president biden is doubling down on his support for israel. in an op-ed for the "washington post," the president rejected mounting calls for a cease fire saying it will only give hamas more time to quote restart the killing by attacking innocence again. but the fighting continues in gaza city. doctors at al-shifa, gaza's largest hospital, say they were ordered to evacuate by the israeli military. the idf disputes that claim. it comes as israel defense forces are now vowing to advance anywhere hamas is found. and there are growing signs that a ground offensive into southern gaza could be imminent. let's go to nic robertson live in israel. give us the latest from where you are. >> still intense fire fights going on here in northern gaza. the idf said they're pushing from the coast in "the washington post" cost towards the west where we are here. we've been able to see flares, heavy missile strikes from aircraft heavy tank rounds fired into the area. sometimes the skylights up bright orange with some of the explosions. sometimes you can't see precisely what's being hit and what's happening but we can hear heavy machine gunfire as well. so it really feels from here as if the battle northern gaza is still raging. the idf said that hamas has now lost sort of operational control over the north of gaza. but clearly, from what we're seeing, the idf hasn't gained operational control over the north of gaza either. it is still having these intense fights and you said, the hospital, the idf's narrative is out of variance with the doctors. the doctors said the doctors requested an evacuation. fighting continues close to there and late into today, the u.n.'s principle refugee agency in gaza indicated that one of their schools where displaced people had been sheltering as they had been for many, many weeks now, in fact, a school hit in a strike a couple of weeks ago, the u.n. agency said there was some sort of incident there which had caused dozens of people to either be injured or killed. and video from that site really showed a very grim situation of 3w0d dis scattered in rooms in that u.n. operated school building. so the fight really still ongoing into tonight and every sense from the idf from the politicians as well. the south southern part of the gaza strip will be next. but much to be done. >> and nic, of course, there's another controversy with the hospital which continues to be the epicenter of fighting in gaza as israel claims hamas is conducting military operations there. so there's been this pressure from the international community to show more proof that that is true. so what can you tell us? >> yeah, the idf has been saying for many weeks that they believe that underneath al shifa hospital, there was a complex bunker system. not just a few random tunnels, but a bunker system hamas was operating from. from the united states, several officials there have said they're aware of hamas having a communications note in that hospital. but so far, so far, the only evidence after several days inside the al-shifa hospital that the idf has shown and i say so far because they insist over the coming days and weeks they will be able to find out the complexity and sophistication of the tunnel network that they believe is under that hospital. that they have not been able to show a bunker network underneath the hospital. they've only been able to show a number of weapons that have been found there. some stashed in a backpack behind an mri machine in the hospital. they did show the entrance to a tunnel that was in the grounds of the hospital that appeared to have been covered up by a vehicle or by sand. the extent of that tunnel though, the idf said, at least within the past 24 hours, they didn't know the extent of that tunnel and where it led to. so i think at the moment, there's still a lot of scrutiny on the idf to show what you know, to show that their investigation that's ongoing right now does prove the case that they made for going into the hospital. and at the moment, that seems to be an open question. >> nic robertson, thank you. i want to go straight to our next guest. idf spokesperson, lieutenant colonel scheffler joins us now live from tel aviv. lieutenant, thank you so much for joining us. i want to get your reaction to some of what nic just reported. there are these growing calls for more evidence that hamas is using the complex as a military center. what is your response? >> good evening. thanks for having us. we are working diligently in the most accurate and careful way in the hospital. because we care about those patients and about the medical staff who's there. we sent an elite unit that has been trained specifically for these complicated situations that is going after very accurate intelligence to find and expose where hamas is hiding and using this facility. and that is what we have already shown with an extensive amount of ammunition with a shaft to an underground tunnel and we're exposing more and more and we will show it as we've been doing, bringing in reporters and sharing everything we find with the world. >> so you're saying that what you've shown so far should be sufficient to justify this claim. >> we are saying that it already is sufficient but we have more and we will share it. so we are exposing more and more how hamas has deliberately used schools, mosques. also this hospitals to carry out its terrorist activity while hiding behind patients. specifically here in the hospital, the patients, the ill. that is what using human shields is. >> this week, your forces confirmed the bodies of two israeli hostages were found near the al-shifa hospital. is there concern that there could be more bodies? additional hostages who have been killed? >> we have two set goals for this war hamas launched. the first is to dismantle hamas and the second is to bring back the hostages. 