"the lead with jake tapper" starts right now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news -- welcome to "the lead." i'm pamela brown in washington, d.c. in for jake tapper. >> and i'm wolf blitzer. after the attacks and the israeli military now surrounding an inside significant areas gaza city and the bombardments continues to take a devastating stake on those inside. they cannot keep up with the amount of injured and sick cases. at least 9,000 people killed in israeli attacks on gaza according to the hamas-controlled health ministry. right now u.s. secretary of state antony blinken is headed to israel. here where i am in tel aviv, making his second wartime visit saying he will discuss "concrete steps to minimize civilian casualties." >> israel has not only the right but the obligation to defend itself, and also to take steps to try to make sure this never happens again. we've also said clearly and repeatedly how israel does this matters. >> right now i go to breaking news. look at these live pictures coming in. our camera, not far from gaza. you see what's going on over there right now. nick nic robertson on the scene. what do you see? a lot of bombs coming in, a major development going on? >> reporter: wolf, significant development that began about five minutes ago. s a significant number of flares dropped over gaza. what are you looking at right now is looking into the urban areas in gaza. you're looking at rockets coming down as well into, falling from the sky there into gaza. these flares in the sky are illuminating the ground, because there are ground forces, idf ground forces, in gaza. the city of gaza city. surrounding it. now the idf says we've heard small arms fire -- -- the illumination on the edge of gaza city. i believe i just saw a rocket fly to the right -- the illumination on the edge of gaza city. a rocket coming out of gaza city. i see no irntdce interceptions hearing that. while this is going on here it's clear to me from where i stand right now hamas, one of the other groups is firing rockets out of gaza even while they run this, under heavy fire right now. i heard at least two intercessions from the missile fields slightly to the north of us intercepting those rockets floi flying out of the city. what this tells us right now is the battle is having an intense moment as troops try to engage with hamas as they try to have illuminat illumination, trying to use this light to get their way more safely into combat with hamas. hamas, of course, the idf commanders speak about this. hamas is fighting on its own territory. it has set traps, knows where its tunnels are and how to lead idf troops entice them into a certain neighborhood to bring fire to bear on them. all of this illumination here will give the idea troops on the ground better visibility of the threats that await them. mitigate against them fullty is an attempt for them it appears, to be able, at this moment, penetrate neighborhoods that until 15 minutes ago were in complete darkness. you're seeing another flash of light on the ground there as if something detonated. i'm watching another rocket system in multiple parts, a second one coming down there into the city. it is this fire, it's very concentrated. another rocket just came down. i'm seeing that the arc of the traces after it there. this is a very intense amount of fire power going down on this confined location here, wolf. surprising, almost surprising, that hamas was able to fire out a rocket. i'm seeing flashes off to the north which is a hint to the me interceptions have been fired from up there again. possibly another intercepting another rocket. but you're seeing the flares that these often times when we're watching flares that are dropped over gaza, you will see one flare dropped, two flares, maybe. maybe three. they're drop and go to darkness. this is different. this is flare after flare after flare. illuminating this area now for, you're looking at perhaps 15 minutes now, wolf. >> you know, it's just -- a reminder to view herbs what we'r viewers what we're seeing. live outside of gaza. live pictures. a massive israeli airstrike happening under way right now towards various targets in northern gaza, as we can see there. you see the smoke and you see the rockets coming down. this is a major new development that we also saw some rockets coming in from gaza towards israel that appear to have been intercepted by israel's iron dome. their iron dome system. but we're seeing this very intense system. stand by a minute, nic. you're not far away from the drama unfolding. seems like a major new chapter in israel's air campaign against hms t hamas targets in israel pip ben wedeman, i know you're in beirut right now. when you see these live pictures coming in on this massive israeli airstrike assault on northern gaza right now, what do you think? >> reporter: well what i'm thinking is, from looking at the pictures, nic, which stood out, overlooks a fairly open area that goes to the edge of the populated parts of northern gaza. that seems to be where much of these fired flares are being focused. now obviously they're trying to make sure that those areas are clear, but after those areas you start getting into the very crowded urban parts of the gaza strip, the suburbs of gaza city, and that's where there's going to be a real danger of high civilian casualties. now, nic was quoting the israeli authorities talking about precision strikes, precise information, but