Reiterate a list of accomplishments. Im happy to send you an email with them. We have been working hard to get the middle east to be a more stable prosperous region. Thats not going to change. These attacks on october 7th were horrific. The israelis have a right and responsibility to respond to those attacks. I think everybody understands that, and so we also understand that the focus of countries in the region, particularly israel, is going to be on that. Its our focus, too. But that doesnt mean were going to give up. This doesnt mean were just going to walk away from it. We still believe in the promise of a twostate solution, and were still going to continue to work for that. We still believe, as a matter of fact, key to getting a twostate solution is normalization between israel and saudi arabia, and were still going to work on as well. Why is the president not focusing in the last couple of weeks on his agent that was basically for feuding. I feel like this war, what the president was aiming to bring normalization through two states. And that has been i told you, sir, theres no change in our desire to see a twostate solution. Theres absolutely no change in our efforts to try to get normalization between israel and saudi arabia as a steppingstone to a twostation solution. Were not blind to wealthy. Right now, israel is fighting to defend itself against hamas terrorists. The focus of the region is on whats going on, and right now, the president s focus appropriately, sir, is on trying top prevent and widen and deepen this conflict to deter a larger war so that we can get back to the table and we can move forward on those key diplomatic steps. Thank you. Yes, maam. Thank you. Try to keep john as long as we can. A wide ranging series of questions asked to john kirby at the White House Press briefing and multiple times warning that anyone who threatens u. S. Interests in the region will not go unanswered and saying now about the hostages with the ongoing negotiations that there are a handful of Americans Still being held. We also want to get you caught up on what else is happening in the region because right now a u. N. Palestinian aid agency is warning that the need to get fuel into gaza, and you heard john kirby mention that is as urgent as the need for water and fuel. Its been 16 days since any fuel has entered the strip. That means hospitals soon will not be able to power the generators they have been using since electricity was cut. Already 12 hospitals and 32 Health Centers are out of service. The Associated Press is reporting that at least 130 premature babies in neonatal units are at grave risk. The threat so life is hospital wide. One Emergency Room Nurse telling nbc news its like a horror movie, blood and dead bodies everywhere. Medical staff is being forced to improvise, turning shirts into turn tourniquets, using cola to wash a cut because there wasnt water to do it. More than 5,000 people have died so far in gaza. Israels Defense Minister says the war against hamas could go on for months. Already the landscape of gaza is becoming unrecognizable. The u. N. Says 42 of Housing Units have been damaged or destroyed. In a statement to the media outlet, the new arab. One child, trying to flee with his family put the reality of war like this, to sky news. Its horrible. Everyones dying each second. You will open your eyes and then like at 3 00 a. M. Or at midnight, they start bombing. We all get scared all of a sudden. Its sad because everyones dying. Forced to see so much so young. Israel hit 320 targets in gaza overnight. The time line for a Ground Invasion remains unclear. The idf, however, is carrying out limited raids inside the strip as it tries to locate 222 hostages. Again, we just heard from john kirby, a handful of those hostages are still believed to be americans. I want to begin on the ground with nbcs raf sanchez from ashdot, israel. The Biden Administration is advising israel to delay its Ground Invasion of gaza to allow time for hostage talks. You probably heard john kirby saying, look, were not telling the idf what to do or when, but clearly the hostages remain a key priority. What more can you tell us about whats going on on the ground there . Reporter chris, u. S. Officials have been working closely with qatar, the small wealthy persian gulf state that acts as a mediator in these situations. That channel has had some success so far. That American Mother and daughter released on friday. Hamas, over the weekend, saying it was prepared to release two elderly israeli women. That never materialized. Its not clear if that offer was sincere or not. U. S. Officials telling nbc news they think that channel of negotiation is worth pursuing and they fear that an all out israeli Ground Invasion would destroy any hope of a negotiation that could lead to the hostages being freed. The Israeli Military says there are 222 hostages there, among 10 of whom are children under the age of 18. Chris, last week you and i spoke about this little boy named ohad being held in gaza, he turns 9 years old today, and earlier we went to, i guess, a noncelebration that his family was putting on to mark his birthday. They blew up red balloons. They released them into the sky, and i want you to take a listen to a little bit of what his family said about that day. All the children, they shouted, ohad, we love you, we want you home. Then we blew them up. I feel like i have to do something. I cant do nothing. So maybe if its the smallest thing to buy some balloons and to throw them to hope for something to happen, so this is what i can do. Reporter and, chris, all over israel, you see on the sides of roads, balloons tied to lamp posts to mark ohads birthday. We have seen events in other countries in europe marking this little boys birthday. His family basically saying they fear not just for him. They fear for his mother, for