confirmations were pushed through today. that means for the first time since july, the joint chiefs do have a full slate of senate-confirmed officers. that includes admiral lisa frank kennedy, tuberville saying he's standing by the block cade we means they will have to continue to do them one one. thank you foror joininin us, cnn news with abby phillips starts right now. the gaza skylights up with rockets and flarest risks losing the war of public opinion. that's tonight on news night. >> good evening, i'm abby philip in washington. to want, the sights and sounds of war, caught on cnn's cameras, lighting up the sky in gaza, can the united states tell it's ally how to fight a war? and can the leader of the free world stitch together democrats viscerally torn apart by israel's campaign. just in, sources say that president biden and his administration are all warning israel that it has weeks, not months to uproot hamas from gaza. and that every image of a dead palestinian child is tipping public support away from it's war. the president got on in your face challenge to tell israel that enough is enough. >> mr. president, if you care about jewish people, as a rabbi, i need you to call for a cease fire right now. >> biden responded by saying that he wants a pause or what his critics call a cease-fire by another name. it's a notion that the white house tried to shoot down today. >> we're also helping israel go after hamas. >> and as you push israelis for humanitarian pauses, are they just supposed to sit back and let hamas attack and attack and attack them and not fight back? >> we've been crystal clear had israel has a right to defend themselves. >> now, democrats were never going to make blood thirsty calls for revenge or insist on bulldozing the entirety of gaza with artillery, but, 23 days ago, a cease fire would have been unthinkable for the far left wing of the party. and it was just a week ago who said a cease fire really only benefits hamas. and now it's not unthinkable at all. >> it is time for a humanitarian pause. it is time for us to count the injured and bring them forward for floating hospitals and other sources to help them. i think this is the moment we should cease. >> is a cease fire needed now? >> i think it is. >> that was dick durbin, the number two demonstrate on cnn this morning. his answer is a matter of evolution over democrats telling the president that israel cannot go on waging war like they are. and tonight, senator chris murphy a powerful demon in his view and the view of others, strikes like as what you see here are no where are near proportionate. he said, today this should not have happened. to some democrats, the jabalia strike is simply a warmer. >> we're seeing refugee camps bombed and thousands of children who have died. this is not war. this is chaos. and we have a responsibility to uphold our standards and commitment to human rights. it is a war crime. at the same time, there is a very vocal other side of this conversation. rasheedatalibe finds herself a target of this ad from a group called democratic majority for israel. >> she's one of only seven democrats in congress to vote against missile attacks in israel. her legislation will allow terrorists to arm themselves. tell. >> i want to bring in democratic congresswoman, thank you for being here. you're calling for a cease fire as are some of your colleagues. but, look at what's happening tonight, the intensifying of bombardment and ground invasion of gaza, do you think that is still possible? >> well, abby, what i have called for is a crease fire or at minimum, assessization of hostilities. because, a cease fire does take time to negotiate and it involves all parties. and i think that what has to happen is a cessation of hostilities to get the hostages out and get humanitarian aid in and have a real discussion of how to move forward in this very, very, very, tragic and complex time. and so, i think it is still possible. you see, um, countries around the world continuing to call for a cease fire or a cessation of w hostilities. we're up to 9,000 innocent civilians dead in gaza. and, over 3,000 of those are children and another 6600 kids injured. and, this is not in accordance with international humanitarian law which the president has rightly called for israel to follow. and, so, nobody believes that keeping fuel, keeping water, keeping food from innocent civilians in gaza is in compliance with the law. >> your colleague alexandra o-cortez. >> i think what i think is really very salient in this moment is how many innocent civilians are dying. and what we know is that the number of casualties, according to international law, the number of casualties of innocent civilians has to be minimized. and if you recall, there were 1.1 million gazaens told to go from north gaza to south gaza. and there have been bombing in the refugee camp and close by 12,000 people sheltering there, this is where the air strike are taking place. the idea that we're going to minimize the civilian casualties as we continue these strikes doesn't make sense. and what we have to understand is if we want peace for israel or palestine, this is not the with a i to go. expert in war and