top of these other charges where essentially prosecutors had argued and laid out photographs of cash and gold bars and alleged expensive exercise equipment, mor payments that they say he traded in favors for, not just with egyptian government officials but also with powerful business men in new jersey. so what we expect to see here is for him to plead not guilty and essentially asserting his innocence here but the question is a political one as we await for the trial in the spring. do new jersey residents push for him to step down and what do his colleagues in the senate do next? >> antonia hylton, thank you so much. that wraps up the hour for me, i'm jose diaz-balart, you can always reach me on social media@dj balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up the news right now. >> and right now on "andrea

mitchell reports" humanitarian aid is finally rolling into gaza from egypt but the death toll is increasing. this as nbc is reporting the biden administration has been urging israel leaders to delay their ground offensive in order to gain better intelligence, to clear military objectives and more time for negotiators to secure the release of hostages. >> what i can speak to is our icessant efforts from day one to try to get people home, to try to get them out of gaza back with their families and loved ones. that is continuing as we speak. this is something we're engaged in virtually around the clock. plus nine new candidates for house speaker making their pitches at a private conference, the conference meeting this evening after a week of public feuding that is frustrating party insiders. >> this is not a time to play games. this is -- this is embarrassing for the republican party, it's embarrassing for the nation and we need to look at one another and solve the problem.

good day, everyone, i'm andrea mitchell in washington as israel's deadly bombardment of gaza is expanding with more than 300 strikes in just one 24-hour period and the death toll rising as prime minister netanyahu's wartime unity government is weighing the timing and the scale of its ground offensive. >> we are indeed being judicious. we are not acting from anger, we are not acting hastily, we're thinking this through thoroughly. but to the larger point, i think it's crucial that we win this and we win it decisively. >> israeli defense forces say that they are also conducting more raids into gaza with armored and infantry force toss gain and search for more than 200 hostages, including up to ten americans held by hamas terrorists. secretary of state tony blinkel telling nbc's kristen welker on

"meet the press" that they are concerned about a widening war now from iran's proxy hezbollah terrorists in lebanon. >> expect that there is a likelihood of escalation, escalation by iranian proxies directed against our forces, directed against our personnel. we are taking steps to make sure that we can effectively defend our people and respond decisively if we need to. this is not what we want. not what we're looking for. we don't want escalation. we don't want to see a second or third front develop. we don't want to see our forces or our personnel come under fire, but if that happens, we're ready for it. >> and joining me now nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel in jerusalem. the global media team leader for the international committee of the red cross and executive director for doctors without borders. first, richard, this morning you highlighted the impact of this new barrage of israeli air strikes as we are learning more about the diplomatic discussions

over the ground offensive, the timing, the scale and of course concern for the hostages and the citizens of gaza. >> reporter: well, this apparent delay has caused considerable -- a considerable amount of discussion, soul searching here in israel. it's exposing some rivets between the army and the government. what happened here just over two weeks ago was a tremendous intelligence failure, it was a failure of the armed forces, a failure that they acknowledge themselves and say they will investigate thoroughly once this crisis has passed, but now that is once again come to the forefront as the army, the prime minister appear to be pushing different agendas or have -- or their agenda is not exactly clear of how they want to destroy hamas. so if you speak to israeli military officials and you listen to what israeli politicians are saying, they say the goal of this operation,

which is now by air and at some stage it is believed will be with a land incursion, is to destroy hamas and make sure that it can never again launch terrorist attacks into israel. others, however, say that the goal is to remove hamas and make sure that it does not govern the gaza strip. still others are talking about perhaps a safe area, a hamas-free zone in the north. does israel have intentions of reoccupying the gaza strip where 2.3 million people live? do they have hopes or intentions of imposing some sort of friendly -- israel friendly government by force which history has proven is never an easy thing to do when you bring in a government beholden to a foreign power, generally it is rejected violently by the people and causes long-term insurgencies. so there are real -- there are real difficult discussions here. the israelis -- the israeli

