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thank you so much for joining us. i'm fredricka whitfield in atlanta. wolf will get to you in a moment. we begin our special coverage with new developments happening in israel's war against hamas. and a warning, what you are

about to see a graphic. new action on the ground as israel defense forces say they clashed with hamas fighters inside gaza. this is just the second time inside the enclave since the terror attack. it has been another violence day where a new barrage of israeli airstrikes hit several targets, one gaza hospital saying that they are being overwhelmed by the number of bodies. videos obtained by cnn show dozens of dead people wrapped in shrouds surrounding the hospital. the morgue already filled to capacity. israel also launching a rare aerial assault on a mosque in the west bank. the idf claims the strike thwarted an imminent terror attack. but the palestinian authority calls it a dangerous escalation. idf is vowing to increase its aerial bombardment of gaza ahead of a potential ground incursion

against hamas. with the bloodshed mounting, this afternoon president biden held phone calls with benjamin netanyahu and pope francis. that as more critical aid appears to be on the way into southern gaza. 15 trucks carrying food and supplies from egypt are now being inspected at the rafah border crossing just one day after the first convoy was allowed into gaza. wolf, let's send it back over to you. >> fred, thank you. let's get more, our team of reporters are calling all the late breaking developments. priscilla, what more are you learning about the phone conversation between president biden and prime minister netanyahu? >> reporter: wolf, this is the eighth phone call the two leaders have had since the attacks on october 7. and while we're still awaiting a readout from the white house about this call, the two have

spoken multiple times, including this past friday, and in the course of those conversations, the two leaders have talked about the ongoing support by the u.s. to israel. the fact that the u.s. wants to see that innocent civilians are protected and humanitarian aid is making its way into gaza. just yesterday the president here was asked about whether the administration is trying to delay any invasion by israel and to that he said that he was talking to the israelis. so clearly a working weekend here for the president. not the only call of the day. the president also spoke to pope francis today according to the white house where the two also discussed the situation in israel and gaza. white house officials watching all this very closely and the president himself being briefed regularly by his national security team. >> huge issue obviously facing the president of the united states. alex, there is some question as you know about whether the biden administration is asking israel to delay any ground incursion into gaza.

but a senior israeli official is flatly denying that claim. what more are you learning? >> this is a major priority for the biden administration to get these american hostages out, to get all of the hostages out. this is something that the u.s. has asked qatar to talk to hamas about. and clearly the u.s. is encouraged by the fact that the two americans were released, mother and daughter, on friday. and so there is hope here in the u.s. and certainly elsewhere including israel that more progress can be made on the hostage front as well as getting aid into gaza which is under way but certainly far from mission accomplished. and so what i'm hearing from different sources is that there has been some pressure from the biden administration on the israelis to delay their looming ground incursion into gaza to allow for more progress on both those fronts, on the hostage front as well as on the aid into gaza. as you noted, senior israeli

official has denied that this is the case, but when you put the question to biden administration officials as priscilla was noting with the president but also secretary blinken, he did not deny that. he said that this is a decision for israel to make in terms of the timing of their ground invasion. but clearly this is a major concern for the united states. every time we hear a biden administration official talking about support for israel, that is quickly followed by concerns over the humanitarian condition in gaza for palestinians fleeing the fighting, for the aid getting in there and for the hostages. >> alex, also today the state department here in walkeded all non-emergency u.s. government personnel to immediately leave iraq. what is happening there? >> reporter: this follows a similar warning that we heard from the state department for lebanon. and so it reflects this growing concern about potential attacks on u.s. targets in the middle

east, potential attacks against american citizens. and so right now the state department has a level four travel advisory, that is as high as you can go. the state department saying don't go to lebanon and now don't go to iraq. at the same time, families that are associated with those embassies in those two countries are coming home, non-emergency nern personnel are leaving as well. the advisory says u.s. citizens in iraq face high risk to safety and securities. and this is something that we heard from lloyd austin earlier, that there is the prospect for increasing violence against u.s. targets in the middle east. >> and the state department also issued a worldwide alert for americans traveling abroad to exercise in their words increased caution. we're watching all of these coach. s very closely. alex, priscilla, thank you str very much. let's turn to matthew chance in northern israel for us. israeli troops clashed with

