state antony blinken made two unannounced stops in the middle east. he met with palestinian president mahmoud abbas in the west bank and traveled to bagdad for high-stakes talk with iraq s prime minister. blinken has held a series of top-level talks with arab leaders as israel intensifies its attacks against hamas. cnn s jim sciutto is in northern israel. you have new reporting that secretary blinken is not the only u.s. official visiting that region. reporter: that s right, cia director bill burns is traveling to the mid east as well. a u.s. officials tells me the following, that burns is traveling to several countries in the middle east where he s meeting with multiple intelligence counterparts and country leaders. the u.s. official said they ll discuss support for hostages negotiations and u.s. commitment to continuing to deter state and non-state actors from widening the conflict. that particular message has been a consistent one from when president biden first commente
. this is cnn breaking news. good morning, everyone, and welcome, i m phil mattingly with erica hill in new york. poppy is off today. right now, secretary antony blinken back in the war zone in israel. we are expecting blinken to speak in just moments after meeting with prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his war cabinet. blinken s trip comes as one of the most intense nights. we watched rockets and missiles rain down live on cnn as flares list up the night sky. blinken, president biden and his top advisers are warning israel that the human suffering in gaza is eroding public support for the war and the outcry for a cease-fire could reach a tipping point. the israeli military says its troops are completely surrounded gaza city. the latest video in this morning from those ground operations, casualties are rising on both sides, the idf now says 23 israeli soldiers have been killed since that ground assault was launched in gaza. this morning the red crescent says israe
hello, you re watching cnn news central. i m boris sanchez alongside jessica dean in washington. we re following the latest developments in the middle east. today a split-screen moment, on one side a show of strength among allies as secretary of state antony blinken was back in israel, again, forcefully backing israel s campaign to eliminate hamas, even as he bluntly addressed the need to do more to alleviate the civilian suffering that campaign has unleashed inside gaza. we need to do more to protect palestinian civilians. there will be no partners for peace if they are consumed by humanitarian catastrophe and alienated by any perceived indifference to their plight. we ve gone from zero to now over 100 trucks going into gaza through the rafah crossing every day but this is still not enough. while blinken was speaking the leader of the lebanon-based militant group hezbollah was also speaking. his first public comments since this war began. hassan nasrallah praising
viewsers joining us. it is thursday, november 2. 10:00 a.m. in gaza where israeli airstrikes again lit up the skies overnight. israel s military says its forces have now reached the outskirts of gaza city. the idf say 17 of its sold engineers have been killed since the ground incursion began. in northern gaza, israeli airstrikes struck the refugee camp for the second time. at least 80 people were killed, most were women and children. unicef says more than 400 children have died each day in gaza since the war started. meanwhile we re waiting to see if more foreign nationals are able to cross the border into egypt today. people have been gathering there in hopes of getting through for the first time since the war began. the rafah border crossing opened wednesday to several hundred foreign nationals including aid workers who had been stuck at the border for days. clare sebastian is covering all of these angles for us. what are we hearing about what could happen today? the expe
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