off in hawaii later today just four months after brain sshlg to resurgery to remove a lesion. he spoke about his road back and how he feared for the worst. >> when i woke up and realized i was okay, i was filled with thankfulnesses and love. that replaced the fear. very emotional. i had gone four and a half months of every day really thinking i was going to die. everything i thought was going to kill me. so you can imagine leading up to surgery how i felt having my head cut open and operated on. the fear going into that was awful. >> i'm sure that story hits home for you as well going through something similar. it brings a smile to your face seeing gary woodland back out there. >> it's just amazing. i'm thrill odd to see it. i have quite literally been there. it is both a terse firing thing

to go and also a tough thing to recover from. good luck to himment thanks, andy, i appreciate it. thanks all of you for joining us. i'm kasie hunt. don't go anywhere. "cnn this morning" starts now. >> i'm poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. thanks for joining us early. it was a huge night in the 2024 presidential campaign, the two republicans vying to become the top trump alternative facing off in a cnn debate slinging attacks at each other. ron desantis and nikki haley leaving the front runner unscathed with less than four days to go until the iowa caucus. >> the former president was actually less than two miles away skipping the debate again instead choosing a solo appearance where it appeared he was trying to soften his comments he'd be a dictator on day one. and this morning, the race is also on to win over chris

christie's supporters after he suspended his campaign last night. in typical christie fashion, he had a lot to say on the way out continuing to call out trump on the stage, and caught on a hot mic moment. "cnn this morning" starts right now. . >> so today the republican primary takes a detour from the campaign trail to the courthouse again, by the way, a different courthouse. this time back in new york where former president trump will attend closing arguments in his civil fraud trial. trump's republican rivals, ron desantis and nikki haley will stay in iowa continuing to criss-cross the state after they faced off in a heated one-on-one debate last night, the candidates trying to score political points against each other and largely avoided criticizing trump. >> desantis and haley had heated exchanges about immigration, the economy, overseas conflicts, desantis calling haley a

mealy-mouthed politician who only fights for her donor. haley accusing desantis of lying about her record because she was gaining momentum. >> you can go to desantis lies.com and look at all of those, go to desantislies.com. de desantislies.com. it's documented on desantislies.com. go to desantislies.com and you can find out for yourself. >> you get the gist. >> it was a big day for the haley campaign web developer. she referenced that website 16 times. let's start with eva mckent. she joins us live in des moines. you predicted this could be a make or break night, must see television, and boy, was it. >> yeah, we are still feeling the impact. listen, this was perhaps clarifying for some voters as we

really saw some distinct policy differences up on that stage. the problem for them both is they still seem pretty reluctant to go after the former president, the front runner. he remained largely unscathed. take a listen. >> former u.n. ambassador nikki haley and governor ron desantis taking it center stage in the final debate before the iowa caucuses. and the gloves were. >> if he would spend as much time trying to prove why he thinks he would be a good president, he would be doing a lot better in the polls. >> this is the u.n. way of thinking that we're somehow globalist. you can take the ambassador out of the united nations, but you can't take the united nations out of the ambassador. >> reporter: while the front runner was absent, trump chose to attend separate fox news town hall event and teased a possible vice president. >> i mean, i know who it's going to be. >> give us a hint. >> we'll do another show

sometime. >> reporter: the dueling events taking place as one of trump's biggest critics steps aside. >> anyone who is unwilling to say that he is unfit to be president of the united states is unfit themselves. >> reporter: the former governor of new jersey also found himself in a hot mic moment criticizing haley. >> she's going to get smoked, and you and i both know it. she's not up to this. >> reporter: trump seizing on it. >> i happen to believe that chris christie's right. i'm not exactly worried about it. >> reporter: haley and desantis reminding voters of trump's absence from the debate stage again. something they both agreed on. but which voters don't seem to mind. >> i wish donald trump was up here on this stage. he needs to be defending his record. >> donald trump should be on this stage. he owes it to you here in iowa. >> reporter: but neither took the opportunity to strongly denounce him or argue he's unfit for office. >> so when you look at donald trump, i have said i think he

was the right president at the right time. i agree with a lot of his policies, but his way is not my w way. >> if trump is the nominee, it's going to be about january 6th, legal issue, criminal trials, the democrats and the media would love to run with that. >> desantis and haley spent most of the debate going after each other and trying to prove who can be the toughest on stage. >> do not trust nikki haley with illegal immigration. that's like having the fox guarding the hen house. nikki haley opposed the border wall in 2016. she ridiculed it. i'm telling you, you need a wall. >> go to desantislies.com. i said you can't just build a wall. you have to do more than build a wall. it was having the wall and everything else. you can't trust what ron's saying. >> reporter: desantis arguing haley's record as south carolina's former governor proves she isn't ready for the white house. >> she says she's always supported school choice and she failed to deliver.

