Transcripts For CNNW Inside 20240702

Its really the only time we get to see them. Thank you so much for joining us. This is cnn news central. Inside politics is up next. Today on inside politics, a mass shoot is still on the loose. Officials say they are now using divers to search the river close to where the killers vehicle was found, but are they any closer to finding the Armed And Dangerous suspect . Plus a potential breakthrough. Sources tell cnn theres been significant progress on negotiations to release hostages kidnapped by hamas. This as israeli tanks conduct a second night of targeted raids field just got bigger, but this time its another the democrat jumping in. Congressman dean phillips says President Biden is doing a spectacular job as president. So why is he trying to take his place . Im dana bash. Lets go behind the headlines and inside politics. We begin with the state still gripped with fear as the manhunt continues for the 40 hours after the shooting rampage that killed 18 people at a Bowling Alley and bar in lewiston, maine. Authorities are still on the hunt for the suspect robert card. Residents and communities as cross the state are told to continue to stay inside and lock their doors. Officials say they will now be putting divers into a nearby river to aid in their search. We will be putting divers in the water along the river, which you see here. And thats going to look like a couple different things. So the very first thing youre going to see out there is youre going to see some Air Resources that will fly over this particular area, and they are looking to see what can we clear from the air. Were also learning more about the victims. Including joseph walker, who was the Night Manager at the bar and grill and apparently tried to stop the gunman with a knife. Heres what walkers dad told cnn earlier. For someone to do this to so many family, as well as mine, its just crazy. It leaves you an empty hole they dont know how it will ever be filled. If this person was at the time in his right mind, i believe he would have been a loving person just like we are. Something went wrong. Just heartbreaking. Cnns Shimon Prokupecz is on the scene in lisbon, maine. I know that you have been talking to Law Enforcement and you are now physically near where the alleged gunmans vehicle was found, where Law Enforcement is searching and really intense ways. What are you learning . We were heading to the area where the car was left at the boat latch, because thats where they are going to be doing the searching. While we are on our way there, we saw the police racing to this area where we are. Because they got a tip of the loud noise. People who work, this is a lettuce farm here. Thought they heard a gunshot and so police swarmed this area. They were searching all back here and Into The Woods to make sure that there was no one in there and just a short time ago, the police chief here in lisbon came out and iniffished their searches and said they found nothing. They cleared this area. But the point of this is just to show how on edge this community is. They are calling 911 when they are seeing something, when they are hearing something, and police are not taking any chances at all. They are responding in force. They are in tactical gear, as they go around and do their searches. They have been doing this for the past two days, responding to tips, responding to 911 calls, because they really dont know where he is. Now today as you said, its a significant day here for Law Enforcement because they are bringing in more resources here. They are bringing in divers. They are brienging in hospitales to focus around that river area where the car was last seen. They say they are going to go in the water and search the water and they are going to search the areas around the river to see if they find anything. Really still, they have no idea where he is. And so they are trying to do everything they can to find them. This community has been dealing with this now for two days. Many of the stores are closed. People are afraid to leave their homes. And the police here are really try ing to get this to some kin of a resolution for perhaps people could feel safer. Safer and then begin to grieve as a community, which is not really been allowed to happen yet. And i know you have spoken to the police chief there in lisbon, maine. What is he saying about their level of confidence about the area in which this gunman is at this point . Reporter they still are Work Ushd A Theory that hes here. Yesterday when i was talking to some of the officers who were manning some of the security posts, they said as well, they believe that he was still here. They have no evidence a the this point to suggest that he has left this area. So they are work ing under the theory that he is still here. However, this morning when we first got here around 7 00 a. M. , things actually changed. It seem ed like everything was over because many of the rod brocks that police had in place were take down. Now it seems whats happening is they want to focus around this river area, go where they havent gone before, which is under water. Its not clear why all of a sudden today they are starting to do this, perhaps you can ask why didnt they start doing this yesterday, but its clear that someone has come to the opinion