show a lack of understanding about the seriousness of this moment. look, this is a moment where the united states of america should be speaking and acting with one voice and that is a voice of resolve and determination to stand by israel and give them the support that they need to do what needs to be done in this moment and as i've said, hezbollah is not very smart. hezbollah is evil. and to send a message to hezbollah and lebanon to terrorists ensconced in the assad regime in syria and of course, a deafening message to iran that the united states of america is prepared to do what is necessary to hold them accountable because they're holding the leash on hamas and on hezbollah and it's one of the reasons i've said that the administration ought to be sending the u.s.s. eisenhower there and make it clear to all especially iran. neil: appreciate that. >> tensions across the globe escalating as israel's full

scale ground invasion of gaza draws near, just eight days after hamas' surprise attack on israel. this, as the unprecedented mass evaluation order from israel sparks chaos across gaza, as citizens run for their lives. welcome to fox news live, i'm jacqui heinrich. >> i'm rich edson. they prepare for a ground attack and that's where we find trey yingst. he has the latest there. >> hey, guys, good afternoon. we've been following the developments all day. a lot of fighting on the northern border between southern lebanon and northern israel. we understand the exchange between hezbollah and the israeli military continues at this hour and on the gaza border, might hear the buzz of an israeli drone. israelis seem to be preparing for what will be an imminent ground invasion. and with juxtapositions in the yield, waiting for orders to

move forward and enter the gaza strip. i want to show you what it was like just last night near the gaza border as the israelis continued their air strikes against gaza and a sense how active the scene is and what the explosions look like. >> you can see behind me a large explosion in the northern part of the gaza strip. the israelis continue to strike gaza ahead of an expected ground operation. right now there's a massive rocket barrage coming off the gaza strip. you can see one rocket after another appears to be toward the center of israel. there are thousands of infantry troops along this area, too. as those air strikes continue, they're preparing, like i said, for that ground operation. now, today we saw as the opposition leader in israel recently became part of an emergency government. he came down to the south to meet with the soldiers and he used to be the country's defense minister and understands what's at stake here.

i want you to listen to what he had to say. >> defense minister you and i sat down and talked about threats from hezbollah, from gaza. it's playing out right now. what needs to be done in terms of the situation in response following the massacre on saturday? >> first of all, it was a massacre, as you said. something that we are facing now, it's unhuman, but we got control of the situation and we are moving into an offensive in different ways. we are preparing ourselves very seriously and other fronts as well. we're going to prevail and win this war imposed on us. i've been running around the south. i see pain, but at the same time lots of determination and that's the same case up north and anywhere else.

we have an emergency united government and we'll take all measures needed to win this war and we will. thank you very much. >> there is a motivation among the israeli leaders and soldiers here in southern israel. as you noted israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu checking on the troops in this part of the country, but the motivation stems from the fact that they've seen the massacre, aftermath of what occurred in southern israel what happened to their fellow countrymen and part of the reason they're so ready for the battle. we've spoken with soldiers who say they are afraid of what's to come, but they're ready for what could arrive. >> when you look at what's happened in that country, you've been there to see the turmoil, the internal turmoil and the attack, what's the unity like, and you spoke with benny gantz and what is the environment like and compare

that to just a week ago. >> yeah, just a week ago, there were plans for a-- i should just say eight days ago because we've now reached the seven-day mark. eight days ago there were thousands of protesters who planned anti-government demonstrations that were for the 34th or 35th week going to take to the streets of tel aviv and other large cities due to the fracture in the israeli political society related to government reforms and judicial reforms being pushed forward by netanyahu's lekud party and those are pushed aside and there's an understanding the unity needs to be there in order to win and for the future of the jewish state. they have been able to put together a unity government and used as you can see to help with logistics to make sure the politics are aside and the focus is on the military in the south and a lot of that bickering that is total ly gone

away because there's a common goal for gaza. >> jacqui. jacqui: president biden speaking with families who have those missing. >> yeah, the president said he wanted the families to know that the president of the united states cared and working hard for the families. there was an asterisk that the president added when he was speaking to 60 minutes in an interview that airs tomorrow, he vows to get the americans back home, these missing americans, but added, quote, if we can find them. here is more from that. >> to those holding american hostages in gaza, you say what? >> i say we're going to do everything in our power to find them, everything in our power and i'm not going to go into the detail of that, but there's a-- we're working like hell on it.

