the edict, never again. we are operating on all fronts. so that our enemies on all fronts will understand this message. in addition, we are exerting every possible effort to bring back all of the captives and hostages in gaza. bringing them back home. i would like to emphasize, every possible effort. it is our moral duty as israelis, as jews, as a country, as its leadership. the ground campaign, in addition to the additional efforts, can advance us and help bring these hostages back home. all of us, the prime minister, the minister of defense, the more management cabinet, the extended cabinet, and all of the commanders understand the tremendous importance and

responsibility of this time. everything that lies on our shoulders. we also feel the pain and expectation of all israeli citizens. i, personally, you have met with the families of the hostages and m.i.a.. i will be at their disposal whenever i can, as much as i can. i would like to promise you that we will do everything possible in order to bring back our sons and daughters. we must keep in mind that the organization we are facing is completely inhumane. they are using children, civilians, babies, as human shields to defend and protect themselves. they are conducting psychological warfare. they are lying to the war. they are abusing their families. they are trying to tear it really society apart. they will fail in that attempt. we will make sure. sooner or later they will all pay the price that the murders

and of doctors of children must die. i would like to thank our friends from all of the world, especially the united states for their backing in support. it is also important for the world to know that, in this war, we do not have a diplomatic stopwatch but rather a military clock. we will listen to our friends, but we will do what is right for us. i would like to call upon the whole world to concentrate their efforts on pressuring the war criminals who have over 200 israelis in their hands, amongst them the elderly and babies who do not receive any humanitarian conditions. these are war criminals who have brought a disaster upon themselves in society, which it presumes to represent.

in this more the picture is clear. it is absolute evil versus absolute justice. justice must prevail and when. i know that it will. i see the idea commanders and all of the members of the security establishment, from the chief enough staff to the very lack true. the members of the security seven stand firmly and are fully focused on their operations. i have full trust in their capabilities. despite the fact that they carry such a heavy burden for what has happened and what will happen, despite all of that they will deliver victory. all of us, israeli society in leadership, we are all behind them and support them. citizens of israel, churchill said we will defend our country at whatever cost. whatever price, we will fight on the beaches, the landing

sites, the fields, in the streets, and on the hills. we will never surrender. that is true for the people of israel today. in our second war of independence we will fight wherever necessary, whenever necessary. we will not come out of it stronger but more united also. we will never succumb, we will never stop. there is no one victorious measure in this war. rather, it is the process. at the end of the process we will win. e it is a multi phased process. we will face difficulties an operational achievements in the process will take a long time. it's four completion, including the rehabilitation of their communities of the western -- will take even longer. we must remember that our strength lies in our power, unity, and cohesion. both in wartime and after it.

when the people of israel or united, when we are together, no one can win over us. god willing, we shall act, we shall fight, and we shall win. nd we shall win. thank you, mister prime minister. i would like to address that question to you. could you explicitly say that you accept the fact that you also bear responsibility for the disaster that happened on october 7th? well you support establishing a commission of inquiry? i've already said, and i reiterate, after the war all of us will have to provide answers to some very harsh questions. that includes me, as well. what happened here was a terrible failure. it will be fully investigated. i promise you.

a promise all of you. no dongle remained unturned. right now my most important mission is to save the country. to lead our troops to absolute victory over a mosque in the congress of evil. we have another task, the defense minister gantz just mentioned that. i just finished a very difficult meeting with the families of the hostages. it tears at one's heart. i think all israelis are united in their pain. we are committed to do everything in order to bring them back. this mission is not a simple or easy one. we keep remembering it. also it dictated the extent the measures we are taking right now. just like minister gantz said. it could very well be that the

ground activities that we just expanded will help us achieve this goal. that is what we are busy doing right now. >> channel 12 news. mister prime minister, first of all we would like to wish you, and all of, us a great success in this war. with your permission, i would like to insist. you said from the israeli parliament that my government, we listen carefully to the security echelons. the last word is hours. you also said on a different occasion that the responsibility for security lies on the shoulders of the government. what has changed, sir? how come you cannot say the obvious as the head of the system. the authority, i agree with having it said then and now. i do not retract from that. >> mister prime minister, over

the past ten months the state of israel has reached the deepest rift has known. the promotion of the sahara form led by your government set attention from the security of israel. is this what made it possible for our enemy through attack us in fluctuate and subscribe to three weeks ago? do you regret the show the deal which you that when you released murderers with blood on their hands? >> first of, all of the judiciary review is not on the agenda right now. we have set aside all of our differences of opinion. and you can see here, we are all standing together. it truly is together. it is not just lip service. we've been together almost 24 hours. we work together around the clock as one cohesive team. together with the chief of the general staff and the idea of generals. together with the heads of the security establishment and the security agencies.

