People during its deadly heinous invasion On October 7th, 222, it is believed, and negotiating the release of these remaining hostages is one of the big reasons the u. S. Wants israel to delay its Ground Incursion into gaza. The Israeli Defense minister saying an operation by air, ground, and sea will be coming, quote, soon. The idf today said Israeli Soldiers are taking part in training exercises to improve their capabilities for future ground operations. The other reason the u. S. Wants israel to delay any Ground Offensive is to make sure that more humanitarian aid can get into gaza to help the innocents the innocent palestinians. As of now 54 aid trucks 15 entered gaza but Relief Groups warn much, much more help is necessary. To put this into context, the area normally gets about 455 aid trucks every day. Since october 7th gazas more than 7,000 truckloads short of normal standards. But a senior israeli official told cnn there will be no ceasefire. The idf says it hit more than 320 targets overnight. Those strikes killed at least 436 people including 182 children. That is according to the Palestinian Health ministry, which we should note is controlled by hamas, so take that claim for what its worth. Lets get right to cnns Nic Robertson is sderot outside of gaza and cnns Alex Marquardt in washington, d. C. Nick, were now seeing this new video of these latest two released hostages. Walk us through the video. What exactly are we seeing . Yeah, what were seeing is them being released at the Rafah Closing at the south of the gaza strip into egypt remembering that the weekend or late friday night we saw The Other Two american hostages released at the Karim Shalom Border out of israel so they have been released into egypt and have seen them at the border getting medical treatment, rudimentary medical treatment and ambulances there before being transferred on expected for their journey back into israel shortly. Alex, were hearing one of the daughters of one of the hostages made a statement . Yes, jake, the daughter of Yocheved Lifshitz has made a statement confirming some of the details we learned from sources but also, of course, expressing joy at the release of her mother who goes by yoche as well as nurit cooper who is 79 years old, Yocheved Lifshitz, 85 years old. The statement says while i cannot put into words the relief that she is now safe, i will remain focused on securing the release of my father and all those, some 200 innocents who remain hostage in gaza so her father along with her mother were both hostages. Her mother has now been released as nic noted and still waiting to hear when the two women will be handed over to israeli authorities. We can imagine they will then be taken into military custody, perhaps, for more medical checkups. This is the same format essentially, the Broad Strokes at least we saw with judith and Natalie Raanan on friday when they were released. This begs all kinds of questions about what happens next. There are certainly going to be questions for the Prime Ministers Office because he had dismissed as false Propaganda A Hamas statement over the weekend that they were ready to release two more of their hostages and, of course, this is going to put a lot more pressure on israel to delay that Ground Incursion so that there can be more time for more of these hostages to come out and more aid to go into gaza, jake. Nic, how long are the idfs preparations for a Ground Incursion going . Reporter according to the army Chief Of General Staff just a few hours ago, he said were ready. Everything is ready for Ground Incursion in the south meaning around gaza and from what weve seen, the troops are there. The heavy battle armor is there. The tanks that you would expect to be at the forefront of an incursion there, the heavy armored fighting vehicles that youd expect for the infantry to be following the tanks in are there and also the heavy mechanical diggers that would go ahead of the tanks to help clear the route, clear the route through the wall, through the fence and through the areas where its possible hamas, Palestinian Islamic jihad could have been laying booby traps, ieds, planning ambush, all sorts of things that will be the immediate danger for the troops as they go into the gaza strip, but from everything weve seen, the preparations have been laid, the troops are there, soldiers weve talked to said weve been stood up, stood down, commanders weve talked to have said were using this time for training. Its helped us in the past in previous battles, so the army seems very ready and at this moment absolutely intent. Nic, i wanted to ask you, weve been talking on the show about urban warfare, urban combat because, you know, obviously gaza is very densely populated and specifically general kimmet compared gaza to the bloody Battle Of Fallujah in 2004 and talked about it with petraeus and kimmet. You covered it. Talk about that and how tough that was and how tougher this could