>> the message to the families of the hostages in gaza, we will not stop until we get them out. >> lester holt and kristin welker moderating the republican primary showdown in miami with forceful pushback by nikki haley to a familiar foil. >> do you want a leader that will put this country first? or do you want dick cheney in three-inch heels. >> i wear heels for ammunition. >> she made fun of me for using tiktok. her daughter was using it. >> let my daughter out of your voice. >> here is the truth. >> you are just scum. >> shutdown watch. with a week to go until the money runs out, the house leaves town until monday after the new speaker fails to corral enough votes for a second approachation bill and offers no plan to avoid the government closing ahead of the holidays. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. the white house is touting that breakthrough in negotiations with israel to help palestinian civilians in gaza. this is not the one to three-day pause in air strikes that the u.s. and qatar have been seeking to try to create a path that they hoped would clear a way for potential hostage release. but they are agreeing to shorter pauses, significant first steps, according to the white house, towards minimizing casualties. 50,000 made the exodus on gaza on monday. not far from where strikes and ground conflicts were happening. the new four-hour pauses will allow more aid to get out. the white house aiming for 150 aim trucks every day. they say that's a minimum. israel previously demanded the release of all the hostages before approving any pause. the white house will not say if any of the hostages, including the ten americans, are part of any deal. gabe gutierrez is at the white house. jason strazuso with the red cross. gabe, talk to us about what negotiations are still underway and how it came together. >> the biden administration and national security spokesperson john kirby announcing israel agreed to the four-hour pauses and a three-hour warng each day. a lot of questions about the details of this, wheer there was a pause earlier today. a short time ago we did see explosions over gaza. you see the proposal, one to three-day pause, that that was one -- was something being discussed by officials from qatar, the u.s. and israel over the last several days, according to diplomats. that's what diplomats told nbc news. this is much shorter. however, the national security council announcing earlier today that this could be something that allows more aid in and also significantly would allow safe passage from northern gaza into southern gaza by civilians. israel had agreed to two humanitarian corridors in gaza as well. as to how this came about, admiral kirby was asked about that. he said this comes after direct engage mrnt by president biden with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. of course, as you very well know, this comes after a whirlwind trip by secretary of state an tlon any blinken to the region. it's significant that it was the americans that announced this pause, not the israelis. a short time ago, we saw the israeli defense forces on social media post that this was not a cease-fire, just a short humanitarian pause. significantly, president biden was asked about this earlier today. he was asked whether he was frustrated with how -- whether this took too long in the negotiations with prime minister netanyahu. the president said he would have liked for this to have happened sooner. he was asked whether he had indeed asked for a three-day humanitarian pause. he said he asked for a pause that was much longer. that news this morning, the u.s. announcing that israel had agreed to that four-hour humanitarian pause each day. >> raf sanchez is joining us from tel aviv. when is the first pause beginning? has it begun? has the promised three-hour advance warning been issued? what can you tell us about this? it's so critical to the gazans we are talking to inside the strip who are fearful from moment to moment that something is going to hit them. >> yeah, these are literally questions of life and death for the 2 million people inside of gaza right now. as yet, we have no indication that the israeli military has given palestinian civilians a sign that tonight there is a pause coming. you can see the sun is down here. the electricity is very limited in gaza. it's unlikely that large numbers of palestinian civilians are going to move around in the nighttime. it's simply too risky. these humanitarian corridors we have seen open over the last couple of days, those have happened during daylight hours. i wouldn't expect at this stage any major movement inside of gaza. we are also hearing for first time from both the israeli military and the prime minister's office responding to that announcement from the white house that there will be these humanitarian pauses. they seem to be trying to make a distinction between a humanitarian pause and a cease-fire. the israeli military insisting there's no cease-fire. there are tactical local pauses for humanitarian aid for gazan civilians. earlier today, i sat down with israeli president isaac hertzog. i asked him about the reports there might be a bigger, more comprehensive deal in the works. a three-day cease-fire