>> we are at war. those words from israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu after hamas launched a surprise attack on southern israel, terror striking by land, air and sea, widespread coordinated attack, standing communities on a jewish holiday 50 years and one day after the infamous surprise yom kippur war. >> there are reports of 200 israelis killed in the attack, the deadliest against israel in years leaving 1000 others wounded. at daybreak, hamas militants fired rockets from the gaza strip into israel. fighters infiltrated the border using explosives to break blockades and an unknown number of idf soldiers and civilians hostage, israel responded, killing 200 palestinians and leaving hundreds more injured. prime minister netanyahu promising the enemy will pay, quote, an unprecedented price. eric: trey yingst. >> reporter: israeli media is reporting 200 people are dead in the southern part of this country. there are scenes ongoing as we speak. we just got off of an israeli military briefing where spokesman indicated there are 22 scenes, the israeli planetary -- military is addressing, there are militants in southern israel and two of those locations include active hostage situation, civilians tasted -- taken hostage, in the communities just along the gaza border. it is not just targeting southern israel but the central part of the country. air raid soundings in tel aviv as they meet to figure out what comes next. is real says they've struck another building inside gaza. palestinian health ministry says 260 people are dead, hundreds injured. the latest numbers on the israeli side according to israeli media, 200 dead and a thousand wounded. those numbers expected to change through the night. you can hear helicopters, drones and fighter jets, israel is taking the fight back to hamas using their app power and the firepower on the ground, it is expected to be a long battle that could take days if not weeks. eric: any sense of the military strategy pertaining to the hostages, they went house to house killing civilians dragging them out, desecration of bodies, taking hostages, soldiers, civilians, bringing them into tunnels, is this part of calculation by the idf to deal with it? >> hamas released a statement that the hostages taken from israel turned into prisoners of war. currently in the tunnel beneath of the gaza strip, the same place where they store their weapons, fighters, and rockets, traditionally israel would strike those but faced with a dilemma, what to hit inside gaza to ensure they are not killing their own civilians taken into the strip earlier today. it is important to pave the scene for what has occurred. this is the most significant attack on israeli territory in decades. we've seen with our eyes and our cameras israeli soldiers die in front of us, wounded civilians being loaded into ambulances and images from a city close to here where militants were fighting until a few hours ago, bodies strewn throughout the street, this is hell on earth for the israeli population. many who were participating in the jewish day of shabbat, turned on their phones and their computers and realized the true nature of what has taken place in southern israel. eric: is there a sense how the military will respond in gaza? they say we will change the face of gaza. what do you expect to see the next few days? >> reporter: our sense is all options are on the table, everything from entering a limited ground operation to occupying parts of the gaza strip. there are is really soldiers and civilians held inside gaza. benjamin netanyahu and others in the cabinet are not super going to leave them there. there may be negotiations in the future but right now this is not a time, as benjamin netanyahu put it, for politics or negotiation, this is a time of war. that is what we see unfolding in the southern part of israel. eric: thank you as always. arthel: president biden says the us condemns what he calls the appalling assault against israel. the president spoke with benjamin netanyahu earlier, reporting he reassured him of the unwavering support from the united states. lucas tomlinson is live with the latest, the president just addressed the world saying us support of israel is solid and unwavering. what more do we expect in the coming days? >> reporter: what we heard was full-fledged support they fight hamas, he spoke for three minutes, flanked by secretary of state antony blinken, this is what he said. >> president biden: israel has the right to defend itself and its people. no justification for terrorist attacks, it is rocksolid and unwavering. >> reporter: bret baer had that exclusive interview with mohamed bin salman who said saudi arabia and israel are close, getting closer to a peace deal but also sat down a few days later with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. here are some clips. >> are you close? >> every day we get closer. for the first time. >> we just got back from riyadh. you heard those words from the saudi crown prince. what was your response? >> i was delighted to hear what he had to say. to borrow a phrase, i think we are getting closer to peace every day that passes. >> reporter: some lawmakers including tom on, say that is why hamas launched this attack on israel, the greatest attack in 50 years saying in a quote, this war is a transparent attempt by iran to derail the peace talks, the united states should provide israel the military and informatics support it needs to destroy hamas. the biden administration should cease all engagement with iran. there was no mention of destroying hamas. this is the former defense secretary mark esper speaking with neil cavuto. as - this is an intelligence failure, he was very blunt about that. officials say this is the largest attack on israel and 50 years going back to the yom kippur war which was launched 50 years ago. eric: thank you very much. arthel: we will be right back with more coverage on hamas attacks on israel. ♪ new neuriva ultra. unlike some others, it supports 7 brain health indicators, including mental alertness from one serving. to help keep me sharp. try new neuriva ultra. think bigger. when you need to prepare for unpredictable adventures... 