Hamas is a bunch of cowards that are hiding behind the civilians, they put their their headquarters where civilians are and buildings and the like, but to the extent that they can separate out and avoid im confident the israelis will do everything in their power to avoid the killing of innocent civilians. Lets get straight to israel where cnns Nic Robertson is. Nic, what is the latest on the ground at this hour . Reporter its been a relatively quiet day in terms of rocket strikes, missiles, artillery going into gaza and not many missiles coming out of gaza, either. It creates the impression that there is not a pause but at least diminution in the amount of Military Activity to perhaps give some space to some of the political discussions. I said that and you heard the explosion behind me. Yes, the afternoon has become increasingly punctuated by heavy explosions. That does sound like a Missile Strike landing on gaza there. And perhaps as we go into darkness i think we are beginning to see perhaps a little uptick in the tempo here. This is Northern Gaza right behind me there, we know that in Northern Gaza late today the idf said that they hit a hamas commander appearing to destroy a building taking him out, if you will. Along this border area were seeing that continued buildup and preparations among the idf in readiness for the possibility of a ground incursion. Now, i dont know how this may affect the military operations, but there was a very, very heavy rainstorm passed through here earlier today. But from a u. N. And humanitarian perspective inside gaza, rainstorms are the last thing they need. Half a Million People understood to have left Northern Gaza, there isnt enough shelter for them in the south of gaza, isnt enough food, isnt enough water. So real concerns if the weather does deteriorate more and theres more rainstorms, a lot of civilians inside gaza not only trying to dodge missiles but will also be caught out in some atrocious conditions. Absolutely terrible situation and of course as soon as you say that its been quiet we heard the air strikes behind you as darkness has fallen where you are on the border near the border between israel and gaza. Thank you so much for that report, nic. I want to now go to jerusalem and cnns jeremy diamond. I know you have been following and Doing Reporting on what the Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken has been doing. Not just in israel where you are, he is now back, but also the frantic Shuttle Diplomacy he has been engaged in across the region. Reporter yeah, dana, between Secretary Of StateTony Blinkens visit to israel last week and his visit today, he visit Bd A Half Dozen Arab Countries in the region, ranging from assault and battery, the uae, jordan, egypt, qatar, et cetera, and all of this in a Shuttle Diplomacy effort focused on several key lines. The first of which is the humanitarian situation inside of gaza, trying to get the flow of aid back into gaza, as well as allowing americans to be able to leave through the Rafah Crossing and go into egypt. In addition to that the Secretary Of State also focused on trying to prevent this hamasisrael conflict from blowing up into a wider war. And then of course this is the issue of those 199 hostages being held inside of gaza of which at least 20 of whom are believed to be american citizens. Now, we know that the Secretary Of State today met with the israeli Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu, as well as the israeli president and the Defense Minister. We just saw the Secretary Of State with the Defense Minister where blinken effectively reiterated the u. S. s commitment to the state of israel, to its right and what he said is also its obligation to defend itself, but one thing became very clear in this visit today is that while blinken is trying to address the humanitarian situation, trying to prevent this war from becoming a regional situation, he is not there to prevent war from growing bigger between israel and hamas, and that was evidenced when you heard the Israeli Defense minister gallant saying that this will be a long war and also warning that the price for israel to defend itself will indeed be high. There is no sign as of yet that the u. S. Is backing off from this kind of no Daylight Position with israel, they are fully supporting israel in its plans to widen this Military Campaign against hamas. What they are trying to do is to get americans out of the gaza strip, to get humanitarian aid into the gaza strip and also ideally to try to find some way of getting those american hostages who are in gaza out there was and out of harms way. Jeremy, thank you so much for that reporting. And today a sight the world has been waiting to see. Cnn spotted five u. N. Fuel trucks enter gaza. It is the first sign that the Rafah Crossing the one between gaza and egypt is even partially open, but this is important, it remains closed to people. Desperate Palestinian Civilians trapped in a war zone. The egyptians they have to be willing to have that gate open and have a flow of Human Traffic through that and so were in discussions with them about what that could look like and how that could be managed in a way that protects egypts National Security interests as well. But many palestinians cant even get to the south of gaza near that border with egypt. Why . Well, both israel and the Biden Administration say that hamas is preventing its own citizens from going south. Instead, hamas prefers to