>> sandra: and thanks to your team and crew. >> john: i'm john roberts. >> thank you. i'm trace gallagher in for martha maccallum. john roberts will stay with us live from jerusalem. we await the state department briefing after hamas releases two american hostages for humanitarian reasons. we have greg palkot live on the israel lebanon border where the israelis are evacuating a town. first -- we have breaking news coming. let's go to mike tobin. we have mortar or rockets coming in. mike? >> we have a flurry of rocket fire. we've seen that really since -- just about every night fall we see them. tonight it was more intense. if -- we're in cover right now. i see more launches from the gaza area. big flurry of activity. that looks like it's coming down. i don't think it's going to intercept. very well we could get some strikes here. there's quite a few -- there's one going across the screen there. so quite a few rockets, quite a few intercepters making the -- doing their job. we're hearing a great deal of impact. if i shut up, you can hear it. we're going to back up to avoid shrapnel. that situation, trace, we see this quite a bit. that was an intense flurry of rocket fire. a little concentrated. great number of rockets. the idea of firing a great number of rockets is with the hope on the part that hamas that they can oh well the iron dome system and all of the intercepters that were on the job there. quite a few intercepts. it gets quite chaotic when you have a launch like that. it's impossible to tell at the moment if any of the rockets got through. some of them are coming in low. some of those rockets that you saw streaking across the screen there were indeed the intercepters themselves. trace? >> a couple of things, mike. do you have access to a bomb shelter where you are? we know trey yingst does. two, this pattern of rockets around 10:00 p.m. in israel, has this been a pattern that we've seen nightly or is this unusual? >> the answer to both questions is yes. where i am right now, i'm underneath a big concrete parking group. so with the kind of rockets that they're firing and the type of war heads that they have, if something were to hit above us, we're in good shape. if there was something directly in front of us and throw shrapnel, there's a risk. normally i went have went further back in there because we were live, it was an opportunity to show what the people in israel go through time and time again. it does seem to pick up around 10:00 p.m. this is more concentrated, greater numbers than we've seen in recent nights. >> quick again because we haven't seen any kind of activity for the past 25, 30 seconds, maybe longer, are these coming in spurts? do you see flurries of rockets and then calm and then flurries of rockets? >> that's exactly it. you'll get a couple of barrages of rockets, three or four. calms down. sometimes they will launch at dusk and then be hours. sometimes they go during the day. part of the strategy of hamas is to try to be unpredictable. >> lastly, i want to know if there's any reaction in your reporting down there to the two hostages being released by hamas. >> well, i'm isolated. i haven't had a lot of contact with the man on the street type of interviews. mostly working contacts to confirm what indeed is happening, trace. >> mike, stay safe. we'll get back to you as the news warrants. thanks. let's get to trey yingst. he's also in southern israel, which is clear near the gaza border. we'll have more on the release of the american hostages. trey, what are you hearing? >> just to give you a sense of where mike tobin and i are located. he's in the southern city and we're near the gaza border. our cameras were capturing the rockets coming off of the gaza strip. some slimmed in to the community below. this has been an ongoing seen. hamas still has massive stockpiles of rockets despite the air strikes that have targeted the gaza strip. i want to show you what the it was like as they fired rockets and mortars at the same time. take a look. >> you can hear massive explosions in southern israel. mortar and rocket fire continues to hammer the communities around. you can hear the explosion. one round after another coming in. hitting this community that lies just over the border from gaza. stay inside, guys. you can hear another explosion there. a huge barrage. there's growing anticipation for a ground offensive for israel to destroy hamas. so remember when the sirens are going off in the south and you have interceptions overhead, there's tens of thousands of israeli soldiers off in the distance at different locations. major brigades that are waiting for those orders from the prime minister and the military echelon to enter gaza. so they are also scrambling for cover when this takes place. it's not just civilians along the border here. but also the soldiers that are waiting to enter gaza when the orders come through. trace? >> trace: i'm curious strategy-wise, tray, when there's mortars and rockets coming in to israel. is there an immediate response from the air defenses or just this constant barrage from the israeli air defenses on gaza and gaza city? >> there's an immediate air defense response. right away the targets are identified and intercepter rounds come out to try to take down the rockets being fired. traditionally there's a 92% success rate. during this conflict, we don't have the number but it's been lower than in the past. part of the reason is because in the past islamic jihad was the only one fires rockets in to israel for years. there was