Israeli forces successfully rescued two Israeli hostages held in the Gaza city of Rafah, officials announced early Monday.

In a joint operation conducted overnight, the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli Securities Authority and Israeli police rescued Fernando Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, and evacuated them in a helicopter to the Sheba Tel Hashomer hospital inside Israel. Footage released by the IDF later showed Merman and Har hugging and embracing their families.

‘The hostages … were held captive in harsh conditions. They were intentionally held in the middle of a civilian neighborhood inside a civilian building to try to prevent us from rescuing them. But we did,’ IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a video message this morning. ‘Fernando Marmon and Luis Har are now home in Israel. They have undergone medical examination and have been reunited with their families.  

‘This rescue mission underscores the importance of our ground operation in Gaza, including Rafah, when conditions allow. One hundred and thirty-four men, women, children and elderly are still being held hostage in Gaza,’ Hagari added. ‘We have a moral obligation to bring all our hostages home, and that is an obligation that we will continue doing everything – everything in our power – to fulfill.’ 

Merman and Har were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from the Nir Yitzhak kibbutz on Oct. 7, the day Hamas launched its attack against Israel.

Forces from the IDF Navy SEALs, the Shin Bet special operations unit and the Israeli police counterterrorism unit arrived at a building in Rafah to carry out the rescue operation, according to the IDF. The operation took place at around 1 a.m. local time.

‘Fernando and Louis, welcome home,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. ‘I salute our brave fighters for the daring action that led to their release. Only continued military pressure, until total victory, will bring the release of all our hostages. We will not miss any opportunity to bring them home.’

An IDF spokesperson told reporters in a briefing that the forces managed to covertly reach the building and enter the second floor before blowing up the door of the apartment with an explosive and killing the three terrorists holding the two hostages.

The IDF and Shin Bet had been working on the operation for several weeks based on intelligence, an IDF official told Axios. The Israeli Air Force conducted heavy strikes in Rafah as a diversion to allow the rescue.

The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza said dozens of Palestinians were killed in the bombardment, Al Jazeera reported.

Israeli officials notified the Biden administration of the operation following its completion, according to Axios.

As of Monday, 134 of the more than 240 hostages abducted on Oct. 7 remain in Gaza. More than 100 were freed as part of a temporary cease-fire deal in November. This includes Har’s wife, who is also Marman’s sister, and Marman’s other sister and niece.

Qatar and Egypt have been attempting to mediate a new hostage deal, but Israel and Hamas have yet to reach an agreement.

Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was transferred to the critical care unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Sunday night after being transported to the hospital earlier in the day.

Austin was transported to the hospital by his security detail on Sunday for symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue, according to a statement released by the Department of Defense from his doctors.

Following a series of tests and evaluations, Austin was admitted into the critical care unit Sunday night for supportive care and close monitoring, the statement added.

‘At this time, it is not clear how long Secretary Austin will remain hospitalized,’ the statement said. ‘The current bladder issue is not expected to change his anticipated full recovery. His cancer prognosis remains excellent. Updates on the Secretary’s condition will be provided as soon as possible.’

Austin’s powers have been temporarily transferred to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks as of Sunday afternoon.

The defense secretary was expected to leave Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday morning to travel to Brussels for the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Wednesday and the NATO Defense Ministerial on Thursday.

In December, Austin was admitted to Walter Reed and underwent prostate cancer surgery. He developed an infection a week later and was readmitted to the hospital.

Hicks filled in at the time while she was on a previously scheduled leave.

President Biden, other senior administration officials and the American public were not told for days about his hospitalization or his cancer. Austin was admitted to Walter Reed on Jan.1, but the Pentagon failed to inform the public, press and Congress until Jan. 5.

Officials also acknowledged that the White House had not been informed about Austin’s hospitalization until Jan. 4.

Austin said earlier this month that he apologized directly to Biden for not giving advance notice about his hospitalization for prostate cancer treatment.

‘I want to be crystal clear. We did not handle this right and I did not handle this right,’ Austin said during a press briefing on Feb. 1, regarding his hospitalization for prostate cancer treatment. ‘I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public, and I take full responsibility. I apologize to my teammates and to the American people.’

