>> 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.

i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york. as we speak, gaza is being decimated by punishing air strikes. israel's defense minister is emphasizing that this is phase one, warning of a potentially months-long invasion designed to wipe hamas off the earth. the latest sign this could explode into a wider war. plus, the herculean task ahead in the house as nine men square off in the attempt to claim the cube yous honor of becoming house speaker. what are the chances this produces more gridlock and chaos? we'll have a live report from capitol hill. and what is potentially a $10 million question. were donald trump's defamatory comments about the writer e. jean carroll covered by presidential immunity? he'll test that theory today in

court. we begin overseas with the war pushing into a more dangerous phase, already spilling beyond its initial borders. today the israeli military announced it sent tanks and infantry on a series of limited raids deep into gaza, escalating beyond the air strikes that marked the first phase of this war. the goal, wiping out hamas and probing for information about the hostages. today israel updated the number being held to 222. multiple u.s. officials tell nbc news that the biden administration has been urging israel to hold off on a ground invasion to buy time, both for hostage negotiations and deliveries into gaza. but john kirby said this morning israel has free reign to decide its next move. >> we made it clear we'll be willing to help in any way that we can. it's important to remember that the idf, they make their own

decisions. they decide what they're going to do and when they're going to do it. >> every day brings new fears that things could get worse very quickly. on sunday iran's foreign minister said war could quickly spiral out of control. a top israeli official responded by warning, if iranian-backed hezbollah, israel would go after the head of the snake. in other words, attack iran directly. i want the bring in nbc's raf sanchez who is in ashdod. where do things stand militarily right now? >> reporter: chris, at this hour all across southern israel israeli forces are massed at the border with troops, tanks, artillery in position. what they do not have is an order from israel's political leadership to mount this

long-awaited ground offensive into northern gaza. it remains unclear what exactly the holdup is. "nbc news now" learning that u.s. officials have been urging israel to declay the ground offensive to allow more time for negotiations over the fate of these some 222 hostages, encouraging signs on friday when an american mother and daughter were released over the weekend, hamas saying it was prepared to release two elderly israeli hostages. not clear if that offer was sincere or not. it never actually materialized. we know that qatar, the small wealthy persian gulf state that acts as a mediator is in the absolute center of these go-between negotiations, and it may very well be that the qataris via the u.s. are telling israel, give this more time, it may be possible to get these

hostages out. we're also seeing israel mounting small-scale probing incursions into gaza with ground troops. they are looking at hamas' defenses. they are searching for any evidence as to where those hostages are being held. chris, there are a number of clocks ticking here simultaneously for israel. one is military. the israeli military is at absolute war footing, 360,000 reservists have been mobilized. it's not clear that israel, which is not a big country, can stay at that level of military readiness indefinitely. the generals are potentially concerned that they need orders sooner or later. they cannot stay at this tempo forever. the other clock is diplomatic t. israelis are conscious that the wave of global sympathy after the hamas terrorist atrocities on october 7th may not last forever. the world is seeing the

horrifying images out of gaza where the death toll is now above 5,000. diplomatic pressure likely to grow for a cease-fire the longer this goes on. israel militarily, diplomatic cli does not have forever to launch this ground offensive. of course, every passing day brings deeper and deeper humanitarian catastrophe inside of gaza. chris. >> raf sanchez, thank you for that. in gaza, as raf just mentioned, that's where more than 5,000 people have now died. many, many more are low on food and fuel. multiple aid convoys have now made it across the border, but is it too little too late? nbc's meagan fitzgerald is following all those movements from cairo. meagan, what do we know about what's gotten in and how long it will last? >> reporter: well, chris, what we saw is that this convoy of 20 trucks moving into gaza starting on saturday. so saturday we saw 20, and then

yesterday on sunday we saw 15, and then today another 20 trucks made their way across the rafah border crossing into gaza. a collective of 45 trucks packed with needed lifesaving aid, from food, water, medical supplies. what was not on board those trucks, fuel needed for electricity as hospitals and humanitarian aid organizations on the ground are desperate for fuel because they're running out of electricity. so the concern here, though, is that this isn't enough. there was a summit here in cairo over the weekend that was hosted by egyptian president sisi where world leaders gathered and they spoke with one voice where they said there needs to be more aid going into gaza and at a faster rate. unicef said of the shipments that made it into gaza, there was enough water for 20,000 people for one day. we know there's millions in dead

pratt need of food, water and resources making their way into gaza. yesterday on msnbc we heard from ambassador satterfield, the special envoy for humanitarian issues. he said essentially this is a race against time because as soon as the israelis launch that ground invasion, this will make things even more challenging to be able to provide aid to those in need. he said they are going to be beefing up starting today the aid and resources getting into gaza. chris, that is certainly something we'll be keeping an eye on. >> meagan fitzgerald, thank you for that. meantime u.s. officials say they don't want the situation to escalate clearly. but they insist they are ready if it does. secretary of defense lloyd austin ordered a strike group to the gulf, the first time patrolling the waters in two years. it comes after a series of attacks and attempted attacks in recent days, not just from gaza

