at the beginning of the jewish year. last night she said mom and dad is this the day tomorrow that we're going to be bombed, and then you think to yourself, this is the world in which we're raising our kids? the jewish national anthem, ha teak va is not about pride, it's about hope. i feel like it's in our dna that our faith which is not blind belief. it's doubt plus belief equals faith. with god at our backs that we shall overcome. >> and rabbi, this morning the words -- i will only give you the words in the few seconds we have remaining that our secretary of defense said in israel, america supports israel. that is not negotiable. thank you both and please come back. we would love to hear more from you as soon as possible. that does it for this morning. josé diaz-balart picks up the

coverage right noufrmt now. right now a brutal new warning for around 1 million palestinians, leave northern gaza immediately as the world holds its breath for a possibly imminent ground invasion. the damage inside gaza already massive, no fuel, no clean water, hospitals on the verge of collapsing, but will those people be able to leave? and where can they go? and later, the fate of the hostages, president biden speaking out on the dozens of missing denouncing the barbarism of hamas. >> this is not even human behavior. it's pure barbarism, and we're going to do everything in our power to get them home if we can find them. right now the israel hamas war entering its seventh day. this time with a new warning,

israel ordering the entire population of northern gaza to evacuate to the south. hamas has urged the more than 1 million palestinians to ignore the order. the united nations calling it, quote, impossible without devastating humanitarian consequences. you can see here the leaflets israel has dropped from the sky into gaza, written on the paper, quote, evacuate immediately. moments ago, we saw u.s. secretary of defense lloyd austin with israel's deputy minister of defense at an israeli air base 40 miles east of gaza. >> there's a lot of work that needs to be done, that will be done. we owe them a lot of thanks. thanks to the great cooperation like i told the minister of defense and the prime minister today, we're going to continue to do what's necessary to ensure that you have what you need to be successful. >> joining us now is nbc's

richard engel from the israel gaza border and raf sanchez in southern israel. what are you seeing at this hour? >> well, air strikes into the gaza strip are continuing, even as this evacuation order has been given, but we're not seeing the same tempo of attacks. overnight, while it was still dark here, there was a very intense bombardment into gaza with the strikes happening every few minutes pounding buildings, pounding the center of gaza city. that is gaza city behind me. you can see some smoke coming out of it. that is the densely populated heart of gaza in the north. the area where palestinians have been told to leave, and you can still hear strikes. so there is still an active campaign against the gaza strip, even as this evacuation order has been given, but it is not nearly on the same scale. i think once midnight tonight, which is the deadline for --

that israel has given, once that deadline expires, i think it's very likely we're going to see a vasting intensification of this campaign again. the people inside gaza, you said that hamas is telling them to leave. hamas has given that instruction saying don't leave, defy this order, but people are leaving. they are leaving any way they can. this is not an organized evacuation. they are just getting into their cars, they are heading south. they are walking, sometimes they are going in horse-drawn carts as well. gaza is a very poor area. it is very densely populated. it is always cut off from the world, and no -- it is more cut off from the world now than ever before. hospitals are on a brink of collapse. they say that the death toll continues to rise. we're at about 1,700 palestinians killed so far since the start of this operation,

1,300 israelis killed in those hamas massacres. so we are now, i think, waiting for a major turning point, what will happen tonight at the stroke of midnight. will it be the start of a ground invasion, why is israel telling the people to leave the north now, clearly because it plans to do something dramatically different after the stroke of midnight tonight and it is telling people head south, leave gaza city, go to the south of gaza for your own safety. >> and so we're talking about seven hours in change from now, richard, and i'm just wondering for the folks, you know, that don't maybe have a direct knowledge of what exactly that gaza strip includes, when they're asking people to leave the north and go south, what does that geographically look like? >> reporter: well, the gaza strip -- and i'm not sure if you can pull up a map -- is a rectangle. it's bordered by israel in the

north, bordered by the mediterranean sea and it is bordered by egypt to the south, so it is completely cut off either cut off by israel, which controls most of the border, egypt in the south, or the mediterranean. so the people inside can't go, so we're not seeing an exodus of refugees out of e territory like you might see in other war zones like we saw in ukraine, when the bombings started in ukraine, the borders were open, people started flooding into poland. they were going on trains and then they were being distributed throughout europe. many of the refugees are still in europe. here we're talking about an internal displacement. they can't leave the gaza strip. the gaza strip remains closed off. all they can do is go from the north below an area called gaza valley. an israel is suggesting below it they will be safe or safer. some people are choosing to stay in gaza city, however, particularly medical officials.