his grandparents who are also being held hostage. None of them have been seen or heard from since october 7th and it is that agony, you have to multiply many many many times to understand what is going on in this country right now as people wait for the return of the hostages. Chris. The latest number, 222 hostages. Raf sanchez, thank you for that. Meantime, the Deputy Commander of irans revolutionary guard hinted at the possibility of strikes on israel as fears grow by the minute that this could turn into a wider war. I want to bring in nbcs matt bradley in lebanon where hezbollah has been stepping up its attacks on israel. Matt, i know youve said that tensions along israels northern border with lebanon have heated from a slow simmer to a riling boil. What is going on there . Reporter the worry is they might overflow into the wider region. Theyve sent two carrier strikes groups. Theyre sending more this way, anticipating a wider war. We have already seen it. We keep talking about the anxiety of this wider war. Weve seen it in live attacks. We saw the israelis hitting the airports of aleppo and damascus, in syria, for the second time in as many weeks. We have seen u. S. Forces repelling missiles and drones and the red sea, so were already seeing irans access of resistance, and this is a term that iran and a lot of people in the region bandy about. It means essentially this loose coalition of nations and militant groups, including hezbollah where im located here in Southern Lebanon and hamas, near where raf sanchez is in israel. All of these groups have some kind of allegiance or take direct orders freran thats a question of debate. Whether or not iran is going to be pulling the trigger and telling these groups and nations to directly attack israel, what we probably wont hear about that until we see what israel is going to be doing in the gaza strip. That is the next shoe to drop. But weve already seen heightened tensions on the other side of the border with israel where were seeing, you know, evacuations. We saw actually a small city, 20,000 people evacuating. That was a major uptick over the weekend. And now we heard from Benjamin Netanyahu. He was busy talking to soldiers in southern israel and near the border with the gaza strip, but he took the time to go up north, to talk to the soldiers who are deployed there, because this is a cause of anxiety, not just for washington and for john kirby, but also the israeli government. Heres what Benjamin Netanyahu told the troops just yesterday. [ speaking in global language ]. Reporter so if it sounds like a threat, its because it very much is, and israel has done this before. They have moved in back in 206, they took up most of lebanon, and they made a policy out of it. They now call it the dahia doctrine. If they get attacks from countries neighboring israel or any other country outside of israel, they will not only attack those who are attacking them, they will cripple the infrastructure and punish the whole country. Youve heard that from netanyahu, if the lebanese people value their prosperity and their sovereignty, then they will probably prevail upon hezbollah not to launch an attack. The fact is this isnt just about hezbollah. This isnt just about the access of resistance. This is about civilians, theyre the ones that are going to carry the weight for whatever any of these people decide to do. There is no doubt about that. Matt bradley, thank you. In gaza, aid is finally, as we have been telling you beginning to trickle across the rafah border crossing. Health officials on the ground are warning its not enough. Fuel is running out in the strip. Theres no fuel in the coming few hours. This will affect us as a staff, and admitted patients in our hospital, there will be no surgeries, no oxygen, and the water we are using now, its not the usual water we have to use. Its a salty water. Its not suitable to use by humans. Lets bring in scott paul, associate director of peace and security for oxfam, let me start there, stories of doctors operating using lights from a cell phone, not having fresh water to clean out wounds. In one case, using cola. What is your staff on the ground in gaza telling you . Exactly the same thing, chris. Oxfam are working with local partners to deliver assistance where we can but were talking about a couple hundred families. When you mentioned aid is coming in through egypt now, it really is, as you said, a trickle. But its important also not to get hung up on the quantity of aid. Obviously more aid is better, but i think what you just heard from doctors in gaza is that the circumstances in the country are more important than the amount, or in gaza, are more important than the amount of aid coming in. If people cant access aid, if services arent functioning, aid is not going to be the difference between life with dignity or life without dignity. Yeah, inside those hospitals they need help now. We mentioned premature babies in neonatal wards who will die if there is not electricity. Add to that, more than 50,000 pregnant women just in gaza, unable to Access Essential Health services. 