it's the top of the hour. i'm boris sanchez with jessica dean in washington, d.c. we have new video just into cnn, and we should warn you it is graphic and disturbing. so if you need to, it may be best to turn away now. it shows dozens of casualties near a hospital in gaza. we're seeing at least a dozen bloodied bodies strewn across the ground near an ambulance. the escalating humanitarian crisis in gaza, a main focus as america's top diplomat returns to the middle east. the secretary of state antony blinken today pressing israel for a pause in the fighting with hamas as the war now enters its fifth week and international condemnation grows. >> we need to do more to protect palestinian civilians. we have been clear that as israel conducts this campaign to defeat hamas, how it does so matters. it matters because it's the right and lawful thing to do. it matters because failure to do so plays into the hands of hamas, and other terror groups. >> now while blinken was speaking, the leader of the iranian-backed militant group hezbollah, praised hamas for its october 7th terror attack. these were his first public comments since the start of the war. he also stoked fears the conflict could widen if israel does not stop its assault on gaza. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is rejecting any type of cease-fire in gaza unless hamas frees all of the hostages, and all of this happening as hundreds more foreign nationals are able to escape the war zone through the rafah crossing into egypt, and we have it all covered for you at this hour. we go first to cnn's ben wedeman who's in beirut. was there a call for an escalation of this war? what did he say? >> reporter: in fact, there were high expectations about this speech one way or the other, but it really ended with a note of ambiguity. he said the possibility of a lebanese front escalating into a broad battle is a realistic option. israel should take this into account, but what we've seen since the 8th of october is that there has been a low level of exchange of fire between hezbollah and israel. yesterday we saw a dramatic uptick. today was actually relatively quiet, so basically hezbollah and iran and others are kind of leaving the option open of an escalation, but not actually escalating until this point. he did stress or claim that hezbollah's attack on israel on the 7th of october was 100% a hamas decision that not even the other militant factions in gaza knew about it, let alone hezbollah, iran, and others. he did say, however, that as a result of hezbollah's actions on the border with israel, that about a third in his words -- a third of the israeli army has been tied down in the north and not free to join the israeli ground invasion in gaza. jesica? . >> ben, you're there on the ground in beirut. what's the reaction to this speech? >> reporter: the reaction is mixed. many people were concerned, were worried, were afraid that this speech might raise tensions even further, and i think that most people breathed a sigh of relief that remlebanon was not going te dragged into a war with israel, not yet at least. there are others who were disappointed, others who wanted an escalation, you know, in the days leading up to his speech, various social media memes were -- videos were circulating which were really sort of like trailers to the speech, and were really pumping up anxiety. some people noted on social media that the trailers were much better than the movie itself. some lebanese politicians are now objecting to the idea that hezbollah independent of the lebanese government, can drag lebanon into a war with israel. others -- for instance, on the other hand, i did message with a supporter of hezbollah who said that basically the message is, if israel wants a war with lebanon, we're ready. jessica? >> ben wedeman for us in lebanon, thanks so much. boris? we're joined by a senior adviser to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. sir, thank you so much for being with us. i really want to get to reports of casualties near this hospital, gaza's largest medical facility. the cause is not yet clear, but the hamas-run health minute city says it was the idf. can you share with us what you know? was this the result of an israeli air strike? >> i don't yet know. obviously, we will examine the situation fully, but let's be clear. that is the hospital that a few days ago we proved with documented evidence that under that hospital is a command and control center of hamas. it is a command and control, and out of it is a whole spider web of panels connecting hamas' subterranean military terror machine. if you take pictures above ground, you see civilian buildings and you'll see a hospital. below them, hamas has placed its most vital military infrastructure, and this, of course, is a war crime because hamas is using the hospital as a shield, as a civilian shield for its war machine, and they have to be condemned for that. >> so it may not be clear at this moment to you whether israel was involved in what appeared to be several casualties outside the hospital. do you happen to know if the prime minister has been briefed on the situation there? is he getting briefed now? >> he's always being briefed. i'm here at the defense ministry, and