we are live in the "cnn newsroom." i'm jim acosta in washington. good evening. we begin with breaking news for the first time since that barbaric terror attack in israel. the president of the palestinian authority is condemning the killing saying, quote, the actions of hamas do not represent the palestinian people. in the meantime, the death toll has now risen to over 1,400, including 30 americans. sources now tell cnn that israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, who has invited president biden to visit, even as israeli forces prepare for a

massive ground offensive. at this hour, troops continue their suffocatiing blockade of the gaza strip. israeli defense forces say they have killed one hamas defender today amid a barrage of some 250 strikes across gaza. you can see much of the rubble there. >> we are hunting hamas comm commanders everybody from the butcher, the political leader, and everybody down from him, are dead men walking. we've been able to kill quite a few hamas commanders, some of them senior, some of them tactical commanders. and that is a priority in our targeti i ing campaign as we sp. >> let's go straight to erin burnett on the ground in tel a aviv. it's 2:02 a.m. where you are.

and i know you're watching and waiting as this entire region is on the edge of its seat right now. what's the latest? >> reporter: absolutely, on the edge of its seat, on the precipice, jim. and we should say that many have expected when israel begins its anticipated ground offensive, it would do so in the darkness, because israel is a great advantage of its tanks that we have seen so many of in this buildup along the border. have a little window where we look out. it's sort of like a blue reflective that you might see in sunglasses that some people have. it looks like that from the outside. but it gives them excellent night vision. so they have incredible advantage when it comes to night fighting. so there have been many who have expected that such an assault would begin in the evening. obviously, it is still quiet here tonight, and in fact, in the past few hours, quieter than it has been. we have become very accustomed to the thud of explosions here in gaza, not so many here, but

we have heard more incoming rocket fire into tel aviv in these past ten hours or so, maybe six hours. and some of those without accompanying sirens, which interestingly enough, our clarissa ward also said she had experienced to the south of here in ashkalon. and i want to turn to nic robertson, he is further south, just a mile east of the israeli border with gaza, where you have been since the very beginning, in of course what is now that buffer and militarized zone. so nick, what are you seeing there at 2:00 in the morning here? >> yeah, it feels quieter than previous evenings, although we have had some big flashes and booms of the occasional missile strike going into the north of gaza. there was an incoming volley of rockets from hamas in gaza over here intercepted by iron dome a couple of hours ago. that was the only volley we've had this evening. but it just shows even despite the heavy artillery, the heavy missile strikes going into gaza,

that hamas, islamic jihad, other groups still have some capacity to fire back. so they are still there. and the military incursion that seems to be getting ready and being built up in this sort of buffer militarized border area at the moment, we've been down to watch some of their training, and it does seem as if they're getting closer to being ready. but there's a big, there's a big "if," there's no decision taken, and there's a big question mark for them about how they fight hamas when hamas may be hiding behind civilians. and this isn't a new problem. they faced this back in 2014. close to gaza, preparations underway for a much anticipated ground offensive. troops from different units training together. there is an urgency here. they have to be ready fast. right now, this is a rehearsal.

if and when there's an incursion, these troops could be at front of it. tanks, or for this practice, model ones right now, followed by infantry and combat engineers. a combined force spearheading an incursion. if they do, major offic will be near the front. >> translator: we expect to go to war. we expect to destroy the terrorist organization, hamas, kill its governments, and kill every last terrorist. that's what we plan to do, and that's how it will be. >> reporter: the last time the idf went into gaza, targeting hamas' leaders was 2014. areal bernstein was 21, in the special forces, one of the first to cross the border. >> you're just afraid that there is something waiting for you at every corner. >> reporter: but his experiences then left him questioning the

tactics today. back then, he said, the idf warned civilians to leave and hamas told them to stay, just as is happening now, but some had stayed. his orders, he says, assume stithe civilians had left. >> so whoever you see is basically engaged in fighting, there we call it engaging with fire with any home you enter, with any kind of shape of a person that you see from afar. >> in many ways, israel's actions are playing out just as they have in the past. 2021 gun positions freshly dug. and in gaza, the death toll according to palestinian health officials already higher than in 2014. and like then, israel is already facing huge international

