On wednesday, President Biden will visit israel. Hes coming here at a critical moment for israel, for the region, and for the world. The president will reaffirm the United States solidarity with israel and our ironclad commitment to its security. Israel has the right and, indeed, the duty, to defend its people from hamas and other terrorists, and to prevent future attacks. The president will hear from israel how it will conduct the operations in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and allows humanitarian assistance to flow to citizens in gaza in a way that does not benefit hamas. U. S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken announcing President Bidens trip to israel ahead of that countrys looming Ground Offensive into gaza. The visit will come amid a growing humanitarian crisis in the territory and desperate efforts to get civilians out of the war zone. Well go through all of that and get a live report from the israelgaza border in just a moment. Willie, of course, there is a desperate effort to try to get the palestinians out of the war zone. A desperate effort internationally from the United States, from the israelis, trying to get them out of the war zone. Of course, the United States working as hard as they can to try to pressure egypt to have that crossing into egypt from gaza. Right now, theyre still pushing back. You know, the Wall Street JournalEditorial Page puts it best when they talk about, palestinian lives matter, except to hamas. You have the entire World Community trying to get the palestinians out of harms way, and you have hamas leaders sitting in resort hotels in qatar and four seasons, holding Press Conferences, ordering hamas fighters to keep palestinians who want to flee with their families, to keep them in north gaza. Literally, everybody is trying to get the palestinians out of the coming war zone except for hamas, who as we heard yesterday, have started to set up blockades to keep innocent civilians in the war zone who are trying to flee. And who, of course, are trying to fight efforts by the United States and others to open up the Safe Corridor Into Egypt for temporary settlements so they can be safe with their families while the war between israel and hamas is going on. Reports, in fact, hamas is intercepting what little u. N. Aid is there on the ground. Any humanitarian aid, destroying some of it or keeping it from the people of gaza, as well, who are trying to survive in what is a humanitarian crisis. Secretary of state blinken has been up almost literally 24 hours a day, shuttling between middle Eastern Countries and trying to prevail upon egypt, israel, and others, to open up that corridor and get some people out of there. Theyre talking about opening safe zones within gaza where israel would not strike. Yes, the World Community is scrambling to protect the citizens of gaza, the civilians of gaza, that is, ahead of what is expected to be a massive operation from the israeli military. Again, the question that needs to be answered from Arab Countries that love to put out Press Releases saying how much they support the palestinian causes, why dont you actually support the palestinians . Right. Why is it you wont bring some palestinians in as refugees temporarily . Reassure them their right to return, but take care of it. The ugly secret, unfortunately, throughout the arab world is, Arab Countries want no part of the palestinians. They want no part of hamas. They are actually fighting against us, against the United States of america, as tony blinken is going around trying to get Arab Countries to help these Palestinian Refugees out, to step up with funding. What about i have a great idea. What about kuwait . It seems to me the United States gave and gave and gave to the government of kuwait and the people of kuwait. Theyre doing nothing in return, absolutely nothing. You look at egypt. Egypt wants no part of it. They get billions of dollars in aid from the United States every year, aid from the United States every year, and they wont even open up the corridor because they dont want palestinians in their country. Again, a lot of hypocrisy. Right now, who are the people who are suffering . Its the Palestinian People. Yes just like israeli children, babies, all hanging in the balance. Right. Being used, really. Being used in these Arab Countries, these sunni Arab Countries, again, who are making peace with israel. Right. But never made peace with the palestinians as part of that process, mika. The incredible thing is, they wont help. So here we have tony blinken running around all The Middle East, asking Arab Countries to help us help the palestinians, and theyre refusing. For some reason, nobody ever tells that story. It needs to be told. The president , of course, is headed back. Well get to who is going to be the speaker of the house, because we dont have one. And trump got a gag order. Well get to that. Lets stay on this, willie. Lets go to the border, israel and hamas. Chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel is there this morning. Richard, pick up on the point joe was making, the efforts by Secretary Blinken, scrambling across since, seven countries, trying to get them on board with the humanitarian crisis, with doing something to