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Israel Admits Airstrike On Ambulance That Witnesses Say Killed And Wounded Dozens; Hezbollah Leader: Possibility Of Lebanese Front Escalating Into Broad Battle Is "Realistic Option"; Eric Trump Says His Father Is "Fired Up" To Testify Next Week. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 03, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:01:26]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And we are back with more breaking news out of the Middle East at this hour, a gruesome scene outside Gaza's largest medical facility. You can see several casualties in this footage from a witness there. Israel has taken responsibility for the attack.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The IDF launching this airstrike that it says targeted an ambulance that Hamas was using allegedly to transport not only operatives, but weapons as well. Witnesses there reporting dozens of casualties.

DEAN: We have regional coverage for you.

We start with CNN's Melissa Bell who is in Cairo.

Melissa, what more are you learning about this?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we've been hearing, Jessica, first of all, seeing that video that emerged from just outside the al-Shifa Hospital, you can see several bloodied casualties and what appears to be shrapnel that hit one of the ambulances, an attack, a strike that has now been claimed, as you said, by the IDF in the shape of a statement in which they explain not only something they've said before about the al-Shifa Hospital, that they believe that it is a command and control center for Hamas, but also saying that they believe that Hamas uses ambulances to transport weapons and fighters.

In fact, what we've been hearing from a spokesman for the Palestinian health ministry who's at the al-Shifa Hospital is that that series of ambulances that were targeted, that were hit in that strike, were in fact part of a convoy that had been due to head towards the Rafah Crossing, carrying some of those most seriously wounded Palestinians. You know that they are some of those who've been allowed out through the Rafah Crossing and into Egypt.

These ambulances were part of a convoy that was heading south towards the Rafah Crossing. The Red Cross had been informed that the convoy was leaving the hospital towards the Rafah Crossing, and perhaps most damningly, we've just been hearing, Jessica, from the Red Cross who confirmed that they had been given information about this particular convoy that was due to leave the Shifa Hospital on its way to the Rafah Crossing.

What we know about the attack is that there are several casualties, many wounded as well, and that this does appear now to have been a convoy of wounded Palestinians being taken to the Rafah Crossing that was hit as part of that IDF strike, now claimed by the IDF again with the idea that this was part of their operation to take on Hamas.

The evidence that we're getting from those sources, not just inside the al-Shifa Hospital, but again from the Red Cross, does seem to contradict that, Jessica and Boris.

SANCHEZ: Melissa Bell, thank you so much for that update. Obviously, a development to keep an eye on.

We want to take you now live to Lebanon and Beirut. Ben Wedeman is there for us.

Ben, the leader of Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, he gave his first comments today since the terrorist attack on October 7th. What stood out to you from what he said?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think what stood out is really the ambiguity of his message. It continued to be the sort of message we're hearing from the Iranians, conditional. For instance, he said that the possibility of Lebanese - the front Lebanese front escalating into a broad battle is a realistic option. Israel should take this into account.

So it's not promising any specific action. It's more if something happens, Hezbollah will act in such a way.

[15:05:03]

So by and large, the tensions that were building up in the lead-up to this speech have sort of dissipated here in Lebanon. Many people had left the country, had left Beirut to safer ground, others had stored up supplies in the event full-scale war was going to break out. Well, it hasn't.

Nasrallah, however, did say that as a result of the daily back-and- forth fire between Hezbollah and Israel, which really reached a crescendo yesterday, with Hezbollah claiming 19 strikes on Israeli military positions, he said that as a result of this, the Israelis have had to evacuate 40 communities along the border, on their side of the border, as well as deploy, in Nasrallah's words, a third of the Israeli army to its northern borders, Boris?

SANCHEZ: Ben Wedeman in Beirut. Please stand by, Ben.

We do want to go now to Sderot, Israel, with Nic Robertson.

