america's long-time ally. >> and get humanitarian aid into gaza and get trapped americans out. >> plus, hamas releasing the first video of the hostage group saying they have as many as 250 people. we will take you inside the desperate effort to free them. israel managing to kill a major hamas leader, and israel told palestinians to flee. then is anybody capable of leading the house of representatives? we begin this hour with the latest on the situation on the ground in the middle east. joining us now, kelly cobiella in southern israel, and retired admiral, former nato supreme allied commander and msnbc chief analyst. >> israel told palestinians to flee ahead of a expected ground invasion, and what do we know about the efforts to get the humanitarian aid into gaza? >> reporter: well, they were striking hamas targets overnight. hamas headquarters as well as a hamas operative, and what we saw on the ground in southern israel is more tragic scenes, people being carried out of crumbled buildings and children being collapsed in the arms of the rescuers and taking them to hospitals to the big city in the south, which has been overwhelmed with the hundreds of thousands that fled from the north. also in raufa, the place where the border crossing is into egypt, the crossing we have talked about for several days now, the crossing that secretary of state, antony blinken, said will reopen. the fact of the matter is on the ground it has not reopened yet. the red cross says they have roughly a dozen trucks filled with humanitarian aid on one side of the border, on the egyptian side of the border ready to go in. there are hundreds of people, among them, four nationals and americans on the gaza side of the border hoping to get out. there are reports, first of all, they have no shelter and there's very little food and water, and people are sleeping outside and many are considering going back north because there they feel they may have a chance at having shelter. the united states, antony blinken, and others have said the u.s. is now working with israel on figuring out a plan to get humanitarian aid in, and also to create safe spaces inside gaza for civilians. these images are not the images israel and the u.s. want the world to see. they don't want civilians to be tragically killed in these air strikes. the problem is we don't have any details on those plans yet. we have heard the two sides are working on some sort of plan, but we don't have details of a plan. after talking about the crossing opening for several days, it still has not opened is the bottom line. >> we are watching these live pictures out of jordan, where secretary of state, antony blinken, there is meeting with different officials. i can't -- officials, yes, in jordan. >> that man shake hands with people that the palestinian authority president, which is separate from any leader of a hamas organization, and so we expect to maybe hear a few words from this gentleman. let's listen for a moment. >> no comments from the secretary of state or mahmoud abbas and their meeting, and the meeting is just being started in jordan. if we can continue our conversation with peter, the president is set to visit the middle east tomorrow to support israel, and meet with other nations, including jordan. why did he decide to go now? the significance of this trip in this key moment, whatthat? >> it's very significant obviously. he will meet with president abbas, as you just saw there, and that will be after his stop in israel. also, the president of egypt will be there, and that's a key piece, and we were just talking about that border crossing, and there will be two stops on the trip. the first one to show solidarity with prime minister netanyahu and the israeli people. and the israelis will not go in on the ground while the president of the united states is there. this visit allows the israelis to get a little breathing room to see if they can't get progress on the humanitarian front. president biden can offer advice he wants to give to the prime minister, but in public he said he doesn't want there to be daylight scenes and he's expressing the humanitarian crisis in gaza. >> this trip is announced, so we know it. he's not going in secretly, and he's headed into an active -- a country at war right now, right? what goes into preparing for a presidential visit to a combat zone? >> very significant challenges. the president also went into a very active war zone a few months ago into kyiv, ukraine. in this case, good news is there's one american aircraft carrier on station, and another about to arrive, and 2,000 marines embarked on warships and streaming north in the red sea, and air force one will certainly be escorted by fighters from that carrier. it's the "gerald r. ford" that will be there. he will be greeted by a number of military personnel. no expense will be spared in keeping the president safe. i want to build on something peter said a moment ago. the president is also going there to deter iran, to send a signal to iran, not only are there aircraft carriers, marines, and air force fighters and squadrons going to qatar, he's showing iran that, and he will be leaning in on the hostage situation, presumably some americans in that group, and when you bring those marines, you bring options for hostages. this is a big important trip with lot going on. >> peter, part of that trip is to see if one can mitigate any expansion of the war into other fronts, and certainly as the admiral was saying, there's a message to iran. it's difficult, peter, to see how that balancing act can be carried out when you have so many possible powder kegs about to explode. >> that's