the raffa border was bombarded a couple of days ago itself. so i think in order for aid to get in, we need a cease-fire. we need a secession of hostilities and that is critical for it to come in from egypt and israel and we understand that israel is also ready and has access through the souther border to allow for trucks to get in. we have trucks ready to go to gaza and this needs israel's permission. >> yes. of course to pass through israel itself. m marwan, is this the worst humanitarian situation you've seen in gaza? >> believe me, it is far worse than anything we have seen. we've been throughout this con flick, unfortunately we've seen many wars, many escalation of violence and hostilities. but we're never seen in a couple of days a couple of thousands of people are killed, that vast destruction throughout gaza is immense. we've never seen something like this. we have -- we have went through wars. 2008, '90, and 2011 and '14 and '21, '22, this is unp unprecedented. unprecedented. >> mar wan, thank you very much we appreciate your time. and

. >> for more, nbc news white house correspondent, allie raffa, joins me now. ali, you have learned more information on this tentative deal to use the wrath of border crossing for united citizens who are seeking to -- what more have we learned? >> a huge question that we have had since this conflict began a week ago today has been how u.s. citizens, these americans, would be able to get out of both of these regions? both israel, as well as gaza. both of them trapped on both sides of this conflict. today, this morning, a u.s. official familiar with the evacuation plans for gaza tells me that the u.s. has reached a tentative agreement with the egyptians, and israelis, to be able to use that rafah border crossing with egypt to allow safe passage for u.s. citizens seeking to leave gaza. we know that between roughly 500 and 600 americans currently live in gaza. of course, we can assume that some of them are among the roughly ion who have been displaced after israel issued that evacuation order. this official stresses that the situation on the ground remains extremel

but the raffa border crossing in egypt is closed.aiting for authorities to open the gate for days now. today tony blinken promised that the border will open as the u.s. appointed a new special envoy to coordinate aid into the gaza enclave. let me go to erin burnett live on the ground in tel aviv. i understand you were able to catch up with a bipartisan u.s. delegation that was on the ground in tel aviv with you. what did they encounter and what did you find out? >> reporter: well, jim, yes, absolutely and it was bipartisan. senator romney here and senator schumer and senator cassidy and senator kelly and rosen. so it was a bipartisan group. they met with the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, and they said, one of them told me they were shown pictures, we've own shared one at this point with our viewers, but they were shown pictures of a group of children that they say were burned alive. sort of they had no words to describe what they were actually confronted with and what they saw today. but they did have those meetings today. and

and bcc allie raffa is at the white house for us. good to see you.t are you hearing from the administration, the president about some of the setbacks that they are facing right now? >> yeah, yes. national security adviser jake sullivan made the rounds on all of the sunday shows giving an update on u.s. efforts on the ground to not only save and rescue those american hostages in gaza but also more specifically to open that rafah border crossing into egypt. take a listen to what sullivan had to say. >> so far, we have not been able to get american citizens through the border crossing. i'm not aware of anyone else being able to get out at this time the white cannot fully confirm that because it's a dynamic situation. like i said, we are trying to create the circumstances where american citizens who are in gaza and are looking to leave to get into egypt and ultimately to the united states or elsewhere, that they are able to do so. we are working on that as we speak. >> yes when, officials tell us that there is still no guarantee on when this border is go

red cross and apparently are going to be released from gaza through egypt, i would imagine at the raffaossing and make their way back to israel from there. sandra. >> sandra: all just coming into us now by trey yingst, per a source with knowledge of the release of the hostages. john, to fox news, the two american hostages, a mother and her daughter, were released on humanitarian grounds following qatari mediation efforts. really important stuff. we'll see if perhaps more hostages will be released in the minutes and hours to come. we will continue to bring you updates. on the ground, first responders are trying to save lives. our next guest has over a decade of battlefield and in close contact, dr. marc siegel is here. dr. siegel, you are doing amazing work, fox news contributor, professor of medicine at langone medical center, what can you tell us about these efforts? >> sandra, i spoke to ali also, john had an amazing interview yesterday, two weeks ago basically, you know, his phone went off with multiple alerts and what was really important is that united hatzalah sees themselves like

allie raffa, thank you so much. coming, up we will take you to the pentagon and find out exactly what the u.s. has planned with regard to supporting israel and its military efforts. we will get in and it's from courting kiwi after the break. ter the break. my name is marie. i'm 49 years old and i'm a business owner. i own a lemonade and ice cream shop in florida, so i can feel and see that my lines have gotten deeper just from a year out in the sun. i'm still marie and i got botox® cosmetic. i did not want a dramatic change. i wanted something subtle. and i'm really, really happy with the results. it's still me, but with fewer lines. botox® cosmetic is fda approved to temporarily make frown lines, crow's feet, and forehead lines look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. do not receive botox® c

