i want to go to our cnn reporter, kevin liptak, for more. what should we expect to hear from the president beyond the statement he's made? >> reporter: certainly forceful condemnation of these attacks. i expect to hear that from president biden. also reiterating his support from israel, amid all of this, and he did just get off the phone with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu a few hours ago and reiterated that the u.s. stands ready to support israel. the one thing i'm going to be listening for is any indication of how he sees this conflict unfolding going forward, whether he got any indications from prime minister netanyahu about where this goes next. of course, that is the big question american officials are asking now, what room is there for diplomacy to diffuse sort of a broader conflict? and you have seen the americans act as a broker in the past for potential cease-fire. you saw that in 2021, president biden on the phone almost daily trying to organize the cease-fire between the palestinians and israel, with the help of egy

cnn's kevin liptak joining us now from wilmington, delaware, where the president is this weekend. kevin, what is the latest? >> reporter: the white house is being very careful not to weigh in. they're not saying whether they got a heads-up of this kpangs of is reeling's response to the terror attacks. one thing we can see is it deeply complicated the objective. chief among them, their release of hundreds of hostages being held by hamas including potential americans. there are some unaccounted for, some being held by hamas. recently as yesterday it did seem as if negotiations to free the hostages had been intensifying with the help of the government. certainly israel, qatar, trying to release a large number of hostages. this will complicate it deeply. remember, the united states were trying to encourage is reeling to delay the ground invasion. the securing of the release of any hostages will be much more difficult if gaza is being bombed by israel. so certainly the u.s. says that those talks will not end. they're not dead. they're hour by hour in trying on to get the hostages releas

. >> cnn kevin liptak joining us from the white house. at are you hearing, kevin. >> reporter: i can tell you officials that i have spoken to this morning are monitoring this situation incredibly closely and you hear this growing amount of concern from biden administration officials about this exploding conflict in israel. and we have heard from the top diplomat, american diplomat in israel, she's the acting ambassador stephanie hallet. she says she's in contact with israeli officials and that the u.s. fully supports israel's right to defend itself from terrorist attacks. guys, this comes an incredibly sensitive moment in u.s./israel r relations. president biden is a strong proponent of israel. he has repeated they have the right to defend itself many times over the course of his administration but there have been strains between president biden and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in particular some of the right wing government actions. certainly president biden will want to show his support for israel at some point today. he is

here's cnn's kevin liptak with more on that. >> reporter: president biden spoke for the first time todayh the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. since israel expanded its sought on gaza. in that phone conversation, the president reiterated that israel had a right to defend itself, but he also underscored the need to do so in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law, that prioritizes the protection of civilians and that was from the white house summary of the call. of course, this is you illustrate traitive of the fine line that president biden is walking as he confronts this growing crisis in the middle east. on the one hand, he is a staunch defender of israel and certainly a defender of its right to protect itself. but he's also calling for protection of civilians and calling on israel to adhere to international humanitarian law and avoid targeting civilians. and certainly, as the images out of gaza come to light, there will be pressure on president biden, certainly from the progressive left in the united states, but also from american arab partners to do more and

the question is, what they're differences are on -- are there any differences, our kevin liptak covering the president for us. and, kevin, jake sullivan is not going to publicly criticize, but president biden has been careful to express support for israel and express his desire for protecting civilians there and meeting the needs of civilians there and looking longer term, looking for a just outcome to this conflict including the rights of palestinians. i wonder, do you sense in your reporting, any daylight between u.s. officials and the israeli counterparts on the conduct of this war so far? >> well certainly not in public, as you said, jim. but it is hard to read into these conversations. you know, there century some kind of difference on how they're approaching the crisis and you cannot look at the pikes in the ground and not be effected by what is going on there and the president has concluded his conversation with netanyahu. jake sullivan did give an indication of how the conversation would go. but the white house did underscore in their read out, they s they said that the israel ha

. >> cnn's kevin liptak joining us now from the white house. kevin what are you hearing? >> reporter: yeah, certainly the officials i have spoken to this morning are watching this situation with a growing amount of alarm. we did just get a statement in from the national security council spokesman saying the united states unequivocally condemns the unprovoked attacks from the hamas terrorists against the hamas citizens. we stand firmly with the government and people of israel and extend our condolences for the israeli lives lost in the attacks and she also said that the american national security adviser jake sullivan is in touch with his counterpart. and we also heard this morning that the acting ambassador -- american ambassador in israel is in touch with her counterparts as well and was stronger. she said she was sickened by the images coming out of southern israel of dead and wounded civilians at the hands of terrorists from gaza. the u.s. stands with israel. so statements certainly starting to trickle in. and it remains to be seen if president biden will speak about t

