house. we have a lot of seats, we are is an excited. be with me for the live show. in addition to joining the focus audience, the opportunity to celebrate american heroes, your favorite fox personalities and so much more. you see the website on the screen right now. get your tickets today. i can't wait to see you, meet you, a prayer circle, we'll hang out. go u.s.a.. all right. >> what an amazing venue. >> so gorgeous there. >> it's amazing. >> since you've been there, you know theater. it's the old "hee haw" theater. >> it's amazing. >> thank you for those tips. awaiting today's press briefing. the state department just set minutes from now and you can watch "america reports" for that.

[gunfire and blasts] >> hopefully it goes up, but our canadian embassy did not contact due to the bad network services. we have a little hope to leave and save our lives. >> john: any moment now, the state department will provide an update on israel's war with hamas as a crucial border crossing opens for evacuations from gaza, and president biden posting on x moments ago, he expects americans will be among the people getting out. hello, john roberts in washington. sandra, good to be back. >> sandra: i'm sandra smith in new york. a lot should be developing in the next couple of hours as we see dozens of foreign nationals, many of them badly injured

lining up at the rafah crossing between gaza and egypt, desperate to flee the fighting that has gotten more intense since israeli troops began moving in last week. >> john: the first batch of evacuations came after qatar officials secured a deal to allow people to get to safety. it is unclear when americans will be allowed to leave and how long that crossing gate will be open. >> sandra: fox team coverage to kick things off over the next couple hours and the breaking news from the war in the middle east. begin with trey yingst live on the ground in southern israel. we have an update from the idf on how many troops have been killed in gaza. what can you tell us? >> yeah, sandra, good afternoon. we have just returned from the front line, the border between israel and gaza, and the israelis tonight updating us that 16 of their soldiers were killed over the past two days

during gun battles with hamas militants. we could hear some of the fire along the border, and small arms and also the israelis using attack helicopters and air support to try to push those infantry troops deeper into the gaza strip. the israelis have released some new video of their forces operating inside gaza, you can already see the street to street battle, block to block fight, incredibly difficult and expected to take months. we talked about the air support. israelis targeted the jabalia refugee camp in the northern part of the gaza strip. they say they killed the batallion commander for hamas in the northern part of gaza. a significant target for the israelis but they are facing new questions about the civilian casualties in that strike as they gather more information about exactly how many people died. now, amid these tragic updates on both sides of the border, we want to take you to the rafah

crossings, border between egypt and gaza, good news to report. after weeks of negotiations, qataris were able to cut a deal between hamas, israel and egypt, allow 335 foreign nationals to leave, along with 76 injured palestinians who are in desperate need of m ed kal attention. we do expect those numbers to rise in the coming days as the crossing is expected to remain open. sandra. >> sandra: what can you tell us about the americans trying to get out? >> we know there are hundreds of american citizens trying to get out. we do expect to get some more specific numbers from the state department momentarily. but should note, not all americans were able to make it out of the gaza strip and we know that, we are talking with u.s. citizens inside gaza. i spoke with one woman, her son was on the list to leave because he has a jordanian passport also, this is a family from utah, they have been trapped inside gaza since the massacre

in southern israel on october 7th. sandra. >> sandra: trey, thank you. john. >> difficult time for folks there. fbi director christopher wray with the stark warning, attacks could inspire the most significant terror threat to the united states since the rise of isis. what police departments should be doing to stay vigilant. david, the fbi director was asked if threats are elevated more since president biden took office. what did he say? >> john, he said yes, the threat level is elevated since president biden took office in january 2021. but fbi director wray who does not mince words added a caveat that law enforcement is more ready now than three years ago. >> we also cannot and do not discount the possibility that hamas or another foreign

terrorist organization may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here on our own soil. >> he also made news by saying multiple investigations into people here in the united states with connections to hamas. some cases direct ties, john, and other cases indirect ties. people that may be inspired by hamas. here is wray on october 18th, a few weeks ago, during an interview about lone wolfs. >> we are particularly vigilant to the possibility that lone actors here in the united states could in some way out of inspiration misguided inspiration they draw from the conflict in the middle east. >> regarding a rise in anti-semitism, he told senators the jewish community is uniquely targeted by terrorist organizations across the spectrum. >> when you look at a group that makes up 2.4% roughly of the