in exchange for more aid and possibly the release of hostages. he told me at that time earlier this morning that there was no substantial offer from hamas on the table that would lead to the release of the hostages. take a listen to what he had to say. >> i'm saying outright, according to my knowledge, up to now, there's no real substantial information that is showing any real offer of any process on the table. that is unfortunate. of course, we are working both on the military front and in all other fronts to bring them become home. >> i asked him if there's no real progress towards a comprehensive deal to free the hostages, does that mean israel's only option to get them out is a military rescue? he wouldn't go into that kind of detail. he did say, andrea, that israel has thousands, in his words, of officials, soldiers, spies working around the clock on the hostage issue. i also pressed him on the growing number of palestinian civilians killed by israeli air strikes inside of gaza. we heard the second general of the united nations overnight saying something must be going wrong with israel'smilitary operations for there to be this level of civilian casualties. the president said israel is doing everything to minimize loss of life among innocent palestinians. but he blamed this on hamas, saying hamas is deliberately hiding tunnels and command centers under residential areas. >> both things could be true at the same time. jason, from the people i'm talking to, on all sides, frankly, rather, raf. jason, this is enormously frustrating to you. do you see some progress in the pauses and in the agreement, supposedly, for 150 trucks to get in and the white house says that's the minimum? they have to build on this. but 150 trucks a day. >> we would welcome any action, any decision that decreases the danger to civilians as well as increases the assistance that is able to get in. if a family decides that these pauses are working and that they need to move, maybe they need medical care, then, of course, that's something we would welcome. if assistance is able to move during these pauses, that would be very welcome relief. i could note that earlier this week, a convey of assistance moving towards a hospital from the international community of the red cross received incoming fire. there's real danger for these gazan families who might want to move, and there's real danger for humanitarians trying to move assistance to hospitals. i'd like to add one more thought. there are two sides, when it comes to the deep suffering that's occurring because of this conflict. i can imagine an israeli family who has a family member held hostage, they might say, where is our humanitarian pause? that's just to remind that a pause would be great in gaza, but we are working to alleviate the suffering of the families of hostages and get access to those people as well. >> i know under international law, you are supposed to already -- a month ago -- have had immediate access to the hostages to get them supplies, to get them in touch with their families. that is what is required. hamas has not permitted any of that. it's important to note that these families, whether it's 239 or 240 families, they don't know whether they are alive or dead. >> yeah. that's an immense amount of grief that they're going through. we hear from the families. we have met with the families. we wish that we could force our way in to where the hostages are. sometimes the families in any conflict, not just this one, demand, wish, hope, plea for us to do that. the fact is that we need permission from the people that hold the guns and the people that control the territory. we are continuing to work and insist. the lines of communication are open. i know we have been saying that for many days now. it's frustrating to hear. but we do have proof points in the past of the work we have done with hostages that have been released. these conversations are still happening. we really are trying. we really do understand the grief the families are going through. >> jason, thank you for making that point. raf, a great interview with president herzog. gabe, as always, great reporting from the white house. thanks so much. we are continuing to follow the breaking news that israel is going to implement this four-hour pauses or these pauses every day, supposedly, in the fighting. i will talk to the uk's ambassador, the britishal bass door to the united states, when "andrea mitchell reports" is back in 60 seconds. stay with us. you are watching msnbc. seconds stay with us you are watching msnbc (husband) no way they'd take this wreck. 