pressure to avoid more civilian casualties. >> what we are doing is saying privately what we've said publicly, which is that all military operations should be conducted consistent with the law of war. that civilians could be protected. >> reporter: the problem, the idf says it faces, just like 2014, hamas will be hiding among civilians. >> the whole situation we're talking about with gaza and civilians forcibly embedded is another element of hamas. hamas has to be fully defeated. >> so the responsibility is on them and not you. >> the responsibility is on hamas for their own civilians. our responsibility is to eliminate hamas' completely. >> major ofek says day don't hurt innocents, only terrorists, but admits if he is sent into gaza, avoiding civilian deaths won't be easy. >> is it possible to fight hamas without civilians getting

injured? >> translator: we're concerned with overthrowing the hamas regime and killing the terrorists who are currently in gaza. fit will be difficult, it will be difficult. not easy. >> reporter: outside the camp gates, as israel's military ponder their next move, troops are saying their fond farewells. >> and i think all those troops we see today, they feel they have a mission to do. they feel that they need to go in there after hamas, but for many of them, they know that this could be a life-changing appearence. they'll experience things, they'll see things they'll never was certainly the experience of the former idf soldier that we interviewed. he said he came away with memories that he cannot erase from his mind and also lost friends along the way. >> yes, nick, so much loss, and so many of them, when they go in those kibbutz, as they've been

saying, it sears the eyes. thank you very much, nic robertson. jim, back to you. >> just incredible report from our colleague, nic robertson there. in the meantime, joining me now is ben wedeman, who is on the ground in southern lebanon. ben, some news to get to you on and get your reaction to. eight days after this terror attack, we're learning that the president of the palestinian authority is now condemning hamas for what happened. what do you make of that and what's the significance of that? >> first of all let's look at the context in which he made that speech, that statement. it was ant speech, it was ant message to the united states or to israel, it came in the form of a report on wafa, the palestinian news agency about a phone call he had with nicolas maduro, the president of venezuela. in that phone call, he said that the actions of hamas do not

represent the palestinian people. he went on to call for the end of attacks on civilians, but he also said, the so-called israeli aggression on gaza has to end. so, yes, this comes in a rather back ended form of condemnation of the hamas attack, and rather late in the day, considering how much has happened since the seventh of october. sorry, it's starting to rain very heavily here in southern lebanon. we should keep in mind, mahmoud abbas, he's 87 years old, very unpopular among palestinians. it's felt he's completely out of touch. he's at the head of the palestinian authority that's considered to be very corrupt, very inefficient, and hasn't really achieved much for the palestinian people. so he's walking a fine line between pressure from europe and

the united states to come out and strongly condemn the hamas attack. and at the same time, his people are increasingly anger over the fact that so many civilians are being killed in gaza itself. jim? >> absolutely. all right, ben wedeman, thank you very much for those insights. really appreciate it. still to come, israel is preparing for what it calls the next stages of its war on hamas. what that could look like and what this means as the conflict escalates. it's sure to do that in the coming days, perhaps the coming hours. we'll see. our special coverage continues right after the break.

as israeli forces continue to gear up for a massive ground

invasion into gaza, the u.s. is moving a second carrier strike group into the area. the presence of two of the u.s. navy's most powerful warships is meant to send a message to iran and its proxies. don't get involved. but there's no guarantee u.s. troops won't be deployed in the future, with more than a dozen americans unaccounted for following the hamas attack in israel, the biden administration is not ruling out the use of military forces to rescue those americans. i'm joined now by retired army general leslie clark. host a cnn military analyst and the former nato supreme allied commander. also with me is kim dozier, cnn global affairs analyst. we got the news earlier this afternoon that israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has invited the president to come to israel soon. what do you make of that? that is a very big gesture from the prime minister, who has sometimes been at odds with democratic administrations from time to time. >> i think what it shows is that president biden's speech

