No clear evidence of that. President biden yesterday on 60 minutes doubling down on a warning to others in the middle east. It comes as the u. S. Military is increasing its presence in the region amid a threat from iran and hezbollah. U. S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken back in israel this morning to continue diplomatic talks after a weekend of meetings with leaders in the middle east. Meanwhile, in gaza, Palestinian Civilians are in dire need of humanitarian aid. Well go live to israelgaza border for the very latest on all of that in just a moment. Also ahead, an update on the speakers race here at home. Republicans have a vote planned for tomorrow, but it appears the nominee once again does not have the support needed to win. There is so much news on this monday morning. There really is. Probably the most important election in europe. Oh, my gosh. Over the past decade. Poland. I dont think thats an overstatement in poland. Right now, it looks like the pro west, pro european, the party a coalition is coming from behind. Itll probably overtake the law and Justice Party, but we will see. It is going to be very close. Big moves. Good morning and welcome to morning joe. It is monday, october 16th. With us, we have the host of Way Too Early, White House Bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire. Special correspondent for bbc news, katty kay. Former Chief Of Staff at the cia and department of defense, jeremy bash. Hes an Nbc News National Security analyst. Lets dive right into the very latest out of the israelhamas war. Secretary of state Antony Blinken told reporters yesterday that egypt will reopen its Border Crossing into gaza for aid. The humanitarian crisis there continues to grow. According to the u. N. , hospitals in gaza are expected to run out of generator fuel within 24 hours. This as the territorys 2. 3 Million People do not have access to clean Running Water and are nearly out of food and medical supplies. 600,000 palestinians have been displaced from gaza so far after leaving the northern part of the area in the wake of fridays Evacuation Order by israel. The Israel Defense forces say hamas is preventing some of those people from leaving and that many are getting stuck in traffic caused by the terror groups roadblocks. Lets go to the israelgaza border. Chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel. Richard, of course, humanitarian crisis, it continues to grow there. There is some word that egypt, reluctantly, is going to open that border, their border with gaza. Get us up to date on that and Everything Else that is developing this morning. Reporter so good morning. Theres still considerable confusion about the rafah Border Crossing, the Border Crossing between egypt and the gaza strip. There is, according to u. S. Officials, egypt officials, a deal. The deal is supposed to have begun already, but it hasnt been implemented. The Border Crossing for right now is still closed. There are hundreds of families, including Palestinian Americans, who are waiting at that Border Crossing on the gaza side. They thought they were going to be going through today, but it hasnt happened yet. On the other side, on the egyptian side of the border, there is humanitarian aid sitting there, food and water that is supposed to go in. The people who are on the border, and weve been speaking to some of them this morning, are tired, anxious, frustrated, because this has been going on for days where theyve just been sitting in gaza, in the heat, waiting to try and get out. Complicated, it seems like, by bureaucratic issues in a fight, a diplomatic misunderstanding. Here in israel, some developments this morning. So this area where i am right now, which is in southern israel, not far from the gaza strip, thats gaza city behind me, this area has been declared a closed military area. Civilians have been encouraged, sometimes forced to evacuate so that the military can operate here and to protect civilians in case hamas fis mortars, short range rockets, as they have been doing. Israel announced it is going to evacuate 28 communities in Northern Israel, as well, along the lebanese border. Youre going t have, quite soon, two parts of this country, the northern border and the southern border, both declared closed Military Zones out of fear that hamas could be Firing Rockets or fire even more rockets and artillery from the gaza strip, and that hezbollah in the north could intensify its barrages. This morning, israel updated the number of hostages that it says hamas captured in its raid. Initially, there was a lot of confusion. These numbers have been moving. If youll remember in the early days, we talked about 50, then 120, 150. Now, israel says 199 people were taken by hamas into gaza. Richard, could you help us with an explanation on egypt and other arab countries . Ive had a lot of people ask me over the weekend why arab countries that will profess their dedication to the palestinian cause are so reluctant to let them in . Egypt is at the top of that list, of course, for a number of reasons. Weve seen it over the past decade, other arab countries growing more and more distant with the palestinian cause, cutting their own peace deal with israelis, and cutting the palestinians out. Could you explain to american viewers and others watching why that is, why are arab countries so reluctant to help the Palestinian Refugees . Reporter a lot of this has to do with the history of the palestinian people, going back to the