exactly right. that was correctly said, that they are concerned about widening the war there and trying to do what they can to stop it. two carrier groups in the region sends a strong message along with an increase in a number of land-based aircraft, and that gives the united states around 100 combat aircraft in the region available, and that's a big strike force if they were to need to use it, and they don't want to use it and they are saying to tehran, don't make us use it. we are already seeing relatively minor skirmishing in that region, and that could be a disastrous situation if they attack israel. the united states wants to prevent that. and iraq, syria, and other places where they could, of course, expand this war, should they choose to. the message seems to be they don't want to at the moment, and all bets are off once the israelis go into gaza, and they may feel tempted because of the outrage of what is happening in gaza or the feeling of it being opportunistic where they could puncture the israeli's power by the attack from hamas. >> what the u.s. could be trying to accomplish is sending messages of deterrents to hezbollah and others who may want to capitalize on instability and vulnerability of the israeli people, and now we are learning the u.s. is even going to deploy more troops to the area, and the defense official telling nbc news 2,000 troops have been told and were put on notice to possibly be deployed to the middle east. what do you think their mission would be? >> this is a prepare to deploy order frequently issued from the pentagon and puts the units on a high alert status, and their gear is packed and they can jump on an airplane and go. the 2,000 marines are at sea, and this 2,000 will probably be army personnel. they will go, if they are deployed, to back up the israelis on things like logistics, working with these refugee populations, and moving ammunitions, and supporting israel but not in front line combat in gaza. final thought for you, ana and josé, we all know this region, the caribbean, as you both will recall, the united states deployed these amphibious groups to that region acting as hospital ships, and those marines are perfectly capable of functioning in humanitarian operations, and so are the 2,000 coming to that region, and we need to help with the humanitarian crisis unfolding in front of our eyes. >> the president must -- one must underline his clarity from day one in this horrible massacre that occurred, and since then he has been so clear in everything he says about the united states' commitment, relationship and support of israel. biden has had his ups and downs with the israeli prime minister. how does it factor into a visit at this crucial time? >> yeah, they have known each other going back decades, and they had a scratchy relationship at times since the prime minister came back last december, and the president has been add odds with him in his approach to iran and netanyahu wants to curve the power of the courts, and all of that is put to the side for the moment, and all of that is a secondary issue for another time as far as president biden is concerned. he has been unflinching in his support for israel, and netanyahu is their leader at the moment, and it doesn't mean they are in agreement on everything, but the president does not want anybody to see any daylight between them. biden took the approach that i have not seen that often, which is to have unstinting support of israel so you cannot say -- he has a concern about the humanitarian crisis, and he says i know israel is a democracy like us and cares about the rules of law, the laws of war, and will work on the humanitarian part, and he doesn't criticize israel, and behind the scenes i think that credibility he's building through the strong statements gives him some opportunity to talk in private, and maybe shape the outcome, shape the way israel approaches this coming battle. >> peter baker, thank you so much. we are just show something the images out of gaza. it's 6:13 in the evening there. we are seeing smoke rising from the skyline there as night falls. up next, we will speak about the humanitarian crisis happening right now inside the gaza strip. u.n. workers pleading to get out of what they are calling a quote, hell hole. >> we will speak about the critical situation on the ground. >> we feel we will die every minute, every second, we hope we are still alive. ive. and had to turn away over two hundred and fifty. it's the emotion of that moment that said man that just isn't fair, and i think it was at that moment that operation smile was born. every three minutes a child is born with a cleft condition. thousands are waiting for the cleft surgery and care your support gives. they need you. give joy and a new smile. scan the code or go online to give today. my skin has been so much smoother so much more hydrated. it's olay! with olay hyaluronic body wash 95% of women had visibly-better skin. and my skin is so much more moisturized. see the difference with olay. this is spring semester at fairfield-suisun unified. they switched to google tools for education because there's never been a reported ransomware attack on a chromebook. now they're focused on learning knowing that their data is secure. ( ♪♪ ) pal the same area where israeli officials told civilians to evacuate to. >> the gaza interior ministry says the attack killed 23 people and left 50 others injured. a similar situation is unfolding on the egyptian border where palestinians are searching for survivors. >> and many are trying to escape the violence to egypt but still unable to leave without a deal in place. >> this is