her. journalism is not a crime and it's a proof that russia is determined to stifle independent reporting. since 2012, vladimir putin has used foreign agent laws to punish and detain critics, including journalists, and analysts say this indicates russia sees americans as valuable assets to be used in prisoner exchanges like when britteny griner was exchanged for the merchant of death, arms dealer victor bout. now evan gershkovich has been wrongfully detained for 204 days today. he's in a high security prison in moscow awaiting trial on espionage charges. the u.s. ambassador to russia visited him on tuesday. the u.s. embassy, sandra, says even -- that evan remains in good spirits and is calling for his immediate release. sandra. >> sandra: appreciate it, bryan. the state department as we just heard from them a moment ago is out with a major alert for all americans overseas. officials now urging all american citizens worldwide to exercise increased caution for potential terrorist attacks. demonstrations or violence. >> john: and just moments ago, the wall street journal reporting hamas is now calling for a day of rage tomorrow telling all muslims to protest against israel. >> sandra: and the fbi director telling fox news he is on high alert here at home. >> we are particularly vigilant to the possibility that lone actors here in the united states could in some way out of inspiration misguided inspiration that they draw from the conflict in the middle east conduct attacks. >> sandra: breaking coverage of the war on israel as "america reports" hits top of the hour, i'm sandra smith in new york. >> john: and i'm john roberts in jerusalem. good to be with you for another hour, sandra. just hours ago, israel's defense minister told ground troops to be ready for orders and vowed whoever sees gaza from a distance now will see it soon from the inside. >> sandra: and while troops gather on israel's southern border, the northern border is seeing more incoming fire by the day. >> john: chief national correspondent steve harrigan is live in beirut. >> fighting has picked up between the two sides across israel's northern border. at this point it is mainly rocket fire, tank fire and anti-tank missiles going back and forth, between hezbollah, who the u.s. names as a terrorist organization backed by iran and israeli military forces. since tuesday, eight hezbollah gunmen have been killed, five israelis have been killed. three of those troops, and as you mentioned, another day of rage coming here. the security situation in lebanon rapidly deteriorating. u.s. embassy here, came under attack days ago, could come under attack tomorrow, has told americans be prepared to leave this country. saudi arabia taking that even a step further telling its citizens, leave lebanon now. and all along that border -- >> john: i just lost ifb. steve, can you hear me? looks like we lost steve, i'm sorry. so that's the situation along the israeli border with lebanon. there have been scrimmages by and large as steve was mentioning, rocket fire, small arms fire, anti-tank missiles,s israel's military has responded in every case. but the fear is that the days, maybe weeks ahead that this potential northern front could become even more hot and erupt into an all-out conflict. steve, i think we have you back. you want to continue where you were? >> well, the real concern is just what you're pointing at. potential second front with hezbollah -- hezbollah fighters killed five israelis killed and israel is trying to harden the northern border. moved tanks there, armored personnel there and evacuated 28 settlements, 10,000 people on the israeli side who live within one mile of the border, trying to pull them out of there to keep it safe, making sure there is not -- >> john: looks like steve's signal comes in and out. we have to leave it there. the hope is this does not erupt into an all-out shooting match because hezbollah now has some 150,000 rockets, many of which can reach the city of tel aviv. back in the last conflict between the two countries, or -- between israel and hezbollah, the terrorist organization, which also is an administrative organization there in lebanon as well, they only had missiles that were capable of maybe reaching as far south as haifa, but tel aviv and even further south, jerusalem, in the radius of the missiles. >> sandra: 20 attacks from lebanon into the israeli territory yesterday alone. so there is clearly a growing number of them happening. founder of cherries, leading manufacturing of law enforcement for terrorism readiness. key to have your input on this moment. christopher wray warning of lone wolf attacks on american soil. look at the ongoing fight of the northern border of israel. we put in red this zone here where early on israeli citizens were told to evacuate. the israeli government said early on, 28 communities there within five kilometer of the border, they told them to get out now because of this growing threat from hezbollah. and as i say that, i want to highlight something that is being reportedly said by hezbollah and its leaders, saying it's thousands of times stronger than before, warning the u.s. and israel "the response to the mistake you might make with our resistance will be resounding because what we have is faith and god is stronger than you. all your battleships and all your weapons." what do we do about this continued threat coming from hezbollah? >> so, let me just start by saying that this isn't israel's first dust-up in the north. israel, the israel defense forces has a lot of experience dealing with hezbollah. this is primarily more of an