow at the speed of more. >> i know how hard you've been working, helping to get this here as quickly as you could. and tears a lot more that follows >> this was second shipment of military equipment to israel this week. presumption guided munitions, artillery shells and missiles which help protect civilians from hamas rocket >> the show of support it is support. it's the leading edge of more to come. >> we've already seen gaza. what kind of assurances do you have from the israelis about how to use these munitions >> this is a professional force that's well led. i'm sure they wil

cnn's jeremy diamond is in ashkelon, israel. north of gaza. let's start with the soldier rescued today. what do we know about how all of this went down? >> well, jake, admiral haggary is saying this is a ground operation that resulted in the release of private ori megny dish. it was carried out inside of the gaza trip but beyond that we aren't getting my details and that may be for operational security reasons and it may be because of the idf wants to continue carrying out similar operations to free additional hostages. this is the first time that the idf has confirmed that an operation carried out by the ground forces resulted in the release of one of the hostages. previously we've seen four other hostages released and it has all been as the result of a negotiation and what hamas has described as a humanitarian decision to release those hostages. this female soldier was posted near the gaza border when she was kidnapped on october 7th. she's now with her family. she saw images released by the idf of her with her family and she appears to be i

cnn's jeremy diamond has the latest from israel. >> reporter: u.s. support for israel looks like this. a military transport plane bolstering support. cnn secured exclusive access while they off-loaded the cargo. this plane just landed in southern israel. it's bringing fresh weapons and ammunitioning in for the fight against hamas. lloyd austin coming here to inspect the shipment, vowing that u.s. military support will continue to flow at the speed of war. >> i know how hard they've been working. you've been hustling to get here as requesticly as you could. >> reporter: this was the second shipment just this week delivering are munitions, artillery shells, and iron dome missiles that help protect israel from rockets. >> it is support. it's the leading edge of more to come. >> what kind of assurances do you have from the is rah i wills about how they'll use these munitions? what kind of assurances? >> this is a professional force that's well led. i'm sure they'll do the right thing. >> reporter: israeli air strikes have killed more than 1,91,900 people

listen. >> reporter: jeremy diamond, cnn.'m wondering if you can explain how an islamic jihad rocket could have caused this much death and destruction? second, i would like you to address the question of credibility. frankly the idf has a less than perfect track record with the issue of credibility. the israeli government initially claimed it was armed palestinian militants who killed the journalist, which we know is not true. why should the world trust you now? >> because of the importance of credibility and in the past we had our -- ourselves were fast to go to conclusion. this is why in this event we took the time. took us more than five hours. we wanted to double check everything, make sure we were credible. again, we wanted to double check everything, make sure we're credible opposed to the other events you mentioned. >> the admiral came back to this idea of credibility. it seemed to be an acknowledgment they've not always been credible. they're picking and choosing their moments when they provide explanations. we're sti

i want to bring in cnn's clarissa ward and jeremy diamond with me here, and go to clarissa who is inskelon, and i know that you are experiencing explosions in your area in the last few hours, and what more can you tell us? >> that is right, sara. it has been pretty quiet for most of the day and then a barrage of rockets that came towards this city, askelon every single day, and this is different though, because it is leading to that weak account that was intercepted and that did not make contact, and this is what it sounded like early on. [ explosion ] >> and you can hear the iron dome making contact, and you can hear them saying this is revenge for the continued strikes on gaza, and i wanted to point out that in gaza there is no iron dome and relentless bombardment for yet another day there including strikes as you heard john berman talking about the southern part of the gaza strip, and this is where the israeli forces that you had heard people move to, and you are hearing of six strikes right next to the rafah crossing, and nearly 3,000 people killed, and we had spoken to a 22 dent

nic robertson is with us and jeremy diamond as well. n nic, showing viewers what happened while you were on the ground there in the last few hours. >> reporter: lots of -- the clouds. yeah. wow. >> do you see the intercepts here? look up here. down there. >> yeah. >> reporter: do you see that over there? >> oh. >> reporter: fighter jet. oh, wow. look here. incoming, incoming! [ explosion ] >> reporter: obviously, nic, this as everyone's bracing for what they believe will be this israeli ground operation. can you walk us through what are witnessed? >> reporter: yeah. this was outgoing fire coming from gaza. rockets. the intercepts we saw were rockets headed north in the country and then the rockets coming over here. first of all, the rocket sounded so strong sounded like a fighter jet. it wasn't. then we heard the, heard the incoming missile warning which gives you a brief time to respond and take cover. so, then it was all over quickly. for the people who live in this town and most people have left, but still a couple thousand here. thi

