Were following Breaking News out of gaza, where local officials accuse Israeli Soldiers of opening fire on a crowd of unarmed civilians in gaza city. I want to warn you, the video youre about to see is graphic and it may be difficult to watch. The incident occurred when a crowd gathered to receive humanitarian aid at a distribution site. Gazan Officials Say dozens were killed and hundreds more were injured. An israeli official confirms to nbc news they used live fire, but said the crowd posed a threat to the soldiers. The news comes as the hamasrun Ministry Of Health says that more than 30,000 people have now been killed in gaza since the october 7th attacks. Last hour, while leaving the white house for the southern border, President Biden addressed the latest developments out of gaza. Joining us now is nbcs josh lederman. Also with us, Retired Four Star General barry mccaffrey, nbc news military analyst. What do we know about that happened here today . As is so often the case in the immediate aftermath of these tragic incidents, the circumstances are very much in dispute. The palestinian authorities in gaza are calling this a massacre, saying that the Israeli Military unloaded on desperate palestinians, simply trying to get assistance that they so badly need. But, the Israeli Military is putting out new information as they try to respond to the global uproar over this. They now say there were actually two separate incidents. They say this occurred around 4 00 a. M. When there was a convoy of some 30 trucks and that as that convoy was moving through a checkpoint, essentially, that thousands of palestinians surrounded those trucks, trying to get the aid created a Stampede Situation where many palestinians were run over, otherwise injured. And then they say that a short while later, as that convoy continued to move north toward northern gaza, that there were palestinians who approached Israeli Troops, who were actually protecting that checkpoint. They say that the Israeli Military fired warning shots into the air and then when those palestinians continued moving toward them, they eventually shot live rounds at those palestinians. Now, no video of any palestinians approaching Israeli Troops has yet been released by the Israeli Military. Though they do say they are investigating, while the National Security council in light of those comments from President Biden says that this is a very serious incident, that they also are look at. What this makes clear, jose, is that the humanitarian crisis and the war in gaza, the active combat, these are no longer distinct calamities for the palestinian people. It shows just how much these are becoming one. The dire and growing need for basic necessities like food, clean water, and medicine is fueling this instability, leading palestinians to take more and more drastic measures to get the aid that they need, including approaching and sometimes surrounding these aid trucks as this trickle of humanitarian aid makes it into gaza. At the same time, the ongoing fighting the israeli attacks and bombardment within the gaza strip is making it so much more difficult for that humanitarian aid to get into the gaza strip, which is one of the reasons why a number of nations including jordan and canada are working to air drop aid into the gaza strip, and now u. S. Officials telling nbc news that the United States government also considering air dropping humanitarian aid into the gaza strip to try to make up for the lack of aid that is getting in through those trucks coming in from egypt and from the israeli border. Jose . General, what do you make out of this news, out of gaza, and the president said there are still different versions of what may have happened and when. What do you make of that . Well, that was an excellent report by josh. At the end of the day, you got the better part of 20,000 hamas fighters underground, Still Holding hostages, determined to conduct high intensity Combat Operations against the idf. Humanitarian crisis is real, it is growing, it is growing desperate. They need four or 500 trucks a day into the region. They need to be able to distribute it. Not just the entry points, but how do you get to the people in some fair and logical manner. It is going to get worse. The solution of air dropping, Parachuting Supplies to 2. 4 Million People is utter nonsense. That cant be done. It is a political gesture. So the pressure on the idf to stop Combat Operations, i doubt they will, unless they get the hostages back. So this situation is going to get worse. So, general, youre saying an airlift would be impossible . I mean, there were airlifts in, i guess, june 1948, right, in berlin, they were able to give food and some desperately needed different water, et cetera, and medicines for more than 2 Million People. Why do you say thats an impossibility . Well, if you took the entire United States air force, there is no Landing Strips inside gaza. There is no airport. There is no around the clock massive coordinated effort, there is no German Police force maintaining law and order. So, you can deliver Parachute Supplies to isolated 10,000 u. S. Soldier concentrations, but you cant feed and bring water to 2. 