qatar, brokered by egypt, hamas says they have accepted the cease-fire. we have yet to hear from israel. reach out to the white house, yet to hear from the white house, yet to hear from the state department although at that moment at that podium there will be a lot of questions. then we will take you to the white house press briefing that is with press secretary karine jean-pierre. national security communications john kirby. that begins at 2:15 p.m. eastern time and not only are there lingering questions about the hamas excepted cease-fire as we wait to hear from israel, there are questions about an ammunition delay that axios reported. why was ammunition delayed to israel? so far the reporting the white house has declined to comment. decline no longer. we will hear from the white house at 2:15 p.m. eastern time. thank you to ever appear and make sure to dvr the show. for now, "america reports." >> john: breaking in the past few minutes. some are saying agreed to a

cease-fire proposed by qatar and egypt. as it is really forces prepare to move into rafa for a limited scope information on the heels of the long promised ground defense in gaza. we begin this monday afternoon, i'm john roberts. good morning to you. >> sandra: good morning to you. i'm gillian turner and for sandra smith today. this is america report. they are ordering hundreds of thousands of palestinians in rafah to evacuate now. a senior officials calling them move a dangerous escalation that will have consequences paired >> john: jeff paul is live on the ground for us in tel aviv with the latest for all this. hamas agreeing to a cease-fire does not mean it's a done deal. >> no. it certainly does not and hamas released a statement saying its political leader had a phone call with the qatari's and the egyptians who have been involved in this intense mediation process saying they agreed to the deal that is on the table.

that's been discussed over the past week or so. the new question remains what wl israel do, how will they respond, and does this include the release of hostages? we will have to stand by and wait and see. at the same time we have a massive development today as the israeli military started warning residents and people who live in eastern rafah, roughly 100,000 palestinians to start evacuating. they dropped flyers off in that area in eastern rafah as well as they made phone calls and text messages telling the people who live there they need to move on to them a lossy humanitarian zone. that is an area north of rafa along the coast of gaza. the israeli military says the order is temporary and not a large-scale evacuation however civilians have been told to pack up their things and lead it, there's not only a sense of frustration but a real concern about their safety. >> israeli occupation told

people to go to rafah and it's a safe area. today they are telling us to get out of rafah. where will the people go? where will the crowds go? 1.2 million civilians heard where will they go question rick should they go into the sea? >> both of the major developments happening as hamas just left egypt yesterday after intense negotiations but on the very same day, there was a deadly attack at the crossing that the idf says was fired from the humanitarian zone. hamas has claimed responsibility and during a call with lloyd austin, israel's defense minister said that they don't have a choice good they have to get into rafah and they said at the time it did not appear that hamas was very serious about coming up with some sort of cease-fire agreement. i wanted you to pay attention to the language here. they use the word cease-fire agreement. no mention of hostages. you will want to watch and see

how israel responds because that will be a big part of this like we saw in november. an exchange of hostages for palestinian prisoners as well as a cop pause in the fighting. >> gillian: how much can an agreement to a cease-fire by hamas really mean if we don't know that they have agreed to the core foundation tenant on their side which is the release of the remaining hostages. >> it and that's the tough thing this whole week. you have these little chuckles of information. some reports saying as many as 30 hostages could be released, some say 40. until you get that agreement that both parties have agreed to, it's hard to determine what will happen but it is interesting that the wording said a cease-fire agreement. surely israel would not agree to that if it would include hostages. you have 132 that they believe are still in there.

>> john: jeff is in tel aviv at the latest. we have seen in the past that hamas is that as a cease-fire we would except when it's been disadvantageous to israel. >> gillian: and i want to make sure i get these numbers precise. on friday our teams on the ground there said that hamas is still holding 132 hostages believed to be in gaza. 37 of those are confirmed dead but we are curing reporting from our teams that it is possible that many more, maybe even thousands of those people could be dead as a friday. >> john: with maybe one of the reasons hamas has not agree to any seas for up to this point is because of the idea of having hostages as bargaining chips may not exist. we'll be talking with senator tom cotton coming up. but first, this. >> this has never happened to this country before. it's a ridiculous thing.

