soldiers are surrounding the borders of gaza in the air, on the ground and in the sea. gaza residents tell cnn that these air strikes are the most intense they have witnessed since the beginning of this conflict. almost three weeks ago. phone service that connects gaza to the outside world has now apparently been completely cut off because of the intense bombardment. these are live pictures we re bringing you of the skyline over gaza where we have been seeing explosions all day. this operation coming hours after israel s minister of defense told me and some other reporters that israel was, quote, waiting for the best conditions to start its ground operation, unquote, exactly what those conditions were, he would not make clear, earlier today sources told cnn that a breakthrough had been made in hostage negotiations as 229 people according to the idf are still being held by hamas. kidnapped on october 7th. the idf says the talk of a breakthrough was, however, only rumors, so no
payback against hamas is starting now. three weeks after the deadliest day for the jewish people since the holocaust. the difficulties of urban warfare, as much of gosnell plunges into darkness with phone lines and internet cut. the concern tonight about civilians. more targeted attacks on u.s. forces in the middle east. after american f-16s launched a retaliatory strike on iranian backed facilities in syria. tonight s other top story, the urgent search for the suspect in the deadly maine shooting. what we are learning about the investigation. the manhunt here intensifies. behind me, you can see a staging area with armored vehicles. they are planning on sending divers into the water. while this is looking like a major focus today with a lot of people we have a lot of irons in the fire. norah: we honor the victims. our interview with the family of a man who died a hero. my husband went into the kitchen and grabbed a butcher knife and went after him. saved the patrons t
and governmental capabilities and do everything possible to bring our hostages home. meanwhile, the us president says israel has a right to defend itself against terrorists, but must protect innocent civilians. speaking at a joint press conference with australian prime minister anthony albanese, joe biden said there s no going back to the status quo the israelis and palestinians had before the hamas attack. the president also cast doubt on some of hamas s claims. what they say to me as they have no notion that the palestinians are telling the truth about how many people were killed. i m sure innocents have been killed, and it s the price of waging a war. i think we should be incredibly careful. i think now israel should be incredibly careful to be sure that they re focusing on going after the focus that are propagating this war against israel, and it s against their interest when that doesn t happen. but i have no confidence in the number that the palestinians are using. the
strike in the west bank earlier today hitting a mosque. the idf said it thwarted an eminent terror attack. the palestinian authority calls it a dangerous escalation. erin? jim, the israeli military confirms that its troop had a class with hamas fighters. it s significant because this happened inside gauza. they re saying that there was fighting. it s just the second time that israeli forces have confirmed that they were operating inside gaza since the hamas terrorist attacks two weeks ago. cnn journalist has witnessed at least 14 trucks crossing from egypt into gaza. that s desperately needed humanitarian aid. it s a drop in the bucket, though, but it is something. and for almost two weeks, there had been nothing. an official at the main hospital says the deteriorating conditions there are catastrophic and other hospitals say they are simply overwhelmed by the number of dead and wounded from the intensifying bombardment. israel saying they conducted dozens of strikes just t
hello and welcome, everyone. i appreciate your company. i m michael holmes with our continuing coverage of israel at war. and we begin with new remarks from the u.s. president joe biden, who is warning that israel should not try to occupy gaza, as an israeli ground invasion seems all but inevitable. mr. biden says he believes israel has to respond to the hamas attacks that killed 1400 people, but issued a call for restraint. i think it would be a big mistake. look, what happened in gaza, in my view is hamas and the extreme elements of hamas don t represent all the palestinian people, and i think that it would be a mistake to for israel to occupy gaza again. but to go in and taking out the extremists, the hezbollah is up north, but hamas down south is a necessary requirement. do you believe that hamas must be eliminated entirely? yes, i do. but there needs to be a palestinian authority. there needs to be a path to a palestinian state. now those comments as tens of th