Together when we were evacuated and thats what were doing. They had really rene yes. Im so sorry for what youre going through and what your family continues to go through and all the families. I wish you continued strength and peace in ahead. Can i just tell you how professional they were with having bunch of looters, having bunch of murderers and having the ones who burned and blew gas and rolled paper under peoples doors to smoke them out. Really they were so prepared. So prepared for this. Rene butler, thank you. Im sorry. I am, too. Announcer this is cnn Breaking News. Youre watching cnn news central. Im Boris Sanchez in washington, d. C. , where we have just learned the house will not be voting on a new speaker today. Republicans just nominated congressman Steve Scalise for the job. We want to go live to tel aviv, israel. Anderson . The rockets continued to be fired near israel and the death toll is coming into greater view. The tale of horror and atrocity is coming into view the israeli primes office has confirmed that Israeli Soldiers discovered decapitated babies. We heard about that yesterday. That was cited as one of the worst attacks. Hamas denies it attacked children but the unprecedented slaughter of hundreds of israeli civilians has led to a severe response and we know children are been killed in many locations here in israel by hamas. Air strikes have pounded targets in gaza for days. Hospitals are running out of fuels to Power Generators as the territory remains under a blockade. Among those dead in gaza, at least 11 u. N. Workers. Right now there are behindthescenes talks under way, one, to try and free and locate dozens of hostages held by hamas, including americans, we dont know how many americans, and to allow somehow civilians and u. S. Citizens to leave gaza through egypt ahead of a potential Israeli Ground operation. Those talks were under way. We dont know how they will resolve. Nic, in our last hour there were we saw iron dome interceptor rockets going up to knock out rockets coming from gaza and there was Fire Fighting on the ground. Talk about what has been going on. Reporter yeah, since we last talked, anderson, its grown strangely quiet and calm, though the last couple of seconds we thought we were seeing some intercept rocket, being fired up towards ashkelon. I suspect thats heavy artillery. There are a number of heavy artillery batteries in the field. I suspect thats being fired into gaza. We may hear some distant impacts from that shortly. The small arms fired we talked about just an hour and a half ago that was over the hill where a couple of hamas militants were caught, neutralize is a euphemism used here by the Israeli Defense forces. Just over the hill two miles inside of israel, that small arms fired picked up in about half an hour ago. Some flares were fired up in the sky, illumination flares. I think that was done to give the troops better visibility on the ground for the situation of what they were firing towards. It kind of indicates that the bulk of the firefight was over, it was done but they want to check the terrain because if you light the terrain to see the enemy, they can also see you. So the flares were up and that operation seemed to wrap up as well. Again, the situation here, it changes on a dime. And its artillery again thats being fired in now. I think interestingly today this end of the gaza strip, remember, were way up at the northern end. Gaza strip behind us there. We havent any huge impacts from missiles dropped by aircraft. It doesnt mean it hasnt happened but we havent seen that this evening. Its been mostly the artillery fire, anderson. And the preparations for the next phase of this, have you seen much on that front . Significantly. Significantly more groups of armored fighting vehicles, of troops in transit and fighting with Heavy Machine Guns on top of the jeep, soldiers at the side of the jeep, their weapons pointed out at the ready. Weve seen dugin, heavy, howitzer gun positions, the big tanklike vehicles, huge, heavy, massive tracks. But the gun on the front of them, unlike a tank, the gun can go up really high. What that means is it can fire so much further. So these heavy artillery gun, the Defense Forces can really range them over a large part of gaza with a high degree of accuracy. What we understand is theyre being used to take out try to take out or prevent the use of some of the launch sites obviously tonight. On that hard to judge the success. But rockets have been launched nonetheless. And in terms of the civilian population sderot, did a lot of families leave this area already or are they still there . No, mostly it feels like a ghost town. I think that there are a few families here, i think theyre staying indoors. Even for anyone that stays here, the stores are all shut, the gas stations in the town are shut. Theres nowhere theres no cafes open. The only places that are open are the military posts, the police posts and the ambulance stations. Everything else is locked up. So it really is a ghost town. Im just checking back, i dont think ive seen any civilians or maybe one or two Walking Around the streets today. Theyre just not around at the moment, anderson. Nic robertson, thanks very much. Joining me now is Lieutenant Colonel jonathan conriques, an international spokesperson. I just spoke to a woman whose family has been slaughtered, one of many families killed near oz. She was saying of the people who lived near on saturday, about onefourth of them have been killed in this attack. Is that kind of the numbers you are hearing as well . Yes, hello. Thank you for having me on. Those are, unfortunately, also the numbers that i have. It varies from community to community, but many other communities, thats the proportion of the israeli civilians that have been executed in their homes