open area of operation, however the cluster of terrorism, hit-and-run raids, rockets into israel, and but again, israel has a lot of experience in the north. israel has an elite infantry unit called the golani brigade, very experienced, they go back to the battle of 1948, dusted up again in 1956 and again in 1973 and spent almost 20 years up there in that buffer zone and within that golani brigade, we have various special operations elements. so right now what's happening, f-15s in conjunction with israel's highly specialized ground unit is neutralizing pockets of hezbollah, and the real right now, said golani, equivalent to the u.s. rangers capability, special operations capable unit in terms of mobilization. they have a brutal, almost 15, 18 month training pipeline. but in that unit you have special operations forces, they have three very specialized contingencies in that unit and right now they are around southern labor quietly and neutralizing terrorist threats, gathering intelligence, figuring out exactly what towns they need to be focused on if in fact an incursion does actualize, but a lot of special ops crawling around happening and we know lebanon. we know it better than the lebanese people. we speak the language, we know the culture, we know the villages, and yes, metula, all the 21, 22 towns on israeli said, clearing all the people out and we have the counter terror unit staged at the places they need to be if there is a hostage incursion, that comes down like with hamas, and israel is prepared, man. we are, again, not our first dust-up, not our first rodeo up there. a lot of experience dealing with hezbollah. >> sandra: good insights there, and one town was recently targeted in the last 24 hours, metula, border towns the direct targets of the militants. aaron, the next screen, i know it's something you can add a lot of your expertise to. and this is hezbollah's rocket arsenal. and the surrounding areas here, we are showing just how quickly they can target all over israel, really, the lebanese-based iranian-backed terrorist group hezbollah has rockets that can reach all of israel's population centers and strategic sites. and with the graphic we are showing with the border right here, with lebanon, just how they can reach all the way to southern israel with their -- with their military power. >> that's right. we are going to deploy forward operating units, and we have already started obliterating those targets, those launchers, again, drones, we have artillery pieces, speck ops on the ground right now. a lot of moving pieces. let me just say this. the gloves are off. we have now shifted from iron dome which is -- which was and is the mvp of this operation, to forward operations which means that when again, we have a lot of special operations units in israel and the reason why is because we treat operations the same way doctors treat medicine. we have units that focus on the heart, we have units that focus on the lungs, and so we have units that focus specifically on that counter guerilla warfare and those forward operations are going to be critical in getting information and intelligence back to our air force, to our artillery pieces but also have the boots down there neutralizing terrorists as we speak. these are very close to face-to-face incursions, again, guerilla warfare style. a little more split up, not as tight as gaza, we can creep around quieter. however, there are eyes staring from another direction putting rounds on those hezbollah missile launching points. the goal and what we are doing, neutralizing, launching points as we speak. it's aggressive, they are dialed in, it's extremely selective and we are also going to take great care to make sure we don't mess up anyone in southern lebanon with the civilian population because we follow international law. >> sandra: we know that hezbollah is warning it's 1,000 times stronger they are saying. >> it's all good, it's all good. >> sandra: putting a warning to the malicious europeans using the words their leaders are using. excellent insight, aaron, we do highlight, when you are looking at 30,000 fighters, estimated, and hezbollah, 100,000, but there is a serious operation to counteract anything that we are seeing on their part right now, aaron, we appreciate you joining us on that. >> thank you so much. >> sandra: thank you. >> i want my family back, i want my wife back, i want my daughter back. i want my brother-in-law back, i want my sister-in-law back, i want my sister-in-law's life partner back. i want my dog back and i want my security back. i want my peace and quiet back. >> john: we spoke with a man the last hour, one of the many israelis pleading for the return of kidnapped relatives. defense forces say hamas is holding more than 200 hostages. president biden telling their family members they are "not alone" but some of those families are slamming the deal to allow aid into gaza through egypt. lucas tomlinson is live in tel aviv with the latest. how many of the hostages do we know are americans? >> john, good evening. as many as 13 americans are missing and feared kidnapped by hamas and held hostage inside the gaza strip. hamas officials say they are willing to begin negotiating those israeli soldiers to free some palestinian prisoners. we returned from an army base in the central part of the country, some of the 1300 israelis killed, their bodies were taken, the top rabbi in the idf. >> when we receive small bags of babies without heads -- when you see women, grandmothers, females, mothers, that got raped, and we see those in cities -- we are in abnormal situation. >> now, we