that is coming up on november 17th. i will tell you multiple members coming out of a private meeting last night on capitol hill were extremely clear. they are not confident that today ends with a new speaker of the house. poppy, phil? >> lauren fox, thank you for the reporting. and "cnn this morning" continues right now. israel right now preparing for a ground invasion of gaza that appears to be imminent. >> these iron dome interceptions, active rockets coming in from gaza. >> in a minute, it can be all the war everywhere. >> i just cover myself with dead people. just waiting to die. >> they don't have mercy on no one. better to be dead. >> the condition of my friends, my family who survive is unspeakable at this point. >> whole families were executed. parents, children, people even beheaded. >> must be crystal clear, we stand with israel. there's no justification for terrorism. >> he has deployed hostage recovery experts. he has offered to share intelligence. >> there are the sirens going off again. >> there will be retribution and there will be retaliation. >> it was not just barbaric treatment. it was the utter destruction of our communities. >> the effect of these attacks really uniting israel as the country braces itself for what will be the next stage. ♪ good wednesday morning, everyone. we are staying with the breaking news. i'm phil mattingly with poppy harlow in new york. erin burnett is live for us near the israel/gaza border. 7:00 a.m. on the east coast, 2:00 p.m. in israel. we're following breaking developments on multiple fronts. this is the scene over gaza. this morning the israeli military says 300,000 troops with tanks and heavy artillery are massing near the gaza border and getting ready to, quote, execute their mission as those air strikes and artillery fire continue to rain down. this is an active situation. our own erin burnett had to take cover as hamas returned fire with rockets. >> reporter: yes. you hear these sirens? you coming to us? i'm not going to be on camera, okay? come to us. you can come to us. okay. tell me when i go. oh my god. >> this as the idf is releasing this new video of it bombing a university in gaza hours ago. idf officials say hamas turned it into a training center to make weapons. >> this is video of the destruction this morning in gaza. the government there warning that all electricity will be cut off shortly. and right now we do not know the fate of all of those hostages who were kidnapped from israel and taken into gaza by hamas. president biden has confirmed americans are among the captive and at least 20 u.s. citizens are unaccounted for at this moment. the death toll in israel from hamas' surprise assault over the weekend, that continues to rise. at least 1200 people are now confirmed dead and the scale of the savagery of this massacre continues to come to light. overnight, the first round of weapons and ammunition from the united states arrived in israel. you see it there being unloaded from that plane. we have team coverage around the region, also here at home. let's start with erin burnett again right near the gaza border. erin, extraordinary what you showed us last hour. just reset the scene for everyone. >> reporter: so, poppy and phil, we are just about three miles from the gaza border. and you heard the sirens just there in that clip you played from a few moments ago when we were all together. we have been hearing regular sirens. some a little far away to hear. some of them very close. and then within a few seconds a barrage of rockets. earlier a few moments ago there were dozens and dozens of them. the entire iron dome really lighting up above us. one thing that's important to keep in mind is that dome is designed to protect heavily populated israeli area. so under the city of ashkalon nearby, it's designed to protect and more rural areas or fields such as where we are, they're less likely to use it. so you have to be careful no matter where you are. and of course pieces of those rockets can come down. as we said, dozens and dozens of them being fired. giant plumes of smoke from impact. on that front, we cannot tell you whether that impact came from israeli strikes or whether that came from hamas rockets returning fire. but we can tell you we smell it. and it is that smell of war. heavy, industrial burning metals and burning fuel. when we get those -- the wind blows this way. az as i said it was a very brightly sunny day. and now the sun has been marred quite a bit by that cloud. right behind me -- i don't know if you could hear over the loud speaker -- okay. we're going to be leaving. that is a check point. and i'll just say right now they're asking us, any journalists here to leave. so poppy, i'm going to send it back to you. we're going to go ahead and do exactly as they say and move away from this area where obviously we have seen so much in coming and outcoming fire over this past hour. >> erin, go ahead with your team. we'll get back to you when it's possible and safer. thank you for your reporting. jeremy diamond in southern israel. jeremy, what can you tell us and where are you roughly? >> reporter: yeah, erin. other my left shoulder you can see the city of ashkalon. over my right shoulder you have the gaza strip. that gives you a sense of exactly where we're located just now. we heard all of those sirens in