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Gaza Fires Rockets Toward Ashkelon in Southern Israel; Israel Pounds Gaza With Airstrikes as Hamas Launches More Rockets; Hamas Warns Residents of Ashkelon to Leave City. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 10, 2023 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[10:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Okay. This is video from moments ago.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Wow.

BERMAN: You can see the rockets being fired from Gaza.

Our reporter Nic Robertson is just over the border from Gaza in Israel, in Sderot. Nic, why don't you tell us what you are seeing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, we are seeing a massive barrage of Iron Dome intercepts in the sky. Here, you can make out the tiny puffs of white smoke in the sky. Each one of those puffs is an intercept of an Iron Dome Defensive Missile System taking down Hamas rockets.

And you can see over my shoulder there some of the traces of the rockets themselves that have been fired through the sky. It looks as if those Iron Domes were stopping the rockets going to the two big Israeli towns along the coast there, Ashkelon with the power station, and Ashdod, further up the coast there. You can see the missiles coming out from the Iron Dome and intercepting with the rockets in the sky.

So, literally, in less than one hour from here, there has been attacks, missile attacks, Hamas missile attacks on this town, Sderot. There's been missile attacks on Tel Aviv as well. We saw those rockets going out. And there have been these rocket missile attacks on Ashkelon and Ashdod, it appears.

So, this moment, this afternoon, Hamas is clearly showing it's got firepower left, it's got the longer range weapons, that it was always difficult for it to produce, that can reach as far Central Israel. It's got the shorter range ones that can come in here, and the mid- range ones that can reach up along the coast.

[10:05:00]

So, Hamas is showing that despite all the strikes on it so far, it has the capability and the reserves of rockets to continue firing out. BERMAN: Nic Robertson, stand by, if you can, and it is safe. I just want to give people a sense of where you are. You can see in red here is Gaza. If we can put Nic back up there, this is Sderot right here. This is where Nik Robertson is, just over the border from Gaza.

He could hear Iron Dome, that is Israeli air defense missiles being shot up into the sky to get rockets that were being fired from Gaza. And as Nick was explaining here, some of the targets of these rocket attacks from Gaza appear to be Ashkelon and Ashdod here, Israeli cities right on the Mediterranean coast.

Nic Robertson, again, back to you. How constant is this? And do you feel like you're hearing more outgoing? Can you distinguish between the outgoing from Gaza and the air intercepts from Israel?

ROBERTSON: Yes. The outgoing from Gaza, you see because there's the white trails behind the rockets. So, you see them, particularly the longer range ones. At night, you see them outgoing because of their sort of the orange burner trail on the back of the rocket.

And the intercepts start out as -- well, you can actually, I can -- I have a rough idea of their firing positions now because you see them come up. You see a little red dot flying through the sky. Then it explodes into a puff of white smoke. You hear the percussion from it when it intercepts with that rocket. So, the dynamics of how this works, we have a very good vantage point here.

BOLDUAN: All right. Nic Robertson, stand by. You're in Sderot.

Let's go over Clarissa Ward. We can see her shot up right now. And, Clarissa, if you can hear us. You're in Ashkelon, are also rockets firing. What are you experiencing?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, Kate, we had seen on the Hamas Telegram channel that they were warning that there was going to be some kind of a threat that they told people to leave by 5:00 P.M. We got here literally at five minutes to 5:00, air raid sirens -- sorry, I should just say, sirens started going off. We were immediately dragged into the bunker by another person here and massive amount of missiles just slamming in all around.

We also heard -- hi, Fred, we also heard -- there's other journalists here as well, obviously. We also heard the Iron Dome intercepting some of them. You can actually smell the smell of the explosives coming from some of the balconies out there.

So, unclear at the moment how many of these rockets may have made impact or what the damage may be, what the casualty rate may be, but certainly a lot of rockets were fired. The hotel was a relatively secure location.

Okay, we're hearing more sirens coming again. So, I'm just going to move away from the window. And -- okay. The shelter is over there. Do we want to go towards the shelter or -- well, let's just see. Sorry.

