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Hamas And Israeli Troops Clash Inside Gaza; U.S. Seeks Delay Of Israeli Ground Incursion; At Least 14 More Aid Trucks Enter Gaza; Detroit Synagogue President Stabbed; Israeli Evacuations Amid Border Tensions; Manhunt For Suspect In Judge's Shooting. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired October 22, 2023 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:00]

EVELYN FARKAS, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: So you have to be very careful when you're going in to take out the fighters. Israel has to destroy Hamas, destroy the terrorist organization, but it cannot do that and then create a whole another opposition.

So they have to, again, as I said, offer the people of Gaza and frankly the Palestinian people writ large a hope for a better future so that maybe they won't turn against Israel, and certainly broadening the conflict is very dangerous because the Israeli military is not as strong as it should be at this point in time for various reasons, most of them political.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Evelyn Farkas, thank you very, very much.

FARKAS: Thanks, Wolf.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta, alongside my colleague Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We'll get back to you, Wolf, in a moment.

So let's start with our continuing coverage of "Israel at War." New fighting today inside Gaza. Israel Defense Forces say they clashed with Hamas fighters marking only the second confirmed Israeli operation in the enclave since the beginning of this war.

But beyond that skirmish it has been another bloody day across the Gaza Strip. Israeli air strikes ripping through the enclave with deadly results. The grim reality of this war seen on some of its most vulnerable. Video obtained by CNN showing the lifeless bodies of a toddler and three children killed in overnight air strikes. Their parents had written the children's' names on their legs to identify them.

And there was also a rare air strike in the West Bank. The IDF saying that it hit a mosque there to prevent an imminent terror attack but the Palestinian Authority calls the strike a dangerous escalation. The IDF is vowing to increase its aerial barrage in Gaza ahead of a potential ground incursion. And with the casualties and humanitarian crisis mounting this

afternoon President Biden held phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pope Francis, and leaders from Canada and across Europe. Those calls coming as more urgent aid has now made its way into Gaza. CNN has confirmed at least 14 relief aid trucks carrying vital supplies have entered the enclave today -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very much. I want to go on the ground right now in Israel. CNN diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is joining us from Sderot in Israel not far from Gaza.

Nic, what more are you learning first of all about the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas that took place inside the Gaza Strip today?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Wolf, we don't know the precise reason for this incursion. It wasn't announced in advance. No surprise there because operational security is paramount for the Israeli forces. There's been so much discussion about a full-scale incursion. This was not that. This, it appears, was a limited operation to prepare the ground for potentially for a larger incursion, and it seems to have run into a Hamas -- some Hamas operatives who we understand fired a grenade, a rocket propelled grenade missile at one of the tanks.

Hamas is sort of claiming this as a limited victory that they hit a tank, damaged two of the mechanized bulldozers that were in with that advance unit as well. One soldier killed. Three injured. The IDF says they've informed the families but it does look as if this indicates that there could be a larger ground offensive coming. However, traveling around the border region today we can see those troops ready.

It just doesn't appear as if they are being moved close to the border for an immediate incursion. Obviously things change with time, and that's a picture from about six hours ago -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Interesting. Israel's aerial assault, as you know, Nic, it continues across Gaza today. What are you seeing, what are you hearing today?

ROBERTSON: Yes, well, the IDF has said that they will ramp up air strikes ahead of a ground incursion to protect the troops when they go in on the ground this afternoon and into this evening, and tonight where we are now we have heard a massive -- you are listening to it there -- escalation in the number of air strikes, missile strikes, and artillery fired into Gaza.

This is perhaps the highest level of sustained fire into Gaza that we have experienced here in the past week. We've been here about two weeks. That first week it was very heavy and the tempo right now is back where it was then.

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Some of those detonations that we're hearing are close enough and loud enough to rattle the doors and windows on our building. That's a mile away from Gaza so that gives you some idea of what the experience inside Gaza will be at the moment for these very heavy strikes that we are witnessing behind us -- Wolf.

BLITZER: We've also seen today Israeli forces launching a very rare air assault, air attack over in the West Bank. What are officials saying about that?

