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Blinken In Israel For Meetins With Israeli Leaders, Defense Minister; Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Grows As Half Million Flee South; Chaos Confusion at Closed Gaza-Egypt Border Crossing; Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 16, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Or its customers Walgreens CVS. Other pharmacy chains settled similar lawsuits over the past couple of years.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: And it was another scary moment for the Buffalo Bills last night. Bill's running back Damien Harris going down and after a short run and laying on the ground for several minutes, Harris was taken to the hospital for further testing. Players from both teams signaled for doctors after Harris was tackled the bill saying in a statement after the game, his neck was injured. It was confirmed that he does have movement and his arms and legs are positive sign. Harris give a thumbs up to the fans as he was loaded into the ambulance.

HARLOW: Hoping for the best for him. Of course, we are staying on all the breaking news out of Israel and Gaza. Stay with CNN News Central starts now.

KATE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, thank you so much for joining us. I'm Kate Baldwin, with JOHN BERMAN in New York. Sara Sidner is in Israel. The breaking news that we're following right now, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken. He is back in Israel this morning. Blinken has been shuttling around the region for days now. This morning came out with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He's also meeting with the Israeli president. And we're standing by to see if Blinken will be speaking after these critical meetings.

One major focus, the horrifying news that we're learning this morning the IDF says 199 people are now being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. That's a huge and significant jump from what was believed to be the number of people taken after the Hamas terror attack.

The latest from the Biden administration is that at least 15 Americans are still missing. Now we have new video also coming in showing the group growing humanitarian crisis on both sides of the border. There's video of hospitals struggling to keep up amid airstrikes from Israel who are trying to take out Hamas leadership in northern Gaza. The Palestinian Red Crescent says hospitals are running dangerously low on supplies including water and fuel in southern Gaza overnight. This we will show you is the scene where Israel see a scene where Israel directed people to move to Gaza officials say at least 10 people were killed. John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Inside Gaza this morning, the Rafah border crossing into Egypt is still closed. The United Nations wants to get supplies and aid in the United States very much wants to get Americans out. But unless Egypt and Hamas and Israel can all agree, it will stay close. Now, in northern Israel right now there is renewed fighting along the border here between Hezbollah forces the militia group that exists in Lebanon, and Israel. Israel has now ordered 28 villages within two kilometers of the Israel-Lebanese border. Ordered those people to evacuate. Now our Sara Sidner is just south of there in Haifa, in Israel, right on the water where evacuations of U.S. citizens are underway, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, you know, we just watched. We just missed the enormous cruise ship that left here called the Rhapsody on the Sea. It is owned by Royal Caribbean. But the United States Government chartered this enormous cruise ship so that Americans can get out because it is very, very, very difficult for Americans to be able to leave Israel. There are very few flights and those that go out are usually completely full. They're about 20 Something 1,000 Americans who contacted the State Department here in Israel, asking about how to leave not all of them wanted to leave, but they needed to know what the deal was in trying to get out.

So all of these folks are being taken to Cyprus who made it onto the ship. They are basically a full 10 hours away by ship to Cyprus, where we are here right now at the Haifa port, where all of this happened. And we'll be giving you some pictures and talking some to some of the families in just a bit here. But first I want to start with CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

Jeremy, we have Secretary of State Blinken. He is here for the second time in a week. That tells you a lot about the U.S. involvement with Israel as it tries to deal with the ramifications of the terror attack that happened a week and two days ago.

Jeremy, what are you learning right now about everything? There are Americans that are trapped in Gaza. There are Palestinians that are incredible amount of danger trying to get out of Gaza. And of course, you have the potential ground offensive by Israel that is expected to happen at any moment.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Sara, and all of those issues are top of mind for the Secretary of State as he meets today with the Israeli prime minister, as well as the Israeli President, the Israeli opposition leader, and Defense Minister Sir all of those meetings are on the books but the timing and the scheduling of those meetings keeps changing which just tells you how in flux this situation currently is. And of course, over the last several days, we have had conflicting information. We have had a lot of finger-pointing regarding the status of that Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

[09:05:21]

American officials for the last couple of days have been telling American citizens in Gaza to head to that crossing, believing that it would open soon, including on as early as this past Saturday, but as of yet that crossing remains closed. And so we will see whether the series of meetings that the Secretary of State is having in Israel today can finally resolve and close this logjam that appears to be preventing Americans from leaving Gaza through that crossing, but also from allowing humanitarian aid from Egypt into Gaza. The Secretary of State has visited about a half dozen Arab countries in the region over the last week since he came to Israel first at the beginning of last week, up until he returned today, countries ranging from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, all of those on his list as he tries not only to address this issue of humanitarian aid to Gaza and getting Americans out, but also broader considerations as it relates to those 199 hostages 20 some of whom are believed to be American citizens to try and get them out of Gaza, as well as also trying to prevent this conflict between Israel and Hamas to devolve into a broader regional war.

