Happening now, breaking news, hamas launches a shocking raid on Israel Killit 200 people and wounding more than 1,000. The Surprise Attack from air, land, and sea catching Israels Defense Forces totally offguard as fighters stormed across the gaza border and rockets poured into major cities in israel including tel aviv and jerusalem. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing the Terrorist Group will pay what he calls a huge price for this deadly incursion. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer, and this is a Special Edition of the Situation Room israel at war. Lets get straight to the breaking news. The stunning deadly hamas raid on israel. Cnns Nic Robertson arrived in the country just a little while ago and was immediately forced to take cover even as soon as he got off the plane at the international airport. Watch this. Reporter just got off the plane here at the airport. The sirens have gone off. People are taking cover. We got off the bus, people are taking cover. And you can hear the intercept missiles banging in the air. Nothing incoming here, but everyone is taking cover. Theyve got down. Lot of concern about whats going to happen here this night. Nic robertson is joining us now live from just outside the gaza strip. Hes not far from gaza. Set the scene for us. What are you seeing on the ground there right now with . Reporter yeah, wolf, weve come a little bit south, just outside of a small town called sikhim. About 2. 5 miles from the gaza strip. Im hearing explosions behind me. They sound as if theyre coming from the gaza strip. They sound like theyre heavy detonations. Weve heard fighter jets flying in the direction of the gaza strip. Israeli fighter jets would be expected, flying in the direction of the gaza strip. Weve heard those before, but zakim is right on the edge of the area. Im hearing a lot of explosions now. Right on the edge of the area that the hamas militants broke out of gaza. Some of them tried to land on the beach which is just over the hill here as they try to make incursion by sea. This is a checkpoint here, israeli Defense Forces, police, as well, have set up here. Civilian traffic not allowed beyond here. This is a very active zone at the moment. Theres a lot of Military Activity in this area. Weve seen iron dome missiles being fired out from fields nearby here. Weve seen the the trace around with their explosions in the air. But the constant here, the constant that weve been hearing as weve been south close to gaza this evening is these loud detonations coming from gaza. Its unclear precisely what they are. What were being told by the police and soldiers on this checkpoint here, this is a live an active Military Area beyond here. This is where civilians are being held back, if you will. So as we go into the rest of the night, that concern about what comes next, that volley of rockets fired by hamas and gaza, 150, maybe 200 hamas claimed that theyve fired into the tel aviv area hitting residential property, injuring people there, setting buildings and fire on fire there, tearing down trees and roadways. This is the picture in israel tonight, and this is on the edge of that active zone. Im hearing Military Aircraft above me now. I would say what im hearing at the moment is a helicopter above me, wolf. Prime minister netanyahu as you know said hamas will pay what he calls a heavy price. Do you have any sense at all of how and when that will play out . Reporter it does appear as if he has a very strong intent. Hes certainly said that verbally. And i think if we compare and contrast hamas military actions against israel before by rocket fire, the response of that has been a tough response. What has happened today is quantifiably different from what weve seen in the past. Hamas breaking out, taking israeli civilians and Military Personnel they claim hostage, taking them back to gaza. So this is a dynamic and fluid situation for the government that has to weigh up its next move. But the Prime Minister saying it will be indicating it will be a very, very strong move. On our travels this evening, we havent seen the movement of huge military hardware. In a scenario as the government is presented with right now, it will take them a little time to make the precise decisions on what theyre going to do and how theyre going to do it, and then bring the personnel and the equipment into position. So in terms of the timeline for whatever the government does in terms of a big response, obviously what we can hear are air strikes and seeing air strikes going on today in gaza. There has been that immediate response. But how that follows up and how big the forces that confront hamas isnt clear, and i think thats going to take a few days at least to play out and build up. And typically what weve seen in the past, wolf, youve covered it so many times before, it will take some time to put a significant additional Military Force in this area. And the Prime Minister has said the response for hamas will be will be huge. But he has also said the priority is going to be to clear out those hamas militants who have infiltrated from gaza, Inside Israeli territory, to make sure theyre cleared out. This is an active Military Zone. Beyond that, searching them out. Are there concerns based on what youre seeing and hearing that a second wave of attacks from hamas could be coming against israel any time soon . Reporter the analysis so far, wolf, seems to be that israel was caught to some degree flat footed. Its intelligence didnt see this type of attack coming. Hamas, therefore, has been able to prepare, if