And streets completely torn apart. The desperate population pushed to the brink as basic services fail. And later, the search for the missing, President Biden set to speak today to the families of americans taken hostage by hamas as he denounces the terror attack. This is not even human behavior, it is pure barbarism. And were going to do everything in our power to get them home if we can find them. On what is happening on the ground, joining us now, ellison barber, along the israelgaza border. What are you seeing . Reporter hey, lester, hey, jose, you can probably hear a little bit where we are. There are helicopters that have been circling overhead, gaza just back in the direction behind us. You see we have seen throughout the last hour or so, a number of smoke plumes popping up and you can hear the Bombardment Taking place inside gaza. It is like a lull of thunder, but just one after another after another. We have been here for the last couple of hours and have just watched some of this activity from afar. We havent seen or heard any sort of rockets coming out of gaza into this direction. We know the City Center Of Ashkelon is about three miles from here. That was hit by a barrage of missiles this morning. A number of those intercepted by Israeli Defense forces by the iron dome. But so far the bombardment, the sounds that were hearing, it is taking place inside of gaza. Yesterday, jose, i had the chance to speak with a spokesperson for israels Defense Forces and asked him about the fact that there are so many civilians stuck inside gaza with no way out. I asked him if they were open to discussions about some sort of humanitarian corridor, either into egyptian territory, through the south or something that would lead into israeli territory, so civilians can get to safety. We know the last 24 hours from what our producer inside of gaza has told us is that people there said the idf flew over and dropped leaflets, warning them to evacuate, but, again, they actually cannot get out of that area. When i asked a spokesperson for the idf about civilians, this is some of what he had to say in terms of whether or not they would be allowed out. Listen. One of the first things that hamas did is attack the main crossing with israel in the north of the gaza strip, they attacked it, they blew item,. This is a situation of hamas making. Hamas war is a war on civilians. They are responsible for their population and while we take these precautions, we have to remember that they started this war and we have to finish it. Reporter so right now youre looking with us at a large plume of smoke that just developed inside of gaza. Listening to the israeli spokesperson there, he said at one point, hamas is responsible for their civilian population. The reality is thats not how International Law works when it comes to war. War has rules that have been ratified by the geneva convention. We heard secretary Antony Blinken in his Press Conference yesterday with israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu talk about how democracies like israel have to be better than a terrorist organization like hamas. And the truth is there is a responsibility on both sides in warfare to limit Civilian Casualties. Whether or not some sort of humanitarian corridor could ultimately be established we dont know right now. Said he couldnt discuss diplomatic discussions when i asked if israel would support some sort of exit safe passage into egypt, thats something the u. N. Has called for, but so far we havent seen that happen. And what we know right now as we watch these plumes of smoke as we hear the Bombardment Inside Gaza is that you have 2 million roughly civilians trapped inside that area, according to the u. N. , Hundreds Of Thousands displaced, over 200,000 currently sheltering in u. N. Operated schools and hospitals, all while the electricity is out, while the one place where they have fuel inside of gaza has run out of fuel, something that the u. N. Says could lead to hospitals inside gaza becoming morgues because they will not be able to supply their generators and maintain power to patients who need it. All of this, jose, expected to possibly get a lot worse because israel has not launched a Ground Assault into gaza just yet. But we do expect that to happen at any point. When i asked idf is that Ground Assault imminent, he said we have been very clear we are ready to do what we need to do. Jose . Ellison barber, thank you so very much. We are also keeping a close eye on doha, qatar, where Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken is scheduled to speak soon. There you see the podiums that have been set up. Well bring you those remarks as soon as they begin. But with us now to continue our conference is yakov kotz, former editor in chief of the Jerusalem Post and Senior Fellow at the jewish people policy institute. Thank you for being with us. What do you think that the the people inside israel today, how would you help us understand what israel right now is feeling as were looking at six hours maybe left of this deadline they have given the folks in gaza, what is the mood there . The mood in israel, jose, is one of great anxiety. It was just less than a week ago, over 1,000 people were butchered in their homes, children, babies, women, men, elderly, holocaust survivors, hundreds taken to gaza, 40 babies found dead in one of these communities along the border. And we know this Ground Incursion is happening. Israeli forces have been building up and amassing along the border and theyre getting ready for it. And this has israelis concerned what that means, what will