Today. More than 1,000 have died. All signs point to a Ground Invasion from israel becoming imminent. President biden announcing the american death toll has risen to 14 and confirming that americans are among the hostages. As president , i have no higher priority than the safety of americans being held hostage around the world. Secretary austin today reinforcing the president s message. The United States continues to stand firm with israel and the israeli people. We will continue to ensure that israel has what it needs to keep itself and its citizens safe. Good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington. President biden spoke by phone with israels Prime Minister netanyahu this Morning Again and will meet with Jewish AmericanCommunity Leaders at the white house this afternoon after promising to stand by israel following the vicious hamas terror attack. The first resupply of u. S. Weapons did arrive overnight. Pentagon officials are confirming the Uss Gerald Ford led by an Aircraft Carrier the newest in the fleet, has arrived in the Eastern Mediterranean with another departing on a prescheduled deployment later this week. Theres an American Team of technical experts in Hostage Recovery Heading to the country to assist in any future operations. White House Homeland Security advisor Elizabeth Randall saying the administration is considering sending up commercial Charter Flights to get americans who want out of the country. In gaza, theresitarian crisis. Hundreds of israeli tanks and Armored Vehicles are amassing near the gaza border ahead of an expected major ground offensive. President biden is about to speak in the rose garden. Lets go there. This morning and i will speak about this this afternoon during my meeting with the Jewish American leaders. This attack has brought to the surface a painful memory and scars left by genocide against the jewish people. This moment we have to be crystal clear, theres no justification for terrorism. No excuse. The type of terrorism exhibited here is beyond the pale. As i said yesterday, my commitment to israels security and safety of the jewish people is unshakable. The United States has israels back. Were going to be working on this all through the day and beyond. Again, i apologize for keeping you waiting. Thank you, becky, for that introduction. For sharing your story. Thats familiar to so many families. This gets down to a basic problem, a basic circumstance. Joining me now is john kirby. John, i want to start by playing more of the strong statements that we heard from the president yesterday. Im sorry, we will get that keyed up in a second. He said that theres no way to describe the evil. He said we stand with israel. Today, Benjamin Netanyahu has done something that was previously unthinkable. He reached out to the former defense minister, former opponent, to form a Wartime Coalition government. Will this help add needed expertise to the Israeli Military . I mean, obviously, he has a long history in the Israeli Defense forces and in government as a civilian leader. I think i will let Prime Minister netanyahu speak to his plans for a unity government. Thats an internal issue for them. We want to make sure that they know that the United States will support and will be maintaitain and you heard the president talk about that. Whatever government forms in israel, we want that government and the leaders in the government to know that the United States will be with them. Theres reporting the president did, in their conversations he has had many conversations with the Prime Minister urge to be aware of the risks involved in civilian deaths in gaza. You have a densely populated, very small area. Yep. What are your concerns about that . Nobody wants to see any more innocent life taken. Its been deadly enough. Its incredible the scope of the butchery there. Nobody wants to see more innocent lives lost or hurt or family grieving and suffering. Hamas does not speak for the Palestinian People. They are putting the Palestinian People in gaza at greater risk by setting up their Command Centers in hospitals and schools. You heard the president talk about this yesterday. One of the great things about this relationship with israel is we have a lot of shared interests, respect for life, the rule of law and the law of war. We know we can rely on that respect going forward. On the charter, Lizabeth Randall said there was a plan afoot to get commercial charters, to have them add flights for americans in israel, American Citizens, maybe students and others, there are many there, who may want to leave given the war could spread. What is the progress on that . I dont want to get ahead of where we are in the Decision Making process. We are obviously, as you would expect, in touch with American Citizens in israel making sure we have a sense of how many want to go and when they might want to go and looking at and examining options to facilitate that travel out of israel. There are some commercial carriers flying out of the airport. There are viral land routes available. We understand that that may not suit everybody. We are working on this very hard. I think we will have more to say about that in coming days. Would this be American Citizens and those with dual citizenship . A dual national is an american in our book. Its an american in our book. We dont make that distinction. What are your concerns about the casualties in gaza . Obviously, there are a lot of innocent palestinians, not