. >> reporter: cnn's kevin liptak now from the white house. and he urged any external actors to not take advantage of this situation and get involved. but, frankly, washington must be very concerned about this escalating and escalating not just here across borders and to the wider region. what's the biden administration's plan at this point, kevin? >> reporter: well, right now officials are sort of working through multiple channels to try to determine the scope of israel's needs as it confronts this crisis. you see this effort sort of down the military klain to determine what direct assistance the u.s. can provide to israel as to works to confront this unprecedented rocket assault. that was a point of discussion between president biden and prime minister netanyahu when they spoke by phone yesterday, and we are told by a senior administration official we may learn as soon as today the first round of u.s. assistance to israel as this effort gets underway. but there is a complicating factor here, becky. you remember, washington is in a state of d

they're among the hundreds of american citizens trapped in gaza kevin liptak joins us now from delaware. what is the white house doing to bring these americans home? >> the white house says this is an urgent priority, now on the same level of urgency of getting those hostages released from gaza. they're trying to talk to all of the players who are involved in this, egypt, israel, and hamas to try to find a way to get foreign nationals, including those hundreds of americans out of gaza. but certainly, that isn't necessarily solace to the americans who are waiting and have been waiting for weeks to get some answers from the state department. at one point, they were told to head south towards that rafah crossing, but when they got there, the gates were closed and they haven't been able to get out yet. earlier today, the u.s. national security adviser jake sullivan did talk to our colleague jake tapper and explained a little bit of where this process stands. listen to what he said. >> the egyptians are prepared to allow american citizens and foreign nationals to come through the rafah gate

. >> kevin liptak is at the white house. thank you. well, secretary of state antony blinken is also condemning the attacks by hamas on israel. blinken says he has been speaking with israeli officials as well as leaders in the surrounding countries and he has called his european and middle eastern counterparts to discuss the attacks. natasha joins me now. what's the latest from your perspective, natasha? >> reporter: well, the secretary of state has been extremely busy over the last 24 hours. he has been calling his counterparts in saudi arabia, egypt, jordan, turkey, as well as in the eu. essentially, the message he is sending to them is, please try to use whatever leverage and influence you have to promote calm and peace in the region. now, the secretary of state has repeatedly condemned these attacks and in his conversations with his counterparts he has expressed to them that the united states stands in solidarity, of course, with the israelis and that the u.s. is working to determine what exactly the israelis need in the coming days

cnn's kevin liptak tried to get answers from the press secretary yesterday.e is his exchange with ra recent jean-pierre. >> he said in 2020 as a candidate so after this law was passed in 2019 that there will not be another foot of wall constructed in my administration. how can you say that he's not breaking that promise? >> what i can say is that there is a law that the dhs is complying with. we believe in the rule of law and that's what we're moving forward with. >> there is truth there, in 2019 under president trump congress appropriated funds specifically for border construction in the rio grande valley, nearly $200 million had to be used for the project by the end of the fiscal year that just ended on september 30th. so essentially it was use it or lose it. that's the argument we heard yesterday from president biden in the oval office. >> the border wall money was appropriated for the border wall. i trying to get them to reappropriate to redirect that money. they didn't. they wouldn't. and in the meantime there's nothing under the law other than they have

kevin liptak, thank you. we're joined by former commanding general of the u.s.rmy europe and seventh army, lieutenant general mark he hertling. good to see you this morning. let's start with the ground forces inside gaza right now. we understand they entered overnight from the north and the forces are in the field right now fighting according to an idf spokesperson. it was first described as two targeted raids, general. is this the beginning or part of israel's major ground invasion that they've been promising? >> well, good morning, amara. first of all, i would like to comment on what both jim and nic said because they're being hesitant. yes, there's an increase in operational tempo of the israeli ground forces. this does not mean that this is the ground assault, the ground incursion. i would agree that there's potential for different kinds of actions. what i see in the films and the folks i've talked to who are involved in this, they're saying not yet. this is the initial, limited incursion to gain more intelligence. we're seeing a lot of tanks and infinity ca

at a refuelling stop in germany, cnn's kevin liptak asked the president if he was disappointed. let's listen. >> no. disappointed? look, i came to get something done. i got it done. >> part of that appears to be an agreement with egypt's president el sisi who he spoke with my phone instead of meeting face to face in aman. the president said el sisi agreed to open to humanitarian aid and affirmed israel was not responsible for the hospital explosion. >> what happened last night is not a murder mystery, but an open and shut case. it was a palestinian islamic rocket that misfired from the gaza strip and landed in the parking lot of that hospital. >> israel's neighbors, though, remain unconvinced. tens of thousands of protesters turned out today. tonight on the streets of the neighboring countries with large demonstrations in several locations in jordan and morocco. and with that anger rising, the state department sent a cable to all u.s. embassies and consulates around the world. the message ordering embassies to conduct emergency security reviews in light of current events to. the

our colleague kevin liptak is in the room, we will wait to see what it was exactly that president biden said, but one of the things that he is being asked about while he's here, sara, is what he said when he first got here, which is about that hospital explosion that happened in gaza city that caused so much uproar, something that you heard prime minister netanyahu saying the world should be outraged about but it shouldn't be directed at the israelis because they are denying the possibility. that is a denial i should note president biden has emphasised since he's been on the ground saying based on what he has seen he believed it was, quote, the other team. he didn't say it was palestinian militants, palestinian terrorists, the idf blamed earlier. that is something of course that has been a central undertone of this entire visit since that happened. who is responsible for that of course given that is what scrapped the other part of this trip that was supposed to happen that is now no longer happening. i should note president biden is going to come in this room behind me soon after he mee