jeremy diamond there for us. >>> coming up, a volunteer medic will join us.ow she is living through the horrors of war and what could be ahead. >>> for two weeks now israel and gaza have been at war and the region is confronting all the horrors of what that actually means. i want to bring in a volunteer medic. on the afternoon of the hamas attack, and i want everyone to know, you're at work. you're out saving lives. that's what you do. yeah, i know you are. i appreciate you taking a few minutes to talk to us. i know that you want the world to know and to be very aware of what happened and you think it is important. that day, on the afternoon of the hamas attack, you were on call looking for anyone who survived. you were getting the calls. you were going to the kibbutzim on that border. how do you even cope with what you saw? before we even talk about what you saw, how do you cope with it now? >> so right now, thanks to the the organizations in israel, i have a full psychological treatment every other day. special treatment. it is called emdr. it's a system th

we go to jeremy diamond in israel as close as you can get to the gaza border.srael soldiers are on the move. we've been seeing video of the trucks going in. but the idf is renewing its message to gaza citizens to evacuate. what are you seeing right now on the border? there's another rocket coming in. one moment. we just saw another iron dome interception just over my shoulder here. we see those quite often. i just wanted to check to see where it was to make sure we're in a fairly safe place. jeremy, what are you hearing and seeing on the gaza border? >> reporter: moments ago we were on a position overlooking the gaza strip, and what we were able to see over the last couple of hours was the continuation of this expanded ground operation and those intensified air strikes and artillery strikes onto the gaza strip. we are now 24 hours after israeli forces launched that expanded ground operation, and the barrage hitting gaza remains fierce and intense. you can see some of the video that we shot moments ago seeing not only explosions in gaza, but also barrages of roc

cnn's jeremy diamond is joining us from not far from the gaza border.hat are you seeing and hearing right now? it seems to be so intense. >> reporter: no doubt about it, wolf. we are more than 24 hours now past israel officially expanding its ground operations inside gaza. there was a question last night as these operations were beginning. when we woke up in the morning with those tanks and troops went into gaza last night. throughout the day we have been hearing the constant thud of artillery heading out of israel and pounding gaza as well as aerial bombardments continuing. we could hear small arms fire, machine gunfire continuing, a clear indication that the fighting between hamas fighters inside gaza and israeli troops is very much still ongoing. we also learned what the intensity of those aerial bombardments we were hearing last night, which were without a doubt the most intense and loudest booms we have heard inside gaza since this war began three weeks. they were so intense because most of what they were targeting was the underground tunnel system

we're waving it closely up here as my colleague jeremy diamond is watching things closely from southernael. and in ashkelon in gaza. what are you seeing and hearing tonight, jeremy? we're hearing reports of additional air strikes? >> well, jim, there certainly has been ongoing fighting inside of the gaza strip in northern gaza and tank divisions engaging in active fighting with hamas fighters inside of the gaza strip. but actually, this evening, jim, whereas as last two nights we heard the most intention, sustained bombardment of the gaza strip of the three weeks of war, this evening has been much, much quieter. in terms of, again, in terms of aerial bombardment, there is still active fighting on the ground but there is a data point to note. but the idf is making it clear it will continue to expand operations in the gaza strip just one day after the prime minister made clear this war is now entering a new phrase as he tries to phrase it in existential terms calling this the second war of independence. over the last 24 hours israeli troops have targeted more than 450 targets in the gaza

jeremy diamond, cnn, ashkelon. >>> if you wish to help with the humanitarian relief efforts for gaza israel, cnn can help. you can go to cnn.com/impact. you'll find a list of vetted organizations responding on the ground. that's at cnn.com/impact. >>> i'm lynda kinkade. thanks so much for joining me. isa soares has more of our coverage of the israel-hamas war after a short break, including the border crossing that was briefly opened to allow 20 trucks full of medical aid and some food to enter gaza this last hour. don't miss your chance t o test. test.

