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Israeli Army: At Least 900 People Killed In Hamas Attacks; IDF: Now Conducting "Wide-Scale Strikes" On Hamas Targets In Gaza; 260 Bodies Found At Music Festival Site After Hamas Attacks; U.S. House Paralyzed Without Speaker As War Rages In Key Ally Israel; Sources: U.S. Coordinating With Qatar Over Hamas Hostages; Hamas Warns It Will Kill Civilian Hostages If Gaza Attacks Continue Without Warning. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired October 09, 2023 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: You're watching CNN's special live coverage of Israel at war.
The Israeli government is responding to the deadliest attack on its people in generations over the weekend. The death toll on the Israeli side right now up to 900, according to the Israeli military.
They say they have now retaken all communities around Gaza that were briefly held by Palestinian fighters.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: At least 560 Palestinians have been killed so far. That's according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
A warning now for the video that you are about to see, it does show the devastation just moments after an airstrike on Gaza today.
Take a look.
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SANCHEZ: Our CNN correspondent, Hadas Gold, is in Jerusalem.
Hadas, Israel is now saying that it has launched today more than 100 retaliatory airstrikes against Hamas targets. What more do we know?
HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Israel continues to just pound the Gaza Strip right now. We've seen high-rise buildings being brought down.
We're also seeing reinforcements of ground troops, tanks and other military vehicles along the border with Gaza. It doesn't necessarily mean that the ground incursion is coming, but it does seem as though there's preparation for that.
Because also they've called up more man 300,000 reservists. The IDF says that is the fastest, biggest call up of Israeli reservists in Israeli history.
Something else we're just learning now is a warning from Hamas on those hostages.
And they have just put out a statement or this is a broadcast statement where they are saying that if Israel strikes Gaza without warning -- for some context often when Israel strikes Gaza, they will do warning knocks or call ahead of time to the buildings warning residents to get out of the buildings, giving them time to leave, and then they destroy the buildings.
Hamas is saying if Israel doesn't do those warning knocks before attacking, they will start executing Israeli hostages and they will broadcast them.
So once again, Hamas is now threatening to execute Israeli hostages and broadcasting that on air. That is a really stunning development.
And the Israeli military has been saying, you know, these people are like ISIS.
This is really -- I asked the Israeli military, are you stopping these warning knocks? Are you no longer doing the warning knocks? Asking them directly. They said no comment.
Earlier, when we asked the Israeli military about that, they didn't give a direct answer about whether or not they are still doing the warning knocks.
Instead, they said Hamas didn't give us warning knocks when they entered civilian houses and started shooting and killing them.
MARQUARDT: It's so unbelievably cold-blooded and chilling.
Hadas Gold, in Jerusalem, thanks so much for that report.
One of the Hamas attacks turned an event of fun and revelry into a scene of unimaginable terror and death over the weekend.
Israeli rescuers say they found some 260 bodies at the site of an outdoor music festival in Israel, just miles from the border with Gaza.
SANCHEZ: The reports coming from the area are just heart-wrenching. Videos show people running from Hamas militants on Saturday. The terrorists are seen opening fire as well as taking many victims hostage. CNN's Nada Bashir has the details.
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NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): This was Israel's Nova Music Festival in the early hours of Saturday morning. But in the distance, rockets is seemingly intercepted in the dawn sky.
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BASHIR: The festival then brought to an abrupt, terrifying end --
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BASHIR: -- as Hamas gunmen launched a deadly rampage, killing hundreds and taking dozens hostage.
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BASHIR: And 21-year-old Adi Maizel was also among those targeted in the ambush. Her mother hopes she could still be alive, held captive in Gaza but fears time is quickly running out.
UHUVA MAIZEL, MOTHER OF ADI MAIZEL: I'm a mother who was looking for her daughter. She's missing. I think I believe she's hurt. She's bleeding somewhere.
And like me, there are more hundreds families that are looking for their beloved.
I'm a mother. I want to protect my kid. That's all I want to do. And I'm sure that all mothers in the other side, in Gaza, in everywhere, that they are not me, are thinking the same thing.
BASHIR: Dash cam footage geolocated by CNN shows Hamas gunmen at the site shooting and killing people at point-blank range.
