Gaza. Will and smoke is now filling the air in gaza as the the Idf Is Reporting Attacksen on their northern border. Officials saying the shooting is coming from lebanon. That is a new development. You see the images on your with screen throughout the morning of explosions other gaza over gaza. If there are now and youve heard sporadic reports of firing on the northern border with hezbollah and lebanon, but we are crossing new bridges there on the escalation there in the north. That is certainly a notable development. Pete that is exactly right, will. Lets go to trey yingst who might have more for us. Hes lye on the ground in southern live on the ground in Southern Israel. The banner on our screen just read theres renewed fighting in the north. Would you expect that an offensive triggering in the south could mean more violation in the violence in the north too . Reporter yeah, guys, its the a great question. I do have some new information from the north. We can confirm this is an exchange of fire between Southern Lebanon and northern israel. This is the lebanese mill about the Group Hezbollah firing on the northern part of this country. The origin information if was mortar fire, then we got information about rocket pyre, so its a mixture. The israelis, we are told, have already started their response likely using artillery and possibly drones to hit targets in Southern Lebanon. They continue airstrikes along the gaza strip. Off in the distance we saw just a few minutes ago a large plume of smoke following an israeli airstrike along the border. Theyve been hitting gaza all day and night, more than 5,500 rockets fired from gaza, and some of those interceptions taking place overhead today. A very active southern front, but to your question when israel invades gaza this is a question of when, mt. If there will be more pressure. Its part of the reason israelis have deployed troops and tanks to the northern border because they understand that that hezbollah may take advantage. It will be an incredibly challenging number offing weeks here as the situation in the south continues to boil. The tension in the north is obviously there as we see with the exchange of fire right now. And then you have the west bank where there are thousands of militants who are arm ad, and even as recently as last night, were engaged in gun battles with Israeli Forces there. This is quickly becoming a multifront conflict and requires focus from the Israeli Military to make sure theyre putting resources where hay need to be. Rachel egypt is saying we wont allow americans to come through that border unless you allow humanitarian aid to go in to gaza . What is happening with the americans . Have you had any word of where theyre at, where theyre gathering . Whats happening with them and whats our government doing to help them . Reporter yes. Ive seen a photo inside gaza sent to me showing a group of americans and foreigners at that southern Border Crossing, the rafa crossing between gaza and egypt. Weve seen those reports in the past 20 minutes indicating theyre not allowing the foreigners to cross the border as previously thought would happy this time. Its 4 00 local time, andsupposed to end by 5 00. So less than an hour from what were talking about right now they were supposed to close the border. And, remember are, theyre not going to be doing this a lot at night, its an active war zone. But it appears based on reports the egyptian president , el sisi, playing politics with the situation. And it is a dangerous plan. You know the amount of u. S. Military aid thats given to the egyptians each year. Theres an open line of communication. This is not dealing with a country like north korea that doesnt have clear lines of communication with the United States. This is considered a partner in the region, and there are both economic and military ties. So the fact that this is happening right now, there are certainly calls being made at the top level in the United States government and military asking questions about what is going on. Will so, trey, one more question as a followup. I think were focusing on the right immediate issues here, and that is whats going the happen to American Citizens in gaza, but the second being this potential for a multifront war in israel. If this escalation in lebanon is happening, trey, i know you said that the israelis are very well aware of a devotion of resources, of not focusing too intently on gaza lest you open yourself up to vulnerability somewhere wells. What does that entail . Is that just lebanon . Is that the syria . Where else do the threats exist for israel . Reporter yeah, its also syria, its a variety of locations. Someone once described the Iranian Regimes reach as an octopus and its tentacles. In different parts of the world, you have major threats. The youre looking at a map of The Middle East, youve got israel, the west bank, gaza, and hen the you have a variety of other locations where threats are going to come if from. Inside gaza youve got hamas and Islamic Jihad and smaller palestinian factions. Theyve all told fox news on camera they do receive support from the Iranian Regime. Then you have the lebanese militant Group Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, and they have thousands of precisionguided missiles, rockets, ground troops, everything you can think of to launch a ground and air campaign against the jewish state. Then you have iranianbacked groups in syria that have fired mortars