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[ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. hello again, everyone. thank you for joining us. i am fredricka whitfield in atlanta alongside wolf blitzer in tel aviv. calls for a cease-fire growing as is really -- israeli forces move in. they are calling for an immediate cease-fire after summit with antony blinken. he had the position clear that now is not the time for israel to hold back. >> it is our view that the cease-fire now is simply going to leave hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on october 7. you do not have to take my word for it. a few days ago, senior hamas officials said it is their intent through october 7 again and again and again. >> across gaza, or scenes of destruction. israeli forces continuing the barrage on the enclave and we are watching significant developments along the border crossing. they say that hamas is blocked foreign nationals from exiting gaza until israel guarantees that ambulances from gaza can reach the crossing. a source says more than 700 people are waiting to cross into egypt, including nearly 400 americans. >> reporter: thank you. joined by the spokesperson. major, thank you for joining us. i first want to ask you about the explosion today at the united nations run school inside of gaza. it was set to be sheltering refugees. images show damage, bloodshed and casualties within the school's courtyard. is there anything you can tell us about what happened there? >> thank you for having me, wolf. as we know, this is a vision and image that we never wanted to see. it pains me. i think every israeli, we were never looking for anything when we woke up here a month ago and we never even thought we would be at war with hamas, and not the images on the israeli side and gaza side. we know that people where the hospital and hamas was identified as working directly outside of the hospital. we may have fired in that area and it could have been shrapnel or some other type of secondary explosion in the general area. it may have reflected back into the hospital. it is still under review. we have never attacked hospitals and even though you and your viewers know that we have provided proof that hamas is directly underneath the hospital carrying out terror operations, it is affecting our hand. >> reporter: we have seen as you know, airstrikes near two hospitals in the last day or two, including a strike at an ambulance convoy which left dozens of casualties. the hamas run health ministry in gaza said the ambulances were not being used by hamas terrorists. what to do you say? >> first of all, as you mentioned, it is the hamas run health ministry. it really is hamas more than the health ministry. everything they say we have to take a step back and ask i f we can trust them as a credible source. in this case the answer is no. we did identify a terrorist threat inside the ambulances. we provided information. we see red cross ambulances sitting there. we know it is not a new thing. since 2014, the been taking ambulances and hiding terrorists inside of it making the most cynical use of important medical assets for their own use. it is extremely difficult to fight against. it shows that this is hamas' play group when they know that we could respond. they show the blown up ambulances which is what they use as the uber. ambulances that go around gaza. if you identify the active threat, we will eliminate the imminent threat. earlier today the idf says that hamas used an announcement telling residents to move safely south as an opportunity to fire on soldiers. what more can you tell us about that attack? >> very sad. as the international community and we feel, the key is to get innocent civilians and they are innocent civilians, out of gaza city. we have open hours and humanitarian corridors. we see in coming artillery fire directly at the position on that corridor that leads into the safe zone which had to be closed off and it is one more time where not only are we trying to get civilians out of the way but hamas is trying to keep them in the way. as soon as the civilians are gone, we can immediately eliminate them. it will not have a civilian threat. they are doing everything we can to stop us from achieving our goal. it was interesting that egypt's foreign minister said that israel's actions in gaza, and i'm quoting them, cannot be justified as legitimate self defense. i would like to have your response. >> if there has ever been a case of self-defense, this is it. we know that before october 7, not a single is really wanted the war. we did not seek the war. we were attacked. 1400 civilians were brutally murdered. 241 men, women, and children and a i'm at the baby and multiple 5 and 6-year-olds. i could not imagine a situation that would more require a country to go to war to defend itself. even the hamas spokesman was bold enough to say that they are preparing as of these recordings, they are performing additional scenarios for october 7 against israel. therefore, the greatest thing we could do is to destroy hamas. this is a clear case of self- defense. >> idf soldiers are set to be closing in on gaza city right now. how soon do you expect the idf to conclude the operation against hamas in gaza? >> i think it will take a great deal of time and the reason i'm saying that is as we have already provided information. tomorrow, we will provide more information to you and to your viewers. you are chasing a terrorist squad. our soldiers that were involved in the attack, we chase them into a building was civilians. you don't want to shoot civilians but then you see two shots on the ground with no in there. 