>> we come in with a fox news alert as some prayers have been answered this hour. i am thrilled to report to you breaking news from our own trey yingst. two american hostages released from gaza. fox news has independently confirmed that news, two hostages released as we pray for the others, the 201 that remain this hour in the hands of hamas terrorists. thanks to everyone for joining us. now, to "america reports." >> the crew of the guided missile destroyer u.s.s. carney

shot down three land attack cruise missiles and several drones. >> i'm going to send to congress an urgent budget request to fund america's national security needs, to support our critical partners, including israel and ukraine. >> sandra: brand-new developments, breaking moments ago, hamas has freed two american hostages. that is all we know at this hour as american forces are coming under attack by iran proxies across the middle east. and that is a huge development. welcome, everyone, i'm sandra smith in new york. john, great to see you. >> john: holds out hope for the fate of other hostages held by hamas as well. john roberts in jerusalem, this is "america reports." good to see you. several u.s. bases in syria and iraq have been targeted by drone attacks, raising fears's iran's proxies are more emboldened to

expand the war between israel and hamas. >> sandra: all of this is happening as the israeli defense forces have been given the green light for a ground invasion in gaza. hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles deployed to southern israel in recent hours. >> john: we have fox team coverage from around the globe over the next two hours and the breaking news from the war in the middle east. we are going to start with trey yingst, live on the ground in southern israel. and trey, what are we learning about the freed hostages? >> i want to quickly tell you, the camera was panned up to the sky, a massive barrage off the gaza strip. one of the rockets intercepted in southern israel. we do have some breaking news for you. fox news can independently confirm that two american hostages were released from gaza. these hostages were taken on october 7th by hamas militants who entered southern israel. they were dragged back into the gaza strip, you can hear the explosions as the fire

continues. they were dragged not gaza trip and held for nearly two weeks, but international efforts have been underway since then trying to free as many people as possible. we have to be careful with our attribution here, and the sourcing behind this. but we have been able to confirm by a source outside of hamas that this deal did go through, and two american hostages have been released into egypt. this is significant, and a major development. these are the first two hostages to be released, just pan the camera here, some sort of fire coming from gaza, and you can see that explosion there, that did not look like a rocket, might have been -- might have been a shell actually that was fired by the israelis. but it gives you a sense here as we are getting this news in, john, a lot of movement along the border and that explosion there, war planes are overhead right now, would not be surprising if you see any sort of airstrikes behind me.

john. >> john: let me ask you another little question if i could, trey. it's obviously dangerous where you are. and i don't want you to expose yourself. but apparently this hostage was released because of negotiations between qatar and hamas. but that would mean there are still 201 hostages, at least, being held. what about the fate of the others? >> yeah, absolutely. qatar has been working behind the scenes from humanitarian aid to hostage release. i don't want to get too deep into the specifics of this release but i can tell you that we can confirm there are still 201 hostages inside gaza, possibly more. the israelis spoke with us earlier today. a top military official saying there are between 10200 people still missing from southern israel, some of those bodies may never be recovered, there still could be some people alive, but in gaza just not yet accounted for. and that's part of why the

israelis are making this calculation. i'm told, though, by my producer, we checked with the israelis following our independent confirmation of the hostage release from gaza, two american citizens. families have not yet been notified, we don't have the names. but the initial statement according to reports that again, it's two american citizens, i don't want to get into the gender of the initial reports because we have only been able to confirm that these are two u.s. citizens. but again, a significant development as thousands of israeli troops remain on the border with gaza, anticipation is growing about a possible ground offensive into the gaza strip and turn the camera again, you can see likely more fire into gaza and a small explosion there. if we have it, i do want to play for you some sound that we got earlier from israel's defense minister. he spoke about the timeline and

the regional war developing, you hear explosion there, activity along the border. but gallant spoke about what this means. he said this is not days, weeks or months, but we are looking at a much larger operation. take a listen. >> we will reach the point there is a completely different security regime here that we have complete freedom of action and that there is no threat from within the gaza strip. this will not take a day nor a week, and unfortunately not a month. >> throughout the day there were some more rocket fire from the gaza strip into southern and central israel, 14 days into the conflict. hamas and islamic jihad have maintained the ability to target major population centers here. we have a small piece from this position in the daylight, but i will stay on the bridge with the producers in case we get more incoming. take a look. minute by minute, israeli air