they say they have an obligation to stay behind. they also say they can't move patients. this is not an easy thing to just pack up while under attack after you've already been under attack. you don't have supplies. you don't have food necessarily because the whole area has been cut off. you don't have power. you don't have water. so now you've just been told by any means just move south, take whatever you can. take your families with you, and start heading towards that egyptian border. there are people who are elderly who might not be able to do it. people who don't want to leave. so this is not -- i don't want to say an orderly process. this is just an order, a time that israel's given them to say get south however it happens, how you can do it. >> richard engel, i thank you so very much. appreciate your time. let's go to raf sanchez. what does it look like where you are? >> reporter: jose, it's relatively quiet here in ashdod,

we're a little bit further away from the gaza border than richard is. i want to just update you on a situation that is unfolding on israel's northern border with lebanon. this is an alert we got living roomily -- literally three minutes ago. there was an explosion at the border fence, the border with lebanon. the israeli military is responding with artillery fire, and they sa an alert was activated concerning the possibility that gunmen crossed over from southern lebanon into northern israel and that israeli ground forces are now searching the area. jose, there have been a number of false alarms about the situation in the north over the course of the week. people, as you can imagine, are very, very jumpy, very concerned about the possibility that hezbollah, the powerful lebanese militant group, which is aligned with hamas, not the same as hamas, but aligned with hamas, might swing into action here.

so far there is no sign that hezbollah is bringing its very, very significant fire power against israel in a full scale way, but it does seem to be tolerating smaller palestinian factions carrying out sort of smaller scale attacks against the border fence. we have seen videos on social media that appear to show large crowds gathered on the lebanese side of the border fence, and so it does appear that somewhere amid this confusion, this large gathering, there was some kind of explosion, and israel is now concerned about the possibility of fighters, of gunmen crossing over from lebanon into those communities in northern israel because, jose, the nightmare scenario for israel if it's possible for something to be more nightmarish than what we've seen over the last weeks is that they're fighting not just the war in the south around gaza, but potentially a war in the north on the lebanese border also, jose. >> raf sanchez, thank you very much. of course we'll stay very close with you to give us updates on

this rapidly changing story. we're now going to go to mark regev, a former senior adviser to prime minister netanyahu and a former israeli ambassador to the united kingdom. thank you so much, mark, for being with us. you're in tel aviv. i understand you've actually been hearing sirens moments ago. what is happening? >> so if i can correct you and i apologize for doing so, i'm currently adviser for the prime minister, no longer former. i've been drafted for the duration of this conflict. but your question is correct, sir. the -- while i was sitting on the chair just waiting to be interviewed, the sirens went off in this part of tel aviv, and me and all my staff, we went down to the safe room for a required ten-minute period because we didn't -- that's the rules, and if government officials like myself don't lead by example, we can't expect others to follow, and we've had these attacks in tel aviv. we've had more of them in the south.

this is one of the realities that israelis have been living with ever since hamas came to power. they're a brutal and formidable enemy. they have no qualms whatsoever about shooting rockets into urban centers to deliberately target innocent civilians. the sort of violence they're capable of we saw close up when they were butchering people in the gaza frontier communities. the sort of violence that reminded us all of isis. we have no illusions about the sort of enemy we're facing. >> and ambassador, i think it's important to -- a lot of people may question what and how israel reacts to this terrorist attack a week ago tomorrow. what is it that you think we need to know about what the decisions going forward by the israeli people and its government may mean. >> i think in the past there might have been an attempt to

find a mow tus op ren dee with hamas. let's find a way to live and let live, and people thought maybe because hamas has been running the gaza strip now for almost 16 years that maybe the fact that they have to rule, that forces them to be more pragmatic. that forces them to be more moderate even and there was hope that somehow maybe hamas was going to change, but we saw on saturday morning that hamas hasn't changed. they're stuck in this very extreme, radical theological, ideological agenda, which says that every israeli is a legitimate target, that every jew is a legitimate target, and we can have no illusions. and in many ways, i think what we saw saturday morning was a wake-up call for everyone. who are we dealing with here? it's not about palestinians. this is about a group of

