Deadliest in israels history. A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense forces, or the idf, confirmed that 700 israelis have been killed. And the Palestinian Health ministry reported that 413 palestinians have been killed in the gaza strip. The israeli and the Palestinian Death tolls are expected to rise it have been injured. There are more reports that a number of idf, members and many civilians have been taken hostage, including children. This morning, on nbcs meet the press, u. S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken said, the State Department is working to confirm whether americans are among them, and how many. Mister secretary, does the administration know, at this moment, if u. S. Citizens were among the dead, or those taken hostage . So, we have reports that several americans may be among the dead. We are very actively working to verify those reports. Similarly, we have seen reports about hostages, and they are again, we are very actively trying to verify them, and nail that down. Meaning that there could be some u. S. Citizens who have been taken hostage as well, Mister Secretary . That is correct. President biden spoke with israeli Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu, about this situation this morning. Including the violent abductions of civilians. And said that additional assistance would be on the way, in the following days. Both the president , and Vice President harris, were briefed this morning by their National Security team. The Vice President spoke earlier today, with the president of israel, saying that such terrorist attacks are never justified, and underscori t United States commitment to israel security, is unwavering. Following discussions with the president , the u. S. Secretary of defense, lloyd austin, directed u. S. Navy ships andaircraft closer to israel. A Carrier Strike group is already on its way tonight, to bolster regional deterrence efforts in additional quid meant, and resources including munitions, will be made available to the idf. There have also been reports, at the military is beginning to plan for potential, noncombatant evacuations from the area. Senator cory bookers office announced he was able to safely leave israel. The senator from new jersey, and his staffers, or in jerusalem for planned meetings at a regional summit, when the hamas attack was launched. We also learned last hour, that congressman dan goldman was in israel with his family. They are now headed back to the United States. Meanwhile, the u. N. Security Council President called for an emergency meeting, to assess the rapidly escalating situation. Now, israel has already officially declared war. The Security Cabinet announced this morning, Prime Minister netanyahu said it would be a, quote, long and difficult war. Though he vowed to turn gaza into rubble. The full scope of the response remains to be seen. We cannot lose sight of the human toll of this conflict. I want you to listen to a distraught father, describe the moment he realized hamas militants had abducted his wife, and his two daughters, and his motherinlaw i lost contact with my, wife during a phone call, where she told me that terrorists are in the house, and later on i located through a mobile phone, and saw its and only later on, i had seen the video, which confirmed that she is on this vehicle, and i saw my two daughters as well, and my motherinlaw. And, i i am in a different world. I am basically not feeling anything but willing to work hard, in order to get my wife and daughters back. And, the feeling is awful. According to the new york times, rear admiral daniel hagari, israels top military spokesman, said that Israel Defense forces were evacuating all civilians from the 24 villages near the gaza border. Now, this area has caused the got the villages within the envelope are less than five miles from the border with gaza. But how they plan to do, that is still unclear. It is important to know that Prime Minister netanyahu said yesterday, that palestinians living in gaza should also leave. But it is unclear how they will exit the country, because it is our understanding that egypts border is still closed. I want to bring in nbcs he is live for us in israel, near gaza. Raf, can you just breakdown for us what you are seeing for us right now, and where the fighting is taking place . Yes simone, so we are standing on the side of one of the main northsouth highways in israel. And literally ten seconds ago, a convoy of israeli tanks, on the back of trailer trucks, rolled from the north, heading south towards the gaza strip. And symone we, have been seeing this all day, a near endless stream of israeli heavy armor, moving towards the gaza border. Every indication we have, from what we are seeing here, is that israel is preparing for a largescale, ground defensive into gaza. You do not move that much armor, into place, unless you are planning a large offensive. Now, this would be an unbelievably complicated military operation, it would involve urban warfare, in the unbelievably, densely populated gaza strip, in the narrow alleyways of gaza city. But symone, it is also a hostage rescue operation. Because as you said, there are, at minimum, dozens of Israeli Soldiers and civilians being held captive right now by the hamas militant group, by Palestinian Islamic jihad. And, one of the key things, weighing on Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu, other israeli decisionmakers, is what is the best way to get those people home safe . Is it a military operation, or perhaps more Humbling Lead for israel, will it ultimately be some form of negotiations, with these militant groups. Because, there