This is not just israels problem. Now its in israel but this is a whole world problem. We expect theres a likelihood of escalation, escalation by iranian proxies directed against our forces. We step up and deal with this axis of evil, china, russia, iran. Because its an immediate threat to the United States. Sandra a warning from Mitch Mcconnell about a new axis of evil as we get word of a brandnew drone strike or attacks against a u. S. Base housing american troops in syria. So far no injuries have been reported, meanwhile we are awaiting two briefings at this hour. One from the white house, where john kirby will be joining karine jeanpierre, the press secretary, and another happening a few minutes later from the State Department and a big hello and welcome to you as we begin a new week in new york. Bill im bill hemmer in for john roberts, making his way back to the u. S. Of a. , and from israel. Good afternoon to you where you are. Things stand at this hour, israel says its forces struck more than 320 military targets in the gaza strip over the past day alone, destroying hamas tunnel, Command Centers and observation posts, sandra. Sandra the threat of a wider regional conflict is forcing the pentagon to step up posture, putting more u. S. Forces on high alert. We have Fox Team Coverage across the globe over the next couple hours and the breaking news from The Middle East, trey yingst first, news is breaking in southern israel. What do you know. Yeah, sandra, good afternoon. Overnight the israelis launched 320 airstrikes against the gaza strip. In the disns at that, they are continuing the strikes. They tell fox news they are trying to hit as many hamas and Islamic Jihad cells above before the Ground Offensive that could start in the coming hours or days. And two drones near a community that sits along the gaza border. We bring you this report. We were there a few days ago. Bloodstained floors, and bullet holes. Residents were executed at point blank range. Some homes frozen in time. Small pieces of life among the death. In others, still finding burned bodies. 25 of the population is missing or dead. The other 75 is left to make sense of the senseless. To be a voice for the voiceless. If you could just speak to him, what would you say . Hold on, we are coming. We are doing our best. He grew up here, his brother was killed in the october 7th massacre. His father taken hostage. We did not take the time to be sad yet, did not take time to mourn yet. We feel, our small family feels we have a mission. That mission is to bring 79yearold man home, spent his life helping palestinian children in gaza and making art to protest violence against palestinians. The israeli army controls what is left of the town here, soldiers wait for their next mission. On the other side of a fence topped with barbed wire, black smoke is seen in the distant horizon. The Israeli Air Force is striking gaza. You can hear the strikes along the gaza strip. What you are looking at there is gaza, sits less than a mile from the border, militants were able to simply walk into this Quiet Community last saturday, slaughtering so many innocent people in their homes. You can see in these videos released by the Israeli Military how intense the airstrikes are, the death toll inside gaza more than 4700 people, with estimates over a million displaced along the strip. We do know the strikes will continue tonight. There is also some buzz about the possibility of more hostages being released. Well bring you that information when we can confirm it independently. Sandra. Sandra we know you will. Well check back in with you shortly. Bill back to the drone attack on a base housing u. S. Troops in syria, National Correspondent rich edson has more from the pentagon. Rich this happened overnight, two oneway Attack Drones were intercepted. All part of what Officials Say is an uptick in activity from iranbacked militias in the region targeting u. S. Positions, started last wednesday and this was an attempted attack where the u. S. Intercepted more missiles headed towards a base in iraq. The pentagon then says on thursday the u. S. S. Carney intercepted four land attack cruise missiles heading north, potentially towards israel. Iranbacked huthis launched them from yemen. Pentagon says it has not seen a specific order from leadership in iran directing the attacks, though officials note iran supports the militias and the u. S. Will ultimately hold iran responsible. The United States is bolstering and redeploying forces in the region. U. S. S. Eisenhower Carrier Strike group is going to the persian gulf. Initially it was sailing to the Eastern Mediterranean after iranbacked militias fired rockets at u. S. Forces, the pentagon redirected eisenhower, and sending more Missile Defense assets to the region and a couple thousand marines and sailors ready to respond in the region and a couple thousand more u. S. Troops told be prepared to leave in 24 hours if you get the order. Bill nice to see you. Sandra. Sandra new warning from the State Department urging americans in lebanon to leave immediately as israel targets hezbollah terror cells deep inside lebanon. Heavily armed fighters have Tens Of Thousands of rockets on hand, long range missiles and other weapons, all aimed at israel. The two sides continue to Exchange Fire along the border. Greg palkot is keeping track of the latest fighting. What is the situation on the ground there right now, greg . Greg escalating clashes between israel and next door iranbacked hezbollah militants all along this border. Israeli Defense Force claims it has struck eight hezbollah terror cells just in the past night. 