[ yelling ]. Hamas should be treated exactly the way isis was treated. They should be spit out from the community of nations. No view, you cant see anything. I never imagined Something Like this would have been ever in a Music Festival and the rockets started and gunshots everywhere. A loved one, a friend, a classmate, a neighborhood, a colleague killed, maimed, missing. Missing. Sandra that was just a few moments ago and now a live look, screen left at the White House Briefing room where a Press Briefing is set to begin any moment now. National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby will be joining press secretary Karine Jeanpierre at that podium and this will be the second straight day as the war between israel and hamas rages on the the question is how President Biden plans to rescue the american hostages being held by hamas as 25 u. S. Citizens are now confirmed dead and 17 others are still unaccounted for at this hour. Welcome to all of you as our coverage continues here on the fox news channel. Hello and welcome. Im sandra smith. Good to have you, bill. Bill im bill hemmer as john is on assignment. The entire area around gaza is a closed Military Zone as they plan for an expected ground invasion. Sandra the threat of regional conflict is growing and Secretary Blinken is in israel as you just saw on a mission to prevent a wider war from happening. Best of my recollections also the Death Toll Climbing and casualties topping 1300 on each side. Sandra coverage from across the globe over the next two hours and Breaking News from the war in israel. Get straight to trey yingst live on the ground in Southern Israel for us with his continued reporting from there at this hour. Trey, to you. Reporter sandra, good morning. We returned from the location of the tribe of Music Location took place and the devastating aftermath of 260 people were slaughtered by Palestinian Militants and we saw where authorities were collected burned body parts underneath a bus. Also in the distance you could see where camp sites were set up and as we were working through this area, it was very clear something went terribly wrong and i want you to take a look. We heard a gunshot and theyre yelling at people to get out of the area. Get down, get down. Lay down flat. Lay down. Lay down totally flat. Reporter you can see things are very tense here. Two gunshots and now they have someone on the ground. Go back right now. Reporter very tense right now as the soldiers appear to be arrested a Plastein Indian Man palestinian man and hes in handcuffs and theyve blindfolded him and they are taking him away. You can see here theyre leading him away. Theyve blind folded this man and it appears they have camtured yet another militant who entered from the gaza strip and gives you a sense of how unpredictable all of this is. They dont know where people are hiding. They could still be in the tree lines here near the gaza border. I spoke with a Senior Commander that confirmed it was a palestinian militant that crossed from gaza or here since the massacre on saturday. Theyll investigate what happened and question that man they found in the woods, but a very tense situation at that site where the Music Festival took place. Bill trey, that is extraordinary. Bill hemmer again. I have a couple questions, its been reported a thousand and 1500 hamas militants crossed into israel. Do we have a clear picture of that ultimate number . Just to clarify here, did they believe that hamas militant was hiding in israel and has not since cross that had fence because the israelis said 48 hours ago they have full control over that fence yet again. Reporter yeah, thats what they said publicly and we talked with soldiers in the area and separate kibbutz yesterday and they were engaged in fire fights along the border and questions about specific territory they maintain and whether or not there are fighters crossing into Southern Israel. In terms of the amount of hamas militants and others that crossed during that tragic saturday morning, the israelis tell us they found 1500 o bodies of militants and thats not including the people who could still be in Southern Israel along the border or who crossed back into gaza so the true numbers are likely much higher and theyre wrapping their minds around what took place, bury the dead and get to work prepared for the possibility of those orders coming in at any moment, any time to enter gather s. Bill, sandra. Bill extraordinary report. Thank you. Trey yingst, Southern Israel back to you in a moment. Thank you. Moments ago watching here with us, Secretary Of State Antony Blinken addressing questions about that 6 million in funding and that was recently unfrozen for iran. Jack Jim Jordan Heinrich live from the Jackie Heinrich is live from the north lawn white house. Where is that funding standing right now . Reporter good afternoon, bill. Theres an agreement with Kansas City Chiefs far to qatar to stomp down any disbursement of the previously frozen funds made accessible to iran via withdrawals and thats a notable development because if you recall on tuesday, i asked Jake Sullivan if refreezing these funds was even underconsideration and he punted entirely on that question, but my colleague at fox business, edward lawrence, just moments ago got this Washington Report confirmed and saying the Deputy Treasury Secretary told House Democrats this morning in a closed door hell meeting in agreement does exist to prevent the disbursement of the funds to iran for indefinite period of time and ma mirrors what i was told after all senators got a briefing on tuesday that the u. S. Planned to leave requests for withdrawals pending indefinitely and essentially achieving the same outcome as if they were to refreeze the funds. The Secretary Of State was asked about this report, and he did not give a whole lot of detail. He kept it pretty vague, listen. None