and nbc news white house correspondent allie raffa for us from washington, d.c.. wraps and, what to begin with you. what is the latest on the ground at this hour? >> well, alicia, it is the last couple of minutes, we've been hearing heavy machine gun fire from the israeli helicopter gunships overhead. which underscores that more than 19 hours after the surprise attack began, this unfolding in chaotic and violent situation is still far from over. we are in front of his israeli security forces checkpoint on one of the highways in southern israel, on the other side of this checkpoint, is the city of -- east exposed to an exhausted medic who came from that direction, and he says, on the other side of the security vehicles, is carnage. he says there are cars where there are still bodies of israelis who were shot, as they were driving. by these palestinian gunmen. it is hard to overstate, alicia, the scale of the shock in this country right now. you read that comparison to 9/11, it is apt. it is worth pointing out, israel is a country of 9 million people so, with a deat

>> reporter: hours earlier at the raffa border crossing, u.n. secretary general antonio guterres was forced to cut his visit short after protests erupted there. gaza has faced relentless israeli air strikes for almost two weeks now. and protests across the arab world and the wider region are at a boiling point. iraq, tunisia, yemen, and turkey, and even further afield. and with gaza on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe -- this protest movement is only growing stronger. look, we have been speaking to protesters every night. they have told us they'll continue taking to the streets so long as israel's bombardment continue, so long as the siege on gaza is in place, so long as the blockade is in place. this is a duply personal issue for many people here in jordan, for many people across the middle east. >> standing by for an update from the state department. we're expecting that at any moment on the two american hostages released by hamas. we're going to bring that to you when it happens. we'll be right back. >>> we have new details on our brea

guy: oliver, what with the israelis like to see at raffa?egyptian side that they would see palestinians crossing the border. what will the --with the israelis like to happen there? oliver: it is hard to know. we have had reports of israeli switching on the water in southern parts of gaza. israel is certain -- responsible for a certain portion of the water and electricity that goes in there. what used to be clear is a message that we got from antony blinken last week. the number one message from all u.s. officials was unflinching support for israel. what secretary blinken said last week, has to be present in the minds of everybody is how israel goes about dismantling hamas. that is critically important. mitt romney said anything that happens, all the images that you see out of gaza is hamas' fault. that is not the view of many arab states, certainly not tehran, and hezbollah. alix: and how do separate the more, humanitarian situations at the same time? thank you so much. let's stick with the geopolitics. washington post is reporting that the

eiley raffa, thank you so much. we are learning more about the planning that went into the attack from hamas. joining me now, new exclusive reporting from anna shifter. a member of nbc news's investigation unit. and a, how did nbc news obtain these documents? what light to they shed on what went into the planning? >> lindsey, in the hours and early days directly after the terrorist attack on the music scene and -- just over the border with gaza, idf as well as other first responder organizations went in and took information on the death. took notes on what they were. seeing the murdered children. women families killed together. they also found the bodies of hamas terrorists killed during the violence. on the bodies of those hamas terrorists in pockets where these documents. the first responders recovered them, photographed them. currently, the idf is reviewing a trove of documents. a source within the israeli government passed the documents that we reported on to me. we analyze them and put out the news last night.

has happened is a tragedy, you know, i mean, if you recall about 400 trucks used to pass daily from raffa and all that has happened. is 17 trucks on saturday, 20 trucks on sunday and they are promising about 40 now, i mean which is nothing which is just a trickle which is only about about 5% of 2% of the daily you know intake into gaza before the 7th of october 400 and now you're talking of at the most 40 which is being planned for today, let us see what happens, well let me just jump in here, let me just jump in here. because i want to look at this - when we talk about these uh islamic countries, mean if we look at from 1948 from the creation of this entity until now uh we know initially um as far as the reaction uh from many of the arab states and of course there was a war uh against the israeli regime um but but from we would say uh probably the late 70s on when we saw the first uh camp david treaty uh we we go back to that and and we look at there was a change in parts of the muslim world and some started to compromise with the israeli regime the compromises started then and then we'v

correspondent kelly cobiella, who's on the ground in jerusalem, and nbc white house correspondent allie raffa. also joining us from jerusalem is nova -- an independent journalist who's been covering the israeli palestinian conflict for more than two decades. ali, i want to start with you. tell us what you know about this tentative deal between the u.s., israel, and egypt. >> yeah alicia, in just the last hour, the u.s. official from the with evacuation plans but tells us that the u.s. has reached a tentative deal and they were careful to stress that it was tentative. between israelis and egyptians to be able to allow access by u.s. citizens to the rafah border crossing. this is the sole border crossing between gaza and egypt. the official stretches as we mentioned that the situation remains extremely fluid, and they were careful to caution that it is entirely possible that hamas terrorists prevent the flow of people to that border crossing. and alicia, in just the last few minutes we heard from the state department issuing a new advisory that is ordering the evacuation of embassy staff and th

