the palestinian people at large a hope for a better future so maybe they won't turn against israel and certainly broadening the conflict is very dangerous. the israeli military is not as strong as it should be at this point for various reasons most of them political. >> thank you very, very much. >> thanks, wolf. hello everyone. thank you so much for joining us. i'm fredricka whitfield in atlanta alongside wolf blitzer in washington. we'll get back to you in a moment, wolf. let's start with our continuing coverage of israel at war. new fighting today inside gaza. israel defense forces say they clashed with hamas fighters marking only the second confirmed israeli operation in the enclave since the beginning of this war. beyond that skirmish it has been another bloody day across the gaza strip. israeli air strikes ripping through the enclave with deadly results. the grim reality of this war seen on some of its most vulnerable. video obtained by cnn showing the lifeless bodies of a toddler and three children killed in overnight air strikes. their parents had written the children's' names on their legs to identify them. there was also a rare air strike in the west bank, the idea saying it hit a mosque there to prevent imnant terror attack but the palestinian authority calls the strike a dangerous escalation. the idf is vowing to increase its aerial barrage in gaza ahead of a potential ground incursion. with the casualties and humanitarian crisis mounting this afternoon president biden held phone calls with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, pope francis, and leaders from canada and across europe. those calls coming as more urgent aid has now made its way into gaza. cnn has confirmed at least 14 relief aid trucks carrying vital supplies have entered the enclave today. >> i want to go on the ground right now in israel. cnn's diplomatic editor nic robertson is joining us from israel not far from gaza. what more are you learning about the fighting between israeli forces and hamas that took place inside the gaza strip today? >> reporter: we don't know the precise reason for this incursion. it wasn't announced in advance. most surprised there because operational security is paramount for israeli forces. there has been so much discussion about a full scale incursion. this was not that. this appears was a limited operation to prepare the ground for potentially a larger incursion and it seems to have run into a hamas, some hamas operatives who we understand fired a rocket propelled grenade missile at one of the tanks. hamas is claiming this as a limited victory that they hit a tank and damaged two with that advanced unit as well. one soldier killed. three injured. the idf says they have informed the families but it does look as if this indicates that there could be a larger ground offensive coming. however, traveling the border region today we can see the troops ready. it just doesn't appear as if they are being moved close to the border for immediate incursion. obviously things change with time and that is a picture from about six hours ago, wolf. >> interesting. israel's aerial assault as you know, nic, continues across gaza today. what are you seeing and hearing today? >> the idf said they'll ramp up air strikes ahead of a ground incursion to protect troops when they go in on the ground this afternoon and into this evening and tonight where we are now we have heard a massive -- you are listening to it there -- escalation in the number of air strikes, missile strikes, and artillery fired into gaza and this is perhaps the highest level of sustained fire into gaza we have experienced here in the past week. we've been here about two weeks. the first week it was very heavy and the tempo right now is back where it was then. some of the detonations that we're hearing are close enough and loud enough to rattle the doors and windows on our building, a mile away from gaza. that gives you some idea of what the experience inside gaza will be at the moment for these very heavy strikes that we are witnessing behind us. >> we've also seen today israeli forces launching a very rare air assault, air attack over in the wafrj. what are officials saying about that? >> it was the town and we know earlier this year the idf had two incursions there that go after groups of terrorists from the palestinian/islamic jihad group hamas there and what idf is saying is that they had a real time active intelligence that told them two operatives were in the mosque that had a network of tunnels that could be used for storing ammunition under the mosque. the operatives were in the mosque, planning a military operation, and the idf targeted the mosque, killing these two fighters. >> nic robertson reporting from israel. thank you very much. stay say over there. today president biden held phone conversations with several world leaders including the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and pope francis. it comes as the biden administration is pushing for israel to delay its likely ground incursion into gaza. cnn's chief national security correspondent alex marquardt is joining us right now. israeli officials deny these reports. tell us what you are learning. >> israel doesn't want to be seen as being told what to do and the u.s. certainly doesn't want to be seen as telling israel what to do. what we are hearing from the biden administration is that they are simply giving advice offering their best judgment about what israel should do