you lye from washington, d.c. new revelations of hamas atrocities on day six of the war in the middle east. anderson cooper is live in tel aviv. >> more funerals as families bury their loved ones massacred in the terrorist attacks. a short time ago, benjamin netanyahu's office released photos of babies who have been killed and burned by hamas. the prime minister's office says the pictures were among the images that benjamin netanyahu showed secretary of state antony blinken earlier in jerusalem. blinken, stand ing alongside th prime minister, compared the brutality to the worst of isis. >> babies slaughtered, bodies desecrated, young people burned alive, women raped, parents executed in front of their children, children in front of theis, how do we even understand this? to digest this? >> new warnings are now coming from the international red cross saying gaza likely only has enough fuel for a few more hours, and it is needed to power generators for hospitals. without power, quote, gaza hospitals risk turning into morgues. food and water are also in short supply as israeli war planes have continued to bomb the sealed off gaza strip. we're covering all the angles at this hour. jeremy diamond is in the 20 miles north of gaza. ben wedeman is in lebanon. jeremy, what are the conditions there? what have you been seeing for the last day? >> reporter: over the last several hours, we had not one but two barrages of rockets over the city. that second barrage was very close to our hotel. the boom from the intercepts of the iron dome hitting the rockets being fired from gaza in the air was very loud indicating its proximity to our hotel. when we went into the shelter on our floor of our hotel, we met a family there who spoke to us about the fear that they have been feeling over these last several days. they live in ashkelon, which is the city closer to the gaza strip that's right over my shoulder. and they said they fled over here slightly further north for try ining to get to a sense of security. and also because they do not have a bomb shelter in their home. the father said his children simply could not sleep when they were in ashkelon out of fear of rockets landing on top of them. now at the same time, what we do know is that the iron dome system is incredibly effective, but it is certainly not foolproof. there's a deep, deep psychological impact on the population here. at the same time, what we can also hear from this balcony, we're hearing it right now, probably not loud enough to pick up on the mic, is the rumbling of the bombing by the israeli air force over gaza, as well as artillery pummelling the strip. we know the death toll in gaza has been rising in recent days. we have seen horrific casualties emerging from there. at the same time, there's a broader humanitarian question with the u.n. human rights chief raising questions or accusing israel effectively of violating international law by now allowing food, water and fuel into the gaza strip. there's no question that however this unfoelds, as israel prepareses for the next phase of the campaign, which by all indication ace peersappears to ground invasion, the death toll is only going to grow. we know more often than not, civilians are all too often caught in the cross fire. >> joining me is secretary of state antony blinken. we saw some of what he said with the prime minister. talking more about his day. >> that's right. secretary blinken spoke in personal terms and emotional terms about hamas' terrorist attacks over the weekend. the way in which they attacked women and children in their own homes. what's important to recognize is why they are doing that. one of the reasons they are doing is because they are laying out the rational for this widening israeli military campaign that's all but sure to come, whether it is in the coming days or weeks. we don't know. they are preparing the israeli public for the possibility of increased significantly increased israeli military cas casualties. if a ground invasion moves forward, and they are also preparing the world for the images of the destruction in gaza. and the possibility of more civilian casualties because of the reality every time there's a conflict with gaza, every time the military has to go after hamas in gaza. they bomb buildings and there are civilian casualties. it's just a reality. it's one that certainly the people of gaza are bracing for in times. >> jeremy diamond, appreciate that. gaza facing days of bombardment already by israeli airstrikes and a blockade of food, water, fuel and medicine. the situation there is dire. that's their word. palestinian officials say hospitals are overburdened right now and their generators are nearly out of fuel. ben wedeman is tracking this for us. you have been reporting for decades. is this a different level they are experiencing now? >> this is something they have never seen before. there's been several incursions over the years. some of them lasting for weeks and sometimes more than a month. but nothing on this scale. we're six days into this war. the death toll is in access of a tho thousand. back in 2014, which was the most severe flare up between gaza and israel in more than a month. death toll was in access of 2,000. so certainly we're off to a bad start. the people i have spoken with in gaza, i have never heard them so terrified as they are at the moment. we understand from the u.n. that 340,000 people have fled their homes, many of them are taking shelter in u.n. schools that have been converted to shelters. also overcrowded are the hospitals of gaza where the health ministry says the health system is in a state of collapse. they don't have enough beds. the injured are basically just lying on the floor. operating theaters are over capacity. basically, if you walked into the hospital with a wound, they will dress it and you're going to walk right out. so it's a dire situation. without fuel to run the generators and that fuel is quickly running out, they