the cemetery with the family. they wanted to hug them. they wanted to tell them how their son was their best friend for three years, how they used to sleep next to him, eat with him. doing everything for three years. and now they are not here to tell the story. >> i can't imagine -- >> i'm feeling -- >> i can't imagine the personal toll but also the importance of the work you do. we appreciate it. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. just a number of hours, the president will take a trip to tel aviv. the second part of the trip is to jordan. >> very critical trip. we will follow it all day. we will see the president tomorrow morning landing in tel aviv. thank you for joining us .

[ no audio ] the idf carrying out st strikes, targeting the hamas

commanders. the humanitarian crisis in gaza is getting worse. some of the images coming in are disturbing. this new video that we will show you is a fresh view of the crisis. you can see very clearly what it is. it's a massive burial of gazans killed. body bags in rows, as you can see. row after row after row. this morning, we are hearing a new urgent plea from the mother of one of the hostages that hamas is holding. this mother. this is mia shem. we will bring you what the weathe mother is saying after hamas put out a video. >> new rocket attacks on israel. those were targeting ashkelon, five, ten miles from the gaza border. this morning, we are getting new

information about u.s. military deployments. there will be two u.s. carrier groups in the mediterranean. we are also learning this morning that some 2,000 marines are headed to the region, possibly the red sea. they are part of the marine expedition unit. 2,000 marines will be moving through the red sea perhaps very soon. an additional sign of support. we are on the ground at the white house and in israel. let's get to our colleague sara sidner in tel aviv. >> reporter: we begin this morning here with the french israeli hostage, 21-year-old mia. she was kidnapped from the music festival where at least 260 bodies were found in the aftermath of the hamas attack there. i attended the press conference

earlier today, an hour or two ago, where her mother spoke about her daughter. let's go ahead and listen to what we heard. income that room, you could feel the devastation of her entire family who was there. karen spoke while holding a picture of her daughter, because she wants the world to see who hamas kidnapped. >> i doesn't know she's dead or alive. now she's in gaza. >> reporter: when the world saw this video that hamas put out -- hamas days ago said it was going to put videos out of hostages and threatened to kill them until israel relents. but at this point in time, all we saw was a video that came out. it showed mia.

she looked scared. she has a bandage around her arm. she's clearly been injured. there has been, it looks like, surgery that has been done on her arm. there were bandages on her arm in a video sent out by a social media from hamas. when we all saw it worldwide, the parents also got it at the same time and learned of this video. it was the first time that they learned that their daughter was still alive. at that point in time, they believed she was. they hoped she was. but they had no proof. now they have proof. the only issue is, we do not know exactly when that video was taken by hamas. whether it was days ago, hours ago. no idea. we know the world saw it just overnight here in israel. i want to take you now to ashkelon, which is much closer to the gaza border than i am

here in tel aviv. that is where we find our chief international correspondent clarissa ward. at this hour, clarissa, you were there when there were explosions happening, rockets coming over and a huge barrage a few days ago. what can you tell us about the situation there now and along the gaza border? >> reporter: it's been quieter this morning, up until just a few hours ago. hamas released rockets again towards ashkelon. they are saying that it's in revenge for the current situation inside gaza. but i want to play you some video that we managed to capture of the moments as those rockets fell into ashkelon. [ explosions ]

you can hear some intercepts, but you can also hear at least two, by our count, that made landfall. one just behind me in that direction. it's important to emphasize that israel does have the iron dome. it's incredibly effective. the rockets do have a paralyzing affect on community, but there are few casualties as a result of them, which is a very stark contrast to what we have been seeing in gaza this morning. reports of at least six air strikes in southern gaza. you might remember, this is the area that israel's defense forces have told people to evacuate from their homes in northern gaza and move into. gaza's health ministry saying at least 60 people killed in the six air strikes. they took place close to the border crossing in the south along the border with egypt. this is the border crossing that

