Israel hammers Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in 4th night of airstrikes

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday that the U.S. has a “small liaison cell” on the ground working with Israeli intelligence for assistance with in planning and developing intelligence to help with the ongoing hostage crisis. 

At least 20 Americans are missing, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday, but could not confirm the precise number of those who may be hostages.

Austin told reporters traveling with him to a Ukraine contact group meeting in Brussels that he spoke to his counterpart, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, on Sunday and again on Tuesday about “help from our special operators,” and that the U.S. liaison intelligence cell has been in contact with “special operators” within Israel.

The U.S. will continue to help Israel “with intelligence and planning,” adding that the U.S. “will remain focused on supporting our Israeli partners.”

Reporting contributed by Eleanor Watson

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Thursday for direct talks with Israeli partners, a State Department statement said Tuesday.

Blinken’s trip, which will also include a stop in Jordan, comes as the U.S. confirmed that American citizens are among those being held captive by Hamas, which launched a surprise attack against Israel Saturday from the Gaza Strip.

“The secretary will reiterate his condolences for the victims of the terrorist attacks against Israel and condemn those attacks in the strongest terms,” the State Department statement said. “The secretary will also reaffirm the United States’ solidarity with the government and people of Israel.  He will also discuss measures to bolster Israel’s security and underscore the United States’ unwavering support for Israel’s right to defend itself.”

In remarks delivered from the White House alongside Blinken and Vice President Kamala Harris, President Biden said Tuesday that at least 14 Americans are among the more than 900 people killed in Israel, and American citizens were among the hostages captured.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said after Mr. Biden’s remarks that while he could not confirm the precise number of U.S. citizens who are hostages, there are 20 or more Americans missing. 

“We will work hour-by-hour both to determine whether we can account for any of those Americans or to confirm exactly the number of Americans held hostage,” Sullivan said. “We do not know the number of hostages we have at this time.”

State Department spokesman Matt Miller said partners in the region were playing a “productive role and want to help secure the release of hostages,” but declined to provide details.

President Biden condemned the Hamas militant group’s bloody attacks on Israel as an “act of sheer evil” and forcefully declared that “we stand with Israel,” in remarks from the White House Tuesday. 

The president, standing alongside Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, revealed that at least 14 Americans are among the more than 1,000 people killed in Israel, and American citizens are also among those being held captive by Hamas.

The people of Israel, he said, experienced “pure, unadulterated evil.”

“In this moment, we must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel. We stand with Israel,” he said. “And we will make sure Israel has what is needed to take care of its citizens, take care of itself and respond to this attack. There’s no justification for terrorism. There’s no excuse.”

Martin Griffiths, the United Nations humanitarian chief, called for hostages in the Israel-Hamas war to be released immediately and said those who are being held must be treated humanely.

“My message to all sides is unequivocal: The laws of war must be upheld,” Griffiths said in a statement Tuesday.

Israel’s Government Press Office said on Sunday that Hamas took more than 100 people hostage after its militants launched a large-scale attack on Israel, which has responded with airstrikes and a “total siege” on Gaza.

Griffiths called the “scale and speed of what’s unfolding” in Gaza and Israel “bone-chilling” and said the entire region is at a tipping point.

“Throughout hostilities, civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected,” he said. “Civilians must be allowed to leave for safer areas.”

“And humanitarian relief and vital services and supplies to Gaza must not be blocked,” Griffiths added. 

President Biden is delivering remarks Tuesday afternoon on Hamas’ attack on Israel. The president has continued to offer unwavering support for the Jewish state. The White House was lit in blue and white on Monday night, the colors of the Israeli flag, as a symbol of “the ironclad support and solidarity of the American people with the people of Israel in the wake of the barbaric terrorist attacks committed by Hamas,” according to the White House.

Mr. Biden, and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and the U.K, also issued a joint statement Monday. They condemned Hamas and “its appalling acts of terrorism” and said they will support Israel “in its efforts to defend itself and its people against such atrocities.”

“We further emphasize that this is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage,” they said. 

“All of us recognize the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, and support equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike. But make no mistake: Hamas does not represent those aspirations, and it offers nothing for the Palestinian people other than more terror and bloodshed,” they added. 

Palestinians across the heavily bombarded Gaza Strip have described their horror as the Israeli military continued to hammer the area in the aftermath of Hamas’ incursion into the Jewish state over the weekend. Gaza City was pummeled by aerial bombardments on Tuesday as Israel Defense Forces continued to carry out the first phase of their retaliation for Saturday’s unprecedented attacks.

