Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. This hour israels leaders are preparing for the next stage of their war against hamas. They say its a likely Ground Invasion of gaza. While israels military hasnt officially announced, three officials have told the New York Times will be to wipe out hamas top political and Military Hierarchy and capture gaza city. An incredibly risky Ground Invasion will likely feature bloody streetbystreet combat made more impossible by the miles long network of deep tunnels. Once and if the Israeli Military moves in, the United Nations warns further conflict would spiral into a, quote, abyss in the middle east as the conflict spills over borders, a fear echoed by irans Foreign Minister who says regional war could be unavoidable. To gazas north, israels military is exchanging fire with the Lebanese Group hezbollah which the u. S. Considers a terrorist group. There israel ordered the ak asian of 28 villages, and hezbollah, like hamas, is backed by the iranian government and it may, quote, respond to an invasion of gaza by opening up a second front with israel along the lebanese border according to the New York Times. To the south, egypts border with gaza, the Rafah Crossing is the only way out of gaza, but thats been sealed off since hamas brutal attack. Israels government has not agreed to a Ses Fire In Gaza or freeflowing aid. In addition israel has not fixed the extensive damage caused by one of its air strikes by the gate according to palestinian officials there. As the humanitarian crisis in Southern Gaza becomes more dire by the hour, the United States and israel blame the bottleneck at the Rafah Crossing on hamas. Hundreds of thousands of palestinians listened to israels call over the weekend to immediately evacuate likely as preparation for the Ground Offensive as food, fuel, water, electricity, even body bags run in short supply according to palestinians and aid groups. While the suffering among palestinians and israelis is abundantly clear, what is unclear as of now is what the plan is by the Israeli Government and the Israeli Military if they do seize gaza city and how the world will ultimately respond. Lets bring in cnns erin burnett live from tel aviv. We have seen rockets flying over tel aviv tonight. Does it feel as though the next phase of this war, this Ground Incursion is about to start . Reporter jake, you used the word feel. Its the right word. Certainly from israelis weve been speaking to, that i interact with, there had been a resignation, as i said to you. Now its palpable. They believe its imminent. There is a nervousness and a fear. This is the first time when someone in our crew went into a Grocery Store that the shelves were empty. That had not been the case. When you talk about peoples reaction and peoples fear, were starting to see that now in a different way. Again, thats anecdotal. Thats what weve been interacting with. In terms of the rockets that you talk about, we have in tel aviv had more rockets come in today than any other day in the past week that ive been here. There have been several volleys over these past nfour or five hours, maybe 9 or 11, rockets at that time. So more today than any other day. Down in the south i was at an Israeli Military base. Obviously rockets there near ashkelon, and that base was busy. Pallets and mats, thousands of them where people were sleeping. Theres no question this is going into something much bigger, jake, at least, again, anecdotally, that moment is quickly coming. Erin, you visited one of the kibbutzes devastated by hamas during the Terrorist Attack last weekend. Tell us what you saw. Reporter jake, these are horrible places now. There are maces of death. The smell of death is there, unmistakable as a human being. When you smell it, you taste it. Its there. Its death. Childrens toys strewn about every where. Bullet holes in almost every home. We had seen playing cards, kills toy z strewn everywhere. Allahu akbar on the side of houses, and also, jake, still an active zone. Theyve still been clearinghouses in beeri. Theyve been talking to soldiers accumulating weapons. Theyre still finding hamas fighters in convoys of jeeps that they had killed, their bodies now rotting. The smell is pervasive. The destruction of human life is pervasive. Its the days of the week medicine that melted from the fire in the house that stands out to you, that it is truly incomprehensible to walk through places like this. Obviously, in some cases, jake, we feel like trespass sers. Were trying to see it, document it, but people related to the pe people, havent been allowed in. A crime scene indeed. Erin burnett, thanks so much. Cnns Nic Robertson is near the israel border. Are there any indications that you can discern of any action, of any imminence . I think there might come a point where its hard to discern what is action along the line of contact, the front line, the fence, and when does it become an incursion. Weve been become used to all the Missile Strikes and artillery strikes, since your show came on the air weve counted about a half dozen. Some of the flashes behind me are big and the explosions, we hear it very quickly which means probably just a mile or couple miles away. There are others where you see the flash and it takes a lot longer, 20 seconds to hear the explosion and perhaps those are maybe gaza city, about 7. 