Israeli according to the israeli military. Hamas took to the air, and infiltrated the Country Southern Border by both land and sea. These really military says that unknown number of civilians and soldiers have been taken hostage by the group. It is an assault the likes of which the country has not seen in decades. Following saturday mornings attack, Prime Minister management at a guy, vowed, quote, mighty vengeance, instead the country was now in a state of war. Israel has already responded by launching airstrikes of their own, including one that flattened a Multi Story Residential Building in the heart of gaza city. The strikes continue well into the night, with flashes lighting up the skies, explosions can be heard and seen across the city. Israeli officials say, at least 200 of their citizens have now been killed, with 900 injured in gaza. At least 230 people or did, and another 1600 are injured. That is according to. Just a few hours ago, President Biden delivered his first public remarks on the escalating situation overseas. Doubling down on the u. S. Support for israel. When i spoke to Prime Minister netanyahu this morning, i told him the United States stands with the people of israel. In the face of these terrorist assault. Israel has the right to defend itself and its people. Full stop. There is never a justification for terrorist attacks. And my administration is support for israels security is rock solid in unwavering. Let me say this is clearly as i can. This is not a moment for any party israel to to exploit these attacks to seek advantage the world is watching. We have all angles of the story covered, sorting us off this, our again, loose Nbc News National Security and Global Affairs reporter, and allie raffa, nbc News White House correspondent. Ali, ill start with you, with the comment that we heard just there from President Biden obviously administration has been very heavily involved in what has been across is, what weve been hearing from the Secretary Of State as well, secretary of defense. What more can you help tell us on the u. S. Response at the moment. Coming to support . Israel yeah, i, mean well continue to see really this all Hands On Deck Posture from the Biden Administration that began in the in the wee hours of the morning that is continuing still right now. We have Coronation Communication among the National Security officials. Senior Biden Administration officials. The president , the Vice President , cabinet officials, the secretaries of state, homeland security, defense, just to name a few. Ill try to get an assessment of the latest situation on the ground there. As far as intelligence just getting familiar with what exactly is happening there to be able to formally what their response is going to be. You heard the president say in that speech, there that he is committed to making sure that israel is going to be able to defend itself for as long as it needs. He said that was a major focus of his call with Prime Minister netanyahu, this morning. And of course, we know the long, decades long history and relationship that these two but the president assured the american and israeli public that those differences they had would not get in the way of u. S. Support for israel. The big question now, ayman, what that support is going to look like. We know that israel is the number one recipient, it receives the most u. S. Aid right now. There is a Big Questions as to whether that aid could, the number, that aid could potentially shift. We know that, according to u. S. Officials, as of late blasts this morning. Israel had not requested to adjust that number, obviously, that could change. We dont know whether that support could come in the form of more military aid. Or more intelligence help. We have learned the u. S. Officials have enhanced their intelligence sharing with israeli officials, because at the heart of the situation, was undoubtedly an Intelligence Failure. We know that u. S. , as well as israeli officials, were caught off guard. And surprised by this. We know israel is renowned for its impressive and sophisticated intelligence and defense systems. Yet, those are not able to deter this massive amount of incoming fire that came from these hamas militants. The Big Questions one of the next steps as pledged continued aid and support for the Biden Administration to israel as it is go worse, amen. Ali, off with about this. In the white house statement that was put out earlier, there was a stern warning to any of israels adversaries or possible enemies not to exploit the situation. Do you have any reason, already reporting, from the white house to believe that there was activity. Or cause of concern for the United States right now . In to put that statement, to put that sentence in a statement that preceded the president s remarks . Yeah, white house officials are not saying exactly whether there was any concrete evidence that would prompt the president , including that in his speech. We know, just more broadly, from the Foreign Policy perspective, in platform, that we know that any sort of escalation in this region comes with it the risk of other middle Eastern Countries having tensions flared and we know that israel is the closest ally that we have in the middle east it is the country the Democratic Values obviously the United States is concerned that any sort of increased tension and increased aggression in this area could trigger other countries to follow suit and theres enough to deal with what just the situation in israel. So, trying to tamp