right now on "ana cabrera

reports," urgent talks underway to extend the cease fire between israel and hamas and allow for the release of more hostages, this as each side accuses the other of violating the currency spire that's set to expire in a matter of hours. plus, the top jewish lawmaker in the u.s. set to give a major address on the senate floor at any moment. what senator chuck schumer is expected to say about the rise of anti-semitism. also, breaking overseas, at least one dead after a us military osprey crashed off the coast of japan, the latest on the urgent rescue mission, and later the clock ticking in washington for disgraced congressman george santos, now set to face an expulsion vote as soon as tomorrow. i'll talk to the democrat who began the bid to boot santos from capitol hill. thanks for joining us, it's 10:00 eastern, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york, and we

begin with that breaking news. urgent talks underway to extend the fragile truth. a senior arab diplomat directly involved in the negotiations tells nbc news the expectation is for at least two more days. you can see right now smoke still billowing over gaza with the current cease fire set to expire in hours, and we are still expecting the release of ten more hostages today. it could happen at any moment. ten were set free yesterday. this edited video from hamas claims to show that handover, but in the last hour, hamas announced that three hostages have died. nbc news is not naming those hostages since we have not independently verified their deaths. joining us now from tel aviv is nbc's raf sanchez and also with us, aaron david miller, former state department middle east adviser and negotiator in both republican and democratic administrations and he's now a senior fellow at the carnegie

endowment. stand by for us, aaron. raf, let me come to you first. what's the latest on the talks today and these claims from hamas that three hostages are dead? >> reporter: so ana, we are seven hours from the end of the cease fire. both israel and hamas have said that they are open to an extension. we heard secretary of state antony blinken speaking in brussels saying the united states is doing everything it can to extend this further. more time to get humanitarian aid into gaza in exchange for more hostages coming out. right now there is no deal finalized. as you said, we are still expecting to see another ten hostages coming out of gaza in the next couple of hours, but right now there is no agreement for that deal to extend into tomorrow. these things happen late, ana, often right up against the deadline. it's very possible we will see an announcement likely from qatar in the coming hours about a possible extension.

that is the state of play right now. in terms of these three he or she -- hhostages, hamas put outa claim about an hour ago saying that three israeli hostages had died in israeli air strikes before this cease fire began. they named these three hostages. we're not naming them because, as yet, there is no independent confirmation of their deaths. the israeli military has just put out a statement saying they are in touch with the family of the three hostages concerned, but they are saying they are unable to verify the claim right now. they are examining what they say is the reliability of the statement from hamas. >> really heartbreaking if it's true, raf. we also have som new information from the world hethrganization about some of the conditions inside gaza. 1.3 million in shelters where apparently disease is running rampant. thousands suffering from respiratory illness, scabies, skin rashes. i understand that you are

learning more about life inside gaza amid this cease fire. raf, what can you tell us? >> so ana, before this war, gaza was poor. it was isolated. it was blockaded, but right now it is one of the most dire humanitarian situations anywhere on the planet. more than a million people are displaced, around half of the all the buildings in northern gaza are either partly or completely destroyed during these seven weeks of israeli air strikes, and i i want you to ta a look at what people in gaza have been doing with these few precious days of cease fire. >> gazans are venturing onto the streets lining up at gas stations hoping for a few precious drops of fuel, and baking bread in traditional ovens. the cease fire, which is due to end, offering a brief respite from seven weeks of israeli

bombing in response to the october 7th attack. around 15,000 people have been killed, according to the hamas-run health ministry. that's 1 out of every 130 people. the world health organization with a stark warning. >> so eventually we will see more people dying from disease than we are even seeing from the bombardment. >> disease spreading through camps like this, more than a min displaced by the fighting. their tense little match from the winter rain. she doesn't know if her husband is still alive. is there anything worse than this she asks? and even when the war ends, many will have no homes to go back to. in the city of khan younis, an analysis of the satellite imagery shows damage to around 60% of all buildings, but travel up the strip and the devastation grows. in northern gaza where israel's bombing was most intense, half the buildings are now partly or

