expected to raise while here, which is the humanitarian aspect of this, the fact that no humanitarian aid has been able to get into gaza, that has been something that secretary blinken and his marathon trips that he's been making here in the middle east over the last several days and now -- i should note they're just next door to where i am speaking to you meeting with that entire wartime cabinet and next he will hear from first responders, from victims' families, from the families and relatives of hostages but there are going to be key questions between what he and the prime minister have discussed, humanitarian aid, poppy, is right at the top of that so we'll see if there are any announcements when the president comes and speaks in this room behind me. that's what's next on his agenda but the white house said president biden was walking into this with key questions not just about humanitarian aid, but also what israel's goal is here. if they do go into gaza, with that expected ground incursion, what are their objectives? what can that going to look like and those are critical questions, of course, that the u.s. has amplified by what has happened and the fact that those in-person meetings in jordan have now been canceled and now turned into phone calls, which, of course, is not the same, certainly not for president biden who values face-to-face meetings as actually going in person as he initially planned to do. >> yeah, it's such a critical point. dave sanger, i want to bring you in here. we saw, there was a smaller face-to-face meeting between the president and mr. netanyahu. in is a larger more expanded group with that war cabinet unity coming together that happened in the days after the october 7th attacks. to kaitlan's point, you heard the president talk about civilians, about the people of gaza which is a critical piece of this for the u.s. side of things. what are the expectations in this meeting that's happening right now? >> well, i think there are probably two or three things, phil. the first is what you heard about the effort to try to get the israelis to open up more humanitarian corridors, carve off areas where there would not be attacks, it would be areas of safe passage and so forth but i think the second thing you saw that really fascinated me as we watch this is the dynamic now that you see prime minister netanyahu dealing with a unity cabinet, so directly across from secretary of state blinken and the national security adviser, jake sullivan, you saw benny gantz who used to be the military chief of staff, ran against netanyahu in 2019, was defense minister at some point, has had a lot of experience in gaza and is considered a more moderate figure. i think what you're seeing the administration do is try to scene american officials in israel constantly, that's why you've seen secretary blinken go back twice, you saw lloyd austin there, now you see the president and they're just trying to slow the israelis down and say, let's think about what it is you're trying to accomplish, how you can minimize the civilian casualties, i think the hospital event even if the israelis are right and it was an iran rocket from hamas' side, i think that event will probably underscore for them the need to keep these casualties as low as they can and my guess is that the administration is trying to move them to more targeted work against specific hamas leaders rather than a full-scale ground invasion. >> the issue with that is how hamas uses the palestinian civilians, david, in shields and brings them to where they know they will be targeted. christiane, back to you. i apologize. you had called this as we were speaking before an unmitigated disaster essentially for the president. how does president biden leave israel? >> poppy, poppy, in my memory, a president has not been canceled by arab leaders. this is an unprecedented situation and it is coming at a massive, massive, massive importance to talk to those arab leaders in order to be shown to be actually trying to figure out how to de-escalate. de-escalation does not look very likely right now, and the most the president can hope to come away with according to certain arab leaders and those who are looking at the humanitarian suggestion here is to get an agreement from israel to allow humanitarian aid in. cnn reported and it's been shown on our air that they continue to be air strikes in the south including around rafah. i spoke to the egyptian foreign minister yesterday with all eyes on egypt because that is where as he told me dozens, if not hundreds of trucks, convoys are waiting with fuel and water and food to come in for the people there. and it hasn't been able to happen because there have been strikes around rafah, as well, complicating so much of this. and i was about to tell you that the israeli minister of defense told his troops and if you like i'll read it to you, i have released all the restraints that we -- that we put on the idf and i think this is, you know, a very, very important comment, this, of course, was last week but the idea of the united states trying to ensure that as the israelis call this a full-scale war, ensure that international law and the respect of civilians are paramount, it's very key right now and you can see it playing out all over on the streets and that in the end is what matters. the pressure it puts on people like the hezbollah or iran or whoever to take matters into their own hands. >> christiane, just to follow up on that, what i was also