Are. Thank you, guys. We will get back to you. And now, to give us more perspective on what we are seeing playing out this morning is major mike lion, and good to see you, major, and so tell us where clarissa and nic and what we are hearing, and this is the sderot and ashkelon, and why these areas to take fire now . Well, through the eyes of h hamas what they want to do is to fire the artillery as close as they can to the iron dome, and they want to survive themselves, and the mobile Rocket Launchers and low tech, but if they can get as close to the border, they can create the chaos and havoc there. The but as we saw, the iron dome was able to intercept it. At the same time, every Artillery Fire, and every rocket has a returned a dress. So as soon as it goes off, they are firing off the Rocket Artillery in that direction. So, again, the hamas militants are trying to survive and fire off the barrages and scoot out of there. The fact, that look, we had thousands of rockets coming from hamas on saturday, and the fact that they are still going to have rockets to fire, and now what does that show . Well, it shows that this is a well planned operation, and they are looking if they are firing up here on ashkelon, and up here is tel aviv, and they will continue to use whatever advantage they have. And right, down here in this place here, and tel aviv here, and they are confined to gaza, and the systems there, and this is going to tell me that they all right. We are following break news all are ready and expecting this morning long and seeing the fight. Another area that you have rockets flying out of gaza said is a great areas of towards the israeli city of concern, and we are hearing from the idf putting out on twitter ashkelon, and hamas says it has fired hundreds of rockets into that sirens going off in ashkelon. Northern israel. We saw with our own eyes, the this up here, with the border visibility of the israeli iron with lebanon, and this is a real dome intercepting many if not area of concern, and why . Most of those rockets. Well, this is nightmare we go right to Clarissa Ward who scenario for idf, because they is in the israeli city of have to cut the forces in two. Ashkelon to tell us what she has been seeing, clarissa. And this is not well, john, it has been an existentially, but immediately if they are talking about a ground incursion, why up here is intense hour. Hamas had warned via the a problem. Looking at the distance. Telegram channel that ordinary and first of all, only active residents of the city of duty forces will get there, and ashkelon should leave by 5 00 we know that 300,000 are coming, p. M. , and literally like but they are not there yet. And so they can only use the clockwork at 5 00 p. M. , we heard active duty forces, and the a massive sustain ed and most o hezbollah forces have much more capability, and capacity, and if they decide to join the war, now we have the 1973 environment. Attack coming from the south, and attack from the north, and then you will see the enemy those rockets intercepted by the location trying to get this way. Iron dome, though we are hearing israel is then surrounded on all of places inside of the town three sides, and this is what where they made direct contact. They dont want to have. Then it was calm for a few minutes and another sustained so you is multiple factors barrage, and it is basically going on like that as we were here. The conversation of the Ground Enkurgs that could be coming and building up towards the discussing on air on off for 335 complicating factor of hostages in gaza, and then this is the minutes, and hamas say ss that d complicating factor, the Tunnel Network that hamas has in place, and what do you do about that . Well, it is standoff, and the Israeli Forces have to make sure the noise is just so glaring. That the tunnels dont get behind the forces. That is the greatest fear with that there, but the hostages, hardly anybody out on the and israel is pretty good at street, because this is a city this. They are good at rescuing that has come under heavy rocket hostages. They take it very seriously. Attack, but in the last few yes, and i have to believe that special force, and they have cleared the desk, and every days, there is a up tick in the single one is working a specific mission, but time is running platform. Now, what i would say is that out, and it has happened a few days ago, and they have to get what we witnessed in the last in there and start that operation if they know there is hour. I want to go to Nic Robertson any possibility to get the hostages out. Who is in sderot, and nic, you and we wanted to pull up this are not far from me, but i map, because it is showing you how the Terror Attack from hamas understand that you were able to really played out. Hear the rockets as they were you have by sea, by land, by being fired off. Tell me what you saw and heard. Air. You have places attacked by hamas fighters, and the idfs have said they have recovered the bodies of about 1,500 hamas reporter clarissa, i have to wave at the police here, because terrorists inside of israel, so they have arrived at the house here, and how are you doing . On the question of what is next, all good. Cnn up here. How long does it take and how long for the idf to get ready cnn. Yeah, i just wanted to make sure they know who we are, because for what is likely a ground they are a little bit edgy, incursion when you are looking because of a fear of hamas at how hamas did it right under their noses . Militants around the town. Clarissa, we were able to hear it is weeks, because they have to ensure it is nothing and see those missiles taking trailing, and ones ors twos, an off on the way to you and see the iron dome intercepts that they have to make sure that were happening there, and the thing that is kicking off at the moment, and i dont know if you there are no sleeper cells. Have