extremists like the taliban in afghanistan, like isis that have taken control of a territory and turned it into a massive terror base. and these people should be remembered are also the enemies of everyone who would like to see peace and coexistence in the middle east. hamas says no to peace. hamas says my country has no right to survive in any borders. hamas says any arab leader who negotiates peace with israel is a trader to the arab world and to islam. their words not mine. they say every israeli man, woman, and child is a legitimate target for murder. these are not people that unfortunately we can make a peace deal. i wish, i wish, i wish it wasn't the case. >> it's important to look back at the founding documents of hamas and their constitution and see that there is very clearly a desire and from their perspective, a need to destroy

israel and to destroy the jewish people. i'm wondering, though, there's now a 24-hour period that israel has given to the people, the civilians that are in gaza to move from the north to the south. the united nations is fiercely against this order. how do you -- what's the message here? >> so i'll explain the logic, jose. israel does not want to see harm come to the civilian population of gaza, and we know in that part of northern gaza, there are hamas tunnels. there are launches sites. there are arms depots. their command and control. we have to go in there and clean it out. and we don't want to see civilians caught up in the cross fire, and we've asked civilians to vacate the area to move south so they stay out of harm's way. now it's interesting, jose, i

don't know if you've reported this. hamas has been telling people to stay. they're telling them don't leave the zone. they might even be ordering people to stay because they actually want the civilian population as human shields, and this is the perverse situation. they say they're for protecting the palestinians. the country is the truth. israel is making more effort to try to save palestinian lives than hamas is. >> and there is the very real possibility, if not probability, that some, many, most or all of those 140 or 150 hostages that hamas took may be there. how do you balance that? >> it's very difficult, and i think the only thing i can say to you now are two things. number one, we are watching hamas, and they are responsible,

and anyone involved in hurting one of those hostages, anyone involved in harming one of those people, we will find them, and we will punish them. it might take a year. it might take five years, it might take 25 years, but anyone involved in harming one of those hostages, we will find them, and we will administer justice. the other point that has to be said is that the international community has to be unequivocal. taking hostages, the brutal way hamas has done and they've taken children, they shot their parents and took the children possible. they've taken all people. they've taken a holocaust survivor. they've taken all these people from their home. this is considered against all norms of civilized human behavior, and the message from the international community, not just israel, everyone, these people need to be released

immediately and unconditional ly and that has to be the message, pure and simple. >> ambassador, the 2 million people who live in gaza, and we were just speaking with richard engel about it, there is a great part of it, of gaza that has a border with israel, but they have a border with egypt as well. where is the assistance for those people coming from egypt and other countries that are nearby, and what about humanitarian corridors that can serve to save lives, where is that ambassador? >> so obviously we're having discussions because we don't want to see, as i say, you know, israel is not interested in casualties. we are targeting not the people of gaza, we're targeting the hamas organization, which is -- which has attacked us and

declared war on us. but we are talking to people, relevant people about the possibility of making sure that we don't have a humanitarian crisis, but our immediate concern is to get people out of the fighting. our immediate concern is not to see palestinian, innocent people caught up in the cross fire between us and hamas. and that's why the most important thing is at the moment is to evacuate theombat zones. the people of gaza know their cities. they know their communities better than i do, better than you do. they know where they live. they know where the hamas strongholds are. th know where the arms depots are. they should move away. they should move away, even if hamas tells them don't move away, move away, stay out of the combat areas. we have no interest in harming you, please, you have time, not much, but you have time. move away. >> what can we expect come just

under seven hours from now midnight? >> so i can't be more specific, you can understand one doesn't talk about military operations before they happen, but i can tell you what the goal is. the goal is to free israel from this terrorist base, this massive terrorist base on our southern border. i mean, it's a bit like, you know, isis remember took over territory in iraq and syria and turned them into kingdoms of terrorism. so hamas has done the same in gaza. when this is over, we didn't want this war, jose, they started it, but we will finish it. we'll finish it on our terms. when this is over, there won't be a terrorist organization in gaza which has the cape the or the desire to hit israel the way they did on saturday morning, and i think that new reality will not only be good for israel, but it will be good for the palestinians in gaza that won't have to live under this

rule of terrorism, and it's also good for peace in the middle east because if you weaken the enemies of peace, maybe you strengthen those who want peace and reconciliation. >> ambassador mark regev, i thank you very much for being with us this morning. appreciate your time. >> i appreciate you having me, thank you very much. we are back in just 60 seconds, and when we come back, more special coverage of the israel-hamas war including a report from the white house on president biden's planned call with the families of american hostages today. but first, gavel gridlock has led gop congressman steve scalise to drop out of the race for speaker. so what's going to happen going forward? and what does it mean for the future of aid for israel? we're back in 60 seconds. but the same ai-powered security that protects all of google also defends these services for everyone who lives here. ♪