but lebanon and yemen as well. targets including israeli forces and u.s. forces in syria and iraq. in a sign of how dangerous the region has become, just yesterday the u.s. state department warned any americans planning to travel to iraq to draft a will. i want to bring in retired army colonel jack jacobs, recipient of the congress medal of honor and an msnbc military analyst. colonel, what's your assessment of where this stands right now? >> well, it's fully capable of exploding into something that nobody wants to see, not us, not anybody in the region. it's a very dangerous neighborhood, always has been, but the united states has got interests in the region, is desperate to make sure that yes are not involved and others are not involved. but at the end of the day, the countries in the region, particularly egypt and the other

arab countries are part of the solution to the problem in the region and also part of the solution to keeping things quieter than they are now, and maybe finding a solution before there is an extension of the war to other areas. you know, the united states is desperately worried that hezbollah will enter, but you can take some solace in understanding that iran does not necessarily want to use its major lever, its major tool in the region and commit it to some kind of conflict in which it will get destroyed. >> to that point, nbc news reported on friday that iran definitely doesn't want any kind of direct confrontation with the united states, but it is looking to ratchet up pressure on israel and the u.s. through its proxies, as we just talked about. what would be the red line, do you imagine, jack, for the u.s. to get actually more militarily

involved? >> if there were a direct attack of any of our assets in the eastern mediterranean, such as the attack that took place against the u.s.s. cole some years ago in which 17 americans were killed, if iran's fingerprints were directly on it, hezbollah's fingerprints, any other adversary's fingerprints were on a direct attack on an american asset, you can expect an immediate american response, certainly in proportion to the attack on american assets, but perhaps greater than that, chris. >> this is pretty terrifying. just last night israel's president hert zogg confirmed they found al qaeda bomb making instructions on the body of a hamas fighter. let me play that for you. >> it's al qaeda material, official al qaeda material. we're dealing with isis, al

qaeda and hamas. in this material there were instructions on how to produce chemical weapons. >> we know israel didn't see the october 7th attack coming. how concerned should we be that there are more deadly surprises waiting if the idf goes into gaza? >> we should be very much concerned. one thing that is good news and bad news, the adversaries of american tests are fragmented. though they take instructions from one another and suggestions from one another, they're not coordinated yet, but the spector of the possibility of weapons of mass destruction should be very, very concerning, particularly in view of the fact that there have been chemical attacks in the region before. it's vitally important that the intelligence operations, that the intelligence capabilities of all allies in the region, all of our allies in the region are

alert to the possibility of weapons of mass destruction, of a coalition of disparate forces who are against american tests coming together and causing even more heartbreak in the region, chris. >> colonel jack jacobs, thank you. stay with us. we're going to talk to you in just a little bit. we're watching the white house briefing room where national security council's john kirby is expected to give a briefing in the next couple minutes. we'll have that for you live. on capitol hill, three weeks, nine new candidates and zero clear paths to the speakership. we're back in 60 seconds with the republicans' desperate struggle to get their house in order. struggle to get their houn order. and who doesn't love a good throwback? [sfx: video game] emergen-c crystals. he hits his mark —center stage—and is crushed by a baby grand piano.

you're replacing me? customize and save with liberty bibberty. he doesn't even have a mustache. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ today house republicans are desperately seeking a cure for the paralysis plaguing the lower chamber as the speaker battle drags on into a third week. tonight they'll get a chance to look at and listen to nine

candidates behind closed doors, each of them making his case to the conference before they vote on who should be their speaker nominee. then the even larger question, can any of them secure enough support to avoid another embarrassment for the party once out on the floor. at the heart of the fight, at least part of it, how did the candidates vote on accepting results of the 2020 election? only two did vote to affirm 2020, one, tom emmer, is both a front-runner and a target of donald trump which may actually prove to be an oxymoron. joining us now, nbc's ali vitali on capitol hill, jake sherman co-founder of punchbowl news and msnbc political contributor, matthew dowd is a senior msnbc political analyst. welcome one and all. ali, what do we expect from tonight's candidate forum? how does this exactly work? >> reporter: chris, we've been here before. the conference has never had a problem getting behind closed

doors and listening to their colleagues talk. they've also never had a problem going behind closed doors and getting a secret ball loet for to get a new candidate for the speakership. we'll be watching tonight, seeing all nine candidates present themselves to the conference, taking q&a, getting feedback from the people who are their constituents, if you want to call them that, trying to learn their colleagues' votes. tomorrow morning about 9:00 a.m. begins what i expect to be a lengthy process. unlike the last few times republicans have done this, this time they've got all nine of those faces you're seeing across your screen right now. this is not just a mano-a-mano moment. what that's going to look like is each round winnowing by one. whenever someone gets to an actual majority of people in that room, say around 110 or so votes, depending on how many people actually show up, then