aid the people of gaza. Where does that stand right now, and how likely, in your long experience in The Middle East, is it the middle Eastern Countries would help in that effort . Reporter good morning. So many diplomatic efforts under way right now. First of all, on that potential safe zone in gaza, diplomatic efforts are under way. U. S. Officials say they are working on it. They havent discussed any specifics because theyre trying to figure out how that aid would get in, where it would go, how it would be distributed, who would be responsible, and how to make sure it doesnt end up in the hands of hamas and not getting to the Palestinian People. Do i think it will happen . It is very possible that it will happen. There is a lot of pressure on hamas, a lot of pressure on israel to allow some aid to get in there. Many arab states have been accusing israel of carrying out a policy of collective punishment by sealing off the entire gaza strip and not allowing in electricity, food, medicine, and other supplies. That is only one part of the diplomatic push that President Biden will also now be engaged in personally when he comes here, comes to this country tomorrow. The other is this ongoing effort to free the hostages. There was a development yesterday. It came from hamas. It is still tentative, but it is potentially a gamechanger. The main spokesman for the Military Wing of hamas gave a statement through hamas regular verified channels in arabic, saying hamas has 200 hostages. The group said that other palestinian factions inside gaza have around 50 or more than 50 other hostages, so bringing the total number of hostages inside the gaza strip to 250 plus. Hamas says of the 200 that its Military Wing is holding, it has verified their identities and is holding an unspecified number of foreign nationals, and it is willing to let them go. It says they were taken during its raids into israel, when it went on a killing and kidnapping spree, didnt check their identities at the time, but the foreigners are not part of its conflict with israel, that it has no issue with them, and that it will let them go when, quote, Field Conditions are right. Now, what exactly that means is unclear, but iran, which backs hamas, has said that hamas is willing to let hostages go if israeli air strikes on the gaza strip continue. That is another potential development. Theres work getting humanitarian aid in. Then, of course, there is the looming military action, the israeli air strikes into gaza are still continuing. I will say, over the last 24 hours or so, they do seem to have slowed down. There are still air strikes but they are not as ferocious as we saw over the last over the first few days of this conflict. Richard, since october 7th, obviously, our impression, the worlds impression of israel is this Fearsome Fighting Military Machine has been severely damaged. Its reputation damaged. Im curious, were hearing about the hundreds of fighters that are coming in now, the reservists that are coming back in. Do you get a sense that israel is once again feeling confident that their defense, their military can actually defend the people, or are they still shattered by the events of october 7th . Are they still questioning whether Benjamin Netanyahu and this Coalition Government can do the job . Reporter all of those things are true. The israelis right now are angry, but they are also nervous. They are nervous at how they could have missed this. They are nervous for what hamas may have in store for gaza. But they say, and if you ask israelis they say, yes, we were caught sleeping. We made a mistake. There is anger directed at the netanyahu government and at netanyahu personally, but israelis are saying, now theyve mobilized. Theyre not sleeping anymore, and they are on a mission as a nation to destroy hamas. That is the collective goal here, and i think everyone feels it is something that is necessary. The question is, how do you do that . Do you send the 300,000 plus reservists into gaza in some sort of blitzkrieg . Do you carry it out through targeted raids, potentially in coordination with the United States and other countries . Do you do a combination of the two . Do you send in some troops to block off parts of the gaza strip while raids continue and negotiations continue . It is an enormously delicate time, and thats just in the gaza strip. This conflict has already spread beyond gaza. Its important to think about this as whats described as the axis of resistance here. That is iran and its proxies, and its proxies are hamas and hezbollah. Hamas is clearly mobilized. Hezbollah is mobilizing. There have been strikes carried out by hezbollah against israeli troops along the border. Israel has evacuated some border communities. Then iran has issued vague threats in the last 24 hours that it might carry out preemptive strikes if israels attack on gaza continues. So there are many signs that there could be some diplomatic progress with the potential opening of a safe corridor or a safe zone. Some movement. The First Time Ever were hearing any Movement Regarding the hostages. But the new threats from iran and hezbollah all do not bode well. Nbc news chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel, thank you very much for your reporting