memorize in five seconds, where the boys, we take a little bit more time. the competition is going to be fierce. the expertise is going to be fierce. in a couple of months, the girls have gotten exponentially better. >> the nfl and each of the 32 teams are investing into women's flag football from supporting local youth leagues to scholarship programs. so just think moms and dads out there, your daughters could win a gold medal in the olympics. >> no more soccer, no more tennis. she is going to do flag football. >> thank you. next hour of "cnn this morning" starts now. >> good morning to you. "cnn this morning." it is sunday, november 5 ath. >> i'm victor blackwell. >> i'm amara walker. thank you for being with us this morning. >> and we begin in the west bank. secretary of state antony blinken made an unannounced visit meat with the president of the palestinian authority mahmoud abbas. this is blinken's first visit to ramallah since hamas attacked israel on october 7th. he and mahmoud abbas met as violence is surging in the occupied territory and in gaza. >> israel defense forces have told civilians to leave northern gaza. the idf has opened a safe road for people to leave the city and move south, but one of the refugee camps south of the line where palestinians have been told to go was hit by a deadly explosion several hours ago. a palestinian hospital official said more than 50 people were killed. the israeli military has not to commented on whether it targeted the area. >> cnn's ed lavandera is live now from tel aviv. ed, we know that the secretary of state's visit, blinken, to the west bank is coming at a critical time as we are seeing violence escalate there as well. >> reporter: right. we will get to the fighting and the airstrikes that we have seen in the last 12 to 15 hours in a moment. but this unannounced visit by u.s. secretary of state antony blinken going on this morning as he left jordan and making that stop in the west bank before coming b coming back to tel aviv. this is significant. the palestinian authority, a political rival of hamas. they don't have any real kind of clear political power at this point, but the palestinian authority could play a role in the future of gaza. a lot of complicated political realities here that the secretary of state is dealing with. but he also took advantage of the meeting to express his concern for the escalating violence from israeli settlers towards palestinians since the october 7th attack there in israel. 150 palestinians have been killed in the west bank by israeli settlers. so that is an issue that is very tenuous and of great concern for all the players here involved. as i mentioned, this visit there in the west bank coming as there has been some intense and excruciating firefighting and strikes and blasts we have seen in the last 12 to 15 hours. one those blasts occurring just this morning about 50 feet from a hospital. israeli military officials have said that they believe that hamas military fighters used the areas around hospitals as protective cover for their military operations. the palestinian red cross society says at least 21 people were injured in the blast. then last night significant strikes unfolding in an area, as you mentioned, just south of the area where zachisraeli military officials have been telling gaza residents to evacuate towards. so in that strike we were told by a doctor at the hospital that at least 33 people have been killed, and the video images emerging from that hospital just very painful and difficult to, as you see women and children being brought in there. the lifeless bodies of these women and children being brought into that hospital. so the escalation of the strikes and the fighting there in gaza continues today. victor and amara. >> thank you very much. the israeli military's evacuation window for civilians moving to southern gaza, i think, it's closed to 2:00 p.m. local was the time it was supposed to closed. it is just after two now of the humanitarian crisis in southern gaza is just as bad with many civilians running out of food and water and hospitals running on extreme lip low fuel supply. in a meeting with the palestinian authority president secretary of state antony blinken reaffirmed the united states' commitment to deliver life-saving aid to gaza. >> after reports that hamas was blocking foreign nationals from crossing into egypt, uk officials say that more than 100 britains have successfully evacuated through the rafah crossing. cnn's becky anderson joins us from doha, qatar. what's the latest that you're hearing? >> reporter: well, qatar are vitally involved in the mediation, not just of these hostage talks. i'll come to that in a moment. but also of the evacuation of foreign nationals and injured civilians through that rafah crossing. let's remember those evacuations were agreed to and started last tuesday, and hundreds of people have now been able to evacuate. 700 were expected to move through that rafah crossing yesterday. but as you rightly point out, according to u.s. officials, hamas yesterday blocked the access to that crossing and opening of that crossing and they role it on the gaza side. because, they say, ambulances were bombed -- bombed specifically, directly bombed by israeli airstrikes yesterday. that's hamas' position. israel, of course, says that they fear that hamas is using those ambulances to transport wounded soldiers. so we were just at a press briefing with the qatar prime minister. and i spoke to his advisor afterwards about what is going on at that rafah crossing. he was very specific about saying that the bombing of ambulances or at least the free access and safe corridors for ambulances to get people to that crossing, the wounded civilians, was absolutely part of that agreement. and he said, whilst seeing those evacuations start just less than a week ago was a very bright spot in what has been a very xoom month. he is concerned now about when and to a certain extent if those evacuations will continue. this is what he told me. >> we do understand that there are a lot of difficulties on the ground here that do not allow for this positive point to continue, but we are hopeful that we will see more opening of this crossing and see more people coming out as soon as possible. i have can't give you a timeline. i can tell you that we are working on it with partners, especially in egypt, and doing all we can to make sure this channel is -- >> reporter: i also asked him about the status of these hostage negotiations. more than 