♪ hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the u.s. and all around the world, i'm max foster joining you live from london, 9:00 a.m. in london, 11:00 a.m. in gaza, where the war is about to start the second month. with pushes under way to prevent wider conflict in the region, secretary of state antony blinken is in turkey right now meeting with his turkish counterpart. u.s. officials say he will underscore the importance of protecting civilian lives during that meeting on sunday, blinken made an announced visit to iraq to discuss the hamas conflict. in gaza, communications are down, and there was a complete interruption on sunday. the telecom network services aid agencies say they lost contact with its workers the third communications blackout. it comes as the head of 18 aid agencies including usaid agencies called for a human taken cease-fire in both israel and the palestinian territories. the search continues for survivors of a deadly blast in the refugee camp in gaza. witnesses and others at a hospital tell cnn the blast killed dozens and wounded many others on saturday night. he said it was the result of an israeli air strike. and the idf said it's looking at the circumstances around the explosion. residents say the strike took them completely by surprise, leaving many to search for the bodies of their loved ones in the aftermath. >> translator: i saw a red light, we were shaking on the sofa. i saw all of my sisters screaming, then i saw my father. when i found myself alive, i looked to see who was alive. we turned on the posh and my siblings were alive. i did not find my father. i finally found him next to me, i moved him, i moved his face, he did not respond. >> meanwhile, an idf spokesperson refused to confirm that they were behind the strike. here's what he told rosemary church. >> with the activities south of gaza, precision-based, i can't share at the time, specifics of this incident, but it is indeed heartbreaking the images we're seeing. we're going to extreme efforts to minimize casualties of this war, unfortunately, it's a war nevertheless, and these are the images of warfare. >> so israel was behind this attack is what you're saying? but what was it? >> i never said, i said we are conducting strike also in the south against specific targets when there are strikes in the south, it's against specific targets, i can't confirm it regarding this incident. it's a nature of modern warfare, specifically in areas like terrorist organizations like hamas, specifically this organization has become a terrorist entity, an entity with a terrorist army, a terrorist entity with aerial capabilities an entity with subterranean capabilities. all of their efforts are to put hospitals in harm's way. all of their efforts are to utilize fuel that could go to hospitals for anybody sur terranean tunnels. all of their efforts are to exert maximum casualties, maximum deaths. on israelis, but also on their own people and this is the trial we are facing, we are, i say, committed but also determined to limit the civilian casualty, but it is a huge challenge for anyone to take. >> joining me is jonas elliott, it's heartbreaking but images of war. >> he said these are the images of war, but also said we're going to see images like these in the coming days saying there no alternative for the war with israel with hamas. in to terminate to take out its infrastructure, rocket launcher, anti-tank posts, all of the infrastructure and hamas itself. the idf is saying there is no alternative and that these images which are heartbreaking are set to continue. what the idf is also doing, at the same time, is trying to show the international community is that hamas really does operate out of these civilian infrastructures showing videos which show hamas tunnel shots going underneath hospitals, for example. and they like to show that is the reason sometimes, the infrastructure is kind of -- you know, suffers from air strikes in the vicinity or on itself, because that is where hamas is operating out of. >> antony blinken, u.s. secretary of state, says this is escalating but also keeps calling for a pause in the fighting. traveling the region quite aggressively, including unannounced visits but doesn't seem to be making any progress at all? >> the u.s. certainly is calling for a humanitarian pause. and we've got much of the international community calling including u.n. aid agencies and aid groups, are putting out this joint letter calling for an immediate human tahuman taken cease-fire. but israel's position there can be no cease-fire in the hostages abducted october 7th, in those hostages, men, women, babies, ed determine are returned to israel. as you say antony blinken, u.s. secretary of state, meeting with his counterpart in turkey, met with the prime minister of iraq and also the head of the palestinian authority mahmoud abbas in an often announced visit which is not a common thing for him to do, to try to talk about improving the situation, the idf saying more than 100 trucks should be going into rafah for humanitarian aid and trying to ensure there's no escalation. indeed, while he was in iraq, he said it's important to send a message who might seem to take advantage of the conflict in gaza to threaten here or anywhere else in the region, and that is simply don't. >> unfortunately, reporting in gaza, this has been this blackout yet again, is that an indication that escalation -- where we've seen it previously, there's been a series of particularly violent attacks and it's coordinated with the common blackout. >> israel isn't say it's responsible for the comes black out, we do understand the communications are now slowly returning to the gaza strip. but as you can imagine, it adds to the anxiety inside the strip that people can't communicate with their loved ones inside and outside of the strip. indeed, we have the world health organization chiming in and saying this kind of communication blackout needs to be reversioned, and that communication needs to be restored immediately. because he says without connectivity, people who need immediate attention cannot contact hospitals and ambulances. now, we have in the past seen the blackouts happen. we do know over the past 24 hours, idf is saying they struck more than 450 targets, with saw that in two over the weekend, splitting the coast, reaching it in two. and it's more than gaza, south gaza and encircled gaza city which is describes as a fortress of hamas activities in the words of the idf. communications do appear to be