into claimed israeli territory. And then you can go further east to iraq where there are Iranianbacked Shia militias that could launch drones that could travel to israel. Then you go to iran, iran has long range Ballistic Missiles that they would be willing to fire at israel if this escalates. You have Iranianbacked Houthi rebels in yemen. This is a multifaceted thing that the israelis have to worry about, and its part of the reason why theyre asking for more missiles. They understand that the iron domeing this is the primary system used in israel in the south and the north, can get overwhelmed. And if they start receiving pyre from other countries and other renales, all these iranianbacked groups at the same time, theyll have to use larger missile systems. They have two other systems, the arrow system which can intercept Ballistic Missiles, and then you have davids sling between the iron dome9 and the missile system. Either way, theyre going to need the missiles to shoot down rockets and and missiles being fired at israel, and they have to prepare for this venn venn call eventual ity. They have to be prepared just in case. Will all right. Thank you so much, trey. Pete thank you, trey. Will as Fighting Rages on in israel in the south and now to the north as well, approaching the border with lebanon, Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken is heading to the united arab emirates. Rachel earlier he met with saudi arabias foreign minister. Pete Alexandria Hoff is live to outside the white house with the latest on those meetings. Reporter and, you know, they were two the very different can tones shared in this meeting. You had Saudi Arabias Foreign Affairs minister, he did not mention hamas once. Then you had Secretary Blinken brought up hamas immediately as the sole source of civilian suffering, that hamas is the reason behind this issue that we have right now. He called it a Terrorist Group that must be stopped. The priority needs to be to the stop further civilian suffering. And here we need to find a way to quickly deescalate the situation. Hamas is not representative of the Palestinian People or their legitimate aspirations for the future. Hamas is a Terrorist Group. Its only agenda is to Destroy The9 State Of Israel and to murder jews, and its important that the entire world see it as a such. Reporter Secretary Blinken added this was a time for Moral Clarity. And this meeting comes at a critical time. Sources tell reuters that the saudis are shifting their focus away from talks to normalize relations with israel, instead moving to speaking with irans president in an effort to hinder an escalation of violence across the region. And as gaza braces, sources tell our Jacqui Heinrich that the u. S. Had urged israel to delay the action until Safe Pass Passage For Palestinians could be can secured. The the Biden Administration is attempting to locate 14 americans. President biden spoke to the families of the missing yesterday in a conversation he called gutwrenching. To those Holding American hostages in gaza, you say what . I say were going to do everything in if our power to the find them, everything in our power. And im not going to go into the dedetail of that, but theres were working like hell on it. Reporter for americans stuck in gaza right now as you were just speaking with trey about, the Administration Says its tracking 500600 palestinianamericans in gaza who have sought out more information about how they can leave. Will, rachel, pete . Rachel thank you very much. Will speaking of one of those American Citizens, we spoke to a, an American Citizen who is living in israel, and she talked about so many of her Family Members who have been taken hostage from the kibbutz they were living in Southern Israel. Do you remember how many she said . Rachel five from the age of 12 to 80 years old. Can you imagine . Will she is said four of them were french, dual citizens with france, and i believe the 80yearold is also an a American Citizen. Listen to abby. You could hear them in the house, they had overturned furniture, and i could hear gunfire. The last a messages that we have from them are a fear that they wont make it out. They are saying goodbye and that they feel like this for them was the holocaust. Hamas uploaded the video of the 12yearold in their hands, in the hands of terrorists. We are working with the governments of both of those countries and with any government that will help us put pressure on hamas over people or that are backing hamas to allow for the release of these people. This is a war crime against the geneva convention. Holding elderly and Young Children and children with special needs, it is a war crime and something that is beyond evil. Rachel it certainly is a war crime, and abbey said she got confirmation that her family initially she couldnt hear from them. They lost communication. But then hamas uploaded Video Footage, and she saw her terrified 12 year old cousin surrounded by terrorists, shirt off, arms bound behind his back. It is the one of the most disturbing things you could ever see, because you just cant imagine whats going through that poor boys head. And, of course, she said to us that she felt confident there you see a little bit of the footage. Its just, its just horrible. She said she feels a little bit confident, she feels fairly confident and reassured by what joe biden and the State Department are doing. We had a guest on earlier whos working to to get