down any potential surges in the neighboring areas, amen. All right, ali, stay with me for a second, then, im with you hearing about the Intelligence Failure signal the imminent attack that couldve shared with israeli. Do we have any insight right now as to how and why an operation of this magnitude was missed . We dont have the answer here, amen. It does represent, by all accounts, a tactical failure. Hamas achieved a tactical surprise in this situation. It is, i think, all the more surprising, given how israel has this reputation of having such an excellent, highly effective intelligence service. That, for years have been able to penetrate hamas and other adversaries. I dont think we know the answer to that. Its also gonna raise questions about its defenses on the border. How it was positioned there, and how hamas fighters could have managed to do this. I think they were bracing for hamas attack, but on the other hand, they were ready today. I think the u. S. Was also taken by surprise. It does harken back to 50 years ago to the yom kippur war, when israel was caught flatfooted. And that, of course, led to a lot of soul searching at the time. Theres gonna be a lot of questions in terms of how hamas pull this operation off, whether or not its backers in iran were tactically involved involved in the actual planning of the attack . Do we have any indication is there any Intelligence Assessment to indicate whether or not hamas was getting a tactical support from iran or iranian proxies in the region Odd Doggone Echoes of the iranians have been operating over the use gorilla i think it was. Telling the president , said that warning for others. Not to explain the situation that was clearly directed at iran. And irans proxies in lebanon, hezbollah. Of course, israel has to worry that they may get it from that side. As well. Ali, we know that one has been working the phones with allies in the region, including the arab allies and have peace, with allies in each. Have you gotten any readouts as to what diplomatic efforts are taking place right now from the white house in terms of trying to secure or work on securing with the release of the israeli captives that have been taken into gaza. Yeah, i mean, thats another big question we have, as far as these calls that were hearing, the president s been making throughout the day. What these calls, we know that the Biden Administration officials have given us a little bit of a summary on where what specifically but overall what was discussed on those calls. Were still awaiting a readout of the specifics. Whether there were any specific asks made, or demands, specifically as you mentioned, with egypt and neighboring countries. We do know that the president also spoke with the king of jordan, in addition to Prime Minister netanyahu. That is something that were out to the white house looking for, and we do await those readout of those calls. Allie raffa, sorting us off this hour. With all of those updates. Thank you to the both of you. Coming, up were gonna take a closer look at that Intelligence Failure, both here in america and in israel. Dont go anywhere. T go anywhere. With the money i saved, i started a dog walking business. I was a bit nervous at first but then i figured its just walking, right . [dog barks] oh. No its just a bunny calm down taco. Sit duchess. Stop sesame no no. Archie walter dont, no, ahhhh. Ahhhhh youre lucky youre so cute. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. [female narrator] five billion people lack access to safe surgery. Thousands of children are suffering and dying from treatable causes. For 40 years, mercy ships has deployed floating hospitals to provide the free surgeries these children need. Join us. Together, we can give children the hope and healing they never thought possible. Its a mission powered by love, made possible by you. Give today. Frustrated by skin tags . Dr. Scholls has the breakthrough youve been waiting for. The first fdacleared athome skin tag remover clinically proven to remove skin tags safely in as little as one treatment. Is it possible my network could take my business clinically proven tto the next level . It is with comcast business. Powering all your devices with gigspeed wifi. And you get fast downloads and uploads. Pick it up pick it up oh we got this because its powered by The Next Generation 10g network. More speed for your business . Its not just possible. Its happening. Get started for 59. 99 a month for 12 months. Plus, ask how to get an 800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle. Hamas attack took israeli comcast business, powering possibilities. Intelligence officials by surprise. Particularly, the various methods the militants used to enter and leave israel. Lets turn now to those Intelligence Failures. Im joined now by colin clark, Senior Research fellow at the center, and norman rule, a nonresident Senior Adviser with the transnational project at the center for strategic and international studies. Gentlemen, could have both of you. With us. Let me start, if i can, with you, colin. And the element of surprise here. Israels deterrence has always been surprised with the element of initiative. In conflicts that it has. What happened today, something very different. The initiative being seized by hamas militants in exposing something that we perhaps did not know that is roosevelt able to. This kind of multi but multipronged attack with land air and sea components. What do you make of how significant of a failure this, is both on a security level, but