ROBERTSON: Yes, it was the town of Jenin, and we know earlier this year the IDF has had two incursions there to go after groups of terrorists there from the Palestinian-Islamic Jihad group. Hamas has operatives there. And what the IDF is saying is that they had a real- time active intelligence that told them two operatives were in the mosque that had a network of tunnels that could be used for storing ammunition underneath the mosque.

That these operatives were in the mosque, that they were planning a military operation, and the IDF targeted the mosque, killing these two fighters.

BLITZER: Nic Robertson, reporting from Sderot in Israel. Thank you very much. Stay safe over there.

Today President Biden held phone conversations with several world leaders including the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Pope Francis. It comes as the Biden administration is pushing for Israel to delay its likely ground incursion into Gaza.

CNN's chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt is joining us right now.

Alex, Israeli officials deny these reports. Tell us what you're learning.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, Israel doesn't want to be seen as being told what to do and then the U.S. certainly doesn't want to be seen as telling Israel what to do. What we're hearing from the Biden administration is that they are simply giving advice, offering their best judgment about what Israel should do when they do undertake this ground invasion.

But, Wolf, what I've been told by two different sources is that part of what the U.S. is telling Israel is pressing them to allow for more time to delay this ground incursion, to allow for more progress on both the hostages and the aid going into southern Gaza. There has been progress on that. We saw the two American women released on Friday. Part of the 200 or so hostages still being held by Hamas.

We've also seen these trucks moving toward southern Gaza today. So there has been progress. We know that a major priority for Israel and for the United States is to get these hostages out, particularly the foreign nationals and the civilians, and to allow that aid to get in to Gaza. Israel does not want to be seen as being told what to do and certainly Hamas knows that pressure will build on Israel if they continue to sort of trickle out these hostages or if there is a sense that hostages may be released. And that kind of pressure could get in the way of what Israel is planning -- Wolf.

BLITZER: In Iraq, meanwhile, the U.S. is ordering all nonemergency government personnel to leave the country immediately. Tell our viewers what's happening there.

MARQUARDT: Well, this really speaks to concerns that are growing here in Washington about what Iran and its proxies across the region could have in store for U.S. troops and diplomatic facilities and citizens around the Middle East. So the State Department has issued a new travel advisory for Iraq. It is a level four, it's the highest level telling American citizens not to go to Iraq, and also saying that the families of U.S. diplomats are coming home, that nonessential personnel are leaving Iraq.

This comes after a strike on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Baghdad on Friday, Wolf. We've also seen this in Lebanon, a very similar advisory. And so this really does speak to the growing concern that the Iranian proxies may be ratcheting up their efforts to target U.S. interests. That's something that we heard from the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin earlier today -- Wolf.

BLITZER: In recent days, we've also seen the State Department issue a very rare worldwide alert for all Americans traveling overseas. Tell us about that.

MARQUARDT: Yes. So the advisory I was just talking about for Iraq, these things happen all the time. They change. We get them fairly regularly. The worldwide alert that you're talking about does not happen very often. And it happens really around major world events. The last time was around when the leader of al Qaeda, Ayman al- Zawahiri, was killed by the United States last year. So now what the U.S. is doing is essentially telling American citizens around the world that they could be under threat, they could be under attack.

And, Wolf, that comes as a result of the real support that the U.S. has been showing to Israel in the wake of these attacks by Hamas and this looming invasion into Gaza.

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There are a lot of people around the world particularly in the Middle East who are really angry, who are furious really with the level of support that the U.S. has shown Israel -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Alex Marquardt, reporting for us. Alex, thank you very much.

Barak Ravid is a foreign policy reporter over at Axios. He's joining us right now.

Barak, you've got excellent sources. What are you hearing? Should Israel really delay its full-scale ground operation to allow for the release of more hostages and more aid to come into Gaza?

BARAK RAVID, FOREIGN POLICY REPORTER, AXIOS: Good afternoon, Wolf. I think that the hostages issue is an issue but when I spoke to several Israeli officials today what they told me is that they're not looking for another gesture like the one we've seen a few days ago with two hostages that were released. They are saying that they are willing to give more time if we are talking about a big deal, meaning all the hostages, all the women, all the children, all the elderly in one tranche.