hamas today inside of gaza. what more are idf officials saying about this incursion, this skirmish going on inside gaza? >> reporter: well, first of all, wolf, this is not necessarily the start of the big sort of land invasion everybody has been bracing for for which israel has deployed tens of thousands if not more of its troops near gaza in order to undertake. but it is an example of the kind of pinpoint operation that israeli forces have been conducting inside gaza on the land. of course backed by those very heavy airstrikes. particularly in the north of the gaza strip as well to try to find information perhaps on the location of the various hostages that are being held by hamas inside the gaza strip. it also underlines just how hazardous a land operation is going to be inside the gaza strip because with this first

confrontation on the ground between hamas and israeli military, we saw one israeli killed, others have been injured. and of course again gaza is an area which has very dense population. also very close tight knit streets. much of them have been demolished by airstrikes over the past couple weeks. there is also the network of underground tunnels that has to be contended with. and i don't know exactly what happened today, but undoubtedly some of those factors came into play and resulted in at least one israeli death. and so it indicates just how difficult it will be when it is a full-scale invasion. probably a lot more israeli soldiers. >> and on top of all of this, there was a rare israeli airstrike in the west bank targeting hamas. what more are officials saying on that front? >> reporter: yeah, this airstrike on a mosque actually

in the city of jenin in the west bank i think indicating just how serious the israelis are at the moment about tackling militarily any threat that they detect. and what they say, israeli military says, is that they believe that terrorist plot was being hatched or planned from the basement of that mosque and so concluding that hamas militants and militants from another palestinian group islamic jihad, and that they took action to stop that before it took place. that is not the version of events palestinian officials are putting out there. they are saying this was an escalation and they have condemned it. but again it underlines just how much violence there is at the moment across the entire region. >> matthew chance, stay safe up there in northern israel for us. meanwhile israel's

ambassador to the united states michael herzog is joining us live. ambassador, thank you for joining us. let's start with the news, cnn has learned that u.s. officials are pressing israel right now to try to delay any full-scale ground offensive in gaza. would you like to comment on this report? ? >> yes, that is not true. there is no reason to delay the ground operation. we have very close consultations. many questions coming during the consultations. but as the white house said and as we said, israel is a sovereign nation and they don't tell us what do. they understand the situation. so there is no real pressure. there is a dialogue, all questions coming up in the dialogue, they give us advice, but they are not telling us what to do or what not to do.

>> is the advice to delay a ground invasion? >> again, i'm telling you the u.s. -- [ inaudible ] -- operation has to do with tactical operation as well as considerations. in the dialogue with the u.s., there is a lot of questions but they are not telling us what to do or what not to do and they said as much in their public statements. >> so if israel is unwilling to delay any potential ground offensive inside gaza, ambassador, what is the plan to try to get the other hostages, there may be as many as 200 hostages, being held by hamas in gaza, what is the plan goat the rest of the hostages out? >> i'm not going to discuss such plans in public. this is very high on our agenda. we are concerned about the situation of the hostages. we call on the international community to press hamas to

release them unconditionally. we hold them accountable for any h harm. that is all i can say at this point. >> why do you think hamas actually released these two american hostages, a mother and daughter, what did they hope or expect to get in exchange? >> obviously i think that they are concerned about the public opinion and what is coming their way. so it is their way to release some pressure to show that they are humane. after all, we've all seen the terrible scenes from the beginning of the war october 7. and i think that it troubles them. and they want to show that they can take care of humanitarian issues. we welcome the release of any hostage but we remind everybody that there are over 200 people out there including women,