be. Reporter yeah, i think this fight going into gaza will be orders of magnitude tougher for the idf. Theyve been in before. They know the terrain but this is also hamas own turf, so they will have laid plenty of booby traps. There are differences between fallujah, significant differences between fallujah and gaza. Ive been in gaza as well. The roads there are so narrow, its very densely populated. There are a lot of big, tall buildings. Fallujah as i remember with the marines on the streets there we were running down streets but they were wider and more like boulevards. There were bigger villas. There was less, if you will, of urban infrastructure and less places for, you know, terrorists to hide out and ambush the troops as they were going in and that was a very dangerous environment and several times we got pulled into firefights. I remember being in the middle of a firefight when we were supposed to be dropped off from a bradley fighting vehicle. It got diverted, pulled into a firefight so there are all sorts of things that will happen on the ground that are not part of the original plan, but the other thing i think this is significant, other than really this is a wellprepared force, hamas have been in gaza for years, decades, al qaeda and fallujah really, although some of them were indigenous, theyd only really been stood up for a Fighting Force for about a year, and it was easy for them to fall back out of the town environment, the urban fight and into the farmlands and escape the fight. Here the enemy is going to be contained and constrained in an area of essentially where they can pick and direct the fight. Its going to be tough. Cnns Nic Robertson and Alex Marquardt, thank you so much. Joining us now mosab hassan yousef, the son of a Hamas Founding Father and later became one of israels top informants. He went undercover with hamas from 1997 until 2007 on behalf of israels Shin Bet Security Services and now lives in an undisclosed locate. Mosab hassan yousef, thank you so much for joining us. What did you see and experience that made you turn on hamas and help israel . Yeah, since i was a child i always complained to my father about hamas abuse of power and their brutality, you know, theyre very strict and they theyre religious theyre fanatics, and but i did not think at some point, you know, they would cause all this global trouble, you know. They are we saw their brutality. I witnessed their brutality firsthand when i was in prisoned when they tortured so many Palestinian People for suspicion of collaborating with israel and this is basically when i started Questioning Hamas movement. Did the barbarity and cruelty of what hamas did to innocent civilians On October 7th, did that surprise you . Well, you know, they surprised me as they surprised everybody by the scale of the attack, you know, we did not see that coming, but their brutality, their nature, it did not surprise me. You know, back in 1996, they killed so many people, they tortured so many people, our, you know, prison mates basically, people i knew personally. They did all type of crazy things, you know, they put needles under peoples fingernails, you know, and i witnessed that firsthand. So im not surprised to what emption tent hamas can go, but the scale of the attack On October 7th that was surprise i think for everybody including hamas themselves. Were you surprised at the failure of Israeli IntelligenceOn October 7th . Listen, there was a failure, but this is not the time to blame anybody. There is corruption. There is failure. There is lack of leadership, but this is not the time now to blame anybody. This is the time to get unified, you know, the United States need to give israel the necessary co cover. Israel is fighting on behalf of america, israel is fighting on behalf of the Palestinian People. Israel now is fighting on behalf of the free world. This is not political propaganda. A as an exhamas member, the son of the founder of Hamas Organization and today as an american citizen, i ask the president of the United States to give israel the necessary cover, the necessary supply, whatever it takes, otherwise, the next war is going to be deadlier. I know that you think that hamas is the enemy of not just israel but the Palestinian People. Strategically, do you think it is wise for the Israeli Defense forces to stage a Ground Incursion into gaza to uproot hamas . Do you think thats a smart thing to do . Well, you know, now its a wartime, unfortunately, and this war, israel did not start, hamas started this war, and hamas, in fact, in this Equation Blood for money, they start a war every few years. Whenever they want money, you know, they shed childrens blood. This is their game, and this has to stop. This has to come to an end, and, unfortunately, the price is not going to be cheap. In fact, i feel very sorry for israel that they have to go into gaza where there are booby traps all over the place and i dont know how many Israeli