Cover it all here on cnn. Hopefully, we will have who can hear from him himself onon that. Right no cnn news night with abby phillip starts. Retaliatory strikes are underway tonight, as israelis compare this devastating attack by hamas to the terror of 9 11. This is the deadliest attack against jewish people since the holocaust, with a degree of barbarity not seen since isis. Israels Prime Minister is now saying or the next few days violence will really wear it across generations. Im abby philip, and this is new light. Youre fine, youre fine, youre fine, youre okay. [sound of artillery] youre all right, youre all right. [sound of artillery] okay. Thats the iron dome, okay . Yeah. At this point, we want to get hello. Okay. Standby. Hello, john, so forgive me im slightly inelegant thisish and, but we just had a massive barrage of rockets coming in here not too far from us. So we have had to take shelter here by the were just five minutes away. Gaza is in that direction. You can hear now a lot of jets in the sky. We can also hear the iron dome intercepting a number of those rockets as they were whizzing overhead and making impact in that direction, not too far from here. We came to this location because this was ground zero. People understand that this is where they go to get safe. But outside of, here smashed water bottles, broken shoes, and as i step inside here, you are overcome by the smell. And what is clear that happened here, people came in here to get shelter. There is gunshots that impacts all of the wall. I dont think well go into far, john. If we just step out, and let me describe what were seeing, because it is a very horrific testimony to the absolute carnage, rampage, and utter, utter brutality of hamas that people were hiding in. There and its absolutely clear from the blood on the walls, the bullet holes in the walls, that they just went in there and shot these innocent people cowering and hiding away from them. Those are harrowing scenes out of israel today, where a nation is still being terrorized as war breaks out. Israelis say that at least 900 people have been killed and nearly 3000 more men wounded. The number of u. S. Citizens among the dead rises now to 11, and the number of americans being held in hostages still a mystery. Many loved ones are still missing after being kidnapped, and hamas is now threatening to execute hostages on Live Television but if israel strikes gaza without warning. Now tonight, we will speak with some of the families of those who are missing or who managed to escape alive. Now back in washington, the white house is tonight in white and blue in support of israel, as the president and his Administration Says that the u. S. Stands shoulder to shoulder with the israeli people. Cnns of course live across the region that is now at war. But we begin tonight with cnns own anderson cooper, whos live in ashdod, israel. So anderson, netanyahu today promised that these airstrikes are just beginning. He says this will be a generational impact. And today, we saw so much activity, both in the skies and on the ground. What has been happening as you have been there in israel . Yeah, its about finding the right now here in austin that, were about 19 miles from gaza. And i can tell you just as youve been speaking, i have been hearing the sound of israeli bombardment into gaza itself. I think its artillery. We have heard fighter jets flying over this area from time to time tonight, followed by explosions as well but, down in gaza. But its this low rumble, even from 19 miles away, you can hear it emanating from that direction. So there is a lot of activity you can hear planes right now in the air, fighter jets in the air, very likely we may hear again, some distant explosions,. Because, that you probably cant hear it just on my mic. But it is a very fast moving situation, abby. In about an hour we will be at 72 hours since this Terror Attack began. It began 6 30 a. M. Saturday morning across multiple fronts, air, sea, land, as we all know by now. We are still very much in a situation, particularly along the gaza border, where Israeli Forces are still engaged, according to an idea of Spokes Person ive talked to just in the last hour, still in engaged with hamas gunman, who they believe have sort of been left behind, either intentionally or werent able to make their way back into gaza after the initial Terror Attack, after the initial incursions. So they are still, they say, engaging. They are also still multiple attempts, according to the idf, of gunman from hamas attempting to get through breaches in the border. Israeli authorities are moving to patch up and have been continually moving to patch up and bolster the areas that were breached. As you know, there were multiple fronts breached across the border. But there are still some areas of concern. So its still a very fluid situation, a very kinetic situation. Obviously, the bombardments that weve seen by artillery, and also fighter jets, of gaza but has been relentless and by comparison to other times we have seen but israel and gaza extending rockets, an overwhelming amount of firepower directed toward gaza. Rockets have continued be fight from gaza as well into israel. So this is still a very fast moving situation. Its not very clear. We talked about Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu, a lot of people expected that maybe because he was making announcement today, he might be launching, he might be the beginning of a Ground Incursion. He did not. He did not go to any kind of specifics like that. It does not mean one is not being planned, by certainly not telegraphing that at this stage. So its an clear, you know, israel has said they want a complete siege of gaza, no food, no water going in, no electricity but. And that they can do. The question is to really eliminate the military capabilities of hamas, one can do a lot of damage by air to infrastructure but. We have seen plenty