will no longer be able to operate incubators and dialysis machines. and the red cross today said that the hospitals of gaza are at risk of turning into morgues. caught in all of this are the civilians of gaza. these are people many of whom don't like hamas. many of whom really just want to get by and feed their children. but that's not happening at the moment. as we can hear from this one resident of gaza, people there feel abandoned. >> there's no chivalry, hearts are dead. only shocks and body parts remain. people are blind to this. people can't find food in their homes and there's ab extremely tough social condition in gaza. sieged and all of this is happening because of the siege. where should our people go? we have been besieged for 18 years. where should we go. >> the egyptians are sealing the border. >> there's no shelters. >> why aren't there shelters that have been built. hamas has built a network of tunnels for move ing weapons, b what about shelters? >> this is not a top priority for hamas. israel has controlled the amount of concrete and cement that's allowed into gaza. hamas obviously has smuggled a lot in for itself for building those tunnels underground, but they just aren't there. there's not enough concrete. there's not enough cement. and i suspect if the israelis saw through the surveillance system that bomb shelters were being built for civilians, they might suspect they might be for another purpose, despite the fact that might be as bomb shelters for civilians. >> ben wedeman, thank you. joining me to discuss all of this is ian bremer, president of the euro asia group. they will travel in addition to jordan and qatar. the expectation is that the war will soon escalate to some sort of ground incursion or invasion. how important do you think are the secretary's talks right now in the region? >> in the near term, they are just maintaining the status quo hoping that the relationships that have been built, both formally and informally, with the israelis will continue. because that is still the interest of the gulf states. even if it's going to have a very significant problem with that. but let's be very clear. the civilian horrors that we're going to see in gaza are going to create enormous amounts of diplomatic pressure on what has been israel's geopolitical strengthening in the region. they are in better position before the last weekend than at any point in decades. that's something that's very strong ly in the united states interest, whether republican or democrat, blinken is over there in part to try to maintain the floor on that. >> you said this was a decespere gamble by hamas, which was fast becoming ir relevant. can you talk about that? i assume you mean irrelevant because of the potential deal with saudi arabia. >> not just that. >> the fact is over the past years, you'll remember when john kerry was secretary of state for obama, he said quite famously during his 18 months of diplomacy, there can be no peace in the middle east unless you resolve in the middle east . this major deal where the uae puts money into jordan for solar pa power and israelis provide water. it's unconceivable a lot of business happening in the region. meanwhile, what are the palestinians getting? more settlements. intolerable living conditions, no ability to drive an economy, no a ability to educate your kids. so in that regard, everything that hamas was driving for, which is we refuse to recognize israel, we want liberation for the palestinians, they were the only ones saying it. no one else cared. i have spoken with cnn over the last six months. god knows how many times we weren't talking about palestinians. we were talking about judicial reform. so that is a big driver that explains why the timing, nothing justifies the attacks, the atrocities, don't even go there, but in terms of what made a group like hamas decide they were going to throw the dice on a suicide move, we have to look at the geopolitical context. and we have to look at the israeli context. >> we have all seen how this has played out traditionally over the decades. occasional ground incursions, but generally, international pressure builds. and there's some sort of cease-fire or stalemate called. both sides kind of go back to regular times. this feels different. i was just talking to troops at the site of the music festival and they are -- i have never seen such determination in talking to any soldiers anywhere about the fight ahead. >> this is going to be so much more aggressive. 80% of israel citizens just a poll that was done in the last 24 hours by the jerusalem post, hardly a progressive media outlet in israel, blame benjamin netanyahu for what happened this last weekend. because if you're not going to talk with the palestinians, you better have your eye on the ball in terms of national security intelligence. so this new unity cabinet is going to be focused singularly on recreating national security for the israeli citizens, the nearly 10 million israeli citizens of whom over 1200 were murdered. that's their priority number one, two and three. if that means a lot of civilians will be killed, that's what it means. i'm telling you the perspective overwhelmingly for the israeli government. that's why you're preparing for ground operations, even when there are still 150 plus sitting there as hostages. none of this is precedented for israel. >> i appreciate your time. thank you. ahead, we have new details on the biden administration's furious behind the scenes effort to try to locate american hostages in gaza. more on that, ahead. steve scalise is fighting to convince his republican colleagues he should be the next speaker of the house. he's reportedly struggling to get some votes, though. let's get an update from congressional reporter melanie sazanona. there are rough estimates out there, there are more than a dozen hard nose against scalise. where do things stand right now? >> reporter: at this moment, the prospects for steve scalise are