Murdered them. But israel needs to continue to be able to defend herself. We all across the world need to ensure the safety and security of civilians and the United States needs to stand ready to help our allies. Congresswoman spanberger, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. And Erin Burnett Outfront live from israel starts right now. Outfront next, live from israel, the Breaking News. 20 americans now missing on top of 14 already declared dead. This as a u. S. Aircraft carrier moves closer to israel at this all. All while israel prepares for what appears to be a major invasion after a barbaric isisstyle attack from hamas. Outsmarted the militants by jamming the safe room door. What she did to keep the attackers at bay as they tried again and again to get through. A miraculous story of survival. And that brave woman is my guest tonight. And then inside gaza. Its as densely packed as the city of london. Underground tunnels that could be booby trapped. What an invasion there could truly look like. Lets go outfront. And good evening, welcome to a Special Edition of outfront. Im erin burnett live in tel aviv tonight. And tonight, the Breaking News this hour. As we were going to air, our crews near gaza hearing many loud explosions, and were going to go to the ground there in just a moment. First, though, here off the coast, u. S. Aircraft carrier is getting closer to israel at this hour. Now in the Eastern Mediterranean sea. On the uss gerald r. Ford, a number of Guided Missile Destroyers, guided missile cruisers. It is a major Show Of Force after the horrific Show Of Force by hamas that killed more than 1,000 people. And, tonight, we are learning that 20 americans are now missing after the attack still unaccounted for. And that is on top of the 14 americans that we already know declared to be dead. The fate of the 20 is unknown. Have they lost their lives, are they being held as hostages as well . They do not know. And this raises a major question. Just how will the United States respond. Israel right now preparing for an invasion, a Ground Invasion of gaza that appears to be imminent. Along the Israeli Border with gaza, there are thousands of israeli paratroopers, snipers, artillery and tank units ready for what could be a major Ground Invasion. And throughout the night, we have heard the terrifying sounds of explosions, and here in tel aviv you can feel them actually through your body. And we have seen israels iron dome in action intercepting rockets fired from gaza again and again. That, of course, is where the massive and highly coordinated attack on israel was launched from. And in just a moment, we are going to take you inside a town that was raided by palestinian gunmen, what our reporter found was chilling. Bodies everywhere, some executed and then beheaded, homes burned, isisstyle savagery committed by hamas is hard to comprehend. And today President Biden delivering an angry and forceful conte condemnation. This is an act of sheer evil, more than 1,000 civilians slaughtered, not just killed, slaughtered. Stomachturning reports of babies being killed. Entire families slain. Young people massacred. The brutality of hamas, this blood thirstiness brings to mind the worst rampages of isis. This is terrorism. And i want to begin our coverage live here tonight with nic robertson. He is outfront live in sderot, israel, which is about 45 miles south of where im standing right now. And, nic, where you are, many loud explosions just moments ago. Whats happening as best as you can tell . Yeah. Theres a lot of Helicopter Activity in the sky. I heard fighter jets. This is not that uncommon. But weve heard a lot of Mechanical Heavy Equipment moving in the area between this town and the gaza fence, which is less than a couple of miles really from where were standing right now. So theres a lot of machinery, Mechanized Units BeingMilitary Units being maneuvered in that area at the moment. We dont know what for, but the explosions that weve been experiencing here over the past perhaps hour or so. But pretty intense up here in the past 20 minutes. You see a Big Flash Go Off behind me, count to five, and then you will hear a huge explosion. The explosions have been enough to shake the roof of this building here. So theyre impacting in gaza a couple of miles away. And its enough to shake the roof of the building here. But what we found when we went to it took the Israeli Defense forces 48 hours of fighting against hamas to take back control of it. What we found there and what the Israeli Defense forces wanted to show us was what they were describing as the brutality of the way that people were treated there, of the residents were treated. That some of them had their hands bound, that whole families were executed, parents, children, people even beheaded, he said. This is what happened on the road there. The drive into kafir azar is chilling. Evidence of hamas butchery everywhere. This Israel Defense force general shocked at what he found. I thought about General Eisenhower that come to the camp in europe. He did the same, inviting about 50 journalists. Its a big massacre, big disaster. Have you ever seen anything like this in your career . Never. Reporter less than a mile from gaza, 70 hamas fighters stormed in here early saturday, some even flying. Theyre telling us this is one of the paragliders that flew in here. You can see the engine here, the propellers here made of carbon fiber. The fuel tank up here, and the seat at the front. The idf in control now after a twoday battle. Hamas lie where they fell. Only now, the extremes of their barbarity becoming apparent. 