5, 8 miles away, perhaps a little beyond there. Just a couple minutes ago we heard what sounded like an Apache Gun Ship Firing Heavy Machine gunfire along the fence line behind us, in the distance behind us. We havent heard it like that before. We havent heard that before. It sort of gets hard to discern. Theres a blurring of the line. The ultimate line is where the line is actually breached and crossed. And trying to get a sense of that, theres a greater sense of readiness, a very strong sense of willingness and desire to do it, and the level of apprehension and a high degree of training. Weve seen that over the past couple days. Actually being able to say to you right now do i think its going to be tonight, do i think its going to be tomorrow or the day after, you just cant tell. Maybe this confrontation with hamas is slightly different because of the issue of the negotiations that was another detonation, explosion there. And the issue of hostages potentially as well. One of the obstacles thats the wrong word. If i were an israeli soldier right now, one of the things i would be most terrified of is this vast system of tunnels that hamas has under gaza that can be used for hiding weapons, staging ambushes, holding hostages, its really almost like a city of tunnels. How are the israelis preparing for that . Reporter its interesting, isnt it . I talked to one of the soldiers, special soldiers first to cross the line in 2015. He spoke to that issue, you just dont know what to expect. Hamas can pop up. When youve cleared a building, they come out of a tunnel behind you. It really is nerveracking. What israel has become better attuned to is detecting where the tunnels are by monitoring the sounds on the ground. They have deeper penetrations, and i think weve been hearing on those that pulls on the explosion until the rocket or missile is deeper into the ground and then explodes with a bigger explosive force. Those are a couple of the ways. Its also key to know the mapping. We know there have been Intelligence Failures that led to the current situation. Yes, its going to be a big concern. The tunnels are a threat. There are some answers Nic Robertson, appreciate it. With us is a spokesman for the Israeli Defense forces, Lieutenant Colonel jonathan conricus. Let us start with the failures you and i have discussed before. How worried are you about the hamas network of tunnels in gaza which would seem to be a Big Black Hole about which the idf knows so little . Reporter you know, were looking at the situation and assessing what hamas tried to achieve by the brutal attack on october 7th. We must assume that hamas planned for this stage as well. Since that is the working assumption, of course we have to draw the necessary conclusions and act accordingly when our troops are on the ground. We have to use all the tools that we have available and others in order to flush those terrorists out or kill them where they are. And again, getting to the Aim Of Ridding The Gaza Strip of hamas and making sure never again will such an attack happen from israelis on gaza. The idf seems to be on the brink of invading northern gaza. Earlier mark levin, an adviser, told me that the goal is to eliminate all of hamas military leadership, Political Leadership and also also of hamas government. Is that the goal . The goal is. Anwar and all his lieutenants and Everybody Else who is part of hamas who supports the operation, the Terrorist Attack that they executed before, they are dead men walking, everybody. If they do logistics, if they do administration or if they just launder money they get from iran or whatever their job is, if theyre a member of hamas, they have a very dire fate that awaits them, either to die or to surrender. Thats the fate they have. Those are the options. We are going to dismantle hamas, its military capabilities, and, as i said, make sure this never happens again. The idf today raised the number of hostages being held by hamas from 155 to 199. Hamas claims the number is higher, somewhere between 200 and 250. No matter what the actual number is, the former hamas leader claims the group has enough hostages, including highranking officers to win the release of thousands of Palestinian Prisoners held in israeli jails. Are you aware of any discussions about any kind of Prisoner Swap or prisoners on the israeli side, hostages on the hamas side, any sort of exchange . Not at all, and i think former current terrorist, former official of hamas will be very disappointed when The Dust Settles, when the israeli hostages are back home and hamas is dismantled. How are you going to get them home . It seems as though the Military Campaign is the priority. We have two very important tasks. They are intertwined and they influence each other, both dismantling hamas and, of course, getting our people back. Im not going to elaborate about what will have precedent at what stages and what will be more important. I can only say that both of them will be achieved. Lieutenant colonel jonathan conricus, thank you for your time. Coming up, a new phase in israels daily war against hamas, cnn got exclusive access on the ground, and the u. S. Is bolstering its Military Presence in the middle east. Were learning the pentagon is preparing for the possible deployment of u. S. Troops. More on that next. Rapid Response Force made up of 2,000 marines and sailors is heading to the waters near israel. Lets get straight to cnns Oren Liebermann at the pentagon. Tell us more. Reporter weve been watching this 26th Marine Expeditionary unit. It has been in the region and is there as part of its normal operations. Weve been watching to see if it heads towards israel. A u. S. Defense official familiar with the plans says it is headed that way. Currently in the gulf of amman on board the u. S. S. Baton, an Amphibious Assault ship, making its way off the coast of israel. Its unclear if it will stay on the Southern Coast of israel. That perhaps more likely. Heading towards this region and conflict even though the Biden Administration says its trying to avoid direct involvement in the fighting between the u. S. And hamas in gaza. Another Carrier Strike group led by the u. S. S. Dwight d. Eisenhower is headed that way and should be there in a couple of weeks. Jake, a tremendous amount of u. S. Military force getting close to a hot war. Were also learning the pentagon is