because there is one thing that we know. our enemies want to murder all of us. they did not make any distinction between those who oppose the judiciary for more support. they did not need any excuses. if you remember, at the height of the debate i did say one thing. i said that our enemies are mistaken about us. that refusing military service is not an option. when a time of test comes, no one refused military service. i am proud to say that we have 150, even 200% mobilization. everyone who has been called up came, and more than that. the most important thing for us is victory. and for the should lead deal, i think that were some very difficult things involved in this deal no one ignores that there were other considerations.

the time will come to discuss that, as well. >>. >> i thank you. mr. prime minister, we keep hearing more and more voices saying we must bring back the hostages at any price. it seems that there is a tension between that and the goal that was declared to completely eliminate hamas. will there be any change in injury of goal to eliminate hamas? >> the answer is no. i think that even though this tension might be created, it is something inherent that could happen. i would like to tell you but i cannot get into details but i think there was no tension. our consideration to move on to the next phase the ground activity. i think that this does not clash in any form what we described our desire or ability to bring back the hostages. i cannot elaborate beyond that. we have two goals. the most supreme one is to

completely eliminated the operation and the government in a mosque. the second one is to bring back the hostages. we will do everything we can, everything humanly possible to meet these two goals. i'm confident that we will do so. >>. >> in the months leading up to the more you received written documents from the head of the intel director and the head of the i say regarding increase probability for war. is it true that you did not pay much attention to these letters? what to do government do in order to better prepare for this possible war? the mission that i define for the idea is to eliminate hamas and to make sure that gaza won't resume being a threat to return. their description of what happened before the war was incorrect. i hear some people are saying that i wanted to strengthen hamas. i never wanted to strengthen hamas.

deeply not me who lived three campaigns against it. , including the elimination of its leaders and, also, taking harsh measures against the palestinian islamic jihad. these activities, by the way, a significantly weakened the combat capability of hamas. they prevented it from harming itself further. in hindsight it was not enough. it simply was not enough. now we are determined to complete this task. we shall do so. >>. . >> mister prime minister, does israel have any information that iran is behind the october 7th massacre? what do you think about eliminating or canceling the unnecessary governmental ministries and to transfer the funds to rehabilitate the communities of the western bank.

iraq supports hamas. i think 90% of the military budget of hamas comes from iran. it funds, it organizes, it guides, it trains. i cannot tell you, necessarily, in this specific act in this specific moment that they wore involved in the micro planning but the fact that they that the war machine of hamas was backed without these gavel than he would not have a mauve, just like you wouldn't have hezbollah without around. this is why this is an act of evil. this axis of evil is waging a war. this war is against us. in fact, it is against the entire free world. against our moderate partners in the arab world. this is why we must triumph over hamas. this is an existential test for us. i would like to say that it impacts the entire western civilization. all those who want to see the 21st century moving ahead to the future in contrast to those

who want to take us back to medieval times. so, iran is the main elements in the axis of evil. i cannot tell you whether they were involved in the micro planning of the specific attack. regarding your question, yes, i am in favor of cutting down on the government ministries expenditures. some of them have done that, i can tell you something else, i am in favor of increasing government expenditure. i've said to the minister of finance, you need to dig deeply into your pockets. the only economy i care about right now is, as i say, to the mister defense, the chief of general staff, and the generals is an ammunition economy. we have a strong economy. we have a very robust economy here. we can barely, we have just seen it now in the rehabilitation of the gaza border communities. there is a lot of work being done by -- and yoshi shelley. we are pouring funds into that, infusing funds, and i am going to pass a law, the resurrection

law, and we are going to infuse huge amounts of money, and they need it. they deserve it. that is true for the entire israeli economy, what we did during -- -- and we managed to pass this not from a health perspective, but economically as well. we managed to survive covid much better than other economies. this is what we're going to do right now. we're going to dig deep into our pockets and help, help our citizens, help the businesses, help those who have been evacuated from their homes and israeli citizens. it will work out later, but if we don't do that, if we do not fight to the very last option, we won't have an economy. we need a tremendous effort in our economy and that is, that has been my instruction. i think it'll be executed over the next few days. >> sir? mr. prime minister, regarding the captives and hostages in

