The militants. Hamas is doing exactly the opposite they want to civilians and they run like cowards to hide behind civilians in gaza to use them as huge human shields. We are going to come from the sea, the air, the land, and we will fight back. Even though we paid a heavy price and you can tell that im very emotional today because, you know, i know the number. I know whats happening thousands of funerals in israel, but at the same time, we have the conviction to protect our people and to hand down those terrorists. Ambassador, i thank you very much for being with us this morning, i very much appreciate your time. Thank you very much. And we continue our coverage, breaking news, the ongoing strikes inside gaza, there is a war with israel. It is 11 00 a. M. Eastern, 8 00 a. M. Pacific, im jose diazbalart. We continue our special coverage at this hour of the war in israel. Right now the Israeli Air Force is unleashing, quote, an extensive assault on gaza. These are live pictures that youre seeing. Its all part of a barrage of missiles that rained down from the sky. At least 1,200 people now confirmed dead. The state Department Says that includes nine americans, and the number is only expected to rise. Last hour i spoke with a man in israel who lost his daughter and soninlaw in this horrific terrorist attack. Theres no such thing here as the front and the rear. The last words from her was that i hear glass breaking. Theyre speaking in arabic, and i hear shots. Thats the lost words we heard from her. Plus, the search for the kidnapped, dozens missing and taken by hamas. Israel working feverishly to find them and get them home. And lay terks how did whats being called israels 9 11 even happen . Well dive into the Intelligence Failure that led to the devastating loss of life. With us now to start off our coverage at this hour nbc news Foreign CorrespondentKelly Cobiella in tel aviv, nbc news senior White House CorrespondentGabe Gutierrez at the white house. So kelly, whats the latest on the ground as we speak . The sun is about to set, and it looks as though the bombings are continuing on both sides. Reporter oh, thats right, jose. There was a strike on the town, the israeli town of sderot just a little more than an hour ago now. Hamas claims they rained some 90 rockets and other types of weaponry down on that town. One rocket did hit outside a supermarket injuring one person, and then an Interesting Development in the north of the country as well, even as the Israeli Military carries out these strikes on what they say is an extensive operation on hamas sites in gaza. In the north, they say that gunmen had crossed the border into israel from lebanon. They say that they were able to neutralize some of them, but that three managed to escape. Theres an ongoing search for them now, and that at least six civilians were injured as a result. Two of them, one severely. One critically. So those are the kinds of things that are playing out in different parts of the country right now. In the meantime, you have these families, just people in israel who are feeling very insecure, unsure of whats going on and on top of that families who are still unsure where their loved ones are, some who believed that their relatives have been taken into gaza and are being held as hostages. One man said that he has tracked his wife and two young girls into gaza by using his wifes phone. He said that she they, the three of them were taken from their home on saturday. My Colleague Raf Sanchez was able to talk to him about what kind of message he would send them if they could hear. Heres what he told raf. I tell them that be strong, hold on. Im thinking about you. Im working hard to try in order to get you back. Stay strong. Try to be happy. Dont be afraid. You know, its hard for me to say those things when i dont really know in what terms, what conditions they are held. Reporter and there are lots of families going through situations like this. I just heard from a man i spoke to yesterday whose brother, 28yearold brother is missing. He said that his phone went off the line, dropped out completely on saturday as he was being treated for some sort of injury. Hes since seen his phone has been turned back on, but he has no way of tracing it. Hes very upset and grief stricken, as you can imagine. So many of these people dont know whats happening with their relatives. They dont know if theyve survived or if theyre being held captive and theyre struggling to get good information out of the government, jose. And kelly, thank you, and i want to show this, just in case youre listening to us on radio, the it very clearly appears as were up at 6 06 p. M. That gaza city is sustaining some form of pretty consistent bombings as the sunsets. Gabe, the State Department has confirmed that nine americans have been killed in this attack. Is there any sense of how this could change or not, the u. S. Response to this attack . Hi there, jose. Certainly the state Department Says it is offering Consular Services to the families of those americans who have died in this conflict, and we just heard your interview with that professor who lost his daughter and soninlaw, just heartbreaking to hear. And right now the state Department Also looking into those americans that may have been taken hostage and trying to find out more information about that. Jose, there is a concern here that this could escalate into this broader conflict across the region, and that is perhaps at least partly the reason that the u. S. Is sending