you will, unseen or unheard or unnoticed in detail of what they were doing. They have withstood Barrages Of Fire by israel today and responded this evening with those rockets on tel aviv. Ten years ago hamas rockets couldnt reach tel aviv. Now they can. The concern tonight is what else will hamas be planning . And part of that planning undoubtedly will have been how to withstand the initial rounds of israeli response and, therefore, still be able to come out and fire rockets, not as many as they did this morning, they fired a significant number this evening. It makes it hard for israel with its iron dome Defense System to take down a lot of outgoing rockets that are fired by hamas from gaza. So hamas will know that, so they will attempt very likely to keep clusters of rockets in reserve to fire big rounds, batches of them off if you will, to try to penetrate israels defenses. And that clearly theyve been planning for, to what degree, its been hidden from israeli eyes. We dont know. But i think that is to be expected. And certainly thats what israelis this evening are very concerned about, whats going to happen through this night, whats the situation when they wake up tomorrow. Of course theyre looking to the Prime Minister to get direction to that. All right. Very, very tense situation indeed. Nic robertson just outside gaza in israel. Thank you very much. Stay safe over there. Joining us now, a key spokesperson for the israel Defense Forces, Lieutenant ColonelJonathan Konrikas from tel aviv. Thank you so much for joining us. I want your sense, first of all, whats the situation on the ground there tonight . Is fighting still ongoing, hamas militants . Yes. This is a very sad day in israel. We have sustained very heavy casualties, both civilian and military. The fighting as we speak is ongoing in southern israel. There are still active battles between Israeli Security forces and terrorists inside gaza, and unfortunately we have not yet been able to reestablish full control over all of our communities and all of our bases. This is the top priority that is what theyre focusing on now, regaining control, and then stemming and making sure that the border is properly shut and monitored, and as your footage is also showing, we have started to strike the very early first wave of strikes against Military Targets in gaza. It is ongoing. They will intensify during the night. And as youve discussed, i think, you know, it should be clear to anybody who is watching that this is not more of the same. The scope of hamas attack, the audacity, and the barbarism that they have displayed today i think can only be compared to i. S. I. S. In its sheer violence and cruelty to all israeli civilians. Ive seen videos of paralyzed women, children, elderly, being taken off into the gaza strip by hamas terrorists. These are scenes that are very difficult to unsee, and that is currently what we are dealing with. We know do you have the number, Lieutenant Colonel, of how many israelis, men, women, and children for that matter, have been kidnapped by hamas and taken from Inside Israel to gaza . I can say that it is a significant number. I cannot yet say the official number. But i can say that it is unfortunately a significant number of both israeli civilians and Military Personnel. Some of them alive, some of them presumed not to be alive. Its an extremely delicate situation. It is unprecedented in our history that we have so many israeli nationals in the hands of a terrorist organization. A bloodthirsty terrorist organization. And that, of course, will influence future decisionmaking and what the Israeli Cabinet will tell the idf to do, and what the aim of future operations of the idf will be when it comes to gaza. Last thing for me to emphasize is that this is not more of the same. We will have to turn a page, and we will have to apply different tools, and we will have to apply much more power in an unprecedented way than what we have done in the past because we have been attacked in an unprecedented way by hamas and additional Terrorist Organizations. Yeah. I think a lot of israelis have been saying to me that israel has never seen anything along these lines before. Cnn has geolocated one video to gaza that appears to show a woman, an israeli woman, taken captive by militants. Her wrists appear cable tied. I want our viewers to to watch this. Lieutenant colonel, what is israel doing to try to rescue these people who have been kidnapped and taken directly into gaza . These are extremely disturbing scenes for any israeli to see. I dont even want to imagine what the fate of this israeli person will be at the hands of these bloodthirsty animals. I can assure you that the idf will be focused on getting each and every israeli back. That is a very heavy assignment, that is something that will demand tremendous effort. It is an unprecedented situation that were facing now. Something that weve dealt with a tenth of the severity of the situation that we deal with today. Weve had hostages taken by Terrorist Organizations in the past, but not as many. And not together. Id like to Say Something about the regional perspective, as well. For us, its clear that there is one nation that stands to gain for this escalation, from this war, and probably wants to escalate the whole region into war. And that is the Worlds Largest supporter of terrorism, iran. Iran funds and equips of the Terrorist Organizations outside of israel, hamas, the Islamic Jihad in hezbollah and lebanon to name a few. Im sure they are rejoicing in the violence and the israeli casualties as we speak, and i think