The new center here in los angeles. Welcome, everyone, to alex witt reports. Weber getting with the Breaking News of that deadly attack on israel. Hamas militants, launching a surprise, simultaneous rocket and ground attack. This, at the break of dawn, killing 70 people, according to israeli Emergency Services. Israeli officials say, hamas has fired 2500 rockets. The Rocket Fire Serving as cover for an unprecedented multipronged infiltration of hamas fighters crossing into israels borders. Israels military said that palestinian fighters penetrated at least three military installations. Those being at the eras border crossing, the zakim base, and the Gaza Division headquarters and at rhame. Now at one point, israels police chief said, forces were engaging gunman in 21 separate locations. Israels Prime Minister says, he spoke with President Biden, as well as Secretary Of State anthony blinken, and they say that the u. S. Fully supports israels right to defend itself. [speaking in a global language] well, israels Military Spokesperson said that the air forces carrying out retaliatory strikes right now in gaza. Our team of reporters and specialists, analysts, theyre standing by to cover lilies developments and all this Breaking News, from israel, to washington, and beyond. So, we will get first to nbcs rough sanchez. Hes in the city of the rock, thats in Southern Israel. Rough, welcome. I understand thats one of the cities thats been overrun by gunmen in this town. Tell us what youre seeing there now. Yeah, alex, for more than 11 hours into this unprecedented Surprise Attack by Palestinian Militants. Were just outside of the town of sderot. You can see Israeli Forces who set up this checkpoint. You can probably hear there is an Israeli Military helicopter hovering in the field off to my right. And i just got off the phone with an Israeli Security official, who confirms the down the road from here, in the town of sderot, there is an ongoing gun battle between Palestinian Militants and Israeli Security forces. This is one of more than 20 fire fights that the Israeli Military says, even at this late hour, is still underway. As you said, alex, this attack began early this morning, under the cover of this unrelenting barrage of palestinian rockets. Many of which got through israels world leading iron dome Missile Defense system. All morning, we saw plumes of smoke all over Southern Israel from where those rockets struck and behind them, hundreds, according to Israeli Security officials, of Palestinian Militants crossing by land, smashing through that border that separates israel from gaza. But also, alex, by sea and by air. For the first time, were seeing Palestinian Militants apparently highly trained using paragliders and hang gliders to fly over the Israeli Border and land in Southern Israel. Alex, in just the last hour or so, the Israeli Military has confirmed that both hamas, the Major Military group which controls gaza, and islamic jihad, the smaller partner, have taken both Israeli Soldiers and israeli civilians captive and have taken them back inside of gaza. And its that fact, alex, thats going to be the absolute key dynamic, in terms of what comes next here. It would be one thing if this was a made major attack with a largescale loss of life. But instead, alex, this is a Hostage Situation on an enormous scale, playing out now inside of gaza and i can tell you, it will weigh extremely heavily on his really decisionmakers Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu on that they need to get their people back. And it may very well be, alex, that we are facing a situation where israel goes into gaza on the ground in a large scale offensive, something that, as you know, could lead to absolutely massive casualties inside of the densely populated gaza strip. Israels Emergency Services are confirming 70 israelis have been killed inside of israel. More than 800 wounded. The helicopter, you can probably hear, is connecting with ambulances in the fields over there and is flying the most severely wounded people north to hospitals in tel aviv and in other cities. The Palestinian Health ministry says, more than 200 people have been killed in israeli retaliatory airstrikes inside of gaza in the last couple of hours. More than 1600 wounded. But as we said, alex, that death toll could rise much, much higher still if Israel Presses ahead with a Ground Offensive Inside Gaza to rescue these captives, these hostages, who are being held there. Alex . Raf, i have a few questions. Is there any concrete number or at least educated speculation on the number of either military or israeli civilians that have been taken hostage . There is no specific number that has been released by the Israeli Government and i can tell you, alex, that number is perhaps the single most sensitive piece of information in israel right now because depending on how many hostages, how many captives were talking about, that very well may dictate the scale of israels response. You may remember more than a decade ago, a hamas succeeded and capturing a single israeli soldier. His name was delayed shell lead. They held him for several years inside gaza and israel ultimately released more than 1000 Palestinian Militants to secure his release. Alex, what were looking at right now is that situation, multiplied many, many folds. The videos on social media appear to indicate that there are potentially a very large number of israelis, both military and civilian, inside gaza right now. And israels military and government, you can bet, are trying to figure out how many of them are being held, where theyre being held, and what possibility there is right now for rescue. Alex . Raf, let me ask you something. You reported something interesting. We all know about the efficacy of the iron dome there and how well it has protected is really lends. That said, when you mentioned hang gliders, that type of thing, some sort of a drone type attack. Its the iron dome not prepared to pick up Something Like that . Is it more sophisticated . Is it looking for more sophisticated things, rockets, things like that . Im just curious how they were able to launch 2500 rockets and these hang gliders to get these militants into israeli land. Yeah, alex, its a really good question. Iron dome is the absolute cutting edge of Missile Defense. Its designed to shoot down incoming rockets, incoming missiles, incoming drones. And what