ben hodges, okay, they sent, but ben hodges has been shouting for a year, it’s easy, but ukraine willwould win, and now they’re saying, no, well, i sent the ukrainians , not if there were americans, i of course, i wouldn’t have sent it, of course, i feel sorry for the americans, i don’t care for the ukrainians... this is really a terrible and insidious approach that they use there, well, in this regard, yes, there is a reckless, crazy person who constantly posts, mind you, not a word from the president’s office, well, some kind of neutral statement was made there, but the office seemed to distance itself, so it sits and watches, although everyone understands that she is voicing an opinion that is passed down to her from above, everyone understands this perfectly well, she still represents a servant ... people, and i look, now she is already openly calling for the zaluzhny, come out, yes , here, here, here, answer me here, answer, not through an economist, not somewhere else, directly, that is, dragging him into some kind of sharp an answer for which he could have already been removed,

let's bring in lieutenant ben hodges, former commander of u.s. -- i'm sorry, general hodges, former commanderthe u.s. army in europe. thank you for being with us. what message are they trying to send with these attacks on u.s. forces? are they escalating? are they trying to start a war with the u.s.? >> i don't think, kasie, that they want to start a war with the united states, but i do believe that they are testing, probing to see where is that point where we will strike back. this gives them some opportunity to demonstrate strength in the face of u.s. deterrence efforts, but i think secretary austin and the president have been showing restraint thus far but they will cross that line pretty soon. >> let's talk a little bit about the ground operation that's going on in gaza as well because this obviously, as pressure for a cease-fire has mounted, increasingly difficult picture is coming out of the al shifa hospital in gaza as the medical system is falling apart. but what the israelis have been doing, there are tunnels underneath gaza, including underneath some of these kinds of infrastructure

lieutenant general ben hodges the former commander general of the u.s. army europe. general, thank you so much for joining us. let me get your assessment. has that truce, this temporary truce, this pause as we're calling it, benefitting either israel or hamas militarily? >> well, wolf, of course, when this pause does end it will be very difficult for israel to resume operations as they were doing before the pause. the hamas strategy from the beginning has been about these hostages, the israeli strategy has been about destroying hamas. so it looks like the u.s., the united nations, other countries are for now going along with the hamas strategy focused on the hostages. we even heard the president say as much earlier today. hamas of course will string this out as long as they can but with more promises of hostages being released, that's probably why we have seen so few or only one american released so far because if they continue to hold american hostages, that will keep the u.s. focused on this and keep the u.s. putting pressure on the israelis. on the other hand, the

. >> here to discuss, lieutenant general ben hodges, he was commander general for the united states armya senior advisor at human rights first. and ben rhodes is here, former deputy national security adviser for president obama. general hodges, what is your take on where things stand? this truce is set to expire. >> we'll, of course, anytime you see people released, you see the families, grateful for that. but we are dealing with a terrorist organization. hamas is a terrorist organization. there is a reason they have not released hardly any of the americans, because they know that this will keep the u.s., the biden administration, focused on this. and that they will in turn keep pressure on the israeli government to moderate the israeli defense force activities. and so, i think hamas will string this out as long as they can. and at some point, the administration and the israeli government will have to decide -- can they change that narrative, can they change that trajectory? >> ben, discussions are underway for a broader deal. but israel seems intent on keeping up this offensive. do you

. >>> joining us now is retired lieutenant general ben hodges, commanding general for the united statesr adviser at human rights. thank you for being with us this morning. prime minister netanyahu was pressed on the top human rights official saying that israel was inflicting collective punishment on gaza. here's part of his response. listen to this. >> no, we're deliberately doing everything in our power to target the terrorists and the civilians as happens in every legitimate war, are sometimes what are called collateral damage. that's a laundered way of saying unintended casualties. >> general, how do you judge the military campaign so far? have they crossed the line into causing just too many civilians' deaths? >> jose, if i may say first, thank you for the way you named those five soldiers who were lost in that training accident. it was very thoughtful of you. so you know, the israeli defense force has launched an operation in a very methodical way. i think they did this in order to minimize their own casualties because it obviously is extremely difficult. but also it gave them -- i

i want to bring in retired united states army lieutenant general ben hodges, the former senior adviserhuman rights first, and former commanding general of the united states army europe. it is heartbreaking to hear those reports, to hear from children, to hear from their parents obviously, and it makes israel's situation all the more complicated, right? they say that when they struck and continue to strike today this refugee camp, it was a hamas stronghold, but there have been a wave of human rights complaints, a wave of international condemnation including other governments in the middle east, uae, for example, bolivia has severed diplomatic ties with the country. what do you make of this decision now, understanding that every major military decision like this also carries political and humanitarian consequences. >> chris, first let me say the way you and the rest of your colleagues have described the situation there is it is gut wrenching, very compelling, and as i looked at the video, obviously the buildings around the site are also unstable, so it's not -- would not be a surprise if