and the feeling that, you know what, its time with get into this water and we start searching. And i think the point you make about the families, they are still all living with so much fear that they cant get to that grieving point yet. And so hopefully this can come to a resolution soon. No question. Thank you so much for your excellent reporting. Appreciate it. And for more on the investigation, i want to bring in chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst john muller. John, what does it tell you that they are using divers in the waters near the location where the suspects car was found. We just saw shimon very close to there. Reporter every investigation is a progressive thing. So we know things today that we didnt know yesterday and we didnt know the day before. Ha they learned yesterday with the execution of three separate search warrants, onen the car, another on the house, and another on a different property is things that are influencing what they are doing today. They found a note, which indicated that he didnt expect to be around when the note was found. So thats the equivalent of a suicide note in some manner. So that shifts that search to the water. His car ends up there, theres no sign of him. Theres water in front of where the car is. Did he get on a boat and further escape or is he under the water . Did he follow through on the idea that hechs going to take his own life . Was that by drowning . The only way they are going to know that is with divers. Another clue informs the search of the car, they found a rifle, an ar15 platform, and a caliber similar in description, make and model to the gun used in the attack. Was that the gun from the attack . Did he leave it behind and take his own life . Or did he escape and has access to another weapon . So thats why the shift, but in the background, as shimon demonstrates by being on the scene, they are still poised, coiled, if it you will, to respond to anything that could be a sighting or a sign, because they also know what they dont know. And right now, were still in a period of inkrcreased knowledge but some uncertainty. I mean, as they should be doing exactly that. Can can you just drill down a little bit more on what you mentioned about this note that was found . I know you have been talking to sources about this. In addition to the suspects cell phone. I i dont have the copy that the note contains, but it was characterized to me as a note that was written that gave information to others about where things could be found and how things could be disposed of. It was clearly a note that suggest ed when it was found or read that he was no longer going to be with us. Now of course, did his plans change . Did he he follow through . We dont know. One of the reasons that that is critical to know is if they can establish that he took his own life, then the whole shelter in place thing can be had lifted right away. The other reason its critical is because if they can establish thats not likely the case, they still know that they are hunting for a person who is likely armed and definitely dangerous. Absolutely. The community is understandably extremely on edge, as shimon has been talking about from there and others as well. John miller, thank you so much for that reporting. I want to dig deeper with experts who we have with us. Neil franklin is a retired Maryland State Police commander and katherine is a former senior fbi official and an active shooter expert. What is your take away from what we heard earlier. We didnt play a lot of it because there was a lot of words. There werent a lot of details except for that critical one, which is that they are sending divers into the river. Let me begin. John brought up a lot of important points here. It is a Process Of Elimination that the teams have to go through searching everywhere. So searching this body of water, it will just help them out so much in this investigation, but theres one thing that i was thinking about here. His car was located here, but if he hopped on some type of water kraflt, where is it . If he took it to another part of the lake, where is it . Would he sink it . Thats another reason they would have to search. Its a Process Of Elimination at this point. Especially when it comes to that body of water and serging other places. This Process Of Elimination, its important that the citizens do their diligence. Very seldom do people lock their doors. They feel safe. They might leave their keys in their car, they leave doors unlocked. And i think its important that they secure these premises. You can get into them, however, being locked it makes noise. Force is applyied, which can alert someone to the presence of card or someone else. I think thats very important that people lock their doors and their cars, secure their facilities. Its going to help a lot. N this investigation. It sounds like people are definitely complying there. Katherine, you are not only a former fbi official, but your specific area of expertise is with active shooters. Whats the information that has been found that john miller and shimon were both talking about . I think as they mentioned, this is kind of the dog eat dog beat the leather on your shoes investigative work that has to be done now that has nothing to do with the fact that he has committed this