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Biden Condemns Hamas As 'Sheer Evil' In Response To Unprecedented Attacks On Israel. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 10, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:01:06]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: I'm Boris Sanchez live in Washington DC. You're watching CNN News Central. Bone chilling. That's how a UN humanitarian envoy described the scale and speed of the violence in Israel and Gaza. US and Israeli officials are characterizing the terror attacks carried out by Hamas as ISIS levels of evil. One of those massacres was at a rural community or a kibbutz in southern Israel. The Israeli defense forces say they discovered women, children and elderly people who were quote butchered by Hamas fighters.

Elsewhere, hour after hour, we're seeing Israeli airstrikes pounding Gaza and Hamas rockets streaking across the sky toward Israel. This is the backdrop as we await remarks from President Biden at the White House at any moments. Remarks that the entire world no doubt will be watching. Let's get started with CNN's Ben Wedemen, who's live for us in Jerusalem. Ben, what is the scene where you are?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jerusalem is relatively quiet, but certainly the area around Gaza and the Israeli cities just to the north of it have had a very noisy day at five o'clock in the afternoon. Local time. There was a massive barrage of rockets fired from Hamas in the to the city of Ashkelon. Now, a few hours before that, Abu Obaida, who's the spokesman for Hamas's military wing, had warned that Ashkelon would be targeted if its residents did not leave the city. And sure enough, on the dot at five p.m. local time, we saw this massive volley being fired out of Gaza.

At the same time, Israeli forces struck the main port in Gaza, in fact, the only port in Gaza, which is normally only used by fishermen. And this is just the latest series of strikes and counterstrikes we've seen today. The Israelis, since last night, have conducted hundreds of airstrikes on Gaza in one particular neighborhood, Ariel, which is in Gaza City, really reduced to rubble.

Now, the death toll on the Palestinian side, the latest numbers we're getting are 830. Those numbers from the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 4,000 wounded. And of course, on the Israeli side, the latest tally they have of the dead, and it seems to be increasing as they find more and more bodies, is at least 900. Now, the Israeli embassy in Washington was reporting more than 1,000. The Israeli military has yet to confirm that number, but certainly the numbers on both sides are rising. And there is growing anticipation of an Israeli ground incursion into

Gaza. There have been many in the past, but this one, many believe, will be certainly greater than ever before. And we did hear Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday say that what we've seen so far is only the beginning in terms of Israel's response to Saturday's massive surprise attack by Hamas. Boris.

SANCHEZ: And Ben, as you're speaking, we're watching images from moments ago live over Gaza, the sky again lighting up with ammunition and artillery. Ben, we've learned that IDF has added thousands of troop reinforcements at the border with Lebanon. Hezbollah's involvement in the attacks over the weekend, obviously a concern. Tell us what's going on there.

WEDEMAN: Yes, the Israeli military said that they are deploying tens of thousands of troops along its northern border with Lebanon. Now, yesterday we saw quite a lot of skirmishes, nothing compared to Gaza. Along that border, the Israelis struck and killed three Hezbollah fighters. That was acknowledged by Hezbollah. There was also Palestinian Islamic Jihad involved in other skirmishes. The Israelis struck back, hitting targets within southern Lebanon along the border region, and the Israelis acknowledged that so far one of their officers was killed in those strikes.

[14:05:09]

Now, it appears that Hezbollah wants to show that it is in a small way participating in this current conflict, but it appears it's hesitant to really unleash its forces, which by all accounts are far better equipped and trained than those of Hamas. If Hezbollah becomes involved in massive, active hostilities with the Israelis, this conflict, which is already proved bloody and violent, will become much, much worse, Boris.

SANCHEZ: The potential for a more widespread regional conflict looming over all of this. Ben Wedeman live for us in Jerusalem. We want to get now to my colleague Anderson Cooper, who is monitoring the situation for us from Tel Aviv. Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Yeah, Boris, thanks very much. Obviously, look, the fate of Israeli civilians, potentially Americans as well, who have been taken hostage, it is hanging heavy over everybody in this country, up to as many as 150 Israeli children, women, elderly people, men, soldiers have been seized by Hamas. Islamic Jihad says they have as many as 30 being held captive now, for a fourth day in Gaza, the families of the missing are living in unimaginable agony. My next guest included; I'm joined by Gaya Kalderon.

