. thank you for staying with our special coverage of the israel-hamas war. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. secretary of state anthony blick ken is in israel after shutting to saudi arabia and egypt over the weekend and giving strong pushback to israel's siege of gaza, denying aid and need to minimize the casualties. gaza residents facing a difficult choice, whether to flee devastated areas for humanitarian corridors that are still not open or stay and risk being caught in the crossfire.

president biden canceling a planned trip to colorado to keep the focus on the developments from israel and weighing an invitation from prime minister benjamin netanyahu to visit israel at some point. we're following the other big breaking news in washington. district court judge tanya chutkan has issued a narrow gag order on former president trump and other defendants, prohibiting all parties from targeting prosecutor jack smith and court staff. nbc's raf sanchez is near with israel-gaza border. nbc's matt bradley in lebanon. and chief bureau chief ali arouzi in iran. matt, new comments from a top israeli official on the initial attacks. >> reporter: andrea, that's right. let me say in the last couple moments we've heard the booms overhead of israel's iron dome

interceptors missiles, a fresh barrage, and not clear if any of the rockets got through. it's a sign that despite that absolutely punishing campaign of air strikes that israelas been mounting, they maintain the ability to fire rockets. earlier some of those rockets were fired toward jerusalem. members of the knesset with forced to run from the parliamentary chambers into shelter which shows you they have not been able to slem the flow of rocket fire from gaza. andrea, in terms of what you asked about, we are hearing for the first time from israel's intelligence community about the failure to stop the october 7th attacks here. ronan bar director of the shin bath has p out a statement acknowledging that his agency failed to generate a warning

that would give the israeli public enough time to react to this hamas attack. he says he takes responsibility for that failure. there's a lot of speculation in israel that he m offer his resignation on the other side of thewar. that hasn't been confirmed yet. he said there will be time for an investigation but right now israel is fighting. he also says, andrea, that ten agents from his shin bet domestic security agency were killed satst in fighting in the south of israel which must be, if not the worst day in the agency's history in terms of its own casualties, certainly one of them. the death toll here in israel has finally, after climbing for nearly a week, more than a week, has leveled out around 1,4000. it continues to climb inside gaza. the palestinian health ministry says some 2,800 people have been

killed by israeli strikes. a toll we expect to rise much, much higher if israel moves ahead with a ground offensive inside gaza. we should be clear we don't know how many of those 2,800 people that were killed were civilians and how many were militants. the images from gaza are harrowing as this israeli air campaign continues. looking toward the northern border where matt bradley is, a lot of concern among israeli officials about what's happening there, about exchanges of fire between hezbollah and israel. finally, andrea, the israeli military tonight saying it has informed 199 families they have a loved one being held hostage inside of gaza which is higher than the roughly 150 or so that we were hearing earlier in the week. andrea. >> which is indeed terrible news. matt bradley, thank you. there are also gaza residents seeking safety in the north. there are concerns among israeli

officials about hezbollah. matt bradley, weigh in here. >> reporter: we've been hearing from, as raf mentioned, there's a lot of concern and there should be about what's going on in the border behind me. there has been tit-for-tat fighting similar mark zuckerberg for the past week. it would take just one errant shot or some kind of mistaken episode or deliberate provocation in order to make this whole situation boil over. we've been hearing from both hezbollah, the dominant military force in southern lebanon and the israeli defense force about these tit-for-tat fights going on including artillery, rocket firement some of them have been intercepted, and shooting that has been going across that border which has always been a sensitive and provocative place, but now more than ever. andrea, if you zoom out, you'll see there is behind the scenes -- this is the tip of the iceberg. there are foreign minister from the united states where the

