Minute i think we need to that is what the constitution says good morning and welcome to sunday today on this october 15th im willie geist eight days after the attack by Hamas Terrorists on israeli civilians that has horrified the world, israels military is in position for a Ground Invasion of gaza. This morning, the israelis gave residents of northern gaza another warning to leave the area ahead of the expected largescale operation. This as the u. S. Government prepares to bring in help for americans who want to leave israel well have the latest in a live report from the ground just ahead. Plus, our sunday focus on how we got to this dark chapter in a conflict older than the state of israel itself we will walk through the history that brought us here then we will turn to our sunday spotlight on a los angeles Food Institution founded by cuban immigrants and thriving a half century later and later, a sunday sitdown with one of the most influential artists in all of music, Jack Antonoff, on a new album from his band bleachers and the hitmaking magic between him and his longtime friend, taylor swift i could quantify our relationship in very productive ways about the things we agree on, the sounds we like, the truth is weve just grown together she has put an amazing amount of belief in me its powerful. A sunday sitdown with Jack Antonoff, plus, another life well lived later in the show. Lets beginning this morning with the expected Ground Invasion by the Israeli Military on gaza. Troops and tanks have massed near the border as they promised they prepare to deliver on the promis to destroy hamas after the last weeks horrific terrorist attack we have the story covered from all angles beginning with chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel on the front lines in israel near the border with gaza richard, whats the latest there . Reporter good morning. I can tell you what were hearing and seeing for the last several hours weve been hearing small arms fire, sounds like heavy machine guns we have been hearing continuin israeli air strikes into the gaza strip weve seen hamas firing rockets, still even so many days into this conflict from gaza toward israel, but what were not seeing are Israeli Ground movements. Were not seeing israeli tanks taking up that final position heading right toward the border. It is an extremely windy day here weather might be a factor. The drones that israel has been using at the gaza strip ar impacted by the wind israelis ready for or it could be just israels that it has more to do before it launches its assault into the gaza strip israelis ready for battle. Israeli officials arent giving details on timing but say hundreds of thousands of troops have increased their readiness to attack hamas and the gaza strip by land, sea, and air. Israel has ordered more than a million palestinians to leave northern gaza immediately and head south below the wadi gaza valley for their safety. Thousands are leaving, taking what little they can carry but many have not left, with thousands sheltering at gaza citys shepa hospital. Palestinians say its too dangerous to move because israel is attacking civilians as they try to flee. Palestinian medical Officials Say 70 civilians were killed on friday when a convoy heading south was attacked by an israeli air strike many were on this flatbed truck. Footage of the aftermath is too graphic to show without blurring with bodies of women and children laying in the streets but this morning, the Israeli Military says it did not carry out air strikes in the area at the time and that its investigation shows the explosion came from below. Israel accuses hamas of planting a bomb in the road to frighten palestinians so theyll remain in northern gaza as human shields for hamas fighters the attack was not conducted by the idf in our review and after looking at all of the footage, weve concluded it was not an idf strike that conducted this event. And it appears hamas, once again, has sacrificed the people of gaza for its diabolical aims. Reporter israel released images what have it claims are hamas roadblocks the United States is trying to prevent the war from spreading across the middle east secretary blinken was in saudi arabia on his way to cairo its vitally important, and i know that our countries agree, that we Work Together to make sure that, to the best of our ability, this conflict does not spread to other places reporter the u. S. Is trying to deter iran and hezbollah which support hamas, from joining the war. Hezbollah has carried out strikes into northern israel but the attacks have been on a a small scale, not a new front for now. Iranian officials have been issuing what sounds like vague warnings that if israel goes in and there is a large casualty a large number of casualties among palestinians, that iran may have to intervene, that it could cause an unpredictable earthquake in the region. The u. S. Is sending a clear message sending another Aircraft Carrier battle group to the eastern mediterranean. Willie . Richard engel along israels border with gaza. We appreciate your reporting. Continue to stay safe, please. Lets bring in the former supreme allied commander of nato and an nbc news analyst. Admiral, good morning. The idf has promised this response will come from the air, will come on the ground, it will come by sea. We havent seen the Ground Invasion yet, as richard just reported. What should we expect in the coming days . Were going to have more reports of special forces, skirmishing, initial probing operations on the ground. I think we will see activity from the sea because the israeli s. E. A. L. S, their commandos, are very capable of coming in, particularly in periods of darkness. Well see reports of that. In the air well see more of the precisionguided strikes that have been going on, willie. Some time in the next 24 to 48 hours almost certainly a major ground assault will begin, tanks, armored personnel carriers, troops moving swiftly. Theyre going to go in looking for the hostages. Theyre also going to go in after hamas, its command and control, ammunition, all of the hamas entities are going to be the target coming very soon. As you say, the stated goal from the idf is to crush hamas so it can never carry out another terrorist attack like the one we saw last weekend but, also, to rescue those hostages, up to 150 of them. How difficult an operation will that be, admiral . I cannot conceive of a harder military operation, willie, as follows. There are so many hostages, over 150. They are arrayed throughout this war, in buildings and upper possibilities, but they could also be down below the ground in 300 miles of tunnels. It is a dedicated and diabolical foe who no doubt will kill the hostages if they are aware of israelis closing in. Ive been involved in many hostage rescue operations over the years. This is the most difficult one ive ever seen. We also have the question of 2 million, more than 2 million, residents of gaza. A million of them, a little bit more, in the northern part have been told to quickly move to the south because the invasion will come into the north. How do you, as someone