and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. living with type 2 diabetes? ask about the power of 3 with ozempic®. >> the fact that there are people advocating for a ceasefire without discussing that the hostages must be returned makes no sense. >> this is a call for action. and this is a wake-up call, not only for israel, not only for the jewish community, this is a wake-up call. >> every second, every minute, every hour, every 24 hours we need just to think about this all the time. they are scared, i can feel their hearts beating. >> john: families of hostages pleading for the world's help exactly one month after the brutal terrorist attacks on innocent civilians in israel. i'm john roberts in washington, as we head into another jam packed hour, sandra. >> sandra: good to be with you. sandra smith in new york. this is "america reports". you are looking live at the white house briefing room there, any moment there, john kirby is expected to take questions from the media. a growing faction of democrats are calling for the president to press the israelis to stop the fighting. but the idf says troops officially pushed into gaza city today and it is encircled, says netanyahu. more on that advance in a moment. also facing the white house, questions over biden's 2024 waem for the presidency as new battleground polling shows he is trailing leading gop contenders. and also the border crisis is front and center. here is karine jean-pierre live at the white house. dip in and get the news right off the top here. >> all right, class, everybody -- ok, all right, everyone. it is a serious day, indeed. so good afternoon. today as part of our ten days of ten drug series we are highlighting genuvia, treats diabetes and that was selected for medicare price negotiation as part of president biden's inflation reduction act. last year around 885,000 seniors were prescribed it, and spent on average up to 500 bucks a month for this lifesaving drug. one of those seniors is steven from north carolina who wrote to the president that he pays over 500 bucks a month for this lifesaving medicine. for years, politician talked about taking on big pharma to lower drug prices for seniors, all the while big pharma continued to rake in record profits and spent $400 million on lobbyists -- >> sandra: karine jean-pierre doing some housekeeping as she does there. obviously really serious news to get to, as soon as that is underway and especially the question and answer portion of the briefing we'll get back to the white house. >> john: senior correspondent mike tobin for the latest on the ground in southern israel. mike. >> the very latest, a fresh round of rocket fire here in sderot, we are getting a unified message out of the israeli leadership, and that is there won't be a humanitarian pause or ceasefire until all the hostages are free. this as the combat intensifies in the gaza strip. the gaza strip is divide in two, israeli forces above watti gaza, and you have as you mentioned, gaza city itself surrounded. the activity that we get out of the israelis is they are taking out a lot of structures. when they take out the structures, sometimes they do it with explosives, sometimes the heavy equipment, like the hydraulic shovels or the d-nine bulldozers, and recovered everything from rockets to guns, and a number of bomb belts. 400 bomb belts and equipment, idf says they have recovered. they also get the entrances to tunnels during this stage of the combat. they find them underneath structures, they found one that was in a children's amusement park right next to the ferris wheel. usually what they do is blow up the entrance to the tunnel. we have the palestinian civilians trying to evacuate south, waving the white flag as they emerge from their houses to go south. 2,000 on sunday, 5,000 yesterday, the humanitarian corridors have will limited success, melt down into gunfire throughout the day. at 11:00 today, according to the idf, the humanitarian corridor failed for a while because of fresh gunfire. when the palestinians make it south the situation does not get better. camps the u.n. has is overwhelmed with more than a half million people seeking refuge, so they are forced to sleep wherever they can. >> john: one topic likely to come up at the briefing, biden administration agreeing to send $320 million worth of precision bomb guiding equipment to the israelis, could spark further uproar among those who have -- mike waltz, we are sending kits, the second big order of these kits to turn a dumb bomb into a smart bomb. at the same time, we have the administration calling for frequent pauses in the fighting. it's sending two very contradictory messages. which do you think is the real message the biden administration is pursuing? >> well, that's a great question, john, and you know, i think the entire world is getting mixed messages. one hand, sending precision guided kits, which everyone should want israel to be as precise as possible. some are called small diameter bombs, can literally take out just a room without any other collateral damage and i will point out, huge tremendous and legal difference between targeting, raping, torturing civilians and collateral damage as part of defending yourself and part of warfare. at the same time as you point out, when you have anthony blinken standing next to foreign ministers around the region talking about a ceasefire, not a pause, as if we don't know the difference, folks at home are getting mixed message, terrorists are getting a mixed message and could believe their propaganda is working. >> john: the state level, issued a dissent memo about this, and apparently they are encouraged for diversity of thought at the state department, but this said we must publicly criticize israel's violations of international norms such as failure to limit offensive operations to legitimate military targets. when israel supports settler violence and illegal land seizures and excessive use of force against palestinians, we must communicate this goes against our american values so israel does not act without impunity. mike pompeo had to say. >> rashida tlaib, they are taking out a terror threat that killed 1400 citizens. they have not only the right to do it but the obligation do it. >> john: you said a difference between collateral damage, best to be avoided whenever you