you're live in the "cnn newsroom." i'm jim acosta in washington. welcome to our continuing breaking news coverage of israel at war. prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying the second stage of its war, the ground war, has begun. the goal, to destroy the military and government, he says, of hamas.

>> translator: our heroic fighters have one goal, to destroy this enemy and to make sure the existence in our country. never again, never again is now. >> at this hour, the conflict is escalating. this is new cnn video from a cnn producer in gaza capturing rockets being fired into israel. [ sirens ] >> and cnn's sara sidner and her team captured this video of rocket barrage over tel aviv earlier today. israel's iron dome defense system intercepted those incoming rockets. civilianness northern gaza say

they endured the heaviest last night. cnn's nic robertson joins us live from sderot, israel. what are you seeing right now? >> reporter: relentless, jim. absolutely relentless barrages of artillery fire, aircraft strikes and tank fire from behind us here. it is very, very heavy tone, perhaps even heavier than last night. it's continual fire going into northern gaza. this really is a continuation of what's been going on throughout the day. it's really barely paused and let up. we've been able to get to positions and overlook the border with gaza to see where the idf forces are. we've been able to watch the tanks maneuver around. right now what you're seeing behind me are rockets being fired out of gaza right now.

i've counted at least half a dozen. they're not being intercepted near here, which potentially means they're headed toward the center of israel. that potentially could mean tel aviv. that one is bursting in the sky, it appears there. but these look like rockets being fired out of gaza, and we've seen that, as sara was reporting earlier on from inside tel aviv. we've been on the border and been able to see the tanks maneuvering in position. here this really is, as the prime minister said, the deepening of a strengthening, a war, a long war, as he describes it. racing along the border with gaza, israeli tanks, an incursion force on the move. part of the idf's intensification of operations preparing the way for an expected large-scale ground

offensive. that dirt track down there where you can see the dust coming up, that's the road that runs along the israeli side of the border. we've been able to hear intense gunfire from the idf shooting into gaza, tank rounds as well, fired right into gaza. machine gunfire erupts, as unseen soldiers battle for control of the fields that separate the border from the crowded gaza towns. inside the towns, smoke rising from intensified strikes, where the idf says hamas hides in underground tunnels and among civilians. israel's defense minister announcing a new phase in the war. >> translator: we attack above the ground and below the ground. the instructions to the forces are clear. the action will continue until a

new order. >> reporter: the tempo of battle rising noticeably friday night. power, phone and internet services cut in the north of the densely populated palestinian enclave. hospitals already short of medicine, water and other essentials, at times appearing overrun with casualties. on saturday, in apparent desperation, with deteriorating humanitarian conditions, some gazans stormed a u.n. compound, looting food. >> as we speak, people in gaza are dying. they are not only dying from bombs and strikes. soon many more will die from the consequences of the siege. >> reporter: with nightfall saturday, the idf keeping up the

pressure on hamas, the pace of strikes unrelenting, as the ground offensive continues. israel's prime minister promising more to come. >> translator: the war in gaza will be long, we are going to fight in the air, ground and sea. we are going to fight and win. >> reporter: so far, only a tiny fraction of israel's fighting force of more than half a million troops have crossed the battle lines in gaza. what comes next could ignite tensions way beyond israel's borders. and the prime minister laying this out, essentially, as an existential fight for israel, victory absolutely necessary, when he said never again is now that's what he meant. interestingly, israel's defense minister this evening saying that he believes that this increased military pressure on hamas will actually lead them to

more readily negotiate over the release of hostages. on that front, no developments so far today, jim. >> nic, what do you think he meant by that? >> reporter: i think that he meant that this is israel taking the initiative. hamas has seized the initiative by taking so many hostages. they believe that they can hold up the potential for a ground offensive. they've sort of dribbled out, if you will, a couple of hostages, and then another two hostages, and initially israel resisted taking back because they saw it as a propaganda play by hamas. talks in doha not reaching a positive conclusion, it appears, over the release of a large number of hostages. israel seeing this as an effort by hamas to play for time and this is something they say they are not prepared to do. partly because they have a job to do. they say to get rid of hamas, and partly because they recognize the longer they wait