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[honk!] they're all yours! we're here! hey, i knew you were comin'... so i weatherteched the car! can we get ice cream? we can now. kid proof your vehicle with american made products at weathertech.com. arthel: president biden vowing support for israel after today's unprecedented hamas attacks but the us government is paralyzed without a house speaker. congressional correspondent chad pogrom joins us by phone. we get to the speaker position in a moment. in a moments. we would like to know if you know if either of both chambers of congress have been briefed and what to do they know at this point? >> there was no intelligence briefing through the formal sources, there's a gang of 8, the top leaders from both sides of the aisle, top leaders, democrats and republicans of the intelligence communities, a question whether they can agree, the senate majority leader, chuck schumer is in china on a congressional delegation, official business, said there is no capacity to do this, no formal briefing and they start to go down a very interesting road if they want to bring patrick mchenry into this conversation. he is not the speaker of the house. i'm told they would probably brief him if push came to shove but because this is an unprecedented position, they don't want to start to widen his authority because you start to establish precedents for future potential speakers of the house. he is supposed to do, this is the overriding presumption, gavel the house in, gavel the house out and conduct the next speaker watch. any sort of mission is dangerous for the house of representatives. three books of presidents they operate on, once you start to establish a new precedent they say this is how you do it in the house of representatives. i was told by one institutional authority, if patrick mchenry were to widen the spoke of powers you get to 2055, why should we even have a speaker? just appoint somebody and they can do whatever. that's why they are very guarded. arthel: given the surprise unprecedented attack on israel, does this expedite the voting and selection of a permanent speaker of the house and does this or will this emphasize to those in congress who seem to think this is a game, having a speaker in place is important, having the right speaker in place is important, how will this way on your decision and how to move forward? >> very possible. i'm told by a couple of sources this will influence that, try to get republicans to set things up a notch because it under hisscores the chasm, don't have a functioning branch of government, kevin mccarthy said as much on air earlier today. harold macmillan, the british prime minister, one of the most famous folks in the setting politics, what's the most important factor in politics and government, he said events. we've had an event and everything around the world in the house of representatives or other things are being dictated, influenced by this event and when you have this vacuum at the top in the house of representatives and the house cannot act, this is not a fact in the united states but if something were to come to the united states, that underscores this chasm in the house and congress could not respond, because you are in this unprecedented status, a new event established by the vacancy of the speaker and a new event established by what happened overseas in the middle east, rule of thumb by harold macmillan. arthel: not a direct correlation but some comparisons on a level that prime minister net yahoo dealing with his own internal division and as you know what is happening here in the united states, again, this event as we are looking at 1020 p.m. in israel and we've got war, happening right now, sober up those in congress who again don't understand, it appears, to the full weight of their responsibilities. >> very possibly. keep in mind the concept of the speaker pro tem, this was put in place after 9/11 to have continuity of government and have a provision where there's a name on the list, in this case patrick mchenry can step in and say you have a lot of the house, speaker of the house killed in a terrorist attack, the circumstances, the speakership being vacated for political reasons is not what they envisioned, that's to be part of the conversation in the house of representatives from republicans meeting monday at the capital but i will point to one thing i always say. it is about the math. doesn't matter whether you have some people sober up a little more, they still have to coalesce around somebody. if the math, mechanics, do not work, you can't just elect a speaker on the dime and that's the peril that was indicated by vacating the speaker, the potential peril for patrick mchenry if he were to continue in that role for period of time where you have institutionalists saying you don't have a speaker, what does patrick mchenry do. arthel: how much intelligence will have access to. thank you so much as always, thank you. eric: hamas launching rockets hitting tel aviv, israeli citizens taken to gaza as hostages, israel prepares to expand