she blames other people. leadership is about getting things done. stop making excuses. >> reporter: haley firing back in a blistering takedown of his campaign. >> if leadership's about getting things done how did you blow through $150 million in your campaign. we swenwent and saved our money. we made sure we spent it right. you have to understand it's not your money. it's other people's money and you have to know how to handle it. if you can't handle the financial parts of a campaign, how is he going to handle the economy when it comes to the white house. >> reporter: there was arguably more at stake for governor desantis who has invested so heavily in iowa and really gone all in on this state, but both of them will continue to criss-cross the state making their case to voters here just four days left until the iowa caucus. phil, poppy. >> eva mcken, thank you very much. >> with us now lee carter, cnn political commentator, and errol lewis and cnn political

commentator adam kinzinger. thanks for joining us early. i think it was a late night for everybody last night. it was also a night that gave a personal window into the republican primary, not only did you have the debate, you had chris christie dropping out. when it comes to the debate and the battle between these two individuals who i don't think like each other all that much on a personal level. >> what made you think that? >> just a little bit. go to the website. eva's point at the end is critical. this is huge for desantis. did he do anything last night to change his dynamics in the race? >> i think he had the best performance that he's had so far in a debate. that's not saying that it's enough to do anything. he's so far behind in the polls, i don't think anything he could have done last night is going to have an impact. iowa is his big chance. he went to all 99 counties as he reminded us over and over again. and he's still trailing more than 40 points behind the president and he hasn't made any

progress. i don't think anything that he said last night is going to stick with us and say, you know what, this is the guy that's going to take on joe biden. so i don't see anything changing as a result of last night. >> what they didn't do is go after trump hardly at all. i would argue desantis a little bit more than nikki haley, which is interesting to watch, but this is anderson cooper last night after the debate talking to desantis about why. >> obviously he should have been on that stage and we would mix it up more. i've been willing to hold trump accountable. i just do it more from the right than more focused on some of the things that the media likes to talk about. but i've been out there very frank and i let her rip. >> they didn't. the simple question that jake and dana asked is trump a pro-life president or is he pro-life, it could have been the most direct answer on a key issue. >> i'm actually so impress that had desantis who actually i forgot was in the race until yesterday.

he's like the last person i think of now truly. he did okay yesterday stylistically. i was actually surprised what he said there to anderson because he's saying what i've been annoyed by by him, which is he acts like he's taking on donald trump, but he takes on donald trump by being more conservative. oh, donald trump said he built a wall. he'd build the wall and e he ner built the wall. he's not talking about january 6th. he's not talking about the fact that donald trump said he could have negotiated an end to the civil war and that donald trump has the january 6th choir sing an opening to his rally. those are the things that either of them could have taken on donald trump with, but they didn't. they pretended like they were the only two in the race. i wish, though, that jake and dana could have done every debate that the republicans have had this year. they did a great job of holding their feet to the fire. >> it was also strange how they kind of wandered around the, do

you think he has the moral character to be president of the united states which does seem like an easy answer. instead there was so much going back and forth with one another, which i understand when you're down by 30 and trying to give yourself the number one spot as the alternative, and that included haley's attack on desantis's campaign, which might be why adam kinzinger doesn't think of him anymore. >> the best way to tell about a candidate is to see how they've run their campaign. he has blown through $150 million. i don't even know how you do that, through his campaign. he has nothing to show for it. he spent more money on private planes than he has on commercials trying to get iowa wra w wans to vote for him. if you can't manage a campaign, how are you going to manage a country? >> i think my question, i heard two responses to that last night in text chats, which was, oh, damn, not wrong. and voters don't care about internal stuff that we all know about, care about, read about.