Soldiers have to die in order to destroy hamas. This is the most complicated mission, a modern army has in our modern day. Now, what i suggest, you know, to the israelis, that they wait. They take their time. They collect intelligence, and what i need from the United States to give in support, in fact, i would like to see the navy s. E. A. L. S taking part. I know it sounds horrible but i speak as an american today, as a taxpayer. We need to be unified and give israel the support. We need to free palestinians and free gaza from hamas ruling. You were embedded with hamas before you were well, first you were with hamas and then you were embedded with hamas on behalf of the shin bet. What can you tell us about what motivates these people. What are they like . What are the leaders of hamas like . What do they want . Well, they are a religious movement and this is what everybody is afraid to say. If hamas was a Political Movement then we can satisfy their political ambition but hamas is a religious movement that does not believe in political borders and want to establish an Islamic State on the rubble of the state of israel. They want to annihilate the jewish people and the jewish state. They want to kill everybody who support israel. Then establish this is not the end, because their ambition is global. They want to establish eventually an Islamic State, a global state, so this is whats on their mind and we know that we cannot satisfy their ambition, and the more power, you know, we give them, the more aggressive they are going to be. Hence, we cannot give hamas what they want. We cannot give them what they are asking for. Whatever it takes, in war people die and we need to prepare public, you know, i say that this is an ugly war, israel did not start it but israel will end it. So, the United States insists that the aid being provided for civilians in gaza will not go to hamas. Do you believe that the aid will not go to hamas . Do you believe that the aid will only go to the innocent palestinians . You know, the United States and europe have been very generous with the Palestinian People but their leadership steal the money all the time. They steal the aid. So much aid came into gaza, hamas used all that aid to build tunnels under the ground and now look at the chaos they are creating. The aid is great but not right now. I suggest that we open the border for the palestinian innocent people including women, children and elders to leave the gaza strip or to go into a safe zone. In the meantime, we have to enforce unbreachable siege on hamas. Otherwise, we are not able to deplete them. They are under the ground. They have hostages. We have to cut power. We cannot give them food. We cannot give them water and we have to deplete them for long weeks before we can even go in, you know, otherwise we cannot win this war against this brutal enemy, enemy of humanity. Mosab yousef, really appreciate your insights. Youre welcome. Thank i for having me. Israel believes that more than 20 of the hostages currently being held by hamas are children. One of them, a young boy, who should be right now celebrating his birthday. His family will join me next. On october 7th, 8yearold ohad and his mother were visiting his grandparents when hamas invaded and brutally attacked their kibbutz burning their home to the ground. He and his mother and grandparents were all kidnapped. Today is his birthday. He turns 9 years old. Instead of celebrating with his friends and family, hes a prisoner of a Terrorist Group and two members of his family join me now. Thank you so much for being here and i cant even imagine whats going through your head. How is the family marking his 9th birthday . Actually we had an idea of having a campaign of celebrating his not celebrating, but mention his birthday today so we ask via all media for everyone in israel to hang a balloon thats why you have the balloon for his birthday. The balloon is red since ohad was his uncle liked liverpool, which is red, and his team in israel, their color is also red. Ohad and his mother just came to visit, as you said, to visit in oz so today all of the town will fill with balloons and all over children flew balloons and wrote letters and it was amazing to see all israelis and in london and San Francisco that kids tried to have to kind of celebrate his birthday. Eta, not how a 9yearold should be celebrating his birthday. No, definitely not, i think kids should not be in hamas hands. Kids should not be inside captivity of a Terror Organization. We all saw what hamas is capable of two weeks ago. We saw the atrocities and how they raped, murdered, burned to the ground people alive, kids with their parents and, you know, there is almost 30 kids now in the hands of hamas, and they should all be free. Now they should all be released as soon as possible. If we talk about humanitarian aid we talk about humanity. Kids inside hamas hands is inhumane in any way possible. There are kids