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hello, everyone. thank you so much for joining us. i'm fredericka witfield in atlanta along with woflf blitze in tel aviv. dramatic new developments where israeli troops are closing in on gaza city. secretary of state antony blinken joined ministers for a high stakes meeting. >> it's our view that a ceasefire now would leave hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on october 7th. you don't have to take my word for it. just a few days ago a senior hamas official said it was their intent to do october 7th again

and again and again. >> meantime, more heavy shelling pounding the gaza strip again today, massive explosions sending shock waves throughout the enclave. significant developments at the rafah border crossing between egypt and gaza. a u.s. official says hamas is now blocking foreign nationals from exiting gaza until israel guarantees that ambulances from gaza can reach the crossing. a source tells cnn more than 700 people are waiting to cross into egypt, including nearly 400 americans. wolf, to you in tel aviv. >> thank you. we have teams of reporters on the ground covering all these late-breaking developments. nic robertson is in israel near the gaza border. we've seen several new strikes in gaza once again today, including one at a u.n.-run school. i understand some sirens are going off right now. let's listen in for a second.

nic has just stepped away for safety reasons. i want to hear and see what's going on. these are live pictures from our ca camera. >> wolf, you should be able to hear me now. we heard sirens of incoming rocket strikes from gaza coming onto this city, so we took shelter. those strikes seem to be over at the moment. we did hear a couple of what soundedintercepts. it seems this evening more rockets are being fired out of gaza. i think you're also talking there about the strike, apparently an israeli strike on a u.n.-run school facility inside the jabaal ya camp.

according to the u.n. relief refugee agency in gaza, they say that the school was housing about 16,000 people displaced by the fighting. many of them were sort of camping out in tents in the school ground. according to that u.n. agency, the strike blast hit in that yard, in that open area where the people were in tents. they say 15 people were killed, 15 civilians they say, and 70 of them injured in that particular school. the idf hasn't spoken about this yet, but what the idf has been talking about today is the humanitarian corridor they've been running from the north of gaza to the south of gaza. they opened it between local times 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. so civilians could move from the north to the south. the idf just in the last hour or so said that while their troops were helping facilitate that

humanitarian corridor, they say they were attacked by mortar and anti-tank missiles fired by hamas. so that humanitarian corridor not as safe as it might seem. we've also heard from a couple hospitals in gaza today. they say their main generator was hit in a strike. we don't have more details about that, but they're saying the 70 patients in their hospital, they can't treat them. and the hospital in gaza city itself, there was a strike very close outside that hospital. witnesses talk about destruction of the building opposite very, very close to the hospital. 21 people injured there. again, we don't have details on that from the idf yet. but it paints a picture today of these ongoing military operations, wolf, that are the

sort of backdrop to everything that we see and hear from here. again, despite those ongoing operations, clearly hamas or other groups able to fire missiles into israel as they just did a couple of minutes ago. >> very quickly, before i let you go, you mentioned it looked like some rockets were being fired from gaza into israel. it seemed like israel's iron dome system intercepted those rockets and blew them up. i take it hamas is doing this fairly regularly despite what israel's doing in gaza. they apparently still have the capability of launching rockets against targets in israel. is that right? >> reporter: yeah, absolutely they do, wolf. there's sort of a certain amount of regularity. at the same time yesterday they fired almost to the minute right at 6:00 local here, 6:00 local

yesterday they fired mortars onto another position in center rot right at the top of the hour here again. perhaps it gives the appearance because hamas has done this multiple times, fire close to the top of the hour, at the top of the hour when they think perhaps or it appears they think perhaps there will be media broadcasts going on and they can catch some attention. so even the timing of the very few rockets they fire seem designed to send a particular message. wolf. >> the past few days we've had sirens going off all the way up here in tel aviv which is much farther away from gaza than where you are in center rote. the iron dome intercepted them, blew them up in the sky and everyone was fine. clearly hamas still has that capability. nic robertson, stay safe over

there. i want to do to that major development that hamas is blocking foreign nationals, including american citizens, from departing gaza, that according to a u.s. official. a source says more than 700 foreign nationals were expected to cross the rafah border from gaza into egypt earlier today, but now hamas is demanding guarantees that ambulances from gaza will be allowed to reach the rafah crossing before it allows any more evacuations. all this comes as the white house says the u.s. embassy in cairo has helped more than 100 u.s. citizens and families get out of gaza since wednesday. cnn's melissa bell is joining us live from cairo. melissa, what are you learning about hamas' decision to block these foreign nationals, including americans from leaving gaza and getting into egypt at rafah? >> reporter: well, to put that demand into context, wolf, you'll remember that yesterday