formation of the state of israel in 1948. When israel was first formed, early zionist settlers came here. After the holocaust, many more jews came from around the world. Im not going to retell the whole history of the israeli state, but it is important to answer your question. So when the arab world attacked israel in 1948, there were many palestinians who were suddenly made refugees. They were displaced. Then when the arab world attacked israel again in 1967, a new wave of refugees was created. Those Palestinian Refugees are still displaced around the world. They are still displaced in the west bank. Theyre still displaced in lebanon. What egypt and other arab countries fear is that we could see another repetition of that same cycle, where a large group of palestinians is displaced once again and that they will be permanently displaced. If egypt opens the door, you will have another situation where you could have a million Palestinians Living Inside Egypt for the next several decades or next several centuries. The arab countries are nervous about that precedent. Traditionally, the arab position has been that all of these palestinians who were displaced in wars with israel should return back to their own homes. But thats their idealogical framework. In practical terms, theres a lot of criticism within the arab world, that the arab world isnt doing more, that theyre relying on this historic argument in order not to give people aid, that they dont want to open their borders and have a large Refugee Community sitting on egyptian soil, that theyll have to care for. There could be Security Concerns because some of these people might be militants. If you ask the people of gaza, they are furious with the arab world. They say the arab world pays lip service to the palestinian people. They say that you turn on al jazeera, and you hear sympathy for the palestinian people, but the arabs are not opening their borders, instead using these historic arguments to justify why they cant. All right. Nbc news chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel, we thank you so much. Greatly appreciate it. Katty kay, what richard said is so dead on. So accurate. I know youve talked to arab leaders and arab diplomats through the years. The ones ive spoken to for years have been not only dismissive of the palestinian cause but openly critical of the palestinians time and time again. Situations like this, when they occur, i always call around and ask, why arent you doing more to help the palestinians through this crisis . There is a, ill just say it, theres almost an open contempt for palestinians who they believe, Time And Again, have missed opportunities to strike peace. Looks like its happening again. It looks also like tony blinken is finally getting egypt to open that border to provide some sort of relief for palestinians. Tony blinkens priority is to try to get, obviously, the 400 odd Palestinian Americans who are trapped in gaza at the moment out of gaza before the land invasion happens from the israeli side. The only way to get them out is through that border, through the rafah crossing into egypt. There seems to be confusion about why the border isnt open. It should be open according to this deal. It looks like now but doesnt seem to be at the moment. Then to get aid back in again. Richard pointed to two very important things. I spent 18 years of my life living in the middle east. Always, the mantra was we support very much the palestinians in practice, nothing very much was done because of those historical reasons that they felt the palestinians should be able to stay in palestine. They didnt want them coming into their own countries. At the moment, it is particularly, as well, from the egypt side, they dont want to open those gates and suddenly find they have a flood of hamas militants infiltrating the civilians who might be leaving and meeting up with the mslim brotherhood in their own countries. All these arab countries are dealing with the Extremist Groups in their own countries, and they dont want them joining up with palestinian Extremist Groups. They say one thing, but in practice over the last 20, 30 years, they havent done very much to support the palestinian cause. Well, three Senior Officers in israels military tell the New York Times israel is preparing a largescale invasion of the gaza strip, with the goal of destroying hamas leadership. Meanwhile, axios is reporting that irans Foreign Minister told a u. N. Envoy to the middle east, if israel follows through with its anticipated ground offensive, iran will have to respond. Now, the u. S. Is sending a secondary craft Carrier Strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean, led by the uss dwight d. Eisenhower. The Wall Street Journal reports the move is meant to dissuade others, particularly hezbollah, from joining the conflict. Spokesman for the israeli Defense Forces, Lieutenant Colonel peter learner. Thank you for being with us. Given what i read, the report about iran watching closely to see the next move by israel, how do you work on a response while hopefully not creating a wider war . Is that in the Thought Process here . Good morning to you. Id like to add, perhaps, to your discussion with richard about the arab world and how people are looking at this. Hamas is the governing body. It is a Terrorist Organization, but it is the government of gaza. The Prime Minister, who is the mastermind of the massacre, he instructed and orchestrated this, the Diabolical Attack against