People have been taken and are killed. That is, we are really going to see this unfold in the next days and weeks. 100 . Have you heard directly from the people that were able to escape, that music and Dance Festival which apparently had thousands of people . Yeah, they spoke to my brother. They are one of them is in the hospital. The other one is at home. Did they talk at all about what they experienced and how they were able to get away . I havent heard details. I think there is a lot of trauma and processing going on. Were only really getting the details in the coming weeks. I will share that another one of my friends is an Avid Festival Goer here in tel aviv. She told me that many of her Community Members were there. Many, many, many of her friends have yet to respond to her. Shes fearing for the worst. Rachel, do you feel safe right now in your apartment, in your community . I feel physically safe in my apartment and in my community. I trust that the idf is doing what they can to protect us. Im fearful that the terrorists, the many, many, many terrorists that infiltrated israel are all over and are going to stay and enact violence when they have the opportunity wherever that may be. Im a vigilant. I, all i can think about is my friends who are going down to gaza, to other places as part of their military reserves. Im just praying for their safety today. Thousands of israelis all over israel were donating blood, lines and lines of people donating blood, people buying food and items from the supermarket. We spent hours packing boxes to be sent to all of these soldiers. We are really focused on that. I feel safer in tel aviv and then my friends elsewhere. Rachel kastner, since im unable to extend a hug to you physically, im sending you my best thoughts and keeping you in my prayers. I thank you for sharing your story with us. Im going to be thinking about you. Stay safe. Thank you, alex. Thank you so much. The horrifying developments, you are hearing them right there, including some new words about hostages, plus the Breaking News about the u. S. Military and what moves it is planning to make as fighting escalates. Thats coming your way in this next hour. Tes. Thats coming your way in this next hour. As i bid you all a very good afternoon here in los angeles, welcome, everyone, to alex witt reports. Youve been hearing it. We are beginning just after the top of the hour here with the Breaking News from The Middle East. We also have new video to share. It shows already some funerals taking place after the hamas attack on israel. You can see the video right there. The government officially declared war. With gunfire on the Israel Lebanon border in a brief exchange with the hezbollah militant group, there are fears of a widening escalating conflict. Israeli Defense Officials tell me right here that the death toll is expected to rise. The official tally is 700 dead israelis. That unfortunately is not the final number. We have more than 2000 wounded, hundreds of them severely wounded. That will change as well. There is a high number of israelis held in gaza by these barbaric monsters. Relatives have been missing today, undertaking the very grim task of submitting dna samples of their loved ones to help identify the dead. Israeli forces released new video showing the rescue of hostages taken by hamas. Israeli media says at least 100 people have been kidnapped. That includes women, children, and the elderly. U. S. Officials say theyre looking into reports that americans might be among them. Meanwhile, the battles continue in the streets of southern israel and in the skies over gaza. Do you hear that . Retaliatory air strikes by israel destroying several residential buildings in gaza, sending survivors scurrying to safety in the plumes of smoke billow. In gaza, more than 400 people have been killed, 2300 injured. This is according to the Palestinian Health ministry. And vatican city, pope francis offered prayers of comfort to those experiencing terror and anguish. His prayer for peace comes against the backdrop of a longstanding and deep divisions now resurfacing in the wake of the attack. Our reporters and analysts are standing by from washington to israel to lebanon to bring us the latest on this breaking and developing story. Were first going to go to nbcs raf sanchez in southern israel. Reporting has been extraordinary. Lets talk about whats going on right now where you are. I know that you spoke to the family of a young woman who was kidnapped by hamas. I want to hear about that as well. Yeah, alex. We have moved since we spoke to you two hours ago. Weve been traveling on the road behind me. Its one of the main north south highways in israel. Coming from the north, heading towards the south, weve seen an endless stream of israeli tanks, Armored Vehicles being carried on trailers, Heading South to the gaza border. Thats yet another indicator that israel is preparing for a potential largescale Ground Offensive. I want to show you whats going on behind me. If my Camera OperatorDave Copeland could just zoom in here, you can see these are Israeli Forces manning a Flying Checkpoint on this very busy highway. Their Assault Rifles are over the bonnet of their car and they are very, very tense. We dont know exactly why every time a vehicle comes from the south from the direction of gaza, these Israeli Security forces tense up. That underscores one of the almost unbelievable realities of the situation here, that nearly 48 hours after this surprise attack, the Israeli Military has still not regained full control of israeli territory. There are still