connected to the hamas regime, who have in fact been exploited in the past and on a daily basis by the hamas government. Thats a strong point. Probably i didnt make it well enough in my last answer. Hamas doesnt represent the aspirations of the Palestinian People. Hamas is deliberately placing them at greater risk by sheltering themselves in hospitals and residences and schools. We call on hamas to stop this violence, release the hostages and immediately stop these attacks. You are right, they are placing the Palestinian People at greater risk. Are you hoping some of the governments like egypt and qatar, who have relationships with hamas, can influence hamas to release the hostages, israelis and americans . We obviously call on the immediate release. Short of that happening, what i can tell you is that were going to stay in touch with the families. The families have been an incredible source of information in terms of telling us what they know about when their loved ones might have been abducted and taken away and where and that kind of thing. Thats been a terrific line of communication. We will keep that open. Keep the lines open with israeli officials. We offered expertise, Hostage Recovery Expertise coming from federal law enforcement, u. S. Military, intel community. The israelis have a sophisticated hostage recovery capability. We will stay lashed up with them. Theres no greater priority for President Biden than the safety and security of American Citizens overseas, particularly those who have been detained or held hostage. We will do everything we can, Everything Possible to get them back with their families where they belong. Can you clarify when the president talked about a hostage special Operations Unit or rescue teams, is this sending in more expertise, or are we talking about the people who are already in the embassy on a regular basis . Its the latter. Theres a small cell, liaison cell of u. S. Special operations troops that are perpetually in israel, particularly in this case were there for exercises we were planning to do. They are still there. They do have some of the expertise that i talked about, that military expertise. They are available, as the secretary of defense said, available to provide that support should the israelis want to avail themselves of it. Let me ask you about iran. We have been reporting that there is no credible evidence, as you have said, as other officials in government have said, no credible evidence that iran specifically planned and ordered this strike. That doesnt mean that iran hasnt been arming, training, you know, hamas for decades. As we have reported, there would be no hamas without iran. Is there anything new on that front . Is tehran sending you any signals specifically through third parties or otherwise that they were not involved in this . No, theres no updates to that situation. I think obviously as we have been saying for the last couple of days, were going to keep picking apart at the intelligence thats out there. Were going to keep sifting through the streams that we know we have available to us. As you and i are speaking today, we havent seen anything that shows specific support to these attacks. Theres a degree of complicity. Iran has supported hamas for so many years, resourcing, funding, capabilities, its all there. Hamas wouldnt be without the support that they get from iran. But we just havent found anything that tells us that the iranians knew of this specific planning, were involved in this planning, resourced it or helped in any tangible way. The ayatollah, the Supreme Leader in iran, said yesterday that those who say that they were involved are wrong. Then he went on to say, i kiss the hands of those who ordered the strike. I dont have the exact quote. He praised the strike. Yeah, look, thats obviously reprehensible and repugnant. But its to be expected coming from the Supreme Leader. Given their support for Terrorist Networks in the region, including hezbollah. Its not like we were shocked to hear the Supreme Leader come out and say that. Its just another example of the malintent of iran in the region and the degree to which they are willing to go to spread violence and terrorism and fear and destabilize the region. All the more reason why its important for us to continue our efforts in the middle east. Today, we are focused squarely on supporting israel from a Military Perecve in terms of the support they need. Obviously, we havent forgotten how important it is to move continue to move forwards normalization between israel and saudi arabia, to continue to make sure that our Military Presence in the gulf and in the region is sufficient to the threat that iran poses, to continue to hold iran accountable economically for the support to russia, their support to Terrorist Networks, to interrupt shipping in the gulf. We are absolutely those comments are just all the more proof and underscore how important it is to hold Iran Countable and keep pressure on them. Theres a fear of hezbollah from the north. They are warning israelis in the north to shelter in place, to be careful, to protect themselves. What do we know about that . Yeah. I have seen those reports almost the same time you did. I cant independently verify they are accurate. I have no reason to dispute them. We have seen rocket fire coming from Southern Lebanon by hezbollah into northern israel. We are watching this with great concern. We dont want to see this conflict widen