♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> i'm john beerman in new york. this is cnn special coverage of israel at war. it is now 6 a.m. sunday in israel and gaza. sunrise about 45 minutes from now. israel is promising that a new

phase on its war on hamas is coming. it is likely it will are a ground operation. troops have been amassing for days now near the gaza border. israel hit gaza from the air on saturday, again. a key complander was killed. we are -- commander was killed. northern gaza the iefs told more than a million people to head south. u.n. officials warn that such a large scale evacuation could lead to an humanitarian disaster. a second u.s. carrier strike group led by the u.s.s. dwight z. eisenhower is headed towards the mediterranean. to send a message to hezbollah and, 15 americans are still unaccounted for.

cnn's orrin lieberman is live at the pentagon. the newest is the second carrier strike group headed towards the mediterranean why? >> there is not too often you see two u.s. strike groups operating in the same region. that is exactly what we'll see, the u.s.s. strike group and the u.s.s. dwight d. eisenhower strike group should get there in a couple of weeks. it is a major statement. the purpose of all of this essentially fire power and these war ships is not to get involved in the fighting in israel. the u.s. doesn't want that and israel doesn't want it. they want the fighting to be constrained to gaza and to israel and not sweec sweech ovee

borders. the -- sweep over the borders. one of deterrence, hezbollah and lebanon right on israel's border. there has been back and fire across that border but hasn't escalated beyond that and remains at essentially a contained level. the goal is to keep it there john. >> so orrin, the defense secretary was in israel, i think he's back in the united states again but spoke with his israeli counterpart, what do you know of that conversation? >> they've now spoken three or four times since the terror attack last saturday. it's an important call because first it shows the continued u.s. backing and the biden administration's backing for israel but part of this is what we're seeing unfold in gaza and the humanitarian crisis there and austin said this. first, the support, the secretary underscored the united

states unwavering support of israel security. then this, the law of war, including civilian protections and the worsening humanitarian interest of gaza. these two are expected to speak frequently and this is one of the major efforts of the u.s. not only pushing for humanitarian access, humanitarian corridors and the would iance of casualties, butter helping to support israel as the accusations go that way. >> orrin i'm so glad you read from that readout because they use very well chosen wording, orrin lieberman at the pennington, thank you. elliot gaukin joins us live from london. we have been talking about israeli troops massing at the

border, how close does the issue seem to be? >> we have been talking about a massive invasion ever since hamas killed so many people a week and a day ago. israel has been striking from land and from sea. since then there was a brief incursion by israeli troops before the weekend but clearly now we seem to be getting close to israel saying that it is soon going to be starting a significant military operation that it's really waiting really for civilians to get out of harm's way. we saw the evacuation order on friday, which -- and people living there account for almost half of the strip's 2 million or so people. we've seen people heading south despite hamas's calls for them to stay and not pay any attention to israel's warnings. but of course israel telling them to move south to get out of

harm's way. but we've seen also evidence that some of those people moving south have also been hilt by some of those strikes. there are many, many dangers laying aahead for a ground invasion, not only the chance for more israel soldiers to be kidnapped as well. don't forget, hamas is holding more than 100 people, there is a danger for many more civilian casualties inside the gaza strip and there are already more than 2,000 who have died so far. there is also danger for further escalation in the north, we've seen low level if you like skirmishes, from southern lelebanon, to try to dissuade ay additional escalation there in the north. we've also seen rising violence

in the israeli occupied west bank as well, more than 50 palestinians have been killed so far. there is a danger for israeli soldiers and dangers for the civilian population of gaza too john. >> thank you for helping us understand what's happening. the seemingly imminent invasion of gaza, many have moved south but are now stuck at the rafah border crossing, right on the border between gaza and egypt. that is the only crossing that israel does not directly control. it's been closed for some time. it was closed saturday even though some palestinian americans were told it would be open. cnn speak to a phil peen national who were stranded there all day with her family. >> there were a lot of families, we are talking about 15 or 20

