♪ good day to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm kasie hunt. it is tuesday , october 10. 5:00 a.m. here in washington, noon in israel where the country is at war with hamas after militants waged coordinated attacks over the weekend killing at least 900 israelis including 11 americans and taking more than 100 hostages. in retaliation israel defense forces pounded gaza with airstrikes hitting more than 200 targets overnight. and sealed off the strip from food, fuel and supplies. benjamin netanyahu says that this is just the beginning. >> savage attacks that hamas perpetrated against innocent israelis are mind boggling. slaughtering families in their homes, massacring hundreds of young people at an outdoor festival. kidnapping scores of women, children and elderly. even holocaust survivors. hamas bombed, burned and executed children. they are savages. >> gaza health ministry reports more than 680 have been killed. and they are threatening to execute hostages if israeli attacks without warning. and the idf sent tens of thousands of additional troops to the northern border with lebanon in anticipation of a hezbollah attack. president biden is set to deliver remarks to the american people today about the evolving situation. let's bring in becky anderson, she is live in tel aviv. good morning, this day four and the idf, give an update on the border fence. what is the latest? >> reporter: yeah, let me just explain what is going on here as we speak. you talk about the 200 targeted attacks by the idf overnight on gaza. we've seen the fighter jets or heard the fighter jets in the air and we continue to feel and hear the low level rumble of what is likely those targeted attacks and the iron dome intercepting anything that is coming out of gaza. i can't stand up the fact that there has been any rockets out of gaza today, but the sound that we're hearing could either be these targeted attacks or oftentimes it is the interception of the iron dome. but let's assume that this is the targeted attacks. what the idf is doing at present is trying to completely destroy hamas' infrastructure. so it is attacking as they say the military targets. it is also as you rightly point out trying to ensure that that border around gaza is absolutely secure and they describe it as mostly done, mostly completed. and that is important because what the idf and defense minister has announced is a total siege of gaza. and that can't be completed to the israeli minds unless that border wall which was breached on saturday morning is also secure and those communities around gaza of course secured and protected. most of those have been evacuated now. so that is the story at the moment as far as the israeli side of the border is concerned. we know of course that there is this total siege. electricity, fuel, food. so we really now have to wait to see what happens in the hours ahead as to how the israelis expect to effect the next stage of this. border effectively controlled. targeted attacks. the effort to sdrdestroy the ha infrastructure. and a ground incursion is not off the table and there are tens of thousands of troops a massed on the southern border. and as you rightly point out, 10,000 troops on the northern border with lebanon now to try to assuage any infiltration by any group, either hezbollah or a group associated with hamas. and there are a number of groups in lebanon, any group that might try to breach the border to the north. >> becky, ask i ask but this threat to begin executing hostages? for people who aren't as familiar with the region in the past israel is often when they struck gaza hamas militants will be using a building that might include civilians. the civilians would be notified and they leave and then the infrastructure is destroyed and basically israel sounds like to me, and please give us your reporting on this, they are no longer giving those warnings. and hamas has come back and said if you don't do that, we'll start executing hostages on tv. what is the latest? >> reporter: yeah, these warnings in the past known as a double tap or soft tap, which means a small missile or device is dropped on a target to effectively warn residents that the larger attack is to come. and hamas suggesting that that is nolts t happening, there is warning, their suggestion is that residents of gaza and the threat is that they will assassinate hostages as a result of this. this is difficult for the idf, they say that they are intent on denigrating the entire hamas military infrastructure. and they say in conflicts of past, it is regular as far as the i gcgf is concerned for ham and its military equipment to be housed in buildings which also accommodate civilians. so that is a really difficult situation for the idf. not one that i'm sure they won't have an cities participated, but their effort is to degrade this infrastructure. complicated as it is of course by the 100 to 150 hostages we still don't have specific numbers from the idf. but it is a very tricky situation. and that threat of course will be taken very, very seriously by the israeli forces here. >> becky anderson, thank you for that report. stay close, i know you will. coming up here, what the u.s. is offering israel to potentially help rescue hostages and plus how the israeli government missed warning signs of this major attack. the clues were right there. welcome back. a u.s. official tells cnn that the u.s. is offering israel special operations