he's in the building next to me. i'm in constant contact with him, but i can't know precisely if he's been briefed on this incident, and if it is us, what was it? i can say the following. you have to be very careful with whatever hamas propaganda is saying. we remember that previous incident at the hospital where hamas accused israel of attacking and in the end, it was a terrorist missile that f malfunctioned and fell short. as the situation becomes more precarious and as they advance and take on and defeat the terrorists, i can expect them to lie even more and more. >> mark, we wanted to get your response to secretary of state antony blinken. he was in your country today. he brought up the idea of a humanitarian pause, something that was soon after ruled out by prime minister netanyahu. it appears that the u.s. and israeli governments are in disagreement over a pause. is that accurate? >> so we agree in the role of the g-- the goal of the operatin which is to dismantle and destroy hamas. we cannot live with this brutal terrorist organization that committed the atrocities that it did on october 7th. we refuse to live any longer with this terrorist enclave as our southern neighbor. i don't think any country would stand for that, and israel least of all, we won't stand for it and there will be a new reality in gaza. we also agree that we have to differentiate as much as possible between the terrorists in gaza who are our enemy and the target of our operation and the civilian population. we also agree that a maximum effort has to be made for humanitarian support for the people of gaza, the civilian population, and we're working together with the americans on that, but as to the issue you raise about the humanitarian pause, our position is clear. any humanitarian pause has to be connected to a release of hostages. that is the number one humanitarian issue. they have abducted more than 240 of our people. they refuse red cross visits to those people. if anyone wants to talk about a humanitarian crisis, what about the hostages? >> what is the prime minister's message then to growing calls from u.s. lawmakers, the secretary of state, the president of the united states for that temporary humanitarian pause? is it something that he may be open to down the road? >> well, he said very specifically, if we can have as part of the humanitarian pause, if we can have as part of that, the release of hostages, then we're open to it. i think that's a very clear position. now the focus has to be on hamas and on its allies in the gulf, particularly qatar. can they facilitate a release of hos hostages? >> sir, i also wanted to get your reaction to comments from hezbollah's leader. did you see it as a signal that hezbollah did not want to get involved in this conflict, the fact that he made very vague threats, but didn't declare war on israel? >> so i have two points that i think need to be made. one is to reiterate what your correspondent ben wedeman said in beirut, that the sad reality is that this year, iranian proxy, this terrorist group has the ability to launch a war that will encompass all of lebanon, not the lebanese government, not the lebanese people, but this iranian proxy terrorist group, and it must be remembered. it's not just israel and the united states and the west that consider hezbollah a terrorist group. the arab league itself, that organization that contains all the arab countries, the arab league has declared hezbollah a terrorist organization, and that organization can drag lebanon into a war. it's a terrible situation. as to the speech, i think i would be correct in saying we're not so worried about his words. we're watching his actions, and we are following his actions closely, and if he launches a war, he will find an israeli response that he will regret the day that he launched the war. we don't want a war. we're not interested in an escalation in the north. if he forces us to fight, we will fight, and we will win dec dec decisively. >> sir, there are several israeli officials that have admitted fault to the intelligence failure that contributed to the terrorist attack we saw on october 7th. benjamin netanyahu has not admitted any fault that i have seen at least publicly. axios points out that his support is slipping in polls in israel. many israelis saying that they want him to step down. do you believe he's leading from a place of political weakness right now given the environment politically in israel before this attack took place? >> so, boris, israel's a democracy, and the prime minister is open to be criticized. he has his supporters and he has his detractors, and what i think we're doing today is we're focusing on winning the war against hezbollah -- against hamas. i apologize. against hamas in gaza. that's the effort that will be a difficult struggle. we're taking casualties, but we must win that war. we have to dismantle hamas. we have to disarm hamas. we have to end hamas rule in gaza. when that war is over, after we are victorious, then there will be plenty of time for politics, more than enough time. we israelis, we love to passionately debate all the issues under the sun, and when the war is over, there will be time for that. at the moment, it's a time for national unity. it's