families who hold different passports and everyone was calling the embassies and they were telling them they didn't know if they were going to cross today or not. egyptians said they wanted the crossings to be for humanitarian cause but not only for evacuating foreigners. they told my in laws that they have to stay in an area close to the rafah crossing and not very far because they are supposed to be calling them at any minute. >> aaron cohen joins us now, founder of cherries counterterrorist school. thank you for being with us. this ground incursion feels imminent at this point. when israeli troops do cross that border into graze what do they face? >> they're going to face urban warfare, first and formost. that is the background they are

getting sucked into. what we are talking about is asymmetrical warfare, 90° angles, booby trapped rooms, wiring, death cords, the thousands of terrorists who are in here are going to use every trick in the book to kill as many israelis as possible. the counteroffensive which is being prepared right now, we have mass softening of gaza in order to open up lanes for idf troops to be able to move in there. those troops will be from the givati brigade, from the southern portion of israel, very, very good, you have got israeli seals off the coast. also very active during the

initial response. i want to say this all the special units in israel were the first responders off the south of israel. we're not talking about a single shooter columbine, it was a violent battle there to be able to clear those pockets out. you have the infantry, special assets from the israel's commando unit, they're the ones that are making sure civilians are not getting hit by missiles, we don't target civilians, we are very careful about how we conduct operations, high degree of selectivity. and right now we're in the prem prem -- prep phase. we're gatherin gathering tryinge

out how we're going to get these hostages, get that information back to command so that we can get the hospital tarnlings in conjunction with making that -- with making that incursion or being able to look into gaza, gaza is essentially a pressure cooker right now, what israel is turning it into. to tire out hamas, there are two things happening. those hostages are a main concern. we want to preserve that life and bring those grandparents and babies back to israel. so right now as we speak i wouldn't be surprised if the general staff reconnaissance unit which is bibi netanyahu's old unit, the brits may have invented it but, the general staff unit performed the first aircraft take down in the history of terrorism, performing a hostage rescue. they did it june 6th, 1976.

they brought back 103 israelis and other nationalities being held by black september. the tricky part here and where it gets technical is that hostage rescue requires incredibly high levels of intelligence. so while the incursion is being prepped the general staff reconnaissance unit and the israeli national imam are probably training on scenarios right now so that they step in the exact same places when they get into gaza in those tunnels and in those buildings. and it's going to happen at multiple structures john at the same time. and it's going to be fast, the shots have to be straight, we've got hostages, we've got innocents, that's what these guys do. so all of this is being coagulated together and it is going to be interesting to see how israel does this. but i'll tell you this. israel is not junior varsity.

this is not the first time they have been attacked on multiple fronts. when golda stepped down, she said we can't turn over every stone, can't protect every inch of the wall, but when the creativeness of the israeli people, these are very sharp people and it's also a warrior culture and the meat of this operation is going to be by the 300,000 reservists that are brought up np once that rust brought in. once that rust is knocked off i think it's very interesting and you'll see israel of its finest. >> much more poised to happen very soon. aaron cohen thank you so much for leveraging your thoughts. >> appreciate you. >> civilians in northern gaza are w rushing to evacuate south.

many are afraid to leave their homes after the bombing of a road identified as a safe route. we'll talk about that ahead.

>> sass israeli troops seems poised to roll into gaza, israel is telling civilians in northern gaza to head to the south. it is an incredibly dangerous. situation. we want to warn you the images are graphic.

