kat. i could probably open for brian. >> brian: that hurts. >> bret: thank you. good evening. i'm bret baier. breaking tonight, the house has just in the past few minutes approved a $14 billion plus stand alone israel aid package. just happening there on the floor. congressional correspondent aishah hasnie is on capitol hill tonight with the very latest. good evening, aishah. >> bret, good evening to you. this was the first big legislative and political task for the new house speaker mike johnson. and i will tell you that he passed this today in somewhat of a bipartisan fashion because this vote wound up being 226 to 196. they lost two republicans that we were expecting marjorie taylor greene and thomas massie. but they gained a whopping 12 democrats at the final moments of this vote. that is surprising, bret, because there was quite some serious intense whipping going on on the democratic side. not only from leadership, but also the white house. that came after the senate majority leader basically drew a line today saying that he would absolutely not take up this house bill on the senate floor now the democrats had a lot of problems with this particular bill. first and foremost, the unprecedented pay-for. the republicans are clawlg about $14 billion from the irs funding that was tucked away in the democrats' hallmark reduction act. they don't like that. also the bill leaves out president biden's request for aid for other allies. >> they are leaving the ukrainian people high and dry in their war to stop is vladimir putin and appreciating the united states from bolstering our ally in taiwan against beijing's aggression. >> but speaker johnson was pushing back on that today, bret. basically promising that he is going to bring up ukraine aid. that that will see its own day. >> ukraine will come in short order. it will come next. and you have heard me say that we want to pair border security with ukraine because i think we can get bipartisan agreement on both of those matters. >> now johnson's israel aid package backs g.o.p. senate leader mitch mcconnell into a bind into a corner here. mcconnell would prefer that ukraine and israel aid be tied together, bret, but support for that is actually dwindling amongst senate republicans. the next battle, of course, now goes to the senate. and what chuck schumer does next. bret? >> bret: aishah hasnie live on the hill. aishah, thank you. meantime, another 74 americans have crossed through the rafah gate from gaza into egypt. but several hundred other americans have been given permission to leave and are still waiting to do so. the white house now saying it does not know when those americans will be able to go. last night president biden called for a pause in the conflict to give time to get prisoners out. we have fox team coverage tonight. rich edson is at the pentagon with why the biden administration says attacks against u.s. troops in the region are not part of the conflict in israel between israel and hamas. mike tobin in southern israel with the latest on americans getting out of gaza. but we go to the white house, first. white house correspondent peter doocy tonight live on the north lawn. good evening, peter. >> peter: good evening, bret. there's no indication that hamas is going to stop shelling israel. but, officials here want israel to stop shelling gaza temporarily and at certain times for as long as hostages remain captive held by terrorists. >> today 74 americans folks out. >> by the time they get to the u.s., some may be subject to additional vetting. several hundred are believed to remain inside gaza. >> i want to stress that these numbers are changing in real time. >> to get more americans out of gaza and supplies in to gaza, president biden told a protester at a fundraiser, quote: i think we need a pause. a pause means give time to get the prisoners out. this is how a pause works. >> in that geographic space, for that limited time, there would be cessation of hostilities, enough to allow whatever it is you are trying -- >> this is how a cease-fire works. >> we are talking about a stoppage of fighting all across the front. >> some israeli officials worry a pause could help hamas. >> if we pause now, basically we are going to give them time to regroup, to plan more am bushes to our forces and to plan for the next attack. so i don't see any reason for that. >> peter: for the last month president biden has relied on interred me areas. >> i want to thank our partners in the region, and particularly qatar. that's because qatar has contacts with hamas terrorists. >> the leader of hamas lives in qatar. why is president biden thanking them for anything? oh, geesh, peter, qatar has been helpful getting americans out. i'm sure you would agree with me and everybody at your network would agree that getting american hostages out is a good thing. qatar was a player in that regard. >> peter: tells fox he has a handle on all these moving parts. >> ? the most complicated time of your presidency so far? >> nothing to it. >> peter: nothing to it is what he told us, even though we keep hearing from officials here they want to prevent a widening and deepening of the israel-gaza war. if things stand there is a chance forces might have to get more involved than they are right now. bret? >> bret: peter doocy live on the north lawn. thank you. let's get additional information about americans leaving gaza and those still waiting to go. senior correspondent mike tobin is in southern israel again tonight with the latest. good evening, mike battle form up here in the northeast corner of the gaza strip. from our estimation it's a lot of flare, small arms and two helicopters firing positions on the ground. meantime at the southern end of the gaza strip, a lot of foreign passport holders, americans included, escaped the war. >> >> a fight to flee gaza for a second straight day. hundreds surged to the egyptian border in hopes of leaving the war torn strip of land. foreclosure nationals, including some 400 americans are cleared to exit through the rafah crossing. president biden says more than 70 duel citizens have gotten out so far. including the family of john russiaen barger. daughter son and grandchildren on their way to cairo. >> elation. happy. all this time and effort. do it for family because i have a wonderful daughter and five precious grandkids and just ecstatic. >> for some palestinian