going to ask is how likely do you believe it is that president biden leaves israel without achieving the humanitarian objectives they went to the region with and leaving with a more angered arab world after this hospital explosion. >> well, i mean, look, there's a very inflamed arab world, a very inflamed gaza. a very inflamed other palestinians in the occupied west bank, and i think that that is going to continue and play out for several days. we have witnessed this. we've reported this for decades now. i've been reporting this since the '90s, all through the 2000ers. this is much, much worse than it has been before both in the attacks on israel for sure and in the repercussions in gaza. and it is unchartered territory, poppy. they haven't told us what the end game is in gaza beyond the eradication of hamas. this is an urban infrastructure and whether hamas takes people and holds then as human shields or just they live in this densely populated area, this is an almost impossible task and i've spoken to very key advisers to prime minister benjamin netanyahu, mark reggae who has been doing this for decades with bibi netanyahu and said, christiane, this is not the same as we've been through before. there will be civilian casualties and pointed to other wars that have taken place and try to maintain international law, he said, but you've already seen what's going to happen throughout this kind of war. it's always like this. there are attacks in israel, terrible attacks. there is repercussion and it is exponentially worse on the other side and that then creates a constant tsunami of response and counterresponse and violence and nothing in the end gets permanently solved so the egyptians are saying they hope the president would be able to talk to the peace leaders, i.e., jordan and egypt and mahmoud abbas, the head of the palestinian authority to not only talk about the humanitarian situation but to figure out the end of this, could they restart some kind of political process to essentially solve the bigger problem, which is the palestinian issue. >> yeah, christiane, it's interesting to point out that it's not that israeli officials are not telling anyone what their end game here is, and you've had so many great interviews on this. i think they acknowledge they don't know and i think that's why the unprecedented nature of this. i want to bring in erin burnett to give folks some idea, 7:08 in new york. i think it's 2:08 in tel aviv where president biden is currently meeting with prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his war cab threat after a one-on-one meeting or smaller meeting between the two leaders as part of his agenda while in tel aviv. what's not on the agenda anymore is that trip to amman to pete with arab leaders canceled in the wake of the explosion at a hospital alleged to have killed hundreds. there's now back and forth on the responsibility. the idf presenting its views aligning with what president biden has said at least in his initial meeting with prime minister netanyahu. erin, what are you seeing on the ground right now? >> so, you know, phil, i think when you hear prime minister netanyahu talk about making sure the minimal requirements are met and christiane talking about the fact this is different, so many things fit into what is a familiar narrative for the world right now when there are strikes on gaza, counterstrikes, a hospital or a civilian infrastructure is hit. then there are protests on the arab streets and people start to feel what feels like a familiar beat but as christiane said, this is unprecedented, and, phil, i think it's worth saying, talking to people who witnessed things here, what happened is absolutely unbelievable. they describe it as an apocalypse in hell but the reason this is so different for israel and that they cannot simply say, okay, and simply try to de-escalate, i mean, i heard last night from a man who was running for safety walked in a bathroom and there were babies hanging from a shower curtain rod. it was a mother holding a baby in each arm and those babies were shot right between the head execution style. describing the rapes he saw. i mean, that is what confronts this country and these things are unimaginable, the horrors unimaginable but that is why they're in the position they're in, phil. there is no talking off a brink or talking off a precipice. something must be done. that is the palpable feeling here that something must be done and, clarissa, it is that that is the feeling in every conversation here, and the reason this country is waiting that they do want whatever words you want to use, revenge or payback or retribution, they demand that. >> there is a strong appetite, erin, or some kind of vengeance. there is no two ways about it, and the voices that you do hear that are asking for an end to the cycle of violence, i interviewed the son of one of the women being held hostage, 74-year-old peace activist, her son said, i don't believe that we can cure dead babies with more dead babies, but those voices are being drowned out by louder cries for war, and with the events at the hospital yesterday, there is now a huge amount of pressure on arab leaders from their constituents, from angry enraged anguished horrified people taking to the streets to do more. we heard the -- sorry, rather, the jordanian foreign minister saying in part the reason for canceling this summit with biden was there's no conversation to be had until the war stops, and that's a growing sense