so that we will be able to continue to strike military targets belonging to hamas. >> the impacts must be not only having a physical effect, in gaza, but a psychological effect. >> their mission is to wage war on hamas, hamas's war is a war against civilians. >> the level of calamity is indescribable.

>> i just want my children back. i know the whole world is fighting for them. >> we pull them out of the cars when they were still burning, getting bullets. >> i haven't seen such horrifying and terrible things. i feel ashamed, we failed to protect them. >> i lost friends. friends of mine have lost brothers and sisters, it's not a cliche, it's real. well, good morning, everyone, it is friday, we are still following the breaking news with much more to come, this morning i'm phil mattingly with poply harlow in new york. 7:00 a.m. on the east coast, 2:00 # p.m. in gaza, the israeli military warning more than 1 million civilians to evacuate south, and hundreds of thousands of israeli troops mass on the border. you're looking at thousands of leaflets being dropped over gaza city this morning, hamas militants are urging people to defy the order and stay in their homes but we're seeing some palestinians heeding the warning, families with small

children heading south carrying whatever they can. >> and this morning israeli air strikes and artillery continue to pound gaza, hamas is claiming those strikes have killed 13 hos tangs abducted during the weekend massacre, the israeli military is saying it cannot confirm the claim. lloyd austin is in tel aviv so meet with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and antony blinken met with mahmoud abbas. for viewers who know you, they know how extensively you have reported throughout gaza for years. your assessment is better than almost anyone else. is that possible for a million plus people to immediately leave the north and go south? the u.n. says it is not without catastrophic consequences. >> reporter: no, it's not

possible to do it in a reasonable amount of time. in fact, the u.n., the word they used is impossible. you're talking about 1.1 million people going from the northern part, the area around gaza city, which is quite large, to the south. there is an active bombardment of gaza going on. the fuel has essentially run out. there's no way to move those people from the south, from the north to the south, and then when they go to the south, where do they stay? already, more than 420,000 people in gaza have been displaced. that's 20% of the population. many of them have gone to gaza city from the outlying areas, there is like the northern edge of the gaza strip near the main crossing into israel, and that's where a lot of the fighting has been going on. so, therefore, it's just logistically, almost mission impossible, now, the israelis aren't giving a timeline for

when this should happen, but under these circumstances it's almost mission impossible, poppy. >> we heard from the idf colonel last hour saying immediately, go immediately. ben, thank you very much for all your reporting and perspective on that. law enforcement in cities around the globe are on high alert this morning after a former hamas leader called for, quote, a day of rage across the muslim world today telling them to hold mass protests to go out and harm israelis and jews, they're on edge monitoring chat rooms. becky anderson is in's jerusalem right now, there's been a lot of anxiety leading up today, becky, as you're trying to clear your camera shot now. >> reporter: there have been a lot. >> you've reported so much, talk about what you're seeing. >> reporter: so, this is tense, this is a neighborhood in east jerusalem, many of the young men in this area have not been

allowed into the al aqsa mosque today to pray at midday prayers, they normally go in if there wasn't a selective process but clearly today the israelis have selected them by age, men and women by age. so many of the youngsters here haven't had an opportunity to get to the al aqsa mosque so they have been praying on the streets. if i describe this as a sort of tense calm today, i think that's how that would be fair. i've been in this area before and it's been very chaotic and very violent. so, i've spoken to some of the older ladies and gentlemen who did get an opportunity today to get into the al aqsa mosque. and they described it as really concerning, and very worrying. they prayed, they came back, and they're now back in their homes. but what's happening here now is the israeli security forces just

pushing people back, they're trying to avoid something taking off here, apologies for the cameras, as they move us back. i don't know if you saw in the shot earlier on a very big, black truck, that's what's known as a skunk truck, and it's used by the israeli forces to clear demonstrators, a bit like perhaps our viewers will have seen in the past water gun, water cannons shot from big trucks. you can smell the acrid nature of what is chemical having been dispersed from that truck. we've heard stun grenades going off this morning, not a lot, again, there is a -- as i say, there's a sort of uneasy sense of calm on what is this day of protest that's been called by hamas today. the stun grenades are, this is the back end of one that i found on the street here. so, yeah, very much -- i sense