700 plus civilians lived here. How many were killed still unclear. How they died brutally apparent. Some decapitated, they say. Babies in the front of their parents and then they kill the parents. We found babies between the family that was killed before. They cut the head of the people. Reporter each body bag silent, sentinel, to the Intelligence Failure that allowed this community and others to be overrun, and motivation for troops, too. We wait to switch ourself from the defense to because we defend our people. And till now reporter you say youre going to attack. Will you be going into gaza . We can see it here. I look to the next hundred yards. Reporter do you take care of the next hundred yards . Then look forward. Reporter forward to a possible showdown with hamas. How and when, still to be determined. And thats really where i think these troops find themselves at the moment. They are waiting for that political decision. The sense with them today was there was sort of a pause, but not a pause where you sit back and rest but a pause where you change posture and begin to lean forward. And you get that sense for them. Theyre really waiting to get the political direction of what they need to do. They know that if they go into gaza, that this will be a very bloody fight, a very dangerous fight for them because theyll be fighting in streets, in small streets and civilian neighborhoods where the enemy know the terrain, where the population is against them. But also in an environment where they want to avoid civilian casualties. Yet, in an environment like that in gaza, civilian casualties, as seen in the past, do and will happen. So, all of this stands in front of israel, stands in front of the Prime Minister right now. And most particularly stands in front of those troops we were with today. Erin . All right, nic, thank you very much. Major ben wahlhaus is the spokesperson for the idf. I very much appreciate your time, major. On the back of this reporting and here we are tonight. Hamas obviously has always been a brutal organization. Now, though, these reports were seeing beheadings, isislike cruelty, babies. Have you seen a shift in their tactics . Hamas has always been a murderous terrorist organization, and its openly stated its explicit aim is to kill all the jews and all the israelis that it can. So in terms of who it is as an organization, thats nothing new. But surely the extent and the barbaric nature of these attacks is something we havent seen before. And as your journalists saw today, as our forces go through the south and clear house by house making sure there is no terrorist presence left, we are starting to find those corpses that were brutally mutilated, entire communities mass conferred. And, yes, as you say, this is something that we havent seen before. Major, there is the strikes coming from gaza. I also understand there was a clash between idf soldiers and hamas militants inside israel. In the north, meantime, three rockets were seen launched from syrian territory, according to the idf. Rockets were launched from lebanon earlier. Where does security of israeli land stand at this hour . Yes. This is an extremely complex security situation. We are continuing intensive fighting in the south with the aim of Stopping Hamas attacks and making sure they cant carry these kinds of attacks out again. Thousands of rockets are still being fired into israeli cities indiscriminately. And at the same time, now our northern border and on our eastern border, we have antitank fire, rocket fire from lebanon and syria. We have called up over 300,000 reserve soldiers who have left their families and are deployed on all of their borders. And in the north were watching very carefully and making sure that the message is clear that no one should join in the fight. Reuters is reporting that for months leading up to the attack, hamas misled israel to believe that it didnt want to fight, didnt want a confrontation, and that report cites a source close to hamas saying that the organization went so far as to construct a mock israeli town, a settlement in gaza where they practiced a military landing. They trained to storm it. Can you confirm any of this . Well, hamas intentions have always been clear. The fact that it makes a mock israeli town to invade shows that this is a war against civilians. Hundreds of terrorists streaming across the border and massacring women and children and elderly is a war against civilians. Taking civilians entire families into gaza, abducting them, thats a war against civilians. And, at the same time, theyre using their own civilians as human shields, placing the military targets inside homes, mosques, hospitals, all in an