The site of Saturday's massacre now stands eerily quiet. Charred cars line nearby streets.
Hamas claims that has captured more than a hundred Israeli citizens. There is no exact figure yet from the Israel Defense Forces.
The result? Dozens of families left in anguish, all hoping against hope for a miracle.
MIRAV LESHEM, MOTHER OF MISSING DAUGHTER (through translation): She called and said, mum, they're shooting at us, the car has hit. We are all wounded.
I don't know how you feel, but the nightmare of a parent sitting in here and hearing her child saying, mum, come and help me and we cannot do a thing, nothing.
Only to be with her on the phone and say to her, Rami (ph), I love you. Rammi (ph), hide.
BASHIR: But as their anxious wait continues, questions are also beginning to mount as to how an attack of this scale was allowed to take place.
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URI DAVID, FATHER OF MISSING DAUGHTER (through translation): What is happening is unbelievable, simply unbelievable. I join, we join in grieving of all the families.
We demand answers. Not all the answers will be happy ones.
BASHIR: Nada Bashir, CNN.
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SANCHEZ: Thanks to Nada Bashir for that report.
We should let you know we just got an update that President Biden has been updated by his national security team on the situation.
We understand the president is going to be speaking with several U.S. allies about the situation in Israel this afternoon. We will, of course, keep you posted on that.
And we are anticipating some remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He is apparently running late.
MARQUARDT: A little bit late.
SANCHEZ: Perhaps, understandably so. But as soon as he gets to a microphone, we will bring that to you, live.
And notably, on the U.S. side, there has been disarray on Capitol Hill. And there are questions about whether the disfunction in the United States House could delay much needed military aid to Israel. We are going to take you live for an update from Capitol Hill, next.
But first, while we're heading into the break, the sights and sounds out of Jerusalem as air sirens ring out.
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MARQUARDT: The unfolding war in Israel is now adding new urgency to getting in place a new speaker of the House. But House Republicans remain bitterly divided over their two choices for speaker to replace Kevin McCarthy after they just ousted him six days ago. SANCHEZ: Yes, and the House members are due to return to work
tomorrow. But without an elected speaker the House is essentially paralyzed.
They can't get to pressing business without first electing a speaker. And that means they cannot pass emergency military aid for Israel.
Let's take you now live to Capitol Hill with CNN's Manu Raju.
And, Manu, just a few days after we reported that former Speaker McCarthy was contemplating resigning from Congress all together, he has now added more intrigue because of a question you asked him about a possible come back.
What did he say?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, that's right. He's not ruling that out.
And this could be a possibility simply because, right now it doesn't appear that neither candidate who has emerged to become speaker, Steve Scalise, the House majority leader, and the House Judiciary Committee's, Jim Jordan, can get enough votes to be elected at this moment.
It would require 217 votes on the House floor. Meaning he cannot lose more than four Republican votes.
The concern among Republicans is that neither men can actually get that number. And that potentially another candidate could emerge.
That has led talk on Capitol Hill today about Speaker McCarthy, former Speaker McCarthy, trying to put his hat in the ring, something he did not rule out just moments ago.
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RAJU: Any scenario in which you could be candidate for speaker, especially with the daddy line?
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): That's a decision by the conference. I will allow the conference to make whatever decision. Whether I'm speaker or not, I'm a member of this body.
RAJU: Speaker McCarthy, he didn't seem to rule it out today when at a press conference --
REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): I'm just talking to our colleagues. We have good support and I will continue to do that. I haven't talked to Kevin today.
RAJU: Will you go to the floor if you don't have 217 votes in the conference?
JORDAN: I've said all along we need 217, 218, whatever that number is. But we need to sell that in the conference before we go to the floor. (END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: And that last point, so critical at this moment. Because to nominate and elect a House speaker, first, under normal conference rules, a majority of the conference would have to nominate that person. That is half of 221 members.
But there is discussion of trying to make sure that person actually has the vote of 217 members in order to avoid a long, drawn-out floor fight on the House floor.
And Jim Jordan telling me right there, moments ago, that he was trying to get essentially full unity behind his bid. He won't accept the speakership nomination if he simply gets a majority of the House Republican conference.