of what happens next, what happens next for the next series of friday prayers, which come, of course, in a couple of hours from now, who will be on the streets and how will the israeli security deal with those on the streets is really the next question, guys. >> becky anderson reporting live in east jerusalem today, thank you so much for all of that, becky. here in new york the governor says there are no active, nor are there credible threats but the nypd says every member is ready and in uniform. our chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst john miller joins us now. i have a lot of friends who are really worried, a lot of people are really scared, should they be? >> i don't think so. there's certainly an awareness on the part of law enforcement that there's heightened threat environment but i think a lot of this, frankly, has to do with stirring fear on the internet. clearly, the call by the hamas leader to show your anger in events today. but that wasn't an explicit call

for violence as much as he was calling on global demonstrations, he called for violence from palestinians in the region. so this is a -- this is a thing where people have to have a heightened awareness, law enforcement has to have a heightened presence, and that's a lot of what we've been seeing, the developing in new york city with their strategy. >> reporter: in the morning at the world trade center, a show of force, high visibility counterterrorism teams have been deployed across the city, at symbolic locations including synagogues and mosques, nypd chief john hart. >> the strategy is to show reassurance to the community, good police presence out there, probably the foremost idea. but secondary to that is we want to be fluid. we are going to be moving around. we have a robust deployment, we're hitting just in the counterterrorism realm, hitting over 400 locations a day. >> reporter: at nypd's headquarters, a morning intelligence briefing is tracking the threat stream.

>> so, we continue to see public statements from hamas, palestinian, islamic jihad and other affiliated palestinian militant groups claiming credit for ongoing strikes, ongoing rocket attacks, et cetera. we also have seen public statements from al qaeda and their affiliates as well as isis and other like minded extremists online. >> reporter: rebecca winer -- >> everything finds a way of coming back to new york city. as you well know it's the media capital of the world, it's an incredibly diverse environment with large communities from everywhere where a conflict might emerge. in this case a large jewish population, a large palestinian operation. >> reporter: the nypd has been briefing major city police departments along with hundreds of private security partners as part of operation shield, a global intelligence sharing network. national jewish organizations

are also on high alert as they monitor extremist chat rooms and propaganda channels, including a worldwide call from a former hamas leader for supporters to, quote, show their anger, unquote, on friday. while there was not an explicit reference to violence the messaging caught the attention of people like mitch silber who runs a jewish community security organization. >> extra precautions that we're going to add vvise that institutions take as kids are getting out of school on friday, going to synagogue on friday night and saturday morning. we're in regular touch with nypd requesting extra patrols in jewish areas. >> reporter: we asked the vice president on the center on extremism for the anti deaf na defamation league to take us inside. >> not only those who are apologists for hamas, those who glorify the messages, but we are

seeing people on the far right that have traditionally engaged in violence against the jewish community full throatedly supporting those activities. anti-semitism is always the thing that brings extremist groups across the ideological spectrum together. we are seeing this now in ways that we have never seen before. >> reporter: the adl and other jewish groups say the events in israel and gaza are driving a tsunami of threats. >> in the last 36 hours we have seen a thousand percent increase in non-specific threats against jews and israelis by groups that we track in the united states. >> reporter: and new york has seen the results of propaganda turned into bloodshed, a series of bombings in 2016, in 2017 a ramming attack that killed eight people on a bike path, and an attempted suicide bomber in the city's busiest subway station. and many more plots that have

been prevented, which is what they are counting on. >> so, full disclosure, just to remind people, i'm the former deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism. many of the people in that story were my colleagues. and being in touch with them, we're still not seeing that specific credible threat. but they're also out there scanning for it because in the loan wolf world that lives in the dark corners of the internet there's always that one individual. >> and to poppy's point earlier the anxiety inside the jewish american community right now is at a level that i don't know that i've ever seen before. tied to all of this. i do want to ask you, since we have you, we have focused a ton on the hostages, more than 100 plus is the expectation, in gaza right now that were taken during the weekend, terror attack, a handful of americans, we don't have specific numbers. you're a u.s. official. what are you doing right now to try to find information? >> if you're a u.s. official you are talking to -- you're talking

about to the people in qatar, you're talking to the egyptians, you're talking to your government contacts and allies around the region to see -- this is not a conversation that can happen directly between the israelis or the united states as much as it can through regional partners that still have a dialogue. and you're trying to figure out the next phase of the israeli military steps, and where that puts the hostages, and who can intervene, and how? it's very complicated diplomatically and militarily. >> are you surprised how little information u.s. officials seem to have? >> i think u.s. officials may have more information than we know, but given the sensitivity of the lives in the balance, it's just not a time when they're going to be sharing intelligence. >> john miller, thank you, excellent report. the biden administration is working with israel and egypt to try to ensure safe passage out of gaza. this hour we'll get an update

from the white house. john kirby will join us. countless israelis have joined in the war effort. speaking to a man who spent 20 years in the idf, just arrived in israel from massachusetts, who will fight alongside his four daughters, that's next.

