Heather heyers death and in the end justice was served. The hbo documentary film no accident streaming now on max. Kristi jacobson, karen dunn and robbie kaplan, thank you for being with us this morning ana cabrera and jose diazbalart pick up the coverage right now. Right now in our special coverage of the israelhamas war, israel continuing to pound gaza with air strikes this morning vowing those strikes wont let up until its hostages are freed by hamas. This while a wall of troops and tanks are building along the gaza border, what we know about israels strategy and whether a Ground Invasion is imminent. Plus, americas Secretary Of State meeting with israels Prime Minister declaring the steadfast support of the united states. Its impossible for me to look at the photos of families killed such as the mother, father, and three small children murdered as they sheltered in their home and kibbutz and not think of my own children. Good morning, and thank you so much for joining us. Im Ana Cabrera Reporting alongside jose diazbalart with our special coverage. Israeli air strikes continue to pound gaza as the war with hamas enters its sixth day. Israel vowing the siege will not end until its hostages are out of hamass hands. Inside gaza, growing crisis with Hundreds Of Thousands Displace bid the bombing. Critical supplies, food, water, medicine all running out. Outside of the crippled gaza strip, the Israeli Military appears to be preparing for a Ground Invasion, steadily building a wall of troops and tanks along its border with gaza. Also this morning, the u. S. Secretary of state is in israel meeting with the countrys Prime Minister and others on the ground revealing the number of americans confirmed killed has now rsen to 25. Joining us from israel, Nbcs Richard Engel near the gaza border. Richard, what are you seeing this hour . Reporter well, we are hearing a lot of strikes that are going into the gaza strip, so this is israels ongoing air campaign, which it says is designed to destroy hamas, destroy hamass infrastructure before a potential Ground Assault. Weve also been seeing the buildup of troops for a Ground Assault. We dont know when it will start it. That is a state secret. They will want to keep that information to themselves until the last moment. Preparations are underway. Troops are coming into this area. Heavy equipment coming into this area. They are digging in. The Defense Minister has said they will go in and the israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says that this campaign will be devastating, that every hamas member is a dead man. The israelis are making it very clear that they want to go in at the time of their choosing, theyre getting ready for it, and that they want this to be decisive. The people in gaza are increasingly in a dire situation. The food and Water Supplies have been cut. Ter under attack. It is difficult it for hamas, but it is also difficult for the 2 Million People who live there. Weve been speaking to people inside gaza and i can tell you its increasingly hard to talk to them. If theres no power, theres no way to charge their phones. Theres no way to get out information and they say that they feel trapped and under attack. The situation for the hostages is also incredibly dire. If and when israeli troops do go in, it will be dangerous for those soldiers. It will be dangerous for the civilians in gaza. When you start firing tanks in a built up urban area, you will inevitably cause a tremendous amount of damage and it will be dangerous for the hostages themselves being held by hamas as human shields. If you can paint a picture for us you were talking about how dire the situation is for more than 2 Million People there, but if you would just kind of paint the picture of its so densely populated and yet theyre not able to get out. Reporter so the Israeli Military says that it is warning people before the before any strike on an Apartment Building or a building of any kind telling people to leave, but the way that they generally warn them is by sending them a text message, sending them a message over social media. If you dont have internet, and you dont have power and you dont have a cell phone thats working anymore, those messages are ineffective. Theyre not getting to you. The other method that israel uses and this is one theyve used in the past they will fire on a building with a very small munition, something that doesnt cause a lot of damage but makes a lot of noise, alerts the people that something bigger is coming. They should get out immediately, and then the building is struck. Thats what people in gaza are waiting for. A text if they still have power or that knock on the roof that gives them a little bit of time to get out of the building. But then where do they go . They cant leave the gaza strip. That means they can just go down to the street. Then their building is destroyed, and then where are they going to go. There have been very disturbing images coming out already even before this Ground Invasion of gaza, it looked like a child in very terrible condition. We saw images earlier today of a Doctor Holding a baby, a live baby, and he said that the parents had been killed, and he was making an appeal to other palestinians to find relatives to come and take this child. So fighting in gaza will be tough, living in gaza is extraordinarily tough. There are cities in gaza, gaza city is the most densely populated part of the gaza strip, and were talking about more