Shot down three land attack Cruise Missiles and several drones. Im going to send to congress an urgent budget request to fund Americas National security needs, to support our critical partners, including israel and ukraine. Sandra brandnew developments, breaking moments ago, hamas has freed two american hostages. That is all we know at this hour as American Forces are coming under attack by iran proxies across the middle east. And that is a huge development. Welcome, everyone, im sandra smith in new york. John, great to see you. John holds out hope for the fate of other hostages held by hamas as well. John roberts in jerusalem, this is america reports. Good to see you. Several u. S. Bases in syria and iraq have been targeted by Drone Attacks, raising fearss irans proxies are more emboldened to expand the war between israel and hamas. Sandra all of this is happening as the Israeli Defense forces have been given the green light for a Ground Invasion in gaza. Hundreds of tanks and Armored Vehicles deployed to Southern Israel in recent hours. John we have Fox Team Coverage from around the globe over the next two hours and the Breaking News from the war in the middle east. We are going to start with trey yingst, live on the ground in Southern Israel. And trey, what are we learning about the freed hostages . I want to quickly tell you, the camera was panned up to the sky, a massive barrage off the gaza strip. One of the rockets intercepted in Southern Israel. We do have some Breaking News for you. Fox news can independently confirm that two american hostages were released from gaza. These hostages were taken on october 7th by hamas militants who entered Southern Israel. They were dragged back into the gaza strip, you can hear the explosions as the fire continues. They were dragged not gaza trip and held for nearly two weeks, but International Efforts have been underway since then trying to free as many people as possible. We have to be careful with our attribution here, and the sourcing behind this. But we have been able to confirm by a source outside of hamas that this deal did go through, and two american hostages have been released into egypt. This is significant, and a major development. These are the first two hostages to be released, just pan the camera here, some sort of fire coming from gaza, and you can see that explosion there, that did not look like a rocket, might have been might have been a shell actually that was fired by the israelis. But it gives you a sense here as we are getting this news in, john, a lot of movement along the border and that explosion there, war planes are overhead right now, would not be surprising if you see any sort of airstrikes behind me. John. John let me ask you another little question if i could, trey. Its obviously dangerous where you are. And i dont want you to expose yourself. But apparently this hostage was released because of negotiations between qatar and hamas. But that would mean there are still 201 hostages, at least, being held. What about the fate of the others . Yeah, absolutely. Qatar has been working behind the scenes from humanitarian aid to Hostage Release. I dont want to get too deep into the specifics of this release but i can tell you that we can confirm there are still 201 hostages inside gaza, possibly more. The israelis spoke with us earlier today. A top Military Official saying there are between 10200 people still missing from Southern Israel, some of those bodies may never be recovered, there still could be some people alive, but in gaza just not yet accounted for. And thats part of why the israelis are making this calculation. Im told, though, by my producer, we checked with the israelis following our independent confirmation of the Hostage Release from gaza, two American Citizens. Families have not yet been notified, we dont have the names. But the initial statement according to reports that again, its two American Citizens, i dont want to get into the gender of the initial reports because we have only been able to confirm that these are two u. S. Citizens. But again, a Significant Development as thousands of israeli troops remain on the border with gaza, anticipation is growing about a possible Ground Offensive into the gaza strip and turn the camera again, you can see likely more fire into gaza and a small explosion there. If we have it, i do want to play for you some sound that we got earlier from israels defense minister. He spoke about the timeline and the regional war developing, you hear explosion there, activity along the border. But gallant spoke about what this means. He said this is not days, weeks or months, but we are looking at a much larger operation. Take a listen. We will reach the point there is a completely different Security Regime here that we have complete Freedom Of Action and that there is no threat from within the gaza strip. This will not take a day nor a week, and unfortunately not a month. Throughout the day there were some more rocket fire from the Gaza Strip Into Southern and Central Israel, 14 days into the conflict. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have maintained the ability to target Major Population Centers here. We have a small piece from this position in the daylight, but i will stay on the bridge with the producers in case we get more incoming. Take a look. Minute by minute, Israeli Air Force pounds the gaza strip. You can see the smoke rising up from the horizon. Israeli jets overhead continue to hammer these positions along the border. You can see rockets coming off the gaza strip. This type of fire has been going on throughout the day. A Ground Operation is imminent, but we do understand the israelis want to hit as many targets as they can before that takes place. I do want to draw your attention to northern israel, Significant Developments today. Lebanese militant Group Hezbollah continues to fire on israeli positions and communities. A town, around 20,000 people are being evacuated as a result of the tension along the border. Hezbollah has fired rockets, israelis have responded with airstrikes and earlier today there was an Infiltration Attempt where you actually had hezbollah militants trying to cross into israel, the israelis tell fox news they used an airstrike to kill three of those hezbollah operatives along the border in southern lebanon. A sense of how active the southern and Northern Front is, and the third front in the west bank. 13 palestinians were killed. We need to go, there could be mortar fire here. Stay with me. Everyone yep, leave the camera, just stay with me, we have to move, we are very close. I can hear you. Get in, thats mortar. Get in, get covered, everyone in . I can hear you, john. John ok. Sandra is with us as well, trey. Sandra trey, be safe, first and foremost, you and your crew. If you can keep talking to us, let me just read you listen to our camera. Sandra ok. You left the camera there. We can see the shot. Trey, theres some wires crossing right now, the palestinian red crescent, crossing on the reuters wire, says they have received a warning from Israeli Forces to immediately evacuate a gaza hospital. This is just crossing the wire right now. Also adding to that, lets see israels channel 13 is also confirming, by the way, that hamas has released two hostages. What else can you tell us about whats happening right now . Yeah, absolutely, and so the israelis continue, we are going to take it off the sticks, guys, if you could take it off the sticks, well come down here, just stay with us for a moment. So what you heard there, the whistle of of incoming mortar fire. So those were indeed mortars fired at this position and we are so close to the gaza border, you have about ten seconds to get to cover. So that plan we just implemented there, we had discussed that beforehand, leave the camera, get to a shelter and hard cover because this is very active here along the front. In terms of the evacuations, the israelis have been increasing airstrikes. It has been more than a decade since we have seen this level of strikes conducted by the israelis and for the southern communities that have been evacuated or who were victims of that massacre last weekend, they have already been moved away. The evacuations continue in the north and then when it comes to the evacuations inside gaza, the israelis are trying to alert civilians before they launch new airstrikes against heavily populated areas. We saw the misinformation that came out following that Hospital Explosion a few days ago. We very quickly spoke with the Israeli Military so we had the Accurate Information but many others did not, and it sparked unrest across the middle east. And that unrest is very dangerous, Given The Boiling Tension across the region that has started to spill over. You see irans proxies active and operating from yemen, trying to fire drones and Cruise Missiles toward israel. That fire intercepted by u. S. Naval ship. Also iranianbacked irani shia militias, its becoming an active regional scene and the last thing Israelis Need is more tension in the west bank or other cities across the area that could make it a challenging and difficult situation even worse. John, sandra. John im thinking hamas must be very pleased with itself it put out that statement and sounds like more mortars coming in, put out the statement which was erroneous about the Hospital Explosion, blaming israel, picked up by the global media and inflamed tensions across the entire region. What we are waiting for, trey, and waiting for more than a week, is the expected anticipated Ground Operation into gaza. Do we have any more clarity, and i know the idf is tightlipped about any planning they have, any more clarity when that might actually occur . There isnt a lot of clarity on that, and i think the release of two americans tonight may delay that even further. The priority is is diplomacy right now, trying to get as many people out held hostage by hamas, Islamic Jihad and smaller factions inside gaza before a Ground Offensive would take place. According to intelligence sources there are conversations going on at the highest level behind the scenes. Some are taking place in cairo, others are taking place in different locations. We are very careful again to protect sources in all of this, its incredibly sensitive information. The fact that two American Citizens were released by hamas is a small but positive development in this horrific story. And so they will certainly try to get more people released ahead of a Ground Offensive. But troops are staging here along the border. It still is not a question of if, but rather when israel enters gaza. Because they have one key goal, and that goal is to destroy hamas, to demilitarize the gaza strip, by destroying hamas, its destroying iran to operate throughout this area and makes it incredibly challenging and uncertain for the days ahead because there is a real belief on the ground, and this