with regard to the raffa crossing, as you know when some of us were traveling together in the region the past week, getting assistance moving is among my top priorities. we worked very hard with the government of israel, the government of egypt to do just that. we secured an understanding that we would develop a plan to move assistance. that was cemented by president biden when he was in israel and also speaking to the president of egypt. in the time since, we've been working relentlessly with david satter field on the ground, working with the united nations, working with egypt and israel to put that in motion. my expectation is that you'll see that moving soon. thank you. thanks, everyone. >> thank you. >> that was secretary state antony blinken making remarks on the release of the two american hostages, a mother and a daughter. of course, the question now is how will this release impact israel's planned invasion of gaza. we're on it. welcome, everyone. i'm charles payne in for neil cavuto, this is "your world." the former israeli ambassador joins us now. michael, i'd like to get yo

we have allie raffa with more. >> reporter: good morning, peter. as they brace for the ground invasion by israel into gaza, they believe israel has a right to defend itself and observe the rules of war and attack against hamas. the major concern in the attack on gaza, the estimated 150 people held hostage by hamas. president biden meeting for more than an hour on friday with the families of 14 americans still unaccounted for and believed to be among the hostages. the president updating them on efforts to find and free their loved ones. >> they're going through agony not knowing what the status of their sons or daughters or husbands or wives or children are. you know, it is gut-wrenching. i assured them my personal commitment to do everything possible to return every missing american to their families. >> reporter: the president also making the point on friday that the u.s. stands with israel, but white house and u.n. officials will continue to coordinate to send humanitarian aid like food, water and medicine to desperate palestinians and in an alre

join us now, nbc news white house correspondent allie raffa from washington d.c., and nbc's correspondentsh lederman four in warsaw, poland. -- what are we hearing from the white house tonight? >> yeah, alicia, those were very short by very powerful remarks and a very powerful message from the president earlier today during his remarks at the white house. and he did not mince words. as you mentioned, he referred to this attack as, quote, unconscionable. he said it was performed by, quote, terrorists. he shows that the u.s. is and will continue to be a strong ally and supporter of israel for the long haul. and he says that he vowed to make sure that israel is able to defend itself for as long as it needs, as this unprecedented situation unfolds. he said that that was a focus of his call with prime minister netanyahu, these two, of course, sharing a decades-long relationship, a relationship that sometimes got rocky, but the president assured the american public and the israeli public that those differences will not get in the way of u.s. support for israel in the wake of this crisis. alicia

one of reagan nbc's allie raffa. for more on this.f you, we'll, ali expand on some of what i just laid, out and what we were hearing from the administration on the fear of this becoming a wider war. >> yeah, yasmin that certainly top of mind for administration officials. the president, today's white house officials tell us that this is very much a working weekend for the president as he remains at his delaware home, focusing on any updates in the war between israel and hamas between the scenes. we know that the president spoke with israeli president, netanyahu, to talk about the latest updates and that war. he was also briefed by his national security team, that briefing included vice president kamala harris, secretary of state, anthony blinken, and secretary of defense, lloyd austin. we also understand that according to the, pope francis also spoke with president biden during a 20-minute long phone call. they talk about pats for peace in the middle east. administration officials continue to say that the presidents number one priority

also nbc's -- allie raffa.

sorting us off this, our again, loose nbc news national security and global affairs reporter, and allie raffa, nbc news white house correspondent. ali, i'll start with you, with the comment that we heard just there from president biden obviously administration has been very heavily involved in what has been across is, what we've been hearing from the secretary of state as well, secretary of defense. what more can you help tell us on the u.s. response at the moment. coming to support? israel >> yeah, i, mean we'll continue to see really this all hands on deck posture from the biden administration that began in the in the wee hours of the morning that is continuing still right now. we have coronation communication among the national security officials. senior biden administration officials. the president, the vice president, cabinet officials, the secretaries of state, homeland security, defense, just to name a few. i'll try to get an assessment of the latest situation on the ground there. as far as intelligence just getting familiar with what exactly is happening there to be able to formally w

