today the desperate escape from a war zone. hundreds of americans are waiting at the rafah crossing hoping to get out of gaza as soon as today. this as israeli forces are fighting face to face battles with hamas and pushing into gaza city. all in response to the unimaginably brutal hamas massacre of some 1400 israeli citizens. plus president biden is calling for a pause to get hostages out and aid in. that new public posture comes as political pressure increases on the president from within his own party. and republicans call out one of their own. gop senators slam tommy tuberville for hours on the senate floor for continuing to hold up hundreds of military promotions. i'm dana bash. let's go behind the headlines and inside politics. we're going to start with t urgent effort to get americans out of gaza. hundreds of foreign nationals and dozens of injured civilians are expected to leave the crossing today. melissa bell is covering all of this from cairo. what are we seeing at this moment? >> reporter: what we understand is that a few dozen americans have now made their way through the rafah crossing and here safely into egypt. after so many days of uncertainty, it wasn't until yesterday this process began having seemed blocked. what we understand is that there should be many more to come. after what happened overnight is a fresh list was published with 600 names on it, including the names of 400 american citizens who were dau for evacuation today. so that process appears to be moving along quickly when it comes to american citizens. this is a pretty opaque process. what we understand from the egyptian side is that the full 7,000 citizens inside the gaza strip will be allowed out. how the daily lists are organized is a matter for negotiation with hamas, egypt, and it is opaque. we don't have much insight. from what we're hearing from the services that have turned up at the rafah crossing to try to get their citizens out, they don't have a great deal of say in how the lists are organized. the other difficulty is people are having is they had another communication inside gaza yesterday. very difficult for families on this side or outside in the wider world to get word to their families inside gaza that their names are on list. it's a pretty chaotic situation inside still. people are making their way out. they are bringing with them tales of what's going on inside. . that's something that is a cause of some celebration for families that have been waiting so desperately for the news of their loved ones would be able to get out. >> thank you soft for that report ing. to forces carrying deeper into gaza. drtroops are in a significant pt of gaza city as their fight against terrorists intensifies. jeremy diamond is in there. what are you hearing at this point about what's happening right across the border from you? >> reporter: the chief of staff of the israeli military is saying that his force have been operating inside of gaza city, which is hamas' stronghold in northern gaza for the last several days. but he also says they are operating, quote, in very significant areas of gaza city. there has been intense fighting ongoing over these last six days since israeli forces launched their ground operation inside of gaza between israeli forces and hamas militants. even as israeli forces push deeperer into the gaza strip, into that stronghold of gaza city, they are also still dealing with intense battles with hamas fighters right behind my shoulder in the gaza city. throughout the day, we have been hearing active fights between hamas militants and soldiers. we have been hearing artillery fire going out. also hearing morter fire within the gaza strip. hamas fighters have been using morters. what we have also learned is hamas fighters have been making use of the underground tunnel system to ambush israeli forces. that happened late last night. overnight israeli forces -- we have been hearing that israeli forces have broken down hamas' northern lines, but even as that happens, the fact that the tunnels exist provides the risk to israeli forces that the hamas fighters can come in behind them and ambush them. that does seem to be happening with some intensity over the last 24 hours. >> i just want to underscore what you have been reporting. up until a few days ago, the bulk of the action that we saw was from the air. and what we are seeing even more intense way as the idf gets closer and more into the urban centers particularly gaza city, you're seeing combat between idf soldiers and the hamas terrorists that they are looking for sgrr that's right. that does appear to be beginning. because journalists from are unable to get inside of gaza unless you were already in there. but it is true that the forces on the ground are engaging with hamas militants. they are making use of air support. we have seen several a pa chit helicopters coming in. the question now is how far, how deep into those urban areas are they going to go. we have seen the most densely populated areas of the cities, including the refugee camp yesterday. forces are still using air power to target hamas militants in those underground complexes in those densely populated areas. the question over the coming days and weeks will be weahethe those forces will be willing to go deeper into those population centers where the fighting will be much more intense. >> that's important to clarify there. it's not an either/or, it's an and that's happening and the power that israel is trying to use. thank you so much for that. and here at home, president biden is continuing to get pressure to support a cease-fire as israel continues its military operation in gaza. priscilla alvarez joins me from the washington. so president biden was interrupted at a fundraiser last night with calls for a cease-fire. tell us what happened in that moment when he responded. >> this was a moment that underscored the complicated political landscape that the white house is trying to navigate here. notably in a setting which was the campaign fundraiser for the president, take a look at the video we have of that interaction. