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Israel At War; Interview With Representative Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) About Hamas' Attack Against Israel. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired October 08, 2023 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:28]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, Israel formally declares war on Hamas and the Palestinian terrorist group strikes back. Breaking news we're following. Hamas has just fired a new barrage of rockets at Israel tonight. And we're learning that there has been a direct strike on the city of Ashkelon.

We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. And I'm Wolf Blitzer, and this is a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM. "Israel at War.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BLITZER: And we're following all the breaking news, our correspondents are positioned in Israel and indeed around the world to bring you all the latest developments in this escalating crisis right now. Raising enormous fears of a major war in the Middle East.

Let's begin with CNN's Nic Robertson. He's joining us from Sderot in Israel.

Nic, you're not very far away from the border with Gaza. What more do we know about this new round of attacks that apparently is underway right now?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: We've been able to see a couple of things from this location, Wolf. We're seeing rockets taking off that are not intercepted quickly which means that they are flying towards the center of Israel. Up towards the sort of Tel Aviv- Ben Gurion direction which is what Hamas is claiming. We don't know if they're impacting there but what we would expect is that the Iron Dome defensive systems further up into Israel will intercept them.

What we've also seen, and this seems to support part of what Hamas is saying, Hamas is saying it's launched a massive barrage on Ashkelon. I don't think we could call it massive, but we have seen outgoing missiles from Gaza heading in the direction of Ashkelon that had been intercepted by the Iron Dome Defensive Missile System there.

And there were quite a number of impacts and intercepts but it does appear from the earliest reports that at least one of Hamas's rockets has got through, has impacted in Ashkelon, and Hamas quite simply tries to fire a lot of missiles, and we're hearing a lot of explosions just now. Because as soon as those barrages of missiles went out, we heard fighter jets and helicopters in the air. There was an impact there. Probably in Gaza. It's right behind me. That's where the impacts seem to come from.

So Israel is responding. You typically try to fire back at the launch sites of those missiles. So there is a real tempo, there's a real rhythm of war, beat war of this, Wolf. We've seen this up tempo with these outgoing salvos of Hamas rockets. We've seen the Iron Dome intercept them. We've heard the helicopter gunship and I'm hearing it again come on the station above here, and of course heard the fighter jets and then the explosions inside of Gaza.

So there's a lot of moving pieces in terms of those rocket salvos. On top of that, the security forces in Sderot, as they are in other places, are also still, and we had information about this in the past hour or so, still in this town trying to hunt down a suspected two or three Hamas militants still at large in this town -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, this is crisis escalating clearly. The Israeli prime minister, as you know, Nic, Benjamin Netanyahu has said this country is preparing for what he calls a long and difficult war. Is that the feeling shared by Israelis that you've spoken to?

ROBERTSON: I think people are still in a stage of somewhat shock with the situation. I spoke to a medic here, a doctor who was working at a field hospital just outside of Sderot here and he was worked the last 36 hours treating some of the casualties who have been, you know, as he described it, barbarically injured by Hamas.

And I think, you know, for people like him, frontline emergency workers, this is so out with their normal realm of experience. He's used to treating casualties of terrorist attacks in Israel but nothing of the barbarity on this scale. So I think, you know, for those professionals it takes time to settle in. For the security forces, the police behind me, it takes time to settle in. These police officers have just come back to sort of take control of the area around their bombed-out police station.

It's entirely different. And I think for the broader civilian population, they are coming to terms with really what's happened. Yes, the reality is people recognize that this is going to take some time to play out for the political decisions to be made, for the issues about the hostages to be dealt with, for the response to be delivered to Hamas.

[18:05:08]

It's going to take some time to put all that into place. But I think we're still in that phase, Wolf, of people are just still immersed in the utter shock and brutality of what's happened and the fact that there are still missiles flying around and that people are still in danger. If you're in Ashkelon tonight, you need to be close to your shelter. You need to be ready to take cover. And Central Israel not off the target list for Hamas still tonight -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. And on top of all of this just a little while ago, Nic, Israel confirmed that 260 people, mostly young people, were killed at the site of a music festival that was being held in Southern Israel near the border with Gaza. Not too far away. What are you hearing about that? It's shocking to hear that.

