That theyre defended. And that, again, this cant be allowed to continue. With regard to the second point, yes, this is something that were very focused on. We want to make sure that no other country or entity tries to take advantage of the situation. The president s been very, very clear about that. He said very starkly that any state or nonstate actor considering that, dont do it. Hes backed that up in a number of ways, including, as i mentioned the other day, deploying our largest Aircraft Carrier battle group to the area. So, thats clearly designed to help ensure that anyone contemplating getting engaged doesnt do it. But beyond that, a big part of my own conversations here throughout this trip, including today, following up the next couple days, is working with other countries to make sure theyre using their own contacts, their own influence, their own relationship to make that case, that no one else would be taking this moment to create chaos in some other place. I should mention, as well, that earlier today i had a very good conversation with and among other things, acting effectively to make sure there is security and stability, something that is [ Microphone Static ] right now on Andrea Mitchell reports, Secretary Of State Antony Blinken in doha, qatar, a key ally of the u. S. And harboring hamas leaders. Blinken saying that israel, like no country, can tolerate what happened to israel but also saying that he has made it very clear, hes told israel they should do whatever they can to avoid civilian casualties, this amidst the dire warning that israel has dropped leaflets over gaza telling a Million People to get out within hours and halting their overnight bombing to give them a chance to else cape. Please to, you have time, not much, but you have time. Move away. Hamas telling them to stay home. And where would they go . The u. N. Is warning such a large evacuation would have a def stating amount of humanitarian consequences, and there is no exit for gazas hospitals, whose doctors are warning theyre already short of critical fuel and walter and soon will become morgues. Secretary austin showing americas military support today. I am here in person to make something Crystal Clear americas support for israel is ironclad. The deliberate cruelty of hamas vividly remind me of isis. Bloodthirsty, fanatical, and hateful. While Secretary Of State Antony Blinken earlier today shuttling meetings with palestinian and west bank leaders in a man, jordan, pressing for help and rescuing american Hostages Kid Napped by hamas in an oil and gasrich nation that, as we say, harbors their leaders. I had an opportunity yesterday to meet with some of those families with hostages being held by hamas. Their anguish is profound. Theyre desperate to bring their loved ones home. All this as the State Department is scurrying to arrange the first Charter Flights today, Charter Flights for americans desperate to believe both israel and gaza. And the House Republican speaker here at home is paralyzing the government from passing any legislation for israel, for ukraine, or for the u. S. Border with republican Members Meeting at this hour now that their nominee, Steve Scalise, dropped out after failing to garner enough votes to win on the floor. Im Andrea Mitchell In Washington. Israel warning 5 00 p. M. Eastern, midnight in israel. The death toll is staggering. The civil yap is dire. 40 now, palestinians. Supplies of food and water are running out. Children wounded by shrapnel from the bombings. This 10yearold girl was hit by shrapnel. Her brother lies under a tent. They ran out of bed days ago. The ferocity of the attack, the number of patients, the children that are brought in are brought in with Crush Injuries from collapsed buildings or shrapnel or debris. There needs to be a stop to the bombing, and there needs to be a humanitarian corridor. Nbc Foreign Correspondent raf sanchez filed this report moments ago from israel. Reporter israel today issuing an unprecedented Evacuation Order for Palestinian Civilians telling them to evacuate the entire northern half of gaza. Israel says that area is full of hamas Military Targets and that it will be intensively striking there. But that area is also home to more than a million Palestinian Civilians, and there is nowhere for them to run. The Israeli Border is sealed. The egyptian border is sealed. The Mediterranean Sea is closed to them. And the United Nations is saying there is simply no way to evacuate a Million People without a largescale humanitarian disaster unfolding. Now, hamas is urging people in gaza not to evacuate. Israel says it wants those civilians as Human Shields to try to deter israeli strikes inside of gaza city. But many palestinians feel strongly that they are not going to leave their home. There is a culture among palestinians, feeling that theyve already been driven from too much land by israel and that they wont leave any further. Hamas also saying today that 13 hos hostages, including foreigners, have been killed by israeli strikes inside of gaza. Israels military is calling that a lie. I want says it has absolutely no evidence that that is the case. And that is not a claim that has been independently verified by nbc news. But just assuming for a moment that 13 hostages are dead, either murdered by their hamas captors, or killed accidentally by israeli strikes, that would be about 10 of the roughly 150 or so hostages. Now, President Biden expected to speak today to the families of some of the american hostages being held in gaza. The president has said that he will do everything in his power to bring them safely home. Defense secretary lloyd austin also here in israel today, the latest member of President Bidens cabinet to make a visit of solidarity. The defense secretary, before he entered his current job, was a senior u. S. Army general. He was responsible for the war against isis in northern iraq. He says