>> hopes on the rise for a potential hostage a release. >> all of them, everybody should be out now. >> lawyers for donald trump and the justice department facing off before a federal appeals court in washington. >> the order is unprecedented and sets a terrible precedent for future restrictions on core political speech. the justice department says there is a significant threat of a drone attack. >> a range are using drones to advance their nefarious purposes. live from london, this is "cnn newsroom" with max foster and bianca nobilo. >> it is tuesday, november 21, 9:00 a.m. in london, 11:00 a.m. in northern gaza where the israeli military says forces are advancing as they engage in face-to-face battles with hamas militants. an idf spokesperson says forces reached the heart of gaza city much earlier than hamas expected and are pressing on according to plan. meanwhile in an interview, former israeli prime minister says bunkers underneath al-shifa were built by israel decades ago to help give more space to the facility but later used as a command center by hamas. more than 12,000 palestinians have been killed as a result of israeli attacks on gaza since the start of the war. according to the palestinian ministry of health in the west bank. the ministry, which gets its data from hamas-run health authorities in gaza say more than 5,000 of those killed were children. the u.n. secretary-general says the number of civilians killed in gaza is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict since he started in his post. meanwhile intense international negotiations are under way to free 134 some of the hostages t. a top official says that they are getting close to the end of negotiations but cautions the details are still being worked out. >> everybody is interested in the numbers and who they will be. we're working that through literally in realtime with both sides. so i think that it is better if i just don't speculate about what that pool is going to look like. obviously we are laser focused on the american citizens that we know were being held hostage and we want them out, all of them, everybody should be out now. but here we are in a negotiation and we're getting closer to the end we believe of that negotiation. so again, i'll be careful. >> are any of the potential american hostages -- is there testified that they are alive? i know you've addressed the lack of proof of life videos in the past. >> i would say we have no indication otherwise. >> hamas leader also said in a statement earlier that it is close to reaching a truce agreement with israel. meanwhile the world health organization says 28 out of 33 neonatal babies have been evacuated into egypt from gaza. we've learned that two of the babies died over the weekend and three others were reunited with their families. nic robertson is following the developments and has more now. >> reporter: a rare glimmer of hope in gaza. neonatal babies from the embattled al-shifa hospital delivered to egypt for safe care. hopes also on the rise again for a potential hostage release as many of the kidnapped families gathered to press the prime minister to get a deal done. >> translator: it is very difficult and embarrassing that i need to stand in front of the camera and i need to go meet them in order to receive answers. >> reporter: even though qatari negotiators say their confidence levels are increasing. >> the sticking points honestly at this stage are not practical, logistical. >> reporter: but the reality on the battlefield is different. no sign of a deal securing ceasefire yet. another hospital under fire, this time the indonesian hospital near jabalia refugee camp. idf say they were returning fire, again shots fired from within the hospital. 12 people were killed according to the ministry of health in the area. indeed, israel is continuing to press its offensive across much of northern gaza. including showcasing tunnels unearthed in the al-shifa hospital alleging that they are part of a wider hamas command and control system. but they have yet to show that they say gives them legitimacy to take the hospital. cnn does not have independent access to the al-shifa where a handful of doctors remain treating more than 100 patients too badly injured to move. over the weekend, prime minister benjamin netanyahu appeared emboldened by u.s. president biden's backing that ceasefire too soon could benefit hamas. implying such a defense against global critics will stop future gains. >> translator: third thing is a diplomatic iron dome that allows us to continue fighting up victory. >> reporter: despite netanyahu's confidence, pushback is growing from israel's arab neighbors and the u.n. >> we are witnessing a killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict since i am secretary-general. >> reporter: on top of the dangers from shelling and missiles, another looming problem for gazans, the weather is worsening. for many of the more than 1 million displaced, flimsy plastic sheeting, all they have between them and the coming winter. nic robertson, cnn, sterot, israel. >> and scott mclean is following this. seems like a fast moving situation in terms of any sort of deal that might be done for pause for release of hostages. >> reporter: yeah, it has been looking good for a few days now, max, and perhaps things are getting close. there are positive signs coming from the qataris, from the americans, from hamas, the red cross says it is ready to implement any deal on the ground should one get done. and benjamin netanyahu met with hostage families yesterday and he told them that getting those hostages released is his sacred and supreme mission. the broad parameters of any deal we understand from any u.s. sources is that hamas would agree to release a number of hostages, not all of them, the latest number according to a draft proposal would be 50 in exchange for an unknown number of palestinian prisoners held in israeli jails. all of them would be released over the course of four or five days, a pause in fighting that would happen, and perhaps more prisoners could be released beyond that from gaza should that pause be extended. the reality, max, is that israel is under immense pressure domestically to get these hostages returned home, polling shows that most, not all, but most israelis would be happy to see thousands of palestinian prisoners released in exchange for these 239 or so hostages. a group of hostage families met with a committee of the israeli knecknesset yesterday and among the national security minister who is a hardline far right figure a guy who favors annexation of the