appears to have happened this morning is that more than 2000 rockets were all fired at the same time, overwhelming israels air Defense Systems. And some of those rockets getting through, striking inside of israel. But the iron dome is not designed to take out hang gliders, paragliders, and it appears thats how they got through. Okay, raf sanchez bring us the really latest there, thank you so much. We will be checking in with you again, my friend, that is for sure. Joining me right now, the new supreme allied commander, james dvds. Former cia director, john brennan, and ben rhodes, former Deputy National security adviser, also an nbc news political contributor. Gentlemen, welcome to you all. I think a lot of people woke up this morning shocked. We are Warning Signs being ignored or is this violence that were seeing surprising to everyone . And i will ask all of you that question. Ben, you first for the answer. Well, i think whats surprising is the kind of scale and complexity of this attack. Weve not seen hamas undertake something of this ambition where theyre acting with so many different tactics and so many different ways. In the past, its normally been rockets fired in israel or more discreet attacks. This is obviously a complex, multifaceted attack that it wouldve taken months to plan that wouldve required them to acquire the kinds of weaponry or equipment that they havent used in the past. That said, there have really been warning says that there is a tinderbox here. You know, youve had increasing instances of violence between israelis and palestinians, Settler Violence from israelis in the west bank, violence by palestinians. The situation in gaza has been a dire humanitarian circumstance for, well, decades now. So, the elements were there for some kind of explosion, tragically. And i think that thats something people have anticipated as political disappear in the palestinians because weve had these kinds of clashes. But the scale and complexity of this, i think thats whats shocking people today and the fact that this seems to have caught israel somewhat offguard. Now, of course, what people will be shocked by our the horrific images of the tragic loss of life in israel, of these hostages being taken. This is of a scale, weve been to gaza this is of a scale of something we have not seen before in gaza and out of gaza. And i think its going to completely remake the circumstance politically, in terms of the palestinian leadership. Its obviously entering into a volatile moment in israeli politics. Gets entering into a moment where you have diplomacy between saudi arabia, the United States, and israel. This get much more complicated. So, we are definitely in a new reality today, alex. Im going to get to that Diplomacy Angle with you in just a moment, but admiral, to you, the iron dome, its efficacy or lack thereof, when it comes to paragliders, hang gliders. That is a new wrinkle. Talk about that and what you think happened here. Its not designed to go against those kinds of targets. So, its a clever move on the part of the gaza team, if you will. What it is designed to do, and its quite good at, is knocking down higher Speed Projectiles coming in. And it can do that very effectively, but at the scale, at least of whats been reported in the thousand to 2000, over what period of time, we do not know. But in an air defenses event spent my life working on the air Defense System they say which is the world class system. No system can face that kind of saturation. And speaking of which, if youre waking up in israel this morning, youre very worried about gaza. But speaking of air defense, here, look north. Because of norths hezbollah, a preacher of iran that has 130,000 surface to surface missiles. So, israel will want to get ahead of that problem. Going to need a lot of assistance from us and to the initial question you asked, i, for one, was very surprised when, bordering on shocked, in the sense that ive always thought of the Israeli Intelligence service, the mossad, the military equivalent, as absolutely superb, first rate, human intelligence, signals intelligence. Hard to believe they missed something of this scale. Final thought here, alex, for listeners, the scale of this is remarkable. Youre going to hear about 20 killed and 40 killed, killed and that number will go up. What you need to remember is that israel as a population of only 7 million jewish citizens. So, population adjusted numbers, when you lose 20 israelis killed, its like losing 1000 americans. So, we are at 3000 and counting. This is going to approach a 9 11 feel to the israelis. Yeah, which all brings me to you now, again, former cia director, john brennan. When it comes to intelligence, the fact that we are all surprised at this level of sophistication. I guess first question to you, how surprised are you . Where did something break down and do you categorize this as a sophisticated attack . Absolutely. Sophisticated, multidimensional, well planned, well coordinated. Unfortunately, well implemented as well and it really raises questions about Israeli Intelligence capabilities in the gaza strip. And so, i think theres going to be some real questions now among Israeli Intelligence leadership about whether or not their source network, as well as their technical collection capabilities, were compromised. And that they were blind to what was going on here, relying on some of those sources that might have been doubled or they were being fit in the information, disinformation, by hamas because of that Intelligence Network that exists within the gaza strip. So, this clearly was a total tactical surprise. What i think its been alluded to, this isnt a strategic surprise because palestinian militancy, as well as palestinian anger at whats been happening in the gaza strip and also to buy netanyahu basically crushing any type of aspirations of palestinian statehood. Even the hamas militants dont represent the bulk of the palestinians, i think hamas leadership feels as though they needed to take this aggressive action, in order to derail some of the things that were going on in the region, including what appears to be a near term potential establishment of relations between saudi arabia and israel. And so, i think the palestinian leadership of hamas decided that on the 50th Anniversary of the 73 war, as well as because of whats happening in israeli domestic politics that are farright, but also