afternoon there had been an idt strike very quickly claimed by the idf just outside gaza's biggest hospital, the al schiff fa hospital. 15 people were killed, 50 or so wounded. according to the palestinian health ministry and palestinian officials. very quickly the idf claimed responsibility but claimed it was targeting the hospital because it is, says israel, a command and control center for hamas and that it was targeting an ambulance in particular because it believed it was carrying weapons and fighters for hamas. what we heard from hospital officials is, in fact, the convoy that was targeted was a convoy that had been headed south to the rafah crossing. member this deal to get foreign nationals out of gaza was struck between israel and hamas and egypt through the qatar ris and american help. what we saw were foreign

nationals and some of the most severely wounded palestinians getting across to the safety of egypt. now, in the wake of that attack on the al schiff fa hospital and the images that came out and i should say not just the palestinian claims, wolf, that this had been a legitimate convoy seeking to get to rafah with the most wounded, very quickly the international red cross, red crescent came out with a statement saying it had been aware there was a convoy leaving the hospital at that time getting into rafah. i think that is what led to this latest demand. so far, as you say, no one has got through the rafah crossing today. i got to have a listen, though, to a young palestinian american boy who did get through. it's a reminder that even the ones that did get through, it came with lots of complication, in this case, having to leave

part of his family behind. >> my dad kissed my forehead because he's very worried about me. he told me that he loves me and to stay safe and always remember. i'm very sad, because i love all of my friends, especially in school, because i was always happy with them and i miss being happy instead of just worrying about my safety all the time. >> reporter: a lot of sadness there, of course, wolf. again, one of those who managed to get through for now. the rafah crossing is entirely blocked and we wait to see if and when it will be reopened, wolf. meanwhile, the efforts to free the hostages held by hamas continues. israel believes more than 240 people are being held captive in gaza right now.

at least 33 of those kidnapped are believed to be children. i'm joined by the middle east director of the international communities organization. he has extensive experience negotiating the release of hostages. in 2011, he instigated the peace negotiations with hamas that resulted in the release of that israeli soldier. thanks for joining us. i know you've been working as an unofficial negotiator to try to help release some of the hostages being held by hamas. what can you tell us about the status of any talks you have had recently with hamas? >> i can tell you what i assess is happening because i have little real information from any of the parties at this time. they've basically gone radio silent over the past days, which is usually an indication that something serious is happening. my assessment is that the truck that is being run in qatar is not moving forward as expected,

that it seems from what i'm able to assess that the political leadership in hamas is somewhat disconnected to what's going on under the ground in gaza. i understand there's a much better chance through the egyptian channel, but today i also learned there might be another third track going on, which i can't give details about, which the americans are directly involved in and have started. these are very intensive talks. the time is running out clearly. the moment the israeli army enters the tunnels, the hostages are in harm's way as the israeli soldiers advance inside the massive tunnel network on the other side of the hostages, of course, are the hamas fighters. >> i have heard and tell me if this is true or not that that third track might be turkey, which apparently has some contacts with hamas.

i know secretary of state antony blinken after he wrapped up talks in jordan, he's going to be heading to turkey, which is a nato ally. is turkey involved in trying to get these hostages out? >> i know early on the turks were one of the first to approach their good relations between the israeli intelligence and the turkish intelligence. to the best of my knowledge, it has not been one of the major tracks and it's not the one that i heard about today. i haven't received confirmation but i heard if it is happening, it might be the one that can make this happen. of course we don't know if they're talking about the deal that hamas has proposed of all of the hostages for all of the prisoners in israel, which is an almost impossible deal for israel to accept or whether or not they're working on the humanitarian release of infants, children, women, elderly, sick and wounded. that's a much more limited release, but that's the one hamas should be making

immediately without any question, because it's against the koran. it's against their own believes to attack women and children and elderly people. it's against the koran to even hold them as hostages. >> as someone who had worked in these back channels to try to get hamas to release israelis, and i know you have a lot of experience in dealing with them, are you upbeat, optimistic or pessimistic that those more than 240 hostages taken out of israel into gaza on october 7th will be released? >> to be truly honest, i think about the worst and hope for the best. i think it is a moral responsibility of israel to bring these hostages home because israel failed to protect them. i think the government of israel at the end of the day will be willing to pay a very high price to bring them home. but we have a problem in israel because currently we have a very weakened prime minister and a government of ministers who do not necessarily support any deal