he knows isis, he fought against isis, but that the acts of savagery committed by Hamas In Southern Israel on saturday eclipse even the worst acts of isis. Back to you. Our thanks to raf sanchez. Joining us now is nbcs matt bradley on the lebanese side of the Israeli Border. Matt . Reporter yeah. So, what weve been hearing over the past couple hours is some tit for tat, Rock To Elts Being fired from lebanon into israel, andrea. We saw it, you can see off my right shoulder, its pretty clear. This was a rocket that was intercepted, and it fell into what looks like a wooded area and has since started a fire. That fire has been spreading for the past several hours. So, you can see theres quite a lot of action here thats been going on for the past several days. Weve heard there have been at least three, probably four hezbollah fighters have been killed in the past several days, and at least three Israeli Soldiers who have been killed. This pales in comparison to what weve been seeing in the gaza strip or in southern israel, but it still contains the seed of an explosive ingredient to this whole conflict. If hezbollah, the dominant Paramilitary Force here diminishing and when i say paramilitary, they do bear more of a resemblance to a regular army than they do to a militant group they really are much stronger than the actual Lebanese Army if it were to enter into the fight. It would be a game changer. It would internationalize the conflict and bring in yet another even more muscular Military Group than hamas. It would split the Israeli Military, and it would likely rally the rest of the arab world or quite a few other countries and other militant groups in the arab world around this cause that, so far, many groups have been kind of stepping back from. Now, im also here just across the border from the northern most israeli town of metuula. It comes out pretty stark. Weve been hearing over the past couple of hours, the idff have said theyre ordering all residents of this whole area to be evacuated. Weve been watching as Israeli Defense forces soldiers have been running around, trying to enforce that order. Theyre doing it in a way they look like theyre doing it very quickly and running from place to place in a way as if theyre taking cover. Clearly, theyre afraid of taking shots from the lebanese side of the border, where im standing right now. So, this is a very tense situation with all the ingredients of a major conflagration that could erupt into allout war. Back in 2006, there was a war here, and it was awful for the lebanese people and for the people of israel. I want killed more than 1,500 lebanese people or nearly excuse me, nearly 1,500, and nearly devastated all of lebanon, which is why this country is so reluctant to seeing israel to dragged into yet another catastrophic war. Matt bradley, thank you so much. Stay there. I was there on both sides of the border in 2006 when, indeed, the u. S. Did intervene at least diplomatically with Secretary Of State condoleezza rice. Jeremy basher, former Chief Of Staff to secretary leon panetta at the pentagon and previously at the cia, and former nbc News Tel Aviv Bureau chief, veteran israeli correspondent martin fletcher. So good to have you both. Jeremy, let me ask you about the troop buildup. The 360,000 reserves that were called into duty, so many of them on the southern border, israel has enough forces to also patrol the northern border, but so far the assumption has been that hezbollah will not become fully engaged. We should point out that the Iranian Foreign minister was just in beirut meeting with he says hezbollah leaders in the last few days. I dont know whether we know at this hour whether or not hezbollah has made the decision to become engaged or not. They may want to wait and see how the Ground Invasion refolds. They may be a Reserve Force for the iranians, serving as their proxy. Looking at israels various borders, one of the key lessons out of this whole situation is of course the landforpeace bargain has failed. Israel obviously withdrew from gaza in 2005 and essentially theyve gotten rocket attacks every other year, and now this horrific terrorist invasion of their own country, the slaughter of their own civilians. But also in the north its important to note that israel withdrew. They had been up towards the river after the 1982 lebanon war. They withdrew back down to the previous borderline, and hezbollah has moved in and obviously have 200,000 rocket pieces. So, you know, the longterm strategic issue facing israel and the palestinians is really this untractable situation, which is if israel were to contemplate further military compromise or withdraw from the west bank, where most palestinians live, i think the israeli people would be so concerned theyd be yielding ground to terrorists, i think for the time being thats a nonstarter. Martin, you have seen this before over decades in israel, in the region. But this is different. The hamas attack was proprorgs nattily different. It has reached the soul, the fiber of the israeli people, the failure of their military for the first time, failing, you know, and being caught by surprise. Talk to me about the resolve that israel has for this Ground Invasion and the very explicit caution from tony blinken again today, as he did in tel aviv yesterday, to be careful as much as they can or fully embracing the need to respond, to be careful about trying to limit civilian casualties. I think israel obviously wants to limit civilian casualties as much as they can. But in this case, probably they cant. Thats the bottom line. Israel, as a result of this extraordinarily atrocious attack on their citizens and their homes on saturday and the next day, as a result of that, israelis are feel toing vulnerable. Theyre feeling you know, theres a sense of we thought the holocaust was over. This is the worst attack on jews since the holocaust. In one day, its rather