heinous act. Hes a criminal. They are looking for him now, and they have to apply those saim techniques they apply in any situation. Some of the added layers on top of it really have to do with where this mind set of this individual might be because we know that this it is a planned event, targeted violence is a planned event. So this person planned it. He gathered the things that he needed for it. Hes carrying it with them. A lot of shooters we see them carrying way more ammunition than they are ever going to use. But they want to be prepared. So if he had a car and abandoned it at some place, my instinct says, he may have hopped on a boat. Did he hop in another car, did he have materials staged Someplace Else and the search of the house will help to give them some of that information that kind of speaks to his future where he wants to go. Just staying with you, this note that was found. Were being careful because nobody knows what he ended up doing, but it seems as though officials are approaching this in part as he might be dead, which is why they are looking down divers are going down into the river. How does that sort of connect with the idea of him going in with his face fully visible, he didnt cover his face, people know who he is. Yeah, he intended to do this. He intended for people to know it was him for sure. When i think about an fbi agent and you have somebody who takes off after a bank robbery, they are trying to get away. They run and continue to run. We dont have that here, any evidence of that. This individual knew that people in the bar and the Bowling Alley likely would know who he is. Hes from the community. Mass shooters shoot this their communities. They shoot in places they are familiar with. They shoot people who they know. And they get frustrated with and that leakage that comes out beforehand might unclollude a note that goes out on social media or a note that go out Someplace Else. In this case, they find a note, you have to know that they are looking for the idea that 30 to 40 commit suicide or want to commit suicide and make thats what we have here. Well have to leave it there. Well no doubt be back talking to both of you soon. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. We are going to continue to stay on the latest of this manhunt throughout the hour. But first, new details on negotiations to release the hostages taken by hamas during their brutal attack on israel three weeks ago. Sources tell cnn theres been significant progogress. Wewell get yoyou to date,e, co up. You are looking at video from just moments ago. Gaza city lit up by explosions. Thats after the idf staged a limited ground raid into gaza overnight as it prepares for an expected ground invasion. Nic robertson has more. Reporter knowing that the idf has ha had Ground Incursions over the past couple days and said they will be having them in the coming days, we have heard a lot of outgoing tank fire from around here. Thats unusual intense, sustained for well over a couple of hours. We have heard a lot of Artillery Fire. A lot of explosions being reported in gaza. Small arms fire behind me right now. And onen point, a huge wall of smoke that lasted 15, 20, 30 minutes literally blew up the hill towards where we are off of gaza. The sort of smoke tasted and felt like the sort of smoke that can be used by the military for a smoke screen for activity. This happening on the ground. We cant comment and say whether or not theres an incurunderway now. They tend to be clarified The Morning After the event, put knowing they have said that the incursions will be sustained and continued, for all intents and purposes, what we have heard behind us here has sounded like it might be that. And while we have been listening to that heavy fighting behind us, we know that my colleague Becky Anderson has been reporting from the talks in dohar, where theres a hope that the Hostage Talks over Hostage Release might be realized, might come to pass, but the call from that discussion was for the guns here to fall silent. The guns have absolutely not fallen silent now. The guns are doing the talking. Please stay safe where you are. Get back to us if you see and hear anything else. Last night the u. S. Retaliated against iranianbacked militias inside syria. That after a series of attacks on u. S. Military personnel in the region left nearly two dozen u. S. Troops injured. That as hezbollah also backed by tehran launches Rocket Attacks into northern israel from lebanon. Jim sciutto is live with more on the strikes. Lets start with syria. What are you hearing from your sources about what happened there . Reporter these were significant strikes for the u. S. To carry out now. I should note where we are. That is syria just beyond those likes there. Less than a half a mile from where were standing, thats a u. N. Base there. The u. S. Carried out strikes on two bases inside syria. The eastern part of the country used not just by iranianbacked militias, and this is crucial, but also by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary guard corp. Which the Defense Secretary referenced specifically. The u. S. Knows that those bases are used not just by the iranbacked militias, but by iranians themselves. So this has the makings of a direct strike potentially on iranian personnel