completely destroyed. and gazans have also been using these last couple of days to go and see whether or not their homes are still standing. our team in gaza met a couple of newlyweds, yasmin and halil. they went back to their house in khan younis, they got married just a month before the war started. this was the home that they planned to build a life together in. they found it had been completely destroyed, one of the only things they were able to save is a box of candy from their wedding a couple of weeks ago which is a reminder of a happier, safer time. >> strong reporting. thank you very much. stay close, please bring us any news on the talks or the hostage releases or deaths, if we can verify those as you get more information. aaron, as this current deal is winding down and dozens of hostages are still being held, what kind of dynamic are at play at this stage of negotiations? >> you know, i think -- first of

all, thanks for having me. the cruel game that hamas is playing and why they took hostages, i think is playing itself out. it took hostages both dead and alive, i might add to trade and to constrain these relations by time. that strategy is working for the moment, and the israelis have an interest in getting as many of their hostages back as possible. two problems. number one, does hamas have control of all of the women and children? the israelis are making a priority of women and children first, if they do, i suspect you could get another couple of days out of this. whether or not you could get more and cia director bill burns and others are in qatar now negotiating what the reporting has indicated might be a more for more approach where hamas would actually trade adult males, females, and the idf troops that they've got, again, both dead and alive for more time, but that remains to be seen. at some point, however, this

hostage game is going to play out its string and the israelis will go back, i think, to their military campaign both in northern gaza and in the south. >> this news that three hostages are reportedly dead, could that complicate the talks? >> i think it complicates it, and i think it reflects the reality that hamas may have taken in the wake of their october 7th terror surge. israelis who are alive and dead as well, and we simply don't know this, it's too opaque to determine how many of these hostages that they're holding have died. there is reporting that the negotiations in qatar have divided the remaining hostages into categories. males, females, idf soldiers, both reserve and active duty, and a category of israeli hostages that are no longer alive. and i think this is, again,

cruel is an understatement, frankly, the way hamas is manipulating the lives of humans. >> we've learned that not just the cia director is in the region, but the u.s. special envoy for hostage affairs is traveling to israel today to support secretary blinken's visit. what does that signal? >> again, i think it suggests that you could get another week perhaps out of these prisoner for hostage exchanges, and remember, hamas also gains by the fact that they're releasing palestinian prisoners and that -- those prisoners, that resonates deeply on the palestinian street, and frankly is boosting hamas's stock, not only in gaza but in the west bank as well. i think at some point, again, this conversation's going to change from hostage to prisoners. secretary blinken is due there i think on thursday, and i'm sure trying to shape what the

israelis do in the south is going to be part of the secretary's agenda. >> you just touched on something i want to ask you more about. "the new york times" writes abou conundrum, with each day's lee of palestinians held in israeli jails, hamas's popularity in the israeli occupied westank where many of the freed palestinians have returned has surged and that could add fuel to a low level conflict there adding a long pause in the fighting in gaza may also slow vael's invasion putting at risk its stated goal of removing hamas from power. so aaron, do you agree, and does this mean hamas has more leverage? >> i think the answer is, yes, i do agree, and yes, hamas has more leverage. i think we need to get real here on the issue of time. time can be an enemy, or it can be an ally. in this case, time is a reality. we're not talking about weeks. israel's strategy is to

eradicate hamas's military infrastructure aboveground and below ground and to kill its senior leaders, the two architects. sinwar in particular of the terror surge on october 7th. that's not a proposition. even if it goes smoothly that the israelis are going to be able to accomplish. if that is, in fact, their goal in a matter of weeks, we're talking about months, and then of course you're going to confront the real problem is how do you prevent hamas resurgence? >> right. >> you will not be able to kill 15 to 20,000 hamas fighters in addition to all of the bureaucrats hamas has employed in its economic services in 2007, when it essentially launched a coup that brought it to power. it's very complicated, in the middle east negotiations, wars, this case negotiations and wars have two speed, slow and