it's a ridiculous case. i did nothing wrong. absolutely nothing wrong. they have no case. and it has been absolutely proven now. they have no case whatsoever. this is alvin bragg doing this for political reasons for biden. this is a biden trial. >> gillian: that his former president trump weighing in on his criminal trial today before court. also speaking out against the existing gag orders against appeared on the stand today is former trump organization controller jeff mcconaughey. we have team coverage for you with the former trump impeachment william jay brennan. first we go to senior correspondent eric shawn. he's alive at the courthouse. eric, what is the witness telling to those jurors today in the courtroom? >> hello jillian. they've broken for lunch but throughout this morning we have heard a lot about payments and invoices and reimbursement to michael cohen but so far, no evidence or testimony directly tying the former president into that alleged scheme to pay off

stormy daniels. on the witness stand is the former trump organization controller jeff mcconney. he's been explain how mike cohen was reimbursed eventually for using his own money to pay stormy but mcconney said he knew nothing about any agreement ordeal for her alleged hush money payments. he sent allen weisselberg, the trump cfo at the time, said they were approved by eric trump. the former presidents on who happened to be in court today with them. the balance came from trump's own personal checking account. in those checks to michael cohen were marked for legal expenses. the defense says the former president did think just that. that he was paying michael cohen for being his lawyer but prosecutors have of course said that is not true. the day started with the former president learning he has to write another check, this time for violating the gag order again. the judge find a trump $1,000 for an attack he made on the jury. he told him if he does not stop,

he could go behind bars. "the last thing i want to consider is jail" said the judge. "you are a former president and possibly the next president. the magnitude of that decision is not lost on me. your continued willful violation of the court's order constitutes a direct attack on the rule of law and you will not be allowed to continue." >> they have no case. they have no case. it's a political hoax, it's election interference. anything they can do and even the witnesses they want to bring up. they have nothing to do with the case. this is a ridiculous situation. not fair. not fair but we will fight it. >> just before the lunch break, it was the defenses turn to question mcconney. defense attorney bove showing that mcconney and the trump organization thought they were on the up and up but as the defense has said they were paying for legal expenses to

michael cohen. back to you. >> gillian: eric shawn outside of the manhattan court for us. thank you. >> john: let's bring in william brennan appeared he's a former trump payroll corporation attorney and represented president trump during his second impeachment trial. it's good to have you here. >> thank you for having me. >> john: any time there's a controller on the stand you put on your green visor and you start to get down in the weeds in terms of these numbers. we are talking about like payments to: were grossed up to cover the taxes he would've had to pay. whether or not they were reported to the irs, whether trump approved them, if there was a link to trunk. you know about the stuff. dig into and tell us what the prosecution has unveiled and have the med any salient points? >> it's not as nefarious as it may sound or seem. you have to remember that trump organization and its subsidiaries are a privately owned company. it's a family business. it's not anything out of the

ordinary that when the president was the president that he would have to sign checks from his personal account. mr. mcconney as i recall having dealt with him in the case that i handled before judge zelenskyy 19 work for the organization for 30 some years that's was amazing. these employees stay forever. he was there 38 years. but i have not heard anything yet that jumps off the page. there is no smoking gun. the most important thing to remember aside from the president's presumed innocent is the prosecution has cobbled this case together with duct tape and zip ties to get to this second crime. all of this could have occurred as they say it did but if it wasn't motivated to commit a second crime either election fraud or some type of election finance fraud, the case goes out the window. >> gillian: the judge also said today that the penalties,

the financial penalties are clearly not having the intended effect on trump for the gag order. they said he might just have to throw him in jail for it how much time is this judge lightly considering? >> judge merchan is in a tough spot. having spent the better part of two months with him, he suffers no fools per he's the real deal. i think he would if he felt it was necessary to impose a jail sentence. having said that, this is the first time we have had a former president of the united states as a criminal defendant. i'm hoping he can make his point with the measures he has taken but he could put this defendant and for a day and have the same chilling impact that 30 days would have. and frankly it gets a little unruly after a day because you have secret service and security issues but when you are talking about this particular defendant, a day, a month, it really sends us a message.