analysis going on that maybe hamas wanted peace or work toward governoring the gaza strip. it's not true. they were preparing for this war. so the rockets are overwhelming the iron dome. in terms of the response, you can hear in the distance, drones are hovering over the gaza strip trying to figure out where the rocket fire is coming from. we have watched throughout the day not only drone strikes but air strikes from fighter jets overhead. they're overhead right now. they'll hit different positions along the gaza strip, not only the rocket fire where it's coming from, but command centers from hamas and other targets because they're trying to stop the fire. 14 days in to this conflict, they're still able to hit southern and central israel sending hundreds of thousands of people to bomb shelter was. the ground operation has not begun. the latest numbers, 7,300 rockets have been fired since october 7. according to the estimates that we received the past several years in classified briefings with the israelis and the meetings that we've had here, they estimate around 15,000 rockets are stockpiled inside the gaza strip. that is come up between hamas and islamic jihad, the second largest faction. some of the larger factions that are operating in gaza, they have their own rocket supplies. the major supply is from hamas and they're involved in this fight. >> trace: a couple of clarifications if i can. one, we think we've been told and you've reported that most of southern israel near the gaza border has been evacuated. there's military forces there waiting for the ground invasion. so is it a fair assessment to say that hamas is targeting the military members that are waiting to go in? and two, is the iron dome working? how many -- we were always told that 80, 90% of the rockets that come in are knocked down by the iron dome. is that a fair assessment as well, trey? >> traditionally that is the asse assessment. this round the number has been lower. we're trying to get a sense of the exact number from the ifd. they have not provided. we talked to danny gold, the man that created the iron dome. he talked about the system and the future of the air defense systems. they're working on a laser system that will shoot down these rockets that will be far cheaper for the israelis when they're trying to defend these communities. for the civilians, many of the small communities next to gaza that would face mortar fire, people were killed during the massacre or evacuated. this town that we're in right now along the border with gaza, 10% of the population remains. some were killed. the majority evacuated and a few civilians level. there's larger pockets that sit along the coast of the mediterranean sea. there's still thousands of civilian there's. mike tobin is there now. you can see he's in a residential area. there's parking lots, civilian houses. they're under constant barrages of rocket fires. they're slamming in to the communities. we heart a heart breaking story about a 10-year-old that went to cardiac arrest. he had a heart attack because he was so terrified under this rocket fire. trace? >> trace: trey, stay safe. take cover. we'll get back to you as the news warrants. a couple of news items. we were anticipating a state department briefing that was supposed to start at the top of the hour. its been delayed. we're waiting for a white house comment, possible briefing on the two hostages that have been released, mother and the daughter. we'll have more on that news as it comes in. meantime on to tel aviv. deron spielman is here. thanks for coming on. i want your assessment. what is your take, what is the ifd's take and the government on these two american hostage being released? >> so we've seen the reports. it can be confirmed there are two american women, a mother and a daughter that were taken hostage. they have been released. they're in israeli hands. they're at our bases and pretty soon they'll be on a the way home and be with their families. we welcome this news. unfortunately we cannot lose sight of the fact that there are two of 203 hostages. there's 201 hostages including the elderly babies, men and women that were snatched from their beds like this mother and daughter. they left chicago to come visit israel. they went to a beautiful agricultural community, a beautiful place to visit. in the morning, they were snatched from their beds and spent the last two weeks in gaza. there's 201 stories like that. hamas is going to try to paint this as a humanitarian organization here. we can see by what mike tobin was showing us, the rockets are falling all over. they're real faces of evil. >> i'm wondering if there's a strategy on behalf of hamas. john roberts was talking to a woman earlier that says that maybe the strategy here is to release these hostages in dribs and drabs. release two or three and that slows down this potential ground invasion in to gaza. do you think that is a potential strategy, sir? >> i think you're hitting on something very important, which is anything that hamas does is really only to further hamas' terrorist interests. we've seen this before. it's right out of the hamas playbook. it goes back to the idea that they commit a tack, a massacre. they then flee back to gaza, go underground, put civilians in the way. in the past what they have dingelled over one's eyes are the civilian deaths. anything that they can do to make us stop is for preservation instincts. hamas wants to preserve itself. they want to rebuild, go underground and enable themselves to make another