the city and in other cities around the gaza strip. we're just hearing now from the ambulance service, from a spokesman, there were two injuries from those rockets in ashkalon. i think you have images up. i can't see from here right now. i think you have some images of the damage that is already being reported. and it's important to note that, look, the iron dome obviously takes out a large majority of the rockets that are being fired from gaza. but with every barrage of rockets there is always this possibility of what we're seeing right now. big, massive structural damage but also, of course, the possibility of injuries and the possibility of people being killed. and this is kind of the psych lodgegical impact as well of th constant barrages. people are on edge here. you do get the sense that this is a country on a war footing but that it is also a country where people are worried as they go about their lives here. as they try, at least to maintain some semblance of normalcy. just yesterday when we were in the city, we had a woman who passed by our live shot location and asked us if we could accompany her to a gas station. why? because she was afraid. she was afraid of the rockets. she was afraid of a rocket hitting that gas station while she was simply trying to pump gas into her car. and that just gives you a sense of the situation that people are living with here. the fear that some people have. at the same time, we get a sense of resiliency from others. we spoke with another woman who was delivering food to reservists. while we were speaking with her, we had sirens go off, iron dome intercepts right above us, and as we went into the shelter with her, i asked her, are you afraid? and she said no. when it's my time it's my time. that just gives you a sense of the other facet of this, the resilience of the people here and the sense of defiance in the face of what has really been a shock to the conscience here in israel as this surprise hamas attack unfolded over the weekend and we have seen continued barrages unfold. and of course as well, israeli air strikes bombarding the gaza strip, really pummelling the gaza strip and we have seen the casualty toll in gaza also rising. >> jeremy, as you have been speaking and noted, we have had live pictures to your side where there's been a strike. there's a siren. looks like they're moving for cover right now inside a market. you can see where the strike occurred. the cam is off that now. onlookers looking around cars that had shrapnel inside. the real and palp fear and the resilience and the unity tied to that resilience. in a country fractured over the last year plus. that derives in part from the fact 300,000 reservists have been called up. do we have a sense right now in terms of the preparations for what is an expected ground invasion at some point in the future? >> reporter: yeah. sorry, phil. i'm looking behind me. we're hearing the familiar booms that indicate some iron dome intercept most likely. we might be able to see some of the plumes of smoke in the air resulting from those interceptions. but this is the cadence that you hear here. this is the sound track of life along the gaza border in israel right now. this is a very small country. it is almost impossible to find someone in israel who is not connected in some way to the terrorist attacks happened over the weekend. everyone here knows someone who died, who was taken hostage, who was injured, who is still missing or who lived in an area that's been facing rocket fire. this is just the reality here. and yesterday we were also speaking with reservists, more than 300,000 military reservists have been called up for duty. one of the largest mobilizations in israel's history. and you know, they don't know exactly what's coming. they haven't gotten their orders yet other than to begin gathering at rally points and to begin heading to their bases. but they are ready, they say. we spoke with one man yesterday, a u.s.-born israeli. he served previously in the 2008 and 2009 gaza war and he is back for this. this time he says feels different after israel got the surprise attack from hamas over the weekend. he feels they got caught flat footed. now he feels they're getting their momentum back and are ready for whatever comes next. whether that is a ground invasion of gaza, we don't know. you know, certainly we have seen humvees in this area, troops beginning to mobilize, setting up at staging locations. setting up tanks, setting up artillery at staging locations around the gaza strip. all of that is an indication of a possible ground invasion. the question is a political one now. has that decision been made by bb netanyahu? will he move forward with that. there's certainly a sense when you talk to everyday citizens in israel that they want to see something, significant response to hamas. they want to see a different response than in the past. it feels different than in 2014, in 2021. we will see how massive the israeli response is in the days to come. >> and whatever it is, the white house made clear yesterday, president baden standing side by side with israel on this. jeremy diamond in southern israel, thank you very much. we'll get back to you soon. i want to bring back in our military analyst colonel cedric leighton. can you give us a sense of where that strike took place in