we are showing you, or going to show you live pictures of two podiums where sec care of defense lloyd austin is expected to speak. in tel aviv arriving earlier this this morning as part of a significant show of both support to some degree force by top u.s. officials over the last several days. secretary of state antony blinken in the country yesterday as part of a significant middle east effort he's in the midst of. secretary austin on a business-like trip given u.s. defense assistance which has already been arriving in the country, we expect to hear from him shortly. we will bring that to you live when the secretary of defense speaks. now, this morning hamas says new air strikes are headed toward tel aviv in the days since the unprecedented hamas attacks 300,000 israeli reserve is have been called to active duty, countless israelis have returned from their homeland abroad to join in the war effort.

our next guest served more than 20 years in the israel defense forces before moving to the u.s. and becoming an american citizen, now living in the boston area he just traveled back home to israel to fight alongside his four daughters who are also serving in the idf. joining us now is boazarbell working as a coordinator between ground forces on the front lines. sir, we appreciate your time. the moment you decided to go back, walk us through it. >> yeah, that was -- we woke up to horrible news, like unbelievable, unbearable for any human being, and the minute we heard that, no brainer for me that the assignment is going to be -- it is something big and going to be something bigger than ever, unfortunately, and for the last 14 years i've been living in the u.s., became a

u.s. citizen. but it touched me so hard i said i cannot stay here. i decided to take everything and come over to help. not to mention that my daughters are here, all serving in the idf. >> i wanted to ask you about that. i know people understand, but the military service in israel, the connection to families, your story is so emblematic of the connectivity that all israelis have with the idf, with the armed forces, four daughters currently serving, i believe one of your daughters successfully completed the israeli air force back in 2020. as a father, what are you thinking in this moment? >> so, yeah, so i'm not sure if everyone knows but in israel it's mandatory to enlist in the military for boys and for girls.

but since my daughters grew up in the u.s., and they came over when they were very young, they didn't have to go, but they volunteered to go, and to contribute their fair share to the nation, to the country, and that's what they did. it made us very proud, and not to mention when one of our daughters graduated the flight academy, like i did, that's what i did for so many years, that was a moment of proud. but we are proud of any other daughter who is doing very important things in the military. >> to your point, i mean, the scale of 300,000 reservists being called up, also the countless stories of israelis going back home, like yourself, what are you preparing for in the days ahead? you've said you're going to be there, quote, until further notice. >> that's correct.

i just want to take you specifically -- logan airport, to tel aviv airport, that was the flight of only -- military people were coming back, and people were coming back to israel to participate in funerals. so, you can imagine how gloomy that flight was, very quiet, very focused, everyone was focused. i'm here until further notice, until we can complete what we started. what they started. but we had to fight back once and for all, hopefully we can bring peace back to the mediterranean here, and put an end to that. because that thing cannot go on like that. >> yeah, the through-line between the horror and revulsion of six days ago to the emergence

and resolve of the israeli people has been something to behold. we appreciate your time. we give our best to you and your daughters, thank you so much. at this hour evacuations are under way in northern gaza after a warning from israel and here in the u.s., the house is entering day ten with no speaker after representative steve scalise dropped out of the race. we're going to tell you what the gop's next steps are, if they even know. that's ahead.

