Good afternoon, everybody. I have a couple of things at the top before i turn it over to the admiral rated as the conflict between israel and hamas continues resident biden has made it a top ready to ensure palestinians receive humanitarian aid. Something we have actively engaged on hooting calls in egypt and calls with netanyahu. We are glad to see the first convoys of humanitarian assistance over the weekend, cross the border into gaza and reach palestinians in need. And were grateful for partners involved in these efforts. It is important to keep rafah crossing in operation and aid flowing without diversion from hamas. Humanitarian assistance remains a critical and urgent need for palestinians in gaza. We know we know and we understand this, that much more is needed and this will remain a priority, a priority for us in the days and weeks ahead. I also wanted to say a few words about the supplemental request that we detailed to all of you on friday under President Bidens leadership. We have rallied a Global Response to putins invasion of ukraine and provided aid to israel following hamas barbaric terrorist attack. We need, we need, we now need congress to provide Additional Resources that will advance our National Security and support allies, our allies and partners in their fight against tyrants and terrorists. The supplemental the president put forward invests in American DefenseIndustrial Base to ensure our military readiness, strengthen the American Economy and create american jobs support israel as it protects itself against hamas helps ukraine defend against putins brutal invasion, provides humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians devastated by putins invasion. And hamass horrific attacks strengthens security and stability in the indo pacific provides alternatives to corrosive financing by prc. The prc strengthens Border Security and fights the flow of fentanyl. The world is watching and the American People expect their leaders to come together and deliver on these priorities. We will continue to work with members of both parties to address these needs in a bipartisan agreement in the weeks ahead. And with that, uh admiral john kirby from the National Security council is here to answer any questions that you have on israel and any other foreign related items. Good afternoon, everybody. Uh just to briefly recap events of the past few days. I thought it would be good to kind of catch up here after the weekend on friday. I think you all know we successfully secured the release of two americans that have been taken hostage by hamas during that horrific terrorist assault on the seventh of october and the president had chance to speak with them and with their families, as he told other families that he met in tel aviv, family members of others who have, who have been taken hostage. We have no higher priority than the safety of americans that are being held around the world and were going to continue around the clock to see if we can get them home with their families where they belong. It is literally an hour by hour effort here at the white house and at the state department to find out where these folks are and to try to make the effort to get them out and get them back. Of course, first convoys over the weekend of humanitarian assistance across that border and was able to reach palestinians in need. And as she also said, were going to continue those efforts going forward. Its important that the aid be sustainable and thats what were focused on. And of course, throughout the weekend, the president received briefings from his National Security team on all the latest developments. And yesterday, as you know, he convened calls with Prime Minister netanyahu, his holiness pope francis. And then of course, with the leaders of canada, france, germany, italy and the united kingdom. Im sure you all saw the joint statement from all those leaders that they released last night. I wont reiterate it, but you can hopefully take away from that a real clear consistency and unanimity for israels right to defend itself against terrorism while of course, adhering to International Humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians. Now, weve also seen over the course of the last few days, actually, the course of the last week, but certainly over the last couple of days of the weekend, an uptick in rocket and drone attacks by iranian backed proxy groups against military bases, housing us personnel in iraq and syria. And we are deeply concerned about the potential for any significant escalation of these attacks in the days ahead. At the direction of President Biden, the secretary of defense has ordered the military to take steps to prepare for this to ensure that were postured appropriately both in terms of being able to defend our forces and respond decisively as needed. The secretary of defense has directed two Carrier Strike groups to the region and we are now sending more air defenses to us air bases in the region. Now, we know these groups are supported by the irgc and the regime. We know iran continues to support hamas and hezbollah. And we know that iran is closely monitoring these events and in some cases, actively facilitating these attacks and spurring on others who may want to exploit the conflict for their own good or for that of iran. We know irans goal is to maintain some level of deniability here. But were not going to allow them to do that. We also are not going to allow any threat to our interests in the region to go unchallenged. We demonstrated last we demonstrated last week that we have and we use the military capable available to us to protect and defend those interests and those capabilities are getting bigger and better every day. As President Biden has said our message to any hostile actors seeking to escalate or widen this conflict is very simple. Dont do it. That will take