dozens injured after missiles hit a cafe in khan yunis. 15 oters were killed in separate attack on raffa city in southern gaza street. the fresh raids in gaza came. after regime's army said it would step up strikes ahead of what he called the next stages of the war. the israeli army says it is trying to create optimal conditions for a ground invasion. the regime has issued new evacuation warnings for gaza residents. the attacks on gaza have killed nearly 4700 palestinians and wounded nearly 16,000 others so far. over 70% of the victims are children, women and the elderly. a convoy of 17 trucks carrying humanitarian aid has entended the gaza strip from egypt's rafa crossing. the truks are carrying food supplies, water and medicines, which groups say are critical for gaza's 2.3 million residents. this came a day after a convoy comprising 20 trucks arrived in the besieged enclave, the first to enter gaza since october the 7th. the red cressent and the un have warned that limited aid shipment is nowhere near enough to meet the urgent needs of... israel has imposed total sie on the region sin

. >> nbc news white house correspondent, allie raffa joins us now.white house officials spoke with u.n. officials on the humanitarian situation in gaza. what did they say? >> jonathan we know that national security adviser jake sullivan spoke with u.n. officials yesterday about how to get humanitarian aid among other things into gaza to help with this already reeling region against food medicine water. and the images so collating. the photos that have been circulating. hospitals really after biting at capacity already. they spoke about efforts with the leaders of egypt, israel, and other arab nations to create these potentials safe films for innocent civilians to be able to move to. as being a roughly 1 million palestinian that has been displaced after that evacuation order from an israeli defense force. stephanie of state anthony blinken said what these efforts. during the trip to the middle east. he was specifically in qatar yesterday. take a bit of a listen to what he had to say about that. >> when it comes to providing for civilians in gaza. both

joining me now is nbc news white house correspondent allie raffa. ali, good morning, what can you tell us about the presidents remarks on the ongoing war with israel and hamas? he made these remarks that the human rights campaign dinner in washington last night. >> yeah, katie, this was a very emotional keynote speech that president biden delivered during this dinner last night. i want you to take a listen to a bit of it here and we'll take continue on the other side. >> a week ago, we saw hate manifested in another way and the worst massacre of jewish people since the holocaust. more than 1300 innocent lives lost in israel, including at least 27 americans. children, and grandparents alike, kidnapped held hostage by hamas. he'd humanitarian crisis in gaza, innocent palestinian families and the vast majority have nothing to do with hamas. >> katie, the president also told the crowd at that dinner about how he spoke with the families of these americans that are still unaccounted for, who are still believed to be among the hostages e by hamas over a we

nbc's white house correspondent, allie raffa, is joining us now with more on this. what did the president, if you will, ali, have to say, and what is the administration doing to get more aid into gaza, to get that border crossing periodically reopens? , yeah absolutely, yasmin. we know it was only open for a few hours today. we don't know whether it will open tomorrow, and if it, does for how long? then, the president in this new statement said they talked about the opening of that rafah border crossing over night. he says it was the result of quote, days of diplomatic engagement at the highest levels that engagement including that phone call that president biden had with egyptian president el-sisi on his way back to washington backed israel, where a disagreement was made to open the rafah border crossing for the state to go in. he also said that it's national eight. and he says that the u.s. is working its working to keep that processing opening. that said the u.s. is working with egypt and israel to facilitate the ability of u.s. citizens and their immediate famil

nbc's allie raffa is at the house for us. ali, talk to us.hat more can you tell us about kind of any conversation that israel has had with that united states between the prime minister and the president? and any indication, in fact, they will comply with this request? >> hey, yasmin. we know of several conversations that happened privately between top biden administration officials, and their israeli counterparts. but sources familiar with these conversations are telling us that while these top administration officials vowed to continue supporting israel, reaffirm their belief that israel has a right and continues to have a right to defend itself, they also offered some words of caution. and issued some advice of restraint to these israeli officials, saying they urged israel to follow the international rules of war, urging them to avoid any unnecessary deaths of palestinian civilians. we saw some of this trickle down even publicly, when secretary of defense lloyd austin was in tel aviv counterpart yesterday, where he told reporters, quote, te

joining us now is nbc's allie raffa. eileen, but also hearing from the president? >> lindsey, i mentioned that we expect the president to speak in less than 30 minutes now. these remarks are going to be coming after we know the president has been working from the west wing this morning, in communication with his national security team, his senior advisers, being read in and updated on the very latest on this precedent id in israel. as we saw, raf explaining, it is still unfolding. this is really an all hands on deck situation. we know that secretary of state anthony blinken has been working from here at the white house according to a states department spokesperson. we have seen a flood of reaction from administration officials, members of the biden cabinet. all reiterating their continued support for israel. saying that israel continues to have the right to defend itself. one of the statements from secretary of defense, lloyd austin, he says in part, quote, over the coming days the department of defense will work to continue that israel has what it needs to defend

