the threat here in the u.s. has been raised to a whole new level as a result of the israel hamas war. for one of the senators in that room, the threat is already hitting very close to home. one nevada man just arrested for allegedly making antisemitic calls to the senator. one chilling voice mail referred to finishing quote, what hitler started. our nbc news reporters are following all of the latest developments and we begin with the war in gaza and new pictures showing the site of a massive explosion at a refugee camp just outside of gaza city. raf sanchez is reporting from israel. what do we know about this? >> so, chris, this explosion happened at the refugee camp, the largest of the eight in gaza. it is as you said in the northern end of the gaza strip. it's close to the israeli border. we are seeing just this scenes of enormous destruction there inside that refugee camp. a local hospital official tells us dozens of people were killed. we don't have an exact number, but dozens of people were killed. many, many more injured an chris, in just the last couple of minutes, the israeli military has confirmed that it was one of their strikes which caused that explosion in the refugee camp. they say that they successfully targeted a senior hamas military leader who was responsible for one of the commando units involved in the massacre inside of israel on october 7th. the israeli military is saying they were targeting him. they were targeting underground tunnels inside of this camp. they say they successfully killed him. they say they successfully killed a number of hamas officials who were with him and they are confirming that what they're calling underground terrorist infrastructure beneath buildings inside that camp collapsed after the strike. now, chris, you can see in those pictures, there are just these absolutely enormous craters. those could be a sign of these massive israeli bunker buster bombs, which they use. it could be the bomb itself caused the foundations of neighboring buildings to collapse. it could also be as the israeli military says, that there were tunnels under the buildings and they collapsed. we should be clear, we cannot get into gaza, we cannot access this refugee camp, we cannot verify the claim they have successfully killed a hamas leader and they were targeting tunnels. we do know this is happening in the northern end of gaza. the israeli ground forces are surrounding gaza city,hi is up in the north. they have been urging israeli civilian, palestiniancivians, excuse me, to flee south. they are saying that they will be safe if they go south but the reality is israeli strikes are continuing in the south, too. they are hitting in other areas. the united nations is saying there is nowhere safe for palestinians now. to say nothing of the dire shortages they are facing, food, medicine, basics and as we were talking about in the last hour, the u.n. humanitarian organizations say they need fuel. no fuel has got into gaza since october 7th. and they say without it, they cannot keep the lights on at hospitals. and they cannot distribute that frankly rather small amount of aid which has made it in so far from egypt. >> thank you for that. meantime, israeli warplanes struck more hezbollah targets this lebanon overnight, raising the threat of regional war. just days before the hezbollah leader is set to make his first remarks since that fighting broke out. matt bradley is reporting from lebanon. israel says thousands of lebanese have fled the southern part of the country over the past week. what are you hearing from officials there? >> reporter: yeah, that's right, chris. the united nations had said last week there were nearly 20,000 lebanese who had fled the border area. this is a situation that hasn't actually erupted into full scale war yet but if you look behind me, there's a massive fire right along that ridge. that is right along lebanon's border with israel and we've been seeing attacks picking up over the past week. over the past couple of days, we've been hearing them all day today. a really thunderous pounding that we can feel in our chests here. and this is something that just goes to show that while we have been seeing the violence increasing here, we haven't seen it break out into a full on war. now, hezbollah has said that more than 50 of its fighters have been killed. more than 250 were killed back in 2006 when there was a full scale war between hezbollah and israel. and now there hasn't been a full scale war yet but we're still seeing the numbers of casualties on the hezbollah side increasing. the number of israelis who have been killed along the border hasn't broken past ten year. so we're still seeing a disproportionate number of people who have been killed on the hezbollah side. as you mentioned, this hasn't broken out into full on war but we're about to hear for the first time ever since these hostilities broke out, from hezbollah's leader. the whole region has been waiting to hear a word from him because if war does break out here, this will be much bigger than where raf is right outside of the gaza strip because hezbollah just brings that much more to bear. this has been shown back in 2006. it's been shown in neighboring syria where hezbollah has been fighting against sunni backed groups for much of the past decade and that's why the united states has parked not one but two aircraft carrier strike groups off the coast here, waiting to see if this war internationalizes and that's why everybody