hello. and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. i m paula newton. you are watching cnn s continuing coverage of israel at war. it is 3:00 a.m. here in atlanta. 9:00 a.m. in gaza. israeli air strikes, again, lit up the skies overnight. israel s military says its forces have reached the outskirts of gaza city, for the second time in as many days. israel hit the refugee camp in northern gaza with the devastating air strike on wednesday. local hospital officials say 80 people were killed. here s what an idf spokesperson told cnn earlier. you should have evacuated. you and your family, you shouldn t have been there. that doesn t mean that we wanted to kill anybody. it means that when we warn palestinians two weeks ago to evacuate that specific area, because there was going to be major combat operations, they should have heeded the warning and should have left. the sad reality that is unfolding now is that the civilians in gaza is
hello, and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and as we continue our coverage of israel at war. i am paula newton. it is 28 here in atlanta, atm and gaza, while we are waiting to see if more foreign nationals are waiting to cross the border into egypt. for the first time since rafah border crossing opened wednesday to several hundred for nationals, including aid workers, who have been stuck at the border. the u.s. state department believes about 1000 americans and their families are still in gaza and trying to leave. here is u.s. president joe biden. we are in a situation we are safe passage for wounded palestinians and foreign nationals to exit gaza has started. american citizens are able to exit today as part of the first group of a little over 1000 who will see more of this process going on in the coming days. working nonstop to get americans out of gaza as soon as safely as possible. the agreement, brokered by qatar, also cal
moments ago. as a result of these efforts an initial group of foreign nationals including u.s. citizens departed gaza through rafah today. and we expect exits of u.s. citizens and foreign nationals to continue over the next several days. we want to make sure we can get u.s. citizens and their family members out as safely as possible. a total of about 400 americans and their families are among the roughly 7,000 foreign nationals seeking to leave. some injured palestinians are also making it through to hospitals in egypt. you see there a long line of ambulances lined up near the rafah crossing. but as these evacuations ramp up, deadly israeli airstrikes continue. one in northern gaza yesterday hit the crowded refugee camp of jabalya. israel says the attack targeted a hamas commander who was behind the october 7th terrorist attacks. and today a second explosion rocking that camp. the idf just confirming it was another israeli strike. we have global coverage for you. we beg
family members with whom we are with contact that they will be assigned specific departure dates. we have asked them to continue to monitor their email regularly over the next 24 to 72 hours for specific instructions about how to exit. it is 3:00 here in washington, d.c., we re going to begin this hour with cnn international diplomatic editor nic robertson, he is in sderot, israel. give us the latest on what the idf says happened today at the refugee camp. reporter: they said they had precise intelligence which allowed them to target a hamas terror cell that was hiding out in the jabalia refugee camp in the fallujah neighborhood and it was using that precise intelligence that they targeted them, eliminating them. they point out that hamas has has made a habit, if you will, intentionally hides behind civilians, hides in tunnels that are underneath and amongst the civilian housing and the idf also point out that they have been warning the citizens of northern gaza to move
announcer: this is cnn breaking news. welcome to the lead. i m pamela brown in for jake tapper in washington, d.c. tonight, as israel ramps up the bombardment of the terror group hamas, innocent civilians are finally being allowed to leave war-ravaged gaza. and egyptian official tells cnn that 361 foreign nationals left gaza and entered egypt through the rafah crossing today. the u.s. state department confirms some of them were americans. and sources say the group includes two american aid workers, dr. barbara zind, and ramona okumura, a prosthetics expert. one of ramona s family members will join us live in moments for now. so stick around for that. and the white house said it expects to get all americans out of gaza. a number believed to be around 400 within a few days. dozens of severely injured palestinians were allowed to cross into egypt today. and were rushed to egyptian hospitals for medical care that they haven t been able to get in gaza. despite this small g