'60s, dr. king always preached nonviolence. there's a way for young people who are on campuses of colleges and universities today feel passionate about this subject on both sides, there's a way to express your views without resorting to encouraging violence against others, without putting others in jeopardy. >> considered to be the architect of the obama administration's counterterrorism infrastructure, when you look at strikes like what we have seen, what are your concerns? >> israel is, of course, party to the geneva conventions. they are governed by the laws of our conflict. i do not believe that the idf is targeting civilians. i believe that the idf is seeking to avoid civilian casualties in gaza, but they do

walk a fine line. gaza is a crowded, urban area. i hold hamas just as responsible, if not more than the idf for civilian casualties in gaza because hamas puts their command and control centers underneath refugee camps, underneath hospitals. hamas told palestinian civilians to disobey the order to evacuate that territory. so it's a difficult road to walk, but israel must destroy and degrade hamas. that's their mission. i'm sure they are determined to go about the mission, put they do walk a fine line. >> secretary johnson, your perspective is invaluable this morning. "cnn this morning" continues now. a deal has been reached to release all foreign nationals being held in gaza along with critically injured civilians.

>> explosions in refugee camps flattening apartment buildings and leaving behind a giant crater. >> they are able to kill the commander of the battalion. >> doctors without borders have condemned this airstrike. >> children wounded. one man saw the strike said it felt like the end of the world. >> israeli forces to take civilian life. >> hamas uses civilians as human shields. >> the war has raised the threat of an attack against americans in the united states to a whole other level. >> we have a long way to go to start restoring the civility and the respect for different. >> house republicans are supporting the israel-only approach. >> this is all one fight. we have to respond in a way that recognizes that. i'm phil mattingly with

poppy harlow in new york. we're following breaking news. americans and hundreds of other foreign nationals trapped in gaza could finally have a way out. same with critically injured civ civilians. you're looking live at the rafah border crossing. sources telling cnn qatar brokered a deal with hamas, israel and egypt to allow 500 foreign nationals to leave the gaza strip and cross into egypt. we have been seeing ambulances rush ing to the border and crows gathering. >> a western official tells cnn americans are not expected to be in the first batch of people allowed to leave today, but americans will be allowed to leave in the coming days. we are also told this deal does not include hostages being held by hamas. those are completely separate negotiations. we have team coverage this morning. let's start with melissa bell. you were just there. you were joust at the border crossing yesterday. this is a huge development. >> this is a big development. yesterday afternoon when we were at the rafah crossing, no one

expect ed this to happen. the crossing has been remarkably quiet with long lines of trucks waiting to bring that much-needed naud and very few of them getting in the last three and a half weeks. the protest painfully so. everything seemed completely blocked. and then this breakthrough, these talks that involved qatar, egypt, hamas and israel in coordination with the united states that have led to this extraordinary break. we heard yesterday first of all that 81 of the most severely wounded would be allowed to leave. these are sol of the most severe that need surgical intervention. there's been field hospitals set up. we have been getting pictures of that. egyptian authorities have set that up in anticipation of those arrivals. but perhaps the big development,

certainly the one in the outside world that was waiting for with the news that the foreign nationals would be allowed out. we know that there's some 400 americans stuck inside gaza right now. many hundreds of other nationals as wl. over the course of the last three week, we have seen so many civilians both palestinians and foreign nationals making their way to the rafah crossing in anticipation of the fact that they might be allowed to cross. so far, though, no palestinians have been allowed out at all. all we have seen over the last couple weeks is a handful of hostages being allowed through the rafah crossing and nobody else. so this is a big development, a big breakthrough in the talks. we just heard between 450 and 500 foreign nationals will be making their way through the rafah crossing today. we understand that there will be no americans amongst them. but still, a huge breakthrough and a sign that the talks behind the scenes how flex they are are working. >> there has been a lot of focus