>> john: if trump goes to jail, the secret service goes to jail with him. but there is a sense that if merchan were to throw him in jail he would probably have points added to his popularity ratings. >> the way it's been going. but i think that the president has been compliant with the gag order since the first set of sanctions. 9 out of 10. you must remember that these allegations, these most recent e were pending. it's not like that ruling came down and then he flaunted it. >> john: where was going with the question was in a different direction. you said you've argued before merchan. you said he was the real deal. trump says he has a conflicted judge who is leading in all sorts of evidence that shouldn't see the light of day of day. >> gillian: running a kangaroo court. >> i'm not the president's lawyer in this case. i've had the opportunity to represent the president in his

second impeachment and payroll tax case before this judge. but my personal opinion of judge merchan, he treated me very well. he was a gentleman, he is smart, he works hard, and i really -- it's above my pay grade to get into political issues. i have no political agenda. as a lawyer who's been knocking around this country for three and a half decades trying criminal cases, a pleasure to work in front of him and frankly that prosecution team, a number of those people. he's a pro. it's just so much easier when the judge is a pro and the prosecution team are professionals. we do our job. >> gillian: that is refreshing to hear. thank you for bringing us that background. >> john: we don't hear from the former president about that. >> i might hear from the former president about that. thank you. >> gillian: we are now getting word of an israeli response after hamas reported it had

accepted an egyptian cotter cease-fire. white israel says it is not acceptable. we will talk to senator tom cotton about it coming up next. molly line is covering it. she's at harvard today. molly? >> the and getman at harvard yard roommates. they want to begin negotiations at 5:00 p.m. but the harvard interim president says i: those participating in the encampment to end the occupation of harvaro yard.o more on that cominprg up. ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, nutrients for immune health. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. (♪)

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much possibility that israel would sign on to something that hamas had accepted. >> i'm trying to parse some of what we've been told off the record and what we can say publicly. i guess i would tell you right now use extreme caution in taking this hamas statement at face value. you will recall that the president had a phone call with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu this morning and it lasted 30 minutes and sends the statement came out we have not gotten any response from the white house, from the state department, from the national security council. even on background. generally, there was a feeling that this might not be happening imminently. that they would be willing to share immediately after hamas came out with this statement. the statement that hamas also put out does not make any mention of a hostage release which has been and continues to be a core tenet of any deal that would be accepted by israel.

it would have to include for the u.s. as well the hostage release, a pause in fighting, and more aid. the statement that hamas put out does not make reference to any of the individual perimeters of the deal. i would not be surprised if the briefing got pushed back. i've spoken to several officials across the administration who were in real time trying to verify with their israeli counterparts the legitimacy of this claim, what exactly it all entails. i would agree with you that generally this seems to be a surprise and the slow reaction to comment on it from the white house, from the state department, from the national security council, we can read into that and clean from that that perhaps from the phone call this morning, there was not an expectation that this would be happening soon. ongoing effort right now to parse this and figure out what all it means. >> john: i think hamas probably saw an opportunity with

the increased pressure that biden has been putting on netanyahu including the report said that u.s. was withholding weapons deliveries to israel. jacqui heinrich fours at the white house. thank you. >> gillian: let's go ahead and bring it senator tom cotton. he serves on the senate armed service committee. hearing this news that hamas says they have agreed to the terms of the cease-fire without specifying what those terms are. it's mighty hard for the israelis to agree to a cease-fire when hamas has not been truthful or forthcoming about how many hostages remained in captivity and how many of them are alive at this point. >> we will have to see exactly what israel says they received from hamas but this sounds suspiciously like and in full operation. trying to an apr war because hamas knows it can't win a military war against israel nor can you negotiate in good faith.

we have to accept the reality that many or most might be dead. hamas will not provide a proof of life photos or videos. it wouldn't be hard for hamas to put today's newspaper in front of the hostages and have them speak a few words into the camera but that would reveal the ace cards. how many hostages they still have a life and hamas will not do that and they are especially not going to do that as long as joe biden continues to pressure israel to give hamas what it wants more than all of which is existence. israel is dedicated to hamas' destruction appeared therefore hamas battalions left and right foot. time joe biden or the senior i say we don't want them to take down the battalions in a row fight and we demand they reopen the gates so supplies can get in, apparently withholding ammunition from israel. all it does is make hamas lefts likely to agree to the hostage release because they think they will get from joe biden's pressure what israel is otherwise only getting when they

apply military pressure to hamas. >> john: according to one reporter i saw, netanyahu did agree to reopen the crossing for humanitarian assistance. here's what this is about rejection of the hamas deal. israeli official says hamas announcement appears to be a ruse to cast israel as the side it refusing a deal. there's a tremendous amount of pressure on biden from the left. listen to what bernie sanders posted on x but he said 1 million people have fled to rafah. for months the u.s. has warned against an attack and that yahoo ignored the warning screen out an assault is imminent and it will kill countless civilians. biden must back the actions with military aid to israel here why wouldn't hamas see an opportunity here? >> that's exactly right. while joe biden of the democratic party continues to put pressure on israel, it makes it more likely to the hostages.