It doesn't seem at the moment that such a deal might be possible, so I think a ground operation in Gaza is just a matter of when and not if but there is another reason for the delay that doesn't have to do with the hostages. It has to do with the threat for U.S. forces in the region. And what I heard from Israeli officials is that the U.S. asked for more time in order to get more forces in the region to protect U.S. troops and take preparedness measures in U.S. bases in the region because I think the Pentagon and the White House are concerned that once an Israeli ground operation in Gaza starts, the threat for U.S. forces in the region will increase dramatically.

BLITZER: Yes. The U.S. has already deployed, what, two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups in the Eastern Mediterranean, so clearly the U.S. is worried. They are trying to deter further escalation of this war. Do you believe the U.S. is also pressing Israel to delay this full scale ground assault?

RAVID: I don't think so. I think, you know, when I spoke to several White House officials, again, about the bigger picture of whether there will be a ground operation or not, they admitted that Israel is unpersuadable, meaning there is nothing the U.S. can say or do that will prevent such a ground operation. It's just a matter of time until it happens. And when I asked Israeli officials, are they in a rush, they say no, we're not in a rush, because Hamas -- the time is not on Hamas' side.

Hamas officials, Hamas leaders, Hamas commanders are in the tunnels and the bunkers. The situation is not getting better each day that passes. So they say, you know, if not today then tomorrow. If not tomorrow the next day. We're not in a rush. This thing is going to take a long time anyway.

BLITZER: What's the potential end game of a full scale Israeli ground offensive into Gaza? Are Israeli officials saying anything at least privately about what would come after that if the Israelis were successful in destroying Hamas, removing their leadership, and eliminating their weapons?

RAVID: So, first, Wolf, this is a big if, meaning, you know, we hear a lot from Israeli officials that they're going to dismantle Hamas, that in a few months Hamas will not exist. I would put a very big question mark on those statements. But let's say it does happen. So in the Israeli government right now there are two or three different teams that are talking or thinking about the day after but it is very low level and the political echelon still did not have a serious discussion about it.

And no one, when both President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken asked directly both Netanyahu and the members of his war cabinet they said, OK, what's your plan for the day after, they heard the same answer and the answer was we don't have one. BLITZER: Yes. It's very interesting indeed. The U.S. Defense Secretary

Lloyd Austin is warning about what he calls a potential escalation throughout the Middle East as a result of what's going on between Israel and Hamas right now. What is your level of concern with respect to that potential risk?

RAVID: I think it's a very high risk. I mean, look at what's going on already before a ground operation. We see the border between Israel and Lebanon. We have at least just today I think there were seven or eight different firefights between Israel and Hezbollah on the border. That's something that hasn't happened in years. Look at the situation in Yemen with the Houthis firing rockets and drones at Israel. Look at the situation in Iraq with threats against the U.S. embassy. Look at the situation in Syria with attacks by Iranian proxies on U.S. bases. So you see it from almost every direction and this is before a ground operation.

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So just imagine what's going to be the situation when Israel invades Gaza. It's a very, very dangerous and volatile situation.

BLITZER: You are absolutely right. Barak Ravid, thanks for your excellent reporting. Appreciate it very, very much.

RAVID: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Still to come, much more needed aid has now entered Gaza from Egypt as this humanitarian crisis there grows more and more dire. We have new details. We'll share them with you right after a quick break.

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BLITZER: At least 14 more aid trucks entered Gaza just a little while ago, encouraging news for those calling for a more steady stream of humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip. 20 trucks made their way through the crossing yesterday, dropping off desperately needed food, water, and medicine. But officials and aid groups say the occasional convoys aren't nearly enough to meet the enormous needs of the many civilians caught in the crossfires of this war.

Scott McLean reports.

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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Those who arrived at the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Central Gaza alive are the lucky ones. There were five air strikes this morning near the hospital. This video shows the smoke from one rising nearby. Some 110 bodies were brought here overnight and this morning, one medical source tells CNN. The morgue is now full, the rest of the bodies wrapped in white sheets now lay outside in the heat of the day. Relatives try to identify their loved ones, finding them confirms their worst fears. Inside the hospital children including a toddler are among the dead.

Several of these victims were found with their names written in Arabic on their legs, an increasingly common marking as parents try to make identification easier if they or their kids are killed.