of the funds that have now gone to qatar have actually been spent or acespedessed in any assessed in any way. Way bye rhinoand theres strict oversight iran and we have straight oversight of the funds and retain the right to freeze them. Reporter weve been hearing in all along on the issue and being we have this report con if i wered and theres an agreement with qatar to stop the funds from being disbursed and thats notable and if you recall also on october 7, the day that israel was attacked. Qatar, thats supposed to be neutral and i want to read you a piece, the ministry of Foreign Affairs hold israel responsible for the ongoing violations of the rights of the Palestinian People. So thats a notable statement coming from qatar but obviously they are working with the u. S. To prevent the funds from getting into iranian hands and iran, saudi arabia and qatar amade statements pitting blame at israel for the attack. You have to ask why the administration so far does not want to talk about plans to refreeze the money. Theres some consideration that perhaps it would make future negotiations to get hostages home. It would complicate those negotiations but of course, that would have already existed the minute we made these funds available. We dont yet have clear answers to those questions on why they dont want to just come out and say that we dont intend to let iran get this money, bill. Bill might be the First Question of the briefing. Well stand by for that when it begins. Thank you, jac jackie. Now to sandra on the touch screen. Sandra bill, i want to bring our viewers along for what were learning about the u. S. Involvement in this ongoing conflict in the first u. S. Weapons that have arrived in israel. Were in the two minute window in the briefing and bringing the leafing inside the white house as soon as that begins. Meanwhile, the uss gerald r. Ford careerer strike in israel. This is the newest and most advanced Aircraft Carrier. The size and scope of the capables, this particular carrier can carry 5,000 sailorss and 90 aircraft longer than three Football Fields for a big picture over what this looks like Sitting Autoout of the coast of out off the coast of israel. As far as thats concerned and the exact geographic location and thats unknown but theres a general idea. Idf spokesperson who joined us on this program about this time yesterday said he believes the uss gerald ford will be relatively positioned off of Northern Israel and obviously this gives us a good idea of where it could be sitting. Along the lebanese coast, what he described as a safe and tactically wise distance. Thats pretty much giving us this vicinitity where that would be located. According to u. S. Central command, the head general, the arrival of highly capable forces to the region is a strong signal of deterrence and any actor hostile to israel consider trying to take advantage of this situation. Youve got to wonder how hezbollah is responding to the sight of that calling the u. S. Responsible for the attacks in israel and Lebanon Hezbollah group said yesterday blasting the unit for its support of israel. Saying that sending an Aircraft Carrier to this region will not scare our people or the resistant movements ready for confrontation. I believe the briefing is now underway okay. Okay. Were waiting the briefing to start again. As soon as thats underway, well get there. Continue to show you what we are hearing on the ground here in the United States. Now, this is pulling that we polling that we began, fox news polling that we started the day the conflict began on saturday and went on for two days and clearly Shows Growing support for the israelis here on the ground in the United States. We asked the question, in the middle east conflict, who do you side with more . That number has now grown to 68 . It was at 59 as of may 2021. Declining support for the palestinians dropped from 2418 and n those that say neither, fl into 7 and people are more involved now and were told the briefing is underway and go live to washington inside the briefing room. Fbi director chris wray and randall and president , Vice President and National Security teams discuss steps theyre taking to safeguard the homeland of the people of the United States including jewish, arab, and muslim communities. Following the hamas Terrorist Attacks in israel. Where he in touch with faith leaders and communities across the country to provide support, listen to their concerns, and offer the full resources of the federal government during what is a very difficult time for many people in the Jewish Community, but also people of all faiths. As you all have seen, the president continues to be highly engaged on this subject between the briefing today and his meeting yesterday with Jewish Community leaders. He and the entire Biden Harris Administration are committed, committed to doing all we can to protect against antisemitism and other forms of hate in the aftermath of this weekends horrific Terrorist Attacks and to discuss these events and answer your questions, admiral john kirby is here from the national Security Council. Admiral. Good amp, everybody. Just a couple of small things here from the top. Ill start with the saddest of news we can update the number of americans we know have been killed to 27. And the number of unaccounted for stands today at 14. Were obviously doing everything we can to support and inform the families now sadly five more families have now gotten the worst possible news that any family can conceive of getting. Were going to stay in touch with them as appropriate. Same goes for those physically abuse of those unaccounted for. We mean that, we dont know where they are, they dont know where they are. Were going to stay in touch with them as well and work with israeli officials to make sure were getting as much context and information as possible that we will share