children, elderly and sick people. >> what is the potential end game, ambassador, of an israeli ground offensive into gaza? does israel have a coherent strategy for what would come next if it were able to destroy hamas, destroy their military equipment, their infrastructure? what would happen in gaza after that? >> given the fact that hamas launch an all-out war against the state of israel and we've seen what they did, israel has no option but to go after hamas and to destroy their military capabilities. and the governance body that directs this military capabilities inside gaza. that is the goal of this war. this goal cannot be achieved without the ground operation. now, what will be the end state or the end game, this is something we're thinking about. this is something that we are --

we began discussing with some of our friends. we won't discuss it in public, but it is something that we think about. it is very much on our mind. >> but you are unwilling to tell us what your preference would be at least not now, is that right? >> all i can say is that we wanton a end game without hamas ruling gaza and being able to threaten the state of israel. there is room for discussion and we are entering this discussion. >> ambassador, i know the connection is a little upset right now, but is israel open to allowing a steady stream of humanitarian aid to come into gaza from egypt? >> well, this is the second day humanitarian aid is going from egypt to gaza. yesterday and today.

so as you can see, we're facilitating that. mindful of the fact that hamas might want to put its hands-on those humanitarian supplies and feed its own war machine. but we're doing it in close coordination with the united states, with egypt and with the u.n. >> the idf has engaged as you know with various groups along israel's northern borders with both lebanon and syria. what is your level of concern about the escalating conflict moving towards a much wider regional war? >> we are watching the situation in the north very closely as everybody knows. since we began -- since hamas launched the war against israel, hezbollah attacked us along the israel/lebanon border. every day we have firing of anti-tank missiles and they also

allow some factions to take action and infiltrate and attack us. i think no wants an all-automatic war. hezbollah it is not in their interests as well because they know what would be the outcome and what price they will pay. but i take the opportunity to warn that there is room for m miscalculation and things could get out of hand even though north want to engage in full-scale war, we are very mindful of that situation and we extend messages to iran and hezbollah. >> and so what do you see as the role of iran in all of this? >> obviously iran is a leader of the so-called resistant axis in which hamas is a member, hezbollah is a member, houthis are a member. so when houthis fire rockets, it couldn't happen without iran

providing them with weapons. and the same for shiite militias in syria and iraq and same for hezbollah. so obviously we all understand that the leader of this axis is iran. it doesn't mean that the iran and hezbollah want to enter the fray and go into full-scale war with israel or the united states, i don't think so, but they are playing a dangerous game. >> ambassador, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you very much, wolf. and still to come, protests continue to erupt across the world as israel/hamas war escalates. how the israeli arab community is reacting, that is next.

protests over the israel-hamas war continue to erupt around the globe. today in bosnia for example a crowd of thousands of pro palestinian protestors gathered to demonstrate against the

violence unfolding in gaza. similar march took place in belgium today as pro palestinian demonstrators marched in front of the eu commission headquarters in brussels. this is after several days of protests with pro palestinian and pro-israeli demonstrators marching in cities and public squares around the world. i'm joined now by an israeli arab activist and ceo of, together, vouch for each other. thank you so much for joining us. tell us how the israeli arab community is reacting to this conflict with hamas right now. >> it is very obvious when it comes to the israeli society, majority of them took a solid decision we are against hamas, we're against isis hamas. that is what we're calling them because 7th of october, we saw the atrocities resp, massacre a horrific things that the terrorist organization hamas

did. and i had some calls with my friends from israel. and when we spoke about it, we literally felt that hamas could have concurkconquered the south center and then the north of israel where the majority are staying. and we had a very bad feeling about it and immediately my friend and colleagues here said that is the last thing that we want. we don't want to live under a terrorist organization. we want to live in a democracy and that is what the state of israel is. of course unfortunately we have a tiny minority within our society that support hamas and we are lucky that the israeli police which people need to understand the israeli police have jewish officers in it and they are dealing with extremists in the best way that they can do in order to maintain -- >> i know your organization,

