Announcer this week with George Stephanopoulos starts right now. Martha stark warning. Theyre not going to get our support if, in fact, they go on these population centers. Martha the state Department Finds israels use of u. S. Arms may have violated International Law as republicans slam bidens threats to withhold weapons. Give israel what they need to fight the war they cant afford to lose. Martha tens of thousands flee rafah as ceasefire talks grind to a halt. We will do what we have to do to protect our country. Martha this morning, the latest on the humanitarian crisis in gaza with unicefs tess ingram. Plus, reaction from House Foreign Affairs chair Michael Mccaul, and democratic senator chris coons. Fiery testimony. Everything you have been watching has nothing to do with the case. Martha Stormy Daniels takes the stand in new york as trump successfully delays two of his four criminal trials. Our powerhouse round table on what it means in the race for the white house. And you are aware of the weight of history when youre in that room, and the history echoes through the room. Martha our George Stephanopoulos dives into the nerve center of the white house in his new book the situation room. Martha good morning, and welcome to this week. With tens of thousands of palestinians killed with protests raging on College Campuses across the country, and with israel poised for a fullscale assault into southern gaza, this was the week President Biden put his foot down. After months of urging israel to do more to protect civilians in gaza, the president announced that he has withheld u. S. Weapons that were supposed to be sent to israel and warned that more could be stopped if israel invades the city of rafah, but at the same time, a state Department Report out friday fell short of concluding that israel violated International Law, but the report did say it is reasonable to assess that some u. S. Weapons have been used in instances inconsistent with israels obligation under the law, and that the high levels of civilian casualties caused by those weapons raises substantial questions as to whether the Israeli Defense force is using them effectively in all cases. This week anchor George Stephanopoulos sat down with White House National security adviser Jake Sullivan in the situation room this week and asked him about withholding those weapons. George israel has responded to President Bidens statement saying that it sends the wrong message to hamas and puts israel in a corner. How do you respond to that . Nobody has been a stronger supporter of israel than joe biden. He has sent an enormous amount of capability for israel to take on hamas. Secondly, the president has made clear hes going to continue to make sure israel has what it needs to defend itself, fullstop, four square, thats all. The president has said he has concerns about a fullscale military invasion of rafah, a place where theres more than a Million People sheltering. George what would happen if they went in . Because first, there are a Million People who have been pushed there because of the other operations in parts of gaza, you would have other really significant casualties, and while israel would also be able to kill some hamas folks, many hamas folks would melt away because theyre terrorists. Theyre not really organized fighters in the way we think about a typical military. In that context, he doesnt want to see american weapons used in that type of operation. Thats not to say hes going to abandon israel or cut them off from weapons. He was focused on a particular operation that he doesnt believe will succeed in defeating hamas and that will cause grievous harm. Martha so what does it mean for what happens next in this conflict . Im joined now by democratic senator chris coons of delaware. Good to see you this morning, senator. These huge bombs that the president is now pausing have already been used by the israelis in gaza causing massive destruction, civilian casualties, and yet the state Department Report says there is not enough information to conclude they violated any International Law. Are you satisfied with that conclusion . Well, martha, thanks for a chance to be on with you again. Lets be clear about what that report also concludes, which is that because of how hamas has conducted itself in this horrifying conflict that began with their tragic barbarous attack on 1,200 civilians in which they also killed 45 americans on october 7th, because hamas embeds its fighters and its war piles and its stockpiles underneath civilian targets, beneath hospitals and mosques and schools, the report by the state Department Says its difficult to conclude whether the unacceptably high civilian toll is because of hamas and its strategies and tactics or because of israel and how theyve conducted this conflict. I do think it bears repeating every time we talk about this, that hamas started this conflict and hamas and their conduct has largely driven the humanitarian crisis that continues in gaza. Martha no question that hamas started this on october 7th, begagain, what youve seen massive destruction, civilian casualties. Some estimates of 14,000 children killed. Are you happy with the conclusions of the report, the conclusions gii just read you . Well, what matters more than the conclusions of the report, martha, is what we do, what the United States does with our close and trusted ally, israel. Privately over many months, President Biden has urged, has cautioned Prime Minister netanyahu and his farright government to not go into rafah at scale without first allowing for civilians, the million refugees who have moved down to rafah at