slower, and i think we're good here at least to the end of the year if not into january. >> you bring up such a good point. you can kill people, but you can't kill the hate. how do you stop that from continuing to fester and then, again, boiling over down the road. aaron david miller, thank you as always for your insights. i appreciate your time. we're also following breaking news on capitol hill this morning where the top jewish lawmaker in the country is giving a major address right now on the senate floor, senator chuck schumer speaking there on the troubling rise in anti-semitism in the u.s. here's what we heard from him just moments ago. >> i have noticed a significant disparity between how jewish people regard the rise of anti-semitism and how many of my non-jewish friends regard it. to us, the jewish people, the rise of anti-semitism is a crisis, a five-alarm fire that must be extinguished.

>> let's get right to nbc issa hill kapur on capitol hill for us. he had billed this as a major address today, sahil. do we know why now? what led to him giving these remarks? >> reporter: well, a few things, ana, chuck schumer began by noting he is the highest ranking jewish elected official in american history. he's speaking through his unique prism ability what h sees as a crisis of a rise of anti-semitism in the country. he previewe this this morning in an op-ed for "the new york times,"ng about, quote, the normalization and intensifying of this rise in hate is a danger many jewish people fear the most in his speech he talked about how jewish americans, just moments ago, represent about 2% of the u.s. population and a target of 55% of all religion-based hate crimes. that's according to records by the fbi, and he notes that those crimes have skyrocketed in the wake of that hamas attack on israel on october 7th. he cites various incidents where

jewish americans were targeted for seemingly nothing other than their background, and he links it to its own ancestors' history in europe, being targeted by the nazis. he makes abundantly clear he's nonconflating what he calls legitimate criticism of the israeli government. this has crossed into something much darker, attacking jewish people simply for being jewish. >> thanks, sahil. when we're back in just 60 seconds, a u.s. military aircraft crashes off the of japan. ahead, the urgent rescue mission. plus, respiratory illnesses and pneumonia cases overwhelming hospitals in china. should we be worried here at home? and later, the house could vote to expel embattled gop congressman george santos as soon as tomorrow. i'll talk to the congressman who filed the resolution to boot him from congress. on to boot him from congress.

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we're back with breaking news out of japan this morning, a rescue mission is underway after a u.s. military osprey aircraft with six people on board crashed into the sea near an island off southern japan. some two miles from ya cue she ma island. fishing boats in the area found three people in the water with at least one person pronounced dead. nbc's pentagon correspondent courtney kube is joining us now. what more do we know about this crash and the search for those who were on board? >> sadly, ana, we know very little still beyond the fact that that was u.s. air force osprey, you know. our viewers can see from the video and the still photos we've been showing of this all morning, it's essentially -- it takes off like a helicopter but then it can fly like a plane, so it's a fast-moving generally people mover. it moves troops from place to place generally. we know very little about exactly why it may have gone down earlier today. in fact, candidly, the japanese coast guard is providing some

information, but u.s. military officials are providing virtually no information about this. we don't even know exactly how many people may have been on board. we know that according to officials there were at least six, but that's really the extent of it, so we're continuing to gather information here, but this osprey has a history of problems, even recently of crashes, including the marine corps mv-22 which is another variant of this same aircraft, which has seen other crashes, deadly crashes recently, ana. >> yeah, in fact, we're listing out some of those other incidents with this particular type of aircraft, which as you describe is really unique. its tilt rotor flight system, taking off like a helicopter, flying like an airplane. do we expect that there may be any changes to the training or protocols? >> so generally depending on what causes an incident or a crash like this, the military

