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security council tuesday, secretary general antonio guterres drew backlash when he appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. >> i have condemned unequivocally the horrifying october 7 acts of terror by hamas in israel. nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring, and kidnapping of civilians or the launching of rockets against civilian target. it is important to also recognize the attacks by hamas did not happen in a vacuum. the palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occasion. but the grievances of the palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by hamas and those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the palestinian people. excellencies, even war has rules. >> those comments prompted this swift response from israel's u.n. ambassador who took to social media to call on guterres to resign immediately over those remarks. but even as tensions flare, the situation in gaza draws more dire by the day. footage has captured the level of destruction there following more than two weeks of israeli air strikes. the response to the deadly terror attacks by hamas on october 7th. on tuesday, only 8 of the 28 trucks scheduled to enter gaza made it through the rafah crossing on the egyptian border. while some food, medicine and water is being delivered, residents say it's not nearly enough to meet the urgent needs. >> translator: this thing that is being distributed cannot be called aid at all. and it should not be referred to as such, because these items do not cover any of the people's needs. people in gaza are dying in two ways, a fast death or a slow death in refugee camps. we are asking for the simplest and most essential elements that allow every person, young or old, child or adult to stay alive. neglecting our lives like this is unacceptable. >> one of the biggest concerns, a lack of fuel, which is used to power gaza's hospitals. the world health organization says six hospitals have already been forced to close. journalist elliott gotkine is with us from london. good to have you with us, elliott. i want to start first by the comments by the united nations secretary general calling for an immediate cease-fire, but also urging the world not to forget the decades of occupation. and of course israel's swift response, take us through it. >> that's right, linda. so we heard from the united nations secretary general. while recognizing the barbarity of the hamas terrorist attack on october 7th, at the same time saying that that doesn't mean that israel can impose collective punishment on the palestinians of the gaza strip, saying in his words, protecting civilians does not mean ordering more than one million people evacuate to the south of the gaza strip where there is no shelter, no food, no water, no medicine, no fuel, and then continuing to bomb the south itself. but as you say, this did not go down particularly well among israeli diplomats. its envoy to the united nations gilad erdan calling for antony blinken to resign immediately, saying he is not fit to lead the united nations, and accusing him of tolerating terrorism for those comments about hamas' attack not taking place in a vacuum. but, of course, against this backdrop, israel is no stranger to criticism from the united nations or rows with the united nations. at the same time, the united states is not yet calling for a ceasefire until the hostages have been freed, and i think until the united states changes its position, and that doesn't seem likely right at this moment, then israel will still feel free to try to carry out its objectives. because from israel's perspective, the real problem here is amid the calls for a ceasefire, from its perspective, it has yet to raeally achieve ay of its objectives. hamas is still firing rockets towards civilians. it managed to intercept a cell of divers emerging into the tunnels of the sea off the coast of the northern gaza strip. it hasn't freed the vast majority of the hostages. there is still about 220 being held by hamas. and so until such time as it feels that it has achieved any of those objectives, never mind completely destroying hamas, which it said was its main objective at the start, it seems unlikely that israel is going to buy in to the calls for a cease-fire. linda? >> of course we have been speaking about the concerns of a broader regional conflict. we've already seen some back and forth between hezbollah and lebanon and israel. but now we've seen israel target spots in syria. take us through that. >> that's right. we often get reports that airports in syria, aleppo, in damascus has been hit and the finger very much being pointed at israel. but israel not saying that it was responsible. the assumption being that israel is take out those targets because it is trying to prevent weapons from getting from iran to its proxy hezbollah in the south of lebanon. but overnight israel says it did strike syrian targets in response to missile launches fired from syria towards the golan heights on the border between israel and syria, saying that it hit military compounds, artillery p.o.w.'s of the syrian army and radar systems as well. this is not the first time since october 7th that we've seen missiles being fired from syria towards israel, and israel retaliating. the bigger worry, of course, a bigger flare-up between israel and hezbollah in the south of lebanon, and that has been simmering for the past couple of weeks as well. but even in the more broader region we saw houthis who are aligned with the iranians in yemen fires rockets towards israel. those being intercepted by the united states, which has sent already two aircraft carriers and other