where the idf hammering gaza with airstrikes following hamas' devastating sur prise attack ovr the weekend. at least 1200 people were killed in the terrorist assaults. the idf says it hit more than 80 targets and destroyed hamas advanced detection system for spotting aircraft over gaza. neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble. hamas says 950 people have been killed in gaza since the start of the war. the u.n. says more than 263,000 people there have been displaced. the hamas controlled government says due to a lack of fuel coming in through the israeli blockade, electricity will be cut off within hours. and with it, so will basic services. the idf was also busy last night hitting hamas naval targets which it claimed were being used to attack the israeli coastline. israel's defense minister told troops tuesday that he has released all restraints on their fight against hamas. he said "hamas wanted a change in gaza, it will change 180 degrees from what he thought. they will regret this moment. gaza will never return to what it was." president biden standing squarely behind israel in the fight on tuesday calling the hamas attack sheer evil. >> hamas offers nothing but terror and bloodshed with no regard at who pays the price. let there be no doubt the united states has eisraeli's back. we'll make sure the jewish and democratic state of israel can defend itself today, tomorrow as we always have. it is as simple as that. >> the president also confirming 14 americans killed. and some of the hostages being held by hamas in gaza are american. jeremy diamond is live for us in jerusalem. the way the defense minister was talking about this, it does sound like israeli troops going into gaza is a foregone conclusion. what is the latest there? >> reporter: it certainly feels like that. when we were driving around yesterday, what we witnessed in these towns all around the gaza strip is a massive mobilization effort that is under way here in israel. more than 300,000 reservists have already been called up. and we are also seeing a massing of tanks, of arrest tilgry and armored personnel carriers in key staging locations around the gaza strip. this is all a signal that israel is preparing for a possibly massive operation inside of gaza, a possible ground invasion. but as of yet, we did not have that political decision, that official order that that been given by the israeli prime minister. we have heard a lot of fire and brimstone from benjamin netanyahu as well as the defense minister as you mentioned. but what is important to keep in mind is we don't know how long this staging could potentially last. the idf knows if hamas carefully planneds surprise attack this past saturday, then they also likely planned for what is coming next. they also likely planned for the possibility of a ground invasion. and that means booby traps, that means tunnels that hamas built inside of gaza and that means reinforced positions. so the idf is being very cautious and strategic as they prepare for those next steps. yesterday we spent some time with some of the reservists who are being called up and one thing is clear, they are prepared for whatever comes next. many of them have been called up in previous conflicts before. but they don't know exactly what is coming next. they don't know as of yet, they are waiting for their orders. but they say that they are ready. >> jeremy, obviously an operation like this incredibly sensitive when you are trying to rescue hostages. oftentimes hostages can be either accidentally killed by the rescuers or of course killed by those who are holding them cap captive. what considerations are being made for that in this planning? >> reporter: no question that the hostages and the number of hostages, more than 1 believed to be held by hamas, inside the gaza strip, this certainly changes the equation for israel in terms of its response going forward. we have already seen hamas claimed that several of those israeli hostages were killed in an i israeli airstrike. so the idf has to keep that in mind. israel is familiar with these types of hostage situations, but they have never seen anything on this kind of scale. you look back at when the israeli soldier was captured and held by hamas, he was ultimately exchanged for 1,000 palestinian prisoners. and so to try negotiate the release of these hostages, something that israel is not doing yet, that would be a massive undertaking and it would have enormous implications for whatever hamas would demand and what israel would be willing to provide. what we do know though that israel is looking at other ways of getting the hostages back and they are still looking at going in with a potential ground invasion. we know that there is coordination between israel defense minister, the u.s. defen defense secretary, they have been on the phone. and they are providing intelligence support and also special operations support to the israelis. so not clear exactly what will happen, how they will get the hostages back, but it is important to keep in mind the number of dual nationals who are believed to be among these civilian hostages in particular, it changes the equation. so there are enormous international implications as well. >> jeremy diamond, thank you very much. stay safe. and coming up here, chances of an all-out ground assault in gaza are increasing as we were discussing. we'll bring you up to speed. plus house republicans will meet today to discuss the two candidates for the speaker's