will sometimes do what's called a safety standdown or even a training standdown where they'll spend a day, maybe two days where everyone who's associated with this aircraft will go and do additional training. they'll look at their protocols, look at the aircraft to determine whether there was some sort of -- whether it was a maintenance issue, maybe something inherently wrong with the aircraft that may be fleet wide. we don't yet know if they're going to do that here, but i will say earlier this year, the army had a string of helicopter crashes and they called for a safety standdown similar to that for 48 hours. >> i want to ask about this other development, the pentagon saying an iranian unmanned aircraft, made a maneuver in international waters yesterday, what do you know? >> it was a uav or drone flown by the iranian military, according to u.s. officials. the u.s.s. eisenhower carrier

strike group is hanging out in the persian gulf. this drone continued to fly over and near it, at one point getting within 1,500 yards of the carrier. the u.s. navy continually asking it to pull back, to move, to leave. the calls were not returned according to a statement out of u.s. navy central command the the military now calling this an unsafe and unprofessional action. i will say it's not that uncommon for the iranian military, the iranian navy, even the revolutionary guard force to interact with u.s. military ships and aircraft in that region. what's concerning here is the timing. it comes as these iranian proxy forces in the region have been carrying out attacks on u.s. bases in iraq and syria. tensions are certainly very high there, ana. >> courtney kube, thank you very much. doctors around the world are now keeping a close eye on a surge in respiratory infections among children in china. it's filling up pediatric

hospitals and clinics across northern china and beijing, but this morning, medical authorities cautioned this is not an outbreak of some new virus. instead, they believe it's a combined surge of more common illnesses like rsv and the flu. nbc's janis mackey frayer is joining us from beijing. this makes people think of those early days of the coronavirus, but chinese officials are saying that's not what's happening this time? >> well, it is that time of year, ana, when viruses are making the rounds, but it's this surge in respiratory infections here including pneumonia, that's triggering some concern and some questions for china's health authorities about how and why it's affecting so many children. >> at hospital emergency rooms, the sick children just keep coming, from toddlers to teens mostly with respiratory infections including pneumonia.

it's been ten days now this mother says and the fever is back. health officials say the surge is happening not just here in beijing, but in clusters across northern china. >> this is one of the biggest children's hospitals in this city, and it's full of kids who are coughing, hooked up to iv bags, still waiting to get treatment. >> the headlines about a respiratory disease outbreak triggered alarm bells and prompted the world health organization to ask chinese authorities for answers. the w.h.o. said china shared its data that showed no sign of a new disease so far, saying in a statement the reported symptoms are common to several respiratory diseases, unlike a then unknown virus that emerged in wuhan four years ago that unleashed the covid pandemic. back then china was criticized for a lack of transparency. what's going around now according to health officials is a known mix of flu, rsv, covid,

and microplasma or walking pneumonia. the advice from scientists, don't panic. last year there were still strict covid rules here. kids masking up and schools locking down. the wave flooding emergency rooms now seen as more of a comeback than a mystery. with chinese doctors working overtime here, health authorities are now urging people who have mild symptoms to avoid going to the hospital, to avoid the long waits and also the risk of cross infection. but for people in the rest of the world at this point, scientists are saying that there is nothing new and nothing unique about what's happening here, that it's the same sort of surge that you're seeing in the u.s. and that it can happen anywhere. ana. >> janis mackey frayer live for us in beijing, thank you. up next on "ana cabrera

reports," embattled gop congressman george santos has a message for congress as his fellow lawmakers move to potentially expel him from the house. . >> this place is littered with political theater and the american people are the ones paying the price. >> we'll speak with the congressman, robert garcia, who triggered the expulsion vote. does he think he can get enough gop support to kick santos out? t you can do the splashing... ...the sightseeing... ...and the playing. calquence is an oral targeted therapy for cll. more patients begin with calquence than any treatment of its kind, and calquence is proven to work better than chemoimmunotherapy in patients with previously untreated cll. calquence may cause serious side effects, which may lead to death. these include serious infections with fever, chills, or flu-like symptoms; and bleeding problems that may increase with blood thinners. decreased blood counts are common and can be severe. new cancers have happened, including skin cancers. heart rhythm problems with fast

