[gunfire] >> harris: the israeli military trading gunfire with hamas terrorists in northern gaza. the defense minister said hamas has lost control of the gaza strip. israeli forces now say they have the proof that hamas is using hospitals, even the children's hospital, to hide a vast network of underground tunnels housing a terror command center. they are trying to protect their leadership. i'm harris faulkner and you are in "the faulkner focus." prime minister benjamin netanyahu says this war will decide the fate of how more than -- how far more than just for israel. >> we have to win to protect israel, we have to win to safeguard the middle east and for the sake of the civilized world. that's the battle we're fighting. it is being waged right now. there is no substitute for that victory. if we don't win now, then europe is next and you are next. and we have to win. >> harris: israel has released new video from an underground look at a pediatric hospital specializing in cancer treatment. the terrorists have gone underground beneath this very large hospital to protect themselves. it apparently shows how the terrorists used it as a base to store grenades, assault rifles, rockets. there were also some signs that maybe some of the hostages had been held there. >> i want you to see this room. it is in the basement of the hospital. we can see this area is a closed area from the rest of the hospital. we can see the ventilation air that was done improvisely to this area and we can see infrastructures that was built in here, toilets, shower, small kitchen to provide the activities their needs. also to conduct a hideout, a hideout where activities take hostages and hideout. >> harris: despite evidence hamas used patient and staff as shields. president joe biden is calling on israel to show restraint. >> president biden: it's my hope and expectation that there will be less intrusive action of the hospital. there is an effort to take this pause to deal with the release of prisoners and that's being negotiated as well with qatar engaged in it. i remain somewhat hopeful. the hospital must be protected. >> harris: the "new york post" editorial board with this blistering headline. stop pretending hospital peril is all on israel, joe. and call out hamas's central role in endangering civilians. in "focus" now let's begin with pete hegseth. co-host of "fox & friends" weekend. great to see you today. just first of all your reaction to the call by the president for israel to better protect the people that hamas terrorists are using as human shields. >> well that's the same guy, joe biden, who about seven minutes ago on our channel live was giving a speech saying that climate change is the single greatest threat that we face. the threat to humanity. this is the viewpoint of the guy charged with backing up our biggest ally who is at war with an enemy who savagely massacred civilians six weeks ago. so i hope netanyahu takes the call, hears him out and does what he needs to do because ultimately hamas is at fault for every single aspect of this to include all the civilians stuck in the hospital underneath the command center. they don't want to kill civilians. if they can get them out to get at the hamas leadership they'll do that. israel doesn't knowed to apologize for having superior nighters and weapons in taking back gaza. they need to eradicate all of those hamas fighters. it is very complicated but we don't need our president complicating it even more by trying to dictate basically hamas talking points to netanyahu and israelis while they are part of one of the most difficult ground sieges you can conceive of. >> harris: what you pointed out is hamas would love for somebody else to sort of tap israel on the shoulder and tell them to sit down. that's not just a talking point, that's a goal. >> that's their strategy. >> that's why they want cease fires and pauses. condemnation from the international community will be their savior. if joe biden leads it, better off for them. >> harris: let's talk a little bit about the hostages if we can. and part of the video that was just shown to us and some of it was narrated by israeli soldier on the ground. part of that was where we think some hostages had been held. how big are those tunnels? we've heard 300 miles long. now you have to talk they can hold supplies for even the hostages, we pray. >> yeah, these are not -- we showed the footage of the tunnels that i've been in meant to transport fighters into israel and around gaza. this is an underground city if what's reported is correct and we have no reason to believe it isn't. israel has great human intelligence and understanding of a lot of these tunnels. it is hundreds of miles of command and control facilities under the city many of which they've already found. this is just the tip of the iceberg. finding every aspect of those webs is nearly impossible unless you control the ground eventually above, which israel is trying to do right now. i pray for these hostages. i pray that the americans, everyone there, that this pressure campaign by israel puts hamas in such a tenuous situation that they have to make a massive trade in order to save their hides or buy some time and that those hostages come out. israel can't gravel on hamas's terms. they need to bring hamas to their knees and force them to a moment when the hostages are given up. i pray that strategy works. one of the variables in all this that are difficult to call can you indicate. >> harris: 100%. i will ask you to stand by and be on the other side of a report coming up. i would love to talk with you about this. let's go to alex hogan who is on the ground in northern israel. alex. >> we have heard sirens across the country today and at least one person wounded in the last several hours in tel aviv, central israel. in the north we have continued to see air strikes coming from lebanon and hezbollah. this was the scene earlier today. we could see some of the smoke rising on the hillside. the border of israel and lebanon. hezbollah launched anti-tank missiles in northern israel. israeli fighter jets quickly responded. last night the idf released this footage from a hospital basement where it appears some hostages were being held