20 terror units are said to have been hit in the last two weeks. Latest updated casualty toll, 20 hezbollah fighters killed, seven Israeli Soldiers killed, and civilians. Residents in 43 towns in israel, as many as 100 to 200,000 civilians have fled, but some are still here and that is a risk. Take a look what we saw and heard today. Where a Hezbollah Missile Hit here in Northern Israel, came across the border from lebanon. Hit this private house, did some damage. Police Security First responders all rushed into position. Its believed to have been an antitank missile, small in size, but fired from a mile away it can do region damage. One little girl inside hurt from flying glass. Another close call in the region. Another rocket in this house. Greg hit a private house, not a military target. No, no, a private house and you see children. Greg children inside. Sandra, this as hezbollah ties up Tens Of Thousands of israeli troops in Northern Israel concerned with that militant threat coming across the border. This as that Big Incursion Into Gaza after hamas looms down in the south. A lot of actions, a lot of different corners of this region. Back to you, sandra. Sandra all right, greg, thank you. Bill so we are waiting for an update from the State Department as Hamas Terrorists are believed to be holding at least ten more americans hostage. This after the department worked with qatari negotiators to successfully free two americans late last week. We are expecting to hear more in the efforts to bring the other captives home, a mystery at the moment. Gillian turner is on that story now. Hello, State Department now. Gillian hi, bill. Well, any moment now we are going to hear from matt miller, but the Secretary Of State is offering his gratitude and his thanks to the government of qatar as you mentioned profusely for their help in negotiating the release of the two american hostages previously held by hamas inside gaza. Listen. I again want to thank the government of qatar for playing a very Important Role getting them out. I want to thank the government of qatar for their very important assistance. All i can say with regard to qatar, in this instance, we very much appreciate their assistance. Gillian after the release of judith and natalie raanan, Biden Administration is hoping qatari negotiate tors are the key freeing some ten americans believed to be still in hamas captivity. Qatars government has a dicey history, taliban, russia, iran, experts say they are far from being clearcut allies of the United States. Listen. Its a little bit of a doubleedged sword when youve got senior hamas leader who has been living in doha in qatar, but it gives them some leverage over hamas. And thats the result of that was the freedom for two americans being held hostage. Now in addition to lebanon, the State Department is ordering the evacuation of all nonessential personnel at the embassy in baghdad, iraq. And level 4 Travel Warning for the entire country, tells americans to stay away, to cancel plans to go there any time soon. This of course, bill, as the State Department has increasing concerns that the war in israel is going to expand and involve other countries imminently. Back to you, bill. Bill thank you, gillian. Now across the room for a look at the geography, sandra. Sandra oversaw the u. S. Withdrawal from afghanistan in 2021, general, thank you for joining us and our goal really with this particular screen is to show how israel is really surrounded by these iranian proxies and affiliates in The Middle East, and have you sort of give us an idea how we are growing Military Presence in the region to combat this. And the potential for a growing war in The Middle East. But right now i want to highlight for our viewers, obviously this is israel, this is gaza, the concern there is hamas to the north, lebanon, hezbollah, you look at hezbollah in all the regions as far as iraq and the iraqi shia militias, yemen, bahrain, and hezbollah in iran. Just really gives you an idea, general, of how this region is completely surrounded and if i bring in a picture, a snapshot of what we are doing militarily to surround the region, it gives our viewers a really good idea of how we are positioning. U. S. Gerald ford in the east mediterranean. We just moved over the weekend announced, u. S. S. Eisenhower into the persian gulf, and marine here in the red sea, u. S. S. Mount whitney moved in from italy. How we are positioning the military might. Thanks for having me today and as we take a look at development in the region begin by remembering this is the 40th Anniversary of the attack on marines in beirut in october 23, 1983, directly backed by iran that resulted in 241 u. S. Casualties. Its a somber note and keep that in mind as we look at irans capabilities. Forces that are coming into the theater are designed to deter iran from acting aggressively in the Current Crisis that we are in right now. And the two carriers are important, the fact a carrier is now going down through the suez canal, that increases pressure on iran. We know iran responds to reposturing of u. S. Forces. They look very carefully at what u. S. Military forces are in the region and our capabilities and our capabilities now are designed to deter them from attacking. They are also designed