palestinian gunmen at large. Thats why this checkpoint is in place. Alex, in terms of the interview we just wrapped up, a young woman called noah, she is 25 years old. Shes an engineering student. She has sort of become the face of the Hostage Crisis in this country. She was at the Music Festival that you were talking about with your last guest with her boyfriends and there is a video haunting israel today showing her being carried on the back of a motorcycle into gaza. Her boyfriend has his hands tied behind his back, looking on helplessly as shes carried away. Shes the only daughter of her father. We spoke to him earlier. This man was going through the universal agony of a parent who knows that his child is in danger. He could barely breathe when i asked him what he would say to the People Holding her. Please, please, i beg, you dont hurt her. We also spoke to some of her friends who were at the festival trying to comfort her father. I want you to listen to a little bit of a conversation. I think the most terrifying thing is her voice and the look on her face. This is why i think this you can see the horror of her saying, i dont want to die. You can see the end of her life right now. For me, i couldnt believe it. Im getting shivers right now just thinking about it. It was an eternity for me. I have obviously seen it over and over and over again. Everyone was saying it was her. Alex, as you can imagine, you have parents all over israel tonight who are watching that video and are wondering, what if that was my child . This Music Festival is turning out to be one of the most horrific scenes in this widespread carnage all across southern israel. We are still hearing the sounds of israeli fighter jets overhead who are carrying out these airstrikes in gaza. Every indication that we are seeing on the ground is that israel is preparing for a largescale Ground Offensive into the gaza strip. Alex . Let me ask you about the scene behind you there. Can you tell me how many people are traveling right now . I grant you there is a checkpoint that your camera and was able to show us. Is there a long queue of lines . What direction is that going behind you . Is it heading north away from the border . Yeah, so, just to give you the direction here, this checkpoint is facing towards the south. They are facing towards cars coming from the direction of gaza. The only thing that could make this nightmare worse from an israeli perspective is if somehow some of these gunman were able to slip through the net that Israeli Forces have set up here and could somehow take the Carnage North toward tel aviv, Tore Jerusalem which has not happened yet. These Security Forces are on such hilar to prevent that from happening. In this direction, this is travel going from the north to the south. You can see there is a cocacola truck coming past me now. Im not exaggerating when i tell you i would guess perhaps one of vehicle in 15 as it passes behind me is a heavy Trailer Truck Carrying either and its battle tanks or an Armored Personnel Carrier or some other piece of Israeli Military hardware. It was a nearly endless stream of Israeli Special forces who were racing. It was early in the morning at that point. They were racing south to confront the gunman who were there in their hundreds today. Its heavily armored traveling in this direction. They are bringing military resources to support their efforts. Thank you so much for all of those details. I appreciate you. Excellent reporting, my friend. Joining us from washington, and equally excellent reporter, courtney kube. What can you tell us about the military moves in The Middle East . Are they imminent . Has the order been given it to launch . Yes, they have started moving. Like were just hearing from ralph, the Israeli Military is moving capabilities. Its for a different purpose. According to the officials who are now saying that there is an entire Carrier Strike group moving toward the eastern med, they are saying this is for a show of support for the israeli people and the Israeli Military and government. What we are talking about here is the uss gerald r ford, a carrier, a u. S. Aircraft carrier, and the associated ships in the strike group. That includes destroyers, a cruiser, and th a full Complementf Rcft Which will be assigned to those ships. Were talking thousands of sailors, pilots, u. S. Marine corps pilots and u. S. Service Members Associated with it in addition to that, there will also be,the s. Military will, as they say, augment so o the Aircraft Squadrons already in the re that includes sending dional f35s, f16s, and a tense. F35s a one of the most advanced fi. They are not only a Fighter Aircraft but also provide a lot of surveillance capabilities, things that we are not even allowed to technically know about at this point because some of the programs are so classified. In addition to that, the u. S. Is also announcing that they are fasttracking sending more munitions and additional equipment to the israelis. We heard a little bit about that out of the white house in the form of a statement, saying President Biden has ordered his administration to provide the israelis with the support that they have requested and that they need, alex. This is something that they will be reacting, courtney, as a request. Its not something that is initially volunteered by the u. S. Is that how this kind of thing works . Its not surprising when you see Something Like this happening where there are Tens Of Thousands or more, frankly, americans and dual american citizens in israel but its also a really close ally of the u. S. When