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Israel at War; In the Midst of Airstrikes, CNN Journalist and Family Flees Their Gaza Home; 250 Hostages Being Held by Hamas; Interview with Brother-In-Law Being Held Hostage by Hamas Moshe Lavi; Return to Court for Trump's New York Civil Fraud Trial; In Wrongful Termination Lawsuit, Trump Anticipated to Present a Deposition. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 17, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Hundreds of thousands of civilians are caught in the escalating crisis in Gaza. One of those being forced from their home as one of our very own here at CNN Ibrahim Dahman. He is a CNN journalist, born and raised in Gaza. It is where he lives and where his family lives. He says, he just wants to continue his work, telling the stories of the people there.

[10:35:00]

However, he is now grappling with the reality of keeping his family and himself safe at the very same time. It is an almost impossible task. This is his story in his own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IBRAHIM DAHMAN, CNN JOURNALIST (through translator): I'm with my family fleeing airstrikes in Gaza.

My son is terrified. I tell him, don't be afraid, son. But the truth is I'm afraid too.

My name is Ibrahim Dahman and I am a CNN journalist. For years, I have covered the stories of people in Gaza. I never thought that I would become part of the story.

Last week, I was in Gaza City when I was told to evacuate.

I don't know where to go. Where?

But where do I go? My home, my family and my life are here. Like so many others, I don't have anywhere else to go.

We reach a nearby hotel. There are journalists, families and people on their own.

We're not among the displaced, 1.1 million people told to evacuate Northern Gaza. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't strike hotels, right?

DAHMAN: They don't strike hotels, no.

I know deep down no building is safe. We watch airstrikes, and the sound of explosions keeps us awake at night.

On our third day, a nearby building is hit. This man was injured in the explosion. He is my father's cousin. Thankfully, he only suffered minor injuries.

I must get away from the hotel. The situation is very difficult.

We load our car and head south to Khan Yunis.

Seconds after we left the hotel, they fired a rocket that heavily damaged the entire area.

Now, we're in Khan Yunis. There are still airstrikes, but it is safer here. It's only a matter of time until we flee again. I hope one day we can return home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: That very personal report was from our journalist there Ibrahim Dahman. I cannot thank him enough and his family as they go through this absolute hellscape. Trying to stay alive while at the very same time, getting the information out to world. And just to let you know, CNN is in constant with Ibrahim, and we will keep you updated on his story and the story of the civilians in Gaza.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Absolutely. Thank you, so much, Sara. We will be getting back to Tel Aviv shortly.

Coming up for us, there are now, you know, hundreds of families of Israeli hostages, desperate for help in trying to find their loved ones and bring them home safely. Hamas has around 200 hostages that they've taken. Up next, we're going to speak with a man whose brother- in-law was taken hostage by Hamas terrorist from his kibbutz. His wife, his two young children surviving the attack on the kibbutz. His condition, though, unknown. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

BOLDUAN: Since the Hamas terror attack, we have come to know how Nahal Oz, the kibbutz in Southern Israel, right near the Gaza, how it became the site of a horrible tragedy and massacre. Hamas terrorists tearing through the kibbutz early Saturday morning, and murdering men, women, and children. Kidnapping others and lighting the kibbutz on fire as they went.

One family torn apart. In this is the family of Moshe Lavi. His sister, Lishai (ph) Lavi, her husband Omri Miran (ph), and their two young daughters, they were at home in Nahal Oz when the Hamas terrorists broke into their home, and held them hostage for hours there. Eventually they kidnapped Omri, you see him right there. Lishai (ph) and their daughters survived.

[10:45:00]

Moshe Lavi is here with me now. I mean, you were talking about -- Moshe, thank you. Just for everyone's knowledge, this is your sister, these are your nieces, and this is your brother-in-law now kidnapped by Hamas. How --

MOSHE LAVI, BROTHER-IN-LAW BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: Yes.

BOLDUAN: -- how, first and foremost, is your sister and your -- how are they doing right now? Your nieces and your sister?

LAVI: Yes. First, thank you for your time and for the network's willingness to broadcast the story that represent only tragedy out of thousands of families that were destroyed last Saturday, October 7th. My family is a strong family. We are supporting my sister as much as possible. She is in recovery now, especially mentally after being captive for hours. My nieces are with her.

Yesterday, we found the family dog which was injured badly but was found alive, and they were reunited with him. And that will bring strength to Lishai (ph), Ronie (ph), and Alma (ph). And it's a grave tragedy for us, but we coming from a strong resilient family. We grew up in Sderot, it's a working-class town that was targeted by Hamas and other terrorist organizations for 23 years now. And so, we learned to live with this conflict and tragedy, now it hit us personally.

BOLDUAN: I mean, but nothing at all like this. I mean, we're talking -- your nieces, two years old and six months --

LAVI: Yes.

BOLDUAN: -- right now. And they -- from my understanding of what your family has told me, they hid in their safe room when they realized this was not the usual red alert siren. And that's when Hamas broke into their home, and even used a neighbor's son, holding a neighbor's son to, essentially, coax or force them to come out of the safe room, which they did. They opened the door. And then, can you tell us, what does your sister say then that they witnessed that?

LAVI: First, we'll mention that that son was found murdered in a field yesterday with his mother.

BOLDUAN: Oh, my God.

LAVI: Even though they did what they asked him to with the gun pointed to his head. My sister and Omri (ph) were at home for a few hours in the safe room. They just went out to prepare food for the babies and then they realized the house has been broken into, first from the bathroom and also through the front door. They were terrified. They were thrown to the floor. They were handcuffed. They were treated violently.

