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and tony blinken -- antony blinken: on the humanitarian piece of this, that is absolutely imperative we saw israel take steps immediately today to start to get information to people about where safe areas are. how they can get out of harm's way. and we're just talking about right now today, and i haven't had a chance to see exactly what happened today, i have seen that information start to get out. i saw the plans that israel has in a multiplicity of ways. to do everything possible, protect civilian, including making sure they have the information they need and that there are ways to accommodate them. this is going to be very important going forward. it's something we'll be looking at very closely. in terms of the report in the "new york times," there's going to be plenty of opportunity for a full accounting of what happened on october 7 including looking back to see what happened. who knew what, when. and israel has been very clear about that. right now, the focus is on making sure that they can do everything possible to ensure that it doesn't happen again. to make sure that civilia

secretary of state, tony blinken, met with multiple arab foreign ministers in d.c. today.rael in an effort to prevent another attack like the one on october 7th. they also addressed humanitarian needs in gaza, and how to protect palestinian civilians from more harm. i want to bring an ambassador alon pinkas, the former israeli consul general in new york to talk about this and much, much more. ambassador, thank you for joining on this. apprecia i want to start with this u. decision to veto this u.n. resolution to urge an immediate cease fire. you've got ambassador to the u.n., wood saying, while the u.s., quote, strongly supports a durable peace, this cease-fire was on sustainable and will only plant the seeds for the next war. what is your reaction to this? >> well, hi, yasmin. here's the thing, on the one hand, the u.s. has repeatedly and successful the said that it objects to a general cease-fire, that would bring back the so-called status quo. meaning, this six -- the day before the attack, reality, in which hamas controlled gaza. so, in that respect, the u.s. has vetoe

. >>> and later on, secretaries tony blinken and alejandro mayorkas heading to mexico this week as oneest migrant caravans of the year makes its way to the southern border. lots more coming up. keep it right here on msnbc. lots more coming up. keep it right here on msnbc. (dad) it's our phone bill... we pay for things that we don't need. (mom) that's a bit dramatic. (dad) we must tighten our belts! (mom) a better plan to save is verizon! (vo) that's right! plans start at $25 per line guaranteed for 3 years. only on verizon. >>> welcome back. new overnight, donald trump lashing out against special counsel overseeing the federal election interference case against him on christmas day. he called jack smith, quote, deranged and accused him of a witch-hunt. now that case is in the hands of a federal appeals court, which has received a request from trump lawyers to toss out the case. why? because trump's lawyers are arguing that he is immune from prosecution for any alleged crime that took place while he was in office. the move is coming after the supreme court denied a request by jack smith

we are listening in to the secretary of state tony blinken. nd press conference, just starting to take questions from reporters. we'll be right back after this. >>> we want to take you back to secretary of state blinken on the state of the united states' position in the world and we're talking about the u.n. security council resolution when it comes to israel and its war on hamas. let's listen. >> to the last part of your question, let me say this, what i have seen from day one is that countries throughout the region as well as countries around the world want to work with us and are looking for american leadership in this crisis, even countries that may disagree with us on certain issues that have come to the fore. that's been a common refrain. i've been not only in the region multiple times and traveled to not justice rail, but to virtually our partners and others including turkey and we've been on the phones constantly including this week with all of our partners and the common refrain is they are looking for american leadership and we're wor

the secretary of state tony blinken is headed to mexico tomorrow to try to hammer out new agreements to better control the flow of migrants. rosa flores has more for us joining us now. and rosa, what does this mean for where you are in eagle pass, texas? >> you know, kate, what we are seeing here is that nonprofit organizations are yet again filling in the gaps when the federal government fails. what i am talking about is all of the nonprofit organizations along the u.s. southern border that end up having to provide food and shelter and sometimes even transportation for migrants. now, here is what i mean. so if you are looking up behind me, you can see that the field has been emptied out. probably a few migrants, and these migrants arrived near the past 30 minutes. once the migrants are transported out and sent to the immigration processing, some of them will be deported, because title 8 is apply and others will be released into communities along the border, and to deco decompress, and deal with the surge, what the u.s. border patrol does is to transport the migrants to other areas l