recent developments, they needed to bring greater attention immediately to the palestinian cause. John, how long do you suppose that a attack like this, at this level, multipronged, would have been in the works . Something they were planning, training for, and do you think there are any other state actors involved here . Is that possible . And if so, who would be most likely . The idea of this truck might have been incubated as much as a year or more ago. The extent of and the scale and scope of the attack requires monthslong training, preparation, gathering of you munitions, the rockets that overwhelmed the Iron Dome System. Being able to coordinate the movement in a, or ground and see. This shows very strong specification but also compartment aysha. The fact that they were able to do this and not have Israeli Intelligence gain insight into it. The fact that hamas is principal outside the benefactor, which is around, provided them support. Maybe also from hezbollah. I do think this is a decision made by hamass leadership to go forward with it with external players and others, that might have provided support as well as material necessary to carry out this attack. Then, i want to get back to something that you brought up quickly. The timing of all of this. Granted, israel seem to be heading towards some sort of an agreement with saudi arabia. How does this fit into that piece . What happens with that . Its a great question, alex. There is various timing elements. Only hamas would have motivated them. Its the 50th Anniversary of the yom kippur war, its a time when the palestinians feel more hopelessness about the prospect of a state than they ever have before. It is a time, as you said, where you have this realignment happening in the region. To me, hamas could have been looking at that and thinking, Mohammed Bin Salman, the leader of saudi arabia, it looks like hes on the precipice of signing a Normalization Deal with israel with all manner of u. S. Security guarantees for saudi arabia. That effectively formally sidelines palestinian political aspirations in favor of a broader process of normalization in the region. There is a lot of talk of whether or not there would be anything for the palestinians most analysts looking at this believe the kinds of things on offer didnt have anything to do with political aspirations of palestinians, but china buildup in the west bank, or trying to build up the palestinian authority. What hamas is doing, tragically, is calling attention to the palestinian cause again. And making it hard for mohammad bin salman to sign that Normalization Deal with israel in this context. If, as we all expect, there is an overwhelming Israeli Military response. Perhaps a massive ground inversion into gaza because of the hostages. There could be violence in the west bank as well. Perhaps even just violence between israelis and palestinians in a chaotic manner. With that as the backdrop, i think its very difficult for Mohammed Bin Salman to conclude that Normalization Deal in that context because he might have to be more concerned about what the perspective is among Arab Public Opinion than he has been today with respect to the palestinians. I think this makes it much more complicated in the near term for that kind of agreement to go forward unless, again, the saudi leadership is willing to risk doing so in the context of what could be it really brutal war with really catastrophic humanitarian consequences. To, me i think this reshapes the diplomacy in the region. It probably focuses things on this question of the violence before you are getting back to normalization questions. We will see. Yeah, admiral, let me speak to you. Obviously so much hanging on the duration of this. The success on either side or either side believing they have come away with something. What does israels response look like, how long might this conflict go on . I ask this because if you look at israel, militarily, and what they are capable of as compared to, because of the element of surprise, what hamas has pulled off. Could this be a couple of days . Could hamas be so overwhelmed by this that is contained to some degree anytime soon or do you foresee this going for quite some time . The short answer is, it is too soon to know. But i will give you a couple of thoughts on this. First and foremost, i think it is worth touching on, what should the u. S. Be doing right now in particular militarily . And its important to note, we have Two Billion Dollars of military war reserved stocks in israel that can be released to the israelis in certain significant portions will occur very shortly. We can also Director Brennan increasing the intelligence, surveillance, signals intelligence. We need to step up in that world. Cyber, cyber security, we need to think about the naval angle. We have not talked about how well hamas has used this eat to go around the blockades on land. There is a lot of the u. S. Can do. I think that will follow quickly. Alex, heres the point, as you said, this really is a david and goliath. The israel they have massive air force, and list amounts of Military Reserves they can tap into. Highly trained special forces. They know how to get into gaza. This could get very big. I will conclude where we started a moment ago, when we heard from rock sanchez whos doing a terrific job on the ground in very dangerous circumstances, obviously. It will turn on the hostages. I think if they are holding they, hamas, are holding 20, 40, 60 hostages, this could turn into a long process of getting them out. Again, population adjusted basis, if they have 20 israelis, that is like holding 1000 americans. I think that will factor into how this plays out. Look for Netanyahu To Push Out Marilyn terribly, very quickly trying to get ahead of this and control and contain it to gaza so that he does not have to deal with hezbollah to the north or anything, god forbid, coming from the west bank and the rest of the palestinians. John, it brings me to you, the message of the hostages. Give me a sense of not only the cia role at this point, and the extent to which if at all they are capable of helping gather intelligence for israel, but the extent to which these numbers of hostages and who they are, we are told they are average citizens as well as members of the military, how is this going to play out into the israeli response that the admiral and ben both have talked about that