Transcripts For FOXNEWSW FOX 20240703

Will Fox News Alert, at least 40 israelis have been killed and more than 700 hurt as hamas militants launch a Surprise Attack on the israeli territory. This comes as the Prime Minister declares war after more than 2,000 rockets were launched from the gaza end strip. Pete the u. S. Defense secretary, lloyd austin, saying the pentagon will work to assure israel that has what it needs to defend itself. Carley trey yingst has the very latest. Reporter Attack Helicopters are other the gaza strip firing on hamas positions and other areas where people are still the infiltrating into southern israel. There are multiple reports of Hostage Situations taking place in communities along the gaza border that are currently controlled by hamas militants, israeli territory. Rocket fire continues, it has subsided a bit, but we are seeing sirens sounding in some parts of the country and impacts across southern and central israel. Behind me here there is just black smoke rising from the horizon, just one of the areas where rockets hit these border communities. We saw earlier told where a factory took a direct impact. This black smoke just one rocket causes this level of damage. And, againing we saw more than 2,000 again, we saw more than 2, 200 rockets. An unrest dented and coordinated attack, and it is ongoing. Groups of militants crossing into Israel On Motorcycles and in Pickup Trucks. They traveled to these small civilian communities along the the border and conducted massacres. Israeli media reports hamas is controlling territory along the border and that they have kidnapped at least 35 israelis. I want the show you what the scene was with like earlier today as soldiers and civilians brought the injured and dead to an Evacuation Point to be evacuated further to local hospitals. Take a look. Constant flow of civilians being loaded into ambulances here along the gaza border. People are using their personal cars to drop off their loved ones who were hit by gunfire or wounded by shrapnel. [background sounds] this has been a constant scene along the gaza boar or or. The military also bringing their injured troops here. A severely severely Wounded Soldiers are being evacuated from the front. Theres active fighting in the distance, Machine Gunfire as Israeli Police believe dozens of Palestinian Militants are inside israel. There are drones buzzing overhead, Attack Helicopters in the sky and explosions every few seconds. A war has erupted between israel and gaza. About 30 minutes ago, we saw jeeps of Israeli Soldiers headed toward the border amid reports that these gun battles continue. There are small with busts of fire bursts of fire, and this territory is still not secure. That is the priority for the Israeli Military and and government at this hour, ensuring that they catch or kill all the Palestinian Militants that cross into southern us israel. Right now they say the situation is active, and they are sending in reinforcements. Pete trey, to be clear, the targeting by ma hamas is of civilian israeli families. It was communities caught by surprise. Ive seen images of entire jewish families slaughtered in their own homes and right thousand the Israeli Military is responding, but this was a Surprise Attack on the population of israel, correct . Reporter absolutely. There are numerous israeli families that were killed this morning with by these Palestinian Militants. We still dont have a full picture of just how horrendous it was because those Israeli Soldiers are working at this hour to try to free those that are alive in the villages along the border. But it is tense and it is unpredictable. Israel was clearly caught off guard when this took place, and we know that hamas has taken dead and alive israeli into the strip. Not just civilians, but also soldiers. And it creates a scenario that the no one can predict what will happen next. The israeli response expected to be harsh against the palestinian militant organizations and, again, israel is preparing for the possibility of a multifront conflict erupting. If. Will trey, i know youre still getting your arms around the scope and extent of both the number of civilians that have been killed in israel and those that have been kidnapped and drug back into gaza. But you brought up some Historical Context a little bit earlier, you said something about 2014. Im curious, to the, e tent that you know it now, how far back does this go in history in terms of the escalation of violence between these two sides . I mean, is this the worst its been since what. This is the worst single day of fighting between israel and gaza likely in history. There have been operations in the past, in 2014 as you mentioned, where 51 days of war we erupted between militants in gaza and the Israeli Military. During that time over 4,000 rockets were fired. Today more than 2,000 in just a matter of hours. Is so this is a massive escalation, and it is the First Time Since 1948 that palestinians have controlled territory over the green line outside of gaza. Again, hamas is in control of israeli villages and towns along the border. This is something that israel probably has trained for in the past, but when it is put into practice, its incredibly difficult to defend against once these militants are inside these communities because israel is limited in how they can respond. Its also of note they will be limited in what they can hit inside gaza with dozens of hostages taken into the strip. We have already seen photos on messaging app as Like Telegram showing Israeli Citizens alive in the tunnels underneath gaza. So us israel will be limited in what they can strike because they may be striking their own citizens. That is how dire this situation is right now. And in the distance, you can hear those israeli airstrikes. They are continuing their efforts to hit that Mat Positions along the border. Carley oh, my gosh. And, trey, it could get worse. The hamas Military Commander called on all arab nations to join in the fight against israel, lebanon, iraq, syria and lebanon, saying it is time to unite, we call for the movement if towards palestine. Is he just speaking into the wind there, or could you actually see a convergence of arab nations fighting against israel . Reporter we are at a very dangerous apex right now because there are palestinianback fighters in lebanon, supporters in southern syria, there are Islamic Jihad and hamas militants across the west bank, and there is a portion of the palestinian population that supports the cause to the end. And without getting into too much detail about how this current tension erupted, the palestinians in gaza hope that these other supporters of their cause Around The World will start to launch other attacks on israel. And its part of the reason the israelis have taken