That is coming up on november 17th. I will tell you multiple members coming out of a private meeting last night on capitol hill were extremely clear. They are not confident that today ends with a new speaker of the house. Poppy, phil . Lauren fox, thank you for the reporting. And cnn this morning continues right now. Israel right now preparing for a Ground Invasion of gaza that appears to be imminent. These iron dome interceptions, active rockets coming in from gaza. In a minute, it can be all the war everywhere. I just cover myself with dead people. Just waiting to die. They dont have mercy on no one. Better to be dead. The condition of my friends, my family who survive is unspeakable at this point. Whole families were executed. Parents, children, people even beheaded. Must be crystal clear, we stand with israel. Theres no justification for terrorism. He has deployed hostage recovery experts. He has offered to share intelligence. There are the sirens going off again. There will be retribution and there will be retaliation. It was not just barbaric treatment. It was the utter destruction of our communities. The effect of these attacks really uniting israel as the country braces itself for what will be the next stage. Good wednesday morning, everyone. We are staying with the breaking news. Im Phil Mattingly with poppy harlow in new york. Erin burnett is live for us near the israel gaza border. 7 00 a. M. On the east coast, 2 00 p. M. In israel. Were following breaking developments on multiple fronts. This is the scene over gaza. This morning the Israeli Military says 300,000 troops with tanks and heavy artillery are massing near the gaza border and getting ready to, quote, execute their mission as those air strikes and Artillery Fire continue to rain down. This is an active situation. Our own erin burnett had to take cover as hamas Returned Fire with rockets. Reporter yes. You hear these sirens . You coming to us . Im not going to be on camera, okay . Come to us. You can come to us. Okay. Tell me when i go. Oh my god. This as the idf is releasing this new video of it bombing a university in gaza hours ago. Idf Officials Say hamas turned it into a Training Center to make weapons. This is video of the destruction this morning in gaza. The government there warning that all electricity will be cut off shortly. And right now we do not know the fate of all of those hostages who were kidnapped from israel and taken into gaza by hamas. President biden has confirmed americans are among the captive and at least 20 u. S. Citizens are unaccounted for at this moment. The death toll in israel from hamas Surprise Assault over the weekend, that continues to rise. At least 1200 people are now confirmed dead and the scale of the savagery of this massacre continues to come to light. Overnight, the first round of weapons and ammunition from the United States arrived in israel. You see it there being unloaded from that plane. We have Team Coverage around the region, also here at home. Lets start with erin burnett again right near the gaza border. Erin, extraordinary what you showed us last hour. Just reset the scene for everyone. Reporter so, poppy and phil, we are just about three miles from the gaza border. And you heard the sirens just there in that clip you played from a few moments ago when we were all together. We have been hearing regular sirens. Some a little far away to hear. Some of them very close. And then within a few seconds a barrage of rockets. Earlier a few moments ago there were dozens and dozens of them. The entire iron dome really lighting up above us. One thing thats important to keep in mind is that dome is designed to protect heavily populated israeli area. So under the City Of Ashkalon nearby, its designed to protect and more rural areas or fields such as where we are, theyre less likely to use it. So you have to be careful no matter where you are. And of course pieces of those rockets can come down. As we said, dozens and dozens of them being fired. Giant plumes of smoke from impact. On that front, we cannot tell you whether that impact came from israeli strikes or whether that came from hamas rockets returning fire. But we can tell you we smell it. And it is that smell of war. Heavy, Industrial Burning Metals and burning fuel. When we get those the wind blows this way. Az as i said it was a very brightly sunny day. And now the sun has been marred quite a bit by that cloud. Right behind me i dont know if you could hear over the loud speaker okay. Were going to be leaving. That is a check point. And ill just say right now theyre asking us, any journalists here to leave. So poppy, im going to send it back to you. Were going to go ahead and do exactly as they say and move away from this area where obviously we have seen so much in coming and outcoming fire over this past hour. Erin, go ahead with your team. Well get back to you when its possible and safer. Thank you for your reporting. Jeremy diamond in southern israel. Jeremy, what can you tell us and where are you roughly . Reporter yeah, erin. Other my Left Shoulder you can see the City Of Ashkalon. Over my right shoulder you have the gaza strip. That gives you a sense of exactly where were located just now. We heard all of those sirens in the city and in other cities around the gaza strip. Were just hearing now from the ambulance service, from a spokesman, there were two injuries from those rockets in ashkalon. I think you have images up. I cant see from here right now. I think you have some images of the damage that is already being reported. And its important to note that, look, the iron dome obviously takes out a large majority of the