palestinian interior ministry reports israeli airstrikes killed at least 21 in kahn yunis and another 28 in rafah. that is home to the border crossing where many palestinian civilians have been gathering to try to enter egypt. >> proximity of the kibbutz made it a prime target for hamas fighters during the attacks. more than 120 people were killed in the slaughter with more than taken hostage. erin burnett spoke with israeli forces who are there right now. some of their stories may be difficult to hear. >> reporter: men came at dawn through the main gate to this town of just over 1,000, burnin. now the kibbutz is a mass grave and still an active fighting zone. fist terrorists still found hiding. one soldier we saw on duty there has served 25 years in the army. >> what we saw here, nothing can prepare you for this kind of brutality of evil, pure evil. so you ask me how do i feel? determined. very determined. >> reporter: determined because here you breathe the crime. through your nose, your mouth, the presence of human death hits us. in family that lived here, haddads. their names on t

they say they killed the commander of kahn yunis battalion. and this morning saying that they found a tunnel that actually came from gaza to a beach on the israeli side. and that they said two hamas operatives came out of that engaged with a fight with israeli special forces who were there and hamas operatives were killed. but this is happening day in and day out. and while we don't know how many commanders, how much capacity capability have been taken out, we do know they are taken out every day and there are hundreds of strikes. and so israel is making in this 19th day of the war steady progress even as they have not yet gotten to that next stage as they call it. >> an important point. we'll come back to you shortly. >>> and president biden is trying to slow down the ground invasion of gaza despite his vocal support for israel's right to strike hamas. ax yoels rest ios reporting tha president wants more aid and wants those trapped there out. and there are fierce of a ground invasion with a huge death toll that does not destroy hamas and a wi

and this is kahn yunis in southern gaza where the military again this morning urged palestinians to goeeded now is clear, a ceasefire. israel is objecting and the united states is backing it. saying that no ceasefire thousand with the pentagon saying small tactical pauses in airstrikes can be useful for civilian protections. >> that is not the same as saying a ceasefire. again we believe a ceasefire benefits a hamas. >> reporter: and bodies continue to pile up and the risk of the war escalating and drawing in the united states grows. israel this morning accusing iran of helping hamas with the money, training and logistics before the october 7 attack. hamas militants crossed in to israel and killed 1400 israelis and took more than 200 hostages including elderly and babies. and one photograph this morning seemed ominous. the shadowy lead of hezbollah meeting with top officials from palestinian islamic jihad and hamas. behind them, photographs of iran's supreme leader. >> and we'll pick it up there, richard, with the news we're getting just this morning that american troops actually suffe