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IDF Holds Briefing As Hostage Deal Appears Imminent; Sources: Israel-Hamas Hostage Deal Imminent; Hezbollah Launches Attacks On Northern Israel After It Says Journalists, Civilians Killed In Lebanon; U.S. Fires On, Kills Hostile Forces After Attack On Iraq Air Base. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired November 21, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, IDF INTERNATIONAL SPOKESMAN: To build secure borders for the citizens of Israel and this is the goals that IDF got from political rank.

There are stages to that, to those goals. So for now, the goal is to bring back the hostages, is a significant purpose.

And if it's prioritized over other tasks, we will know how to maintain our achievements in a different way. We know how to go forward. We need to understand it will take time.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: OK. We've been listening to a briefing from the IDF spokesman talking about a number of issues. Of course. What we have been waiting for and still waiting for, which is news of this deal being finalized.

At this point, Israel and the cabinet there is working on that, this deal to release about 50 hostages, women and children, from inside Gaza.

But we also heard -- Eyal, I will ask you about this -- the argument or the reporting from the IDF spokesperson that the incursion is still under way inside Gaza, and it will until and unless this deal happens.

And what they're doing is they're trying to, in his words, expose more hospitals. We've been looking for days and days at Al Shifa and at what Israelis say and they showed American media, and media from around the world, some tunnels and some weapons.

Looks like they're going to do the same at other hospitals, which your government --

EYAL HULATA, FORMER ISRAELI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Yes.

BASH: -- says is kind of the place where Hamas hides.

HULATA: Yes. Unfortunately, this -- we knew this for many years, and the ability to expose this is important because people need to understand what terrorist organizations such as Hamas is doing. We've been telling everybody that they're using their people as

humidity shields. Very difficult to believe us when we just say it, unless we can put footage.

We talked about Shifa over the last few weeks. Before that there was a children's hospital where we found evidence of hostages, baby hostages, kept in tunnels underneath the hospital.

The IDF found motorcycles where they carried hostages into the hospital, connected to the network of tunnels. This is what they do. Hiding underneath the hospitals where they know we will not bomb from the air is just -- this is the role.

We need to fight them while we maintain our values, maintain the international law. We need to reach places, otherwise we cannot remove Hamas from the leadership of Gaza.

We will continue to do that at other hospitals because they continue to use it. They're underneath schools, underneath mosques, every civilian infrastructure they can hide underneath because they know we will not bomb them from the air.

BASH: So, David Sanger, let me bring you in.

You heard an argument which we've heard over and over again, along with images and video and you name it, from the Israelis saying this is why we're fighting. This is why we're doing what we're doing.

And despite that, because there have been a lot of Palestinian civilians who have been killed along the way, there is a backlash worldwide. A lot of it is egged on by misinformation but, nevertheless, it's happening.

Given that, if this deal goes through and if there is a pause for four days, five days, we were talking as we were listening about how difficult it would be for Israel to resume their operation with one of their twin goals, which is to eliminate Hamas.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That's right. I think the easy decision is the one we see ahead of us today.

As Eyal has said, I suspect this will get approved because who wouldn't approve a way to bring back 50 women and children, particularly if the majority of these are children.

The hard part is going to be four days from now. Maybe there will be an extension. And the way we understand this agreement may call for two-day extensions for additional releases. That would be terrific.

At some point, we'll run out of those and Israel will suddenly face the problem of going from a pause or a truce situation, to a resumption of the kind of bombing we have seen.

And I think the international outcry from that, as it resumes -- because it's going to have to be their decision to resume it -- is going to be a really, really tough one. It'll be tough for President Biden, who has been increasingly vocal.

We saw it out in San Francisco last week, we've heard it before then, about how Israel has a responsibility, even if there are tunnels under these hospitals, to avoid killing civilians.

[13:35:01]

And so I can't imagine a situation in which this resumes and doesn't have a significant boomerang effect.

BASH: As you were talking, Eyal -- I want to bring you back in -- because I'm told the war cabinet is meeting to vote right this second.

As national security adviser in the past, you helped to coordinate that. You gathered the war cabinet. What's going on behind the scenes right now in Israel as we speak?

HULATA: So, it's very likely that before the decision, I mean, this is the way things go.