>> it's unclear how many of the 14 missing have been taken hostage. yesterday in philadelphia, president biden spoke of the zoom call he had with the families of the missing calling it gut wrenching and saying this about hamas. >> they're pure evil. as i said from the beginning, the united states make no mistake about it, stands with israel. >> the president's messaging was reinforced earlier today when secretary of state antony blinken visited saudi arabia. while the country's foreign minister did not once mention hamas in that meeting, secretary blinken did not hold back. >> and we need to work together to find a way out of the cycle of violence. >> this is, i think, an important moment for moral clarity when it comes to hamas. at the same time, as israel pursues its legitimate right to defending its people and to trying to assure that this never happens again, it is vitally important that all of us look out for civilians.

>> so both agree that the safe passage for civilians is critical and jacqui, you've done some terrific reporting on this, and sources telling fox news that the u.s. had urged israel to delay any ground invasion into gaza until a route out for civilians was secured. >> president biden, what worries you about a potential israeli ground invasion into gaza. >> death. >> you can hear the president say death there. >> and senator joni ernst fears what a ground invasion means for captured americans and urges the biden administration to act. >> we know that those hostages, that they're being held in gaza will be in extreme danger as the israelis move in with their ground forces. so i would leave the options open to this administration to work with the israelis and make sure that we're securing our

hostages. >> senator ernst adds she feels the u.s. should be making demands of hamas telling we need to get our americans home and asking what-- how that can be made possible, but right now, the united states, we're just working with israel and regional partners in trying to find the whereabouts of the hostages, potential hostages, the missing 14 and to find out whether they're even dead or alive, jacqui. jacqui: and officials suggested leaning heavily on qatar, also, for them to use their connections with hamas to try to discern where these hostages are. alex, thanks so much. >> sure. >> rich. >> joining me now is former minister, thank you for joining us this afternoon. the prime minister has vowed to crush and eliminate hamas. is that possible? >> yes. and it will happen. this is the pure face of evil and, you know, evil has in this

case, a face, it's the new bin laden. he's the face of evil and even if he doesn't know it, he is a dead man walking. him and all of his senior officers, and we will hunt them down and they are dead because we cannot, as we've learned the bitter way, and the painful way last saturday, we cannot live with a terror organization on our border while the people are beheading our children and raping women and acting like isis, the new isis here in israel. so, this will end with the end of hamas. >> what's your sense of how involved iran has been here? there has been some reporting out there that they were solved specifically in this attack and other reports it's the longstanding support that hamas has gotten from iran here. what's iran's culpability and role in that attack.

>> iran is behind everything bad in this region. they've been sending money to hamas throughout the years and doing more so with hezbollah up north and i assume we'll get into this. soon enough. so, basically, iran is part of this. but hamas is a different organization from hezbollah. as i've said, it's pure evil and it's going to be eliminated and whoever helps them is in trouble. >> there's been some recent reporting out that the terrorists last weekend had very specific information when it came to the israeli presence along that border. in one of the new york times, even saying that, you know, you had specific attackers coming in with perhaps even maps showing where the vulnerabilities were. is now the time to look into what exactly happened or are you at war here right now and will that inquiry happen after this is all finished?

>> this is not the time to get into this. we are, as you said, we are at war, and we need to win this first. everybody understands that this was a complete failure of intelligence and preparation and we'll need to fix this because this is the kind of excellence the israeli defense army always had and always will have and that doesn't mean we're bullet-proof. it doesn't mean we don't make mistakes. we know how to fix them and investigate ourselves going backwards, but right now, we're focused on one thing and one thing only, which is making sure hamas is gone from the gaza strip and it's for the best and not only for the israelis, but also for the people of gaza. >> you declined to join the unity government. do you think this government as it stands is prepared for this fight? >> i don't mind answering the question, but is it okay if i don't care? nobody cares about politics around here, we're bleeding.

i've said i'll be as helpful to my country and a structural thing, it doesn't matter. the israelis are united and we're going to work together and we're going to fight together and we're going to make sure that hamas is gone because this is way bigger than politics right now. listen, i went yesterday to visit some of the people who evacuated from the south and i met an elderly woman i know and i said, how are you, dear. and she said, they killed my son, but at least i have cancer and i will die soon so i won't have to suffer that much. this is the kind of stories we hear. her and the babies who were beheaded and butchered and the young ladies dragged into gaza and raped and killed. who cares about politics and the unity of government. we care about the unity of the government to get rid of this tumor we have in our lives. >> that story is just--