the only reason they started negotiations a few weeks ago is because the invasion of "america reports"'s thick team appeared and met. when they been willing to negotiate is intense pressure. they demand a cease-fire and hamas is involved in it. look at what they are saying about these disgusting cesspools of anti-semitic hate on our campuses. they are celebrating them. they know it puts more pressure on joe biden and the democrats to demand that israel pitches instead of what they should be doing. if they want thousands to stop suffering, they should demand that hamas release all hostages and unconditionally surrender. >> gillian: which to be fair they have been doing since day one and hamas could have foreseeably ended the conflict at any point in time by doing so. we are looking at live pictures here outside of a hospital in

gaza, the site of a bombing that was due to a hamas palestinian sympathizer terrorist unit misfiring earlier in the war. we heard, senator, from unicef over the weekend that there is about 600,000 children inside rafah right now. what steps could the idf take to not necessarily protect them but prevent them from being unnecessarily brought into this? >> first off, unicef is an agency of the united nations which is a cesspool of anti-semitic and anti-his real hate so i don't know if i would credit what israel stomach they report to. >> but senator that number is widely accepted to be true. so i'm putting that out there. >> there is no doubt that there are civilian casualties and civilian sufferings in gaza.

that's always the case and more. the sole responsibility rests with hamas however. hamas invaded israel, slaughtered more jews since the holocaust and it brought this war on gaza. if it wants to stop civilian suffering and casualties and gaza, it can unconditionally surrendered just like germany did in may of 1945 you're just like japan did after we nuked them twice. the war is not finished by the end. they were not totally occupied but the de facto governments unconditionally surrendered to stop further civilian deaths. that's exactly what hamas could do here. they are solely responsible for the civilian casualties in the water. >> john: and there's no sign that hamas would be willing to do that. there's too much at stake for them for this. let me come back to this report that biden was withholding weapons shipments to israel. it was carried in axios over the weekend. the u.s. put a hold on ammunition shipment to israel. here's how "the wall street journal"

editorial board of bread that. they said "perhaps the weapons delay was intended as a mission to hamas. that the u.s. is willing to arm twist israel to stop the campaign but that's the diplomatic logic that has kept the war going as long as it has. israel's government can't end the war with hamas' military brigades intact and that means going into rafa is difficult as it may be. it would seem to me that netanyahu and even the unity war cabinet is looking at this and saying there is no way that we can't go into rafah and leave those battalions intact because if we do, eventually they will reconstitute and it will be october 7th all over again. do you think that despite the pressure that biden is bringing on israel, it will go and hit on rafah? >> i think they have to. that's what prime minister netanyahu and the cabinet said. that's what public opinion were polls reflect in israel. this is not the decision of one man or a war.

this is the overwhelming sentiment in israel after suffering the october 7th atrocity. if these reports are true about biden withholding ammunition from israel, it may be the worst blunder yet of his administration. around the world. maybe even worse than the withdrawal from afghanistan because it does send that signal to hamas that they do not need to surrender, they do not need to release the hostages. they can count on joe biden to force israel to capitulate as opposed to backing israel to the hilt from the very beginning. if joe biden had done that, this war probably would already be over. it's another pattern of president biden all around the world never playing to win, trying to avoid losing by the barest margins. >> gillian: we learned on thursday and friday the biden administration internally is considering the potential to allow thousands of palestinians trapped in gaza to enter the u.s. on refugee visas. what do you think of that

potential move? >> insane. there are reasons why egypt, an american partner, does not want gazans coming into its own territory. they know what a dangerous threat it is. either they need to go into shelters in gaza or we need to work with countries like egypt or other countries in the region if there are going to be refugees leaving gaza. that's always the preferred method of dealing with refugees. keeping them as close as possible to their home country. to fly thousands of arabs out of gaza into the united states just like we have let millions of people across our border illegally would be the height of folly. >> gillian: very quickly senator. countries like jordan, egypt, qatar said we are not taking them in citing security con concerns. >> it of jordan and egypt won't take them and because of security concerns, what does it say about joe biden's judgment to even consider bringing them to the united states. >> john: senator tom cotton of

the great state of arkansas, thank you for your time. >> it's a political hoax. it's election interference. anything you can do and the witnesses they want to bring up, they don't have anything to do with the case here this is a ridiculous situation. not fair. not fair. spoon former president trump speaking up for court this meeting. what's the impact of today's testimony and what can we expect from a star witness michael cohen. fox news legal editor terry irvine is standing outside the courtroom., we she joins us coming up next. that means less stress for you. >> woman: thanks. >> tech: my pleasure. have a good one. >> woman: you too. >> tech: schedule today at safelite.com. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ feeling ughh from a backed up gut? ughh. miralax works naturally with the water in your body to help you go. free your gut and your mood will follow. for 8 grams of fiber,