american population, it should be jarring to everyone that accounts for something like 60% of all religious-based hate crimes. and so they need our help. >> john, i've covered the direct for several words, he chooses his words incredibly carefully and a difference a few weeks ago in california to what he's saying now. he has a lot of intelligence before him and clearly his rhetoric has elevated over the past few weeks. >> john: he pretty much gets to see it all. sandra. >> sandra: moments away from the state department briefing on the ongoing conflict in the middle east. antony blinken putting the focus on the 240 hostages trapped in gaza. the department is under fire over a foreign service officer who publicly called jewish people the enemy. rich edson has the latest for

us. what did the staffer say? >> a lot, sandra. fritz bergren a very active blogger, anti-semitic blocks, calling jews a threat to christian nations and foreign service officer at state. the department has known about the posts like this for years. just this um isser, senator chuck grassley sent the state department a letter asking if bergren still work there and if so, what he does for state. grassley got no response. this week he wrote blinken again. >> i have simply asked the state department some questions from the standpoint of the moral leadership of the united states around the world. do we want somebody anti-semitic working for us, and if there is a justification for it, i am an asking for that. >> bergren posted it's tough to stay employed when a u.s.

senator demands one's termination. they say it's discriminatory. >> the secretary has spoken to this publicly, special envoy has spoken about this on a number of occasions and will continue to work to root it out around the world as we try to root it out here at home, but i unfortunately, because of privacy reasons and federal statutes cannot speak to an individual employees' case. >> in a senate hearing yesterday, mayorkas, several republicans are demanding a dhs employee be fired. a citizenship and immigration officer, they say she posted anti-semitic rhetoric on several social media pages immediately following the october 7th terrorist attacks on israel. the department says she is on administrative leave. sandra. >> sandra: rich, thank you. john. >> john: the state department will likely face plenty of

questions what's being done to rescue the hundreds held hostage in gaza. u.s. and israel have been relying on qatari officials. the spokesperson for benjamin netanyahu, tal, good to catch up with you. israeli security apparatus says it will kill any hamas member that has anything to do with october 7th. but if hamas leaders think they are done for, very little for them to release the hostages. and adam boehler brought thup yest -- brought this up yesterday, would there be a way for them to survive in exchange for exile in exchange for hostages. >> john, appreciate your question but for obvious reasons i'm not going to further expand

about any strategy about how to deal with the hostage situation that obviously is making things for us right now very complex on the ground as we operate in gaza with the goal of dismantling and eliminating the hamas regime. governor's bodies and military wing but our top priority is bring back our sons and daughters. so we are seeing international pressure is working on hamas. why we call on the nations of the civilized world, back us up in this demand that hamas would release them unconditionally and equivocally. and also see the red cross examine these hostages, get some access to them. some families 240 families here in israel have no clue about the condition in which their loved ones are being held captive in gaza for 25 days. so, we want to see this happening. i can tell you that our expanded ground operation right now in gaza is working in these two

dimensions, towards two end goals we have defined for this war that we did not want and did not start. >> but even as the ground operation began on friday night, the mossad director was in qatar speaking with officials there about the hostage situation. qatar was involved in the release of the very first two hostages. the american ones. what role does israel think qatar could play here in getting more of the hostages out? >> i cannot divulge much information in that respect and i'm sure you understand why, for very, very obvious reasons here. but i can tell you that we are working with our international partners, including with our best friend, the united states, to bring to the release of the hostages and everything that we are doing right now on the diplomatic arena and on the military level on the ground is focused on that end as well as to dismantle hamas. >> john: i wanted to ask you about the jabalia neighborhood,

i understand was struck again today. israel insists it's going after legitimate military targets but hamas is telling the world civilians are perishing by the dozens. we know hamas likes to keep civilians in harm's way, encouraged them not to leave northern gaza for the safe zone in southern gaza, and they have prevented them from doing so. scenes like this unfold, international pressure builds on israel. to tone things down or maybe even go for a full ceasefire. my question, tal, is what more, if anything, can israel do with circumstances like this to limit civilian casualties? >> i can assure you that israel is doing everything possible. we are acting in a very surgical way in gaza to minimize civilian casualties and as you said, john, it is the interest of hamas to maximize civilian casualties. this is exactly what they want. for two reasons. well, because it puts the

pressure on israel, and it serves their military machine. you see when international players, international media outlets or the community, united nations, when they put pressure on israel, because of the very sick murderous hamas methods of using palestinian civilians as human shields, it achieves their goal. they are playing right into the strategy of hamas. so, what we need to do as the nations of the civilized world is sending exactly the opposite message. unequivocal message that terrorism is a dead end and it will not be accepted. putting the pressure on israel amplifies hamas. they will do it again and again and again, and in different arenas with the foreign nationals and the hostages, we see that international pressure against hamas is in fact working. so it is important that we keep, ratchet up the international pressure on hamas because it is working. we are doing it militarily and we need it to be a diplomatic pressure as well. i'm asking, where are the

