Dont know. A lot thanks for all of you for joining us. Dont go anywhere. Cnn this morning starts right now. This is cnn breaking news. Good morning, glad youre with us. Im poppy harlow with phil mattingly. In israel, Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken is in jerusalem, he is meeting once again with israeli leaders. And were also looking at these live pictures of Smoke Billowing above gaza city. A dire humanitarian crisis is unfolding there at this moment. And Israeli Ground offensive appears to be imminent this morning. Blinken said that the u. S. Is actively working to ensure that humanitarian assistance like water, food and medicine can get into gaza. The Secretary Of State also saying that Safe Passage Way Into Egypt via The Rafah Crossing would be open as half a Million People have fled Northern Gaza for the south. But overnight the negotiations seem to have stalled and that there is either a ceasefire nor humanitarian assistance in the gaza strip. President biden saying israel must go after hamas but also warning israel against occupying gaza. Israel is going after a group of people who engaged in a barbarism that is as consequential as the holocaust. So i think israel has to respond. They have to go after hamas. Would you support Israeli Occupation of gaza at this point . I think it would be a big mistake. Look, what happened in gaza in my view is hamas and extreme elements of hamas dont represent all the palestinian people. And i think that it would be a mistake to for israel to occupy gaza again. Do you believe hamas must be eliminated entirely . Yes, i do. But there needs to be a palestinian authority, there needs to be a path to a palestinian state. Also this just in, israel now says 199 people are being held hostage in gaza, that is the latest count. Were covering all of this Around The World. Lets begin with erin burnett live in tel aviv. That is quite an increase from what they had thought before. I wonder if that also indicates that their intelligence is getting a little bit better there. Reporter you know, that is a good point. As you point out, 199 is about 50 more than they had been saying the past few days. 199 hostages that they say are still there. In conversations with Israeli Military, they are honest that they dont know how many are alive or dead. Most detail they have given us is to say that they believe some of them may have actually died as they were being brought from israel in to gaza. But that is the most weve been able to get. While there have been reports that maybe a dozen hostages were killed in strikes, there has been no confirmation. We have no visibility on that other than we understand from the idf that they are being held in tunnels sort of scattered around gaza. That hamas has not been known to use before. But as you point out, a very significant increase and it could point out more intelligence, it could point out more negotiations going on, that they actually have a real sense of the number. But impossible to really put details around what it means. All we can say is that that number is a huge increase. And talking to some of those families, the heartbreak is truly horrible to hear. And at the same time you heard explosions where you are a few moments ago. You c can you tell us what happened . Yeah, we heard some explosions and frankly weve been hearing quite a few just the past 12, 16 hours that dont come along with Air Raid Sirens and that is because the israeli iron dome, there is an and that you can follow. It is very specific as to where the exact risk of a hit is. So when you hear a siren, you move fast to shelter because it really could be a real risk to you. When you dont hear a siren, you may hear loud booms and thuds, it is because of that the iron dome have determined that it isnt a risk to the direct location. Also military helicopters have been flying eefr. And fighter jets, low and very audible. Sometimes higher up as they go into gaza for strikes, there have been lower much louder ones in the early hours of dawn this morning. And as you said, it is about 1 00 here. And as we await for the possibility of a Ground Invasion at anytime, keep in mind what those jets come with, 250 airstrikes alone just yesterday in gaza. So when we hear the jets, it is followed a few seconded ss late an explosion and of course the devas devastation. The Secretary Of State is in jerusalem today meeting with leaders there. All around the conflicting reports about that critical crossing, only possible one at this point out of gaza into egypt, The Rafah Crossing in the south. What status of that being open . It was supposed to be open for americans this weekend. Right. It was. And then of course it wasnt. And it is the topic of all of the negotiations. Secretary blinken going to be talking about this here. He has been with el sisi and talking about that. They want americans out of gaza. There are a lot of americans and Palestinian Americans in gaza of course separate super the broader humanitarian crisis you are talking about. Secretary blinken was here thursday and then traveling through the region, united arab emirates, qatar, saudi arabia, egypt, trying for some sort of diplomacy. And then coming back here announced late yesterday. So he is here now in a meeting with the Prime Minister. There was a senatorial delegation here last night. Senator romney, Senator Kelly and majority leader schumer. And i asked