>> reporter: this is what running for your life looks like in gaza. an ambulance with a young girl and wounded woman inside, rocked by explosions as they attempt to flee. it is unclear what happened to the pair. but they're among the tens of thousands of people on the move after israel's military called on nearly half of gaza's population, some 1.1 million people, to get south in a matter of hours. but along the safe passages, specified by the idf, utter horror. you're looking at the carnage and chaos at salad hadin street, one of the routes, families killed among their belongings. cnn has located this video and four other clips from the horrible scene. impossible and a violation of the rules of war and palestinian

officials accuse the idn of bombing civilians even as they fled. dozens of evacuees were killed by israeli air strikes. according to hamas. reached out to comment. again, it's the youngest caught in the cross fire. nearly half of gaza's population is children. >> what did the children do to deserve this? this woman says. did they fight you? the they fire rockets? my needs and her whole family -- my niece and her whole family are dead, the only survivor is a two-year-old girl. >> a complete siege making it impossible to get aid into the enclave and already there is a shortage of everything, even space in the morgue. >> we're keeping the dead in ice cream trucks so the bodies don't rot, this doctor says.

gaza is in crisis, gaza needs help. >> for those able to move south, this is one of the neighborhoods the families are expected to move towards. this is a genocide, not a war, it's genocide this man says and it's an attempt to force all palestinians out of the gaza strip. >> finding refuge is proving dangerous and deadly and for the many families desperate for shelter, the fear is there may be no safe places left. cnn lebanon. >> as israel does warn of a new phase coming in the war. with me now is stephen sosavie, he works with palestine rechildren's relief fund. stephen what are your thoughts as the ground incursion is

poised to begin very shortly. >> half of them no children with no politicians in the gaza strip. my own staff there, over 40 young people with children of their own trying to survive with no safe havens, unable to leave to the south, due to the lack of security on the roads there. my thoughts are with the collapsing health system and the lack of food and water. the sewage flowing into the streets and the diseases that that's going to cause for people who are already as risk. my thoughts are with the overworked and stressed out medical doctors who are trying to provide treatments for thousands of ininjured civilians many of them children. the electricity supplies, when the generators run out of diesel fuel, we have two american doctors that are stuck in gaza who are unable to get out who are also starting to run out of

food and water and have no safe place to go. my thoughts are with the people who are trying to survive despite the terrible voins that is all around -- violence that is all around them. >> tell me about the two americans that you are trying to get out. what are the complications there? >> the complications is there is no cooperation between the egyptians the americans, the rafah crossing which was bombed on monday which subsequent closed the crossing and now people stuck in gaza, particularly internationals but everyone have no avenue to escape the bombings. the egyptians in fact put up cemented bear imrers to prevent anyone from leaving gaza today. and as a result, people including many international aid workers are stuck there at risk of being killed. >> what role does hamas play or what efforts does hamas make to separate itself, from civilian

institutions, health care institutions, around gaza? >> i mean, hamas has been ruling gaza since 2007, 2006. and have set up civil institutions with no other alternative, to run the education system, the health system, other basic governmental bodies. and therefore have tried to rule gaza in some ways as a de facto government. with the same bureaucracies, that you see in other developing countries all over the world. therefore, a lot of the basic services that people depend on there like electricity and education, and so on, is run by the ruling regime, hamas. people have no choice in that, that's what they're stuck with. >> so if israel wants to target

hamas, is there any way to do that without putting civilians at risk? i mean i don't think at this time it is possible to do any type of military operation in gaza without risking the lives of innocent civilians. regardless much what -- however careful your military might be. you're talking about one of the most densely congested areas in the world, an area that doesn't abide by regular military rules and it's very hard to operate in those areas militarily, especially high ordnance weapons which we've seen over the past week. >> what is the situation in the hospitals? >> they're running out of

medication. they're running out of anesthesia, painkillers. their generators, gaza hospitals do not run on the normal electrical grid, electrical grid in gaza for years has not been sufficient to supply the basic power to most of the institutions and certainly the hospitals. so they depend on diesel fuel to run generateddors that provide power to these hospitals, those diesel fuel generators are running out of fume and therefore will be unable to operate, power the anesthesia machines, the ventilators that many people are needing to live, for adequate health care. we built a hospital in the area, for children who are suffering from cancer and other diseases. that department has to be evacuated, it is running out of fuel. out of medication, many of the medical personnel there have

