newsroom. i'm jim acosta in washington. we begin this hour with a critical situation unfolding in gaza. this as intense fighting between israeli forces and hamas forces continue around gaza's biggest hospital, al-shifa. doctors without borders who has staff inside said the clashes are stopping them from evacuating patients. that the hospital has lost power. the director of the health ministry in gaza said two babies died after a generator was damaged in that hospital. the idf said it is working on a plan to help evacuate infants from the hospital's pediatric unit and denies claims the hospital is under siege. israeli officials say the military can coordinate with anyone who wants to leave the hospital safely. in the meantime, the red cross said gaza's health care system has passed the point of no return. intense fighting is taking place over the streets of northern gaza. let go straight to correspondent oren lieberman who has more on this. what are you seeing right now? >> reporter: there is at least a brief lull in the fighting we're seeing in the northeast corner of gaza few miles from the gaza strip. i do hear a drone overhead. we have heard some intermittent artillery fire. it was much more intense and much more consistent a couple hours ago. we've heard fighter jets overhead. crucially, we haven't seen the results of the strikes. meaning we haven't seen the impact point and that would seem to suggest they're a bit farther south from our vantage point. much of the fighting focused in northern gaza around the al-shifa hospital. officials from the ministry of health say the hospital itself is surrounded in dire need of food, electricity and water, which is making a humanitarian crisis inside the strip and a medical crisis even worse. as you point out, doctors without borders says the situation there is getting to the appointment of no return in terms of the ability to treat patients. the hospital treats about 400 patients but just as importantly, there are some 20,000 people taking refuge within the hospital. officials say the hospital itself, the main complex, hasn't been struck but some of the outer areas in the intense fighting around there have taken damage in the maternity ward, the external clinics there. doctors without borders say bodies are piling up and that in and of itself is becoming a danger from disease. on the point about the neonatal intensive care unit, i'll get a bit more into that quickly. the generator was damaged and that powered the incubators. when the incubators went down, a total of three baby died in the neonatal intensive care unit. israel says there is no siege on the hospital. the east wing remains open for those who want to evacuate. they said they assisted from two other hospitals. and they'll get ready to evacuate the pediatrics unit or part of it from the al-shifa hospital. they say they've taken over 11 military posts as prime minister netanyahu promises to take out hamas and remove them from power. it will continue. the next challenge is going after the underground infrastructure and that will be an incredible challenge indeed. >> tomorrow the rafah border crossing with a list that was approved last week. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: this has been an ongoing challenge to get them out through the crossing through sinai into egypt so they can get out of a war zone. that process has been slow and very painstaking. two diplomatic sources in cairo who have been working this talk about how difficult it has been to get them on an approved list. get them through the vetting process to get them out. one of them described it, and i'll read it as long, nontransparent and arduous about getting them out. the rafah crossing did not open on friday. it is expected to open tomorrow. so some foreign nationals can get out. but they have to be on an approved list and we'll see if the situation changes there. that's been very touch and go since the very beginning. >> all right. thank you very much. we appreciate it. idf spokesman jonathan joins us now from tel aviv. colonel, thank you very much. i want to ask you about what's taking place with the al-shifa hospital. what can you tell us about what is being done to make sure some of these innocent civilians can get out of there? the babies that have been talked about and so on? what is going on with this hospital? what can you share? >> thank you for having me. we are on day 36 of the war. and 239 israeli hostages are still being held in gaza. regarding the hospital, we are in contact with local authorities in gaza with the manager and others, and assisting them, and informing them where they can go in order to evacuate from the area, and we are also trying to coordinate the safe removal and transport of the remaining patients that are still inside the hospital. i want to emphasize, we haven't struck the hospital and we are not surrounding it or applying any pressure on it. we have troops in the vicinity but we have not been engaging with the hospital or any parts of it. >> so i guess maybe you can help us clear this up. why is it the health ministry claims the hospital is completely surrounded? we've also heard from a spokesperson from the israeli military. one of your counterparts that a wing of that hospital are still open for people to safely evacuate. what's going on? >> indeed. that's what we've told the palestinians as well. the eastern wing is open and that all of the people that are there, the displaced persons that have been seeking shelter, as well as others who are in the compound, can move safely. and we have instructed them even by the names of streets and locations where they should go, when we will do the next humanitarian window. as you know, we've been doing that the last five days in various locations in the gaza strip where we've been stopping our fire, calling palestinians and telling them to evacuate. the main road, the main thoroughfare, but also the coastal road. we've opened that up as well during select hours of the day. daytime hours which allows palestinians to move and to go to relative safety in the south, again, under our commitment not to strike civilians and out of respect for the sanctity of human life, which is much more than what hamas is doing at this time. >> so what can you tell us about reports about surrounding the hospital? about the tanks surrounding the hospital? you said in the area, colonel, you don't target hospitals and that sort of thing. you've also said, and others have said that sometimes the hospitals and these kinds of civilian facilities are used by hamas for their operations. so is there an