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Netanyahu: "Citizens Of Israel, We Are At War". At Least 40 Dead After Attacks In Israel; Palestinian Health Ministry Says 198 Palestinians Killed; U.S. Embassy In Jerusalem Issues "Shelter in Place" Advisory. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired October 07, 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]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hadas, first to you. This is clearly, you're there in Jerusalem, this is a rapidly developing situation. I understand even some rockets landed not far from where you are in Jerusalem, Israel's capital. Tell our viewers what's happening now.
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel that the likes of which this country has not seen since the Yom Kippur War that happened 50 years ago almost to the day also happening on a Jewish holiday, the Simchat Torah today, it is Shabbat as well. But since 6:30 this morning, sirens have been blaring across Israel, including here in Jerusalem, we had our fair share of air raid sirens going off alerting of incoming rockets. We've heard of -- we heard several explosions, ourselves overhead of either interceptions or rockets making impact. You know, there were certainly some impacts made around Jerusalem. Sirens going off as far as Tel Aviv.
Now, it's been quieter in the last few hours. But just to give you a sense of the scale of the numbers, we hear from the Israeli military, at least 3,000 rockets have been fired so far today. This is we're approaching, I think hour 10 of this conflict, that 2021 war that lasted 11 days between Israel and the Hamas militants. But there were some 4300 rockets fired just in those 11 days. So we are approaching that number just in 12 hours or so.
And as we speak, I'm continuing to get alerts of sirens going off mostly in southern Israel. But what is more concerning, as you noted, is these infiltrations of militants. And as we speak, firefights are continuing on the streets in certain towns and villages, especially in southern Israel. We also understand from the Israeli military that certain bases were infiltrated as well as the border crossing. Army bases, we're talking about at least two army bases had militants infiltrating.
We are hearing harrowing reports from Israeli civilians who have been barricaded themselves in their bomb shelters, in their safe rooms, in their houses in southern Israel, as they believe there are militants firing right outside their door or even entering their apartments. These civilians have been going on the airwaves calling, pleading, begging for help. We, as you know, know that there are at least 40 Israelis who have been killed, more than 779 wounded. This is from a combination of rockets, rocket shrapnel, as well as from gunfire from that very graphic video that we saw that you shared. We also have claims from Hamas that they have captured a number of Israeli soldiers. There also some reports civilians have been captured as well.
We have no official confirmation of that from the Israeli officials. They have said nothing so far. But we have seen videos of what appears to be at least one Israeli soldier being pulled out of a tank by militants. We don't know the status of that Israeli soldier. The Israeli military already responding with multiple airstrikes targeting the Gaza Strip.
We do not yet know -- I have a confirmation of Palestinian casualties in the Gaza Strip. We also know the Israeli military is calling up 10s of 1000s of reservists because this is not just going to be the typical scenarios, you know airstrikes that we've seen on Gaza. They say that they're going to be sending soldiers to Israeli towns and villages in order to try to protect them from this militant infiltration. Hamas has called this operation the storm of Al-Aqsa, this is a reference of course to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, is also known as Temple Mount a place so holy to both Jews and Muslims here in Jerusalem.
But Wolf, what's really interesting about this, that there wasn't sort of a specific trigger point. Typically, before these sorts of conflicts, there's been a major raid potentially police entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, there's been a major capture of a militant, a high ranking militant of some kind. There has been rising levels of tensions here over the past, you could say year and a half, especially across the occupied West Bank, there have been some incidences at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. There's been some incidences along the separation fence between Gaza and Israel. But there was not a trigger point and that's why this is being seen as such an intelligence and security failure on behalf of Israel to not have seen this coming.
And just the fact that militants entered Israel, Wolf, by things like paragliding into Israel by land, by sea, and they are still on the ground in Israel engaging in firefights with Israeli soldiers as we speak. Wolf.
BLITZER: Hadas, all of us who have covered these respective conflicts between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, especially the last one, and I was there, are very familiar with Israel's very sophisticated air defense system, including the of course the Iron Dome, which has prevented a lot of these rockets and missiles from actually entering Israel and causing much damage. What happened to that system? Is it not working effectively today?
GOLD: It's working effectively. From what we understand, it is still working effectively. And several of the explosions that we heard here in Jerusalem were likely interceptions. But the thing is, people can still be injured by the shrapnel. Because what happens is, you know, a rocket comes in from Gaza, the Iron Dome launches its own rocket and they meet in the sky. And now obviously, the shrapnel coming from that will cause less damage than a direct rocket impact. But you can still get damaged to, you know, to people, to buildings as a result of that shrapnel. We don't have specific numbers on the eye Iron Dome and how it's doing. We've heard from the Israeli military that they are deploying more Iron Dome batteries across the country.
