good morning. 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart at nbc news

headquarters in new york city. breaking overnight, new details about the nation's latest mass shooting. this time at the university of nevada las vegas. what we're learning about the suspect's possible motives. new this morning, fireworks at the fourth republican presidential debate as the gop front-runner who was not there is back in a new york city courtroom today. on capitol hill, what's next for u.s. aid to ukraine and israel after senate republicans block a bill on president biden's national security package. meanwhile, today marks two months since hamas' terror attack against israel. now israel says its forces have encircled the southern gaza home of a top hamas leader, thought to be hiding under ground. and we begin this morning with another mass shooting in america. this time on a college campus at the university of nevada las

vegas. three people are dead, a fourth person has been hospitalized, all just a little over a week before the semester was set to end. >> heard loud shouting, immediate panic, everyone dropped down to the floor. >> this is a place of education, relationships, friendships, college is supposed to be the best time of your life, not the end of it. >> this morning, police identified the suspect who is dead and are working to figure out a motiv this year, there have been 632 mass shootings, according to the gun violenc archive, which definz a mass shooting as a minimum of four victims shot, not including the shooter. the report's 668 people have died in mass shootings this year alone. six years ago, las vegas had the deadliest mass shooting in modern u.s. history when 60 people were killed at a music festival. joining us now is nbc's dana griffin in las vegas. dana, good morning. what more are we learning?

>> reporter: jose, good morning. so we have learned the suspected shooter's name, it is 67-year-old anthony polito, according to two senior law enforcement sources familiar with the case. they tell nbc news he is a former professor that worked at a university in north carolina. officials say that he also applied for a position here at unlv. that was years ago. he obviously was not hired. and investigators are now looking into whether that may be part of the motive here. we're just outside a campus here and through this breezeway is the building where this shooting started on the fourth floor of bean hall. that is home to the lead business school where officials say the shooter entered, started on the fourth floor, moved throughout several other floors, came outside, that's when he was killed in a shootout with two university police officers. we know four victims so far, three have died, one remains in the hospital, was listed in

critical condition, is now considered stable. we have seen so far about 20 police officers over my shoulder in that breezeway still, you know, conducting this investigation. the campus is closed through sunday and we could see the chairs and tables that were set up outside that building. law enforcement officials say that there were some students gathering, they were planning to build legos outside and they credit these officers for possibly saving additional lives because they could have become easy targets in the shooting. jose. >> dana griffin, thank you very much. we have got also breaking news, the house just voted to censure new york democrat jamaal bowman for pulling a fire alarm while the chamber was in session to consider a vote on government funding back in september. joining us now is nbc's ryan nobles. ryan, good morning. what does this mean? >> reporter: well, essentially it serves as a slap on the wrist there is no change to his status

as a might be of congress, but it is not a distinction that any member of congress is looking to entertain. this is kind of a new era in congress, where we're seeing censure resolutions like this pop up a lot more frequently than we ever have in the past. what is interesting about the way that this vote played out is that democrats attempted to table this measure last night, and were unsuccessful in that end. so that meant the full vote came to the house floor and republicans were able to pass the censure resolution, 214-191. but they also were able to bring three democrats along with them to vote in the affirmative on this. it does end up being a bipartisan censure resolution for jamaal bowman. there were a number of present votes, both republican and democrat. so, again, you know, jose, this -- this is not really a functionally serious penalty in terms of how it impacts the way jamaal bowman conducts himself as a member of congress, it is more just a way to admonish him for his behavior, which, of course, we should point out that he has already pled guilty to a

misdemeanor on and paid a fine as a result of. admitted he made a mistake in this case and apologized. republicans didn't feel like that was enough, which is why they took this step of censuring him. there were some members that thought he should be expelled as a result of that, but really no energy behind the idea of actually kicking him out of congress as a result of this. they settled on a censure resolution today. >> ryan nobles on capitol hill, thank you so very much. more breaking news at this hour, just moments ago, a judge in texas granted a temporary restraining order to a woman seeking an emergency abortion. kate cox's baby has a deadly fetal condition with a slim chance of survival, but borgs are abortions are banned in texas. this is first case where a pregnant person asked a court for an emergency abortion since roe was decided in 1973. mauricia perez is with us. how did this ruling come down? >> good morning. this is historic and for several

