rise with more than 1400 killed in israel and over 9000 killed in gaza, according to the palestinian health ministry. numbers that nbc has not confirmed independently. but as we cope for -- foreign nationals, including americans who granted access to leave gaza through the rafah crossing. relief met with heart ache us so many had to leave family members behind. ahead, i will speak with one woman who was able to escape gaza days ago. hurt dangerous and very slow journey and the help that she had from her family back here in the united states. plus, a family affair, the eldest trump sons, both appearing in a new york courtroom this week in the fraud trial against the trump organization. eric trump, defiant talking to reporters after his testimony, >> [inaudible] this is a sensationalized -- we've done nothing wrong. we have a better company than they could've ever imagined. this is a big charade, a huge waste of taxpayer money. it is the very reason everybody's moving out of new york state. >> i'm gonna speak to suzanne craig, who was in that courtroom, i will ask her why the judge threatened the former presidents attorneys. and then the new house speaker, why johnson goes for his first bill and it's passed in the house, 14 billion dollar military aid package for israel. it is dead on arrival though when it comes to the senate. we will get the very latest on that. we begin this hour though in the middle east, with the israel-hamas war raging on. >> israel's ground offensive indoors or with new claims of attacks on schools, refugee camps, ambulances as well. while u.s. secretary of state, tony, blinken's meeting with arab foreign ministers in jordan calling for a cease-fire this afternoon. blinken huddled with israeli prime minister, bibi netanyahu, reiterating support for israel. but america's top diplomat is also calling for a humanitarian pause in the fighting to get more aid into gaza. netanyahu rejected any cease-fire talks unless he says we all the hamas held hostages or relief. continuing to bob gaza -- claiming to have killed dozens of terrorists, the idf also released this video showing its tanks firing rounds and soldiers moving through their military operation in gaza. with, that i want to start things off on the ground in israel, joining me first, nbc's jay gray in tel aviv. good to talk to, you. jaylon of activity we overnight to say the least. walk us through it. >> yasmin, no question that the last 24 hours have again been some of the most intense fighting we've seen since this war began. from the air, obviously, with airstrikes continuing, is really navy fighting from off the coastline. it is the footprint on the ground of idf troops that really continues to expand. we're being told by the idf that they have surrounded gaza city with the intent to move in, destroy hamas infrastructure inside gaza city and really they are looking for operational structures, commanding control structures. they say that is an area where they feel like they will find a lot of the command centers for hamas. they've also moved into some of the tunnels, as you talked about, and they are moving through the tunnel system and trying as best they can to establish how they can better get into those areas. it's something that continues to grow daily. over the last 48 hours, it's really been some of the most intense fighting we have seen. we are also told from the idf that they have cleared a route for civilians to move to the south to get to where it will be safer, according to the idf. they have cleared a path today. they've agreed to allow them to make that move over three hours. they say they were ambushed by hamas fighters there and had to close the path down. that is the latest on the ground there in gaza. no question that while the echoes and calls for a cease-fire are growing, the fighting is intensifying. >> thank, you jay. we appreciate it. as i mentioned earlier, at the top of the show, secretary of state, tony, blinken is in the middle east visiting jordan today after wrapping up his third trip to israel in the last four weeks. in tel aviv, he once again reaffirmed u.s. support for israel. he did call for something that is not exactly popular within the israeli government. a pause in the fighting, as they're putting. it's they're not using the word cease-fire. a pause in the fighting to get humanitarian resources to people in gaza. secretary blinken speaking about the need to protect innocent palestinians that have been caught in the crossfire. we >> need to do more to protect palestinians. a billions them -- as israel conducts this campaign to defeat hamas, how it does so matters. it matters because it's the right unlawful thing to do. i've seen images to of palestinian children, young boys and girls, pulled from the wreckage in buildings. when i see that, when i look into their eyes through the tv screen, i see my own children. how can we not? >> having to walk a fine line there in his speech addressing the world from israel yesterday. i want to go to nbc news correspondent, aaron gilchrist, who is traveling with the president and -- erin, thanks for joining us on this. this trip is not over. the secretary of state made a tour of the middle east. i know he is adding a visit to turkey on his schedule. from there he will go to japan, south korea, india as well. from the white house perspective, what are the goals of this trip right now? the messaging? >> secretary blinken laid out those goals pretty clearly today when he spoke after meeting with several of those arab nations you mentioned a few minutes ago. yasmin, the secretary of state, particularly with meeting with egypt in jordan, talking about how to get more aid into gaza to help people there who are suffering. also talking about how to get hostages away from hamas during this conflict that is still going on. and protecting palestinian civilians in the gaza strip as well. there was this point of contention as i watch the news conference today with the leaders from egypt and jordan and obviously secretary blinken. it was around this idea of a cease-fire. egyptian foreign minister saying that he's demanding an unconditional cease-fire in gaza immediately. the jordanian foreign minister seem to agree with that. secretary blinken pushed back on it saying that the u.s. is not calling for a cease-fire, and then he tried to offer an explanation. i want you to hear what he had to say. >> a cease-fire now, it would simply leave hamas in place, unable to regroup and repeat what it did on october 7th. you don't have to take my word