that until there is a cease-fire there can't be a proper situation on how to deal with it. you heard the u.n. secretary-general say we need an immediate humanitarian cease-fire. so far it's clear that that is not going to happen. we have been hearing strikes all morning throughout all of yesterday, strikes happening close to the southern part -- the southern border with egypt, the rafah crossing. that was the place where gazans have been told they should run to for shelter for refuge that they should leave their homes in the north. so you have this essentially a complete paralysis with all sides dug in, with tempers and anger and emotions flaring to unprecedented levels, and the very real fear that this then spills out into a broader regional conflagration, which clearly nobody wants to see, but at this stage it's not clear what the next steps are that would need to happen in order to prevent that, because hezbollah is coming under pressure from its followers, iran is coming under pressure from its followers, not to mention the jordanians, you know, the saudis, the emiratis who have essentially been the most vocal proponents of normalized relations with israel. the abraham accords are essentially out the window, so it is a moment where one would hope to hit the pause button, take stock for a moment, take a deep breath and have some clear-headed thinking before making any major decisions going forward, but it's just not clear that there is any real appetite for that because the situation is so inflamed, erin. >> and, i will say, obviously we've been talking about the blast on the hospital, and while, of course, there is the awareness that there are many in this region for whom this is an emotional issue more than a factual issue, there are going to be facts and the idf has denied and has laid out their evidence denying they had anything to do with it saying it was islamic jihad. i do want everyone to know here at cnn we ourselves have been working on this to come up with what the facts are and cnn has geolocated the video that shows the moment of the deadly hospital blast in gaza and we're going to show it to you. the sky lights up as a large blast erupts and sends a huge cloud of smoke into the air and this is exactly what you are looking at. you are looking at the hospital explosion, but we cannot independently yet verify what caused the blast. obviously we'll be careful as we reach that. right now it's the idf's detailed layout is all that's out is there but phil and poppy, we have geolocated this video and it is truly a stunning moment to watch because in that fire blast, of course, hundreds of innocent people in that instant died, phil and poppy. >> erin, thank you very much and general hertling as we and our viewers look at what we have been able to identify in terms of the location there's a lot that needs to be independently verified, as well. there's this audio that the israelis have now released that they say is hamas talking about the strike on the hospital. let's let people listen to it. [ speaking non-english ] >> there are subtitles on the screen. as you listen to that and bring up the video again we were just showing, what do you take from both of those? >> first from the video, you see a very large blast and you say, well, that's not from a rocket but i'd suggest if that rocket failed in flight, it still has a lot of rocket fuel within it so have a combination of the explosion you would get when a rocket impacts plus the fuel of the rocket itself. that's why when you look you combine that with the parking lot photos and you see all the burned car, some cars burned. some not tells me that that fuel, the rocket fuel spilled over a large area. you see the shrapnel against the side of the hospital as opposed to it striking the hospital itself. that tells me there was a blast radius, but there was no crater. so you're beginning to see a bunch of analysis that shows what exactly this was. you add that to the video. now, of course, that could be artificial intelligence. those could be someone submitting a video like that, but it's an indicator that there was conversation online from various terror groups saying is it ours? no, it's theirs. where did it come from? what happened? did they shoot down a missile? no, the missile failed. these are the kind of things you put all that intelligence together, not only with what we saw earlier from the point of origin of a rocket that was flying over the hospital location, plus, the potential for other signals intelligence and what's called mazen intelligence, the ability to gather explosions from the ground or takeoffs of rockets from the ground and it's beginning to form a picture. but as we said before, poppy, the arab street already has this. they want to believe something else and heard your interview with the palestinian leader. there is to saying that israel is telling the truth now. it's just too late for that. but it appears to me as kind of an analyst that this was a rocket and not an explosion from an israeli jet. >> lieutenant hertling, thank you very much for your expert eye on all of that. appreciate it. >> as we've noted there are massive protests that erupted in cities across the middle east even as allegations go back and forth on responsibility. gaza officials blame israel while the idf says it was the islamic jihad in terms of the rocket itself. we will be live in amanage, jordan, with reaction next. president biden is in israel this morning after a deadly blast