terrorism is saying this kind of bombing is going to turn more palestinians towards hamas or the next iteration of hamas. this is the the way. >> you've called for a cease fire and it's been echoed by your colleague dick durbin. but, senator murphy said that israel needs to be more prop proportionate about carrying out this campaign. well, there's no question that the october 7th attack was horrific, that hamas is a terrorist organization that needs to be eliminated. the question is how. and you know, what we've seen over and over again, and expert in terrorism who are not progressive, said the same thing when you go in and raise an entire population and dpont follow humanitarian law and don't have proportional hits compared to what's done to you. if you violate all of those terms, all you do is you actually turn more people against you. >> that's what i'm wondering. it is possible for them to carry out this campaign and ign and da way that you think actually does, in fact, minimize civilian casualties? >> well, i think that it is absolutely possible to have a cessation of hostilities, for israel to re-think how it is going to take out hamas, and how it is going to build the kinds of relationships that will allow for that kind of multilateral coalition including with. in cases where we've been successful in taking out terrorist organizations, there have been many ways on the ground that countries have come together, forces have come together, and, right now, it doesn't seem like there's much of a plan. >> i want to turn to just how this is all playing internally in the united states. congress woman rasheeda talib is facing an ad against her stance on israel. you also have congressman jamal bowman, facing a primary challenger. this is becoming a hot button issue, dividing, really, the democratic party. are you concerned this is something that could hurt democrats in 2024 in districts, that, frankly, your party cannot afford to lose? >> i do worry what this means not only for swing districts with big muslim and arab populations that were critical in getting joe biden elected and taking back the house and senate. but, also in swing states across the country, or, even not swing but very close states across the country where we have a lot of young voters who turned out, abby, there is a generational divide in how to think about israel and gaza, and our young voters who are out there, and frankly, the majority of the american population believes that israel has a right to self defense, they abhor what hamas has done. thy don't think one war crime deserves another war crime. and i think that we have to be extremely careful about losing these voters who may not vote for a republican, but, who'll stay home if they feel like their moral core has been challenged in a way that does allow them to be excited. >> do you think that they should do that if they want to stay home because of this conflict? >> listen, i think i'm going to be out there getting every democratic voter out that i could possibly get out to vote for joe biden, to vote for democrats. what i'm saying is that we cannot take them for granted. there's an issue here not just with the politics, but, just remember that 140 nations of the united nations voted for a sustain humanitarian truce. the united states was only one of 14 countries who did not. i don't want the united states to be isolated. joe biden has done a phenomenal job in rebuilding multilateral institutions. we need to listen to those multilateral institutions and we need to make sure that the united states is seen as an unbiases broker to broker peace and truth that will last for a long time in the middle east and preserve israeli security, palestinian security, self-determination and israeli and palestinian lives. and i think that's really what's at stake congresswoman, thank you for joining us tonight. >> thank you, abby. ahead, israel said it's surrounded gaza city as soldiers begin to engage with hamas. we'll talk about the unfolding battle next. plus, the leader of next door, hezbollah, is said to give a speech as fears grow this will turn into a wider war. and a stunning report on the fate of the war in ukraine. volodymymyr zelenskyky's soldie believeving their r war is unwinnablele. >> you are looking here at the orange glow of war piercing the gaza sky today, the dramatic images are what might be the prelude to the new campaign to eradicate hamas. as troops have now surrounded gaza city. the clear isolation promises to quote teach israel a lesson and to repeat the terror on october 7th. i want to bring in retired colonel layton. what we saw today, it was really, when i saw spectacular, i've never seen something that looks like that before. these explosions, the lighting up of the sky, walk us through what israel was trying to accomplish there. and this was, by the way, going on in this area right here, right? >> that is correct, abby. exactly. so, what you're looking at is not only the tunnel of maps as we have them right now based on the intelligence knowledge that we have. but, you're absolutely right, this is the area in which this occurred, this very spectacular explosions that you see right here. now, when