Northern gaza as israel players for a ground assault. A desperate crisis turning more dire with thousands waiting at this critical Border Crossing attempting to escape in into egypt. America es also ahead, a new interview with President Biden e pressing solidarity with israel but also giving this warning. Would you support Israeli Occupation of gaza at this point . I think it would be a big mistake. Good morning and thank you for joining us. It is 10 00 eastern. Im Ana Cabrera Reporting alongside my colleague jose diazbalart. Half a million palestinians are trying to flee northern gaza. Israeli forces vowing an expanded assault by air, sea and land as it continues to pummel gaza with air strikes. Huge crowds are gathering at the rafah Border Crossing. International negotiations are under way to get this crossing open to allow refugees and other americans and other nationals in and out along with critical aid. Lets get the latest on the ground. Nbc news Foreign CorrespondentKelly Cobiella is in tel aviv. Lets start with what is happening at the Border Crossing there. Is anyone or anything getting in or out of gaza at this hour . Reporter still no progress on that front, ana. As you said, there are intensive diplomatic efforts under way between the u. S. , egypt, israel and the United Nations to get that border open even for a short amount of time. The w. H. O. Said there is lifesaving aid on one side of the border, on the egyptian side of the border. You may have seen the long lines of Transport Trucks waiting at the border. On the other side, hundreds of people waiting to get through. Foreign nationals including americans. We dont have an idea of how Many Americans have made it down to that border. The State Department saying over the weekend that telling american citizens inside gaza, if you can, if you believe it is safe and you want to get out, you should make your way toward that border, that there may be a limited amount of time when the border is open, when you may be able to get through. Weve been hearing that same message now for almost 48 hours. Theres really been so sign of progress on the ground. There are, like i said, talks ongoing. At one point even there was words the two sides, hamas and israel agreed to a ceasefire so that Border Crossing could be open, and that turned out to be not the case. Both sides then said absolutely not, no ceasefire is in place. Antony blinken, the Secretary Of State, did say yesterday that rafah will reopen. The Embassy Warning that they dont know when or for how long. So still waiting on that front, ana. Kelly, the idf says its been targeting ham masses Operational Command centers, military compounds, dozens of launchers, antitank Missile Launch posts. Do we know what theyve accomplished so far . Reporter they said that theyve continued to strike hamas targets inside gaza as theyve done every single day for the past seven days now. They do say theyre making progress in terms of targeting top commanders within hamas. They targeted a number of sites in hundred eunice in the south. There were civilians killed in the strikes as well. They said they managed to target several places across the region as well as hamas fighters at one site that was set up as a hamas headquarters. They do say theyre making progress on that front. Weve also heard from the Israeli Air Force saying they will be targeting aggressively, in their words, in order to eradicate as much of hamas leadership and infrastructure by air before they go in on the ground to minimize any sort of impact to soldiers to make it easier, quite frankly, for soldiers to go in on the ground. As i said, that continues even today. It hasnt been so effective as to stop hamas from Firing Rockets from their side. They are still managing to fire rockets from gaza. Jose, ana. Kelly, we also have an update on the Hostage Situation with the idf telling us today the families of 199 people have now been told that their loved ones are believed to be hostages of hamas. Almost 200 hostages. Why is that number going up, do we know . Is it impacting the decision on this expected Ground Incursion . Reporter yeah, its a really large jump. The other thing to understand about whats happening here is theres a very large number of people who have yet to be identified. There are families who say their loved ones are missing, families who say they believe theyve been kidnapped, that they have some reason to believe perhaps last messages that their loved ones were kidnapped. Its a matter of actually pasting that information from any sort of evidence or intelligence on the ground. Quite frankly, were not hearing very much from the idf on how theyre identifying these people. Theyve been very tightlipped and reticent give us information on that. We know there were crossborder raids over the weekend where the idf said they collected some evidence about hostages. They said they also collected some information about hostages and knew where some of them are. But again, for safety and operational reasons, didnt give us much more detail on that end. Just to give you some perspective on the numbers here, 1,400 People Killed in this attack now. Those are the Israeli Government numbers. Theres a huge number of people who have yesterday to be identified. We were at the National Forensic center earlier today where theyre dealing with the hardesttoidentify victims. They say there are just under 200 of them right