The Breaking News continues right here on cnn. Im wolf blitzer in washington. Our special coverage of Israel At War continues. Were following the very dangerous race to evacuate parts of gaza right now. The State Department telling u. S. Citizens in gaza they may want to move closer to the critical rafa Border Crossing in the southern part of gaza thats closer to egypt, because there may be very little notice if that rafa opening does open. This comes amid reports that egypt was not allowing u. S. Citizens to enter the country at that crossing. More than a million civilians in gaza are under israeli orders to try to flee to the south. An Idf Spokesman told me gazans should press on with the evacuation even after the Safe Passage Deadline expired. President netanyahu visiting front line soldiers today near gaza, telling them to be ready for the next stage of this war as Israeli Forces pound the territory from the air and amass huge numbers of Ground Troops near the border with gaza. The death toll on both sides has been rising, with more than 1300 killed in israel and the number of civilians killed in gaza surpassing 2200. Our correspondents are following all the Breaking News in the region. Ben wedeman is in south lebanon, covering Evacuation Efforts in gaza. Oren liebermann is at the pentagon. O oren lets start with you. We heard the State Department urging americans to get closer to the border with egypt. What are you learning . Reporter the State Department along with the Biden Administration are doing what they can to get american citizens out of gaza. This requires a level of coordination from not just hamas in gaza to allow the Border Crossing to open from their side, but for egypt to allow those americans in and at least tacit understanding from israel that they will allow safe passage. The state Department Says american citizens should head toward the rafa crossing between gaza and egypt and warns there may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time. It seems the State Department not even sure when and if the Border Crossing will open, only trying to make sure american citizens in gaza are as close as possible if it does open. The challenge is that the egyptians seem unwilling to open the border from their side unless israel allowed aid into gaza for humanitarian needs. All of the challenges or at least some or part of the challenges the State Department is dealing with in trying to make this happen. There are americans working for medical organizations, humanitarian organizations and others. That is the focus of the State Department at this time. Do we know if there are u. S. Vehicles on the other side of that rafa Border Crossing that would take these citizens, assuming they could cross into egypt, would there be enough vehicles to take them south where they could fly out, or across the suez canal to cairo, example . Reporter unclear what vehicles are sitting there ready to go if and when hamas and egypt agree to open that Border Crossing. We do know there are u. S. Forces in the region. There is a u. N. Force in sinai there as peacekeepers. Perhaps they could play some role. The u. S. S. Gerald r. Ford is off the coast of israel, not there to participate in the fighting, but as a deterrent for iran. Meanwhile, theres a Rapid Response force, the 26th Marine Unit and u. S. Navy force operating in the region that could be sent in. That could take part in some sort of Evacuation Effort if needed. No indications or orders to send them in right now. At this point, its unclear if those american citizens are able to cross into egypt, how exactly they would get to somewhere they could essentially get out. Thank you very much. Joining us now, the former commanding general for the u. S. Army in europe Lieutenant General ben hodges. Weve seen relentless israeli air strikes pummelling what they described as hamas targets in gaza throughout this past week. 300,000 Israeli Reservists are now mobilized along the gaza border with the Movement Advisory for gazas residents now over, do you think israel is getting closer to a fullscale Ground Invasion going after hamas targets in gaza . Wolf, it certainly seems that way. You can keep soldiers in a crouch at a heightened sense of readiness only for a certain amount of time, and the israeli leadership will be aware of that, of course. But i think they also want to be very careful trying to get the hostages. I imagine thats the First Priority for them to recover as many hostages as possible and avoid rushing in with ground forces. Obviously hamas would want them to do that. I think theyre trying to find that balance. What do you think a fullscale israeli Ground Invasion of the enormous size we anticipated, what would that look like for those in gaza who are unable to escape in time . I expect the israelis are going to do what we would call a reconnaissance pull to put elements out there not just to go drive into town with tanks and bulldozers necessarily until theyve got Reconnaissance Elements to gather intelligence about whats out in front of them so theyre not going in blind. So a combination of Ground Reconnaissance as well as the other sorts of intelligence that they have. Now, of course, the israeli General Staff will be concerned about threats coming from other areas. So i dont envision 300,000 troops piling in there, but obviously theyve got to worry about the west bank and hezbollah. I would think this is going to be strong, but careful. The Palestinian Ministry of health is accusing israel of targeting and killing medical and ambulance personnel. Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,000 civilians in gaza. Whats going on here . First of all, i think President Biden made it clear to president netanyahu that the expectation of the United States was that israel would do everything within whats legally allowed following the law of armed conflict. So the idea that Israeli Forces, even without that warning from the u. S. , that Israeli Forces would be targeting medical personnel is ridiculous. The level of disinformation i see coming from the palestinian side is at near kremlin level of trying to confuse people about whats going on. So i think all of us have to be careful about Drawing Conclusions based on reports from there. Good point. Thank you. I want to go back to cnns ben wedeman from south lebanon, covering Evacuation Efforts ongoing in gaza, an area hes reports from for many years. Ben, youre keeping a close eye on these Evacuation Efforts in gaza. The huge roadblocks to getting civilians out safely, whats the latest youre hearing . Reporter well, that fourhour window where people were told by the israelis that they could move south, certainly many people have taken advantage of that. At this point, more than a Million People, according to the u. N. , have been displaced as a result of this war. Thats basically half the population of gaza. So people have taken advantage of it, but its very difficult. Weve seen basically theyre loading people up on trucks however they can move out of there. It appears theres still many people left behind in gaza city, where the situation is increasingly difficult. The one water Desalination Plant that provided gaza with 21 million liters of water a day has gone out of operation, because its run out of fuel, in addition to the fact that food has been cut off by the israelis and electricity and the internet. This is just going to exacerbate the situation even further. Even for those who do go to the south, where do they go . Is there shelter for them . Is there food for them . Its not safe to move on the roads despite the fact that the israelis announced a fourhour window to move. Its an absurdly complicated situation. The u. N. Itself said asking 1. 1 Million People to get up and leave is an impossible task, they said. Wolf. Closer to where you are right now in south lebanon, ben, we now know there have been new artillery and rocket attacks, presumably from hezbollah near where you are into israel. Whats going on . Theres enormous fear there could be a second front in this war involving lebanon. Reporter well, shortly after 3 00 p. M. Local time we started to hear a lot of explosions. This went on for about two hours when it started to gradually peter off. We heard incoming artillery and outgoing rocket fire. Hezbollah put out a statement that they targeted with precision weapons five israeli positions in an area of territory disputed between lebanon and israel, but under israeli control. Now, the israelis responded to the rocket fire and also said that in the course of this exchange of fire that they detected individuals trying to infiltrate into israel. They conducted an air strike and we believe killed those individu individuals. An elderly couple in the town in lebanon was killed as a result of an israeli strike. Wolf. We know hezbollah has a lot of rockets and missiles, presumably provided by iran in south lebanon. What kind of numbers are you hearing . M how many missiles and rocket dos they potentially have that could be launched against targets in israel . Reporter well, what weve heard from the israelis is that there may be as many as 140,000 rockets in the possession of hezbollah, some supplied by iran, some of them locally manufactured. I remember many years ago being in gaza going to a workshop where militants, not hamas, were basically using local chemicals and other material to produce relatively crude weapons, but deadly nonetheless. In addition to hezbollahs rocket capabilities, lets not forget that thousands of their troops were in syria during the war there, helping bolster the assad regime and in the process getting a lot of experience in urban warfare. Having been here in Southern Lebanon throughout the 2006 hezbollah israel war, i saw that hezbollah fighters are the most disciplined and besttrained Nonstate Fighters in the middle east. Wolf. Ben wedeman, thank you very much. Right now the United States is clearly ramping up efforts to bring american citizens in israel home. The State Department chartering its first flights out of israel yesterday with u. S. Citizens and more flights are now on the way t since 27 americans have been killed since last week. President biden spoke with families of those unaccounted for yesterday for over an hour. Athena jones is joining us from new york. What more are we learning about that zoom call and the efforts to bring hostages home . Reporter hi, wolf. We did have a readout of that call from a National Security official. A