saw a number of israeli f-15s flying overhead. the bases are so close to the targets in gaza. the jets have to fly out over the mediterranean miles offshore, so the weapons can properly arm. this video shows satellite-guided bombs hitting their targets in gaza, worth comparing to the misfired rocket that hit the parking lot in gaza. israeli jet would have destroyed that. we also spoke to reservist who said some of the bodies were so badly charred, one was actually two bodies. ct scan revealed two back bones. a woman was hugging her young child before hamas killed them. reservist said some were booby trapped, something we have been hearing from israeli commandos who fought and assaulted their way down south 13 days ago. >> i'm a child of holocaust survivors. i grew up hearing stories of the camps. i thought those were the worst stories, these are worst and that's the hardest for me. i never thought i would live to see something worse than the stories i grew up with. >> people here in tel aviv say in the 75-year histories of country, never made comparison to the holocaust until now. john. >> john: it is extraordinary when you think of what happened back there on october 7th, and how that could happen in the modern world. lucas tomlinson in tel aviv, thank you. sandra. >> sandra: john, so we have the state department briefing, now we are waiting on the pentagon and live update from there. all of this as president biden is set to give an oval office address tonight as violence in the middle east escalates. the president will be asking congress for a large military aid package. but, will it be approved? >> john: and israeli forces are battering hamas in the gaza strip, potentially clearing the way for a ground invasion. israel's minister of economy will join us to discuss israel's strategy. nifers. each planning their future through the chase mobile app. hellooo new apartment. one bank for now. for later. for life. chase. make more of what's yours. this is a special alert. israel is under attack and israel's enemies seek our destruction. the people of israel need immediate help. rockets have us squarely in the crosshairs. our people are targets in their own homes. many have lost everything and fear for their lives. the international fellowship of christians and jews has launched an urgent response to rescue those affected by this violent attack. our teams are on the ground across israel delivering lifesaving aid. your urgently needed gift of only $45 will help rush food, water, medicine and emergency supplies for jewish families that have nowhere to turn. time is literally running out. what we need you to do is to act now. feeling ughh from a backed up gut? miralax works naturally with the water in your body to help you go... ...free your gut. and your mood will follow. for 8 grams of fiber, try new mirafiber gummies. >> john: hundreds of israelis are recovering after being injured in the hamas terror attack on october 7th. israel, though, has some of the best doctors and medical care in the world. i spoke with the ceo of one of israel's largest hospitals which opened its brand-new icu weeks early to help treat victims of the massacre. >> this is a totally new facility, totally new intensive care unit, which we just launched a week ago on saturday. >> john: it's quite remarkable, it really is. >> on the same day the attack was done last saturday. it's not only the most advanced intensive care unit in the world in terms of technology, equipment, digital tools, it's also shelter. it's -- so we can work during attack and this is what we are trying to combine here, the way to be protected and still have the capability to treat our patients. we have now about 100 victims still here. very badly injured, but the good news is that they are going to, most of them are going to survive and go through rehabilitation. we have stories, tremendous, great stories here of saving lives. >> john: but now we have also the days ahead with the ground operations in gaza, who knows what hezbollah will do. what are you expecting? >> we are prepared for war. we have the capabilities and the capacity to treatment the war victims. we are ready. we expect many, many weeks of war. but i can guarantee the citizens of israel that the hospitals and healthcare system can cope with the victims. we are experiencing that. >> john: here at sheba, in the intensive care unit, you have israeli doctors. and also arab doctors. >> yes, we work day-by-day saving lives together. and trauma surgeon, treats patients, victims every day and he is now participating in the effort of treating the patients, the victims from last week. how was it, the -- >> it was difficult. >> john: i'm sure. >> we didn't see such a thing every day, but you know, when we treat patient we do our job and we do the best for all of them. >> john: everybody talks about israeli victims of the hamas terror attacks. my understanding is there were also some arab victims as well. >> bedouins, from the villages from the south, and when such an animal attack happens, they don't, they don't discriminate between people so they slaughtered everybody. >> john: and it's going to be difficult days ahead, too. are you ready? >> we are ready. >> we are ready. >> we know, we have experience, we know how to do it and when you have physicians, doctors, nurses like committed like we have here, i think it will be ok. >> john: so many people working so well together and following the unprecedented terror attack on civilians, israel has loosened some of its gun laws to make it easier for some people to get a permit to own a firearm. i went to a gun