protective measures against the civilian population here. Theyve canceledded all schools from the south to the north of israel tomorrow in anticipation of the possibility that this could erupt into a multifront conflict. We though that the palestinian factions that are fighting inside gaza have militants and weapons in the west bank. Some of those cities sit just a few hundred feet from israeli cities. In the past when war withs like this have erupted, there has been widespread unrest and clashes in mixed arabisraeli towns and villages, and all of these things are on the table at this hour. Remember, the israeli response has not truly begun. This is just the start of how israel will respond to the situation. And, again, there is active fighting going on behind me in the villages on the border. Pete thank you very much. Reacting to manager happening in realtime. To something happening in realtime. Lets break it down just a little bit. Trey mentioned a lot of the dynamics around the state of israel. So this is the astronaut of israel right here the state of israel, and theyre surrounded, effectively, by enemies of their state. The gaza strip is in the southern part of the country. Up north you have hezbollah strongly supported by syria and iran over here, and then you have the west bank, judea and sumeria which has that has mighters hamas fighters there as well. Hamas is hoping that fighters in hezbollah in the north in lebanon can ask and in the west bank and in East Jerusalem might join in that fight. But lets zoom in just a little bit to the southern part of the country which is where trey is this morning. As i mentioned, this is the gaza strip. It was controlled by israel for decades. In 2005 it was given over to the Palestinian Authority as a part of a a peace deal. Well, within two years hamas, a Terrorist Organization, took over the gaza strip, and they have for years been collecting rockets, Building Tunnels, attempting to infiltrate the south of israel and commit Terrorist Attacks against the population there. Ive spent a lot of time in the south of israel in those communities, communities like right here, right on the edge where you can see that border fence and where there are reports of casualties of israeli civilians. Now, a lot of Military Defense Facilities for the idf here too. But one of the things to note is as hamas has gained power, theyve gained sophistication with their rockets and ability to hit. These red spots are spots from on the map according to the idf rockets have hit. This is jerusalem right here. There are reports that there have been strikes inside jerusalem as a well. Tel aviv is up here. Rockets used to only be able to hit adjacent communities. Now theyre able to reach further into the state of Israeling Into civilian populations. And because it was 23,000 rockets, guys, the ikf famously has the iron dome batteries. They couldnt shoot them all down. And so the idf is responding from places like jerusalem to the south to try to take back territory that a Terrorist Organization, stated by our country and others in hamas, is Holding Israeli hostages and pulled many of them back into the gaza strip which is completely controlled by a Terrorist Organization. So, guys, the lesson has been throughout time to you give land over to radical islamists, theyre going to do what radical islamists do which is to seek israels destruction and wipe them off the map. And is they use what Little International aid they get, they channel it not toward their people and building schools and hospitals, but into Building Tunnels and supplying weapons to theirist fighters, all of which somehow was caught mostly under wraps. This is a sophisticated attack. I mean, as someone whos been involved in ground infantry operations,s to coordinate air and land, and it sounds like maybe even sea with paragliders and motorcycles and bulldozers, this was something somehow they kept out of the reach of israeli intention. Concern intelligence. And strung a surprise on a holy day. Carley lets bring in morgan ortegus, former State Department spokesperson. If morgan, it feels like were in uncharted territory here even though were talking about a region that is historically quite volatile. You just heard trey yingst say hes never seen fighting quite like this before. Break down the situation at hand from your perspective and how the United States should respond to this. First of all, im in the middle east right now. Im coming live to our audience from qatar, and i can tell you the ca qataris and people im talkinged today, everybody was caught by surprise surprise. There will be an a assessment of i why that happened, but just to set the bigger context, this is shabbat in us israel right now, a high holy day, were at the edge of yom kippur. We also know this attack is basically coming on the anniversary, the 50year anniversary of the Yom Kippur War where, sadly, as we all remember, us israel was also surprised in the attack on that day. Whats really different about this attack, as pete was just describing compared to the Yom Kippur War per se, is the sophistication of the terrorists and how this was designed also for social media. You can see that hamas and their entities are showing the attacks, they were showing their militants coming in on these gliders, and theyre getting this stuff out through social media to try to rev up the arab world. And you saw that immediately they were calling for hezbollah, which is in lebanon again as a pete pointed out, they were calling for all of these various Terrorist Factions to unite. Now, what do all of these factions have in common . You have hamas in gaza, you have hezbollah in lebanon, you have the houthis in yemen, we can go through the list of Terrorist Organizations. What they all have in common, theyre all trying to kill israel, and they are all funded by iran. So why am i in the middle east, carley . I was set to go to israel on monday i will obviously not be doing now to go to a conference that is focus on israel and arab peace. And as we know, the Biden Administration if has been working and trying to get a Normalization Agreement between israel and saudi. And what does iran want to do . What does hamas want to do . They obviously have a vested interest in making sure that israel cannot be at peace with other arab states, especially not with saudi arabia. So, number one, iran is absolutely behind this today and, number two, ive got to tell you that i am very, very concerned for the State Of The World with biden as president. And i am not trying to be overly political today by any means, but i can indict their policy. If we we know that iran is behind these attacks today from hamas and we know that we just gave iran 6 billion, how in the world does that make sense . We know that they are funding this