we also need to be focused on the day after. and so in conversations that we'll be having through the course of this weekend, i expect you'll see a focus there, and particularly how we can get over time two states for two peoples, which in our judgment remains the best guarantor and maybe the only guarantor of a secure jewish and democratic israel and palestinians with the state that they are entitled to. so, these roadway the things that we are focused on. these are challenging times. these are intensely difficult issues. but i'm convinced that american diplomacy can make a difference in moving everyone to a better place, that's what we'll be working to do. >> thank you, mr. secretary. do you assess that israel has shown restraint up to this point in their offensive in gaza and what are the concrete steps you'll be pushing them on, are you confident you'll be able to get them to make movement on this, given the positions we have seen from israelis? >> as we said and it's important. israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself and again, to try to make sure that what happened never happens again. no country, no country, not the united states, not anyone else that i can think of would tolerate the slaughter of its civilians. so we stand behind that. we stand behind the proposition. but as democracies, the united states, israel, other democracies have a responsibility to do everything possible to protect civilians who may be caught in harm's way and this again is a crossfire quite literally of hamas' making. it deliberately has men, women and children as human shields puts its command posts, puts its leadership, puts its fighters, its weapons, munitions underneath hospitals or inside them. schools, mosques, makes this incredibly challenging but we have to rise to that responsibility and so we will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimize harm to men, women and children in gaza and this is something that the united states has committed to. i'm not going to get into the details here, but it's very much on the agenda. when i see a palestinian child, a boy, a girl, pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building, that hits me in the gut as much as seeing a child in israel or anywhere else. so this is something that we have an obligation to respond to and we will. >> thank you. i wonder if you have your assessment of the current risk of the spill-over in the conflict. hezbollah says they have attacked 19 posts along the border with lebanon and the houthis say they are answering the conflict. and how will you get the other countries in the day after plan, rising opposition and protests, see bahrain and others pull out their ambassadors. >> we will prevent escalation whether it's lebanon, northern israel, southern lebanon, west bank, anywhere else in the region and the president's been very clear in what he said publicly. we have been very clear in what we shared privately. we have been very clear in some of the actions we are taking, that we are determined to deter any escalation. so, with our partners as well, we are making sure that that message gets through. it's not in anyway's interest for this to escalate and i think some of the other parties involved actually recognize that. but we are going to work on that every single day. >> it's happening, though, the strikes are already taking place. >> what we have seen so far are discreet attacks. we have responded as necessary including on our forces, our forces who are in the region in syria, iraq, to prevent resurgence of isil, and response to that. but we are determined to prevent escalation, prevent the spread of this conflict and taking necessary steps to make sure that happens. with regard to what comes next, again, i think understandably, people are very focused on the day of, not just the day after. but we do have to have conversations now about how we can best set the conditions for a durable, sustainable peace, durable, sustainable security for israelis and palestinians alike. so i expect that those are conversations that we'll have an opportunity to pursue over the next couple of days, but this is a long-term effort but we have to make sure we are focused on it now. thanks. thanks, everyone. >> john: the secretary of state antony blinken there as he prepares to board the jet headed for tel aviv and discussions with israeli officials and sandra, he may also be going to amman, jordan to speak with the fatah leader and that could indicate there are plans afoot for the way forward after hamas. don't forget, the president was supposed to meet with him and el-sisi a few weeks ago but that was postponed because of the explosion in gaza. >> sandra: and the secretary waved good-bye, on board, saying we need to focus on the day after plan, that will be focused a lot over the next few hours and days as he makes this trip. his discussions while travelling and conversations will focus on that this weekend. the day after plan. and he said he's determined to prevent escalation, so we'll see what more comes from this trip, calling it a challenging times, intensely difficult issues, and they are indeed, john. >> john: a lot more ahead, too, in the next two hours, starting here. >> a bomb, a come came down, explode everything. >> if you care about jewish people, i need you to call for a ceasefire right now. >> get out! >> john: awaiting an update from the white house on the war in the middle east after president biden said he wants israel to "pause" its battle to defeat hamas and breaking moments ago, wall street journal reporting the u.s. believes the russian-backed wagner group may be helping hezbollah, that is a concerning