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to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. >> wherever you are around the world, at this hour, you are watching cnn newsroom. ongoing coverage of his most war with hamas. i'm john vause, just past midnight here in atlanta, and 60 am and gaza. it is now divided into by israeli ground forces battling militants in the north. president have been forced to evacuate to safety in the south,

as dawn breaks, the israeli military says gaza city is completely surrounded. in the past two hours, cnn crews report flares and explosions lighting up the night sky over northern gaza. around the city of -- not far from the water with israel. so far, 20 israeli soldiers have been killed in a military ofoffensive, whihich is focusesn locateted anand destroyingng a t tunnels networks, and eliminating explplosives and other obstacles. >> our soldiers have been operating in gaza city for the past few days, surrounding it from several directions, deepening the operation. our forces are in very significant areas of gaza city. >> on thursday, more than 20 palestinians -- were killed in israeli airstrikes according to officials with the united nations. the death toll in gaza since these really offensive began 27 days ago has now passed 9000, according to the palestinian health ministry based in the west bank, which is relying on information from hamas controlled gaza.

the u.s. president has -- accuracy of those numbers, here is more on israel -- will cost international support and the secretary of state anthony blinken has been sent back to the region to discuss u.s. concerns directly with israeli officials. >> we will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimize harm to men, women, and children in gaza. and, this is something that the united states is committed to. >> cnn's scott mclain is live for us this hour, covering all of this from london. so scott, right now, the israeli forces are surrounding gaza city, at least according to the idf. the israeli prime minister is saying this is the height of the battle of what will be a long war. why is the latest we know on the trip developments, and exactly where does this go from here? >> hey, good morning, john. we know the israeli troops have entered gaza from at least three places. two in the north, one in the, east and for some for the

south. there are some, underground tanks on the ground as well. beyond that, it is difficult to know precisely where isley troops are. we are not think much for obvious reasons. as you pointed out, they say they now have gaza city completely surrounded. you also mention the flare-ups that we saw overnight. those images were taken from -- which is just north east, just to the northeast corner of gaza. they show the town of -- which is not as populated, not as densely populated as nearby gaza city. you can also see in that video what looks to be a smokescreen, suggesting perhaps israeli troops are moving in that area, though again it is difficult to know anything to be certain. the idf chief said yesterday, this dense urban environment requires troops to operate a professional and courageous way. but, much of the outrage from the international community is

focusing on the civilian death toll inside of gaza. the palestinian red crescent says more than 3700 children alone have been killed since the outset of the war. there are some 1000, more than 1000 children that are still reported missing under the rubble. they are presumed to be dead. just for comparison sake, there are more than 500 children have died in ukraine since the outset of that conflict about a year and a half ago. now hamas political leader is -- put out a video statement yesterday. in it, he suggested a comprehensive vision to end the war. that would include a cease-fire, or prisoner exchange, and a political path to a palestinian state. but that bit about the cease-fire is a nonstarter for the israelis. they say this war ends only when hamas is completely wiped out. the americans privately have been telling the israelis that look, there is limited time to

carry out this operation before the public outrage over the civilian bethel and gaza reaches a tipping point. now you have anthony blinken headed to israel, on the ground in israel already perhaps carrying that message to israel. we know the message about humanitarian aid perhaps starting to work, there have been more than 100 trucks allowed in yesterday. the question is whether the message on turning down the campaign, and really trying to minimize civilian deaths will have an impact as well, john. >> we shall see, scott, thank you. scott mclain live with the very latest reporting. thank you. for the third time in as many days, the biggest refugee camp in gaza has been hit by airstrikes. the idf says the targets were hamas leaders as well as militant group tunnels built under the camp. cnn's salma abdelaziz has the latest details, but the pills in her report are graphic. >> the victims, victimized yet again.