embracing the israeli people and condemning the violence, it was watched widely across israel and it really hit home. it's a sign of appreciation for what the united states is doing in terms of sending those carrier groups and sending in ammunition, as needed. but i don't think president biden would -- secret service would not approve a trip like that at a time like now. >> yeah, i mean, i think that that's tbd, no question about it. general clark, let me ask you about what kim just mentioned a few moments ago about these two carrier strike groups moving into the region. you know, it is -- we've been saying this over and over again, this is to send a message to iran and its proxies and so on. i just can't imagine, and feel free to correct me if i'm wrong here, i cannot imagine a scenario where the iranians would not end up getting involved in some way, because of what it would trigger, what it would ultimately mean. is that realistic? what do you think? >> i think the odds of their

involvement are somewhat low, but i think they're situation dependent. so for example, if the whole world turns against israel, if israel has got 300,000 troops beleaguered and besieged inside gaza city, if it looks like this is iran's big chance to unleash hezbollah with decisive effect, they might go ahead and do it. so you can't rule it out. but they know if they deploy hezbollah, it's -- the world knows it's their trigger, not hezbollah's decision. and the world also knows and that the iranians know that hezbollah will be destroyed. whatever damage it does to israel, it won't rohr from this, because the israelis and the american people turn on hezbollah, and that will be the end of it. it might be brutal, might take casualties, might take six weeks of fighting, but hezbollah will have been expended and with that will go iran's major effort for

higeminy. and there's plenty of enemies that will take advantage of that. >> kimberly, what about this news that just came in the last hour or so, that the palestinian authority president, mahmoud abbas, has now voiced his condemnation for what hamas carried out in those attacks on israel. ben wedeman was pointing out a few moments ago, perhaps you listened to his live shot where he said, you know, this wasn't said in some sort of speech or official statement, this was made in a phone call with the venezuelans of all folks. what do you think about all of this? >> yeah, a readout of the phone call and i would love to hear what ben and his producers, since ben speaks arabic, thinks of the original version of this. i looked up the latest english language version on the wafa site and it's much more circumspect. abbas does, as he did a couple of days ago, condemns violence

on both sides and states, according to this readout, that the plo, that his organization, the palestinian authority, is the soul representative of the palestinian people, but it doesn't mention anyone else. so i -- i can see why, depending on how you read it, you might read it as a condemnation of hamas, but nowhere in the version i was able to find does he outright attack hamas. which would be a dangerous thing to do. but hamas is riding high in terms of popularity in many parts of the palestinian world and many parts of the arab world. >> general clark, any sense -- any thoughts on your part adds to why we have not seen israel launch this ground incursion. why that has not happened as of yet. >> i think they're -- i think they're collecting intelligence, but also, jim, this is -- this operation is already underway. hamas told the civilians to

stay. israel has told the civilians to leave. they're leaving. hamas is resisting their departure. so israel is already in this operation and israel is winning this operation against hamas. now, does it go on like this for another six hours, 24 hours, we don't know. but right now, the momentum is with israel and against hamas, hamas wanted all of those people to stay. it's blown up, put in barricades, it's destroyed transit areas and other things in an effort to fix them in place. and it's losing. so for israel to hold off another day or two, it's all to the good. they are more ready, they've got more intel. also, there's international understanding that the civilian population is important. most of these people are not fighters. they're just innocent people that happen to live in gaza. they happen to be under hamas control. it's in israel's interest to

give them enough time to get out of the way. hamas wants to use them as civilian shields. they don't want to be used as civilian shields, but inevitably, in a conflict situation, there are going to be civilian casualties here, so the more that leave, the better. so there's no rush to get into this fight on the part of israel. give it a day, give it two days, give it lee days. build up the diplomatic support internationally, and then go in. >> perhaps the israelis are seeing that exodus and they're thinking, okay, let's give it more time. all right, general clark, kim dozier, thanks to both of you. really appreciate it. coming up, our special coverage continues. we'll talk with fareed zakaria, that's coming up. he joins me in just a few moments. that's next.