>> but the second point is not necessarily true. it's not a closed primary, but this is for the party faithful, and it is always relevant to bring up the question of is this person going to run a good campaign. are they going to be a good candidate. should they be our standard bear? should they be the nominee. perfectly relevant. part of the nikki haley central appeal. if you're going to say trump can't win, somewhere in that argument that has to be there or else you're not going to convince anybody. i think it was perfectly appropriate. i think oh, damn, is a pretty good response. on the other hand, where they i think both candidates really made a mistake last night is they were trying to disqualify each other. these are were cutting personal attacks. they're a little more than 100 hours from trying to ask tens of thousands of iowans to go out on ooh cold night to the local gym and argue for them and stand up for them in public and fight with their neighbors, and i didn't hear anybody give that kind of a closing argument. hey, if you're out there

listening, i care about you. please go to the local, you know, library or vfw post and fight for what i believe in and what we believe in together. >> i think that's what's so important is they didn't give you something to say the reason i'm standing with nikki haley is x, yz. the reason i'm standing with ron desantis is because of this. they didn't give that reason. it's now -- it's not as bad as the other guy, and i think the reason that they're not going after donald trump is because the polling is just suggesting that people are supporting donald trump in such record numbers, and also, this is a republican primary where only 14% of republicans hold donald trump accountable for what happened on january 6th. so they're going to go after him, it's actually going to alienate more voters than anybody else. that's why they're not doing it. i think your point is so important. i have no idea after watching that why i would say i'm going to vote for nikki haley or ron desantis. there's nothing to hang my hat on, and that's a big problem. >> the whole point about the party and the 14% that hold him accountable, it's true, and the

problem is we're now a week before a caucus expecting that number to change. that number should have changed three years ago when we had january 6th. that number should have changed when my committee did the january 6th hearings. it should have changed at every presidential debate because the leaders in the republican party should have actually stood up and told the people that they -- that trust them to tell them the truth the truth, instead they sat back, they thought donald trump would self-imempplode. he's such a victim that he's able to victim himself to the top once again, and that's been a huge problem. >> the one person in the race who was doing that and trying to reach out to the 14% and more, chris christie dropped out, which we're going to get into a lot in his barn burner of a speech. donald trump mocking the narrative that he would be a dictator if he's reelected, by the way, he did say that on day one. he called it a political ploy. what he's also now saying about abortion, that's ahead. and i just mentioned it, the scathing parting words, chris christie had for his fellow

republicans as he dropped out of the 2024 race. what the remaining candidates could do to win over christie's supporters. we'll have more next.

. can you say tonight that political violence is never acceptable? >> well, of course that's right, and of course i'm the one that

had very little of it. the new narrative they have is, you know, i'm going to be a dictator. that's going to be the new narrative. no, no, i am not going to be a dictator. i'm going to manage like we did -- i'm not going to have time for retribution. we're going to make this country so successful again, i'm not going to have time for retribution. and remember this, our ultimate retribution is success. >> that was donald trump last night changing his tone on whether he would ever be a dictator in a second term, saying he, quote, doesn't have time for retribution. that's different than saying it's not a goal, by the way. back with us, cnn political commentator and spectrum news anchor, errol lewis, former republican congressman adam k kinzinger and lee carter, thank you, guys very much for being here. let's listen to a little bit more of that town hall where trump had this exchange, asked a question about his position on abortion and certain laws, especially in iowa with the fox news hosts. here it was.

>> in this campaign, you've also blamed pro-lifers for some of the gop losses around the country, and you've called heartbeat laws like iowa's terrible. i'd like for you to reassure me that you can protect all life, every person's right to life without compromise. >> you wouldn't be asking that question even talking about the issue because for 54 years they were trying to get roe v. wade terminated, and i did it. and i'm proud to have done it. >> lee, he went on to say, though, at a different point that he's for exceptions. he talked about life of the mother, incest, he talked about a lot of women don't know they're pregnant at five or six weeks, so trying to have it both ways there. >> he is trying to have it both ways. he knows there's a general election to come. it's going to be really hard to get into a republican primary or to get republican primary voters to let him go on this one. you saw that woman is saying i'm not going to let it go because it is that important. when it comes to a general election, president trump is right. he knows this is a losing issue

for the republican party. there is no way around it. seven in ten independent women say the primary reason they're going to go to polls in state where is it's really on the plut ballot is about abortion. donald trump knows this and he knows he's got to come one a reasonable solution. he is not going to lay out what it is until he wins the nomination. i think that's his strategy. >> do you think he actually has one? >> i do. i think he very much knows that this is a losing issue for r republicans in the general election. >> i agree with that. i'm just saying the actual solution itself, what is the solution? >> i think he's going to come out in the general election and say he'll do something about 15 weeks or something more along those lines with the exception. >> that was very effective for youngkin in virginia. >> the reason why i pause instead your open that these are different words or different framing of things, the first thing the biden campaign set out