massacre, another attack. we've said this time it's different. we're not going to let this happen. we're going to eliminate hamas' abilities and every person that was involved in this. no matter where they were, we will find them and they will pay for what they've done. >> trace: i'm low on time. i want your take on the fact that they're evacuating in the north. i'm wondering if that's because there's new intel that hezbollah may want to expand their strikes on northern israel? >> hezbollah, there was definitely a serious escalation today by hezbollah. we had more than 30 anti-tank rockets that were fired at israeli troops. a terrorist that tried to infiltrate in that area. that was eliminated. we've seen a real upgrade in what they're trying to do. no question, iran is pushing hezbollah to divert our attention to the north. we're not going to let them succeed. we told them not to enter this game. if they do, they will pay a heavy price. >> trace: thanks for the update. we'll get back to you. israel is evacuating a town at the lebanon border as fears that hamas could grow. greg palkot is live from the israel lebanon border. greg? >> hi, trace. you've been focusing on the southern border. the northern border is active as well. you have hezbollah based over in leb lebanon, just about 1 1/2 miles from where they are. they have been testing israel and doing it all night. we heard a mighty blast from an israeli artillery heading towards lebanon. we've heard a constant buzz of a drone overhead and hear the crackle of gun fire between the hezbollah militants and the israeli military. israel target three militants on the border. missiles hit one town and as you noted earlier today, there were important evacuation of a key town in this area. take a look at what we saw, what we heard. >> here in tis real lebanon border town, authorities are now telling people to leave. terror is creeping in on all sides. yesterday i saw six rockets rain down on the town. three people were injured. today i saw a middle and the come across the border and shoot and injure an israeli soldier. the thinking here is theup tick in hezbollah is due to the looming israeli hamas targeted invasion down south. >> i recommend all the people living here to get out. do not take a risk. we have a lot of bomb a lot of terror attack. >> a lot of bombs a lot of terror attacks. the mayor said they don't feel like they're heighting hezbollah. they feel like they're fighting iran. basically the backer, the benefactor. those two groups and more in this region. back to you, trace. >> greg, thank you. let's bring in mark esper, president of the esper group. mr. secretary, thanks for coming on. we appreciate it. i want to pick up where greg left off there. if we can put on the screen, a call for one, the map of israel being surrounded. the common denominator in all of this when you talk about hezbollah, hamas and these jihad groups in syria along with the houthi rebels in yemen, they're all backed by iran. they are all getting more active. i'm wondering if, you know, iran becomes a bigger part of the conversation in this administration than it has been over the past 14 days. >> yeah, trace. you're spot on. it all goes back to iran. they've been supporting these groups for many years. in a case of hezbollah, since 1982 and hamas for a couple decades. they're helping them plan, providing them political coverage. all of those things. it ends accident quite broadly. look, we've seen iran the past few days saying if israel goes in, there will be consequences. they made other threats. it's been underreported, we've had u.s. based attacked in syria and in iraq in the past few days. we had those missiles and cruise missiles and drones launched from yemen that were intercepted by a navy destroyer. this is going back to tehran even if we had hamas and hezbollah speaking off the tape that tehran is involved in this. >> trace: i want to pick up on what you just said. cnn is reporting and i'm going to read this. u.s. warship have intercepted drones and missiles near the coast of yemen thursday, yesterday. encountered a larger and more sustained barrage that was known. shooting down four cruise missiles and 14 drones over nine hours. that's according to a u.s. official they are citing with information about that situation. this thing seems like it was bigger than we anticipated at first. >> yeah, what i'd like to see is this from the biden administration. i think the white house has made -- said the right things with regard to moral clarity when it comes to israel's right to crush hamas and do what they need to do. even though we have to focus on the task before us, we need to prevent a second front, there's nothing that says we can't begin talking to the other western democracies, our allies and partners about how we get together to deal with iran once and for all. economic sanctions, financial sanctions, more political pressure. at the end of the day, israel may knock out hamas. unless you cut the arms, the straining coming from tehran, it's going to crop back up again. that's the bigger strategic issue that we need to take a look at and begin working on as well. >> trace: you talk about our allies getting more involved. be what about a more robust u.s. involvement? there's been five attacks on u.s. forces. mostly iranian backed groups. do you see, sir, a bigger response from the united states in this? >> yeah, look if our bases and troops are attacked, we need to respond. we know who is driving it. we know certainly the shiia malitia