with them. Also as you, i think realize, we are all acutely aware of limited availability right now on commercial flights out of israel. And the Demand Signal by u. S. Citizens who may want to depart. President has asked his team to ensure we have assists u. S. Citizens who do want to leave israel and providing them with a safe means of doing that. Beginning tomorrow, United States government will arrange Charter Flights to provide transportation from israel to identities in europe. Theyre still working through some of the details of that to assist u. S. Citizens and their immediate peaks who have for whatever reason not been able to provide commercial transit out of the country. And i would add that were also exploring other options to expand the capacity of doing this including exploring whether its possible to help americans leave by land and by sea. So again, were working hard to meet the Demand Signal. I would encourage any american citizen in the need of assistance complete the intake form you can find on travel. State. Gov. Its very simple. Go right to that site and theres an intake form and fill it out and helps the State Department process these requests and helps us get a sense of the scope of the need. Im sure youre going to ask me that and i dont have hard figures with me and theres certain american citizens that want to go. Its all available through the State Departments website and id encourage them to go there. Thanks for taking my question. Gazas main power plant has run out of fuel and the humanitarian situation is quite dire and im wondering if theres communication of allowing shipments of food, fuel, electricity to lessen civilian casualties and suffering there . Yes, theres ongoing conversation with our israeli counter parts about the need for continued flow of humanitarian assistance. I had a couple of questions on the american hostages on is it still the case that the administration doesnt know anything about the condition of the american hostages and is the number still believed to be less than a handful . Yes and yes. I know youve been pretty open about the fact that information about the hostages very hard to ascertain at this moment. The limited information that you do have is that coming namely from the israelis and qatar or is there another source of information . The families too. As i mentioned yesterday, some of these families actually saw their loved ones being abducted and taken away so they have been a significant source of information as well. One other quick thing. The assumption that the hostages may not necessarily be in one place, with their specific intelligence to point the administration to not make that assumption or is that based on Something Else . I wont speak about a specific intelligence matters, but it is a common tactic in the hamas play book to break up hostages and move them around and sometimes small groups so we have nothing that would indicate to us that they would follow a different set of protocols, but i cant stand here before you and prove to you that is exactly whats happening. We have to in order to think about our policy options, you have to make some assumptions and we cant rule that out as a possibility. John, what is the status of the 6 billion that iran was sent to have access to . Its still sitting in the qatar bank, all of it. Every dime of it. Is there an agreement now to in essence withhold from iran should they ask for it . None of that money has been spent and i have no updates to provide today. Was it a decision to reach a quiet understanding with qatar about whether or not it would be accessed by iran made because of the attack or political pressure recently . Im not talking about diplomatic conversations One Way Or Another, ed. What i can tell you is every sin l dime of that money is still single dime of that money is sitting in a qatar bank and not one dime has been spent. I would remind because in certain audiences, inconvenient facts are easy to forget. Regime was never going to see a dime of that money. This account all though its moved from South Korea To Qatar was set up by the Previous Administration for this exact purpose and back in 2018 the former Secretary Of State mike pompeo talked in some detail about how this money and these accounts could only be used for humanitarian purposes and there would be oversight. Weve done nothing different. It is the same process. All weve done is move that funds from South Korea Wherefore some technical reasons it wasnt accessible and to qatar and its more accessible. All that said, none has been assessed by the iranian by iran at all and even if they had assessed it, it wouldnt do gop to the regime, its approved vendors that we approve to buy food, medicine and medical equipment, Al Cultural Products and ship into iran directly to the benefit of the iranian people. Let me ask you one other, has the United States independently verified the photos released by the israeli Prime Ministers twitter account today showing the images of dead children . I dont think were in the business of having to validate or approve those images. Theyre coming from the Prime Minister of israel. We have absolutely no reason to doubt their authenticity. Im not going to speculate One Way Or Another here about future transaction. What i can tell you is none of it has been assessed and were watching every dime as youd expect. Were watching it very, very closely. Im not going to they could still tap into it . Im not in a profession to speak Alabama The Press reports and nothing has been assessed and and we have oversight, we have oversight over what can be assessed and for what purposes. On another topic, the president said he told netanyahu its important even with all the emotion and incar anger and frun they operate by the rules of war. Why does the president feel the need to underscore this point . The president feels strongly about