in gaza hit a hospital killing hundreds. now, this is according to palestinian officials. we don't know yet the final death toll. it will be unbearable and it is an awful event. these are heartbreaking images, injured children and families inside that hospital after the blast and those are the injured. many of those children and families are dead and the blast also now sparking mass anti-israel protests across the region and those started -- the strike was around 7:00 local time. by 11:00, 12:00 a.m., 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m., there were still people out on the streets across the mid the east including in jordan where local security forces were seen to use tear gas, they were trying to disperse huge crowds who gathered near the israeli embassy in amman, and that is where nada bashir is live in amman, jordan, with more and nada, obviously within hours of this strike first mahmoud abbas pulled out of the arab summit with president biden but then that was followed by, of course, king abdullah of jordan and sisi of egypt. what further reaction are you seeing in jordan with the context that where you are standing is where the president of the united states thought he would spend his afternoon. >> reporter: well, look, erin there's certainly been outrage and condemnation from the people across jordan, as you mentioned there. we saw those huge protests yesterday, not only in response to that horrifying attack we saw on the al ahli hospital in gaza but in response to the prospect of u.s. president joe biden attending this summit in jordan and know, of course, the u.s. has expressed staunch solidarity with israel, unwavering support for israel and that has really struck a sense of anger here in the middle east particularly as we see these horrifying images of the civilian toll inside gaza particularly following that attack on the al ahli hospital. as you can imagine we've heard from hamas and heard from the palestinian authority and in the eyes of many arab leaders, the blame for this attack has been placed squarely on israel. they accuse israel of launching an air strike on this hospital which we know did not just contain patients and medics but many palestinian families displaced and taking shelter in this hospital but as we know, of course, israel has denied any responsibility or involvement in this attack. they place the blame on islamic jihad who they say carried out a failed rocket launch but, of course, as we've seen here, this has manifested in the form of huge protests. we saw those demonstrations last night in amman going into the early hours of the morning. hundreds gathered towards the israeli embassy, some even attempting to storm the israeli embassy and we are expecting to see further protests across the capitol today. it's important to underscore the context here, of course, because in jordan around 50% of the population are either palestinian or of palestinian descent but it's not just in jordan where we are seeing protests. this isn't the first time we've seen protests but have seen them across the middle east in solidarity with the palestinian people against the killing of palestinian civilians inside the besieged gaza strip since the beginning of this war across the middle east. we saw protests in lebanon, in tunisia ongoing, in iraq and in the occupied west bank in ramallah and this is only going to continue to intensify as we continue to see israel's aerial bombardment of the gaza strip and in particular as we continue to see civilian areas inside gaza coming under fire. >> all right, nada, thank you very much and to her point about the population of jordan half being palestinian, the queen of jordan, queen rania is palestinian. she has spoken out forcefully for gaza civilians and been critical of israel's response and in an early twitter post a few days ago. joining us now christiane amanpour and kaitlan collins. you were there when biden and prime minister netanyahu gave that statement. what does biden still think he can get done here this afternoon? >> well, they have a lot that they would like to get done, of course, what is achievable here when it comes to the humanitarian part given he is not going to have that in-person meeting with the leaders of egypt and jordan is still a really big question. white house officials sounded very hopeful on air force one on the way here, they cited the work that secretary blinken has been doing en route but obviously a lot has changed and the way the circumstances were when he was taking off from joint base andrews outside of washington is not what the white house had hoped to be the dynamic. this is already a really risky, challenging, complicated visit for president biden. the white house has not denied that. they recognize that. and it was made even more so by what happened at this hospital in gaza and i should note, erin, in the room where president biden and prime minister netanyahu are right now, which is just next door to where i'm standing here at this hotel in tel aviv, prime minister netanyahu brought this up. he blamed a palestinian terrorist group for that explosion. he said the world is rightfully outraged by what they saw happen but he said that outrage should not be directed at israel and, of course, we know those denials that have come from the idf. those are denials that president biden has accepted and emphasized here citing based on what he's seen not saying specifically what evidence it was that the president saw but it was