there have been furious negotiations and diplomatic efforts to try to open that up, to provide some relief to people inside gaza, also to get some of the most severely injured out of gaza as well as foreign nationals. again, that border crossing has not opened today. the u.n. warning that the situation is dramatically deteriorating, spiraling, in fact, quite out of control. 600,000 people have moved from their homes in northern gaza to southern gaza in the hopes of finding some respite, some refuge. they have been met with air strikes. they do not have water. they do not have electricity. and they are running out of food. the situation clearly untenable. and all eyes on diplomats who continue to make efforts to somehow open that border crossing. >> i know you and i have both

been in gaza. we know how densely populated it is and how tight and close everything is. the thought of 600,000 people moving into another part of the area that is already completely crowded is really, really a difficult thing to imagine when you don't have water, you have very little food, and you are facing these air strikes. it's dangerous for every civilian there. clarissa ward, thank you so much for giving us all the details there from the border to where you are in ashkelon. kate? >> thank you so much. let's get over to the white house. president biden is preparing to leave today for israel. the announcement came last night. what are you hearing from the white house today about this visit and what's at stake? >> reporter: president biden is set to depart for israel later as he is looking to prevent this from broadening into a wider conflict. the president will land in

israel 11 days after hamas launched its attack against the country. really highlighting what a dramatic and significant show of support the president's visit will be. officials say in addition to showing that support for israel, the president's trip will also send a message to iran and hezbollah, warning them against trying to take advantage of this situation. in addition to traveling to israel, the president will also be in jordan where he will meet with arab leaders. a top spokesperson at the national security council today, john kirby, said the president's focus will not just be ascertaining israel's next steps, but also addressing humanitarian issues at play in gaza as well as keeping those american hostages at top of mind. take a listen. >> the president believes that this is exactly the right time to go to israel and to go to jordan, to speak to other leaders in the region about the humanitarian assistance that we

want to make sure gets into gaza, about israeli plans and intentions going forward, how this is unfolding on the ground, and absolutely to continue to talk to regional partners about those hostages and getting and -- seeing if we get them home, back to their families where they belong. >> reporter: this trip goes beyond symbolism. the president is hoping to offer deliverables. one challenge is the humanitarian crisis. the president and his team have increasingly started to express concerns about civilian life in gaza. the president is hoping to discuss this with arab leaders. there are huge security concerns. think about yesterday when antony blinken had to shelter due to air sirens going off as he was meeting with netanyahu. the white house determined it was a safe time for the president to travel. the proper security protocols will be put in place as he is set to make this diplomatic trip

to israel. >> trying to send a strong showing of deterrence as he is heading over there. a lot will happen at the white house today. with me now is retired u.s. army major mike lions. there will be two carrier groups in the mediterranean. we are learning that a marine unit will head to the area passing through the red sea, some 2,000 marines there. what i want to talk about now is the israeli deployment along the border with gaza. obviously, you have these troops in this exclusionary zone. infantry troops all around in there as well as all kinds of armored units, tanks and whatnot. what are they doing right now? how are they preparing? >> the number is likely classified. there's probably 60,000 to 80,000 troops there. it's a significant logistical challenge to get them ready for this offensive operation that will take place.

they are d minus to the day it will happen. they have to do x amount of tasks in order to be ready. it counts down to the day when they launch. >> how important is intelligence in terms of what they know the situation is on the ground? i but this map up. this is the dividing line between the north and south. israel told member to move south. these are hospitals in the region. >> the complexity because of the urban combat they are going into, it makes intelligence that important. hostages create a layer of uncertainty. they are not going to launch into this offensive operation until they are confident they will be successful. because they don't have the kind of human intelligence inside of gaza they had in the past. >> who, in terms of israeli troops, will be going in? what training do they have? >> look at this brigade.