people want action, they want to feel secure in their homes, they want to see hamas punished and destroyed. they want this problem solved once and for all, but is a military solution int gaza that just clobbers hamas and kills many people, will that ultimately create a military -- will that ultimately bring them the peace that so many people here are asking for? so very profound questions are being r as this possible ground invasion appears now stalled. many israelis are also wondering how autonomous their government is. their government and their military responded quite slowly to those attacks on the october 7th and quickly called in the united states for assistance. now some feel that the u.s. is dictating terms and that it is unacceptable. so right now we are at a crossroads as it seems that this operation is having at least an operational pause, this military

offensive into gaza and these larger issues of what to do with hamas, how to govern the millions of -- the 2.5 million people inside row remain unansw. >> from everything i'm hearing from israeli officials there is a real feeling of vulnerability for the first time and a feeling that they've lost deterrent value against regional actors because they were shown to be, you know -- to have been caught by surprise quite frankly. i want to bring in jason for a moment because your organization was to instrumental in helping to get those two american hostages out, but there were complaints frankly from the red cross that there were leaks before they had crossed the border, we could see that because what we expected to be u.s. reactions, official statements, were postponed and they hadn't gotten out of the border and the red cross was put in a very vulnerable position when those leaks took place.

talk to me about that effort. >> first thing to say is that reuniting separated family members, separated because of conflict, is among the absolute best and most satisfying work we can do. so those concerns that you mentioned are because we are so interested in making sure that this operation started from a to z without any problems. what we did was move through gaza on friday night after -- after nightfall under the cover of dark and there is a certain risk entailed -- that that entails. first of all, we have to have strong communication and a trusted link with one side, with hamas, to go, meet with them, pick up the two american women, put them in the car and then drive them to the border, but we have to make sure that the security is ensured all along that route in a neighborhood

that, quite clearly, is not the safest neighborhood right now. this is not like driving around a secure american city, but this is, in fact, a war zone. so that concern was because of our dedication to make sure that this operation was successful from beginning to end, that nobody -- those two american women or or staff were put in danger. happily the operation was a success. we've reunited these family members and now we continue to do work in the hopes that we can do that again. >> i'm also hearing, jason, that the third convoy of some trucks is getting through. >> that's right. another 20 -- another 20 aid trucks today, i think we're up just about to the 55 mark. with he still -- the international community, the red cross, we still have 60 tons of aid sitting outside of the border. we're really eager to get that across. we have medical supplies and we have chlorine tablets in those trucks. i think i could say that our top concerns right now are the

drinking water supply and the situation in the hospitals, both with medical supplies and when they -- and we think it's going to happen soon -- finally run out of generator fuel and the lights will go off inside those hospitals. we definitely want to get those supplies across, we definitely want to get these chlorine tablets so that families in gaza don't have to give their young children unhealthy drinking water. we want that to be safe. >> you know this so well, you've got -- i think you told me you have about 300 people there, health workers, doctors, nurses. so this is critical. i should also point out that the timing of all of this, one of the big messages from president biden and tony blinken was don't go in on the ground without having secure continuous humanitarian aid corridors, if that's possible in a conflict zone. to have the aid flowing even if this terrible, you know, conflict goes for weeks or

months. >> yes, it's absolutely true and what we've seen of the number of trucks is that it's completely inadequate. although i appreciate that there is a tremendous amount of effort going into this we need more trucks. we need the trucks to be also laden with some of the things that have been missing. we need more medicines. i can give you an example, we are working in three hospitals where we have long-time presence, our nurses are back, our staff are trying to do what they can with a complete lack of anesthesia and painkillers. so, for example, there was a 10-year-old boy that came in with 60% of his body covered with burns, serious burns, and there was no painkiller, no anesthesia for the operation. it's harrowing issue for medical staff or doctors who are trying to save lives under these circumstances. we also hope that these trucks start carrying fuel because it's not just keeping the lights on in the hospitals, it's keeping the machinery going, the

incubators for the neonatology ward, it's the respirators for people who need oxygen, it's just about everything to be able to function properly and of course this question of the water is absolutely urgent. it's vital because infection control in a hospital setting as in anywhere else requires clean water. it's essential not only for the functioning of a hospital, but also for the people who are dehydrated, water being one of the things that they lack, they're drinking brackish, often salty water, it's not good for their health and people are going to die from this. so overall we hope that there is a continuous flow of those trucks coming in and doctors without borders is also working in the region and with our team that's in rafah to be able to prepare to bring in more and to mount more of a medical humanitarian operation as soon as we have the permission to do so. >> and, richard, finally el