So that is a debate that will happen behind closed doors tonight, tomorrow, and then Wednesday, the closed-door meeting before they head to the House floor as soon as Thursday -- Guys?
SANCHEZ: An eventful week on Capitol Hill amid a backdrop of a war raging in Israel.
The Israelis need assistance from the United States. There is a debate ahead about that. There's funding for Ukraine, there's keeping the government open, a long list.
MARQUARDT: It's also hard to forget that 15 rounds of voting we saw earlier this year that it took to get McCarthy finally elected. Why he thinks that's going to change now, I'm not so sure.
SANCHEZ: We could see a repeat of that unfold on Wednesday.
There's still plenty more news to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, including dozens of people believed to have been captured in Israel by Hamas over the weekend. What we are now learning about the negotiations to free those captured.
We're back in just minutes.
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SANCHEZ: Some families are desperately searching for their loved ones after the assault on Israel. We know at least nine U.S. citizens are among the hundreds killed.
And an unknown number are still missing, including 34-year-old Israeli-American citizen, Daniel Ben Sr. Her father, Jacob, tells CNN his daughter was at the Nova Music Festival, which saw some of the worst violence in this weekend's attack. He's not been able to reach her since Saturday.
MARQUARDT: Right now, U.S. officials are scrambling to figure out just how many Americans have been killed or kidnapped in the last few days. But an Israeli official does tell CNN that Americans are among the scores of hostages now being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Meantime, we are learning that the U.S. is trying to rally some support, including Qatar. That Arab Gulf country that is in contact with Hamas, about those hostages. The U.S. has also been coordinating with the Qataris as they play a key mediating role.
My colleague, Natasha Bertrand, and I reported earlier that the prime minister of Qatar has actually been in touch with Hamas leaders, meeting with them yesterday, presumably, to talk about these hostages and other issues.
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SANCHEZ: Likely one of several U.S. allies we anticipate President Biden will be contacting. As we know, he's been briefed by his national security team and he will be speaking to key allies this afternoon.
MARQUARDT: And we've also seen Anthony Blinken, the secretary of state, reaching out to allies for the past few days. The concern now, to try to make sure that this violence does not spiral out of control.
But for more, I want to turn now to CNN's security correspondent, Josh Campbell.
Josh, you actually served on an FBI Global Response Team that investigated kidnappings. So when it comes to these hostages, walk us through the difficulties here in securing their release.
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, these situations are obviously very complex. They are fraught, even more so in the middle of a war zone.
And we understand the demand for action from the public, saying, you know, do something. But authorities have to act rationally.
You know, I heard calls over the weekend from some politicians saying that the Biden administration should send in Special Operations Command forces, should even send in the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team.
The logical response to that is a question: And that is send them where?
Now, the Israelis are more than equipped to handle hostage rescues on their own, but they need to know where they're going.
In order to affect a hostage rescue, you have to know the location of the hostage, ideally, the number of captors, the circumstances of that captivity. So that sometimes takes time.
You also -- it's nice to know, good to know what the motivation is of the captors themselves.
You know, I've worked overseas kidnappings where the motivation was financial. I've worked kidnappings where it was a terrorist group taking someone captive. And that, obviously, the motivation political. In a situation like this with Hamas where these extremists may not
care to die in the process, that's very important because the last thing authorities want to do is stage a rescue operation that could put those hostages in even more harm than is their current captivity.
We all can certainly understand the family members, the friends of those who are held in captivity and, you know, the pain that they're going through.
I can tell you, working overseas on these cases, it was soul crushing to talk to family members demanding action. You can certainly understand their concerns.
But for the rest of us, and certainly for politicians, now's the time for authorities to gather information. It's not as simple as saying go.
MARQUARDT: And now we have this horrific chilling warning by Hamas that if Israel doesn't warn civilians that they're about to strike that they will start executing some of these civilian hostages and then broadcast it. Just absolutely horrific stuff.
Josh Campbell, really appreciate your perspective. Thank you.
CAMPBELL: You bet.
MARQUARDT: We are expecting to hear any minute now from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This, as Israeli forces conduct wide-scale strikes tonight, local time, against Gaza. We'll take you live to the region. Stay with us.
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