breaking news. welcome to "the lead," i'm jake tapper. i'm standing on a rooftop looking out over tel aviv. it is just after 10:00 p.m. here and it is been 24 days since the horrific terrorist attacks by hamas caught this country and frankly much of the world by surprise. we start with breaking news. israel said it is behind an enormous explosion at a refugee camp on the gaza strip. this was the aftermath of the blast at the camp which the united nations said is the largest refugee camp in gaza. israel's military said it killed a top hamas commander in its air strike. a man they say was one of the leaders of the october 7th attack. and was hiding amongst civilians inside of the refugee camp. israel also claims to have killed around 50 hamas terrorists in that strike. it is not clear how many people were killed or injured. but the director of a hospital in the homeas controlled area said he has seen hundreds of dead bodies and wounded patients. he described it as a, quote, scene no one can imagine. cnn's wolf blitzer pressed a spokesperson for the idf on why israel would carry out a strike with so many civilians in the area? >> you flow there have a lot of refugees, a lot of innocent civilians, men and women and children in that refugee camp as well, right. >> this is the tragedy of war, wolf. i mean, we, as you know, we've seen saying for days -- >> in a few minutes we'll hear from the head of a u.n. agency in gaza about what his colleagues on the ground in gaza are saying. and as all of this is unfolding in the middle east, top u.s. officials on capitol hill are warning about the dangerous consequences of this war. both at home in the united states and abroad. defense secretary lloyd austin and antony blinken expressing the importance of funding for both israel and ukraine saying that failing to do so would embolden america's enemies and fbi director christopher wray and alejandro mayorkas were warning about elevated threat levels in the u.s. since the war began. we'll have more on that in a moment. but let's go back to the blast at the jibbalia refugee camp. ben wedeman is in southern lebanon and the israeli defense forces are confirming that it is responsible for air strike and the damage. what more do we know about what and who they were targeting? >> well the israeli military, wolf -- jake, said that ibrahim was the target, he was the commander of the central jabbalia battalion and he was responsible for sending elite operatives into israel on the 7th of october for that surprise attack. and then he was also responsible for hamas forces in the northern gaza as isreal continues with its ground incursion. they say he was also responsible for a variety of attacks inside of israel going back decades. but we also know as a result of this attack in this very, very crowded refugee camp, that according to the head of indonesian hospital, there is somewhere around 400 dead and wounded as a result of that strike. and of course, that strike has sparked sharp condemnation from egypt, jordan, and elsewhere. jake. >> ben, you have been to the jabbalia refugee camp before. tell us about it. >> i've been there many times over the last 30 years. it is the largest of the eight refugee camps in gaza. according to the u.n., it has a population as of 2023 of around 116,000. you know, it is always been known among journalists who go to gaza, that when you go to the jib alia refugee camp you are going to encounter more children than anywhere else. they're curious and want to know what you're doing. the place is teaming with kids. we don't know how many of them were killed this that strike. but i could tell you that that is the thing that stays with you when you go there. it is cramped, it is busy and it is bustling and it is a place that was founded back in 1948 with -- by palestinian refugees who were fled or expelled from israel and have been there ever since. and certainly i've been there in the aftermath of israeli strikes, during israeli incursions but level of destruction that we're seeing as a result of today's strike is something i've never seen before. jake. >> ben wedeman in southern lebanon, thank you so much. nick robert sown is live in sderot. and you've been watching israeli tanks and troops heading toward gaza. how does this strike fit into this expanded offensive that we've been seeing from israel? >> reporter: the idf have been saying that the way that the ground forces are operating is that when they identify a location where there is a hamas strong hold, they call in air strikes. so this fits it exactly. because the idf is saying, high value, hamas target, with other hamas fighters in a tunnel and that is a target. and the ground forces call in the target and we know because we're standing here and we witnessed and hear the explosions all through the night and all through the day. that there are some bunker-busting munitions being dropped in gaza to target these tunnel networks. so it fits it precisely. and i'm hearing heavy machine gunfire over my shoulder here which is the direction of the refugee camp and gaza city. but until last night, i was hearing that gunfire over this shoulder, which tells me that the troops are actually advancing. but we don't know precisely how far they are getting and we don't know what it looks like on ground. is it tanks and armored fighting vehicles and troops moving house-to-house? we don't know. and we do know when they find big groups of hamas, they're calling in air strikes despite the fact that there is very high civilian presence there. >> nic robertson, thank you so much. just in cnn, an egypt an border official saying that the rafah crossing will open tomorrow for 81 palestinian patients stuck in gaza. they will be treated in egyptian hospitals. they say, it is not