Transcripts For FOXNEWSW America 20240703

Into this situation. They stormed our kibbutz, they kidnapped me. Bring them home, bring them home. Nothing will be the same because at the end of the day our community lost 10 of its population. Sandra begin a brandnew hour breaking moments ago, two Security Sources telling reuters a Rocket Attack has targeted an air base in iraq which hosts u. S. And other forces just west of baghdad. An update from john kirby. He is going to be joining Karine Jeanpierre at the White House Press briefing, expected to begin just moments from now. Bill also well hear from the pentagon as a new report reveals the u. S. Military is stepping up its surveillance now in the middle east. Sandra a lot happening at this hour, over on capitol hill, lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs committee are set to receive a classified briefing on the threat from iran. Another busy day in our Nations Capital and beyond. Sandra smith in new york. Bill, great to have you here. Bill i dont know roberts is off today. Bill hemmer. Welcome to america reports. Top biden officials are concerned it could expand. White house preparations are in the works. Sandra and we hope to hear more from the white house, a new report revealing the Biden Administration is gearing up for the possibility of a maybe evacuation that would require hundreds of thousands of americans to leave the middle east. Bill begin anew, over the next two hours on the Breaking News from the war in the middle east. Trey yingst, what can you tell us at this hour . Hello. Bill, good afternoon. A very active night along the israelgaza border, watching as the israelis strike different hamas and Islamic Jihad, Tank Fire Skirts across the horizon. Also have some Breaking News about the Zikim Beach Area behind me. We heard a firefight erupting, israelis fired flares into the air and at least four hamas militants were killed, they tried to infiltrate by the mediterranean sea, and four of them according to the israelis. Comes as israel is ramping up strikes along the gaza strip. Over the past 24 hours, you heard a strike in the distance, 400 have taken place over the past 24 hours. As the israelis try to lay the ground work ahead of the expected operation into gaza. Today they took a different approach toward the civilians. Rather than warning them to head south, they dropped leaf lets from the sky telling civilians they could get a monetary reward or safe passage if they could provide the israelis with information where the hostages are being held. We know there are 220 people currently being held inside gaza. This comes after last week two American Citizens were released and overnight two israeli citizens, elderly women, and Destruction Inside Gaza is increasing. Israelis trying to put as much pressure on hamas and Islamic Jihad but the Infrastructure Damage does continue to spread and according to the Palestinian Health ministry, more than 5,000 people have been killed along the strip. Bill. Bill when we were talking this time yesterday, 24 hours ago, talk of a rumored report there could be a large number of hostages that would come out of gaza, perhaps as many as 50. We have it did not happen, clearly. Have you heard any of those reports over the past 24 hours or have they all been dismissed and gone away, trey . We saw those reports yesterday and shied away from giving an exact number. We were talking with Israeli Intelligence sources and regional intelligence sources who said that may not be the case. And if it is the case, it wont be done that quickly. There are many high level conversations behind the scenes. We can confirm the qataris are working even at this hour to get as many civilians out of gaza as possible. A real understanding on the ground that once israel does push forward with this operation and israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today met with soldiers and he said this is just the first stage of an expected months long battle. Once that does move forward, theres an expectation that iranian proxies across the region will increase attacks, not just on israel but also American Assets across the region and that will complicate the Negotiation Process to get hostages released. Bill indeed, we can hear the sounds hyped you. It is nighttime in the middle east. Sandra breaking right now, we are just getting this in to us, the israeli ambassador to the u. N. , bill, slamming the Secretary General calling for his resignation. We have the video, and sound. Ok, so we are trying to get that for you now. But this after the u. N. Secretary general appeared to justify hamass Surprise October 7th attack. So we are going to have that for our viewers a short time from now. But obviously this is a big moment. Bill what guterres said, the attacks by hamas did not happen in a vacuum. Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. Seen their land steadily devoured by settlements, plagued by violence, economy stifled, people displaced, their homes demolished and that brought the Israeli Foreign minister eli cohen to blast that statement and suggest immediately that he should resign as the u. N. Secretary general. Sandra we have that sound, well play that for the viewers in a moment. Israels Defense Forces say they have eliminated at least five terror cells in southern lebanon, including one that launched rockets into israel territory. Greg palkot is live at the israellebanon border. What is hezbollah saying about a potential israeli invasion of gaza . Sandra, hezbollah is saying to israel, do not escalate further down south or it will get worse here. The latest scrimmage we witnessed, israeli Helicopter Firing Rockets at a hezbollah location on the other side of the border behind a ridge line two miles away, heard the blast, saw the smoke. Officials are telling us here on the ground that their new strategy is preemptive strikes, Firing Positions before the militants fire. The militants are using antitank missiles, mortars, rockets. Israel blasting back with tanks not far from where we are now, artillery, fighter jets, armed drones. Clashes have not yet reached a full scale war, they are still tying Down Tens Of Thousands of Israeli Soldiers here with the potential for worse, its already deadly, in the last two weeks, 44 hezbollah and other militants killed. 