of the hostages they say more than 30 are children with the youngest being a 9-year-old baby. meanwhile the israeli army is conducting raids deeper into gaza city, capturing terror suspects it says were involved in the attacks. let's start with our cnn white house reporter, kevin. kevin, we saw the information emerge earlier with the white house saying this 3-year-old is one of the american hostages being held by hamas. >> reporter: that's right. the timing is interesting. as it appears, there's intensifying pressure on benjamin netanyahu, the israeli prime minister. you saw large protests in israel over the weekend calling on netanyahu to do more, and now the white house saying one of the hostages is this 3-year-old toddler, and they revealed that information in a readout of a phone call that president biden held with the amir of qatar. all of the partners are trying to come up with an agreement to secure the release of the 200-plus hostages being held in gaza. the white house didn't reveal anymore information about the toddler aside from the fact that their parents were tragically killed in the hamas attacks on october 7th. i am told this is the youngest of the american hostages, and it's the only minor. we did hear from jake sullivan earlier today that there are nine american citizens unaccounted for, one green hard holder, and not all of them are being held hostage and some may have passed away, the white house just doesn't know. jake sullivan today wouldn't put a timeline on these talks saying he thought previously that they were close and then it didn't happen, and certainly the talks are ongoing. what the u.s. says is that there will need to be a significant pause of all of the hostages to be released at the same time, and so far only a handful have been released, including an american, a mother and daughter. the u.s. said that had been a pilot case and they want to expand to try and get all of those hostages out, jim. >> thank you very much. for more analysis on all of this let's turn to cnn anchor, fareed zarqawi. i want to start off by talking about the 3-year-old american that is said to be among the hundreds of hostages being held by hamas. why do you suppose the white house put out this information this evening, as kevin was just say, a few moments ago. there seems to be maybe -- momentum is not the right word but stepped up efforts to get this dialogue going for a pause that is long enough to get hostages out. what is your sense of that right now? >> my sense is that it has been off and on. as the qataris seem to indicate, it seemed like things looked better a few days ago and now it doesn't look as good. this is one of the most complicated situations, military operations, that i can recall. the closest comparison is to american forces when they were trying to clear cities like mosul of insurgents, saoupby insurgents and things like that. in those cases you had the same dilemma, do you flatten the block or send in american forces, and then american soldiers would be the casualties. one of the reasons the israelis are using so much power, they are trying to minimize the casualties of the israeli soldiers, who would have to go through these buildings. now you have the layer of complexity, which are the hostages. where are they? it's a complicated situation. my guess is the white house is trying to get out information that would otherwise leak out anyway and trying to kind of get ahead of it. >> there seems to have been a gap, a pause, in time, since the last hostages were released. there has not been a whole lot of momentum in getting more hostages out since we saw that take place, and on top of that, we are seeing newborn babies inside gaza hospitals being pulled out of incubators during the power outages because of the fighting there, and this talk of the 3-year-old american hostage that came out of the white house this evening, and the civilian toll, the toll being absorbed by innocent children. it's devastating. it doesn't seem like there's any turning point in sight to all of this. >> no, there isn't, because this is going to be -- as i said, it's a very long and very complicated military operation. the taking of mosul took nine months, as i recall. you had the american army and iraqi army involved. one would hope there would be a way to say, okay, maybe that is the world we live in, but is there some way to create, you know, humanitarian enclaves like hospitals where you can get electricity, where can you get food and fuel, and if it's not these hospitals, maybe you set up ones in safe zones. the israelis say the problem is hamas has tunnels under the hospitals or are operating from them, but surely there has to be a solution to that. it doesn't seem we have to resign ourselves to the idea that thousands and thousands of innocent children have to die in a situation where people do have an enormous amount of capacity. the israeli army is an extraordinary powerful army. the egyptians could get involved, and they have the friendship floating hospital. why not sail three hospitalships, or four. it seems like it's turn into a humanitarian catastrophe. >> how do you get the patients out of gaza hospitals into floating hospitals. a doctor we spoke to this evening works with other medical providers in the hospital that said they don't have the ability to get out of the hospital, to evacuate, because there's so much intense fighting going on, and they don't know who is shooting at them, if it's the israelis or hamas. what is your sense of going on with the hospitals? you heard bibi netanyahu say they believe hamas is running their operations under the hospital, and as you said earlier, it's enormously complicated and not a lot of information, and we are operating on an information vacuum as to what is happening with these folks. >> yeah, reporters don't have access into that. my sense is, if what the prime minister is saying is correct, israeli troops could go in and take over the hospitals, but there would be a bloody fight. hamas is in the tunnels, so what they are trying to do is bomb various parts of it, the parking lot here, and the area around it to clear out these fighters. apparently they are facing very real resistance. you know, this is a very different hamas than what existed 15 years ago. 15 years ago the weaponry was very crude. hamas has really now quite sophisticated weaponry. i think -- of course the israeli army is more powerful, but when you get in the hand to hand combat on the open terrain that hamas knows, my sense is the israeli army is being very careful about how they proceed. why doesn't the israel