>> not going to be a satisfying answer to you but the answer is it depends. humanitarian pause by definition, like i said, a temporary and local agreement to stop the fighting long enough to do a discreet task. in this case, it would be to get humanitarian assistance in and/or to allow people to get out. hamas is not -- they are not encouraging and in some cases not allowing people to leave their homes. so it could be, i mean, kevin, it could be a matter of hours, it could be a matter of days, i mean -- it is by definition of short duration and geographically sort of a localized area. now, it could also be more than one spot, right. what i mean -- it depends. we think it's a valuable idea worth looking at to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in gaza. >> and did you have any response

or reaction to senior leaders of hamas visiting moscow today? >> i can't speak for their travel habits or conversations with the russians. our message to any other nation around the world is this is not a time to be supporting hamas's ability to continue to kill israelis and it's certainly not a time -- or any nation out there that wants to be involved should look for ways to be involved to help israel defend itself and to help get humanitarian assistance in. see what becomes of the conversation. >> two quick things. was there any coordination by the florida governor with the white house on sending munitions over to israel? >> not that i'm aware of. >> second, can you elaborate a little bit on the execution of russian soldiers, how long has it been going on, do you have any idea how many people, and why, it seems kind of -- i don't

know, getting rid of their own soldiers, you know. >> i'm not qualified to answer that last question. i mean, it's -- it's reprehensible to think about that you would execute your own soldiers because they didn't want to follow orders and now threatening to execute entire units is barbaric. but i think it's a symptom of how poorly russia's military leaders know what they are doing, and how bad they have handled this from a military perspective. from the very beginning we have been talking about poor command and control, poor logistics, they can't feed their guys in the field, for crying out loud, and now willing to shoot them for not following orders and speaks to the desperation and the man power crunch. i got asked this question a day or so ago, russia obviously has a bigger military than ukraine and access to more man power,

but they are in such desperate need to make some kind of progress, particularly in the donbas, the donetsk area, they are throwing young men into the fight, not properly trained, equipped, and certainly not properly led. >> thank you, karine. john, the president said if iran or its proxies attacked u.s. troops that we would respond. what is he waiting for exactly? >> he did say that. >> what is the response? >> he said that. and he said that we will -- >> heeding the warning is the response? >> jacqui, come on now. i'm not going to telegraph punches here from the podium. we have responded and retaliated in the past, aggressively, in march and as the president said, we will not hesitate to protect our troops and our facilities but we are going to do it at a time of our choosing, a manner of our choosing, and the decision to do it, if we do it,

is his as commander and chief and his alone. >> he said he issued a warning to the ayatollah. how is that warning delivered? >> i'm not going to get into that. >> phone call, third party, message relayed after u.s. troops were injured? >> there was a direct message relayed. as far as i'm going to go. >> why were the injuries not disclosed until tuesday. >> refer you to the pentagon on that. >> and can you say why the u.s. approved a visa for iran's foreign minister in new york this week, the wall street journal reported he partook in at least two planning meetings with hezbollah, islamic jihad and hamas leading up to the attack. >> the secretary general called a meeting at the level, we are the host of the u.n., we take that responsibility seriously. do we particularly like the fact that he's on u.s. soil, no. but unlike a lot of other countries and the world, we take those responsibilities, those rules seriously and so we

allowed him to come in to attend these meetings and we hope, quite frankly, we are going to take advantage of the opportunity, hope others at the u.n. to ask tough questions of him and what his country is doing to support the militia groups and support hamas and hezbollah. an opportunity for world leaders up there in new york to make their perspectives and concerns known to the iranian foreign minister. >> pentagon official tobabi, alleged to be involved in an iranian influence operation, some discussion whether she should keep her security clearance, she did. but now the chief of staff for the office overseeing hostage negotiations. is it appropriate for someone with these connections to the iranian regime to be overseeing rescue operations for americans that are being held by iran-backed proxies? >> i have to refer you to the

defense department to speak to that. >> thanks. back on the -- >> john: jump out of the briefing there after some pointed questions from our jacqui heinrich about why the iranian foreign minister was allowed in the united states, and why the biden administration has not responded more aggressively from the attacks by iranian proxies in syria and iraq on the u.s. bases in the area. >> sandra: the message time and time again over the period of several days, through multiple officials, john, has been to the iranian proxies, don't act. well, we now have a timetable of the many times they have since that warning was put in place. so, the question is, when is the administration going to act, kirby's response was at a time of our choosing. >> john: well, we will wait and see when that is. right now, bring in jonathan, senior vice president and foundation for defense of democracies, former counter terrorism analyst at the u.s.

