Backs israel. We will make sure israel has what needs to take care of its citizens and to defend itself to respond in this attack. It is sprintering the republican field. Israel is not ready. We need to have israel a back. How would a republican, nikki haley is here exclusively ahead. And House Of Cards . As the u. S. Promises israel more support, they are still at odds with choice of speaker. With Congress Paralyzed will they be able to deliver aid . Hello. Im jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is rather terrified with this brutal war between israel and hamas thats about to get much bigger and much worse. More desperation in the middle east this morning. This was the scene after an israeli strike in gaza. Now after eight days of a brutal air campaign it is preparing significant ground operation, a reminder that hamas embeds itself within the palestinian population. In response to the Terrorist Attacks in which 1,000 israelis were slaughtered, the deadliest day for the jewish people since the holocaust and that was accompanieded by the kidnapping of more than 100 innocent people from israel. This hour israel is warning hezbollah which the u. S. Considers to be a are troist group about any further escalations from the north as the two sides exchanged fire. Tens of thousand of innocent civilians in gaza 2. 3 million are trying to flee. There are reports that hamas that uses Human Shields has set up stops to stop its own people from escaping. Jake sullivan told me that hamas is blocking civilians including americans from using the only viable exit from gaza. The rafah crossing into egypts sinai desert. Water service has been restored by israel to Southern Gaza earlier this week. Israel cut off supplies of electricity, food, water and medicine to gaza until hamas frees including some americans. Joining me now in tel aviv is cnns rafael rommo. What is the move on the ground as israel prepares for this next stage of the war . Well, jake, let me tell you the last few minutes we saw four flashes right above us followed by very loud booms. It was rockets launched by hamas in our direction that we are, thankfully, intercepted by israels iron dome, the air Defense System that has been working so, so good here and that gives you an idea about whats happening here, and as you can imagine, jake, there is a lot concern and uncertainty especially given the fact that the Israel Defense forces may be on the verge of starting a Ground Incursion into gaza on saturday. Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu visited with the troops that had been deployed to the border with gaza. He told soldiers that the next stage is coming. Israels military says its forces are increasing Operation Alreadiness for the next stages of the war. In a statement it middle idf forces are preparing to implement the plan which is can include combined and coordinated strikes from the air, sea and land. Jake, the air strikes on gaza havent stopped either. Israel claims its military killeded a hamas commander who played a key role in last saturdays attack. There are new signs that this conflict is being followed very closely beyond israels borders. On social media, the Iranian Mission to the United Nations warned the farreaching consequences if israel does not stop its attacks on gaza. Add to the mix, the fact that the pentagon has ordered a second Carrier Strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean sea. Those two u. S. War ships are not intended to join the fighting in gaza or take part in israels operation, but the message, jake, for iran and iranian proxies in the region such as hezbollah in lebanon is very clear. Do not get involved. Jake . Rafael romo in tel aviv, thank you very much. Joining me in studio is the israeli ambassador to the United States michael herzog. Before i start, of course, i want to offer my deepest condolences to the israeli people about what happened eight days ago. Just a horrific, horrific i think i speak for all of my viewers and everybody at cnn when i say our hearts are just broken by what happened. Thank you very much. I highly appreciate that. This Ground Incursion that we expect in the next do we can you give me any sort of sense of timing next week . I know you have 300,000 reservists on the border and is it an operation to rid hamas of its military capabilities and its terrorist capabilities or is it in operation to destroy hamas completely . So, as you noted, israel was attacked and hamas waged war in israel and and we have no choice to strike back and we will destroy the regime so they cannot threaten us again, and we dont want to be where they laurin war against us or provoke us. Thats over and we are determined to destroy the and we are preparing the operation with details and timetables and all of that, but we are at war and we are going to fight at war. What is the plan for after you accomplish the objective . What is the end state after the operation . Will israel reoccupy the gaza strip . Will any palestinians who fled gaza be allowed back in . So we have no desire to occupy or reoccupy gaza over 2 million palestinians and certainly want people to go back to their homes. We are talking about innocent civilians and we are doing everything we can to keep them out of harms way where hamas is doing everything they can to keep them in harms way. Thats the situation we are in. I think talking about the day after is a bit premature because crushing the hamas war machine will require time. The questions you raise are valid and i think we will have to enter discussions with our partners, with the International Community about the day after. The editorial said this week, said israels