sisi, the president in egypt, has indicated to u.s. officials at least, the last of my information, is that those hundreds of people waiting to get out, including the humanitarian aid workers as well as other americans, hundreds of people at rafah will not get out until more of the aid gets in. >> reporter: well, these -- these americans are in a way pawns in all of this and we've been in touch with some of them directly throughout this time. some of them are sleeping by the side of the road. several of them have actually left rafah. they were so frustrated, so afraid sleeping out in the open, waiting for days that they've gone back to other potentially more dangerous cities because they were sick and tired of waiting on the border. and they're angry. they watched israeli americans leave israel, which is much,

much safer than it is in gaza and comparably safer and saw them get quite easily on to a cruise ship and leave and they're standing by the door in rafah, some of them are still, hoping that it will open and they're seeing trucks come in and wondering why they can't leave and very much feel that they are hostages would be the wrong term because there are actual hostages held by hamas but they certainly feel like they're being manipulated for political purposes while under duress, while under attack and in an increasingly difficult situation day by day. >> richard engel, jason and avril, thank you so much. we really appreciate your being with us today. and amid those relentless air strikes against gaza and the growing humanitarian crisis, when might that expected israeli ground invasion begin? that's next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." we will be back in just 60

seconds. quick break. ill be back in just0 seconds. quick break.

as we have been reporting the -- israel's air strikes are intensifying. israel's defense force says that israel hit at least 320 targets in the past 24 hours. after an air strike in northern gaza a refugee camp palestinian medics pulled survivors from under the rubble. the palestinian civil defense said it had recovered at least 30 bodies. nbc news which has no way to immediately independently verify that. so far israel's military has held off launching that ground assault against the gaza strip but thousands of israeli troops and tanks have been in position on the border for more than two weeks. nbc news is reporting that the white house has been urging israel to get a corridor for continuing humanitarian aid in place and better intelligence on where the hostages are before the ground invasion goes

through. joining me now is the former israeli ambassador to the u.s. michael or rent. thank you speech. i want to stipulate we were just reporting on the overnight news of the air strikes and the aid getting in just now. which is not too -- not to fail to understand that the war started with a terror attack cir that tony blinken used repeatedly in his friday comments, the slaughter of civilians, unprecedented invasion of israel by terrorists. that said, israel does seem to, according to media reports in israel, all the media reports, seem to be not just hitting the pause button, but thinking about the goals. can you clarify, you know, listening to the u.s. -- >> always good to be with you, andrea.

always good to be with you, andrea. we've been in these situations many times before, unfortunately, tragically. the goal is to rid gaza of hamas, destroy hamas, make sure hamas cannot return as a governing force, as a terrorist force that's going to threaten israeli citizens with horrific acts, destroy our deterrents power in the region because that has been very deeply impaired and that's very dangerous for the state of israel, and restore israel's faith, the people of israel's faith in our state, which showed many shortcomings in the initial phases of this. so there are many serious fateful goals at stake here, but you're right in that i believe and, again, i'm not a spokesman for the israeli government, i believe we should be having an intimate discussion with our american allies as well as with our arab allies about the day after. what is our end game here. i don't think that it's in israel's interest that they be left holding the keys to gaza. who is going to take those keys

from us. and that steps be made by an international consortium to make sure that a peaceful and fruitful government be -- emerge in gaza and i suggest fruitful because the gaza strip in contrast to what's often shown on the news is a very fertile area, it used to produce all the organic vegetables for the state of israel, has a beautiful beach front, it has tremendous potential if it's not a terrorist state. it's a chance for the palestinians to see a different way forward and not through terror, butchery and you a trosity. that's going to get them i don't -- nowhere. it's a tough lesson. i hope they will take it and take this opportunity. >> how concerning is it -- maybe it's just transparency that king abdullah on saturday in cairo at that meeting warned israel against collective punishment. he is your closest arab ally, absolutely the jordanian foreign minister is on his way if not

already in new york to speak, i think very strongly, at a security council meeting tomorrow. >> you know, jordan is our -- one of our closest allies, certainly a strategic asset, our peace with jordan. we understand that the king has a very difficult political domestic situation, 70% of his population is palestinian and we understand that so it's not the first time he has been highly critical of us. i think the important thing is that that peace arrangement between us and jordan, i was actually at the signing ceremony back in the '90s with president clinton and king hussein, a great day a, that we can maintain that peace. i don't think israel is looking for collective punishment although i must say speaking for the population here there is a sense that the palestinian population voted for hamas, supported hamas, celebrated hamas and indeed even in judean samaria in the west bank where there are free elections hamas would win overwhelmingly.