treasury department as well. one of the topics that came up as we are watching, the casualty numbers put out by the gaza health ministry, otherwise known as hamas and how the white house does not trust them. are they right to not trust them? >> 100% right not to trust the gaza health ministry. 100% right not to trust hamas. but here is the thing. the way that hamas uses their health industry, so to speak, is incredibly cynical. most people don't know this. but hamas's primary military base of operations is under the hospital in gaza city. they operate four stories below the ground, and this is where a lot of that information comes out from. at the end of the day, they are using human shields, they are using the gaza population, 2.2 million people, to manipulate the rest of the world.

and so the administration is 100% right to ignore their numbers, and i will say that at some point the israelis are almost certainly going to have to surround that hospital if they are going to try to force a surrender of hamas. >> john: it should be pointed out that despite the fact many hamas leaders have been killed in the israeli airstrikes, their command and control infrastructure remains intact. another piece of business, fox news has confirmed this, that the united states, and i guess it's through antony blinken, is in talks with qatar about qatar reexamining, if you will, its relationship with hamas and we should point out that hamas's political leadership is living large in doha. do you think this will amount to anything? >> this really needs to. what qatar has been doing for the ten plus years is absolutely outrageous. they want to be a respected country, want to be welcomed

around the world and they have sponsoring hamas, political leadership is based there, and think it's only hamas, remind you, the taliban operate out of doha, al-qaeda, isis, and a whole range of other terrorist groups have found safe haven inside qatar and these are the guys negotiating with the united states for the release of the hostages. they are playing arsonist and firefighter and the united states has allowed it for ten years. this has to stop. >> john: biden administration is trying t cut off funding for hamas. it gives money to the 2, $2.5 billion a year through various sources. administration plans to do it through sanctions on the various entities that support hamas. is that going to be effective? >> it can be effective but it has to start with iran. iran gives hamas like 200,

$2 million a year. stop giving money to the iranians, and sanctions, it is a pass through. every time we make the deal, $6 billion in hostage swap or whatever else we have given them over the years, it's an seive, and the -- there are a whole bunch of countries nominal american allies, and out there supporting hamas and supporting massacres along the lines of 10-7. >> you believe there will be news about the hostages in the next, couple three days. >> clearly a slowdown right now in terms of the pace of the israeli ground invasion. everybody in israel is waiting for it. world is nervous about it. probably going to have to be some kind of movement, qataris are scrambling to try to show

their worth and the israelis are desperate to see release of some hostages. my sense, one trade over the next couple of days and followed by the ground invasion, regardless of what the qataris wants or the united states wants. >> john: when you talk about a trade, hamas said it would trade some hostages, don't know whether it would be nonisraeli or hamas terrorists, do you think a swap might follow along those lines? >> right now it looks as if there's been greater value placed on dual nationals. i think by the way, it's not a really great message to send to the israelis, that people that are dual nationals are worth more, but i think at the end of the day, its going to be about what is done through that specific channel and what the qataris are able to squeeze out of hamas. they should have a lot more leverage than they have right now. one thing i will note the israelis are going to be very

nervous about, reports a few minutes ago suggesting that the iranians are trying to gain custody of some of these hostages. if that is the case, just wait to see how the israelis respond. >> john: that would be a troubling escalation. just real quick to finish this off here, the ground operation clearly hamas is trying to forestall this by drip drip dripping out hostage releases. when do you think israel goes in? >> my guess is it's a matter of days. it will not take very long for the israelis to mobilize. they have indicated everything is in place, including their plan, so they'll try to get a few hostages out of this and i think the other thing of course having the u.s. comfortable with the plan and having enough fire power in the region to hold off iran and hezbollah so it does not escalate into a regional war. >> john: far from over. no question about that. jonathan, thank you. >> sandra: back to the white house, john kirby at the podium, still taking questions from

reporters. let's listen in. >> the president does not believe targeting journalists at all in any way is appropriate but i can't speak to the specifics of that case. i have seen the reporting and certainly our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, i mean, that's just horrible. but i can't speak to the circumstances in which that strike occurred. but make no mistake, the president believes strongly in what you all do for a living and how you need to be able to do that freely and securely and we know you take, all of you take great risks sometimes in doing that job. >> taking about al-jazeera journalists in light of the report secretary blinken approached the qatari government asking us to tone down coverage. >> you are asking me in the context that we have some kind of beef with al-jazeera? i would let the secretary and their staff speak to his conversations in the region. i won't do that. we recognize al-jazeera as a