ashkelon? >> yeah. that is right here. that strike occurred right in the -- look like right in the city center of ashkelon which is a fairly large city in southern israel. so central israel. jeremy is right about here. that indicates that what you're seeing on the one side in ashkelon is mirrored by stuff that is happening here in gaza. so you've got all kinds of activity going on here. clearly this war is heating up at this particular point. you have a lot of things happening. iron dome trying to intercept missiles as they approach ashkelon. may have been successful with that. but you have all kinds of things happening that indicate ground movement in addition to aerial movement and that's complicating the picture at the moment. >> colonel lleyton, stay with us. we'll come back to you throughout the course of the hour. i want to turn now to the biden administration response. president biden confirming that americans are known to be among the hostages held by hamas after its rampage over the weekend. at least 20 americans are currently unexpected for in israel according to the administration, though it's not clear they were all taken as hostages. we're learning more about some of them now. adrian's daughter and son were on the phone with her when they heard attackers break into her home and then a scream and then nothing. 23-year-old hersh poland, we spoke to his parents. hersh loves music festivals and was at the music festival on saturday when hamas began taking hostages. they heard he and a friend took grenades that landed in the shelter and threw them back out. he was badly injured. relatives of people like adrian and hersh asking for help from the u.s. government. >> the u.s. government has direct responsibility to the lives of the u.s. citizens that are held hostage by these terrorists. >> president biden, we are sure his heart is in the right place. to do what they can to make this end for us as soon as possible. >> joining us now is state department spokesman matthew miller. matt, i appreciate your time. i know the administration always made clear this is the number one priority for them. u.s. citizens abroad. how is the administration working to obtain information about these 20 plus individuals who are missing? >> thank you, phil. let me first start by saying that, of course, my heart breaks hearing those accounts. i cannot imagine what these families are going through, both the families who we know lost loved ones and the families whose relatives remain unaccounted for. i can tell you there's no higher priority for the president, no higher priority for the secretary of state than the safety and security of americans overseas. that includes americans who are missing and includes those americans who we know unfortunately have been taken hostage by this brutal terrorist organization. what we have done over the past few days, the secretary of state has been on the phone since the early hours after this brutal attack to make clear to any leaders in the region, once we knew it did appear there were hostages who were taken that if they have any lines of communication with hamas, any leverage, any influence with hamas, they need to use that influence to tell hamas, one, very simple and clear message, release all of the hostages now. the other thing we have been doing as the president said is making hostage negotiations and hostage rescue experts from the united states government available for consultation with the israeli government. that work is on going. and we will continue to pursue that work. it is our top priority to secure the release of these hostages. it is a very difficult situation, but we will continue to work on it to the greatest extent possible. >> have those initial conversations related to countries or leaders that may have contact with hamas resulted in any type of conversations, consultations, negotiation related to the hostages? >> you know, i don't want to get into private diplomatic conversations. i don't think it would be productive or useful to the situation and the ultimate goal we're trying to achieve. i think we all need to recognize this was a brutal terrorist organization that we're talking about here whose depravity was on display. we very much understand the nature of the group that we are dealing with here. but, that said, it is our top priority to try to get these hostages released. both the american citizens and of course the israeli citizens. it's important to the israeli government as well and we'll continue to work on that as -- to the greatest extent possible. >> i guess put a finer point on it, understandable information vacuum here. do you feel you know any more today than you did yesterday about the missing americans that the president and jake sullivan, the national security adviser referenced yesterday? >> everyday we get new information. look, there's a list of americans who we have confirmed dead. there are americans who remain unaccounted for. i do expect unfortunately that the list of americans who are confirmed dead will rise today. we continue to work through the list of unaccounted and find that obviously some of those we will locate or will report in some of them we do find unfortunately they're deceased and others we're able to confirm were taken hostage. it's a moving target all the time, but we always every hour are getting