viewsers joining us. it is thursday, november 2. 10:00 a.m. in gaza where israeli airstrikes again lit up the skies overnight. israel's military says its forces have now reached the outskirts of gaza city. the idf say 17 of its sold engineers have been killed since the ground incursion began. in northern gaza, israeli airstrikes struck the refugee camp for the second time. at least 80 people were killed, most were women and children. unicef says more than 400 children have died each day in gaza since the war started. meanwhile we're waiting to see if more foreign nationals are able to cross the border into egypt today. people have been gathering there in hopes of getting through for the first time since the war began. the rafah border crossing opened wednesday to several hundred foreign nationals including aid workers who had been stuck at the border for days. clare sebastian is covering all of these angles for us. what are we hearing about what could happen today? >> the expectation is that more will be allowed through. the u.s. expects to see more in the coming days. we're hearing from the egyptian foreign ministry saying it is working to evacuate about 7,000 from around 60 countries from gaza. so it seems that the efforts are still ongoing. we did understand that it did cover anyone with a foreign passport that wanted to get out. which we saw wednesday, which was the first time that anyone bar the handful of hostages have exited, it is cumbersome, slow, egypt wants to vet everyone coming in, but of course concerns about sort of a broader influx of palestinian refugees and because of the demand that was part of the negotiations from hamas that the injured palestinians that were evacuated and the ambulances that you saw on wednesday should include some of its fighters. that of course rejected. but tensions are high, it is very fluid. we have not expected to see any americans leave on wednesday, but a couple did. so things are up in the air. we're monitoring it closely, but the moment we're seeing people gathering there, but no movement as of yet. >> we're also reporting a further strike on the refugee camp. what is the international reaction? >> significant. there was already international alarm about what was going on in gaza, but israel certainly in the wake of the hamas attacks in southern israel, and now another surge in the wake of the two strikes. jordan recording an ambassador to israel, we have the u.n. humanitarian office saying that they believe that these attacks could be -- they are concerned that this could be disp disproportionate and it could be war crimes. and we don't know exactly how many were killed certainly in that first strike, but this is very seriously impacting the health systems. we're hearing that the gaza indonesian hospital which is the closest to the jabalia refugee camp that their main generator has stopped working. it has taken out several key systems and operating rooms, refrigerators. so this can have a serious impact on the immensely strained health system. >> clare, thank you. the full scope of the devas devastation at the refugee camp remains unclear after the two airstrikes. it comes as the israeli military reports advances in its ground operation. jeremy diamond reports. >> this is all that remains. for the second day in a row, israeli jets striking the densely populated jabalia refugee camp. hundreds were wounded and at least 80 killed according to the director of the nearby indonesian hospital. idf says they struck a hamas command complex killing hamas militants. but civilians also clearly among the casualties including children rushed out of the rubble. tonight the united nations human rights office raising serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes. israel blaming hamas for using civilians as human shields as it continues its offensive. top israeli commander now says his forces are closing in on gaza city, hamas' stronghold in the gaza strip. >> we will deepen the strip at the gate of gaza city. in the last five days, we have dismantled a lot of the abilities, we have attacked strategic positions, all the explosive abilities and other systems. >> reporter: five days after israel launched its ground offensive in gaza, israeli forces are advancing from three different directions. in the north, israeli armor and infantry have been spotted advancing from both ends. israeli tanks also appear to be closing in from the south. cnn geolocated this tank at the main road into gaza city. israel is also moving closer to gaza. up recently, this field was israeli positions. you can see the mounds where guns and artillery were dig in. as they move closer, the artillery positions are also moving closer to support the troops on the ground. now all that remains are these, boxes of munitions, artillery fuses used by the forces that were here. the question now is how deep israeli forces will move into gaza. >> only way to get to what hamas has built over a decade inside the gaza strip, only way is through a ground operation. >> reporter: jeremy diamond, cnn, israel. with us is malcolm davis, senior analyst with the you australian senior policy institute. thanks for joining us tonight. >> it is my pleasure. >> clearly hamas shocked the world with the sophistication of its attack on october 7. and perhaps displayed that its capabilities were far greater than what the israeli intelligence services or the world had imagined. what else have we learned about their capabilities and arsenal in the last three weeks? >> look, i think that that initial attack was shocking in its method of execution in a sense of the introduction of forces of the air using those pair gliders and the fact it managed to catch them by surprise. when you look at hamas' actual military capabilities, they are pretty much as we anticipated in the sense that there is about 20,000 to 40,000 troops there that are largely equipped with small arms, in other words rifles, machine gunses assault weapons, that sort of thing as well as rocket propelled grenades. they also have obviously large numbers of battlefield missiles and rockets that they can fire at israel. and i think probably the most concerning thing for the israeli defense forces going into gaza would be things like ieds and mines and the ability of hamas to use the dense urban environment defensively with snipers and rocket propelled grenades and anti-tank guided weapons to catch the israelis in narrow streets. so i don't think that we've underestimated