that person will be the speaker designate. it's not clear that title has meant much in the past. they're hoping it can mean more on the floor. >> jake, to skip ahead, can any of these nine candidates win over enough support from the republican caucus to become speaker? what are you hearing right now? >> i don't think so. if past is precedent. two factors to think of. people just get sick of this. the exhausts is going to settle in. >> it has president already? >> it has for me, but i'm not sure about anybody else. another couple things to note, number one, the fact that there are nine candidates in this race indicates that people are not afraid of or content with, i guess is the best way to say it, the front-runner, tom emmer of minnesota. elmer has a large operation, sophisticated operation. he's won a leadership race before.

we said the same thing about steve scalise who was in the race and dropped out and jim jordan who has a large committee staff who wasn't able to get 217 on the floor. a couple of these folks in the nine-person field are likely -- maybe not likely, but could give a speech and drop out. we don't think dan meuser or pete sessions who have run a bunch of leadership race also have a chance of the being the nominee. some people just get in to give speeches and to give out. there's a couple of conservatives, kevin hearn of oklahoma, mike johnson of louisiana, and gary palmer of alabama will eat away at each other's bases. you asked the right question, chris. the floor can any of these people get to 217? to be honest with you, i have not seen any evidence thus far that there will be a candidate that people rally behind by the end of this week. >> matthew, if there is such a thing as a front-runner,

consensus is tom elmer. i wonder if you think trump's influence is waning in this fight or does it still hold enough weight if not to elect someone, to keep someone from being elected? >> well, it's a bit like a "game of thrones" episode where if you win the gladiator fight, then you get eaten by the dragon which is donald trump in the course of this. this is the result. donald trump still has great powers, probably the most powerful person in the house caucus today. once the fraternities took over campus which is what seems to have happened in the house caucus with nobody in charge of settling things down in this, this is the result of this. i don't think any of us -- none of us i'm sure on this panel are smokd by the developments of this. when you have gop voters elect cooks, cranks and conspiracy

theorists and gop leaders empower cooks, cranks and conspiracy theorists, which are completely disrupting this process. i'm with tom. i don't think that this is -- resolves itself any time soon. it would be surprising if it does. this is what we've become, a clown show. it's a fight over who is the biggest clown. >> jake, just to be clear, i 2020 six of these nine candidates voted to reject the election results. meuser voted to reject just in pennsylvania, not in arizona. how does that part of the battle play out within the republican party? what's the level of influence this has? >> well, it's interesting because in the last go-round when jim jordan was on the floor, he actually lost votes

because ken buck of colorado said he would not vote for somebody who couldn't unequivocally say that donald trump lost the 2020 election and joe biden won the 2020 election. i think that's the way it will break here. let me be blunt about this. i actually don't think that trump's i'm endorsement means a hell of a lot here. i think jim jordan couldn't break anywhere close to 217 and he had trump's very strong endorsement. i think trump is an afterthought here in the sense that this is really a high school class election. these are intensely personal affairs in which people vote for those who have done favors for them or who they like or who they believe will help them win re-election. this is not -- by and large. there are some people who will look to trump for an endorsement. this is not by and large a

trump-influenced contest. frankly, that's why i believe trump has been so silent so far. >> ali, why aren't women run? >> you know that's the first exercise i do, and you do, too. when i see these graphics, you have to wonder where the women are. i'm of the mindset that the women of this conference might be too smart to want this job in the first place. it's hard to look at the job of spoker and say, that sounds like a good role in this republican caucus. not shocking to see nine men look in the mirror and think they should be one of the most powerful people. if you look at congresswoman bice, stefanik, they could do it but opting not to. >> ali vitali, matthew and our great and good friend from punchbowl, thank you jake sherman. we want to go right to the

white house where we're seeing at the podium john kirby, today's press briefing. let's listen. >> -- they met family members taken hostage. we have no higher priority than the safety of americans being held around the world, and we're going to continue around the clock to see if we can get them home with their families where they belong. it is literally an hour-by-hour effort to find out where these folks are and to try to make the effort to get them out and get them back. as careen just spoke about, first convoys over the weekend of humanitarian assistance across the border, able to reach palestinians in need. as she also said, we're going to continue those efforts going forward. it's important that the aid be sustainable. that's what we're focused on. throughout the weekend the president received briefings from his national security team on all the latest developments. yesterday, as you know, he