residential uh structures throughout the gaza strip, including one in the southern gaza strip town of raffay of health was 232 marchers in gaza, this is not including the victims of just mentioned, so the number of of palestinian fatalities possibly risen to 250 by now, and the injuries over ' 1800, this is happening while hospitals in gaza already suffer from lack of medicines and hospitals supplies and surgical supplies because of the ongoing israeli blockade in place since 2007 and the repeated israeli wars and military aggressions uh over the year and and yes this is a historic day for for palestinians and historic day for all uh for all muslims. with the with the uh with the fact that uh hundreds or hundreds of resistance fighters from this small territory, the ghaza strip 360 square kilometers under blockade under siege by israeli regime since 2007 managed to uh to break into the security fence, the so-called borders east of the ghaza strip uh take control of at least seven israeli settlements there. fight against israeli soldiers, kill israeli soldiers, capture israel soldiers and we

bombardment targeted the alshati refugee camp in northern gaza as well as areas in southern cities of raffa and khan yunis. israel's war on gaza is now in its 18th day. 5,500 palestinians have been killed and 1800 injured so far. the more than 2,0 children among those killed. the regime strikes are coupled with the crippling siege of gaza. the humanitarian situation keeps worsening with hospitals facing a complete collapse. indonesia in gaza has no electricity now due to the fuel shortage. the un rights chief has called for an immediatefire to facilitate lifesaving aid to gaza. the political leader of the palestinian resistance movement hamas has lashed out at western countries for supporting what he called the israeli genocidal war. in gaza. is moheniya said that the west is complicit in the massacre of the palestinian people. he also slammed some arab leaders for their inaction in the face of the israeli carnage in gaza. anias said israeli criminals have no scruples about massacring women, children and the elderly. he added that the israeli occupiers have recorded a shameful chapter in th

joining me now, nbc news correspondent, allie raffa. ali, thank you for being here.tell us about the white house's ongoing negotiations to open that border crossing to americans stuck in gaza? >> yeah, jonathan, well as of this morning, u.s. officials are saying that this tentative deal, and they stress that word, tentative, between the u.s., egypt, israel, and qatar, to allow palestinian american safe passage through the rafah border crossing into egypt. they say the challenges around that deal still remain. these logistical challenges are the fact that this border is still close. there is no guarantee on when wl open, for how long it will remain open. hamas's influence could also play a huge role here. this is a group who has already told residents not to evacuate south. remember, half of this region, over 1 million people were ordered by israel to evacuate south. there is no guarantee that they will allow this passage for palestinian americans to access this border, which they have control of on the gaza side. despite that, the state department is urging the rough

let's go right now to nbc's allie raffa standing by at the white house for us. allie what did president biden say today? has he given any indication of what the u.s. might be doing in the coming hours or days? >> alex, president biden delivering a short but still very powerful message during his remarks from the white house earlier. he did not mince words when he described this attack. he called it, quote, unconscionable. he said it was an attack by, quote, terrorists. the stress that the u.s. is and will continue to be supportive of israel for the long haul. he said that was a huge focus of his call with prime minister netanyahu earlier this morning, when he said that he will continue to support israel in any way they need. and vowed to continue that support for as long as they need, to be able to continue defending themselves. the president, notably, also issuing a warning for israel's enemies who may take advantage of the situation. take a listen to a bit of that here. >> there's never justification for terrorist attacks. -- the support for israel's security

arabic news sources show pictures of the destruction in raffa. al-furqan mosque and sheikh rizwan area in the gaza strip . electricity is out in the gaza strip and hospitals are facing a shortage of medicine and equipment. if these generators fail in gaza's shifa hospital, it will turn into a mass grave. the spokesman of the zionist army has admitted that in one night only 75 targets and positions were bombarded in the gaza strip. according to the un report, the number of palestinian refugees due to israeli attacks on the gaza strip has reached 42 thousand people. on the other side of the border, however, the westerners came to meet them with their hands full to support the invaders. their support is quoted from zionist sources an airplane is a military aid to continue the genocide in gaza. sanatani hebarari sed and radio. a negev was on one of the terrorists' shoulders, he kept screaming that he wanted to get off, when they took me out of the mosque, they dressed me in three skirts so that i would be modest, and then we reach the border, i see a