is just a network of tunnels, underneath gaza city, where we think it is likely that these hostages are now being held. They are likely being spread, out to make it as difficult as possible, for israel to rescue them, in one fell swoop. In terms of what we are also seeing, israels iron dome Missile Defense system has been firing over our heads, and we have heard the roar of israeli aircraft, flying over gaza, right now with air strikes. The Palestinian HealthMinistry Says hundreds of people are now dead, inside of gaza, as a result of those airstrikes. We dont yet know what the breakdown is, of militants and civilians. And the israeli government, now saying more than 600 israelis have been killed, in this surprise attack, that caught this country so badly offguard. Raf, i want to go back to the hostage crisis, and that seems to be unfolding there. Secretary blinken said this morning, on meet the press, that americans may be among those hostages, and israeli officials later confirmed to cnn, that that is in fact true. What more are you hearing about the state of the hostages . We just played sound from a father, who found out that his two children, and his mother in law, and why for abducted, by seeing videos on social media. Well, we just came from an interview with the father of a young woman named noah, she is 25 years old. She was at a Music Festival in the south of israel, that Music Festival is turning out to be one of the most horrific sites of all of the carnage, we are seeing here. Part of the branch of the israeli emergency services, telling abc news, 260 people, appear to have been killed at this Music Festival, it was one of the first targets for these militants, when they crossed over the border. And a chilling video emerging, sewing this young woman, noaa being carried away, on the back of a motorcycle, carried into gaza. I spoke to her father earlier, and he showed the kind of universal agony, of a parent whose child is in harms way. This man seemed that he could barely breathe, when i asked him what would he say, to the people who are holding his daughters clapped of right now. He said, please, please, i beg you, dont hurt her, return her home, safe and sound. You mentioned this man whose daughter, whose wife have been also captured, also being held hostage. I want to play you just a little bit, more of that interview, take a listen. Their lovely girls, very energetic, very happy girls. And, they have a lot to say, they love to dance, they love their mother, love to play. They have a lot of friends, and they are like every other ordinary child, and to think that they are held by hamas right now, for parents, it is the most horrific for thought, that someone can, that someone can think of. Now, israel has no greater priority than bringing those hostages home, but the question is how. Like i said symone, we expect they are on the ground now, that they are being held in tunnels, they are spread out, that they are not in one location, that hamas is doing Everything Possible to make it difficult for israel to rescue them, because hamas sees these, people these human beings, as valuable, valuable bargaining chips. Back in 2011, hamas was able to force israel to release more than 1000 palestinian prisoners, in order to get out of one israeli soldier, who is being held in hamas territory. The question is, how to get these people out, symone nbcs raf sanchez, thank you so much. I want to now bring in nbc News Pentagon correspondent courtney kube, whom aberdeen is also here, she served as the Deputy Chief Of Staff a former Secretary Of State hillary clinton. And is back with us today. She is an author, and veteran journalist covering The Middle East. Courtney, i want to start with you, because you initially broke this story of the United States sending additional planes and ships, closer to israel. We were chatting before the show started, can you just breakdown for folks out there, what exactly are these ships going there for . Because the caliber of ships that are being the personnel on the ships, this is not just for show. Right, you are absolutely right about that. So this is a Carrier Strike group, it includes a which by the way has not only thousands of sailors on board, but also has a number of aircraft, including fixed wing, including helicopters. It is a full complement of an air wing, on board. But in addition to, that it is the supporting ships, that we are talking a cruiser, several destroyers. Those have antiair capabilities, anti ship capabilities, even anti submarine capabilities. So this is a, this is a war fighting group, they are sending in. Now, that being said, Carrier Strike groups are often sent in as a show of presents, a scent of a way to deter. That is one reason that a strike ruble often be sent in. It also has the, second capability, of if in fact there is some sort of a call for a large, noncombatant evacuation, civilians having to leave israel, that provides a platform for that. So, the u. S. Could bring people safely out, onto the ships, they can carry thousands of additional people, just to get them out of harms way very quickly, if need be. Now i have to stress, that is still there, is some planning going on for the possibility, but nothing has been order for any kind of noncombatant evacuation. That would be enormous, logistical undertaken. We are talking of tens of thousands, potentially hundreds of thousands of americans, and dual citizens, where theyre in israel right now. So, the Carrier Strike really provides all those capabilities, in one. I want to talk about, we have been discussing, and yesterday just about the way in which these hamas militants were able to infiltrate