convened calls with benjamin netanyahu, pope francis and the leaders of canada, france, germany, italy and the united kingdom. i'm sure you saw the joint statement released last night. i won't reiterate it. you can take away a clear and consistent unanimity israel's right to defend itself while adhering to international humanitarian law including the protection of civilians. we've seen over the course of the last few days, actually the week an uptick in rocket and drone attacks by iranian-backed proxy groups against military bases housing u.s. personnel in iraq and syria. we're deeply concerned about the potential for significant escalation of these attacks in the days ahead. at the direction of president biden, the secretary of defense has ordered the military to take steps to prepare for this, to ensure we're postured

appropriately, both in terms of being able to defend our forces and respond decisively as need. secretary of state of defense has -- reknow these groups are supported by the irgc, and the regime. we know iran continues to support hamas and hezbollah. we know iran is closely monitoring these events and in some cases actively spurring on these attacks for their own good or that of iran. we know iran's goal is to maintain some level of deniability here but we're not going to allow them to do that. we're also not going to allow our interests in the region to go unchallenged. we demonstrated last week that we have and we will use the military capability available to us to protect and defend those tests. those capabilities are getting bigger and better every day. as president biden has said, our message to any hostile actor

seeking to widen or escalate this conference is simply this, don't do it. >> john, is it your view that the israelis should begin their gaza offensive whenever they feel ready? >> the israeli defense forces need to decide for themselves. we're not in the business of dictating terms from them and not here from the white house previewing any future operations one way or the other. that would be inappropriately. >> secondly, you say iran is actively facilitating these attacks? what are they doing? >> the support for these iran-backed proxies is no secret. it's pretty open. they've tried to make -- they've made no secret of it, funding, resourcing in terms of providing the rockets and the munitions that they fire, training for some of these guys. there's a connection between these groups and irgc, a very

direct connection. >> we have reported that the administration has been urging israel to delay a ground invasion. can you tell us whether other countries are making the same request? is there a coordinated effort? >> m.j., i won't speak for other nations and what communications they might be having with israel. i can tell you we have since the beginning of the conflict, in the early hours, maintained a level of communication with our israeli counterparts to ascertain their intentions, strategies, aims, to see what their answers are to the kinds of tough questions that any military ought to be asking before you launch any kind of a major operation. have you thought through the branches, have you thought through the sequels, have you thought through the unintended consequences. we're in active conversation with them about that. >> we've seen a number of leaders travel to israel or commit to traveling to israel. is it your understanding that there would not be a ground

invasion as long as there's a head of state in the country? >> that is a question for israeli officials to speak to, m.j. again, i don't want to be in the position where i am speaking for the israeli defense forces. >> another quick topic. why is it that people currently are not able to leave gaza right now? do you have sort of an explanation as to why that humanitarian corridor for people to exit gaza, why that isn't open? is the obstacle hamas? is it the egyptians? >> i think there's a lot of factors going into why there's no exit out. we're glad stuff is going in. we want to see safe passage out, particularly the american citizens in gaza that want to leave. ambassador satterfield is on the ground working on this very hard. i think security. certainly egyptian officials have spoken to this. they've got legitimate security concerns. again, we just need to work

through that. >> admiral, can you tell us the latest on the status of hostages and the work to try to release additional hostages? do you see a category of those being held who might be the next available to be released if that were to take place? can you give us a sense of what that picture looks like? >> i wish i could, kelly. these are all great questions. unfortunately, where we are in the process makes it impossible for us to publicly detail the efforts going on. we're grateful for all the help we got. we got help getting those two out, the mother and daughter. we're glad they're okay and they'll be reunited with their families and come back home. there's a bunch of others that aren't. a small group we still think are americans. and there are dozens and dozens from other countries and obviously israel as well. there's a lot of effort going on, a lot of o conversations and discussions with partners in the region. i think it's best if we don't detail that. >> can we have more specificity

of the number of americans. it exploded from a handful to as many as ten. >> i want to be careful because, as you said, the numbers have fluctuated. we're glad to know that the number is down by two, obviously. we still have ten unaccounted for americans. it's not exactly clear to us where those ten people are. i would still categorize it as about a handful. i know that's not the specificity you want. that's really as detailed as i think i should get today. >> one last issue, there's a dual national from maryland, a young man who went to serve with the idf and killed in action. can you speak to that situation, if the president reached out to the family or has any intention to do that? >> well, we certainly offer our deepest condolences to the family. that's news no mom and dad want to get. i don't have any communication to speak to one way or the

other. again, our thoughts and prayers go to the family, sure. >> on the post hamas-gaza, is there anything you can share on what that would look like and who would run things? >> really, that's going to be a conversation that israeli officials need to start having amongst themselves. i think, again, without speaking for them, i don't think i'm going too far to say that the focus right now is on going after hamas, where they are in gaza, getting humanitarian assistance in and hostages out. the focus on our israeli counterparts is prosecuting these operations against hamas. i think the issue of governance in gaza certainly is not unimportant, but i wouldn't speak for the israelis in terms of how deeply they're diving down into what that needs to