sign this war may be about to widen. i'm john roberts in washington. good to be with you this thursday. >> sandra: makes blinken's trip even more important as we watch that this weekend. good to be with you. sandra smith in new york. the president stopped short of backing a full ceasefire in gaza, saying he wants a humanitarian pause. so negotiations can continue with hamas to try and free the hundreds of hostages. his comments coming as the idf warns it is preparing for a major push into gaza city. the base of hamas's political and military machinery. >> john: as the fighting rages, hundreds have now been allowed to leave war torn gaza through the rafah crossing into egypt, few hundred americans trapped there for weeks have been given the green light to leave in coming days. >> sandra: those not so fortunate are the 242 israeli hostages still being held by terrorists. now shining a light on 32 innocent children abducted from their families and urging the world to bring them home. >> john: fox team coverage over the next two hours and breaking news from the war in the middle east, starting with trey yingst, live again in southern israel with the latest from there. trey. >> john, good afternoon. certainly no pause in fighting along the israel-gaza border, as antony blinken was speaking, we could hear small arms fire in the distance. watching throughout the day as the israelis also continue airstrikes. our cameraman capturing these images as the strikes took place against gaza over the past hour. it has been a back and forth as the factions inside the strip have maintained their ability, 27 days into this conflict to fire on central israel. major population centers despite the thousands of strikes you can see in gaza city, just pure devastation to the infrastructure as the israelis are looking to support infantry troops on ground with air support with helicopters like that one and the fighter jets. we know according to the israeli military, they have lost 19 soldiers this week inside gaza as the gun battles continue. hamas and islamic jihad ambushing forces in the strip. the southern crossing between egypt and gaza, the second day in a row, palestinians injured were able to cross in ambulances to go to egyptian hospitals and foreign nationals were able to cross and make their way into egypt. i've been speaking throughout the day with american citizens who were able to cross into egypt and get a sense of relief, because they have been waiting for weeks to get out. i want you to listen to this american citizen who spoke from that crossing. >> the war just got escalated so fast. a lot of people are dying, a lot of people are under the rubbles of buildings. this is my fifth attempt to leave. we evacuated our house about 19 days ago. right now i'm between ice and fire. i don't know if i'm ever going to be able to see the family that i left behind or the friends that i left behind. >> i was sent a copy of the list of everyone who was approved to cross from gaza into egypt today. there were 400 american names on that list. we don't know who all actually was able to cross and made it to rafah into egypt. but it is a significant development and clearly shows the state department is working behind the scenes to try and get these americans out and get them home. all these developments in the south do come as fighting continues in the north. israelis say they have struck a number of hezbollah targets tonight as they continue targeting southern lebanon in response to rocket and mortar fire into northern israel. >> john: and concerns things may pick up north to south beginning tomorrow. trey yingst, thank you. >> sandra: president biden calling on israel and hamas to pause fighting as hundreds of americans are still in the gaza strip. critics say it would only benefit hamas. meantime, some of those americans are getting out, crossing over into egypt today. fox team coverage of all this with mike pompeo on how a pause could affect this war. but first, peter doocy joining us live at the white house ahead of a briefing that should be underway a short time from now. peter. >> yes, and sandra, i was just in the oval office where president biden was meeting with the dominican republic president and i was trying to ask him about this new report that antony blinken is going to push the israelis at the end of the plane ride to pause for humanitarian reasons. i was shouting out trying to get a question in how long of a pause is okay. the president seemed to answer something different where he said there is good news and more than 70 dual citizens have been able to get out today. so, we will have that tape for you, clean it up and play it a little while from now. last night was the first time we have seen president biden pressured in person by a protestor pushing for a ceasefire, somebody that paid to go to a fundraiser in minnesota and how that played out. >> mr. president, do you care with jewish people. as a rabbi i need you to call for a ceasefire right now. >> get out! >> right after that, according to the pool that was there, president biden said i think we need a pause. the rabbi asked what that meant and the president said, a pause means give time to get the prisoners out, give time. and while it's unclear exactly what he was getting at there, that is along the same lines of what we have heard from the white house briefing room and john kirby this week. >> our concern with that is that hamas benefits to the tune of being able to refit, renew themselves, plan and execute additional attacks. right now is not the time for a general ceasefire. it is, however, the time to consider pauses in the fighting. >> and we expect some