Fox News’ Liz Friden and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

The Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), a conservative judicial advocacy organization based in the nation’s capital, is rolling out a digital ad campaign against one of President Biden’s controversial nominees who has alleged ties to 9/11 hijacker sympathizers.

The advertising campaign from JCN – slated to run in Pennsylvania, Montana and Washington, D.C. – consists of an initial buy of $50,000 and specifically targets Adeel Abdullah Mangi, who was recently nominated by Biden to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

The ads appearing in Pennsylvania and Montana urge Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Bob Casey, D-Pa., to vote ‘no’ on Mangi’s nomination to a lifetime appointment on the federal court and accuse the judicial nominee of being an ‘antisemite’ who is far too ‘extreme.’

‘President Biden wants to remake the courts with the most extreme judges he can find,’ the narrator states in the ad. ‘But antisemite Adeel Mangi might be the worst of all.’

The ad goes on to highlight Mangi’s tenure as a member of the board of advisers for the Center for Security, Race, and Rights at Rutgers Law School from 2019 to 2023.

JCN said the ‘extremist organization’ Mangi was affiliated with ‘teaches students to hate Israel, to hate America, and to support global terrorism.’

‘Mangi’s organization blamed America for the Sept. 11 terror attacks and has hosted speakers with terrorist connections, including a convicted terrorist,’ the narrator continued. ‘Mangi’s organization even blamed Israel for the Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7. When Mangi was given opportunities to condemn these hateful views, he refused to do so.’

JCN president Carrie Severino blasted Mangi’s ties to the ‘radical, antisemitic group’ in a statement to Fox News Digital.

‘It is bad enough that President Biden has appointed activist judges who can’t identify major constitutional provisions and are hostile to law enforcement. But now Biden wants to give a life-tenure judicial position to a lawyer with ties to a radical, antisemitic group that blames the United States for 9/11 and teaches students to hate Israel and America,’ she said.

‘In a time when antisemitism is on the rise, how can alleged moderates like Sens. Jon Tester and Bob Casey rubber stamp this kind of nominee for life tenure? There is no place on the Third Circuit for this disdain of our nation’s principles and the rule of law,’ Severino added. ‘Senate Democrats should be ashamed of their support for Adeel Mangi and President Biden should promptly withdraw his nomination.’

Since being nominated, Mangi has garnered significant criticism from GOP lawmakers for his personal and financial affiliation with the university research center that has been accused of giving a platform to ‘terrorist sympathizers.’

Last week, Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans announced they are investigating the funding of the center and insisted its ‘platforming of radical ideologues’ was ‘troublesome.’

‘The work of the Center, its promotion of terrorist sympathizers, and its platforming of radical ideologues is troubling to us as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee,’ Republicans on the committee said in a joint statement.

The center, according to members of the committee, co-sponsored an event titled ‘Whose Narrative? 20 Years since September 11, 2001’ on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Additionally, members of the committee noted that the center hosted an event titled ‘Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine’ three days after the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas militants. Center faculty affiliate Dr. Lara Sheehi opened the talk by saying, ‘Zionist settler colonialism is a structure that is the provocation,’ according to the committee.

The center also held a December 2023 event titled ‘The West, Israel and Settler Colonization of Palestine’ with Professor Joseph Massad, who lauded the Oct. 7 massacre in ‘jubilant’ terms in an article that was published one day after Hamas invaded Israel.

Massad wrote at the time, ‘No less awesome were the scenes witnessed by millions of jubilant Arabs who spent the day watching the news, of Palestinian fighters from Gaza breaking through Israel’s prison fence or gliding over it by air.… No less striking was the capture of some of Israel’s colonial soldiers and officers in their underwear while sleeping.’

Mangi’s nomination and affiliation with the center has also raised concerns from 10 House Republicans who represent districts over which the Third Circuit Court of Appeals presides.

Chief Deputy Whip Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., and nine of his colleagues from Pennsylvania and New Jersey raised ‘grave concerns’ over Mangi’s nomination in a letter to Biden last month.

