We are live in the cnn newsroom. Im jim acosta in washington. Good evening. We begin with Breaking News for the First Time Since that barbaric Terror Attack in israel. The president of the Palestinian Authority is condemning the killing saying, quote, the actions of hamas do not represent the Palestinian People. In the meantime, the death toll has now risen to over 1,400, including 30 americans. Sources now tell cnn that israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has invited President Biden to visit, even as Israeli Forces prepare for a massive ground offensive. At this hour, troops continue their suffocatiing blockade of the gaza strip. Israeli Defense Forces say they have killed one hamas defender today amid a barrage of some 250 strikes across gaza. You can see much of the rubble there. We are hunting hamas comm commanders everybody from the butcher, the political leader, and everybody down from him, are dead men walking. Weve been able to kill quite a few hamas commanders, some of them senior, some of them tactical commanders. And that is a priority in our targeti i ing campaign as we sp. Lets go straight to erin burnett on the ground in tel a aviv. Its 2 02 a. M. Where you are. And i know youre watching and waiting as this entire region is on the edge of its seat right now. Whats the latest . Reporter absolutely, on the edge of its seat, on the precipice, jim. And we should say that many have expected when israel begins its anticipated ground offensive, it would do so in the darkness, because israel is a great advantage of its tanks that we have seen so many of in this buildup along the border. Have a little window where we look out. Its sort of like a blue reflective that you might see in sunglasses that some people have. It looks like that from the outside. But it gives them excellent night vision. So they have incredible advantage when it comes to night fighting. So there have been many who have expected that such an assault would begin in the evening. Obviously, it is still quiet here tonight, and in fact, in the past few hours, quieter than it has been. We have become very accustomed to the thud of explosions here in gaza, not so many here, but we have heard more incoming rocket fire into tel aviv in these past ten hours or so, maybe six hours. And some of those without accompanying sirens, which interestingly enough, our Clarissa Ward also said she had experienced to the south of here in ashkalon. And i want to turn to Nic Robertson, he is further south, just a mile east of the Israeli Border with gaza, where you have been since the very beginning, in of course what is now that buffer and militarized zone. So nick, what are you seeing there at 2 00 in the morning here . Yeah, it feels quieter than previous evenings, although we have had some big flashes and booms of the occasional Missile Strike going into the north of gaza. There was an incoming volley of rockets from hamas in gaza over here intercepted by iron dome a couple of hours ago. That was the only volley weve had this evening. But it just shows even despite the heavy artillery, the heavy Missile Strikes going into gaza, that hamas, islamic jihad, other groups still have some capacity to fire back. So they are still there. And the Military Incursion that seems to be getting ready and being built up in this sort of Buffer Militarized border area at the moment, weve been down to watch some of their training, and it does seem as if theyre getting closer to being ready. But theres a big, theres a big if, theres no decision taken, and theres a big Question Mark for them about how they fight hamas when hamas may be hiding behind civilians. And this isnt a new problem. They faced this back in 2014. Close to gaza, preparations underway for a much anticipated ground offensive. Troops from different units training together. There is an urgency here. They have to be ready fast. Right now, this is a rehearsal. If and when theres an incursion, these troops could be at front of it. Tanks, or for this practice, model ones right now, followed by infantry and combat engineers. A combined force spearheading an incursion. If they do, major offic will be near the front. Translator we expect to go to war. We expect to destroy the terrorist organization, hamas, kill its governments, and kill every last terrorist. Thats what we plan to do, and thats how it will be. Reporter The Last Time the idf went into gaza, targeting hamas leaders was 2014. Areal bernstein was 21, in the special forces, one of the first to cross the border. Youre just afraid that there is something waiting for you at every corner. Reporter but his experiences then left him questioning the tactics today. Back then, he said, the idf warned civilians to leave and hamas told them to stay, just as is happening now, but some had stayed. His orders, he says, assume Stithe Civilians had left. So whoever you see is basically engaged in fighting, there we call it engaging with fire with any home you enter, with any kind of shape of a person that you see from afar. In many ways, israels actions are playing out just as they have in the past. 2021 gun positions freshly dug. And in gaza, the death toll according to Palestinian Health officials already higher than in 2014. And like then, israel is already facing Huge International pressure to avoid more Civilian Casualties. What we are doing is saying