watching symone. new developments in the israel-hamas war, and israel's expanded air and ground assault in gaza. more aid trucks enter gaza, today as conditions for civilians deteriorate. thousands of people have reportedly broken into a warehouse, clamoring for food and other basic supplies just to survive. aid workers warned that civil order is breaking down. what u.s. officials are saying about this humanitarian crisis. and, donald trump's fraud trial in new york has become a family affair. the former president's children, don junior, eric, and ivanka, all our call to take the witness stand this week. our illegal gurus break down what we can expect to hear from them, before their father testifies on november 6th. and, -- has one of the ballot in virginia. why her state senate race will impact women's rights and decisions about their own bodies, in the commonwealth. virginia is the only southern state that has not added abortion restrictions since roe v. wade was overturned. that could change, because elections matter y'all. i am symone sanders-townsend, and i have something to say. it is four pm, eastern and new york. and ten pm in israel, and gaza. as relief agencies scramble to meet gaza spiraling humanitarian needs, ten aid trucks entered the region today through the rafah border crossing. and for the first time since the war began, desperately needed fuel was also allowed to pass into gaza as well. but, ten trucks is only about 5% of the aid that was arriving daily before the war. in a region where 80% of people in gaza rely on humanitarian assistance last year, according to unicef, the developing crisis has lead to scenes like this. >> the united nations relief and works agency, describe this situation on your screen asked, quote, a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down. thousands of gaza residents broke into warehouses on friday, taking, wheat flour, and other basic survival items gaza civilians, desperate search for humanitarian relief, is happening as a backdrop of an apt of war zone, as israel continues expanding its, air land, and see attacks on hamas. residents are searching for safety, as a constant barrage of strikes doesn't make their communities. this weekend saw tens of thousands of people across the globe, joining demonstrations demanding an immediate cease fire. some members -- agree with. and here is what democratic congressman from washington state, and chair of the congressional progressive caucus primala jayapal told my colleague, chris walker, on meet the press this morning. >> -- this is not a situation that is going to help either advance our long term strategic goals of taking out hamas, of ensuring security and peace for both israelis and palestinians, or frankly, our ability to hold our moral authority on the world stage, by ensuring that israel follows the international humanitarian laws, or the laws of war as president biden has called for. >> but a cease-fire is nowhere in sight. yesterday, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the war was in a new stage. and he warned, the fight to eradicate hamas, and for israel's very survival, would be long and difficult. since that address, the israeli defense forces say they have hit more than 450 terror targets, a major escalation in its counteroffensive. the ground operation has also increased, with tanks and infantry pouring into the gaza border. here is what national security adviser jake sullivan told my colleague john, psaki about this escalation. >> we had over time, ask the same hard questions of the israeli's, that we would ask of ourselves in an operation like. this what are the objectives? are the means matched to the objectives. how are you going about this. and critically, how to deal with the fact that hamas is holding civilians as human shields. it is hiding among the civilian population, which creates an added burden for israel. but, it does not lessen the need for israel to distinguish between terrorists on the one, and an innocent civilians who deserve protection on the other. >> well hopefully, some of the answers to those questions will be coming soon. the white house detailed discussions on a call between president biden and prime minister netanyahu, that happened today. and it focused in part, on increasing humanitarian aid to gaza, following international, law and hostage release efforts. here with the latest, is nbc news correspondent -- on the ground in tel aviv, israel. hala, what is the latest there? >> for well simone, i find all of this, all of these conversations between the u.s. president and benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister of israel, as well as conversations he has had with the president of egypt -- cc, very interesting. they are stressing the need for humanitarian aid, as well as for more aid to go into the rafah crossing. and jake sullivan, the national security adviser, is also sending out this message that more needs to be done, in terms of a postconflict solution. more needs to be done, in terms of what happens to the palestinian authority, the palestinian project, after this is all over. on the other, hand in terms of the communications, they have been partially restored. you remember that for 24, hours there is a camille complete communications blackout with gaza. there is also much desperation on the ground, with palestinians breaking into these u.n. warehouses, looking for basic essentials, and for supplies for, what, or for flower, for food, because there is, and as the u.n.'s, saying there is a potential for a complete breakdown of civil society, and order. and this is a another big concern. as far as the military operation there and gaza, the idf, and the israeli military is saying that it is continuing to expand its operations, it is continuing to expand its ground operation. but importantly, we are not seeing that massive ground incursion that we were anticipating, in the initial days after october 7th. and that could mean that there seems to be some sort of reassessment, of what the ground operation might look like. i spoke to mustafa -- who is a veteran politician in the west bank and ramallah yesterday. and from the palestinian perspective, there is a real concern that what this means, is that the israeli military is now inch by inch, occupying more land in northern gaza. they don't believe -- that people have been asked to move to southern gaza will be able to