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White House Holds Press Briefing on Crisis in Israel; Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Israel. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 12, 2023 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:38]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL. I'm Boris Sanchez in Washington.

And we are tracking major developments on day six of fighting in the Middle East. Israel has launched large-scale strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza and reports that Israeli missiles are hitting inside Syria, taking out runways at two major airports.

During this latest barrage, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stood side by side with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, vowing that Israel will never have to stand alone.

Moments ago, Secretary Blinken discussed the gruesome evidence he's been shown by the Israeli government showing purported Hamas atrocities. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's beyond what anyone would ever want to imagine, much less actually see and, God forbid, experience, a baby, an infant, riddled with bullets, soldiers beheaded, young people burned alive in their cars or in their hideaway rooms.

I could go on, but it's simply depravity in the worst imaginable way. You can't help but imagine yourself, your family, your loved ones, your friends in that situation, in that predicament. And maybe the best word for it for me is overwhelming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We have just learned that, after his visit to Israel, Blinken will go to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Qatar to continue working diplomatic channels as the fight rages on and the effort to get hostages home continues.

Let's take you now to Ashdod, Israel, with CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

And, Jeremy, you have been in and out of cover throughout the entire day. What does it look like where you are now?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, this evening we had not one, but two different barrages of rockets headed towards the city of Ashdod.

The second one was very, very close to our hotel. The booms that you hear when those Iron Dome missiles intercept the rockets were particularly loud, indicating their proximity to our location. We went into the shelter on our floor. And in there we saw a family that had been -- that has fled the city of Ashkelon, which is the nearest city to me between me and the Gaza Strip.

Ashkelon has been one of the hardest-hit cities from those Hamas rocket barrages. And this family fled to this hotel here in Ashdod hoping to find a sense of security and also because they don't have one of those bomb shelters inside of their home.

And the father told me that he came because his children simply could not sleep because of how afraid they were in hearing those booms over the last several days. Now, at the same time, from this very position where we are, we can hear the constant rumbling of airstrikes and artillery hitting the Gaza Strip. It actually shakes the windows here sometimes when you have a particularly heavy explosion inside of Gaza.

And the toll, the death toll in Gaza has been consistently rising. More than 1,400 people have now been killed inside of Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced. And there is no question that as we look towards the next phase of this Israeli military campaign, their response to those devastating Hamas terrorist attacks over the weekend, the civilian death toll in Gaza is sure to rise.

That is just the nature of this conflict every time there are attacks there. And beyond, of course, the explosions, we know that Israel is also not allowing food, water, or electricity or fuel into the Gaza Strip, causing a precarious humanitarian situation, which the top U.N. human rights official has called out as a violation of international law.

So whatever happens next, Boris, very clear that this remains an extremely precarious situation both inside the Gaza Strip, but also here in Israel, in these communities near to Gaza.

[13:05:08]

SANCHEZ: And, Jeremy, as you were listening to the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, there, what stood out to you from his comments standing side by side with Prime Minister Netanyahu?

DIAMOND: Well, I think the secretary of state, just like the Israeli prime minister, were really trying to capture the emotion, the outrage, the devastation as it relates to the brutality of those Hamas terrorist attacks over the weekend, details of which we are still continuing to learn in recent days, the killing of women and children inside of their homes.

But what they are also doing is, they are taking that outrage, they are taking that emotion, bottling it up and really sending it out to the public, to the world, perhaps to try and provide a rationale for what is sure to come next, which is a much wider-scale Israeli military response to those terrorist attacks, with the overwhelming speculation leading to the possibility that there could be a ground invasion of Gaza.

And if indeed that is the case, if that is the direction in which we move, the Israeli prime minister has to prepare the public here that there will be IDF casualties with a ground invasion and also preparing the world for the fact that there will be casualties inside of Gaza.

And we know the death toll will mount. What is very clear is that, regardless of what comes next, it will be civilians who are too often caught in the crossfire -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the potential for that ground operation to cause enormous losses very high.

Jeremy Diamond from Ashdod, Israel, thank you so much.

So, Israel's energy minister is now warning that Gaza will not get any power, water or fuel until the Israeli hostages being held by Hamas are returned home.

Joining me now is Michael Milshtein, a former head of the Palestinian department in Israeli military intelligence.

Michael, thank you so much for being with us.

Do you think that strategy...

