it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. breaking right now, reports of strikes near several hospitals in gaza. the palestinian red cross saying israeli snipers are opening fire at one facility. israel has said it does not target hospitals. we'll ask an idf spokesperson about what is happening in just a couple of minutes. also breaking, the white house announces a crucial in person meeting between president biden and china's xi jinping in california next week. on capitol hill, time is running out. we're just one week away from the deadline to come to a deal and avert a government shutdown. we got brand-new reporting on where negotiations stand. meanwhile, the fbi investigating a series of letters containing suspicious powder sent to election workers in several states. and former president donald trump defends his family's separation policy at the border. we'll play for you what he had to say. we begin this hour with breaking news out of the israel-hamas war. this morning, israeli forces are pushing deeper into gaza city as the city comes under heavy strikes. people seeking shelter at the city's main hospital witnessed firsthand the bloody reality of the conflict. take a look at the scene, outside al shifa hospital. world health organization said was coming under bombardment. officials in gaza accused israel of launching strikes overnight near hospitals. nbc news reached out to the idf about these strikes. israeli tanks have also been seen near hospitals in gaza, including this children's hospital. israel's forces continue to move as their daily six-hour tactical pauses go into effect, allowing civilians to move and reach safety. both israel and the white house are making it clear this is a pause and not a cease-fire. meanwhile, in a new interview, prime minister benjamin netanyahu said israel does not seek to occupy the gaza strip at the end of the war, days after saying israel was looking at some kind of security responsibility. >> we don't seek to occupy gaza, we don't seek to govern gaza. we'll have to find a government, a civilian government that will be there, but in the foreseeable future, we have to make sure that this doesn't happen again. >> joining us now, josh lederman in tel aviv and gabe gutierrez at the white house. what do we know about the reported strikes near hospitals in gaza? >> reporter: well, we know, jose that we have now verified video from our colleagues at reuters that shows the aftermath of a strike that damaged the outpatient clinic at al shifa hospital, the largest medical facility in the gaza strip. we know both palestinian officials and the w.h.o. say that there were strikes at that and other hospitals today. what we don't yet know is whether this was specifically targeted by the idf or whether these in fact were israeli strikes, because the israeli military has not yet commented on this. we do know that israel has been very open about the fact that their military is operating in the vicinity of hospitals in the gaza strip. they say that is because there are terror targets that are in that vicinity. but whether minority they're intentionally targeting hospitals remains to be seen. one of the reasons this has become so obscure, jose, is because we have now moved into the phase of this conflict where it is not just air strikes from the sky. where it is fairly obvious from video from the ground and the aftermath if a bomb was dropped from an airplane. we're talking now about shelling from tanks within the gaza strip, we're talking about close quarters combat and it is very difficult sometimes to tell from these videos, quickly, exactly what has happened. you have tens of thousands of palestinian civilians who have sought shelter in the vicinity of these hospitals. in the courtyards of these hospitals. and so when there is damage, injuries, it can be very difficult to know if the hospital itself was hit or possibly the areas around them still leading to significant numbers of casualties? as of now, the israeli military not yet commenting what we have seen today at al shifa hospital, jose. >> josh what are officials in israel saying about these pauses in operations? >> reporter: well, they're really downplaying the significance of what the white house announced yesterday, jose. they say, look, we for days now have been allowing these humanitarian corridors out of northern gaza, frankly because they want civilians to leave so that what is left in northern gaza is hamas terrorists that they can then target. they say there is no period of time where israel has agreed to a cease-fire or even to stop strikes on the entirety of the gaza strip. they say for certain localized areas, various neighborhoods, they are announcing these pauses so that aid can get in, people can take time to get the supplies that they need and to get out of the gaza strip. but they are really insisting that what israel agreed to looks nothing like the kind of cease-fire that much of the international community is now calling for. >> gabe, what is the white house saying about these pauses. >> reporter: they're clarifying this was a formalization and expansion of what the idf had been doing for days. as josh mentioned, israeli officials are downplaying this, but the white house says that there are several things about this that are new including a new humanitarian corridor from one corridor to two, that would accomplish several things. one, potentially to get civilians out of harm's way, to also get humanitarian aid into the region and if and when hostage releases are negotiated, it would allow that to happen as well. now, a senior administration official also clarified to me that when president biden was asked whether he had been asking for a three-day humanitarian pause, the president responded and had been asking for a pause much longer than that, and a senior administration official confirmed to me just a short time ago that, yes, president at one point had asked for a longer pause, but wouldn't go into any further details about private discussions between president biden and prime minister netanyahu, jose. >> and, interesting, gabe, that the fact that these pauses were announced by the white house, the national security adviser announcing that there at the white house and not in israel? >> reporter: that's right. the biden administration has been trying to signal that it is asking for those humanitarian pauses, perhaps