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welcome back. disgraced congressman george santos is facing down another expulsion vote perhaps as soon as tomorrow, and this time it's not looking good. members of both parties have introduced resolutions to expel santos from the house after that scathing report from the ethics committee. the new york republican says he expects the vote to pass, but he won't resign beforehand. let's go to the hill and nbc's ryan nobles. ryan, what's next here? >> reporter: well, it's certainly a standoff between george santos and his fellow members of congress. it looks as though santos is making it clear that if they want him to leave congress, they're going to have to vote to kick him out. listen to how he talked about this situation yesterday. >> i mean, put up or shut up at this point. all these members are pushing this. they want me to resign because they don't want to take this tough vote that sets the precedent to their own demise in

the future because they're not immune from all the nonsense that goes on in washington. >> reporter: george santos has had a number of conversations with the house speaker mike johnson, who has yet to officially weigh in on whether or not he believes that santos should be expelled from office. the earliest this vote could take place is today, but it's likely it slides until tomorrow. it is now a privileged resolution, which means that it does have to be voted on at least sometime this week. while it does appear that there's a growing sense of momentum that george santos will ultimately be expelled, it is not a guarantee, and that's because it requires a two-thirds majority of the house in order to pass. that would mean if every single democrat voted to expel george santos, another 77 republicans would have to join, and there are already some republicans raising some questions about whether or not he was given the due process he deserves in this process. so there's certainly a majority of members of congress, but whether or not it reaches that two-thirds threshold, we may not

know until the vote itself happens. >> we'll be watching it very closely. ryan nobles, thank you. i want to bring in one of the democratic congressmen who introduced this resolution, california congressman robert garcia. good to see you, congressman. do you have the votes this time to expel congressman santos, and when will this vote be? >> the vote's certainly going to be this week. i do believe we have the votes to expel george santos. look, when we first introduced this resolution back in february he had already committed numerous crimes, admitted to felonies. he had already lied to his constituents. we were ready to expel him nine months ago. republicans decided to save him. the ethics report now is out. everyone that i talked to and that i'm hearing from, they are ready to expel george santos, and quite frankly, the speaker, our new speaker should make the right decision. he should tell all of his caucus to expel him as well.

this is his last week in congress, working hard to make it happen. >> speaker johnson is not telling people to expel santos. the leadership says it's not doing any kind of a whip to help him or to expel him. what to you make of the fact that the leadership isn't taking a stand here? >> well, he should, first of all. i think it's very weak and, quite frankly, shameful that anyone could think that george santos should remain in congress. this is someone that essentially took all of his campaign donations for his own personal gain, went on shopping sprees, luxury trips. lied on all his forms, fabricated his entire history, and let's not forget he's under a 23-count indictment that is still in his future, which is very, very serious. so i agree. i heard him say he does not want to resign. he should absolutely resign and do his constituents a favor. it's positive at least that the gop leadership is not looking

for folks to vote against the expulsion. we need them to be clear with their members it's time to expel him. >> we are also hearing from house republicans who seemed f seem to have changed their tune on the santos. and you have michael guest from mississippi introducing his own resolution to expel santos yesterday. take a listen to this from republican congressman mike lawler. >> well, if he had a brain, he would have struck a plea deal and resigned, but at the end of the day, i don't care whether it's resignation or expulsion, he's got to go. he is not fit to serve in congress. that much is clear. >> so i'm just curious, what's your reaction to what we are now hearing from republicans, and what was that tipping point? >> i mean, look, i think obviously mike is right there. i think he's got to go. it sure would have been nice, though, if the republican party as a whole would have been more supportive of expulsion from the beginning. but here we are. they asked for this ethics report. we triggered that when we first put the expulsion resolution in

front of congress, and so now they're going to have to vote, and i think that what's really important at this moment is the integrity of the u.s. house. this is about restoring integrity. doing the right thing, and if we have expulsion as a tool, what else would someone need to do to actually face expulsion in the u.s. house. he has done everything possible to break his oath to the constitution, to his constituents. i think people need to do the right thing. this will be george santos's last week in congress. >> democratic congressman robert garcia of california, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. up next on "ana cabrera reports," the middle east power dynamics that have qatar emerging as the world's go-to hostage negotiator. plus, how tensions surrounding the israel-hamas war are bubbling up. >> all they were doing was speaking arabic, wearing a ka fee ya, being arab, and clearly that's not safe in many parts of this country anymore. y parts of