force pounds the gaza strip. you can see the smoke rising up from the horizon. israeli jets overhead continue to hammer these positions along the border. you can see rockets coming off the gaza strip. this type of fire has been going on throughout the day. a ground operation is imminent, but we do understand the israelis want to hit as many targets as they can before that takes place. i do want to draw your attention to northern israel, significant developments today. lebanese militant group hezbollah continues to fire on israeli positions and communities. a town, around 20,000 people are being evacuated as a result of the tension along the border. hezbollah has fired rockets, israelis have responded with airstrikes and earlier today there was an infiltration attempt where you actually had hezbollah militants trying to cross into israel, the israelis tell fox news they used an airstrike to kill three of those

hezbollah operatives along the border in southern lebanon. a sense of how active the southern and northern front is, and the third front in the west bank. 13 palestinians were killed. we need to go, there could be mortar fire here. stay with me. everyone -- yep, leave the camera, just stay with me, we have to move, we are very close. i can hear you. get in, that's mortar. get in, get covered, everyone in? i can hear you, john. >> john: ok. sandra is with us as well, trey. >> sandra: trey, be safe, first and foremost, you and your crew. if you can keep talking to us, let me just read you -- >> listen to our camera. >> sandra: ok. you left the camera there. we can see the shot. trey, there's some wires crossing right now, the palestinian red crescent, crossing on the reuters wire, says they have received a warning from israeli forces to

immediately evacuate a gaza hospital. this is just crossing the wire right now. also adding to that, let's see -- israel's channel 13 is also confirming, by the way, that hamas has released two hostages. what else can you tell us about what's happening right now? >> yeah, absolutely, and so the israelis continue, we are going to take it off the sticks, guys, if you could take it off the sticks, we'll come down here, just stay with us for a moment. so what you heard there, the whistle of -- of incoming mortar fire. so those were indeed mortars fired at this position and we are so close to the gaza border, you have about ten seconds to get to cover. so that plan we just implemented there, we had discussed that beforehand, leave the camera, get to a shelter and hard cover because this is very active here along the front. in terms of the evacuations, the israelis have been increasing airstrikes.

it has been more than a decade since we have seen this level of strikes conducted by the israelis and for the southern communities that have been evacuated or who were victims of that massacre last weekend, they have already been moved away. the evacuations continue in the north and then when it comes to the evacuations inside gaza, the israelis are trying to alert civilians before they launch new airstrikes against heavily populated areas. we saw the misinformation that came out following that hospital explosion a few days ago. we very quickly spoke with the israeli military so we had the accurate information but many others did not, and it sparked unrest across the middle east. and that unrest is very dangerous, given the boiling tension across the region that has started to spill over. you see iran's proxies active and operating from yemen, trying to fire drones and cruise missiles toward israel.

that fire intercepted by u.s. naval ship. also iranian-backed irani shia militias, it's becoming an active regional scene and the last thing israelis need is more tension in the west bank or other cities across the area that could make it a challenging and difficult situation even worse. john, sandra. >> john: i'm thinking hamas must be very pleased with itself it put out that statement and sounds like more mortars coming in, put out the statement which was erroneous about the hospital explosion, blaming israel, picked up by the global media and inflamed tensions across the entire region. what we are waiting for, trey, and waiting for more than a week, is the expected anticipated ground operation into gaza. do we have any more clarity, and i know the idf is tight-lipped

about any planning they have, any more clarity when that might actually occur? >> there isn't a lot of clarity on that, and i think the release of two americans tonight may delay that even further. the priority is -- is diplomacy right now, trying to get as many people out held hostage by hamas, islamic jihad and smaller factions inside gaza before a ground offensive would take place. according to intelligence sources there are conversations going on at the highest level behind the scenes. some are taking place in cairo, others are taking place in different locations. we are very careful again to protect sources in all of this, it's incredibly sensitive information. the fact that two american citizens were released by hamas is a small but positive development in this horrific story. and so they will certainly try to get more people released

ahead of a ground offensive. but troops are staging here along the border. it still is not a question of if, but rather when israel enters gaza. because they have one key goal, and that goal is to destroy hamas, to demilitarize the gaza strip, by destroying hamas, it's destroying iran to operate throughout this area and makes it incredibly challenging and uncertain for the days ahead because there is a real belief on the ground, and this is not just coming from israeli officials we talk to, american officials, other regional players, they believe hezbollah and the iranian proxies throughout the region will immediately respond when israel enters gaza and it's part of the posture and why the alert level is so high not just here in the south along the border with gaza but also in the north, along the border with lebanon, and david