army go in and take over the hospitals and run them, and then they can be sure, but getting to that point would be a lot of idf, israeli forces' loss of life, and my guess is that is what is preventing that from happening. >> that leads to a question that has been on my mind, which is is hamas being let off the hook with so much being put on the israelis and the israeli culpability for the strikes that are around and hit the civilian facilities? when i talk to others that come on this program, they will say why is the blame not being put on hamas for using these civilians as shields? don't they have a point? >> of course they have a point. look, fundamentally when you are dealing with what is essentially a kind of terrorists organization or violent extremist organizations, call it what you will, they never follow the rules of war by definition, and they are doing all kinds of things, the kidnapping of people, and the question is does that then absolve the liberal democracy that is fighting them from all of the rules? again, the united states faced this when battling insurgents in iran and al qaeda and the taliban, and it's a difficult question, but in general the feeling is liberal democracies hold themselves to a higher standard, and what you are defending is the fact that you don't behave like hamas. what i think is perfectly appropriate to point out, i don't think the israeli government should say, oh, all bets are off and we are going to behave exactly like them, and i am not saying they are doing that, but that's what people have to think about when they say, you know, hamas is not holding to the rules, and that's right, and they are a terror organiz organization, and israel is in good standing with most of the world. yes, it's held to a higher standard. i wouldn't describe that as unfair, and i would say no matter of provocation, places like israel and the united states have to still abide by what they regard the rules of war. >> yeah. and just quickly, and i don't have a lot of time, but it struck me as, and i did want to talk to you about this, for the secretary of state, tony blinken, to say there have been far too many palestinian casualties, and that says to me the administration here in the u.s. -- i don't know if it's saying -- if running out of patience, and maybe the toll is too heavy in terms of what we have seen in gaza. >> i think you put it exactly right, jim. i think they are not running out of patience, and president biden and the united states has been supportive of israel, and it's asking israel to focus on the hard question, which is, you know, clearly not intentionally, there's an element of collective punishment where you have laid siege to all of gaza, no fuel, no food, no electricity, and the people dying because of the actions are not hamas, but they are just ordinary citizens. is there a way to craft a strategy where you lose 5% efficacy, but you save 10,000 lives. is there a balance that could be struck other than now the one being pursued. >> thank you so much, as always. >> a pleasure. five days left until the government runs out of money, so what is the new house speaker doing g to prerevent t that fro happppening? ththat story, , next. chaos is finger-pointing among the lawmakers, and they have just five days to avoid the government shutdown. you can see the countdown clock right there. it cost speaker kevin mccarthy his job. let's get to cnn commit kul commentator, john avlon. guys, it's great to see you again. >> good to see you. >> yeah, margaret, let me start with you. how do you think it will play out with speaker johnson? he put out a louisiana two-step plan, i guess you could call it yesterday. it did not seem to go over well inside his own conference. what will happen? >> a lot of people heads are scratching, jim, because they don't understand what the louisiana two-step or the lattered approach is going to achieve, how it's going to, frankly, serve any constituency within the house. that's the problem. it's not the democrats scratching their heads, but it's republicans, not even moderate, but conservative republicans like tom cole who are all wondering what this achieves. it's a nonstarter in the senate. >> and the white house. >> i have a lot of questions and concerns about how this is going to be able to thwart the shutdown, avoid a shutdown, rather. >> spoiler alert. it's not. >> there are a lot of folks that are thinking -- there are a lot of folks thinking perhaps speaker johnson was meticulously watching the levers of power and came in to fill the void at a time when he was going to surprise everybody in his tactical pwrebrilliance. >> john, am i too cynical to think this plan is the plan that comes before the next plan that may not be the final plan, and then we will get to thursday and friday, and then they will either figure it out or they won't, and we will be in a shutdown or we won't? >> well, in this case i am not going to be the messenger of hope over experience. experience and math would suggest that absolutist approaches to this aren't going to work. the only way you will avoid a shutdown is if the left of center right and left of center left work together, and too many folks on the right don't want to see that happen. as we go towards the shutdown again with the same structural problems -- our credit rate something getting downgraded by moody's, and that's happening in the name of fiscal responsibility, we keep paying more than a country. it's bonkers, the self inflicted dysfunction from the far right. >> it is, and kevin mccarthy is railing against the republicans in his own ranks that ousted him. >> i don't believe she wins re-election, and i don't think she earned the right to be re-elected. people have to earn the right to be here, and he doesn't have a conservative bend in his philosophy. >> that was kevin mccarthy going after gaetz, and he has himself to blame, right? >> he did the right thing, which is what got him kicked out of his conference. that's the tragedy. >> he sacrificed his position of power to do the right thing so the country did not end up in a shutdown on september 30th. i am not a huge mccarthy supporter, but he did the right thing in that moment. i don't see how the house republicans are going to river this one. >> yeah. >> i appreciate the reference for my wife. >> i don't know if you saw this over the weekend, trump had a rally in new hampshire where he was praising xi jinping again. i was under the impression republicans would like to rail against china and xi jinping. >> there's nobody in hollywood that could play the role of president xi jinping. kim