alex marquardt is joining us, and what can blinken hope to accomplish? he has been in the region more than we have seen officials in a long time, and so many times, and what will he try to accomplish? >> yes, sara, the fourth trip to the region since the war proek out after the horrific attacks on october 7th, and making nine stops. the centerpiece is the meetings with the israeli officials next week, but there are two main buckets of things to accomplish, and that is to prevent the war from spreading rapidly, and in past few days and months, and ratcheting areas of significant concern and conversation, and the state department says these are going to be tough conversations with the israeli leaders and system of the stuff is quite competitive, because more progress needs to be made. this is a little bit of what the spokesman matt miller had to say yesterday. >> the secretary believes that we need to try to make progress of getting humanitarian access in, and the secretary believes that we need to make progress on minimizing arm to palestinian progress, a

alex marquardt is over at the state department for us.e us the latest, alex. >> it appears that talks were made, as well as the egyptian and israeli counterparts and qatari minister. we are being cautioned there's still a lot of work to be done before this agreement but at the same time i'm told by a source that's family with the discussions that the broad framework that's been described as the could farri minister as a blend of different initiatives being put forward, has been agreed to by the parties who attended the talks in paris. there will be a first phase of israeli hostages released in gaza that would be accompanied by around a six-week pause in the fighting. now, that pause could be extended if more of the hostages, the idf soldiers, men and women, and bodies of hostages who have been killed, were released. pris prisoners would you be expected to be released in a ratio with. i asked secretary blinken about what's been discussed and where he thinks they are in negotiations. he says this is a strong and compelling proposal and ther

let's get to cnn's chief national security correspondent alex marquardt for the latest on this, alex,are you learning? >> well, john, we're careful to call this a framework and not agreement. what we're hearing, progress has been made notably with that meeting in paris, the egyptian counterparts and the qatari prime minister, that took place on sunday. what we've been sold by sources is that there is a broad framework, with a general understanding of how another truce, another pause in the fighting, and a hostage release could take place. with warnings, at the say time, that there are a lot of details that need to be ironed out. a lot of work needed to be done to get this across the finish line. what this generally will look like, this will be a first phase of around six weeks of pause in the fighting, during which time, all of the civilian hostages who remain in gaza would be released. at the same time, three palestinian prisoners held in israel would be released for a civilian hostage. then we move to the pause stage. idf soldiers men and women, could be released in that pause. as w

cnn's alex marquardt is joining us right now. alex, i know you're doing a lot of excellent reporting on this. where do these new talks stand right now to try to free these hostageinize. >> reporter: wolf, they do appear to be moving forward because now we're seeing these back-to-back tripwise two most senior u.s. officials in terms of negotiating hostages as well as a cease-fire. we know cia director burns is heading to meet with the egyptian and israeli counter parts as well as the qatari prime minister. that comes on the heels of a meeting this week by the senior white house official in charge of the middle east. earlier today we heard the white house say his meetings were part of an earlier set of discussion. bill burns is looking to build on that progress and bridge the gap between israeli and hamas positions. and wolf, that gap is substantial. we do understand what we think the outline of a deal could look like, this is according to sources. that those israeli hostages still in gaza, there are more than # 100 of them, that th

alex marquardt, cnn, washington. >> the health month ministry says -- killed at least 112 people and nearly 200 more over the past 24 hours. we warn you, some of the images you're about to see are graphic. the number of victims are reportedly still under the rubble -- palestinian authorities say at least -- killed in israeli airstrikes in khan yunis on wednesday. israel to force and said quote, it thwarted what it called a terrorist cell. meanwhile the palestinian red crescent said a permanent coup photograph the devastation and gaza was among the six people killed in an israeli airstrike. the houston israel of targeting an ambulance in the area, a was well known for sharing images of the war in gaza with more than 130,000 followers on instagram. the idf did not immediately respond to cnn about the strike south africa accused israel of. a genocide in gaza, in a historic case, at the u.n.'s top court on thursday. the first of two days of hearing of the international court of justice, south africa is calling on the court to order a halt to israel's military campaign in gaza, arguing, i

alex marquardt, cnn, washington. >> reporter: president biden saying thursday night that the u.s. is sending a clear message to the houthis that their ongoing attacks in the red sea will no longer be tolerated and he won't hesitate to direct further measures to protect u.s. personnel and freedom of navigation this the red sea. u.s. officials of course have been warning for weeks that the houthis must stop its attacks on shipping vessels in the red sea and last week we saw u.s. officials give what they said was a final warning and what we are learning tonight is that the attacks that we saw from the houthis on tuesday, this was just two days ago, had targeted some u.s. vessels. what we're told by sources is that had it not been for the defensive coalition called operation prosperity guardian, that was already set up by the u.s. and a number of its allies in the red sea, that we may have seen situations where ships were sunk by these attacks and that there was even an instance within the last month where a commercial vessel carrying jet fuel may have been hit. the senior official sa

