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Secretary Of State Blinken In Israel; Netanyahu's Office Releases Photos Of "Babies Murdered And Burned" By Hamas; 1,200 People Killed In Israel And 1,417 People Killed In Gaza; Interview With Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner; Journalists Visits Kibbutz Where 120-Plus People Massacred. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired October 12, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A lot to get to this hour. I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. Thank you for joining us.

The breaking news right now. We're continuing to watch pictures of smoke hanging over Gaza as we speak. You see that on the left of your screen. And over the last 30 minutes, we have seen action really picking up in what Israel has described as the large-scale strikes that the IDF is carrying out on Hamas targets in Gaza.

In Israel, families are beginning to bury their loved ones killed in the terror attack from Saturday.

And U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken showing support for Israel as he arrived there this morning.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We are also, right now, waiting to hear again from Antony Blinken this morning as he continues what has become and has always been a deeply, deeply personal and emotional time. As he is on his trip to Israel to reiterate America's support.

Last hour, a survivor of the terrorist attack on a music festival, Saturday, shared this emotional moment with Blinken. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIOR GELBAUM: We were saved by a miracle, but there are friends that we love that weren't -- that aren't.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I know. I know.

GELBAUM: Thank you for being here. It's really important. And if there's any way to help, like, first priority, first priority are our friends and family that are now in Gaza. We're strong here. We're powerful here --

BLINKEN: We feel that.

GELBAUM: -- in this place now in Tel Aviv and everywhere. Thank you very much.

BLINKEN: We're thinking of them and trying to do everything we can.

GELBAUM: I know.

BLINKEN: And we want to bring them home.

GELBAUM: Thank you so much for being here and speaking to me.

BLINKEN: And I'm so, so sorry you have to go through this.

GELBAUM: It means a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That is the reality. That is real-life right now. CNN's Becky Anderson standing by for us live in Tel Aviv. And, Becky, adding to this picture now, the Israeli prime minister's office we're learning has just released photographs, some images of babies that they say were murdered by Hamas.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: That's right. We know that babies have lost their lives being killed in what was this terrible, terrible massacre by Hamas militants in the kibbutzes on Saturday morning, some six days ago. We know that because we've heard firsthand testimony from families who have lost their kids and loved ones. But today, we have seen the release of photographs, as you say, from Netanyahu's office, of, they say, babies murdered and burned by Hamas.

Now, CNN is not showing those pictures to our viewers as of yet. They are horrific. I've seen them. I'm witness to that. I can describe one baby slaughtered in an image in this bed. And two images of what appears to be babies burnt.

[11:05:00]

Netanyahu's office, as I say, is describing these as bodies burnt and murdered by Hamas militants. Now, obviously, we can't testify to that, that these images are indeed those, but that is certainly what the prime minister's office has released.

And the Prime Minister here has shown those photographs to the Secretary of State Antony Blinken who is here in Tel Aviv, standing shoulder to shoulder with Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier on today. Antony Blinken absolutely insisting that the U.S. stands in steadfast support of Israel. He said, as long as America exists, it will be at Israel's side through this.

And we heard Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking of those who murdered, caused this mayhem, this chaos, these massacres, have taken these hostages, 100 and 150 hostages now in Gaza, as we understand it, we've heard the prime minister here describing them as ISIS today, as terrorists and as ISIS.

So, a difficult trip for Antony Blinken, but one that is certainly appreciated, certainly by Lior Gelbaum, the 24-year-old Israeli American that you just saw in those images who survived that massacre at the music festival on Saturday morning. It is Lior Gelbaum that you are seeing speaking to the secretary of state there. And you can see just how emotional she is as she recounts what happened to her and why it is so important that he is here today.

He is Jewish. He has spoken about his emotional attachment to this country. He's here, as we understand it, with three aims, basically, try and secure the release of these hostages. And he's going to Qatar. Qatar is mediating as far as my diplomatic sources have told me. They are now actively trying to mediate the exchange, the release of these Israeli and other hostages being held in Gaza for exchange with Palestinian women and teenagers being held in Israeli jails. That's the first leg of this trip.

The second one is humanitarian corridors, trying to open up humanitarian corridors for Gazan civilians. And I have to say, there doesn't seem to be a lot of progress on that, to be quite frank, from sources I am speaking to here. The other third leg of this is to speak to the Israeli authorities about what happens next, because whatever happens next in this war, if Gazans are facing a massive assault from the ground and from the air, this is going to be a price paid heavily in lives.

Back to you guys.

SIDNER: Thank you so much, Becky. We appreciate your coverage there out of Tel Aviv. We're going now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond who's been in Ashdod for some time. I think in the past hour or so, you've had to take shelter a couple of times. Give us some sense of what you're experiencing there now.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. There were a couple of different times where we had red alert sirens in the last couple of hours. That most recent one came very, very close to our hotel. The booms of interceptions by the Iron Dome system with those projectiles coming from Gaza were much, much louder, indicating their proximity to our location.