range out of jerusalem to hear from israelis who say they want the means to defend themselves. >> do you believe that if it came down to it, if somebody came into your house and would kill you, that you could pull the trigger? >> 100%. like a mama bear instinct, right. anyone that hurts me or my family. i -- no, just no. >> john: that is a fascinating part of this story, because for decades israelis have relied on the idf and the police to keep them safe, and when that whole system seemed to fall apart on october 7th, it was a real wake-up call and a lot of the people who live close to gaza, people who live in settlements in the west bank are saying this could happen at every moment. i want to make sure if somebody comes into my house i have an opportunity to fight for my life. >> sandra: incredible stories you are telling and to go back to the hospital ceo, just unbelievable to hear of those stories and what they are doing to care for those patients, victims. but all the while preparing for what may be to come. and that is just an enormous task, john. >> john: that sheba medical center is a big center for military medicine, and in fact, the professor used to be the surgeon general in the idf. so, if they start taking casualties and a ground offensive in gaza, a lot of the most gravely wounded will be going to that medical center. >> sandra: incredible, john. thank you. meanwhile, israel's defense minister is ordering ground troops to be ready for a ground invasion of gaza. in the meantime, the idf is ramping up strikes against hamas. mike tobin is on the ground live in southern israel for us. mike, is there a timeline for this invasion? >> mike: no, but we got high profile visits from both benjamin netanyahu and the defense minister who mentioned that you have a distant view of the gaza strip and told the soldiers he'll see it from the inside. speaking of distant views from the gaza strip, the lights flickering over my shoulder are what remains of power in the gaza strip, and we have seen the rocket fire pick up. one of the barrages was a long range barrage of rockets aimed at a tel aviv suburb, most of the other rocket barrages seem to be short range rockets headed for the area here around the gaza strip. no word right now on intercepts, impacts or injuries. meantime, benjamin netanyahu was the other high profile visit here to the soldiers around the gaza strip. he met with the storied golani brigade and told them they have fought like lions in the past and will fight like lions. >> we are going to win full force. the entire people of israel are standing behind you and we will give the glow to our enemies so we get to victory. victory. >> airstrikes into the gaza strip continue day and night. israel says they have claimed another high value target, who they say is an operator with the national security forces of hamas. meantime, families of the hostages are maintaining a public profile to keep as much pressure publicly as they can to bring their loved ones home. some of the parents shared their stories of desperation. >> terrified, terrified. i can hear, i can hear every night my son screaming to me, mom, take me home, mom, i can hear him. bring me home, mom, save me. i'm asking you, save our child. >> mike: and through the reuters news agency, information that supports what israel said that the palestinian health ministry run by hamas inflated the casualty numbers of the strike at the hospital. citing unclassified u.s. intelligence documents, reuters reports that the number of dead is closer to, between 10300, not 471 as the health ministry reported. sandra. >> sandra: mike, thank you. >> john: israeli defense minister is promising to enter the gaza trip himself. tens of thousands of troops amassed along the border. meantime, israeli forces are continuing to batter hamas with strikes. let's bring in the israeli economy minister and the former mayor of jerusalem. so, if we look at the potential for a ground operation into gaza, we thought that this was going to happen a week ago. we don't know when it will happen. do you believe it will happen, and i ask that question because of the way back from his visit with benjamin netanyahu, president said they discussed alternatives to a ground operation. >> yesterday i went to the gaza border and i met some of the troops ready to go to war. and every one of them is totally committed to go to war and wipe hamas off the map. off the world. this is why. see this picture? the picture of children, babies, hostages in gaza. today i went to the gaza border and i saw the atrocities in kibbutz, yeah. now i am a combat officer but what i saw is hell. what they did to women, raped women, killed them, beheaded children, handcuffed people and burned them alive, these are things that are unimaginable. this is -- we as jews have not seen anything like this since the nazis. and the same way that the world united against the nazis and wiped them off the map, wiped them off this earth, the same way the world united against isis, we must unite against hamas, which is actually isis. and the fact that the president of the united states came here and the prime minister of britain, i see how the world, the free world is uniting against this evil. this -- you know, starting with the radical iran, going through hezbollah, it's -- and of course, hamas, these are evil people. now, they are hitting israel, but we are only first in line. you are in the same line as we are. >> john: it was obviously a heinous attack on october 7th. yet at the same time, sympathy for israel dried up the other day when hamas claimed oh, the idf hit a hospital and killed 500 people. president biden has said u.s. intelligence as well as the briefing he got from israel would suggest that that was not something that israel did, that that came from inside gaza. yet the world is so quick to believe what a terrorist organization says. how does that strike you? >> well, many of the press, the global press were fooled by hamas. they were totally fooled. 