ROBERTSON: This is just one of the parts of what happened on Saturday. That's really blown away for want of a better expression, you know, people's understanding of what Hamas is capable of. They know they're brutal. They know they do terrible things. They know they're terrorists. They know that that's how they operate. But the medic I was talking about, a doctor was treating some of those people, wounded in Re'im, in that aftermath of that music festival, he said people were shot with rocket-propelled grenades.

They had their throats cut with knives. They were shot by gunfire. Innocent people with no way of attacking these armed Hamas militants coming at them. So -- and that's possibly a missile being intercepted overhead, I'm not clear. But there are -- this is part of the tempo, the war that I was talking about. These bangs that we're hearing here. But in terms of that music event, there were people who were enjoying it, the sun was coming up in the morning, and then suddenly they were being attacked.

It's the scale and the scope and the barbarity and the immediacy of it that has really just caught people by surprise. And I think this is why we're seeing the death toll climb so steeply today is we're still in the throes of defense forces here, still in the throes of getting to grips with what's happened, chasing down Hamas militants that are still inside Israel proper, as well as trying to recover and get to grips with the situation.

Recover and identify all those who were brutally murdered at that music event. And this is why the figures have gone up so much, as medics could get in, as the Israeli Defense Forces could get in there. It's just shocking. Everyone you talk to who's played a role in helping the recovery and rescue effort there is still in shock about it -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. These kinds of things have never happened in Israel before. Young people going to a music festival and all of a sudden terrorists coming in with guns and knives and just slaughtering these young people. Killing them. Anyone for just going to a music festival. It's really shocking.

Nic, stay safe over there. We'll be in touch with you. We'll stay in constant touch with you. Appreciate it very much.

And scores of hostages as everyone now knows have been taken by these Hamas terrorists including entire families, the elderly, young children, even Holocaust survivors.

Joining us now is Amir Tibon, the diplomatic correspondent for the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz." He and his family were rescued by IDF soldiers after his home in Southern Israel was besieged for some 10 hours.

Amir, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for writing into your experiences in "Haaretz." What a harrowing experience this has been for you, your wife, and your two young daughters. First of all, how are you all doing?

AMIR TIBON, DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, HAARETZ NEWSPAPER, ISRAEL: Thank you, Wolf. Relatively we're OK. We're safe. As you said, we were in the safe room of our home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, our beautiful community located on the border with Gaza, for 10 hours on Saturday with no food, no electricity, no cell reception for most of the time. My two daughters were real heroes. They kept silent for the entire time, behaved in extremely mature way that I did not believe a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old were capable of. But they understood the severity through our emotions of the situation, and they stayed silent until we were rescued.

And yet I have to say, Israel is grieving right now. Yesterday was one of the darkest days if not the darkest day in the history of our country. We lost approximately 700 people so far, that is like more than half of the Second Intifada which lasted for five years but in one day, so our situation was very tough and we were close to dying at some point. But many other people suffered much more terrible situation and decimation. This is right now a very, very sad and difficult situation.

[18:10:09]

BLITZER: Yes, so glad that you and your wife and your little girls are OK. And you write very, very movingly about your, what, 62-year-old father who did an extraordinary job in helping to rescue your family. Tell us about that.

TIBON: Yes, my father is a retired general in the Israeli military. On Saturday morning when we realized what was happening, we started hearing first of all the rockets and the mortars falling on our community and then we ran to the safe room which for people who live in our area close to the border is usually where the kids are sleeping. So we just joined our two daughters in the room. We locked the door. We locked the windows.

And we expected something that we have experienced before. Mortar fire on our community. We are accustomed to it unfortunately. But then we started hearing automatic gunfire. And we realized that this is a different kind of event, that terrorists have infiltrated our community. And at first we heard the gunfire in a bit of a distance, and it got closer and closer until we heard it right outside our window. They were shooting into our house.

I told my parents that we are locked in the safe room. That there are terrorists in the neighborhood and that there is nobody there to help us. The Israeli military was caught by surprise. And I have to say, Wolf, what happened yesterday is the biggest failure of any Israeli government in the history of this country. The government did not function and the citizens were left alone for long hours to try to defend themselves.