groups, the proxies for iran are doing it. we should strike back. i give the administration credit for moving one carrier strike group. the marines will be there. we're set up in a position now between the military movements and our rhetoric that if hezbollah unleashes a barrage of rockets and missiles, we'll have to get involved. that will be a test for the white house. will they live up to their rhetoric once deterrence fails and come in hard and support israel with tomahawk strikes, air strikes. you name it. that is a real test for the administration. >> trace: secretary, one last question for you. we got a release from the israeli defense forces, the phases of the war. the air strikes and ground phase. lower intensities to eliminate pockets of phases. the third phase, creating a new security regime. they do not want a strong footprint in gaza. seems like they're going that direction. >> yeah, to me the big question is what is the end state. what does it looks like. israel does not want to stay in gaza. they got out in 2005. broad support politically for doing so. so what happens once they accomplish their tasks? they can't create a vacuum. who knows what will go in there. will there be a u.n. force? unlikely. do they want to reinstall the palestinian authority over control of gaza? that's tricky, too. that's the big question. what does it look like once the mission is done and once israel pulls out. >> trace: it's a big question for a lot of people. mark esper, thanks, sir. breaking right now, president biden confirming the safe release of two american citizens identified as judith and natalie rannan taken from a kibbutz near the gaza strip. the president writing in part, jill and i have been holding close in our hearts all the families of unaccounted americans. as i told the families, we will not stop until we get their loved ones home. as president, i have no hirer priority of the safety of the americans held hostage around the world. we'll have continuing coverage. still waiting for a state department briefing. also to talk about the release of the hostages, natalie and judith. they are mother, judith. more news on them as it comes in. progressive members of the squad calling for a cease fire in israel. >> so our call is clear. a cease fire now to save lives. vengeance is not a foreign policy doctrine. >> trace: how one member of that group responded to fix's questions about the terror group, hamas, next. from pep in their step to shine in their coats, when people switch their dog's food to the farmer's dog, the effects can seem like magic. but there's no magic involved. 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>> here she is at a news conference calling for a cease fire in israel and gaza. watch. >> how many more killings is enough for you? is it a thousand more? 2,000 more? 3,000? how many palestinians would make you happy if they die? will you be fine in all of the people of gaza were gone? would that make you happy? would that make you proud? that's the question you should ask. is it okay? how many more palestinians are you comfortable with. i'm not comfortable with any more. >> trace: congress woman omar walked back a statement blaming israel interior the massive hospital blast in gaza. a lot of people got that wrong. we're waiting to see what happens next in the house after republicans dropped congressman jim jordan as their nominee for speaker. he failed three teams to win the gavel. losing more support in every round of the voting. republican congressman michael waltz is standing by. first to chad pergram. he's live as always on capitol hill. chad? >> trace, good afternoon. three strikes and jim jordan was out. the ohio republican continued to bleed support in his quest for speaker. jordan lost more votes on today's vote for speaker than he did tuesday and wednesday. house republicans then bounced him as their nominee for speaker. >> it was -- i told the conference, it was an honor to be their speaker designee. i felt it was important that we all know, give an answer to the question if they wanted me to continue in that role. so we put the question to them. they made a difference decision. >> jordan is the second rock nominee to flame out in the past eight days. house majority leader steve scalise withdraw 30 hours after getting the nomination. jordan's strong arm tackives offended many gop members and doubted that he did much to quash threats made to those that opposed him. the house will not vote on speaker again until tuesday at the earliest. >> we need space and time for candidates to talk to other members. it's fair to say that leader scalise wasn't given adequate time. he had 24 hours to campaign. i don't think that was right for him. the space and time for a reset is an important thing for house republicans. >> trace: mchenry says he won't run. kevin mccarthy is mum. kevin hern of oklahoma will return. >> certainly been a very supportive of my two friends, steve scalise and jim jordan. i did everything i could to get them elected. voting every time it was possible. at this juncture, yes, i am. >> jody arrington is also considering a bid. candidates must file by sunday night. gop members will hear from those candidates monday night. the house is going on three weeks without a speaker. back to you. >> trace: chad, thank you. let's bring in florida wrong congressman michael watts. thank you. i want to know your thoughts on what is happening there. speaker pro tem, patrick mchenry, keep him in there for awhile? what do you think about that