densely populated than manhattan, more densely populated than tokyo. People living in tiny lanes, packed together, large families in small apartments. Richard, we are looking at these live pictures there in gaza. We continue to see smoke rising from areas that were struck by these air strikes. Israeli Defense Forces reported overnight that they have able to contact i think it was 95 families in israel who they believe are the loved ones of those being held hostage. Im wondering if you have any more information on the status of those hostages. Well, an israeli official this morning said that obviously the hostages are a major concern for this country, and that is what is different about this conflict and other conflicts between hamas and israel is this Hostage Crisis. And this Israeli Military official this morning said they have learned of the locations of some of the hostages. He wouldnt elaborate for obvious reasons, they want to keep that information private, but it was the first information weve heard that is potentially hopeful. They have an idea where these hostages might be held or might have been held, and that was all. So theyre keeping it very close lipped, but they did say this morning, they believe they have locations of some of these. Now, dont know if thats true. It could be a psychological game theyre playing with hamas to confuse them. That is something an israeli official said earlier this morning, and we also know that if the israelis do go in and this Military Offensive goes ahead, part of that operation will be a hostage rescue. Part of the operation will be attacking. Part of it will be clearing, and part of it will be Commando Raids to see if they can find any hostages and bring them out. While this is happening, richard, the amount of missiles that are being exchange exchanged is striking. You were talking about maybe a dozen missiles being sent towards the israeli city, the iron dome, took care of most of them. Can you give us an indication of how intense it is there . Reporter so hamas has fired thousands of rockets since the beginning of this conflict. It opened the its attacks with a salvo of rocket fire. According to the Israeli Military, i think were at about 5,000 rockets that have been fired by hamas into israel since this began. I must say, jose, since we spoke a few days ago when i was in ashkelon, and we were talking about the incoming rockets and there were probably about 150, maybe 200 that came in during the course of our broadcast, since then over the last 24 to 48 hours, there havent been as many rockets fired from gaza. They could be low on supplies. They could be holding them up for Something Else or it could be that theyre busy with the air strikes that are coming in against the gaza strip right now. Richard engel very close to gaza, i thank you very much for being with us this morning. And now lets take a moment to play some more of secretary blinken, he had meetings with survivors in israel just moments ago. Watch this. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. This is my boyfriend nice to see you. This is my father, etan. Good to meet you. We are survivors from the music raid. And yes, we lost a lot of our friends, close friends, lots of family members. There are a lot of people that we know that are kidnapped and now in gaza. We went through horror, really im just like im 24 and i never imagined Something Like this would happen ever in a dance, in a Music Festival. We celebrated love and we danced, and it was amazing, and then the rockets started and gunshots everywhere. We managed to escape, but there were a lot of friends that didnt, and there are a lot of friends that are kept captive now in gaza, and we were saved by miracle but there are friends that we love that werent. Thank you for being here. Its really important and if theres any way to help like First Priority, First Priority are our friends and family that are now in gaza. Were strong here, were powerful here in this place now in tel aviv and everywhere. Thank you, thank you very much. Were thinking of them and trying to do everything we can. I know. We want to bring them home. Thank you so much for being here. Im so, so sorry you have to go through this. It means a lot. Thank you. I admire your strength and also telling your stories makes a big difference too. The world needs to know this. Thank you. Were there with you. Were there for you. Thank you. Thank you. Everybody together back again and, you know, love will win all, and you know what youre doing is incredibly power. And the unity youre showing. This is my fourth funeral i just came from, fourth friend who lost their kids from europe. The number one thing that all parents say, finishing the seven days of mourning. Thats why were raising money. This is not a shortterm thing. Were going to be rebuilding and were going to be helping the families. Every Large Tech Company to adopt one of these towns and rebuild it. Were not going to wait for the government. Were going to be adopting all the families. Were basically busy now with making sure we win, but at the same time getting geared for the humanitarian and civil help to rebuild the country, and these are the amazing people 24 7. Some of the most amazing people. First responders really, First Responders before everybody in government. And were getting so much support from america. And but the bond that we feel between americans and israelis, the shared values, the shared beliefs, the shared way of