there from the age 9 month from the oz there is a baby who is 9 month old and we dont know if he has his formula, his diapers. Theres even theres kids there without their parents. Their parents got murdered. In front of them. In front of them and they were taken into gaza by hamas. We have to remember that hamas is isis and theyre vicious Terror Organization and all kids should be released immediately, immediately. How did you find out that this happened . First of all, first thing on saturday morning there was we knew there are bomb that there are missiles from gaza. We are used to it because my aunt and uncle live there from the early 60s, okay, and the last 20 or 15 years they are bombing all the time. So we got used to it and we have the Whatsapp Group of the family and ask them how are you and i didnt know that karen, my cousin and her son went to nere oz so around the 11, i text her what is going on with your parents since we knew that we didnt have a connection with her parents and unfortunately on 11 00 a. M. She was already in gaza with her parents and her son. It took time to understand whats going on. At the beginning we thought theres no electricity, there is no connection with there is no wifi. Thats why they dont call us, but then from the marvelous nice kibbutz, they left only 150 people out of 400, so only on Saturday Night someone that i asked her that i know i knew her and i knew that her parents live in nir oz and said theyre not on the Survival List and not on the dead list meaning theyr army came and told us that they have their reason to believe that they kidnapped them. So the government has been in touch with you because weve talked to other families that the government wasnt in touch. Yeah, so it took some time at the beginning. There was a lot of chaos. Nobody knew exactly what was going on. But after a few days we had contact from the government telling us that they know that our family is inside gaza. At the beginning we also thought wadi who was murdered was with them but it was just due to the time it took to figure out his body, you know, hamas, they didnt just settle for killing and murdering everyone. They also burned their bodies and just beheaded peoples heads and it was so difficult for the government and all the authorities to match the dna that the families gave them with the bodies that they found so like we told you only yesterday there was the funeral, murdered more than two weeks ago. More than 200 bodies that are not recognized yet because of the conditions of the body. My cousins house is burned. I can show you the film. Someone came there and took the video. Its burned. You see nothing, nothing. What do you want to say to the people who have who have your family right now . If theyre watching right now, what would you say to them . Let them go. Theyre innocent. Theyre innocent civilian. What would you say to the leaders of turkey or qatar or egypt . If you actually care about people and you want to seem humane and you want to connect with the west and present yourself as liberal and loving mankind, you should do everything to release all civilians. Listen, we and all the kib Kib Kibbutzes next to the gaza border are peace lover. You know, my uncle lived there for more than 60 years. He used with his friends, he used to take people from and kids from gaza to health care in israeli hospitals, because they didnt have good hospital in israel. We had lots of program. The kibbutz made lot of peace programs. They had things with kids exchanged kids showing talking with kids, explaining kids what peace is, trying to be good neighbors, and, you know, the hamas instead of taking the money that the qatar gives them to educate the people, to build big hospitals, to build university or places to work, they use it with weapons against us and what else we discovered, that we gave people to come to work in israel since we wanted them to have money and we wanted them to have salary and instead of that, you know, they had maps of all the kibbutzs. They had maps, each family where do they live, you know, in nir oz, the first couple who were shot that they just went jogging on saturday morning, they called the Ambulance Driver and they told they called him on the phone and they told him someone us, so the Ambulance Driver went out to his house and he saw that the ambulance was on fire. So everything was planned. They knew it. They have a factory in nir oz. Its all burned. Yep. They just did it, you know, to destroy everything in the kibbutz. Its like the holocaust. Believe me, i know stories, i live here for 60 years in israel. I heard a lot of evidence for from survivors from the holocaust, same story. Intricately, intricately planned and strategized, absolutely, itay and merav, i hope we can come back next year to celebrate the 10th birthday. I hope. New information just coming in on those two hostages released this evening by halsey. What were learning about how they were taken