been able to hear it, but a so they have to throw the couple of big detonations here, security right out the window, and heavy howitzers, and the and go back to secure the traps, firing into gaza, and the idf and they have to run down using that as a precise piece of everything on the incursion. When you are seeing this, and how was so much missed . Military equipment to target the hamas firing positions. I mean, this the Million Dollar question of course. Your thoughts . And the same reasons that we missed 9 11. Because said that they had and 100 things go right on hamas, and 100 million things enough to catch a glimpse of the hamas militants firing out the wrong on our side. Rockets, and that has picked up here at dusk time. And so, with the ops and they quite a collection of police used it after attacking on a here, but they are pretty happy wide front, and from all of the that we are standing on the vulnerabilities, it was well planned. And it looks like the israeli roof, and they know who we are. Forces fell asleep, and it is unheard of when they project and nic, broadly speaking such power. Along the gaza border, and along and throwing up the maps, when you know that the threat of with the tempo of what you are hamas is that they are going to start executing hostages. H right. Hearing, and the mood of the id, depending upon how israel, if that they are confident that they would say acts in the they had cleared all of the coming days. From the ops perspective, and from planning, how do you hamas infill tra l tray tray ensure, what do you need to ensure that you can keep the hostages safe while you are infiltrators and there is still trying to go in to get them in a place where you dont vb a lot a heightened state, and what are you seeing . Yes, it reflects same thing. Of visibility. If they have an area where they you have to be clear about the men and women going in to believe they have control of, and then they get a report that rescue, because it is a potential Suicide Mission for them, too, and they have to know says hey, something suspicious what they are going into, and is over here, and i dont know they will act on the 70 or the why so many police have flooded 80 intelligence they v and when to this particular neighborhood, they get there, it may not be but they were outside there that, and they could be trapped searching around with themselves. It is highly dangerous mission, flashlights, and so they got and when you lay it over 100 word of a potential scenario of hostages or spo, it is going to what you were saying, something make it worse. Happened, something spotted. And some perspective of where therefore the idf went on stepping up the patrol, and the focus is at the moment. Stepped up the position if you will. When i spoke to the general in charge, he took us inside of the the idf is saying they have kibbutz that is literally 700 sirens set up here and outside meters away from gaza, and hamas of where the rockets are hitting overran saturday morning, and 48hour of gun battle to get gaza. Major, thank you. Back and i believe that is stay close. John . We have been watching all artillery outgoing to, get back morning long as the rockets have been flying into ashkelon, and control of the particular continued israeli air strikes kibbutz, and i said, can you be over gaza. I wanted to make one thing clear, we have seen this type of 100 sure that you have all of thing before, and maybe not to the hamas militant, and he said, this degree, but this type of thing before, and what makes what is happening right now is that there are 100 to 150 hostages inside of gaza, and what is going to be done to try to get them out alive, and what is done with the 660,000 israeli troops being mobil ooized. We will continue with the special coverage right after this. Morning long we have been seeing a barrage of rockets out gaza towards ashkelon, and most of them taken out by the iron dome, but some have landed. We have also been seeing israel respond and hitting gaza overand over. Now, we are getting word that there are rockets that have been fired from the north from lebanon, and israel is now responding with Artillery Fire according to the military. Our erin burnett has just arrived in the country. She is in tel aviv, and you have been watching the conflict and reporting on the conflict since the beginning this weekend, and so tell us what is happening there in tel aviv. Sara, in the day, and the last couple of hours, our teams here, and sirenings would go off, and everyone is immediately taking shelter, and the then the thuds, and they would literally and the impact, and this is not known, but over the last couple of hours, you can see that. And looking up and down the north, as clarissa said, it is going to be a long evening, and tensions are high in a sobering country, and in deep mourning, and as well as the idf and hundreds of thousands of reservists being called up, and all eyes are going to be on what President Biden has to say here. As you know, Arlette Scenes is going Arlette Saenz is there, and this is a crucial speech to be watch around the world, and what do you expect . It is to be some of the most fulsome comments since the beginning of this conflict of israel and hamas. It is said that he is not going to urge Benjamin Netanyahu to have restraint. Now, we reported that when he is knowingly going to and now, the president is going to have his third phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu. And what he is going to talk about is israels ability to defend itself, and the assistance of the u. S. And other ally, and what they can offer to the country in this moment. We have heard from President Biden, and top officials a tts state department, and the Department Of Defense that if the u. S. Is prepared to offer further assistance to the country, and they have started this already in since the conflict. Another