hostages are out of harm's way. they're calling for a cease-fire. also breaking, ukraine's president in washington pleading for aid. are his hopes of getting a deal dead? this as another country is taking a pang ge from the putin playbook. and trump selling his mug shot as trading cards along with pieces of a suit he wore that day. now being accused of breaking the law and how it is paying off for trump. let's go "out front." >> good evening. i'm erin burnett. "out front," gaza's tunnels are being flooded. a u.s. official telling cnn this the israeli informed the united states that they are flooding some of hamas' tunnels with seawater to flush ott the fi fighters and short tishcircuit infrastructure. they're flooding tunnels where they believe hostages are not being held. president biden could not say whether or not that is the case. >> i'm not at liberty -- well, there is assertions being made that there's quite sure there are no hostages in any of the tunnels. but i don't know that for fact. i do know that every civilian death is a tragedy. israel stated the intent, as i said, to match its words with its intent with actions. that's why i was talking about today. >> so we can't say for a fact. clearly he is referring to civilians overall beyond hostages. biden's response here using the word "assertion" is part of a growing rift between the u.s. and israel playing out in public. today biden warning the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu that he is losing international support because of, quote, indiscriminatent bombing. this is a major shift for joe biden. publicly, the words he used have been in lock step with israel and its prime minister. late today, one of the u.s.'s closest allies turning, taking a stand and calling for an end to prime minister netanyahu's campaign in gaza, canada is now calling for a cease-fire. now let's begin our coverage "out front" live in tel aviv. we're seeing this rift spilling into public. biden using the word, the "assertion" of the hostages in the tunnels being protected. this could be a major mission in inside the tunnels. >> yeah. erin, this could be a significant new tactic against in network of tunnels believed to contain 300 miles or 500 kilometers of tunnels. the idf is believed to be doing this on a limited basis, pumping seawater into a certain number of tunnels where they do not believe that the hostages are. a u.s. official tells us that the israelis are unsure how effective it's going to be. you heard president biden's concern there for the hostages. israel saying there is still 135 hostages inside gaza, 116 of them are still believed to be alive. and, erin this comes on a day when we also heard some of the sharpest comments yet by president biden against netanyahu, his government, and the war in gaza. >> reporter: the deeper israel gets into its war in gaz yashgs the more discomfort -- gaza, the more discomfort that the u.s. is expressing as israel's closest ally. the most pointed comments yet from president joe biden and that benjamin netanyahu needs to change tactics which biden says is difficult with israel's current government, the most right-wing in israeli hist rich. the poll by far right ministers means israel, quote, doesn't want a two-state solution, biden said. >> two states for two people. and it's more important now than ever h. >> reporter: all indications are that is not netanyahu's goal. in a taped message before biden's comments, he admitted there are differences in who the two countries believe will govern palestinians after the war. but netanyahu knows how critical american support is. thanking the u.s. after it was the only country to vote against the u.n. security council's resolution for an immediate cease-fire. israel is still battling militants in gaza's north and pushing south. the idf claims to have killed 7,000 militants. the hamas-controlled ministry of health says over 18,000 people have been killed in gaza. with almost the entire population displaced. tonight, biden's national security adviser is telling cnn that israel must open this border crossing to allow aid directly into gaza. jake sullivan says they're telling israel it's an emergency. we're asking you to do this asap, he says, because of the nature of the humanitarian situation on the ground. today we saw aid trucks being inspected. they're still being routed through egypt. right here is where egypt, israel, and the gaza strip all meet. the trucks coming into israel from if egypt could in theory go straight into gaza to deliver that aid. but for now that, is something the israeli government is not allowing. humanitarian groups describe horrendous conditions for displaced palestinians. this mother trying to push rainwater out of the tent she shares with nine children including a baby. dam hamas and israel. it's enough for us. have mercy on us and stop or let israel kill us all and give us relief. 13-year-old ranna says her family has nine people in their tent, also full of water. my siblings are freezing, ranna says, we don't know what to do. we want to go back to our homes and not drown. and, erin, as the fighting intensifies, the situation is getting worse. we're getting updates from the idf about the number of israeli soldiers who have been killed and it is now over 100. 104 to be exact. 13 of them were killed by friendly fire which means that one in every eight was killed by friendly fire. and there have been notable deaths among the israeli soldiers including the son and nephew of a senior israeli minister who was the top general in charge of the idf. erin? >> thank you very much, alex, reporting from tel aviv tonight. "out front," wesley clark, also the former supreme allied commander of nato. i appreciate your time. i want to start with the news tonight. we confirmed that israel, the idf is flooding hamas tunnels with seawater. they say doing it in a limited basis. do you think this is the most logical thing? is this the right step for them to be doing right now? >> i expected it from the beginning. if you look at how quick -- what could do you with the tunnels? if you put your soldiers in, you'll have booby traps if. the you try to smoke them out with tear gas, you don't know what the ventilation system is. they probably have gas masks. so it always looks like seawater was the most likely option. we don't know what the he effecf the seawater is. it could sink right into the ground. it could collapse the tunnels. maybe it doesn't. it could collapse buildings. maybe above the tunnels. and, so, this has to be looked at as a test by the israelis. that's why they're doing oit ona