certainly something that he tasked his team with looking into but clearly prime minister netanyahu is addressing that because he said that this is going to be a long road to victory. that was his quote a few minutes ago when reporters were in the room but he said that israel will work to avoid targeting civilians, you know, including civilians, of course, as they are striking gaza right now. that, of course, is at the center of all this and knows the u.s. is going to face pressure if images like that continue to happen. that's a big question of what's happening and what's being said when the reporters aren't in the room, of course. >> absolutely, as you point out. we see what we see and we know they have a long friendship and obviously very candid one. but, christiane, the reality of it is we know the israelis are pounding gaza daily with hundreds of air strikes to prepare the ground for their next steps, however, they are going to define any sort of ground incursion or what that next step may be but you have that. it seems impossible to avoid more horrific things if you don't enable people to leave and aid to come in and at least as we know it there is no progress. the husband of a doctor we've been speaking to, an american doctor stuck in southern gaza, they have three days left of water and they're rationing it at the u.n. compound. i mean, that's at the u.n. compound. >> yes, erin, and those are the lucky ones because even food is about to run out there according to the u.n. who works down there, shops will run out of food in a few days and water, apparently, they get it exclusively almost by bottled water that has to come in from the ground, you know, so from those trucks, from egypt through the rafah border cross which is not open so these are very, very difficult, you know, life-sustaining issues that certainly i spoke to the egyptian foreign minister yesterday. certainly they hope that at the very minimum president biden could get an agreement from israel to open up access to humanitarian aid and to further secure the palestinian civilian life. as i said, it is practically if not completely unprecedented that an american president arrives in the region and then gets canceled by a very, very important arab coalition of ally, allies not just of the united states but actually allies of israel that would be egypt, jordan, and the palestinian authority, all of whom are declared allies and have peace treaties with israel, so this is a really, really difficult thing and clearly given what we're hearing and we have been hearing before this disaster in gaza, before this latest disaster in gaza, we've been hearing very, very strong narrative of what's going to happen from all the israeli officials, whether they're the prime minister, the idf, the prime minister's spokespeople that this is, you know, the sharp, hard end of the spear. that they are going in because this is different than it's ever been, but, of course, with that comes a lot of warnings from many military analyst, many former military, current military officials that this will be massively difficult and because it is in an urban environment trying to separate the enemy, the terrorist from the people is going to be incredibly difficult. so we are going to see more and more of this kind of mass casualties. we are going to see it, if the past is any prelude to what's about to unfold. secondly, we have experience. we have experience in fallujah, in mosul, in raqqah. we know how difficult ground wars are, and people are warning, you know, the israelis that in the heat and the emotion and the anger of having been attacked on 9/11, the united states went into a highly misguided war in iraq for which it is still paying, for which there were tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of iraqis killed, and tens and thousands of americans killed and wounded. and this is -- this is a very similar narrative to what's unfolding between israel and hamas right now. >> and you talk about that iraq war, a war that, of course, has had such existential change to the united states even when you think about the financial situation and where the world is right now, much can be traced back to that moment and decision, christiane. thank you so much, christiane and kaitlan and we'll be joined by the idf spokesman next with more of our continuing coverage on the origins of a hospital blast in gaza. 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. 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. welcome back. i'm erin burnett live in tel aviv, israel. just in, cnn has geolocated the video and this video shows the moment of the deadly hospital blast in gaza. the sky lights up. it is an incredibly massive blast. it erupts on the hospital grounds sending a huge cloud of smoke into the air. now, this is video. we know what this video is of. from our analysis we're not able to independently verify what caused that blast but pause to consider that massive explosion and how much human life we're looking at expire. hundreds of people are dead. joining me now is major spielman. i appreciate your time. obviously i was with you the other day on a military base looking at some of the weapons you have seized from hamas. i want to begin by asking you, your reaction when you look at that video and you see that massive explosion. i know you've seen it yourself from your own sources but we're showing the world that motion of an explosion, hundreds of people die. how do you react to that? >> first