jess: tony blinken --guy: tony blinken does not sound convinced.aders taking over the bases trade and financial supervisors are a little worried. more next. wall street beat is next. this is bloomberg. ♪ alix: time for wall street beat. today, a look at a great piece on the terminal about a small group of hedge fund traders that dominate the bases trade, which is popular in washington, d.c. right now. >> the treasuries market is a $26 trillion market, one of the most liquid bond markets in the world. there are a concern about a handful of individuals. let's explain what a basis trade is. we are talking about the difference in the bond market and the futures market. because of a few technical factors, sometimes futures prices for bonds and above what you would expect for the underlying bonds. that is where hedge funds are stepping in and trying to make money. the price of the future into the underlying bond will converge around the time the contract expires. it is not incredibly lucrative on a trade by trade basis. you are not making a lot. how do y

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he will meet with secretary of state, tony blinken as well, and he met with israeli forces telling them do not stop. he vowed to continue the war to the end. and let's bring in nbc's ryan nobles at the white house, and a retired four-star general and nbc news military analyst. josh, if you will, start us off and give us a sense of what has been happening on the ground in the last 24 or so? >> for those that hoped at the end of the year, israel lost 17 troops on the battlefield since friday, and the palestinians lost 250 people in a 24-hour period, and today we are hearing about 80 bodies of palestinians killed during the conflict and they are being returned to the gaza strip by the israelis, and apparently they were taken into israel, and the reasons are unclear. today they are being returned through the crossing into gaza where we understand they are being buried in a cemetery, possibly in a mass grave during a burial ceremony, and we are continuing to see the images that we are showing right now of utter destruction and despair throughout the gaza strip. the pressure has been growing

let's start with tony blinken today. >> would take action including sanctions this week is trying to finance their efforts and will take over actions necessary to protect our people as well as protect shipping. >> what more should be done to protect shipping to make sure they are not able to shut down shipping in the region? >> a few things we could do, one is organized coalition of naval forces. we arty have one. there's one outbreak from almost 40 different countries, anti- piracy operation the u.s. leads, u.s. naval command and we could organize that as escorting commercial ships like we did 87, 88 with the tanker worse. another thing is forceful strike against the houthis. targeting houthis in yemen, targeting at sea sending a real deterrence message that way let's show a map of the region showing yemen, the red sea and given an idea of the geography, there's where houthis are based, how troubling is this escalation? >> think about it this way, you got the really important maritime highway, 17000 ships through every year to 10% of commercial, almost 9 million barrels of oil every

secretary of state tony blinken is headed to mexico city this week to address the crisis. >>> a groundreaking surgery helping a young girl find her voice for the first time and opening up a whole new world to this 9-year-old and her family. i'm kate bolduan with sara sidner, john berman is off today. this is a very christmas "cnn news central." ♪ >>> new this morning, russian opposition critic alexei navalny has been found. the head of his russian foundation says navalny is in a penal colony in the far reaches of northwestern siberia. his team has been trying to locate him for at least two weeks after he was suddenly and without warning moved from detention near moscow. cnn's nada bashir is following all the developments for us. what are you hearing from the navalny team now, because there was a moment there where no one, no one knew where he was, except for obviously the russian government. >> reporter: you're absolutely right. there has been mounting concern over the conditions faced by navalny, his whereabouts over the last two weeks. we are just getting more details about his curre

amy: then to mexico where secretary of state tony blinken and homeland security chief alejandro mayorkas met with mexican president andrÉs manuel lÓpez obrador wednesday to discuss migration and the border. >> the visit of lincoln and mayorkas is another sign the biden administration is caving to further criminalize and expel migrants and asylum-seekers. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. israel's military has launched its most intense raids of the occupied west bank since israel began its assault on the gaza strip following hamas's attack on october 7. overnight, israeli forces raided 10 cities, including ramallah, where at least one was shot dead and 15 others wounded during confrontations with israeli soldiers. the palestine monetary 30 said troops targeted at least six money exchange companies, see the -- seizing over $2 million worth of fun. disturbing details about an israeli strike on a refugee camp that killed six palestinians. the head of the citic reports israeli soldiers stopped and boarded

