tonight, the images coming in. israel's ground offensive pushing deeper into southern gaza. the battles raging in the streets. you will see the ambulance caught in the crossfire. palestinian civilians who had been told to go south, where do they go now, and what about the hostages? james longman in israel. the breaking news involving president biden, those eye-opening comments from the president about running for office again, saying if trump wasn't running, i'm not sure i'd be running. what this means, and what the president is signaling about the stakes. mary bruce standing by live tonight. also this evening, the alarming new warning from the fbi director, christopher wray, about the terror threat inside this country right now. what he spelled out today. pierre thomas standing by. the massive house explosion in virginia. the blast after police were on the scene for hours, trying to execute a search warrant. the suspect barricaded inside. the powerful storms slamming the west tonight. the major flooding concerns there, and the deep freeze in the east. wind chills in the teens and 20s from the great lakes to the northeast. ginger zee is standing by to time all of this out. senator tommy tuberville caving after blocking hundreds of military promotions for ten months now over his stance on abortion. rachel scott is here. special counsel jack smith tonight revealing the case he plans to make against former president trump. jon karl reporting. the new lawsuit involving panera bread tonight. allegations now of a second death allegedly because of a drink at the chain. actor jamie foxx making his first public appearance since being hospitalized, and what he's now revealed. and our made in america christmas is back. 12 years and counting. tonight, we start with your christmas tree and a new way to get one. >> do you have your christmas tree yet this year? no worries if you don't. >> david: what we didn't know before, and how can you help farmers across this country. "world news tonight" starts now. good evening, and it's great to have you with us here on a very busy tuesday night. we have several breaking stories. what president biden just said about running for president, saying, if trump wasn't running, i'm not sure i'd be running. mary bruce standing by with what this means, what the president is signaling tonight. also, this new fbi terror warning here in the u.s. tonight amid this war in israel, and that's where we start tonight. israel now expanding its ground operation in southern gaza. the images coming in tonight. the raging battles in the streets. hunting down hamas fighters. warning civilians to get out of harm's way, but many there are caught in the cross fire. hundreds of thousands have been told to move south, so, now, where do they go? israel dropping leaflets with links to this map, showing civilians save zones, but there is limited electricity and internet, and many are getting caught in this horror. homes destroyed in this strike. you can actually see the women trapped on an upper floor right there. down below, the search for bodies. authorities say children are among the dead, and the images tonight, an ambulance coming under fire. the crew scrambling inside, and, of course, all of this tonight amid another major question, what about the hostages in gaza? americans among them. the cease-fire now long over, the families meeting just a short time ago with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and it was very tense. abc's james longman leading us off tonight from israel. >> reporter: tonight, battles raging in the streets of southern gaza. the israeli military fighting in the heart of khan younis, the largest city in gaza's south. hundreds of thousands of palestinians have fled here for safety. this video shows the moment an ambulance was caught in the cross fire and here, moments after another strike nearby, panic and confusion. a desperate search for survivors. children pulled from the rubble. more than 16,000 palestinians killed, according to the hamas-run health ministry. we're at an artillery position about two miles away from gaza. the focus of this operation is now shifting from the north to the south, but that was where palestinians were told to go for safety. now they've got nowhere to go. >> reporter: israel dropping leaflets in southern gaza, with links to these maps, which they say show which neighborhoods are safe from the fighting. today, we pressed the idf. if you told them to go south for safety before, why would they believe you now? >> we advise them where to leave, and i'm reminding you that it's not us that chose the battlefield. hamas chose the battlefield by digging its infrastructure underneath civilians. >> reporter: but with limited electricity and internet, many civilians, like 22-year-old hamza ibrahim, don't know where to go to avoid the fighting. >> there is no life here in gaza. >> reporter: you feel it's too dangerous for you to leave? >> there is a bombing everywhere, and nobody can go out. >> reporter: and in israel tonight, the israeli government vowing to fight until their victory. >> where the hell are you? >> reporter: prime minister benjamin netanyahu voicing outrage at what he says is the silence from the international community over the alleged sexual violence committed by hamas during the october 7th attack. >> i expect all civilized