Israel-Hamas war: Israeli soldiers battle Hamas terrorists in Rafah | LiveNOW from FOX

Welcome back to live from Fox and we continue to follow some breaking news from Gaza, as we have learned that Israeli forces and Hamas are now fighting in northern Gaza, where Hamas has regrouped after the Israeli army cleared it months ago, meanwhile Israel has ordered new evacuations in the southern Gaza city of Rafa, forcing tens of thousands more people to leave as it prepared to expand its military operation there. All of this comes as President Biden has said that he will not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out offensive. assault on Rafa out of concern for the well-being of more than 1 million civilians sheltering there Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafa and senior military officials have said dozens of militants have been killed there while citing targeted operations as they continue.

I want to bring in Don Bramer, a former naval intelligence officer, to talk more about this. Don. Thank you very much for taking the time to join us. Thanks Stephanie. It's always a pleasure to be here with you, so I want to start with the breaking news, as we have learned that Hamas is now regrouping in northern Gaza, as the Israeli army had cleared that section months ago, what What do you think of this latest event? Well, you know, one of the things to keep in mind here is just like a few weeks ago Hamas was talking about these peace agreements, these peace talks.

You know, what I said then was that you know we can't really trust the words that come out of his mouth because you have a Hamas side, the pr side. that says one thing while the operational side does completely another and that shows exactly what it is about. At the same time, they were asking for peace and putting these conditions that they knew the Israelis would not meet, they were taking this as an opportunity for Israel to pause its fighting so it could regroup and gain an advantage for an operation like this. You know, Israel is doing the right thing.

They are giving citizens the opportunity to evacuate. You know there was Rafa Several years ago, even then, there was an expansive network of tunnels throughout Rafa that we knew of and the only way to clear them is through these munitions that we are providing them, these tunnels allow Hamas

terrorists

to move underground . move safely to move weaponry so that they can organize an attack and that's really what we saw on October 7th was that there was that extensive tunnel system that Hamas used to carry out that attack against Israel. What do you think about this? evacuation evacuation but also the expansion of operations in southern Gaza, especially with this breaking news that we now know that Hamas has regrouped in northern Gaza.

Could they have known? They appeared in several areas that Israel may not know about but absolutely knows about. tunnels, you know there are so many of these tunnels that even through the intelligence agencies that would now have the technology that you can, you can take certain images that you're never going to find them all and it allows them to move to where they can surface. the most disadvantageous point for the IDF and it really harms the citizens and puts them in danger uh and unfortunately the people that Hamas attacks are women and children, what they call easy targets, so at the same time we have the protesters speak, you know, talking about innocence in Gaza, they're there, actually they should be talking about innocence on both sides because you know Hamas uses their innocence as targets like Shields and her father, and us, this also comes up when we were hearing from President Biden said earlier this week that he has now stopped sending bombs to Israel for fear they could be used in this fight in Rafa.

We've been hearing that you know both sides from a security perspective from an intelligence perspective. How does it work? That impacts Israel's ability to fight Hamas, if at all, and these announcements have several different points that need to be considered. The first thing is when the United States announced that it was going to give this aid package to Israel. Suddenly, Israel Hamas comes out and wants to go to the discussion table to have these conversations because they knew that this was a critical piece for Israel to defend itself, but also to prevent further attacks and now they say that we are on hold or on pause, that it strengthens it, it puts it at an advantage and, for me, it is almost a point where we have an Administration that, one day of the week, you know that we have strong support for Israel. uh because that's the side that you know the voter base that he's talking to that day, but then a day later he wants to pause it, he wants to keep it going because he's trying to appease another side of his Democratic base or you. he knows the student protesters, many of whom are not even students because he wants to appeal to that voter base and again you know there is a human aspect to all of this, there is the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from an intelligence perspective, if this war does not Move on and again we have seen Hamas reappear in northern Gaza, could that be to the detriment of Palestinian civilians who are essentially starving and being used by Hamas?

You know, he said a very key word that was used there because what's happening from a humanitarian perspective in Gaza, I mean, it's tragic, you know, Hamas is using its own people, its fellow citizens, its Palestinians, making them suffering and taking the aid that the United States has provided that should have been for food and oil. and for medical purposes and use it for terrorist purposes using that money even though you know there were laws against it, the administration you know looked in another direction and sent this money knowing and they even claimed that they knew it was going to go for those purposes so you know that the crime here falls on Hamas, it is not a crime against Israel.

Hamas is knowingly and willfully putting its own people in danger as we look to the future because again you mentioned that even when Hamas announced that They had agreed to a certain ceasefire, a deal, negotiations, they were probably building their base in northern Gaza . When it comes to looking into the future, from your perspective, from your experience, where is this going now? Well, you know there's a lot to be said for it. strength and I think what we need to do as the West and the United States is to give Israel the strength it needs to have a strong position at the negotiating table, weaken them by suspending their ammunition, putting certain conditions that are quidd pro quo. that if you do this and that, we will give you this ammunition, it will weaken Israel, it will take away the opportunity to have robust discussions and ultimately calm this conflict.

You know, I think there were conditions. that were strong and valid on both sides, but there were also conditions that Hamas was putting forward that they knew would never pass, but it gave them some element of time so that they could regroup, while the deliberations continued. Don before we let you go. any last thoughts, anything that really stands out to you or for you, what you'll be following very closely in the coming days and weeks, you know, one of the biggest things that I've been observing is the conflict that's going on. Here at home, here on our own campuses, you know, and while I don't always agree with the former Secretary of State, SEC, Secretary Clinton, she said that a very valid point is that students today don't know the history and , if they knew it, history, they wouldn't be out there protesting, they would understand what's really going on here and I think that's something that we really need to look at around the world, you know, learn your history and, as we look at these arrests, where More Two-thirds of those arrested on these college campuses are armed, uh, provocateurs, they're not even students, they're just going there to feed the flame and I think it's up to parents to make sure they're aware of what their kids are doing on campus. and make sure that they think about what they do before they embark on their career and their future, and that's also something that we've been following very closely when you mentioned this ongoing war in Gaza.

In campus protests, many of the instigators are outside agitators, not students, so again this is a very important point to keep in mind. Don Bramer, a former naval intelligence officer. As always, it's a pleasure to have you here live from Fox. We appreciate you joining us this Sunday. Thank you Stephanie