is so worried and why everybody is going to be watching so closely to hear what he says on friday. >> matt bradley, thank you for that. on capitol hill, senators heard testimony on threats to the home land. for one senator, those threats hit close to home. i want to bring in nbc's ali vitali on the hill who is covering the personal side of this hearing. a nevada man i understand was just charged with making antisemitic calls to senator jackie rosen? what more can you tell us? >> yeah, that's right, chris. charged with one count of threatening a federal official. in this instance, it's one of the few jewish senators serving in this building. senator jackie rosen. she was a part of the hearing today on an assessment of global threat, but when we pointed out we've seen antisemitic threats on the rise especially since what happened in israel earlier this month, she was talking about it as a jew herself who has faced those threats. listen. >> well, i'm peopling the same as jews are feeling all around the world. under attack and under threat. now, i have full confidence in our department of justice and law enforcement to work on this case. but frankly, students across the country, k-12, our college campuses, look at the protests around the world. jews are feeling under attack. >> senator rosen there speaking to the personal reality and experience, but also one that we've been reporting on across college campuses, across the country and certainly the world in the aftermath of what's going on in israel in that initial attack by hamas. the other thing senator rosen asked these officials for including the head of the fbi was for a briefing on the rise of antisemitism in the united states. that's something that wray and his fellow colleagues who were testifying with him said they would be happy to provide to the senator and to others here on capitol hill in the coming weeks. >> thank you for that. and ken dilanian has been following this hearing, too, listening to the warnings from the experts. ken, the homeland security secretary did not mince words. he said this is not a moment to let our guards down. what else did you hear? >> that's right. he and chris wray said the ongoing war in the middle east has raised the threat of terrorist attacks on americans. wray said that the actions of hamas and its allies will serve as an inspiration the likes of which we haven't seen since isis launched its so-called calaphate. and pointed out al-qaeda has issued its most specific call to attack the united states in the last five years and that isis is urging followers to target jewish communities in the u.s. and europe. there was a really dramatic moment when senator hawley was questioning secretary mayorcas about the actions of a dhs asylum officer who praised the attack on israel in some really objectable language. >> is this typical of people who work at dhs? this is an asylum and immigration officer who is posting these frankly pro genocidal slogans and images on the day israelis are being slaughtered in their beds. what have you done about this? >> one of the things i'd like to say to you. number one, your question to suggest that that is emblematic of the men and women of the department of homeland security is despicable. >> i'm sorry, what have -- this person works for the department of homeland security. have you fired her? >> that was one of four answers. >> have you fired her? >> one. >> have you fired her? don't come to this hearing room when israel has been invaded and jewish students are barricades in libraries in this country and cannot be escorted out because they are threatened for their lives. you have employees who are celebrating genocide and you are saying it's despicable for me to ask the question? >> senator hawley takes an adversarial approach to me in this question and perhaps he dupt know my own background. the child of a holocaust survivor. perhaps he does not know that my mother lost almost all her family at the hands of the nazis so i find his adversarial tone to be entirely misplaced. i find it to be disrespectful of me and my heritage. and i do not except an apology. >> and chris, secretary mayorcas also said the employee in question had been placed on leave and he could not comment on the details of the personnel situation but made it clear he did not endorse these statements and remarks. >> ken, thank you so much. here with me now, lisa ruben. this is shocking what's happening in this country. the escalation in the number of threats. i want to go back to this nevada guy who's been allegedly arrested for threatening jackie rosen. from ohio, the latest city where they're hiring peoe to watch members of the city council when they go to events. not just because of what they've seen as a result of the israeli hamas war, but there have been incidents. we talk a lot about law enforcement trying to investigate this stuff, but what tools do prosecutors have in their bags to fight antisemitism? >> prosecutors have a number of tools to fight online, antisemitism or threats. i want to go to the rosen piece in particular because if jackie rosen's name were lisa ruben, federal prosecutors would have a number of tools to prosecute someone who said the same things to me online or my voice mail there were sent to rosen. there's a federal antistalking statute that prohibits certain threats made online. there are federal statutes that prohibit making threats to telecommunications devices or to injure someone or any online or telephonic