reasons. this is one of the first attempts to seek a court ordered abortion since the overturn of roe v.wa. i want to read you some of the words from the judge. this was minutes ago, within the last 15 minutes, the judge said in part, quote, the idea that mrs. cox wants so despetely to be a parent and this law may have her lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice. so i will be signing the order and it will be processed and sent out today. now, some background on all of this, kate cox, the woman at the center of all of this, the plaintiff you see on the screen there, she is 20 weeks pregnant. she already has two children. she had two c sections which doctors point out does make her at further risk. she is carrying a baby who has trisomy 18, a condition where 90 to 95% of babies do not survive beyond the first year. lawyers for kate cox argued her future fertility and her life is at risk if she carries out this pregnancy. doctors told her she is required to continue with the pregnancy cording to texas law. the lawsuit that was filed on tuesday really was centered

around the language on the medical exceptions when it comes to abortions. they argued that the definition of exactly that was unclear. kate cox said she didn't want to continue the pain and suffering surrounding her pregnancy and her legal team as we know was seeking a temporary stop to the current abortion ban in place in texas, so right now there is a lot of questions on what this means for other women, when would kate cox be allowed to get an abortion? those are all things we're trying to get an answer to. but we do expect the state to appeal this, jose. >> we do expect the state to appeal it. so then it wouldn't take effect immediately as far as we know. don't know one way or another, which way it would go. so, just to clarify, because you hear about temporary restraining order to a woman seeking an emergency abortion means she is, according to this judge, able to have that abortion. >> yeah. it is not clear when she will be able to get that abortion. according to how things stand right now, of course, this is, you know, language we have to be

careful about because anything can happen, but as of right now, from what we heard from the judge, they have granted permission for kate cox to get an abortion from her provider. >> thank you so very much. it is 8 past the hour. we will continue monitoring this breaking news and bring you the very latest on that and a whole lot more. we're going to take a short break. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. ooo, gangsta. in a hurry? there's not a faster, easier way to put on shoes. they know a 10 when they see it.

lawmakers are trying to figure out what comes next after the senate failed to move forward with a bill that would provide money for ukraine and israel. republicans and bernie sanders voted to block consideration of that legislation. the senator says he wants conditions to be placed on the aid to israel, while republicans want new limits on immigration and more security at the southern border. president biden says he is willing to make significant

compromises to get this bill done. nbc news homeland security correspondent julia ainsley is with us this morning. thank you. and where do things stand with talks on what to do about the border? >> well, jose, you and i have both talked about how it seems like the chances of especially this congress getting anything done on immigration would be slim to none. but this package actually got them further than i think a lot of people would have thought because it was tied in to ukraine funding and because the white house and dhs agreed to some of the things republicans wanted. and that's to strengthen asylum policies. i talked to sources who said, look, this is something we could use, make it harder for people to pass the initial fear to claim asylum -- initial fear test to claim asylum at the southern border so you don't have far more people coming in than who will be granted asylum by immigration judges. the biden administration largely agreed to that, there are some democrats and immigration advocates who don't agree to that. the rub came down to what they might do to try to take away some executive privileges, like

humanitarian parole that made it easier for a lot of populations like ukrainians, afghans, venezuelans and cubans to come into the country through legal pathways and be able to get work authorization. that was something that republicans wanted to try to curb back on, that the administration did not want. so right now, we're seeing where this stands. we know the white house is still involved in this. and that there at least some room of compromise, we heard from republicans like lindsey graham yesterday say, look, we're not going to take a half border bill, just to get ukraine funding. they aren't agreeing to that now. it looks like republicans are really holding strong on that piece. >> so, julia, just on that whole issue, just talking about the executive privilege on executive orders, are you talking about tps, among others, you know, benefited so many. 200,000 plus salvadorans. is that something that could be in any kind of agreement which would remove it from the