they have the kind of experience that will fight the urban fight. they have trained in an area that's close to -- >> you can see it there. >> close to gaza. they have done this before. >> this is a mini gaza city they built to train in. >> this fight will be led by the active duty forces. they recalled 300,000. the fight will be led by the 170,000 active duty forces. >> when they do get in here -- you can see how densely populated it is. when the troops roll over the border, what is it that they can do? >> it will be piece by piece, street by street. given what the objectives are from the military commanders, i think one of the things that they are going to be able to accomplish is start destroying tunnels. i believe that from a military objective, that's something that they can accomplish. war is an extension of your foreign policy. this is something the military

can do. as they move through gaza, as they take block by block, they will be destroying these tunnels and destroying these facilities to take away hamas' capability to wage war. >> president biden doesn't believe occupation would be a good idea. you could go in there and destroy the tunnels. i want to talk about what we have seen over the last several hours. we have seen a rocket attack in ashkelon. you have seen israeli air strikes on some of this area where israel told people in gaza to move to. what are the possible targets here for israel given that this is where they told civilians to go? >> that's coming from intelligence sources that show hamas troops are retreating as well. i think that's the only reason why they would shoot in that area. they have left the supply route, this area for civilians to go. they are doing everything they can to make sure civilians have

a way to get out. >> if you are hamas, you know civilians are being told to move there. >> you are trying to stay alive at this point. trying to figure out -- they know -- we expect that hamas has defensive positions in these locations that are known crossing points that the israeli idf has to take. there's a hard border there. they can't destroy a border for any element of surprise. there's known locations they have to cross. >> great to have you here. thank you. this is the no-go zone. this is where the israeli troops are preparing for an invasion that could happen within days. thank you. kat kate? new video in of idf air strikes in gaza and also a new view from the ground. what that looks like from the civilians there. we are staying close to capitol hill today. republicans are taking the speaker fight to the house

floor, it looks like. does jim jordan finally have enough votes or at the very least the momentum? how many rounds could they go today? donald trump, he is headed back to court, expected to arrive at the manhattan courthouse this hour for his civil fraud trial. an update from the courthouse is ahead.

right now, the world health organization is warning gaza faces an imminent public health crisis as israel's war against hamas intensifies. overnight and this morning, israeli air strikes are continuing to pummel gaza, snatching human life, as israeli troops continue to amass at the border for the next phase of the war. this is video of one of dozens of strikes that the idf has carried out since hamas' massacre in israel on saturday. we also want to show you what it looks like on the ground. a warning, what you are about to

see and the reality of war is extremely disturbing. after one strike, you can see terrified civilians, men, women and children, there they are scrambling for safety. people quickly grab what belongings they can escape with. some of them are injured in the blast and still trying to get away. another horrifying image shows a grieving palestinian man carrying the body of a child after a strike in southern gaza. then there is this. we have been looking at these mass graves for people, because there are just too many bodies killed so quickly all at once. there is no time to do any kind of other proper burial. for those who have survived, the vital humanitarian aid that they need is piling up across the border in egypt. the crossing there into gaza is still closed.

let's bring in our reporter. the world health organization is warning that water running out for thousands, hundreds of thousands of palestinians. what are you hearing from those and seeing from those on the ground there? >> reporter: not just water, sara, food, fuel, the essentials of life are running out. in fact, rights groups are warning that with some of the basics, you only have 24 hours of stock left before you look at people really in terrible desperation. i want to bring you an image that begins to explain the complications. this is the border crossing this morning. what you are going to see is smoke billowing, the aftermath of multiple air strikes on or near the border crossing. this is the one and only viable way for aid to get in and for people to get out.