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drawing board for house republicans as they find themselves looking for a speaker again, just 24 hours after securing the nomination, house majority leader steve scalise withdrew his name after a closed door meeting last night when it became clear he did not have the votes needed to be elected. >> i'm withdrawing my name as a candidate for the speaker designee. if you look at over the last few weeks, there's still work to be done. our conference still has to come together, and is not there. >> republicans are set to meet again today to discuss what comes next. joining us now from capitol hill is julie tsirkin. julie, good morning. so scalise can't get the votes. is there anybody who can? what's happening going forward now? >> reporter: well, maybe jim jordan can. he just walked by us a few moments ago and said he is officially in the running again for speaker. if you're having deja vu, jose,

you're not alone. we are literally in the same place we were in wednesday outside the of the room where republicans are meeting behind closed doors. they're once again considering changing the rules to raise the threshold within the room by which they could pick a speaker designee. that's because on wednesday, remember, jordan and scalise were 14 votes apart. it was because of that that it was such an uphill climb for scalise to get to that 217 number needed to get the gavel on the house floor. i also just spoke to former house speaker kevin mccarthy as he was entering down this hallway entering the meeting. take a listen to what he had to say. >> are you ruling out running for speaker? it sounds like some members want you to run again. >> reporter: i was asking him if he is definitely ruling out another bid for speaker. especially when it comes to the

conflict going on in israel, being out in front talking about the 4% minority that was able to oust him. i will also tell you some members are still considering whether to expand power for the speaker pro tem, patrick mchenry so they could do some business. they can't even pass resolutions right now condemning the attack, let alone consider any kind of supplemental funding that the administration would send them when it comes to aiding israel in this. right now we are really back to square one. some members yesterday even went home because they didn't think these votes would happen. now they are shuffling back here trying to get here so they can consider not only this rules change but whether they can coalesce around any candidate to lead them. so far the house ungovernable. >> julie tsirkin on capitol hill, thank you very much. this morning a major show of support hopefully some answers for those americans being held hostage in gaza, the president scheduled to speak with their families today according to a white house official. let's bring in nbc news white

house correspondent, monica alba. good morning, what can you tell us about this call with families? >> those families certainly have a lot of questions, jose, for the biden administration, and united states government, and we know that president biden will be holding this call meeting virtually with these families before he is scheduled to leave for philadelphia later this afternoon for a clean energy speech that is not related to the crisis in israel as this president has been monitoring it hour-by-hour, participating in meetings with his national security team, but specifically when asked why he wanted speak to these families, we got a little bit of insight on why this is so personal for the president. here's what he told 60 minutes. >> why do you feel so strongly about speaking to these families personally on zoom? >> because i think they have to know that the president of the united states of america cares deeply about what's happened to then. deeply. we have to communicate to the world this is critical.

this is not even human behavior. it's pure barbarism, and we're going to do everything in our power to get them home if we can find them. >> now, we don't know how many families will be on this call because we still don't know, jose, how many families of american hostages there are in any kind of confirmed manner. we know just from the national security council that there may be a handful of them who are being held in gaza. we know still the number of unaccounted for americans at this time is around 14, so the number would be lower than that. >> monica alba, thank you very much. up next, an unknown number, text an israeli family, it had a video screen shot of their loved one captured by hamas. we'll talk to the center of the 23-year-old israeli man being held hostage about her fight to get him home. you're watching special coverage of the israel-hamas war on msnbc.