Nic, last hour I spoke to a top adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He told us that Israel has no interest in escalating this into a war on the northern front with Hezbollah. Do today's developments bring the temperature down a bit regarding expectations for a potential conflict between Israel and Hezbollah?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think Israel has always set out this intent that it was going to completely deconstruct, demolish and dispose of Hamas in Gaza. And there was always a thought that if they go at it too heavy-handed, then Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah would therefore follow on with an escalated confrontation from the north to support Hamas.

And we heard from Hassan Nasrallah, as Ben was explaining there, essentially saying they're already doing enough. They're tying down IDF troops on the northern border. They've caused a lot of civilians to be moved to the south.

I think Israel would far rather have its fight with Hamas without having to even think about the northern border. So really, there - while there's consideration given, of course, to if Hezbollah escalates, how they would handle that and at the moment Israel is sort of playing it the same way that Hezbollah is playing it. It's strike by strike, soldier for soldier, if you will, more or less.

So neither side has to get into an escalation, which Israel knows would consume a massive volume of its energies, efforts, firepower, distract from what's happening in Gaza. So I think as far as the Israeli government's concerned, Nasrallah, in a way, as Ben is explaining there, has left a lot of ambiguity. But in a sense, it's a very - he's blinked, if you will, in a game of brinksmanship in an ambiguous way.

He's left the door open. But in essence, Israel is pursuing a very strong action inside Gaza to deconstruct, demolish, dispose of Hamas. And Hezbollah has, in a way, not escalated to a point of distraction.

So I think for the prime minister, he will have also breathed a slight sigh of relief over that, although Israel had its plans to escalate if necessary.

SANCHEZ: And Nic, on the question of Israel's effort to eradicate Hamas from Gaza, Israel has remained adamant that there will not be a humanitarian pause without Hamas releasing hostages. Are there any updates on that front? How have the IDF progressed in their operations today?

ROBERTSON: The Prime Minister and the Defense Minister today have said there will be no ceasefire without the release of all hostages, 241. The only thing that really keeps changing on the hostage front is Israel's assessment of how many hostages Hamas and the other groups have inside of Gaza. It's the same impasse we've been at for several weeks now. That's always been Israel's position.

It sounds perhaps a little less dogmatic than before, given the pressure from the United States and from other countries that there has to be a greater allowance for more humanitarian assistance to get into Gaza. I think President Biden and the White House today at least saying a hundred trucks a day, which has only got up to over the past couple of days, still isn't enough. It's normally 450 humanitarian trucks a day.

So Israel's position is very, very clear. It's essentially trying to lay siege to Hamas, not the civilian population, but Hamas with whole food and not do any kind of deal till they get everything that they want, which is the hostages and we're at an impasse on that.

Secretary Blinken suggested that you can do the hostage for ceasefire deal while - you can do the hostage for humanitarian aid deal under the auspices of a ceasefire. And listening to what's happening in Gaza tonight, still heavy shelling. I think we've heard some very heavy detonations coming from Gaza City as well as other locations in the north of there in the Gaza Strip.

[15:10:05]

I don't think there's any let up in the fight tonight.

SANCHEZ: Nic Robertson, thank you so much for that update from Sderot. Jessica?

DEAN: I want to go now to CNN's Oren Liebermann who's at the Pentagon.

And Oren, the Defense Department now confirming U.S. spy drones are flying over Gaza to help with those hostage searches. Explain how significant that is.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It's part of the assets the U.S. surged for gathering intelligence shortly after October 7th, as the U.S. tried to help Israel in any way it could with hostage recovery. We saw some of these flight tracks on flight tracks on flight tracking websites. In fact, you can take a look at this graphic here, which shows you many of those flight tracks focusing around southern Gaza there.

The U.S., however, and the officials that have spoken with CNN say these are simply unarmed surveillance drones. They're not intended to provide targeting information, but it's part of the U.S. commitment to helping Israel. Israel, obviously, clearly aware of what's happening in the skies over Gaza, so there must be some sort of coordination between Israel and the U.S. on the flights themselves, and then whatever intelligence the U.S. is able to gather from these flights.