planning and intelligence support to bolster the effort to rescue hostages taken by hamas. the support would not entail u.s. troops on the ground. and let's bring in former director of communications for u.s. national intelligence, shawn turner. sir, thank you very much for being with us this morning. you can help us understand what the meaning of this development is, the fact that the u.s. is out there saying that we'll provide you with these supports? >> yeah, good morning, thanks for having me. a lot of people are wondering what the u.s. military support would look like to israel as we see this carrier strike group move into the area. you know, it is going to be really clear that no one should expect to see u.s. military forces on the ground in israel. but what we can expect to see is immense amounts of intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance support. so when he we think of the fact that if hamas is going to continue the fight, they will need to resupply at some point as you all is been reporting, israel is cutting off the gaza strip, on there won't be food, water, electricity. so when we think about that supply line, their ability to get the resupply in, the united states is in a good position to disrupt those supply lines, to provide israel with the intelligence needed to disrupt those spupply lines which will obviously have a significant impact on limiting hamas' ability to continue to fift. a lot of rockets are made in the gaza strip but ultimately they will need additional resources and the united states can help with that. >> youcan you help us understan- clearly this was a massive intelligence failure. israelis pride themselves on their intelligence if the region. is this the united states saying that we'll step up and use you are on intelligence capabilities in a way that we don't normally because we let you handle it? was it an ask from the israelis? help me understand what it is normally like and why this is different. >> normally when it comes to intelligence assets, in intelligence collection resources, israeli against forces are very good. israel would have had the best possible intelligence.against fs are very good. israel would have had the best possible intelligence. there is an alliance there. but what we're seeing here is the result of intelligence that is notes kind of intelligence that israel would have normally had. what i mean there, intelligence is like a game of cat and mouse. a terrorist, bad actors, they are always looking for new ways to communicate and always trying to stay steps ahead. the way this happened is that hamas basically had to communicate without the use of electronic devices. they had to come up with a system to communicate that would have stayed out of the sight of israeli defense forces. when you do that, you don't have human intelligence on the ground, sometimes you can do some significant planning. but in this case what the united states is going to do, we'll step this and provide that intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance that will help the israelis understand what decisions hamas might be making as they continue to take this fight to israel. and also provide the sort of oversight that is necessary if we do see a ground incursion which i don't think will happen soon, but if we do see a ground incursion, israel will need all the intelligence it can possibly get because of the very difficult fighting environment. >> yeah, a really interesting point that they had to talk to each other the old fashioned way in order to blind the in intelligence services of the west. shawn turner, thank you very much for bringing us your expertise. i hope you'll come back. >> my pleasure. warning signs of an imminent attack on israel completely missed by their intelligence service as we were just discussing. cnn takes a closer look, ahead. welcome back. hamas' attack suggests a massive intelligence failure for israel as it appeared blind sided by the launch of thousands of rockets. but the signs were there. sam kiley has more. >> reporter: slick propaganda published last year. hamas gunman training on motorized paragliders. and they showed meticulous planning for fighting, all historic failure of israeli intelligence. hamas videos of the start of their assaults fros gaza were published within hours. and hamas sunni movement won palestinian elections in 2006 on a platform of social reform and resistance to iz rae. driven by corruption and incompetence, rivals launched attacks immediately against the movement which denies the right of israel to exist at all. in the end hamas won control of gaza. and its grip on the enclave of around 2 million people tighten ed, causing intense humanitarian problems. hamas responded with waves of rocket attacks against israel that got worse as the years went by. israel counterattacked from the air. and with ground assaults that left thousands dead and hamas still in charge. but iran's influence has been key to hamas' military power. >> iranians have trained palestinian engineers in how to establish rocket manufacturing in gaza. we know that the iranians have provided production equipment which is needed for production of rockets to gaza and to other places as well. >> israel knows that it must battle hamas on its own turf. it is riddled with secret tunnels and hamas will draw on the experience of hezbollah which ravaged israel's armor in 2006. all the way trying to protect the lives of at