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now to the country at the central of israel-hamas hostage negotiations, qatar. cia director bill burngs is there in qatar right now for these negotiations to try to extend the current pause in fighting, and with around 160 hostages still being held by hamas, qatar is crucial in these negotiations as it has become known as the world's premier hostage negotiator. let's bring in nbc white house correspondentonica ba and director of the journalism protection initiative and an expert on hostage policy, he has a new piece in "the new yorker" entitled how qatar became the world's go-to hostage negotiator. a lot of movement in the region, you have the cia director, secretary blinken is going to be there tomorrow. what's the u.s. trying to accomplish with the current negotiations? >> reporter: i'll add one more

key person potentially to that list, and that is the u.s. special envoy for hostage affairs, roger karstens, who is also going to be heading to the region to continue these discussions to try to press for another extension to the temporary truce. that is something that u.s. officials tell me even as this morning they are still hopeful that that's a possibility. that was the posture 8 hours ago when they were able to be a dpsh that ultimately led to expanding that by 48 hours. could that repeat itself again today? that is the sincere hope of the u.s. and the biden administration, the president who is traveling elsewhere in the country right now who's been continually briefed on this. they all want to see that happen, but they just speak to the fluidity of this and the hour by hour nature and the reason that the next phase becomes more complicated is because they're still talking about all of the women and children who they want to see released, including potentially

two american women but who may not be held even by hamas. they may be held by these other groups in gaza. and so that is a sincerely complicating factor for all of this and why we don't know whether americans would be on the list today. and again, if there is an extension, the hope would be they would be a part of that, but there's still no guarantee on their condition either. >> monica alba, thank you. joel, you have written about qatar's key role in these negotiations. what makes qatar such an effective negotiator for hostages? >> well, for those of us who have been following this issue for a while, and when i was at the committee to protect journalism, the hostage taking of journalists is sort of an occupational hazard. in so many instances over the last couple of decades, when journalists have been taken hostage, qatar has been in the middle of this because they have relationships with all the parties in the region. they kind of position themselves as a neutral government, switzerland of the gulf, and those of us who have been

following this issue have seen that qatar has been in the middle of these negotiations for quite some time. they also host a political office of hamas in doha and they have a relationship with israel, so when the hostages were taken on october 7th, they emerged as logical go between, the interlock tour between israel and hamas with of course support from the united states and many other governments around the world who had hostages, who were part of this group who were taken, either dual nationals or thai citizens, so qatar was in the middle of all of these negotiations. >> you write that hostage taking has become increasingly more ingrained in modern warfare since 9/11. why is that? >> i think because so many of the conflicts have been asymmetric. you're dealing with insurgenies that see this as a valid strategy that they can use this to gain leverage. the other phenomena is state

hostage taking where you see iran, you see russia you see other countries engage in this phenomena. qatar also has relationships with iran. it shares a natural gas field with iran, so qatar has also been in the middle of negotiating for the release of americans who were unlawfully detained in iran, sort of diplomatic hostages. >> if qatar has all these relationships, you talked about about how it hosts its political office in doha. you also write about the financial backing gaza has received from qatar as well to the tune of maybe a billion dollars. those are the estimates in the past multiple years. so is qatar actually a neutral intermediary like the swiss, or do they have skin in the game? >> well, it's complicated. i mean some critics accuse qatar of playing both sides, but you know, their counter argument to