for the incursion, the greater the international pressure for humanitarian relief, for a humanitarian pause, and for israel to stop the bombardment, the greater the pressure on that will grow. an incursion kind of draws a new line and moves forward from there. >> nic robertson, thank you very much. appreciate it. joining me now is retired general wesley clark, a cnn military analyst and former nato supreme allied commander, and cnn senior national security analyst and former official at the department of homeland security. general clark, your sense as to what we heard from the prime minister today, the latest escalation, is this a part of this widely expected ground operation we've been anticipating, or is this a sneak preview of coming attractions? what do you think? >> i think this is the next phase. this is the start of the ground operation. now, whether it's going to be 300,000 troops squeezing in from every direction, whether it's going to be a penetration, a slice in to seize what is

considered key or decisive terrain inside gaza, we don't know that yet. but what we know is the israelis are in, they're working against time, and by all accounts they see this as an existential threat and they're going to stay in and continue to push. >> and, julia, what did you think when the defense minister said that this assault on hamas is going to help hostage negotiations? i asked nic about that. what do you think of that comment? >> i had the same sort of skepticism as i think maybe your question raised in the sense that it is hard to see how that is true. and i think we're interviewing the hostages' families and i think they find it hard to believe. the reason why is hamas -- i mean, as a counterterrorism effort, hamas keeps the hostages alive to delay israel from coming in as forcefully as they are right now. now that that hasn't succeeded, the benefit of keeping the

hostages safe decreases in terms of hamas' motivation. i'm not saying it's right or wrong at this stage, i just don't know how the defense minister can say that with authority. the challenge for israel right now is that counterterrorism effort is going into gaza, under the stated goal of ending hamas, going to increase the likelihood that more people join hamas, so they're just in the cycle until when? this is the defense minister, he said the words until there's a new order. that terminology, what does that mean? unless we know what that means, hamas' motivation now is to fight and increase its numbers. >> and, general, what do you think about what nic was saying a few moments ago, that the israelis may feel the longer they wait to conduct this ground incursion and go into gaza, the

harder it becomes, so they had to get going? >> i think that's exactly right. they gave it time, waited to see whether anything was going to come from the hostage negotiations. they know, they've been through this before. they know this is a game, drag out, delay, get world opinion gets israel. let's get in and get it done. now, in the defense of what the israelis said, it's possible this operation will uncover intelligence, it will stir up communications, it will make the hamas leadership talk to each other. they're going to get tips, they may be able to go in on the ground and rescue these hostages in a special operation in addition to what's going on. so there are reasons to believe that what the defense minister said about going after the hostages and doing this simultaneously is not necessarily in conflict. >> and, julia, israel is saying they're hitting underground targets, going after the tunnel network, i suppose.

what does that mean in terms of trying to get these hostages out? what does it mean in terms of taking out hamas? >> yeah, i appreciate what general clark said. i think that is a possibility. i think the challenge for netanyahu now is, you know, less than just a few weeks ago, israel suffered its worst intelligence and operational failure imaginable. netanyahu is not only the military leader of israel, he's also the political leader of israel. and he is facing a lot of criticisms about how could this happen, how could that many people have planned an attack in israel without israel knowing what the intelligence was or having a response capacity. so what netanyahu, i suspect, is hoping is that israel has been able to rebuild its intelligence apparatus in a short period since the attack by hamas, and

be able to save hostages, get more intelligence about hamas, kill the leadership. but i think the question remains, what does the defense minister mean by saying we're in there until there's a new order? it's a question worth asking. i don't think it's anti-israel to ask. we had the same challenge in afghanistan. what is that new order, and are their partners willing to take on that responsibility before -- it should be noted, before the attack by hamas, hamas was exceptionally unpopular. so israel needs to thread that needle and ensure that the palestinians, who may not want to join forces with hamas, have an alternative. that's the question, i think, the white house is also asking. >> general, do we know what the post-hamas gaza looks like? >> probably some form of

palestinian authority restored over gaza. but you can't expect the palestinian authority to jump right now and say, oh, that's it, we'll go in and work with the israelis. there's too much tension in the region right now. so everybody is asking what's next. there will be something that's next, and one thing, jim, that's really important to emphasize, the palestinians are not represented by hamas. that is not the palestinian leadership. hamas is a terrorist organization that imposed itself on the people of gaza. and the more clearer that we can make this and the more clearer that the israelis can make this to the world, the better they can conduct the operation. as far as these hostages are concerned, could i say one more thing? >> sure. >> i don't see the leadership as willing to just stay there and be annihilated. so keeping these hostages alive is their last ticket to escape. it's not only that they're valuable in slowing down the israeli operation.

