Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, October 16, 2023

Episode Date: October 17, 2023

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world.

And good evening, and thank you for joining us on this special edition of Top Story from Tel Aviv, where tonight we are following several breaking headlines on the Israel Hamas War. Moments ago, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announcing President Biden will travel to Israel. On Wednesday, President Biden loses Israel. He's coming here at a critical moment for Israel. for the region and for the world. And tonight, that chilling message and video just released by Hamas, the leader of that group

which orchestrated the deadliest terror attack in modern Israeli history, tonight claiming it will release non-Israeli hostages if conditions allow. And Hamas releasing the video, here it is. It says it shows a 21-year-old Mia Shem, one of the nearly 200 hostages, being held in Gaza tonight, after they were taken across the border

during last Saturday, horrific terror attack. You can see her here, speaking directly to the camera, from an unspecified location. That video released as the U.S. ramps up diplomatic negotiations behind closed doors. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on the ground once again in Tel Aviv tonight, meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for more than four hours. Their private meeting held inside Israel's equivalent of the Pentagon. But look at this. It was interrupted by air raid sirens. You can see the members of the press covering the secretary's visit running to take cover as Hamas continues to fire rockets towards Israel, most of them intercepted by the Iron Dome. But inside Gaza tonight, total devastation from a barrage of Israeli missiles that are getting through neighborhoods reduced to piles of smoldering rubble.

More than 2,800 people killed on the ground there. civilians and foreign nationals racing to get to Gaza's southern border, which is shared with Egypt, where a checkpoint had been scheduled to open. We had told you about this and let some people out this morning. But tonight, that border is still sealed. Thousands of people still waiting. You can see them here with nowhere to go. And surrounding Gaza tonight, that buildup of Israeli tanks and troops that we've watched grow over the last several days,

a ground offensive ready to be launched at any moment, as Israel vows to wipe out Hamas for killing. more than 1,400 people inside Israel. Straight ahead, we will talk to a member of the Israeli defense force about the next phase of this war and his reaction to Hamas' message tonight. And American troops now preparing to head to the region, 2,000 service members told to be ready to deploy to support Israel possibly. It's not clear yet in what capacity they would provide that support. So let's get right out to our chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel,

who's been covering every angle of this war for us. And Richard, tonight, I really want to hone in on this video that Hamas has apparently released. And also this video of them saying that they would be open to possibly negotiating the release of possibly these foreign hostages. How do we take all this? So this is all part of the same statement. First on the video. The video showed this woman, this hostage, receiving medical care by Hamas. And in this statement, Hamas was saying, don't believe the foreign person.

propaganda, don't believe what the Israeli media are saying, that the hostages are being treated well. So that was part of this statement. The other part is that Hamas said it is willing to release foreign nationals. That could be Israelis who also have dual nationality, that it would release them without asking for anything in return. It said that when its militants came into Israel, carried out its attacks, cut holes in the border fence, and stormed through kibbutzies, and attacked that music festival, it grabbed hostages, didn't have a chance, this is all quoting the statement, which was by the main spokesman for the military wing, that the group didn't have chance to verify identities. Now that it has verified their identities, it has discovered that there are

foreign nationals among these hostages, that they are not party to this conflict. It has no issue with them, and it says that they can be released when the field conditions are right. It didn't specify what those field conditions are, but they weren't asking for anything in return, said it has no problem with them and wants to release them. Now, Richard, how does this all play? I spoke with the IDF who told me they don't believe anything Hamas says, and you can understand why they would say that. But now you have Hamas putting this out. You have Israel on the brink of a ground invasion, which no one knows when it's going to start. When I say no one, I mean no one like us knows exactly when it's going to start.

And then on top of that, you have this order from the U.S. to get ready to deploy 2,000 U.S. troops. How do you think all this ties in together? Well, I think it has the potential of slowing this ground invasion down. You don't have to believe Hamas. Hamas is holding these people. That is undisputed. So it could be very difficult not to at least give this a try. The Israelis say that Hamas is not credible.