and also released footage of what it says is a cache of weapons they found there. the idf continuing to press forward saying in the last day it took over the parliamentary building in gaza city raising the israeli flag there. with major protests taking place demanding a cease-fire, those pressures are really being felt here on the ground. israeli foreign minister cohen made a statement that the military here probably only has about 2 to 3 weeks before it gives in to international pressure. those comments did not go over well in israel. he took his statement back. we heard from netanyahu saying once hamas is defeated israel will control the security for an indefinite period of time. we talked with an aid to the former prime minister who argues that there is a lot of demand internationally but no suggestions about what should happen. >> nobody wants to rule gaza as long as hamas is still standing on its feet. i don't think we have limitless time in terms of international support. i do think that the eventually there will be a pressure for a cease-fire. >> meanwhile for now as the idf continues to press forward in northern gaza it has taken control of a hamas control center as well as the police headquarters there. >> harris: great information there. great reporting as always. stay safe. i want to bring back pete hegseth. we just watched together. i saw it in reuters and alex is talking about it as well. apparently conversation around, wouldn't want to call it a negotiation at this point. hamas could release 70 hostages for a five-day cease-fire. that's not all of the hostages that we know of and we don't know how many would be americans. what do you think about it? >> we know that's been the parameters of what hamas has been bargaining from the beginning. how many people for how much time? how many people for how much time? at the beginning it was we want to release two for a day pause. 70 to 5 days. the ratio is getting better for the israelis. >> harris: what does that tell you? >> it tells me is they aren't in control of gaza and they know the israeli army is surrounding them and they know first of all they have human shields in the hospital and now hostage shields. three trying to up the antti of the amount of time but leverage is going down. israel has to press hard enough to where they get all the hostages or close to all of them for whatever period of time but doesn't give enough time that hamas leadership and others are able to flee with a pause. the destruction of hamas is the goal. they'll use the pause for their own military means. that's the impossible calculation here. >> harris: the possibility of being able to run away fast enough from the hostage taking killers to see freedom. they might let them go. would they shoot them in the back as they run away? there is so much to calculate in all this. they are basically losing leverage in negotiating against themselves. it can go two ways. they can continue to do that and israel makes ground against them or for the hostages or they implode. >> you cannot underestimate the amount of leverage that iran has in this equation. what is iran telling hamas to do. do they want them to execute the prisoners unwills they can't get a certain amount of leverage. hamas wants a wider war. that's why when -- >> harris: that might be iran talking. >> that might be. you can make too much of what netanyahu said. if we don't beat them. where that is true is that if iran gets a nuclear bomb, this is not just israel's problem. it's our problem. israel needs to do what it can to bring iran to its knees. >> harris: we have rocket fire now on the israel/gaza border. can you see this? there are a number of flashes, a flair sent up and trey yengst and mike tobin have said when the flares go up they try to decide or determine who is firing on them so they light up the area where some of the firing is coming from. let's just stop talking for a second and can we listen? [explosions] >> harris: this is the hour. of course, we're daylight savings time. it is darker now during this hour. but this is the hour each day where darkness does begin to fall. it has already fallen now. they don't observe daylight savings time like the rest of the world. but what this means is that we'll continue at this hour as the war goes on to see more and more of this. pete, they are hitting them hard. >> absolutely they are. and, you know, at this point much of gaza is dark because of the responsibility of hamas. they have created this war, deprived basic necessities of their people. brought war onto the gaza strip and israel is waging that war with planes and munitions to see through the darkness and hit the targets and identify fighters in the darkness. that darkness gives the advantage of the israelis. you've noticed there hasn't been as much rocket fire coming out of gaza thank god into the israeli population in the last couple of weeks and days because their capabilities have been diminished. they are in panic mode. as a result, israel can control the night in ways that are advantageous militarily for them protecting the infantry troops as best they can going through civilian populations and trying to hit military targets as well. >> harris: control the night. those are very specific words that you've chosen. there will never be necessarily an element of surprise in the scenario because everyone knows they are surrounded at this point, hamas terrorists. the nightfall is really where they hit those targets with more efficiency is what i have heard you and others say. >> no doubt. anything moving at night is an enemy combatant. targets you've identified throughout the day as you watched movements of troops and equipment become targets at night. and ultimately you can pre-position ground troops with night vision devices and others that hamas will have some of that supplied by iran, no doubt. israel will have the overwhelming advantage of the ability to see at night and a lot happens while our cameras can't see it for the good guys trying to take out hamas in the gaza strip. >> harris: our reporter alex hogan got us to start talking about hamas and some talks. you mentioned qatar might be from the beginning you said has kind of been trying to figure out