on our end about the american citizens, understandably so. however, away you're talking about, the wide scale of countries represented, we just got reporting from our team on the ground they spotted flags from the czech republic, japan, a number of officials from foreign consulates are standing by. the same with egyptian military officials. what kind of inare fra structure is a place to receive these slijs when they come through? >> reporter: for the time being, there's little parody because we have only just had this announcement. it was an unexpected break given how quiet officials have been on the question of whether this was going to happen at all over the course of the last three weeks. and imagine the complexity of this issue. it takes agreement between many of whom are not speaking to each other, israelis, egyptians, americans, and with that question not only that israel has been very reluctant to allow anyone out, but egypt has been reluk tant as well. it is fearful there's a flod of

refugees. it's also conscious of the political question that it does not want the whole scale placement of the the palestinian population on to its territory for plolitical reasons as well. so this has been complex negotiations. when you add to that the logistical difficulty of what will be needed to get these people across the border on to cairo to their homes, when many of them might be traveling without documents and the levels of chaos on the the other side of that crossing are important to try to imagine. there's been israeli bombings. and civilians have been camped out there in terrible conditions waiting to get through. what we expect to see is that these foreign nationals will make their way through and services will be ready to receive them possibly in cairo before moving them on. we have very little of this question. just the fact that there's been a breakthrough in the hope that at least 400 to 500 foreign

nationals will be making their way out of gaza today. that's great news. >> that's a great capture of how complex this is. >> the western official said fluid is the best way to describe how it is. this morning israelis defense forces are defending the decision to strike the largest refugee camp in gaza. an idf spokesman is saying that collapsed tunnels were part of the reason the scale of destruction and death was so broad. the strike was tuesday on a refugee camp. witnesses say the strike killed a large number of palestinian civilians and caused massive damage. the idf claims that hamas commander integral in the october th terror attack was in those tunnels under the refugee camp. the idf says that man was killed. hamas denies that. j we don't have a number of dead, but the images certainly tell us

a lot. has the idf presented evidence that, indeed, this man, the leader of hamas, was killed? >> let's start by looking at these images again. they begin to paint the picture on the ground. they begin to explain to you why we do not have a number of killed so far. up until this morning, survivors were still with their bare hands dig ging through the rubble of their homes. you can see those massive craters in the ground. it looks essentially like several city blocks were levelled in these multiple airstrikes that the military says were targeted to take out again a senior hamas commander. you asked for evidence. they have not provide d that specifically, but what we do know regardless is that this is and was a residential area. an area that was densely packed with families, with children. you can see some of those children quite literally being pulled out from the rubble of their homes and hospitals that

already overwhelmed. last night they were receiving what was essentially one doctor describing the results of a massacre. after these airstrikes on the ground. no this is in the north of gaza. israeli officials will say we have told people to flee from the north. that's not really possible. it is very difficult to imagine. it's a family fleeing from the north of the strip to the south under bombardment, under siege and to where when there's also bombardment in the south. you have to remember when you're looking at these pictures, when you're looking at this carnage and this horror of the suffering, the agony on the ground, there are families burying their loved ones today. there are families burying their children today. every time prime minister benjamin netanyahu has a chance to speak, he reminds people that this is only the beginning of this war. this is only the start of this conflict. you'll hear that international outcry, that international

condemnation, the calls for a cease-fire, no sign of that taking place now. just trying to find who they can, who has survived, who has died, buried their loved ones, we're hearing from some doctors that entire families have been wiped out. >> joining us now is lieutenant colonel learner. i'll get to the strike in a moment. i want to start with the agreement brokered by qatar and other entities at the rafah border cross ing. does that include israeli forces agreeing not to conduct any strikes near or around rafah in the near term? >> you have asked a couple times over the last three weeks of evacuation of foreign nationals. we have had two attempts each

time they have foiled it. so we have to see that some of those are coming out this morning. the people of gaza are not our enemies. hamas is our enemy. this is just one component of the leaveuation of the humanitarian strike. >> so to buld off that point, past times where you say hamas official says did the agreements in place include the military saying they would not strike around rafah during this time period. >> the idf is cooperating against hamas terrorists. it is a very precarious time. i can't confirm that is the situation we are asking, but indeed we see that the people are going. >> when it comes to the strike yesterday, the idf took out a top hamas command er.