when they do undertake the ground invasion. but what i've been told by two different sources is that part of what the u.s. is telling israel is pressing them to allow for more time to delay this ground incursion, to allow for more progress on both the hostages and the aid going into southern gaza. there has been progress on that. we saw the two american women released on friday. part of the 200 or so hostages still being held by hamas. we've also seen the trucks moving toward southern gaza today. so there has been progress. we know that a major priority for israel and for the united states is to get these hostages out, particularly the foreign nationals and the civilians and to allow that aid to get in to gaza. israel does not want to be seen as being told what to do and certainly hamas knows that pressure will build on israel if they continue to sort of trickle out these hostages or if there is a sense hostages may be released. that kind of pressure could get in the way of what israel is planning, wolf. >> in iraq, meanwhile, the u.s. is ordering all nonemergency government personnel to leave the country immediately. tell our viewers what is happening there. >> well, this really speaks to concerns that are growing here in washington about what iran and its proxies across the region could have in store for u.s. troops and diplomatic facilities and citizens around the middle east. so the state department has issued a new travel advisory for iraq. it is a level four, the highest level telling american citizens not to go to iraq and also saying that the families of u.s. diplomats are coming home, that nonessential personnel are leaving iraq. this comes after a strike on the u.s. diplomatic facility in baghdad on friday, wolf. we've also seen this in lebanon, very similar advisory. this really speaks to the growing concern that the iranian proxies may be ratcheting up their efforts to target u.s. interests. that is something we heard from the secretary of defense lloyd austin earlier today, wolf. >> we've also seen the state department issue a very rare worldwide alert for all americans traveling overseas. tell us about that. >> so the advisory i was just talking about for iraq, these things happen all the time. they change. we get them fairly regularly. the world wide alert you're talking about does not happen very often. it happens really around major world events. the last time was when the leader of al qaeda was killed by the united states last year. now what the u.s. is doing is essentially telling american citizens around the world they could be under threat, under attack. and that comes as a result of the real support that the u.s. has been showing to israel in the wake of these attacks by hamas and this looming invasion into gaza. there are a lot of people around the world particularly in the middle east who are really angry, furious with the level of support the u.s. has shown israel. >> thank you very much. a foreign policy reporter over at axios is joining us right now. you have excellent sources. what are you hearing? should israel delay its full scale ground operation to allow for the release of more hostages a know more aid to come in to gaza? >> good afternoon, wolf. i think the hostages issue is an issue but when i spoke to several israeli officials today what they told me is they're not looking for another gesture like the one we've seen a few days ago with two hostages that were released. they are saying that they are willing to give more time if we are talking about a big deal meaning all of the hostages, all the women, all the children, all of the elderly in one tronch. it doesn't seem at the moment that such a deal might be possible so i think a ground operation in gaza is just a matter of when and not if but there is another reason for the delay that doesn't have to do with the hostages. it has to do with the threat for u.s. forces in the region. and what i heard from israeli officials is that the u.s. asked for more time in order to get more forces in the region to protect u.s. troops and take preparedness measures in u.s. bases in the region because i think the pentagon and the white house are concerned that once an israeli ground operation in gaza starts the threat for u.s. forces in the region will increase dramatically. >> the u.s. has already deployed what, two u.s. aircraft carrier battle groups in the eastern mediterranean, so clearly, the u.s. is worried. they are trying to deter further escalation of this war. do you believe the u.s. is also pressing israel to delay this full scale ground assault? >> i don't think so. i think when i spoke to several white house officials, again, about the bigger picture of whether there will be a ground operation or not, they admitted that israel is unpersuadable. meaning there is nothing the u.s. can say or do that will prevent such a ground operation. it is just a matter of time until it happens. when i asked israeli officials are they in a rush they say no we're not in a rush because hamas, the time is not on hamas' side. hamas officials, hamas leaders and commanders are in the tunnels and the bunkers. the situation is not getting better each day that passes. so they say if not today then tomorrow. if not tomorrow the next day. we are not in a rush. this thing is going to take a long time anyway. >> what is the potential end game of a full scale israeli ground offensive into gaza? are israeli officials saying anything at least privately about what would come