Health ministry, 436 people were killed in the strikes overnight including nearly 200 children. Anderson. This all comes as were learning the u. S. Is pushing israel to delay its Ground Invasion of gaza in hopes of getting hostages out and letting humanitarian aid into the south. Although a israeli official has denied this. Carrying supplies into gaza, Relief Groups are warning much more is needed as the crisis deepens for many palestinians running out of food and water. Cnns chief International CorrespondentAlex Marquardt is live in washington. Cnns Jeremy Diamond is in ashkelon, israel, lolgalong the border. Jeremy, what are you hearing, seeing, about possible incursion on the ground in gaza . Reporter well, anderson, it really is about the combination between what were seeing on the ground what were hearing from officials and also, frankly, hearing this evening, as we listen to the gaza strip behind us, we have been hearing the steady thud of israeli artillery and air strikes all throughout the evening. But last night was certainly one of the most significant strikes that the Israeli Military carried out on the gaza strip, hitting more than 320 targets, targeting hamas tunnels, Operational Command centers, as well as missile and mortar launch points. But this evening, the Israeli Defense minister gallant is making have very clear this operation, even though it has not begun yet, is despite the anticipation that its certainlily an imminent operation making clear that it will begin. And hes describing it as a multilateral operation that he says will be carried out from the air, ground and sea, as he was visiting the ashdod navy base, told soldiers there to keep preparing that the operation, quote will come soon. As we gathered around, anderson, its very clear that the troops that are here, the tanks, Armored Personnel Carriers in which we saw hundreds frankly in an area that was a square mile, these troops are all ready to move in. We saw them milling about, but they have everything they need to move forward. The question now is when exactly that command will come through. And, alex, the white house says that iran is, in their words, actively facilitating attacks against Military Bases in iraq as well as syria. What are you hearing . Reporter obviously, theres widespread concern that iran could direct its proxies to significantly escalate their attacks against not just israel but American Assets that would include hezbollah, for example, to the north of israel in lebanon. But we also have seen a fairly serious uptick in the number of these types of attacks. Just today, anderson, there was a Drone Attack Goodness a u. S. Base in syria. There were two drones sent to that base that were taken down on friday. We saw a Missile Attack directed at a u. S. Diplomatic facility in baghdad. A u. S. Destroyer In The Red Sea had to take down missiles and drones that were fired by Iranbacked Houthi rebels off the coast of yemen last week. So there is major concern, and evidence, that these attacks are growing. And theres the potential, according to the white houses john kirby of serious escalation. Heres a little bit more of what he had to say just moments ago. Now, we know these groups are supported by the irgs regime. We know iran continues to support hamas and hezbollah. And we know that iran is closely monitoring these events and in some cases actively facilitating these attacks and spurring on others who may want to exploit the conflict for their own good and that of iran. We know the level of iran is to maintain some level of deny ability. Reporter there is no link between that attack between hamas and israel on october 7th. But theres no question, hamas could not have carried out that attack without the years and years and millions of dollars of irans backing, anderson. What has the pentagon said about possibly sending more assets to this region . Reporter yeah not just issuing warnings, theyre actually moving military action. Weve seen the interior strike groups move into the mediterranean andi eisenhower. And perhaps most dramatically anderson, because of all of the potential for attacks against u. S. Troops around the region, snekt of defense lloyd austin says air Defense Systems including Patriot Missile batteries are also going to be moving into the middle east. So theyre certainly preparing for the worst, anderson. Alex marquardt, Jeremy Diamond, thank you. Joining me now to talk more about what we say me in gaza is retired army colonel peter monsour, he served as Executive Director to David Petraeus. Colonel, thank you so much for being with us. We have seen there have been people talking about an imminent Ground Operation for more than two weeks now. Sources say the Biden Administration is seeking a hold off of that. For israels military, what is the calculus. What are they waiting for, if its not a political decision . Well, going back to the gulf war of 1991, when the United States had several weeks of Air Preparation in the battlefield, to whittle down the Republican Guard before it went in with group troops. And once it did, there was a 100hour war. What the israelis are doing now are shaping the battlefield. Theyre trying to reduce hamas military capability, strike their facilities and strike their tunnels and shake the battlefield so when the ground force goes in they wont take as