how do you prove that? do you have evidence? will you be showing evidence in the days ahead that that was the case? >> here's what we moe no. the commander of the refugee camp had utilized that was a key part of the attack on the 7th of october. he has mobilized, identified and trained, equipped forces with the special units to penetrate into our towns anda villages around the gaza strip. so he has actually two decades of israeli blood on his hand with other terrorist activities. so i would say we know he's a known terrorist. so from our perspective, he's

assisting and supporting our activity. we took him out. we confirmed it in our capabilities to confirm his in our strike. and that was the target we took out. as you rightly pointed out during the report, what we had seen in the aftermath of the strike is that their tunnel system, the buildings collapsed and caused more damage. >> to that point, we look at that scale and to some degree the order nabs, were you awe ware that tunnel area kpesed? did you want to try to collapse the tunnel system in that area? >> we wanted to take out enemy. we have been calling on the people of the northern strip to evacuate. for three weeks, hamas has been

telling people in the north to stay put. fortunately, not enough people are listening. this is the tragedy of this event. each and every one of these civilian deaths are caught up in this war, a war that israel did not want. we were dragged into, but each and every one of the civilian deaths are the head of the master mind of the massacre of israelis. and the person who has funded, planned, executed, instructed and equipped the terrorist organization and actually built the infrastructure. >> i understand what you're saying. i guess the question that i have is you mentioned military necessity earlier. i think what people are trying to figure out given the density of the population there and the difficulty if hamas is blocking civilians from leaving, what are they supposed to do. the threshold here, the collateral damage, is there a red line?

>> the class rat damage, every civilian life in this war is a human tragedy. a tragedy for israelis and palestinians deserve to live life in peace. >> but the thresholds exist. >> they have failed. they have taken all of these and built the tunnel system. they have taken all of these funds and trained their terrorists to breach a massacre and butcher babies. there's a clear military necessity. it's surrounded by dozens of his henchmen that are planning to conduct more attacks than they are a legitimate target. we are try ing to do that. we are try ining to evacuate

people. we are constantly assessing the strikes because of the populated areas. it's judging based upon the reports coming out from gaza because we don't know who is controlling what the imagery and we know what's being seen. when so much is going on, we need to be very cautious. and indeed, when we make an announcement like we said, hamas would quicken to say that 500 people have been killed. launching the rocket by the palestinians. >> lieutenant colonel, we appreciate your time. thank you, sir. >> good day. this breaking news just in. american citizens are expected to begin departing gaza as soon as tomorrow.

that's according to the u.s. government. much more ahead on that. a united nations human rights official has left his post releasing a letter calling the military action in gaza, quote, a textbook definition of genocide. he joins us live, next. and speaker johnson's first big move is proving to be a little divisive. we'll speak to the congressman about the current funding fight on the hill. stay with us.

a top united nations human rights official has left his post and he has written a letter calling the military action in gaza a textbook definition of genocide. until yesterday he serve d as te director for the rights office. days he wrote an open letter to the high commissioner for human rights calling attention to what he describes as the failure of the u.n. to stop israel's military action in gaza. and many western countries are complicit. he goes on to write once again the genocide unfolds before our eyes and the organization that

we serve appears that the united kingdom and europe are holy complicit in this assault. that affects us we have not met that challenge. he joins me this morning. i appreciate your time. >> good morning, poppy. >> i'd like to clarify what a u.n. spokesperson told the guardian that you were set to retire after 32 years of service. was your departure preplanned or is this what led to it? >> i first raised my concerns about a trepidatious approach by the u.n. in the wake of atrocities in the occupied territories in march. this was after the series of violations including what took place in the village on the west bank. i was frustrated by what i thought was a weak response to this level of atrocities and by an effort to tone down and

silence u.n. officials speaking out on this subject. so i expressed it that time my intention to leave the organization in the coming months. the situation got much worse since then, particularly since october with the horrific events that have taken place since that time. so i felt compelled to put my concerns in writing officially to the high commissioner for human rights before my departure. >> how do you arrive at the assessment based on the u.n. convention definition of genocide that israel is carrying out a genocide right now. >> you're right. that's based upon a u.n. convention. the binding international legal treaty that defines what genocide is and what it's elements are. we know that genocide is a term that is politicized and misused. it's often used as a charge of one side or another. in this case, all of the elements that are listed in the u.n. convention beginning with