clear what this means for the tens of thousands of other civilians trapped in gaza. that includes hundreds of americans. one of whom did manage to send us an update today. you might recall hannine ocall. she's in gaza with her three children, the young of the just two months old and her brother who we have also been following and keeping in touch with, they were visiting family when they got caught in this war. they have managed to find shelter in a house near gaza southern rafah border crossing. some 40 people are packed in there. we have been talking to them. we've been trying to get them out. they say finding food and water is getting harder by the day. hannine sent us this new voice memo earlier today noting that the constant explosions they hear at night. take a listen. >> my son, who is two months, wakes up every night from sounds of bombing. he cries more often than what he used to. i am so worried that the stress of this war is going to cause my milk to dry up which would cause a huge problem because there is no milk in gaza. we worried that we will become a casualty in this war. we are the americans here and it is been 25 days since we've asked the state to bring us back to new jersey where my husband is waiting for us anxiously. >> hannine and abud and your families, we are praying for you and calling everyone we could to help get you out of gaza and let me say again, president biden get these americans out of gaza. as isreal looks for international help finding its war, today on capitol hill secretary of state antony blinken told senators there is a clear link between aid to israel and to ukraine. >> since we cut off russia's traditional marines of supplying military, it has turned more and more to iran for assistance. in return, moscow has supplied iran with advanced military technology which poses a threat to israel's security. along you russia to prevail with iran's support will simply embolden mosqcow and iran. >> under the leadership of new speaker mike johnson, they have proposed a bill to give aid to israel. but not to offer any aid to ukraine. i want to go now to evan perez. chris wray also testified before a senate committee today and he warned about the war here in the middle east impacting u.s. security. tell us about that. >> that is right, jake. this was a warning from the fbi director chris wray as well as alejandro mayorkas and both of them were talking about the threats that they've seen since the hamas attacks on israel. in the last 24 days, the fbi director said that they've seen threats rise to a level not seen since the rise of isis several years ago. and a lot of those threats, jake, are being directed not only at jewish communities but also muslim and arab american communities. but chris wray, spoke in particular about the level of anti-semitic threats, which he said are reaching historic levels. listen. >> when you look at a group that makes up 2.4% roughly of the american population, it should be jarring to everyone that that same population accounts for something like 60% of all religious-based hate crimes. and so they need our help. >> and jake, he said that the threats are coming from domestic extremists, obviously groups of all kinds of flavors. and really one of the things that the fbi and the homeland security department are concerned about is that people might take the urgings of some of the extremist groups overseas, some of the terrorist groups to try to conduct attacks here in the united states. that is one thing that they are focusing on. looking at people who are associated with hamas and the other groups who might be doing things beyond just fundraising and might be inclined to do more than that here in the united states. jake. >> yeah, i think the point that wray was making was threats to the jewish community come from across the spectrum, not just fromity right but from the left as well, from islamic groups and from white nationalist groups and everyone. thank you so much. on top of the strikes in gaza, the israeli military is saying that the war planes went north destroying infrastructure belonging to the hezbollah terror group. that exchange next as tensions mount across this region. stay with us. we're back live from tel aviv. isn't on the western border israel's border, as hamas attempts to fire rocket news israeli territory. to the north, the iran backed group hezbollah is exchanger fire with israeli troops and on the southern border it thwarted a drone and missile back by houthi militants near the red sea. jim sciutto is live in northern israel. and let's start with the loud day along the israel-lebanon border where you were and witnessed this exchange of fire between israel and hezbollah. >> yeah. jake, i'll tell you traveling along the length of the border the last several days, we find cross border fire virtually in every village, every road we go to up there. from the eastern end, all the way to the western end along the mediterranean sea. and today was no exception. and that is fire in both directions. you have hezbollah militants firing rockets, artillery, they've been floating ieds across the border on small parachutes. and been attempting to break through the concrete barrier that extends most of the length of the border. and israel firing back. howitzers, tanks and infrastructure and they've killed close to 50 hezbollah fighters in the last self days since october 7th. and as a result of that, what we've seen as well is that a lot of towns right along the border, all of them along the border have been mandatory evacuations and many others that aren't even quite that close, they've emptied out any way. and i understand it. we drive there and look up in the hills and see another explosion. that is the nature of a low grade conflict up here but a