that is that they -- you know, that the aid that was provided to gaza was done in coordination with the israelis. they also say the u.s. encouraged them to host the political office of hamas in order to provide some channel of communication. so if you are going to negotiate between two adversarial parties, you have to have the trust of both. what is the line between being neutral is and kind of having relationships with one party or the other. very difficult to judge, but what is true is that they are able to be effective in terms of being an interlocutor and ensuring fluid communication between the parties in this particular conflict. >> and we've witness that they have had some breakthroughs already with the last several days of this cease fire and some hostages being released. i encourage everybody to check out the piece. it's called "how qatar became the world's go-to hostage negotiator" right now in "the new yorker." thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. now to an update on those

three college students shot in vermont over the weekend. a junior are from halver ford college has been released from the college. at brown university where another victim is a student, the shooting is bringing months of tensions around the israel hamas war to a breaking point. nbc's shaquille brewster has more. >> reporter: brown university students grappling with the shooting of one of their own. >> he's always like lightens up the mood but at the same time is a really passionate person. >> the junior was shot in the spine in vermont with two of his friends on saturday. >> all they were doing is speaking arabic, being arab, and clearly that's not safe in many parts of this country anymore. >> the president of brown's arab society so concerned about possible harassment he asked us not to use his name. >> does the war feel as far away as it is? >> it hasn't felt far away through the entirety of this.

>> reporter: the atmosphere at brown is incredible will tense. students are now launching a safe walking service for palestinian classmates, while jewish students are facing intense backlash on social media. >> how would you describe the atmosphere here on campus? >> it's pretty bad. >> maya rackoff is jewish. she says she's been avoiding public spaces. >> by virtue of either just being a jew or an arab or a muslim or israeli, there's a feeling that you're so hated by so many people no matter what you do or say. >> ariel la is one of 20 jewish students arrested during a pro-palestinian sit-in on campus earlier this month. >> it is not jews against arabs. >> the university has dropped all charges. >> those of us who have been organizing around the protections needed for palestinian students really see this as the culmination of the university and the american government's refusal to stand up for palestine and to stand up for palestinian and arab members of our community.

>> reporter: for many it's a feeling of not being seen and understood. >> is there anything in this moment that gives you hope? >> for once it feels like people are listening, even though it's a tragedy that it took a university student in the u.s. getting shot for people to really listen. >> reporter: hope despite sky high tension. shaquille brewster, nbc news, providence. >> our thanks to shaq. up next on "ana cabrera reports," a winter weather walloping the nearly two feet of snow, actually more that has some americans digging out their homes this morning. plus, how much more time convicted murderer alex murdaugh will spend behind bars for his financial crimes. is financial crimes

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it's already here. parts of upstate new york hit with more than three feet of snow in the first major lake effect snow event of the season. it's another chilly day for the east coast with the temperature in atlanta and jacksonville dropping into the 30s. take a look at this, the national christmas tree toppled by close to 40 miles per hour winds just two days before the annual ceremony. joining us now from edinboro, pennsylvania, a bundled up nbc news correspondent jesse kirsch. jesse, what is the latest and how are the hardest hit areas holding up? >> reporter: ana, some trees ar getting ready to go up, getting

ready to put the edinboro christmas tree up here right now. that's one of the benefits of having snow on the ground. this team over here telling me it creates the atmosphere for the holiday season. just look at how much snow we have got piled up here. this is what has been pushed aside in edinboro. they got over a foot here in western pennsylvania. the lake-effect snow warnings, which were going across the great lakes region over the last 24 hours or so, those have all expired. we're past the snowfall. what is still here and i'm feeling it right now is that bitter cold you talked about, much of the country seeing chilling temps today. i'm feeling it head to toe here right now. hat's off to this team. they're trying to figure out how to get tree on its base right now. hopefully that will be shining brightly soon. and, again, at this point, the snowfall is over with. it is now firmly in the cleanup phase. we still have icy and slick roadways. so certainly people will want to be continue to be taking their time, moving more slowly.

