Our Family Members will have to wait harrell, im so sorry to have to cut you off. Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. We will be praying for you. We wish you and your family the best and certainly we wish for the safe return of your niece. Thank you so much. That does it for me everybody. Im yasmin vossoughian. Nicole wallace picks up our coverage. Coverage hi there, everyone. Its 4 00 in the east. It is 11 00 in the evening in israel and in gaza. And we start with Breaking News. We just learned that the Border Crossing between gaza and egypt will open tomorrow morning. It will be two a m eastern, 9 am local time, to allow u. S. Citizens to leave gaza. That is according to a palestinian official. More than 4000 people are dead and thousandmo are wounded as the israel hamas or enters its second week. That includes more than 1400 people in israel and more than 2600 people in gaza. Gazas Ministry Of Health says that over half of those deaths are women and children. These really Defense Forces or idf is expected to launch an extensive Ground Operation in the gaza strip at anytime the coming days. The mission is to destroy the Hamas Terrorist Group leadership and to secure the 150 hostages kidnapped in last weeks brutal Terrorist Attack. With a full might of israels military looming along the border, 1. 1 million civilians in Northern Gaza are navigating Rocket Strikes as they scramble for safety. They are heeding israels order to evacuate to the south or hunting for shelter that can withstand whatever is to come. U. S. Officials have affirmed israels right to defend herself, while emphasizing the light of gaza civilians, and working to stop the war from spreading throughout the region. Here is what Secretary Of StateAnthony Blinken told reporters earlier today, as he continues a six country tour aimed at addressing tensions in the middle east. There are two very Different Things for the future and what the middle east can and should be. Theres a vision that we very strongly espouse, that has countries in the region normalizing their relations, integrating, working together in common purpose. There is another vision that hamas has demonstrated in the most horrific way. And that is a vision of death, of destruction, nihilism, and terrorism. The war is threatening to expand. In an interview with al jazeera earlier today, the Iranian Foreign minister warned of this quote, if stopping the aggression against gaza does not succeed, the expansion of the war fronts is not excluded and its possibility greases every hour. They continued aggression and the absence of a political solution add fuel to the fire and things may get out of control. Unquote. All this as tensions continue in israels, along as was northern border with lebanon where the idf has been exchanging fire with hezbollah since the hours after the october 7th Terrorist Attack. Idf officials said yesterday that they struck a hezbollah target following the, quote, infiltration of unidentified aerial objects into israel. A Senior Fellow at the middle east institutes tells cnbc this, quote, hamass but the week underling of hezbollah, a much more Formidable Fighting force, widely recognized as the most powerful nonstick military in the world. This will be a gamechanger, not only for israel, but also for the entire region. Developments in the coming days and weeks will change the middle east forever. Thousands of lives and millions of futures are hanging in the balance, as the world searches for a solution that doesnt appear to be inside just yet. Nbc news Foreign Correspondent raf sanchez is in ashdod, israel. Raf, this weekend has been marked by a feeling of, really, dread and waiting. And i wonder if you could just kind of broaden the lens and take me through the last 24 hours of what youve seen. Yeah, nicole. Well, lets just start with that news about the Rafah Crossing. A palestinian official tells nbc news, starting at 9 am tomorrow, the crossing from Gaza Into Egypt will be open for foreign nationals, including those roughly 600 or so americans who are still trapped inside of gaza. The announcement coming a couple of hours after Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken met with the egyptian president , and the idea is that as foreign nationals are coming out of gaza, and humanitarian aid will be going from egypt into gaza. Now, those americans and others would then, according to this official, will be taken to a nearby airport in the sinai and then flown on to cairo, and hopefully home, and on to safety. We should say, nicole, this is an incredibly fluid situation. We have been here before, where there has been top of the Rafah Crossing opening. And it hasnt opened, a combination of things going on. There is Israeli Military activity, or there was Israeli Military activity near the crossing earlier in the week. This is also just an absolutely feverishly complicated 3d jigsaw involving egyptians, hamas, israel, and a whole host of players across the region. But assuming the causing thats open, its very good news for the 600 or so americans. It doesnt do a whole lot for the 2 million Palestinian Civilians still trapped inside the gaza strip. Israel says 600,000 people have now left the northern half of the strip, heading to the south. Israel also says it has agreed, following a conversation between President Biden and Prime Minister netanyahu, to