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just $19.95. it's time to feed the dogs real food in the right amount. a healthy weight can help dogs live a longer and happier life. the farmer's dog makes weight management easy with fresh food pre-portioned for your dog's needs. it's an idea whose time has come. >> gillian: welcome back. we brought you the news a moment ago that hamas says they have agreed to a cease-fire deal with the israelis without citing any of the specific terms of the cease-fire deal that they are allegedly agreeing to. now we are waiting as you can see here a statement from the idf spokesperson daniel hug ari

reacting to these comments and claims from hamas. we will bring you his comments as we get them. >> john: the new york trial against former president donald trump continues with the former controller of his organization taking the stand today. as prosecutors work to tie a 2016 payment to stormy daniels to another crime. which we still haven't got a clear indication exactly what it is. joining us now is our fox news legal editor carrier bond. the prosecution go any distance today to try to solidify it in the minds of the jury that these were clandestine payments that were being made to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal to affect the outcome of the election? >> the prosecution is painstakingly going through each invoice that michael cohen submitted to trump and the trump organization for services rendered. the reason that does matter is he was submitting a monthly invoice in 2017 which was after

the work that he provided would've been done. we'll prosecutors are trying to get out here is why would he be billing $35,000 a month in apris happening at that point when he was getting paid or stomach for something he provided the previous year which of course will go to their theory that the fee that they are pushing that donald trump and michael cohen were collaborating to unlawfully influence the election although as we have discussed, payment or compensation for an nda is not illegal. >> gillian: question about one of the key witnesses and hope hicks peered she painted a picture that former president trump was very eager to squash the stormy daniels story because he was concerned about what that reporting would it mean to his wife. worried it would be upsetting to her. of course.

do you think looking back on the testimony a few days later after watching all of it multiple hours in full that she was helpful or harmful to the defense here? >> there are mixed reviews out there as to whether she was helpful or not to the former president. i personally think she was because her test of that donald trump was personally stressed by the impact that the stormy daniels story would have on his wife melania and his family undercuts the prosecutiof the case. hope hicks didn't testify that donald trump would ask routinely how is this playing which as a former press secretary is a very common question. whether one is running for election or not, the boss wants to know how a story about him is playing if it's going well or not. i didn't think anything was that abnormal about it and i have to tell you i was a bit surprised by some of the coverage over the weekend from's other media outlets that described a

bombshell damaging testimony from hope hicks about her former boss and the thing that they kept pointing to was her saying that the "access hollywood" tape was devastating and damaging. of course it was. we all knew that. anybody who lived through october 2016 could have said that. it doesn't change the legality of compensation for an nda and it doesn't change the legal aspects of the case. >> john: this is leading toward testimony by the prosecution's star witness michael cohen. and i thought it was interesting that hope hicks did not paint a very kind picture of michael cohen in her testimony when she said that spirit she said, -- the defense asked you to roman times. fair to say question which she said yes and then i used to say that he liked to call himself a fixer or mr. fix it and it was only because he first broke it that he was then able to fix it. she is really casting a lot of doubt in the minds of the jury as to how credible this guy will

be when he takes the stand. >> and not just hope hicks. i have yet to see one witness say a positive thing about michael cohen on the stand. if i am the prosecution, that is a big problem. if every witness i am putting forth has negative things to say about my star witness, it's going to come down to michael cohen's word. he has lied in court, he's lied to the media, he's lied to congress. these are the things that a juror is going to have to contend with once he eventually takes the stand. weeks of testimony speaking to bad things about his character coupled with what they already know about him in the past. >> gillian: on a technical note, judge merchan this morning said basically the finds he has been imposing for trump violating the gag order are not working and he may have to throw him in jail at some point.