living. The shared belief in freedom and the free way of living. It felt so strong. The outpouring of support has been incredible. Again, its very, very heartfelt. And you can count on it to be there. When we heard the aircraft carriers, people were standing in the streets, not because we feel were not strong, right . If we wanted i was an air force pilot, we know what we can do. Were not afraid, but the fact that we got american support visibly was so meaningful to people. Its so meaningful, its beyond this government and that government. This is something weve always called now we feel it. I said earlier,e that earlier, israel being able to defend itself by itself and you always will, but you dont have to because youre not alone. Tom that was here tonight was a very good friend. Was one of the most amazing representatives of the united states, tom is unbelievable. He was such a good friend. Thank you. Thanks for sharing. Thank you so much. Very good friend. Really, from where . From the u. S. I couldnt knew you somewhere, i couldnt connect it. Thank you so much. Great to be with you. Some really touching moments there with the Secretary Of State visiting with survivors of the attacks from hamas there in israel as he is continuing his visit. He met with Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this morning, and he has other visits planned with leaders, but really that was such a poignant moment when he hugged that tearful woman who described being a survivor of that Music Festival where we know at least 260 people lost their lives, and she expressed just how important it was for him to be there and that show of support. Absolutely. And these are the moments that, you know, one doesnt normally see when you hear a of a Secretary Of States visit somewhere. This is important that we saw that, what it is thats being done now. His work on the ground and that support making such a difference. And i want to go to nbcs ellison barber, who is in israel. What are you seeing right now . Reporter hey, jose, so we are on the outskirts of ashkelon technically, but fairly close to the gaza border and almost as soon as we arrived here, we started to notice some israeli tanks that were moving a bit in the distance as we were stopped over, they started to soon come directly next to us. I want you to watch a little bit of what we saw in that moment, and then well talk after. Israeli tanks are moving in from across we dont know what direction theyre going, constant of three, four in the last five, ten minutes here, just moving back in, all of them israeli troops headed back in that direction. So jose and ana, at times its a little hard to hear because those tanks are so loud. What i was saying there is that we had seen three, four tanks in the last ten minutes coming from an area where wed seen more movement, cutting through that path underneath the bridge heading into the wooded area. We dont know exactly what direction they were head from that point, presumably in the direction of gaza, but they were packed full of Israeli Forces armed and making their way towards something just in a line, just constant tanks rolling through, and then after the series of tanks we saw a few different humvees again, full of israeli troops headed in the direction we believe towards the gaza border. Ana, jose. And you said you dont know exactly what their mission is in this moment. How many tanks would you say you saw, and how close are you to gaza to help us paint the picture for our viewer . The northern border of gaza is less than two miles from where we are right now, so were very close. As you go a little further south at different points, this was happening yesterday, Israeli Forces. Israeli police start stopping you and saying you cant go any further because they have been amassing troops along that border and amassing military infrastructure. The fact that we saw these tanks and in that moment in ten minutes, you know, i said wed seen three or four. There had to have been at least close to 20 of some sort of just flows and forgive me, alarm of some sort is going off here as i talk to you do what you need to do, ellison, obviously want to make sure youre safe. Reporter yeah, appreciate that. Were good right now. A Smaller Group in that area moving through, but they were moving through quickly. The fact that they had so many people, they were all kind of poked up top with their weapons and helmets in, in a position in preparation to move towards some sort of possibly kinetic action. Its relevant too because of the amount that we also saw yesterday when we were headed down in this area where we saw through one section of trees what looked like at least and its a conservative estimate 100 tanks smushed together lined up right along what is sort of right near the start, maybe ten minutes that area was from the northern border with gaza. We know the Israeli Military, they have said there are hundreds of thousands of israeli troops that have surrounded the border with gaza. We have heard from Israeli Military commanders saying we will do what we need to do, land, sea and air. We do believe that some sort of Ground Assault inside of gaza is imminent. And as we see more military tanks coming into the area, it seems like were inching closer and closer to that, exactly when it will happen we dont know. But from everything were seeing on the ground, there is certainly that posture that they are getting very close to being prepared to make that sort of