[09:05:05]
And to give you an idea of how Israel sees where it is right now. We have Benjamin Netanyahu saying that Israel is now in a state of war. And across the country, not just, you know, in Tel Aviv and south or the southern community, including in the north, schools, all educational institutions have been canceled tomorrow. Sunday for Israelis is a workday, all schools have been canceled, people are being ordered to stay alert, especially if you're within 80 kilometers or so of the border with Gaza to stay close to your bomb shelters. This is an unprecedented situation Israel is finding itself in, like we've been saying the likes, which they have not seen in 50 or so years.
There are also major concerns, Wolf, that there -- we could see further militant attacks across other parts of the country, because Hamas has called on all Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, across Jerusalem, even those who are citizens of Israel, Palestinian citizens of Israel, to take up arms against Israel. So far an important aspect of this the northern border, there are major concerns that Hezbollah or other militant groups who are aligned with Hamas may want to get involved. So far, that has stayed quiet. But the Israeli military saying they're preparing for that possibility.
BLITZER: All right, Hadas, stay safe over there, we will be in touch with you, obviously, throughout the day.
I want to go to CNN's Sam Kiley right now. He's joining us from London.
Sam, like me, you spent a lot of time reporting from Israel. Let's talk a little bit more about this fighting on the ground in southern Israel right now, just outside of Gaza, the border from Gaza into Israel is, as we all know, heavily protected. And this is a very rare development that has occurred. Give us your sense of the scope of this attack.
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is very remarkable. Clearly many months in the planning, Wolf. And indeed this time last year, more or less, I was in Jenin on the northern edge of the West Bank, where militants there was saying that something like this was in the planning, was coming, an event that would, in their hopes, set the flames for a forest fire that they hoped would engulf Israel. Now there hasn't been a response yet on the West Bank or indeed among the Israeli Arab population. But they will all be looking very closely, particularly at Arab media showing the battles that these Hamas militants have been able to engage with Israelis on Israeli territory, not occupied territory, but Israel proper, if you like. Now, this is very significant, indeed. Now they were bold. They came across in paragliders. They came across using the sea, according to the IDF. And of course, they probably tunneled in.
And we've seen video footage of them literally pouring through gaps in the fence. And on top of that, as Hadas mentioned there, they've even knocked out a merc of a tank, among the more formidable tanks on the planet, frankly, using a drone strike of this all. We've seen pioneered by the Ukrainians against Russian invaders in their war. Now, all of this adds up to a highly complex, highly coordinated campaign by Hamas, targeted, obviously to try to set off a concomitant uprising on the West Bank and perhaps among the Israeli Palestinian citizens, that is ethnic Palestinians who are citizens of Israel, whom the Knesset said in 2020 had access to some 400,000 weapons according to a government analysis there. So, a potential for a conflagration there.
No sign of it yet, Wolf, but these infiltrations are catastrophic for Israel. They show a catastrophic failure of intelligence, they show a catastrophic failure of local defense. You and I have been on that fence, we've been across the fence into Gaza, these are heavily militarized set, kibitzers and towns, very heavy military and police presence. All of which seem to have been completely blindsided by this extraordinary attack by Hamas able to penetrate and get into and are continuing to fight. The Israeli defense forces are stressing here, Wolf, that there are ongoing firefights.
They even admitting that they've lost contact with one small military base in southern Israel. That is a catastrophic event that will no doubt be used by how Hamas to try to galvanize more violent responses elsewhere among their supporters. So far, of course, Hezbollah in southern Lebanon stayed out of this fight. Very unlikely that they would get involved until they saw a real strategic opportunity because they know the consequences for their country if they were to attack Israel in any significant way. But in the meantime, there'll be a lot of concern in Israel about an uprising on the West Bank and inside Israeli territory, inspired if you like, by these incursions, by effectively infantry.
Now, this infantry has been attacking a military sites but it's also been shooting random civilians. We've seen harrowing pictures of elderly people who've been gunned down at what appears to be a bus stop allegedly in (inaudible). That is you know, Wolf, is one of the big towns very close to the Gaza Strip. We've seen a civilians coming under fire from Hamas operatives driving around in pickup trucks that they've obviously managed to get hold of.