warships and many other military asset to the region including a missile defense system. there are still concerns. we heard this morning that australia is beefing up its presence in the region as well to for fear of a wider conflagration in the region. so there are concerns. for now, it's mainly restricted to israel and hamas militants in the gaza strip. but there are still very real concerns that certainly with hezbollah in southern lebanon and other actors in the region could turn this into a broader war. linda? >> all right. elliott gotkine, good to have you and staying across all those developments. thank you. well, the u.n. relief and works agency is warning it will be forced to hold its operations in gaza by tonight if no fuel is delivered. it comes as the agency has repeatedly said gaza needs thousands of liters of fuel a day in order to run basic necessities like hospitals and bakeries. but israel has ruled out any fuel being allowed into gaza because it claims hamas may steal it for its operational infrastructure. the little humanitarian assistance allowed into gaza is the crossing point with cement slabs in between convoys. inside gaza, near constant israeli air strikes have left behind a level of destruction like never before, and warnings from aid groups of a humanitarian catastrophe are growing louder. cnn's salma abdelaziz has a report on civilians caught in the crossfire. and a warning, her report contains graphic images. >> reporter: moments after an overnight strike in gaza. stunned survivors stumble out. people nearby rush to help. "there is no ambulance, we have to get people out," a man shouts. men dig with bare hands. it is dark, dusty. the screams are jarring. "look at the children, look at the children" he says. it is sheer chaos and carnage. this is the aftermath of just one of the hundreds of bombings a day that batter the gaza strip, the scene captured by a journalist. israel says it is targeting hamas and aims to wipe out the group. but palestinians and aid agencies say it is civilians that are dying by the hundreds. drone footage shows entire neighborhoods already leveled by the near constant bombardment. nothing is spared. schools, mosques, shelters, medical centers, all struck, according to the united nations. gaza is all too familiar with war but has never seen it on this scale. and for survivor, there is little life left here. this baby is now an orphan, but he is far too young to understand that. >> translator: what did this little boy do? an air strike hit his house while he was sleeping," his uncle says. "his whole family was killed. he is the only survivor. stop this. stop this suffering." there are calls for israel to pause hostilities, but the idf is only ramping up its attacks and preparing for what's expected to be a full-on ground invasion of the enclave. but gazans say they can endure no more. nearly 60 members of his extended family were killed after they followed israel's evacuation instructions. "we were hosting our family from the north, 50 to 70 people, because it was supposed to be safe," he says. "but at dawn, our home was bombed. we don't know what to do. we've lost our minds." gaza is praying for relief. but the cries of anguish here are so far unheard. the bloodshed won't stop. salma abdelaziz, cnn, london. still to come, third time's a charm. fourth time is routine. u.s. house republicans have voted on yet another nominee for speaker with a key vote on the floor hours away. could this be the one? plus, new prosecution deals could mean trouble for former president donald trump. we'll have the details after the break. republicans have named a fourth nominee for u.s. house speaker in three weeks since kevin mccarthy's unprecedented ouster. mike johnson survived a key vote at the 11th hour tuesday night, becoming the party's latest candidate for the embattled role. here is what johnson had to say after securing the nomination. >> democracy is messy sometimes, but it is our system. this conference that you see, this house republican majority is united. >> the full house vote is said to be held around lunchtime today. despite weeks of republican infighting, johnson says he is very confident he'll get the 270 votes needed to become speaker. donald trump's former chief of staff was reportedly granted immunity from prosecution in a special counsel's federal election subversion case. according to abc news, mark meadows has met with federal prosecutors at least three times this year during their investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. abc reports that meadows told special counsel jack smith's investigators that he did not believe the election was stolen, and that trump was being dishonest in claiming victory. well, in the georgia election subversion case, former trump campaign attorney jenna ellis has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting false statements about the results of the 2020 election. last week former trump campaign lawyers kenneth chesebro and sidney powell also plead guilty. michael genovese is a political analyst and president of the global policy institute at loyola marymount and joins us from los angeles. good to have you with us. >> thank you. >> so mark meadows, trump's former chief of staff, reportedly gets immunity thanks to an agreement to testify in the investigation into the insurrection. should donald trump be worried? >> well, it's been a bad few days for donald trump. a number of his supporters who work for him are peeling off, talking to prosecutor, making plea deals. and the traditional strategy, which is to start on the outside and work your way into the big fish is starting to work. they got a big fish today. and that is mark meadow, president and chief of