We went into the shelter which, you know, in hotels, modern hotels here in Israel, there is a shelter or two shelters, in the case of our hotel, on every single floor. We went into there. And there, there was a family that has been sheltering here. They actually fled from the City of Ashkelon, which is right behind us and closer to the Gaza Strip. They came here hoping to get some safety. Obviously, not able to entirely escape the situation. But we did speak with the father who told us about the fear and why he decided to move his family further north.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: You can see that we are in a shelter, and this is life. This is life in Israel near the Gaza Strip right now. As you can see, there's a couple of families here who are staying at the hotel. Do you guys want to talk? Do you speak English?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are from Ashkelon. DIAMOND: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are from Ashkelon. We leave our home because it's the bomb.

DIAMOND: Yes. Ashkelon is much closer to Gaza.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Closer. And a lot of bomb. A lot of bomb.

DIAMOND: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And all the child hear in crying, don't -- and don't sleep at night. And all -- it's lot afraid, the child -- is -- was in (INAUDIBLE) don't work. Don't sleep.

DIAMOND: So, came here to look for some more safety, hoping --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. The manager of hotel, he give us five days to be in here. In free.

DIAMOND: For free.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For free. Yes.

DIAMOND: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. A good man, good man.

DIAMOND: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

DIAMOND: And do you feel safer here?

[11:10:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. The children feel safer, but when there's the noise --

DIAMOND: They get afraid?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they get afraid.

DIAMOND: They get afraid. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And running to --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And we actually spoke afterwards with that man's wife who explains that they don't have a shelter built into their home, which is why they decided to go further north and to come to this hotel where there are bomb shelters on every floor.

Now, at the same time, as we talk about this psychological impact and the very real possibility that these rockets, you know, they are not 100 percent intercepted by this Iron Dome system. We have seen hits in Sderot. We have seen hits in Ashkelon, where this man's -- where this man and his family live. There is also the reality of what is happening in Gaza, where the Israeli military has been pummeling that very congested, highly populated area with airstrikes. And the death toll there now rising to above 1,400 and civilian casualties among those as well.

So, important to talk about the reality on both sides here as civilians are too often caught in the crossfire.

SIDNER: And, Jeremy, you have done such good reporting. We've been showing some pictures there that there have been Iron Dome intercepts above Ashdod that happens quite often, unfortunately, and more so now, but also pictures of Gaza and the devastation there. You've brought us so much good information. And thank you for showing us that family where there are children there who just, you know, are trying to deal with the trauma of all of this.

Also, thank you to Becky Anderson, who was in Tel Aviv for us. I'm going to toss it over to John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. With me now is Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner speaking on behalf of the Israel Defense Forces. Colonel, thank you for being with us.

You know, we just learned from the prime minister's office that they released the photos of babies that were killed in the Hamas terror attacks. And the reason I'm asking about that is because if Hamas, if the people who perpetrated this were willing to kill babies, how does that impact your planning as you are thinking about maybe a ground incursion into Gaza with 100 to 150 hostages there, what might they be willing to do to the hostages?

LT. COL. PETER LERNER, SPOKESPERSON, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: So, I think, you know, they can do the worst. Obviously, the situation on the ground is Hamas has over 100 hostages, abductees that are being held unlawfully in the Gaza Strip by Hamas. They decided strategically to do this. Our role is to bring them home and our role is to destroy Hamas' capability so that they can never ever hold a sword over Israel's head ever again.

BERMAN: What is your understanding of the current military capabilities of Hamas within Gaza right here?

LERNER: So, Hamas has developed over the last years advanced capabilities. One of them we saw in the attack itself was the Nukhba Force. The Nukhba Force is what they -- is their commander unit and they have special force training. They breached the perimeter, they breached the barrier, they stormed into Israel and many of them were involved in the butchery of Israeli civilians in our communities and of course, the military outposts on the front lines.

They are a focus of our operations at this time. We are taking out their capabilities. We're intercepting them. I'd also say we're identifying them from the videos they shot themselves. Some of those pictures that Becky was referring to, I've seen them as well, but they distributed their own videos of people being burnt alive, people being butchered, people being beheaded, they're doing it -- they did it because they're proud of what they did.

So, when we look at what our forces are capable of, we have the ability to foresee their operational capabilities of terror -- tunnels, of rockets launches against Israel, intelligence capabilities that we are currently striking and attacking.

And of course, the leadership of Hamas from their political leadership that have instructed and directed and strategically decided to assault Israel and go on this offensive and bring us to this war, and of course, down to work to the operatives that we will seek out and take out those that are involved in this in this attack against us.

BERMAN: We talk about the density of -- the population density inside Gaza, more than 25,000 people per square mile, particularly in this stretch here near Gaza City. Where can they go at this point?

[11:15:00]

LERNER: That's the question the people of Gaza should be asking Hamas. And while it's a very relevant question, our role is now to restore safety and security to the people of Israel that were butchered in their beds in their homes, and our concern for their safety, not because Israel chose this fight, but because Hamas chose to launch a war on Israel.

