years and then the best friend's family moved to israel and now that best friend is preparing to zbloin u join the israeli military. so it really, really hits home to the students. >> important piece. thank you. and "cnn this morning" continues right now. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> it is the top of the hour. we are following breaking news this morning. injured palestinians are now, as we speak, arriving in egypt one by one after a deal was reached to allow hundreds of foreign nationals and critically injured civilians to leave gaza after being trapped for weeks in the middle of the war zone according to the egyptian ministry of health. the u.s. government says americans are not expected to be in this first batch of people being allowed to cross into egypt today, but americans will be allowed to exit as early as tomorrow. >> sources tell cnn qatar brokered a deal with hamas, israel and egypt to allow up to 500 foreign nationals to cross into egypt with the palestinians patients. we are told hostages held by hamas are not a part of the deal. this morning we have been seeing ambulances rushing through the crossing and we are being told officials from several foreign consulates are standing by on the egyptian side. becky anderson in doha with how this deal game together. melissa, you were at the rar a bo rafah border crossing yesterday. what's the latest? >> what was remarkable yesterday was how little was happening at the rafah crossing, phil. all of a sudden very quickly these two breakthroughs. first of all, the news that the most severely wounded palestinians were coming out. we got that yesterday. we have been hearing that the first ones are making their way through the rafah crossing. to be clear, these are the first palestinians leaving gaza since the conflict began. these are people who need immediate surgical intervention. they are going to be taken by ambulance straight from the rafah crossing to a field hospital that egyptian authorities set up about nine miles away. and in a separate series of people who are expected to make their way through the rafah crossing later today, these are the foreign nationals. there are many hundreds of them believed to be inside gaza. some 400 americans for a start. as poppy said, they are not expected to be amongst that first group of foreign nationals that will, we understand, be allowed to leave the gaza strip today. that first group will include between 450 and 500 people. what we are hearing from the rafah crossing right now is that services from countries as diverse as austria, indonesia, japan, are now present the crossing, a large number of egyptian military and officials as well to receive these foreign nationals that we expect to make their way through the crossing at some point today. they will then receive these consular services. they will be allowed to come on to cairo and back home. this is a huge development. again, all day yesterday we stood at the rafah crossing in front of lodge ng lines of aid g if painfully slowly for three weeks, 217 trucks of aid made it in. no palestinians have made it out. there have been a handful of hostages and today we expect to see many people make it through the crossing and that is a huge development. >> and can you speak to what happens when they are finally able to get through both checkpoints and cross? then what? >> reporter: well, its, as you say, mentioned a moment ago, a complex procedure goat them out. they have to get through with the agreement of israel, hamas, egypt, and through the mediation of qatar. that first gate on the gaza side. then they get through the crossing. then they get to the egyptian side where they will be received by the consular officials of their respective countries. they will do things like help them with their documents, their insurance, all the paperwork that needs to be done. bear in mind, many of these people will be civilians who have been trapped at the rafah crossing now for many days, since you will remember that the order was given early on by israel for anyone north in the gaza strip to head south. many people only understanding that if they had foreign nationality they could get through. many have been waiting for weeks now. this under the continued bombing of the idf. so these are some fairly desperate people who will be making their way out. some won't have documentation at all. that could be quite a lengthy procedure to receive them at the rafah crossing before they are able to make their way back to cairo and hem. for the family of the foreign nationals, and many hundred inside the gaza strip, great news and the beginning we expect of many more hundreds of people who will be allowed out. >> melissa bell, thank you for that reporting. >> cnn's becky anderson joins us from doha, qatar, now. i thought that was fascinating. melissa was at the rafah crossing yesterday. no activity. today it's a huge rush of activity. things happening, real break through. qatar was central to this, kind of ran quarterback here. how did it happen? >> reporter: difficult to say. i can say i have been in touch with my sources now for days and these talks about getting the foreign nationals and dual citizens out of gaza through that crossing and those palestinians who are critically injured, those talks have been going on for some damaging hail days parallel with the talks about securing the release of hostages held by hamas. and those negotiations, as i understand it, continue. but those are separate from what we are seeing today. look, these are hard-earned successes at this point. none of this is easy. we do know when we spoke to the advisor to the prime minister here over the weekend, and we were talking about the release of hostages at the time, he told me that all of of this has been made a lot more difficult because of the uptick in israeli activity and this was when we know that the israelis were on the ground in gaza. be that as it may, today i got news earlier on this morning that we do now have this success. we are talking of as many as 500 nationals and dual citizens as clarissa reported, upwards of, we believe, some 80 to 81 severely injured, critically injured palestinians who will be allowed through the gate, as elisa reported. that is one by one. so you are not going to see a huge rush through that gate or those gates as well described by melissa. it's one by one. we know field hospitals are set up for the critically injured in egypt now. we have got images of those. of course, the ambulance is waiting to get them to those hospitals. as i say, hard-earned success in the first