explicit expressions of intent by seen your israeli officials in the government and in the military, in addition to the specific prohibited acts killing on a large scale, expulsions, creating conditions that are determined to bring about effectively the destruction of a population in this case the population in gaza. all of these have been very well document ed and add up to the crime of genocide. it's not exclusively genocide. there's a whole range of other crimes against humanity being perp traited, but this is the supreme prime of international law and the response of the international community in the wake of this crime has been truly. >> as you note in that convention, a mental element that's defined as intend to destroy in whole or party national ethical, or religious group as such. israel has continued to say it's defending itselves against the terror attack on october 7th that killed more than 1,400 innocent israelis.

here is what the idf spokesman just told my colleague phil. >> we wanted to take out the enemy. the enemy that has no regard for human life. that its infrastructure in the civilian arena, we have been calling on the people to evacuate the north. for three weeks, hamas has been telling people in the north to stay put. unfortunately, not enough people are listening. and this is the tragedy of this event. each and every one of these civilian deaths in this war did not want. >> here is what john kirby at the white house and hakeem jeffries have both said in the last day. listen. >> we're not funding any kind of a genocide. and as i said earlier, that's not what israel is after here. they are going after hamas terrorists. and yes, there's been civilian

casualties, but israel is not conducting an nick cleansing campaign. israel is not engaged in genocide. >> israel continues to say it is going after hamas. it is hamas that is keeping its civilians where it is it is using them as human shields. why label that genocide? >> we have seen these claims before. repeatedly by the israeli authorities in previous large-scale attacks on civilian populations. first, claiming self-defense, under international law gives no state the right to commit the kinds of atrocities that it is carrying out now. you're toalking about the wholesale destruction not just of apartment buildings and homes and whole neighborhoods, but of whole sections of the already densely populated gaza strip. second ly, let me respond to th u.s. officials that you spoke to. that's particularly disturbing because the u.s. also has an obligation under international

law to assure respect for the conventions. it's not only not providing that support, it's actually been supporting the on slot. you're talking about millions of civilians. >> you are saying these are israeli claims. are you refuting the fact that hamas surrounds its militants with innocent palestinian civilians? that one of the reasons so many were injured at the refugee camp is because they had been told not to flee to the south? >> i am refuting that absolutely. i lived in gaza for the better part of two years. i can tell you it's densely populated. even to the the best of times, the idea of moving millions of people, 1.1 million people that half of the population of gaza where a situation where neighborhoods are bombed to rubble, where people are injured, where there's no roads, there's no rewhen they move they are still attacked by israeli

airstrikes. it's really a very disingenuous claim. we know from our people on the ground, that's not the situation on the ground. people are not staying put. they have nowhere to go. gaza is an open-air prison. in which the millions of people are locked in. they can move around within the fence, but even moving around within the fence is a practical impossibility. so these tropes about the pal stin yans sacrificing their own people and hold up to the facts on the ground do they contradict the requirements of international law. we need to get back to a paradigm based upon international law and international human rights. >> i want to get to a specific part of your letter in a moment. you use at the beginning of our conversation. do you assess on the jewish people on october 7th to be

genocide carried out by hamas? >> i think one of the things we have been very clear about is that civilian life is precious and attacks on civilians are prohibited by the very international law. >> is that a yes or no? even the updated hamas charter from 2017 calls for the complete -- israel as entirely illegally and it states from the river to the sea. so my question is is what hamas did genocide? >> i think that what we need is we need an investigation to determine the scope and the nature of the crimes committed by hamas. there's no question that war crimes were committed. this is evident because of the large loss of civilian life that accompanied hamas' attacks. but the point of the letter is the u.n. has no trouble in criticizing actions by armed groups like hamas. where they fall down and what

was missing in this case was criticism of powerful states like israel and like the united states united states. and this is what we need. we need an approach based on the rule of law where it's the rules that apply, taiking sides of one party or the other, but insisting on respect for the precious lives of civilians and for the principles of international law. and that's where the u.n. has fallen down in this case. parts of the u.n. i want to be clear. i'm not condemning the whole u.n. here. u.n. staff on the ground have been heroic. humanitarian workers, dozens of whom have been killed in the last couple weeks, they monitors and have been doing what they are mandated to do. but the political side of the house has not really communicated what it needs to communicate with regard to the massive assaults on civilian populations, which i have concluded constitute genocide. >> i want to understand a specific part of your letter. let me read this. you lay out ten things that you believe that the u.n. should do in this conflict.