move if that is what their command decides to do. Jose. Ellison barber, thank you so very much as we see on your screen also, these are live pictures as were approaching 5 22 p. M. Local time in gaza. You can see the black plumes of smoke emanating from buildings and structures throughout there. That is something that has been happening consistently now for hours past hours, past hours. For days frankly exactly. The families, meanwhile of those believed to be hostages of hamas are desperate for any information about how they are and whats being done do save them. Joining us now is a family member. His niece is believed to have been taken hostage from that Music Festival that hamas attacked. Our hearts are with you and your family as you go through this. We know some families have been notified that their loved ones are hostages. Have you gotten any information . Unfortunately not. We havent received formal notice. We dont know for sure whats going on with her, and we just dont know what to do. She was just like my girl, and we since saturday morning, the last time we have heard from her, she was hiding with a friend in the bushes just near kibbutz reim, and from that point on, she said that shes hiding and she cant continue talking because theres a vehicle coming towards her, and from that point we didnt hear anything. The only thing that we know according to the police is that her cell phone was detected in gaza. Thats the only thing that we know. So that is i guess a glimmer of hope that her cell phone was detected. Does that mean that they believe still it had a signal . In the gaza strip. Okay. But we dont know for sure whats going on with her. Oh, im so sorry. That sounds terrifying and heartbreaking. Tell us a little bit more about her. She is 23 years old. She went to a trip to australia after she had been south africa, volunteered for kids in education. Thats what she did before she was in the strip. She went to australia for trip and she came to israel for a month. Two days ago was her birthday, 23 years. Was supposed to be a day of happiness. She came for the high holy days, and she was supposed to be back to fly back to australia. Unfortunately, we celebrated her birthday without her. Thousands of Israelis Light the candles and bake cakes and send us pictures of them celebrating without her. She used to volunteer also in israel for kids with Special Needs for a long time for three years, and she was supposed to come back to israel for within few months back study like any israeli young girl, and she went to this party kibbutz to dance with her friends like we did when we were youngsters, but unfortunately this party became a place of massacre and blood and death. Harel, i know you said youre waiting for word. Have you been in touch at all with the canadian government since youre canadian . And i guess what would your expectation be . What could they do to help you cope in this situation . The Government Of Canada informed us few hours ago that theyre going to send a special representative in order to help to see whatever the Government Of Canada can do for us here. We expect the Government Of Canada to tell hamas that they see them as responsible for her life, health, and to bring her back safe and sound, and we hope that the hamas will do it, and thats our expectations from the Government Of Canada, and we want to say again, thank you for the Government Of Canada for helping us. The Jewish Community in canada was so supportive. We got dozens of telephone calls, messages, asking whatever what can they do for us, and i hope, i hope that shell be back and we can celebrate or just do the regular normal things that youngsters should do because we just dont know whats going on with her and what is going over in that horrible place. As a captive, as a human being. Yeah. Yeah. Theres so much pain and so much uncertainty, and harel, im just wondering, youre talking about how so many people celebrated her birthday, people that you didnt even know and baked cakes for her, people that you dont know. Theres a universality of love and of solidarity and of compassion. How do you process this . Ill tell you the painful thing is that her mother lost her brother near the gaza strip some years ago, so took her brother some years ago, and now she has to cope with the horrible thing of being a mother of a child just over the border again. Thats unbearable. Shes crying, we are crying. We dont sleep at night. We dont have even the basic ill tell you, i didnt take a shower for four days. I couldnt go inside a place and tell myself im getting a shower. Im getting a comfortable bed and tiferet, i dont know in what kind of place she is. Its unbearable. Its just unbearable. Its just horrible. Harel, if you could talk to tiferet, what would you say . We love her. We want her back home. She has nothing to do, she wasnt a soldier. She has nothing to do with politics. She had nothing to do with just a youngster like any other youngster all over the world. See her in that picture, My Beloved TiferetRiding A Motorbike with her backpack like we were when we were kids, when we were youngsters. We love you. We pray to god, the same god of the muslims and the christian people, the same god. We pray to the same god that tiferet will be back safe and sound, and we want to hug her and celebrate, and hopefully shell be dancing again and living again a normal life like every human being is expected to be. Just unbearable. Its unbearable and yet