after that if the israelis were successful in destroying hamas, removing their leadership, and eliminating their weapons? >> so first, wolf, this is a big if meaning we hear a lot from israeli officials that they'll dismantle hamas, that in a few months hamas will not exist. i would put a very big question mark on those statements. let's say it does happen. in the israeli government right now there are two or three different teams talking or thinking about the day after but it is very low level and the political echelon still did not have a serious discussion about it. and no one, when both president biden and secretary of state blinken asked directly both netanyahu and members of his war cabinet they said, okay. what is your plan for the day after? they heard the same answer and the answer was, we don't have one. >> very interesting indeed. the u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin is warning about what he calls a potential escalation throughout the middle east as a result of what is going on between israel and hamas right now. what is your level of concern with respect to that potential risk? >> i think it is very high risk. look what is going on already before a ground operation. we see the border between israel and lebanon we have at least just today i think there were 7 or 8 different fire fights between israel and hezbollah on the border, something that hasn't happened in years. look at the situation in yemen with the houthi's firing rockets and drones at israel. the situation in iraq with threats against the u.s. embassy, look at the situation in syria with attacks by iranian proxies on u.s. bases. you see it from almost every direction and this is before a ground operation. so just imagine what is going to be the situation when israel invades gaza. it is a very, very dangerous and volatile situation. >> you are absolutely right. thanks for your excellent reporting. appreciate it very, very much. >> thank you, wolf. still to come much more needed aid has now entered gaza from egypt as the humanitarian crisis there grows more and more dire. we have new details. we'll share them right after a quick break. at least 14 more aid trucks entered gaza just a little while ago, encouraging news for those calling for a more steady stream of humanitarian supplies into the gaza strip. 20 trucks made their way through the crossing yesterday, dropping off desperately needed food, water, and medicine. but officials and aid groups say the occasional convoys aren't nearly enough to meet the enormous needs of the many civilians caught in the cross fires of this war. >> reporter: those who arrived at the hospital in central gaza alive are the lucky ones. there were five air strikes this morning near the hospital. this video shows the smoke from one rising nearby. some 110 bodies were brought here overnight and this morning one medical source tells cnn. the morgue is now full and the rest of the bodies wrapped in white sheets now lay outside in the heat of the day. relatives try to identify their loved ones finding them confirms their worst fears. inside the hospital children including a toddler are among the dead with several victims found with their names written in arabic on their legs, an increasingly common marking as parents try to make identification easier if they or their kids are killed. this this hospital is killed outside of the area of northern gaza that israel has tried to get civilians to evacuate. on saturday leaflets were dropped telling people everyone who chose not to evacuate from the north of the strip to the south might be considered a partner for the terrorist organization. in a statement idf confirmed it dropped the leaflets but says it has no intention to consider those who haven't evacuated from the affected area of fighting as a member of the terrorist group. even those who have managed to avoid the bombs are not out of danger. a trickle of aid, 20 trucks, were allowed to cross the rafah border from egypt on saturday but that is a tiny fraction of what is needed. >> 20 trucks in gaza will not change much. gaza needs at least 500 trucks daily of fuel, food, medicine, and water. as a matter of fact for 14 days gaza got nothing under the israeli siege. its immediate need now is 7,000 trucks. >> reporter: satellite images showed dozens of trucks waiting at the border and dozens more a quarter mile down the road all unable to get in. aid groups say the death toll could skyrocket because of disease and hospitals that are overwhelmed and under supplied. with no electricity or generator this shop keeper in central gaza is keeping the store open by candlelight as the shelves look increasingly bare. the world food program says the shortage of basic supplies is pushing gaza to the edge of catastrophe. the idf says it killed dozens of terrorists overnight but vows the number of air strikes will only increase ahead of an expected ground operation. conditions for the people of gaza worsen by the hour. cnn, london. >> thanks for that report. i am joined now by an arab israeli muslim who served in a special unit of the israeli air force. thank you so much for joining us. i know you have seen some of these difficult images coming out of gaza like all of us showing the suffering of the palestinian people. we all saw the horrific attacks by hamas terrorists on israeli civilians back on october 7th. is israel doing enough do you believe to limit civilian casualties in gaza? >> israel is doing everything to