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

reiterate a list of accomplishments. i'm happy to send you an e-mail with them. we have been working hard to get the middle east to be a more stable prosperous region. that's not going to change. these attacks on october 7th were horrific. the israelis have a right and responsibility to respond to those attacks. i think everybody understands that, and so we also understand that the focus of countries in the region, particularly israel, is going to be on that. it's our focus, too. but that doesn't mean we're going to give up. this doesn't mean we're just going to walk away from it. we still believe in the promise of a two-state solution, and we're still going to continue to work for that. we still believe, as a matter of fact, key to getting a two-state solution is normalization between israel and saudi arabia, and we're still going to work on as well. >> why is the president not focusing in the last couple of weeks on his agent that was basically for feuding. i feel like this war, what the president was aiming to bring

normalization through two states. and that has been -- >> i told you, sir, there's no change in our desire to see a two-state solution. there's absolutely no change in our efforts to try to get normalization between israel and saudi arabia as a stepping-stone to a two-station solution. we're not blind to wealthy. right now, israel is fighting to defend itself against hamas terrorists. the focus of the region is on what's going on, and right now, the president's focus appropriately, sir, is on trying top prevent and widen and deepen this conflict to deter a larger war so that we can get back to the table and we can move forward on those key diplomatic steps. >> thank you. >> yes, ma'am. >> thank you. try to keep john as long as we can. a wide ranging series of questions asked to john kirby at the white house press briefing and multiple times warning that anyone who threatens u.s. interests in the region will not go unanswered and saying now

about the hostages with the ongoing negotiations that there are a handful of americans still being held. we also want to get you caught up on what else is happening in the region because right now a u.n. palestinian aid agency is warning that the need to get fuel into gaza, and you heard john kirby mention that is as urgent as the need for water and fuel. it's been 16 days since any fuel has entered the strip. that means hospitals soon will not be able to power the generators they have been using since electricity was cut. already 12 hospitals and 32 health centers are out of service. the associated press is reporting that at least 130 premature babies in neonatal units are at grave risk. the threat so life is hospital wide. one emergency room nurse telling nbc news it's like a horror movie, blood and dead bodies everywhere. medical staff is being forced to improvise, turning shirts into

turn tourniquets, using cola to wash a cut because there wasn't water to do it. more than 5,000 people have died so far in gaza. israel's defense minister says the war against hamas could go on for months. already the landscape of gaza is becoming unrecognizable. the u.n. says 42% of housing units have been damaged or destroyed. in a statement to the media outlet, the new arab. one child, trying to flee with his family put the reality of war like this, to sky news. >> it's horrible. everyone's dying each second. you will open your eyes and then like at 3:00 a.m. or at midnight, they start bombing. we all get scared all of a sudden. it's sad because everyone's dying. >> forced to see so much so young. israel hit 320 targets in gaza overnight.

the time line for a ground invasion remains unclear. the idf, however, is carrying out limited raids inside the strip as it tries to locate 222 hostages. again, we just heard from john kirby, a handful of those hostages are still believed to be americans. i want to begin on the ground with nbc's raf sanchez from ashdot, israel. the biden administration is advising israel to delay its ground invasion of gaza to allow time for hostage talks. you probably heard john kirby saying, look, we're not telling the idf what to do or when, but clearly the hostages remain a key priority. what more can you tell us about what's going on on the ground there? >> reporter: chris, u.s. officials have been working closely with qatar, the small wealthy persian gulf state that acts as a mediator in these situations. that channel has had some success so far. that american mother and daughter released on friday. hamas, over the weekend, saying

it was prepared to release two elderly israeli women. that never materialized. it's not clear if that offer was sincere or not. u.s. officials telling nbc news they think that channel of negotiation is worth pursuing and they fear that an all out israeli ground invasion would destroy any hope of a negotiation that could lead to the hostages being freed. the israeli military says there are 222 hostages there, among 10% of whom are children under the age of 18. chris, last week you and i spoke about this little boy named ohad being held in gaza, he turns 9 years old today, and earlier we went to, i guess, a non-celebration that his family was putting on to mark his birthday. they blew up red balloons. they released them into the sky, and i want you to take a listen to a little bit of what his family said about that day. >> all the children, they shouted, ohad, we love you, we

want you home. then we blew them up. i feel like i have to do something. i can't do nothing. so maybe if it's the smallest thing to buy some balloons and to throw them to hope for something to happen, so this is what i can do. >> reporter: and, chris, all over israel, you see on the sides of roads, balloons tied to lamp posts to mark ohad's birthday. we have seen events in other countries in europe marking this little boy's birthday. his family basically saying they fear not just for him. they fear for his mother, for his grandparents who are also being held hostage. none of them have been seen or heard from since october 7th and it is that agony, you have to multiply many many many times to understand what is going on in this country right now as people wait for the return of the