it is going to step things up . But from an intelligence perspective, how are they going to go about figuring out who they have, where they are, and what kind of information they might bring with them . This is a difficult problem for the israelis. Unfortunately, potentially tragically, hamas is going to put these hostages in locations they believe the israelis might be targeting. Thats a way to deter is where lease from going after suspected leadership positions or militant areas of operation. So i do think that hamas will whether it is civilians, whether it is military officers into locations that they believe is going to help protect them. As far as intelligence is concerned, certainly the cia, other intelligence are going to be providing israelis with information where they might be able to uncover external support, whether or not iran is actually involved in this, as well as any indications about where these hostages may be held or what is going on there. Clearly, this was a very compartmented operation. This part of hamas, it was well planned as far as execution. If they probably have wellplanned what they were going to do with the hostages, where they would put, them move, them whatever. This is something that netanyahu and the Israeli Military office would have to take into account if they go and there. I dont think they are going to be relying on their sources in gaza the way they have. Clearly those sources did not give them the advancement they needed for the attack. I just have one point to add, quickly. I think its an important one for hamas to be thinking about. They have to be thinking about 1972 and the munich hostage taking, israel spent decades hunting down and killing everybody involved in that. Israelis have very long memories in these Hostage Situations. They are very determined. Yes, point well taken from the olympics there in munich. Ben, lets get to the u. S. Role in your perspective on that. What should it be if this conflict wears on . Is there a right response from the administration to this . I am curious what he would recommend. I think in the immediate term, you are focused on providing israel with support in terms of intelligence, as he mentioned. The Military Support that is available in the near term, perhaps backfilling the iron dome. You will probably want to make sure israel doesnt run low on what it means to maintain the Defense System. Overtime, the administration wants to support israel capacity to defend itself. To retain these hostages. But also, to try to prevent the many ways in which this war could escalate. And weve already talked about the fact that this could escalate from lebanon, with hezbollah launching attacks. It could escalate on the west bank. There is a judgment made by aspects of the palestinian faction there to join this fight. It could also escalate if israel determines that once you have iran pay a cost, you could see this become a regional war at a time when you already have a war in ukraine. We obviously have a lot of geopolitical instability. It is going to be, overtime, a Balancing Act for the administration, making sure israel is secure, making sure israel can get its people back but also trying to find ways diplomatically to prevent this war from really escalating across the region in ways it could make it hard to contain. Three very sage voices in this early stage of this incursion in this all out war. It would seem. Gentlemen, thank you so much. James chevy, ben rhodes and john brennan, i appreciate you all. In the meantime, Rachel Dingell will be joining me next on his perspective on this. The editor in chief of the Jerusalem Post will also join me for reaction from there. We are back in 60 seconds. We are back in 60 seconds. Hen you join subway mvp rewards. So many all star options. Its just for subway mvps right . You catch on quick herbert. Join now and get 50 off any footlong. all toooo youuuuu you sean on quick herbert. I wish for the amazing new iphone 15 pro jason sean do you mean this one the one with titanium . sean no way i can trade this busted up thing for one. jason maybe stealing wishes from the birthday boy is not your best plan switch to verizon and trade in any iphone and get the new iphone 15 pro on them. sean what . jason yup, and on an Amazing Network sean and i dont have to ruin anymore Birthday Parties jason yeah, that ship has sailed. Lets go get you the iphone. Here we go, come on hon. vo trade in any iphone in any condition for a new iphone 15 pro on us. Only on verizon. When the murrays discovered gain scent beads, they fell in love with the irresistible scent. Huh, huh, so did their dog roger. Gain scent beads keep even the stinkiest stuff smelling fresh. 27 past the hour, breaking, news we have live pictures right here in gaza city. One of the nearly two dozen locations where the Israeli Military is retaliating to the Surprise Attack by hamas, 11 hours ago. Joining me on the phone, nbcs chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel. Richard is on the way to tel aviv right now. We have him on the phone. Richard, what are you seeing and hearing there . Were you as surprised as everybody else waking up to this news this morning . I was not surprised. I was not surprised by the attack, i was not surprised that it happened. I was surprised the the capability. Hamas has been talking about Something Like this. But they have not given their specifics, but theyve been talking about carrying out attacks in retaliation for is really moves against the alaqsa moth mosque where hard lined israeli politicians have been going and visiting. Its a contested holy site. Theyve been speaking out against violence by settlers in the west bank. They have been speaking, warning, and they they did something. I was not surprised that they did something. I was not surprised that they did something big. But the fact that they were able to infiltrate dozens of commandoes and then keep them on the other side of the border multiple locations, fighting gun battles, taking hostages, bringing them back through the secret means that they the passages that they used to get into israel in the first place. That was surprising. You have to understand the dynamic of gaza. If you have not been there, you have never seen anything like it. I assume most of our viewers have never been there. This is a relatively small area. There are one more than 2 Million People who live there. There