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♪ this morning a new round of air strikes lighting up the sky in gaza. this as idf is saying it is stepping up operations on the ground. the united nations says that the situation in gaza is growing more desperate by the hour. today, dozens of trucks waiting to cross in as tens of thousands of people have been displaced. donald trump's run for the white house is being challenged in court today. what the 14th amendment has to do with it, and why colorado is taking the lead. i'm kate bolduan with john berman in new york, and sara sidner is in israel. this is cnn "news central."

we are just hours away from an emergency meeting of the u.n. security council as israel is expanding the assault on hamas. on ground in gaza, israeli military officials say now more troops are and the ground than just 24 hours ago. the troops are pushing deeper into gaza as they are hunting for hamas, and what is believed to be the more than 200 hostages that are in that underground tunnel system complex. from the sky, a steady drum beat of the explosions that we have seen and heard, and this is amid urgent pause in the bombings, and so desperately needed food, water, medical supplies can get into gaza. right now, egyptian officials saying that 85 aid trucks are waiting to cross into gaza from the rafah border into gaza.

and right now, the u.n. is calling this a catastrophic failing. we begin with the ground incursion, and what happening now, where there is some according to the palestinian health ministry some 18,000 people have been killed in the past three weeks as israel has declared war on hamas. jeremy diamond is near the border of sderot, and what are you seeing? >> as we enter the fourth day of this expanded ground operation, we are continuing to hear the bombardment of gaza, and intense fighting going on between the hamas militants and israeli forces on the ground. we can hear the machine gun fire over the last several hours, and what we have been able to see thanks for the photo journalist mattias jerome, the area behind

me over the shoulder, the destruction -- destroyed buildings, and this is also the area where we have seen the tanks going by, and the fighting ongoing with the israeli forces and hamas militants. we have seen the plumes of smoke emerge as we hear the outgoing artillery and the hitting outside of gaza. we have learned that the israeli forces have struck over 600 targets including underground tunnels and command centers that hamas is maintaining below the gaza strip. also, we are learning where the israeli forces are operating as you can hear some more outgoing there to the side of me now, and a plume of smoke emerging off camera there which is appearing to be in northern israel actually. we will get back to you on that. and what we are seeing is israeli forces operating in northern most part of gaza, but further south in gaza city, and

one of the main roads there. we this video of an israeli tank operating on the northern most roads and firing on a passenger vehicle. we don't know who is inside of the passenger vehicle is, but it is telling us that israeli forces are certainly operating further south than the northern most part of gaza where they made the initial approach. sara. >> i think that i am hearing the loud booms and blasts behind you. can you give us a sense of what is happening literally right now? >> yeah. well, there are two artillery positions near us there. is one this way from where i am standing, and one the other way, and i am hearing one of the out positions now, and we are seeing the plumes of smoke, and it is not clear if that is northern israel in the gaza strip or gaza. let me see if the photo

journalist mattias can get a picture of the smoke, but again, you can see that we have been seeing throughout the day, that is outgoing artillery fire that we are hearing, but, then again, these are the sights and sounds of war that have been happening over the last several days, and they are going to continue the happen. the idf has made it very, very clear they are going to continue to expand the ground operation, and going to continue to add more troops as they carry out this ground offensive in gaza. >> yes, there has been a call internationally from many of the u.n. counties that they are asking for a cease-fire, and israel says, no, we will continue our war at this point because of what happened october 7th, and trying to get rid of hamas. thank you, jeremy diamond for putting yourself in danger there, as well as mathias showing us what is happening there. back to you in new york. >> and yes, outside of gaza, as

jeremy is looking over the shoulder, he is trying to distinguish if it is the plumes of smoke rising from here or here, and that difficult, because it is distances that is very small. that is what jeremy is literally seeing or hearing right now. and talking about the aid, they are pressuring prime minister benjamin netanyahu to scale down to allow the aid in, because they want the aid in much more quickly and priscilla what has the president been saying to the israeli prime minister? >> well, john, the president and the prime minister have spoken multiple times since october 7th, and since the attack on israel, and this is coming since the time of the dire humanitarian crisis was growing in the region, and humanitarian