it's not as if it's entirely free of some type implementation here and many israelis feel this is a battle not justice real and hamas but between people. but having said that i don't think it's our interest as a democratic jewish state, i don't think it's our interest long term in terms of our international standing not to provide this humanitarian aid because our basic goal at the end of the day is not just to be humane but it's also to give time and space for our soldiers to do what they have to do, which is operating -- uprooting hamas. if there's accusations we are being ihumane that will constrict that time and space. we have to restore our security, our deterrent power and we have to restore this crucial relationship between the people of israel and the state of israel. >> foreign affairs columnist tom freidman wrote in the "new york times" on sunday, i believe if

israel hushs head long into ga ez to destroy hamas and does so without expressing a clear commitment to end jur settlements in the we bank it will make a grave mistake devastating for israeli and american interests. do you agree that a restatement of the commitment to a two-state solution is a necessary component of whatever is done? >> i don't quite follow tom's reasoning here and i have to be honest with all due respect to him and that is this, that there's a conventional wisdom we hear that this war has occurred because there was no two-state solution. and we forget that hamas was the principal opponent of the two-state solution. i mentioned earlier in your interview that i go way back, i was an adviser to the government in the 1990s and when we began to make progress toward peace with the palestinians it was hamas that came out and bombed everybody. killed a close family member of mine. it was hamas taking over the

gaza strip in 2007, killed all the palestinians who supported peace. he literally threw them off the roof. so, you know, that's one factor. you can have a two-state solution it's not going to affect hamas, it's going to bring hamas if it's possible to make them even more beastly if it's possible. having said that, again, i mentioned before that hamas would win an open election in judean samaria, the west bank, mahmoud abbas is in the 18th year of his four-year term because he won't stand up against hamas in the west bank. what if we had a two-state solution and it turned into another gaza within a day or two. that's what many israelis fear right now. i do think having said all that that we need a political horizon for the palestinians. we have to give them a sense of the future, we have to commit to addressing the problem and not ignoring the problem and thinking creatively about the ways we can make progress given the fact that hamas right now is very popular and we can't

jeopardize our state but i don't think we can ignore the problem, i think we have to address it. one of the big questions we are going to have to address when this is over when the smoke clears is should the palestinian authority have some kind of role in post-hamas gaza? there will be many people in israel say, listen, what happened last night was that the palestinian authority even with large scale american military backing was unable to withstand -- was unable to withstand hamas. so where is that going to leave us if the pa, palestinian authority is there? these are legitimate questions but they have to be addressed now and in a very serious way. for our interest but also because the biden administration wants to hear our end game as it were. >> just very briefly, secretary blinken addressed this, how concerned is israel about hezbollah in the north? >> very concerned. and i have to put my -- you know, full disclosure. i have been very vocal in the israeli press starting already two weeks ago about whether we

should reconsider our intention to invade gaza at this time. hamas is not going anywhere, it's trapped, we can continue to hit it from the air, the sea, ground. hezbollah represents a threat which is about 15 times bigger than hamas, they have 150,000 rockets which are heavier, they are longer range, they're more accurate. they have a terrorist force that has been massacring syrians for a decade. it's a serious, serious threat that maybe we cannot live with that threat indefinitely. now knowing what hamas can do to our citizens, maybe we should address the hezbollah threat first and then move to gaza. i wasn't particularly out of the box in talking about this because the defense ministry raised this possibility with the government, the biden administration pushed back on it, i understand why, there's two very large american fleets off the coast of lebanon and i don't think the president wants to get dragged into that type of conflict and the fear was that if hezbollah starts firing those 150,000 rockets at us and even

