in its war against hamas. we ll have the latest developments out of the middle east in just a moment. plus, what the new speaker of the house is saying about aid packages for israel and ukraine and how soon the funding could pass in the lower chamber. and also ahead, we ll look at the state of the republican presidential primary now that former vice president mike pence has bowed out of the race. good morning and welcome to way too early on this monday, october 30th. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day and week with us, and we ll begin this morning with israel, expanding its ground operation in gaza. on saturday, prime minister benjamin netanyahu announced that israel is in its second phase of its mission to destroy hamas. netanyahu described the assault as israel s second war for independence. the operation began overnight friday with an intense wave of air strikes and ground raids. at the same time, phone and internet service to the region was sev