effort to use their civilian population as shields. So, in terms of any sort of a mock, you know, settlement that they may have created, do you know where that is or what they were doing . Do you know how this was trained for and accomplished . Were looking forward at the moment, our immediate priority is to stop hamas attacks. Their rocket attacks indiscriminately into our cities. Attempted attacks by land, by air from gaza. And our immediate priority is to protect our civilian population from further attacks. All right, major, i appreciate your time, and thank you very much. Of course, it is past 2 00 in the morning, so another late or allnight for you. In a moment im going to be joined by a man whose nephew was abducted from the Music Festival in israel where hamas fighters killed at least 260 innocent people. I want to warn you that the video that im about to show you of omar being taken is disturbing. But we are showing it because ricardo and omars parents want to see it. He is just 22 years old in the back of that truck. His clothes appear to be missing. The hamas militants are hitting him, whipping him. You can see the torture, the degradation that hes enduring. Theres a gun pointed at him. This is horrific to watch for any human being. Ricardo grishner is outfront now. For you, this is human this is your family, it is incredibly hard for any human being to watch that video. But i know that you and omars parents are insisting you want the world to see it because you want the world to know what is happening. You want the world to know what hamas is capable of. Have you heard anything about your nephews condition now and his whereabouts . Thank you very much for the opportunity to basically assess the situation. Its exactly as you said. The situation is brutal. The video is horrifying, to see your nephew in this situation basically hit, brutalized, something that anybody that is human would be, of course, shocked. From my point of view, i just want to see one thing, i want to see omer getting back to his family. He is 22 years old. He is sick, he needs some medical attention. From our point of view, what we see is hamas is responsible for his wellbeing. Give him back to his family. It can be done. So, anything that we can do, anything that can be done. Ricardo, you mentioned your nephew being in poor health. I know he has a serious medical condition. He does urgently need medication for it, colitis. What is your biggest concern . We saw how he was actually physically tortured. I know that you have no idea what his actual condition is. But even the basics of going without his medication, what cost does that come at for him . So, of course, the situation can deteriorate. We dont know exactly what will happen at the end of the day because he can get very ill, high fever, physical illness. And, of course, we assume that he will not be treated very good. So, the best thing for hamas is to return him to his family, he is 22 years old, civilian, restaurant manager. He has nothing to do with the situation. He was abducted from a rock festival, a peaceful rock festival. There was no justification, no logic whatsoever. Well, i want to ask you, because i know you appealed to the red cross. They actually did appeal to hamas, just asking them to allow your nephew his medication. The basic Human Dignity of his medication even within the hostage situation. Did they even respond, was there a response to that plea . Nothing whatsoever. We have no information. The international laws, the International Agreements regarding taking care of sick, getting to visits, even the hamas brutal murders in the jails of israel get visits. They know exactly the situation. The fact that we are right now 130 captives that we dont even recognize their location, their wellbeing, any information whatsoever about their condition. I know regarding omer specifically that is okay because you can see from the video. You can see that he is not having any wound shots or any damages. So he should be back to his family immediately without any justification. So you believe from the video, ricardo, that im so sorry. I didnt mean to talk over to you. But you do believe at this point from every indication that you have that omer is still alive tonight . Exactly. There is no reason to think something else. As you can see in the video, he has no blood, nothing to shed any justification, only consideration that he is damaged. So he should be okay unless something happened only in gaza, which is under the responsibility of hamas. Its already in the area of because you can see in the background of the movie that you can see gaza area. Its not israel. So he was perfectly fine. The only thing was, of course, he was stripped from his clothes, he was hit, but he was perfectly fine from physical condition, as you can see in the movie. So we expect him to return back to his family. Again, he is a civilian, 22 years old. Thank you for sharing. Thank you so much for sharing the story and the video. And i know it has got to be so horrific and a hard choice for you and his parents to make a decision to share that. But it is important, and we thank you very