now, people their bodies quite frankly with unrecognizable. They dont know who they are. Its a matter of identifying people as well. Its an extremely difficult task, ana, jose. Sounds like a heartwrenching task as well. Kelly cobiella, thank you for your reporting. Were joined by nbcs hala gorani who has covered the middle east extensively. Hala, why has it been so challenging to open this Border Crossing with egypt . There are so many competing interests here. You have on the one hand the egyptians who traditionally have not been very flexible when it comes to opening that Border Crossing. They have concerns of their own. They potentially dont want Hundreds Of Thousands of Palestinian Refugees to pour across their border. There are also issues on the hamas side. There are also issues when it comes to agreeing with all the Different Actors in that part of the world to open that Border Crossing. Whats interesting is that we heard from egyptian sources that were quoted today that there was some sort of ceasefire agreed to, to allow humanitarian aid in, and some of the palestinians were leaving the gaza strip out. That was firmly denied by the office of the Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu, very sure there is no ceasefire, quote, unquote. A hamas spokesperson also quoted today in the british media, saying there is no such deal. There are so many issues here that need to be resolved. For anyone who is on the other side, for anyone who has family in the gaza strip, maddening. Can you imagine you have rows and rows of trucks with desperately needed humanitarian aid literally hundreds of yards away from where its needed most, and theyre stuck right now. You do, though, get the sense theres intense diplomatic effort to make something happen and to ease the humanitarian pressure on palestinian civilians. We are told the Secretary Of State, Antony Blinken, has been working on those types of negotiations for the last few days as hes been meeting with different counterparts in the region and surrounding countries as well. Theyve been telling all those innocent civilians to move south ahead of this expected incursion. That would include evacuating the hospitals. We know there are thousands of people in those hospitals in really bad shape. The World Health Organization has called this idea of evacuating hospitals a, quote, death sentence for the sick and the injured. Is that how you see it, hala . Well, the doctors who are interviewed and who are able to get the message out of the gaza strip still, even though theres no electricity and no water in some cases available are saying that those patients that are connected to life support or, for instance, children who are you know, have Developmental Disabilities or unable to move, babies in ink baiters, that that would mean a death sentence for them. A note on the water situation. As many of your viewers may know, there was a report that water had been resupplied to the southern part of the gaza strip, not the northern part which is really interesting, because the Israeli Military and the israeli authorities are telling gazans in the north to go to the south, as you just mentioned, ana. Those on the ground who have been quoted about the availability of water are saying you need electricity to get water going. You dont just turn on a tap. You need the pumps to work, the infrastructure to be functioning. This announcement didnt necessarily pan out on the ground in gaza, and that the humanitarian situation that is worsened by this lack of clean Drinking Water has certainly not gone away in that part of the gaza strip. Hala, its so important that the infrastructure needs to be working in order for things to function, but it also has to be there. It seems as though for years especially in these last days of this intense bombing, that infrastructure has been severely degraded. It certainly has been. It requires maintenance. It requires investment. It requires supplies. All of those things have been very difficult to get into the gaza strip. Now, obviously its about allowing supplies in. But its also about Good Management at the gaza strip which has not at all been managed in any way thats been in the best interest of the residents of that very small piece of land. I keep mentioning this just to give an idea to viewers. This is twice the size of washington, d. C. 2 million people. You have to think about it more like a city, a very densely populated city than anything that would be the size of a country. So, yes, the infrastructure is very much lacking in terms of maintenance and supply. I have to say that today and you mentioned it at the top of your show, ana and jose really you get the sense that diplomacy to try to avert a Ground Invasion. This is something that really you get the sense is happening. Where this will go in my estimation now depends really on benjamin netanyahu. He has announced land, sea and hair. Were going to go in, change the middle east. Even if there was a desire to walk this back, the question is how will all the drip moment see and effort to contain this invasion. I think really rests in the hands of one man and his government, and thats benjamin netanyahu. Hala gorani, thank you for being with us this morning. Hala, so nice to see you, thank you. Back here in the u. S. , President Biden is postponing a planned trip to colorado today as he weighs a potential visit to israel. And in a new interview