or expand. We dont believe its in the idfs interest to be a second front they have to fight and defend against as they try to prosecute operations against hamas. We are watching this closely. Its worrisome. Just yesterday Admiral Stavridis said if hezbollah fires missiles from the north and opens a second front that, quote, the jets will whistle off the deck of the Uss Gerald Ford. Putting us in the middle of the action. Whats your reaction . I wont speak for potential military operations, future military operations. I dont think that would be wise to do. We moved that Carrier Strike group primarily as a deterrent to send a strong signal. You heard the president say, we dont want any group, any organization, any nation state try to take advantage of the situation in israel and perpetuate their hostility by widening this conflict. We put that strike group there for a deterrent purpose. I probably should leave it right there. Finally, Prime Minister netanyahu said this is a time to decapitate hamas, to remove hamas. He is joined by other members of the previous opposition, united behind saying enough is enough, we cannot go through this every few years and nothing like this has ever happened from hamas before. Tom freedman was warning today, are they thinking through are we thinking through what happens the day after the day after . In other words, we dont want to repeat the mistakes made in iraq where we removed the army and what followed was ten years of civil war. Look, we all in the National Security world, we have to think about the day after the day after. Every decision you make has repercussions. Every decision you dont make, inaction, has consequences you have to think about. I dont think the israeli people can be blamed. I think they can be forgiven for wanting to decapitate hamas. Think about how we felt about al qaeda after 9 11. This is just as significant to the israeli people as our 9 11. We wanted to decapitate al qaeda. We got bin laden. You cant blame the israeli people for wanting to make sure that they dont have to face this kind of a threat from that particular Terrorist Group in the future. John kirby, i know its a very busy day. A lot of moving parts. Thank you so much for being with us today. Good to be with you. The full house gathered this morning for a classified briefing on israel. The chamber is paralyzed until republicans elect a speaker. Those efforts are now underway. Joining us, the chair and vice chair of the house intelligence committee, mike turner and jim himes. First of all, its wonderful to see a bipartisan interview. It doesnt always happen. Your committee is unusual. We are grateful for that. Mr. Chairman, can you tell us what you have learned that you can disclose about the situation in the north where theres now an alert from the idf and concerns that the hezbollah could open a second front from lebanon . Sure. You are correct on the aspect of bipartisanship. Not only do we work together, jim and i on a bipartisan basis, theres overwhelming bipartisan support for israel in congress. That was evident today as we had the briefing. Members voicing their support for israel. The concern everyone has is to what extent was iran directly involved . The thing that we should never lose perspective of is hamas is a franchise of iran. They fund them. They provide them rockets. They provide them munitions. They train them. The question really is perfunctory as to whether they directly were participating. We know that they are an arm of iran. This does reflect on irans involvement and its affect against israel. The president confirmed, Congressman Himes, that there are American Citizens among the hostages. What do we know about how many . 20 americans were reportedly missing. Do you know how many are actually being held, or could this be more people tragically have been killed . Yeah, of course, thats first and foremost on a lot of peoples minds. Theres multiple objectives. Number one, aid has begun to arrive to make sure we are doing all we can to support the israelis in defending themselves against this attack. Behind that, of course, is making sure we know where, how many, and how we might free the american hostages who are undoubtedly inside gaza right now. We dont have a great number. That number is likely to be a dozen, two dozen, maybe more. We heard in the briefing today that not only are people thinking about it but assets are being moved into place to do the very, very hard work of both developing contingencies to free the hostages or there are obviously allies of ours or friends of ours like the turks, like qatar, who maintain a dialogue with hamas that we will be using to make it clear we expect the hostages not to be harmed. Have you heard, chairman turner, any progress on that front . Any communications from qatar, from egypt to try to pressure hamas to release the americans and the israelis . The discussions are ongoing. I hope with the administration is being successful. This is a dire situation. Hamas knew exactly what it was doing. This was well planned out. These are not unintended consequences. These are intended consequences. As we see the brutality and murderousness and atrocities of whats occurred, that, too, reflects both what hamas intention is, their hatred for the israeli people, but also how we as the United States need to have the resolve of supporting israel against this clear evil. Mr. Chairman, do you think theres prospect for a Rescue Operation i