month of ramadan and the jewish passover. >> it's considered incredibly provocative and aggressive. >> but many middle east experts say the timing of hamas' attack had more to do with the country that is home to mecca, the holiest of places in all of islam, saudi arabia. > h hamas was really concern about the saudi moves to build ties with israel and the u.s. one concern was that saudi money would then bolsterer the palestininian authorority, its revival inin thehe west bank. > hamas looooks at this worl an emerging alliance between the modern arabs and israel and decides we're gogoing to blow this wholele thing up. >> if ththe scale e of civilian casusualties in n gaza is s hih if thehere is protractcted conflict, there will be strong pressure within hezbollah and within iran to say we've got to wiwiden the coconflict. >> we'veve alreadydy seen hehez firing rocockets. wewe've seen uprisingsgs in tht west banank. >> t the p possibilityty of escalalation is vevery real. >> i f fear israelel is doing g exactly y what hamas wantsts, w is an invavasion which may well make hamamas morore popopular. >> nothingng would be a greater setback k to hamas than after a this an israeli/saudi normalization. that is the strategic prize for israel. >> diplomatic c and political progress i in the middle e east have oftften come in the aftermath of wars. >> when i was a young reporter, it would have been very difficult to imagine that the spanish government and basque extremists could sit down together and work things out. that happened. it would have been verery difficicult to imagine n northe ireland being at peacece. that happepened. i haveve this littlele ray of h that it has s happened elsewher in the world. maybe somehow that can happen in gaza as well. >> in the days and weeks ahead, there is so much at stake here and cnn will be here to cover it all. thanks for watching "the whole story." i'll see you next sunday. [music playing] anderson cooper: welcome to the whole story. i'm anderson cooper in tel aviv. as we've seen this weekend, israel's war against hamas has entered a new phase. ge welcome to "the whole story." i'm anderson cooper in tel aviv. we've seen the war has entered a new phase. what that means for the hostages held in gaza is unclear. most of those hostages were taken october 7th. in a kibbutz called nar oz it's estimated 400 people were killed or captured. tonight we want you to meet those who survived the attack who are now fighting for answers about what happened to their missing loved ones and neighbors. noam peri: nir oz has huge and beautiful fields all around it. this was the nar oz kibbutz before october 7th. >> it has huge and beautiful fields all around it. many of them arere potatoes, bu some peanuts and carrots and many, many other crops. it's like you walk without shoes with your dogs. >> it's one of the places that you could still come and hear the birds singing. hadas kalderon: it's like a big family. noam peri: the >> it was communitya tightly community of some 400 men, women and children. >> it's like a big family. >> the community of the kibbutz is very close. >> it's a special place, nir oz. >> sharon grew up in nir oz. >> i always try to explain to people that we were brought up in a utopia and in many ways it was wonderful. >> her parents were peace activists who helped found the kibbutz in the 1950s. >> it was a lot of people that came from cities that already grew up in israel. they were not holocaust survivors. it had kind of a lighter atmosphere i think than many other places. >> what brought them together is they believe in human rights. they believe i in peace and tht belilieve that everybody on all nations on all religions deserve to live in peace. >> nolan perry's parents were among the founders as well. >> membebers of the kibbutz eac have their own job and way of life, but they gather a lot fof joint t meals s and holidaysys other occasions and they have this community both for taking together decisions and celebrating holidays. >> on october 7th the kibbutz had just finished celebrating the last day of a religious holiday. at dawn as the security cameras show, there was no sign of dadanger. > 6:00 0 in the m morning everything looks normal. most of the people are sleeping. a couple wake up early in order to go on a walk. >> at 6:06 a.m. a couple headed out the front gate for their morning walk. around 6:30 they recorded this video showing in the distance rockets firing from gaza. a red alert was called immediately. the couple sent this video to a group chat at 6:42 a.m. they haven't been heard from since. >> i could hear. it means we have to go to the safe room, to the shelter. i'm all alone in my own house. >> these kids were with their father in his house nearby. their 19-year-old son was in his own house. their mother was in her home with her 13-year-old granddaughter who is autistic. >> our grandma is her