last night was the back hatlf o that comment, saying i'm proud to have done it. the changing or softening on dictator or retribution, like he's going to do this thing he did in 2016 where he says a thing and says another thing that's diametrically opposed to it and claims he didn't say the other thing. he's got a record now. >> and see, this is what -- it's a tough job for the media to hold him accountable because it's the fire hose of misinformation. >> we got it. >> but it's the fire hose of misinformation, right? where on the one hand he can say he would negotiate the civil war. at the same time he -- and he throws all these things out that it's like where do we address? he said this, this was a lie the one time, and this time so it ends up where fox news then just kind of smiles and says please have a town hall and just say whatever you'd like and go ahead and remake your image. but we know who he is. so i think this general election's going to be a lot more difficult for him than it would be today. i think today he'd win honestly,

which is a frightening thing for me. but i think if you look at it, he's going to be shown to be a victim, a complainer, america is just exhausted of the complaining, honestly. like it's exhausting, and i think that's going to be pointed out, and this abortion issue i actually think his answer was pretty good for a pro-life president on that. you've got to be sensitive. if you're saying a basically like -- exactly. i think the answer if you can come out and say like 15 weeks and i'm for certain exception, that's what republican presidents used to be for. >> you know what's interesting to a point you were making lee earlier, all three of them, whether it's trump, what he really for on abortion or whether it's the two candidates on the stage last night, what reason did you give everyone to vote for you, not just against the other person. that's universal among all three of them interestingly. >> i thought, look, the donald trump town hall, he showed that he does have discipline. we're used to him doing and saying a lot of crazy things.

that wasn't the donald trump who showed up last night. he was disciplined. he was somewhat reasonable. he was strategic. he reverted back to being like sort of the commercial donald trump, the salesman, the person who's going to try and close a deal. and that is going to be where he -- on abortion i think says, look, i put in the justice who is overturned roe versus wade, now i'm going to backtrack. you can pick wherever on the spectrum you want to land, but let's put together something that will work politically so we don't have a bunch of independent women come out and vote against us in november. this is someone who's focused on trying to win an election, and the democrats are going to have to try and figure out something because i think you're exactly right. he's doing surprisingly well in part by staying out of the spotlight talking to his base, galvanizing his base, and trying to line up the issues that he thinks he's going to win on. >> i think he's also running on something, he's giving people a reason that says i'm a fighter.

i'm the one who's going to fight for you against the unfairness in the system. 68% of republicans say they want a fighter. >> so on the style of it, maybe not the specific issues. >> he does talk about being the fighter. i'm here to fight for you. they're coming after you. i'm going to fight back. and that's the message 68% of republicans want to hear. >> all the poll numbers, lee. you always have them. >> they're literally right there. >> no, it's good and your point, he's going to spin back and say i'll make a deal that's going to hit the middle ground, just like he would have done with the civil war, which would have been great. lincoln, man, what a loser. >> he doesn't mean it. >> right now arguments are underway at the international court of justice. it's happening right now as israel faces accusations from south africa of genocide in gaza. what we are hearing from the court this hour.

in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yup, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network. give your business a head start in 2024 with this great offer. plus, ask how to get up to $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. republican counterparts called it a kamikaze mission, chris christie's campaign, it's officially over. that effort to beat donald trump it ended as it began with a scathing speech about trump in e and the lack of courage in his

party to take him on. >> so for all the people who have been in this race who have put their own personal ambition ahead of what's right, they will ultimately have to answer the same questions that i had to answer after my decision in 2016. those questions don't ever leave. in fact, they're really stubborn. they stay. i am going to make sure that in no way do i enable donald trump to ever be president of the united states again. imagine just for a moment if 9/11 had happened with donald trump behind the desk. the first thing he would have done was run to the bunker to protect himself. he would have put himself first before this country, and anyone who is unwilling to say that he is unfit to be president of the united states is unfit

themselves. and let me tell you, if donald trump becomes the nominee of this party, the moment that it hap happened was when nikki haley and ron desantis and tim scott and mike pence and doug burgum and vivek ramaswamy stood on that stage in milwaukee in august and when we were asked would you support someone who is a convicted felon to be president of the united states, they raised their hands. i'm out here saying what i'm saying for the last eight months because i didn't want to take the chance that you might not get it. i wanted to be the voice that was telling you this is unacceptable. we deserve better.