Five members of her family are missing right now. Her brother, her sister, her father, her grandmother, and her cousin. Gaya, thank you for being here. I am so sorry for what you are going through. Tell us about your family members, what happened to them. I understand this took, they were taken from Nir Oz, which is a kibbutz community, and we have talked to a number of people who have had loved ones kidnapped by Hamas from that location.

GAYA KALDERON, FAMILY MISSING AFTER HAMAS ATTACK: Yes, so it's my father, sister, my brother, and my grandmother and cousin. I'm going to tell you the story. So basically, what happened, it was my father, brother, and sister was in my father's house. My grandmother and my cousin was in my grandma's house. I wake up six in the morning and just calling my mom and dad to check that it's all good in Niz Oz. My whole family live in Eroz. I'm the only one who not live there. So, my father talked to me and said, Gaya, it's never been like that. I don't know what is happening. And then I'm like, okay, it's all good. Like it's always happened. It's going to be okay. After a few minutes, my sister write me, Gaya, I can hear shooting guns. I think they are here. I can hear them. And I'm like, what?

What is going on? Tell me and try to understand. And then she's writing me, they are here. And I'm asking her, where are you? Are you in the Mammad? In the safe place? And she's telling me, no, we are outside and hiding. After that message, no response. And then nothing. In the meantime, I'm writing my grandma and she's telling me, yes, they are here in my house taking everything. And after that, she really no answer to.

COOPER: They were they were in your grandmother's house already?

KALDERON: Again?

COOPER: They were inside your grandmother's house already?

KALDERON: Yes. Yes. Yeah.

COOPER: And then how did you find out that your 12 year old brother was taken?

KALDERON: Okay. So, the day after I'm sitting trying to do everything I can, the best I can to just find something about them, to see video, maybe just to know that they are alive. And then I see a video and it's my brother and I see the Hamas taking him, grab him. It was so hard to watch it. I had to protect my brother, my life. So, it was so, so hard. Also, my sister and my father, not in the video, I don't know where are they.

[14:10:09]

This is my only information, the only information I have, and they have nothing to do about it. I'm trying to do the best I can, but I don't really have something to do. I can't go over there and save them.

COOPER: It's one of the terrible things that so many families are going through here, is that because there's so little information about loved ones, often you are finding information from these sick videos taken by Hamas, taken by Islamic Jihad, where you actually see your family members. So, you saw your 12-year-old brother being taken by gunmen, being taken by Hamas. KALDERON: Yes, it was so hard to watch. It's horrible that I need to find out something like that in a video. Stuff like that don't need to happen in this world.

COOPER: Niz Oz, this kibbutz, is a community of about 400 people at most, 300 to 400 people. I understand at this point it's not clear how many people from that kibbutz are still alive. There are many who are missing, there are many who have been kidnapped, and there are many who have been killed. Have you heard anything from officials here about your loved ones or about others from Niz Oz?

KALDERON: No, it's just a mess in here. We don't know anything, and no, we don't really know something. We just try to find out. I'm trying to find out on my own, but it doesn't really work. And no, no one knows anything. I hope I will know soon. I don't even know if they are alive, you know? So hard.

COOPER: Is there anything you want to say? Is there anything you want to tell people about your loved ones?

KALDEROn: Yes, I'm just hoping I will see them soon. I want them back home. I want them here with me. I don't even have a home right now, you know? It's all burned, but it doesn't matter. I just want them with me. I just want them to be alive and back with the family. My mom and my other sister, it's horrible. We don't even know what to do. We just want them back, and we want everyone who could help somehow. Just do it and just try. We need you. Also, my grandma is American, so it's really important to say it, because we are all together in this. We need to try to do it together. That's my wish.

COOPER: Gaya Kalderon, thank you for talking to us. Stay strong, and we'll continue to check in with you. Thank you.

KALDERON: Thank you. Bye.

COOPER: President Biden is set to deliver live remarks at any moment. There are many families, like Gaya Kalderon's, who will be listening very closely to what he has to say. Stay with us.