rockets that are being fired from gaza. But with every barrage of rockets there is always this possibility of what were seeing right now. Big, massive structural damage but also, of course, the possibility of injuries and the possibility of people being killed. And this is kind of the Psych Lodgegical impact as well of th constant barrages. People are on edge here. You do get the sense that this is a country on a war footing but that it is also a country where people are worried as they go about their lives here. As they try, at least to maintain some semblance of normalcy. Just yesterday when we were in the city, we had a woman who passed by our live shot location and asked us if we could accompany her to a gas station. Why . Because she was afraid. She was afraid of the rockets. She was afraid of a Rocket Hitting that gas station while she was simply trying to pump gas into her car. And that just gives you a sense of the situation that people are living with here. The fear that some people have. At the same time, we get a sense of resiliency from others. We spoke with another woman who was delivering food to reservists. While we were speaking with her, we had sirens go off, Iron Dome Intercepts right above us, and as we went into the shelter with her, i asked her, are you afraid . And she said no. When its my time its my time. That just gives you a sense of the other facet of this, the resilience of the people here and the sense of defiance in the face of what has really been a shock to the conscience here in israel as this surprise hamas attack unfolded over the weekend and we have seen continued barrages unfold. And of course as well, israeli air strikes bombarding the gaza strip, really pummelling the gaza strip and we have seen the casualty toll in gaza also rising. Jeremy, as you have been speaking and noted, we have had live pictures to your side where theres been a strike. Theres a siren. Looks like theyre moving for cover right now inside a market. You can see where the strike occurred. The cam is off that now. Onlookers looking around cars that had shrapnel inside. The real and palp fear and the resilience and the unity tied to that resilience. In a country fractured over the last year plus. That derives in part from the fact 300,000 reservists have been called up. Do we have a sense right now in terms of the preparations for what is an expected Ground Invasion at some point in the future . Reporter yeah. Sorry, phil. Im looking behind me. Were hearing the familiar booms that indicate some iron dome intercept most likely. We might be able to see some of the plumes of smoke in the air resulting from those interceptions. But this is the cadence that you hear here. This is the sound track of life along the Gaza Border In Israel right now. This is a very small country. It is almost impossible to find someone in israel who is not connected in some way to the terrorist attacks happened over the weekend. Everyone here knows someone who died, who was taken hostage, who was injured, who is still missing or who lived in an area thats been facing rocket fire. This is just the reality here. And yesterday we were also speaking with reservists, more than 300,000 Military Reservists have been called up for duty. One of the largest mobilizations in israels history. And you know, they dont know exactly whats coming. They havent gotten their orders yet other than to begin gathering at rally points and to begin heading to their bases. But they are ready, they say. We spoke with one man yesterday, a u. S. Born israeli. He served previously in the 2008 and 2009 gaza war and he is back for this. This time he says feels different after israel got the Surprise Attack from hamas over the weekend. He feels they got caught flat footed. Now he feels theyre getting their momentum back and are ready for whatever comes next. Whether that is a Ground Invasion of gaza, we dont know. You know, certainly we have seen humvees in this area, troops beginning to mobilize, setting up at Staging Locations. Setting up tanks, setting up artillery at Staging Locations around the gaza strip. All of that is an indication of a possible Ground Invasion. The question is a political one now. Has that decision been made by bb netanyahu . Will he move forward with that. Theres certainly a sense when you talk to everyday citizens in israel that they want to see something, significant response to hamas. They want to see a different response than in the past. It feels different than in 2014, in 2021. We will see how massive the israeli response is in the days to come. And whatever it is, the white house made clear yesterday, president Baden Standing side by side with israel on this. Jeremy diamond in southern israel, thank you very much. Well get back to you soon. I want to bring back in our military analyst colonel cedric leighton. Can you give us a sense of where that strike took place in ashkelon . Yeah. That is right here. That strike occurred right in the look like right in the city center of ashkelon which is a fairly large city in southern israel. So central israel. Jeremy is right about here. That indicates that what youre seeing on the one side in ashkelon is mirrored by stuff that is happening here in gaza. So youve got all kinds of activity going on here. Clearly this war is heating up at this particular point. You have a lot of things happening. Iron dome trying to intercept missiles as they approach ashkelon. May have been successful with that. But you have all kinds of things happening that indicate Ground Movement in addition to Aerial Movement and thats complicating the picture at the moment. Colonel lleyton, stay with us. Well come back to you throughout the course of the hour. I want to turn now to the Biden Administration response. President biden confirming that americans are known to be among the hostages held by hamas after its rampage over the weekend. At least 20 americans are currently unexpected for in israel according to the administration, though its not clear they were all taken as hostages. Were learning more about some of them now. Adrians daughter and son were on the phone with her when they heard attackers break into her home and then a scream and then nothing. 