>> let's hope they're both home soon. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, house-to-house combat, the fighting in gaza's second largest city ramping up tonight and civilian casualties are mounting. and president biden revealing he wouldn't be running for reelection, except for one thing, this as voters open up about why they are giving desantis another look at trump. and george santos's second act, making new cameos, the price has gone up. that's the old supply, demand, and people are paying up. let's go "outfront." and good evening, i'm erin burnett. out front tonight, surrounded. israel says its forces have encircled gaza's second largest city. there's fierce fighting inside khan younis. that's where the civilian population has ballooned, as people are told to go from northern gaza south towards khan younis, and now reports of house-to-house battles, according to an israeli km commander, quote, we are in the most intense day-to-day since the beginning of the ground operations in terms of terrorists killed, the number of fire fights in the land and air, and this ground operation posing a serious threat to displaced palestinian civilians, as i said, so many had come from further north here, many of them now lining the narrow streets after being forced from their homes. and just north of khan younis, new video appears to show artillery fire near two red crescent ambulances. again, appears, but you can see this playing out on your screen right now. and earlier, i spoke to a spokesperson for the red cross who is in gaza. spoken to him many times over these past couple of months. i asked him today what he's actually experiencing in these past hours that the idf says are the most intense. here's what he said. >> it's chaotic, it's panic, it's constant fear, and it's this self-entrapment that is prevailing now. >> chaos, entrapment, and he's choosing to be there. choosing to be there to continue with his job. his wife has left. he has not met his newborn son. israel claims it's trying to ease all of those fears by dropping leaflets like what you're looking at on the screen with the qr code that directs people where to go to the safe areas. i asked mana if it's working and he had seen the leaflets, and he said, yes, he absolutely has seen them, and the reality is that they are not working because there's no 3g or 4g cell service as he has seen. there's barely 2g, which means it's impossible to actually scan the qr code in those cases, and even if people can open the link to the idf evacuation map, the map doesn't show a person, where they are on the map, how to get anywhere near the evacuation area, just literally shows this. of course this puts more lives at risk, and i asked a spokesperson for the idf about a report that two civilians have been killed for every hamas militant. the idf later tried to clarify saying it's likely less than two civilians for every hamas militant. they didn't elaborate on the details here, though, but i asked about this report and what level of civilian suffering he is seeing right now. >> we still have two of our own staff members who were killed in air strikes with members of their families weeks ago, and they have not yet been found, buried. so i would not be so sure about this equation 2-1. this is not acceptable by all means when we address and respect the rules of war. >> a war that the united states now says may end in a few weeks time. officials telling cnn that the gaza ground operation could end by january and that is where alex marquardt, our coverage tonight outside tel aviv. the fight inside khan younis, the second biggest city in gaza, escalating tonight, fierce, house-to-house battles. so many civilians fled there. what more are you learning? >> well, erin, israel's top general says that the country has now entered the third phase of this conflict. israel's military trying to secure the gains that they have made in the north before moving on to the south. prime minister netanyahu was also very blunt in comments that he made. he said that tonight the ground shook in khan younis and jabalya. khan younis, the biggest city in the south. jabalya, a refugee camp that israel says has been a holdout for hamas. meanwhile, we are hearing pointed criticism from the biden administration, from the state department, a spokesperson for the state department saying they do not believe that israel is doing enough to help get aid into gaza, aid like fuel, food and water. so desperately needed as people are fleeing even farther south. israeli strikes tonight in southern gaza as israel expands its campaign. new satellite images show dozens of israel's armored vehicles near the main road heading to southern gaza's biggest city, khan younis. israel's top general said tuesday that the military's operating, quote, in the heart of khan younis where hamas's top leadership has dug in. according to a journalist who filmed this video. idf troops moving south fired on civilians and journalists. air strikes have been seen near the city. chaos as the wounded are rushed to the hospital, and the dead are counted. amid the renewed fighting, hospitals continue to overflow. we are facing a huge problem this dr. in khan younis says. god forbid if we get more patients, there's no space for them at all. many in khan younis have gone there from northern gaza after israel told more than 1 million people to evacuate. now they're being told to move again, to so-called safe zones, though humanitarian officials and civilians say nowhere is safe. >> and we need the war to stop, cease fire. i wish because nobody would win in this war. >> a senior u.n. official says the civilian death toll is rapidly increasing. overall, according to the hamas controlled ministry of health, almost 16,000 people in gaza have been killed since october 7th. in an interview with "outfront," an idf spokesperson conceded that the majority of deaths could be civilians saying that if two palestinian civilians are killed for every hamas militant, that ratio would be, quote, tremendously positive. >> if you compare that ratio to any other conflict in urban terrain, between a military and a terrorist organization using civilians as their human shields and embedded in the civilian population, you will find that that ratio is tremendous, tremendously positive and perhaps unique in the world. >> spokesperson said he should have chosen his words more carefully. amid the onslaught in gaza, hamas claimed a barrage of rockets fired at tel aviv. the large black smoke of an impact was seen north of the city, and shrapnel plunged to the