So, the bunker is this way? We're just moving into this bunker here. This is actually where we were when the last barrage came in as well. Every floor of the hotel has a bunker like this.

You can hear some activity out there. It's not anything like it was on that previous round. I don't know if you're picking up on that. That sounds like maybe interceptions. It's difficult to know, but that's what it sounds like. But it's a bit quieter now.

We're trying also to send in some video that we captured from inside the bunker when the first round of rockets went off. And -- but, yes, just waiting to see and get some clarity, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely. Clarissa, what we're showing -- I want to give viewers some point of reference here. You're in Ashkelon. You've got incoming. You guys are in a bunker right now. Stay there with me if you will, Clarissa.

On the other side of your screen, everyone, what can also see is Sderot, where there is incoming as well. John is over at the wall. He can show in relation to what these two areas that we're talking about as we go back -- Clarissa, stick with me as we go back to Nic Robertson.

Nic, you're seeing incoming as well. Talk us through it.

ROBERTSON: So, the vantage point that we have here, we can see the rockets coming out of Gaza. I can see those rockets coming up. Then there were the intercepts, and that's when Clarissa was getting the warning to go to the bunker. The sirens were picking it up.

[10:10:00]

Clarissa is over there in Ashkelon, close to those power station chimneys, the three big chimneys you see on the horizon. That's where she is.

And I'm just sort of going to duck down I suppose here so that John can get a better view. So, you see the rockets come up where John is pointing the camera now out of Gaza, and then they're flying up into the sky and being picked up by the Iron Dome as flying towards Ashkelon where Clarissa is. And then the Iron Dome kicks off and starts intercepting them, and that's what was the white puffs of smoke.

So, what Clarissa has experienced at the end of those missiles, we have a position where we can see the missiles going out and being intercepted, some of them being intercepted on their way to where she is.

And just before those missiles took off, there were fighter jets in the air as well and a couple of explosions from Gaza. So, it kind of gave the impression that the fighters had gone up, the fighter jets had gone up to try to target Hamas firing those rockets out.

I hear another fighter jet in the in the sky just now I can't see it. But, typically, when Hamas comes out to fire their rockets, typically, the jets come on station here and will look for targets, look for those Hamas militants with their rockets, their firing positions to take them out.

This is a very -- this view from here gives you a very strong understanding of the dynamic of this battle.

BERMAN: Yes. Nic Robertson, if I can show people again where you are on this map, Nic Robertson is right here in Sderot. He is looking into Gaza as rockets are being fired from Gaza, that he's seeing Israeli air intercepts, and our Clarissa Ward is right there in Ashkelon.

Carissa if you're still with us I want to go back to you because we saw this cross a few minutes ago this statement from Hamas. Hamas spokesman issued a warning to the residents of Ashkelon to leave the city but before 5:00 P.M., which is, what time it is, it's 5:11 P .M. where you are in Ashkelon right now. So, in a way, Hamas said this was going to happen.

WARD: They did. And that's why we came here and we got here at 5:05. And, unfortunately, absurdly, our room key was not working just as that barrage of rockets hit. So, someone from the hotel grabbed us and moved us into that shelter where you just saw.

It was pretty sustained and the difficulty obviously is from this vantage point it's hard to know how many of those rockets were intercepted, how many of them they had made landfall. Then things were quiet for a few minutes. And then as we were talking again, there was another round of warnings and, again, we were moved to the shelter. And that time it, was a significantly -- well, it was not as sustained or intense a barrage. It appears to be quieter again now, and we are just trying to get more clarity on what damage has been done.

But it was like clockwork. They had sent a notice just after 3:00 that people needed to leave by five, and at 5:00 on the dot, those rockets started slamming in.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to ask you how unusual it is that Hamas has sent a warning, because often they come with no warning. The only warning that people get is from the sirens that are going off and running, as you did, into somewhere that is more secure.

WARD: The sirens are going off again, just FYI.

SIDNER: I hear them that they're going off. Are you in a safe area?

WARD: Sirens are going off again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's going to be another hit.

SIDNER: Clarissa, are you in a safe area? Okay.