what do you think of that and what was a court's reaction to it? >> i mean, he could. but just because you can do something doesn't mean you should or that he will. i said this earlier today. not that a judge is supposed to be thinking about politics but this judge obviously think about politics given his past donations to joe biden and stop republicans group. we know he's attuned to the political scene. it would be political suicide for him to send donald trump to jail. it would turn donald trump into an instant murder. it would exponentially boost to him in the court of public opinion and it would raise question marks and those who think this is a righteous prosecution when they see a judge throwing the former leader of the free world and possibly the future leader of the free world into prison for defending himself and a case that is very much going to play into whether or not he is elected. spew and let ask you one question that got more delineated in court and that was

why michael cohen was paid so much more than he paid stormy daniels. and the prosecution looked at the records and memos and said his compensation was grossed up because if you give a person back $130,000 of salary, they will lose a good portion of that. maybe 50% depending on what tax bracket you are in to the irs. they grossed up the payments so it would cover the taxes and then there was a bonus on top of that. and that added up to more than $400,000. did they adequately explain the discrepancy and the amount of money he was given back versus what he spent? >> we will hear more about that but let's say for the sake of argument, let's say there's a discrepancy. let's say it looks a little shady potentially. it doesn't matter if it can't be proved that donald trump knew about these payments. how they were being paid, how much they were being paid. the minutia of the discussion.

that is what matters here. donald trump is the one on trial. we are hearing about other people talking to each other. lawyers negotiating things between themselves and that's all well and fine and that's how these things normally go but the prosecution is responsible for proving beyond a reasonable doubt that donald trump had direct knowledge of these payments, how they were made, how they were classified for them to really make the case go forward. >> gillian: we need to leave it there but thank you for being our eyes and ears at the courthouse today. we appreciate it. >> john: back at it in about a half hour. thank you. >> gillian: this is a live look at the white house press podia. we are waiting for the briefing after hamas just said it has agreed to a cease-fire deal. stick with us. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. (ella) fashion moves fast.

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>> gillian: welcome back. we are looking they are pictures of gaza following is really in the attacks on the city, on the region. the israeli side is now warning civilians in rafah to fleet it and evacuate without a timeline given they say they are preparing for and invasion. as this and other relevant news is developing around the war in gaza, i want to bring in former fate state department spokesperson who is joining us on the phone. to recap the latest and get your thoughts on it. hamas claims it has agreed to the terms of a cease-fire with israel. we don't have an israeli response just yet on paper but there is a lot of reason to doubt and question the

authenticity and the sincerity of hamas in these negotiations. >> you are absolutely right. thank you for having me. it looks like also just looking at the most recent reports out of israel, it looks like hamas may have agreed to a cease-fire deal that is a proposal that israel has not even seen yet. there's been a lot of proposals and a lot of negotiations going back and forth for weeks now. you see the biden administration, abe lincoln warning that this has been reported to axios that hamas leaders were going to have to leave if they didn't accept it proposals. it seems like it will be a team of telephone where hamas says they agree but it happens to be a proposal that israel has not seen or agreed to yet. why would they do that? i think the reason they would likely do that is they realized over the weekend how serious israel is.

they started telling palestinians, gazans to leave the area over the weekend. they dropped leaflets. >> john: i'm sorry to interrupt. hold for just a moment. matt miller is talk about this very thing. >> as you know director burns is in the region working on this in real time. we will be discussing this response with our partners over the coming hours. we continue to believe that a hostage deal is in the best interest of the israeli people. in the best interest of the palestine p.m. people. it would allow increased movement and he manager and assistant so we will continue to work to try to reach one. >> you have not yet made any determination whether they are accepting what is on the table or they are accepting something that is different? >> we have only received a response in the last hour in 90 minutes and we are going through it now. we are discussing the partners in the region so i don't want to characterize the nature of that

response just yet. >> can i follow up on that? >> there have been reports from israel that perhaps hamas agreed to a proposal that was put together by egypt and qatar that was softer than the one that was in the works last week. is there possible that there is a different proposal that the u.s. is not involved with tracking? >> i've seen those suggestions and those reports but i hope you will understand that because we are still reviewing the response that has come in and because we are working on this in real time and trying to reach an agreement i'm just going to decline to comment in detail on any of those reports. we will be discussing this response with our partners in the region in the hours ahead. it remains our top priority to try to reach a cease-fire agreement that will lead to the release of hostages, that will allow a surge of humanitarian assistance both into gaza and allow it to move around inside gaza but i don't want to comment