In a statement, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said, in support of hostage recovery efforts, the U.S. is conducting unarmed UAV flights over Gaza, as well as providing advice and assistance to support our Israeli partner as they work on their hostage recovery efforts. Ryder then goes on to say these flights have been happening since October 7th.

So this is a significant asset the U.S. has contributed. It also has not only more assets moving to the Middle East, but also in the waters off Israel as well, in a message to Iran and its proxies not to get involved here. But in terms of the drones themselves, unarmed surveillance drones trying to help in the hostage recovery efforts, as Israel tries to locate now more than 240 hostages in Gaza. DEAN: And I also want to ask you about the U.S. bolstering its military presence in that region. What can you tell us? You kind of mentioned the two carrier strike groups, but what more can you tell us about their situation in the Mediterranean there?

LIEBERMANN: So we now have some images of these carrier strike groups working, exercising and operating together in the Eastern Med. That's the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS Gerald R. Ford.

The Ford has been in the Eastern Med for quite some time now, since right after the start of the war.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower, known as the Ike, was on its way there and has since arrived there. Again, this is a massive show of force, two carriers, destroyers, cruisers, all in the Eastern Med. It's worth noting that the Ike will soon make its way through the Suez Canal into the waters of U.S. Central Command, the waters of the Middle East, where it will stay there, still very close to the fight, but closer to some of the adversaries the U.S. is watching very closely as a message to tell them, don't get involved.

DEAN: Yes, it is quite a message.

All right. Oren Liebermann, thanks so much. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Let's drill down on the Hezbollah angle of all of this now with CNN National Security Analyst, Peter Bergen. Ben Wedeman rejoins us now live from Beirut as well. Thank you both for being with us.

Peter, first to you, what we heard from Hassan Nasrallah. He tried to create some distance between Hezbollah and Hamas as to what happened on October 7th. Also some distance over the question of an imminent action by Hezbollah, but still no shortage of threats.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. I mean, I was struck by the fact that he was very keen to emphasize that Hezbollah had nothing to do with the events of October 7th, and also by implication that Iran had nothing to do with those events. And so clearly the speech was full of rhetoric against Israel.

But as Ben pointed out earlier, I mean, I think it certainly didn't suggest anything imminent that Hezbollah is planning. Hezbollah, after all, the situation in Lebanon, the economic situation there is absolutely terrible. A war would be very destructive. The 2006 war killed more than 1,000 Lebanese, inflicted billions of dollars of damage on Lebanon.

So - and I think both Iran and Hezbollah don't right now want a wider war. Could that change as the pictures out of Gaza keep coming every day, every day for weeks and weeks and weeks? Maybe. But right now, I think there's - everybody's taking a bit of a breath.

SANCHEZ: Not perhaps just the pictures coming out of Gaza, civilian deaths, et cetera, but also potentially the weakness of Hamas. If they actually believe the IDF is on the verge of crushing Hamas, do you think then Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies then expand their operations?

BERGEN: I mean, look, it took the United States with Iraqi security services and U.S. air power nine months to get ISIS sort of extirpated in Mosul, a city of about 2 million people. It's not exactly analogous, but it's not dissimilar.

So I mean, the military side of this operation, if you're intent on destroying Hamas, is really months. Now there's another clock ticking, which is the international political clock, which is moving at a faster rate. So we'll see how these two clocks kind of our in tension with each other.

But the operation to destroy Hamas from a military perspective is - would take quite a long time.

[15:15:04]

SANCHEZ: And that clock already ticking in Congress, we've seen some 13 senators now come forward pushing for a ceasefire and also some senior House leadership on the Democratic side as well.

Ben, I want to ask you about a point that Peter just brought up, and that is the economic and political situation in Lebanon. How does that impact what Hezbollah is capable of doing here, given that there are divisions even within Lebanon?

WEDEMAN: Yes. Let's not forget that Lebanon is a flawed democracy and Hezbollah is an active, important participant in that democracy. It has 13 members in Parliament. It's been in government with ministers and they do depend on public support.