preparing another 2,000 u. S. Troops who might be deployed inside straem. This according to multiple u. S. Defense officials. Last Night Defense secretary lloyd austin ordered 2,000 troops to prepare for the possibility of deployment. So not quite there yet. This would be likely to israel for support roles, whether thats logistics, support or medical assistance. That possibility is very much on the table right now as austin is looking at that possibility and ordered the military essentially to give him options here in the event he makes that decision and issues the prepare to deploy order. One official says normally troops are on a 96hour get ready for deployment. That has been shorten as the pentagon watches the fighting unfold. Oren liebermann, thank you. There are growing fears this war could expand to new fronts. Cnns Matthew Chance got exclusive access to Israeli Defense forces in the north of israel as they ready for a potential major fight with hezbollah on israels border with lebanon. Reporter bracing for a dangerous second front. We gained exclusive access to israels tense Northern Front here. The israeli army have now sealed off the Security Zone some of the areas close to the lebanese border because of the threat there. Theyre taking us now to the closest place they can that they say is safe to see the lay of the land. That land is hostile. None of the Israeli Soldiers here wanted their faces shown to hide their identities from hezbollah, the powerful lebanese militia with a vast arsenal trained on this positions from across the border. Were ready. If they choose to come, theyll make a huge mistake. Reporter war with hezbollah would be brutal, said this senior israeli commander who asked not to be identified, but it is now also necessary, he told me. Do you believe there will be a second front open here, or are you hopeful still that hezbollah will stay out of this war . I hope they will be another front. We need to hezbollah. You hope there would be another front . Yes. You want the war . Yes. Why . What hamas did in gaza, it didnt come from nowhere. It came from hezbollah, it came from iran. In order for us to stop from hamas, we need to stop them, also. Reporter well, this is as close as the Israeli Military say we can go. Just across there is territory of lebanon controlled by hezbollah, the lebanese militia. Israeli soldiers in this position in israel tell us over the past few days there have been multiple attempts by hezbollah fighters to penetrate the fence and to come into israel, but theyve been fought back. If there is going to be a second front in this war in israel, the likelihood is its going to start here. Already there have been exchange of fire, forcing local israelis to free, terrifying what happened in israels south could happen here, too. A Terrorist Attack of this scale has never happened. Im scared i live on the border. Whats to stop them from doing it here . I want to be strong and i want to come back and live here, but i need to think about my kids first. Reporter back from the border, israel is bolstering its forces with some of the 360,000 troops mobilized after the hamas attacks last week. If War In The North is coming, israel seems ready, even bristling to fight. Jake, over the past several hours there have been exchanges of rocket fire and artillery guns across the border between israel and lebanon, but the truth is, both sides are holding back as much as they can from a fullscale conflict. Israeli Officials Say if hezbollah does not intervene in israels conflicts, then they will not react. Back to you. Matthew chance, thank you so much. There is undeniably a growing sense of anger, of fury in israel over the fact that intelligence and political leaders were caught so off guard by the hamas Terrorist Attacks. In just a moment ill speak with a cnn correspondent who was in israel the day of the horrible Terrorist Attacks. Well ask her about the e political fallout. Stay with us. Youre probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. But what if we told you its possible that comcast Business Mobile can save you up to 75 a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers . Its true. Plus, when you buy your first line of mobile, you get a second line free. There are no Term Contracts or line activation fees. And you can bring your own device. Oh, and all on the most reliable 5g Mobile Network nationwide. Wireless that works for you. Its not just possible. Its happening. Today the head of israels domestic security took full responsibility for the hamas attack as frustration grows in that country over potential Intelligence Failures before the brutal assault. I want to bring in hadas gold, cnns jerusalem correspondent who is here with me in studio here in d. C. Israels Prime Minister has vowed a thorough review of the potential Intelligence Failures. I dont know why im calling them potential. There were clearly Intelligence Failures. I want to show you something. Ayal waldman who lost his 24yearold daughter danielle when he was murdered by hamas at the Music Festival, he posted this image on his instagram. Its netanyahu with a bloody hand over his face and said that, as long as hes in office, both sides are going to suffer in this conflict. Look, obviously hamas is responsible for the murders, but there are a lot of israelis that are really mad at netanyahu. Right now theres a lot of rallying around the government, rallying around in opposition of hamas. How mad do you think people are when The Dust Settles will be at netanyahu . I think there will be a huge amount of anger and a big amount of the blame game, not only the intelligence failure, but a bit of anger of how long it took the military, the police to get to the people who were literally calling in to Israeli Television channels pleading for help on air live, that it took that long to reach them. There will be a