hostages. chris. >> the latest number, 222 hostages. raf sanchez, thank you for that. meantime, the deputy commander of iran's revolutionary guard hinted at the possibility of strikes on israel as fears grow by the minute that this could turn into a wider war. i want to bring in nbc's matt bradley in lebanon where hezbollah has been stepping up its attacks on israel. matt, i know you've said that tensions along israel's northern border with lebanon have heated from a slow simmer to a riling boil. what is going on there? >> reporter: the worry is they might overflow into the wider region. they've sent two carrier strikes groups. they're sending more this way, anticipating a wider war. we have already seen it. we keep talking about the anxiety of this wider war. we've seen it in live attacks. we saw the israelis hitting the

airports of aleppo and damascus, in syria, for the second time in as many weeks. we have seen u.s. forces repelling missiles and drones and the red sea, so we're already seeing iran's access of resistance, and this is a term that iran and a lot of people in the region bandy about. it means essentially this loose coalition of nations and militant groups, including hezbollah where i'm located here in southern lebanon and hamas, near where raf sanchez is in israel. all of these groups have some kind of allegiance or take direct orders freran that's a question of debate. whether or not iran is going to be pulling the trigger and telling these groups and nations to directly attack israel, what we probably won't hear about that until we see what israel is going to be doing in the gaza strip. that is the next shoe to drop. but we've already seen heightened tensions on the other side of the border with israel where we're seeing, you know, evacuations. we saw actually a small city, 20,000 people evacuating. that was a major uptick over the

weekend. and now we heard from benjamin netanyahu. he was busy talking to soldiers in southern israel and near the border with the gaza strip, but he took the time to go up north, to talk to the soldiers who are deployed there, because this is a cause of anxiety, not just for washington and for john kirby, but also the israeli government. here's what benjamin netanyahu told the troops just yesterday. >>. [ speaking in global language ] . >> reporter: so if it sounds like a threat, it's because it very much is, and israel has done this before. they have moved in back in 206, they took up most of lebanon, and they made a policy out of it. they now call it the dahia doctrine. if they get attacks from

countries neighboring israel or any other country outside of israel, they will not only attack those who are attacking them, they will cripple the infrastructure and punish the whole country. you've heard that from netanyahu, if the lebanese people value their prosperity and their sovereignty, then they will probably prevail upon hezbollah not to launch an attack. the fact is this isn't just about hezbollah. this isn't just about the access of resistance. this is about civilians, they're the ones that are going to carry the weight for whatever any of these people decide to do. >> there is no doubt about that. matt bradley, thank you. in gaza, aid is finally, as we have been telling you beginning to trickle across the rafah border crossing. health officials on the ground are warning it's not enough. fuel is running out in the strip. >> there's no fuel in the coming few hours. this will affect us as a staff,

and admitted patients in our hospital, there will be no surgeries, no oxygen, and the water we are using now, it's not the usual water we have to use. it's a salty water. it's not suitable to use by humans. >> let's bring in scott paul, associate director of peace and security for oxfam, let me start there, stories of doctors operating using lights from a cell phone, not having fresh water to clean out wounds. in one case, using cola. what is your staff on the ground in gaza telling you? >> exactly the same thing, chris. oxfam are working with local partners to deliver assistance where we can but we're talking about a couple hundred families. when you mentioned aid is coming in through egypt now, it really is, as you said, a trickle. but it's important also not to get hung up on the quantity of aid. obviously more aid is better, but i think what you just heard from doctors in gaza is that the

circumstances in the country are more important than the amount, or in gaza, are more important than the amount of aid coming in. if people can't access aid, if services aren't functioning, aid is not going to be the difference between life with dignity or life without dignity. >> yeah, inside those hospitals they need help now. we mentioned premature babies in neonatal wards who will die if there is not electricity. add to that, more than 50,000 pregnant women just in gaza, unable to access essential health services. 5,500 women, by one estimate are due to give birth in the coming month, according to the world health organization. obviously the situation on the ground is dire. what can an organization like yours do? >> we do everything we can to save lives. that's our mission. but it's also our job to make

sure that people we're working with. people whose lives are on the line are hurt, and what they're telling us is that they may die because of a policy decision. as you heard, aid helps, but aid is not going to be the difference between life and death for so many people in the gaza strip. it is a policy decision to turn off electricity and fuel coming into gaza. and it is a policy decision on the part of the biden administration to focus on opening up a small corridor for what's now under 60 trucks over three days, over and above the entry of fuel and turning on the power that affects all aspects of palestinian life in gaza. >> scott paul, the work oxfam does is extraordinary and dangerous and so important, and we thank you and wish all good things for the people on the ground doing this good work. appreciate you. i also want to bring in richard haass, president emeritus on the council of foreign relations.