it's been a week of stories just like that. you know, looking forward, is there a concern and are you concerned of this, of this spreading to the north, to syria, to the west bank? >> well, rich, let me use this opportunity to tell hezbollah up north and the government of lebanon, it's no longer hezbollah, there's a country called lebanon and syria, and iran. yes, we were caught by surprise, but we will not be surprised this time. we are actually at the peak of being alert and in the peak of our readiness and it's a bad idea to mess with us right now because we are angry as hell. so what we've been telling hezbollah and we've been-- it was well-appreciated the fact that president biden got involved in this and the carriers are approaching the shore. it's a bad idea for hezbollah, lebanon and syria to be involved in this, they will be

better off sitting this one down. >> the former prime minister of israel, yair lapid. thank you. >> thank you, to the american people for the support. >> for more on the u.s. response to israel, we're joined by the senator from tennessee and veteran affairs committees, marsha blackburn. senator, thank you for being with us. i want to start where rich touched on. this new york times report. directing some blame at iran for this attack on israel by hamas. the headline is officiallies from iran and hezbollah planned the attack and people familiar with the operation said, but the u.s. and its allies have not found any evidence directly linking tehran, that would be in line what what was above. this was based on three iranians from the revolutionary

guard and the leadership. what about the messaging that there's no direct link to iran? >> jacqui, what we know is that iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism. what we know is that iran uses their proxies and they supply upwards of 90% of the budget of hamas and hezbollah. those are things that we know. we know that iran, the ayatollah came out and said that getting rid of israel, i'm paraphrasing, of course, that this was important to their initiatives and they have said many times that their number one target was israel. and indeed, this was an attack that was well-planned. it was well thought out. you just heard the former prime minister say that they were

surprised, but they would not be surprised a second time and they have unified themselves and they are focused on eliminating response and israel doing what is necessary to protect themselves, their country, their people. >> you've led this effort within your chamber in the senate trying to refreeze the $6 billion that the u.s. had made available to iran for humanitarian purposes. we know that the administration broadly plans to leave requests for withdrawals pending, but you're calling for a formal freeze. explain why that's important. >> yes, it is vitally important because you do not want attention on this issue to fade and then the u.s. to say, well, we quietly froze this and delayed it, but now we're going to open it back up.

and unless we have a formal decision to freeze that money and remove iran's ability to get to those dollars, the concern is they will eventually release this $6 billion. and jacqui, what you have to do is say, if you're doing anything with this money, it should go to israel to pay for destruction and damages that have been done to israel. this is an unprovoked attack. we also-- go ahead. jacqui: senator, are you at all concerned if the u.s. were to refreeze the $6 billion that it would be tantamount for calling iran responsible for this and what implications that might have? does that concern you at all? >> it would not have-- in effect, i think what you would do, if you freeze this

money, refreeze this money and at the same time go back to implementing the sanctions. jake sullivan, and one of the reasons i think he should go and be removed as the national security director is they eased up on those sanctions. what has iran done with that? they have gone back to upping their oil production to three million barrels a day. jacqui: yeah. >> and they are selling this into china, into russia, and make ago profit and where does the profit go? it goes to terrorism, we know that-- >> we're running out of time. clarify one thing you believe you just said. you're calling for jake sullivan to resign from his post as national security partner. >> absolutely, he has not served this country or the president well and i think it's time for him to go. when you look at what happened with the first iran deal, when you look at what has happened

with the second iran deal, when you look at the easing of sanctions that has allowed iran to up their oil sales, jacqui, the advice that he has given the president has not served the american people or our security well. jacqui: all right, news there. all right, senator marsha blackburn, thank you for being with us. i apologize we've run out of time. appreciate you being here. fox corporation has made a one million dollar donation to the united jewish appeal as they mobilize for those impacted for those in israel. please scan the qr code to support the support israel emergency fund. >> jacqui, pro-palestinian protests are erupting on college campuses across the country. we'll have the latest on that after the break. ♪ changing your habits is the only way that gets you to lose the weight. and golo is the plan that's going to help you do that.