a time for commitment. it's a time for struggle. it's a time to achieve victory against this brutal terrorist organization that murder our people, and boris, they didn't ask israelis how they voted when they butchered us. they didn't ask israelis if they were of the left or of the right, secular or religious. they killed us all. they killed us all, and i think we have a common destiny. there will be a time for politics after victory. >> mark regev, we'll let you go now, but please if you get any more information about what happened, we would love to hear the details. thank you so much for the time. >> my pleasure. also today, hundreds more foreign nationals were able to make it out of gaza. they were allowed to enter egypt through the rafah border crossing for the a third straight day, and cnn's melissa bell is in cairo. how many foreign nationals were allowed out of the war zone today, and we know there have already been some americans that have made it over to egypt. have there been more americans since yesterday? >> reporter: there have been today, an extra 350 -- just over 350, jessica, foreign and duel nationals that have made it through the rafah crossing. it's still extremely chaotic. we have been hearing from a couple who made it out on wednesday, an italian humanitarian worker and his palestinian wife who spoke to us about the chaos that exists at the rafah crossing. those lists published every day with the many hundreds of names of those allowed to get out. the difficulty inside checking whether their names are on the families and find themselves divided. people who have their name on the list, but not those of their spouses, fathers, children, and they're obliged to stay behind. it's very slow, very chaotic, and there are a lot of desperate people on the other side of the rafah crossing each day that their name will be on that list. just over 350 today. what we understand so far, jessica, in that fairly chaotic and very opaque process, how they figure out who gets to go up day in and day out, we don't have any ability to get to the bottom of why that is because these lists are being drawn up day-to-day with egyptian officials with israeli and hamas oversight. so all of these foreign and duel nationals are due to get out. how the groups are determined, we're struggling to get to the b bottom of. as to the americans, we understand there have been 79 american citizens that have now made it across the border. there have also been again today, some more of the most severely wounded palestinians. about 15 of them taken to either hospitals in northern egypt or that hospital that was set up near the rafah crossing by egyptian authorities. so people are making it out very slowly, but of course, ever more desperately, jessica, with all the difficulties that go with once they get over here, the consular officials having to work out what happens next. the couple we spoke to said, look. it was a difficult decision for us to go. she was leaving as a palestinian, leaving her friends and family and life behind. with very little communication after, she passed the crossing without any of them. for all of these people, it's an extremely difficult decision to decide to go, and existentially, the only one they can make at this stage, jessica. >> melissa bell, thank you some for that reporting. boris? after a tense day of testimony, eric trump was on the stand today in the civil trial against him, his brother, and his father, and we have details on that. and the president about to arrive in maine to meet with first respondeders of lastst we mass shoototing. we'l'll bring ththat live whwhe hahappens. wewe're back i in just a m mome. eric trump has wrapped his contentious round of testimony in the civil fraud trial, and today he filled in more questions about his involvement in his father's financial statements and about the tax status of his father's mar-a-lago residence. when eric trump finished testifying, he called the trial, quote, a political witch hunt and said, quote, new york is going to hell. >> we've done absolutely nothing wrong. we have a better company than they could have ever imagined, and this is a big charade that's a huge waste of taxpayer money, and it's the very reason everybody is moving out of new york state and i was actually one of them. it's sad. it shouldn't happen. i love this state. this state is absolutely going to hell, and it's because of people like the attorney general of new york. >> cnn's kara skinle is outside new york. eric trump not happy, not pleased with what happened in there. what's going on in new york, he says. what else happened in that courtroom? >> reporter: well, jessica, inside the courtroom, the focus was really on eric trump and he finished his testimony about four hours split over these past two days. during this testimony, he n maintained that the financial statements he decided are fraudulent and he said they are accurate. he stood by them, and eric trump was saying he he was assured by account talents and lawyers about these financial statements saying when he had comfort from them that they were, quote, perfect. he had no problem signing them. he also said that he would not sign something that is not accurate. so again, doubling down on these