i want to talk a little bit, richard, obviously the situation on the ground, the humanitarian situation is desperate, and we have new reporting that the biden administration is advising israel to delay the ground invasion of gaza. this is according to four u.s. officials. they want more time to get hostages out and aid in, but in the briefing we just heard from john kirby, he said, look, it's not for the united states to tell israel what to do. he also said there are ongoing active conversations where the conversation is have you thought through what will happen if. so unpack for us what that means for people who aren't used to diplomatic speak. >> this is really complicated even in the world of diplomacy, in part because you have so many diplomatic threats against the reality of the war and the preparation for more intense war. think about it you've got the aid question. you've got the hostages. you've got, you know, steps that

you might want to do to bring about cease fires at some point. some people are focused on what would happen after a war, so it's incredibly complicated, and you've got lots of actors from hamas, palestinian jihad,, israel to the united states and others. so it's extraordinarily complicated in terms of getting this done. plus, there's an obvious tension, as the war goes on, preparations are made. how do they then create corridors for getting food and other basics in. and the whole issue with hostages. you want to get the hostages out, but hamas, obviously, is going to be loathe to let the hostages out because they see it, first of all, as a medium of exchange. and secondly, they see it as a way of getting israel to hold off. so the life of a diplomat right now shall we say is challenged. >> a great understatement.

speaking of who's operating diplomatically, qatar, right, releasing the two hostages, i guess you could call it an outside role, given how tiny qatar really is. it's an american ally with open lines to hamas, and frankly a long history of brokering deals with groups the u.s. considers to be terrorists. when you look at u.s. diplomacy in the region, talk about qatar, and arab allies and the importance of the roles they can play right now. >> they're important roles and limited roles. qatar, it has ties to iran, ties to hamas, and as well as ties to us. it's got a hedging sort of strategy, but yeah, they could be influential. certainly with hostage, conceivably if messages needed to be passed to hamas, they would be the way for the united states to do it, since we don't have a relationship with iran. egypt could be important given

getting aid into gaza. egypt used to administer gaza before 1967. they have connections. the saudis and others have influence in the region. i would just say, though, we shouldn't exaggerate, probably, the degree of, what, heavy lifting, these countries are going to do it. and they're nervous about getting caught up in something, which is incredibly messy. they don't want refugees or the palestinian issue to spill over into their own territory. so at most they're going to be reluctant, limited partners in diplomacy going forward. >> let's talk about what the united states is doing, can be doing, one of the things john kirby talked about are the strike groups, the eisenhower strike group moving through the mediterranean, heading to the gulf. kirby said several times in that briefing is that any threats to the u.s. interests in the region

will not go unchallenged. is iran listening? >> what the united states means by that, one of the threats to u.s. interest is hezbollah entry into the war. hezbollah has what, ten or 20 times more military capability than hamas. would the united states hold iran accountable if hezbollah goes into the war? that's a big issue. what does it mean to hold iran accountable? would we sanction iran oil export, be prepared to use military force, if so, against what. it's not quite clear to me what that means, that kind of a blanket statement that we're prepared to use force to protect u.s. interests. that can mean anything and everything. >> richard haass, more to come, i hope you'll come back on the program. thank you so much, appreciate your time sir. >> sure. anytime. the weight feeling like an eternity for the families of the hostages being held by hamas. nbc news spoke with one of them. and we'll have their emotional message when we're back in 60

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. any minute now, detroit's police chief is expected to provide an update on the fatal stabbing of the synagogue president over the weekend. let's listen in now. >> silence your cell phones. if you have a question, please approach the podium and state your name and also what station or newspaper you are representing. >> we're standing by. take note, reporters. there are a lot of us in here today, so there will be a two-question limit. no exceptions. in the meantime, chief would like to introduce his executive

team. assistant chief charles fitzgerald. assistant chief eric ewing. deputy chief kari sloan, detective bureau. also joining us today, special agent in charge, fbi detroit division shay gibson. are we ready to get started? >> we are. >> hold on, hold on. chief? we're ready. >> good afternoon, everyone. and thank you for being here. i want to start by thanking michigan state police, the fbi, and all of our partners in this investigation. i also want to thank the hard working men and women of the detroit police department, specifically the homicide section. i want to offer my sincere

condolences to the family, friends and loved ones of samantha woll. she is beloved, everyone i have taken to has spoken about her contribution to our community, and she will be sorely missed. the purpose of this press conference is to bring clarity to the incident that has brought attention of our community, local and national leaders and even international outlets. i'm going to lay out what we know now. i'm going to bring up the deputy chief over our homicide unit. and then we'll conclude with some comments from the fbi on this case. i hope everyone understands that we're limited in the information that we can share. this is an active investigation. and there will be points when we cannot share information. on the morning of saturday, october 21st, a 911 call came into our 911 call center. and the call was regarding an incident that occurred at the