terrorist activity. Also this two weeks, many just two weeks are from now at the united nations, arms embargo will expire against iran. So what does that mean . That means that iran will be able to sell conventional weaponry, Ballistic Missiles to russia, for example, with impunity. Theyre already giving russia drones that are Killing Ukrainians right now, and youll only see the funding of terrorism that iran has done, youll only see that with this arms embargo expiring with the billions of dollars that they have been given to by the biden administering, you will only see terrorism increase crease. Now, the Biden Administration will say this money can only be with use for schools, food and medicine and that sort of thing. Perhaps, but that 6 billion means that it opens money is fungible, right . It opens up the rest of the revenue of the iranian Bank Accounts to fund these type of attacks that youre seeing against one of our strongest allies and one of our strongest friends. And the only democracy in the middle east. That is the state of israel. Will morgan, what do you expect to see in the very near future as a ponce from both response from both israel and the surrounding arab world . Well, obviously israel has to retaliate. And whats really important is that there is a strong response from this administration, a strong ponce from congress. Congress should go into session today, and they should pass resolutions supporting israels right to support itself unequivocally. There should be no question, there should be no doing an allsides thing. In fact, somebody from the State Department from the palestinian twitter accounts for the group that oversees that portfolio had tweeted some sort of allsides comment. It got deleted early this morning. There is no time for equivocation, theres no time for indecisiveness from this administers. Congress needs to get in session, they need to pass a resolution saying they support the state of israel. And no one how old try this administration should not try to tie israels hands behind their back. They should not say after a week, oh, israels taken care of. This is a massive attack. As pete pointed out, something that israelis have never seen. When you see them go in and cragging a womans body on the dragging a womans body on the high holidays, when you see the reports of these terrorists going in and killing families and children, taking israelis hostages, both civilians and reportedly some people in the military, this was designed to strike fear in the heart of israelis on one of their religious ask holy days for jews, for people like me Around The World. We will not be scared, we will not be deterred. We know exactly whos behind this, and and this administration has to stop with this incompetent policy of continuing to empower iran. Iran is behind the attacks today. Stop giving them billions of dollars. Stop it. Its killing people. Pete youre exactly right on the assessment of how these wars usually go. The socalled International Community gives israel just enough time to do a little bit, and then the condemnations slowly but surely begin until they say, no, this is you have to stop this. Do you get a sense this might be different . If were talking dozens of hostages, israelis dead and alive in the gaza strip, iranian involvement, hamas, heres Bibi Netanyahu. He said this is not an incursion, this is not a conflict, this is war. Watch with. Translator citizens of israel, we are at war. Not in an operation, but at war. This morning hamas launch. Ed a murderous Surprise Attack against the state of israel and its citizens. In the meantime, i call on the citizens of israel to strictly adhere to the directives of the irk df and home front command. We are at war and we will win it. Pete do you think he feels like the Biden Administrations going to have a coherent policy here . Well, listen, they need to, right . If obviously, i have been critical of them many times on your program, pete, talking about their policy. I was openly supportive of them trying to get a peace deal between israel and saudi. But, again, today is not the time for equivocation. Today is the time for both american parties to step up and support the state of israel. And this Add Administration has to look at their iran policy. Listen, their person, their iran envoy is under fbi investigation right now and is relieved of his duties. There is something deeply and fundamentally flawed with this administrations iran policy. And what youre seeing by the way, at the end of the Trump Administration when i served under secretary mike. Pompeo, we had the Abram Abraham accords. Within just a few months of the Biden Administration, what did you see happen . Hamas started attacking israel again. Now we have the war in ukraine. And now, you know, were seeing this today which which i think can get incredibly messy especially when you think about again, pete, you were explaining so well, lebanon, hezbollah is another Terrorist Organization controlled and funded by the iranians. Israel went to war with lebanon in 2006. That was a dangerous and costly war. If it spreads to lebanon, it risks the chance, and i can tell you in the middle easts, the middle eastern leaders im talking to here are concerned this could spread between, to an open conflict. Right now its a Proxy Conflict between israel and iran with iran backing these attacks today. People here on the ground are concerned that this could result in a conflict not only with remember morning but god forbid maybe with iran as well. So that is what ill be watching for, pete, does this get wider, does this get bigger. But we have to allow Bibi Netanyahu and his team to take out the Terrorist Threat in gaza. It is long overdue, its past due, its something that is clearly a National Security threat to israel, and were seeing an attack on the 50year anniversary, essentially it was yesterday, of the Yom Kippur War. Were seeing israel surprised and attacked yet again by their neighbors. Carley we are hearing that President Biden is going to be on the phone with benjamin if netanyahu at some point today, and lloyd austin has already released a statement saying hes closely monitoring the situation. Washingtons commitment to israels right to defend itself remains unwavering, the Department Of Defense will work to insure that israel what has what it needs to protect itself and defend civilians from indiscriminate violence and terrorism. I know that this particular attack seemed to have taken israel by surprise. It happened at 6 00 in the morning when most israelis were sleeping. But how prepared is israel overall for a ground war like this . And what would they need from the United States in terms of assistance . Yeah, you bring up such a good point about it happening early this morning. It also is happening on shabbat, so