the law of Armed Conflict and proper receiver malik taylor for life anywhere in the world, especially including our own military operations. Is the president worried israel may have already violated the rules of war or might Going Forward . Its part of the conversation weve been having with the israeli counter parts about the prosecution of these military operations. The Palestinian People are like wise, innocent people and didnt ask hamas to pompeo in and do this and its always on the president east mind is the protection of innocent people. Calling the Israeli Defense minister a jerk saying hezbollah was really versus frequency smart. Im not commenting about comments on the campaign trail. Thats well beyond the pail for me. Kirby, update on the intelligence about irans role in this . Anything changing in terms of what youre seeing with the u. S. Assessing to be . No, no updates for you. Were still looking into this for you, but no direct evidence that iran was a participant in these attacks in any way but again, were still monostoring this. Were still looking at it. If i can go back, mary, im not going to comment but i will just add that we take seriously o our bilateral relationship with israel. We dont decide their Cabinet Leaders and we have strong relationships and its important those relationships continue to improve and grow right particularly in this time of crisis and so were focused on getting things done and supporting israel. Thats where our heads are. Admiral, speaking of iran, what did President Biden mean yesterday in his remarks when he said he made it clear to iranians be careful. What was that referring to . Refers to precisely to his comments the day before about about not wanting to see any third party Terrorist Group or nation state that might have hostile feelings towards israel that thinking this might be a good time to take advantage of that and to widen and expand the conflict. Very much in keeping with what he said the day before. Was that message communicated to iran . The president of the United States said it publicly, thats pretty good communication. Could you explain to us how the president came to say yesterday hed seen pictures of beheadings of children and make sure this information doesnt get out there. How did he end up saying that . Referring to images that many of you have seen, certainly your colleague haves reported on, and obviously israeli officials have spoken to as recently as today. Secretary blinken was also shown additional images by Prime Minister netanyahu. So i mean, the thing i think and just allow me a second. Were going to be prepared for additional gruesome images coming out and some pretty tough reports for all of us to swallow. This is not over. All that is, and certainly the president s comments yesterday to underscore the utter depravity and the barbaric nature with which these terrorists murdered and butchered innocent israeli civilians, and that further underscores why and this is what the president s specific point was yesterday. We have to stay with israel. Weve got to continue to make sure they have the support that they need. Regarding the issue of abiding by the laws of war, israel continues to halt halt splice of food and other aid materials to gaza. Im wondering if the u. S. Feels its an appropriate action by the israelis and if you make think concerns about that to the Israeli Government . Were having compingses with israeli i shall ifs about the continued need for humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian People who are victims as well. Is that a violation of law s . Im not put ago Bumper Sticker on it and having cassioppi Sieve Conversations as we wouldy around the world with israeli counter parts. Regarding the former president s comments last night, the politics of it, do you have any concern he may not have revealed Classified Information as it relates to the death of soleimani in 2020 . Im not in a position to comment on that right now. Thank you. John, one quick thing on Charter Flights, are they free of cost to american citizens . Id refer you to the State Department. Typically they are. I dont have the theyre still working through the details of how theyre going to coshed nate these. And then on the 6 billion, we know that 100 senators were told on tuesday night that the plan was basically to leave any requests for withdrawals pending indefinitely and now we know that House Democrats were told by the Deputy Treasury Secretary behind closed door this is mocker there was an added agreement with qatar not to let the funds disbursed. Why wont you come out and say the u. S. Does not intend to let this money go to iran . Jacqui, weve always had since the beginning, always had the ability to have oversight for the disbursement of the funds and weve always had the option. If we wanted it to look at transactions and to make a call about whether we found it valid or not. That has not changed. And even now as you and i are speaking, none of that money has been assessed by anybody and still all there. Is it because we think that freezing it essentially again would complicate any negotiations with iran or our ability to get americans home in the future . Im not going to go into anymore detail. Okay. On the overland and by sea and by land efforts, i guess why is it that we find ourselves in so many situations trying to get americans out and that its largely happening, you know, not through a government effort but were telling civilians to find their way across a border in a war zone. Happened in ukraine and why is it we found ourselves in that position so many times it seems . In what position exactly . Where were directing american citizens to find their own way to u. S. Help on the other side. Whereas other countries that are sending their military in or doing evacuation in a more formal way . Well, first of all, americans in dual passport