they met with you outside, and they set a demand that might want the release of all hamas prisoners in exchange for the release of all the hostages is that a strategy that you are even considering? and any negotiations regarding the release of the hostages will at least continue during a ground offensive, or campaign offensive. the answer to your second question is yes. the answer to your first question, this is something that, in my colleagues and myself have discussed a long with the people who are responsible for this professionally, i think that's getting into the specifics here will not be conducive to this actually being realized. by the way, there's one more thing i would like to tell you. you know, now that i was in that meeting, and it is the second meeting i had with the families of the hostages, you

just stand there, at least emotionally, you feel so helpless, because you know, you keep thinking, what if this would have happened to my family, to myself? it's something you feel in your gut. in your soul. but when i speak with them, i cannot divulge all the intel, information that we have. i cannot specify all the considerations, what you have, and benny just said here, if not lip service. it's what i'm telling you all right now. we are considering this not as some kind of a side mission. it is an integral part of the goals of this war, but we simply cannot specify everything we're doing, everything we will to, in order

to achieve this goal. we must go, i would like to thank you all, but now, we need to go and discuss our further activities. >> minister of defense, you said earlier that you are fully confident in all of the leaders of the security establishment, the different generals of staff, the chief of the i.s. a, but did they say anything about the prime minister? there have been reports of tension between you and the prime minister. what are your relations like right now? first of all, i spoke about what i'm responsible for, which is the security establishment i stand behind. i stand had everything i said, i have absolute trust in our security establishment. we have our best people there, and they will lead us to victory, a decisive victory. things will be very clear, because the goals are clear and the challenges are clear. the prime minister, minister

cans and remembers, the ministers and the security cabinet and the war cabinet are conducting very matter-of-fact discussions and the relationship is very good and professional. ultimately, we are all united behind one goal, which is victory. the people of israel need to know that on this topic of reaching victory in this war, there is no disagreement, and there is no inkling of disputes, as for all the other matters, it is simply gossip, and i do not wish to address that. >> all right, everybody. we were taking a listen to, by the way, welcome to, i'm yasmin vossoughian, you're watching msnbc. glad to be with you. we were taking a listen to a press conference they are, being led by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, along with defense minister gallant and former defense minister as well, benny gantz, who is now the leader of the

opposition party inside israel, who has formed this unity party since october 7th with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. as they put it, the second phase, next phase of this war, as we are seeing on the ground, it seems as if this is now the ground incursion we have been awaiting into gaza, which is a total blackout at this point. no communication inside or coming out of gaza, as you know exactly what is going on there. the prime minister laying out what they see asked their objective here for the idf. that is to completely eliminate hamas and form of leadership inside of gaza. of course, addressing concerns as well when it comes to the 200 plus israeli hostages that are still being held inside gaza as well. the prime minister talking about the second meeting in which he has had with the families of those held inside of gaza and saying along with the objective of a limited income of, their second objective, also, is to rescue those hostages.

whether or not they are going to be able to do that amidst this ground incursion, really, is the overarching question. and what to do with gaza, if, in fact, they are successful with eliminating hamas? who, that, governs gaza? and the millions of palestinians that are inside gaza right now, bracing for what is to come. these are images you are seeing right now. of the ground incursion and the aerial strikes that are happening in gaza in the second phase of this war. i want to bring in nbc's jay gray, who is standing by for us. live in northern israel, talk more about what we just heard. jay, i am sure you have are taking a listen to that press conference, alongside all of us. talk me through some of what we just heard, and what you've been seeing on the grounds there? >> yasmin, it's interesting, because we all talked about this ground incursion for quite some time. we have seen out, for three nights, four nights, if you include tonight, in troops moving into got. at what we saw last night was completely different. as the prime minister said, as

we've heard from commanders throughout the day, is the second phase in this war, according to the idf. they moved the tanks in, troops in as well, and they stayed. they stayed on the ground fire, and they continue to push forward. we know they have set up a defensive line inside of gaza now. we know that they were getting support from the air, and from the israeli navy, who made significant strikes. we are told, along the coast. so, it has ramped up significantly in the last 24 hours. we heard specifically from the prime minister about this, being a long and difficult war. he talked about it being the second war of independence for israel. i was struck by the fact that he also said this is the mission of our lives. this is the mission of my life, trying to tie this to the israeli people, the importance of what was going on here, and prepare and the israeli people for a battle that, again, he says is going to take some time. he did speak during his speech