least 130 hostages that hamas says that they will kill if israel's attacks continue. dealing with violent groups, backed by iran, a country that is bent on destroying israel and building a nuclear weapon that could do just that. sam kiley, cnn. let's bring in now max foster who is live in london. max, good morning. pretty ominous warning there. but the bottom line of the reporting there from sam is that there were clear warning signs that were missed. you look that the video that they put out months before of hamas fighters training on those paragliders. this was a big mistake. >> and when you consider israel has the biggest intelligence services, multiple agencies really in the middle east, it is extraordinary that they didn't see these thousands of rockets coming in multiple operations. it is quite extraordinary. very interesting to see how someone close hamas puts it in a report that reuters has compiled, we haven't verified who the sources are, but there is an interesting article that they put together suggesting that the group's fighters were being trained and drilled often in plain sight. a lot of it filmed. and they even set up a mock israeli settlement in gaza. and they said that they weren't aware of that. but the more interesting part to in, this it was combined with a separate intelligence operation which ways really an intelligence tactic which was giving the public impression that hamas wasn't willing to go into a fight or confrontation with israel, not getting involved in some operations, perhaps islamic jihad were involved in, just showing that they were appreciative of the visas they were getting for example and this was all combined of course with the distractions that netanyahu government had. judicial reform and also, you know, deepening settlements in the west bank. >> and that is what i was going to ask you about because on the one hand you very clearly outlined here is what hamas is doing. here is the strategy they are employing. but on the israeli side of the border, you have a lot of domestic political disputes. members of the military resigning in protest. it seems clear that there were reasons why the securities apparatus in israel would be degraded that was the responsibility of the israelis. >> i mean, it was a huge domestic focus, wasn't it, the judicial reform. and it took up a huge amount of time and as far as palestinian issue was concerned, they were very focused on the west bank and growing those settlements there because a lot of support for the netanyahu government there and also for that tactic, that strategy, that policy if you like. and if things were quiet in gaza and they weren't picking up on any of these intelligence failures, then they were frankly distracted by judicial reform. that is what a lot of the a accusations are in the israeli press right now. >> and i do think that we should be clear for our audience here in the u.s., it often can be very contentious to call it judicial reform. we should underscore that they were trying to reduce the power of the judiciary and benjamin netanyahu of course facing charges himself. max foster, thank you for being with us. i'm sure we'll see you tomorrow. israeli's prime minister issues a stark warning, they are just getting started in gaza after the hamas terror attack. we'll have a live report just ahead. good morning. thanks for being with us. i'm kasie hunt. this morning it is noon in israel, they are warning that punishing strikes are just the beginning as its military retaliates against the surprise attacks which killed more than 900 israelis. hamas is threatening to execute hostages if israel continues strikes without warning. idf says it hit at least 200 targets overnight. wolf blitzer spoke with an american speed trpediatrician n tr trapped there. >> whenever you go gaza, you know there is danger and violence while you are there. but, no, i wasn't -- sorry, prepared for this. >> let us know if you need to go into some sort of bomb shelter or whatever because i can hear the explosions going off near you. >> there are no bomb shelters here. >> there are no bomb shelters here. wow. on another front the idf has sent additional troops to the border with lebanon. becky anderson is joining us again live from tel aviv. becky, so there are up to 150 hostages under hamas control right now. this potential ground incursion would be incredibly difficult. where do plans and discussions stand right now? >> reporter: a ground incursion does seem highly likely at this point. the idf has to quote their spokesman saturated the southern border with troops. reports of as many as 300,000. i can't confirm those numbers, but reports that as many as 300,000 troops are now on that southern border. and they continue with the intensity of these targeted strikes, which is seen as sort of military sort of parlance or terms as softening up the ground for a ground attack or incursion. but the idf has also said that the issue here is that we have been tasked with mitigating or making sure that that makes doesn't have any military capabilities at the end of the war. and that will be achieved the idf spokesman said. and he went on to say what happens on the way and how we implement that task will be seen, but at this stage we continue to strike from the air and there are plans to of course about band that. and the troops, the reserves and regular units that are amassing along the southern border are readying for their tasks he