very likely. But if Hamas says that it wants to release the foreign nationals, that is going to be a very difficult pill for Israel to swallow because no hostage negotiator wants to divide the group. They want everybody out. They want the Israeli women, children, babies, everyone who was taken. But if there is an opportunity to get some, and Hamas at least is saying that there is an opportunity, then it would be hard to not at least explore it, because if you were able to get out a few hostages, a dozen hostages, more than that. They could have intelligence about the others. It could open a chain of dialogue, and it has the potential, really, since this conflict

is different because of these hostages, to change the course of this war. Richard Engel for us tonight. Richard, we appreciate that. We want to head over to some breaking news that is happening right now. Rocket fire continues over Gaza as we are on the air. Are Ellison Barber hearing a steady stream of rocket fire for at least the last. last 10 minutes. She joins us now live tonight. Ellison, tell us what you're seeing and what you're hearing. Yeah, Tom, it has just been constant the last 15, maybe 20 minutes. So volleys of artillery,

it sounds like mortar fire headed into the direction of Gaza. We have been in this area for a couple of nights now. You hear it going again. It's cyclical. It just keeps coming and coming. This is the most artillery we have heard here in at least the last two nights. We have not seen missiles fired from the Israeli side towards Gaza since Thursday evening. But this right now, this has picked up pretty significantly compared to what it has been like the last two nights here. We've seen constantly military equipment, military troops in this area. When I spoke to one IDF soldier, we've seen here the last couple of days and asked him early this morning how things were going. He said, we are preparing, and you hear it now, that boom again, we're seeing things start to pick up here this evening. Tom.

Alison, just so our viewers at home know that, you know, where this is happening, how far, if you can even estimate, is that gunfire and are those rockets being fired? So we think it's a couple miles away from us. It's closer than what we have heard in the last couple of days. We know there are military tanks in the field near us. That, though, sounds like it's a couple of miles away from where we are right now. We are very close to the Israel-Ghasa border. We're to the northern part of the border. When I look past the camera here, if things hit in this northern part of Gaza, there it keeps going again. We'll see the sky light up orange typically once it strikes.

We're not seeing that right now, so it's headed in a direction that's not directly. in front of us, but we are very close to the north part of the Israel Gaza border. And those sound like they're just a couple miles from here. Tom. Alison, as you know, it is very late here in Israel. I'm going to let you and your team get to some safety. We'll stay with you throughout the broadcast. And if other things develop, please let us know. Back here in Tel Aviv and just near that border as well, families of the victims and that

horrific attack by Hamas, still coming to terms with all they've lost. Tonight, our conversation with a little boy from one of the... the first neighborhoods hit by the terrorist, his father and brother both killed, how he's now remembering his loved ones who gave their lives to defend their home. Right here in Ophakim near the Gaza border, homes are shot up. Living rooms bombed out, melted clocks marking the time the terrorist attacked and children searching for anything that tells the story of what happened to their families. What was your name again?

ORI. What's your name? Tom. Nice to meet you. 12 years old. We now want to see the area where my father and my brother died. Your fathering your brother died? Yes. Living in a war zone, he tells me what he and his friends will do today. I'm collecting words.

I want to keep them for feelings. It's not going to feel better. For Ori, it's a way to remember his dad, Moshe Ohayon, and his older brother, Eliot. Two men this town will never forget. forget. They were not just killed. They fought. They fought like lions. These surveillance videos from the day Hamas attacked their neighborhood show the military as they cornered some of the terrorists. But for hours, regular citizens took to the streets and roofs to defend themselves. The residents here say the terrorists did something they had never seen or heard of before.

They were hiding out. So when the rocket started to be fired from Gaza and people ran out of their homes, the Hamas terrorists were right there firing at people. as they tried to enter the shelter. We have 54 families from the street over that came out of their houses to run to safe rooms and they slaughtered them. As they do every year, ORI's father and brother started that day

hosting 50 kids with special needs, volunteer work they love to do. But when the attack started, Moshe, a reservist, grabbed his gun, rushing the children to this safe room and headed out to fight. They were the first ones on the scene. and they saw a unit of terrorists.

So they held them in place by shooting them. My brother was able to kill two terrorists. He was shooting to the roofs because some of the terrorists were standing on the roofs trying to shoot everybody that walked past the street. The family knows how it ended, sharing this haunting photo. They say there on the ground is a son hugging his father as they were executed. Now, in Ophakim, around every corner you see families sitting Shiva, children collecting bullets, each morning in their own way. What do you want people to remember about your father and your brother?

They're good things and they do before they die. They were good people? Yes. There's a war here and there's a war in Gaza over there. Why are you still here? This is the only Jewish homeland. and if we don't protect it, if we don't live freely and comfortably all around the country that we're doomed to lose and we're not about to lose.

Ori's family tells us his barbizvah is in a few weeks, and even though his father and brother have been killed and their town devastated, they will still celebrate Ori that he deserves it and they will fight on. We do want to switch gears now and talk more about the Israeli military's next move and the country's current position in this war. I want to bring in tonight the international spokesman for the Israeli Defense Force, Jonathan Karnikas. Jonathan, thank you for joining us tonight.

I do want to get your take on the news that Hamas claims to be saying they're opening to release hostages who are foreign nationals. Do you have any update on this and do you believe them? Thank you for having me. I don't believe a word, Hamas says. They are a bunch of liars, cowards, murderers. and rapists, and they're holding women, children, and babies in the elderly hostage in Gaza.