president's responsibilitys? >> so far the focus is on humanitarian parole, which is a tool where they're able to -- you have to have a sponsor in the u.s. before you come. so a migrant could apply from outside their home country, but not inside the united states to get that. that seems to be the focus. a lot of people, especially in cities around the country that have been bearing the brunt of these migrants, like denver, colorado, where i just returned from, they want more humanitarian parole, more tps, so more migrants can work. republicans are saying we don't want more magnets to bring more migrants here. they're talking about curbing that. as far as i know at this point, tps isn't one of those parts. >> julia ainsley, thank you so very much. good seeing you. with us to continue our coverage, california senator alex padilla. a pleasure to see you. it has been a while. thank you for your time. so, let's start with what happened to this bill. why are we at this point again? >> well, if you really want to

take a step back, it is mind boggling to think that as overwhelming bipartisan support as there is for sending aid to our ally israel, given the current conflict that is caught up in a border conversation or even aid to ukraine, which is doing a heck of a job resisting putin's aggression. not just ukraine, the whole western world that has high stakes here in supporting ukraine. that has significant bipartisan support. republicans saying no to israel aid, no to ukraine because of a border conversation which, look, there is merit to having a conversation, it is not an hr-2 take it or leave it negotiation. and so that's why we are where we are. the other important piece is what we saw yesterday, you know, we tried to put forward the biden proposal, which i have some questions with, but at least a vote to get on to the issue, let's have a discussion, let's have a debate, afford republicans an opportunity to

bring forward their plan, offer amendments, if you want, and they vote it down. so, it is hard to really know what republicans want or what they think they want if they're not even willing to engage in a conversation on the floor of the senate. >> what would that conversation need to look like, senator, and what are the issues that the republicans, you say, were not willing to even discuss? >> right, so what i hear from republicans, there is too many people coming to the border. and i get to remind them, it is unlawful to seek asylum in the united states if you're fleeing persecution, fleeing an authoritarian government. look at venezuela, look at cuba, other places. so they want to reform that. okay, well, show me some specifics. what does that mean? because we're all in agreement the harder you make it to come to the united states lawfully, the more pressure it puts on people coming to the united states unlawfully. so that's an important reminder. number two, you mentioned the

prior segment, the topic of parole. parole is the mechanism that president biden has used to assist those who left afghanistan, those who have fled ukraine, and those situations, so, if you want to reform parole, what exactly are you talking about? because these are important mechanisms. and, by the way, if the goal is to reduce the number of people trying to come to the united states, you can't do that effectively, sustainably, without having a cause conversation what is causing people to flee their home countries, to begin with, do we not have a role in maybe providing a better future or hope in their home countries, but when i've tried to put that on the table with my republican colleagues, they shoot it down saying, no, no, no, we only want to talk about the border, good parts of the president's plan, more money for not just officers, but judges, hearing officers, but the last i checked, republicans want to cut the budget, not add resources, so it is complex. we should be doing this during a

regular order, not through a budget supplemental request by the president, but, jose, here we are. >> here we are. we're just, you know, a couple of days into the 7th of december, do you think that, you know, aid to israel, aid to ukraine, more support for taiwan, is that off the table on capitol hill until 2024? >> it shouldn't be. again, we afforded republicans an opportunity to join us in advancing all those seemingly bipartisan priorities that refuse to get on the bill, that refuse to begin debate or bring forward their own plan. we're ready to work, jose, just waiting for republicans to decide what it is they want. >> senator, two months ago today, as you know, that hamas brutally attacked israel and started a war that has seen so much of gaza leveled. your colleague bernie sanders wants conditions on aid to israel. do you think there should be

conditions for aid to israel? >> there has been a big conversation there. israel is one example of how we work with allies around the world to provide that aid, especially in times of conflict. israel is an important ally, the only democracy in that region where they suffered since october 7th is grievous. we stand by them with the resources, both on the military side and importantly the humanitarian side because the biggest victims over the years have been the innocent palestinians living under the terror of hamas. and their future. those innocent palestinians that deserve a better future and hope will not achieve it until hamas is eradicated and the united states is committed to that. >> senator, you know, there was a mass shooting again in las vegas this time yesterday in one week. we'll be marking 11 years since the massacre at sandy hook elementary school, that took the life of 20 students and six

adults. is there any reaction? is there any movement, any discussion on anything related to this where you sit? >> look, there should be. and we remind you, jose, not just as a senator, but as a father of two in elementary school, and as a father of my oldest is, you know, a year away from college application, we'll be sending him off to college soon enough this is also very personal. in response to the shooting yesterday, senator schumer tried to take to the floor and bring forward the unfinished business of the safer communities act that was passed last year, on a bipartisan basis. how about the assault weapons ban? how about strengthening background checks in america? all the smart gun safety measures that we know work from prior experience, where there was an assault weapons ban in place for a decade, where states like california have led on gun safety and the numbers don't lie, the rates of these types of mass shootings goes down.