harel, there are so many people that are experiencing something just like you and your family are experiencing, and im just wondering how you think we all need to carry on and go forward when that is so real and so present and so now . I dont have any answer for that question because the things that my grandmother survived the holocaust by fleeing away from hungary 75 years ago. Her parents, brothers were most of them went to auschwitz. She survived after and some of her brothers survived. Some of them didnt. For us as jewish people, the knowledge that we were unsafe in our country is unbearable. We hadnt had such kind of experience, it throws us back to the programs in Eastern Europe 100 years ago, and we cant imagine. We thought its we thought that auschwitz was a long way 75 years ago, and we have to experience now a im talking now not as an uncle, as israeli, as jewish, to stand facing that kind of terror, i dont know how can we go through because the jewish people suffered for many, many years, we survived. Well survive, but its going to be tough. Its going to be, as we know, for long time we probably will not know for sure whats going on with her, but i can tell you the jewish people will survive. We went through a long, long, long history of people that did horrible things to us. We will survive. Well do it, and we will survive, but its the pain is just as i told you, unbearable, jose. Its just unbearable, jose. Yes, it is. It must be so immense. And i want you to know, harel, you are so incredibly strong, and we are with you. The people around this world are with you and your family and your people and you are not alone going through this horrific time, and we wish you comfort in this moment, and we will continue to keep you and your family in our thoughts and really be wishing and praying for the safe return of tiferet. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Thank you very much, ana, thank you very much, jose. Harel, thank you. Meanwhile, were starting to get some reports about the situation on the ground inside gaza, a surgeon at a hospital in gaza city mosting this video of a hallway overrun with patients including children. She wrote that shes been working backtoback 24 hour shifts and it still doesnt feel like enough she says. She is saying that all icu beds are full, and quote, we are running out of literally everything. And outside the hospital, more people who need help. I want to bring in dr. Barbara zin, an american pediatrician who has been stuck in gaza since friday, after arriving for a Mission Organized by The Palestine relief. What have the last few days been like for you . Well, first of all, id like to say my heart goes out to we have weve just been staying in place, in safe places not doing any of our mission work or anything obviously, and just kind of staying inside hearing a lot of noises, not seeing a lot, but lots of explosions, sirens, just lots of explosions, drones, things like that. Have you been in contact with anybody, and how are you working to try to get out . I know right now its a very difficult and im imagining dynamic situation given the lack of power and just the lack of access to so many necessities. Right. Well, im fortunate, unlike the gazans, i was at a hotel, now im at a u. N. Building and Palestinian Childrens Relief Fund has been working to try to get us out. Im here with another volunteer. Weve contacted both embassies. We are working with the Cairo Embassy to get egyptian visas and actually, were supposed to leave today, except that was the original plan on monday, but then since theres really no way to get out at this point. Were showing live pictures of gaza city as its about 5 36 in the afternoon and the bombings have certainly increased just in the last 30 minutes that weve been on the air. Take a look at this, and if youre watching if youre listening to us on radio, what were seeing is the skyline of gaza and right in the middle part of it, one after another black plumes of smoke emanating from different buildings. Doctor, youve been working closely with doctors in gaza. Help us understand what its like there in gaza when its not under a siege and what are the people there experiencing now . Right, so first of all, its always under siege. Its not as severe of a siege, but its always under siege. When i came last year i went to some of the hospitals and looked at the pediatric units. Then i worked with kids trying to get them medications, funding for medications that they need. So theres always medical short supply. The hospitals are always overrun with too many patients and not enough space, not enough medications and supplies, and so they really are running on the brink of disaster on a regular day. People in gaza have been living with Power Outages planned for years really, right before this started, they were getting eight hours on, eight hours off, but ive been here when its four hours on, eight hours off, so they really dont ever get thishour electricity. Their water system is bad so they have to use bottled water, and so theyre always just barely on the cusp of survival really. Doctor, you seem so calm in this moment. I think if i were in your shoes, i would be in a panic right now. How do you maintain that sense of control and composure not knowing really what the future holds in the near future . Im fortunate to be an american, right . So i feel like i, you know, have the country on my side to get out, and i really have im in a safe place. Before