it will be a long war. >> because of this war from the israeli point of view, of course, is to eliminate the hamas structure and hamas as an organization. >> here hoping to live. we have a little hope to live and save our lives. >> neil: nonstop. as israel's war with hamas rage on. a meeting with secretary of state antony blinken and saudi defense minister bin salman help avoid a wider conflict? we'll ask chairman mike mccaul. "your world" starts right now. welcome. i'm neil cavuto. glad to have you. let's go to lucas tomlinson. his in israel with the latest on the israeli military pounding targets as we speak. lucas? >> neil, there's three israeli divisions attacking from three different directions with the goal of cutting after gaza city from the rest of the strip and cutting gaza in half. israel's defense minister speaking to his forces not far from where i'm standing with a simple message. destroy hamas. >> we are not going to stop until we eliminate all of them, all levels of command and lower. the enemy has two options, to die or to give up, surrender without any conditions. >> israeli forces have been inside gaza since friday night and turning up the volume as they approach the gaetz of gaza city. the advances have not come without a cost. 16 of the idf soldiers have been killed since the gaza operations started. 11 yesterday alone. israeli mechanized forces including tanks, bulldozer and mine clearing vehicles have been in action. they have destroyed 11 targets and won't stop until hamas is completely annihilated. israel is not only launching air strikes but the west bank, lebanon and syria, too. after a ballistic missile was launched, israel has deployed a warship to the red sea for additional air defense. these israeli corvettes are made in mississippi, neil. after weeks under siege, the first palestinian civilians, hundreds and americans living in gaza were allowed to leave through the rafah crossing in to egypt. as we've been outside here, neil, we've seen hundreds of israeli forces, reinforcements heading in to gaza, which is down this road, route 25. we heard constant artillery barrages from israel striking targets in gaza. we've heard israeli f-15s and apache gunships waiting for tasking, neil. >> neil: thanks, lucas. please be safe. in the middle of all that. to peter doocy now in washington at the white how specifically. an tony blinken is meeting with saudi arabia's defense minister. how is that working out? >> even though saudi arabia has been calling for a cease fire and they have been critical of israel, they want to make a deal to normalize relations with israel. >> i still believe an integrated israel is good for the region. we still believe that that is a path worth pursuing and we're not giving up on that. we're still interested in pursuing this normalization arrangement with israel and saudi arabia. as i said, the saudi arabiians want to continue in that regard. >> the red carpet has been rolled out and will be received by the secretary of state, blinken, who is about to fly himself to israel to sit with benjamin netanyahu. >> he will reiterate u.s. support for israel's right to defend itself in accordance with humanitarian law and discuss the need to take all precautions to minimize civilian casualties. >> vice president harris is in the u.k. reiterating the loss of innocent life must be minimized. president biden's only comment about this so far today has been a tweet. he is sticking to bidenomics in minnesota. neil? >> neil: thanks, peter doocy at the white house. we expect to hear more from the president and what he makes of this safe corridor that's been set up in the rafah region a little later this hour. we'll take you to that when he does start addressing it. mike mccaul back with us, the house foreign affairs committee chair. it's good having you. thanks for taking the time. >> thanks for having me. >> neil: this meeting with antony blinken and the saudi defense minister, there's been some criticism from the saudis. we understand where they stand on israel. but they haven't been condoning or helping israel in any way or certainly that is the per perception. are you worried? >> you know, yeah, to some extent. i'll say just given the history of israel and mecca and saudi arabia, they have been enemies in the past, but lately with the abraham accords and i hope this visit will expand the normalization agreement. they understand the enemy of the enemy is my friend and that is iran. so they fear iran the most. they don't like hamas' tie and allegiance to iran for hezbollah. i see this -- by the way, this meeting was supposed to take place before hamas even invaded israel. hamas -- you asked me in a previous interview, why not? why did hamas attack israel? the 50th anniversary of the yom kippur fight and also i believe that hamas saw the normalization taking place between saudi arabia and israel and they want to do something to stop it. so i think right now our credibility is on the line. if we're not successful in israel, our credibility in the arab world will go down the toilet. and then iran and china will come in and fill the vacuum. >> neil: congressman, you're right to go back 50 years ago, the yom kippur war. that led to the arab oil embargo and the long