staff. he knows where all the bodies are buried. he has a lot that he could offer. and so i would guess that he got a very good deal. so the dominos are starting to fall against donald trump has to be concerned right now. >> i have to ask you, though, just how trustworthy is mark meadow, especially given what he has reportedly told investigators in this case is at odds with what he has written in his own book. >> i know. and then he could be attacked for that, which is the truth here? i think because he is still subject to perjury charges, he is likely to tell the truth under oath. so i think the courts will rely on that. but he's got a lot that he could offer. and so donald trump's dance card is already quite full, and he's got to be concerned because he's got a lot of legal troubles, a lot of political issues because of the campaign. so donald trump must not be sleeping very well right now. and mark meadows is probably the biggest thorn in his side right now. >> and speaking of other legal cases, in the georgia election interference case, a former trump lawyer who had spread lies on the airways about election fraud was in court today. i just want to remind our viewers what you said after the election. >> president trump is right that there was widespread fraud. the election was stolen, and president trump won by a landslide. we have this overwhelming evidence of fraud. >> this election was fraudulent. it was corrupted. >> all of these false and fraudulent results. >> well, today, ellis was in court expressing remorse. i just want to play this sound. >> what i did not do but should have done, your honor, was to make sure that the facts the other lawyers allege to be true were in fact true. i believe in election integrity. if i know then what i know now, i would have declined to represent donald trump in these post election challenges. i look back on this whole experience with deep remorse. >> so what's next for her? >> well, she was a loyal maga supporter. she spouted the party line and did it effectively. but the truth is starting to surround her now, and she's pressured. she had to do something. it's going to be a very costly prosecution if she goes through with it. she had to make some kind of a deal. and as i said, the dominos are starting to fall. and she is one of the many sort of smaller dominos who could add to and get closer to the center. apparently she knows a lot about rudy giuliani and a few of the other people next to trump. maybe not as much about trump. but, you know, she was a very loyal person, and she did the maga line. now she's got to tell the truth. again, she is also subject to perjury charges. >> yeah. and michael, i want to turn, if we can, to the house speaker issue. it's been three weeks since house speaker kevin mccarthy was ousted, and they are desperate to end the chaos. the republicans have announced a new nominee, the fourth in three weeks. the house speaker, just who is mike johnson? >> he is not very well-known outside the beltway e are because he is not a show horse. he is very conservative. he is one of the election deniers. this morning we thought that the candidate that the republicans were going to vote on was tom emmer. but he was an election denier. donald trump savaged him during the day. so he had to pull out because he knew he couldn't get the votes. the question is can johnson get the votes. all you need are four people to say no, and there are some republicans who have already said they intend to vote for kevin mccarthy in the first ballot, maybe the second. who knows. so it's going to be very hard to see how you get through this paralysis, because you ask why all this craziness. what's the point? the point is this is a battle for the soul of the republican party. you've got the donald trump side versus the traditional republicans. is donald trump going to be a fixture going into the future? or will they put him in the rear view mirror? will the republicans go with an institutionalist, emmer, or will they go with a trump populist, a maga republican? and that battle will determine the future of the republican party. it may be decided not in the halls of congress, but it may be decided in courtrooms. because if donald trump gets into legal trouble, that may be the end of him. >> all right. michael gener genovese, always the have you on the show. thank you so much. >> thank you. still to come, cnn speaks with israelis and palestinians in the west bank about rising tensions in the region amid the war in gaza. plus, the queen of jordan offers sharp criticism of western leaders and their reaction to the catastrophe unfolding in gaza. we'll have her comments when we come back. welcome back. i'm lynda kinkade. israel's reaction to the united nations says gaza will not have a moment of quiet until all the hostages held by hamas are brought home. israel's defense forces dropped leff lets in gaza on tuesday appealing for information about the hostages being held by hamas. it proms protection and compensation in between. an 84-year-old woman is one of the hostages released. she says a masked gunman took her underground which she said was like a spiderweb. >> translator: we began walking inside the tunnels with the wet ground. it was moist all time. we arrived at large hall. there we were, 25 people. after two to three hours, they separated five people from my kibbutz nir oz. >> even before the war with hamas, tensions have been high with palestinians in the west bank and israelis in the settled area. 700,000 israelis in the region. cnn's sara sidner is in the west bank with more. and warning, some of the images may be disturbing. >> ah. >> reporter: armed and on high alert, yossi oversees 40 settlements in the west bank. since