Good morning. Im poppy harlow with Phil Mattingly in new york. Erin burnett is live in tel aviv, israel. That is where President Biden is headed tomorrow tore a highstakes visit. The humanitarian crisis in gaza is escalating. And the president is under growing pressure to help get desperately needed aid, food, walter, other aid to the millions of civilians stuck in this war zone. This morning we are continuing to see israel strike gaza. Some airstrikes were right near the Border Crossing between gaza and egypt. That crossing remains closed as israels blockade continues and this is new video of smoke rising near the border wall there. It is the same Border Crossing where vital humanitarian aid has been piling up. The World Health Organization is now warning that water is running out for Hundreds Of Thousands of palestinians. Satellite images show 30foot bomb craters blocking the roadway nearing the crossing. Another top priority for President Biden, securing the release of hostages. Hamas has released its first Hostage Video of an israeli french woman abducted during the surprise attack. The Israeli Military is calling it an attempt of, quote, Psychological Warfare. Here is what the womans mother said this morning. I didnt know shes Dead Or Alive until yesterday. All i knew is that shes might be kidnapped. And im begging the world to bring my baby back home. She only went to a party, to a festival party, to have some fun. And now shes in gaza. To erin burnett live in tel aviv. Erin, i am struck how many different dynamics are at play. All the variables. Now a president ial visit on top of hostages, a looming Ground Incursion, the worst Terror Attack we have seen in decades. What is the State Of Play on the ground there . Reporter well, its a watch and wait. It is a population expecting something to happen. Frankly, wanting something to happen. When i say that, obviously, you heard Matthew Chance talk to shareholders who say they want a second front, to work with hezbollah, too. I dont mean that. I mean people dealing with want whatever it is to happen so they see what comes next and they can start to move on. Its more in that reality. There is a great fear of a Ground Incursion, although the expectation one my be inevitable. You heard about the idf commander hecht saying that is what the world is focused on. What they do may be something different. That also comes as mark, who is a close counselor to Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu for decades, said something similar to us a few moments ago. Heres that. Is there a way for you to defeat them without putting thousands and thousands of idf troops in gaza . So, we might have to. Reporter hard to say whether they are creating room or not. In the context of President Biden coming over here, that is the great focus. And i want to go to Clarissa Ward in ashkelon. You know, our stringer, you know, someone working for cnn trying to gather information from gaza, reports seeing airstrikes, very specific word, indicating israeli airstrikes near the rafah border not long ago. Hugely significant in the context of the world Palestinian Americans and palestinians gathering at the border. I know you heard brooms where y booms as well. What are you able to tell us . Reporter we have been talking to hospitals and various people on the ground in southern gaza, including our local journalists there, and basically what we are hearing is that there have been at least six airstrikes in the area right near that rafah Border Crossing with egypt in the south. We are hearing at least 60 people have been killed in those airstrikes, apparently they hit the homes of six different families. Again, there is the expectation that that death toll might rise, but it also raises real questions because, of course, Israeli Forces had been asking ordinary gazzans in Northern Gaza to evacuate that part of the enclave and move into the south. According to the u. N. , 600,000 people have moved to the south. And so having this lev of bombardment and ferocity of strikes in the south raises real questions about the ability of ordinary gazans to find anywhere that offers any hint of safe refuge. Meanwhile, just moments ago we then heard a barrage of rockets coming into ashkelon. Let me play you some of that sound for a second. Reporter i will say that those rockets are getting closer and closer by the day. Most are in interpreted by the iron dome, but two did make landfall not too far from us this time. It doesnt appear that they hit any particular house or anything like that. We dont have any reports of casualties or injuries. Of course, it is worth saying yet again that where is the iron dome exists in israel and intercepts the vast majority of those rockets and missiles, there is no iron dome in gaza. Which is why or one of many reasons why you are seeing that death toll continuing to soar. Nearly 3,000 palestinians now killed in gaza, erin. Reporter and so interesting what you were just saying about six targets in the south. Obviously, we, dont know what that is. We dont have a comment from the idf. Some context here. I was with unit yesterday going out to gather the weapons that hamas left behind in the attack. They are finding the bodies of the dead hamas fighters. Those bodies are they are worried about them being boobytrapped but they were wearing Go Pro Cameras and they are trying to i. D. Every fighter. When