about u.s. and european support, and talked about what has become a growing chorus globally, problems, a lot of people are having with the way israel has gone about this, and specifically accusations of the idf committing war crimes. he called those lies. you said that hamas is using human shields, and said that they were doing what they needed to do to rid but world of hamas, and did mention his meeting today with the family members of the hostages. and it did include the fact that the hostages remain a primary focus. but what we are hearing from those that met with the prime minister netanyahu today, is that they're very concerned about this new, aggressive stance by the israeli defense forces, and very concerned about what that means for their loved ones are still being killed inside of gaza. >> all right, jake gray for us,

thank, you jay. appreciate it. from there, i want to bring in retired general david petraeus, former cia director and former central commander in the wrong for the u.s. army. he is also the author of the new book, conflict, the evolution of warfare from 1945 to ukraine. general, thank you for joining us on this. appreciate it. there's a couple things they want to sit through here, and first, and foremost, i want to kind of just get your overall reaction to what we just heard from the prime minister of israel, alongside his defense minister and the leader of the opposition party as well. benny gantz. >> there's absolutely determination and unity, of course, in this coalition government that has now been formed for the destruction of hamas and the dismantling of the political wing. this has never been done before, obviously, in the past, there's been a brief incursion and the pullback, and damaged hamas and in this case, far more horrific lee and violently and barbaric lee than ever before. the determination is hamas is a terrorist army. it is irreconcilable's

extremist, and we have to be eliminated, as they have said. that context for this could not be more challenging. this is fiendishly difficult. we cleared many large cities during the surge in iraq in particular. we struck away for support from al-qaeda, destroyed al-qaeda in iraq, and into the -- terrorist three and a half later it, came back is the islamic state, when the iraqis took their eye off it. there is a lesson on that here. they will have to ensure that even after hamas is destroyed, and this is going to be a very, very tough fight, they will still have to keep an eye on the remnants, and ensure that they cannot reconstitute as well. but you cannot imagine a more challenging context. again, individuals that don't wear uniforms, that use civilians as human shields, probably prevented many of the civilians from leaving gaza as the israelis requested that they too to go to southern

gaza. it has over 200 israeli hostages, over 300 miles of tunnel underneath the ground. it is a well constructed concrete rebar. they know the area like the back of their hands, unlike the islamic state, that is trying to defend mostly against the iraqi security forces some years ago. and they will blow themselves up to take the israelis with them. they have improvised explosive devices all over, i'm sure. booby traps, that said. rosseau, you cannot imagine a more challenging mission for the military force. not only do they have to clear every building, every floor, room, seller, and tunnel, they also then have to retain them. they literally have to leave a force behind, so the enemy cannot re-infiltrate behind you. so, you have to do this very methodically, very deliberately, and, as we progress through the city, but the destruction and damage inevitably is going to be very substantial, and inevitably, tragically, a loss of innocent life will be substantial.

>> how do you miniseries the law civilians like when you gambling the palestinian civilians on the ground there, and we have seen the atrocious pictures coming out of gaza and the last three weeks, after october 7th. obviously, this is a response to the horrible attacks on israelis on october 7th. nonetheless, women and children dying in gaza as well. how do you avoid mass civilian casualties in gaza, along with keeping the lines open for negotiating for the release of the cis really hostages inside of gaza? >> extremely difficult, yasmin. it is not impossible. obviously, they do observe the laws of land warfare. they call it purity of arms, asked their concept for this. obviously, you are trying to use the munitions no more than required, to be precise as you

can, again, to avoid destruction and damage of civilian structure and loss of innocent civilian life, but, every very difficult in this circumstance. again, i can't think if anything. you mentioned the book that the great british historian, roberts and i just published. we look back through all of those, since 1945. we can think of nothing that was really comparable to this, to actually go back to world war ii, to think of monte casino or stalingrad. those kinds of horrible urban battles that are more likely -- for this, tragically, and even the ones that are carried out in -- and fallujah and parts of back that. >> general, if you, will stand by for us for just a moment. we're getting some breaking news when it comes to the 2024 presidential race. we want to turn back to israel, but i want to go to steve patterson, who is standing by for us now. steve, good to talk to you. i hear we're getting some news and when it comes to former vice president mike pence and his bid for the white house.