said. so i think to answer your question, a ground incursion does seem very likely. everybody that we've spoken to both on and off the record here has said that that is very much on the table. i think what is going on here is that the idf, israeli authorities, are just not releasing their plans at this point. >> so becky, as we were talking about this, new information just crossed here at cnn. we have got news iran supreme leader says that tehran was not involved in the hamas attack on israel. so this is the first televised speech from the ayatollah khomeini since the attacks happened. he did apparently in the speech praise the acts. and some say the acts of the palestinians come from nonpalestinians don't have a true understanding. and i guess khomeini praised those who did plan the attack but he says iran was not involved. what is your takeaway here? >> reporter: so look, i think that it is absolutely clear hamas has huge contact with military and financial advice from the iranians. so the question here is, is there a direct line between iran and hamas with regard this event, this huge, i mean devastating event that happened on saturday morning. sea, air, land, the infiltration of the israeli border, the massacre at the music event, the kidnappings along the southern border and the kidnapping of the hostages. this is a hugely well planned event. and i don't have to tell you sources are saying that this must have been months in the making. we're hearing a lot of noise about this, was iran directly involved, did they pull the trigger on this, did they tell hamas, you know, here we are, this is the date we want this to happen, you are ready, go for it. i can't stand that up and i'm talking to a lot of sources both here and around the region. and nobody is drawing that direct line. so it is really important that we report on what the supreme leader is saying and we'll continue do that. but let's be quite clear about the context for this. we know he that there is -- there is no doubt that there is military and financial assistance for this group from the iranians. but is there a direct line? not something that we can stand up at present. >> it is an extremely important context to have here that iran has been deeply involved with the palestinians for quite some time in terms of supplies and money, et cetera, but of course -- and from our end as well, u.s. officials have not been able to find as you say a direct link. it does seem rather predictable that they would depend any involvement. becky, thank you very much. and president biden set to deliverany involvement. becky, thank you very much. and president biden set to deliver remarks today. biden says 11 americans have been killed in israel and likely that some are being held by that el paso. the white house also showing solidarity overnight by lighting up the white house itself in the lores of israel's flag. zachary cohen is joining me now. good morning. what can we expect to hear from the president today? >> reporter: yeah, the white house has been working to assess how the tael atattack affected . and u.s. families. and this includes the numbers killed and numbers of hostages. and we also know that there is this question still of a u.s. support or u.s. support for israel. john kirby making it clear yesterday that the biden administration has no intention of putting american boots on the ground, but i think that there are still questions about the details of biden's plan to provide aid to israel in response to this attack. take a listen to what john kirby said yesterday as far as the president's willingness to defend american interests in the aftermath of the attack. >> we'll certainly do what we need to do to look after the safety and securities of the american people. you saw yesterday we moved carrier strike group into the eastern mediterranean as a measure of reassurance. but also deterrence. so without speaking to specifics or hypotheticals, this president will do what he has to do to look after our national security interests. that is just the way it will be. >> reporter: he added that that includes asking congress for more aid to provide to israel in addition to what they can give right now under existing authorities. obviously no speaker of the house, so we'll see how that plays out. >> zachary cohen, thank you for being with us. appreciate your time. and as zach noted, the house is speakerless but members of the house will still receive a classified briefing on israel tomorrow with questions about what they can actually accomplish without a leader. joining us now is lee an caldwell, author of "early 202." thank you for being with us. there are real questions here about what congress is capable of doing because of the situation with the speaker of the house. now, that said, deadliness and crises sometimes cause this town to move and operate in unexpected -- with unexpected speed, i suppose. what is your sense of how this crisis has affected the race for the house speaker? >> good morning. republicans say that this absolutely accelerates the urge to elect a new speaker. that is pretty widespread among the republican conference. but the problem is they have to agree on a speaker first. and that is where the challenge comes. so there is not yet any connect ability between the understanding of the need for the speaker and the actual election of the speaker. there was a closed door meeting last night to air their grievances. and an aide