They took them out of an intention to bargain for their lives, for political gains, and I think that this whole horrible situation will end with the complete dismantling of Hamas and with the return of our hostages home. Jonathan, how would you describe to people, and I don't want you to reveal military secrets, I know you won't or strategy. But how can the international world understand what's happening right now? There was word of a possible ground invasion. There was deadlines set up.

They have come and gone. Is there anything you can tell us about what is happening right now on the border with Gaza? Yeah, sure. So what's going on is that we are preparing to enhance our operations. We have been striking the Gaza Strip from the air quite significantly. we've been targeting Hamas and its military infrastructure, hunting key officials and commanders, degrading their military capabilities, their ability to launch rockets, their ability to sustain themselves, and many other things. And we are preparing to enhance our operations. That's why

we asked civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate south, to relative safety. And I'm happy to say that more than 600,000 have indeed evacuated, despite the fact that, that Hamas has been undermining the efforts to evacuate and stopping Palestinians, because Hamas, of course, wants to use those Palestinians as their human shields. Jonathan, we've reported here at NBC News that the U.S. military has now, and I want to make sure I get the terminology correct here, put 2,000 troops on a prepared-to-deploy order. Nothing's happening right now, but they have, again, been given this order a preparation. prepare to deploy order.

Do you have any idea if at some point in this conflict you may be fighting side by side with American troops? I definitely hope not, and I don't wish any more blood to be spilled, and I definitely don't want American blood defending Israel. We will defend ourselves by ourselves, and we are tremendously grateful for the political and military and diplomatic support that we're receiving from the United States of America. We appreciate that, but we definitely don't want anybody to be hurt in order to defend ourselves.

We are capable and willing, and we're going to conduct this mission alone, even if this situation escalates and we'll have to fight on two or three fronts. I think that the IDF has shown in the previous in history that we are capable of defeating enemies that are larger in numbers and perhaps more brutal and vicious, but we will defeat them, just as we have defeated our other enemies. Jonathan, as you know, there are Israeli Americans as well that are being held hostage right now in Gaza by those Hamas terrorists. Can you see a scenario where Israeli commandos and U.S. Special Forces are working on some type of extraction mission in the near future? Yeah, I mean, there's a tremendous effort ongoing now, an intelligence effort in Israel, where all of our intel collection assets are really geared and focused.

on that specific challenge. It's an unprecedented situation. Never before have we faced such a daunting task of so many Israelis that are being held hostage. One hundred and ninety-nine is the last confirmed number. For sure, we are getting assistance and working together, but for obvious reasons, I can't elaborate about what's going to happen and whom and what we're doing.

I can just say that we are committed to getting our people back. Jonathan, we know the atrocious acts that Hamas committed in Israel. I'm curious, have you also seen the images, and I'm not comparing the two, but I want to know if you have seen the images coming out of Gaza. Palestinians in Gaza have said that the bombings have been inhumane, that civilians are dying there as well, that they're trying to move south, but in some cases they just cannot get there. When the Israeli military tries to coordinate a bombing, how much is possible? put in place, how much is thought about the civilians that are still trying to move out of northern

Gaza? A lot. And I can say categorically that the people in Gaza are not our enemies. We're not focusing our efforts against them. We're not targeting them. We're targeting Hamas and Hamas leadership and their military infrastructure. Now, what makes the situation complex is that Hamas is actively using those poor Gaza and civilians as their human shields. Hamas is hiding under the civilians in their tunnels. Hamas uses civilian buildings to conduct military operations, hoping that we won't strike them because they're half-civilian.

Hamas uses all of the humanitarian aid or all of the humanitarian goods in the Gaza Strip for their military. Just today, there was a report by UNRWA, the UN agency, that they criticized or condemned the fact that Hamas was stealing fuel from their depots that was supposed to go towards water pumping, and civilian purposes. By the way, they deleted the tweet a few minutes after posting it, but nevertheless, they posted it. Jonathan Conrichis from the IDFRIS. Jonathan, we thank you for your time.

Back in the U.S., an Illinois man is accused of fatally stabbing a six-year-old Muslim boy and severely wounding his mother. Authorities say the 71-year-old suspect allegedly targeted the family because of their faith and in response to the Israel Hamas war. NBC Stephanie Gossk has the details and the hate crime charges he's now facing. Today, a mosque in Illinois filled with mourners for six-year-old Wadilla al-Fayumi. A Palestinian-American boy stabbed along with his mother in their home, police say, just because they were Muslim. Hanan Shaheen survived. Her son did not. Wadia's father is in shock.

