what if israel responds with a counterattack? that's what israel do did in the yom kippur war that this is this anniversary of. does the biden administration condemn israel? that's all the a things they could do. it's not just, oh, we think violence is terrible, we want peace in the middle east, but we have real things they could do. ultimately, it's going to come down to israel's going to use up a lot of its weapons systems. can they buy more stuff from the united states, will we sell to israel or will the biden administration either sitten on its -- sit on kids, its hands or have an active policy. pete: kt, thanks for breaking it down to us. it's been quite a morning. a full scale war in israel. coverage all morning, keep it on the fox news channel for the very latest. [background sounds]

[gunfire] neil: all right, now it is a war, and we're getting indications that it could be spreading. we do know now the biggest escalation in the middle east we've seen in a number of years as hamas surprises israelis on a holy day and launches a rocket attack on what we now know is that in that attack better than 100 israelis have been killed, hundreds for injured. the palestinian authority, there have been counterstrikes in the palestinian areas occupied by the same individuals who might have been behind the attack on israel and there they have reports of more than 300 dead and 1600 wounded. and so it escalates, and so it goes on and so history, it would appear, is repeating itself.

welcome, everybody, i'm neil cavuto. fox on top of another war and a dangerous war, going down around the 50th anniversary of the famous yom kippur war. that was a war that triggered a back and forth between both sides, ultimately resulting in an a oil embargo that was led by countries that felt the united states was overaligning itself with israel. that was then, this is very different now. but we're going to be exploring the historical implications of this on an historic day. trey yingst in israel with the very latest on this attack. trey. >> reporter: neil, good morning. i want to take you through what has unfolded over the past several hours. around 6:30 a.m. local time, rocket fire started from the gaza strip. so far more than 2,000 rockets have been fired into southern and central israel. air raid sirens sounding across this country in major population centers like tel aviv and jerusalem. but the part of this story that us israel was not blared for,

the infiltration -- prepared for, the infiltration of militants into these southern border communities. as we speak right now, neil, hamas -- the group that normally controls just gaza -- is in control of multiple villages, israeli towns along the gaza border. they blew a hole in the border wall and the fence sending in militants from hamas and islamic jihad on motorcycles and in pickup trucks. they opened fire on a concert that was taking place here overnight in southern israel, and they went and took over homes that sit along the border, these small communities where people live often more religious, more rural populations in israel. and they ultimately took over many of these areas, killing some civilians and capturing others. hamas, the group in control of gaza, said that they have taken dozens of israeli citizens and soldiers hostage. we have seen disturbing video from from inside the gaza strip

of israelis being dragged through the streets here in southern israel. troops worry there are still infiltrators in this real. they remain on high alert, and they are at this evacuation point to try and help the wounded get to better medical attention in larger cities. what we have seen here along the border, pure devastation. mothers holding their injured children, pulling them out of cars and putting them into ambulances. soldiers trying to revive their friends who died in front of our cameras. it is hell on earth for the population of israel as this conflict has erupted with hamas and us e reilly prime minister benjamin netanyahu says the country is at war. neil? neil: trey, we're learning from the secretary of defense, lloyd austin, that the united states will be addressing this in greater detail, certainly the president of the united states will, but his statement reads: i'm closely monitoring the developments this in israel, our

commitment remains unwavering, i extend my condolences to the families who lost their lives. pratt9ly, we are learning that the ministry says israel is already responding. so it is a war. it is escalating. how do you make sense of how quickly it could be escalating? >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. this has has escalated over the past several hours. the israelis are using fighter jets ask and attack helicopters to target hamas positions inside gaza. the palestinian health ministry indicating more than 300 are dead there. a source inside gaza telling fox news that many of those killed ran through the border fence after it was blown up by hamas militants, and the israelis that did immediately respond fired on all of those people. some of the other images from

inside gaza indicate that the militants were able to take not only vehicles, but tanks. they were pulling israeli tank commanders out of their advanced tanks, they were taking those hostage that were still alive. and in terms of escalation, the escalation ladder here could erupt incredibly quickly. and that has to do with the fact that the palestinian militants inside gaza, the two largest factions hamas and islamic jihad, have armed militants in the west bank. system of those palestinian cities sit just a few hundred feet from israeli cities throughout this country. and so it's a are complicated military situation, and it's not just the west bank that could erupt. we have seen in the past when these types of conflicts unfold, unrest in jerusalem, also the northern border with lebanon is of concern to top military echelon who worry that if the israelis push forward and actually launch a major ground operation against these militants inside gaza, that the

lebanese militant group backed by iran, or hezbollah, could get involved in the fight. and then israel is looking at a multi-front conflict. they're going to need more than just statements from their western allies. neil? neil: trey, to that point, a lot of people are focusing on the timing of this attack, a day after israel marked the 50th anniversary of the 1973 yom kippur attack launched by syriae time. that started huge reverberations that ultimately led to a spreading war, and the arab world at the time targeted the united states for being overly helpful to israel. it launch. ed an embargo that a famously led to the oil, gas crisis of 1973, would later be repeated five years later for totally different reasons. but we all remember that. so is there a sense there that they seized on this historic significance of launching it as