for it, just a few days ago a senior hamas official said it was their intent to do october's a seventh again and again and again. no nation, none of us except that. nobody would find that helpful. >> but, again as you, heard the secretary also talked about the suffering that has been seen in gaza that is obvious. and so many people are having been killed there. in his conversations with israel yesterday, the secretary reiterated that he did talk to the israelis about humanitarian pause is, about how to do that, one to do, that where do, that and the best way to execute it so that it's useful to get more aid in and people who were injured out to alleviate the suffering happening in gaza right now. >> we are going to be following this. that is for sure. thank you. coming up in just 60 seconds, folks, the trump's go to court. what we learn from american don jr.'s testimony in their family business's civil fraud trial. what to expect one ivanka and a former president take the stand this coming. week we will be right back. week we will be right back. 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. ( ♪♪ ) right now get a free footlong at subway. like the new deli heroes. buy one footlong in the app, get one free. it's a pretty big deal. kinda like me. order in the subway app today. welcome back, the former president and his daughter are set to take the stand next week in the new york civil fraud trial. this is coming up to trump sons, don junior, eric as well, who are executive vice presidents of the trump organization both testified this week. well they may have had different demeanor's on the witness stand, eric trump being somewhat combative on the witness stand, both made arguments that were nearly identical. it was the company's accountants who in fact were responsible for issues with financial statements, not them. i want to bring in investigative reporter from the new york times, suzanne craig, who is inside the courtroom all week long. happy to have you, suzanne. i'm sure it is nice to get to respite from the inside of that courtroom over the last week, over the weekend here. we appreciate you spending time with us. i know there was some contentious moments when it came to eric trump's testimony. you said that you did not feel like either of them did quite well. both made somewhat of the same arguments, essentially saying look, this was our accounts of -- we were pouring concrete while they were doing the accounting. we wanted to pass the buck there. talk me through comparing the testimonies of both eric and don jr.. >> sure. not accounted argument just off the top, they are the company, the trump organization, is the one that supplies the information to the accountants. it's interesting that all of these things became very porous. both of them had similar arguments, don jr.'s was just less combative and less detailed. simply because he's not as involved in the company. he had signed documents, there was some email that mentioned him. for the most part he has not been in a presence in the courtroom in terms of interactions other people have had with him. eric has been very much involved in the company. he's essentially been running it since his father entered the white house. what is interesting is he has maintained in this -- with a deposition that he gave in 2020, that he really wasn't involved with. it's a famous comment, i pour concrete, i don't two appraisals. that was played in the courtroom this week. and after it was over, the attorney general just got up and had email after email after email where he was involved in the minutiae, he was involved in appraisals. his defense sort of started out, and i've been building a list because it's an interesting arc, there's a lot, he says first of all i was -- gonna see this on monday, when the former president gets the stand, i was busy doing other things. i don't get involved in the details. i relied on professional advice. but then they also come into say, even with all of, that there's nothing wrong with a financial statements we submitted to banks, not only are the appraisals accurate from their view, but they're actually underestimated. eric trump made a statement saying, you, know their worth even more than we said. so there's just this whole line that they're going through to make their case in a courtroom, which is interesting, most of it has been decided on summary judgment. they're facing a huge fine. >> it's interesting you brought up one of the arguments, essentially saying well look, no damages were done, the banks were paid, no one lost here. you talk about -- and it has not been talked about in the media, the testimony from the banker who kind of came in to talk about and assess the damages that in fact we're done, that nobody essentially was hurt, and the banks were paid. talk us through some of what we heard from him and why this stood out. >> i'm glad you raised that because this is really now a case about what the damages are going to be. and we are going to hear one of the trump's defenses, there is no victims here. all the loans were repaid. what we heard this weekend testimony that was overshadowed, because the trump children, two of them came in to testify this week, was from a banker who was hired by the attorney general who walked the judge through at least on four of the main properties in question in this case and looked at what the damages were by this submission of the false statements to the banks. what he determined was that the trumps had valued things correctly, they would not have gotten this preferential treatment by the banks and they would have paid more money in interest rates. just on four properties, his estimate came to 100 and $62 million. at the end of the day, if all that is going to matter when this is over is what will the trumps have to pay. they already have a receiver over their business, and they are going to have to pay a fine. something will likely have to be sold. the damage is questioned because it's been overshadowed this week. >> i want to touch on this expanded gag order on friday against the court clerk. the gag order now on the former presidents attorneys, the judge essentially saying, quote unquote, they were falsely accusing her of bias against them and improperly influencing the ongoing bench trial. pretty shocking. they're a gag order now on the former presidents attorneys. >> right, donald trump and his attorneys have been butting heads with the judge over the law clerk, almost since the beginning. they've decided to seize on. it i sense it's very political