of all, if we look at this entire war that we're looking at right now, even if we go back to the very beginning, it was a senseless massacre of israeli civilians, in this case it's gazan civil yafrns that were massacred once again by hamas and islamic jihad. the loss of any civilian, man, woman, or child, wherever they are in the world is an enormous tragedy, however, when i see that video what i understand is how hamas is trying to play the entire world. it goes back to the isis playbook. they committed that atrocity. this was their rocket. we've clearly proven this to the world and yet hamas right away without having any proof whatsoever announced to the world it was israeli and the world ran with this in the media and my question is and our question is how could the world take hamas as a credible source when we saw the massacre of men, women, and babies just over a week ago, this was hamas. it has their fingerprint on it and it was them that shot the rocket. >> major, i know you have put out the intercepted communications where you have people directly saying that this landed on the hospital. you have that. you've put that out. you've also put out your trajectory, trajectory of rockets coming out and showing 450 rockets fired by jihadist groups have misfired and landed in gaza since the war began 12 days ago. major, just a very simple question. do you feel confident that every single rocket coming out of gaza, every single one that you know where it's coming from and obviously generally where it's going because of your iron dome? do you feel you have 100% visibility? >> so, first of all, what i can tell you 100% every rocket coming out of gaza is aimed at innocent israeli civil yarns. not one is aimed at a military target but mother, fathers and children having breakfast in their home and aimed at hundreds of thousands and millions of israelis who are kong staptsly under attack. that's where they are aimed. we have invested a ton of resources, higher than any other location in the entire world in trying to pinpoint rockets and trying to disable them. that's where my tax dollars go. in the gaza strip their funds and their tax dollars and the money they get from iran is going into rockets, not into protecting their own civilians. that is the divide between israel who is concerned with its own civilians and hamas who are trying to kill as many civilians and at the same time put their own civilians at risk. this was clearly an islamic jihad rocket fired at 6:59. i'm holding up this piece of paper. this can an al jazeera screen shot. no one is going to say that al jazeera are going to be marniing in any parades on behalf of the state of israel. al jazeera on live footage showed it taking off from gaza. showed the explosion just around the same time just a minute or two before hamas went out and claimed to the world that this was an israeli attack. there were no israeli weapons fired in that area whatsoever. we released audio footage of two hamas terrorists speaking between themselves in arabic which they acknowledge they realize it's a rocket of islamic jihad that landed on the hospital. this is the fingerprint of hamas and islamic jihad. they're the ones who committed this and what i can be 100% sure about is that they will never tell you the truth if they shot this on their own civilians. >> major, i want to be very clear from what you're saying. i don't want to hear something you're implying that you may not be trying to imply. when you say that al jazeera was broadcasting live, the sort of implication some might take away is that -- was this intentional? are you trying to say this was intentional in any way or is your view the idf this was fired by islamic jihad but you do believe it was accidental? >> this was -- no, what we are saying is this was fired by islamic jihad towards israel to kill israeli civilians. if you follow the course of the rocket, you can see that it malfunctions very soon after takeoff. it lands almost a few hundred, maybe a kilometer or a few hundred yards from where it took off and because the fuel was in the engine, still because it had not reached its target in israel to kill israeli civilians, the blast was enormous. we also can confirm by the audio conversation between the two hamas operatives they're saying, one is saying from the other this was fired by islamic jihad in a cemetery behind the hospital and the other was saying, are you sure, yes, and it landed on top of the hospital. meaning take israel out of the picture. you have al jazeera footage and hamas operatives discussing this. we know from our own radar the trajectory of the rocket. this was a hamas islamic jihad rocket. when we claim that babies were beheaded, the whole world asks us to prove this. we have to go to enormous strides to prove this. here gaza, when islamic jihad bombs their own citizens people take this without any proof whatsoever. the double standard here is incredibly upsetting for us on the israel side. >> all right, major, thank you very much. i appreciate it. major doron spielman joining us. >> thank you very much. a live look in tel aviv where president biden and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu are going to deliver remarks soon. stay with us. . president biden is on the ground in israel right now where moments ago he reaffirmed u.s. support for israel as it strikes back against hamas. listen to the president. >> we will continue to have israel's back as you work to defend your people. we'll