ramping up its bombardment. >> and hunting commanders, looking for new targets to emerge. >> relentless bombing campaign under way is cruel. >> israel has to do everything it can to make sure this doesn't happen again. >> we're concerned about potential escalation. >> we'll try to minimize civilian casualties but has made will do the opposite. >> 200 plus people being held hostage. >> president biden made multiple calls to world leaders to keep the conflict from widening. >> they will continue to flow into gaza, a drop in the bucket of what will be needed on a daily basis. >> troops on the border waiting for that incursion, still not clear when it will happen. >> good morning, i'm phil mattingly with poppy harlow in new york and erin burnett is in tel aviv. overnight israeli forces ramping up airstrikes on gaza and launching raids on the ground. the idf says troops are preparing for the next phase of the war against hamas. this is video of the aftermath of the strikes in gaza this morning. sources tell cnn the u.s. is urging israel to delay its ground assault in the hopes of getting more hostages out and humanitarian aid in for the millions of palestinians running out of food and water. >> but a senior israeli official tells cnn that there will be no ceasefire. the idf now says 222 people were kidnapped during hamas' attack. and new this morning israel's president is claiming one of the hamas mill tanltszs killed was carrying instructions on how to build a chemical cal weapon with cyanide. cnn has not yet verified that claim. we begin with team coverage. erin burnett in tel aviv starts it off. that is quite a claim by president herzog. what are the implications? >> obviously significant. let's go through what they say they found. they say they found a usb on one of the hamas militants involved in the attacks, and on that usb there was information from what had been an al qaeda 2003 operational manual which included a page of instructions on how to assemble a cyanide chemical weapon and how to disperse it with crude drawings. that is what they are saying. they are however clear that there was no indications at least we've received no indications from the israeli government that there were any plans to deploy such a weapon. just that it was on that usb. but we do know that there were battle plans found on operative as well, we've seen those ourselves that go through each of the kibbutzim that were attacked, street by street, an incredible amount of detailed information. and on those plans we do know talking to security at at least one kibbutz that they followed those to the "t" and went item by item. so we can't miss the significance, but there is no indication as of yet that there was any plan to use any such weapon. >> the barrage of airstrikes overnight, 320 targets is what the idf is saying, what are you seeing and hearing this morning? >> so 320 airstrikes, they give out numbers most days. so running at a 500 strike over 48 hour period. that gives you a sense of what is happening in gaza. the palestinian health authority there is saying that for example near rafah that there were four strikes there on individual homes and that 29 people were killed. impossible to verify. but it does speak to something both sides are actually agreeing on, even if not explicitly, which is that the israeli strikes are extremely targeted. so targeting specific homes where they believe that there are links to hamas militants, also talking about islamic jihad, that they are including palestinian islamic jihad targets as legitimate targets in addition to hamas militants itself. we'll get to nic in a moment to hear more, but there are days when we've heard the assault, you can hear artillery. here we do hear often the thuds of those bombs and it has been quiet today. it was quiet yesterday. at least from where we're standing at the beginning two weeks ago ghoen i was here. it was a constant thud that you could actually physically feel through your body throughout the day. we are not hearing that. so that is different. and there are those thousands of troops massed along the border waiting for the green light to go in, all up along the 25 mile long border. israeli officials here have been warning for days but the question romains when exactly it will happen. and we do understand that the prime minister benjamin netanyahu who has been presented with many possible operations that he could green light, they could go on, so we'll see whether this wait indicates a shift in his decision making on what going in entails. nic robertson as phil said is in israel. what have you been seeing? >> reporter: overnight last night the late evening hours into the early morning hours, really heavy bombardment shaking this house, the most sustained amount of missiles and artillery that we've experienced here. and we've been here for two weeks. today as you say much quieter. we hear drones in the sky, but no sounds of impacts here in northern gaza. and one of the things that we're hearing as well is the reason that the government here is -- netanyahu's government is so concerned about humanitarian pauses, they think that that will be used by hamas to gain an advantage, to alleviate some of the pressure that they are facing at the moment. and this pressure designed to help move along hostage releases, talking to some of the troops who