the four days now that we come from gaza and this is the situation, and we hope it will be okay but it's very, very bad. we feel we will day in every minute, every second. we hope we stay alive and we hope everything is okay. >> just on the opposite side of the border, trucks filled with humanitarian supplies are unable to get in to deliver the aid. joining us now, ambassador to the state of palestine. thank you for being with us today. how would you describe the situation going on right now as we speak in gaza? >> i think the u.n. official said it best, it's a hellhole, and the israeli general said they would unleash hell, and that's where the palestinians are experiencing now. we have 1,000 children who have been killed so far, and over 3,000 palestinians has been killed. >> it's tragic to hear of the losses, and the innocent children and women who are trapped and suffering. you have said the world has lost its humanity because of this. what do you mean by that? >> i mean if you value life, there's no reason not to value palestinian lives. we have seen people trying to say israel is not responsibility for killing the people it's killing. you can not say that. we have seen people tell people in gaza, this is for your own good and life will be better after. this is destruction and death around them. it's not the first time. many have survived all this time, and now they are being killed again. entire families are being wiped off the face of the earth. >> who do you hold accountable for what is happening right now? what responsibility do you see as hamas' role in causing this awful situation? >> i hold responsible the one doing the killing. the states have obligations under the international law, and we cannot evade them by holding somebody else responsible. now we cannot allow them to say they are not responsible for killing overwhelmingly civilians. these are the words of the israeli prime minister, vengeance. i hope your country and others are trying to talk sense into them. we appreciate the access to the humanitarian aid, but we say we don't want the bombings to continue, we don't want the ground assault. the situation is in collapse under the humanitarian and health levels, you need to save the lives of the people. every five minutes we are losing a palestinian life. every 15 minutes a palestinian child is killed. >> every life matters, and those lives that are not mentioned do matter. every single life is precious. there is, however, the 7th of october. that changed everything, because a reaction to a declaration of war is a war. i am just wondering, ambassador, the humanity in all of this is so easily forgotten, and there are victims, yes, on all sides. the 7th of october, how do you not include that massacre into what is the reaction of a country or of a group to the indiscriminate of slaughter of people when every life matters? >> we reject the killing of any citizen. we have thousands of people killed. we had the deadliest killing in the west bank. >> true. >> thisaire has become the deadliest. we have 60 palestinians killed in the west bank in the last ten days. israel made choices, their own ones, colonizing and occupying the land, and we said careful. we didn't come to say let's justify the killing, and we are saying when israelis are killed the only solution, because you say vengeance now and vengeance later, and what happens? people continue dying on both sides. we said to many, including the west, you can't manage the conflict and at some point you have to solve it. you will have to spend later to extinguish fires. now the fire has reached the israelis, and but, again, palestinians were being killed before and are being killed now, and we can say it's time to kill israelis again, and that's not responsible. we have to tell people honestly, palestinians and israelis are suffering, and the only way to stop it is to make peace. we don't want your kids to die or our kids to die. >> can peace happen with hamas in existence? >> what does that mean? you have settlers who are violent and burned our children, and we have governments and responsibilities, and we make peace and make sure to have a buy in to our people, and we can't tell people, palestinians, eventually the palestinians would -- >> hamas is in control in gaza, and hamas has in its covenant the goal of killing jews. there is no room for extra -- compromise -- >> there is no constituents about killing, and in hamas, it's there in there, it's black and white. you can't wish it away. >> you can't wish it away. you address it. it's submission or death. our goal is to give people an alternative path, and that they can be free. >> an alternative to hamas and extremist? >> alternative to anybody who believes peace is not popular, and anybody that objects to the two-state solution. sometimes it's not popular, and sometimes people are suffering and don't want to hear it, but if you lose faith in that option, we condemned our peoples to death and devastation forever. we have a responsibility. the u.s. now is involved and the humanitarian situation, and the best way for it to spill over is the stopping of skilling of palestinians, and to do that like all the other leaders have told the united states during the tour of blinken, and president biden is now involved, and we need to come with an answer to the problems. occupation and siege cannot be the future of the palestinian people. >> recognizing everybody's right to exist. >> exactly. >> recognizing everybody's right to exist. >> exactly. >> thank you very much for coming in. >> appreciate your perspective and your time. >> thank you very much. up next, a bipartisan congressional