you would not have seen, you know, most observant jews in israel would be getting ready to go to temple. Again, its a religious holiday. So today was a day of observance because of the sabbath, also because of the high holiday. What is israel prepared to do . Listen, they without a doubt had an Intelligence Failure today, a massive one. Weve had them too in the United States. We had 9 11. Our Intelligence Community got the withdrawal from afghanistan perilously wrong, right . We saw the taliban take other in a matter of days and weeks. So nobody is immune from having an Intelligence Failure. The question is how quickly can israel get on their feet and turn this average. What we dont need to do, carley, is to tie one of Bibi Netanyahus governments hands behind their back while they try to deal with this Terrorist Threat. They need to root it out. Of course everybody is concerned about it spreading. But lets not put the onus on israel. If something happens with lebanon or with iran, israel did not start this fight today. Hamas terrorists started this fight today. And so we need to back and support our ally and friend. Listen, if we had a situation like gaza what we had Terrorist Attacks on a daily basis coming from, you know, canada or coming from new jersey or Something Like that, that would be an intolerable situation for the american people. Why do we expect the israeli people to live with this terrorism . Why do you expect the israeli people to be comfortable with the fact that terrorists can come in on gliders, record themselves and go in and shoot up families and burn buildings and take hostages into gaza, into the tunnel . You know, this is very tenuous stuff, but if you look at whats gown on on twitter, you can see how theyre desecrating the body with of an israeli woman. It is heinous if stuff. Its not thinking wants to see on a saturday morning. But, listen, we live in a very deep and very dangerous world in the middle east. And this is why my former boss, mike pompeo, and President Trump understood that there needed to be a Balance Of Power in the middle east where the United States rewarded friends and allies like israel, like the Gulf Arab States and punished enemies. So whenever you change that imBalance Of Power and whenever you embolden a terror state, the worlds leading State Sponsor of terrorism like the Islamic Republic of iran, that imbalance goes out. So we know that that hamas felt emboldened today. Not only did they feel Em Bold Withenned by iran, quite frankly, they feel emboldened by this administration because they know that they can get away with the behavior that theyre doinged today, these Terrorist Attacks. They knew they could get away with it, plain and simple. Thats why they did it. Carley Benjamin Netanyahu said we are at war, chilling words but words that every single israeli woke up to this morning. Morgan ortegus, thank you so much for breaking it down for us. We appreciate it. Congressman Alexander Mooney reacts to the breaking news this morning coming up next. Medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that youll definitely want to hear. Depending on the plans available in your area, you may be eligible to get extra benefits with a humana Medicare Advantage dualeligible Special Needs plan. All of these plans include a Healthy Options allowance. A monthly allowance to help pay for eligible groceries, utilities, rent, and overthecounter items like vitamins, pain relievers, firstaid supplies and more. The Healthy Options allowance is loaded onto a prepaid card each month. And whatever you dont spend, carries over from each month. Other benefits on these plans include free rides to and from your medical appointments. You pay nothing for covered prescriptions, all year long. All plans have dental coverage which includes 2 free cleanings a year, fillings, and a yearly exam. They also have Vision Coverage including vision exams and a yearly allowance towards eyewear such as lenses or contacts. And hearing coverage, which includes routine Hearing Tests and coverage for hearing aids. Youll also have a 0 copay for the shingles and other routine vaccines at innetwork retail pharmacies. Plus, your doctor, hospital and pharmacy may already be part of our large humana networks. So, call the number on your screen now to speak with a licensed humana sales agent. Wouldnt you love benefits like a monthly allowance to help pay for eligible groceries, utilities, rent and overthecounter items . So, if you have medicare and medicaid, call the number on your screen now and speak with a licensed humana sales agent. If youre eligible, they can even help enroll you over the phone in a humana Medicare Advantage dualeligible Special Needs plan. So, call now. Humana. A more human way to healthcare. If you want energy, flexibility, and improved health, look at lmmuno150. It is featured in the two videos on the website listed on the screen. There is nothing like this incredible supplement and it is not expensive. Not only is immuno 150 inexpensive, it also has the reputation of being unsurpassed in total nutrition and likeability. Place your order on the website listed on the screen or call 8883162224 will Fox News Alert are, President Biden set for a phone call with israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later today as israel declares war on hamas following unprecedented attacks. At least 40 israelis have been killed and more than 700 are hurt as Palestinian Militants lawn Surprise Attacks across israel. Pete this comes as more than 2,000 rockets were launched from the gaza strip by a hamas. Trey yingst telling us earlier that israelis both can dead and alive being taken into gaza as hostages. And hamas releasing video claiming they were able to infiltrate an Israeli Defense base. Carley u. S. Defense secretary lloyd austin says the pentagon will work to insure us israel has what it needs to defend itself. Lets bring in congressman alec mooney. Congressman, we all woke up this morning and israel was not at war, now it is. Whats your reaction . Congress needs to stand with israel. Theyre our strongest ally in the region. We have the same interests. Were a force for world peace in that region and across the world. Were 100 with israel. Terrorism is real. We experienced it on 9 11, and these terrorists have no other option but to kill and attack. We cannot work with them, we have to crush and defeat them. Pete you know, it seems an attack of this scale would not have happened without the support and, certainly, approval of iran. Hamas is, although a sunni organization, is completely intertwined with the state of iran and dependent upon their resources in order to amass the types of rockets that they have. So how big of a role is iran in this . Oh, its a huge role. Iran is a terrorist state. They