there. We dont know the results of that strike, how many casualties, but it shows the seriousness with which the u. S. Has been taking those iranianbacked strikes on u. S. Forces both in syria, but also in iraq. Strikes that we know have injured u. S. Service members and led to the death of one u. S. Contract who had a cardiac event fleeing one of those alerts there. It is one of those measures of just what a volatile mix we have here, because you have syria here. Then you have lebanon here, where hezbollah has been launching attacks with regular lair ty every day. We were up on the border yesterday on that side. All the population has fled south from there because it is so unsafe a at this point. There were more attacks from hezbollah forces into northern israel today. Thats the volatile mix. The concern is if theres more israeli activity inside gaza, will iran order its proxies to then attack israel in retaliation. Where youre standing really is illustrative of the fear about this widening into a bigger regional conflict. Thank you so much. We appreciate that. There are still more than 200 hostages believed to be inside gaza, according to i israeli officials, including grandmothers in their 80s and young children. There are intense negotiations ongoing to bring them home. Chief National Security correspondent Alex Marquardt has new reporting on those talks. What we have been told is that these ustalks are going in the right direction. They are progressing, but sources have been caution ing u that this is not a done deal. What that is the expectation, the hope that there will be another release of hostages, but unlike the last two we have seen where only two hostages were released at each time, this would be a bigger group. Israel, the United States, qatar, which is leading these Discussion Cans with hamas, they are pushing for all of the civilians to be released. Men, women, children, everybody certainly on the civilian side, both foreign and israeli. But at the very least, theres an expectation and is a hope there would be a much larynxer group than we have seen in the past be released by hamas. We have heard from sources that there has been significant progress. Theres some issues that remain. But negotiations are going very well. But theres cautious, i should note, from a u. S. Official speaking with our colleague saying this is very touch and go, and that for the moment, things remain very fluid. Certainly is a lot of hope that this ends up happening. Thank you. A new primary challenger for President Biden. A congressman from minnesota, how dean phillips could impapac the e 2024 race, ahead. Cmon, were right there. Cmon baby. Its 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. Theyre noise cancelling earmuffs. I stole them from an airport. Its always something with you, man. Great solid greek salad . Exactly dont delay the game with verizon or tmobile 5g Home Internet. Catch it on the xfinity 10g network. Heres why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your Devie Duckduckgo comes with a builtn engine like google, but its pi and doesnt spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. And theres no catch. Its fre. We make money from ads, but they dont follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. Just when you think the 2024 president ial field is set, a new candidate enters the race. This time its on the democratic side. I am today announce ing my candidacy for the presidency of the United States of america. Thats minnesota congressman dean phillips, a multimillionaire and the former chair of ji laet to. He announced his bid to challenge President Biden. But it could be a long shot bid, and the question is what this means for his political career, and more importantly, for President Biden. Cnn is in New Hampshire. Eva, the congressman just filed to appear on the New Hampshire ballot. What is his argument to democratic voters . Reporter he says he can appeal to an exhausted marriagety of americans. He argues its time for President Biden to pass the torch here. I asked him why so late . Why not a year ago . He has already missed the filing deadline for nevada. And he told me that he has long been trying to appeal to the democrats to get in this race. Now he feels like the time is now to get in himself since others wont. Lets listen. I have been trying to encourage the president to pass the torch. I have been encouraging other candidates to enter the stage. Its time change. I love the president. Im a democrat. I support our policies and will continue to do so with new twists, with new approaches and new visions. The issue right now is not who joe biden is, what we have done collectively, the issue is very singular. Americas change. Reporter he shares he knows the belt way will laugh him off the staej and wont take his candidacy seriously, but he maintains that democratic voters across the country want an alternative. Here he is one. Also we know that he is a man of great personal wealth. I tried to ask him how much is he personally going to invest in the campaign. He just told me he gave the campaign some seed money, but is still going to have to rely on smalldollar donors. Thank you so much for that. Lets bring in our Political Panel to talk about this. Jeff zeleny and daniel strous, thank you to all of you for