This hospital is located outside of the area of northern Gaza that Israel has been trying to get civilians to evacuate. On Saturday the IDF dropped leaflets telling people that everyone who chose not to evacuate from the north of the strip to the south of Wadi Gaza might be considered as a partner for the terrorist organization.

In a statement the IDF confirmed it dropped the leaflets but said it has no intention to consider those who have not evacuated from the affected area of fighting as a member of the terrorist group.

Even those who have managed to avoid the bombs are not out of danger. A trickle of aid, 20 trucks, were allowed to cross the Rafah Border Crossing from Egypt on Saturday but that is a tiny fraction of what is needed.

MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN NATIONAL INITIATIVE: Twenty trucks of aid to Gaza will not change much. Gaza needs at least 500 trucks daily of fuel, food, medicines, and water. As a matter of fact for 14 days Gaza got nothing under the Israeli siege. And its immediate need now is 7,000 trucks.

MCLEAN: Satellite images showed dozens of trucks waiting at the border and dozens more a quarter mile down the road all unable to get in. Aid groups say that the death toll could skyrocket because of disease and hospitals that are overwhelmed and undersupplied.

With no electricity or generator this shop keeper in Central Gaza is keeping the store open by candlelight as the shelves look increasingly bare. The World Food Program says the shortage of basic supplies is pushing Gaza to the edge of catastrophe.

The IDF says it killed dozens of terrorists overnight but vows that the number of air strikes will only increase ahead of an expected ground operation. Meanwhile, conditions for the people of Gaza worsen by the hour.

Scott McLean, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And thanks to Scott McLean for that report.

I'm joined now by Mohammad Kabiya, he's an Arab-Israeli Muslim who served in a special unit of the Israeli Air Force.

Mohammad, thank you so much for joining us. I know you've seen some of these difficult images coming out of Gaza like all of us showing the suffering of the Palestinian people. We all saw the horrific attacks by Hamas terrorists on Israeli civilians back on October 7th. Is Israel doing enough do you believe to limit civilian casualties in Gaza? MOHAMMAD KABIYA, ARAB-ISRAELI MUSLIM, SERVED IN SPECIAL UNIT OF THE

ISRAELI AIR FORCE: Israel is doing everything to not targeting the Palestinian and innocent people but the big problem is that Hamas is using these people, the civilian people for their agenda. They're hiding and the Hamas leadership hiding behind the hospitals and the mosques and the UNRWA sites to -- using the people there as a human shield.

What's happened in the October 7th was a horrific crime and against the humanity. It's contrary of the standards of humanity and the Islamic Sharia. I as a Muslim that go up in the Islamic homes, I think that is the most horrible thing that I saw ever. What Hamas did to the Israeli people, to the Israeli innocent people is like what ISIS did for the women that ISIS raped in Iraq, and like what ISIS murdered children in Syria. This is what happened in Israel.

BLITZER: As you know, Mohammad, there are about two million Israeli- Arab citizens, citizens of Israel right now. They're living in Israel and they're reacting obviously to what's going on in this conflict between Israel and Hamas. Tell us what the reaction generally has been.

KABIYA: After what the Arab-Israelis saw what Hamas did to the Israelis, I think that the most reaction of the Arab-Israelis is to support Israel.

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The Arab-Israeli, they understood that Gaza has to be free from Hamas, free from the terror organization, Hamas and the Jihadist Islamic, because the Palestinians are suffering not because of Israel. The Palestinians are suffering because of Hamas and because of the organization. And while Israel extends her hand to support and to help the Palestinian people, the leaders of Hamas, they're using the people of Gaza and the people of the West Bank as a human shield for a terror agenda.

While the people in Gaza, they are under attack, the leadership of Hamas, they are living and staying in luxury hotels in the Arab countries' capitals. This is the situation.

BLITZER: Has the current war between Israeli and Hamas, Mohammad, complicated the relationship between Israeli-Arabs and Israeli-Jews right now? What's your analysis?

KABIYA: I think that those who live here in Israel, they see every day that the Arabs and the Jews are here, they're living together, study together, and also joining the IDF together. How I did. The Arabs and the Israelis -- the Arab-Israelis and the Jew-Israelis they know that they should live together and they know that Hamas is the big danger to the Palestinian people.