nbc's allie raffa is near the white house for us. concerned about the optics here, suddenly going for a strategy they criticized so openly? what's their calculus? >> yeah, chris, the white house is pushing back on the idea that this was done out of mounting pressure on the biden administration. they're saying that this was announced in late june. they're saying that the department of homeland security's waiving of these 26 federal environmental laws to be able to speed up this process is actually tied to requirements by the end of the fiscal year, and the president himself defended this move during a meeting at the oval office with his national security team earlier today. take a listen to that. >> was appropriate for the border wall, tried to get that money, they didn't, they wouldn't, and in the meantime, there's nothing under the law, they have to use the money for what it was appropriated, i can't stop that. >> do you believe a border wall works? >> no. >> reporter: the president referring to allocated funds that were approved by

stay in the north they get slaughtered, if they if they move south they get slaughtered in fact the raffa clossing itself has been bombed repeatedly uh areas towards it um these people are trapped and the water has been turned off and now they can say for example that they turned on some aspects of water you need electricity to run the water in gaza and the electricity is they still have no energy there they have... no electricity, so this is just somewhat you know kind of pandering to the to the some of the humanitarian quote, quote, voices in the west that they're asking to turn on water and that they actually capitalated, but the reality is they didn't, the reality is on the ground they are carrying out ethnic cleansing, they're carrying out a genocide, and i think you know what hamamas said to that this is psychological warfare that they're trying to trick you, they're absolutely correct because they did try to evacuate and they were slaughtered. i mean uh, katim, if we look at the situation, even hospitals have been bombed, and now uh, hospitals are told those that in northern gaza t

the latest strikes targeted the cities of raffa and der albala, leaving 13 people dead. kaza's health ministry says nearly 4400 palestinians have been killed, more than 13,500 have been injured. over 70% of the victims are children, women and the elderly. this is the first eight convoy into the gaza strip since the ongoing bombing campaign started on october 7. israel has ever since imposed total blocade on the strip, cutting food, water, electricity and fuel supplies to the dense. populated area, the regime says the aid will go only to the southern areas of the gaza strip, and it does not include fuel. humanitarian groups say this initial aid is drop in the ocean. hamas says the aid cannot change the catastrophic medical conditions in gaza. pakistan has dispatched the humanitarian aid package to the gaza strip to provide some relief for the besieged palestinian population. the move comes as the nation has demonstrated in solidarity for palestinians on friday. of correspondentmi has more. pakistan has dispatched a 100 ton package to gaza which is reeling from israel's re

joining me now is nbc news white house correspondent allie raffa. she has more on the latest.ase. >> well katie we're hearing from white house officials that president biden has been informed on the unprecedented unfolding situation in israel and we have just in the last hour a new statement from the national security council spokesperson that says, quote, the united states unequivocally condemns the unprovoked attacks by hamas terrorists against israeli civilians. there is never any justification for terrorism. we stand firmly with the government and people of israel. we also know the national security adviser jake sullivan has spoken with his israeli counterpart. and white house officials say that senior staff worked and monitor this overnight here at the white house, and of course it is important to mentioned the backdrop that this comes against, katie. we know that israel is a longtime ally, a very strong ally of the united states. it is our closest ally in the middle east, and it is a country that shares the same democratic values as our country, and militarily, we know t

amount of humanitarian aid that's actually trickling in to gaza through rafa crossing, i wonder if raffa crossing is still open, did you have any new uh trucks coming in with eight today? uh, not not that i know of berruz uh, but uh... the ministry of health and the ministry of interior keep saying that those trucks that that are coming in supposedly they're not making any difference at all according to those ministries basically they're saying it's it's like a media a propaganda or media stunt by by the un as it's not helping anyone and as i said they said the for example the minist of health said that the the health sector has completely completely collapsed. okay, i don't know really what to say, we sympathize with your hearts, go out for you, ashref and the people in gaza, hopefully the situation uh could be improved as soon as possible. thanks lot for that live reporting, ash shanon, correspondent in gaza and unis in front of naos hospital. now let's bring in sayid reisvy again, his in sernagar, mr. reid, go ahead with your comment, sorry, we had to stop it there, so go ahead, thank

let's get to nbc news white house correspondent allie raffa. what is the president saying? >> reporter: we know that the president and vice president have continued to be briefed since learning of this mass shooting during the state dinner with the australian prime minister last night. and we have a new statement from president biden this morning. he says in part, quote, once again our nation is in mourning after yet another senseless and tragic mass shooting. he says he and the first lady are praying for the americans who have lost their lived, for those still in critical care, for the families, survivors and community members enduring shock and grief. he talks about the residents of this area as this manhunt is still ongoing. he says he's urging area residents to heed these warnings and guidance of local officials. he talks about the phone calls that he's had with local leaders. he talks about his conversations with maine's governor, senators collins and king and congressman golden last night in which he offered the full support of the federal government as these efforts