well on an israeli holy day? >> reporter: well, this is certainly the worst surprise attack against us israel since the yom kippur war. it's also the first time since 1948 that palestinian factions have controlled territory over the border between israel and gaza. significant and horrific milestones for the israeli people today, and the numbers we're getting in now, more than 100 israelis killed. that number is expected to rise. you might have heard that boom in the distance. the israelis do continue airstrikes against the northern part of the gaza strip. we've heard small arms fire. and in terms of the significance of this date, it took place on shah that bat, a day where -- shah shabbat, a day where many israelis don't use technology, they're at home with their families, and also on this historic weekend where the country marked 50 years since the yom kippur war. this combination of it being a holiday season in israel, an

anniversary and also shabbat meant that many israelis were at home with their families. and the images that we won't show here but i will briefly describe them to you are why we've seen such horrific actions in the southern part of this country. militants going into communities, taking families hostage, slaughtering civilians in their homes as they rested9 and even taking women and children by force, kidnapping them and pulling them into the tunnels of the gaza strip. neil. neil: trey, thank you for that. we'll be returning. trey yingst in the middle of all of that. we understand that israeli prime minister benjamin net an ya hue has, indeed, talked to president biden. don't know what came of those discussions. we do know the president is getting an intelligence briefing, already had one earlier this morning. lucas tom linson is at the white house. >> reporter: you mentioned, neil, this hamas attack on israel launcheded a 50 years to the day after, one day after the

50th anniversary of the yom kippur war, a war that also took israel by surprise. you mentioned prime minister netanyahu speaking to president biden this morning who's at the white house, is receiving regular updates as you mentioned. the security adviser, jake sullivan, has spoken to his israeli counterpart and issuing a statement following that call, quote, the yates unequivocally condemns the unprovoked attack against israeli civilians. there is never any justification for terrorism. we stand firmly with the government and people of israel and extend our condolences to israeli lives lost in these attacks. you mentioned earlier, neil, defense secretary lloyd austin pledging the full support of the u.s. military, saying this part, quote, over the coming days the department of defense will work to ensure that us israel has what it needs to defend itself and protect civilians from ingyming nate violence and and terrorism. -- indiscriminate. also receiving word that the secretary of state, antony

blinken has inshired a statemen. there is also this tweet that has been deleted by the u.s. office of palestinian affairs saying in part, quote, we urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. terror and violence solve nothing. senator ted cruz condemning the tweet saying, quote, in response: this is disgraceful, and every single person involved in drafting and approving in this tweet should be immediately expelled from the u.s. government. and, neil, some lawmakers say they're questioning the decision by the biden administration to send iran $6 with in that prisoner swap recently to free the american hostages in iran. there's also some evidence that the war in ukraine is having an impact. there's video circulating on social media, neil, showing an israeli tank being destroyed by a ma -- hamas drone, a grenade being dropped and the drone hitting the softer part of the tank and it being blown up just

to show you hamas and iran learning from the battlefield in ukraine as it i plies to this. neil: to that point and the surprise nature of all of this. we're now learning the israeli military says its navy forces have killed dozens of palestinian militants trying to infiltrate israel by sea. of course, this comes about 20 minutes after getting a report from the palestinian minister in gaza that says 198 have been killed, more than 1600 wounded in a retaliation by the israelis. so, obviously, this is escalating as we speak. but again, the rapid nature of this and whether we're hearing from any other countries in the arab world about this and how the administration is weighing that. >> reporter: well, first, the biden administration is going to be leaning on western allies, neil. we've seen everyone from great britain to the european union, countries in europe condemning today's surprise attack by hamas in israel, and you mentioned those elite units of the israeli

defense forces that are going to be called upon to rest are cue these israeli hostages -- rescue. elite commando unit similar to the u.s. army's delta force, there's no question that those elite units will be counted on to take some daring raids inside gaza is which, as we heard earlier from pete hegseth, is no doubt a hornets' nest right now, neil. neil: we always leak, and you're a -- look, you're a great student of history, this a day after the 50th anniversary of the yom kippur war that spread and launched the arab oil embargo famously. but beyond that, this is the day that anwar sadat, the egyptian president, was assassinated. and i wonder whether these dates bear significance for those who perpetrated attacks on them. >> reporter: there's no question, neil. when you look at the history of terrorism, many times they are conducted on significant anniversaries. for example, there's no question the 9/11 attacks on the united states that the numbers 9-1-1

was part of that. just anniversaries in general. we saw the attacks on benghazi launched a few years after the 9/11 attacks. there's no doubt the 50th anniversary of the yom kippur war, a war that also took israel by surprise, neil, there's no question these dates are significant not just for the people in israel, of course, but also in these terrorist groups. neil: you know, lucas, i'm belaboring this, but i enjoy having you on, i learn a lot. much has been said about the dome israel has to prevent missile and other attacks. this is obviously a different case where you can go under the dome and do damage, well coordinated attacks, but a clear breakdown in israeli and i don't know who's's intelligence. -- who else's intelligence. that as has got to be a concern. >> reporter: no question, neil. this morning some officials are saying if you look at a.i. or technology, sometimes there's the thought of relying too much on technology, you know? armies still need to have a