are close to the front here, they talk about, you know, being told to be ready for action and then action not coming and sort of stood up/stood down. but speaking to past veterans of wars here, they say we've been through this here before, we can stay out and do this in the field as long as we like. but when you look at the troops at the frontlines, that is a force waiting to go. bristling with battle ready troops, farmers' fields north of gaza churn with a controlled fury of a nation readying for an incursion to strike hamas. yet they are waiting with no explanation why. feels like the early rush for battle readiness has passed. troops ss are deployed standin. the question is how long can they be kept out here. according to former idf general, as long as is needed. there are military gains. >> we are now improving our intelligence and our capacity of targets. >> reporter: but the political cal could you race here is more complicated. >> i think both in washington and in jerusalem they understand that the legitization window is closing quickly. >> reporter: civilian losses in gaza are growing. more than a third of them children according to palestinian health officials. lengthy negotiations have led to two american hostages released. a tiniment a of humanitarian aid has crossed into gaza that israel fears ends up in hamas' hands. prime minister benjamin netanyahu calculus of when to send in ground troops has never been so fraught under pressure from the white house for more hostage releases. >> netanyahu is in a real problem. he cannot say no to biden but he cannot say yes to the humanitarian aid that drifts into northern gaza. >> reporter: but he is also under pressure at home too. military and others hawkish for decisive blow against hamas. >> we are finishing preparing, you know, the ground force because we've changed plans, we are going to -- for heavy maneuvering. >> reporter: netanyahu's dilemma compounded by his dependence on american weapons. >> the pressure from washington is real. it is real as strong and the prime minister says many times to his ministers, listen, we are getting from the united states more than you know. >> reporter: where less than a week ago these fields were teeming with tanks, troops making last minute repairs, today just tracks in the sand. there is a soldier's jacket here, bread and bag on the table. the question is, where have all the tanks gone, forward for incursion or back to base for a pause. close to the front line in gaza these days, more questions than answers. an incursion still highly probable but when. and while we've been standing here the last few minutes, we've heard small arms fire, gunfire coming from this direction over here which is the direction towards the border. we can't tell what is actually happening there, but i think that it is indicative of the tensions along the border fence at the moment. >> nic, here is the thing pep i know you are saying troops can telling you that they can indicate indefinitely and you'd expect them to and isay that. but the report that u.s. is putting pressure on netanyahu to wait, it makes sense, but how long can netanyahu wait and does he lose his position of strength and authority by appearing to cave to u.s. interests on the timing of what he does? >> reporter: you know, i think part of the calculus for netanyahu will be what do his enemies in the region perceive. if the united states and international community is able to tell israel not to go after hamas, for many israelis that will ultimately look like a sign of weakness and the calculus will be what will hezbollah do knowing that, knowing that they are potentially about to launch attacks on israel at scale if the idf goes into gaza. so i think that that all becomes part of the calculus. calculus that israelis themselves generally don't feel safe after the barbaric attacks more than two weeks ago. i think that he can hold back for a while, but everyone is poised as an expectation. but then it become as question what precisely is the in-during going to do, how big will it be, how many civilians will be in the way of that incursion. but when it comes back to how long can they wait, one veteran of the 1967 war, arab/israeli war said we were held in the desert for a month and we trained, we practiced. and actually that worked to our advantage. so i think that the psyche here is not just soldiers will tell you what they think you want to hear and what their commanders want you to hear. i think the psyche is what it takes, we'll do. >> all right. nic, thank you very much. catastrophic humanitarian situation in gaza of course is getting worse. you hear aid going in, yes, it is important, it is significant, but it is not even a percent of what they really need. hospitals now operating without morphine, generators running out. this is the situation on the ground in gaza today. and also coming up on "cnn this morning," meanwhile a massachusetts couple and their 1-year-old son are trapped in gaza. we'll speak to a friend desperately trying to get them to safety. new video in of children and families running from intense airstrikes. a large number of people were killed in the strikes. also at least 26 people were killed after israeli strikes hit a refugee camp in northern gaza, that is according to palestinian doctors and officials on the ground there. meanwhile