Pound hamas targets in the Israeli Forces pound hamas gaz targets in the gaza strip strip overnight after one of the deadliest an overnight after one of the deadliest and most vicious d mos onslaughts ever on Israeli Military and civilians onslaughts ever. At least 700 killed, including 250 concert goers at a music at least 700 killed, including 250 co festival. Ncert goers at a Music Festival women and children abducted at gunpoint women and children abducted at just ahead, the fingers pointing gunpoint. Just ahead, the fingers pointing at iran this morning, the response that could trigge at iran this morning. R a the response that could trigger wider war, and the u. S. Now sending warshi a wider war. Ps and fighter and the u. S. Now sending jets to the region warships and fighter jets to thd region. Live reports from israel and washin washington ahead. Gton just ahea. Terror. Hundreds of families desperatels desperately searching for lo searching for loved ones taken hostage, including small ved ones taken hostage, including small children this morning, the frantic children. Efforts to find and free them, this morning the frantic efforts to find and free them, including some americans. Amer and the u. S. Congressman caught. Including some americans, and the u. S. Congr before their frantic escape. Essn the chaos with his family before he will join us live. Their frantic escape high alert. He will join us security being ramped up at liv hay alert, security being ramped synagogues across the u. S. Loved ones waiting inside up as israel. Hundreds of flights in and out the u. S. Families waiting for word of love of the region canceled. D ones flightin well have the very latest. Remembering michael g cance. Well have the latest. Chiarello. And remembering micha tributes pouring in for the chiarell celebrity chef and former food network star. O, his death being blamed on an allergic reacti his death being blamed on an on well have details and a look allergic reaction. Back at his lifeok back at his life. All that, plus flyin all that plus flying high. Gi new gold medals, new records an applause ], new gold medals, new records and ne new wows for simone biles. W wow biles. Is her next stop the paris so is her next stop the Paris Olympics . It ended up just fine. What shes saying about her olympics. Didnt think i would be at the world, didnt think future. I would be at the classics and it turned out just and gold rush. Fine. What she kittle in independent space. Number two. The 49ers blast the cowboys to remain undefeated. Are they the best team in the nfl . Today, monday, october 9th, 2023. From nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Hi, everybody. Good morning. Welcome to today on this monday morning. 7 00 a. M. On the west coast. Glad to have you with us. Hodas got the holiday off. Lets get to the top story. Overnight israel launching new missile attacks while soldiers fight to regain several towns. It comes after an unprecedented invasion by hamas saturday. Fighters pouring over the border. Some paragliding out of the sky to overrun israeli villages as well at a popular Music Festival. Over 700 People Killed in israel. More than 130 israeli hostages have been taken. And in gaza, nearly 500 People Killed there. This morning u. S. Officials confirm at least nine americans are among the dead with that number expected to rise. In the meantime, the u. S. Is expected to move navy ships closer to israel as a show of support. We have every aspect covered, including why this region is so volatile. The concerns of a wider war and that new response from washington. Lets get started with Richard Engel who is inside israel this morning. Richard, good morning to you. Reporter good morning. We are in the town of sderot, near the gaza border. And this is one of the communities that hamas managed to penetrate. Those plumes are from where the israelis have been carrying out counterstrikes. Inside the city, this is one of the areas where most of the people have left now. This is one of the areas where hamas militants entered in an infil infiltration. Weve heard there was another attempt to breach the breach israels borders to enter into israeli towns and communities and continue hamas killing plea is. This is killing spree. This is much not over. We came under fire ourselves. Many of the people in these towns are evacuating, and were seeing military vehicles, israeli tanks and heavy armor heading this way. Israels payback is under way with the army carrying out strikes targeting hamas infrastructure and smuggling tunnels. Constrained because hamas is Holding Dozens of daly hostages hidden deep inside gaza. Israel didnt anticipate hamas had this capacity and israels Intelligence Network missed the signs that it was coming. At 6 30 saturday morning, under the cover of a massive rocket barrage, hundreds of hamas fighters blasted their way through the fences around gaza and flew over Israeli Defenses in paragliders. Once inside israel, the militants showing a high level of training and preparation went on a killing spree. Israeli media say in all more than 700 israelis are dead, including more than 100 soldiers and police. Many of the dead, nearly 300, were at an allNight Dance Party near gaza. In an image that has captured the worlds attention, one woman is taken and begs for her life as her boyfriend is held watching helplessly. In tel aviv this morning, guya is searching for her father, sister, little brother, cousin with special needs, and 80yearold grandmother with dementia. She was on the phone with her mother as hamas fighters were inside their house near gaza pulling at the doors. Then the phone went dead. Guya has no idea if her relatives are still alive but did find a video of her 12yearold brother. Gunmen call him a settler as they march him off to be a hostage and bargaining chip in gaza. Im trying