continue to work with you and partners across the region to prevent more tragedy to innocent civilians. >> the president expected to speak again soon, of course, we'll bring you that live as soon as it begins. meanwhile in just a couple of hours the united nations security council will hold ang open meeting on the unfolding crisis in the middle east. the blast at al ahli baptist hospital in gaza that killed hundreds of people yesterday will, of course, be a major focus of that u.n. meeting and its aftermath protests have erupted. huge protests. those are cities across the middle east you see on your screen. officials in gaza blame israel, the idf says, as you just heard in that interview that it was an islamic jihad rocket from within gaza. israeli/palestinian journalist r rula gibral joins us. such a significant turn of events and the fact that abbas pulled out of a planked meeting with biden and then it was canceled. he will, we understand, speak on the phone on the way back with president el sisi and king abdullah. why do you think this was canceled and what is the significance of them not meeting face-to-face? >> good morning, poppy. i think it's very significant. i think three leaders in the region, israel ally, america's ally, the biggest recipients of military aid from the u.s., both egypt and jordan and the palestinian authority canceling together want to send a signal to the americans, especially to this administration, we told you without a political solution we will be here and have been warning the administration and begging and pleading with the administration to intervene, not now but even last year when the event around ramadan happened where people were being attacked and harassed by both settlers and the army. i think arab leaders are frustrated because they seem the same approach by the israelis backed by the americans that this conflict can be managed and can be in any way contained without a political solution which they indicate is the main reason why we are here at the fifth round. this is the fifth war in gaza. they are deeply frustrated, very angry because they feel ignored. >> rula, we heard president biden say, quote, we have to also bear in mind that hamas does not represent all of the palestinian people and has brought them only suffering. do you think there is anything president biden can do on the ground in israel and say when we hear from him short think that will prevent this from spreading into a far more grave regional conflict? >> i think, yes, and i think there is the real question is this is going to become an american war absent of a solution. president biden can launch the initiatives that the arabs suggested to the americans in 2002, recognizing israel in exchange of ending military occupation of the west bank has been lasting for 57 years, poppy, and, you know, if he could put on the table not only cease-fire, you know, humanitarian aid, but some political initiative meaning we now really want to empower the palestinian authority that recognizes israel that cooperate on security with israel, i mean, abbas yesterday, people marched in ramallah asking for his, you know, they want him gone because they feel that abbas never delivered to them, so i think president biden can salvage the situation by proposing, by saying something about an eventual political solution that needs to happen now, not before the military operation ends but now simultaneously, when prime minister robin used to be prime minister of israel, he used to say that he has double-track strategy, negotiate and settle politically while >> you have criticized the critical importance, especially in the media, of making it extremely clear the distinct between the civilians, palestinian civilians who live in gaza and hamas. this is something that struck me we heard from president biden earlier this morning. listen. >> palestinians who are innocent, caught in the middle of this. the world is looking. we, israel has a value set like the united states does, and other democracies, and they are looking to see what we are going to do. >> the world is watching and israel has a value set that reflects the value set of america. why is that crucial to hear from that while hes is there sitting next to netanyahu? >> i think president biden heard also israeli military on american television and also leaders blur the distinction, especially the president. president herzog, who is a moderate, saying there is no civilians, meaning -- and this is why a lot of people don't believe what happened in gaza because precisely of this statement, the statement there is no civilians in gaza. the army i believe some, you know, military official two days ago on cnn said we are not fighting hamas, but we're fighting civilians. so these kind of statements complicate president biden's mission, but also in eyes of palestinian and the wider region, the people who are protesting in jordan and in turkey and in egypt, they are telling us we look at the statements and the deeds of the israelis and we don't believe what happened. also, they indicate and are telling us, look, it happened in 1996 when israel struck u.n. compound in lebanon. they said it was hezbollah and then it turned out that it was israel. so they point out to the statements and they, you know, they jump to conclusions, and this, sadly, can become an americas war. this what president biden i think is trying to prevent. >> rula jebreal, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> we are