its response. what is to come and how long will it last? we continue breaking news coverage of the war against israel straightahead on the fox news channel. believes in continuous improvement... like rounded corners that resist peeling, with an array of active ingredients... and sizes to relieve your pain. salonpas. it's good medicine. this month join the new subway mvp rewards program and get rewarded. get 50% off any footlong when you join subway mvp rewards. so many all star options. it's just for subway mvps right? you catch on quick herbert. join now and get 50% off any footlong. c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network. here's why you should switch from chrome to duckduckgo. duckduckgo is a browser you download to your mobile and desktop devices. unlike chrome, the duckduckgo browser has privacy built-in. it comes with a private alternative to google search, which doesn■t spy on your searches, and it blocks cookies and creepy ads. and there's no catch. it's free. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you around. join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on mobile and desktop today. arthel: israeli prime minister netanyahu says, quote, we are at war. this after hamas militants breached the heavily guarded border this morning in a surprise attack by air, land and sea. reports of 200 israelis killed, hundreds more wounded, israeli soldiers and civilians taken hostage. and just at the border of the gaza strip. and 17 years old. he was at home at work when this started. >> my eldest one stayed home, i wouldn't call them hamas militants. they are terrorists. early in the morning we started getting messages that there is something going on, the combined attack, from sea and land, order to stay inside bomb shelters, sent by himself, spending 10 hours in a bomb shelter. no adults, on the phone, about an hour ago to meet up with him outside of jerusalem. carley: -- arthel: they are terrorists, no doubt. you've been able to retrieve him, he's with you, with your in-laws, what did he say when he saw you and what status he and right now and i understand there's a best friend of his that did not make it out of this horrible war. >> in my community alone, very small community, 60 members of my community murdered in their homes by terrorists who entered civilian homes in the state of israel, entering from the gaza strip, murdering them with adults, kids, in their houses by themselves. my son's friend, was able to text my son, he sees hamas sending them a video recording of the gunshots fired from the beach, 7:00 in the morning, lost touch with him and just now, before i met him announced by my brother, the body of his friend was identified in the hospital. he was supposed to go to the beach, wake up in the morning, stayed home and talked about his friend being murdered. just horrible. arthel: it is horrible, unspeakable, unimaginable. how is your son doing right now? >> he's doing okay. it has been amazing, think about it. ongoing sirens, red alert in our backyard. is locked in a bomb shelter alongside the house, constant gunfights going on between the terrorists and our local guy, and going around for almost 10 hours with him. especially when he got the news, checked with him a few minutes before we met. thankfully -- thing about kids his age, should have been with a friend, that's not something a 7-year-old kid should have been dealing with. from my experience the long-term effects, accompanying us for a long time. arthel: what would you like prime minister netanyahu to do? >> i'm not a political expert. what i expect from someone who lives in a state that is a state among the nations, to take care of that. i live in an area where i was attacked, i expect my leadership to take care of the threat, no idea what they are going to do, i am saying it is not about cutting someone's allowance money. hundreds of terrorists entered into israel, murdered civilians in their homes. this is unheard of. tomorrow morning when all the world attacking gaza, me, my friends, it started today, when hamas sent terrorists to murder israel. 200 israelis murdered. prime minister, leadership, government, take care of that solution and i want the world to understand it did not start, all the attacks in gaza yet nobody will talk about the damage caused here just today when hundreds of people are slaughtered in their houses by terrorists. arthel: i hear you loud and clear, we wish for the emotional recovery of your son and continued safety for you and your family. thanks for joining us. >> thank you for letting us speak our voices and we wish for peaceful times. thank you. eric: a harrowing first person account, and is really trapped in his home because of the terrorists of hamas. he was prime minister of israel until last year and you know what he did? reenlisted in the army reserves to serve his nation. i will talk to former prime minister naftali benett on the savagery of the terrorists and israel's coming response. like my morning ride, will it help lower my glucose? with the freestyle libre 2 system, you can know where your glucose level is and where it's headed without fingersticks. know what activities work for you. manage your diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c. ask your doctor about the freestyle libre 2 system. it's covered by medicare for those who qualify. visit freestylelibre.us/medicare to learn more. ♪ eric: someone who knows the fight against hamas, naftali benett commanded operations and is former israeli prime minister, left office just last year, he enlisted in the army reserves just hours after the israeli defense force announced