1300 block of joliet place. it was described as a person laying on the ground unresponsive, responding emergency units made the location and declared that the victim was dead on scene. upon investigation, it was determined that that victim was, in fact, samantha woll. while at the scene, police officers observed a trail of blood leading officers to the victim's residence. which is where we believe the crime occurred. an examination of the victim led to the discovery of multiple stab wounds on her body. what we know right now is that the victim, ms. woll, was at an event friday evening. she left the event at 12:30 a.m. by all accounts, she was not in any discomfort, any distress, she was her normal, positive, and pleasant self as described by some people that we have interviewed. there was no signs of forced

entry. again, there was no signs of forced entry at her residence. we believe there are no other groups or anyone else at risk in regards to this particular incident. we believe that this incident was not motivated by anti-semitism and that this suspect acted alone. again, that is what we know at this time. there are several facts that has led us to this conclusion. we are not in a position to discuss all of them at this point. obviously there are part rs of the investigation that we cannot get into. it is germane to the closing of this case. there are certain factors that are only shared by the suspect and our investigators, so there are certain key points that we, again, will not be able to discuss. i'll bring up deputy chief sloan to get into some of the areas that we can discuss with you.

deputy chief sloan? >> yes, sir, thank you, chief. good afternoon, everybody. sadly ms. samantha woll was found deceased in front of the 1300 block of joliet street on saturday around 6:30 a.m. she was suffering from apparent stab wounds to her body. we are currently working with our partners as the chief mentioned from the fbi and michigan state police to establish exactly what occurred in the hours and days prior to ms. woll's death. at this point in the investigation we are examining every piece of evidence we have uncovered to determine what exactly led to this incident. as well as following up on the extensive amounts of information that we have gained during our investigation. we have and are in the process of conducting countless interviews to learn everything about ms. woll's life, including any possible motive or

opportunity to harm her. what we do know, again, from what the chief mentioned is ms. woll did attend an event on friday evening which we know was a wedding. she did return home around 12:30 a.m. on saturday morning, and we did discover no signs of forced entry to her residence. at some point between returning home from this event and in the early morning hours when she was discovered, ms. woll was unfortunately fatally assaulted. by all accounts, ms. woll was very well liked in the community. so it is clearly very shocking to her family and to her friends that this incident has occurred. i'd like to extend our gratitude to the men and women of the homicide section, our partner agencies for the endless hours that they have dedicated to this investigation. we are committed to our continued work with our partners to identify the person responsible in this incident. again, the investigation is

ongoing, and we continue to ask for the community's assistance in solving it crime, either through 1-800 speak up or rewards tv. thank you. >> fbi. >> thank you, chief. >> good afternoon. my name is cheyvoryea gibson. i'm the special agent in charge here for detroit, the fbi which covers the entire state of michigan. i want to thank all of you for being here and thank you chief for this opportunity. i want to express my sincerest condolences to the friends and family of ms. woll. we are providing technical, forensic and investigative

support during this investigation. and i will say if you have any questions with regard to the investigation or any facts thereof, i'm going defer to chief white at this time. again, thank you, guys, for being here, and thank you, chief white. >> again, i just want to assure the community that everything possible is being done to bring this case to a close. i ask for patience. there is a lot of evidence and information that has to be analyzed. again, we're very thankful to our partnerships with both the fbi and the michigan state police, access to crime lab activity and things such as that helps move this case along quite quickly. but we want to make sure that we don't rush and that we do everything to make sure that evidence is analyzed, search warrants are got up, and we bring this matter to close with

the appropriate person being held accountable for these horrendous actions. with that, i'll take any questions. >> chief ryan marshal representing wwj news radio 950 locally, cbs news new york nationally. even though you did say there isn't any anti-semitic motive here, how -- i would say how concerned are you that having this happen on saturday and now you guys coming on monday that maybe somebody that hasn't seen this would say, hey, we need to have some sort of retaliation given what's happening with israel and hamas? >> yeah, i mean, we're always concerned with retaliation on any homicide, and certainly the international situation that we find ourselves in now bring us additional concern, but our goal is to be transparent with the community, be transparent as to

where we are to alleviate concerns that those may have that others are at risk, based on what we know today right now with the information that we have received and uncovered over the past two hours. and certainly at the onset of this investigation. we are confident with our position where we are right now today. >> and second question is given that that isn't the motive, can you speak to anything that could have been involved in why she was killed or murdered, a motive? can you speak to anything in that regard? >> yeah, you know, as i indicated, and we certainly want to alleviate concerns. we certainly want to let others know, all know that we are actively investigating this, and that we have not discovered anyone else to be at risk. but in that, we have to be very very cautious as to what information we share. there are soricate details about this case that if