gas lines. we can all remember that, those of a certain age. the question now is it's a different environment, i get that, but you don't hear condemnation of hamas from anyone in the arab world. i wonder what that could tell you. >> well, i think certainly in jordan, they have a lot of palestinian in their population. egypt, tried to kick them out and throw them in the gaza strip. if you look at history there. nobody wants them. that's part of the problem. the humanitarian crisis. none of these arab nations want to receive the palestinians. that takes us to the rafah gate itself. i just heard the first american citizen just got released out of there. that's what we want to see. we also don't want a gate that is open to fund and equip and arm hamas. so the screening has to be very carefully done. i have been given assurances it is. but we don't want to be funding this war or funding hamas and this war against israel. >> neil: not all americans are finding that pathway out so easy. we'll talk to a young couple dealing with that. to your point, it's being checked and rechecked. ahead of that, i want your take on aid that might be coming israel's way. you've been among those concern that its israel only aid, that eventually you said at the end of the day, we must see the ukraine threat as linked together with israel. what did you mean by that? >> well, all of these threats are linked together. look at who our adversaries are and their alliance quite frankly between putin, his invasion of ukraine and threat to europe, to chairman xi in china and his threat to taiwan and the pacific. the greatest we've seen since my dad's war, world war ii and then look at the ayatollah and iran and his threat to israel. they're all enemies of the united states and the west. they're all tied together. they're all linked together. i think this package -- we're going to start with israel. that's appropriate given the threat to israel and the urgency. but all of these threats are tied together. the last one, neil, is the last line of defense. that's our southwest border. so we have to tackle all of these issues i think to really deal with the threats that we face as a nation. >> martha: chairman, and i'll be dealing with this with other guests throughout this show as i have earlier on fox business, this notion that iran's provocative attacks, even through rogue groups is such 28 attacks in a little more than two weeks. our response has been to go after those entities that are acting on iran's behalf. but not on iran itself. do you think that is a mistake? should we target iran if we have unequivocal proof that iran is behind these attacks on u.s. soldiers? >> i don't want to -- i don't think we want to see escalation. that would require an authorization of use of military force and would come out of the house of foreign affairs committee. we don't want to see escalation with hezbollah or iran. that's why the deterrence is so importance. these carrier strike groups in the eastern mediterranean and the persian gulf provide that deterrence against hezbollah and iran. theadministration is slow in responding to the attacks -- >> neil: hang on to that point. the president is speaking right now in i believe northfield, minnesota. i believe he's addressing the real situation. >> thepresident of egypt and others to make sure we can open this access for people to get out. i want to thank our partners in the region, particularly qatar that have worked so closely to facilitate the departure of these citizens. at the same time, we're continuing working to significantly step up the flow of critical humanitarian assistance in the gaza. the number of trucks entering gaza continues to increase significantly, but we still have a long way to go. the united states will continue to drive humanitarian support for innocent people in gaza. israel has a right to defend its citizens from terror and needs to do so in a manner consistent with international law. prioritizes protection of citizens. we've all seen the devastating images from gaza. palestinian children crying. parents writing their children's names on hands and legs to be identified. it's okay. kids are allowed to do that with me. don't worry about it. i don't blame him. him or her? i don't blame her. [laughter] look, the loss of any innocent live is a tragedy. we continue to grieve for the israeli children, the mothers and those slaughtered by the hamas terrorists. we hold in our hearts those like small children and elderly grand parents including american citizens being held hostage. many -- my administration is working around the clock to get the hostages released. we won't give up. [applause] and i am optimistic, but then i'm an optimist. folks, now i want to thank brad for that introduction. brad said he wasn't sure what a good speaker was. he can speak better than i can farm. >> neil: the president is talking about this opening of the rafah crossing today from gaza. it's an entry point and exit point that egypt orchestrated to allow those that want to get out to get out. not everybody. there's a limit that how many can come out, rejoined by chairman mccaul that was patient enough to go through that. chairman, the president makes clear that this is a good first step. of course