18% of the rockets fired by hamas and jihad, islamic jihad, fall in gaza. >> john: rudimentary, homemade. >> we don't target hospitals, we target hamas. they target civilians, we target the militants. >> john: mistakes are made in war. >> this is not even a mistake. very clear the rocket came from the jihad. >> john: i was in belgrade when nato accidentally targeted the chinese embassy. so -- in this case it would appear the evidence is coming down on the side of this being an islamic jihad rocket that went wrong. we went to the old city yesterday. usually a vibrant market in the quarters there. went in through the muslim quarter to the christian quarter. everything is shut. this was in part a protest because of what happened at the hospital. people in this area still believe -- >> against the jihad, i understand. >> john: people in this area still believe israel was potentially involved. they are also boarding up, because they don't want to be open during a war. and the economic toll this is all taking on israel is quite extraordinary. you have lost $4.6 million in shecles, and 1.3 million people did not show up for work because of reserve duty, and clearly this is having an impact on the entire naytion, not just the economic standpoint but safety standpoint. >> in wars, there is a dip in the war. however, john, i'm very optimistic. we are going to wipe hamas off the map and once that happens, we are going to be even more secure, even more opportunities, and investing in israel always has a high return. and so you must not look at the dip in the war. certainly there are less tourists, people are -- 360,000 reservists, but we have been in that movie before. >> john: i booked a trip here next june, i'm hoping to be able to take it. >> i'm sure you will see very optimistic israel. no doubt we are going to win and wipe them out and one of the nicest, most safest place in the world is going to be the kibbutz, because going to be safe, scale it, we are going to renew it, the start-up us, speaking to many, many, i come from the high-tech sector, i spoke to many friends, we'll have 1300, the number of people killed, 1300 new start-ups and go global with our -- we are a start-up nation in many, many ways. i'm very optimistic. a huge, great future. we will win the war, make sure they wipe them off the map, not just for israel sake, but the whole world sake and very optimistic as to the future of israel. >> john: we'll be watching closely, see how it turns out. nir barkat, thank you for dropping by. >> thank you, it's my city. >> john: this is true. >> sandra: tensions rising a the universities across the u.s. as thousands of students stand in solidarity with palestinians, plus this. >> undivided, not all americans are with you on this one, and you need to wake up. >> john: congresswoman rashida tlaib calling on president biden, for not calling a for a ceasefire. ne. did you know it took our founders 116 days to debate and draft the u.s. constitution? turns out they didn't trust the printing of paper money, but they did trust gold and silver. article 1, section 10. gold and silver. good for the founders, good for me, good for you. rosland capital - is a trusted leader in helping people acquire precious metals. gold bullion, lady liberty gold and silver proofs, and premium coins, can help you preserve your wealth. call rosland capital to receive your free rosland guide to gold, gold & precious metals ira, and silver brochure. with rosland, there are no gimmicks, no hassles... and they have fast, reliable shipping. ask yourself. are you safe? make gold your new standard. call rosland capital today at 800-630-8900, 800-630-8900. that's 800-630-8900. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. that first time you take a step back. i made that. with your very own online store. i sold that. and you can manage it all in one place. i built this. and it was easy, with a partner that puts you first. godaddy. veteran homeowners, need to save money every month? call newday. pay off your high rate credit cards and car loan with an affordable va home loan from newday. you can save $500 every month. rates on credit cards have gone up to 22%. for late payments, as much as 30%, more than three times higher than a newday va loan. pay off your credit cards and car with a newday100 va loan and save. if we want a more viable future for our kids, we need to find more sustainable ways of doing things. america's plastic makers are investing billions of dollars in new technologies and creating plastic products that are more recyclable. durable. and dependable. our goal is a cleaner, healthier planet for generations to come. for a better tomorrow, we're focused on making plastics better today. >> we and the world have seen what this supposed war is. it's an excuse for ethnic cleansing. >> from new york to palestine. occupation is a crime. >> when the people are organized no party is invincible. >> john: anti-israel marches rage on across college campuses, the scene at harvard business school, hundreds of students staged a die-in and accused israel of genocide. they may lose half a billion dollars as big donors come out swinging against the schools for anti-semitism. brian kilmeade