is one main city, gaza city, there are units in the city south as well, because the city is the biggest population. It is a hopeless place. It is run by gaza. The people in gaza are totally in person, they cant leave, they cant really have interconnection with the world. They dont have International Recognized travel documents. So with the militants who are there spend their time, all of their time, figuring out a way to break out of this prison and carry out attacks. You were talking earlier about hand gliders. They used hand gliders because they spent all of their time trying to think about ways of getting over the Israeli Defenses. They recently were using kites, they used kites, homemade kites and they attach little firebombs to them and they send these kites from gaza over the israeli checkpoints and hope they hit some sort of israeli building or some sort of fire. Its not a big leap from sending a fire bomb on a kite to sending a group of commandoes on hand gliders. This is what they do. Within spent their time working on homemade rockets, working on smuggling in commercially made weapons. Then modifying them. This is significant in scale, it was shocking that the israelis didnt see this coming because ive covered many wars between israel and palestinian leadership and Palestinian Militants in the gaza strip, that israelis have the place wired. They normally know how to pick out a single Militant Leader and knock him off of a motorcycle or find him as hes going from one location to the next. There was an Intelligence Failure here on the israeli side, or you could call it a Military Coup on hamas side. But what the real complicating factor is now are these hostages. Because they are not just hostages, they are effectively Human Shields. The israelis cant just start Bombing Targets across the gaza strip to take out the leadership and carry out punishment attacks, or decapitation of the Leadership Stop if they dont know where the hostages are. And the former cia director mentioned a while ago, it seems likely that hamas would put them into a strategic location in order to give them a degree of immunity or protection. Israeli media are also reporting, i know you have the Jerusalem Post, they can hopefully add more on this, theyre saying the numbers are quite high of dead on the israeli side. A dozen and that negotiations are already taking place and high level contact to see about these hostages. But im sure this is just an early stage. What are they going to do . Go in and do a Ground Offensive and start looking for the hostages . The gaza strip is full of tunnels, its full of secret passageways. Again, going back to the prison analogy. They spent all of their time thinking about this. The israelis, for the last several, months have been focused on domestic issues. If been protesting on the street because of changes in the Supreme Court because of a farright movement to change some laws in society and womens rights. The israelis have been domestically focused. But for the palestinians, this is all they have been focused on. As the environment, again, of statehood seems to be dismissing with the arab states for the last several years lining up to make peace accords. You have just brilliantly, richard, ascribe the reasons for why this is being called a sophisticated attack. Despite the fact that there are not sophisticated military elements in use right now. When you talk about hand gliders, paragliders, that kind of thing, it seems that the Israeli Military was caught flatfooted. They Israeli Defense on this was something that you would not think would happen. They are prepared to use the iron dome to create a fact. They are prepared to handle rockets and block them from coming into israel. But is this the kind of thing that will at all be deterring the palestinians or those and hamas from continuing this kind of attack . It looks like they will have the israelis really on their back foot trying to figure out how to defend this. Theyre going to have the israelis furious. They are going to be angry. We also have netanyahu who has had his own past and political history and baggage. He is positioning himself as mr. Law and order. Mr. Security. Mr. Defense. Even though he has paid numerous control Corruption Charges and he has a lot of within israeli society. I suspect he is going to focus on this and he is going to theyre already launching a military response. The basic question is, how hard can he fight back . Does he call up the reserves . Can he send in those preservers . What are they going to do . Go in with the heavy bulldozers and tanks and just start knocking down buildings and streets . They could do that, but not if there is dozens of israeli hostages held who knows where. Which is urbanized, the gaza strip, its Densely Populated And Run by hamas for many years now. They have gotten quite good at operating undercover. The Iron Dome System is using amazing system for rockets flying close to the speed of sound. It can use lasers, it pinpoints them. The israelis are the World Leaders at defense, optics in general. But going on a black and out vote and going in the dead of night trying not to use waves or flying also at night in darkness on the hand glider that moves very slowly, those things with technology are hard to pick out. Asked the u. S. Coast guard, drug dealers and others often have more success using these very low tech systems, tunnels, holes and fences, they just have the amount of timing and spend a lot of time planning. Its extraordinary. My friend, Richard Engel, safe travels as you continue on to tel aviv. I look forward to speaking with you again soon. You are right, join me right now from jerusalem is the editor and chief of the Jerusalem Post. Abe, welcome, thanks for being here. Its an extraordinary time for you given what is going on. Richard posed a question about the numbers of dead. Do you have any numbers that you can report to us . We can update what we have . As of, now the number of confirmed did is 100. The number of wounded is just under 1000. I believe 985. Both numbers are likely to climb. As the scope of this unprecedented attack becomes clear in the hours and days ahead. I will say, i took an issue with some elements of your correspondents analysis. It almost seems as though he was trying to justify this horrific unprecedented attack on israeli civilians at the height of a Jewish Holiday called i appreciate