Tunnel. And there is desperation of getting aid to people inside. Republicans have chosen yet another nominee for Speaker Of The House. Mike johnson won majority, but there is a real warning for him to get the 217 votes. This has been a wasted three weeks. This House Republican majority is united. Prosecutors dont hang out immunities like begcandy. Mark meadows can speak to trumps mindset in a very specific way. Good morning, ill Filphil Mattingly with poppy harlow. Israel once again launching airstrikes on gaza overnight. This video is of a palestinian man bury in the rubble asking if his wife is okay. Explosions can be heard in the background and bombardment coming just hours after the head of the united called the Airstrikes A Collective Pu punishment to the Palestinian People and demanded a ceasefire. Relentless of bombardment, level of civilian casualties and all the destruction of neighborhoods it into mount and are deeply alarming. And that drew very sharp and angry response from israels foreign minister. The calls for a ceasefire. Tell me, what is the response for killing of babies . For raped women and burned them, for beheading of a child . How you can agree to a ceasefire with someone who swore to kill and destroy your own existence . How . And were now learning how hamas have been able to plan the attack without israel knowing. Sources say that intelligence shared with the United States shows a small self hamas operatives used a network of phone lines and the tunnels to communicate and plan their attack for more than two years. Miamian crisis is deepening for roughly 2 million civilians trapped inside the warzone. Relief agencies say that it needs to shut down operations today if it does not receive more fuel. Straight to erin burnett in tel aviv. And we have new reporting i want to ask you about. Prime minister saying that he is hopeful for a breakthrough soon on the hostages held. What do we know about the intensive conversations . Qatar has been at the center of all of the attacks. They have. And National Security adviser saying that qatars diplomatic efforts are crucial. So israel is acknowledging the Important Role qatar is playing and hopeful for a breakthrough soon on the hostages. But and i spoke to a negotiator, the man responsible for the release of the idf soldier who was held for five years, before he was finally released. This man was telling me that he has been speaking to hamas daily, that he understands that there is a big release on the table, mass release of civilian hostages being discussed. I emphasize the word civilian because the way hamas may define idf can be quite broad. They go through Military Service just as part of a regular thing that they do. But certainly children and elderly included would be a mass release. He said that the conversations on who would go first and who should be blamed is very much at the kindergarten level and had deep frustration about where it is right now. But did say that the holdups are the fuel as we know, that is a huge one, and also hamas is demanding a ceasefire. And so a Big Conversation going on for days for a mass release and very telling that qatar is willing to come out and express confidence and that israel is bolstering that. But obviously were not there yet. We heard Prime Minister netanyahu yesterday speaking to soldiers again in the idf and saying clearly that the next phase is coming. What has happened overnight and what does it mean . They have been saying the next stage and you have the Defense Minister visiting troops, you have the navy and they all are saying your time is coming, be ready. In a sense part of this appears to be really an implicit acknowledgement that the troops are ready to go and frankly expected to go in quite some time ago and that there has been delays. That is just the reality of it. So they continually visit the frontlines, saying be strong, stay ready, your moment will come cost. But the strikes continue. And weve heard Nic Robertson is reporting on the new Precision Mortar Munitions that they are using that even sound different. And ive heard it from nic and also a source in northern gaza saying it sounds completely different. But overnight hundreds more strikes. They say they killed the commander of kahn yunis battalion. And this morning saying that they found a tunnel that actually came from gaza to a beach on the israeli side. And that they said two hamas operatives came out of that engaged with a fight with Israeli Special forces who were there and hamas operatives were killed. But this is happening day in and day out. And while we dont know how many commanders, how much capacity capability have been taken out, we do know they are taken out every day and there are hundreds of strikes. And so israel is making in this 19th day of the war steady progress even as they have not yet gotten to that next stage as they call it. An important point. Well come back to you shortly. And President Biden is trying to slow down the Ground Invasion of gaza despite his vocal support for israels right to strike hamas. Ax yoels rest Ios Reporting Tha president wants more aid and wants those trapped there out. And there are fierce of a Ground Invasion with a huge death toll that does not destroy hamas and a widening of the war. This as sources tell cnn that u. S. Military advisers are invoking Lessons Learned from The War In Iraq and afghanistan to urge israelis to avoiden a allout ground war in gaza. With me now from the State Department, matt miller. Appreciate your time. Is it the stadministrations go to slow down israel . I wont talk about