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of the music festival massacre, this horrific attack that upended hundreds of lives including families of those believed to be hostages of hamas. among the missing this 23-year-old aviatar david. his family says they have no idea what happened to him until

they received this graphic video from an unknown number showing him being taken by hamas. joining us now is his sister, yella david, thank you for being with us. and you know, we're not putting up that video anymore, we're not showing it, and i want to just share with you how much we feel for you and your family. just have you heard from or about eviatar since that horrific unknown number video? >> no, we actually haven't heard anything since we watched the videos. the last thing we heard two soldiers came to our house and officially told us that eviatar

was kidnapped, and now he is on gaza strip. except that unfortunately we have no information. we don't know anything. >> so there was some confirmation that he is in the gaza strip. tell me -- take me back to saturday, last saturday. >> we woke up at 6:30 in the morning to an alarming sound of a siren, which in israel, when you hear the siren, you know you need to leave anything you're doing and going to the nearest bomb shelter. so my mom immediately texted to see if everything is okay, and he answered her that people are

bombing them, that people are launching rockets. at 7:45 it was the last message we got from him, which in that message he told us that they are starting to come back home. at 11:00 a.m., i posted on social media a picture of eviatar with my phone number so if anyone knows anything, can call me and let me know. like a few hours ago at 2:00 p.m., an unknown number

texted me on whatsapp. he asks for my brother if we know something new, and i told him, no, we don't know anything yet and then texted me, okay, because i think i recognize him from one of the videos hamas posted, and he sent me a screen shot of my brother's face, which i immediately recognized. but i didn't believe -- i didn't believe what i'm seeing so i called my family and i asked them, and they told me and for 50 hours we didn't know

anything. everything we know was that he got kidnapped by hamas. again, we saw it on telegram, we knew it from hamas. and like 50 hours ago -- not ago, later two soldiers came to our house and officially told us he got kidnapped. >> and yeela, you know, we're seeing things develop as a consequence of last saturday. there is, you know, a warning going out to the residents of gaza to move, to leave.

i'm just wondering as a family, someone who -- you love your brother more than anything in the world, how are you processing this, and what do you want us to know about how one deals with such pain and such uncertainty at a moment that is brought to you through no choice? >> look, this is a situation that no one prepares you to. me and my brother, his name is eli. he's older than eviatar, for the last two days we are trying to explain to the world, to post on social media anything we want

and his name will be -- will stay on everyone e's mind. we're very positive, we're surrounded by family and by friends, and i know that soon i will get to hug him again and to hold him tight and never, never, never let him go. i really, really, really believe in that. i really know he will come back soon. >> yeela david, thank you so much. we will of course stay close to you and there is always, always hope, you know. there is always hope, and i thank you, yeela for being with us this morning.

>> thank you. thank you so much. next, the possibility of a wider regional conflict and a new front opening up along israel's northern border. plus, how do you move a million people in 24 hours? the warning for palestinians in northern gaza right now from israel about the conflict that may be coming. how can they get somewhere safely? you're watching special coverage of the israel-hamas war on msnbc. israel-hamas war on msnbc. (bobby) my store and my design business? we're exploding. but my old internet, was not letting me run the show. so, we switched to verizon business internet. they have business grade internet, nationwide. (vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon.

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41 past the hour. we continue to it keep a close eye on the situation in gaza. it is 5:41 p.m. right there as it appears that the israeli ground invasion of gaza could be imminent. does along israel's northern border, the possibility of a new front keeping the region on edge. the question at hand, will

lebanon's heavily armed hezbollah militia join the conflict. joining us now from the border in the town near lebanon is nbc's foreign correspondent matt bradley. defense secretary lloyd austin said yesterday he had no evidence, he had seen no evidence that hezbollah militants were amassing on lebanon's border with israel. where do things stand at this hour? >> reporter: well, i'm actually in lebanon, i'm opposite the town of ma tu la, and we are over on the lebanese side. you have a clear view of this town. as you mentioned, we've heard from u.s. officials saying they haven't seen hezbollah troops on the side of the border, neither have we. but we have seen a lot of people in favor of hezbollah. this was a day of rage, as hamas called on its supporters to come out. we saw them in capitals from baghdad to beirut. we saw them in cities in yemen

and we saw them here right along the border with israel. we're also being treated to another spectacle along this range here. this is -- on the other side of this little valley here, you can see is another part of lebanon, so this part of israel juts up into lebanon, and there was outgoing fire from lebanon it looked like into israel. we don't know who the author of those shots were. we don't know whether or not this was hezbollah. we suspect since they're the dominant military force in this part of the country. there were other border incidents just today according to the idf on the other side of the border. but you know, jose, this all pales in comparison to what's going on to where my colleagues are in the gaza strip and the southern parts of israel. as you mentioned and i think we've been making clear for the past couple of days, the potential for combat here, the potential for destruction is monumental if hezbollah were to enter into the fight.