lives are saved. we know the policy will work, but republicans refuse to take up these measures, let alone vote for them. >> senator, with a child in college and one in elementary school, i have one child in university and one in high school, boy, the importance and the blessing that is family, huh? >> yes, absolutely. >> senator alex padilla, great seeing you. thank you for your time. >> thank you, jose. be well. >> likewise. a programming note, next hour on msnbc, my colleague andrea mitchell will talk more about the funding fight with white house budget director shalanda young. but up next, the top takeaways from the gop debate last night and whether any of the candidates had a breakthrough moment. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. mt you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. we always thought that whatever we did here would be an emblem of what small communities can achieve. trying to give a better life to people that don't have the means to do it. si mi papá estuviera vivo, sé que él tuviera orgulloso también de vivir

de esta viviendo una vida como la que estamos viviendo ahora. es electricidad aquí es salud. ♪ shelves. shelves smart enough to see, sense, react, restock. so caramel swirl is always there for the taking. i was stuck. unresolved depression symptoms were in my way.

i needed more from my antidepressant. vraylar helped give it a lift. adding vraylar to an antidepressant... is clinically proven to help relieve overall depression symptoms... ...better than an antidepressant alone. and in vraylar clinical studies, most saw no substantial impact on weight. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, as these may be life-threatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain, and high cholesterol may occur. movement dysfunction and restlessness are common side effects. stomach and sleep issues, dizziness, increased appetite, and fatigue are also common. side effects may not appear for several weeks. i didn't have to change my treatment. i just gave it a lift. ask about vraylar and learn how abbvie could help you save.

24 past the hour. former president donald trump is back in a new york city courtroom today to attend his $250 million civil fraud trial. the first time in more than a month he's been to this court and the appearance comes days before he's expected to take the stand again in his own defense. msnbc's yasmin vossoughian joins us from outside the courthouse in lower manhattan. what do we know about why the former president decided to attend today's session? >> reporter: the theories snow. the president is making his way to the courtroom earlier today,

putting a post up on truth social, attacking judge engoron and address reporters outside the courtroom before he made his way in. >> if you look at the case, we did nothing wrong, there were no victims, the bank loves us, the bank testified, they love us, we did absolutely nothing wrong, we never defaulted, we never had a default letter sent to us, the bank said we were a perfect customer, the bank didn't even know why they were here. >> reporter: the bank loves us, we did nothing wrong, so here are some of the theories why the former president is here today, appearing in court today. one of which there is republican debate last night in which he was not on the stage by his choice. this is certainly a stop in which he might be using this as a way in which he can campaign for his re-election, which he's done before. he'll continue to do, we imagine, from now until november. there is one.

we'll put that in one bucket. the other bucket is what they're seeing as kind of a secret weapon in this case, as we're coming to a close of the defense here and the defense's witnesses and that's a witness, ellie bartof, nyu accounting professor. they spent the last hour or so in the courtroom, lisa rubin is in the courtroom giving us notes from inside there, talking about his accreditations. he has testified in front of the s.e.c., he has lectured at goldman sachs, appeared numerous times in the double digits as an expert witness. he has also, get this, jose, which is very interesting, appeared as an expert witness for the new york attorney general in a case against exxon. so, certainly a good choice on the defense's part when it comes to this witness, closing it out. we're also told as lisa says engoron was having a love fest with bartof and talking about the nyu affiliation. he's allowing this testimony to