can, and going out there and actually slaughtering people. so, what do you think about that state department memo? >> a lot of great and patriotic diplomats that i've served with, but there is a core at the headquarters in washington, d.c., i think pompeo is absolutely right, that have bought into this progressive left wing pro hamas propaganda and what they are not calling out to my sadness and shock is what you just reported on, which are tunnels underneath amusement parks, firing from within schools and what we should see right now is the president of the united states, what i would love to see out of this press briefing, speaking in a synagogue and calling out the rampant antisemitism that we are seeing around the country and the threats that are coming across our southern border. that's what we should be seeing from the commander in chief. >> john: congressman michael waltz, good to get your thoughts. thank you, appreciate it. >> thank you. >> sandra: john, the briefing is ongoing at the white house, john kirby has taken to the podium. he said just a few moments ago 100 americans have gotten out of gaza in the last 24 hours, 400 total, marking one month since the hamas attacks. let's go to kirby at the white house. >> overall security responsibility over gaza for indefinite period. the president said it would be a mistake for israel to reoccupy gaza. how much daylight between what israel and the u.s. see as the future of gaza? >> we are having active discussions about our israeli counterparts what post gaza ought to look like. reoccupation by israeli forces is not the right thing to do. let them speak to their intentions but we are definitely having conversations what the post conflict environment ought to look like and governance in gaza ought to look like. hamas cannot be part of that equation, can't go back to october 6th. >> senior u.s. official told us last week that the u.s. expectation is that in the coming days we should see a decrease in israel's air campaign and more of a tactical ground offensive. can you tell us a little bit more about what led to that assessment and have you seen that in the past few days? >> i can't speak to what an anonymous official said about israeli military operations. i'm not going to get into the habit of speaking of a tactical nature of their intentions, plans or activities from the podium. they have obviously gone in on the ground with the intention of putting pressure on hamas leadership and to find, fix and finish some of that leadership, i'll let them speak to those operations. >> and john, you said yesterday you would not want to overstate the efforts that israel is making to limit civilian casualties. that's a change from a week ago when you said it was obvious israel was trying to minimize casualties. can you just help us understand that shift in the language? >> no shift. both can be true. there are -- we have seen indications that in certain operational environments that they are making an effort. for instance, go back to the ground thing and i don't want to be armchair quarterbacking another military but moving on to and into gaza with smaller units than what a lot of people thought they would do. they thought it would be this big massive formation into north gaza and that's not what they have been doing and when you are on the ground, the risk to your troops is higher, you can be more discriminate, you can be more careful in your formations and your targeting and what you are going after than you can be from the air. but it's also true that airstrikes continue and it's also true that civilians keep dying from these airstrikes. >> is there any scenario where future aid to israel would be contingent on how they conduct themselves in terms of minimizing civilian casualties? >> we have been crystal clear since the beginning of the conflict that one of the things that separates us from hamas, actually did try and intend to kill innocent civilians, democracies like the u.s. and israel observe the law of armed conflict, resuspect civilian life and urge them to do that. >> hundreds of usaid employees signed on to a letter disagreeing with israel, dissent tables around the state department. why are so many federal government employees at odds with the policies that you are talking about? >> i think one of the great things about working at the state department and in other agencies is that multiple perspectives and multiple opinions are respected. and there's an avenue, like you said, dissent channel. i cannot speak to what is or is not in the channel, but having worked at the state department, it's a time honored and traditional way for employees to voice their concerns and i think that's a good thing. the president understands that there's strong emotions and feelings here all around, all across the board. and here inside the administration and the federal government, that's the case as well. and he appreciates the fact that people feel strongly and that there are multiple perspectives. and we are going to continue to listen to them, trevor, both inside and outside the government. we have been engaging with partners and organizations and experts and analysts and people with different perspectives to listen to their concerns, make sure we understand them as we develop policy. >> is the president frustrated at all with his inability to prevail upon his israeli counterpart to engage in these humanitarian pauses? >> there have been humanitarian pauses already. there's been some. i mean, one of the ways we are able to get the first few hostages out was a pause in the fighting and prime minister netanyahu, i believe in an interview last night, also talked about the fact he has approved certain pauses throughout the country. so there have been and we are going to continue to work with our israeli counterparts going forward to make sure that we can continue to do them. but the idea here is, you know, they are localized in terms of geography. they are limited in time and duration and they are usually for a specific purpose or purposes, getting stuff in, getting people out, and we have every expectation we will continue to have those conversations. >> just to follow up on what you just said about the prime minister's comment about the little pauses. so, does the u.s. see that as sort of a satisfactory response to the humanitarian