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Well get the very latest on the escalating conflict with a live report from near the gaza border in just a moment. Meanwhile, some republican president ial candidates are already spreading misinformation about the attack, blaming a deal between the Biden Administration and iran. Plus, well bring you a look at how the chaos in the house with republicans scrambling to find a new speaker could impact military and Security Assistance for israel. Good morning and welcome to morning joe. Im Jonathan Lemire. Alongside u. S. Special correspondent for bbc news, katty kay. Were in for joe, mika and willie on this holiday monday. With us on this busy monday, we have president emeritus of the council on foreign relations, Richard Haass, and columnist and Associate Editor for the washington post, David Ignatius. Katty, an extraordinary weekend, a tragic weekend, now we deal with the unfolding story on this monday morning. Yes. Lucky we have richard and david with us this morning, john, to get us through all of this. We have tons of questions for everybody. Were also going to be going to the region and speak to Richard Engel, as well. Lets have a catchup of where we are. We begin this morning with the israel hamas war. The combined death toll at the moment has topped 1,200, and that number is expected to rise. The war began early on saturday morning in an unprecedented Surprise Attack. Hamas militants stormed the blockaded gaza strip, entering about 20 different israeli towns and communities. The chaos stretched across land, air, and sea, as thousands of rockets were fired into israel. Militants were seen bulldoing through barricades between gaza and israel. One of the first targets was a Music Festival held in the desert just 3 miles from the border. More than 200 bodies have been recovered from that event alone. Other towns were then engulfed in smoke, flames, and gunfire as militants went door to door attacking civilians. Official says this was the deadliest assault israel has seen in decades, and it came nearly 50 years to the day since israel was caught off guard by invading forces from egypt and syria. On Saturday Night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially declared war, saying israels military will use all of its strength to destroy hamas capabilities. This morning, israeli officials announced theyve regained control of communities along the gaza border, but authorities stress the situation is fluid as clashes with the militants are ongoing. As of now, at least 700 people have been killed in israel and about 2,100 are wounded according to the Israeli Defense forces. Palestinian authorities, meanwhile, say more than 400 people have been killed there in the counterattack, and more than 2,000 have been injured. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer confirmed last night that at least four americans are among the dead. Adding that that toll is expected to rise. Israel believes some americans are being held hostage. A senior hamas official says the Militant Group is holding more than 100 people captive in gaza. Among them are women, children, soldiers, and other civilians. Joining us from the gaza border, chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel. Richard, thank you so much for joining us. All day, israelis have been looking at images of people who have been killed and of people who are being held hostage, very close to where you are inside gaza. Whats the latest situation there . Reporter we are just outside the Israeli Community not far from the border, and there is active fighting going on right now. If we listen here, you might be able to hear some explosions in the background. Hamas militants are firing, right now, rockets from gaza. Weve seen the impacts in the sky above us a few moments ago, as the israeli Iron Dome System is knocking them down. Some of the rockets have, however, landed in the areas, and we are told there are casualties. The israelis are bombing gaza, as you said earlier, there are hundreds of palestinians killed so far. There are Reprisal Operations since the assault which was unprecedented here. Weve seen rockets many times fired from gaza, but we havent seen hundreds of hamas militants escaping the gaza strip and going on a killing rampage inside israel. A killing rampage that, for now, israel says more or less stopped. It believes that there are no active gunfights going on right now. There are no places where hamas is still in control. That wasnt the case just yesterday. The israelis do not know if other hamas militants are on the loose. This operation in Southern Israel is nearing a conclusion, that there are no active gunfights right now, but theyre still hunting for potential hamas militants. There is, of course, that ongoing Hostage Situation. That is a major complicating factor here. Because, in the past, when there have been conflicts between israel and hamas, israel moves in quickly, launches devastating attacks against hamas infrastructure in gaza, but it is finding that very difficult this time because there are dozens of hostages, perhaps 100, perhaps more inside gaza, and israeli officials except theyre being used as Human Shields. As you mentioned, israel is mobilizing for war. The army said a short while ago its called up 300,000 reservists. It