Now, amid all of this, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inviting President Biden to come here to Israel this week, to meet with him. We know that President Biden was slated to visit Colorado today. He canceled that trip at the last minute staying at the White House instead for what they have described as, quote, "national security meetings". Whether or not that is an indication that the President is going to actually come to Israel this week, unclear as of yet, the White House not yet confirming that, but clearly, that is all being discussed right now. And there are a number of balls in the air as we look at this humanitarian situation, and also the possibility any day now of Israel launching its broader ground invasion of Gaza.

SIDNER: Yes. It is a true humanitarian crisis in Gaza where people don't have enough food, don't have enough water, don't have fuel, and just want to get out the civilians that are there, here in Israel. There's a lot of fear. Jeremy Diamond, as you well know, a lot of fear a lot of trepidation. But there's also a sense of solidarity here. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much, for all the reporting there and what is happening from the U.S. side coming into Israel.

I'll talk a bit more about where I am now and what has happened here. I am at the Haifa port. We are about 85 miles away from the Lebanon border. So we are in the northern part of Israel very close to Lebanon, where there have been sirens that have gone up over these past eight days because of rockets coming over from Lebanon. There have been some incursions on the ground in Lebanon between Israel and Lebanese Forces. The Hezbollah forces who are backed by Iran and a sworn enemy of Israel.

But here, this is where Americans today streamed in from all around Israel, all around the country to try and get out. These are Americans that had wanted to get out from the beginning but could not seem to find their way out because there are very, very few flights leaving. Sometimes difficult to get to those flights. And all of the flights going out are generally completely booked up about 20,000 Americans had inquired with the State Department, not all of them wanted to leave, but they wanted to get some sense.

We know that the huge ship that just left here and you're seeing some pictures of what happened about half an hour ago, with the Rhapsody of the Sea, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that was chartered by the United States was put here in this port so that Israel, Israeli Americans, and a straight American citizens could get out. There were about 200 to 300 people that we saw most of them were families with children, feeling that it is just safer, better, easier for their kids mental health as well as physical health to be able to get out of the country for now. Every single family we talked to said though, they will be back. Let me let you hear, I think we have some sound from one of the families who we spoke to earlier today who was just about to board that cruise ship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't agree with this trip. I came along because I want to be with my family. But I think that we should spend Israel with our nation and with our family. And I think we have to show support. And if everybody picked up and left, not everybody would come back and what are we fighting for?

We're fighting for our country in the home to call a place to call home and I think that we should stick to our land and stay there and be with us like feel unity. Something bad happens we can all be -- we can support each other and help each other through it.

[09:10:11]

SIDNER: I know she sounds very adult but she is -- that is a Emuna. She is just 14 years old. And she disagrees with her family's decision to leave Israel, as you heard there. And there is some conflict within families as to whether to stay or to go. Because a lot of families feel very strongly that they want to be here to help with the war effort. They want to aid folks who need it. They want to get supplies, for example, that they've been taken to the troops on the border with Lebanon, that is the folks here in Haifa. But ultimately, for the sake of the kids, for the sake of family members in the United States who are terrified as they're watching what's happening here, they decided it was time to leave.

But they said they will be back. And they said they were felt so strongly about it, that they were going to come back next week potentially. And they said that they can't get back by air and by boat, they would swim. She was joking, but she was just showing how strongly she felt about coming back to Israel and making their home here. John and Kate.

BERMAN: All right, Sara, thank you very much for that. Let's get right to Becky Anderson, who I do understand has some important news about what might be happening in the border areas. I can show people on the map the border we're talking about. We're specifically talking the border between Egypt and Gaza. The Rafah crossing, which is right there, Becky, what do you hear it?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes. Before I fill you in on what we understand to be the preparations for this next phase by Israel, on Gaza, I am just getting information in that our cameraman on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, has said that he has seen six U.N. fuel trucks entering from Gaza through that crossing.

Now, that's important, of course, because there's been much debate and clearly much argument between Israel Hamas, and Egypt about getting that border crossing, one of the only -- one of the few border crossings that exists, the main one now with Egypt getting that open, at least for the humanitarian supplies that are building up on the Egypt side of the border.

We know that for example, water Israel says is now switched back on in southern guards up but without fuel for generators. There is no electricity and therefore no facility to get that water running. So that news just coming into us, and more on that as we get it. This is a report from our cameraman at refer on the Gaza side, saying that he has seen six U.N. fuel trucks entering into Gaza.

So more to come on what is going on at that border as Israel readies for the next stage in this war. We are clearly not privy to the detailed military planning but we can report and what we know as far as preparations are concerned.