fled, in some cases some doctors and nurses have been killed as well. one of the pediatric and reconstructive surgeons were killed today, dr. mejad and his family, to try to treat some of the trauma cases coming in, it is just an overwhelming chaotic destruction of the health system and we don't see any end in sight and it's only going to get worse. and it's just very tragic. >> stephen soseve we do appreciate the time for you talking with us tonight and we do understand the situation on the ground. thank you. >> you're welcome. >> president biden calling for an end to hate in all forms, we have a report from the white house ahead.

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>> we heard from president biden tonight speaking at the human rights campaign national dinner in washington. he addressed the terror attacks on israel and also antisemitism. fries sile la nice to see you. what did the president say? >> the through remark, he took a moment to reflect on the situation in israel, the terror attacks last week but also the humanitarian crisis developing in gaza. take a listen. >> week ago we saw hate

manifested in other way in the worst massacre of jewish people since the holocaust. more than 1300 innocent lives lost in israeli including 27 americans. children and grandparents alike kidnapped held hostage by hamas. >> he went on to talk about innocent palestinians in gaza, the majorities of them have nothing to do with hamas. and these were themes that came up in two calls that president biden held with leaders today. one was with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. it was the third time that he and president netanyahu had talked. another call with the palestinian authority president abbas, the president talked about getting humanitarian supplies to gaza. so again preserving innocent life as well as the developing humanitarian crisis as there are

food chornlings and water shortages in gaza all top of mind. but also, the resounding purpose of this call was to not allow the issue to spread any further. >> evacuating from israel, what are you learning about the plans for the americans stuck in gaza? >> those talks are ongoing, it is part of what secretary of state antony blinken is doing, try to secure a way for dual nationals in gaza to get out of gaza as well as others. because again they do see this humanitarian crisis unfolding. but as far as those americans who are in israel, the state department has coordinated charter flights for them to get out of israel. this is an effort that is again being led by the state department because there are limited flights going to and from. and this is a way for them to help those who are interested in leaving and national security officials say that they are looking at expanding capacity by

land and sea. to give you a scope of perhaps the interest, more than 20,000 americans reached out to the state department in israel to the state department since last week. now not all of them are looking for transportation assistance but what this tells you john is there is certainly a demand and the white house is committing to keep these charter flights going as long as there continues to be a need. >> the greatest concern there are still 15 americans unaccounted for. they could be among the 150 that might be held hostage in gaza right now. what are the u.s. efforts in so far as that's concerned? >> john it's perhaps the greatest concern but the most complicated wound. it's very clear that what they're grappling with is an active war zone. it is also hamas which has consisted of subgroups so it is unclear where these hostages are being held.

where they're being held what the conditions they're in, if they're all in the same place or not in the same place. these are all questions that officials are trying to sort through. there are 15 americans unaccounted for. but of those it is unclear how many are hostages. the way the white house has characterized the number of american hostages held by hamas, a small number, less than a handful. there are existing questions. what they've made clear over the weekend including today is they're working around the clock and again john there is only so much they say they can actually provide publicly because so much of this work could be compromised and has to be held behind doors. >> it is incredible important work, priscilla alvarez thank you very much. frfrieda, the president of the

palestinian authority, mahmoud abbas, how important is it for president biden to navigate this? >> so many potentially dangerous outcomes, so many really difficult scenarios, there are no easy scenarios, no risk free scenarios, not even any low risk scenarios. we have president biden and israel have to keep an eye on what iran is up to. they have to obviously keep an eye on hezbollah, iran's proxy in lebanon. they are concerned what might happen on the west bank. we have already seen some unrest there, and obviously there is the most immediate concern which is what is happening in gaza, what is happening with the hostages, the humanitarian situation there and then there is another aspect that we have not heard very much talked in this, what is exactly israel's plan assuming that it succeeds