support terrorism. Their goal is to they made it clear, the goal is to wipe out israel. And if somebody said their goal is to kill you, you ought to believe them. We have to fight these people. I think you remember one of obamas last acts of president was to unleash, unrestrict about 100 million to iran the u. S. Had withheld. We cannot play nice with iran. They should never get a Nuclear Weapon. We know what theyll do if they get a Nuclear Weapon. The iran deal was a terrible idea. We need to protect israel and, frankly, the whole world from a Nuclear Attack from iran. President biden has to show some strength here. When he pulled out of afghanistan in 13 days, the world saw weakness. And then they, you know, russia invaded ukraine, now you have an attack on israel. We have to stand together with strength in Foreign Policy and stand with our allies, not try to play nice with people who want to kill you. Will what does that mean today, congressman . Stand strong, stand with our allies, what does that mean from the perspective of the United States in. For the United States, we need to have a strong agreement israel, military support, you know, armaments, things like that. But israels well equipped to stand for itself. Israel will defend itself, and thaiferg going to theyre going to. I think we need to make sure internationally it doesnt escalate, that we make it clear that the the United States will be there for israel. They should not be join this crazy effort. Make sure that israel has other allies as well. So, you know, stand with them. I think its just continuing to make it clear were not going to stand by and let these attacks continue. Pete congressman alex mooney, thank you for your time. Appreciate you. Anytime. Pete and those images that were scrolling as hes talking, im squinting at the screen, are those Israeli Soldiers or hamas militants at this point . That gives you a sense of the uncertainty of the moment, a Surprise Attack in the muddle of the morning middle of the morning on a jewish holiday, and these are the responses that the Israeli Military is executing now near the gaza strip, but theres still a hole in the fence carley so they could have soldiers pouring in in the middle of the neighborhoods. Pete a lot of cities are right on the world e. Carley We Saw Conflicts where people are being taken, theyre being held hostage now. Will trey yingst is live on the ground in southern us israel. Trey, one of the things that keeps coming out throughout the morning is the scope and extent of this attack, how coordinated it is, the size of it and, sadly, the damage thats been done. You brought it up, this is clearly an Intelligence Failure as well witnesses israel because something within israel as well because wouldnt you have expected it to leak out for the israelis to be prepared . I dont know how many militants were talking about, but it sounds like hundreds involved in this operation. Reporter yeah, absolutely, hundreds involved in this operation. And the israelis clearly were caught on their heels. The palestinians were able to blow a wall apart, blow through a fence and then take in militants on the backs of motorcycles and Pickup Trucks and head straight to these communities without being engaged at all in any sort of fire. And so right now what israel is dealing with is just trying to insure that they can secure this region before they can really start that counterattack from the air and from the if ground. We can expect artillery fire, a helicopter and fighter jets to participate in that response, but this does come down to what appears to be a massive Intelligence Failure. The israelis did not have anything in place to stop these militants from coming into southern israel. They engaged not only soldiers in the area, but civilians in small arms fire. Were hearing horrific stories of people just grabbing whatever weapon they had at home and trying to fight off the militants that were entering their communities. And, unfortunately, many were killed or taken hostage as a result of those efforts. So we still dont have a full picture of exactly what took place, but what we do know there are dozens of israelis that were taken both dead and alive into the with gaza strip. There are still towns along the gaza border that are under the control of hamas, and the israelis have launched a massive mobilization of troops to engage these militants and and also insure that if there are still israelis in hiding or being held hostage in this territory, they can rescue them. Back to you. Pete trey, twopart question. Its shabbat, so how much would that have factored in as far as the readiness of Israeli Military . Would you have troops, you know, at home with their family, not necessarily where they would otherwise be . And you speak to the defense toes posture there in the south . I know there are Military Bases, but in towns near the border, are there citybased Defense Forces that are always there, or do they rely on reservists or idf to deploy if theres a threat . If how quickly could israelis have attempted to defend themselves . Reporter there are a number of Military Bases in this area. And can to your first request question, the israelis have some of the most advanced technology in the world in place along the gaza border. Its not only surveilled underground with the Border Fence Aboveground and also from the air. There are constant krone activities over the drone activities over the gaza strip. So there are basically what you would describe as standard protocol in place to ensure that if anything happens from gaza, the military would be alerted and they could respond. We have met with top israeli officials, we have interview ised the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. There was never a sense or an idea, weve been to briefings, its just hard to wrap your head around what happened, because there was never an indication that the palestinians had the capability to conduct an attack this large and this coordinated. And thats what israel is dealing with today. We can hear in the distance those Attack Helicopters continue to fire on the northern part of gaza, but the concern now is that palestinians in the west bank, in southern lebanon and in other places could join the fighting and ultimately put israel in a situation that they are faced with a mull the hi multi front conflict. Carley absolutely. Trey, you are our eyes on the ground right now, so for those of us just waking up this morning, can you tell us again what you have seen so far this morning and this unimagine if bl situation where israelis were asleep on a Holiday Weekend and all of a sudden some of them had hamas militants coming through their door. Reporter absolutely. It was a Holiday Weekend. Shabbat, a day where many people dont use their phones or have access