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[14:15:01]

SANCHEZ: We are looking at a live picture from the White House. This is the state dining room where President Biden is set to speak on the situation in Israel at any moment. The podium remains empty. We know the president just got off the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, so he is expected to make his way there in just moments. We're gonna bring you his address live as soon as it starts.

Meantime, right now, the Israeli military is mobilizing a record number of reservists, some 360,000, as observers are anticipating a ground operation in Gaza. The IDF is also amassing tanks and other military vehicles near the border with the Palestinian territory, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed retaliation on Hamas like never before. Keep in mind, a ground operation could get complicated. Gaza is very densely populated.

It puts civilians in the middle of urban warfare, where Hamas can utilize narrow city streets and a complex network of tunnels that can be used to move fighters, store weapons, and launch a series of attacks. We wanna discuss the situation now with a military expert who knows firsthand the hazards of urban combat. We're joined now by General Wesley Clark. He was the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO during the Kosovo War. General, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. We saw this drone video of Gaza earlier today. This is the aftermath of aerial strikes on the territory. I'm wondering what an Israeli ground operation in this region is gonna look like.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST : Well, first of all, they've got to pick the targets, and the way you would probably do this is to section off Gaza, maybe block by block, figure out how to go in, isolate that area, and work from the outside in. You've gotta work against the tunnel network, and you've gotta work against snipers and other people on the high ground. Now, you've created a lot of rubble in the city right now, so you've gotta stay away from those streets if you're trying to move armored vehicles in there. So that adds to the obstacles there. It's gonna be a very tough, slow, painstaking operation.

You've gotta do it with maximum protection for your own troops, because you have to understand that Hamas, this is not gonna be a surprise to Hamas. They knew that this is what they were gonna get. This is what they want. They want to bring that Israeli ground force in and attack it from every direction and put more casualties on it, show that it lacks credibility. So, Israel has to do this, has to do it well, has to maintain its military credibility. It's an extremely difficult operation coming up.

[14:20:39]

SANCHEZ: General, you described the targeting of tunnels and areas along that border. There were civilians in Gaza that were trying, or rather were told to evacuate a certain crossing and this Rafah crossing right here. And it's been complicated, partly because it was targeted. Obviously, you mentioned some of the complications regarding a ground operation. What about the fact that Hamas is holding some 100 to 150 hostages, potentially some American citizens? How does all of that, the difficulty of getting civilians out and the fact that there are hostages in Gaza alter the calculus for the Israeli defense forces?

CLARK: Well, obviously you'll have teams standing by that could do an emergency hostage rescue operation. If you could identify where the hostages are, if you could get entrance into that area with sufficient force to rescue them. But those capabilities will be there, and we'll be monitoring all the electronic and visual intelligence we've got. We'll be looking for other people talking and communicating, people on the ground. We'll do everything we can to locate them. But you know, it's in Hamas interest not to execute those hostages. They need those hostages as bargaining leverage at the end. So, you're gonna hear a lot of threats. You may have some out-of-control people who do want to kill the hostages, but my bet would be that the Hamas leadership will not want to give up those hostages.

SANCHEZ: Now, for the sake of the families of those missing, General, I hope you're right about that. I do wanna share with you some new satellite images we have of the Erez Crossing Complex. So essentially what we're looking at, this right here is Gaza, and this is Israel. This is part of the border and on it, you can see craters in some areas where Israel launched retaliatory strikes. What really stands out to me are breaches in the border wall where Hamas broke through and you can see them in these circles I'm drawing. This is where Hamas militants were able to get into Israel. It's striking partly because of the scale, General, of the attack. They executed an attack unprecedented in the history of Hamas without Israeli intelligence having a clue that this was going to happen. How is that possible?