briefed on that meeting called it a blood bath, said members were attacking each other, a lot of feelings are still very raw after the ouster of mccarthy. and so still a very high bar to elect a speaker in this house of representatives. >> and it does sound like that kevin mccarthy might also be keeping the door open to possibly coming back and that that might be related to the fact that this crisis has unfolded. is there any chance that we see speaker mccarthy again? >> i don't think so, but in speaking to a lot of my sources, everyone says even though they don't expect mccarthy to become speaker again because he has done nothing to change the minds of the eight who ousted him, there is no change of posture there. what this has done, this has confused the conference. this has further divided the conference. and it has complicated the task of electing a speaker. people are unsure about what mccarthy is doing, what he means. and what is going to happen. so last night again in this closed door meeting with no cellphones and no staff, there were people who stood up and said that they would only elect kevin mccarthy as speaker. and so while there is -- i would put the chances at pretty much zero that he is going to be speaker again. it has just made everything much more complicated and the choices they face, jim jordan or steve scalise. >> right, because we should underscore 217 is the magic number this time because of vacanc vacancies, but that means only a handful of votes could be lost. and if they vote for kevin mccarthy, that makes it hard for anyone else to get to 217. but let's turn back to israel for a second. because there is this issue on the other side of the capital in the senate where senator tommy tuberville has this blanket hold on military nominees, ambassadors, and right now there are a in ynumber of incredibly important national security positions that are unfilled because of this. whether top generals or the u.s. doesn't currently have confirmed ambassador to israel. and when we have people in these positions that are acting, their powers are limited. it does seem to be tying our hands in this conflict, no? >> yeah, absolutely is. the biden administration and democrats and even some republicans have warned about these challenges that these holds have placed on military readiness, military effectiveness. and so it is an issue. but congress is working -- israeli ambassadorship, the white house just nominated this person a few weeks ago. i'm told by my sources that the senate foreign relations committee will hold a hearing expedited on wednesday. and they hope to move it very quickly. but absolutely the gridlock in the senate is making anything pertaining to israel much more challenging. >> and of course very briefly the white house has floated it sounds like potentially tying more aid to israel to aid with ukraine to try to get that across the finish line, as well? >> yeah, absolutely. they think that because there is such overwhelming support for israel right now, this is an opportunity to tie ukraine aid which is much more controversial. i'm interested to see today how closely when president biden speaks he ties israel and ukraine together, that both countries need to protect their borders to try to make that case that they are not much different in their plight. and that aid for both countries is necessary. >> yeah, that is a really great point to listen to how closely he ties those together to see if these two things unfold simultaneously. bottom line, they need a house speaker if they will pass anything at all. thank you very much for being here this morning. and the white house has revealed that president biden was interviewed by special counsel robert hurr who was appointed after secret documents were found at biden's office and home. and the white house says the interview took place sunday and yesterday -- it was voluntary. a spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment. and with israel at war with hamas, there are worries about a second front opening up with hezbollah. that is next. closest allies is at war and one of the u.s. chambers of congress is without a leader. that has led to visible frustration from some members of the house. >> 4% of the house took the wheels off our car and we need to be acting right now on israel, but it hurt our country, it has hurt our congress, it has hurt our party. we should be talking today about how we'll help israel and instead we're trying to figure out a new speaker or perhaps still discuss speaker mccarthy. >> let's bring in joel rubin. he is a democratic candidate for congress in maryland. joel, thank you very much for being with us this morning. let's just start with the white house proposal -- i was just speaking with "washington post" reporter leeigh ann caldwell. it seems that they are suggesting that ukraine aid should be tied to aid to israel to expedite that funding. if you were elected to congress, do you support coming it that way or should the aid to israel go out with no strings attached? >> great to be with you. and aid for ukraine should have been passed long ago. so absolutely that aid should be tied to supplemental package that may support additional aid to israel. you know, to what congressman bacon is talking about as well, this is a disaster. when i served in the obama administration as senior liaison to the house for the state department, the idea of not having a speaker functioning effectively