war is over, will people will be punished for their war crimes, will joe biden be punished, will tony blinken, will lloyd austin, will bibi netanyahu? no, no one will be punished. i think we have to accept the fact that uh, the united states has gotten through lot of unjustified wars ever since world war ii, and has killed millions of people, in countries that were no threat to the united states, where there was no... pas belly justifying what took place, but they've gotten away with it time and again, time and again, and they'll get away with it again, but what i would like to at least see is some kind of understanding on the part of the public or a part of the the public that is interested in what the united states does and how it does it, that this was this was awful, we've come to that understanding, about what we did to iraq, we've come to that understanding about what we did to afghanistan, you might throw libya into that pile and... "we're trying to do the same thing to syria, we've done awful things in these places, but you can read about it now, uh, people are looking back on it and

you've had tony blinken all very publically -- and the president of the united states saying that israel do a better job of targeting and of trying to minimize the casualties. isn't this an example of that not taking place? >> i understand this is an example of that exactly taking place. there was a target of opportunity in rafah. a senior hamas commander. we surgically strike the building where he was. he, of course, was next to a hospital, because that's how hamas work. they try to embed themselves using the civilians and humanitarian sites like hospitals, schools, mosques as a shield for their military machine. i understand there was no damage to the hospital. we hit the target we wanted to hit. of course, because hamas is an authoritarian ruler, brutal ruler, no one can say to the cameras anything but the hamas line. my understanding was this was a surgical strike against a terrorist commander. there was -- if you look at the smoke that i can see, you see it's a specific strike against a specific location. this is not some indiscriminate targeting of civilians. >> did you get the com

that's would you you are seeing action domestically with tony blinken heading to mexico and a lot ofubstantively and a big political problem, bret, heading into the re-election. >> bret: yeah. marc, talking about those polls, fox news poll 8 in 10 voters think the situation at the border is either an emergency or a mainly problem. you look at who is best able to handle the border according to the "wall street journal" poll. former president trump at 54%. president biden at 24. >> yeah. >> it's a disaster for the country and joe biden. the reason they are getting serious about it not because of the polls, primarily. not because the crisis has been getting worse. it's been getting worse every year for three years. it's because republicans are forcing them. because they are saying we are not going to pass aid to ukraine or israel or taiwan until this is passed. so the republicans are using their leverage to force the biden administration to do something about this crisis. jeh johnson said in 2019 a thousand encounters at the border would overwhelm the system. we just hit a record of 12,

conduct any serious dialogue, because, for example, the united states even did everything to prevent tony blinken room. yes, that once again. shows unpreparedness for today money, what european security is today in conditions when european states themselves are not actors in this process. well, let's just say, the vast majority of them. the actors are the united states, russia, well, strange as it may seem to us, but ukraine, precisely as a direct participant, a participant, in general, in my opinion, is no longer paying attention, visibly but palpably. and now the urgent news that comes to telegram channels is that a domestic gas explosion occurred in the city of volzhsk, this is the volgograd region, an emergency happened on pioneer street, as a result , two apartments caught fire, all services are already in place, as reported by the mayor of the city igor voronin, the first footage appears from the scene of the incident, it is also reported that there is one dead, secretary of the russian security council, nikolai patrushev, today works in yaroslavl, he visited the construction site. center,