>> let's bring back errol lewis, adam kinzinger and lee carter. i wonder specifically for you as a republican who decided to lead, who led the january 6th inquiry and who has also been so outspoken against trump, what did last night mean, he talked about the soul of our country. he talked about brooiavery, and talked about the character of the candidate being the most critical issue. >> it was a bit of an emotional speech for me to watch. >> i bet. >> because he's been the one that's been speaking to the heart of the part of the party that i would consider myself, which is like this whatever it is, 15, 20%, you probably have the bet anywhere else, of people that feel like we don't have a home anymore. we're homeless politically. and he's the one -- you know, with everything that liz and i went through, and we're not asking for sympathy on this, but it's amazing to me the number of republicans that in quiet, in silence and he talked about this in his speech -- would say, yeah, donald trump is completely unfit for office. or i'm so glad you're out there

saying what you're saying, adam, i can't do it because my district wouldn't reelect me. i'm like, okay. i think the thing that confuse message most -- confuses me mos people have no red line. it was sad to watch him get out but it was one of the most powerful speeches i've seen. >> the red line makes me wonder who, if anyone, does he end up getting behind, and before that speech, you got to -- the memory that he's a pretty good poll with a very candid opinion on things and a hot mic moment to his new hampshire campaign chair. take a listen. >> she's going to get smoked, and you and i both know it. she's not up to this. desantis calling me petrified that i would -- >> yeah, that wasn't supposed to be out loud. >> he's been around a lot of mics. i don't know if this was inadvertent. he certainly meant it. >> he's talking about nikki haley. >> the polls suggest that much

of his support is going to go to nikki haley, and that's probably not going to sit well with him. that's the reality of it. he's a man out of time. you know, we keep hearing that. the republican party's been captured by this fever, the fever's going to break. identify been hearing this for six years now. the fever doesn't seem to be breaking. the organism seems to be evolving so that it always has a fever. i think what's going to probably happen is the question will be put again and again and again are we ready for a post-trump republican party? i think we're getting an answer that this is not going to be the year where that happens. that's what chris christie wanted to try and believe was going to happen. the cards didn't fall his way. >> he talked about this internal battle he had in his heart and mind and what he talked to his wife mary pat about making this decision. you can see it as a man who ran out of time, he did. but also as man who thought, well, if there's any shot at anyone beating trump, we got to consolidate this thing. >> yeah, that's what his whole

campaign was wbased on. >> but consolidate without him. >> when you look at this, he's got 11.6% of the vote in new hampshire right now. now, that's up for grabs, and that's the striking distance that you have between nikki haley and donald trump. if it does go over to nikki haley, there's a chance that nikki haley then takes over donald trump and we have an interesting thing on our hands because she'll have won new hampshire, have some momentum going on, and the race goes on. if that doesn't happen then we're just looking at donald trump going from here on out. now, i think what we're looking at with chris christie and as much as i respect the man for taking a stand, this is what happens when you run against and not for, and what i mean is his whole campaign was based on taking down donald trump. it wasn't based on anything to say what are you for? what is chris christie all about? when i stand with chris christie it means this. everybody keeps saying, why don't people take down donald trump. you want to understand why you don't take down donald trump, look at this as a case study, if

your whole focus is taking down donald trump and not giving us a reason to say you are the person i want to vote for because you're going to do something differently, this is the result. and unfortunately it's not going to win an election. >> i don't disagree. i just think the reason you only think of him as going after donald trump is because he's the only one who did it. he's like this unicorn who actually took on donald trump. maybe if everybody else on that stage would have taken him on, they actually could have taken down donald trump. i do think he talked a lot about education, he talked about what he did as a blue state republican governor. yeah, when he would go after trump, nobody else did. so that's what kind of hogged the message and it became all about that. i have a ton of respect for him making the effort. now we'll see if people can consolidate around haley, this is the only chance for the republican party not to be taken over officially by donald trump, which may be too late already. >> i was going to subtly hint at that. thank you, guys, as always. appreciate it. cnn was with a group of iowa

voters during the debate last night and during trump's town hall. you'll hear exactly who they thinink won the night nenext.