those military assets to the eastern mediterranean, that Carrier Strike group as well as extra munitions to the Israeli Defense forces, but it is also a show of power meant to act as a deterrent. President biden over the last few days has been reiterating that message, telling any enemies of israel not to take advantage of this situation and to mount any other attacks against israel. Now, we are not expecting to hear publicly, at least on camera from President Biden today, but as we understand it, National Security officials are in touch with their israeli counterparts, especially as we see now this these live pictures of that Bombing Campaign in gaza on behalf of israel. So certainly a lot to watch for, jose. No indication on how those that increasing Casualty List of americans might conflict in this wider conflict, but the u. S. Monitoring this very closely, jose. Gabe gutierrez and Kelly Cobiella, thank you very much. And yes, were seeing the split screen on one side, gaza city the other side, the west bank occupied west bank. As weve kind of gave us a full screen on the gaza city live pictures that we have because i have counting at least five different strikes onto gaza city in these live pictures that were having. You know, again, this is a place that is super, super Densely Populated. Theres a large Civilian Population there, more than 2 Million People. The ambassador was telling us that the israelis are doing everything by sending texts, calling, et cetera, the civilians that are living there, giving them advanced warning that they should move if they are close to an area controlled by hamas. The question, of course, is when hamas controls pretty much anywhere and every place the president s to, including, you know, hospitals and communication centers, where there are civilians living nearby or in many cases in Apartment Complexes where civilians live, you know, this is a very complicated reality, and the fact is that in all of these acts of war, many times those that suffer the most are civilians. Just looking at this picture of buildings demolished and not just one strike but by my count there are four or five. Take a look at these pictures, all live from gaza city as the sun begins to set. 6 09 p. M. Take a look at that building, there are towers up there and Cell Phone Towers and all kinds of things, but this is this is the specifically difficult reality that everyone is dealing with, and you know, there are people in there, hamas is not entire population of gaza city. And yet, theyre there. Civilians are there. And, yes, there are more than possibly 100 hostages, men, women, children, babies that are there having been taken from israel. The beginning of this assault. I want to bring in adi bozi, an Israeli Resident who says her relative has been kidnapped. Thank you for being with us. Its so difficult, i dont even know what how to just begin by telling you how much i feel for you and for your family. What is the latest situation for you and your family . So its very difficult and its a very tragic time right now in israel. First of all, its my home. We can hear you. We can hear you. Okay. So it is my home, still it is my community. Its a beautiful city. We all live together in an amazing atmosphere and a lot of friends and family and friday we had our sabbath holiday, and i have two little children, 3 years old and 2 years old. Im 8 months pregnant, and saturday morning i was sitting having corn flakes with my kids because they wake up early, and 6 20 i hear that theres booms going on, and suddenly the siren goes off. Now my Kitchen Window is right to gaza. I see the missile coming before the siren even goes off. We have 15 seconds from the minute theres a siren to the moment we already have to be in a secure place like a bomb shelter. Now, theres actually i feel like theres a huge miracle that this happened at 6 20 in the morning and not at 8 00 or 9 00 because one of our jewish holidays, its the biggest holiday that everybodys in the streets dancing. Now, the scenario of thinking that there would be women, children, men, everybody in the streets and being attacked by missiles, i cant even imagine the amount of damage and what could have happened if it would have been two hours later. And i had to take my children very fast to the bomb shelter and close the door and just within the first missile hit, there was between 15 to 20 sirens going one after another without stop. We dont use our phones on sabbath. Were not connected to the television or computer, but a few hours into this scenario, we said we better check whats going on in order to be safe and protected, and my mom actually called us and told us that theres terrorists going in the streets and we couldnt believe it that its already beyond like missiles, which isnt the normal reality for anybody, and i dont think anybody should live under siege or anybody should have missiles being thrown to their homes, but also have terrorists. And i saw the same truck, the same vehicle like from the News Broadcasts under my house with the terrorists with their guns up and just roaming around the streets looking for who they can shoot. We have whatsapp groups that every few minutes people were writing that theres people shooting in their building. Please come and help. Please come and protect us, and its on the one hand, theres a big amount of fear and very, very hard times. On the other hand, the amount of people who are volunteering and enlisting and going to the army and trying to protect and