. >>> want to bring in alex marquardt. i understand that you've got new information on the status of hostage negotiations. >> reporter: well, john, what we've learned is that the cia director bill burns who has really been the biden administration's point person on hostage negotiations is going to be traveling to europe to meet with his israeli and egyptian counterparts as well as qatari prime minister. and these are really the main players when it comes to hostage negotiations. so this gives us an indication that the talks are progressing. this trip is coming on the heels of the top white house official brett mcgurk going over to also talk about hostage negotiations. we're told the meetings were productive, that they were sober and serious. but all of our sources are cautioning that we are not on the cusp of a deal, that nothing appears to be imminent. even hesitating to call the talks negotiations. but the parties are at the table. and that is really important. and what we understand, john, both the israelis and hamas se

alex marquardt, cnn, washington. >> now the u.s. says more than 50 countries have been affected by dozens of houthi attacks in recent months. a number of companies including the danish shipping giant merck have been diverting their vessels away from the red sea, and taking the long way around the southern tip of africa. that adds thousands of nautical miles to the, journey and causes weeks of delays in shipping times. all of that adding up to a major potential threat to the world economy. >> we are very focused on the economic side, on monitoring the potential affects on the u.s. economy. some shippers are taking alternate routes that is leading to longer shipping times, but so far that really hasn't had an effect on the u.s. economy. >> joining me now from oslo, norway -- is the head of shipping equity research at -- thank you for being with us. before we get to the business of shipping, let's begin with the strikes on the houthis. this has been talked about as a possibility for weeks now after the attacks on shipping. what is your

cnn chief national security correspondent, alex marquardt, joins us now. alex, first break down this claim from i.s.i.s. that they are responsible for the twin blasts in iran. >> hi boris and breonna. after this attack happened yesterday, u.s. officials had told us that it had all the hallmarks of an i.s.i.s. attack, in terms of how it was carried out with the explosives and the high civilian death toll. now we have this claim of responsibility by i.s.i.s.. they say it was carried out by two suicide bombers using suicide vests. in fact, they say the bombers were brothers themselves. the statement by i.s.i.s., this claim saying that it was directed at what they called polytheists near the grave of their dead leader, qassem soleimani, of course iran's most powerful military leader. it was the fourth anniversary of his death yesterday. you had all these mourners gathering of his grave site. this was really a classic sectarian i.s.i.s. attack. this was a major target of opportunity with so many people gathered at soleimani's grave site. highly symbolic, directe

. >>> let's go now to cnn chief national security correspondent alex marquardt. he is joining me now for more on what the defense department is saying on all of this. alex, tell us about this region. these strikes are taking place in a critical place where so many ships, thousands of them go through on a regular basis. how significant is that? >> extremely, abby, and that's why the u.s. has held off until now, because this is such a sensitive region. it's why the u.s. wanted to be sure that what they did tonight was with an international coalition. so you have about 15% of the world's seaborne commercial shipping passing into the red sea. and that has come under attack some 27 different attacks by the houthis since late november. and so just a few days ago, last week in fact, the u.s. warned with others that there would be consequences if the houthis kept this up. tonight, abby, we saw these consequences. more than a dozen strikes all across mostly the western part of the yemen, carried out by u.s. ships and fighter jets alongside british jets as well. some of the

alex marquardt has details. >> reporter: it has been a week since the country's most senior defense official has been in the hospital, much of that time, very few people, even his boss the president, were aware. secretary of defense lloyd austin was returned to the hospital on new year's day, due to severe pain after elective surgery. the pentagon relegal even for the initial procedure, his team didn't tell the white house or austin's deputy. now shock and anger from both parties are spreading across washington for austin's failure to reveal for days. >> i do hope that every person recognizes this was not an appropriate way to handle what was his hospitalization. >> reporter: that is unacceptable, said roger wicker. we are learn more every how about the defense department's shocking defiance of the law. also in the dark, the most senior members of the biden administration. >> i was not aware of his medical issues. >> reporter: biden says he still has complete confidence in austin. the white house said today the way austin notified them needs to be reviewed. >> i think there's an expectation