MICHAEL MILSHTEIN, FORMER ISRAELI MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL: Thank you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Do you think that strategy is likely going to be effective in getting back those hostages?

MILSHTEIN: Well, I think, Boris, that this kind of strategy, which Israel has never promoted such a strategy, is actually the new, but the only way to achieve anything important in Gaza.

Until today, during the last two years, Israel tried to promote a unique policy toward Gaza, which actually was -- we realized on the 6th -- on the 7th of October at 6:30 in the morning that it was total failure.

And I'm meaning that a policy that is based on improvement of the economic, on the -- of the civil situation in Gaza, in order actually to create a prize, something that Hamas could lose if he will promote any escalation.

And, right now, I think that, in the horrible situation we found ourselves, actually, this is the only way to really to push Hamas. And only this evening, we heard Saleh al-Arouri, number two in Hamas leadership, declare that, actually, Hamas members, Hamas terrorists from the military wing were not involved in killing, slaughtering civilians in Israel, but it was civilians from Gaza.

So, he's trying actually to change the damage in the image of Hamas. But I really hope that those steps, I mean, banning water and electricity and other things, will cause unrest, will cause protest among the citizens of Gaza, and maybe now, finally, they will understand that their worst enemy is Hamas, and the source for all their suffer is Hamas.

And I think that this is the only option Israel has today.

SANCHEZ: So, Michael, this morning, Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed remarks from President Biden, his pledge of U.S. unconditional support for Israel.

He said -- quote -- "We will always be there by your side." He also talked about the need for moral clarity, the importance of separating the Palestinian people from Hamas. You were just making the argument that leadership in Hamas is trying to muddy the waters and blur those lines.

There are some two million Palestinians packed into a tiny sliver of land that is Gaza. Many of them are just women and children that had nothing to do with the atrocities that we saw over the weekend. How does the IDF go about trying to ensure that innocent people aren't hurt?

MILSHTEIN: Well, first of all, Boris, we must emphasize that the IDF attacks on Gaza right now, it's not in a blind attack.

[13:10:09]

We are trying to be very accurate. And, of course, Israel has no interest to harm any citizens. But in the current situation, in the past, we believed that if there will be any escalation, the public will promote protest against Hamas, so Hamas will not -- it won't have any interest to promote escalation.

And this assumption was totally wrong. Right now, civilians, citizens from Gaza were involved in looting the villages, the kibbutzim and the moshavim nearby the border. They were -- also participated in all those really crazy events in Gaza, when they showed the corpse of Israeli soldiers and citizens.

Those are the people that Israel is trying to improve their own -- their situation. And I think that, after Saturday, there are less and less Israelis who can really understand what are -- what is the basic logic of the Palestinian people, not of Hamas.

And unless -- unless Israelis believe that if you will improve the situation of the Palestinians in Gaza, so there will be less interest in promoting the escalation, this kind of formula, this kind of insight belongs to the past.

And, right now, I think that, as we mentioned before, Boris, I think that we are in an existential conflict, in an existential fight. And, therefore, we will attempt any effort not to harm citizens, but we must understand that this kind of conflict is different from the conflicts of the past.

And, this time, we cannot end this conflict while Hamas is in the same situation as it was a week before.

SANCHEZ: So, Michael, given your former position as the head of Palestinian affairs in Israeli intelligence, and given some of what you have described as a misled belief among Israelis that providing Gaza and Hamas with economic incentives would promote peace, what do you make of the fact that there was such a colossal intelligence failure in Israel that could have indicated that an attack like this was imminent?

MILSHTEIN: Well, it's a very good point.

And, in Israel, most of the public discourse and the political discourse is focused on this issue, Boris. We're speaking about two things. First of all is the intelligence failure to recognize actually all the signals. During the last day, we understood that those signals were elaborated only a few hours before the offensive began, and it was quite too late to do something.

But the other failure, actually, is connected or in regard to the question of the intentions of Hamas. The basic assumption regarding Hamas was that this organization is very much deterred, it has no interest in promoting escalation. And, of course, this assumption was really wrong, because I think that we -- I would call it, we thought in a Western style, in Western-style patterns.

And we actually enforced our way of thinking on the other side, on an Islamic radical organization whose basic aim is actually to eradicate Israel from the map. He has no intention to take care of the Palestinians in the territories of the life of the people in Gaza. His basic aim is to promote jihad, muqawama, resistance.