and katie, but first, alexis mcadams outside of nyu. what are students there telling you, alexis? >> john, good afternoon. the students we have talked to here say they don't believe the university is doing enough to make jewish students on the campus feel safe and it's because of incidents that have happened here like this. take a look, the new video that we got on just a short time ago, this shows there the students trying to pull down these posters there, pulling them down and throwing them right into the trash. those are pictures of kidnapped israelis. thousands of nyu students have signed a petition, calling on the university to look into anti-semitism. it comes as a group of professors, john, formed a group called faculty for justice in palestine. nearly 200 staff members have signed the online document and counting, say they oppose the war in gaza and occupation and brutalization of the palestinians and showing support for palestinian students. >> free, free palestine. >> it's chants like that across new york city and protests like these on campuses organized by students popping up continuously. pro palestinian students across manhattan, john, are shouting they are not going to stop until palestinians are free, slamming israel, the united states and mayor of new york city for supporting israel. one woman making headlines after she slammed israel. listen to this. >> this is not a war against hamas, this is ethnic cleansing against palein people. >> reached out to cuny, have not heard back yet. and students are demanding the violence in gaza stop, and calling out barack obama, a harvard law school alumni, accusing obama of being deep pli implicated in the ongoing genocide of palestinians, we have not heard back from his team yet. this comes as the protests and rallies continue across the country at ivy league universities. just had a walk-out at harvard university in the past hour. we'll keep an eye on that. john. >> john: pulling down pictures of kids taken hostage by terrorists? not quite sure how you justify that. alexis mcadams, thank you. sandra. >> sandra: it is not just universities and college kids facing criticism, sitting lawmakers, members of congress like ilhan omar and rashida tlaib are under scrutiny after claiming israel was responsible for the deadly blast of the hospital. hamas blamed israel in the immediate aftermath. congresswoman omar has posted again our office cited an a.p. report that the idf had hit a baptist hospital in gaza. since then, idf denied responsibility and the u.s. intelligence assessment is that this was not done by israel. katie pavlich joining us now, fox news contributor, brian kilmeade, "fox & friends," no taking back of this, brian by rashida tlaib. she doubled down. she said this in a tweet, israel bombed the baptist hospital killing 500 palestinians. doctors, children, patients, just like that. she directly addressed the president. this is what happens when you refuse to facilitate a ceasefire and help deescalate. >> brian: you shouldn't be deescalating when they massacre 1300 of your own people, kidnapping children, i thought she was an american first. evidently that's not the case. number two, why don't you get the facts. turns out when she got the facts, doubled down and goes at the capitol and speaks and loses her mind. maybe she's having a bad day except she used profanity after president trump winning the midterm elections and used expletive, and she tried to rush the stage, i wonder if she's embarrassing the people that elected her as much as the country and her own party. >> sandra: in her own words katie outside the capitol yesterday. >> divided, not all americans are with you on this one, and you need to wake up. we are literally watching people do genocide and killing just like us and we still stand by and say nothing. we will remember this. >> sandra: katie, your reaction. >> her argument about genocide is projection. you had hamas terrorists coming into israel and slaughtering thousands of israelis, some of them muslim, the majority of them jews and if they had their way, they would kill all the jews on the planet and then move on to the christians because they don't believe they should exist as a result of their infidelity to what they believe is their own faith. when it comes to ilhan omar and the things she's been saying, this is the reason why republicans removed her from the house foreign affairs committee because she is a danger to the stability of our relationships with allies like israel and others. when it comes to the facts here, and the place that the middle east is in, everything can change so quickly as we saw with the narrative and the running of what hamas said about the alleged hospital bombing by the israelis, that can turn into something much bigger very quickly. we were seeing a number of embassies all over the world, u.s. embassies having to be on alert, there are riots and protests and fires lit outside of them. we are hearing a number of israeli embassies are evacuated. serious consequences to furthering this misinformation so obviously false from the beginning, if you ever study this issue and coming at it from a place of good faith. one final thing, this is not about defending palestinians. this is about defending what hamas has done and when you look at these rallies all over the country, you see hamas flags flying right next to palestinian flags. you go to a pro israel rally, you see american flags and israeli flags. that's the difference between the two groups. >> sandra: really interesting and this was noted, brian and katie, at the state department briefing that