Now, the border with Gaza and Israel saturated with some 300,000 troops, the IDA -- the IDF have evacuated residents from communities around the border with Gaza in Gaza. Conflicting reports about how many people have fled South. Reports suggest as many as half a million. The Israelis blaming Hamas for preventing more people from leaving from the north putting in roadblocks and telling people to stay in their homes not clear on whether there is an official pause in Israeli strikes to extend this humanitarian window that we've seen for more people to flee Egypt claiming that Israel has agreed to a ceasefire. Israel absolutely denying that.

There has certainly been some restraint on the part of Israeli forces. An IDF spokesman late last night describing to me that this pause is a poor -- a period of patience. But he said that patience is running out and again, not clear what's happening at that Rafah boarding -- border.

As we say we have now learned from a cameraman on the ground that he's seen six U.N. fuel trucks coming in. But, you know, that's -- that's still obviously a real point of contention.

What is clear, as Jeremy was reporting that rescuing these hostages is a national priority for Israel. We can now confirm 199 hostages including foreign nationals held by Hamas. Israel also telling us 291 soldiers have been killed since last Saturday. And I'll just close with this. Both these numbers, the number of hostages and the number of Israeli soldiers killed will massively impact and Israeli society already experiencing collective trauma after the horrendous attack by Hamas Saturday, and this will be certainly reinforcing Israel's commitment to completely root out Hamas in northern Gaza. The question is, when, ow do they do it, what does that look like, and what happens next. What -- sort of spillover from that might be. John.

[09:15:11]

BALDWIN: And one thing, we want to go back though to what our CNN's cameraman is seeing because was you were reporting seeing six un fuel trucks crossing from Egypt into Gaza. Becky, to put a fine point on it for everyone. This is significant because this is the -- really the first time that we have any reporting like this. What we've had until this point is images of fuel trucks lined up on the Gaza side trying to get into Israel empty fuel trucks. And now the -- you're seeing the reverse seeing some indication of, quote unquote, "opening at the Rafah crossing". This is huge. This is exactly what Tony Blinken has been doing the shuttle diplomacy over the weekend is really about.

ANDERSON: Yes. And the question is, you know, how much can they get in? How long will that be open if indeed it is now open? And that's -- that's the reporting that we've got on the ground? I mean, you know, a cameraman that is employed by us witnessing that. But the question has been, there is an enormous amount of aid on that Egypt side of the border in a place called Irish.

The UAE has sent enormous amount of supplies, as has Jordan. The U.N. has, you know, an enormous amount of medical supplies of fuel, of food aid sitting on that border. They need to get that through in order to support the near half a million or more people who have fled into southern Gaza. I mean, this is a -- an enormously complicated task.

They need that border open. The problem with that border has been that Egypt does not want to see a flood of refugees going into the Sinai at this problem. They can't cope. Jordan has said it's a red line for them. They will not take Palestinians fleeing. Not that they don't support Palestinians, not that they don't. Absolutely squarely support the plight of the Palestinians but they say they cannot cope given the refugees that they already host.

So this is -- this is difficult because of course Antony Bingham wants that border open in order to get the US citizens who are caught in Gaza through very, very complicated. This is going on behind the scenes. Diplomacy absolutely at work here.

BERMAN: Okay. Becky Anderson for us in Tel Aviv. Becky, thank you very much. And we are waiting to hear from U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. We could get some clarity on what our cameraman saw right here at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

Six he counted un fuel trucks going in from Egypt to Gaza. This would be the first aid getting into Gaza since the terror attack more than one week ago. Very significant.

All right. With us now is Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Retired U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove. General, thank you. In addition to that, which is a significant development, we want to talk about the other development this morning, which is Israel, the IDF saying that 199 hostages are being held in Gaza right here, small, hairy, it's only 25 miles.

How does that complicate the ground mission? What will the ground mission therefore look like from Israel?

GEN. PHILIP BREEDLOVE (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER EUROPE: Well, thanks for having me. The ground mission is going to be hard no matter what. But these additional hostages are going to make it tougher. And we all know that Hamas intends to use those hostages.

Hamas wants the world to see Palestinians dying. They want the world to see Israeli hostages dying and American hostages dying. This is their entire effort. The Public Affairs campaign is the biggest campaign now for the Hamas.

BALDWIN: One thing who's speaking of public affairs and messages being sent, let's talk about the United States sending a second aircraft carrier. Is that the one we were trying --

BERMAN: Yes, yes. Here.

BALDWIN: Yes. John, can you put where they're sending you? They're sending a second aircraft carrier into the Eastern Med.

BERMAN: Carrier group.

BALDWIN: Carrier group, value of the Dwight Eisenhower, the Eastern Med joining the Gerald Ford. So why send a second one? There's been some suggestion that it's because the first didn't send a strong enough message. But what do you see in this big move?