instance. the negotiations on the release of the hostages ongoing as far as i understand it. no breakthrough there to speak ever since the weekend. >> yeah, an important distinction there. becky anderson, great reporting. thank you. >> as some of those injured palestinians are making their way out of gaza through that rafah crossing, the. >> israel defense forces are defending their decision to strike gaza's largest refugee camp. it happened yesterday. those are images of it. witnesses say the strike killed a large number of palestinian civilians and caused massive damage at tjabaliya refugee cam. they claim a commander was killed. hamas denies that leader was there at the willing camp. joining us the senior diplomat for the israeli consulate in new york. >> thank you. >> will israel providest evide evidence that that hamilton lead wears killed? >> takes time. we need to make sure that israel isable with the information it's giving out. we remember the story about the hospital, it took a few hours to make sure we have the right, credible information. also need to make sure that israel is not guilty until proven innocent. >> so you are saying they will? >> of course, that's the pros we do. when we have information, we share it. i suggest be cautious about the information from the ministry of health from gaza. at the end of the day it's a party of the conflict. one side of the conflict. >> there is an eyewitness account from a man on the ground in the refugee camp when the idf struck yesterday. his name is mohammed. here is what he told cnn by phone as we look at images of that strike. the scene was horrific. children were carrying other children and running. bodies were hanging on the rubble. many unrecognized. some were pleading. others were burnt. i saw women screaming and confused. they didn't know whether to cry for losing children or run and look for them, especially since many children were playing in the neighborhood. israel has said this is self-defense. we are going after hamas. does israel consider airstrikes on refugee camps legitimate self-defense? >> start by saying this is heartbreaking. nobody wants to see innocent citizens hurt. certainly not the butchering and massacre on the israeli side. who bears this responsibilities here? a liberal democracy or terror organization that committed triple war crimes? butchering innocent israeli citizens, kidnapping innocent children, 9-month-old, 2 years old, 6 years old, and last, but not least, hiding behind innocent palestinian children and creating that situation. i think they bear the responsibility -- >> there is no question they are keeping palestinians in danger and using them as human shields. another doctor without borders doctor who was there said young children arrived the hospital with deep wounds and severe burns. many screaming for their parents. the question i am trying to ask you and a lot of people are waking up with this question this morning, is there a red line? how many civilians are going to lose their life? does israel think it is legitimate to take those lives to kill hamas militants? what's the line? is there one? >> at the end of the day it's legitimate to defend yourself when you have atrocities coming towards you. you are right. there has to be a seek lib rum. we go through calculations when we going through these terrorists hiding behind the innocent civilians, make sure that the fact that we are going after these terrorists saves innocent civilians and -- >> how do you make a calculation like that the a refugee camp? >> it's tough. the united states has had to go through these kinds of things. unfortunately, our enemies are not across the atlantic ocean. they are a mile and a half from us. >> you bring up the united states. as you know, president biden has given israel, bibi netanyahu, advice to look at the mistakes that the united states made post-9/11. listen to this from the president. >> justice must be done, but i caution this while you feel that rage, don't be consumed by it. after 9/11 we -- in the united states. while we saw justice and got justice, we also made mistakes. >> is israel heeding that advice? >> 100%. i think we are in consultation with the united states, the moral clarify message from the united states of america, including the president, secretary of state blinken yesterday, israel has the duty to protect the citizens in a matter consistent with the humanitarian law. >> how are you sure this is at this stage consistent with that? you have accused hamas of war crimes. i don't think anyone would dispute that. many human rights organizations -- not just the u.n., right? the u.n., amnesty international, human rights watch, the siege of gaza at this point in this manner is consistent with showing evidence of war crimes. a recent report from amnesty international says, quote, there is damning evidence of war crimes and in their stated intent to use all means to destroy hamas, israeli forces have shown a shocking disregard for civilian life. what is your response? >> the best proof in the humanitarian conduct of israel's war is through the way that hamas is actually handling their activities. they are hiding -- why are they hiding behind the hospitals? why are they hiding under mosques, at schools -- >> those are all legitimate questions. i am asking about israel's actions. >> i am talking about israel's actions. israel does not go after innocent citizens, mosque, schools. they target when we know there is a terrorist about to -- is a ticking bomb about to go off to israeli citizens -- >> even if they are surrounded with refugees? >> to a set equilibrium. if we know the terrorist going to be shooting at our innocent citizens, killing hundreds of israelis. that's the dilemma. >> a final question on some important cnn reporting. a document leaked from the israeli intelligence ministry proposing the relocation of millions of palestinians to the sinai peninsula in egypt. the israeli government acknowledged the document by planned it. is that part of the plan? >> this is not the publish the of government of israel. we will go after hamas, eradicate their military capabilities, remove the threat -- >> what about after? what about the palestinians after? >> after? at this point we are conducting the warl. there is a lot of opportunities, international communities involved including the united states, french, british, the egyptians, qatar. we are nothing going to stay in gaza. we extracted ourselves to the last .18 years ago. there is no occupation in gaza. there was not when they came with atrocities against us. >> it is a crucial question what has