some of the survivors of israel's bombardment took shelter here, a you and school. all to be -- desperate moments after an israeli strike nearby, shown on social media. this is one of four schools in gaza impacted by strikes in a 24-hour period, the u.n. said. in total, housing some 20,000 displaced people. many of them frightened young children. what did we do, this boy choirs, we did nothing wrong. the living conditions in these shelters are unbearable. families come here for safety. that as well is gone. >> bring me my son. bring me my son. this mother screams. it is unclear if the child is dead or alive. three straight days of airstrikes have brought horror and bloodshed. cnn has reached out to the idf for comment on the latest attacks.

israel says, it is targeting hamas infrastructure in this densely populated residential area. -- and says it killed a senior hamas commander within strike on tuesday. but with scores of civilians killed, the u.n. human rights council warns what we see here are disproportionate attacks that could amount to a war crime. gazans do not understand why the world can stop this. we keep pulling out bodies, small children, women, it is a catastrophe, this man says. the countries of the wororld had any shshame, we wouldn't be in the situation. and more suffering is s all but certain. isisraeli troops are inchihing closerer. and as grounund forces backed by near cononstant air raids move towards central gaza, the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians hang in the balance. the idf has warned all residents north of the strip to

leave, and ordered -- by the united nations. so many remain in the crossfire. where is the world this woman screams. her children are being torn between our eyes. and with the death toll mounting, pressure is growing on the u.s. and israel to stop the violence. some abilities, cnn, london. >> john spencer is a retired u.s. army -- currently chair of urban warfare studies where west point -- institute. he is also the author of a number of books including -- thank you for being with us at this hour. >> thank you for having me. >> i want you to listen to the chief of staff of the idf with a few details on the israeli ground operation ongoing and gaza. here he is. >> the forces continue to dismantle the front offense lines of hamas in northern gaza, and take control of essential

areas. we continue to intensify our operation, and to advance according to plan, into the targets we have set. >> at this point, it seems israeli ground forces are not taking and holding ground. how soon we expect to see that happen, and when it, does with that make them more vulnerable as targets for the hamas militants? >> i mean, everything i'm seeing right now is a very well planned deliberate attack involving -- moving slowly, deliberately, clearing those defensive, lines bulldozers, and mind clearing equipment or they can do the first step in any large scale like this a city, gaza city the four step is to isolate it. to surround it and cut it off. the anomalies move -- i would not say they are not holding ground, their intention is to clear ground. they clear up to that point. actually a lot faster and thought they would. >> so is this pretty much all going to plan? of course the evacuation with

gaza, a lot of residents following the advice, now in the south, they do seem to have a clear run at the moment? >> yes absolutely. while every civilian casualty is a travesty, by all measures of the warfare, the idf have taken extraordinary steps and effectuated 80% of that million of impossible was made in 24 hours the idf actually has taken four weeks to evacuate as much as possible, continues to call for the evacuation. you want 100 percent of civilians out of the combat area other that has never happen in the history of the world. >> anne a report will be a daunting task for israel's military has aspirations of ousting the terror group when forceful just to buy through the -- bombs and booby traps and undercut by a vast network of tunnels used by terrorist to ambush surprise troops. before israel ordered their

evacuation in the middle of gaza, and the population -- was more than 500 people per 100 square meters. many have left others have stayed so deeply -- embedded hamas within civilian -- hamas infrastructure and civilian infrastructure, is it possible to destroy hamas without a painful number of civilian casualties in that many have left the area? >> absolutely not. unfortunately that is modern warfare. the spy all the laws of war that have been created since world war ii, you i can't want you to a seamless battle, not in a battle of -- nightly battle of -- where you can say there is zero civilian casualties. you do everything you can to get the civilians out, like you said that will be a long bloody destructive battle if they move forward into gaza city. it will look like the indiscriminately leveled the city, when they actually didn't. it is unfortunately the nature

of warfare. even the civilian casualties we are seeing now, if we believe the reporting, as not unlike battles we have seen even supported by the u.s.. >> on tuesday, minus release horses -- in the refugee camp which is just a few miles north east of gaza city. that were killed when their armored vehicle was hit by an anti-tank missiles fired by hamas fighters. not long after that, the camp was hit by israeli airstrikes it three times. the death toll and devastation has -- israel says, the -- infrastructure, but my question is where the aztecs have been ordered with his ground offensive also in mind. i think part of the camp has now been destroyed. >> yes, i mean, personally understanding they having been to refugee camps in the west bank, and other -- these are, they have been camp since 1948.