together vouch for each other, works to promote partnerships and tries to bridge the gap between arabs and jews. how has this current conflict complicated that relationship? >> here is the thing. it is not. in fact it made us more united. i have to share with you stories that i'm not sure the international media knows that, but for instance i could give you yousef from the -- he is an arm of -- [ inaudible ] -- muslim and he himself saved more than 30ees on 7 of october. and when he was asked why you didn't escape because bullets were flying, and he answered, and i want to make sure everybody understand he said i'm iz hesraeli and my obligation i

save them. second story is officer h. i can't say his full name. but officer h is an arab muslim as well and he managed to eliminate a lot of hamas isis terrorists because he took his idf uniform out in order not to expose himself and called them in arabic to come to them. he said come to me. and once they revealed their hidden place, he hit them immediately. countless stories of civilians sending supplies for the soldiers and for citizens of the south of israel. so people are talking about how is it complicating things between jews and arabs and i will tell you it is quite the opposite. the relationship between jews

and arabs in israel is getting stronger and we also must keep looking at the minority extremists in order for them not to, you know, intimidate us. this is one of the crucial things. i've been working as a social activist with my organization, working on bridging the gaps, working on bringing our society closer for several years. time after time i've been targeted by minority extremists. only reason why i did not stop is because i call the silent voice from arab society always sending messages saying we think like but we don't have the guts to a because of the extremists. the extremists threaten your life, they are willing do things. i got attacked on the way back to israel from dubai and my mom broke her hand because of an extremist who have a problem with my views and my activities. so that is why a lot of people

from the arab society are scared of them. i'm tell to tell you step by step we're getting out and after the clashes that isis hamas did, they said please, we want our voice to be spread all over the world. and on so please use your social media. share this video with the world. let the arab world know that air rain israelis are not supportive hamas in any way. hamas is a terrorist organization and we need to destroy it as fast as possible. >> it is so important with what you are doing. thank you so much. and thank your organization as well. appreciate it very much. >> thank you very much for having me. still to come, a closer look at the devastating consequences of the war on children living inside gaza.

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the death toll in gaza continues to rise as more than 4600 people have now died in gaza. that according to the territory's hamas controlled palestinian ministry of health. tragically about 40% of that number is made up of children. cnn's jomana karedsheh has their story. and a warning, some of the images and stories in this report are very graphic and difficult to watch. >> reporter: why, why have you gone my son, he wails. he wanted to be a pilot. you're only sleeping, he says, kissing his boy's lifeless body. every day of this war has brought pain, pain no parent wants to ever live through. every 15 minutes in gaza, a child is killed, aid groups say.

more than 1500 children killed so far in a war that is only just beginning. a war they didn't choose. one for which they are paying the heaviest price. those who live, haunted by what they survived. lucky ones still have parents to hold their bands. this 10-year-old still doesn't know the strike that left him injured took away his mom, dad and three sisters. his aunt the only one left to try to comfort him. he wakes up, he cries, they give him pain killers and he goes back to sleep, she says. i'm worried about him, the shock when he wakes up and finds out that his mother and father are gone, his aunt says. he is the youngest. he was so attached to his parents. he used to play football with his dad. he would go with him everywhere. families here say that they all heeded the israeli military warning and moved south thinking that it would be safe. but it wasn't.

medics injured in the hips and legs, she lost her mother and siblings in an airstrike. >> translator: girl in the third grade, what did she do, her aunt asks. did she shoot israelis? she didn't. we're a peaceful people in our homes, she said. we didn't launch any rockets or shoot. we didn't do anything. >> reporter: this 9-year-old was out playing when his family home was hit. he is in hospital with head and leg injuries. >> translator: we were playing in the garden and suddenly a missile landed on us, he says. trees fell on me, my mother, father, brother and grandfather are injured. my uncle brought me unconscious to the hospital. >> reporter: most of the injured in gaza doctors say are children and women, with no power, no water and medical supplies running out, health care they need is on the verge of collapse. around half of gaza's population are children, most have only ever known life under a blockade and war. now in this kill box, no place