responses president biden has been calling for? >> it's in keeping with the conversations we have been having with our israeli counterparts about the need for humanitarian pauses in the fighting. >> i wanted to ask -- in late october you had referred to the fact the administration is not drawing any red lines for israel as the death toll for civilians in the gaza strip has gone up. is that still the case the administration has no red lines? >> that is still the case. >> and loss, you have spoken about a two-state solution, and not so much to the immediate conflict but i wanted to understand coming in, have maintained a policy of recognizing israel's control over the golan heights, your predecessor made reversing u.s. policy for half a century. is that still the biden administration policy that you have -- that you believe israel has -- >> let me get back to you on that specific policy question. i don't want to freelance it from here. you said something at the beginning talking about a two-state solution -- what is going on underscores how important it is that we try to make progress toward a two-state solution. i will get you a better answer on golan heights. i would not just spit ball that. >> i have a lot of questions, so why not embrace the dissent voices call for a balance between private and public message and criticize israel when actually it is in violation of international humanitarian law. with due respect, john, some think people you repeat what the israeli army spokesman say, what you are repeating here. why not dissent the voicing, we are a democracy, what's wrong with them, what's wrong withstanding here and say israel do something wrong because you are the best friend, you have leverage on them, why not criticize them. >> the question presupposes we have made some determination the conflict is violations. >> you disagree with the u.n.? >> i would tell you we are not going to react in near realtime to every event. israel has a right and responsibility to defend itself and we are going to make sure they have the tools and capabilities to do that. again, we are one month after this. and we ought not forget what happened one month ago, 1400 people slaughtered in their homes and at a music festival and when hamas decided to conduct operations it was with the intent of killing people. you know, i heard this word genocide tossed around. hamas would like to see israel wiped off the map, they said so on purpose. that's what's at stake here and make sure israel has the ability to do that. we respect all different voices and perspectives and we know there's a lot of high emotion here when it comes to what's going on. we never shied away from criticizing our friends and partners when we believe it's warranted and we will continue to do that. we also believe the best diplomacy, the best progress and diplomatic pursuits is to do it privately, and outside the public eye and we will continue to do that as well. continue to have the tough conversations with our good friend. >> i don't think anybody forgot what happened on october 7th, but regardless. >> i'm not saying you did forget, i'm saying it's all good for us, we should not -- we should all be reminded and a month ago today. >> the president spoke about, but also violence by the israeli army. many palestinians shot dead in the west bank, 163 since october 7th. also massive arrests, 1,350 been arrested under what the israeli called administrative detention, they can arrest a person without a trial. does this concern you, convey to the israelis in the situation in gaza? >> yes. >> thanks, john. follow up on the question, didn't hear the answer about the potential suspension of aid. i know you have repeatedly said you talked to the israelis, the u.s. talks to them every day about minimizing civilian casualties. but do those talks include laying out any consequences if they do not, including a suspension of aid? >> i'm not going to get into private diplomatic conversations that we are having with our israeli counterparts. i will tell you this. we are going to continue to make sure they have the tools and the capabilities they need to defend themselves against what clearly was an existential threat to their society and their people. we are going to make sure they have what they need. also continue to urge them to be as careful and deliberate and discriminate in targeting as possible. >> jake sullivan, and others have said any time the u.s. transfers weapons to another country it requires assurances those weapons will be used within the in accordance of law. to be very clear, the u.s. -- >> that's different than what you are suggesting in your question, which is we are going to layer on more restrictions on the security assistance that they are getting and not what i'm alluding to or talking about. >> transfer of weapons that have already happened. just to be clear, the u.s. has not determined that israel has violated any of those boundaries. >> no. >> and one more point of clarification on what the prime minister said about playing a security role indefinitely in gaza. does the u.s. see distinction between that and reoccupation or is it one of the same? >> i'll let the prime minister speak to his comments and what he meant by indefinite. president biden has been very clear, we do not support a reoccupation by the israeli defense forces, but what post gaza looks like and governance looks like. what we agree on it can't look like, and can't look like it looked on october 6th. >> john, on the proxy attacks on u.s. troops, if we are now up to 40 since october 17th, with 46 service members being injured or reporting traumatic brain injuries. does the president think that the action that was taken a couple weeks ago to push back on this was enough? >> the president felt like those were two legitimate targets directly tied to the iranian revolutionary guard corps that supports these military groups. and they were ammo weapons facilities, certainly legitimate targets that we believe, not only had a practical effect on limiting some of their capability, but sent a strong signal of how seriously we are going to look after our troops and facilities if and when we decide to respond again in the future we'll do it at a time and a manner of our choosing. we will absolutely take the action we need to take, the president as