move forward. he'll testify for about a day and a half and then, of course, our expectations are for monday and the former president and his testimony. we have not been told anything that he will not be testifying, so we'll be expecting that to happen on monday, jose. >> yasmin, thank you very much. great seeing you. with less than six weeks until the iowa caucuses, four gop contenders made their pitches to voters on the national stage for the fourth republican debate and there was no shortage of fireworks. >> nikki haley, she caves any time the left comes after her, anytime the media comes after her. >> in terms of these don'ters that donors that are supporting me, they're just jealous. they wish they were supporting them. >> the only person more fascist than the biden regime now is nikki haley. >> this is the fourth debate, the fourth debate that you would be voting in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blow hard in america. so shut up! >> well, the former president was not there, and it is unclear

whether this debate or anything can slow down trump's momentum in the primary. the latest national poll this week shows him leading the pack by 40 points. joining us now, nbc news correspondent ali vitali in tuscaloosa, alabama, michael steele, msnbc political analyst, and peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times," also an msnbc political analyst. so, ali, which campaigns are saying they feel that they got a boost and which are not saying that they are in recovery mode? >> reporter: well, look, jose, you know after debates like this, every campaign and every candidate says they won. so, cheers. they all won. but really if you are looking at the debate stage it was nikki haley's night on defense. that made it harder for her to get into the cadence we have seen from her in past debates that has frankly been so effective. the idea she has been able to message herself, use her experience on the world stage as u.n. ambassador, use her time as a two-term governor of the state

of south carolina, we didn't hear too much of her digging in her own record. it was her opponents trying to define her, you saw some of those exchanges there. at the end of the day, the only time we really saw her be able to dig into what i would call her stump speech was in her closing arguments. but for other people on the stage, like ron desantis this was an attempt to stop the bleeding, have a good performance, to try to solidify support at a time when donors are sort of ditching desantis' ship and looking for other places to put their cash. that could be with haley, could be holding back. but at this point, for desantis, the drama behind the scenes had been overshading him in terms of the narrative. last night was a chance for him to put it back on track. i think the person who caught the most attention was governor chris christie, in large part because he kind of spoke to the reality of the stage, which is that, a, no one on this stage is going to be the nominee among themselves. there is a fifth person on the stage if not in body, then in name and in persona. that's donald trump. he's ahead of all of them in the

polls. so for christie, not just as someone to call out that fact, but someone who was willing to say on the stage that because of the felony indictments against trump, because of the comments he made, just in the last 48 hours, playing footsie with being a dictator, that makes him in christie's words unfit for office. that doesn't mean christie's road to the nomination is clear or easy, but that made him stand out last night at a moment where he needed a standout performance. >> michael, who did you see as winners and losers? >> i think ali nailed it. for me, watching that there were two things that were important. so, just vivek just said him aside, just noise, he's doing the trump thing. and so we get that. desantis, i think ali had it right, he's trying to stop the bleeding, but i'm sorry, you know, there is no blood left. there is no bleeding going on there. that campaign is moribund at

this point. it was nikki and christie. what was interesting about nikki, you can see where the consultants and the people who think they know how to position her at this point given all the energy over the last debate, she was stunted by her team in my view. she was probably advised to stand there, you have the lead, hold it. don't do or say anything that could take that lead. that's the moment you lean in, you don't step back. and as a consequence, they piled on her. chris christie, that opened up an opportunity for him to really stand out. i think on the -- in the main, he won the night. this was his debate. it was a good debate. not just for the exchanges with vivek and all of that, but just the steadiness of it, the clarity of what he was saying

about trump and some policy to the extent that they talked about policy. but i think nikki was told to hold the ground, she held it, but she gave a little bit to christie. to your point, i don't know if it means his numbers jump from eight to 20, doubtful, but it was a good night for him. >> and, you know, you refer over and over again to the obvious person who is not there, but who is the center of much of the attention this person we see on our screen right now, former president trump, who is speaking outside that new york city courtroom, there is a break in the courtroom in the civil trial. and he is as yasmin vossoughian predicted, speaking about things that can be very closely tied to his political campaign for election coming up this november. peter, did last night's debate, where trump was not there change anything, you think? >> well, look, the truth is they're fighting over the