sentry posted along these walls, and and that is still what many officials would say is the the best sensor. you have to think with this surprise attack, would it have is happened if perhaps there were not more soldiers deployed, but this is happening on a high israeli holiday, on shabbat and on a holiday in the country. and, you know, but the technology whether it's a.i. or drones or other kinds of modern technology, will they ever replace that sentry, that soldier standing watch along a wall and perhaps that could have changed things. there's no question this was an intelligence failure today. most officials in and out of israel would say this, and there's no question that this is the largest attack on israel in a half sently. and israelis will -- century. and israelis will never forget this day in history. neil: lucas, thank you. we'll be coming back for updates if and when they become available. lucas tomlinson at the white house. to show you how quickly nerves

become frazzled, consider a statement out of the department of information in new york city saying we are aware of the situation, referring to this attack on israel, continue to monitor for further developments at this time. there is no threat nor nexus to new york city. again, you can understand post other developments including famously or should i say infamously 9/11 that they would put out a statement like that. to mark esper right now, formerrist defense secretary, author of "a sacred oath." mark, good to have you, as always. first of all, what do you make of the surprise nature of this in -- of this? >> i think that is a significant part of this, neil. it was a surprise. it caught the israelis completely off guard, and you can't say anything but it was an intelligence failure. i think, look, we're dealing with a tactical situation on the ground which is terrible ask tragic for both the israeli citizens and the israeli military, but this is going to ripple in multiple ways. being such a failure, will it

cause the collapse of the netanyahu government, or the -- or will the israeli people rally around him at least for a while? we could speak about how it reaches from tehran to the united states and elsewhere also. neil: you know, secretary, i'm old enough to remember that yom kippur war, the start of that war, where it led and the arab community was joined by every key member condemning the united states for what it claimed was the sponsorship and continued support after the attack and the war. they punished us with an oil embargo. we all know how that went and would be with followed up five years later with still another embargo. having said all of that, and and i don't want to get ahead of our diplomatic skis here, but how do we deal with that especially now with a are different arab world is? >> yeah, a good point. obviously, the geopolitics are very different today in the middle east than 50 years ago. and, you know, the fact that

hamas attacked on both a holiday and an anniversary is significant. but i also think we have to take in account the fact that the word was that the united states, israel and saudi arabia were coming close to a deal on normalizing ties between, you know, saudi arabia, other arab countries and israel. and so the question is, you know, in my mind, did hamas do that also to spoil this agreement? were they told to do so by their supporter, iran? that that will have a big bearing on this. and already we see, i was told that the, i'm sorry, the saudis came out and made a statement calling for a cessation of attacks, but at the same time blamed israel for what happened. so it's, clearly, there's a major setback going to happen on this deal, normalization between the saudis, other arab states and israel. neil: i was looking forward to having you on because, obviously, a former defense secretary, also a great student

of history. this is the same date, the anniversary back in 1981 on this very day that ann a war sadat -- anwar sadat was killed. and many said he was targeted for trying to make peace or the olive branch with israel in the 1978, you know, agreement that carter accords that allowed for that, and he was turned on by his own soldiers, his own people. and i'm wondering what you just said about saudi arabia and this delicately worded but still an attack on israel that they are aware of that that image and how that looks? >> yeah. i mean, the good news is, of course, since the peace agreement between the us rah reillys and egyptians, you know, the egyptian ises are clearly aligned with israel, the united states on this. neither are a fan of a hamas. of course, hamas subscribes to the muslim brotherhood which egypt detests, so the dynamics have changed.

but saudi arabia with clearly is the big player in the middle east. again, this is a major setback to further normalization of ties. i keep wanting to emphasize, the question will be to what degree does this go back to iran. we know tehran supplies, arms, funds hamas. did they put them up to this. and, of course, i'm sure the israelis are worried right now is a broader conflict possible, you know? for example, if israel goes hard and heavy into gaza, which they certainly will, does this open up space for hezbollah in the north of israel and southern lebanon to attack as a well. and, again, all this supplied, supported, funneled by -- funded by iran. this is going to stretch quite far, and it's going to take a while to see how this plays out. and it will also have an impact in washington d.c. you can expect next week when the house returns there will be resolutions out there supporting israel. the question about funding for israel, providing military arms will be on the table. i'm sure we will do it, but it a will also call into question

those who say we shouldn't support others abroad, that we should focus on the united states. it's going to stretch different ways and and cause ripples around the world. neil: there's already calls for dramatic emergency meetings. brazil, the foreign ministry saying it wants an emergency meeting of the u.n. security council over these developments. we will probably see such meetings next week peppering the calendar not only in the city i'm in, new york, but in washington. i'm just wondering what you think the fallout then is and how involved this gets. >> well, we already spoke about, you know, the normalization completely thrown off track at this point between israel, saudi arabia and others. i think a big strategic question on the table for prime minister net an ya ca hue and husband government is -- netanyahu is how do they respond? do they, again, push back hard? clearly, a hamas has killed dozens, over 100 israelis. we near know nearly 800 wounded, and i suspect both numbers will go up fairly high. but do they say once and for all

we're going to really move in hard and heavy and deal with this problem once and for all? i don't know. i think that's the question on the table within the israeli government. because they can't continue to go about this. you know, of course, hamas' last major attack was 20 2021, it was an 11-day conflict, and they shot 4300 rockets over 11 days. today, in the last 12 hours, they've shot over 3,000 rockets. so you can see the escalation, the toll of injured and dead among israelis. we now have hamas on the ground in israel. the fact that they attacked by air, land and sea is unprecedented. i mean, this is just really astound thing, what ma hamas has pulled off -- what that maas has pulled off, and it's going to cause a rethink by israelis what they do in the coming days and weeks. neil: and how israeli voters respond to benjamin netanyahu, whether they blame him for where the intelligence might have

