>> if you want peace, destroy hamas. if you want security, destroy hamas. if you want a future for israel, the palestinians, the middle east, destroy hamas. >> hamas is using hospitals as it uses many other civilian facilities for command and control. united states does not want to see fire fights in hospitals. >> john: begin with israeli forces making significant gains in northern gaza, closing in on what they say is hamas's key command center beneath gaza's largest hospital. we are awaiting a pair of briefings from the white house and state department on update on where things stand right now. hello, well come to this monday. welcome back to you. >> gillian: gillian turner in for sandra today. this is "america reports". while the fighting rages on in gaza, the u.s. is striking back at proxy groups in syria. on sunday, they hit two facilities, killing at least six fighters. >> john: did not take long for the proxy groups to respond, the total attacks are 52 in less than a month. we will ask john kirby about all of this just moments from now. >> gillian: fox team coverage across the region with breaking news over the next two hours. >> john: trey yingst is live on the ground in southern israel with the latest from there. trey. >> hey, john, good afternoon. renewed rocket fire into southern israel, the first we have seen in a while. sirens sounding here, sending thousands to bomb shelters and remarkable 38 days into the conflict, israelis are still facing rocket fire from gaza and as we speak, my producer handed me her phone, sirens sounding in the city of tel aviv, israel's second largest city. an indication that hamas and islamic jihad still have long range rockets they are using against major population centers across this country. i do want to get to the situation on the ground inside gaza. israeli forces fighting block by block and street by street, ramping up airstrikes against the second largest city, took out two hamas commanders on a long target list for the israelis as they work deeper into gaza. also some new video from the military showing hamas fighters using an rpg next to the hospital in northern gaza. israelis releasing the video, and if you want to cut out we have some rocket fire right now, cameraman will pan up here, and he's just going to look at that, everyone be ready to move in a second. you'll see the flash in a sky, that's israel, and stay on the camera here, guys, you'll see iron dome interception rounds there and the flash in the sky, another one coming up here. this is israel's missile defense system and it is active. saw four interceptions, and another one off the southern part of israel, follow it through the sky so you can see it. gives you a sense how active the scene is on the southern front. 38 days into the confront, you still have rocket fire coming from the gaza strip and the israelis is an i they have destroyed more than half the rocket arsenal or half has been used. but the key here is that, and just stay with me one second, make sure we can see where this rocket, these rockets are landing. again, john, continuous fire off the northern part of the strip, indication that hamas has maintained the ability to fire on israel despite the thousands of strikes against the strip. >> john: the idf pretty much has gaza city surrounded, moving in on hamas headquarters and yet hamas is able to fire off the rockets. what is the idf missing? >> it's remarkable. we have covered many wars between israel and gaza, whether it was 2014, the 11-day war in 2021, even a conflict earlier this year between the two sides. and traditionally the israelis will use their air force and drones over gaza to immediately target the position where rockets were being fired from. the issue they are facing today is that there are so many rocket launching positions across the strip that rockets are even being fired from areas that are currently under israeli control. you might ask, how. the answer is timers. they have rockets set up on timers, and set the rockets in a past and can remotely activate them and fire on major population centers. even if there are not militants in the area they can fire on israel. at this point in war, less rocket fire, it is spo ra -- sporadic. it's still an indication that hamas is not giving up their end of the fight as they engage the israelis in firefights in the northern part of gaza. we have to think about the battlefield and the map of the gaza strip. right now, the israelis have focused efforts on the ground, saw firsthand the battles on the ground but have not yet entered the second largest city in gaza, or rafah, locations not only find more rocket launching positions but hamas leadership. an understanding on the ground despite the growing international pressure the situation is just beginning and not just here in the south the israelis have to work through gaza to complete their objective of destroying hamas and searching for those 239 hostages. it's the northern front. you have seen the images from the front. hezbollah, the lebanese militant group is ramping up attacks on israel, climbing an escalation ladder. sounds in the distance renewed airstrikes against the northern part of the strip but the northern part is the concern for the israelis. you don't have warships for hamas, it's for hezbollah and the concern in the north. >> john: trey, thank you. >> gillian: the u.s. is launching a third round of airstrikes in syria, retaliation for the attacks on u.s. troops in iraq and syria. jennifer griffin joins us from the pentagon. what's different about this strike? >> well, gillian, what's different is they actually killed iranian proxy fighters in these airstrikes over the weekend. u.s. airplanes targeted two locations in eastern syria, training and weapons storage facility, and a headquarters, both used by iran's islamic revolutionary guard corps and forces. 