it is four days away when iowa voters will caucus in the republican race for the white house. last night's cnn debate between nikki haley and ron desantis,

first time we got to see them really head to head on the debate stage. >> important night with a lot of contrast. cnn's gary tuchman watched the debate with iowa voters and has some of their immediate takeaways. >> reporter: the people you see applauding are the people we have been with for all five republican presidential debates. we watched this one in person. we watched the other four with them on tv where they live. story county, iowa, the center of the state. when this final debate ended, we asked the ten people in the group, who thinks desantis won this debate? >> four. who thinks haley won this debate? one, two, three, four -- that's eight. looks like some people -- who did not vote? why didn't you vote? >> i thought donald trump won the debate. i thought it was kind of -- >> he wasn't here, but you're saying he won by not being here. >> exactly. yeah. >> and jim, i think you think the same thing. >> yes, i do. >> so four, four, two, so we have a draw. >> reporter: haley had won the

last two debates among this group, desantis the second, ramaswamy the first. brett barker liked haley this time. >> we expected them to go at each other. i think she did a good job defending some of the attacks we've been seeing in the state and really explaining why they were not true. >> beth engels liked desantis. >> i think just the opposite. i felt like haley didn't stand up for herself as much as she did in the past. when she couldn't come up with some answers, she kept deferring to how desantis isn't a good leader because he can't manage his campaign finances. >> so after watching all the debates, who are the story county republicans going to caucus for? >> raise your hand if you're ready to caucus for ron desantis. one. raise your hand if you're ready to caucus for nikki haley, one, two. raise your hand if you're ready to caucus for donald trump. one, two, three, four.

is there anyone -- any other candidate who anyone else here is going to caucus for? who did not raise their hand? three of you. why didn't you raise your hand? >> i'm not decided yet. >> who are you thinking between? >> between trump and desantis. >> and how do you make your decision between now and monday? >> i don't know. >> you don't know. >> what about you, cody? >> i'm also stuck between trump and desantis, and we'll just see how it goes, i guess, the feeling i get on monday. >> you're going to wait for the feeling. >> the feeling better strike because i don't have an answer now. >> and who else hasn't decided? >> yeah, same. >> who are the candidates you haven't decided between? >> trump and desantis. >> how are you going to decide, tom? >> just keep watching. >> keep watching what? you've watched the preeminent debate. >> i know. i'm looking for a sign. >> a sign? >> yeah. >> okay. well, if it happens while we're talking for the next minute, let me know. [ laughter ] >> so not everyone has made a

final decision but they are unanimous about this. >> are you confident the republican party is going to win this election? >> yeah. >> do you have any doubts? >> nope. >> on caucus monday, it will be unusually frigid, even by january iowa standards, and it certainly could affect turnout, but among all the people in our group, no one is telling us they will miss it. phil, poppy. >> so interesting, they always are. the same voters every time. >> and they got to go to the debate. >> yeah, in person. next up, our nic robertson got just remarkable access inside the tunnels below khan yunis in gaza. >> this tunnel we're going in here is one where some of the hostages were held that first round, some of them came out from down here.

happening right now at the hague, the international court of justice is hearing a high stakes case that could determine the course of the war in gaza, south africa presenting its case today accusing the israeli government of genocide against palestinians in gaza. israel calls the allegations preposterous and will make its case tomorrow. meantime, our nic robertson got just remarkable access inside of the gaza tunnels where the israeli military says hostages were actually held. it is important to note here after agreeing to idf guidelines, cnn did not submit this report for security reviews. that's what it's called before air. here is nic robertson embedded with israeli soldiers. >> reporter: khan yunis, a gunnar's view, driving in, scouring the landscape for threats. problem for these idf troops, their enemy is mostly hiding in tunnels, they say. >> the biggest issue is the fact

that we're actually maneuvering aboveground, under ground. >> reporter: israel's biggest military division ever is adapting. >> you use all your senses you have, you use your vision sensor, your feel sensor, your smell sensor. >> reporter: he's invited cnn to go deep into the tunnels. we are told this is the heart of khan yunis, and that hostages are likely underground nearby and that some were held here. this tunnel we're going in here is one where some of the hostages were held. that first round of hostage releases, some of them came out from down here. >> so how deep does this tunnel go? >> reporter: our first time to get up close to what's shaping this war. >> we are moving underground. we're maneuvering underground, we're going to reach each and every militant or agent, every

terrorist underground. no modern army has had to fight aboveground and underground like this before. how is that to do it? >> it's difficult. and it's just going to be a very, very hard, long fight. >> reporter: to see just how hard, he takes us deeper. >> so we came down a metal ladder. we've come down one flight of stairs. we're going down a second flight of stairs here. a double flight it looks like, and down here command and control wires running all the way down. it a' it's a deep, deep system. how deep are we underground right now? >> at the moment we are more or less between 10 to 15 meters underground. >> 10 to 15 meters, and i'm going down another level down more steps. we're toabout to go down again another level. my head keeps banging off the roof. what are we looking at here? >> this is a small room, okay.