agencies say there is not enough food, water and medical supplies. so they are making a plea to get the humanitarian aid into gaza. and the readout says that the president underscored the need to immediately and significantly increase the flow of humanitarian needs of the civilians there in gaza. this is is what they have been pressing israel to do. so there is expected to be 100 trucks to do this. now, we have learned that interconnective restored in gaza, and something that the u.n. was pressing for, and so this is a priority, but something else that the u.s. officials are watching keenly is that the conflict is not going to widen or spread any further, and sending a message of deterrence to iran. this is what the national

security member said this morning. >> we also take our national security interests in the area writ large seriously. and that is why one has been taken from the jamaican in that area, and iran included. we will protect and defend our troops, and do it in a time and manner of our choosing. >> now, john, the president is being regularly updated on all of the situations in israel and gaza, but clearly going into the day, the key is the humanitarian aid gets into gaza as this continues. >> thank you, priscilla alvarez with that report. >> joining us to talk about this is long time negotiator in the statehouse who has worked in

both the republican and democratic administrations, and aaron, can you put this in context how high this risk is at the spilling of over to become a regional conflict that draws the united states in? >> right. so when the national security adviser of the united states jake sullivan publicly is talking about de-escalation, he is not using -- well, they are getting additional indications from hezbollah and iran that there is in fact a pattern of escalation, and we will talk about this in three things. a major conflict of israel and hezbollah which is going to follow the war that they fought in 2016. this is when the most imminent power was shutdown for 36 days. this time, they don't have a

150,000 to 200,000. escalate with the deployment of u.s. involvement, and then of course iran which represents a direct conflict between israel and iran which almost certainly involves iran, and the markets, and the rise in oil prices, and a major escalation of the arab gulf states as well. i am not predicting it, but it is a serious, serious concern right now as well, and particularly as the israelis are ramping up the aggression in gaza. >> but i have a fundamental question, does hezbollah want a full-on work with israel or does

iran want this to expand? >> the last three weeks, kate, it would suggest not only a no, but a strong no in the sense that hezbollah and israelis are following by the so-called rules of the game. and hezbollah is not used to tying trajectory weapons that far south, and then dealing with a human range and i'm sure that they will be bearing brunt of the lebanese of the retaliation, and they are most prepared to fight hamas or fight israel to the last palestinian. so i think that hezbollah's calculation is not to waste or degrade the regional assets and risk a major conflict involving the u.s., and the same thing for iran as well. >> okay. russian ambassador's to israel

was just summoned to jerusalem over the news that the hamas representatives held meetings last week. hosting the leaders of hamas who is responsible for the murderous attacks in israel, and the bloodshed of over 1,400 israelis is conveying a message of terrorism against israelis. the alliance, if you will, and the individual sits coming together of now coming together, and how dangerous is this and what can the u.s. do about it? >> well, the united states is doing everything it can by supporting ukraine to push back against putin's aggression in that war, and iran is obviously playing a critical role with the detection of the persian drones and technology. so the russians and the chinese,

and what is happening in israel, and palestine is a ready-made opportunity to compete and have toward the major push to embarrass the united states who have been standing steadfastly by the israelis. and if the humanitarian effort does not improve and the palestinian residents continue the die because of the effort of the israelis to attack the gaza area without humanitarian aid, and even while they are providing extraordinary support from the u.s., it is going to

make an impact. >> yes, it is interesting of the global view of this conflict. thank you, aaron. john? >> on the last line of the growing hunger and desperation, and that is how the united states nations are describing situation as they are trying to get stifl food and whether he should be banned from running for president. anti-semitic threats against jewish students at cornell, and what the jewish officials are now saying.