best friend. that's why she was with her. >> that's the oldest daughter who lives in tel aviv. >> when everything is happening, i talked to my mom, my dad, my sister, my grandma. >> by 6:49 a.m. hamas gunmen were at their front gate. a security c camera showows bul hitting g an empmpty guard hous >> by the yellow main gate you have a booth which someone usually guards the entrance. no one is there and you see shots over there and then you see the hole in the glass and everything is shattered. >> seconds later gunmen entered the kibbutz. others from gaza besides hamas gunmen also appear, men and some young people wanting to be part of the attack or just witness it up close. hadas was in her safe room exchanging messages with her family and neighbors. >> even one girl, she tell me, "i have a picture that my mom is on the floor with blood and a terrorist with a gun just behind her." the daughter, she called me. she asked me do you know about that? is it a fake picture? is it true? >> it was true. 74-year-old levinson, adored by generations of kids she helped raise in the kibbutz, was among the first to be murdered. this is braka levinson's home completely torched. we know the gunman broke in and murdered her. they gained access to her facebook account and they posted a live image of her lying on the ground in a pool of blood surrounded by armed men. they wanted her friends and family to see. groups of gunmen went house to house block by b block captutur sosome, killining others. . >> one of the terrorists is hiding. then apparently he heard something, an engine of an israeli car approaching the gate. so he stands up, immediately approaching the gate and fires and fires. se. >> our kibbutz had a problem. they came and they went house by house, house by house. >> many residents had made it to their safe rooms, but the fortified shelters were built to protect from rockets, not terrorists on the ground. you can tell gunmen tried to pry this door open. this handle has nearly been pulled off from tugging it. it looks like they tried to pry open the door as well. you can fit your hand through here. they can just maybe look in, but they couldn't actually break through this door. the family in this house survived in their safe room, though at least one of them was wounded. there's blood all over the bed and sheets. like many, this safe room didn't lock from the inside. for hours she held the door handle to stop gunman from getting in. >> i'm in the safe room, but i'm holding my door. i'm all alone and i have to survive. i hold it with my leg. after a while i have pain. i take a metal my son used to make. >> reporter: a pullup bar. >> yeah. i put it in the door. i didn't think i'm going to survive. i send a message to my family. >> her 12-year-old son texted her at 8:15 a.m. mom, be silent, he wrote. i really love you. minutes later hadas wrote in her family group chat, you are my life. hope that we'll go through this and survive, love you so much. her 16-year-old daughter wrote back, mom, take care of yourself. love you. the father of her kids texted hadas to say he'd escaped the safe room through the window with their kids. they were hiding in the bushes. she responded, are you crazy? go back to the shelter quickly. >> then my battery's gone. i don't have a phone. light is gone. i'm in the dark, no water, no food, no nothing, just me and god and the terrorists eight hours from 6:30 in the morning till 3:00 afternoon. >> her daughter in tel aviv cut off from her family started to scroll through social media where hamas was now posting horrific images. >> it was so hard, but i knew i had to do it. so i was trying to find something. then i saw ares. that was so hard to watch, but then i told myself okay, he's okay. he's alive. >> gaya and her family want people to know what happened to ares. this video shows him being dragged away by gunmen, one of whom appears to have blood on his hand. we geolocated where the video was shot. this is the last known location of ares calderon. he was kidnapped by hamas gunmen and videotaped as they were dragging him away in this direction. this is the fence to the kibbutz. gaza is only about a mile and a half away. >> i miss him so much. he's small, 12 years old. he's never been so far for so many days, so far from me even in normal condition. ares is very, very funny guy. he make everybody laugh around him. we always sit together. we laugh. he loved to ride horses. he loved to ride bike, mountain bike. he loved to play, you know, football, ping pong. >> ares' dad has not appeared in any videos, nor has his sister. it's believed they're held hostage in gaza. >> she loved to draw. >> i can show you something. >> reporter: that's hers. >> it's just the beginning. >> i can hear them all the time in my ear mom, mom, save me. come to pick me. i miss you. i miss you. >> the bodies of hadas' mother and her granddaughter were