on 60 minutes the president cautioned restraint as the world awaits israels Ground Incursion. What happened in gaza in my view is hamas and the extreme elements of hamas dont represent all the Palestinian People. I think that it would be a mistake for israel to occupy gaza again. Do you believe hamas must be eliminated entirely . Yes, i do, but there needs to be a palestinian authority. There needs to be a path to a palestinian state. Joining us is nbc News White House correspondent monica alba. Monica, good morning. Monica, do we know anymore about the potential of the president Visiting Israel . Reporter we know, jose, the white house has received that invitation from Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu, and we know theyre considering it. There may be conversations going on about what could be feasible here. Of course, with any president ial travel, no matter the destination, theres so many logistical and Security Considerations that go into that planning, add to that potentially going into a war zone and you can understand the total challenge here for the house as they are continuing to talk about this merely as a possibility. Theyre not saying anything beyond that right now except that the administration is trying to do Everything Else in this near term to show its solidarity for israel and that the president will continue to stay at the white house today to participate in National Security meetings with his team, and it is significant that that planned trip to pueblo, colorado, that was going to focus on Wind Manufacturing and his socalled bide nomics operation, was postponed at the last minute so he could deal with some of these very pressing issues. Monica, we know the president has spoken with Prime Minister netanyahu at least five times as of last night about this developing situation, since this attack by hamas on israel. The Secretary Of State blinken is also in the region. He is back in israel today. What do we know about his schedule and what hes been able to accomplish since he arrived in the region . Reporter when you look at secretary blinkens travel in the last couple days, hes been to israel, to the west bank, to jordan, bahrain, qatar, united arab emirates, back to jordan, to saudi arabia, back to saudi arabia again, to egypt, and now hes in israel today. That shows you the real definition of Shuttle Diplomacy taking place behind the scenes. The secretary is meeting with Prime Minister netanyahu today. He also met with israeli president herzog, the Defense Minister and Opposition Leader scheduled to continue these conversations on how the u. S. Stands with israel. Weve seen the military assistance, weve seen the promises of more aid on the way if capitol hill can get that order and sent. Thats a high priority for the administration. The other major topic of conversation in all these meetings, the continued effort to get americans in gaza out through that Border Crossing and to do Everything Possible on hostage recovery. Monica alba reporting at the white house, thank you that update. Well continue our coverage of the israelhamas war when we continue in 60 seconds, including more on the humanitarian crisis in gaza, one town now using Ice Cream Trucks to store the dead because the morgue in full. Well get an inside view of gaza from one journalist and speak with a Palestinian American doctor who has lost 49 members of his extended family in air strikes. Were back in one minute. Were back in one minute cargurus. Shop. Buy. Sell. Online. [sneeze] dude you coming . Alkaseltzer plus powermax gels cold flu relief with more concentrated power because the only thing dripping should be your style. Plop plop fizz Fizz Winter Warriors with alkaseltzer plus. Welcome back. We are looking at some video right now out of gaza. Come take a look at this. This is just sheer devastation from many of the air strikes we now know israel has been launching into gaza trying to attack what they call hamas targets and their specific infrastructure thats allowing them to have command and control. Were just looking at these images of sheer destruction, jose. Its unbelievable to see these images. The United Nations relief and works agency this morning issuing a stark assessment of the situation in gaza z as the death toll continues to climb. Quote, there are not enough body bags. The u. N. Also says there are more than a million internally displaced people in gaza. After ram as tarry filed this report from outside a hospital in south gaza. Reporter on my way to this area i have just spoken to the head of the hospital who is also a mem brer of the senior team. He informed me and in his words the situation is more than catastrophe. The supplies are depleting and on the verge of collapse. They are struggling with the minimum they have to save the lives of the people who are injured and struggling for their lives. Because of the ongoing gave station, the medical teams at the hospital and in different areas of the gaza strip have been not going back home for such while. I saw at least two of them, they were seeing their friends and relatives. One of them saw his son killed. He didnt talk about that. Because of the destruction of the communication throughout the gaza strip, he didnt know his family was injured and he was saddened and shocked to see his son killed and to see the remaining Family Members injured. Another one also saw his father and his son killed in