[09:10:12]
We've seen them pouring through the Gaza fence on motorcycles. So the numbers of militants that are in that area and beyond. And I think that's going to be very problematic for the IDF beyond. The smaller pockets that no doubt will have gone further into the Negev desert will be trying to get to targets in the big urban areas, not just up the obvious routes to Ashkelon and Ashdod but perhaps further towards Jerusalem. I think we've seen relatively early stages of what is clearly a very well planned, and very, very ambitious Hamas plot, Wolf.
BLITZER: I've been speaking to some of my sources in Israel, Sam, I know you have as well. And what really worries the Israeli military right now as this could escalate dramatically, especially if Hezbollah in southern Lebanon decides to start launching missiles against Haifa and other civilian areas in northern Israel right now. How worried should the Israelis be that this could escalate, not only attacks coming in from Gaza, but also from the occupied West Bank, but especially from Lebanon right now, from southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been armed with a lot of missiles from Iran?
KILEY: Well, Hamas is also backed, as you know, Wolf, by as is the Paralympic Palestinian, Islamic Jihad on the West Bank, which is very powerful force on the West Bank, particularly in the north by Iran. So Iran will have a lot of levers to pull on this one. But and this isn't important but, that the IDF, or whatever they may say in public know in private, that there's essentially a kind of understanding between Hamas and Israel of kind of mutually assured destruction. Hamas does have, thanks to the Iranians, a really vast armory of rockets with which they could threaten every inch now of Israeli territory. The Israelis, of course, have the defense capability, perhaps to deal with a great deal of that.
And it made it very clear indeed to Hezbollah and its other elements within the Lebanon, that if they do get attacked in any serious way from the Lebanon by Hezbollah, that the Israelis will not hesitate in really returning. And I've used the phrase, it was once used to me by a very senior Israeli officer to the Stone Age, they would take out every single piece of infrastructure in the country. So, that is a very high stakes game. But the concern for the Israelis is the extent to which, as you point out there, it will escalate on the West Bank, and indeed, from Israeli territory itself. We've got large numbers of weapons in the Palestinian community within Israel, that in the recent past has been used in sort of Indonesia (ph) gang warfare, not for political ends but that could turn in theory.
There's no sign yet, though, of that occurring. It's very interesting too, that Hamas clearly hasn't coordinated this attack. At least doesn't appear to have been coordinated with any of its elements or allies on the West Bank, which is relatively quiet, although largely sealed off from Israeli territory, as we speak. But for now, I think the Israelis keeping a very close eye indeed, on Hezbollah.
And in all probability, Wolf, as you know, sending private messages in a method by third parties or through their own means of communication to Hezbollah set warning Hezbollah in no uncertain terms of the consequences of getting involved in any way in what is going on in Gaza. But that certainly is the kind of doomsday scenario that they will also be and we know have prepared for exactly that eventualities, Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, that's what we're watching. We'll see what happens very closely. Sam Kiley, thank you very much. We'll stay in very close touch with you.
Right now, I want to bring in CNN Senior White House reporter MJ Lee and CNN National Security Reporter Natasha Bertrand.
MJ, let me start with you. Give us what the White House reaction has been. What is the White House saying this morning so far?
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is the latest from the White House. We know that President Biden was informed of the situation in Israel with -- by his advisors earlier this morning. We are still waiting on more that he has received a full briefing from his top officials. We know also that the President is going to address the situation that is unfolding later today. We don't know exactly in what format that address is going to come.
But whether it is a paper statement from the President or on camera remarks, we certainly expect that he is going to condemn the violence that is unfolding in the strongest possible terms. Officials also tell us that President Biden is expected to speak with his Israeli counterpart Prime Minister Netanyahu later today. It is impossible really to overstate the diplomatic ramifications here, Wolf, as you know very well over the course of many months, the U.S. and their Israeli counterparts have been working to try to broker some kind of deal, some kind of normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. And as a part of that deal, what was expected were some real concessions to the Palestinians. But right now, given the scene that you are seeing right now on the screen, it is sort of impossible to imagine that those efforts and those talks and the work that that has gone in into those normalization talks, that those would not be affected. It is hard to imagine that the Israelis would be OK with some of those concessions that had been discussed, to the Palestinians.
[09:15:37]
Now, I think it is also worth noting here from the White House this morning, that U.S. officials right now are being very, very careful to not weigh in at this moment in time on various specific intelligence that is coming in. Of course, we expect that U.S. officials are keeping a very close eye on the reports, they are in touch with their Israeli counterparts about casualties, about the reports that are coming in, about Israeli soldiers having been captured. But I can tell you here at the White House this morning, U.S. officials, again, are being very careful not to weigh in right now because they are still in the stages of really gathering the information and assessing the situation. And again, that goes for the president too. We expect that we will be told by the White House that he has received a full briefing in moments.