they are cities with -- absolutely i think by all measures of the law of war, if that was the target, the military target, even with the assessment of the intended damage, it could still be viewed as legal and the greatest thing that could be done is to continue to encourage civilians to leave the combat area. >> very quickly, the airstrikes have cleared out a large part of the, camp as you say it is more of a city it's cement in the blocks, corkey did -- grown up over 70 years or so. with the esoteric have been part of the clearing operation if you like for those troops to get to gaza city? >> absolutely. that is -- it seems more like an intel driven strike, where high value military targets as in a commander and his soldiers in an underground bunker -- along the post to achieve that strategic objective and destroy all military capabilities and hamas, absolutely it would. >> thank you spencer, thank you for your time, thank you very much for being with us.

very appreciated. >> thank you. >> we will take a short break, when we get, back for nationals now evacuating from gaza. we will hear from an american doctor who got out and the aid group she worked for. also, crossfire on a, front fears of an escalating conflict, the latest on fighting between israel and hezbollah based in lebanon.

>> welcome back. 18 minutes past the hour. the idf reports an escalation across the tax than it north, with rocket fire from hezbollah militants in lebanon. the israeli military ramping up air strikes in response. the exchange of fire is now at its highest level since the 2006 war between israel and iran-backed militant group. here's cnn's jim acosta reporting from -- >> a rocket fired from southern lebanon sets the street on fire in -- northern israel suffered under one of the biggest barrage of rocket since the start of the war. our team witnessed the iron dome missile defense system intercept to incoming rockets, though at least one other caused substantial damage. in response the israeli military fired back at what it

says is the culprit, hezbollah in southern lebanon. hezbollah sits on a massive stockpile of rockets and missiles, far bigger than that of hamas. numbering more than 100,000, many have the range and accuracy to strike deep into israeli territory. including another way to tel aviv. this is one sign of how seriously israel is taking the hezbollah threat. we watch this really special forces and tank unit conduct a live fire exercise training to defend israel in case of invasion from the north. these are combined arms exercises is really special forces, idf special forces here. there's also two tanks involved in this and it is life fire it is a measure of the seriousness with which they are keeping their forces trained up ready to go if necessary in the north. but also given that we are within side syria here just a

few miles from the lebanon border this is also a show of force to iran's proxies in the region. a show of force perhaps to this man -- leader of hezbollah. to his admires in the muslim world, he is a leader of the resistance. credited with forcing as really forces out of southern lebanon in 2000 after an 18 year occupation. to israel, he is an existential threat on his northern border. he will address his followers and the world for the first time since the october 7th hamas attacks. the question for many, will he order his forces to join in the war against israel more aggressively? >> they have the capacity to do enormous damage but i'm not certain that they really want to be on the receiving end of what israel is goingng to send their way. >> the threat of escalation extetends beyond hezbollah, yemn -based houthi rebels also backed by iran are firing long

range missiles that israel from the southeast. another potential front in a war that woodsy israel surrounded. cnn, -- >> it has been 17 years since -- the militant group has spent that time training for war and digging a complicated network of tunnels beneath the territory. is really gunships and not just around gaza city, new propaganda video from hamas reveals the dangers they could soon be facing. cnn's ed lavandera has details. >> the hamas propaganda video shows its fighters emerge from underground tunnels, in what appears to be the northern outskirts of t the most populatd areas of gaza. hiding in the terrain hamas soldiers to fire away at israeli units advancing into gaza. one video shows a hamas soldier