subject that the president is going to touch on is still a number of american Ps Unaccounted For Due To Hamas taking potentially some american hostages. The white house has not put a numb bebut in addition to sending some military assistance to israel, u. S. Is also offering a special operation, and intelligence rescue for these hostages. Listen to Top National Security spokesperson john kirby and what he had to say about the assistance being offered at this moment. We have talked to the israelis about offering them additional intelligence information as well as hostage recovery expertise. We have a lot of that here in the United States, and in law enforcement, and military, and intelligence community. We have offered that assistance to israel, and i suspect additional tranches going forward. Reporter another issue that President Biden could touch on today is something that he said saturday when he urged other actors to not take advantage of this situation when it is israel, and talking to mo other Essential Groups who could be eye attacks. And this is a key test for the president , because he is balancing a second war and not just israels, but the americans who are in the country, and those who have lost loved ones there. Thank you. With these hostages, nobody knows what is going to happen, and of course, as the minutes go by, some of the Hostage Situations may end deadly. We know that at the festival where there were people who were killed, there were harrowing examples of chaos. Jeremy diamond talked to one of them, and here he is. [ speaking in a global language ] translator i really dont 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 be alive needs to leave now. And those who could leave, left. Those who could not, i dont know what happened with them. Reporter michal and her boyfriend took off running, and a person managed to shove her into a window of passing vehicle, but at every turn more hamas fighters. They came with pickup truck, and on each Pickup Trucks there were 20 terrorists with the kalashnikov machine guns. I have not seen anything like this. Reporter and then she jumped out of the car and began running before finding an abandoned army tank there on the side of the road. Bullets reached her there too, and she was shot in the leg, and shrapnel pierced her stomach. At that time, we could not see anything, and they were taken, and some people were taken. Reporter for six more hours, michal lay underneath that tank until the israeli solders rescued her and took her to the Hadas Hospital where more than 60 victims were treated. You thought that you were going to die . Yeah. Reporter jeremy diamond, cnn, jerusalem. Amir bena tatan is joining ud he was at the festival. We are happy that you are okay, and have you been able to account for your friends and everybody who was there, and do you know where everybody is now . Yeah, luckily, my friends are also okay. Yeah. Like people i know personally, no one died. Amir, i know that when it started, the first alerts the music sort of stopped, and then they said, oh, there is rockets coming from gaza, and at first you said, well, this is sadly normal, and thought that things would continue. At what point did you realize that things were terribly wrong . So, after they stopped the music and we went out, and there was a big line of cars, and we waited, and the cars would move a little bit, and then we went inside of the cars about 30 minutes later. After a few minutes, i started to run, and so no one knew, and so i came back to the car, and this repeated one more time. We were going out of the car, ran and came back to the car, but the first time we realized that something serious is going on, and then we started to run with all of my power, and actually from this point i knew it was different. And now come to us. All right. Amir, standby for one moment, because i want to go to Clarissa Ward. We are hearing Air Raid Siren where you are . Yes, hi, erin, we are in ashkelon and hearing the airraid sirens and seeing the iron dome up there, and hearing some boom, and you can probably hear that. This is now by my count about the fifth or sixth time we have had volleys of rockets being fired here at this city. Hamas had put out a warning that people needed to leave the city by 5 00 p. M. , and that they would be striking the city, and they have kept true to their word. There has been sustained activity here. We have been here for three days now, and certainly in the last couple of hour, it has been at a far more intense pace than anything that we have seen in the last 72 hours. It appears to be a little bit quieter now, but you can see that i will step in now. You can see the remnants of the smoke from where the iron dome intercepted those missiles, and the hope for People Living here had been that after the barrages which were periodic from about 5 00 p. M. To 5 35 local time, and then there was a little bit of a lull, and you started to see some cars on the street, but clearly, this is not something that is going to end any time soon, and the israels leaders had warned people that it would not be a quick and easy fight, and here on the ground, it is very clear that this is essentially a part of the new normal, and that you are going to have these barrages orockets coming, and they come at a moments notice, erin. I mean, i dont know if you have heard that, but the time difference of Hearing Siren to hearing the iron dome intercepting, and it is a matter of maybe 30 seconds or something. So people do not have a lot of time to get to shelters in this situation which is exactly why you see so many people are basically living in shelters at the moment. Erin, they are staying in there as much as they can to keep safe. All right. Clarissa in ashkelon where as is it dusk here, you can hear it picking up, and again, possibly a long night here in tel aviv, and even here, you can hear in