And so I told my parents who live in Tel Aviv, it's about an hour, 20 minutes' drive that this is the situation. And my parents said we're coming. Now the roads were blocked. Terrorists were infiltrating community after community all over the border. What happened in our little kibbutz, our community was not unique just to us. It was happening in many different places, at the same time. You mentioned this music festival, you know, that's a 10-minute drive from our home.

More than 200 people were slaughtered there. And so the military was caught by surprise and did not have enough resources in the beginning to help everyone. And the tragic result is what we're seeing, this large number of casualties. But my parents made their way toward the border area. And toward our kibbutz. At some point they split, my mom stayed, you know, in a more safe place, and my father began a very dangerous journey to try to get to our community.

On the way, he witnessed -- he just had a pistol with him. He witnessed an ambush of a group of Israeli soldiers by Hamas. And he and another soldier intervened to help fight the terrorists. And then took two wounded soldiers back with them. They had already got in close to our community. But they went back with the wounded soldiers and handed them over to my mother so she could take them to the hospital and try to save their lives.

And then they returned. They made the drive again, and when they arrived this time for our community they joined a group of soldiers who were planning to begin the process of going from house-to-house in this community. We are a community of about 500 to 600 people. You know, from house-to-house, look for the terrorists, kill them and free the people. And they did this methodically. They went through dozens of houses.

We were not aware that this was happening because by that point we had lost all cell phone reception. But we heard the gunfire. We realized that there were exchanges of fire between two sides, and that's when I told my two young daughters who were beginning to lose patience. They were real heroes but they were beginning patience after nine and a half hours. I told them grandfather is coming. Stay silent, stay quiet. And grandfather is coming.

And after another hour of these, you know, battles from home to home that the soldiers engaged in, we heard a large bang on the window of the safe room and the voice of my father and my older daughter, she's 3 1/2 years old, she said grandfather is here. And that's when we started crying for the first time after 10 hours in this situation.

BLITZER: Did you ever think, Amir, that because you live so close to Gaza, in that kibbutz, that the wall or the fence that was separating Gaza from Israel could be penetrated along those lines by these Hamas terrorists and that they would go into Israel and start kidnapping and killing everyone they saw?

TIBON: Wolf, I'll tell you honestly this is not something we imagined could happen, and I think Hamas was surprised by its own success.

[18:15:03]

I do not believe that they thought on Saturday morning when they began this operation that they would end it with more than 100 Israelis kidnapped inside the Gaza Strip which is something we've never had before. I remind you that 12 years ago, Israel, one of the previous governments of Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to release more than 1,000 Palestinian terrorists, prisoners for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.

For one soldier, a government in Israel released 1,000 prisoners. I think if Hamas, when they began this, they thought if they would just be able to kidnap several Israelis it would be a major win for him. They have more than 100 people in their hands right now. This is unprecedented and again the most important thing right now is to win this war, and to win it decisively for Israel. But we also have to be honest with ourselves about what happened here. This is the largest failure in the history of our country.

BLITZER: Amir Tibon is the diplomatic correspondent for "Haaretz," Israel's newspaper. Also the former Washington correspondent for "Haaretz."

Amir, thank God you are OK, your wife and your little girls are OK. We are all very grateful for that. Be strong over there. We will stay in touch. Thank you so much for joining us.

TIBON: Thank you for having me.

BLITZER: We'll have much more on all the breaking news coming up, and there's a lot of breaking news right now. Up next, I'll speak live with a spokesman for the Israel Defense Force or the IDF.

Stay with us. This is a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM, "Israel at War."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:58]

BLITZER: New video just coming in. This happened in Ashkelon, the Israeli city along the Mediterranean, only moments ago in southern Israel. We're following the breaking news. Israeli police say this new Hamas rocket attack made a direct hit on an apartment building in that southern city of Ashkelon.

The IDF spokesman Major Ben Wahlhaus is joining us right now. He's joining us from Tel Aviv.