4 million gazans. I think this is a valid political gesture, but in no way is this a solution. They need a ceasefire, they need the hostages returned, and they need some independent Arab Authority to take control of gaza. None of those seem likely to be happening. And just the whole repercussions of what occurred there today, just wondering, general, there are so many different interests at play here. We remember at times, for example, the gaza run Ministry Of Health said that the bombing of a hospital in gaza was the responsibility of israel. Turned out that that was highly questioned. They initially said there was 500 dead, that was, of course, later subsequently found not to be the case. But with all of these interests percolating, how is it that we can get to the truth of what happened here today . Well, we cant. The idf will have the most authoritative possibly objective explanation over time. They are a lawbased military force, it is very possible, however, the idf did fire on a crowd. 19yearold soldiers, fearful of being surrounded by masses of palestinian so it may well have been an illegal operation of firing on unarmed civilians. Well have to wait and find out what the idf publicly claims. Everything that hamas claims is information warfare. It is all distorted for their advantage. They know holding on to the hostages is the only ticket they got left. Israelis know if they ever pulled out of gaza, without getting the hostages back, they never get them. So this is really at a loggerhead and the suffering of the palestinian people, the civilians, is going to get more intense over time. And, josh, the president , once again referring to the difficulties in the negotiations conversations going on under way to see if we could get some of those hostages out in a possibly either pause or ceasefire. Those conversations need to now be a lot more difficult because of what happened in gaza. That certainly is the case. It is pretty interesting, when President Biden a few days ago made the comments about being hopeful that there could be a new hostage deal by monday, there were some high brows raised across the region. Israel, where they suggested nothing was imminent, certainly within the gaza strip, where hamas officials said that their demands were still far from being met and even from the qataris who are so hard at work trying to broker this agreement. Now we heard President Biden say today conceding that may have been a little bit too soon, it is probably not going to happen by monday. But State Department and other u. S. Officials maintained they remain very optimistic about this because they say there has been progress in these talks, both sides are showing a little more flexibility than they were a few weeks ago. And even showing some optimism just the mere fact that these parties remain engaged, at the table. Because there was a period of several weeks where these talks had pretty much stalled out. And so there will be no deal until there is a deal and oftentimes these things look very pessimistic right up until the point where there is a breakthrough. But, right now, all indications certainly from the region are that there are still a lot more work to do to get to a new hostage and temporary ceasefire deal, even as this deadline of the beginning of ramadan is approaching, where israel has said it intends to go into rafah if it has not reached a new deal with hamas for a Hostage Release as well as a temporary ceasefire. Josh lederman and general barry mccaffrey, thank you both so very much. Appreciate it. Breaking news on capitol hill, right now defense secretary lloyd austin is testifying before the House Armed Services committee over his failure to notify President Biden about his hospitalization for complications following Prostate Cancer surgery. Austin taking full responsibility amid tough questioning. Who will be held accountable for this . This embarrassment . I take full responsibility. And we put measures in place to address the shortcomings. Are you surprised the president didnt call for your resignation . Im surprised. But are you surprised he didnt call for your resignation . The president expressed full faith and confidence in me. Joining us from capitol hill, is sahil kapur. What is the latest from the hearing . Reporter well, Secretary Austin is facing multiple contentious questions just like the one you played there on that secret multiday hospital stay. The crux of his testimony is that austin is admitting that he messed up, that the Department Of Defense messed up, specifically he said there were missteps, but never any ill intent. He said, quote, we didnt get this right. What hes emphasizing is the Command Structure here worked fine, but he transferred power in that situation to his Deputy Kathleen hicks, who had all the tools she needed to do the job, what he also admitted is the Notification Process fell short and he should have informed congress and the public of what happened. Austin said he is creating institutional changes to prevent Something Like this from happening in the future, that includes specific processes and mandatory reporting. He said beyond that, the department is focused on the biggest adversaries to the United States and Foreign Policy goals involving china, the middle east, ukraine, focused on the defense of our nation, as he said. That was not enough for some