. thello and a warm welcome t our viewers joining us around the world. >> and just ahead, five republicans running for u.s. president clash in the third gop presidential debate and the big no show was former president trump of course. we'll bring you some of the key moments. and as fighting intensifies in gaza between hamas and israeli defense forces, we'll have a report on how thousands of civilians are trying to flee the bombing. and plus strikinging hollywood actors reach an agreement to end the strike. we'll have the details . this is thursday, november 9, 9:00 a.m. in london, 4:00 a.m. in miami where the presidential hopefuls wrapped up their third debate. all hoping to catch fire with voters just two months before the iowa caucuses. >> and donald trump again chose to stay away instead holding a rally nearby. and this is after elections on tuesday saw significant democrat wins. >> and jeff zeleny was at the debate and has our report. >> reporter: at the third republican presidential debate here in miami, the race to become the leading alternative to donald trump was more furious and louder than ever. florida gun ron desantis took immediate aim at the former president for the republican losses on tuesday night. >> and he said republicans would get tired of winning. we saw last night i'm sick of republicans losing. nikki haley who also served as u.n. ambassador? the trump strakadministration st is time to move on. >> i think a he was the right president at the right time. i don't think that he is the right president now. i think that he put us $8 trillion in debt and our kids are never going to forgive us for that. i think the fact that he used to be right on ukraine and foreign issues, now he is getting weak in the knees and trying to be friendly again. >> reporter: haley getting momentum because of her debate performance. she and governor desantis sparred repeatedly on china, on the environment, even on the economy. and their handling of the respective governorships. but clearly trying to become that leading alternative to donald trump. but it was tim scott who talked about abortion and urged both of his rivals to support a 15 week ban. >> i would challenge both nicki and ron to join me on the 15 week limit. >> reporter: winner may not have been on the debate stage at all. he of course donald trump just a few miles down the road in hialeah holding a campaign rally of his own. he has a commanding lead in this race. and now about two months before voting begins in iowa. jeff zeleny, scnn, miami. and in the sunshine state donald trump promised to terminate president biden's border policies if he is elected. >> day one we will restore the trump travel ban on entry from terror plagued countries. and we will implement district vetting and screening for all new entrants into our country. we don't do that at all now. >> donald trump is the likely nominee, but he is also facing numerous charges which make his ability to hold office unclear if he is convicted. >> and with us now is richard johnson, queen mary university of london. lovely to have you with us this morning. given these debates are descending in to plenty of red on red attacks and nobody is coming off particularly well, i think, and donald trump is staying away from all of it, how do you think that that is playing? do you think that he is just gaining in popularity and status by keeping off that stage? >> trump has been vindicated in his decision not to participate in the debates. his polling now is stronger than it has been at any point in the last 18 months. cnn had a poll this week showinging him at 61%. if you put the fifd candidates on stage together, their polling is 36%. so for any one of them to be a viable con it tit enten der, th have to hoover up all the support of everyone on that stage and peel off about a quarter of trump's current supporters. so that just gives you a sense of really how significant his advantage is at the moment. >> and pre-extentend for a momet donald trump is not running. what would you have said about the debate and who is doing well? >> this is probably the most substantive of the three debates we had because there were fewer people on the stage. it gave candidates a bit more time to develop their answers. the two standout figures i think were nikki haley and ron desantis, both current nontrump frontrunners to give you context. desantis was at 17 points and haley at 10 points in the cnn poll, but they are the two and three in the race. i think that showed in the debate. i thought tim scott was pretty low energy. i suspect this will be his last debate. he didn't really cut through very much. and chris christie effectively trying to be the anti-trump candidate in a primary field that is not interested in him. the wild card is vivek ramaswamy who went in as a bit of a bomb thrower. but i think his act is wearing thin. i don't think that he had an especially good debate and where he made some of his more outrageous claims, the other candidates were quick at putting him down. so haley and desantis probably the two strongest in the field. >> and it seemed as though the candidates weren't exactly focusing on the issues that will move the dial at next year's election. for example off the back of the results on tuesday. that was not discussed until the very he said and there really wasn't very much moving of the dial. desantis perhaps a little more vague on his stance. and there was a huge emphasis on foreign policy which typically is not be would of the key issues for voters in the united states when deciding who to vote for. >> yeah, i thought the abortion came late but one of the more interesting discussions. you saw some of the candidates take a softer line perhaps than we've seen in previous republican primaries. i think that republican party is the dog that finally caught the car with the dobbs decision. and that unified the party. but when deciding what the limits are on abortion, that turns out to be much more fraught. i think that the line that haley and desantis want to take is leave it to the states to decide. tim scott came in with a much longer line than he did -- sorry, my fire alarm is going off. i don't know if you can hear that. but that -- a test clearly. but that was a more interesting discussion. on foreign policy, i think that helped nikki haley tonight. she is the most experienced candidate having been ambassador to the united nations. and that showed. it was also an area of broad agreement when it came to israel. but when it came to ukraine, you