Major, thank you so much for joining us. Can you update our viewers here in the United States and around the world what's the situation on the ground right now amid this new barrage of rockets being fired into Israel by Hamas?

MAJOR BEN WAHLHAUS, IDF SPOKESMAN: Thank you, Wolf. Yes, it's just past midnight here in Israel. And we are still under constant attack from Gaza. Hamas and other terrorist organizations like the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are still trying to invade by land, by sea, by air. We are still fighting in (INAUDIBLE) on two Israeli territory. Families are still stuck inside their home, uncertain on what's going on outside, waiting for people to save them. And as you've just shown we are still under constant rocket attack all

throughout Israel, southern and central Israel. Thousands of rockets being fired indiscriminately into Israel against civilians inside Israel from Gaza.

BLITZER: I know these latest rockets hit the city of Ashkelon. Did they reach Tel Aviv as well?

WAHLHAUS: Yes, we have had rockets reaching Tel Aviv. I'm talking to you from Tel Aviv. You can see here this is our -- where I'm sleeping tonight on my mattress. But my family lives here in Tel Aviv. My three children are constantly running down to the basement to the bomb shelter. I'm obviously not with them. But thousands, hundreds of thousands of people in Israel tonight are spending their time in the bomb shelters with the sirens trying to protect themselves and their loved ones.

BLITZER: At this hour, can you give us an update on how many Israelis, how many people have already been killed by these Hamas terrorists and how many hostages are currently being held?

WAHLHAUS: Yes, we have now certain that over 700 people have been killed since this attack started. And you know, it is important to mention that this is not just soldiers or young men, these are women, these are elderly, these are children, entire families, absolutely massacred, executed in cold blood by Hamas. Their bodies mutilated in some cases. Some of them taken back into Gaza.

And we know that we have tens of hostages now inside Gaza. Soldiers and civilians alike, as well women, children, elderly. They just took everyone they could and you see some of these things on social media, how they're treating those people. And they've taken them back into Gaza.

BLITZER: This latest strike that hit Ashkelon, did the Iron Dome, the air defense missile system, not work? Did it not work as far as all the missiles that were launched against the Ashkelon?

WAHLHAUS: Well, listen, thank God for Iron Dome and to the U.S. and Israel cooperation on that respect and we appreciate the U.S. assistance so much. That's also been declared today. But, you know, Hamas is firing barrages, barrages, with a specific aim of trying to overcome the Iron Dome. You know, your viewers will know we've been fighting Hamas for years and each time they try and make an additional effort to overcome our defenses, and while we invest our money in trying to protect our people to give them bomb shelters and Iron Dome and other things, they're investing their money to think of new ways to try and kill our civilians.

So sometimes these rockets manage to get through the Iron Dome defense system and they have killed civilians inside Israel. And this is what we've been saying for years. This is the Hamas that we're fighting against. It's a terrorist organization with a stated, explicit aim of trying to kill as many Jews, as many Israelis as they can, and what we've seen over the past 48 hours is a real (INAUDIBLE) that really try to bring that into action. [18:25:00]

BLITZER: Major Wahlhaus, I don't know if you know this, but in recent moments, Hamas claims it has also targeted Ben Gurion Airport, outside of Tel Aviv, Israel's main international airport. Can you update our viewers what's the situation there at Ben Gurion Airport?

WAHLHAUS: Yes. I don't have specific information on that. It has been in the past that Hamas has aimed toward our airport. That is their aim. Their aim is to try and disrupt civilian life inside Israel, to try and kill as many civilians as they can. They fire indiscriminately towards our airports, towards our residential homes, towards our cities. They're trying deliberately to kill civilians and these are absolutely clear war crimes, crimes against humanity. Also to kidnap civilians now, women and children, to mutilate bodies, these are all absolute war crimes and it's just the modus operandi of this organization.

And our task now is first and foremost to stop these attacks. We have to stop them inside Israel. We have to clear all the areas of all these terrorists who have come into Israel. And we have to stop their ability from carrying out the attacks from inside Gaza. Now this is not an easy thing. You know, while they're trying to kill our children, they're also using their children to try and shield their military operations inside Gaza.