holders live all over the world and sometimes they choose to live in places where bad things happen and were not in a position of lecturing to americans where they can go live, work, or travel, reck reuate recreate. In places like israel, theres a lot of americans. Most of them not most but maybe are dual nationals but a lot of americans are there and other nations have smaller populations and maybe i have to make their own decisions on handling the populations and we have to be respectful of the needs and desires of americans that live there. We know that some want to leave, we also know that a lot of them want to stay, its home. They dont want to go. We have to respect that as well. So we taylor the approach based on whats going on and whats going on geographically inside a country because some parts of countries that are in distress are safer than others and people are less likely to want to go. You have to take that all into consideration and the other thing id say to your question is, as this situation evolves, you should expect that so too will our approach evolve. And if theres a need to do more or to do it differently, well, by goodness well do that. Right now in the early hours, there was still ample commercial flights going out of the airport and viable land routes. We kept part of the reason why were doing this is because we have such good communication with americans and having these conversations and we realized that as the sitsittuation evolved, more and more americans are expressing a desire to leave and because not all carriers are working out of the airport, this makes sense as next best move. If we have to adjust it, we absolutely will. An the day of jihad, are we doing anything to fortify the u. S. Against any potential activity against americans with domestically or abroad given the calls for a day of jihad and your statement yesterday that now is not the time to go back and look at any intelligence gaps. Is it the time being that tomorrow is supposed to be this day of jihad . What i meant yesterday was were focused on making sure that our intelligent sharing with the israeli is as sharp and good as possible for the operations that they are in. I saw reporting that made it sound like we blew it off. Thats not the case. I understand theres a need to go back and look watt½ missed by whom and when. Well do that. Weve got to stay focused on the task at hand right now. As for your second question, absolutely, were constantly in touch with local Law Enforcement, state and federal officials across the country to make sure were as Ridg Vigilans we can be to identify and disrupt any threateds to the American People. John, is the concern about publicly addressing the 6 billion being frozen is the culpability on iran and these events and is that too volatile a statement for the u. S. Government to make publicly since its being communicated privately to lawmakers and others. I dont have anything to add on this, kelly. We havent seen any specific evidence that iran was involved specifically with these attacks, but as weve said, broadly, yes, theyre certainly complicit. Were not walking away from the fact that iran has Censored Hamas and other Terrorist Networks and its not about being unwilling to speak to culpability. Weve spoken to the culpability and complicity with iran with respect to Terrorist Groups. Im not able to go into more detail than that. I would tell you that again, im reminded and sound like a broken record but not a dime has been accessed and were watching it very, very closely. When the president spoke about the Hostage Event with jewish leaders yesterday and didnt want to say too much publicly for obvious reasons and can you speak about his view of a American Military role in another country when american lives are at stake . How does he view the calculus . Deferring to israeli idf, working in partnership . How would you describe as Commander In Chief what his priorities are with that kind of potential . As Commander In Chief, his First Priority is safety and security of the americans that are overseas as well as our own National Security interests. We have National Security interests throughout the region. Moving the Carrier Strike group to the eastern med is part in parcel of that surgeon he has of broader National Security interest here. L the israelis made it clear they dont want foreign troops on the soil and want to prosecute them and they have ever right to want to do that. We have some experts that were already in country and providing advise and council on Hostage Recovery and theres a terrific information and intelligence sharing relationship with israel. Were working to improve that and certainly theres a Strong Defense relationship providing weapons and munitions and were doing that. So there are no intentions and no plans to put American Droops Travion Green P os ground in combat. Options to that affect since saturday. Theres no intentions to do that and no active Planning Effort underway to do that. Israelis made it clear theyd noted welcome in any event. Its a very Capable Military and were going to do everything we can to improve those capab capabilities. The people of israel oren the ground. Is the military willing to withhold aid to israel till they create a humanitarian corridor . Were providing them mel tear aid as we speak so no, no plans of Holding Back Assistance and the president has been talking for three days about how were going to keep grieving them the apeables they need. Doesnt mean theres no conversations as ive answered three or our fulltimes about humanitarian assistance and importance getting into the people of gaza. Its the right thing to do for innocent victims that are being held hostage literally as well by hamas. The oil sales out of iran has increased over the last years and is the u. S. Looking at what to do to decrease the barrels out of iran. Were