>> with some kind of air ventilation system. >> air ventilation system that goes up. >> metal frame around the door. >> and these metal frames. this can be -- as much as this is a small room, this is how the different cages that they put the kidnapped -- >> so they were held in cages. >> in cages, yeah. >> reporter: hidden and utterly cut off. >> and down here you really can't hear anything what's going on in the outside world. now we must be 20 or 30 meters down? >> we're almost 20. >> almost 20. so they have tunnels three times as deep as this. >> three times as deep. >> what's clear here, the money, planning, and preparation invested for a long siege. we're 20 meters underground here, 20 meters, and there's a fully flush toilet, and it's even painted.

there's a place for a light bulb and light switches. tiled. >> reporter: the labyrinth keeps going. >> okay, now it's so allow. >> he lays out his path to victory. >> underground is hamas, and we have to reach this hamas core to finish them off. >> but those palestinian people aboveground are also dying still. >> re i understand that. i understand. that's why we're trying to do it as fast as we can. yesterday there were mortars and rockets fired from north of gaza. into the civilian part of israel. >> so as long as those rockets are coming out of northern gaza, the people who have moved to the south can't go back to the north. >> as long as we haven't carried out our mission all the way, as long as we haven't finished this mission, i don't think we'll

leave here. >> reporter: we head back half an hour underground, we've seen only a fraction of this war changing labyrinth. his challenge, find all the others. and i think the takeaway are from that has to be that there is no fast when you're fighting what he's described as fighting a war that's like a rubik's cube where you can shift it at every dimension and pieces move. how to figure out how to force hamas to come out of a tunnel in one place, how to know that they're not going to come out of a tunnel behind you somewhere else. how deep do you go in those tunnels. how dangerous it is for the troops when you put them in those tunnels. all of that makes it complex. when secretary blinken was here and he spoke about this u.n. commission o'coming into gaza to figure out when the conditions for palestinians to be able to mauve back to the north of gaza, back to their homes from where they're condensed in the south of gaza right now, you really

understand that actually the conditions from that, from the idf's perspective, that is going to take some considerable time more. it's very clear fighting and w winning this for israel is not going to be quick. >> nic robertson, what a report, thank you very much. happening soon, donald trump will be in yet another courtroom, this time for his new york civil fraud trial. ahead, what the judge said trump could not say if he wanted to speak during closing arguments. and the tide is done rolling for nick saban. check on kaitlan collins, friends, the legendary coach announcing his retirement, a look back at an illustrious career ahead.

get over here kids. time for today's lesson. wow. -whoa. what are those? these are humans. they rely on something called the internet to survive. huh, powers out. [ gasp ] are they gonna to die? worse, they are gonna get bored. [ gasp ] wait look! they figured out a way to keep the internet on. yeah! -nature finds a way.

[ grunt ] stay connected when the power goes out, with storm ready wifi from xfinity. and see migration in theaters now. it is the end of an era in college football. best known as ohio state's secondary coach in 1980 -- >> give it up. >> dnick saban announcing his retirement yesterday in a 17-year run of success with the crimson tide. >> andy scholes, good morning, we have checked on kaitlan. she is okayish.

>> a lot of students having a rough day on campus in tuscaloosa. it's safe to say there's never going to be another college football coach as great as s saban. saban had the crimson tide ranked first at least once during all but one of his two seasons -- or at least all but two of his seasons in alabama. every player recruited by saban in four years won a title. while announcing his retirement yesterday, saban said in a statement, it's not just about how many games we won and lost, but it's about the legacy and how we went about it. we always tried to do it the right way. and now the talk is who is going to replace saban as the next tide head coach. oregon's dan laning who was a graduate in 2018 the heavy favorite right now according to bet online. you got lane kiffin who coached under saban for three seasons. he's second on that list,