happen to the soldiers as they go in, what surprises are waiting for them that have been put there, booby trapped tunnels, antita missiles, whatever other weapons they receive from iran, what is waiting for them there. There is a lot of anxiety and there is also a feeling that israel has no choice. This is a war over our homes. They came into our homes a killed us in our homes, and therefore we have no choice but to go in the, to push them back, and to destroy as much of hamas as possible. And, as you know, better than anybody else, gaza is a one of the worlds most densely populated areas, more than 2 million civilians in there. How does Something Like that what do you think the end result of this is going to be . Look, the end result needs to be that hamas has its capabilities degraded, has most of its members killed or captured, and has almost all of its infrastructure destroyed. We can never, ever have a situation that hamas has the capabilities to launch an attack the likes of which they launched on october 7th. With that said, the incursion is complicated, it is a densely populated area there are many civilians, 2 Million People in gaza in a place the size of philadelphia, lets say, it is very complicated, but this is why israel has been waiting ts is why israel asked pple from the north to move to the south, we have to keep in mind, jose, you cant have it both ways in the world. The world says, yes, israel has the right selfdefense, but dont know in, youll kill civilians, so when they drop leaflets and says go south, the u. N. Says no, youre displacing civilians. Which is it . Israel has no choice, it has to defend itself. It is not revenge, it is not vengeance it called defending the state of israel. And we were just showing and these are the video of those leaflets that are being dropped on to Northern Gaza, and, you know, when you look at the map of where gaza is, and you see there iso much of the territory there that faces israel, but then to the left of your screen, if youre listening to us at home, were showing a pf the area, to theeft of it is egypt. And im just wondering, where is the solidarity, where is the where is this Massive Mission going on from arab countries, egypt and other places, to help with this conflict, to help with the civilians that are there . I mean, there is a good chunk of land there that is bordering with egypt, where is that solidarity, where is that movement, where is that mission . Jose, it is an excellent question. They have a border that is about 25, 30 kilometers long. If they want egypt to open its bord, i love hearing from people saying israels siege is linked to gaza. Let egypt give them the electricity and the water, let egypt open the border so people can flee. Why is egypt not doi it . Because egypt doesnt want hamas coming into egypt. So, this who concept as if everything that happens in gaza is israels fault this whole concept as if this is an israeli siege on gaza, this is a problem if egypt wants it could deal with, it doesnt want to, and israel here has no choice but to act in selfdefense and to protect its people. And i know you have a Daughter Serving in the idf in Southern Israel. How are you doing on that . Look, you know, my daughter is serving in the south. Shes there. You know, the sabbath is about to begin, and, you know, some fathers before the sabbath give their children the blessing before the sabbath, or when the sabbath begins. I gave it to her this friday over facetime because obviously were not together and one of the passages that we say is you should be blessed with peace. And, of course, thats something on my mind. But im proud of her. Im proud of her, her friends, my nephew who is serving up north and all the Hundreds Of Thousands of israelis. My story is not unique. It is the story of all israel today who have loved ones or they themselves are fighting. Like i said before, this is a fight for our homes, it was a fight forced upon us that we were compelled into, that we did not want. We tried everything we could to avoid, but now we have no choice but to launch this offensive to keep this country safe. You know, this conflict and these conflicts go back thousands of years in many cases. Im wondering is there do you see any way forward for that blessed with Peace Feeling that you gave and you shared with your daughter for the region . I hope. You know, jose, one of the things i think back to often is the Yom Kippur War of 1973, 50 years ago. We were surprised by egypt and syria, they hit us hard, we fought back, we retained our territory, we defeated them in that war and we all remember how it was just five, six years later when we signed the Camp David Accords and made peace with egypt. What that tells me, and i see this in the other agreements that we have made over the years, whether the Abraham Accords with United Arab Emirates and morocco and bahrain or the peace treaty with jordan is when the way to make peace is make peace through strength. Israel has an opportunity today to show strength to its enemies and adversaries. What lessons do they take from that . Thats going to be up to them. What they have to recognize is that israel is not going anywhere. We are a powerful country that will do everything it can to defend itself. They should get right conclusion that theyre better off with peace with us. As many other arab countries have already reached that conclusion. So, there is hope. But right now that hope needs to be set aside because there is a war that needs to be fought. Thank you, thank you so much for being with us this morning. The u. S. Is ready to send more aid to fight hamas. Why one of our next guests believes the Ground Assault is inevitable and could be long and very deadly. Were back in 60 secondses. Youre watching special coverage of the israelhamas war on msnbc. L coverage of the israelhamas war on msnbc. Theres challenges, and i love overcoming challenges. When better money habits® content first started coming out, it expanded what i could do for Special Olympics athletes with developmental needs. Thousands of Bank Of America employees like scott spend countless hours volunteering to teach people how to reach their financial goals. It felt good. It felt like i could take on the whole world. 