-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening. this is "the source" and i'm kaitlan collins. an extraordinary new israeli offensive is underway in the skies of gaza tonight. much of it is playing out right before our very eyes. cnn cameras captured these images that you're seeing here, scenes of flares raining down over the night sky in gaza. there appears to be a smoke screen that is covering the ground, potentially suggesting the possible movement of troops in that area. the israeli military says it has completely surrounded gaza city tonight. all of this is coming as prime minister benjamin netanyahu appeared with israeli troops earlier today saying -- and i'm quoting him now -- nothing will stop us. that, despite the fact that secretary of state antony blinken is pflying over to isral right now in part to press for a pause, at least a brief one, in the fighting so that hostages can get out and aid can potentially get in. all this is coming as hamas is still firing on israel tonight. they have been doing so repeatedly since those october 7th attacks. those rockets are being intercepted, i should note, by the iron dome. and given that, i want to get to ed lavender row, who is live in tel aviv. what do you hear about the live uptick in the skies over gaza tonight? >> reporter: it was intense for several hours just a few hours ago there in the northeastern part of gaza, not far from where our colleague nic robertson has been reporting throughout the afternoon and evening. this is some of the most intense fire fighting we have seen over the last couple of days. but we know that the ground operation inside of gaza has intensified quite a bit throughout the day. israeli officials saying today that they have surrounded gaza city. they say that their intent right now is to dismantle the hamas military operation there in gaza. and of course all of this complicated by the very fact that hamas military runs out of these elaborate tunnel systems that stretch for dozens of miles all around northern gaza in particular. and that complicates things, especially because these tunnels are built under civilian populations. and that's why israel has come under a great deal of criticism because of the civilian casualties in this operation. but that has continued to intensify. you saw that the fire fight erupting there just a few hours ago in northeastern gaza, the objective and exactly what was accomplished here this evening is not clear at this point. perhaps that will change tomorrow, as we learn more about exactly what the israeli operation was about, what they had hoped to achieve there. but we have not real clear details on exactly what was achieved there tonight. but dramatic images and obviously very intense fire fight that we saw unfold for quite some time tonight. >> it's much intense than we've seen any of the days over the last several weeks. but given what we saw there and z israeli forces now surrounding gaza city, is there a sense of how much the ground invasion is ramping up, given that pressure that israel is clearly facing, its growing pressure, too, for at least some kind of pause in the fighting? >> reporter: well, as calls from around the world are calling on israel to either pause or call for a ceasefire, it's clear from israeli officials tonight that that is not -- doesn't appear that that's something that's going to happen. israeli officials saying that they are trying to inflict maximum pressure on the hamas military operation. as we mentioned, you know, they say they have the gaza city surrounded, and that will change things dramatically. president netanyahu, as you mentioned there off the top, saying today that nothing will stop us. so, we're not getting any clear indication that israeli forces are intent of slowing down their operation into gaza any time soon, especially here in the days ahead. >> ed lavandera in tel aviv, thank you. for analysis on what is unfolding, joining me is lieutenant general mark schwartz, a retired special ops commander who served as u.s. security coordinator for israel. along with cnn military analyst "spider" marks is also here. so glad to have both of you here. of course as we are seeing this intense activity not long after israel did confirm that they had encircled the city, what's your read on what israel is doing tonight? >> well, i think nic earlier characterized it very well, as you just did before spider and i came on. so, the use of, you know, the flares and the significant smoke you saw combined with the aerial interdiction that was going on, typically that happens when ground forces are reinforcing or repositioning forces. so, they want to use the smoke to conceal their movements, obviously, and they'll use the flares, primarily, to make sure that the smoke they're putting down as well as the other fires they're putting down are effective. so, i think it's correct that you're probably going to see in the next 24 hours, when the sun comes up here, that a significant reinforcement of israeli ground forces did occur over, you know, this past evening as well as they're continuing to cordon off, as was reported, gaza city. that's my read of what's taken place the last 12 to 18 hours today. >> given that, general marks, if that's what israel is doing here, trying to create this smoke screen on the ground so they can move those forces, what does that signal to you about what's next for this ground operation, as israel is referring to it. they won't call it a ground invasion, but, i mean, we can see what's happening on the ground. >> sure, it's a ground operation. as mark has described, when the smoke clears tomorrow, if you flew a drone on top of gaza city, you would see that there would be strong points around the city that create this outer cordon around the city. and then you would see operations taking place within an inner cordon. outer cordon to protect what's taking place inside. so, you've got ingress and egress that you want to try to control because you realize that the urban operation, which has to concentrate on trying to recover hostages, and that requires a credible, very deliberate, very patient operations, because of the tunnel network that's been described by everyone, which is really -- it's got the hostages probably moving around in there under the control of hamas. and you have very precise operations by the israelis to go after political and military leadership of hamas to try to kill and capture. mostly this is going to be a kill mission. so, realizing that this is urban terrain, this will suck up manpower. you need to clear areas, and then you have to hold