protests against hamas, where are they? where is the vast media coverage of who hamas are. true nature. their history. all of that. where is the international pressure on iran that funds hamas. this is what we need to see if we want to help israeli and palestinian civilians. >> john: tal, if israel hopes to cut off the head of the snake, if you will, of hamas, one target is very problematic for you, that's the al-shifa hospital. idf spokesman has gone to great lengths to say this is where hamas has its headquarters, we are looking at some animation the idf provided showing what the labyrinth looks like. a possible predicate to go after the hospital but if you do you know what the international reaction would be. how do you cut off the head of the snake without bringing

condemnation on israel for attacking the hospital? >> that is something our military leadership and our government is working on right now, and we are not saying that we are going to strike the hospital, operate will or not do so. the reason we put out the images, the detailed presentation that you played here before of the idf spokesperson unit is because we wanted to show the world the cynical use of civilian hospitals, like civilian instructors, like hospitals, youth center, schools, as human shields for hamas bunkers and tunnels. >> john: tal heinrich, always good to catch up with you and get the latest from the pmo. appreciate it, see you soon. sandra. >> sandra: emotional scene right here in new york city. a group of new yorkers blocking a man from tearing down posters of jewish children being held captive by hamas terrorists. watch this.

>> don't [bleep] touch me. no, don't [bleep] me. no, don't touch me. i don't give a [bleep]. you are a scum bag. >> you know the reason he's doing it. shut your [bleep] -- >> he wasn't doing anything. >> yes he was, he was ripping the [bleep] signs down. >> sandra: police say the man was arrested at the scene and is now facing several charges. john, i saw a bunch of these -- the pictures of the kidnapped children this morning on my way in. they are up in many places in new york city. but there's two things in this viral video that people are saying the most. one, how appalling it is the man would want to take down pictures of kidnapped children. and two, a moment you go this is what makes americans, new yorkers great, they banded together and stood up to that man, and what is making it go so

viral right now. >> john: you notice he has sag over his face so you cannot see who he is. i was at the original wall of the missing outside the defense ministry in tel aviv and reminded me of the wall of the missing of downtown new york at ground 0 after 9/11, and for a supporter, i don't want to say a supporter of hamas, maybe this guy is not a supporter of hamas, but somebody to come along and take down those photos, would be akin to somebody who has sympathy for al-qaeda to take down the photos of the missing after 9/11. it doesn't make sense in a civilized world. >> sandra: heartbreaking to see, that is for sure, john. >> are we safer than when joe biden took office, the day he took office? >> what i would say to you, the terror threats have elevated.

>> john: what did the thought bubble above his head say? the fbi director slow to respond when asking if the biden administration is keeping americans safe and if the threat has only increased since war broke out in the middle east. paul mauro tells us how city departments ought to respond coming up next. >> sandra: a cornell university student due in court a short time from now after allegedly making a massive threat to his jewish peers. we are live on campus with reaction coming up. >> it's not a matter of, you know, if there's going to be a future attack against jewish students on a campus, it is a matter of when. homeowner, and the family bookkeeper, you're the first to know when high rate debt is stressing your budget. but your family's service has earned you a big advantage. the va home loan benefit. with the lower rate newday 100 va cash out loan, you can pay off high rate credit cards and car loans. and can save $6,000 a year. that's real money you can use to

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group's intricate network of tunnels. hamas has been digging and lining them with concrete for more than a decade now, and it's said there is about 300 miles of underground pathways. jennifer griffin joins me now. they refer to it as the metro under gaza. >> they do that tongue in cheek, of course. but right now, john, the biggest challenge for the israeli ground troops are the 300 miles of underground tunnels, home to the hamas hunter killer teams, if you will, as you mentioned, referred to as the hamas metro. deepest tunnel found by the idf in gaza is 230 feet deep, they found it two years ago, out of reach of the traditional gbu28 or bunker buster bombs in the israeli arsenal, which can penetrate 100 feet underground and 20 feet of concrete. israel attempted to destroy the tunnels in 2008, 2014, and in

2021, the idf destroyed 60 miles of tunnels under gaza. retired major john spencer is an expert in that warfare, he spent two tours with the u.s. army fighting with iraq. >> you can only get one person down the tunnel at a time, psychologically can lead soldiers to feel claustrophobic, vertigo, sense of up and down, sense of time. >> most are three feet wide and six feet high. israeli defense forces have specialized units that trained to fight in the tunnels, units like combat engineering core, a k-9 unit, and other units that train using robots, drones and special weapons. >> drones that bounce off walls, remote control cars, dogs that can go underground, sniff bombs, like booby traps.