let me know. >> former president -- has suspended his campaign. i apologize for the noise. yeah, ron desantis is now stepping up onstage. this is a huge event for the art jc, all eight candidates running for president. as we know, this the race has shifted to who is strongest on foreign policy, the war on israel? that is what we are hearing for pence maybe just 50 minutes ago. he was going to his support, and they are right to defend themselves, and the waves of antisemitism we're seeing in this country, and sort of what he has done in that, both in the white house and on capitol hill. but then, all of a sudden, very abruptly, he just suddenly announced that he was suspending his race for president. i don't think anyone is really expecting this. the crowd was caught off guard. there was sort of a wave of hush that spanned out over the crowd. you could hear some shocks, some breaths, as this happened.

then, he sort of carefully and steadily said this is no longer his fight. it's no longer his race. that is, god gave him the clarity not only to get involved in that race but to step aside. so, really shocking announcement from the vice president, from the former vice president, and not something i think we expected to hear. until it really came out of nowhere. yasmin? >> any reporting, steve, on more of why he did this now, if he has been at all in touch with former president trump's campaign, amidst this announcement, and any reaction you're getting beyond what we describe to us from the crowd there amidst this announcement? >> this is also said. and again, just a few minutes ago, we haven't really had time to react. we spoke to the in bed that is, of course, embedded within the campaign trail, after sort of did we know this coming at all? did we have any ideation? she told me that, you know, the

writing was on the wall that the barrier for entry into the next debate is a lot higher. some of these candidates are going to start dropping off. i think sooner, the consensus was if he couldn't make that next step, of course, you will be very different to keep his campaign running, and it seems that was the writing on the wall. to announce it here, sort of in the middle of this speech -- again, very shocking. >> certainly, the timing of this. we're going to be learning more about it, i'm sure, in the hours to come. if you will, steve, dig into that. talk to some folks there on the ground, get a reaction. we'll circle back to you in our next hour. steve patterson for us, thank you. all right, i want to go back to general dave petraeus, to talk more about israel. general, thank you standing by for us. i want to be on the record with that for former president, mike pence, dropping out of the race for president here in the u.s.. one of the things i was surprised about that was not asked of prime minister benjamin not to know who was the after. what i mean by that, is what,

then? you eradicate hamas from gaza. what will you do then? how do you govern 2 million palestinians? it hasn't worked before. when you governed, when israel governed, that area. what do you do now? the carrying this out? >> i think this very much pence the question that it would be great to hear israel lay out not just the determination to destroy hamas, and the islamic jihad, and also to dismantle the political wing, which means that they will inevitably have to end mid administering gaza for a period of time. and they have to know what they're going to do. they shouldn't be announcing, i, think what the vision for the palestinian people in gaza could be when we sought to destroy al-qaeda in iraq, we laid out for the sunni arabs, some of whom had been passively or actively supporting them, what life would be like for them. that it would be better, if

they actually helped us get rid of al-qaeda to destroy them, get them out of their neighborhood where they're causing so much damage. i think, again, it would be very good to hear that. i think from the israeli government. i understand the focus on the immediate technical mission at hand, but i think looking ahead to the, again, we learned this the hard way during the fight to baghdad, toppling the regime. and it turns out our faces for our postconflict plans were inadequate. so, i think again, based on that lesson, it was a two star general ben. part of that invasion and ask a bit about what might happen after we toppled the regime, and we were told just get to back that. then, take it from there. obviously, that was not adequate. so, announcing that in which i think is a recognition of the inevitable, i see no one ready to step up and take over that mission. certainly, the palestinian authority doesn't want to ride in on the backs of israeli tanks into gaza but at some point, they should also than

announced the desire to establish a competent and capable palestinian authority there. that could administer gossip with help from the u.s., the rest of the world, which would not only provide humanitarian assistance for restoring basic services and reconstruction, but also, ensure that and i and pressure are kept on the islamic jihad and hamas to ensure they cannot reconstitute. we have seen again that extremist groups, if you don't keep pressure on them, witnessed al-qaeda and iraq became the islamic state, and after our combat forces were withdrawn from iraq and the late 2011, within a year or so, you saw the islamic state reconstitute and eventually, establish a caliphate that took an enormous effort to defeat and destroy. so, that would be good. i think there should be an announcement, a vision for the palestinians in the west bank as well. this horrific moment, this terrible unspeakable murder and

the filing of bodies and so forth, took place, that precipitated this. again, keep in mind the violence we're seeing, this lays at the feet of hamas. they forced this at a period when there was actually a slight degree of refreshment. the work visa numbers. >> general, if they were to start a new, should the prime minister also be taking responsibility, as he was asked in this press conference today? and he did not. he skirted around saying outright, i also take responsibility as the head of the ship it has said, in the last few weeks as well, since october 7th considering also his lack of popularity inside israel and how many israelis, i mean, the editorial board of haaretz as well has come out against benjamin netanyahu to take responsibility for what took place on october 7th. and talk about the possibility of new leadership inside israel as well, as they look for a new future, not only inside gaza but the future of israel?

