rafael romo is live in tel aviv. rafael, we just witnessed a very remarkable press conference from yocheved lifshitz, one of the two newly released hostages. it was a stunning thing to watch unfold. she says i went through hell, i was kidnapped on a motor bike driving toward gaza in the field. and she went on to talk about the treatment that she received at the hands of her captors. she says that she and four other hostages were separated, there was one very ill treated with antibiotics. the message she seemed to be sending is that they were treating her well. of course we can't lose sight of the fact that this is after hamas butchered 1400 plus israelis and took of course more than 200 of them hostage as part of this. what else did you hear as you listened to her speak? >> reporter: yeah, that is a very good observation. i think what she was trying to tell was that they were treated very harshly when they were kidnapped and taken hostage and then everything changed and they were treated in a more again tell oig way o

kasie. >> rafael romo for us in israel.et's bring in major general dana petard to help us understand what is going on. general, it's good to see you. thank you for being with us this morning. can you ten us understand what does the second phase mean exactly? >> good morning, kasie. obviously, the first phase was the preparation phase, going against hamas, command control modes, trying to cut off the head of hamas. intelligence operations. vibe viber attacks, psychological operations. now this phase, the ground phase which i truly believe has begun is a deliberate phase where the idf is moving from the north and possibly, the northeast, again, very deliberately, because of the terrlated ambushes, really, every turn, block by block. street by street, building by building, subterranean, because of the tunnels by hamas, as well as aboveground and of course on high-rises very, very difficult. so that part of it has begun. there is a chance that others like hezbollah and syria are trying to pin down israeli forces to the north. i

rafael romo is live for us. u.s. officials tells cnn that israel's expanding ground operations are complicating efforts to rescue hostages? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. good morning. u.s. still engaged in negotiations to secure the safe release of the hostages including american citizens. of course other countries involved in the negotiations with hamas in addition to the united states and israel are xwi t qatar and egypt. since the israel defense forces expanded ground operations in to gaza, talks about the hostages have become more complicated. a senior u.s. official told cnn on monday that they believe the prospects of getting hostages out could now, described as 50/50. now, the ground incursion into gaza is not the only problem. the same official said the efforts to negotiate with that hamas have been slow going and no small part because it simply takes a long time for messages to be transmitted from doha to hamas. we've learned the intelligence agency was in qatar over the weekend to discuss the ongoing effo

cnn's rafael romo has our report. >> this is the shelter. >> reporter: for several long and agonizing hours he and his family hunkered down in their home shelter built to protect them from air missile attacks. afraid and knowing that atrocities were being committed outside on the ground by hoarddes of attacking terrorists. the emergency door meant to be lifesaving for families, can be deadly when holding it close against militants. >> and the shot with the ak-47. >> they shot through the door. >> yeah, through the door. people they hold the handle like this. >> a problem he has since solved with a 2 by 4. >> you put it like this and hamas cannot come inside. >> reporter: the idf says the response to the attacks was a military failure. >> it's a military failure that we will have to look into, but it's a military failure that will create the possibility for a much better future. >> now communities are taking the future into their own hands. >> reporter: he was one of five men who organized themselves to protect their mug shot or jewish settlement of about 700 people located just a few

rafael romo, cnn at the israeli border with gaza. >> and nearly 8,000 people have now been killed insideaza. that is according to the palestinian health ministry drawing on sources inside of the hamas controlled enclave. the region has been pummelled by israeli air strikes after hamas killed more than 1400 israelis and kidnapped more than 200 on october 7th. the main united nations relief agency inside of gaza today saying recently looting of the aid supply are evident of growing hunger and desperation and this morning jake tapper pressed white house national security adviser jake sullivan on israel's decision to send troops inside of the gaza strip. >> we could go back however many years people want, if whether they want to start in the hasha might kingdom or 1948 or 68 or 73 or 2000, or 2008, if we want to start on october 7th, we would start on october 7th and as far as the idf is concerned, the government of the country next door invaded, killed 1400 of their citizens and went back and they have a right to take out that government. that is how the idf sees it. and i get that the bide

rafael romo is with me now.his is one of dozens of hamas leaders that israel says it's eliminated this month. >> that's correct, jake. so the israel defense forces has put together a list of 32 targeted killings of the hamas leadership. and this list includes a number of different people, people who are in charge of logistics, tactics, the military wing, and -- and many of those involved in planning the october 7th terrorist attacks. one that stands out and let me show who he is, the reason why he stands out is because he was in charge of hamas aerial assets responsible for hamas uavs, drones, paragladers, as well as aerial detection and service systems killed saturday. i talked to a fame near ashkelon, and they were telling me a friend of theirs saw how they came down on october 7 using paragliders and screaming at them in arabic that they were going to kill them. a very hateful language. and so apparently this guy that we just saw was responsible for not only training them but also equipping them. >> interesti