The IDF was there, the Shinbet internal services has presented the details to the ministers for them to understand and evaluate, I'm sure they debated, I'm sure there was a lot of work behind the scenes before that to ensure how this will go.

If Prime Minister Netanyahu brought this to a vote, he probably knows it has the approval because of the way things are. This is the way it should be.

The pushback from the other ministers are important also to address what David said before. I'm sure their message is that we need to continue the fighting until we get all of our goals, and this will be imminent, with the discussions between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Biden, after this deal is hopefully approved in the near future.

We'll wait and see.

BASH: Colonel?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I think, you know, it's very interesting to hear Eyal's comments about this because that internal process is going to be really important when it comes to the future phase of this war.

You know, what is Israel going to do next? That is going to really depend on its ability to realize those strategic goals that it has.

It was interesting hearing the IDF spokesman talk about not only is the goal right now to get the hostages, but the other goal is still to eliminate Hamas.

And if Hamas is to be eliminated, that, you know, that may counteract some of the other things that have been going on in this immediate future.

BASH: We have to sneak in a quick break.

But I want to ask you about what Matthew Chance reported earlier, which is a lot of anger from -- and frustration from families of hostages held inside Gaza that the Israeli approach should not have been to eliminate Hamas until their families and their loved ones were brought home.

Is that a fair point?

HULATA: Well, you know, it's a fair point from personal perspective. We have to be honest with this. If it wasn't for the military going after the leadership of Hamas, we wouldn't have this deal.

I think the anger of the people is because of the situation. The Israeli public has been failed by the government. The Israeli public has been failed by the military.

The military's purpose is to defend against enemies, against Hamas in this particular case, and failed miserably our own people on October 7th. The level of anger is high all over.

Specifically on this, I understand the reality. If IDF hasn't done what it has done, they wouldn't release any of them.

They delivered two voluntarily first time, Dana, when two American women were released and then another two, and then Israel rescued a soldier that we knew where she was and until then we only get corps.

This will be the first time this is done. This wouldn't have happened or occurred unless the pressure on Hamas.

BASH: We are going to sneak in a quick break. We are waiting for word, first and foremost, from the Israeli government, from the war cabinet, as we said, and more broadly, about the expected 50 hostages, mostly children and women, to be returned home as a result of this deal.

Stick around. We'll be right back.

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[13:43:26]

BASH: And we continue to follow breaking news. A deal to free about 50 hostages, we are told, who are held by Hamas, this could be imminent.

And that source, one of the sources that our team is talking to, say that the hostages to be released would be the first phase of a potential deal.

Israeli citizens and dual nationals are among those who they are talking about. Women and a lot of children, according to our own Becky Anderson.

As we speak, the Israeli government is meeting to review this potential deal. An announcement could happen very soon. Sources say that the agreement would call for the release, as I

mentioned, of 50 women and children. The source telling CNN most will be children.

In exchange, there would be a four to five-day pause in fighting. Now three Palestinian prisoners would be released for each civilian hostage released and Israel would stop flying surveillance drones over Gaza for at least six hours a day.

Meantime, there is another potential front. The militant group, Hezbollah, says it is launching attacks on northern Israel in response to the killing of journalists and civilians in Lebanon today.

CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is live in Beirut.

Ben, what can you tell us about what's happening there in?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dana, this has probably been one of the most intense days of cross-border shelling between Israel and Hezbollah.

[13:45:01]

The highest death toll as well. On the Lebanese side, we have recorded eight people being killed. Among them, an 80-year-old woman, who was in her home, and two journalists working for an Arabic satellite news network that is largely pro-Hezbollah and pro-Syria.

We did contact the Israeli military to get comment from them for the killing of these two journalists. The third. There's been now three journalists killed here in Lebanon along the border.

The Israeli army responded that this is an area of active hostilities where exchanges of fire occur. People should stay out of that area.

But we also saw Hezbollah responded to much of this fire. In fact, I just counted the number of incidents of Israeli shelling or drone strikes that come out to 21 today, with 12 incidents of Hezbollah firing back.

Now Hezbollah also targeted a factory of the Rafael Defense Systems in the town of Shlomi not far from the border. Hezbollah said that was in retaliation for an Israeli strike the other day on an aluminum warehouse outside a town.

So I would say this is probably the most intense day of cross-border fire and there's no indication if it's going to become quieter, if this pause goes into effect in Gaza -- Dana?