that it seems as though, excuse, me theres a reversal of cause and effect. The closure on the gaza strip was, by the, way enhanced its enforced by not only israel but egypt as well. It came after a long line of attacks that came on behalf of hamas and other Terrorist Groups there. Thats why it is good cysts. Its not the other way around, that the attacks are in response to the closure, but quite contrary. And we see the result of hamas is murderous aims and designs on israel in the attack of today that is ongoing at this time. Look, abe, i appreciate your position. I understand where youre coming from. I will offer up Richard Engel who is a very seasoned well respected Award Winning journalist, i think he was just providing the perspective of what is happening, what has happened at this point. But i do again appreciate your point of view. When it comes to things happening right now, in israel, we heard about 21 or 22 active fighting locations. Do you have confirmation of that . To know the severity of these fights under way . That is what we are hearing from military sources. We dont know exactly how many terrorists are involved in each of those locations. We have heard that large numbers of reservists are on their way to the scene. There is been a mobilization of israeli reserves. Some of my own reporters have been called up for reserve duty. That is something many israeli publications and corporations and organization and employers will be dealing with for the next few days as much of the israeli workforce is diverted to the war effort. This is indeed a war. I think that is important to note, Prime Minister said so himself. This is not a brief campaign. This is an unprecedented attack on israeli civilians at the height of a Jewish Holiday. It is appears as though some of the hostages in the gaza strip include the elderly grandparents, children, families that have been abducted by hamas from their homes in Southern Israel. This is appalling. And it demands the attention and the horror of all people conscious around the world. Im sure that israeli Leadership Defense leadership is going to try to figure out who the specific people are, where they are, it will probably not matter to them if it is, by your description, elderly grandparent a child versus a military operative. They just want to get all israelis back safely. Talk about the challenges in trying to do that now. Look, as our correspondent noted, correctly, and the previous one did as well. Hamas is likely to skirt these individuals away into places where they cannot be found or will be used as Human Shields to protect hamas leadership from israeli attack. This is a tactic they use for their own people, these Palestinian Civilians as Human Shields. They use israeli civilians for the same purpose. We are likely to see that happen for the next few days, making it impossible for israel to take out hamas to her targets without affecting its own civilians and perhaps soldiers. Which of course poses the question, what is israel to do . We are likely to see an ongoing military response. Weve already seen the beginnings of that over the past few hours. I would be surprised if you also saw some sort of diplomatic effort to reach some kind of negotiated solution to negotiate the release of these hostages. Its important to note that back in the early 2000s there was an israeli soldier who was abducted by hamas and taken into gaza. Use there for quite a few years. That command of the attention of the israeli people for that entire length of time. Here we have possibly dozens and dozens of hostages, which means this is unprecedented. It is a scale with which israel is totally unfamiliar. Its something that brings us into Uncharted Territory and a dangerous place. Abe, i want to ask from unemotional perspective, for the years really people as they are facing the dark of night, star cover under which is 2200, 500 rockets were launched. What is life like right now in israel . How long might it last . Its been a surreal day. This is the end of the Jewish Holiday season. It is generally a festive occasion. Families gather with one another to celebrate the giving of the torah and the start of a new tore reading cycle, which happens every year. Of course it was turned into a horrific day today as families were huddled in bomb shelters, not whether knowing whether their loved ones were alive or dead or perhaps abducted into gaza by hamas terrorists. The images that have emerged from gaza of terrorists parading around live or dead israelis in the streets of the city are horror horrific, got wrenching. That is something that many israelis had to contend with during the joyous season. We dont know how long it will last, there are estimates that it could go on for days or weeks. This is an unprecedented event. We are likely to see something of a war. We dont know how broad and scope of the war will be. There are concerns that it could become a multi front war. If hezbollah decides to attack or other players decide to join. That could bring us a broader or dramatic if the Situation Room we are in right now is dramatic as it. Is it is something that catches israelis at the height of a sensitive time. Of course, bringing in other state actors, something nobody wants to have happen. Let me ask you a last question here, given your understanding of the politics there, the military actions there in israel, if at some point in the near future the hostages can be returned, obviously negotiated for safe returns, well that put an end to this particular War Incursion at least for a time being . Could a truce be called . Do you think that is anywhere possibly in the cards . I think all of israel wants is the return of its civilians and soldiers. It will play a pie price for that to happen. Which is exactly what hamas wants to do. That will not bring an end to this. At the end of the day abe, but what do you mean by that . When you say pay a high price, what exactly do you mean . What kind of price . What kind of ransom if you will . Or diplomatic negotiations . What would appease the israelis . I mean, or, hamas. Sorry. Looking at the example, you saw 2000 convicted palestinian terrorists freed of the context of the Prisoner Exchange for one israeli soldier. If that was the equation that was established in that exchange, you can understand what numbers we might be talking about here. Totally unprecedented. Would you be willing