If we want to get peace with the Palestinian people we have to eliminate the Hamas and the terror organizations because Hamas is the big danger to the Palestinians, and not only to Israel, also to the Americans. When you hear in your campuses in the States, from the river to the sea, Palestine would be free, you should remember the photos from Be'eri and Kfar Aza, what Hamas did to the women and the children there, how they murdered them, how they raped the women, and how they killed the old men there.

BLITZER: Are you concerned, Mohammad, that we will see more division that will develop as a result of this cycle of violence that is going on right now?

KABIYA: I think that the solution to stop the violence firstly is to stop the corruption of these organizations. We have to stop the terror activity in Gaza and the West Bank. This is the solution. When Hamas and PLO stop their corruption and their activities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, I think we will have the solution. The Palestinian people and the Israelis also want to live in safety and security.

But who is a threat, the safety and security is the terror organizations that want to destroy everything. They want to destroy the bridge between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

BLITZER: Mohammad Kabiya, thank you so much for joining us.

KABIYA: Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up, the president of a synagogue in Detroit found stabbed to death outside her home. What we know about the investigation. We'll share that with you right after a quick break.

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WHITFIELD: Investigators are looking for a motive in the death of Detroit Synagogue President Samantha Woll. Friends and family are remembering her at a memorial service in Detroit today. Woll led the Isaac Agri Synagogue in Detroit since 2022. She was found stabbed to death outside her home. The FBI is now assisting in the investigation. I wanna bring in now CNN's Omar Jimenez who is in Detroit for us. So, Omar, detectives showed up at Woll's home today and what have they learned?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so right now a lot of those detectives and police personnel are still on the scene and I think when people hear this headline alone, Detroit Synagogue President Stabbed, they may want to jump to conclusions but that's exactly what police are cautioning against right now, mainly because they just don't have those conclusions at this point as we understand. Now, they told us that we'd be getting an update at some point today. We haven't gotten that just yet but I wanna give you an idea of where we are. We're near downtown Detroit. Just behind me on this block here is where the body of 40-year-old Samantha Woll was found. As we understand from police, they followed a trail of blood from her body to her home which is where they believed this killing happened.

They don't have anyone in custody. They don't have a suspect named as we understand at this point, and they also don't know what led up to this killing. So, a lot of questions still in the air here. Regardless of how it happened, it did happen and it's why there's been a memorial service over the course of today where friends, family, people that knew her best are sharing what they remember about Samantha Woll including Michigan's Attorney General. Take a listen.

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DANA NESSEL, MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: Samantha Woll may have been the nicest person that I have ever met or will ever meet in my lifetime. Sam did more for our community, our state, our world, our lives in her short time here on earth than most will ever accomplish in a thousand lifetimes over. And her killer will not rob us of the memory of her joy and warmth and kindness that she leaves behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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JIMENEZ: Now we actually just got an update from police right now. I'm just gonna read you a little bit of the statement. It says the investigation into the death of Miss Woll remains ongoing at this time however, no evidence has surfaced suggesting that this crime was motivated by antisemitism. They are still working with the FBI to forensically analyze all the information obtained and this police statement says they're asking the community to remain patient as this investigation moves forward and that police expect to update the community even further tomorrow, Fran.

WHITFIELD: All right, very sad Omar Jimenez thank you so much in Detroit. All right coming up more than a hundred thousand people have been evacuated from communities near both the north and south borders of Israel. We'll hear some of their stories next.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: More than 100,000 Israeli families are now displaced after fighting along the northern and southern borders of Israel forced them out of their homes. One ministry in Israel mobilized a volunteer operation to house and feed as many of these Israelis as they possibly can, CNN's Rafael Romo is joining us live from Tel Aviv right now. He's got details. Rafael, I know you had a chance to speak with some of these displaced Israeli families. What did they tell you?

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, When we visited a shelter in Jerusalem, we spoke with people that not only saw missiles exploding right above them, but also others who witnessed the brutality of Hamas militants during the October 7th terrorist attacks. The Israeli military and other agencies here in Israel announced a plan last week to evacuate 28 communities living within two kilometers of the Lebanese border. Since then, it has included towns that fall within the vicinity.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) JENNIFER KAHANI: We had terrorists all around us.