by hamas. Reporter and its important to point that out. These are executions. These are not people getting caught in crossfire, getting killed by a rocket and shrapnel. This is gunmen, killers, coming to houses, breaking in, breaking into safe rooms, throwing gas into safe rooms, shooting babies, killing mothers, thats what this is. Its looking people in the eye and killing them. Yes, this is as up close and personal as you can get. And i think that the level of hatred that you need to develop in a human being in order to perpetrate these acts that we have seen documented its not rumors and its not the israelis are claiming that. Theres unfortunately forensic proof on the ground in the shape of bodies of dismembered israeli civilians. It hurts me to use this word but that is what weve found on the ground. Id like to go back to the words of hamas who said the operation has gone as planned and they are very happy with the results when you add that official statement by hamas and what weve seen, the pictures that weve seen and the evidence on the ground, you understand that this was not some unit that went crazy or some terrorist who got carried away with themselves. This was a systematic, preplanned assault on the community and the aim was to butcher civilians and that is unfortunately what they did. And the hostages who have been taken, many of them from these communities, the woman named sheri taken and her two children, ariel, and a younger child, 4 months old and 9 months old, they were taken as part in policy of what hamas wants. They are taking people from these kibbutzes and killing people from these kibbutzes to use. Yes. That is the strategy. Hamas is hoping and building on they will take these pour israeli civilians, tender, peace loving and gentle people who live in a quiet kibbutz, a Small Community and they are hoping that they will drag them over to gaza and then get political gains or release of Hamas Terrorists from israeli prisons. I dont know how distorted their world view is and in what reality they think that that is a practice that will achieve anything but global outrage against them, but i can say that i think they have signed something close to their own Death Warrant and an israeli general said in just a few hours after the attacks started and we understood what they were doing, he said that hamas has opened the Flood Gates Of Hell on gaza. And i think its proportionate because what hamas has done is an unprecedented level of brutality, something that israel has never seen and i dont think that any other sovereign country has seen this level of brutality, definitely not a western democracy. So what hamas has done is beyond in comparison to anything else. We are going to deal with it and it will be our job to make sure that hamas will never, ever have the ability to do this again. Colonel, thank you for your time. Im going to go back to Boris Sanchez. Boris . Anderson, we are continuing to follow Breaking News out of capitol hill. Congressman Steve Scalise winning the republican nomination for Speaker By 14in Vo 14 votes. And after some disagreement the decision is that House Members will not move forward on a vote to elect the next speaker today. Lets take you live to capitol hill where manu raju has been following the action all day. House members will still gather this hour but not for a speaker vote, rather a procedural step. Reporter thats right. In fact, it just happened and its over. The house came in for just a couple of minutes, called a pro forma session on capitol hill. They simply turn on the lights, turn it back off and thats pretty much it. Patrick mchenry gavelled it in, who is still the interim speaker, put in for the vote to oust mccarthy from the speakership. He was asked when the vote would be for the speakership. He said that is up to Steve Scalise. He said scalise has the right to take it to the vote when hes ready to. Scalise does not have the votes to get elected. He needs 217 votes on the floor. He was nominated to be the next speaker of the house but got 113 votes. That shows you the deficit he has to make up. Now, there are dozens of those members who plan to vote for him, but not all of those members who voted for jim jordan are ready to fall in line. Some say theyll still vote for jim jordan on the floor, including congressman Marjorie Taylor greene and she said others are willing to vote for jordan on the floor as well. Im not supporting steve sc scalise. Ill be voting for jim jordan. Reporter why is that . Jim jordan presented a detailed plan to us on how to move forward. But theres another situation thats very personal to me. I lost my father in 2021 to cancer and unfortunately steve is going through a Cancer Battle of his own and, you know, i like Steve Scalise a lot and i like him so much, i would like to see him put his full efforts into defeating that. Reporter scalise has been under treatment for blood cancer. Its a treatable form of blood cancer. He says hes fully capable of doing the job despite these house challenges. But that shows you the challenge of getting the votes on the floor. He can only afford to lose four republican votes. Already more than four are saying either theyre not going to vote him or not willing to vote for him. It shows you how scalise will have to get some of those members in line. In a key step, jim jordan, who he ran against for the speakership in that closed door meeting this afternoon has indicated he will nominate Steve Scalise for speaker and is trying to encourage them to vote for Steve Scalise on the floor. Marjorie and others not willing to vote for him. Others told me Steve Scalise will never get the 217 votes to be elected speaker. Were see if that prediction bears out and see if the defections to push him out of the speakership, can scalise avoid all those in the