privately what weve said publicly, which is that all Military Operations should be conducted consistent with the law of war. That civilians could be protected. Reporter the problem, the idf says it faces, just like 2014, hamas will be hiding among civilians. The whole situation were talking about with gaza and civilians forcibly embedded is another element of hamas. Hamas has to be fully defeated. So the responsibility is on them and not you. The responsibility is on hamas for their own civilians. Our responsibility is to eliminate hamas completely. Major ofek says day dont hurt innocents, only terrorists, but admits if he is sent into gaza, avoiding civilian deaths wont be easy. Is it possible to fight hamas without civilians getting injured . Translator were concerned with overthrowing the hamas regime and killing the terrorists who are currently in gaza. Fit will be difficult, it will be difficult. Not easy. Reporter outside the camp gates, as israels Military Ponder their next move, troops are saying their fond farewells. And i think all those troops we see today, they feel they have a mission to do. They feel that they need to go in there after hamas, but for many of them, they know that this could be a lifechanging appearence. Theyll experience things, theyll see things theyll never was certainly the experience of the former idf soldier that we interviewed. He said he came away with memories that he cannot erase from his mind and also lost friends along the way. Yes, nick, so much loss, and so many of them, when they go in those kibbutz, as theyve been saying, it sears the eyes. Thank you very much, Nic Robertson. Jim, back to you. Just incredible report from our colleague, Nic Robertson there. In the meantime, joining me now is ben wedeman, who is on the ground in southern lebanon. Ben, some news to get to you on and get your reaction to. Eight days after this Terror Attack, were learning that the president of the Palestinian Authority is now condemning hamas for what happened. What do you make of that and whats the significance of that . First of all lets look at the context in which he made that speech, that statement. It was ant speech, it was ant message to the United States or to israel, it came in the form of a report on wafa, the Palestinian News Agency about a phone call he had with nicolas maduro, the president of venezuela. In that phone call, he said that the actions of hamas do not represent the Palestinian People. He went on to call for the end of attacks on civilians, but he also said, the socalled Israeli Aggression on gaza has to end. So, yes, this comes in a rather back ended form of condemnation of the hamas attack, and rather late in the day, considering how much has happened since the seventh of october. Sorry, its starting to rain very heavily here in southern lebanon. We should keep in mind, mahmoud abbas, hes 87 years old, very unpopular among palestinians. Its felt hes completely out of touch. Hes at the head of the Palestinian Authority thats considered to be very corrupt, very inefficient, and hasnt really achieved much for the Palestinian People. So hes walking a fine line between pressure from europe and the United States to come out and strongly condemn the hamas attack. And at the same time, his people are increasingly anger over the fact that so many civilians are being killed in gaza itself. Jim . Absolutely. All right, ben wedeman, thank you very much for those insights. Really appreciate it. Still to come, israel is preparing for what it calls the next stages of its war on hamas. What that could look like and what this means as the conflict escalates. Its sure to do that in the coming days, perhaps the coming hours. Well see. Our Special Coverage continues right after the break. As Israeli Forces continue to gear up for a massive Ground Invasion into gaza, the u. S. Is moving a second Carrier Strike group into the area. The presence of two of the u. S. Navys most powerful warships is meant to send a message to iran and its proxies. Dont get involved. But theres no guarantee u. S. Troops wont be deployed in the future, with more than a dozen americans unaccounted for following the hamas attack in israel, the Biden Administration is not ruling out the use of military forces to rescue those americans. Im joined now by Retired Army General leslie clark. Host a cnn Military Analyst and the former nato supreme allied commander. Also with me is kim dozier, cnn Global Affairs analyst. We got the news earlier this afternoon that israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu has invited the president to come to israel soon. What do you make of that . That is a very big gesture from the Prime Minister, who has sometimes been at odds with democratic administrations from time to time. I think what it shows is that President Bidens speech embracing the israeli people and condemning the violence, it was watched widely across israel and it really hit home. Its a sign of appreciation for what the United States is doing in terms of sending those Carrier Groups and sending in ammunition, as needed. But i dont think President Biden would Secret Service would not approve a trip like that at a time like now. Yeah, i mean, i think that thats tbd, no question about it. General clark, let me ask you about what kim just mentioned a few moments ago about these two Carrier Strike groups moving