what we know is that oftentimes it's not as precise as it could be or should be, and already what we've seen is the death toll in gaza well over 9,000 at this point. as they move forward into this populated areas, the death toll is likely to soar. not just that. what we've seen in the days since the ground incursion began on friday is that hamas is using maximum advantage its knowledge of the terrain. its tunnels that have been built. booby traps and whatnot and, therefore, this is going to be a very bloody fight all around for the civilians, for the israeli military to hamas and this is probably going to be a very long and difficult battle. street by street, house by house. perhaps even room by room, but clearly just looking at these pictures, they are laying down smoke, flares. there is incoming, it looks like, artillery. looking at the pictures now. artillery rockets, and obviously, there are froground troops as well. in all of mime time watching military action going into gaza, this looks like the most intense i've ever seen, wolf. >> yeah. you make a very important point. this is a very, very intense israeli air assault on northern gaza right knew. not far away from where nic robertson is north of gaza right now. you see the rockets coming in pounding and pounding. clearly in the past when israel has undertaken a massive air assault like this it sets the stage for a ground invasion that's about to come in. i suspect that's what's going to happen in this part of gaza as well as israeli ground troops, tanks, artillery will move in after this area is pounded with these heavy airstrikes that are ongoing right now. we're showing viewers live pictures of what's going on in gaza. really, really intense. back to nic robertson. you have a much better sense what's going on and you say you've not seen anything along these lines. here comes some more rockets into gaza, israeli planes flying overhead. give us your sense of enormity of this development right now? >> reporter: wolf, i'm standing next to our cameraman who is filming this. we have a high vantage point overlooking gaza, and it looks to us as if this is on the northern edge towards gaza city. as ben said, there is open ground from the border fence that you saw or you're about to see because i'm seeing it in realtime, a big flash coming out from the epicenter of that smoke. this is the biggest, most sustained use of flares, and it appears smoke as well on the ground. we've seen in recent days beginning of the incursion how the idf used heavy smoke to blanket the area. this is a military tactic so that they can move in unseen. we're seeing it again now. we're seeing big flashes at the southern end of that smoke, and what the idf is describing this evening is a very new situation for them. a much stronger situation for them. whereby they say they have encircled entirely gaza city. if they have encircled gaza city as they say, it's potentially cut the north off, the north of gaza strip off from the south of gaza strip. potentially means the israeli now are blocking any hamas in the north, north of the gaza strip from escaping to the south. so you now are watching a battle in some ways, you know, one of the team here just talking about it. in some ways it is sort of medieval in that it is surrounding a city. you're seeing the smoke and the flares and the flashes. all coming from an area that is now constrained and contained within idf forces. and as ben was saying, the civilian casualtiesing on the ground, people have been told to get out of the way. they don't know how to get out of the way. they're stuck in houses. stuck in their homes and are getting caught up and killed in high numbers during this operation, but what we're witnessing now are efforts by the idf to mitigate casualties for their own force operating in hamas territory. territory that the hamas troops and hamas fighters have been able to potentially lay booby traps, set areas drawing israeli troops into to use these armored-piercing rocket propelled grenades using effectively against israeli armored tanks and armored fighting vehicles. so this battle, really that we're seeing now kicked off 20 minutes ago now. 20, 25 minutes ago, and it's intense in this area around gaza city. you are continuing to see the rockets come in from above. the flashes at the southern end of the city. underneath this we don't know how many idf forces are actually on the ground. the boom that you're hearing is artillery going off behind me as well and probably what's causing the flashes you may be seeing on the left of your picture. a lot of flash there and northern end of gaza strip, oop. looks like something coming up out of gaza. a rocket that didn't go far. perhaps it fell short, but anything that comes up from the ground is most likely, from a center that's most likely hamas or another group inside gaza. anything out of the sky like this rocket right now that would be coming down from israeli aircraft or potentially artillery fighting, wolf. >> this helps explain why the israelis for days now have been telling people in northern gaza, get out of there. go to the south. because that northern gaza area will be a major target as we see right now. enormous israeli airstrike against various targets right in northern gaza. not far from the israeli border. not far from the road where nic robertson is standing by. i want to get analysis right now. dramatic pictures you see all the rockets coming in the