to deter Lebanese Hezbollah on embarking a Disastrous Campaign if they come into the war against israel in the north. You are also right to point out that israel faces vectors on many threats, from gaza in the west, from Lebanese Hezbollah in the north, and then of course in the east all the way from iran because iran does have missiles that can reach cities in israel. So thats a matter of very great concern to the israelis and what we would do right now, we would like to keep this struggle where it is, level of gaza and israel, and avoid going to a wider theater fight. Iran will try to come in, we want to convince them this is not the time, these are not the circumstances you want to do that. Sandra general, really good information. And flip to the next screen and talk about the Patriot Defense system, highly technical, sought after by so many allies all over the world. Can you tell us a little about this and how this is being put in place, considering this tactical truck thats got a launching station, missile canisters, generator set, data link, mast assembly, the terminal module, the advance capabilities of this particular military might. What is the point and strategically placing this in the region . Sure, so actually when we think about missile and air defense in the region, think about two things. First of all, think about patriot, its a groundbased capability, use it against airplanes, against ballistic missiles, do a variety of things for you. But the beauty of the patriot, all of these systems, they talk to each other, all of these launch sites talk to each other so we can develop a rapid operational picture of whats going on and share that information amongst ourselves and friends and partners in the region. This is a very important thing patriot gives us an ability to do. Also the terminal, High Altitude defense battery brought into the theater as part of this deployment, hit missiles at a higher altitude, thats flowing into the theater. And remember the Navy Warships in the region, cruisers and destroyers, have the capability to potentially intercept iranian ballistic missiles. All this is integrated together, nobody does it better than us, and we have the ability to share it with our partners in the region. Its a significant capability. Sandra and a huge show of support for our u. S. Soldiers as well. And finally with this question, wall street journal poll, would you favor or oppose use of u. S. Troops if israel were attacked by its neighbors about which we just spoke. Just 38 said they favor. A majority, 57 said they oppose, general and end with this question also in that same polling that was done, if the attacker were iran, do you favor or oppose u. S. Troops if iran directly joins the fight against israel. Number who favor that does go up to 45 . But still half oppose. Really interesting polling just out over the weekend. General, appreciate you joining us with your analysis and expertise. Thank you for your time. Thank you for having me today. Bill keeping an eye on the white house and the State Department as we mentioned a moment ago, we are expecting comments from officials on a wide range of issues as we begin a new week here. We have been given a twominute warning so hang with it for the moment and before we do to that live. You know, some of the reports from over the weekend, its pretty obvious israel has ramped up airstrikes, trying to soften targets especially in northern gaza. A few aid convoys go into gaza over the weekend, population of 2. 3 million, and israel has been tough on whether or not the aid trucks can go in, whether they carry fuel or no fuel. But we do expect as of now, we expect a Ground Offensive in gaza. When it begins, its hard to know. This will be the second war between israel and hamas in gaza in the past nine years. Sandra remarkable to hear the family of those two hostages released last week, the mother and daughter from the chicago area, evanston, illinois, speaking about the release, they felt guilty for the moment of joy they had upon their release. Thank god they were alive, thank god they were being freed but still feel such enormous, enormous concern for those held hostage. Karine jeanpierre is taking to the podium at the white house. See if they lay the plan to free more hostages. As a conflict between israel and hamas continues, President Biden has made it a top priority to ensure that the Palestinian People receive urgently needed humanitarian aid. This is something hes been actively engaged on over the past week, including calls with president Sisi Of Egypt and meetings and calls with Prime Minister netanyahu. We are glad to see the first convoys of humanitarian assistance over the weekend Cross The Border Into Gaza and reach palestinians in need. And grateful for partners involved in these efforts. It is important to keep rafah cross i think operation and aid flowing without diversion from hamas. Humanitarian assistance remains a critical and urgent need for palestinians in gaza. We know, we know and we understand this, that much more is needed and this will remain a priority, a priority for us in the days and weeks ahead. I also wanted to say a few words about the supplemental request that we detailed to all of you on friday. Under President Bidens leadership we have rallied a Global Response to putins invasion of ukraine and provided aid to israel following hamass barbaric terrorist attack. We now need congress to provide Additional Resources