>> gps and night vision do not work in the tunnels. >> most night vision goggles rely on ambient light, but most standard night capability does not work underground where there is 0 light. >> egypt has been known to fill the tunnels near its border with sea water and sewage. and a sponge bomb, pull the tab and throw it down a sewer entrance to the tunnels, a foam forms that seals it temporarily. the biggest problem is the hostages, they are essentially human shields and so as israel moves in and tries to deal with the tunnels, they are going to have to keep that in mind. >> john: i read about the sponge bombs, like a huge can of insulating foam from home depot, seals up the tunnel. >> two chemicals, in a plastic

garbage bag, the chemicals come together and seals it temporarily. >> john: fascinating what they are learning to deal with but tough going when they get there. jen, great to see you on set. thank you. >> do you believe, is the united states safer from foreign terror threats today, safer than when joe biden took office, from the day he took office? >> what i would say to you is the terror threats have elevated. but i also think there are a lot of things the country has done throughout law enforcement to be better prepared to deal with them. >> sandra: by our count, a 5 or 6 second pause from the fbi director christopher wray, marking an unsettling moment.

wray warned the threats are a whole other level. let's bring in paul mauro. that was concerning, paul. what did you think of that? >> he has to thread the needle there, he wanted to say things are not great but the same time, they asked him about the biden administration, ultimately that's his boss. so, we should be concerned because i'm sure they are scrambling, traditionally, hamas has not been a threat on the homeland in terms of terrorism operation, they want to destroy israel, period, end of story. we are in a new era. taking a page out of the isis playbook, and not just about the brutality administered to the israeli civilians during that attack. they are putting out propaganda videos, they have an app that they just released, what they are trying to do is go global. or bring their cause global and the target for them, the environment for them has never been softer.

especially in america. the border and our campuses. when i was doing this work, and did it for 15 years, making all these cases, including funding cases against hamas, we didn't have those two things. we actually had a border. people did not show up here, they came out of nowhere. that was really rare and what you also didn't have is this enormous pool of sympathizers, you didn't have, let's say, people who would openly say no, i'm on the side of al-qaeda. this is new, and for folks that are sitting not only where chris wray is but chiefs of police departments across the country it's troubling. >> sandra: you mentioned the rising threat from our own borders, arrests at the southern border, paul, that's concerning in a moment like this. when you look back to 2017, the number was at 2. a year later, 6. 0 in 2019. 2020, the number goes up and goes up big time to 2023, 169

arrests on the terror watch list at our southern border, why you are asking this question. dear merrick garland, will you indict hamas leaders. whatever anyone's position is, u.s. citizens have been killed and kidnapped by designated terrorist organization. a robust response is required to demonstrate u.s. credibility and resolve regarding this group. your point. >> so, let me couch it as analogy. imagine post-9/11 and bin laden and another are living in canada. would they try to extradite them, you need indictment first. of course we would. right now hamas by its own definition here has attacked american citizens, killed 32, kidnapped at least ten. those are right within the four corners of federal statutes that are used to prosecute this kind of stuff. furthermore, hamas's leadership is in what is nominally an american ally, qatar. our biggest mideast base there,

at least about six major colleges that have big campuses there. we are probably half their economy and i see no pressure on qatar to give them up. if nothing else, put the indictment in place, put the red notice on through interpol, now they cannot travel. any place in between a signatory nation on board with that, grab them and get them back here. it's been done in the past, we can do it now. does not seem to be the will here. >> what do you think about the people with the threat, new york city the largest jewish population in the entire country. christopher wray was asked about threats to the jewish community and he said this. listen. >> the reality is that the jewish community is uniquely, uniquely targeted by pretty much every terrorist organization across the spectrum, and when you look at a group that makes up 2.4% roughly of the american

population, it should be jarring to everyone that that same population accounts for something like 60% of all religious-based hate crimes. >> sandra: alarming numbers. >> you know what scares me here and always did, when i was doing this kind of work, coming out of this sort of flavor of counter terrorism was more hezbollah than hamas. because they are much more capable of projecting power. the overhead command for lack of a better term for both hamas and hezbollah, is iran. who funds them. a nation state. they have tremendous capabilities. we have a weak secretary of homeland security, that's just factual. take a look at the border and his answers in congress. so you have that. at the same time, you have venezuela. the former vice president of venezuela heavily linked to the middle east, known and wanted by the u.s. government for what, providing false passports to hamas and hezbollah. hezbollah has attacked in