any moment now, donald trump's run for the white houseing to be taken to court. this is centering around the 14th amendment insurrectionist ban. the question is if it

disqualifies trump from getting on colorado's 2024 presidential ballot. this is a historic and some say long shot attempt was brought by six republicans and unaffiliated colorado voters back in september. cnn's marshall cohen has the details on it. marshall, what is going to happen today, as he joins us to tell us more. >> proceedings kicking off in den version and this is expected to be a one-week trial, and the judge will decide from the bench that key question if donald trump is eligible to run for president. kate, this is all coming from the constitution, the 14th amendment ratified after the civil war which has a key provision of who is and is not eligible to hold offices in the country. this is a quote from the constitution, and everyone can decide for themselves. the constitution says that no person shall hold any office under the united states having previously taken an oath to

support the constitution of the united states and having engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same or given aid or comfort. so if you have sworn to the constitution, and then engaged in insurrection, you are not qualified for office, and this has been applied to thousands is of confederates, and so it has not been applied since. that is why many believe it is a long shotment it has gotten this far, and that is why donald trump and the entire colorado court has expedited this. the judge in this case in denver says she wants to rule by thanksgiving and give time for appeals for the colorado court,

and supreme court, and everyone expects this case to be decided in one way or another by the supreme court, but it is a big moment in denver, and the proceedings are under way. >> great to see you, marshall. thank you very much. >> thank you, kate. >> john? >> and now, elliot williams, former prosecutor, the reason that this is decided by the supreme court is because it is a twilight zone, and big legal issues to be decided, and with your help, i pult toget togethe major issues in a legally definable way, did trump engage in a insurrection, and in a legally definable way, does this cover presidents? >> and pretend it is an ep sed of "the twilight zone" and now, the framers were long on values, but short on the details, and

they have not explained the details, and said that we don't want insurrectionists running the country, but how do you sort that out, and how do you define what an insurrectionist is, and if you assume that a person is, and how do you hold that person accountable. everyone may have opinions on this, and frankly, everyone has opinion on, this and the only entity to sort it out is the court. it is just an open question. if people are looking for the slam dunk, they may not find it. >> really, they may not. and to marshall's point earlier, it is not just that the provision of the constitution has not been triggered in over 100 years, but it is silent on how the process is. so for instance, a court could say that only congress is the body who can decide whether

someone is fit for office as an insurrectionist or not, and barring someone from office, and does it happen to have in every single state, so if nevada or ohio or any other state want to go through the same calculus, do they have to do it, too? these are questions to be sorted out, and what is having engaged in insurrectionist mean, and just merely participating or what that means. so it is again controversial on the face. and i wanted to ask you something else in a courtroom involving donald trump, and that is the three adult children are scheduled to testify in the civil fraud lawsuit where he is found fraud, and the eric trump,

donald trump jr. and ivanka trump, and how is that playing out, and the significance there. >> obviously, he is going to have things to say about it publicly, and the question is how do his statements get handled by the court. he has made a number of statements over truth social, and they have gotten him sanctioned by the court. so i wonder what is going to happen there. and part two, and she is in a different court than the brothers, because the claims are too old. so maybe she is going to appeal the decision to come testify. so we have not heard the latest of this one, because there is going to be more litigation of this one, and expect fireworks if the president and/or his sons take the stand to testify. >> and in the federal case, the judge has reinstated the gag

order, and temporary pause on appeal, but now she says back on. any feelings on, that elliott? >> well, typically, rulings are held or paused if the party is so hurt so, often if it involves a building being bulldozed, you will pause, because you don't want the building to be bulldozed and the judge has ruled that there are no harm if the statements are gagged. and the point is that the judicial system is so important that prosecutors and witnesses are not attacked that it required, you know, forbidding the president from making further statements on truth social about the case. >> elliott, thank you so much for coming on, counselor.

kate? >> more news coming up on the week long auto stroke. between the organizers and what has been agreed upon. and the landlord accused of stabbing a 6-year-old palestinian boy expected to be arraigned today, and it is being investigated as a hate crime. we will get more on that.

, so moments ago, president biden reacted to news between a deal of general motors and the united auto workers and that would end their strike, and listen to this. >> the uaw deal -- and what do you say? >> i think it is great. >> i think it is great, he said. right to vanessa yurkevich on the details and significance, vanessa. >> yeah, general motors the last of the three big automakers to come to a deal with the weekend. over the weekend, we had heard that general motors was moving to a deal, but then saturday after the union announced a deal with stellantis, they said they were striking at another plant in general motors, so over the weekend, we were hearing that talks were still going on with general motors and the union, but this morning, a deal is in