in dismantling hamas? who is going to take over the gaza strip? does israel want to take it over again? that seems unlikely. so that is a really, really important piece of this dangerous puzzle and there are many moving parts and much that we don't know. >> talk about a complicated puzzle. secretary of state ann antonio blinken has been on this remarkable diplomatic journey, i'm going to miss some countries, israel, qatar, the uae, country to country and each place he's visiting there's really something different at stake. each country there has different skin in this game. how would you explain the complications there? >> well, it's interesting that while secretary of state blinken is making his tour of the middle east, so is the foreign minister of iran who met today with

hezbollah in lebanon and with one of the top leaders of hamas in qatar. who by the way have his comfortable place in doha told the civilians not to move out of the conflict zone. but ever country in this region is very concerned what's going on. it's very interesting what's happening with saudi arabia who was in the midst of a process of possibly normalizing relations with israel. and there is little doubt in my mind that one of the reasons why this attack happened now is because hamas and probably iran wanted to derail that process of normalization. and you know if they succeed in doing that, this will be a victory for iran which is something that saudi arabia does not want. saudi arabia and iran recently established diplomatic relations but they don't trust each other and the last thing saudi arabia

wants is to see a victory for iran on this cause and obvi obviously, on iran's side. >> whatever in the coming days. frieda thank you for being with us tonight. >> thank you. >> so it has been ten days since the united states has had a house speaker. and honestly republicans appear no closer to choosing a new leader. jim jordan, he won a vote within the republican conference but doesn't have enough votes to win on the house floor. at least not yet. so what happens next?

>> so despite winning a vote in the republican conference, congressman jim jordan is now busy trying to flip dozens of holdouts after installation short of the 217 votes he would need to win on the house floor. he had 55 people in his own conference tell him basically that they would not vote for him on the house floor. with us now maria cardona and republican strategist, sir michael, what is the strategy, because jim jordan got the majority in the conference.

steve scalise had the majority before him, kevin mccarthy got the majority and every time they do it they get less and less of the majority. what is jordan going to do now? >> reach out to some of those holdouts and see what he can do to move some of those holdouts. i have to be honest, you are talking about 18 republicans in biden districts, those are very purple districts that are teetering blue. i can guarantee you if democrats are smart they will challenge them on that vote. you also have another sector of republicans who look at jim jordan and don't believe he's best positioned to lead the conference. and finally i'll say kevin mccarthy's team released his fundraising dollars this year, $78 million. can jim jordan raise those numbers? i'm not certain that he can. >> maria i know if you ruled the world you would suggest that all

these republicans vote for akeem jeffreys. >> yeah, yeah. >> however there is a west wing version of the world, where some republicans elect some republican candidate that's acceptable to democrats. is that getting ever more possible, do you think that could happen here? >> well i think what is going to need to happen is something that is completely outside of the box which is something akin to what you're talking about, john. because now the republican conference within the u.s. house is a failing state. they need odo what needs to be done for the american people. look no one is enjoying this on the democratic side, i want to be clear about this because this is excruciatingly embarrassing.

ale global security issues. we need to have a speaker in place because we need to pass an add it package because we're going to need to pass appropriations bills in order to make sure that our government doesn't shut down in a month. so there is a lot of business before us that needs to get done. democrats are ready john to work with republicans, once a scourgous common sense speaker -- courageous common sense speaker emerges, if that is possible, if that is not possible, then democrats would be willing to negotiate to see what we could have shared coalition within the house of representatives but i don't see any republicans that would be ready to step up to the plate to even do that. so until they get serious about governing, nothing the going to get through. >> so sir michael dc reporters particularly capitol hill reporters like to say they have