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: the president president acknowledged that p protester saying i think we need a pause. a pause means give time to get the prisoners out. that referring to the hostages that are being held by hamas in gaza. now this is in line with what white house has said. they are urging for a humanitarian pause to get the hostages out, but also to get aid into gaza. this is something we have heard from the president before including last week during a press conference where he also suggested he raised it with the prime minister benjamin netanyahu. so far, israel appears to have rejected the idea. >> thank you. it's always a question about what the president is say ing publicly versus the diplomatic speak that is going on. behind the scenes. and thank you again for that. as we heard, president biden is calling for a pause in the fighting. i want to talk to an idf sp spokesperson. thank you for joining me. nice to see you again. can you respond to what president biden said last night. he said pause the fighting in order to get the prisoners out. will the idf consider ta? >> of course, we are very attentive to what president biden is saying. we have increased the amount of humanitarian supplies, both medical supplies and water that's coming in through egypt. we reported on cnn how people have been evacuating and dual nationals and foreign nationals have been evacuate ing. on the question of a humanitarian pause, the idf does not conduct its activities according to at the level of diplomacies. we're busy conducting our war, taking the war to hamas. the diplomats will conduct the diplomacy. i think we can lee it at that. we are very attentive to the plolitical arena as well. and yes, we are pushing forward in order to meet our goals that destroying hamas and make sure they never have the power. even though you're wearing the uniform, you diplomatically said no, we're not going to do that right now. and on that note, you have heard him. he's gone from saying that israel has a right to defend itself full stop. that in the days after the horrible, unimaginable attack on october 7th. and now he's calling for this pause. you understand a big reason why he's doing that. there's a lot of political pressure that he's getting here in the u.s. especially within his own party. president biden is one of your biggest allies in the entire world right now. so does israel take what he said to heart? >> i understand the line of questioning, but as you pointed out, as a man of uniform, that would be beyond my pay grade. the situation on the ground is what we are dealing with, how hamas have utilized the gaza strip has a staging ground, putting all of the palestinian lives at risk that are being utilized as human shields for hamas. we are operating in a way in accordance to the conflict to minimize the civil strife that the people are currently suffering. unfortunately, this is the reality, not a war that we wanted. it was a war that we were drawn into. a war declared by hah miss when they butchered and massacred over 1,000 people and abducted 240. so when president biden is saying to get the prisoners home, we purport that, the people being held, they need to be released now. we are trying and operating on the grounds to bring that release as soon as possible. we rescued wasn't private a few days ago and brought her home to her family. we're operating in order to bring her home. >> can get you to respond to what the u.n. said about the strikes that hit the refugee camps? the u.n. said it could amount to war crimes. what's your response? >> i don't accept that at all. all of our operations are conducted within strict rules of the laws of our conflict and based on our doctrine, which is basically to distinguish between civilians, noncombatants and terrorist organizations for three weeks now we have been calling on the people of northern gaza to evacuate gaza. evacuate the north. go south, move to beyond the harm's way. that's what we have been trying to do. hamas have been telling people and threatening them and intimidating them and in certain cases even stop ped check point to prevent people from going south. so this is -- we are looking very carefully. even in times call ing off strikes but when there are people and when there's infrastructure that is being used to conduct strikes against israel and even in the last hour, we have had rockets fired again at israel. over 7,000 rockets have been launched at israel. all of those intended to hit israeli civilians. all of those in themselves are war crimes. so our responsibility as these defense forces is is to defend the people, to restore safety and security. once we achieve our goal and rid the world of hamas as a governing authority of the gaza strip, it has the tools and abilities. once we relieve the world of that organization, that merciless government of gaza, the lives of people in gaza, and israeli lives will be much better. >> if not for the iron dome, we would see enormous number of civilian casualties inside israel. before i let you go, we are hearing from our reporters there that they are currently surrounding the gaza city area and are operating in significant areas already of gaza city. does the idf intend to take control of the entire gaza strip? >> what is the importance of gaza city in this conflict, in this war, it's important to understand. hamas have turned gaza city into the beating heart, their fortress of terror. that's where they conducted their activities. that's where the prime minister of hamas in gaza, the master mind of the massacre, that's where he made the decision to finance, plan and instruct on the execution of the attack. so as we conduct our encirclement of gaza city, and as we conduct operations from the air and from the sea against targets in gaza city, which we have been doing for the last three and a half weeks, we would be pushing forward to achieve our goal in dismantling hamas as the governing authority to diminish and destroy their terrorist capables and make sure they can never be a threat to israel again. >> thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up, senate republicans go after one of their own blasting tommy tuberville for his month's long hold on military promotions. we'll talk to one of the few senators supporting tuberville, next. it was a heated showdown last night on the senate floor that lasted more than four hours. republicans blasted their fellow gop senator tommy tuberville because he's had a hold on military promotions over his disagreement with the pentagon's abortion policy. >> no matter where you believe it or not, this is doing great damage to our military. >> to undermine the safety and security of the american people during this perilous time doesn't make any sense to me. >> it's simply, in my opinion, an abuse of the powers we have as senators to say if there's something we disagree with, we're going to use that power to hold up the promotion of over 350 men and women in our military. >> i really respect men of their word. i do not respect men who do not honor their word. >> xi jinping is watching this