further clarity about that when he and karine jean-pierre are in the briefing room later on this hour. >> sandra: we will get to that when it begins. peter doocy will be in the room. thank you, john. >> john: let's bring in mike pompeo, former secretary of state, former cia director and fox news contributor. let me if i could, mr. secretary, based on your vast experience get you to weigh in on this idea, and the white house has actually been talking about this in one form or another, occasional pauses in the fighting in gaza to allow either humanitarian relief to get in or try to get some of the hostages out. what do you believe net effect of that would be? >> well, john, even talking about it encourages hamas to wait for those moments, right, to say yep, we can get more weapons in, fuel stolen, all of those things. biden administration is unclear what they have been asking about. they talked about temporary ceasefires, and now the term pause, these are all verbs to describe inaction and so if you are trying to put pressure on hamas in order to get these hostages home, that includes all the people there, not just those held hostage but folks who cannot get across the rafah border and you are trying to create a corridor, that's one thing. 20 minutes, a half hour, hour, we know how to do this. but if you are talking about long extended pauses in operation, that is deeply dangerous to those very hostages, it's bad for the israeli effort to wipe hamas off the map and sends a signal to the entire world that you frankly don't understand what took place on october 7th, and that you are prepared to provide money, hundreds of millions of dollars to hamas in the middle of that, is just deeply dangerous, john. >> john: i want to replay a piece of video from the president's event in minneapolis that peter doocy brought us. this woman who stood up in the middle of the president's address and said there needs to be a ceasefire. listen here. >> mr. president, if you care about jewish people as a rabbi i need you to call for a ceasefire right now. >> sit down. >> get out. >> john: i need you to call for a ceasefire right now. here is what hillary clinton said about that the other day. >> people who are calling for a ceasefire now do not understand hamas. that is not possible. it would be such a gift to hamas because they would spend whatever time there was a ceasefire in effect rebuilding their armaments, you know, creating stronger positions. >> john: mr. secretary, there may be a lot of daylight between you and the former secretary on a lot of things but i think you tend to agree on that point. >> you are about to make me commit a nearly unnatural act, john, agreeing with secretary clinton. but she's got this right and i'm glad for that, and glad she's taking that on board and i'm glad there are other democrats who have understood the risk of a ceasefire to demand the israelis do a ceasefire while they are doing the absolute necessity. we had peace on october 6th, right. there weren't 1400 barbaric acts committeed, or 30 american hostages on october 6th. i'm glad secretary clinton and i share the same view, a ceasefire would be a mistake and demanding of the israelis, a foreign policy error of the highest order. >> john: one of the things we have seen on college campuses across america and other places as well, a troubling rise in antisemitism. we have been looking to the white house to respond to this. what the vice president said about it. listen here. >> we have seen an uptick in anti-palestinian, anti-arab, antisemitic and islamaphobic across america. this is a plan from hate, bigotry and violence. >> john: what did you think of the white house announcing the policy in the despicable rise of antisemitism? >> yeah, its disgusting what vice president harris said and disconnected. disgusting in that it fundamentally does not understand that it is jews across america being threatened in large numbers, radically disproportionate numbers, even according to their own fbi director and disconnected because it fundamentally is disconnected from the decency that i think every american demands, the religious tolerance we demand. you talk about the rise in antisemitism. what i think has happened, we have unmasked it. it was hiding in progressive institutions for the past years and what happened on october 7th now unmasked it and we are seeing it in ways we never anticipated we would see and requires a fall-out assault to put it back in the box and to hear vice president harris speak this way and say the largest problem facing the united states is islamophobia. >> john: and the big problem facing israel, if you let hamas survive, what happens next, which is why israel is so determined to decapitate hamas. listen to this. >> we must teach israel a lesson and we will do this again and again. it's just the first time and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, we have the determination, resolve and the capabilities to fight. >> john: a lot of that could be bluster, mr. secretary, but seems pretty determined to destroy israel. >> oh, goodness. i suppose it's a tactical matter may exhibit some bluster but ideological, there is not a call from a two-state solution from this guy as with antony blinken, with you a call for wiping jews off the map in israel. the objective, goal, why israel must complete its task and add to this, john, connected. i heard what secretary blinken said about his trip. he refuses to even utter the word iran. you cannot begin to solve what you just heard in that clip that you played or the confrontation between not only israel but arab states, sunni arab states threatened by iran as well. secretary