conflict nonetheless. >> jim, tell us more about what israel said is a thwarted attack from iran-backed houthis down south near the red sea. >> yeah. this is the second time that missiles have come from houthi backed rebels in yemen. you remember a little more tan a week ago there were missiles fired in drones. they were intercepted by a u.s. destroyer just off the coast before they could get this far. in this instance, it was israel's aero missile defense system. the iron dome primarily for rockets coming across from gaza and the north in southern lebanon. this is for higher altitude threats, surface-to-surface missiles like the one fired today. the idf said it was the first time today that the arrow missile defense system has been engaged sinceo october 7th. so the first time it made it this close to israel. and the worry, jake, is that yemen has a lot of missiles, hezbollah has many thousands of missiles. the worry is they will use the same strategy that hamas used was to try to overwhelm the missile defenses and in which case some would get through. >> meanwhile. >> in the occupied west bank these settlers are killing palestinians while at the same time israel is also trying to deal with terrorists in the west bank as well. >> yeah. that is right. the idf said it carried out the demolition of the home of a hamas leader in a village just outside of one of the main towns in the west bank. vehicles were seen going in the direction of the house. and then a large explosion. this is a tactic israel has used many times before to go after the homes of leaders after attacks like we saw on october 7th. but the sad fact is that there is violence and by the way this violence proceeded the attacks of october 7th, violence by right-wing extremists, israeli settlers against civilians in the west bank and we saw it again today an the sad fact is that many of the settlers feel they have the backing of the elements of the israeli government and some of the right wing members of the netanyahu government and it is a facet of this conflict we have to understand. hamas, of course, a brutal extremist terrorist organization. responsible proudly for those october 7th attacks. there are extremists in the west bank. they also targeted civilians and we saw that today. >> absolutely. jim sciutto in the northern israel. thank you so much. hamas circulating a video this week showing three of its many hostages, 240 or something alive an one of them danielle alony, i'll speak to her brother next. c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network. welcome back to "the lead." moments ago flares lighted up over gaza, you see them on the left side of the screen as isreal continues to target the area with strikes aimed at hamas. israel estimates there are some 240 hostages still held by hamas in gaza, only four have been released since their capture by hamas on october 7th. one was rescued. this of course prolongs the grueling and agonizing wait for families that just want their loved ones home. yesterday hamas released a short video of three women who with believed to be hostages kidnapped. danielle alony, ramon kirsch and elaina truman. cnn is not showing the video. with me is danielle alony's brother who appears in the hostage video releases. moran, thank you for being here with us today. on what must be a very, very difficult, very difficult day. have you seen the video? did you watch the video and what was your reaction? >> i have seen it. it is clear that she's in stress. you hear you know her scream to be free. but she's also alive. this is something that we didn't know two days ago and now we know it. and but obviously she's in distress. >> right. but what passes for good news in this crisis situation, that she is alive. >> it is. yeah, it is good news. >> until the release of the video, did you know anything about her condition? my impression is that you didn't know if she was going to make it. >> we didn't know anything since two weeks ago, a bit more since they told us that officially she was recognized as kidnapped. we don't know anything about any member of the family. this includes her daughter amelia, it includes my other sister sherron and her husband and her two little daughters all kidnapped. >> remind everyone where they were kidnapped from. >> she were kidnapped from near oz, early morning. we were texting and they told us there are terrorists in the kibbutz. after a while they said the terrorists were -- are in their neighbor's house. after half an hour, in their house. after an hour, she wrote that they are burning the house. last two messages we got from her then were help, we're died. after a couple of days we understand they couldn't find anything in the safe room and we assume they were kidnapped and after a while we got the message that they were kidnapped. >> what do you want people watching to know about your sister? >> i want them to know that what we saw in the video is her in a very, very big stress. my sister is a calm person. seen her like that and hearing her means that she's not well. the fact that she's speaking doesn't mean that she's well. >> right. >> and the fact that people are now saying, okay, they look good. that is exactly what they want us to think. everyone is okay. keep in mind there are three hostages that we saw. there are more than 230 there. >> yeah. >> and i think that it is again -- we don't know the situation of the other hostages. my other sister and her family. we don't have the -- the red cross is not allowed there. why? why can't we understand what the situation of all hostages. >> right. >> and that is what i see there. a very big sign of distress. >> and obviously not speaking willingly, not speaking her mind. >> obviously. >> not saying what she actually would say if she