to information, especially this these more religious communities in the southern part of israel near gaza. And around 6 30 a. M. Local time, grapes of palestinian groups of Palestinian Militants took motorcycles and Pickup Trucks into southern israel, taking hostages, firing on more than a thousand people who were attending a music if festival overnight and creating chaos before taking hostages and killing families in their homes. What we have witnessed on the drive down here to this Evacuation Point very close to the gaza border, skylines filled with black smoke. These are from rockets hitting different or areas of southern and central israel. More than 2,200 rockets were fired by these militants as they launched this ground operation. Some of them intercepted but others slamming into highly Populated Areas including cities like jerusalem and tel aviv. When we arrived here at this Evacuation Point, we saw wounded and dead soldiers being taken from this part of israel, and we also i saw civilians in their personal cars unloading their Family Members out of the backseat, bloodied faces and legs and if arms. Some of them had been shot, others wounded by shrapnel just looking for any help they can get into these waiting ambulances. Pete trey the, thank you for bringing it into our homes this morning. Appreciate the updates. It really is unprecedented, as he says that. And the reason i mention that go ahead. Will i was just going to say we asked trey to put it into Historical Context, he basically said there is none. This is the worst in israels history. Pete and i didnt realize this, but israels declaring a state of war. Its the First Time Since 1973, since the Yom Kippur War, 50 years ago will he was clear, its not an operation. Pete not an operation, not an incursion, this is a state of war. And weve got heres some images we have from the west bank. Now that image we just showed was not from southern israel, not from the gaza strip, and thats one of the fears folks have is that if this call from a hamas escalates elsewhere around israel, youre not just fighting on one front, youre fighting on multiple fronts. Thats why i want to go over to the maps just to give you a little context. That image we just showed of the jihadists with rifles, thats judea and sumeria, the west bank, a contested area where the Palestinian Authority this in different areas has Different Levels of control. And, of course, you have jerusalem here. The fear is if organizations here mobilize along with hezbollah in the north supports out of iran and the activity in the gaza strip this morning, now you have a 1963, 1967 scenario again. Now, its different because in previous wars it was governments, it was, you know, the state of egypt, The State Of Georgia with the state of jordan, The State Of Syria attacking with fighter jets, and the state of israel defeated this them. In this case its Terrorist Organizations supported by a country way over here in iran who have been enriched with their Military Equipment and the capability to attack at this level. Its worth noting hamas used to be with the Muslim Brotherhood in egypt. Theyre a sunni muslim Terrorist Organization, but they media deal with the iranian shias, because their shared hatred is of israel, and thats what matters most to them. As we zoom in to the southern part, the gaza strip is a small piece of land in the southwest portion of the state of israel. Its small but its very department. And very dense. And since 2007 its been controlled by hamas and iranianbacked terror organizations. In 2005 israel gave that land to the Palestinian Authority as part of a peace deal. It quickly turned into a terror camp. Now, israelis remain determined to live in the south of israel peacefully, but over the years have been constantly under the rain of artillery fire, rockets and mortars. In this case because of the capability and volume of these weapons systems, missiles are reaching further and further into the state of israel to include, and this is more or less where jerusalem is, attacks in the capital city of jerusalem. Tel aviv being up here. So i did a, theres one particular city, i hadnt heard of it before this morning, but reports are coming out, its about 9 miles outside of the gaza strip. Nine miles is a long way. Apparently hamas forces are attempting to capture portions of that city. So were not just talking about small cities right along the the border because of the paragliders, the motorcycles, the capturing of israeli vehicles, hamas has gone on the offensive in the south of israel, and Israeli Defense forces are attempting to take portions back this morning. You could get a sense of how this could escalate quickly especially with all the hostages that have now been moved into the gaza strip. And the goal would be to take over all of israel. Pete they dont have the capability to do that for a long period of time. These are meant to be psychological on the population of the state of israel and then carley funded by iran. Will id be curious to know how big of an accomplishment is that militarily should they be able to take, as you mentioned, that city. You also mentioned that gaza is extremely dense, i think one of the most dense places on the planet, 140 square miles. The significance being theyve drug reports are perhaps several dozen israelis back into gaza as hostages, kidnapped them. Thats a difficult Military Situation to go back in and get those hostages out of that highly denselypopulated strip of land. Pete and it could limit your ability to to attack from the air which is the advantage of the Israeli Defense forces, if youre raining, you know, artillery down on positions where your own people could be. Will lets bring in retired Army Brigadier general now to address these the issues. Bibi netanyahu made a very, i think, specific point to say that israel is now at a state of war. Whatever the response would be, it would not be an operation, it would be a war. Do you find that significant . And if so, what is the significance . What will it mean for israel in. Yeah, good morning to you. Yeah, its hugely significant. War, state of war within israel allows for certain permissions and authorities within their government to conduct operations crossborder and to do what they need to do to secure israel. This isnt some limited operation to restore the borders, this is to attack and defeat the enemy that is attacking them. And so state of war gives them some authorities they might not otherwise have. And you have to really look, team, at the, you know, it was only a short while ago that we unfroze several billion in assets to iran, and we talked til were blue in the face about the path of the money to iran, to hamas, to hezbollah, to the Houthi Rebels and iran being the number one State Sponsor or terror in