limited basis. >> they say there are assertions they're flooding tunnels that doen don't have hostages in there. that was notable they use that word, assertions. and it is part of the concern that president biden warned israel it is losing support. he said the prime minister, netanyahu needs to change tactics and his government. how significant do you think is, general, this is all spilling out into public? we're all seeing this. >> it's bad for everybody, honestly, erin. it makes the united states look weak. we've already got a credibility problem after afghanistan. we're dealing with putin. we're dealing with venezuela who is threatening to invade ghana and now our own ally, israel. we wholeheartedly support, we're in a tussle with israel. it raises a lot of questions for the united states. but it's worse for israel. israel really is dependent on the united states. netanyahu's been a controversial president. it's not a surprise that there are conflicts there. he's been behind the expansion into the west bank by the palestinian settlers which caused so much of this anxiety and which the biden administration imposed. >> general, you just voted to demand a cease-fire in the conflict. obviously that, is not something that israel says they're going to do. one of the votes they were able to get was from canada. canada up until this point refused to back a cease-fire. incredibly close ally of the united states. so what kind of pressure does that put on israel and the united states? you have canada with the symbolic importance it carries, largest land border with the united states, turning against it on this crucial issue. >> i don't think israel is going to be persuaded to go with the cease-fire. even if the united states called for a cease-fire, i think it will be very tough for israel to agree to. that they said this is a threat. the united states needs all its friends. canada's vote is not helpful to us. >> all right. general clark, i appreciate your time. thank you very much. >> thank you, erin. all right. "out front" now, the spokesman for prime minister netanyahu. to start with the limited flooding of the tunnels that we understand the idf is doing, israel says they're doing on a limited basis in teunnels where they don't believe that hostages are held. how do you know for sure there are no hostages in the tunnels being flooded? >> first, regarding the tunnels, i cannot comment on military operation happening on the ground or anything strategic moving ahead. this is a quell que you'll have -- is a question you have to refer to the idf. we're looking at various ways to eliminate the tunnels. we eliminated much of the tunnel infrastructure. but there is still many of them, as you heard from your reporter, also in the area where our forces are now operating. obviously, when we work on the ground to eliminate the hamas regime in gaz yaa, the hostage situation is top of mind. >> i'm curious. they say they don't believe where the hostages are. a question to you on an intelligence basis, if israel knows where they are not, do you know where they are? >> well, again this is a question for the idf. what we know is the hamas responds to pressure. we have seen release of hostages based on the outline we agreed upon because thanks to the military pressure. and we continue to hit them hard because we want to reach the mission that we have for this war. >> president biden warned israel they're losing sport support. he said to benjamin netanyahu you need to change tactics and likely your government. is there a response from the prime minister? >> first, israel is a democratic state. the ones who choose the government, as you know, are the people of israel. and right now my country is not dealing with politics, erin, from if left to right there is a public census where we're all united around the goal. the goal is to defeat hamas. the terrorist targeted us on october 7th, they didn't ask who voted for which party. they didn't care. and some of the hardest hit communities that i know you have been to the southern areas are honestly the people who are most -- staunch supporters of the palestinian cause in certain areas. >> yes. >> right. >> so, in terms of the civilians and general clark is talking about how when you flood, there is unknown consequences to this point could involve buildings coming down. obviously, unknown at this point as he had a lays it out. a lot of civilians have died. the idf said they killed 7,000 hamas members. we can't independently confirm that. i did recently speak to idf spokes person. i asked him about a report that said senior israeli military officials said they were basically killing two civilians for every hamas member. he called that a, quote, tremendously positive ratio. fit was two civilians for every one hamas that, is tremendously positive. how do you see it? >> it depends what you compare israel to. if you compare israe perfectionf course. nobody is perfect. we don't want to see any civilian casualty. no other western military, no other military has done this before. to safeguard the civilian population in an enemy war zone and i think that israel is really defining the gold standard here of urban warfare. if you compare the campaigns in iraq and afghanistan, the civilian to casualty ratio that israel once the dust settles, you see israel compares favorably. >> i understand that. i understand that academically if the numbers are put out there, you talk about the gold standard. yet, what we're con fronted with every day is a horrific loss of palestinian life and a lot of agony and anguish. it is hard to hear that being the gold standard. >> every civilian casualty is a huge tragedy. there hasn't been a war in human history, the most justified ones that haven't seen certain extent of collateral damage. again, what we're doing on the ground, the fact that we're telling the civilian population where our soldiers are entering and when, this is unprecedented. i'm sure that some, you know, family and friends of u.s. arms force service members watching us now would wanondwonder who d that? this is what the idf is does. >> i want to give you a chance to respond to another report that aired on cnn last night on the money that has gone to hamas. obviously, a lot of money in recent years. questions about whether or not netanyahu's policies actually aided and abetted that by allowing hundreds of millions of dollars of cash to go into gaza from hamas despite concerns from netanyahu's own government. some of which were raised by then education minister bennett who spoke to netanyahu. here's what he said. >> i stopped the cash