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with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. we want to take you straight to tel aviv where secretary of defense lloyd austin is giving a press conference with his counterpart. >> this is what we face in this war. this is a war on the existence of israel as a prosperous state, as a democratic state, as the homeland of the jewish people. this is a war on freedom and on our common values, and we are on the front line. we will keep fighting, and we

will win this war. we will prevail. with your permission, mr. secretary, i'll say a few words in hebrew. [ speaking in global language ] [ speaking in global language ]

[ speaking in global language ] we're going to continue to monitor this press conference. as we do, let's bring in colonel leighton, speak to the significance of the defense secretary being there right alongside the defense minister of israel, his counterpart, while secretary blinken is also there, right after we saw the statement, strong statement from blinken yesterday with netanyahu. >> yeah, absolutely, poppy. so this is a usually significant development that the secretary of defense is with basically in tandem the secretary of state in this region where there's so much going on, and where really the nexus of attention is on gaza. but the reason that gaza is so important is that it really is part of a larger issue that goes

not only to the existence of israel as a state, but it also goes to the fact that the various powers in the middle east, everyone from iran to saudi arabia to syria, all of these powers have relations with other countries, including russia and to a lesser extent china, and it's very important for the u.s. to show itself as a present force in the middle east. we've done so traditionally for many years but now it becomes really important for us to consider to do that, especially during this time where it's such a stressful and critical time for the existence of israel itself. >> colonel leighton, we saw secretary blinken talk about the mass diplomatic effort also the very, i think, pointed show of support, visible support. the secretary of defense being there, i think is coming at the same time more u.s. military aid is coming, how critical is u.s. military aid in the continuation of it to what lies ahead for israel? >> it's essential, phil.

without u.s. military aid there will be no ability for the israelis to continue to fire into gaza, either using air power or using artillery. so it becomes really important for there to be a complete supply line. it's basically logistics being that critical factor but it's also critical from an intelligence standpoint because the intelligence, although it's been listed as a failure in anticipation of the hamas strikes against israel, intelligence is critical, and where the united states shines often is in the tactical intelligence arena, and that is the kind of effort and those kinds of -- >> interrupt you for a minute. we want to listen to secretary of defense lloyd austin in tel aviv. even during such terrible days, as a u.s. secretary of defense i am here in person to make something crystal clear. america's support for israel is

ironclad, and i extend my deepest condolences to the israeli people, for those killed or wounded in this terrible slaughter by hamas. i'm also here in solidarity with all the families still living the waking nightmare of not knowing the fate of their loved ones, and we will continue to coordinate closely with israel to help secure the release of the innocent men, women and children in the clutches of hamas, including american citizens. now, israel is a small country, a place where everybody knows everybody. and in times of trial the intimacy of your society deepens the intimacy of your grief. but that's not a weakness.

it is a profound strength. and in times of testing israelis know what to do. over this awful week we've seen israeli hotels and homes take in those who've had to flee. we've seen long lineups to donate blood. we've seen whatsapp explode with messages as people race to support neighbors in anguish. and perhaps because i'm a retired general, i was especially moved by the story of a retired general named noam snn tibon. his son called him near gaza to say hamas terrorists had stormed their kibbutz and were closing in and the retired general jumped into his car in tel aviv

and raced toward the combat zone, linked up with other fighters and rescued his son, his daughter-in-law, and his granddaughters. and when the general arrived at their house, one of his granddaughters just said, gr grandpa is here, and these are rays of hope in a terrible week. and in times like these, sometimes the best thing that a friend can do is just to show up, and to get to work. now, this is no time for neutrality. or for false equivalence. or for excuses for the inexcusable. there is never any justification for terrorism, and that's especially true after this rampage by hamas. and anyone who wants lasting

peace and security for this region must condemn and isolate hamas. hamas does not speak for the palestinian people or their legitimate hopes for dignity, security and statehood, and peace alongside israel. as a former commander of central command, the deliberate cruelty of hamas vividly reminds me of isis. bloodthirsty, fanatical, and hateful. and like isis, hamas has nothing to offer but zealotry, bigotry, and death. the world has just witnessed a great evil. the deadliest attacks on civilians in the history of the state of israel and the

bloodiest day in jewish history since the end of the holocaust. so make no mistake, the united states will make sure that israel has what it needs to defend itself, and israel has a right to protect its people. you know, in our many phone calls this week president biden has told prime minister netanyahu that the united states would also respond swiftly and decisively to such a massive terrorist assault, and the president also underscored that democracies like ours are stronger and more secure when we uphold the laws of war. terrorists like hamas deliberately target civilians, but democracies don't. this is a time for resolve and not revenge, for purpose and not