you go back to this tunnels map here, what they're trying to accomplish is they're trying to cut off every single piece where there's an entrance and an exit. so, think of doing this for over 300 miles of tunnels. that's what the difficulty of this operation. and just by putting these dots here, you could see how difficult it is to go after every single area, not only here but in the south and in the center of the country. >> and when we say they're encirculating gaza city, what does that mean. >> so, gaza city is about here. they are literally from sea, land positions as well as air, they're going after all the different hamas positions that are in gaza city. so, we have to remember, gaza city is destroyed in large part right now. but, what the hamas fighters are doing is they're using that as in placements for setting up ambushes and ieds, and things like that. so, what they're having here, abby is the israeli army is coming in from several different sides and using these areas to come in to gaza. first they'll start here, move down this way, and as they come down in this area, they're stopping to keep everything encircled right here to keep them from going anywhere else. >> what does this mean for the hostages, there are 242 now, is the number, as the hostages in gaza city, some of them we believe held in tunnels like you're looking at here. what does the ground invasion mean for that? >> it can mean many things but most likely, they're being forced in certain areas, they're going to be in tunnels like this in all likelihood, most of them will be. if they're lucky they're will be in areas with enough air and water to sustain themselves, but, that's going to be a bit of a problem because as the israelis come in, the idea that air, water, other things maybe limited in supply will limit the effectiveness not only of the hostage takers and their ability to maintain the hostages but it will have an impact on the hostages themselves and it could be very difficult for them to come through this without major health issues at this point in time. >> so many risks for the hostages still there in gaza. colonel, thank you very much for joining us as always. and up next, detrayed by the u.s., ukraine's president delivers candid criticism aimed at the united states. plus, donald trump tonight calls january 6th inmates, hostages and salutes their anthem. governor will join me here live. nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. the escalating war between israel and hamas is fuelling debates about how the united states should approach it. but, there is another international conflict still raising that is still a big flash point here at home. the war in ukraine, after months of a counter offensive to rest territory from russia, while ukrainian president zelensky is deeply committed to the fight, some of his advisors are worried. one of his aids telling time that he deludes him selves, we're out of options, we're not winning but try telling him that. but that sobering accidentment extends beyond the government. just like in the first world war, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stale mate. there'll likely be no deep and beautiful break through. a stalemate which was not the characterization over the last several months. they acknowledged they're not going as far and as fast as they would like, that said, they are moving. it's not a stalemate. they're not just frozen. ukrainians are moving. >> we do not assess that the conflict is a stalemate, we're seeing it continue to take territory on a methodical systemattic basis. >> we want to make sure that ukraine has what it needs, not only to succeed on the counter offensive, but, has what it needs for the long-term. >> and the reality on the battlefield, well, we could show you, those silver slivers of yellow are ukraine's counter offensive gains and it's not a whole lot. now, the ground in ukraine is hardening for winter and the fight for how much aid to give them is intense. congress authorized $113 billion so far, but, the polls are suggesting that american's willingness to support ukraine is waning. american who is say that the u.s. is doing too much to help ukraine, and now it's at 41%, up from 29% in june. and that's raising tough questions for the biden administration and for both party in congress. joining me now to discuss this is retired lieutenant colonel alexander vinman and he's the foreign affairs director for the national securities counsel. colonel vinman, thank you for joining us. this interview is ex-ordinary because it does outline zelensky's deep opposition at this point to negotiating a truce. this summer counter offensive was supposed to be their moment to make a breakthrough with russia, but, it has fizzled. is there a time now for a push from allies to the west to get to the negotiating table. >> i think zelensky has to respond to his own population. for the time being there's overwhelming support to continue an offensive and attempt to liberate the territory. this is overwhelming margins, we're talking about 90% of the population still believes they could win the warment and as a leader, he has to respond to that. what are our obligations as allies