is just unthinkable. we would have to provide classified briefings to the speaker, the speaker would make decisions right there with dr direct committees. and currently acting speaker, not clear if legal divisions can be fully made. and at a time crisis, it undermines our ability to project strength and power. and so absolutely move the bills through and get the speakership completed and done, move it off the table. republicans really need to come together for the sake of the country and our allies abroad. >> as someone who has been in those rooms when you have taken -- you know, from national security and foreign policy, the state department, when you go into those rooms and you try to negotiate these things, can you give me an example of a decision impacted by not having a speaker? >> absolutely. for example, back in 2014, 2015 in iraq when isis presented across iraq and was attacking, there were moments when we in the obama administration needed direct support for military operations to combat isis. and that meant briefing the speaker and telling the speaker boehner at that moment that it is crucial that you and congress support these efforts, that any kinds of approvals be expedited. and the speaker said yes. and that meant that the committees, foreign affairs, armed service, our committees were read in and able to make decisions quickly and work closely with the pentagon in that case and our allies. you take that away, it is like you are unplugging the tub and the water is going right down the drain and we don't know how to ensure that decisions are fully made. so appropriators are in the same conundrum. what does the speaker what, how do we organize and make decisions about priorities for the funding. it is chaos. and that just can't happen in a crisis. >> kay otherwise in this kind of a situation is -- makes it much harder to actually execute on foreign policy goals. before i let you go. >> a wider range of opinions about israel inside the house democratic caucus than there have been in previous decades. and some members including rashida tlaib and cory bush put out statements that are under criticism. tlaib says that she continues to grieve the lives lost before calling for dismantling what she calls the apartheid system. do you agree with rashida tlaib's characterization of what is going on in the middle east? >> there is no equivalency between hamas terrorists entering israeli villages and slaughtering innocent civilians in their sleep and the defense forces defending their people right now to prevent that from happening again. so, no, i don't agree with that at all. i think it is deplorable language and i'm shocked that in a moment of crisis when those who advocate for human rights look at the facts and see what we're waking up to today, for example over 100 israelis slaughtered in southern israel right alongside gaza peace loving people, to try make an equivalency between that and the legitimate suffering of palestinian sufferings, and there is true suffering for palestinian civilians that need to be discussed consistently, but there is no equivalency between what we're seeing now and what we saw from hamas and what the israeli defense force is doing to protect its citizens right now after this horrendous heinous attack. >> joel rubin, thank you very much for spending time with us this morning. >> thanks, kasie. hezbollah also striking israel after it says three of its members died during an air and i had. a raid. and now concerns that this could be a new front in the war. but hezbollah has much more strength and capability than hamas does. nada bashir is live in london with more. >> reporter: look, this will certainly be a huge escalation if that were to be the case. we heard this morning from idf spokesperson saying that the iz really defense forces are moving tens of thousands of additional troops to the border between israel and lebanon including reservists and regular units in preparation for a possible potential attack by hezbollah. now, of course we have see exchanges of fire over the last few days along the border, we've heard on monday evening from hezbollah saying three of their members were killed in israeli airstrikes carried out in southern lebanon. the lebanese national news agency reporting that there were hours of explosions being heard as southern lebanon came under aerial bombardment. and lebanese army say parts of the border faced artillery fire and bombardment. for now things are quiet, but they have warned for hezbollah not to escalate things further. >> all right. nada bashir in london for us, thank you very much. and israel is pounding gaza with air attacks as gunbattles break out in southern israel. we'll give you a closer look at exactly where all the fighting is taking place, ahead. and one israeli man says six of his family members have been kidnapped by hamas. the harrowing story of their on be duks, coming up on "cnn this morning." is it possible my network could take my business to the next level? it is with comcast business. powering all your devices with gig-speed wifi. and you get fast downloads and uploads. pick it up! pick it up! oh we got this! because it's powered by the next generation 10g network. more speed for your business? it's not just possible. it's happening. get started for $59.99 a month for 12 months. plus, ask how to get an $800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle. comcast business, powering possibilities.