gaza whether it is israeli strikes on gaza or what it is, but you can hear the thuds, and behind me here, you can, and we can feel it in our bodies. I dont know if you can hear that, but it is the scale and the space that we are talking about. Amir ben natan with me, and speaking before clarissa reported on what is happening in ashkelon. Amir, how are you managing through this right now . Obviously your life in so many ways has changed in past few days. Yeah, in the city, i did not hear the alarms here outside of the door, but if there is an alarm, i can go in a few seconds, and so you feel pretty safe here. But it is like kind of normal in israel. Amir, i wanted to ask you another thing in the festival when you were describing and knew something was wrong and people were running in panic and chaos and you were running as fast as you can, and you approached that field where so many people were found, and so many people were massacred and you could have gone into the field, and you didnt, and you h made a choice that saved your life. Where did you go . Yes, that is true. I ran from the field and i thought that it was not right to keep running into the field, because i was thinking that i dont know where it leads like to maybe it leads to gaza, and i dont know this area. And i saw a bush on my left side, and i thought that maybe i could hide there, and i decided it is the best option so i went inside of this bush. At one point there you heard the Hamas Terrorists, and you could hear them there by the bush, and did they ever see you . Yeah, so, i was in this bush about one hour. Honestly, i kind of have blackout from this hour. I dont really remember what i heard. In this bush about after one hour, two policemen arrived and i was there with a few other people, and the policemen told us to move from there, and then so i believe that one dead body i did see on the way, and i did not feel safe, so shortly, i decided to hide again in another bush. And while, i was in the second bush, i heard like war outside. Like serious war. Like this rockets that you are hearing right now is nothing like this. It is like really like, i knew that any time, like a bullet or a grenade or something can fall on me. And then after a while, it was silence and i heard the terrorists talking right nearby, and i just prayed that they would not, they would not discover us. And amir, i know of course you are lucky, and you did survive, and you are here to tell us about it, and thank you so very much. We all appreciate it as the breaking News Coverage continues here from new york, from washington, from tel aviv, from ashkelon, and we will be back here on cnn in a moment. Nice footwork. Man, youre lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. Now you can stream all your games like its nothing. Yes [ cheers ] yeah woho running up and down that field looks tough. Its a pitch. Get way more into what youre into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. All right. We have been hearing the desperate pleas, we have been hearing desperate pleas of the Family Members looking for the loved ones and more than 150 people are believed to be being held hostage in gaza right now, and in many cases, there is no idea whether they are alive or dead. This is what one of the victims told anderson last night. My mom used the little bit of the arabic that she picked up working in the hospital for years to calm down the terrorists, and it is our hope which is a little bit ridiculous at this stage to say that the optimistic scenario here is that she is held hostage and not dead on the streets of the kibbutz of where we grew up. And of course, as i said, more than 150 people are still missing, and it seems unclear even now being here, that you will receive texts from people in the United States saying they know somebody or on of the Family Members being held hostage, and ul of that is at steak and hamas hundreds of rockets throughout the day at israel, and one of the many places is ashkelon where Clarissa Ward is tonight. What are you seeing . Especially after you hear the sirens and the thuds of the iron dome and also the impact. Well, it is just a pretty intense couple of hours now, erin. The worst of it was from 5 00 local to 5 40, and a continuous volley of rockets, slamming in, and most of them intercepted by the iron dome, but we did hear some Making Impact that we have not cleared or varfied, but it is certainly important to underscore how difficult this makes everything for the idf in terms of dealing with the pressing issue of hostages for example. When you are constantly confronted with the on off of Alarm Systems is, up, everybody run to the bunker because of the rockets or the skirmish as our Nic Robertson are reporting earlier that are still going on along the gaza border despite the best efforts of the idf to route out the hamas militants once and for all, you can imagine how difficult it becomes to find the space and the time and then sit down the focus on one priority. That is part of the tactic here with hamas. This is asymmetrical warfare, and it is very effective, because it means you are constantly being thrown into another situation, and you are constantly having to address another threat. I made a mistake in 20 minutes ago to have a cup of coffee and take my helmet off, but then the sirens came, and so you have to run to be the bunker, and so it is so much more challenging to get the focus, and clarity and calm in a situation that is needed in a time like this, and in particular with regards to the hostages, and trying to get them released, erin. All right. Clarissa, thank you very much in ashkelon as it is now dark here. Of course, preparing for what could be a very long night if these past few hours are any indication. Kate and john and sara, we have not had any sirens here in the last couple of hours, but then, just recently, we have had two. So