not target the palestinian and innocent people but the big problem is that hamas is using these people, the civilian people for their agenda. they hide, the hamas leadership hiding behind the hospitals and mosques and using the people there as a human shield. what's happened in the october 7th was a horrific crime and against the humanity. it is contrary to the standards of humanity and the islamic sharia. i as a muslim that go up in the islamic homes, i think that is the most horrible thing that i saw ever. what hamas did to the israeli people, to israeli innocent people is like what isis did for the women that isis raped in iraq and what isis murdered children in syria. this is what happened in israel. >> as you know, there are about 2 million israeli-arab citizens, citizens of israel right now living in israel and reacting to what is going on in this conflict between israel and hamas. tell us what the reaction generally has been. >> after the arab israelis saw what hamas did the reaction was to support israel. they understood gaza has to be free from hamas, free from the terror organization, hamas and jihadist islamic because the palestinians are suffering not because of israel but the palestinians are suffering because of hamas and because of the organization. while israel extends her hand to support and help the palestinian people, the leaders of hamas are using the people of gaza and the west bank as a human shield for a terror agenda. while the people in gaza, they are under attack, the leadership of hamas, they are living and staying in luxury hotels and in other countries' capitals. this is the situation. >> has the current war complicated the relationship between israeli arabs and israeli jews right now? what is your analysis? >> i think that those who live here in israel see the arabs and israelis studying together, living together, and also joining the idf together how i did. the arab israelis and jew israelis know that they live together and they know hamas is the big danger to the palestinian people. if we want peace with the palestinian people we have to eliminate hamas and the terror organizations because hamas is the big danger to the palestinians not only to the, to israel, also to the americans. when you hear palestine would be free you should remember what hamas did to the women and the children there, how they murdered them, raped the women, and killed the old men. >> are you concerned we will see more division that will develop as a result of this cycle of violence that is going on right now? >> i think the solution to stop the violence firstly is to stop the corruption of these organizations. we have to stop the terror activity in gaza and the west bank. this is the solution. when hamas stop their corruption and activities in the gaza strip and the west bank i think we will have the solution that the palestinian people and the israelis also want to live in safety and security. but who is a threat? the safety and security? the terror organizations that want to destroy everything. they want to destroy the bridge between the israelis and the palestinians. >> thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. coming up the president of a synagogue in detroit found stabbed to death outside her home. what we know about the organization and we'll share that with you after a quick break. from chrome to duckduckgo. duckduckgo is a browser you download to your mobile and desktop devices. unlike chrome, the duckduckgo browser has privacy built-in. it comes with a private alternative to google search, which doesn■t spy on your searches, and it blocks cookies and creepy ads. and there's no catch. it's free. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you around. join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on mobile and desktop today. investigators are looking for a motive in the death of detroit synagogue president samantha woll. friends and family are remembering her at a memorial service in detroit today. woll led the synagogue in detroit since 2022. she was found stabbed to death outside her home. the fbi is now assisting in the investigation. i want to bring in now cnn's omar jimenez who is in detroit for us. detectives showed up at woll's home today, and what have they learned? >> right now a lot of the detectives and police personnel are still on the scene and i think when people hear the headline they want to jump to conclusions. that is exactly what police are cautioning against right now mainly because they don't have those conclusions a the this point as we understand. they told us we'd get an update at some point and haven't gotten that just yet. i want to give you an idea where we are near downtown detroit. just behind me on this block is where the body of 40-year-old samantha woll was found. police followed a trail of blood from her body to her home which is where they believed this killing happened. they don't have anyone in custody. they don't have a suspect named as we understand at this point and also don't know what led up to this killing. a lot of questions still in the air here. regardless of how it happened, it did happen and it is why there has been a memorial service today where friends, family are sharing what they remember about samantha woll, including michigan's attorney general. >> samantha woll may have been the nicest person that i have ever met or will ever meet in my lifetime. sam did more for our community, our state, our world, our lives in her short