constantly reviewing the regime sanctions against iran and well continue to do that. Should we expect an announcement on that . Thats as far as im going to go today. Thank you for being here. I have two questions. First question regarding hamas and north korea, hamas used north korean rocket to attack and can you tell us about the situation where north korea is providing weapons to hamas and attack on the peninsula and if we have more information on that and i dont have it today. Whats going on in the middle east is going to affect our view of the Security Environment or anywhere else in the world and were a big enough, Strong Enough nation and weve got Global Responsibles to look after auroNational Security interests anywhere and everywhere. Were still also supporting ukraine in their fight against russia and were doing amazing amount of work in indo pacific so shore up alliance and partnerships to increase stability, security and prosperity throughout the region. On the 6 billion, are you saying that policy hasnt changed or youre not willing to talk about policies that may have changed. Bingo. The last one. Lovely, thank you for clarifying. The Over Question is on morning edition, someone was on thats a american citizen living in gaza. Is the United States doing anything to help american citizens who are trapped in gaza who may want to get back to the u. S. . Dual passport holders. The first thing were trying to do is allow for safe passage and right now they cant leave so we would have no physical means and we cant permit the transit out and thats why were working with the egyptians and israelis if they want to leave. If its on ward travel, wed be more in a position to be more physically involved. Does that make sense . Okay, i was going to go back to your First Question but im going to leave it. You could. Ill leave it. Just to go back to the president s comments yesterday about the pictures, he said he never thought hed see a confirmed picture of terrorists beheading children. At that point in time, had he seen such photos . What had he seen that made him say that . I having to add to what he said. Again, you guys have all reported on these atrocities. Some of your outlets have even run some of these images. Theyre playing for everyone to see and Prime Minister spoken to that and even before today theyve spoken to the atrocities and today Prime Minister showed Secretary Blinken additional grgrotesque imagery. On the aid package, anything with the request to congress and what that will look like and the request there. Can you specify whether or not taiwan funding and possibility Border Security funding could be apart of that request . Nope. Peter theyd be willing to trade prisoners for hamas prisoners and said the United States has traded prisoners before citing the iran deal that was made and is that something the United States would consider doing in the case of United States citizen s . I havent seen that ratter. Im going to be low to comment and we take responsibilities to get americaning from overseas back with their families and weve entered into negotiations to do exactly that and weve not foreclosed any option right now in terms of these particular hostages. Obviously if they if theyre returned to their families, they can be arrived at in a peaceful way without risk to their lives, wed take that very, very seriously. I wont get ahead of where we are. Peter, even if i had more knowledge about that offer than i do today, my answer to you would be the same. Its never a good idea to negotiate for the transfer of hoshoshostages and Detainnies In Public Less detainees public lest you torpedo your position and jake said himself better than i can, well do everything that we can, Everything Possible that we can to get the americans back home. I would remind peter, we still dont have a lot of information about exactly how many, where they are or who they are. We have a lot of information to gain before we come up with concrete sei seizure disorders. How does the iranian strike on the Airport Change and can you talk about it leading up to the attack. Ive been asked that question about the egyptian warning. I have nothing on that and talk to the egyptian authorities. I dont have anything and wouldnt talk about intelligence matter and on your First Question, thats a better question for the Israeli Forces and not the United States. Were focused on helping them go after hamas. Are you certain that hezbollah can beat in this war and can be bought . Absolutely. Any intelligence information about the ability of hezbollah that they are having the ability stronger than hamas. They are a potent Terrorist Group, no question about it and we watch them closely and the israelis watch them closely and we done want to see this conflict widened. We dont want to see hezbollah make that kind of decision. I would remind, again, that we take our National Security interest very seriously in the region and the reason why we move to Carrier Strike group short term orientation the eastern med was to act as a deterrent for any other actor including hezbollah that might think widening this conflict was a good idea. The fo forces that might join the war. Ships are on their way and if hezbollah changed the game and did make it a big difference as we look with another surprise maybe. I appreciate the effort to get the hypothetical and im not going to do that. Im not going to do that and theres no intention or plan and im not putting troops on the ground and no plan by the Ziti Reallies and im not getting ahead of where things are. Thanks, john. One of your priorities has been to keep the war confined to israel and gaza but are you concerned thatll be more difficult to know itll leave gaza as the war escalates. Prospect of widening is actors outside of israel. U. S. Is accelerating pgms that israel paid for and potentially considering spend even more after