u.s. officials say more than 500 palestinian americans are believed trapped in gaza desperately waiting for a chance to leave and that includes a massachusetts couple and their 1-year-old son. they say they have tried to cross four times and they can't get in and they are sharing food and resources with others just trying to stay alive. a boston based attorney and close friend of the family is joining me now. sammy, thank you for being with us. we're looking at the beautiful pictures of the family. i know that you have been desperate to hear from them. have you heard from them in the last 24 hours? >> yes, i did hear from them this morning. every morning i try to check in with them and get a status update of what is happening on the ground. how they are doing. the one silver lining in all of this of course is that they are still with us. >> and can i ask what do they say to you, how dire has it gotten for them? >> it is extremely dire. extremely dire. they are living in a small single family home, a shelter, with 40 other people. they are sleeping on the floor every night for the last two week. and among all these people they are sharing an extremely limited supply of food and even more limited supply of water. they told me a couple days ago they ran out of clean drinking water and they had to drink saltwater for an entire day. and this is even now becoming more dire because now they are running out of the saltwater. so they have asked everyone in the house not to take showers, limit the amount of time they are flushing toilets, not to cook anything that requires the use of water. on top of that, the airstrikes are continuing in rafah. they told me this morning all night they were airstrikes bombing in rafah, which by the way that is presumably where not just this family but every other american citizen family is that wishes to come back to the united states by crossing into egypt is currently located. it is stextremely dangerous. >> what is the latest information that they have been given if any by the u.s. state department or u.s. government officials about trying to cross rafah? >> almost as frustrating as the fact that the united states has no departure option for any of these 500 to 600 american citizens is the way in which they have been communicating with all these people. in under two weeks, the state department has by email, text messages both to me and the family and phone calls told them to go to the rafah crossing on a specific day at a specific time to cross into egypt only for the families to sit there all day for hours and for not a single american citizen to cross. i've been asking the state department, my contacts at the white house, the family has been doing the same, neither the embassies in coulairo nor jerusm nor the state department are providing information for o. what went wrong or even a time line to get out of gaza and into egypt. and this is particularly concerning given that the airstrikes on rafah have not stopped and there is a ground invasion into gaza that is imminent and no one there on the ground to protect the american citizens. >> secretary blinken was asked about this over the weekend. and part of what he said, sammy, is hamas has blocked them from leaving. not specifically your friends but the 500 plus americans. have they said anything about being blocked by hamas? >> absolutely. and that statement of secretary blinken is one of two things. either not true or word play. physically at the crossing there are no militants, no military or government personnel at all on the palestinian side. they sent me videos and pictures of him at the crossing and literally the only thing between him and egypt is a series of gates that are just closed. so, no, there is no evidence that hamas has been standing at the crossing blocking people from getting in there. the reason why i say it is word play is i asked the state department, i'm in an email thread with contact on the national security council and state department and they told me we're still working out a three-way agreement between israel, egypt and they said the dfa, which i assume stands for the department of foreign affairs either under palestinian authority or hamas, and that they continue to be pressing all three parties for agreement. there just isn't an agreement right now about aid coming in and american citizens getting out. perhaps what he is referring to is either hamas is making demands or asking for certain things to happen or stop before they are going to sign whatever this global deal is that would permit american citizens to enter into egypt. >> sammy, thank you very much for joining us. obviously we'll continue to pose all these questions to administration officials as they join us on cnn pull all our thoughts are with your dear friends. >> thank you for telling their story. appreciate it. mitch mcconnell supporting president biden's call for congress to bundle aid to israel and ukraine. but even if republicans -- house republicans agree, they can't actually move forward with that plan without a speaker. and they don't appear to be closer to finding one. more on that next. you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? have we piqued your interest? you can get two unlimited lines for just $30 each a month. there are no term contracts or line activation fees. and you can bring your own