use innocent civilians as Human Shields to make it harder for israel to destroy the terrorists who are living among them. Now, inside the gaza strip thousands of lives are torn asunder by Ceaseless Israeli air strikes. Hamas is trying to use the very real images of devastation that you see on your screen right now to help turn the global tide against israel. Now, if you peel back the layers even a little bit and you see centuries of middle east tension, calling it complicated is an insult to the depths of the rivalries, fractured alliances, generational wounds that factor into every word that you hear. Right now what were seeing in realtime is a contest for the hearts and minds. Its a battle not just of rockets and guns but perception and its a reality that israel is all too familiar with. This weekend israels president in his First American interview, he did it with wolf blitzer and he offered the world a reminder Alex Marquardt and former Deputy Director of National Intelligence beth sanner. Thank you so much and thank you for sitting through that because there are times when this is so complicated and there are so many players of this that maybe its important to sort of explain that and say it very clearly and bluntly. Alex, you have been Doing Reporting on what jeremy was talking about and sort of the diplomatic efforts that the u. S. Is engaged in across the arab world most importantly in the short term in egypt to get that crossing open so that those innocent Palestinian Civilians have someplace to go other than a war zone. Yeah, i dont think weve ever seen a trip like this from Secretary Blinken or really anybody during the Biden Administration. To watch him just sort of, you know, bounce, hopscotch from one country to the next has really been remarkable, adding stops, and at this point we still dont know when hes going to be coming back to the united states. He is now in his second visit to israel since this war began. I think whats i think whats interesting, dana, is we are now nine days after this attack and you have heard over and over from american officials that america stands in solidarity with israel and israels right to defend itself, but what we are hearing who are and more of with every passing day is this concern about the humanitarian side of things, not only how to get palestinianamericans out but how possibly civilians could be removed to an area perhaps inside of gaza or outside of gaza where they can have some measure of safety. It is extraordinarily complicated, youre absolutely right. The most pressing visit on that front was to egypt and it didnt go particularly well with president sisi. He doesnt want to have hundreds of thousands of palestinians coming into his country. So there was no resolution, no immediate resolution after that meeting between blinken and sisi. There is a lot of finger pointing going on, you just noted that the u. S. And the israelis are pointing a finger with hamas blocking those palestinians from going south. Weve heard Egyptians Acusis real of blocking that side of the border and the americans are clearly a bit frustrated with the fact that the egyptian right side not just throwing open their gates. There is a lot at stake here, a lot of coordination needs to take place. Certainly a glimmer of hope that those trucks were able to go into gaza today. No question. And, beth, i talked to a u. S. Official this morning just on the question of egypt because we talked about this last week and about that border there and the question of like where are the palestinians, arab neighbors, why are they not helping, most particularly egypt and whether or not it went well i think certainly the gate is not open, the cross something not open, we will see if that changes in the near future for these palestinians, but, you know, for people who follow what happens in u. S. Politics, maybe you sense this familiarity and this is something i was reminded of, that the egyptians, first of all, are worried about some National Security but there is also some prejudice there that they dont want a lot of palestinians who have nowhere to go other than their country to come through across the border. Yeah, right. The context here is we should go back a little bit in time. El sisi conducted a coup against the previous president who was a Muslim Brotherhood figure. Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood. So the street that rose up in the socalled arab spring were the population of egypt that is in alliance with the same cause that these palestinians are. El sisi is absolutely record low support right now, the economy is in the tank. So he has to be very careful. He doesnt want to look close to us we dont have ambassadors in the region so we had to draw in somebody like ambassador satterfield. Im glad you brought that up because this isnt just about citizens of the of gaza and citizens of israel, this is about american citizens and there are if you are looking at that picture there that kind of gives you a better sense of what were talking about when we talk about the border between gaza and egypt there are a lot of american citizens in gaza that the u. S. Is and should be interested in helping get out. There are a lot of palestinianamericans both in the west bank and in gaza. There was some confusion about whether those with american and other passports would be able to get out of the Rafah Crossing, in fact, there were indications from the State Department that american citizens