Im Anderson Cooper live from tel aviv. Alongside Boris Sanchez and Alex Marquardt reporting from washington, d. C. Tonight the skies are still lit up in parts of israel as the Israeli Military carries out a fierce response in gaza. It is in retaliation they say for the unprecedented and coordinated Terror Offensive carried out by hamas on saturday that has continued for the last 48 hours. Israel says at least 900 people have been killed by hamas. Palestinian Officials Say over 500 people have been killed in gaza. It is not just the death toll, though, that is harrowing. The terror group says they are holding more than 100 israelis hostage. Israel has not confirmed the exact number. Hamas now threatening they will start executing hostages if attacks on gaza are launched without warning. We now know from two sources that the qatari government has been in talks with hamas about those hostages and u. S. Officials are Coordinatiing Wit the qataris. Were still awaiting remarks from israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu. We have been expecting that any minute. We will bring that to you obviously live. Earlier today you may have seen Clarissa Ward taking cover from Rocket Attacks. I want to show a little bit of what happened to her and her team earlier. Go to the right. Yeah. Yeah. Get down. Down. Youre fine. Youre fine. Youre fine. Youre okay. Youre all right. Youre all right. Okay. Yeah. Guys. Are you seeing our situation, guys . Yes. Okay. Stay down. That is just a small snapshot of the situation along that border. Clarissa ward joins me now from ashkelon. Clarissa, explain what happened in that place and also what you have been seeing throughout the day because Israeli Defense spokesperson said that israel is in control now or has control of their sovereign territory, though there still may be pockets of Hamas Terrorists waiting to attack on israeli soil and more trying to come across still, but they believe that largescale attacks have stopped. Is that right . Reporter thats right. I think they feel that theyre largely in control of that part of the puzzle. And thats why they brought us down, actually, or invited us to come and see that area along the border, which was actually the first area that was breached by those hamas militants who came across in a pickup truck and started spraying the entire area, killing a lot of civilians. And while we were down there just taking some footage and doing some live shots there was, as you saw, a large volley of rockets incoming. We took shelter. And i think the important thing to take away from that, anderson, is that this is what life is like on both sides of this border for so many people. I dont know if you can hear it in the background right now, but we are just hearing a relentless pounding of the gaza strip. Its been going on now for nearly 24 hours. And ive never heard anything quite like it. Were seeing some pretty horrifying images coming out of gaza now. We know the idf says they have cut off fuel, they have cut off food, they have cut off electricity. Hundreds and hundreds of people, more than 500 killed inside gaza. And obviously that number only expected to rise. And the rockets just not letting up, either, anderson. Im wearing this flak jacket just in case we have another barrage while im live with you. I want to be able to stay out here with you. But a cull of hours earlier again another large barrage right here in ashkelon. The streets are so dead you could hear a pin drop, honestly. And people just getting ready to hunker down for another night, anderson. So has you know, obviously with this large assault youve been hearing in gaza has the pace of Rocket Attacks coming from gaza, from hamas and islamic jihad, has that slowed . From what weve seen throughout the day, it has not slowed down at all. Not in the area where we were this morning. Not here in ashkelon. And its important to remember its difficult for the idf. They can run around with these rocket launchers, set them off from any given location, and then quickly move on to the next place, which makes it incredibly difficult to respond or retaliate effectively. We heard one israeli media station telling people that they should collect enough food to potentially spend the next few days inside. And this is all happening with the kind of looming specter of some kind of an announcement potentially from Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu about some possibly Ground Invasion is what a lot of people are speculating one might be looking at. Certainly were seeing a great deal of armor and personnel, Israeli Military moving toward the border area. Earlier on today we were at another area where we saw a large staging ground for tanks. So clearly something is afoot. No one knows exactly what. And of course this everpresent fear of what this means for these hostages particularly in light of this latest threat from hamas that they would begin potentially executing and broadcasting that execution of civilian hostages. Really kind of making it even a murkier picture as to how israel can try to thread the needle of doing what it says it needs to do in gaza while at the same time trying to protect the lives of those who may be still held there. And just on the piece you mentioned as well, anderson, about the number of hoft sxjsz how we dont have a good sense, the idf has come out and said theyve notified 30 families or the families of at least 30 hostages. That doesnt mean there arent more, but it certainly means there are at least 30 families who will not be sleeping well tonight, anderson. You can just see behind me there, thats gaza in that direction there. We should also point out on the hostage front many of the families