Gaza residents described increasingly desperate conditions that ordinary people were facing on the ground as Israel tightened its long-standing blockade of the Palestinian territory. Hamas would hold sole responsibility for the impact of the blockade on civilians, Israeli authorities have said. 

“There are no shelters or bunkers or safe routes or safe zones in Gaza. So it’s not like you can sit down and plan with your family on how to leave or a safe place to go to,” local resident Omar Ghraieb told CBS News over the phone. 

“We are a family of five people and these unfortunate events unfolded so very fast… We didn’t really have enough time to actually stock up enough on food, medicine and water,” Ghraeib said. “We are having three to four hours of electricity every 24 hours.” 

Palestinian journalist Hassan Jaber told CBS News that there is a scarcity in access to bomb shelters or safe terrain to protect civilians from the aerial strikes. “There is no safe place in Gaza,” he said. 

Jaber also said that some residents of the city could face starvation within “days.”  

“There is no electricity, there is no water,” he said. “This is inhuman to let people die from the lack of food and water.”

By Marwan Al-Ghoul, Emmet Lyons

The Israel Defense Forces says its tanks struck two Hezbollah observation posts in response to rockets fired from Lebanon Tuesday.

“The IDF is prepared for all scenarios in all arenas, and will continue to operate in order to protect Israeli civilians,” the IDF said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Israeli Air Force said earlier Tuesday that 15 rockets were fired from Lebanon, which shares a border with Israel. It said four rockets were intercepted and 10 fell in open areas. 

Hezbollah, like Hamas, is backed by Iran. It is based in Lebanon. There have already been deadly exchanges of fire between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group along the Israel-Lebanon border, and a senior U.S. defense official told CBS News that Washington is deeply concerned about the possibility of that becoming a second front in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The Israeli Air Force said Tuesday that rockets were fired from Lebanon, which shares a border with northern Israel.

“Following the initial report regarding launches in northern Israel, approximately 15 rockets were launched from Lebanese territory,” the air force said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The IAF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted four rocket launches. 10 launches fell in open areas.”

No group immediately climate responsibility. 

On Monday, Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed three Hezbollah members, according to the Iran-backed group. Hezbollah said it retaliated by striking two Israeli barracks.

Israel’s army said its soldiers had “killed a number of armed suspects” who had crossed the frontier from Lebanon.

On Sunday, Hezbollah said it had fired artillery shells and guided missiles at Israel, “in solidarity” with attacks launched from Gaza by its ally Hamas. Israel’s army said it hit back with artillery into southern Lebanon.

In 2006 Hezbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war that left more than 1,200 dead in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 in Israel, mostly soldiers. The two countries remain technically at war.

CBS/AFP 

Global oil prices are rising amid fears violence between Israel and Hamas could spread across the Middle East and threaten the world’s oil supply. 

Both U.S. and global oil futures traded roughly 4% higher on Monday, at around $86 a barrel. While crude traded slightly lower early Tuesday, the fighting has raised concerns that oil could cross the $100 per barrel threshold, compared with its current level of about $86, according to S&P Global.

While Israel is a small player in oil production, the fear for investors is that the conflict could “become a wider conflagration,” drawing in the proxy agents of “Middle East regional players that are major oil exporters,” which could have an effect on oil prices, according to Alan Gelder, vice president of refining, chemicals and oil markets at energy research firm Wood Mackenzie.   

“The most immediate market impact could be more stringent enforcement of [restrictions on] Iranian exports… by the U.S., if the conflict widens,” Gelder said. 

U.S. and Israeli officials say Iran is a primary backer of Hamas. The Biden administration has said that while Tehran is “broadly complicit” in supporting Hamas terrorism, it has seen no evidence of a direct Iranian role in planning or carrying out the recent attack on Israel.

Israel is expected to launch a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip in the coming days, CBS News’ Holly Williams reports. Israel’s military says it has massed 35 battalions around the border with Gaza. 

“Hamas will understand that by attacking us, they’ve made a mistake of historic proportions,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday. “We will exact a price that will be remembered by them and Israel’s other enemies for decades to come.”

Israel has been hammering the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, with the Israel Defense Forces saying airstrikes targeted some 200 targets in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory overnight. Israel has also declared that its long-standing blockade of the Palestinian territory will be tightened so that no food, water, medicine, electricity or water will be allowed into the enclave.

The Biden administration remains committed to a two-state solution, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, John Kirby, said.