continuing our team coverage of a very volatile and consequential day in the middle east. also in washington, if at first you don't succeed you can try again and again and again. jim jordan will again be facing a second vote for speaker this afternoon. we will have the latest. is it possible my network could take my business to the next level? it is with comcast business. powering all your devices with gig-speed wifi. and you get fast downloads and uploads. pick it up! pick it up! oh we got this! because it's powered by the next generation 10g network. more speed for your business? it's not just possible. it's happening. get started for $59.99 a month for 12 months. plus, ask how to get an $800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle. comcast business, powering possibilities. a beautiful day in washington unless you are a member of the house republican conference. in a few hour we think we will have round two for jim jordan in the speaker race. the ohio lawmaker will be facing his second vote. he lost the first vote yesterday after 20 fellow republicans voted against him. the late night shows having a bit of a field day with it. >> republicans couldn't agree on speaker of the house. they were unable to elect jim jordan. yeah. they did this once before with kevin mccarthy where it took 15 votes to get elected. so only 14 more rounds to go. hang in there, jim! you can do it, jimbo. >> joining us cnn political commentator, alyssa griffin, former spokesperson for the freedom caucus and jim jordan. >> i don't think he liked that nickname. >> jimbo. >> so honestly to cut straight to it, i want to know how this -- my sense last night from talking to folks on the hill, seemed like it was going to head his direction. what happens now? >> jim jordan is facing a tremendous uphill battle. i would expect more defections when they take the floor later today. his team says they are still in it. they have been wrangling with some the moderate members, see if there are deals that can be cut. for a lot of the moderates, sure, there are personal animas for jim jordan, but he to them is reflective of the obstructionism that they have seen in the house that has brought the conference a screeching halt even though jim supported mccarthy, they see him as part of what created the matt gaetzs of the world. the reality is no one -- no republican has 217 votes in the house. i am hearing from more members that extending patrick mchenry's powers as speaker pro tem is more likely to help. >> hakeem jeffries had positive things to say about mchenry. you need democrats, right, to do be able to do this until november 17, right. what would that look like? >> it's about keeping the lights on, the functioning, having committee work continue. of course, you have 30 days out to deal with government funding. patrick mec henry is more of a legislative wheeler and dealer than a show man, he is not a right-wing firebrand. take jim jordan out of this. there is not someone you put up, byron donald may three his name in, elise stefanik. those votes are not there. to underscores how broken the conference is. it's coming to a head. this does test the theory that conservatives, myself included probably ten years ago, had if we put up one of the most conservative members, we could get the house in order, it could run the way we promised voters. that doesn't exist. you can't have 20 people or 18 who won biden districts and keep the matt gaetz's and freedom caucus guys happy. >> the beauty of jim jordan trying to make back room deals with moderates to become speaker of the house knows no bounds. i think more broadly, does this actually matter in terms of politically in terms of where 2024 is headed? you hear from d triple c and democrats, this is the perfect contrast. >> i think matters for the house. if you are a make lawler, don bacon, somebody in a swing district, it's hard to make the case you should be re-elected when -- by the way, both of them should be re-elected i think. the conference doesn't work. congress has been at a stand still for two days. i think it jeopardizes the house majority. donald trump enforced jim jordan. that still didn't get him the numbers. it does jeopardize the to house republican majority in a big way. if i may say, this all happening while america's closest ally in the middle east is at war. it's so unserious, heady, just needs to be resolved. >> it's shocking to me that this moment has not apparently changed the willingness to give here. >> correct. israel under -- if israel is under a terrorist attack and in a state of war with hamas is not a sobering moment -- >> and biden is there. the u.s. president is there. >> it's the juxtaposition is stunning. it's just unserious is the best word i can come up with. by the way, the house republican conference is largely by and large pro-israel. you would think this would be a moment to stand up. i think it likesly goes to a mchenry, i think. >> keeping the lights on. the aspirational goals we want our lawmakers to pursue. thank you. "cnn this morning" continues right now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. it is the top of the hour. so glad you are with us on this breaking news this morning. i'm poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. erin burnett, kaitlan collins, live in israel where president biden is on the ground right now vowing to support israel as its war with hamas takes quite a turn. outrage and protests across the arab a world after the explosion