its direct line to washington, and biden won't do that, and tony blincon won't do that, because tony blinken comes from a long line of israel lobbyists. well, i think max is right about halting the aid and the delivery of the aid, that's true, that would bring everything to hold, as far as the two-state solution, i think... people are now delusional if they think there is any future for the two state solution, i don't see it, the israelis won't accept it, and now unfortunately, given the horrific actions in gaza, i don't think anyone in the muslim world is going to go along with it, and here again we got to go back and understand the governments sitting in cairo, in aman in jordan, even in damascus, in lebanon, iran, turkey, saudi arabia, the emirates, doesn't matter. none of those governments want a war judge, they're all opposed to war, but their populations are enraged. we talk a lot about democracy, but we don't practice it, obviously, yeah, and what you've got in the east is a wave, democratic wave, if you will, of support for all-out war against the israeli state, and by definition, be

secretary of state tony blinken defending the call to resist a cay fire. >> that would perpetuate the problem. >> reporter: more than 100 hostages are believed to be held in gaza kidnapped from kfar aza. here we meet a familiar face to the many who watched this man's vigil in tel aviv in a chair with a sign, my family is in gaza. now they're home. his wife and three children released two weeks ago. in the hospital at first, treatment for stomach infections, lice. the nights still dark for his 4-year-old. >> he can't really fall asleep. he doesn't want to, you know. i guess he is afraid, you know, to fall asleep. what he told us the other night was that he really wishes for the other hostages to return. obviously, you know, we all started crying. >> reporter: then a surprise. his sons drawn to the camera lights, calling their dad to dinner. a reminder on a holiday celebrating a miracle. >> every day i'm reliving a miracle. >> reporter: some still exist. >> and i think back to what their life two weeks ago must have been like and it's incredible they're here. >> but you see, you know, k

. >> reporter: secretary of state tony blinken today blaming hamas. >> i hear virtually no one saying, demanding of hamas that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender. this is over tomorrow if hamas does that [ speaking in a global language ] >> reporter: prime minister netanyahu vowing to continue the war until hamas is eliminated israel is now allowing aid into gaza through a second crossing, but the u.s. and aid groups say it's not nearly enough, lester. >> andrea mitchell, thanks. >>> and tonight, a grim milestone in gaza hamas authorities say the death toll is now an estimated 20,000. molly hunter looks behind that number to the impact on one family >> reporter: outside her family home in khan younis, nureen abudaqa cries out, where is my sister, she says my sister is here. my sister is here. where is my father where is my father, she asks again, but no one has the answer the agony of not knowing. hanan abudaqa, the woman in purple, her sister-in-law, calls her husband mohamed and son hassan the next day the body of hanan's son has been found

secretary of state tony blinken today defending the u.s. decision to resist u.n.or an immediate cease fire. >> that would simply perpetuate the problem. >> the israelis say 20 hostages were killed in gaza and more were held there, kidnapped from kfar aza. tonight members of that kibbutz gathying up the coast for hanukkah. here we meet a familiar face to the many who watched his vigil in tel aviv with a chair with a sign, my family is in gaza. now they're home, his wife and three children released two weeks ago, in the hospital at first, treatment for stomach infection and the light still dark for his 4-year-old. >> he can't really fall asleep. he doesn't want to, you know? i guess he's afraid to fall asleep. what he told us the other night was that he really wishes for the other hostages to return. obviously, we all started crying. >> then a surprise. his son, drawn to the camera, calling their dad to dinner. a reminder on a holiday celebrating a miracle. >> every day i'm re-living a miracle. >> some still exist. >> and i think back to what their life two weeks ag

conduct any serious dialogue, because, for example, the united states even did everything to prevent tony blinkennd sergei lavrov from meeting in the same room. yes. which once again proves the unwillingness of the united states today to conduct a serious dialogue with russia on issues of european security in general and the ukrainian plot in this system of european security in particular, what is european security today in conditions when the european states themselves are not are the actors in this process, well, let’s say, the overwhelming majority of them, the actors are the united states, russia, well , strange as it may seem to us, ukraine, precisely as a direct participant, a participant, in general, in my opinion, no longer paying attention what the rest of europe thinks and says, because they understand everything about it, and then, probably, this participant is china, whose presence is invisible, but tangible. the final of the professional competition flagships of education has ended. there were 10 winners teachers from different regions of russia. the main goal of the project is to fo