failed. that's probably further down the road as there's a rally around the country right now and a rally behind the prime minister. make no mistake, this is war. it is war. i'm just curious what you, what you think about what kind of war and how big a war. >> well, clearly it's going to be -- israeli forces moving into with gaza. the question is, again, will hezbollah take advantage of this opportunity if israel is distracted or engaged in the south, will they attack in the north. and, of course, they have 100,000 or so rockets in southern lebanon pointing at israel. and that's not something israel can defend against. neil: when you say defend against -- >> [inaudible] neil: i'm sorry, i wasn't clear. when you see that they were able to pull this off and a surprise, who's to say that the next surprise won't mean more coordination with hezbollah? and, of course, they've had their own differences, substantial, but their greater enemy and the thing that unites them more is their hatred for israel. so i'm just wondering how this

gets various groups aligned in a way that a tragedy like this could only do it? >> yeah, that's right. that's exactly right. i mean, they have the common enemy for them is israel, if and they would like to see the end of the israeli state, a jewish state. and that's iran's goal as well, right? their mantra is death to israel and death to the united states. so, again, you could see this really widen. israel could be at the point that they say we'll take advantage of this opportunity to knock out iran's nuclear program because they're very, very close to having a sufficient amount of fissile material to create a nuclear weapon. what they've said publicly is they think it'll take 18-24 months to create an actual bomb, but nonetheless, they may -- israel -- may take advantage of this situation as well to knock out, you know, the biggest problem child in the middle east who is funding all of these terrorists and providing training and rockets and what not and to go after iran once and for all too, when knows?

neil: i want to get your sense for the environment of this, and you touched on it, secretary, with this backdrop of division even in this country to continue to support the war in ukraine. and now something that festers anew in the middle east and would people feel the same way if america is increasingly now looking at this and saying we're far more focused on our border than us israel's border or ukraine's border. play that out. >> yeah, i don't think these are either/or choices, and and i'm confident the united states government as already has been put out by the administration if will come to israel's aid. i'm confident that the pentagon and certainly central command is providing intelligence and whatever else the israelis might need. but, you know, the shared values, the cultural affinity between our peoples, we are going to support the israelis. and plus they are, you know, our

only democratic ally in the region. that's another important reason. but just the same, i think the higher level principle here is there the united states help democracies in tough neighborhoods or alongside tough neighbors defend themselves. and when i say that, i'm talking now about ukraine facing off against an autocarrottic russia, and i'm -- autocratic russia and taiwan nation off against the chinese communist party who's running china, and will we continue to question defend those democracies. i think it's in our national interests to do so, and i think we can afford to do so particularly when we have i countries like ukraine all they're asking for is arms, material and weapons. again, to me, that's the underlying principle that we, myself as a reagan republican would follow. but that debate's going to be stirred up now again by this conflict that is emerging here right now. neil: you know, you might be right on any and all of that. i'm just curious whether those who launched these attacks or maybe think that we're not keen on responding to attacks or that

we have these doubts particularly with ukraine. i don't know if it are extend, to your point, wouldn't they be galvanized by this and take advantage or test that? >> yeah, i think part of this is testing us. i think they're completely mistaken. again, there's no way that i can see that the united states would not supporters reel. we should absolutely 100% -- support israel. we should absolutely support the israelis. this was an unprovoked, unprecedented attack not just against the israeli military, but against israeli towns and citizens and people. you know, we -- your reporters talked about kidnappings and killings of israelis in their towns and communities. that's just atrocious, it's horrible. those are war crimes, right? so there's no way we're not going to support them. and so they've completely miscalculated if they think that's the case. look, part of this too is dynamics within the palestinian cause, dynamics between the palestinians in gaza and the west bank. i mean, there's a lot of

different levels by which this gets peeled back and is driving the actions of hamas. and, again, as i said, it extends well beyond israel, the west bank, gaza. it stretches into iran and elsewhere. neil: secretary, one final question, and and you've been very patient, but i did want to follow up. we've learned more about this part on the call of brazil for a security council meeting. that's a rotating position. they will have that now. they have condemned these attacks. they think they stand in solidarity with the people of israel. but one important footnote to their comments, it reaffirmed a commitment to a two-state solution with palestine and israel coexisting within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders. good luck with that, right? >> yeah. i mean, that' been a longstanding position of the united states through different administrationses. i mean, that's the ideal, right? but we, the israelis are yet to find a partner on the other side who's willing to support key

parts of that, you know? the two-tate, democratic palestine, you name it. so, and certainly it's all set back now based on what has happened. neil: right. >> look, the united nations has not always been a friend to israel, that's for sure. i'm glad brazil started off by condemning that, so that's good news, but we'll see how this plays out in the u.n. i don't see the u.n. as being a big player here. this is going to really come down between israel, the pal stints, united states support and other -- palestinians -- and others providing both political, material and other assistance to the israelis as they fend off these attacks and reclaim their security. neil: we must keep in mind that even 50 years ago after the yom kippur attacks the u.n. was very slow in responding to that, let alone condemning that. so we'll see if history repeats itself. it's still early. secretary, always good seeing you. thank you very much. >> thanks, neil. neil: all right. of we are getting a little bit

