Andrea mitchell picks up our special coverage of the war in israel right now. And right now on this Special Edition of Andrea Mitchell reports, israel orders a full siege of the gaza strip pounding hamas with new missile strikes after saturdays shocking Surprise Attack by air, sea, and ground, described as the first fullscale invasion from Hamas Into Southern Israel in history. More than 1,000 people are dead on both sides including at least nine americans. Hamas is also claiming to have more than 100 military and civilian hostages including men, women, and children, and some americans who could be used as Human Shields and bargaining chips. Yuni asher is among those pleading for the return of his wife and daughters after they were taken by hamas. My wife, my daughter raz less than 5 years old, and my little baby girl, less than 3 years old, theyre just little babies. Theyre not even girls. I dont even know if they ate enough, if theyre cold or hot, if theyre hurt. Ill be speaking to more Family Members of those taken hostage along with israeli and palestinian officials, military experts, and diplomats, and former cia director john brennan on what was irans role. How were hamas fighters able to overwhelm israels security, and how high is the risk that the war could spread with attacks against israel from the north, the west bank and beyond. Good day, everyone, im Andrea Mitchell in washington with breaking news, our coverage of rapidly moving developments of the war in israel where it is 7 00 p. M. Right now. Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu saying earlier that the campaign against hamas is just getting started. As israel is launching Reprisal Attacks against hamas in the densely populated gaza strip, after the militant group infiltrated the normally secure border and overwhelmed israels iron dome with a barrage of missile attacks, this is a live look at gazas now shrouded in darkness, black smoke billowing from multiple buildings. At least 700 israelis have been killed, more than 100 were taken hostage. On the palestinian side, 560 people have been killed and hundreds injured. The u. S. Military is moving in aircraft carriers, strike group and Military Aircraft closer to israel in a show of support and will supply israel with munitions immediately according to officials. This as our own Richard Engel is caught in the cross fire on the ground reporting earlier from sderot in southern israel. Stay down, stay down. We are in the town of sderot, and theres been a lot of incoming fire here. We believe that it is mortar fire. Some of them also appear to have been rockets. Theyve been coming in quite close. That is why we are on the ground right now. Joining me now is nbc news Correspondent Ellison Barber whos traveling from tel aviv making her way south, former Deputy National security adviser to president obama, ben rhodes, and former cia director john brennan. Richard has reported he is safe. Ellison, whats the latest from the ground there . Reporter hey, andrea, yeah, that city where you saury Saw Richard Taking coverage, we were making our way from tel aviv towards a southern city, another place that Saw Heavy Rocket Fire in the last 20 hours or so, barrages of missiles. Were readjusting a bit right now as we assess depending on what the Security Situation is right now because it is so fluid. But as we maneuver through here and are talking to you as we make our way around tel aviv and figure out where our team will head to next, we are following all of those reports closely in terms of what richard has experienced there, the death toll. You touched on some of those numbers from the israeli side right now, they say at least 7 people have died. Of those dead, at least 73 were soldiers. A lot of people, the focus in israel is on the fact that this attack started seemingly focused on so many civilians, and we have some sound we can play for you from one one resident talking about their frustrations with that. They feel that they are in the midst of a terror attack. That this was a terror attack. That it was unprovoked, unjustified and as the Prime Minister has said and we have heard and seen since this all began to unfold over the weekend, this is a country at war. Lets listen to some of what people who live here have been saying. Trying to be strong but its so hard. Im just hoping because i cant deal with Something Like this. We are seeing those numbers of citizens, palestinian citizens in gaza, the number of dead starting to increase into the hundreds now as attacking that area. This as you know, andrea and i think are saying to media thank you. Stay safe. We have not the best communication as youre moving along there. John brennan, Secretary Of State blinken was on Meet The Press on sunday with Kristen Welker and she pressed him on how hamas could have pulled this off. But mr. Secretary, do you acknowledge that both Israeli Intelligence officials and u. S. Intelligence officials were caught off guard here . This is an attack that i dont think saw coming in the immediate. So was it an Intelligence Failure, mr. Secretary . Do you acknowledge it was an Intelligence Failure . The israelis will have plenty of time to look into that. Former cia director, john brennan, youve worked in National Security, the field, the region. How did israel launches an Intelligence Network and military and the u. S. Not see this coming . Good question, andrea. I think there were a lot of failures that led up to this. Clearly, the israelis didnt have the u. N. Or technical sources that gave them insight into