happened just last hour. matt miller, spokesperson with a warning to the media. listen. >> i don't want to play media critic but i think it was a reminder everyone, and officials in government, everyone that watches the conflict, commentats on it, take a beat before choosing to believe what we believe and what we don't. >> brian: done by islamic jihad, they had the actual audio, shows how penetrated israel is in gaza, shot from the cemetery, what building did you hit and said look at the blast, clearly not from a rocket or f-16, so clearly was not them. but explosion at the hospital they are looking into it. how about that. and you mentioned the casualty numbers, not close to 500. >> sandra: associated foreign press in the last couple hours is reporting the casualties from the hospital are much lower than originally estimated. >> brian: for them to pull back, jordan and egypt to pull back a meeting with the president, not a zoom call, but in person, on a hospital bombing that didn't take place is an insult to the whole country. they are an ally and no strings attached. could you take a meeting? it could blow up your neighborhood, not ours. >> 30 to 40% of the rockets fired from gaza at israeli citizens fall short all of the time. it's a normal process. israeli hospitals are targeted all of the time by hamas, including hospitals that have to take their premature and icu units into permanent bomb shelters. we hear no outrage about that from the media like we saw this week on a false report of a rocket that fell short, launched by palestinian terrorists, that hit a parking lot, and then of course hamas, lying for almost 20 years about what goes on and the things they say, lying again in order to inflame the arab world and people on campus universities here at home to come to their side of this equation and to make their arguments for them. >> sandra: i want to finish by saying hillary vaughn, awesome reporter, she was able to ask minority leader hakeem jeffries about the tweets from ilhan omar -- rashida tlaib, i should say, he simply said i have not seen the tweets. >> brian: that's not ok. >> sandra: remarkable and happening in congress right now. >> brian: not believable. >> sandra: his position is clear, he stands behind israel but did not say those should be taken down when he was read them. thank you. brian, good to see you. katie, thank you so much. appreciate it. all right. president biden is set to deliver a primetime address to the nation, expected to happen tonight to discuss the ongoing war between israel and hamas. he is going to make a direct plea, we are told, to americans as his administration plans to ask congress for at least $100 billion in funding for israel's defense, and ongoing war in ukraine as well. we have fox team coverage, bret baier standing by. but first, peter doocy live at the white house. how much is president biden going to talk about border security in this address tonight? >> we have asked for specifics but do expect it to come up. border security is part of the $100 billion request. what we are hearing from officials in the west wing is the focus is going to be more on conflicts in ukraine and in israel and explaining why those fights might not be as far away as they seem. >> this will also be very much a message to the american people. how those conflicts connect to our lives back here, how support from the american people and the congress, frankly, is essential to maintaining this national leadership the united states is showing to steer these conflicts in the best possible direction. >> the israel funding piece may not be to support a full scale invasion of gaza, as president biden says it may not happen. >> we have long talked about that and what alternatives there are, military is, talking with the military but i will not conclude that either. >> the president's trip to israel has been generally received warmly even by republicans. other side of the aisle wants the speech to be written for america's enemies to hear, too. >> our enemies know that president biden has been reluctant to give ukraine the weapons it needs to win. our enemies know that president biden's administration has put sanctions on iran but they haven't really been enforcing them. iran is making millions of dollars a day selling its oil, and we haven't -- >> no press briefing today, no presidential events today, we don't expect to see him until about 90 seconds after 8:00 p.m. sandra. >> sandra: watching for all of that. thank you. john. >> john: let's bring in bret baier, anchor and executive editor of special report and fox news chief political anchor. bret, what do you expect the president will say, you and martha will be leading our coverage. >> bret: we start at 7:55 p.m., good afternoon, john. i think, listen, as peter laid out, he's going to make a request of congress and it's going to be big. hearing the number $100 billion, and it deals with not only support for israel and replenishing the iron dome, but also for ukraine and also for taiwan and also for the border. i mean, that's what officials are laying out behind the scenes here. he is expected to talk about all those things but reflect on the most recent trip to israel and the speeches he's had over recent days as you've heard, offering support and direct linkage to israel. i think, you know, he came away from that trip and they are touting the deliverable of egypt and israel agreeing to some humanitarian aid inside gaza as long as it doesn't get to hamas. we have seen that obviously for a long, long time. and it has always managed to get to hamas. >> john: you know, i was talking