>> yeah, and matt, it's really interesting to see, you know, physically where you are and how there's like a ditch, a large, what is it, a valley there between this area. describe that. it seems so interesting. >> reporter: you could -- yeah, you could call the border almost serpentine the way it kind of twists and turns around here. that's why when i pointed over here to where there was outgoing fire from lebanon into israel, it looks like we're still on our side of the border. but this is what you would call the blue line. this is an old border that is monitored by the united nations interim force in lebanon, which has been here since the 1970s around the time of the outset of the lebanese civil war. they're the ones who are in control here in partnershipp se

right below where i am this is a heavily monitored and heavily controlled border. it gets a lot of that's why it's getting so much international attention right now. it is soso explosive. i've spoken with some officials and they've said things have gone fromid nothing, total quie to all out war in a matter of hours. that's what everybody here is s worried about. jose. >> matt bradley, thank you so very much. now back to the people of gaza.o they're already enduring days of unending strikes. now they'll have to consider whether to follow israel's order to move south or stay put in their homes and listen to the orders from hamas. joining us now is martin fletcher, former nbc news correspondent and tel aviv bureau chief, and aaron david miller, senior fellow carnegie endowment for international peace. martin, it seems pretty clear that a ground invasion is imminent. what do you think is going to bs happening in the next hours? >> well, everyone's waiting, and

nothing good will happen. the israelis have threatened ground invasions in almost each of the i conflicts that they've had with hamas in the last -- over the last 15 years. a total ground invasion now is what hamas has always been saying that's what they want. they're ready for this. they've goty tunnels all over gaza city, hundreds of miles of them, probably that's where the hostages ares being held, and israel needs to take out those tunnels, about 3 to 4,000 remaining hamas highly trained a fighters, so this is going to be a very bitter ground war when it happens. we're talking about, you know, we're hearing maybe within a few hours it could start. israel gave the local inhabitants 24 hours to get out of the area, and some of them are moving. most of them won't be able to leave. there's nowhere to go anyway.

so you know, what will happen next? it's going to be, frankly, hell on earth in gaza. >> yeah, and aaron, just how do you get over a million people out of harm's way in just hours and with what martin has been, you know, describing, it's just such a difficult place on a non-warning day. >> thanks for having me, jose. first of all, you don't move a million people in 24 hours or arguablyop in 24 days. i mean, i think the israelis in some respects it follows their earlier precedence of warning in palestinians, but i think in this case it's largely performative. we don't know when the ground campaign is going to begin. when it does begin, it is going to be unprecedented and it is going to be disproportionate. and i think the biden administration frankly understands that, at least for the moment. itst seems to me they are prepad

to give israeli the time, the space, and of course the support, $2 billion requisitioned in intercepters for iron dome, precision guided munitions, ammunition, and probably ati supplemental is coming because this is not going to be a short or easy campaign. i guess the reality is what is the israeli objective.el the israeli press spokespeople have made it unmistakably clearl they want to undermine not just hamas's military capacity, high rockets, it's weapons, it's ammunition. it's panic control and its leadership, they want to fundamentally alter the political reality and undermine hamas's sovereignty in gaza and its capacity to govern, and that's a fundamental alteration in the f status quo, frankly. whether they can achieve it and at what cost i think are two questions right now that are unanswered. and one thing is fundamentally clear, in view of the hamas

terror rampage beginning on october 7th, you have a whole new context here for what the israelisor aspire to do. martin pointed out to previous israeli incursions, in a way they tried limited ground incursion, but nothing like whag we're about to witness. >> yeah, the alteration of the status quo that began a week ago saturday with what we saw in very stark and horrendous terms. martin fletcher and aaron david miller thank you for being with us this llmorning. this morning, law enforcement is wrapping upni security across the u.s. after several anti-semitic attacks t online. i want to bring in nbc news correspondent stephanie gosk at theen temple emanuel in new yor city. and former fbi assistant director for counterintelligence, frank figliuzzi. stephanie, how are we seeing law enforcement ramp up protection against jewish communities herem