our most advanced anti-ballistic systems wouldn't be able to withstand 4,000 to 6,000 rockets a day, that's the estimate that america could get dragged in. we are indebted to the united states at this point. we can defend ourselves but at a much higher price if america wasn't there and i think we have to take america's interests into account. >> michael oren, there is a lot packed in there. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you, andrea. as always. and back here in washington nine house republicans say they are ready to run for the speaker's gavel, the trouble is none of them have the support they need. what that means, that's next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. my wife's name is joy. we've been married 45 years. i'm taking a two-year business course. i've been studying a lot. i've been producing and directing for over 50 years. it's a very detailed thing and the pressure's all on me. i noticed i really wasn't quite as sharp as i was. my boss told me about prevagen and i started taking it. i feel sharper.

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don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network. here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch, it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. the chaotic speakers re is entering its third week with nine republican candidates no in the running. you heard that right, nine now, including house majority whip tom emmer, one of only two candidates on that list who voted to certify the 2020 election. emmer is opposed by donald trump

but has the backing of ousted speaker kevin mccarthy. was on "meet the press" with kristen welker sunday. >> what do you say to americans who look at this chaos and believe it's a sign that republicans cannot govern? >> well, it's embarrassing. this is not a moment in time to play around with learning on the job. we need someone who understands how to do this job. i believe tom emmer, our whip, he's been in the room with all of our successes. >> joining us now nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vitali. former democratic congressman from pennsylvania -- excuse me, republican could thinkment from pennsylvania charlie dent and. sorry, charlie. first, who is running? tell us about the nine, the timeline and is there any indication that this time will be different? >> reporter: yeah, no indication that we will see white smoke and the choice of a speaker any

sooner than we have over the course of the last few weeks because, andrea, we've seen the conference get to the point of actually selecting a speaker designate but we have not seen them be able to put that person on the floor and allow them to get the votes that they need to actually become speaker. so we're back to the drawing board once again after jim jordan decided to leave the speaker designate position behind, now they're once again people vying for this open slot. there are nine of them, though, that's different than what we've seen in the past, and of those nine i think it's important that you point out as you did that only two of them voted to certify the 2020 election results. a few names on this list that i' keeping a close watch on, congressman tom emmer is widely scene as the front runner here due to large part to the fact that he's already in leadership and already someone who when they've had these huddles of trying to cajole people to vote a certain way many happened in tom emmer's office because of his current role as the whip of the conference. there are other names that i'm

keeping a close watch on, for example, byron donalds, he is someone who is newer to congress, that might cut against him on the experience front but he is someone who has a wide range of contacts and allies througut the conference. he is someone who could make a sort of come from behind run at this. the same can be said of kevin hern who is currently passing out letters around, trying to get his colleagues on board with him. he's doing is with mcdonald's burgers due to the fact that he owned mcdonald's franchises. that's a novel way of trying to get the numbers that you need, too. >> and charlie dent, this is happening in the midst of a war and a looming shutdown, so what's surprising to some outsiders is doesn't that concentrate the mind and say to them, you are losing political ground here by being the chaos caucus in the middle of real crises? >> well, of course it's hurting the party because the world is on fire, so to speak, between

what's happening in ukraine of course and now israel and so this is terribly damaging but at the same time what we're witnessing, andrea, is a real battle going on between the pragmatic governing wing, institutional wing of the party versus the trump populist wing. of course, the trump populist wing is much larger and we saw this play out both with the mccarthy and then the jordan speaker debacles on the house floor. this fight needs to occur. it's that it's happening right now while the world seems to be ablaze and the threats are imminent, but this is the harsh reality of where we are. i agree that tom emmer is the leading candidate probably followed by kevin hern but the next speaker of the house is going to have the same problem that mccarthy had. they're going to have to cut a deal before november 17th, keep the government open and i suspect the hardliners who tanked mccarthy would tank any other republican speaker who is