who has participated in war planning, how do you look at that challenge of youre going after hamas, you want to crush the terrorists, but also there are a whole lot of civilians there in harms way . I know how the Israeli Defense forces approaches this. Its very similar to the United States. In addition to the planners who are very focused on the pure offensive combat operations, the Israeli Defense forces will have set up internal cells with legal advisers, teams that reconnaissance and searching are focused on the civilians. All of that runs in parallel to the main battle for us. And in particular, willie, to conclude, theyll be looking for how can they provide safe routes and the idf is making announcements, telling them where to go. Sadly, you see hamas planning improvised explosive devices blocking them. Israel will do everything they can to provide safe passage, and they will do everything in the diplomatic world to try and assist with setting up humanitarian camps that these who are fleeing the combat can get to. Israel has a very focused effort to minimize collateral damage. Im confident theyll do everything they can. Admiral, always great to have your expertise on these matters. Thanks for being here. On saturday the state department reported there are 15 americans unaccounted for in israel along with the 29 killed in last weeks attack there. Meanwhile, the u. S. Embassy announced new evacuation efforts overnight to help americans who want to leave the country. Nbcs ali rafa. Reporter for the americans living in israel, the embassys announcement is welcome news. Starting tomorrow u. S. Nationals and their families wanting to leave will be evacuated by sea from the port in haifa and taken to cyprus. Urgency intensifying after the number of american deaths increased to 29 with 15 Americans Still unaccounted for in israel. Some believed to be among hamas hostages in gaza. President biden reflecting on the ongoing conflict saturday night. We have to do this again and again and homophobia, transphobia, theyre all connected. Hate toward one group left unanswered opens the door for more hate. Reporter the president calls israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority president abbas saturday stressing the need to get humanitarian aid to Gaza Civilians caught in the crossfire. Among the masses of palestinians now fleeing south, some of the estimated 500 to 600 dual u. S. Citizens living in gaza. The state department directing them to the still closed rafah Border Crossing into egypt. Despite no guarantees when it will open, for how long, and whether hamas will allow access. The logistical challenges are expected to be a top priority for secretary of state Antony Blinken while in cairo today. Blinken meeting with saudi Arabias Mohammed bin salman earlier after a week of meetings in israel and surrounding arab nations, willie. Allie raffa this morning, thanks so much. Kristen welker is moderator of meet the press. Kristen, good morning. Great to see you. Americas support for israel over the last week has been unequivocal, a powerful speech from President Biden, then secretaries blinken and austin, both traveling to israel, but what are those conversations, according to your reporting, like between President Biden and Prime Minister netanyahu about trying to avoid a wider war in the middle east . Well, willie, its good to be with you. I think you hit at the key point here. Publicly speaking we are seeing this robust support from President Biden, from the secretary of state, but privately, based on our reporting adding to that message in these conversations u. S. Officials are urging restraint and urging mitigating civilian deaths. Secretary blinken, as you say, is in the region right now. He is expected to be in cairo today where he will be talking about securing the safe passage of americans and civilians who are in gaza and also, willie, the broader goal of trying to prevent this from becoming a wider war because, of course, that risk further ensnaring the United States and this crisis as well, so there is a lot at stake and, again, the public messaging, this very robust support and privately also urging israel to follow International Law as it carries out these next steps, willie. Of course iran dangerous and at the center of all of this as well. Kristen, thank you. Well look for much more this morning on meet the press when kristen is joined by House Minority leader hakeem jeffries, National Security adviser jake sullivan, and republican senator Lindsey Graham of south carolina. And nbc news will have much more on the israel hamas war tonight during a twohour special on msnbc and cnbc and streaming on nbc news and were waking up to cool weather, but its milder overall for most of the bay area. Take a look at satellite radar. That cold front that swept in early yesterday morning now starting to make it back further north, but its still going to be laying behind for parts of the northern eureka, north bay and San Francisco area. As far as the temperatures today, well trend warmer, dry, heading into the upper straight ahead, a sunday sitdown with Jack Antonoff, and another life well lived. First, our sunday focus on the long history that brought us to this unprecedented moment in the generations of conflict between israelis and palestinians. 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On may 14th, 1948, the state of israel was established officially creating a safe haven for jewish people from around the world. Less than three years after the end of world war ii and the holocaust that killed some 6 million jews. The very next day, israel was attacked by five surrounding arab nations who refused to recognize jewish claims to the land in palestine. The 75 years since have been marked by near perpetual conflict with the latest attack by Hamas Terrorists the most savage and shocking israelis have ever seen. In our sunday focus, nbc news Foreign Correspondent matt bradley provides history and context to what we are witnessing today. Reporter this sliver of land along the Mediterranean Sea has been fought over for centuries. Several different faiths call it home. Once colonized, the region, known as palestine, came under british control after world war one. They sought to petition for jews persecuted in europe who saw it as their ancestral homelands. Following the horrors of world war ii jewish migration swelled as did western support for the creation of a jewish nation. The fury that will not put up with gas chambers anymore reporter and in 1947 the United Nations voted to approve two separate jewish and arab states with jerusalem as an international city. But the plan was opposed by the palestinian population and the rest of the arab world with the problem still unresolved and violence mounting, britain withdrew. The Jewish Population declared their own independent state. Israel had taken its place among the nations of world. Reporter the United Nations accepted israel but five neighboring arab countries invaded. Thousands of jews and arabs were killed and an estimated 750,000 arabs either fled or were expelled, and with the palestinians ca