job. stay with us. israel's retaliation against hathamas now widely anticipate to take the form of an incursion into gaza. hundreds of punishing airstrikes have been launched. and now questions are grow about a possible ground operation that could be far bloodier and more destructive. and with the hundreds of israeli soldiers and civilians being held captive by hamas, a ground operation could also come at a very high price. let's bring in our military analyst, said rick lay ton. thank you for being with us. let's look at what it could look like in the immediate turn and i know sometimes israel has moved quickly in something like this, fast and done, and other times they have had to fight for many years. how do you think this plays out? >> good morning. i think that it will be one of the ones that last a lot longer. it will be something that if a ground incursion occurs and israelis do move in at this particular point in time, it is going to be a bloody mess. and that will be a real problem because they really risk getting bogged down inside the alley ways of gaza. that will be a real problem for them because once you get mired into something like this, it is really hard to pull yourself out of this. and i think that is the dilemma take that israel faces. on the one hand you want to free the hostages and in essence exercise retribution for what has happened. on the other you want to make sure that you can serve your forces so that they can fight in an appropriate way at a time of your choz osing. not at adversary's. >> and israel needs to show that they are responding to what has happened, but as you consider the possibility of the ground incursion being next, what are the airstrikes accomplishing in that context? >> what they are doing, the airstrikes are being used to soften up the target area. what you do first usually in a military campaign is you bring in air power and you use that to target certain areas to in essence weaken the adversary in a way that allows you to move more quickly into the territory and once you've moved into the territory, you can then achieve your goals much more quickly. you look at how the united states conducted campaigns in the second iraq war for example. they softened up the target and then you moved in with ground troops and we were able to occupy the territory very quickly. of course wlapdhat happened aft that is a completely different story. but the idea is soften up the target area and make it possible for the ground forces to move into the area with less risk and with greater ability to achieve victory. >> can we talk about the tactics that might be used to retrieve these hostages and the risks associated with that? it seems like a diplomatic solution to freeing them is probably preferable because of the risks. but i was hoping -- you obvious understand it, if you could walk us through it. >> one the key things, these kind of operations involve special operations forces. and they require certain what areactics, techniques and procedures. and they rely on detailed intelligence, things like which way a building is situated, which way the doors open, how the hallways are situated in a particular area. and you also want to know things like the material of which buildings are made. so those great details, those very tack tical details become very important. in order to have a mockup, you know to know where the hostages are. and if the hostages are being moved, that presents another set of challenges. but it could also present a series of opportunities. so while a diplomatic route is preferable, you have to have your military prepared to try to extricate the hostages and move in quickly and ghet them out of harm's way. and israelis have been able to do that going back to 1976. they really started this kind of commando work and these commando efforts. but it is one of those things where the tactics have evolved over time and the terrorists and other organizations that do this kind of thing have learned from experience as well in making it -- they make it much more difficult than it was before. >> extraordinarily grim outlook here. colonel, thank you very much for being with us. russia's vladimir putin breaks his silence on the hamas attack on israel. but the question remains, or does it, where do his loyalties lie. 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. 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has criticized u.s. foreign policy in the middle east. fred pleitgen reports. >> reporter: after hundreds of israelis were slaughtered by hamas near gaza, condemnation and condolences poured in from around the world but not from russian leader vladimir putin. now in his first comments, instead of empathy, putin blasting the u.s. >> translator: this is a clear exam pl of the failure of the united states policy in the middle east which tried to monopolize any settlement between israelis and palestinians. >> reporter: kremlin controlled tv following suit mocking both america and israel for allegedly being caught off guard by hamas' attack. >> translator: its famous counterintelligence and the u.s. and its cia slept through the invasion, biggest israeli failure in security since 1973. >> reporter: russia has long been allied with israel's staunchest address ver saers and hamas' most important backers, bombing syrian rebels in support of pro iranian fighters battling on the side of syrian president bashar al assad during syria's civil war. but russia also maintained strong ties and