idf operation going on in that area to find them in and around that facility? that hospital? >> our troops are definitely nearby. we have troops that have approached that area from various locations. we have to understand that the viewers who may not have been following or just joining, the al-shifa compound is indeed a hospital. underneath are layers and layers of hamas military activity that they have established underneath the hospital on where by they are using the lot for military needs which is a war crime. it is against the general eva convention. they are endangering the protected status of the hospital by doing so. what we have done first and foremost is to inform the palestinians and also the world that we know that hamas is using the hospital for military purposes. we know that it is full of hamas combatants that are seeking shelter and trying to hide away from our forces underneath the hospital. that is also one of the reasons why we are trying to evacuate it. we don't want hamas to use the people as human shields in the future. >> that sounds like a difficult and complicated operation that you're trying to undertake. what happens at the end of all this? does the idf seek to control it? take it over? if you have to get at hamas terrorists who are hiding inside tunnels underneath the hospital, one would think at some point you have to take over the hospital or take over the area around that hospital. something something you're seeking to do? >> i agree that it is a complex situation and one that we would rather not find ourselves in. ever since october 7th, we are in this situation where we have to fight inside gaza and we have to strike hamas wherever they are hiding, underneath civilians, in the tunnels and underneath hospitals. and our aim is to dismantle all of hamas military infrastructure. and hamas has embedded a significant portion of their military capabilities, specifically under shifa. and it is our goal to disman that. i cannot go into details about what, where, and when it will be done but i can say it will be best for everybody involved including those who will need the lot the day after the war for hamas to come out of their hidings and stop abusing civilian infrastructure for military purposes. if they don't, of course, we will have to respond accordingly and implement our military plans. >> and i'm sure you saw this. that the secretary of state tony blinken, of course, he's a part of the biden administration. they've been very supportive of the israeli government. of the idf through all of this. the secretary of state did say in the last day or so that there have been too many stigs killed in the israeli operations in gaza. what's is the response to that? >> i agree there have been many people killed and i am sad about civilians that have nothing to do with fighting who are wounded or displaced or killed by fighting. that is not our goal. i think the israeli military has been very clear and forthcoming. we are not fighting against the civilians. we try to do everything we can to get them out of the battlefield so we can focus on fighting hamas. and i think that the government and the military, we're talking at the military level, we're communicating with our military counterparts. we're not only telling them what we're doing. we are showing them what we are doing and what hamas is doing. their violations and how they are using the civilians as human shields and we are showing them that measures, to minimize the damage to civilians. i definitely hope that these numbers can calm down. and what we are achieving is basically, we're emptying northern gaza of civilians temporarily, exactly in order to minute pies and lower the amount of civilian casualties. that is our aim. we speek operational freedom to go after hamas. but hamas is under pressure, you know. they're under pressure now. they're indicating they're under pressure. there have been reports of them shooting at evacuees and all kinds of efforts by hamas to stop evacuations in various locations. we know they're under pressure. they want the civilian casualties. >> to that point, because of the difficulty in dealing with the humanitarian pauses and opening them up, opening the corridors and so on, the president of the united states, president biden, did say in the last couple days that he thinks the pauses need to be longer. are you open to that? longer pauses? >> yeah, you know, already on the ground. they have an effect on our combat rhythm and our ability to conduct our missions. when you apply pressure on the enemy, you want it to be relentless. the fact that we stop during many hours of the day has a price for us. a combat price. what we have already done, also responding to those requests and statements made by the president and others, is to add hours. we were at four hours, now it's five. maybe it will be expanded more. we added another route. now we've opened a northern route as well in addition, so we are definitely listening. we are trying to find good ways of evacuating civilians, to minute mize the effect on them, while still doing what we need to do. this is important. we're not in gaza for the amusement of it. we are there because we are fighting hamas. they need to be dismantled. otherwise we won't be able to live safely in southern israel and we need to get our hostages back. >> i understand that. you brought up hostages. one of the items discussed, you're probably aware of this. there are multiple parties involved, that the longer the humanitarian pauses potentially, that could lead to the release of hostages. have been releases going on tom end. are you open to that? >> i'm not entireley sure that is the correct working. i think what they are doing, they're trying to play for time and they're trying to force israel through international pressure. the poor women, children, babies and elderly people that they've been holding for more than 36 days, they're using them as leverage in order to get the idf to back off and relent military pressure. i think israel has been clear, there won't be any kind of cease-fire before we get hostages back. talking can be done. that's all fine. there needs to be continuous pressure on hamas. that is the only thing that is effective. and by the way, maneuvering on the ground, creating that kind of friction on the ground between us and enemy forces creates intelligence and creates other opportunities that hopefully we will be able to leverage in order to get our people home. >> okay. thank you once again for your time. >> thank you for having me. coming up, we are six days from a government shutdown back here