you get a i. D. , you get a name. When you get a name you get a family and a hope and a place and thats what they are doing. I know it begs the question as to what the strikes are, whether they are related to Something Like that or not. We simply dont know right now. We do know that with every strike, civilians can die and hostages can die. And we have that one Hostage Video. I know we can get more you have spoken to some of these Hostage Families who are just they have a rage even at their own government because they are not getting answers about their Family Members who are held in gaza. Reporter thats right. Some of them have now been Holding Vigil for their loved ones outside the Military Headquarters in tel aviv for four days now, erin. They are very angry at israels or the israeli governments handling of this crisis. They are very concerned about the escalating violence and tension. A lot of them really with ould to see a deal made, negotiations, some kind of a prisoner release. But i spoke to one former mossad officer who was involved with Hostage Negotiations in the past, and he said this time he does not see that israel is interested in negotiating some kind of a prisoner swap. He says when we have done that in the past, that is what has resulted in hamas leadership being let out of jail and able to return and plan attacks like the ones we saw last saturday. He said there is no appetite for that at the moment. The preference would be to go into gaza, to uproot hamas and then to try to rescue as many of those hostages as possible in sort of operations on the ground. Now, of course, as you know, erin, rescuing hostages in active operations like that is incredibly risky. Those words likely to strike fear in the hearts of many mi desperate to get their loved ones home and see an end to the violence. Reporter right, right. When the choice presents itself to Decapitate Hamas or save hostages lives, that is a choice israel faces. Thank you very much. Back to you. What a choice that is, indeed. Thank you. President bidens trip comes as israel weighs the potential Gaming Kaing Escalation in this war on hamas. Israeli forces are expected to begin a Ground Operation any day now. An idf spokesman saying he doesnt expect any delays over President Bidens planned visit. The president s visit to israel, does it complicate or delay that Ground Incursion in any way . Not as far as i understand. I think the president also said that hamas needs to be destroyed and that is exactly our military aim. Joining trust the white house is jun occur by, the National SecurityCouncil Coordinator for strategic communications. Trying to get some specifics. Would the president go over on this trip if he thought israel would launch the counteroffensive while there . What the operations are on the ground, thats not dictating the president s desire to go at this critical moment here in the conflict between israel and hamas. We will let the sisraelis speak to their operations. We are not going to do that from washington, d. C. The president believes this is exactly the right time to go to israel and to go to jordan to speak to other leaders in the region about the humanitarian assistance that we want to make sure gets into gaza, about israeli plans and intentions going forward, how its unfolding on the ground and absolutely to continue to talk to region partners about the hostages and getting see if we get them home back to their families. What can the families of their loved ones being held by hamas, the hostages, can those families expect from the president on this trip . And also the innocent Palestinian Civilians trying to escape, including one of our colleagues and so many others. What can they expect . They ought to know that their loved ones and civilian life at large are going to be very, very high on the president s agenda on this trip. And will be represented in virtually every conversation that he has with israeli officials, including the Prime Minister, as well as president ceecee of egypt, and King Abdullah of jordan. Innocent life, we want to get the hostages home. That will be seven top on his agenda. John i understand there is intensive work op humanitarian aid proposals between the Secretary Of State and counterparts, over 7 1 2 hours. How much of that has been either delivered or presented to the other leaders, President Biden will be meeting with in the second leg of his trip . Secretary blinken held a Marathon Meeting yesterday for some search hours plus with israeli officials and made Good Progress towards a framework to get humanitarian assistance in and to also work towards safe passage out of gaza. Now, as you and i are speaking, phil, that aid hasnt started yet. We hope that happens very, very, very soon and certainly that conversation didnt just happen in a vacuum. Obviously, it was a result of Secretary Blinkens Shuttle Diplomacy throughout the region with arab partners as well to find a way to break this logjam and get food, water and medicine to people who desperately need it. To that point, the u. S. Gives i egypt more than 1 billion in aid every year. Its one thing to get the rafah crossing open. Its another to get aid in that way. Thats right. Will that change because the president is having this meeting with el sisi . We are optimistic. We made some significant progress towards an arrangement to get humanitarian assistance