financial statements at the center of this case. he's finished testifying, and donald trump jr. testified the day before. next up is former president donald trump. he's expected to testify on monday. that will likely be a tension-filled day. donald trump has sat through numerous depositions, dozens of them. this time he will be under oath, live testimony before a judge he has criticized and across the room from a new york attorney general who has attended the trial while he is there, likely sit across the room from her with the tensions expected to be very high, and donald trump having to answer questions about these financial statements, his involvement in them, the accuracy of them under oath with so much at stake for his company, his business in new york, and once his testimony is finished which is expected to go the whole day, his daughter ivanka trump is expected to testify on wednesday. she has tried to block this testimony, but so far it looks like it's a go, and it'll happen on wednesday. after that, the new york attorney general's office is expected to rest their case. jessica? >> kara scannell with the latest. thanks so much. i'm joined now by anna bower who's the court clerk for law. we heard eric trump in that clip leading into kara. he was pretty fired up. this all sounds pretty familiar. it was perfect. i didn't do anything wrong. new york is at fall. what did you make of all of that? >> yeah, look. it is familiar. it very much echoes the sentiments that his father, donald trump, has put out there in the past, and i think that, you know, it was another tumultuous day in court for the trumps as kara stated. they had to double down on these claims that, you know, they trusted the accountants, that they didn't know what was going on, but that seems to be something that's just not credible when, you know, they have been presented with these documents that bear signatures of eric trump, that certify the accuracy of some of these statements. so -- in addition to that, you know, i think that it kind of is a prelude of what we might see on monday when trump testifies. again, like you said, you know, he has been saying this is a witch hunt over and over again, and i think that we are going to potentially see him echoing those sentiments once again when he takes the stand on monday. >> and you mentioned this, and when we've seen this play out over the last several days as we have been following this, that eric and donald trump jr. essentially are saying, look. we didn't know. we trusted the accountants to do this job. is ignorance a defense? >> well, look. you can -- to some extent, potentially, you can still commit fraud even if there's reckless disregard for what was going on. so, you know, if you had nothing -- if you had no knowledge at all, then yeah, to some extent, ignorance can be a defense, but reckless disregard is still something that is relevant. so it's -- it's even then, it's going to be a little bit difficult for them to show, you know, that they had no knowledge whatsoever of this, and, you know, i also would mention something else that kara didn't mention about what happened in court today that i found to be quite interesting is that there was another dispute here, again, about the judge's clerk. trump's attorney raised this issue or these allegations that as i understand it, are baseless about, you know, the trump -- the clerk being a partisan -- a biased person who's advising the judge. i think that it's going to be very interesting next week when trump testifies because of course, there's a gag order on the case. he's already violated that gag order twice by talking about the judge's clerk. the judge -- the last time that this happened put trump on the stand and found his testimony not to be credible, so trump already has this history with the judge, a history with the clerk, and so i'm very interested to see how that plays out, especially in light of what happened today where eric trump's testimony was kind of overshadowed by this dispute about the clerk and the allegations that trump's team was making about her again as i understand it without any sort of basis to that claim. >> yeah, it's really -- it really drills home trump playing it out in the court of public opinion versus in that actual courtroom where he's seemingly not making any friends with the judge or the clerk by attacking them. all right. thanks so much, anna bower. we appreciate it. voter turnout is key when it comes to battleground states and when we come back, cnn travels to wisconsin where democrats are facing some frustrated voters. we're going to have more on that just ahead. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. with the 2024 election now just a year away, cnn's john king has been talking to voters in battleground states about the issues that matter to them, and recently he traveled to milwaukee, wisconsin where high turnout is key for democrats in the state's largest city. nearly 40% of milwaukee's population is black. it's a crucial voting block, but voter frustration could be a problem for the biden camp. let's bring in cnn's chief national correspondent john king. john, great to see you. wisconsin of course, a very important battleground state 37 does biden have a big problem on his hands here? >> reporter: he does, and just think about wisconsin. he won by 20,000 votes in 2016, and goes on to be president. what is the core constituency for biden? it is black voters and come with us to milwaukee. he does have a problem. devante johnson is a foot soldier for milwaukee in one of its crucial battlegrounds. >> i'm an organizer for community. >> reporter: this stop was encouraging. >> i'm so happy there's a black man out here that's going from door door. >> she's a tough one. >> reporter: fellow organizer dez woods though gets the response far more common these days. >> i don't want to talk about the elections. >> reporter: woods is trained to keep trying. >> so are you not a voter? >> when i want to, and right now i don't want to. >> reporter: the predominantly black neighborhoods of milwaukee's side can look and feel forgotten. the canvassers meet often, but paying jobs are scarce. the streets used to be cleaner and safer. >> you hear people say, ain't nothing happening that won't affect us. raise y'all hand. raise y'all hand. >> that's all they be saying is, like, ain't no change. >> wow. >> we see all these other areas. >> reporter: angela lang outlines this week's agenda, and the stakes. >> there is no election that doesn't run through the black community. what happens in milwaukee can impact the rest of the stay which ultimately impact the rest of the country. no pressure. >> reporter: the president was last here in august for a green energy event, and this old industrial site is being cleaned up with biden infrastructure money. >> putting in the work of black america. >> reporter: but early spending on radio and tv ads targeting black voters is proof the campaign sees the problem. those ads don't mention one issue critical here. >> people are wondering, what is he doing in terms of police accountability and criminal justice reform? >> reporter: saying the president better show up more. >> people want to see people actually paying attention and sometimes that means actually being able to physically be here and engage. >> reporter: black turnout soared here in the obama years, but it dropped in 2016 and was flat in 2020. >> on a scale of one to ten, how would you grade the joe biden presidency in terms of its impact on your life and your community? >> a four. >> a four? >> yeah, and i love joe. >> reporter: but beth baker sees a reason for optimism. >> the alternative is a man whose name i try not to say. >> i'll say it. as we sit here today, the likely alternative is donald trump. >> right. >> would that be enough to motivate people if they're eh on joe biden? >> i think so. >> here at a yoga studio across the milwaukee line in glenndale. like many, we met in the city, and she says black voters get taken for granted. >> they tend to be pretty loyal to the democratic party and sometimes i wonder just based on how that party has performed thus far for people of color, if we should continue to be. >> reporter: but brooke says that accountability exercise must wait until after 2024 because of constant republican attacks on abortion rights and voting rights. >> i grew up almost certain that my rights were guaranteed, right? i took it for granted, and now as i sit and watch the work of so many black folks during the civil rights movement, so many women who fought for women's rights, when i see all of their work slowly being undone, that was a wakeup call for me for sure. you have to fight. >> eric jones is no trump fan, but he thinks it's foolish to bet on trump motivating black turnout. >> i get people saying, they're not going to vote. that's my fear. if they see those two and they're going to say, screw it. we're damned anyways. >> reporter: we met jones at the fifth anniversary of the brownsville collective. several local artists sell their goods here. it's a source of smiles and hope in a community often defined by poverty and a high incarceration rate. >> when the factories and manufacturing left, jobs left. when jobs leave and opportunities leave, then you have certain things that are domino effects, right? >> reporter: jones says the president should stop by and learn a lesson. >> you bring opportunities, you bring jobs, you get votes. plain and simple. >> reporter: for the president, it is the mood here, but today the mood is bleak. >> he would have a problem today, right? >> yes, he would. he would have a big problem. >> reporter: johnson's work could well help the president, but listen. >> if it were just biden and trump, who would you vote for? >> that's just a tough one. >> reporter: a young man who says the country needs big change, determined to boost milwaukee's black turnout, yet not sure who gets his vote. and jessica, as you noted, there's a year until election day. the biden campaign says, number one, it's not such a big problem. i would argue they're wrong about that. if they really believe that, but they say they have a year to turn it around. this is my tenth presidential election. it's always discussed with politics and an enthusiasm problem when you are far out from an election, but i've never seen this, especially in the black community that is so critical to the democrats. >> right, and that sort of institutional knowledge is important. it's