more information which allows us to shape the work that we do to try to protect the safety and security of americans in israel. >> so the president said yesterday confirmed that 14 americans had been killed. your expectation is that will rise? >> i do expect that unfortunately. >> in terms of american citizens that are in gaza right now, jake sullivan, when he was at the press briefing yesterday, said there are on going diplomatic discussions with egypt, with israel about passage out. i want to play something for you from palestinian american who spoke to our jake tapper yesterday. take a listen. >> we tried to contact u.s. embassy so many times. unfortunately they couldn't help us at all. i contacted them through the phone, email. i texted. and i called different numbers, but nobody -- i couldn't hear that from any. we're all here feeling abandoned. we're feeling that we're left alone. so we really looking for the u.s. embassy to help the u.s. citizens who are living in gaza. >> is it your understanding that there is a passage way out of gaza for american citizens or dual citizens at this point? >> there has been and ani issue we continue to work on. we think it's important that american citizens in gaza be allowed to leave. we're doing that quietly. like a lot of the diplomatic efforts we under take, it's not something productive to speak about publicly. but it is something we are trying to achieve. i will just say, when we say that the safety and security of americans overseas is our first priority, that means american citizens anywhere, israel, in gaza, whether anywhere in the world. trying to help american citizens and protect them is something that's a top priority for us no matter where they may be located. >> matt, last one and i'll let you go. connected to what we were just discussing. there were strikes yesterday near and around -- i know there were conversations with the egypt side how it can open up, stay open at this point. i understand you don't want to telegraph them. but is there some immediate answer or solution given the fact it seems like that passage way was closed yesterday due to the strikes? >> again, it's an issue that we're working on. i don't think we can provide a lot of details because it's on going matter and subject of diplomatic negotiations. it is our top priority to protect the safety and security of americans overseas. i will also say that, you know, as the president said yesterday, we don't want to see civilian deaths anywhere. we want to see civilians protected. we want to see civilians not targeted. we expect israel to follow the laws of war. that's what democracies do. it is in clear contrast with the way hamas has conducted itself when you see them targeting civilians, slaughtering civilians and kidnapping civilians. the protection of civilians and, of course, american citizens is a great important and we'll continue to make clear across the region. >> certainly a focal point for the secretary as he heads to israel and the region. matt miller, state department spokesman, we appreciate your time. thank you. very sad update they do expect more american deaths as well. of course, we'll keep you posted as we get those numbers. coming up, we'll also get an update this morning from the idf following the strikes on israel that we heard live on air just a short time ago. ♪ ♪ welcome back. these are new images showing damage from strikes and counterstrikes in israel and gaza. you can see the smoke rising. meanwhile, cnn correspondents on the ground have seen firsthand military equipment, a lot of it, gathering at the border with gaza. joining me now from tel aviv, idf spokesman peter learner. colonel, thank you very much for joining us. i want to begin with the pressing questions on everyone's mind as our colleagues see your troops amassing at the border. what is the status of what many expect to be a full scale ground incursion of gaza. >> thank you very much. the main question is how are we going to prevent hamas have ever being able to attack us again. the tools that idf is military force. we are conducting air strikes, targeting hamas' capability. making sure they're on the run and cannot imagine another attack like they did on saturday which killed over 1,200 people and that numbers keeps rising. idf is prepared and will take all measures required to make sure that can never ever happen again. we are continuing to amass our forces not only on the border with gaza, but we also need to be prepared for what potentially could happen from lebanon. >> that's right. >> last night we had mortar rounds also from syria. so we are at top alert and need to be prepared for deterioration. >> staying with a gaza for a moment. do you believe that hamas can be decapitated essentially, completely the organization, without short of a ground invasion? >> i know that hamas cannot be allowed to continue to play this two hands of cards. one where they send attacks to us and one continue to govern. they need to be dealt with. we can do that with a magnitude of tools. a ground invasion is one. i would say the most important question, how do we make sure that they never have the tools to attack us and butcher our families in their homes. >> colonel, do you have any update to share on the status of our hostages. my colleague phil asked the state department and i'll