allie raffa for us on the hill.still ahead the come from behind win and the major come from behind win and the major mileston ewhen my doctor gave me breztri for my copd things changed for me. breztri gave me better breathing, symptom improvement, and reduced flare-ups. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ask your doctor about breztri. ♪ on your period, sudden gushes happen. say goodbye gush fears! thanks to always ultra thins... with rapiddry technology... that absorbs two times faster. hellooo clean and comfortable. always. fear no gush. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ [bell ringing] and doug says, “you can customize and save hundreds on car in

including children were killed in air strikes on residential buildings in the cities of han yunis and raffa in the southern gaza. since israel launched its onslot on the strip on october 7, more than 5,000 palestinians have been killed and over 15,000 injured. the un's brice chief has called for immediate ceasefire for aid delivery to gaza. has also timed its 17-year siege on the strip, cutting off supplies of water, electricity, fuel and food. the political leader of the palestinian resistance movement, hamas has lashed out at western countries, for supporting what he called the israeli genocidal war in gaza. ismahana said the west is complicit in the massacre of the palestinian people. he also slamed some arab leaders for their inaction in the face of the israeli carnage in gaza. hannah said israeli criminals have no scruples about massacring women, children and the elderly. he added that the israeli occupiers have recorded a shameful chapter in their bloodstained history. the political bureau chief of hamas said resistance forces will not allow the regime to feel safe and secure, as long

nbc's allie raffa is tracking the race >> reporter: it's back to square one with a whole new slate of candidates nine house republicans now throwing their hats in the ring for the speaker's gavel, and as of right now there is no clear front-runner. >> this is embarrassing for the republican party it's embarrassing for the nation, and we need to look at one another and solve the problem. >> reporter: ousted former speaker kevin mccarthy now supporting minnesota congressman tom emmer who served in house leadership with him. the candidates range from pete sessions of texas to the relatively new hard-core trump supporter byron donalds of florida. in fact, only two of the nine candidates voted to certify the 2020 election results on january 6th. the wide open race comes after house judiciary committee chairman jim jordan lost three votes on the house floor and majority leader steve scalise pulled out after failing to gain enough support with the government shutdown deadline looming, republicans face mounting pressure to end the in-fighting. >> it's too dangerous right now. the world's on f

so this will be a tough fight for the israelis. >> we just saw in that report from nbc's allie raffa of the world food programme saying that they have lost complete touch, she has lost complete touch with the world food programme staff in gaza. as you know, there is a near total blackout of internet and so phone service in gaza. from a military perspective, what is the purpose of that? >> yeah, so this is the dilemma that she faced in urban warfare. of course, you do not want hamas communicating with their forces and so i don't know whether or not the israelis cut of the cell phone and power, i don't know. but, i do know, from a military perspective, that is an option. it could've been cut off as well, as you know, there are a total of 150 bombing attacks that occurred. so, it could have been cut off from all the bombing as well. so, most militaries, when they look at their operation plans, they make a determination. how much the enemy is communicating via cell phone and they decide to turn off things such as sulfone and power to give them a relative advantage. so, this may be the ca

raffa is closed, the border is closed and there is a humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding, andith those poor innocent men, women and children in israel that lost their lives. in fact, i was with thejewish community last night at the synagogue on the south side of glasgow taking part in a memorial service for a person who suddenly lost his life, a scottish member of thejewish community. so there are innocent men, women and children that have lost their lives. we cannot have any more. it is enough, and we need the international community to step up. allies of israel to say there has to be a cease—fire and there has to be humanitarian corridors open to allow supplies in and to allow people out. how are you, how are yourfamily coping? there must be just a sense of powerlessness, really. totally. and that's what we tell the story because there's only a limited amount i can do. in conversations with the foreign office, with other governments, do our best to try to help the situation in any way that we can in the scottish government. but there is a sense of helplessness and distress,

are saying thatjoe biden was very keen the amount of aid getting in through the egyptian border, the raffase and the israelis had agreed to allow up to 100 trucks a day, that would be a significant improvement on what is going on at the moment which is a pitifully small amount but it is still considerably less than the amount is still considerably less than the amount going in before this crisis erupted more than three weeks ago and given the increasingly dire humanitarian situation existing on the ground, it's going to take a lot more than that to try and alleviate that, even as this war continues and is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. the humanitarian situation will remain precarious at best for the foreseeable future. diplomatic correspondent paul adams, thank you, we appreciate it. as well as the thousands of people sheltering in the al quds hospital hospital there are many more displaced and living intense in the of gaza, struggling to find water, food and bathrooms, there is very little medication for those who need it and our special correspondent fergal keane has bee