But for now, what we know is that he was informed of the situation. And sometime later today, we will hear from the President whether that is a paper statement or hearing him speak to the camera.
BLITZER: Right now there's no indication what time he might make a statement on cameras. Is that right?
LEE: Wolf, I have to be clear, we do expect to hear from the President but it could be in the form of a paper statement. So this is not necessarily going to be on camera remarks. We are just waiting on the White House to let us know when we will hear from the President. But we absolutely do expect that the President will address this situation. And of course, we'll be condemning the violence that we are seeing here in the strongest possible terms.
BLITZER: We will stay in very close touch with you MJ as well. Thank you very much.
I want to go to Natasha Bertrand right now. The U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin just released the statement, a formal statement of what's going on in Israel and Gaza. Tell our viewers what he said.
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Wolf, so Secretary Austin, he did convene a meeting of senior leaders this morning, including the commander of U.S. Central Command, which obviously has responsibility for Israel in the region. And he said in his statement that quote, he is "closely monitoring developments in Israel." He said that his commitment in the U.S. has commitment to Israel's right to defend itself remains unwavering. And he extends his condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives in this apparent attack on civilians.
Now, really notably here in his statement, he says, over the coming days, the Department of Defense will work to ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and protect civilians from indiscriminate violence and terrorism. Now, that obviously raises questions about whether the U.S. is going to help replenish Israel's stockpiles of weaponry here, if this conflict does continue to escalate and if it keeps going. Now, in 2014, the U.S. did supply Israel with arms and weapons during a 50 day war in Gaza. And the Pentagon said at the time that Israel would be allowed to tap into local U.S. arms stockpile there to resupply it with grenades, as well as mortar rounds. Now, it should be noted that the U.S. has one of the biggest weapons stockpile and war reserves in Israel.
So the Israelis could feasibly tap into that if they get permission from the Pentagon from the U.S. here. So it remains to be seen how this is all going to play out. But I think the diplomatic ramifications as well are very serious at this point. As MJ noted, the Israel Saudi normalization track could be in jeopardy here. And Saudi Arabia actually released a statement just this morning because they have been, of course, the main regional defender of the Palestinian cause, and they said that Saudi Arabia, quote, "has repeatedly warned of the consequences of the deterioration of the situation as a result of the occupation as well as depriving the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights and of not holding systematic provocations against their holy site."
So clearly, the Saudis very immediately coming out here in support of the Palestinians. Of course, they have called for a cessation of the hostilities writ large. But the kind of -- both sides are kind of becoming trenched in their positions here already we're seeing. And we should note that the U.S. embassy is now sheltering in place. We just got that from the U.S. State Department.
So it remains to be seen how this continues over the coming hours depending on of course closely watching it. The diplomatic ramifications, those are being closely monitored as well. And again, Israel has access to that U.S. stockpile of weapons if the U.S. tells them that they can do so. The question of course being whether the U.S. is going to try of course to kind of calm the situation rather than fuel it further, Wolf.
[09:20:01]
BLITZER: It's interesting that there's a sheltering in place order now for U.S. diplomats and families at the U.S. embassy which is now in Jerusalem, it used to be Tel Aviv. It was moved during the Trump administration to Jerusalem.
So clearly they're worried about additional attacks in Jerusalem itself. Is that right?
BERTRAND: So the State Department released a statement from the U.S. embassy saying that they are closely monitoring the security situation as a result of rockets fired from Gaza across southern and central Israel, including, of course, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and the infiltration of Hamas militants. And they said that the U.S. embassy is aware that there have been casualties, of course, as a result of these incidents. So they are taking all necessary precautions here to make sure of course, that U.S. personnel are safe. And they note, Wolf, in their security alert here that of course, U.S. government personnel continued to be prohibited from any kind of travel to Gaza in areas within seven miles of Gaza.
But as of right now, they are sheltering in place. Of course, it is a very volatile, unpredictable situation. And the top priority of course for the State Department for the U.S. is the security of its citizens and its personnel there.
BLITZER: Yes, we're told that sirens have been going off throughout all the major populated areas of Israel. So they're obviously watching all of this unfold. Natasha, standby we'll get back to you.
CNN's breaking news coverage of this unprecedented situation in Israel. We'll continue right after a quick break.