Senator Schumer Why was blinken coming back, was the purpose of this perhaps to get Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu to stall or to slow d down, to bring this down a nono notch. He said no, Secretary Blinken is here primarily to try to keep diplomacy in the region on track but not to try to influence in any way the decisions netanyahu may make on the timing of this anticipated Ground Invasion of gaza. And ahead of that of course, you talk about the gaza refugees and getting people out of there, there is of course a broader sort of evacuation going on in israel itself, a flight with nearly 300 americans on board previously stranded in israel actually left overnight, that flight went to tampa, florida overnight. And were also aware after Florida Governor ron desantis signed an Executive Order for charter flights for floridians trapped in israel and desantis was there, it was a real publicity moment for him on the runway. And the United States is helping more americans evacuate israel. There is no lebanese or saudi border, you have to go jordan or by sea. And so they have a ship, 10 to 12 hours on this giant evacuation ship from the u. S. Milita military going to see you press. And Natasha Bertrand is live for us. This is basically a military cruise ship. Tell us what you know. Reporter thats right. The u. S. Making an effort here to try to evacuate civilians and u. S. Ziv citizens who to want to leave. And what were told, that it will be departing from hyfa and it is about 10 to 12 hours to see you press. It has to be only u. S. Nationals and their immediate family members. And then once these u. S. Citizens get to seecypress, if y dont have their own october, the u. S. Will arrange for charter flights to continue with their journey there. It is important to note that this is not a noncombatant operation as such. That the military for example carried out in afghanistan when u. S. Citizens were trying to flee at this point. This is a smaller effort, organized by the u. S. State department and the alert issued yesterday saying that they would be organizing this evacuation for citizens who want to leave. Now, we should note that Twhe Fi We First reported earlier this weekend that the u. S. Military is putting a Marine Expeditionary unit kind of on standby preparing them for the possibility that they might have to deploy closer to israel in the event that there is that Demand Signal from u. S. Citizens who want to depart israel en masse. So right now they have not gotten that order, the Marine Expeditionary unit is capable of helping to assume large scale evacuations. And that is actually one of their Mission Essential tasks. They have not gotten that order yet. The white house has said that they have not seen yet the Demand Signal from u. S. Citizens trying to leave. Remember a lot of these people are dual citizens so they dont necessarily want to leave the country, but they are preparing for that possibility if they need to. So why is the u. S. Sendin oi Carrier Strike group in when you consider the air power that that would make available to the u. S. Military in the region, what does that actually signal in sec se terms of the posture and the way the u. S. Sees as potential for escalation . Reporter this is a huge show of force. Even the first Aircraft Carrier which arrived in the region earlier was very significant. But to have a second Aircraft Carrier headed toward the eastern mediterranean, that is really significant and a sign that the u. S. Is concerned about the possibility that additional group, additional actors will try to join this conflict. So it is meant as a deterrent primarily against hezbollah, the Lebanese Militant Group that the u. S. Has expressed so much worry about, the possibility that they could open a new front in this conflict. Of course iran also very concerned is that they could get involved somehow. So two Aircraft Carriers, strike carriers, in the region really significant. A sign that the u. S. Is trying to show really forceful sign of deterrence. In tasha, thank you very much at the pentagon this hour. Poppy and phil, back to you. And we also just learned that Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken will not only meet with netanyahu and president herzog, he will also meet with the Opposition Leader and defense minister of israel. So a lot of key meetings still ahead. Joining us now, dan s oeceynor. Great to have you with us. There is mass confusion as erin reported over the southern crossing, the only potentially possibly safe way for palestinians, americans, to get out. Can you explain what is happening right now diplomatically . Because saturday it was supposed to be open for five hours for americans to get out and it wasnt and the blame was on hamas. Hamas doesnt really want the palestinians leaving. Because the way they wage their war is they colocate civilians, large concentrations of civilian, with their weapons capabilities. So the u. N. Run schools in Gaza Have Thahamas weapons. They put their Command Centers in hospitals because they know if israel tries to hit a command center, they can say that you hit a hoopt. So the last thing they want is dispersing palestinians to other parts of gaza that makes it harder for hamas to use them as human shields. Egypt doesnt want all hes palestinians coming in over the rafah border. They say we should look after the palestinians needs but the one