WARD: I'm sorry, one second. Yes. I'm just stepping a little bit back from the window. But, yes, we spoke to one journalist who said that actually it's quite common for them to broadcast with these types of attacks, what time they might carry them out. He said that often it happens around 8:00 P.M. or around that time because that's when Israeli news is on. You can probably hear those. So, that's quite heavy.

What do you mean you're going to come to me? Aren't you on with me now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, are you on with Clarissa?

SIDNER: We are on with you right now, Clarissa, if you could hear me.

WARD: Oh, you are on with me, Sara. Sorry. Someone just came in my ear and told me we were going to -- yes, I can hear you. So, you can probably hear those.

SIDNER: Okay. We just heard a lot of noise. Is everybody okay? Yes. Is everyone where you are okay? Because it sounds like something hit --

WARD: Everybody's fine. Yes. Yes, there's definitely been another volley of rockets.

SIDNER: We're just going to be quiet for a second here to listen.

WARD: It's -- now I can't hear anything. So, it may be over again.

[10:15:00]

If you give me just a couple of minutes, I'm going to try to work out how to get into this room. And then I'm going to come back to you and give you more information if that's okay, guys. That's great, Clarissa. Please get safe.

Let's go over to Nic Robertson, who is in Sderot. He is in Sderot. The closest point, by the way, between Sderot and Gaza is about 2,700 feet. It is that close to the border. What are you seeing there, Nic?

ROBERTSON: Yes. Well, right now, John is framing up some black smoke that's appeared since that last barrage of rockets that was targeting the location Clarissa was in, Ashkelon. So, one of the rockets appears to have gone through, because that's why we're seeing that black smoke drifting up. That's a good indication or a bad indication, rather, that a rocket has made it through the Iron Dome intercepts.

We were watching as Clarissa was going through that, as she was hearing the rockets going out. We could literally see them taking off from their firing positions in the distance there and intercepting with a bright flash in the sky. And just all that you can see now, those intercepts, are those small puffs of smoke in the sky there.

But, again, that huge percussion that Clarissa is hearing, the huge explosions that she's hearing, we're witnessing it at a distance. We're seeing the rockets fired out. We're seeing the Iron Dome fired up to intercept. And we're seeing those intercepts and the explosions from here.

BOLDUAN: Nic, can you describe for us, just as -- you've been on the ground since the get-go of this. You were able to get in Sderot. You were -- just to give people a point of reference, you were down on the ground where the music festival was, where that massacre occurred. And then you have been moving slowly through. How -- this seems to be a massive barrage of rockets to be coming in, really, since we, you know, journalists were able to get on the ground and get a handle of just what a horrific terror attack we're talking about. Give us some perspective on this.

ROBERTSON: Hamas does things for attention. You know, the terror that it creates, it has a plan. That big folly of attacks that it put in on Saturday morning, 22:00, they haven't matched it since, but that was also cover for that sort of ground assault they did with the more than thousand or so Hamas militants who came across the border, ripped down the fences, tore into army bases, tore into these civilian kibbutzim, all down the border and killed so many people at that peaceful music festival.

That volley on Saturday morning hasn't been matched since. It sort of died off a bit Sunday. Maybe 150 missiles were fired in a salvo towards Tel Aviv. I think that was on Sunday. I must say the days blur into each other. But what was significantly noticeable was that on Monday morning, though there had been a drop-off in the number of Hamas rocket attacks on Sunday, on Monday morning, it noticeably picked up again, because it was Monday. They know it's a news cycle. They wanted that attention. They wanted a show that despite the Israeli Defense Force attacks on their positions, that they still have the ability to fire out.

We're looking at the Iron Dome intercepts again over where Clarissa is. I'm imagining that she is hearing right now the siren going off, because those intercepts are right above her now.

So, I think what we're witnessing this evening and the fact that Hamas gave this warning, it's drawing attention to themselves. It's saying, watch this space now. Watch us launch more rockets. We haven't been forced out of action.

So, I think as well, we're also hearing the howitzers firing on the Hamas positions, Israeli guns firing on Hamas positions.

BERMAN: We're listening to sirens there now from where Nic Robertson is in Sderot, Israeli sirens, as rockets are being fired from Gaza into Ashkelon.