So it's not a difficult thing to do to stop the military activities. But that's what we're trying to do now in Israel and in Gaza.

BLITZER: Can you tell us, Major, if we should expect a full-scale Israeli ground incursion into Gaza to deal with these Hamas terrorists?

WAHLHAUS: The government has not yet declared whether it wants to do a ground invasion. Certainly all options are on the table. You know, Amir Tibon, your previous guest, mentioned this, we had one soldier inside Gaza who was held hostage there for many years, now we have tens and we know this is a terrorist organization and we know how they treat people. We've seen how they treat civilians. So certainly our highest priority is to get those hostages home safe and sound.

So all options are on the table in order to get that done, and the other high priority is to stop these constant attacks, these thousands of rockets, these drones coming in, attacks from the sea, whatever we need to do to stop Hamas attacking our civilians and our front.

BLITZER: What about the fear of a second front opening up? How worried are you that Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon might launch attacks against Israel, start a second front, if you will?

WAHLHAUS: Well, they already have. Yesterday we were fired on from inside Lebanon, right next to a school. In Southern Lebanon they launched rockets inside into Israel. We are fired back to the area where the firing came from and we're keeping a very close eye on Lebanon, on Syria, on all other fronts where attacks could come from. We have forces up north, we have forces down south, we have brought up hundreds of thousands of reserve soldiers, and we're covering all our fronts to make sure that we can protect Israel and civilians.

BLITZER: What about Iran and its role in all of this? The "Wall Street Journal" is reporting that Iran played a very specific role in helping Hamas launch these strikes against Israel. What can you tell us about Iran's role in all of this, Major?

WAHLHAUS: Iran supported Hamas and the terrorist organizations in Gaza is nothing new. Hamas controls this territory in Gaza. It's a terrorist organization that actually controls territory that borders with Israel. And instead of using that territory and its control over population to flourish and build something, they've chosen it to try and carry out this campaign of killing Israelis. And that's directly backed by Iran. It's backed by funds. It's backed by military know- how. It's backed by weapons. So Iran's support of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, other organizations is nothing new to us.

BLITZER: So what is Israel going to do about Iran?

WAHLHAUS: We're doing everything we can now. Our immediate need is to deal with what's going on from Gaza. Our immediate need is to stop the attacks inside Israel, to stop the attacks coming from Gaza, and we're keeping a very close eye on all our fronts, up north and elsewhere.

BLITZER: Can you confirm, Major, that Hamas has just said they have taken additional Israeli hostages on this day, Sunday. Can you confirm that?

WAHLHAUS: Well, this is a very fluid situation. It's something that's ongoing as we speak. Rockets being fired on. We're still fighting down south. People are still inside their homes, inside of their safe rooms, inside their bomb shelters, and our forces are down there trying to do everything they can to get those terrorists outside, out of Israel and stop attacking our civilians and that includes everything that has been going on over the past 24 hours.

BLITZER: What's your bottom-line message, Major Wahlhaus, to the people of Israel right now? As you know, they are very, very, and understandably worried about what's going on?

[18:30:06]

WAHLHAUS: The IDF is doing everything that it can to protect our people. We have called up hundreds of thousands of reserve duty soldiers. We have incredible cooperation with the U.S. who is providing support. President Biden has committed his unwavering support and is backing that up with deeds, and we're doing everything we can to stop this. I mean, just to imagine to have this terrorist organization on your doorstep, neighboring territory, streaming through hundreds of terrorists, killing women and children and the elderly. This has to stop and that's what the IDF is going to do.

BLITZER: The IDF spokesman, Major Ben Wahlhaus, thanks so much, Major, for joining us. We will stay in close touch with you.

WAHLHAUS: Thank you for having me. BLITZER: We're staying on top of all the breaking news and there's a

lot going on right now. A new round of Hamas attacks launched against Israel just now.

Stay with us. This is a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM, "Israel at War."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:16]

BLITZER: We're following all the breaking news. The death toll has just climbed in Israel. The IDF spokesman telling me just moments ago, and you saw it right here in THE SITUATION ROOM, the death toll in Israel is now more than 700 people.