israel and our communities on the 7th of october. Id like to add, i think, that there is also a general disdain and a letdown by the arab leaders towards hamas for deciding to go to war against israel without taking into consideration the repercussions. I think its basic decency against the butchery against hamas that people are saying, why do we need to bend over backwards for this Terrorist Organization after they did this to their own people . And to relate back to your question, of course, it has recruited some 300,000 reservists in order to be prepared for any eventuality. If the government instructs us to mobilize on the ground, we will be prepared. We are currently striking hamas extensively from the air. We are taing out their control positions. Were taking out their leaders, the terrorists that infiltrated into the gaza into the communities of southern israel. We are determined to make sure the gaza strip can never, ever be used as a Staging Ground for massacres and butchery in israel ever again. Lieutenant colonel, lets talk about the north. We noted towns there have been evacuated in Northern Israel near the Lebanon Border. What is the level of activity youre seeing from hezbollah, and what is the level of concern that you have, that the violence there, so far limited to a few skirmishes, but that it could really grow . The skirmishes have been in escalating mode the last few days. Indeed, there were several antitank guided missiles fired at forces and even at civilians along the border. We have, together with our defense ministry, instructed anybody living within the 2 Kilometer Boundary from the border itself be evacuated. As you rightly pointed out, thats 28 communities. It goes to show, we take civilians out of the line of fire, where our enemies are bent on our destruction and utilize their own civilians to put them in the line of fire. We have, as i said, the 300,000 reservists that have been recruited, are also positioned in the north. We have strengthened the frontier with hezbollah on the border with lebanon. We are very concerned about the prospect of a conflict with hezbollah. It appears that the whole escalation that weve seen over the last few days is under the direction of iran, which are interested in challenging israel, challenging the idf on the front with hamas. You know, they are so invested in the tools of terrorism over the years, whether its in funding or in training or in equipment. You know, everything has its roots back in iran. Thats why they are looking out for their proxies up on the front. We are determined to destroy hamas. We are determined that once they broke the rules of the game on saturday, october 7th, by penetrating our border, butchering our people, abducting 199 confirmed abductions into the gaza strip, and opening, effectively, opening the wall, they chose to go to war with us. We will win this war. What conversations are taking place about what happens after the first days of the invasion of gaza . If you go in with the land invasion, you talk about the destruction of hamas. I wonder how many conversations are happening about Who Controls Gaza after that. How long do you plan to stay . Itll be an extremely difficult Military Operation, but i imagine there must be some conversations happening about the day after. Can you give us some light about those . Of course. The day after is a core concern, but what we are most concerned about at this time is actually making sure that hamas never have this ability ever again. You know, hamas have turned gaza into this fortress by taking full advantage of all of the civilian arena, putting their own civilians at risk. Were currently on day four of a huge Evacuation Plan intended to keep people out of harms way, keep palestinians out of harms way, while hamas, on their side, are trying to delay that and keep people in harms way. So the day after is still, seems to be, quite a time away, and our government has not restricted the time of the operation. I think as much time as is required in order to fulfill that mission, in order to make sure israelis are safe and secure, and that is what we are doing. All right. Spokesman for the israeli Defense Forces, Lieutenant Colonel peter learner, thank you very much. Hope to see you soon. Thank you for your insight this morning. Now, when we come back in just one minute, were going to get analysis from jeremy bash. Were also going to show you saturday night lives extraordinary cold open. Host Pete Davidson explaining why he was the perfect person to open the show during this tragic time. Thats next. Were back in 60 seconds. 60 secs with the push of a button, constant contacts ai tools help you know what to say, even when you dont. Hi constant contact. Helping the small stand tall. This week, we saw the horrible images and stories from israel and gaza. I know what youre thinking, who better to comment on it than Pete Davidson . Well, in a lot of ways, i am a good person to talk about it because when i was 7 years old, my dad was killed in a terrorist attack. So i know something about what thats like. I saw so many terrible pictures this week of children suffering, israeli children and palestinian israeli. It took me back to a really horrible, horrible place. You know, no one in this world deserves to suffer like that, you know, especially not kids. You know . After my dad died, my mom tried pretty much everything she could do to cheer me up. I remember one day when i was 8, she got me what she thought was a disne