Numbers though that do not distinguish between fighters and civilians. These latest numbers coming as the Israeli Military launches new attacks ahead of a major Ground Offensive. In the city of rafah. Israeli troops are moving in on the eastern part of that city, as well as central and northern gaza, where the Idf Claims Hamas is trying to rebuild more than 300,000 civilians have fled rafah since monday. Thats according to the uat un calling it a quote force and inhumane displacement of palate justinians back here in the Top White House officials continue to send israel stark warnings against the launch of a widescale invasion we believe two things. One, you have to have a clear, credible plan to protect civilians, which we havent seen second, we also need to see a plan for what happens after this conflict in gaza open is over and we still havent seen that we are tracking all the latest developments here at home and overseas. We start with cnns Paula Hancocks and abu dhabi and paul, a major concern for humanitarian groups in gaza is the lack of food and other absolutely essential supplies. What more do we know about that . Well jessica, with 300 signs and now moving out of a rafah have done over the past few days, youre seeing the moving to an area just along the coast which the Israeli Military said was a humanitarian and safer area. But its an area that the un teams on the ground are saying is inhumane. They are saying it is not suitable for the sheer number of people to be moving towards. It is not set up to be able to cope with that level of displacement what were seeing is the amount of humanitarian aid trucks that are getting into gaza at this point has been severely affected by what is happening in rafah. Bear in mind, this is where most of the humanitarian aid groups have based themselves over the past seven months we know the Israeli Military is in charge now of the rafah crossing with egypt. And we know that egyptian officials have said that theyre not coordinating with israel to try and get more humanitarian aid trucks and because theyre citing Security Concerns even if they manage to get their trucks inside, it is dangerous and it is very difficult to be able to distribute that aid where it is needed. Were hearing from you and teams on the ground that they believe that they will be running out of food and of water. Now the Israeli Military, so that they have opened another land crossing, and this is two Service Northern gaza at this point but the critical concentration of displacement at this point is in the southern area. And that is where the serious concerns are. Now when it comes to the fighting itself, it is interesting because the Israeli Military says that now fighting hamas once again in central gaza and also in northern gaza, this is the jabalya refugee camp. Its an area where israel said that they had pushed hamas out some time ago and they had control of this area that they say they now have intelligence that hamas is trying to regroup. They are trying to move back to this area and reassemble to cause a threat to israel. So what the military says, theyre doing it, this point is there actually issuing Evacuation Orders to civilians in that area as well, trying to move them out of the way. And once again, they are fighting where they said they had already cleared the area and it really speaks to just how difficult bolts this is if the Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu says he is going to completely destroy hamas. It just shows how almost impossible that would be to do. Jessica. Paula hancocks for us in our bw. Thanks so much for that reporting. And lets go now to Kevin Lip Tacc has traveling with President Biden today in delaware and kevin Top White House officials are doubling down on the president s ultimatum. What are they saying today well, theyre continuing to warn against a major Ground Offensive in rafah. And i think there handling President Bidens view that american weapons cannot be used in an operation that in there estimation would be ill advised and very, very bloody. And in fact, just in the last few hours, weve learned that the National Security adviser, jake sullivan, did speak with his counterpart in israel. This is significant, its the first phone call that weve seen announced between the white house and the Israeli Government since President Biden delivered that ultimatum on cnn, that he would halt ship but minutes of certain weapons to israel if this Ground Offensive in rafah goes forward, the white house says that they discussed President Bidens concerns. They discussed some of the alternatives and the white house said israeli National Security adviser did say that israel was taking some of these concerns into account. But at the end of the day, these concerns or nothing new President Biden has been raising them with Prime Minister netanyahu going back all the way to february, netanyahu has shown no willingness to back off his plan on rafah. He says that it is necessary to go after hamas. Theyre to completely eliminate the terror group when you hear american officials, their views are completely at odds including the Secretary State entity blinken, who said that a major Ground Offensive in rafah could lead to a hamas insurgency. Listened to a little bit more of what he had to say this morning and they will be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency because a lot of armed hamas will be left no matter what they do in rafah or if they, if they leave and get out of gaza as we believe, they need to do, then youre going to have a vacuum and a vacuum thats likely to be filled by chaos, by anarchy, and ultimately by hamas. Again, we need to see that too. We have the same objective as israel we want to make sure that hamas cannot govern gaza. Again, we want to make sure its demilitarized. We want to make sure that israel gets its leaders. Thats what were determined. We have a different way and we think a more effective, durable way of getting that done will remain in conversation with israel about exactly that. Now, blinken also said this morning that the us believes israel has killed more civilians in gaza than hamas members. And he also said the us hasnt seen a plane land from israel about governance and security and gaza, once this war ends, taken all together, these are some of the toughest words that weve seen from the Biden Administration towards the Israeli Government. And it really does give you the sense that this relationship and this war is reaching quite a critical moment. Jessica kevin lip tack, traveling with the president in delaware today. Thanks so much for that reporting. Joining us now and in Global Affairs analyst and former secretary of defense, mark esper, mr. Secretary great to have you here this afternoon. First. I just want to know if you think the posture that kevin was just laying out from the Biden Administration is the correct one . Well, good afternoon, jessica. First of all, look, i think i think the decision to cut off arms is a mistake not immediately. So because the denying the