Joining us now is William Cohen, who served as defense secretary under President Bill Clinton.

Secretary Cohen, always good to have you. Thanks so much for joining us. As you've probably heard over the last hour or so, Hamas has begun to unleash yet another round of major missile strikes across Israel. They were hitting populated areas like Ashkelon. They've even fired missiles all the way up towards Tel Aviv. Are you worried. Mr. Secretary, about how much more this war could escalate right now?

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE UNDER PRESIDENT CLINTON: I am. But first, Wolf, let me say, this is one of the most tragic periods in the history of Israel. The devastation is unanticipated, it's catastrophic, psychologically as well as militarily. So anything we could do and I think President Biden has said we're going to do to reaffirm our support for Israel, and that's one of the reasons why I think you're seeing the carrier group heading toward Israel, to reaffirm that support for them. But in terms of spreading --

BLITZER: I just want our viewers to know what you're talking about because the Pentagon a little while ago announced it's sending a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the Eastern Mediterranean to deter any other militant groups from attacking Israel. Do you think this will work? Will this have an impact?

COHEN: Well, certainly symbolic as far as the reaffirmation of our support. Secondly, that's a very powerful capability. We have not only the aircraft carrier, we have two destroyers, two cruisers, support ships, so this is a major weapons package going to the region, and it's there to deter others. The question, am I worried it might spread? Absolutely. And that's why the carrier group is going to be there to deter others from thinking they could take advantage of the turmoil that Israel is experiencing right now.

So it's deterrence, it's a capability, and it's a reaffirmation of support for the state of Israel. But Israel has a tough -- a tough problem right now as we've been discussing, and you've been discussing. Nic Robertson said it very clearly, he said the scale and barbarity of what has taken place has shaken Israel, and I would say it's shaken us as well. BLITZER: It certainly has. Do you believe it's inevitable, Mr.

Secretary, that Israel is about to launch a major ground incursion right into Gaza?

COHEN: Not at this point. If I had to guess on this, I think their first goal right now is to get Hamas out of Israel, to shut down the border, to make sure no more can come in and to go after and kill all of those who are terrorizing the Israeli citizens throughout the state of Israel. So, secondly, they'll look to say what do we have to do to get all of the rockets being launched, and it raises another issue, how does Hamas get so many rockets.

Gaza is a poor area. It's impoverished. So where do the rockets come from? I think those roads lead back to Iran. There's a fuse that runs from Iran all the way through to Syria, to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and certainly to Hamas. And that fuse has been lit and that's one of the reasons why the United States and everyone in the region needs to be concerned.

BLITZER: I assume the movement of that U.S. aircraft carrier strike force to the Eastern Mediterranean is designed not only to send a message to Hamas, but also send a message to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and also to send a message, let's say, to Iran, which supposedly is behind so much of this. You agree?

COHEN: I do, absolutely. We can't prove it at this point. But I have no doubt that all roads lead back to Tehran. They have been calling for the destruction of Israel. They've been supporting Hamas, which is calling for the destruction of Israel, and so there is no doubt in my mind that their hand is involved here. But we also have to look at Iran and maybe that runs all the way back to Moscow at this point.

Moscow is a big supporter of Iran. Iran is supporting Hamas. And now we have a connection and a fuse that runs all the way to Moscow as well, which is invading Ukraine as we speak about the invasion taking place in Israel.

BLITZER: How much more complicated, Mr. Secretary, would a full-scale Israeli ground invasion of Gaza be with Hamas holding, for example, so many Israeli hostages right now and foreign hostages as well that were taken into Gaza?

COHEN: It's going to be day by day. Israel could launch an all-out assault on -- in Gaza. They could level every building. If they were to do so, and kill so many innocents, it would certainly turn out to be they would be called the villains in all of this.

[18:40:02]

They don't want to do that. And they will not do that. So they could level the buildings and the strike centers, they will not do so. I think they're going to have to take it day by day and trench by trench and tunnel by tunnel if necessary. But they are going to get Hamas, they are going to kill them, and they are going to over time eradicate Hamas from Gaza.

BLITZER: Former Defense Secretary William Cohen, thank you so much for your expertise.