40 or 50 feet underneath the ground into a web. that is how they are operating. in order to provide the least number of casualties, this is an incredibly difficult operation. it is one side playing with no roles and we are playing with rules. time is on our side. it is the only way to get this. >> reporter: thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. cnn was part of the first group of foreign press granted access to israeli forces inside gaza. journalists embedded with the idf operate under the observation of israeli commanders and are not permitted to move unaccompanied within the gaza strip. under idf escort, i was asked to submit all footage to a review prior to publication. cnn has agreed to the terms in order to provide a limited window into the operations within gaza. tell me what you were able to see. >> reporter: we met up with israeli forces on the israeli side of the gaza border. we entered into the armored personnel carriers. it was a small group of us, me and two other reporters in the group with a lieutenant colonel who took us into gaza. it took 20 minutes of driving into gaza, making frequent stops to look around and check for possible threats from hamas militants inside the gaza strip. we arrived at our location which is an israeli military post inside gaza about one kilometer from the border on the outskirts of gaza city. we got there, this is what we saw. >> reporter: we are at an israeli military post about 1 kilometer inside of gaza. gaza city is this way. there is a lot of ongoing fighting between israeli forces and hamas militants. this is what the battalion commander just told me and all of this is intended to try to cut off gaza city from the southern part of the strip as israeli forces move in from the north. while we were there, the commanders told me we were just about 100 meters from the front line contact line with hamas fighters both to the north and to the south. where we were is along this strip were a strip of land going west to east where israeli forces are effectively trying to cut off the northern part of the gaza strip from the southern part. as they encircled the city of gaza. israeli forces are operating inside of gaza city and have encircled it. the question is, will they go inside and do the kind of potentially bloodied and deadly urban combat to that would be required if they want to go in and clear out the city of hamas. the city is a hamas stronghold but one thing is that there are certain points where they believe are the front line positions of hamas fighters. the hamas fighters can pop up anywhere in the gaza strip because of the network of underground tunnels. it was clear in the conversations at this military base that this is the number one concern, the underground tunnels which they have been working to clear. the soldiers at this post inside the gaza strip working to establish what they said was a humanitarian corridor to allow civilians from the northern part of gaza to escape to the southern part. we also know that in recent days and weeks, israeli forces have been bombing residential areas of gaza where there are said to be underground tunnels. we know that there have been a number of civilian casualties. thousands of children alone, wolf, have died, according to the palestinian ministry of health. >> stay safe over there. thank you very much. happening right now, a pro- palestinian rally underway in washington, d.c. take a look at the clock crowds right there. demonstrators demanding a cease- fire in gaza. the crowd has been growing by the moments. as event organizers plan for tens of thousands to attend. we are live from freedom plaza. tell us what people are saying. >> reporter: look, fred, we had to move to the edge of the rally because it is the only place to get a signal right now. the crowd has rapidly grown. all of freedom plaza have taken up and huge groups pouring in. one beside me with a huge palestinian flag. the organizers said they expected to be the largest free palestine rally in u.s. history. remains to be seen if that is the case. certainly a massive crowd. we are in the heart of the district. just a couple blocks from the white house, where the protesters will be marching at about 4:00 when the speeches wrap up. they will demonstrate their later on this afternoon. we have been listening to speeches and hearing common themes calling for an end to the bombing and ground incursions in gaza but also political pressure on president biden with some of the speakers saying that the days of arab americans voting for a democrat like joe biden are numbered if his unequivocal support of israel and the bombings in gaza continue. it is something we have heard for weeks but the rhetoric has ramped up from some of the speakers we are hearing. as you said, fred, the crowd continues to grow. many thousands of people and it does not seem to be stopping with more and more people arriving. >> in one and half hours, they will make their way to the white house. that is just a couple of blocks away. coming up, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken in jojordan meetiting with ararab forereign ministsters. momore on thisis high-ststakes summit, , right after ththis. will will will with israel's war against hamas intensifying, the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken was in jordan meeting with officials from several arab countries in a high-stakes summit. we