those areas, or hamas will simply roll back in. so, you're going to see very deliberate operations on the part of the israelis, and it's going to be an acknowledgment on their part. if they're going to be there -- this isn't a quick operation in and a quick operation out -- they will have to clear, and they're going to have to hold until they're satisfied that their objective has been met. >> given that description, general swartz, i mean, you have deep expertise in this area. and obviously the sense of what is awaiting these israeli forces in gaza city seems to be quite brutal to say the least, this, kind of, urban warfare. do you believe that the israeli forces, these that are going in, certainly some of them. but is the vast majority prepared for what they're going to be facing? i mean, they're going to have to differentiate between civilians, hamas fighters. we know they use civilians as shields. what's that going to look like for them? >> kaitlan, you're correct. you know, the israelis have some specialized forces and special operations forces, specialized forces that are, you know, deal in underground warfare. and their special operations forces and some of their infantry have done extensive training in urban combat operations. but as spider rightfully points out, these types of operations and the size of gaza city that has to be deliberately cleared, very methodically, is going to absorb a significant amount of ground forces. i think in the thousands. and you know, i know from experience that majority of the israeli defense forces are not trained to the degree that you would want to be going into a fight like this, which will also, i think, set the tempo for the operations. and certainly, you know, as i would also highlight, split second decisions are going to be made by very young soldiers, as they're clearing these rooms and being caught under fire. so, as a result, the palestinian civilians that have not been able to leave, there's a likelihood that we're going to have, you know, killed and wounded as a result of that. >> yeah. we know there's still a lot of them who didn't evacuate, who weren't able to go. but given that, given the concerns, we're hearing so much outrage that's growing in the international community about that civilian death toll. and general marks, we're seeing secretary blinken on his way to israel right now to meet with the prime minister. part of what he said about what this trip is going to look like -- here's how he described it before taking off. >> we've seen in recent days palestinian civilians continuing to bear the brunt of this a action, and it's important that the united states is committed to m evething possible is done to protect civilians. >> so, they're pushing for what they're calling a humanitarian pause, not an all-out ceasefire, because they say that would give hamas time to regroup. a pause, is there a real distinction there, general marks? >> i would tell the secretary, he understands this. look, the first conversation that we need to have is with hamas and say, stop holding the palestinians hostage. stop using them as human shields. look, this is not a video game. and the narrative increasingly becomes that this becomes an antiseptic type of engagement where we can delineate very precisely civilians and we go after hamas. this is an incredible, messy battlefield that needs to be able to have humanitarian assistance come in and be used for the purpose of taking care of the palestinians. but at the same time, there is no tactically feasible way for the idf to stop what they are doing right now and take a pause. they become targets. they give up the advantage that they've achieved on the ground. and they're not about to do that. so, both can occur, both humanitarian assistance can occur and military operations can occur simultaneously. that's what needs to have to happen. but we've got to get away from this notion that it can be a very clean, very neatly sliced type of a battlefield. it's not possible. >> general "spider" marks, general mark schwartz, thank you both. i'm sure we'll be speaking to you both a lot over the coming days. i appreciate your time. >> thank you, kaitlan. >> thank you. a member of israel's government is going to join us here next with our questions. of course president biden and his top aides, they have been warning israel about that growing outcry over the suffering that is happening in gaza. also tonight, the u.s. promised to help israel, but the house just passed a funding bill that's facing a veto threat from president biden and no thanks from the senate. soso, what nowow? we're keeping a close eye on the skies over gaza tonight following that dramatic intensification of bombardment by the israel defense forces. this is all playing out as secretary of state blinken is on his way to israel right now. when he was pressed on whether or not he believes israel is showing restraint when it comes to this offensive, he reiterated that israel has a right to defend itself. and also, i'm quoting blinken now, the responsibility to do everything possible to protect civilians. air strikes on united nations refugee camps have prompted concerns about the war crimes from the united nations. israel says that hamas is using those places and those civilians as human shields, covering its terrorist bunkers and tunnels that it's using to wage this war. i want to bring in former israeli ambassador to the united nations, who is also an influential member of parliament for the la qud party, led by prime minister benjamin netanyahu. ambassador, thank you for being here tonight. can you tell us what is happening in gaza tonight. are we going to wake up tomorrow and see that israeli ground forces have reinforced themselves inside gaza? >> kaitlan, we continue with the ground operation with the same goals, to eradicate hamas and bring home the hostages. we have 30 babies in the hands of hamas and many families in the hands of hamas. so, we continue. we still try to convince the population to move thousands, i think, mostly of the civilian population left. so, we are fighting the hamas. but it is very difficult to fight with them because they are cowards. when they have to kill women and babies in israel, they fight with them. today when we're coming in, they're hiding in the tunnels. so it will take time for us to find them and kill them. >> why now? why are we seeing such an intense bombardment playing out over the skies of gaza? >> basically that's part of the ground operation, which is the air force working together with the ground forces, moving very slowly, very carefully. when we