could be that it is trying to secure the country, or it could be that it is preparing for another phase of this conflict, potentially a Ground Assault into the gaza strip, which would be very risky for the hostages, very costly for the palestinians and likely costly for the israelis, as well. Richard, as you were speaking, we were seeing some images of the young Music Festivalgoers fleeing for their safety. We know more than 200 killed there. Just horrifying images. You mentioned, of course, the complications presented by the hostages being held there by hamas. We know from Senate Majority leader schumer that at least four americans have died. Do you have a sense on the ground, are there any americans currently being held hostage . Reporter the breakup or the makeup of the hostages is, for now, a closely held secret. The number of the hostahostages they are, have not been released. The israeli media is talking about 100, but keeping it more generic, talking about dozens, but itd not be surprising. Israel and the United States are very close. There are dual nationals here. Ive been speaking to dual nationals this morning who lived here, so it is possible but i dont have that confirmed right now. All right. We greatly appreciate your reporting. Stay safe. Well be checking in later on in the day. Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel, thank you again. Joining us now, International Spokesperson for israels Defense Forces, Lieutenant Colonel richard hek. Thank you for being with us this morning. Please give us the latest, if you will, in the Ongoing Mission there in Southern Israel. Richard, your report on the ground told the story probably much better than i. It means were doing a good job in trying to talk about the level of this event, which is an epic event. As mentioned, and he did it very well, more or less on spot, we are now stabilizing. The communities, there are still small pockets. We managed to take control. It took us longer than we thought. Back in the communities around the gaza strip. The gore and the carnage and the inhumane activity in hamas, in these settlements is starting to unfold, because were now speaking to the families, understanding they went through tragic, tragic events, tragic, tragic events. We stabilized that, and we are now focused on organizing the area. We have deployed four divisions to gaza, and were trying to organize the area, so to stabilize the gaza strip and their communities. By the end of the day, we should be able to evacuate most of our communities, and whatever is left, away from the gaza, so they can recuperate nearer to the center of the country. Sir, the Israeli Defense minister, short time ago, deemed what he said was a complete siege on gaza, saying authorities would cut entrance and block food and fuel to the area. Tell us what exactly that means, and how long could Something Like that be put in place . Whats the end game . So the end game, from the military perspective, i know the spokesperson for our minister of defense, but from the military perspective, we are now acting to secure the border. Theres still areas where we havent fixed the border completely, where they breached, and we are securing the border. We are also severely targeting hamas targets inside the gaza strip. Again, before we run to the gazans, we have to give place to what happened within the israeli public. They started this. One of the tragic events when i look at them is that they targeted the crossing. A week ago, it was getting, more people were coming to israel for work. One of the pickup truck lines were coming through the crossing, and it was an inhumane action. Were you surprised by the way hamas managed to mount this operation, carry it out, get through the fence and get within 15 kilometers of israeli territory, even attack an Israeli Military base . Are you surprised they were able to do that without israel being aware of what was about to happen . These are big questions. Im sure theyll be talked about, and books will be written about what happened here with this Surprise Attack. We said it out loud, it was a Surprise Attack. Combined offensive. This will be talked about a lot. Right now, i think our directive is to talk about whats actually happening on the ground. Its getting back our safety and severely degrading hamas capability in the gaza strip. Sadly, theyve taken theyre using people as Human Shields, and all their headquarters are entrenched in civilian community. There are attacks from last night which are the Launching Pads for hundreds of terrorists that came into israel. Colonel, you spoke about the Human Shields, and i assume youre referring to the palestinian Human Shields that are frequently used in gaza and put amongst military installations. But this operation is more complicated than any the idf has ever faced before, because there are israeli captives, dozens of them, we are told, inside gaza. What are your options, given there are israeli hostages inside gaza at the moment . So were the peoples army. Again, im bringing in a personal perspective, which is something very important for the people watching this to understand. Every soldier that i have out here, even myself, a child that grew up in my house, One Of The Best friends for my daughter died. We just found just before we came on, we got told they