returning, that's pattern we've been seeing since october 7th. which would suggest that this was the idf's handiwork, although as i say, it won't -- it's not said that that it was the idf. >> elliott, thank you so much. in a matter of hours, former president donald trump set to take the stand in a trial in new york. it will be a high-stakes day of testimony to determine the outcome of his business. trump could be ordered to sell off his properties after he admitted he and his companies committed fraud for years. we spoke to the law professor at loyola marrymont university what to expect when trump takes the stand. >> we know that the judge in his case found that there was fraud committed by trump and his organization. the question, legally, for his testimony is the other six counts of liability, they're still on the table. and the potential remedy in this case, and how closely the judge will draw a line between actions that trump took and the financial statements that he's already found to be fraudulent, now, of course what we're also looking at is to see how he answers the questions, whether or not he becomes agitated. and of course, key is whether or not he makes admissions that hurt him. because we've seen him do that in other cases, like the e. jean carroll case. >> well, with a year to go before the next u.s. election, trump seems to hold an edge over president biden in key states, it's got trump leading in some states where trump won the vote in 2020. our priscilla alvarez has more. >> reporter: a newly released poll shows a grim outlook for the biden campaign a year before the election. a cnn college poll, the president is trailing former president trump in four key states, nevada, arizona and michigan. and former president donald trump faces a series of criminal charges. now the biden campaign is downplaying this, saying in a statement, president biden's campaign is part of that work, reaching the diverse coalition of voters one year out between the choice of a winning popular agenda and maga republicans unpopular extremism, goes on to say, we're winning 2024 by putting our heads down and doing the work, not by fretting over a poll. and in the 2022 elections, democrat has a grim outlook there and did better than expected but there's still a long road ahead. the president sending out his economic message to voters those dissatisfied with the economy. and we they still have doubts about his age and ability to the steer the country. and the president is facing rifts in his own party about the israel/hamas war. and as the president goes into next year going into november of 2024. priscilla alvarez, cnn, traveling with the president. , our cnn reporter harry enten, the biggest problem mr. biden is facing as he tries to win re-election. >> reporter: his age, voters think he's too old, just too old to be an effective president. 70% of likely voters across the six battleground states say that joe biden is too old to be an effective president. donald trump, that number is 39%. if you look back at the 2020 numbers, joe biden's numbers didn't come anywhere close to approaching them. this, to me, is the big problem. i'm not particularly sure how you solve that problem if jury joe biden. perhaps you go out and show you can campaign. perhaps you try to bring donald trump's numbers up a little bit. >> trump's only three years younger. >> reporter: yeah, he's only three years younger. it's not a great difference. the fact is it's all abouter is ception, jim, it's not about the numbers, it's about perception, and perception is that voters believe that joe biden is too old. the u.s. secretary of state is on a whirlwind tour as we were discussing earlier. we'll have details on the surprise visit to iran and what they're hoping to achieve in the current stop which is turkey. plus, tensions flaring along the israel border with lebanon. and telling the lelebanese governmement it's upup to them to p provoke a war. we're hehear from hihim in just miminute. ♪ well, we are keeping track of developments out of gaza. witnesses say dozens of people were killed in a blast at the al maghazi refugee camp. this comes as a communications blackout reported in gaza, the third since the war began. several agencies said they lost contact with their teams inside. as a result, the u.n. agency in gaza says sunshine of its employees have been killed in gaza. this since the start of the war. the group commissioner says it's the highest number of u.n. aid workers killed in a conflict anywhere in the world in such a short period of time. secretary of state antony blinken is meeting with turkish officials in ankara right now as he wraps up the middle east leg of the windchill wind diplomatic tour before heading to turkey. blinken met with iraq with the foreign minister and called for a cease-fire and reopening of the border crossings, to keep the humanitarian crisis from worsening. cnn reporter jennifer hanslow joins us from ankara. how would you describe the success of this, jennifer? >> reporter: well, good morning, max, we have yet to see if there's any success of this meeting, secretary of state blinken arrives in an hour or so. and we expect blinken to bring up some of the key priorities of this broader visit to the region, mainly increasing humanitarian assistance into gaza for those who are in critically in need and stopping this conflict from spreading, that has been the through-line throughout his trip, first in tel aviv on friday where he met with officials including prime minister netanyahu, he also called on the israeli government to do whatever they could to protect civilians and to protect what the u.s. is calling humanitarian pauses. and we saw netanyahu within hours reject that entirely saying there would be no pause. so hamas releases hostages on saturday with counterparts in oman. there's been a sharp divide for those in the region for the need for a cease-fire. they've been very critical, outspoken about israel's owe against in gaza. yesterday, we saw blinken again sharing this message of the need to stop the conflict from spreading to ramallah, working with the palestinian authority president and then to iraq last night where he met with the prime minister. this is what he said about the commitment that is needed to keep this from happening. take a listen. >> we're working very hard to make sure that the conflict in gaza does not escalate does not spread to other places. whether it's here, whether it's elsewhere in the region. this is the very vital and urgent work of american