alex marquardt has the details. >> according to most of the parties involved in talks over the weekend, it does appear that progress has been made in trying to reach a deal for hostages and for a pause in the fighting in gaza. there was a meeting on sunday in paris attended by the cia director and his egyptian and israeli counterparts and the prime minister who then came here to washington and on monday talked about a broad framework that the parties had discussed with initiatives from all of them. it's clear that a lot of work still remains to finalize this deal and get it across the finish line, but a source familiar with the discussions tells me that a broad framework was agreed to by those parties who were in paris. that would uncollude an initial phase of civilian hostages released by hamas and other groups to be accompanied by a six-week pause in the fighting that pause could be extended if more of the hostages are released, including the idf soldiers, both men and women and the botds of hostages still being held in the gaza strip. now hamas would expect palestinian prisoners to

cnn's alex marquardt is getting more specifics on this, and you can look for his report live next in"the situation room" with wolf blitzer, which is starting now. i'll see you back here on "the lead" tomorrow. ♪ >>> happening now, breaking news, the pentagon identifies the three american soldiers killed in a u.s. base in jordan, saying iran has its fingerprints on the attack. president biden is vowing to respond as new information emerges about why the enemy drone was not shut down. i'll get reaction from a former head of the military's central

let's get over to alex marquardt for more. this is a u.n. agency that has been operating in gaza for decades. and now these allegations are very serious. what are you hearing from state? >> reporter: yeah, incredibly disturbing. we heard about the allegations earlier from unrwa itself which had said that it had been given evidence by the israelis that several of its staffers had been involved in the october 7 massacre. of course the deadliest day in israeli history. the commissioner general of unrwa said he took immediate action after receiving what he called shocking allegations to immediately terminate the contract of these unrwa staffers who are accused of participating in the october 7 attacks. and not -- very quickly after he made those statements, the state department came out with its own statement saying that the u.s. will now hold what they are calling additional funding, temporarily pausing additional funding for unrwa at this is investigated. to your point, it is hard to overstate the importance of the work that unrwa does in gaza

. >> and alex marquardt has fascinating reporting from overnight that i want your take on. his reporting is that israel has proposed that hamas' senior leaders could leave gaza as part of a broader cease fire deal. of course they failed to capture -- kill any of hamas' top, top leaders. this would include yahya sinwar. do you see that happening? >> no, not at all. this is a nonstarter. this is a leadership which is dedicated to the fight and their religious tenants preclude them from ever running away or surrendering. they will go down fighting. they believe that it is a religious commandment that they become martyrs for palestinian, for islam, for al-quds, for jerusalem. this is not a situation that we had in 1982 where athe leaders escaped in an agreement with israeli. this is a different nature of warfare and different ideological pace of the people who are engaged in the fighting. >> thank you very much for being with us. >>> and we now know the names of the two u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s who died off the coast of somalia. first class christopher chambers and also operator sec

meanwhile tonight, cnn's exclusive reporting, alex marquardt said israel has proposed allowing seniorave gaza as part of a broader cease-fire agreement. a remarkable development in and of itself. here to talk about the latest, barack ravid. can you walk us through what israel is offering and based on your sense, how likely it is hamas would accept the terms? >> good evening. well, this plan was drafted something like ten days ago in the israeli war cabinet that basically decided to go almost all out to try and get this deal and give this very forward leaning proposal to the mediators, with the qataris, the egyptians to give it to hamas, and the israelis are basically saying we're ready for a multi-phase process that will take something like two months of a cease-fire, during which hamas will release all of the hostages in several stages. israel will release palestinian prisoners, the idf will redeploy its forces in gaza, take some of them out, move some of them to different places than they are now, and all in all, change how the gaza war looks today and end the biggest crisis in the