with senator john kennedy of louisiana you heard him a second ago earlier on "the falkner focus," he said the president has to show strength and resolve. >> president biden's got to give a strong speech tonight. it's got to be firm and it's got to show resolve. our enemies, russia, china, and iran, the ayatollah, they see -- they can read polls, they say many americans fairly or unfairly think that president biden is older than the adirondack mountains and is not really up to being president right now. >> john: you know, there was some commentators suggesting the president looked tired, frail, in the visit with netanyahu. it took me a couple of days over the jet lag after getting here but i'm not the president of the united states. >> bret: only say it like senator kennedy, older than the adirondack mountains. but you expect this to be a bold statement. only the second time he's used the oval office for an address and this would be something that he's going to make a message to the american people about the firm resolve and israel and also the warning. he said it a couple of times, including in israel, to places like iran, although not specifically mentioning iran, saying if you have thoughts of getting involved, don't. and he's used that a few times in the phrasing. i think there are republicans who since afghanistan and how that all went down have been very critical of this president on foreign policy and wish he would talk more firmly about iran in particular. we'll see if some of that makes it into the speech tonight. >> john: his critics are saying the president is still holding out hope of getting iran back into a nuclear deal and that if he talks too tough about iran, he might just push things away. you never want to connect a war with a political race, but dan from the wall street journal suggests the israeli-hamas conflict could affect the presidential race at home, he said israel reshuffles the u.s. presidential deck. a sudden opportunity for nikki haley and mike pence. china, ukraine, the open border, had become rote. no longer the killing of hostages and seizing, has forced it to the top of the presidential agenda. how do you think it will play out in the weeks ahead? >> bret: i think it does affect things and we have seen foreign policy raise its head in other presidential elections, namely george w. bush and the thought about terrorism and safety and that becomes a big thought for independents and suburban moms and it factors into a presidential race. we are a long way away from the election, so a lot can happen, different iterations can happen. but in the short-term, probably does make an effect and you know, any israeli praise of president biden also is baked in the cake for how he handles this tonight and with this trip. >> john: just a few seconds left, bret. do you expect any mention of iran tonight at all? >> bret: i think there's so much bubbled up criticism from republicans that there will be some mention, if not spending a lot of time on it. i also think there will be some mention of the border because his own fbi director is, you know, speaking about the possibility of domestic terrorism and all that can possibly happen with people coming across the border. >> john: all right, bret. we will see you tonight on "special report" and programming reminder to folks at home, bret and martha lead our coverage of the president's address to the nation tonight, beginning at 7:55. the speech itself begins at 8:00. sandra. >> sandra: john, thank you. we are waiting the pentagon briefing, seems to be a bit delayed, originally 2:30, pushed back to 2:45, still not begun. as we are getting some wires crossing right now in the u.s. navy warship travelling near yemen, intercepted multiple projectiles, drones and rockets are attacking a target at an iraq air base right now. multiple blasts were heard inside that base, according to security sources crossing the wires. so obviously this will all come into play when the pentagon briefing is underway a short time from now. also john, just want to have an update for the viewers on the speakership battle ongoing on the hill. this coming in to us by our own chad pergram just in the last few minutes or so, jim jordan says he had still plan to run for speaker and he plans to go to the floor and get the votes and win this race. his own words. so that could be happening in the coming minutes, hours, some time today. we just don't have those details yet. but jim jordan, john, says he is still running for house speaker. >> john: well, we saw back in january that there were about 20 or 21 people who were against kevin mccarthy and he managed to convince enough of them to vote for him that he made it to the magic number. can jordan do the same thing? interesting to note that when mccarthy was running for speaker, the number of opponents was either constant or got smaller. for jordan, the number of opponents has grown. he may have a bigger hill to climb than mccarthy did and we saw mccarthy kind of gave away the farm for gaetz' demands for the one-member threshold to vacate the chair, ended up to be his ultimate undoing. >> sandra: that is a lot of news, and covered a lot the last two hours. and i know your coverage from there will continue. >> john: it will, i'm coming up with martha the next hour. don't forget the big presidential address tonight. coverage at 7:55. the address at 8:00. see what the president says about all of this. the message and the tone will be very, very important for the way it goes forward. >> sandra: i'll see you at 4:00 today in for neil. i'm sandra smith. >> john: i'm john roberts.