americans out, and he says hes underwhelmed with what the government is doing to help hostages. Pete yeah. I mean, i dont know she also said she has no confirmation since then of where they might be, hasnt heard anything, and i dont know whether to be encouraged or discouraged what to make of the fact that we havent yet seen Hostage Videos or even public demands which could mean that there are things, hopefully we pray to god it means there are things happening under the surface between the israeli government, the u. S. Government, the terrorists and hamas in gaza, a negotiation for these hostages. We dont have confirmation for any of that because that would be a way to avoid a full scale Hostage Rescue which would be one of the largest in history. Incredibly dangerous across the spectrum in gaza considering the tunnels that exist there. So we are preparing for what will be an onslaught likely and an invasion from Israeli Forces, but its a Hostage Rescue layered on top which erin cohen, who was on with us earlier, kind of i alludedded allude might be at the forefront of any operation. You imagine how complex that would be. Will my takeaway from that interview as a well is that its firsthand testimony to the atrocities that have happened in the past week. I 100 believe the first thing to die in any war isth truth. And i understand there is propaganda from think single side, and i think we should all come to expect that. When you see Something Like what happens in ukraine with volodymyr zelenskyy, we should understand thats to be expected. That will happen in this war, and it will happen on all sides, and its our job and our elected leaders job as well to sort out the truth. There is a debate going on about the extent of the atrocities, you know . People speak specifically to the existence of 40 decapitated wake i babies. Whether or not that the specific detail has been confirmed or not is beside the point that we have seen videos of babies that were killed, babies that were kidnapped, babe with byes that are alive and being used as Human Shields being rocked by hamas soldiers. You can see these videos. And as you pointed out, rachel, the Video Confirmation of abbey, in the case of a 12yearold being paraded away from hamas. These are confirmed. Pete these are facts that civilians were specifically targeted. We mow that. Rachel americans in this case too. Pete americans as well. That a peaceful Music Festival was surrounded on three sides by three different elements of hamas gunmen who intentionally fired at crowds of noncombatant civilians. That we know to be true. We also know that whatevers about to happen in gaza to include the bomb that just dropped there is going to be messy. We mow that israel is calling for we know that israel is calling for civilians to leave. We know hamas is telling those same civilians to not to leave because Human Shields are beneficial for them. Death counts are beneficial for them inside the International Community and the inevitable both sides that will come out of this hen those numbers rise. They believe it helps their cause will i think it already has begun to help their cause if reports last night that saudi arabia has put on ice its potential peace deal with israel. And, in fact, conducted a call with iran. In the past week. That suggested many some way in some way this is already beginning to play into the hands of the greater geopolitical threat to israel. Rachel its really hard to imagine that just a few years ago we had peace in the middle ooh east and what has been undone, through energy policy, by the way pete we were on our way to weaving together the prevent defense of the driving of a wedge like this if saudi arabia had made peace. Rachel exactly. And now were in a moment where a lot of americans are wondering not just for the safety the of the hostages, especially the american hostages that are there, but if they to do something terrible to our american hostages, will that bring us into a broader, you know, bring us into the war . We could have a broader war. Now we have war in ukraine, were overextended militarily. Were broke as a nation. Theres all kinds of ramifications here, and a a lot is hinging on the next couple days, truly. Will those are all part of every bit of this conversation needs to be had. The humanitarian crisis that will unfold in gaza. Rachel absolutely. Will the serving of american interests every step of the way of american involvement needs to be debated. Rachel ray yeah. Will i wanted to share this quickly, theres a podcast called the all in podcast, it has david sacks and others, and in that conversation these are Tech Investors in Silicon Valley said, you know, i wouldnt describe might be i would describe myself as somebody on the left, and i moved gradually to center and now slightly to the right. I think we need to act knowledge what appears to be ab an objective reality of the quality of things accomplished during the trump administration. If you do not like the messenger, you still have to acknowledge the message. And the message was the Southern Border was secure, the economy was strong, and you had accomplished the Abraham Accords which was beginning to siphon off this block of people against israel. And, in fact, set the predicate for saudi arabia to start moving towards israel. You cant ignore those accomplishments, and they are monumental. Rachel and also monumental, energy independence. Donald trump took us to energy independence. 30 bi