were able to speak freely. >> i could tell you that my sister is not a political person. >> right. >> it is obviously that this is part of this psychological warfare that we're having during this war. whatever she said, i don't even want to go into that because it doesn't matter. >> and it is not her. >> this is the message that they want to bring here. >> your father has said we've been left as a family of four from a family of ten. i can't imagine what your going through. i cannot imagine it. the endless nights, the sleepless nights, you probably can't eat or sleep and you probably can't think about anything else. what do you want people out there around the world to understand about what it is like to have your family members kidnapped by hamas? what should people understand? >> i don't think that there is -- i don't think telling my story would make them understand. i think only imagining their family, their helplessness in protecting their family. being relieved when someone said that six of your family members are kpidnapped, that is a relie. >> having that be good news in a warped world. >> just imagine that you are unable to protect your family and that you are unable to know if they are alive or dead. that you don't know if the next hour you'll hear that they got free, or that three officers will come and say that they're, happen everywhere. >> i can imagine there arep and ane ups dream. >> yeah. >> you know, the moment that you wake up and you're not sure if you're dreaming or if this is reality, this is every morning, this is once an hour. >> moran, i hope to see you again with a family of ten. with all ten. not four. with all ten. thank you for being with us. be strong. i'm so sorry you're going through this. it is not fair. it is not fair. it's not. thank you for being with us. >> thank you very y much. > we'll be e right backck. after more than three weeks of dealing with the trauma of october 7th, and alarmed by so many in the international community denying the horrors committed by hamas, many first responders are starting to talk publicly about their stories, about the atrocities that they witnessed with their own eyes. a warning now that some of the images and descriptions that you're about to hear and see are quite disturbing. >> reporter: as deputy director for israel's volunteer emergency rescue service, lennor has seen many gruesome and haunting scenes. but nothing could have prepared her for octor october 7th when came to the site of death and destruction at kibbutz beeri. where hamas still controlled some of it and would for days. and being warned of a grenade, she entered a house where she tended to a wounded soldier. >> and i turned my head and i saw the family, they tied up and the parents was tied up in front of their kids and they shot them. so much blood. and i didn't have the time to feel anything at that moment. i just -- >> how many people? >> there were four. two kids. around a girl the same as my girl age, around 11. and something like a boy 6 years old. honestly, that moment just blocked my feelings. i understood that now i'm a soldier, a robotic soldier, if i want to survive that and just to help as many people as we can. it was a little girl around 8 or 9 years old and they cut her head here, over here. >> they cut it or they cut it off. >> they just cut it off. no hand. she was still breathing. she was just like shaking. and i performed a tourniquet but it was her last -- i wasn't there earlier to save her. she just lost so much blood for hours. and no one was near her even. she was so afraid. her eyes, all by herself. >> how old was she? >> around 10. around 10 or 12. i don't know. everything just -- i don't know how to explain that. i don't know how to explain that. i don't -- i don't know what kind of evil demon could create that kind of operation. because they thought about everything. it was well organized and the world needs to know that right now. >> there are going to be people that hear your story and they say, how come we didn't hear about it until three weeks later? is it because you didn't want to talk about it? >> now after three weeks, that i understand the importance to speak about it. >> there are people out there who don't believe these -- who don't believe these firsthand accounts. >> i don't blame them. i don't want to believe it also. i wan to sleep at night and i don't sleep yet. i don't sleep. and i don't blame them. >> as we were leaving, lennor introduced us to another rescue volunteer who went to other parts of israel that day. david bader. his first stop was sderot. what i saw there, he tells us, people strewn and dead bodies, dozens. at the junction i counted there were 24 bodies an a boy that was thrown, the stroller of the baby. why? why would you kill him? he tells us that far ozza was like a destroyed cemetery. dead and injured and blood everywhere in the houses and in the yards and on the street. you can't understand what i saw there, he said. it is impossible to understand. he remembers a family that had been driving in a car and until terrorists killed them. the children were charred, just cared he said. what could a child do to an adult, he asked. he was a baby strapped into his car seat inside of the car. he guessed that the terrorists took a firearm and shot and killed the members of the family and then with a knife cut their throats. david responds like this to skeptics. it is a shame that those people didn't come there to see what happened on that black saturday, he responds. get it out of my stomach. out of my head. everything that happens. why do we deserve this? dozens dead and the smell even now it is still with me. i want the entire world to know, the entire world to know what hamas did, he said. children were killed. small