hamas dramatically in terms of what they can do, but it is the operational environment, the technical situation that the israelis are finding themselves in that i think is quite challenging. >> what is it about the organizational strubt or communications that we understand that enable them to yi roe v. wade detect of this plan by israeli authorities? because going forward obviously intelligence will be key as israeli continue their ground incursion. >> you've got this vast tunnel network where hamas can essentially use everything from hardwired communications, in other words, they are not transmitting on radio, they are making connections using cables which are virtually impossible to detect and interrupt and eaves drop on. or even something as low tech as runners. gaza is not a large area, so you could have groups of individuals that can run messages between fighting courses and commanders. actual command and control of hamas is incredibly low tech. it is not sophisticated using advanced communications technology. it is using low tech systems which makes it more difficult ironically for the israelis to defetect and attack. >> the tunnel complex is understood to be roughly 500 kilometers or thereabouts, reinforced concrete, communication with the electricity. how much more difficult does it make it for the israelis particularly because hostages might be stored down there too. methods of attacking the tunnels like flooding and blowing them up, makes it far more difficult. >> exactly. israelis can't go in and essentially flood the tunnels with some sort of substance to flush the hamas forces out because they could then place hostages at risk. they can obviously collapse tunnels where they know for sure there are no hostages and they have done that with airstrikes and artillery strikes. but in cases they will actually have to go into the tunnels and that is certainly more likely to happen the deeper they get in to gaza itself, gaza city in particular. they that i actually have to go in and fight tunnel to tunnel to force the hamas terrorists out. or to kill them. and i think that that will be really challenging because the nature of the tunnels and we've seen them on tv, it is such that they would be ideal for booby traps and ieds and mines. and so a dangerous environment for the idf. >> and in your view, was taking hostages part of the hamas calculus to try to make attacking the tunnels and that key sort of communication and nerve sensor for hamas far more difficult, is that one of the main reasons that they wanted to take those people to make it harder for israelis? >> absolutely. by taking those hostages and a significant number of them and spreading them over a large area rather than concentrating in one area where they can be rescued in a style similar to the raid in the '70s, by spreading them across the tunnel network, it makes it much more difficult for the israelis to use force dec decisively. if the hostages weren't there, if they had been rescued or simply hasn'tdn't been taken, i think that they would be mooring more rapidly. but they have to think about the hostages.mooringmore rapidly. but they have to think about the hostages. >> and hamas can trite into the tunnel, stockpile in the tunnels, enernlmerge from behin forces. malcolm, thank you very much. and iran issued new threats against israel and the u.s. on wednesday. the defense minister says that the u.s. will certainly suffer a blow if the fighting continues. he also warned european countries to, quote, be careful not to insure the wrath of the muslim world. they warn if the war continues, resistance groups will make a decision on another, quote, surprise action. >> translator: based on the information received from the resi resistance, it must be said that if the genocide and war crimes are not stopped immediately, we are close to where a significant decision will be made. coming up, an american doctor is able to leave gaza through the rafah crossing after a 26 day ordeal. we'll hear from her husband. and an exclusive dispatch from cnn journalist in gaza, an inside look at one refugee camp crowded with 20,000 people living off canned food and without suitable drinking water. at rafah. crowds are in hopes of getting through to egypt. at least 361 foreign nationals have entered through the border crossing. and a group from doctors without borders also crossed on wednesday. sources familiar with the negotiations for the deal allowing foreign nationals to leave gaza tell skrncnn say it after weeks of intensive efforts, believed to be a critical first step in getting thousands out of gaza. mj lee has more from the white house. >> reporter: president biden personally confirming that the first group of american citizens has left gaza and now in egypt. he said the process of getting americans and other foreign nationals and wounded palestinians ouf gas out of gaz into egypt would take place in the course of multiple days. the state department has previously said there are some 400 wanting to leave. that is in addition to some 5,000 foreign nationals believed to be in gaza. the president saying at an event in minnesota that the administration has been working nonstop to reach this arrangement. >> we're in a situation where safe passage for wounded palestinians and foreign nationals to exit gaza has started. american citizens are able to exit today as part of the first group of probably over 1,000 will see more of this process going on in the coming days. working nonstop to get americans out of gaza as soon as safely possible. >> reporter: to give you a sense of some of those diplomatic conversations that have been taking place over the course of weeks, what cnn is told is that hamas had been pushing for wounded palestinians to be able to leave gaza, but that notably one thing that they had demanded was for some of their own fighters to be a part of that mix and that that was a demand that was denied. we are also told that egyptian authorities had expressed a lot of concern about the idea of palestinians coming into their country and settling down there permanently and that that is something that u.s. officials had been discussing with their egyptian counterparts for days and that authorities also wanted to make sure that they were able to vet and look into every single person that was crossing over into their country. the president also saying in minnesota that he believed that israel continued to have a right to defend itself but that it needed to do