going to have to make the same kind of compromises. >> i want to get your reaction to the former speaker, mccarthy, again, blaming democrats on "meet the press" for the speaker -- for all the chaos and i think incorrectly talking about what they did with the government shutdown. >> eight republicans led by gaetz have created this chaos by joining every single democrat. what hakeem jeffries has just done changed the institution itself to say it's okay to always make a motion to try to shut down one branch of government. no democrat would vote, they all voted just like they did to shut this -- to throw me out. >> it does seem that blaming the democrats is a bridge too far. >> it is a bridge too far. i mean, that's their campaign message so they can get reelected but the reality is democrats tried to actually save the republican party from themselves when kevin mccarthy became speaker because no

democrat actually supported the republican rule that allowed for one member of the house to oust the speaker. so actually it was the democrats who tried to save the republicans from this chaos, but, listen, this is smoke and mirrors for the republicans not being held accountable to the fact that they cannot govern and that they are the party of chaos. we keep talking about the election deniers that are all in the running, these are also people who, you know, would vote against abortion rights, who would vote not in favor of same-sex marriage and the reality here is that majority of americans, including republicans, there was a poll that came out today, "usa today," folks want them to elect a speaker so that we can keep the government running, you know, we think about when nancy pelosi was speaker and she didn't have a large majority, but we were able to get through some bipartisan pieces of legislation, infrastructure, chips act, the list goes on and on and democrats are ready to, you know, work with republicans in a bipartisan way, but, you know, this is literally --

they're getting ready for their reelection ads and that's what you're going to continue to hear them blame democrats for, but this is their own doing. >> we will have to leave it there and watch what happens tonight. thanks to all. and troop movements, more military assets including american naval ships are on the move, the latest from the pentagon next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. ♪ when better money habits® content first started coming out, it expanded what i could do for special olympics athletes with developmental needs. thousands of bank of america employees like scott spend countless hours volunteering to teach people how to reach their financial goals. it felt good. it felt like i could take on the whole world.

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the u.s. is repositioning military resources across the middle east with the dual purpose to deter a wider war and to respond if necessary to protect u.s. assets. we saw the first signs of u.s. involvement last week with an uptick of attacks targeting u.s. forces in iraq and syria. a u.s. navy destroyer intercepted several missiles over the red sea blaming iran-backed houthi rebels in yemen, this was very unusual, those rockets signaled a new capability that the u.s. was not aware that the iranian proxy had. joining us is courtney kube and

retired lieutenant general did he have steph twiddy. courtney, you have new details on the u.s. assets and the houthi rockets that were shot down on thursday. >> yeah, and we are just actually learning in the last couple of hours, too, that there's even been another one of these attempted attacks on a base housing u.s. military, this one in southern syria, it's a garrison near the border with jordan, again, in southern syria. two attack drones attempted to hit the base, they were both shot down, no injuries, but it really underscores how there has within this uptick in the last several days in attempts on bases housing u.s. troops in iraq and syria. it was something we hadn't really seen happening at this sort of tempo for some time, andrea. you mentioned the carny. now, late last week the carny was in the northern red sea when several missiles, we learned its actually four land attack cruise

missiles, were fired from yemen by houthi rebels, of course, they are backed by the iranians, they were fired over the carny. now, the carnyho them down. u.s. officials and defense officials here in the pent gone including the pre secretary have told us that those missiles were headed towards israel. they can't say with certainty that they were actually targeting israel, but the fact that they were flying over the carny andhe fact that these have the potential to be manipulated or maneuvered in the air. think about it this way, you have a missile that would be flying along, technically if it can be maneuvered in the air it could take a sharp turn and strike a ship. that's why the u.s. military, they call it right of self defense that's why they would take these missiles down just off the chance that it could be threatening to that ship n addition to the missiles there were also more than a dozen drones that that ship took down. this is a real departure from what we've seen from the houthi rebels. if they were attempting to

strike at israel, generally we've seen their attacks flying into saudi arabia, that is with rockets, with sometimes with missiles. they have in the past targeted u.s. military ships, but this is pretty unusual activity here. >> general twiddy, how quickly could u.s. forces be drawn into this fight? >> well, they could be drawn in particularly once this ground war starts, i envision that the iranians and proxy forces will try to force america's hand, strike at u.s. locatis, of course, we have troops in bahrain, qatar, kuwait, syria, iraq and so i anticipate that they will try and strike at u.s. forces to try and bring us into this war and so this is something we have to be very careful of.