panic, and for security and not surrender. at president biden's direction we have moved urgently to respond to this crisis, and to send a strong message of deterrence. the uss gerald r. ford carrier strike group is now in the region, led by the largest aircraft carrier in the world. we've augmented u.s. fighter aircraft squadrons in the middle east, and the u.s. department of defense stands fully ready to deploy additional assets if necessary. as president biden has said, for any country, for any group, or anyone thinking about trying to take advantage of this atrocity, to try to widen the conflict or to spill more blood, we have

just one word. don't. the world is watching, and so are we. and we aren't going anywhere. we will remain in close contact with our valued partners across the region, and security assistance from the department of defense is already rapidly flowing into israel. that includes munitions and air defense capabilities and other equipment and resources. it also includes more interceptors for iron dome to save israeli lives, and we will continue to ensure that israel has what it needs to keep itself secure. now, hamas attacked at a time of global challenge. but the united states is the most powerful country in the world, and we remain fully able

to project power and uphold our commitments and direct resources to multiple theaters. so, we will stand with israel even as we stand with ukraine. the united states can walk and chew gum at the same time. and u.s. security assistance to israel will flow in at the speed of war, and as this harrowing week draws to a close, and as shabat crawdraws near, we stand together and we stand strong. the united states has israel's back, and that is not negotiable, and it never will be. after this terrible week i wish you and all the people of israel shabat shalom, thank you.

>> we'll be starting with the questions, starting with channel 13. >> thank you, mr. secretary, your presence in the eastern mediterranean clearly projects power, but should israel be attacked from the north, from hezbollah in lebanon, will you be willing to exercise your force, and join the fighting? >> you know, i ordered additional assets to the region to bolster deterrence. and again, the message that we would send to any country or group thinking to take advantage of this situation and widen the conflict, don't. i won't speculate on anything that could happen in the future. i will just tell you clearly that the united states will continue to support israel's right to defend itself. >> a question to the defense

minister. [ speaking in global language ] >> what are you hoping to achieve and what is the end result of this? >> we will destroy the regime of hamas. we will destruct their ability, their military ability. we will make sure that this threat is no longer on our borders. it will be long, it will be lethal, it will be powerful, and it will be for good. >> matt sieler, abc. >> thank you both for doing this. secretary austin, u.s. administration has told israel to avoid causing civilian casualties and to uphold what

you called just now the laws of war. given how hamas fights deliberately launching operations from dense civilian areas how could israel permanently end the terrorist threat posed by hamas without inevitably risking many civilian lives? as we watch the civilian death toll in gaza rise while israel conducts counterattacks and perhaps a ground invasion, do you believe the moral culpability for civilian deaths belongs to israel, hamas or both. >> i'll leave it to israel to talk about its potential plans and its approach to conducting operations. matt, i'll just say again that israel has a right to defend itself, and we will support israel's right to defend itself. we will continue to flow in security assistance. and i've worked with israeli fors over the years, over many years, as you know i wore a

uniform for 41 years. my experience in working with the israeli forces is they are professional, they're disciplined, and they are focused on the right things. and so i expect that going forward they will continue to exhibit that same degree of professionalism that we've seen in the past. but, you know, matt, we've seen this before. the international community fought isis who was in some cases was embedded deeply in built-up areas, and that international coalition fought valiantly and protected civilians and created corridors for humanitarian movement, even in the midst of a pretty significant fight. so, again, this is a professional force, it is well-led, and i have every expectation that it will be disciplined. >> thank you. and for mr. gallant, have you

seen evidence that iran was directly involved in planning or executing the recent attack on your country or any signs that either iran or its proxies are seeking to exploit the situation? and if you do come to see signs of an imminent attack on israel, are you in favor of preemptive strikes? >> iran, hezbollah and hamas is one axis, an axis of evil. everything is directed generally from iran. the permission is given by iran. the money is supplied by iran. and the ideas are shaped in iran. therefore, it doesn't matter if they give or didn't give the permission. but the idea is an iranian idea. as to the actions -- future

actions of idf i will stay confi confidential for good reasons. >> thank you. >> mr. secretary, thank you for this. there you have a significant press conference ongoing after remarks from defense secretary lloyd austin, and israel's defense minister as well. very clear as it was from secretary blinken lloyd austin saying america's support for israel is ironclad. he also said in this time of testing israel knows what to do. we have team coverage of these remarks back at the table with us today israeli special operations veteran aaron cohen, and colonel leighton with us. in those remarks from both of the men, i thought it was notable that lloyd austin said this is no time for neutrality or false equivalence, being just so clear in where america stands and what america's prepared to do. what did you hear? >> what i heard was a proper

