thank you for being back with us for our second hour of "chris jansing reports." we start with breaking news. a moment of much needed hope right now for the families of the hundreds of hostages being held captive by hamas. israel says it has freed a female soldier during a ground operation. the idf says it's doing everything it can to release the others. but for those living in gaza, the military is doubling down on its calls for the civilians in the north to move south saying that warning is now, quote, urgent. where is safe to go? one 14-year-old pulled from the rubble told nbc news she had fled south to they are aunt's house and that the home was bombed while they were baking bread. she heartbreakingly told our nbc news crew, quote, i wish we can live safely like all children of the world. israel continues to pound gaza as tensions are mounting on the ground. with the united nations agency there saying thousands of palestinians, quote, broke into several u.n. rwa warehouses and distribution centers over the weekend taking wheat, flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies. nbc's raf sanchez is on the ground in jerusalem for us this hour. raf, we just got that extraordinary news that a hostage has been released. what more do we know. >> reporter: yeah, chris, in just the last hour, we have been seeing celebrations outside her family home in the south of israel. she is an israeli soldier, her name is private ori megadish, d the first israeli hostage to be rescued by israeli troops since the hamas terrorist attack on october 7th. the israeli military says she's in good condition physically. they have released a phograph of her reunited with her family. obviously we do not know, chris, what she's seen, what she has been through over the last three weeks, but she's smiling and at least from the outside, she appears to be in physically good health. now, this has been just an enormous moment of relief for her family, but it is also a bright spot for the families of the other 230 or so hostages being held inside of gaza, raising spirits that there may be a chance, even if negotiations do not work, that israel may by force of arms be able to recover their loved ones. prime minister benjamin netanyahu has been speaking in the last hour, and he's been addressing the concern that many of the families the hostages had that once the ground operations inside gaza started, the window for negotiating release of the hostages might close. i want you to take a listen to a little bit of what he had to say. >> the ground action creates the possibility, not the certainty, but the possibility of getting our hostages out because hamas will not do it unless they're under pressure. they simply will not do it. they only do it under pressure. this creates pressure. >> reporter: now, chris, you see there, the prime minister kind of reversing the families' fears on their heads, saying rather than the ground offensive limiting the chances of recovering the hostages, he argues it actually increases the pressure on hamas, and will increase their willingness to negotiate. now, the term that has been bandied around here, chris, over the weekend, is an everyone for everyone deal. the families of the hostages are saying israel should agree to release all palestinian prisoners being held right now inside of palestinian prisons in return for the release of these 239 or so hostages. the leader of hamas inside gaza says he's open to that deal. chris, his name is sinwar, he himself was sentenced to life in an israeli prison for killing not just israeli troops but fellow palestinians, but he was released in one of these large scale prisoner swaps when israel released a thousand palestinians to secure a single soldier, gilad shalit held by hamas for five years. israel is dismissing the possibility of that large scale deal as psychological games being played by hamas right now. but i can tell you, chris, there is certainly a new spirit of optimism at this hour anyway about the prospect of getting those hostages out. chris. >> that is what they have now is hope, raf sanchez, thank you for that. i want to bring in colin clark, the director of policy and research at the su find group. you have two sides opposed bibi netanyahu made clear only under pressure is hamas going to release the hostages. then you have the hostage families. they have been wanting to be heard. they truly believe that this es -- escalation on the ground will make it more difficult. they're talking about everyone for everyone as raf just said. help us to understand these two conflicting sides. >> first of all, thanks for having me. i think it's interesting when you heard netanyahu talking about the pressure being applied to hamas, you only heard him talking about military pressure. he didn't say anything about diplomatic pressure. we know in previous conflicts that's what is been successful in securing the release of hostages. a ramped up ground invasion, using israeli forces to go on raids, to secure the release of hostages to get them back is extremely risky. and i sympathize with the families calling for an all for all swap. that's probably the way they can guarantee that all of these people come home alive. it's a very complex situation, one that's likely going to get more complicated over the coming days. >> israel has been very clear, at least netanyahu has is that the goal is to get rid of hamas once and for all. there are lots of voices who argue that's just not possible. is it or is the real question how do you contain hamas as best as possible? >> yeah, well from studying terrorists and insurgent groups and the history of these groups, more often than not, it's almost impossible to completely eradicate them. the way you end conflicts is, you know, bring them into some kind of a political settlement. now, that doesn't mean there aren't individuals, hard liners that need to be captured. but they have to look at what kind of a future do the palestinian people have for a state so we can avoid situations repeating like this 12, 18 months down the line where, you know, we're engaged in political violence. israel calls it mowing the lawn. how do we grow to a sustainable settlement that involves a palestinian state at some point. >> if you look at where we are right now, there are lots of reports that suggest hamas is ready to be in this for some time. "the new york times" writes, hamas