concept? >> no, i think we need a speaker. we need to follow the constitutional process. look, i'm disapointed that we couldn't get jim jordan there. i supported him. i thought he was the only one that could bridge the divides in our party right now in the house. also, you need a fighter. you have to fight the push from the progressive left. you also have the senate democrats and the entire administration to deal with. so trace, we have a steady and strong bench. we're already having people come out and say they're ready to pick up that lead. i have to tell you, in january, we were having some difficult but i thought substantive arguments on policy and on process. things we needed to clean up after years of nancy pelosi. now it is a lot of hurt feelings, a lot of frustration. different factions pointing at each other. my point is this war changes things. there's men and women out there on the line right now that this is unworthy of their sacrifice. we've got to get our heads out of our rear end. we're the only entity right now that is going to push the administration on iran, on the border and what needs to get done. >> trace: you mentioned a strong bench. there's people bandy of byron donalds as potential speaker. would you support that, sir? >> i think rep donalds would be great. i think he just formally announced. i'm not quite sure before i came on. but we also have a number of veterans that are looking at it. my understanding is former three-star general jack bergman. we have other people like representative mike johnson who is a good strong constitutional conservative. so let's let this play out over the next few days. everybody will make their case. here's the big difference, trace. this is what we got away from. whoever wins this internal race, whoever wins the majority of the majority, everybody else needs to get behind when it comes to the house floor. that's the part that fell apart. the people that got us in this chaos clearly didn't have a plan for how to get us out of it. >> trace: i have to go. i want this on the screen, this is the president's 105 billion plus foreign aid request to congress. you can see $61 billion for ukraine, 14 for israel, on down. if you get the house in order, would you agree to this? i have about 10 seconds for you. >> we need to consider these things separately for the worst police call reasons. the administration is trying to jam this together. separately, we always talk money, troop numbers, resources. let's talk what is the goal what is the strategy. what does success look like. that's what's been missing in ukraine. that's what is missing right now with israel and new hampshire -- hamas. what do we do after we destroy hamas and how do we take care of the head of the snake, iran. >> trace: thanks. the deadly surprise that could be in store for israeli troops in gaza as the idf lays out their three-part plan to wipe out hamas. our continuing coverage of israel's war continues with john roberts in jerusalem next. 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. 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antony blinken. we'll have that as it comes up. as israel prepares for a ground incursion, there's growing concerns that hamas could unveil a deadly new arare of weapons. experts fear that hamas may be holding a more technologically advanced arsenal preparing to deploy them as a response to an israeli ground response that its leaders knew would be coming. joining us now, john roberts. he's live doing exceptional work in jerusalem. john, i was watching your interview during your show a little earlier. you were told that maybe one of the ploys for hamas by releasing these american hostages two at a time, dribs and drabs, is to slow down the onslaught of this ground invasion from israel in to gaza. >> you know, in the last day, maybe 1 1/2 days, ever since that explosion at the hospital kind of tamped things town, there seems to be a build to a possible ground operation. maybe not just in gaza but in the northern part of israel as well. maybe hamas sensed that. that the ground invasion was coming. so they said oh, wait a minute. we're going to release a couple of hostages. it's great to have the hostages, judy and natalie raanan, let go. they're releasing them to forestall a ground invasion. that's what one person thought. the island of a ground invasion hasn't happened yesterday. it's shabat. that might have some influence on it as well. there was some thinking the troops would go in tonight. they haven't done that yet. back to where you started with this idea of hamas holding in reserve more sophisticated weapons, this has been talked about since the beginning of this war. that maybe hamas was using a tactic or it would use dumb rockets that didn't really have a rudimentary guidance system, fire them off at dozen at a time and deplete the iron dome system so when the israel didn't have as many arsenal of rockets to counter anything from the sky, hamas would bring out more sophisticated weapons that could be precision guided to a certain degree. we don't know if that's the case. i'll tell you, they don't have any shortage of the dumb rockets the wike that mike tobin and trey yingst were under fire tonight. they're holding a lot in resuffer. and the defense minister came out in recent hours and said here's the way things are going to go it's three parts. we're going to have a campaign from the air and then the ground to destroy hamas. there will be a subsequent ground operation, a mopping up operation to rid gaza of