7 Israeli Soldiers. And civilians killed and injured, too. And left over 40 towns here, 20,000 fled on the lebanon side. Looking more and more like a combat zone. And iran the benefactor of hezbollah as well as hamas. The u. N. Security Council Secretary of state blinken had a message for tehran. His words, do not open another front in this conflict. We will see. Back to you. Sandra greg palkot, thank you. And with us now, tal heinrich, spokesperson for Benjamin Netanyahu. Can you give us an update for the situation, what do you n anticipate . Over 7,700 rockets fired at the israeli territory since the outbreak of the war, a war we dont want, didnt even expect. We were dragged into it by the Hamas Terror Organization and we, sandra, as a nation, we have taken this very important decision that we can no longer live next to an existential genocidal threat. This is the only reason why we are operating in gaza right now. And we will bring an end to the hamas regime in gaza, once we are done, they will not have any kind of Governance Bodies or military wing. Hamas can simply be no longer. Israelis will be safer once hamas is gone and palestinians may have might have better new opportunities. Bill you know its been a tough vote for you to win at the United Nations, has been that way for decades. The news that just crossed a moment ago on behalf of the u. N. Secretary general i read a lot of what he said, his last line, the palestinian hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing and talked about occupation now for 56 years. What is your reaction to that and although there is a call for the Secretary General to resign, all likelihood you should not hold your breath for that based on history at the u. N. True, very clear antiisrael bias at the United Nations, this is nothing new. This crazy double standard. What the u. N. Secretary general said this hamas attack, the massacre of october 7th didnt come in a vacuum . That is mind boggling. Can you imagine the u. N. Secretary general saying such terrible sentence after the 9 11 attack . The 9 11 attack didnt come in a vacuum . That the pearl harbor attack didnt come in a vacuum, the kidnapping of 276 school girls in nigeria in 2014 didnt come in a vacuum . This is insane. This is insanity. The Civilized World Musted Stand with israel in its war against terrorism. The message that a u. N. Secretary general must send out is that terrorism is a dead end. Sandra sabrina sing, the deputy White House Press secretary press secretary for the pentagon i should say was joining bill and dana this morning and remarkable moment, i believe bill you asked this question, when asked about this ground invasion, when its happening and reports that the United States was somehow urging a delay of it. Listen. The idf is one of the most capable militaries in the world. We are providing support and assistance. Its up to them to decide when they move forward with any type of incursion. Sandra can you tell us how involved is the United States in this decision on when to go and move into gaza . So israel is a sovereign nation, it will make its own decisions. Obviously we are communicating with international partners, including with the United States because as you know, there are also hostages inside the gaza strip and people who were affected by the October 7th Massacre who are dual citizenship holders and foreign nationals. But, our military generals and our Political Leadership are the ones that will make these decisions. When to move to stage two, stage three of this operation and they are looking at different variables all the time, bringing in into accounts sandra we are still in stage one then, is that what you are saying . That the possibility of stage one is to secure israeli territory and like trey yingst report add moment ago, they are still trying to challenge us by infiltrating from the sea. So stage one is securing israeli territory. Stage two, thats what i call the counteroffensive to dismantle hamas and maybe stage th three sandra any point the United States stepped in and urged a delay of this. Did that happen . I dont think delay fits here. There are different considerations being brought into account, so we will act when the conditions are right, when the timing is right, when the military generals make their decisions and they are taking into account all kinds of calculations, true. We are consulting with international partners. There are also foreign nationals held in gaza. Bill this is an interview that was truly stunning. It aired here in the United States before the sun came up. This is the 85yearold hostage who is now free as of yesterday, or late last night, speaking through the interpretation of her daughter. They stormed our kibbutz, kidnapped me, laid me on my side into a motor bike, they blew up the fence, dozens stormed our houses, killed and kidnapped people like me. No difference between young or old men or women. It was very, very painful. Bill remarkable, her husband is still held captive in gaza. Can you confirm at this hour, at the highest level of the Israeli Government, are there still negotiations to free hostages, whether its 2 or 20, between the hamas leadership and the government of qatar . I cannot comment on any kind of specific reports. We are working in every possible avenue, bill, to try to bring to the release of all hostages. Now, note that the only reason of why they said