crumbs. the only guy who has the cake now is trump. we're so close to the iowa caucus. at this point, what matters for the republicans is who can they decide on who they want to be the anti-trump candidate and see if there is a one on one contest at some point. none of the candidates other than chris christie seem eager to take on trump directly. as long as the field is splintered, trump gets ahead. he can win without having to get to a majority in a lot of these contests. the early contests in iowa and new hampshire, not doing as well as he is nationally. so, to his benefit there are as many candidates left as possible. this field has winnowed. we're down to the handful, only four made the stage, others dropping out, like mike pence and tim scott and we may get to the point where there is a one on one contest. but right now that seems to be nikki haley's, you know, chance to claim that spot and she has to earn that and we'll see if she does in the next few weeks and then we'll see how she ends up taking on trump if she does

earn that position as the main challenger. but right now, he's still on the cat bird seat, doesn't seem to be anything that changes. >> thinking back on your comments that ramaswamy last night was doing the trump thing, one thing he did as doing the trump thing was tell former governor chris christie to drop out already. is that something that is going to be occurring, you think, in the short-term? >> i don't think so. there is no incentive for anyone to leave the stage right now. this was the last debate. so if you're on the stage for the last debate, almost regardless of what any polling shows on the next few days, if you're chris christie, you ride this thing to new hampshire. if you're vivek, you are going to ride it because it is a good grist. and your name is in there and you're sort of building momentum for whatever else you think you're going to do next. for certainly for desantis and

nikki, it is about how they can leverage in the next few weeks and an advantage. particularly for nikki, since she is in the pole position. she has the edge right now. and so no one is dropping out. but here is the other thing i think is important to the point you just made about, you know, condensing this down to a one on one. all those other gentlemen who dropped out have endorsed no one. they have not endorsed nikki. they have not consolidated behind one candidate. and they had time to do that, particularly given the momentum that nikki's picked up. i don't see any real consolidation yet because it hasn't yet begun among those who already dropped out, and you shouldn't expect it for those who are still on the stage. >> and, peter, meanwhile, there is no consolidation, even though those candidates that dropped out dropped out because they virtually had, you know, 1% or

2% of the support of the voters at the time. peter, this is all good news for president biden. >> well, look, you know, president biden wants the contrast with former president trump. and he said that as recently as this week. he's on the campaign trail again after spending most of the last eight weeks focused on foreign policy. three fund-raisers in boston on tuesday, one in washington last night, going on a three-day trip tomorrow to the west. and he made it clear some of the fund-raisers that trump is how he sees this race. he said i'm not sure i would be running, he said, if it weren't for trump. he sees his role as the person who kept trump -- got trump out of the oval office three years ago and will keep him out of the oval office next year. he's in a weak position in the polls, he's tied with or even trailing trump according to some polls, but his argument has been once it comes down to a choice, once people see that the real question is whether or not you want donald trump back or not, that people who may have just

been disappointed with president biden who are unhappy with him about his age or inflation or what have you will return to his camp when the -- when push comes to shove. that's a real question we're still 12 months away from that, 11 months away. >> ali vitali, michael steele, peter baker, thank you for being with us. appreciate it. still ahead, israeli troops say they're making advances against hamas in gaza, killing some of its field commanders. an update on what the very latest is, as israel marks two months since hamas' deadly attack. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. ck you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. and it's awesome. it's an all-in-one, that absorbs dirt and grime deep inside. and it helps prevent streaks and haze. wetjet is so worth it. love it, or your money back. whenever you're hungry, there's a deal on the subway app. buy one footlong, get one 50% off in the subway app today. now that's a deal worth celebrating. man, what are you doing?! get it before it's gone on the subway app. ♪♪

[city ambience sounds] [car screech]

[car door slam] [camera shutter sfx] introducing ned's plaque psoriasis. [camera shutter sfx] he thinks his flaky, red patches are all people see. otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. [ned?] it can help you get clearer skin and reduce itching and flaking. with no routine blood tests required. doctors have been prescribing it for nearly a decade. otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis. don't use otezla if you're allergic to it. serious allergic reactions can happen. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts, or weight loss. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. [crowd gasp] ♪♪ with clearer skin, movie night is a groovy night. [ting] ♪♪ live in the moment. ask your doctor about otezla.