blinken talks about trying to contain this, to keep it from escalating. there is one address that you can go to. you want the hostages back, force the iranians to tell hamas to release them. you want to keep hezbollah out of the fight, force iran, force them to tell hezbollah stay out of the fight. a singular address that can be gone to and this administration simply refuses to do it and has negotiated in ways that are indecent and you talked about the russians getting involved, russians and iranians were sending drones to kill ukrainian kids. i hope this administration will issue a statement that says iran is at the foot of the problem and we will apply pressure on iran to allow israel the time and space necessary. >> john: we'll keep watching for that. thank you, secretary mike pompeo. >> sandra: former president donald trump's sons, donald trump, jr., and eric trump wrapping their testimonies in the 250 million civil fraud trial brought on by the new york attorney general letitia james. nate, what happened in court today? >> well, sandra, right now the court is in lunch break. don, jr. wrapped up his testimony with eric trump to continue his direct examination in an hour. and so far the state's questioning focuses on the brothers' role at the trump organization, specifically any involvement with preparing financial statements that the new york attorney general claims contained fraudulently overvalued properties. the trumps deny wrongdoing and don, jr. said yet another attack on his family. >> the attorney general has brought forth a case that is purely a political persecution. i imagine to you guys i'm not the upstanding individual hunter biden is but seems i've done undue testimony, 50 hours before congress, all of it ends up being nonsense. >> so don, jr. arrived at the courthouse with his brother eric this morning. both of them are co-defendants in the trial, alongside their father, donald trump. eric's examination is underway. he says he does not remember having any involvement in preparing the trump organization's statements of financial condition. former president trump himself criticized the justice saying he's a whacko having a great time endlessly sanctioning, fining and pushing around trump, hurting my very good children and working to damage and defame me for purposes of interfering with the 2024 presidential election. attorney general james is in the courtroom again today. she maintains the former president lied about his net worth to receive financial benefits. the afternoon session resumes at 2:15 today, so about an hour from now, again, eric trump will continue his direct examination then, sandra. >> sandra: nate foy, thank you. we'll, mayors of several big cities run by democrats are in washington today seeking federal aid to help manage the surge of migrants arriving in their cities. jason chaffetz, great to see you. this is chicago, denver, houston, los angeles, new york city, they all said they welcomed migrants with open arms and now see they cannot handle the numbers they are getting. they want $5 billion they say in additional funding. accelerated approval for work authorization, and coordinated migrant entry process. i mean, they are overwhelmed, jason, with what is happening in these cities. where does all of this go next? >> well, they asked for it. they are the ones that are the sanctuary cities and states, they have not turned the spigot off and imagine what's going on in states that are right there on the border like texas and arizona and new mexico and california. i mean, these states are getting but a fraction of what small, small cities are getting. and you know what, they already get money from the federal government. they don't run their cities very well, they, you know, mayor adams said when the migrants started coming at the beginning of his term, he wanted to give them voting rights. i mean -- this is just not -- they give them free education, free school, they want to accelerate them getting into the workforce, and many of these people have come here illegally. if you don't cross a port of entry, you are here illegally. the current law says you are supposed to be deported. and yet these people want to roll out the welcome mat and you know who they are not taking care of, homeless veterans. they are not take care of americans first. that's what's so maddening about this. >> sandra: and the taxpayers are on the hook for all of it. ma mayors from denver and chicago -- >> $5 billion is not an unreasonable demand, particularly a moment there is such a tremendous need. so today was reinforcing what all of us are experiencing around the country. >> what we want is the federal government to step out of the way of employers who want to hire individuals trying to get access to work and help get them access to work. >> sandra: $5 billion is not an unreasonable demand? and then almost in the same breath from the other mayor we hear we want the federal government to step out of the way? is there ultimately going to be a blue state bail-out here, jason? >> i hope not. there really shouldn't -- by the way, didn't the president and his spokesperson say and mayorkas, secretary of homeland security, isn't the border closed? is there really a problem? come on, sandra, you don't throw billions and billions of dollars at this and bail the people out. the big cities, they have a homelessness problem that they cannot deal with on their own, but you throw people here illegally, people who don't properly apply for asylum and exacerbate the situation and come in records amount. every single metric on the border is out of control. they need to solve this problem, not just throw money and incentivize more people to come here. >> sandra: i say the taxpayers are on the hook, those that stay. many decide to flee and go somewhere else if they don't feel safe or they feel like their city is changing because of all of this. marco rubio says the open border we have today is leading to terror risks for these big cities. add this to the problem list. listen. >> last year i'm just using one number, 900,000 people confronted at the border, released. 