sling and the arrow system have to be engaged. this regional conflict is quickly evolving. >> sandra: trey, thank you very much. incredible reporting on the ground there as it's happening, and we'll get back to you shortly, trey, as we continue to get updates on this hostage situation as we can now confirm that two hostages released by hamas, the family has not yet been notified as you are reporting so we do not have further details yet, we hope to shortly. and by the way, update, trey, thank you. john, i want to continue to update our audience on what we are learning through the idf about the hostages. brand-new information this morning on the approximately 200 hostages in the gaza strip, 20 of them children under the age of 18. they are releasing, the information they are releasing, between 10 and 20 of them over the age of 60, the majority of the hostages, the idf says, are

alive. there were also bodies taken hostage to the gaza strip, important details released this morning. we'll check back with trey, meanwhile, five u.s. navy warships will patrol the waters near israel as a campaign of deterrence to keep iran and hezbollah at bay. israel evacuating a town near lebanon as intense fighting in the north raises concerns about a growing conflict. greg palkot is live from the israel-lebanon border for us. greg, what's the latest from there? >> greg: sandra, as we look at the south, we are looking at the north now and it is a very active border. hezbollah and other groups are testing israel from lebanon just about a mile and a half from where we are standing. in the past hour or so, we have been hearing exchanges of gunfire, in the past few minutes, outgoing artillery blasts from the israeli

military. there have been militant mortars and missiles hitting one down, a drone has hit three hezbollah militants and earlier today more clashes and very important warning to one town. take a look what we saw and heard. >> here in the israel-lebanon border town, authorities are now telling people to leave, terror is creeping in on all sides. yesterday saw six militant rockets rain down on the town. three injured. today a militant came across and shoot and injured an israeli soldier. the uptick in activity by hezbollah and allies up here is due to the looming israeli-hamas targeted invasion down south. >> i recommend all the people living here get out fast, not take a risk. we have in the war area a lot of

bomb, a lot of terror attack. >> greg: lots of bombs, lots of terror attack. that's what the mayor of the town told us. he went on to say they are not fighting hezbollah, or hamas, they are fighting iran. iran the benefactor and other groups, and may be also calling the shots throughout the region. >> sandra: 8:16 p.m. local time there. do you tend to see more activity as the night goes on? what has it been like over the past 11 or 12 days? >> greg: as i'm listening to you right now, sandra, i'm hearing artillery. we were with an israeli military artillery unit yesterday. they are very active, basically, over to one side of us and the shells are going over us and going into lebanon. they are targeting hezbollah militant positions and there are other groups, believe it or not,

inside lebanon as well. hamas does have a representation up here as well as other groups. so, there has been back and forth. to stand here and hear exchange of gunfire a mile, mile and a half away, brings home this is a very active front and from all the officials that have been talking about this, hezbollah officials, iranian officials, they make very clear if there is even more escalation down south, there will be escalation here as well, sandra. >> sandra: all right, greg palkot on the border there. thank you very much, greg. update on the two hostages while we are not able to identify them yet, the family has not been notified yet, they are currently in the hands of the red cross. we have just gotten that information. we'll continue to update as we get more. john. >> john: a little more detail on that, looks as though the transfer is going to be facilitated by the egyptians through egypt, i imagine, across the raffa crossing at the

southern end of gaza. the president and founder of the research and education center, analyzes israel security challenges along its border with lebanon. we'll get into that in a second, but obviously a positive development that hamas has decided to release two american hostages. there are still probably 201 in custody, many of them israelis. what do you make of the move, they said it was done through negotiations carried out by qatar for humanitarian reasons. >> i don't think hamas is a humanitarian organization. the reason to do that, to put pressure on israel to postpone the ground attack. >> john: buy a little time. suggest over the coming days we may see another hostage release. >> it may happen. and that's why put more and more pressure on israel to stop or prevent the ground attack so they will, you know, survive this. >> john: that is one of the great worries, if a ground operation begins in the hours

