Personnel. Were taking steps to make sure we can defend our people and respond decisively if we need to. This is not what we want, not what were looking for. We dont want an escalation. We dont want to see a second or third front develop. We dont want to see our personnel come under fire, but if that happens, were ready for it. Thats Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken on the expected provocation from iran connected to the israel hamas war. It comes as Israel Defense forces are expanding significantly. Air strikes in gaza. Well get the live report from israel straight ahead. Plus an update on the hostages still being held by hamas after the Terrorist Group did release two americans on friday. And also coming up, well go through the nine republicans now running to be House Speaker following jim jordans failed bid to lead the lower chamber. Good morning and welcome to Way Too Early on this monday, october 23rd. Im jonathan lemire. Thanks for starting your day and week with us. And well begin this morning with the latest out of the israel hamas war and the air strikes launched into gaza, lebanon, syria, and the west bank all by israels defense forces. Residents of north gaza received new warnings to evacuate to the south of the territory, adding they may be identified as sympathizers with a terrorist organization that decide to stay put. This comes as israel dramatically expanded the scope of its offensive. In the west bank, the idf says its air strike on an underground compound at a mosque struck a, quote, terror cell, while in syria, Airports In Damascus and oh le pa were struck and two people killed. Overnight they believe hesitate bole was designing a plan about to launch rockets and missiles. Israels military gathers at the gaza border. Israel has not given the goahead just yet. Meanwhile a second humanitarian aid convoy has reached the gaza strip bringing much needed supplies to the territory. 14 total trucks kaifred food, water, and medicine arrived yesterday, according to a u. N. About official. The trucks were inspected by israels defense about forces prior to entry, but no fuel was allowed in to gaza. Yesterdays convoy followed the first round of trucks carrying supplies. Those entered gaza on saturday. That shipment was packed onto 20 trucks and was described by the u. N. As a, quote, fraction of what was needed after 13 days of complete siege. Joining us now, hive from tel aviv, israel, is nbc News Senior National correspondent jay gray. Jay, good to see you this morning. Twoparter for you. First, could you see these trucks go in there, but its not a lot of supplies, lets be clear, in these two shipments. And, secondly, give us a better sense just how much israel escalated its Air Strikes Ore the weekend. Reporter well, yeah, and lets start with the escalation along the border with gaza. I can tell you the idf is reporting hitting 320 military targets over the last 24 hours. That includes tunnels, it includes Operational Command centers. They are Clearing Areas surrounding the border. We now know through idf sources that select teams have crossed that border and moved into the area, looking for hostages, they say, clearing out areas around the border, around the fence, with the idea that they are preparing for Ground Operations in the area. And weve talked about that for days, just as youve said, jonathan. Now the idf are talking about it actively, saying they are clearing the way for ground operation. Thats a change at least in language from the leaders who will ultimately give the go for tanks and troops, which, by the way, are reassembling, repositioning along the border, giving them the opportunity to move in. I can tell you one of the idf commanders talking about the intensity of the air strikes, the pace of the air strikes. Im quoted here. They want to leave hamas weakened, tired, and dislocated in preparation for the next stage of military operations. So it would appear that were on the verge of those tanks rolling in to gaza at some point soon. Lets talk about the aid on the other end of this. You had the trucks rolling through yesterday. Youve got trucks lined up today. It appears they may make the crossing into gaza as well. Even with those deliveries, the u. N. Says thats about 4 of the daily average of supplies taken into the area before the war. The white house is now promising continuous deliveries of supplies into the region. It appears that israel has agreed to that. The one thing we wont see and the one thing they desperately need, jonathan, is fuel. A lot of good context for us there provided by Senior Nation Tgsal correspondent nbc news jay gray. Thank you very much. Stay safe. Well talk to you again very soon. Meanwhile Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken tells nbc news hes hopeful that more hostages will be released from gaza after two americans abducted by hamas were released late last week. Blinken about was on Meet The Press yesterday and called it gratifying to see the release of Judith Raanan and her daughter natalie on friday after they were taken hostage by hamas during the Terrorist October 7th strike on about israel. But blinken also expressed skepticism over hamas recent statement they were ready to release additional hostages. Actions will speak, not words, particularly coming from hamas. But weve been engaged, as i said, withnerpartners. We dont know why hamas released natalie and judith first. We say first because we hope more will follow. I cant speak to that. What i can speak to is our incessant efforts to try to get people home, get them back with their families and loved ones. Thats continuing as we speak. This is something were engaged in virtually around the clock. Meanwhile President Biden on friday posted this picture on his official twitter x account, saying he spoke to both hostages, telling them the government will fully support them as they recover from the traumatic experience. Judiths exhusband and natalies father spoke to him after the release saying they talked to his daughter and said she sounds very good. The mother and daughter were with martin fletcher. Joining us now, michael weiss. Great to see you this morning. We have come to you so many times about Combat Operations in ukraine. Talk to us about your assessment as to what you see on the ground now in in israel as it prepares to go into gaza. The u. S. Has urged israel to show some restraint. Theres some reporting that the u. S. Has asked them to hold off the Ground Invasion entirely. But theres a limit, of course, how long tel aviv will listen to that. What is your sense of when they might go in, and what might it look like . Thanks, jonathan. I think the issue here is one of three major things. Number one, the United States wants to avoid any kind of escalation, particularly any escalation that would draw the u u. S. Into direct conflict with iran. U. S. Nationality Security Experts including