line partnership that goes back years between the united states and israel. we were conducting operations with the united states in a special task force, working together for almost a decade, things that nobody has been told. the moving of the equipment into the region is a testament to that, we're going to need the u.s. equipment to be able to tap into those signals to be able to continue to hunt for hostages and continue to hunt down terrorists. you can see that the relationship is strong. the general is not playing around. he wanted to make it very clear to the world that the u.s. supports israel and that relationship will not be shaken. so, you know, it was put out there, and you can see that the messaging was very clear. >> yeah, the consistency and clarity from the president and his top officials over the course of the last five or six days has been notable, and to

some degree something to behold. colonel leighton, the secretary made clear, the u.s. will fly in military aid at the speed of war. what does that mean? we've already seen shipments arrive. the administration has been unequivocal that that will be the case and will continue as long as it's necessary. but at the speed of war, what does he mean there? >> he means as quickly as possible, phil, and, you know, when you look at speed of war, you're talking about how quickly it may take one of the carrier battle groups to come into this area. we already have the gerald ford in this area right here, the ea eisenhower is moving in fairly close, two carrier battle groups that's going to be associated with this conflict in one way or the other through their very presence and that becomes a critical thing. the speed of war means as quickly as possible and especially when it comes to supplying everything, munitions, intelligence, other supplies, medical supplies, all those kinds of things will be part of

that. >> all right, colonel cedric leighton, aaron cohen, we'll be coming back to you throughout the course of the morning. white house national security council spokesman john kirby is with us. john, thank you very much, admiral kirby, for joining us. i want to begin, we just heard those very important remarks from secretary austin, and they continue. i want to begin with what israel is directing people that live in northern gaza to do. they are saying go south. i think we have the sound. it might not be ready yet, but we spoke with the head of the -- one of the colonels of the idf who told us immediately. he said the evacuation needs to take place immediately. this is more than a million people, and the u.n. says that's impossible. does the administration think it is possible? >> well, i think we're going to be careful not to get into armchair quarterbacking the tactics on the ground by the idf. what i can tell you is we

understand what they're trying to do. they're trying to move civilians out of harm's way, and giving them fair warning. now, it's a tall order. it's a million people, and it's a very urban, dense environment, already a combat zone. i don't think anybody's underestimating the challenge here of affecting that evacuation, but it's pretty clear that what they're trying to do is to the maximum extent possible avoid civilian casualties and also separate hamas from the human shields. i mean, hamas actually gave a counterorder to telling palestinians in gaza to stay at home. why? because having human shields, they think, protects them. >> john, isn't that a crucial thing to know for the point you just made, to be able to separate the innocent civilians from the terrorists? if there is not enough of a window to do that then are you putting those civilian lives at risk? i mean, we heard secretary blinken say yesterday, how israel does this matters. so my question is, does the

makes it possible for those civilians not to be hit? >> we think there should be no civilian casualties, of course. we argued there ought to be safe passage out of gaza and, obviously, people who want to leave require probably a little bit of transportation, certainly time to get their affairs in order and to make the move through what is a very densely populated and now a combat zone. obviously, the more time people have, the better. but i let the idf speak to the orders they are giving and the operations they are conducting and planning. i wouldn't be in a position from the white house to do that. obviously, we don't want to see any civilians hurt. >> let me ask you this then. would the administration deem that to include safe passage of civilians out of northern gaza before israel carries out a ground incursion?

would anything -- >> of course. >> would that be palatable? >> of course. we don't want civilians in harm's way. as we have been arguing for several days, we support safe passage out of gaza and that includes the ability por people to move safely inside gaza. these palestinian people, they are victims, too. they didn't ask for this h they didn't invite hamas in and say hit israel. we, obviously, want to see as much due concern for the civilians in gaza as could be put in place. >> what about their ability to leave? the rafah crossing and the southern border in egypt remains close. >> that's right. >> i know there are discussions between the united states and egypt and israel about getting that open. >> so far it's still closed. we will try as hard as we can to talk to the israelis and egyptians and getting it open. it's important that we continue to work to make sure that humanitarian assistance can get