this. Its apparent now that they misread a lot of the signals that were coming out of gaza in terms of activity that is hamas members were engaged in. Also, i think they misread hamas intentions. I think they were relying heavily on the work visas they were given to the gazan workers and believing the money going into gaza was going to appease a palestinian eyre. So i think there were just a lot of misreading. A lot of missteps and miscalculations that went into this. I know israelis are going to be doing a postmortem. I think netanyahu and a lot of israeli politicians leave that by establishing relations with arab states such as bahrain and the emirates, sudan, morocco and potentially saudi arabia, that that was going to reduce or eliminate the risk they face over the course of many, many decades. None of these steps really have addressed the palestinian concerns. I think it just increased the militancy of hamas engaging in these horrific, unconscionable acts of violence against the israelis. But its unfortunate. I think its been brewing for many, many years, but i think the tactical missteps over the past several months in terms of not seeing that this was going to happen such a large, multidimensional, multipronged attack, this clearly was a failure of epic proportions. Just to follow up on one thing. There were reports of a cyber attack taking on Signals Intelligence. That was denied by u. S. Officials. What do you know if anything about why they didnt pick anything up in terms of Signals Intelligence . Overhead intelligence. Clearly, hamas, it has become increasingly sophisticated over the last number of years. Did an enormous amount of planning for this and come Part Menation and were able to get knowledge of this operation very limited. So im sure many people who were engaged in these plans and preparations were not even aware of what was going to take place or when. It does raise the question about how hamas was able to gain such a sophisticated array of capabilities and sophistication in terms of planning of a terrorist operation like this. Thats why people are asking questions about what role did iran have in this operation. I want to ask you and peter about this, but there are reports, one in the Wall Street Journal which u. S. Officials are denying and which iran has denied, that iran directed this, planned it, was in on it for weeks if not months. Well i think the decision to engage in this operation came from the hamas leadership. The leader of hamas. But i think its quite evident that over the year, iran has provided financial support, material, other types of assistance to hamas. Iran has been the principle benefactor. I dont believe directed this or organized it, but i think iran has responsibility for some of the capabilities hamas has been able to acquire over the last couple of years. And ben, former National Security adviser of course, had to deal with this issue for eight years under president obama. Can you understand how there could have been such an Intelligence Failure in both capitals, primarily israel, but the u. S. Didnt pick up on this either. Yeah, first of all, i think the question of the iranian involvement, id be a little careful with the Wall Street Journal story. It is clear iran has provided a lot of support to hamas and there will have to be careful efforts, but the kind of high level meetings in that report, the idea that those wouldnt be picked up by u. S. Israeli intelligence, that seemed pe peculiar to me. Id echo what john said. Two things stand out. The first that hamas has never attempted something this ambitious, this complex, that would have required many, many months of planning to preposition capabilities to have that kind of air, land, and sea capability all coordinated at once. That speaks to hamas who is not just focused on governing the enclave of gaza but the focused on the armed resistance of israel and is willing to take greater risk. The timing of the attack probably has something to do with the divisions in the Israeli Government. Probably has to do with the Palestinian Authority is as weak as its ever been and may have something to do with these Normalization Deals in the sense that because the palestinians have been cut out of that process. Because theres potentially a hamas may have wanted to do something that would rouse Public Opinion in a way that would make it harder for those deals. I do think that johns point is important. This is also a policy failure. The idea that you could wall people off from gaza like this, periodically have these Military Operations as weve had four proceeding this attack by hamas. Essentially go over the heads of the palestinians to resolve disputes in the gulf and other places. Thats not going to make this issue go away. Unfortunately, the status quo was unsustainable and we are now in a new reality in the middle east. Its going to take a long time to adjust and sort out and hopefully the number of people that get killed in that can be minimized here because this really has the potential to escalate really beyond what we see. We should point out those were live pictures so there were new explosions in gaza while you were on the air. I know it was obviously disconcerting. We dont know exactly, its the Dark Of Night now. But ben, is it that there was a view that the palestinians and their aspirations for land, two state solution, could be ignored by this coalition . And by others in the region. I think thats right, andrea. I think there was the view this could be ignored, that it was yesterdays news. The new