with israel and hamas bracing for what could be that devastating war, the world is on edge as fears of a broader middle east conflict continue to grow. here to help us to make sense of what's happened over the past week and where we go from here is cnn's fareed zakaria, the host of "fareed zakaria gps." fareed, good to see you. i thought of you earlier and i wanted to have you on because a lot of americans, and i'm sure a lot of people around the world have been just thinking about this over the last eight days. and wondering, how did we get to this point? we've seen this conflict rage on

between the israelis and the palestinians, it flares up from time to time. there is intense fighting, casualties, loss of life. but nothing like this. how did this happen? >> it's a great question, jim. i would say, you know, the kind of fundamental fact, if i could take a moment to put the historical context is, the united states was the kind of power broker in the middle east. and the united states ever since the iraq war has been stepping back, right? that was part of the whole idea of pivoting to asia, getting somewhat less involved in the middle east. well, guess what, when the united states steps back, what happens is you create a power vacuum. and all kinds of people fall into that power vacuum. and the biggest shift became a context between saudi arabia and iran. who would fill in that power vacuum. and the way the saudis tried to do it in cooperation with the israelis, who also were trying to move in, as well as, by the way, the turks and the russians a little bit, but the saudis

tried to ensure that their concerns and interests are taken care of, by forging this new alliance between the moderate gulf arabs and israel. that scared the, you know, the iran, hezbollah, hamas, all of these actors that are being marginalized now. and most importantly, the palestinians, the hamas felt that they were being marginalized, because what bibi netanyahu was trying to do was ignore the palestinian issue, make peace with the arabs. and as a result of that, hamas and perhaps some of hamas' sponsors, but certainly hamas, decided, we're going to burn the house down. and this is their way of trying to burn the house down. so part of what's going on here is that you have had a kind of power vacuum, which all kinds of people have been jockeying for influence and hamas is watching all of this. and they're playing the card they have, which is the most

brutal, sadistic card, but that's -- it's there to get their attention. >> no question about it. and we were talking with hadas gold, who just left jerusalem, she was our jerusalem correspondent there for several years. and she said that when you talk to israelis, they view this as -- many of them view this as israel's 9/11. and they feel this deep down in their bones. and i have to think as we were looking at our images coming out of gaza earlier today, the intense shelling that has taken place and those buildings that have been leveled, the hospitals getting filled with children. now they feel like the victims in all of this, as well. it's hard to see how we aren't going to get trapped in a quagmire here, in a cycle of violence with no end in sight. >> you know, that's very well put, because what's happening right now is people's emotions are so enflamed. you know, you start with the israelis, for whom yes, this is absolutely a kind of 9/11 for

them. made all the more tragic because of the memories of the holocaust. but as a result of that, one of the things i would urge israelis to do is to learn from the mistakes that the united states made after 9/11. we occasional reacted and acted through emotions, through fear, through anger. and many times, these were no the -- we did not end up with the right policies. we overreacted, we tried to go into afghanistan and build a whole new democratic nation. we ride to -- we went into iraq. it's not clear that those were the right answers at time. so one of the things that richard haass was on my program and he said, one of the lessons surely should be go -- you know, be careful. be jiudicious, be discriminatin. you know, don't let the emotions guide you. you know, bismarck once said the great 19th century german statesman, a fool learns from his own mistakes.

wise people learn from others -- other people's mistakes. i would say to the israelis, it is very much like 9/11, but learn from the mistakes the united states made after 9/11. >> and well from bismarck to donald rumsfeld, if i can make that kind of awkward transition, i heard you mention donald rumsfeld and one of his famous expressions from the iraq war, when that was going sideways, which is, as we're killing terrorists, are we creating more of them? >> right. you know, as you point out, what's going on in gaza right now, there are 2.2 million people in gaza. we don't enough about who supports whom. and it's important to remember the median age in gaza is i think 18 or 19. the last election, which hamas did win with a plurality of votes, the last election was held 17 years ago. so the median person in gaza was 1 years old, the last time there was an election. these people have no -- we don't know whether they support hamas, but what we do know is that the