He's like a dream. I still didn't believe my son. is gone. The family's landlord, 71-year-old Joseph Zuba, is accused of first-degree murder and hate crimes and has not entered a plea. This heinous crime did not take a place in a vacuum. Over the past 10 days, Palestinians, Arabs, Muslim Americans have been subjected to a hateful, hostile campaign. As the funeral was being held, the mosque was also on guard with heavy security because they fear their community could be targeted again. People are afraid. I'm afraid to leave my house. I don't know if there's going to be some maniac who doesn't know any better.

The FBI says it is seeing an increase in rhetoric targeting both Muslim and Jewish people. Law enforcement has ramped up security at places of worship. Since Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, the Anti-Defamation League, says there have been at least 91 anti-Semitic incidents nationwide. Seven assaults, 20 incidents of vandalism. and 64 of harassment. FBI director Christopher Ray speaking out against hate crimes over the weekend. The targeting of a community because of their faith is totally unacceptable. The FBI also warns that terror organizations could use this time to stage attacks here in the U.S.

saying the terror threat is ongoing and evolving. Tom. The country will stay vigilant. All right, Stephanie, thank you for that. More than one week into this war, the world is watching. Gaza, allies of Israel holding firm in the face of the country's military escalation, but some countries calling for de-escalation as a ground invasion into Gaza appears imminent. NBC's chief international correspondent, Keir Simmons, joins us now in Keir.

We just heard from the IDF spokesman there before Stephanie's report that Hamas may release non-Israeli hostages. You've been reporting on this country for a long time, and what other countries could play a key role here? Well, Tom, tonight, a diplomat briefed on the talks tells me the Qataris are talking to Hamas and the Israelis with the support of the U.S. to try to get those hostages out. Now, that may not be a surprise to people who know the region well. Qatar has long been an interlocutor between Hamas, Israel and the U.S.

But just think about this, Tom. Today we learned that Qatar had negotiated the release of four Ukrainian children, united with their families from Russia. Think how difficult those negotiations will have been. They did take months. And that was only four children released out of hundreds that Russia says are in Russia, Ukrainian kids. So that perhaps gives us an impact, an impression of how difficult these negotiations in Syria and Gaza may now be. Qatar, it seems, though, is at the center of that. Yeah, they are so complicated. We've talked about the division this war has caused in the U.S.

We know that. What has international reaction been more brought across the globe? You know, Tom, the Europeans in the past week, have struggled to come up with a united front, a united response to what happened in Israel. Only last night, all 27 countries put out a united statement more than a week after those attacks in Israel. polls of the Arab world say that the Arab street, as it's called, has not changed its view on Israel, even since the Abraham Accords that improved relations between Israel and many Arab countries. Russia and China appear to be in lockstep, the Chinese foreign minister saying in a call with the Secretary of State, Tom, there is no way out through military means and using violence for violence will only create a vicious cycle. So many parts of the world are very, very worried about particularly the coming potential ground offensive. We talk often, Tom, about the global south.

This world is a multipolar world now. It is often divided. Just listen to what the Colombian president had to say in a tweet over the weekend about the possibility of a very, very powerful ground invasion by Israel and Gaza. He said, if we have to suspend foreign relations with Israel, we'll suspend them. We do not support genocide. That gives you an impression of the kind of diplomatic challenges that the U.S. and Israel and the West will face as those countries and those regions try to navigate their way through all of these challenges in the days ahead, Tom. All right, Keir Simmons for us tonight, Keer, we appreciate that.

Still ahead on this special edition of Top Story, our continuing coverage of the Israel-Hamas war on the brink of a dangerous new phase. Plus the other major headlines we are following at this hour, a gunman going on a deadly rampage in Brussels. At least two people killed in the terror attack. What we're hearing tonight about a possible motive. And in Washington, Republicans still unable to elect a new Speaker of the House. Could Trump favorite Jim Jordan pull off a win? We'll have a live report from the Capitol.

Stay with us. Top story just getting started on this Monday night. With breaking news out of Belgium, where authorities in Brussels say at least two Swedish nationals were killed in what appears to be a terror attack. Investigators also revealing the gunman pledged loyalty to ISIS in a social media video and was possibly targeting Swedish nationals who were in the capital city for a soccer match. NBC's Valerie Castro has the late detail still coming in. Tonight, bloodshed in the streets of Belgium after an apparent terrorist attack. The deadly shooting caught on cell phone camera. People seen running away as the gunman in an orange jacket follows them into a building firing several more rounds.