The center has a ‘deep history of amplifying antisemitic speech, terrorist propaganda, and anti-American rhetoric,’ the lawmakers said in the letter.

‘During his tenure as a board member, the Center supported efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel by pushing for the boycott, divestment, and sanction (BDS) movement and calling for resistance in Palestine,’ they wrote. ‘In 2021, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey stated that one of the Center’s events sought to ‘delegitimize Israel and to push their antisemitic agenda into a mainstream discourse.’ The Jewish News Center, among other organizations, labeled a 2021 center event as ‘pro-Hamas’ and a ‘terrorist-whitewashing webinar.’’

Like their Senate colleagues, the GOP House lawmakers also said the center has a record of sympathizing with radical terrorist organizations and pointed to the 9/11 anniversary event it hosted

The Republicans informed the president that Sami Al-Arian, a convicted felon who provided support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), was a featured speaker. At the event, Al-Arian blamed the 9/11 attack on the U.S. and its support for Israel.

‘As your Administration is aware, PIJ is a foreign terrorist organization and was involved in the atrocities committed against Israel on October 7, 2023,’ they wrote.

The lawmakers went on to argue that ‘while Mr. Mangi’s affiliation and financial support for the Center is cause for alarm, we also find it deeply troubling that he has failed to denounce the Center and its radical ideology.’

‘On numerous occasions in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Mangi was given ample opportunity to denounce examples of antisemitic rhetoric espoused by the Center,’ they said. ‘He failed to do so in his written responses and oral testimony to the committee every single time.’

Mangi advanced out of the committee on an 11-10 party-line vote. His nomination now awaits a vote by the full Senate.

Last month, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital that ‘President Biden is deeply proud’ to have nominated Mangi, calling him ‘an indisputably qualified and experienced attorney who has lived the American dream and is devoted to our Constitution and the rule of law.’

He called the Republicans’ criticisms ‘vile, unconscionable smears,’ noting that they have ‘been discredited by the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, and the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, among many others.’

Bates also accused the GOP lawmakers of applying a ‘religious litmus test,’ targeting Mangi for his Muslim faith – which, he noted, the Constitution ‘forbids.’

Mangi, a New Jersey resident and partner at the law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, has been praised by Democrats for possibly being the nation’s first Muslim American federal appellate judge.

‘Mangi is a standout figure in New Jersey’s legal landscape. It speaks volumes that his exceptional legal abilities are only exceeded by his character and unwavering commitment to fairness in the administration of justice,’ Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said in a statement last month.

The Coalition for Jewish Values, the Zionist Organization of America, Americans Against Antisemitism and others have opposed Mangi’s nomination.

Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.

A super PAC aligned with independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. dropped a surprise commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday, eliciting mixed reactions from viewers. 

American Values 2024 ran the 30-second ad for $7 million. The clip is a throwback to an ad used by his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, in the 1960 presidential campaign. 

The ad, replacing JFK’s face with that of RFK Jr., implores viewers to ‘Vote Independent.’ 

‘The panicked DC power brokers are working overtime to keep Kennedy off the ballot because they know he can and will end their culture of greed and corruption,’ American Values 2024 co-founder Tony Lyons said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.  

‘They offer us soaring inflation, forever wars, and chronic disease. RFK Jr. offers us real change along with freedom, trust and hope. Like his uncle and his father, Kennedy is a corruption fighter, and it’s no wonder the DNC is trying every old trick and inventing new tricks to stop him.  The public sees through it all and won’t stand for it.’ 

Google Trends showed searches for RFK Jr. skyrocketing after the ad aired. 

The ad elicited mixed reactions. One X user implored ‘Robert’ not to ‘give us this during the halftime.’ To which someone responded: ‘This commercial is better than the halftime performance.’ 

Another X user wrote they were ‘struggling to process how this makes me feel in awe of who we used to be as a country and as a people, while also feeling sick at who we have become and how far we’ve strayed.’ 

The ad comes after the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Friday accused RFK Jr.’s presidential campaign of illegally coordinating with American Values 2024. 

