US rescue group in Israel navigating an 'absolute mess' on the ground

Save Our Allies co-founder Tim Kennedy is detailing the "incredibly difficult" challenges his rescue organization is facing trying to evacuate Americans trapped in Israel.

The former Army sniper joined "FOX & Friends" Friday from near the Gaza border in hard-hit Ashkelon to discuss the logistical hurdles as Israeli forces prepare a ground invasion to root out Hamas.

"We were in Egypt earlier this morning trying to figure out how they're going to be getting these people out… there's tons, tens of thousands of refugees that are going to be coming out of there. We have American hostages, American refugees. It's just an absolute mess," Kennedy began. 

"But one of the scariest things is the temperament around Israel by their neighbors. Being in Egypt, it was incredibly difficult, one, to move through the border and to obviously be an American moving into Egypt related to an Israel crisis. It's difficult here."

REPORTER JUMPS INTO ACTION TO SAVE SLAIN FRIEND'S CHILDREN AFTER HAMAS ATTACK: 'ABSOLUTE CHAOS'

A view shows smoke in the Gaza Strip as seen from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel October 18, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (REUTERS )

A trio of House Republicans Thursday put forward a resolution "[c]ondemning the Biden Administration for failing to fulfill the United States Government’s duty to American citizens left stranded in Israel" as violence rips through the country.

Kennedy however applauded the State Department for doing "amazing work" by arriving quickly and providing "constant" flights. He described the first days in Israel as the most difficult following Hamas' attacks.

"There are people that were hiding in bunkers. There were people that were too scared to leave the positions that they were at after seeing the videos that were coming out. We had to physically go and find those people and then escort those people from where they were to where they could be flown out," he said, describing flights out on a "one-propeller airplane from Haifa to Cyprus."

"It's been hard. We were in Be'er Sheva yesterday talking to a police unit," he continued. "They had to respond to this area. And all along the east side of Gaza, they lost one-quarter of everyone that is in their department, was injured, was missing, is missing still, or was killed in the fighting. You can see just the despair and brokenness inside of them and the things that they saw on the ground."

A salvo of rockets is fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza towards Israel on Tuesday. (Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

"To see the pain in these people's eyes, knowing that these women, children were so horrifically killed and tortured. It's just difficult."

Kennedy described Hamas as "evil demons" and warned that Israeli soldiers will face the most "barbaric" tactics possible in urban warfare. 

"This is going to be the hardest war that I think IDF has ever seen," he said, adding that Hamas will use civilians and hostages as cover to attack Israeli soldiers. 

"They have to fight inch by inch to win and nothing else but to destroy the enemy that is trying to destroy them. … ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ that is a call for genocide, that is a call to kill everyone in the way. And that is every single Jew that is here in Israel. Israel has to go fight for their existence."

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Fox News' Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.

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