and partners? what is the u.s. strategic interest, i think it's to continue to help support ukraine, mainly, because, things could actually change relatively fundamentally towards the end of 2024, not because of victims on the battlefield that didn't materialize this year. part of it is how late supports came in in the last couple of weeks. the flow of support in general in terms of armored vehicles was insufficient. but, it's also, the tactics that the ukrainians were deploying, insufficient training and didn't have a concept for a way to achieve these major gains. but, the political dimension in 2024 can be very, significant, there's a nato submit, a washington summit. the 75th anniversary of nato, where ukraine could be offered to join nato, that could change russia's desire to wage war at that point russia would lose the incentives to fight because that would provoke a tore at the end of 2024, hoping to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat with a trump administration. that completely cuts off ukraine. the fact is our obligation right now is to continue to support ukraine. >> and look, you just mentioned the 2024 campaign, if it does happen that trump wins that campaign, i mean, that could spell real trouble for ukraine. but, the article also quotes a close zelensky aide saying, "most of all zelensky feels betrayed by his western allies, they have left him without the means to win the war, only the means to survive". you just mentioned some of the aid from the united states coming late from this conflict, is he right that this is a betrayal? >> from his perspective, he's fighting on behalf of the democratic world. it's his soldiers that are dying. it's ukraine that is bearing the brunt. i think that he has a valid cause to make that. we might not like hearing it. we might have thought that we have done enough, especially, the biden administration when they take things personally when called out for not providing support or providing it too slowly. i think for this point, it's a valid judgment. i think the u.s. has benefit from this war from a geopolitical stand point. we could have provided aid that would have saved ukrainian lives and we still have an opportunity to do that. president biden in his recent speech brilliantly connected israel and ukraine, because, he sees this as a extent of regimes looking to upend u.s. leadership and rule of law. and good local governance. and i think there's an opportunity to move forward with a very large appropriation. the $160 billion that the president's asked for. $60 billion towards ukraine and $40 billion for israel and palestine. and that could provide the resources that ukraine needs to continue to chip away. because, i think these doom and gloom scenarios don't make sense to me. the fact is russia does not have endless resources and they're relying on antiquated equipment, and poorly trained troops. russia's just trying to hang on for as long as it can through 2024 and we can continue to help push ukraine, and provide resources to win. >> all right, colonel vinman, thanks for your perspective on that. and nikki haley's campaigning in new hampshire with governor chris sununu in tow. will he endorse her, i'll ask the govern next. plus, hunter biden says shame on the media for shaming his addiction but dodoes he wana call for people to be locked up overer. can nikki haley make friends in high places? the setting first in the nation and the friend in question, the state's governor, chris sununu. they joined where the pair took questions at a local restaurant. the stop follows a polling search for haley that shows her as a clear but distant second place to donald trump in south carolina. i want to bring in new hampshire governor chris sununu. thank you for joining us. you had quite the day with governor haley, are you ready to endorse her for president? >> well, no, i'm not making endorsements yet. but, kind of traveling the scene with a lot of candidates, nicky was grade, we started at a diner, did town halls and met a lot of folks. there's a lot of energy and people are getting engaged now a lot more than they did a couple of month ago. i think that will continue. most voters don't decide who they are going to vote for probably until after thanksgiving, the fact that we had town halls where people were literally out the door, they had people sitting in 30 degrees of the parking lot, they were watching, they were engaged and asking good questions. retail politics makes good retail managers and that's what the white house could use. >> you said you were closer to endorsing her today. i mean, is that were you're leaning? are you feeling like she's probably the closest right now to get your endorsement? >> no, i wouldn't say that, i was all day with ron desantis last week, i'll be back on the trail with other candidates next week. i mean, niki and i have been friend and i think she's a wonderful candidate, she's working hard there's no doubt about it. and she's connecting with the voters, and folks are getting engaged. when i know who i'm going to vote for, i'll let everybody know. and then i'll get behind them. voters in new hampshire are smart, endorsements don't mean