much, ricardo. Youre in my thoughts. Omer, we are waiting for you. You have a loving family. We are here for you. Go back home. We will take you home. And, as we wait for omer and the other hostages, all of whom are still missing tonight, no one knows where they are, their condition in gaza. Our breaking News Coverage continues live from israel with a heartstopping story of survival. Next im going to talk to a woman, she was at home. Hamas stormed her neighborhood. She survived by barricading herself in a safe room. Hear how she was able to outsmart the militants as they banged on that door. And live pictures out of gaza where loud explosions can be heard at this evening, and as casualties mount there, a look at what an invasion could actually look like, and what is truly one of the worlds most densely populated areas. And im going to speak to a Hostage Negotiator who has gotten american hostages out of ukraine and other countries Around The World including afghanistan. Hes with me tonight, on the hostages he is trying to free right here in gaza to save lives. Breaking news. A u. S. Carrier strike group just arriving in the Eastern Mediterranean sea just off israels coast. It is led by the uss gerald r. Ford. It is a nuclearpowered Navy Aircraft carrier, and is accompanied by Guided Missile Destroyers and guided missile cruisers. Its arrival comes as the u. S. Confirms 20 americans are missing after hamas brutal attack on israel. On top of 14 already declared dead. Oren liebermann is outfront. Oren, what more have you learned about this Show Of Force from the United States . Right now thats what it is, its a Show Of Force, as opposed to actual force. But thats the question, what could it mean for a much deeper and more serious involvement in this conflict . Reporter erin, the Biden Administration has made clear that it is not getting involved in this fight right now between israel and hamas in gaza. Thats not the purpose of the uss gerald r. Ford and the Carrier Strike group thats coming with it. But it is a message to other iranianbacked proxies in the region, hezbollah and lebanon. Weve already seen some firing at the lebanese border with israel. This is who that message is directed at, a message of deterrence warning iran of its proxies not to get involved. Its not just the carrier in the eastern med. The u. S. Is sending more Fighter Aircraft to the region, realizing iran might try to take advantage of the situation in other parts of the middle east. So this is very much the recipient of that message. Its also worth noting that the u. S. Has a special Operations Team in jerusalem that was scheduled to be there as part of the cooperation with israel before the fighting started. But they have offered help when it comes to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance on the Hostage Rescue effort. So thats another key element of all the support were seeing from president joe biden, defense secretary lloyd austin and others in the administration all directed at israel to give the country the full u. S. Backing. Erin . All right, oren, thank you very much. A situation obviously dynamic. And, as i said, we look out here tel aviv behind me. The mediterranean in front. And you know that it is not far, that Aircraft Carrier is there. Outfront now, a person who survived a harrowing siege by hamas in the near bose kibbutz, which is a community right near the gaza border. She survived by barricading herself, barricading herself in a safe room in her house for nearly 12 hours. As i said, i dont want to say im glad to be with you, but im glad that youre okay, youre with your family. Youre inside your home. Youre celebrating. And all of a sudden hamas storms the kibbutz. What even happened . When did you realize that there was something horrific happening . Um, actually, we just we ran into the safe room just for a regular bombing, which we used to for years and years now. And then a few minutes later my neighbor texts us a message to the neighborhood saying he sees armed hamas people entering the kibbutz. Individual militants . Yes. So he said close yourself in the security room. So, we stayed inside, we and my daughter, we stayed inside. Then minutes later i realized that actually they can just open the door, its not really locked. So, this is like such a scary moment because we started hearing shooting, Automatic Weapons, grenades a second later after he texted us this message. The whole kibbutz with guns and fire guns, just Automatic Weapons everywhere, endless, endless shooting and grenades. So im trying to figure out what to do, are they going to maybe break into our door, how can i make sure its locked. And i started texting and calling people from the kibbutz how to lock the door, and nobody knew how to lock the door. Oh, my goodness. It was so scary. Then i text my family, do you know how to your brother. My brother responded with a picture of how he locked his door. He is in a small village just five kilometers from mine. And he was there, too. So i saw how he locked his with two broomsticks. I thought so like a makeshift barricade, it wasnt even technically locking. Yes. And then i thought, i dont have