northern gaza right now that are about to hit. just watch this for another second. you can see the the flames coming up after these rockets hit the ground. joining us now, professor of middle east studies and international affairs at the johns hopkins university of school of advanced international studies in washington, d.c. my alma mater. professor, thanks so much for joining us. as we always say, i wish we were meeting under different circumstances. what's your reaction? you see these pictures, see what's going on. it's truly extraordinary, this new phase in this war that's going on if you're in israel, between israel and hamas. you're an expert on the area. give us your analysis. >> militarily you described it very well. it's a major operation. perhaps the next phase in this war that israel is actually encircling gaza city and preparing to take over the city and fighting and flushing hamas out of it. but interestingly, it's coming at a time when president biden called for a pause and secretary blinken has said he's going to israel to seek humanitarian pause in this conflict. it's difficult to look at these pictures and the stage fighting is to see how that pause can happen. i mean, israel is obviously escalating right now. it's unlikely to back down until the job is done, and it's difficult to see if they now entered the phase of captures gaza, how that cause can come about? which means the humanitarian set ofsures the united states is facing how to manage this conflict and around the region will be much more difficult. >> you know, it's interesting, professor, that you're a real scholar and you know this area well. my own sense when i see intensity of this israeli air assault on north gaza, designed also not only to set the stage for a ground assault into gaza by israel, but also designed to send a powerful message potentially to hezbollah in lebanon and even to iran right now. you guys start up from there, when hamas what they're doing in gaza, israel will do to you in lebanon right now. to give them second and third and fourth thoughts about expanding this war. what's your sense of that? >> that's absolutely true. i think from the very beginning particularly because the israeli military and israeli intelligence were caught off guard by the attack on october 7th. israel very determined to send a message to the region it's still strong and willing to inflict a great deal of pain if attacked. however, the israeli military campaign has also had a tremendous amount of impact in terms of humanitarian catastrophe causing civilian deaths playing out in the arab streets in very, very big ways. it's very difficult to appreciate from far away real anger and anguish in the region, and that itself is a concern fe united states allies, because it could destabilize governments in egypt, in jordan, across the region, and right now it looks like the humanitarian catastrophe is perhaps the greatest reason why this conflict may actually escalate. so whether the united states and israel are trying to warn everybody in the region not to escalate, on the other hand, pressure on the region for escalation including with hezbollah and iran, also across the arab world, comes from the pictures playing out among the public. so, you know, that's the part the complexity and why the united states feels that to prevent escalation of this conflict in the region, it has to come to israel and try to seek some kind of a humanitarian pause, because the two pictures we're seeing are conflicting one another. the very difficult to maintain peace in this region, prevent escalation, if the cost of israeli destruction of hamas is going to be thousands of palestinians that are killed, because that is really enflaming the region in ways it can get out of control. >> this is a nonstop israeli air assault on various targets in northern gaza we're seeing live here on cnn. this is our camera showing the world was going on and this camera is in southern israel, not far from gaza and where nic robertson is with the professor, stay with us. bri bring in retired cnn analysis, the colonel what do you think? a dramatic development? looks like a whole new phase in what's going on in this war. >> yeah. that's potentially right, wolf. what you're seeing is something that would be possible when you have beginning of an air campaign. now, in this particular case we've had a lot of air activity from israelis for the last week or so, and this is, an escalation of that. as far as types of weapons they're using, you know, looks like they're using various types of precision-guided munitions. potentially also some artillery there but nic robertson has a closer view than i. as we're looking at this, there is some very key elements that seem to be part of an air campaign, wolf, and that air campaign is designed to not only soften up the target but in this case really make it impossible for the hamas fighters to stay in their positions, and it seems to be part of the effort to encircle gaza city, which seems to be the israeli plan right now. >> and quickly, colonel, my recollection from covering the iraq war was before the u.s. sent ground troops in they would launch a very detailed, very intense air assault to set the stage whether in fallujah or mosul or other places. is that what we're seeing now? what irsrael is doing? setting the scene for various ground assaults in areas in northern gaza? >> highly likely, wolf. i think that's exactly what we're seeing