easiest way to radicalize them would be through a massive indiscriminate campaign of bombing and things like that. this is something that we saw happen in afghanistan, in pakistan. and so, i would hope that we could recognize that the israelis recognize that as justified as they are, it was a brutal, awful terror attack that is inhuman. you don't want to further radicalize the palestinian population. for people who say, they're already radicalized, i think that's not entirely true. very important, interesting issue that you pointed to. mahmoud abbas, head of the palestinian authority finally, you know, summoned up the courage to essentially denounce the terror attack and point out that this is not what most palestinians believe in. it's not what most palestinians do on a daily basis. the point is not, you know, i think the israeli -- israel is justified in its anger, and in

its shock and its horror. the question is to be strategic about this. and as you've been pointing out, there is a danger of a wider war. and that really not in israel's best interest. >> and fareed, why do you think we are still watching these live pictures over gaza. and it's just eerily quiet. there are a lot of expectations that this was going to start yesterday or possibly tonight, and it sounds as though the israelis are giving the palestinians a little bit more time to get out, to get out of harm's way. but they're not all going to be gone. >> no, they're not going to be gone by a long shot. look, i think it's mainly because they realize that there would be a terrible humanitarian tragedy, too many, hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people left in gaza. it's also, it would backfire, you know, in terms of the optics, in terms of global support. there's no advantage to israel moving fast at this point. the best thing to do would be to

let as many people from gaza leave. what they're trying to do, as they correctly say, is to root out the infrastructure of terrorism. the infrastructure of hamas control. that's something, you know, they can do it three days from now. it doesn't need to happen today. but if they do it today, the one thing that we can be sure is that many, many people who are innocent will die. 50% of the people who live in gaza are children. remember, the median age is 18 or 19. these people cannot be held culpable. and the more israel shows that it is being -- it is being careful, it is being thoughtful, the more of a contrast it can show and that contrast is real, between the barberism of hamas and what is real. >> fareed zakaria, great to talk to you, as always. thank you for those singts. we knew you were the perfect person to bring in this evening. thank you for making time for us. >> thank you, jim. >> thanks. just ahead, my colleague erin burnett has an interview

with senate majority leader chuck schumer in israel. the moment that prompted his bipartisan senate delegation to take cover today in a bomb shelter. erin has that as well. we'll be right back.

today a bipartisan group of american senators arrived in televiv as israel prepares for its ground defensive in gaza. the senators were med by the

minority leader chuck schumer and met with israel's president. but before that meeting, schumer says that they were forced to rush to a bomb shelter to wait out rockets launched by hamas. of course, no one was hurt thankfully, but we did hear those impact hear in tel aviv. it is a very real threat for everyone here. i spoke with senator schumer earlier today about why he felt the need to travel here. he was with senator romney and others and what it says about u.s. support for israel. leader schumer, thank you so much for your time. in tel aviv tonight, you've been meeting throughout the day with the prime minister netanyahu and others, what did you learn here? >> well, first, we came with a simple message to the israeli people. we have your back. we feel your pain, we ache, and america will stick with you in this most difficult time. we had three missions, one, to let israel know we're for them. two, to find out what israel's needs are. and we had extensive discussions

of the military, diplomatic, intelligence, and humanitarian needs that israel has. but third, we wanted to show that this was bipartisan. so i went two democrats and two republicans. >> senator cassidy, senator romney, yourself, senator kelly. >> and senator rosen. >> and senator rosen. >> and in this time of such partisanship, this is one area where the congress is united. and i believe that we're going to pass, very soon, we'll put together a very strong package. we will pass it soon. we're not going to wait for the house. we're hopeful that if we pass a strong package with big bipartisan majorities, it will put pressure on the house to act one way or another, however the heck they figure it out. >> so secretary plblinken is coming tomorrow, no one had know that this was happening. he's coming from other places in the middle east. just met with the saudi crowned prince. what is his goal? do you know? is he trying to have netanyahu delay this? >> i think his goal is to try to

keep the negotiations that were going on between saudi arabia, israel, and america on attack. many suspect that hamas and even iran did this dastardly, horrible, terrorist action to make sure that that didn't happen. and he feels very strongly as do most of us that we should keep it on track. and the viciousness of hamas. i mean, in one instance, cutting the tlohroats of little childre having their parents watch. hamas is trying to say, we're going to intimidate you from doing the things you want to do, including this tripartide pact and we are saying, you are not going to intimidate us. we'll move forward. >> john kirby today confirmed that there are american hostages in gaza. he said there's no plans, there's no intention for u.s. troops to be involved, but he wouldn't rule it out. i'm not going to rule anything out. do you think that that should be on the table, if -- >> israel has never asked for

