Or reaction to Senior Leaders of hamas Visiting Moscow today . I cant speak for their Travel Habits or conversations with the russians. Our message to any other nation around the world is this is not a time to be supporting hamass ability to continue to kill israelis and its certainly not a time or any nation out there that wants to be involved should look for ways to be involved to help israel defend itself and to help get humanitarian assistance in. See what becomes of the conversation. Two quick things. Was there any coordination by the Florida Governor with the white house on sending munitions over to israel . Not that im aware of. Second, can you elaborate a little bit on the execution of russian soldiers, how long has it been going on, do you have any idea how many people, and why, it seems kind of i dont know, getting rid of their own soldiers, you know. Im not qualified to answer that last question. I mean, its its reprehensible to think about that you would execute your own soldiers because they didnt want to follow orders and now threatening to execute entire units is barbaric. But i think its a symptom of how poorly russias military leaders know what they are doing, and how bad they have handled this from a military perspective. From the very beginning we have been talking about poor command and control, poor logistics, they cant feed their guys in the field, for crying out loud, and now willing to shoot them for not following orders and speaks to the desperation and the man power crunch. I got asked this question a day or so ago, russia obviously has a bigger military than ukraine and access to more man power, but they are in such desperate need to make some kind of progress, particularly in the donbas, the donetsk area, they are throwing young men into the fight, not properly trained, equipped, and certainly not properly led. Thank you, karine. John, the president said if iran or its proxies attacked u. S. Troops that we would respond. What is he waiting for exactly . He did say that. What is the response . He said that. And he said that we will heeding the warning is the response . Jacqui, come on now. Im not going to telegraph punches here from the podium. We have responded and retaliated in the past, aggressively, in march and as the president said, we will not hesitate to protect our troops and our facilities but we are going to do it at a time of our choosing, a manner of our choosing, and the decision to do it, if we do it, is his as commander and chief and his alone. He said he issued a warning to the ayatollah. How is that warning delivered . Im not going to get into that. Phone call, third party, message relayed after u. S. Troops were injured . There was a direct message relayed. As far as im going to go. Why were the injuries not disclosed until tuesday. Refer you to the pentagon on that. And can you say why the u. S. Approved a visa for irans Foreign Minister in new york this week, the Wall Street Journal reported he partook in at least two Planning Meetings with hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and hamas leading up to the attack. The Secretary General called a meeting at the level, we are the host of the u. N. , we take that responsibility seriously. Do we particularly like the fact that hes on u. S. Soil, no. But unlike a lot of other countries and the world, we take those responsibilities, those rules seriously and so we allowed him to come in to attend these meetings and we hope, quite frankly, we are going to take advantage of the opportunity, hope others at the u. N. To ask tough questions of him and what his country is doing to support the Militia Groups and Support Hamas and hezbollah. An opportunity for World Leaders up there in new york to make their perspectives and concerns known to the Iranian Foreign minister. Pentagon official tobabi, alleged to be involved in an iranian influence operation, some discussion whether she should keep her security clearance, she did. But now the Chief Of Staff for the office overseeing hostage negotiations. Is it appropriate for someone with these connections to the Iranian Regime to be overseeing Rescue Operations for americans that are being held by iranbacked proxies . I have to refer you to the Defense Department to speak to that. Thanks. Back on the john jump out of the briefing there after some pointed questions from our Jacqui Heinrich about why the Iranian Foreign minister was allowed in the United States, and why the Biden Administration has not responded more aggressively from the attacks by iranian proxies in syria and iraq on the u. S. Bases in the area. Sandra the message time and time again over the period of several days, through multiple officials, john, has been to the iranian proxies, dont act. Well, we now have a timetable of the many times they have since that warning was put in place. So, the question is, when is the administration going to act, kirbys response was at a time of our choosing. John well, we will wait and see when that is. Right now, bring in jonathan, Senior Vice President and foundation for defense of democracies, former Counter Terrorism analyst at the u. S. Treasury department as well. One of the topics that came up as we are watching, the Casualty Numbers put out by the gaza health ministry, otherwise known as hamas and how the white house does not trust them. Are they right to not trust them . 100 right not to trust the gaza health ministry. 