14 past the hour. Right now, Secretary Of Defense lloyd austin is heading to brussels after spending the morning in israel to meet with Israeli Defense officials. Also stress that even as the u. S. Continues supporting ukraine, the u. S. Will be able to extend aid to israel. We will stand with israel, even as we stand with ukraine. The United States can walk and chew gum at the same time. And u. S. Security assistance to israel will flow in at the speed of war. Joining us now from the pentagon, nbcs courtney kube. Great seeing you. So what is the latest on the secretarys trip and then the u. S. Plans to continue supplying israel with all kinds of armor. There were a couple of main messages secretary austin wanted to convey during this very brief stop in israel today. And by the way, last minute stop. He was scheduled to be in brussels for a ukraine meeting, for a nato meeting and head on back. This was an unplanned, unexpected stop. Among those messages was just continued u. S. Support and solidarity for israel, but also he is also conveying the same message from other u. S. Officials recently and that is to anyone who might be considering supporting hamas, do not do it. We keep hearing that same phrase. Anyone who wants to support them, dont. Thats a big reason that the u. S. Has sent the Carrier Strike group to the eastern mediterranean. It is really to deter anyone who might be looking to help support hamas there. But then that opens up another big question that we have been asking for days now, jose, including on this program, and that is there any real consideration for u. S. Boots on the ground . We know there are some u. S. Military, very small number who are in israel right now. Theyre helping with the israelis with some of their planning, coordination, theyre providing intelligence. But we arent talking at this point still about any u. S. Boots on the ground and what we might think of it, jose, thats things like for active operations. We heard a little bit more about that in fact from the nfcs john kirby earlier today. Heres what he had to say. There are no plans or intentions to do that. So there are no active Planning Efforts under way to do that. Israelis made it clear that they would not welcome that in any event. That was john kirby, again, at the white house yesterday, not today. But, of course, that is the same message were hearing from u. S. Defense officials as well, that at this point, they are supporting israel with intelligence sharing, they have moved these Military Assets into the area, show of support, show of strength, and then they are flowing resources in. So the first shipment of aid and ammunition went to israel earlier this week. We heard from the israeli Minister Of Defense today standing right next to Secretary Of Defense lloyd often in tel aviv, he said the second aircraft is arriving today with more advanced munitions. We dont have a whole lot of fidelity at this point still about what those munitions include. But the things that we do know include interceptors for the iron dome. So that is the air Defense System that is really been so critical to israel for years, frankly, but really proved to be invaluable last weekend when this assault unfolded, stopping hundreds if not thousands of rockets from impacting population centers. In addition to that, we heard from a Senior Defense official just yesterday that the u. S. Is also sending these small diameter bombs, known as dpicms. A lot of people refer to them as cluster bombs. Theyre also sending jdam kits, conversion kits, which will allow the israelis to strike Underneath Targets underneath the ground, jose. Courtney kube in washington, thank you very much. Joining us now is retired colonel Peter Mansour at the ohio state university, who spent 26 years in the army, including Commanding A Brigade in iraq and the Executive Officer to general david petraeus. Thank you very much for being with us. Im just wondering, your thoughts on what the secretary austin said when he asked he was asked to compare his time leading the fight against isis to what he has seen from hamas. Listen to what he had to say. Encountering isis, i felt as if we were staring evil in the eye. It was truly evil. And what we have seen from hamas, it takes that evil to another level. Colonel, what do you make of that assessment . Well, the tactics, techniques and procedures of the two groups are similar. I wouldnt say hamas is any more evil than isis, isis was as bad as they get. But their motivations are different. Isis was very much motivated by religion. Hamas is motivated by nationalism. But, yes, they are both evil groups that Target Noncombatants and violate the law of war and they should be condemned full stop. Yeah, and part of that hamas ideology is the destruction of the state of israel and the elimination of jews writ large. And im just wondering, colonel, what you have that as the Guiding Force behind any group, how do you deal with that when, for example,