any brooms, how would i do that. But i then remembered i had a stick and then i took my were looking at some of the pictures, your dyson vacuum. I took this hose, and me and my daughter, we tried tieing it first. Every Second Counts because so then youre hearing when they come in the house, you hear them. What is that like the fear of death is this. Its hard to imagine how you know that youre just going to die if they break in. And i was just tieing these things to the door. And large, you know, mens large voices screaming in arabic banging everything, large bangs and shouting. The whole its just fear. And after they broke everything, they reached the door. And i was still hoping that they would pass that door and not go in. They came to the door . They came to the door and they start trying to open and trying to open and banging and shouting and banging it. Theres nothing we could do except we were hugging, my daughter and i under the table hiding in the dark. And youre just sitting there trying to be silent. Yeah. At this moment, youre thinking seconds till till our death. So we started saying to each other, i love you, my daughter says, mom, i love you, i really appreciate everything you did for me. And i told her how much i love her. We thought we were just going to die, and they kept banging the door trying to open. And i was sure that whatever i did, the Vacuum Cleaner and the broomstick would hold, but it did. After eight or ten minutes of trying and screaming and shooting everything, they finally moved on breaking more things in the house and moved to the next neighbors and shooting there and trying to break their doors. Terrible, terrible. They just moved from door to door, from house to house, bringing to each and every house in the kibbutz. I heard my neighbors daughters, the ones who lived right in front of me. They have 2 years old and 5 years old. They were screaming while this automatic weapon shooting. Did they survive . They did. But the other side neighbors, they killed the whole family, grandmother, her son and his wife and three little children. So many people died. I think 30 , one out of three people either died or kidnapped. And were a small community. Were just less than 400 people including children. So many were kidnapped. And my best friends daughter and son were kidnapped. And we dont know if theyre alive. My friends parents were kidnapped, killed. I dont know. And, you know, this is like where is the limit of somebodys behavior . Even if you want your own freedom, you want your own country, where is your moral limit . Shooting and killing children . Kidnapping 5yearolds . Babies, babies a woman with her two little babies who were just born, where is ones moral behavior . Would you do everything for that . Everything for what you want . And, you know, i volunteer, i was a big supporter of the palestinians. I used to volunteer taking sick palestinian kids from the border to the israeli hospitals. I volunteered doing this. I mean, this is what happened. Its breaking my heart. And my friends are crying and crying. All these people are missing. We dont know if they will come alive. So many people are dead. They destroyed our kibbutz completely, burned houses. Terrible. But luckily they left, but then we thought, ah, okay, they left, we are alive, but then they came again an hour later, again, trying to break into the door, banging, banging. This arabic shouting. It was so scary. But it didnt open again, luckily. And then the third time again they came. It was like an endless nightmare. We couldnt believe that we would come out alive. Well, thank god. Thank god you are here. I think anybody watching anywhere Around The World cannot truly comprehend what you went through. But terrible. I think its so important, and thank you so much for sharing so that we can all understand, try to understand a bit of the pain and agony of what you endured. Thank you. And we thank you and your daughter that youre all right. Im so sorry for the incredible loss of your friends. I hope everybodys getting will be released and will be alive. I dont know if they will come out alive from this. I hope so. I hope they will. Its terrible. Thank you. Thank you for sharing. Were going to take a brief break and well be right back in a moment. And you are looking at live pictures out of gaza where israel is conducting right now widescale strikes on multiple hamas targets. The Israeli Defense minister warning tonight, quote, gaza will never return to what it was. This as the white house says it does not expect israel to pursue a siege of gaza. Thats the word they used. As it responds to the unprecedented attacks by hamas. Attacks that we understand now have left at least 1,000 people in israel dead. Matthew chance is outfront. Reporter across gaza, israel is unleashing its wrath. The small gaza port pounded from the air. Israels military says more than 2,000 targets in this densely populated area including Apartment Buildings and mosques have been destroyed. Recent attacks by hamas triggering a devastating response. And in gaza, its a bloody one, too. Palestinians are digging through the rubble of flattened buildings