what he is doing there in terms of getting some hostages out, i think a lot of the diplomacy that tony blinken is doing is preventing this from going wider. i think that's a big, big deal of trying to prevent this from expanding in the region. let's see how this develops. no one knows how this is going to develop. >> senator, let me circle back to politics. trump and ron desantis have said if elected, they would repeal and replace obamacare. trump tried to do this when he was president. never came up with a plan to replace obamacare. your thoughts on that. >> that is really -- i hope he keeps talking about that. remember, he said that -- when he ran in 2016, that he was going to repeal and replace obamacare and replace it with something terrific, as i remember him saying. it was a complete failure. the republicans -- i had thought, you know, they had been vowing to repeal and replace obamacare since we passed it in 2010. i thought, well, okay, they have had six, seven years to figure out what they want to do. let's see what you got. i don't know. there might be a market-based way to do this. w

since then, i've been in touch with tony blinken and others saying we want the devices back. on the issue of compensation, brianna, the saudis admitted responsibility for gentlemanal's death under the u.s. death or sharia law, there is compensation if you murder someone's husband or father. the saudis have compensated the four children of jamal, and now they need to take responsibility for hanan and that includes financial compensation. >> what do you want for saudi arabia, what change do you want to see and what will it take, hanan? >> i would like to first apologize for the crime and listen to what jamal likes, to carry his message and release political prisoners. they're not criminals. they are advisors for their country, and this is their duty, and they don't deserve to be punished. at least this is a start. >> hanan, congratulations on your new status. i know it's a huge relief for you, and rhonda, thank you for being with us, as well. >> thank you. >> and we'll be right back. . >>> okay. so we're going to talk about bringing recycled drinking water,ia yeah, i know that

secretary of state tony blinken is headed to mexico to try to hammer out new agreements to better control the flow of migrants. we go to rosa flores who is in eagle pass, texas, and you have been reporting across the southern border, rosa, and what are you seeing and hearing there now? >> well, kate, the situation has significantly improved here in eagle pass, texas. if you are looking behind me, you will see an empty field. last week when we talked there were thousands of migrants there waiting to be transported for immigration processing. now, according to the senior cpb official, don't be fooled. this agency is not out of the woods, because the list of organizations that the smugglers are pushing migrants to cross along the u.s. southern border illegally into the united states. we have video from moments ago, and there is very small groups of migrants who are crossing into the united states right here in eagle pass, texas. those are the scenes here, but this illicit activity continues, and that is what this agency worried about, figuring out where the next large group of migrants is go

facilitating the relocation of, what, 10 million people here and counting ultimate open borders champion tony blinken released a statement today actually bragging about the record saying that the united states has led the largest expansion in decades of lawful migration pathways to help vulnerable migrants, refugees and other displaced persons. and they are not even trying to hide the fact that this is just the beginning of their efforts to resettle america promote inclusion to expand ways for people to migrant here and also globally. now, of course, the left refuses to see illegal immigration as a problem despite what the polls have consistently revealed. americans support same legal immigration not the travesty of what we have now unless of course child labor fueled by the fueled by the democratic platform. >> the labor department just found over 100 children working for slaughter houses cleaning slaughter houses in the middle of the night. this problem of migrant children, particularly those from guatemala working inside u.s. meat packing is really pervasive and something that's now caught the att

just two days from now, secretary of state tony blinken is headed to mexico to try to find some solutionse, and all the recent agreements on how to slow that flow through mexico. federal authorities have reported an average of nearly 10,000 migrant encounters a day along the u.s. southern border this month. championship's raphael romo is in texas, joining us once again. you were talking to local law enforcement. they're telling you they can't keep up with this pace. what else are they telling you? >> reporter: yeah, they have enough problems as it is when it comes to tackling local crime and protecting the community. they say if you add the burden of taking care of thousands and thousands of immigrants, it's just unsustainable. kate, let me tell you, over the weekend, this holding area behind me was filled with immigrants who are grbrought he after they surrendered to immigration officials at ports of entree or along the border. as you can see, this area is empty but it was filled up just a few moments ago. they are processing them as fast as they can. we've been traveling to different po