ahead, all of those hostages will be in grave danger. >> that's right. but again, the grave danger that there will be and not because of israel, it's because of hamas, hamas is using them as human shield, part of the master plan made with hezbollah. we published this week the master plan planned a decade ago by hezbollah and they say the same thing, they are going to enter the cities and the villages up north to kidnap hostages, to make them human shields. >> john: why the idf ordered the buffer zone from metula from the top of the galilee to the sea. >> more than two centimeters. announcement to encourage those living up to five kilometers to leave the area, meaning they give support to those five

kilometers. i don't think the israeli government would do this kind of massive evacuation. this is 60,000 people only up north, more than 65 -- more than 60,000 people up north. this is something that can give us a little bit of evidence what the idf thinks is actually going to happen up north since we are already there. i live there, 12 kilometers from the lebanese border. it feels like a war zone even though it's not a catastrophe in the south. it means that there is military activity all the time and there are -- today we had around 6, 7, 8, i stopped counting at some point, of attacks that came from lebanon and this was the reality almost every day, with a little bit of escalation every day. >> when you look at what's happening with hamas, look at what's happening with hezbollah, the attacks against american air bases in syria and western iraq, it seems iran is causing a lot of trouble these days. president biden in a speech last night said iran would be held

accountable for its malign activity, but sort of very soft warning to iran and one that doesn't seem to me would be taken too seriously by tehran. >> we knew from day one this is the master plan of iran. if you only analyze the meeting of the iranian foreign minister, this person is a war criminal, not a diplomat, with hamas, with hezbollah, with islamic jihad, ok, like the key player here, connecting everybody. if you just analyze that, if you just analyze the meetings after the war started, if you see the plan that iran published a few months ago, you know clearly videos that show exactly what they are planning, you see they are acting according to the plan. to bring more and more militias from various places in the middle east to attack the state of israel. >> john: do you believe that if the ground operation gets underway in gaza hezbollah will go fully into the war?

>> i am not sure. what i think is hezbollah is more interested to drag israel into the war, putting israel in an impossible situation that we cannot bring back our residents -- living next to the border and next to the border like feets away, and it's practically a war up north but not a full scale war, and this is of course an unbearable situation that israel may not be able to live like that. eventually something will have to happen and i think this is what hezbollah and iran are interested in. this is not only a kinetic war, it's also a psychological war about information. look what happened with the hospital in gaza. and it's the same way in lebanon. it is important for hezbollah to create legitimacy inside lebanon but creating impossible chance for israelis to leave up north. >> john: a lot of israeli armor up there, tanks, self-propelled

artillery. it's going to be used for something at some point. >> it's going to be used at some point. but it is not 100% insurance. so, it's -- we are not going to be surprised where we were two weeks ago, but it's not insurance. i'm saying not only as a professional, saying as a resident, i came here to jerusalem to breathe a little bit. the feeling there is very tense. the feeling that something may happen any moment and if there will be a ground invasion and we should call it an invasion to what happened in the south and the same if it will happen in the north, when it will happen, actually, this is something that we are all resident of the galilee are worried about. we have seen they got more than five kilometers into israel and the terrain in the north is very different. it's a lot of trees, it's hills and valleys, a lot of places to hide. >> john: it's a beautiful area. >> the most beautiful in israel. >> john: we pray that wopt happen, we'll see.

thank you for being with us. see you. >> sandra: u.s. continues to defend its interests in the middle east, including at several u.s. military bases in iraq and syria, which have come under drone attacks from proxy forces in a couple days. the same groups surround israel on all sides. important to look at the geography of this. general david perkins will take us through it. a retired u.s. army four star general. we have up on the screen here the geography everybody should know and be watching at this point. iranian's proxies and their affiliates in the middle east. can you take us through and identify, this is where gaza is, israel is, you have lebanon to the north down here, up here. but you look at hezbollah, the iraqi shia militias, foreign fighters, all surrounding israel and what this means for this war and possible escalation. >> well, that's a good pictorial

that israel lives in every single day. and in that part of the world, and having spent a lot of time there, whenever there is discord, conflict, chaos there, is iranian fingerprints all over it. if we refer back to the map you had there, hamas obviously highly influenced by iran, equipped by them, hamas will not do anything until it gets the green light, hezbollah to the north, more capable than hamas, thousands of rockets and a thorn in the side of israel, and then iran itself. iran itself, yemen, the huti militia, supplied and supported by the iranians fired those land attack cruise missiles which luckily were intercepted by the u.s. navy destroyer, u.s.s.