lot of retrospective trying to figure out what went wrong. I heard from some israelis blaming the Israeli Government that they were so wrapped up in the judicial overhaul that they were ignoring security issues. Others said the government was trying to manage the conflict, keep a lid on it as much as possible, get work permits for gazans thinking that would keep hamas happy essentially and not get them involved. Right now theres definitely a sense that the country needs to come together, theyre all supporting the Israeli Military. This is not the time for the blame games. Youre not seeing Big Roundtables seeing who is to blame and who is at fault because the focus is the war and getting the hostages out. Ive heard other people say one of the problems is the idf, the Israeli Military was positioned in the west bank protecting all these right wing settlers who are provoking a lot of violence themselves instead of positioned throughout the country. Is there any truth to that . The west bank has been essentially on fire for a year and a half, an increase not only of individual attacks, palestinian attacks on israelis but also israeli raids within the west bank targeting militant groups there. Theres definitely a presence there. The sense i got up until saturday is hamas wanted to see it quiet because they wanted to see the occupied west bank burn. The belief was theyre okay, they got their work permits, everything will be chill. I was talking to officials up to a few days before, there was no indication that hamas had any interest in getting involved. Lets get back to the exchange with Matthew Chance and the idf soldier who said hes hoping for it to come to the north. From your reporting, is this a widely held view among israelis . I dont know if its widely held. Hezbollahs arsenal, tens of thousands, some are precision guided mice sills that could directly hit a Power Station or Something Like that. While some are saying lets get it done now, war with hezbollah a totally different war than what were seeing with hamas. Some in the Security Establishment might say lets get it all done now, we have all the reservists up. I think the average israeli would rather wait on that. Hadas gold, good luck with the baby thank you. My next guest wants to see the video hamas posted of his nephew who was taken hostage. That story next. Almad mair went to the Music Festival to celebrate a big job. At 7 45 he said the party stopped because there was shooting all over. He said he would update her with more information and he loved her. That was his last phone call to her. He was abducted and kidnapped by hamas. Aviram and erit, thank you for being here. Can you tell us about your nephew and what happened to him . My nephew went to a Party Friday Evening with a friend. He arrived at the party, and he had allnight party. In the morning he understood in some way he had been shot and they sent rockets on him. So he understand he has to away. He tried to do it, not before he called his mother. After he called his mother, if i can continue, he entered the car. The car with his friend he came with in tel aviv. To the car entered two sisters as they try to leave the place. After 50 meters about, the shooting stopped the car and all the passengers tried to get away. The two sisters had been announced dead yesterday, and the driver had been announced murdered a few minutes ago. He has been kidnapped, as you know. We had video clip of hamas that they released saturday the 7th at about half past 12 00. And there we see five guys have been beaten, have been tied up and it was friday, frightened, and he was one of them. I know you want people to see that video. Why do you want people to see it . We want and were thinking that there were three talented youngsters who went to a party, and this is how end of the party. My nephew went to party, a festival. This is all he did, and all the others did the same. The result, its impossible to think about the result. Orit, i cant imagine. I dont have the words to im imagine how stressful this must be to wait and wait and wait for any information and have to wonder how hes doing, is he still okay. How is your family . Its a big shock for everyone. You cant imagine how i suffer. You cant imagine. My life is over. I feel that my life is over. Its like a hole in my heart, and everyone in my family, we dont know what to do. We decided that we want that everyone knows about our story. It gives me power, my son, to go to everywhere i can to talk about it and that everyone knows how they behave to to what can i say . Its so hard for me that he is there, that hes kidnapped. Im afraid to think what is going on, that maybe hes passing. I wish i had words to console you. I want my son back. I want him back. I know. I know. I know. I ask International Community to bring all the hostages home today. Thats what i want now. I think theres nothing else to say, bring the hostages home now. Thats exactly right. Thats exactly right. That is the message, and that is the only sane, the only sane thing to say, bring the hostages home now. Aviram and orit meir, thank you so much. Well be thinking and praying and hoping ha happens. Thank you very much. Thank you. House republicans are currently meeting Behind Closed Doors debating who will be their next speaker. The big question, has jim jordan won over enough critics . Ill talk to one lawmaker considered a key vote. The power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Home of the xfinity 10g network. The power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with battery backupar dataf to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Home of the xfinity 10g network. A senior republican aide told cnn thats Foxs Sean Hannity is apparently trying to pressure moderate republicans or at least wavering republicans to support congressman jim jordan in his bid for speakership