jeremy diamond, cnn, ashkelon. >>> here is what else we are following this morning.roit police are investigating the death of a synagogue leader. >> authorities found the body of samantha woll at her home saturday morning. she had been stabbed multiple times. it's still unclear what led up to her killing and authorities have not identified a suspect. the detroit police chief is asking that everyone remain patient and not draw conclusions. cnn's paul sandoval has the story. >> reporter: detroit police are searching for a motive in the murder of the president of a local synagogue, the isaac agree synagogue confirmed the death of their board president, samantha woll. investigators believe she was stabbed to death at her home but was discovered saturday morning on the sidewalk outside at this stage in the investigation, homicide investigators can only say she was stabbed multiple times and insist that the motive in this killing is unknown. they are calling on the community for potential tips or information as they try to piece this case together. the fbi also says they h

>> yeah. >> jeremy diamond, cnn, jerusalem. -- is among those taken hostage by hamas terrorists. he joins me now from israel, thank you for talking with us for this difficult time for you and your family. >> thank you, good morning. >> what can you tell us about the circumstances surrounding the capture of your sister? >> well, my sister, she is a jewelry designer. she went to the music festival and then the attack happened, she ran away with her friends. she managed to call my father, my bet parents managed to call her and she told them that she was being shot at and that there were many people running away and she is losing battery. the last time we heard about from her was at half past eight in the morning. later on me and my friends and family, we discovered that she ran away with friends. they sped up during that time because there were shots from all directions and they split up. the last time that she is sped up from someone, it's the last time we knew where she was. they called us and gave us all the information regarding what happened. that is it, that's the last contact

and just outside of gaza is where we find my colleague jeremy diamond. he's in ashkelon. now i know our vision inside of gaza is limited and the sense of extent off israeli operations ad the idf and what they tell us about it but you could give us a picture of the expanded ground operations in gaza and how far they've gone into gaza? >> reporter: well, jim, we don't have an exact sense of how far they have stretched into northern gaza. with you know that the operations, the ground operations appeared to be limited to northern gaza. bet hannon is one of the towns on the northeastern edge that israeli forces appear to be targeted but how far exactly we do not yet know and that appears to be intentional. and we just heard from the idf spokesperson hagari who declined to say where idf troops are operating. for security reasons. but what he did make clear, as we're more than 48 hours into the ground operations, that fighting is continuing between hamas militants and idf troops and that these operations aring go to continue to expand. not only on the ground, but also with air s

jeremy diamond, cnn, in southern israel.we >> spokesperson lieutenant colonel jonathan from tel aviv, and it is difficult to see you, thank you for your time. >> thank you for having me. >> israeli soldiers regained areas in the south as they go from community, to community. it seems that the atrocities go from bad, to horrendous. have those discoveries been ongoing, is there an update to what we've heard over the last 12 hours or so? that >> the uptake is that, yesterday, during the day, international media was allowed access to gather with israeli soldiers, basically, embedding within that operation. they went into a community called kibbutz -- and found more than 100 body bags of dead israeli civilians. men, women, children, elderly, many babies. really, we saw the scope, and the magnitude of the atrocities. including mutilation of bodies, and people that are burned inside of homes. really, horrendous scenes that i am at a loss for words trying to describe how cruel those scenes were. >> in all of the years of conflict be

jeremy diamond, cnn, ashkelon. >> with us now is retired major general dana pa tar, the author of huntinghe caliphate. good morning to you, major. appreciate -- major general, appreciate you joining us this morning. you say the idf wants to achieve a tactical surprise against hamas. i am wondering how much of that surprise element is possible knowing that hamas has been expecting and preparing for this ground offensive from israel? >> good morning. achieving tactical surprise is certainly not going to be easy. strategically, not only hamas and gaza but the world knows that israel is going to be attacking on the ground at some point. now, operations have, obviously, already begun with the fighter bomber attacks, the artillery attacks, the bombardment of gaza, the largest that we have seen. trying to cut off the head of hamas, get to the leaders, the command and control nodes, they are using psychological operations, intelligence operations, all sorts of things prior to the actual ground incursion. so israelis are trying to pick the time much their choosing and the place. i mean, they will

fred. >> jeremy diamond in ashkelon, israel.hank you so much. >>> as israel launches hundreds of air strikes, it said are aimed at hamas, civilians say they are being caught in the middle. scott mcclain has more on the impact of the air strikes on gaza. >> reporter: there isn't much left the ballal mosque in gaza it was frattened by an overnight air strike. people inside of the neighboring apartment blocks weren't spared either. roofs were ripped right off and everything now covered in a pale shade of gray. more than a dozen were killed and more injured according to the local hospital where outside the bodies of those killed are wrapped in white sheets and marked with their names. both the idf and the israeli prime minister have renewed calls for civilians to urgently evacuate northern gaza. the apartment buildings next to the mosque were filled with people who had heeded those warnings. believing central gaza would be safer. there were no warnings at all this survivor said. we've seen the entire thing collapsing on it. we didn'