delegation just got back from israel where they meet with officials there. >> we will talk to senator jacky rosen about what she experienced on that trip including rushing into a bomb shelter. we will be with you in a second. you are watching special coverage of the israel hamas war on msnbc. bc ever notice how stiff clothes can feel rough on your skin? for softer clothes that are gentle on your skin, try downy free & gentle downy will soften your clothes without dyes or perfumes. the towel washed with downy is softer, and gentler on your skin. try downy free & gentle. why give your family just any eggs when they can enjoy the best? eggland's best. the only eggs with more fresh and delicious taste. plus, superior nutrition. which is now more important than ever. only eggland's best. here in the bay, our cars takes and all of our stuff where we want to go. but, our cars can't take us e with unpaid tolls. vehicles with overdue, unpaid tolls may not be able to renew their registration until outstanding balances are paid. payment assistance is available. visit bayareafastrak.org/ase so go pay your unpaid tolls y and keep your wheels on the ! 99 u.s. senators signed up to support of israel in the wake of the brutal hamas attacks earlier this month. and the solution calls on all countries to condemn hamas's war and demands hamas cease its attacks on israel, and the senate planning to take up an aid package that would include help for the dome missile system. >> it comes just days after a bipartisan delegation of senators led by the senate majority leader, chuck schumer, visited israel to show solidarity with the israeli people, and one of the senators that traveled in the delegation was a senator, the only jewish woman serving in the senate. what do you make will come of the next 24 hours, the president visiting the middle east, israel as well as jordan? >> first, thank you for having me. i was very proud to go on the delegation to show the united states senate unwavering support not just for israel, but to stand up against terrorism. that's really the message here. the president is going to show that unwavering support for our democratic ally in the middle east for democracy around the world, and in the fight against terrorism. let's be clear. what happened on october 7th, it wasn't just terrorism, it was premeditated. it was planned and preorchestrated, to take young girls, young kids, holocaust survivors, and some in wheelchairs who were handicapped. hamas, and hezbollah are proxies of iran. >> that message that you and your colleagues left during that visit is important, and what was the lesson you took away from that meeting and visit? >> well, thank you for that question, because i want to tell you. you don't have to be a jewish mother, you have to be any mother or father as we sat and listened to some of the families of those loved ones taken hostages. their parents, grandparents, and small children, and they saw video of their arms blown off. one woman said we no longer live in the world with all of you. they live in this separate space wondering what is happening. is their loved one dead or alive or being tortured? they will never be the same. as a parent, as a mother, this stays with me. we also were sheltered. we had to shelter to go to the bomb shelter as we saw the missiles and heard the sirens go off. if you have ever been in one of those shelters, and maybe as journalist you have, but when you go in there, you don't know what is happening out on the outside, you wait and wait and wait, and when you get the all clear, you go out and you don't know what you are going to find. this is what israeli families live in night after night, missiles shot indiscriminately into israel. we have to do everything we can to protect innocent lives on both sides and provide israel with the strategic support and diplomatic support she needs. >> a reality they were living through even before may 1948. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. i appreciate you both. thank you. coming up, we will move from the senate to the house where we are about half an hour away now from the vote to elect a new speaker. does jim jordan have the votes? we will see where things stand next. the single most important thing you can do. it eliminates painful fingersticks, helps lower a1c, and is covered by medicare. before using the dexcom g7, i was really frustrated. my a1c was stuck. (female announcer) dexcom g7 sends your glucose numbers to your phone or dexcom receiver without painful fingersticks. the arrow shows the direction your glucose is heading-- up, down, or steady. and because dexcom g7 is the most accurate cgm, you can make better decisions about food, medication, and activity in the moment. after using the dexcom g7, my a1c has never been lower. i lead line dancing three times a week, and i'm just living a great life now. (woman) it's so easy to use. dexcom g7 has given me confidence and control that everything i need is right there on my phone. (female announcer) now, millions more are covered by medicare. take advantage of the expanded coverage by calling today. (smelling) ew. gotta get rid of this. ♪tell me why♪ because it stinks. ♪have you tried downy rinse and refresh♪ it helps remove odors 3x better than detergent alone. it worked guys! ♪yeahhhh♪ downy rinse and refresh. what did we do before viasat satellite internet? well... we borrowed. we borrowed the internet. but that was before viasat came out with all their new plans. yup. lots of internet now. plenty for everyone. learn more about our plans at viasat.com soon on capitol hill the house will begin the process of voting for