that theyre hoping to derail regional positive events of reproachment between israel and saudi arabia and anything else positive that may happen in the region. We understand that, and israel understands clearly that what is at stake here is that there are iranian Proxy Organizations at our borders that have been allowed to Stockpile Weapons and what we have faced today is the result of those weapons being stockpiled on our borders in the hands of extremist organizations. Lieutenant colonel, before i let you go, before i let you go, Lieutenant Colonel, can you give us an update on the death toll and the number of wounded . How many israelis have been killed, and how many have been wounded and respect in hosphospitals and are in hospitals right now . It is unfortunately still a dynamic number. And we have crossed the number 200 of dead israelis, and we have crossed the threshold of 1,100 israelis hurt. And unfortunately, that is not the end of it. There will be additional figures coming out during the night and perhaps tomorrow. These are astronomical figures. In israeli perspective, these are numbers that we have never, ever seen before, and these are theyre unprecedented. And they will force an unprecedented response from israel against the organization that did this to israel, and that is first and foremost hamas. Yeah. From everything im hearing from various sources, this war between israel and hamas is only just beginning now. Lieutenant colonel, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. Thank you, wolf. Coming up, President Biden is vowing rock solid and unwavering support for israel. Well get a live report from the white house when we come back. Were following the breaking news, the shocking attacks by hamas against israel which have already killed and wounded hundreds of israelis. These are live pictures, by the way, from gaza city coming in now. Im sure the palestinians there are bracing for a massive israeli retaliatory strike. Lets go to more from the white house and reaction from President Biden. Kayla, this outbreak in fighting is coming at a very sensitive time in u. S. israeli relations. What is the president saying, and what steps is the white house taking as this dramatic and very dangerous situation continues to unfold . Reporter relations between the u. S. And israel have been relatively strained in recent months as Prime Minister netanyahus Governing Coalition promoted a judicial reform package that the u. S. Has staunchly opposed. But President Biden and netanyahu have a very close personal relationship. They met in person last month at the u. N. General assembly, and they spoke at length on the phone earlier this morning. And u. S. Government officials are in touch with their israeli counterparts at all levels, and also in talk show with various leaders across the middle east as they try to figure out exactly what the administrations response and the support for israel should look like at this moment. President biden, though, for his part called that support unwavering. Theres never justification for terrorist attacks. And my administration and support and security is rock solid and unwavering. Let me say this as clearly as i can, this is not a moment for any party hostile to israel to exploit these attacks, to seek advantage. The world is watching. Reporter the outbreak also comes as the u. S. Had been working behind the scenes on a diplomatic pact to normalize relations between israel and saudi arabia. That deal was expected to be months away, but it was expected to provide some sort of defense pact between saudi arabia and the u. S. As part of that, as well as some concessions that were expected to be offered to the palestinians. There are questions about whether the proximity of such a deal could have sparked some urgency for the outbreak that we saw overnight. But all of those, wolf, are still questions that the administration is trying to get answers to. Yeah, lots of important questions that need answers. Kayla tausche, thank you so much. I want to get analysis and bring in the former u. S. Ambassador to israel, edward deregian, Former State Department Negotiator aaron david miller, and cnn Global Affairs analyst susan glasser. Susan, the israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says his nation is now at war. This is truly a remarkable moment. Give us your sense. Wolf, the scope and scale of this attack against civilians is absolutely breathtaking. Of course people have been seeing these horrifying images all day. There will be more. The fighting appears to be ongoing. And it will have enormous repercussions not only i think in israel where there are already many questions about the Surprise Attack, what kind of intelligence and military failure led to it. You know, there were hours it appears before there was a response in some areas that came under attack. There are also repercussions in washington, not only this peace deal that the United States had been trying to broker between saudi arabia and israel, the question of whether there would be renewed regional conflict, the question of what role if any iran might have played in stoking or sponsoring this kind of attack. Theres so many questions. But its going to have repercussions, i fear, for a long, long time. Ambassador, this Surprise Attack by hamas included the targeting of various israeli civilians, men, women, even children. Given everything we know so far, how do you expect israel will respond and counter . This is such a major strategic failure really of israels Deterrence Policy against hamas and the gaza strip. Yo