carney. so, this is one of the focus areas of the two u.s. carrier strike groups that have been moved into that area is to try to contain the current conflict to gaza, hamas and israel, and try to prevent both iranian direct involvement, but probably more likely all of these proxy forces that for years the iranians have equipped, trained and really controlled their strings as to what they do. >> sandra: really important analysis there. while we are often looking at lebanon, syria, iraq, directly at iran, obviously, you've got bahrain, you have yemen that you just pointed out and the hezbollah hutis, important am sis there. our next screen and ask you about the incident at the baghdad international airport, highlighting it here. it was earlier this morning, two

rockets were fired at a u.s. coalition forces at a diplomatic center near baghdad international airport. one was intercepted by a counter rocket system. the other struck an empty storage facility. what can you tell us about this, general? >> well, as you said, both there at baghdad international airport and now at al-assad in the west, where we have u.s. forces, as well as other coalition forces that are there at the request of the iraqi government to fight extremist islamists. this is part of the iranian playbook to then go after u.s. forces, coalition forces, one, to disrupt the command and control and any support that's coming from those forces to people that would present a problem to iran, but second of all, what they want to do is convince the west and the wider

global, you know, world looking at this, that if israel goes into gaza, that they will do whatever they can to expand the conflict and what they want to do is put pressure on the u.s. and our allies to put pressure on the israelis to stop them from going and destroying hamas. we should realize there is a two-pronged strategy. one is to create damage, death and destruction to us and our allies, but also to, if you want to say for lack of a better term, precious to contain the israeli response. >> sandra: really important stuff there, i have changed the screen to show our viewers the iranian proxies launching the surface to surface missile and drone strikes that have occurred against our u.s. military at these u.s. bases, al-assad, and other air bases, can you tell us

about the surface to surface missile attacks and the threats to our u.s. bases, general. >> well again, this is typical iranian playbook. they know where we are there, and have been there, actually, during many of my tours in iraq. they would do the same thing, that using their proxies or directly they will do these surface to surface missiles, and/or the drones. there were some drone attacks at al-assad air base. thankfully, no direct u.s. casualties from that. but it allows them in a sort of nonattribution way, although we all know where it comes from, just to continue to be these pinpricks so the u.s. and the israelis, if they want to focus on gaza, everyone still has to keep looking over their shoulder wondering what iran and proxies are going to do next.

great diversion if not else. >> sandra: al-assad, minor injuries to coalition forces were reported as a result of the drone strikes against the air base, u.s. forces engaged two drones, destroying one, damaging the second. that is the update on that. appreciate you going through these with us. thank you. >> have a good day. >> sandra: john. >> john: any moment now, expecting to hear from the state department after hamas released an american mother and daughter from their captivity. they are in the custody of the red cross and apparently they are being released from gaza through egypt. we'll have full details coming up. >> sandra: watching for that. anti-israel protests in countries around the world with no sign of slowing down and the new warning for americans abroad as anti-american violence threats increase.

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the people of israel need immediate help. rockets have us squarely in the crosshairs. our people are targets in their own homes. many have lost everything and fear for their lives. the international fellowship of christians and jews has launched an urgent response to rescue those affected by this violent attack. our teams are on the ground across israel delivering lifesaving aid. your urgently needed gift of only $45 will help rush food, water, medicine and emergency supplies for jewish families that have nowhere to turn. time is literally running out. what we need you to do is to act now. >> john: fox news alert, we have

been expecting a state department briefing to happen any moment now. that has been pushed back to 3:00. likely because of the news out of gaza that we were reporting on that a mother and daughter, an american mother and daughter who were being held hostage by hamas have been released. they are in the custody of the red cross and apparently are going to be released from gaza through egypt, i would imagine at the raffa border crossing and make their way back to israel from there. sandra. >> sandra: all just coming into us now by trey yingst, per a source with knowledge of the release of the hostages. john, to fox news, the two american hostages, a mother and her daughter, were released on humanitarian grounds following qatari mediation efforts. really important stuff. we'll see if perhaps more hostages will be released in the