look like. >> is the u.s. helping with that conversation? >> we have talked to the israelis, again, about their aims and strategy. that includes some of the long-term issues that are out ahead of them. but i think you can understand appropriate right now that the focus is on the operational picture. >> on the normalization process, can you say if saudi arabia has provided a list or request for the talks to start again? >> i'm not aware of a specific threat. you're talking post october 7th. i'm not aware of a new list or homework assignment they have submitted. we still believe those talks are important and want to pursue normalization. we understand both in israel and, of course, in riyadh there's a different focus right now. we get that. we still believe there's great value in pursuing normalization. we have every intention of keeping that going. >> thank you, admiral. >> what kind of humanitarian aid would the u.s. like to see

reaching the palestinians before israel launches a ground invasion? >> can i bifurcate that question? i'm not going to sit here and assume there's going to be some sort of ground invasion. i'm certainly not going to speak to hypothetical timing. let's just talk about humanitarian assistance writ large, you heard kareen, we're getting food, water, medicine into gaza. not enough. there's been, what, three convoys, a little less than 60 trucks. that is just a start. i think over the coming days you'll continue to see convoys of trucks getting in. it's also -- fuel is also an issue. we know you need fuel to run power generators in hospitals. you need fuel to run the pumps in the desalination facilities so people can drink fresh, healthy water. fuel is another thing we're working on. >> whether or not there is a

ground invasion, do you view humanitarian aid -- >> whether or not there's a ground invasion, we believe humanitarian assistance flowing to the people of gaza is critically important, and it needs to go as soon as possible and as much as possible. >> where does the president stand on this? there was some confusion over the weekend about whether or not he had said that, yes, he does want israel to wait until humanitarian assistance can get to the palestinians before any invasion? >> we have been crystal clear with our partners in the region including israel that we want to see humanitarian assistance flow. there's been no change to our posture on that at all. to steve's question, we're not dictating military terms to the israeli defense forces. they have a right and a responsibility to go after these terrorists and they certainly are going to do it in a way that they choose -- that they believe is appropriate to the threat. we're definitely going to support them in terms of providing the capabilities for

them to continue to prosecute hamas terrorists. in fact, security assistance has continued to flow over the course of the weekend and it will. we're not dictating terms to them. >> the u.n. secretary-general, and several international leaders are calling for humanitarian assistance. will we see the united states call for o a -- >> what we want right now is make sure israel has the tools it needs to go after hamas and humanitarian assistance keeps growing. it's started and it's a good thing. >> you mentioned the statement where president biden and several others asked israel to protect civilians. the death toll in gaza is rising sharply. does it look to you that israel is abiding by international law? are they listening the your --

>> we're not going to parcel out each and every thing that happens on the battlefield, especially since we're not there. i can tell you there hasn't been a conversation we've had with israeli counterparts where we're not talking about what they want to do but how they want to do it. >> john, two fridays ago i reported that the u.s. was urging israel to delay the ground invasion. two days later there was denials that was the case. other outlets are starting to report the same information i had. today you're not confirming any of those reports. my question is, aren't you at all concerned that if the u.s. is not clear with the public about what we're asking or suggesting to israel that they do here, that that's going to complicate getting this aid package through congress? you guys are asking for more than $105 billion which a portion of this goes toward israel. are you concerned that not being

clear with folks about what the u.s. is advising israel to do will ham been very clear and consistent about our support for israel and their ability to defend themselves, jackie. we've been very clear and consistent that they provide security assistance so they can do that, clear and consistent about our desire to get people out of gaza as well as get our hostages home. i think we've been very clear and consistent throughout, and that includes with members of congress. yes, we are going to need congressional support to continue to support israel. we got enough appropriations available to us for a while longer. how long is that while is going to depend on the expenditure rate and the kinds of operations they're conducting. we desperately need congress to act on the supplemental request. >> you said you've requested information from israel on their strategies, are you looking about the answers they're giving

you? >> i'm not going to talk about the details. these have been clear and consistent conversations making sure they have what they need and they are thinking through -- we're asking them what their answers are to the kind of questions that any military ought to be asking itself as it conducts operations. >> on the aid portion, how, for instance, are you going to convince people that this is not going to get into hamas' hands when, for instance, we saw fraud with something like covid relief money in the u.s.? we're now talking about securing an understanding with hamas, a terror group, how this humanitarian aid should be used? how can you convince people that this is going to be a worthwhile, necessary and secure endeavor? >> we certainly share concerns about diversion of humanitarian assistance. for example, fuel is a good example. we know they need fuel to be