Hamas is the governing body of the Gaza Strip. They have the responsibility. They need to be held accountable by -- first and foremost, by the people of Gaza, but also the world. And I think Secretary of State Blinken's very strong words goes to show that there are people that are choosing to be on the right side of history, holding these people to account. And our job is the idea is to seek out and defend the Israel -- defend Israel.

We are -- our enemy is Hamas, not the people of Gaza. And our targets are Hamas targets. We will do our operations in accordance to the laws of armed conflict in order to minimize the influence on civilians. But as you rightly pointed out, it is a densely populated area and it is a tough task. And unfortunately, there are going to be people that pay the price, and we will do our utmost. But unfortunately, nobody can expect us not to defend our people, not to defend the people --

BERMAN: I think I may have just lost contact there with Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner speaking on behalf of the Israel Defense Forces, talking about what he sees as Israel's duty now to get into Gaza, he says, and to crush Hamas and the airstrikes, he says, that they are conducting are against Hamas targets. Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Coming up for us, a community left in just absolute wreckage after Hamas terrorists went door to door massacring families. One of the victims an eight-year-old girl, after the commercial break. We're going to bring for you what her father shares with CNN about how he learned of what happened, how he is doing now in the face of this horrific tragedy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just said, we found Emily. She's dead. And I went, yes. I went, yes, and smiled. Because that is the best news of the possibilities that I knew.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[11:20:00]

SIDNER: We alerted you to this earlier. Now, we do have the photo, one of the photos. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has released these horrifying photos of babies murdered and burned by Hamas monsters, as he has put it. This is graphic. It is horrific. We want to give you a chance to look away. I warn you, give you time if you need to leave the room.

There are three photos. Some of them showed two babies whose bodies had been basically burned beyond recognition and a third of an infant with a body that is blood stained. We've got Becky Anderson live for us in Tel Aviv.

Becky, you mentioned last -- in the last few minutes that you had seen this picture that we were about to show. I don't even want you to describe it, but just tell us your reaction.

ANDERSON: Well, I'm a mom. Not that -- I guess, this is not my story, but as a mom, it's not easy, but nobody will find this easy. You don't have to be a mom to respond or to understand how horrific these images are. And as we -- before we show our viewers that image, and we do want people to have time to move away, these are three images that Benjamin Netanyahu's office has released, photographs of, as they describe them, babies murdered and burned by Hamas.

These are amongst a set of photographs that Benjamin Netanyahu's shown the U.S. secretary of state today, Antony Blinken, who was here, of course, in Tel Aviv.

These are, as described by Benjamin Netanyahu's office, horrific photos of babies murdered and burned by the Hamas monsters. He said, Hamas is inhumane, Hamas is ISIS. This was a post on Benjamin Netanyahu's social media.

The picture is now available. And so, I'm just going to warn our viewers again, what you're about to see is the body of a blooded infant. And that is the image. An image released by Benjamin Netanyahu's office. It is one of three images that have been released. CNN, of course, cannot verify where these images were taken or when. But what I can tell our viewers is that I've heard firsthand accounts from family members of those whose kids have been killed in this massacre on Saturday morning, a massacre at the kibbutzes around the southern border of Gaza.

[11:25:00] So, we know that children have been killed, murdered, but these are images, as I say, that we can't necessarily verify when and sadly there they were taken, but these have been released by the prime minister of Israel today, pictures shown to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Horrific.

The other two images, let me tell you, which we're not going to show our viewers, are of small bodies that have been burnt beyond recognition. I think it's not necessary -- I think as a network we've decided it's not necessary to show those images because one can sadly only imagine how horrific they are. Guys.

BERMAN: Becky, thank you for your compassion. Also, thank you for your reporting. It is important to convey the horror of what happened there. We so often talk about numbers, 1,200 people killed in Israel, but sometimes the most important number is one. It's one when it is your baby, your child, your brother, your sister, your mother, your father, and each life is precious and a small life is like that to see it is truly horrific.

BOLDUAN: And with that, this is -- this image is one of the images that Benjamin Netanyahu made a point to show to Tony Blinken. This is what the head of state, the prime minister of Israel, shared with U.S. secretary of state, these are the images. This is -- there is in conflict always one enduring image.

SIDNER: Yes. And then --

BOLDUAN: And we can sadly list them off.

SIDNER: Yes, yes. And those images, you're seeing them over and over again, too.

BOLDUAN: And this is one.

SIDNER: And, you know, people on both sides of this conflict, it is a hope that they can come together and agree that these innocents deserve none of this, should not be put in this position because adults can't figure themselves out, can't figure out this conflict without the violence, a surprise attack by Hamas.

BOLDUAN: Yes. I mean, this is the result of a terror attack with this poor child.

SIDNER: It is. But there are also children in images coming out of Gaza that are, for many people, just as horrific and there are children there too and they -- none of these children should be put in this position, none of them.

BERMAN: All right. This is our special live coverage. We are waiting to hear from the Secretary of State Antony Blinken. We'll be right back.

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