The DNC filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), alleging that Kennedy’s campaign received $15 million worth of unlawful in-kind contributions from the super PAC to help him secure ballot access as an independent candidate in several states.

‘Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign is flouting campaign finance law by outsourcing a critical campaign function —  the collection of signatures required to appear on the ballot – to an outside Super PAC that is funded by Donald Trump’s top donor this cycle. This scheme between American Values 2024 and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign requires significant — and plainly illegal — coordination, to the tune of a $15 million in-kind contribution’ DNC senior adviser Mary Beth Cahill said in a statement. 

A Kennedy campaign spokesperson told Fox the allegations were a ‘nonissue being raised by a partisan political entity that seems to be increasingly concerned with its own candidate and viability.’ 

Kennedy initially sought to challenge President Biden in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary, but the DNC said it would not hold primary debates and stood behind the incumbent president.

He declared himself as an independent candidate in October and has seen support in polls from a sizable number of Democrats — and even some Republicans.

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

The White House’s top national security spokesperson, John Kirby, is being promoted to an expanded role that puts him in charge of coordinating communications across several agencies.

A U.S. official said Kirby’s new title will be White House national security advisor, elevating him from deputy assistant, up to assistant to the president.

In the new role, Kirby will direct a small team, separate from the National Security Council’s press office.

He will also be in charge of coordinating communications for national security for several agencies.

Kirby’s frequent presence at the podium during White House press briefings with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ever since Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7 has made him one of the most visible faces of the Biden administration.

Despite the new role, he will continue to make appearances in the briefing room at times when national security is the dominant theme of the day, the official said.

‘Admiral Kirby’s decades of high level national security experience and his clear, strategic insights make him a deeply valued communicator and adviser on this team,’ Anita Dunn, senior adviser to President Biden said. ‘President Biden is proud to have John leading national security message coordination across the administration as we continue to make a forceful case for our national security interests at home and in the world.’

The retired U.S. Navy admiral became the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications in 2022, after being brought over from the Pentagon, where he served as Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs starting in January 2021.

Kirby served in uniform for over 28 years before retiring in 2015 as a Rear Admiral in the Navy.

After retiring, he served at the Department of State as the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Public Affairs from December 2015 to January 2017, as well as the State Department’s spokesperson from May 2015 to January 2017.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is back in the hospital at Walter Reed for an ’emergent bladder issue,’ and has transferred his powers to the deputy defense secretary, according to Pentagon officials.

Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder confirmed Austin was at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, adding that the deputy defense secretary, joint chiefs of staff, White House and Congress have all been notified.

In a statement, Ryder said Austin was transported by his security detail to Walter Reed at about 2:20 p.m. on Sunday, adding that he is retaining the functions and duties of his office.

‘The Deputy Secretary is prepared to assume the functions and duties of the Secretary of Defense, if required,’ the statement read. ‘Secretary Austin traveled to the hospital with the unclassified and classified communications systems necessary to perform his duties.’

But just before 5 p.m., those duties and functions were transferred to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, Ryder later said.

Austin was expected to leave Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday morning to travel to Brussels for the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Wednesday and the NATO Defense Ministerial on Thursday.

It is too soon to tell if Austin will be able to travel, a senior U.S. defense official said, adding his doctors are assessing the secretary’s condition.

In December, Austin was admitted to Walter Reed and underwent prostate cancer surgery. He developed an infection a week later and was readmitted to the hospital.

President Biden and other senior administration officials were not told for days about his hospitalization or his cancer.

Despite being admitted to Walter Reed on Jan.1, the Pentagon didn’t inform the public, press or Congress until Jan. 5. 

Officials also acknowledged that the White House had not been informed about Austin’s hospitalization until Jan. 4. 

On Feb. 1, Austin said he apologized directly to President Biden for not giving advance notice about his hospitalization for prostate cancer treatment.

‘I want to be crystal clear. We did not handle this right and I did not handle this right,’ Austin said during a press briefing on Feb. 1, regarding his previous hospitalization. ‘I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public, and I take full responsibility. I apologize to my teammates and to the American people.’