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[09:25:13]
BLITZER: We're continuing our breaking news. Coverage this hour, the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is now underscoring U.S. support for Israel after this morning's surprise attack by Hamas that has killed at least 40 people and wounded hundreds of others. Secretary Austin met with top U.S. military officials just a little while ago including the commander of the U.S. military Central Command.
We're also waiting to hear directly from President Biden. The White House has issued a statement condemning this attack on Israel by Hamas. CNN Military Analyst, retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling is joining us right now.
General Hertling, thanks so much for joining us, sir. We're watching all of this unfold. What's a bit surprising to me, this looks like it was a major surprise that the Israeli military intelligence community was caught off guard. But what's your sense?
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I believe that intelligence was certainly lapse this morning, Wolf. It was problematic in terms of the kinds of things that Hamas has been doing with regard to operational security, which is hidden a lot of the intelligence from the Israeli Intel forces, and even from the U.S. as well, this is something that should have been seen. There was a comment issued by the Shah of Iran, I'm sorry, the Supreme Leader of Iran a few days ago saying that Palestinian forces were ready for these kinds of things. This is something that should have been picked up. And given the multi domain operations, we're talking about air, land and sea is, as Israel has reported, and the amount of conventional activity, as well as the reports of denial of services in the cyber community.
These are the kinds of things that you normally pick up before an operation, and it just wasn't done this time. This is very different than things we've seen Hamas do in the past.
BLITZER: Yes, the Israelis are going to have to do a major look back, a major reassessment of what went wrong, because normally, they would be well prepared for this kind of surprise attack. But clearly, they weren't. This time, we're seeing the destruction in major populated areas of Israel not far from Gaza, whether in Ashkelon or Ashdod or Rehovot. And it looks like the success of these rockets and missiles coming in has caused an extensive and enormous amount of damage and casualties at the same time, which is also surprising as you well know, General Hertling, given Israel's very sophisticated air defense system, right?
HERTLING: Yes, it's true Wolf. And I've been listening to the commentary about the Iron Dome. And yes, that is a very good weapon system, it's very good at protecting the citizens of Israel. But when you have a massive attack, like we've seen this morning, with anywhere between two and 3000, missiles and rockets coming in, no matter how good your air defense system is, it can't knock down all of them. And as Hadas earlier mentioned, you're not only getting the effects from missiles that strike, but you're also getting the effects from those that are broken up in the air and then come down and cause the kinds of fires like we're seeing on the screen right now.
But the amazing thing about this attack by Hamas this morning, is the fact that they were able to have so much conventional artillery, ballistic missiles, cyber, air, land and sea, as the Israelis have said, all synchronized into a fight. This is going to cause the Israeli defense forces some real challenges in the next few days. And as other reporters have begun to say, we don't know who else might join in the fight. We've already seen the support by Iran, there had been some combat comments out of Russia saying they support Hamas in these actions. We don't know what Hezbollah in Lebanon is going to do, what's going to happen on the West Bank, or even from inside the State of Israel with the Arab and Palestinian populations that are spread throughout the country. This is going to be different than what Israel has faced in the past. And it's fascinating that it comes on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War of '73.
BLITZER: And which was a major surprise as well and caused an intelligence failure at that time when Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack against Israel on Yom Kippur. That was exactly -- almost exactly 50 years ago to the day. And as a result of that, there was a lot of Israeli retaliatory action, and we all know what happened.
I suspect there's going to be a very significant Israeli military response in Gaza and maybe elsewhere to what's happening right now. Would you agree?
HERTLING: I certainly would, Wolf. And what comes to my mind is we're -- we've got a conventional Israeli defense force against a complex attack by Hamas. They are taking vehicles.
[09:30:02]
They are conducting conventional rocket attacks. So, it reminds me and I studied this, the 1982 Israeli war against Lebanon, where you had a conventional force going against terrorists, against fighters supported by foreign governments.
So, when you're talking from a military perspective as you see some of these Palestinians climbing on top of the Merkava tank, this is going to be challenging because it's a swarm of activity from various directions against the conventional force. I think Hamas and Iran especially is learning a lot from what Russia has been doing in Ukraine -- conducting not only conventional attacks, but terrorist and rocket attacks against the civilian population. So, this is just the emerging of a new style of warfare that I think Hamas is learning from their partners in Iran who are taking it from the partners in Russia.