able to electrify and power up their tunnels, for instance, keep the lights on. we understand that. we're not blind to potential concerns here over diversion which is why ambassador satterfield is on the ground. his whole purpose is to make sure that humanitarian assistance can get to the palestinian people. we have seen no indication as of today that any of the trucks that kareen talked about, any of the material in those trucks, have been diverted to hamas or absconded by hamas. in fact, every indication that we have is that it has, in fact, gone to the palestinian people who are in desperate need for it. i would remind folks that we have trusted partners on the ground, humanitarian aid organizations and, of cows, the u.n. relief agency is on the ground. they very much are taking a personal stake, a professional personal stake in making sure that aid is getting where it's needed. obviously we're going to watch this closely. we don't want to see hamas

benefit any more than anybody else does. >> how does the u.s. go about knowing that it is getting to -- the aid is getting to who it's supposed to get to and hamas isn't taking a bit off the top? and second, could you confirm that the president has sent lieutenant general james flynn and some other folks to advise the israelis. >> on your first question -- i'm going to write these down because i'm going to forget. on your first question, as you said, we're working with trusted partners on the ground including the u.n. that's the way we do it in so many countries around the world, where we go and have a footprint -- in regions of the world where we don't have a footprint, we're not on the ground to inspect these things. we have trusted partners on the ground including the u.n. and some of these aid organizations

who will report what they're seeing and where they're taking this material and who is getting it. we'll stay in close touch with them. we all share the same desire, that hamas not be able to divert any of this stuff for their own purposes. we all share that. it's not just the united states. you said how is the united states going to monitor. the whole international community has a stake in making sure the people of gaza get this food, water, medicine and other vital needs met. on your second question, what i can tell you is that there are a few relevant military officers with experience, the kinds of experience that we believe is appropriate to the sorts of operations that israel is conducting and may conduct in the future, to go over there to share some perspectives from their own experience and to ask the hard questions, the same hard questions that we've been asking of our israeli

counterparts since the beginning. >> can you say how many? >> a few. a sglu thank you, admiral. israel has repeatedly said its top priority is destroying hamas. what is america's top priority, and are the two countries on the same payable here? >> america's top priority, i think president biden made it clear when we were over there, to make sure israel has the tools and the capacity and the capabilities to go after hamas terrorists and make sure humanitarian assistance flows in and to make sure we can get innocent civilians who want to leave gaza out, including american citizens. >> if israel does begin a ground invasion, can you outline how this would complicate betting the remains hostages out and how it would impact america's strategy? >> again, i don't think it's wise for me to get up here and two a bunch of speculating and hypothesizing. we'll let israel speak for itself. we'll make sure they have what they need to do it and the humanitarian assistance keeps

flowing. >> you outlined three top priorities for america, and israel has repeatedly said the top priority is destroying hamas. how can you achieve all the priorities for america and israel get their top priority? >> we agree the top priority is going after hamas. we also think it's important for humanitarian assistance to flow and hostages to get home with their families. >> thank you. >> have you been tracking new reporting coming out that hamas and the red cross are working together to exchange another 50 israeli and dual citizenship hostages. is there anything you can say about that? >> no, i cannot. >> another question on iran. some officials have expressed concern over escalation, particularly with iran and iran's foreign minister warned, quote, anything would be possible at any moment and the region will get out of control. have you seen any indication that iran is preparing to further expand this conflict

more so than what we've already seen? >> i touched a little on that in my opening statement. we know they're supporting these groups. we know they've supported hamas and hezbollah. we know in some cases they're urging on some of these groups. that's why i made it clear the president does not want to see this conflict widened. we've added additional military capability in the region to deter any such action. we will act appropriately to defend and protect our national security tests in the region. we saw that last week when a guided missile destroyer shot down missiles and drones potentially on their way into israel. we take those responsibilities seriously. anybody else in the region ought to be paying attention to that. >> john, do you have an update on whether iran was directly involved in the october 7th attack in israel? some israeli officials say they have evidence, but they have not presented any yet. >> i would say we're in the same place we were. we know there's complicity by

iran. as i said, they've been supporting hamas for decades and hamas wouldn't be able to function or exist without iran. i can't stand here and say we've seen a particular piece of intelligence that they were participating in, directing what happened on october 7th. again, nobody is doubting, nobody is walking away from the fact that iran does bad things with bad people in that part of the world. >> how does the white house see china's role in the israel-hamas conflict and what's your reaction to china sending warships to the middle east? >> i'll let china speak for their foreign policy in the region and whatever their take is. i've seen them call for both sides to ratchet down the violence. we've been clear about where we are. we're on israel's side here. israel needs the support to go after hamas terrorists. that's not going to change. i'll let them speak to their naval maneuvers.