the private conversations we have between our government and the government of israel except to say that when we do talk with the State Department and other agencies inside the u. S. Government as well as the white house, we have said a number of things. One, we think that they need to have clear definable goals in launching this military campaign, that they need to have a plan for how to excite it best and protect civilians. That is important to them and us. Of course the secretary has spoken to this a number of times. And we continue to work to try to get humanitarian access humanitarian aid into gaza for the innocent civilians who are not a part of hamas and who are suffering from this conflict as well. On the point of civilians, yes weve heard the president and Secretary Of State say it a number of times, but cnn is reporting that 700 civilians were killed by israeli airstrikes in gaza on monday. On that same day, this is what netanyahu said. We struck the enemy in the harshest blow, weve killed dozens of terrorists possibly even more. Is it the biden administrations position that it is comfortable with about 700 civilian deaths with dozens of terrorists being killed in the same day . Because that is what netanyahu is saying that they are achieving. We dont want to see any civilian die whether gaza or anywhere else. We mourn the loss of every civil gone life. The unfortunate truth however is that hamas uses the civilians of gaza as human shields. They embed the infrastructure in schools, hospitals and residential apartment buildings so very difficult for israel to conduct this operation when hamas is embedding itself inside the civilian population. What they do is warn civilians to vacate areas before they conduct strikes. But were in constant communication with them about how best they can do that and encouraging them to act within the laws of war. The president has said it is important that democracies follow important that democracies respect all human life, important that democracies follow the laws of war and follow international law. That is what we expect israel do and well continue to be in conversation with them about that. Let me ask you about the new reporting out of qatar that they have said they are hopeful for a breakthrough soon on hostages. Should American Families waiting for hostages, israeli families waiting for their loved ones, also be more hopeful this morning . I dont want to say more hopeful or less hopeful. Ill just reiterate what weve said that it is one of our Top Priorities to try to get the hostages home. Secretary and president were involved in efforts to try to get the hostages released in the early after math of the october 7 attacks. We of course traveled to the region, had meetings with them where we talked about work to return these hostages. Youve seen very initial efforts with two american citizens released and two Israeli Citizens released over the weekend. So we continue to work with the government of qatar. Were appreciative of their efforts and important in the progress that weve had so far. We know there are still 10 americans who remain unaccounted for. As of course a number of other foreign nationals and ultimately hundreds of Israeli Citizens. So well continue to work on it. But one thing ill say, we have found that throughout talking about our work publicly in such a sensitive delicate area is not actually helpful to our goal of trying to get the hostages released. Let me can ask you about americans stuck, not hostages. We heard from john kirby yesterday, he said there is not a Place In The World where the pentagon doesnt have Contingency Plans on the shelf. But i want you to listen to a friend of an american couple stuck there with their 1yearold told us. In that statement by secretary blinken, it is either not true or it is word play. So physically at the crossing, there are no militant, no military or government personnel at all on the palestinian side. They sent me videos and pictures of him at the crossing and literally the only thing between him and egypt is a series of gates that are just closed. There is not an agreement about aid coming in and american citizens getting out. Has the administration seen evidence of hamas blocking the border and what is that plan that john kirby talked about to get them home . Let me plain what is happening here because it is a complicated situation. The rafah Border Crossing is similar to a lot you splay been through in your life. There is an egyptian side and there is a gaza side. And then there is a no mans land in between. And egyptians say that they are ready to accept the United States citizens if they can get to the processing. On the gaza side, at times hamas has had no one there manning the border station. Remember, this is an area that is administered by hamas, hamas has been the government of gaza for some time and before this conflict manned this border station. At other times we have seen hamas militants actively there with guns preventing people from approaching the crossing. So there is a problem getting people through the gaza side i into the no mans land to be processed to enter . To eegypt. We continue to work through this situ situation. And our ambassador has been on the ground and has been focused intensely focused on this and we hope to reach a solution. And i want to give you a chance to respond to an oped written yesterday in the Washington Post by former colleague of your at the State Department who wrote about why he resigned. He writes absence of a willingness told that debate when it comes to israel is not proof of