“Obviously, in these early hours after this dreadful, reprehensible set of terrorist attacks by Hamas, we want to make sure that the Israeli people know that we are supporting them, that they have this right to defend themselves, that they will get the security they need to do so,” Kirby said on “CBS Mornings” Tuesday. “So in these early hours, that’s really where our focus is, but that doesn’t mean that we’re abandoning the idea of a two-state solution.”

President Biden believes an independent state for Palestine and an independent state for the Israelis “remains the best path forward for peace and security” in the Middle East, Kirby said.

“It’s something that we’ve been working on since day one of this administration, and we’ll keep doing that,” he added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said early Tuesday that it carried out dozens more airstrikes on overnight, with fighter jets hitting “200 targets” in the Gaza neighborhoods of Rimal and Khan Yunis, which the military said were being “used as terror hubs for the Hamas terrorist organization, and a large number of terror attacks against Israel are directed there.”

The strikes also targeted the “Islamic Jihad terror infrastructure in Khan Yunis, a Hamas weapons storage site located inside a mosque, and operational terror infrastructure used by Hamas terror operatives.”

Israel said its forces had also re-established control over the border fence separating Gaza from Israel, and the IDF’s Army Radio quoted a chief spokesperson as saying the gaps in the border created during Hamas’ initial assault on Saturday were being mined to prevent any further incursions.

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza City killed two Palestinian journalists early Tuesday, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Wafa identified the journalists as editor Saeed Al-Taweel and photographer Mohammed Sobih. The airstrike occurred close to an area housing several media offices.

Three Palestinian journalists reportedly were shot and killed while reporting in Gaza on Saturday. The Committee to Protect Journalists, citing Palestinian press freedom groups, identified two of them as photographer Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi and reporter Mohammad Jarghoun. CPJ said it confirmed that freelance reporter Mohammad El-Salhi also was killed.

Lafi worked for Ain Media, and Jarghoun reported for Smart Media, CPJ said.

Israel’s military said early Tuesday that a deputy Israeli commander was killed in clashes on the northern border with Lebanon.

The military identified the deputy commander as Alim Abdallah, but did not specify the exact circumstances of his death.

Palestinian militants from the Islamic Jihad group slipped from Lebanon into Israel, sparking Israeli shelling into southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group said five of its members were killed, and it retaliated with a volley of rockets and mortars at two Israeli army bases across the border.

The leaders of the U.S., France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. vowed Monday to support Israel and condemned the attack by Hamas militants.

“We make clear that the terrorist actions of Hamas have no justification, no legitimacy, and must be universally condemned,” President Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a joint statement. “There is never any justification for terrorism. In recent days, the world has watched in horror as Hamas terrorists massacred families in their homes, slaughtered over 200 young people enjoying a music festival, and kidnapped elderly women, children, and entire families, who are now being held as hostages.”

The leaders said they recognize the “legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, and support equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

“But make no mistake: Hamas does not represent those aspirations, and it offers nothing for the Palestinian people other than more terror and bloodshed,” they added.

Israeli officials have not given an official accounting of how many of the country’s citizens have been taken captive by Hamas militants, but an IDF spokesperson told CBS News on Monday that it was in the “dozens.”

“The list is comprised of Israeli nationals, women, children, men, elderly, disabled, toddlers and infants, as young as baby age and as old as 80, including Holocaust survivors,” IDF international spokesperson Lt. Col. (Res.) Jonathan Conricus said on “Prime Time.” “I don’t have a final number that is cleared for publication yet, but we are talking about dozens of Israelis that are held captive in Gaza at the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.”

Conricus said Hamas would “bear the consequences” of taking Israeli citizens into Gaza. 

Earlier Monday, the IDF said it had “details of most of the kidnapped Israelis.” As of around 1:30 pm ET the IDF said it had notified 30 families and would continue notifying more.

Three major U.S. airlines have suspended service to Tel Aviv as the war continues this week.

United, American and Delta have canceled multiple flights into Tel Aviv. At the same time, some international carriers continue to operate in some form flying into and out of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, while others have canceled flights.

“We operated two scheduled flights out of Tel Aviv late Saturday and early Sunday and accommodated our customers, crews and employee travelers who were at the airport,” United Airlines said in a statement. “Our Tel Aviv flights will remain suspended until conditions allow them to resume.”

International carriers such as Virgin Atlantic, Air France and carriers in the Lufthansa group have either canceled or limited their flights to Tel Aviv. El Al, the Israeli national carrier, continues to fly into and out of Ben Gurion Airport, the carrier said on its website.

Miri Messika says she and her family barely survived when Hamas fighters infiltrated and attacked their home in Be’eri, a kibbutz just three miles from the border with Gaza. She, her husband and three children jumped from a second floor window after militants set their apartment on fire.