are joined live from amman, jordan right now. this is the third visit to the region since the hamas attack on october 7. what did he have to say? emphasizing the points of commonality between the united states and arab partners on the approach to israel. there are not a lot of points of commonality. they do all share the same objective to have a sustainable peace and they agree on the need for humanitarian assistance to urgently reach the population that needs it. but clearly a major divide on one of the biggest key issues and that is calls for cease- fire. the egyptian foreign minister standing there after the summit today and again called for the immediate cease-fire and very strongly condemning the israeli defense in gaza. there is not a time for cease- fire right now and it would give hamas time to regroup and potentially re-attack. the u.s. has called for what they are calling a humanitarian pause to allow the aid to get in. we saw israeli officials yesterday, benjamin netanyahu in particular, rejecting this entirely. they were saying they would not seek that until hamas releases hostages. we know this is something he brought up in his meetings yesterday and brought up the rising violence in the west bank. that was also discussed at the meeting. another big focus of the trip is the attempts to stop the conflict from broadening into the region. they said it was discussed at the summit at each of the members said they would use influence to stop that from happening. could we hear antony blinken's exact words on that? >> throughout this conflict, countries in the middle east and beyond have played an essential role in preventing the spread. today, we agreed on the importance of using our respective influence and capabilities to deter any state or nonstate actor from opening another front in this conflict or taking other destabilizing action. >> reporter: this is, of course, going to be a topic of conversation in turkey tomorrow. >> thank you very much. hamas militant s killed the doctor and held the rest of the family hostage for h hours. thenen kidnapped her h husband. whatat her familily is d doing to bring her husband home. my very emotional interview with her comes up, right after the break. here in israel, we had a chance to speak with a victim of the hamas attacks who has been living a nightmare since october 7. air raid siren started going off in the kibbutz near the gaza border. she ran into the shelter with her husband, their nine-year- old son, their 11-year-old daughter and 18-year-old daughter. then the hamas terrorists and to their house and try to force their way into the shelter. shooting and killing through the door. the family and friends saw what was happening because the hamas terrorists use the neighbor's phone to livestream the attack on facebook. after murdering their daughter, hamas took her phone and live streamed the rest of her family being held hostage on the floor for hours and hours. in a final act of terror, hamas connector husband and took him to gaza. in my conversation, we want to warn my viewers that what you are about to hear and see is very disturbing. >> we woke up because they were screaming that the missiles are on and our daughter yelled to come to the shelter. we looked at each other and said something is wrong then they got the message that there was a fear of terrorist attack on the kibbutz. >> reporter: they could be crossing the border? >> they could be crossing the border into the kibbutz and crossing the fence into the combusts and keep quiet. kids when they are fearful, they cannot be quiet. we were all in this tiny room which is the kids' room, the sleeping area so we would not wake them up. they started to say they are walking in the path in the kibbutz. >> reporter: the terrorist? >> yes. so he took a chair and put it near the door because we do not have an actual lock on the door and we were waiting and being quiet just fearful and crying. the kids were crying and trying to calm them down and between our house and the neighbors' house, we heard glass shatter. after a wild, we heard somebody walking in the house. we heard them walking on the broken glass. it was not one person. you could hear. we were quieting the kids and -- you were huddled together. >> yes. they were under the bed and we were really scared. >> were you hearing arabic? >> no, they were not talking until they got to the shelter door then we heard in hebrew. they banged on the door really loud and said open the door. they said help, open the door in hebrew. unfortunately, he was killed afterwards. he was a 17-year-old boy from the kibbutz. they use him to open doors like a bait. then when they saw him, he locks the door and struggled to lock it and they started shouting, we do not shoot, we will not shoot, open. you could hear three or four of them shouting and he was struggling with the door and they fought him to open the door and they are still shouting and shouting. then she saw that there was a crack starting to open and she jumped on the door to help him close it . at that moment, there was a gunshot. i was hanging onto one of the kids. i am not sure which one. and then he was shouting, who got shot? who got shot? and then he said it was her. help. >> reporter: your daughter? >> my daughter. 