BLITZER: Yes. This looks to me like it's only the beginning. This is going to be a prolonged war that is about to take place between Israel and Hamas and Gaza. Maybe if other Palestinian military groups whether in Lebanon or the West Bank get involved, this thing could escalate dramatically causing enormous amounts of casualties on all sides to be sure. But also complicating the U.S. mission in the region right now which in the last several months has been to try normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. That doesn't look like it's going anywhere right now.
HERTLING: No, it certainly doesn't. And, Wolf, I'll remind you and I know you know this. We do not -- the U.S. does not have an ambassador in Israel right now. There has been one that has been nominated, but he hasn't been approved. So, we have the charge in the embassy in Israel sort of connecting ourselves with this operation.
Now, the Defense Department has a lot of people there and they will get the information. But given the current situation not only in Israel, but in our own government, we are going to be challenged to react to this given the chaos that's going on in Congress right now. We don't have a leader in Congress to bring things to the floor about what we might do as a nation to support Israel.
Now, there are certain things in effect that will continue on. But this is going be very challenging not only for the various militaries of the world, but also for the governments that deal with this while we're dealing with several other crisis. I would suggest the timing of this attack by Hamas is certainly not surprising. They know when to take advantage of these kinds of things.
BLITZER: Yes. Certainly -- it certainly looks like that as well. Very strong statements coming in from senior U.S. officials including the defense secretary, Lloyd Austin. Let me read that one sentence. He said, "Our commitment to Israel's right to defend itself remains unwavering, and I extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this abhorrent attack on civilians."
I suspect we're going to be getting more statements like that from senior U.S. officials in the hours ahead. I assume you agree.
HERTLING: I certainly do agree, Wolf. And what -- I think the American people have to understand too is the size of the Israeli nation. It's certainly not very big. The population is significantly less than the United States.
So, when we talk about casualties or those who have been abducted it seems like relatively small numbers to U.S. citizens but that's a huge percentage of the Israeli population. When you're talking 40, 50, a hundred deaths and many people being captured that's very significant. It's the equivalent of a 9/11 attack on the United States where we lost thousands of people.
So, this is certainly a dynamic that we've got to continue to consider and how challenging this is for Israel, the state of Israel with enemies on all sides. And the fact that there are going to be more and more damages and certainly more and more casualties.
This is going to be a tough one, Wolf. There have been -- as you know, there have been many wars inside of Israel and outside addressing their adversaries. But this one I believe along with you that there is going to be a lot of casualties in this.
BLITZER: Yes. The Israelis are going to retaliate big time. There's no doubt about that. Very quickly before I let you go, General Hertling. In recent years, Israel was brought into the U.S. Military Central Command which deals with all of the countries in the Middle East. In the past a lot of the Arab countries didn't want Israel to be part of the central command, but they have now been brought in to the Military Central Command taken out of the European Command.
What does that mean? What does that mean practically in a warlike situation like this?
HERTLING: Well, it's interesting, Wolf, because I was part of European Command when Israel was still part of what we call footprint. So, I made many visits to Israel. We had soldiers in Israel. We supported them at different times with air defense equipment and other troops.
[09:35:01]
We had great relationships. When you're talking about a shift, and this was part of the debate, shifting Israel, the nation, from European Command to Central Command, it was during a time when Central Command was pretty busy in other parts of the Middle East and all the countries that are part of that command's footprint. So, you know, there is no permanently stationed forces in the Middle East other than in Kuwait. So, this is one of those kinds of things where if there is a requirement for support from the U.S. military it would be difficult.
Now certainly the Navy and the Air Force can support any kind of operation if they are requested to. I don't think that's going to happen. But again, it has to do with the footing of the U.S. military in the Middle East and especially in the Levant of Israel and Lebanon.
BLITZER: Yes, it's a whole new world right -- out there in the Middle East right now. We're watching it unfold. Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thank you very much for your expertise.
So, we are continuing to monitor all the breaking news developments in Israel right now. We will have a life report from Jerusalem when we come back.
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[09:40:14]
BLITZER: We are continuing to follow the breaking news out of Israel right now. Here in Washington, the Pentagon is vowing to ensure that Israel has -- quote -- "what it needs to defend itself." That in a formal statement from the defense secretary. All of this after Hamas militants from Gaza launched a surprise attack on Israel earlier this morning. At least 40 people, we're told, have been killed. Hundreds have been wounded.
President Biden has been briefed on the situation. He's expected to speak with the prime minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu soon.
In Gaza, some Palestinians are stocking up on supplies and fleeing their homes. The Israeli military is carrying out airstrikes in response to the attack by Hamas. I expect they will escalate in the coming hours.