children. kids that didn't even know how to say da da or ma ma. they didn't even know how to say it. >> and none of this is in relation to anything that the israeli government or military is doing. but these actions provide the context as to why theize raely government has decided with overwhelming israeli public support that they could not allow hamas to be able to carry out any future attacks on israeli people. the u.n. said one aid group alone has lost 64 workers, more than any other team in any other world conflict in such a short period of time. the dangerous work of groups such as this. that is next. we're back live from tel aviv. today antony blinken said the u.s. is trying to get 100 trucks carrying aid into gaza each day to help the palestinian individuals there who feed help. that is nothing compared to the 500 to 800 trucks that they used to enter daily before the war began, before hamas invade and killed so many innocents here if israel. trucks have little if any fuel desperately needed to power hospitals and to get water. joining us now is thomas white. he is the director of the united nations relief and works agency in gaza. thank you for joining us. there was a huge blast at the jib alia refugee camp north of gaza city today. the idf, the israel defense forces say it was an israeli air strike as they claimed to be going after a senior hamas commander. you're agency describes this as the largest refugee camp in all of gaza. what more can you tell us about the strike? >> we're very concerned about what's occurring right now. reports are coming in that there are well over 100 casualties. we understand that there were six air strikes in the area. the reality is that this is a very densely packed urban area. in that area alone, we have 21 schools with shelters. before october 12th, we had 87,000 people sheltering in those schools. our best estimates now are there are at least 30,000 people still living in those unrah schools. the events tonight are tragic, and we're very concerned about children sheltering under the flag. >> you mentioned there being a breakdown of civil order in gaza, especially now that aid is slowly trickling in. describe what you mean when you say people are in survival mode, and they're stealing flour from warehouse. help us understand the severity of this humidity crisis right now. >> just to give you an example, one of the camps, what we know as the middle area of gaza, the population effectively doubled overnight in that camp. people are seeking shelter wherever they can. water and food are in very short supply. and under these conditions, you start to see society unravel. and that's what we saw in the last 48 hours with the looting of a number of our distribution centers, particularly in the -- in the middle areas of gaza. community are under enormous pressure. people are desperate now to find water and food. a breakdown of public services and the private sector. i'm concerned that this dynamic is going to be increasingly prevalent across the remainder of southern gaza. >> and just yesterday, the unwra commissioner said 64, 64 aid workers, your colleagues have been killed since october 7th by israeli airstrikes. that's the highest number of aid workers killed in a conflict anywhere in the world in such a short period of time. how have you been able to work under these conditions while trying to keep yourself and others alive. >> jake, it's been incredibly difficult. all of our staff are grieving. the whole community of gaza is grieving for lost loved ones, or they're worried about loved ones who are still in the north. the reality is wherever you are in gaza, it's not safe. there have been air strikes in the south over the last few days. so it's been exceptionally tough on our teams as they grieve for lost colleagues. but is really remarkable is these unwra staffers are really the heroes of gaza at the present time. many of them are displaced themselves. i'd say the majority of the several thousand staff that are working currently are living in internally displaced centers. they are coming from those centers, working exceptionally long hours. and what's really tough is that they know what they need to do for the community in terms of food, water, and other essential supplies, but they just don't have them in their hands. i met with a large group of our staff in a training center today, and i continue to be overwhelmed by their sense of can do attitude, despite the difficulties and the circumstances, they're getting out there every day to try and serve their community. >> thank you so much and thank you for what you do, sir. really appreciate it. >> appreciate the time, jake. a moment of panic here today, one that people here in tel aviv experience quite frequently. stay with us. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. this is cnn breaking news. >> welcome to the lead. i'm jake tapper. i'm standing on a rooftop looking out over tel aviv. it's just about 11:00 p.m. here in israel and a few miles away in gaza. it has been 24 days since the horrific terrorist attacks by hamas caught this country, and frankly, much of the world by surprise. tonight a massive explosion rocking a gaza refugee camp, killing many people. the cause an israeli attack. israel defense forces say they killed a very senior hamas commander in the area who was reportedly hiding behind civilians as hamas does. the cost of that strike, civilian lives. doctors at the nearest hospital tell cnn hundreds of injured and killed have been brought to the hospital. many remain under the rubble. photographs from the scene show multiple large craters in the ground surrounded by the rubble of destroyed buildings. an eyewitness telling cnn children were carrying other injured children and running. bodies wer