very grim. he is meeting behind closed doors trying to assuage the holdouts and trying to convince him he's the right person to unify the party. we're being told he's failing to unify the party and he's not moving the needle at this moment. we're told there are over 20 holdouts at this moment. a list that is only growing. in fact, just to give you an example, the congresswoman last night said she would be behind scalise, but today she said she's not backing scalise. it is trending in the wrong direction for the congressman. kevin mccarthy, the former speaker, knows the situation all too well. here's what he had to say. >> do you think it's possible you can get the votes? >> it's possible. >> a little shade there from kevin mccarthy, who has had a rocky relationship with steve scalise over the years. but the question right now is whether steve scalise is even going to go to the floor with a vote. there's a lot of doubts a about whether that is going to happen because he does not have the votes. it doesn't look like he's going to be able to get there. the house is paralyzed while critical issues like aid for israel and government funding hang in the balance. >> there's also breaking news on the senate side. new charges against new jersey senator bob menendez. bring us up to speed on that. >> reporter: last month the senator and his wife were both indicted on corruption-related charges, including allegations that they accepted thousands of dollars worth of bribes. but today, they were hit with even more charges. they are being accused of trying to conspire to act as a foreign agent for the egyptian government. bob menendez pleaded guilty. he's refusing to resign from his seat in congress. but these are very serious charges and are going to likely grow the calls on capitol hill that he should step down from his seat. >> melanie zanona, thank you so much today u.s. secretary of state antony blinken met with families of americans killed or kidnapped in that horrific terror attack this week. his visit to israel comes as the white house is facing growing pressure to take action as hamas threatens to execute hostages in gaza. there's new cnn reporting shedding light on what the administration is doing behind the scenes to recover american hostages and the challenges the administration will face. zach cohen joins us with thatting. what do we know? >> there's a mass effort underway on the part of the american government to secure the release of what they believe to be only a handful of american hostages in the situation. but still, multiple agencies working with the israelis and other partner countries to try to identify who maybe being held hostage by hamas and ultimately secure the release, if possible. we have fbi hostage negotiators on the ground. they have been there since before the attack happened. this is their expertise. finding hostages, negotiating the release. we have special operations forces that are assisting the israelis in trying to locate the hostages. there's 150 total hostages in this case. the death toll continues to increase. every minute that goes by, the prospect of finding them and getting them to be released does go down. >> what did we learn from secretary of state antony blinken in his visit? what did he say? >> blinken really reiterated the biden administration is doing everything it can to secure their release. he confirmed he's going to travel to multiple countries that could act as mediators ins hostage negotiations with hamas. that includes qatar. that could potentially serve as a connecting point to talk to hamas about releasing the americans. that could help locate them. the white house is trying to find details about the condition of these american hostages and try to find out if they are being held all-in-one place. the president saying they don't believe they are all being held in one place. a massive underway. >> notable that saudi arabia is on that list, given there were reports that israel was the in process of normalizing relations with that country. zachary cohen, thank you for the reporting. still ahead, cnn's clarissa ward went to where hamas went door to door executing civilians and she spoke to survivors of the attack. listen to this. >> it you know anything about what they do, that's worth worse than death. from chrome to duckduckgo. duckduckgo is a browser you download to your mobile and desktop devices. unlike chrome, the duckduckgo browser has privacy built-in. it comes with a private alternative to google search, which doesn■t spy on your searches, and it blocks cookies and creepy ads. and there's no catch. it's free. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you around. join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on mobile and desktop today. tonight in israel, families sheltering after hearing sirens days after the massive attack against their country. amid widespread reports, benjamin netanyahu said that every member of hamas is, quote, a dead man. and says it's time to, quote, wipe this thing called hamas off the face of the earth. >> president biden was absolutely correct in calling this shear evil. hamas is isis, and just as isis was crushed, so, too, will hamas be crushed. and hamas should be treated exactly the way isis was treated. they should be spit out from the community of nations. >> israel today hit refugee camps with their strikes. we want to warn you. the video is graphic obtained by cnn. it's taken in the wake of one attack. you're seeing the strike on a refugee camp killing what a minister of health said a large number of people. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken visiting israel to show support said earlier that the u.s. is working to find safety for women, children, civilians in gaza. >> we did discuss ways to address the humanitarian needs of people living in gaza, to protect them from harm while israel conducts its security operations to defend itself from terrorism and to try to ensure this never happens again. we also talked about the possibilities for safe passage for civilians who want to leave or get out of the way in gaza. that's a conversation and a discussion we'll pursue in the coming days, include colluding some of the countries we'll be visiting. >> that may be very difficult to arraign. days after the massacre near the gaza border, israel is now allowing journalists to see the horrors there firsthand. the stories of survivors are tough to see. very disturbing. clarissa ward was among the journal ists allowed to enter. here's what she witnessed yesterday. >> it was 7:11 a.m. on saturday morning when the militants arrived. surveillance footage shows them lying in wait until a car arrives. they shoot the driver and enter the compound. more pour ed in on motorcycles. early at ease and in no apparent hurt ri. thomas heard the gunshots and thought of his 8-year-old daughter emily who was staying with a neighbor. >> she doesn't do it very often, but that particular night, friday night, she went to sleep at her friend's house. >> reporter: for 12 hours, he says he was pinned down ors. >> waiting longer. military g gained control, this is what remained of the once tranquil community. late wednesday afternoon, israeli forces led journalists in for the first time after days it took a lot of time. >> did that weigh on your conscience to know how long it took? >> we have a very difficult question to ask ourselves. now we look forward to defend the people, to take the survivor out of it and to switch from defense to an offensive operation. i'm sure that we ask ourselves all the difficult questions. >> reporter: for now, there are more pressing questions. the bodies of more than 100 residents have been recovered, but the army says that many more are still missing. >> you can see the amount of blood. this was a massacre. >> reporter: the full-scale of the horrors that transpired here are just starting to come to light. >> pictures, family photographs on the wall. thomas waited two agonizing days before getting the news. >> i just said, we found emily. she's dead. and went, yes. i went, yes. and smiled. because that's the best news of the possibilities that i knew. that was the best possibility that i was hoping for. she was either dead or in gaza. if it you know anything about what they do to people in gaza, that's worse than death. that's worse than death. the way they treat you, they'd have no food, they'd have no water she'd be in a darkroom filled with christ knows how many people and terrified every minute, hour, day and possible years to come. so death was a blessing, an absolute blessing. >> clarissa ward, cnn, israel. the house of representatives remains frozen as majority leader steve ska tries to shore up enough support to get the speakership. they are trying to sway republicans that are holding out because several members of the republican conference have spoken out about why they are not fully sold on giving him the gavel. let's speak to someone just in that room, congressman mike waltz joins us now. he's a member of the house armed services committee. thank you so much for being with us. >> what did it seem like the mood in the room? >> ied majority leader scalise having this forum. we needed to and i encourage everybody that has a concern, give speaker ska can lease a chance to address it. some announced a switch in their votes. i don't want to get ahead of who that was, but at the end of the day, you have a couple groups. you have some that are saying, look, i for one supported jim jordan, but scalise won the majority of the vote. we need to get behind. we have to move forward as a country. others are still upset about what happened with kevin mccarthy. and others are saying i'm not hearing transformative change yet. let's keep talking. from my perspective, this war in the middle east has changed things. we have men and women in uniform that are literally depending on us to get our act together, move the country forward, because i think this administration is going to have to be pushed to go after the real culprit here, and that's iran. iran is behind all of this. they always have been. they have funded hamas and resourced hamas. they are pulling the strings. and they would not dare so much shoot a squirt gun in the middle east without iran giving the green light. it's only republicans in the house that are going to push this administration to truly take on the head of the snake. and that means we need a speaker. we have to move forward. >> you covered a lot of ground there. i do want to speak to you about the situation in the middle east and iran's place in the current crisis. but i want to take a step back. you mentioned that some republicans had switched their votes now in favor of scalise. you said you didn't want to get ahead of anyone, but can you give us numbers? there are razor-thin margins for scalise to get to 217. how many switched their vote, would you say? >> a few. several. the point is they stood up and said, look, we had conversations. i like what i have heard. this is what i'm announcing. there are others that said we still need to talk more. i haven't heard, and i was e elected to bring true change to this swamp, to washington and to how congress has worked. and let's talk about that some more. like i said, there are others who are very upset at why we're here in the first place. they feel like moving forward rewards chaotic behavior. so those are things that i think those are the conversations that are happening right now as we speak. but i applaud scalise for having that forum to do so. and yes, i know you want to talk about this and then talk about the war in the middle east, but in my mind, this is now in that context. there are no differences that i heard in that room, any differences that we're talking about pale in comparison to what we're talking about with radical extremists that are literally trying to destroy our greatest ally in the middle east, as we speak. we