the direction of the idf, and are now trapped up against the hard border with egypt because egypt will not allow any of them in. What matters, martha, is whether the next stage of this conflict against hamas, which israel has every right to carry out, allows for civilians to get out of the way of any future attack on rafah, and thats what President Biden has said now publicly as well as privately to our trusted ally, israel, is you can continue this war against hamas, but if you are going to use our munitions and continue to have our support, you have to do it in a way that minimizes civilian casualty. Martha senator, i know now that youve encircled rafah, pausing and allowing civilians to move forward. Fra frankly ill also note how hard President Biden is working to achieve a hostage deal and ceasefire. Martha cwhich has been paused, of course. Senator, i want to go back to the report. Your democratic colleague Chris Van Hollen said, its all making the actual determination. I think what theyre trying to do is make clear they recognize how bad the situation is, but they continue want to have to take any action to hold a netanyahu government accountable for whats happening. Your response . Well, i disagree. I think President Biden has taken forceful action, so much so theres been a lot of blowback for his recent public statement, and ill remind you other american president s have done the same thing when a close, trusted partner isnt listening to private admonitions. It was president reagan who repeatedly paused the delivery of f16s the thenPrime Minister conducted a strike against a Syrian Nuclear complex and invaded southern lebanon and conducted the war in southern lebanon in a way that raised real concerns about the civilian consequences. So for my colleague and friend, senator van hollen to say that theres been no consequences and no forceful action by President Biden, i think, misses the point here that President Biden has over and over urged the farright government of Prime Minister netanyahu to take the appropriate action and he has publicly said what the consequences will be. Martha so senator, what is the line for moving from inconsistent to illegal . I think well be looking closely at the path forward that Prime Minister netanyahu chooses in the days ahead. Whether he will use american supplied munitions to bomb and invade and attack rafah and the million civilians who are there in order to get at the hamas fighters, who are buried in tunnels deep beneath rafah, or whether he will move ahead with allowing the civilians to be relocated in accordance with a plan developed with the United States, a plan that isnt yet fully acceptable to us, or my preferred outcome, whether the months of work to make ready a deal between saudi arabia and israel that will allow for a ceasefire, a hostage release, and a resolution to the arabisraeli conflict and a regional architecture that will allow for that against iran. Ill remind you and your viewers, it was just three weeks ago that President Biden ably came to israels defense in partnership with the british, the french, the saudis, and the jordanians when iran launched 300 missiles and drones at israel. Its clear we are willing to strongly defend israel, but hes urging president excuse me. Prime minister netanyahu to choose the path of peace thats right in front of him. That requires reaching a deal with regional actors. Martha if netanyahu, if Prime Minister netanyahu does go in with a fullscale assault on rafah, what do you think the president should do . Weve heard his warnings. I think we will act, and i think this will be up to the president in exactly what way he will act, but ill remind you theres precedent for this. President reagan was martha again, you remind us for that, but what do you mean he will act . Hell stop weapons . Hell stop more weapons . Yes. Martha how many weapons . All weapons . Im clear that we will not abandon israel. He will not stop providing defensive systems to israel. Look. Hezbollah continues to attack israel in the north. Just last night there was more rockets and shells coming into the north of israel. Martha so youre saying hell stop offensive weapons. Not defenseless, but you talk about specifically defensive weapons. Are you saying offensive weapons should be stopped . Look. I think whatever munitions such as the 2,000pound bombs that have previously been used in gaza that are supplied only by the United States, and that can cause massive civilian casualties may well be paused. It is tragic that were at this point, and martha, i want to conclude by saying that i hope Prime Minister netanyahu is thinking about his legacy. Right now his legacy is the huge, strategic failure of october 7th, and his legacy could be a real gap, a break in the long, strong, bipartisan strategic relationship between the United States and israel. I think that would be tragic. His legacy could instead be achieving Regional Security and peace for israel. Martha okay. Thank you so much for joining us this morning, senator. For the latest on the humanitarian crisis, im joined now by unicef spokesperson tess ingram who was in gaza just last month, and tess, i want to start with another part of this report that says it does not currently assess that the Israeli Government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of u. S. Humanitarian assistance. Is that your experience . We have for months now been calling for more aid to get into the gaza strip. The average number of trucks that got in last month was 200 a day compared to 500 before the escalation in hostility. Its nowhere near enough, and my experience was that