number three, one state based on human rights, quote, we must support the establishment of a single democratic secular state in all of historic palestine. what do you say to critics who view that and read that as calling for the elimination of israel? are you? >> i'm very clearly what i'm calling for is the salvation of israel. i'm not asking for the elimination of israel. i'm asking for the elimination of what all international human right organizations have called an apartheid system. i'm merely asserting the essential need if we want to resolve this conflict of establishing a place where everyone is equal where we have equal rights for christians, muslims and jews and abandoning the current approach where the indigenous population are, colluded. if israel is to be saved, it's going to be saved based upon a state where there are equal rights for everyone.

that's not the lelimination of israel. that's the elimination of apartheid. >> craig, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you. this is new video you're looking at right now showing ambulances with injured people ate awaying to leave gaza. we have learned ten egyptian ambulances are wait ing insided gaza.. we'll hahave more onon the grou. stay w with us.

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the house of representatives is officially working and positive news, they put forth a funding bill that includes $14 billion in aid to israel. it does not include funding at all for ukraine. speaker johnson has pushed to detach the aid to ids real from the ukraine aid and president biden is threatening to veto this aid bill saying it makes israel a political pawn. johnson's first big move as newly elected speak herb of the house is pruing to be divisive. to some degree within his own party. >> treat all four these areas, all four of them, ukraine, israel, taiwan and the border. >> we need to understand because president biden has granted statements about ukraine, but not to lose. that's not a strategy that we need to have dealing with very

agrgressive pressure. >> joining us now is congressman from tennessee. we are talking to the congressman and on a wednesday we can talk about policy instead of who the next speaker of the house is going to be. i appreciate your time. there was a letter back in october making clear to senate leaders that they needed to decouple ukraine funding from israel funding. senate leaders, both republican and democrat and the president, have said that's a nonstarter for them. is there any way you'd vote for an aid package if it comes back with ukraine funding in it? >> i don't think so. i made it pretty clear where evident been on ukraine funding. with we get $120 billion now and the president characterizing this as an israeli aid package the is really kind of bogus. him saying we're politicize ing when obviously in politics the first rule you learn is accuse

your enemies of doing what you're doing. but it's four different sheets of paper. you put a border package, which it's not really a border package, it's just a bur the democrat package allowing more illegals to get into our country, which i'm still not understanding why the democrats don't abandon. i know it's a democrat challenger to the president, that's one of his main issues. it's struck a real nerve because people see that. and also taiwan, if we're going it send taiwan funds for arms, let's just do that. let's separate the four packages. and the insults to america was that you're in those 20 days we did not have a speaker that we couldn't act on israel, when he had never even sent is the bill to the senate. i think this is a good option for mike johnson, our speaker. i think he's shown clear

leadership, and a lot of people are not fond of the funding of the irs when, in fact, one thing that was not covered about the irs funding was that the reason that we have such poor results from the irs is because they are not in their offices. they are still taking off after covid, working from home. as the united states congressman, i will write a let ore to the irs and it can take six months. as a congressman. i can't imagine what you a as a citizen endure with the irs. >> can i ask about the irs funding? part of the issue besides the work from home policy is they felt underfunded, which hurt their efforts. it's been the position they have held. but tax collection and more effective tax collection helps on debt issues in terms of raising funding. that's just kind of how the irs works. you're a deficit hawk. you have made the debt a central