hamas' attack on israel he considers them nazi. >> translator: we are standing against a nazi enemy, as cruel as the caveman from 3,000 years ago that carried out a massacre on our brothers in the south. >> reporter: jewish celt settler presence here has always been fraught. deemed illegal by international law. the events of october 7th have put these settlements on a war footing. cnn gained rare access to one of the hundreds of settlements dotted throughout the palestinian territories. armed patrols are now everyday occurrences. four to five perimeters segregate jewish communities from palestinian. local husbands, fathers, and son volunteers keep the unwanted out at all times. natan has stopped going to work and called his local draft office in the days after the attack. >> we need to protect ourselves because we're surrounded by people who don't necessarily like us. i didn't feel like i have to go fight, but definitely defend my home. >> he's had enough. >> reporter: and the situation is no child's play. he says their world was turned upside down on october 7th. >> that day, october 7th was shabbat. at the end of shabbat, we say a prayer, and -- sorry. >> that's okay. >> some of it is. >> reporter: highways the prayer? >> asking -- asking god to help us and to keep our children safe and to keep our soldiers safe and some of these words i just couldn't say them because, you know, we weren't safe on october 7th. >> reporter: palestinians say they weren't safe from some settlers long before october 7th, and it's only gotten more violent since. hanaan is a palestinian activist and a former palestinian liberation organization official in the west bank. >> they tell you, why are you committing a war crime? why are you living on palestinian land illegally? just because israel tells you can? this is occupied territory. >> reporter: she says the palestinian territories are shrinking beyond recognition because of all the illegal settlements. and then there is the growing settler-palestinian violence. much of the violence has been caught on camera. here jewish settlers throw rocks and fire guns at palestinian homes. in another incident, after a confrontation, a jewish settler shoots an apparently unarmed palestinian in the stomach. we asked yossi dagan about this incident. how do you defend the palestinians that have been killed by settlers? ? >> reporter: am i supposed to explain to cnn why terrorists that try to kill civilians or shortages were shot by security force, the police or the army? with all due respect, i don't really understand the question. >> reporter: but we clarified in english and hebrew, showing him the video. >> what you're showing me is video of terrorist attempt to hurt and kill jews that are protecting themselves. this happens a lot. and unfortunately, there aren't two equal sides. >> reporter: the video is not edited, but palestinians agree with one thing, the sides are not equal. they are the overwhelming victims in this, they say. >> they're on the rampage. they gave them weapons and they encouraged them. and they gave them support and protection by the israeli occupation army. >> reporter: ashrawi is referring to israel's hard-line national security minister. days after hamas' attack, he announced the purchase of 10,000 guns to arm civilian security teams. he himself began passing them out. gun ownership used to be heavily restricted in israel, but those laws have changed, and now settlers are getting a huge amount of weapons. back in settlement, she takes us to the home where she raised her five children. she said here they've had a peaceful co-existence with their palestinian neighbors. >> i live here for 24 years. i never feared. >> reporter: and now? >> i think every mother in israel these days feels the same. that something is not the same anymore. >> reporter: hartoff says she moved here in part because land was cheap, but most settlers also come because of religious reasons. jews consider the settlements part of their biblical homeland and refer to them by their biblical names, judea and assume mar sumaria. but international law says they're occupying land meant for a palestinian state. >> we're going stay here, no matter what israel tries to do. >> reporter: in this moment in the decades-long conflict, no one here can see how anyone here can be able to live in peace any time soon. >> that was cnn's sara sidner reporting. well, the queen of jordan says there is a, quote, declaring double standard in the world's reaction to the israel-hamas conflict. during an exclusive interview with christiane amanpour, queen rania said western leaders condemn the october 7th hamas attack and stood by israel, but have not called for a cease-fire when it comes to israel's bombing of gaza. palestinians in gaza are facing a terrible choice. >> i want to ask you about what jordan has said, and your husband the king has said, that there is a -- there has been, any way, an attempt or suggestion to move -- to move palestinians who are trying to seek safety, either into egypt or into jordan, your country. and the king has said this is a red line. i think the plan by certain of the usual suspects to try and create de facto issues on the ground. no refugees in jordan. no refugees in egypt. >> well, look, the people of gaza now are facing two choices. either they leave or they face death or collective punishment. so essentially, they're given a choice between expulsion or extermination, between ethnic cleansing and genocide. and no people should be given -- have to face that kind of choice. and what my husband was referring to is the people of palestine, of gaza should not be forced to move again. most of the residents of gaza are already refugees. and right now