some questions. Um john, is it your view that the israelis should begin their gaza offensive whenever they feel ready. Its our view that the Israeli Defense forces, steve need to decide for themselves how theyre going to conduct operations. Were not in the business of, of dictating terms to them and were certainly not going to be in the business here from the white house of previewing any, any future operations one way or the other that would be inappropriate that iran is actively facilitating these attacks. What are you seeing . What, what exactly are they doing . Their support for these . Iran backed proxies is no secret. Its pretty open and theyve tried to make, theyve made no secret of it funding resourcing in terms of providing the, the rockets and the uh and the munitions that they Fire Training for some of these guys. There is a, there is a connection between these, these groups and the i rgc, a very direct connection. We have reported that the administration has been urging israel to delay a Ground Invasion. Can you tell us whether other countries are making the same request . Is there a co ordinated effort . The nga wont speak for other nations and what communications they might be having with israel . I can tell you, we have since the beginning of the conflict in the early hours, maintain a level of communication with our israeli counterparts to ascertain their intentions, their strategy, their aims to see what their answers are to the kinds of tough questions that any military ought to be asking before you launch any kind of a major operation. Have you thought through the branches . Have you thought through the sequels . Have you thought through the unintended consequences . And so we are in active conversation with them about that. Weve seen a number of leaders travel to israel or commit to traveling to israel. Of course, the president himself. Is it your understanding that there would not be a Ground Invasion as long as there is a head of state in the country . That is a question for israeli officials to speak to mj again. I just dont want to be in the position where i am speaking for the Israeli Defense forces. And another quick topic. Why is it that people currently are not able to leave gaza right now . Do you have sort of an explanation as to why that humanitarian corridor for people to exit gaza. Why that isnt open is the obstacle hamas . Is it the egyptians . I think theres a lot of factors going into why theres no exit out. Were glad that stuffs going in as karim briefed you all, but we still want to see safe passage out and particularly for the several 100 american citizens that we know are in gaza and want to leave and ambassador satterfield is on the ground working this very, very hard. But theres a number of factors and i think security, certainly egyptian officials have spoken to this. I mean, theres, you know, theyve got legitimate security concerns and again, we just need to work through that. Can you tell us the latest on the status of hostages and the work to try to release additional hostages . Do you see a category of those being held who might be sort of the next available to be released if that were to take place . Can you give us a sense of what picture looks like . I wish i could, kelly, i really do. And these are all Great Questions but unfortunately, where we are right now in the process makes it impossible for us to publicly detail the efforts that are going on. We are grateful for all the help we got and we got help getting those two americans out the mother and daughter and were glad that uh that theyre ok and theyre, you know, going to be reunited with the families and, and come back home, but theres a bunch of others that arent now a small group. We still, we still think are americans. And then there are dozens and dozens from other countries and obviously israel as well. And theres just a lot of effort going on, a lot of conversations and discussions with partners in the region. And i think its just best if we dont that we have more show. Specificity on the number of americans. Its floated from a handful to as many as 10, anything more on that. I want to be careful here because the numbers, as you rightly said, have fluctuated since the last time i talked to you. Certainly. Now were glad to know that the number is less than less down by two, obviously. Um but we still have about 10 unaccounted for americans and its not exactly clear to us where those 10 people are. So i would still categorize it as about a handful. But, and i know thats not the specificity you want, but thats really as, as detailed as i think i should get today. One last issue there is a dual national from maryland young man who went to serve the id f who was killed in action. Can you speak to that situation if the president has reached the family or has any intention to to that there . Well, certainly offer our deepest condolences to the family. Thats, thats news. No, no, mom and dad ever want to get. Um, i dont have any communication to, to speak to one way or the other. But again, our, our, our thoughts and prayers go to the family. Sure. Post hamas gaza, if that were to happen, is there anything that you can share on what conversations the us is having on what that post hamas gaza would look like . Men who would run things . Thats going to be uh a conversation that uh is israeli officials, you know, need to start having amongst themselves. And um i think again without speaking for them, i dont think im going too far to say that the focus right now is on going after hamas where they are in gaza, getting humanitarian assistance in getting people out. Thats where our focus is. And i know the focus of our israeli counterparts is certainly on prosecuting these operations against hamas. The issue of governance in gaza certainly is not unimportant, but i, i wouldnt speak for the israelis in terms of how