the primary goal will be to protect those u.s. forces, secondary is to deter iran, but i envision that this will happen once this ground war starts. >> and, courtney, we know that hezbollah is a proxy for iran. what are iran's intentions here from your reporting? i know you've done some work on this. could hezbollah react and fire rocks in a major way, not just what's been happening for the last couple of weeks but a major invasion from the north without iran being complicit? >> reporter: that is the big question that we have had is, number one, did iran in some way give these proxy forces that have been somewhat quiet in recent months, did they give them some sort of a green light to move forwardith these attacks that have ticked up again since we saw the attack from hamas on october 7th and then the israeli response into gaza. we don't have a sense that it

was that specific of a green light but officials who we have spoken with say that they do believe that iran would be knowledgeable of these kinds of proxy activities and that historically this is the sort of thing that the way that iran has responded, they've taken advantage of a situation like the chaos in israel and gaza to try to sow even more chaos in the region. ultimately iran's goal is always the same thing and that is to push the u.s. and western forces out of the region. that tends to be their goal with all of these activities. >> courtney kube, such valuable reporting. thank you. of course, lieutenant general steph at which t twitty for you experience. two americans released by hamas, will israel hit pause on the ground invasion as the u.s. has asked to potentially get more people out? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. watching "andreml reports. this is msnbc. of my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now i feel free to bare my skin, thanks to skyrizi.

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the idf says that ground raids are continuing in gaza in search for the 222 people being held hostage by hamas. possibly including ten missing americans. hamas claims it is ready to free two elderly israelis after releasing an american mother and daughter on friday not long after that we spoke with their relative, former nbc news tel aviv bureau chief martin fletcher who told "today" he is not sure why his family was selected but hopes more people will be coming back soon. >> it was great relief, obviously, but great concern as well. there's another eight members of the family who are still held hostage in gaza. >> joining me now is nbc's raf sanchez in ashdod, israel and javy mayer. javy, the big question is is israel going to allow more time? israel is being judicious and is

talking about what happens after, i also talked to mike lauren about that today. time for negotiations on hostages to take place before a large scale ground invasion. what are you hearing about the timing? >> well, a lot of israelis are asking exactly that question, what is holding up this ground operation, which the idf says it's been prepared for for about a week so far. so we don't know exactly what's behind that pause, it is certainly possible that these ongoing negotiations which appear to be taking place perhaps with qatari involvement are one of the reasons why the idf is holding back. it's also possible that the government has decided this is simply not the right time, that it wants to sort of engage in more air strikes to ensure that the conditions for a ground invasion are such that minimal number of israeli forces are hurt in the process. so a lot of israelis are asking exactly that question and the sense is that the longer israel

waits, the less international ejt maes people will think that israel actually has to go in and do what it feels it needs to do to ensure that hamas never has the capacity to carry out a massacre like october 7th ever again. >> there is a security -- u.n. security council meeting tomorrow with the jordanian foreign minister flying in just for that, others are coming as well. france notably voted against -- voted with russia in favor of a pause and that was a resolution last tuesday that had to be vetoed by the u.s. because of its opposition to a pause or a ceasefire until israel has been able to do what it needs to do. what tony blinken has said despite all of these talks about, you know, the u.s. warnings, they are also balanced by blinken saying again yesterday that israel has an obligation to respond to what hamas did. raf, let's talk about 20 children reportedly among the hostages, thousands more are

caught in the crosshairs. you spoke with two mothers on both sides of this war who are just trying to keep their children safe. what did you learn from talking to them? >> reporter: yeah, andrea, we've been covering this war for more than two weeks now and for all the horror we have seen, all the horror we have heard there has been one inspiring constant which is parents that will do literally anything to keep their children safe. we met, as you said, one israeli mom doreen who is from kfar aza and a another mother. >> i am breastfeeding them and they didn't have milk because i didn't ate from the stress, i thought he was going to die and i didn't know what to do because if i open the door we're all dying. if i don't open, just him.