>> look, i don't even do domestic politics in the united states. i'm not even going to get into that, frankly. everything you said is correct. everything you said race is a very important question, but that is something, clearly, you know, someone trying to hold his coalition together to carry out a war, one can understand why there might be a skirting of those questions. >> general david petraeus, thank you sir, we're sticking with us. we appreciate it. good to talk to you. >> thank you. >> all right, everybody. we've got a lot more to cover in our 90 minutes ahead. but with that, that breaking news we were just coming to you with, and that is the announcement from the former vice president of the united states he is no longer running for president of the united states. we have that sound now. the former vice president, mike pence. let's listen. vice president,>> it has become this is not my time. so, after much prayer in the

liberation, i have decided to suspend my campaign for president, effective today. >> >> ation because there's never been a reported ransomware attack on a chromebook. now they're focused on learning knowing that their data is secure. ( ♪♪ ) my skin has been so much smoother so much more hydrated. it's olay! with olay hyaluronic body wash 95% of women had visibly-better skin. and my skin is so much more moisturized. see the difference with olay. the chase ink business premier card is made for people like sam, who make- everyday products, designed smarter. like a smart coffee grinder, that orders fresh beans for you. oh, genius! for more breakthroughs like that- i need a breakthrough card. like ours! with 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more. plus unlimited 2% cash back on all other purchases. and with greater spending potential, sam can keep making smart ideas- a brilliant reality!

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breaking news on several fronts right now. we're going to start with that announcement just a short time ago, vice president mike prince dropping out from the presidential race. i want to bring an nbc correspondent, jill press, at the white house for us. erin i want, to start off with this. we're going to transition to a thrill as well. i want to start with what's on the ground there but first and foremost, breaking news we've

been following. former press vice president mike pence saying he's no longer running for president. and any reaction this hour, from the white house? >> it is such a fresh new to get into here this afternoon, yasmin. at this point, no. no reaction from the white house about this particular issue. i wouldn't really expect or anticipate we will hear from the white house in particular on these campaign related activities, as they tend to stay away from those conversations directly. we may, though, here from the biden harris campaign. that organization put out a statement earlier today about the former president trump ahead of his speech that will come later this afternoon in las vegas. now, this news we're hearing, breaking news, really, on mike pence suspending his campaign. we have reached out. we anticipate. we will get some reaction from the biden harris campaign about that activity, as the afternoon wears on. at this point, a lot of people trying to digest that information about the former vice president. >> let's talk a serial, while i have you as well. the president, secretary of state as well has been

steadfast in the support for israel and its impending ground invasion into gaza, and it is now happening. this second phase of the war, we just heard from prime minister benjamin netanyahu, along with his defense minister in the leader of the opposition as well, forming a unity government with netanyahu. what more are we learning from the white house in this now next phase of this war, this blackout in gaza? >> you know, yasmin, it's been roughly 24 hours since this latest round of major military action in gaza. the israelis, and the white house has been effectively silent in that time. we've been trying to get some understanding of what level of knowledge the u.s. was afforded before israel started the assault yesterday. we know that president biden did not speak to the israeli prime minister yesterday, though he was briefed by his own national security team about developments in israel on the hole and in the middle east. we don't know whether that included this expanded ground operation, the national

spokesman, john kirby, did talk to reporters yesterday afternoon, as israel was starting this as we came over of. and he stuck to his position the u.s. was not telegraphing or dictating what the israeli military should be doing right now. he did go a bit further late in the day and, interview with cnn yesterday. i want to play a little bit of that. >> we have terrific conversations, military to military contact. obviously, we are talking to him continuously since october 7th. i don't want to detail the content of those conversations, but i do want to stress these are israeli defense force operations. they get to make the decisions. they get to talk about what they're doing. we won't do that for them. >> now, kirby did tell reporters the u.s. is still pushing for that pause. we have heard so much about in the fighting in gaza. and in order to get the hostages, were hostages released, to get more humanitarian aid into gaza. and to get people out of there as well. he said the complex

