you know i got two home runs. you got two jacks. and then my grand slam. i signed a ball for you. okay. and it says papa i love you. why did you do that? because you've taught me everything about baseball. oh hunny bunny, that's so sweet. (♪♪)

(♪♪) in hours in now a major primetime address. president biden delivering his message to the nation from the oval office, calling for additional aid to israel and also to ukraine. i'm brianna keilar with boris sanchez here in washington. kaitlan collins is live from tel aviv. the state department is warning all americans overseas. >> this is a rare warning and says to, quote, exercise increased caution citing rising senses all over the world. it comes as the humanitarian crisis in gaza grows more dire. egyptian security officials told a cnn journalist on site that the rafah crossing between inmate and the gaza strip will be open on friday to deliver critical aid. workers were seen making

preparations. >> yeah. that would be critical aid. today an israeli strike on a neighborhood about ten miles from where the crossing is killed a number of people and also injured dozens more. that's according to the interior ministry in gaza. a spokesperson for the israeli defense forces said he did not have information but said the military was looking into it. jeremy diamond has been tracking this. we'll begin with nic robertson who is in sderot, israel, near the gaza border. what have you seen on the ground today? >> reporter: well, more incoming rocket strikes. some headed north to where jeremy is. they were intercepted by iron dome. rockets aimed at sderot, they came in, at least one impact that we're aware of here. no casualties associated with that. there has been -- there has been this northern end of gaza,

relatively quiet. i say relatively because we have heard amounts of small arms fire, heavy machine gun fire, and hearing a helicopter, we've heard jets and the occasion missile strike into gaza. but this those terms, it has been relatively quiet. that strike further south from here. as you say, the hamas-controlled interior ministry saying a number of people injured, number of people killed, dozens of people there injured. it is kind of symptomatic of the many, many israeli missile strikes that have gone into gaza targeting hamas, targeting the infrastructure, targeting their tunnels. i've been speaking with two government ministers today. both say israel is not targeting civilians. both of them rejecting the pressure that's coming from the international community for a humanitarian pause to alleviate the civilian suffering at this

time. both of them, though, expecting that humanitarian aid that right now is at the rafah crossing on the egyptian side, expecting that to come into gaza in the coming days. >> so nic, walk us through what's going to be allowed to enter from egypt. what is the operating procedure, what are we supposed to watch happen tomorrow? >> reporter: it's expected that 20 trucks will cross, that is as you say the road was being prepared by workers. we know that on the gaza side there have been some impacts of missiles or shells, israeli missiles or shells on the road connecting the egyptian side into the palestinian side. those if they're repaired completely and if there are no security incidents around the border overnight and if any number of other things don't go

wrong, then these 20 trucks should be allowed in on thepprovize oh that none of the humanitarian goods that they're carrying falls under the control of hamas. that is a red line for israeli authorities who still say as far as getting any humanitarian support and relief for gaza is concerned, none of it will enter from israeli border crossing points because they believe the absence of humanitarian aid is leverage to get the 203 hostages that hamas controls released. the 20 trucks is essentially a drop in the ocean compared to what the 2.2 million people in gaza need. but it is coming at huge pressure from the international community on israel, pressure that actually we've heard from egypt today, we've heard from jordan today, both saying in a joint statement they actually want a humanitarian pause

completely, a stop to israeli missile strikes and artillery strikes so that there can be a bigger humanitarian effort. >> yeah. i heard from someone who has family in gaza yesterday saying those 20 trucks of humanitarian assistance, it's what they could go through in two hours in gaza. nic robertson, we'll continue to check back with you. jeremy diamond, what have you been seeing on the ground today? >> reporter: well, this is -- we are here in asculon, the most fired upon city in israel. 25% of the rockets fired from gaza have targeted this city. that amounts to about 1,200 rockets. while the iron dome does intercept the overwhelming majority of those rockets, about 200 of them have made direct hits here in the city, displacing families, causing casualties, even some fatalities. and what we visited today was the command center where city

officials coordinate the emergency response to these rockets. sometimes tracking the trajectory of these rockets before they make impact, figuring out where they are going to land if, indeed, they get through that iron dome missile defense system. now what we saw today was a city that is really calm. a city that has come to a standstill in many ways. about 25% of the city's population has already left. the population that remains, though, many of them are resilient and determined to stay despite the barrage. we're in a supermarket when an air raid siren went off. what you saw was some people in fear, running inside the store, while others really just continued to go about their day, continuing to do their shopping as they saw it. about 90% of businesses in this city are, indeed, closed. what is open, though, grocery stores, pharmacies, et cetera. but everything else is pretty much shuttered. >> yeah, daily life here has