secretary of state anthony blick ken and the foreign minister of iran who have been dancing around each other throughout the entire region, trying to shore up their positions, trying to at least ostensibly ensure some peace as israel prepares to invade the gaza strip where raf is. they've also been warning each other explicitly not to expand this war. but we've been hearing from -- especially from the iranian foreign minister that this could be expanded, that the iranians will not sit back as the israelis go in and try to dismember hamas, one of their major client groups. their other major client group within lebanon is hezbollah. they're the dominant force here. if they are to enter the war -- that's what everybody is worried about -- they could bring weapons capabilities, training

and political power to bear that would dwarf that of hamas. we've been speaking with officials of hezbollah. they've been bellicose, ready for a night. this is the language you always hear from any group that's about to go into battle or being threatened. at the same time we can believe them. we know they have these capabilities. unlike hamas they have directed missiles but give them a much stronger heads up, much stronger power to shoot over that border, and they have much more experience. they have veterans fighting for the better part of the last decade in neighboring syria against islamist sunni groups. that means they're well prepared. they're well organized. in many ways they resemble much more a formal national military than they do a militant group. israel is right to be worried about this, and that's why they've been moving a lot of their military assets up to the northern border with israel. they've been evacuating about a

200-mile buffer zone south of the border with lebanon and getting prepared for the worse is it. if diplomacy fails, that's when the worst might come. andrea. >> matt bradley, that certainly tees up ali arouzi. hamas leaders have been meeting with iran's foreign minister in qatar. iran is signaling they might escalate. could please meetings also mean they are trying to figure out a way to not get engaged, they're heeding the american warnings which are backed up by one carrier group and another one on the way? >> reporter: andrea, i think it's a bit of both. there's a lot of sabre rattling going on from iranian officials, a lot of warnings to the israelis that, if they do go into gaza, that will expand the theater of war. they also say they're trying to deescalate, to stop this from expanding. the diplomatic language coming from iranian officials is much

less than the threatening language. as matt mentioned, iran's foreign minister was on a whistle stop tour on what's known the access of resistance by iran. iran's proxies in the region they placed around israel for an eventual fight with the israelis, that the iranians always say. he met with islamic jihad secretary, met with the political head of the bureau of hamas in beirut. they had a press conference together, and he kept stressing iran's position how fatal it could be to the israelis. during that meeting he met with the head of hezbollah, hasan nasrallah. he said he would discuss the ongoing operation and their unwavering support for

hezbollah. i think this is the really important thing, that iran is really shoring up its access of resistance in the area should this war expand further. they're warning they will get involved, if not directly, through their proxies. >> ali arouzi from tehran, thank you. we've got a note in the traveling pool, the camera pool and producers and print reporters who are with secretary of state blinken in israel right now. they are in the cure yeah, the equivalent of the pentagon, the military headquarters. they are told to shelter in place. they had been out in the motorcade. they're now in the stairwell inside that complex where secretary blinken is meeting with the israeli national security cabinet. we'll bring you -- there obviously has been some sirening

going off. joining us the former israeli ambassador to the united states, michael oren. ambassador, this is a crisis unlike any that you and i have ever seen -- >> and we've seen a few. >> we've seen many over the years in gaza, as well as in lebanon. tell me your interpretation of blinken extending his trip of diplomacy, getting pushback from el sisi in egypt, from mbs in saudi arabia, pushback about the humanitarian situation in gaza. the water was supposed to start. they don't have fuel to pump the water. people are becoming dehydrated. there's a hospital crisis. we spoke to doctors without border. the rafah gate isn't opened yet. egypt is being blamed for that. everyone is blaming everyone else. what can israel do in response to -- despite we know that

president biden and secretary blinken are reiterating the strong support of the u.s. we've spoken about that. they believe this humanitarian crisis, the siege has to be adjusted. >> well, welcome to our neighborhood. i had the misfortune when i was in government, andrea, to be in charge of the gaza situation for about a year and a half. i wouldn't wish this on anybody. everything i learned in the classroom is completely irrelevant. everything we know about civilized behavior, decency, throw it out the window. you're dealing with hamas, an organization that uses childrens to build their tunnels. hundreds of them died. they don't care. hamas has dug up all the water pipes to use for rockets. i was in charge of trying to improve the water in gaza. it was almost impossible because everything we brought in was used for military purposes.