1/10 of 1% are terrorists, that's 900 terrorists. you only need a few to do a lot of damage. >> sandra: and we know more and more of those caught at the border are on the terror watch list after finding 0 a few years ago. we are up to nearly 200 in the latest year, jason. this is another big problem. >> last month alone, there were 18 that caught -- were caught. how many of them weren't caught? we don't know, and we know -- look, it's not just people flowing from mexico, these are people coming from, you know, syria and north korea and other places around the globe that aren't exactly friendly. we have no way of vetting these people and the border is totally open. we don't even mention the hundred thousand people that will die from fentanyl overdosing, the drugs running, the human trafficking. how about the 80 plus thousand unaccompanied minors that this administration, biden and harris, can't even tell you where they are at and yesterday joe biden is at a family farm in minnesota? he is not doing his job. enforce the current law. that's why so many people are concerned about the crime in this country, the open borders in this country, it just does not feel like the world is safe. it's not overseas and not at home. >> sandra: a huge problem and many see the democrat mayors dealing with the problems in the cities are asking for money and we have seen throwing money at the problem does not solve it. thank you so much, jason, for joining us. good to see you. >> thanks, sandra. >> john: concern growing at america's top universities after a wave of antisemitic incidents. we will speak with two jewish students who say their administrators are not going enough to confront it on their campuses. >> sandra: any moment now, the white house is set to brief reporters as hundreds of americans race to escape war torn gaza. will they get out? we will head live to that briefing as soon as it begins. have you tried getting a home improvement loan at a bank lately? good luck. some of those rates can be 12 to 15% or higher. our rates are a fraction of what some of those banks charge. veterans across the country are using the newday 100 va loan to get cash to update and improve their homes. whether you need to replace your roof windows or hvac or want to upgrade to your dream kitchen, call newday. this is american infrastructure, a prime target for cyberattacks. but the same ai-powered security that protects all of google also defends these services for everyone who lives here. ♪ when migraine strikes you're faced with a choice. ride it out with the tradeoffs of treating? or push through the pain and symptoms? with 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(dog bark) it's just smarter, healthier pet food. it's amazing what real food can do. at ameriprise financial, our advice is personalized, based on your goals, whatever they may be. all that planning has paid off. looks like you can make this work. we can make this work. and the feeling of confidence that comes from our advice? i can make this work. that seems to be universal. i can make this work. i can make this work. no wonder more than 9 out of 10 clients are likely to recommend us. because advice worth listening to is advice worth talking about. ameriprise financial. >> sandra: president biden just made some comments as peter doocy gave us a head's up on a short time ago, in the oval office about those americans stuck in gaza. watch and listen here. >> everybody out this way, thank you, thank you. everyone -- >> thank you. >> thank you. >> got out today, 74 american folks out. thank you. >> thank you. thank you. >> sandra: now that we have seen and heard the tape, we can confirm that the president there in the oval office a short time ago did say that 74 dual citizens have been able to leave gaza. so that is the update there, the white house press briefing is set to begin any moment now. we will likely get more clarity on that as john kirby will be briefing as well as karine jean-pierre. we'll listen for it. >> our university are complicit in the violence, weapons, bombs, and attack that enable the ok pigs. -- the occupation. >> john: college campuses across the country. a massive rally in tel aviv today, and calling on their government to bring the hostages home. but here in america anti-israeli activists in big cities and college campuses don't share those sentiments as they have been seen ripping down posters of the hostages put up around town. joining us are two students who say they have witnessed rampant antisemitism on their campuses. yola and bella. thank you for joining us. bella, start with you. what's it like to walk in your shoes at nyu these days? >> yeah, first of all, john, thank you so much for having me. being a jew at nyu right now is scary. we are seeing an uptick in anti-israel protests that are turning antisemitic. signs read globalize the -- calling for the extermination of jews, and hearing chants of gas the jews, hitler was right, and as the granddaughter of holocaust survivors, these statements being thrown around so carelessly and thoughtlessly are extremely harmful and spreading of misinformation as well. contributed both my students and of faculty members, about 200 faculty members of