to pay that kind of price . I think they will pay an extremely high price to free hostages. Many who are grandparents children families and so on and so forth. Weather again that will bring an end to this conflict, the answer is clearly no. This is a conflict that has been ongoing for time immemorial. Every notion of jewish statehood or presence in this land is repugnant to hamas and others in its ideology. So long as jews live a sovereign existence we are likely to see hamas and its fellow travelers do everything they can to eradicate murder as many jews as they can. It is a sobering conversation with you, david mayer, thank you so much. Do stay safe. We see appreciate all your insights on this Breaking News. From there, lets go to washington. And the u. S. Response, and were joined now by nbcs aly rothman at the white house. Raffa. Rather. And Julie Tsirkin on capitol hill. Ladies, welcome to you both. Ali, has there been an official reaction from the Biden Administration about this attack on israel . Yeah, alex. Theres been a flood of reaction since this news broke early this morning here. We have the latest reaction, is a statement from President Biden himself. Just in the last hour condemning us attack on israel by hamas militants he says in the statement that he made a call this morning to Prime Minister netanyahu he supports israel. His support for israels, quote, rocksolid and unwavering. Ill read you a little bit more of this quote here. He says, quote, terrorism is never justified. Israel has a right to defend itself. And its people. The United States warns against any other hostile israel. Seeking advantage in this situation. He says his team and he is tracking the situation very closely, that hes continuing to stay in touch with israeli officials. At this point, we know that both he and Vice President harris were both briefed this morning, in separately, and they are now engaged with white house advisers, National Security advisers, talking about all the next steps that could potentially happen here. We also know that Secretary Of State, antony blinken, according to a state department spokesperson, is also working from the white house right now. And making those calls to his israeli counterparts. We have also seen reaction from Secretary Of State, antony blinken. In secretary of defense, lloyd austin. Who said, in a statement, in part, quote, over the coming days, the Department Of Defense will work to ensure that israel has what it needs to defend itself and protect civilians from indiscriminate violence and terrorism. Notably, white house officials being very careful not to weigh in, specifically on next steps, possibly prematurely, before they have an accurate intelligence assessment. Right now, all the calls that are needed to be made are being made, or gathering information about whats going on on the ground. How this unprecedented situation was actually able to happen. How these militants were able to penetrate israels iron dome. Its border. To the extent that it has already. Before they announce what the next steps are. As i, said this is unprecedented situation, the partnership that the United States has with israel has never been tested to this extent before. Alex . Yeah, absolutely. I should say, the leadership of france, germany, the uk, all are echoing the sentiments of the Biden Administration, which you just reported for, us ali. Thank you for that. Lets move right up to capitol hill, Julie Tsirkin standing by with the latest on whats happening there. I would guess that the top members of house and Senate Intelligence and or defense committees are being briefed on all of this. What do you know about information being disseminated to leadership on capitol hill right now. Julie . Alex, not just the top leaders of those committees, but members of those committees, im told by sources familiar, certainly, at least the house and Senate Intelligence panels are being provided regular updates, those updates, so, far have been largely unclassified. Because, obviously, members need to be in a classified location. A secure location, either by phone, or in whats known as a scif, a circular keyshawn that exists in this capitol, but also in various areas of this country. To receive classified information. The speculation that were hearing from lawmakers, and all the statements theyre putting out, is largely that it is speculation. It is a little bit premature to have a full scope of not only what happened here, but how the u. S. Intends and plans to respond to this. Nonetheless, we have seen plenty of reaction from lawmakers, from leader mcconnell, for example. The senate was like in the situation to whats happening in ukraine, how important it is for allies and partners to lift up, not only kyiv, but also israel in this situation. Because there is speculation that hamas was aided by iran here. We have republican lawmakers who are making that point very forcefully in their statements. For example, we heard from the Top Republican on the Senate Foreign relations committee, james risch, who blasted that administration for giving those Six Billion Dollars and unfreezing those assets from iran and exchange for some of those hostages they have laid out. Theyre just really tense political situation here. Of course, in the capital, as we also dont have a speaker of the house to pass any meaningful critical religiously that may be needed as a response of this. Yeah, that is actually extraordinary. Do you know if there are any press availabilities, anyone thats expected to come out and talk about the briefings that theyre getting at any point . I know if there are, julie, youll be on the. Have you heard anything about that on schedule . No, not as of now. This building is empty. I will also note, the senate is out next week. Leader schumer, the majority leader, is overseas in china on a bipartisan codel. The house is out till tuesday as well. No plans for that, as of now. Ill be sure to bring them to you. Thank, you julie, for that. Joining me right now, peter strzok. Former fbi counterintelligence agent. Peter, welcome. I know that youve worked with Israeli Intelligence and Security Officials for decades, in fact. You are at the Israel Gaza Border late last year, as well as spent some time inside the west bank. First of all, tell us what your understanding is of what is happening there today . Alex, what appears to have happened, a very a Massive