Were continuing to follow the breaking ns in The Middle East, where the israelhamas war is poised to enter a new phase. Just one week after hamas executed that horrific and seismic Terrorist Attack on southern israel, 1400 people have been killed in israel so far. And more than 2300 in gaza. 29 americans were also killed, and 15 remain missing, according to the state department. Today, the Prime Minister conveyed his emergency israeli cabinet, and said that hamas thought wed be demolished. Its we who will demolish hamas. Thats after three senior Israeli Military officers were telling the New York Times that Israeli Forces are preparing to invade the gaza strip in the coming days. Their ultimate goal, according to the reporting, is to capture gaza city. Destroy the enclaves current leadership, and wipe out the top political and Military Hierarchy of hamas. The risks are high here, for israeli troops, as they face the challenge of Urban Warfare and a narrow and tightly packed gaza. They are also roughly 150 innocent people being held hostage, who will likely be moved through a maze of tunnels, highrises, rubble, and bunkers. The situation is increasingly dire in gaza. Just in the last hour, National Security adviser Jake Sullivan says hes been informed by his israeli counterpart that they have turned the water pipes back on the Southern Gaza area. Thats good news, but the humanitarian crisis is still spiraling out of control, and will only get worse in the hours and days ahead. Ahead of become a mass shelter, with 35,000 people seeking refuge inside. Israel urged the entire population of northern gaza, which is more than 1 Million People, to evacuate to the south. But the United Nations called this order impossible, and displaced gazans are described the conditions of inhumane. Without food, and even without toilets. He added, my dream is to stay safe with my family. My kids every day say, dad, we want to go back home. The United States is working to also gets to 600 americans who are in gaza out. Secretary of state Antony Blinken is in kabul right now, where hes working to get egypt to open up the rafah crossing, to let americans and other foreign nationals leave. If he delivers remarks this hour, we will bring those to you immediately live. Secretary blinkens visit to egypt comes on the heels of his meeting this morning with Saudi Crown Prince mohammed bin salman. These meetings are part of a World Wind Trip for Secretary Blinken across the region, as he and you other officials and do everything in their power to contain this conflict. Over the course of the next two hours, we will be covering all aspects of this war, from what is happening today to what might come the day after. Joining me now is ben rhodes, whos a former deputy National Security adviser to president obama. Hes also an msnbc contributor. Ben, thank you so much for being here with us this morning. I want to start with some of this new reporting, because according to the New York Times and three israeli officials,we w ow a little more about israels war plans. Knowing the land of gaza, the tunnel system, the hostages and civilians. As you read that, what does that look like once israeli troops go in . Its a pretty maximalist option, jen. I mean, there have been in the past considerations of more limited incursions into gaza, they might try to target certain leadership or try to rescue hostages. The complete destruction, essentially, of hamas as an organization. Both its military and political leadership. That is going to be deeply embedded in the civilian population. That is going to require essentially taking that City Street By street, and this really is i think what a lot of people anticipated, it is a full scale Ground Invasion of gaza. Part of their objective is to wipe out the Military Hierarchy of hamas. To wipe out hamas. There were some strong words Prime Minister netanyahu said on that this morning. Is that even possible, to wipe them out militarily . Its an ideology, in any case. Yeah, its an objective that is you can try to decapitate, essentially, the military wing. They can say we know who the several dozen senior commanders are, we can charge who might be an active militant in hamas. But essentially, it would be hard to say where that ends. How is it going to be defined . Is it a sympathizer to hamas, somebody that might be targeted . Will israel need to do some process of detention, need around military there are lots of ways to just you might be included in this. And i think that speaks to the risks involved. Obviously the risk for israeli troops going in, im sure people in hamas have been prepared for a Ground Invasion for a very long time right now. And obviously theres just tremendous risks that you spoke about of sleeping on the sidewalk, no access to supplies, thats before the Ground Invasion. So this is about to really escalate in ways that are going to be quite challenging for all the human beings involved, on either side of this conflict. And i think given that objective, it means its going to go on for at least several weeks, if not in two months, jen. Because the complete destruction of hamas is something