these two hostages and two other women free is because of mounting international pressure. And this pressure is just going to increase. We are calling on the International Community to back us up in this demand, set them free, let the red cross pay a visit to the hostages. There is a 9yearold boy celebrating his birthday in gaza right now without his family. It is mind boggling. So this is the reason why they freed them. But also lets not be mistaken here. The Hamas Terrorist Organization did not change overnight and turn into this Human Rights Organization or anything like that. No sympathy here, of course. They are the ones who butchered, tortured, raped our people. They are the ones who turned people into ashes so badly that 18 days after that massacre we are still unable to identify some of the victims. Sandra when we look at the negotiations and the possibility of hostages being released, can you clarify what exactly happened over the weekend with hamas going to the Israel Government saying that they would release some of these israeli women being held hostage but israel reportedly refused. Was that the case, and what was hamas demanding in return . Can you imagine a case in which israeli israeli, Israeli Government will say no to freeing of hostages . We should not be fooled by hamas very cheap manipulation and such tricks. This is part of their propaganda war machine and we shouldnt believe anything that comes out of their mouth. We shouldnt even we should be very, very cautious whenever any kind of report is coming out of gaza. Theres no free speech, no free press there, anything that comes out of gaza is controlled by hamas, they are the people with the guns. Bill tal heinrich, thank you for your time. Spokesperson for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister. Thank you for being here today. U. S. Supporting hostages for Ceasefire Deal . We should have a ceasefire, not a ceasefire, we should have hostage released and then we can talk. John no ceasefire in sight. Progressive lawmakers upping the pressure on the president call for that. What is the administrations next move . We are about to find out when the briefing is underway, waiting on that live from the white house. Sandra and the Pentagon Briefing on how it plans to protect the u. S. Troops from Drone Attacks in the middle east. And the latest posture from the u. S. When we return. Alkaseltzer plus powermax gels cold flu relief with more concentrated power because the only thing dripping should be your style. 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They have seen their land steadily devolve by settlements and plagued by violence. Their economy stifled. Their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing. Mr. Secretary general, in what world do you live . Definitely this is not our war. Saturday, october 7th, will go down in history as nothing less than a brutal massacre. Saturday, october 7th, is a wakeup call for the entire free world. Wakeup call against extremism and terror. Sandra a remarkable moment and development. Live from the United Nations, eric shawn is with us to quote the Secretary General, it is important to also recognize the attack by hamas did not happen in a vacuum with the israeli ambassador to the u. N. Then calling for him to now resign for those remarks, eric. Absolutely right, sandra. It is a stunning diplomatic news Breaking News here at the United Nations with israeli ambassador gilad erdan calling on secretary guterres to resign because of his remarks. Some are taking his remarks as justified in the terrorism, blaming the savage Barbaric Savagery and murder by the terrorists of hamas directly on the israeli occupation. Not the first time the Secretary General has used those terms that events in the middle east have not happened in a vacuum. He did refer to the 56 years of what he called israeli occupation. This has caused raised the hackles not just of the israeli u. N. Delegation but also eli cohen canceled a meeting he had with the Secretary General after the Security Council speech in which he gave earlier this morning. Let me read to you a little bit of what the u. N. Ambassador has tweeted out, he said the shocking speech by the u. N. Secretary general while rockets are being fired at israel proved beyond any doubt the Secretary General is completely disconnected from reality in our region, goes on to say that he shows understanding for the campaign of mass murder, of children, women and the elderly. He is not fit to lead the u. N. I call on him to resign immediately. In other words, the israeli ambassador saying the Secretary General doesnt understand what mass murder and vicious Barbaric Savage terrorism is attacking the innocent civilians of israel based on the Radical Islamic Ideology and hatred of the mass murdering terrorists of hamas. We will likely see more fireworks on the diplomatic front from this, certainly the arab states will probably weigh in on behalf of the Secretary General. The palestinian observer accusing israel of violating International Law saying that it is israel that treats the palestinians in gaza as he said, his word subhuman but it is very rare in the halls of pin striped diplomacy that you see such a public fireworks and a public call from a United Nations ambassador to call on the Secretary General to resign. We are now waiting for the Secretary Generals response from this who is the spokesman for the Secretary General. Likely i would gather, sandra, probably reject the israeli ambassadors demand but we may get more explanation on exactly what the Secretary General meant during his remarks at the Security Council this morning. Bill eric, two questions. Did the Secretary General condemn hamas in any way, yes or no. He talked about terrorism and this sort of thing. But this is one of the issues that we have had at the United Nations in