BREEDLOVE: I don't think it's about one wasn't enough. I think the United States is sending a clear message to Iran. They're pulling all the strings with Hamas. They're pulling all the strings with Hezbollah and they're sending a clear message to Iran that do not widen this conflict, or else we are here. And that is an important message and we'll see if Iran takes it seriously or not.

BERMAN: Yes. The USS Gerald Ford care group was already there. The Eisenhower group headed there over the next several weeks. General, now there's significant development this morning.

[09:20:08]

The border between Israel and Lebanon right here. Hezbollah militants operating inside Lebanon. There's been an exchange of fire back and forth steady now for several days it may have intensified over the last 24 hours. Now Israel is telling people within two kilometers of that border to evacuate. What does that tell you?

BREEDLOVE: Well, Israel is taking it seriously, just like they're telling the people of the Gaza Strip to move south. This is a problem. And if, in fact, Iran pushes Hezbollah to attack or get more serious in the north, Israel wants to be able to act with its military more freely in that area to eliminate the threat.

BALDWIN: One thing that is a big unknown at this moment is when and how Israel will begin a ground invasion ground incursion, if you will. Looking at the options, a tactical question on this. From your perspective, do you see it beginning as kind of a matte like moving is like massive movement across the border of Israeli forces, or I've heard some talking about it should be actually be something more of like smaller raiding parties going going in. What goes into that decision of how the beginning of it looks? BREEDLOVE: Well, the very beginning of it may include some small incursions, but by read of what Israel intends to do is they're going to go in, and they're going to go in hard in will not be small raiding parties for the duration. They're going to try to do what they can to get hostages out. But you have heard all the Israeli leadership be clear. This is about eliminating Hamas and its ability to do the same terrorist activity into the future.

BERMAN: All right. General Philip Breedlove, thank you so much for helping us understand what we're seeing here. Again, the breaking news we learned just moments ago, we have a cameraman down here at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza. He saw six U.N. fuel trucks heading in from Egypt to Gaza. That would be the first time that aid of any kind was getting into Gaza over the last several weeks. We're waiting for much more information on that.

BALDWIN: And has been a key demand, has been a key demand from the -- from nations like Egypt and other especially in nations in the Arab world, a key call to Israel is to allow more aid and what we're seeing now, some coordination between Egypt, Israel, the United States, if it started moving now.

BERMAN: And again, U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken is in Tel Aviv are waiting to hear from him. Perhaps he will have an announcement on the significant development on our live special coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:04]

BALDWIN: The United Nations says the situation in Gaza right now is a quote, "hellhole on the brink of collapse". A potentially huge development on this front this morning. CNN just witnessed six U.N. fuel trucks crossing into Gaza from Egypt, possibly the first time we were seeing resources heading back into Gaza. All of Gaza is still in desperate need as we know of water, medicine, and food. The U.N. also says that its shelters in southern Gaza are now becoming overwhelmed. Most are not equipped for this kind of emergency, which of course is why people of the United States and Israel have wanted Egypt to open up some flow so Palestinians can get into Egypt in this time period.

Show video -- we just showed you video of one woman who gave birth on Sunday, staying with her newborn in a school turn shelter in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority says half a million people have fled to southern Gaza from the north as this Evacuation warning has been issued by the Israeli Defense the Israel Defense Forces. Let's go now to CNN Scott McLean for more on this. Scott, you've been gathering information from various sources, where do things stand now with the creation of a humanitarian zone a safe zone, if you will?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Okay. This is an idea at this stage that has been floated by Israel. But there are no indications at this point that it's something that's going to happen immediately. We've asked the U.N. about it, which could not confirm whether it's even in discussions with the Israelis about anything like this. The U.N. says that its priority at this stage is simply getting any kind of aid into Gaza at all period.

Obviously, potentially a glimmer of hope now that some may be coming in. Given that six fuel trucks have now crossed the Rafah border crossing. This will be music to the ears of these aid groups like the U.N., which have really been shouting as loud as they can to anyone who will listen in the outside world about just how dire the situation is inside of Gaza.

The World Food Program for instance, Kate says that, look, it's running out of food. And if it can't help people, it says that very clearly, people will starve. The U.N. says that look, if food is not going to get through that border crossing that you could be looking at a situation with thousands of people dying, potentially.

It says that it has more food to give out but at the moment, some of the places where it's being stored are inaccessible because of the bombing. There's also issues with water as well. Israel says that the taps had been turned back on in southern Gaza, but they say that look without electricity, without fuel to run the water stations or water plants to desalinate and pump them, it's simply not going to actually get to people.

You also have the MSF Doctors Without Borders saying that the situation inside of hospitals it -- well, the hospitals they say are overwhelmed and they say "barely functional". That's their words. We know that there have been hazed because there are hospitals in the northern part of Gaza where children are hooked up to ventilators. They say that they cannot bring people south and it's also important to point out Kate that even if they could go south, there is no guarantee of safety.