as the death toll climbs. Health officials there say more than 900 people have so far been killed. Translator My Three Sons were killed, along with their wives and children. There are nearly 50 martyrs in this building. Reporter israels military says its retrieved the bodies of another 1,500 palestinians who stormed israeli territory and is now hunting hamas down. Translator hamas operatives will have nowhere to hide in gaza. We will reach them anywhere. Reporter that may mean going in even harder. Already israel has deployed forces and called Up Hundreds Of Thousands of reserve troops in apparent readiness for a land attack. But not only is gaza one of the worlds most densely populated areas. Its also crisscrossed by a hidden possibly booby trapped network of tunnels used by militants to move undetected through the area. Israels widely anticipated Ground Assault on gaza, if it happens, will also be fraught with danger. So, matthew, obviously the u. S. Is saying theres no expectations of a siege. But you have a mass amount of Israeli Defense forces, paratroopers, snipers amassing on that border for an unprecedented possible Ground Invasion. Is there a sense from israel that they truly can do anything they need to do . We certainly get that sense. I mean, israel at the moment, as youve been reporting on, as youve been hearing yourself, is full of horror and full of rage about whats happened in this country. And a lot of anxiety about what happens next. And, of course, if you speak to the soldiers and the officials of this country, they are saying well do whatever it takes now the gloves are off. Of course, all sides have a responsibility to protect civilians in a conflict and the humanitarian law. And israelis reject the idea that the killing of Palestinian Civilians can in any way be comfor comparable to the way hamas attacked. Matthew chance, thank you very much. Outfront now, retired Lieutenant General mark hertling, former Army Commanding general for europe and the seventh army where he worked closely with the israeli army including dozens of instances of providing air defense support. So, General Hertling, here we are tonight, obviously, attacks again, counterattacks in gaza. You hear the thuds, you feel the thuds through your body throughout the day. Youve got the rockets then coming in from hamas. We understand right now 14 americans have been killed, 20 or more unaccounted for in israel, we understand from the Biden Administration. And President Biden has confirmed that there are american hostages. So, general, in this situation, where youve got the Israelis Massing on that border, prepared for a Ground Invasion, can the u. S. Sit back and just send aid . Or will the United States do more and get more involved . Id suggest, erin, what were talking about with both the Carrier Strike group, the Central Command headquarters, as well as the air force that are in the area, that theres an awful lot of planning going on across the entire spectrum of contingencies. Theres no sitting back. I guarantee you that general Eric Carrillo is not sitting back. They are looking at all different types of options, not only for support but how they might engage others that would interfere with the operations that are about to occur, or that might provide more forces in the area that would counter what israels trying to do. I say theres no sitting back, and theres a lot of planning and Contingency Operations being prepared. We talk about americans missing, americans confirmed killed. Obviously, there are incredibly close ties between the two countries. Many americans in israel. Germany announced its going to evacuate the german citizens who are in israel. They want to get them all out of the country on thursday and friday. They say their Airline Lufthansa is going to operate special flights to accomplish this. A country doing a fullscale evacuation, and do you think the United States either should or will do something similar . Well, its interesting, erin, because i had this conversation today with a member of the administration. And, in fact, American Airline is still flying into ben gurion. Thats the airline that normally flies the israel routes. There are several others that are also supporting that. And the question about conducting noncombatant evacuation, a neo operation, which is a military operation, which germany is considering. I would suggest theres probably other countries considering that. As long as commercial airlines are flying in and out and ben gurion is not damaged, those will continue. And theres no need for a military neo to support that kind of escape of people, civilians, who are in the area. Theres over 100,000 americans inside of israel right now. So that would be a pretty hefty lift in terms of a neo. So theyre getting out pretty well with commercial airlines. Obviously, the airport is it is packed. Ive never seen anything like it in an airport before. I can say that. Hamas has warned it will kill hostages if israel continues its attacks. So theyre saying that they will do this. And, of course, thats complicating israels decision on how and when to conduct any kind of a Ground Operation or