just been changed so dramatically everywhere. of course what everyone is kind of waiting on, what seems to be looming over the entire -- over all of israel is whether or not they are going to go into gaza, what that looks like. we heard from the defense minister saying troops, israeli forces, will soon see gaza, quote was from the inside. once forces are inside gaza, how long they're there and what that looks like and what it means for the civilians who are still in northern gaza? >> reporter: yeah, not only does the timing, the exact timing of that ground invasion still remain unclear to us, although it does seem to be approaching as you listen to not only the defense minister making comments to troops about seeing the inside of gaza, but the israeli prime minister making bellicose comments indicating that the command to go inside of gaza is very much approaching. but what we know is that that

command is going to come. that is something that defense minister said clearly today. whenever it does happen, though, there is, as you said, still significant uncertainty about how long that mission actually lasts. israeli officials have made clear that this will be a different kind of ground operation than anything that has happened before the last time that they went in in any significant numbers was in 2014. this will be a much wider scale campaign. the question is will they be able to achieve the objective of eliminating hamas as israeli officials including the israeli prime minister have made clear that that is the objective. and also what happens next? who if not the israeli military, you know, who takes control of gaza? and will hamas indeed be eliminated when it is a militant force that can embed with the population national parks can blend in with the -- blend in with the israeli population, if that is an achievable goal, and what happens after.

>> reporter: yeah. israeli officials have warned it will take some time. jeremy diamond, thank you. i want to get more from the white house where the president is set to take his second oval office address since taking office. he previewed that he is going to be asking for a massive aid package from the u.s. congress. what are we expecting to hear from him in terms. not just selling it to lawmakers but to the public who will be listening? >> reporter: this is going to be a direct appeal to the american people for why the u.s. has a national security interest to sustain the fighting in ukraine and to come to israel's defenses in an even bigger way. senior officials tell cnn that the president is going to make the argument that the cost of inaction is far higher than the cost of authorizing the funds that we've now learned the white house is going to request. it's going to be a strikingly large package, about $100

billion through next september. about $60 billion of that is going to be earmarked for ukraine, and rest of it would go toward israel. taiwan readiness, securities measures on the u.s. border with mexico. but the president is facing a skeptical public when he's making this argument. recent cnn polling found that on israel while the vast and overwhelming majority of respondents are sympathetic to the civilian plight in israel and gaza, they are unsure about exactly how to come to israel's defenses and whether congress should authorize more funding there. on ukraine, public support has been waning in recent months, and there's become a very clear partisan divide with the majority of democrats supporting sustaining that money and majority of republicans arguing that perhaps it's time to let some of that funding run out. the administration has argued that there's just a couple months left of supplies that the u.s. has provided to ukraine that remain left.

and john kirby has said ukraine can afford zero days to let that funding and weaponry lapse before it would have issues being able to sustain the fight on the battlefield. the president has a tall order. of course he's going to be infusing some of his personal imagery from his time on the ground in israel and time visiting with president zelenskyy last month as he tries to make that case directly to the public. >> reporter: he's been to both war zones. kayla, thank you. and boris and brianna, obviously president biden is going to be speaking to congress tonight. that's who he's making this ask to. i want to let you know what i've heard from sources on the ground. president biden was not here for very long. a matter of hours that he was here in tel aviv yesterday. but even during those conversations that he was having with this newly formed wartime cabinet, what they're dealing with, of course, as jeremy was noting with when this ground invasion is going to happen, how long it's going to lasts, the drama that is happening on capitol hill came up during those conversations i'm told.

president biden was telling these israeli senior government officials that he was going to be making this big ask of congress, about $10 million for israel itself. but during those conversations he was lamenting what was happening almost at the same time. jim jordan was failing again to secure enough votes to become the republican house speaker. because, of course, officials here are fully aware of how that affects him. no matter what president biden asks congress for, there is no congress that can act if there's not a house speaker to allow that legislation to pass through the house. this is something that it certainly is of concern here. they don't seem to be deeply worried because the president offered assurances that they did believe it would be taken care of. but it is remarkable that that drama that is playing out in the republican conference is something that was being discussed in the basement of a hotel here in tel aviv as the president was meeting with the israeli prime minister and other officials who are dealing with a war on their hands. >> reporter: the world is watching. it is chaotic, it is messy. and it is something that is in