secretary of state tony blinken are set to meet with mexico's president as a new caravan of migrantsts way to the border. we'll be right back. you're probably not easily persuaded to switch

i know you had tony blinken on the program yesterday and i am going to be meeting with them. he made points how israel is trying to behave differently and i think we should continue to make those points to them because the long-term security of israel does depend not only op on their own armed strength and fortitude but also palestinians able to live in security as well. >> sir, you're an asuit observer of your politics and the u.s. politics as well. in all of three conflicts the leadership of the u.s. is a critical can piece of it. when you look at the political realities in the united states right now, a 2024 campaign underway and a frontrunner that is somebody who disagrees on a lot of issues with kind of the key western pillars of the last several decades, what do you think? >> well, i think two things. one is your friends and allies have got to make a better case for why overturn yurn security is essential to american security. i believe it is. our people live all over the world. our businesses trade all over the world. the case for engagement, trying to bring about stab

both with the secretary of state tony blinken here in israel, but also here american israeli, qatari it getting together in doha or qatar to get extend the truce. clearly those efforts failed, in the last hours to try and get an extension passed that 7 am local time. we also know there have been conversations about widening that deal, to look at the men and the israeli soldiers who are being held in gaza as well, israeli officials know releasing those individuals will come into my higher price. they have also made clear that they believe the fighting that the, going on the attack against hamas would effectively help to try and lower that price by raising the pressure on hamas. the prime minister made it clear he sees the worst part of the negotiation strategy to get the israelis out of gaza, the question now is whether or not that will actually work? >> jeremy we appreciate the wording, jeremy diamond live and ashkelon in southern israel. again we get back to the situation chain, we appreciate you being there. we're going to washington journal's live -- cnn military analyst cedric le

the biden administration sending secretary of state tony blinken down to mexico city, it sounds like, in the coming days. what responsibility does mexico have in all of this? there's a lot of talk about, well, what can the u.s. do to handle this surge at the border. what are the mexican officials doing to try to alleviate this situation? >> mexico is not doing enough. mexico can do so much more on their southern border in holding the line of mass migration coming through their southern border. over 70% of migrants that come and ask for asylum on our southern border are mostly coming from three central american countries and venezuela. i've been advocating that we have places in guatemala, panama and colombia where we can process migrants at a distance, where it takes the pressure off the southern border and eliminates the cartels from bringing people to our southern border. and if we're going to send people back, we do it from that juncture. if you're going to allow them in, you can send them with a document where they can fly them to their final destination. clearly what's happening

and secretary of state tony blinken has urged israel to avoid the number of civilian deaths that we saw when they attacked northern gaza. a lot of children that were killed. how able is the i.d.f. to be more surgical in who it is targeting with these stlieks when we also know that hamas does use human shields? >> yeah, it's i haved difficult for the idf or any military force to do this, to be more surgical in their strike capabilities. what the israelis can do is they can user smaller ordnance. for example, some of the weapons they used in northern gaza during the pre-truce hostilities were 2,000-pound bombs. they can switch to 250-pound bombs or other smaller ordnance to minimize some damage to civilian entities. however, the problem that they run into is, 250 pounds is still a pretty big bomb when you're on the receiving end of something like that. coupled with artillery, it can really create a major decimation of some of the areas that are around there. so what you're looking at is an attempt by the israelis to try to minimize things. they're really going to have to depend on precise