pockets of resistance and then a new security protocol for gaza that wouldn't involve an israeli occupation. israel wouldn't have responsibility for it. i talked with david petraeus about what that looks like. that is probably the most uncertain of all of this. how do you in to gaza with some court of administration that does not allow hamas, islamic jihad to become strong again and attack israel. that is the real knot, the one that they have not been able to undiet. >> trace: it's a fair assessment. if you go to the northern part where you have hezbollah firing rockets in to northern israel, they have evacuated shimona today, some 22,000 people. we all know except for this intel failure on october 7, israel has good intel on that thing. if you're evacuated shimona, there must be some knowledge that hezbollah is about to uptick their attacks in that part of the country. >> one of the guests you hit on earlier suggested there was an uptick in attacks. i was staying in metella and went in to shimona. that was ground zero for the hezbollah attacks. they took it on the chin. based on history, shimona will be hit, so let's get the people out of there. >> trace: the whole thing is. when you were up there in 2006, i was up there with you. i was behind you in the coffee line as you had a backpack on heading in to lebanon. you came through staying in the same hotel. you just feel as if the northern part of the country, this front will open. as soon as gaza, as soon as these troops go in to gaza, it feels like there will be a second front and maybe with these attacks on u.s. forces in recent days, there might be a third front. >> what is interesting, that same expert that told me about the delaying tactic that you listened to as well as well as the former chief of the national security council here in israel, told me that they don't think hezbollah will pull the trigger. they have a good thing going. they tonight want to be seen as leaving hamas out to twist in the wind. that's why they have the harassing fire going across the border. those two people didn't think hezbollah would get in this war in a big way. they would want to provoke israel to coming across. maybe have a justification, but they wouldn't fire the first big shot. >> trace: and lebanon's economy is in bad straits. we want to bring video of a new air strike that is claiming to have killed three hezbollah terrorists along the northern border. the country's foreign minister says they don't want war with israel. watch. >> what you're asking is for israel to call for a cease fire for 48 hours, really, we don't want war. the government doesn't want war. this sun controllable. it depends all of what happens in gaza. >> trace: let's bring in steve harrigan who is live for us in lebanon. steve? >> trace, for the past 12 days, we've been seeing steady and controlled fire across the northern border. lebanese officials say 22 people have been killed on the lebanon side. it's a real question whether or not hezbollah intends to go further and open a second front. certainly the preparations are underway on the israeli side for the possibility of this war ridening out. you mentioned shimona. 22,000 people evacuated from the north. they've been put up in state-funded guest houses. also more signs here in lebanon that they are preparing for major trouble. the lebanese major air carrier has announced they're cutting their flights and moving its planes out of the country to safer places, this follow as number of other airlines that have stopped flying all together to lebanon in fears of what may be ahead. trace? >> trace: thanks, steve. let's go back to john roberts and see some thoughts on him. we're still, by the way, awaiting the state department briefing. we anticipate the secretary of state will actually leadoff that briefing when that begins. john, to you. you kind of go back to the southern part of the country and what is happening in gaza right now. the israeli defense forces have laid out this three-prong plan, right? the first plan is the air strikes and the ground war. the second one is to go in with smaller troops and try and look for some unstable areas. the third one is a security force. even though israel says that they don't want this big footprint in gaza, it sounds like there will be a footprint in gaza at the end of this. >> i think there would have to be a footprint for a while. they want an entirely new security regime and one that israel is not involved in. i think for a while -- we talked to general petraeus about this earlier -- israel would have to be a stabilizing force until you get the next administration up. if you leave a power vacuum there, we saw what happened in baghdad, we saw libya. anyplace where you take out a strong leadership regime, you're going get a power vacuum. the next biggest bad guy will fill that vacuum. several people that have a good idea of what's going on thought that this summit that was supposed to happen in jordan with president biden, king abdullah dull la, president biden was going to be talking about laying the ground work for what comes next. maybe fattah takes over. we don't know now because that summit didn't happen. abbas is attending a peace summit in cairo tomorrow, i think. maybe they're beginning to lay the ground work of what is next. you can't leave a power vacuum there. israel knows. we'll see what happens. >> trace: thanks, john. we appreciate it. >> by the way, i was going to say, trace, i was sad to see that the hotel in metulla has closed down. >> trace: it