there was one crossing called vineyard of peace. every day israel was prepared to bring in 1200 truck loads of food, message, there was no shortage of any basic commodities. the blockade was only about military supplies and dual use items, like an irrigation pipe that could be used to make a rocket. with the outbreak of this war, hamas blew up the vineyard of peace crossing and killed all the israelis there. we couldn't bring food and water across that crossing even if we wanted to. our trucks would be under fire. go get a truck driver to go and do that. the egyptians are extremely sensitive about any palestinians coming through the rafah crossing and resetting inside. that has been the position since they were ousted from gaza in june 1967.

back in 1979 you may remember, andrea that they tried to give it back to the egyptians and anwar sadat said no, no, i'm not taking that. egyptians are hesitant to even bringing humanitarian aid across the border. egypt has been fighting isis for years and losing thousands of civilians there. it's that kind of sensitive, sensitive situation. i'm not a spokesperson for the government. i hope we can find better solution for relieving the immediate humanitarian needs of the population that has moved out of the fighting areas now. i hope we can find a solution for that. that feeling is not shared by all israelis. there's a lot who feel that the population of gaza supported hamas, voted for hamas and so there's not a tremendous amount of sympathy there. i feel we should do this.

does the jewish state, the democratic state? also because the president and the secretary of state want it to help them with people maybe back in washington who may object to the very bold efforts of support for israel they have made. they have been truly extraordinary. and then finally just moving hundreds of thousands of palestinians out of the way of combat which, in fact, is the less humanitarian. the option is not moving about. hamas has booby-trapped mines and every alley in the street. gaza has built thousands of miles of bunkers under that. they'll be fighting not just in the street but under the streets. hamas has headquarters under hospitals, under schools. i was a paratrooper once and fought in gaza. i will tell you that is the ultimate nightmare for anyone fighting in gaza. ultimate nightmare. there are no good solutions

here. what i learned was everything i know, throw it out and try somehow -- i don't know anybody that wants to do this -- try to enter this reality. it is a very dark and very painful, agonizing reality. >> ambassador michael oren, you've got it all covered. thank you very much. your perspective is so prnt important. appreciate it. coming up, the growing humanitarian crisis. we'll take a closer look at what's happening in gaza as the u.s. and other countries are pushing for food, water and medicine to be let in before it's too late. i'll speak to an official from the international red cross when we're back in just 60 seconds. stay with us. this is "andrea mitchell reports," my special coverage on msnbc. "andrea mitchell reports," my special coverage on msnbc. but as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory.

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of the 199 -- now 199 hostages held by hamas. middle east director of the international communities organization helped secure the release of captured soldier gilad shalit. he's in talks with hamas directly since saturday about these hostages. he has spoken to "nbc nightly news" anchor less store holt today about the efforts to free those captives. >> what is the low-hanging fruit in terms of a deal that could be made? >> this is what i've been putting forth since sunday or monday. there are 43 palestinian women in prison, 190 minors to the best of my knowledge all from the west bank, to the best of my

knowledge, none have murdered israelis. that es the low-hanging fruit for them to claim something in exchange for women, children, elderly and sick. that's the humanitarian part of this. we could add civilians in general. i know hamas treats all the young men as soldiers whether they're soldiers or not. >> what is the potential bad news for families of hostages? is there a possibility a deal doesn't get done? >> there's a very big possibility a deal doesn't get done, a ground operation begins and israel is dependent on commando raids and special forces to try to find them. the hope that some of the captors will leave their posts. the other thing is we don't know who is alive. there are people who were wounded and dragged off. the infants need baby food. there are people with medical needs. we just don't know what their conditions are.