on the various reports about what they might have been responding to until we have been able to go through it in detail and come to a full understanding and discuss it with our partners. >> john: the state department holding the fire there on any response to hamas accepting the deal here let's go back to morgan ortega. this seems to be a p.r. move on hamas' part because hamas deputy, the hamas deputy chief said that the ball is in israel's courts. i think this agreement satisfies all parties. >> i couldn't have set up better. you summed it up. that's exactly where was going before the state department spokesperson just gave the press conference briefing. it seems like hamas realizes especially by the way after they killed four israelis over the weekend. what were those israeli soldiers doing question work trying to deliver aid to the palestinians that hamas is supposedly fighting for and defending which we all know was a joke. now that israel started sending out those text messages and

telling people to leave rafah, hamas knows that an attack is an event so they are trying to change the p.r. game. i will remind everybody that last week there were proposals on the table that israel agreed to that the united states -- even tony blinken who has been on on the side of israel in my opinion in these negotiations. even he agreed to it and thought it was a good cease-fire. hamas rejected that last week and then a hamas of course attacked the military aid convoys coming in to gaza. the bottom line is they don't care about the palestinian people. they don't care about gaza. they only care about themselves and the only time hamas moves is when they feel pressure. >> gillian: standby one more moment if you will. we will jump back into the state department briefing and listen to matt miller on this. >> when you have people moving north the places where internal distribution lines are not currently set up. you will have to try to

reestablish those in the middle of conflict and that would be very difficult if not impossible to do. even absent in this latest response we made clear that we do not support israel launching a full mayor terry campaign in rafah. >> there hasn't been any communication with israelis but the response from hamas and how this affects the situation in rafah. >> i'm not going to get into those conversations. as i said, we just literally in the past hour, 90 minutes received a response from hamas in the first place. of course we will be discussing it with egypt, with qatar, with israel. the three countries with we've been working in the negotiation process but i don't want to get to the timing. if we can get those conversations started an ongoing and the next few hours. >> under different circumstances, do you still think a cease-fire is achievable

based on what you know coming here? >> what you mean? a cease-fire is what we are trying to achieve. >> over the weekend there was a fighting impasse and hamas is accepted but from israel we are hearing that is not the proposal that we've sent, it's a softened version and that throws the whole thing into it. >> john: we will jump out of this because clearly matt miller is not prepared to make any substantive statement about where israel and the u.s. stand with this news that hamas has accepted the cease-fire. israel is suggesting that it is something of a watered-down version of something that came out earlier that was not acceptable. i would assume that the only thing that israel would find acceptable would likely be a cessation of violence in exchange for all hostages and the future determination on how this thing ends. >> to remind everybody that

includes five americans we have five americans that are behind their lines that are held hostage by the terrorists and we know that there are a number of bodies that the israelis are uncovering as well. they put netanyahu and the war cabinet in a pickle because the war cabinet has told the israeli people we will finish hamas militarily. we will eliminate the threat. they have to go into rafah to finish them militarily and eliminate the threat however the israeli population definitely absolutely wants the hostages home and wants their people h home. what was interesting to me about the press conference as they did not talk about the cease-fire various deals but they did reiterate matt miller there the state department spokesperson did reiterate the administration's position to israel going into rafah. i think that's very dangerous for you heard republican senators criticized the administration over that position. and you've seen the reports that

the u.s. might be withholding military aid if israel does go into rafah which puts israel in a terrible predicament but ultimately they are going to have to destroy hamas militarily to keep the word to the israeli people that this will not emanate from gaza again. >> gillian: we will leave it there. thank you for taking time with us and thank you for standing by as we jump in and out of state briefing could we appreciate it. >> john: briefing i had with more to come. we will take a quick freak and be right back. yes, the time has come for a fresh approach to dog food. everyday, more dog people are deciding it's time to quit the kibble and feed their dogs fresh food from the farmer's dog. made by vets and delivered right to your door precisely portioned for your dog's needs. it's an idea whose time has come. ♪ ( ♪ ) my back got injured very bad. i was off work for about a year.

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>> john: we are awaiting an update from john kirby at the white house after hamas claims they have agreed to conditions of a cease-fire that were negotiated by qatar and egypt. israel says that the proposal is not acceptable calling it a ruse to make israel look like the side that is dragging its feet. i am john roberts as we kick off our number two. >> gillian: thank you for having. i am gillian turner in for sandra. this is the second hour of amer