more details on that call the president had with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. the two have been talking about the need to stand by each other, the u.s. standing by us israel and fully supporting israel's right to defend itself. the prime minister, we're toll, thanked president biden for his unreserved support, made it clear that a prolonged and powerful campaign would be required in which israel would win. but, obviously, the buzzwords there, a proprolonged and powerful campaign. the significance of that and the significance of this day with jennifer griffin, our chief national security correspondent, joins us on the phone. jennifer. >> reporter: neil, i just have spoken to officials at the defense department, and defense secretary i'd ousten called -- lloyd austin called an urgent meeting with general eric kcarilla. secretary austin said i'm closely monitoring developments in israel. our commitment to us reel's

right to defend itself remains unwavering, and i extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this abhorrent attack on civilians. over the coming days, the department of defense will work to ensure that us israel has what it needs to defend itself and protect civilians from indiscriminate violence and terror im. neil, you and i have spoken over the years, i've spent seven and a half years covering the war and intifada in israel. i was there the last, in 2006 during the war between israel and lebanon when hezbollah fired thousands of rockets into us israel. but i've never seen anything like the statistics and the numbers of people and the casualties this in these first hours. this attack, as many of your guests have said, is unprecedented in terms of its scale and size. if you think back to 2006 and that 34 days of war between israel and hezbollah, there were

165 israelis killed over the course of those 34 days. in the first hours of this attack, we understand that the death toll is already up to 100 israelis, and that is likely to rise. this were more than 1,000 casualties in this air, land and sea attack. the pentagon is paying close attention to what is going on. i'm sure that they've reached out to their counterparts. but what is, i think, a change from that 2006 time period is that israel now falls under u.s. central command, and that is a change over the last few years. finish and it will be very interesting to see how the u.s. military supports israel in the coming days in terms of resupply, in terms of weaponry, in terms of intelligence. but that will all begin to play out. and the danger, of course, is that this spreads and that hezbollah decides to get involve from the north because israel then would be facing attacks

from multiple fronts. and, again, quite stunning, the scenes and what we're hearing from israel this morning. neil: yeah. it was a surprise, to put it mildly. but we're also learning from intelligence in the area, or jennifer, that also surprising was the delayed response on the part of israel. it's responding now. i'm not sure -- it's limited because of its concern that it would be targeting sites in which there are israeli hostages. but that aside, we're told even though we're getting word of 2,000, 3,000 rockets fired, in israel they reported more than 5,000 rockets fired and that a number of the attackers used paragliders. in other words, this was almost a surreal use of force pinpointed from six areas and striking at least eight other areas. so well coordinated. and that tends to have to be well financed. are we hearing anything on that front? >> reporter: well, i think over the years the intelligence

has proven that the financing has come from iran as well as other gulf allies. and i think what -- can it's interesting you mentioned the paragliders. that is not a new form of palestinians attacking into israel. they used paragliders back when the plo and yasser arafat were in charge. the methodology and the intelligence failure, really you'd have to go back to the 1973 yom kippur war to see such a massive intelligence failure. but the methodology, we've seen it before, they've tested this before, the kidnapping of soldiers, again, back in the 2006 time frame you'll remember a month before that hezbollah war broke out a soldier was, an israeli soldier was kidnapped in gaza, taken hostage.

that diverted attention from what then became of the kidnapping of an attack on an israeli patrol up in the north. two of those soldiers were taken hostage, their bodies eventually returned after the ceasefire. but the hostage taking, the multi-front, the fact that there are, that they used motorcycles to enter through the gates in through gaza is really quite stunning. and you have to wonder if israel had pulled a number of their troops from that gaza border because they had been so engaged in the west bank in recent weeks. there had been so many ongoing operations across the west bank. but it is truly stunning that there was the no -- even to build up that level of the number of rockets. there are tunnels that go under the gaza strip border into egypt. did egypt know this was coming. those, those tunnels and those

methods of getting rockets into gaza, it's been around since i was based there more than 20 years ago. and then, of course, there were rocket factories that had been set up inside gaza. it's just really quite amazing that they were able to pull this off and now what it has unleashed where it is is anyone's guess. neil: indeed, to your point and maybe this is what maybe makes a response on the part of israel trickery -- tricky, the military is confirming that israelis are, in fact, being held captive in gaza. soldiers have been killed, israel's n12 is reporting right now that they have reports of positions where israeli families and the like also among the hostages. that was from a separate earlier report, but it makes this activity and assault or response assault difficult, doesn't it? >> reporter: well, it does make it difficult because,

obviously, the israelis will want to, want to protect the lives of those soldiers. there are have been unconfirmed reports that eneven very senior military officers may have been among those kidnapped. and so you're talking about a are delicate balance between saving lives. but given the scale of the attack on israel, i would expect a very robust response. and, you know, it's no coincidence that hamas decided to strike on a holiday in israel knowing that the guard would be somewhat down. but, again, i'm really, really surprised that they were able to pull this off out of the gaza strip given the amount of intelligence and surveillance and sheer, all the methods that us israel has to watch what's happening there and to also to have infiltrated mamas -- hamas