which the foreign minister took to task the nations that yes, they do talk about the occupation, they do talk about the humanitarian situation, whats being now in gaza envisioned on the Palestinian People in gaza, separating the civilians from the terrorists of hamas but the criticism here is that there is not the outrage, said anthony blinken, or Secretary Of State, he says where is the outrage of those here at the United Nations condemning Terrorist Activities of hamas and naming hamas. You often do not get such blunt direct language from the diplomats here and the critics say its just a shame that makes a mockery and a farce of what the United Nations, tenets of what the United Nations was founded on in the ashes of world war ii. Bill they love to condemn israel, see whether that condemnation comes today from inside the u. N. Three big events right now in washington at this hour. The white house going to hold the daily briefing, john kirby back in the room and Karine Jeanpierre, The Pentagon Briefs at 2 00. And later this afternoon, House Foreign Affairs committee receives an update on the threat from iran as they place blame for the chaos in the middle east on that country. Aishah hasnie is watching all that and live on capitol hill to bring us up to speed whats happening now. Aishah we are watching the classified briefing very closely, its going to happen in a matter of hours. Meant only for the members of the House Foreign Affairs committee. We are trying to gather information about it but the committee is very, very guarded about this. They wont even tell us who the briefers are going to be today. We do know this was scheduled before october 7th, but we are told that it will encompass iran, the Israel Attack and of course even more urgent, the recent attacks on u. S. Troops in syria and iraq, from those iranianbacked groups, as fears in washington, bill, are growing urgently about the u. S. Possibly having to get involved and dragged into this war if iran green lights its proxies to attack israel from all sides, you are seeing the pentagon move those Carrier Strike groups into the region. On top of that, the Washington Post is reporting the administration trying to come up with this Contingency Plan to e evacuate hundreds of thousands out of the middle east if needed. Caught up with dan sullivan who came back from israel and the greater middle east region and asked him if the u. S. Is ready to get involved. Thats going to be we are not there yet. I think having u. S. Forces in the region ready to go after the iranians should they attack our forces, ill tell you this, one thing that we have to do, and they are already starting to do it, iranian proxies are starting to probe americans in iraq, in syria, in the persian gulf. Cant allow that, right. Iranians are trying to attack american soldiers, American Citizens, 100 from my perspective. We need to hit back and hit back hard. So what does that mean, bill. Senate republicans are calling for this administration to freeze the 6 billion first and foremost and then sanction iran. One senator privately telling me that iran has laid a trap for the u. S. And the u. S. Is falling into it. Bill aishah, thank you. Back to you with more headlines shortly. We know iran is backing these groups, giving them the means, resources, training, encouragement and direct contacts with the irgc, the revolutionary guard to conduct these attacks on our troops. We dont necessarily see that iran has explicitly ordered them to take these kinds of attacks. That said, by virtue of the fact they are supported by iran, we will ultimately hold iran responsible. Sandra take you back to the board as we await the briefings, one from the white house, one from the pentagon in the next couple of hours as the administration ramps up rhetoric against iran, number one State Sponsor of terrorism and later this afternoon, house lawmakers on the Foreign Affairs committee will be receiving the classified briefing on iran. Likely learn a whole lot more about what is happening in all of this. Brent sadler, retired navy captain, Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow joining us now. Brent, great to have you on board. I want to take the viewers through the screen. One we have been showing them as this war in the middle east escalates. Iranian proxies and affiliates in the middle east, and geography of this moment, noting israel here, gaza, where hamas obviously is located, but the threat from the north, hezbollah, lebanon, shia militias, and bahrain, really just showing israel surrounded, brent. As i toss to you here, i want to look at the defunding coming from iran as we learn more, according to our fox news research. Iranian proxies and their affiliates in the middle east, bringing in from iran, 100 to 200 million a year. In lebanon, hezbollah, 700 million per year founded back in 1982. Hamas, the number estimated 300 million per year, going back to 1987. 30,000 fighters. You look at the building of these militias, you look at the geography of the moment, and the funding that is going into these iranian proxies, and how would you characterize the threat today as this geography clearly shows israel surrounded. Well, israel does have a lot of options, i would not necessarily say they are effectively surrounded by iran and its proxies but as iran is actually supplied increasingly more modernized and capable weapon capabilities to the huthis in yemen, southern end of the red sea, tried to attack israel from that directs but the u. S. S. Carney intercepted that attack before it could reach israel, hezbollah to the north, also anticipated anticruise ship missiles and long range Ballistic Missiles they have used and demonstrated in the past. Sandra we are getting an update with john kirby. Just stepped up to the podium at the White House Briefing room. If you could stand by, we are