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genocide on the area. people hesitating to speak to the press, but chants from the crowd revealing many feel that israel is to blame for the escalating violence in the region. one sign read resistance is justified when people are occupied. others are shouting not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for israel's crime. and one man says they feel dehumanized by the government. >> we're not animals, we're not chosen god's people, we're all god's people. >> jewish voices for peace, a self-described anti-zionist pro-palestinian liberation group protested outside of chuck schumer's home as the senator had shabbat dinner with his family ahead of his trip to israel. chanting outside of his department demanding a cease-fire in the hamas-israel war and people were arrested including two assembly members. many were issues summons for

blocking traffic. one woman was disappointed seeing only a few pro-israel protests through the night. >> no words to express, watching people sympathize with hamas, cheering, protesting for the name of hamas and cheering pro-palestine in a moment like this? i have no words. >> as tensions continue throughout the city, a police source tells me we can expect to see more officers out at places of worship and throughout the city's transit system. now, these divisions are playing out at colleges and universities across the country. many of them now also tightening security and limiting access to strictly students. back to you. jacqui: all right, cb cotton in new york for us, rich. rich: as defense forces prepare ground operations, an israeli family tells a horrifying story

of their loved one's capture and hold hope for a release. and steve harrigan has the terrifying details. >> according to israel more than 120 people remain hostages in gaza, that's men, women, children, elderly, foreigners, israelis, civilians, and soldiers. among those being held hostage unaccounted for at least 14 americans and that family you mentioned is abby owen's family. 15 members of her family kidnapped and taken into gaza, the youngers of whom is just 12 years old. >> we began getting messages from them that hamas had infiltrated not only the border, but in the kibbutz and they could hear them in the house, that they'd overturned furniture and they could hear gunfire. the last messages that we have from them are a fear that they won't make it out. >> a lot of these families first learned their loved ones were being held hostage by

seeing shocking internet videos, often showing the hostages tied up or taken across the border into gaza on trucks. hamas is saying those hostages are held in multiple locations in order to complicate any rescue efforts among those being held, an 83-year-old, a journalist worked for palestinian rights for decades. hamas is now threatening to execute the hostages one by one in response to any israeli strikes on palestinian houses without warning. back to you. rich: steve harrigan live for us. thank you. jacqui: rich, the israeli defense forces are preparing for a full-scale ground operation in gaza. we'll have the latest updates coming up next. igraine - 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more - can be overwhelming. so, ask your doctor about botox®. botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they even start. it's the #1 prescribed branded chronic migraine treatment. so far, more than 5 million botox® treatments

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>> israel is warning northern gaza residents to evacuate and head south as they prepare for a possible ground invasion from the north. senior correspondent mike tobin is live in southern israel on

the evacuation efforts, mike. >> it's become, rich, a long and desperate day, particularly for foreign nationals trying to get out of the gaza strip. as the population of gaza city moves south, the foreign nationals got the heads-up from the state department, at least the u.s. state department, u.s. citizens got that, and they headed for the rafah crossing at the border with egypt, hoping they could get out. we got word earlier in the day that a deal had been struck, but for whatever reason, the crossing never opened. emily roschenberger, she's one that i've been in contact with, she and her five kids, ultimately as the sun went down they gave up and went back for shelter. indications that the ground invasion is imminent, one of them is that prime minister benjamin netanyahu came down here to the border region and met with the troops. he asked them, are you ready? and told them that the next stages are coming.

cannot be ignored right now is the northern border. that's the border with lebanon. dozens of rockets have come across. hezbollah has claimed credit for both the rocket fire and anti-tank fire that has come from the lebanese side of the border. israel responded, but not melted down to the point where it's going to open up another front in this war. rich: mike, have you seen an uptick in the pace from israeli forces, does it seem something is happening soon? >> you see a lot of stages, you see the fuel trucks moving into place and armor moved around. something i've noticed today is a lot of buses loaded with soldiers going off different places where they are-- where they are basing themselves for the moment and ramping up and you'll probably hear off to the distance, artillery fire continues to pound away and soften up the

battlefield in the gaza strip. rich: thank you, mike tobin. jacqui: we're joined from someone from israel, from the israeli service, thank you for making time with us amid i'm certain is a very chaotic time for you. i notice you're coming to us from your car. why is that? >> unfortunately i have no home to go back to after the massacre done on september-- the last saturday, story. 20 members of my community were brutally murdered in the hamas attack. and my community was evacuated completely by the army two days ago, at the moment i'm staying with my four kids in hotel room. on top of it, i went to visit my family and i was actually accompanying my sister-in-law to come visit her husband who she has not seen for a week so she brought him his 4-month-old baby so he can see, which they

have not met with in over seven days and so i'm actually currently in the car to finish with her husband and we'll go back home to her house. >> amazing. unbelievable what you're all going through there. i understand that you are feeling some frustration that you're not seeing more presence, i guess, in the community from the government as you're mourning the loss. you had said that, you know, you don't see any ministers, government officials, visiting hospitals and that kind of thing. obviously, they're probably working on something in gaza right now, but do you think that your people need to see more from your government right now, is that what you're saying? >> that can be said. i can see that saying. i want to see actions, not stories and hugs and kisses. rather than sitting on their minds and come up with the greatest solution they can, and