>> watch more of lester's exclusive interview tonight on "nbc nightly news." the international committee of the red cross says it is speaking directly with senior hamas officials in the hopes of getting access to the hostages in gaza. joining me now is the global media team director of the international committee of the red cross. jason, talk to us about the discussion when it comes to the hostages, what are you requesting specifically? as i understand international law, you were supposed to have access -- the international red cross is supposed to have access to hostages, and they're supposed to have communications with their families. >> that's right. those are two very good points, andrea. we are in talks directly with hamas and we're demanding three things. first, that the hostages be released immediately. they should n he been taken as hostages to begin with. it violates international humanitarian law. second, if that doesn't happen,

we're asking for immediate access to the hostages. thiss something we've done for cades around the world. we want to have access to these people so we can do health and wellness checks and advocate that they be treated well. number three, as you already mentioned, we want to facilitate communication between the hostages and their family members back and forth. again, this is something we've done for years, going back to world war i and world war ii. it is such a deep, emotional pain for all the families suffering after having had a family member taken in the hostage situation, and a simple letter, simple phone call, some sort of communication can help alleviate that pain. >> and your organization has worked on hostage situations for decades, including the girls in nigeria. you've been speaking with the families of those believed to be in gaza. that must be incredibly emotional.

what are you hearing from them? >> first, i agree with you completely that it is incredibly emotional. second, because of the way we work, we would not share the details of these kinds of conversations. clearly all the families are in pain on the israeli side, and every family of a non-israeli who is being held. we can say on the other side of the equation, i want to mention we've been visiting detainees held by israel and facilitating communications with palestinian families. so there have been families separated due to this conflict on both sides of the divide, and it's not our interest to work harder for one side or the other. it's our interest to reduce the suffering that the families are feeling by increasing communication or indeed by facilitating a release and a

happy ending for the families that come together no matter which side might be suffering. >> finally, have you seen any indication that the rafah crossing to egypt might be opening for humanitarian aid and for the exit of these trapped gazans? >> i couldn't give you an update on when that's going to happen because, of course, that decision is in the hands of the authorities. we are currently moving 60 tons of medical supplies, chlorine tablets to that rafah crossing, also moving team members including a medical surgical team to the crossing in the hopes, in order to be ready if and when it oechs up to be able to alleviate some of the humanitarian suffering we're seeing in gaza. >> jason, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> thank you. the israeli military is ramping up preparations to launch an offensive in gaza by

air, land and sea they is a. sky news was given rare access to a training site in southern israel where soldiers are rehearsing skills they will need for really unprecedented street-to-street combat. >> reporter: this place is designed to look like a palestinian city. you can see here the graffiti on the wall. israeli troops are training here. they know they need to train how they'll have to fight in and when the order comes in to move to gaza. >> this is the kind of stuff -- >> reporter: it's a restricted area, so we had to be careful about what we filmed. >> this is very similar to what it would be like. >> we built this so the soldiers can be trained at the highest level possible so when the day would come we need to do something like this, we would be ready. >> joining me is retired lieutenant general steph twitty.

general twitty it's unprecedented because unlike fallujah and mosul and other places we've been, kabul, this is 300 miles of underground tunnels, hideaways, booby traps, with potentially hostages in some of those tunnels. >> this is a huge dilemma for israeli forces. you talk about the tunnels. add the tunnels, plus the streets, plus the buildings, plus the non-combatants that are going to be running around on the battlefield as well, and then top that off with fighting hamas, an extremely complicated mission that the israeli forces are getting ready to embark upon. as you know, i've spent a lot of time with the israelis. they're a tremendously

professional force, and i have good confidence they'll be able to pull this mission out, but it is not without difficulty. >> you've got a carrier group, one on the way, one already there in the eastern med. that's a warning to iran. is there a scenario that when this ground offensive starts, if things go badly, that there would be air support or some other kind of support from the carrier group? >> i don't think so. i think the attempt of the force you see there from the united states is a deterrent force for iran and hezbollah. i do see america getting involved if the israeli state is threatened during its existence, but i don't see u.s. forces getting involved otherwise. as you know, israelis, they've