issue of yours repeatedly on spending discussions. this would add to the deficit by most scoring. and also it doesn't really cover much at all in terms of a pay for. why go this route? >> why does it add to the deficit? if you have a set number of people and they are claim ing w need to hire -- they are claiming that all this is doing is refreshing when people retire. so. >> if you reduce the ability to collect more tax, you wouldn't have as much money come ing int the u.s. treasury. >> i understand your point, but my point is this. if you've already got this number of people and you're going to add these billions of new dollars to hire new people, wouldn't the money from the people that have retired wouldn't the new folks coming in be the same amount of money or close in that ballpark for this amount? and in our hearings, we found out, and there was nobody in

denial, that part of the problem was is if they are not in the office, why are we paying these high rents on real estate? why are we doing that? it seems like a business-like approach to be handled in all of this. both parties agree to that. but getting there is the political football. >> a little back and forth. we'll be talking about this next week as well i'm sure. we appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. the senate has confirmed former secretary jack lou as the ambassador to israel. it was a 53-43 veto with 2 republicans joining democrats in support of the nomination. others voiced their displeasure about the involvement of the nuclear deal. chuck schumer noted the urgency of filling that van can sit

given the war between israel and hamas. breaking now into cnn, injured palestinians have begun arriving in egypt one by one. we'll continue to follow the situatation at thehe border crosossing. ststay with usus.

we continue to follow the breaking news. you're looking at live pictures of the rafah border crossing where pal sestinians have been t by ambulances. the first are starting to cross the border. 500 foreign nationals will be leaving as well, including americans. americans likely to start as soon as tomorrow.

israel says it continues to intercept threats on both the northern and southern borders, including an aerial threat by iran-backedies. the spokesman for the forces says there are plans for more strikes and the israeli aggression ceases as israeli military pushes further into gaza and skcasualties mount. there's growing concern the war couldn't widen throughout the region. jim sciutto is live for us in northern israel. you have been keeping a close eye on this critical border region, including the back and forth that we have seen. do you have any sense of a clear escalation beyond what we have seen up to this point? >> reporter: there's a lot of attention to friday. that's when the leader of h hezbollah is expected to speak and folks here in israel and around the region curious what he's going to say. is he going to threaten more activity, is he going to throw hezbollah's lot in against

israel in a more aggressive manner, but already hezbollah has been taking shots multiple times a day across the border in israel. i want to draw your attention to one thing. we were here yesterday evening. the top of the hillside was on fire. we learned that the target of that hezbollah fire was that communication station up there. you can see those towers, those communication towers and one difficulty at the northern border is that really these communities are intertwined. the border is a cig zag of a wall here, i'll point in the direction over here. on either side of that wall there is lebanon. and that's one issue. some cross the border. it makes defending the border for israeli forces so difficult as we found, as we have been spending time with israeli forces here. have a listen. >> israeli soldiers gaze north toward lebanon.

what they fear could be the next front of this war. and in fact, israel and hezbollah are already exchanging fire across the length of the israeli border. idf howitzers fires on targets and hezbollah firing back. virtually, every village we visit has come under fire. when you travel along the border, you see things like this multiple times a day. the smoke rising there, the flames from a strike, that just across the border inside lebanon, not clear if that was outgoing fire from lebanon or incoming from israel. we did just hear from the idf, there's another explosion, we heard of another exchange of fire just a couple miles down here. that wall you see along there, that marks the border between israel on this side, lebanon on the other. the threat comes from further up field as well. today israel said its arrow

system fired for the first time since the october 7 attack. responding to a missile launch by rebels in yemen. israeli officials see one nation behind all these attacks. iran. >> translator: there are many actor who is are acting at the behest of iran, including the hewouthis, who are trying to challenge us and to distract us from the war in gaza. we remain focused. we are focused on the war in gaza. >> reporter: gaza remains the main thrust, but the idf is attacking inside lebanon and syria. multiple times a day. this strike, the idf says, hit hezbollah infrastructure. funerals held for the last two days in southern lebanon. hezbollah saying 50 fighters have been killed since is the clashes began.