palestinian territories. and this meeting got extremely heated. and i just want to play you part of it. it is not translated, but trust me, you don't need to speak hebrew to understand the level of the emotion inside that room. [ speaking in a non-english language ] so part of the reason why this meeting was so heated is because the national security minister right now is pushing legislation that would hand down the death penalty to terrorists in israel. under normal circumstances that might be relatively uncontr uncontroversial, but hostage families believe that could put their loved ones in gaza in more danger of being killed or harmed while they are stuck in gaza being held hostage by hamas. one man whose daughter and wife are both held hostage was one of the speakers at the meeting and he spoke quite passionately about what he would like to see lawmakers do. listen. [ speaking in a non-english language ] >> and you heard qataris say the sticking points are more logistical issues, nothing central to a deal getting country, but there are complexities on both sides. hamas doesn't really have any good cards to play. so they won't be releasing all of these hostages very easily. obviously israel knows that. from the israeli side, there is the complication of the fact that the release of any palestinian prisoners would require the signoff of the entire israeli war cabinet, some of those figures are far right figures who are much more focused right now on destroying hamas than getting the hostages back. >> okay. scott, thank you. donald trump's legal team was back in court on monday fighting to have a gag order permanently thrown out in the former president's federal election subversion trial. a three judge panel appears likely to restore the limited gag order which was temporarily frozen, but they could loosen some of the restrictions. despite that, the trump campaign released a statement saying in part today's oral argument confirms that the government is seeking to unconstitutionally silence president trump's core political speech and prevent his message from reaching america's voters at the height of campaign season. bianna golodryga breaks down what happened at that hearing. >> reporter: lawyers for donald trump and the justice department facing off before a federal appeals court in washington. in a fiery hearing lasting well over two hours, former president's lawyer arguing that the gag order violates trump's first amendment rights. >> the order is unprecedented and sets a terrible precedent for future restrictions on core political speech. >> reporter: the appeals court had temporarily frozen the gag order, a move prosecutors for jack smith say allows the former president to continue his attacks on the special counsel and his family. a lawyer for the former president argued trump should be allowed to respond to allegations on the campaign trail and has a constitutional right to talk about the election interference case, an argument that the judges seemed skeptical of. >> labeling it core political speech begs the question of whether it is in fact political speech or whether it is political speech aimed at derailing or corrupting the criminal justice process. >> reporter: trump's attorney said witnesses in this case haven't been tattacked because they were singled out by the former president. >> that is evidence three years old and it is weighed against the fact that they have no evidence that happened in this particular case. >> reporter: to which prosecutors pointed to threats against special counsel jack smith, his team and judge chutkan which is overseeing the case. >> the prosecutor that the defendant has targeted has been subject to intimidating communication. >> reporter: but the democrat appointed judges on monday also had sharp questions for prosecutors about the scope of the gag order and whether it was needed to protect the special counsel and his family. one of the judges said smith likely would not be intimidated by the posts. >> surely he has a thick enough skin. >> reporter: another judge said trump could not operate under a gag order on a debate stage. >> he has to speak miss manners while everyone else is throwing targets at him. >> reporter: the judges also raised the possibility of trump trying to influence former vice president mike pence's testimony. >> let's assume former vice president mike pence will testify and it is the night before his testimony. could the defendant tweet out mike pence can still fix this? mike pence can still do the right thing? >> reporter: drawing parallels to when the former president said this on january 6 -- >> i hope mike is going to do the right thing. i hope so. i hope so. because if mike pence does the right thing, we win the election. >> and so will the gag order stand or be removed or just changed in some way? cnn legal analyst elliott williams says it will be a different ruling to make given the complexity of the issue. >> i think they keep some form of gag order in place, but they just carve it up a little bit differently. and the judges seem to be signaling that by perhaps opening the gag order up to allowing criticism of jack smith directly or something like that. to say look, this is -- we talk about a lot of legal issues in the context of donald trump and i can say with certainty that the first amendment, free speech, is by far the hardest to figure out because everyone in america regardless of citizenship status is entitled to free speech. no one is entitled to threaten anybody else, but the line between those two can be very complicated particularly when you are dealing with candidates for office. it is just incredibly complex and the judges today who are very exceptionally bright individuals all three of them, were really struggling with that. so we'll have to see where they land on this. >> the panel heard the appeal on an expedited schedule and is expected to issue a ruling soon, though not clear when. some major changes under way in the business of artificial intelligence. microsoft has hired sam altman to lead a new ai group just three days after he was fired from the company he co-founded which is openai perform and hunand --. and now hundreds of his former employees are threatening to quit and join microsoft. >> reporter: the fallout continues and now it is the openai board members who face being forced out of the company just days after they ousted co-founder and ceo sam altman. it includes a board member who was involved in the ouster and also cto who took up the ceo position on an interim business. they also laid out terms for the employees to continue to