commander in chief will order that action to protect our troops and facilities as he sees fit. >> has there been any additional warning from the president since the last time we responded that this needs to stop? because clearly the attacks on our troops didn't stop. >> i will not get into the decision-making process or options before the commander in chief. we will take the action we believe is appropriate to protect our troops and facilities. >> on the apparent disagreement between the u.s. and its ally, it is notable that we are seeing the u.s. more readily acknowledge some space between what we are advising and what israel is doing, like israel appears to be resisting the humanitarian pauses still. president, administration have been calling on that for a couple of weeks, saying that we don't support indefinite occupation, that was a state department briefing today after netanyahu said that israeli forces could be there for an indefinite period of time, and even the readout with the call from the prime minister, the white house readout used again the language of extremist settlers. this is somewhat notably different than the kinds of language we were hearing immediately after october 7th. can you characterize the closeness of the relationship right now? >> it is extremely close and we are as was transmitted by the president and the call with netanyahu yesterday we remain solidly behind israel as they try to eliminate the threat to their people and sovereignty and they will get security assistance from the united states. no daylight there whatsoever. now, look, we are friends and friends don't have to agree on every nuance and every single word, the prime minister speaks for a sovereign nation, and for a sovereign people, and he should obviously, you know, queerrid about the points he's making or backing off support what they are trying to do to protect their people. >> or netanyahu in particular, a point of discussion -- >> i'm not going to get into confirming that, those kind of press reports. i would just tell you, these are two men that have known each other a long time and i don't think it's any shock to anybody that on a political spectrum they are not always in the same place on every issue. one thing they do agree on, israel has a right to exist as a country and they have a right and a responsibility to defend that country and their citizens against a threat, the threat posed to them like on october 7th and in the united states they will continue to finds a true friend that will continue to support their ability to do that. >> ok. >> we know about the strikes in northeast syria a matter of weeks ago, to be very clear, have there been additional u.s. strikes against targets, iranian-backed proxies in iraq or syria beyond those. >> from the united states? >> no. >> there have not. to be clear, at least 17 attacks on bases that house americans since that last set of strikes. will you agree that those strikes did not deter these iran-backed proxies from continuing attacks on american bases. >> i would agree there have been con continued attacks. they have not been effective and thwarted before a direct challenge. and peter, we will make the decisions on our own about how, if we are going to respond. >> you agree there have been continued attacks, these 17, isn't that evidence alone, you agree that's evidence alone that it has not deterred them from continuing. >> it's certainly evidence some militia groups still believe there's value in continuing to try to strike at our troops and facilities and our message to them is you need to be careful because we are going to do what we have to do to protect our troops and our facility. >> the situation in gaza quickly. in ukraine, u.s. put restrictions how some munitions could not be used. no targeting in russia, for example. has the u.s. put restrictions on how they can use u.s. provided munitions in the war with hamas and gaza. >> in keeping with u.s. law, we provide security assistance to any foreign nation, including israel, with the expectation, the full expectation that those weapons will be used in keeping with the law of armed conflict. no different here for israel than for anybody else. and i want to go back to what i said before. the message of these groups is don't, and stop. these attacks are unacceptable. >> if i can ask to punctuate, to be clear, u.s., in the laws of war in the position of armed conflict. >> all security assistance is governed by the law and governed by requirement that it be used in keeping with -- >> acknowledging the wide belief and understanding hamas has built tunnels under a variety of different locations, including hospitals, is the u.s. comfortable in knowing that that israel would or continue to target hospitals in gaza? >> i won't speak to specific targets, peter. i think you can understand why i won't do that. it's not a military operation that we are running or leading. the israeli defense forces are conducting operations. >> making their own decision -- >> as i said before, when you are fighting in urban warfare, you have to make some tough choices about your targets. something could be a completely legal target but because the civilian casualty count is too high, maybe you make a policy decision not to do it. these are the tough decisions israeli commanders have to make themselves. >> john, the military installations that had the attacks, you talk about protections. what are the protections that you can tell us about seriously, i mean, because for the united states to have military base attacked and then military personnel injured, is there also a concern that these attacks can spread beyond syria and iraq and here and anywhere else in the world? >> there's no indication right now that there's specific threats to specific installations throughout the region. that said, we do have a sizeable force posture in the middle east beyond iraq and syria, and in light of what's been going on the last month, of course the defense department is taking a look at that posture and looking at force protection and making adjustments as necessary, depending on where you live in the region and what the threat level might be. so, i won't speak for our commanders and we never talk about force protection specifically. but we obviously make adjustments as needed and to your first question, again, without