And so in the morning of Saturday, we realized the new or the basic DNA of Hamas.

SANCHEZ: Michael Milshtein, we very much appreciate you sharing your perspectives with us. Thanks for joining us.

MILSHTEIN: Thank you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

We want to take you straight to the White House now, the press room there, where NSC spokesperson John Kirby is giving remarks. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JOHN KIRBY, NSC COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: I will start with the saddest of news.

We can now update the number of Americans that we know have been killed (AUDIO GAP) unaccounted for stands today at 14. We're obviously doing everything we can to support and inform the families. Now, sadly, five more families have now gotten the worst possible news that any family can conceive of getting. And we're going to stay in touch with them, as appropriate. Same goes for those family members of those who are unaccounted for. And by unaccounted for, we mean that. We don't know where they are. They don't know where they are.

So we're going to obviously stay in touch with them as well. And, certainly, we're continuing to work with Israeli officials to make sure that we're getting as much context and information as possible that we will share with them.

[13:15:06]

Also, as you, I think, realize, we are all acutely aware of limited availability right now on commercial flights out of Israel and the demand signal by U.S. citizens who may want to depart.

The president has asked his team to ensure that we are assisting U.S. citizens who do want to leave Israel and providing them with a safe means of doing that. So, beginning tomorrow, the United States government will arrange charter flights to provide transportation from Israel to sites in Europe -- they're still working through some of the details of that -- to assist U.S. citizens and their immediate family members who have, for whatever reason, not been able to provide commercial transit out of the country.

And I would add that we're also exploring other options to expand the capacity of doing this, including exploring whether it's possible to help Americans leave by land and by sea.

So, again, we're working hard on this. We know there's a demand signal out there, and we're going to try the best we can to meet it. I would encourage any American citizen in the need of assistance to please complete the intake form that you can find on travel.state.gov. It's very simple. Go right to that site. There is an intake form.

Fill it out. It helps (AUDIO GAP) helps us get a sense of what the scope of the need is. And I would refer you to State on that. I'm sure you guys are going to ask me that. I don't have hard figures handy with me now. We do know there are certain American citizens that want to go. It's all available through the State Department's Web site, and I'd encourage them to go look that.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: All right.

QUESTION: OK. Thanks for taking my question.

Gaza's main power plant has run out of fuel. The humanitarian situation there is becoming quite dire. I'm wondering if there have been any communications about allowing shipments of food, fuel, electricity to help lessen civilian casualties and suffering there?

KIRBY: Yes, there have been ongoing conversations with our Israeli counterparts about the need for continued flow of humanitarian assistance.

QUESTION: Good. I had a couple of questions on the American hostages. Is it still the

case that the administration doesn't know anything about the condition of the American hostages, and is the number still believed to be less than a handful?

KIRBY: Yes and yes.

QUESTION: And I know you have been pretty open about the fact that (AUDIO GAP) hard to ascertain at this moment. The limited information that you do have, is that coming namely from the Israelis and the Qataris, or is there another source of information that you would been able to...

(CROSSTALK)

KIRBY: The families too. As I mentioned yesterday, some of these families actually saw their loved ones being abducted and taken away. So they have been a significant source of information as well.

QUESTION: Just one other quick thing.

The assumption that the hostages may not necessarily be in one place, was there specific intelligence to point the administration to not make that assumption, or is that based on something else?

KIRBY: I won't speak about specific intelligence matters, but it is a common tactic in the Hamas playbook to break up hostages and move them around in sometimes small groups.

So we have nothing that would indicate to us that they would follow a different set of protocols. But I can't stand here before you and prove to you that that is exactly what's happening. We have to -- in order to think about our policy options, you have to make some assumptions.

And we can't rule that out as a possibility.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: John, is the status of the $6 billion that Iran was set to have access to?

KIRBY: It's still sitting in the Qatari bank, all of it, every -- every dime of it.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Is there an agreement now to, in essence, withhold it from Iran should they come asking for it?

KIRBY: None of that money has been spent, and I have no updates to provide today.

QUESTION: Was the decision to reach a quiet understanding with Qatar about whether or not it would be accessed by Iran made because of the attack or political pressure, basically? KIRBY: I'm not going to talk about diplomatic conversations one way

or another, Ed.