COHEN: Thank you, Wolf. Pleasure to be with you.

BLITZER: We're following all of the breaking news. Right now new blasts have just been heard once again across Israel. We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: All right, this just in. Take a look at this. This new video obtained by CNN showing a rocket that partially crashed through a residential apartment building. You see it stuck in the ceiling.

[18:45:03]

CNN is unable to confirm where it was taken. The video began circulating on Israeli social media early Sunday morning as rockets that made it through the Iron Dome rain down on the Israeli city of Ashkelon, north of Gaza.

Joining us now Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey. He's a key member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. Let me first get your reaction to this rather dark chapter in Israel's history.

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): The only thing I can say, Wolf, is it has been a gut-wrenching couple of days I think for everyone who cares deeply about the U.S.-Israel relationship and of course cares about just -- you look at videos like the one you're referencing, of rockets being rained down. Of course young children, women, grandparents, torn from their homes by Hamas terrorists on Shabbos 50 years after the Yom Kippur War, and you realized how critical it is that Israel be given the room to act decisively.

They did not bring this on themselves. This is -- they were attacked by terrorists, Iran-backed terrorists, and now the key is to respond and root out these terrorists.

BLITZER: A source is telling CNN, Congressman, that House Intelligence Committee members like yourself got an unclassified briefing on the situation in Israel this morning. First of all, were you in that briefing, and if so, can you share with us some of the things you learned?

GOTTHEIMER: I wasn't in that one. I received a classified briefing this morning, so I obviously can't share the content of the classified briefing I received this time. But obviously we've seen what is out there. We've seen the reporting. As you've just mentioned, 700 plus Israelis have been killed. Very focused of course on the hostages. You're looking at 130 that we know of right now including Americans. Americans killed, American hostages.

We -- I think it's critical that Israel be given the room to get those hostages back and that of course those hostages be returned straight away, and in the process protecting democracy and the region, our critical ally, making sure that they have what they need to root out the Hamas terrorists. And we've seen now that it's official that their Iran-backed. Iran was clearly involved in this.

You see this axis of Iran, Russia, China, acting together, so I think we've got to be vigilant here as we act in -- sorry, I should say as Israel acts with our backing in the days ahead.

BLITZER: I want to get your reaction, Congressman, to what the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Mike McCaul of Texas earlier today said about Iran's role in these terror attacks. Listen and watch this. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): We do know that Iran is behind this. They have financed this every step of the way and they've trained these terrorists. This must have been planned for months to strike on the 50th anniversary of Yom Kippur, you know, the war in 1973. And that's very evident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Do you believe, Congressman, that Iran played an operational role in these attacks against Israel?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, as we study the intelligence, we'll understand more but let me say that, you know, given the fact that they've now -- Hamas and Hezbollah and others have admitted that Iran played a role in this, it seems like this attack doesn't just happen overnight. It appears to be coordinated. I assume we'll learn more about that but right now we've got to be vigilant of course about Lebanon in the north and potential attacks from Hezbollah as attacks continue from the south and Hamas. Rockets continue to rain.

All right. So you've got to be very -- we've seen in recent months more coordination from Iran, their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas. We've seen Palestinian jihad of course deeply involved in this. So you're seeing much more coordination of these terrorists and their proxies in the last months and they've been pretty public about that coordination. It appears you saw that -- we saw that yesterday directly but it appears that seems to be what's happened, but of course we're going to learn a lot more in the days and weeks ahead.

Right now the number one mission has to be to make sure we back Israel, our key ally in the region, the democracy in the region, and make sure that it can respond, get the hostages out, and of course kill anyone who threatens Israel.

BLITZER: Well, there is a problem, as you well now, namely the House of Representatives which is now without a speaker and the House really can't do much without a speaker. How does that impact getting desperately needed aid potentially down the road to Israel?

GOTTHEIMER: Actually I think it's critically important we get a speaker as quickly as possible.