Attack on the part of hamas in terms of not just planning but the types of assault, whether its a Ground Assault by air. Some indication also by city. But what you see is a plan being executed that is extraordinary complex, an extraordinarily resourced. Whats important to note, when it comes to israel, the amount of effort from the military, from the idf, as well as the intelligence and security services. That go into the threat from gaza, the threat from west bank, its immense. Whether securing the border, whether its developing Human Sources. Within gaza in the west bank. Whether its collecting signals intelligence. Its well as all the logical people who would work with hamas. And by, that im talking about everything from the iranians, two other actors. This is something that is really defense and Intelligence Security services do every day. And they plan. For so, something of this size, and the scope, to have happened, is an extraordinary event. Ill go so far as to call it a failure. I think as weve heard, im certain israel will deal with that in the future. But right now, theyve got to focus on the threat. Theyre mobilizing in a massive way. And i fear were going to see a very quick and rather devastating response by the israelis, certainly to gaza. But potentially, in other territories as well. Look, the word failure is being quite aptly used in terms of providing how Israeli Intelligence has failed in this. But given her position as a former cabinet intelligence agency, where might the failures have come from . Is it being fed misinformation, disinformation, is it by not having the right sources to gather this kind of information . I mean, how does this not, something of this magnitude, this kind of planning, which must have taken months, how is this something that the israelis were unaware of . Seemingly. So well, thats a great question. Theres plenty of blame to go around. Certainly, the United States as well. Dedicate an extra amount of Collection Capability against terrorism targets. And that includes targets in the middle east, such as hamas, such as hezbollah, such as iran. Well israel certainly has a lot of questions to be answered, theyre not alone. And those are hard questions. When it comes to this, again, from a counterintelligence perspective. I, mean hamas was able to get the volume of just rockets alone, let alone personality mobilized, simultaneously trained to enter and penetrate into israel. Its an extraordinary move for hamas. An extraordinary success. Theyll be on a lot of recrimination that weve already seen in Israeli Press, indicating, well, a lot of idf resources were moved into the west bank. Away from the southern border. Which decreased Security Situation in the south. There will be, i am certain, a lot of. With the Israeli Press in public about what went wrong. But again, to be clear. On the one hand, this is absolutely an Intelligence Failure on the part of the western alliance. Certainly israel. And for hamas, it speaks to an extraordinary level of planning and complexity. That, frankly i am hardpressed to come up with historical example. Specific to hamas. Of this scope and complexity. Let me ask you quickly, are you surprised by the ability of hamas to launch this simultaneous attack from land, from sea, from the air, on so many different points, with this kind of volume of rockets . Yes. Yes. Its not just rocket. You have people, you have to arm with weapons, you have to arm with minutes. You have the rockets, you have some indication that there were inserting into israeli territory, via powered hang gliders. All of that takes infrastructure. All of that takes equipment that has to be assembled. All of that takes planning that has to be communicated amongst all these various individuals. Again, doing that, in the context of a very sophisticated, very, very competent israeli state, who does everything from the idf to the Intelligence Security services, amongst the best in the world. So, to do and execute, to planet, to resource that, to get those weapons into the head of somebody people. Under the eyes of somebody as competent and as good as the israeli services, its really truly extraordinary. It is extraordinary. Well look at the Counter Intelligence agency, peter strzok, we thank you for. That were joined now by nbcs molly hunter in london, she is covering the Global Reaction to all of this. What are you hearing, molly . Hey, alex, good to be with. You picking up a lot of peters point, as i heard you talking about earlier with a bunch of different analysts. Its about that Intelligence Failure. Of, course were talking about how hamas was even able to plan something so complex over months. And the Israeli Security apparatus not notice. Of course, what that leads us to now, we look at in the immediate future, as these hostages, and we just got a new statement from the military arm of hamas, we bring news to our prisoners. And our people. That the Kherson Brigades are Holding Dozens of captured officers and soldiers, and ive been secured in safe places and resistance we do not have those numbers back. From either or the Israeli Military. But that is actually squares to what weve been working these hospital likely be moved around. As peter talked, about if the Israeli Defense intelligence wasnt good enough in the first place to pick this up are their Human Sources not good enough to now leave to the hostages . That is clearly the priority for the Israeli Intelligence community. Its gonna be so interesting in the next 20 to 48 hours, we will not see the wrath of the true israeli response on gaza until the israeli citizens, the Israeli Soldiers that, are currently in gaza, or out safely, alex. Okay, thank you for that update, molly hunter from london, appreciate that. The ongoing Breaking News from israel, new dramatic pictures and information coming into us by the minute, well bring you the latest from the scene, right now. Hi, im jason and ive lost 202 pounds on golo. So the first time i ever seen a golo advertisement, i said, yeah, whatever. Theres no way this works like this. And threw it to the side. A couple weeks later, i seen it again after getting not so pleasant news from my physician. I was 424 pounds, and my doctor was recommending weight loss surgery. To avoid the surgery, i had to make a change. So i decided to go with golo and its changed my life. 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