device. oh, and all on the most reliable 5g mobile network nationwide. wireless that works for you. it's not just possible. sgl . the world is on fire. this so dangerous and it is embarrassing because it empowers our adversaries like chairman xi who says that democracy doesn't work. >> that was republican congressman mike mccaul owarnin his colleagues that a leaderless house weakens the u.s. and house republicans are back at square one with still no clear plan on who their next speaker will be. there are now nine republican candidates for the speakership after jim jordan withdrew following three failed votes. it has been 20 days since kevin mccarthy had his gavel taken away. joining us now, fred upton and doug hye. congressman, when you look at this field of nine, you are familiar with this conference, who stands out to you and who among them can get 217 votes? >> i think tom emmer is in pole position. kevin mccarthy came out for him very strong yesterday. he knows everybody. he was chairman of course of the nrcc, he is a whip so like the highest position person in the leadership. a couple others there as well. but they are all good people. but the real question is after they have this vote, and no one will get a majority on the first vote on the secret ballot, so the bottom person drops off. and then they will do it again. probably going to go six, seven, maybe eight ballots among those nine. but the real question will be on wednesday or so when they have to get 217 on the house floor again. and that will be the tough trick. of course if they can't, then here we go again all over again. so it is a mighty rough road. >> listen to what congresswoman liz cheney said yesterday. >> a bunch of the candidates for speaker, kevin hern, byron done old, mike johnson, jack bergman, all of them voted to object to the electoral college results in arizona, pennsylvania and to disenfranchise millions of americans based on those lies. is that disqualifying? >> certainly. there is no question. and i think it tells you over 140 members of the house republican conference voted to object and voted to object after the violence. >> doug, i'll ask you the same thing jake asked congresswoman cheney, and that is given that fact, that number in the conference that didn't vote to certify the 2020 election, does it actually hurt someone like tom emmer or austin scott who did vote to certify it? >> ultimately it was one of the reasons that jim jordan didn't become speaker. he had one of the problems with one of the holdouts there on that specific issue. the conference clearly is where donald trump is on this and if donald trump wants to play a role here, he can. he is not the determiner, but we know that donald trump can make waves in a very significant way for republicans as he has for years. it is a reminder not only of why we need more fred uptons in congress, wish he was still there, but also why they are divided amongst each other. a lot of what was reported was the eric cantor/john bay they are bay they are going on. and most of that was stupid. in this case it is very real.the bay they are going on. and most of that was stupid. in this case it is very real. >> congressman, i don't feel like you wish that you were still back on capitol hill, but the question i've had -- >> i want you to know that my wife is watching, she has a fork in her hand and she'll come after you shortly. >> i don't think that you are that sadistic. but i wonder beyond the circus itself, is this going to have a longer term impact? you are in a state in michigan, one that can go back and forth and has shown that to be the case since 2016, but also a number of house races in your state that could be very tight depending on how a national election goes. do you feel like people are watching this and actually factoring it in? >> to answer your question, and i'll expand on it in a second, the answer is yes. but the other thing i want to quickly say, donald trump's engaged in this again. he is actively opposing tom erm becaus emmer because of certifying the vote. but this is day 20. the world is afire. we can't pick a speaker when we have a republican majority? we can't get our folks together? this is going to have a big impact on the elections next year as people will just walk away from the republican party because it is a comcot. they can't govern. they don't care whether you have an r or d next to your name. they want you do the job. and with a potential government shutdown and the war in israel? nothing has happened. this is ludicrous. >> exactly the question i was going to ask you is what price will helps pay for this. i was in an uber in kentucky over the weekend and the euchre driver who served -- uber driver, first thing he said to me, he said can you believe what is happening with republicans in the house. first thing. >> we have made our brand a very bad one throughout the country and the only benefit right now is joe biden's numbers are also in the cellar. and i'll tell you, last meeting i had in the house of representatives before everything shut down for covid was with fred upton and his democratic colleague debbie din dingell. great friends and were great members of congress. and that is how things should work and that is not how things have work this had congress for a while now. we're seeing that right now.thia while now. we're seeing