18 in four days daughter. and, i did not see him because there was not light yet. the light came on and i saw him and i think he was over her or she dropped near him. i did not see her yet then he was yelling, she is dead. help her. she is dying. she is dying. he was in a pile of her blood. he was sitting there with his hands on his head. he was saying help her. help her. i went to her and i saw her on her back, straight. still shaking. the body was still shaking, but she was dead. when i checked her, he said check where she is bleeding from and i checked and i went up to the head and i fell to the injury and i said that she's gone. she is gone. she is not here, she is gone. they took her cell immediately. they took us. >> reporter: the terrorist? >> yes. they told the kids not to look. i do not want them to see their dead sister in a pile of blood. he why not with his hands and knees bloodied . then, afterwards, i realized that i was live on facebook with the mother's phone and that everybody saw them entering and shooting the door of the shelter and killing her. they sat us on the floor and took my phone and said, is this your phone? i said yes, what do you need my phone for? and he said i want to do live on facebook. what is your code? i gave him the code and he started to say repeat after me and he said i don't remember the exact message, but, he told me something to say about the government or -- i do not remember the exact thing. but that they are here and they are fighting and then they took the phone and actually started filming us live. >> i am still trying to understand what happened or shocked. he was crying and the kids asked, are you bleeding? and he just nodded his head and they said they just killed her and it is her blood and then the kids started crying and shouting and they said to the terrorists that were holding us hostage and said, do not kill us. please do not kill us. and, they were filming it all the time. i realize that i did not know then and i was in shock and then the alert started shouting that there were missiles coming and i said that i tried to jump to the shelter and they said, you are staying here. [ speaking in a global language ] they said don't worry, our commander knows we are here so they will not shoot missiles in here. you are safe. >> reporter: she talked about burying her daughter and how she is hopeful her husband will still come home. our thanks to her for sharing the story with us. to our viewers, thank you for joining us. i will be back in the situation room on monday. . cncnn news roooom cocontinues w fredricka a whitfield d in atla right afteter this breakak. welcome back. with israel pushing into gaza, calls for the end of fighting are growing around the world. a group of interfaith organization were in georgia. they called for an immediate cease-fire to allow access to humanitarian aid. to and what they call the illegal occupation of palestinian lands. >> we must not forget our shared humanity. we know all too well the consequences of blind violence and it is this that helps us to say never again. never again for anyone. never again in gaza, never again, especially in our name. we demand cease-fire now. >> joining us is the first muslim woman and only palestinian representative. tell us how important it was and perhaps even surprising it was to be a part of this interfaith meeting as a consequence of what is happening between israel and hamas. >> i am a state representative which means i have little jurisdiction over international issues. i think is important to say that because i will not have any influence abroad. i just i was capable of answering the call but that it was a good conversation and have. >> why were you reluctant? >> i been in office for nine months. i'm a first year state representative. it is not my area of expertise. being palestinian is a unique experience. but doing these interviews is not the experience that i have had. >> as a result of october 7, has it been different? have people approached you differently? reacted differently? what has the last couple of weeks been like for you? >> it feels like the oxygen has been sucked out of everything, relationships. it is a weird spectrum. some people i have not heard from that i used to heard from more often. others checking to make sure i am okay because it is a difficult time. it is a different spectrum of experiences than i am used to. >> how are you? today u.s. secretary of state antony blinken when at first the white house was saying let's have a humanitarian pause, today he said no cease- fire because there is a concern it would give hamas an opportunity to regroup. so, how does all of that sit with you? >> it is an unfortunate reality because it seems like a lot of people keep forgetting there are 2 million people in the gaza strip with nowhere to go and everyone saying you can displace them and put them in different countries do not understand that they are not egyptians, they are not iraqis. they are palestinians. the idea that you could displace close to $2 million, kill tens of thousands of them without any military objectives and say we cannot have cease- fire, it makes me wonder what the end course is, where are we heading and are we doing it this way. with the medical system collapsing and lack of water and lack of food, we will start seeing people dying as a result of disease and hunger. >> when you hear from the idf that the military objective is that they are going after a particular hamas operative and in so doing, whether it is an ambulance or the hospital or refugee camp, the operative use that location and used the people in front of the operative as a human shield. do you accept that explanation? >> i don't. i don't say that lightly because at the end of the day were only receiving one