getting into too much tactical detail about how we attempt to thwart some of these attacks, there are capabilities that we have that permit us to eliminate threats further afield, further away from our bases and, you know, we employ those as appropriate. but that doesn't mean, and we have seen in just the recent weeks, that occasional attack could get through or land on a base. >> so that protection had to be stepped up. as you just said, there are some that have gotten through three weeks period over and over. >> it's process, april, constantly looking at the threat storms and adjust the protection measures to deal with it the best we can. obviously in a perfect world we would not want any attacks on the facilities. the next near perfect world, eliminate the threats before they are launched and if you can't do that, then as far away from your people as possible. it's called layered defense, air and missile defense, and the defense department is constantly evaluating what that looks like. >> last question on genocide, africa and the congo. what is the white house doing or national security or state doing about this genocide that's happening in the drc? >> i'm going to take your question, i don't have a lot of context for you on that today. i'll take the question and we'll get something back to you. but obviously we are in close touch with african partners across the continent and mindful of a range of these security threats and certainly don't want to see anybody subjected to genocide intentions or actions by any group. let me get back to you with more specifics. >> i have a russia question and then an east asia question. starting with russia, the u.s. and nato criticized russia for pulling out of the conventional arms treaty, and now the u.s. and nato are pulling out of of the cfp. how do you justify that, is it the intention of the u.s. and nato to use that space to expand the footprint of conventional arms, perhaps in ukraine or elsewhere on the european continent? >> i don't know how we cannot justify not pulling out of it given the russians have decided to just throw it in the trash heap. i mean, technically, not technically, they actually did violate it when they entered ukraine. it's disappointing. i wish i could say it was surprising but it's not and they left the you state and our nato allies with no choice but to cease our accommodations and compliance with the treaty as well. as for future force posture, i certainly won't talk about that from this podium. we'll do what we need to do to make sure we can meet our article 5 commitments to our nato allies and that could require force posture changes. >> east asia, can you update us and bring us up to speed on the biden-xi meeting, when it's happening, if it's happening, and when president biden meets, will he bring up the israel-hamas conflict and what context. >> no, no, and i don't know. >> john, the fact that the israeli prime minister is talking about what the security situation would look like in gaza right now, would that lead you to believe that this conflict is in the end stages in any way? >> again, that would really be up to the israelis to speak to. this is their operation, so i'm not able to give you a date certain when things are going to be complete. and prime minister netanyahu has talked about, you know, he foresees potentially lengthy operations here to rid themselves of the threat that hamas poses. but i think it just makes good sense, no matter how long you think this conflict is going to go on for people to be thinking about what post conflict gaza needs to look like. and it's a prudent responsible thing to do. >> the prime minister has also said definitively no ceasefire unless there is a return of all hostages. is that a reasonable position that he's taken? >> you'll have to talk to the prime minister. we are not going to characterize or armchair quarterback everything he's saying. we still believe a general ceasefire is not appropriate at this time and by general ceasefire, we are talking about everybody laying down their arms, you know, for an indefinite period of time in the anticipation of peace talks and negotiated settlement. we don't believe it's the right time for that. we do think it is the time to continue to pursue pauses in the fighting of a temporary nature for specific purposes. >> does the u.s. have a better sense of how many palestinians have died in gaza? >> we don't have an exact figure. we don't have the capacity or the capability to provide you an exact figure. we still don't believe that taking the ministry of health's numbers at face value is wise, but we can't provide you with an alternative number. we know it's in the many, many thousands. no question about that. there have been many thousands killed and each one is a tragedy, and we grieve and mourn for each one of them. and we want, again, to stress that no civilian should be hurt. these people are victims, too, of the fighting, certainly victims of hamas. >> the count of 10,000 people over the weekend, would you be confident in that estimation? >> again, i'm not going to get into providing some sort of independent verification of those numbers. we are not able to validate those numbers, but we are not -- not walking away from the idea that many, many thousands of innocent people in gaza, mostly palestinians, have been killed, injured, displaced, a million and a half displaced from their homes, and all of that tragedy weighs heavily on the president and all of us here. >> just one more question. my colleagues reported the president has been briefed on a possible military facility from china in oman. are you able to confirm that? >> i am not able to confirm the reports. prc was trying to expand influence overseas in various ways, and we have been working hard through diplomatic channels and diplomatic means to address the challenge of that influence that they are trying to expand. >> john, you said many, many thousands of civilians dead. do you have an estimation of the number of hamas fighters officials who have been killed? >> no. >> another one on the president's upcoming international trip, the president has said he intends to go to africa this year. is this still the plan? >> i don't have any updates on his travel schedule. >> i just want to circle around this, april and jacqui and peter kind of