been through this before where they've had attacks on multiple fronts. think back to egypt and syria, and they've been able to handle such pressure as what they're going through now. so i believe that they'll be able to handle hezbollah in the north. i also believe they'll be able to handle hamas. we'll see how iran unfolds here, but i think with what they're dealing with now, there will be no need for u.s. involvement. >> general, there's a report from axios, citing two diplomatic sources that iran sent a message to israel that they would be standing down for now, but that it could escalate quickly if the offensive begins. would that in any way influence israel's posture? >> i don't think so. israel, they have to do this mission. they have to do it because,

number one, they have hostages. number two, their state has been threatened. they've been attacked, and so they have to go in and root hamas out of the gaza strip so that they don't get attacked again, as well as they've got to destroy the missiles that keep raining down on the state of israel. so they have to do this mission regardless of the rhetoric coming out of iran. >> lieutenant general steph twitty, as always, thank you so much. >> good to be with you. coming up, a federal judge in washington issuing a partial gag order against frormer president donald trump in his election interference case. will the former president comply? what are the legal ramifications, constitutional ramifications on the partial gag order on a presidential candidate? we'll have more coming up next. y that protects all of google

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former president trump is now barred from attacking special counsel jack smith, his staff, their family or any potential witnesses in the case after the judge imposed a limited gag order in his 2020 ' conspiracy case. katherine christian, formerly with the manhattan d.a.'s office. ken, walk us through what the former president can and cannot do, say and not say about the case. >> reporter: judge chutkan said from the bench mr. trump is prohibited from reposting any statements publicly targeting the special counsel, his staff, the judge's staff or court personnel, and also witnesses to the extent it involves their role in the case. he can still criticize, for example, former vice president mike pence, his opponent in the presidential campaign, but he's not allowed to talk about mr.

pence's role in the january 6th matter or this case. she said, i can't imagine any other criminal case in which a criminal defendant can call prosecutors deranged or a thug. shef said no other defendant would be allowed to do so, and i'm not going to allow it in this case. she went on to say that mr. trump can criticize the biden administration. she said those critical first amend. freedoms don't allow him to launch a smear campaign against government staff, their families foreseeable witnesses. we have a statement from the trump campaign i criticizing the ruling sayg today's decision is an absolute abomination, another partisan knife stuck in the heart of our democracy by crooked j biden who was granted the right to muzzle his political opponent. that's the argument mr. trump's lawyers made in court which is that he has an absolute first amendment right to criticizes the justice department and people involved in this case who

work for president biden. we all know that's not how this works, that these are independent prosecutors that don't answer to the white house. mr. trump says he had the right to do that and in so doing criticize these people. judge chutkan decided that what mr. trump has been doing with his repeated attacks, calling people deranged, partisan and corrupt crosses the line and creates the potential for threats and intimidation of witnesses and also tainting the jury pool, andrea. of course, the trump team will immediately appeal this ruling and there's every reason to think the supreme court will be ultimately weighing in on this. >> katherine, the judge is clearly trying to balance trump's right to free speech as a person, an individual, and also as a presidential candidate. the real dangers of witness intimidation, inciting violence, you think she's got it right? >> she's got it right. this is what lawyers call appeal proof. she specifically said you can

criticize president biden, the department of justice, it's politically motivated. what you can't do is intimidate witnesses, talk about the special counsel and his staff, her court staff. just last week he posted the photo of the judge in his trivial trials court clerk and made salacious comments. you better believe judge chutkan saw that i didn't want her staff subjected to that. he can call mike pence a horrible candidate, he shouldn't become president. he can't say he's a horrible witness, do not believe what he says when he it was. that's the difference. trump knows that and his attorneys know that. the free speech, as the judge said, has to yield to the administration of justice and you can't be involved in a smear campaign. >> ken dilanian, catherine christian, thank you. we have an update of the