probably the speech of the former commander of the armed forces. from the usa in europe by general ben hodgeshodges clearly said that zaluzhny soberly assesses the situation professionally and understands what ukraine needs to win. from these two speeches, i can clearly conclude that the article in the economist is definitely a kind of beacon for our partners to form strategy for the 24th year. and when we talk about the ambulance. the possibility of the appearance of these new technological solutions, there is such a factor that it is uncertain when these technological solutions will provide a synergy effect, perhaps it will be for an excessively long time, and then the question of capacity arises. of our partners to provide the needs of the defense forces in basic needs, in particular in artillery, ammunition, missiles, how do you currently assess the capabilities and capacities of our partners next year to provide these primary, well, the needs of the ukrainian army, will such a thing happen a certain gap of opportunities, right at the beginning or in the middle of the year, given, in part

understood what he was writing about, the military the retired kermanych of the us army in europe ben hodge, the general, also gave positive feedback on the correct analysis of the situation , and only the deputy head of the president's office understands that who for some reason wore the pixel and chevron of tank troops, ihor zhovkva, for whom no one voted in any elections and he is not the bearer of foreign policy responsibilities in ukraine, only. ran into the audience that he should not comment on the course of the war in the american media. here is this, here is this strange, very typical ukrainian for ukrainian politics, course of events, i wanted to use another word, it starts with acha and ends with it, this is how it will be read in washington, they will not wave a hand at us after that, well, in any nobody is going to wave at us, on the contrary, in general, this article had a positive... effect, and kirby and the representatives, other representatives of the white house referred to this article, that is, they see it as an argument that shows that it is necessary to continue, even

to help us understand more, lieutenant jengeneral ben hodges joining us. thank you for being with us. i'm interested in your view of this extended truce, what helped move these parties toward an extension and how fragile is or isn't it? >> the administration deserves huge credit for the tireless effort to bring about enough pressure on both hamas and the israeli government to create the conditions to have a pause or truce and begin the exchange of hostages. and so you can imagine the relief of those families who have gotten some of their loved ones back. we're talking about a terrorist organization, the hamas organization. and i think that they will use -- continue to use hostages to string this out as long as they can. and that is also why i think that they haven't released but one american hostage because that will keep the u.s. involved and putting pressure on israel. >> and to that point, the white house, the administration, according to cnn reporting have basically said there were two american women who they expected to be on the list for yesterday's

with us more to talk more about this, lieutenant ben hodges. thank you very much for being with us. and can you talk to us about logistically how they pull off something like this as we know the hostages have been scattered throughout the gaza strip. >> well, kasie, i imagine that the israeli government and israeli defense force will be prepared with medical attention as well as mental health care. these people have been through an incredible ordeal as you have been reporting for week. so they just won't hand them over to their families. i also expect that there will be some debriefing, if you will. i mean, several of these people will probably be able to report somewhat on the conditions, you know, who else they know as they continue to try to account for the other hostages. >> can you tell me a little bit more about that? i mean, what kind of intelligence might these people be able to have thoo that could help the israelis in the fight to bring the rest of them home? >> three things come to mind. number one, who else is out there, what is the condition of other people that may hav

sent com commander, and ben hodges. i appreciate both of you being with us. general, let me start with you. this major ariel assault we saw tonight with all of those flares. 30 minutes of non-stop rocket fire and explosions bombarding gaza. and this came right after the idf said that its troops had fully encircled gaza city itself. you saw that low smoke as nic robertson described as possibly being used to disguise israeli troop movement. what do you think is happening inside gaza city? >> thanks, erin. great to be with you. i think what's happening here is israel is as they've stated, has closed in around the city. is trying to create the best positions of advantage they can for what will come next, which will be actual operations into gaza city. so, it's likely that may made contact with hamas forces on the outskirts of the city. they had to fight to get into position and i think that's a lot of what we've seen and will likely see in the near future. >> general hodges, this is the heaviest bombardment we've seen by far since october 7th. i just want to be c

ben hodges, okay, they sent, but ben hodges shouted for a year, it’s easy, but ukraine will win therenswer me here, answer, not through economist, not somewhere else , here directly, that is, drawing him into some sharp answer, for which he they could have already removed him, that’s understandable, but zaluzhny could have been removed for... one article , zaluzhny in general could have been removed for the mass of killed ukrainians, that was no, he couldn’t be removed for that, because kuleba welcomes it, but for an article you can remove, don’t you understand, in america it happened when they removed the commander for an article, he gave it to a musical one in some magazine, and well, yes, well, yes , american, yes, yes, rollin stone took it, for the magazine, here, well , why, but then a good film was made on the basis of what, of course, is that now this fight is a quarrel it’s also indicative, that’s when gordon comes out and says, this is all putin, putin is throwing stuff in, i see, wow, putin has agents there, yes, the deputy chairman of the verkhovna rada committee, the head

for now about compatibility, everything else, but there is one point, just here we are they said ben hodgesgeneral, in fact, if the americans wanted to win at all, they should have given more weapons, but if i had been in command, then without air supremacy we would not have gone forward at all, that is, yeah, attention, as they say, the question is, give a lot of planes - it’s expensive, but letting the ukrainians into, as they say, into our minefields, everything else, that ’s why there’s really no talk of any equal sign between ukraine and nato yet, this is my opinion, because the americans generally have a strategy how they fight with russia and so on further, there are four points, i remember when i was training, they told me there were big posters, it says four points , how the americans will fight with us or with a major power like the usa, point number one, information propaganda, they are making you a villain , everywhere in all media, you mean a villain, point, point number two, they are squandering the economy, sanctions, currencies and so on on you, they decide on you, check. th