going to listen here. Prime minister as things unfold here and the ambassador on the ground continuing to try to get humanitarian aid in and safe passage for people out. I dont have a lot of progress on either front to speak to. No more trucks got in and we havent again secured passage for folks out. But we are obviously working that very, very hard as well as the hostage piece. Not a lot to update you there. A quick note on the state visit, because im certain im going to get asked, we expect the situation in the middle east to come up in the conversations with the Prime Minister tomorrow, the president is looking forward to the state visit. A lot on the plate with this important ally and key partner in the region. I want to quickly blow through if i could highlighting some of the key initiatives we are going to be announcing. Leaders will have more detail tomorrow, so i will probably not be able to go into more detail than what im going today, but fair to give you a sense of some things they are going to be announcing and the theme, the current running through the visit is going to be on innovation. So, announcing new advanced technology cooperation, particularly on artificial intelligence, you might have seen the Prime Minister Inking A Deal with microsoft on the 3 billion investment for a. I. We welcome that. This Tech Innovation piece will also be highlighting a new Space Agreement to allow u. S. Companies to launch into space from australia. Exciting there. We are going to be committing to clean energy, resilient, sustainable and critical mineral supply chains. Secretary of commerce was over at the embassy talking about that and closer to finishing that Critical Minerals piece. Obviously tackling the climate crisis, including by mobilizing funding for businesses across the region to transition to clean energy. Advancing connectivity across the pacific, through infrastructure, enhancing Defense Cooperation between us to include Tri Lateral Cooperation with japan and again, continuing to work on this occus implementation, its the Tri Lateral Agreement between great britain, United States and australia to provide for australia a Nuclear Power but conventionally armed submarine capability. And then of course other deliverables as well. Very exciting visit. The president and the first lady are very much looking forward to it. Lots going on in the world. We are excited about it. Thank you, karine, admiral. French president macron called for hamas to be added to the targets of the u. S. Led Coalition Fighting the Islamic Jihad state group. Is that something the white house would support . We are aware of the reports coming out from them. I would say first and foremost, focused on Helping Israel Go after hamas right now, making sure they get the capabilities, Security Assistance to go after hamas. And we are certainly in discussions with our allies and partners as you know, president macron was on the call, actually two calls the president has had with european leaders the last several days, well continue those consultations. I have two questions. On this international they found evidence that israeli used White Phosphorus in gaza. Any confirmation on this . I cannot confirm that. And just now as you know, the u. N. Security council had a meeting, arab groups condemned killing civilians. Also said that we should support a peaceful existence to if you want to support israel. Do you envision a scenario whereby hostages would be released, hamas would be disarmed and some kind of International Conference would take place soon . I couldnt begin to speculate on that. Thats those are potential steps that havent happened yet and may not happen. All i can tell you is we are going to continue to make sure israel has the tools and the capabilities that they need to defend themselves. Going to continue to try to get the humanitarian assistance in, try to get hostages and people out of gaza appropriately and as i think youve heard us say, a ceasefire right now really only benefits hamas. Thats where we are right now, and i understand the question, but im not going to get ahead of where things are. No scenario to avert the war now. That was my point, really. Theres no other scenario to avert there is already combat between israel and hamas. If what you are saying, avert a ground incursion, that is a question for the israeli Defense Forces. They make the decisions what operations they are going to conduct or not. We dont believe a ceasefire right now we would believe a ceasefire is only going to benefit hamas. Thanks, admiral. There is some reporting overnight the u. S. Is planning for Mass Evacuations of americans if the war were to spread. Can you kind of give context of how likely you guys are viewing that scenario and whether this is very top Level Planning or there is some sort of granular detail you are going into this on this effort. I wont go into granular detail on operational planning but it would be imprudent and irresponsible if we did not have folks thinking through a broad range of contingencies and possibilities and certainly evacuations are one of those things. I mean there is not a Place In The World where the pentagon doesnt have Contingency Plans on the self, may need updating but on the shelf to help with the evacuation of American Citizens and given whats going on in the middle east i think its perfectly reasonable, imprudent and irresponsible if we werent doing some kind of contingency thinking. But we are not at a point of execution and there are plenty of opportunities, even in israel to get out. We are doing Contract Charter Flights and demand signal for our Contract Charter Flights has not been very high. They are still going but they are not all filled. And the same could be said for places like lebanon. About you but each country is different and the threats and challenges change over time. I