israel, and you zeroed in on the paragliding elements of this large scale attack. On twitter, you asked, is it possible some of this training took place outside of gaza . What would the implications be, if that was in fact true. So,. This is at this point a question that everyone is asking, because if this attack was several months in the planning, how is it possible that Israeli Security and intelligence was not able to detect, for instance, paragliding exercises, in gaza . Is it possible, that is the same way that hamas militants smuggle weaponry, and supplies through tunnels, that they were able, also, to get some of their fighters out, in order to undergo some training, some paragliding training . This is all speculation at this point, because it was such a spectacular intelligence failure, on the part of the israelis. Also, within the gaza strip itself, you now have a situation, possibly more than 100, 100 israeli civilians, and soldiers held captive though. Some of whom are children, small children. Now refinishes earlier, mentioned who was captured in a Cross Border Raid in 2006. It took five years of negotiations, to get one soldier out. In exchange for that one soldier, the israelis surrendered more than 1000 fighters, 280 had been sentenced to life in prison, for plotting to attack targets inside of israel. So, even if we are seeing this huge buildup of Military Forces on the border with gaza, my guess is that a Ground Invasion is not likely to happen, in short order here, because we are talking about a very dangerous situation, not just for the troops entering gaza, but endangering the lives, potentially, of some of these hostages. My guess is they have already been spread out across the gaza strip, which is a small territory about two times the washington d. C. But still, this would be urban warfare, door to door, building to building. And this is something, that would make it very difficult, for any ground incursion, to be swift and successful, and two and in this scenario, that the israelis would like to end in, which is of course, the liberation, and the freeing of these hostages, simone. We are going to leave this on the screen. I will put the map back. You were discussing this, everything to the right of the red line, that is israel. These dots, the red dots, on the map, these are the places that haul it was just talking about. Places where the initial infiltraave. And these are residential areas, if you, will everything to the left of that line is gaza. Its known as the gaza strip. You served at the State Department during clintons tenure. You were also a part of the advanced team in 1998. It went to gaza and went to the strip in advance of clintons historic visit there. He visited gaza city on the trip. Talk to me about the people and as we are discussing what is unfolding in the region there are thousands of people that live along that strip that are talking about. The 24 miles in the envelope. Simone, you are exactly right. Its important to make the differentiation that this is a hamas versus the Palestinian People just as weve been hearing from the last 36 or so hours now, everything about this has been shocking. The surprise, the size, the strategy. The speed. There has been a lot of assertions about what might be happening and what could be happening and why, we dont know how and the humanitarian element of it is something that should not be forgotten. I was talking to a friend who was in israel. She is now, shes made it safely today by. Her family, her lees lives and one of the spots in the middle, the kibbutz. Her niece, husband, and their baby were killed in the early hours yesterday. On the other side, i talk to my palestinian friends, his family in gaza is sitting there waiting. They have been there listening to these announcements by the Prime Minister of israel to evacuate gaza. We all know thats not really possible. So, the humanitarian element, simone, you and i talked about this a few weeks ago. We are talking about this potential deal that saudi and americans were talking about normalizing relations back then when i was in the white house, yes i did advance that trip. I was at camp david in 2000 when Yasser Arafat was there to potentially make a deal at the time. It was the central policy that has since fallen away. We have had other countries in the gulf who have, as we, know normalized relations. Once the dust settled, its going to be a long time. The fact that we keep playing this father who lost his wife and two daughters, there is a mother whos been talking about her teenagers. She was on the phone with. Them she said, even there are rules. Theres so many calls happening. At the u. S. Government level. And now you have regional players that can play a role here. Once this moves forward, we really need to figure out how there is leadership that comes towards actually putting together a final plan. So theres more integration and less destruction. Thank you, huma aberdeen. Courtney kube and holly grove already, we appreciate your time. And taking us off this afternoon. U. S. Lawmakers including President Biden have pledged solidarity with israel. How much support can the United States give without a speaker of the house . Republican Congressman Tim For Schett who sits on the House Foreign Affairs committee will join me next to weigh in on that and what Else Congress is hearing about the violence in israel. Youre watching symone on msnbc. Symone o msnbc. You dont have to take it to the dealer. Bring it to safelite. We do more replacements and recalibrations than anyone else. Customer thank you so much. Tech vo schedule now. 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