to be addressed. >> 100%. >> thank you. we are continuing to follow breaking news. a deal was reached to release injured civilians from gaza. we are following that very closely. also, new cnn poll shows strong numumbers for formerly known as twitter and concecerns for r president t biden in s so cacarolina nexext. welcome back. you are looking at live pictures of gaza gaza where smoke continues to rise. we have seen hundreds of strikes day after day after day. they appear to be continuing now. at the same time, keeping an eye on the rafah crossing as well as injured and foreign nationals start to cross slowly. we will keep you updated there. also, a large number feared dead after israel defense forces attacked a refugee camp. ed idf said it killed one of hamas' commanders responsible for the attack on israel. >> yes, ibrahim biari was killed and along with him are were dozens of other hamas combatants. they were running operations, military operations against our forces in a tunnel complex underneath the jabaliya area. i want to say we do not target the civilian population. we target hamas operatives and the fact that there may be civilians affected by the fighting is because hamas embeds itself under the civilian population and uses them as their human shields. >> meanwhile, hamas denies its leader was at the camp and accuses israel of trying to justify a, quote, heinous crime against civilians, children and women in the jabaliya camp. with us now journalist and former policy analyst rule a jab raul. i am not sure if you heard the interview we just had with the israeli official from the consulate here in new york. we were discussing is there a red line, where is the red line to take out hamas terrorists who attacked and slaughtered more than 14 jews on october 7th, you know, to go after them, but also knowing that they are surrounded by civilians, the latest strike in a refugee camp. is there a line? >> it should be a line. according to international law, what israel did yesterday, did not meet the requirements of proportionality. you know, 2 million civilians. they didn't offer them a pathway, a way out. they told them to go to the south. the south was bombed. and again they didn't offer them a path to go even in the occupied territories where they have families. they could have hoped humanitarian corridor and took the civilians, children and women who are 50% of the population, and allowed them to go to the west bank where there is, you know, they would be welcome. the million says they don't see a difference between militia an militants and starting line-up and this a huge problem because it's creating mass radicalization in the middle east and triggering actors like iran and others, militias who are now declaring war not only on israel, but also on the united states as we've seen yesterday from the, you know, the militias, the houthis in yemen. this is really a dangerous moment. a moment that can led america to become part of this war. >> you raise an interesting point. i think a very good point in the sense of american officials say israel has a right to defend itself. the president forceful in his support of actions post-october 7th. the warnings to take into account humanitarian issues, to be cautious and careful to not redo what the u.s. did in wake of 9/11 is as much about the humanitarian causes as it is the point you are making. trying to keep regional actors from feeling like they have to get in, hezbollah to have to cross the border in a significant way, iran to have to come in. do you have any idea -- what's the red line there? what's the threshold where those entities feel like they have to get involved? >> look, when we look at the wider region, the region continues to convey in a clear way that international law for them, you know, it's considered optional somehow, especially with the united states, you know, look at what gaza -- what's happening to gaza to where the civilian population, the killing of thousands, thousands, thousands of children. israel dropped a 2,000-pound bomb on a refugee camp. let's think of that. so with that be acceptable eventually to be dropped on any american city after timothy mcveigh blew up a federal building? and again they look at also what america did post-9/11, especially in iraq and look at the surge and they reference to the surge in iraq. it wasn't a military surge. it was a surge of ideas. and that meaning that they know that the americans and also their counterparts and their allies in the region, you cannot kill your way to defeating an idea. you have to address the underlying causes that feeds that idea. killing thousands and thousands of civilians strengthening that idea. empower it. and this what they point out to. you had a success and you had many defeats. today you have the taliban in afghanistan. you have iran controlling iraq. you have the houthis who are threatening the americans and they think this administration is underestimating the threat and the conflagration of the region that is happening in front of our eyes. and they wonder, do americans want another war in the middle east? and i think the answer has to be answered in a formula not only for a military operation, but a political path to forging a way forward for palestinians as the head of the -- used to be head the fbi in israel, he said absent a political solution, an accident a palestinian state, sadly we will be in 100-year war. >> thank you very much. continuing to follow the breaking news. deal has been reached for the release of fluloreign nationals from gaza. politics in the u.s. a cnn poll shows south carolina is big on trump and may not be the stronghold it was for president biden in 2020. thatat's next. you are looking at live features of the rafah border where we have learned over the course of the last several hours a deal to allow some injured civilians from gaza to receive medical support outside of gaza and egypt and also 400 to 500 foreign nationals will be able to start crossing. we are learning that the biden administration officials are tracking the agreement that has been reached to allow the foreign nationals to leave gaza through the rafah crossing. americans are not expected to depart until tomorrow but they are in part of this process. also, there are some serious warning signs from president biden getting closer to 2024. a new cnn poll, former president trump dominating again the republican field in the early primary state of south carolina. former governor of the state, nikki haley, a distant second. the same poll finding president biden struggling with a key demographic group. 2020