it has been closed. there's been intense diplomatic efforts under diway by the unit states, the u.n., others, to try to reserve this between the egyptians and israeli government. no resolution there yet. what's important to remember here when we are talking about the basics running out, it's not just about this humanitarian crisis unfolding moment by moment. it is being added to, because those bombs continue to rain down on gaza, meaning more deaths, meaning more injuries, meaning more people flooding into an overwhelmed hospital system. there's no safe place to go. that's what rights groups are saying. people have fled south desperate for the safety. but you showed the dramatic images -- i know we are playing some on our air, parts of the south where families tried to run only to find that they were caught up in air strikes there. absolute fears over the next 24 hours. all of this is coming before a

ground incursion -- that potential ground incursion has started. 2 million people trapped in a war zone. >> it's really, really, really difficult to look at these images and see that terror on the face, especially of children as they are running away. they are trapped at this point in time. they can't get out from any border, not even the one with egypt. thank you so much. i appreciate your reporting. back to you, kate. >> clearly, security is also a top priority around the decision for president biden to be visiting israel as hamas continues to launch attacks on israel. israel is preparing a ground incursion of gaza. the white house saying that it carefully weighed the complex risks ahead of the visit. the risk associated with such a trip was evident last night when tony blinken -- his meetings in israel were disrupted by sirens

warning of incoming rocket fire. blinken and reporters following the secretary of state were rushed to bunkers. [ sirens ] joining us now is the former director of national intelligence, james clapper. thanks for coming in. this visit sends a powerful message. it comes with risk. what are the key considerations when planning something like this, especially on short notice? >> well, there's a number of -- first of all, the matter of personal security of the president. good on him for taking on this mission. to me at least, there's a lot of messages he is conveying here. certainly, support for the israelis.

i would also surmise that he is counseling moderation, if that's possible, after seeing these graphic scenes of the affects of the air strikes in gaza. a message to the region, particularly engaging other nations to get them involved perhaps for negotiating with the -- for the release of the hostages. it's a very important trip. i have to wonder, what's the long-term affect. i wonder as i watch the graphics, what exactly is driving the targeting of these air strikes? what is israel using as a basis for deciding what targets to strike? this is almost, in my mind, kate, a perfect storm.

a dreadful, terrible humanitarian crisis in gaza made all the worse by air strikes, frankly. as you have graphically shown in sara's reporting. whether the president can have a calming influence here, make some progress, i think remains to be seen. certainly, applaud his -- giving it a try. >> i want to play for you, kind of with that idea in mind, some of what we heard from secretary blinken last night when he was announcing that biden was going to be heading over. listen to this. >> the united states and israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in gaza, and them alone, including the possibility of creating areas to help keep civilians out of harm's way. it is critical that aid begin flowing into gaza as soon as

possible. we share israel's concern that hamas may seize or destroy aid entering gaza or otherwise prevent it from reaching the people who need it. >> just this morning, director, the king of jordan said that no refugees are going to be allowed into jordan. he called it a red line. no refugees will be going into egypt. how hard is it to do this at the same time? >> that's a great question, kate. something i have been wondering about. to me, humanitarian corridors and attacking and bombing are kind of in conflict with one another. i don't -- i mean, i applaud secretary tony blinken for what he is trying to do here. i have trouble figuring out how this is going to be orchestrated or conducted where you are trying to afford relief to the hostages -- or to the populous

of gaza and at the same time bomb them. i guess they discussed all this. i had trouble reconciling the two, frankly. >> clearly, the goal we have heard over and over again of biden going over is deterrence is one goal. how far do you see this visit going, along with marines being prepped, two carrier strike groups heading in, to convincing iran to not take this further? >> well, that's the obvious message here of deterrence with carrier battle groups. i suspect there are other things going on that we don't know about. again, getting back to the messaging theme, there's clearly a message here to iran not to unleash their surrogates, hezbollah, in an all-out attack on the northern regions of

israel, so israel isn't co confronting a two-front war, which would be very daunting for them. again, that's why the trip is risky as it is, pretty high stakes and lots of messaging here. this is a message of support to the loved ones of all the hostages, whether american or any other nationality. i think the president's conveying a lot of important messages here. >> there's a lot of different tentacles to all of this and what's at stake here. you laid it out really well. thank you. it is a huge day in washington. within a few hours, there could be a new speaker of the house or, frankly, not. jim jordan takes his quest to the house floor. we have a new whip count of how far away he is from success. from chrome to duckduckgo.