the raffa crossing is right here. this is where president biden said he has brokered a deal to allow some aid from egypt to cross. we're waiting to see if and when that will happen. this the line inside gaza where people have been told to evacuate south of. some other important new information today. 203 hostages, the idf now says they've contacted families of some 203 people who could be held hostage inside gaza now. this would be their 13th day in captivity. one other key thing the idf said, the hamas terrorists who infiltrated into israel, israeli defense officials say it's possible some of those terrorists might still be operating within industrial. we'll get to all of this coming up. i want to start with the situation unfolding in khan youris in southern gaza. let's get to selma for that. >> the latest death toll we have is 13 people killed, that's according to a local hospital director in gaza. but the fear is that that number could rise. the hospital director saying an entire city block was levelled in this exp

nbc's allie raffa is at the white house for us.hat's the president saying about these two ongoing, simultaneous conflicts? >> yeah, alex, what we've heard from white house officials in the last weeks since this first started, just how the u.s. is going to be able to juggle, potentially, both ukraine and israel aid. earlier we heard secretary of defense, lloyd austin, say that the u.s. will be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. to be able to continue providing military and humanitarian aid to ukraine while also helping our oldest and closest ally in the middle east, in israel. the president was asked directly this. we have a new cliff of his interview with 60 minutes that is set to air tonight. hear what he said directly asked about this. >> are the wars in israel and ukraine more than the united states can take on? >> where the united states of america, for god sake. the most powerful nation in the history, in the history of the world. the history of the world. we can take care of both of these and still montaigne are over

the raffa crossing connecting egypt and gaza reopening as a final exit for palestinians wanting to flee. netover the weekend, iran's forn minister issued a threat to the united states, saying it will see heavy losses and warning israel with a deadline for its offensive against gaza. president biden on 60 minutes yesterday, claiming there's no evidence, he can't find the evidence of iran's involvement in the hamas attacks. watch this. >> is iran behind the gaza war? >> i don't want to get into classified information but to be frank with you, there's no clear evidence of that. >> at this point, no evidence had that iran is behind any of this? >> correct. iran constantly supports hamas and hezbollah. i don't mean that. but in terms of were they -- did they have foreknowledge, did they help plan the you attack, n the a attack, there's no evidence of that. maria: liz, we saw an entire wall street journal article a week ago, indicating there were specific plans in place, that they identified where iran was directing hamas and supporting hamas' invasion of israel. your thoughts? why can't the

. >> reporter: people still waiting to see whether or not a that raffa crossing between gaza and egyptve gathered there. the u.s. government telling american workers that are in gaza to go to that border and wait. and so there are conversations taking place behind the scenes between the israeli government, the egyptians and other mediators, trying to understand if they can cut a deal to get aid into gaza in exchange for getting some of these foreigners out. while this is taking place, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken is on the ground, meeting with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in central israel and the war continues in the south. there are thousands of troops prepared, waiting for orders to come through, ultimately to enter the gaza strip and in the northern part of israel, more rocket fire yesterday and small arms fire which drew ans israeli response. this is very quickly turning into a multi-front conflict. we've seen the missile defense system throughout southern israel, we know they're in northern israel and we anticipate the country is bracing for the possibility

uss comfort from norfolk, virginia to station it 13 miles off the coast of gaza adjacent from the raffa crossing, the only place people can get in and out of gaza, as long as president al sisi allows them to. right now it's closed. and the sinai of egypt. segal s a place you could station a vessel off that shore. the uss comfort will be available to street palestinian women and children in need of medical care. mr. biden needs to call the president al sisi and invite him to allow the 26 marine expedition airy unit to utilize the port and the international airport in sinai that we have used to support them, the international united nations monitoring operation out there. and establish a triage there for processing the transporting of the sick and injured and informed palestinian women and children out to the uss comfort for medical treatment. our navy and marines have the experience of ship to shore vessels and movement necessary for this task. he should direct secretary of state blinken to notify representatives of the government of qatar to inform hamas that with whom that they are in

being brought in either from israel or, in rare occasions, over the border from egypt, through the raffa border crossing. this is a broader decision by the israeli government in response to these attacks to cut off the electricity supply and gaza which, on a, day is limited, or not available often around the clock. law it speaks to the emergent humanitarian disaster that's going to result from. this president netanyahu, as he's been pledging a long and aggressive response by israel that he says, and his government says it's going to change the face of the gaza strip. he's been urging civilians in gaza to flee. saying they need to leave for their safety before israel is able to go in and address all these hamas targets. but that is raising the question of where the civilians are able to go. they're not able to leave the gaza strip into israel. the border crossing with egypt is closed, and on the other, and there is the mediterranean sea. you can see how the catastrophe that this is created is just going to grow in the coming days. both from the gaza strip and of course in israel where the