has carbs of ammunition, and stockpiles of food, water and medicine, the officials said. a senior lebanese official said hamas had enough stocked away to keep fighting for three to four months without resupply. does that sound right to you? are they prepared to keep going for a long time? >> well, clearly they're prepared, and i think that's one of the situations that led to the -- where we are now with israeli intelligence underestimating hamas, underestimating their capables. underestimating their resolve. they're clearly playing the long game. we know that politicians tend to be myopic, shortsighted, focused on reelection, staying in power. terrorists and insurgent groups are operating on a completely different time line. i have no doubt that hamas is prepared to be in this for the long run. israel needs to take that into account. >> the world health organization has once again urged israel to rescind its evacuation order, saying it's impossible to clear out hospitals without risking the lives of patients. just the idea that you can move some of these patients will kill them. we have seen how the south has gotten bombarded. we have had horror stories of people escaping to the south, only to find themselves in situations where their families are killed. where can people go? where should they be expected to flee? >> look, this is part of the, you know, the back and forth between each of these sides. a lot of this conflict is taking place in the information environment. it's not just taking place on the battlefield, and i think we need to consider what happens to the civilians here? . we're seeing daily images of brutal suffering, and that's going to leave an impression on the international community. we need to consider letting aid in, aid groups, journalists. from what i'm hearing, that's really not possible. it's really difficult to know exactly what's going on and to be able to advise. what are the best practices and lessons learned from previous conflicts that will help avoid civilian casualties. i think that's got to be a big focus of some of the conversations taking place at the diplomatic level right now. >> colin clarke, thank you so much. appreciate you coming on the program. as we mentioned, that one hostage, an israeli soldier is now free. nbc's josh lederman is live in jerusalem for us. so just one, there were four previously who were released but what do we know about the rest of the hostages, josh? >> reporter: well, chris, we know that the number of hostages believed to be in the gaza strip is actually growing. it is now in the upper 230s range. just a couple of days ago, israel thought it was closer to 229. the reason for that is because as they continue to identify the bodies of people who were killed in the terror attack here in israel, they're able to cross reference it against the list of the missing and figure out by process of elimination who is now in israel. of course the number has dropped by one. israel has managed to free one of its soldiers, in the first operation since the start of the war that has freed an israeli troop. we also know that hamas is saying that it does not plan to voluntarily release any of the hostages who are israeli troops. they only will agree to release potentially civilians while saying any troops would have to be freed in a prisoner exchange, and that is raises questions for prime minister netanyahu about whether it's time to have a cease fire that could push hamas, and create conditions for more hostages to be released. netanyahu responding to that criticism, that question, and also his view about what should happen with these hostages in remarks he gave a few minutes ago to the foreign press. take a listen. >> most despicably, hamas is holding over 200 israeli hostages, including 33 children. holding them, terrorizing them, keeping them as hostages. every civilized nation should stand with israel in demanding that these hostages be freed immediately, and freed unconditionally. >> reporter: but of course we also heard prime minister netanyahu in that rare press conference that he gave here in israel asked, okay, but what about a cease fire. could that potentially lead to the goal he laid out of freeing the rest of the hostages. prime minister netanyahu making clear, while israel is doing everything possible to bring those hostages home, he is not entertaining a cease fire at this time, and he does not think that it's an appropriate question for people to be asking israeli right now for it to unilaterally stop its military action in the gaza strip, considering the goal they feel is so imperative to israel's basic existence to completely eliminate hamas, chris. >> josh lederman, thank you. up next, fighting anti-semitism on college campuses. we're back in 60 seconds with a live report from columbia university. where students are taking a stand right now. ch] [car door slam] [camera shutter sfx] introducing ned's plaque psoriasis. 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[ting] ♪♪ live in the moment. ask your doctor about otezla. just moments ago, students at columbia university here in new york denounced recent acts of anti-semitism on campus that they say have made jewish and israeli students feel unsafe. and columbia is not alone. last night, violent anti-semitic messages posted online forced cornell university administrators to alert the fbi and send campus police to guard a jewish center. nbc's stephanie gosk is following all of this for us. stephanie, what did you hear from students at columbia? >> reporter: you know, chris, it's becoming a common refrain, not just here at columbia, but at a number of universities in this country, jewish students are saying they feel unsafe. a group of 30 students held a press conference, and laid out how they are feeling and also some of the incidents they experienced, including anti-semitism, violence, threats of violence online. there's one incident where an israeli student is posting posters of the hostages taken in israel and was attacked. that person is now facing four charges. two of them are for hate crimes. there was also a swastika that was painted on the side of the building. the students basically saying they want the university to do more than what it's doing. take a listen to what one of them had to say. >> while the statements condemning identity based hope, gave students hope the administration would