valuable voice and outlet that has incredible reach in the region and beyond, i don't need to tell you that, it's truly a global network and we value the work you do. >> one quick question. because the committee to protect journalists says at least 24 journalists has been killed in gaza trying to cover this story. are you concerned that israel is trying to silence journalists who are trying to tell both sides of this story, including our al-jazeera arabic bureau chief. >> i have not seen any indication that israel is going after journalists, in particular, because of them trying to tell a story. i've seen absolutely 0 evidence of that. that is -- that's an unfounded allegation. >> admiral, do you have any update at all on the progress of the attempts to have hostages freed? >> nothing that i can speak to today, no. >> and the president said yesterday that if he is conveyed

to the prime minister that if there is any way to buy some time to free these hostages, that there should be a humanitarian pause. but if there is no progress, how long should that pause last? >> it should last as long as we need it to last to get the hostages out. but to kevin's question, the pause is by definition temporary and perhaps localize. we can't assume the hostages are in the same place or the same sets of conditions. and while i don't have anything to specifically report out to you today, i can promise you to your question of no progress, i can tell you that we are working on it very hard with our partners in the region. we want to see all those hostages released. >> i guess what i'm saying is does hamas need to show some effort to release more of these hostages in order to justify a

humanitarian pause? >> well, again, that gets into negotiating tactics, and i'm not going to do that. it would be fool hearty and dangerous if we started negotiating in public in the briefing room about how those hostages can -- how we can work to get them out. we need to keep that in the private diplomatic channel, but the work is ongoing and aggressively so. >> and hamas recently said 50 of the hostages have been killed in israeli bombing raids since the conflict began. you talked a lot about the fact that the u.s. doesn't trust the numbers that are coming from hamas. but do you have any way to independently verify whether that figure is correct or not? >> no. >> on the visit of the chinese foreign minister, sorry if i missed it, did you say if we can expect the president to drop by on that meeting tomorrow? >> i don't have anything on the president's calendar to speak

to. >> and thank you admiral, start off by saying -- any one who has a beef with kimberly has to go through my first. >> ok. i consider myself fair warned then. >> one question and one follow-up regarding the two-state solution. what is the president's vision for what that would actually look like, and are there any preconditions for contingencies that would be in place? >> we are just -- we are not there yet. obviously the idea of a two-state solution is not a new idea, and it's one that president biden has believed in for a very, very long time with all his foreign policy experience. getting there has proven difficult, i don't need to tell you that, and obviously it's going to remain a difficult task. but what we hope it's not impossible. but what that could actually look like once we get folks to the table, that will come -- that will come in the future.

i couldn't possibly begin to describe exactly what the parameters would look like right now. >> ok. so there's a gallup poll that came out a month ago that shows 72% of palestinians are against a two-state solution, the highest it's been since they started pulling this question, i believe. and furthermore, they showed 84% don't have confidence in this current administration ability to bring about a peace agreement. how do you work with those kind of numbers? >> we work towards the goal. recognize there are different opinions out there, but don't enact policy, don't pursue the potential and promise for peace and security in the middle east based on opinion polls. >> why did the president believe that announced india, europe, economic corridor some players in the middle east? >> say again.

>> the president has said last week twice the corridor, the summit, may have precipitated hamas toerrorist attack against israel. >> i think you misunderstood him. he believed the normalization process, and the agreement that we are trying to reach between israel and saudi arabia for normalization, which we believe is an important stepping stone to getting to a two-state solution, was what may have motivated hamas to conduct those attacks. i think you understood what he said. >> one more question? >> that's up to karine. karine says yes. >> has canada shared with you any evidence of its allegations against india? >> i won't talk about intelligence matters one way or another. certainly not from here. >> sandra: quite a remarkable few moments that we just

witnessed over the past 45 minutes or so between john kirby, at the white house, karine jean-pierre, the update from the state department via matt miller, john, we are going to turn around some tape in a few minutes here. matt miller at the state department, there was a really interesting moment where he talked about americans being able to get out of gaza into egypt and the border crossing there, they are not being able to get out, he said, because hamas won't let them. we are going to turn that for us, because he basically said that verbait, they are relying on hamas to process them and let them through. >> john: here is what we have seen with hamas is israel drops leaflets over northern gaza to say move south because we are going to start taking down the hamas infrastructure, hamas says no, no, no, stay, we had reports that even people's car keys were being confiscated by hamas so they could not travel south.