troops. they have always asked for aid. they have always asked for help. >> but i mean for the american hostages. >> right now, what our country -- and we met with -- i've talked to secretary blinken about this. we met with some of the parent -- the families of american hostages and the best way to go is to pursue some serious diplomatic channels to put pressure on hamas through other countries. can't mention the countries, because that might mess the whole thing up, but that's the plan. >> so as you were on your way here, there was the announcement that there's a second carrier strike group coming from the united states, incredibly high military posture right off the coast of israel. you've obviously got the war in ukraine going on as well. when you take a step back, senator, do you think the u.s. is closer to war itself than it has been in a long time? >> i think sending the two carriers here will make us less likely to have war, because it's a strong message to hezbollah and lebanon and to iran, don't mess around here, because we've had a lot of might in the area.

>> what is the status right now of u.s. knowledge of iran's involvement, right now, in ongoing conflict -- >> sorry. it's still unclear whether iran knew all the details and pushed hamas to do this at this time. but one thing is totally clear. there would be no hamas without iran. so iran will be culpable, one way or the other. >> here in televiv, you had to take shelter from rockets. that's the daily life here, as they come in. does that give you a different sense, a more palpable sense? >> yes, when you're here, you see it. look, i asked five or six random people, the driver of our car, two people in the hotel, several waitresses at restaurants that we were at. every single one of them has a relative or close friend who died. it's unbelievable. look. i think an 9/11 every day. and i'll think about this every

day and i'm sure every israeli will for the rest of their lives. but they are strong people. they are resolute people. hamas is designed to intimidate the most vicious, brutal kind of terrorism. it's not going to succeed. >> senator schumer, good to see you. >> thank you, erin. good to see you. >> and you know, jim, talking to the senators who were in those meetings, they were telling me about some of what they saw. and obviously we on cnn have only shown one picture of that baby who was killed. but they were able to see other pictures, which they described to me. one of the things they said they were told was about a group of children who were gathered and they say burned alive. i mean, we continue to hear atrocities which simply defy comprehension. and it is that has obviously put israel in the place it's in, with these 300,000 troops sitting on the border waiting to go in and it's very when you have that many to turn back. and the israelis have said

often, they want the world to see these atrocities. and that includes lawmakers view the evidence of this as well. stellar work, as always. erin burnett, thank you so much for that. really appreciate it. as the war between israel and hamas continues to deepen, the white house says getting american hostages out of gaza is a top priority. >> all we can do is to continue to work closely with the israeli government on hostage recovery options, which we are doing, and then work through third countries to see if there are avenues for release. those efforts are underway. our hope is that they can produce results. we will continue to stay focused on this. it's the -- it's as high a priority as the president has. >> let's discuss more now with democratic congressman, jason crow of colorado. he's a member of the house foreign affairs and intelligence committees. congressman, really appreciate your time. your sense of it in terms of the -- this mission to get these hostages out. is that even a realistic possibility at this point, given

what's about to take place? >> well, jim, it always has to be a realistic possibility, because the united states does not leave people behind. we will always, recalls endeavor to bring people home. whether that's the direct action hostage mission, like our special operations forces do, whether it's through diplomacy or intelligence and working through our partners, as well. in a situation like this, the best avenue is either diplomacy or working through the israelis. we never want to take anything off the table or say that our special operation forces will not go do something, but in a dense urban terrain like this that's highly saturated with enemy forces, you have israeli forces working, air strikes, you have missiles, you have rockets going off. it's very, very hard to safely insert a special operations team to conduct a hostage rescue mission. that's why diplomacy and working through our israeli partners are probably the best two avenues at this point. >> is that your assessment?