that right now. in professional wrestling the question is who is the last man standing. we could go through this process with no man standing. and more long term throughout the rest of the conference, we are in completely unknown zone and we really just don't know what the answers are yet. >> with november 17 the deadline around the corner to keep the government open. fred, your wife can put the fork down. appreciate it. >> thanks, guys. overnight the israeli military ramping up airstrikes on gaza once again calling on civilians to evacuate south just as a third convoy of aid trucks heads towards that border. why some rights groups say it is not nearly enough. we're getting news in when we talk about the 320 airstrikes israel launched overnight in gazas, how they are dealing wih precision targeting. and news that there is a new weapon that they are deploying. m made gellen commando unit. and i want to get to nic robertson. this is new information in about what exactly israel is doing. what have you learned about this weapon and this unit that we understand called the magellan commando unit? >> reporter: yes, a specialist unit using a special new weapon. this is a weapon that advances technologically the old fashioned more tab. old fashioned is sort of a close infantry tool that you use it close to the frontline or a little further back, it fires really high in the air, goes right up and comes right down. typically in the past you need a forward spotter who can see where it is hitting and it takes maybe three rounds for a good mortar team to put a round precisely on the target. this new system apparently does away with that, it is computer controlled, you dial in the designated location of the target and this mortar fires and hits that target with pinpoint accurate. that is what the idf is saying. so what does it mean? it means when they see a small jihad or hamas unit out in the field with anti-tank unit, they can pinpoint them precisely and hit them quickly and readily. we weren't aware of this being operational in the region, we're used to hearing the i explosion and artillery, but this had a whole new sound. and when we heard this one, we went for cover because it made a huge whoosh and we didn't know what it was. so this is something that the idf really hopes can help it target precisely small groups. >> and it is interesting that you are saying that you can by audio hear that it is very different, that your physical reaction is different. very significant. and of course in ukraine you hear artillery and are used to all of the sounds. just some context here though. 320 strikes overnight. they said 205 i think the day before yesterday. so i'm just putting it out here to make a point that is more than 500 strikes in any given 48 hour period. and even the palestinian health authority is not saying that there is anywhere near that number of deaths a day. so i'm making this point to make use of the world precision. that they are incredibly precise and it seems like in some cases they are actually targeted at operation command centers not necessarily individual hamas operatives, right? >> absolutely. thank you, erin. with us now, editor and foreign affairs columnist at bloomberg bobby goshe and also co-author of a new book coming out, genius of israel. that you think both for being here. -- thank you both for being here. i want to begin with what we heard from the king of jordan. dan, this is a u.s. ally, but he was emphatic choosing his words carefully and sending a message. here he was. >> the relentless bombing campaign under way as we speak is cruel and unconscionable on every level. it is collective punishment of a besieged and helpless people. it is a flagrant violations of international humanitarian law. it is a war crime. >> you hear that coupled with our reporting that the u.s. is urging israel to pause, to wait, to try to allow more time to get hostages out. and the idf says there is no ceasefire, there is no pause. what is your read? >> two things going on. when you hear leaders in the region making those statements, i think they are concerned particularly king of jordan who is worried about real volatility in his own population in jordan and whether or not the tensions between israel and xwgaza, isra and hamas, could have cascading effects for his own security and his own arab world are quitely saying i hope israel wipes out hamas once and for all. so what they say privately and publicly are two different things. >> the question is the cost. his wife who is palestinian really concerned as well about the treatment of the palestinian people. >> i think there are legitimate concerns about the palestinian civilians. the question is who is responsible for that, who can ultimately control their fate. is it israel or hamas. the u.s. administration's agenda is different. i believe that the biden administration has minor mild hope that they will get out some of the hostages particularly hostages with american passports. we saw two released last week. i think hamas is playing a very clever game where they are starting to dribble out hostages. i think you will see more of that. so the biden administration is saying if we're going to get out a couple house damages here and there, there is a family i'm meeting with here today who has a son as a hostage. so a lot of the parents are organized as