>> -- >> i know of no particular conversations we've had bilaterally with either country this far. >> john, speaking of the americans in gaza, some are being told by the state department, by the administration to go to the border. we were told on saturday they were told to go to the border, but they obviously could not leave. are you still advising americans to go to the border? what's the holdup there? >> you'd have to talk to the state department. i can't speak for the communication they're having with american citizens there. what i can tell you is that we are working on this very, very hard to get them out of gaza through rafah. ambassador satterfield is working this as you and i are speaking right now. obviously, if we want to get them out, we want to have them available, as close by as possible so that can be affected in a very efficient way. as for what specific messages the state department is sending today or monday, you'd have to

talk to them. >> speaking about what president biden said on friday at the fund-raiser, he talked about the hamas attack being carried out to disrupt the normalization efforts between israel and saudi arabia. can you talk more about what he meant by that? is that the administration's position? >> we certainly can't discount the fact that that could have been a goal here. look, hamas wants to wipe israel off the map. they simply just want to kill as many strails as they can. that was the purpose of october 7th, to just take life, and it is perfectly possible that there were other geopolitical goals here as the president alluded to. normalization between israel and saudi arabia, you can see that would not be in the interest of terrorist groups like hamas. it certainly wouldn't be in the interest of their backer in

tehran. >> you think that's the top reason why they did it? >> i can't specify specifically the top reason. i'm not in the minds of the terrorists. the president was certainly laying out a very real potential factor behind what they did. >> admiral kirby, the president has spoken a lot about the work he's done bidding a coalition behind ukraine, supporting ukraine. any concerns that u.s. support for israel as civilian casualties rise in gaza, any concern that could undermine support for ukraine with countries in the global south, for example, brazil, asia and africa who might be -- in terms of their views on gaza? >> supporting both right now is important to president biden. that's why we submitted that

supplemental funding request last week. it's important that both get the support that they need, not just from the united states, but from the international community. we're dedicated to that outcome. we're going to stay dedicated to that effort. >> i wanted to ask about, if there's concern in the administration in regards to this funding getting through congress given that some of the leadership of the republican caucus saying they would like to only approve a package for israel and a separate package for ukraine. >> i'll let the members of congress speak for themselves in terms of how they want to move this supplemental request forward. we submitted it together because we believe all is important. every dollar we asked for in the supplemental funding is of an urgent nature. we urge congress to move on it as quickly as possible. >> thank you. >> with regards to american hostages, you noted there were conversations and discussions with partners in the region, and on friday after those two americans were thankfully freed,

the president thanked israelis and qataris for their partnership in this work. are the israelis or qataris negotiating with hamas on our behalf? >> i'm not going to go into details about the discussions and negotiations to get those americans home. if i were to do that today, i might put at risk opportunities to get more people out and i'm just not going to do this. >> there's an an uptick on the right among some republicans who have called for students or foreign nationals who are demonstrating in some of these pro-palestine demonstrations or allegedly know, allegedly, what is the administration's response to those kinds of remarks, that kind of rhetoric? >> i would just tell you, you don't have to agree with every sentiment expressed in a free country like this to stand by the idea, the first amendment and the idea of peaceful

protests, i'll leave it at that. >> yeah, can you talk about the degree to which your efforts to get the supplemental funding and work on the crisis are complicated by the fact that we still don't have a speaker after all of these days? >> it would certainly be helpful to have a speaker of the house. procedurally, that's how you get new legislation to the floor. i'll let the house republicans speak to their process, and what they're doing. we know that that there is significant bipartisan support for continue to go support ukraine, and continuing to support israel, both chambers, by the way. we know there's a lot of bipartisan support there. the president is urging congress to act as soon as possible. >> a couple more. >> mr. john, we have seen northern israel is threatening the homes, if hezbollah enters

the war from the north front but you know well the lebanese people have no power over this decision if it wants to enter or not. the whole price if hezbollah, don't listen to us, unless we ask for the lebanese army to interfere and stop hezbollah from doing so. >> i didn't understand the exact question. >> is lebanese not pro hezbollah, paying the price if hezbollah -- he's going to bring lebanon to the dark stone age, all happy to see that happening in our home? >> we know that hezbollah does not speak for the lebanese people, the vast majority of the people of lebanon, we know that. any more than hamas doesn't speak for the aspirations of the vast majority of the palestinians living in gaza. we have said from the very beginning we don't want to see

any actor try to take advantage of the situation to widen or deepen the conflict. that includes hezbollah. the president has added additional military forces to the region and more forces will be coming in days and weeks ahead to deter any actor from widening or deepening this conflict. i understand the question. i don't think at this stage it's helpful to speculate about something that hasn't happened and hopefully will not happen. what i can tell you is we know we have significant national security interests in the region and we're going to work to protect those, and any actor who's beginning to think about entering in and widening or deepening this conflict ought to take a look at how seriously we're taking our responsibilities. >> i think more military, and can we understand, what is the job description for these two ships? is it only to supply military aid for israel or also be possible to enter the war if anything break in that region. a bit of information regarding