revealed could really damage what we are trying to accomplish. there are some facts known only to our suspect, and so i can't get into causation right now or what he or she may feel. more to come on that at a later date. right now, what we want to do is get every bit of information we can clarified, analyzed, the evidence that we have analyzed so that we can put more information out to the community to help us identify and bring the suspect to justice. >> thank you, chief. >> chief white, my name is alex brushay from abc news, thank you for taking our questions. you've mentioned suspect a couple of times. i'm curious, do you have a suspect or suspects here? >> so in the process of an investigation the detectives, you know, they work a number of different theories. we are working through what we

have identified are some personals of interest. and we're very confident on the track that we're on. but we're very early in this investigation. once they're done at that level, each area of the work requires specific investment of time concentration and development on its own. and so to answer your question, the short answer is, we have a number of people that give us interest. we are just short of calling one of the people a suspect. but we are working to that end. and we will be there. but it just takes time, and again, i'm asking for patience as we work through every aspect of what we're doing. there's a lot of information to be analyzed. investigator haves worked literally nonstop since we received this case. and i'm confident in the hard working men and women at the detroit police department. they are really good at what

they do. i just got to give them time to do it. and we're going to get there. yes, we're confident that we're going to develop a suspect. we're not there right now as of this press conference. >> i understand. my second question for you, sir, is can you give any clarity or any theory as to how ms. woll ended up outside of her house, that trail of blood that led to the sidewalk? >> yeah, and we've worked on that, and, well, the detectives have worked on that, and we're working right now with, you know, i will say some of what i'm going to say is very graphic, and, again, my heart goes out to the family who may be hearing this and not be easy for them to hear but we are working with the michigan state police and fbi with blood spatter experts that will determine certain things about the event. what we believe to have happened is after she was attacked inside the home, she stumbled outside and collapsed in the yard.

so that's where the blood trail appears to lead us. and we're pretty confident on that assessment but we're going to confirm that through forensics and experts in that field. >> thank you. >> reporter: chief, jesse kirsch with nbc news, appreciate you doing this. you mentioned she left the wedding at 12:30 in the morning, and she was attacked inside the home. we have heard from sources that she did not have any defensive wounds, did she leave this wedding alone? >> i didn't get into that, and your sources, you know, i'm not going to confirm or deny that at this time. again, a lot of, you know, what sources don't take into account is how it could damage a case, and so i can't confirm or deny that. that's a very key part of our investigation that we're looking into. >> reporter: and point of clarification for my second question here, you said person of interest. no one is in custody at this

point? >> no one is incustody. >> reporter: if no one is in custody, and you said you don't believe anyone else is at risk here, and you have stressed you don't believe this was tied to anti-semitism, but obviously people have jumped to those conclusions, and you've got someone still out there who you say is responsible for this, what do you say to people who are still worried about their safety and the climate of what's going on in the world right now, particularly jewish, muslim, and arab communities, what would you want people to know about their safety if they are jumping to conclusions? >> yeah, and so we certainly don't want folks to jump to a conclusion, but we certainly understand how would could arrive at those conclusions absent any information to the contrary, and that's why we're here today providing information on this particular case. we don't feel as of this press conference that there's anything that supports anyone else being at risk as it relates to a hate crime. we certainly know that this was a dangerous person, and this is why we're working tirelessly to

identify a suspect and get the right suspect off the street. and once we get that development done, we will immediately push that out to our media partners as well as to our community partners to help us identify and bring this person to justice. beyond that, we're going to continue to work hard and continue to push out, transferring information so that the community is aware. >> reporter: afternoon chief, malachi bear from detroit. it seems as though the cause of death is well established, a stabbing at this point, but i'm wondering if an autopsy has been completed and you're able to tell us how many times she was stabbed or cause of death. >> this is going to sound like a rerun, and i apologize. i know you have a job to do, and i hope you appreciate what we do too. that number is important for us to keep close. and it could be the one piece of evidence that breaks the case open if we're talking to the

right suspect that would no that number one else but the police does. so right now we're not going to release that information, and the autopsy, yes, an autopsy was completed. i don't think we have the results yet. >> we did receive the pulse, yes. >> but i can't release any information in it. >> reporter: the time line is put together, i'm wondering how long she was potentially on the sidewalk or outside her home? >> yeah, and you know, i'm prefacing my comments again, i can only imagine the heartbreak that the family is feeling every time i open my mouth about this case. we're confident that she was there quite a while. we're working through our video assets in the area, and a number of other things that we're going through right now with neighbors and all of the digital doorbell systems and things like that to identify when she was seen last physically outside of the residence, and how long she may

have been there, and we're -- it's a lot to go through. we're doing search warrants on ring doorbells and things like that right now in the area. and so we're confident that she was there quite a while. >> reporter: kind of leads to my last question. i saw there were ring doorbell cameras that you can use to help identify suspects. most are wondering if there were green light cameras in the area. the condo neighborhood itself seems to be self-contained, does that help you identify persons you're looking into, persons of interest. >> one of the provisions of the green light is there's no facing of residential communities. that was a concern early on, i think, you may have been part of the conversation around that. as it relates to routes of travel, they could be used. we just have to get there, once we figure all of that out. we'll certainly be looking at green lights and other video systems to see routes of travel.