rafael romo is live for us in tel aviv. good morning, good afternoon to you. what is blinken's mission this morning? >> reporter: good morning, good afternoon from tel aviv. before tdeparting for israel, h said discussions are ongoing and he said that he is talking to partners in the region, countries like egypt, but he acknowledged that it is a rather complicated mission. israel is stepping up its offend is receive in gaza. israeli jets have continued to pound the densely populated enclave in response to hamas brutal terror attacks. there are multiple developments to tell you about this morning on the sixth day of fighting. israel is conducting a large scale strike on hamas targets in gaza, that is what the israeli military said earlier today. death toll continues to climb on both sides. israeli officials say 1200 have died as a result of the hamas attacks and while the palestinian ministry of health increased the figure in gaza to more than 1200 earlier today. u.n. said a few hours ago that more than 330,000 people have been displaced there since israel bega

and let's bring in rafael romo live in tel aviv. bring us up to speed, what is the latest on the race to rescue the hostages? >> reporter: good morning. efforts to secure the release of the hostages started the day after they were taken captive by hamas and there are talks currently under way, the united states, israel, qatar, egypt and hamas are engaged in the ongoing efforts. and as you may remember, the last two hostages were released thanks to negotiations between egypt and qatar and support of the international committee of the red cross. two sources familiar with these talks and one western diplomat with knowledge of the negotiations told cnn that the talks are being complicated by different factors, different reasons, without getting more specific. but let me tell you, the question is, many people are asking how many hostages does hamas still have. israeli officials say there are 220 people in captivity. and this is after four of them, two americans and two israelis, were released, two on friday and two more on monday. on tue

let's go to rafael romo live in tel aviv.ery strong message there from netanyahu about absolutely no cease fire. this is the international community, including the united states are talking a lot about humanitarian pauses. what can you tell us this morning? >> reporter: yes, poppy, phil, good morning to you. if there were any doubts about what israel's position is regarding the growing pressure from the international community, pushing for a cease fire, these doubts were put to rest last night by benjamin netanyahu in a televised address, the israeli prime minister said that calls for a cease fire are calls for israel to surrender to hamas, to surrender to terrorists, surrender to barbarism. that will not happen. netanyahu drew parallels to pearl harbor and september 11th attacks implying that just as the u.s. went after its attackers, israel also has the right to go after the terrorists who attacked his country on october 7th. this is a time for war, he said. and netanyahu also addressed criticism that israel is inflicting p

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cnn's rafael romo joins us from tel aviv. several things going on here. the immense amount of strikes probably but also this communication blackout. >> reporter: yeah, a couple of things is making the situation here way more complicated, max. you were mentioning a moment ago, those israeli warplanes that hit 150 underground targets overnight. let me also tell you that we have learned that the israeli defense forces say that they also killed the head of hamas aerial operations. the israel defense forces said it had struck what it called terror tunnels and underground combat spaces during a period of very heavy air strikes on the north of the gaza strip, which explains some of the loud booms we heard for hours overnight here in tel aviv. the israeli military also says the man who was in charge of hamas aerial assets was among several operatives killed, and israel defense forces announce the expansion of ground operations in gaza. u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin reiterated the importance of protecting civilians in a call friday with the israeli minister

rafael romo. >>> an al-jazeera has returned to work. t we have more. but parts of the report are graphic. >> reporter: a journalist, some call the voice of gaza, mourns over the body of his teenage son. they're taking their revenge by killing our children, he cries. ail jal-jazeera says he lost hi, daughter and baby grandson. all killed in an israeli air strike, the network says. the reporter had moved his family south of gaza city, after an evacuation order by the idf, believing it would keep them safe. this conflict is taking a severe toll on journalists, with at least 24 killed so far, according to the committee to protect journalists. reporters are facing threats, arrests and censorship. no one and nowhere in this enclave is spared. death and funerals are constant. agony on every corner. every ten minutes, a child is killed, save the children estimates. anywhere else many the world, it is sons who bury their father, this man says. why is it different in gaza? why y do we hahave to bubury ou children before they are even growown? families desperate

>> rafael romo in tel aviv, thank you very much.e in studio is the israeli ambassador to the united states michael herzog. before i start, of course, i want to offer my deepest condolences to the israeli people about what happened eight days ago. just a horrific, horrific i think i speak for all of my viewers and everybody at cnn when i say our hearts are just broken by what happened. >> thank you very much. i highly appreciate that. >> this ground incursion that we expect in the next -- do we -- can you give me any sort of sense of timing next week? i know you have 300,000 reservists on the border and is it an operation to rid hamas of its military capabilities and its terrorist capabilities or is it in operation to destroy hamas completely? >> so, as you noted, israel was attacked and hamas waged war in israel and and we have no choice to strike back and we will destroy the regime so they cannot threaten us again, and we don't want to be where they laurin war against us or provoke us. that's over and we are determined to destroy t