so in a way that adheres to international laws. the president saying, quote, every innocent life is a tragedy, this is of course noteworthy given the airstrikes that have struck a refugee camp in northern gaza, this has complicated the biden white house's political standing and how it has been talking about the ongoing conflict. of course we know that the biden white house officials are very concerned about the continuing growing civilian death toll in the region even as they continue to say that israel has a right to defend itself. mj lee, skcnn, the white house. an american pediatrician was among those able to leave through the rafah crossing after 26 days. she was on a relief mission to treat children when she became stranded after the war broke out. erin burnett spoke to her husband. >> she was put on a list, my sister-in-law who is palestinian read on the rafah facebook page that my wife and ramona was 15th and 16th on the ngo list to be evacuated. so they got up early and went to the border. they said that it was -- indirectly again, they say it was fairly orderly, people calling out people's names and they would come up. there was some fighting. i'm not sure what they were fighting about. she said that she saw only two fist fights. but then once she got to the palestinian border crossing, she was there for like four or five hours in passport control. and that is when i was starting to get discouraged because she texted me that and i was like what is going to happen now. but i think conjecture is that they were removing the injured and maybe letting the ambulances through. so once she started to go through the system, then she took a shuttle through the egyptian part of the border and then she got into a car arranged by pcrf. i think there were like six people in this car. but they did arrange a police escort for her to getting across to see you. >> last time we spoke she had to flee because of fights over food. at owone point she had gotten close and people literally fighting outside a u.n. compound for food. for food. what are the conditions as you understand it now? i know you are describing it as she was leaving only two fist fights, but what were the conditions that she was living under and others around her were living under? >> well, she is very fortunate. she was living in a clinic attached to a school. so sleeping inside, which is different than what was going on before. they actually had a stove that had gas so that they could have hot food before they used the campfire when they were in the compound. i think that she was saying that it was so bad she kind of got used to it. just bad like all the time. the one good thing about where she was, the bombing was not as close. and so that made her feel more secure. as israel continues its bombard himself of gaza, there are count countless unable to evacuate. including our cnn colleague and his wife and their two young sons. he brings us this report from a refugee camp in kahn yunis where he says there are more than 20,000 people crammed together, hungry, afraid and sleeping on the ground. [ speaking in a non-english language ] still to come forensic scientists reveal the two horrors of the hamas attacks as they work to identify victims with just pieces of their remains. also ahead, skrn cnn visits sev american campuses where there are serious divisions among students and faculty. 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 to "cnn newsroom." live images now of the rafah crossing from gaza into egypt where a group have gathered hoping to make it through today. on wednesday, we saw a brief opening of the gate from gaza to the outside world letting some palestinians leave the enclave for the first time since israel declared war on hamas. egyptian officials say at least 361 people with foreign passports left gaza and ambulances carried dozens of wounded palestinians out so that they could receive treatment in egyptian hospitals. airstrikes hit in the vicinity of the hospital in gaza wednesday evening and have continued. the hospital director tells cnn the strikes intensified this morning and are getting closer to the hospital where 14,000 displaced people are taking refuge. meanwhile israel has now confirmed both airstrikes on the gent jabalia refugee camp. but full extent of the 2 devastation is unknown. tuesday israeli military says it targeted and killed one of the hamas commanders responsible for the october 7 attacks. the strikes have left behind catastrophic damage in the densely populated camp. more now from salma abdelaziz and a warning to you, her report contains graphic images and scenes that are hard to watch. >> reporter: dust and debris fill the air after the israeli airstrike. ambulance, ambulance! calls the man carrying a child. these are the moments after the military attack on the jabalia camp in gaza. everyone is disoriented and terrified. and this is the result. several city blocks leveled in an instant. the scene is apocalyptic. survivors desperately dig for loved ones with bare hands. israel says it was targeting a hamas commander hiding in the densely populated area. idf says death of civilians is a tragedy of war. and that is tearing apart this community, no one knows yet how many still lie under the ruins. shortly after the bombs fell, one palestinian cameraman was among those able to post on social media. the anguish is heartwrenching. the victims small and afraid. moms and dads will bury their children. all three of my children are dead, this father screams. all three! entire families are wiped out. this man holds up the name of 15 relatives killed in the airstrike. my whole family, innocent people are dead, he says. total destruction. our whole building is gone. 20 stories. this is a massacre. at a nearby hospital, the carnage is on display. the bodies keep piling up. with her dead children at her feet, this mother prays for strength. many in this forsaken enclave feel they have no one but god left. salma abdelaziz, cnn, london. the head of the indonesian hospital in northern gaza says its main generator is out of service. it is a dire situation for the hospital which is the closest health care facility to the jabalia refugee camp. the hospital's chief says a send dear generator is working in some areas but many vital systems, including the ventilation system in operating rooms, the hospital's only oxygen station, and refrigerators in the morgue are all without power. utter cruelty of the hamas attacks on israel on octo