CLARK: It's possible by just working with people you trust, keeping the circle of knowledge small and only talking face-to-face, no electronic communications, nothing in writing that can go out. If you do that, you can maintain security. But you know, Hamas has been there for a long time. We cannot underestimate their sophistication. It's a mistake to think that they're just terrorists out there waving AK-47s. This is a sophisticated military force. It's had training, it's had assistance from the Iranians, maybe some Russian equipment in there for all we know. They can monitor communications. They have cyber, they have anti-aircraft missiles, they have anti-tank missiles. They've got a lot of stuff buried underground. They prepared this for a long time. So, I think, you know, we have to anticipate this is not like going when the United States Army raced through Baghdad in 2003, shattered the Iraqi guards and the people in Iraq were like, hey, well, some of us liked him, some of us didn't. Let's see what happens now. That's not what this is.

This is a fortress area that's been prepared. Now, how many Hamas fighters are there? 15,000, 20,000. We saw maybe 2,000 committed in this operation. So, they've got lots of forces left behind and ready and no doubt willing to sacrifice their lives to take Israelis with them. So, this is gonna be a tough fight. And at the same time, of course, we've got the northern border to worry about. The president's talking about maybe sending another carrier battle group in. And don't forget, the North Koreans are now shipping artillery and ammunition by rail to the Russians to put the pressure on Ukraine. We can never neglect that because that fight in Ukraine is very much in America's interest. They're fighting our battle there against Russian aggression.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, a lot of conflict to cover. General Wesley Clark, please stand by because we're watching President Biden as he approaches the podium at the White House.

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JOSEPH BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good afternoon. Let's listen to his remarks. You know, there are moments in this life, I mean this literally, when the pure, unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world. The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend. The bloody hands of the terrorist organization Hamas, a group whose stated purpose for being is to kill Jews. [14:25:39]

This was an act of sheer evil. More than 1,000 civilians slaughtered, not just killed, slaughtered in Israel. Among them, at least 14 American citizens killed. Parents butchered, using their bodies to try to protect their children. Stomach-turning reports of babies being killed, entire families slain. Young people massacred while attending a musical festival to celebrate peace, celebrate peace. Women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies. Families hid their fear for hours and hours, desperately trying to keep their children quiet to avoid drawing attention. And thousands of wounded, alive but carrying with them the bullet holes and the shrapnel wounds and the memory of what they endured. You all know these traumas never go away.

There's still so many families desperately waiting to hear the fate of their loved ones, not knowing if they're alive or dead or hostages. Infants in their mothers' arms, grandparents in wheelchairs, Holocaust survivors abducted and held hostage, hostages whom Hamas has now threatened to execute in violation of every code of human morality. It's abhorrent. The brutality of Hamas, this bloodthirstiness, brings to mind the worst, the worst rampages of ISIS. This is terrorism.

But sadly, for the Jewish people, it's not new. This attack has brought to the surface painful memories and the scars left by a millennia of anti-Semitism and genocide of the Jewish people. So, in this moment, we must be crystal clear. We stand with Israel. We stand with Israel. And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack. There's no justification for terrorism. There's no excuse. Hamas does not stand for the Palestinians' people's right to dignity and self- determination. Its stated purpose is the annihilation of the State of Israel and the murder of Jewish people.

They use Palestinian civilians as human shields. Hamas offers nothing but terror and bloodshed with no regard to who pays the price. The loss of innocent life is heartbreaking. Like every nation in the world, Israel has the right to respond, indeed has a duty to respond to these vicious attacks. I just got off the phone with the third call with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I told him, the United States experiences are experiencing our response to be swift, decisive and overwhelming. We also discussed how democracies like Israel and the United States are stronger and more secure when we act according to the rule of law.

Terrorists purposely target civilians, kill them. We uphold the laws of war, the law of war. It matters. There's a difference. Today, Americans across the country are praying for all those families that have been ripped apart. A lot of us know how it feels. It leaves a black hole in your chest when you lose family. Feeling like you're being sucked in. The anger, the pain, the sense of hopelessness. This is what they mean by a human tragedy, an atrocity on an appalling scale.

We're going to continue to stand united, supporting the people of Israel who are suffering unspeakable losses and opposing the hatred and violence of terrorism. My team has been in near constant communication with our Israeli partners and partners all across the region and the world from the moment this crisis began. We're surging additional military assistance, including ammunition and interceptors to replenish Iron Dome. We're going to make sure that Israel does not run out of these critical assets to defend its cities and its citizens.