invasion. How much time do you think theres left, general, on the ground, to locate and rescue hostages . Are we looking at days, hours, weeks . What are we looking at . Thats a great question, erin. And one of the things that is involved in Military Planning for Hostage Rescue is a series of questions. Where do we think they are, what kind of force is guarding them, could they be moved there booby traps around waiting for us to come in to try and rescue them. What is the Intelligence Factors that are involved in determining where they are and how we might be able to get them out. How do we protect the rescuers. And i could list a hundred different questions that rescuers, Hostage Rescuers go through before they go in and conduct an operation. I be for a fact that u. S. Special operations are coordinating well with the Israeli Special operations in what might occur. And, truthfully, i would also suggest the Israeli Government and the Israeli Military is assessing the situation, and right now, erin, i tell you its hard. If youre asking me for a date when that might occur, its going to depend on the answer to those questions. If you ask is there a date that may occur where Ground Forces go into gaza, again, the Israeli Government and military are assessing the situation, determining how they can do that, and conduct the operations and accomplish the missions, which theyre determining and giving their commanders. But id finish by saying this is going to be a very tough operation for the Israeli Defense force. All right, General Hertling, thank you very much. And brian stern is with me now in tel aviv. He runs project dynamo, a veteran led donor funded organization. Youve rescued americans in afghanistan. Youve rescued americans in ukraine. And now, of course, you are here. And sudan. Its Around The World. Even here, before we went to air, you were dealing with a situation in another country as well. So, let me put this question to you that i just put to General Hertling because youre dealing with a very specific situation. Time is of the essence to get people out if youre going to get them out alive. Absolutely. The purpose the reason why terrorists take hostages is for leverage and utility. But they will use that leverage and that utility at some point. We need to remember weve had Hostage Situations with the iranians that have lasted just recently, they just got released. It was years. So, time is of the essence. The sooner the better because people can outlive their usefulness and their utility. Hamas had 100 to 150 hostages. They have to be fed, cared for. That means food and toilet paper and care and feeding and they have to be hidden and moved around. Its not so easy to keep somebody in captivity, especially if youre a terrorist group. Theres a Balancing Act there that has to happen. Terms of time being of the essence. So, what would you say in terms of the situation youre dealing with right now . Are you dealing with people in hamas who are able to make decisions and do things . How would you describe that process right now, even . The process where we are in this situation is new. This is where were a hundred hours into this war. Which means that everything is very fluid, very dynamic, whos in charge today may not be true whos in charge tomorrow, who the real Power Brokers are may not be who is saying that theyre in charge, if that makes sense. So theres a lot of really selfidentified leaders who are actually not leaders. Not decisionmakers. So the newness of this, and thats also an opportunity from a Hostage Negotiation Perspective and a Hostage Rescue perspective. Theres sort of Micro Players here. Theres these moments, these windows of opportunity, and thats in the hostage world. Thats what were looking for. Were looking for these opportunities that we can make things happen and also not get in the way of other efforts that are going on. The u. S. Government is actively working. The State Department and the fbi are working really, really, really hard. Theyre the best at this sort of thing. Our Special Operations forces. We have whole units of people that wake up every day, this is what they train for. So, were really good at this stuff. The catch is that this war is a little different than other wars that weve had to deal with. This is a different flavor. Brian, thank you very much. I know well stay in touch here because i know youve got situations youre working against the clock. Thank you. And outfront next, russia notably not among the many nations condemning the deadly attack by hamas. Instead, on state television, theyre mocking the United States and israel. And welcome back to a Special Edition of outfront live from israel. Weve got Breaking News. We are now learning that the death toll from the hamas attacks on israel has gone up significantly. That number is now at least 1,200 people, according to an israeli public broadcaster. Weve been saying about a thousand. So that number going up by at least 200 here. And it comes as questions grow about who is behind the attack. And today Vladimir Putin had a very tepid response to hamas attack, which killed at least two russian citizens. Fred pleitgen is outfront. 