touched on it, but circling back to the issue, is containment working? large numbers of what, two aircraft carrier groups, nuclear submarine. it would be counter intuitive for some with us moving that in to think we have it contained. but the idea not letting it spread. do you feel confident that the u.s. military has done that well? >> we wouldn't associate ourselves with the word containment but what we have been trying to do is send a strong signal, brian, of deterrence to any other actor in the region, nation state or terrorist group now is not the time to deepen the conflict. that that there have been additional attacks on the troops, that there have been additional rocket launches from southern lebanon into northern israel doesn't necessarily mean that the war is widening and that these other actors have decided to go two feet in, all in, to help hamas out. we haven't seen that happen. now, why -- you have to talk to them about their decision-making process. but we do believe we have sent a strong signal about how seriously we take our national security interest in the region. you mentioned a couple carrier strike groups, ohio class submarine in the central class area of responsibility, we thought it was important to lay that out there, we have added air and missile defense capabilities to the region, fixed wing fighter aircraft to the region, i think the president has made it very clear how seriously he takes our interests. >> how would you categorize our diplomatic efforts in that region? >> secretary blinken just left, another whirlwind tour around the region, the second in almost as many weeks and you know, we are -- we have officials going in and out of the region all the time. we are very much focused on that and now a new ambassador to israel. >> you feel confident in the efforts put forward? >> confident in. >> efforts put forward with blinken and going forward. do you feel confident with what's gone on. >> we feel confident that we are doing everything we can to support our ally and partner and to make it clear that we are going to protect and defend our interests in the middle east. >> can you check out what metrics, or if the white house has metrics to determine what israel is accomplishing. you said you don't know, or you don't know or can't say how many hamas leaders have been killed, to what extent israel has destroyed military capabilities of hamas, what are the metrics? >> we can't independently identify the numbers of casualties, we are not on the ground. it's not like in iraq and afghanistan where we had the facility to measure the impact militarily against the outcomes we were trying to achieve. these are operations being conducted by a sovereign military, the israeli defense forces, and they and only they should be speaking to the outcomes, the results that they are having. we are not in the business of analyzing and measuring what they are doing in their operation. these are their operations. >> does the white house not have metrics? >> we are not -- we are not measuring, analyzing, independently assessing, these are israeli defense force operations. it's no, you know, i don't want to make too much of the comparison, we don't do it for ukraine either. we are not analyzing, assessing everything ukraine is going on the battlefield. we have a sense, yes, but let the ukrainian military speak for what they are doing. >> i just want to follow up, if the united states is not analyzing the impact on the ground, how can you be confident that the laws of war are not being broken? >> when i say analyzing, it's not like we have a powerpoint on what the israeli military is conducting. sense of how we are doing is with communications with them but i couldn't produce a set of sheets for you. >> confident in the number of civilians killed? >> we can't verify to a person how many have been killed. we know many, many thousands have been. >> how in the world would you know? assuming that what the israelis -- >> we have ways of collecting information, we can talk to humanitarian aid organizations that are on the ground, certainly we are talking to our israeli counterparts. it's not like we don't have an idea, but we don't have a number that i would feel comfortable giving you from this podium with some exactitude, of course we have an idea what's going on, now that more humanitarian aid is going in, we have the ability to talk to the aid organizations to get a sense of what they are seeing on the ground. >> and john, also today -- palestine is in lebanon and met with the former chief invited to the white house in 2020 for mediation for the americans detained in syria. are you seeking mediation from him on the hostage? >> i don't have -- i don't have much more detail about his agenda. he is in the region. he frequently travels to the region and we certainly look forward to hearing from him, what he's learning from his discussions. i would just tell you on the hostages, we are working on this every day, if not by the hour, to get certainly the american hostages out, but also to help get released everybody who is being held hostage by hamas, and that's something the whole team is working on. >> and to follow up on the question, when yesterday prime minister contradicted what secretary blinken said, he said you don't see hamas in gaza, you don't see israel ruling gaza. and public disagreement between secretary blinken and in jordan. and also iranian not deterred and attacking the u.s. troop. what's the -- does this concern you regarding the leverage of the united states in the region? >> people say things publicly they don't always say privately. i'll let foreign leaders speak for themselves and their countries. american leadership has been key here since the attacks of october 7th. american leadership, president biden's personal involvement has led to humanitarian aid getting in. it was president biden's leadership and this team's work here at the national security council and the white house to help get american hostages home as well as two israeli citizens and that is continuing to work t get our citizens out from rafah crossing, hopefully more today. we have been at the center of trying to make sure people in gaza are getting the aid they need and getting out those who need to get out and can get out, as well as making sure that israel has the capabilities