national security council spokesman, john kirby, he was not ruling out the possibility that american troops could be deployed to help free hostages captured by hamas. but i suppose that is what the white house has to say. that's what the administration has to say, always leave those kinds of options on the table. but it would be just an enormous dangerous and precarious thing to try to carry out, particularly at this very sensitive moment. >> well, i'm not ruling it out either. it has to be an option on the table. i'm just illustrating the high risk of doing that, and the points of failure if you were to do it directly, and that there are lower risks to working diplomatically and working through our partners and actually getting it done. but again, we never taking anything off the table and we'll do everything possible to get our people home. >> and i guess, the other question is with these aircraft carrier strike forces in the region, the strike force groups in the region, is there a possibility, do you think, that

we will see some activity out of those forces? or are they simply there as a deterrent message being sent to iran and its proxies, do you think. >> i think surging additional forces is a show of force and strength to iran and hezbollah. if they want to escalate this. if they want to take advantage of this crisis that israel is experiencing right now and try to spark a broader regional war, that would be a massive mistake. that we have the capability and our allies have the capability to make that a massive mistake. so certainly a show of force is no doubt the primary purpose of a surge of this type. but we have to be ready. you have to make sure that we're protecting our own people, our own assets. we have thousands of troops currently stationed in places throughout the middle east, hamas has called for, you know, regional and even worldwide strikes against americans and american assets and forces. so we are upping our posture and making sure we're doing all the right things.

this administration is doing exactly what we need to be doing. we're being aggressive, but we're also being intentional and looking after various risks. >> congressman, just very quickly, "60 minutes" just did an interviewer with president biden. this is what he said about eliminating hamas. we'll get a quick response from you on the other side. >> do you believe that hamas must be eliminated entirely? >> yes, i do. but there needs to be a palestinian authority. there needs to be a path to a palestinian state. >> should that be the u.s. policy that hamas is entirely eliminated? >> i think so. when you look at the barberism that occurred last week, the acts that have been well documented on this show and others, you don't negotiate with those people. they must be eliminated, period. but the president made a really unforeseen point here. he appointed out one of the greatest lessons learned of our 20 years of the global war on

terror, and frankly some of the biggest mistakes that american meef made over the last 20 years. you can't eliminate a threat like this. you have to make sure you're pushing humanitarian aid, you're being careful, you're not overreacting, you're taking innocent civilians out of harm's way. that's in many instances just as important as how you respond militarily, sometimes more important, to make sure that we're not creating more blowback to our partners and to the united states and to israel. so, we have to make sure that we have a military response. we have to make sure that we're doing it in accordance with our values and making sure that humanitarian resources are there as well. >> congressman jason crow, really appreciate your time this evening. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back.

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no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. while the biden administration continue to show their support for israel, many pro-palestinian rallies are being held around the world, some expressing a deep anger over the situation that's unfolding this weekend. cnn correspondent melissa bell has more on that story. palestinian will be free. >> sydney, thousands turned out to express solidarity with palestinians and oppose israel's military action in gaza.

the police out in full force, as well, with organizers warning that anti-semitic behavior that had been seen at previous protests would not be welcome. no signs of that chaos here, but the crowd's message to the palestinian people was loud and clear. >> what's a protest going to do except spread awareness and support? we have no legalized any enforceable power to do anything to protect them. shame on the government who do and don't do anything. >> reporter: pro-palestinian rallies have been held in cities around the world. in france and germany, where they've been banned, demonstrators gathered regardless. some of the largest rallies for palestinians were held in the arab world. thousands attended a rally in turkey where crowds vented anger at both israel and united states. similar scenes of solidarity in pakistan. >> we are saying from all over pakistan that palestinians are not alone.

>> reporter: and in tunisia, anger that more is not being done to protect palestinians. >> my people are facing extermination and gaza is being devastated. where's the international community. where are the arabs? where's the arab conscience? >> reporter: in tokyo, a smaller crowd, but a similar plea. >> i came here to show that we are united. we are very tired of war and everyone is tired of conflicts. and everyone wants just peace. >> reporter: melissa bell, cnn, paris. and our thanks to melissa fw bell for that report. reporting from washington, our special coverage continues after the break. have a good night.