thats going to take a long time for israel and gaza. Secretary blinken is on a bit of a Whirlwind Trip right now. He is in cairo, will take his remarks live when they start. You plant a lot of these trips, ive been on a lot of these trips as well. What are these objectives behind the scenes, as hes meeting with the saudis, the egyptians, going back to israel tomorrow . Well, i think if you take egypt, first of, all he is clearly focused on those American Citizens that they want to get out of gaza, that seemed to have had trouble at that rafah border crossing. Again, i can only imagine how chaotic this scene is at that border crossing, but thats part of it. Then i think hes also going to be discussing, i hope, how to get humanitarian support into people in Southern Gaza. Remember, the israeli govern hrn or encourage palestis to move to the south. That requires thats going to create even greater humanitarian needs there. Because youre already dealing with massive surges of food, of water, if you can get humanitarian quarters to get through into Southern Gaza, that has to come to that border crossing. But then i also think anticipating what maybe this very large Ground Invasion, there may inevitably be significant numbers of palestinians displaced into egypt. And now and that creates requirements and needs for the Egyptian Government that may find itself hosting a large Refugee Population that it doesnt want to host. I think it also creates complications for the palestinians, because they dont want to leave gaza. Because they fear that if they leave gaza, they wont be able to return home again. Like what happened to palestinians in lebanon and jordan, a permanent Refugee Status that is shut out the palestinian identity. So all of these short term issues around americans and relief are on the table, but so is this long term question of what happens if there is a significant displacement of palestinians there, and what does the future of this entire conflict look like . Which is one of the Big Questions here. You immediately mentioned the water being turned back on, were facing a humanitarian crisis as you mentioned with the people of gaza. Beyond the water being turned back on, what are the other things, even as the United States is very supportive of israel and their response here, what are the other things they can push them to do privately, that would help ease the humanitarian crisis in some capacity . Is there anything they can do . Well, i think thats if you hear the u. S. Messaging, and look, its all started of a place of understanding the profound trauma and anger that israelis feel after the horrific attack by hamas. We always have to start from that baseline. I think the things that are being counseled in terms of alleviating the humanitarian situation, you do want to allow water in. You do want to allow food in. You do want to really try to get humanitarian support in, potential quarters in egypt. But ultimately, it depends on the conduct of the war, and youve heard President Biden say repeatedly that we want israel to act in line with the laws of war. And thats basically a reference to not engaging in collective punishment on the people of gaza. The vast majority of whom are not hamas. Thats what that reference means. You want to see the conduct of potentially this Ground Invasion and the continued air strike to take maximally into account the civilian harms. And thats, im sure, an ongoing conversation between the United States and israel. There is a way to do this where israel goes in and flattens a lot of the city. Without regard for civilians, or there is a weight, a difficult way militarily and tactically, to try to take a more incremental approach, even throughout a Ground Invasion. And so these are, im sure, discussions that will be taken place. General lloyd austin was there recently, the secretary of defense, im sure these are all conversations but it really matters. There are different ways that this could look in the days ahead, and the choices made in gaza are going to affect how it escalates. Its going to affect the in the region. Its going to affect whether the west bank explodes. Its going to affect potentially whether hezbollah gets into this. So its important for humanitarian reasons, but its also important for that regional conflict that the United States really doesnt want, and i dont think israel wants either. One of the ways this could explode is of course the engagement of iran, which obviously could happen through hezbollah, which is a proxy for iran. Irans foreign went minister warned that they will not remain a spectator if israel proceeds. There are engagements with china who has some leverage over iran, what are the points of leverage the United States has to prevent this conflict from exploding beyond the conflict it currently is . Well, i think that the biggest point of leverage are those two Aircraft Carrier groups that were sent to the region. Thats unmistakably a message to iran. Now, what people have to understand is that there are different ways that iran might get involved. It provides obviously support for both hamas, but also i think more significantly, to