I don't want to go into too much details because in my opinion it's not something that can be processed by civilized human beings. They were treated violently. The babies were woken up with guns pointed at their heads. And I'm sure that two-year-old Ronie (ph) will be remembering this for the rest of her life. I have my first memory when I was two years old from falling down a staircase, and I'm sure this will be much more traumatic to her.

They were -- later were grouped with another family, another two more families in a different house. When they entered, they went through the kibbutz, they saw bodies lying around. So, houses being burned with people inside. When they entered, they saw a teenaged girl lying dead, shot on the spot by Hamas terrorists. They saw a terrified family. The parents, the two siblings of that young lady terrified, hollow faces covered with blood.

This was also livestreamed on a Facebook off, I believe, one of the -- those who were held captive. They took all the phones and they decided to use it. They were mocked. And again, they were violently treated, tortured for hours. Eventually, Omri (ph) and a few others from the -- that house were taken hostage in a car, they're missing since Saturday. The terrorists threatened my sister and a few others that they will be coming back to take them. They will be coming back to do whatever they wished with them because they are their property now.

And for hours, my sister and the other members of the other family that were not taken were sitting terrified. Hearing all the screams, babies screaming, my sister said.

BOLDUAN: I mean, this went on for hours and hours. Do you --

LAVI: Hours, the entire of Saturday.

BOLDUAN: It is impossible to know, but what does -- why do you think that your sister survived? And I don't even want to use the word spared because she is dealing with -- she's broken, but why?

[10:50:00]

LAVI: I don't think we know. I think it's a lottery. It's a decision of one terrorist whether to take someone at that moment, whether to execute them, whether to leave them behind.

BOLDUAN: So, then, Moshe, we -- you know nothing of Omir and where he is? What was --

LAVI: We don't know anything.

BOLDUAN: -- what went through your mind. What have you heard from your sister then when that first hostage video was released just yesterday of Mia Schem. How did that impact them?

LAVI: At -- on one hand, it's a relief to know that at least some of the hostages are still alive. We don't know Omri (ph) whereabouts, but we are hopeful that he is still alive and that he will be returned to us. A lot of things, a lot of thoughts are going through the heads because you try to think the best but when it's late at night, before you go to bed, you start to think the worst.

BOLDUAN: I know this is an almost impossible question, but do you and Lishai (ph), on some level, hope to see a video released of Omri or -- I don't --

LAVI: I can tell you that in the first days after Omri was violently taken from us, I forced myself to watch horrific videos on social media just to spot him there, just to know where he is, how is he treated. I will have probably nightmares for the rest of my life from watching this. But it's important for everyone to know with what sort of barbarity Israeli civilians were dealing with last Saturday, October 7th. We do hope that a video will be released showing him safe and alive. But we're just are one family, so many more families are torn apart.

BOLDUAN: You moved here just a couple of years ago, to the United States. And before that, I mean, you grew up in Sderot, you said. And for everyone's knowledge, you also served in the IDF for years, and mainly along the Israel-Gaza border. Are you considering going back now? What's the family's view on this?

LAVI: Yes, I was born and raised in Sderot, lived there most my life, but I had some international exposure in high school and in college here in the U.S. High school in '08 and moved here again two years ago to attend business school in Philadelphia, at Wharton. I just graduated in May and moved to New York.

I was home a month ago with all of my family. Just before I moved here, I remember our last dinner together, a day before I left, Omri was there of course. We have so many silly photos from that event with the -- with my nieces, with my nephew, with my sisters, my parents. All of them went through terrible time, and I feel guilty that I wasn't with them.

I served in the IDF for six years. I was an officer, I'm a captain in reserves. I was considering to go back, but the past few days, including yesterday, my family is begging me to stay here. Fight or -- I'm now a soldier of my family and a soldier for all of the hostages and a soldier of all of the victim of this atrocity that was committed against the people of Israel, and also foreign nationals from all around the world, Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia, the U.S., France, the list goes on.

And for now, I'm not going back but the situation is so fluid. And if I will need the go become to serve, if I'll need to go back and be with my family in person, I will do that, but the priority right now is to support my family in the way they want me to support them, which is why I am here.

BOLDUAN: Moshe, thank you so much.

LAVI: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: And before we go to break, let -- can we please put a picture back up of your sister, Lishai (ph), Omri Miran (ph) who is missing, that man missing. Two young daughters, two years old, six months old, desperate to have their father home. Moshe Lavi, thank you so much.

LAVI: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: Happening now, Donald Trump is in a Manhattan courtroom. He is there for his civil trial where the Trump organization has already been found liable for fraud. Later today, he is expected to sit for a deposition in a case where the former FBI official who led the investigation into the Trump campaign ties to Russia says, he was fired because of a political vendetta.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz following this for us. So, talk to us about this deposition, Katelyn.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, John, this is just another legal issue that Donald Trump has to face, and this is about the time when he was president. And he was publicly attacking Peter Strzok, that FBI agent, Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer, both of who were working on the Russia investigation that Donald Trump was so incensed about.

He had been publicly tweeting about them. He had been talking about them. And now, after a series of court fights trying to protect the presidency from the Justice Department and from others, Trump is going to have to testify under oath about his public statements and communications about these two people in 2017, 2018.

Peter Strzok, he wants back some of the things he feels he was deprived of when he was wrongfully terminated just before he was going to be retiring from the FBI. But this is a bigger issue in the world of Donald Trump.

[11:00:00]