a call up to protect the nation. the former prime minister joins us now, naftali benett. welcome. we just heard a harrowing account from a man spending a peaceful saturday at the beach, some friends killed, israelis hunkering in, murdered in cold blood by hamas terrorists. your thoughts on the savagery? >> this is one of the hardest days in israel's history, top for all israelis to see, this vision of southern israel by hamas terrorists. these terrorists are targeting explicitly women, children, girls, civilians, murdered point blank over 250 israelis just because they are jewish. unprovoked, no reason, just because they are jewish. eric: you know what may happen, some quarters will blame israel. your thoughts. >> we are fed up with the hypocrisy. it is time for israel to fight back. time for israel to destroy hamas. throughout the day i spent time with our fighters. i've been a fighter for decades in the special forces, spend time with the fighters talking to them and talking at the same time to civilians who are hunkering down, hiding from terrorists, sometimes just a few meters from them. a few minutes ago, i got of what's apps with a mom who has her baby enclosed room, terrorists outside the door, this is live right now. i tell her just hold out, hold strong, don't open the door, some of the terrorists are faking and preventing -- pretending to be israeli soldiers. i told her to have a conversation to validate that it is is really soldiers and not terrorists. she's been in shelter for 15 hours, running out of food, there are hundreds of other israeli civilians. is real is sending hundreds of thousands of soldiers and we are ready to strike back and strike tough. eric: the account is horrifying. what do you expect to see over the next few days. can hamas be eradicated? it is a puppet of iran. your thoughts on how can hamas be dismantled once and for all? >> i can tell use this. while we've had this going on for 10 months now i can tell you all israelis right and left, religious and secular, we all stand united behind the idea with a simple goal, to destroy hamas. it is time to destroy hamas. no more games. we all stand behind, we are all their fighting. i'm giving a hand and everyone else is as well. eric: what will you be doing with photos of you with soldiers when you signed up earlier today? do you get orders? do you know what you are prepared to do when you serve? >> for security reasons i can only be of help to the soldiers themselves. are equivalent for bids need to go down and fight personally but what i expect is what i did in the lebanon war in that period of lebanon and all the wars i fought, i am seeing these soldiers, they are eager to fight back, to defend their own children. we had a siren in tel aviv. my own family is in a shelter because of these sirens. we are fed up with this. time to eradicate hamas. eric: thank you, we stand with you and your family. we will continue. >> i want to say one word to the people of the united states. knowing that you guys are out there for us and you've got our back, knowing that the american people stand behind israel means a lot. we will do the job but we know you are there. i want to thank you for that. arthel: of course, and we are. thank you very much. eric: the fighting continues after iran backed hamas stuns the country with deadly surprise attacks on a jewish holiday. prime minister netanyahu says soldiers are going house to house to make sure the terrorist attackers are gone. trey yingst live from southern israel. what is the latest? >> reporter: the latest is the israeli military trying to get rid of all the palestinian militants that infiltrated the southern part of a country. according to. resources there are still militants near the gaza border and it's a place where many civilians were massacred earlier today. the israelis identified where these militants are, police station inside the city and currently firing on the building trying to put pressure on these militants or kill them in the process. office unfolding as rocket fire continues into southern and central israel. there are soldiers throughout the region. they are preparing for the possibility that they will have to go into gaza on the ground. there are many things on the table and benjamin and - benjamin netanyahu making clear that what will take place in the coming days will be something hamas and islamic jihad have never seen before. this is the latest on the ground. there is concern that palestinian militants infiltrated the ground and that's why there are so many troops in the southern part of israel. arthel: to say it's tricky is an understatement. many civilians are massacred, it is unnerving, shocking, terrifying, disturbing, maddening, and i would imagine soldiers are ready to fight as hard and as long as necessary. i have to ask, because they are in vulnerable positions, how difficult will that make the fighting on the part of the israeli military? >> makes it difficult, not just those being held hostage in the southern part of israel, but dozens of civilians and soldiers, taken into the gaza strip, and hamas released a statement, and their holding prisoners of war, and where they store their rockets and fighters. that makes it extremely difficult situation for israel, they can't target traditional locations. eric: it was not a haphazard attack. we have more breaking news from israel when we return. balanced nutrition for strength and energy. yay - woo hoo! ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, nutrients for immune health. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. 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