communication inherently across the state lines. so there are a number of tools the department of justice has to prosecute people when they cross the line from free speech to inciting violence. >> you're a public figure. you're on television frequently. obviously, jackie rosen is an elected official but if i'm a college student, if i'm just any american, i have those same rights and prosecutors can use that same tool box, right? >> yes, they can. i want to be really clear. i'm not just a public figure, but i'm a jewish public figure so what jackie rosen has said resonates deeply with me as does the situation that hundreds of thousands of college students find themselves in. the reason the biden administration is working through the department of justice and the department of homeland security to provide tools to campuses is exactly so that they can prosecute outliers who are going beyond free speech to threats by investigating who are making these threats online. they're trying to help campuses use cybersecurity tools to unpack where the threats are coming from. are they coming from campus? overseas, or people like the defendant in the jackie rosen case who are americans who can be prosecuted here on our soil. >> thank you so much for that. universities across the country are grappling with a rise in antisemitism since the start of the israel hamas war. we're going to speak with journalists at cornell where students are coping with threats on campus. but first, how do you fight hamas while still acting the best interest of civilians? i'll ask an expert in 60 seconds. civilians i'll ask an expert in 60 seconds. 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is the value of this strike or the inevitability of civilian casualties, the moral consequences as well as the diplomatic. i also think that one thing israel might want to consider, i understand why the israelis oppose a cease fire. it doesn't make sense when you're up against a terrorist organization, but there might be a strong case for pauses where there could be pauses for example to allow aid to get into gaza. there could be pauses to facilitate exchanges of hostages for prisoners or what have you. i think that would also be good. but so long as as hamas is armed, so long as hamas is dedicated to the destruction of the jewish state, so long as people who perpetrated october 7th are in gaza, so long as hamas is preparing for future october 7ths, then israel has to have the right to strike. the question is how does it do it in a smart and humane way. i can articulate it easier than it can be managed. >> the prime minister made it clear during this hour yesterday when he gave that speech and answered some questions, that cease fire is not in the cards. and he is still facing blow back for the now deleted tweet where he deflected blame for the hamas , the intelligence failur there's a columnhe newspaper put it this way. his spin is clear. the idf andhin bet both fa i wasn't involved. the subject here isintage netanyahu. everyone failed him. everyone misled him. everyone i against him. only he can save the country. israel is too big to fail but its prime minister is too strong and its government too incompetent to succeed. i think that reflects what we see in the polls. a growing dissatisfaction with netanyahu. do you think he's in trouble? >> it's getting very hard for israel to change horses given what's going on. you've got a slightly larger government now than you had before october 7th. but there's no disagreement on what they're writing about is essentially the character shortcomings of the israeli prime minister. they are many and they are well-known. and i think his days are numbered in the sense that as soon as things calm, there will clearly be all sort of inquiries and investigations into october 7th. it's hard for me to imagine that he emerges there in tact politically. he could also face problems sooner if things go poorly in gaza. what he is doing is a major risk i would argue. this kind of a large ground operation as well as an air operation. and if it goes poorly, then i think the idea that he's going to be given this much discretion as a wartime leader could fade. i think the israeli people are tired of him. he's the longest serving prime minister in israel's history. i think essentially, he's much closer to the end of his political career shall we say than anything else. >> always good to see you. thank you. >> thanks, chris. in just two weeks, bases with u.s. forces have been attacked roughly two dozen times. the response from the pentagon, next. and any minute, the senate is set to vote on president biden' this. you're watching chris jansing reports only on msnbc. ing reports only on msnbc. kisqali is a pill that, when taken with an aromatase inhibitor is the only treatment of its kind shown to both help people live longer and improve or preserve quality of life. because you shouldn't have to sacrifice one for the other. kisqali can cause lung problems, or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. avoid grapefruit during treatment. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, cough, chest pain, a change in your heartbeat, dizziness, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills, or other symptoms of an infection, a severe or worsening rash, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. live longer and live well. ask about kisqali, and long live you. 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