nyu have signed on to faculty for justice in palestine, which they are basically, yes, they condemn the attack, but they stand with the resistance of the palestinian people. and we are seeing a constant justification of hamas' brutal terror attack at nyu. if this was any other minority group on college campus or anywhere else, everyone would be up in flames. condemnation everywhere, and with jews they are silent. >> john: and yola, and columbia, the president of bernard issued a letter, detailed security changes because she said i have encountered posters in the halls and tunnels that justify the deliberate murder of innocent civilians, racial slurs, misinformation and call for the elimination of entire groups of people. i see students walking to class with bowed heads in fear of what they and who they will encounter. but some faculty penned an open letter denouncing what she has done. >> yeah, yeah. president rosenberry usualed an amazing statement in support of the jews. yesterday created a task force combatting antisemitism, needed on columbia's campus right now. and i'm scared and disgusted by this faculty who are -- who are saying that condemning antisemitism is something that should be looked down upon. it's ridiculous. and even tonight students for justice in palestine at columbia is hosting someone who is publicly made antisemitic remarks and the fact that this person is allowed to come and speak on our campus is ridiculous. openly praised the second, where there were suicide bombers who came into israel and allowing this man to preach to our students on our campus? it's -- it's disgusting. i don't have any other words for it, and it's scary for me knowing that this person will be on my campus this evening. >> john: i'm sure, too, you both have been following the case of the cornell engineering student who posted vile threats in an online forum. it's probably comforting for the two of you to know the police have got involved here, made arrest, questioning this person. that person is facing charges. but the very fact that it happened and then what about the fact that there may be a lot of people out there who aren't interested -- who share the same thoughts but aren't posting them in online forums because they don't want to get caught. bella. >> yeah, i think it's -- i think it's something that i've been thinking about, something that i've been speaking with my parents about, and something i've been urging the administration at nyu to really look into. the rising of antisemitism on college campuses is giving jews a lot of pause. we are analyzing the relationships we have made with our peers that are silent as calls for our death and our global extermination are running rampant and not just college campuses, and other major cities. no one is advocating on our be half, i'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. >> john: another letter from columbia university by the faculty and barnard, support of a letter sent out by a group of students talking about the terror attack of october 7th, what the faculty members said. military operations and state violence did not begin that date, october 7th, but rather represented a military response by a people who had endured crushing and unrelenting state violence by an occupying power many years. one could record october 7th as one salvo in an ongoing war by an occupying state and the people it occupies. the worst terror attack israel has experienced, one day death toll since the holocaust, and they are saying one salvo in an ongoing war? >> so scary, no justification. not just war. rape of women, burning of babies, beheading of babies, none of that is war. there are rules to war and hamas broke every single one of those rules on october 7th and anyone who calls this just another part of this ongoing war is naive and i'm at a loss for words. >> john: all right. bella, and yola, thank you for sharing your experience with us. it is good to have you illuminate what it is that you are experiencing there on college campuses because we fear not enough people know. thank you again so much. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> sandra: thank you, john. and now as we await the white house press briefing set to begin any moment now, we are also expecting an update from the pentagon. that coming in next hour after officials confirm u.s. forces have been targeted now 28 times in the middle east. u.s. conducting retaliatory strikes but is it enough to defer further action. general phillip breedlove is up next. plus this. >> a lot of people are dying, a lot of people are under the rubbles of buildings. this is my fifth attempt to leave. i don't know if i'm ever going to be able to see the family that i left behind or the friends that i left behind. >> john: 400 people, including americans, permitted to flee the gaza strip today through the rafah gate. we are talking to a board member on the special operations association of america on the efforts to get americans back on u.s. soil. coming up next. my mental health was much better. but i struggled with uncontrollable movements called td, tardive dyskinesia. td can be caused by some mental health meds. and it's unlikely to improve without treatment. i felt like my movements were in the spotlight. #1-prescribed ingrezza is the only td treatment for adults that's always one pill, once daily. ingrezza 80 mg is proven to reduce td movements in 7 out of 10 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takes two to make it outta sight ♪ ♪ one, two, get loose now ♪ ♪ it takes two to make a... ♪ stay two nights and get 5k bonus points. book direct at bestwestern.com. tired muscles and joints were keeping