our commitment to israel security, rather proof of our commitment to a policy that the record shows is a dead end, proof of our willingness to abandon our values and turn a blind eye to the suffering of millions in gaza when it is politically expeed yent. He says the state did not would not engage in a substantive debate about whether to transfer arms to israel. What is the state Department Response to that . Well, i couldnt disagree anymore. Just because any one individual is not involved in the debate doesnt mean the conversations arent going on. We of Course Chave Fconversatio about every armed decision that we make. I will say that we have been focused on two things. Number one, making sure israel has what it needs to defend itself. You always have to go back to the context. Israel suffered a deadly Terrorist Attack in which armed militants came in and killed civilians, women, children, elderly, took many hostage. And those Terrorist Attacks are ongoing. So israel has a right and an obligation to defend itself as any country would. At the same time we continue to make clear that we expect them to behave in the laws of war and, this is the really important thing that i think sometimes gets lost in the debate, it is the United States that has brokered the agreement to get humanitarian access into innocent civilians in gaza. It is the United States that is working to set up areas inside gaza where civilians can be safe from harm. And so while yes we have focused on doing what we need to do so israel can defend itself, it is the work of our diplomats and others in the white house and National Security establishment who are working overtime to try to ensure that civilians are protected to the maximum septembe extent possible. And so youre saying you have the debate but he wasnt there for it . I wont be that specific other than to say that as i said generally a lot of times you will hear people say that this conversation is not going on. I can assure you that were discussing every one of these issues at senior levels and throughout the agency. Appreciate your time very much. Thank you. Former trump Chief Of Staff mark meadows reportedly striking a deal with federal proosecutor. What abc news says he is offering up in if change for immunity. And overnight House Republicans picked another nominee. What to expect from a key vote. And well be joined this hour with the top democrat in the house Hakeem Jeffries. Were learning mark meadows has been granted immunity by jack smith. That is according to an answer news report that also says he has spoken to federal investigators at least three times this year. And abc sources say that meadows informed smiths team that he repeatedly told trump in the weeks after the president ial election that allegations of significant voter fraud were baseless. That of course would contradict many things meadows has said publicly including in his book published a full year after the 2020 election. Cnn has reached out to mark mea meadows attorney and has not heard back. Trump posted on truth social mark meadows never told me that allegations of significant fraud about the rigged election were baseless. He certainly didnt say that in his book. Joining us now is Donald Trumps former attorney and currently represents Bernie Kerrik who has been subpoenaed to testify in the georgia investigation. And appreciate your time. There have been so many questions about where mark meadows is on all this. Were you surprised by this reporting . No, i wasnt really surprised about it. Mark meadows, we had not really had much of any communications with him or his team. But if you go all the way back to march april time frame of this year, you know, there was litigation over whether he could claim Executive Privilege and be prevented from testifying. And he was ordered by the judge to testify before the grand jury. So this Immunity Grant makes sense because when somebody in his position is then compelled under the Executive Privilege issue, they would naturally go before the grand jury, Plead The Fifth and prosecutor would say hold on a minute and they would run out and give them a grant of immunity at which point they no longer have a Fifth Amendment right and they would basically have to answer every question. So i think that that really based on what i know, this is something that happened back in april. And we dont have the timing on when this agreement was made. But well see. What about the georgia rico case, what does it mean for mark meadows in that state case . Because this says that his testimony cant be used in a federal prosecution, but what about state . Right. That is one of the unique thins here. Because you very rarely have Dueling State and federal prosecutions. And so if things happened as i just described it and again based on my experience. I dont know for a fact that that is how it went down. But when you have a witness who refuses to testify, you give him a grant a of federal immunity, they testify unless there is an issue of a parallel state case which back in april mark meadows wasnt necessarily expecting. So i can predict what happened here, he was talking to jack smiths team. Until all of a sudden fani willis decided to indict him and, you know, then he starts pleading the fifth again and shuts down. And the timing of the abc story to me is fascinating because just this past week is when fani willis all of a sudden started opening things up for everybody to get misgheen gdemeanor and n pleas. So i wouldnt be surprised if this is just a setup for mark meadows to take a Sweetheart Deal in georgia and maybe this