The guy, he cried, and I just a coup of fire, I'm just a fission, in fact. Another video shows the suspect with the long gun in his arms, riding away on a scooter. At least two people were killed. The victims said to be Swedish nationals, according to the Belgian Prime Minister, tweeting, we are monitoring the situation and asked the people of Brussels to be vigilant. City officials raising the threat level to four, the highest possible, while a packed Euro-qualifier soccer match between Sweden and Belgium was paused mid-game and later cancelled. A live feat of the postponed soccer match captured the empty playing field.

City officials said to be working to get people safely out of the stadium, while worried fans waited in the stance for further instructions from authorities. At the scene, forensic investigators gathered evidence, while the Belgian federal prosecutor said the attacker appeared to have been inspired by the Islamic State group and targeted the victims for being Swedish. All right, Valerie, joins us now live from our studios in New York. Valerie, what more do we know about the gunmen at this hour? Well, Tom, right now the gunman remains unaccounted for,

but that soccer stadium was in the process of being evacuated over the last hour. Local authorities are cautioning people in that area, especially Swedes to remain vigilant. And Tom, they are urging everyone to go directly home. Yeah, and just to be clear, Valerie, do officials, have they said anything about if they think this attack was fueled at all by the war here between Israel and Hamas? So right now, the early reports from authorities are that they have no reason to believe this is related to that current crisis, but the suspect, as we mentioned, was believed to be targeting Swedish citizens, likely there for that soccer match, according to the local prosecutor. The motive is still under investigation, but over the summer, there were several Koran burnings in Sweden. that led to protests at the Swedish embassy in Iraq and triggered condemnation across several Muslim countries.

Again, still unclear if any of that could be related to the motive in this incident. Tom. Okay, Valerie Castro for us. Valerie, thank you. Now to politics and the latest on the fight on Capitol Hill to elect a new House speaker. Republican Congressman Jim Jordan trying to rally enough votes to win the job with the chamber expected to vote on his candidacy tomorrow. but some of his conference remained deeply divided with some holdouts,

refusing to back his freedom, the Freedom Caucus. We do want to move now to Ryan Nobles, who joins us from Capitol Hill. Ryan, is the magic number 217, and does Jordan have those votes? That is the magic number, Tom, and he is a lot closer to that magic number than he was on Friday when the House went home for the weekend to give Jordan the opportunity to try and rally support for his candidacy. At this stage, though, at this point, where we are Monday, night, there are still not enough Republicans that are willing to support Jim Jordan for Speaker. There are at least five or six members that are publicly opposed to him becoming the

next speaker. We'll have to see how that plays out, though, when we're actually on the House floor tomorrow afternoon, and they're forced to make those votes publicly. There could be several rounds of voting similar to what we saw back in January when Kevin McCarthy was ultimately elected Speaker. Jim Jordan and his team believe that they'll be able to pressure that remaining core of Republicans to come to the table and that he'll be speaker by this time tomorrow evening. Tom? And Ryan, as you know, another major update today concerning the D.C. judge overseeing the 2020 election interference case. Issuing a partial gag order for former President Trump,

what are the restrictions and how is the former president responding tonight? Yeah, this is Judge Tanya Chunkin in federal court today, issuing that partial gag order that essentially tells Donald Trump that he is not allowed to specifically attack the prosecutor in this case, Jack Smith, any of the members of his special counsel team, that he is not allowed to say anything about the court officials. But she did say that he still has the right to attack his political opponents or speak broadly about the justice system itself. Donald Trump in his campaign pushing back saying that this is a violation of his First Amendment rights and that he should be able to say whatever he wants about these proceedings. What's unclear in this

situation, though, Tom, is what penalty Trump could incur if he violates this partial gag order. He could theoretically be held in contempt of the court, which could lead to fines and potentially jail time, whether or not the judge actually follows through on that will obviously depend on how far Trump goes or how close he comes to violating that gag order. Tom. Ryan Nobles for us, Ryan, we appreciate all that. When we come back, our coverage continues from Tel Aviv tonight. I sit down with two survivors of that music festival massacre carried out by Hamas terrorists more than a week ago.

What they told me about when they realized they were under attack and the moment they looked Hamas in the eye, what they saw. Stay with us. We turned out to an interview with two brave survivors of the horrific attack on that music festival. An estimated 260 people were slaughtered by Hamas terrorist. who descended on the event near the Gaza border. I sat down with them to ask them about that tragic day that has forever changed them. What do you remember first?

You hear like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And we just start to see masses of people running by foot from one place to the other, just all over the venue. There was about, I want to say, an hour of escape inside the venue, inside the lot where everything is chaotic. You hear the shots are getting closer. And they're here. They knew exactly where everything was. In a couple of minutes, they took over the entire place. They knew where to put their weapons, where to barricade, where people were. You saw that up close. It was precision. They knew what to do. Precision, with no mercy. We were barricaded inside the venue.