over the years. i mean, this really is truly stunning. neil: last thing i'll leave you with is a comment from former president trump who just put out a statement. these hamas attacks are a disgrace, and israel has ever right to -- every right to defend itself. sadly, american taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks. we brought so much peace to the middle middle east through the abraham accords only to see biden whittle it away. here we go again. i've been reading a number of others that are talking to the $6 billion in frozen funds that was unfrozen, you know, in order to sort of get hostages out ask and get on better relations, maybe return to an accord. but this is coming up again and again and that iran has played a role here and maybe some of this money was playing a role here. what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, i think, first of all, neil, i think you have to push back on some of the

statements, that statement there from former president trump. it's an exaggeration to suggest that there is any evidence that any of the money that was released as part of that hostage deal, a lot of that money was tied up in, you know, many good. what i would say is iran has been funding hamas across four presidents. [laughter] and so you, it goes back through the entire when i was based there back from 1999 to 2007, iran was funding hamas. that has not slowed or changed over the years, and it's not one administration or the next who has, who has been able to stem the flow of that money to hamas. what is different is the fact

that usually israel has enough intelligence and accurate predictions and they carry out a lot of strikes in the gaza strip to destroy factories where these rockets are being made. but i think we, right now the focus should be on supporting -- neil: all right, i didn't know fresh -- jennifer, thank you. we have breaking news with trey yingst, what are you learning? >> reporter: yeah, neil. right now israeli soldiers have been sent to the gaza border as reinforcement. you can see here they are ready for what could be days of fighting ahead. and this is active gunfire right now taking place in 22 different communities along the gaza border. we are told by the israeli military that they have a number of fatalities and a number of prisoners of war within their ranks. you can hear, it's a tense moment here.

pan here for me, if you will. unsee a soldier here with a wound on his back. i do need to warn our viewers, you might see a few images that are graphic. but soldiers are going in, soldiers are coming out. we have seen this all day. again, the goal here, neil, is to secure the border and to secure all of these areas the hamas infiltrated earlier today. they have not yet been able to do that, and israel says the death toll has reached more than 100 people at this point including civilians and soldiers. and the big concern, those that have been taken hostage in southern israel. israeli special units trying to free them at this moment. and inside gaza, many prisoners of war as this conflict develops in the hours across israel. neil? neil: trey, obviously, you touched on it earlier with so many israelis including some soldiers reportedly held hostage, targeted response attacks become dicey, right?

>> reporter: yeah, absolutely. and it's something that is of concern. as you see these soldiers here preparing for what is expected to be a days-long ground battle, israel is also striking hamas positions from the air and from artillery units along the border. so there are us e reilly fighter jets above, attack helicopters and the navy being involved in all of this. they say they have stopped a hamas sea infill traights concern infiltration. the conflict is developing, and the days ahead will be difficult because of those israel hostages in southern us israel and the prisoners of war that have been taken both dead and alive into gaza. israel cannot simply just strike tunnels as they have done in the past because there are images on social media and telegram, these messaging apps, coming from a hamas and islamic jihad that show israeli civilians in the

tunnels that are used to store weapons and rockets. it will be a complex operation and negotiation in the coming days and weeks. but israeli officials that we've talked to and society analyst -- and those an a lists looking at this situation understand that israel is bracing for days if not weeks of war, and they are preparing for the possibility of a multi-front conflict that could include attacks from both the west bank, lebanon and gaza is. neil: trey, be safe. trey yingst in the middle of all of that. there has been united condemnation of these attacks certainly in the united states. you just heard what president trump had to say about this. my next guest as well, congressman kevin hearn of oklahoma who says he stands with israel in the face of these brutal terrorist assaults by iran-backed that a maas, that this is another reminder why we should not be providing ransom payments to iran which will be used to kill israeli civilians. congressman, good to have you. we don't know, sir, whether those payments were behind this

attack. we do know, as a our jennifer griffin pointed out, that iran has been on lots of attacks in the past, but do you know for sure whether money and these ransom payments was used here for this? >> well, neil, what we do know is that the idea of appeasement with iran does not work. they have long caused chaos in the middle east. they hate israel, they hate america, and they're going to do everything to cause overwhelming chaos in what's happening right now. you're seeing it across the world right now, the uprising against iran. we're seeing the middle east right now, we're seeing all the fronts on our israeli neighbors. but what we do know though is when you have going back to the jcpoa urn obama and the continuance of some of that while you roadway lease $6 billion in funds, while those specific dollars may not be used for the israeli attack, we know

money is fungible, and other things can be done. it's not coincidental. by the way, if you go back to the beginning of the year, we put forth a number of bills to combat this potentially from happening to israel. and -- because we saw this happening right now. by releasing funds, you're going to have really bad things happen. we're seeing people die. this is going to be long, it's something as jennifer reported and trey reported that's probably not happened in 30 or 40 years. who knows what the end of this is going to be which is why it's more important today than ever that we get the republican conference back in the leadership role it needs to be and get our country back where it needs to be and push back on our administration that at one time, neil, we're not sure where they are, they're pushing for appeasement in the middle east. now they're saying they support i israel. the republican party has been always supportive of israel, and we'll continue to be so, but we have to get our leadership put back in place so the republican conference can move the congress

forward. neil: and i do want to burr sue that -- pursue that, sir, but you mentioned this might lie at the steps of the biden administration. this is around the 50th anniversary of the yom kippur attacks which, if memory serves me right, occurred in the nixon administration, republican administration. these kinds of attacks continued under the ford, carter, reagan, bush administrations. and then, of course, the clinton administers. i could go through bush jr., obama, trump, biden today. this goes beyond politics or party in the white house, right? i mean, iran has a long history of being mischievous, and we, indeed, have a long history of dealing or trying to deal with that mischief, right? >> well, it has. but we also know that anytime there's any show of weakness and support of israel,s it's always been a problem. and so, you know, president trump, i know it was a very scathing tweet that he put out, but he's certainly right. when you push power back on iran, that's the only thing that they actually know.