Something Like this happens, when theres an attack like this, its pretty common for the u. S. Military to provide it has various terms, a show of support, maybe a show of president s, maybe even a show of strength depending on how they want to project the power. When youre talking about an Aircraft Carrier and the associated, if thats what theyre doing here, projecting power. There is another possible goal with some of these movements. If there needs to be some sort of a noncombatant evacuation, these large military ships off the coast in the Eastern Mediterranean could provide a platform to take americans, dual citizens out of the country and get them to safety pretty quickly. I will say there has been no order to do that. No ones talking about that. As we always hear, they are walking through their options if they are ordered to do some sort of a simulated evacuation. Hey, courtney, i want to see if you can address what is to the left of the screen. Im not sure you are able to see it. Given the experience covering the pentagon, it appears there are flares in the sky over the gaza strip. Those flares, is that how i understand it . You might have Special Forces on the ground. That wont do any damage, correct . You know what . Its you know, i am not sure what im not sure, but it could be elimination rounds. I suspect that right now, over the skies, they are seeing a lot of bright flashes. And it could be a combination of. Things the one thing that we do know that has worked really well, for the israelis since this all began, was the iron dome system. So that is and stop rockets i in fact one of the eye the same Lieutenant Colonel he did a briefing last night on twitter, where he said that the majority of the casualties that the israelis have suffered, have not been from rockets, and from fire. Coming from gaza. In fact, the majority have been coming from whats been happening on the ground. So in his words i will say many of them have been people who were close hand combat, or even executions. Yeah, absolutely we heard that as well. You have to wonder though if israel is launching any sort of rocket attacks, given the certainty that their hostages there. And we know that israel does not want to lose one precious life, as a result of taking out a target, and potentially hostages with them. Okay, courtney, you can get back to reporting, thank you so much my friend for. That lets go now to a very root, lebanon. We have nbcs welcome, so white house officials are worried about a possible second front to this war, that will come from lebanon to the north and hezbollah. What can you tell us about that . Yeah i mean alex, as i was saying before, when this all broke off, everyone was looking at the gaza strip, and at israel, but they were also looking here to lebanon, and has been all. Why hezbollah is kind of an organization, that is a little bit similar to hamas. It is backed by iran, and it frequently has very bloody, very violent engagements with the israelis. And we heard that anxiety, expressed by the white house, by National Security adviser john finer. He said that to our own jen psaki, just earlier today. Here is what he said. I so, okay, we dont have sound from him. But basically, he was saying that they are worried that hezbollah could be engaged. But we have seen some sightings now, of the fact that maybe, hezbollah wont be. They have basically said that they are in solidarity with hamas. They said that they are backing hamas, but they havent really taken action, in that regard. We did see some cross border fighting, just today. We saw the hezbollah attacking the farms. Now, this is an area thats disputed between israel and lebanon, and there was an exchange of fire. Has looking out and said that this was actually an expression of solidarity. And it is remarkable, from what is not remarkable about it, alex. As i was telling you earlier, they just got some weapons, some artillery and some guided missiles, into the farms. The Exchange Fire with the Israeli Military. It doesnt sound like anyone was injured, or anyone was killed. And that just goes to show that hezbollah seems to be taking, at this very moment, some restraint. But that could change, at any time, alex. Hey matt, given what you know a belt militants soldiers, however you want to identify them, within hezbollah. Is there any chance that anywhere along the border, would be, for lack of a better phrase, triggerhappy on their own accord . Would any of them ever fire weapons, shoot rockets, anything like that without having some sort of a directive from above . Yeah that happens all the time. And in fact this is kind of something that we have seen throughout the past several decades. But the fact is alex is that we havent seen a large scale confrontation between hezbollah and israel, for really the past 20 years not since 2006 so. Even if there is, and we saw as i mentioned, that restraint, and that Cross Border Extra Exchange upon. Thats the border between israel and lebanon, and it is controlled by United Nations officials and peacekeepers, and by lebanons own military. You know, the fact that they didnt blow it up means that if there is some sort of cross border shooting, at least at this very moment, it looks as though there will be restrained from both sides. But again, i have to stress, that could change, at anytime. Okay, matt thank you so much from brute, lebanon. And just in about congressman, who was in israel, when the war broke out. Weve just got some new information on him, we will share with you when we are back, in 60 seconds. In 60 seconds. So i know im taken ca