You couldn't get out. We couldn't get out. The terrorists have blocked all exits from all directions, including the forest behind us. This was a massacre. I have friends for eight hours. They hid underneath dead bodies. It's holocaust time. We got out the car and hid underneath the car. And we hide there for, I want to say, maybe a little bit over an hour. We said our goodbyes. We said how much we love each other. We said goodbye to his parents. We also started hearing Al-Awakbar calls and shots like really, really close. We heard the bullets from our backs. We made a split-second decision that we are jumping back to the car.

The terrorists are in every corner on every vehicle you can imagine. Prepared like Hollywood movie-wise. And Ronald is just remembering this, it hurts. Every time she tells the story and this exact same moment when you tell, we hopped on the road. And I remember what I have seen.

I mean. A lot of terrorists. I mean, I can't stress this enough. I think over 100, I mean, I don't know. And you thought you were going to die? Of course. Of course. They are shooting at us.

It might, like, hundreds of bullets. And we hear the bullets hitting the car. They were aiming at our wheels, especially. You saw the Hamas terrorists up close. I have looked them in the eyes. And when you look, and you make an eye contact with a human. You see a little bit of his soul. No soul.

I mean, they were shallow, empty. I don't know how to explain it. I have looked him right in the eyes. We had an eye contact. He had looked at me when I was so terrified. He just started an open fire. I mean, no hesitation at all. When we arrived to the roundabout, we saw Israeli civil forces.

We knew how we looked. We are driving. The Israelis sort of shooting at you. They shot a bullet through the windshield on my side and the window next to me. And after the glass shattered, they heard our screams. Every each and every one of us. Everybody in the car just screams where Israelis don't shoot. They heard us.

They immediately stopped. And they just yelled at us, run. Do you guys have, I don't know if you know what this means, but it's called Survivor's guilt? It feels horrible. Like, oh, you're heroes, you survived, you made it. Like, I buried my friend today. Yesterday, like, I don't feel like a hero. Yeah, why me and not him?

Why her parents need to host this funeral for her and not me? It's been a week now, right? Do you still think about that road in those terrorists? There is not a moment, I think, that we can think of anything else. It's been, it's our lives now. There was the life before, and there's a week. the life now. We're also getting a deeper look inside the chaos at that music festival. Anna Schechter, a senior producer in the NBC News Investigations Unit, along with the team

at NBC News Digital Docs, compiled testimonials from survivors, detailed satellite imagery of the aftermath and video for the more than five-hour-long attack to piece together a comprehensive timeline of the deadly assault. Here's a look at some of what they found, and we want to warn you, some of the images and details are incredibly disturbing. We started dancing and everything was perfect and I was happy, surrounded by people I love. I started seeing things in the sky and not understanding what's happening around. At about 6.30 a.m. on Saturday, October 7th, Hamas rockets begin to rain down on Israel. The Supernova Music Festival, just three miles from the Gaza border, is well underway.

Festival goers stop to look at the sky. Some take pictures, unaware of the horror to come. The rockets started, and after 45 minutes, we're realizing that the terrorists, it's 200 meters from us. By 7 a.m., dozens of Hamas terrorists breached the festival site. Within moments, panic erupts. I think that was the moment when I understand that maybe it's the end and maybe we're going to die here.

There is just one main road, Route 232, out of the festival grounds. Some festival goers start to escape by car. This dash cam video from 7.40 a.m. captures a driver taking repeated fire from Hamas terrorists while trying to escape. And there was a traffic jam because the route outside. There was one road outside. It was blocked both sides. As cars begin to pile up, some drive east into the desert.

We were around like 300, 400 cars in one column, and we're hearing the bullets, right? You have to understand the whole time there's bombs, bullets. You know, people aren't in chaos. There was panic. You know, it was rising. And then we just see around 1,000 people just run, you know, in chaos. When we decide, you know, to ditch the car and just run for our lives. We run away from another place to other.

place every time shooting us, no matter what when you're going, shooting us. And we don't know from where, we don't know where to run. We're like, where is the army? Where is the police? What, you know, the is going on here? GoPro video shot by Hamas captures attackers pausing outside a row of festival bathrooms. This stall appears to be read and occupied. indicating someone is inside.

Shots are fired into the stalls one by one. Some festival goers hide in the bushes and trees. Including Noah Kalash and her boyfriend. This unidentified man, a woman, take cover in a bush, about half a mile northeast of the festival along Route 232. About a mile south from them, another group seeks refuge in a bomb shelter. Dash cam footage from 7.55 a.m. shows Hamas terrorists outside that bunker. It was about an hour into the attack.