when it comes right down to it, there's some hamas leadership that's left that's going to say, as long as we've got hostages, we've got an exit strategy. so there's reason to believe that it's highly in the interest of hamas to protect the hostages, even during this fierce fighting. >> yeah, and i suppose, based on what the general just said there, if hamas is thinking that, if they keep the hostages alive, perhaps they're still in the game, there is hope that these hostages can be freed. but it depends, to some extent, does it not, on what in the net do netanyahu does, what the idf does. if it's shock and awe, that's going to make it difficult. if they do quick penetrating fights, that sort of thing, maybe they've got a chance. >> yes, and i think the israeli

, the minimal numbers that are going in at this stage, is reflective, i think, of a purposeful ambiguity. and i think the challenge for israel, with the humanitarian crisis in gaza we're seeing, how does -- one, how do we as supporters of stopping humanitarian crises, how do we ensure that people are not victimized who are not members of hamas, civilians, and then the second and most important is, how do we also ensure that this does not radicalize populations that were not radicalized before. this is the central question of counterterrorism efforts. if you go after terrorists and you do not think about civilian losses, people will be angry if they lose their son, their father, their daughter. and that anger tends to be manipulated by terror groups to continue the targeting.

this is not deep analysis, it is just something that we need to keep talking about, because of the humanitarian crisis. >> yeah. i mean, that is the pattern we've seen over the last 20 years. it's the question that's been talked about so many times in this country, after 9/11. general clark, julia, thank you very much to both of you. we are following more breaking news this hour. former vice president mike pence is suspending his campaign for president. what led to that decisioion is next.

breaking news, former vice president mike pence has just suspended his campaign for president. cnn's kristen holmes joins me from las vegas. talk about a very big surprise coming out of that conference today. i'm guessing nobody saw that coming. >> reporter: jim, this was a huge surprise. i talked to some of the event planners who said they had no idea. i saw some of pence's top aides here and wondered why they had come to this event.

obviously that is clear. one thing we're really watching is why. talking about why he decided to drop out. part of that reason is the fact that he hadn't qualified for the third republican debate. and sources tell our colleague, jeff zeleny, this was the principal reason behind the decision to drop out of the race. i did speak to another pence adviser who said that pence just saw the writing on the wall, saw that there really wasn't room for him, a lane that he thought was there in this primary just didn't exist. so take a listen to what pence had to say. >> traveling across the country over the past six months, i came here to say it's become clear to me, this is not my time. so, after much prayer and deliberation. i have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today.

now, i'm leaving this campaign, but let me promise you, i will never leave the fight for conservative values, and i will never stop fighting to elect principled republican leaders to every office in the land. so help me god. >> reporter: and, jim, i really think you and i are two people who are best positioned to be reporting on this because we have firsthand watched pence's rise and fall within the republican party. we were standing outside of trump tower when that announcement came that pence was going to be vice president. it was clear why trump picked him. he needed somebody who was more establishment, somebody who would put other conservatives at ease, somebody who really helped with the evangelical community. he helped bolster him in the republican party. of course, pence was also by his side through the four years in the white house, and the relationship became fractured when pence decided not to obey trump's demands not to overturn

the election, he certified the election. that's something that we've seen him have to face on the campaign trail. we are really looking at donald trump's republican party. pence was questioned about this. as donald trump called hk, he was called weak by voters in various town halls and asked why it was that he certified the election. i spoke to voters who said they didn't understand why he didn't try harder to overturn the election results. but i just think, again, it is a very significant moment here when you look at the evolution of the republican party, from pence being brought in to be the core establishment republican person in the 2016 unconventional ticket of donald trump, to where we are now, where mike pence has no lane and no room in the republican party. >> yeah, kristen, no doubt about it. when they were chanting "hang mike pence" on january 6th, it was very clear at that point this was not going to be mike pence's republican party. i want to bring in jeff zeleny, who is in des moines, iowa, with