take concrete actions. the university's actions have made us question whether columbia university can actually maintain an environment where all students feel welcome and safe on campus. this hate will not disappear on its own. >> reporter: so one of the points that these students made what they were talking here today is it is not just anti-semitism. there has been islamophobia as well. because of these incidents, they are unable to hold the kind of good faith debate on the issues that you often hear on college campuses, chris. >> stephanie gosk, thank you so much for that. this alarming uptick of antesemitic incidents since the war began, combat hateful rhetoric. the departments of justice and homeland security will partner with campus law enforcement to track hate-related rhetoric online. the administration says dozens of cyber security and protective security experts have now been sent to work directly with schools as they navigate this tense and intense moment. meantime, the landlord accused of killing a 6-year-old palestinian american boy and critically injuring his mother in an alleged hate crime outside of chicago has just pled not guilty to murder and hate crime charges against him. 71-year-old joseph chuba screamed you muslims have to die when he barged in fatally stabbed wade, wadea's mother never suspected he would hurt wadea. he was like a grandfather for him, and saying he actually ran toward him for a hug, and was stabbed 26 times. nbc's maggie vespa has the latest for us. maggie, prosecutors have said they have a mountain of evidence. the defense team elaborated on that not guilty plea. tell us what happens now. >> yeah, so basically, chris, shuba's public defender met with reporters today, after his client had pleaded not guilty to eight felony counts, including murder and hate crime charges. essentially his client is pleading not guilty because his defense team is getting ready to conduct their own investigation into this attack, which happened a couple of weeks ago on saturday, october 14th. so while they conduct their own investigation, they're basically having him plead not guilty to protect his rights. but, again, a couple of weeks ago, basically one week after the hamas attacks in israel, prosecutors say joseph czuba, the 71-year-old landlord, attacked a mother and 6-year-old boy because prosecutors said, according to czuba's own wife had become obsessed with the attacks in israel and became convinced that his tenants, a mom and a little kid were going to hurt him. again, they said they have spoken to his wife, spoken to him. prosecutors coming down with eight felony counts, naming him as the only suspect nation. we talked about the mom, hanaan shahin in this case. she was stabbed 12 times. according to police and prosecutors, she miraculously survived. she is out of the hospital. she is recovering. through a statement released through the council on american islamic relations asking for the public to pray for peace, and calling her son her best friend. chris. >> maggie vespa, thank you so much for that. towing the line, trump's plan to fight back against his recently reinstated gag order by judge tanya chutkan, and the penalties trump could face if he continues to face the gaggle of charges. you're watching msnbc. charges. you're watching msnbc. also defes for everyone who lives here. ♪ the subway series is taking your favorite to the next level! like the #20. the elite chicken and bacon ranch. built with rotisserie-style chicken and double cheese. i love what i'm seeing here. that's some well-coached chicken. you done, peyton? the subway series just keeps gettin' better. it's back, a federal judge has reinstated the gag order on former president trump, upping the ante if he should break. she lifted a temporary hold yeerday, vowing to repl the ruling, writing in part, it takes away my first amendment right of free speech in the middle of my campaign for president. chutkan's nine-page order had rejected tt ruling quote, contrary to the defendant's argument, the right to a fair trial is not his alone, but also belongs to the government and the public. the order bans trump from making statements about potential witnesses or disparaging comments about prosecutors, court staff, or support personnel. joining us now, carol lam, former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst. at the heart of the latest decision were comments donald trump made about a potential witness, mark meadows, which chutkan called harmful and prejudicial. do you envision this gag order staying in effect for the entire trial? >> i think that donald trump is not going to win his appeal because the judge has taken a very measured approach to thchlt she has taken her time. she has put this gag order on hold to allow some of these issues to get aired and to allow it to go before the appellate court. as soon as she put it on hold, donald trump took advantage of that, and went ahead and made comments he should not have made. then she imposed the gag order. there's a high likelihood her order is going to be upheld by the court of appeals, and the reason is the court of appeals is staffed by judges. they understand the importance of having a fair administration of justice in the courtroom, and donald trump has shown that he's really not interested in what goes on in the courtroom with respect to respecting the judicial system. he is playing a political game here. >> he did it again this morning. he posted on social media, trashing the judge. i mean, would that break the just reinstated gag order? and if it does, whether that does or he does it in the future, what's next then? >> one of the enforcement mechanisms that judge chutkan has available. we have seen in the trial in new york city that the judge has imposed a financial fine. first it was $5,000, then he did it again, and then another $10,000, and certainly the financial fines can be imposed. they can be increased, doubled, go up geometrically. there are other steps she can take before the step of putting him in custody until the trial, which is an unlikely scenario. she could for example have him under house arrest for a defined period of time. maybe it's only a day to begin with. maybe it's a couple of days, and then if necessary, if he continues to push the envelope here and cross lines that she has cautioned him not to cross, he can also be placed in custody. but again,