extraordinary how many people were killed, how defenseless the victims felt, how they called for help from their own army, which didnt arrive in some cases for as much as eight, nine, ten hours. The idea that terrorists could Wander Around their homes and pull people out of their beds and kill them and shoot babies in their beds, this is something that has completely changed the psyche of israel overnight. So i think the israelis are united. They feel the need that this is it, they have to take out hamas. What that really means in practice we dont know, because the Ground Invasion, destroying hamas, if they could even do that, okay, so what next . Israel got out of gaza in 2006 because they didnt want to be there. They couldnt really handle it. They dont want to go there again. So, this is an extraordinarily sensitive time for israel. Theyre very conscious of the fact that this wasnt an attack only against israel, it was an attack against all jews. The call from hamas has already gone out, strike jews anywhere in the world. Its not only about israel, its about the jewish people, and it always has been. One thing about the question of hezbollah in lebanon, andrea. Please. You know, for israel, hezbollah equals lebanon. Were talking about hezbollah, a very strong Paramilitary Group that is backed by financed and armed and trained by iran, a proxy army for iran, but theyre more than that. Hezbollah is part of the government of lebanon. Theres a Big Hezbollah influence in the army of lebanon. So, if israel strikes hezbollah, theyre striking lebanon. Theyve already said many times that if hezbollah goes to war with israel, then lebanon will take the brunt of the response. So, you know, this is not only about israel and the Paramilitary Force. Its about israel and another neighbor, lebanon. And, in fact, there are hezbollah parliamentarians in lebanon, fully in the fabric of the government there. Such a good point. Jeremy, we now know from the white house that President Biden today has spoken to the 14 American Families of those who are still not accounted for. He met with them as well as with state Department Official jake sullivan, of course the National Security adviser. Similarly to inperson meeting that Secretary Blinken had yesterday with some families, the president also earlier spoke to 60 minutess scott pelley about why he wanted to talk to these families. Why do you feel so strongly about speaking to these families personally on zoom . Because i think they have to know that the president of the United States of america cares deeply about whats happening, deeply. We have to communicate to the world this is critical. This is not even human behavior. Its pure barbarism. And were going to do everything in our power to get them home if we can find them. That is the essence of joe biden, and i should add also tony blinken in the extraordinary meetings he held yesterday, jeremy. The israelis i talked to say when they saw the president s speech the other night, Tony Blinkens yesterday, some of them, including officials, were in tears. Yeah. The statements, the moral clarity, really, from the president and from our Secretary Of State has been striking that the hour, and its precisely what the israeli people need. They need to be consoled, and there are bill boards in tel aviv saying, thank you, joe biden. Its really because he has a 50year history of working on The Middle East and a 50year history of Standing Shoulder to shoulder with israel. Also Secretary Blinken has his own personal history, had parents, grandparents, who survived the holocaust. And he stood there telling beebe netanyahu, he stands there not just as Secretary Of State but as a jew. You can feel the emotions from american officials. Everyone ive talked to has been moved. They want to help israel, but israel does not have terrific Military Options in clearing gaza. They dont want to occupy gaza for a permanent status. They want to go block to block, street by street, take out hvts, take out hamas leadership, take out command and control, take out the rockets and factories and caches and make the southern part of israel more safe. I think the arab countries are going to have to step up, take refugees from gaza, ultimately, and provide a humanitarian corridor for them so that israel can conduct these Clearing Operations as any country would. Something egypt right now is refusing to do. Martin, you have a unique perspective also from all of your decades there as to why arab countries have not come to the defense of palestinians and have in many m regards ignored them for decades. Share with us your wisdom about that. They Pay Lip Service to the palestinian cause and say they cant be caught in this field or that field until theres peace with the palestinians. But as you say, there are not many arab countries stepping up to the palestinians saying, come here, well keep you safe. In fact, guess what . Zero. Part of the problem, the history with the palestinians and the arab nations is wherever the palestinians have gone, theyve brought instability. They went into lebanon, created a state within a state in Southern Lebanon that lebanese rejected and hated, and in the end they were part of the civil war in lebanon. Then, when the palestinians went into jordan, there was a civil war again in 1970 between the palestinians and the government of jordan. The palestinians began to work in the gulf states, and they were focused on improving their lives, but theyve always supported the palestinian cause. So, theyve brought instability, frankly, wherever theyve gone. I havent found a polite way to say this, but most arab states dont like the palestinians. The palestinian street, the famous palestinian street, is, you know, always in favor of the palestinians demonstrating in favor of the palestinians. And today, the day of what they call the day of rage, the day of aenger that hamas called for around the