that, have there been any restrictions put on how israel uses those weapons and why not . I wont speak about Israeli Security operations and not going to get into detailing the kinds of munitions were bringing provided to them and israelis have a right to have that information protected for their own ability to conduct operations. Thank you, john. This administration put very hard against misinformation and i guess when you have misinformation leading to incite want and what to come. Again, whether the story will be here and the beatings or rape, i want to make sure you are 100 of the stories and they prefer us not to come. I have in mind notable outlet for many of them are and this misinformation on government slight action about the war. Theres no comparison here. Theres no comparison whatsoever. I dont think somebody elses information as you dont verify yourself and you trust the sources. Im asking my question to you and how do you separate that with misinformation. I taught a whole class at gorge town and we can talk about that for hours. Obviously we take seriously what that is. Youll have to register for the class and i dont know if you can handle the reading. Look, we take it very, very seriously and the need to be as factual and certainly as truthful as we can possibly be. Comments made by israeli officials themselves and its obvious, sadly, but its obvious what hamas is proven willing to do to innocent israeli citizens. Were going to were not going to shy away from talking about the grotesque nature here of what these terrorists have done. But i also think its important that we all, and i dont mean this in a chastising way, we all have to keep the larger picture in mind here of whats going on and how important it is for israel to be able to eliminate this very real, very tangible, very demonstrable threat to lives of their own citizens. One more question and just quickly, if you manage to succeed to open the Border Crossing and palestinians to gaza and it appears go back to gaza after the war ends. It appears when people leave and history told us since youve told us, they dont come back. They dont come back. Theres people worried about the Ethnic Cleansing they dont come back. Our focus is making sure that we, not all are going to want to leave and all those that get out, they have the ability to get out. Thats the real First Priority and if theres a concern about getting back in appropriate time, time, well beale with that in a policy issue Going Forward. The bottom line is we know that gaza is home for the people. They, if they want to go back home, they should absolutely be allowed to go back home, but they should be able to make those decisions just like citizens anywhere should be able to make those kinds of decisions. Thank you is the white house considering or will consider putting a National Security assessment on the situation . I have nothing to update or comment on that. Hi, john, is the white house concerned or have any response to the court order in kenya that blocked deployment of Security Officers on the Multinational Mission to haiti and if this legal challenge is successful, is that concerning, does that change the u. S. pledge in this mission . Im going to have to take that question, sir. I wasnt tracking that. I dont want to speculate. Thank you, john. Follow up question on social media regarding information and Social Media Platform X has removed hundreds of hamas believing it has taken down thousands of posts for hamas attack on israel and does the minutia think that enough is being done about misinformation surrounding this and how concerned is the administration about this . Weve seen the reports that x has taken down quite a bit of misinformation. I mean, we certainly support those decisions and that kind of information has no business being out there. Certainly when you absolutely know its false and were grateful and we are grateful and support that and its a corporate decision they made and it was done in the right vein. Theres no intention or plan to do this and theres no intention and plan and frankly desired these for u. S. Combat troops to be involved in the conflict. Thank you, admiral. Two questions on these crisis, 27 americans killed is a very large number. That is larger than the number of americans that were killed by terrorists during our withdrawal from afghanistan and the number of them killed with the u. S. Holding a large number of americans ki killed in benghazir beheaded by isis and i believe its accurate to say after all of those events, direct u. S. Military action was ordered by the Commander In Chief. 27 americans and the u. S. Forces going in and getting the guys that killed our people. James, well everything out of the hostages home for their families and we recognize theyre not bog held hostage and other nationalities included in the group and i appreciate the sense of urgency and we share it, but were not going to act One Way Or Another till we have enough information to act upon. The hostages issue, you have suggested that its a very small number of hostages and american hostages here in gaza less than a handful its the operatives and hasnt headlight devoid of situations and the president of the United States and his administration and hostages himself to a Foreign Terrorist Organization and President Biden is not focused on history and even domestic history in whats going on now and making sure that were doing everything we can because its not 1979. Its 2023 and hamas is an organization that has existed for many years with the support of iran and weve got enough challenges dealing with this that were focused on. Thanks, everybody. Appreciate it. Thanks, everybody. Thanks, admiral. All right. Go ahead. Is the president okay with having a lawmaker accused of conspiring to act as an agent as a Foreign Government remain as a member of congress . The admiral was just