jeremy diamond talked to one of them, and here he is. [ speaking in a global language ] >> translatori really don't know. it is a miracle. it is a miracle because the people next to me did not get out alive. >> reporter: with a bullet in her stomach, she considers herself one of the lucky ones, but when the rockets sounded at the nova musical festival, and hamas militants began to killing and kidnapping hundreds of festivalgoers, her fate was far from sealed. >> translator: it was just shooting range shooting, and whoever could run, ran. others got killed. >> reporter: after the bullets pierced the windows of the car she and her boyfriend were trying to escape in, she found refuge in small shed with at least 50 other people. >> there were already people injured. some of them on their legs and some on the backside, and some on their heads. i had a scarf on me, and somebody next to me was bleeding so i gave her a tourniquet on her leg. >> reporter: minutes later, shots rang out. >> translator: there was silence, and then the policewoman there with us simply screamed, whoever wanted to b

jeremy diamond is in ashkelon with the very latest evidence. >> our investigations team has conducted a really thorough analysis using dozens of videos taken from social media, but also live broadcasts and footage filmed by a freelance journalist working for cnn inside the gaza strip. in addition to that, there's satellite imagery, and they also spoke with several explosives and other military experts who analyzed these very images. and cnn's analysis effectively suggests that this blast at this hospital inside the gaza strip was caused by a rocket launched from gaza, a rocket that appears to have broken up midair and then at least part of that rocket fell down on that parking lot outside the hospital, causing the explosion that has killed hundreds of people over there. now, these weapons and explosives experts who cnn spoke with, they all agreed that this is the most likely scenario. now at the same time, a definitive conclusion on this simply can't be reached without recovering physical evidence from the site, which is very difficult given the limited access that journalists have to

>> jeremy diamond, thank you so much. as we look again at gaza, why did this attack on israel, why did it happen now? why hamas? who is funding hamas? we'll try to make some sense of the intelligence coming in so far. that's next. >>> we're back. cnn reporting that u.s. believes that senior iranian officials were caught by surprise by hamas' ruthless terrorist attack on israel saturday. some u.s. officials and lawmakers remain convinced that iran had more of a direct role, that is the conclusion of israeli leaders. either way, this part is crystal clear. for years, the iranian regime has been the chief sponsor of hamas, providing weapons and technological and idealogical support and a significant amount of cash. in 2022, hamas' leader publicly said hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the u.s. and eu, received $70 million from iran and used it to build rockets. cnn's chief national security correspondent analysts join us now. beth, walk us through the hamas/iranian regime relationship. have they gotten closer

jeremy diamond, cnn in southern israel. >> idf spokesman is now with us from tel aviv. again, it's good to see you thank you for taking the time. >> thank you for having me. >> as israeli soldiers regain control of areas in the south, as they go from community to community, it seems the atrocities go from bad to horrendous. we have those discoveries been ongoing, is there an update to what we've already heard in the last 12 hours or so? >> yes, the update is that yesterday during the day international media was allowed access together with the israeli soldiers, basically embedding with that operation and they went into a community called kibitz bianchi and found more than 100 body bags of a resilient israeli civilians, men, women, children, elderly, many babies and really saw the scope and magnitude of the atrocities, including mutilation of bodies and people that were burned inside homes. really horrendous, horrendous scenes that i am at a loss of words really to describe how cruel those scenes were. >> and all the years of conflict between israel and hamas, has there

jeremy diamond has the latest from israel. >> reporter: u.s. support for israel looks like this. a hulking u.s. military plane landing at the air base. where cnn secured sclexclusive access. this plane just landed in southern israel bringing fresh u.s. weapons and ammunition for israel's fight against hamas. today the secretary of defense lloyd austin coming here to inspect the shipment, vowing that u.s. military support for israel will continue to flow at the speed of war. >> i know how hard you've been working. you've been hustling to get this here as quickly as you could. >> reporter: this was the second shipment of military equipment to israel just this week. delivering precision-guide munitions and iron dome missiles which helps protect against hamas rockets. >> it is not just a show of support. it is support. it's the leading edge of more to come. >> reporter: what kind of assurances do you have from the israelis about how they'll use these munitions? >> this is a professional force that's well-led. they'll do the right thing. >> reporter: israeli airstrikes have killed mor