That's where Clarissa Ward is. Clarissa, what are you seeing?

WARD: Guys, we've been trying to get on the air for the last two minutes as it's been complete mayhem here with rockets coming in, Iron Dome intercepting. You can see over there black smoke billowing. There's obviously been at least a couple of points of contact, potentially direct hits. We don't know enough yet. We've been hearing sirens going. You can see on the streets barely anything moving. People are obviously sheltering in place after what has been a pretty sustained now, 20 minutes, are we talking, since 5:00 or so, while this has been going on. And that last round, I don't know if it's possible for us to try to rewind the tape to speak in old school parlance and get that video back to you, but you could see those rockets as they were being intercepted by the Iron Dome.

[10:20:13]

And again, you can see that black smoke there. We don't know exactly what was hit or what that is, but certainly a very tense situation here in Ashkelon.

BERMAN: Clarissa, just so you know, we have actually had your shot up during this time. And thank you so much for explaining much more clearly what we have been seeing for the last several minutes. And thank you to you and your crew for the courage to get out there, outside, so we can see this strike as it happens in real-time.

Hamas has claimed credit for this now, saying it has fired hundreds of rockets at Ashkelon in response to what they say is the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza. So, make no mistake about it, this is a Hamas attack on Ashkelon, one they said was going to happen.

And, Clarissa, again, as you are looking at it now, that appears to be closer to the port. Where we're seeing the black smoke rise up, that's on the water's edge?

WARD: Yes. It's not far from the water's edge. The water is just in that direction, so not far from the water's edge. We're trying to get a location as to what is there. It's difficult to see from behind the buildings.

But we do know that there have been rockets pretty much every day in Ashkelon, certainly since we've been here. I haven't heard anything, and correct me if you guys think I'm wrong, but I haven't heard anything quite that sustained barrage that we've just heard over the last 20 minutes or so.

There have been some direct impacts, one, a couple of days ago near the hotel in a building, another one at a bus stop. But the question now, of course, is, where did these rockets hit, the ones that weren't intercepted, has anyone been hurt?

I will say that the system is incredibly effective. You don't have a huge amount of time from when you hear that siren. You need to move very, very quickly. But it does at least give you just a few moments to try to get to cover a safer space.

And as I mentioned before, all of these hotels and buildings have -- or most of them have shelters on every floor, all the bus stops have shelters attached to them because this has become part of life for people here and this is something they've become accustomed to but certainly not on anything like this level.

BERMAN: And just to be clear, if you guys can very quickly come back to this map so I can show people where Clarissa is, Ashkelon is just north of Gaza. Here's Gaza, here's Ashkelon where Clarissa is. It's really the first, Clarissa, major or bigger Israeli city north of Gaza on the Mediterranean coast.

They're used to rocket attacks like this, but, as you said, nothing like the quantity that you may have just seen over the last few minutes, correct?

WARD: Correct. I mean, this is a place where rocket attacks are frequent. That's why you have these shelters. And we've been hearing them every day. There's been an uptick in the tempo since Saturday. But what we just witnessed over the last 20 minutes was not like anything we've seen since we've been here. And, you know, we could be in for a long night. Let's see. Let's hope not.

SIDNER: Clarissa, I have a question for you, it's Sara, a couple of things. One, you got there a few days ago, and to give some comparison, because we saw you in another barrage of fire coming from Gaza yesterday or the day before. And how many people -- do you have some sense of how many people are still there? Are you seeing civilians still there in Ashkelon trying to live their lives and stay safe at the same time as this is happening? Because there was a warning by Hamas, but are you seeing people who have stayed?

WARD: You're definitely seeing people who have stayed. A lot of them have -- you know, those who have the means, a lot of them have come to bigger hotels, like the one where we are. When we first arrived, we saw a lot of civilians kind of flooding in, basically looking for somewhere where they could shelter in place and feel confident or comfortable that they would have some degree of security.