one of the things that's of particular interest to us is when she left the wedding, does the vehicle appear with her in more than one stop, right, so we'll be tracking her entire route digitally that she took from the wedding to see if anyone was following her, and if you see the same vehicle in two different places, near her, that would be of concern and issue for us. >> where was the wedding? >> we won't do that. thank you. >> reporter: omar jimenez, cnn, thank you for taking the time. >> i'm sorry, who are you? >> reporter: omar jimenez, cnn, thank you for taking the time. i know you said that at this point you haven't seen any indications that this would be any form of anti-semitism, i guess my further clarification and question is if you don't have a suspect identified and you haven't shared what led up to this killing, what makes you so confident this isn't.

essentially, have you ruled it out, despite not having found it just yet? >> well, you know, when we look at the case, there's certain tracks that these types of cases take. when we talk about hate crimes, you know, there's certain tracks that they take. and we have looked at this particular track, and we're confident with the information that we have right now that this is not. what we have right now. but this is, you know, a two-day investigation that is ongoing. but, you know, we were very cautious in making that declaration too early. we did a lot of work. they gave us the confidence that we have now that it's not as we stand here right now. we are working. you know, we're not ruling out anything. okay, let me be clear. we're looking at every aspect of this case, and we're going to take -- we're going to go where the information and the evidence takes us. and right now, the evidence does

not take us there. we do have another working theory that we're looking at, and where the evidence has taken us to, and we're going to exhaust that. and then if we get there and it takes us somewhere else, we're going to exhaust that and we may be back here having a different conversation. but as of this press conference, we are confident in what we have seen and what we are saying. >> reporter: my other question was, i know you're looking at a variety of number of people with interests at this point, no one 's gotten to the suspect level. is it your impression at least among the persons of interest, is this someone that may have been known to her or we talking about someone who may have come in from out of town or whatever it may be. >> we have not exhausted anyone as a suspect, anyone. we are confident we're on the right track, but i'm not prepared to tell you the relationship between her and the

suspect as of yet. i think it would be irresponsible at this point. we've got to give the investigators more time to detail out their investigation and pull evidence. and we'll be back here to update the case. but right now, i just think it would be irresponsible for me to say that. >> thank you. >> reporter: reuben fenton with the "new york post," hello. just to continue off what you were just saying, and you said you're not ready to speak about the relationship. i assume do you also mean or lack thereof, in other words, was it also possible, you're not saying whether they knew each other or not? >> exactly. i'm not confirming or denying what the investigation has revealed to us right now. >> reporter: a minute ago you spoke about, you know, you have a theory you're going with right now.

i mean, in regards to that theory in terms of motive, maybe this is kind of a moot point because you can't really speak on it. but can you elaborate at all about the nature of the motive, if you know what i mean, like is a motive pertaining to a desire one person had over another and, you know, i don't know, is there anything you can say about this working theory? >> yeah, and i know where you're going. and when i say theory, i don't want to characterize it as a cavalier assessment of information. i mean, it's beyond a theory. but what the investigators do is they look at the evidence, they look at all the evidence and a number of different things that we're not going to discuss today. and they begin to go down certain paths as to what is likely to have occurred, what possibly occurred, throughout the course of events. and it starts with literally investigating every aspect of

who she's been in contact with, her course of travel, who she interacted with, who was the last person she talked to, and all the way back and develop suspects. and in the course of doing that, you know, you look at certain things such as was this a home invasion, and then you either make the determination that it either was, was not, or maybe. what we have certainty with is that it wasn't, right, so now you start to shape the course of your theory. then you look at was this a hate crime. then, again, you use that same, you know, three-step method. is it possible, is it yes, is it no, and if so, what areas would you be looking for, and these are experts that are doing this, and we're confident that we have any indication at this point that that's the case, and then we go down the list of many many many things. from relationships to