it's in hamas' interest to up the casualty count of innocent palestinians to keep them there where the bombardment was happening. >> sandra: and john kirby responding to our own jacqui heinrich, a growing concern on multiple days now, in multiple statements being made by administration officials, including the president himself, saying stop, don't, to iranian proxies from attacking u.s. forces. they continued to do that after the warnings. why are we not acting, john kirby essentially said we will choose our time. we are going to have that also for our viewers in a second. here a matt miller on waiting on hamas to process people getting out. listen. >> egyptian authorities are ready to process american citizens and other foreign nationals if they make it through the gaza side of the border through the no man's land

to them. the problem is up until now, the problem we have been trying to unlock, at times on the gaza side of the border, there has been no one there from hamas to open the gates and process people and let them through, and the other times actually armed hamas militants standing there not even letting people approach the gate. >> sandra: that's almost unbelievable. so -- >> john: that's what they do. >> sandra: i'm not talking about hamas not letting anybody through, that that's what we are relying on. >> john: well, yeah, that's true. you know, what does the u.s. have over hamas, not a lot, maybe through the qataris for an exit for u.s. civilians. breaking news on the 2,000 troops put on prepared to deploy orders, some of them have deployed to the middle east. they are from the former fort bragg, fort liberty, north carolina, exact number unclear,

explosive ordinance disposal to deal with all the explosives in the area. so, some of those 2,000 already on their way over there to the middle east to join up with the many other u.s. forces already in the region. >> sandra: and much more coming up, including john kirby's response to the president saying don't do those iranian proxies. and exchange with jacqui heinrich coming up. >> john: he says don't, they keep doing. and the latest on the looming ground invasion. any sense that you are getting there, alex, that it's any closer than it was yesterday? >> well, john, sandra, we have heard words from israeli officials here the ground invasion could be imminent, but not giving exact details. but there was this strategic significant victory for israeli forces today, saying that they were able to take out a senior hamas official, someone who was

behind the planning of the october 7th attacks, take a look at the footage here. you can see the aerial images released by the israeli defense forces. they say the fighter jets took out the deputy head of the hamas intelligence directorate. the idf said he had other roles in hamas, and earlier this morning, israelis woke up to this news. a new ground attack, largest of its kinds since the conflict began. idf released footage of israeli forces moving in on the northern part of the gaza strip with tanks. idf says they took out significant hamas infrastructure and we have heard from the idf all in preparation for the next stage of the war. country's defense minister saying this ground maneuver, john, that you had mentioned, we have heard so much about, that will still happen. now, all of this while conditions in gaza continue to

worsen. united nations is warning that stocks of fuel are almost completely exhausted, and the u.n. agency that is providing support to the palestinian civilians in gaza say that that organization may actually have to shut down because of the lack of supplies and the inadequate shelter to keep people safe. as far as what we are hearing of other countries involved, the foreign minister at iran, a harsh warning, saying the u.s., supporting israel continues to do so while we are seeing these attacks on hamas, that the u.s. will not be out of the range of this fire, john, sandra, back to you. >> john: alex hogan in tel aviv. and further to what we were talking about, fox has just confirmed in the last 24 hours, u.s. forces in syria and in erbil were targeted, the

president says don't, and the iranian proxy forces keep on doing it. >> sandra: the pentagon now, and thanks to alex hogan, israel continues to fend off hamas, a u.s. official telling fox news pentagon is sending additional iron dome equipment to the middle east, including dome batteries originally purchased from israel. jennifer, tell us month are about the shipments and what's on the way. >> u.s. is sending iron dome defense batteries to israel, significant, the only two iron dome batteries in the u.s. arsenal, but until now have only been used for training. the pentagon has sent c-17 military transport planes to israel filled with both the iron as well as interceptors, and

bombs, and the iron dome system jointly developed by the u.s. and israel a little over a decade ago, detects and intercepts incoming short range rockets launched from up to 43 miles away. once the radar detects a threat, the system launches a missile known as the tamir interceptor missile to destroy the incoming missile or rocket. it was built by rafal, and raytheon, includes the arrow, intercepts long range missiles and david's sling, medium ranged ballistic missiles, from lebanese hezbollah from the north. a success rate of more than 90% but the barrages of hamas and hezbollah missiles have put a strain on the systems. the u.s. is also bolstering its own forces in the region,

