friends. it is wednesday, december 27th, i m willie geist. joe and mika have the morning off. a lot to get to including israeli forces shifting military efforts to southern and central gaza with officials warning the war could take many more months. and hours from now, antony blinken and alejandro mayor kas are set to meet with mexican president obrador. plus donald trump continues to claim he should be immune from any prosecution surrounding his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. we ll have the latest there. also ahead, bus drivers across the country increasingly under attack on the job. we ll dig into an alarming trend and what officials are doing about it. with us this morning, jonathan lemire, susan paige, and retired four star navy admiral james stavridis. good morning to you all. let s begin together with israel expanding the ground invasion in gaza. this as the united states continues to urge israel to protect civilian lives and shift to a more low intensity oper
their hamas captors. the office of the prime minister says there are 129 hostages still being held by hamas in gaza. 21 hostages have died. a source tells cnn that the head of israel s intelligence agency is expected to meet with qatar s prime minister to discuss getting hostages released. today families of the remaining hostages held a rally in tel aviv demanding their safe return. cnn s alex marquardt was there. alex, prime minister benjamin netanyahu just spoke about the hostages. what did he say? and fred, that rally took place here on what has become known as hostages square right next to where the defense min cit ministry is based. we just heard from prime minister netanyahu who said all of israel is in mourning for the deaths of these hostages. he spoke specifically about the three who were killed yesterday by israeli soldiers saying we were so close to embracing them, but unfortunately we cannot turn back time. he went on to make the argument that it is military pre
dana: thousands of americans remain trapped in sudan. many of them hold dual citizenship of america and sudan. they have no safe way to get out. as of now, there are no u.s. plans for additional evacuations. the pentagon describing the rescue mission at the embassy as fast and clean. reminded me how proud i am to be a member of the military but how grateful i am to be an american. the only country that can do what occurred tonight. bill: general jack keane has analysis. jennifer griffin, national security correspondent has the word from the pentagon. what are you hearing? right now the u.s. military is flying unmanned surveillance drones over the dangerous overland route from khartoum to port sudan to protect a u.n. convoy exiting the capital. dozens of citizens have joined the convoy and they re setting up an international naval task force to help assist foreigners and americans trying to lead. congressional leaders were briefed on friday about the high risk evacuati
in a.c. right now. you would have 467 degrees. feels like 45. daytime high about 60 degrees a little cloud coverrish over the atlantic. the official sunrise not for a little longer. brian: should not get high for the day. you are not saying get high during the day. high as a kite. ainsley: high on life. steve: since i was talking about temperatures it would a pli to the temperatures. ainsley: that s where my mind went. brian: people look to us for advice. ainsley: florida georgia line broke up. what in the world? i love them. brian: they won t admit it. ainsley: has to be hard to be in a group with the same people and travel around the country, the world all the time and be away with your family with one person. steve: we were one of their very first tv appearances. so, you know what? it started here. at least they didn t break up live on fox & friends. ainsley: they they will come back foggy. brian: sonny and cher broke up in real life but they kept t
bianca is off for today, but just ahead on cnn newsroom i ve heard another tornado warning, it s like never ending today. this is an early wake -up cal for people living on the southern plains. everyone wants this constam nation gone from the community. the town is rallying around each other and i think we re all on the same page for the first time in two weeks. the chinese were very, very slow in alerting the world to it. i m not entirely surprised. the chinese have mishandled covid at every step of the way. live from london, this is cnn newsroom with max foster and bianca nobilo. it is monday, february the 27th, 9:00 a.m. here in london, 3:00 a.m. in the central u.s. where a powerful storm system is battering parts of oklahoma, kansas and texas with tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail. at least nine tornadoes have been through so much, seven in oklahoma, two in kansas. there are reports of widespread damage. downed power line and debris blocking