There are sort of the hardcore people who believe in Hezbollah's military goals, which are, of course, to push Israel out of a part of Lebanon that's disputed. But by and large, ordinary people here, bread-and-butter issues do matter. The Lebanese economy has essentially collapsed. The standard of living has collapsed. People have lost their entire life savings as a result of the collapse of the local currency, the lira.

And, therefore, as much as Hezbollah might want to become more involved in the war with Israel, they're really held back by the desire by many not to see the quality of their lives drastically drop as a result of the war.

Now, I was here throughout the 2006 war and I saw how much destruction happened, not only in the south of Lebanon, but other - also the southern suburbs of Beirut, where many of the Shia live, who are the sort of the political base for Hezbollah. And that sort of destruction, people do not want to see happen again.

So I think that really is tempering Nasrallah's approach to the situation. I think he's doing just enough to show that Hezbollah and, to a certain extent, Lebanon is trying to relieve some of the pressure on Hamas in Gaza, doing just enough to sort of be in the news, to force the Israelis to deploy more and more forces to the border with Lebanon and pull them away, perhaps, from the Gaza operation, but not enough to drag Lebanon into war with Israel.

Other politicians here in Lebanon are coming out and saying, we do not want Hezbollah to - on its own with its own decision - drag this country into war. So I think there's a lot of reasons why Nasrullah is sort of putting his foot on the brake, not going full blast at the moment. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Given what Ben has laid out, Peter, the sort of delicate, so to speak, position that Hezbollah is in, I think it's fair to say that neither Hezbollah nor Hamas would have the capabilities that they do without Iran. And you have lawmakers in the United States, on the other side, not calling for a ceasefire but rather calling for direct action against Iran. What would happen if the U.S. were to follow, in the words of Lindsey Graham, for example, who's calling on a blockade of Iranian oil?

BERGEN: Well, I mean, I think Iran obviously has proxies in the region, which it controls to some degree or another. What we're seeing is the sort of temperature being dialed up a little bit by Iranian proxies, whether it's the Houthis in Yemen firing Israel - firing missiles at Israel or 27 attacks that we've seen directed at U.S. military bases in Syria and Iraq, which haven't got a lot of attention but have been happening. No one has been killed yet.

But the point is that I think it's also in Iran's interest not to dial the temperature up too far, because at the end of the day, I'm sure Iran does not want an outright military confrontation with the United States. But so what we're seeing is this kind of all these different proxies from Lebanon in the north and 1,500 miles to the south the Houthis in Yemen, all of whom are sort of participating to some degree in an attempt to kind of make it more complicated for Israel and the United States.

SANCHEZ: So would you say that your outlook is that a broader regional conflict at this point is unlikely?

BERGEN: Well, look, if you'd asked me that in August of 1914, when the Archduke was killed in Sarajevo, I would have said, yes, and no one interests to have a world war that's going to kill tens of millions of people. But I mean, war is an uncertain enterprise. And wars begin when you will, they don't end when you please and so there's a great deal of uncertainty.

But right now, I think the situation doesn't look like a wider regional war for the moment.

SANCHEZ: Archduke Francis Ferdinand making an appearance in the conversation.

BERGEM: Yes.

[15:20:00]

SANCHEZ: If you had that on your bingo card, cross it out.

Peter Bergen, Ben Wedeman, thank you both so much. BERGEN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: We still have much more to discuss on the Israel-Hamas war coming up. Secretary of State Antony Blinken continuing his diplomatic meetings in the region. We'll get you updated on those.

And we're following Donald Trump's New York civil fraud trial. What Eric Trump said about the financial statements he signed and when the former president himself may take the stand.

Plus, from the so-called king of crypto to convicted fraudster. How long Sam Bankman-Fried could be behind bars and why his legal headaches are now far from over.

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[15:24:48]

SANCHEZ: A former Trump State Department appointee has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for his violent actions on January 6th. Federico Klein was found guilty this past summer on multiple counts, including assaulting police officers.