everything. they want to make the decisions themselves, an ask the questions of the candidate themselves, we have a saying here, are you going to vote for nikki haley, well, i don't know, i've only met her three times. they have to earn the vote time and time again. that's why i think new hampshire is a great first filter for the rest of the country. >> governor desantis has been ramping up his criticism about donald trump, listen to what he had about trump showing up or potentially not showing up on next week's debate. >> if donald trump could summon the ball toss show up to next week's debate, i'll wear a boot on my head. >> what would it take to get donald trump to show up at a debate at this point? >> i got to tell you, trump is scared. he's scared to death that someone is going to call him on his record for not getting stuff done. he's scared to death that these republicans know his record better than he does. when it comes to conservatives like myself, we want fiscal discipline, he was a disaster, we want the border secured, it was not. we want the swamp drains and he wouldn't work with republicans and he sure won't get something gone with democrats. he doesn't want to be called to the carpet. as the polls get closer and they will, as the field keeps whittling down, he's going to have to start to face the music, he's going to do everything he can to avoid talking about himself in the future, but, that's what this is about, it's about a party coming together, a country coming together and moving forward in a positive way and getting past the biden agenda. which as a conservative republican, we want to see. >> the candidates at the bottom of this race have been trading votes, trump is staying where he is in the mid-40s, aren't you running out of time to make a decision, perhaps before thanksgiving when things get locked in. >> things don't get locked in until january or february. think of about it this way, trump has to win new hampshire or iowa, if he doesn't, he's toast. >> it's looking right now like he's a shoe-in for both states. >> but, again, most of the voters don't decide. don't get caught in that media trap, most voters don't decide who they're going to vote for until after thanksgiving. in the next debate, we may have only four people on that stage. the field is whittling down. naturally, things are getting tighter and tight e it's going to come down to two or three candidates when it get toss iowa or new hampshire. if you could get to a one-on-one race before super tuesday, that's whose going to win the race. if you get to one-on-one, as you said, if he's in the mid-40s, that tells me the other candidates is in the mid-50s, and trump's going to be in trouble. >> governor i want to play what happened today on a campaign stop in former president trump in houston, he saluted the flag to an altered version of the national anthem. >> thank you very much, that was, i call them the j. 6 hostages, not prisoners. it's a shame, they did that and asked me wether or not i would partake and do the beautiful words and i said, yes, i would. and you saw the spirit, the spirit was incredible. the version that he saluted was sung by january 6th inmates. what do you make of that? >> well, look, look, obviously, i have no problem with the national anthem or who sings it. but, let's cut to the chase, donald trump's a few fries short of a happy meal, we all know that. so, it shouldn't surprise anybody when he says or does something stupid. he's going to do anything he can to talk about the past, relitigate the past, fire up his base of 30-32% that probably isn't going to move from him. and really remind him why he's going to stick with them and he's going to stick with him. if we look at the polls remember a third of his voters said they would consider someone else. he knows he could be in trouble if this gets down to a one-on-one race. he's only path is to rail up his base like that. >> if donald trump is the nominee, would you vote for him? >> i don't think donald trump will be the nominee or president joe biden will be. >> will you vote for him, a yes or no question. >> i'm going to do whatever i can. >> i'm going to note here that you didn't answer the question and i'll have you back. thank you, governor sununu. >> thank you, that's how i get on the show. >> up next, hunter biden is accusing the media of weaponizing his addiction. and ivanka trump's request to postpone her testimony in her father's trial, it's been denied, the judge decided it's not going to work. >> hunter biden tonight slamming the republican party and right-wing media for what he calls a weaponization of his addiction. in a new op-ed the president's son alleges that his struggles and his mistakes have become fodder for a vile and sustained disinformation campaign. against his father and a full annihilation of his reputation. he also warns that the weaponization of my addiction, bipartisan and craven factions, represents a real threat to those desperate to get sober, but are afraid of what may await them if they do. now, hunter is currently facing multiple charges, including three federal gun charges, which alleged that he lied about his drug use in 2018 on a form that he