. happening now, tens of thousands of people are on the national mall here in d.c. to rally in support of israel and condemn anti-semitism. security is at the highest levels as tensions over the israel-hamas war surge. in the meantime president biden express something new optimism about the hostages that hamas is holding. he says a deal is going to happen. we have new details on the negotiations. and we know they throw insults, but now elbows? one congressman accusing former speaker mccarthy of that. all of this three days before the government shuts down. we are following these major developing stories and many more coming in right here to "cnn news central." for 239 hostages being held in gaza, today is day 39 in captivity. a short time ago, president biden said a deal to release them is, quote, going to happen. a senior u.s. official telling cnn israel and hamas are moving closer to a deal for release, which could include a day's long pause in fighting. right now in washington, thousands are gathered on the national mall demanding the hostages be freed while condemning anti-semitism. washington's mayor has ramped up the police and homeland security has given the event the highest possible security designation. gabe cohen is on the national mall. gabe, tell us about the turnout so far and what you're seeing and hearing? >> reporter: brianna, up to this point it's massive as we're waiting for the speeches to get under way any minute. i am looking at a sea of people across this section of the national mall. they were expecting potentially tens of thousands of them, packed into this area, about a mile long, all fenced in at this point. organizers said they expected this to be the largest gathering of american jewish communities in recent history, and it appears they may have accomplished that. organizers told me they were very intentional about the speakers they selected, the language they used as they were planning the event because they wanted to create a big tent of unity and support, an event that could unify jews and jewish organizations across the political spectrum. they said there are three points of focus here. one, showing solidarity with israel and the israeli people. two, combatting anti-semitism across the country and across the world. three, calling for the release of the hostages that are still in gaza. look, when i was out in that crowd a few minutes ago i met people from across the country, georgia, massachusetts, ohio, florida, california, and i met a young woman who is a student at the university of maryland who said she went to high school with omar nutra an israeli soldier held in gaza. here's ha she told me about why she came down here today. >> we went to high school together, and we were very good friends. he is an incredible guy. everyone loves him. he's funny, he's kind. charismatic. he's a natural born leader and everyone is really being impacted heavily by this. i want odd to show my support for israel and i wanted to be here to support my community. >> reporter: brianna, we expect that message of unity to be mirrored in the speakers that are scheduled. house speaker, republican mike johnson, set to speeches the democratic minority leader hakeem jeffries, chuck schumer, jo joni ernst, leaders from across the political aisle who will speak here. it will be interesting to see if their rhetoric matches that message of unity, as the speeches get under way any minute now. >> certainly they have the ear of many folks here in washington. gabe cohen, thank you for that report. we have senior crime and justice correspondent shimon prokupecz covering this rally. shimon, obviously, a big security concern here. tell us what you've learned? >> reporter: yeah. one of the biggest certainly that washington, d.c., has seen in some time. every law enforcement agency assisting here from the d.c. metro police to the capitol police, the park police, secret service, the fbi, basically you've got every law enforcement agency here working behind the scenes on the ground, we have national guard troops block off the streets and most of this area around here, the streets are opened, but they've closed them to vehicle traffic. i'm at the area where people who are entering this event, the security checkpoint, that they have to go through, as we get closer to the start of this event, many of the people have been entering inside, and so they have to go through security, magnetometers, not allowed to bring bags in. there's really tight security. there's a lot of concern, obviously, with all the anti-semitism that we have seen across the country, and just what's going on overseas, and so as a result, there are all these extra security measures. as this day goes on, we're certainly expecting to see even more of a law enforcement presence because there is concern over counter demonstrations. so law enforcement is looking out for that. we've not seen much of that today. everyone here on high alert. >> they certainly are and for good reason. thank you for that report. pam? >> thanks. now we have more on the encouraging statement from president biden telling reporters at the white house today that a deal to free the hostages is going to happen. cnn's nic robertson is in sderot, israel. what more can you tell us about these negotiations, nic? >> it's been understood that negotiations could involve the release of up to 100 women and children who are being held by hamas and, perhaps, one of the other main groups holding people there, the palestinian islamic jihad. it's not quite clear how that group fits into the conversations that are being had. these are not direct conversations, of course. we know that hamas speaks with the egyptian intelligence, and they, in turn, will speak with the officials in doha, the qatari officials, who have been the main intermediaries as well, who have access to hamas officials. in that grouping of potentially 100 women and children, the understanding is, that their release could be a sort of rolling release, a few first or small group and then another group, but it would, of course, be dependent on a cease-fire. the questions have. about how long the cease-fire would be and a series of cease-fires and israel has been so clear until now, no complete cease-fire until all the hostages are freed. i was speaking to hostages over the weekend or families of hostages and they were telling me they're concerned while this deal appears at the moment to prioritize women and children and they say rightly so, there's a concern that men, particularly men of military age, may get left behind in this deal. there are concerns among