is. thanks, john. an american israeli grandma and her 12-year-old harry potter loving granddaughter confirmed to be victims of hamas terror in israel. their relative is hoping to bring home three more missing family members. revealing what president biden told her. she will tell us that next. >> as i told the families of americans being held captive by hamas, we're pursuing every avenue to bring their loved ones home. as president, there's no higher priority for me than the safety of americans held hostage. rs. are you applying for a car loan? the monthly payments can be expensive. with an affordable home loan from newday, you can pay cash and own the car or truck of your dreams. with the freestyle libre 2 system know your glucose level and where it's headed without fingersticks. manage your diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c. it's covered by medicare for those who qualify. ask your doctor about the freestyle libre 2 system. 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your doctor about fasenra. >> trace: relatives of an 80-year-old american woman and her 12-year-old grand daughter killed in israel are holding out hope for three other missing family members. the israeli military says hamas has about 200 hostages and it believes most of them are alive. let's bring in abby, a relative of the grandmother and granddaughter that were killed and three others that are still missing. abby, thanks for coming on. our condolences and prayers go out for your family that did not survive this. for the three others that remain missing, abbey, does the release of the two american missing hostages today -- that's a picture of the grandmother and granddaughter who did not survive. does it give you hope that the rest of your family will be found and brought out alive? >> thank you for having me. yes, i think it is the first sliver of lightness that we felt to know that two people are free of this horror. we have been advocating on behalf of our own family and on behalf of american citizens, on behalf of women and children and elderly. all of the hostages. so to see this release is encouraging. we're beyond grateful to the administration and to the world that president biden is helping us do. we just encourage the u.s. government and the israeli government to continue pressing. this is showing results. >> trace: yeah, you have been very clear, abby, that you want hamas eradicated. would you support delaying the ground invasion if it meant there could be more hostage release theres the hours and days to come? >> absolutely. i think the ground invasion is dangerous for all of us, for our soldiers, for israel civilians, the civilians in gaza and the hostages. i've always said our first priority should be and needs to continue to be their release. i would love to see their release contingent on aid. i know aid will come in. i understand the need for aid. i believe the aid should be conditioned on the release of hostages. >> trace: a lot of people have echoed that as well. have you received any information about the family members that were still alive and being held at all from the israeli government, from the french government? anybody? >> no. all three are french and israeli citizens. we continue to pray and believe that they're well. i really hope in the coming days that we learn more. now thankfully we'll have two people back where they belong. hopefully learn from that. >> trace: yeah. our condolences and best wishes to you, abbey. thanks for coming on. best of luck to you and your family. >> thanks for having me. >> trace: the war in the middle east roiling college campuses. now big use donors are closing their checks books. alexis mcadams is live in new york city where there's a vigil for palestinians killed in the war. alexis? >> yeah, the vigil will start any minute. we're looking to see the students gather us behind me here, this comes as a professor at the business school just spoke out in a video that he posted on his own youtube channel calling out the university saying he wouldn't let his own daughter come here and says the university. is not doing her job. watch. >> can you imagine in the city that had to endure 9-11, the worst attacks on american soil, can you imagine that here we have pro terror students organizations? >> protests at campuses across the country continue from harvard, to portland university as they're still at the center of everything happening. at nyu, large rallies just like this here on a your screen have been popping up in the last week. we went to nyu this week and talked to jewish students that say they don't think nyu is doing enough. they don't feel safe. they don't feel safe in the classroom and they say their parents are mad that they spent so much more for what is supposed to be a prestigious school. >> i'm half israeli. i'm scared to share that on campus. they talk about inclusion, they talk about sharing your identity. that stops at jewish. that stops at israeli. >> the vigil here for columbia starting any moment. once again, it's for those that lost their lives for the palestinians that lost their lives. we'll see how this plays out. this comes as the big donors that are pulling back saying they won't give another dollar if the president there's continue to let these pro hamas protests rage on. >> thanks. we're still waiting secretary of state antony blinken. we're told he will arrive in the next few seconds after the release of two american hostages. that is "the story." i'm see you back here on fox news at night. here's neil.