used by a gun. with me now is republican strategist michael singleton and cnn political commentator former obama white house staffer ashley allison. sure michael, your take on what he is seeing here in this op-ed, which is about addiction, but it's also about him and what he has been through in terms of how it's been handled by conservatives. >> sure, hunter biden is an adult. his father's been engaged in politics for 50 years now, he should be used to this. i do have empathy and compassion for what he's going through. addiction is a very serious illness, people spend their entire lives, every single day, trying to battle this with great success, and some with not such good success. but the same compassion and empathy that he's calling for, abby, i would have wished and hope that his father the chief architect of the 93 crime bill would have that same empathy for the 1.5 million black men that were imprisoned because of that legislation. i would want the same empathy and compassion and the lack of politicization of that black mothers and families and community leaders asked for when those same black men were going before judges who said you're absolutely going to prison, i'm not going to have compassion for your addiction. so, while i understand the point and the politics of it, this, to me, goes a whole lot deeper and falls a bit on deaf ears. >> he starts the op-ed by saying he drank a bottle of alcohol and smoked crack every day. the 93 crime bill that shermichael is talking about, he's not wrong. the crack cocaine disparity was born out of that crime bill and now compassion for hunter biden? >> i think the way we're dealing with addiction, now, has changed drastically over the years. it is a disease. i will say that some 20 million americans in this country suffer from addiction, which means that most americans interact with a human being that has an addiction. it is a trying experience, it's hard for the person who's addicted and really hearts on friends and family. so, to go after hunter biden as a political ploy, i don't think falls well on voters because if you have compassion for your family member who is kind addicted, you would also have compassion for a father who has sympathy for his son who is struggles. to the 94 crime bill, i would say the biden administration has done a lot of things to right the wrongs of that bill, descheduling marijuana, working to -- the first act was passed under donald trump, but making sure this justice department actually does decrease the sentencing disparity, commutations, those are things that this administration has done to write some of the wrongs of the 94 crime bill. and i think that this important to recognize as well. >> i give significant credit to the president and the justice department for doing those things. i just think that hunter biden should not be surprised by this, abby. we are living in hyperpartisan tribes, hyper troubled times. some people may be of the belief that anything is to go, i don't agree with that politically. but, again, i think here is this guy who's the son of the president of the united states of america. i own a lot of firearms. i guarantee that by, as a black man, somehow made an error or did not put the proper information on that document, i would not have been given a sweetheart deal where the judge came in and said wait a minute here, this is not what would occur for the normal person. i can assure you that if i did not pay my taxes like wesley snipes than i had to would probably be in prison for almost three years. i don't like to use the word right privilege all the time, but this is certainly the case of white male privilege because of this guy was not white and named hunter biden i absolutely guaranteed the charges against him would be very different. he would be maybe under the prison. >> he notes in his op-ed that he didn't come up in an extremely wealthy background, but he does have privilege. >> his father was the senator. >> he does acknowledge the privilege that he has been benefiting from from his father. the thing is, though, that description addiction doesn't discriminate. whether you are white or black, the lesson to be learned is that if someone is suffering with addiction they should be supported by their family and they should have the infrastructure around them and the social welfare programs around them to get them the help to recovery. i think that is the point of the audit. >> that is, i think, where we are today. probably some black man in prison right now who did not get that same kind of treatment for sure that hunter biden -- >> and black women for that matter. >> shermichael and actually, interesting conversation. thank you both. new tonight, a new york court tells ivanka trump no. we'll tell you what she wanted to do and the reason that she gave the judge, coming up next. >> court, on a school night? well, not if ivanka trump had her way. earlier today she asked the court to allow her to not testify next week in donald trump's civil fraud trial. her attorney argued it would be a hardship because she lives in florida with her three kids and it's the middle of a school week. the judge rejected her appeal earlier this evening aha