conversations and negotiations about those issues are happening almost around the clock. we know there are 400 plus americans trying to get out of gaza. many of them followed that advice from two weeks ago to move towards the rafah crossing with the hope of getting into egypt. there's a special envoy in egypt right now from the u.s. trying to facilitate those discussions with the israelis, with the egyptians. and with hamas effectively. we are just not seeing any real movement on that, yasmin. the fact that this fresh stage of war is underway now, it maybe even longer before we learn more about what happens to people who are in gaza right now, who are not at all involved in any of the fighting. yasmin >> aaron gilchrist, thank you. appreciated. i want to stay on this and bring into time pulitzer prize winner, david rohde, now the senior executive editor for national security at nbc news. david, thank you for joining us. thank you. appreciate it. first, let me talk about what we should expect from the white house at a time like this. and why this, to a certain

extent, effectively over the last 24 hours, as a correspondent of some, the white house has been fairly silent, aside from hearing from john kirby at times in this next phase of this war. and is this a reflection of what we're seeing globally in more protests, asking for demanding a cease-fire income of? in gaza? >> i think, you know you are right. we are seeing silence and this appears to be the white house's strategy. i think it's a gamble. it might work on the one hand, there is a political risk for joe biden if he doesn't support israel. you will be attacked by republicans, whoever the nominee ends up being, for not supporting israel enough. but he has got a simultaneous problem where sort of the progressive wing of the party wants to see much more -- by the united states about the death toll in gaza. this all started with a terrible hamas terrorist attack that killed over 1000 israeli

civilians. but now, the number of palestinians who have died, many of them civilians, the vast majority, i believe, has hit 7000, so, the question is, is there, will the silence be enough? there's another course here, which could be the administration speaking more you. no, calling for, saying we respect israel's right to defend itself, but calling for israel to allow a humanitarian pause, to allow some aid to get into gaza, as hospitals talk about running out of gasoline, you've seen these images of babies in incubators, and what happens if those generators go out. so, they're remaining silent. we'll see if this works in the days ahead, as this war intensifies. >> i found it curious and i was just speaking, i don't know if you had my conversation with general david petraeus. about the prime minister not being asked about what his plan was after this ground incursion. if they are to successfully eradicate hamas, and if that is a strategy, if they even have a

plan, and general petraeus knows this firsthand what happens when you invade a country without a plan of how to govern afterwards. why do you think the israeli government is not being more forthcoming about what their plan is, or do they even have one? >> i think they haven't decided on a plan. some folks from nbc met with israeli officials in new york yesterday. we asked him the same question. they didn't have a clear plan. there was a military official that spoke with us as well. he said that that is a political issue. the one thing they made clear is their goal is to, and this is understandable. it's to weaken hamas, dramatically, so it can never threaten southern israel again, whether it's a military attack or a terrorist attack. so, that is what the israeli army will pursue, but you are right. what happens after that? and i think this is a space, you know, and again, it's easy for me to say before the biden administration to, do more.

look, it is an enormously complex problem. it has gone on for 75 years. but, there could be talks you, know, some kind of large peace summit after, whenever the fighting in gaza ends, that talks about some sort of, you know, self governance for palestinians in gaza. that excludes hamas. i think it's understandable why that is a barren among for israel and hamas can no longer be a presence there. but some sort of recognition of what will happen to the 2.2 million people of gaza after this war ends. what kind of future is something that the united states can say it cares about and i think again, it's easy for me to say, but i think that's another strategy the administration could be taking right now. >> you opened the store for, me david, and i've got to walk through, it this conversation being had with israeli officials yesterday. and i asked general petraeus this as well, which is the responsibility of the prime minister benjamin netanyahu,

who is not popular inside israel. he has not been popular for quite some time, especially because of those judicial reforms in place. his leadership has been marred with controversy, with corruption charges as well. does there need to be a plan going forward, domestically, inside israel as well for the prime minister to take responsibility for what has taken place? and if there is to be change, four, there to be changed to his leadership and whether or not he is even able to survive this? >> i guess, in terms of the biden administration, the easy answer is no. that is up to israeli voters. but this, you know, was a catastrophic failure of the israeli intelligence services, and the israeli military. i think there is unity now in israel, but there is no question that the society was deeply divided with the protests, where netanyahu is trying to reform the supreme court, essentially, so he could

remain in power. some of the actions of his far-right allies, when he made these alliances to remain, to stay in power ethel costs, some of the things they said, some of the things the settlers are doing in the west bank, has exacerbated this whole situation. so, you know, i think there will be accountability in israel. netanyahu was asked about that during his press conference. he sort of dodged the question, so, i think it will happen, because it is astonishing how unprepared israel was for this attack. >> do you think parts of the biden administration's possible role in this going forward, whether it be to establish some sort of helping establish some sort of government authority, in gaza would be the acknowledgment of the responsibility of the prime minister? or do you think that would be out of their hands? >> i think it would be difficult. i am just making, thinking of if this was britain, you know, or france. a long term ally.