[18:50:03]

And in the short term, Israel has what it needs. You saw the president decisively take action in terms of moving more forces into the region to support Israel against Hamas and any other of the terrorist activity. But, you know, I think we want to act quickly here and I know the Republicans are meeting in their conference I believe tomorrow, and taking action on that front. I think we also need to get the ambassador that's been nominated, Jack Lew, get him approved as quickly as possible. That should be -- I assume the first action coming out of the Senate this week, I hope.

BLITZER: And Jack Lew has been nominated by the president to become the next U.S. ambassador to Israel. Israel does not have a U.S. ambassador right now. Tom Nides left a few weeks ago, and Jack Lew's confirmation is now before the U.S. Senate.

Congressman Josh Gottheimer, thanks so much for joining us.

GOTTHEIMER: Thanks, Wolf, and let's pray here because I think it's going to be a tough, tough weeks ahead. But, you know, I think we need to make sure that Israel is given the room to get those hostages including American hostages out, and to act decisively here. Thanks again, Wolf.

BLITZER: It's a good point. Thank you very much. We'll stay in close touch with you.

This evening, CNN teams are on the ground right now reporting about loud explosions that are now being heard in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, Israel's largest city. Hamas claims to be targeting Ben Gurion Airport, the international airport just outside of Tel Aviv as well. We'll update you on all of that.

This was the scene, by the way, there last night. The attacks leading major airlines to cancel dozens of flights to and from Tel Aviv this weekend. U.S.-based air carriers including American and Delta nixing all flights from the airport to New York's JFK through at least Monday. United Airlines and Air France have suspended service to and from Tel Aviv indefinitely.

The FAA and Israel's Civil Aviation Authority are urging pilots to exercise what they call extreme caution but airport authorities have yet to postpone commercial air links with Israel's second international airport. That would be in the southern part of Israel, in (INAUDIBLE).

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations is calling this unprecedented and deadly surprise attack from Hamas against Israel, calling it, quote, "Israel's 9/11." This ahead of an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting that just concluded. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GILAD ERDAN, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Look at this grandmother being forced to hold a Hamas terrorist rifle as he takes a picture with her. This is inhumane. Inhumane. Mothers and their babies as well as babies separated from their mothers were brutally taken hostage.

This is Israel's 9/11. And Israel will do everything to bring our sons and daughters back home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN's senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth is joining us live from the United Nations right now.

Tell our viewers, Richard, what you are learning.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Well, they had an emergency meeting about an hour and 45 minutes but no decision, no statement was agreed to. The U.S. deputy ambassador obviously thinking nothing was going to happen, said that they were happy that other countries did speak out against Hamas.

We heard from the Israeli ambassador there. Here's the Palestinian envoy at the United Nations who was upset that now the world seems to care about the violence in the area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIYAD MANSOUR, PERMANENT OBSERVER OF PALESTINE TO THE U.N.: Israel expects and demands political and military support while advancing goals that are fundamentally at odds with international legitimacy and consensus. Its policies are an assault on our humanity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: The Palestinian envoy, the Israeli envoy, they're not part, Wolf, as you know, of these closed-door discussions that took place, and the United Arab Emirates ambassador said she expects a lot more meetings to come.

BLITZER: Richard Roth, at the United Nations. We'll watch what's going on together with you. Thank you.

Up next, we'll go back live to Israel. We'll get the latest on the response to the brutal attacks ongoing from Hamas and the efforts underway right now to try to rescue Israeli hostages and other foreign hostages who have been taken by Hamas into Gaza.

This is a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM, "Israel at War."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:59:06]

BLITZER: Happening now. We're following the breaking news. Hamas fires a new barrage of rockets and missiles across Israel tonight. There you can see the skies streak with Israel missile defenses, the Iron Dome, attempting to intercept the Hamas rockets. One of the missiles, though, apparently did get past these Israeli defenses and makes a direct strike in the city of Ashkelon. That's just north of Israel's border with Gaza. Israeli police say this is an apartment building that was struck.

And just minutes ago right here on CNN, Israel's military announced that the death toll has now climbed in Israel once again. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAHLHAUS: We're now certain that over 700 people have been killed since these attacks started and, you know, it's important to mention that this is not just soldiers or young men. These are women, these are elderly, these are children, entire families absolutely massacred, executed in cold blood by Hamas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)