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. My sport propels me forward. Contra Costa CollegeSaw Potential in me that i didnt know i had. Focus. Determination. Drive. Contra Costa College helped me blaze the trail. Now im a comet, and theres no stopping me. Come on, this is your shot. Take it. Join the team at contra Costa College. Start today at contracosta. Edu top of the hour. Im jake tapper. Youre watching our special continuing coverage of israel at war. Tonight, israel is firing back at hamas with strikes on cities in gaza after the staged Terrorist Attack unlike anything israel has ever seen before. One israeli Air Strike Hitting near a palestinian mosque. Israel also intercepting a number of rockets by hamas tonight near the gaza border. Intense fighting is still under way. At least 300 israelis were killed and at least 1,500 wounded after Hamas Terrorists launched an unprecedented attack by land, by air, and by sea. Focusing on israeli civilians, taking the country completely by surprise. A fresh round of Rocket Attacks in tel aviv and other areas this evening. It is almost daybreak in israel now, just after 5 00 a. M. Local time. Lets get the very latest now from cnn Correspondent Hadas gold in jerusalem. Hadas, tell us what its like on the ground right now. Reporter jake, as we speak, i can hear what must befyinger jets overhead of us in jerusalem. Weve been hearing them all evening long. It has been quieter for us in jerusalem than it was earlier today when we were getting several rounds of sirens and we could hear Rocket Explosions over us in jerusalem, tel aviv also getting a barrage of rockets earlier in the evening. Most of the activity rocketswise has been focused lately on southern israel. We know of a direct hit on a hospital, no injuries reported there. But there are injuries reported elsewhere. Whats been the latest just in the last few minutes is Israeli Police have confirmed they have regained control of sterot, one of the more wellknown cities or towns, a pretty Small Community just right by the border with the gaza strip. So many journalists often go there when theres these sorts of conflicts, set up shop to report from. There had been ongoing gun battles with militants there since the early hours of what is now yesterday morning. And just in the last few minutes, police have confirmed that they have regained control. They said militants had essentially taken over the Police Station, but they now have control of sterot once again. Were seeing reports of other gun battles and with militants in other parts of israel, but this is the number one priority for the Israeli Military is gaining control once again of these israeli communities that were infiltrated by what Israeli Military have said could have been hundreds of hamas militants who not only infiltrated by air, by land, by sea, but then also took prisoners of war, took hostages with them. We know for a fact that there are soldiers and civilians who have been taken hostage, taken back into the gaza strip. We dont have specific numbers, but we expect those numbers to be in the dozens. Thats in addition to the hostages that were taken within israel itself. Militants would have entered homes and things like that. And were keeping hostages within homes there. Thats why we have this death toll and injury toll, about 300 israelis killed, more than 1,500 wounded. We expect those numbers to rise. Meanwhile, the Israeli Military is striking in the gaza strip. Theyve even sent out a warning to civilians in certain areas of gaza, telling them to leave those areas and go further into cities as a way of sort of warning them that something is coming. Whats also interesting what is weve heard from the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. He sent a message in the last couple of hours saying, we are embarking on a long and difficult war. He said, the first phase that is going to be ending soon, hopefully, is regain control from these militant infiltrations that right now he says are starting the offensive formation. He also said among decisions the cabinet has made is the stopping the supply of electricity, fuel, and goods to the gaza strip. So israel controls almost all of the Electricity Supply for the gaza strip. They are cutting off the electricity. This is obviously as an attempt to try to cut off the hamas organizations ability to communicate, to work together. Of course that affects the civilians in the gaza strip in t. Palestinian casualties are in the high 200s, over 1,600 injured so far. We dont know the breakdowns of how many were militants who may have been killed on israeli territory, because we to do know there were quite a few militants, how many of those are civilians . This is a quickly unfolding situation. I think the next stage this is military response. As of now we dont have indication that a Ground Incursion is happening by Israeli Forces into gaza, but the israel Israeli Military is saying they are preparing for that. This is a very complicated situation because israel obviously wants to go after the hamas militants, the organization, their heads in the gaza strip. But now there are israeli civilians and soldiers, some of whom may be dead, some of whom are expected to be alive, being held in gaza, in strategic locations. Any air strike israel undertakes, they need to be aware there could be israeli civilians or soldiers there as well. Well be talking with a mom who has two teenage children who were taken hostage by hamas. Just a nightmare scenario. Thank you so much, appreciate it. The Israeli Defense forces say a Senior Officer was killed during the fighting. 