me from my family. now i can be myself again. blue-emu supports healthy muscles and joints. shop our expanded family of products at major online retailers. >> john: we are awaiting briefings from the white house and the pentagon as officials confirm u.s. forces in the middle east have been attacked 28 times since october 17th. officials believe iran is targeting the bases and the u.s. has been conducting retaliatory airstrikes. but some people are questioning whether it's enough to avoid the war from expanding. we will ask nato's former supreme allied commander general phillip breedlove about that ahead, but rich. >> the airstrike last week in eastern syria against a couple of iran-linked warehouses that had weapons in them are all designed to keep the militias from targeting american troops. >> if they are not convinced we will do whatever is necessary to protect our troops they will continue on as they are. i've been clear, the president has been clear, it's something we will not tolerate and we will do what's necessary to protect our troops. >> rocket attacks on american positions have continued. latest tally, 28 since october 17th, that's the day of a bombing of a hospital in gaza, they blamed it on israel, but they say it was a rocket that hit a hospital compounds. 27 have continued since the u.s. launched the airstrike last week. u.s. military, 900 in syria, we asked the defense department if the u.s. support of israel led to this increase in attacks. the pentagon maintains iranian proxies launched the attacks for a multitude of purported reasons. as for hezbollah in southern lebanon, the wall street journal is reporting the wagner group, the russian paramilitary group is in discussions to perhaps provide an air defense system to hezbollah, something we will be following as the pentagon briefing kicks off in an hour here, john. >> john: looking forward to that. rich, thank you. sandra. >> sandra: a closer look at the attacks against u.s. troops and what it means for us, nato -- general phillip breedlove. you are live on the air, sir. can you hear us? >> now i can, you were freezing for a minute. >> sandra: okay, all right. thank you very much, sir, for joining us. we are anticipating the white house press briefing, it's underway, as soon as they begin addressing the war we will get to it. john kirby will be in the room. general, take us through the ongoing threats that come from iran's axis of existence. when you identify the geography of the area and the moment, obviously we have israel in the blue and gaza to the north, hezbollah is an ongoing threat, you've got the shia militias out of syria, yemen, the houthis and now the report from the wall street journal, general, if you could respond to their reporting citing u.s. intelligence that russia's wagner group may provide air defense weaponry, the system, sa22, sa22, to hezbollah and this growing threat in the middle of this war. >> so that's a problem, but i don't think it's something that we might not have anticipated. we have seen iran helping -->> sandra: okay, maybe we are having -- maybe we are having some technical difficulties with you, general. go ahead. try to continue. >> so as i was saying, this shouldn't be something that we are surprised by. we have seen iran helping russia and ukraine. we have seen these countries colluding before, and as you laid out, there are multiple places in the middle east where iran has been bringing pressure on the united states and certainly on israel. i think the question we need to ask ourselves is a larger one, and that is in this area, have we lost conventional deterrence. in the south china sea, where china is banging into philippine ships, have we lost conventional deterrence. we seem to still have some conventional deterrence as it relates to nato in europe. russia has not pushed up against that yet. but around the rest of the world, i think we are being called into question. >> sandra: general, i flipped to the next screen here to show the 28 attacks, 28 now attacks on u.s. forces in the middle east, to the point, general, we are almost running out of real estate on the screen to identify where these are happening. this goes back to just october 17th. of these attacks, 16 we know were in iraq. 11 took place in syria. they included a mix of one-way attack drones and rockets. most attacks were successfully disrupted by military forces and most failed to reach their actual targets. one u.s. contractor died as a result of cardiac arrest, one when warned of the attack, several other injuries have been reported. we have a very limited capacity responded to these growing attacks. what would you like to see the united states do to further respond? >> well, i think our secretary of defense kinds of laid it out and i think that we just need to follow through. when we are attacked, we need to reply. our reply most recently were against unmanned storage sites. but the enemy is attacking our manned sites. i think we need to decide how it is we are going to send this message of don't, which seems to be the answer. >> sandra: and you are quoting the white house directly. they said that many times. general, thank you for joining us. speaking of the white house, john kirby is up at the microphone. he is talking about the 74 dual citizens that the president just commented on. let's listen to details here. >> able to depart hopefully more today but certainly looking for them to depart at a similar pace if not, if not better than what we have seen. but again, i want to stress again, it's a fluid situation. obviously attempts of diplomacy has been underway to open up the gaza side of the border for foreign nationals and