leaders, governments, nations, to speak up against this atrocity. >> reporter: president biden today condemning hamas, saying, quote, the world can't just look away at what's going on. it's on all of us to forcibly condemn the sexual violence of hamas terrorists without equivocation. tonight, the fate of more than 130 hostages, including americans, unknown, but just days after 5-year-old emilia aloni was freed by hamas, and back in her mother's arms, this moment. emilia returning to school today. her classmates waiting on the steps, all wanting to give her a hug. >> david: one sliver of hope from the war zone tonight, and james longman back with us live from tel aviv, and, james, it's been 60 days now since the hamas terror attack in israel, 60 days, of course, holding those hostages, including americans. tonight, we see these images of fierce fighting you just reported from southern gaza, the cease-fire long over. what are you learning about the hostages and the families and this meeting late today with benjamin netanyahu? >> reporter: yeah, there was a very tense meeting, david, between prime minister netanyahu and the families of the hostages. according to local reports, he told them that there was no possibility of bringing their loved ones home any time soon. some of those present even shouting at the prime minister, asking him to restart the negotiations as soon as possible. david? >> david: all right, james longman leading us off tonight in tel aviv. james, thank you. and we're going to turn now to president biden and something he said late today about running for president. at a closed door fund-raiser in boston, the president telling supporters, quote, if trump wasn't running, i'm not sure i'd be running, but we cannot let him win. let's bring in our chief white house correspondent mary bruce live at the white house tonight. because, mary, this made immediate news, obviously. the president signaling in these comments, it would seem, that if trump wasn't his likely opponent at this point, perhaps he would not be seeking a second term? >> reporter: david, the president in some of his starkest terms yet laying out what is at stake if trump is able to win back the white house. biden saying that cannot be allowed to happen. the president saying, quote, i don't think anyone doubts our democracy is even more at risk than in 2020, saying trump's not even hiding the ball anymore. he's telling us what he's going to do, he's making no bones about it. trump is running a campaign of retribution, and for biden, this has always been about trump. he ran in 2020 to try to stop him, and biden says he is running now to try to protect the country from another trump presidency. david? >> david: mary bruce on the comments made late today by the president. thank you. of course, the president well aware of the new terror threat here in the u.s. amid israel's war with hamas. tonight, fbi director christopher wray now telling congress that he has never seen so many elevated threats all at exactly the same time and how he answered today when asked about the warning signs before 9/11 and what the threat is now. here's pierre thomas. >> reporter: today, the fbi director was asked point-blank if the terror threat in the u.s. is as bad as it was before 9/11. his answer? deeply disturbing. >> all the lights were blinking red before 9/11. apparently, obviously, all of us missed it. would you say that there's multiple blinking red lights out there? >> i see blinking lights everywhere i turn. >> reporter: since the israel/hamas war started, chris wray says the terror threat is at a whole other level with a number of terror groups, including isis and al qaeda, using social media to call for attacks, including right here in the u.s. the doj also seeing a spike in threats against the muslim community, and a stunning increase in threats aimed at jewish americans since october 7th. >> i've never seen a time where all the threats, or so many of the threats, are all elevated, all at exactly the same time. >> reporter: wray is calling on congress to renew a law that allows the fbi to conduct surveillance on suspected terrorists overseas. that law is set to expire at the end of the year. wray says given the threats, now is not the time to let that happen. david? >> david: pierre thomas live in washington tonight. pierre, thank you. we turn now to the investigation after a massive home explosion in arlington, virginia, outside the capital. police called to the scene. they were there for hours, trying to execute a search warrant, and then this is what happened. a powerful blast. the home turned to splinters, shaking the entire neighborhood. human remains found inside believed to be the suspect. abc's ike ejiochi in arlington tonight. >> reporter: tonight, authorities are investigating what caused this massive explosion in arlington, virginia, just miles from the nation's capital after they say a man barricaded himself in the house. >> we need all firefighters. the house has exploded, i believe. >> reporter: the blast just after 8:00 p.m. monday rattling homes. neighbors nearly knocked off their feet. >> you just see explosion. you could feel it in your chest, on your face. >> reporter: debris and embers raining down on the street. police say before the blast, officers were at the home for nearly four hours trying to serve a search warrant after