lawmakers. Congressman jim banks, who called on austin to resign over this, said, quote, our adversaries should fear us and what youve done is embarrass us. He said, foreign adversaries are using this situation to try to paint the u. S. As being in chaos. That left a bit of pushback from democrats including the Ranking Member adam smith who said it is not surprising that chinese and russian propaganda organs are trying to exploit this to paint the u. S. As being in a chaotic situation. He said republicans should spend less time nitpicking the secretary of defense. One thing austin did request of his own is they pass a full year appropriations bill, a way for them to help the troops to protect the Department Of Defense. Thats up in the air for the defense department. They struck a deal for six appropriations bills. But not the pentagon. Jose . Sahil kapur on capitol hill, thank you very much. Were back in 60 seconds with the Supreme Courts decision to take up trumps Immunity Claims. Does it give him a win in his effort to delay his federal election interference trial . Plus, the humanitarian crisis at the border and the spotlight today, as President Biden and former President Trump both head to texas. And later, the Massive Wildfires in the Texas Panhandle turning deadly, while devastating more than a million acres. Devastating more than a million acres. One breath. Can delight them all. Protect yourself against rsv. With pfizers abrysvo a vaccine to prevent lower Respiratory Disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. Its not for everyone and may not protect all who receive it. Dont get abrysvo if youve had an allergic. Reaction to its ingredients. A weakened Immune System may decrease your response. Most common side effects are tiredness, headache, injectionsite pain and muscle pain. Ask about pfizers abrysvo®. Because every breath matters. Ohhh crap. Now we gotta get france something. Wait we can use etsys new gift mode alright. Done. Plateau de fromage oh la la dont panic. Gift easy with gift mode, new on etsy. A force to be reckon with. No, not you saquon. Hm . You your Business Bank account with quickbooks money, now earns 5 apy. 5 apy . Thats new yup, thats how you business differently. 14 past the hour. Now to a Major Development in the legal drama surrounding former President Donald Trump. The u. S. Supreme court agreed to take up trumps claim that he is immune from prosecution because his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election occurred while he was still in office. The High Court Said it would hear arguments the week of the 22nd of april. The announcement comes just over three weeks after federal Appeals Court rejected his Immunity Claim. With us now to talk more about this, nbc news justice and intelligent correspondent ken dilanian, mary mccord, former Attorney General for National Security, now an msnbc legal analyst, and cohost of the prosecuting donald trump podcast, and michael zeldin, special counsel to robert mueller, now an adjunct professor of american universitys Washington College of law. What exactly will the Supreme Court be looking at here . Good morning, jose. In the unsigned order, agreeing to take this case, the Supreme Court said it was going to consider the question of whether and to what extent a former president enjoys immunity from prosecution in connection with official acts while in office. That term official acts is important. It underscores there are two issues here. The question of immunity for official acts and the question of is what donald trump is accused of doing in connection with trying to overturn the election, are those were those official acts . Because special counsel jack smith argues they were not. So you can see a way to a possible compromise here because the idea that a president could exercise could call local officials and pressure them to change votes and that could be called an official act of the president , when the president has no role in state by state elections, is questionable to a lot of people, jose. Mary, what do you make of the Supreme Courts decision to take up this Immunity Claim . Well, i think given that it took them almost two weeks to decide how to rule on the motion for a stay and ultimately decided to take up the entire Cert Petition came as a bit of a surprise. It took longer than it seemed like it should have taken if they were going to grant cert and take up the case. I think ken raises an important issue, though, because a lot of people are questioning whether there is any chance we could still get to trial before the election. And i think it very much depends on how they rule here. If they decide to affirm the d. C. Circuit and say there is no immunity, even for official acts because the first part of their question is whether and to what extent there is immunity, they decide there is no immunity for official acts, this could get back down to the District Court and potentially get to trial before the election. If they decide theyre going to remand for judge chutkan to decide in the first instance whether mr. Trumps conduct as alleged in the indictment falls within the outer perimeter of his official acts, that could add additional delay. And even an opportunity for another appeal. So, i think well see jack smith