in. We have to watch this continuously very, very closely as we have been. We thought it was going to be open and it didnt open. So we want to make sure it actually opens. Your point is a good one. Its not just about opening the gate and letting stuff in for a few hours. We have to make sure there is a framework in place that humanitarian can be sustainable, some maintenance level to that the food, Water Medicine that gets in doesnt run out again. There is a lot of work left to do here. Admiral, congressman mccaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, said something last night. Take a listen. My committee, the Foreign Affairs committee, is a committee that is responsible for either declaring war or an authorized use of military force. So im currently preparing a draft of that in the event it is called upon and is necessary. But most importantly, supported by the american people. John, is the add morgues having conversations with lawmakers about drafting that at this point . I dont believe thats an active part of the conversation now. Its important for people to remember the additional Military Forces that are being prepared or are on their way to the region is really go sending a signal of deterrence. We dont want to see the conflict escalate and widen. There are no plans to put u. S. Boots on the ground in israel. Everything we are doing is sending a strong signal of deterrence. Let me ask you about the hostages and israels position according to the National Security council head not to negotiate. To quote, israel will not hold notions with an enemy we vowed to wipe from the face of the earth. Does the u. S. Support that position in that strategy given we know israel has negotiated for hostages in the past . Thats for israel to decide. Its a sovereign decision they have to make. What i can tell you is that we are working literally by the hour to develop options to get our hostages home and to work on that and working very closely with partners in the region, partners who have communications, Open Communication was hamas. We are focused on making sure that we get our american citizens home to where they belong, with their families. Again we dont have a whole lot of granular information about where they are, how they are kept, what condition they are and we believe its a small number. We are working on this very, very hard. What im trying to get at, does the u. S. Believe with the position like that from israel at this point you can successfully get them out . I want to be careful what we say publicly, poppy. When you are dealing with a situation like this, the less you say probably out there the better in terms of your chances of success. All i can tell you i cant speak for the israelis. I can speak for President Biden and this administration. We know there are americans in the hostage pool. We want to get them home and we are working on this literally by the hour in coordination and consultation with partners in the region. I know there have been clear and i am told public and private messages to iran or iranian intermediaries to stay out, dont, as the president and top officials say, get involved in whats happening right now. There has been an uptick in escalation of the rhetoric from iranian officials saying they are running out of patience, talking about what is happening. Have you seen any warnings or any signs that iran is starting to engage in a way they hadnt before . Outside of the rhetoric, phil, no, we havent. And we are going to watch this very, very closely. Again the president s signal was very, very clear and he backed it up with the addition of some Military Forces in the region. We do not want to see this conflict escalate. We dont want to see it widen and we have significant National Security interests in the region and we nmean to protect those interests. Admiral john kirby, National Security council. The president leaving later this evening. Appreciate your time. Thank you. You bet. President biden gets ready to head to israel. A big gop rifle is making harsh claims. Christiane amanpour and David Axlerod join us next to discuss. The middle east comes at a crucial time. A new cnn poll shows a mixed reaction over how much trust americans have in the president to make the right decisions in israel with 46 feeling positive. Joining us to discuss is Christiane Amanpour and cnn senior political commentator David Axlerod. Christiane, to start with the trip itself, its a risk without question. It was a surprise for many people. Whats your read on what the end game is here . Well, look, i think you heard what john kirby was saying. You just put up a poll. So lets talk about the polls from israel. You know, more than half the israeli people listen to President Bidens speech when he made that speech in defense and support of israel ace right to its own selfdefense. It turns out it appears that israelis are craving leadership right now. They do not trust their own government, according to the most credible israeli polls. And so President Biden knowing that the really only influence that a u. S. President can have in the israel palestinian story, particularly with the israelis, is if he has the confidence of the israeli people. So presumably President Biden is thinking, well, we are going to shore up that confidence with the israeli people, so that whatever happens, whenever i say or do anything, they will know i have