And what I can tell you is that every single dime of that money is still sitting in the Qatari bank. Not one of it -- not one dime of it has been spent.

I'd also remind, because this keep -- in certain audiences, inconvenient facts are easy to forget. The regime was never going to see a dime of that money. And this account, although it's moved from South Korea to Qatar, was set up by the previous administration for this exact purpose.

[13:20:01]

In fact, I think it was back in 2018 the former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo actually talked in quite some detail about how this money and these accounts could only be used for humanitarian purposes and that there was going to be oversight.

We have done nothing different. It is the same process. All we have done is move that funds from South Korea where, for some technical reasons, it wasn't accessible, to Qatar, where it is more accessible.

All that said, none of it has been accessed by the Iranian -- by Iranian -- by Iran at all. And even if they had accessed it, it wouldn't go to the regime. It would go to approved vendors that we approved to go buy food, medicine, and medical equipment, agricultural products, and ship it into Iran directly to the benefit of the Iranian people.

QUESTION: And let me ask you one other. Has the United States independently verified the photos released by the Israeli prime minister's Twitter account today showing the images of dead children?

KIRBY: I don't think we're going to be in the business of having to validate or approve those images. They're coming from the prime minister of Israel.

And we have absolutely no reason to doubt their authenticity.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: I have a question, please.

QUESTION: To follow up on these questions about the $6 billion, I understand Iran hasn't accessed any of this yet. It's intended for humanitarian purposes.

KIRBY: Yes.

QUESTION: But there have been reports of this quiet agreement. So, yes or no, if Iran wanted to access this today, could they?

KIRBY: I'm not going to speculate one way or another here about future transactions. What I can tell you is, none of it has been accessed. And we are watching every dime, as you would expect we would. We're watching it very, very closely.

And I'm not going to...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... can to still tap into it?

KIRBY: I'm not in a position to speak about these press reports. I'm telling you, nothing's been accessed. And we have oversight. We have oversight over what can be accessed and for what purposes.

QUESTION: And on another topic, the president said yesterday that he told Netanyahu that it's important, even with all of the emotion and anger and frustration, that they operate by the rules of war. Why does the president feel the need to underscore this point?

KIRBY: The president feels strongly about the law of armed conflict and the proper respect for innocent life anywhere in the world, no matter where it is.

And that certainly includes, maybe even especially includes our own military operations.

QUESTION: But is the president worried that Israel may have already violated the rules of war or that they might going forward?

KIRBY: It's all -- it's just part of the conversations that we have been having with our Israeli counterparts about the prosecution of these military operations.

The Palestinian people are, likewise, innocent civilians. They didn't ask Hamas to come in and do this. And I think it's always on the president's mind the protection of civilian life.

QUESTION: One last quick thing. I'm wondering what you made of the former president last night calling the Israeli defense minister a jerk, saying that Hezbollah was really very smart.

KIRBY: I'm not going to comment about comments on the campaign trail. That's well beyond the pale for me.

JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, John (ph).

QUESTION: Thank you.

Kirby, can you give us an update on the intelligence about Iran's role in this? Anything changing in terms of what you're seeing, what the U.S. assesses to be Iran's role?

KIRBY: No, I don't have any updates for you. We're still looking into this, but, again, no direct evidence that Iran was a participant in these attacks in any way.

But, again, we're still monitoring it. We're still looking at it.

And if I can go back, Mary, just, while I'm not going to comment, I would just add that we take seriously our bilateral relationship with Israel. We don't get to decide, obviously, who their Cabinet officials are. That wouldn't be our business. But we have strong relationships with them.

And it's important now that those relationships continue to improve and grow, right -- and particularly in this time of crisis. And so we're focused on getting things done and supporting Israel. That's where our heads are.

JEAN-PIERRE: Joe.

QUESTION: Yes, thank, Karine.

Admiral, speaking of Iran, what did President Biden mean yesterday in his remarks when he said he -- quote -- "made it clear to Iranians" (AUDIO GAP)

KIRBY: It refers precisely to his comments the day before about not wanting to see any third party, be it a terrorist group or a nation- state, that might have hostile feelings towards Israel, that -- thinking that this might be a good time to take advantage of that and to widen and expand the conflict, very much in keeping with what he said the day before.

QUESTION: Well, was that message communicated to Iran or...

KIRBY: The president of the United States said it publicly. I think that's pretty good communication.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Thank you, Admiral.