we can go all the way back to 1979 and see what happened under the carter administration and see what reagan did. and we know the story -- neil: but ronald reagan was president when we had the beirut attacks. i'm not trying to put party blame here, but is now the time then to single out joe biden nor problems or miscues or any of that when it's happened under a variety of presidents? we don't know when any of that money went to that, or congressman. i understand your fear and frustration with that, we just don't know that yet. that's not to say that iran is a passive player in this region. but i'm just saying it has a history of befuddling administrations no matter the party, right many. >> well, i think we can both agree that releasing $6 billion back to iran is certainly not going to be something that's going to be a winning case of them being supportive of israel. and it's too big a coincidence, i understand the holidays, but it's too big a coincidence that $6 billion gets released and less than a month later we have

the problems we're seeing. it's not helpful. it's got to be something that's got to be addressed, and we fully support israel and anything and everything they need to do to support and defend their country. neil: you talked about responding with one voice on this, that could -- i'm paraphrasing here, sir, but there's been a good deal to talk about now since kevin mccarthy's surprise removal as speaker. you have to unite around someone. your name has come up as a possible candidate for speaker. are you? >> well, certainly, neil, what i've done as i said to you before and i've said to others, i was going to spend the time to talk to every single member. i've talked to over 200. with a lot of thoughts and prayer, i think it's time we do everything we can to unify our party. i know there's a lot of people, members that are upset, but right now we need leadership in the world, and that's going to come from the republican party and the congress so we can get our bills back on the floor. as i mentioned, we put bills

forward back in may to prevent things like this from happening. there's nothing going to get on the floor until we get a speakership. because of that,s this is bigger than any one individual. my dear friend jim jordan and steve scalise, ironically, chairs formerly as i am today, i'm going to step aaside and let them give their best case why they should be speaker of the house, and we need to get together very quickly so we can get our congress back open for business so we can move this great nation forward, and and i think that's the right thing to do right now. neil: you dimensioned -- mentioned jim jordan and steve scalise, they're the two best with known candidates for speaker. do you have a preference? >> well, certainly i have a preference that we can get to 217 because we're going to have to do that very quickly. we need to do that in our conference. we need to show strength to the american people, and we're going to do that in a different way using a different rule. typically it's been whoever got

the majority would go to the floor to get the full vote. we know based on what happened earlier this week that the democrat party, and probably rightfully so, is not going to support our candidate, they're going to support theirs. so we've got to come together and listen to each other and and know what we need to do to go forward. and that's going to be something that i've heard time and time again is unity is important. i am so happy with so many people, and i didn't ask for a single vote, that asked me to run. but right now is not the timing right now is the time to get our conference united and move forward: it's been a very disruptive week for republicans in the congress and for americans across the united states, and our country needs to show unity and strength. neil: you know, there were many within the republican house including those who voted against, 8 of -- 7 of your colleagues who voted against kevin mccarthy that maybe this money we give to foreign efforts including ukraine isn't worth

out and we're not behind it. now there's this attack on israel. it's very different, i grant you. i'm curious how you feel about that and whether you think house republicans should speak with one voice on that. >> well, you all know and every american knows that the republican party has always been one that's about peace through strength. the problem with ukraine and as i've called for time and time again is that i have not supported ukraine beyond the first vote and here's why. i can ask that our commander in chief come forward in a classified setting, democrat and republican, to tell us where the money's going and how we're going to end this war, this conflict. what's it going to look like. do it in a classified setting so that one of the members can talk about the strategy. that has yet to occur, and we're approaching the 2-year mark. if you're the commander in chief of the greatest military in the world perhaps that's ever been

known, why can't you do that? some would say that you don't have a strategy. we know that before the ukrainian war, ukraine had one of the most corrupt governments in the world. in fact, one of the gentlemen, jim jordan, is investing the links in ukraine and the biden administration now because of how corrupt they were. it doesn't just change overnight because the russian army invaded ukraine. and so we've got to move forward. i think there's been with overwhelming support in the republican party if we could just get those two questions answered. and you see the support waning quickly. it was 57 votes, and now it's 117 republican votes against this. and all we're asking is to come forward and tell us where the money ooh's going and how we're going to end this game. what does it look like. and we don't want another 20-year afghanistan war that ends in a failed pullout like we saw in august of '21 is. neil: congressman if hearn, very good of you to join us. thank you very much for joining us on this busy news day. beautiful state of oklahoma,