its next speaker. right now it's unclear where the lone republican contender, congressman, jim jordan, has the votes to secure the gavel. moments ago, jordan said he feels confident. >> joining us now, a msnbc contributor. is there more votes, more delay, more kay pausa. >> reporter: i think this is a tenuous situation for jordan and his quest to become speaker. there are several hard nos that say they will not vote for jim jordan for speaker. as we saw in january, there could be many ballots. there could be ten ballots, 15 ballots, as long as jordan wants to hold out. the problem is there are several house republicans that told us they only committed to jordan on the first ballot, so when a second ballot comes around they could go another way, and vote on somebody like kevin mccarthy or steve scalise, et cetera, et cetera, and there a all sorts of differences leading people to vote against jim jordan. to be honest with you, to win on the first ballot, there's a big problem. >> you have been reporting on some of the pressure tactics employed by some of jordan's allies to try and force the hands of a bit more skeptical republicans. take a look at what we heard from one congressman on "meet the press" about that. >> that's really kind of disappointing but also concerning to me if that's how -- if he becomes speaker, that's the way he will get his policies through, he will intimidate you or his followers will intimidate you. >> he went on to say, he is not going to vote for jordan. he was confirming that. we will see in the end what happens, but are the pressure tactics backfiring or are they working to a degree? >> they are not working. this is the irony of this. in the internal house races, all the time -- i have covered dozens of these over the years. every time somebody tries to put pressure in from the outside it feels. we saw it in january with jim banks when he wanted to be whip, and jimenez is the core of the jim jordan opposition with john rutherford from florida, and mario diaz balart, and these three florida ones will stick together. and there's don bacon of nebraska, and there's ken buck of colorado. there are a bunch of people who have said they will not support jim jordan on the first ballot and the outside pressure is only ticking people off more. i will say this. there's a lot of differences between kevin mccarthy and jim jordan. even if you oppose mccarthy, a lot of people liked him. jim jordan does not have the same favorability in the house republican conference. lot of people think he's emphrau emblematic of the problems the house has had over the last couple years. >> thank you. up next, the mother of a woman being held hostage by hamas begs for her daughter's return after seeing her on a video. we will talk about what the hostages are going through, what they are feeling. you're watching special coverage of the israel hamas war on msnbc. as someone living with type 2 diabetes, i want to keep it real and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you're still at risk ...which if ignored could bring you here... ...may put you in one of those... ...or even worse. too much? that's the point. get real about your risks and do something about it. talk to your health care provider about ways to lower your risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. learn more at getrealaboutdiabetes.com what did we do before viasat satellite internet? well... we borrowed. we borrowed the internet. but that was before viasat came out with all their new plans. yup. lots of internet now. plenty for everyone. learn more about our plans at viasat.com (vo) in three seconds, janice will win a speedboat. y(woman)s of internet now. bingo!ty for everyone. i'm moving to the lake. gotta sell the house. (vo) ooh! that's a lot of work. (woman) ooh! (vo) don't worry. skip the hassels and sell directly to opendoor. (woman) bingo. (vo) get your competitive offer at opendoor dot com. 43 past the hour. this morning anticipation is growing after hamas said it would be willing to release nonisraeli hostages when circumstances allow, and they have notified 199 families of those being held by hamas. >> those families say they want answers or any information about their missing loved ones. 21-year-old schenn was shown in a hostage video released by hamas, and analyses found parts of the video were made on october 10th, a full week ago. we don't know her current condition. maya's mother spoke with our colleague, lester holt. >> i didn't know she was missing until last saturday, and then saturday they said that she might be kidnapped. that's all i knew. so when i saw her, i saw my baby alive. >> joining us now is a global opinions writer who spent 544 days unjustly imprisoned by iran until released in 2016. >> we have spoke with you before, and you personally have been through a lot. you, in some ways, have been in the shoes of these hostages. what do you think they may be going through right now? >> well, ana, i have to say that this is leaps and bounds more devastating and traumatic than even what i experienced. there's a war raging on above where they are at this moment. they can undoubtedly hear that. they have to be afraid, anxious, confused, while at the same time trying to maintain some hope that they will be saved. i think the tragic reality is that this is one horrific element of a horrific war, and the options for getting these people released are not very good. the idea that israeli defense forces, intelligence forces and others might go in and try to do a military rescue is something that has been talked about, and it's definitely on the table, but, you know, invariably in those