reality was one in which you had these Normalization Deals and that could kind of create a peace and stability in the region over time. While there are obviously benefits to those deals in terms of increased commerce and tied to israelis and other countries, it didnt resolve the question of what happens to millions of palestinians. Including the 2 million palestinians that live in gaza. It also further weakened the Palestinian Authority which has weakened itself. Some of the authority for palestinian weakness lies in the headquarters of Palestinian Authority, but i do think that it created a vacuum in the Palestinian Territories and hamas is trying to fill that vacuum and because of the nature of hamas, theyre trying to do it in the most horrific way possible with the kinds of attacks weve seen in the last two or three days. Ben rhodes, john brennan, thank you both so much. Appreciate it. And youre watching msnbcs special coverage of the war in israel. Hundreds turning out for the Military Funeral of a soldier killed saturday while Fighting Hamas militants near a large Music Festival near the gaza border. Tourists tourists that turn into scientists. Tourists taking photos that are analyzed by ai. So researchers can help life underwater flourish. [sneeze] dude you coming . Because the only thing dripping should be your style. Plop plop fizz fizz with alkaseltzer plus cold flu relief. Also try for fizzy fast cough relief. Every day, more dog people, and more vets are deciding its time for a fresh approach to pet food. Theyre quitting the kibble. And kicking the cans. And feeding their dogs dog food thats actually well, food. Developed with vets. Made from real meat and veggies. Portioned for your dog. And delivered right to your door. Its smarter, healthier pet food. Get 50 off your first box at thefarmersdog. Com realfood hamas claims it is holding at least 130 hostages. Israeli officials have not confirmed those numbers. Joining us now is an israeli mother. Her 12 and 16yearold boys were kidnapped. She was on the phone with them when they started to hear gunfire. She then heard the terrorists breaking down the door and taking her sons before the line was cut. Shes asked us not to use her name. I cannot imagine your anguish. Have you heard anything more about your sons conditions or any Ransom Demand or anything else on their condition . No, i heard nothing from saturday morning when we last heard, contact with them. Were they at home . They were home at my place. It was their weekend with their father, were divorced. He was at his place. Were both members of the same sentiment on the gaza border. Which is a few hundred meters away. Its not far. Thats why they usually sleep at my place. This is where they feel comfortable. Theyre 12 and 16 so its you know, on a rational, normal world, its a good solution. They were in their beds at 6 30. I think we have lost the condition. Were going to try to reestablish that. But its obviously you know, a devastating situation for hundreds of families in israel. The innocent palestinians, Kelly Cobiella is heading to the gaza border to southern israel to those border towns. Kelly, what are you hearing from other people youve talked to now . We spoke to a number of families trying to find any information about their families. One man i spoke to last night said his 28yearold brother was at that Music Festival in the desert in the south. He said his brothers phone was working. His brother or someone close to him sent a picture of him. He was bloodied but alive. He was bandaged by someone who said that he was helping him over that phone line then suddenly said theyre back. And the phone line was cut. That is the last communication hes had from his 28yearold brother. He doesnt know if hes been kidnapped or killed but he contacted me today and said his brothers phone was active again. He could see his brothers phone was on and active but havent been able to find out whether or not he could trace it. This is the problem, andrea. These people are getting bits of information but dont have the full story. Theyre really struggling to find out whats happening to their families, friends, colleagues and getting Little Information from the state. Its a complicated problem for the Israeli Government having so many people potentially missing, kidnapped and being held in gaza as theyre carrying out this intense operation in gaza strip. The idf saying moments ago between sunday and monday, they i believe used 1200 strikes against gaza and doubled that number just between this morning and tonight. So really an intensive campaign happening there. There are hostages there. There are Gaza Civilians who live in gaza in that territory all trying to stay safe. Kelly cobiella, thank you so much and we now have the mother back on with us. We were going to ask you about what you were saying to your boys. You were trying to keep them calm. Tell us about that. Yeah, i was on the phone to them and trying to calm them down, saying you know, the military is going to get there. Theyre safe. Theyre in their home. This is what we always tell them. And then at approximately they started Hearing Voices of the door breaking. They were with me on the phone and i asked them to be quiet to stay quiet. They were in a safe room, which is a bedroom of the oldest who was 16, as i said. About ten minutes later, i could hear people speaking in arabic outside their door. The last thing i heard was the youngest saying dont take me. That was it. That was the last time i heard from them. I am so sorry. Were all thinkin