it needs to defend itself. >> thank you. as we sit here hundreds of rockets are raining down on israeli cities and i'm wondering if you would know, is this all from the original stockpile or are rockets smuggled in somehow? >> i couldn't answer that question. i don't have the information and the context to answer that. >> you will look into it, right? >> i'll look into it. >> on rafah, you've said multiple times that family members of americans will be able to get out. could you kindly define family member, please? >> the state department is probably a better place to go whether there is a textbook definition for family members, but we know family members, spouses, children in particular, are able to get out. >> state department has been in contact with some people through congressional offices and understanding that my colleagues have from talking to those people who are trapped in gaza is that family member definition is being used very narrow, for instance, parents of u.s. citizens may only one person may accompany a u.s. citizen if they are under 21. if they are not a minor then this, not a minor, they can only go out with a spouse, not siblings, not parents. why such a narrow definition of family? >> i would have to refer you to the state department. they are the ones that are handling the list of people that are qualified to get out and making sure they are keeping them informed. >> on the iranian proxies, why isn't the president's message of don't getting through then? >> you have to talk to the proxies there. what i would tell you is that they continue to attack, american troops and facilities at their own peril, we will do what we need to do, the president will make decisions in his own terms and own way to better protecting the troops and facilities. they continue to do it at their own peril. >> do you see, does the president see the axis of evil, russia, iran and china. >> the president is not slapping bumper stickers on axis of evil. what he's concerned about is making sure we can protect and defend our national security interests around the world and that includes in the indo-pacific, and i don't want to -- karine will kill me if i stand up here and talk much longer. you and i could have an hour long discussion about the things this president has done to shore up alliances and partnerships all over the world to look after our security interest but we know russia presents a threat on the european continent, and china in the indo-pacific and around the world and we certainly are not blind to what iran is doing supporting putin's war in ukraine and supporting the terrorist groups throughout the middle east. >> thank you, admiral. appreciate it. >> that wasn't too long, was it? >> thank you. >> thanks, admiral, appreciate it. >> sandra: that's about 45 minutes, admiral kirby took questions there from reporters, and by the way, acknowledged off the top it's one month since the israel-gaza war began and hamas launched the surprise attack. trey yingst posting 32 days into the war, head alert after red alert of rocket attacks happening as the briefing was ongoing. interesting moments and questions about the u.s. response to the continued attacks on our own forces and our own bases in the middle east. you heard him say there to edward lawrence a few moments ago they continue to attack those iranian proxies attack at their own peril, although kirby, john, did confirm to one of the reporters there had been 17 attacks since the last round of strikes with no further u.s. response. >> john: i thought a couple of the interesting moments were the fact the administration continues to push the idea of frequent pauses that are targeted and localized in order to try to achieve designated objective, and then this idea of what comes next, because benjamin netanyahu said that israel is going to have to secure gaza, gallant, the defense minister said israel will not be in charge of defending it and the u.s. through kirby has reiterated it does not support a reoccupation of gaza in the way it was back in 2005 and earlier than that. so, that's a big question, and one that i want to put to someone joining us in a few minutes. police in southern california are not ruling out a hate crime after a 69-year-old jewish man died following an injury he suffered at a pro palestinian-pro israel rally. and indiana, a woman drove her car into what she thought was a jewish school, and we are talking with leo terrell in the moments ahead. but first, casey stegall with more on this attack in indiana. and what, casey, do we know about the investigation? >> john, we know the police have asked the fbi to help assist and the 34-year-old indiana woman has been preliminarily charged with criminal recklessness, backed her vehicle into what she thought was a jewish school on friday, because of signage, included a star of david. the building is used by an extreme sect of the black hebrew israelites, identified as a hate crime. the anti-def nation league says they are anti-israel and antisemitic. she said she had been watching coverage of the israel-hamas war on television and decided to plan attack on the building. court records show the woman openly and verbally admitted to committing the hate crime on her courtesy phone call from jail. the there were people inside the building at the time of the crash, but nobody was hurt. the indianapolis jewish community relations council releasing a statement which have reads in part, i'm quoting here, although a jewish facility was not targeted solely due to an ironic misidentification, this is yet another reminder to maintain security protocols, remain vigilant of suspicious activity and to report same promptly to the appropriate authorities. the suspect there scheduled to make her first court appearance in indiana tomorrow. >> john: troubling times we are living in. sandra. >> sandra: fox news contributor and former civil rights attorney, leo terrell. hard to hear that, troubled times we live in. your response to that. >> sandra, the situation in west lake and ohio, is that there is a lack of powerful administrative presence by the department of justice and by the fbi. you have a war on jewish americans in this country and joe biden is playing progressive left wing politics at the peril of jewish americans. there are hate crimes disproportionate to the number