work at oai, it includes firing the board, appointing two independent directors and reinstating sam altman and greg brockman. failure to follow these could result in them joining microsoft instead because that is early on monday, microsoft, biggest investor in openai, said it was hiring both altman and brockman to lead a new advanced ai research team. that news cheered investors and prompted microsoft share price to rise hitting a record high. now though it is unclear whether hundreds of openai staff will be moving to microsoft or whether altman and brockman will be moving back to openai. even chatgpt doesn't know the answer. anna stewart, cnn, london. elon musk the embattled owner of x is suing media matters over a report highlighting anti-semitic and pro nazi content on the social media platform. the report appeared to play a significant role in the recent mass exodus of advertisers from the site. the lawsuit accuses media matters of distorting likelihood of ads appearing beside extremist content on x. misk musk threatened a lawsuit after major brands halted their advertising on the site following the report and musk's endorsement of several anti-semitic posts. police say four people were injured after a man opened fire at a walmart near dayton, ohio. they say the suspect died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. the victims were rushed to nearby hospitals and we're waiting to hear more on their condition. police haven't identified the suspect and it is unclear if he knew anyone at the store. a walmart spokesperson told cnn they are heartbroken and working closely with investigators. and in colorado police are searching for a suspect who allegedly thought and killed three and wounded another. it happened in the suspect's neighborhood in kcuster county. he and at least one had contentious history over property lines. here is more from the county sheriff. >> when the shooting happened, there were four adult males and one adult female. and the suspect came out and shot four of those people, a fifth one was able to get safely away and was our witness. and then the female was the one who survived with critical injuries. millions of americans are gearing up for a busy thanksgiving holiday week. but weather could disrupt travel plans. a look at the forecast just ahead. plus as u.s. president biden jokes about turning 81, polling shows that voters have serious concerns about his age going into that election next year. thunderstorms could disrupt thanksgiving travel plans for millions of americans. this holiday week is expected to be the busiest in years on the roads and the airports. gusty winds and drenching rain may lead to delays at major hubs. transportation secretary surge i urging travelers to stay safe. >> we're expecting about 2.5 million passengers a day. we think airline travel peak will be on wednesday. and of course a lot of people on america's roads as well. as always, our best focus is safety. we're asking drivers to allow extra time and be extra cautious because often you are going to a relative's house maybe down the road you don't know that well. and then on the aviation side, working to make sure that we build on the progress that has been made in the last year and a half. u.s. president biden celebrated his 81st birthday monday, olding sitting president in u.s. history made fun of his age in an instagram post. the photo shows a birthday cake up in flames and it reads thanks for the birthday wellish withes. turns out on your 146th birthday, you run out of space for candles. as far as many voters are concerned, president biden's age is no laughing matter especially as he seeks re-election next year. questions about his physical and mental fitness as well as his handling of the israel-hamas war loom large over his campaign as mj lee reports. >> reporter: president biden turning 81 on monday, the white house saying that the real celebration will take place in nantucket with his family later this week. but his birthday coinciding with a series of negative polls for president biden showing that age remain as real vulnerability for him as questions have been raised about his stamina, his health, his sharpness and also concerns about whether he will be able to effectively serve out a second term. you add on top of that the israel-hamas war, a new nbc poll showed that approval rating has been falling among younger voters for president biden and also falling when it comes to approval of his handling of foreign policy. cnn asked white house press secretary jean-karine jean-pier about that and this is what she said. >> what i'll be clear about, we're going to not govern by polls here. we're going to -- or poll numbers. we'll focus on delivering for the american people, that will be our focus. >> reporter: while the white house typically tends to try to brush aside negative polls, saying that we are still too far out from the election, or saying that there are too many polls to care about each and every one, vice president kamala harris telling our colleague in an interview, "we're going to have to earn our reelect, no doubt about it." mj lee, cnn, the white house. still to come, u.s. officials say negotiators are nearing a deal to secure the release of some of the hamas -- the hostages that that hamas is holding. and as top officials in the u.s. and germany make critical stops in kyiv, ukraine says russia missile strikes have killed two people in donetsk overnight. we'll have details. (car engine revs) (engine accelerating) (texting clicks) (tires squeal) (glass shattering) (loose gravel clanking) welcome back. if you are just joining us, let me bring you up-to-date with our top stories. a federal appeals panel appears inclined to restore the limited gag order in former president trump's federal election subversion case. a three judge panel is hearing the case on an expedited schedule and are expected to issue a ruling soon. but the exact timing is unclear. family members of some of the hostages being held by hamas are pushing the israeli government to do more to bring their loved ones back. and there were intense exchanges when they met with benjamin netanyahu and members of the israeli war cabinet in tel aviv on monday. u.s. officials say negotiators are close to a deal to release some of the hostages hamas abducted october 7, but they caution the details are still being worked out. and as alex marquardt report, sources tell us that the deal in the works could leave quite a few hostages still in hamas' hands. >> reporter: there is a sense of hospital optimism that we haven't heard before. u.s. officials indic