42yearold colonel Jonathan Steinberg led the nahal brigade, idf infantry unit. Im joined by michael oren, former ambassador to the United States. What is israel looking for from the United States in this situation . Good evening, jake. Good evening. I want to express my condolences to the steinberg family. I knew general steinberg. Extraordinary man, extraordinary defender of israel and the jewish people. What israel is expecting from the United States is stand foursquare with us. That was very much the essence of President Bidens speech today. His statement, which was extraordinary, i dont think israel could have wanted anything more, to say that the United States will stand solidly with israel. It will give israel everything it needs. If i can unpack that for a second, in every round of fighting weve had with haums and hezbollah in lebanon, we tend to run out of certain types of ammunition. Prepositioned beneath the state of israel, large amounts of American Military equipment, including ammunition. We asked administrations during wartime for the keys, as we say, to these warehouses. And we are allowed to go in and take what we need. We write it down and pay for it later, its replenished. Only one time, 2014 that permission was denied during another round of fighting with hamas. The Obama Administration did not concede to our requests for certain types of helicopter ammunition. But its very, very rare. I think what we understood from President Bidens Statement Today was that whatever we need, were going to get. And im very sorry to say that were going to need a great amount. Do you have any concerns about the u. S. Governments ability to provide what you need, given the political paralysis in washington . We dont have a speaker of the house right now. It is a concern. I was asked on the Israeli Press again and again, what are the ramifications of the crisis in congress . One of them is the ability of israel to request Emergency Aid for certainly systems like iron dome. Weve done that in the past. I think that would be very difficult right now if congress is dysfunctional. There are other considerations. Our reports have stated that the United States has removed a large amount of munitions from those prepositioned munitions under the state of israel and transferred them to ukraine. I cant be completely convinced that the hamas wasnt aware of this, especially as the current conflict can very easily mushroom into a regional conflict involving not only hamas but more importantly, more crucially, hezbollah in lebanon. There are obviously questions being asked by citizens of israel about the Intelligence Failure and about the military readiness questions, about whether or not the idf was positioned too much on the west bank and not enough in other parts of the country. With the complete and utter understanding that the fault of what happened today lies with hamas and the terrorists who committed these barbaric crimes, 100 , what is your understanding of these failures of intelligence and questions of readiness . I think its unassailable that there was a failure here. Its too early to start fingerpointing right now. Im sure in israel everyone is accountable in israel, no one is above that type of responsibility. Thats been our experience in previous rounds of fighting. But right now, israel is focused on defending itself. Defending its territory, clearing our territory of terrorists, of restoring our hostages to their homes, to their families, defending our homes and families. Jake, you know me and my family. Theyre all in Bomb Shelters tonight, everybody. My kids, my grandchildren are all in Bomb Shelters tonight. Theyve all known people who have fallen victim to this. Its a small country. Theres been lots of comparisons to 9 11. Everyones tragedy is their own, but proportionally, weve lost in one day probably twice as much as america lost in 9 11. So Everybody Knows somebody and its intensely personal and tragic. The hostages that were taken, i dont know how many, it hasnt been disclosed how many. It might not even be known at this hour. Were going to be talking to a mom in a few minutes who has two teenage kids who were taken hostage. That really complicates the response, because the targets that the idf would otherwise focus on might have israeli children, women, elderly hostages there. How can those hostages be rescued . We have Special Forces trained to do precisely that. This will figure into decisionmaking over subsequent stages of fight. The israeli public will be overwhelmingly in favor of a nonreturn to the status quo. Weve had that status quo for five rounds of fighting with hamas, it is not productive. Israel is ready to make a fundamental change in that status quo at a great price. A great price to israeli lives, certainly. We have no desire to inflict casualties on the other side, but we have an enemy using its civilians, now our civilians, as human shoeields. But we cannot endure this anymore. This is literally insufferable for any modern nation, certainly the state of israel. My assumption will be, a, israel will take further steps to rid hamas rid gaza of hamas. The big question, Will Hezbollah Sit on the sidelines . I have any doubts. Will radical elements among the arab population of israel sit on the sidelines . We have to be prepared for the possibility of a multifront war which will drag on and be immensely costly. We have no choice. Former israeli ambassador to the