with hamas of any kind. the only way to bring all the hostages home will be through an agreement with hamas. there is no way to rescue them all. we might be able to rescue some of them, but surely many of them will not be rescued in military operations, so we have to pursue and exhaust every possibility of any kind of agreement with hamas even though we know that the final goal of israel in this war is to dismantle hamas' ability to govern and to threaten israel ever again. >> gershon, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. i want to go right now to cnn's jennifer hansler joining us from oman jordan. she's traveling with the secretary of state. jennifer, update our viewers. what did the secretary say? >> reporter: secretary blinken really wanted to reiterate that

the u.s. and its arab partners are on the same page about the objectives for this war, that they want to see this come to an end eventually in a sustainable way and they want to see civilians protected. however, he could not dispute that there are differences between the positions of himself and the ministers with whom he met today. most notably, the egyptian foreign minister, the jordanian foreign minister all called for a ceasefire. this is something the u.s. continues to oppose. they say it would give hamas leverage to regroup and attack israel again. they're instead calling for these humanitarian pauses. this is something the secretary spoke about yesterday in tel aviv. he really wanted to underline, though, that they are all working toward this common goal. this is how he put it. >> we come together here today

sharing the same fundamental interest and objective, to end this conflict in a way that ensures lasting peace and security in the region. we may have different views and positions on certain necessary steps to achieve that objective, but today we reaffirmed our individual commitments to continuing to work for that end that we share. >> reporter: now from here, blinken will travel to turkey, where he will meet with another very staunch opponent to this war in israel, president erdogan. he today said he was cutting off ties with netanyahu. a lot to see what's going to come from this trip, wolf. >> did officials traveling with the secretary of state give an explanation of why the secretary has decided to head off to turkey after wrapping up talks with arab foreign ministers in amman, jordan, where you are,

jennifer? >> well, wolf, these trips are always kind of a work in progress. they're always in flux. it likely was under discussion for a while about where else blinken should travel while he's in the region trying to prevent this escalation from spreading. of course, turkey is a key partner in this. they do host hamas leadership there. wolf. >> i thought it was a very significant development that turkey decided to recall its ambassador from israel back to turkey. erdogan issued a very tough, angry statement against israel in the midst of all of this as well. jennifer hans ler traveling with the secretary of state in amman, jordan, thank you very much. meanwhile, thousands are gathering at the national mall in washington at this hour to march in solidarity with palestinians as protests over

the israel/hamas war continue across the world. we're gogoing to takake you tht righght after ththis.

welcome back. happening right now, pro palestinian demonstrators are gathering in washington, d.c. to demand a ceasefire in the israel/hamas war. you're looking at live pictures at freedom plaza in the nation's capital. the march ends with a vigil across the street at the white house. gabe, we're seeing these live pictures. it looks like a pretty significant turnout. the march is still about an hour and a half away from officially beginning. >> reporter: yeah, fred. they decided to move up some of the speeches. we're expecting them to get going in just a few minutes on that stage behind us. these people have come from all over the country, people being

brought in largely by bus, by some of the organizations participating in this rally. organizers told me they think this is going to be the largest free palestine rally in u.s. history. that remains to be seen. you can see the crowd gathering behind me. we know those speeches are going to continue on that stage until right around 4:00 p.m. that's when these demonstrators are going to march just a couple blocks to the white house, which is just beyond where we're standing and they're going to rally there. what we're not expecting, fred, is any sort of organized civil disobedience today as we have seen during some of the rallies here in washington in recent weeks. we've seen hundreds of arrests outside the white house, protesters who were blocking entrances or protesters who took over spaces on capitol hill. what we are likely to see is, again, more political pressure on president biden to call for a

cease fire. we've heard political leaders like rashida talib say they could pull support in 2024. >> we will keep checking with you, gabe cohen in washington, d.c. i'm joined by a journalist and foreign policy analyst. organizers expect a massive turnout today. already it looks like a pretty sizable turnout to show solidarity for the palestinian people. how influential do you believe it will be? >> the real question is will it affect the white house and their consideration, because they seem oblivious to the fact that 66% of american voters on both sides of the spectrum believe we need

a cease fire. also the overwhelming majority of americans want president biden to condition military aid, the $14 billion he wants to send to benjamin netanyahu to some kind of mechanism where the warfare that israel is waging is lawful, is legal, follows international law. they're seeing this is not being done. actually, they're seeing also the conversation within the state department where criticism of these kinds of approaches are being silenced. people are resigning. i mean, the administration is violating america's own law that indicates that any recipient of military aid cannot violate human rights, civil rights, cannot commit war crimes. yet in the case of israel, there's a strong indication with the images of bombings of hospitals, schools, refugee camps and shelters, you are seeing the indication that there's no proportionality.