of times when there have been heavy bombardments of gaza over the last many years. And hamas remains. But they really are going to try and completely degrade and eliminate their military capabilities, it is hard to see how that can happen without some sort of Ground Incursion. But obviously as we know, the cost of, that the potential cost in human life, is huge. It will be, it seems, no matter, what a tremendous cost on all sides of this conflict. One of the aspects of this, there is one name that is degrading hamas, eliminating hamas even. But the other is what happens to all these hostages . The numbers, over 100 according to an israeli official just in the last hour. Thats a significant number of people who are unaccounted for. And they are, as far as we know, potentially in gaza. What are you learning about how that is affecting the plans Going Forward for but with parts of this mission that the Israeli Defense forces now have but . Listen, its something the Israeli Military has to take into consideration. They you know, ive spoke to idea spoke people about it. They dont go into details. Obviously, they would like to rescue as many people as possible. But this is not new. They have seen this done before. We have seen multi year negotiations to get the log shot lead back. That took many years, in exchange for him, an israeli soldier, for i think more than 1000 palestinians in prisons in israel. So the price of this can be high. Hamas has said that they are not going to be negotiating anything about hostages in till the fighting is done, until a Military Activity by israel has ceased. But time for negotiations will be later down the road. But it is an impossible situation. You cannot have a Ground Incursion into, as you know, hamas has already said they will start executing hostages and videotape that, put it out online, if israel attacks without warning specific targets. So its something israel has to take into account. But its an impossible situation, trying to save all those peoples lives, and also at the same time, having Military Incursion into gaza. Yeah. You also spoke with a woman who was nearly one of these hostages. She was kidnapped, but later released by the terrorists. What did she tell you about that harrowing experience . Yeah, its really extraordinary. She was, she was taken. She was hiding in a closet. One of her neighbors was hiding with her. The neighbor was shot to death in the closet. They removed her from the closet. They handed her two children, one, i believe, was four years old, the other was 4. 5 months old. Not her children, children from her neighbor, a woman, audi, a friend of hers. The children were traumatized, obviously, not even crime, just so traumatized they were silent and stunned. She held these children. These gunmen took her house to house trying told or what to say to other families who are hiding in their homes, trying to get them to come out of their homes so they can either kidnap them as well or shoot them, we dont know. Few of the families would actually come out, despite her pleas at the hands of these hamas gunman. They then began to bring her into gaza, walker into gaza carrying these small children. And then for reasons she still doesnt quite know, they let her go, and they let her leave with the children. The childrens mother is still missing, whereabouts unknown, dont know if shes dead, dont know if she has been held hostage. The children are safe now with their father. Heres some of what she had to say. It just moved me from one house to the other, and then a certain point, they took us to the fans, they created a hole in the fence. We started walking to gaza. More terrorists came with us, and i was with the boys. Yeah, was on the shoulders of one of the tears, and i was carrying the other boy. And we just walked, they kept saying quick, quick, and they shouted. And i just cried at the whole situation, the broke down and and was on me and just fell asleep. I think it was just a survival mode, as a baby. Avital alajem, he is obviously traumatized herself by all of this, still trying to figure out what the next steps are, as are so many people here. Theres not anybody in this country who does not know somebody who is being held hostage or who is missing or who has died or is now joining the fight. It is, again, we are coming on 72 hours since this Terror Attack began, and the ripple effects of it are just widening out by the hour. Yeah, and the victims, so small in the case of those just a few months old children and the elderly as well. Anderson, thank you very much for being with us and stay safe there. I want to go now to the maps with cnn chief National CorrespondentAlex Marquardt are. Hes over here at the magic wall when the. So alex, talk to me about where things stand. We are just talking to anderson about the constant bombardment by the air into gaza, and then from gaza. What are we seeing on the ground as this war now is underway . Well what we are starting to see really now, abby, is that fierce response that Prime Minister netanyahu promised with major questions what happens next. This up here is the northern border of israel would lebanon, major questions right now about whether hezbollah, another militant group like hamas that is also backed by iran, whether they get involved in this fight and open up a second front in this war. We saw missiles being fired by hezbollah into israel today after israel carried out an airstrike and killed a small number of hezbollah fighters. But the vast majority of what were seeing is happening down here around gaza in central israel. That had been attacked by hamas gunman. This is the gaza strip, it is controlled on three sides by israel. There is a naval blockade along the water, but there are two sides that are covered with fences and walls and it is through those fences that those hamas attackers were able to get out and kill so many people. Again, the israelis are saying that