security arrangements with israel. putin meeting netanyahu on many occasions. >> we in no way underestimate the importance of measures that would ensure very strong security of the state of israel. >> reporter: but since putin launched his full-scale war against ukraine, tehran has become a key ally for moscow at israel's expense. fostering economic and military ties with iran while tehran provides the russian army with scores of drones the russians used to hit ukraine cities and infrastructure kyiv says even though tehran denies it. ukraine's president zelenskyy claiming moscow's al lee answer in the middle east has shifted towards tehran. >> translator: we see how russian propagandists are gloating. we witness how moscow's iranian allies openly lend support to those who attacked israel. >> reporter: the kreckremlin de allegations that they are trying to inflame the situation. but former chief rabbi of moscow who fled that country two weeks after the full-on invasion of ukraine, he said that he believes that the lack of a show of support of russia for israel is an ominous sign of deteriorating relations between those countries. fred pleitgen, cnn, kyiv. let's bring in max foster who is joining us live now from london. max, good morning. always good to see you. this is a conundrum it seems for vladimir putin. it now seems as though he is caught between what had been as fred outlined these strong particularly security based ties between russia and israel and the imperatives coming from tehran. it seems for me that he is choosing a side when he skihe d not to say anything or to be so luke warm in what he says about israel. >> yeah, i think we're in the position where he actually doesn't need to take sides, at least at the moment. he has never drawn a very clear view on gaza, a public view. so he doesn't have to get involved in that unless he wants to. you talked about his relationship with israel. he obviously sees that as worth protecting. as far as iran is concerned, clearly very close tie, but iran denies having had anything to do with this attack and helping hamas in this attack. and america and israel says there is nothing to prove that they were involved. so no reason for putin to support iran right now. what we're seeing is putin attacking america for intervening in israel in the same way as he has attacked america for intervening in ukraine. so he is not having to draw a new position on this which is quite interesting. and he does tap dance around these things quite effectively sometimes. >> and this just into cnn, israel now says that the first shipment 6 u.s. munitions has arrived and there is video from the ministry of defense. it arrived by a cargo plane, these weapons. so obviously the u.s. directly arming the israelis right now. does putin simply see this as an opportunity to sow additional chaos and another potential weak point for the united states? that does seem to be his ultimate goal. >> yeah, i mean always trying to destabilize the west. and if the narrative is going that direction, he doesn't get involved in it, he likes to see the things sort of self destruction as you sees it in his eyes. and also speaking to very senior analyst here in london, all eyes are off ukraine right now, aren't they. so that is perhaps to russia's benefit. bigger concern here i think for ukrainians is in washington and that funding issue that we've talked a lot about on this show about whether or not congress will approve funding to ukraine, this is less likely to push more money towards ukraine. so has a big impact there. >> it is a really important question. i do think that there is a possibility they could get tied together. the white house is trying to pose it as we can help ukraine and israel at the same time, but still pretty tenuous. and there is no speaker of the house. max, thank you for being with us. just ahead, israel stepping up its offensive in gaza. we'll have a live report from inside israel. and house republicans are expected to gather today behind closed doors. there is an act of sheer evil. more than 1,000 civilians slaughtered. just got slaughtered in israel. among them at least 14 american citizens. >> sheer evil. good morning, thank you for being here with us. i am kasie hunt. that was an emotional president biden addressing the nation following the horrific attack on israel by hamas. in addition to the 14 americans killed, the u.s. believes that at least 20 are being held hostage by hamas. this is a live picture of gaza city where the idf has been hammering targets following the surprise attack over the weekend. israel says at least 1200 people were killed in the terrorist assault. hamas says 950 people have been killed in gaza since start of the war. the president on it us apparently aiming a warning at iran and its proxies like hezbollah not to interfere in this war. >> we stand ready to move in additional assets as needed. let me say again to any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of the situation, i have one word. don't. don't. our hearts may be broken, but our resolve is clear. >> jeremy diamond is live for us in israel. what are the implications of what biden had to say yesterday? >> reporter: well, in order to understand those implications, you have to look back at the past of what president biden and other u.s. presidents, how they have reacted in the pastkconfli. and at some point you hear the u.s. president urge israeli restraint, to avoid civilian casualty, urge them to go toward