that matter. >> first of all, it's not two ships. it's two carrier strike groups. there's a lot of ships in a carrier strike group. you have the group in the earn mediterranean, you saw secretary of defense austin announce that the eisenhower strike group, which is still crossing the atlantic right now will operate for a time in the med, and then she's going to go on through and into the central command area responsibility, the middle east, the gulf region. they are there for two purposes. and i'm going to say it again. you're probably sick of me saying this, but it's true. one is to deter any other actor from widening, deepening this conflict, and two is to make sure we are ready, poised and able to protect and defend our national security interests in the region writ large. that's what they are there for. >> thanks a lot. john, in regards to the emergency supplemental, you've spoken before about the emergency need for funding for

ukraine. i was wondering if you can talk about what you see about the urgency for funding israel, why that portion of the aid that you are requesting is so necessary right now? >> because if we don't get relief, john, we could potentially have a lapse in our ability to provide those kinds of munitions to israel. we have existing appropriations, funds available to continue to support israel for a time, for a short time. again, i can't be perfect specific because a lot of it depends on the pace of their operations and what they're going through. we need to make sure we have appropriations to replenish d.o.d. stocks. we have national security around the world we have to meet, and we have provided an awful lot out of our inventory. we need to be able to replenish that. it's vitally important, and then just to put a fine point on this. i mean, the figure we asked for, which is, you know, a little bit more than 14 billion, was

directly after consultations with our israeli counter parts. we didn't pull that number out of thin air. it absolutely was a result of the conversations that we had with the israelis about the kinds of needs that they have for as long as they think they might need them. >> and separately on the hostages a spokesperson for hamas has suggested that hamas release all of the hostages that are in gaza right now in exchange for a cease fire. do you view that as a credible offer? >> have to take anything that hamas says with a huge grain of salt. we don't take anything at face value. here's an idea, release them all now, let them go now. these people didn't do anything wrong. they're innocent civilians being caught up in this conflict. let them go now. i recognize that's not going to happen, which is why we're going to keep working with our partners in the region to do what we can to get them released. >> camille. >> thank you very much.

can you confirm reports suggesting that the chinese foreign minister is planning to visit washington this week, and i was wondering if you can tell us the objective of this meeting with chinese foreign minister? >> there have been some discussions about potential meetings with wang yi, but i think the state department will have more to say about that later today. >> reporter: on the philippine incident with china, what message is the white house send to go china about the incident that happened yesterday between china and the philippines, the vessel collision incident between the philippines and china? >> what message are we sending to china? >> reporter: what do you say to china about this conflict? >> well, see you're calling it a conflict. i'm not aware of a collision, so i'll have to go back to the team and get some more information. just broadly speaking, we have

been very clear about the intimidating coercive and frankly in some cases reckless behavior by the pla air and maritime forces as well as their so-called coast guard in terms of buoying the navys and coast guards and fishing vessels of neighboring states. we have been clear that needs to stop. that's the first i've heard of it. >> in addition to the carrier strikes, there would be more forces in the days and weeks ahead. can you outline what you were talking about, what that might look like? >> no. >> reporter: all right. i want to know how that would be consistent with the president's promise back in 2019 that he's getting out of the forever wars if you're adding more troops? this looks like the exact opposite. >> the whole reason we're sending that stuff over there is to prevent any widening or deepening of this particular war. it's all about deterrence, and you heard the secretary of

defense talk, not just about naval forces. we're adding aircraft squadrons to the region more. it's all about preventing it. >> reporter: do you have a time line of what that might look like? >> no. >> reporter: it is no doubt that the u.s. is known for human rights values around the world. don't you think the u.s. has delayed this time as far as human rights are concerned what is happening in palestine since day 1? >> no, i couldn't disagree more with you, sir. not at all. from the very beginning, early hours of this conflict, we made clear, not just to our israeli counter pars but the american people and the people around the world, we take the respect for innocent life seriously, and we have been talking about the law of war since the beginning. go back to the first statement the president made after the attacks of october 7th and see it right there. it's part and parcel to every conversation. we have been spearheading to get

the humanitarian assistance in. the first trucks came after president biden spoke to prime minister netanyahu in tel aviv, and then the president's cc on the phone coming home on air force one on wednesday night to get that stuff moving, and within a couple of days, they had some road repairs they had to do, it started flowing. no, sir, we have been working the issue of human and civil rights and protection for negligent life since the very beginning, and that's not going to stop. >> reporter: some of those countries, which are allies of the united states, some of the israelis work in very huge numbers, don't you think president biden need to towards peace instead of saying he can handle two wars at a time, does that give a good impression to fight two wars at a time, than working toward peaceful things? >> from the beginning of the administration, we have been working for an integrated, prosperous, i'm not going to