know that youve thanked qatar for the role to helping secure release of some hostages so far, but wondering if the u. S. Believes qatar should expell the hamas leaders in the country right now. I dont think well, ill just say we are having conversations with partners across the region and we know that qatar has an open line of communication with hamas and as you saw, we thanked qatar for their support in helping get two americans out. I would tell you those discussions and those conversations are ongoing, and critically important, and i think i need to leave it at that. Thanks, admiral. Former president obama shared some of his views about the conflict yesterday. One of the things he said was that the israelis have not done enough to avoid killing or injuring civilians as they seek to take out hamas in gaza. Does President Biden share that view . President biden has since the very beginning of this conversation been talking to the Prime Minister and we have been talking to israelis at various levels, at the cabinet level and below, about what separates us from hamas as two democracies, respect for human life, abiding by the law of war, doing everything you can to prevent civilian casualties and Collateral Damage and thats an active conversation we continue to have with them. Urging them to be more respectful, what is the message . I think i just conveyed it. And President Biden said the decision to cut off food, water and electricity to a Captive Civilian Population has the potential to erode Global Support for israel. Wondering if President Biden agrees with that as well. Hes been talking again to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking to the israelis again, since the early hours of this two weeks ago respect for human life, respect for civilian population in gaza, making sure that they can continue to get access to food, water, medicine and electrical power remains critical. Its important and thats why he worked so hard on this last trip last week to do exactly that by getting the israelis and the egyptians to agree for humanitarian assistance to get in. Just make sure we are using the right numbers. 33 americans dead, how many unaccounted exactly . Ten. Ten total, ok. Let me ask the president when he was departing asked by a reporter if enough is done to let aid out, he said its not going in fast enough. Who is the obstacle right now. What is the primary obstacle for the aid to arrive what the president would be satisfied by. I know it would be attempting to pin the tail on the donkey, a lot of factors at play here and if it was easy, my goodness, there would be 100 trucks flowing in every day, its a war zone, it complicates the ability to move safely and the right recipients, the customers, that kind of humanitarian aid. So, lots of players involved here. Hamas is obviously a player. Israel is a player. Egypt is a player. The u. N. Is a player, and ambassador satterfield is working this as hard as he can. Unfortunately today we have not seen any trucks go in, well see what the hours to come bring. One quick followup, a separate topic, we know the israeli war cabinet has been meeting with the Prime Minister, the president and others have spoken to members of that cabinet, is the president confident that the israeli War Cabinet Led by the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will do the right thing as he views it in carrying out this war . He is confident we are going to do what we need to do to get israel the capabilities that it needs. The war cabinet can speak for themselves. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu can speak for his government. Saying he has confidence in netanyahu and the cabinet to lead the war effort its not our place to decide the competency of the unity government that Prime Minister Netanyahu Put in place. Thats for him to speak to and his cabinet officials. The president left tel aviv confident he had the opportunity to be candid and forthright with Prime Minister netanyahu privately and at large and had the opportunity to ask them, the hard questions that he wants them to be asking themselves before they start some sort of major ground offensive. Thank you. Thank you, sir. I wanted to get a sense a spate of attacks on u. S. Forces in the region. Can you characterize the threat that the u. S. Faces in the region right now as israel we are deeply concerned by the potential for future attacks on our troops. You are right, we have seen, im guesstimating here, but about a dozen over the last several days. And as a result, tragically, one u. S. Contractor died as a result of a heart attack from sheltering. So its potentially a dangerous environment and we are taking it very, very seriously. Our commanders on the ground have the right to defend themselves and their troops and can take the appropriate and are taking the appropriate force Protection Measures and as you know, the president has added additional Military Force to the region and now one of those Carrier Strike groups will go on through to the gulf region to make sure that we send a strong signal of not only deterrence, but our willingness to protect and defend ourselves and our national interest. Question about sir, as you have the australian Prime Minister coming tomorrow in the midst of the activity around the middle east, can you just give us a sense from the president s perspective, how is he balancing these two sort of Policy Objectives versus his longer term Foreign Policy objectives that the Prime Ministers visit embodies . Well, hes balancing it well. Hes doing it i mean if you want to give him, you know, a report card, a plus. I mean hes Commander In Chief that never stops in the duties and responsibilities are literally global. I mean, we are one nation that has truly global responsibilities and hes managing it all. Now, it would be really helpful if he could