240 hostages being held in gaza. many of those are being held by hamas. qatar at the heart of those mediation efforts, which have sort of ebbed and flowed. this is what he told us about where those negotiations stand at present. >> while we do acknowledge the difficult difficulties that we have in this negotiation, they are still ongoing, and we are -- we remain steadfast in our commitment to handle this mediation the best which possible. we are continuing to reach out to all points of contact, to all parties in order to see how we can have this materialize. obviously, any hostage release has to be linked to a -- that allows for the hostage release. to some degree, we have not been seeing for a while now. >> reporter: these talks are linked to a period of calm, he said. and that is something we haven't seen for a while. and we know that is really important. that's at the heart of these negotiations. israel has been absolutely cat gore i can in saying they will not accept a ceasefire, despite the pressure from around this region of the middle east. not supported, as we know, as of yet outloud by the americans. they say they will not implement a ceasefire until the himgs are released. as far as those involved in the negotiations are concerned, until there is some sort of pause at least, significant pause on the ground, they believe, according to their mediation with hamas, we won't see the release of those hostages. ongoing is a good term used by the viewser there in qatar as far as these talks are concerned. but it seems as if they are very, very, very hard going and extremely complicated. guys. >> becky anderson, thank you. let's take it to former state department negotiator for the middle east aaron david muller. good morning to you. i want to get to the ceasefire humanitarian pause talk in a moment. but let's start with the blinken/abbas meeting that happened. with we don't have a full readout yet. but a scheduled meeting last month was canceled after the bombing outside the hospital. at that point the thought was -- or the accusation was, it was the idf. the u.s., israel now have released information and details showing that it was islamic jihad. the significance of this meeting now what is there to expect out tv? >> first of all, victor, thanks for something having me. i think the administration is trying to fill in the frame when the crisis began, which appeared to put them exclusively in israel's corner. over the last several weeks, you have seen the administration talk about palestinian interests, needs, two-state solution, importance of minimizing israeli strikes against hamas that would cause large numbers of palestinian civilian deaths, which it has, and abbas, however we can -- the 18th year, four-year term, still is the only -- and if the administration wants to do anything post-conflict in gaza, they are going to need a legitimized revitalized, and i think that's the word the secretary used, palestinian authority. so this surprised, unannounced visit i think is to demonstrate, in america at least, perhaps not in the eyes of many palestinians, mahmoud abbas has relevance. the other point, the president has spoken about this. secret secr secretary spoken about it. blinken has a commitment from netanyahu to kind of quash these efforts by vigilantes in the u.s. bank, which already led to the deaths of numerous palestinians. >> let's talk about the calls for a ceasefire here across the u.s. cnn's reporting is that there is an acknowledgment within the biden administration that there are weeks, not months, until rebuffing the pressure to publicly call for a ceasefire will be untenable. you have written recently that biden's default position is not to confront the israeli prime minister, but to accommodate where he can. are more than calling for a ceasefire, first, do you agree with the time line there? and, second, do you expect that there will be real pressure from the u.s. on netanyahu that we have not seen? >> well, the real question is form follows function, right? what do israelis get in return for a ceasefire? let's be clear. we are not talking ban humanitarian pause, localized areas, six, eight, ten, 12 hours. if you are talking ceasefire with the arab states, an indirect negotiated ceasefire which would presumably put the conflict on hold or perhaps even end it. so the question is what is the quid for the quo here. the israelis wouldn't the release of all the hostages. and i suspect that hamas hmay b really to trade the foreign hostages for a cessation of hostilities. but imagine the israeli predicament. foreign hostages are released. the majority of the hostage being held are israelis. they are not going to be released because hamas is going to continue to keep them as an insurance card to play these games as the weeks go by. i don't know about the question whether or not you are talking about a matter of dawes or weeks here. i think the israelis have a much longer timeframe in mind if they are going to actually eradicate hamas' military capacity. we are talking months. >> do you think that a seas fire -- and again a ceasefire would be something negotiated to include hamas. and then you'd have to consider islamic jihad and other militant groups as well firing rockets into israel, that that is even realistic, that for all the calls of a ceasefire that you have a bilateral or multilateral deal of a cessation of hostilities even for a defined window? >> i don't think, victor. i mean, again, the frame is october 7th. the savagery, 1,400 israelis killed. i don't want to minimize the number of palestinians killed in gaza. that frame is driving both current israeli government and many respects driving the president. and he is caught, i think, doing his emotional commitment and what he and tony blinken already says, that hamas must be eradicated and the sovereignty -- gaza. it's going to be hard, seems to me, certainly for the israelis, but even for the biden administration to retreat from those goals. so they really are in a bind. right now they are called sacking, if you will, and i don't think there is any way out. at least for now. >> aaron david miller, thanks so much. still ahead, a republican congressman george santos who faces 23 federal charges, including counts of wire fraud and money-laundering, says he plans to run for re-election next year even if he is expelled from congress. and microsoft's attempts at a.i. generated news is causing a lot of backlash this week. more on n that when n we come b. across the world, thousands took