ROMO: Jennifer Kahani says she and her family woke up to the sound of explosions and missiles whizzing by. It was the morning of October 7th in the village where they live in southern Israel near the border with Gaza. They soon realized they were under attack.

KAHANI: We saw helicopters overhead. We heard gunfire near us. The terrorists were not far from where I live.

ROMO: Kahani and her 5-year-old son are two of the more than 500 displaced people from Israel's north and south who are now living at a Jerusalem hotel turned into a shelter.

MICHAEL MISTRETTA, CEO of FIRM: We take a hotel, house people inside, feed them, do activities. We're trying to create some sort of normalcy. We'll be hosting next week 1,200 people across the country.

ROMO: This Christian organization called the Fellowship of Israel Related Ministries or FIRM for short, has mobilized to help displaced people who had to flee their homes.

NASSIM COHEN: They want to destroy Israel.

ROMO: Nassim Cohen and his wife Kamilia live in northern Israel. Their son Joseph warned them a war was coming from the south after the October 7 attacks. Now they're also among the displaced. They say they fled their village located 2 kilometres from the border with Lebanon because they saw missiles launched by Hezbollah intercepted right above their heads by Israel's Iron Dome air defense system. From your house near the Lebanese border, could you see the missiles, the rockets flying by?

COHEN: All the missiles. I saw all the missiles. We saw the army in the border.

ROMO: According to the Israel Defense Forces, about 100,000 people have been evacuated from communities near both the Gaza and Lebanon borders due to the heightened risk of attacks.

MISTRETTA: Some of them have lost their homes. A lot of them have lost loved ones. Some of them, I met a family just yesterday that their 18- year-old daughter, her best friend is being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. So, the trauma is really pervasive. As a group of Messianic Jews and Christian Arabs really working together, how can we care for as many people as possible.

ROMO: Many of these families share a feeling of uncertainty right now. When will the war end? When will they be able to go home? Those are questions for which they don't have an answer right now. Jennifer Kahani says her husband stayed behind with others trying to figure out how to defend their communities against further attacks.

KAHANI: We didn't just lose Jews. We didn't just lose Zionists or Israelis that day. We lost tourists that came here for -- a celebration of peace at a party. We lost caregivers from the Philippines and from India that were caring for elderly.

ROMO: For now, Kahani says all she can do is hug her son a little harder, pray for her husband's safe return and hope that something like this never happens again.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ROMO: And we'll be beyond opening this shelter. FIRM will start delivering 2,500 hot meals a day in central Israel in places like bomb shelters. They will also hand out more than 1,000 grocery boxes this week to women that are at home with their families that will feed them for a week. Those involved in the effort are Messianic Jews and Christian Arabs working together to help those families in need. Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Rafael. Thank you very much, Rafael Romo in Tel Aviv. Appreciate it. The people of Gaza and Israel need a lot of aid right now. Clearly, if you want to help, here's what you can do. Go to CNN.com/impact or text relief to 70 70 70.

We'll have much more on the Israel Hamas war as our special coverage continues. But first, the deadline has now passed for Republican lawmakers to declare whether or not they will run to become the next speaker of the House. Who made the list and what comes next? We have details right after the break.

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WHITFIELD: The deadline to entire the U.S. House of Representatives Speak Race is now closed. Nine House Republicans will make their case before the Republican conference tomorrow. The House has been paralyzed without a speaker for nearly three weeks now, which former Speaker Kevin McCarthy calls, quote, embarrassing. Manu Raju has the latest on the race.

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: House Republicans remain in turmoil. Almost three weeks after the unprecedented ouster of a sitting speaker, Kevin McCarthy was pushed out after eight Republicans joined with Democrats and voted out Kevin McCarthy as speaker. This was initiated by House Republicans, and they have not been able to coalesce around anyone to replace McCarthy as of yet. And the House can't do any business. No legislating at all, until a speaker is elected. And they have been unable to unite behind any candidate.