full view of allies and enemies alike. thank you so much. if we can go now to capitol hill because republican congressman jim jordan is pushing the pause button on his bid to be the next speaker of the house. sources say jordan will not hold a third vote for the speakership but he's not dropping out. >> an interesting wrinkle in this. house republicans, obviously, have been bitterly divided over the issue of speaker. moderates have refused to back the ultra conservative jordan. and now sources tell cnn he's leaning toward backing the interim speaker, patrick mchenry, as a temporary fix until potentially as late as january. meantime, he will keep in the race for speaker. we have more live from capitol hill. why is jordan staying in the race if he's losing support, and what are the holdouts saying about this plan? >> reporter: jim jordan thinks he has a new strategy that could eventually get him to the speakership. the new idea now, i'm told, is

that jim jordan is going to get behind this resolution to temporarily empower interim speaker patrick mchenry until january. now he can only oversee floor votes related to the speaker's race. he cannot move legislation. jordan thinks this will give him more time to build support for his speakership bid. there are a lot of risks to this plan. first of all, it is very unclear that that's going to win over any holdouts. i talked to one of them, he said this does nothing to change his mind about a jim jordan atmosphericship. the other -- speakership. the other risk for jordan is this is sparking fierce pushback from members of his own party, conservative members who had been backing him for speaker. they say they do not like the plan of empowering speaker mchenry. listen to what they said earlier today. >> absurd. it's the biggest f you to republican voters as i've ever seen. a big mistake. a big mistake. and i -- over half the republicans in that room are against it. >> i don't think it's the rye way. the speaker drama's not going to go away with extra time. >> i don't know why this is

happening. i'm disappointed. >> hell no. no. no. no. hate i-- hades, no. we need to lead, not kick the can down the road. >> reporter: i'm told republicans are still meeting behind closed doors. this meeting got heated according to sources in the room. at one point there's a conversation with matt gaetz and a number swearing at him saying this is your fault. there were jordan supporters who got up and said this is a self-serving move for jordan, that he should get out of the race. these are very heated, emotional. it's unclear whether there is a path forward for the resolution, whether jordan is going to stick by it. other wrinkle is it's going to take democratic votes to put up this resolution. they had their own meeting this morning. still weighing their options. at this point it looks like this might be the only potential viable option to end the chaos and rope the house -- and reopen the house, and that's looking on thin ice at this point. >> the rifts, plural, rifts are

growing deeper and the house is shutting down in a month. >> and we heard nancy pelosi saying democrats aren't going to go along with that. they are going to provide support. perhaps republicans should not be banking on it. >> thank you so much for the reporting. ahead, just one day before her trial was set to begin, sydney powell, former trump attorney and fierce defender of conspiracy theories, she just flipped, pleading guilty in the georgia election subversion case. what this could mean for former president trump.

we're back with some new developments out of fulton county, georgia. that's where one of former president donald trump's 18 co-defendants in the state's election interference case just flipped. sidney powell, who was one of donald trump's fiercest defenders, going back to spinning conspiracy theories after the 2020 election, she's now pleaded guilty to six charges related to election subversion. >> this is the deal that comes just one day before her trial was due to start.

as parts of this three deal she has agreed to testify in any future trials which raises the possibility that she could testify against trump in the future which obviously is a huge deal. joining us now, we have cnn national security reporter zach cohen, also cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor elliott williams. okay, take us through the reporting. what else do we know about this agreement? >> this was a surprise by powell, and every indication was that she was preparing to go see trial. she was not -- to go to trial. she was not into the plea deal or what was offered before. in the last 24 hours prosecutors and her defense attorneys got together to hash out the terms of something they could both live with. for powell it means pleading guilty to misdemeanors. she was facing a felony, a major felony that called for prison. now she's pleading to much less serious charges. one of the cool things, unique things, is there's cameras in the courtroom. we've been surprised hearing today -- >> cool for us.

>> everyone gets to see it. let's look at when the judge walked through the terms today. >> do you understand that the recommendation being made to the court as to this accusation on counts one through six that you be sentenced to 12 months of probation to run consecutive one another? >> i do. >> do you understand that the state is asking that a $6,000 fine be imposed and restitution of $2,700 be paid to the state of georgia, an apology letter be written to the citizens of the state of georgia, that you truthfully testify at all hearings and proceedings and trials involving the co-defendants in this matter, and that you have no communication with co-defendants, media, or witnesses until this case has been completely closed against all defendants? >> i do. >> and do you understand as a special condition of this sentence that you are to provide what you've already done a recording proffered to the state with a good faith prior to entering this plea? >> i do.