of jewish americans in this country. why? because there is not assertive action from the federal government to deter this, sandra, and that's why you have on the college campuses, why people are emboldened to attack jewish american citizens this. is outrageous, and the press conference you and i watched, where is the prosecutor, sandra, where is the district attorney, the u.s. attorney, where is the prosecution of these crimes taking place in this country? >> sandra: yeah, obviously we were all watching the county sheriff in ventura on the suspect that is now in custody, that they are not making public yet. but what exactly happened, they said, in their investigation is still unclear, what is clear is a 69-year-old jewish man died after he was injured during a confrontation at that pro palestinian, the duelling rally in thousand oaks, california. the county sheriff last hour. >> the information we are getting is conflicting with one another. there was clearly an interaction between the two. what the level of interaction is unclear. we have identified him as a suspect. as of right now, the only one we have information on that may have been involved in interaction with the victim. >> sandra: they are asking for witnesses to sends video, they need more video. they are not ruling out a hate crime but are investigating a homicide. they confirmed last hour. all of this is happening, leo, as we see this sharp rise in antisemitic attacks, since october 7th, up 388% according to the adl, antisemitic attacks are on the rise, that is a huge number, leo. >> it's massive, sandra. and i will submit to you, i've been a civil rights lawyer for 30 years. if it was any other group in this country, via race or religion, it would have been addressed by the president, by the department of justice, merrick garland, christopher wray. there are crickets when it comes to jewish americans. the press conference, we learned very little. didn't see the district attorney there, he was vague about what evidence was in his custody, control and possession. he says it's a possible hate crime but did not tell us the evidence. i'm telling you that the american response to this jewish hate in this country is anemic, it is poor and it's going to continue because those out there conducting this outrageous conduct is given a green light. >> sandra: hard to see, we'll see what comes as the investigation continues. warnings are happening all over the country right now, arizona as well, leo, thank you very much for joining us on all that. appreciate it. john. >> john: sandra, bring in lieutenant colonel, good to see you, last time was in person. a question for you right off the top here. what comes next was a big topic of conversation today. benjamin netanyahu said israel would oversee gaza's security indefinitely. gallant said no, we are not going to do that. the u.s. would not support a reoccupation of gaza by israel. what comes next? >> no reoccupation of gaza here, we don't have any interest to be back in gaza. we took out our, all our citizens from gaza in 2005. all the army, including the graves we evacuated from gaza. so we have no business in getting back there. the only thing we want to do is get rid of hamas. of course there is never a vacuum and new leadership will arise and we hope the leadership will come to its senses and create a future for the g gaza themselves, we are not intending to stay there forever. >> john: idf sader inside gaza city, what do the days and weeks ahead hold? >> we understand it's going to take time because we are now dealing with north in gaza strip. the area that was -- that we called the citizens to be evacuated from, even though not all of them left, as we understand from the citizens getting killed. p afterwards we will have to finds out what's going on in the south and to make sure that no hamas fled from the north to the south as well. i listened to the press conference in the white house and a few questions not asked. nobody asked how many rockets launched from gaza to israel, how many israelis are intimidated by the rockets every day, and this is more than 20 years now. how many millions are suffering from hamas, not only israelis, but also gaza. why are there so many casualties in gaza, maybe it's hamas itself. how come they don't have shelters even though there are tons of tunnels there, and so many more questions that unfortunately were not asked in the press conference, so important to understand what is truly happening there. >> john: the idea of civilian casualties in gaza definitely was a big topic of conversation but if israel were to stop hamas would likely reconstitute and then present the same existential threat it has in the past. one last quick question if i could, for you. with all of this international pressure for a ceasefire, it would seem to me the idf has to how do you do that without inviting international condemnation for going after what typically would be a protected structure? >> i don't understand what ceasefire. we have 240 hostages in gaza. do they get humanitarian aid, did the red cross visit them yet? so, after something will happen with these 240 israeli citizens in gaza, maybe then we can discuss a ceasefire. until then, there is no option for a ceasefire nor humanitarian pause. they don't know the difference under the hamas death threat every day. >> john: and the issue quickly of the hospital. how do you go after hamas headquarters without inviting international condemnation for targeting a hospital? >> we do whatever we can. i think, and again, hamas is the one putting the hospital at risk, not the israelis. but we'll have to deal with that. we'll have to did it in a very surgical way. by the way, i don't know if you follow what the idf is doing in gaza, you will understand eventually this is going step-by-step and much slower than anybody could anticipate from any other army in the world in any other campaign held in the past 15 years. >> john: good to catch up with you again. thank you for joining us. appreciate it. tough going in the hours, days, weeks, maybe even months ahead. >> sandra: john, another breaking two hours. thanks for everybody for joining us. john, great to be with you. i'm sandra smith. >> john: i'm john roberts. >> martha: continuing coverage right now. i'm martha maccallum. we just got new reaction. it