ask you the same question. any update on hostages? >> i can't share anything with you unfortunately. i would say this, though, hamas are accountable and responsible for their well being. they need to release them immediately. we are taking the fight to hamas. also because of this atrocity they committed. >> we heard from the state department just reiterating that the united states expects israel to abide by the laws of war. we also heard from the white house yesterday saying that president biden and netanyahu also discussed how, quote, we distinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians when going in and striking in gaza. how is the idf making that distinction? >> absolutely. we are targeting hamas operational capabilities. they have embedded themselves deeply within the civilian arena, within the urban areas and putting the people -- their own people at risk when they hide their tunnels and hide their control positions in houses. when they utilize universities to conduct communication activities. when they utilize areas for staging grounds attacks against our people. they are targets. we only operate within the world and the area of the laws around conflict always. and we will do, as we always do, our utmost in order to remove the threat and limit the civilian casualty. but most important this is our message, the people who are responsible for the people of gaza are hamas. the people of gaza need to ask hamas why did they conduct the strategic attack against the people of southern israel, butchering them in their houses, in their homes, in their bedrooms. >> and colonel, to that point, there are also israeli, israeli citizens now being held in gaza. there are americans held hostage. i want your reaction to a woman that just joined us on the program, sharone, both of her parents in their 80s have been taken hostage. this is her plea to idf. >> they need to confirm they will protect these people, that they will not just go after and fight after and not protect. we are in gaza now. my parents are in gaza. my friend's children are in gaza. this is a desperate moment. >> do you have a response to her? she is pleading in some way them and all of those held to be protected as the idf responds to hamas? >> this is just heart breaking. and you cannot -- as a human being not identify with her and with her concerns. we are doing our best in order to bring them home. i would say that it is hamas that needs to listen very, very carefully because if they want to come out in any way of this conflict alive, they need to release those people immediately. they are responsible for their well being and we want them home. the images, the concerns, the families, the distress that we are hearing, it is the heart of this conflict with hamas. they chose strategically as a strategy to cross over into communities kill people and abduct people. 1,200 people killed, murdered butchered and tens of thousands others taken into gaza for what reason. they need to be removed from control. they cannot be permitted to have this lee way over anybody. it's also from enormative perspective, we have to send a message together around the world that this is unacceptable. our military force is determined to make sure that this can never happen to us again. >> the crucial question, if it is not known where all these hostages are being held, how can their safety be ensured with these responding strikes. but final question on any route for escape for civilians. really powerful interview our colleague jake tapper did with a palestinian american held, who is stuck in gaza. this is what she told jake. listen. >> is there anywhere for you to go to escape this barrage of missiles? >> no. no. we tried everywhere. they say go to the shore and then they bomb the shore next day. they say go to the north and then they bomb the north areas the next day. they're bombing everywhere. so no place is safe here in gaza strip. >> there have been major questions about the crossing south into egypt. is there any place for those to escape at this point? >> they need to be very cautious. heart breaking stories coming out from within the gaza strip. we need to understand that hamas has chosen this battleground. they have embedded themselves. you cannot expect israel not to protect its civilians because hamas is fighting behind theirs. we need to take that into consideration. as i said, our targets are hamas. they are jeopardizing the people of gaza. i hope she asks hamas and the reporters also asked her, what does she expect from hamas? as the ruling government of gaza. they cannot expect to attack israel and israel to sit on its hands. this situation is unbearable. the ramifications of this strategic attack against israel is a game changer. we need to change the rules of this game. it cannot beer is eer eer is pea game. we take if fight to hamas and hamas murs pay dearly for this atrocity. >> lieutenant colonel, i appreciate you joining us from tel aviv. thank you. >> thank you. we're learning more details about the scope of the brutality of hamas's attack on israel. we'll be live on the ground next. ♪ the death toll in israel continues to rise as more bodies are discovered from saturday's attack. the horrifying details of the brutality now coming into sharp focus. and it's important to see these images to make sure we keep