world, it is mostly in the arab states and people came out in support of the palestinians. But the reality is, the governments are not giving them money, not giving them food or medicine, not giving them shelter. The only people giving them anything is the government of qatar, which gives the palestinians in gaza 10 million a month, and thats because israel wants to do that in order to create some kind of stability. But that didnt work, did it. Not at all. Sometimes, the truth is not polite. Thank you very much, martin fletcher, jeremy, we appreciate you. And well have a lot more this hour as our Special Coverage continues. Were also keeping batch watch on capitol hill after another setback in the race to find the next house speaker. Republican congressman Anthony Desposito takes us inside the republican conference next. Were back in 60 seconds. First, a glimpse into the grim reality the citizens of gaza are facing. One surgeon at a gaza City Hospital sharing this video diary with us this morning. As im speaking, there is bombing everywhere around the hospital. It is shaking every minute or few minutes. I dont know what we are going to see today. Racking] tense music one aleve works all day so i can keep working my magic. Just one aleve. 12 hours of uninterrupted pain relief. Aleve. Who do you take it for . sean i wish for the amazing new iphone 15 pro jason sean e. Do you mean this one the one with titanium . Switch to verizon, you can trade in any iphone, and get the new iphone 15 pro on them. vo its your last chance to trade in any iphone for a new iphone 15 pro on us. Only on verizon. House republican rsz back to the Drawing Board Today in the speakers race. Some were meeting again Behind Closed Doors after congressman Steve Scalise dropped out of the race last night. He just couldnt get the votes. All eyes are now on congressman jim jordan, who so far has also shown hes far of the 217 votes needed to win the gavel. All this as Congress Remains paralyzed. The house cant pass aid for israel or anything else to send to the senator president. Nbcs ryan nobles is on the capitol hill for the latest. Also with us, a former aide to john boehner, our friend, brendan. Ryan, where do things stand now . Theres talk of dark horse candidates. Reporter the republicans met here behind me to hash out a path forward. They decided to take a break. Theyll come back at 1 00, and thats when they are going to vote once again on a nominee for speaker of the house. We already have two candidates. One you mentioned, congressman jim jordan, who is the favorite. He, of course, fem short of winning the nomination to Steve Scalise a couple of days ago. But theres also a new entry in the race, and by no means a household name, congressman austin scott of georgia. He is a member of the House Intelligence Committee but not necessarily a prominent member of congress. But he will put his name up for a nomination as well this afternoon, so it will be at least a twoman race for the nomination this afternoon. Now, again, just the nomination, you only need to get a majority of the members of the republican caucus. That doesnt solve the 217 problem that has been at the core of all these issues, the reason we dont have a speaker of the house. Earlier today, a lot of the members talked about how theyre going to try and find their way through this. This is what they had to say. Im back with Kevin Mccarthy. Since he, out of all the folks that have thrown their hat in the ring, he is head and shoulders above the rest. Its yet to be seen if hell have the votes, and hopefully he will. Of course im sup sporting jim jordan. Sometimes you dont get resolution unless you have conflict, and sometimes the highest Profile Conflict in this case, the debate on the floor, whether its 10 or 15 rounds, may be necessary to get people to actually realize they need to get on board. Reporter so, that point that congressman mark garcia, the last person we heard from there, made is one that is starting to appear to have a degree of momentum, that even if the particular nominee comes out of this meeting this afternoon without a guaranteed 217 votes, that perhaps they should still call the vote on the floor, go through the roll call, make each individual member stand up and be accountable, and that perhaps that would put a degree of pressure on some of these members to breakaway from their hardcore stance and actually support a speaker. That, of course, did work for Kevin Mccarthy back in january, despite the fact that his speakership was short lived. So, that is one of the potential scenarios that we could see play out here over the next 24 to 48 hours, andrea. Of course, brandon, you fully well know that those 15 round that it took got him to make so many concessions, principally the one member needed to vacate and get rid of a speaker, to propose it, that it crippled him, excuse me, crippled his speakership from the beginning. So, most of them have wanted to avoid that necessity, but maybe now it is available. What can you tell us about austin scott . I think he was the class of 2010. He was the president of that class. Is he a popular choice . Is he a middleoftheroad choice . Well, i think austin scott is serving a very particular purpose in this race. Austin scott, as is mentioned, is not anybody who has ever established himself as a real leader in the conference, but he is someone who has stood out as someone who gets very frustrated by the Freedom Caucus meddling in the plans. He is as conservative as they come, but he was a regular visitor to the Speakers Office when i was there, coming in, just could not believe what the Freedom Caucus was doing that day to screw up what was going on. I wont call him a hot head, but he runs hot, and its very clear to me at this point when jim jordan was about to be going into this race without anybody challenging him, austin scott, i imagine, stood up and said im not