suitcases because i believe that horrendous mistake to allow hamas to have all the suitcases full of cash that goes directly to rearming themselves against israelis. why would we feed them cash to kill us? >> when he says he stopped it, when he became prime might bester. he said he stopped the netanyahu policy that he refers to as cash in you suit indicated. does netanyahu believe he made a mistake by allowing cash to go in? >> again this is a -- we allowed money to go inside gaza not for hamas, obviously. and it's not only a policy that happened right away during this government, previous israeli governments. we wanted the money to reach, you know, the palestinian people to fix the water system that we saw hamas turned water pipes into missiles. the sewage system and so forth. we wanted -- >> he knew it wasn't being made for those purposes. you could see the systems. >> listen, it's a major problem. i think it's a repeating pattern in history. every time the state of israel gave more slack to the palestinian people, it backfired. it was answered with more bloodshed and more murder. if you go back to the 1947 plan of the united nations, we said, yes, they said no. they started a war against us. we retreated from gaza. we signed the oslo accords. in 2005, the disengagement act from gaza. we have missiles raining on our communities and now fake rehabilitation efforts and workers want to work in israel and expanding the fishing zone. what did we get? october 7th massacre. it's a repeating pattern. >> thank you very much. it's good to see new person. next, the breaking news denied ukraine's president fails to change republican minds about funding during a high-stakes trip to washington. we're learning putin's invasion has this on his own forces. the house hours away into an impeachment inquiry into biden. phillips is running against the president and he's my guest tonight. and the graphic voice mails an election worker received because of giuliani's laws about the election. [ beep ] breaking news. ukraine's president in washington making a last-ditch plea for aid. he stood alongside president biden as both leaders made their case for american support for ukraine. >> thanks to ukraine's success in defense, other european nations are safe from the russian aggression unlike in the past. >> putin is banking on the united states failing to deliver for ukraine. we must, we must, we must prove him wrong. >> yet, some republicans are not onboard to give ukraine more military aid. holding it up in congress, that includes mike johnson who met with zel enskyy today. >> there are important questions that must be answered so that we can continue with these negotiations. among those is what is the objective? what is the end game in ukraine? >> that is a major about-face for johnson. he not only supported ukraine loudly, clearly and proudly, but he slammed biden for being too slow on providing military aid to ukraine. here's mike johnson in april 2022. >> they're asking for the ability to fight back. as we've seen in recent days, there's a real chance they could win this conflict with russia. but they will not be able to do that. they certainly can't prevail if the biden administration continues to sit on its hands and not deliver the weapons that are sorely needed and we're prepared to provide. >> a total about-face on that issue. if if aid does not come, putin will be triumphant and able to continue on has openly stated quest to defeat the root of evil, the united states. >> translator: we need to know and understand where the root of evil is, where this very spider trying to envelope the whole planet, the whole world with its web and wants to achieve our strategic defeat on the battlefield. >> it is, of course, ukrainian that's fight every day for putin's defeat on the battlefield for the basic thing, the most basic thing, their nation's right to exist. on the ground in ukraine, the war grinds on tonight. nick paton walsh is "out front." >> reporter: the war isn't over or even slowing. in the east, the nest town that moscow wants to swallow. the latest estimate, russia has had 13,000 casualties here. a huge number offered without evidence but a clear bid to show american aid to ukraine is right now hurting russia. the lack of a summer breakthrough means ukraine's president zelenskyy faces perhaps his toughest weeks ahead. i has taken time away to get caught between the two politicians as they have their own squabble. here on capitol hill, the lawmakers are eager to go home for the holidays at the end of the week. in ukraine, weeks later, they may start running out of money on the front lines. it is life or death. >> it is very difficult for us to fight without u.s. assistance. but we have no choice. unfortunately, we don't have enough within our country to support our army. but we extremely need it. this is just a question -- this is just a point of our s surviv. >> reporter: said ukraine's security service, possibly behind a cyber attack hitting a major cell phone provider. it impacted air raid sirens, air raid alerts on phones and added to the sense of putin moving in on what is left of civilian safety in ukraine as winter looks bleaker. now zelenskyy returns to ukraine likely without achieving the thing of this trip hoped he would do with some officials here warning that salaries for doctors, first responders and the front lines may indeed run out in january with clear public tension with his chief of staff who ran the counter offensive that hasn't yielded results that ukraine and the western backers wanted. the defense minister joking he hadn't heard whether or not the chief of staff had indeed been fired. he hasn't just for clarity. but also ukraine experienced consistent russian shelling, attacks on infrastructure. the cell phone service nationwide experiencing what ukraine said was a russian cyber attack today. the problems mounting. but this key one, a lack of financing will burn in the next weeks very hard, erin. >> all right, nick, thank you very much. and "out front" now, long-time putt incritic was once the large -- putin critic was in russia and now on the wanted list. a true story of money laundering, murder, and surviving vladamir putin's wrath. president biden said today if congress fails to pass the supplemental aid package, its going to give putin the greatest christmas gift. is are this how putin sees it? >> there's to question. ukrainians showed us two years ago with some is resources even though they were outmanned and outgunned, they could fight the russians back. in a war that should have lasted three days is going now almost two yea