everything in perspective. we're learning more about the attacks on these four areas. we want to warn you that what we are about to show you is quite graphic. the assault started a the gate of the kibbutz. this video showing armed men removing bodies from an ambushed car. more than 100 bodies were found and other civilians were taken hostage after assailants want door to door trying to break into their homes. >> this attack happened around the same time that hamas attacked the nova music festival. hundreds of hamas gunmen broke through the border and shot and killed innocent people at point blank range. then they stole anything they could from the victims and their cars. israeli officials found at least 260 people killed there. ho mas militants carried out a massacre. that's where our nic robertson joined us yesterday morning with that live report. the idf says that women, children, toddlers, the elderly were brutally butchered in an isis way of action. houses are ransacked and set ab ablaze. some estimates have the death toll at more than 100. >> absolute pure hell. and destroyed everything that we know. we're still processing it. it's going to be a while. very -- it's -- there's no going back from this. how can we go back to live in that beautiful place when we know what happened there? >> she is a survivor who witnessed all of that in the city about a mile from the gaza border. people were shot in their cars and on their feet just waiting at a bus stop. at least 20 civilians were killed as well as about a dozen soldiers, firefighters and police officers. joining us this morning, cnn chief international anchor christiane amanpour. christiane, thank you for being with us. this is what we're hearing over and over. we heard from prime minister netanyahu and the idf, so many comparisons to isis in the way that these innocent civilians have been murdered. >> i mean, indeed. this is mass murder, isn't it? the massacres, beheadings we're told by the idf, women, men, children killed in those dreadful images you're showing in the villages and kibbutz's and also those taken into gaza and are now hostages including old people who, as you heard from lieutenant colonel, one woman taken away from a wheelchair across there. but here is the thing, and here is the thing. what hamas has done has completely blown for a moment the myth of israel's military dominance and its intelligence dominance and its security dominance that everybody in the country and in the region has accepted as a truth over the last, you know, many, many decades. which is why you're hearing from all the israeli spokespeople, from the ministers, from everybody, that what we have to do is now a game changer. this is a game changer. we have to change the rules of the game. you just heard lieutenant colonel learner say the message from every single israeli official that this is the objective now to reestablish conventional deterrence because this is a complete and utter exposure for this instance on saturday a massive failure as we have been told by many of the israeli officials as well, which they will look into later. but at the moment, they have to go in, they say, to reestablish deterrence. and to that end, we have heard the defense minister himself say that they have taken all restraints off israeli soldiers. so what does that mean? you are seeing what's happening in gaza. you hear them say that they are abiding by the laws of war. that they're trying to protect civilians. they're correct that civilians are embedded in the entire densely populated city of gaza and many, many other areas around the actual central city, gaza city and refugee camps and all sorts of places. we have been speaking to gaza residents on our program who, you know, know precisely, you know, how different this is to any of the other encounters between israel and hamas. and they are clearly the civilians in a desperate situation. to the question of what would they say to hamas for bringing this down on their heads? i tried to ask my doctor and basically the line went dead. s the israeli defense minister and president biden stands full square with israel saying that our democracies are only strong and can only avenge our dead if we abide by the rules of war. we're in uncharted territory right now. >> christiane, your reporting and talking to former top israeli officials, current as well, has been fascinating to get their take on things. you spoke i believe former israeli prime minister. what did he say? >> he held just about every single political and military position and post in israel's history. he is a fighter. he is a general. he was head of the general staff. he was defense minister, foreign minister, prime minister. he's been in negotiations with the palestinians. he literally knows every nook and cranny of the history of israel. and he obviously, like many, are shocked and stunned at the complete failure of intelligence and military on that saturday. and knows that there will have to be a major investigation like many have told me, many current israeli officials have told me. but that has to wait, he said, until, until israel reimposes and reestablishes its deterrence. he's very concerned about the moment of rage versus anger and the ability to actually prosecute a war with a cool head. he's very worried as well, he says, about a current