the world, much less within this region that theyd love to destabilize. So this is a very significant event, you know, on the 50th Anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Carley yeah, it is extremely significant. And, general tata, its following happening following former President Trumps Abraham Accords. Its also happening as the Biden Administration is trying to normalize relations between saudi arabia and israel. Could this be a response to that . Where these forces whether its hezbollah or hamas backed by iran are trying to intimidate israel to not go forward with a normalization of relations with other arab nations . Yeah, absolutely. Thats a very good read of the situation. Iran has a very special interest in keeping this region destabilized. They we need to believe them when they say they want to wipe israel off the face of the everett. And any step by earth. And any step by any other whether its shia or sunni muslim nations or sects to normalize relations gets in the way of irans selfinterest withs. And so irans, their selfinterest is to wipe israel off the face of the earth. And, you know, they chant death to america. And they know that israels our number one ally. So this is an attack on israel, or but its also an attack on u. S. Interests in the region. Pete you know, as youre talking, general, weve got live images inside gaza city as the sort of attacks go back and forth. If how quickly, i mean, talk to us about the right here our viewers are seeing, we just saw some ambulances moving, this is on the palestinian side of the conflict. Considering how built up, as will talked about, how built up gaza is, how long finish give us a timeline of your sense of the scope and timeline of an israeli retaliation. Because if youre sending Infantry Battalions or divisions, youre sending them into a hornets nest at this point, completely control by hamas. There would be casualties, but how else do you get these hostages out . Yeah, pete, really good question. The, ive been in the southern part of israel, you know, that borders the gaza strip. There are tunnels that the israelis have found, there are probably tunnels they havent found which may have contributed to the surprise, strategic surprise element here. Ive been inside, obviously, on the israeli side some of those tunnels, and its significant. Hamas has been preparing for this day for, you know, years. And so getting at the, restoring in this border and rescuing the hostages is going to require a significant joint combined Military Operation. The the question is, does us israel do this alone . How do we share intelligence with them . Many there are a lot of policies and decisions that need to be made within the u. S. Administration here and the divisiveness within particularly the Democrat Party in supporting the palestinians and supporting iran and supporting these terrorists with the squad and all of them, you know . You see how those sort of, you know, discussions, highlevel unreal discussions about supporting terrorists such as these sects of the palestinians and a hamas and hezbollah can come home to roost against the israelis who are our number one ally in the region. So theyve got to put forth a significant Military Operation here, pete, and its going to involve Special Forces, its going to involve intelligence. And, you know, iran, i think, is trying to stoke a larger war here. You know, the reports are they were trying to get remember lebanon involved. So its, you know, theres urgency in the very beginning of this. Will we have reports at least 100 israelis have been killed, that numbers growing significantly as you can see on the bottom of your screen. One quick followup, general. Rescuing the hostages seems actually a fairly limited extent of the operation. As you pointed out with youre original answer, netanyahu declaring war insinuates a different objective which you addressed at the beginning, which is the destruction of your enemy. So as we watch the next step in this, i can only assume that means hamas and potentially not stopping at hamas. Iran has been mentioned several times already. So as you look at what happens next, im just curious what you talked about a wider war, you know . The palestinians want the wider war, im just curious if it is a war and the objective is the destruction of your enemy, who is the identified enemy . Yeah. So its hamas and any rat lines that go back to iran, and they need to look at the intelligence with hezbollah and lebanon as well. And i dont think netanyahus going to, you know, pull any pun. S here. I think hes going to punches here. I think hes going to say these are our enemies, and we need to defeat them. And defeat means you stop their will to fight. So this could go on for quite a while. And the restoration of this or border, the rescue of his people and ensuring the curt of the israeli state are all at stake here. And this is a very significant development, and itll be interesting to see what this administration, how they handle supporting israel, whether or not theyre going to share intelligence which i think is probably the key thing that we can do to help them and other types of aid. You know, just one point id like to make, this administration has been bullying israel to support ukraine and leveraging their allies in the Corporate Media to bully israel to support ukraine when they werent. You know, they finally sent a field hospital, i think. But here we see many realtime in realtime, the impact of not understanding the severity of Playing Loose with the facts and having a weak Foreign Policy with respect to our number one ally in the middle east. And its really shameful that weve been bullying israel to support ukraine when every day israel is urn threat of attack under threat of attack from three different sides. Pete no doubt. General anthony tata, thank you for your time, appreciate it. Thank you. Pete as he ai lewded to, theres only one language that terrorists understand, and its strength. Its dead bodies. And Bibi Netanyahu knows that. Youre not going to be able to tap dance into gaza and address this problem. Youre going to have to systematically crush a wellfinanced, wellfunded Terrorist Organization that has Tens Of Thousands of rockets and now hostages and thousands if not Tens Of Thousands of fighters and is funned by a foreign entity. Funded by a foreign entity. Its a full scale war. Bibi netanyahus been bombing sites funded by iran for a long time. If you keep doing that, do you escalate that . Irans this close to a bomb. If hamas is willing to slaughter israeli families in their bedrooms, theyre certainly willing if they were to ever get their hands on a Nuclear Weapon to wipe israel off the map. You can see how Something Like this would escalate really, really quickly. And, by the way, cue the