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
today on inside politics, fear of an escalating war. the united states top diplomat is on the ground in israel as hezbollah warns it is an unprecedented battle that they are in with israel. and all scenarios are on the table and possible on the border with lebanon. plus, president biden is under pressure from his own party over israel s response to the brutal hamas attack inside israel. 13 senate democrats are now pushing for a humanitarian pause in gaza. and a cnn exclusive, republican congressman george santos is speaking out on the criminal charges he s facing and why despite all of the lies, talk being a lot of lies, and his legal problems, he still thinks he has a shot at reelection. i m dana bash, let s go behind the headlines and inside politics. we start with secretary of state antony blinken s powerful message in israel today. he was visibly shaken, describing more horrific images that he was just shown by israelis. from the barbaric hamas terror a
good morning. i m phil mattingly with erica hill in new york. poppy is a off today. right now secretary of state antony blinken is back in a war zone in israel. diplomatic source telling cnn he is pushing for a pause in the fighting to allow mediation as civilian deaths and suffering mount in gaza. he spoke moments ago before his meeting with israel s president. we stand strongly for the proposition that israel has not only the right, but the obligation to defend itself and to do everything possible to make sure that this october 7th can never happen again. how israel does this matters, and it is very important that when it comes to the protection of civilians who are caught in a crossfire of hamas making, that everything be done to protect them and to bring assistance to those who so desperately need it. the israeli president in those comments also insisted israel has followed international law and that went through the numbers even in terms of the warnings that had bee
right now. an extraordinary new israeli offensive in the skies of gaza you re probably going to see a significant reenforcement of israeli ground forces did occur. israeli officials saying that they have encircled gaza city. cut the north off from the south. fears of a second war along israel s northern border intensifying, the leader of hezbollah is expected to break his silence. hezbollah fighters saying their fingers are on the trigger. you have secretary of state antony blinken back in israel. can the united states tell its ally how to fight a war? how we can set the conditions for a durable, sustainable peace for israelis and palestinians alike. there are just weeks before the public calls for a cease-fire becomes untenable. we can get the hostages out, we can get humanitarian aid in. this hospital will turn into a mass grave. there s nothing for this place other than a place to come and die. good morning, welcome, i m phil mattingly with er
this is drawn is that we want, that the drafters of this want to send a message of appeasement to iran and this has been tried. it hasn t worked. the last administration bent over backwards to offer appeasement to iran. they were greatly betrayed by it. it was tried with the jcpoa, and it didn t work. the reason it didn t work is we are not dealing with people here who are acting in good faith. what we need to do is we need to send a message of firmness and not weakness, and at the end of the day when we re all done with this, there will be such a message. it needs to be a consistent and uniform message when it comes to messaging to iran, when it comes to messaging on our foreign policy as it relates to iran. but it will not be this law that is before us because it s going to be vetoed. we all know it s going to be vetoed. it takes a two-thirds majority to override that. it s not going to happen. and so the mixed message is there. iran will listen to it and the hard-liners wi