in washington. house speaker mike johnson just rereleased hisis plan.n. dodoes it haveve legs? wewe'll see. today we have seen growing pro palestinian rallies around the world and that included a march outside president biden's home in delaware as people chanted cease fire. kevin, those are some pretty loud and large protests. what kind of reaction are you getting from the white house? >> reporter: yeah. pretty sizable. hundreds of people there outside of president biden's home in delaware. the white house not responding specifically but certainly aware of this growing anger among a certain sector of the american population at how president biden has been handling this conflict. he may not have seen these protesters at first hand here today but he has seen them over the last several weeks, including in illinois. the president was visiting. he's been interrupted twice during speeches by people calling for a cease-fire, and you also see this, growing calls internationally for the president to change course somewhat. the french president emmanuel macron saying that a cease-fire would benefit israel, and saying that the bombing of civilians is not justified. saying he hoped leaders including the united states would join him in those calls. we saw last week the majority of this democratic caucus in the senate, writing the white house, asking for more details about the $14 billion request for emergency military assistance to israel, asking for what the u.s. can do to guarantee that israel is mitigating the civilian deaths. so president biden certainly still standing shoulder to shoulder with israel in this conflict, defending its right to defend itself, saying it has a responsibility to go after hamas. but you are hearing biden and other administration officials injecting more caution into their language, certainly. you heard it from the president's top diplomat, antony blinken, saying far too many palestinians have died in this conflict, saying much more needed to be done to prevent civilian deaths. what the president has done is pressed prime minister netanyahu on what he calls humanitarian pauses. and israel did say this week that it would, beginning the four-hour pauses daily, when the president was asked about that earlier this week, he said that he had hoped netanyahu would have agreed to them a little earlier, jim. >> absolutely. i understand the white house has just reacted to speaker mike johnson on keeping the government open. >> reporter: it's not a positive reaction. this is kind of their first real interaction with the new house speaker. they are in many ways still getting to know him. getting to know his tactics and standing. he said that this proposal is just a recipe for more republican chaos and more shutdowns, full stop. and she goes on to say with just days left before an extreme republican shutdown, and after shutting down congress for three weeks after they ousted their own leader, house republicans are wasting precious time with an unserious proposal that has been panned by members of both parties. certainly not a welcome reception to this proposal that the house speaker put out earlier today. a sort of two-tiered proposal for funding the government. but time is ticking down before government funding runs out and the government shutdown would begin saturday morning. >> just six days away. thank you very much. let's discuss more now. congressman, thank you for joining us. i do want to talk about israel in a moment. first your reaction to avoid a government shutdown in just six days from now. >> we'll have to have a continuing resolution. the republican chaos caucus has been totally unable to move long-term appropriation bills. i think there are only three thus far. the last five weeks during this chaotic period, two, three of those appropriation bills have been stuck. they cannot get the votes themselves and they refuse to work across the aisle on long-term appropriation. so yes, we'll have to have a continuing resolution. however, to go to january 15th and then on to february will continue the chaos for at least another three, three and a half months. >> and turning to what's taking place in gaza, just a few moments ago, kevin who is following the president for us is showing this pro palestinian rally outside, or near the president's home in delaware. they're happening all around the world. there was a huge one in washington just last week. there seems to be a fissure over this issue. are you worried these protests, this divide inside the democratic party could become a political problem come next year? it does look like there is a fissure emerging in your party over this. >> well, i think there is all around the world. enormous empathy, sadness about the or inch things that have happened in israel and in gaza. there is no way that a human being can look at all that has taken place to the israelis, as well as to the palestinians in gaza, and not want it to stop. and there are many ways that that can happen. a pause is in fact a stop, at least for a temporary period of time. and it is usually for a significant period of time. israel has the right to protect itself. i personally believe that the aerial bombardments from rockets or airplanes, dropping bombs, has to stop. it seems to me to be no reason for that. the ground action that is taking place has to be very, very carefully done. and the palestinians in gaza have to be given time to evacuate. whether in a hospital or a building. there is no other way. they have to be given the time to do that. a pause, a cease-fire short or long-term, that has to happen. >> do you think the israeli defense forces are doing enough to make that happen? i don't know if you heard a few moments ago, i was speaking with the lieutenant colonel who is a spokesperson for the idf. they seem very reluctant to have longer sustained pauses, even if it means releasing hostages, because they're concerned that hamas will reconstitute itself or use these hostages as leverage. what is your sense of it? are the israelis doing enough to protect civilians? >> well, more than 11,000 palestinians have died as a result of what is taking place in gaza. at the same time, we've seen over, what? 1,600 israelis have died in the onslaught that the hamas did to israel more than a month ago. so there's a lot of harm going on here. my personal opinion is that the aerial bombardments, by rocket or plane, must stop. and there must be a pause in the action so that civilians can get out of the way. it is clear that the idf will continue to pursue the hamas fighters in gaza. init can be done with a minimum of civilian cas