well they should be and the biden administration is saying give it time. this puts israel in a real conundrum because they can wait and they can wait and they can wait a. at some point the concern that will undermine their own future operation and if all that is released at the end of it are hostages except for those that are just israeli passports. >> dan gets at the complexity here which i've spent a lot of time trying to get my head around it. while i'm certainly not a foreign policy expert, i've covered this stuff long enough to know this is very different given how many cross cutting variables. you talk about leaders in the region who say something publicly for effect and saying u.s. wants hostages out but also moving in significant force posture increases for deterrence purposes, also potentially getting drawn into something bigger. while also trying to hug israel and its leaders who they know will eventually launch a ground incursion. how does this all move forward in the weeks ahead given what dan is talking about, the hostages where israelis are, ground incursion, all these elements? >> it will move forward very, very slowly until the ground offensive takes place and then it moves very quickly. so that is the nature of these things. things happen slowly until they suddenly happen very, very quickly. the triggering event now will be the ground invasion. until then, there will be all the diplomacy going around it, there will be more depending on how long the sort of -- dependinging on how much time israel takes to launch the ground offensive. i imagine there will be more gatherings of regional leaders. s secretary blinken will be on the road all the time to try to herd all the cats together. there will be a lot of negotiations behind the scenes for those hostages and there will be a lot of conversations between the white house and netanyahu. >> when you say triggering, what does that mean? what does it trigger? that is obviously the big concern when you talk to u.s. officials. >> calculation as to when the ground offensive begins will be made by the israelis and they will consider all kinds of factors including the pressure from the united states. but as dan pointed out, they need to move in before too long. there is a time limit on how much they can wait. there is momentum. we keep thinking of the pressure that is being put on netanyahu from the outside. we're not paying enough attention to the pressure from within, from israelis. and your correspondents on the ground will know this better -- erin and nic, that israelis want to see something done. we're now two weeks away from the horrific events that began this chain of offenses. and those events are still fresh in the minds of israelis. they still want a reckoning for what happened on the 7th of october. they still want to make sure that that never happens again. there is a lot of pressure on netanyahu to follow through on his promises, to go in and finish hamas once and for all. we can discuss around this table whether that is even possible, but we must not discount the strength of feeling in israel and the impact that feeling has on netanyahu's disposition towards gaza. >> the point earlier about what leaders say in public and what they say behind closed door, ii think it is interesting that cnn is reporting that the u.s. administration wants them to delay that invasion. but not something that we've heard publicly from the president except for what his team says was a misunderstanding of him saying yes to a question over the weekend. do you think there comes a point when that is something that the president says out loud? >> no. i think the president's approach so far has been to give the israeli government and the israeli people a big bear hug in public, say i have your back. what he did was dramatic by showing up and meeting with the car cabinets. but forward leaning and sort of attached at the hip message publicly. and privately conveying his messages. i do not believe -- >> ever? >> i can't say ever. but near term i don't think that he will pressurize really because the deterrent effect th that would wipe out and the message it would send to hezbollah and iran would be disastrous. >> thanks, guys. appreciate it. and as israel fights back against hamas, it needs more than just soldiers to win its war. one israeli american nurse is he she can't just sit back and watch, she's going there to help save lives. she is also aware of the dangers. camila bernal has the story. >> reporter: this is the beginning of an uncertain and potentially dangerous journey. and a way of coping. >> reminded me how i felt on 9/11 when i was a child and that hopelessness and not understanding what was going on. and i was like never again. and this is really never again. >> reporter: this 27-year-old is leaving everything behind. her calling, volunteering her time as a medic this israel. >> i've made my peace with whatever happens. i've already made it because as an american, this is my sense of justice against terrorism, against the value -- my american va values. as a jewish person, my heart is bleeding. and as an israeli, i'm ready to give my all. >> reporter: los angeles was her last stop before her flight to israel. are you ready to see that? >> i don't think that anyone truly is ready or truly prepared. but a conscious decision that i've made and