6 to 7 fighters were killed at the headquarters, the training facility was also a logistics and weapons storage facility, based on the hours of secondary explosions following the strikes. this is the third round of the airstrikes the u.s. has conducted in syria and the first time they have killed iranian proxies. this one will hurt them more than the past strikes, a senior u.s. defense official told me. >> intended to disrupt and degrade the freedom of action and capabilities of the groups, which are directly responsible for attacks on u.s. forces in iraq and syria. >> the defense department released the names of the five army special operations aviators with the 160th special operations aviation regiment. these seasoned forces were killed while flying an mh-60 blackhawk helicopter refueling during a nighttime training mission when it crashed off the coast of cyprus friday night. one, a bronze star recipient, staff sergeant tanner grown, 26, enlisted after high school, and joined in 2018 and deployed multiple times, served as a flight instructor and screw crew chief. shane barnes, 34, sacramento, california, received flying cross of volar. cade wolfe, 24, from mankato, minnesota, and sergeant andrew southard, 27, apache junction, arizona, enlisted after high school and joined the 160th this year. iranian proxies fired on u.s. forces four separate times overnight following those u.s. airstrikes, including 17 rockets at one u.s. base in eastern syria, indicating the proxies were angry at the loss of weapons at their training facility. there were no u.s. injuries. gillian. >> gillian: jennifer griffin at the pentagon, thank you. john. >> john: retired rear admiral john kirby serves as the coordinator for strategic communications, glad to have have you back on the program. 17 missiles, six strikes, general jack keane said it's a significant escalation on the part of the united states but still in his idea not nearly enough. here is what he said. >> it's not comprehensive enough just dealing with the proxies themselves. go after the leaders, the fighters, rockets, missiles, drones, infrastructure, do it all at once in one night, that's well within u.s. strike capability. no risk to a single pilot in doing that. that i think may get their attention. >> john: so john, why isn't president biden doing that? >> first before i answer that question, john, i do want to pass on our deepest thoughts and condolences to five families who are now dealing with the worst possible news of their loved ones who were killed in that helicopter crash training and trying to perfect their skills on behalf of the nation. we are all thinking about them and their loved ones. to the question about general keane said, i'll tell you, we are going to respond and react in a time and manner of our choosing and go after targets we believe will have an opportunity to degrade the irgc ability to resource and fund and provide material to these groups and those targets that we hit over the weekend do exactly that. training facility, headquarters facility, we know in one of them, they were actually using it to store weapons. we could tell by the secondary explosions and the same for the first strike a week or so ago on an ammo deeper. we don't seek conflict with iran or escalate anything. we are looking to protect our troops in iraq and syria and will continue to do that. >> john: i understand the strategy, but with all respect it's not making a difference. look at what reagan did in the 1980s in operation noble archer, he took out training camps in iran, took out a couple of oil platforms as well. donald trump eliminated soleimani after a single american was killed. there was retaliation by iran but trump knew it would be limited. and iran backed down. the nation is wondering what is president biden waiting for? waiting for americans to be killed until he takes substantive action to give iran pause. >> we are not waiting for anything, john. as you saw over the weekend, we are willing and able to take retaliatory strikes and will continue to do that. these groups and the irgc, supreme leader, they have a choice to make. we are not looking to escalate. but if they continue to attack our troops and put their lives in danger, we will do what we have to do to protect that. nobody is looking for a conflict here, nobody is looking for a war with iran. but we have a viable mission to go after isis and make sure we have the means to do that, we will do what we have to do to protect them. i would note the flurry of attacks occurred just in the wake of the strikes we took over the weekend were ineffective, no injuries, no significant damage and most of them were intercepted and brought down before they even reached the actual facilities. >> john: i understand the united states is worried about escalation in the region. but it seems the only nation interested in escalation is iran. saudi arabia is not interested, united arab emirates are not interested, bahrain is not interesting, jordan, egypt, qatar, none of them are interested in escalation. in fact, i'm told that saudi arabia is waiting for hamas to be destroyed and then it's going to get back into negotiations with israel to extend the abraham accords. if iran is the only nation in the region looking to escalate this, why not slap them back really hard so they don't even think about it? >> well, again, john, i'm not going to get into hypothetical decisions not made or telegraph punches. we'll do what we have to do to protect our troops and facilities in iraq and syria and look after our national security in the region. a second carrier strike group, one in the middle east and the eastern mediterranean and air and defense systems in the region. we have added to that capability. the message is clear to iran or any other actor, hezbollah, hamas, anybody else that wants to escalate, the united states takes it seriously and make sure we have of fire power to back it up. >> john: the growing protests against israel, a protest outside the president's house in delaware yesterday. the president has not spoken out specifically and forcefully against the rise of antisemitism in this country. now i know that he has got two very disparate constituents, jewish americans and arab americans and many see 1938 and what's happening in this country and around the world and saying why isn't the president doing a speech about antisemitism here in america? >> well, i would respectfully disagree he has not spoken out. he has been clear and consistent about the rise of hate around the world and this country, particularly antisemitism, the first national strategy to counter antisemitism at the white house and now the first national strategy for islamophobia, he's been very, very clear about the rise of hate and how it's unacceptable and we have to rise to a better level here in the united states. after the attack on october 7th, making sure we were coordinating with local and state officials from the federal level to identify and disrupt any violent threats, particularly in that case to the jewish community around the country. so, we are watching this very, very closely and something the president takes extremely seriously. >> john: but yet it's on the rise. regardless of what the president is doing, it's not having a tremendous amount of effect around the country. >> it's on the rise around the