argentina, not that long ago, two major jewish targets killing hundreds. they have done it before, they can do it again. those were iran-initiated. that's what we have to worry about. >> sandra: that's chilling. paul, thank you for joining us. check back with you soon. all right. >> yesterday we arrested and charged a person with posting threats to kill or injure jews at cornell university. as this arrest shows, we are focusing our efforts on confronting and disrupting illegal threats wherever they arise. >> john: the attorney general merrick garland speaking moments ago as one cornell university junior is set to make his first appearance in court today on federal charges after a series of anti-semitic threats online. katie pavlich thoughts on this, and other examples of anti-semitism on college campuses, but first alexis

mcadams is live at cornell university at ithica. have we heard from his family. >> i checked in with the local sheriff where he has been in custody, his family has not gone to visit him at all. "new york post" is reporting his dad said he suffers from depression and his mom thought he was going to kill himself in the past few days, because they had not heard anything, all the threats were posted on behind me, and the sheriff says he's under 24 hour surveillance. watch this. >> he's not in general housing, he's in a medical wing. they are single cells and currently he is under constant observation meaning he is being watched, you know, 24 hours a day by a member of this office. >> that's 21-year-old patrick dai you are looking at, facing

federal charges after investigators tell us he posted online threats, and writing he was going to slit the throats of jewish students on campus. according to this criminal complaint, the fbi and new york state police used dai's i.p. address to track him down, finding nearly a dozen hateful posts link today that computer. posts were found over the weekend. since then, cornell here has been on high alert, adding police to the campus and the center for jewish living. i talked with lots of students out here and jewish students tell me they are glad there is arrest but example of growing and big problem. >> why do you think this is happening at ivy league schools in particular? >> i think because some of the rhetoric, some professors that have said statements and felt emboldened to say them and have gone unchecked until now, and that -- >> dai will be in federal court here in about an hour in new york. he's looking at five years

behind bars. john. >> john: alexis mcadams for us at cornell. thank you so much. appreciate it. katie pavlich, fox news contributor and editor of townhall.com. parents initially said he would never do anything like that, news flash, he confessed. take responsibility here. >> the parents are probably thinking of this in terms of not understanding what their son has been learning at the university. this is something that has been put into the blood stream at our universities. they have always been anti-israel, but what we are seeing now is that the difference is these are pro hamas rallies, pro hamas celebrations, professors have been saying inside these school classrooms, these college classrooms for decades this kind of violence against israel and against jewish students is justified as a result of some kind of resistance, and this is not just about anti-israel,

pro-palestinian. we have seen it with the black lives matter on campus, and 1960s and 1970s, bombing the pentagon for the sake of social justice and getting the agenda through, the intersectional idea on the left what is justified and violence ok for the sake of moving forward their own social justice agenda and this young man participating in that with his threats and he is now going to face federal charges and which carry heavy prison time. >> john: what he allegedly wrote on the online forum was vile. but then of course you know, there was the cornell professor who the days after october 7th said he was exhilarated by the attacks. he's on a leave of absence now. >> interesting to see how the school responds to the arrest, and whether they say it's unjustified or not. >> john: that's one ivy league college. >> just one. there are many. >> john: and then yale, yale daily news, a person at the yale

daily news who wrote an article which the yale daily news issued correction to saying oh, the idea of women raped on october 7th and people being beheaded was unsubstantiated, which partly caused the idf to show 43 minutes of unedited footage that was taken from the morning of that attack, mostly from hamas terrorists who were wearing bodycam, some was surveillance video as well. cbs news wrote about the screening that they had for that, which they said in part, some journalists in the hall watching it gasped and held their heads in their hands during the screening most sat silently watching. a few peered at the videos through their fingers, at least one was crying. now, the yale daily news has since said oh, that correction was unwarranted, we take it back, sorry. but the initial reaction is to not believe what happened. >> and you don't have to take what -- the footage from the idf