42 past the hour. today marks two months since hamas' attack that killed 1200 people in israel and sparked the current war. now israel says the military reached the heart of the southern gaza city of khan younis and are encircling the home of the supposed mastermind of that october 7th attack. this shows displaced palestinians in southern gaza, and amid the devastation, the u.n. says conditions needed to provide aid to the gaza strip, quote, do not exist. my colleague richard engel spoke with an idf colonel about whether those who have been displaced will be able to return to their home. >> reporter: are palestinians going to be able to go back to areas you're clearing? >> right now, they won't. if they will be rehabilitation effort from the international

community after deneutralizing the gaza strip, then i think it will be possible. right now it is not livable. >> joining us now, nbc's raf sanchez from tel aviv. also with us retired admiral james stavridis, former supreme allied commander of nato and msnbc news chief international analyst. we're marking two months since that terror attack as jewish people around the world celebrate the start of hanukkah today. what is it like there? >> reporter: yeah, jose. this is hanukkah in the heart of tel aviv, in a square that laelz has really become the beating heart of israel. for the last eight weeks, the families of the hostages have been gathering here. i want to stop and explain the setup here. this table has been here for weeks. it is set up, a shabbat table in memory of the hostages, seats placed for all of them. and here on this table, on this first night of hanukkah is the bibas family this is

10-month-old kfir, his brother ariel, his mother shiri and father yarden. as we talked about on air, hamas is claiming that these two little boys and their mother were killed by an israeli air strike inside of gaza. the israeli military not confirming that, but their father remains a hostage and there is this absolutely agonizing video of him having been told by his hamas captors that his children and his wife are dead. and in that video, he's forced to plead with the israeli government to bring him home. israel says this is part of hamas' psychological warfare. just explaining a little more about what we're seeing here, there are 137 candles laid out here. they will be lit a little bit later on and there are 137 for the 137 hostages who remain inside gaza, and in hebrew here, it says bring our light back

home, because hanukkah is the festival of lights. but this is a solemn, solemn hanukkah being marked here in israel, two months on from the hamas terrorist attack that killed 1200 people, took 240 hostages around half of whom, jose are spending this first night of hanukkah in hamas captivity in gaza. >> what an extraordinary report, raf. admiral, it has now been two months since this horrible terror attack, nearly six weeks since israel launched the campaign against hamas, 17,000 people already killed according to the hamas-run palestinian ministry of health. how effective has israel been in fighting, finding, and dealing with hamas specifically in this area? >> yeah, let's set aside the very legitimate questions about civilian casualties, collateral damage, destruction of critical infrastructure. let's park that.

how successful has have they been? i would say looking at it from the outside, they have probably dismantled roughly 50% of hamas' prewar fighting capability. they have taken out significant number of fighters. of those casualties you mentioned, somewhere between 10 and 15,000. at least a third are hamas fighters. that's a significant blow to this organization. a number of leaders by my count at least a dozen to 20 have been eliminated and the israelis are closing in on their version of bin laden. that's the mastermind of 7 october. he is, of course, in the city of khan younis. whether he's in that home that's being encircled we'll know soon. so, from a purely offensive military capability, israel's campaign thus far is succeeding, again, significant questions about collateral damage and civilian deaths.

>> they're being much more tactical, but the question, admiral, is what is tactical when you have the possibility, a very real possibility of thousands of civilians, innocent civilians, that are dying and that have died. >> incredibly hard, military problem, incredibly hard humanitarian problem meet in southern gaza. the israelis have shifted tactics as we all know. it began the campaign with massive bombings in the north. that contributed to a very high civilian collateral damage count. now they are bringing very precise systems on to the battlefield. those being soldiers. foot soldiers. that increases significantly the risk to israeli soldiers by putting them there instead of just bombing from the air, but

it is the only way to approach a situation where 1.5 million minimum civilians are packed into that southern gaza area. you got to go group by group, scan them, take out apart the military age males, do the biometrics, capture or eliminate them, all at the same time to conclude they are trying to maintain humanitarian aid, they need at least 100 to 200 trucks a day, very difficult with active combat. incredibly hard problem for the israeli military. >> and incredibly very hard problem for the israeli military. raf sanchez, including losses of the idf, more than 400, i understand, the israeli government is saying that more than 400 idf members have been lost in this war, including the son of a high representative of the israeli government. >> reporter: yeah, jose.