this we were in a hotel that was very safe. There were a lot of explosions pretty close by, but i would just kind of stay in a safe place and stay away from windows and follow directions that i had. Yeah. So im just also struck by what jose was talking about, the idea and what you just described prior to this, this moment with how there was an inconsistency in power, how they were already short on food and potable water, and having the medical supplies that you rely on in order to do the work in order to save people who are going through horrific, you know, health crises. And so now were, you know, in a position in which gaza is pretty much isolated more than ever. We know that humanitarian aid is not flowing in, at least thats our latest reporting. The power is even more limited if power at all because of fuel not arriving. So what does that mean for the 2 Million People who reside in gaza, all of these innocent civilians . Well, yeah, i mean, one thing that we know is that half of those 2 million are children, so and children are more susceptible to disintery, all of those things affect even a healthy Childs Health versus even any of these other sick children, so i you know, everybodys got a generator, but they now are not getting fuel, so thats not going to last too long, and its you know, its ugly. Its scary. And those people are frightened. They dont have anyplace to go for safety. Theyll go to the u. N. Schools, but sometimes those are not safe places to be. So they really have no safe place to go, and theyre going to be running out of food and everything they need in a short time. Yeah, and there are agencies there on the Ground Reporting that the schools are full at this point as people are trying to seek safe place to be. Dr. Barbara zind, thank you so much for taking the time and shining some light for all of us, and best of luck in your efforts to get out of gaza safely. We will be thinking of you, please keep in touch. Thank you, doctor. Okay, thank you. And joining us now is former u. S. Ambassador to morocco, marc ginsberg. Just want to state on the top that you and i have been friends for many years, and i understand that you lost your nephew this week. He was a member of the idf. Just, if you would, just tell us what happened. Yeah, thanks a lot, jose. Im actually unfortunately missed his funeral today because i couldnt make it to israel. Im stuck in europe, which was heartbreaking for us because he had lost his father, my brother in the 2006 Lebanese Hezbollah war and leaves behind four young children. He was just decommissioned as one of the elite commando navy s. E. A. L. S of israel three weeks ago, and he was home with his family when the hostilities broke out. He was immediately called up to lead a Commando Unit to free hostages that were being held from the Music Festival in kibbutz reim, and he in the attempt to rescue some of the hostages, he was slain in a firefight with hamas. And it its heartbreaking in more ways than you can imagine. Im so sorry to hear about that, and im really sorry for your familys loss, ambassador. So as we look at these images in gaza, the situation continues to be dynamic. The death toll continues to grow sadly. Secretary blinken is there. He just met with netanyahu. Hes been meeting with other survivors in israel and reinforing americas unequivocal support of israel. We are also learning he will meet with the Palestinian Authority presently. Talk to us about what you think blinkens visit means and potential objectives. Well, in fact, i just watched of course your coverage of the secretarys visit to that relief center, and i know tony personally for decades. You saw the humanity in him, but the resolution in his commitment and the president s commitment to israels strength and vitality and his determination to be there as a symbolic gesture as well as an important diplomatic mission. Look, all of us who have been involved in this conflict as i have, having been raised in israel and worked since the Camp David Accords on behalf of the united states, know all too well that the palestinians unfortunately are divided into tribes. There are those who want peace with israel, and those who want to destroy israel, and those who want to destroy israel are the ones who are controlling the population in gaza, and Decapitating Hamas has got to be job one. And the fact that the Palestinian Authority leadership is unable to influence any of the events shows how weak and feeble is the leadership of president Mahmoud Abbas and the facts that lets have no illusions, even though its an Extremist Coalition that now has given away to a unity government in israel, those extremists have been egging on israelis to engage in terrorism in the west bank, and theres been enormous amount of support for hamas thats been growing in the west bank. So israel faces a hamas threat on both sides of its borders. And ambassador, this is something that really is not, you know, a recent development. You speak of losing your brother in 2006, you know, in lebanon, and hezbollah activity there. Hezbollah is still very strong in lebanon, and you know, ambassador, more than most, the influence it has in syria, the influence that this there is of hezbollah in hamas throughout the region. Im just wondering how when you have that history, how can you do you think, ambassador, as you say decapitate hamas . Is it just going into gaza where there are 2. 