a peaceful negotiation, peaceful resolution to the situation. that is not what we heard from president biden yesterday. instead what we heard was his really kind of emotional angry response to these attacks that hamas has carried out. and we did not hear those urgings of restraint from president biden towards the israelis. and what that does, it gives israeli prime minister netanyahu and the israeli military a lot of leeway here to do what they feel is necessary in order to respond to these surprise hamas attacks over the weekend. and there is no question that one of the dynamics here beyond the horrific images and stories that we have heard of hamas' brutality in mowing down civilians at a bush er butchering children and women. what we've also seen is that americans are involve. at least 14 are believed for have been killed in these hamas attention. and more than 20 are believed to be among the hostages being held by hamas in gaza. and so that completely changes the equation here in terms of when you look at the israeli response and how far president biden is willing to go to support that israeli response. so there is no question that president biden's mission yesterday was to show that there is no daylight between him and the israeli prime minister, which is i go especially when you look at the past political tensions that have existed between the two men primarily over the last year as the prime minister has pursued this controversial judicial reform effort. but right now clearly all of that is in the past. president biden showing that he is behind the israeli prime minister and more importantly behind the israeli military response. and providing weaponry as well. the first of which began to arrive at an israeli base just last night. >> jeremy diamond, thank you very much for in a report. stay safe. meanwhile secretary of state antony blinken is traveling to israel today. the state department says he will discuss with israeli officials the situation on the ground and how the u.s. will continue to support them. it comes after president biden passionately condemned hamas terror attacks tuesday and stressed america's unwavering support for israel. >> so in this moment, we must be crystal clear. woe we stand with israel. we'll make sure it has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself and respond to this attack. >> jennifer hansler is joining me now. good morning, thank you for being here. what is the biden administration telling families of americans who are missing in israel and what is the secretary of state hoping to accomplish today? >> we don't know exactly what the administration is telling these families, but we do know from jake sullivan that they are in touch with all of the families of those who are missing or unaccounted for in israel. right now that is 20 or more people according to sullivan. that number could grow because right now we don't have a lot of answers as to these folks' whereabouts or conditions. so this is a top priority for them to try to get information about where these americans are if they are okay. and we know not only the american, but all of the hostages, this is something the administration is pushing to secure their release. they are working with countries who are able to pass messages along to hamas to urge them to release these hostages immediately. and when the secretary of state goes to israel today, we know that this will be a top priority for him there as well to work with the israelis to try to get answers, to try to figure out how to get these hostages home. and this is also just a major show of support after the devastating attacks we saw over the weekend. he will be meeting with top israeli officials. we expect him to meet with netanyahu for example to try to figure out what the israelis need moving forward, how they can be supported by the u.s. >> what do we know about the role that qatar is playing? we know that they have been an interlocutor with hamas in the past. >> we don't know a lot about the significance mcan't messages tht they are playing. but we know that they have played a role in securing hostage releases in the past and now the state department spokesperson wouldn't name specific countries that they are working with, but they did say that regional partners are playing a productive role here. >> jennifer hansler, thank you very much for being with us. really appreciate it. it is set to be a busy and highly consequential day on capitol hill. members are set to receive a classified briefing on israel. and after that, house republicans will huddle to figure out we think who will be the next speaker. the house gop two candidates, steve scalise and jim jordan made their pitches during a closed door meeting last night. but there is considerable skepticism that this would be a quick and easy process. >> i am not thrilled with either choice right now. >> i think someone will come forward. i think someone else will come forward. and i don't know who that is. and i'm not backing anybody. >> in case you haven't noticed, we're a pretty guided conference right now. so i think that this might take a little time to sort out and figure out a way through. >> someone else. okay. joining us to break it all down is margarett tmeali bchlts. thank you very much for being here. and when we all went home for the weekend friday, we anticipated that the speaker's race would of course be the biggest story happening. but reality is very, very different. and honestly, i would have