ground, here, narrowly missing two people walking on the sidewalk. and, erin, a major question is how much longer can these israeli military operations last at the scale and level we're seeing now around khan younis. officials tell my colleagues and me that they do expect high intensity operations will continue for several more weeks before there's a transition to what they call low intensity operations. those more low intensity, more tactical operations could happen on a very localized scale, for example, going after specific hamas commanders. what that means for the time frame is we could see high intensity operations lasting through the end of the calendar year before that transition happens in january, but that sort of more and low intensity phase, erin, could last for quite some time. there has been private pressure from the united states on israel to scale back their military operations, the u.s. is also telling that they cannot replicate in the south what they did in the north, and frankly, telling israel that they are quickly losing international support. now, in terms of what israel's response was to this message, a senior administration official tells my colleague, mj lee, they wouldn't call it receptive, erin. >> all right. thank you very much, alex marquardt, i want to go to barak ravid now, our global and political affairs analyst. you just heard alex say that the u.s. expects the ground war to end by january, and he's also talking about the pressure that they have been putting on israel and that the response as mj lee was reporting was not receptive from the israeli side. what are you learning? >> hi, erin, i think that what i heard from several u.s. officials in recently days was that, again, they would want to see this high intensity phase end as soon as possible, but they admit at the same time that they do not see joe biden telling the israelis that they need to stop now immediately or call for a cease fire anytime soon. so i think what is left for the biden administration to do, if that's the case, is to basically try and influence what israel is doing on the ground and actually, they managed to do some things quite successfully. >> all right. so your focus tonight, i know, very specifically on something that didn't get a lot of attention, and it's important for people watching to understand. an announcement from the biden administration that you believe says a lot about where the u.s. stands on israel right now, a very powerful message, and one that we haven't seen maybe forever, if not in decades. what is it? >> well, erin, one of the things that happened today, and not a lot of people noticed, is that the biden administration imposed sanctions today on israeli settlers in the west bank. and this is sanctions that were focused on israeli settlers who were involved or are involved in attacks against palestinian civilians in the west bank. the sanctions are mostly travel bans against those people, at first stage, this is several dozen people, so while this might be or might sound small, this is the first time any u.s. administration is doing this since the mid-'90s when the clinton administration did a similar thing. when you have an israeli government, that parts of it are basically the political wing of those people who attack palestinians in the west bank, that's quite significant message by the biden administration. >> and crucial that you raise it, because as you point out, it seems small. many wouldn't notice it. sometimes it is the small things that matter so much. in khan younis right now, where you have had so many palestinian civilians, right, initially flee, and now the israeli military said they encircled khan younis, a known base for the military wing of hamas, the hometown of the hamas leader, yahya sinwar, who is known to be the master mind of october 7th, does israel believe that sinwar is actually there now, that he's still there? >> everything i hear from israeli officials in recently weeks is they believe botha ya sin -- both yahya sinwar, and the second master mind of the october 7th attacks, both of them and several other officials are in khan younis, basically since the beginning of the war, and this is the aim of this operation. if there's one thing israel wants to achieve during this operation in khan younis is to capture sinwar, and mohammed, dead or alive. and israel wants to do it not only because they are the master finds of october 7th but because they believe that once they take them out, it will be much easier to destroy hamas. >> all right. barak, thank you very much. as always, appreciate your incredible reporting. "outfront" now, the democratic congressman, seth moulton, a veteran who served in iraq. so i appreciate your time congressman. so the u.s. expects, and you heard kind of the context around this from both barak and alex, they expect this heavy ground operation to end in january. there's a lot of desire from the u.s. for that to happen. have you been briefed at all about the time line? >> not specifically. i mean, let's be clear. we want israel to succeed in eradicating hamas. neither palestinians nor israelis can be safe and secure if hamas still exists, but our concern is that israel's tactics right now risks not just failing to eradicate hamas, but actually strengthening its base of support, and this is a fundamental principle of counter insurgency that you can not create more terrorists than you kill. and that's what israel risks doing when they have such high civilian casualty numbers. >> all right. and to that front, i spoke last night with the idf spokesperson, lieutenant colonel and i asked about the ap reporting that israel has killed two civilians for every hamas fighter. and he said if that ratio is confirmed, and the way he laid it out last night, and he seemed to think it would be, but he characterized that ratio as tremendously positive, two civilians dead for every hamas militant. do you agree that that is a tremendously positive ratio? >> no, i think it's dead wrong. i think it's dead wrong based on our experience. look, we looked at this very carefully when we recognized in iraq and afghanistan that we were not in a traditional force on force battle, we were fighting a insurgency. and he determined for every one civilian you kill it serves to recruit about ten terroists. i mean, by that number, israel so far has killed about 5,000 hamas terrorists, but in the process, they've recruited about 100,000 new adherents, and this is really bad news for israel. it's bad news just in terms of their potential for military success here, which we do want them