diplomacy, and that's what we've been engaged in as well throughout this trip. >> reporter: so, there a lot at stake here, max, for his meeting with the turkish foreign minister, this is a relationship very complicated between turkey and united states. turkey plays host to some of hamas leadership. and it's unclear whether blinken will ask them to expel those leaders, also saying there could not be a return to the status quo after the october 7th attack. we'll be waiting to see what the secretary of state says about the meeting when it raps up in ankara later today. thank you. the u.s. says william burns will visit several countries to meet with intelligence leaders to expect to discuss mutual areas of concern in gaza, the latest on the hostage negotiations and continuing efforts to keep the hamas war from spreading in the region. a u.s. missile submarine has arrived in the middle east, sharing those picture, appears to show the sub passings under the soyuz canal under the bridge. since messages like these are seen, it seems to show a clear message. usually, the submarines are brought in secret, this carries two u.s. carrier groups already in. the defense forces chief says the military is ready to shift into, quote, defensive mode in the north. there have been exchanges of fire among israel's northern border of lebanon. on sunday, lebanon state-run news said an israeli strike on a vehicle killed four civilians, three of whom were children. the idf said troops engaged a suspicious vehicle and says they're looking into lebanon's claims that there were civilians inside. meanwhile, israel says one of its citizens was killed by a hezbollah strike in northern israel. earlier, cnn's becky anderson spoke with i the foreign minist abdallah bou habib. >> the government had negotiations with hezbollah and others that are in the front in southern lebanon. and we -- we're under the impression, and they did tell us, but we are under the impression that there wouldn't be any big war coming unless israel attacks lebanon. or the situation gets very, very bad in gaza. now what hezbollah said yesterday does not change from the beginning but explained it very well yesterday to all concerned. so, we are not -- i don't know what's going to happen now. you know, you can never tell in such circumstances what will happen. because once one incident can start a war, you know. hopefully, not, lebanese do not want war. i don't think hezbollah wants war. but as they say, they didn't know about the attack that hamas did. it doesn't mean that they have no relation with hamas, but they didn't know why they started it. we don't want the war in lebanon. hopefully, they will not start that war. >> hassan described this as a 100% palestinian war. i have to ask you, what is the atmosphere like in lebanon at present? this is a country that's so fragile economically, nobody ever needs a war, nobody needs a conflict. but lebanon needs it, you know, less than most. what's the atmosphere like? and what was the prime minister's message to u.s. secretary of state? >> well, that we do not want a war. that we are working with hezbollah and other palestinian organizations here, to prevent a war. and we'd like that the u.s. pressure also israel not to start a war. because all -- you know, hezbollah yesterday, or the day before, the significant general of hezbollah made the first speech. usually he does no speeches in such circumstances. but it is daily threatening lebanon. you know, daily saying a lot of things that will return lebanon to the stone age. that is inciting feelings here. we ask the americans not to say that they should not -- they should not to say such things if they do not want a war. but, you know, it was important in american press, in "the new york times," that israelis were thinking of a preemptive attack on hezbollah, or on lebanon. so, the pressure should be on -- it is more than on hezbollah. still ahead, families of hostages held by hamas have been desperate for answers since they were kidnapped over a month ago, the sister of one hostage joins us next. a hate crime investigation after an israeli student was struck in a hit-and-run at stanford university. stay with us. you want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. with reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. fellas, fellas. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ ♪ welcome back to "cnn newsroom." i'm max foster, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken now in turkey. the latest stop on his tour. he's not expected to see turkish president recip tayyip erdogan. erdogan has condemned israel's actions in gaza saying they're crimes against humanity. israel denies targets civilians but hospital officials and eyewitnesses in central gaza say a blast in a heavily populated refugee camp on saturday kills dozens of people and many more. those officials blame israel. the idf is looking is he circumstances surroundings the blast. the idf says now 240 hostages are held by hamas. they say the numbers can fluctuate based on updated intelligence. that comes as prime minister benjamin netanyahu tells air force members there will be no cease-fire unless all hostages are released, adding, quote, we will continue in we beat them. she believes her brother and sister were kidnapped along with their two young sons. she said she's seen a video of her sister-in-law and two children taken. she joins us from golan heights, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> it's hard enough to imagine relatives being kidnapped, but you've got this added worry which is you're not sure where they are, or whether the israelis know where they are. >> no. to my knowledge, they are being held, and since they've been taken, since we lost contact with them. and we know nothing about where they are. are they alive, are they dead? are they getting food? and my nephew is 9 months old, he's a baby, i don't know if he's getting his formula. and my brother was taken injured. i don't know if he was taken care for his injuries. we basically know nothing about what's going on with them. >> what then do you make of these images you see of gaza and, you know, the ground and air campaign ongoing there? >> i think after the brutal attack of hamas on saturday a month ago, israel has to do whatever she can to defend itself. and my hope is during the invasion to gaza, i hope they will get information about the hostages, about the families. and any kind of information that will help to bring them home as soon as possible. >> yo