>> so in exchange, sidney powell agreeing to testify in future hearings and hand over documents and referendum related to the case. obviously given her proximity to donald trump after the 2020 election, that could be pivotal. >> yeah. part of her agreement involves writing a letter of apology to the people of georgia for trying to interfere in the election. elliott, how significant a development is this? part of the reason this was brought as a rico case is precisely for this purpose. >> in many respects this is basic, and there's nothing to it. in many respects this is profound. it's basic in that the overwhelming majority of criminal defendants end up pleading guilty. and this is no different. this is a case with 17 defendants, and a lot of them are going to plead guilty. where it's something profound is that you have the attorney to one of the defendants or at least someone who has worked with another defendant as an attorney, pleading guilty to a criminal offense. this here in this case, you are seeing a lot of attorneys getting implicated from john eastman, former attorney for president trump, and rudy

giuliani. all these individuals. that's quite significant. they can provide firsthand testimony about things they saw, they overheard, and if prosecutors aren't satisfied with the evidence that's provided, they just can yank this plea deal and put these folks to trial. >> what does it mean to donald trump? she was in this all-important meeting and intent is a part of this. that could speak to where donald trump's mindset is on this. >> it can. remember what's the nature of the attorney/client relationship. they were probably communicating with each other freely under the assumption that they were speaking truthfully and things they said to each other won't come out. now because they were potentially engaging in the acts of a crime, all that now is available to the public. so i think it could be firsthand assuming it's accurate and truthful and the prosecutors are satisfied with what they hear, it could be incredibly valuable evidence about the state of mind of the president and what he sort was privy to. >> the other trump lawyers that are indicted in this case, as well. rudy giuliani is a big name that sidney powell was interacting

with in his auspice as a lawyer for donald trump. they had a lot of direct conversations that she could shed light on, as well. >> what does this mean for kenneth chesebro? he and powell decided to separate their -- got their cases separated from the other co-defendants in part to have speedy trials. does this make it more likely that he might flip? >> i think it does only insofar as he's now facing trial by himself. heats going to go to trial next week with or without her. again, i can't echo the point enough that most people do plead guilty because you have a tremendous incentive to do so. you get a lower sentence if you do. you don't go to prison. and sidney powell here is looking at six months of rowebration rather than however -- probation rather than however long she might have spent in jail. even in a white-collar prison, it's not a please ant place. a defendant such as powell had a huge incentive to do so. he's still going to go trial, he's scheduled to go trial, stay tuned. who knows what happens between today and monday. >> this is just one of her legal woes, though, that she has kind

of disspence -- dispensed with, a co-conspirator in the case and defamation cases have proved to be so expensive and maybe not advantageous to her in the outcome. >> we've identified her as one of the co-defendants in the case to overturn the election. her legal future uncertain. and the civil matters, the defamation cases, a lot of legal bills mounting for powell. >> a quick points, the thing that we showed from inside the courtroom, it's pretty basic and boiler plate. judges read that about everybody. she has to testify truthfully. and because of the potential risk of what could come to her if she doesn't, people see these plea agreements as prosecutors sort of locking themselves in. but they can yank this at any moment. and so she is not out of the woods yet. >> she can't plead the fifth. >> she can, but the prosecutors

could then revoke her plea agreement. >> it's a very good thing to keep in mind. elliott, thank you, zach, thank you for the great reporting. the fight heating up between does and hezbollah fighters in southern lebanon. why the idf is in the middle of an escalation on how israel is responding next.

is

the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? 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.

the israel defense forces say it is seeing a significant escalation on the border with lebanon and has been striking back after some 20 rockets or so were fired toward israel. today the iran-backed militant group hezbollah says it attacked five military posts. a spokesperson for the idf tells cnn that hezbollah is trying to drag lebanon into the conflict, certainly something people in the region have been worried about. cnn's ben wedeman is in southern lebanon for cnn right now. ben, what have you been seeing as there is concern that if israel -- if and when -- embark on this ground invasion that the fighting could increase and lebanon could get pulled into this war? >> reporter: we are hearing a lot of this cross-border fire. today it wasn't just hezbollah, there was focusing mainly on israeli military positions along the border. but also the military wing of hamas got involved, and they claim to have fired 30 rockets into the upper galilee region.