americans, leaving a bittersweet. >> between ice and fire. i don't know if i'm ever going to be able to see the family that i left behind or the friends that i left behind. before dying. >> hamas says more than 9,000 palestinians have been killed following weeks of heavy bombing and a growing ground war. israeli defense forces say they have pushed through hamas northern defenses. now troops in armor have gaza city encircled. >> we have very impressive successes. we are already on the outskirts of gaza city. we are advancing. >> within an array of technology israel is repeatedly intercepting missiles launched from the southeast. while on the north along the lebanon border brigade found shah mona with 12 rockets sparking fire. and in the last few minutes we got an announcement from israel's security cabinet they're severing all ties with gaza. palestinian workers won't be able to find work in israel any longer and israeli funds won't go back into the gaza strip. bret? >> bret: mike tobin in southern israel. thanks. the pentagon is maintaining the recent attacks on facilities housing u.s. personnel in the middle east are not, not connected to the israel-hamas war. although iran proxies are said to be behind those attacks and iran funds hamas and hezbollah to the tune of 90-plus percent. senior national correspondent rich edson is at the pentagon tonight. >> we're determined to prevent escalation, to prevent the spread of this conflict. >> the pentagon says that's why it's deploying aircraft carriers, missile defense systems and warplanes and troops to the middle east. a message to iran backed militias. still, defense officials say there have been 28 attacks against american positions in the region since october 17th. more than a quarter of those after u.s. retaliatory airstrikes on iranian-linked weapon sites last thursday. the defense department maintains iranian proxies targeting americans in iraq and syria are likely taking advantage of the fighting in and around gaza. >> i can't necessarily corroborate or connect dots between why one terrorist organization would do one thing versus another. they want us out of iraq. they wants us out of syria because it doesn't suit their interest. and we are still there. >> attacks against u.s. positions in the middle east began the day a rocket hate hospital compound in gaza. hamas blamed the explosion on an israeli strike. u.s. intelligence officials say a failed rocket launched from inside gaza, hit the hospital compound. 16 of the attacks against american troops were in iraq, 11 in syria. there were four total attacks on monday. some analysts say the way to deter these strikes from iran-backed militias is to hit the proxies directly. >> we know command and control is where the instruments of war are. the rockets, the missiles, the drones and their entire logistical infrastructure. hammer that. don't wait. hammer it now and take the capability. >> the pentagon says more proxy groups will probably exploit the israeli hamas war and that if american forces are threatened, the u.s. military will not hesitate to take what officials call appropriate action. so far we have only seen last week's airstrikes. bret? >> bret: rich edson at the pentagon. rich, thank you. up next, we talk with a senior adviser to israel's prime minister about the war with hamas. but, first, here's what some of our fox affiliates around this country are covering tonight. wfxt in boston results of d.n.a. analysis were discussed during a pre-trial conference in the case of brian walsh, he is accused dismembering his wife and disposing of her remains. prosecutors say he used his son's ipad to google the best ways to get rid of a body. fox 13 in memphis as one of five former memphis police officers charged with the second degree murder of tyre nichols changes his plea to go ahead. desmond previously pleaded not guilty to the federal charges of excess of force and failure to intervene. indifference, witness tamper and obstruction of justice witness tampering. >> this is a live look at cleveland, one of the big stories there from our fox affiliate, fox 8. the parent company of cedar point and six flags announced their official merger a press release says the companies reached a $2 billion deal, create a power house in the theme park industry. that is tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." we'll be right back. ♪ in california ♪ up and down ♪ barely made it over roller coaster ♪ it was fun when we were young i'm out of breath, and often out of the picture. ♪ ) because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ [laughing] ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful, all day and night. he hits his mark —center stage—and is crushed by a baby grand piano. you're replacing me? customize and save with liberty bibberty. he doesn't even have a mustache. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >> bret: you are looking live in durham, north carolina. this is north carolina highway 147. some protesters there cease-fire now are sitting in the middle of the highway, blocking traffic. police are surrounding them. they are surrounded by protesters there. there -- it looks like a few hundred not just on that road but up above. it seems like the police are letting them have their say and taking them out one by one. this is a protest that started about 30 minutes ago. there is another larger protest in philadelphia that is ongoing. live shots of that there you go wider shot. some people on the overpass. one side of nc 147 totally blocked. we will monitor this. >> we advocate pauses by both sides here. temporary, localized to be able to get americans out. to be able to get aid in. you betcha we do. that doesn't mean that we're calling for a general cease-fire. in order to move hostages from where they were being held to safety, it does require a short pause in the fighting so that you can do it safely. i mean, why wouldn't you? >> bret: john kirby, spokesman for the national security council at the white house. welcome back. joining us now to talk about the israel-hamas war, reaction here in the u.s. and around the world is a top adviser to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu mark regular geoff. thanks for being here what the president said to get a pause. get hostages and people out of gaza and how that is being received by the leadership in israel. >> so, as you know, there is