television group and print group traveling with the secretary of state antony blinken being told to shelter in place, in a stairwell at their version of the pentagon. we can tell you now that there has been an all clear issued for that group, for that region. they're back to monitoring the meetings that still go on there in tel aviv. still ahead, the search for hostages and those whose fate remains unknown. i'll talk to one man whose sister-in-law is missing after making an incredible sacrifice to save her little girl. >> my sister holding her little kid, transferring her to her husband to save her life so he can run faster with her, which he did, found shelter for 12 hours in the woods in darkness. hours in the woods in darkness

if they're not nervous, then i'm not going to be nervous. financially, i'm the flight attendant in that situation. the relief that comes over people once they know they've got a guide to help them through, i definitely feel privileged to be in that position. ♪♪

brand new questions today over iran's role in the israel-hamas war. an iranian of firm -- foreign minister spokesman said today hamas was potentially ready to release the 199 hostages they hold if israel stops its air strikes on the gaza strip. hamas has not acknowledged making such an offer. this comes after iran's foreign minister met over the weekend. they discussed the deadly attack in israel and, quote, agreed to continue cooperation to achieve hamas' goals. that's according to a statement from hamas. joining me now to sort through all this is collin clark, director of policy and research from the cefotan group and mark poll rop laos, msnbc national security and intelligence analyst. collin, what does this all say about iran's level of involvement at this moment? do we think this is actually an effort to resolve the hostage

crisis? >> i think iran's fingerprints are all over the attack, if iran leads the actor of resistance, a terrorist syndicate. if iran's goal is to help hamas achieve its objectives, it would be good to know what those objectives are other than killing jews and disrupting israeli society. i don't know if hamas has an end goal here -- >> mark, iran's foreign minister is issuing a threat over the weekend saying iran cannot watch the situation as a bystander, if the scope of the war expands, heavy losses will be inflicted on the u.s. how serious is that direct threat to america? what does it mean, the possibility of the conflict brought? >> i think all eyes of not only

u.s. intelligence community but israel as well is on iran and the question of whether they'll force hezbollah to open up the second front. i think u.s. diplomacy seems to be successful in deterring iran. of course, the presence of a u.s. battle group there and another on the way is more powerful, showing the pending military might of the united states. this is where a region really is on a tinderbox on whether this spreads or not. one thing -- and i think we've talked about it a lot on this show and other programs. if hezbollah enters the fray with 150,000-plus rockets, i do think there's a possibility that they'll be compelled to come to israel's side. the stakes are very high here. all eyes are on iran. ly note when the iranians are offering to mediate on hostages, it's almost the arsonist playing

a firefighter, not something particularly i think we should take very seriously. >> and also, mark, head of israel's shin bet security agency ismoking out written a lettersaying, quote, despite a series of actions we carried out, unfortunately on saturday were unable to generate a sufficient warning that would allow the attack to be thwarted. as the one who is at the head of this organization, it's on me. to both of you, mark first, this is a very big mea culpa from the head of this security agency. >> ronen bar, a member of israel's almost elite commando force and then joined the shin bet, he was head of their operations division, was deputy director and then became director of shin bet did what many leaders ought to do after a time of such intel failures, he

took responsibility. also of note, he said ten of his agents were killed in response in gaza. as a former intel officer who worked with the israelis, i certainly grieve with their families. but this is a way in which he's also going to rally his troops. shin bet has a critical role to play in both the targeting of hamas members inside gaza and also in the hostage recovery effort. this was something welcomed. israel has a long history of taking accountability. i think he did the right thing. i think his employees will respond. >> colin, your reaction? >> i think marked summed it up perfectly. this is a rare accountability. i think it will be a morale boost for the israelis when it's desperately needed. if you look at what they missed, no telling what's coming next. i think being honest about the mistakes being made, but also being steadfast and determined

to make sure those mistake don't repeat themselves as a critical part of what leaders do. i'm heartened by that. i think it's the right move and i think the israelis will be moving out in unison and with vengeance over the coming days and weeks. if i was hamas, iran and the other proxies, i would be concerned. >> mark, let's talk about the next couple days as they try to make contact with the hostages. we understand there are negotiations under way. the hostages have not been granted the access to the international red cross which is legally required. >> that's right. there are of course, several treks going on. i think israel is showing patience to see if this diplomatic track will work. i sense an inevitable ground incursion. strikes from the air are not enough. they're going to have to go in.