not going to come meet me, fine. but i want a good solution. i'm actually more frustrated with the rally supporting hamas in the middle of time square in new york. that's outstanding, it's-- i think i've seen the worst part and i heard student organizations howard, ivy league college, howard, blaming israel for the escalation. i want to ask you, where were you last saturday? 1300 iz royals are butchered, babies, six months old the youngest one, decapitated head and hamas bragging about it themselves. and where are you with hamas? are you supporting violence and terrorism? because hamas is isis, what is seen last saturday should be condemned. that's frustrating more thon what i'm seeing from politicians. jacqui: understandably so. the u.s. so far declined to shut down any pro-palestinian

protests unlike in france, they stopped down those kinds of rallies out of concerns about, you know, potential violence there, but the first amendment to the right to express yourself in the u.s. is strong. that being said, you know, do you feel that the support that you're seeing from the biden administration is strong enough and do you think that there's anything lacking in what the u.s. is doing right now? >> i can strongly say that the common feeling among israelis is we-- the biden speech which maybe got some called responses among some circles, in israel was accepted warmly because president biden supported israel defended, carrier, and he showed support he's sending troops to iraq -- to join us. the only thing concerns,

there's not connections in iran to this. iran is hezbollah, is hamas. that's the equation. if you're giving iran $6 billion, the money for the weapons that murdered my neighbors. jacqui: did that upset people in israel? >> i think-- i have to be honest with you, most israelis who are not involved in american politics are not really aware of that happening just, i don't know, a few days, a few weeks ago, to be honest i lost track of time at the moment. israelis don't no about that i know that because i'm talking to media. and most israelis feel the warmest hug from the u.s., especially if you can-- not talking president trump's heart, but compare it to the president before him, obama, president obama, i feel like you never felt so warm hug by a

democrat president. jacqui: well, you're getting one from us here, obviously, as your community is dealing with such incredible loss. please come back anytime and prayers to your family, too. >> thank you so much for letting us speak our voices. jacqui: border officials concerned as there are more people on the terror watch list. more after the break. in the celebration. to help get you ready, your aspen dental denture team is celebrating 25 years of affordable care with an epic anniversary savings event. don't miss enjoying a moment with fast repairs in our onsite labs and 20% off your custom dentures. plus, we have a denture money back guarantee so you can smile with confidence. aspen dental. book today. (vo) you were diagnosed with thyroid eye disease

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intense clashes continuing now in the middle east as israel urges northern gaza residents to evacuate to the south. meanwhile at our southern border, officials are on high alert after encountering migrants on the terror watch list. griff jenkins tracking this in eagle pass. griff: good afternoon. individuals with terror connections continue to attempt to enter the homeland. that's not a statement from me. that's from the dhs assessment they put out on october 1st when the fiscal year began and that's why they're concerned what's coming across this border, particularly this special interest aliens. here in eagle pass alone, jacqui, on thursday, we had two lebanese men in their 20's apprehended along with an egyptian man. across the entire southwest border since monday, 20 iranians and 27 syrians. they're going through background scrutiny. we don't talk with those

countries or intelligence arrangements where we share intelligence with them. we don't know who these people are. and that's the concern as we get group after group, hundreds here every day and had almost 1500 known got-aways just in the sector just this week, jacqui. g.o.p. presidential candidate vivek ramaswamy came down and briefed with and learned how dangerous the situation was. here is a little of what he told us. >> i'm worried about the special interests aliens, 70-some odd thousand special interest aliens that came over the last year. griff: of course, we know that in the last fiscal year that just ended the end of september, 151 individuals hit that terrorist screening data base. it's more than the culmination of the six previous years and that's what's got officials so concerned. jacqui, back to you. jacqui: that's incredible. all right. griff jenkins. thanks so much, rich.

