Mister secretary, does the administration know at this point if u. S. Citizens were among the dead or those taken hostage . So, we have reports that several americans may be among the dead. We are very actively looking to verify those reports similarly, weve seen reports about hostages and their again, we are very actively trying to verify them. And we nail that down. Meaning that there could be some u. S. Citizens who have been taken hostage as well, mister secretary. Thats correct. Well be closely following that over the next two hours, also overnight, israel responded, launching huge retaliatory strikes on cars and cities, flattening residential buildings, and killing over 300 people in gaza so far, according to the palestinian mystery of that. Has lebanons Hezbollah Group fired the flames in solidarity with hamas at three is really positions. Were witnessing all of this as israel promises an aggressive response. Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu vowed, my vengeance, and said we will turn them into trouble. A Senior Member of hamas said we are prepared for all options, including it all out war, and escalation at the highest levels. This is all without a doubt an intense escalation in the conflict between hamas and israel, but this has been simmering for a long time. In fact, 50 years in one day before this current assault, egypt and syria invaded israel and incited a 19 day war that terrorized the nation. And yet despite decades of conflict this attack caught israel and the world entirely offguard. A senior u. S. Military official told nbc news, quote, we were not tracking this. A former cia official said, this is israels 9 11. It is almost inconceivable how they missed. This over the course of the next two hours, we are going to unpack this attack. How it was missed, what the motivation might have been, with the role of United States may be in the coming days. What is happening with those hostages, and of course, what comes next for israel and gaza. Joining me now is nbc news correspondent courtney kube, Sheena Covers National securing the pentagon has been monitoring the situation on the ground right now for. Us so you are reporting, you are paired with me, thank you so much for taking the time. I want to start with whats happening on the ground, because its been just over 24 hours, but it still sounds like all of the borders are not secured for israel, and what exactly is happening based on your reporting . Thats, right there still israeli and Special Forces who are still voting, literally house to house in some areas trying to find any additional hamas fighters who may still be in the country. At this point, the israelis are still not saying that they have identified located all of those hamas fighters. And they are not seeing how much longer it still could take. So this is still very much an active battle for the israelis. They have not secured the borders, as you mentioned, and critically, use of the local Israeli Media are saying that there are 600 dead. Well, theres also hundreds wounded, and i suspect both of those numbers will rise as they continue to clear these areas. We also are still learning about these areas. We dont know the number of hostages, how many are American Citizens, Secretary Of StateAnthony Blinken confirmed that could be American Citizens this morning. It is also interesting because this is a bit of a tactic of war, what we are seeing here. They took hostages, those hostages could be in the places that Prime Minister netanyahu in the israelis would strike back. Tell me a little bit about that, based on your reporting on them. Especially the tunnels, which hamas is known to have extensive Tunnel Networks inside of gaza so the reason, and this may sound somewhat crass. But this is actually a very smart military tactic, what hamas has done here by taking civilians, pulling them as hostages. Because the israelis have shown for years a real concern about Israeli Citizens, israeli troops, even the remains of israeli troops when they are in custody of hamas fighters. They have shown a real difference. They do not strike those areas, they really prioritize getting people back. Now that will likely delay any, what we heard from netanyahu there, any real onslaught on hamas. They will be much more careful about any strikes going forward. But what this also means, and i really cannot stress this enough. The officials im speaking with, say look. This is the long haul. This will be a protracted conflict, because there will be a long stretch of time here, after israels cleared, after the border secure, there will be a stretch here what they will try to identify, find those is really, and potentially american other citizens, find them before they really start what could be some massive onslaught against hamas. So could be sometime. Hear a lot of us were anticipating this could be immediate, but of course, this tactic delays. That i also wanted to ask you about u. S. Military assistance. There have been reports of that is being considered, not a surprise. But what do you think is on the docket there in terms of what kind of additional assistance could be provided . I think where the first things we will see, and when i see we will see we probably wont know much about it, one of the first things i suspect the u. S. Is doing in offering his intelligence. We know that the u. S. Has already has been under consideration, most likely, they have already stepped up their Intelligence Sharing with israel, and that goes 12 been hearing about for the last 24 hours of how this could have been missed, the possibilities there would be potentially more drone coverage, it could be fixing