right now. reminds me a bit of what happened in baghdad. the shock and awe phase of the second iraq war, and this is similar to that. might be more scaled but intense when on the ground in an area like that. you definitely realize that you're enveloped by a lot of fire power at that point. >> certainly is a lot of fire power right now. live pictures showing viewers in northern gaza right now. an intense amount of air assault against various targets in northern gaza. everybody stand by. valle nasr, nic robertson, ben wedeman and colonel, stand by we'll continue to cove the breaking news. a major new developments unfolding right now. we'll have more live breaking news coverage right after this. we're back live here in israel watching all the breaking news unfold. very dramatic, dramatic and powerful images as you can see. major explosions and flares seen over northern gaza right now. israel's air assault is nonstop. going on now for almost a half hour. cnn's nic robertson is on the ground for us in staehrrote israel. what us through what you're seeing. >> this is, filming into gaza, into hamas-controlled area in gaza. we believe this is a town that's about two and a half miles from where we are standing right now and what appears to be happening is that the idf that's been on the outside of this very dense urban environment appears to be making some kind of assault from there. it has been under relatively heavy air assault for the past three weeks, but now we have witnessed a lot of flares coming down for about half an hour. those flares we've seen coming down now, we have not witnesse a number of flares illuminating the area for such a sustained period in almost four weeks we've been here watching idf forces in action in gaza. this is different. there appears to be a smoke screen on the ground as well. it all appears to indicate that the idf is trying to sort of move forces in and around this area. earlier this evening's idf said they now surrounded the large nearby city of gaza city. about six and a half miles from where we're standing a little bit to the south. they have surrounded that indicating almost they have potentially cut off the northern part of gaza strip from the southern part of gaza strip. the activity has eased off now. we've been watching not only flares, not only smoke screens on the ground. i'm hearing fighter jets. we're still seeing huge flashes of illuminations's if i'm hearing a fighter jet we'll probably hear explosions momentarily from the flashes that very likely are from missiles dropped in and around that area right now. we've been hearing artillery fire booming coming from positions around them. behind us. landing in gaza city. also seen in the middle of all of this, wolf, we have seen hamas fire rockets out of gaza city. we've heard and seen the interceptors take down what appeared to be at least two rockets fired out of gaza. what is happening precisely on the ground right now, we do not know. but the idf has described this area as the enemy's stronghold. that the hamas there has effectively been using armor-piercing rocket-propelled grenades fired at tank crews and infantry troops in armored fighting tanks. the idf slowly notching up the death tolt ofl of troops. very, very dangerous. not just for the idf. many civilians are in there right now in fear suffering as they have been caught, unfortunately, at the idf would say, collateral damage in this ongoing offensive against hamas. >> yeah. very important developments indeed. we did see some rockets or missiles or whatever coming towards where you are in israel from gaza. presumably hamas trying to send some as well. those were intercepted by the iron dome once they got close to israel. we can show pictures of that as well, if you want. these are dramatic pictures. you see the israeli air assault in gaza still continuing. take a look at this. this was just a few moments ago what was going on, on the ground in northern gaza. these are pictures coming in from our camera where nic robertson is. ben wedeman, you know this area well, gaza well and northern gaza well. give us your sense of the dramatic images we're now seeing? >> reporter: it's important to point out this is, as nic mentioned, the first town on your left-hand side when you're driving towards gaza city. now, this is often times a town that's very much in the front line, and often times early on when there's a flare-up between israel and gaza, many of the people flee that town, because it's very dangerous. nonetheless, it's really -- if you take into account the difficulty as an invading force of going through this town, because there's a lot more ahead of you, before you actually get to gaza city. so this is -- really just -- the first step in what is going to be a very bloody and difficult battle for the israelis, but let's not forget the civilians really caught in the middle, and watching what's going on, hearing that the israelis have encircled gaza city, i'm reminded what happened here in beirut in 1982. the israelis surrounded west beirut, they had trocontrol of sea, air and all exits to the city but very hesitant to go inside because of the difficulty of urban warfare. where your advantage in terms of armor, for instance, is oftentimes reduced, because of the difficulty of maneuvering in the streets. refugee camps particularly here in beirut back in 1982. so it's difficult to say how far the israelis are going to go. how far they're going to want