asked this question i dont have anything to say beyond what he shared. I dont. He was literally just asked this. Im not going to say anymore to what he just added. Karine, does the president feel supported by the Democratic Party writ large by lawmakers, by his party for these actions now regarding israel . The president is very much to what the admiral just said about the moment that were in, about what were seeing. This terrible event that happened this past weekend in israel is that who is an ally and a friend is what we saw this Terrorist Organization do, hamas, which is kill hundreds o, murder people, and we believe this president believes it is the right thing to do to continue to assist the people of israel. As theyre dealing with this devastating horrific time. So the president as the president as Commander In Chief has decisions to make and difficult decisions to make it and the American People and talking about the National Security piece of this and as we all know, americans, 27 americans who have sadly perished and smuggling are still missing and it is the president s duty as commander in can chief doing everything he can to protect us and also assist in this horrific, horrific events we saw this weekend. My question is does he feel that this party is supporting him in that. Does he sense division. I cant speak to, were not sensing division. Were the president is focusing on the job at hand. The president is going to always focus on this and the trial and center and the thing israel wents through in the past few days is horrific and well stand by them as the president said and as they go through this terrible time and as you know, youve all written about attacked by Terrorist Organizations and Terrorist Organization and the president is going to continue to do his duty as Commander In Chief and as president. Is there an estimate on how Many American citizens are trying to leave israel right now . I dont. I dont have an estimate. You heard from the admiral we announced the charter the state will be running and just dont have any intel and you know the commercial flights are still ongoing in israel so there are opportunities for folks to leave. I just dont have any number for you. Are there any active threats that on the domestic front that Law Enforcement is track at this moment stemming from saturdays attack s . What i can say is were always monitoring and clearly well monitor to make sure that making sure if theres threats, we would address those and theres nothing active that i can announce to you or ray out to you at this time. Were monitoring but theres no active threats at this time. Now in the second week of house not having an elected speaker. Does that change any conversation the president may be having with senior House Republicans about speeding this process along . Which process . Electing a speaker. Its their process to run. This is the House Republicans as ive said over and over again. Its their process and the president doesnt have a vote. What were see asking certainly shambolic chaos on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue and they need to get their act together. Theres a lot of work that needs to be done on behalf of the American People. Weve said this over and over again. They need to figure it out. How are they going to select their speaker in thats up to them but of course the president wants to continue to move forward on making sure that the business of the American People is done. But this doesnt stop the president for continuing to do the work. We announced junk fees the other day and the president has been doing putting engagement on behalf of the American People and you want to see the House Republicans get there and get their act in order. Understanding this is uncharted territory this is and its not it is charted territory. It is. I know. Theres not a role that the administration sees that the president could play here. It is not for us to fix. It is not for us to fix the chaos in the house of republicans. Its not for us to fix. They have the majority in the house. It is for them to fix. Weve never seen a conference behave this way or be this chaotic. And it is important for republicans who have majority to figure this out. To figure this out and get there and get they created the situation and they have to figure it out and elect their speaker so we can move on. Hotter than expected 3. 7 year over year and talk about the spending to lower costs and the last couple of months, how is that Lowering Costs . So, look, what we believe is bidenomics is an action. Youre talking about Lowering Costs and thats something that the president certainly is continuing to do and enemies fellation is falling while dib inflation is falling and employment remains strong. Speaking to cpi, inflation has fallen 60 . Since last summer and the Core Inflation as we youre speaking to the data fell to the lowest level in two years. So that matters. Lets not forget about wages being higher than they were last year accounting for inflation. Prices fell for core goods like cars and furniture for the fourth month in a row. All of these pieces are in the data and cpi that came out today and that matters. But people still hear bidenomics and rent is up 7. 4 year over year, Car Insurance is up almost 19 and costs are not coming down for all americans. So, heres the thing, as we know that when it cops to housing, people are still deadeadeadealing with a lot; re . We understand how that Economic Hardship relating to housing and thats why the president put forth a plan on the federal level how to lower costs for housing for people. Thats important as well. When you think about wages, wages are indeed up, which matters over the last year. Accounting for inflation and even more for blew Collar Workers and those not in management so that matters. As i mentioned moments ago. The president will continue to