. >> alex marquardt, thank you. >>> to gaza. the i.d. says hostages were held in tunnels. nic robertson is there. >> reporter: dreams of her lost life carefully remembered in red crayon. a house, flowers, and the sun peeking between mountains. discovered 60 feet below the gaza city consumer electronics show khan younis in a half-mile long maze of tunnels used to imprison hostages. >> translator: in this space, we found evidence that indicate the state of hostages, including the paintings drawn boy the 5-year-old girl amelia, along with other hostages. >> reporter: images of the tunnel complex newly released by the idf amid growing pressure to saved hostages reveels the hell they are enduring beyond the cage door, a soiled mattress strewn on the floor. further inside the cell a toilet. one of five underground hostage dungeons, the idf say, that held about 20 hostages at different times. amale yeah and her mother danielle are released late november, long before these latest tunnels were discovered. this tunnel we are going in here is one where some of the hostages were held.

the key here according to excellent reporting from my colleague alex marquardt is that hamas' militaryeaders who israel has failed to find after more than a hundred days of war would leave gaza and that would allow them to claim some sort of victory and it's worth noting that this information is from two officials that have been brief from the the international and ongoing negotiations. israel can claim some sort of victory and hamas' military leaders in planning the october 7th terror attack would be out of gaza and it would weaken hamas' stranglehold on the gaza strip and israel has failed to achieve its military objectives of trying to completely destroy hamas. according to israel's own estimate, hamas contains owe retains something like 70% of its fighting force and we see its continued ability to launch rockets at israel. this proposal and this idea of hamas' senior leaders leaving gaza was brought up at least twice by mossad chief david barnea. once in warsaw and once in doha this month, but country and officials that have been handling the negotiations and are monitoring is a no

that comes from those familiar with the talks who talked with alex marquardt who joins us live from washington start with this proposal. it was stunning on its face when i read your reporting. what would it entail? >> reporter: it is an extraordinary proposal. essentially if it were to happen it would be incredible to think that this would be a hamas's top leaders in gaza, the orchestraters of the deadliest day in israeli history leaving gaza, essentially being allowed to walk away. now, the way that israel sees this is that if they were to leave gaza, it would weaken hamas in gaza and essentially it would draw these leaders of hamas out of the tunnels allowing israel to then target them elsewhere. we do know that israel plans to mount a global operation against hamas leaders around the world, but, phil, i think what this proposal really highlights is that after four months of war israel has failed to capture or kill any of the most senior leaders of hamas in gaza, among them yahya sinwar who is the top hamas official in gaza, mohammed daif the leader of the military arm. we also know by israe

it's excepthe 2023 david bloom word on of cnn worldwide is chief national security correspondent alex marquardt and anchor and chief national security analyst and anchor jim shadow. congratulations. well, thank you, jim. can't make it tonight. he is over in israel covering this war between israel and hamas. i just want to say thank you to, the blum daughters. this means a lot to me personally to accept an award with david bloom's name on it. my first job out of college was at wnbc. i giving tours and one of the stops on the tour of 30 rock was a memorial to the journalists at nbc who had lost their lives. and right in the middle of it was the tribute to david bloom. and so we would stop. five times a day with each tour to tell the story of david bloom and talk about his legacy and what he what he meant to nbc and to journalism. and when you're a young, aspiring foreign correspondent, to see that shot of bloom on the back of the blue mobile roaring through the desert and in iraq, i mean, that was it. that. that's what you wanted to do. david's producer here, the day that he died and while he was

that's according to our alex mar marquardt. certainly, it does appear there's some momentum and certainly a lot of pressure on the israeli government to reach a deal. >> this is true. thank you very much. to our viewers thanks for joining us. i'll be back later today 4:00 p.m. eastern for our special live coverage of the new hampshire primary. inside polititics with dana bas and d her spececial intervrview nikki hahaley, that't's coming next..

separately, our colleague alex marquardt also learning from two sources familiar that the israeli massagee put on the table and idea to allow hamas leaders from gaza to be able to leave the gaza strip as part of the broader cease-fire agreement. but that is being viewed for the moment as untenable. the qatari government today saying there are ongoing negotiations, both sides are responding to ideas here, which is notable, hasn't always happened in the course of the last few weeks since the last cease-fire deal. but amid all of this, anderson, the war is certainly ongoing. the israeli military is currently offensive in the southern city of khan yunis. it is fighting there very much worsening the humanitarian situation at several hospitals in the area, where thousands of internally displaced palestinians have been sheltering. amid all of this as, well the israeli military announcing yesterday was the deadliest day for its soldiers since the beginning of this war. 24 soldiers killed in a single day, 21 of them in a single incident after a hamas militant fired a rocket propelled grenade at a