found his body in the headquarters. This is everybody. This has touched everybody here. The Hostage Situation is handled very, very sensitively. The idf was taking control of this. First of all, engaging with the families. A lot of families still dont know whats happening. Its slowly unfolding while we understand the picture. Itll take us some more time. Yes, its going to be a very, very challenging Military Operation. Im sure theres diplomatic challenges going on. Right now, the idf is planning to severely degrade hamas capabilities, i repeat. International spokesperson for israels Defense Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, thank you for coming on this morning. Condolences on the loss you just said. Thank you for having me. We will get into that, how could this have happened, the Intelligence Failures, when morning joe returns in 60 seconds. Well dive into the question. Well be right back in one minute. Back in one minute why didnt we do this last year . Before you were preventing migraine with qulipta® . And look at me now. Youll never truly forget migraine, but zeromigraine days are possible. Dont take if allergic to qulipta®. Most common side effects are nausea, constipation, and sleepiness. Qulipta®. The forgetyouget migraine medicine™. The chewy app has everything for pets. Hungry pets, itchy pets, scratchy pets, and most importantly, your pet. Every day great prices and 35 off your first authorship order. Right to your door. Download the chewy app. Welcome back to morning joe. We continue to cover the events, the war, the violence in israel over the weekend and the aftermath still playing out this morning. Were now going to bring in David Ignatius from the washington post, and our friend, Richard Haass, former president of the council on foreign relations, to dive into this. David, ill start with you. I know the burning question in your mind is, how could this have happened . Israel has a premier intelligence operation. The forces are charged with preventing Something Like this from ever occurring. What is your sense as to how they got caught so badly off guard saturday morning . John, im just struck, as i think we all are, by the scope and horror of this, listening to the spokesman say every family has been touched. Last night, his counterpart. Another spokesman said this is the worst day in israeli history. How could that have happened . What went wrong . What was the failure of intelligence and, as i wrote in a column last night, was it a failure of gathering the right information . I think of understanding the information, people likened this terrible event to 9 11 in the United States, the 2001 attacks by al qaeda. Americans never imagined that al qaeda could seize airplanes and use them as weapons to attack buildings. I think israelis may never have imagined that their adversaries in gaza, hamas fighters, terrorists in this case, could use paragliders to fly into israel, could move quickly, 1,000 of them through the fence. There was a failure of imagination and a sense of understanding. After 9 11, we went through a long investigation. It turned out so many of the pieces of information that would have allowed you to see the attacks coming were in the system but werent understood. The famous phrase was, an inability to connect the dots and see what was going on. Whether well find that to be the case here, its too early to say. Im sure israelis will be haunted by this failure, that theyve believed in their Intelligence Service as the best protection, believed in the Iron Dome System and its ability to keep rockets from striking israeli villages. Its fair to say that most israelis simply couldnt have imagined that Something Like this would happen. One final point, the crucial question today is not looking backward at the Intelligence Failure, but looking forward and trying to make sense of whether this was going to become a much wider war. The Wall Street Journal last night published an article that said that iran had participated in the planning of the operation and had given a green light, in effect, for the operation. If israel decides that iran was fundamentally responsible, we have the risk of a much wider war ahead with u. S. Aircraft Carrier Task Force streaming into the mediterranean. It is as dangerous a situation as i can remember seeing in the middle east. Some u. S. And israeli officials pushed back against the Wall Street Journal reporting last night, but that is the Open Question. Richard, well dive into irans potential role in a few minutes. First, i want to get your overall impressions into what you saw this weekend, this incredible failure to anticipate and prevent this attack. Give us your sense as to what you see and what you think happens now. I agree with david. It wasnt a collection failure. The israelis, i think, will find they had a lot of warning. It was an analytical failure, mindset failure. They didnt take the hamas Military Threat seriously. More devastating, it could be a Defense Failure, as well. Why was it that so many Israeli Forces that would normally be on alert against gaza and those parts of israel were probably in the west bank, and i think thatll be a real political issue for this Prime Minister and this government, simply because itll be a question of their priorities, protecting settlers and so forth. I think