for them and they are probably feeling it plays well with the base. that they have been seizing on everything from criticizing that she has been rolling her eyes during the proceedings, which fair enough if she has, she should not be, but everything from that they found a picture of her with chuck schumer. they posted it saying that chuck schumer's girlfriend was sitting at the bench, essentially. the judges really hot under the color on this issue. has sanctioned them and is now expanding the gag order to include donald trump's attorneys, they can't speak about her in any capacity now. >> sun craig, we will hear from you all next week. that is the former president obviously testifying on monday, his daughter, ivanka, who's not a defendant in this case, however, she's testifying as well if you days later. thank you for now, we will see you in a couple of days. still ahead everybody, is real's military passing the house. does it have a shot in the senate? escaping gaza, i will speak with an american citizen who was able to flee gaza just this week. up next, the leader of hezbollah, hassan nasrallah, in nearby lebanon, gave his first speech on the israel-hamas war. now a warning for americans living in that country from the state department. we will be right back. state department we will be right back. we will be right back. right now get a free footlong at subway. like the new deli heroes. buy one footlong in the app, get one free. it's a pretty big deal. kinda like me. order in the subway app today. we all have heroes in our lives. and for a kid like me, who's had 13 operations. and can now walk. you might think, that i'd say my hero is my doctor or nurse. or even my physical therapist, and they are. but there's someone else, who's a hero to me and 1.5 million other kids and counting. you may be surprised, but my hero is you. is people just like you, who give every month. to shriners hospitals for children. and because of heroes like you. i can do things now that were impossible before. and i can walk. all of this is made possible because of heroes like you. who go online to loveshriners.org right now. when you do, we'll send you this adorable love to the rescue blanket as a thank you. and a reminder of all the kids whose hero you are. each and every month. welcome back everybody. please call or go to loveshriners.org right away. a short time ago the state department recommended that all u.s. citizens in lebanon leave now, while commercial flights remain available. israel's military in the hub on -- iran-backed hezbollah exchange fire with israel in the region -- since the war broke, out joining us now from beirut, nbc's matt bradley. last weekend matt, you and i talked about this ominous video that was released with the back of the head of hassan nasrallah, we don't know what it was implying, what was to come. now we, know, obviously with the speech happening just yesterday. the speech for him was somewhat predictable. but also not delivering on what some thought he would deliver on, which is a call to action for hezbollah. he was more tempered. also turning the direction towards the palestinians saying this was saying it was justified for the palestinians for hamas to do what they did. but also saying it was one hunted percent a palestinian planning, and drawing a line between hezbollah and hamas. talk us through more of what we heard from the leader of hezbollah. >> yeah, in many ways,, yasmin we were hearing a lot of the greatest hits from him. this is a man who is typically valuable, he speaks at, length and he spoke for an hour to half. i was not in front of, him this was over video, he does not really appear before his adoring followers, he normally addresses them by video. i was in a huge arena listening amongst thousands of people who were hanging on every word, supporters of hezbollah. he left it open. he were saying a lot of people really wanted to hear him saying he was going to go to war. a lot of people in lebanon were dreading that he was going to announce some kind of invasion of israel or some kind of ramped up attack. but he sort of was throwing red meat to his base as he often does. he left everything kind of open, you know, yasmin, the real question for everybody, there for all of us still now, why did he wait for weeks, nearly four weeks in order to make this speech after the october 7th attack? one of the things he kept hitting on, over and over again, was that people were asking him why hezbollah has not involve themselves in the. war he kept stressing, again, repetitively that hezbollah has been in the war ever since the second day after october 7th, since october 8th. that was the reason for the speech, to honor and federate the more than 50 hezbollah fighters who have been killed in the past four weeks of fighting. he was really kind of laying the groundwork for, what really could still be a massive uptick in fighting. he warned the west, warned the united states, warned israel, he was holding the u.s. and israel in equal contempt for the treatment of the palestinians and hezbollah and what they've been doing throughout the middle east and muslim world. for him, this was really more about the status quo while laying the groundwork for what still could be a regional war. >> yasmin. >> i've been thinking a lot about this time period that it has taken for nassar led to speak out. i wonder if it all has to do with calls from talks with the iranian foreign minister, or from iran. obviously hezbollah is funded by iran. we know around so far has said they don't want to get involved in a wider conflict. they are acting, though, not to say they're not, acting they're acting currently through proxies as we've seen repeatedly over the last couple of weeks. talk me through that, if you, will this call from the state department for u.s. citizens to leave lebanon. we >>, well this is not the first time we've heard the state department call for that. one of the interesting things is there are most flights operating out of roughly career international airport, which is right behind me. but the fact is that the u.s. state department kind of ramped up the language, saying that any military assisted evacuation is rare. that is the thing they're trying to avoid. they don't want to hundred thousand americans throwing up the embassy, demanding help to leave the country when things get really bad. yasmin? >> matt bradley for, us thank, you've met. we appreciate. it coming, up gop presidential candidates descend upon central florida for the republican freedom summit. her