Just wondering if you could explain to us just about how the president came to say yesterday that he'd seen pictures of militants beheading children. Obviously, it's important to make sure that disinformation doesn't get out there. How did he end up saying that?

KIRBY: He was referring to images I think many of you have seen, certain of your colleagues have reported on, and, obviously, Israeli officials have spoken to as recently as today. We know that Secretary Blinken was also showing some additional images by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

[13:25:04]

So I mean, the thing, I think -- just allow me a second here. We all need to be prepared for the fact that there's going to be additional gruesome images coming out. And there's going to be some pretty tough reports for all of us to swallow. This is not over.

And all that is, and certainly the president's comments yesterday, to underscore the utter depravity and the barbaric nature with which these terrorists murdered and butchered innocent Israeli civilians. And that further underscores why -- and this is what the president's specific point was yesterday -- that we have got to stay with Israel. We have got to continue to make sure they have the support that they

need.

QUESTION: Has the president actually seen the photos? Yesterday, there was...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: A couple of follow-up questions actually to what Mary had been asking.

Regarding the issue about abiding by the laws of war, Israel does continue to halt supplies of food, other aid materials to Gaza. So I'm wondering if the U.S. feels that is an appropriate action by the Israelis and if you made any concerns about that to the Israeli government.

KIRBY: We are having conversations with Israeli officials about the continued need for humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people, who are victims here as well.

QUESTION: But do you guys see that as any sort of a violation of the laws of war?

KIRBY: I'm not going to stand up here and put a bumper sticker on it. We are having active conversations, as we would anywhere around the world, with our Israeli counterparts.

QUESTION: And regarding the former president's comments last night, setting aside the politics of it, do you have any concern that he may have revealed classified information as it relates to the death of Soleimani in 2020 (OFF-MIKE)

KIRBY: I'm not in a position to comment on that right now.

JEAN-PIERRE: (OFF-MIKE)

QUESTION: Thank you, Karine.

John, one quick one on the charter flights. Are those free of cost to American citizens?

(CROSSTALK)

KIRBY: I would refer you to the State Department. Typically, they are, but, I mean, I don't have the -- they're still working through the details of how they're going to coordinate these.

QUESTION: And then on the $6 billion, we know that 100 senators were told on Tuesday night that the plan was basically to leave any requests for withdrawals pending indefinitely.

And now we know that House Democrats were told by the deputy Treasury secretary behind closed doors this morning pretty much the same, with one added layer, that there's an agreement to Qatar not to let those funds be disbursed. I just -- why is it that you won't come out and say that the U.S. does

not intend to let this money go to Iran?

KIRBY: Jacqui, we have always had -- since the beginning, we have always had the ability to provide oversight over the disbursement of these funds. We have always had the option, if we wanted it, to look at transactions and to make a call about whether we found it valid or not.

That has not changed. And even now, as you and I are speaking, none of that money has been accessed by anybody. It's still all there.

QUESTION: Is it because we think that freezing it essentially again would complicate any negotiations with Iran or our ability to get Americans home in the future?

KIRBY: I'm not going to go into any more detail.

QUESTION: OK.

And then on the overland and by sea and by land efforts, I guess why is it that we find ourselves in so many situations trying to get Americans out, and that it's largely happening not through a government effort, but we're telling civilians to find their way across a border in a war zone? Happened in Ukraine. Why is it that we have found ourselves in that position so many times, it seems?

KIRBY: In what position exactly?

QUESTION: That we're directing American citizens to basically find their way, their own way, to U.S. help on the other side, whereas you have got other countries that are sending their military in or doing evacuations in a more formal way.

KIRBY: Well, first of all, Americans and dual passport holders live all over the world. And, sometimes, they choose to live in places where bad things happen. We're not in a position of lecturing to Americans where they can go live, work, or travel, and recreate.

Number two, they don't have to tell us that they're there. So, sometimes, it's really hard to get a sense of what the population is. In places like Israel, there's -- there are a lot of Americans. Most of them -- not, well, most -- maybe most are dual nationals, but a lot of Americans are there.

Other nations have smaller populations, and maybe they have -- they have to make their own decisions about how they're going to handle those smaller populations. We also have to be respectful of the needs and the desires of Americans who live there. We know that some want to leave.

We also know that a lot of them want to stay. It's home. They don't want to go.