Restore Water Supply to Southern Gaza. The idea here is to try to do everything they can to incentivize people to leave the northern half of this trip, to head south, before this all out offensive begins. The United Nations is saying water or no water, humanitarian corridor or no humanitarian corridor, you simply cannot ask 1 Million People to leave their homes on such short notice with nowhere to go, without triggering a major humanitarian disaster. Nicole, here in southern israel, all indications, this Israeli Ground offensive is getting closer. The Israeli Defense minister was in this region earlier. He was meeting with israeli troops on the border. And it looked for all the world, like a senior official who wanted to look into the eyes of the soldiers hes about to send into battle. We continue to see these long columns of israeli tanks, of israeli jeeps, israeli artillery moving into position on the gaza border. And just finally, as you said, for all the focus on gaza, there is a lot of concern about what is happening in the north on the israel lebanese border, where we are seeing israel and the powerful Lebanese Militant Group hezbollah exchanging fire now with increasing frequency. And one of the real concerns, not just for israel, but also for u. S. Officials is that hezbollah, this Iranian Proxy Group, may become involved in this conflict. And we could end up seeing a twofront regional war as a result of this major Terrorist Attack coming out of gaza. Nicole . Raf, it strikes me that it is just really one week since the totality of the brutal massacre of more jews in one day since the holocaust has settled in and that country. And we talked about the radius of trauma earlier in the week. I wonder if the nation feels like its shifting its focus, or if its trying to do both, the business of grieving, and the business of defending itself . I think the sense of shock now is being channeled in lots of different directions, nicole. We are starting to see a lot of frustration, a lot of anger from the families of some of these hostages, who feel that they are not getting enough information, that they feel the government is not doing enough. We saw a largescale protest outside of the Israeli Defense ministry, people chanting in both english and hebrew, bring them home, bring them home. There is one father, nicole, his wife and three of his children are being held hostage inside gaza. He is kept at the gates of the defense ministry. And he says he will not leave until he gets a commitment that is families coming home. We should say, nicole, for policymakers, there are no good answers to give these families, right . Their loved ones are being held hostage, presumably, in tunnels underneath gaza. There are no easy options. It is not clear that theres any real channel of negotiation. It is not clear that there is any real prospect of a rescue mission. And through all of this, you have this Israeli Ground offensive looming. And many, many israelis are strongly supporting this Ground Offensive. They feel that there is no universe in which hamas can be allowed to remain in power in gaza after the atrocities theyve committed. But it carries high risk for the hostages, either that they would be murdered by their captors, or that they might be killed by accident by israeli strikes. So, you know, for the hostages, they are going in one direction. There is something of a new normal settling here in the south, which i feel people are becoming numb to almost, to just the visuals of so many troops on every street, on every corner. But, yeah, a lot of different parts of the society going in different directions. Nicole . Raf, is there any sense of the timing of the next phase of the war, it likely Ground Incursion is tied to any specific efforts to either locate or rescue hostages . It seems like the israelis really want to reduce as much as they can the number of Palestinian Civilians in Northern Gaza. We can tell from their briefings that they are giving us, that they are keeping very, very close track from the air, trying to estimate how many people they think have left gaza city and gone south. They announced with a certain note of pride earlier that they think 600,000 people have left out of the roughly 1 Million People who live in the Northern Gaza strip. So, thats more than half of the total population that they are trying to move. That seems to be one of the key dynamics. We expect for the hostages, they are spread all over gaza. You remember, nicole, one of the National Stories that people in this country tell themselves, not just the 1967 war, but the 1976 Israeli Commando raid that freed the hostages being held in uganda, the rate where Benjamin NetanyahusOlder Brother was killed, but the hostages were freed, they were brought home. It was a triumphant moment for the nation of israel. There is really no sense of optimism that Something Like that, that there is going to be a happy ending here for all of the hostages. Hopefully for some of them. But our expectation is that they are spread all throughout gaza. And there is no single soup that might be able to bring them home. Nicole . Just unbelievable. Nbcs raf sanchez, thank you once again for your extraordinary reporting from there. Its wonderful to see you. Please stay safe. Were gonna switch gears likely, slightly. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer let a congressional delegation to tel aviv. And during that visit, the delegation was rushed to shelter for safety, from hamas fired rockets. Heres what senator senator schumer had to say earlier today about meeting with the families of israeli hostages. We worked as they told their stories. There was such a beautiful brave people. And every second seems like a day as they are wondering what has happened to their child, to their parent, to their brother, to their sister . And we told them we would do everything we could, including speaking to the president next week, who had talked to these parents as well. But were gonna talk to them next week about the u. S. Doing everything it can. Meanwhile, the israeli Defense Forces have tonight responsibility for the deaths of 70 gaza residents who were killed while trying to evacuate to the south. Joining us now to discuss all of the days, developments, former israeli ambassador to the United States, michael warren. Its nice to see you again. Im sorry the news continues to, in some ways, become more dire and more tragic. I wonder if you can just first tell me your understanding of the sort of state of readiness and when, it sounds like it is when not if, the next phase of the or begins. Good evening, nicole. I have to agree with ralph sanchez. It was a good report, when he says there are no good options. And there are no good options. Israel has to respond to hamas. Israel has to do its upmost to uproot and Annihilate Hamas so ever again threatens our Civilian Population. Thats clear. That is close to 100 percent israelis understand that. And in terms of the danger to our own soldiers going in there. However, in order to conduct that battle against an enemy which has brutally, hundreds of yards, more than yards, hundreds of miles of tunnels and bunkers under gaza, you cannot fight that battle in alleys that are heavily mined, barbwire, strip wired, without clearing up the Civilian Population. Or else many, many thousands of civilians will die. You have to have a move, you have to move. Its a lengthy process. It is a painful process. Nobody wants to see this process, but there is actually no other choice. The other issue is the hostages. Yes, we need those hostages. Israel is talking now more than 150 hostages of our nationals in the hands of hamas. But we have no choice but to strike and hope that we can locate the hostages, because thats the big issue here, locating them. And once we locate them, we can use our Special Forces to try and rescue them. No great option here. By the way, hamas doesnt want to negotiate. Hamas doesnt want to negotiate about this they have used hostages as human shields. In fact, after the human shield of their populations, their population, they moved south. They dont have that human shield anymore. No good options. Same thing at the north right there. Whats happening up there . Hassan nasrallah, the head of hezbollah, is finding it very, very hard to sit there, sipping tea in beirut, while sunni terrorists are fighting israelis in the south. His own shia tears are not doing anything. So there is a matter of legitimacy at stake here. So what is he doing . He is firing several dozen Mortar Shells across the border, but he has so far not on least his arsenal of 150,000 rockets, thats about at least ten times as many rockets as hamas has. Many of those rockets are very accurate, and it will be hardpressed to think our essential facilities, from the airports, oil refineries. And he has not unleashed that yet because he understands that meaningful war, and thats a full two front war for israel. The question is how much a question, how many provocations can israel absorb on that Northern Front without it responding more forcefully . Now, we are responding, firing back. And the situation, chaotic all around. And im not talking whats happening in june, jerusalem, west bank, hamas is responding. And the possibility of domestic terrorism as well that weve seen that in the past. All told, a very complex dynamic and combustible situation, in addition to the human tragedy. Yeah, i mean, i was gonna get back at that. I mean, these stories that sort of startle you in the middle of the night, the moms that have come on, the daughters, the suns kidnapped in this Music Festival, while wearing flipflops on a holiday morning at their base, i mean, how do you weave through the most strategic and humane way forward to defend your country, something u. S. Ecuador of state Anthony Blinken, u. S. President joe biden, u. S. Secretary of defense lloyd austin, everyone has said its not just your right but your obligation. While this historic tragedy has taken place just one week ago. We have we have not packed that week. We are still very much in last saturday, excuse me, can you hear me, nicole yes, i hear you. We are still very much embedded in a week ago last saturday. We havent moved on. Yeah we havent moved on because the stories keep coming out. And ill tell you, honestly, ive looking at the media during the day. And its that recordings of the people at that rock concert moments before being killed, seeing their Friends Being Machine gunned in front of them, and knowing that they are next. It is haunting beyond usual. It is listening to a health worker, who was the first on the scene, those few kibbutzes that were slaughtered, and saying, ive been doing this for 20 years. Ive seen Masters