>> reporter: jose, we have seen it all week. we have seen the patrols, outside of synagogues like this oneag and other jewish location. we also knowsh today there are number of private schools that haveiv closed or gone remote ju out of an abundance of caution. there have been protests and counterprotests here ines new yk city. there has been a large police presence. there have been a couple of scuffles that have broken out, but nothing kesignificant. also, there is a lot going on behind the scenes. i spokehe to terry monahan, the former police chief for new york, they said they haven't seen aey security risk like thi since 9/11. that gives you a sense of what is going on. they said they're monitoring social media, that m counterterrorism units and investigators are reaching out to their sources, going to neighborhoods, they'reg tryingo see if there is any talk, any chatter. at this moment, they say there is no specific credible threat. not here or in the country at the moment.mo jose? >> so, frank, the nypd this

morning said there are no specific credible t threats as stephanie says to new york citya what specifically are they looking out for? >> you know, there is a history here of cause and effect with tensions between palestine and israel and p what happens here terms of the surge in hate crimes or anti-semitic violence events orti vandalism. it happened through history through the h last three decade. in fact, interestingly, one of the top months ever for hate crimes in e the united states w october of 2000 where we had a palestinian uprising, and then we saw a surge in hate crimes. we saw it in the '90s during -- after the hebron massacre. it is prudent to do this across the t country. note that, yes, it is important that -- to say even the fbi director yesterday said

there is no -- no intel indicating a direct threat or concern. that's good news.n. but he had a call yesterday, the fbi director, with about 5,000 jewishut leaders who were part this secure communities network to reassure them that they're coordinating, they're coordinating with law enforcement around the country. i would di also note we can't limit our concerns to just jewish targets, but rather we should also be operating the security posture at muslim targets and mosques and medrosas around the country as well. when the hamas leader calls for a day l of rage around the worl we should paye attention. >> frank, the clear lack of intelligence that has been shown by, for example, the fact that israel really had no clue that hamasno was going to be doing wt it did last saturday, states also caught off guard on that,

are there things that are happening right now to address that as we speak? >> iwe can speak for, you know what is likely happening and what the indicators are within the u.s. and western intelligence communities because, look, this was a community loss. we can't just point the finger at israel.er we had this happen to ourselves, of course, famously, january 6th and 9/11. so what is happening now is the u.s. intelligence community is offering all kinds of enhanced intelligence coverage, without getting into classified techniques and methods, but you can imagineds human sources, technical sources, around the world, zeroed in on places like iran and communities like hezbollah, and then, of course, on gaza to see what hamas is up to. this is stuff you can enhance quickly anden get on to, but wh you can't figure out quickly is the perfect storm that led to everybody seemingly missing the clues. the clues were likely there, but they were missed and i think

that's a discussion to be had later afterha the incursion occurs. >> i was thinking about your thoughtsg on -- and just, you know, the difficulty of 150 possible hostages in gaza as we speak. it is just -- what a complicated mission that must be. >> yeah, i can't think back in my 25-year fbi career where a hostage rescue was this complex at all. i can tell you this, the attorney general, merrick garland, issued a press release yesterday and he very transparently and we should look at thisen said that the fbi is offering three different of its entities to support israel in thiss effort. one is the critical incident response group. so what is that? inside thet critical incident response group at the fbi are both trained crisis and hostage negotiators, and the fbi's elite

hostage rescue team. the other entity that has been offered up is the laboratory and thento operational technology. that's the gadget guys, the secretgu gadgets that you thinkf when you think of james bond and q, all of that being offered to our israeli partners. >> stephanie gosk and frank figliuzzi, thank you so much fo, being with us this morning. we have much more special coveragech of the israel-hamas r in our next hour with live reports n from israel and i'll speaking with an independent journalist on the b conditions right nowth for the people of gaza.op plus, tomorrow, and sund, nbc news will have live two-hour special reports on israel-hamas war. i'll be anchoring alongside tom on the ground in tel aviv and kate snow will pick up coverage on sunday. watch nbc news special report israel-hamas war tomorrow and sunday 8:00 p.m. eastern, 5:00 p.m. pacific on msnbc. 0 p.m. ea0 p.m. pacific on msnbc. we're back after a short break. don't go anywhere. we're back after a short break don't go anywhere.

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it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. our special coverage of the israel-hamas war begins now. israel ordering more than 1 million gaza residents to evacuate to the south, raising the probability of a potential ground invasion, but can the civilians actually get out of harm's way? the devastation inside gaza already immensit