>> one result of this threat already is these downs on the border are under mandatory evacuation. that's why i'm able to walk down main street in the middle of the day. out of fear, anyone is a member of the military, reservists, et cetera. as you mentioned, phil, it's the worry now about escalation from multiple fronts. gaza in the south, lebanon to the north. syria to the northeast and then many hundreds of miles away yemen, but all of those places have iran-backed proxies. if they make a decision to come into this conflict in numbers, then, of course, this becomes a much broader war. >> jim sciutto, great reporting. thank you. and an arrest after a student made threats against the jewish community at cornell university. those details ahead. and the breaking news out of gaza. critically injured palestinians and hundreds of americans and foreign nationals, some on their way out, others could be getting

out soon. stay with us.

new details in the investigation into a series of very severe online threats made against the jewish community at cornell university, a 21 student under arrest and charged with threatening to kill and injure jewish students. patrick dai will make his first court appearance in federal court this afternoon. athena jones is following all of

this. just reading the threats is so shocking. >> these were disgusting, violent threats urging people to commit agents of violence against jewish students. this student is expected to appear in federal court this afternoon. the university says they are still having a stepped up police presence on campus. they are talking to students and groups, mental health support available and in some cases students mute be able to take some classes via zoom temporarily if they are feeling uncomfortable. this is important because i sat down with five jewish teenagers in the bronx a few days ago to talk about their feelings around the war. the thing that struck me immediately was just how strong a connection each of them feels to israel. they have family there. they have friends there. they have spent -- made multiple trips to israel over the course of the their lives, including just last summer. so they consider it their second home. and they spoke with me about the concerns they have for their loved ones in israel, the impact

the war will have on their lives here in america and on the world. >> reporter: it's a situation that hits close to home. >> such a tight-knit community. this is like our family. >> it's a shock that's, like, consistent and you can't escape it. >> i started reaching out to people to check up and it was hours later and still checking up on people and more people to talk to and people that i was really worried about. >> reporter: what have the last few weeks been like being here in america observing what's going on in israel and gaza? >> it's been a sort of balancing act of worrying about, like, when is the other shoe going to drop here in america and caring for and, like, making sure to be a good support system for friends and family in israel. >> reporter: waiting for the other shoe to drop? >> i feel in america we are in grace period with israel where israel was attacked and the general feeling towards israel is still fairly positive and

that pity won't be there any more. i think that's when bad things will start happening in america to jews. >> i disgragree that the majori of america is pro-israel or pity or sympathy. now that israel has been bombing gaza and there have been attempts to get the hostages back and all that that military operation, there is an uptick in antisemitism. >> reporter: the political response to the war they say is upsetting, especially what they are seeing on social media. >> it's a very, i think, inherent jewish value in times of grief to sit in your pain and discomfort and fast or prayer and community and acknowledge what's going on. that's our way of dealing with grief and processing. and i think to have such raw pain be turned into something political is very, very difficult to deal with. >> it's an impossible situation when you have been attacked by this terror group that's also

governing and hiding behind its own people. i can't, like, watch innocent palestinians die, but, like, it's like you poke a bear and hamilton poked a bear and then hid behind a bunch of little cubs. >> it's hard for me to hear free gaza, free palestine, because that's -- hamas is hurting gazan citizens just as much as it's hurting israeli citizens. being pro-palestine or pro gaza should not mean being pro-hamas. >> how does this end? >> the amount of precedent with israel, palestinians, gaza, hamas, i don't see it being very final. >> israel has lost. the innocent civilians in gaza have lost. nobody can win a war like this. and so what does the end look like? it looks like loss. >> where do you find the hope in a situation like this?

>> i have no hope this conflict will be resolved in the next century. i think it will be an immutable fact of the middle east. israeli/palestinian conflict. >> this is where i turn to religion and prayer, god, you know, really the core. that's helping me get through this. >> reporter: francis geller was planning to spend a year in israel before going to college. that plan is now uncertain. >> i truly believe that perseverance is in our dna. we have been around for all this time. they try to get rid of us. they won't. and how can you not believe that's who we are, hopefulness and fighting? >> reporter: another thing that struck me about our conversation was overwhelming desire on the part of those teens to help. to be able to do something. this sense of guilt that they can't do anything to resolve this conflict from here. a young man said he and his best friend were on the