to be strong, but its so hard. Im just hoping they are alive because i couldnt i cant believe Something Like this. Reporter the hamas attacks are being carried out with extreme brutality. Just in the city hamas fighters, dozens of them, entered into the town. They were in pickup trucks. They had mounted machine guns and were spraying gunfire left nationalities or and right, opening fire. Identi. Savannah, craig, bac now theyre used as human shields. K to you thank you so much. Richard engel, thank you very well turn to jeremy bash. He was chief of staff at both much now to jeremy bash, chief of staff at the department of defense and cia, good morning to you. Hey, savannah. Lets talk about gaza the department of defense and ,s is a narrow st the cia. Rip of land, very small, c gaza is a narrow strip of land,e controlled by hamas. D by hamas this was a this was a multifaceted attack, land, air, sea its almost unfathomable to believe that fighters were lands, air, sea, its almost unfathomable to believe that a to p fighters were able to pour overd attack c the borders and attack civilian targets. Ivilian targets. How did how did this happen . This happen . The terro the terrorists came in by boat. Rists came in by they came in by paraglider. Boat they came in b theyve done both of those y pag things before. Lider, they have done both of those things before, but never before have they been have the able to blow 15 holes in a fortified border fence and enter israel on vehicles and go on a killing spree all of those villages and towns along the gaza strip we can see, this is the gaza strip is, for folks who dont know, within israel, this narrow strip of land there are little towns around it and these towns have become somewhat accustomed to rocket attacks. This is unprecedented. Thats right. The people in sderot or in the border towns, they know to go into their bomb shelters, their safe rooms, when they get a siren when the rockets are flying iron dome usually intercepts the rockets. Never before have they had to con contend with a Ground Invasion and military assault from terrorists in their homes, their community centers, in their villages weve seen the slaughter. Kn, 700 People Killed. Is that so hamas can use them as a human shield they could say theyre going to flatten fla flatten gaza they have to worry about them being killed in any barrage of gaza, but its taken years to negotiate hostage swaps. For 130 israelis, civilian and soldiers, to be there under at gunpoint by hamas terrorists, really complicates this operation for the idf. The other issue is iran hamas is a proxy of iran we dont know yet how directly iran was involved, but most analysts, most everyone in hamas, in fact, has said some thanks to iran for its support how will israel respond to iran, and could that lead it a wider war . Absolutely, savannah. Iran sponsors hamas. Iran also sponsors hezbollah, a terrorist military in the northern part of israel. If you look at this map, in the north where lebanon shows and syria shows, there are hezbollah encampments there. They have 200,000 rocket artillery and mortar pieces, Ballistic Missiles aimed at the heart of israel. If israel has to go after those hezbollah elements, its a wider regional war between israel and iran theyre fortifying now not just the southern borders but the north, as well jeremy, thank you so much. Craig . All right as we said, the United States military moving more ships and aircraft to that region President Biden has been speaking with israels prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu nbcs chief White House CorrespondentPeter Alexander joins us from the white house. Peter, first of all, what is the latest on the u. S. Response this morning . Reporter as you noted, President Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu have spoken twice, we know of, over the weekend. The u. S. Is sending new assets to that region the uss Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group is headed toward the eastern mediterranean. That is closer to the israeli coast. It includes four guided missile destroyers this is significant as a show of force but also as a demonstration of american support. It leads to a big question which is whether u. S. Forces could become directly involved that strike group is meant to deter hamas and iran, but the u. S. Right now is not ruling out that they could be used to help israel in this war more air power and also on the way. That includes f35s, the most advanced fighter jet the u. S. Has. And so is military equipment, craig, with more expected in the days ahead theres the military response all of this, of course, happening without a permanent speaker of the house Kevin Mccarthy out so what do we know about how that could affect the u. S. Response reporter house republicans, they do hope to elect a speaker this week. But without a permanent one right now, congress is effectively paralyzed. The temporary speaker, he has very limited powers. And in terms of emergency funding for israel, the house cannot even bring legislation to the floor. Weve pushed the white house, this issue, what impact it could have Top National Security officials tell us in the near term the u. S. Is focused on giving israel everything it needs. But they clearly want to see the situation resolved in the house immediately so there is no delay for additional aid going forward, craig chief White House CorrespondentPeter Alexander for us thank you. New york congressman dan goldman was visiting israel with his family over the weekend when those attacks began. Hes with us now in the studio congressman, good morning. Good to see you. Glad your family and you are safe and back home what happened where were you when this unfolded, and what was your experience with your family we have in tel aviv where we were supposed to be for the weekend, in a hotel. Got