these southern communities are safe. We are starting to see, we have been seeing hundreds and hundreds of airstrikes all along the gov strip as you noted. The death toll has been growing some 900 israelis killed so far, almost 700 palestinians in the gaza strip. So, this is really, first of all, just to point out here the fronts in this attack over the weekend is really extraordinary and unprecedented. Its why the reasons why this is a receiving such a strong response from israel. We have seen some attacks now inside of gaza, this is a very tiny swath of land, but a couple of million people, what are we seeing there . Well, this is one of the most densely populated places on earth. The big question now is whether the air strikes eventually are evolved into a Ground Incursion. We will certainly continue to see more airstrikes. Our reporting teams of told us that they have seen a buildup of israeli troops, of tanks, of armored personnel carriers, of long range artillery around gaza. The israelis could very, very quickly build up that fourth. Theyve drafted some 300,000 reservists into duty. This is why a Ground Incursion and continued airstrikes could be so deadly, because this is so incredibly dense. I have been in gaza during the wars in 2012 and 2014. There are, it is a maze of roads, refugee camps, of highrises, people really packed together. They have some 2 million palestinians living here, around half of them are children. In just 140 square miles. So, civilians will almost certainly be killed as this Israeli Offensive continues and hamas has now warned that, if civilians are killed, if there is no israeli warning, that they will then execute some of the dozens of hostages we know they have on camera and then broadcast that. A really chilling message. Israel has been warning before these attacks. What israel says they do are essentially two different things. When they carry out these airstrikes, and this is some video of some of the hundreds of airstrikes that have been taking place all across gaza. They do two things. One is called a roof knock, where they send in what is essentially a small missile that will warn the residents of that building to get out. The second thing is, israelis have a lot of the Phone Numbers of these palestinian residents. They will actually call them, either speak to them or theres a message that plays in arabic saying you have a few minutes to get out of the house, you need to evacuate now. Israel is saying that that is what they are doing, hamas is claiming that those messages arent getting through and that israel is killing civilians. There was also an attack, and Israeli Attack on a mosque in the last day or so. Tell us about what we know about that. There have been several and i want to highlight what were looking at here as the refugee in the northwestern part of the gaza strip. Are we have some remarkable befores and afters. This is the alsissi mosque in that camp. You can now see that it is now just a crater. Now there is the el gharbi mosque, also in this refugee camp. This is a drone image that was taken. That is the before of a satellite image, now obviously completely in ruin, completely destroyed. And this is the third mosque, the yaseen mosque in the same refugee camp. Why is israel targeting mosques . Well, they claim, as they have in the past conflicts, that hamas is using civilian infrastructure whether be residential buildings or even mosques, their holiest places, to hide their forces, but mainly their weapons. Of course, we have seen thousands of missiles being fired into israel. So, israel is saying that these mosques in gaza are legitimate targets. Alex marquardt thanks for all that, we appreciate it. Or watching the skies in the region tonight as the strikes to continue, plus the President Biden is now set to speak tomorrow on this unfolding war in israel. Here with the white house says about the possibility of Boots On The Ground from the United States in the region. And i will speak with a father whose daughter is now missing after going to that Music Festival. Where so many israelis were kidnapped or killed or barely escaped. I lied under the tank because they surrounded us from every direction. As the skies continue to light up over gaza as israel launches retaliatory strikes, tonight we are learning chilling new details about what happened when hamas attacked that Music Festival, including how they threw Grenade Bombs into shelters and shot into passing cars. Cnns Nick Robertson is covering all of that and more and he joins me now. Nick, what are you seeing tonight . Abby, All Through The Night we have been hearing the sound of the fighter jets flying on their way to gaza. The sound of impacts. There was a moment in the night for, maybe a couple of hours, where those impacts sort of eased off but then they picked up again. We were able to see huge flashes on the sky from gaza, we were literally a couple of miles, there goes the fighter jets again a couple of miles from the border. You can see the huge flashes eliminating the skyline. You can hear the huge detonation, some of them really heavy and dense. Those Artillery Fire as well. But i think the other big takeaway that we have seen throughout the day today is the increasingly organized movement of large units of troops and armored fighting vehicles. Theyre howitzers, in some cases mechanized howitzers. They looked like tanks, but their Artillery Guns are huge and can far accurately over very long distance. I think the take away from seeing that is, all of these groups and units of troops moving in there, they have got a lot of supplies with them and it is really indicative of the fact that theyre moving into positions where they are ready to for sometime. Additionally security along that hamas border to make sure there can be no more infiltration. I think we are still some ways away from, perhaps, a Ground Incursion. And, perhaps the lasting takeaway that i t