it is a competition and in the interim trying to Rescue Hundreds of lives at risk in gaza. The peoples risks who may have not been willing to do otherwise. Thank you for being there for us. On that point of the hostages, we heard that gutwrenching testimony if you will from the families, from four of the families of people who are missing, and they have no contact with them, and we heard that at the top the show. We will talk more about what we have learned from the families, and they demand for communication, help, assistance, a plan from the Israeli Government of how to get their loved once home. And also a call for help from the Biden Administration as well. I want to be blunt when answering this question and say zero communication from the uz Israeli Government, zero communication on our side. That was what we heard a little earlier this morning. His mother was taken by Hamas Terrorists. He thinks, during their raids in southern israel. The tragedy of it all, he doesnt know if shes a hostage or if shes dead. He almost hopes, which is the tragedy of it all, that shes a hostage right now. Thats part of the issue right now. The uncertainty, the frustration, and a that is what were hearing from many of these families who just dont know what has happened to their sons, their mothers, their sisters, their friends, their loved ones, little to know communication from the Israeli Government since the terrorists raids. Get to christiane amanpour. I know you have been hearing much of the same thing. Reporter yes, this is truly extraordinary. Can you expect this kind of chaos at this time . But the families are absolutely, as you heard from that gentleman, absolutely beside themselves, including the ones i have been speaking to whether they are americans or israelis or whoever. They are saying they are not getting any word. One woman who i spoke to yesterday, last night, she has a sister, who was taken during that awful saturday and has been taken into gaza to the best of their knowledge. It took them a long, long time to get any kind of con fur mags from the government that actually, yes, this person was removed from this particular Military Base just outside the border there. This is what she told me. The last call my sister made was on the 7th of october, saturday, 6 30 a. M. She called me and then my parents. And she basically called to say goodbye and she love d us and she told they are in a bomb shelter because of the missiles and the bombing. And then after the bombing, there was a raid on the base. They heard the terrorists that are going through the base near them. They heard shooting. We guessed that the terrorists shot all the male or female who were able to get a weapon and the two of them abducted them. And they only figured out her daughter, but the mother was the first to recognize and know what happened because hamas had posted it on a telegram channel, apparently, and they recognized their loved one. So they recognized it and thats how they found out and are still getting no answers as to what may happen and what has happened. And as we know, israel is responding with massively increased airstrikes. The death toll in israel was 900 mostly civilians. They say they have killed up to 1,500 militants in the skirmishes that are still ongoing. And inside gaza, according to our sources and to the Ministry Of Health there, theres 765 deaths, including more than 100 children so far. And some 4,000 wounded. For the past 45 minutes, we have seen Rockets Besent over fm gaz a. Israel has responded with strikes that we want to show you the result of some of those strikes. We have seen huge buildings that have been crushed, but we have also, as we were on the air, saw strikes coming in to gaza port. You can see a couple boats that are on fire now. Those caused by israeli airstrikes. That is a picture from ashkelon. You saw this as the iron dome has taken out some of the rocket fire thats been coming over, but we also did see what appeared to be a hit. You see the black smoke there under all of those rockets. I do want to ask you sort of a twopronged question. Is it surprising how many rockets that hamas has amassed . They have sent over thousands of rockets. And this is unusual in this short amount of time. And secondly, what in gods name is hamas end game in all of this . The short answer to your first question is, yes, its surprising even to Israeli Intelligence and certainly to the United States as well. This is one of the issues that maybe nobody wants to talk about too much right now, but the israeli people are talking about it. They are on social media, they are very, very upset at a catastrophic Intelligence Failure that is has cost them so much life and the catastrophic inability to reach their needs right now. I have spoken to former government officials, former foreign min sters, they all say theres going to be one heck of a report to find out what went wrong. Why did it stake so long for soldiers to get to the massacre areas on saturday. People were plead ing for help, just volunteers were helping them. So yes, the entire system was taken by surprise. And the question is why . And what happened in however long its been taken to have hamas and Gaza Plan Ning this huge attack, this Unpress Dependented attack and that nobody knew it was coming. Christiane amanpour, thank you so much. Well continue to follow all this. Were also getting new reporting in. The idf engaged in a fire fight with militants. This could be what we have been seeing from our correspondents on the ground. They have been hearing because its south. So this could be they are engaged in a fire fight with militants right now. Idf troops are on the ground told this to cnn. Inside israel, which means already some Hamas Terrorists trying to infiltrate over the border there. This continues. Well have much more on this new Development Inside israel, right after this