minutes and hours to come. we will continue to bring you updates. on the ground, first responders are trying to save lives. our next guest has over a decade of battlefield and in close contact, dr. marc siegel is here. dr. siegel, you are doing amazing work, fox news contributor, professor of medicine at langone medical center, what can you tell us about these efforts? >> sandra, i spoke to ali also, john had an amazing interview yesterday, two weeks ago basically, you know, his phone went off with multiple alerts and what was really important is that united hatzalah sees themselves like soldiers. they went right in, they did not think of fear, they did not run away, they were given helmets, flack jackets, guns and went right to try to save people on

the front lines, and this is the untold story. these heroes did save thousands of people, took bullets themselves, some were murdered, some stopped, and gidi, the wife of eli went into with an ambulance, intubating people on the field putting them on ventilators while taking bullets, and talking about the town of sderot, 40,000 people, 800 terrorists were there. and asked what about now, what are you facing now, and he told me something i didn't know. the rockets that you are talking about all the time are set up so that -- so that they spin off shrapnel. these are shrapnel wounds. it's not just a rocket exploding. they have to go in there and people get deep wounds from the shrapnel and bring them as quickly to the hospital as possible, and they are seeing now, which you are not surprised at, is mental health issues. people are desperately anxious

and depressed and trying to deal with that. so, this is ambulances on the front lines, hatzalah is incredible. >> sandra: incredible. eli, you mentioned yesterday on with john in the emotional interview. >> two volunteers were brutally murdered, brutally murdered. one of them was a muslim volunteer from nazareth. he ran over to a girl who was shot four times trying to save her life. and he's a paramedic, and he saw the terrorists coming towards him, he didn't run away, he was trying to save her. and they caught him, and the condition we found him couldn't even recognize him. >> incredible there, dr. siegel. on the breaking news at this hour on the hostages, two of them released. fox news, trey yingst reporting a mother and daughter released on humanitarian grounds, via efforts qatari mediation efforts. dr. siegel, can you give us some

insight over what this is going to be like for that mother and that daughter held hostage, now released, thank god, but what that will be like for them mentally coming out of this? >> we can hope and pray that this is just the beginning of the hostages being released. obviously that's what we really, really are hoping for. but they are going to be reliving this experience, it's going to be interfering with sleep, there is going to be flashbacks, dreams, nightmares, they will need years and years of therapy. we have talked multiple times to previous hostages from the iran contra hostages obviously, that this doesn't go away. post traumatic stress is something that stays with you for years. with they are not going to feel it numb, they feel relief, happiness, but this kind of scene, i'm assuming we don't know the exact details of how they were treated, but we clearly know how hamas treats people and so this will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

thank god they are free. >> sandra: we pray for them and hope to get an update soon. dr. siegel, thank you very much for joining us on that. >> tremendous work from john. thank you. >> john: fox news alert, trey yingst in southern israel, despite the fact that two u.s. hostages have been released, the best news we have heard in a while, hamas continues its attacks into southern israel. what's going on where you are now? >> can we give them what they just -- >> john: apparently trey may not be linked up with us. but this is in southern israel not too far from gaza, the whole area between ashkelon, north of gaza around through sderot and all of the kibbutz, all the way down to the egyptian border has been the hot zone. our alerts we get on our phones have been going off all day with flashing red signals and warning siren to say that things are heating up down there.

trey, can you hear us yet? they are still trying to get trey dialed in. a live scene now, looking into gaza from southern israel. the idf yesterday hit 100 targets, that was basically overnight into this morning. continuing to degrade hamas's infrastructure. they say they have killed a lot of hamas upper leadership, one commander apparently has escaped the attacks so far, as has obada, their chief of communications. he's the one who put out the alert that the two hostages had been released. so despite all of the attempts by israel to degrade hamas, its senior leadership stays intact. we have trey going up now. more mortar fire? >> yes, more mortar fire, hit very close to where we are. neither mortars were intercepted

but we have the plan in place to get to a shelter. it comes in very quickly, gives you a sense of what it's like here in southern israel, the fire that continues. even as some of these small pieces of good news with the release of two american hostages, i do have some updated reporting for you and i think it's significant as we gather information in all of this. these are developing stories and we always bring you the information live as we can and as the information comes in. we will independently confirm it before bringing it to air. but following that news we broke here on fox of two american hostages released into egypt, likely through the southern crossing, i do have some more information from a source, a source with knowledge of the release confirmed to fox news that two american hostages, a mother and her daughter, were released on humanitarian grounds following qatari mediation efforts. so clearly the qataris stepping in trying to get people out of