really important context to this whole conversation when the state is being won by a number of people that could fit into a wisconsin football game stadium. john, i do want to ask you just in your travels, is wisconsin the only state where you're seeing this for the biden campaign? >> reporter: no, absolutely not, especially in the black community. think about the five states donald trump won in 2016 and joe biden flipped, the reason he's president. georgia, wisconsin, pennsylvania. in georgia, it's 32%, 33% of the eligible voters are black voters, but this is the foundation of the biden coalition. black voters saved him in south carolina in the 2020 primaries. this sense in the black community, that young man devante johnson, older women 50s and 60s, they keep telling us they're critical and don't keep their promises. where is he? one of the things i heard in milwaukee that was fascinating is they want to see more of the vice president as well. this disaffection, the fact that you hear people who know that during the civil rights movement people died for their right to vote saying, i don't think it matters anymore, it was stunning. >> john king, really important work. thank you so much for sharing that with us. we sure do appreciate it. we'll be right back. breaking news now returning to the top story this hour. israel has now taken responsibility for that attack outside that hospital in gaza city today. that's a hospital where thousands are seeking safe j shelter from continued israeli bombings and what we're about to show you is disturbing. it shows multiple casualties on the ground near an ambulance, and in a statement, israel said it targeted the ambulance because it was being used by a hamas terrorist cell. the statement reads, quote, a number of hamas terrorist operatives were killed in the strike, and we have information which demonstrates that hamas' method of operation is to transfer terror operatives and weapons in ambulances. >> we also have some news just into cnn about the supreme court. they're now entering a new battle over gun rights. justices have agreed to take up a challenge to the federal ban on bump stocks, those devices that essentially allow shooters to fire semiautomatic rifles more rapidly, discharging hundreds of bullets per minute. >> paula reid is with us along with joan biscupik. we're going to get to the bottom of the things. paula, let's start with you. walk us through this decision. >> it's notable that they'll take this case, in the wake of a deadly mass shooting, of course, and they're expected to pretty soon revisit their own 2022-case where they expanded gun rights and the history of this particular case is interesting because it goes back to the trump administration. in 2019, the atf banned bump stocks saying anyone that has one, you either need to destroy it or turn it in at your local atf aoffice, and that came in te wake of the deadly las vegas shoot wrg a bump stock was used. the folks who are challenging this ban are coming at it from a separation of powers argument. they're saying, wait a second. the atf that has very little public accountability did not have the authority here to reclassify bump stocks as machine guns, and effectively ban them, but this is definitely a significant grant from the supreme court. it's one to watch. >> and joan, it comes during a very busy term of the supreme court. they're looking at this and also another second amendment case. >> this one has to do with government authority to classify bump stocks as machine guns. the case that will be heard on tuesday goes more fundamentally to second amendment rights, and i think by the end of the session, we'll have much more clarity over gun rights and government's power to regulate guns that cause violence. this goes to the heart of what the second amendment stands for because it revisits for the first time a 2022 decision contract justices said, when lower court judges look at everything to see if any gun regulation can stand, they have to look at the history and tradition that existed back in the 18th century. it requires judges to look for analogs and comparisons. in this case, it involves a very modern problem. it involves a man who is being prosecuted under a federal law that says that if you are subject to domestic violence, a restraining order, that you cannot possess a firearm, and a lower court said, that kind of prohibition would not have existed back in the 18th century, and it struck -- it's said that that law should be struck down. the biden administration will come before the court with this case just as it will with the bump stocks one saying, no. there are good reasons to have it, and as i say, the one on tuesday, more fundamentally gets to second amendment rights which have frankly been in chaos in lower courts because of the justice's ruling on how to understand history and tradition of the second amendment. >> and i'm just understanding you right, the biden administration had been pushing for them to hear that case, right? >> yes. in both situations, it was in the lower court in the southwest part of the country that narrowly read the power of government to regulate firearms. in the case that the justices just accepted today involving bump stocks, it had to do