jeremy diamond, cnn, ashkelon. >>> the entire region is close to a boiling point.e experts believe that the longer it goes on, the chance of it spilling over into a much bigger deal increases. joining me from london is daniel levy, the president of the u.s. middle east project. thanks for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> so you were a former member of the israeli delegation to the israeli/palestinian peace talks. despite all those efforts, those years of discussions, it seems that peace is more elusive than ever. what is your take on what we are seeing right now? >> well, i really appreciate your reminding me and your audience that there is such a thing of peace talks, or at least there was. we've just seen that report. we've seen the images coming out of gaza. we've seen what happened to israelis on october 7th. and you had a very moving interview with an israeli woman who was saying, take all the children out of this conflict, release children being held prisoner by israel and those being held in gaza. i think it's just important to do that, to step

jeremy diamond, thank you so much for that. am going to go to david who is a former obama campaign adviser and former state department official as well. so, thank you, sir, for joining us at this really tense time in israel, and in gaza. and frankly in the west bank as well with the leadership there. and sir, can you give us a sense of how the diplomacy can work, and whether it is already working to some degree, because for the entire past eight days, nothing has come in and out of the rafah border, the border of gaza and egypt, and now we have learned and seen evidence, video of it, of five different trucks coming in with fuel into gaza from that rafah border that has been effectively closed to people trying to get out. is that part of the diplomacy that is happening here? >> i would expect it is. you know, blinken is doing the shuttle diplomacy here, and going between israel and the gulf states. he is trying to get the gulf states to press hamas to release some of the hostages, and press them to open up the rafah gate and tha

cnn's jeremy diamond is in israel for us. what's the latest on the state of israel's forces? what are you learning? >> reporter: wolf, we were driving along the gaza border today and we saw several massing of tanks, armored personnel carriers and d9 bulldozers the israeli forces use ahead of a ground invasion to clear the roads of ieds and other obstacles in their way. these were large, i would say altogether we saw several hundred tanks, armored personnel carriers, and these armored vehicles, as well as infantry troops staging in the area, artillery nearby as well. so all of this very much appears to be the preparations for this ground invasion that we have been waiting for. and it goes along with the comments that we are hearing from top israeli generals that tonight israel's military chief of staff saying, quote, we will enter the gaza strip, telling troops that they will embark on an operational task of destroying hamas, and making very clear that while he understands that hamas has prepared for the possibility of an israeli invasion, that they will have booby traps and t

i want to bring in cnn's jeremy diamond, who is in ashkelon israel, just north of gaza. jeremy, what is the official response from the idf about this strike on a refugee camp? >> well, jake, the israeli military says that it was responsible for the air strike that appears to have leveled entire buildings in the jabalya refugee camp, but they say this strike was justified because in this air strike they were able to kill a hamas commander, ibrahim biari who they say was responsible in part for the terrorist attacks that took place in israel on october 7th. they also say he is a key commander who has been commanding hamas forces in northern gaza, fighting israeli troops as they have expanded their ground operations in that area over the last five days. now the idf says that hamas is responsible for the civilian casualties that may have resulted from this strike, blaming hamas for hiding behind civilians, which is a frequent argument that we have heard from israeli forces when there are civilian casualties in these types of strikes. they also repeated they're urging for civi

cnn's jeremy diamond is live in jerusalem for us. it's a gut-wrenching story, jeremy.ou had to go through it. we want to tell our viewers be careful. the story is difficult. but bearing witness is important. >> no doubt about it, jake. listen, yossi landau is a 30-year veteran of this search and rescue group. he has been to the scene of terrorist attacks and natural disasters around the world for decades now, but he says that he has never seen anything like he did two saturdays ago. we should note that cnn has not independently verified some of his testimony, although we do have evidence of similar atrocities committed by hamas. and i also want to warn our viewers once again that the testimony you're to be hear is very graphic. >> reporter: ten days after hamas carried out its attack in southern israel, yossi landau is still discovering fresh horrors if that day. >> when we're going to clean up, to pick up the terrorists, it was like off the houses in the back were the field. and there was one terrorist body over there. and we went and just right next to him was a body