is not just coming from israeli officials we talk to, american officials, other regional players, they believe hezbollah and the iranian proxies throughout the region will immediately respond when israel enters gaza and its part of the posture and why the alert level is so high not just here in the south along the border with gaza but also in the north, along the border with lebanon, and david sling and the arrow system have to be engaged. This regional conflict is quickly evolving. Sandra trey, thank you very much. Incredible reporting on the ground there as its happening, and well get back to you shortly, trey, as we continue to get updates on this Hostage Situation as we can now confirm that two hostages released by hamas, the family has not yet been notified as you are reporting so we do not have further details yet, we hope to shortly. And by the way, update, trey, thank you. John, i want to continue to update our audience on what we are learning through the idf about the hostages. Brandnew information this morning on the approximately 200 hostages in the gaza strip, 20 of them children under the age of 18. They are releasing, the information they are releasing, between 10 and 20 of them over the age of 60, the majority of the hostages, the idf says, are alive. There were also bodies taken hostage to the gaza strip, important details released this morning. Well check back with trey, meanwhile, five u. S. Navy warships will patrol the waters near israel as a campaign of deterrence to keep iran and hezbollah at bay. Israel evacuating a town near lebanon as intense fighting in the north raises concerns about a growing conflict. Greg palkot is live from the israellebanon border for us. Greg, whats the latest from there . Greg sandra, as we look at the south, we are looking at the north now and it is a very active border. Hezbollah and other groups are testing israel from lebanon just about a mile and a half from where we are standing. In the past hour or so, we have been Hearing Exchanges of gunfire, in the past few minutes, outgoing Artillery Blasts from the Israeli Military. There have been militant mortars and missiles hitting one down, a drone has hit three hezbollah militants and earlier today more clashes and very important warning to one town. Take a look what we saw and heard. Here in the israellebanon border town, authorities are now telling people to leave, terror is creeping in on all sides. Yesterday saw six militant rockets rain down on the town. Three injured. Today a militant came across and shoot and injured an israeli soldier. The uptick in activity by hezbollah and allies up here is due to the looming israelihamas targeted invasion down south. I recommend all the People Living here get out fast, not take a risk. We have in the war area a lot of bomb, a lot of terror attack. Greg lots of bombs, lots of terror attack. Thats what the mayor of the town told us. He went on to say they are not fighting hezbollah, or hamas, they are fighting iran. Iran the benefactor and other groups, and may be also calling the shots throughout the region. Sandra 8 16 p. M. Local time there. Do you tend to see more activity as the night goes on . What has it been like over the past 11 or 12 days . Greg as im listening to you right now, sandra, im hearing artillery. We were with an Israeli Military artillery unit yesterday. They are very active, basically, over to one side of us and the shells are going over us and going into lebanon. They are targeting hezbollah militant positions and there are other groups, believe it or not, inside lebanon as well. Hamas does have a representation up here as well as other groups. So, there has been back and forth. To stand here and hear exchange of gunfire a mile, mile and a half away, brings home this is a very active front and from all the officials that have been talking about this, hezbollah officials, iranian officials, they make very clear if there is even more escalation down south, there will be escalation here as well, sandra. Sandra all right, greg palkot on the border there. Thank you very much, greg. Update on the two hostages while we are not able to identify them yet, the family has not been notified yet, they are currently in the hands of the red cross. We have just gotten that information. Well continue to update as we get more. John. John a little more detail on that, looks as though the transfer is going to be facilitated by the egyptians through egypt, i imagine, across the Raffa Crossing at the southern end of gaza. The president and founder of the research and education center, analyzes Israel Security challenges along its border with lebanon. Well get into that in a second, but obviously a positive development that hamas has decided to release two american hostages. There are still probably 201 in custody, many of them israelis. What do you make of the move, they said it was done through negotiations carried out by qatar for humanitarian reasons. I dont think hamas is a humanitarian organization. The reason to do that, to put pressure on israel to postpone the Ground Attack. John buy a little time. Suggest over the coming days we may see another Hostage Release. It may happen. And thats why put more and more pressure on israel to stop or prevent the Ground Attack so they will, you know, survive this. John that is one of the great worries, if a Ground Operation begins in the hours ahead, all of those hostages will be in grave danger. Thats right. But again,