might. That clearly is not something that has happened. We have seen evacuations of american citizens from israel both by ship today as well as on charter flights. There are still Major Concerns about americans who are among the now almost 200 hostages that we know about according to the israelis. If you are looking at where else blinken went around the region, qatar was a major stop because they host hamas leaders in doha. In terms of the hostage portfolio, the u. S. Is dealing mostly with qatar because thats where the main conversation is going to be between qatar, hamas and israel. Beth, i know that you are not currently read in on the intel, but just knowing the way it works, its amazing to hear u. S. Officials who are read in really open about the fact that they have no idea where these hostages are. Right. Or who they are. Its very, very difficult to look inside these tunnels that are literally stories deep in some places that are so intricate. So theyre getting intelligence, but being able to pinpoint these hostages, as i said last time, im afraid that we do need to be prepared for not all of this going well. Its difficult times ahead for sure and trying to locate those hostages. I think theyre going to be doing it as this he go. And theres a very good chance theyve been split up. For sure. And Booby Trapped and all the rest. Its great to have both of you here for your reporting, for your experience, all of t thank you so much. Coming up, day 13 without a speaker of the house. Moments ago we heard from the republican who wants the gavel, jim jordan, and we will talk about what he said and the question that matters right now. Does he have the votes . Thats next. The House Of Representatives is on its 13th day without a speaker. Just moments ago our manu raju spoke with the man republicans nominated to be the next speaker, congressman jim jordan of ohio and The Big Question of course is whether he will have the votes on the house floor to get the gavel. M manu, you just spoke with jim jordan, what did he tell you . Reporter this is actually pretty Important News here. He says he plans to force a vote on the house floor by noon tomorrow. Even if he does not have the 217 votes he needs to be elected speaker. At the moment it seems like he does not have the votes. Even though he has successfully managed to flip three key holdouts at this moment, but even if hes short he says he plans to go to the floor and he promised that tomorrow the house will elect a speaker. Ann wagner and mike rogers publicly saying they would support us, two great members who do all kinds of great work. So that was that was really big so i feel real good about the momentum we have and i think were real close. The vote will be tomorrow. Reporter will you go to the floor even if you dont have 217 votes . Thats how our great system works and we will go to the floor tomorrow. Its not about pressuring anybody, just about we have to have a speaker. You cant open the house and do the work of the American People and help our dearest and closest friend israel if you dont have a speaker. So we get a speaker, we get the house open and we get to work on the resolution and supplemental for israel and we get back to work for the American People and thats what im committed to doing and i think its going to happen before. Reporter you have said before you wanted to have 217 first. I do think thats the deal but as one of my colleagues said in the room i dont know if theres any way to ever get that in the room. I would love that, but i think the only way to do this is the way the founders intended is you have the vote tomorrow, weve set it for 12 00 and i feel real good about it. Will you have more than one ballot if you dont get to 217 on the first were going to elect a speaker tomorrow, thats what i think is going to happen. [ Inaudible Question ] we have to come together. We have to unify. We have to come together. Reporter and the key acknowledgment there that he doesnt think anybody can get 217 votes initially. So we could see a replay of what happened in january when Kevin Mccarthy went to the floor on 15 ballots, ultimately he not elected, but at that point he had opposition from the more conservative hardliners in the House Republican congress. Those hardliners many who voted out Kevin Mccarthy in historic fashion are supporting jim jordan. The people opposed to jordan at the moment are more of establishment, more moderate members, some from swing districts. Will they be the ones holding up their hands voting for somebody else and trying to scuttle jim jordans Ascension On The House floor . That could open them up to a relentless and Intense Pressure Campaign from jordan supporters including the former president. Will they be able to withstand that pressure . Jordans allies dont think they will. Think they will ultimately come to his side but as we see here were heading to a potential significant confrontation on the floor here after two weeks of republican inn fighting and chaos and paralysis in the chamber, can they get the chamber moving again, jordsen is betting they can by tomorrow night. I want to underscore for our viewers the news out of jim jordan, he said its important i think to say it again that he is going to take this to the floor of the House Of Representatives tomorrow about this time in order to have a vote even though he doesnt have that magic 217 which is the majority of those voting at this point that he needs to be speaker of th