3 million civilians . Listen, the firefight that is about to take place and ive been inside gaza more than once, and i know exactly what the situation is in there. The fact is that theres a lot of misunderstanding of whats taking place inside the gaza strip. Some people equate hamas to one big prison gaza to one big prison colony. Some compare it to people who are caught in a Stockholm Syndrome where theyre unable to break loose of hamass control. The fact is hamass leadership doesnt even live in gaza. It lives under it lives in a velvet in a velvet and velvet surroundings in qatar. Qatar is the number one to be able to build the weapons and technological know how it gets from iran. Hezbollah is the number one existential threat, not hamas to israel at this point because the fire power that hezbollah has far exceeds anything that hamas has fired at israel. Ambassador, thank you very much for being with us this morning. So appreciate your time, and i know youre once again your family is enveloped in pain, and we send you our best. Thank you, thank you so much for having me, ana and jose, thank you so much. Thank you, ambassador. Still at this hour, efforts to bring hostages home. Youre watching special coverage only on msnbc. Only on msnbc. Still living with odors . Get back in there and freshen instantly with febreze air mist. Febrezes Fine Mist Floats longer in the air to fight even your toughest odors. So long stinky smells and hello amazing freshness. Febreze air mist. Im hearing different ways for me to screen for colon cancer. Its time to use my voice, ive got a choice, more than one answer. I sat down with my doc. We had a talk. Knew just what to say. 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Unlike chrome, the Duckduckgo Browser has privacy builtin. It comes with a private alternative to google search, which doesnâ– t spy on your searches, and it blocks cookies and creepy ads. And theres no catch. Its free. We make money from ads, but they dont follow you around. Join the millions of people taking back their privacy by Downloading Duckduckgo On Mobile and desktop today. Welcome back to our special coverage of the israel, hamas war. Conditions deteriorating rapidly in gaza under israels bombardment. These are live images right now, 5 49 p. M. In gaza and black smoke continues to rise on the skylines from multiple buildings. More than 100 people are missing including americans believed to have been taken right there to gaza. The white house vowing to help rescue hostages, but today the Deputy National security adviser ruled out american boots on the ground. What i can say is at this point we are not contemplating u. S. Boots on the ground involved in that mission. What we have done is sent acros governments to the region to consult and advise with their id israeli counterparts to get these people home. Courtney kube now, pledges of support, but no boots on the ground. What is the u. S. Strategy on hostages . What do we know . Thats right. So, some of what we just heard from jon finer about the technical experts already there in israel now supporting the idf and Israeli Special forces in the effort to find the hostages, some include special Operations Forces, specifically people from jsoc. And these are the types of u. S. Military troops very elite forces who have expertise in this sort of situation. So, it is finding missing people, finding hostages, and trying to figure out ways you can rescue them, especially when were talking about a situation like we see right now in gaza. That is tight, narrow streets, high rise buildings and an area where you have hamas who is very dug in among a civilian population. It is an extremely difficult version of Urban Warfare and when you compound that with the fact that there are Tunnel Systems underneath, extensive, and elaborate Tunnel Systems underneath the city, thats the kind of expertise that they bring in these sorts of people to help with. All that being said, it is still an extremely difficult situation even with the high level of expertise, ana and jose. Im wondering, courtney, when ellison was talking to us about what she has seen, you know, near the border there, hundreds of tanks, we also have been seeing reports of military bulldozers, you know, when you start doing the math on what that means, right, entire brigades, tanks, and bulldozers into a city, as we see it 51 past the hour, has been getting consistently hit with missiles, im just wondering what, courtney, would a Military Incursion into gaza look like . So, heres the heres one of the concerns. It is not just the Tunnel Systems that i mentioned. There is also these high rise buildings that are likely to be snipers, there are likely to be booby trapped. So any military that is going to come in is going to have to come in with a lot of force and theyre also going to have have things like the tanks, things like the bulldozers, it will be a im sorry to say this it sounds crass, but it has the potential to be a very bloody battle. Hand to hand, literally street by street fight. I keep bringing up this, because i keep thinking about the fight for west mosul, several years ago, in iraq. It was a very similar situation that the Iraqi SpecialOperations Forces had to face and they were literally going block by block, and in some cases building by building and it took weeks for them to clear it out, jose. Courtney kube, thank you very much. Now lets bring into the conference philip mudd, the former Deputy Director of the cias counterterrorist center. Good to see you. There