gaza as this looming ground operation highly anticipated in the southern part of israel. we do expect more information on this developing story throughout the day. the fire continues into southern israel. more rockets targeting the central part of this country and the tension not just on this southern front but also in the north. john. >> sandra: trey, can you tell us more about what we are learning about the remaining hostages, the idf saying earlier today the majority of the hostages are alive, over 20 of the hostages are under the age of 18, while 10 to 20 of them are over the age of 60. unclear how many hostages overall are being held by gaza. what more can you tell us about what we learned on that this morning? >> yeah, absolutely. the official number by the israeli military was 203 hostages being held. we can confirm two were just released. so we are looking at just over 200 inside the gaza strip confirmed.

the israelis tell fox news between 100 and 200 people are unaccounted for, they have not found bodies or video footage of them pulled into gaza and why that is the case, and warn the viewers what i'm about to describe is graphic but the true reality of the nature on the ground in southern israel. we have been going with the israeli army from the communities that sit around a mile from the border and see when the fences were torn down or blown up by the militants. we were in two small communities. one, for example, 25% of the population, around 100 people are dead or missing, i'll have my cameraman man up to the sky. what you are seeing is a long range rocket and i'm going to pull out my other phone here and see if we can determine what is being targeted. that's likely central israel that is being targeted. you are going to hear an

explosion probably in the distance, but to get back to your initial question, sandra, these border communities were immediately hit by hamas militants when they entered southern israel, and took these individuals back. back to what i was describing, we were in one village, for example, and when people were in bomb shelters, hiding from the militants when they entered, when they were not able to breach the shelters they burned down the homes. and so even while we were in this small community that lost 25% of its population, either dead or missing, there were israeli investigators there and they were digging through with literally fine tooth coming the debris of homes trying to get any pieces of humans that were burned alive, and so they have not been able to account for many of the israelis who are missing. they hold out hope that some of them were taken hostage and are still alive and maybe could be

released in a future negotiation. but it is just -- it is unfathomable just how difficult it is for these families, because while we talk about the numbers, more than 200 people being held hostage, more than 1400 israelis slaughtered at the hands of these militants, we have to think about their families. those who still have loved ones that are missing, or that are being held and they have no information. they don't know if they are dead or alive. they are holding on to any hope that they have left. but the psychological trauma these families are experiencing must be noted because there's a lot of rocket fire and a lot of posturing for a ground operation and a regional war, but when we get down to the core of this story, sandra and john, we are talking about humans and families who have experienced such deep, deep trauma, and we try to tell those stories amid this horrific scene that continues to unfold in southern israel. >> sandra: and thank for doing that, trey.

we will check back in with you. >> john: great job. for a lot of people the trauma continues because they are the family of people who are being held hostage by hamas. it's a top priority at the highest level here in israel and the u.s. to get them out. our next guest was in contact with her parents in a kibbutz as hamas terrorists broke into the bomb shelter and took them away at gun point. we are joined right now. i can't imagine what you and your family are going through. let me get you to react to the fact that two american hostages, a mother and her daughter, apparently, have been released by hamas and they will travel through southern gaza, through raffa into egypt and then back into israel. does that hold out some hope for you that maybe there is a little bit of bright shining light here your parents may come back? >> yeah, i have a lot of hope and i'm -- i feel happy for the

family of those two women that came out but i really think about my mom and my father, my mom is sick, she needs medication. i think it's a humanitarian way, reason to let her go, to give her back to us. >> we mentioned at the top that your parents were living in kibbutz barie, hit very hard in the terrorist attack of october 7th. tell us what happened that morning. you were in touch with your father on text message. >> yeah, i spoke with my father and my mother knowing they were in the shelter. my sister here also was in her shelter in her home and my sister natalie was in another kibbutz and we spoke with our parents all this time until 10:00 when they said that they

get into the shelter and they take him, take them. >> so the hamas terrorists were shooting at them, they went into their shelter but they -- the hamas terrorists were able to get them out of their shelter. you said that you saw some video of them being led away, is that correct? >> i have a video of my mom when they take her to a car outside their kibbutz. we can see that -- we can see that it's outside the house of my parents. so we recognize the place, and then they took her to a red car or something like that, and that's it, we don't know anything else. we don't see anything else. that's all the information we have about my mother. and about my father, we have a picture of him in gaza. >> john: we are looking at that video of your mother being led away.