woken up at 6 30 in the morning by sirens. We were obviously aware of the reality on the ground in israel, that sirens will go off. You have in tel aviv about 90 seconds to get to a shelter. Obviously if youre further in the south, you have much less time but i had never heard it before. My kids obviously had no idea what was going on. We woke up, and we sort of scrambled and ran to the stairwell on saturday morning. That happened several more times as rocket fire was coming toward tel aviv it happened again in the evening. So you know, i was lucky enough to jump on line and got a flight out yesterday. But we were supposed to come back today, and many, many flights have been canceled its just unfathomable our experience was traumatic, but of course it is nothing compared to so many israelis down in the south just massacred with barbarism that we have not seen on a personal level, you experienced a up to of it. I want to the ask you as a congressman who covers and follows these issues, i mean, unfathomable is the word that comes to mind. Israel is known for having one of the most vaunted and fearsome military and intelligence at rat us in the world. Not only is it an intelligence failure but the fighters over the borders, military bases were overrun. Are you shocked by this . It is definitely surprising i was there with a congressional delegation in august, and we got, you know, briefings about how prepared, how the intelligence works, how iron dome works i did not expect to be experiencing how iron dome works, which you could hear the missiles intercepting the rockets above. But this is a i think what is most important right now, both in the congress and around this country, is that we have to stand with israel against this barbaric terrorism that is what it was. It is as bad or worse than i. S. I. S. , al qaeda what they did to those concertgoers in just indiscriminately massacring people on a field, taking Holocaust Survivors in wheelchairs as kidnapping, killing children, it is unconscionable and inhuman and we as americans who oppose terrorism of all sorts must stand with our ally israel in order to support them and so that they can protect their borders and make their country secure what do you think the response should be, especially visavis iran well, i think a lot remains to be seen as to what irans actual role was, and i know that there will be a intense study of exactly what role iran has played right now we in Congress Must rally together, and you mentioned at the beginning of this that we dont have a speaker of the house. We cannot actually do business so do you think that will put forward what Congress Wants to do in terms of supporting israel ultimately no, i hope not, because the administration has the authorities it needs right now to provide the support but we have to replenish iron dome we have to be able to expand them if, as jeremy said, rockets start coming from hezbollah in the north and more hamas in the south and even if this were to expand into the west bank, iron dome can be overwhelmed. And that is a huge priority. I witnessed it up close, how essential and effective it is. It is the greatest Defense System that we know in order to literally with radar, heatseeking missiles essentially, intercept rockets that would otherwise be going at tel aviv, jerusalem, wherever. So that is really what our focus has to be. Israel needs. Congressman dan goldman, again, glad to know that you and your family are safe thanks for your time this morning. Thank you. As the violence escalates in the middle east, there are security implications at home as well Law Enforcement agencies across this country now ramping up patrol and i hope ramping up patrols in jewish communities. Stephanie gosk joins us. Reporter good morning. Well, the war in the middle east remains miles away, cities nationwide are increasing their security at synagogues like this and other religious institutions as officials warn of lone wolf attacks in the u. S as violence flairs in israel and gaza, this morning the u. S. Is on high alert. Police increasing patrols at local synagogues and other places of worship. We will be out there in force. Reporter though there are no current credible threats, theyre directing the nypd t resources to jewish communities. Washington, d. C. , miami beach and los angeles all taking similar precautions. There are extra cars out there keeping an eye out for anomalies. Reporter while in Salt Lake City sunday, police ramped up security following unspecified threats targeting jewish institutions thousands of demonstrators gathered at pro palestinian and pro israel rallies nationwide. Thousands of americans in israel and there are few options to fly to the u. S so far united, american and Delta Airlines have all announced theyre temporarily suspending flights to and from telaviv those who have made it back are traumatized. To see our people getting murdered is just beyond. Reporter and over the weekend, many in the Jewish Community rallying around each other as they pray for their family and loved ones back home. Now is not the time to be afraid now is the time to be strong reporter all of this is happening as incidents in this country are at historic highs. Last year there were nearly 3,700 incidents in this country. Craig . Stephanie gosk for us outside the synagogue in new york city. Thank you. In our next half hour, much more on the families caught in the middle of the war. The message they want the world to hear, including a father whose wife and little girls are missing right now. Lets get a first check of the weather. Dylan is in for al this morning. Good morning, guys. We do have a chill in the air, especially across the upper midwest with frost advisories and freeze warnings in effect. Wisconsin, minnesota temperatures close to that Freezing Point detroit is at 40 buffalo is at 46 so it certai