return. and the concern on the palestinian side, is that this could mean potentially, that the israelis are planning to hold that territory, and maybe even possibly an exit. that is the latest from our and here, simone, back to. you >> nbc -- 's live in tel aviv, just the miserable inside. thank you so much my. friends >> and i want to bring in the executive director of the mccain institute, and former deputy assistant secretary of defense for russia, ukraine, and eurasia, evelyn farkas. evelyn, welcome. you have a lot of titles there, i can't think of a better person to have this discussion with. can you just first off speak to the impact of this air land and sea escalation, that we have been seeing. and i want to know your thoughts on the fact that, israel is being very cautious, the israeli governors being very cautious and saying that this is not the large scale ground offensive, right. american officials are being cautious, but from what it looks like, it looks as though this is that next stage, that folks were fearing. >> right simone. i think that you are putting your finger on it. the israeli next step is not exactly what they telegraphed initially, which made it sound like there would be sudden movement, with all of the forces going into gaza. which is a good thing, frankly. they should be -- and ultimately, if they should have a strategy, which was part of your conversation with paula, in the second we saw before. they need a strategy. and so, they need to also as part of that strategy, hopefully they are laying the groundwork, go carefully into gaza. now >> evelyn, what conversations right now do you think that u.s. officials are having with their israeli counterparts? i mean you have been, you have covered this issue for a very long time, you have worked in government. you have seen many different conflicts, but this is a different level of escalation in israel, as it relates to hamas than ever before. this is a very fraught situation. >> yeah, you are right simone. i worked for the u.s. european command when israel was part of that geographic command. clearly, at the military level, it sounds like based just on the reporting. that msnbc and others have given the public, that the u.s. military is in, they're trying to provide the best military advice. but frankly, the answer to this is not military. so i would expect that my former colleagues from the obama administration, or now the biden administration, are telling the israelis that they need to really look at the endgame, because as we know from, again this is also been reported ongoing into afghanistan, as one example. and there are others. we didn't really think through exactly how it would. and and what is the strategy. there, at least we had a government that we thought we could work, with and we thought we could empower. the israeli situation, or the situation in gaza is so complicated, because of frankly, neglect on the part of our government, on the part of the gulf states, on the part of the israeli government and palestinian leadership. so, these people deserve better, and of course israel itself and the israeli people deserve better as well. >> you know evelyn, there is a recent op-ed for the new york times, and it was written by former israeli soldier rn peace activist, his name is -- no relation to me. but, he writes that while i believe in self-defense, fighting in gaza taught me that if my government doesn't change, it isoing to denise to change to committing to palestinian independence, not only will this war kill an untold number of israelis and palestinians, in addition to the thousands who have already died, but it also will not decisively and tear. a ground invasion is doomed to failure. >> evelyn, -- that's >> right. now, what is on the other side of this? because as we are having this conversation, there are palestinian children who are held up in shelters, who have lost parents. there are israeli children whose parents are often fighting in a war. there are people whose loved ones are not coming home. and they are currently held hostage. how does this end? >> we need an international effort, frankly simone, to bring this to a conclusion. obviously, the israelis need to root out of those hamas terrorist fighters, who attacked them. that needs to, happen regardless. but again, that solution is not going to, be that is not going to be achieved through a full out, full frontal invasion. and, as that new york times op-ed pointed out, you need to provide the people, the people of gaza, the palestinian people, somehow. you need to. if you want any chance for them to buy into what is going on right now, which of course it is very hard to imagine the innocent civilians who don't understand, or don't have any power to do anything about what is happening buying in, but they might be willing to trust the international community, if they provide them with the possibility of a better life. a better, life a two state solution, again going back to the real responsibilities that all of us, including the u.s. government have, for solving this, and in a way that leads to fewer loss of children's lives and other lives. >> evelyn before i let you go, to this very point that you are making, the international community is weighing every single country is, weighing what to do, in terms of aid. and here in united states congress, they are weighing how to proceed with an aid package, not just to israel, but to ukraine as well. but we have heard from the new speaker of the house this morning, he did fox news sunday, and he said that he is planning to put forward aid packages, that is just for israel. what, first of all do you think that is going to get through congress? but secondly, what does that mean for ukraine? >> yeah i mean, i think obviously, we need to put through an aid package for israel, that hopefully also includes aid to the people in gaza, and that puts us closer to a political resolution. in addition to that we must support ukraine. ukraine is on the frontlines fighting for democracy, it is a very different conflict, although the similarities are of course innocent civilians being stuck in the middle. >> evelyn farkas, thank you so much for your insight, and kicking us off today, we really appreciate it. coming up folks, a new speaker of the house, mike johnson. will he be able to get his own house in order? frankly, it is something that no other house republican speaker