being here. Lets start with just kind of set the table what what dean phillips thinks he sees as an opening. Actually, standby. Im hearing we need to get to Nic Robertson right away in israel. What are you seeing . Reporter were seeing at the moment a few minutes of calm, but it has been anything but over the last couple hours here. There have been huge rounds of outgoing tank fire from where we are. Round after round of Artillery Fire as well. Multiple impacts reported in gaza and gaza city and refugee camp in the other towns in the north of gaza behind us here. At one point about an hour ago, we saw a huge wall of smoke literally blow in off of gaza through this town here. It really cut down visibility. Impact to say what the smoke was, but its the sort of smoke that the military used when they are trying to cover their maneuver and action on the ground. Were hearing still some heavy detonations coming out of gaza. We heard heavy jets flying overhead. I can hear wasnt one flying right now as explosions continue. The idf has had incursions into Gaza Last Night and the night before. They have involved tanks. They have involved troops with heavy armor, Heavy Armored Infantry troops. They have been limited incursions they have gone in and rethe treated out in the morning. These preparations for a bigger offensive. This is what the idf has said. The idf has given every indication they are readying for a much bigger incursion. The peace talks going on in dohar had earlier tonight bye been hope ful of a Hostage Release. There would be a lull in the fighting tonight. The voice ises we have heard here have been the voices of multiple weapons. Its the guns that are doing the talking that we hear at the moment. We perhaps wont know if theres an incursion underway here until tomorrow morning, when the Idf Have Given Thinker Briefs after the incursions are over. This is really a Critical Point that you just made there, which is that youre kind of alluding to this that we could be seeing the beginning of the invasion, the incursion, the more aggressive incursion that the Prime Minister has been saying that is going to come, but we dont know for sure. We wont know for sure likely until either later when the idf tells us or until the morning. Reporter and the way that the Military Operations roll out, they ramp up very quickly. You can maneuver the tanks and the infantry. We have seen that happen. They do it under the cover of tank fire just as we have heard this evening. We have seen that play out on previous evenings. And what they intend to do when they get there, limited incursion or do they plan to hold territory and stay there for awhile. Just across the border from us here two and a half miles from where we stand, 2014 was the first target of the idf incursion into gaza. Back then and the aim was to take control of the town and the idf took control of neighborhoods of that town. We are being told that the big incursion will be on a scale and scope bigger because the idf fully intends to take out hamas, take out their tunnel infrastructures, take out their command infrastructures. Their commanders and the mechanisms by which they communicate. The Phone Systems the rocket launchers, all of these things are on the target list for the idf when they go in. Precisely how they plan to achieve it and how they hope they will keep down civilian casualties, which continued to grow through today, through the past several weeks, and that was one of the points of pressure of those peace talks underway about the hostages. A at this moment on this night, it is hard for us to say standing here precisely whats happening on the ground, but the barrage of Artillery Fire and tank fire that we heard before, sustained close to this location, really gave the impression of a Military Action in progress. Nic robertson, dont go too far. Well be getting back to you as you continue to watch and experience what is happening there right on the israeli side of the border. We appreciate it. I want to go now to Congressman Jason Crow of colorado. Congressman, full disclosure, we brought you on to talk about the massacre in maine because you represent an area in colorado that had to deal with that 11 years ago, but youre also a former army ranger. You were in afghanistan. You were in iraq. Part of the 82nd air bourn division. Given that experience that you have, congressman, as we see what maybe happening right now in israel, can you comment on that from the perspective of somebody who has been at war. Good to be with you. I have to just send my prayers and thoughts. Im grieving for people of maine. I represent a community that has seen several Mass Shootings from columbine to aurora to arapahoe high school. We have had numerous shootings in my district. So im grieving with the community because i know what thats like. Jared golden, hes leading this community in the way he must. And at the same time, theres terrible tragedy continuing to unfold in this crisis. With israel still reel trg the horrific attacks on october 7th, and we have to make sure were supporting israel and its right to defend itself, but we absolutely must make protection of Palestinian Civilians and innocents a priority here. Thats a moral imperative and it must be a priority, but its also a security imperative. I learned during