father of a young son who is, they believe, in the custody of hamas said that the president stressed that the u. S. Government is in this for the long haul. And while they couldnt offer a lot of information, the president spent a lot of time listening to the families sharing personal stories about what theyve endured during this horrific week theyve been waiting for news from their families. We know that the president told them that they are in his prayers and that the u. S. Government is doing Everything Possible to locate and bring home their loved ones. When it comes to americans who are getting out of israel, we know that more than 20,000 u. S. Citizens have contacted the State Department, many of them looking to leave the country. Not all of them have sought help from the State Department, but thats a large number were dealing with. We know that the first charter flights landed in athens yesterday evacuating americans from israel. We know American Airlines has announced that its flights today, tomorrow and monday are going to be on larger aircraft so they can fit more people. Delta is also adding three more flights from athens to jfk to help with that transfer on monday, tuesday and wednesday. So a lot of moving parts here as the u. S. Government tries to ensure u. S. Citizens are safe. Not easy getting in or out of israel right now. The Airport Outside of tel aviv shut down for all practical purposes and the u. S. Carriers seem to have cut back dramatically if not cancelled almost all flights in and out of israel. Still to come, the former israeli Prime Minister yair lapid will join us live as our special coverage of Israel At War continues. Plus, the humanitarian crisis in gaza is growing more and more dire. Well take a closer look at efforts to try to get Tens Of Thousands of people to safety. Egyptian authorities are reportedly not allowing american citizens to cross the border from gaza into egypt. They say the Border Crossing must be used to get aid into gaza. This is happening while the humanitarian crisis in gaza is clearly deepening right now. I want to go to raphael romo in jerusalem. Whats the latest youre hearing on the situation over there at that egyptian border with gaza . Reporter yesterday the u. S. State department told people that there might be a possibility that the border could be open so they could cross into egypt and flee gaza. The problem was that when egyptian authorities realized that people were coming, apparently they decided to block the worborder . Why . They want to get assurances that humanitarian aid for people in gaza is allowed to cross before they open the gates to let americans and other foreigners into egypt. Its a situation that is going on right now with many people. We heard from a palestinian official who told cnn that people have been waiting there for hours, many sitting in the street just waiting for that opportunity to get away from gaza, get into egypt and be away from danger. What i can tell you is that this palestinian official said that hundreds of palestinians with foreign passports flocked to the rafah Border Crossing and have been there. He said the gates are closed and no one is being let through. As you know and as we have previously reported, Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken was here a couple of days ago meeting with regional leaders. He was trying to find a way to help civilians in gaza and at the same time trying to find the solution to the problem of as many as 150 hostages, some americans taken captive by hamas in the first days of the Terror Attacks. Its a situation that is very complicated right now for people who want to flee gaza and are unable to do so. I want to go to Selma Abdullah zeez. Whats the latest on the Mass Evacuation of northern gaza . Reporter that sixhour window announced by the Israeli Military expired a little while ago. Hundreds of thousands, if not more, are still caught in the cross hairs. The United Nation says there are no safe places in gaza. There is no guaranteed refuge for families there. The Evacuation Order called on 1. 1 Million People to leave their homes in the north in just a matter of hours. Rights groups said that was impossible. They couldnt set up humanitarian infrastructure quickly enough in the south of the country, that this was occurring under a complete siege of the strip. That means gazans are soon running out of fuel, food and water. Whats important to remember is what about people who are not ablebodied, who are too wounded to go south . This is disturbing images of a father and son in hospital in gaza. You can see the boy is badly wounded. His father is also wounded in that image. The boy is whispering to his dad, dont worry, dont be scared, its okay. You have to remember when you look at pictures like that, that is a boy who has grown up in war his entire life. Hamas seized the strip in 2007. There have been multiple conflicts across the years on the gauza strip, this densely populated enclave. As the humanitarian situation worsens on the ground, Prime Minister netanyahu saying this is only the beginning. There are Hundreds Of Thousands of israeli troops on the border. A Potential Ground Incursion would occur. Rights groups warn this could be an absolute catastroph