u. S. Satellites over israel trying to identify areas where there might be massing of hamas, and it could be also signals intelligence. So intercepts. Again, we dont know if any of that is happening, but we do know its under consideration with. U. S. Also, as is common in situations like this, the u. S. Military will often move forces to the region. So it can be everything from assets that would be in place in case theres a noncombat evacuation, if they need to try evacuations out, what we see in the past, with sven sud analytical months, ago they put military ships off the coast, they put some americans and others onto those, ships just to get them out of harms way. That is one of the Big Questions that weve been asking. Is will we see, that and if there is any movement, i suspect would be to be in place for noncombat evacuation, it should not be necessary. Courtney, i know youre heading upstairs to do more reporting, well be here for the next two hours. So please come on down as you learn anything new. Lots of developments are constantly coming. Thank you so much for joining me. Joining me now is White House PrincipalDeputy National security adviser, john finer. John, i know its a very, very busy day over the white house. Thank you so much for taking the time. Bring us a little bit inside the white house from this morning. What is been going on, who was the president talking to, what if you open meeting about discussing behind the scenes. Thanks, jen. The president huddled earlier today with Senior Members of his National Security team, as we did yesterday, and i suspect will be the case going forward. To make sure that we are doing everything we can to provide support for israel on a number of fronts at this difficult time. That includes the source of military to military conversations about what assistance what additional assistance might be required. And i think youll be hearing more about that in the coming hours and days, it also includes all of the efforts we are making diplomatically with other countries in the region, with the goal of having those countries use the influence to prevent anyone from trying to take advantage of the situation by opening any sort of second front. Obviously, a significant concern about Southern Lebanon, and hezbollah. And also includes intelligent support, as you indicated in your previous segment. Sharing whatever information we have with our israeli counterparts as we always do. This is a very close relationship with a number of dimensions, and we are really leaning in at the president s direction. Obviously, there is an ongoing Intelligence Sharing with israel, there has been long before the conflict yesterday. So it sounds like there is an increase, you are stepping up that Intelligence Sharing, and the type of information you are providing. Is that theyre providing drones or other types of tactics or just information that the United States is gathering . I mean, generally, as you know, this is not doing that weekend a talk about in tremendous detail, because of the sensitivity of it, and because, frankly, the more adversaries know about what we do on intelligence the easier it is for them to try to prevent us from gathering that information. But what i can say is that are sharing with israels probably among the closest intelligence relationships we have with any country in the world. And we are going to look for ways to enhance it. But it is already an extremely high level, it has been for a number of years. Secretary blinken said that it could be among the dead in hostages, that was a couple of hours ago, i know well that this can take some time that there are constant developments is there anything that we may have been able to confirm before these reports this morning . I can say that there is nothing about which President Biden has deeper, concern than the predicament of American Citizens who were caught up in this as you know, there are hundreds of thousands of American Citizens in israel and a given time including a large number of dual nationals americans who also have Israeli Citizenship. We are still gathering information about the specifics of if anyone is caught up in this either wounded or god forbid killed or abducted in some ways part of the group that has been brought into gaza, we do not have details on this, yet but we are working to nail it down as quickly as possible. It is going to be very much at the front of our efforts. And just given the sheer numbers that we are talking about, we certainly cannot rule out the possibility that there are americans who have been involved. Tell you dont know, yet we are working actively, of course its a huge priority to confirm that. Typically, the next of kin would be notified first before the American Public or any reporters would be notified, which i would assume would be the process as well. I wanted to also just ask you about additional additional aspects of u. S. Assistance. Whether or not there are American Citizens who are among the hostages, is that an area that the United States could help with, or could provide assistance to the israelis with . So, what i can say about the Hostage Situation is that it is probably one of the most difficult aspects of this entire terrible circumstance. The fact that there have been certainly israelis, and maybe others brought from israel proper back into gaza is going to make things more complicated from an operational perspective, and obviously our hearts go out to the people whove been caught up in that situation. We will be closely coordinating and working with our israeli partners on bringing effort to have those people come back safely. That said, that is a situation