shep: i m shepard smith. this is the fox report. it s the bottom of the hour. time for the top of thedrums ofn israel. the israelis preparing for what may become a ground invasion in gaza as fighters on both sides continue exchanging fire today. the situation in this volatile corner of the world growing more fragile by the hour. already there have been innocent victims on both sides. a rocket killed three people today when it slammed into their apartment building in the south of israel. in the gaza, officials say the violence killed eight civilians, including four children. and a woman who was pregnant with twins. that number has grown to 16. a u.s. state department spokesman puts the blame squarely on the military leadership of hamas. it claims the have the best interest of the palestinian people at heart, but through its actions, it s showing a far different agenda.
You will. these are the hunt for take that back. hunt for heros, a group that aids support to wound warriors. they take them out for outdoor events like hunting and fishing. their benefit banquet was supposed to be tonight. the big hunting trip tomorrow. clearly that has all changed. a tragic and horrifying scene outside of midland, texas. we ll bring it to you. shep: continuing coverage throughout prime time. fox news.com. our other top story of the night, the growing crisis in the middle east. the first israeli victims of the latest round of violence. rocket attack killed three people, seriously injured a baby. it s the first time rockets from the gaza have hit a building there. fox use own lee land vittert was there. more missiles coming in. this is the safest place. we re going to come in under here and now we wait.
shep: he says the responsibility rests with hamas to stand down and deescalate the situation. mike barrett joins us from washington, former intelligence officer for the office of secretary of defense and the currently ceo of dc consulting firm, mike, tomorrow the leader of egypt, which has its own set of problems, is going to meet with hamas leadership. is that the best hope here? well, yeah. egypt is going to be the major player here. i think whatever happens here will be a direct result of what happens with egypt. there is quite a few of us who saw the arab spring as creating a lot of turmoil and therefore a reason for concern. and i think this is really now we re seeing the outgrowth of that. you got the muslim brotherhood sending their guy. if he can rein in hamas, then we can probably deescalate this without too much of a lasting conflict. the flip side if they break with israel and violate cord they ve had with them for several decades, then this could get really bad really q
Involved, what does that mean for us? yeah. exactly right. so the arab league, i believe l have a meeting tomorrow on friday as well and we ll have to see what the leadership comes out with there. obviously one of the important things to remember for americans is that people throughout the region really don t differentiate between the u.s. and israel. they refer to it as a zionist conspiracy, the great satan and the little satan. so we really are going to get caught up in this whether we chose to try to say on the side lines or not. i don t think we ll do that. i think the obama administration and members of congress from both parties will come out very strongly on the side of israel with this. but if they do go in on the ground, it could be a lot of body bags. and i think that may really create a challenge in terms of trying to reestablish peace and stability there and certainly looking towards any kind of a long-term solution. that doesn t look like that s going to happen any time
Ground invasion. back to david lee miller live on the gaza border. this conflict shows no sign of ending any time soon. take a look at some of the video we recorded from our vantage point a little less than two miles from the border during the past few hours. we have observed repeated israeli military air strikes hitting gaza and hitting gaza hard, going after, according to israeli officials, underground smuggling items, rocket launching sites, as well as a police station and now there is talk that the israelis may be planning some type of a ground incursion. we have seen some armored personnel carriers brought into the region. as you mentioned, the rocket fire from gaza does continue. it hit not only tel aviv, but an apartment house not far prosecute the border, three israelis were killed there. and a funeral was held today in gaza for the militant commander who was responsible for the kidnap of an israeli soldier years ago.