can see that there are cracks within the republican party about how strong to support the effort of the ukrainians against russia. ranging from ramaswamy effectively calling zelenskyy nazi adjacent to nikki haley taking the view that trump was too weak with the russians. >> okay. richard johnson, thank you so much. good point on nikki haley. she's so experienced in foreign policy. but so much more about politics rather than substance at this stage. >> and typically not just even in the united states foreign policy issues are not really energy fizizes voters for the election. perhaps the funding going to ukraine and economy is always such an important element of an election. that might be slightly different. but i'm sure there will be many who were listening to that debate last night and also wondering about donald trump thinking about the future of ukraine's fight against russia's invasion and being quite concerned. ramaswamy having some particularly strong words to say about the fact that he didn't believe it was right to frame that invasion as a fight between good and evil. was a lot more circumspect about ukraine. questions are glowing about the political end game in gaza. more than a month into israel's war against has made. >> israel says its troops are now in the heart of gaza city targeting the infrastructure and commanders. benjamin netanyahu said that israel would be in charge of the overall security indefinitely after the war. >> but secretary of state antony blinken says that gaza should not be occupied by israel or be a staging ground for terrorism and also that the palestinian authority should eventually run both gaza and the west bank. >> and israel defense forces claims that it has destroyed 130 hamas tunnels since the war started. cnn can't verify that claim, but it comes as we're getting a better view of what israeli soldiers are facing on the ground. jeremy diamond reports from tel aviv. >> reporter: israeli armored vehicle advances through this refugee camp but an ambush awaits. moments earlier the same video shows a hamas fighter armed with a rocket propelled grenade moving slowly from behind the rubble. these are hamas propaganda videos from the perspective of its fighters. showing hamas militants peering around buildings and through the rubble before striking armored vehicles. cnn has geo located several videos released in recent days to northern gaza. hamas still likely mounting attacks. the videos provide a limited window into the group's guerrilla tactics and threats that israeli forces face as they move deeper into gaza. >> as we move in, we're fighting more and more close combat, urban combat type engagement. >> reporter: israeli military says its forces have encircled and are now operating in the heart of gaza city where they face the dangers of dense urban combat and vast network of tunnels hamas fighters are using to sneak up on israeli forces. >> the nature of urban warfare, they go down a tunnel and come up somewhere else so we're moving slowly, we're not rushing, we're taking strategic positions. >> reporter: israeli forces say they have destroyed 130 hamas tunnel shafts like this one since launching their ground offensnsive. >> we'rere just scscratching th surface. >> reporter: and many more still remain. jeremy diamond, cnn, tel aviv. elliott, a few reporters have been allowed in and lot of it are horrified by the amount of destruction within sxgaza. why do you think israelis are trying to show that side of things? >> i think this is clearly an information war as well. we know that from the israelis are doing briefings every day, they are constantly updating over telegram, whatsapp. and they are talking about taken hour firefight taking over a military stronghold in jabalia oig where they found weapons and killed a number of hamas militants as well and they said that they found tunnel shafts including one there near a kindergarten. and they say they discovered a weapons manufacturing facility in a residential building next to a child's bedroom. there is an information war going on here. what israel wants to show is that it has been careful to avoid civilian casualties, and that it is a just war that it is carrying out in order to protect its own civilians. also an information war and we've seen it from hamas, of course respect protecting their perspective difference. and from hamas perspective, more of these images which are heartbreaking images of death, destuks and despair, the more demonized israel will be and harder it is for the united states for example to support israel and of course for israel allies in the region to stay silent and/or maintain relations with israel. so there is an information war going on here and israel clearly wants to show the world that what it is doing is targeting hamas, not innocent civilians. >> are they successful? >> in terms of taking out hamas infrastructure and hamas fighters for sure. and this is what it wants to show the world. and that it is a just cause if you like and that it is taking all the precautions that it wants to be taking and also that it is succeeding in its military objectives pe samat the same ti. >> and we're seeing there the tunnels and how complex the system is. and the assumption also being that hostages are being held in the tunnels. and they talked about how dozens and dozens of tunnels have been destroyed and blown up. i mean, how do at the know there aren't hostages there or are they taking that risk? >> i think the assumption is is that israel has intelligence more or less as to where a certain number of the hostages are. we don't know the specifics. they had intelligence when they freed that female israeli soldier who was being held captive by hamas. yes, still holding 240 hostages and that is certainly the main reason that the prime minister benjamin netanyahu continues to reiterate there can be no ceasefire unless the hostages are returned unharmed. and anything else that you hear about a ceasefire in his words are just fake news. so there is clearly a danger that if israel goes in and takes out all the tunnels on the assumption that hostages are being held there that they coulden harmed. israel also said that one of the reasons that hamas took back some of the bodies of the people that it killed in that rampage on october 7 inside israel is to then kind of say israeli is killing them, we aren't. and therefore, you know, we've been treating them nicely and this is all israel's fault for killing them. obviously we're not there on the ground to see