mark hertling: i know it was well-advertised. but it also requires short-term intelligence collection to get that. hey, there's going to be a concert at this location in a week. let's plan our operation around that, or at least have that as one of our targets. that's the kind of thing that an advanced military does. avi mayer: the fact that the hamas forces came from multiple different directions indicates to authorities that hamas knew it was taking place and went there with the intent of killing as many of the concertgoers as they could possibly kill. [music stops] [booing] hai cohen: i think at least one week, at least. and you know, before a festival, you're doing test events for the music and for the speakers, so they knew that we are there. definitely, definitely, they knew that we are there. they was ready. like elite special forces, soldiers, they was ready. [crying] anderson cooper: ready for a massive terror attack that a senior hamas official claims was two years in the making. cnn has geolocated at least six training

. >>> let's bring in now cnn analyst lieutenant general mark hertling.'s talk about this attack on an ambulance outside a gaza hospital. the international community of red cross says the palestinian ministry alerted them ahead of time there would be this convoy of vehicles, this ambulance included, moving from the hospital in the north to the south. is there any onus on israel to prove or declassified information to support their claim that they thought this was -- hamas was using this vehicle to transport other weapons or some militants? >> there is an onus, victor, on them to produce evidence of what they had. it appears so far it was an ambulance that hamas alerted the red cross seems to be a little bit damning. i'll look at it from the other side. there is a long history of terrorist groups using ambulances to not only transport their fighters but also to conduct suicide bombing operations. i was actually present at two of those in iraq on two separate occasions. we also captured an ambulance that had been packed to the gills with explosive. that doe

joining us "outfront" now, retired army lieutenant general mark hertling, former commanding general of europe. general hertling, it's good to have you with us. we heard clearly what the concerns are for yehuda, in terms of his son-in-law and so many other families about what could happen if in fact this pause ends tonight, if that happens, what do you imagine the fighting will look like when it resumes? >> well, i couldn't have said it any better than mr. beinin just did. he actually outlined the various factors of the strategic implications of what different governments are trying to do. if i can just review that very quickly, mr. netanyahu has said his stated objective is to destroy hamas. hamas has said their stated objectives in their charter is to kill jews and destroy the israeli state. then you have the american, president biden, who is saying, hey, my objective is to get as many hostages out and prevent a humanitarian disaster in gaza with the palestinians. so those three things somehow are clashing, and it's causing some great emotional trauma on the part of families of the ho

joining me now, cnn military analyst mark hertling and -- taking a step back, for a second, general hertlingidea that there are saying that they have essentially turned over all of the women and children they had, knowing that the numbers are skewed in terms of who is still outstanding, so to speak, as a hostage, perhaps, and those who are thought to remain there. what does that tell you about who might actually have the remaining hostages? >> there are several organizations within gaza where i would suggest it's probably either the palestine -- palestinian islamic jihad or other terrorist groups within the umbrella portion of hamas. so it just is an indicator that hamas does not have complete control, or that they are just flat out lie about what they have and what they can give up, as part of this deal with the operational part. >> on that point to, they're telling their forces to be ready to fight. we know israel is poised to fight. does that mean, if the -- were talking about doing it at the instance? >> i would suggest, absolutely, yes. hamas is ready. the statement that been just right

retired army general mark hertling joins us now. how effective do you think these tunnels are? we've seen some of the video. they've certainly been reinforced over many, many years. and a lot of money has been put into them. i mean, will idf soldiers actually have to end up going into these tunnel, fighting in these tunnels? or will it be an attempt to crush the tunnels from above somehow? >> anderson, if i can address what we've both been seeing from a soldier's perspective first, nic robertson has been showing some great films. ed just showed that film of the underground tunnels. the combat environment inside of gaza, gaza city is just something that will -- the sense. we can look from a faraway distance as nic is doing and just see smoke and lightning and bombs blowing up and artillery rounds landing. if you're inside that area, and i believe that israel has encircled all of gaza city, because in urban combat, you want to control ingress and egress of your enemy into what their defensive positions are. so now they're trying to confuse hamas soldiers in terms of where those t