most urgent task is to bring back israelis held by hamas in the gaza strip. Your Finance Minister reported lead argued in a Cabinet Meeting to, quote, strike hamas brutally and not take issue of the captives into account too much and what theyre arguing is why not . Why arent the captives or the kidnapping victims the number one priority . Certainly, the issue of the kidnapped israelis and others is very much its high on our agenda. We are well aware of that. We are in the process of understanding how many people are there, what is their condition, what is their identity and certainly, this is a consideration and i dont want to comment about the statements by this or that politician, and all we say is hamas perpetrated a war crime against humanity in taking hostages and that we hold them accountable to any harm that comes to any of the hostages. Hamas is claiming that israeli air strikes have killed 13 of the hostages in gaza. Do you have any idea if thats true . I dont know, i would be very careful about what they say. Theres a lot of misinformation, propaganda there, and so i would be very careful i would take what they say with a grain of salt. You said a week ago its premature to discuss any dealing for exchanging hostages. Has that changed . Was there any discussion about Prisoner Swaps . Hostage swaps . We are not at that phase, and as i said, we are in the middle of war and we still have to know how many hostages there are and what is their condition. So you, obviously, distinguish hamas and the 2. 3 million palestinians many of whom are prisoners of hamas in gaza. Israel has warned the 1. 1 million in Northern Gaza to evacuate. And the u. S. Officials and the u. S. Has said thats a tall order. The unsaid its impossible to get them all out. Whats the latest on these humanitarian corridors and letting the innocent victims of hamas, in many ways, get out . So im glad you asked the question. Our enemy is hamas. Its not the Palestinian People. Its not the innocent civilians. Many of them are dying because of israeli bombardment. They are used by hamas as Human Shields. Thats why we call on them to leave their homes because as we intensify the war against hamas we dont want to harm any civilians and we asked them to move to the south of gaza. Hamas, in contrast is asking them to stay, is forcing them to stay. Theyre setting up a blockade, confiscating and so on, and we see all that and they want to use them as Human Shields. Already 700,000 people left their homes and we are in the process of establishing a humanitarian zone, a big humanitarian zone in the southern part of gaza with the u. N. We are working very closely with u. N. Agencies so that they will go there and get all of the essential provisions like water, medicine, food and things like that. We are in that process. Are the egyptians first, we heard hamas wouldnt let americans trapped in gaza out. Thats true. Thats true. We are in the process of facilitating their exit. They are already in the crossing and hamas preventing them from leaving gaza. And those are The Americans. And we know that al sisi has been reluctant to let the palestinians out of the rafah gate because he doesnt want a refugee camp and he doesnt want them going into egypt. As i explained the humanitarian zone, we work very closely with the humanitarian agencies and it is inside gaza in the southern part of gaza to be able to Host Hundreds of thousands of people and they get their food, provisions and essentials. Thats where we are. You want aid to be able to get into gaza and not just people getting out of gaza. You want aid getting in. Yes. We are talking about aid getting into a humanitarian zone. I want to emphasize, we are doing everything we can to get innocent civilians out of harms way. Hamas is doing everything they can to keep them in harms way. Know you want to punish hamas by cutting off supplies, electricity, water, et cetera, but that is hurting civilians. Well, let me explain. We are not punishing hamas, they waged war on us. I understand. When you cut off all of the other things it hurts the people. We did not cut off the electricity, we destroyed the hamas rockets. We are not punishing anybody. Its a war zone. They destroyed the Electricity Lines and they destroyed the water line from israel to gaza. Thats the situation. We are operating under the national law and any essentials that the palestinian population needs, well facilitate. Thats why we are establishing this safe zone. Ambassador herzog, thank you very much for being with us, and i am praying for peace. So are we. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. For more, im going to talk to the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence xhuty, senator marco rubio of florida about what he is learning. He will join us live next. Welcome back to state of the union. As we enter day eight of this war in what appears to be an imminent Ground Invasion of gaza by Israeli Forces there remain so many outstanding questions about what role the United States should play in not only aiding a key ally, israel, but rescuing The Americans currently being held hostage by hamas. Joining us now is republican senator marco rubio of florida. He is the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence committee. Senator, thanks so much for joining us. So youve seen the top intelligence. What should we as americans be prepared to see when a Ground Invasion happens which we are all preparing ourselves to witness . Well, i think, never commenting on intelligence specifically, but i think much of the commentary that youve seen out there and what people are saying, to try to root out hamas. The israelis have