stalking an israeli tank running up next to it and placing an explosive device on the machinery, then running away. seconds later the device that needs. hamas fighter then disappears into the ground through a trap door. a political leader of hamas spoke this week about the tunnels vital role in the hamas military strategy. >> we have built the tunnels, he says, because we have no other way of protecting ourselves from being targeted and killed. these tunnels me says, are meant to protect us from the airplanes. we are fighting from inside the tunnels. while israel has unleashed thousands of airstrikes across gaza since october 7th, hamas is also trying to show off its air strike capabilities. it released this video of a munitions strike from a drone over israeli soldiers. it is not clear how many casualties inflicted on the israel defense force, several soldiers can be seen running away from the site. the israel defense forces

released this mass propaganda video which captures the elaborate maze of tunnels which stretch for dozens of miles underneath gaza. we militant organization uses the tunnels to store weapons and launch airstrikes towards israel. veteran as really journalist -- has reported on hamas for decades he says the underground tunnels are known as the gaza metro. they are hiding their. they spend billions of dollars. the built houses, tunnels paths, and venues. it is a project. it is a huge project. israel says dismantling the tunnels is the only way to dismantle hamas. i'd love, into cnn, tel aviv, israel. >> the past 27 days have made it especially those lee for journalists in gaza. on thursday reporter with ballast and heavy was killed when he returned home just moments after filing and overboard. --

and 11 members of a family were all killed in an israeli airstrike according to his news organization. cnn has been unable to independently confirm the source of the explosion at his home, and there has been no comment from the idf. but his death sent shockwaves to the newsroom, and one colleague reported the story on air. >> no protection, no international protection at all. this protection gear does not protect us, not those helmets. these are just slogans we are wearing. it does not protect any journalist at all. this protection gear does not predict this. we are only wearing slogans. >> we are victims here. live on air. we lose souls one after the other, without any price. we pass as martyrs. we await our turn one after the other. >> the committee to protect

journalists as at least 36 journalists have been killed since the conflict began october 7th. as we go to break here on cnn, this is the scene of gaza right now at 25 minutes past six. israeli soldiers are said to be on the ground ahead of's running as a city, what could be a massive gun operation at some point. he's really minister says, it will be a long war, and -- back in a moment.

>> 29 minutes past, they are welcome back. friday causes that new york's cornell university have been canceled in a heated debate over the israel-hamas war on college campuses across the u.s.. in a statement, cornell said in

recognition of the extraordinary stress the past two weeks, fight it will be a community day. police increase their presence on campus amid a growing number of threats. many aimed at the 22% of students who are jewish. 21-year-old student -- faces federal charges over a series of online posts threatening to kill and harm jewish students. in both the u.s. and europe there has been a rise in antisemitism since israel declared war on hamas. austrian attack at a jewish cemetery has brought by disturbing reminders of truly horrific chapter from the past. here's cnn's frederik pleitgen. >> valuable prayer books reduced to ashes. after an arson attack on this ceremonial hall in the jewish port of vienna's main cemetery. the last time this very hot was set on fire was almost to the day 85 years ago by the 90s on >> -- -- tells me. >> how big is the damage not,

just in terms of the -- much spiritually for you and the jewish community? >> i think it takes up an aspect to times where the books were burned and it is an attack on the spiritual values of the religion and of humanity which have been here. >> a swastika on the outer wall leaves a few questions about the antisemitic nature of the attack. >> it should worry us all of the people in the free world about what is going on in the streets right now and the attacks are just the top of the what is going on. >> since hamas october 7th attack on southern israel, murdering more than 1400 people and kidnapping hundreds, and israel's military response in gaza which has also caused many casualties.

antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed by about 300% in austria, the head of jewish community tells me. >> we are anxious. people are thinking about life the first thinking is jewish lives, possible in austria, the second thing is is jewish life possible in europe or the world. >> with pro palestinian anti israel demonstrations sweeping across the continent, jewish groups say antisemitism as not only getting more prevalent, but prevalent. from plastering stars of david on jewish homes in paris, to a molotov cocktail on one of the main synagogues in berlin -- and near daily assaults and insults in various european countries. >> today, just hours after the cemetery attack, vienna stretch community hosted israelis whose

relatives were killed or kidnapped by hamas on october 7th. >> and the family for murdered and seven kidnapped live in europe while he is publicly advocating for the hostages in everyday life he feels he has to hide his jewish identity. >> not to be associated with anything written in hebrew, noticed week hebrew not to go to places consider jewish like a synagogue or things like that. >> while many european leaders have come out strongly against the rising tide of antisemitism, the head of the european jewish association says it is not enough. >> we know exactly when we are in danger, and we are now in danger. european leaders, we need you now to act. never again is now. not tomorrow, not next week, now. >> but as much as there is fear, there is also a sense of

defiance. rabbi -- himself painting over the slurs on the cemetery wall, eager to show his jewish community would not be intimidated by antisemitic attacks. fred pleitgen, cnn, vienna. >> and a muslim american advocacy group is reporting close to 400% increase in islamophobic incidents since the october 7th hamas attacks. the council on american islamic relations says it has recorded nearly 800 incidents targeting muslims, palestinians, and arabs across the united states. the white house announced plans on wednesday for a national strategy to counter islamophobia, still many groups have denounced what they say is president biden's pro israel stance since the conflict began. with that, we wiwill takake a st break.k. in a a moment, an n upcoming adjusted the leader of hezbollah who has been unusually quiet since the start of t the w war with hamamas, evn though h his forces have been exchanging fire with the israelis. more on that in a moment.

>> --

unusually silent in recent weeks, but now the leader of hezbollah is expected to make his first public remarks since fighting erupted between israel and hamas last month. many from the united states to israel will be watching for any signs of the iran-backed militant groups intentions. more now from cnn's ben wedeman. >> the message on clip circulating on social media ambiguous, but ominous. they are stoking anticipation for a televised speech by hezbollah leader -- scheduled for friday afternoon. daily since the -- hezbollah and israel have been exchanging fire across the border. it is not a full blown war, yet. >> this time i feel a sense of doom and lebanon. >> professor -- has lived through all of his countries travails. >> some of them are afraid that we might be on the verge of the apocalypse.

so i have never seen this much tension in this country. >> tensions rising higher thursday afternoon and evening, with the heaviest bombardment yet. both sides of the border. >> hezbollah's leader has been unusually quiet since the war broke out in gaza, but his allies in iran have made it clear, israel crosses red lines and its operations against hamas. new fronts could open. >> and what are those red lines? >> these red lines for hezbollah, hamas, hamas leadership, hamas remaining intact as an organization and of course the palestinian people themselves preventing another -- hezbollah's red lines. they are also around about lives. there are hamas and jihad red lines. they're everyone's red lines in the resistance. >> arabic for catastrophe, is when a 1948 hundreds of thousands of palestinians fled

or were expelled from their homes in what is now on israel. as the fighting and gaza intensifies, and they civilian death toll source, the prospect of regional war looms. one could spell disaster for lebanon, a country already in the state of economic collapse and political paralysis. >> a war with israel would send the country back not to the stone ages, but pre-stone ages unfortunately. it is not something that is a country -- take ages to recover from. >> on beirut's -- 70-year-old retired bank employee -- waits for the fish to bite. >> nobody knows what is going to happen, he tells me. everyone is worried. the situation is not reassuring. >> the sea appears calm, but a storm may be coming. ben wedeman, cnn, beirut. >> still to come here on cnn,

more than 200 hostages are still being held in gaza, amid an escalating israeli ground offensive with their families now desperate for any news, cnn's linda kincade sat down with three israelis, more than a dozen family members, the youngest is a 13-year-old girl. >> of all the family members that are being taken hostage by hamas, the youngest is just three years old. what are your hopes for the coming days and weeks in terms of getting news of your loved ones? >> when you see the innocence of someone who has literally her whole life ahead of her, and then you try to imagine where she is now under a tunnel, at gunpoint, she is three years old. we are at the point that any

news is good news. >> and we will have that full interview for you in the next hour coming up here on cnn newsroom. in the meantime, i'm john vause, while sport is up next for our viewers on cnn international. for those here in the united states, as well as cnn max, i will be back with more news after a short break.