Inside this shelter is 23-year-old Hirsch gold. So I turned my phone on, I believe, at 8.23 in the morning. And when I turned it on, there were two texts in a row from Hirsch at 8-11. The first one said, I love you. And immediately, at 8-11 also, it said, I'm sorry. And so I knew immediately, wherever he was, it was a terrible situation. They were all civilians at a music festival. They were fish in a barrel sitting in this bomb shelter. One of the terrorists throws what appears to be a grenade into the bomb shelter. Shortly after, a man runs out of the bunker before being shot, the grenade then appears to detonate.

We've spoken to eyewitnesses. We know that Hirsch's arm from the elbow down was severed, was blown off. and that he tied a tourniquet around with his shirt. And Hamas came in after the gunfire settled down and said, anyone who can walk, stand up and walk out. And he got up and he walked out with five other people. Then the police told us one thing they knew is that the last known cell signal from his phone

was on the border with Gaza. By 10 a.m., Festival Security Guard didn't test on the left and his best friend Barr Bursdain get separated trying to help people get to safety. We're separated because we saw terrorists very close to us, and then I saw the video. It was like my brother, and the thing that I'm here and he's there, it's killing me from the inside. Barr and Hirsch are likely among the more than 150 hostages, Israel says, are in Gaza. And Anna Schechter joins us now live again, one of our team that put that together along with NBC News Digital Docs.

And it is so terrible and so sad when you see that put together that way. As we reported earlier in the broadcast, Hamas said it would consider releasing non-Israeli hostages if its demands are met. Some of the festival goers believed to be taken hostage are American and British citizens. How are their families reacting to that news tonight? Thanks, Tom. Well, some of them are wanting to lay. low. They are just bracing, praying that they will see their loved ones again. Many also

have the awareness that the same people that are holding them carried out that brutal attack. And so they are couching their hope with the fear that they may have already lost their loved one or that the hostages may die before they're brought home. So it's just an unimaginable situation for these families. And it, I'm sure, was very difficult to hear anything coming out of Hamas. Maybe it gives some of them hope, but they're also very realistic about their expectations, given the massacre that occurred on Saturday. And Anna, you know, sometimes when we gather and we put together these documentaries and we do look back, but we put together timelines. We uncover new information. Did you and your team

find out anything new while doing this? You know, this exercise really is writing the first chapter of history to analyze all the footage that came in and try to timestamp it and put together a timeline and also to map out the different areas. And you so, did such a great job interviewing the couple before we ran the piece. And they said, it seemed like they were so organized. they were doing. And my reporting indicates that the local Kibbutzim in the area were definitely the targets. It's unclear if they had really planned or happened upon the music festival, but certainly after seeing all the footage and just seeing the massive amount of manpower of Hamas terrorists that showed up from all angles, it does make sense that they would have

had some prior knowledge of the space. Also, that they would have had some prior knowledge of the space. Also, footage that you saw one by one at the porta potty shooting each one, that just came in just in the last few days. So this is really the most up-to-date, comprehensive look at what happened that horrific morning in the desert near Gaza. Tom? Yeah, I had never seen that footage. It is chilling. It is awful. And also a reminder of why we're in the situation right now. Anna Schechter, we thank you and your team for all your reporting. NBC News Digital Doc from trance to terror, the Supernova Music Festival Massacre, on NBCNews.com. All right, coming up, Iran's newest threat, the chilling new warning from Iran's foreign minister

if the fighting in Gaza continues. That's next. All right, we're back tonight with more of our coverage on the Israel-Hamas war. Iran weighing in as a potential Israeli ground offensive in Gaza. The country's foreign minister with his strongest warning yet saying that, quote, if the crimes in Gaza do not stop immediately, new fronts will be opened. I want to bring in NBC News, Tehran Bureau Chief Al-Aruzhi, reporting for there from Tehran for us tonight. Ali, I want to ask you first about those comments coming from Iran's foreign minister. He also said in that interview that Iran could take preemptive steps against Israel in the coming hours. What more do we know about Iran's plans to get

involved in this war? Hey, Tom. He also said that the axis of resistance, is capable of waging a long-term war against Israel. Now, Iran has made it clear that they don't really want to have boots on the ground in Gaza fighting Israel, and that's why they've created this axis of resistance, which is Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas, in Gaza, fighters in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and beyond. And that's who they would want to get involved if those boots were on the ground and if they were going to see through those things. threats that they've made to Israel. And if that was to happen, then that would potentially

engulf a big battle in this region. And, Ali, you had an opportunity to speak with the Hamas representative in Tehran, and you asked him about this topic of whether or not Iran would get involved. Let's play some of that sound and then discuss. Do you expect Iran to get involved? They are with us every time they were supporting Palestinian before creation of Hamas. This is continuous because they believe in our cause, and they believe that our cause is a just cause. This is the duty of every freedom and rational voices in the world to fight with us against the occupation. So, Ali, what more did he tell you about the potential for Iran to become a major player in this conflict?