but i'm -- it's important to keep in mind that even though this area than perhaps 2006 during that war back then. but hezbollah is being very careful to keep it within certain limits to avoid a full-scale war. it seems to be wanting to show that it is supporting hamas by doing some action here without going all the way. keep in mind just a few months ago the israeli defense minister said that if hezbollah decides to launch a war on israel, israel will bomb lebanon back into the stone age. so there is a certain hesitance and certainly in this area where we are, there is nervousness about the possibility of a full-scale war. we spoke with a shopkeeper who told us he has his bags packed in his car ready to go in the event that things go really

south. so there is nervousness, but at the moment i think a certain level of violence without going too far is being maintained here. >> yeah. and that's really interesting given the idea -- if you see the strikes going back and forth, something you say we shouldn't seen in 20 years, and i should note we're hearing a little activity here right now in tel aviv. we'll be monitoring that. but you're saying what hezbollah is doing is maybe a little bit but not enough to provoke israel. is that the sense of what's actually happening on the ground, what their decisionmaking is? >> reporter: yes. they are doing -- what we're seeing really in terms of hezbollah's capabilities is really just the tip of the iceberg. these are very localized attacks. they've not lobbing missiles in the direction of large israeli population centers. we're getting -- hezbollah is putting out videos every day. they seem to be focused on

communications, surveillance, and observation equipment on the israeli side. occasionally hitting tanks and troops, as well. but it's really very military in its focus. not what we're seeing, for instance, in coming out of gaza. this is very specific, very localized. >> yeah. and clearly the u.s. government, though, seems worried it could go from the state of where it is now to something bigger because this warning came out from the state department telling americans in lebanon leave the country as soon as possible. they're worried there may not be commercial options to do so in the near stage i guess. i mean, have you sensed a change in how people feel? are they going about everyday life, or do you sense something different since you've been on the ground? >> reporter: certainly in this area along the border there is nervousness. some people have already left. others have left and come back

because they can't afford to hang out in hotels in beirut. but certainly in general, if you're talking about lebanon, there is nerve usnous -- nervousness. germany, saudi arabia, and others have told their nationals in lebanon that it's a good time to leave now while there are still flights. keep in mind that in 2006 at the beginning of the war between hezbollah and israel, one of the first things israel struck was the airport in beirut. it's also important to keep in mind that when we're talking about nationals of the u.s., australia, uk, germany, canada, and whatnot, there are hundreds of thousands of lebanese who have dual passports. so it's not just tourists who are here or businessmen. there are a lot of lebanese who hold these passports, as well. and in 2006 all of these countries had to send ships to

take their nationals out. and so we're talking about not just a few thousands, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of people who in theory should leave, but many of them are obviously connected to their land and their homeland and won't be leaving. but it's -- we're not talking about a small number of people. >> yeah. a difficult decision for a region that is certainly on edge. ben wedeman, thank you for that reporting. boris and brianna? so we're getting new reporting from capitol hill. it seeps like the fight to become house speaker is getting uglier and uglier. what we're learning about shouting, finger pointing, swearing, prayer, refusing to sit down, all of this happening in a meeting that's under way right now. we'll take you behind closed doors when we come back.

we have breaking news on capitol hill. this chaotic fight that we have watched between house republicans over this new speaker situation, it's even uglier now if you can imagine that. there's been this heated bp to conference meeting under way, happening right now, and we are learning that members, they are swearing at each other, they are shouting at each other in the case of matt gaetz refusing to sit down after former house speaker mccarthy told him to do just that. >> yeah. fellow republican apparently pointing directly at him and saying "this is all your fault" for his filing the notion vacate mccarthy as speaker. let's take you back to capitol hill with melanie. what's happening now? >> reporter: yeah, republicans are still meeting behind closed doors in that conference meeting, which i'm told has

grown heated and emotional. we've seen a lot of conference meetings over the past two weeks as republicans are faced with this deepening leadership crisis and have been unable to get themselves out of this impasse. and they are plunged further into chaos. it's hard to imagine things getting worse, but that's where we're at. i'm told during this meeting, there was the confrontation that you mentioned, boris, between matt gaetz and kevin mccarthy. matt gaetz went toward the microphones, mccarthy told him to sit down. gaetz refused, and another congressman got up and started swearing at gaetz saying this is all your fault. things got emotional, but it didn't end there. there were multiple republicans who stood up including people who were backing jim jordan who said that he should get out of the speaker's race, calling on him to step down, asking why she today is be the spieaker me? . jim jordan -- speaker designee. jim jordan canceled a third vote on a ballot vote today. something else that has come up,