5,500 women, by one estimate are due to give birth in the coming month, according to the world health organization. Obviously the situation on the ground is dire. What can an organization like yours do . We do everything we can to save lives. Thats our mission. But its also our job to make sure that people were working with. People whose lives are on the line are hurt, and what theyre telling us is that they may die because of a Policy Decision. As you heard, aid helps, but aid is not going to be the difference between life and death for so many people in the gaza strip. It is a Policy Decision to turn off electricity and fuel coming into gaza. And it is a Policy Decision on the part of the Biden Administration to focus on opening up a small corridor for whats now under 60 trucks over three days, over and above the entry of fuel and turning on the power that affects all aspects of palestinian life in gaza. Scott paul, the work oxfam does is extraordinary and dangerous and so important, and we thank you and wish all good things for the people on the ground doing this good work. Appreciate you. I also want to bring in richard haass, president emeritus on the council of foreign relations. I want to talk a little bit, richard, obviously the situation on the ground, the humanitarian situation is desperate, and we have new reporting that the Biden Administration is advising israel to delay the Ground Invasion of gaza. This is according to four u. S. Officials. They want more time to get hostages out and aid in, but in the briefing we just heard from john kirby, he said, look, its not for the United States to tell israel what to do. He also said there are ongoing active conversations where the conversation is have you thought through what will happen if. So unpack for us what that means for people who arent used to diplomatic speak. This is really complicated even in the world of diplomacy, in part because you have so many diplomatic threats against the reality of the war and the preparation for more intense war. Think about it youve got the aid question. Youve got the hostages. Youve got, you know, steps that you might want to do to bring about cease fires at some point. Some people are focused on what would happen after a war, so its incredibly complicated, and youve got lots of actors from hamas, palestinian jihad, israel to the United States and others. So its extraordinarily complicated in terms of getting this done. Plus, theres an obvious tension, as the war goes on, preparations are made. How do they then create corridors for getting food and other basics in. And the whole issue with hostages. You want to get the hostages out, but hamas, obviously, is going to be loathe to let the hostages out because they see it, first of all, as a medium of exchange. And secondly, they see it as a way of getting israel to hold off. So the life of a diplomat right now shall we say is challenged. A great understatement. Speaking of whos operating diplomatically, qatar, right, releasing the two hostages, i guess you could call it an outside role, given how tiny qatar really is. Its an american ally with open lines to hamas, and frankly a long history of Brokering Deals with groups the u. S. Considers to be terrorists. When you look at u. S. Diplomacy in the region, talk about qatar, and arab allies and the importance of the roles they can play right now. Theyre important roles and limited roles. Qatar, it has ties to iran, ties to hamas, and as well as ties to us. Its got a hedging sort of strategy, but yeah, they could be influential. Certainly with hostage, conceivably if messages needed to be passed to hamas, they would be the way for the United States to do it, since we dont have a relationship with iran. Egypt could be important given getting aid into gaza. Egypt used to administer gaza before 1967. They have connections. The saudis and others have influence in the region. I would just say, though, we shouldnt exaggerate, probably, the degree of, what, heavy lifting, these countries are going to do it. And theyre nervous about getting caught up in something, which is incredibly messy. They dont want refugees or the palestinian issue to spill over into their own territory. So at most theyre going to be reluctant, limited partners in diplomacy going forward. Lets talk about what the United States is doing, can be doing, one of the things john kirby talked about are the strike groups, the Eisenhower Strike Group moving through the mediterranean, heading to the gulf. Kirby said several times in that briefing is that any threats to the u. S. Interests in the region will not go unchallenged. Is iran listening . What the United States means by that, one of the threats to u. S. Interest is hezbollah entry into the war. Hezbollah has what, ten or 20 times more Military Capability than hamas. Would the United States hold iran accountable if hezbollah goes into the war . Thats a big issue. What does it mean to hold iran accountable . Would we sanction iran oil export, be prepared to use military force, if so, against what. Its not quite clear to me what that means, that kind of a Blanket Statement that were prepared to use force to protect u. S. Interests. That can mean anything and everything. Richard haass, more to come, i hope youll come back on the program. Thank you so much, appreciate your time sir. Sure. Anytime. The Weight Feeling like an eternity for the families of the hostages being held by hamas. Nbc news spoke with one of them. And well have their Emotional Message when were back in 60 secondings. Seconds. Seconds. That can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. Seconds. Abiseconds. To feco. Econds seconds. Seconds. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. Liver problems may occur in crohns disease. Control of crohns means everything to me. Ask your gastroenterologist about skyrizi. Control is everything to me learn how abbvie could help you save. Get it with gurus. Cargurus. Any minute now, detroits police chief is expected to provide an update on the fatal stabbing of the synagogue president over the weekend. Lets listen in now. Silence your cell phones. If you have a question, please approach the podium and state your name and also what station or newspaper you are representing. Were standing by. Take note, reporters. There are a lot of us in here today, so there will be a twoquestion limit. No exceptions. In the meantime, chief would like to introduce his executive team. Assistant chief charles fitzgerald. Assistant chief eric ewing. Deputy chief kari sloan, detective bureau. Also joining us today, Special Agent in charge, fbi Detroit Div