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 kremlincontrolled 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 its cia slept through hamas invasion. The biggest israeli failure in security since 1973. Reporter russia has long been allied with israels staunchest adversaries and hamass most important backers, bombing rebels battling on the side of Bashar Al Assad during syrias civil war. But russia also maintained strong ties and Security Arrangements with israel. Putin meeting israels Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu on many occasions. We in no way underestimate importance of measures that would ensure very Strong Security of the state of israel. Reporter but since putin launched his fullscale war against ukraine, tehran has become a key ally for moscow at israels expense, fostering economic and military ties with iran, while tehran provides the russian army with scores of he ishad drones. Ukraines president Vladimir Putin claiming moscows allegiance in the middle east has shifted towards iran. Translator we see how russian propagandists are gloating. We witness how moscows iranian allies openly lend support to those who attacked israel. The kremlin has denied Volodymyr Zelenskyys that the russians are trying to inflame the situations between the israelis and the palestinians. However, the former chief rabbi of moscow, who of course fled russia about two weeks after the fullon invasion of ukraine, he today said that the lack of Show Op Support of russia for israel is an ominous sign of deteriorating relations between those countries. Erin . Fred, thank you very much. And outfront now, the former israeli ambassador to the United Nations and israels former Deputy Defense minister danny dinone. Fred is reporting russian citizens are killed in the attack. Putin silent, really for days. Many russians live in israel. There are very close ties between those two countries as well. And yet putin showing virtually no sympathy at all for israel. Nothing at this point. Why do you think that is . It is unacceptable. We have witnessed a whole attack against the israelis. 1200 people were killed, butchered in daylight. So we expect more than a little. President bidens speech, we appreciated the speech. It was very emotional. It was a remarkable speech. Though the attacks, it was very hard for us. The pain is still in our stomach, and were grate. For the support coming from the u. S. , from europe, from almost all over the world. I cannot explain putins behavior. So Fred Pleitgen pointed out russia has long been allied with iran, and of course weve seen that intensify, if i could use that word, the ukraine war as well. Iran is the key backer of hamas. Do you think that if iran had any advanced knowledge, that russia would have had advanced knowledge . Do you see any ties here that youre starting to tie together . Well, iran is very involved in whats happening here. Theyre founding hamas and hezbollah for years. Theyre Training Hamas operatives. We know hamas experts went to tehran to get training about explosives and other things. We know iran is involved, and maybe, i dont know for sure, but maybe we saw in the last few weeks, the relationship between arabia and saudi arabia, it wasnt good for iran. Unprovoked attack against israel. Nobody can find logic for the timing of this vicious attack. So how involved to you think iran was . The white house has been careful. They said there is ambiguous ties, that iran is broadly complicit, be threw is no intelligence linking iran to this attack. Do you buy that . No. When you find hamas and you give them hundreds of millions of dollars every year, you control hamas. So basically, both hamas and hezbollah are proxies of tehran. They control them. And that is why were sending a very clear message today to hezbollah and to tehran. Watch very carefully what will happen in gaza. Dont mess with us. Were not playing anymore. Were going hand down hamas. And if anyone will try to play with us, either from north or somewhere else, it will be under as well. So as youre massing idf forces, paratroopers along that border, is there anything that will be off limits when, if i assume at this point when israel goes in . We will do whatever is necessary to eliminate hamas. Were going come from the sea. Were going come from the land. Were going to come from the air. Were going hunt them down. They butchered 1200 israelis, and they went to the communities. They didnt attack soldiers. They attacked women. Today we actually saw the pictures of innocent babies that were tied up and burned alive. Those are animals. We have to fight them. We have to hand them down, and we are committed to do it. Were still in pain, in shock, and i think in a few days, we will start to show the might of the idf, the strength of the israeli people. We put politics aside now. We are united, and were going go into war against hamas. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming here. Now. Yes. Well its important, and we are glad to be here with you. Thank you so much. Thank you. And thanks very much to all of you for joining us for our live coverage here from isra