identified about a week ago, among the more than two dozen residents of nir oz known to have been murdered during the attack. >> you want to tell about your grandma? >> the best grandma in the world. i used to sit with her for hours and just talk to her about my problems. >> reporter: she was good to talk to. >> yes. she always want to know about everything that's going on. >> reporter: carmela dan was 80 years old. her granddaughter noya was 13. ahead, more on the hostages taken from nir oz. one whole story, one whole hour. anderson cooper: what are your biggest fears? subject 1: the breaking of my brain is the concern. interviewer 1: do you think you could have picked up a gun? you're a dancer. reporter 1: the world's best journalists dig deeper-- reporter 2: i'm about to do something that i haven't done before. reporter 1: --into the stories they can't ignore. reporter 3: do you ever ask why police took so long? reporter 1: go in depth every sunday night. the whole story with anderson cooper, sundays at 8:00 on cnn. itai anghel: i was the first journalist to step inside nir oz, and i came and started documenting two days after the atrocities took place. anderson cooper: itai anghel is a war correspondent i was the first journalist to start documenting two days after the atrocities started taking place. >> he is a war correspondent for israel's war chahannel 12. >> the first impression n is th smell because yoyou smell death imagine when you see nylon b ba with body parts, imagine that you see tiny little bags of babies and then there is the sound, which is s absolutely silent, nothing but birds. birds and the chimes. >> more e than a week later whe we were e able to get to nir oz and take these images, there is still that strange sickening silence, those birds, some flies, a breeze blowing through broken windows. the residents are gone. only their cats remained. no family, no home was untouched by terror. >> reporter: the gunman who came to this kibbutz had hours to roam the ground freely. they killed men, women and children in their homes, out on the street, in their cars and they spent a lot of time rifling through people's possessions see ago when they could take, looting whatever they wanted. people's possessioions were sti ststrewn about. it appears someone tried to hotwire this car. nearly every home had been defiled. this is what was left of adina and david moshe's home torched by gunmen. you can still see plates in the dishwasher. >> my grandmother, she always told me that this is the best place to live. >> adina's granddaughter said the couple had lived in nir oz more than 50 years. >> i grew up in this house, spend there every joyful family moment. it's all burned down. >> reporter: she recorded this video when she went back to her grandparents' house. she knew what to expect, but still it was overwhelming. >> i still have my grandmother's bracelet. she gave it to me. she gave it to me like one month ago, before everything happened. >> reporter: her grandparents hid in their safe room when the gunmen came. adina messaged everyone they were okay. we are perfectly all right, adina wrote. there are still noises of l shooting outside. other than that, locked in the shelter until further instructions. >> my grandmother was very strong. she didn't want us to be panicked. >> reporter: your grandmother was worried about you? >> yeah. she's this kind of woman. she always take care of us. later on we found her phone inside a shelter. >> reporter: david moshe was shot through the door of their safe room. three bullet holes are visible. his dried blood is all over the floor. this is where he died, crouching holding onto the door handle. at 9:44 a.m. adina sent her last message. she wrote her husband was gravely wounded and gunmen were still trying to enter the shelter. the door handle david held onto is still on the floor. gunmen took adena through the safe room window. by midday this video appeared online. >> i recognize her immediately. >> reporter: that's adina between two gunmen on a motorbike in gaza. >> did you see adina? red vert shirt and they took her. when i was young, she would call me and give me candy always. she was so sweet. >> adina was one of the people who when we were in the elementary school, she was the one that were taking care of us and d still as a grownwn-up whe comeme to visit the kibbutz, sh always give me a hug and ask how am i? she's happy to see my kids grow. >> reporter: david moshe was buried in nir oz a week and a half after the attack. he'd been married to adina for 53 years. >> he promised to fight for my grandmother, but i will not live an angry way. >> reporter: you don't want to live with hate in your heart? >> no. this is not our way. >> reporter: at his funeral, this video was played from a celebration in nir oz earlier this year. that's david singing. then one by one other members of the kibbutz join