us as well. kristen, you stand by, stay with us, if you can. your sense of things, as kristen was just saying a few moments ago, what a turn of events for the former vice president. he could not catch on inside of donald trump's republican party. it's just not going to happen. >> reporter: he couldn't. and it certainly was not for a lack of handshakes that he gave here in iowa and stops that he made. for the last several months he has been campaigning aggressively, trying to find that lane, trying to find a way in the republican party, and the reality is, his audiences were small, they were generally respectful. but there simply was not the opening for him. so i'm told by his advisers that he wanted to end his campaign, suspend his campaign, and announce this in a public forum. today's event in las vegas was one of the last best chances to do that. he was not likely to qualify for the third debate in miami because he simply had not reached the number of donors. so he spent the last week, i'm

told, calling around to a lot of donors. he had some fundraising success, but not the broad base that he needed. so the question is, what does this do to the race? several of his rivals have come out and praised him, of course the former president has not. but some of his rivals, of course, will be looking for an endorsement if he gives one. that's the central question right now. we've asked his advisers if he plans to do so, and he only said in his speech that he plans to stay involved and help elect principled republican leaders. so that would be an indication that he might plan to weigh in with an endorsement. the question is, would any of that actually matter. i'm told he was planning to come to iowa next week and the coming weeks to campaign because this, of course, is the place that opens the presidential nominating contest early next year. he needed to do well here, but he simply was not getting the support and traction on the ground. he was having a hard time raising money. again, not making the debate stage, which his advisers

thought he would struggle to do, certainly would be the end. so he wanted to end this on his own terms in a public speech and that's what we saw earlier today in las vegas, jim. >> yeah, jeff zeleny, no question about it. better to get out early than to keep waiting, especially if you're one of those republicans who wants to stop trump. at some point these non-trump republican candidates are going to have to coalesce behind someone like nikki haley or chris christie, if anyone is going to have a chance to take out trump. also with us is former adviser to former vice president mike pence, olivia troy. i was just mentioning with kristen holmes a few moments ago this turn of events, just shakespearean throughout all of this. i remember being inside the white house when they would have those cabinet meetings and it was always mike pence who had sort of the, you know, moments going around the cabinet room praising the president. you remember him praising the dear leader, those kinds of moments that would take place inside the white house.

juxtaposing that with what took place on january 6th, we have some video to show it one more time of what was happening. [ crowd chanting ] >> olivia, so i guess, one of my questions has always been, regarding this run for mike pence, why did he ever think he had a chance, given what took place on january 6th? >> yeah, look, i always find those images so jarring. i'm never going to get over seeing that and feel a sense of normalcy, because that's disturbing that that happened. i think he thought there would be an opportunity to court conservatives and republicans into his lane. and i think we've seen him dropping out is just another sign of where the republican party is. it is trump's party and, jim, to be honest with you, when i saw the headline hit that he had

dropped out, i was sad. i was sad for the republican party. and i was also sad for the country, because regardless of how you feel about mike pence's politics, this is one step closer that trump gets closer to that oval office again, and so i think it's important for mike pence to really come out and start speaking truthfully about the danger that trump is. and i hope that he will play a role in building that coalition against trump and just addressing it firsthand. when he talked about engaging and remaining in the fight for principled conservatives, i think that's the biggest thing that he can do right now, is really just start being more forceful. >> to follow up on that, do you think there's a chance for any candidates at this point to stop trump? can the rest of the republican party that does not want trump as the nominee, do they have the time and numbers to stop him at this point? >> clearly what we've seen is they don't have the numbers. he is so far ahead of the rest

of them. i think maybe it's time for them to sit down and figure out who has the best chance of winning, who would potentially gain on him, and really actually work together again. look, i think mike pence should be out there, he should be talking to liz cheney right now and saying, okay, let's work together, what can we all do to work together. because this is going to be a fight. i don't know whether trump will be in jail or not. we're still waiting to see what's going to happen. right now he is likely going to be the nominee. and i think it's up to all of us to really take this seriously and realize what is coming for our country, and no one knows better than mike pence of what that means. >> yeah, no question about it. guys, thanks to all of you for jumping on the breaking news so quickly. kristen, jeff zeleny, olivia troy, thanks to all of you. jeff, it looks like it's getting cold in iowa. special thanks to you as well. >> reporter: it is. >> i know it's that time of year. thanks, appreciate it.