days ahead . Manu, notably, Marjory Taylor green, is she the first member youve heard Voice Concerns about his house and blood cancer as a reason to not elect him speaker . Reporter ive heard a lot of that privately. One member did Say Something publicly, congressman ralph norman. He said that was the reason why he was voting for jim jordan and today in that closed door session he was concerned about Steve Scalises health. Ultimately norman told reporters this afternoon that he would support scalise on the floor when that happened. This is a significant comment shes making given the fact that he has virtually no margin for hour if he wants to be elected speaker of the house and if she does not come off that position and others dont, he could have a math problem on the floor much like Kevin Mccarthy did. The question is when does he try to force that vote on the floor . A difficult path ahead for scalise, no doubt about that. M manu raj u, thank you very much. Coming up, well speak to a member of the House Foreign Affairs committee about these issues as soon as we come back. Stay with us. Raju were learning the house will not vote on a new speaker today. An earlier vote happening behind closed door on a secret ballot. I want to talk to someone there in the room. He was one of eight republicans who voted to remove Kevin Mccarthy as speaker. Congressman you said you were ready to stay all day and you would support Steve Scalise for speaker. Are you disappointed hes not putting forward a vote for speaker right now . No, actually, i thought we would do that today but a lot of people arent here, republicans and democrats. One of my republican colleagues for certain is in israel right now. Theyre obviously having a little trouble getting home. I think go a little slower, we get there a little faster. I think it has more to do with complete numbers of the congress and getting them all here. Are you confident that scalise can eventually get to 217 votes . Yes, sir, i am. Hes a proven leader. He raises money, he knows how to recruit candidate, hes handled some of the toughest legislation thats been handled up here honestly. I think he understands negotiations. Hes fiscally conservative, hes strong on the border, all those things that republicans rally around. And i think he understands the fact that when you take in 5 trillion a year, you cannot spend 7 trillion, which has been the habit of washington. Congressman, what is your message to members like Marjorie Taylor greene, a republican colleague who said she opposes scalise, even though she likes him personally, in part because of concerns over his health. I would help that jim jordan would talk to some of those folks and further convince them along because i think steve, if hes willing to serve and his doctors say he can serve, then hes more than qualified and i think he can handle it. Hes been through a lot more medical issues than this and a lot more than most members of congress have. So i think hes up for the job and i think hell do a fine job. In an interview with cnn yesterday, you said the conference would come out of todays meeting united, that there wouldnt be 15 rounds of votes to elect a speaker but theres obviously still disagreement and not just over scalise but whether a vote should have and today. How concerned are you that theres still disunity among your conference . Had. I think the unity is fine. We just have to heal a few wounds and i think thats what we have to do right now, as well as getting members here so we know we have a majority here. So i think those two things play into it and also i think the fact that people are just concerned about the country and where its headed and that its headed forward in a conservative manner, which i this nk the fol that are holding out now for jim will eventually come over. Reporter congressman, there are also questions about aid for israel. Im curious about the classified briefing that House Members received this morning. Obviously there are things you cant share to us but what stood out to you about that briefing that you can share with us . Well, ive often said one time when i first got here if i came 15 minutes late to a classified briefing, i could probably catch it all on cnn pretty quick. I think that continues to this day. There isnt really a whole lot they tell you in those meetings that you didnt already know or that you didnt suspect. Im always disappointed in our State Department and their ability and they did not disappoint me in that regard this time. Im still disappointed in their abilities and their grasp on world issues and the people that we allow to make these decisions and that they try to legislate from behind a desk and theyre not legislators, they dont have a vote. And im not worried about israel because theyre on auto check to get about 3. 4 billion from america. The president did the right thing. Hes in for gerald r. Ford, the largest carrier in the world, maybe sending more. That shows a huge amount of support and he can free up aid as he sees fit, just like he did for ukraine without congressional support. Congress is going to write a strong resolution and i dont know that hamas would actually read that. Unless we declare war or additional aid that i dont know about that isnt on auto check i think they would be just fine. They probably would like america to mind our own business and let them handle it but as i stated before, youre going to see some very Old Testament kind of judgment come down on a lot of mean people. And they deserve it. Killing babies. You know, that reminds me of my dad telling me about the Second World War and the japanese and china in 38 and just what they did to those poor civilians in okinawa. There hasnt been this many jewish folks killed since the holocaust. If we cant rally around israel right now, we ha