to achieve. you know, we're talking about 10,000 negligent civilians so far are killed right now, and that just, i mean, that's a bad situation in a place that actually when the war began, there was a poll just before october 7th that showed that 6 out of 10 residents of the gaza strip did not support hamas. israel was actually going eintoa favorable situation where most of the palestinians were against hamas as well. and the concern is that they have actually turned most of the palestinians against israel. >> that would be unbelievable. thank you very much, congressman. i appreciate your time. and next a shouting match in the senate. there was a briefing about u.s. aid to ukraine, which is hanging by a thread as i speak, and then the ukrainian president zelenskyy mysteriously cancels briefing congress at the very last minute, suddenly didn't happen, even though it was drafted and ready to go, we understand. live tonight "outfront" in ukraine and on capitol hill. and our voters out front series, you'll hear from iowa voters who once were solidly for trump with a huge lead, now taking a look at the other candidates. >> i like what nikki haley is doing. i like desantis too. >> and tonight, kim jong un, breaking down in tears, you'll see, and we'll tell you why. . new tonight, a shouting match in the senate as american support for ukraine is hanging by a thread. it was a classified briefing on ukraine, and it just completely went off the rails. senators started shouting at each other, shouting about border security. republicans are demanding aid to ukraine be tied to border security on the southern border. as the shouting match goes down, president zelenskyy of ukraine, who was scheduled to make an appeal, had everything prepared, mysteriously cancels due to a quote last minute matter. no further explanation was given. we're covering the story from washington and ukraine tonight, so let's begin first with manu out front on capitol hill. you have the shouting match over this aid. it completely devolves, we understand people are yelling and screaming, and zelenskyy cancels his appearance all of a sudden. i'm not saying those two things don't appear to be related. this is what happened. a lot of intrigue, ahead of what is a crucial vote tomorrow. >> reporter: yeah, look, this briefing was meant to convince senators that it was time to move on aid to ukraine or risk seeing russia take over ukraine, seeing ukraine collapse, if u.s. aid does not continue, but the debate over immigration and tightening border security really has been taking front and center this whole fight, publicly. also took place privately. republicans say there need to be changes, tighter restrictions on border policies at the southern border before they agree to moving forward on aid to ukraine, as well as aid to israel. that's why things broke down behind closed doors, as chuck schumer said it was mitch mcconnell who initially hi jacked the briefing when he kicked it over to a republican senator who laid out their border concerns. >> it was immediately hijacked by leader mcconnell. one of them was disrespectful and started screaming at one of the generals, and challenging him why he didn't go to the board. >> we've got to have the democrats recognize that the trade here, the deal is we stop the open border. they don't want to do that. so republicans are just walking out of the briefing because the people there are not willing to actually discuss what it takes to get a deal done. >> reporter: and tomorrow, senate democrats are teeing up a key procedural vote to try to move ahead on a package, but since there's no deal on border security, republicans expected to block it, which means israel and ukraine aid continues to hang in the balance at this critical time. >> and of course the pentagon warning today that without more funding allocated, they could have to really stop providing ukraine what it needs. thank you very much, manu, and is this crucial aid to ukraine as hangs in the balance at this hour, the head of in eastern ukraine, where some of the fiercest fighting is happening, says russian forces have opened up two new fronts in their ongoing assault in the town that has become the epicenter of the battle in the east, and a quorum is "outfront." >> reporter: at a warehouse stocked with humanitarian aid, 23-year-old police officer dmytro solavi picks up supplies. food, water, hygiene products and a generator are on the list. he's part of the white angels unit, and they're heading to his hometown in the donetsk region on the eastern front where one of the most fierce and bloody battles is being waged in the war in ukraine. i was born in this town, he tells me. my neighbors are there. my relatives, my friends. it's my duty to help them. we are their hope. but getting to abdivka is a death trap. shortly after leaving us with his go pro rolling, he spots russian shelling. look, the bomb has hand, report incoming of an ugly bastard, and there's another one, he tells his colleague. russian artillery, mortars and drones target the road, and yesterday dmytro remains calm. this perilous journey has become routine despite multiple close calls. driving past the sign that proudly states avdiivka is ukraine. now deserted, devoid of the living. almost every single building has been shelled. surprisingly, some people still live here, including d dr. vitally, head of the local hospital. diagnosed with terminal cancer, he's decided he's not going anywhere. we have a job and we do it, he complains. he called the white angels to evacuate a man who had just been injured from shrapnel. as they load him into the van, the idle chatter is interrupted. incoming, it's a mortar, explains the doctor. sometimes it rustles and then bang, that would be a tank. as the explosions get louder, it's time to go. this is the road, there is one way in, one way out. we are not allowed to travel to the town, which is 17 kilometers away. the military has banned all media, saying it's just too dangerous. but for the white an shgels, th travel on this road multiple times a week, risking their lives to support the less than 1,300 people still living in the town. as the white angels begin the dangerous drive out, dmytro reflects. it's very sad what's happening to my town, but one day we'll rebuild, and i will live there with my grandchildren. we just need to believe. a belief that keeps this community among the ruins alive. erin, this war is approaching the end of its second year, and u.s. aid is absolutely critical. it cannot be underestimated, and yet people here in ukraine know that that's und