world, and i'm not making excuses, it's abhorrent. we have to do better and be better. we have to look after one another and remember the jewish community feels a particular threat. i was talking to a young student at columbia university over the weekend and his stories of the kind of hate and kind of self-protection measures he has to take to get from point a on campus to point b. it's reprehensible. i don't disagree we have to do more, we know that, and the president is focused on that very, very seriously. >> one last question for you. you have warned on behalf of the president the united states would not support a reoccupation of gaza by israel. speaking yesterday on "meet the press" benjamin netanyahu seemed to indicate in the short-term israel does not have much choice but to do it. listen to what he said. >> we need a different authority. we need a different administration. we'll work to have a demilitarized -- living under 16 years of rule of hamas, liberate them and liberate ourselves. >> john: do you agree that israel can't just defeat hamas and vacate gaza, the ensuing power vacuum to make it worse than prior to october 7th and how long of an israeli occupation would the president be willing to support? >> we certainly agree with the prime minister, john, that we can't go back to october 6th. you can't go back to governance in gaza under the hamas. it can't be the case. they represent a real existential threat to the israeli people and we understand that that can't go forward. and we agree with them 100% on that. we don't believe a military reoccupation of gaza is in israel's best interest and we'll say that. privately, publicly, don't believe it's the right answer, not the right answer for the people of gaza. now, what is the right answer, that's what we are asking ourselves and talking to our israeli counterparts about. what sort of governance long-term needs to be in place in gaza so the palestinian people can live there in piece and security and we are going to work our way through that. >> john: what about in the short-term? would the president be willing to accept a short-term occupation by israeli forces for security purposes until gaza is stabilized? >> look, again, i don't want to get ahead of the president here. we have made it clear we don't believe that a reoccupation of gaza is the right thing to do for anybody. now, look, obviously immediate aftermath of conflict, you heard secretary blinken talk about a transitional period where israeli defense forces are going to want to be on the ground in the immediate post conflict time frame but that's different than setting up a military occupation and governing through the idf and we don't support that, don't think it's in the israeli people's best interest. >> john: one quick last question. you said a moment ago that hamas cannot be left to control gaza. in order to get hamas out of power, the idf has to go where it lives. under al-shifa hospital. is this president willing to stand fully behind israel if it goes after the hospital? >> we continue to stand behind the israeli defense forces as they prosecute the operations against hamas terrorists, john, making sure they have the tools and capabilities they need to eliminate the threat to their own security and sovereignty. and added burden on israel, the way hamas is fighting, headquarters and schools and digging tunnels under residential buildings and apartments. they don't abide by any law of war, and it's an added burden israel has. and how to balance the burden and do everything they can to minimize civilian casualties, particularly when we are talking about a hospital, pediatric unit and young babies, premature, have no voice, no stake in this, and just want to survive. so, we are going to keep working with them about how to do this in a way that again, goes after the leadership but also protects civilian life to the maximum extent possible. >> john: john, you are on this program frequently but typically from behind the podium. good to have you on to chat with you. appreciate you coming on. >> any time, john. >> john: that is really the gordian knot, how does israel get rid of hamas, buried under a hospital without affecting what goes on to the degree the international community would rise up in horror. >> gillian: americans and foreigners are asking why doesn't israel just, you know, pump the brakes here. humanitarian pauses, ceasefires, if they really care about the lives of the babies in incubators john just mentioned, give us all a break. not many people are asking why doesn't hamas release the american hostages and foreign hostages that are being held. that would be the easiest and quickest resolution to the ongoing conflict. >> john: it certainly would be. but of course, hamas knows if they release the hostages they have no bargaining chips left and the israeli defense minister, as the mossad did after 1976 munich olympics, kidnapping and murder incident, has vowed to go after everybody that was involved in october 7th. so if you are -- you know that they are going to be gunning for you at some point. why do you give up your last bargaining chip without some assurances. 's very complicated. >> gillian: it is very complicated. simple straightforward conclusions do not necessarily lay with israel. >> john: hamas has responsibility also. >> gillian: this in the nation's capital, investigation underway after secret service agents protecting the president's granddaughter opened fire on a group of carjackers. alexandria hoff joins us. three suspects they are looking at now. what can you tell us about these people? >> all we know, they are still on the run, apparently none of them injured by the shot fired. incident happened before midnight in d.c.'s georgetown neighborhood, not isolated from the crime crisis, particularly when it comes to cars targeted. a parked and unoccupied vehicle belonging to secret service agents who were offering protection to naomi biden. she is the eldest daughter of hunter biden. agents encountered possibly three individuals breaking the government vehicles window, offered this quote, during the encounter a federal agencies discharged a service weapon and it's believed no one was struck. offenders fled the vehicle. we do not know what the ultimate intention of the suspect's were, but follows a disturbing pattern, according to d.c. metro police data, this year, more than 6700 theft from auto offenses. looking at the more plaguing crime, 863 carjackings so far, and guns were used 74% of the time. and just this morning, gillian, learning a federal government vehicle was stolen in an armed carja