>> for a second day, hundreds of more nationals arrived in egypt from gaza. egyptian officials on the southern rafah crossing today more than 340 were allowed over the border on thursday, as part of a deal brokered by qatar. according to the white house, 74 americans were among them. -- with the palestine children's relief fund, they also arrived in egypt on wednesday arrived in gaza the day before the hamas activists have an attack on israel, and said she has mixed emotions about -- >> i am doing pretty well. i am in a halo believed to be here, but just really awful for the devastation that the gaza people are going through right now. there's really no way for the gazan people. >> -- is the founder and president of the potential jones found, he is with us now from ohio. thank you for being with us. we really appreciate your time. >> my pleasure.

>> right now i imagine this, but this sense of relief with both doctors, now with -- a lot of gaza. is it -- to describe this has good news to crisis left behind? >> it is good news for, barb and ramona, and they deserve it. they suffered a lot during the several weeks they were in gaza. of course they are just two out of 2.2 million people that are all still in gaza, and living under this terrible circumstance or situation of bombings and food shortages, and the lack of clean water. that includes 440 members of our staff who are all trying to survive, and there are no safe places in gaza right now. conditions on the ground there are getting worse every single, day we were actually just on the phone with our cancer department. we build a pediatric department in gaza, the first and only department that serve children in gaza. you were just talking to, then there were bombs going off her in the hospital, so you imagine

the care for the children and a number of casualties being inflicted every single day there. 400 children are being killed in gaza every single day from mom stopping on their homes, hospitals, churches, mosques, schools, and we are quite concerned with the people and welfare of the people on the ground there. >> you mention the conditions that they were living under, we spoke to cnn about those conditions. essentially what she had been dealing with for almost a month now, here she is. >> it has been scary in the last few weeks, we kept running out of water, that was water in the -- fortunate to have drinking water which is not true of the gazans who were just outside the fence from us. they were running out of drinking water. >> -- the situation in gaza is like many will see, so what is your frustration and also the anxiety knowing that -- you are in danger. obviously a parking lot. for the most part there wasn't a lot you can do.

there seems there wasn't had obviously department could do as well. >> i think the state department probably could have done more. we give egypt an israel billions of dollars every, year i'm sure there is some leverage that could have been exercised to get them out. i will talk about that right, now i will say on your first point it was very frustrating for us because we care very much about -- we are responsible for them. they are and we're in a difficult situation, not only with a lack of food and clean water as barb mentioned, a place to sleep, but also there were constant explosions and bombings around them. and in addition to, that there were thousands of people who were desperate to get into the u.n. compound, and find at least some sense of security being around foreigners that maybe they were safe as there are no other safe places in gaza. we were quite concerned, and very fortunate it did get out. >> you mention the death toll of our children, and unicef issued a statement regarding -- civilian casualties in gaza, more than 1000 palestinians have been killed including over

3400 children those -- injured. this means that more than 420 children are being killed or injured in gaza every day. a number which should shake each of us to our core. as someone who founded an organization to help children in gaza, how do you process that? are you hoping, is there any recent hope that israel will agree to some kind of humanitarian pause soon? >> well, it is very hard to process that a human being, let alone somebody who has worked in gaza for over 30 years. i know the people there have great admiration for the people of gaza, i've never been treated with anything but kindness and hospitality. the people of gaza, and despite their circumstances for so many, yes we have treated thousands of children who has suffered these kinds of casualties, and trauma injuries over the years. we have never seen anything quite like this. it is extremely concerning for us as an organization, and me as a human being to see the kind of casualties and suffering that has been imposed on the children in gaza.