going to let this happen. So, i look at him more as a protest candidate, that any votes for him are probably less about voting for austin scott, theyre the antijordan votes. It will be interesting to see how big that number is. The dynamic about going straight to the floor is interesting. Its a little different than what mccarthy faced. The people who are against jordan will be the more moderate votes, Whether Mccarthy was dealing with conservatives. The we know anything about the moderates in the House Republican conference, theyre much less likely to cause a stink on the floor and much less likely to stand up for themselves, frankly. Jordan may feel like, while scalese couldnt roll the conservatives on the floor, he may feel he can put pressure on moderates and make them stand up and block him. I imagine hell get the most votes Behind Closed Doors but will be well short of 217. Does he think he can wear them down on the floor, because moderates have never shown a willingness to stand up for themselves. Brendan buck, ryan nobles. Ryan, you have your hands full today. Thank you very much. Stay close. Joining is Anthony Desposito, new york congressman. What do you think . Should you do it out on the floor and embarrass the republican conference again, as it was just with 15 round initially to get Kevin Mccarthy in . First, thanks for having me. I dont think anybody in this country wants to see us go another 15 rounds for speaker of the house. But i have to disagree with your last guest in saying that moderates wont defend them, wont stick up for themselves. In the last ten months, the moderates, weve been a voice for moderates. We voted outside of our party lines. Weve made it clear, especially over the last week, how important the values here on long island, here in new york, how much they matter to this race. Do you expect there to be a vote in the conference, at least, some kind of vote to test the strength of jim jordan this afternoon . Thats what we are told. Were told that at 1 00 were going to go into a Candidate Forum that was only announced just probably within the half hour. So anybody who is interested in throwing their name in the hat has to be prepared and ready by 1 00 to present to the conference. Theyre saying within the conference immediately following that forum. So, maybe a few hours following 1 00. So, we will see how this plays out. There are a lot of questions that members have. I think people are frustrated, people are angry. There needs to be a time that we come together and unify. But im just not sure if numbers are there yet. Im certainly not sure if were near that number. One quick thing. Is there a candidate you would like to see in there . Well, ive said from day one that i was a supporter of Kevin Mccarthy. I think we had an understanding in my district, especially new york, individuals to play a role in the majority. Thats what im looking for in a candidate, someone who will understand, even if they have conservative values, as long as they understand what new york needs, what the members of the delegation need, and we need in order to deliver, some of us represent biden districts. People want us to be their voice because they want a change and werent happy with democrats representing them. I want the speaker to understand what we need and what the people of my district need and what needs to be delivered for them. Congressman Anthony Desposito, thank you very much. When we return, Special Coverage of the israel hamas war. The u. S. Is arranging the first Charter Flights and ships for american citizens desperate to leave israel. But what about the Hundreds Of Americans till trapped in gaza and residents there with no way out . Out . D. They switched to google tools for education because theres never been a reported Ransomware Attack on a chromebook. Now theyre focused on learning knowing that their data is secure. sean i wish for the amazing new iphone 15 pro knowing jason eir data isean ure. Do you mean this one the one with titanium . Switch to verizon, you can trade in any iphone, and get the new iphone 15 pro on them. vo its your last chance to trade in any iphone for a new iphone 15 pro on us. Only on verizon. 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Join the millions of people taking back their privacy by Downloading Duckduckgo On Mobile and desktop today. aidyl hi, im aidyl, and i lost 90 pounds on golo. By downloading duckduckgo i struggled with weight loss and weight gain my entire life. With all the yoyo dieting i did in the past, i would lose 20, 30, 50 pounds just to gain them over and over again. In one year, ive lost five sizes, and im on my way to lose another three. With golo, i can do it. announcer change your life at golo. Com. Thats golo. Com. Breaking news right now, john kirby at the white house saying that the first charter flight for the americans has left israel. This is state Department Charter flights they have organized to evacuate american citizens out of israel, americans who could not get on commercial flights, with most of our Domestic Airlines canceling their flights, obviously, as a result of insurance issues in a hot war. It comes as many of those flights have not been taking off. American citizens and immediate Family Members who arent able to book commercial flights are able to board these Charter Flights to several european destinations, not direct flights mostly back home. Josh lederman is there in haifa, israel. Youve been talking to people about this effort to get the americans out and also get them out of gaza, because there are americans trying to get out of gaza, American Aid Workers and others. Talk to us about that. Reporter yeah. This is an imperfect solution to be clear, andrea. Those Charter Flights, the first one has just left, we dont know where its going other than it is en route to a european destination. Thats either going to be frankfurt, germany, or