including squadrons of f-35, f-18, and a-10s. and new jersey squadron the latest to arrive to potentially respond to the attacks on the u.s. troops. the russian defense ministry reported seeing u.s. coalition aircraft, including eight f-16s, one reaper and one gray eagle drone in syria in their air space 15 times in the last 24 hours. notable given as john has reported recent attacks by iranian proxies on u.s. bases in syria and iraq. >> sandra: live from the pentagon, thank you, jennifer. let's bring in retired colonel of israeli defense forces, thank you so much for joining us, colonel. i've got the map up on the

screen here, it shows the attacks geographically on our u.s. force in the middle east, a number of them, that have happened as we have been pointing out in the hours and days since multiple administration officials warned those iranian proxies don't. we cut the sound. here is multiple administration officials saying just that. >> make no mistake. we will defend our people, we will defend our security, swiftly, and did he sighs -- decisively. >> always reserve the right to defend ourselves and interests. never hesitate to take action. >> my warning to the ayatollah, if they continued to move against those troops we will respond and he should be prepared. >> what is your message to hezbollah and backer iran? >> don't. don't, don't, don't, don't.

>> sandra: yet we now see that they are not listening to those warnings colonel. i mean, how should be -- >> they are listening -- i think that actually hezbollah has been listening to that. if we take note at the moment, hezbollah, the shi'ite iranian proxy very much arabic speaking lebanese, based in lebanon, they have been testing the waters, and sandra, in their own way, they are on our northern border and they have not done anything into the depth of israel and they have ten times the capacity that hamas has and look at what hamas has done over the last three weeks. these proxies attacking united states all around other areas of the middle east, that's iran holding hezbollah back perhaps, but allowing the free rein of the other proxies and first time for me as an israeli seeing the combined attack against israel by hamas, the testing of the

waters by hezbollah, and at the same time, all of the iranian proxies against the united states but not right here. it's a very interesting and challenging time. >> sandra: ok, follow up, iran holding hezbollah back by attacking the u.s. forces. i want to ask you about that in a second. this is brand-new from a few moments ago, our reporter at the white house, jacqui heinrich, put a very similar question that i just asked you to john kirby, spokesperson at the white house, why all the warnings yet not seeing action in response. >> he said he issued a warning to the ayatollah this morning, how was that warning delivered? >> i'm not going to get into that. >> can you say if there was a phone call, a third period of time, a message relayed after u.s. troops were injured? >> there was a direct message relayed. >> why were the injuries not disclosed until tuesday?

>> refer you to the pentagon on that. >> when we look at these different ways of diplomatic, how do you do deterrence, it's always the big question. and everybody right now wants to deter iran. iran from directly being involved. and so i'm listening here and saying you are allowed to do it in a lot of different ways. it does not always have to be in brute force. united states is bringing to the middle east more forces than i've seen here, certainly over the last 6, 7, 8 years since the crushing as much as it was, of the islamic state in syria and iraq. so right now it's called action, together with deterrence with the other methods. >> sandra: can you describe what you meant by the attacks by iranian proxies in the middle east on u.s. forces, how it's a deterrent from hezbollah to attack israel?

>> to me it's more that iran wants its proxies to work, and iran most definitely helped train and helped a lot to hamas but they did it simultaneously with hezbollah, we in israel for years have been semi-expecting a kind of attack hamas did by hezbollah. why isn't hezbollah joining in right now? the only understanding can be that iran is holding that back, that they are deterred, that they are afraid both of israel's response but overwhelming will you the united states and the world. this is something we have not seen in the past. united states is sending more troops to here, boosting up its capabilities and yemen, a very strong base of iranian proxy, they fired rockets against israel intercepted by the united states troops and instead of hezbollah directly going on an all-out attack on israel, because israel will respond and

the united states will respond, it's poking the united states in different places, it's not a nice thing to say poking, these are attacks where people can be killed and injured and takes all the protection that we need. so i see this as iran, using the far away places to show that they are joining in with hamas and standing up as they say for the palestinian cause, but it actually is a low key under deterrence and it's not their full capabilities, and i hope that we don't see those. >> sandra: interesting analysis there. colonel, appreciate you joining us today. thank you. >> this did not deserve the terrible assault on the citizens, on peace of mind, on its sense of security. no city does. >> john: maine governor janet mills discussing the horror plagued her state in the past 24 hours, 18 people were brutally murdered in a bowling alley and a restaurant in the city of lewiston. but at this hour, the suspect,