to go given the problems and challenges they encounter as they go into the really built-up areas. compared to other parts of gaza, it's relatively uncrowded and, therefore, this is really just the first step in a thousand-mile journey. wolf? >> and while i have you, ben, because you're over there in lebanon watching all of this unfold and you know the region, you know the area. a lot of experience. i had a briefing today with a senior israeli military officer who made it clear that israel is watching very closely hezbollah in lebanon right now. backed by iran, to see if they're going to try to launch a second front against israel right now. the first being israel-hamas if they do that, the israelis are making it very, very clear they're goin found those targets in lebanon like they're pounding gaza right now, and expect a major speech from leader of hezbollah tomorrow. right? >> reporter: yes. at 3:00 local time. 3:00 p.m. local time tomorrow. the secretary-general of hezbollah will give a much-anticipated speech. he has not spoken at all until now, and the expectation is looking at images like this, it's that perhaps this is going to be a speech that's going to be coming down hard and will really, give an indication where this conflict is going as far as lebanon is concerned. wolf? >> yeah. and the israelis are making it clear if they started up second threat from lebanon israel's going to do to them what they're doing to hamas right now. sending a powerful message we're watching right now. everyone stand by. we're going to stay on top of the breaking news, continue our special coverage. much more right after this. 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. wolf, a significant -- we're back live in israel. in the past half hour seen extremely dramatic images of major explosions and flares over gaza. they continue for about half an hour. pictures from just a little while ago. we're following all of these major developments that are unfolding, and it comes at a time when egyptian border officials say more than 344 foreign nationals entered egypt from gaza earlier today. president biden says that includes 74 u.s. citizens. 2 of them you've come to know here on "the lead" over the past weeks. as we're watching all of this unfold. very dramatic developments. we followed these two. they were desperate to try to get out of gaza. this man and his wife and their 1-year-old son are now in egypt, presumably about to make their way back to the united states. a sister and three children also fortunately out of gaza. finally. so desperate to get out while hundreds make their way out of gaza millions of folks in gaza simply can't leave including 242 hostages israel defense forces say are there taken by hamas during the terrorist strike against israel. we have more what we saw earlier today inside gaza before sundown. watch. >> reporter: victims of jabalia victimized yet again. some of the survivors of israel's bombardment took shelter here. a u.n. school. only to be cut down. desperate moments after an israeli strike nearby shown on social media. this is one of four schools in gaza impacted by strikes in a 24-hour period. the u.n. said in total housing some 20,000 displaced people. many of them frightened young children. >> what did we do, this boy cries? we did nothing wrong. >> reporter: the living conditions in these shelters are unbearable. but families come here for safety. that, too -- >> bring me my son. bring me my son. a father screams. >> reporter: it's unclear if his child is dead or alive. three straight days brought horror and bloodshed. cnn reached out to the idf for comment on the latest attacks. israel says it is targeting hamas infrastructure in this densely populated residential area, and says it killed a senior hamas commander with its strike on tuesday. scores of civilians believed killed, the u.n. human rights council warns what you see here are disproportionate attacks that could amount to a war crime. gazans don't understand why the world can't stop this. >> translator: we keep pulling ow bodies. small children, women. it is a catastrophe. this man says, if the country of the world had any shame we wouldn't be in this situation. >> reporter: more suffering is all but certain. israeli troops inching closer, and as ground forces backed by near constant air raids move towards central gaza, lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians language in the balance. the idf warned all residents north of the strip to leave. an order deemed inhumane and impossible by the united nations. so many remain in the cross fire. "where's the world" this woman scream. our children tore up before our eyes, and with the death toll mounting pressure is growing on the u.s. and israel to stop the violence. reporting for cnn, london. thank you very much for that report. back to washington. pamela brown picks up our coverage. >> thank you, wolf. a rare moment of unity between jews, christians and muslims as the war between hamamas and isrl spararks ugly momoments of h ha a moment of unity ty in atla between christians jews and muslims calling for a cease-fire bein israel and hamas. cnn's fred pleitgen is in vienna. what more can you tell us about anti-semitism in you're? >> reporter: we're seeing here, pamela, jewish communities around europe and here in the central part of europe feel increasingly vulnerable after a string of anti-commitic incidents and attacks. i'm here isn't vianna