many casualties and the ground crew is prepared for their invasion. I dont think this is going to last very long. Because israel is under International Pressure to reduce the number of noncombatants. It will last a number of days not in the israelis are convinced that their guard has prepared the way for the ground troops. When you say this isnt going to last very long, you mean this pause going in . Or the actual operation on the ground . Obviously, its hard to tell, do you think its short or weeks or months for a Ground Operation . I was referring to the air strikes. Theres going to be not many more days of these air strikes before we see a Ground Invasion. Now the Ground Invasion itself is going to be lengthy. If they try to destroy hamas, thats a tall order. Theyre going to have to go through all of gaza, destroy the tunnels. Get rid of their military capabilities building by building, and thats going to take weeks if not months. Lets talk about that. Given experience the u. S. Has had in ffallujah and monsul, ho difficult is this going to be and what are the terms of Den Gaugement . There are a lot of people who have gone south as israel urged, but theres an awful lot of people who have stayed in gaza city. What happens to them . This is going to be more difficult than either fallujah or mosul. In those instances, the United States had pretty much control of the skies and they had could bomb to their Hearts Content because the civilians had need fallujah, and in mosul, isis was confined to the innercity. So we could bomb the cities and destroy them. Here, the israelis have not all fled. And theyre obliged to abide by laws of warfare. But they have to be commensurate with the military gains in line with battle. This is battletobattle opinion, as u. S. Goes in with the Ground Forces and Palestinian Civilians start taking the brunt of the military operations. Thats interesting. Thats sort of the cal calculation, if thats the awful right word to use which is shooting, killing a certain civilian, if they are in the line of fire of Somebody Else who has a Military Value to them . I mean, who makes these are calculations being made by soldiers in the field in the heat of battle, correct . No, they have to be made really at the very top. To begin with. Im reminded of the allied air strikes against french cities to reduce the rail Network Prior to the Battle For Normandy killed over 30,000 french civilians and they asked de gaulle, can we do this, he said if thats what it takes to liberate france, the french people will pay the price. This is sort of the calculation thats being made now at the highest levels of the Israeli Government. How many people do we have to kill in our quest to destroy hamas. You know, its a bloody calculation, but thats war. It is remarkable to think, i mean, youre a historian on Military History which is why its so great to talk to you, but those sorts of calculations could be made, or those sorts of decisions could be made by de gaulle in the 40s, there wasnt social media, there wasnt people with cameras on the ground documentsing what that actually looked like. It would be very interesting to see how history might be different if there had been. And exactly. And so every decision is going to be scrutinized more today which is why you need to make sure that your cause is just. And that your goal isle a achievable. Which in this case, im not sure it is. Its going to be difficult to weed out the hamas militants. Its going to be a very messy operation. And israel has to be sure about the longterm settlement here and not just exact revenge to the attack they suffered a couple weeks ago. I talked to your old boss David Petraeus a few days ago, that is one of the things he was stressing, and that the is, what is the plan for victory . Its one thing, you understand the military assault, whether awe agree with it or not, but what do you do if you actually succeed in eliminating hamas, whatever that means, and not have a situation that you saw in iraq where you had a De Debathfication campaign and all of the members of the bath party who took part in the insurgency . Well, exactly. Im reminded a george w. Bush Cabinet Meeting after the invasion of afghanistan. After the meeting was concluded he said, whos going to govern afghanistan when we win . He got a lot of blank stares across from him across the table. This is the kind of question that the Israeli Government needs to be dealing with, how does gaza govern Going Forward even if you succeed. Because that question cannot wait for the day of victory. Sir, good to talk to you, thank you. Thank you. Back in the u. S. , continuing on capitol hill, the house remains frozen with no speaker, paralyzing the president s Emergency Request for aid to israel and ukraine. Were live with a report next. Just hours from now, House Republic Candles will try to pick a new speaker yet again. These nine gop lawmakers are in the running after 20 days with no speaker of the house. And bailed bids from gop congressmen Steve Scalise and jim jordan. Were covering all angles. Keefe correspondent Manu Raju Up On capitol hill with what to expect today, cnn senior date dal reporter harry enten here with details on the political fallout. First to manu, tell us what youre hearing from lawmakers. Reporter well, we are expecting a contested race for the