weak government in every aspect. listen to what he said. >> the upper echelon of our command, the inner cabinet within the government, it is now relatively weak. we have the minister of defense and other minister was head of the secret service, netanyahu said that's a weak combination, a weak team. to me such a crisis, some more serious people, more heavy weight, should be brought into the cabinet in order to lead the crisis calmly and with cool headed and i always question in strategically issues especially boiling blood is not a good recipe for successful, strategic decisions. >> and of course i asked him about the issue of the hostages. and we have all been hearing these dramatic and terrifying and heart breaking stories from families, whether they're american or other nationalities and israelis who have lost their loved ones inside gaza now. and they're very concerned about the effect of a war on the survivability of the hostages. they're worried that videos will start being posted of the hostages begging for their lives. i asked him about that. why do you think they did this? one of the strategic aims of hamas is to get, listen to this, 10,000 of their prisoners out of israeli jail. so this is another of the massively complicating and human dramas and disasters that is affecting the military, the politicians and obviously the families and obviously those who are held there themselves. >> that's really striking to hear from him because the question has been, what will they want in exchange, thousands and thousands of their prisoners being held. thank you for that interview and reporting as always. now watch this video. it was recorded by guy. he hides in a bus shortly after hamas militants attacked the nova music festival. just imagine hiding like that during what we now know is a massacre of 260 people right near that site. guy and his friends were celebrating his 27th birthday when this attack began that forced them to run for their lives and eventually they found a spot the middle of nowhere, lying inside the bushes you see around them and stayed there for more than eight hours until they were rescued by a complete stranger. and guy joins us now. i'm so thankful everyone is -- that you and your friends made it out alive. so many did not. when you were running finally, you believed that you were being shot at. it was that close of a call for you. >> yes, poppy. yes. thank you for the kind words. and yes, it was truly terrifying. we didn't know if we were getting shot at or not. at this moment we saw two friends that we were separated earlier, and the moment before that, we just saw that we were surrounded and the shots were so close. i really thought, that's it. we're going to die. and, at the moment i got the strength. i signaled them. i told them to come here. and we went together. all the way to the area where the bushes were. and it was like -- it seems like an inaccessible area, so we just lie inside of the thorn bushes. and we hid there for eight hours, yeah. >> you know, we always say that when the worst of humanity is shown, we also see the best of humanity. i think your story exemplifies that. a good samaritan, a hero came to your rescue, saved your life. his name is oz. you didn't know him. what did he do? how did he save you? >> yeah, exactly. i didn't know him. and during the time we were hiding in the bushes, i was only able to text by sms to my sister, which she had known several people that connect med to him. send me a message and told me where are you? i'm coming to get you. don't you worry. you he risked his life. he is just citizen. and i have so many thanks to him. like, i don't know how could i even be thankful for that. >> and he saved not just you guys, but many others? >> yes, exactly. like, he, i think, he saved, like, tens of people only that day alone. and i know that he kept going the day after and he won't stop until he knows that he has secured everyone that has been in the area. he is a remarkable man. >> i have to ask. you are sitting in front of an american flag. can i ask why? >> in my house, i have this flag. and i really love america. i have been in america a couple of times. and, yeah, i got family in america and new york, new jersey. so, yeah. that's it. >> it was clear from president biden yesterday that america stands right alongside you in all of this. guy, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> we are continuing to follow all of the developments out of israel and gaza. near in the u.s. there is no sign from house republicans they can agree on a new house speaker. that's next. stay with us. anonymous. new house speaker. house. house of representatives. house speaker. hill. house republicans are expected to vote for kevin mccarthy's successor e house majority leader steve scalise and commission chair leader jim jordan are known candidates for speaker. after a closed door forum last night lawmakers appeared to be no closer to coalescing around one of them. >> i am not thrilled with either choice right now. i think someone will come forward. i think someone else will come forward. i don't know who that is, and i am not backing anybody. >> in case you haven't noticed, we are a pretty divided conference right now. so i think this might take a little time to sort out and figure out a way. >> several members of the republican