former Intelligence Officers tell me if hezbollah should open up a front against israel, theres almost a certainty the United States would become mired in this conflict, which is probably the worstcase scenario that the Biden Administration is trying to avoid at the moment. The second is, yeah, lets see how many hostages hamas is willing to release probably out of desperation because they see the Writing On The Wall that the Ground Offensive is imminent and its designed to eradicate them. If you listen to basically every top is rah i will official, theres no going back. Theyre not willing to go back to some kind of conversation with this group in gaza. The third, which is intriguing, if you looked a the long checkered career of Benjamin Netanyahu, there are a lot of hardliners in israel who think hes a coward. This is a man whos been a Prime Minister longer than anybody but has never engaged in a fullscale war. Air strikes, question, sorsorti yes, but this this is not the man for the hour, they think. I do agree with your correspondent who said a Ground Invasion probably is imminent simply because Israeli Society will not abide any Prime Minister who doesnt basically try to get rid of hamas at this point, the society is so traumatized by the events of october 7th. Well be following this in the days ahead. We also want to high light some terrific reporting you broke over the weekend about the russian bombing of a nato country long before than what weve seen in the last year or two. Its ukraine. Give us a sense of what we can expect and well make sure everyone takes a look at the story on the inside. Thanks. We did a monthslong investigation into a Russian MilitaryIntelligence Unit known as 29155. Your viewers may be familiar with them because these guys are responsible for trying to murder two people in 2008 with novichok, and theyre also responsible for blowing up a lot of stuff in bulgaria and elsewhere. Mainly these are weapons and ammunitions depots. What we did, my partners and i, we looked into a case that had not gotten any attention in 2011. This is long before the war in ukraine. This was during the obama reset with russia. Basically these guys had a sort of contest among themselves to invent remote detonators, and the reason for this, they were looking to blow up a consignment of ammunition purchased by bulgaria to be sent to georgia, which was then still recovering from its 2008 summer war with russia, and they planted the bombs in a consignment of Artillery Shells in the czech republic, and this consignment, big plastic explosives, traveled through about four different capitals in europe, Ma I Superior Population centers, before it reached its major destination and then they blew it skyhigh. It goes to show russia has been Planning Acts of terrorism and acts of war since before 2011 long before we knew we were in a cold war or standoff with vladimir putin. Very revealing story. We urge everyone to check it out. Its on the insider. Michael weiss, editor for the insider. Well talk to you again soon. Still ahead on Way Too Early ill talk about the other headlines making news this morning including bidens slug itch poll numbers. Were el go through a 25 million plan. Plus a financial slap on the wrist for donald trump in his civil fraud trial, but the judge there is warning a much harsher punishment if trump continues to violate a gag order. Those stories and a check on weather and sports when we come right back. Weather and sports when we come right Back Pain Hits fast. So get relief fast. Only Tylenol Rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release Medicine Fast for fast pain relief. And now, get max strength topical pain relief precisely where you need it. With new tylenol precise. Trelegy for copd. Birds flyin high, you know how i feel. Breeze driftin on by. You know how i feel. You dont have to take. [coughing]. Copd sitting down. Its a new dawn,. Its a new day, its time to make a stand. And im feelin good. Start a new day with trelegy. No oncedaily copd. 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Nice footwork. Mucinex dm. Man, youre lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. Now you can stream all your games like its nothing. Yes [ cheers ] yeah woho running up and down that field looks tough. Its a pitch. Get way more into what youre into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. Welcome back. Well have more soon on the war in israel and the chaos in the House Speakers race, but a few other headlines. The Biden Campaign is looking to buy more Early Campaign ads as concerns persist over low polling numbers. According to the Washington Post team biden is considering options for expanding an unconventional early advertising push this year as the president continues to express frustrations in private conversations about his poll numbers around the states. In august the Biden Campaign poured 25 million into a digital campaign. That early fall ad blitz was launch ahead of the first primary gop debate. Theyre also concerned it does not reflect the economic reality of voters and it might be a waste of money right now, arguing americans simply arent paying attention to the 2024 race just yet, but the paper adds its not to address the president s Polling Problem with the campaign believing the ads lay the groundwork to help his Approval Ratings next year. According to gallupgallup, bide the same Approval Rate as obama and trump in their presidencies. Meanwhile taylor swift sets a record again for a second week in a row. Shes earned more money than anyone else. Its earned a total of about 130 million so far and taylor swift responded once again by appears an a Kansas City ChiefsGame Cheering on travis kelce. And this, the unit said cardcarrying members are not allowed to dress up as specific film or tv characters saying that could be seen as promoting those entities. That led some members to question if this applied to their children as well. Stars like mandy moore and Ryan Reynolds spoke out against the policy. Roenlds choked out, i look forward to screaming scab at my 8yearold all night. Shes not in the union, but she needs to learn. It was clarified only Union Members should not dress up but their children still can. Still ahead, well turn to sports and a recap of sundays action around the nfl. Plus, theres going to be a game seven to decide which American League team will go to the world series. Thats been terrific baseball. Well have all of those highlights for you next when Way Too Early comes right back. Ts for you next when Way Too Early comes right back helps lower a1c, and its covered by medicare. Before using the dexcom g7, i was really frustrated. All of that Finger Pricking and all that pain, my a1c was still stuck. Before dexcom g7, i couldnt enjoy a single meal. I was always trying to outguess my glucose, and it was awful. 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