expected it to put more pressure on republicans to get their act together and figure out how to pick somebody. but it seems like they are as divided as ever. >> yeah, that is exactly right. it is impossible now to untangle the leadership race from the backdrop of hamas' attack on israel because that has begun to overshadow everything else. so of course the future of ukraine funding is now tied to the decisions about israel funding. there are discussions about wrapping taiwan funding and bore exercise funding in. and there seems to be whereas the republican house caucusbore. and there seems to be whereas the republican house caucus was fairly divided about whether to continue u.s. funding and assistance to ukraine, there is not that kind of division around israel. the problem is they can't do any of it until they have a speaker. so where does that leave everybody. and i think that we'll see it all play out today possibly in multiple rounds, possibly over the course of several hours or more than one day. and it has sort of strangely, i don't know, strengthened kevin mccarthy in terms of at least reputationally in terms of giving him a second life. like okay, you got what you wanted, is this really what you want. so it is really a competition now between scalise and jordan. and in a way, the specter of mccarthy and these are three guys who have been kind of frenemies over the course of the last 15, 16, 17 years. so all pretty ugly and it will all play out in public. >> it is extremely ugly. and just to read people in who don't understand the process, today they will go behind closed doors and they will hold secret ballot voting for try to select the person who will be the speaker. normally the this is the entirety of the process. they figure out who has the most support within the conference, sometimes there is multiple ballots, but then they go to the floor and they all have one vote. obviously that is not what happened with mccarthy. so they are trying to avoid doing that again. do you think it is possible though? seems like more floor contention might be inevitable. >> i don't, but who knows. i've been wrong about a lot of things in this process the last few weeks. >> we all have. >> but that is why this is really inside baseball, some discussions about kind of a test vote or amendment to try to get a 217 vote threshold. like this is all in theory aimed at preventing a repeat of the mccarthy situation. but -- and none of it is really that clear cut because of scalise to some extent would probably represent a more institutional approach to the speakership, although he face the same pressure mccarney would have. scalise is probably more aligned with mccarney from a policy perspective, but jordan seems to be the person who mccarthy and his team have been behind. but if jim jordan becomes next house speaker, you can expect an extremely combative approach toward legislation within the caucus as well as across, you know, both parties between now and the election. and there are a lot of republican house moderates who really don't want a jim jordan speakership for all of those reasons. so calculus here is very complicated. the impacts are international. and if you are volodymyr zelenskyy watching this from europe, you are trying for figure out is there any way where you can get this to work in your favor and not to just get completely overshadowed and left behind amid a truly horrific situation in israel and soon to be in palestinian te territory as well. >> and worst remembth rememberi kevin mccarthy called jim jordan legislative terrorist. and wedealing with real terrorists. so it is striking. very quickly, democrats, there are some in their caucus who are not supportive of israel. they are taking quite a bit of blowback. what is the democratic caucus going to do about those voices? >> marginalize them and call them out and shame them and turn against them as much as possible. and i think that is what we're seeing happen. you saw president biden's press secretary say a small number of democrats are in the wrong. you are seeing house democratic progressives who often have nuanced views about the approach towards israel almost overwhelmingly rallying around in support of israel and funding for israel. and you are even seeing like aoc sort of take a measured approach and say that what has happened to the people of israel, this that they are victims. so i think that you are o overwhelmingly seeing house democrats rally around support for israel and sort of a no tolerance policy for being sympathetic in in way to hamas or to the language like that. but it is -- although a small number, it is a very divisive issue inside the democratic caucus. >> margaret talev, thank you very much for being with us. all right. let's take a liv at gaza city right now. it is 12:45 in israel. black smoke rising. we'll bring you the latest when we can come back. you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? it's true. plus, when you buy your first line of mobile, you get a second line free. there are no term contracts or line activation fees. and you can bring your own device. oh, and all on the most reliable 5g mobile network nationwide. wireless that works for you. it's not just possible. it's happening. we have begun and i emphasize we have only begun to strike at hamas. what we will do to our enemies in the coming days will resonate with them for generations. >> as the death tolls continue to rise in gaza and israel, so does the uncertainty