i think the united states would hesitate to dictate, you know, i think really, broadly here, this is about democracy. , and anti-democratic efforts by netanyahu led to protests. in israel,, so i think the united states should always defend democracy inside the united states, outside the united states, you, know all over the world. so, that is a tacked they can take. i would be surprised if they try to meddle in israeli politics. where the united states can help and show leadership is showing that, again, it cares about palestinian lives as well. and they could be pushing for a stop now, for humanitarian aid to get in, and some sort of long term solution. i know this is failed, it's been 75 years, and everyone is exhausted. but something, there has to be some new form of governance for palestinians in gaza, and it should not involve him off. but you know, they need to have a chance to set up some sort of new system in gaza, and you know, have a role in self

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members of the trump family are now set to testify in court. trump's adult children, donald, eric, ivanka, it will appear in the courthouse in next week for the civil fraud trial for the front charges of the family. -- and fixer michael cohen, appearing in the same room as his former client from the first time in five years. i want to bring in former u.s. attorney and msnbc legal analyst, barbara mcquade, to talk about that. can you imagine the energy in that courtroom, barr? when that testimony went that michael cohen, sitting right across, obviously, from a former president of the united states and his former boss, donald trump? talk to me first about your expectations when it comes to eric, don, do you hear, testimony from them. heavily involved in trump businesses. >> yes. you know, it is somewhat perilous for them, because although the fifth amendment

rights against self incrimination usually come in criminal trials, a witness may want to invoke that in a civil case, because anything they testified to here under oath could be used against them in any subsequent criminal case. and if they do invoke what is different in a civil case is the fact finder here, the judge, may try an adverse inference the fact that they would've answered two would have been bad for them. so, it is really a dammed if you do, dammed if you don't situation for them. >> expectations from ivanka's testimony? -- defendant here. >> you know, the fact that she is not a defendant's really is a relevant to whether she testifies. she is a witness. there is information that she was involved in negotiating and securing the financing for some of these properties. so, i think she will have to answer those questions. again, she also may want to consider invoking her fifth amendment rights, if he is concerned about some sort of criminal exposure but again, if she does, that the judge may draw an adverse inference and assume the answer would have been bad for her side.

so, high stakes for all three of them. >> do you think the former president will take the stand? >> if i were his lawyer, absolutely not. i'm not sure he's capable. >>'m not sure how many times, by the, way i ask you that question on air. let's go, proceed. >> i think it's very perilous, you know, maybe he does, but just this week when he took the stand about whether he violated the gag order the judge found he was not credible in answering one question! so, i would be surprised if he takes a stand because the risk it exposed him to. >> we talked quickly about that moment. what it must of been like to be in the courtroom, to watch obviously michael cohen testifying across from his former boss and the moment which the former president stormed, that centrally, when michael cohen testified he did not directly tell him to inflate the numbers. is that damning to the prosecution i don't think so, to be general letitia james said to me afterwards, this case is built on thousands of documents. it's really, very much a document case. they have many other witnesses. michael cohen didn't take the

stand until about three weeks in. so, although it's a very dramatic moment, i don't think the prosecution's case. rises or falls with this. >> barbara, quite, always thank you so much. appreciate it. and trump's former attorney, michael cohen, will be on politicsnation beginning on five eastern right here on msnbc. we're coming up, folks. we are watching msnbc. our second hour starts right now. ♪ ♪ ♪ c. our seco>> hi, everyone. yasmin vossoughian. we are covering a lot of breaking news this hour. if you are just joining us, welcome if you're sticking with us, we are thankful for that. the next phase of israel's war on hamas has begun. tanks and israeli tanks and troops are on the ground inside gaza. a defiant israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, spoke just a short time ago, promising the defeat of hamas and lashing out at critics of how the assault on gaza is being conducted. we're going to have full coverage of what he had to say in just a couple of moments. up