into the region. You know, it is weve been saying this over and over again, this is to send a message to iran and its proxies and so on. I just cant imagine, and feel free to correct me if im wrong here, i cannot imagine a scenario where the iranians would not end up getting involved in some way, because of what it would trigger, what it would ultimately mean. Is that realistic . What do you think . I think the odds of their involvement are somewhat low, but i think theyre situation dependent. So for example, if the whole world turns against israel, if israel has got 300,000 troops beleaguered and besieged inside gaza city, if it looks like this is irans big chance to unleash hezbollah with decisive effect, they might go ahead and do it. So you cant rule it out. But they know if they deploy hezbollah, its the world knows its their trigger, not hezbollahs decision. And the world also knows and that the iranians know that hezbollah will be destroyed. Whatever damage it does to israel, it wont rohr from this, because the israelis and the American People turn on hezbollah, and that will be the end of it. It might be brutal, might take casualties, might take six weeks of fighting, but hezbollah will have been expended and with that will go irans major effort for higeminy. And theres plenty of enemies that will take advantage of that. Kimberly, what about this news that just came in the last hour or so, that the Palestinian Authority president , mahmoud abbas, has now voiced his condemnation for what hamas carried out in those attacks on israel. Ben wedeman was pointing out a few moments ago, perhaps you listened to his live shot where he said, you know, this wasnt said in some sort of speech or official statement, this was made in a phone call with the venezuelans of all folks. What do you think about all of this . Yeah, a readout of the phone call and i would love to hear what ben and his producers, since ben speaks arabic, thinks of the original version of this. I looked up the latest english language version on the wafa site and its much more circumspect. Abbas does, as he did a couple of days ago, condemns violence on both sides and states, according to this readout, that the plo, that his organization, the Palestinian Authority, is the Soul Representative of the Palestinian People, but it doesnt mention anyone else. So i i can see why, depending on how you read it, you might read it as a condemnation of hamas, but nowhere in the version i was able to find does he outright attack hamas. Which would be a dangerous thing to do. But hamas is riding high in terms of popularity in many parts of the palestinian world and many parts of the arab world. General clark, any sense any thoughts on your part adds to why we have not seen israel launch this ground incursion. Why that has not happened as of yet. I think theyre i think theyre collecting intelligence, but also, jim, this is this operation is already underway. Hamas told the civilians to stay. Israel has told the civilians to leave. Theyre leaving. Hamas is resisting their departure. So israel is already in this operation and israel is winning this operation against hamas. Now, does it go on like this for another six hours, 24 hours, we dont know. But right now, the momentum is with israel and against hamas, hamas wanted all of those people to stay. Its blown up, put in barricades, its destroyed Transit Areas and other things in an effort to fix them in place. And its losing. So for israel to hold off another day or two, its all to the good. They are more ready, theyve got more intel. Also, theres International Understanding that the civilian population is important. Most of these people are not fighters. Theyre just innocent people that happen to live in gaza. They happen to be under hamas control. Its in israels interest to give them enough time to get out of the way. Hamas wants to use them as civilian shields. They dont want to be used as civilian shields, but inevitably, in a conflict situation, there are going to be Civilian Casualties here, so the more that leave, the better. So theres no rush to get into this fight on the part of israel. Give it a day, give it two days, give it lee days. Build up the diplomatic support internationally, and then go in. Perhaps the israelis are seeing that exodus and theyre thinking, okay, lets give it more time. All right, general clark, kim dozier, thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it. Coming up, our Special Coverage continues. Well talk with Fareed Zakaria, thats coming up. He joins me in just a few moments. Thats next. With israel and hamas bracing for what could be that devastating war, the world is on edge as fears of a broader middle east conflict continue to grow. Here to help us to make sense of whats happened over the past week and where we go from here is cnns Fareed Zakaria, the host of Fareed Zakaria gps. Fareed, good to see you. I thought of you earlier and i wanted to have you on because a lot of americans, and im sure a lot of people around the world have been just thinking about this over the last eight days. And wondering, how did we get to this point . Weve seen this conflict rage on between the israelis and the palestinians, it flares up from time to time. There is intense fighting, casualties, loss of life. But nothing like this. How did this happen . Its a great question, jim. I would say, you