on the scene. Joining us no nbc news chief International Correspondent keir simmons, and White House Bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire, the most of way too early. Keir, headline in the Wall Street Journal, top of the page, war shifts global dynamics. Suddenly, you see a connection between hamas. You can draw a Straight Line to iran. From iran, draw a Straight Line to russia. From russia, you can draw a Straight Line to china. Not saying they were all coordinated in this, just simply saying this Wall Street Journal article states that this is actually a big win for russia. The fact the United States is going to be drawn in is something that russia is celebrating right now. Joe, lets describe nit a different way. We live in a different world from when, for example, the u. S. Invaded iraq all those years ago. Dismiss the united nations, but it gives us a window into the way the world looks right now. The Security Council met last night. There was a russian draft which condemned all violence and hostilities directed at civilians and acts of terrorism, and the draft never mentioned hamas. Thomas greenfield saying at that session, by failing to mention hamas, it is a group that terrorizes citizens. It is outrageous. Im told by a diplomat the u. S. Didnt like a call for humanitarian pauses which condemns hostileiies against civilians but didnt talk about the acts for hamas. Im told there was too much equivalence. It is notable, for example, that last night, the notes for that russian resolution, which didnt pass, included the united arab emirates. If you take the arab world, for example, polls very strong, deep polling suggests that, actually, the arab streets view of israel hasnt moved by more than a few Percentage Points since the Abraham Accords apparently improved relations. Were seeing russia and china, as you mentioned, in lockstep. President Putin Meeting with president xi in china tomorrow. I thought one phrase from the Chinese Foreign minister, wang yi, after speaking with the Secretary Of State over the weekend was fascinating. He said, there is no way out through Military Means and using violence for violence will only create a vicious cycle. So, youre right, clearly, America Needs as many allies for this as possible, so does israel. Clearly, americas foes will enjoy any way in which the u. S. Gets pulled into a quagmire or is seen to make a mistake. Particularly, and lets talk again about the way the world has changed, particularly, for example, you know, what we call the global south. Watching from the sidelines, forming opinions. Again, another quote, and this is on the colomian president. You can say they dont have anything to do with this, but it is interesting what the president said. If we have to suspend Foreign Relations with israel, well suspend them. We do not support genocides. What is happening here, beyond what is happening in the region, in israel and gaza itself, is the continuing battle for the hearts and minds of peoples and countries Around The World by the u. S. , by the west. This conflict is now part of that, guys. John, the president will visit, as we said, israel tomorrow. On this trip to telaviv. He has been unequivocal in his support. He made strong speeches last week. Hell go there now to stand shoulder to shoulder with Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu what do you expect behind the scenes . The solidarity is the public scene and important. What is he talking with the Prime Minister in private . Lets start with the debate in the u. S. , as to whether or not the president would make this trip. He has been publicly strong with supporting israel, but there was some concern about making this trip. It could inflame tensions in the region and provoke more attacks from hamas. It is a delicate Security Situation there. Yesterday, the Secretary Of State had to shelter multiple times because airraid sirens were going off in telaviv. President biden went to ukraine in february, and they sent advance notice to russia saying, dont try again. They dont think hamas will listen like russia did. Theres also a sense the president is doing Benjamin Netanyahu a domestic political figure. President biden is popular in israel right now, and netanyahu eager for the association. But they want to have the president Show Solidarity, but theres more than that. He is really going to push the idea of this gaza operation. They allow civilians to lead. There was timing here. The president wanted to make sure if he was to go to israel, it was before israel goes into gaza, to try to make that push to say, look, the civilians here, lets make sure as many of them get out as possible. Part two of this is, after israel, he heads to jordan. He is going to meet with a couple arab world leaders, particularly egypt. That is going to be a real focus, pushing president sisi to do egypts part to let some of the palestinians escape gaza. Keir, lets step back just a minute. Id love to go through your last answer just for our viewers, our friends at home that are watching, to understand how the world is split. Of course, we have the west. Especially with the poland win by donald tusks coalition, you have a unified west, unified europe, a unified america. Whether youre talking abo