nasty urban warfare, colin has talked about this in the past. it's good to let diplomacy play out. i'm not sure i have tremendous faith it will, but you have to give it a chance. at some point the strals are going to be ready and i think that's sooner rather than later. they're not going to wait too long to move into gaza. they feel this is an existential threat. they have to act. >> thanks to both of you. coming up, the fear of escalation. how real is the chance for a wider conflict with the middle east. we'll talk about that after the break. break.

continuing our special coverage, there's growing anxiety over the potentially imminent israeli ground invasion of the gaza strip. what this could mean for the scope of the war, inside gaza an

intensifying humanitarian crisis, clean water, food, fuel, medical supplies, electricity have run short as israel's total siege on gaza continues. aid is not going in, neither can people get out. joining me is senior columnist at the jerusalem post. growing concern to this total siege. is there any way to get humanitarian aid in before a potential ground invasion? >> well, i think, andrea, what we've been seeing the israelis, trying to get the residents of northern gaza, that area north of the epicenter, to get them to move down south. one of the ways they did that

was dropping those leaflets and warning, this is going to be -- >> yack cav, my point is they don't have water, food, fuel. they're not well. >> that they've opened up -- >> they opened up water, but they don't have the fuel to pump the water. >> hamas, andrea, has taken its fuel. hamas has fuel if it wants to give it to its people. let's remember who is responsible. >> there's no question about who is responsible for starting this. >> i'm not talking about who is responsible -- right now who is responsible for the people of gaza is hamas. hamas can easily for example, andrea, say to israel, here are your 200 citizens that we took hostage, men, women, children, babies, holocaust survivors that we're holding into. take them back.

release and ease some of the pressure on us. they're not making an effort. there's no attempt to care for its own people. >> that was my next question. bear with me. let me bring in "new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker. peter, this is complicated. we're talking about all these issues throughout these two hours with both sides, with humanitarian aid workers. in particular, focusing on the crisis, that crisis because that and the hostage crisis is what secretary blinken and the u.s. are focusing on today. what are you hearing from the blinken trip? >> well, you can hear -- from the blinken trip you can hear the security concerns going on right now. >> and i think we've lost peter's audio. peter, just check your audio. we're having trouble hearing you. >> i can hear you. i'm sorry if yougreat, great. i mean, this is such a fraught trip for secretary blinken.

even just now we've got reports from the ground, from our correspondents there, saying the meeting with israeli officials in tel aviv has been punctuated by air-raid sirens, possible missiles, and people in the secretary's travel party had to take shelter in a building which reminds you how fraught the situation is. he is of course focused on the humanitarian side of things. he's trying to get a humanitarian corridor open especially for american citizens but others to leave gaza and see the people of gaza who are not supporters of hamas do have humanitarian needs that they have. yakov's point is hamas is not cooperating with that. it is itself of course victimizing its own citizens at the same time, and it's a complicated situation for an american negotiator to come in and find a solution that will work at the same time this conflict continues. >> and, in fact, i was going to

say i'm hearing from our negotiators that hamas is impeding the flow of aid as well while all eyes are on egypt of course for not opening that crossing. is there anything that israel is hearing from egypt regarding that exit strategy and the entry? >> well, look, i mean, andrea, there are other options, right, for gaza and hamas. hamas, for example, could decide to hand over the hostages to israel. hamas, could, for example, decide to allow its people free access to flow down to the southern part of the gaza strip, as opposed to obstructing their transferring from the north to the south. hamas could decide to try to engage with the egyptians. egypt doesn't want to open its border to the palestinians, it does not want to open its border to hamas. they don't want to have this problem. it's easy to point this finger, and i think, at israel, but israel hasn't stepped foot into the gaza strip. what israel is trying to do, i

