Good evening. It is 3 a.m. here in Ashtaud, Israel, 5 days since Hamas launched a surprise

attack in massacre from Gaza. Israeli troops are now massing along the Gaza border.

Military spokesman saying that 300,000 Israeli reservists are now in his words close to

the Gaza Strip. That is a fighting force in a country of only about 10 million people,

nearly the size of all the reserves in the entire U.S. military. In addition to mobilizing

forces, preparations are underway at hospitals across this country for what might come next. Patients

from facilities in the north are being moved to ones in central Israel, health officials

saying, in case of any escalation, and presumably the need to treat casualties there. But right

now, the focus is on Gaza, which Israeli air forces pounded heavily again today in the

possibility of ground forces going in. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is heading

to Israel, said the talks are underway about setting up a humanitarian corridor so civilians

and American citizens could leave Gaza via the border with Egypt to the south. He told reporters

that efforts are ongoing, but admitted they are in his words, understandably complicated.

That is an understatement. Separately today, National Security Council spokesman John

Kirby provided a small measure of hope, saying that out of the 17 Americans now unaccounted

for, which is a number down from 20, the number Hamas is believed to be holding hostages

quote in his words, very small, like less than a handful. He warned, however, that the

hostage number could rise along with the American death toll, which is now at 22. And as you

might imagine, the larger death toll continues to rise here as more the bodies of more people

are recovered. More than 1200 people have now been killed inside Israel and Palestinian

officials say more than 1,100 inside Gaza. Rocket fire continues from there earlier as

we were wrapping up a report from CNN and St. Robert's in in Storos, just a mile or two

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