egypt is providing that opportunity separately france and the netherlands are drawing up plans to get aid presumably through that same entry point in the gaza. what do you make of how it's going thus far? because part of checking who gets out is making sure that hamas fighters are not among them. >> yeah, i think that's absolutely correct. i know -- this has been a great diplomatic effort with qatar, uae, saudis, egypt. the last thing that egypt wants to do is let hamas come in their country. if you go back in time, it was the muslim brotherhood that lit up al-quaida and their prisons. so it's in their best interest not to allow that to occur. i know they're vetting people coming out of there. if you look at the battle plan taking place in gaza, if you look at the middle of gaza, you can see the israeli idf, the military going across to basically construct a blockade, if you will, that will then open up a humanitarian zone, cutting hamas out of south gaza and trapping them in northern gaza where they intend to deal with that threat and try to rescue hostages. >> neil: chairman, this notion of responding to iran by attacking iran or points in iran and not some desert hut or something in the middle of nowhere because you think you're taking out those acting on iran's behalf. what do you think of that? >> they have proxies, right? they operate through their proxies. they don't typically engage in this on their own. the irgc does for sure. they really rely on their proxies which are like the tentacles of iran. like hezbollah, hamas, the malitia groups in iraq and see i can't, the houthi rebels. we've been looking at updating our plans since 2001. we need to look at the terror proxies coming from iran. to step it up to bomb iran right now would really be a big escalation that i'm not sure it would -- it would intensify things, not cool things down. >> neil: you touched on your hope thatyou get a security package that looks after the needs of israel and ukraine. your new speaker, mike johnson is not a fan of that. he wants to limit it to israel for the time being. you seem optimistic down the road that both countries needs will be addressed. you want them addressed now. he says israel first, down the road ukraine. that looks like an impasse. ed. >> well, the talk of the day is israel. i think it's important we show our support for israel. what we do want to see is we can'tabandon our allies in europe. we can't withdraw out of ukraine like we did in afghanistan. look what happened there. putin said in one week he would take over ukraine. then what kind of world are we looking at where our adversaries are emboldens like putin, claim xi and the ayatollah. the security has it rights. this is something back home that my ask its talk about, the aid package. if we can't deal with the political asylum issue, the real magnet here, we're failing to address the problem. >> neil: what is to stop -- i get their intentions. president zelensky could warned israel, we were front and center too, with america. you better be careful. because americans might lose patience andthe wear and tear of the war with you too. >> i've been critical of the way the administration has conducted the war and managed it. they've been slow to get with weapons in. we need oversight. we need a path for victory. that's what my members want to hear, a path for victory. a majority would support our ally theres the region, this is a global interlinked threat against the united states and the west. so i think the speaker has come out, messaging-wise saying he does support the effort in ukraine. but we're going to have to get something in return for that. i think this is our best opportunity to get something on the border that could be a real game changer as opposed to seven million people that have come in to this country and then given noticed to appear and released in society. >> neil: seems less attention to ukraine. more attention to the border, more attention to israel, less so to ukraine for the moment. am i right? >> that will occur soon. you'll see an aid package come outs of the senate that will have all four threats attached and linked together. so i don't want our friends in ukraine to think we're abandoning them. we're supporting ukraine this week. next week will be a ukraine bill and indopacific bill to protect taiwan and our friends in the asian pacific from the threats coming out of communist china. >> neil: chairman mccaul, good catching up with thanks. >> thanks. >> neil: the federal reserve went ahead and did nothing on interest rates, coming then at a 22-year high. the banking lending rate at 5.25%. it's what jerome powell said that this might be it for a while. the data they're looking at right now seems to be supportive of keeping things steady as they are. by the way, the bank oe europea have paused on rates. back to israel and these attacks on u.s. soldiers. they seem to be happening one a day. you heard what chairman mccaul says. joe lieberman was a little more forceful yesterday and said if we miss the opportunity to go after iran directly, we're missing an opportunity for humanity after this. i hope you all like potatoes... these are fresh from my garden. what? 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