[16:50:00]

Firstly, he nominated Steve Scalise, the House Republican majority leader. He was unable to get the votes to be elected speaker. He bowed out before going to the floor. Jim Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, was nominated then to be the next speaker of the House. He did go to the floor 3 times and he failed to win over enough support. He could only afford to lose 4 Republican votes on this party line vote. He lost 25 on his third ballot. Ultimately, he bowed to reality and stepped aside. Now, 9 Republican candidates have filed to run for speaker. Unclear which of those 9 will ultimately get the Republican nomination and, more importantly, who can get the 217 votes that they would need on the floor of the House to be elected speaker? It is unclear if any of them can, given the sharp divisions within the ranks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM BANKS (R-IN): It's the biggest FU to Republican voters I've ever seen.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R- NY): This conference is absolutely broken.

REP. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-SD): Americans are sick of it, and I know most members of the House are sick of it. It is time for big boys and big girls to stop with the nonsense.

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): It's as swampy as swamp gets.

UNKNOWN: We need to get over it and we need to move on.

REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-PA): We cannot have an entire branch of government offline.

REP. TROY NELS (R-TX): We got to get our act together because I'm getting calls from my constituents and saying, what the hell is going on with you Republicans?

UNKNOWN: I think history will assign the blame in the right places.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, a bit here about the timing. On Monday evening, that's when the House Republicans will meet behind closed doors yet again. Those candidates will try to make their pitch to the conference. They'll answer questions from their members. They'll do that one by one and we'll see how that ultimately goes. Then Tuesday morning is the significant vote. Behind closed doors, Republicans will have a secret ballot leadership election. That means a majority of their conference will vote to nominate the next speaker candidate. That person, it will be a secret ballot election so it's unclear exactly who's the frontrunner and who might emerge here, but we'll see how close that that person who gets the nomination is to the magic number on the House floor. 217 votes to be elected speaker.

This is challenging for any Republican candidate because in the narrowly divided House, there are only 221 Republicans. Democrats are going to vote for Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader. That means that person, the candidate, the Republican nominee, must limit defections in the ranks and it is unclear if any of them will be able to do that after we have seen just Republicans going after each other after McCarthy was pushed out, unable to get behind anyone, unable to do the nation's business and much business is waiting. Dealing with aid to Israel, calls for aid to Ukraine, avoiding a government shutdown by mid-November. None of that can be dealt with. The Republican agenda is completely

stalled amid this GOP leadership infighting. Can they get it resolved this coming week? That remains a huge question but a possibility it could still be unresolved and slip into another week if they can't get their act together behind a nominee. Manu Raju, CNN Capitol Hill.

WHITFIELD: All right, Manu, thank you so much. To Maryland now where the manhunt continues for a suspect who allegedly shot and killed a judge at his home. The Washington County Sheriff's Office released this new photo of the suspect Pedro Argote. The suspect's silver Mercedes was found near the crime scene by authorities on Saturday. Argote is considered to be armed and dangerous. Joining me right now is CNN's Polo Sandoval. What are you learning, Polo?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred, so as you note there, police did release that photo of the suspect hoping to generate any potential new leads here. Also, the U.S. Marshal Service offering up to $10,000 in reward money for any information leading up to the suspect of Pedro Argote since this all-out search started on Thursday for the 49-year-old. As we've reported here, he is believed to have specifically targeted a Maryland state judge after that judge ruled against Argote as part of ongoing divorce proceedings, a child custody battle essentially. There was some hope that they were closing in on him yesterday when they located the Mercedes-Benz that he was believed to have been driving.

However, we heard from authorities today saying that they have concluded that search that took place only about eight miles south of where that shooting happened at the judge's home in Hagerstown, Maryland, saying that at this point authorities have no new information indicating that he could still be in the area. So technically, he could be anywhere. Now, we do hope to hear from investigators. I will say this, Fred, it is worth noting that the suspect's ex-wife did release a statement through her attorney saying that her heart aches for the family of Judge Andrew Wilkinson and also that her thoughts are with those law enforcement personnel that are trying to track down his ex-husband, who's a suspect in this case. And as we heard from law enforcement, Fred, saying they are confident they will find Argote. The sheriff's saying it's a matter of time.

[16:55:00]

WHITFIELD: All right, Polo Sandoval, thank you so much and thank you for joining us this afternoon. I'm Frederica Whitfield alongside my colleague Wolf Blitzer in Washington. He'll be back tomorrow in the Situation Room at 6 o'clock Eastern time. Aaron Burnett joins me from Tel Aviv right after this quick break. Thanks so much, Wolf.

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