you mentioned 35, hundred 3400 people killed so, far that is not including over 1000 children who are buried under rubble from these bombings and homes and residences, and churches and so on, schools, mosques, so on. those children, many of them who are buried alive. they are slowly dying. it is unimaginable -- i don't even think that is an accurate description, because we are not in medieval times. this is 2023, no excuse force of less countries or anybody on this planet today, jumping moms on the homes and residences of families, and am i hopeful, is there a sense of hope, not at this point. there is not. we have seen images of kids being pulled out, kids who have had these horrific injuries by the thousands. there has been no effort by anyone to put a stop to it. so we are hoping, we are hoping there will be some form of a cease-fire, there won't be a chance for at least the civilian population to get some kind of protection, and humanitarian aid sources

desperately needed. >> it has never been this bad before, and still reason to hope it does seem -- good have you with, us thank you so, march and we are relieved that the -- that is some good news. >> thank you. >> u.s. house asbestos 14 billion dollar aid stand-alone bill for israel. but the senate is refusing to take up the bill, and the white house is threatening a veto. cnn's melanie is a known reports now from the capital. >> well the house passed a 14 billion dollar aid package for israel, but they passed it mostly along party lines. the final vote tally was 12 democrats voted in support of the bill, and two republicans voted against it. so really an example here of how partisan even a non partisan issue has become here in washington. the reason why democrats were against this bill, is because the new speaker mike johnson, and the way he decided to put this bill together. first of all he decided to exclude ukraine money, that as

the moon has been a priority for the white house, but has become divisive in the house republican conference. second of all, he decided to include partisan cuts to the irs as part of this package. he wanted to pay for this measure, he did not want it to be straightforward emergency supplemental, which is really unusual. those types the bills are not condition upon anything. that is one of the reasons why the white house has issued a threat to this bill. it is going nowhere in the democratic-controlled senate. one democrat -- who did vote in support of that bill, even he was unhappy how it came together. >> i want to give anybody the benefit of the doubt when you come to a leadership position, this was, it this was his first full week vote, national security issues -- for israel, i wore number one ally, and playing politics so they -- >> the house and senate on a collision course here, meanwhile the prospects for

ukraine funding or very much in doubt. speaker johnson has said he would try to pass a ukraine aid packages from white in the near future, but it only includes stricter border security measures, something that is sure to set off a fight with democrats. at this moment, i'm really uncertain how this will play out. almost four weeks ago, -- -- many of those friends and family of hostages remaining hopeful their loved ones will remain -- wolf blitzer. >> here in tel aviv, family come to honor and -- missing and held hostage by hamas. i'm here on behalf of the family, basically because there

is no one else left from the family to stand up for them. these are just good honest people. >> every member of the family was killed -- under israeli officials. >> this is grandmother -- she is a pediatrician and children doctor, i know that if there are kids, there and this is the mother, we saw her in the video hamas released three days ago. >> we know she's alive? >> we know she's alive. sasha as -- he is 27, his birthday is around five days, such as a brilliant young engineer. -- and she was with him controlling -- >> can't speak for us, family

and was murdered by hamas. >> his body was found ten days later, after october, seventh crowded the outskirts of gaza. >> they moved here more than 25 years ago after the collapse of the european union. >> there's a saying in hebrew, and we say -- they vouch for each other, and also a third generation holocaust survivors, something about this story i could not bear it. >> -- since the terror attacks, they have been volunteering at the family formed to raise awareness about the -- >> the -- was hit particularly hard, and in the 400 people living there -- it is believed dozens were killed, and kidnapped.

>> i think in a lot of people's minds, -- in we are still here. they are still there. and -- >> are you at all hopeful these people will -- >> i'm 100% sure while not having any other way. >> these are the people. >> our thanks to cnn's wolf blitzer for that report. i'm john vause, thank you for watching cnn newsroom, i'll be back with more news after a short break. you are watching cnn.