also get the support of Congress Up On capitol hill, particularly for the supplemental funding. Immensely simpler and easier to manage the multiple crisis to get the funding for ukraine, indopacific and the border. Even today things are delayed whats delayed . [indiscernible] i appreciate that. It is true. It is true. Presumably the president is going to have a number of calls he has to make tomorrow that he wouldnt have otherwise had to make if it had not been this crisis in the mideast and had you going to keep the Prime Minister of australia waiting while netanyahu is on the phone how is that going to work . I dont anticipate keeping the Prime Minister waiting on anything tomorrow. They got a pretty full agenda and as i said at the top, the president is looking forward to that. But being president of the United States means balancing a lot of priorities and challenges, whether they are domestic or foreign and often times the line between those gets blurred pretty dang quickly. As karine was talking about in the opening in terms of the spillover of potential domestic threats in the United States, the president is managing it well because of his long experiencing government, the wisdom he brings to the job, look at Prime Minister netanyahu, they have known each other for decades, since the Prime Minister was working in the embassy here in d. C. As the deputy chief of mission. All that comes into the way he executes the job and hes on top of it all. Thank you. Can you teright now to get palestinian americans out of gaza . Understandably there is some logistical issues, we talked to people who are stuck at rafah and who want to leave. What is the government doing right now . This is something the ambassador is working really, really hard. A prime focus, several hundred americans we know are there, and actually i dont know exactly how many are down at rafah, but there are Many American citizens down at rafah that want to get out and hes working that very hard. We also believe and hes also talking to partners, particularly egypt, about the possibility of others getting out through rafah, again, innocent civilians of many different nationalities, certainly palestinians want to leave and should be allowed to leave the active war zone for their safety and their families. I wish i could tell you we have the recipe cooked and out at a certain time and place, i dont have that right now but i can assure you and all of them we are working on this very hard in realtime. So the Gaza Health Ministry run by hamas said 700 people were killed in an israeli airstrike. Can the u. S. Government verify . No, and you are right by saying the Health Ministry is run by hamas. Setting aside whether the 700 figure is correct or not, wondering if the administration is having concerns that the israeli response has been disproportionate in response to obviously the horrific attack that we have seen from hamas . We are going to avoid trying to react to every single event on the battlefield. We all saw last week how quick reactions to events on the battlefield turned out to be inaccurate. So for our part we are not going to jump to conclusions on every time there is a report of something, we are not going to react in realtime. Certainly to a conflict to which we are not a part in terms of being presence on the ground. All i can do all i can do is say what ive said before, that we have and will continue to talk to our israeli counterparts about the importance of avoiding and minimizing civilian casualties and respecting innocent life and trying to prevent Collateral Damage as they go after legitimate hamas targets. I said this the other day, and i think your question prompts me to say it again, because i think its an important notion. This is war. It is combat. It is bloody, it is ugly, and its going to be messy. And innocent civilians are going to be hurt going forward. I wish i could tell you something different. I wish that that was not going to happen but it is it is going to happen. And that doesnt make it right, doesnt make it dismissible, do everything we can to help the israelis do everything they can to minimize it, but thats unfortunately the nature of conflict. Thank you, admiral. So, going off your earlier exchange with peter, to be clear, the u. S. Cannot say they are confident israeli has a clear and achievable military plan. A question for the israeli forces. Has the u. S. Discussed any possible red lines . No. And following on that, Secretary Of State Antony Blinken said humanitarian must be considered to protect gaza. Can you expand on that. Antony blinken said humanitarian pauses must be considered to protect civilians in gaza. As i said from the beginning, we want to see all measure of protection for civilians and pauses in operation is a tool and a tactic that can do that for temporary periods of time. It is not the same as saying a ceasefire. Right now we believe a ceasefire benefits hamas, a general ceasefire. To follow up on that, could you clarify how you would define the difference between humanitarian pauses question of duration and scope and size and that sort of thing. And said yesterday when asked about what the future of gaza might look like, thats something the israelis are going to need to figure out subsequently. And i think they are. They are exploring those questions about what governance in gaza looks like longterm. I dont think that, and understandably their focus is much more on the here and now and the operations. Does the u. S. Have a view about the legality of a reoccupation of gaza by israel and whether thats a temporary thing or more permanent thing . I dont believe we have taken a position on that. Thank you. Do you believe that the current level of bombardment allows for the transfer or extraction of hostages . Difficult to answer the question given that we are not completely sure about the