the 20year War On Terror fighting in iraq and afghanistan that if you dont prioritize protection of innocent civilians, you cannot accomplish your military and security objectives, period. That is something that President Biden talked about when he was at israel, when he was with the Prime Minister. And he was asking him apparently according to sources about whether or not he has the strategy, whether the israelis have the strategy to not just take out hamas, but the what next. Im very concerned about the timing of this. I would like to see a humanitarian pause that would allow innocents to escape the conflict zone, a corridor opened up. We need to push egypt to open up that crossing to provide refuge and humanitarian supplies and basic needs to the palestinians. We need some time to make sure that this doesnt spill over into ts regional conflict. Im extremely concerned about iran entering the conflict, even more so by supporting hamas. They could directly into the conflict. The risk has never been higher in my lifetime for a broader regional con dplikt. We need some time to the gt our arms around that issue and prevent even larger or devastating conflict. Right. That is something that the Biden Administration certainly has been talking about with the israeli officials, not just on a president ial level, but on down. We do know that. If you dont mind standing by, i want to go back to Nic Robertson, who is there on the ground in israel. What are you seeing right now . Reporter i just told you when we were speaking a couple minutes ago there was two minutes of silence. Its not silent anymore. The guns have picked up again. Youre herg the fighter jets and, ploegss. Some of them heavy behind us. We also just saw a flash on the skyline. Didnt hear an education ploex indicating it could be some distance away. But if we had a sense a few minutes ago the bombardment of earlier might have been easing off, i think the last two minutes here, while you have been talking to the congressman, its really picked up and intensified. I think it will do this for some time. The fluctuation, i can hear Artillery Firing from this direction. Possibly wol hear the impacts from gaza. Some of the impacts have been exceptionally loud and strong. You can feel them shaking the ground here. Not clear precisely what the targets are other than hamas and its infrastructure. Not cheer low the rest will roll out. But what were seeing and feeling is quantify Bliss A Step Up from previous nights. And i just want to underscore something that you talked about earlier and that Alex Marquardt has been reporting on and Becky Anderson as well. Which is sources saying there were significant discussions about hostages. More than 200 hostages being held on the other side of the border from where you are, and the question that you posed, as youre seeing the increase in action right before your eyes, how that could impact the ability to get the hostages out and whether theres any connection at this point. Reporter the diplomacy around the table is in essence hostages for humanitarian aid. A humanitarian pause or hamas has sdd for a fifthday ceasefire. They are not about to have a ceasefire. Theres been increasing pressure and using with language from different countries. The European Union puting youre probably seeing some of the flshs behind me of some of the strikes underway. Were hearing the fighter jet. That blast that you heard there, im assuming you could hear it, was the sort of thing we have just been hearing repeated, repeated, repeated over the past few hours. That seems to have a missile from a fight jet. But the idea that hamas was talking about a ceasefire, the idea that the Hostage Release could come as part of a deal where there cob a this is all diplomacy, but theres another part of the equation and thats the military part. Both sides go toe to toe, make their demands, wait for the other side to take concession ises. These are concessions, as we say, over fuel into gaza or humanitarian aid. But there are also the two sides are going toe to toe in military terms waiting for the others to back down. It was only a few hours they were Firing Rockets into tel aviv that hit an apartment there. The idf clearly stepping up its action in this part of gaza tonight. So these are all ways of pressuring the other side and where the talks now stand, as there is not a clear pause in the military offense. The reverse would say an a escalation. Its worth pointing out a week ago today, friday last week, there was intense did you want Sit Diplomacy Behind The Scenes for the release of the american hostages. Late Frud Nifriday night. It was very quiet in military terms. We barely heard any shelling or any aircraft strikes, compare and contrast that to now to today, you get that real sense that if it talked two days to release two hostages, absent any pause, perhaps the release of 50 hos hostages. Standby. Let us know if theres anything. I want to get to Jeremy Diamond in israel. What are you hearing from sources there . Just like nic, we heard earlier in the day there was perhaps some progress in the Hostage Negotiations, but now what we are hearing are the sounds of war. The most intense bombing at least in terms of what i can hear from my position here in ashkelon that i have heard in the three weeks