that as youve heard the israelis say, it is likely the play out for some time. So i do think that we are going to be wrestling with this for a while, and working very closely with israel, as they plan whatever operations they have underway. And the tactical decisions will be made by them as the countries actually on the ground dealing with this. You mentioned military assistance, which reports adjustments with secretary blinken, also said this morning, is under consideration, well learn more. How concerned are you about the lack of a speaker of the house and can funding get through the house without a speaker . So, we can take actions in the immediate term. And i think you will see us take actions in the immediate term to provide israel with the type of support that it has indicated to us that it needs. One of the very first conversations we had the situation was unfolding was secretary austin, with his israeli counterpart in the ministry of defense. So that we could best understand in, what ways we could subside provide support and prepare their response militarily. Going forward, certainly, any sort of additional appropriations would require a functional health of representatives, so wed like to see that situation resolved as soon as possible. But in the near term, we believe we can provide support in the coming days, and you will see us do that. This attack came as a surprise to the people of israel, to the government of israel, and also to the United States, is that Intelligence Failure in israel in what the United States . Im not gonna put a label or characterize an intelligence picture in realtime as the situation is continuing to unfold, and as you heard from your own border and from what you see in terms of images from the ground, this is all very much underway in israel, certainly on your way in gaza. So i, think in our, view now is not the time to look back at exactly how this happened, there will come a time in a place for that. For, now we are leaning into making sure that we are providing israel with everything it needs, and the president was Crystal Clear about that. We stand with, israel hes got a 50year record of doing just that, showing results in the face of this sort of circumstance. So we are focused on the president , focused on the future. Now is not the time to look backwards. Before i let you go, i want to ask you just about the role of iran. Obviously, u. S. Officials said last night that hamas would not exist without iran. But, also, there isnt confirmation as to whether you had knowledge, or any role here, its anything new we learned, and how concerned are you about the hezbollah attacks that we saw earlier this morning . This is something we are going to watch extremely closely. What role iran either has played, or could play, going forward. As the u. S. Official said last night, it remains, i think our position, i think its too early to say whether iran had any role in the attacks that began yesterday, but we have not yet seen a concrete indications to that effect. We are going to keep looking at it. What we are much more concerned about, and it goes to the second part of your question is what role iran, and or its proxies like hezbollah, going to play going forward. And i think you heard in the president s remarks yesterday a very carefully worded statement that warned against any parties hostile to israel seeking advantage in the situation. That very much goes towards our concerns about the possibility of a second front. Emerging from Southern Lebanon where as paula forces are located. And, you know, a bulk of our diplomatic efforts in our deterrence efforts are gonna be focused on making sure that this is as contained as possible under these circumstances. So it is something that we are attuned to, we are watching carefully. It is true that iran played a significant role in building up the capabilities of hamas overtime. By the way, thats a big part of the reason why we have sanctions around iran 70 times under counterterrorism, why we consider them a State Sponsor of terror. And were gonna be watching how the way they react towards what happened. John finer, thank you so much for taking the time this morning. Well let you go back to what i know is a very busy weekend at the white house. Coming up, israeli airstrikes continue to hit gaza at this hour in retaliation to yesterdays Surprise Attack by hamas. Well continue to bring you updates as we get them during the second day of fighting. Former Supreme Allied commander James Stavridis is gonna join me to talk about whats playing out right now. That conversation is coming up right after this quick break. R this quick break today is really forces are continuing to battle hamas fighters on the streets of southern israel. And then north, Israel Exchange or limited rocket fire across the border. There were no casualties reported. And Israeli Military spokesman said, we recommend hezbollah not come into this. I dont think they well. If they do, were ready. Inside gaza, israel says a significant number of Israeli Citizens and soldiers are being held hostage by hamas. An Israeli Military spokesperson says these are numbers that are up until now unimaginable, this will shape the future of this war. Joining me now is admiral james defrayed us, the former nato Supreme Allied commander. Thank you for joining me this afternoon. I wanted to start with reports of this rocket fire from hezbollah. I was discussing this with the Deputy National security adviser john finer and the concerns about proxy fighters and the role of iran here. How concerned are you or do you think people should be about irans role or about the role of proxy fighters