40-year-olds robert card, on the loose, police calling him armed and dangerous. doctor, thank you for joining us. we understand the suspect that police are hunting for desperately, robert card, has got a military background, no combat deployments, but a lot of training, including that of a firearms instructor. it is going to be a formidable challenge to find and apprehend him. >> likely the case. thank you for having me and think about the families and get them the support and resources they need. last night you saw a quick instantaneous response by local law enforcement and now the marshalling of fbi, atf and other officials scouring not just the local area but the entire state of maine. the fact this individual had

training, likely the individual will be able to be somewhat evasive for a period of time. but with the amount of individuals looking for this individual, as well as the information that is out there about this individual's appearance, i think it's just a matter of time, hopefully, the police detain this individual so the community feels a little bit safer tonight. >> a lot of questions are asked as to why maine's yellow flag law was not triggered after this individual spent some time seeking mental health treatment, apparently after threatening to shoot up a national guard armory. did the system fail here? >> looking backwards easy for us to say that now. and i've believed we are on the side of caution, but remember a lot of individuals who go to mental health facilities don't end up doing very heinous acts. in this particular case, one individual had nefarious intentions and arsenal to carry

that intention out. >> john: the suspect who has no qualm about killing, still believed to have the weapon he killed ruthlessly 18 people and wounded so many others. i assume this person is as dangerous as they come, which is why it would be prudent for people in maine who are in the area where this individual is believed to be to heed the authorities and stay inside. >> i could not agree with you more, john. this individual walked into two facilities in the early evening hours, kids, having a good time, shows me and you and everybody else this individual could care less about what people think and i would be very worried as well, not only if i was a citizen, but also a law enforcement official. they carry out their duties and try to protect us safe every day of our lives. they will catch this individual. >> john: psychological impact of this, a bowling alley, having a junior league evening, a lot of kids in there, and then went

from there to a very popular bar/restaurant where people congregate to unwinds after the day's stresses. and if you can't be safe in a bowling alley and a restaurant in america, where can you be safe? >> yeah, you know, i want to put this a little bit in perspective, and not to diminish what happened last night. us as citizens in the united states, we live in a free society and any time we put ourselves out there, we are always going to be engaging in some sort of risk. so we have to carry out our lives. the same time, trying to identify the circumstances and/or individuals who might be capable of carrying out these kinds of heinous events. but i think right now we have to sit back, let law enforcement gather the information, do the forensic analysis to try to understand and put each of those thousand jig saw pieces together to understand the why and learn from how can we make sure, do everything we can to never let

this happen again. >> john: right. so you say there will be calls for action, and we have already seen those from the white house, which is iterating its standard line, thoughts and prayers, but ultimately nothing is going to change. >> and i want to be in a world where things ultimately change. these are polarizing issues and difficult issues and different states view these differently. sometimes things like this do change policy, and there are a variety of things that maine doesn't do that other states do. does it mean it will prevent a potential next thing, hard to say. when you have nefarious individuals who have access to really bad weapons that can kill a lot of people very quickly, there is going to be little you can do to prevent any of these things from happening but we can start to move in a direction that makes it harder. you know, after all, we need to have a permit to drive a car. we need a license to drive a car. >> john: correct, and maybe people mentally unstable with

access to firearms shouldn't have access to those firearms. >> certainly fair and legitimate point. >> john: thank you for joining us with your thoughts. appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> john: sandra. >> sandra: jewish students at a new york city college barricading behind library doors as anti-israel protestors bang on the glass there chanting free palestinian. nearly a third of college age kids say the attack on october 7th did not happen. he says the disconnect from reality is wider than we have ever seen. he is here next. he is here next. clerp cler ♪ hit it ♪

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>> sandra: brigadier general pat ryder is now updating live at the pentagon on u.s. military aid on its way to israel. let's listen here. >> patriot batteries from fort sill, oklahoma. patriot and avenger batteries from fort liberty, north carolina. and associated air defense headquarters elements from fort bliss and another location in texas. i will not talk about specific locations, they are not going to israel and they are to bolster u.s. force capabilities. shifting gears, the white house announced today $150 million security assistance package for ukraine to support ukraine's urgent security needs. this marks the 49th provision of equipment since august 2021. includes air defense capabilities, artillery,

ammunition, anti-dank weapons and other important aid to help ukraine counter russia's ongoing aggression and continue its fight for independence and freedom. as you have heard secretary austin and other senior leaders say, the united states will stand with ukraine and have their backs. finally, department released the and annual report for suicide in the military. annual suicide data on members and their families. also highlights current and ongoing efforts to reduce suicide risk among service members and their families. although the department is cautiously encouraged by some information in the annual report, we remain deeply concerned about suicide in the military community. the health, safety and well-being is essential to the readiness of total force. every death by suicide is a tragedy. as part of broader efforts to ensure we take care of our people, which includes secretary