location of each and every hostage. And we are working to get more granularity on that, and we have seen yesterday another two got out, obviously thats just a tiny fraction of the pool that we think hamas is holding. But we think we think the effort to continue to negotiate for the release of additional hostages is worth is worth the effort. Obviously we have four now families will get reunited, thats a good thing and we think the work needs to continue. Pause rather than a ceasefire is necessary, how long do you think is reasonable to expect some of that information to be obtained . I couldnt begin to answer that question right now. Israeli officials have told cnn they do not support a transfer of fuel into gaza, Which Hamas Has said is required for any sort of deal to release hostages. Does the u. S. Support that position . Separate and distinct from the Hostage Situation and what we are doing to get them out. I want to be careful im not talking about the specifics of the conversations going in to getting these people out, lest i make it harder to do in the future. Put that aside for a second. We have said and continue to say fuel is an important commodity for life and sustainment in gaza, for the Palestinian People that are still there, and we know that fuel is a precious commodity running out and you need it for generators and hospitals, you need it to run the desalination pumps so you can drink freshwater and not sea water. All of that is important and so we are going to continue to work with partners in the region, we are going to continue to push for fuel to get in. Now look, that said, and said this again yesterday, we certainly understand israeli concerns about the possibility for hamas to abscond with fuel and use it for their own purposes and not allow it to be used in hospitals and desalination plants. That is a legitimate concern, no question about it. Why the ambassador is on the ground working this so hard. There is there is a balance here that has to be achieved. Obviously we have not achieved it yet but we still believe in general that fuel needs to be able to get into the people of gaza. Thanks. Of the ten that are presumed missing or hostages, can you tell us whether or not all ten are presumed to be hostages or are some still missing. Whats the percentage . We dont know. They are unaccounted for. Some could be hostages, some could unfortunately be dead, we dont know. Thats why they are in the unaccounted for category. Get bd on everything. The australian Prime Minister has a meeting with president xi of china scheduled for next month. Wondering how much is counter and china expected to come up tomorrow and the position to have an important ally that needs to be business as we do with china. I think we support and understand the Prime Minister wants to meet with president xi and travel to beijing. We have traveled to beijing three cabinet secretaries, special envoy kerry, and jake sullivan, and conversations with the chinese and keeping the lines of communication open is really important. The president has said that many, many times and australia is their relationship with china is incredibly important to manage it. The first question, theres no question in my mind that the challenges and the opportunities in relations with the prc will be on the agenda tomorrow. No question about that. Thank you. John, does the administration agree with the u. N. Secretary general Statement Today that the hamas attacks did not happen in a vacuum. I dont know what he meant by that. So im not im not sure i didnt see the comments, im not sure what the context is. He said its important to recognize the attacks by hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian People have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation, goes on. That statement made a lot of israelis mad. I want to know if the administration disagrees what he said. The president has spoken very clearly and i think very forcefully on who is to blame here for october 7th. Its hamas. Its not the israelis, its not the innocent people slaughtered going to a music festival, it was hamas. They planned this thing for many months, maybe even as long as a year. Hamas is to blame, hamas is to blame. On that note, is the assessment still the same that iran did not directly play a role in this attack. I never said iran did not play a role. What we have said, and no change, what we have said, jacqui, is iran is certainly complicit here. Without them, there is no hamas, without them theres no hezbollah. Without them theres no Militia Groups firing rockets at our troops in iraq and syria. And as i said yesterday up here, we recognize irans monitoring all these events and in some cases encouraging some of these attacks, no question about it. Now you are talking about october 7th. We still have not seen any direct specific intelligence that says that they were participating or directing the attacks of october 7th. Broadly complicit, no question about that. And im sure that our israeli counterparts will in due time take a harder look at the intelligence picture and what might have been missed, what gaps there were, but ill let them speak to that. Can you speak to the shift in language we heard yesterday out of the pentagon, last week no one would confirm on the record that these attacks were coming from Iranian Proxy Groups but then Brigadier General ryder says the u. S. Is taking iran responsible. Are they trying to widen the war . We see they are backing these groups, no question about that. We have sent a strong signal of deterrence. There is no indication right now that any other nation state or actor is preparing or imminently to escalate the conflict but we are watching this very, very closely. And again, i want to be clear here, nobody is turning a blind eyetoeye rans complicity. Their support for the Militia Groups in iraq and