i will stick through it. >> reporter: the organization, bulletproof israel, helped placeler at a hospital in israel. they are working to help americans who want to travel to israel while also sending large quantities of supplies. >> none of us are taking a salary, we're just doing everything we can to help our friends in israel, to help our friends that have been victimized. >> reporter: and they have been told the hospitals are in need. >> we're seeing a lot of medical supplies that are necessary right now. >> reporter: levine hopes her time will make a difference. >> this is doing my part and this is my values and who i am as a person. and who i am as a nurse and medical professional. >> reporter: she says as along as she's alive, she will be helping. >> there is no regret. regret is not the feeling. there is fear. >> reporter: and she says she will use that fear as motivation. she landed safely and told me i will come back home. i also talked to a number of other organizations that help palestinians in gaza and what they are telling me that they can't help in a way that they want to. sending someone there or sending supplies is not an option, they are trying to raise money he said a get political attention. but overall, it is just americans who feel like they have to do something. >> camila bernal, great reporting. thank you. so negotiations between the actors union, sag-aftra, hollywood studios resume again tomorrow and yet another effort to end the crippling strike that began july 14th. the two sides last met october 11. talks broke down after the alliance of motion pictures and television producers said the gap was too great. actors also returned to the picket lines last week amid union president fran drescher's calls for negotiations to resume immediately. any want protections through ai, more compensation for streaming programs and improvements to he health benefits. the writers strike lasted about five months. and the u.s. is sending more assets to the middle east and putting american troops on prepare to deployed ones. coming up, mike pence joins us and we'll ask about the u.s. response to the strike against hamas. . israel has not only the right, as we said, but the obligation to defend itself. we can give our best advice, our best judgment about how they do it and how best to receive the results they're seeking. that was secretary of state antony blinken yesterday, trying to answer a question on whether the u.s. wants israel to delay a ground assault until more hostages are freed. not a direct answer there. two sources, on the other hand, tell cnn the biden administration is pressing israel to do just that. to wait. a senior israeli official tells cnn there will be, quote, no cease fire in gaza. joining us now to discuss that and more, former vice president of the united states, presidential candidate mike pence. thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you, poppy. >> let's begin with that, our reporting from multiple sources that, yes, the biden administration behind closed doors is urging israel to wait, give an opportunity for more hostages to be released before giving a ground assault. do you agree with that approach? >> i think all of our leaders from the president on down need to speak with one voice, that network stands with israel, and we will stand with israel to do what needs to be done, which is nothing less than crossing that border, hunting down and destroying hamas once and for all. the reality is after that horrific attack, the most brutal assault on the jewish people since the holocaust, poppy, israel has no choice, but to destroy hamas, and i believe that in public and in private, the president of the united states should be expressing nothing different than that. we've got to learn the lessons of history, poppy, and the lessons of history are that peace comes through strength and that when america withdraws, when america sounds a message of retreat, the world becomes more dangerous. >> for clarity, are you saying you disagree with the biden administration urging israel to wait at all right now, you would not do that as president? >> if i was president of the united states, i would make sure there's no daylight between us and the leadership in the state of israel. we need to make it clear that we are there to support them, to stand beside them, to send a message to the wider region by the presence of american military force in the eastern mediterranean to aircraft carrier battle groups, that if hezbollah makes a move to make it a wider war, if iran tries to make this a wider war, if syrian forces or terrorists from syria that the united states is prepared to engage. we just need to give israel room to do what needs to be done. the reality is that after october 7th, the world has come to realize israel knows, america knows, hamas, and israel cannot coexist. israel must prevail in that fight, and we must send in that message. and you know, 40 years ago today, 241 marines were lost to a terrorist attack in beirut. it was almost personal in our family. my brother was a marine assigned in beirut. his battalion shipped out ten days before that attack. it was the worst single day loss of marines since iwa jima, and the reagan administration withdrew american forces. osama bin laden said the american retreat could drive american forces out of the region. it