speakership. There are nine candidates running for this, trying to get a majority of the Conference Vote to nominate speaker. The challenge is which one can get nominated to get to 217 votes they need on the house floor to be elected spl something that has not happened in the almost three weeks since Kevin Mccarthys ouster. Im here with congressman hern, thank you for the time to speak with me. Youve been on the phone all weekend long, trying to get the votes from colleagues. What exactly is the pitcture making and how do you distinguish yourself . The question is going to be how each of us presents our experiences to make that happenpy i chair the republican safety meeting, made up of the house and the republican caucus. That what is all of the caucus of the republican party. We work on a weekly basis with 80 of the republican congress. Which makes it a natural that were already working on policy. But this is a badly divided republican caucus. Weve been hearing this a long time. And theres so many anger, including the eight members who voted to oust kevin mccarthy. Should anything happen to those eight members . Look, im going to go forwards. The American People know we have a real problem in the world in israel. Whats going on over there is an atrocity, its sad. Its scary what could happen to the rest of the world if we dont get ahead of this. We need to get back in power. Condemn hamas terrorists, what theyre doing, shore up the rest of the world so they know were serious about protecting the sovereignty and allies and our own nation. And thats what were going to do. If you look at whats broken now is to trust and impeach others. E listen and we listen and we listen and put policy together to reunite the party. You mentioned israel. One of the big things is to decide on how to move on israel aid and ukrainian aid. Do you agree with what Mitch Mcconnell to tide israel aid and ukraine aid together . We certainly know in the house, ukraine aid is controversial at times, really where the money is spent and what the mission is with the money. We do not need to bog down israel aid in that debate right now. Theres still 9 million in aid to ukraine sitting out there. We need to get the israel funding passed right now. As soon as we get the speaker in the house, hopefully tomorrow night, we can have the debate on ukraine, we can invite the State Department and president and others to come and talk about the mission. I think that will solve and cool a lot of the negative aspects of the ukraine funding. You also voted against a shortterm Spending Fwoul keep the government open a few weeks ago. Would you be open to passing a shortterm Spending Bill to keep the government open . If we do our work, for the cr to cut punding and fund the southern border. I thought we can pay too much with Chuck Schumer and the senate. We did that kind of carte blanche. I think what we got to do is take back days. We got to schedule enough days to get our work done. But the dod bill on the floor. Get it passed. The other three that we passed, get those done, get them passed, signed into law. Work our tails off. But not a shortterm bill, thats where youll end up immediately, right . Well have 25 of the funding left to do it. If we take speaker mccarthys plan actually and put that in place, we will be where we need, November 17th to have 25 of the funding. And from what will i understand, former President Trump has spoken to some of the candidates who are running . Have you spoken to him since you announced . I have. What was that conversation . He want to know what was going on in the race. Obviously, nine people in the race, he knew different degrees and levels, ive worked with the president since hes been in congress for years in oklahoma. Oklahoma has been a state that has voted for him twice. Were the only state that did that, by the way, hes very familiar with oklahoma and members of the delegation there. Did you ask for his support . I did not. You dont think hell endorse anybody . I dont, because all of us are friends for him. Jim was a longtime fighter for him early on. If you notice that support of jim, he also said i like Steve Scalise and kevin hern. Hes going to let this play out. Its going to happen pretty quickly tomorrow. Well see where it goes. You voted against sertd fiing the 2020 election. Do you regret that vote . No, what i did i said arizona and pennsylvania should not have changed their voting laws without their State Legislators being involved. If you look since then, pennsylvanias gone and changed a lot of those problems. Did you talk to the former president when you guys talked yesterday . I did not. He knows hes in a great spot this upcoming election and he wants to talk about that. One last thing if you get the nomination, will you try to get the 217 votes you need before forcing a vote on the floor . I think the consensus is, ive talked to some people running and actually the voting numbers. Wed like to see a Roll Call Vote in the basement. And the American People dont want to see another thing happen like last week with jim jordan. Thank you for taking the time congressman. Congressman hern, one of the nine running for republican nomination. The majority of the conference will vote Behind Closed Doors on tuesday. Floor vote, well see if that happens whether mr. Hern or anybody else can get the