Well, I asked him directly, would Iran get involved? And he said that's left to the coordination between Hamas military people, politically. leadership and the leadership here in Iran. And he said the Iranians would be able to answer that question better. So he wasn't too clear on that. But he was very clear about the point that, you know, Iran has always can continuously supported Hamas, that this will always continue. He admitted that they get enormous amounts of support from Iran.

He said it's no secret that over the decades that they've received vast amounts of money, arms, technology, training from Iran, and that's put them in the position that they're in today with the capabilities that they have now and that Hamas wouldn't be Hamas without that backing from Iran. So even if they're not directly involved, they can always count on Iran's support. Ali Aruzi for us tonight, Ali, we thank you for your reporting. When we come back answering the call, our conversation with a dual American citizen now fighting in the Israeli army. why he says he felt he had no choice but to fight, and his message to the civilians caught up on both sides of the war.

Stay with us. Finally tonight, the story of an Israeli-American who left his home and his family in the U.S. to take up arms for Israel after hearing the news of the gruesome Hamas attacks. Captain Shai, one of thousands of Americans, answering the call to support the Israeli military, telling me he had no choice but to fight. Just over a week ago, on the morning of the terror attack,

Israeli-American, shy, who does not want us to use his last name, took his family to the Shabbat services at his synagogue in New York City. What he heard shook him to his core. We walked into synagogue, and a friend of mine said to me, hey, did you hear what happened? And he said, no. And he said, because I'm not with my phone, usually, because I hope so the Sabbath. So he says to me, they broke down the border in Gaza, and they have jeeps to terrorists that went all the way to Afakim.

That news of Hamas and its evil, killing more than a thousand Israeli civilians, sending Shai a dual citizen who already served his time in the Israeli military immediately into action. So, Shai, for Americans back at home who are going to see you and they're going to meet you when they watch this, explain to them why as an Israeli-American you chose to leave New York and come back here. Well, I mean, a few people asked me, but Chai, do you really have to go?

And I said, I'm actually 40. And I'm living in New York now right now, relocating for work. So I said, actually, I don't really have to go, but I really have to go. It was very clear to me that I have to go join my friends, my unit. To be honest, the level of atrocity and how bad it was wasn't clear to me when I decided to come back. The terror attacks a call to action for Shai, who felt the only thing he could do was leave the safety of his home in America, his wife, and three young children. How did you explain that to them and how difficult was it to leave? To be honest, I didn't explain to them too much.

You can't really explain to an eight-year-old. In fact, I hope to God that he doesn't see any of the footage because it's absolutely horrific. For Americans at a home who don't have dual citizenship and they don't understand, sort of the patriotism you have for your other country, Israel. What is it about what you saw in that synagogue that compels you to come over here? I love America. America is a part of me, but I'm also Israeli. And as a Jew living in Israel and my grandparents are sole survivors of the Holocaust. The sad fact is that we have no place to go. We have nowhere else to go.

And, you know, this is this is our country and we have to defend it. he now carries a machine gun, a weapon of war to defend his homeland, the innocent lives on both sides weighing heavily on his mind. How do you explain to people at home who are seeing the images and they're seeing sort of obviously what the Hamas terrorists did, but they're also seeing the Palestinians who can't get out of Gaza and they're dying and kids are dying too. I know war is not fair and it doesn't really make sense. How do you explain that? Because there are Palestinian-Americans there too. Yeah, yeah. So to be honest, I feel really bad for the Palestinians. Because there are many Palestinians in Gaza that are innocent, that didn't do these attacks necessarily, that

aren't. But Hamas is holding them captive for years. We've known this for years. And what's happening now is that they're not letting them leave. This is unprecedented. We're a war. And so we always try to minimize civilian casualties, always. That's the way we operate. But at the same time, And we have to understand that they're not giving us another choice. As the Israeli counteroffensive against Hamas rages on, Shai determined to fight for his home and his heritage and wanting the world to never forget what Hamas did to innocent families and children. You're ready to fight for Israel and ready to fight till the end?

The mentality is we'll do whatever needs to be done. And so when something like this happens, especially the way it happened and how horrific it is this time, There's no question, and everybody's just doing whatever needs to be done. We thank Shai for sharing his story with us, and we thank you for watching this special edition of Top Story tonight. I'm Tom Yamis in Tel Aviv. Stay right there. More news on the way.