at least a million have been displaced from their homes. so we do not want another mass displacement of palestinians like what happened in 1948. and that's what my husband meant about this being a red line. the palestinians have the right to remain on their land. >> the catastrophe that queen rania mentioned is the word palestinians use to describe an estimated 750,000 people from arab communities were forced from their home when the state of israel was created in 1948. well, the gruesome attack on october 7th took israeli officials by surprise, but communities near the border with gaza say the government should have been aware of the growing threat from hamas. jeremy diamond visited a community where terrorists arrived on paragliders. a twharng some of the video in this report is graphic. >> reporter: on that day, hamas delivered death on paragliders. seen in this exclusive video obtained by cnn, hamas militants landed here killing 20 people in this community of just 800. >> that used to be an american-style wooden house. >> reporter: now this is all that remains. they were at home that fateful saturday morning when hamas terrorists burned their house to the ground, firing a rocket-propelled grenade or a shoulder-fired missile here. yacob's remains were found inside. all they found of bila were her teeth. gila has called it home since she was a child. living within a few hundred feet of gaza. and now we can see here that there is smoke from gaza. that is very close to us. >> reporter: now after surviving the october 7th attacks, she wants the world to know what happened here. >> it's a small community. everybody knows each other. we know every person that lost his life here, and there were 20 of them. we went three, four, five funerals a day. eventually they brought them to be buried. >> reporter: this is her first time inside nurit's home since the attacks, her first time seeing where her friend nurit was killed. >> it's too difficult for me. >> reporter: this is where nurit berger lived her final moments. she died after these hamas terrorists attacked this house from the outside. and as she was sitting there dying, her daughter, her three daughters and her husband, they went into this room. we're told that they left this door slightly ajar, hoping that the terrorists wouldn't think anyone was in here because the door wasn't closed, and they hid h here. in this corner, two of the daughters injured by shrapnel and bullets. >> reporter: for 40 minutes, they didn't make a sound, waiting for the men who murdered their mother to leave their home. >> i feel responsible to tell their story because i know today, i mean, it's been two weeks today after that damn saturday that our life turned into this. and i believe the world forgotten already. >> reporter: today telling that story looks like this. so everywhere you go, i don't have to travel with security? >> everywhere. for the last two weeks, this is how it is. if you want to enter your home for one minute, you have to have somebody securing the house. >> reporter: and when you're this close to gaza you have only seconds to react. >> let's go, let's go. >> go, go, go go, go! >> reporter: the sounds of war are not all that fills the air in this frontline community. a mother's wails and a father's prayer. for their 17-year-old son. every parents' worst nightmare come true. jeremy diamond, cnn. well, still to come, china sacks its defense minister months after he vanished from public eye. and he is not the first to be ousted in this manner. we're going go live to hong kong for the latest. you're watching cnn. c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network. welcome back. a potentially catastrophic hurricane has now made landfall near the mexican resort city of acapulco. the outer bands of hurricane otis have been drenching the city's famed beaches for hours, with rain and powerful winds. maximum wind speeds right now are around 270 kilometers per hour. that's around 165 miles per hour. this is a category 5 hurricane, the most powerful rating and is the first of a cat 5 to make landfall in the eastern pacific. well, china's defense minister has been removed from his post after disappearing from public view two months ago. li shangfu is now the second highest profile official to be fired without any official explanation from beijing. we want to bring in cnn's kristie lu stout hong kong. good to see you, kristie. after disappearing from public view for two months, the chinese defense minister is out of a job. what can you tell us? >> lynda, this is the second ousting of a senior leader in china in just three months. according to chinese state-run media, li shangfu has been removed as defense minister, as state counselor, and as a member of the powerful military commission. also keep in mind that ching gong, he was ousted as foreign minister in july, he was also ousted. that announced on tuesday. no reason was given. no replacement for li shangfu, and that leaves china without a defense minister. before his dismissal, li had been missing from public view since late august. he was reportedly under investigation for corruption, for the corrupt procurement of military equipment. but when the defense ministry was asked about the allegations in late september, a spokesperson simply said that he was not aware of the situation. now this ousting comes after a surprise shakeup in the military when china revealed two new leaders of its pla rocket force. it also comes after the unexplained removal of ching gong after he vanished from public view for a month. analysts say these events raise serious questions about the governance of china's core leader xi jinping as he continues to concentrate and consolidate power in an