237 hostages that have been held for 43 days by hamas. we're doing everything we can oper operationally, intel wise. including working the hospital where we have already recovered two bodies of hostages. and we'll continue doing this in order to find any tip that we can on bringing the hostages home. >> when will you share more of the evidence that you have uncovered at the hospital? >> we're working in a professional way and we will share it once it can be released. but it will be soon. >> now, a hamas video claimed one of the hostages we were just talking about, noah marciano, found near the hospital was killed during israeli air strikes. what is the idf's response to that claim and do you have a concern about hostages being in harm's way? >> we have a concern very much as i mentioned. this is our top priority. in bringing back the hostages and of course, bringing them back home alive. now, we have taken these bodies and we're examining every intel piece that we can about understanding what happened to them. at the same time, i must remind us all, on october 7th morning, these women were alive and they were taken by hamas in a brutal way and now they are dead. >> as our nic robertson just reported, there has been more rocket fire over gaza tonight. is this part of a growing offensive? is your forces prepared to move in to the southern part of gaza? >> we are prepared to act against hamas wherever they are. for operational reasons, we target first the northern part of the gaza strip. specifically where the gaza city is. that is why we've asked civilians to move to the southern part of the gaza strip, but we know sadly that hamas is using the whole gaza strip so continue its offensive against israeli civilians. over 10,000 rockets have been fired from the gaza strip to israel and that includes the southern part of the gaza strip. so that is why we will continue going after hamas wherever they are and yet we have designated a specific area in the part that is safe. we have asked civilians to move there. we have texted millions to ask civilians to move there and have brought a lot of aid, food, and water and we've asked any international organization, any country to send to that area so these civilians can have what they need. >> we are also hearing reports about two schools hit by blasts in northern gaza. reportedly being used to shelter evacuees, u.n. can't confirm what happened, but is there anything you can tell us about this? >> we're aware of these reports and this is the northern part of the gaza strip north of gaza and we're looking into it, but it can remind us all as we've seen already so many times how hamas has used its civilian infrastructure be it schools, hospitals, mosques, and it's a good question to ask. why are these innocent people still in that area after we've called them for weeks to evacuate and move to the safer place in the south. this is a war zone and it is dangerous to be there and we're asking them again and again to move to safer areas and it only raises the question, why are they still there. is this another part of hamas using them as human shields? >> well, hamas is demanding israel stop flying surveillance drones over gaza as part of a hostage negotiations. is that something you are open to? how would that impact your operations there? >> we're doing everything we can to bring the hostages home. i cannot elaborate on what we can or cannot do in that regard, but we are doing everything we can to bring them home safely. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you. it was the most powerful rocket ever built but didn't make it to space. the latest on spacex's launch. also, colorado judge says donald trump engaged in insurrection but rules he's safe on the primary ballot. and taylor swift postponed her concert in rio de janeiro due to extreme temperatures. you'u're in the e "cnn newsrsro" today, donald trump is back in the all important state of iowa and he's going on the attack. with just eight weeks left until the state's first in the nation contest for republicans, the former president is mounting an aggressive campaign as he attempts to stop his gop rivals from catching up to him. including former south carolina governor, nikki haley. >> nikki, i will never, ever vote against you. you are the greatest president in my lifetime. i would have preferred if she said in generations, but i know her well. she's not up to the job. >> trump's swing through iowa comes as he faces intensifying heat from nikki haley. a new poll shows trump maintaining a significant lead among 42% of likely voters in new hampshire's gop primary. but haley has leapfrogged trump's other rivals, moving into second place at 20%. now, let's discuss more now with cnn's senior political analyst and senior editor at the atlantic, ron brownstein. all right, ron, i want to get your reaction to nikki haley's rise in the polls. is this a flash in the pan or can she mount a serious challenge to trump? >> well, the answer to the first question is no and the answer to the second question is tbd. nikki haley has two goals that she has to reach and one of them i think she's clearly on track to do and the other one we'll have to see. the first one is to supplant ron desantis as trump's chief rival in the race and i think she is on a pathway to do that. desantis' strategy has been to run at trump almost entirely from the right and in the process, he struggled to peel away many of those trump hard core trump supporters but ail nated vote ners the center right of the party. he's left a vacuum that haley is filling in new hampshire, even in iowa to some extent and certainly in south carolina. so you can imagine a scenario, paula, where haley even if she finishes third in iowa, can finish a much stronger second and possibly even challenge trump in new hampshire and get a real shot at him in south carolina. now, ultimately, to dislodge him, she's going to have to cut deeper into the voters supporting him. there's no question she has consolidated the voters who are most resistant with trump and desantis had an opportunity at but has failed to convert by the way shhe's chosen to run in thi race. >> trump is devoting a lot of energy to iowa but it's really new hampshire where he could face this threat. he lost the state twice in the general election. it also doesn't have a large base of evangelical voters he can count on. so he loses in new hampshire's primary or barely scrapes by, how detrimental will it be? >> it creates a chance for someone to have a shot at him in south carolina. the history of the republican primary in the modern era has been consistent. in every race since 1980 except one, one of the two won south carolina and eventually became the nominee. the only exception was 2012 when newt gingrich won south carolina and didn't win the nomination. hail li clearly seems to be on a trajectory where she's likely to be the closest finisher to trump in new hampshire. particularly if the governor there endorses her, which seems possible. and if christie, who is drawing largely from the same pool of voters, withdraws from the race closer to the new hampshire date and potentially endorses her. if she did that, she would be in the same position john mccain was in 2000 when he beat george w. bush in new hampshire. that gave him a chance. it put him in the ring. they had this epic battle in south carolina. ultimately