coming from all around the world. My brother right now is enlisted and hes in the north of israel, and theres everybody around whos trying to do and give in different ways. Bring food to the soldiers and the Humanity Level of the jewish nation that i think thats what shows the real truth of israel. I think my mom is 84 years old, she was taken and kidnapped right now in gaza and her daughter called her and tried to speak to her on the phone and an arab answered and said in that moment they understood shes in captivity. They still dont have a way to get her back. They dont know whats with her. They dont have any information. Shes 84 years old. I cant even imagine how you take an 84 years old woman from the kibbutz and take her over the border. This is only one story from Hundreds Of Stories unfortunately. I thank you so much for being with us this morning. I really appreciate your time, thank you. With us now to talking more about this is challah gor ran knee, a journalist with extensive experience covering the middle east, and rick stengel, former under Secretary Of State for Public Diplomacy and affairs, and an msnbc political analyst. Rick, boy, how does the world, how does israel, how does the United States react to this . And again, look at these live pictures out of gaza city, the bombings are really intense and continuous. Thats a populated area, 2 Million People in there. Rick, i dont know how, you know, the world, the United States reacts to this, and then also Going Forward. Yes, jose. Its a three dimensional chess game, and i would say if you divide it into shortterm reaction, medium term reaction, and longterm reaction, id say the shortterm reaction is to try to have a cessation of hostilities as soon as possible. Thats not very likely because the Israeli Defense force will start actions that will take weeks or months. Hamas obviously very dedicated to continuing this assault, and they had obviously done a lot of planning beforehand. Theyve done planning for im sure what the reaction will be. In the longterm and i dont want to go too far ahead you know, the middle east was changing with the socalled Abraham Accords. There were Peace Treaties between Sunni Arab Nations and israel. We were in the midst of negotiations between saudi arabia and israel. Its possible that hamas did this in part to torpedo those talks but obviously what this shows us and a lot of people have said including King Abdullah of jordan, is that you cant have an ultimate peace in the middle east without some discon sags for the palestinians, and that was i believe netanyahus goal, try to figure out how to have accords with their traditional enemies without making a deal with the palestinians, but you do need eventually to have some kind of deal with the palestinians. And clearly, rick, the lets say influence, you know, some reports out there that iran may have Wall Street Journal Reporting that iran and Security Officials may have helped plan this attack. Iran of course denies involvement. Im just wondering, rick, iran has been a player here, and hamas certainly has benefitted by iran. What reaction or impacts could there or should there be if iran is seen to have been more than just applauding as they did on saturday night, having people go out and celebrate with fireworks what hamas was doing in israel. But if there is more direct involvement in it. Is there, rick, something that should happen . Should there be consequences to that . You know, jose, its a very good question. I should have mentioned iran before. I mean, i think its indisputable and unmistakable irans support for hamas and obviously for hezbollah, that Wall Street Journal was very good. There was a good reuters story by iranian influence. The attack by hamas had the signature Iranian Military maneuvers. There is Financial Support for hamas. Theres nothing new about that. Part of the instigation might be iran is it would be that the odd man left out of a Saudi Arabian peace deal, which they tried to sabotage as well. We have been in talks, you know, during the Biden Administration to try to resuscitate the Iranian Nuclear deal. Those obviously have been also sabotaged and torpedoed now. What the u. S. Policy should be toward iran is a big question mark, and youre right to point it out, and i dont have an answer to that. Yeah, and i think that, you know there, must be some discussion about this Going Forward no doubt. So your reaction to what were seeing and now were seeing, again, the live pictures in gaza city where, you know, explosions continue to occur. There are so many mostly civilians dead and injured on both sides here. Right, and youve been reporting that the Israeli Defense minister has announced a total blockade of the gaza strip. This is an area about twice the size of washington, d. C. That means cutting not just power. It also means cutting water, food, medical supplies, and youre right to say this is a very Densely Populated strip of land. More than 2 Million People. I also. Ed i also wanted to add there are two views here. Theres the shortterm time line and the longterm time line. The shortterm time line is clearer because the challenges are visible. Theyre visible. There are Hostages Insided gaza strip. The Israeli Military is going to have to find a way to get them out. There is an amassing of military troops and supplies at the border with gaza. This means potentially that a Ground Incursion is being prepared. The time line for that one is unclear. My guess is its not as imminent as some p