the families of hostages about this. but it does appear as if there is a possibility for movement, but what we keep getting cautioned about here, of course, this can all get derailed very quickly. i have to say, no sign of cease-fire in gaza today, which is what we've seen before. the other couple of hostage releases that we had several weeks back now, pam. >> we've had hopeful signs in the past and then it got derailed. i think that's an appropriate caution for sure. i want to ask you about gaza's health care system. it is on the brink of collapse as we know. the u.n. says one hospital is operational. you traveled with the idf into gaza. what did you see? >> reporter: yeah. 35 hospitals in gaza, the vast majority are now completely out of service, and as you say, only one operating now inside of gaza. the idf, very clearly wants to get access to that hospital because they say that they believe hamas has a network of tunnels something that hospital officials dismissed. we were taken to the al reykrantisi hospital. the idf spokesman admiral hagari who took us in there, i asked him, why there was damage getting into the hospital, why the building was damaged, and about the reason that he had taken us there and what they were finding and what conclusions they were drawing from what they were finding. bringing us here to this hospital and the connection you believe exists between the terrorists and hostages, what does this say about other hospitals here in gaza? >> al shifa is known by fact by intelligence to be a terrorist hub and suspicious in holding hostages. this is the best shelter for hamas. >> the hospital authority says they have no knowledge of hamas or other groups inside the hospital. is that possible? >> it's not possible for this hospital to have this kind of infrastructure. we knew the terrorists were here. >> how? >> by intelligence and we got fire from this area. >> from this area or this building? >> this area. we were right to fire because what we found in armory. >> but so much damage all around here. >> this is damage because hamas made it impossible for us to fight him and built all this infrastructure in tunnels and hospitals around areas populated. >> reporter: hospital health officials inside gaza continue to deny any connection between the hospitals themselves and hamas. this is something that they've said from the very beginning, that it seems very clear that israel is based on its beliefs is determined to take control of the hospitals because they say that they're going after hamas and they also believe there's a possible connection to hospitals and hostages and the other thing they say they're trying to get is all the hostages. it does seem that israel is on a course to try to take control of the hospitals. >> nic robertson, thanks so much. israeli forces have confirmed that an idf soldier hamas had taken as a hostage has decided. the idf says noa was shown in a individual hamas posted on monday. cnn is not showing the footage. hamas claims she was killed during the israeli strike but they did not specify how it happened. joining us is gershawn, a former hostage negotiator, and the middle east director for the international community's organization. gershawn, thank you for being with us. the need to get these hostages out before they're killed is imperative. president biden says a hostage deal is, quote, going to happen. obviously, hamas wants a cease-fire for as long as they can get it and release as few hostages to get it and israel wants the opposite. what is israel's responsibility when it comes to finding an agreement? >> well, first of all, i think it's important to understand that there's no deal until there's a deal. there's always a lot of talk around deals around these negotiations, all the talk around the negotiations, part of the negotiations themselves, i relate to them as noise aimed at influencing the negotiators. what israel wants is all the hostages to be released immediately. that's not in the cards. hamas has demanded that israel release all the palestinian prisoners in israeli prisons. israel is not going to do that. there's some, 7,000 including 59 serving life sentences for murdering israelis and another 130 caught inside of israel after they committed terrorist murders on october 7th. that's mot possible. what was reported was a deal for the women, children and elderly. they have hostages in their 70s and 80s, some requiring immediate medical care, and this is the most important thing for israel to do to get those hostages out. israel is willing to make a compromise of cease-fire for several days and to release some palestinian prisoners for that to be done. we must be aware that a cease-fire is not just stopping the shooting, it's also requires a redeployment on israel moving back to positions where they would be secure so they're not sitting ducks in the middle of the city of gaza where hamas would be able to target them easily. >> so that you see that happening, several days ceas cease-fire, in release of a large number of hostages, but not all of them? >> i think it's very possible and intensive negotiations going on in cairo and doha. i think the egyptians are playing a crucial role because they have a direct line to the hamas underground leadership, the military command of hamas, as well as the islamic jihad. the hamas leaders in qatar are much less connected to what's going on on the ground. there may be this communation going between cairo and doha as well. the american hostage experts are playing an important role and advising the israelis and pushing the qataris to put pressure on hamas. it has to happen soon or it's not going to happen. there's just a matter of time before the israelis go at that hospital, the al shifa hospital. i hope the israelis have substantial evidence to prove it is a military target because it is the largest and most important hospital in gaza. and i think it's also important to note that the israelis are not going to wait forever. they're going to send their special forces on search and rescue missions to find the hostages, and when that happens the chance of negotiations are much smaller. >> and highly dangerous missions, obviously, if they were to do that. how do you see netanyahu balancing the demands of israelis and his stated desire for retribution for october 7th and the need to negotiate to give something to get these hostages back? >> i think netanyahu is disconnected to the people of israel today and the people will make him pay the price for the failures at the end of this war. netanyahu understand israel has a moral responsibility to bring the hostages home. israel failed to protect communities along the gaza border and failed to prevent hamas from entering so easily and breaching israel's border and the government of netanyahu empowered most of the last 15 years. he has no excuses and has to take responsibility and therefore uphold the responsibility of the state of israel to return these hostages to their families. >> gershawn, it is great to get your insights. obviously, you have unique and important ones. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. a clean shot to the kidneys. we are not talking about a boxing match. we're talking about a physical altercation between kevin mccarthy and one of the republicans who voted him out as house speaker. republican congressman tim burchett says mccarthy elbowed him hard in the back, but what does mccarthy say? plus, some good news ahead of the holiday season. the dow soaring as the new inflation report shows prices are getting less painful, but is it enough for the fed to end those rate hikes? we are one day closer to a government shutdown and house speaker mike johnson is staring down his first clash with gop hardliners. how tense are the dynamics right now? today we heard about another clash on capitol hill. congressman tim burchett says former house speaker kevin mccarthy elbowed and shoved him. burchett is one of the eight house republicans who voted to oust mccarthy, and he spoke to manu raju this morning. >> so congressman, explain to us what happened with you and kevin mccarthy? >> well, i was doing an interview with claudia from npra lovely lady, and she was asking me a question and at that time, i got elbowed in the back and kind of caught me off guard because it was a clean shot to the kidneys and i turned back and there was kevin, and i for a minute i was kind of what the heck just happened. then i -- you know, i chased after him, of course. he's a -- as i have stated many times he's a bully with $17 million in a security detail. he's the type of guy that would throw a rock over the fence and run and hide behind his mama's skirt. from behind, that kind of stuff, that's not the way we handle things in east tennessee. if we have a problem with somebody i'm going to look them in the eye and talk to him. >> walked down the hallway, hit you with his belbow. go on claudia's x account. >> just explain. you chased him? >> i just ran after him like what the heck? why did you do that? because like i said, if you've been hit in the kidneys it's a little different. you don't have to hit hard to cause a lot of pain. and he just, of course, as he always does, he just denies it or blames somebody else or something. it was just a little heated, but i backed off, because i saw no reason. i wasn't gaining anything from it. everybody saw it. it isn't matter. >> he responded to you? >> yeah. yeah, he just acted like what are you talking about, you know, who are you to, that kind of thing. it's -- i think that's symptomatic of the problems he's had in his short tenure as speaker. >> were you face to face when you had this interaction? >> yeah. there's security detail. they were doing their job. it wasn't exactly like he didn't it -- he wouldn't turn around and face me. he kept scurrying trying to keep people between me and him. >> what did he -- >> i let it go at that point. >> were you yelling? >> i raised my voice to him and i thought it was appropriate. you don't expect a guy at one time three steps away from the white house, to hit you with a sucker punch in the hallway? >> did he raise his voice back to you. >> that high pitched kind of thing and that was about it. >> mccarthy denies the incident saying, quote, i didn't shove or elbow him. it's a tight hallway. this comes hours before the house is set to vote on johnson's two-step plan to keep the government running past fry. johnson has leaned on democrats to get a bill passed. lauren fox is on capitol hill. some house democrats are signalling that they will support johnson's plan to avoid a government shutdown. where do you think things stand? >> we were outside of the house democratic caucus meeting this morning where members were discussing how they should proceed moving forward, and what became very clear is that while this plan is not exactly what democrats had hoped for, they don't like the fact that there are two separate deadlines for when government funding is going to run out with some agencies running short on funding on january 19th and others on february 2nd. their argument is it doesn't include spending cuts. democratic leaders are playing coy with how democrats will proceed on the floor in just a few short hours. here's jeffreys to me earlier. >> we continue to express concerns with the bifurcated deadlines that seem to be somewhat unprecedented and we're evaluating the potential adverse impact of that on the american people. >> at this point you guys are just evaluating whether or not you can live with the bifurcated dates or not. sounds like you haven't found any poison pills. >> is speaker johnson going to have to wait to see what's going to happen on the floor? >> i expect we'll have one or two more conversations in the next few hours. >> reporter: democrats don't want to see a government shutdown, pam. the deadline is coming up quickly on friday, and given what you have seen over tensions running high in the house of representatives, members are ready to get out of washington and get back to their families and members are ready to start and begin celebrating the thanksgiving holiday. likely this is going to pass today out of the house of representatives. like we noted this has to be passed with democratic votes, something former speaker kevin mccarthy did and something he was ousted for. pam? >> that's right. lauren fox live on capitol hill, thanks so much. let's discuss with former republican congressman from michigan fred upton. thank you so much for joining us. i first want to ask you about his this clash that apparently happened on the hill today. you heard congressman burchett say he got into an altercation with the former house speaker. the former speaker denies mall intent. what do you make of this alleged altercation? >> politics is always a little rough and tumble. it's not what we see sometimes in japan or korea or maybe the philippines when these guys are going at each other and crawling over everybody. it's not a wide hallway. i don't -- my guess -- i wasn't there, but i don't think it was a serious jab. kevin probably wishes maybe he put horns behind his head to do this interview, who knows. i think it's just -- and burchett, you know, h