can't move too slowly. got to get that tree up. almost time for the tree lighting ceremony. >> the skiers are excited to see the snowfall. jesse kirsch, thank you for the update. alex murdaugh just got hit with more prison time. the former south carolina lawyer was sentenced yesterday to another 27 years in prison for financial crimes. he's already serving a life sentence for murdering his wife and his son. some of his former legal clients appeared in court yesterday to confront him for stealing their money. >> i really don't have words. you lied. you cheated. you stole. >> i just don't understand. did you not have a soul? >> i'm not crying because of what he stole from me. i'm crying for what he did to everybody in the suit. >> he pleaded guilty to the financial crimes but maintained he did not kill his wife and son and has asked for a retrial in his murder case. next on "ana cabrera reports," a final farewell to

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we have an update on some breaking news we brought to you earlier this ur that hamas has announced the death of three hostages. now we have learned the idf has notified the bibas family that three of their family members, the mother, 4-year-old and

10-month-old have been killed. the idf says it is still trying to determine if that is true. excuse me. 10-month-o kiefer is the youngestostage taken by hamas and has become the face of this ongoing crisis. hamas also claims an israeli air strike killed the three. nbc news cannot independently verify that information. excuse me. take a drink of water here. okay. now, in just a few minutes, the private funeral service for former first lady rosalynn carter will begin in her hometown of plains, georgia. right now the carter family motorcade is just headed through plains to the service. that's at the baptist church. today is the third and final day of tributes to mrs. carter. yesterday every living current and former first lady as well as president biden and former president clinton attended a service for rosalynn carter in atlanta. it also marked a rare public appearance from former president

jimmy carter, who wore a blanket with his wife's image to that service. nbc's blayne alexander is joining us from plains. blayne, this is it, this is the last good-bye. >> reporter: and, you know what, ana, it is absolutely fitting that that final good-bye happens here at the baptist church, the long time home church of the carters, the place where they have been long time active members and right now i'm going to turn over my shoulder because we have just seen the motorcade pull in here. and we're watching, we're keeping our eyes on this front car because we are expecting the former president, as he did yesterday, to attend today's service as well to honor his life partner, his wife of 77 years. and so as we're watching people kind of gather around that car, you know, likely bringing him out, you know what we're going to see today is going to stand in stark difference to what we saw yesterday. yesterday, of course, you mentioned the -- not a short list of dignitaries that came, president, all of the first ladies, today is going to be more private.

today is going to be family members, a series of close friends, people who are going to gather here and it is going to be here in their hometown of plains, georgia. this is the place, remember, they first met, that they were next door neighbors, that they have known each other since they were very, very young children and where they spent their lives both before the presidency and after their time in the white house. and so, before the motorcade made its way here, we know it drove through some of the streets of plains, the route at the motorcade was made very public, so that many of the people here who have come to know the carters almost as family, who have been able to walk up to them and see them walking hand and hand down the street, have been able to pay their final respects as well, lining the route of that motorcade. and, again, we're still watching to see if the former president will get out of that vehicle, but, again, the carter center made it clear that his plan is to attend today and say a final good-bye to his wife. now, once we conclude the service here, it is going to be about 90 minutes or so, filled with music, more tributes, two of the carter children are going to be speaking as well as

grandchildren. we'll see the motorcade leave here and head to the carter family residence, where they're going to have a private burial and lay her to rest. ana? >> okay. obviously a special time for the family and they say their final good-byes to a truly remarkable woman who has done a lot for this country and many different areas of service when it comes to mental health, when it comes to care giving. thank you, blayne, for bringing us the details of today's event. that's going to do it for us today. thank you for joining us. see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. until then, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. our coverage continues with jose diaz-balart right now. good morning, it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. nbc news has learned the israel-hamas truce could be extended for two more days. we're going get an update from a spokesman for the israeli

defense forces back at