jong-un, he's a tough, smart guy. >> he really likes xi jinping. he likes dictators, but really likes xi jinping. >> i am so glad you are playing that, because for some folks it's becoming the background music lulling to people asleep around the election. donald trump is running on a pro-dict pro-d pro-dictator ought a -- this is -- you know, you are right, and one of the things his party did was change the bipartisanship around china, and the only one that didn't get the message is the former president. it shows how fawning he is of d dictators of all stripes because he likes them. >> why is he not penalized? >> i continue to be heartened by the fact that half of the republican party would prefer he not be the nominee, but the strong self identified primarily republican voters who will go anywhere he goes and do anything he tells them to do and believe what he says. look, i mean, the other dictator authoritarian adjacent -- he also allotted hezbollah, and this is a man who actually -- he has continually and consistently demonstrated he will do everything for himself at the expense of the country and the expense of the best interest of the country. and free nations around the world -- >> praising putin in that same speech. >> yeah, we are covering a traditional primary republican process, and we are having debates, and he's the leading contender of the republican nomination, and hence a major party candidate for the presidency. >> our colleague when he was interviewing mccarthy, and he said he will be the nominee before a single vote. >> it was mccarthy who recess taeutd trump. and then the fbi asked the new york mayor for his cell phone and now the fbi is probing whether or not eric adams was clearing red tape for turkey to have the consulate opened up in manhattan. it sounds as though there is some smoke here? >> there's more than a little smoke. you know, fbi agents don't seize the mayor of new york's electronic equipment, and then sort of downplay it by the mayor until it gets to the press. we do not want to make any assumptions without the investigations, but this is the tip of the iceberg. it would not usually draw the attention of the fbi with this type of direct seizure of his information. he is allegedly making these phone calls about a turkish consulate in manhattan. you have to assume now while we wait for more facts and information, there's more here than meets the ice. that's the only way the fbi will seize the devices from the mayor. >> yeah, there has to be more to come. margaret, and john, thank you. appreciate it. tomorrow morning donald trump's lawyers will start their defense in trump's new york fraud d trial, spepeaking of n york. we will have a look at the strategy t they might use, next. s and all of our stuff where we want to go. but, our cars can't take us e with unpaid tolls. vehicles with overdue, unpaid tolls may not be able to renew their registration until outstanding balances are paid. payment assistance is available. visit bayareafastrak.org/ase so go pay your unpaid tolls y and keep your wheels on the ! we have deranged jack smith. you have ever heard of him? a lovely man. you have ever seen him with the purple little thing? he's a lovely man. the trump-hating prosecutor in the case. his wife and family despise me much more than he does, and he's about a 10, and they are about a 15 on a scale of 1 to 10. >> donald trump, again, attacking special counsel jack smith and his family. let's bring in cnn legal analyst, norm iasan. how is that going to impact the case him going after jack smith and his family with the gag order? >> it's even worse to go after the family. he said jack smith is a 10, but his wife and his family are a 15. it's a more intense focus. if the gag order were not stayed, this would be a violation. the gag order for bids targeting prosecutors or his family members -- >> did he take advantage of that? >> completely. he's getting his licks in, jim. it's normal to prohibit attacks like this, and the supreme court said you can do it because the strong first amendment protections that we usually have must yield to the administration of justice and the people who administer justice. he attacked the judge and others. we are going to have a hearing later this month in the d.c. circuit. the appellant court will decide if the gag order will be turned back on or be stayed? >> to talk about the special counsel, that's one thing, and to talk about his family, you and i both know when trump can happen when trump riles up his base to a point that could lead one of his supporters to do something terrible. that is the realm within possibility and not theoretical? >> according to jack smith, this is a man that precipitated the violence on january 6th, and we have seen violence associated with his followers. the record is already replete. we will see if the record is reopened in the district court, and these kinds of comments are already in the record, and the court has an ample basis to decide. it's an outstanding three-judge panel you have there, three trump appointees, and one biden appointee. i think the gag order will be reimposed. >> did you see trump making the comments, or his legal team is asking for the proceedings to be televised? >> i wish it was televised, because the evidence shown in the trial would be -- let the whole country decide if the allegations are well-founded or not. unfortunately there's no way that this judge is going to televise the case. >> it's not going to happen? >> no, it's a nonstarter. the federal courts don't televise cases. they did a brief experiment and shut it down before it was over. they like their privacy. imagine the risks of those involved depicted on television, and trump knows he's not going to get it. >> does anybody watch "dateline." televising court proceedings have been around since you and i have been around. but, anyway, what do you think about the trump defense, the civil fraud trial. do they have a defense? >> it's tough, because the judge already found that these enormous disparities, you know, he says his apartment in trump tower was a little over 30,000 feet, and it was slightly over 10,000 feet. we talked about this before. it's not a matter of interpretation. that's 20,000 square feet. >> i can't believe he overstated things like that. >> and 40 wall street, and his mar-a-lago property, and the valuations at times were bizarre multiples of the reality. trump and his family, his fellow codefendants have lost that battle. the judge found that those disparities were fraudulent in granting partial summary judgment, and now was it intentional,