Obviously, a lot of people have left as well, particularly families, because even when they don't cause casualties, these rockets, the effect that they have on the psyche, the effect that they have when they do make impact, we visited a house yesterday that had been basically destroyed by a rocket. And, again, they had a shelter. They heard the siren. They went down to the shelter. They were okay. But the house is destroyed. And, clearly, this is not a sustainable living situation for most ordinary people.

Having said that, the Israelis are built of stronger stuff, so you do still see people here, and it just sort of comes and goes, depending on what the level of activity is as to whether you see them out in the street.

[10:25:03]

Right now, you really can't see almost anybody in the street. I can't see anybody. I see one car moving around. But most people, of course, will be sheltering in place until they know it's safer to come out.

SIDNER: Clarissa, when we're looking at that, I just want to make a mention because the camera just turned and now Nic Robertson is up. And we are seeing two pictures here. One is Ashkelon, which is on the water. One is Sderot, which is much closer to the Gaza Strip. But you all are just about 16 miles or 27 kilometers away from each other. So, you are both seeing the results of all of these rocket attacks. What are you experiencing there, Nic Robertson, in Sderot? ROBERTSON: It's an uncanny and uneasy feeling. Because when we see -- when we were watching there before, I was just saying it in conversation to you as well, when I saw the intercepts above where Clarissa is, I knew the sirens were going off where she is. She's reporting the black smoke coming out of the port area. That's the smoke that John is pointing the camera at right now.

So, you know, we have a very good view of what's happening where Clarissa is, a distant outside view. The hell that she is under gets rained on on different parts of Israel, but that Ashkelon and Ashdod area, where along the coast, really gets it bad. This town here, Sderot, also gets it bad at times, but not at the moment, perhaps because Hamas knows the civilian population has mostly left here and that there are still a lot of civilians among whom they want to cause terror in Ashkelon. And that seems to be part of the pattern, the pattern as well, we saw those rockets fired out from Gaza that were going towards Tel Aviv. Then our colleague Becky Anderson had a siren go off there where she was.

So, Hamas, I think this evening is trying to send this clear signal partly by saying, you know, watch this space at 5:00, partly by firing missiles that they would use not to be able to do all the way to Tel Aviv, partly by then coming out and saying we've fired over a hundred missiles this evening. They are very clearly on a sort of an information offensive as well as a military offensive and saying, we're not defeated, we've got firepower left, we've got rockets left.

And very clearly from what we've seen today traveling around that the Israeli Defense Force firepower that's amassing around them and being brought to bear on their leaders and their fire positions are clearly going to tip that balance out of Hamas' favor so they can't fire rockets. But this is them saying, you haven't done it yet.

BERMAN: You're looking at live pictures -- Nic, stand by for a moment. You're looking live pictures now and what we're being told is Gaza Port, presumably that is now, inside Gaza. Israel has been hitting what it calls terrorist hubs from the air for now several days, including 100 strikes just today, they are saying. So, that is what's happening in Gaza as there is outgoing from Gaza as well. You just saw an explosion there of some sort in the water. That would be incoming air strikes on Gaza port there.

Nic, Clarissa, we are going to bring you both back in because you are sort of on opposite sides -- not opposite sides of this conflict, but, Nic, you can see the outgoing, Clarissa, you are experiencing the incoming in Ashkelon, and we will let you two sort of describe to each other what is happening.

ROBERTSON: I am going to let Clarissa go first.

WARD: Well, sorry, I know we are both too polite Nic, we are both waiting for the other one to speak. But, you know, essentially from here, I don't think anyone understood that it would be exactly at 5:00 P.M. or certainly we didn't, others maybe did, that this barrage of rockets would start. It is quieter now. It is kind of surreal almost because it is beautiful weather and the Mediterranean. But, yes, this sort of sustained barrage of rockets coming into this town, you can see that black smoke behind me. It seems to be somewhat dissipating, I guess the question that we are trying to find an answer to and haven't been able to yet is what exactly was hit and this is -- we can also hear jets in the sky. I should say, that is something we have been hearing a lot over the last few days. We have been hearing drones as well and a pretty -- you know, you can hear the strikes here when they land in Gaza. Obviously, you hear the rockets.

[10:30:00]

This place has been coming under sustained rocket attack for days now. Yes. Nic?