“It was very frightening,” she told CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell. “We couldn’t breathe because of the smoke and because of the gas.”

They made it to a neighbor’s bomb shelter, where they hid for seven hours listening to the gunfire outside. 

Rescue workers now say they have recovered the bodies of about 100 people killed by the attackers in Be’eri, a community of just 1,000 residents. Watch the interview with Messika in the video below.

Ilan Troen, a professor at Brandeis University, was in Israel when his his daughter, son-in-law and grandson became victims in the Saturday attacks. “My grandson has witnessed the murder of his mother by people who rehearsed what they were doing,” Troen told CBS Boston.

Deborah Matias, 50, and her husband Shlomi were killed by militants. “The terrorists came into their place, broke through the doors, shot them,” said Troen.

He said his daughter’s last act of motherhood was protecting her son, Roten.

“They made sure to fall on him and thereby saved his life. Although a bullet actually entered his abdomen, but he was saved,” said Troen, who rushed to a hospital in southern Israel to be with his 16-year-old grandson, who is recovering from his injuries.

Protesters took to the streets in New York City for dueling rallies over the war between Israel and Hamas. Pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian supporters gathered outside the Israel consulate Monday afternoon.

There were passionate pleas from both sides, with many in the crowd having relatives in either Israel or the Palestinian territories. 

“I’m just afraid for my family. Whatever happened is just inhumane, and I’m here to support,” said Yael Udi. “My friend’s niece, she has been kidnapped. They do not know her whereabouts. She was in that party and they’re still looking for her.”

Nas Shuaib was standing with the Palestinians. 

“In the West Bank, I have relatives, and our village is on lockdown, and the settlers are going house to house attacking our people,” Shuaib said. “The United States has to stay out of the conflict, unless they’re going to do a peaceful negotiation.” 

Brooklyn resident Ava Marron said, “What brought me to this rally is wanting a two-state solution where Palestinians and Israelis can have humanity and live peacefully.”

The NYPD stepped up security to make sure things didn’t get out of hand, and there were no arrests reported.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Monday that it was “closely monitoring” events in Israel after the Hamas attacks, but that it had no “specific and and credible intelligence indicating a threat to the United States.”

“We will not hesitate to adjust our security posture, as appropriate, to protect the American people,” the FBI said in a statement “We are closely coordinating with our counterparts in the region as well as other international partners.”

The agency said reports of deceased, injured or missing Americans were being investigated. On Monday, President Biden confirmed that at least 11 Americans had been killed during the attacks and that others remained unaccounted for.

President Biden confirmed in a statement Monday afternoon that at least 11 American citizens were killed during the attacks in Israel.

“Sadly, we now know that at least 11 American citizens were among those killed — many of whom made a second home in Israel,” Mr. Biden said in a statement released by the White House. “It’s heart wrenching. These families have been torn apart by inexcusable hatred and violence.”

Mr. Biden also said other Americans remained unaccounted for. “We are working with Israeli officials to obtain more information as to their whereabouts,” the president said. “My heart goes out to every family impacted by the horrible events of the past few days.”

The president said the State Department was providing services for Americans still in Israel, adding that “commercial flights and ground options are still available” for those wanting to leave the country.

“Please also take sensible precautions in the days ahead and follow the guidance of local authorities,” Mr. Biden added. 

Israel is calling up 300,000 reserve troops as it responds to the deadly surprise attack by Hamas militants. Cars were lined up for as far as the eye could see outside a military base where some of those personnel came to report for duty.

“I never thought something like this could happen,” a military reservist named Hila told CBS News as she prepared to join the fight. “… We feel like it’s the Holocaust all over again.”

Another reservist, a 24-year-old law student, said, “Israel want[s] peace, but they, Gaza Strip, don’t want peace,”

Hamas claimed its assault was aimed at ending Israel’s 16-year blockade of Gaza and brutal treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his nation’s retaliation against the militant group has only just begun.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a strong message on Monday, promising retaliation against Hamas after its brazen attacks against Israel. 

“We didn’t want this war. It was forced upon us in the most brutal and savage way,” Netanyahu said. “But though Israel didn’t start this war, Israel will finish it.”

The statement comes as Israel intensifies its campaign of airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza and deploys combat divisions and activates reservists to fight. 

“Hamas will understand that by attacking us, they have made a mistake of historic proportions,” Netanyahu said. “We will exact a price that will be remembered by them and Israel’s other enemies for decades to come.”