this has just been announced in the last couple of minutes. gal isenkot, idf officer, the son of gadi isenkot, the minister in this emergency national unity government and the former head of the israeli military. they are saying his son gal has been killed in gaza. we don't know the exact details, but this has been a painful campaign for the israeli military, around 80 soldiers killed since the beginning of that ground incursion inside of gaza. this is difficult urban warfare and this is the latest casualty among israeli forces. >> raf sanchez and admiral stavridis, thank you very earlier this morning, i spoke with adva. her grandmother, there you see her leaving the hospital. she was released from the hospital. she was held captive by hamas for 49 days. she was among the first israeli hostages released during the

temporary pause in fighting last month. she's now home. the cousin is still being held hostage. here is part of my conversation with adva. thank you. thank you so much for being with us today. how is your grandmother today? >> she's recovering. it's not easy. it's not easy mentally. it's not easy physically. but she's a very tough woman. she's recovering. >> when i was honored to speak with you first on the 16th of october, we learned of the extraordinary strength, dignity of your grandmother. we showed the video of her being paraded through the streets of gaza with that extraordinary strength of spirit and of character. what was her -- what were her 49

days of captivity like? >> very hard. she told us that emotionally it was very hard for her. she kept her optimism. she kept her spatial character. she really tried to believe that she will be able to come back and that she will be able to see us again. she's done everything in her power to survive this hell. i'm very proud to be her granddaughter. now we're trying to fight together with her in the demand to bring all the other hostages back home. >> what do we know? do you know anything about the other hostages, but specifically your cousin tamir?

>> i have his picture here. we have no information about him. everything we know is that he was taken from the kibbutz. there's no video or no pictures and so sign of life. it's very hard after all those days not knowing anything about him. every day he is passing, it gets harder. it gets harder because we hear the horrible stories that the hostages are sharing. we hear about the way that they have been held and treated. just thinking about every day that he has to continue living this hell, it breaks my heart. >> did your grandmother see him, hear of him, hear about him during her time in captivity? were they separated? >> no, she wasn't with him. when she came back, she asked about all the family. we had to tell her that he is

kidnapped. it was a very tough conversation. >> adva, how -- today is two months since this massacre that changed, destroyed so many lives and hopes and dreams. people like your grandmother who survived the horrors of the holocaust, once again was confronted with some very similar evil. i'm just wondering, two months from that day, today, what are your thoughts? >> my thought is that i can't believe that we're talking about two months after and still so many people are being held hostage, about 140 people still being held hostage with no future thing, with no -- we're

trying to have hope, but hearing the hell that the hostages are being treated. i can't believe that there's been already two months and they're still not here. i'm thinking about tamir, the father of two young children. i'm thinking about them, what it is in their age to not know about where is your father, not knowing when you will be able to play with him or to share your stories with him and how their life just stopped. they are so young. they have to understand so much horrible things about this world and much more than kids should ever understand. >> i'm wondering, today begins hanukkah. where do you find hope? where do you find the light?

>> hanukkah is the holiday of the miracles. i'm praying for a miracle. i'm praying that the hostages will be back home. i'm praying that the light in so many people's hearts will be able to turn on again. our light and our loved ones are not here. we need them. we need them in order to -- in order to recover. we need them in order to get better future. we need a miracle. the light -- i can see the light with my grandmother. i can see the light with her being here. i can see the light with us trying her -- to help her recover. but it's not all the light. it's small light. we just need all of them back

home. >> the light of miracles. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. reach me on social media @jdbalart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news after a quick break. k. t whatever we did here would be an emblem of what small communities can achieve. trying to give a better life to people that don't have the means to do it. si mi papá estuviera vivo, sé que él tuviera orgulloso también de vivir de esta viviendo una vida como la que estamos viviendo ahora. es electricidad aquí es salud. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term

policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com.

(car engine revs) (engine accelerating) (texting clicks) (tires squeal) (glass shattering) (loose gravel clanking)

right now on "andrea mitchell reports," another senseless shog