We want to get right to CNN's Hadas Gold. She's joining us from Jerusalem right now. Hadas, I am told by some sources I was speaking to earlier in Jerusalem, the sirens went off in Jerusalem probably not far from where you are right now. In the past when there have been attacks from Gaza, they've gone into Ashdod and Ashkelon, Israeli towns not far from Gaza. How unusual is it that there was an attack on Jerusalem itself?
GOLD: And not just one attack, we had at least five or six rounds of sirens going off and that is very unusual. Because you are right, typically, in these types of conflicts Jerusalem is sort of left out of the equation. In 2021, during that 11-day war, Jerusalem got one or two rounds of sirens and rocket attacks but otherwise nothing because of -- Jerusalem is, of course, the home of the al-Aqsa mosque compound. Also known as Temple Mount to the Jews, a place so holy for so many. But today we had several rounds of air-raid sirens. We heard several explosions in the sky. Those could have been interceptions or impacts by rockets. These were just several of the more than 3,000 rockets that have been fired thus far since 6:30 a.m. this morning. That number is actually probably likely much higher just in the last few hours.
In comparison in 2021 and the entire 11-day war, Wolf, 4,300 rockets were fired in the span of 11 days. We've had 3,000. We have not even hit 12 hours of this conflict. But even more concerning is those infiltration of Palestinian militants as we speak.
In addition to the rockets continuing to be fired from Gaza into Israel they are continuing firefights in Israeli villages and towns between Palestinian militants who have made their way into Israel fighting with Israeli security. We also have reports of Israeli soldiers who have been captured. Potentially also Israeli civilians who have been captured.
No confirmation yet from the Israeli military about any soldiers or civilians being kidnapped or captured. But we have seen videos from Hamas saying that they have, for example, pulled an Israeli soldier out of a tank. We know for fact some Israeli military vehicles have been commandeered and taken into Gaza.
In terms of death toll, 40 Israelis and potentially others have been killed. More than 770 wounded as a result of combination from rockets as well as militant gunfire. And we are getting new numbers in from the Palestinian ministry of health in Gaza. They are saying as a result of Israeli action 198 deaths and more than 1,600 injuries.
We do not know yet from those numbers how many were civilians, how many were militants. But we know the Israeli military undertaking airstrikes as we speak against what they say are Hamas targets in Gaza. You know that we've seen civilians in Gaza fleeing their homes, trying to take shelter in U.N. schools.
Unlike many Israelis who have access to bomb shelters in Gaza, those civilians do not usually have access to fortified bomb shelters. So, they are very much at risk there. And there is this -- the expectation that this will be a very severe response from the Israeli military.
They are not taking this lightly. They are calling this a state of war. And, Wolf, Israel has not seen such an unprecedented surprise attack in 50 years since the Yom Kippur War 1970 that happened almost 50 years ago to the day. Wolf.
BLITZER: Has the Israeli military activated its reserve forces, the reservists? I think that's a significant development. I assume they have but tell us what you know.
GOLD: They have activated the reservists and the Israeli military telling us that they have called up tens of thousands of reservists. And what's interesting is also those reservists, some of those reservists who said they would not heed the call to serve because of the ongoing protest against judicial overhaul, we've heard from some of those protest organizers saying they will be serving in this case, Wolf.
BLITZER: So, they're going to the front lines right now, all those reservists. This is a huge, huge development in Israel right now. Hadas, thank you very much. Stay safe over there. We will have much more in the breaking news in Israel when we come back.
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[09:49:05]
BLITZER: We are continuing to follow the breaking news out of Israel right now. We are standing by as President Biden, we're told, is expected to speak soon with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At least 40 people are dead. Hundred more are wounded in Israel after Hamas launched attacks on Israel earlier this morning.
A warning, the start of this next video may be very disturbing to some. It's from the Israel Defense Forces which they claim shows counterattacks on Hamas in Gaza. We also just learned minutes ago that the Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 198 Palestinians were killed in Gaza this morning.
I want to get right to Robin Wright, contributing writer for the "New Yorker" magazine, who has also written a number of important books in the Middle East, knows the subject well. Robin, thanks so much for joining us. What's your reaction to the breaking news of this Hamas attack on Israel that was launched earlier today?
[09:50:00]
ROBIN WRIGHT, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, THE NEW YORKER: Well, it reflects something that you and I have learned since we both covered the 1973 war 50 years ago. And that is that the greatest challenges to Israel since that last conventional war has been from extremist groups, Islamic extremist groups.