that we have spoken to say that they have not heard directly from israeli authorities and they have been getting confirmation as best they can youre getting more incoming. Is that incoming or outgoing . I dont think its incoming. I think that was outgoing. But it was a little closer than what weve heard before. I think its okay. I mean yeah. Most of the families are finding out about their loved ones being held hostage by watching sick videos that hamas has posted online on telegram and other channels like that. Clarissa, were going to come back to you. I want to bring in cnns nic robertson. He is also along the border. Hes no sderot, israel. Nick nic, what have you been seeing . Reporter yeah, literally in the last couple of minutes, the last two minutes while youve been talking to clarissa, hearing and seeing rockets being fired up out of gaza. We were here last night. Initially those rockets were not being intercepted. That could wo indicate to me they were headed further north into Central Israel because the way the Iron Dome Defensive System works its interlocked across the country and the system will use the best available iron dome interceptor to bring it down. So if the missile is calculated on going on a long trajectory, it will be picked up later in its flight. So we saw several, i would say half a dozen missiles taking off, Flying Northwards but not intercepted, which again would be potentially an indication that theyre headed north, potentially toward Central Israel. We did see a couple of others that were intercepted on the horizon, and that would be potentially explaining some of the noises that clarissa could hear. I could hear you two having the conversation about what was happening, what clarissa could see and hear. And we had, if you will, perspective from just perhaps were perhaps ten miles away from where clarissa is just about two miles from gaza, just further down the side of the gaza strip. Its right behind us here. So we sort of have another, if you will, picture, Vantage Point on the rockets that are being fired and also the impacts on gaza. Its quite quiet right now in terms of impacts but we have been hearing them. The sounds of what sounds like artillery from here that we have been seeing in this area today, outgoing as well. And just an hour ago at this location there were a group of Police Border officers here all Taking Shelter in the rocket shelter just here because there was again a barrage of rockets coming in on this location, on sderot. Of course we took shelter at the same time with them. But it is hamas that dictates of course when its going to fire, where its going to fire. The interceptors take them down as best they can, and then the response from the Israeli Defense forces to try again to see where they were launched from and try to take out those anyone perpetrating a launch or those launch sites so they cant be used again. And it is so difficult for the Israeli Defense forces because hamas has been doing this a long time and it is a cat and mouse, if you will, to try to take out the launchers before they happen. Anderson . Nic, in terms of its been now 60 hours plus. Its a little hard to the time is hard to tell here. Its all sort of blended together. But 60 hours plus since this Surprise Attack occurred. Has the posture youre seeing among Israeli Forces on the ground where you are, is it different in the last 12 hours than it was, you know, 24, 48 hours ago . Is there a sense that the chance of there being actual Hamas Terrorists hiding on the ground somewhere in sderot, around there, is that has that reduced significantly . Reporter i would say the chance of terrorists being on the ground has reduced. At this time last night we were in the center of sderot and even later into the night there was an ongoing operation, a few hundred yards from where we were to try to chase down two to three suspected hamas militants who were in that area. There was an operation ongoing to do that. Today its different. There is still a sense of very high security. But the big change to your point in the past 12 hours that were seeing is a much greater level of deployment of military hardware. Weve seen areas of clusters of 20 or more tanks. We werent seeing that 24 hours ago. Were seeing many more troops out on patrol. Really experienced Israeli Defense force troops, the older troops, not the younger recruits, the older troops in the open jeeps with the guns pointing out at the ready with their Nightvision Goggles on at the ready. Really, you know, experienced Israeli Defense forces out on patrol. Multiple groups of them on patrol. So we are seeing closer to the border here with gaza a heavier, a more ready deployment. But the sense also as well that theres more and more and more of it coming in. Weve literally seen this coming past us here. What i can see on the military vehicles is equipment thats going to be offloaded at some of the sites we can expect to be set up around here. The local headquarters. The Artillery Sites that get dug in around here with the howitzers. Weve seen some of the heavy mechanized artillery guns. They look like tanks. Theyre much bigger. That looks like the lights in this neighborhood have just gone off. Its not clear why. But thats the nature of the situation at the moment. The paraphernalia, the military paraphernalia, if you will, that is increasing and were just seeing more and more and more of it come in, anderson. Nic robertson, you and your team please be careful. Well come back to you. Were expecting now to hear from Benjamin Netanyahu. We have been told hes going to speak in about 12 or so minutes or 13 minutes from now. We will bring that to you obviously live. Families all over israel are