currently 242 abductees, hostages being held since the terrible massacre of october 7th. they are being held by hamas. among them, 30 children, including toddlers, infants and even babies. hamas has shown itself to be a despicable, barbaric organization. who kidnaps babies? only someone like hamas. so, to get them out, we can do two things. we can rescue them. and there was a successful idf rescue, as reported by fox a few days ago. and we hope to be able to do more than that. another way to get them out through diplomatic pressure and military pressure. and we have had two pairs come out. air path americans were the first out and then we had a pair of israeli women, elderly women who came out after that. now, when we facilitated those releases, of course, there were, as your white house spokesperson said, there was a temporary pause to allow the people to come out. we have done that before. we can do that again. >> bret: you knew, going in, and when this started that the images that we were going to see inside gaza, like we are looking at on the screen here of civilians who were killed in bombings or raids or other operations would be shown all around the world. and they are being shown. you can dispute the red crescentens numbers. can you dispute what hamas is putting out as far as the number of civilians killed. but it's definitely in the thousands. is there a time, a point at which you will assess the benefit or lack thereof of continuing to go deep into gaza, to take out hamas leadership based on what the casualties on the civilian side are? >> i think, bret, in any emergency situation you want to address constantly the success of your strategy and look again. are you doing the right thing? what can you do to improve your strategy. that has to be in any military operation. but our goal is clear. we will destroy hamas' military machine and dismants its political control over gaza. because any alternative is just a return to where we were in the morning of october 7th, with this terrorist enclave on our southern border. these vicious, brutal terrorists who, as you know bret, and has been reported widely, they raped, they murdered, they massacred. they bee headed these people are truly, as president biden said, shear evil. they murdered parents in front of their children and conversely they murdered children in front of their parents. despicable, terrible things. horrific things. we went through it. we have no intention of enduring this sort of barbaric attack in the future. and the only solution is to destroy this organization, evil must be defeated and we, as i said, we will dismantle its capabilities to inflict this sort of harm upon us in the future. >> bret: and we have depicted and talked about the videos that we have individually seen. we have reporters on the ground who have confirmed those stories. we have been telling that story all the way along. i'm just also telling the other side of that story and on the inside of gaza and what you're hearing from the biden administration and what you are seeing around the world as far as support. you know, when you look at headlines, inside israel, there are and about israel. there are headlines that are tough for the israeli prime minister that he faces a reckoning over what happened. that he side stepped accountability. there are negative headlines, obviously. and you see that all the time with various leaders. is there a fear that this is a very dangerous political position for the israeli prime minister at this moment? >> i think, you know, this country has had a very passionate and vibrant political discussion. people who like the prime minister and people who dislike him. and that's the nature of democracy. you know, america and israel have that in common. that people, you know, openly taught their views. but i think most israelis today are united in the effort to defeat hamas. that has to be done. everything now is being put aside. there's a national effort underway to defeat this brutal enemy who people. we have to win. after victory, and victory will come, i'm certain of that there will be plenty of time for partisan politics again. at the moment though, we are united and i think the most one of the vo vocal of criticism of netanyahu joined the coalition two weeks ago. they said for this crisis we have to work together. and that's 100 percent correct. there will be plenty of time for politics when this is over. at the moment we have got to be focused on one thing, victory. >> bret: you know, i heard somebody the other day say before october 7th, there was a cease-fire with hamas. that hamas broke that cease-fire. is that how you look at it? >> for sure. look, there was a serious attempt by israel to see if it was possible to find some sort of an easy quiet with hamas. we knew hamas were extremists. we thought maybe we had deterred them through our military strength and through providing economic incentives to keep the peace, we could create some sort of stability. but that strategy failed. some people were telling us internationally interlock teres saying the same. hamas' rules 2.2, 2.3 million inhabitants of the gaza strip that must mean they have to -- the responsibilities of government force them to become more pragmatic. force them to become more moderate. that's what we were told. but the truth is hamas proved itself on october 7th to be exstrategickists, you know, brutal organization to be, you know, the german chancellor, the german chancellor compared them to nazis and i think it's fair to say looking at their violence far worse than isis. isis didn't burn babies alive. isis didn't rape. isis didn't butcher children in their beds with machine gunfire. i have seen the pictures. you've seen the pictures. this sort of violence. >> bret: i have. >> no country should have to undergo what israel underwent on october 7th. and we definitely won't go through it again. the only way to prevent that from happening is to disarm hamas, to dismantle hamas. and that's what we're doing. thank you for having me, sir. >> bret: up next, former president donald trump adult sons testify that that civil fraud trial in new york. accusing his family of inflangt its business assets. and later thousands of illegal immigrants are heading through mexico toward the u.s. border. here we go again. we'll take you there. ♪ ♪ this long to get put on the shelf like a porcelain doll. if you have po