23yearold hersh poland, we spoke to his parents. Hersh loves Music Festivals and was at the Music Festival on saturday when hamas began taking hostages. They heard he and a friend took grenades that landed in the shelter and threw them back out. He was badly injured. Relatives of people like adrian and hersh asking for help from the u. S. Government. The u. S. Government has direct responsibility to the lives of the u. S. Citizens that are held hostage by these terrorists. President biden, we are sure his heart is in the right place. To do what they can to make this end for us as soon as possible. Joining us now is state Department Spokesman matthew miller. Matt, i appreciate your time. I know the administration always made clear this is the number one priority for them. U. S. Citizens abroad. How is the Administration Working to obtain information about these 20 plus individuals who are missing . Thank you, phil. Let me first start by saying that, of course, my heart breaks hearing those accounts. I cannot imagine what these families are going through, both the families who we know lost loved ones and the families whose relatives remain unaccounted for. I can tell you theres no higher priority for the president , no higher priority for the Secretary Of State than the safety and security of americans overseas. That includes americans who are missing and includes those americans who we know unfortunately have been taken hostage by this Brutal Terrorist Organization. What we have done over the past few days, the Secretary Of State has been on the phone since the early hours after this brutal attack to make clear to any leaders in the region, once we knew it did appear there were hostages who were taken that if they have any lines of communication with hamas, any leverage, any influence with hamas, they need to use that influence to tell hamas, one, very simple and clear message, release all of the hostages now. The other thing we have been doing as the president said is making Hostage Negotiations and Hostage Rescue Experts from the United States government available for consultation with the Israeli Government. That work is on going. And we will continue to pursue that work. It is our top priority to secure the release of these hostages. It is a very difficult situation, but we will continue to work on it to the greatest extent possible. Have those initial conversations related to countries or leaders that may have contact with hamas resulted in any type of conversations, consultations, negotiation related to the hostages . You know, i dont want to get into private diplomatic conversations. I dont think it would be productive or useful to the situation and the ultimate goal were trying to achieve. I think we all need to recognize this was a Brutal Terrorist Organization that were talking about here whose depravity was on display. We very much understand the nature of the group that we are dealing with here. But, that said, it is our top priority to try to get these hostages released. Both the American Citizens and of course the Israeli Citizens. Its important to the Israeli Government as well and well continue to work on that as to the greatest extent possible. I guess put a finer point on it, understandable Information Vacuum here. Do you feel you know any more today than you did yesterday about the missing americans that the president and jake sullivan, the National Security adviser referenced yesterday . Everyday we get new information. Look, theres a list of americans who we have confirmed dead. There are americans who remain unaccounted for. I do expect unfortunately that the list of americans who are confirmed dead will rise today. We continue to work through the list of unaccounted and find that obviously some of those we will locate or will report in some of them we do find unfortunately theyre deceased and others were able to confirm were taken hostage. Its a moving target all the time, but we always every hour are getting more information which allows us to shape the work that we do to try to protect the safety and security of americans in israel. So the president said yesterday confirmed that 14 americans had been killed. Your expectation is that will rise . I do expect that unfortunately. In terms of American Citizens that are in gaza right now, jake sullivan, when he was at the press briefing yesterday, said there are on going diplomatic discussions with egypt, with israel about passage out. I want to play something for you from Palestinian American who spoke to our jake tapper yesterday. Take a listen. We tried to contact u. S. Embassy so many times. Unfortunately they couldnt help us at all. I contacted them through the phone, email. I texted. And i called different numbers, but nobody i couldnt hear that from any. Were all here feeling abandoned. Were feeling that were left alone. So we really looking for the u. S. Embassy to help the u. S. Citizens who are living in gaza. Is it your understanding that there is a passage way out of gaza for American Citizens or dual citizens at this point . There has been and ani issue we con