wounded palestinians. times of crisis we rely on our friends and today's positive news would not have been possible without the assistance of qatar or frankly the leadership of president sisi of egypt, i think you know president biden spoke to last sunday. we are grateful for his leadership and efforts. humanitarian side, yesterday, additional 55 trucks with lifesaving humanitarian assistance, food, water, medicine, were able to make their way into gaza via the rafah crossing. we are hoping the number of trucks will increase as well. we know 55 more trucks, brings us to more than 220 total since the 21st is not enough. and we are going to continue to work to get more in there. increasing that aid is a top priority of the president and keen focus of his diplomacy. speaking of diplomacy, today the president is going to participate in two bilateral meetings, i think he's already done one, met with the president of the dominican republic to discuss a host of shared priorities, including deepening bilateral economic ties, advancing democratic principles and labor rights, and addressing the security situation in haiti and later today meet with the president of chile to discuss issues of shared concern, including promoting further economic operation, combatting climate change and addressing irregular migration, and all of those discussions, two bilateral meetings come just ahead of the inaugural americas partnership for economic prosperity leaders summit here at the white house and glad to have the participation of all members of the partnership to the summit. this leaders summit advances the president's commitment to strong regional partnership in the western hemisphere as he announced last year. taken as a whole, two-day summit represents a strong demonstration of the united states commitment to work with our partners for the once in a generation opportunity. recenter the global supply chains, and build meaningful economic opportunity across the hemisphere. >> can you tell us a little bit more about the humanitarian pause, what that would look like, what it means, how long it would be, how it would work? >> sure. i think we have talked about this before, i mean, we are really not just talking about like one pause. what we are trying to do is explore the idea of as many pauses as might be necessary to continue to get aid out and continue to work to get people out safely, including hostages. the president already worked on one of such pause when we were able to get those two americans out and that's what we are kind of looking at, and just to remind, talking about humanitarian pause, what we are talking about are temporary localized pauses in the fighting to meet a certain goal or goals. as i said, get aid in, get people out. >> and is that something that can happen immediately, i mean, how -- where is the israeli prime minister on this? is he willing to continue to do this, especially if it's more than one pause? >> we were able to work with him to help get americans out before so we are certainly hoping that cooperation will continue. but each instance of it, each effort to get a pause is going to be unique in its own way and it's going to require negotiation and diplomacy and the president, you heard him talk about this yesterday, 100% committed to doing what it takes to pursue that diplomacy. >> the u.n. human rights office is raising concerns of the israeli airstrike at the refugee camp, disproportionate attacks could amount to war crimes. >> we don't want to see a single civilian hurt or killed in this conflict, and there's been too many deaths as it is. each one is tragic in its own right as i have said, mary, and we are doing everything we can to work with our israeli counterparts to try to minimize the risk of civilian deaths and collateral damage. >> do you believe this refugee camp was a legitimate target? >> i'm not in position to say it is or it isn't. as i said, these are questions for the israeli defense forces, their operations and they, and only they can speak to their targeting decisions and the way they are conducting the operations. what we are going to do is make sure that they have the tools and capabilities, including our perspectives and lessons that we have learned in this kind of warfare. as they venture into these operational decisions because they have a legitimate threat by hamas of an organization that wants to wipe them off the map. at the same time, because you can do both, we are going to make sure that we are doing everything we can to help them minimize civilian casualties, and get humanitarian assistance in. >> and one quickly on tuberville. he's made pretty clear this morning again he's not going to be changing his position. would the president support changing the senate rules to get around tuberville's blockade? >> that's for the senate to decide. the president wants as karine said, wants the hold lifted. you are talking about 375 officers at this point, 379 positions, it's a lot of senior leadership that can't move right now and let me give you an example here, now that you made me think of it. let's just take a look at the central command region of the world. i won't go through all of it. but here is some of the positions that are being affected by mr. tuberville. fifth fleet commander, the fleet that's in the gulf region. the deputy fifth fleet commander. the deputy central command commander. the defense atache to israel. expeditionary wing, chief of staff at u.s. central command, and good one, deputy director of strategy plans and policy for u.s. central command. helps write operational plans and executes policy decisions at that level and there's more than that. i mean