that, yes, in the name of killing one military leader, they're willing to wipe out entire families. that is the issue at the heart of what leads these protesters. some of these kids are jewish, muslim, christian. look at the discourse in washington and think it's totally detached from the reality on the ground. >> you said you believe the white house is oblivious to what is really going on here. while the secretary of state antony blinken is in jordan, he's met with arab allies. the white house was saying let's have a humanitarian pause. blinken today then said, wait a minute, a cease fire might give hamas a moment to regroup. what is your thought or your reaction to the posture of the state department now saying a

cease fire would give hamas an opportunity to regroup and perhaps it's not such a great idea after all? >> with that statement with what the jordanians and arab allies -- and he's not even listening to the spanish who are telling you we are going to impose an arms ban on israel. he's not even listening to the global south who are so outraged. secretary blinken told them in the case of ukraine, we need to stand by the international laws order. israel's 57 years of occupation, we can disregard that. they're telling them to protect civilians. israel wouldn't open basically a pathway for these civilians to join their families in the west

bank. the fact that they have total disregard for civilian lives, they even call them human animals, they call them monsters. benjamin netanyahu quoted even the bible saying we will decimate children and animals and everybody. that kind of rhetoric,it's heard by the world and it's followed by what israel is doing, the kind of indiscriminate, not proportional bombardment. in the eyes of the world, this is unacceptable. they're trying to tell the administration, look, this is becoming in the eyes of the global south, an american war. when president biden is unwilling to do anything except mild criticism, it's on him. you break it, you own it. they're very concerned this will blow up the entire region, not only israel and palestine. this will have repercussions on europe, radicalization, mass

refugees and on the entire region. president biden is stuck in his idea that defending israel unconditionally regardless of their policies, whether it's in east jerusalem or in the west bank and we see the violence rupturing in the west bank by settlers who are killing mass palestinians. 140 palestinians were killed in the last three weeks. there's no hamas there. this is what the world is pointing to as double standards and delusion of this administration and terrible policies. i hope they listen to the protests in the street, because alternatively, americans will be asked in 2024 do you want another war, because biden seems to be leading them towards another war in the middle east. >> thank you so much. again, right now dozens of people have turned out there in the nation's capital. we're going to continue to watch that demonstration taking place,

pro-palestinian rally before people start marching their way to the white house. the biden administration is shifting its tone on israel's response to the hamas war as an increasing number of americans voice concerns about the escalating humanitarian crisis. reaction to growing tensions in the region, next.

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senior u.s. officials now say that in the coming week they anticipate israel will decrease the scale of its air campaign in gaza and go to a more tactical ground operation there. an increasing number of arab americans are criticizing president biden over his response to the israel/hamas war. in a recent poll among democrats who campaigned and voted for biden in 2020, many now say they

can't imagine voting for him again even if he were to support their request for an immediate ceasefire in gaza. cnn's priscilla alvarez is traveling with the president. she joins us from rehoboth beach in delaware. how is the biden administration reacting to this negative blowback it's getting from some of these arab americans? >> reporter: u.s. officials are insisting on humanitarian pauses so aid can go into gaza and to allow for the release of hostages. they are aware of the destruction in hamas, the dire humanitarian crisis and the outrage that is fuelling. just this week president biden at a campaign fundraiser was confronted by a protester who called for a ceasefire. in that moment, the president acknowledged the protester and

said he thinks there should be a pause. that was an extension of what u.s. officials are saying privately to their israeli counterparts behind the scenes. we know from sources that president biden and his top advisors are warning israel they may not be able to reach their military goals as this global outcry intensifies. it's part of the message that secretary of state antony blinken is sending during his visit to the region. of course, the clock is ticking. according to sources, the advisors closest to the president believe it is a matter of weeks, not months for the pushback on the ceasefire. so they are holding the line for now that they are adamant that humanitarian pause is the way forward, but clearly a very complicated landscape here for the white house to navigate. >> priscilla alvarez in rehoboth beach, delaware w, with the president. i want to bring in the executive