situations, real risks are being made not just to those trying to undertake the recovery but also the hostages themselves. >> jason, 544 days. did it ever seem to you as though that was your reality forever? i am just wondering, what does one process as the days go by when you are essentially where you were yesterday and where you may be tomorrow? >> in the early days and weeks there's lot of confusion mixed with hope. yes, there's fear, but that doesn't really set in until the days turn into weeks and turn into months. for me, you know, i had moments of deep despair that i thought i would never be freed, and i was told multiple times as i imagine these hostages are that they would be executed, that i would be freed, that i would spend the rest of my life in captivity, and as the time drags on, there was the fear i would never be set free more than dieing in a horrific way, and that was the scariest part for me. i just hope that these folks are spared the longevity of that, and also the real hope is that they come out alive and are able to rejoin their families as soon as possible. >> i can only imagine for the families who are waiting for any new details about their loved ones, there must be such a huge struggle especially knowing that this is a terrorists organization in hamas that is holding them. do you have any thoughts, any words of encouragement or advice for those families right now? >> well, they have to maintain hope, but at the same time i would urge the israeli government and u.s. government and all democratic governments around the world who are dealing with more and more hostage takings that this is on the rise to think long and hard about how we can combat this, and there's so many different parts in play, and yes, hamas is a terrorists organization but it maintains relationships with friends of ours, and what are the pressure points we can put on those friends of ours to help us resolve the situation in as quickly and safe a way as possible. these are the conversations i hope are being at the highest level of all of these governments. >> the conditions are so different, as you were saying, but the final result of it is that there are people being held hostage with the great unknown around them. >> including small children. >> including small children. >> and that is particularly tragic and horrific -- >> and terry anderson, and he was kept in hreb elan, and there are people that have experienced such pain and solitude and fear. iran comes through many of these different incidents. i am just wondering what the concept you think of iran is in hezbollah and in hamas and is it an mo of just taking innocence hostage? >> taking innocent people hostage is something that governments or terrorists organizations and nonstate actors do because they are weak and not because they are strong. and they understand the home countries of the people who are they are taking hostage care about the life, safety and freedom of their citizens. so they do this because we have not cultivated defense mechanisms, and we need to figure out how to stop this from moving forward, something iran and its proxies have been doing for 40 years, and something like russia is engaged in, and at the same time figuring out how to safely and governments right now and non-state actors. add 13 more in this current instance right now. it's a phenomenon that is as old as civilization, but one that is particularly bad right now. >> thank you for shining light and sharing your own experience, that is instructive in this moment, especially given where you were held hostage and your journalism in iran prior to being taken hostage. thank you so much, jason. >> thank you both. we have new reporting about a deal the biden administration has made with migrants separated from their families under former president trump. moments away from the vote for speaker of the u.s. house of representatives. we have an update on where the votes stand next. you are watching msnbc. you are c , we need to find more sustainable ways of doing things. america's plastic makers are investing billions of dollars in new technologies and creating plastic products that are more recyclable. durable. and dependable. our goal is a cleaner, healthier planet for generations to come. for a better tomorrow, we're focused on making plastics better today. having triplets is... -amazing -expensive. so, we switched to the bargain detergent, but we ended up using three times as much and the clothes still weren't as clean as with tide. so we're back with tide, and the clothes are clean again. do 3x the laundry and get a tide clean. it's got to be tide. this is spring semester at over 13,000 us school districts, which have become top targets for ransomware attacks. but there's never been a reported ransomware attack on a chromebook. which is why thousands of schools like the fairfield-suisun unified school district switched to google tools for education. so they can focus on teaching and 22,000 students can focus on learning, knowing that their data is secure. ( ♪♪ ) 53 past the hour. more coverage of the israel-hamas war in a few minutes. we are following significant developments after the biden administration announced a deal with more than 4,000 migrants separated from their families at the southern border by former president donald trump. one of those is maria and her daughter. we have been following their story. maria, who is from guatemala, was separated from her daughter for four years when she was 6. they were reunited in 2021 in florida. these are the images of when they were reunited. now maria tells telemundo she's hopeful about the new deal. >> if you are