We have seen in -- not only in Hamas in the West Bank, but we have seen on the border with Israel -- border of Syria and the borders with Lebanon, that the extremist militias have become increasingly well- armed, very ambitious in their challenges to Israel, and that this kind of conflict is not likely to do anything to bring a resolution, peace, in the kind of conflict that has been sporadic between these forces in Israel for a very long time now.
BLITZER: You know, what jumps out at me, Robin, I'm anxious to get your thoughts, clearly already the Israelis say a few thousand rockets from Gaza have been launched against various targets in Israel. So clearly, they have been preparing for this. They've got a stockpile of rockets and missiles ready to go. So, this operation must have been in the works for some time and it doesn't look like the Israelis tried to pre-empt or do anything in advance. Maybe they weren't aware. But it looks like another intelligence failure which similarly occurred 50 years ago during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
WRIGHT: Indeed, it did. I remember being in the Beirut airport and a woman whispering to me, the Egyptians have just crossed the Suez Canal, and the world was stunned. I think the world is stunned again.
What is really striking about this operation is just how sophisticated and ambitious Hamas is. We've seen these groups come from the underground, going to government jobs, build up arsenals that can fight Israel in real terms and lead to the deaths of hundreds and the injuries of thousands over time.
This is not likely to end any time soon. And, as I said, the danger is that it doesn't do anything to resolve the basic flash points that have haunted this region for now 80 years.
BLITZER: Do you think that it is going to escalate, there are going to be attacks from southern Lebanon, from Hezbollah, which is providing -- which gets a lot of weapons from Iran as we all know and maybe even from the West Bank? What do you think?
WRIGHT: You know, I have doubts at this stage that Hezbollah will get engaged. It has its own agenda. It doesn't really want to get in a war the likes of which it fought in 2006 that lasted 34 days and led to billions in damage and hundreds of deaths.
So not yet. But it depends on how this plays out. Like what actions Israel takes, what happens to Hamas, the kind of death toll.
I think they are for now, even though they are both trained, armed, funded by Iran, they are different movements in their own ways. Hezbollah is Shiite. Hamas is Sunni. They are common ideological bedfellows but have different agendas when it comes to Israel. They want to fight their own fights, not each other's at this stage.
BLITZER: Yes, good point. Robin, we will stay in close touch with you. Thank you very much. Robin Wright there with excellent analysis, thank you.
The U.S. embassy has issued an advisory for all American staff workers in Jerusalem right now, in response to the violence in Israel and Gaza. The response from Washington and it is a significant response, we'll share it with you when we come back.
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[09:57:54]
BLITZER: We're following the breaking news. The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem has now issued a shelter in place for U.S. embassy personnel amid the ongoing violence, the war that is unfolding right now, in Israel, and Gaza. Let's go to CNN's Natasha Bertrand. She is watching all of this unfold. What you are hearing, Natasha?
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Wolf. So, the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem is issuing a warning to personnel there. Telling them to shelter in place. Saying that the U.S. embassy there is closely monitoring the security situation as a result of rockets that have been fired from Gaza across southern and central Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and the infiltration of Hamas militants. Obviously, the top priority for the State Department is the safety and security of U.S. personnel and U.S. citizens in the country as all of this unfolds.
Now, the statement also goes on to say that the U.S. embassy is aware that there have been casualties as a result of these incidents, and says that U.S. citizens are reminded to remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness. Now -- as of right now, obviously, this is a very fast-moving situation. It remains unclear just how long the shelter in place is going to remain in effect or if the U.S. embassy is going to try to take steps to remove personnel from Jerusalem. But at this point, they are telling personnel to stay in the embassy, because as we have seen, Wolf, there have been attacks in Jerusalem, which doesn't happen very often, but this is clearly a source of major concern right now for the State Department. Wolf.
BLITZER: Has the State Department, Natasha, yet, released a statement, advising Americans to avoid travel to Israel?
BERTRAND: Well, they say that U.S. government personnel as of now, they continue to be prohibited from travel to Gaza, of course, and areas within seven miles of Gaza. But at this point, we have not seen any kind of security alert come out from the State Department just yet, urging Americans to avoid travel to Israel.
However, you have to imagine that that is going to come soon. This is a very fast-moving, volatile situation, seeing a lot of violence play out, and it's clear that the situation is not yet contained. So, until it is -- obviously, the U.S. is going to be urging citizens to remain vigilant and to stay out of these areas, if they can, where all of this is unfolding, Wolf.