we have seen tony blinken talk about that over the course of his last trip, even to israel. he will continue to do that. at the end of the day, he is working towards a solution that brings the violence to an end, which is his ultimate goal. >> i want to get back to the conversation breonna was having at the top of the hour. that is liz cheney toying with the idea of running as a third party candidate. i'm wondering how does the biden campaign feel about that? do you think it helps him orders and former president donald trump? >> reporter: i think it is hard to see a world where it helps joe biden. i think for liz cheney, the clearer sense is if she were to run as a third party candidate, she would likely take more votes from joe biden than donald trump, in part because she has been such a vocal critic of donald trump. i think in our current system, it is nearly impossible for a third party candidate to win the presidency. but what a third party candidate can do is leach support from the leading two candidates. given her criticism of trump, she is certainly not palatable to t

that's unacceptable and i have to agree with the white house and tony blinken on the pushback againstsrael right now with their lack of strategy. we also saw -- this is why i went repeatedly called to return to the humanitarian pause. that is when we saw the best results for negotiations, saw many of the hostages being released. we need to get back to that point. >> next week the house republicans are expected to vote to officially launch an impeachment inquiry. it will come a few days after the president's son was indicted for a second time. the president's approval numbers are in the mid-to-upper 30s right now. about to head into an election year. are you concerned about the standing of the president given all of these dynamics? >> you know what? i'm really concerned about here the continuing attacks by far-right extremists on the institutions of our government and really undermining the values that many of us heaold dear. so here we have an impeachment looking for evidence. the republican party decided they wanted to people the president and now they are desperately seeking evidenc

secretary of state tony blinken and other top administration officials are on their way to mexico right to try and find some help from mexico's president. plus one of the stars of the oscar-winning film "parasite" was just found dead in his car and the new questions surrounding his death and the police investigations he was facing and from a breakthrough advancement in sickle cell treatment to the exploding popularity of weight loss drugs like ozempic. we are counting down the top health stories of the past year. u.s. officials will arrive in mexico as president biden faces mounting pressure to stem the unprecedented flow of migrants coming to the southern border. secretary of state antony blinken, he is seen there in that dark morning hours leaving d.c. a few hours ago. he will be leading the talks today for the white house. right now 11,000 migrants are waiting on the mexican side of the border to get into the united states. the mayor of eagle pass, texas, told cnn last night that something has to be done now. >> our city here in eagle pass, we've been getting slammed with 2,000 to 3,

secretary of state tony blinken is headed to mexico tomorrow to try and hammer out new agreements tor control the flow of migrants. we have cnn's rosa flores there in eagle pass, texas for us. rosa, i know you have more reporting on migrant apprehensions in the region that you are in. tell us more about this. >> reporter: yes. i just heard from a law enforcement source who says the daily apprehensions in the del rio sector, which includes eagle pass where i am, there were about 2000 yesterday. this number is significant because just last week the average number was 3000 daily. we are seeing the effects of this because if you look behind me you can see that there is an open field. just last week there were thousands of migrants were waiting to be transported to immigration processing facilities, and we are not seeing that today. but a cbp official telling me today that this does not mean that the agency is out of the woods yet. here is what they are dealing with. first of all, there's about 11,000 migrants who are waiting in northern border cities in northern mexico. they are waiting

amy: i want to get your response to a tweet posted thursday by secretary of state tony blinken.e said -- he wasn't talking specifically about what has happened to gaza. i would like you to address this. you addressed a rally recently where you talked about the astounding number of journalists who have been killed in gaza. the numbers are believed to be up to something like 105. and the significance of journalists being killed. >> it is part of israel's deliberate targeting of journalists. the case of shireen abu akleh. she is a palestinian and american citizen. amy: the al jazeera reporter. >> yes. al jazeera but a palestinian icon, beloved palestinian voice of the palestinian people. most prominent journalist, killed by an israeli soldier as she was covering live events in jenin and the u.s. was involved, the fbi was involved, mr. blinken was involved. israel is the exception. every u.s. administration has simply looked the other way when israel of its crimes. israel has been made in the above every law, human value. back to your question, this is part of the suicide -- i'm sor