u. S. , michael oren, thanks so much for your time. Coming up, a woman who says hamas killed her children. Shell join me. Her story is unbelievable, it is heartbreaking, and it is after this break. Welcome back to cnns continuing coverage of israel at war in response to hamas Terrorist Attacks on israeli civilians. Youre looking at video of Hamas Terrorists taking israelis cap dave. Tonight, the families of many of those civilians are pleading for help to get them back home safely. Joining me now is a mother whose two kids were kidnapped by Hamas Terrorists this morning. We are not going to identify her or her children for their safety. Thank you so much for talking to us. I cannot imagine what youre going through. Please tell us what happened this morning. Sick 30 in the morning, we all woke up to the alert that were all, unfortunately, used to. Since i was awake, they were alone in the security room. They were with me on the phone, and by about 8 00 in the morning, they said they were starting to hear shooting, gun shooting outside. They heard gunshots outside . Yes. And i started getting messages, texts from other people, saying that soldiers are walking around, trying to break into houses. About 8 30, theyd heard the door break. They said, someone is breaking the door, someones breaking the door. They were scared to death. I cant even imagine what they felt. And i wasnt there to help. I was on the phone, and i said, just be quiet, stay quiet, stay in the security room, lock the door. But the doors dont really lock. Theyre not meant to. Theyre not meant to give a solution, because thats kind of the situation. No one thought a terrorist would walk down free. About quarter to 9 00, i heard on line, on the phone, the door break. I heard terrorists speaking in arabic to my teenagers. And the youngest. Im too young to go. 16 and 12. Very, very hard to hear. And the phone went off, the line went off. That was the last time i heard from them. There it was a very, very hard day. Many, many people from our place and other places were taken. They took babies. They took 2yearolds, 5yearolds, mothers. Just innocents. They did nothing wrong, they were just sleeping in their beds. Even war has rules. They just dont have any morals. Its something that you dont do. You know, i always tell my k kids i mean, the kids in gaza are struggling and having a hard life, a lot more. But now im not sure im able to be so moral about this. They took people over 80. They took sick people. They took people who were shot, wounded. Dragged them into gaza. You cant kidnap civilians just like that, you dont. You just dont. It just shows how cruel they are and how sorry. Im very sorry. You dont need to apologize. You dont need to apologize, i cant imagine what youre going through. I have two teenagers myself. I cant imagine. Not only what im going through. What our people are going through. I dont know if they eat, i dont know if they drink, i dont know if theyre together, i dont know if theyre apart. I dont know if theyre dressed. I dont know if theyre tortured. I dont know anything. Has anyone from the military or the government come by to say anything, to talk to any of you . No. No . Well, no, but i cant really blame anyone. It was a very, very difficult day in israel. Hundreds died. Thousands wounded. And protect hundreds taken or kidnapped to gaza strip. We dont really know how many. Its a very, very hard day. Its going to take its obviously taking time to get to all the people. To have everything reorganized in some way. It might be i have no connection and no information. At all. Weve heard people in israel say that this is like israels 9 11 or israels pearl harbor. Just a day that will live in infamy, to use the language that President Roosevelt used about pearl harbor. Is it that a day of that magnitude . Obviously for you it is the worst day of your life. But for the country, is it of that magnitude . It is. It is. I dont know you know, i cant really compare it to anything. Its obviously a day that will be remembered for a very, very long time. And theres obviously a lot to learn. But this is not the time now to deal with that. The time now is to release all the innocent people in the gaza strip who are held as hostages for nothing. For nothing. I mean, the people we keep here in our prisons, people who are terrorists. Were dealing with terrorists. Mostly men. Its unbelievable that they just think they can hold anyone they want and do anything they as i said, war has rules. Even war has rules. This is obviously the fault of the terrorists who did it, and i dont want my next question to be interpreted in any other way. But i have heard and read questions from israelis about, where was the idf . Why was the idf not in the area . Why did it take so long for the idf to get to the eastern part of the country . Why were so many of them on the western in the west bank, et cetera . Is that something that youre thinking about . You were talking about how your safe room is not it was set up not for terrorists to be able to stroll down the street and walk into your home. Is that something that youre thinking about . Obviously, obviously. And there will be time that all these questions will need to be answered. And the idf definitely took long to arrive and took long to take charge. Weve learned later that the main base that is supposed to be responding to this area was also under attack. Many commanders were shot. So im not trying to make any excuses for them. We were waiting for them, and people were staying in