waiting, desperate for word of their loved ones after this weekends attack. At least nine u. S. Citizens are known to be dead according to u. S. Officials. Many others are still missing. Among the missing is itali chen, a dual citizen of the u. S. And israel whos serving in the Israeli Defense forces, in the armed corps. Chen was on the gaza border during the assault. His father says he last heard from his son this last weekend when he called from a Military Base that was under attack at the time. Joining me now is ruby chen, italis father. Ruby, i am so sorry were taltalk ing under these circumstances. Tell us about what happened. First of all, its itay. Thats the pronunciation. Anderson, thank you for having me and allowing me to amplify my voice on this platform. The call saturday morning was of course a very short call. He was under bombardment coming in, basically saying that theyre under attack, and that was the last we heard of him. What we do know is that he was active and was seen two hours afterwards. But beyond that point no one has seen him. So we have received official from the idf claiming that his official status is missing in action. What does that mean . It means that nobody is able to identify him since a couple of hours in saturday morning. No one has seen him in the hospital. He has not been identified. And no one has seen him in a morgue deceased. So the only thing that the idf has to say is we dont know where he is. And i think after 60 hours of here in israel i think its a fair assumption to say he might not be in israel as we speak. And as a u. S. Citizen growing up in New York City my children are also u. S. Citizens. And they are Israeli Citizens as well. And here is the challenge i think of someone like myself, how do we view ourselves and who do we want, you know, to actively take part in helping us finding our son. Have you heard anything from the u. S. Government . So we of course reached out to the embassy here in tel aviv. We reached out to the State Department. My congressman. Weve done what we can. But at the end of the day the u. S. Is taking a back seat to this investigation. And heres something id love to ask you, anderson. Whats happening now in gaza is really unfortunate. But i am sure in a very short time there will be many, many, many palestinians with american passports, dual citizenships, that will be calling up the State Department and the president of the United States saying help us, we need to get out of here, we are american citizens. They view themselves first suddenly as an american citizen. And they want to be treated as an american citizen. And i would argue that i want the same type of treatment. I today with my family went in front of the u. S. Embassy asking the u. S. Embassy to treat us first and my son as a u. S. Citizen. A u. S. Citizen is missing in action. The very things the u. S. Can do independent of what the israeli forc forces can do. And if he is indeed missing in action and might even be a p. O. W. , i think that the u. S. At a minimum needs to demand that any p. O. W. That it is holding needs to be treated according to the international law. Which states that you need to take care of the prisoner, you need to identify him, you need to allow the red cross or the u. N. To visit and see what is the status of that prisoner. We unfortunately do not get that treatment at the moment. President biden and secretary of state, we have Great Respect for them. They are saying all the correct things that we expect them to say. But again, we believe that they could be more active in the actions to be taken to identify and find these u. S. Citizens that are missing in action. Ruby, there are so many families, as you well know, here going through what you are going through. And it is sickening and just horrific. Its impossible for anybody to imagine what these families are going through, what you are going through. Can you just talk a little bit about how you are trying to find out information. I talked to one mother whose daughters have been taken by hamas, and shes scrolling through telegram, awful hamas videos on telegram, just desperately searching for any images of her daughters in captivity. What does a parent do in this situation here right now today . Yeah, so thats one option. I dont think its a healthy option. Were trying to put the pieces together of the big puzzle. What we do not know happened with itay over the last 60 hours. Talking to different people that are in hospitals that might have seen him, that should have seen him, that are close to other people that might have seen him. Theres also the unit itself that are trying to put the pieces together themselves. Hand in hand, to try to put the pieces together, they still have to do a lot of fighting. And i think at least today the priority is first to fight back and to do what is needed and then take care of the injured and finding those that are missing. Its unfortunate. And going back to the United States, resources that the United States has in its possession is second to none. And if the United States makes a decision that it understands that yes, these are citizens that are israelis but also americans, and if they are First Americans then they should be doing much more in order to find these citizens that are missing. Ruby chen, im sorry were talking under these circumstances. I appreciate your time and well continue to keep in touch with you and we wish the best for you and your family and for all the hostages and their families. If i could just add one small thing, anderson. My younger son sure, ruby. Is having a bar mitzvah this week, ceremony. If you know, the Bar Mitzvah Ceremony is when a child reaches the age of 13 and he becomes a