rich: for more on this, joining me now is former acting dhs secretary chad wolf. mr. secretary, what's going on down there and how do border patrol, cvp make sure that they have an understanding or an idea who is crossing into the united states? >> well, look, i think the border just continues to be wide open and it has been since day one of this administration. and what the border patrol has to do now, whether it's the 70,000 special interest aliens or over 260 known or suspected terrorists, they obviously need to apprehend them, they need to interrogate them and vet them. it's very, very difficult to do when you have thousands and millions of migrants coming across the border every week and month and having to process them as well. the same border patrol agents doing both. the more you allow this open border policy and strategy that this administration has embarked on, the less and less safe it makes our country. and so, those 70,000 special interest aliens, my guess is the vast majority of them even though they've undergone

vetting have been released into the interior of the country and the dhs and the bide administration has no idea where they're at. rich: when you look at people crossing into the united states, these are people who are coming from all over the world and because they are coming from the middle east, does it raise flags or should it raise increased flags? because even before this attack you've had people coming here for no other reason other than they want to be in the united states to build a new life. >> i think that's right. it's not only just the country or the region that they're coming from, and yes, many of them are coming from the middle east, but also, the route in which they take to come to their southern border. lots of them fly into brazil make their way through colombia, through the darien gap and take routes that are similar to known terrorist routes. that's what elevates them and

that he is what the folks at homeland security should be concerned about. that's where the extra vetting comes in. and it's hard to do when you're apprehending, 8, 9, 10,000 a day, don't have the resources to do it well. rich: and the response from the united states so far has been a strong and forceful one behind the israeli government and israeli people. does that also make the u.s. a greater target for violence? >> well, i think certainly in this heightened time we need to be vigilant. the department of homeland security should be sharing as many information and intelligence to local law enforcement and they do that through 70 different fusion centers and able to push that information out and then local law enforcement, obviously, is operating in their individual localities, and cities, and they take the extra precautions, but everyone should be on a heightened state right now particularly as the conflict continues and that's really a day by day and a week by week determination.

>> when you look at what could be a target in the united states, typically what are the places that law enforcement are looking at to make sure that the defenses are in place in case something happens? >> well, i think there are two things that come to mind. one is iconic buildings and landmarks, things of that nature. others are soft targets, concert venues, movie theaters, shopping malls, things of that nature that are very big venues and perhaps are very difficult to put security around here in the states. so, we-- at the department we constantly looked at those two types of facilities. iconic facilities and then what we would consider soft targets as well. rich: very quickly, mr. secretary. this is something that could last a while and is going to be big job for law enforcement, right? >> i think so. they've got a long road ahead of them. the intelligence and information given to them should guide their decisions. don't need to be on super high

alert every day, not sustainable, but where it takes them. rich: former secretary chad wolf joining us. thank you very much. jacqui: and g.o.p. hopefuls are reacting from the campaign trail in new hampshire. we'll have a live report coming up next. his a1c? it's down with rybelsus®. my doctor told me rybelsus® lowered a1c better than a leading branded pill and that people taking rybelsus® lost more weight. i got to my a1c goal and lost some weight too. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis.

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>> well, rich, we've had some conflicting reports, obviously, on the message that the u.s. was sharing with israel about when it should begin this ground invasion that's been imminent for, you know, the last several hours and you know, it's notable to me, i think, that i have sourcing, obviously, that the message was very clear that, you know, the u.s. wanted israel to give a chance for humanitarian corridors to be established. emphasizing in public we've seen many times, the talks are ongoing, abide by the rules of armed conflict and really avoid any harm to civilians. that is, you know, no matter if they're saying behind closed doors-- or in statements there was not a formal ask, the ask is out there. they've said it in, you know, in public statements many times and i have strong sourcing that i don't doubt for even a second

about the fact that this message was received, but even you've been at the pentagon this week and stood out to me that that was reiterated by the secretary of defense in his meetings as well. rich: absolutely. the public face of the united states has been an absolutely unequivocal strong support for israel. as we're looking at a potential ground invasion and perhaps one that's going to happen as early as today, you know, you've got a very densely populated area. you've already had civilian deaths and the united states has publicly been warning exactly what you're talking about. of course, when you talk about the specifics of what goes on in these conversations in private, secretary of state antony blinken saying in riyadh a short while ago as israel pursues its legitimate right to defending its people and that's something the administration has underscored. also adding, it is vitally important that all of us look out for civilians and we're working together to do exactly that. jacqui: yeah, i mean, we know that the ask was made and it's also notable to me that there

was a statement that a senior state department official gave to the pool this morning in saudi arabia. u.s. officials have not asked israeli officials to slow down, but take into account the safety of civilians during operations and the israelis took it under advisement. they took under advisement a message we didn't formally send, but we sent it. rich: there's more on the ground to cover and we'll be doing that coming up next. and we will have the latest from israel as the idf prepares for a massive ground invasion coming up soon. can do more than help you reach your goals. i can make this work. it can help you reach them with confidence. no wonder more than 9 out of 10 of our clients are likely to recommend us. ameriprise financial. advice worth talking about.

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