safe from israel's relentless bombardment. desperate for any promise of safety, many have flooded the hospital grounds. constant buzz of military drones overhead has become part of existence in gaza. some find a little escape from the living nightmare no child should ever endure. jane and julia say their neighborhood was flattened by airstrikes. >> translator: we've been living in so much fear, panic and anxiety, she says. whenever i hear airstrikes, i don't know what do. i hug my mom. >> reporter: this 7-year-old julia holds her mom too and hides. they are now living under the stairs. i get upset when i see injured here in the hospital, julia says. i want to become a doctor so i can treat them so they can get better. it is a war on hamas they say, but it is the youngest who bear

the brunt. ensnared in violence they can't control, trapped in this race against death.mana karedsheh, c. >> thanks for that important report. coming up, leaving everything behind to work as a medic in the war, why this israeli american doctor is traveling to israel to volunteer at a hospital. stay with us.

welcome back. a 27-year-old israeli american medic is risking her life by joining the humanitarian effort in israel's war against hamas. she said good-bye to her family and flew to israel why she plans to work at a hospital, nursing homes and hotels to treat the injured. camila bernal is joining us with this. why is she putting her own life

at risk? >> reporter: she said this is her way of pursuing justice. she left everything behind at her home in fredericksburg, texas. she stopped here in los angeles, that is when we were able to talk to her right before going to israel. she actually texted us, she is still almost in israel, she said she will land in about half an hour. but she told me as an american again, the only time i've ever felt this way was during 9/11 and she said that she had those feelings all over again. and so she decided that this is what she needed to do. she wants to volunteer her time at these hospitals even though she does tell me, look, i am scared. i don't know what will happen, but i want to help. listen to what she said. >> fight doesn't mean being on the frontlines. it also means being in the hospitals and helping and talking to people and children who have gone through the most horrible thing that happened. >> are you ready to see that?

>> i don't think anyone is ready. i don't think that anyone truly is ready or truly is prepared. but it is a conscious decision that i've made. and i will stick through it. >> she also told me that she has made peace with a number of possible outcomes here. she says that she understands that maybe she won't be able to come back to the u.s. she could be in the middle of an attack and she told me i also know that i could face death. but she said as long as there is blood running through her body, she wants to be there to volunteer to do anything she can because she says, look, i can't stay in the u.s., i need to be there and donate as much as i can of my time and of my abilities to help the people of israel. but again, she considers herself an american who is there to help the people of israel. >> so we had said she also wants to treat gazans. does she plan to cross into the gaza strip?

>> she told me she knows that there are many people from around that area that will go to a lot of the hospitals and a lot of the nursing homes that are taking care of people, so she said she is willing to treat and help anyone she can. but no plans as of now of going into gaza. >> all right. camila bernal, thank you so much. coming up, the president of a synagogue in detroit found stabbed to death outside her home. what we know about the investigation, next.

investigators are looking for a motive in the death of a synagogue president. samantha woll was found stabbed

to death outside her detroit home. police say they found a trail of blood leading to her home where they believe the crime happened. cnn's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst john miller is joining us to discuss. so disturbing, john. governor whitmer has assigned michigan state police to assist the local detroit police and now the fbi is also assisting in the investigation into samantha woll's death. what does that tell you? >> well, not a surprise. you know, samantha woll was a well-known and influential figure in the jewish community of detroit. personal friends with the attorney general. so they are looking very closely at the obvious burning question, which is does her brutal murder have anything to do with events unfolding on the other side of the world and calls for violence against jewish leaders and jewish institutions. so far, wolf, no indication there. you have a crime where she is at her condominium in la fayette