conference telling reporters neither candidate is close to the 217 votes needed to win the gravel. joining us steve womack, on the appropriations committee, supporter of steve scalise. to start with, i think the obvious question. do you believe you end this day with 217 republicans in favor of a single candidate ? >> no, i don't. and there is good reason why. of course, we have to meet this morning in conference at 10:00 and i think the first thing up will be the proposed rules change that instead of the person getting the majority of votes being our nominee to the floor of the house, that instead there will be an amended amendment to the rule that would require the candidate that will go forward from the conference to have the requisite number majority votes for the whole congress. so that's 217. and if that's the benchmark, then it is unlikely that we will seat a speaker today or this week, for that matter, because that is a high bar and neither of the candidates that are currently in the mix have demonstrated the ability to command that type of number. >> yet it seems like the requisite support is there to pursue that bar, put that bar into place, and i guess the question becomes what's the end game here? >> i don't know what the end game is. obviously, the end game is we need to elect a speaker. i personally don't support that rule, the rule change, because i am kind of a put up or shut up kind of guy. i believe we need to go to the floor of the house and have our names called and disclosed who we are for in public in front of everybody with complete transparency. to do this -- look, i support doing it by secret ballot in our conference so we can get a majority of those votes and accepted that nominee forward. at the end of the day, we need to go to the floor and be able to disclose who we are for and why. >> you refer to the conference as a bit of a scatter gram the other day, which is a helpful visual for me, fairly accurate, as well. to your point. >> the value of going to the vote if you don't have 217 forces everybody out in the open, puts pressure on people to reach an outcome. i don't understand how this ends anytime soon if this rule is implemented and neither candidate is anywhere near 217 votes. >> we are just going to be stuck in our conference meeting. it will spare the republican public the drama on tv. the gop majority are going to sit in conference round after round after round and forum after forum before we can coalesce around a candidate. i think we out to do it the way we did with kevin mccarthy, have the conference vote, we ought to submit our nominee forward, let that voes take place on the floor of the house. the democrats will be nominated hakeem jeffries. i would like to see the republicans put their support for the nominee we put forward. that's the quickest way out of this, in my opinion, but if we amend the rule and we have to require 217, i think we will be stuck in neutral for a while. >> how frustrated are you right now? you are a congressman known as somebody who does the work. >> are you kidding me? i have been frustrated since before we were seated as the new majority. but i knew going in with a very thin, four, firefighter-seat majority we were going to struggle to get some of the most important work. we got through debt ceiling, the speakers vote, then the debt ceiling and then ran no a brick wall on appropriations. as you said, i am an appropriator. so funding the government is part of our fundamental duty and we can't even do that. now here we are at the 11th hour with a clock ticking on a cr that runs out in mid-november and we can't seat a speaker. that says volumes. at first it was somewhat comical. now it's bordering on the absurd. let's hope that we can put this behind us quickly and move on to the important business of our country and our world. >> speaking of the important business, my preferred route of questioning which is on the policy side of things, the administration seems to be leaning towards trying to combine ukraine funding and emergency funding for israel given its conflict. do you think that has a pathway forward? >> well, as you probably know, look, i support everything we can do for israel given the current circumstances and we need to do it post haste. that begins with getting a speaker elected. i am a supporter of helping our friends in ukraine defend themselves against vladimir putin. i am not going to sacrifice one for the other. but they are both important matters and we need have a full-throated discussion about it in our conference and i hope they don't get caught up in the drama that's going on in the house right now. >> half it to have a speaker to move those forward, a majority for both, no question about it. congressman steve womack, understand the frustration. appreciate your time this morning. thank you. >> glad to be with you. thank you so much. >> and "cnn this morning" continues right now. this is cnn breaking news. >> good morning. the top of the hour. we are glad you are joining us. 8:00 a.m. in new york. 3:00 p.m. in israel where the war with hamas is intensifying. we have team coverage on the ground. erin burnett and nic robertson are both standing by. airstrikes and artillery fire raining down on gaza this morning as 300,000 israeli oo

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