>> sophia is always screaming because of the sounds of the explosion. i feel like guilty because she's living such a situation and i can't even celebrate her birthday. >> reporter: now, andrea, these are two very different situations, doreen and her family were locked inside a safe room in their house in kfar aza for 27 hours, hamas terrorists at the door, eventually setting fire to their house, doreen told us the israeli military could not believe anybody was still alive inside that house when they finally got there. doreen's family is in relative safety now, they are inside of israel. joumanna's family her 2-year-old daughter and husband are still inside gaza. they are terrified for their lives as these israeli air strikes continue. focused mainly on the north of gaza but also a little bit where they are in the middle.

i will tell you one thing both moms told us was they made up little stories to try to explain to their children what was going on. doreen told her son that there was a storm outside and that's why the family couldn't leave the safe room. joumanna tells her little daughter that the explosions are actually a big truck outside on the street. so these are two women just trying to keep their kids safe in the horrors of war. andrea? >> universal stories across the border lines. now, avi, you have reporting that there is a new israeli commando unit dedicated to killing all the 7th in that slaughter. what can you tell us about this? >> israel has a long-standing practice of hunting down terrorists that murder israelis and getting to them wherever

they are in the world. they did that after the munich olympics and picked off those terrorists who perpetrated that massacre. there are reports that israel is establishing exactly such a unit now, the extent to which it can do so when, of course, many of the perpetrators are deep in gaza, hidden in do you believes or, in fact, in dohar qatar, turkey or other places. israel is quite dedicated to ensuring that those people do, indeed, see justice. >> raf sanchez, avi mayer, thank you both. preparing for the threat posed by iran-backed hezbollah in lebanon. what do we know about that threat? could that be next? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. atching "andrl reports" on msnbc. i made that. with your very own online store. i sold that. and you can manage it all in one place. i built this. and it was easy, with a partner that puts you first.

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. as israel is trading more fire with iran-backed hezbollah in the north, the threat of a second front and wider regional war is threatening. hezbollah has threatened to join the fight. joining us now is former senior cia officer marc polymeropoulos.

israel has far more fire power than hamas in gaza. how real is the threat of a second front on the lebanon border? >> i think it's very real. all eyes on the intelligence community, certainly us and israel, there's two things that come to mind in terms of further escalation. if israel does go into gaza and there is, in essence, more of a humanitarian crisis there, will that compel iran in a message to hezbollah to intervene. that means hezbollah then opens up that second front in the north. the other part of it that i think also should be considered is what if actually israel is very successful and they're encouraged and you see a catastrophic collapse of hamas, iran's other proxy. would that, in fact, cause hezbollah to intervene? all eyes are certainly on the north. there will be huge intelligence focus with signals intelligence,

imagery. this remains an incredibly tense situation. >> there have been attacks against u.s. military posts in iraq and syria, a drawdown in iraq of all non-essential personnel. >> that's right. that's a big concern. i think there's been a dozen attacks in the last four days. one of the things that i've been curious about is that the u.s. military has not responded. i think iran is certainly testing us, but our deterrence is based on our ability to respond. so far we have not done so. i think the centcom commander said a few weeks ago there had been 80 attacks over a period of times with only four times where the u.s. responded. i do wonder about that. the situation is more dangerous for u.s. forces deployed in the middle east, and iran is certainly testing us. >> we're told that israel is going in with special ops groups, commando groups trying to find out where the hostages

are, trying to map the territory if they do go in for a ground invasion. how good would there intel be in gaza right now? >> that's a huge question because of the intelligence failures before the war. the israelis are very good. they certainly will have redeployed resources. one of the reasons you go with these special operations raids, operations drives the intelligence. they will look at a site that they have taken over, look for documents, maybe they'll be able to do battlefield interrogations, all designed to find the locations of the hostages. i think all the reporting is correct. this remains the reason why israel has not gone in yet for a full-scale incursion into gaza. >> how unusual were the drones fired by the houthi rebels as well, not just the drones but

the missiles. >> the missiles. the u.s. navy did a heck of a job in intercepting them. again, that just shows how iran can turn on their proxies. the notion of ballistic missile firing into yemen, i think the target likely was alive, that is of concern. will there be any kind of u.s. military response. i do worry the more these proxy attacks go on without the u.s., the more it will embolden iran. that's certainly something the officials will have to respond to. >> marc polymeropoulos, former cia operative. remember to follow our show on social media. "chris jansing reports" starts right now. good day.