is true and horrific, and martha viewed the footage and talks about it, but if you want to do your own due diligence as a journalist, if you are working at a college newspaper you can find video from hamas go pros that they wore on different streams, from first responders in israel recovering the footage. talk to first responder organizations that recovered the bodies and see the footage, firsthand accounts and the bones and bodies they were picking up, the blood spewed over little kids closets after hamas slaughtered them when they were trying to run away. and whatsapp released by communities in israel, read what the communities were saying about where they were hiding, smelling smoke, hearing grenades going off, they had been shot and injured. so for them not to do their own research to know this is all true, shows a lot, and also just

shows they are cowards. they have a narrative, the pro hamas and pro palestinian narrative. >> john: according to the journalist who wrote the original article and then rescinded, part of a bigger problem. >> i don't think it's possible for public pressure to change a deeply rooted anti-jewish current that exists in the university and is therefore translated to our flagship newspaper. one that i will note is a pipeline to other major outlets, "new york times," "washington post." >> john: if this is the farm team for the major newspapers, you can see the direction it's heading into as gen z goes through college and out into the workplace. >> why you have seen a number of outside forces who have

influence at the big universities, and wall street wanting to know who is writing, or limiting the facts from the story so they can understand when the people get jobs the campus experiment of anti-semitism and that being tolerated anded promoted there is not going to believe into other aspects of society where it's not tolerated. one more thing i would say, these universities have been saying forever that things are microaggressions, talk about rape culture but see it firsthand they deny it because it was committed against jews, and that is unacceptable. >> john: where is the safe space for jewish students. and the state department, matthew miller is briefing about americans out of gaza and some managed to get out today. >> the situation remains extremely fluid but this has been an important breakthrough and we will keep working on it to ensure that all of the u.s. citizens who wish to depart safely from gaza can do so. turning to humanitarian

assistance. as a result of our efforts to accelerate the delivery of international humanitarian aid, 59 trucks entered gaza through the rafah crossing, highest number since the humanitarian corridor began on october 21st, and bringing the total number through yesterday to 217. trucks continue to enter today and we expect today's number to surpass yesterday's as yesterday's passed the day's before as we ramp up deliveries to gaza. travel. secretary blinken will travel to israel and jordan on friday. meet with prime minister netanyahu and other members of the government to receive update on the military objectives and plans for meeting those objectives. reiterate the right for israel to defend itself in accordance with international humanitarian law and take all precautions to minimize civilian casualties as well as the work to deliver

humanitarian assistance. and the secretary will underscore the importance of protecting civilian lives and increased sustained delivery of lifesaving assistance to civilians in gaza, resumption of essential services and ensuring that palestinians are not forcibly displaced outside gaza. and reaffirm the u.s. commitment to working with partners to set the conditions for a durable and sustainable peace in the middle east to include the establishment of a palestinian state that reflects of the palestinian people and in the west bank and the ongoing work to release hostages. further details over the coming days. matt. >> in terms of the number of americans, i realize you are hesitant to say but i mean, are we talking about a handful? >> so i'm not going to discuss the number of americans that

were able to depart today and i will not give rolling updates as this process unfolds over the next several days. i'll say a couple things. number one, around 400 americans in gaza with whom we are in communication, have expressed number to leave, total is around 1,000 people when you talk about family members. we will give them constructions where to go, when to go, how they can get out. but for operational security reasons, which i think you can imagine, we are not going to put numbers on it as the next few days unfold when we get to what might look like the end of this process i would be happy to talk in more detail. >> when you say they crossed rafah, they are safely in egypt? >> number of american citizens who have crossed through rafah and are in egypt today. >> follow up -- also jordan,

jordan announced withdrawing the ambassador from israel. do you have any comment on this, what it means for the middle east, what do you think about the decision and how this would affect, if at all, the secretary's travel and the interactions? >> i saw the reports and the reason jordan stated for withdrawing its ambassador, i would say we share the concerns, they expressed about the dire humanitarian situation in gaza, where we are actively leading the efforts to address that humanitarian situation, including those i detailed to get humanitarian assistance in to gaza. but ultimately we believe that increased diplomacy is important and steps to reduce diplomatic channels are not productive to our -- our shared goals of promoting a long-term solution to this crisis. >> would you say like the jordanians to reverse that -- >> i don't want to comment in any more detail than i just did. >> thank you, matt. is this a process that has an

end date certain or ongoing discussions with hamas, extended to other groups beyond americans, locally employed staff or other individuals? >> i don't want to put an end date on it. it's a process ongoing, the goal to get american citizens out, and locally employed staff who want to depart. other foreign nationals, citizens of other countries in europe and elsewhere around the world who of course those countries have been expressing interest in getting them out, so it will take time to get all of these american citizens and other foreign nationals out, but we are working to get them out as soon as possible. >> what, if any, concessions is the u.s. making to hamas to secure release of the individuals. >> we are not making any concessions. >> what is hamas getting in return to the release. an you might have seen the wounded palestinians made it out through rafah today.