officially not running for speaker but weighing the two who are already out there, jim jordan and steve scalise. updating you on the developments in israel right now where we have reports of more than 100 killed, up to 800 now injured, some put it much higher than that. counterattacks in palestinian area. we'll get to that in a sec. with me is my colleague and friend bret baier. of course, only a few weeks ago you had a chance to talk to the crown prince of saudi arabia, mohamed bin salman, and he had sort of offered this possibility of normalizing or at least having more promising relations with israel. now these developments. what do you think? >> yeah, or neil, it's truly amazing. i think what saudi does, how it does react or doesn't react is going to be fascinating. also i talked to the israeli prime minister, and he was very hopeful about the normalization. but now this is a completely different ball game. i mean, i heard on x mark levin

call this israel's 9/11, and seeing these videos, neil, is really unbelievable. if you see some of this hamas video, some of it is so gruesome that they're going house to house shooting people. they have israeli civilian, they have israeli idf forces captured as host anings. some of those the, as trey mentioned earlier, are in the tunnels that they use for equipment and for weapons. so this is going to be a long operation. you heard the israeli prime minister say it will inwith israeli victory -- end with israeli victory, but it's going to be very difficult. i think that any talk outside of that, what israel's dealing with now, is probably way down the road. this event is so big that it is not a traditional attack. this had to be coordinated not just in weeks, maybe even not just in months. i mean, that's how significant it is.

all of the rockets from gaza, but more importantly all of these attacks in these communities along the border, are coordinated. and that's why you're hearing all these lawmakers and other people i've talked to in the past few minutes point to iran. iran's already come out with a statement kind of backing up the hamas brigades and look for that to increase, that talk to increase. i think you're right to point out that there is, it goes across administrations, and it's not just the $6 billion that was released a few weeks ago. this looks like it has been planned for a long, long time. neil: you know, i'm thinking of when the saudi prince was talking to you about the whole normalizing of relations and how that might potentially now be put off, and i'm thinking of saudi arabia's official response to this, bret, saying that the kingdom of saudi arabia is closely following the development of this unprecedented situation between a number of palestinian factions and israeli occupation forces which has resulted in a high level of violence on several

fronts. in other words, clearly saying, you know, israel's kind of asked for this. and some have said that this follow-up where the kingdom recalls its repleting wordings of the dangers of exposing the situation as a result of this continued occupation and deprivation of the palestinian people for their legitimate rights, so i'm wondering now if that's saudi arabia's way of not necessarily saying we in the arab world are all going to respond identically to what happened at the yom kippur attacks 50 years ago, but could it be a sign that they freeze think overtures to israel for quite some time? >> it's possible, neil. it would be a shame. they were really close. i mean, both sides said they were making real progress. but the sticking point for the saudis was what was going to happen with the palestinians and what the israelis were going to do when it came to the palestinians. now the israelis are on a totally different mindset. this is an attack on their

sovereignty, on their country, and i think that, you know, that's where the focus will be for the short term and and probably for, you know, weeks to come. they have a lot of ability, but this is a different operation. when when you're going to rescue people or you're taking out terrorists in different communities, we just got a report from the idf, a briefing that they went into one area and took out four terrorists and saved the people there. this is a house by house, community by community operation, and any military operator will tell you this takes a long time and it's very difficult. neil: i want to extend a little longer with bret, if i can. i'm wondering, there is in the history of attacks like this, sadly, a rally around israel for the sheer barbaric nature of it because that, unfortunately, is rather common in some of these prior incidents.

but it's short-lived. and i'm wondering looking back, maybe because i'm old enough to remember as a teenager the yom kippur war, there was sort of a sentiment that rallied around israel, but it didn't last very long. before you knew it, the u.n. was condemning israel. and after that, the arab nations came together and started the oil embargo which famously led to long gas lines in this country. i'm not saying that history repeats itself like that, but that the worldwide view and the sympathetic view for israel doesn't last long. and that's ooh maybe what a benjamin netanyahu fears and maybe the saudi prince. >> i agree with you. and, listen, we've already seen some statements. you're right to point out the saudi statement. i think how they are react over the next few days based on where they were in their mindset and what the crown prince was telling me both on cam and off cam will suggest where they're going. i think, for example, qatar, their statement today was that

israel is solely responsible for this. neil: yes. >> now, that statement, if you think about stirring the pot in the middle east, i mean, that statement is really something. and, remember, we have a relationship with qatar. they helped get people out of afghanistan for us during that horrible withdrawal that we all witnessed realtime. we have u.s. troops that are a part of, you know, doha. and i think that, you know, that statement is going to stir a lot of sentiment. and right now, you know, the calls between israeli prime minister netanyahu and president biden was reported to go well, the president saying they'll support the allies as stiffly and as much as they can. anything they need. and netanyahu saying, you know, they're going to win. but this is the beginning of something bigger, and and i think you have to look realistically that normalization talks are way down the road now. neil: you know, an issue that's come up, bret, on this whole

attack is how far the u.s. should go in supporting israel or supporting a foreign friend when facing a security threat. we've already seen from a number of republicans that when it comes to funding ukrainians in the ongoing effort against vladimir putin maybe go with slow, stop it entirely. some have expressed to me on this very show that if there's more ukraine funding in whatever package they come up with to avoid the government shutting down again, it better not include aid to ukraine. as long as you have this and and this maybe sense that the united states wones involve itself in these type -- won't involve itself in these type of issues. i know they're night and day and apples and and origins. what do you think of that and the tone certainly among republicans? >> yeah, i think i that will change in this incident, and i think any support of israel will be unconditional. i don't think that that's going to b