BASH: Yes. That's a big question.

Again, just for people who are wondering about the geography, you are in Lebanon. We're talking about the southern Lebanon, northern Israel, which is very different area from where we have been talking about Gaza, which is in the southwest of Israel.

Thank you so much for that. Appreciate that reporting.

As we're talking, I just want to give an update on what we're hearing from the White House, which is national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said, if a deal is reached, it's, quote, "going to have to be obviously an -- have an execution and monitoring component to it."

And talked about the fact that they are entering into negotiations with open eyes and pragmatism. And they're hopeful that if they get this done, that they are going to commit to actually doing other things in the future.

But this is an interesting note from the White House just saying effectively that they are going into this deal that they are hopeful on with eyes wide open, given how Hamas deals with such things.

Thank you so much.

And thank you to Ben Wedeman.

Stay with CNN. We're following breaking news out of the Middle East, as you've been watching. More when we return.

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[13:52:24]

BASH: A deal to free hostages from inside Gaza, potentially is coming together very soon. As that's happening, the U.S. is experiencing attacks. Another one happened on U.S. troops in the region.

This time it was in Iraq, according to a U.S. official. That official said, afterwards, a military plane, an AC-130 gunship, fired on the hostiles.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand joins us with more.

Natasha, what can you tell us?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, so the U.S. military taking action to respond to an attack on U.S. and coalition forces inside Iraq at Al Assad Air Base.

What we're told is this AC-130 gunship, which is essentially a U.S. military aircraft capable of firing artillery at ground targets, it did launch a strike against a vehicle that militants were inside of.

That apparently, they were using that vehicle in order to launch these attacks against this air base.

So yet another response by the U.S. here to these groups that have been launching these attacks on U.S. forces, over 60 times since October 17th, that have resulted in dozens of injuries among U.S. servicemembers at bases in Iraq and Syria.

Roughly 64 times American personnel have been attacked by these Iran- backed proxy groups. U.S. officials say these groups are taking advantage of the broader regional tensions to stage these attacks and send a message to the U.S. and its allies that they are not going to be safe.

However, the U.S. responding to airstrikes in Syria and now this strike against these militant groups in Iraq. It remains to be seen whether these groups will be deterred by this -- Dana?

BASH: Thank you so much for that reporting. Appreciate it, Natasha.

Colonel Leighton, that's something we cannot lose sight of, 64 times, she's reporting, that Iranian-backed proxies have attacked U.S.-- U.S. forces in the region.

LEIGHTON: Yes. That's right, Dana. You have to be really careful with what the Iranians are doing.

Ever since we came into Iraq in 2003, the Iranians have been incredibly active in Iraq. They are looking at Iraq as kind of their area to play in.

They are doing this with their proxy forces, with their intelligence services. And they're doing it so they can influence Iraq's behavior as well as control more land and get closer to Syria in geographic terms.

BASH: You have some reporting on this as well, David?

SANGER: Well, the big question here has been, is Iran going to get into this in a full way? Are they just going to use their proxies to try to be a bit of an annoyance? How far can they push it?

[13:55:04]

We knew out in San Francisco that the topic came up between President Biden and Xi Jinping, with the president asking the Chinese leader to use his influence on the Iranians to make sure they calm down.

The message we heard back was that the Chinese saying they have already told the Iranians to calm down. Whether they really are or how strongly they're delivering the message.

What strikes me about Natasha's report is that, until now, we have not seen American strikes back on Iranian proxies inside Iraq. Because President Biden has not wanted to do anything that might destabilize the Iraqi government.

This may mark a change. I can't tell. This was a fairly small retaliation.

But clearly the one thing that President Biden could not abide, in any time, but particularly as you're a year out to an election, is strikes that that caused American casualties.

And I think that's the big concern they've got right now.

BASH: When we talk about escalation, we talk about a broader regional war. Then if you put Iraq in the mix, particularly for the -- for the world, but especially through the prism of what you just said, the American electorate --

SANGER: Yes.

BASH: -- that brings up a whole lot of --

SANGER: So far, the president has been lucky, American forces have been lucky that we've not had significant American casualties.

BASH: Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks to both of you.

Thank you for watching.

I'm Dana Bash. Stay with CNN because our coverage of this potential hostage deal will continue after a short break.

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