has been able to do, since john boehner. and more importantly, can he do it before the government funding deadline next month? i will ask my political panel, after the break. but first, our bestie is here. michael igor louis, for today's other top news stories. richard, i missed you what is going on out? they're >> simone, i missed you too as. what we got a lot water. and for the, and update on that investigation to the main mass shooting that killed 18 people, to local law enforcement chiefs telling the ap maine police were alerted -- about that shooter's threats. and they say a statewide awareness alert was sent in mid september, to look out for this shooter. he was found dead friday night, of an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound. the alert was in response to threats that the army reserve dismayed against his base and fellow soldiers. the fbi says it never received that information. the los angeles county medical examiner is expected to conduct an autopsy on actor matthew perry. terry died yesterday, in the parent drowning at a southern california home, says a representative for perry in and law for some sorts. matthew perry, as you remember, shot to fame in the 90s, playing chandler being, in that hit succumb friends. he was 54 years old. and the auto workers union expanded strike against general motors, and expanded strike includes gm -- tennessee engine plant, which could hit the company's large pick up truck production. and just yesterday, a tentative deal was reached to mess strike against carmaker stellantis -- they also reached a deal with ford, on wednesday. that leaves gm, as the last two yet reach a deal. more symone, after this break. fter this break. meet the traveling trio. the thrill seeker. the soul searcher. and - ahoy! it's the explorer! each helping to protect their money with chase. woah, a lost card isn't keeping this thrill seeker down. lost her card, not the vibe. the soul searcher, is finding his identity, and helping to protect it. hey! oh yeah, the explorer! she's looking to dive deeper... all while chase looks out for her. because these friends have chase. alerts that help check. tools that help protect. one bank that puts you in control. chase. make more of what's yours. chase. here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. you want to be able to provide your child join with the tools orople tak resources they need.y with reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. fellas, fellas. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ house republicans may have finally elected a speaker, but there are still crucial questions facing united states government. one of those crucial questions, is, is it going to be funded two and a half weeks now? i mean, it's a good question, because the newly elected speaker, mike johnson, he has to corral his caucus to fund the government either in the, law or the short term, before the november 17th deadline, folks. and, if he doesn't do that, we risk a government shutdown. many of the same members who -- toppled johnson's president or -- they adopted a doctrine of fiscal reese irresponsibility. but, can johnson cut through that noise, -- ? joining me now to answer some of these questions, is democratic strategist and former executive director of the new york democratic party, basil -- and former republican congressman and msnbc political analyst carlos curbelo. welcome. and i know, i was a little bit too same with the questions for michael johnson y'all but, we will get into it. we are going to get into the government funding in a moment. but, basil i first want to talk about something else that the new speaker said. he said that one -- thing that he thinks he can get done, is has a stand-alone aid bill for israel, through the house. but, i am wondering what mitch mcconnell thinks about, that i am wondering what democrats in the senate think about. that and i'm wondering what house democrats think about that? >> yeah, that is the million dollar question. because, if we do this stand alone bill, will we ever get to a package for the ukraine? and that is something that i do think that members of the senate, but certainly democrats and i imagine the party administration itself, cam is looking very closely at. and i think that does tie into the earlier question, which is, to what extent can this new speaker really corral his party, and actually start working on and passing legislation. and not just piecemeal legislation, but sort of package legislation. which is going to be really difficult, obviously, because you've got so many differing opinions, and he himself is a pretty extreme individual. but, it is certainly something that i don't want to see, and i don't think democrats want to see debated and lingering, for any extended period of time, because that just makes us look weak, not just to ourselves, but through the rest of the world. >> congressman i mean, michael johnson is on record, that he really doesn't support funding to ukraine. so i guess it shouldn't be a surprise that he is talking about moving aid to israel. but, what are you hearing from republicans in congress? are they concerned, they just gave the keys to the house to and untested extremists, that they don't even know can broker any deals? >> well simone, the challenge for speaker johnson is that a lot of house republicans support funding for ukraine, including the chairman of the foreign affairs committee, mike mccaul of texas. he came out in favor of the biden administration's supplemental request to support israel, ukraine, and taiwan. so speaker johnson is going to be in a very similar position, into the one speaker mccarthy was in, warehouse republicans are divided. and he is going to feel the pressure from the extreme right, from those who deposed mccarthy. but also from centrist republicans, who asked for a guarantee that there would not be a government shutdown on november 17th, before giving their support to speaker johnson. so, the squeeze is. coming how he reacts to that, i think is going to determine whether he is going to be successful. and at the end of the day, being successful means doing what a majority of the house of representatives wants to do. and of course, concurring with the senate. there is going to be a negotiation with dissent, we know there is strong support for ukraine in the senate. so, speaker johnson is going to have to negotiate, and -- he