friendships to, you know, you name it. we don't rule out anybody without verification. that they're not a suspect. and that includes neighbors and everyone, you know. and so that's where they're at right now. but as you do that, you build out a theory as to possibly what happened. but there's a very deliberate process. it's not, you know, something that's done in a vacuum. these are trained expert investigators working with the fbi, the michigan state police and our other federal partners to ensure that we look at everything. so that's where we're at. i know where you're trying to get me to go. but i can't get there. >> and that's okay. i see from the stripes on your arm, you have been a cop for a long time. i mean, in terms of what you have seen over the many years you have been doing this, i mean, how brutal was this and in the scope of things you've experienced and you've seen, i mean, have you ever seen anything like this before? >> yeah, unfortunately, i've

seen similar things. you know, anytime that you have a loss of life in our community, it's a tragic day for us, and certainly when you hear about her contribution to the community, to society, and the great loss, all the people that she's helped, and literally everyone that i have heard from, and it's been a lot of people. they start the conversation all the same, how wonderful of a person she was. so that's a great loss to our community and to our city. >> reporter: chief, williams of local 4. you have a lot of people who live on joliet place who may still feel unsafe with a killer out there. what would you say to them first off? >> i've said it. you know, i don't feel that they're at risk, but if they saw anything, no matter how small they think it is, if they saw someone that's not known to the neighborhood.

may have been there earlier in the week. if they saw anyone lurking around the area, certainly let us know. any small moniker of information could be the break we're looking for in this case. check your video cameras on your home. share all the information you have with us. anything small or large, please make sure you share it with us. >> reporter: can you at all reveal the location of that wedding at all? >> i'm sure it will be out. i'm not going to be the ones who gives it. someone just got married. the only connection it has is that she was there, and we'll be talking to folks about that in the very near future. >> reporter: thanks. >> reporter: jeremy edwards with abc news. can you speak to if she had her cell phone on her or any forms of i.d. >> she had her cell phone with her. i don't know if she had it.

both. >> reporter: the person of interest that you have been working with and talking with, have they been cooperating with the investigation? >> well, as i said, we haven't disqualified anybody yet. there are a number of people that we're interested in. we have not zeroed in on one person of interest. we have a number of people we're talking to. and as i understand it, everybody we've talked to have been somewhat cooperative. we haven't heard they're uncooperative, let me say that. >> reporter: thank you. >> reporter: rebecca rosenberg with fox news digital. so i'm just wondering, you said you're working through multiple suspects. if you don't have a key suspect in mind yet, how are you able to exclude, for instance, a hate crime motive or anti-semitism? >> so if i misspoke, what i said was a number of persons of interest. if i called them suspects, i may have misspoke. and as i indicated earlier, there's a process to how we disqualify suspects, how we

disqualify persons of interest that the detectives are engaged in, and certainly as i talked about the steps we go through in identifying any crime, we're confident where we've arrived with this particular crime. we believe that the motivation is very different than a hate crime. it's horrific, and it's tragic. and that's the focus of the investigation. but if something leads us down that path again or if something comes up, we will certainly be engaging our pral partners and -- federal partners and engaging in that. we're not saying if we were to arrive at a space where that becomes something that we need to look at again that we wouldn't. we're just saying that as we stand here today right now, that doesn't appear to be the motivation. >> reporter: and just another unrelated question. there was a couple near the

crime scene whose car tires were slashed over the weekend. they had left town on friday, returned sunday, and it was an older couple. both their passenger -- i'm sorry, driver's side tires were slashed. they said they alerted police on the scene to this. they are actually just had the tires replaced but nobody processed the car for evidence. it was 300 feet from the main residence. have you looked into that? do you think it could be connect ed. >> we'll certainly look into it. i don't know if it's connected, but we'll certainly look into it. >> thank you all for coming today. >> reporter: is the reason the fbi is involved just to see if there was a hate crime or is there a federal nexus involved in this? >> our federal partners as well as the state police have worked with us on a number of homicides.

this isn't unusual but having them here on this one, we'll be looking at all of those avenues. we have worked together and continue to work together on a number of homicides with our federal partners. >> thank you all for coming today. >> detroit police are on the search for a murderer who killed a synagogue president there. samantha woll, just 40 years old. she was a community activist, well known, beloved in the community. we know from listening to that press conference that she was at a wedding, she left around 12:30 a.m. and at 6:30, there was a 911 call. she appears to have died from multiple stab wounds. the question is, who is responsible. this comes against the backdrop of increased nervousness in the jewish, arab, and muslim communities, although right now, as you heard, they do not believe this is a hate crime. i want to bring in msnbc national security analyst frank figliuzzi, and msnbc legal analyst, lisa rubin.