100 right not to trust hamas. But here is the thing. The way that hamas uses their health industry, so to speak, is incredibly cynical. Most people dont know this. But hamass primary Military Base of operations is under the hospital in gaza city. They operate four stories below the ground, and this is where a lot of that information comes out from. At the end of the day, they are using human shields, they are using the gaza population, 2. 2 million people, to manipulate the rest of the world. And so the administration is 100 right to ignore their numbers, and i will say that at some point the israelis are almost certainly going to have to surround that hospital if they are going to try to force a surrender of hamas. John it should be pointed out that despite the fact many hamas leaders have been killed in the israeli airstrikes, their command and control infrastructure remains intact. Another piece of business, fox news has confirmed this, that the United States, and i guess its through antony blinken, is in talks with qatar about qatar reexamining, if you will, its relationship with hamas and we should point out that hamass Political Leadership is living large in doha. Do you think this will amount to anything . This really needs to. What qatar has been doing for the ten plus years is absolutely outrageous. They want to be a respected country, want to be welcomed around the world and they have sponsoring hamas, Political Leadership is based there, and think its only hamas, remind you, the Taliban Operate Out of doha, alqaeda, isis, and a whole range of other Terrorist Groups have found Safe Haven Inside Qatar and these are the guys negotiating with the United States for the release of the hostages. They are playing arsonist and firefighter and the United States has allowed it for ten years. This has to stop. John Biden Administration is trying t cut off funding for hamas. It gives money to the 2, 2. 5 billion a year through various sources. Administration plans to do it through sanctions on the various entities that Support Hamas. Is that going to be effective . It can be effective but it has to start with iran. Iran gives hamas like 200, 2 million a year. Stop giving money to the iranians, and sanctions, it is a pass through. Every time we make the deal, 6 billion in hostage swap or whatever else we have given them over the years, its an seive, and the there are a whole bunch of countries nominal american allies, and out there supporting hamas and supporting massacres along the lines of 107. You believe there will be news about the hostages in the next, couple three days. Clearly a slowdown right now in terms of the pace of the Israeli Ground invasion. Everybody in israel is waiting for it. World is nervous about it. Probably going to have to be some kind of movement, qataris are scrambling to try to show their worth and the israelis are desperate to see release of some hostages. My sense, one trade over the next couple of days and followed by the Ground Invasion, regardless of what the qataris wants or the United States wants. John when you talk about a trade, hamas said it would trade some hostages, dont know whether it would be nonisraeli or hamas terrorists, do you think a swap might follow along those lines . Right now it looks as if theres been greater value placed on dual nationals. I think by the way, its not a really great message to send to the israelis, that people that are dual nationals are worth more, but i think at the end of the day, its going to be about what is done through that specific channel and what the qataris are able to squeeze out of hamas. They should have a lot more leverage than they have right now. One thing i will note the israelis are going to be very nervous about, reports a few minutes ago suggesting that the iranians are trying to gain custody of some of these hostages. If that is the case, just wait to see how the israelis respond. John that would be a troubling escalation. Just real quick to finish this off here, the Ground Operation clearly hamas is trying to forestall this by drip Drip Dripping out hostage releases. When do you think israel goes in . My guess is its a matter of days. It will not take very long for the israelis to mobilize. They have indicated everything is in place, including their plan, so theyll try to get a few hostages out of this and i think the other thing of course having the u. S. Comfortable with the plan and having enough fire power in the region to hold off iran and hezbollah so it does not escalate into a regional war. John far from over. No question about that. Jonathan, thank you. Sandra back to the white house, john kirby at the podium, still taking questions from reporters. Lets listen in. The president does not believe targeting journalists at all in any way is appropriate but i cant speak to the specifics of that case. I have seen the reporting and certainly our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, i mean, thats just horrible. But i cant speak to the circumstances in which that strike occurred. But make no mistake, the president believes strongly in what you all do for a living and how you need to be able to do that freely and securely and we know you take, all of you take great risks sometimes in doing that job. Taking about aljazeera journalists in light of the report Secretary Blinken approached the qatari government asking us to tone down coverage. You are asking me in the context that we have some kind of beef with aljazeera . I would let the secretary and their staff speak to his conversations in the region. I wont do that. We recognize aljazeera as a valuable voice and outlet that has incredible reach in the region and beyond, i dont need to tell you