time here on earth than most will ever accomplish in a thousand life times over. and her killer will not rob us of the memory of her joy and warmth and kindness that she leaves behind. >> now, we actually just got an update from police. the statement says the investigation into the death of ms. woll remains ongoing. at this time, however, no evidence has surfaced suggesting the crime was motivated by anti-semitism. they are still working with the fbi to forensically analyze all of the information obtained and the police statement says they are asking the community to remain patient as this investigation moves forward and that police expect to update the community even further tomorrow. >> all right. very sad. omar jimenez, thank you so much in detroit. coming up, more than 100,000 people have been evacuated from communities near both the north and south borders of israel. we'll hear some of their stories, next. more than 100,000 israeli families are now displaced after fighting along the northern and southern borders of israel forced them out of their homes. one ministry in israel mobilized a volunteer operation to house and feed as many of these israelis as they possibly can. we'll go live to tel aviv right now for details. i know you had a chance to speak with some of these displaced israeli families. what did they tell you? >> reporter: when we visited a shelter in juiceerusalem we spo with people who saw missiles exploding above them and also witnessed the brutality of the hamas militants during the october 7th terror attacks. the israeli ministry and other agencies announced a plan last week to evacuate 28 communities living within 2 kilometers of the lebanese border. it has included towns that fall within the vicinity since then. >> we had terrorists all around us. >> reporter: jennifer says she and her family woke up to the sound of explosions and missiles whizzing by. it was the morning of october 7 in the village where they live in southern israel near the border with gaza. they soon realized they were under attack. >> we saw helicopters overhead. we saw, we heard gunfire near us. the terrorists were not far from where i live. >> reporter: she and her 5-year-old son are two of the more than 500 displaced people from israel's north and south who are now living at a juice juice hotel turned into a shelter. >> you take a hotel, house people inside, feed them, do activities. we are trying to create some normalcy. we'll be hosting next week 1200 people across the country. >> this christian organization called the fellowship of israel related ministries or f.i.r.m. for short mobilized to help displaced people who had to flee their homes. >> they want to destroy israel. >> reporter: this man and his wife live in northern israel. their son joseph warned them a war was coming from the south after the october 7 attacks. now they are also among the displaced. they say they fled their village located 2 kilometers from the border with lebanon because they saw missiles launched by hezbollah intercepted right above their heads by israel's iron dome air defense system. from your house near the lebanese border could you see the missiles, rockets flying by? >> all the missiles. i saw all the missiles. i saw the army on the border. >> reporter: according to the israel defense forces about 100,000 people had been evacuated from communities near both the gaza and lebanon borders due to heightened risk of attacks. some o lost homes, a lot lost loved ones. i met a family yesterday. their 18-year-old daughter her best friend is held hostage by hamas in gaza. so the trauma is really pervasive. as a group of messianic jews and christian arabs working together how can we care for as many people as possible? >> reporter: many of the families share a feeling of uncertainty right now. when will the war end and when will they be able to go home? those are questions for which they don't have an answer right now. jennifer says her husband stayed behind with others trying to figure out how to defend their communities against further attacks. >> we didn't just lose jews. we didn't just lose, you know, zionist or israelis that day. we lost tourists that came here for a celebration of peace at a party. we lost care givers from the philippines and from india that were caring for elderly. >> for now she says all she scan do is -- can do is hug her son a plil harder, pray for her husband's safe return, and pray something like this never happens again. wolf, beyond opening the shelter will deliver 2500 meals a day across israel in places like bomb shelters and also hand out more than 1,000 grocery boxes this week to women home with their families to feed them for a week. those involved in the effort are messianic jews and christian arabs working together to help the families in need. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. the people of gaza and israel need a lot of aid right now. clearly if you want to help here is what you can do. go to cnn.com/impact or text relief to 707070. we'll have much on the israel/hamas war as our special coverage continues, but first the deadline has now passed for republican lawmakers to declare whether or not they will run to become the next speaker of the house. who made the list and what comes next? we have details right after the break. the deadline to enter the u.s. house of representatives speaker's race is now closed. nine house republicans will make their case before the republican conference tomorrow. the house has been paralyzed without a speaker for nearly three weeks now, which former speaker kevin mccarthy calls, quote, embarrassing. cnn anchor and chief congressional correspondent manu raju has the latest on the race. >> reporter: house republicans remain in turmoil almost three weeks after the unprecedented ouster of a sitting speaker kevin mccarthy pushed out after eight republicans joined with democrats and voted out kevin mccarthy as speaker. this was initiated by house republicans and they have not been able to coalesce around anyone to replace mccarthy as of yet. the house can't do any bess, no legislating at all, until a speaker is elected and they have been unable to unite behind any candidate. first they nominated steve scalise the house republican majority leader. he was unable to get the votes to be elected speaker and bowed out before going to the floor. jim then to be the next speaker of the house. he did go to the floor three times and failed to win over enough support. he could only afford to lose four republican votes. he lost 25 on his third ballot. ultimately, he bowed to reality and stepped aside and now nine republican candidates have filed to run for speaker. unclear which of those nine will ultimately get the republican nomination and more importantly who can get the 217 votes that they would need on the floor of the house to be elected speaker. it is unclear if any of them can given the sharp divisions within the ranks. >> it's the biggest fu to republican voters i've ever seen. >> the americans are sick of it. most members of the house are sick of it. it is time for big boys and big girls to stop with the nonsense. >> we need to get over it and move on. >> we cannot have an entire branch of government offline. >> we got to get our act together. they're saying what the hell is going on with you republicans. >> history will assign the blame in the right places. >> on monday evening, that's when the house republicans will meet behind closed doors again. the candidates will make their pitch to the conference. they'll do one by one and we'll see how that ultimately goes. and then tuesday morning is a signature vote behind closed doors. republicans will have a secret ballot leadership election. a majority of their conference will vote to nominate the next speaker candidate. that person, it will be a secret ballot election. it's unclear exactly who might me emerge here. we'll see how close that person is to the magic number, 217 votes to be elected speaker. this is challenging for any republican candidate because in the narrowly divided house, there are 221 republicans, democrats are going to vote for hakeem jeffries. that means that person, the candidate, the republican nominee must limit defections in the rank and it's unclear if anyone of them will be able to do that after we have seen just republicans going after each other, after mccarthy was pushed out, unable to get behind anyone, unable to do the nation's business and much business is waiting dealing with aid to israel, calls for aid to reign, avoiding a government shutdown in mid-november. it is stalled amid this infighting. can we get it resolved this coming week. that remains a huge question but a possibility it could still be une solved and slip into another week if they can't get their act together mind the nominee. manu raju, cnn, capitol hill. >> thank you so much. to maryland now where the manhunt continues for a suspect who shot and killed a judge at his home. the washington county sheriff's office released this new photo of the suspect. pedro argatay. his silver mercedes was found by the crime scene on saturday. he's continued to be armed and dangerous. joining me right now is cnn's polo sandoval. what are you learning? >> so as you note there, police did release that photo of the suspect hoping to generate any potential new leads here. also the u.s. marshal service offering up to $10,000 in reward money for any information leading up to the suspect since this all-out search started on thursday for the 49-year-old as we've reported here. he's believed to have specifically targeted a maryland state judge after that judge ruled against him as part of the ongoing divorce proceedings. a child custody battle, essentially. there was some hope that they were closing in on him yesterday when they located the mercedes-benz that he was believed to have been driving. however, we heard from authorities today saying that they have concluded that search that took place only about eight miles south of where that shooting happened at the judge's home in hagerstown, maryland, they have no new indication indicating that he could be in the area. he could be anywhere. we hope to hear from investigators. it is worth noting that the suspect's ex-wife did release a statement through her attorney saying that her heart aches for the family of judge andrew wilkinson and also that her thoughts are with those law enforcement personnel that are trying to track down his ex-husband who is a suspect in this case. as we heard from law enforcement saying they are confident they will find him. the sheriff saying, it's a matter of time. >> all right. polo sandoval, thank you so much. and thank you for joining us this afternoon. i'm frederica whitfield alongside wolf blitzer in washington. he'll be back 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whitfield alongside erin burnett. erin burnett will talk to you in a hot second. we begin with our special