in. >> this is what the song means. time will fix all that breaks. you're allowed to be afraid and you're allowed to be sad, but tomorrow we can rebuild and recover. >> reporter: when we return, two more hostages and more than 200 still held are on their way home. hostages are set free. >> my mom is back. >> reporter: survivors demand answers. >> they were betrayed by the state. nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. anderson cooper: it is 3:00 am here in israel, the early hours of freedom for an american mother and daughter held hostage for nearly two weeks by hamas. it is 3:00 a.m. here in israel, a mother and daughter held nearly three weeks by hamas. judy and natalie raanan were the first hostages released from captivity. the two americans were have thing judy's mother at a kibbutz called nahal oz about 18 miles north of nir oz when they were kidnapped. how are judith and natalie doing? >> judith and natalie are doing okay, taking their time to heal and to process what they've been through, what the entire family and entire nation have been through. >> reporter: while judith and natalie made it out, their cousin believes nine more of their family members are still being held hostage. >> we have a 3-year-old and an 8-year-old, brother and sister, and we have one who is 12, so three children in our family. we haven't been given a sign of life or any indication as to how they're doing. this is truly heartbreaking. it's very hard to sleep at night. >> reporter: a few days later two elderly women were also released, 79-year-old cooper and 85-year-old lipschitz, both from nir oz. she was by her mother's side at the hospital in tel aviv whehen she dedescribed her harrowing jojourney to repororters. >> i wenent through hell. they went on a rampage in our kibbutz. i was kidnapped. as i was lying on the side on the motorbike, they hit my ribs with sticks. it was painful and made it hard for me to breathe. >> reporter: yocheved said she was taken into an underground tunnel. >> there are a huge network of tunnels underneath. it looks like a spider web. when she first arrived, they told them they are muslims and they're not going to hurt them. >> reporter: how is your mother doing? >> my mom is looking okay, a bit thinner. it seemed that she did get basic medical care. the nurses said she's very sharp and very communicating and wants to tell everybody what she knows. it seems to me that she somehow had a spirit that carried her through. >> reporter: sharon's mother was criticized in israel because when she was released, she shook the hand of a hamas gunman. what did you think of that when you saw that? >> it's very typical of my mom. she loves the humans. >> reporter: even though these were people holding her hostage, she's the kind of person who sees them as a human being. >> yes. she acknowledged them as a human being, horrific as everything is. she kind of couldn't stop herself. >> reporter: sharon's father, 83-year-old oded lifshitz, is still missing. it's believed he's held hostage. >> my mother and father got separated early on. my father seems worse injured and we don't know more about him. so we're still in the dark. you know, my mom is back and that's a ray of light, an amazing, beautiful, bright ray of light, but there's a lot of darkness. we've been to the kibbutz. you have seen what we're facing. people are going to funerals every day. i'm sitting here talking to you, not just to rejoice about my mom's return, wonderful as it is, but to remind everyone that we are still in the situation, that there's over 200 people missing and that we want them back. >> reporter: sharon grew up in nir oz and knows many of the families who lost loved ones. were you shocked by the scale, the brutality? >> horrified. it was beyond anything, anything we ever imagined and the army did not come for seven, eight hours. this is exactly what israel was built for, isn't it, to protect the jewish people? it totally failed in that this time. >> reporter: israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has yet toto publiclcly accept any responsibility for his governmentnt's failures s on ococtober 7th , , but t sesever ranking members of the military and intelligence services have. >> the lack of awareness by idf did great damage to us. >> these people in nir oz are what we call the salt of the earth and d theyey were betraye the e ststate. ththe people o of the e kibbutz smuggled me inside. the army prevented people from coming, filming, and documenting it. [ speaking in a non-english language ] anderson cooper: when hadas kalderon was hiding alone in her safe room, she messaged her children that help was on the way. his will end very soon, and when hadas calderon was hiding alone in her safe room, she messaged her children that help was on the way. this will end very soon and idf will help. don't worry. we are stronger than them. now she, too, fee