In his statement, Netanyahu also thanked President Biden “for his unequivocal support,” as well as the people and Congress of the United States of America.

“In fighting Hamas, Israel is not only fighting for its own people,” Netanyahu said. “It is fighting for every country that stands against barbarism.”

The surprise attack by Hamas was the deadliest day in decades of conflict in the region. During an earlier call with Netanyahu, President Biden “emphasized that the U.S. stands alongside Israel,” Israeli officials said.

Israel said it struck hundreds of Hamas targets in Gaza overnight between Sunday and Monday. Four Israeli combat divisions were deployed to the south and another 100,000 reservists were activated to fight.

CBS News’ Marwan al-Ghoul reported from Gaza City that the Israeli airstrikes had been relentless since Saturday, with houses, apartment buildings and mosques among the structures hit, mostly without warning, overnight. Images of the area showed buildings in Gaza completely reduced to rubble in the aftermath. Israel has long accused Hamas and other militant factions of keeping fighters and weapons in or near civilian infrastructure.

Samar Alyan, who lives in the sprawling al-Shati refugee camp just outside of Gaza City, described the overnight bombings to CBS News on Monday. The camp is home to about 150,000 refugees.

“I could not sleep last night as the planes bombed the mosque nearby, causing casualties and breaking the windows of my house,” Alyan said, adding, “We do not know what fate has in store for us … Israel retaliates on civilians.”

Inside Gaza City itself, displaced people sought shelter inside schools operated by UNRWA, the United Nations’ humanitarian agency in Palestinian territories.

—Haley Ott, Holly Williams and Tucker Reals contributed reporting.

Hamas threatened on Monday to kill hostages it is holding if Israeli airstrikes continue “targeting” Gaza residents without warning.

“We declare that any targeting of our people in their homes without prior warning will be regrettably faced with the execution of one the hostages of civilians we are holding,” a spokesman for Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said in an audio statement, news agencies reported.

Hamas also said they are not open to negotiating a prisoner exchange with Israel as long as fighting continues, a member of the group’s political office in Doha told AFP.  

Israel’s Government Press Office said Sunday that Hamas took more than 100 hostages. Those kidnapped included women, children and the elderly, and they are believed to have been moved into Gaza.

Sisters Inbal Albini, 55, and Noam Peri, 40, told CBS News that their father, Chaim Peri, 79, and Albini’s half brother, Daniel Darlington, 35, were kidnapped.

“Terrorists broke into the house and looked for people and then they took him,” Peri said Sunday, at a makeshift center in Tel Aviv for loved ones of people either taken hostage or missing. She told CBS News that her mother also witnessed her father being taken.

Qatari mediators told Reuters Monday that they wanted to negotiate with Hamas to win freedom for the Israeli women and children who had been taken prisoner, in exchange for the release of 36 Palestinian women and children from Israel’s prisons.

Horrific details and harrowing stories of survival began to emerge in the hours and days after the attack, including accounts of the massacre that unfolded Saturday at the Supernova music festival in the southern Israeli desert, near the border with Gaza. Hundreds of attendees were killed as gunmen from the Palestinian militant group Hamas stormed the festival, shooting into the crowd and taking people hostage. One aid group reported that 260 bodies were recovered from the site. 

One video widely shared on social media shows a young woman calling for help with her arm outstretched as she is taken away on a motorcycle. After she was identified as Noa Argamani, a university student, people began to repost the video alongside the caption, “Her name is Noa.”

Argamani’s father, Yaakov, called her “an amazing person” and “a sweet child” in comments to CBS News. Speaking in Hebrew, Yaakov said he only wants the Israeli government to use “peaceful measures” to get his daughter back. 

“We need to act with sensitivity,” he said. “They also have mothers who are crying. The same as it is for us.” 

Another attendee, Gal Levy, 22, managed to survive the attack after being shot in both legs. He told CBS News’ Imtiaz Tyab he waited six hours for help. “I feel let down by the government. I feel let down by the army,” he said. “I lost like two liters of blood, and I was really sure after the guy that came — the terrorist, to take us — that that’s it. I’m gonna die.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he had ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip in the wake of the Hamas attack, with officials cutting electricity to the densely-populated region and blockading food and fuel. 

The Israeli military launched a series of deadly airstrikes on Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said “fighter jets and helicopters, aircraft and artillery struck over 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip” on Sunday and into Monday morning. The Israeli military said it destroyed tunnels and at least seven “Hamas command centers” in Gaza, as well as a command center used by Islamic Jihad, which is another militant group that operates in the Gaza Strip.