that must have at least given you some relief that they survived the terror attack, even though they have been taken to gaza. >> i mean -- it gave me hope because i saw her on her feet. she -- she -- she looks healthy. she looks terrified but she looks healthy. so, yes, it gave me hope that she's ok. >> john: i imagine she must have been terrified, your father as well. in addition to all of those hostages, who had no idea where they were going or why they were being taken. have you heard anything about them, either on telegram or through other sources or from the israeli government since? >> no, no, not since, because -- no one knows nothing. i mean, i have a connection with the army, they talk -- they speak to us, they help us if we have some information, but the picture and the video that we

have of my mother was from facebook, no one gave it to me. someone post it on facebook and we saw her, and also the picture of my father, it was on telegram. >> john: we do know at some point the ground operation into gaza will begin. what do you believe the top priority should be with that ground operation? >> save all the hostage. just bring them back to their family because they really don't have nothing to do there. i mean, they can't give information, they can't -- they don't know nothing. they just are citizens, they didn't do anything wrong. >> john: well, we and the rest of the world are praying for their safe return. yulie ben ami thank you for joining us. we appreciate you sharing your story and everyone hears it and

more pressure is put on hamas to release more hostages. thank you. >> thank you, thank you. >> john: israel is considered to be at the forefront of technological invention and innovation. now some employees for the nation's high-tech firms have set aside their regular jobs to assist in identifying victims and trying to locate the more than 200 people who remain unaccounted for. listen here. >> how many of the missing have you been able to positively identify? >> hundreds, which is amazing. it's hundreds. >> john: using to some degree artificial intelligence technology as well? >> that's correct. >> john: piece together who the folks might be. >> correct. different technologies, artificial intelligence, other algorithms at the cutting edge of technology, and in a way to synthesize and integrate the information we have. >> john: and they have been working with the military as well, trying to get a full accounting of where the folks are. as the war between israel and

hamas nears the two-week mark, public support is growing to loosen some of israel's strict gun laws. i went to a gun range outside of jerusalem to hear from israelis who say they want the means to defend themselves. >> is it worth it? >> 100%. for me, i have a fighting chance gives me stability and protection i feel like calmness, i could do something. i'm not a sitting duck. >> john: more from my visit to that gun range coming up. sandra. >> sandra: fascinating viewpoint there, john. we look forward to that. meanwhile, this war, a big topic on the 2024 campaign trail. candidate nikki haley blasting president biden on foreign policy tweeting "america needs strong leadership to deal with it." she'll join us, how she would handle all of it if elected president coming up. >> john: chaos on college

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>> promise you palestine will be free! >> what do we want? when do we want it? >> people are very confident in their beliefs and that's very supported by the professors. >> shame on you, shame on you! >> sandra: anti-israel protests along with alarming outbreak of open anti-semitism on college campuses following the horrific hamas terrorist attack on israel just two weeks ago. alexis mcadams is outside ivy league columbia university here in new york city. a professor at that university is speaking out. what is he saying?

>> sandra, just a short time ago he posted a video on youtube he wanted the world to see, specifically parents who might think about sending their sons or daughter to columbia university, it costs a lot of money, supposed to be a good school to go to, and he said he would not send his daughter here and doesn't think anyone else should, calling the president of the university a coward. watch. >> i'm talking to you, i'm speaking to you as a dad. and i want you to know we do not protect your children from pro terror students or demonstration. because the president of columbia university will not speak out against pro terror students organization. >> protests like this at campuses across the country have continued for days, from harvard to mit, cuny law school in new york and portland, too. protests rage on.

at nyu, large rallies like this in support of palestine have jewish students feeling threatened on campus n in the classroom. they are saying they do not want to go to classroom and feel the families are livid, they spend all the money to send them to prestigious universities, and president of the nyu student bar association also facing removal after writing in a newsletter that israel bears full responsibility for the recent violence, so today just a short time ago, all the remaining members from the student bar association have now stepped down from their positions, back out live at columbia university, a vigil later tonight, starting in a few hours here, sandra, they are going to be honoring the lives of palestinians lost as the war rages on, and big donors say they are not going to give another penny to some of these schools if the