i have been here covering this war. We are hearing intense and repetitive thuds, bombing, artillery, also clearly going out. What were also seeing is hamas responding with at least two Rocket Barges towards several israel and here towards ashkelon. So this is certainly taking on a different tone and tenor from here. Its heart to say if this is the finning of that invasion, that they have made clear that will be happening at some point. We know that in recent days, israeli officials had clearly told americans they were willing to give them a few day os to see how these Hostage Negotiations developed. While we dont know official wli whether those talks have completely collapsed, what is clear is that israeli officials were not going to wait indefinitely in order to move forward with their ground campaign. Again, we adopt know whether thats what were starting to see on the ground. Were seeing an intensification of a strike on gaza. Theres also reports of telecommunications being out. In addition, we know in recent days, we have seen a stepped up pace. Not only of the airstrikes, not only of the targeting of the items, but also increasing raids inside of gaza. Theres been tanks going into gaza to carry out targeted raids, to take out only soft the tunnels and the infrastructure. What we also Awe Last Night was the flo till la 13 going into Southern Gaza and carrying out a raid there as well. All of that in the lead up to what we are now hearing, which again is a very serious intensification of airstrikes, much louder bombing than we have heard perhaps in these nearly three weeks of this war. Jeremy, thank you. Standby. You want to bring in general mhurtling, who was the commandig general of the United States army europe and the 7th army general. What are you seeing when you hear our reporters what i would say is the reporting is excellent from northern gaza. I would be interested in what is happening in the south. Jeremy talked about whats happening in the southern extreme with the israeli navy but also in khan yunis. Are there the same kind of explosions going on in those areas . I think the Israeli Defense forces are going to hit all sectors of gaza. Jeremy pointed out over the last several days an increase in air strikes and increase in intelligence probes by Ground Forces which went into gaza and then came out, which tells me they were seeking more intelligence, more targeting data, for a final push. What youre seeing primarily, i believe, from the air force and perhaps even Artillery Fire from outside of gaza,s a preparatory stance by israel. They are conducting final prep fires, putting a lot of forces in it, and remember, these weapons dont just kill. What theyre bombing gaza with and hitting them with artillery, its also psychological. When youre under that kind of fire as a terrorist operation, you know Something Big is happening. And theyve been under these kind of bombs for the last 20 days. At the same time as nic rightly pointed out, the Israeli Defense forces have been mobilized almost 20 days now. You cant just keep a large force of 300,000 waiting in a field for that long. They tend to start losing their edge. And the Israeli Government, the one mr. Netanyahu who is going to pull the trigger and start the operation, and all indicators are hes been hold back because of the divisions within his cabinet, when he does that, he has to have the full force of the attack going. Whether or not Ground Forces are going to come in and go back out or come in writ large and stay, you know, thats yet to be determined. But i would suggest it probably tonight or tomorrow is going to were going to see some of the major efforts of the Israeli Defense force going in with main forces to strike some of the targets theyve been collecting intelligence on. General, thank you so much. Stand by. I want to go back to nic again who is in sderot who the general pointed out is in the northern part of the border between israel and gaza on the israel side. What are your i just want you to kind of expand on what the general just said about the potential for this being preparatory, but also probably not that far ahead of this Ground Incursion that the Prime Minister himself has been T Telegraphing for quite some time. Reporter yeah. I think when you take the limited Ground Incursion the night before last, the one last night, the fact that idf said they would continue in the coming nights, this feels like a Military Buildup where you go in across the border, you do something, and set the conditions for a bigger incursion to come and a safer passage way for the troops when they go in. I think you have that on the one hand. Theres a Military Narrative and a Military Doctrine that is at play here. I also dont think we can overlook the possibility, although it seems stretched at the moment, but the possibility this Military Action is a big push to try to push along the nsh yagsz about the negotiations about the hostages from an israeli perspective to signal to hamas, you have no room for maneuver. We are not about to back down. These are our actions. Youre seeing our actions, feeling our actions, youre hearing our actions. The next move is on your part. You need to concede something. It can be that sort of military diplomatic language. Its hard to read. Were not in the room at