listening to us on radio, the mother talked to her daughter every day and she's hoping someone in government, their hearts are touched and they could help them further. julia ainsley is with us now. julia, how did this agreement come to be? >> reporter: it took a long time. this is after 2 1/2 years of negotiations. you might not expect that, considering this is now the biden administration in charge of the justice department. but they have actually put up some barriers and said no to some other requests, including financial compensation. what they have agreed to is to allow these families, especially with people who have been deported, to come back into the united states, stay here for three years, get legal services, health care, mental health services and to try to claim asylum here, even if they have passed the one-year deadline where you have to claim asylum after entry into the united states. they are carving out some special provisions for these 4,000 families. the lawyers who represent the families say it's an important step in the right direction, but there are many families who are still fighting the government in court through individual tort cases. actually, as they have tried to claim money and get money, the government has said -- the biden administration has said this was an unfortunate byproduct that they were separated, which is the same talking point we saw from the trump administration. at least in this case, they are willing to give them some services. a judge will have to agree to the settlement. congress will have to not put any roadblocks for the funding. >> talk about the humanitarian crisis at the border. >> reporter: it continues. it's over 9,000. that's not the record 11,000 we have seen previously, including just earlier at the end of september and in may. but also, we are hearing more about families coming across. that's the most vulnerable population, including young children. there were two young children rescue crossing the rio grande yesterday, pointing to the dangers and the risks these families are willing to take. >> julia ainsley, thank you very much. appreciate it. we are moments away from the house meeting to begin voting on its next speaker. the big question is whether republican congressman jim jordan has corralled the votes he needs to secure the speakership. ali vitali joins us from capitol hill. ali, we are just minutes away from this really getting underway. i know you have been trying to stake out jim jordan's office to get a word with him, to understand his thinking and his plan going into this. what are you learning? >> reporter: you gotta love when a stakeout actually bears fruit. it did as we were waiting for congressman jordan. i spoke to him on his way to the floor. listen to the optimistic notes he sounded with me. watch. sir, do you think you have the votes on the floor today? >> we feel really good. we need to get a speaker today. we feel really good about where we are at. >> reporter: what are some of the concerns you have heard from members at this point? >> we have been picking up support every day. it's been -- again, i feel confident. >> reporter: certainly, jordan has been in touch with the majority of his colleagues over the course of the last few days, able to chip away at some of the naysayers and actually get yes votes in his column. that doesn't mean that he is going to get this on the first or second ballot. the wide belief here among my sources that i have been talking to is that they will hit the floor in the next three or so minutes. you will see them gavel into session. you will see a prayer, the pledge. then that's when things kick off. we will see members give nominating speeches. we are expecting that those are two of them. one for congressman jim jordan, the other for hakeem jeffries. we have seen democrats remain united. now we will see if republicans can make good after three weeks and multiple rounds of questions on whether or not they will be able to choose their next speaker. jim jordan, of course, sounding optimistic. but again, i don't expect him to get this on the first or even second ballot. this first ballot is likely going to be a chance for anyone who is reluctant or a no vote for jordan to air those grievances in real time. they will vote against him. my understanding from my sources is that jordan is prepared to go for several balloting rounds here, and frankly, so are we. >> i think back to kevin mccarthy and how it took 15 rounds of voting for him to end up speaker. obviously, there's been a lot of drama with his speakership ending. do you think we could see another 15 rounds here? >> reporter: i don't know if i'm ready to handicap it at 15. i think the over/under that i've been seeing in my text messages with lawmakers and sources is three or four rounds of balloting. some, like former speaker kevin mccarthy, are saying he thinks jordan is going to get it on the first. i think that might be overly optimistic and rosie from the former leader of the conference. it's a sign jordan has been able to get closer to 217 than his former predecessor, steve scalise. now i think that for jordan, it's the matter of letting the public pressure get him there. >> thank you for the latest. that's going to wrap it up for us. thank you for being with us. >> very lucky to be able to work with you. >> i feel the same. >> thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with our special coverage right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," full house. republican speaker candidate jim jordan takes his chances on the floor with a vote signaling he has picked up support and is getting closer to the