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we make money from ads, but they don't follow you around. join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on mobile and desktop today. the countdown is on. a vote for house speaker happens very soon. by cnn's count, congressman jim jordan is still short of the 217 votes he needs to win the gavel. let's get right to capitol hill. lauren fox is there. jordan has made some progress, lauren. how close is he or is he not? >> reporter: let's put this in perspective. he has made progress. over the last several days, he picked up some big endorsements from mike rodgers, from ann wagner, people who on friday

said they would never vote for jim jordan. now, however, he is still short the votes he needs when he goes to the floor this afternoon. by cnn's tally, which has been kept meticulously by our house producer, one thing has become clear. there are nine members who are either leaning no or are a hard no against jim juroordan. there are dozens more who have not said how they will vote. when the house opens noon today, we expect it will take a half hour to 45 minutes before they will begin that first balloting of voting. one thing to keep an eye on, we don't expect this will only go one round. one of the things that jordan allies is making clear that they believe even if they are short in the first round, that they can pick up support on the house floor if they go round after round. the question becomes, how patient is the republican majority with jim jordan?

are they going to be as patient as they were with kevin mccarthy, giving him 15 minut opportunities to lock down votes? does he come to the floor with at least 200 votes? that was the floor that mccarthy had in january. he never dipped below that. those are two things that i'm going to keep an eye on when jim jordan comes to the floor at noon. >> to set expectations, if we can put that chart up, the firm nos. there were five firm nos as of now. he can only lose -- actually, first vote, he can only lose three. because he has one supporter who won't be there for the first vote. three or four max he can lose. five definitely not. if you are expect -- your expectation should be that jim jordan, if this chart is right, will not win on the first ballot. it could be a long afternoon. lauren fox, thank you very much. keep us posted if any of those votes change. let's get back to tel aviv.

sara sidner is there. >> thank you so much. here in tel aviv, the war changed the way one of israel's largest hospitals is operating. it's an emergency plan years in the making. but now, they are ready to put it into action. i had a chance to see it firsthand. an underground hospital prepared to care for every single patient comes in as rockets come in from israel's south and north. a doctor checks in on a patient. just an ordinary day in the hospital. except there's nothing ordinary about where this is taking place. >> this is the bunker underground hospital. this is a functioning hospital in the highest level. every service, every technology, everything that they need we provide them. everything is being supplied

here. >> it has the look and feel of a regular hospital with all the things that you would expect, except for when you turn the corner and you can really see this is an underground parking garage. at least it was. vehicle parking spaces are now for patient beds. driveways for push carts. this is how tel aviv's medical center is preparing to treat patients in wartime. it's as perfectly normal as usual in the most abnormal scenario. >> exactly. this is the right place to put it. >> this is the result of 14 years of planning for war. >> we planned this underground hospital 14 years ago, more or less, after the second lebanon war. tel aviv was for the first time got missile attack. >> that was then, before hamas

stormed across the border by land, air and sea, killing, kidnapping and maiming men, women, and children. several floors above the hospital bunker, 60 hospital beds are filled with victims from the hamas attack. >> i went to a party with my friends. it was a music festival. 6:30, something like that, it started. >> he and his friends managed to jump in their car. >> there was a squad of terrorists that started spraying at us, shooting. >> shooting at you? just indiscriminate? >> yes, just shooting. >> his car among those abandoned on the side of the road. he ran and hit for the next five hours, blood pouring from his arm where a bullet smashed through his skin and bone. >> there's no one in this world who wants peace more than i do.