deeply theyre diving down into what that, what that needs to look like. We have had, we have talked to the israelis again about their aims and strategy and that includes some of the long term issues that, that are out ahead of them. But i think you can understand appropriately right now that the focus is on the operational picture. Can you say if saudi arabia has provided a list of requests for what it would like to see for those talks to start again between saudi arabia and israel . Im not tracking or aware of a specific threat. Now, youre talking post october 7th, im not aware of some sort of new list or homework assignment that theyve submitted. We still believe that those talks are important. We still want to pursue normalization. We understand that both in israel and of course, in riyadh, theres a different focus right now. We get that, but we still believe theres great value in pursuing normalization and we have every intention of keeping that going. Thank you. What kind of humanitarian aid would the us like to see reaching the palestinians before israel launches a Ground Invasion . Lets, can i bifurcate that question because i dont, im not going to sit here and assume that theres gonna be some sort of a Ground Invasion. And im certainly not going to speak to hypothetical timing if theres gonna be, lets just talk about humanitarian assistance at large. And you heard karen, we are getting food, water medicine in to gaza. Not enough. I mean, theres been, i think what three convoys, some little less than 60 trucks. Thats a good start. But it is just a start. We want to see it, keep going. And i think over the coming days youre going to continue to see convoys of trucks getting in. But its also, you know, fuel was also an issue. You need fuel to run the Power Generators in hospitals, you need fuel to run the pumps and in the desalination uh facilities so that people can drink fresh healthy water. So fuel is another thing that we are working on, whether or not there is a Ground Invasion. Do you view humanitarian aid getting there first as important . Whether or not theres a Ground Invasion . We believe that humanitarian assistance flowing to the people of gaza is critically important and it needs to go as soon as possible and as much as possible. Where does the president stand on this . Because there was some confusion over the weekend about whether or not he had said that yes, he does want israel to wait until humanity humanitarian assistance can get to the palestinians before any invasion. We have been, we have been Crystal Clear with our partners in the region including israel that we want to see humanitarian assistance flow. Theres been no change to our posture on that at all. But as i said, i think to steves question, were not dictating military terms to the Israeli Defense forces. They have a right and a responsibility to go after these terrorists and they certainly are going to do it in a way that they choose that they believe is appropriate to the threat. Were definitely going to support them in terms of providing the capabilities for them to continue to prosecute Hamas Terrorists. In fact, Security Assistance has continued to flow over the course of the weekend and it will, but were not dictating terms to them. So, thank you. So the un secretary general, the European UnionForeign Policy chief and several International Leaders are calling for a humanitarian ceasefire. Will we see the United States calling for a humanitarian force . What we want right now is make sure israel has the tools it needs to defend itself and to go after hamas and that humanitarian assistance keeps flowing. Now. Its started and its a good thing. We want to keep it going and keep it sustainable. Thats what were focused on. So you mentioned this joint statement yesterday where President Biden and several westernized asked israel to protect civilians, but the death toll in gaza is rising sharply. Does it look to you that israel is abiding by International Law . Are they listening to your advice . Were not going to parcel out each and every event that happens on the battlefield, especially since were not there. I can just tell you that there hasnt been a conversation that weve had with israeli counterparts and weve had them at all levels where we arent talking about, not just what they want to do but how they want to do it. John, two fridays ago, i reported that the us was urging israel to delay the Ground Invasion a day after the officials here issued statements to other outlets denying that was the case in the days week. Plus since other outlets have started to report the same information that i had. But today, youre not confirming any of those reports. My question is, arent you at all concerned that if the us is not clear with the public about what we are asking or suggesting to israel that they do here, that thats going to complicate getting this aid package through congress. I mean, you guys are asking for more than 105 billion which a portion of this goes toward israel. Are you concerned that not being clear with folks about what the us is advising israel to do will hamper support in congress for this aid. Weve been very clear and consistent about our support for israel and their ability to defend themselves. Jackie, weve been very clear and consistent about the fact that were going to keep providing Security Assistance so that they can do that. Weve been clear and consistent about the need for humanitarian assistance to flow and clear and consistent about our desire to get people out of gaza as well as to get our hostages home . I think weve been very clear and consistent throughout and that includes with members of congress and yes, we are going to need congressional support to continue to support israel. Weve got enough appropriations available to us for a while longer, how long is that while its going to depend on the expe