hezbollah in the north. Hezbollah in many ways is the stronger iranian proxy for us here. And so a husbands own decisionmaking it is, im, sure guided in part by dialogue that theyre having with iran. They may make their own choices, but theyre close with the iranians. Weve seen reports, jen, in the last 24 hours or so, of potential israeli strikes in syria at airports and places like aleppo. Thats maybe trying to disrupt iranian shipments into hezbollah. But in the past, israels taken Military Action to try to disrupt the resupply of hezbollah. And so that is a form of leverage. Thats a warning, potentially, we see whats happening. Do not think about escalating your support at this time. And i think there is also probably messaging taking place. The United States, this conflict is truly global. And there are countries like china and others that iran may listen to. Secretary blinken listened to saudi arabia. Mohammed bin salman did a phone call with the president of iran just a couple days ago. Thats a very, very unusual occurrence. So i think its not just the United States messaging to try to keep this from escalating, its probably other regional and global leaders. Ben rhodes, youve been in all of these rooms. Theres so much to discuss, thank you for being with us this morning. Were keeping a close eye on the Cairo Airport what were expecting remarks from anthony blinken. Well bring those reports live for you as soon as they began. For you as soon as they began. This is american infrastructure, a prime target for cyberattacks. But the same aipowered security that protects all of google also defends these services for everyone who lives here. Listen, your deodorant just has to work. I use secret aluminum free. Just swipe and it lasts all day. 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Over the past week, israel has been exchanging proxy with hezbollah is in cairo. Were waiting for some possible remarks from him. Well bring that to you live when it happens. He met with egyptian president abdel fattah alsissi earlier today, and before that he wasnt meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince muhammad bin salman. The state Department Said that blinken focused on halting Terrorist Attacks by hamas, securing the release of hostages, and preventing the conflict from spreading. Secretary Blinken Heads back to israel tomorrow for his second visit since the start of the war. Joins me now, shes a reporter from over 80 countries, including the camp david o weve been on a lot of foreign trips together as well. So, at least, well bring Secretary Blinkens remarks to everyone as soon as they start, but i just want to start with this Ground Offensive, which were all preparing for. And part of the objective that is been stated by israeli officials is they want to destroy hamas. But, youve been covering The Middle East so long, is that even possible militarily . How should we be thinking about this . They can destroy what hamas has in gaza, and they can destroy the leadership, and the military capability. But weve seen, theyve gone in and weve been talking about this. 2009, 2014, and now when you see the brutality of the attacks, theyre kind of to quote the Biden Administration, build back better. And so theyre coming in more brutal, and these people are growing up in the shadow of this situation in gaza. And so i think not only are you going to have to look at whats going on in gaza, but you there has to be, and everyones been saying this and i think the israelis also recognize that theres going to have to be a parallel track where, whether its an International Trusteeship that takes over gaza for a while, some peacekeeping forces, you also have to look at whats going on in the west bank, because israelis now were going to see are they going to get on a bus and worry about a Suicide Bomber . Are they going to sit in a cafe . The conflict is not limited to gaza. So they can take care of the situation on the ground there, but you also have to think about what theyre going to create in its wake. Theres a real fear that exists across the region right now. I know youve been talking to a lot of your sources in The Middle East, and one of the Big Questions here, even as we wait for this Ground Offensive, is what does the day after looked like . And what is the impact of this, both in terms of an expansion beyond the borders, and what the reactions could be. What are you hearing from your sources about that . People are talking about lets stop the conflict that starting. Theyre not confident, the u. S. Is not confident it, the israelis arent confident that it wont spread. If you see the warnings from iran, the warnings from hezbollah, we dont want to escalate. But if this goes on very long and we see whats going on in gaza, we will. And so if that becomes a hot front on the north, and then you have the hoodies in yemen that are dying to launch missiles are against the israelis, then you have a regional war. You could see the border with saudi arabia and yemen spreading out, and its going to really bring in all of the region. And the u. S. Says it doesnt want to get its troops involved, but the