place, and gm for the union are commenting on this, but however, a source close no negotiations are telling us that a tentative agreement has been reached, and if this is in fact a deal on the table voted by seven-week strike costing the auto makers and the economy billions of dollars. we don't know details of the gm deal yet, but we expect it to pattern or mimic the deals from ford and stellantis called pattern bargaining. we have seen that the employees will see wage increases of 25% over four years or 4 1/2 years as this contract is going to b and we have seen the cost of living adjustments reinstituted

that the union gave up in 2007. we have also seen in the contract with ford and stellantis, with the expectations in gm, that workers have the right to strike over may or any plant closure, and additionally in the gm deal we have heard a couple of weeks ago that they were going to be putting in any electric vehicle plant which are new job coming online and that may be added to the deal, including all of the big economic raises that these union members are going to be getting in this deal. of course, we will need to wait to see the fine print, and john, once the union makes for mall announcement, we can expect the final gm workers will be coming off of the picket line and go back to work soon. >> and so a big deal there announced, and vanessa yurkevich filling in the blanks there and keep us posted. sara? >> okay. right now officials in egypt are

saying that 75 aid trucks are now on to egyptian side of the border crossing at rafah, and a majority of them are undergoing to security checks and include desperate aid that are needed in a dire humanitarian crisis worsening from the ground and a charity organization save the children says that more children have been killed in the last three weeks than killed across the globe in armed conflicts in all of last year. we go to learn more about the effort to get aid into gaza, salma. >> yes, you described the 75 truck, and some of them undergoing inspections, but this is crumb of crumbs. yesterday ten trucks crossed,

but you have to compare that to what gaza is used to getting on the daily basis which is more than 450 trucks on a daily basis before this conflict. the results of that is the spiraling humanitarian crisis on the ground, and the u.n. is saying that desperate families broke into a warehouse over the weekend and grabbing what they could just basic life supplies and talking about the flour and soap and hygiene products. they say that civil order is breaking down in the gaza strip now entering the fourth week of this conflict with two million people, and half of them sealed into that enclave with bombs raining down on them almost constantly in a siege that is choking them. and also what is not on the trucks which is fuel. israel says it is going to continue to bar fuel from entering gaza, and that means you cannot power the hospitals or electricity and no means of communication potentially which

has been cut off. you mentioned death toll, and it is difficult to fathom, and according to safe the children, and gaza's health ministry which is controlled by hamas, more than 3,000 children killed in just three weeks. imagine the heartbreak and the emotion on the ground with the people trying to find refuge and shelter on the south of the strip, but even there, the bombs are raining down, and some families are looking for shelter in hospitals, and you are running the images of the hospital in gaza city, and those are images after a air strike nearby, and even there in the hospital which should be protected under the international law, there is no safety, sara.

sal ma abdelaziz, thank you. and now, the landlord facing charges of the stabbing death of a palestinian american boy is due in court. the police say that joseph shuba stabbed boy and his mother because they are muslim. the department of justice is investigating this as a hate crime. and whitney is outside of the courthouse, and what is expected to happen today? >> well, today, our anticipation is that the judge is going to be reading the charges to joseph sbuba, and that little boy was laid to rest two weeks ago who was stabbed to death, and his

mother, kate, she was unable to attend the funeral, because she was so badly injured. she was only released from the hospital just last week. and something to keep an eye on is how the family is keeping peace after this, and healing after this horrific crime. the day that it happened, kate, hanan shaheen, the mother who was stabbed around 12 times said it began like any other day, and they had been renting a room from the landlord, and had breakfast, and on the day of the attack, the landlord became more and more agitated, and that is what she told police the day of the stabbing. the morning of the attack, he had confronted her about the conflict in the middle east, and she said something to the effect of let's pray for peace, and she told police that is when he attacked. it was horrific, and she locked herself in the bathroom, and on

the phone calling 911 and while she was on the phone, she could hear him stabbing her son to death. and now, the charges are including murder, attempted murder, and two counts of hate crime, and we are expecting some sort of plea crime, and so, we can expect just about anything, and this is the beginning of justice. >> thank you, whitney. and we have a new poll out from iowa and many candidates have said it is iowa or bust, and so is it iowa or bust?

all right. brand-new polling out of the state of iowa. it shows where the race for president on the republican side is headed. let's get right to the senior data reporter, and what does this poll say, harry? >> well, what does this poll say? surprise for you, and look at who is out ahead, donald trump, 43% lapping the field, and next is desantis and haley and not up to 43%, and trump is steady, but the other story is nikki haley, and she has more than doubled share. that is to a tie for second at 16, and donald trump is way out ahead with a 20-point lead.