the slow and complex screening process at the border is what is really slowing down the aid, and thats something that we can remedy to get more aid in and to prevent a famine which is could happen any day now. Martha describe what the situation is on the ground overall from your trips there, what you are say seeing. Its absolutely catastrophic. Its unlike anything ive seen, and a colleague who has been working in humanitarian emergencies at unicef for the best part of 30 years says tit the worst he has ever see. There are people on the ground fleeing rafah in the thousands. We know in the last week, 300,000 people have been forced to leave rafah. Theyre piling onto donkey carts and trucks and buses, possessions, people. We even saw people loading a toilet onto the back of a truck which just shows how desperate the situation is that people feel like they need to bring these sort of items with them because they know that where theyre going, the services are nonexistent, and that is unacceptable when we talk about having safety for people. Its not just safety from the bombardments that they need. Its also a safe place to go to, and the places where people are being told to move to, completely unsafe. Martha and tess, i just want to say. You read the report obviously. Youve heard that President Biden wants to put a pause on weapons, but youve also heard, and our next guest, Michael Mccaul, wishes we would give more weapons to israel. Whats your reaction this week . Look. As somebody who was on the ground and spent a lot of time in hospitals in gaza, including in rafah, i saw the impact of this fighting on childrens bodies, and it is horrific. I saw a 9yearold girl who was clinging to life in a hospital bed in rafah with major blast wounds down one side of her body, and when i met her, she had been that way for 16 days because the medical ability in gaza to repair those wounds was nonexistent. She was lying there in pain with open wounds. A 9yearold girl, and that was she was in her grandparents house when it was shelled. This is whats happening on the ground. So we have been clear at unicef. We need to see an end to the fighting, especially children. Martha thanks so much for joining us this morning, tess. Thanks so much to your courage and what you do. House Foreign Affairs committee chair, Michael Mccaul joins me now. Thanks for coming in this morning. Thanks, martha. Martha congressman, you slammed the administration for withholding some weapons and you slammed the state Department Reports. Do you see any evidence that it is reasonable to assess as the state department found, there are instances in the use of those weapons . Those big bombs especially that are inconsistent with International Law . Theres a lot of confusion about whats happening on the ground. I can tell you the weapons we approved, i sign off on all Foreign Military sales and myself, the Ranking Member the chair and Ranking Member in the senate. Thats four in the congress. We also passed the appropriations package. What were worried about is sort of a defiance of congressional intent here that we passed these weap weapons out of congress, and now the president s holding them back. I would say most of theise weapons to answer your question, are precisionguided weapons and that means precise, and that means that it spares civilian casualties because the targeting is so precise. Martha congressman, were talking about 2,000 of pound bombs here. The u. S. Rarely uses 2,000pound bombs. The radius can be 1,000 feet. If you look at the casualties there, if you look at the craters, if you look at the investigations, those 2,000pound bombs cause civilian casualties. Again, the u. S. Rarely uses them in especially population centers. You have no problem with them doing that . I, you know, the precis precisionguided weapons, you know martha you keep saying precisionguided, and that may be a term, but its not that. Hamas embeds themselves with human people, and use humans as shields. They are blocking a lot of this aid theyre trying to get in. They destroyed the checkpoint going from israel into the gaza into rafah itself, and its really an enemy like that. Martha you say human shields without question. They are doing that, and senator coons said the same thing. Theyre being used as human shields, and theyre in these tunnels, but would you be comfortable if u. S. Troops were in gaza, say, and doing the same thing with that enormous amount of casualties, the destruction of that . We didnt use 2,000pound bombs in mosul when we were going after isis. We didnt destroy kabul. We didnt destroy others. So would you be comfortable, if this was a u. S. Operation and u. S. Military . I think a good comparison is what happened in iraq and mosul between isisk and civilians, and it was five isisk im sorry. One isisk to five civilian, and in this case, its two civilians to one hamas. So its actually martha where are those from . Those statistics . Thats what we gathered, you know those are the facts and figures that we have. Tsa actually lower than what america did in iraq. Martha again, people that ive talked to who were in iraq, who were in afghanistan, members of the military say we would not do a war like this, and if there were mistakes made, they would admit it. I we have commanders working with them. Heres what i object to, martha, is just to say pointblank that we are not going to give weapons to israel if they invade rafah. Now of course, you want to conditions with the humanitarian to be in place. Of course, you want the tents in place, but to say you cannot invade rafah, were telling the israelis, dictating their military strate