footage from the Palestinian Authority and hamas of civilians on their side. Thats why theres already Video Cameras trained there. Theyre going to fight a propaganda war. This is propaganda from their side saying, look, were infiltrating your country, were terrorizing your people. And as soon as israel responds, their footage is going to be, look, youre targeting our women and children. Which is not what israel does, but that becomes what the International Community wants t carley and keep in mind, a hamas does hide weapons in schools and hospitals, because when you target those schools and hospitals on the other side, theyll say youre just doing that its really a weapons depot. Lets bring in kt mcfarland, American Conservative Union board member, to talk about this ongoing and horrific situation. Kt, were at the beginning of this right now. How does this end, and what does this mean for the United States . Well, a couple of things. One is that were at the beginning of it, but its predictable. Whats happened in the last two weeks . Bret baier had a historic back to back interviews with the israeli Prime Minister and the saudi crown prince. Both of them said were getting close to a historic peace agreement, an arabisraeli peace agreement. And then what happens . Then the administration gives 6 billion, releases 6 billion to iran and saying, the administration says, well, were getting american hostages back, irans going to spend the money on, you know, humanitarian things and hospitals and children and pregnant women. Ing but the iranian leader said were going to spend it on whatever we want. So where did that money go . It goes to hamas because hamas is a whole wilyowned sub sub sid year of iran. Iran has attacked israel because it has the ability to do it through its proxy organization. Why has it done it . Iran doesnt want peace between the area arabs and israelis. So if iran can get a fight going between israel and some muslim groups, all the better for iran. My guess is theres a onetwo the punch coming. Is there going to be, you know, will remember lebanon in some way enter, the palestinians on the east side of israel, will they do something on that border. And then what do the israelis do . Well, how do they get those hostage as back . Ive been in some of those tunnels between the gaza strip and israel. You can drive tanks through those tunnels, and presumably that is what has happened. Theyve gone out and and snatched a couple women hostages, theyre taking them back in the tunnel, back into gaza, and youll never see those people again. Whatll happen . Will israel invade the west bank . Will it invade the gaza strip . Well, we dont know yet. And if israelis are looking at this in a bigger picture, theyre saying, wait a minute, if iran is doing this and doing that, maybe what we need to do is to take action against Irans Nuclear sites. So this has the potential, as pete just said, of escalating and escalating very quickly. The question i have is whats the Biden Administration going to do, you know . Condemn violence, or are they going to support israel. Will you know, kt, not debating or questioning those, that timing of what you just laid out in terms of the potential peace deal between israel and saudi arabia and the arab states and irans motivation in disrupting that,s but im curious how do you help me reconcile that with the idea that this probably had to be long in the making. This looked fairly sophisticated and was kept secret, obviously, underneath israeli intelligence. What are we, 2,000 rockets, is that the latest, 3,000 rockets and hundreds of soldiers . Im just curious, in your estimation how reactionary is it versus how long has it been sort of a Battle Plan Sitting there and kept secret . I think battle plans sitting there the kept secret just waiting for the fuse to light. I mean, iran has been looking, you know, death to israel, thats been their Main Objective other than death to america for decades. We now know that iran back when i was in the Reagan Administration when a Marine Barracks bombing in beirut, americans, the military and marines were killed in a Suicide Bomb Attack in beirut, and that we now realize was done by iran. So irans been at this game for 40 years. Thousand, the question is, has iran prepositioned all this stuff . Yeah, iran has probably prepositioned a lot of those rockets. Has iran prepositioned all these things . If yeah, iran is waiting for the fuse. And the fuse, the incentive iran had was two weeks ago when the saudis and the israelis talked about a historic peace agreement. So then you would have not only the Abraham Accords can, you could potentially have cape sabia and israel saudi arabia and israel, you could have peace in the middle east. Iran, which is not arab, its persian, theyre looking at that and saying that is our biggest nightmare. Lets light the fuse. Thats whats happened today. Carley so, kt, you just said that you are onliering if youre going to see wondering if youre going to see real support from the Biden Administration, will they really support israel or just with words. What does that real support look like to you . In other words, what should the Biden Administration do . Okay. So first, as general tata just said, you support them with intelligence. Us israel has really good intelligence, but america has pretty good intelligence too. The other intelligence, whats iran up up to. And is the Biden Administration going to continue to say, well, we want a nuclear deal with iran, we want to have regularized relations with iran, or is the Biden Administration going to say lets just take a step back. This is iranian aggression through its proxies in hamas. And then the final thing is israel is going to respond. How are they going to respond. Are they going to launch an invasion . Theyve done that before into the gaza strip. Are they going to have Special Forces to try to go in and take the israeli hostages . What is the Biden Administration doing . Does it con them that . So if israels condemn that . What if israel responds with a counterattack . Thats what israel do did in the Yom Kippur War that this is this anniversary of. Does the Biden Administration condemn israel . Thats all the a things they could do. Its not just, oh, we think violence is terrible, we want peace in the middle east, but we have real things they could do. Ultimately, its going to come down to israels going to use up a lot of its weapons systems. Can they buy more stuff from the United States, will we sell to israel or will the Biden Administration either sitten on its sit on kids, its hands or have an active policy. Pete kt, thanks for breaking it down to us. Its been quite a morning. A full scale war in israel. Coverage all morning, keep it on the Fox News Channel for the very latest. [background sounds]