the ability to do it especially with our Resupply Role well play. It wont be an easy task. No doubt hamas has booby trapped the place and theyre hiding behind civilians. Weve seen the reporting just today Open Source Media about how theyre preventing civilians from moving and getting people out of the way and its part of the tactics and related to that is what is hezbollah and behind them iran planning to do as a result of this as this moves forward and as this goes on and wars are painful, difficult things. Theyre not pleasant. Theyre not the kinds of things anyone should be cheering on, but sometimes on Human Affairs they become necessary to get rid of the terrorist group. What is the reaction going to be in hezbollah . Will they launch a second front because this changes the dynamic substantially and this is a delicate moment, and a necessary moment unfortunately and its also one we shouldnt take lightly. Its deeply troubling at the same time what israel has to do here. How long should israel and the world be prepared for this war to last and what do you think is the end goal . You heard the ambassador say that israel does not want to reoccupy gaza but if they get rid of hamas, what happens . Who takes control of gaza . Well, thats a difficult question, right . The egyptians certainly dont want any part in assuming any of the responsibility here. Understand hamas is a descendant and an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and they dont want that in their country either which complicates this further. I cant speak to israeli tactics and what their plans are after the fact and as far as the timeframe is involved im pretty certain that the israelis say this is not the 72hour or two or threeweek deals here. This will take some time. Hamas is deeply embedded. They hide in tunnels and its not just hamas and its Islamic Jihad and other groups involved, as well. This is a complicated process and israel with our support has the ability to carry out the job, but it will be painful and costly all around. They know that. Theyve messaged that, and i think this is a months Type Situation and not a days or weeks Type Situation from everything ive seen. I hope im wrong and its quicker than that, but thats the direction everyone seems to think this will go. It governor and former u. N. Ambassador nikki haley was on the show earlier talking about how the leaders of arab nations, saudi arabia, jordan, egypt, qatar, et cetera, et cetera, could be doing so much more and dont. Obviously, talk a lot about the palestinians at other times, but really pony up very little when it comes to actual, fort. What could they be doing not only in getting hamas to release the hostages, but in terms of helping the Palestinian People have a thriving democracy on the banks of the mediterranean if they wanted to and if there was some sort of Arab League Security force that could help with that effort . Well, and i think one of the things we are learning and were reminded of is i dont care what country you are. No country in the world wants mass migrations of people from other places. I mean, it was a Mass Mieggrati of refugees that changed the dynamic of lebanon completely and plunged the country into a long, civil war and has brought it to the point it is today. Egypt doesnt want that. Jordan doesnt want that. None of these countries want that and none of them are ponying up and saying send them to us and they could accommodate people coming there and providing that. The other is the role they play in some cases, some of these countries in being supporters of hamas in the past. The qataris are a strategic ally and someone weve worked on on many issues and a supporter of hamas. This should be a lesson to all these nations and governments that if you are trying to play an outsize role in the region with these groups and it will end up backfiring on you especially with a group like this, which is a fundamentalist Islamic Palestinian state that stretches from the mediterranean to jordan. This is a lesson that groups like this should not be coddled and encouraged and the hope is to find responsible actors that you can partner with and can engage in. That has not existed which is what makes this part of the world so difficult and thats why we need to take this one step at a time and step one is to eliminate hamas as a Military Threat. They simply cant be a Military Threat after what theyve done. There are complicated questions and anyone who materiels you they have something in their jacket to have a simple plan in the long term, there are 25s and turns and decisions to be made and hamas has to be eliminated as a Military Threat. You said any civilian casualties in gaza are 100 the fault of hamas because hamas launched the attack eight days ago and is currently using the civilians as Human Shields embedding within the populous, et cetera, preventing palestinians from fleeing. Still, it is an ugly reality, and an ugly fact that 700 palestinian kids have reportedly been killed in the last eight days. Do you think that israel has done enough to avoid palestinian casualties in gaza . Is there anything israel could be doing in anything more egypt could be doing or the u. S. Could be doing . Youve seen israel, for example, has been doing it from the very beginning telling people to get out of there, to move and youve seen some efforts to move. Youve seen efforts from hamas to prevent that from happening. Ultimately, the other thing to remember is wars are terrible, ugly things and unfortunately in Human Affairs they are necessary sometimes because nations have the right to selfdefense and hamas cannot be allowed to continue to exist and they follow