bush won then won the nomination. if haley runs well in new hampshire, she would give herself a shot in south carolina at really emerging as a true challenger to trump. but to do that, she's in the process of consolidating that 30, 35% of the party that's most resistant to trump. ultimately, she's going to have to win more of what are those maybe trump voters who voted for anymore the past but who are open to an all terntive. so far, she hasn't directly c confronted him. >> let's talk a little bit about those vote nerrs in the middle the fence. looking ahead to next year, what kind of impact do you think a no labels candidate could have on the presidential election? >> you know, donald trump ran twice. he did not come close to 50%. i know there are polls now showing him at times drawing 50%, but given the agenda he's running on calling his political enemies vermin, talking about detention camp, masking deportation, deploying the national guard into blue cities et cetera, it's hard to imagine him getting to 50% of the vote. therefore, there's arguments and polls about whether various third party candidates take more or less from one side or the other. in general, all of the third party candidates help trump. biden has shown he can get to 50%. democrats have. republicans have once since 1988 in 2004. so if you lower the number you need to win on balance, i think it helps trump. it is possible that a third party candidate or candidate could draw a significant share of the total vote. you have a lot of americans who are dissatisfied with trump and biden. they don't want this choice. the problem for a third party candidate is not winning a lot of votes. it's winning any states. you have the risk, no matter how plausible a third party campaign you have, you might come in second in the blue states. ross perot won 90% of the vote in 1992 and didn't win a state. so no labels has to understand it would be a spoiler that would make it more likely that trump would be president again and we'll see whether they choose to go forward with that clear knowledge that would be their likely effect. >> ron, i want to turn now to the new speaker of the house and some comments that mike johnson made. rolling stone uncovered a prayer call that congressman johnson had with a right wing pastor where they discussed american culture. let's take a listen to what johnson had to say. >> inflection point, a moment, the only question is, is god going to allow our nation to enter a time of judgment for our col collective sins which his mercy and grace have held back for some time? the faith in our institutions is as low as it's ever been. the culture is so dark and depraved it almost seems ir redeemable at this point. >> what do you make of him calling american culture dark and depraved, perhaps ir redeemable? >> his evidence that it was dark and depraved was the large number of young people who identify somewhere on the lgbtq spectrum. his remarks aren't as severe but seemingly in the same vain as jerry fallwell for saying -- i wrote in 2012 and i believe the dividing line in american politics are between those americans who are comfortable with the way the country is changing demographically, culturally, and economically and those who are not, i called it the coalition of transformation and restoration. what you hear there from the speaker is really a core belief i think is what unifies and knits together the modern republican coalition more than anything else. the belief that the country is evolving in a way that is you know, kind of defacing and up uprooting our traditions and values. so many of the policies you see, whether it's abortion or same-sex marriage, all flow out of this belief that what america is becoming is untrue to what it has been. i think he is a strong reflection of that and you will see that manifest in all sorts of policies. whether his support for a national ban on the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity or presumably a national abortion ban at some point. that is the underlying belief that motors, powers that policy in general. >> ron, thank you. >> thanks for having me. >> and sources tell cnn the special counsel investigating hunter biden has subpoenaed his uncle, james biden, to come before a california grand jury. that's next. you're in the "cnn newsroom." let's go to new developments in the federal investigation into hunter biden. cnn is learning a grand jury has been convened in los angeles indicating that the special counsel could be preparing new charges against the president's son. people close to the probe tell my colleagues and i that james biden, his uncle and one-time business associate, has received a subpoena in recent weeks. joining us now, former federal prosecutors. looks like we may not have renado. so to you, shan. earlier, my guest said he didn't think there would be an indictment in los angeles because of the demographic of the grand jury but we both know it's not that hard to get an indictment. do you think that this makes it likely that he'll face new charges? >> i think so. i'm not exactly sure what value these particular witnesses will add, but it's obvious that since the plea deal collapsed that the prosecutor is going to essentially punish hunter biden by saying since we can't work out a plea deal, we'll indict you. >> his defense team has said one, look, the taxes were paid. they also point to the fact this was a chaotic time in his life. he had substance abuse issues. as a defense attorney, how would you incorporate either one of those arguments into a possible defense? >> i'd say that it's a selective prosecution. that someone other than him without his name and pedigree would not be charged here and what else does the government want? he's already paid back the taxes. no harm, no foul. >> looking at the case, you have the gun case in delaware, which we've covered extensively. then the possibility of another case out in california. do you agree does this look to you like selective prosecution or would joe or jane smith face the same charges? >> the general feeling of people who have been on the defense bar is it looks like selective prosecution in the sense of this. most people in this circumstance, these charges, having paid back their taxes, probably would not be looking at the prospect of a further indictment. especially after the case has staggered on for five years. >> we have renado now. i want to let you weigh in on the grand jury in los angeles hearing evidence. appears to be related to hunter biden. we lost again. no worries. let's move on to this week because we're looking at an appeal