about what will happen next in israel's war with hamas. the one sure thing is that the implications of the war will be felt far and wide and that is the topic of our -- from stephen collinson. it will cause shockwaves. and let's bring in the author of that piece. thank you very much for being with us. you write for our viewers just meeting you for the first time, you have this talent for stepping back and seeing the wider picture and kind of helping us understand and clarifying why it matters and how it might reverberate in the long term. and this of course has been compared to israel's 9/11 and promises to reshape politics across the region. why? >> well, rightly i think the focus so far has been on the be reached, the horror of what happened in israel, but politics is never for long and there are forces already gathering base that will dictate how the regional politics and how global politics reacts to all this. i think what president biden was getting at yesterday was that this was historic moment not just in the state of israel, but the modern history of the jewish people. that will have huge impact as will the trauma of what seems likely to come which looks like a full-scale israeli move into gaza, a place where civilians are packed in tight proximity and refugee camps separated by tiny passageways. this will be a very bloody affair, not just for palestinians but for israeli reservists. so that will ripple through the politics of those places and through the wider arab world for example. and that will condition how leaders in places like saudi arabia will react, in jordan where there is a massive palestinian diaspora. hard to see how the peace drive or the normalization of diplomatic efforts that u.s. was shepherds between israel and saudis can go ahead anytime soon in the coming years. so that is the regional impact. it will also play out in the u.s. politics. and we're of course in a moment of flux where great geopolitical forces are unfolding on a wider stage. >> i'm glad you brought up the normalization pact because it does seem as though this assault by hamas was perhaps timed because that normalization pact was proceeding. saudi arabia of course has never recognized israel. the idea would be that they would do that in this arrangement brokered by the united states. why would it be that hamas is so focused on preventing something like that and how does it change -- you mentioned it will change geopolitics. but how? >> well, hamas has its own reasons clearly its own motivations for attacking israel. but it is also a proxy of iran. it has gone through various manifestations in its relationship with iran, but it is clear that iran wants to see this idea of reordering of the middle east scuttered if you like. it would be very isolating for iran if saudi arabia and israel, the premiere powers in the area, were to at least lose some of their historic animosity. israel of course is already locked into a peace agreement dating back to camp david accords in the late 1970s. so you can see how the world would realign in the middle east against iran. but of course this is also coming at a time when i can see iran trying to increase its contacts with russia, with china. it has long been a fear of american foreign policy experts that there could be some tie-up, although no formal alliance between the countries yet. all of them have a long-standing and deep interest in thwarting the interests of the united states in the region and around the world. so this is a great diplomatic and geopolitical game that is occurring, not just in the middle east but everything is connected at the moment and we're almost in a situation where certainties of the post-world war ii and cold war world of a world led by the united states at least in the west are coming under great question. not just internationally, but because of what is unfolding on capitol hill, our election next year, and how that could change american portfolio foreign pop policy. >> steven, thanks very much for being with us. and just ahead here, brand new developments just in on 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[ 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. this just in, lebanese group hezbollah claiming it caused, quote, many israeli casualties in a missile attack on an idf post. israel striking back inside lebanese territory apparently in retaliation. nada bashir is joining us. what do we know about what happened? >> we heard from hezbollah which has said that it carried out a strike, it fired on an israeli site using guided missiles in response to the killing of three members of hezbollah on monday. what we have seen the last few days is continued exchange of fire, we have seen israeli airstrikes on the southern lebanese region near the border correspond to the lebanese military. and now we are learning just in the last half hour or so according to lebanese state media that we're beginning to see a resumption of shelling on the border, the sound of gunfire can be heard. and there is real concern for the poe of this conflict to spill over into lebanon. and their prime minister has said that he doesn't want leb about a in that drawn into the conflict, but it is ramping up its presence on the border, we're talking about tens of thou thousands of troops so the border ready for what they believe to be a potential attack by hezbollah. and that will be a huge concern for the thank you very much. really appreciate it. and thank you all for joining us. i am