director of global security at flashpoint and a former senior officer at the u.s. office of national intelligence. andrew, thank you so much for joining us. what do you think we can expect to see in the coming week with israel shifting potentially to a more tactical ground operation and slowing down its air campaign. >> great question, wolf. it's really important that we back up and remember every human being under the laws of armed conflict who is not a combatant has certain human rights under international law. it doesn't matter who they are, if they are israeli or if they are palestinian or if they are one of the 30-plus nationals that are taken hostage or murdered on october 7th or if they are someone who's stuck in gaza. i think first and foremost what the idf and israeli forces need to do is really be conscious of

separating their military campaign from hamas from the effects and ensuring that it separates from the palestinian people and the civilians on the ground. i think that's probably at very top of mind for their planners at the moment, is how to target hamas terrorists with not only international pressure but from a military planning perspective. it's not going to be successful strategically if they don't also separate those fighters from the civilian population. >> what's the one thing you see as being the biggest threat right now to security and counterterrorism not only in the region but around the world? are there lessons to be learned from what's going on in this israel/hamas war? >> absolutely. october 7th was the most sophisticated, highly-planned attack i've seen in 20-plus years of being in the security space. i think what lessons we're going to learn now are largely about fears there's a regional kinetic

fear from this axis of iran-backed terrorist groups. but much more broadly through the internet and realtime dissemination of information, we're concerned about lone wolf terrorism and threats to public safety and threats from iran or russia affiliated groups accelerating violence between protest groups in peaceful nations. there's a lot of challenges for counterterrorism. the key lesson for the future is to protect all innocent people, there's going to need to be really good public/private information sharing and we're probably going to need to reup a call to public action. if you see something, say something.

the . >> what do you see as the risks of the regional violence we're seeing in this war expanding and other fronts opening up with other terror groups? >> it's certainly a thing we are all watching and conscious of ourselves. as an international firm, we advise clients on it and we also have to do it internally. i think right now what i saw recently from the hezbollah statements was they're going to kind of sit on the sideline. they've all been supported long-term by iran. his statements to me indicated that he was not taking responsibility, that he was not tying iran to planning, funding for the october 7th attacks. he certainly praised those attacks in very uncomfortable disgusting ways for those of us that do believe in rule of law and defense of civilians. but i do think the remarks i heard in that hour long speech

as translated indicate they may not be hungry for a fight. that is actually probably not a bad thing for the world. it gives potential room for a pause for a humanitarian corridor, for humanitarian aid to flow. i guess we're all watching it, wolf. nobody's going to know the answer until it happens one way or the other. >> thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. wewe'll be back k in a mome with m more news..

on monday former president trump is expected to take the stand in the new york civil fraud case against him. he and his two adult sons back in september a judge found liable for fraud. judge arthur engoron ruled donald trump overvalued assets of several trump properties to obtain favorable loans. both of trump's sons tried to shift the blame this week in court, arguing they had limited

involvement. >> reporter: eric trump wrapped his testimony on friday after being on the stand for four hours over two days. in his testimony, he stood by the accuracy of these financial statements, something the judge has already found to be fraudulent. eric trump, after he was comforted by lawyers and accountants, that these financial statements were, quote, perfect and he wouldn't have signed anything that was inaccurate. the judge also extended a gag order in this case to attorneys, saying they cannot make any references both in court and outside of court about any of the confidential communications the judge has with his staff. next on the stand will be donald tr trump. eric trump said after leaving court his father is more than ready. >> he's fired up to be here. this is one of the most

incredible injustices that he's ever seen, and it truly is. >> reporter: trump's testimony is expected to last all day monday. ivanka trump is scheduled to testify on wednesday. after that, the attorney general's office will rest their case. still to come, an update on a cnn journalist's journey to leave gauza with his pregnant wife and two young sons.

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a cnn journalist in gaza who's been sharing dispatches of his family's struggle to stay alive and get out of gaza, they are now out of gaza, passing safely through the rafah crossing on friday. for 28 days, he witnessed so much tragedy, pain and fear. he documented his journey out of northern gaza with his wife, who is four months pregnant and their two young sons who are 11 and 7 years old. they started teaching the children how to feed themselves in the event that he and his wife died. he showed us what they had to do to survive, including drinking water that was meant to fill toilets today. today they are in egypt. listen to this .

>> we're so glad that family got out of gaza. our special coverage of the israel/hamas conflict continues right after a quick break. stay with us.

i'm fredericka