to the streets to show support for palestinians and protests israel bombardment of gaza. in paris, indonesia, berlin, and washington, d.c., people gathered. many carrying palestinian flags and signs calling for the violence to end. since the start of the war, almost 10,000 people have died in gaza. that is according to the hamas-controlled health ministers there. many of them were civilians. >> free, free palestine! >> one of the largest crowds took over freedom plaza bit national mall in washington. more than 450 organizations endorsed the march and they directly addressed biden administration. here is gabe cohen. >> reporter: thousands of protesters marched through washington and ended up here at the white house after that huge rally just a few blocks away at freedom plaza. hours of speakers who called for an end to the bombings and the ground operations in gaza, but also demanding that white house and president joe biden call for a ceasefire and end its unequivocal support for israel, saying that it could be a serious political issue for the president in 2024 if he does not call for that ceasefire. here's what some of those protesters told me. >> my message to president biden is i voted for you and i regret it. >> will you vote for him in 2024? >> absolutely not. >> i am not going to vote for him. because he supporting israel. asking for billions of dollars to do more killing of palestinian people. >> reporter: organizers hope this would be the largest free palestine rally in u.s. history. while i can't confirm that, i can tell you it's the largest one i have seen here in washington since the war began last month. >> and students at stanford university say they are on edge after a string of potential hate crimes that have happened since the start of the israel/hamas warm. >> the school in california says the latest potential hate crime involved a driver who hit an air y up -- arab muslim student and took off. >> i have been feeling sad. i have been feeling anxious. i have been feeling worried. >> reporter: this is how he says he and others are feeling as palestinian americans, as muslims and as students at stanford university. >> it's scary that this kind of hate can happen in a place where i'm supposed to feel at home. >> reporter: fear as a result of what he believes are hate crimes. the university's department of public safety now investigating five incidents since the onset of the israel/hamas war. four appear to have targeted arab students while one was reported as antisemitic vandalism. the most recent potential hate crime happening friday. the university says it was an apparent hit-and-run crash involving an arab muslim student on campus. >> it's hard to fathom that that could even take place, and the problem is not only could it take place, it's now a reality that we have to live with. >> reporter: the university saying that stanford considers anti-arab and islamophobia facts abhorrent. the incident is now being investigated by the california highway patrol. the university said the driver reportedly made eye contact with the victim, accelerated and struck the victim and drove away while shouting f-u and your people out the lower window of the vehicle. >> the fact that it so quickly already turned into something of this magnitude is scary. >> reporter: a group of students being shoved. a student being spat on. someone running over a tote bag, which contained a computer and other valuables. >> what's going on abroad shouldn't have an impact on the health and lives of students on a campus in a country thousands of miles away. >> reporter: in the antisemitic incident report, removed from thundershower residence. in statement, the school said this removal of a sacred religious symbol is deemed a form of intum dags targeting the jewish community. groups representing students on both sides say they are concerned about these incidents and student say they worry about the future. >> we have to be constantly alert, alert on edge. it's exhausting watching over your shoulder 24/7. >> reporter: camilla bernal, cnn, los angeles. a deal to resolve the hollywood actor writers strike could be imminent. details ahead. nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. sag-aftra, the union representing 150,000 hollywood actor, may be inching closer to reaching a deal. a source tells cnn they are considering a proposal presented to them yesterday. described by major studios as their last best and final offer. actors have been on strike since july, which is more than 100 days. right now flights at hamburg airport in germany are suspended because of a hostage situation police described as a family drama. a hamburg police spokesperson says a man crashed his car through security barriers at the airport and managed to maneuver and park underneath an airplane. last night it happened with this 4-year-old daughter inside. the man's wife previously warned police that her child was missing. police are asking people not to travel to the airport as negotiations with the suspect are continuing. hospital officials in central gaza say a blast at a refugee camp killed dozens of people. the idf says it's looking into the circumstances around the explosion. humanitarian groups say the situation in gaza is growing more dire by the second. the palestinian red crescent says more than 400 aid trucks have entered gaza, but aid workers say that is still not enough. joining us now is steve, the president of the palestine children's relief fund t welcome, steve, and thank you for joining us. your organization is based in ohio. as i understand it, it provides medical aid to children. it has been doing so since 1991 there in gaza. what is the situation right now with the medical aid that you have? how much aid has gotten in, is getting in versus what you would typically get in before the war? >> yeah, well, generally, before the war we were sending medical teams into gaza. in fact, we had two doctors there when the closure happened and just got them out last week. frier to that, we were sending in volunteer medical teams and surgery teams that gaza on a weekly basis. we had pediatric orthopedic teams, pediatric cardiac surgery teams to save the lives of the kids who are lacking inadequate care. all of that has stopped. nobody is entering gaza and the health crisis on the ground has gotten much worse. a know, thousands of children killed, thousands -- many more thousands injured with severe injuries. we have seen these pictures. our staff are documenting them for the possibility o