and some of their Family Members that israel says are still being helt, stay with us. Cmon, were right there. Cmon baby. Its 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. Theyre noise cancelling earmuffs. I stole them from an airport. Its always something with you, man. Great solid greek salad . Exactly dont delay the game with verizon or tmobile 5g Home Internet. Catch it on the xfinity 10g network. Welcome back to theed lead. Im jake tapper live in tel aviv. Were getting new information about the two hostages released by hamas earlier this evening. The israeli Prime Ministers Office says that 79yearold nurit cooper and 85yearold Yocheved Lifshitz are headed now to a Medical Center in israel where they will be reunited with family. Israeli Officials Say that their husbands who were kidnapped are still being held by hamas. Cnns Matthew Chance is with me here in tel aviv. Matthew, we know that hamas did not release these two old ladies, these two elderly ladies for humanitarian reasons. Theyre not they dont do anything for humanitarian reasons. So why did they do it . Well, i mean, its difficult to say, isnt it . But we can say that hamas has been releasing these are the second group of two hostages theyve released. The last group were on friday. The last two were americans. That was significant. But theyre doing it sort of almost on the eve of when expectations rise for that Land Offensive were all expecting so its almost as if theyre kind of showing the israelis or, you know, telling the israelis, you know, dont go in right now. There are more hostages that could come out and or signaling even to the americans, kind of, right, like, oh, look, heres some because the strategy is maybe working. We now know that the u. S. Has been putting pressure on israel asking them to delay this Military Offensive to allow for humanitarian aid to go in but also to allow for this process of Hostage Negotiations which is taking place between the United States and qatar in touch directly with hamas to actually yield results. You know what, it is yielding some results in the sense that these two people came out today, two people came out on friday, and, yes, its a slow process and may drag on for weeks and weeks and weeks, you know, but, you know, these people are coming out alive. If the israeli army go in, you know, with all those hostage, more than 200 not released, their fate is, you know, is very, very uncertain, indeed, to say the least. Were seeing this increase in cross fire in the north near the israel Lebanon Border and youve been reporting from the area. Yes. Its not just hamas israel is fighting especially with fighting in the north. No, its hamas, its other palestinian militant groups in Southern Lebanon but its mainly hezbollah, the iranianbacked militia that controls most of the all of the territory in Southern Lebanon. Theres been sort of a daily ramping up of antitank missiles fired to israeli positions, the other side of the border that when i was there there were a couple of infill trags of hezbollah fighters inside israel. One of them actually got into israel and they had to hunt him down for half a day. So incredibly frightening given what happened a couple of weeks ago obviously. I mean, look, what the israelis say is that they will not strike hard into lebanon unless this really escalates beyond where we are now and they say were not at that point now but a lot of civilians in Northern Israel say theyre not going to go back to their homes. Theyve been evacuated. Tens of thousands. They wont go back while the hezbollah threat is still alive just across the border. Behind the scenes israeli officials are telling me they will no longer tolerate the status quo on that northern border with hezbollah fighters literally just over the fence threatening israelis. They dont know what theyre going to do yet but the status quo will not be allowed to last. Matthew chance, thank you so much. Appreciate it. A mans plea to the Biden Administration after an israeli Air Strike Hit his family home in gaza. Were back in a moment. Welcome back to the lead live from tel aviv, israel. As many as 600 americans are trapped in gaza according to the u. S. State department. One is yousef abu shaban, an israeli Air Strike Hit his home and killed his 14yearold sister. Before i traveled here to israel, i spoke over the phone with yousefs father who told me about that tragic moment. Thank you so much for joining us, sir. Im so sorry to hear about your daughter. Its so unspeakably horrible. Can you tell us what happened . Yes, actually after days, the israelis and people who live in gaza, those who live in gaza left to leave to go to the southern part but a lot of people, and i decided to stay in my home. We find that suddenly a rock hit our place and killed my daughter and my wife and my son, yousef, and my daughter and i have a break in my arm and i have some problems with my arm and that the same thing happened with my