easy way to do it is to move them across the Rafah Border Into Egypt and they dont want in a. What egypt is doing is moving food and other supplies into gaza. Israel is letting them do that and that is tricky because you dont know who is in control of them. Are terrorists getting access to those supplies. So the southern border is a mess. Single best move would be for egypt to say well take in palestinians, well create tent cities, it has worked in other parts of the world. It is very expensive, but as weve seen from ukraine to the war in syria, International Communities spent enormous amounts of money so no single country had to absorb it. And the u. N. Is already setting up and they have people now positioned there in Northern Egypt in the hope that this will right. And like i said, there is precedent for egypt not absorbing all the costs. Cc knows that. But there are domestic Security Concerns as well. And to your point, what they say publicly versus what his considerations are internally oftentimes diverge from one another and i think that is a driver as well to not wanting a large and if that is his concern, he should say it. But what he shouldnt do is say this is israels fault. To your point, these are Security Concerns that he has which is fine and the International Community can help him with that. I want you to listen to two things Secretary Blinken said. The first was in that Press Conference with Benjamin Netanyahu. And second was yesterday in egypt. Listen to how they echo one another. The Prime Minister and i discussed how israel does this matters. The way israel does this matters. Needs to do it in a way that affirms the shared values that we have for miami life and human dignity. Taking every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians. Intentional that he said it both times in that way and the real question is, you know, what will the u. S. Support in terms of how israel does it. They have said that they are loc lockstep, no matter what . No, i think the comparison that President Biden made in his speech and his Press Statement where he kept comparing israel to isis, when hamas. Sorry, thank you, when compare hamas to isis. When the United States over the course of three administrations, obama administration, the trump administration, the biden administration, went to wipe out isis, they obviously didnt want civilians to be killed, but there was Collateral Damage in war that is inevitable and that did not slow them down from taking out isis. Youve heard President Biden make these repeated comparisons to the holocaust, that what hamas has done to israel is the worst suffering of jews anywhere in the world in any single day since the holocaust. You know, were concerned obviously, america and uk and our allies are worried about civilian casualties in fighting world war ii, but obviously there are civilian casualties and there is Collateral Damage. So the declarations that israel should be mindful, of course israel should be mindful. But how do you be mindful when they are putting their capabilities in schools and hospitals. Cutting off water, electricity, strategically put it on to hospitals for example. Or could you move it to the southern part of gaza where israel is trying to get the palestinians in gaza to move to. Here is where i struggle with the isis analogy. They had a caliphate that they created amongst themselves. But when they were taken out, there were governing structures and infrastructure there to fill the vacuum or to retake control. The president in that 60 minutes interview saying he would be opposed to Israel Occupying gaza. There is a very real reason israel pulled out of occupation of gaza. So my question if you point to isis, who fills this vacuum. When isis was driven out of these areas like raqqah, there was a massive vacuum. There was no Strong Authority to really fill one did at least in iraq. But it was weak. And of course the u. S. Went in saying look, we got to wipe out isis. Isis poses and enormous threats to the west. Well wipe out sooigs and then well figure out how to fill the vacuum. But you cant say well live were not going to learn to live with isis until we figure out what will succeed isis. I think what israel went through over the past week, babies be headed oig, babies burned, women raped. Like jew hunting. The idea that israel should be told you have to learn to live with this entity until we know what succeeds it. There are possibilities of what succeed it. There is a whole range of options. But this is an existential threat to israel since the 197 yom kippur war. The idea that they should wait and learn to live with this threat that it is their border. Im not saying that they have to wait, but im thinking of foresight and thinking flew what happens next is critical. But they didnt choose the timing of this. They had a Security Doctrine that was learning to coexist effectively with hamas for two decades since israel pulled out in 2005. And then this happened. And the idea that the rug gets pulled out from israel and israel says you have to figure out what happens next, israel says no, we have to probability our citizens from the jew hunting. Well do that and protect our security and then deal with what follows. And you were an adviser to president bush and you think this week for biden has been what . I think it has been one of if not the best weeks of his presidency. I think he has spoken