[15:25:03]

Many of Klein's attacks took place in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, one of the most violent venues on that day. Now, during today's sentencing, the judge called Klein's actions shocking and egregious, while Klein's attorney claimed his client was just caught up in a protest turned wrong. Jessica?

DEAN: Well, today in New York, Eric Trump wrapped up his testimony in the civil fraud trial there. Then he went in front of cameras to brand the proceeding as a "political witch hunt" and to say, "New York is absolutely going to hell." He also previewed his father's appearance next week.

CNN's Kara Scannell is outside that courtroom in New York.

Kara, it was a colorful postgame there, but a lot of today's status or a lot of today's testimony really had to do with the status of Mar-A- Lago. What are prosecutors trying to establish here as they go through these witnesses?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Yes. A lot of color outside the courtroom, but inside the attorney general's office is trying to focus Eric Trump about his knowledge of Mar-A-Lago and how it was treated in the financial statement. So they showed an email that he was on that discussed the treatment of how they were valuing Mar-A-Lago.

And what we have seen throughout this trial now at the end of its fifth week is that for the financial statements, Mar-A-Lago was valued as a private residence, which allowed it to have a higher valuation. But we've also seen evidence that Mar-A-Lago for tax purposes was valued as a private club, which enabled it to have a lower value. So this discrepancy was brought to Eric Trump's attention today on the stand, and he testified that both are accurate.

So he's agreeing that it is also a private club while they were valuing it as a private residence in the statement of financial condition, which the judge has already said is fraudulent. So that was a key piece of this testimony today. He also said that he believed the financial statements were perfect and that he wouldn't have signed anything that wasn't accurate. So he wrapped up his testimony after about four hours over the past two days.

Next week, the first person on the stand on Monday will be Donald Trump. After court, Eric Trump said, his father is ready to testify.

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ERIC TRUMP, CO-DEFENDANT: My father is certainly going to be here and he's fired up to be here. And he thinks this is one of the most incredible injustices that he's ever seen (inaudible) ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCANNELL: So once Donald Trump finishes testimony, the next person to take the stand will be Ivanka Trump. She is now scheduled for Wednesday after dropping her appeal of a judge's order saying that she had to testify. Jess?

DEAN: So we'll see the third Trump child testify. What are we expecting from the former president next week?

SCANNELL: Well, Donald Trump is going to be on the stand on Monday, and that is expected to be an all-day affair. Well, he will be answering questions from the attorney general's office. Now, he will be sitting just feet from the judge who he has criticized throughout this trial and across the room from the New York attorney general, who has attended the trial every day that he has also been there. So it's expected to be a bit of a tense day, a heated day.

And one of the issues that has been lingering over this, you know, the judge has put a gag order on the former president saying he can't make any comments about the court staff. Well, he just extended this gag order to apply to Trump's attorneys, saying that they cannot make any statements inside or outside of court about any confidential communications that the judge has with his clerk.

Trump's lawyers have brought this up repeatedly over the past few days, noting that the law clerk has passed communications, letters, notes to the judge during the trial, saying that they believe that there is an appearance of bias here. Now, the judge was saying that he's not tolerating this anymore, and that if they violate this order making any comments about the communications, that there will be serious sanctions. Jess?

DEAN: All right. Kara Scannell for us outside that New York courtroom. Thanks so much for that reporting. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Sam Bankman-Fried once known as the crypto king is now a convict facing up to 110 years in prison. A jury convicted Bankman- Fried of stealing billions of dollars from customers of his crypto exchange FTX. It marks a spectacular fall from grace for SBF, as he was known. He was once a darling on Wall Street to many day traders and also made major political donations, we should point out.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement: "This case should send a clear message to anyone who tries to hide their crimes behind a shiny new thing they claim no one else is smart enough to understand: the Justice Department will hold you accountable."

Bankman-Fried will be sentenced in March.

Up next, we're going to change our focus back to the Middle East, because the leader of Hezbollah says that all scenarios are possible on Lebanon's border with Israel. He blames the United States for the conflict in Gaza. We're going to talk about that with former Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta when we come back.

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