that, its truly a Global Network and we value the work you do. One quick question. Because the Committee To Protect Journalists says at least 24 journalists has been killed in gaza trying to cover this story. Are you concerned that israel is trying to silence journalists who are trying to tell both sides of this story, including our aljazeera arabic bureau chief. I have not seen any indication that israel is going after journalists, in particular, because of them trying to tell a story. Ive seen absolutely 0 evidence of that. That is thats an unfounded allegation. Admiral, do you have any update at all on the progress of the attempts to have hostages freed . Nothing that i can speak to today, no. And the president said yesterday that if he is conveyed to the Prime Minister that if there is any way to buy some time to free these hostages, that there should be a humanitarian pause. But if there is no progress, how long should that pause last . It should last as long as we need it to last to get the hostages out. But to kevins question, the pause is by definition temporary and perhaps localize. We cant assume the hostages are in the same place or the same sets of conditions. And while i dont have anything to specifically report out to you today, i can promise you to your question of no progress, i can tell you that we are working on it very hard with our partners in the region. We want to see all those hostages released. I guess what im saying is does hamas need to show some effort to release more of these hostages in order to justify a humanitarian pause . Well, again, that gets into negotiating tactics, and im not going to do that. It would be fool hearty and dangerous if we started negotiating in public in the Briefing Room about how those hostages can how we can work to get them out. We need to keep that in the private diplomatic channel, but the work is ongoing and aggressively so. And hamas recently said 50 of the hostages have been killed in israeli bombing raids since the conflict began. You talked a lot about the fact that the u. S. Doesnt trust the numbers that are coming from hamas. But do you have any way to independently verify whether that figure is correct or not . No. On the visit of the Chinese Foreign minister, sorry if i missed it, did you say if we can expect the president to drop by on that meeting tomorrow . I dont have anything on the president s calendar to speak to. And thank you admiral, start off by saying any one who has a beef with kimberly has to go through my first. Ok. I consider myself fair warned then. One question and one followup regarding the twostate solution. What is the president s vision for what that would actually look like, and are there any preconditions for contingencies that would be in place . We are just we are not there yet. Obviously the idea of a twostate solution is not a new idea, and its one that President Biden has believed in for a very, very long time with all his Foreign Policy experience. Getting there has proven difficult, i dont need to tell you that, and obviously its going to remain a difficult task. But what we hope its not impossible. But what that could actually look like once we get folks to the table, that will come that will come in the future. I couldnt possibly begin to describe exactly what the parameters would look like right now. Ok. So theres a gallup poll that came out a month ago that shows 72 of palestinians are against a twostate solution, the highest its been since they started pulling this question, i believe. And furthermore, they showed 84 dont have confidence in this Current Administration ability to bring about a peace agreement. How do you work with those kind of numbers . We work towards the goal. Recognize there are different opinions out there, but dont enact policy, dont pursue the potential and promise for peace and security in the middle east based on opinion polls. Why did the president believe that announced india, europe, economic corridor some players in the middle east . Say again. The president has said last week twice the corridor, the summit, may have precipitated hamas toerrorist attack against israel. I think you misunderstood him. He believed the normalization process, and the agreement that we are trying to reach between israel and saudi arabia for normalization, which we believe is an important Stepping Stone to getting to a twostate solution, was what may have motivated hamas to conduct those attacks. I think you understood what he said. One more question . Thats up to karine. Karine says yes. Has canada shared with you any evidence of its allegations against india . I wont talk about Intelligence Matters one way or another. Certainly not from here. Sandra quite a remarkable few moments that we just witnessed over the past 45 minutes or so between john kirby, at the white house, karine jeanpierre, the update from the State Department via matt miller, john, we are going to turn around some tape in a few minutes here. Matt miller at the State Department, there was a really interesting moment where he talked about americans being able to get out of gaza into egypt and the Border Crossing there, they are not being able to get out, he said, because hamas wont let them. We are going to turn that for us, because he basically said that verbait, they are relying on hamas to process them and let them through. John here is what we have seen with hamas is israel drops leaflets over Northern Gaza to say move south because we are going to start taking down the hamas infrastructure, hamas says no, no, no, stay, we had reports