other breaking news to tell you about, the united auto workers have reached a tentative new contract with stellantis. the company that owns jeep and chrysler. we don't know more until union leaders get to see the details and sign off on the deal, which could happen later today. the uaw reached a deal with ford management yesterday, but they won't be official until union members back the deal in voting. no word yet on how the talks are going with general motors. obviously some progress is being reached in all of this, and of course we'll stay on top of it and keep you posted if there are any other developments that happen this afternoon. perhaps general motors will be next. we'll stay on top of that and bring it to you when it happens. we'll bebe right bacack.

c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game?

yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network. the world health organization says health workers, patients and civilianness gaza spent the night in darkness and in fear. we want to warn you, the following videos you're going to

watch in a second are disturbing. according to the w.h.o., gaza hospitals are operating at, quote, maximum capacity, the communications blackout also posing a severe challenge as ambulances struggle to reach the wounded. jamana, what can you tell us about the situation on the ground? what do we know? >> reporter: jim, by all accounts, it is a catastrophic situation, but we don't actually know the extent of how much it has deteriorated in the past 24 hours, because you've got the most intense bombardment of gaza since the start of the war taking place in almost total darkness, because of this near total communications blackout. you have a few people inside gaza who have international phone lines who are able to get some information and some video and pictures out to the world, and even they are saying now that the internet signal is getting weaker and weaker.

so we're not really getting up-to-date information. but the picture that the information we have been getting paints is a very, very grim one, jim. after that night of intense bombardment, we've heard from the health services saying that they're paralyzed, pretty much, they're not able to move. those emergency workers, the first responders, the ambulances are not able to communicate with each other and get to where they're needed the most. people are not able to call 911. and people inside gaza not only cut off from the outside world, they can't communicate with their loved ones. they don't know if they are dead or alive. and even before this latest intensification and escalation, the humanitarian situation inside gaza was horrific and heartbreaking. we have to warn our viewers the report they're about to see is graphic and they may find it upsetting.

it's hard to believe this was gaza just a few weeks ago. dressed in his finest, dancing with his brother at a wedding. his mother still can't believe her boy is gone. he was holding my hand as i took him to make him a sandwich, she says. he didn't get to eat it. shrapnel cut through his neck. he's now in heaven. god give me strength to deal with this. the air strikes that took 6-year-old nor and other relatives left her with injuries all over her body, and the unbearable pain so many palestinian mothers are having to endure. there's a void in my heart. i can't even cry, she says. i really want to cry. but the tears are not coming out. why can't i get it out? i want to cry for my little boy.

recovering at hospital, she just wants to get back to her three other children, now homeless, sheltering at a school. hell is raining down on gaza. israel says it's going after hamas and doing what it can to spare the innocent, but it is the innocent who are paying the heaviest price and the few hospitals still barely standing, the pictures are too graphic for us to show. but faces here tell of the horrors they've survived and this living nightmare they can't escape. this 3-year-old hasn't uttered a word. she won't eat or drink, her father says. still in shock with a piece of shrapnel lodged in her. what did these children do? we have nothing to do with the resistance, he says. they're just targeting palestinians, they're killing children because they're palestinian. to them, we're not humans.

they don't know if she'll be able to walk again. she is one of the lucky ones, if one can call them that. she still has her father by her side. she keeps asking for her mom. she's too young to understand, her uncle says. she lost her mother, brother, and her sister, too. she shows the camera her ouch-ie. every corner of every hospital, so many heart-wrenching stories. she wakes up to cry. the two were the only two survive an air strike that killed her mother, father, brother, and dozens of their extended family. he asks me if we have internet here. he says, i want to call mommy and daddy. doctors in these overwhelmed

hospitals say every day brings a constant stream of children with no parents, a flood of injured they just don't have enough to treat. with the little they have, they do what they can. how do you begin to deal with so many going through so much? this is a live look at gaza, plunged in darkness. more ahead. we'll be right back.

israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is saying the idf is now in the second stage of the war, the staging ground near the border, once teeming with tanks, now largely empty as the forces expand their operation into gaza. let's go straight to jeremy diamond. what do you know about this next phase? what's happening? >> reporter: well, jim, this really was a moment to hear the

israeli prime minister, his defense minister, as well as a new member of this emergency government, benny gantz, declaring that this new phase of the campaign is effectively an existential war for the state of israel. that is the way that they framed it, calling it israel's second war of independence, and making very clear that even though we may not have seen an overwhelming ground force enter gaza on all sides, and simply are being told that this is an expansion of ground operations, they are making very clear that this ground operation is going to continue to expand. today what we saw and heard near the border with gaza, is that ground operation very much continuing and very much intensifying, all operations are that these troops are not coming back into israeli territory any time soon. instead, that they will be pursuing this operation and continuing to fight this war, which the israeli prime minister today said would be long and could also potentially be

costly, jim. >> jeremy, thank you very much for that. please keep us posted if anything develops on your end. we appreciate it. benjamin netanyahu says the second stage of the war has begun, as we just said a few minutes ago, with the goal of destroying the military and government of hamas. fears grow that the conflict will expand. that's our next topic in just a few moments.

jordan sponsored a nonbinding resolution before the united nations yesterday calling for an immediate truce in gaza. my colleague, jim sciutto, interviewed the jordanian foreign minister on his thoughts now that the israeli military is on the ground in gaza. >> reporter: you said prior to these ground operations today that in an israeli ground offensive there would be a human

catastrophe. now that operations have begun, i wonder what is your reaction? >> thank you, jim. i said actually after the operation started last night, after i saw it on your screen, that this is just going to bring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. we all stand by that because we know how devastating the air campaign is, the ground war is going to make it an impossibility. the number of death and casualties, it's going to sink us deeper into this abyss. and then what? another war to be added to the many wars we've had in the region. that saved no one. our position is we need to stop this war. we need to go back to a peace path that will save palestinian, israeli, and other lives. >> reporter: when you have expressed that position both in

public and privately to u.s. diplomats, have they listened to your opposition to this military campaign? what's been their response? >> we're in constant contact with the u.s. as you know, we're allies and friends, and we're in continuous discussion. they have their views, we have our views. i think by the end of the day we want peace, we want an end of death and end of suffering and end of killing. how we get there is something that we're discussing. our position is clear. this war will not get us there. imagine the amount of dehumanization that is happening. imagine the hatred that's coming out of this misery that we see unfolding in gaza. that is not going to bring peace or security to the israelis or to the palestinians or to any of us in the region. i think on the broader objective, i think people have to be insane not to support what we're saying which is let's go for peace, let's save lives. more killing is not going to

help anybody. and this is a conversation that we're having with all our friends and partners in the region and beyond. this is where i hope all our efforts will converge. >> reporter: jordan, of course, yours included condemned the october 7th attacks on israel and jordan it says has been the victim of horrible terror attacks by i.s.i.s. and other groups. i wonder what would you see as an acceptable military response from israel to the october 7th attacks. >> sir, we condemn obviously the killing of israeli civilians on october 7th. we condemn the killing of palestinian innocents since then. we see that we should not be squeezed between two things, we realize the pain that is there. but if we continue to operate within this space, we're just going to cause more pain for more people. how many lives are going to have to die before we say this is not

the path that we need to do. those that are lost on both sides are lost. there's nothing we can do to bring them back. but we can save lives. we can stop others being killed. this is really what is our message. every life matter, muslim life, christian life, we don't see that this war is going to bring security to anybody. it's not going to, as i said, bring back those who are lost. >> our thanks to jim. meantime, the families of hostages just met with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu to call for a comprehensive deal to return all hostages. we'll have more on that just ahead.

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