have to get it together and move forward. >> quickly r you confident there will be a vote before the end of the week? >> i don't know. the other two opinions that you heard, we have to work this out as a family. we can't repeat january. and then there are others who are saying enough behind closed doors. that's what's getting hashed out. >> let's talk about the middle east. you seem to have zero doubt that iran had awareness that hamas was going to attack israel over the weekend. according to sources in u.s. intelligence that have spoken to cnn, there's no smoking gun. they see evidence that iron was actually surprised by this assault. that's not in line with what we have heard from israeli intelligence, but what do you say in the u.s. intelligence community who seem to have a different point of view? >> number one, let's not gloss over your point. that's not in line with what israeli intelligence and folk there is are saying. i want to sit down and get those briefings. the ones we have been provided so far literally told us nothing more than we have read in newspapers. they were not acceptable. we told them they need to come back again. but this is what the white house keeps getting asked. what is their definition of direct involvement? we have a long and known history of iran funding, supporting, calling the shots for hamas, and hezbollah and iran have said themselves they were behind it. and the terrorists are thanking iran for their support. so i guess if the bar is having the ayatollah on the phone with the fighters as they are beheading children, if that's the bar for direct involvement, that's a ridiculous -- that's just a ri diculous statement. what is really going on here is that the administration knows they have been wrong on their iran policy. they have allowed millions of barrels of oil to be sold when it was literally shut down a few years ago. >> congressman, i don't want to interrupt you. i want to point out to our viewers who are watching secretary of state antony blinken board a plane in tel aviv. he's now departing israel. he has a long list of places in the middle east he's headed, including the uae, qatar, saudi arabia. congressman, to get back to your point about iran. you posted list on social media showing how the united states should assist israel and it included blocking iranian oil exports in strait ofhorse muss. is there any doubt in your mind we would see a response from tehran that included force? wouldn't that lead to an escalation and a broader war with ooin? >> no, it would lead to deterrence. that was the same narrative what you're saying now when we took out the attacks on energy s supplies from iran's stock. the storming of our embassy, the attacks on international shipping stopped when we took him out. that was an escalation to deescalate. back to 1988 when iran was harassing international shipping and president reagan launched operation preying man tus. iran was deterred. the harassment and malign activity stopped. iran will push until it meets steel. and right now, it smells weakness. it know it is can get away with it and its rox city cans get away with it and hamas casualties will trade all day long. until you go after the head of the snake and affect them where they care the most, which is their wallet, this is going to continue. >> congressman, we appreciate your perspective. we have to leave it there. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. we have more on our breaking news coverage, straight ahead. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. something of a delicate balance playing out at the white house as joe biden supports israel in the wake of the terror attacks that took place here, while at the same time trying to avoid being pulled into another foreign conflict. we're joined now from the white house with more. kayla, talk about what has been going on at the white house today. >> reporter: well, the white house is providing new updates at this hour, anderson, of the status of americans in the region, increasing the number of those killed to 27 and 14 americans remain unaccounted for. there's still a handful of american hostages, and the bind administration says that their condition at this state remains unknown. there's thousands of americans who have registered their interest to be evacuated from israel, leading the state department to charter flights beginning tomorrow to destinations across europe, which is a departure from the white house's original plan to direct travelers to find commercially available options. but the white house remains adamant about one thing, that there will be no u.s. boots on the ground in this war. they say that's israel's preference, as well. and it all underscores this challenge that joe biden and his team are facing. trying to craft a calibrated response when it doesn't draw other rogue actors into this conflict and channels the widespread outrage towards the atrocities that hamas has committed. joe biden raised some eyebrows about some comments he made about seeing images of children that had been beheaded, bus he was referencing unconfirmed media reports. when asked about the importance of accuracy today and the plethora of misinformation around this war, admiral kirby said they're going to focus on the bigger picture. >> it's obvious when hamas has proven and willing to do to innocent israeli citizens. we're going to -- we're not going to shy away from talking about the grotesque nature of what these terrorists have done. >> reporter: secretary of state tony blinken is in the region. prime minister netanyahu showed images of baby's bodies that had been burned beyond recognition. anderson? >> all right. kayla, thank you so much. stay with cnn's live special coverage. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ it is the top of the hour. you're watching cnn news central. i'm boris sanchez live in washington, d.c. with anderson cooper in israel with more of our global coverage of the war