trust me. i got shot over peace. i don't want this. none of us wanted this to happen. >> do you think peace is possible? >> wow. i used to believe in peace all the time. but right now after seeing what i saw, the prime minister said something very important. he said peace you don't make with friends, you make with enemies. even enemies need to be human beings. >> no matter who you are, this hospital will treat you deep below the earth's crust. it has already moved a section of the hospital to get the staff and patients prepared for life below during war. what do you think about being in a parking garage? >> he is enjoying every minute of it. >> does it feel different this time? >> it feels different because we know it's not like kind of

limited operation. it's wartime. >> it was an incredible look at what has to be done here for fear of rocket attacks hitting a hospital. i do want to talk a second about the young man that you saw there that survived the attack at that dance party. it was remarkable to hear him talk about peace after he was a victim of being shot and hiding for five hours wondering if he was going to make it. he is still convinced peace is possible between the israelis and the palestinians. he said, look, the civilians there, i'm worried about them just as much as the civilians here. >> it's holding on to that hope that is the only way that there is another side of this. right? incredible is the right word. seeing how they have set up in that underground parking garage is incredible to see. it's great stuff.

we will get back to sara in israel. thank you. coming up for us, donald trump arrived at a new york courthouse moments ago. we will take you there. it could decide the fate of his business empire.

right now, donald trump is back at a manhattan courthouse where the civil trial threatening his business empire is about to pick back up. just yesterday, the chief operating officer for trump hotels testified, took the stand and testified that the amount detailed on trump's 2021 financial statement, quote, appears to have been overstated.

bryn, what's expected to happen today? >> reporter: let me start with what we are not expecting to happen. that is a face-off between the former president and his former personal attorney fixerfixer, ml cohen. he was supposed to testify today. he had a medical issue. got a doctor's note. he is no longer testifying. there was speculation as to why not, knowing the former president was going to be here for that testimony. he went on twitter saying he is not nervous about it and that he is going to testify. we do expect that to happen sometime next week. keep in mind, michael cohen is the person -- part of the reason, a major reason as to why this entire civil trial started. his 2019 testimony to lawmakers said that the former president did inflate his assets. that's why the new york attorney general eventually sued in this trial. we expect that testimony to

happen, just not today. testimony we expect to happen will be continuing from trump organization members, talking about the bookkeeping, talking about getting to the nitty-gritty details of how assets were determined, how everything is figured out inside the trump organization. the former president is inside the courtroom. we wonder if he is going to say anything as did he when he first came to the trial in the first days, if he will say anything outside the courtroom doors. we will be expecting to wait for that. we will continue to follow the updates inside that courtroom, kate. >> absolutely. thank you so much for being there. hamas carried out these terror attacks in israel leaving 1,200 plus dead. 200 hostages might be held in gaza. hamas is seeing interest in its social media accounts boom.

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interest, despite being barred from many apps. the followers have tripled and views on their videos has skyrocketed tenfold. we have been tracking all of this. what are we seeing? >> look, hamas is a designated foreign terrorist organization here in the u.s. in the european union, quite recent new internet laws there have made it almost essentially illegal for major big platforms to have accounts run by the likes of hamas on their platforms. then there is telegram. it's a tool that's not very widely used here in the u.s., although it did become popular among a lot of trump supporters, also among a lot of people on the far right after the january 6 capitol attack. that's when a lot of the big peddlers of election conspiracy

theories got kicked off big platforms and moved to this app telegram. the reason why is because it's a bit of anything goes there. you can post anything. it has no moderation. that is where hamas is posting right now. i want to show you just some stats. they had 200,000 followers. you mentioned the views have increased tenfold. why is telegram allowing hamas, a terrorist organization, to stay on its platform? the ceo of the company, we have part of a statement from him. he said it's complicated. he said it is always tempting to act on emotional impulses. such complex situations requires thorough consideration that should take into account the

difference between social platforms. his point there is that telegram is that it doesn't promote content. yet he is giving a massive audience to this group. finally, i should mention that while a lot of folks will say these accounts should be shut down, right now for the families of hostages, that is where we see the hostage videos and things being posted. it's a perverse source of information in some ways. it's a conversation and debate that will be ongoing, of course. >> that's a good point, a depressing point that i hadn't thought of. thank you. president biden expected to leave the white house today for his wartime visit to israel. we are hearing a new plea from the mother of one of the hostages kidnapped by hamas. stay with us. from chrome to duckduckgo.

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