daughter and yousof had problem with his jaws and needed special treatment. As you see, its overcrowded with injuries and there is no, no equipment to deal with the huge injuries. Youre not a u. S. Citizen abdelaziz but your son yousof is. He was born in michigan. Showing pictures of him showing a u. S. Passport. Cnn has not confirmed his citizenship but in the pictures hes showing his passport. Have you been able to get in touch with the u. S. Embassy and what would you like to say to u. S. Officials . Actually, i appeal to the American Government and cons consulate. We just had a lot of bombs we had a problem and, you know, and all my family are in very bad situation. The security and the israelis are bombing everywhere. Everywhere. You cant imagine. Everywhere. Abdelaziz anwar, we hope you and your family get out of harms way very soon. Thank you for talking to us. Thanks. That was on friday. Yesterday a cnn producer spoke with yousof, abdelazizs son. They are still at the Hospital Waiting to see if his father needs followup surgery. We will keep tabs on them and keep bringing you their story. Our coverage here from tel aviv continues in a moment. Lead. In less than an hour, House Republicans will meet Behind Closed Doors to hear from the nine candidates to want to be considered for speaker of the house. Nine candidates, nine, nine, nine, theyve all announced theyre running. The big question remains after the party failed to rally behind Steve Scalise and jim jordan over the past 20 days after failing their previous speaker, kevin mccarthy, will any of these nine be able to get to 217 votes on the house floor, any of them . Cnns manu raju is with me from capitol hill. Manu, what are the republicans hoping to hear from the candidates tonight . Whats next after this, and will this ever, ever be over . Reporter its really uncertain whether or not any of these candidates can get the 217 votes that they would need on the house floor to be elected. But they are hoping to convince their colleagues that its finally time to put this ugly episode behind them. This Leadership Crisis that has left the house completely paralyzed, any legislation, pressing national, international issues. The house cant do anything in the after math of the ousting of kevin mccarthy, and any of the two candidates who have tried to replace them whose nominations were sunk. Tonight there will be a Candidate Forum where members will make their pitch to the conference and tomorrow morning will be a Leadership Election where they will nominate their candidate, but the nomination doesnt mean nair going to get the 217 votes to be elected speaker. That is going to be the big test for whoever wins the nomination, jake. And manu, several of the candidates said they spoke to former President Trump. What is trumps involvement in all of this chaos . Reporter they did, and in fact, trump has called up some of these members individually to talk to them about the race. In talking to some of these republican candidates, they were saying the former president is indicating he plans to stay out of the race. Former President Trump has spoken to candidates that are running. Have you spoken to him since you announced . I have. Reporter what was that conversation like . He wanted to know what was going on in the race. Nine people getting in the race, he knew some of us at different degrees and levels. I think hes going to let this play out. Its going to happen quickly tomorrow. Well see where it goes. He called me and we had a polite conversation and i believe that the president is interested in having somebody he can work with, and i think im one of those people. Reporter did he say he would support you. I did not ask for that. He and i wanted to have a clear understanding about why im running and what i intend to do. Reporter and he also had a conversation over the weekend with gop whip tom eller, one of the candidates in the race and trump himself suggested he potentially could not try to tip the scales until the race. He did back jim jordan previously. Jim jordan could not get the votes to be elected speaker. Yeah, big question about trumps juice. Manu raju, thank you so much. Well be right back. Back in the United States, Detroit Police say they have identified persons of interest, but not a suspect yet in the murder of a president of the board of a synagogue, Samantha Woll was found dead with multiple stab wounds outside her home Early Saturday Morning after returning home from a wedding friday night. Police say they do not believe the murder was motivated by antisemitism. They also believe the suspect acted alone and the community is not at risk. Here in the middle east, as the casualties of war continue to compound, many of you watching, i know, feel compelled to try to help with humanitarian relief efforts for the innocent victims here in israel and also in gaza. You can head to cnn. Com impact. Cnn has a list of vetted organizations on the ground