that was a step we supported, thought it was important that those who needed medical care could leave and seek appropriate medical care. but ultimately, you know, the united states is not in position and has not provided any concessions at all to hamas. >> on the aid front, yesterday the secretary testified briefly about the possibility of exploring an additional pathway for aid. is that something that is being considered in order to boost the amount of aid getting into gaza? >> it is a possibility, but right now the focus continues to be on ramping up the amount of assistance that can go in through gaza and we have seen -- we have seen increased assistance as i outlined over the last several days and that's because we have been working with the government of israel and the government of egypt to increase, to have the trucks entering rafah be inspected as

expeditiously as possible. we have been working to unstick those to get the number of trucks increased. the secretary said we want 100 trucks going in as soon as possible. you could see more trucks going in than that. and we are going to work to continue to do that. if we find we can't get the amount of assistance through rafah that is required, we will, of course, look at any other options. >> one more question, what message has the u.s. conveyed to the israelis about settler violence in the west bank. >> we have made clear to the government of israel that we are very concerned about settler violence in the best wabank. counterproductive to israel's security and harmful to the palestinians in the west bank

and clear message it's unacceptable, needs to stop and those responsible need to be held accountable. >> on the rafah crossing, who is administrating the exit from gaza? hamas, a third party? >> there is not a third party. i believe it is the authorities in gaza that were existing running the crossing before october 7th. >> so kind of a return to the status quo? >> i wouldn't call it a return to the status quo, the process is very difficult, but ultimately, with respect to the authorities administering the gate on the gaza side and egyptian side, it's a return to how they were operating before october 7th. >> and when exactly did this deal get reached? >> hard question to answer because it is something we have been working on continuously for a number of weeks. there have been a number of false starts along the way, times we thought we would get american citizens out and those efforts fell through.

extremely complicated when you think of the number of partners we are dealing with here. ultimately, got to the point we were able to feel confident we could get american citizens out in the past 24 hours. i will tell you i came out yesterday to the briefing and talked a little about what we -- about what we expected to happen without being able to give any details and it was just in the last hour before i came out i felt comfortable saying that. >> you said the u.s. supported allowing injured palestinians -- >> not that the u.s. is. >> but supported, did the party oppose that move? >> not that i'm aware of. >> i have a couple of things. on secretary's travel to israel, can you say what is his primary objective and one thing specifically as the civilian death toll rises, is the united

states going to push israel more to show restraint? >> so, his primary objectives as i outlined them in my opening comments. he wants to get an update from israel on the military objectives and the plans for meeting those objectives. talk about ways that we can increase the flow of humanitarian assistance and get to the point where it's a sustained continuous flow getting in every day that meets the needs of innocent civilians in gaza. he wants to talk about preventing the conflict from spreading, the ability to get hostages back and as i said, he will talk directly with the israeli government as he has previously, as the president has previously, about our expectation that in conducting this military campaign, that they do it -- do so in full compliance with international humanitarian law and the laws of war and we will be very direct about that. >> there's been back and forth in this briefing room about this, but given there was the big attack yesterday on the refugee camp i have to ask again. what is the u.s. assessment so far in terms of whether israel

is following the rules of war? >> i'm not able to offer assessment on that strike, not able to offer assessment on other individual strikes. what i will say, we will discuss with them directly as i will say publicly, our expectation in all of their military campaigns they comply with the rules of war. >> there are various commentators, some countries, international human rights lawyers, some of them are calling it war crimes, and we know that in this building when you are making these kinds of legal determinations there is a process for that. has there been any thinking of starting such a process for israel's actions in this war. >> it is not an assessment we are making now, no. >> thank you. follow up on both, and this area was struck today again. now, why wouldn't you condemn the killing of dozens of civilians, like 300, maybe less, we don't know, to kill one

person because that's what the israeli spokesman said. we went after one militant. why wouldn't you do that? >> i would say we are deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life. whatever the number of lost civilians in this strike or any other strike we are obviously troubled and deeply saddened by every loss of life and it's true whether it's be palestinians, israelis and we will make it clear to the israeli government. >> well, ok. but 21 years ago, 21 years ago, ari fleischer came out and condemned a similar act, the george w. bush administration condemned the act where israel killed one hamas leader, and killed 15, a lot less than what you have seen in the last couple days and condemned it strongly. why wouldn't your administration do the same thing? >> i'm not able to speak to what assessments the administration