in. the united states has no intention of stopping our efforts to continue to deliver humanitarian assistance, but there has to be a path in, there has to be a path out. >> has the al sisi government been open to opening -- i think it's a really critical question. i am not asking for specifics. open at all to a potential short window of exit for people from the south? >> we are talking to the egyptians and israelis and i think i'll leave it at that. >> okay. on the hostages front, you said yesterday when you spoke to my colleague abby that the u.s. does not have enough information about where the hostages are or even how many there are. as i understand it, the president is going to speak today with the families of those believed held. it has been nearly a week since they have been taken hostage. has the intelligence in gaza improved more than it was a week

ago, that would help on this front? >> we are working at this very, very hard, hour by hour. i am not going to get into intelligence matters. we are in correct communications with our israelis counterparts and the families, too, have been a good source of information because some of them, you know, they saw their loved one being abducted or know -- they have seen images of their loved one being abducted. they have been a significant and important source of information as well. what i told abby last night is true this morning. we don't have enough information. >> and i want you to give an opportunity on what hamas is claiming that 13 hostages have been killed by what they claim are israeli airstrikes. the idf could not comment on that. i want to give the white house an opportunity if it knows anything? >> i can't confirm those reports. i have seen the statements. >> you know, john, from yesterday afternoon to messages i just received from, you know, loved ones moments ago, some people are very scared in cities

across america about what they could face today. i know you have said there are no credible threats. i wonder if you could speak to those people who are watching who heard that day of anger comment from the former hamas lead earp. w er /* leader. as people make decisions about their day? >> president biden and this administration is staying vigilant and we were already days ago thinking about this exact potential and working with close -- closely with state and local authorities, connecting them with law enforcement and the intelligence community to identify and disrupt any potential threat. nobody should have to worry about going to school or work because of antisemitic violence or violence that may be propagated by hamas. we are on this. we are vigilant. we are watching this very, very closely. >> the mess in the house, it really matters for increased funding for israel. the president said this week he

will call on congress to act on israel funding. there is no speaker. who knows when there will be one. is there a plan b? >> we will continue to work with congress. you know, this is really on the house republican caucus to figure out who their leader is going to be. a speaker of the house is critical to moving legislation forward and to get additional funding, we need additional legislation. obviously, we urge the house republicans to come to closure on this as soon as possible, elect a speaker so we can actually get meaningful supplemental funding through the congress and on to the president's desk. it's urgent. we need it. the israelis need it. the ukrainians need it. >> you need it. the american people need it. the israelis and ukrainians as well. thank you, john kirby at the white house, very much. >> you bet. >> you heard here in the u.s. the house entering day ten with no speaker after representative steve scalise dropped out last night. what the gop's next steps are. you heard about the urgency.

what's next, ahead.

(car engine revs) (engine accelerating) (texting clicks) (tires squeal) (glass shattering) (loose gravel clanking) the u.s. capitol where things

aren't exactly progressing. republicans will meet again after steve scalise dropped out of the race for speaker 24 hours after being nominated. >> if you look at over the last few weeks, if you look at where our conference is, there is still work to be done. our conference still has to come together and is not there. there are still some people that have their own agendas and it's very clear. we have to have everybody put their agendas on the side and focus on what this country needs. >> meantime, jim jordan, congressman from ohio, says he will announce today whether he will launch another bid for speaker after losing to scalise. today, day ten without a speaker of the house. lauren fox, what happens next here? >> yeah, i mean, that's the big question. right now what we can expect is 10:00 a.m. this morning house republicans are once again going to meet behind closed doors for a conference meeting where we expect that they will discuss

the rules to govern their conference through the next phase of this speaker's fight. jim jordan is expected to make an announcement at some point this morning whether or not he will launch another bid for speaker or not. but there are already a number of republicans who are making it clear that they may never back jim jordan. in fact, you heard yesterday from anne wagner from missouri as well as austin scott from georgia, who argued that jim jordan is not the right candidate to lead the house republican conference. so right now the conference is deeply divided, and the fact that there is just a small majority in the house of representatives for republicans means that there could be any handful of republicans who could hold up any future nominee for speaker. so so many unanswered questions. we are now in day ten of a speakerless house or at least a house that doesn't have a speaker that could put any legislation on the floor of the house and there are real and