secretary of state tony blinken is forcefully condemning the atrocities that took place against israeli women on october 7th. >> atrocities that we saw on october 7th are almost beyond human description or beyond our capacity to digest. and we've talked about them before, but the sexual violence that we saw on october 7th is beyond anything that i've seen either. >> but blinken is also warning israel to do more to protect civilians and provide humanitarian aid in gaza. the idf says they've struck more than 250 targets in just the last day. the israeli prime ministers office says 137 hostages remain inside gaza, including 20 who are believed to be dead. let's go live to tel aviv where cnn's alex marquardt has the latest on the fighting. alex, what's the latest? >> reporter: well, jim, it's clear that israel is still battling to take full control of northern gaza. they are facing what they're calling strongholds of persistent resistance. one of those is the jabalia refugee area. today there were strikes on a home according to a palestinian news agency that left several dozen people dead,

secretary of state tony blinken informed congress of the plan on friday night saying, "an emergency existshat requires the immediate sale." congress was notified just hours after the united states vetoed a u.n. security council calling for a gaza ceasefire. democratic senator chris van hollen of maryland criticized the state department's decision to bypass congress. he told "the new york times" -- "the administration's decision to short-circuit what is already a quick time frame for congressional review undermines transparency and weakens accountability." we are joined now by josh paul. in october, he resigned from the state department to protest the biden administration's push to increase arms sales to israel amidst its siege on gaza. josh paul had served as director of congressional and public affairs for the bureau of political-military affairs in the state department, which oversees arms transfers to israel and other nations. josh paul, your response to this move friday night? >> first of all, thank you for having me. i think what this move demonstrates is that nothing has changed in u

here is secretary of state tony blinken responding with a reasoning behind that decision. >> when ittill alive, still intact, and, again, with this state of the intent, repeating october 7th again and again and again, that would simply perpetuate the problem. and so, our focus is on trying to make sure that civilians are protected to the maximum extent possible, that humanitarian assistance gets into the maximum extent possible. and, again, if hamas were to put down weapons tomorrow, surrender tomorrow, this will be over tomorrow. >> joining me now is nbc's hala gorani tonight tel aviv. good to talk to you. the health care situation on the ground in gaza is being called catastrophic. and the pressure is mounting at the rafah border crossing as well. walk us through what is happening on the ground they are right now? >> reporter: yeah, in fact, oxfam, which is another aid organization operating inside the gaza strip, as well as a can with the limited resources has said that the situation has gone, in fact, from catastrophic to apocalyptic, that people are rationing dirty water, and th

so to answer the question given the fact that tony blinken's been there, jake sullivan's been there,ge of messaging to israel both publicly and i suspect quite a bit privately, i think you will see the israelis dial back probably over the next month or so, jonathan. and how would that look? it'll mean less of the air strikes, certainly no more of the dumb bombs we heard about, more careful precision foot soldier kind of operations. they'll be pursuing the two objectives that are at the very top for them, number one the hostages, and number two, decommissioning and destroying these tunnels. so that's a snapshot where this is going. i think lloyd austin, right individual to send to talk the israelis now. >> and austin's push coming as there's growing international pressure on israel to have some sort of more permanent cease-fire. admiral, of course we can't lose sight of the fact more than 100 people are still being held hostage there in gaza. reporting there's maybe a little bit of momentum. but what do you think -- what kind of deal do you think could be made here to secure the relea

that is the policy secretary tony blinken put forward a year and a half ago in a speech in washingtonanother institution, georgetown university. we think as we look at this long-term competition with china, we have to invest in our own country. that is the infrastructure bill of 2021. that is the inflation reduction act of 2022, the 369 billion dollars we are putting into clean energy research which is going to revolutionize the economy of the united states. it is also the chips and signs act which we have to make strategic bets on key industries that are at the heart of our competition with china to enhance our competitiveness economically and as a society as we look forward. that is the invest part. the align part. is critical to the united states. advantage if we think about this competition with china is the united states has long historical alliances with key countries of east asia. with japan young that alliance over the last couple years under president biden's leadership i think is the strongest we have ever had with the japanese. the new found and revived alliance with the re