locate, when we have the intel about the location of the hamas headquarter, we attack and we paid a heavy price. we had casualties, unfortunately, but we are committed to go all the way until we finish the job. >> was this attacking a hamas headquarters tonight? is that what that activity was? >> so, basically either we attack hamas headquarters, as we did in the last hours -- mainly when we know about those place, when you see the explosives, usually it means there was something there, a storage of explosives or we found a place where they were hiding rockets. that's why you see big explosives. >> so, you're attacking hamas targets? >> absolutely. absolutely. and we have thousands of targets in gaza. it became a hub for terror. they took all the weapons and funds they could achieve. and today what we find there unfortunately, they build -- state in gaza. >> secretary blinken is on his way to you right now, to israel to meet with the prime minister. he wants to call for a pause in the fighting. they would like for hostages to be able to get out, for aid to be able to get in. is israel open to having another pause? >> i don't get it. why we speak about a pause or a ceasefire? we had one. until october 7th, we had a ceasefire with hamas. they broke it. they came in, massacred 1,400 israelis. so, now it's the time that we will eliminate. so, if there will be a pause in order to release hostages, we can discuss. but to have a ceasefire, what will happen then? they will regroup. they will be ready to attack us again. it will be a mistake and we're going to pay a heavy price. every hour you give them to regroup, it means more casualties to our troops. >> okay. but you do -- you are saying that israel is open to a temporary pause. how many hostages would hamas need to be prepared to release in order for israel to agree to a temporary pause? is there a number? >> no. we are not conducting negotiations like that with them. but we know that they're trying to play with us. if they will release hostages, we will allow it, you know, to happen. we will make sure it will happen safely for both sides. but we will not let them maneuver the war with the hostages. we are committed to achieve both goals, to defeat them and release hostages. it's complicated. it creates a lot of dilemmas to our troops, but i'm confident we can achieve it. >> secretary blinken also made clear that what he is concerned about is what happens after israel is done with this operation in gaza. when he arrives there in just a matter of hours, does israel have a plan now for what comes next? >> first, i think it's very smart to start the discussion about the day after, who will be running gaza. we know that hamas will not be there. they're either surrender or will die. i think it's a legitimate debate. and i think we should involve regional players about the day after. and we are often to listen to the ideas, to discuss it. we want to live peacefully here. we have no intention to stay in gaza. we don't want to run the lives of the palestinians there. so, i think it's an important discussion. and i think it should involve not only israel but also other countries in the region. >> so, what i'm hearing is there's not a plan yet, but you are prepared to start discussing one. is that right, ambassador? >> that is correct. we are talking about it. we have internal discussions. and i think -- important because it will require other players to be involved. and i think it's capable of putting everything together even though now we are focused on the military action. but at the same time, we are hoping to discuss it with our partners. >> okay. ambassador, thank you for staying up. i know it's very late there. appreciate your time tonight. >> thank you very much, kaitlan. billions of dollars in aid for israel was just pushed through on capitol hill by the republican-led house, but only for israel, not any money for ukraine. this is setting up a major clash with both the senate and the white house. two congressmen who voted to pass that bill from different sides of the aisle are here next. the house of representatives passed $14.3 billion in emergency aid for israel tonight with the newly elected house speaker tying that aid to cuts in other government spending. but that bill is not going anywhere after majority leader chuck schumer said they will not be taking it up in the senate. there is a bipartisan support that is building for combining assistance to israel with ukraine. i'm joined tonight by republican congressman mike lawler and democratic congressman jared moskowitz, both of whom voted for that bill. congressman lawler, let me start with you. a stand alone bill probably would have passed. why are didn't republicans do that? >> look, the speaker made a determination, obviously to advance aid to israel, $14.3 billion. but we need to pay for it. i know a lot of my democratic colleagues are saying, this is about conditioning aid for israel for the first time. it's not conditioning it. we're going to support israel. we're going to pass legislation that provides israel with all the support that they need financially and militarily. but we have to pay for it. we're deal being a existential crisis in this country approaching $34 trillion in debt. only in the united states congress would showing how you're going to pay for this be a problem. >> but it does add to the deficit. if this had passed as is, without the irs spending cuts, does that not add to the deficit? >> the scoring has often been wrong. and the reality is that cutting spending is not going to add to the deficit here. we have a responsibility to pass aid to israel. the speaker put that forth on the floor today. it garnered bipartisan support. obviously the senate has their idea of what they're going to do. and we're going to negotiate and go from there. but, you know, i don't really, frankly, understand all the hubbub about this. at the end of the day, we're still going to have to pay for this one way or the other, whether it's included as a stand alone bill or if we show the pay-for in the bill. so, we're going to have to get there somehow. >> i should note everyone always criticized the cvo when they say something they don't like, both parties do. >> with all due respect, kaitlan, the cbo has continually revised their estimates time and again. it's not a function of criticizing it when you don't like it. it's the reality. >> it's a pretty big number to add to the deficit. it's not like it's within the margin of error. congressman markowitz, you are a democrat. democratic leaders did not want you to vote for this bill, but you