austin establishing the suicide prevention and response independent review commission, the department is implementing a campaign with five lines of effort and enabling tasks to augment our suicide prevention and response capabilities. based on findings from this report, the department will continue its efforts aimed at ef effec effectively meeting those at risk of suicide and their families. the report is available on the dod website. and happy to take questions. >> two clarifications if i can and then a question. one, the patriots you mentioned are not in addition to the ones you talked about the other, they are the same ones. >> correct. >> the two iron domes, has the u.s. been able to determine how those particular systems can be delivered, because there are caps on some type of weapons

systems and the amounts, so -- has all of that been settled. >> on that question, yes, we are working through that process. we are confident that we'll be able to provide those systems to israel. i don't have any details to provide for you today if and when we are able to, certainly we'll get that information out. >> process is ongoing, right. or has it done? >> we are working through the final details of that process. again, we are confident these -- we are going to be able to provide these systems to israel. >> ok. and then my question, on the attacks against the united states bases and personnel in syria and iraq. exactly how many attacks is the pentagon now assess have been actually done against the basis? and secondly, a number of groups have taken responsibility for these. what does the u.s. assess as the groups that are responsible for them? >> sure. so on your first question, i

will tell you that between october 17th and 26 u.s. and coalition forces have been attacked at least 12 separate times in iraq, four separate times in syria, by a mix of one-way attack drones and rockets. again, we will continue to revise those numbers as new information comes in. in regards to your second question, i'm not going to have more specific information to provide to you from here in terms of specific groups that have claimed responsibility, other than to say we know these groups are affiliated with iran. thanks. jennifer. >> were there two more attacks in the last 24 hours on u.s. bases, we understand that erbil was attacked, what happened? >> jennifer, what i would tell you, we are continuing to refine information coming in from central command. i can tell you that we are aware of an attack today against u.s.

forces at erbil air base in iraq. it was unsuccessful. no casualties. some minor damage to infrastructure. but again, we will make sure that we are able to update that information. i'm not tracking a second one at this point in time but again, as that information comes in -- >> you said that you assess that these are iranian-backed groups. will you hold iran responsible or holding the proxy groups responsible and what is taking so long to respond? >> look, i'm not going to get into telegraphing whether we are or not going to respond, other than to say we would do so at a time and place of our choosing. i think we have been crystal clear that we maintain the inherent right of defending our troops and we will take all necessary measures to protect our forces and our interests overseas. as it relates to these groups, again, we know these are iranian-backed militia groups that are supported by iran, and of course we hold iran

responsible for these groups. >> how are you holding them responsible? >> again, i'm not going to telegraph any potential actions. >> lastly, you are sending eod ordinance to the middle east, why send those personnel? >> to be clear, to my knowledge we are not sending eod personnel at this time. certainly we have eod forces that are potentially tapped for a deployment, but none of those forces would be going to israel, so again, i'm not going to get ahead of units that are on prepare to deploy orders other than to say we will make sure we have the capabilities we need in theater to enforce protection and deterrence efforts. pat. >> thanks. on this idea of iranian backed groups and what they are doing, is dod observing actual coordination between iran and

the groups and hamas, and presently, one of the senior leaders of hamas is in moscow. is dod perceiving any coordination between moscow and hamas or any of these groups? >> yeah, so i think your question was these groups in iraq and syria and hamas, right. so, being let's separate these two things. one is the situation in israel, which is israel and their fight against hamas. what we are seeing here is in iraq and syria where our forces are there as part of the defeat isis mission, these groups, many of which are long standing in that region, are conducting these attacks against u.s. forces and so two separate issues we are seeing here. that said, we do know iran, of course, has a relationship with groups like hamas, with hezbollah, and with these militia groups that we see in iraq and syria. >> does that relationship mean daily tactical communications about possible strikes?