20 years ago have made. i will say we have continued to impress directly on the israeli counterparts to minimize the civilian harm in all military activities. >> and libya, what the secretary said yesterday about, you know, looking beyond what comes next after hamas is completely destroyed and so on. what kind of system you would have in place in gaza. and he suggested that you are in talks with a group of governments. would that include all the arab governments, israel and saudi arabia or egypt and jordan. who does that include? >> i don't want to get into details. we have had initial conversations, palestinian leadership is a question for the palestinian people. we have been thinking through with partners in the region post conflict scenarios but not able to get into those details at this point. >> my last question on the

internet and communication have been cut again. do you have any comment on that? because you know, you urge last weekend to have connectivity again. so, are you urging them today to do the same thing? >> the internet was cut, it was restored. i will say that we have made clear that we think internet access is important. i just started this briefing by noting that we are going to send emails to american citizens about how to get out of gaza. we think it's important they be able to have access to those emails. at times israel may need to take operational steps they have judged they need to take. as a general principle, the position of the u.s. government internet access needs to remain viable for the people of gaza. >> the question, whether there was any discussion in the legal if bureau about, you know, what israel is doing and whether it

complies with the rules of war and you said no. wondering why not. she didn't ask if you made assessment, she asked if it was discussed and considered if there were people looking at this to make, to eventually make an determination. and we are three weeks in, basically, into this, you have made similar determinations roughly that -- and that's basic time, i'm wondering, you're saying that that's not even being discussed. >> no, let me be -- let me be clear. i'm not going to get into internal discussions at the state department. i'll speak to the assessments we have made. we have not made assessment of war crimes in the situation. i should have been clear. we have not made any type of assessment at this time, as the secretary made clear there will be an opportunity for that, we are not in position to judge the strikes. what we think is important to

press upon the israeli government the importance of minimizing civilian harm. >> you made a determination and discussion with simon about russia and committing war crimes, you made a legal determination. in this case you are not willing to say it's something talked about? >> in the case of russia, we were able to assess with a high degree of confidence russia was targeting civilians. it came after, the assessment came after -- when there was clear evidence of deliberate killing and targeting civilians. >> in order to get that information it had to be considered by the lawyers and what your response was, unless you are saying it is now wrong or misspoke, was that it's not even being discussed. not even looking at that. >> i'm not going to get into internal discussions, internal deliberations, it's not an assessment that we have made and as the secretary said, there will be time to make those judgments. said, were you done -- >> i'm done, thank you.

>> a minute ago you were interrupting and come back for more. >> do you have any response to the houthis missiles after they joined the war? >> nothing further than what i said yesterday, as the president has made clear, as the secretary has made clear, anyone that's considering joining this conflict in opposition to israel should think about. >> they already joined and fired missiles towards -- >> i recognize their statement and no further comment on that. >> any american reaction? >> i never want to preview actions we may take, i'll make statements and leave it at that. government of israel may have something to say. i'll refer to them. >> expectations -- the secretary might extend the stop by this time, how realistic are those? >> i saw reporters in the room tweeting we might be going to

turkey, i can say that we have not confirmed a visit, sorry, i was not going to -- you raised your hand, i was not meaning to single you out. >> just for the transcript, my tweet is not based on my opinion, it's based on diplomatic sources who are saying secretary blinken is going to turkey. >> it was not my intention to single you out. i cannot confirm additional travel other than that i announced at the top. we mr. make further announcements as they are available in the coming days. >> someone speaking over you. >> in connection to -- consular to prepare the trip, any connection. >> i'm not going to make any announcements or speculation about travel before -- >> ukraine, if i may. secretary yesterday spoke with his colleague following the congressional hearing. is that a concern on your end

that ukraine might become a victim of domestic politics? >> we believe that if support -- first of all, we believe support for ukraine continues to be essential, it continues to be important that the united states be there to help ukraine defend itself against these horrific attacks russia has launched on them and continues to launch on them, and as a practical matter, should funding for ukraine get an up or down vote, it will pass in both houses of congress. so, i now understand the kind of turn that has accompanied this, but it continues to be our position that that funding is important, it should pass, and that as a practical matter, if it gets a vote, it will pass. >> as you know, ukraine has seen more attacks in the past 24 hours than since the beginning of the war, 100 attacks to village and towns. moscow is under the impression that other conflicts are diverting attention in the west and it has leeway to --