because another one at a cemetery, jewish part of the cemetery here in vienna, the cemetery decimated and an arson attack destroying the ceremonial hall and destroyed really important scriptures. i spoke to the rabbi and here's >> i think it takes us back to times where the books were burned and it is an attack on the spiritual values of the religion and of humanity which happened here. it goes into the antisemitism of our times. here this room was burned last . one week from now on we have the 9th of november, the day where the synagogues were burning down all over germany and austria. and this takes us back to darkest times. >> reporter: pretty troubling events that unfolded here in austria. in fact, the austrian jewish community is very small, only 10,000 to 13,000 people. but they say they've seen a 300% increase in antisemitic incidents. pamela? >> all right, fred pleitgen, thank you so much. up next a group of former israeli soldiers uniting to protest reforms by prime minister netanyahu. cnn's jake tapper shows us how after the hamas attacks on october 7th. one group of former soldiers in israel initially formed to protest prime minister netanyahu's government claiming it was too right wing and a danger to national security, and they even vowed not to serve in the israeli reserves. well, that was until october 7th. as jake tapper reports from his time in israel, they are emerging as a key relief organization. >> reporter: it was a campaign largely led by the non-profit organization brothers in arms. formed by members of the israeli army reserves including this man, special forces veteran eyal nave. they were convinced netanyahu was threatening israel's very democracy. in addition to acts of protest and civil disobedience, brothers in arms got around 10,000 members of the reserves to pledge to stop serving. and then came october 7th. the reservists reported for duty, and on a dime brothers in arms became one of the biggest non-profits in israel, helping those in need. this is lee moser, eyal's partner and a tech investor. >> we are a few hundreds here and about 15,000 people on the fields from the place of the evacuating people in eilat, in the dead sea, in netanya, in tel aviv. you have more than 150,000s people that are evacuating from their homes to soldiers on the fields that need help, that need food, that need their clothes to be washed. >> reporter: the organization has grown so big, in fact, today it's moving to this much bigger office, where individual teams are assigned to address every need that arises. an epicenter of aid coordinating logistics, communications, the deployment of volunteer teams and much more. >> you'll see, you see people that are religious and non-religious, left, right, all working together. >> reporter: all while donations continue to roll in to this expansive underground garage safe from hamas rockets. spokeswoman gilley brenner walked us through. >> this is the light that we can contribute against the darkness of hamas. this is really the beautiful side of this nightmare, of this really dark period we're in. >> reporter: moser is reluctant to engage in the politics of it all. >> and a lot of people were warning at the time that netanyahu was getting so distracted with what he was trying to do with the judiciary that he was taking his eye off the ball from his number one task, which was keeping the country safe. >> what we feel is right for our country is to focus on the present, helping the people, helping the idf to win. and believe me, there will be time that we'll gather again and speak about the future change and how we want our country to look like from a leadership perspective and from, you know, citizen perspective. >> reporter: but ronan kohler, 40-year veteran of the israeli navy, submariner and one of the original members of brothers in arms, well, he has no such issue. >> what you're doing now is obviously different. are you still fighting for israel, just in a different way? >> absolutely. i think that the interesting thing is expect the unexpected in a way. we never imagined that this would be kind of the disruptive event that would make us continue building or rebuilding or refixing the israeli society. i think the key here is that the whole -- the whole social infrastructure was already in place. >> reporter: to kohler every single thing about october 7th and since illustrates the failures of prime minister netanyahu and the righteousness of brothers in arms, including what they see as the israeli government's inability to care for its own people, a void brothers in arms is trying to fill by helping people find jobs. >> pretty much all his decisions are proven wrong. even his kind of neo-liberal economical approach is now showing as total miscalculation because we don't have governmental offices who can support because everything was somehow privatized. the market would take place of -- would do its job. it's not. so we have tens of thousands of people that we are now supporting. >> reporter: so are these efforts by brothers in arms getting under prime minister netanyahu's skin? well, the chief of staff to the prime minister's wife was suspended for 14 days this week for some rather nasty facebook posts she made against brothers in arms and some other groups. quite frankly, how could netanyahu not see brothers in arms as a serious threat? jake tapper, cnn, tel aviv. >> our coverage picks up now with wolf blitzer and "the situation room" live