athens, greece. Those are the two locations that the u. S. Has chartered planes to bring people from here in israel. There are also charter boats that will be taking people from here in haifa to cypress, and from those three destinations, it will be up to them to book their own commercial travel back to the United States. That is the bestcase scenario for people who are here in israel to be able to get out. But for americans who are in the gaza strip, those 500 to 600 estimated u. S. Citizens, theres no Clear Pathway out right now. I want you to hear from an american citizen, grew up in the gaza strip. She is trapped there right now with her three children. They went to the rafa Border Crossing we jipt, tried to get out, but it apparently came under air strikes and they had to come back. This is what she had to say about her ordeal. Lets change the embassy. So we called the embassy in cairo. Theyre not helping at all. Theyre not doing anything. We tell them, were running out of milk, diapers. Were not safe. Were citizens. Theyre not going anything. In the meantime, they keep posting stuff about like the u. S. Citizen in israel. Reporter so, the u. S. Is still pushing, andrea, for there to be a safe passage, a corridor for americans to be able to get out of gaza strip either over the boarder into israel or more likely into egypt. But with that not really seeming like its going to be possible in the near term, Secretary Blinken is also talking about creating safe zones within the gaza strip where people could potentially shelter temporarily while they await a better option to get out of the gaza strip. Andrea . Josh lederman, thank you so much. As israel prepares for what appears to be an imminent ground war, civilians in gaza are living under constant rocket fire. At least they were until a few hours ago when they cut that down, cut it back to give them the chance to get out in time. People there have been cut off from water, food, fuel, and generators for days as the death toll climbs and zreems deadline to evacuate draws near. Its only really about 4 1 2 hours from now, 5 hours from now. Thanks to sky news hamas will be crushed, is what israels Prime Minister has said. And this is the sound of israeli vengeance. Who knows how many inside these body bags were hamas militants and how many more were not, just Palestinian Civilians trying to live their lives, now trying to bury their dead when the cemeteries are full to bursting. There is so much loss here already, and zreem shows no sign of stopping. How can you console this kind of pain . Israel shows no sign of stopping. How can you console this kind of pain . A boy in gaza in a hospital shaking like a tiny sparrow. No child should have to be broken like this to suffer on both sides from a conflict they had no part in creating. But because the bombs keep falling, the patients keep flooding in. This is chaos, a confusion that stretchers of injured everywhere you look. Remember, when the generators stop and theres no electricity, fuel, or water, this will get even worse. There were around 20 apartments, about 250 People Living in them. All of them women, children, and old people like me. Reporter israels air strikes are relentless, and people take shelter where they can. The iron hotel in gaza city, the corridors are rammed. Just one nurse to treat the wounded here with a hotel medical kit. We need paramedics, this woman says, but how would they get here . The bombs outside keep falling 100 meters or so away. Her husbands clothes were torn from his body by the force of the blast. Hes confused and unsteady. He checks to see where he was hit, tries to still the ringing in his ears. A missile hit in the square, and there was rubble hitting us as we were walking. There was glass, metal. It was like doomsday. Our thanks to sky news Diana Magnate for that report. Joining us now from athens is juliette tuma, director of communications for the u. N. Relief and works agency. Thank you so much. Talk to us about the situation in gaza from what you know. Its tragic whats happening in the gaza strip. Its also absolutely tragic. Civilians are losing their lives totally unnecessarily. Weve had until last night over 270,000 people taking shelter. The numbers in the past few hours have exponentially increased. People are flocking. There is an exodus from the northern part of the gaza strip into other areas. Its pushed into abyss. Gaza is being pushed into abyss. Juliette, lets talk about the situation i mean, we cant go back over the history of what hamas has done, but hamas is also telling people not to leave, to stay. They have used their own people as shields to say nothing of the hostages. So, its a situation where the u. S. Is telling israel, yes, go in, you have to go in, we understand that, but try to minimize taking the lives of civilians. The loss is huge among civilians. Since saturday, weve lost there was one doctor, in fact, a gynecologist who was working with us, there was one engineer, there were five teachers, men amend women. We mourn them, and we send condolences to their families. Theres a lot of loss to. Its a tragedy. Gaza is being pushed into abyss. Its becoming a hellhole very, very quickly, as we speak. Juliette touma, thank you very much. Thanks for your report being. Breaking news. The Israeli Defense force is confirming that their forces have been on the ground in gaza in limited raids during the last 24 hours. In a statement, they say they conducted raids in the territory of the gaza strip in an effort to eliminate the threat of terrorists and weapons in the area and to locate hostages. Joining us now is the director of policy and research, and a former cia officer. Collin, you told usa today that hamas was has managed to make itself bigger and more powerful than it really is by posting videos and images of its attacks online. Lets talk about that but also the fact that the idea of confirming they have