seen everything. sooner or later they can predict what is going to happen. this time not at all. there is no one that knows what's going to happen. turn to the last page of the story here. how does this end? >> john, if anyone says they have a crystal ball on this, and maria and i have talked about this before we came on live, they are not telling the truth. i've worked for regular members of the congress, and i've asked them, what's going to happen? some have circulated mike johnson out of louisiana, some have stated the current speaker pro tem as a possibilities. but number of those individuals can get to 218. so when i ask my former friends and colleagues, what's the deal? they say sherman they're not being honest for you. it is a very precarious position for republican party. and i will tell you when it comes to maintaining the

majority next year i don't think republicans are able to do it. i think democrats have a solid message to the american people to say these folks can't govern. look how long it took to choose a speaker. >> what incentive do these holdouts have? it's just not that they don't necessarily don't want jim jordan to be speaker, sit -- i'm not sure i understand the incentive structure in place here. >> i don't either john. because let's remember, that's exactly what got mcthy in trouble right? the incentives. he gave away his soul. he gave away way too much. in order to get the support he needed after the 15th round of votes back in january. that's what brought him into the precarious position he was in, asking for one person to call for a motion to vacate. what i think is the fundamental problem john, let's remember, i

think it's important for viewers to remember. there are 139 members of the republican conference that voted to not certify the 2020 free and fair and legitimate elections that joe biden won. what does that mean? that means there are 139 members of the house of representatives that are pretty much in the extreme moga camp of the republican party. that seems to be completely disconnected with the reality of where common sense, independence, common sense republicans are. and it has become impossible for anyone to really straddle those two pieces of voters, right? those two buckets of voters. because if one bucket of voter supports you the other one won't. and that i think is a fundamental problem not just of the republican conference but of the republican party today in order to win a general election.

>> 20 second reaction to that sir michael? >> i think she's right, the republican father is fractured. you look at someone who represents a more purple districts, their priorities are going to be disparate, they are talking about representing very different groups of people. somebody operating in a moderate place, their voters don't want that. so what do you have john? you have a stalemate which is currently where we are. but again i would advise all of my friends in the republican party, think about 2024. is it worth losing the majority? forget trying to expand it, they have to maintain it and i think they're slipping every single day. >> also think about israel, think about the united states budget, think about all these

things that have to get done that they don't care what's going on in the republican conference unless something happens that gets it done. thank you both very much. >> thanks, john. at least 150 israeli americans have left the united states, many to help the war effort. cnn was on the ground as they left. hear why they are motivated to go back to israel.

israelis living around the world are returning home to fight against hamas. this was the scene aboard a u.s. charter flight headed to israel from california. cnn's stephanie elam was there for the departure. >> reporter: john, in the wee hours of this morning about 150 people gathered at los angeles international airport to board a chartered flight to israel. and many of these people came with family member who were emotional to see their loved ones returning to israel, but many of them obviously very much understanding it. we talked to some of the people who were there, who were there for very different reasons. and one man, he was going back. he previously served in the idf,

but he grew up here in los angeles. and he says right now going into this, he's numb. take a listen. >> i'm american. i'm israeli. i'm an american israeli. it's very simple. so my home is here, and my home is there. so i feel obligated and almost a desire and more so a need to go right now so -- >> like you don't feel you could just stay? that's not an option for you. >> noitsit's not an option. >> reporter: while he's leaving behind his sister, mother, family, there's other also another side where people are leaving behind their children. there's another man who lived in israel, but when the war first broke out he gathered up his two young boys and made it to southern california where they have family and knew he was

going to get called back up. and he knew there was nothing he could do but to get back and defend his country. >> i want to come home safely to my family. i want to see my boys grow up, but you have to put that aside and stop the madness happening. he also said he kissed his young boys good-bye while they were sleeping to make it to the airport. what's so difficult for all these people is not knowing when they'll see their loved ones again, when they'll return to their homes. but for so many of them this is something they felt compelled to do, that they needed to get back and offer umtheir services to defend israel. john? >> they feel they need to be there. stephanie elam, thank you so much. i'm john berman in new york. stay with cnn for continuing coverage of the conflict between israel and hamas.