right now going, i can't believe they are not letting these guys command. he's loving this. so is putin. they are loving it. how dumb can we be? >> tuberville, who has been holding up these military promotions since february just spoke to our manu raju. >> reporter: you heard these senators say these military personnel have nothing to do with the policy. >> it's the only way i can get their attention. i hate to have to do this. but somebody has got to listen to us. >> repomanu is joining me now. this does not seem like it's going to get solved any time soon. >> reporter: tuberville told me he will not back off his insince tense that the pentagon abortion policy that reimbursed travel to get abortion services, he won't back off. but in talking to republicans, including members of the republican leadership, this is clear their patience has worn thin and they don't support tub tubervill continuing down this it path. >> i support what he's trying to accomplish, but i think how you go about that matters. >> if he's correct on the merits, but think we also have a pressing need to confirm these leaders in the military given the dangerous world we're living in. >> why do we elect leaders if they are not going to resolve differences within the conference? >> what should the leaders do? >> actually give a solution. what are they good for? what's mitch mcconnell doing? >> you hear that from senator hawley going after senator mitch showing the tension. one thing to watch is an effort by chuck schumer to try to circumvent tuberville to try to change the rules to approve the nominations in one fell swoop, be think need republican support to do that. they need 60 votes in the senate. i talked to a bunch of them today. john cornyn does not support changing the rules. others are open to it. that's where this may end up given there's no ind in sight to this growing tension and impass here in the senate. >> thank you so much for that reporting. joining me now is republican senator mark mullen of ohio. he's a member of the senate armed services committee. thank you so much. it's nice to see you in person. you have defended senator tuberville's decision to place this hold. do you standby that even right now? >> it's a process. every snarlt has senator has a right to do what they are doing. you're seeing the process work its way through. people are getting impatient. tommy is absolutely right on with his decision on what he's doing. and he has the right to do it. i defend that right. it's just right now, we have a lot of military families that are in complete limbo. they can't move. they were supposed tofd orders to move based on their promotion. their kids should be starting different school. but do they decorate for christmas or not? how do we get off center? we talked to possible off ramps. and he's looking for it. i will say he's trying to find a solution. >> you understand what he's doing, but it's enough already? >> i think maybe we should narrow the scope and say, okay, if we're going to hold people accountable for this decision that secretary austin made, which they need to be held accountable. let's look look at the people that are make ing the decision, hold those individuals up and the families, the colonels that are trying to take new command. >> is he open to that? >> i think the conversation is taking place. the worse thing you can do is try to force somebody's hand. >> after nine months, i think forcing their hand -- >> i agree. we have offered secretary austin, i have had effect tear austin come and visit with us. have a conversation with us. he habit one time came into the committee and talked to us about this issue. we have also offered let's have a vote on the floor. let's vote on this on the floor and let's see where that goes. they don't want to take that vote because it's not popular in their state either when you talk about reimbursing military personnel for traveling for the specific purpose of having abortion. it goes against the hyde aelt. plus a rule that president biden himself voted for that was in there years ago. >> let me ask you about one specific example because it's e easy to get lost in the numbers and the timeline. eric smith, a member of the joint chiefs, he has said that his task, which he's doing, it was not sustainable. he's doing multiple jobs at the highest level. 58 years old. he just collapsed over the weekend. hopefully he's going to be okay. doesn't that highlight the extreme stress that this one senator is putting on people at the highest levels of the military who have national security in mind? >> to take an incident that happened and think that tommy had something to do with that is large reach. a marine is designed and trained to go through the most difficult times for days and days and weeks and weeks upon end. it's not sustainable for him to do his job correctly, but to add extra pressure, i don't think what he did would contribute. it's annen unfortunate situation of cardiac arrest. it's young. 58 is young. my dad had cardiac arrest at 52. it's a bad situation. >> let's turn to israel. the house is likely to pass a limited bill, $14.5 billion to israel, which is paid for by cutting money for the irs. that proposal is probably going to pass. is that something that you would support? should it be broader? >> i would love to see it combined with ukraine. ukraine we have an obligation to ukraine just as much as we have an obligation to israel. i said this multiple times, but we signed a ran dumb in 1994 guaranteeing we stand with ukraine and specifically in the event that russia were to invade them. there's no expiration date on that. we gave them our word. so we got to stand with ukraine. we have to stand with israel. now if the house has to separate it to get it passed, fine. they have to work their chamber the way they can. and speaker johnson is doing it the best he can. >> it sounds like what you're saying is ultimately you believe the senate will pass a larger package and then it will be up to the house. >> i would vote for it. not the package that's proposed now. i want to make that clear. the d$106 billion, there's some real changes that need to be done. hamas controls everything that happens. right now we're sending in aid and hamas is taking it and selling the food, selling the medical supplies and making money off of it. when it's supposed to go for humanitarian purposes. i know this for a fact. there's no argument. if we send in cash, they are going to do the same thing. so the package needs to make sure we're not supporting hamas in any way whatsoever. but i do believe that this passes the house,