where hamas would be releasing hostages for what, now they say maybe release 70 hostages for maybe a five-day cease-fire. but when you look at controlling the night by the idf, it is pretty hard to even imagine that five days or any amount of time will be enough for hamas to do what it thinks it needs to do to win a war. does that make them more desperate? >> that's a fair point, harris, a very fair point. qatar is housing the leadership of hamas. they are not fair arbiters here. you are dealing with double players. but that's the thought and that will be a discussion inside israel. they've been so degraded in hamas do we take that moment to get the hostages out, take that pause and continue our offensive? that's the kind of decision that leadership has to make. >> harris: pete hegseth, thank you so much as always in "focus" bringing us your experience as a former warrior yourself. we appreciate it. thank you. a lot going on. as it relates to what is happening in the middle east, so much that our own nation is going through right now. anti-israel and hate, anti-semitism, hate of jews. it is exploding across america and around the globe. you know what you are looking at right now? our nation's capital. the national mall. look, capitol hill on the left side of your screen. tens of thousands of people are on israel's side, too. and they say enough. they are gathering in washington to show support for the israelis, for jewish americans and jews all over the world and there are very real security concerns. we'll take you there. plus we love to hear them on "the faulkner focus." voters' voices and today our second -- we'll continue to do this, our second gop presidential candidate stops by. we're all on set together. top issues, 2024. voters voices and nikki haley. veteran homeowners, need to save money every month? 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[upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ life, diabetes, there's no slowing down. each day is a unique blend of people to see and things to do. that's why you choose glucerna to help manage blood sugar response. uniquely designed with carbsteady. glucerna. bring on the day! >> harris: tens of thousands of people right now have gathered on our nation's mall there in washington, d.c. marching for israel. such a juxtaposition and healthy one for all the hate we have seen roll across the country against jewish americans, israelis and jews around the world. security today is front and center. the mayor has called up the national guard and department of homeland security is a top level security event. it is both a show of support for israel and their fight against the hamas terrorists and a push against anti-semitism as it flows particularly among our college campuses here in the u.s. the ceo of the israeli/american council with this. >> all of us need to be marching against anti-semitism because jew hatred is a barometer for societal decay and evil of all kinds. what we're seeing in the world today is shocking. >> harris: former state department official under president obama and top hillary clinton advisor wrote this for fox quote, it's hard to explain how unnerved american jews are right now. our sense of security has given way to not understanding how we didn't realize so much anti-semitism was right below the surface and where it is lurking. our sense of security was grounded in knowing friend from foe. that has been upended. i find myself coming back to two words never before part of my emotional range. i'm scared. mark meredith live from washington. mark. >> harris, good morning to you. you are right. tens of thousands have people have made their way to the national mall. a sea of blue and white israeli flags with the star of david. you see people ready to show their support for israel. jewish americans joined by others sympathetic to what they have gone through over the last month and heard so much for the organizers it was all about getting lawmakers attention. the reason they chose to do the rally today, congress would be in session and they wanted the people's representative to know how jewish americans were feeling in this country today. among those we'll hear from on the stage later today will be the speaker of the house as well as the democratic congressional leadership. high profile senators, those who have been speaking out quite a bit since the attack by hamas early last month. as you mentioned, harris, security is certainly tight given the crowd that we're seeing. an event like this takes weeks or months or years to prepare. organizers only had a matter of days. they've controlled this area along the national mall. a lot of barricades and people going through security. they are adamant this will be just the beginning of a much larger movement here in this country. >> we are activating the tens of thousands of people here to communicate to their members of congress and the white house, to communicate to the news media and communicate to their fellow americans that they stand with israel, that they stand against anti-semitism and they demand the immediate release of the hostages. >> even some of the families that are representing those americans who are still missing still being held hostage will be up on the stage behind me later on today to tell their personal story that we've heard so much of. they want to make sure the pressure remains on the administration and other countries to help bring these people home. out here so far seeing signs that say boston strong for israel. miami residents for israel. quite telling you have people coming from all over the country coming out here to show their support. harris. >> harris: mark, we had on a rabbi yesterday who was telling me all about the words that he would speak both to congress today, because he is there, and also on the national mall what has his hopes were. the leadership among the clergy in the jewish faith are out there in very high numbers today. >> they absolutely are. i also asked them because they are out here in washington will we hear from the white house? president biden was invited to this but leaving for san francisco in the next few minutes. because it was a last-minute event we were told they were not abl