as a reaction to, you know international outcry about what has happened with civilians in gaza. the u.s. has been very clear that it does not want to see and is telling israel what to do. it is up to israel to decide what military tactics it would do in israel. so, certainly, as josh was mentioning, israeli officials downplaying this. the announcement of these pauses did come from the national security council here in the u.s., jose. >> and, gabe, we're learning this morning that president biden will meet with china's xi jinping in san francisco next week? >> reporter: that's right. the white house announcing, making it official that president biden would meet with chinese president xi in the bay area next wednesday. now, this will be the first time that president biden meets face to face with chinese president in about a year. the last time he did so was at the g-20 summit in indonesia and first time that president xi comes to the united states in about six years when he met with former president trump at mar-a-lago. now, the white house says that there will be a range of regional and global issues that will be brought up, certainly something expected to be talked about as a production of fentanyl, also russia's invasion of ukraine as well, and the israel-hamas war. jose? >> gabe gutierrez and josh lederman, thank you for being with us this morning. earlier today, secretary of state antony blinken welcomed the announcement on humanitarian pauses to the operations. >> much more needs to be done to protect civilians and to make sure that humanitarian assistance reaches them. far too many palestinians have been killed. far too many have suffered. >> joining us now is peter lerner, spokesperson for the israeli defense forces and head of the foreign press branch. thank you very much for being with us. we have been talking about this a few minutes ago, tanks have been seen here, children's hospital, in gaza, we just discussed the explosion near al shifa hospital and now the palestinian red cross saying there are intense clashes happening at the al quds hospital. >> it exemplifies what we have been trying to do for the last month in evacuating people from the north and getting them to go down south and get them out of harm's way. hamas has turned hospitals into positions where they localize their command and control capabilities, their tunnel system, their abilities to launch rockets, all of these are being done in and around and beneath hospitals. this is the challenge that we are facing. this is precisely why we're encouraging people to go south. >> back to the palestinian red cross, it is saying there are actually -- the israeli snipers inside hospital areas, in gaza, is there fighting going on right now by idf special forces, et cetera, in or near hospitals in gaza at this hour? >> i can't comment specifically on thickthings that happening a speak for operational security concerns. we have seen gunfights around hospitals over the last couple of days. and this is precisely we have seen today videos circulating of people trying to evacuate hospitals and hamas shooting at them themselves. this is the battle and indeed the images out of gaza are heart breaking and something we need to mitigate and get the people out of harm's way. >> how do you do that and these pauses that are now being carried out for six hours, what exactly are they? >> so the pauses are localized in essence. so it is different neighborhoods in and around the northern gaza strip, no fire, no exchange of fire. you can imagine sometimes that could jeopardize the safety and security of our forces, if a hamas terrorist comes out of a tunnel with an rpg. we are trying to evacuate people and get them out of harm's way, move to the evacuation paths and enable -- to enable them to get south, to go south, to go towards the southern gaza strip because our operations are focused on the heart of hamas' activities in the northern gaza strip, in -- this is the beating heart, it is where they created their bastion of barbarism. >> and, you know, it all, again, it is always important to put things into perspective. and dates and things matter. the 7th of october, 1400 men, women, and children were butchered in israel by hamas terrorists who crossed in and butchered them. they also took more than 200 people, men, women and children, as hostages to gaza. what is it that you are doing about these 240 people who may be very well under those tunnels where there is all kinds of activity going on? >> today, we have confirmed 239 hostages. the youngest is a baby who is 10 months old. and we saw yesterday that palestinian islamic jihad broadcast a video of 77-year-old hannah and is it-year-old jacob in their psychological terrorism and their attempt to try and exert more pain on israel and the idf. we are utilizing all of our tools in order to bring them home. and so it is operational, it is intelligence, we are establishing and working in order to bring them home and if the opportunity comes, then, of course, we will rescue them, like we rescued ori. it is hamas' responsibility, they're responsible for their well-being. we demanded the international committee of the red cross have access and visit and assess their well-being. unfortunately i can't report that that's happening. but it is a national priority. 239 people being held in the hands of these butchers. this is the reason. we're not at war with hamas because of october 7th. we're at war with hamas to prevent another october 7th. we need to bring home our people. >> and, colonel there are no doubt thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of innocent men, women and children who have died in gaza as a consequence of post 7th of october. how do you minimize what is already a huge number of innocent civilians that have lost their lives there? >> so, first of all, the images, you can't ignore the heart breaking images coming out from gaza. truly heart wrenching and as a father, as a human being, we are seeing them and distraught by those images. it is a war that hamas caused, hamas strategically went and decided to breach our border in 20 different locations. and the people of gaza, like the people of israel, are paying for the failed leadership of hamas. we have no -- the people of gaza aren't our enemy. hamas is our enemy. we need to get rid of hamas once and for all, for everyone's well-being. >> lieutenant colonel peter lerner, thank you very much for being with us this morning. i very much appreciate your time. >> good day. still ahead, what the new house speaker is doing tomorrow to get the ball rolling on a government funding deal with just one week to go before the deadline. plus, being called domestic terrorism, poll workers in several states receiving suspicious letters including at least one laced with fentanyl. we're back in 60 seconds. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. es you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. hi, my name is damion clark. if you have both medicare and medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that you'll definitely want to hear. depending on the plans available in your area, you may be eligible to get extra benefits with a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. all of these plans include a healthy options allowance, a monthly allowance to help pay for eligible groceries, utilities, rent, and over-the-counter items. the healthy options allowance is loaded onto a prepaid card each month. and whatever you don't spend, carries over from each month. other benefits on these plans include free rides to and from your medical appointments. and our large networks of doctors, hospitals and pharmacies. so, call the number on your screen now and ask about a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. humana. a more human way to healthcare. 16 past the hour. a week from today, next friday, the government could just be hours away from a shutdown. a senior republican aide tells nbc news mike johnson is expected to release tomorrow the legislative text of his resolution to continue to fund the government. both the house and the senate have left washington for the weekend. joining us now with more is nbc news capitol hill correspondent julie tsirkin. good morning. what do we know about the speaker's plan to fund the government? it is going to be released tomorrow, when no one is there and the folks are already going home. >> that's the expected goal. i'm still being cautioned by sources that depending on how things shake out today, that timeline could slip, but they are running out of time. we're about a week away from the shutdown as you mentioned and the plan is not really concrete here. it is not really fully baked. that's because you have hard-line republicans, similar to the problem that kevin mccarthy, the ousted speaker faced, wanting a complicated stopgap funding measure to make sure that they can implore the spending cuts later on rather than letting senate democrats jam them. and it is complicated because it is called this ladder cr, where the funding cliffs happen on two different dates. some funding agencies will run out, some government agencies will run out of funding in january according to this plan, others i february. the issue is not only democrats hate thisplan, appropriators incl senate republicans don't liket either. i asked hakeem jeffries, the house democratic leader, about this yesterday, and here's what he told me. >> a continuing resolution that is at the fiscal year 2023 levels is the only way forward because that's the status quo. house democrats are not asking for our policy references. we're asking for the status quo to keep the government open. >> reporter: that status quo he's referring to is a clean continuing resolution, something that conservatives here in the house are giving speaker johnson a hard time over. >> julie tsirkin on capitol hill, thank you very much. this morning, the fbi and u.s. postal inspection service are investigating letters containing suspicious powder that were sent to election workers in at least six states. yesterday, officials said that at least one case the powder tested positive for fentanyl. ken dilanian is with us this morning. do we know who sent these letter and why? >> the fbi and the u.s. postal inspection service are investigating. they have not disclosed any suspects. the why appears to be domestic terrorism, that's what state election officials have been saying, an effort to terrorize election workers and stop them from doing their work. there have been reports of suspicious envelopes in washington state, oregon, texas, georgia, california, and nevada. there are more than one instance of the substance in these envelopes testing positive for fentanyl. and as you know, this is coming at a time when election workers have already been subject to heightened state of threats amid bogus charges of election fraud and they're pretty upset about it. listen to one person we spoke to in king county, washington. >> it is saddening to know folks want to cause us harm. i think we all know here that their intentionally trying to break us. break us enough to stop elections and that's not going to happen. it quite frankly did the opposite. it lit a fire underneath us. we are resilient. and we are determined. and we are passionate about the work, which is nonpartisan election administration, counting your ballot. >> the fbi is urging everyone to be vigilant and careful about how they handle their mail, jose. >> ken, just this morning, the fbi says they arrested a january 6th defendant after a major police manhunt? >> yeah, that's right. he was a new jersey national guard member who is charged with felonies in connection with the january 6th attack. he was there at the capitol, gregory yetman is his name. when the fbi went to arrest him, he fled and there was a massive manhunt in new jersey and today he turned himself in to monroe township police at a police station not far from his house. he didn't get far. our source said he was disheveled, there were registered weapons in the house. this was a serious situation. he's now in fbi custody awaiting a court appearance. >> ken dilanian, thank you very much. up next, some are calling it democrats' worst nightmare. why senator joe manchin decided not to seek re-election. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. n. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. i. -thanks for swinging by, carl. -no problem. so what are all those for? uh, this lets me adjust the base, add more guitar, maybe some drums. -wow. so many choices. -yeah. like schwab. i can get full service wealth management, advice, invest on my own, and trade on thinkorswim. you know carl is the only front man you need. 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