reports of someone shooting flares more than 30 times over the area. the suspect, 56-year-old james yoo, refusing to surrender, discharging several rounds from a firearm as officers closed in. then, this explosion. the fbi and atf on the scene. authorities say human remains were found at the site. >> the suspect was inside the residence at the time of the explosion, and he is presumed at this point to be deceased. >> reporter: david, officials say yoo made claims of fraud to the fbi that never led to an investigation. meanwhile, a now deleted linkedin page belonging to him contained hundreds of pages of paranoid conspiracy theories. david? >> david: ike ejiochi in arlington for us. ike, thank you. we turn now to the storms pummeling the pacific northwest at this hour, and the major change then coming to the great lakes, all the way into the northeast. first, look at the pictures tonight, this is from the west. raging waters near granite falls, washington. in fact, two more rounds of this on the way this week, with up to two feet of snow in some places. in the east tonight, a fast-moving system making roads slick from the midwest to the northeast, and behind it all, that blast of cold air, wind chills in the teens and the 20s. let's get right to chief meteorologist ginger zee, back with us again tonight, tracking it all. hey, ginger. >> reporter: hey, good evening, david. so, we've already seen some of those high rain totals, close to nine inches. huckleberry ridge, washington, coming in with that, and ahead of it, record highs from boise, idaho, to helena, montana, in the 60s. so, this is a warm core system, the one that's been hitting today. you'll end up with more rain from that, another one thursday, and then another on saturday. that's when the snow elevations are going to start to go up a bit or\, lower a bit, and that's when we're talking about another one to two feet of snow. but you'll also have that four to eight inches. here along the east coast, we're talking single digits going into thursday morning in new england, david. >> david: ginger zee back with us tonight. ginger, we'll be watching first thing in the morning, thank you. we turn now to capitol hill tonight, and this evening, alabama republican senator tommy tuberville ending his ten-month-long blockade of more than 400 military promotions, caving in his effort to block promotions because of his stance on abortion. abc's rachel scott, normally on capitol hill, with us here in new york tonight, and the senate already working to make the confirmations take place. >> reporter: that's exactly right, david. senator tommy tuberville has been standing in the way of these military promotions for ten months to protest a completely unrelated matter, the pentagon's abortion policy. he was under immense pressure from both democrats and republicans who said he was putting our national security at risk. well, tonight he suddenly backed off of those demands. more than 400 military promotions have now been confirmed by the senate, and the president weighed in just moments ago, noting that after ten months, none of his demands were met, saying in the end, it was all pointless, david. >> david: rachel scott, who has been covering this for many months now, rachel, good to have you in new york. meantime tonight, special counsel jack smith outlining a new argument he plans to use in former president trump's election interference case involving january 6th. speaking to trump's intent and his state of mind. here's jonathan karl. >> reporter: special counsel jack smith signaled today that he will make the case that not only donald trump is responsible for the violence that unfolded on january 6th, but that, quote, the rioters disruption of the certification proceeding is exactly what the defendant intended. in a new court filing, smith points to trump's own words, including his recent statements on the campaign trail, supporting those serving prison time for storming the capitol, suggesting they did nothing wrong. >> i call them the j-6 hostages, not prisoners. i call them the hostages, what's happened, and it's a shame. >> reporter: smith is now saying, quote, the defendant's embrace of j-6 rioters is evidence of his intent, because it shows that these individuals acted as he directed them to act. smith says he will present evidence that trump could have called off the violence that day. the former president once told me in an interview that he wanted to go up to the capitol during the attack, and that the mob would have welcomed him. >> i was thinking about going back during the problem to stop the problem, doing it myself. secret service didn't like that idea too much. >> reporter: so what -- >> and i could have done that, and, you know what, i would have been very well received. >> reporter: of course, trump didn't go to the capitol on january 6th. he sat in the dining room next to the oval office and did nothing for more than three hours to stop the violence unfolding on capitol hill. david? >> david: all right, jonathan karl in washington. jon, thank you. when we come back here tonight, the new lawsuit against panera bread. allegations tonight now of a second death involving a drink there. and later here, our great made in america christmas is back. the new way to get your christmas tree, in a moment. 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