ever opaque china. and we were monitoring today's ministry of foreign affairs briefing. and when asked about the sacking of li shangfu, this is what we heard from the spokesperson. she said, quote, i don't have any additional information to provide on this. back to you. >> well, there you go. kristie lu stout from hong kong. thank you very much. well, still to come, an israeli human rights group is struggling with how to reconcile hamas terror attacks. we hear from one of its representatives about how the murders are impacting its views on palestinian rights. hello, i'm lynda kinkade. welcome back. new satellite images appear to show sealing off egypt to aid convoys. they show an unbroken shadow of cement, a slab wall which egypt constructed after israeli strikes bombed the roadside. it comes after eight trucks out of 20 entered gaza tuesday. the needs more aid. residents say they desperately need more assistance. >> translator: this thing that is being dribtsed distributed c called aid at all. people in gaza are dying in two ways, a fast death or a slow death in refugee camps. we are asking for the simplest and most essential elements that allow every person, young or old, child or adult to stay alive. neglecting our lives like this is unacceptable. >> an israeli nonprofit human rights organization called bit salem alleges human rights abuse by israel against the palestinians in gaza. jake tapper spoke with one of the representatives to find out how the hamas attack and the government's response has shaken up its mission. >> reporter: peace activist vivian silver lived on kibbutz be'eri and was a board member of a progressive group that monitors the israeli government's treatment of palestinians. its name bit salemme means in the image. it's from a bible verse. it means in the image of god, all of us, all of humankind are in the image of god. on october 7th, vivian silver disappeared. she is thought to have been kidnapped by hamas. today i spoke with bit salemme's roy allen. >> the shock and horror that we all experienced is the fact that a lot of our supporters meet circles, even family members were killed, kidnapped, or affected in other ways in what happened on saturday. >> b' selem works very, very hard to advocate for palestinians, for human rights, to overwatch the israeli government, to criticize the israeli government. does what happened on october 7th make your job tougher? >> certainly. first of all, i think we're still in the process of understanding what happened, because it's something that on the strategical level, there is a change in the balance of power. in addition to that, because extremism and fundamentalism speeds extremism and fundamentalism on the other side, we're also going have a much tougher job of getting to the hearts and minds of people in israel and around the world. >> reporter: so what do you say to somebody, an israeli who comes to you and says this proves there cannot be any peace with hamas. this proves they just want to wipe out israel, they want to kill jews. there can be no peace with hamas. maybe there can be peace with the palestinian people, but not with hamas running gaza. >> not all palestinians are hamas, but also not all israelis are bibi netanyahu. not all are the right wing extremists we have in our government right now. changes are possible. i have to believe that in order to stay here. and i do believe that the only option is to find a way to live with palestinians as equal, that i do believe that only if we provide people on the other side with full complete human rights, future, equality, democratic norms, only like that we can live together. >> you're still an optimist? because i've heard israelis say the reason that the palestinian authority in the west bank hasn't had an election in whatever it's been, 17 years, i don't even know the number, the reason they haven't had an election, is because if they had an election today, the palestinian authority mahmoud abbas would be replaced by hamas, that hamas actually represents what the palestinian people want. >> uh-huh. >> and yet you are optimistic about a peace deal still being possible. >> you have to be optimistic, because we are not going to drive millions of palestinians away from here. they are going to be here forever. and i believe they're not going to have the power to drive us away from here. so we need to find a way which to build a better future for all of us. and that can be done only by, you know, not exchanging rockets, but exchanging words. and you are monitoring what is going on in gaza right now. what is your group seeing in gaza right now? >> two of my colleagues, field researchers in gaza lost family members. one of them is living in a sort of makeshift refugee camp in a tent. civilians are paying the price, and that's never a good thing. i don't think that we're kind of creating different narrative in which hamas is the -- is culpable and responsible for what is going on. i think we're breeding more hatred than anger towards israel. >> but what about the argument from idf that hamas embeds itself within the populace. the idf, israel has a right to defend itself against terrorist attacks, and if hamas hides among the palestinian people, this is hamas' fault. what do you make of that argument? >> the person who shoots civilians is the person responsible for shooting civilians. and they should do better. we should be better than hamas. instead solve saying they started and they're doing it, it's their responsibility. no. it's our responsibility to be better than them. >> thanks to jake tapper for that interview. thank you so much for your company. i'm lynda kinkade. "cnn newsroom" continues with max foster and bianca nobilo next. stay with us.