literally set the stage for 9/11. we can't signal restraint. we can't signal retreat in this moment. we've got to make it clear that america stands with israel and we're going to stand strong for our interests in the region. >> there is a difference, an important one, between retreat and pause, and you bring up 9/11, and this, you know, has been referred to many times as israel's 9/11. i would love your reaction to what general stanley mcchrystal told our jake tapper back in 2021, and jake reminded us of it on his show yesterday, in terms of reflecting on what he wished america had done at that moment. here he was. >> i thought about it a lot. right after the 9/11 attacks, i would have made a decision inside the u.s. government to do nothing substantiative for a year. and what i mean by nothing, no bombing, no strikes, et cetera. i would have gone around the world as the aggrieved party and built up a firm coalition for what we do about al qaeda. i would have done a mass effort to train americans in arabic, poshtu, erdu, dari, to get yourselves ready to do something that we knew would be very very difficult. >> you were in congress of course at that time, and you voted for authorization of the iraq war. looking back now, do you share some of his reflections that perhaps a pause, not a retreat, a pause by israel in this moment in terms of a ground invasion would be prudent? >> no, i think quite honestly, i want to respect israel's right to take time to do the early bombardment, to set military alternates in place, but i find general mcchrystal's comments to be incomprehensible, the idea after september 11th we should have waited a year to respond, we made it clear they would give up al qaeda or we would come at them. you're either with us or you're with the terrorists, and american forces hunted down and destroyed al qaeda. we displaced the taliban, and for 20 years, up until joe biden's disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan, it was american forces there. american forces around the world that kept us safe from another major terrorist event on our soil. so, no, i think we've got to stand strong. i think we've got to make it clear that there will be a price to be paid. i go back to that 40 years ago lesson, poppy, 40 years ago today, 241 marines, when we signalled american retreat, it was osama bin laden himself that would write that emboldened him to set into motion the efforts that led to 9/11. we've got to meet this moment with american strength, and we've got to stand without qualification by israel as they do what needs to be done to hunt down and destroy hamas. >> i want to move on to the hostages being held, but before i do, president biden carrying out an agreement to withdraw u.s. troops from afghanistan that was made during the trump/pence term, presidency, you said yesterday, mr. vice president -- >> it wasn't carried out the way we were going to carry it out, poppy. >> i want time to ask about the hostages, because you care a lot about this. >> the changed the deal and it turned into a disastrous withdrawal. >> you reiterated you think the u.s. should send in special forces to free american hostages being held. this is what john kirby from the white house said. this was october 12th about that. >> israelis have made it very clear that they don't want foreign troops on their soil. they want to prosecute these operations on their own, and they have every right to want to do that. there is no intention, no plan, and frankly, no desire by the israelis for u.s. combat troops to be involved in this conflict. >> despite that, if you were president, would you send in u.s. special forces despite israel reiterating to the white house that is not what they want to try to bring hostages home? >> well, let me be clear, whatever we would do, we would do in conjunction with israeli defense forces and also special forces in israel, but look, we're talking about american hostages being held by blood bloodthirsty terrorists in hamas, and if i was president of the united states, i would have directed american special operations, delta force, navy seals, to stand up and to be prepared to go in, and then i would have made it very clear to hamas, you turn those american hostages loose and the israeli hostages loose or we're going to come and get them. we have the greatest hostage rescue teams in the world, and i think this business of waiting while hamas decides the timetable, going hand in hand to qatar to negotiate the release of hostages, we ought to just make it very very clear that we are not going to tolerate them detaining american hostages. we don't ask permission to send american forces in to save americans. >> you were also saying you would work hand in hand with the israeli government and what they want. finally on the age package put forward by the biden administration, it's as you know 61 billion for ukraine, 14 billion for israel, you've got money for humanitarian aid, bolstering the defense of taiwan, and 14 billion for the u.s. border. i know you largely have been supportive of this, quibble with some of the numbers but there are a lot of republicans in congress who are not supportive of it, and i wonder what you say to them? >> well, i would say to them that following that disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan by president joe biden that cost th