i want to start with the search for a theory here. that is community that's clearly on edge, frank, and you heard him say we want to do this slowly and carefully. on the other hand, he doesn't believe that there's a threat to anyone else but a dangerous person is still out there. so what are they looking for? when might we get some more information or more to the point, when might the community get some more information? >> so i heard a very confident chief of police today, but also a very careful chief. confident in that they don't believe there's any indication of a hate crime, yet careful not to give out so much information and evidence and explanation that they're tipping off a suspect out there who could destroy evidence or start to prepare a defense to what police have already found. i read through this as extreme confidence here. what does that mean? it means that they're going to scour everybody she's had

contact with. there's lots of technical support, digital signatures of people coming in and out of the area with cell phones, red light cameras, all of that being examined. hundreds of interviews, but somehow already they have ruled out the motive of hate. we have some breaking news, nbc news has just confirmed the release of two more hostages who had been taken into gaza. i want to bring in nbc's josh lederman who is in einschemer, israel. tell me what we know, and do we know who these hostages are? >> reporter: we are just getting this information. hamas spokesperson has said that they have decided to release these two hostages that they claim israel is continuing to not accept. that is a claim we first heard from hamas a few days ago when she said they had been ready to release more hostages but that israel has not been willing to accept them. hamas said they agreed to

release the two hostages regardless, citing humanitarian reasons, and the two hostages hamas said they have released is narit yitzkog. both elderly women, one 85. the other 79 from just a few miles away from the gaza border in southern israel. now, right now, nbc news cannot independently confirm that these two hostages have been released. we have not laid eyes upon them. it is very unclear, chris, whether they have actually made it out of the gaza strip. if they have indeed been released, whether they are going to be going through the same process that was followed during the first release of the two americans in which red cross officials essentially escorted them from hamas control to the gaza border where they were then picked up by israeli officials. but just in the last few minutes, we have also gotten confirmation from a family representative for ms.

lipschitz, saying she has been released. this is a major piece of positive news, the second release of hostages since the beginning of the war. it would still leave approximately 200 people believed to be held hostage in the gaza strip, and it is unclear at this moment why hamas would have decided to release these two hostages, chris. >> it's very important for a lot of people to understand that we don't have any idea, right, josh, about where they're being held, are they being held together. who are they being held by? again, two americans were released on friday. now two more, we believe, to have been released today. what else do we know about the bigger picture of the hostages who are still being held? >> reporter: we know that about ten of them that are still in hamas control are believed to be american citizens, chris. that was an update we got just

within the last few hours from the u.s. government. that's obviously two fewer than had been held a few days algorithm before the two americans from the illinois area had been released. beyond that, you're right to point out that the assumption is, and israeli official haves actually said they believe these hostages are not all in one location where it would be plausible, for example, to have some type of mission go in and get them all out. the assumption is they are spread out through the gaza strip, strategically. some of them may not be under the control of hamas, but instead by other militant groups. one thing we know according to israel is that they do believe the majority of them are still alive. and that is what is fueling ongoing intensive diplomatic efforts by the israelis, by the americans, including through mediators, both in qatar and egypt to secure additional hostages being released. we should point out this comes as nbc news is now reporting that the u.s. has been urging

israel to hold off on that ground incursion that they have been promising into gaza. one main reason for that is to increase the prospect that more hostages could get out because the assumption is once israel goes in on the ground, that is going to make it far more difficult, if not impossible for hamas to release more hostages, chris. >> i want to bring back msnbc national security analyst, frank figliuzzi, because, frank, you are a former hostage negotiator. obviously under very different circumstances. having said that, however, we have heard after the release of two americans from some other families who say that gave them hope that things could move in a positive direction. when you have success and if you want to, you know, qualify two people being released who shouldn't have been held in the first place, two people more who should not have been held in the first place, nevertheless, released. is there reason to believe that can inform future releases? >> to be clear, chris, not a former hostage negotiator, but

supervised hostage negotiations throughout my career in various cities, and globally. something is working here. this is nothing but good news for the potential of releasing future hostages. but, and i have to have the caveat here there's always a reason why a terrorist organization would decide to release hostages, and it's not because they're good hearted or a good faith gesture. it's rather because they think it meets their needs. hamas clearly does not want further bombardment, aerially or the ground invasion to start full force. so this buys them time. it also, for hamas, creates confusion in the israeli's mindset as to when can we go in, when can we start doing what we need to do to eliminate

hamas. something is working. we don't know if it's the same negotiation track with the qataris that got the americans released. we don't know if they're dealing with the top leadership of hamas or the cell leaders. hamas operates in small cells . something has worked. we don't know what it is. it speaks well to the future of perhaps getting more released. i would like to know what if anything, hamas got from this tangibly aside from the pause, perhaps in a ground invasion. >> one of the many questions, frank, josh, thank you so much. and once again, that breaking news, two more hostages have been released from gaza. our breaking news coverage continues next with "katy tur reports," nsc coordinator for strategic communications, john kirby, will join in just mings. -- minutes. good to be with you, i'm katy tur. we're going to ask john kirby about this news in a moment.