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(carolers) ♪ we tried to tell him but he paid us a lot... ♪ (husband) it was a lot... ♪ mhmmm ♪ (vo) this holiday turn any iphone, in any condition, into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium, apple tv 4k, and six months of apple one. all three on us. it's holiday everyday with verizon. when migraine strikes you're faced with a choice. ride it out with the tradeoffs of treating? or push through the pain and symptoms? with ubrelvy, there's another option. one dose works fast to eliminate migraine pain treat it anytime, anywhere. without worrying where you are or if it's too late. do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. allergic reactions to ubrelvy can happen. most common side effects were nausea and sleepiness. migraine pain relief starts with u. ask about ubrelvy. learn how abbvie could help you save. here with me now on all this breaking news that israel agreed to daily pauses in the fighting is the british ambassador to the united states. thank you for being with us. we have a lot of news. i know you are part of this. you are briefed on the g7 talks in tokyo that our for -- your foreign secretary, our secretary of state were at, as well as what's happening at the united nations where you served as the ambassador. how hopeful is this regarding the hostages? there's still no breakthrough. there are talks with qatar but no breakthrough. this at least will create a corridor or a pause for them to get out if there's an agreement on them. >> i think the pause will be of most use for getting humanitarian supplies in and letting civilians leave of their own accord, those people who want to. we have managed to get some british civilians out. i think for the hostages, hamas ought to release them unconditionally. it's unconscionable they took them. it's unconscionable that they hold them. i think from what i know, more talks will need to happen before we can have hostages released. this is a very good sign. it shows that people are trying to protect civilians, shows the israelis are acting in good faith with the civilians. hopefully, it will be a spur to getting hostages out. >> at the g7 in tokyo, where our foreign ministers, with there was -- i am told -- disagree on the three-day pose. it was agreed to issue the statement saying pauses would be hopeful -- helpful. what's the british position on a three-day pause? >> i don't really want to put a figure on it. one day, three days, five days, it's difficult to measure. it's difficult to stop hamas exploiting that for its own purposes. i think these pauses daily, four-hour pauses from israelis, that's a good sign. we will get aid in. we have been sending airlifts via egypt. they will help civilians leave. >> do you have british citizens trying to getd through the rafah gate? >>e got 150 out so far. i think there are a few more left who would like to leave. it hasn't been straightforward, as you can imagine. but we have teams on the ground and in egypt and in jordan waiting to help british nationals. >> one of the other issues that has come up, buffer zones. i'm told the palestinians are against them. they don't want to give up more land on the strip. israel isn't going to give up any land. but they want a demilitarized zone. what is your view of that? would that even be possible? >> i think it's one idea that would need to be studied carefully. there are a number of other ideas. it's early to say what is the idea that will work. demilitarized zones in all my experience can be useful. they do carry certain problems in that you need both sides to respect them. i know the u.n. is always concerned about anything that looks like a safe zone. sadly, they sound good, they sound sensible, but actually they can make people even more lnerable, ironic as that is. it's one of those things we need so sit down and work out what the day after looks like. i think the one thing we do know is that hamas cannot stay in gaza in control of gaza. >> the u.s. has had more air strikes overnight against iranian ircg positions, warehouse supplies, in syria. so far, this has not deterred more than 40 strikes against u.s. positions. a reaper drone was shot down by houthi forces from yemen. this is a steady tempo. is the u.s. doing enough, or should there be more action taken? >> i think they made clear it was a precision attack. in that sense, i would say it's proportion at. the u.s. have this right. they are acting in self-defense. they are being proportion at. messages have been sent to the region by our prime minister and the foreign second as well as secretary blinken about no escalation. >> do you think iran will hold off? you have diplomatic relations. we don't. how are you reading this? >> it's a brave diplomat who tried to guess what iran would do. i won't do that. we have talked to them. we are urging them and other regional partners not to let any of this escalate. we will go on doing that. i have to think we need to keep a very close eye on what's happening in the region not just in israel, gaza, crucial as that is. >> dame karen pierce, the ambassador from the uk, thank you so much. >> thank you. coming up next, foreign policy, abortion and personal attacks. the top takeaways from the third republican presidential debate on nbc. what could it mean for the candidates as they try to catch up with frontrunner donald trump? that's next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. mitchell reports" on msnbc -thanks for swinging by, carl. -no problem. so what are all those for? uh, this lets me adjust the base, add more guitar, maybe some drums. -wow. so many choices. -yeah. like schwab. i can get full service wealth management, advice, invest on my own, and trade on thinkorswim. you know carl is the only front man you need. 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