are at least 150 hostages, were told, at least 17 americans remain unaccounted for after the attacks in israel. President biden spoke yesterday about the white house strategy to try to get those hostages back. Lets take a listen. We want to make it real clear, were working on every aspect of Hostage Crisis in israel including deploying experts to advise and assist with recovery efforts. There is a lot were doing. A lot were doing. I have not given up hope of bringing these folks home. Phil, what options could be on the table and what would hamas want in exchange if theyre trying to use these hostages as leverage . You can think of a couple options. None of them is good. First, obviously, the military option, working with the israelis, The Americans as you just heard said they dont want boots on the ground, working with the israelis to find what we call geolocation, where the hostages are. And get them out by force. Second, working through a proxy. In this case that might be gutter, government hosting hamas. That has disadvantages as well. Third Party Working to get americans out, you want to go one on one. If you want to go one on one, youre talking about The Americans directly with hamas. They legitimize them by doing that. Is there any other way if you dont legitimize them . How do you not placate them and still end up, you know, being able to save these lives . If you are talking about 150 hostages, the chance that you can have a physical rescue operation, if you look at that video on the screen, and what that city looks like, the chance that you can have physical sort of operations, Military Operations to pick up 150 people, that is not going to happen. So you got to look at an endgame that has to have conversations with the People Holding those hostages and have those two options i mentioned. You do it through intermediary, you get a filtered conversation, do it directly, which gives some legitimacy to hamas. Bottom line, at the end of the day here, i would predict there will be conversations because i cant see another way out, ana. Phil, there may not be any other way that way, but israel has been very clear and that they plan to essentially destroy hamas. Hamas is, other than its leadership, which is living very comfortably in qatar and other places, it is right there in that so densely populated city. Phil, how does Something Like that, the elimination of a group that is within 2. 3 million civilians, how is that accomplished . It will not be accomplished. When i was facing terrorists starting in the 1980s and going through when i finished with the cia and the fbi, you have an issue of how you deal with terrorists themselves. That is the people hunting operation, military and intelligence. That is doable if youre trying to eliminate the leadership of an organization, you look at what The Americans, with others, what they did to al qaeda. Al qaeda was gutted by military and intelligence operations. The question is how you eliminate the ideology. And the problem is israelis and americans have is once you move through those cities and start killing civilians, hamas is going to be able to say, youre our protector, were your protectors against the israelis killing babies, it is not the leadership, the organization, it is the ideology. The problem with the incursion is it might feed that ideology. Thats one of the biggest problems will face in the coming weeks and months. Tell us more about this group, your assessment here, phil. Israels Prime Minister said hamas is worse than isis, given the level of brutality, the indiscriminate killing, even potentially broader threat that they may pose given they want to wipe out jews. Other officials made this isis comparison as well. What is your assessment about these two groups, how they operate . Just as a practical exercise, i would probably i got to think about this more but i would agree it is worse as a practitioner, not as a politician. Let me give you a few reasons why. Number one, hamas has been around for decades. They have the security and Operational Capability to move without the israelis knowing. They have practiced in evading the people like me who will hunt them down and they had that practice since the 80s. Number two, they control territory. Isis struggled to control territory. Number three, they have been in governance and have some level of ideological support in a broad swath of the population. Isis was always isolated. So if you look at the characteristics of the Operational Capability for years and their ideological penetration, the population, theyre ahead of isis in my judgment. Philip mudd, thank you for being with us. More of our special coverage in our second hour. Were back after a short break. Dont go anywhere. Were back after a short break. Dont go anywhere. all toooo youuuuu sean i wish for the amazing new iphone 15 pro jason sean do you mean this one the one with titanium . sean no way i can trade this busted up thing for one. jason maybe stealing wishes from the birthday boy is not your best plan switch to verizon and trade in any iphone and get the new iphone 15 pro on them. sean what . jason yup, and on an Amazing Network sean and i dont have to ruin anymore Birthday Parties jason yeah, that ship has sailed. Lets go get you the iphone. Here we go, come on hon. vo its your last chance to trade in any iphone for a new iphone 15 pro on us. Only on verizon. Good morning. It is 11 00 a. M. Eastern, 8 00 a. M. Pacific, im jose diazbalart back with my