the talks. We know they had gone better. Hard and soft power at the same time. Thats really interesting. General hertling, what are your thoughts on that . Yeah. I think nic brings up very good points. But theres also the message not only, you know, were going you dont have the option, hamas, were going to do something, but theres probably the feeling within israel, were through playing around. Hamas has been playing with these hostages, first releasing two and then two elder ones. They say theyre in the middle of negotiations, but they dont have the ability to negotiate. They need to act. And i think that also is the message that the Israeli Government is sending. Were through playing with this. There may be International Interests from the United States and others to continue with the Hostage Release, but israel, i think, is saying they also have to send a message that they dont want to wait any longer because they dont want to be fooled by any action that hamas is taking against playing the Victory Doctrine which theyre so famous for. No question about that. Jeremy diamond f youre still there, the this is something that general just alluded to, the idea that theres been reporting the New York Times and others about the internal division, internal when it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu and his top war cabinet, about what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and the question is, whether or not that could be playing out now. We just dont know the answer to that. But also, as you answer this question, i want to remind people where we are and how we got here and we are almost three weeks to the day when the Hamas Terrorists came into israel and butchered innocent civilians, more than 1,000 of them, and maybe part of the disagreement inside the war cabinet, inside the Israeli Government, is because its this combination of anger and pressure and guilt and but also understanding that you need a strategy beyond just wanting to get rid of the Hamas Terrorists. What do you do afterwards. Thats right, dana. Benjamin netanyahu is also facing a really complex converging series of political pressures on to him right now. You know, on the one hand you have the families of these hostages who are naturally demanding that they be freed and demanding that the Israeli Government make getting them out of gaza a priority over any other factor, and at the same time, you also have a really, you know, strong sentiment here in israel that these shocking attacks carried out by hamas must be the last ones and that Israeli Military must do something to take hamas out of the equation entirely. So, the israeli Prime Minister is facing those, you know, converging political factors as he weighs this decision making. At the same time even though we have heard bellicose rhetoric from Bibi Netanyahu he has been a cautious politician when it comes to matters of war. What is also interesting he is now part of a unity, an emergency government, war cabinet, with his former political opponents benny gantz, who has been extremely hawkish on matters of gaza as it relates to hamas. Im sure that that is playing a factor as they consider the next steps. Nic, i want to go back to you. What are you seeing right now . Yeah. T moment the last 30 seconds quiet, but we were hearing a lot of impacts prior to that. This is the fluctuations were going to see through the battle. There were flashes behind us in the past two or three minutes and could hear the detonations. Yeah. This you really hear right now in this situation, in this confrontation and this conflict, you can really only speak in terms of the matter of minutes because it changes. Its dynamic. Im hearing a jet flying overhead, which is an indication we may get a large explosion in a minute. General hertling . I think thats true. Its probably a combination of a massive strike early on. Truthfully the transfer of aircraft in and out of the area, you cant keep flying those around all night long unless you have a good plan. Youre probably in a lull right now because aircraft have dropped their ordinance and going back to base and well see a new set of aircraft here shortly. The other thing i would mention is we cant forget, this is the day of prayer for muslims. It is the shabbat for jews. To have an attack tonight is fascinating to me because it normally doesnt happen on that night. The religious day for both of these organizations. It would normally happen the next day. Thats such an important point, of course. The Hamas Terrorists didnt care that it was the Jewish Sabbath or that it was a jewish holiday when they attacked three weeks ago, but what you just said begs the question about whether or not this is what you and nic were talking about, which is a warning as theyre negotiating to get the hostages out, we mean business and we mean it so much that this is on the muslim sab b bath and the Jewish Sabbath. Like were debating what does this mean right now, you can bet there are Hamas Terrorists inside the tunnels thinking what are they going to do next . Israel has acted and hit decisively a lot of strikes tonight. Whats going to happen next is as important to them as it is, as we debate it as well. General hertling thank you so much. Were going to continue watching this. Cnn news central picks up right now