park, no forced entry apparently is what we are told at the scene. the crime occurs inside her apartment and she flees bleeding from the apartment, a trail of blood leads to where her body was found. so the questions are, was it an attacker or somebody who pushed in behind her as she came home, was the attacker already inside the apartment, was it someone she knew, was it a stranger. you put that together, they are going over her cellphone records, looking for video in the area in a canvas that they hope will show them who was coming and going at the time. but so far, nothing to point to any connection to any of the events on the other side of the world. >> how though do the escalations in israel right now in gaza complicate potentially this investigation? >> well, it complicates the tensions in detroit which is very much like new york or los angeles which has a large

arab-american community, a large jewish community. and those tensions are being felt in the streets especially as we're seeing bombing continue, hostages held, people being killed. >> let me ask you about various law enforcement agencies. as you well know across the country right now being on a higher state of alert for what they call lone offenders inspired by the israel/hamas war. this week the new york police department ordered all officers for example to report in uniform and be prepared for deployment. what does that tell you, john? >> that tells me that law enforcement in new york, chicago, los angeles, washington, d.c., las vegas, across the country in the major cities, are reacting to the meetings they've been holding with their intelligence commanders trying to assess what is it we have to be ready for? certainly as we saw in new york over the last hours, protests in

the street where there were clashes with police, 22 arrests with pro palestine demonstrators in the bay ridge section of brooklyn, but also being ready for the potential of something happening that is unscheduled. hamas has never called for attacks on u.s. soil before, but we've seen a deluge of these threats coming from isis, al qaeda, al qaeda re-released every issue of "inspire" magazine online. these are rife with instructions on how to commit terrorist attacks. isis called for practical ways to support the palestinian people in their words in articles in their magazine by their leader talking about attacks on jewish people, jewish economic trs, jewish night clubs, synagogues across the

world. police are trying to figure out how to have as many people in uniform in reserve no matter what their assignment is in case they have to be called out either in the event of civil disorder or an attack. >> john miller, thank you very much. to samantha woll's family our deepest condolences. may she rest in peace and may her memory be a blessing. coming up, hamas fighters and israeli troops clashing inside gaza in what appears to be one of the first skirmishes between the two sides on the ground in gaza since the hamas terror attacks october 7th. we'll get analysis with the former senior u.s. defense official coming up. from chrome to duckduckgo.

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hamas fighters clashing with israeli troops earlier today, this time inside gaza. it appears to be one of the first skirmishes between both sides from within the gaza strip since hamas unleashed its deadly terror attacks ongt 7th. i'm joined by my guest for some perspective former assistant deputy secretary of defense and now executive director for the mccain institute. thanks so much for joining us. what is today's clash inside gaza between hamas and israeli forces signaling to you? >> yeah. it signals to me what the israelis said, that they are now moving into a new phase of their operation against the hamas terrorist fighters and they are going to try to root them out. it doesn't sound like they had a tremendous success at least in this skirmish, but we can expect to see more of this going forward. >> why do you believe the u.s.

is now pressing israel to delay a full scale ground invasion into gaza? >> well, there are several reasons. i think the top reason, immediate top reason, is the fear that the conflict will spread, so as you know and you and your colleagues have all been reporting there have been attacks coming from the hezbollah, from the north, on israel. there is a fear that the hezbollah fighters might be interested in ratcheting up the pressure. that could get lebanon involved and many other actors then including the united states. that is number one. number two is, and i think you had earlier this morning some excellent people on, general petraeus, former defense minister and prime minister ehud barak and they all talked about a lack of strategy. you need to provide a future vision to the people of gaza.

otherwise you are going to lose in the long run. israel cannot occupy gaza so they need a political transition plan and launching into a full scallop ration without knowing how it is going to end is very risky. >> are there other lessons israel can learn from the u.s. conflicts in the middle east? >> clearly. when we went into afghanistan and certainly iraq we were so heavy handed and were not as able to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys and frankly in our operations because we were so heavy handed we ended up creating more militants as we were eliminating them. you have to be very careful when you go in to take out the fighters. israel has to destroy hamas, destroy the terrorist organization, but it cannot do that and create a whole nother opposition. as i said, they have to offer the people of gaza a