>> i'm not going to get into intelligence, but i will not necessarily try to conduct dots that don't necessarily exist right now. thanks. >> i just have a clarification about the attack in erbil, first. you described it as unsuccessful. what is the criteria that the dod use in evaluating attacks, whether successful or unsuccessful. >> whether or not there was, you know, any significant injuries or damage. >> so all of these attacks so far have been unsuccessful, based on -- ok. just clarification. ok. and you might know that yesterday family members of an al-jazeera correspondent in gaza were killed in an israel airstrike. this adds to more than 7,000 civilians who have been killed, according to health authorities in gaza. i know the president yesterday seemed skeptical about these

numbers, and others in the administration are skeptical of the numbers. however, the white house issued a memo in 2023 about the transfer of conventional weapons and that links human rights violations to transfers and there's a monetary process there. is the dod trying to monitor how israel is using weapons provided by the u.s. and the toll on civilian, innocent civilians in gaza, if so, can you detail some examples, if not, why not? >> thanks. so, first of all, i've seen those reports, and certainly our hearts are with any innocent civilians killed in the conflict, whether they be palestinians, israelis, americans or from any other nation. no one wants to see that. and in terms of our focus, you know, we continue to communicate closely with israel on what they

need to defend their people against terrorist attacks, and as you have heard us say, we are communicating regularly about the importance of abiding by the laws of war, by protecting civilians, and will continue to do that. as it relates to the types of equipment that we provide, and the capabilities we provide, we have long standing agreements in place and i'll just leave it on that. >> is there any active -- when you say you are pushing the issue with the israelis, is there any more being done to verify whether israel is adhering to its obligations or not? >> look, i'm going to defer to israel to talk about their operations. again, they are professional military, we are professional military. we communicate on a regular basis and as i mentioned, we have been having those discussions about the importance of abiding by the laws of war and protecting civilians. and we will continue to do that. >> firstly, how long will it take for the air defenses going

to the region to be operational. days or weeks. and secondly, the french earlier today said one of their warships is heading to the region would support hospitals in gaza. has there been any consideration or planning about the u.s. warships in the region helping hospitals in gaza? >> yeah, thanks, you just -- so in terms of the deployment of the systems, not going to get into specifics other than to say many of those systems will be -- some of them are already online and many will be online very soon. but again, for operation security reasons i'm not going to go into specifics. as it relates to our carrier strike groups in the region, right now they are there for a deterrence mission, and also again to support a wide range of contingencies. so, as it relates to france or other countries, i obviously can't speak to that. but we again have the flexibility and adaptability should our mission change.

>> yesterday president biden said i'm sure innocents have been killed in war. does the secretary agree with that? >> it's important to take a step back in how we got here. you know, i don't have to tell you october 7, vicious terrorist attack. the united states rushed quickly to assist israel in terms of what they need to defend their people. as we consulted with them, we have not only provided assistance but had the discussions about the importance of making sure that innocent civilians are not caught in this conflict. the united states has worked closely with israeli officials, egyptian officials, others to figure out how best to get humanitarian assistance in gaza. there's a humanitarian situation there that needs to be

addressed. everybody wants the palestinian people to live in peace. it's unfortunate gaza has shielded themselves with civi civilians. we will communicate with our partners on civilian safety but we recognize israel's right of self-defense as well. nancy? >> i wanted to follow up a statement you made earlier this week. you said general glen was traveling in israel to help address civilian casualties. in the presence of that, the u.s. doesn't trust the palestinian figures. does the u.s. have a figure of how many palestinians have been killed in gaza? >> i don't have one in front of me. i don't have those numbers. the figures that i'm tracks are coming from hamas. i don't have any civilian casualty figures from the united states. >> what i'm having a hard time understanding, the u.s. gave an

estimate how many were killed in the hospital attack. why is it -- >> i'm not tracking that either. i'd have to refer you -- between what? >> 100 and 300 were killed in the hospital attack. >> between 100 and 300? >> yeah, sorry. 100 and 300. what i'm having a hard time understanding, why is the u.s. able to make an assessment on that attack but can't provide one with how many palestinians have been killed especially with the president saying the figures can't be trusted. >> at the risk of speculating here, you and i have both been following conflicts in the middle east and terrorist attacks for a long time. you know how difficult it is to prove the situation on the ground without having independent observers go there and look at this information. if you look at an incredibly dense place like gaza and you look at the situation there, a

lot of those reports that information comes in, it's going to be very difficult to independently verify it on a case by case basis. so in the situation of the hospital, again, a lot of international focus and attention on that. of course, our intelligence community is able to zero in and focus on that and really gather information. even that took days to get. we've seen a lot of the news alerts that come out after various air strikes or explosions. in some cases, it's coming from various sources. it's hard to confirm. so for me to stand here and say we have an accurate accounting of civilian casualties in gaza, it's hard to say. it's not saying that information won't be developed. that's where we're at right now. >> i guess what i'm trying to understand, when general glenn and others are