been in there, maybe not surprisingly, to try to find where the hostages are. Isnt that job one . Yeah. So, were entering the next phase of this conflict which weve been anticipating, and thats going to be urban warfare. We know theres a network of subterranean tunnels that hamas is likely to use, and hostages are going to further complicate the idf response. There will be booby traps, imp advisers explosive device. If you look at the sophistication of the initial attack last saturday, you Better Believe theyve prepared for this, the idf entering gaza. There will likely be a lot more surprises that well see over the coming days. Speaking to that, as part of the idf statement, mark, and you know this terrain so well, they say that idf soldiers searched and collected evidence that could assist in the effort to locate hostages. In addition, idf soldiers thwarted krift cells and infrastructure located in the air, including a hamas cell that fired antitank missiles in joint israeli territory. And they say they continued strikes on hamas Terror Targets in the gaza strip as well as strikes on the antiattack Missile Launchers immediately after they attacked israel. That is part of the idf statement. This is all preparatory, as weve been saying theyve been preparing the ground. Weve seen the amassing of tanks and other Armored Vehicles on the border. Its hundreds of thousands of reservists and other troops there on the border. But this is actually going in and trying to, you know, target where the hostages might be before the full Ground Offensive begins. Right, andrea. This makes a lot of sense to me. Ordinarily, in my old business, intelligence would drive operations. Sometimes, its counterintuitive, its the other way around. In this case, the idf is going to look to capture hamas operatives, do battlefield interrogation, to they will them perhaps where the hostages are. Sensitive site exploration, a safe house in the tunnel systems, information that could lead them to the hostages. You see this. We did it in afghanistan and iraq where operations actually drive the intel collection picture. It can be very effective. This is something i anticipated happening. I think this should also tell us that the actual Ground Invasion is imminent. And what weve seen of that is the warning from israel earlier today that people had 24 hours to get out and that this could start as soon as midnight their time, which would be 5 00 our time, mark. Thats right. So, you know, we really are at the last moments. Its clear to me that the United States is putting i dont know if pressure is the right word, but theyre certainly in discussions with the israelis and the need to minimize civilian casualties. I think what well see in the days and weeks ahead is some pretty awful scenes of civilians caught in the cross fire. So, the u. S. Is doing all they can. I think big question is going to to be if egypt ever decides or agrees to open a humanitarian corridor, and if not, i think a lot of us fear for whats going to happen. Collin, egypt is not opening access because they dont want terrorists embedded through the refugees to be entering egypt. Thats their fear. At what point will they yield to pressure from the international community, from the u. N. , the u. S. , and others . Its a good question. I think those discussions are happening behind the scenes. We see Secretary Blinken in the region. I believe hes in doha right now meeting with regional partners toiscuss humanitarian issues. My concern is that now that the idf Ground Invasion has begun, that other actors in the region, part of the socalled Axis Of Resistance hamas, hezbollah, Hue Fis In Yemen will join the fray. Hezbollah has essentially threatened to do so, and if they open up a second front against israel, this conflict is going to get a lot uglier very quickly and could drag other actor into the region. The real loser in this is going to be civilians on the ground. Some of the images weve seen on the show today are just absolutely heartbreaking. Its hard to imagine things getting worse, but they absolutely will if you have a group like To Hezbollah Jumping into the mix. Weve seen threats from the group, monitoring threats from the houthi rubbles in yemen, highly capable nonstate actors that may very well try to get involved here. Joining us, gentlemen, is ken pollack, senior fellow with the American Enterprise institute. Ken, youve studied iran for years. Iranian officials, the Foreign Minister meeting with hezbollah in beirut just yesterday or the day before. So, how do we assess whether or not iran and hezbollah will become fully engaged in this, opening a northern front, which would be a real challenge to the Israeli Military . No question about it, andrea. I dont want to dismiss collins points. I think hes absolutely right that this is a very important issue and a potential risk out there. That said, i actually think that the risk is a lot lower than many people calculate. Theres no question that iran, hezbollah were aware that hamas was planning this attack. Whether they knew about the timing, no one quite knows for sure. But theres no question that the iranians and hezbollah were well aware of this. For that reason, they could easily have joined it. The worst thing possible for israel would have been for hamas to have attacked in the north at the same time that hamas that h attacked out of gaza on saturday. That would have been very much like the 1973 october war when syria and egypt attacked simultaneously. If that had happened, the israeli casualties probably would have been an order of magnitude worse, the idf would have been stretched even thinner. It would have been much, much worse for the israelis. So the fact that hezbollah did not and that iran did not either, thats got to be the first piece of evidence we have that neither hezbollah, nor iran is looking for a fight with israel. If they were, they would have