israeli as a capability, but what it does is since sends the wrong message to both the israelis and more importantly to hamas because it looks like once again, the theres a gap growing continues to grow between tel aviv and washington. And what it means for hamas is just continued to sit on the sidelines and dont negotiate, dont give any ground because theyre leveraged continues to improve by these types of actions and its interesting to say its not just republicans pushing back against President Biden on this one. Its democrats in both houses of congress who are raising concerns about him taking this position. Now, look on the other hand, it is true. I think while i believe that israel needs to go into rafah, get rid of the four Middleton Battalions remaining track down the gaza leaders. Yahya sinwar and others and dismantle the tunnel networks. They need to do so in a way that allows for more humanitarian aid to come in. And the limit. Again, civilian casualties, which i think they can and should do a far better job of doing. But i think they need to go in and do this. The question is, how can they do it far, far better than what then how theyve been doing the last several months to that in the idf says hamas is trying to regroup in the north. Thats why they are targeting those areas also, right now, i want to play a clip from democratic senator chris murphy. He was on with my colleague dana bash this morning. Well hear what he said. Every Intelligence Expert has already come to the conclusion, you are not going to be able to eliminate hamas, right . You are. Theres going to continue to be a Resistance Movement to the state of israel. And the question is, is it going to be weaker or stronger . After 13, 15,000 kids are killed inside gaza. My argument is that right now the prospects are that it is going to be stronger mr. Secretary, do you think that is right . Do you think that the elimination of hamas is possible . Thats long been israels goal. Theyll, so they have achieved victory when hamas is fully eliminated. Do you think thats an achievable goal seven months in you ive been saying for some time that destroying hamas is not possible. Its an ideology as much as its an entity the t but you can dismantle it. You can disable, you can make sure that has no war fighting capability, and that it cannot govern again, and i think thats what were aiming to do by going into rafah, by finding the leadership and eliminating the leadership. I think what youre gonna have to deal with them, and this remains an unanswered question and i agree with Secretary Blinken here, we need to know what the plan is after they finish up with rafah. Once we believe that weve dismantled all the hamas battalions, there has to be some type of governing authority in there because if not, then hamas will rise back up and they will, they will govern and threatened and bully Palestinian People there. So theres been some talk about some type of Peacekeeping Entity among uae, the saudis jordanians, and others. But we need to know what that is, what the conflict looks like at the end. Because again, somebody needs to govern a gaza and part of this governance will be peacekeeping, policing. But another part of it will be making sure that hamas doesnt rise up again. And i think thats the again unanswered question now is what happens when the Military Conflict is over . You are not so many people say exactly what youre saying that im talking to about this conflict. And so how do they begin to untangle that and get to some sketch of what that might look like when this conflict is over. It is, it is a big question yeah, look, theres reporting out there that something is emerging that the United States is leading on this to bringing partners together. But this now gets backed into Domestic Politics and israel. Where you have reporting coming out in last 24, 48 hours. Is the head of the Israeli Military had a showdown with Bibi Netanyahu saying, hey, tell us what the plant i had is we need to know what the plan is and he would be absolutely correct if thats the case. But the Domestic Politics are tough for netanyahu and not to give me an excuse. But on one hand, he has a farright members of his coalition that want to see israel controlled gaza. They believe its part of the promise land and they want to go back in to where they were in 2003, 2004, 2005 before israel walked away. But most other israeli say now we want to get out, stay out of gaza, and are looking for this broader deal. So netanyahus trying to walk this fine line on this, on this issue and its not just the strategic matter, but its also of course, the tactical issue of going into rafah or not. And then at the end of the day, what does the end state look like . I mean, is whats the whats the longterm peace plan . Most subscribed to a two Party Solution twostate solution. But netanyahu has walked away from that one as well. A long time ago and before i let you go, i want to ask you about a different subject. I want to ask you about changes tonight in russias military leadership. President Vladimir Putin has replaced shoigu as Defenseman Minister and the kremlin spokesperson says that change is due to the need for innovation. He wants to replace him with someone whos a civilian. What do you make of that . Yeah, a few things. First of all, showing shoigu has been a loyal ally to put now since being an office for 12 years or so i had to deal with him many times and i was in office most people dont know. Hes really not a military guy. I know youre fat flashing pictures there of him in a uniform, but its a different system. Meeting grew up as a soldier and a military thing. Hes probably arguably more civilian and the military got. But whats interesting is its happening now. I guess some people would say that putin just got his fifth term was just we just had to ceremony marking that. Maybe that was a time i thought maybe shoigu would have been pushed out during the prigozhin rebellion, right . As up last year, but i guess not. But the bigger argument coming out of moscow right now is it russian . Russia is moving toward war economy and its true 7 of their gdp now is focused on defense. There, on a war footing arguably, theyre saying that they want him running the military industrial complex. And they say the new guy being brought in is more innovative when i think one of the disappointing things shoigus tenure is that what we thought the russian army, at least during my time at the pentagon, we thought they were professionalizing that they were modernizing all their equipment, their doctrine, how they train and fight and everything. And we really havent seen that on the battlefield. So im sure more will come out in the following days, but this is an important move its an interesting move, so itll be curious again to see how they tried to explain this and what the new defense ministers role will actually be. Absolutely secretary mark esper. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks jessica still ahead. 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