flooding, power outages across the east coast. we ll have an update from our reporter on the ground and a look at where this intense weather is heading next. next. good morning. thanks for joining us. it is 10:00 eastern. i m ana cabrera reporting from new york. we want to take you right to tel aviv where any moment defense secretary lloyd austin will speak at this press conference. today s meeting follows the tragic news announced friday that israeli defense forces accidentally killed three israeli hostages. the idf releasing these photos showing a sign they say was written in leftover food reading help. three hostages, it was found inside a building near the killings. now israeli public is pushing the government to get back to negotiating to get the remains hostages out. as nbc news has learned, cia director william burns is meeting with israeli and qatari officials in poland in an effort to restart the talk. let s bring in nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard eng
good morning, to our viewers in the usa and around the world. i m john avlon. it is monday, december 18th. it s 5:00 a.m. here in new york, noon in tel aviv, where the u.s. defense secretary is scheduled to meet now with his israeli counterpart. secretary lloyd austin s mission is to press israeli officials on specific milestones for progress in israel s war against hamas, as civilian casualties climb. here s democratic senator chris van hollen talking to abc this sunday. we do have unacceptable levels of casualties. we see loose rules of engagement, way looser than anything that the united states would exercise. we would not drop a 2,000-pound bomb on a refugee camp to target a hamas commander. a senior defense official tells cnn that austin will, quote, want to hear very clear articulation of the israeli self-assessment today. that same official has confidence in the israeli military and so he s there to ask questions and learn more about their plan. elliott gotkine
what a story to start our day. thanks, andy. thanks for joining us. i m john avlon. cnn this morning starts right now. good morning, everyone. so glad you re with us. i m poppy harlow with phil mattingly in new york. there s a lot going on on this monday, december 18th. happening right now defense secretary lloyd austin is back in israel, his visit part of the international pressure campaign for israel to change its tactics in gaza and restart the truce talks, pressure growing after the killing of three hostages by soldiers. republican front runner donald trump using darker more extreme rhetoric in that final sprint, the white house slamming trump for what it calls fascist rhetoric. right now storms gusting up the east coast and the travel delays it could cause this holiday week. cnn this morning starts right now. we begin with defense secretary lloyd austin meeting right now with israel s defense min minister. pressure is growing on israel to change its tactics
accused donald trump of partying adolf hitler. what s your reaction and how you and other republicans feel? 76% of the american people, not donald trump, believe the border is broke snoon what about that language? the poisoning the blood? i m worried about an outcome. you have endorsed president trump. are you comfortable with him using words like that? you know, we re talking about language. i could care less what language people use as long as we get it right. that s republican senator lindsey graham refusing to condemn donald trump s use of hitler rhetoric during his campaign rallies. we ll have more of the president s disturbing comments just ahead. plus an update from capitol hill on foreign aid packages. the funding is being held up by gop demands for stricter immigration policies. plus, we ll go through the biden administration s latest push to urge israel to scale back its war on gaza. good morning and welcome to way too early on this monday, dece
or terms. our support to israel s right to defend itself is ironclad as you ve heard me say a number of times, and that s not going to change. it s critical, as i said earlier, that hamas not be able to threaten israel from gaza or even threaten gaza anymore. you know, that s an interest that we all share. that s a common interest with all of us, and so today we had great discussions about the status of the campaign, about goals and objectives, and about how to reduce harm to civilians in the battle space, and to and the need to ensure a sustained flow of humanitarian assistance into gaza. you know, we can offer some insight based upon our own experience in fighting terrorist groups and certainly that enabled us to have great discussions and we also have some great thoughts about how to transition from high intensity operations to lower intensity and more surgical operations, so we had great discussions on all of those issues. on lebanon, we ve been clear that we don t want