speaking to the intensity and emotions and frustrations, there have been a number of jordan holdouts who have been receiving death threats, menacing messages, angry phone calls to their offices. there's been several members who have received death threats over their vote. so that came up in the meeting. jim jordan, of course, has denounced those threats and said he is not involved in any of these outside pressure campaign tactics that have been deployed by some conservative leaders and conservative media figures. but it all just speaks to just how tense things are inside the gop as they still scramble to come up with a solution here. >> this is -- it's awful. it's ridiculous. when it comes to jim jordan and this idea of empowering the speaker pro tempore, the sort of acting speaker mchenry, where is jim jordan on that vote? >> reporter: he's gone back and forth. initially he was against the idea. he was telling supporters to vote against it yesterday when it looked like it would come up for a vote. this morning we were hearing

that jim jordan was going to get behind the resolution. the idea being if they can temporary enforce speaker until maybe january that it takes away the chaos of a speakerless house and gives jim jordan more time to build support for his speakership bid which he's clearly lacking now. the problem is his own conservative members are fiercely against that idea. he was getting pushback in the meeting against that idea. they also, some of them came out of the meeting were and telling us similar things. jim banks said this would be the, quote, biggest f-u with voters if they move ahead with the plan. it's unclear whether jordan is going to come out of the meeting supporting this resolution, and even if he did, it's unclear whether it would have the votes to pass. they would need democratic votes to get it over the finish line. democrats had their only meeting today but have not made decisions and are in a wait-and-see mode now. so very unclear. it looked like this morning we might have had a viable path, an option out of this chaos. now that's looking less and less certain.

>> all right. some interesting details coming out of that meeting. coming up, a chilling murder confession. it's all on tape. new details that we are learning about the natalee holloway case.

almost two decades after natalee holloway vanished in

aruba, the person who has been the suspect has admitted to killing her. >> even though he admits he killed the alabama teen in 2005, he won't be charged with her murder. jean has been followed all the details. walk us through this, jean. >> reporter: when he arrived in may with fbi ats on an fbi plane from peru they sat down and had a discussion. they said if you'll truthfully and accurately tell us what happened to natalie ee holloway we'll enter into a plea agreement with you. he was first debriefed by the u.s. attorney's office and the fbi. when they all sat down, there was a recording device. the public defender representing van der sloot asked the

questions. we know the fbi was in the room when it happened. we have the audio. here is joran van der sloot describing what they say is very credible and truthful. the fbi is saying that. what happened to natalee holloway. >> she kneed me in the crotch. i get up and kick her extremely hard in the face. yeah, she's laying down unconscious, possibly even dead, but definitely unconscious. i see right next to her there's a huge sin cinder block laying on the beach. i take this and smash her head in completely. her face basically collapses in. >> reporter: there was one more

condition to the plea agreement, a polygraph. once it was done, according to documents, federal agents administered that polygraph and it was determined that it was accurate what van der sloot was saying. >> it's so hard to listen to. i can't imagine for her family -- i know they're glad to have closure here, but what comes next? >> reporter: we've been talking with prosecutor ness aruba. it's fascinating because they say it's an open investigation, continues to be in aruba. they asked the u.s. department of justice for all documentation, all legal documentation, everything they have to get in their hands in aruba. they'll read it and determine what they do next. they are not excluding that something could be done in aruba based on this confession he's given in the united states. >> jean, back to the point about

natalee holloway's family, what are they saying? >> reporter: i've followed this from the beginning. yesterday beth gave a statement outside of federal court. i'll let you listen to what she said and how she feels. >> it just blistered your soul to hear the brutal description of how he killed her. it was intentional in what he did. honestly i can say it now because i spent 18 years not knowing. now i know what happened. the 18 years leading up of not knowing was more tumultuous and torture. taking that hard hit, bracing yourself, your heart and soul to take that hit and absorb the reality and the truth and the answers. >> reporter: she also said she's

been in the profession for years. when all this happened, she moved to aruba to look for her daughter. she needed to be licensed when she got back to alabama and she lost her tenure. the family has gone through so much, even down to her own profession. >> such a difficult journey for that family and her mom. hopefully a closing of that chapter in her life. jean, thanks for the update. still to come, we're going to take you back live to the middle east where air strikes are picking up in northern gaza. all of it before a prime time address from president biden. stay with cnn. we're back in a few minutes.