specifically what is happening. but we yes of course there is a danger -- presumably they are not kept in one place all the time and there is a real danger that they could be killed by for want of a better phrase friendly fire. >> elliott, thank you. in the skies above syria, the u.s. retaliated a second time against iranian backed militias attacking military forces. pentagon says two jets struck a weapons depot. and as natasha bertrand explains, the u.s. is taking a measured approach at striking back. >> reporter: u.s. conducted an airstrike against a weapons storage facility in eastern syria that u.s. officials say was being used by iran and its president proxy groups to store weapons used against the u.s. there have been over 40 such attacks since october 17 by iran backed proxy groups on u.s. and coalition bases on iraq and syria and the u.s. says they conduction this had strike which is the second in just over two weeks on these kind of weapons storage facilities in syria in order to degrade iran and its proxies' abilities in the future. they say they are targeting the infrastructure to send a message to iranians that these attacks will not be tolerated and to destroy the weapons stockpile. lloyd austin did release a statement about this and said that this strike was carried out in self-defense, it is precision strike, and he emphasized that the u.s. does not want to see the war expand any further, but that the u.s. is committed to defending its troops and that it will do so in every possible scenario. and so secretary austin and other defense officials really emphasizing that they are carrying out the strikes in limited self-defense in order to destroy iranian weapons supplies, but that this does not indicate a broader desire by the u.s. to escalate the conflict any further. however, all of this comes on the same day that houthis in yemen who are backed by iran, they shot down an mq-9 reaper drone that was carrying out surveillance activities over the red sea. and so this conflict obviously, the u.s. is very concerned that it could spiral, that could expand, but right now doing everything possible to take limited steps to try to defend u.s. troops and their ability to attack u.s. forces in the future. natasha bette bertrand, the cnn pentagon. still ahead, why russia is ramping up attacks on vessels. and the republican candidates made their case to voters, but the man leading august all the polls was a no show. >> and actors are going back to work. what we know about the tentative agreement, when we come back. ukraine may be one step closer to in the process to joins european union. european commission has recommended that formal talks begin next year but only once kyiv satisfies certain conditions including reigning in corruption an strengthening minority safe guards. >> ukraine continues to face tremendous hardship and tragedy from both the russian war offing a xwr aing a agrees and yet ukrainians are deeply reforming their country even as they are fighting a war that is existential for them. >> and president volodymyr zelenskyy called the move an historic step. he applied for u.n. membership shortly before russia invaded his country. the 27 national eu leaders will decide in december whether they will accept the commission's recommendation. and a russian missile struck a civilian vessel entering the black sea port and killing a pilot and injuring four others. photos posted show damage to the ship's bridge and officials say this is the 21st attack in that odesa region since russia left the grain deal back in july. >> deal brokered by turkey and u.n. collapsed. kyiv has since opened what it says is a temporary humanitarian corridor to circumvent russia's blockade. and transportation secretary pete buttigieg was in kyiv to announce a n new infrastructure adviser for ukraine. whic . >> and russian attacks with heavily damaged ukraine's infrastructure especially energy and port facilities. and at actors strike is over and union is celebrating. what we know about a tentative agreement after the break. and plus donald trump's eldest daughter testifies in new york's civil court in defense of her father. the latest in that fraud trial, just ahead. you want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. with reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. fellas, fellas. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ goli, taste your goals. republicans held their third televised presidential debate last night. six qualified to be on the stage but only five showed up. >> and as he's done twice before, donald trump skipped the debate to hold his own rally. mike havalerio has our report. >> reporter: among the five on stage, the question of who is the strongest alternative to former president trump was pressing for both nikki haley and ron desantis. >> you are trying to make up for it and act like you weren't a will i be a ral when it comes to the environment. you were. you always have been. just own it. >> she welcomed him into south carolina, gave them land, wrote a love letter saying that they were a great friend. >> reporter: and joining them, former new jersey governor chris christie, entrepreneur vivek ramaswamy and south scarcarolin senator tim score. a major policy was the war between israel and hamas. >> i'd be telling bibi finish the job once and for all. >> they have to, one, eliminate hamas. two, support israel with whatever they need whenever they need it. and three, make sure that we bring our hostages home. >> reporter: also took shom of tuesday's election results as voters in ohio approved a constitutional amendment to proen protect abortion rights. >> we need a 15 week federal limit. >> this should be decided in each state. >> i think there is something deeper going on in the republican party and i'm upset about what happened last night. we've become a party of losers. >> reporter: instead of debating the former president held a rally nearby in hialeah. >> and we'll win because we will never stop fighting to save the america we love. >> reporter: mike valerio, reporting. the months' long actors strike is officially over after they reached a tentative agreement. group representing the studios praise the deal saying it provides biggest contract gains in the history of the union and gives compensation protections in the use of artificial intelligence which is one of the main sticking points. brian lowry says that the studios were ready to make a deal because they were losing money and content as the strike dragged on. >