with the power of federal regulators to classify bump stocks. >> right. >> if the federal firearms law could be ambiguous on that point, but the one on tuesday, jessica, that goes to just what government can do at all when it tries to get into the gun control area because what the -- again, the biden administration brought that appeal because it lost in the fifth circuit where those justices -- those judges down there said, no. there is no way that when the framers developed the second amendment they would have considered a man who was subject to a domestic violence restraining order to someone whose rights to own a gun could be taken away. >> it strikes me we're having this conversation about the biden administration's efforts on some kind of gun control legislation as the president himself is headed to maine, the site of a mass shooting just about ten or so days ago. the president obviously is there to offer condolences to victims and their families, but also to make a point that the administration has been trying to be active on an issue that have -- that hasn't had much traction. paula, does this make a difference specifically on this issue? >> it has been, and another point i want to make is the president's own son is also facing gun charges in delaware, and this particular case that's going next week is one that his attorneys have pointed to that they believe if the biden administration loses that case, it could actually help hunter b biden's case that is now full-blown as a criminal prosecution. they expect they could resolve it with a plea deal and they were pointing to what was happening with that case when it was moving through the courts saying, look. this isn't going to be good fur guys if you bring these charges. now he is facing those charges and it's just notable that the father and son, sort of on opposite sides of benefitting from these cases. >> there are a lot of layers to this story. paula and joan, we appreciate you walking us through it. again, president biden on his way to maine. this just in, he's just arrived there moments ago. he is meeting survivors from last week's mass shooting. first responders as well. we'll have much more on this presidential trip and what it means next on cnn "news central." right now president biden and the first lady are traveling to lewiston, maine, to comfort and consult family of the victims of last month's shooting that left 18 people dead. this morning a hospital spokesperson tells cnn that three people who were injured in that shooting are still in the hospital. two of them in stable condition, one of them listed as critical. let's take you live to lewiston with cnn's omar jimenez, and what are we anticipating from the president's visit? >> reporter: yeah, we're anticipating president biden to meet with first responders and nurses and basically those on the front lines of these shootings that happened a little bit more than a week ago. he's now expected to make his way here to just outside the just in time recreation center, which is where the first of the two mass shootings happen on that wednesday night. he's going to make some remarks there for meeting with the families of the victims killed in these shootings. at least 18 killed in total, others injured, and some as you mentioned still recovering in the hospital. what we've seen over the course of today is a community trying to come to grips with what happened, again, just a little more than a week ago now. signs everywhere you look. even just outside the bowling alley behind me, along the curb pumpkins with decorations that say things like lewiston strong, hearts as well, messages written to the people that were killed here, even the symbol of the state of maine with a heart over where lewiston is. take a listen to one woman who came out here to visit and see some of the flowers that were laid out. she lost a nephew in these shootings. take a listen to some of what she said today. >> it just shows all the love and the support, and i'm so glad the president is taking the time to come here to be with the families of the deceased. >> and we heard that from another person as well, another community member who had come out here to lay flowers and again pay some of those respects as well. this i mention is where the first of where these shootings happened that night, and the shooter made his way to a bowling alley or to a bar and grille that's a few miles from where we're standing right now. even though it's been a little more than week, one person we spoke to said this is going to stick with them for a very long time because things like this don't happen in maine, as one person related to us. but as we now know and the whole community did, it does. boris? >> sadly, it happens frequently in this country, the president visit agnumber of communities with people lost to senseless gun violence. we're going to take a quick break, but we want to leave you with the images, some of the victims of the mass shooting in lewiston, maine. stay with cnn. we all have heroes in our lives. and for a kid like me, who's had 13 operations. and can now walk. you might think, that i'd say my hero is my doctor or nurse. or even my physical therapist, and they are. but there's someone else, who's a hero to me