joined that, and its also worth remembering that weve seen many of these iterations. Israel fought the Second Lebanon War with hezbollah in 2006, hamas, iran both postured, said a lot of stuff, fired a few rockets but did nothing other side. Israel is going into gaza in 2008, 2010, 2014, 2020, and hezbollah, iran, they posture, they might fire a few rockets, but they dont make a major effort. I think its clear, neither hezbollah or iran feels like it is ready to absorb the kind of punishment that hamas is about to withstand, and for that reason, they dont want to get involved. Now, again, its possible, war is incredibly unpredictable. Something had might happen that changes that calculus, but i think its very clear theyre not looking to get involved, and thats important. And mark, i just to want clarify, what the idf said, the Israeli Defense force, this is not the Ground Invasion. This is targeted ground ops to prepare the land to take out some Terror Locations that they have identified and also to try to locate hostages, correct . Yep, thats right. Thats exactly right, and its interesting they did announce that. Its certainly for the reason to collect tactical intelligence, hamas operators, they capture from the sensitive site exploitation. This is designed to recover the hostages. This is smart. Its also probably an understanding that the intelligence picture they have in gaza is very fluid, and they needed to go in to do this. Theres no question also that despite what tony blinken said, what other american officials are saying to the israelis and to their partners, minimizing the loss of life in an urban environment, this could be like mosul, this could be like fallujah, this could be baghdad. This is going to be very difficult. Theres no doubt. As collin said before, this is urban warfare, and as weve said as weve seen, theres not a lot of places the Million People in gaza city have to go now. Theyre certainly going to try, for corridors the u. S. Is working hard on this. Theres one thing when we talk about these diplomatic efforts, and then, andrea, the pictures we saw earlier, there is a terrible cost to this. I think thats what were going to see, which, again, i think is going to be the after effects of an inevitable Israeli Ground incursion and an invasion really. You know, how long this lasts remain to be seen. And collin, as you were pointing out in what youve written, hamas has been so adept at publicity, propaganda, call it what you like, putting out videos, edited videos. We cant vouch for the authenticity, but the graphic images even on western media of whats happening in gaza are just, you know, horrifying. And its i should point out its the hamas leadership that has used their people as shields and denied them access to the bunkers, to the tunnels that hamas is using for weapons caches, not for protecting civilians. Thats right. And i think on the social media front, hamas haze taken a page out of the isis playbook. Theyve clearly improved their own capability, if you look at the aesthetics, the timing, the kind of themes and narratives they focus on. This is the essence of asymmetric warfare, which is trying to threaten your adversary. Lets not forget, the core of terrorism is psychological. Its an effort to impart psychological terror on civilian populations, and thats exactly what hamas has done and will continue to do. Collin clark, ken pollock, thanks to all of you. Joining us now is nbc white house correspondent, ali raffa. The president has just spoken to the American Families who have their loved ones being held by hostages. Now theyve got growing concerns as the ground war could be starting imminently. Tell us about the call. Reporter yeah, andrea, we know that President Biden as well as members of his National Security team and the u. S. Special envoy for Hostage Affairs spoke for more than an hour during this virtual call with the families of according to the white house, 14 americans who are still unaccounted for, who are still believed to be among the roughly 150 hostages who were taken by hamas from israel into gaza almost a week ago now, and we heard from Nsc Spokesman General john kirby who told reporters just a few minutes ago a little bit more about this call. He says that the president told families that they have been in his prayers and his thoughts. He reaffirmed to them that the u. S. Is still doing Everything Possible in these recovery efforts. He said several Family Members on this call shared personal stories about their Family Members with the president and he reiterated that u. S. Officials on this call were available for any additional questions that these Family Members had as far as these ongoing recovery efforts, and we heard from the president a little bit earlier today when this clip of this sitdown interview we had with 60 minute s was released and he talked how important it was for him to personally speak with these Family Members. He said this is not even human behavior, it is pure barbarism. This is continuing to be a level of communication between this administration and these Family Members as these efforts are ongoing. Indeed, allie, thanks so much for jumping in there. We appreciate that. When our Special Coverage continues, the Israeli Military with limited operations they say, targeted operations inside gaza. Can they save the hostages believed to be held captive by hamas. And what does it mean for the civilians caught in the middle of this. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports, our Special Coverage will continue only on msnbc. Tin. 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Thank you for staying with our Special Coverage, im Andrea Mitchell In Washington with Breaking News in the israel, hamas war. Israeli Defense Forces confirming their forces have been on the ground in gaza in limited targeted hits as part of raids that their officials are calling an effor t