think, is on the one hand, it's thanks to the people in the north, you've got to move south. we're coming into the north. we don't want you to be in harm's way. but on the other hand, it gets attacked or criticized for trying to spare the lives of people who might be in harm's way. really what's happening is here does israel have the right to act in self-defense, and i think we all agree that it does. israel has to do what's needed to go into gaza and degrade hamas's capabilities and fortunately there is going to be this toll on the civilian population there, but they have one person who's responsible, or one entity that's responsible, and that is hamas, for what's what's happening there. >> no argument on how this all began. thank you. i just also want to point out that tonight on nightly news as we play a bit of it earlier, lester holt interviewed the israeli hostile negotiator, which was able to free the

israeli soldier who was held in gaza for five years before he was finally released. that's one person, and not 199. and coming up, one man's desperate search for missing family members. what he knows about the final moments before his sister-in-law disappeared in the hamas attack. you're watching breaking news and special coverage on msnbc. b and special coverage on msnbc. se i hid from the camera. and i wanted to hide from the world. for years, i thought my t.e.d. was beyond help... but then i asked my doctor about tepezza. (vo) tepezza is the only medicine that treats t.e.d. at the source not just the symptoms. in a clinical study more than 8 out of 10 patients taking tepezza had less eye bulging. tepezza is an infusion and may cause infusion reactions. tell your doctor right away if you experience high blood pressure, fast heartbeat, shortness of breath or muscle pain.

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the israeli government has contacted the families of 199 hostages who were kidnapped by hamas, taken into gaza. among the missing, 38-year-old caramel, she was visiting her mother at a kibbutz near the border when hamas gunmen went house to house killing or capturing residents. caramel's mother was killed, her father, brother and 3-year-old

niece barely escaped. and the fate of her sister-in-law is not known. debra haynes describes the harrowing moments when she was separated from her husband and daughter. >> reporter: seized with her husband and 3-year-old daughter, at one point, they broke free. she handed the girl to her partner, who could run faster. the father and the child escaped. narden didn't. now, her brother says his niece needs his mom back. >> i think that it's a nightmare. she wakes up. she screams, she asks for her mother, where is her mother. i think she understands that we are all doing our best, but inside she's devastated. >> reporter: it happened at the grandparents' house. normal life shattered.

>> joining us now is orgat, brother-in-law in yarden. we are so sorry for what you're going through, this hell that has been wrought against israel. has the israeli government given you any update at all about your sister-in-law, and have they been listed as among the hostages? what is known? >> so the information that we we got from the government is after we gave them the information. we did receive official information yesterday about my mother, all the girls in my family were taken. all of the people in my family were taken, so the three girls, we got an official message yesterday from the government, from the army, that my mother was murdered.

and about caramel, my sister, and yordan, more sister-in-law, we got an official message that they are only by the phone trace and let's say the phones are not with the people from the moment that terrorists came into the kibbutz, into their homes. so we got official messages, but it's kind of after that we -- that we let the government know that we know, they were taken by hamas, and that's what i know from my father that it was locked in the bathroom all day, and survived. and watched -- and witnessed his family was taken away from our

house, the one that you can see in the video. >> we are so sorry. how is your little niece, 3-year-old, handling this trauma? >> she's probably the most amazing kid in the world, and i'm not saying that because i'm her uncle. it's just an objective feeling. of course she's looking for her mom, and don't know where she is. and actually, she actually knows that she was taken because she was in the situation. they all were taken together, so now after she survived fortunately thanks to my brother's bravery, and i don't know what to say, cold blood, so she's very familiar with the