side of intelligence and one side of information. but as a palestinian, when i am speaking with others. i get news of another family member or loved one who has been killed as a result of airstrikes. they are saint i don't understand why they are being targeted this way. there is no hamas here. we have spoken with medical professionals who say there is no hamas there. the question becomes, how surgical is the targeting when we see entire buildings leveled and we see people under the rubble, i struggle with that. viewers don't know me but i try very hard to look at information from different sources and my concern is that we are not doing the same here. >> quickly before we let you go, and we are so appreciative that you were able to come in. when you look at the live pictures from the nation's capitol. and you see what is being called a pro-palestinian rally today and in a matter of an hour, many people will make their way to the white house. what is your thought about the growing sentiment? >> like i said, i do not understand military. the history is complex but the moral requirement of all of this is clear right now. there are innocent people being killed who have nothing to do with this and who rarely ever have voices heard. i am sitting here because people in gaza cannot be sitting here. we cannot get to them because no one is allowed in. help when people see these demonstrations they understand it's coming from a place of anguish and deep pain. as a palestinian i cannot begin to explain what it feels like to be watching this and being incredibly helpless. is not just in gaza. is happening in the west bank and i've never seen a coalition this broad for palestinians in my life and it is not because they are pro-hamas or anything like that. they recognize that people deserve to live in dignity and peace without having to be forced into a mass displacement and killing campaign. >> georgia representative ruwa romman. thank you so much. >> we will be right back. all right, welcome back. resident biden says he still hopes to pass a comprehensive gun even with a deeply divided congress. the president and first lady were in lewiston, maine on friday, just over a week after a gunman killed 18 people there. omar gimenez has more from lewiston, maine. >> even though it's been more than a week since the shootings, the pain is still very raw for so many in this community, and now is the climate that president biden was visiting over the course of friday. he met with first responders, nurses, others that were on the front lines of responding to the pair of shootings that again happen a little bit more than a week ago now. you can't go far in this lewiston community and the surrounding areas without seeing signs of support, even just behind me where i am outside the bowling alley, which was the first site of where the mass shootings have been that night. we've got signs of support saying lewiston strong, saying things simply like "be nice", acknowledging the climate and the pain that so many are going through still even at this point. 18 people killed total in these shootings, and their families are still trying to figure out how to process. now, president biden, along with meeting with first responders, he also met with members of some of the victims families. he also took some moments to make some remarks about his visit. take a listen to some of what he said in regards to the political climate around some of these mass shootings. >> i know consensus is only possible. this is about common sense, reasonable, responsible measures to protect our children, our families, and our communities. because regardless of our politics, this is about protecting our freedom to go to a bowling alley, restaurant, a school, a church, without being shot and killed. >> and another thing the president talked about is how he's had to make too many of these visits before, including in places like buffalo and uvalde, and, of course, now here in lewiston, maine. one thing we heard from a community member ahead of his visit about whether they wanted him to be here, they said they were glad he was here, because it showed the highest levels of the u.s. government cared about what happened here in lewiston. and another thing that my crew and i have heard overwhelmingly, even in the hours after the shooting actually happened, a little over a week ago at this point, is that they couldn't believe something like this happened here in maine, and i say that because when you look at their yearly homicides across the state, that number is comparable to the amount of people that were lost in a single night in this community, and that gives you an idea of the shock, but also the amount that they're actually having to process over what happened, again, in just a matter of minutes at two separate locations, here at this bowling alley, and, of course, just a few miles from me at that bar and restaurant as well. but every indication we have seen has shown that they have banded together in the face of this adversity, and they are going to try and move forward, stronger together. that's why you can't go far in this community without seeing symbols like the state of maine frame and a heart over where we are in lewiston to represent the love and the strength they will have for each other moving forward. i'm omar gimenez, cnn, lewiston, maine. the new cnn prime time is where the truth shines. the day's biggest stories. the night's most e essential rereporting. ththis is the e new cnn prime t weeknighghts startining at 7:00 cnn.