also psychologically to israel. Thanks for having. Me i think its a massive Intelligence Failure. Its gonna have political reverberations. Its going to have domestic reverberations. Within israel. Its just astonishing, but im still struggling to wrap my head around, not only was hamas able to have fairly sublime operational security, or opsec, and the fact that we look how sophisticated and complex this attack was, something that was clearly in the works for weeks, if not months. Keeping that under wraps, keeping that away from any kind of human sources. Israeli signals intelligence, and i think, you know, i have to imagine that all of the domestic political turmoil in israel played some kind of a role here. Well find out in the coming days and weeks, as theres a forensic to examine what when wrong. To that point, norman, that he just brought, up which, is when you think of the israeli governments capabilities, and what theyve been able to demonstrate in the past, israel has no doubt infiltrated some of the highest ranks of palestinian militant organizations. Theyve carried out successful assassinations of palestinian militants, highranking military officials. Within the paramilitary wing of hamas. How is it that they were not able to detect this. How could hamas important this of . Without a Human Intelligence component, without the signal intelligence component, without perhaps even the Surveillance Component of what is being brought in in brought out of gaza. Do you think that egypt share some of that blame as well for the border that it has with gaza not being as tightly controlled as a possibly should have . Good evening. And thank you for having me. This certainly does represent an Intelligence Failure. But there are a number of countries, to include United States, that one might ask why we didnt have a better insight into hamas preparations for this attack, theyre planning, their development of tools, their intelligence selection, and, by the, way their plans going forward. Were talking an awful lot about the terrible events of today. But we are in the early days of whats likely a lengthy crisis. And our understanding of where that crisis will lead is on the desk of every major policy maker. What happened today was in the past. There will be a followup investigation to this. The israelis had such an investigation after 1993. Right now, the intelligence emphasis on all of the countries in the region, and ourselves, is going to be what happens tomorrow . Speaking of what happens tomorrow, trying to get a read out of where these that hamas is taken back into the gaza strip might be right now. Talk to me about what that kind of Operation Looks like from an israeli perspective. From u. S. Intelligence gathering perspective. Trying to find out where these captives are. Where theyre located. If theyre moving them from one location to the other. Ultimately, how that may be used by hamas and the militants in gaza to leverage what israel calculated is its next steps. Its a tremendously complicated task. That will involve an array of different intelligence analysts. Understanding the source of vehicles used, personalities, engage in this action. Their supporters, their logistics, what reflections we might see in the Support Architecture of hamas, that would indicate that something unusual is happening at a location. It really caught quite complex. And involves a multiin, geospatial intelligence, Human Intelligence, approach to this. Im sure the United States is offering these rallies, not only what intelligence support we would have, but any sort of Technical Assistance we can provide to. To expedite the safe return of the sausages. And to prevent any further loss of life in israel. Or gaza. Colin, your thoughts on that . We certainly heard some, according to nbc reporting, that the u. S. Was considering sharing with israel other intelligence gathering capabilities. What might that look like . What resources does the u. S. Potentially have that the israelis dont, have that the israelis would need more of in this particular moment, as they consider the next 24 to 48 hours . Well, with all due respect to norman, and i do have Great Respect for him, i find it hard to believe that the United States should be expected to have more exquisite intelligence in israels backyard then the israelis themselves. Were not talking about a sub optimal partner here. Were talking about them assad, in worldclass intelligence. So, of course, the United States is an ally will help, im shocked the israelis werent prepared for this. How could washington be more prepared than the israelis for whats going on with hamas . Were not talking about alqaeda, islamic state, even a country like iran, were talking about hamas. This has been israels main adversary for decades. So, i just find it puzzling that people are looking to the United States to have better intelligence than the israelis, at least on this particular group. What does the u. S. Do next . I think we pulled all the stops. We share everything we have, and were gonna lean in on the technologies that we bring to bear, signals intelligence, Human Intelligence, networks. As norman mentioned, Multi Into Operation here. This is not gonna be easy, by any stretch were talking about urban warfare, tunnels, built under gaza, clearly, hamas will be preparing for the response here. I think were in for a very, very uncomfortable 24 to 48 hours. Especially when we think about the hostages. There is two parts to whatever israel does right now in response. One