cnn's orrin lieberman is live at the pentagon.t is the second carrier strike group headed towards the mediterranean why? >> there is not too often you see two u.s. strike groups operating in the same region. that is exactly what we'll see, the u.s.s. strike group and the u.s.s. dwight d. eisenhower strike group should get there in a couple of weeks. it is a major statement. the purpose of all of this essentially fire power and these war ships is not to get involved in the fighting in israel. the u.s. doesn't want that and israel doesn't want it. they want the fighting to be constrained to gaza and to israel and not sweec sweech ovee borders. the -- sweep over the borders. one of deterrence, hezbollah and lebanon right on israel's border. there has been back and fire across that border but hasn't escalated beyond that and remains at essentially a contained level. the goal is to keep it there john. >> so orrin, the defense secretary was in israel, i think he's back in the united states again but spoke with his israeli counterpart, w

it's very dark, so, you can't see a whole lot, but kind of an area view of gaza city, and what orrin lieberman here was reminding us, and you have certainly reported on like he has from the ground there, is, when you're talking about israeli retaliation inside gaza, how difficult that is, even without israeli hostages who are apparently there now, because it is so dense, because it is so hard to navigate for the israeli military. now, on top of that, you have the israeli military, according to prime minister net yaanyahu, very clearly ready to retaliate, but how are they going to do that, to avoid palestinian civilian deaths, but also, the israeli hostages who were intentionally brought in there as shields. >> it's a huge, huge challenge. look, hamas hides out in the civilian population. they live in the same houses civilians live in. they build tunnels under civilian properties. so, that presents a military challenge. but you've got to take a step back and analyze this from the new scenario that we've witnessed today, not just the hostage scenario, which is terrible for any government to deal

orrin lieberman cnn at the pentagon. >> responded to u.s. president joe biden's public questioning of the reliability of palestinian casualty figures in the conflict with israel by publishing the names of what it says are thousands killed since the start of this conflict in the wake of october 7th astacks by hamas. the israeli defense forces have imposed a complete siege of the gaza strip. israel says the attacks will continue until all the hostages are released. controversy against the death toll. >> reporter: families are mourning and counting their dead. a near endless stream of funerals echoes throughout gaza and as palestinians bury their loved ones, conflict continues over the death toll released by hamas. hamas took power in 2007, no elections have again taken since. it controls the government therefore all ministries including the health ministry. president biden says that is why he last no confidence in the reported gaza death toll. >> i have no notion that palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. i'm sur

i want to go to orrin lieberman. what are you hearing? >> this is the "u.s.s. gerald r. ford" operating and is now heading to the waters off of israel. its goal is to offer a message of support and deterrence. it was president joe biden who said yesterday that other parties, references, even if not naming hezbollah and lebanon and other groups in syria, warning them not to get involved here and that now is what the u.s. is showing with this carrier strike group that also consists of a guided missile cruiser and destroyers. the general underscored that in a statement saying u.s. centcom stands with others against the risk of expanding the conflict. in the middle east areas like qatar and other areas, those will be augmented, according to austin. you'll see f-35s, f-16s, a-10s b bolstered there. some were sent as a response against syria aggression and the purpose was to deter that sort of behavior. now what we're seeing from hamas that gets part of its funding and guidance from iran, that message expanding with the augmentation and bolstering of the fighter squadrons in t

i want to go to orrin lieberman. >> reporter: a u.s. navy destroyer operating in the middle east was off the coast of yemen when it intercepted several missiles. according to one of the two u.s. officials we spoke with, it looks to be two or three missiles that were intercepted. it's unclear what they were targeting, whether it was aimed at the carrier or something else. the key question is who fired them? it's believed to be the iranian group in yemen. it's been something the u.s. has been looking closely at whether other groups who see weakness in israel might try to participate in the con flight and get involved. perhaps it's an indication of that happening. it speaks to the broader tension throughout the region. in addition to this u.s. navy destroyer intercepting these missiles, we have seen drone attacks on u.s. and coalition forces in iraq within the past 24 or 48 hours. we saw three drones targeting u.s. forces there. this is what the administration and other countries were worried about, whether a conflict in gaza could spread

what do you make of what orrin lieberman was talking about, the rapid response getting closer to thisituation. obviously, it could happen. where they may need to intervene and evacuate americans. what do you think? >> exactly, jim, and what i tell you as commander of u.s. army europe in 2013, we worked with the marine expeditionary units in the area at the time. it was a different view, but this one, the 26th marine exped igszary unit, and it can work with special operations forces are trained to conduct neo operations and in pack, back in my day about ten years ago, we actually planned a neo operation in beirut out of lebanon. it didn't happen, but certainly it could today given the increase of tensions in the area. what i'd suggest is that rapid response force, that marine meu is capable of doing all sorts of things contributing to the execution of a neo is one of the most important things they do, but what i'd say, jim, is when i was there, and this was a long time ago, there were 100,000 and more american citizens inside of lebanon and we were planning for the non-combatant evacua

orrin lieberman, cnn, at the pentagon. >>> the search for the man suspected of the mass shootings in maine continues into friday. law enforcement is checking his home hoping to find him and a possible motive as well. we're following that. c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network. >>> a community on edge as an intensive manhunt is underway in the u.s. state of maine. an arrest warrant has been issued for robert card, the suspect in a shooting rampage in the death of 18 people. he's considered to be armed and dangerous. people in several counties have been asked to shelter in place. multiple schools and colleges remain closed. the motive for the shooting is un

as we follow the unfolding war in the middle east i want to get to pentagon correspondent orrin liebermanu now cover the u.s. pentagon. you spent years in jerusalem as cnn's correspondent there. you know the region incredibly well. what can you tell us? >> so let's look at a few major factors here. one where the fighting is still ongoing and where israel is looking to reclaim its territory by hamas terrorists and first got fighting. we'll give you a look at the hot spots. this village is 14 miles from the gaza border. these are just a few miles here and some villages are a hundred meter away from the border and this where we are seeing ongoing fighting with the terrorists that came across the border and sterot is a major city there on the gaza border. there's an order there from the idf for residents there to remain inside their homes so an ongoing concern even when there isn't active fighting and a concern on the part of the israelis that thigh could be looking for as this ongoing well past the 24-hour mark. in terms of evacuations. israel has ordered evacuations and this is 14 miles awa