with a hannity producer emailing aides for certain congressmen asking, quote, hannity would like to know during a war breaking out between hamas and israel, with the wide open borders, a budget unfinished, why would representative x be against representative jim jordan for speaker . Please let us know when representative x plans on opening the peoples house so work can be done, unquote. The email was first reported by axios. This comes as several key votes flipped over the weekend from opposing jordans bid for speaker. Hell no said congressman ann wagner, to supporting him. Okay, ill vote for him says ann wagner now. The house vote is scheduled for tomorrow at noon. How are you going to vote on jim jordan . My intention is to vote for kevin mccarthy. I have said from the very beginning that he never should have been removed and that i believe he should be speaker of the house. I think he is the right person to lead us. When i met with Congressman Jordan On Friday evening, i said to him that i am not a hell no, but unless you have the votes, im not going to be there. And the reason i say that is this. At the end of the day, we need to get back to the work of the american people. We need to get the house opened up again. Unfortunately, eight of my colleagues teamed up with 208 democrats to remove Speaker Mccarthy and shut down the house going on two weeks. So it is imperative that he we get back to work for the american people. But still have a fundamental problem with the fact that you have a handful of people who have refused to work with the rest of the conference. They unceremoniously removed the speaker. They blocked steve scalise, and now they want everybody to fall in line. And theyre using every Pressure Tactic they know to try and pressure members. And i think the challenge here is at the end of the day, regardless of who the speaker is, we need to be able to govern, and we need to be able to govern as a conference. And if we cant do that, then you dont have a majority. And that really is the fundamental issue here. You know, you come from a district that President Biden won. I dont know if you knew that, and i dont have a difficult time imagining a democratic opponent running an entire ad if you voted for jim jordan, pointing out that you voted for a guy who was a conspirator to overturn the election, and i know that there are other republicans in districts that joe biden won that would also face tv ads along those lines. Is that not a big problem for republicans . Look, the dccc and Hakeem Jeffries and my potential opponent mondaire jones, theyre going to attack me no matter what i do, no matter what i say. Thats their job. Thats their objective. They want to get back in the majority. My constituents know who i am. They know where i stand on these issues. They know what i have said and what i have done. And i fought to make sure that we lifted the debt ceiling. I fought to make sure the government stayed open. Have i been working nonstop to address the challenges facing the american people, from spending to the border to the crisis in ukraine and israel, and i will continue to do that. So im not frankly too concerned about what perspective opponents are going to say, because frankly, theyre going to attack me no matter what i do. You brought up israel, and i know you wanted to Say Something about the crisis in the middle east, and im also wondering how concerned you are about the fact that we do not have a speaker, the United States does not have a speak thats right time when there are two wars going on and congress cant even pass a symbolic resolution against hamas, much less if there were to be an aid package needed. Look, this is precisely why we never should have removed the speaker in the first place. You never know what will happen on the world stage. And obviously, we need to get back to work as expeditiously as possible to provide Financial Support to israel. We need to have a supplemental aid package to help with things like the iron dome, and the Administration Needs to continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with israel. The pressure is going to mount as israel defends itself. And people are going to be calling for ceasefires, as some of my colleagues have, which is wrong. Israel is the victim here, not hamas. And the Palestinian People living in gaza have been living under hamas oppression. Israel is not the oppressor. And people need to get that straight in their head. So as far as im concerned, we need to get back to work. We need to support israel. There can be no daylight between us, because the pressure around the world is going to build on israel, and we need to stand firm. Republican Congressman Mike Lawler from new york, thank you so much. Appreciate your time, sir. Thanks, jake. Coming up next, a small bit of good news from family in israel who you saw here on the lead last week. They were desperately trying to get out. We have an update we want to share. Finally, before we go, on friday, we shared with you the story of jessica nagar living in israel. You might remember her three adorable little kids being so brave, benny, gabby and zoe. During the interview she told us she was having a lot of trouble getting information from the u. S. State department on when to evacuate and how. Were very happy to share some rare good news with you in the last nine days. Jessica and her kids safely evacuated and got on a flight the next day, saturday morning. So many of you we know watching feel compelled to help in any way you can with relief efforts. Cnn has been compiling relief sources. You can head to cnn. Com impact. Youll find a list of vetted organizations on the ground responding, cnn. Com impact, in gaza and israel. Please go and check it out. If you ever miss an episode of the lead, you can listen to the show on your podcasts. Our coverage continues now with wolf blitz i