>> and so trump is steady, and haley is rising. >> yes, 20-point lead there. >> and so what does that mean? >> has anyone from trump's position ever lost? there is a 20-plus iowa lead, and there is only one example of someone who had a lead like this, and went on the lose. trump had a 20-point lead there, and the rest of them, dole in 1996, and then gore in 2006 went on the win the caucus, and we don't know what is going to happen from here on, but if you have a 20-plus lead, there are good chances that you will win. >> and looking under the hood there, harry, what do you see? >> i am interested in the favorable view, and not that you like, but love a candidate.

and donald trump again with the highest percentage of the favorable view, and the metric is closer to desantis with 29%, and haley with 25% of a favorable view. so there is probably something going on with the desantis, and haley splitting the donald trump view, and he is very much liked on the iowa caucus. >> are people's minds made up? >> okay. two different ways the kind of looking at this metric. mind made up of the vote choice, and those backing up trump, 63% of those backing up trump, the mind is made up, and that is much higher than desantis backers or haley backers at 26%, and that means that trump has a big base built in, and what this also means is that i do think that there is a chance for some consolidation, and the desanty, and the haley backers if they are not going for trump at this point, one of the two trump blocs could decide that our

candidate is not going to win, and so we should go with the candidate who is going to win, and this is the best metric for those who hope that trump is not going to be the nominee, maybe this one. >> but if you add it up, every haley and desantis voter in this poll, you are still less than trump. >> you are still less than trump, and you have to win over the vivek ramaswamy and all of the others to climb over trump at this point. >> thank you, harry. kate? the fbi is investigating anti-semitic threats at cornell university including threats to shoot jewish students. that is next.

so, the fbi now says that it is working with cornell university after jewish students were targeted in a series of anti-semitic threats. the new york attorney general is also speaking out about this, and in a post on x formerly known as twitter, she said that the threats targeting the jewish students at cornell is horrific and no space for anti-semitism or violence of any kind, and the campuses must remain safe spaces for the students. athena jones is tracking all of this for us, and what more are you hearing this? >> well, it is disgusting stuff, and violent language, and series of anti-semitic posts on a website that is not affiliated with the university and it is a website where people can discuss fraternities and sororities and greek life, but a series of tweets were made for instance to shoot the jewish students and encouraging others to kill them or commit violence against them,

and some of the handles were hamas, and people are very, very upset on that campus. we know that the threats are also targeting a sencenter for jewish housing and a dining hall for kosher dining, and that center includes a residence hall, and the governor kathy hochul was just on campus meeting with the jewish students just now this morning. >> okay. >> and she concluded that it is going to be the fbi involved for stepped up police presence at this one area that houses the center for jewish living, and they want to make sure that whoever did this is held accountable and prosecuted. we also have a statement from the university president martha pollock who said that we will not tolerate anti-semitism at the university, and it is real and impacting the students, faculty and staff as well as the

entire cornell university, and this is going to highlight the forces that are driving us toward hate, and this is not what defines us at cornell. as i mentioned, just now at the round table, the white house is also introducing new steps they are take, and among them making it clear that they are updating the complaint form, and when you are filing a complaint of the violation of the federal civil rights law, and making it clearer that acts of anti-semitism, and anti-islam phobia as well, and also, we know that others will be sitting down with them to sit down to talk about that rise of anti-semitism. >> in the past two week, we are seeing continued series from cornell to other places. it is horrible. thank you, athena, for tracking it. john? >> israel has increased count of how many people are held hostage, and we are going to be speak to the woman who has been

kidnap by hamas, and she was released, but her husband is still being held.

israel launches several new air strikes this morning, and we will have new details of the troop movements in the middle east. you'll also hear from a woman who survived the hamas attack on october 7th, but her husband is still missing. >> and also, can d