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New Explosions in Israel; More Than 700 Killed in Israel Since Hamas Attack; White House on Iran's Possible Role in Attacks on Israel. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 08, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR BEN WAHLHAUS, IDF SPOKESMAN: 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.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: 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 their safe rooms, inside their bomb shelters, and our forces are down there trying to do everything they can to get those terrorists outside and out of Israel and stop attacking our civilians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. 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 in Israel right now. I want to go straight to CNN's Clarissa Ward. She and her team have just made it into Ashkelon, that city north of Gaza.

Clarissa, tell our viewers what you are seeing there.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's quiet right at this moment, Wolf, but as we were driving into town about an hour and a half ago, it was a very different picture. I think you should be able to show our viewers some of that video. Just an extraordinary, relentless barrage of rockets directed towards Ashkelon. At least two that we know made a direct impact.

The Iron Dome activated, lighting up the night sky, and really even by the standards of what we have been seeing over and over again over the last 37, 40 hours now. This was a particularly fearsome barrage of rockets. Again, it does seem to be a little quieter now. We have been hearing a lot of planes overhead. You can be sure that there are going to be more strikes on the Gaza Strip. But very few souls needless to say out on the street. Most residents of this city are taking cover and sheltering in place until they have some sense that it is safe to come out -- Wolf.

BLITZER: You are, Clarissa, one of our truly courageous journalists watching all of this unfold. I know you actually went to the site of that music festival not far from where you are right now. A music festival that was being held near the border with Gaza. A lot of young people were there, a festival that was eventually attacked by these Hamas terrorists.

Just a short time ago Israel confirmed, and this so heartbreaking, that 260 people, mostly young people, were killed there. Not in a missile attack from the sky, but killed brutally by these Hamas terrorists who managed to cross into Israel from Gaza. Tell us what you saw.

WARD: Well, Wolf, it's a gruesome scene. Basically as you arrive on this small rural road, you start to see vehicles abandoned by the side of the road. Many of them have been shot up. There was clearly a very fearsome battle that went on between Israeli forces and these Hamas militants.

Thousands of young revelers as you said had gathered at this peace festival. It was supposed to be they were dancing the night away, they were celebrating the end of high holidays, and at about 6:00 a.m., a barrage of rockets started. Then according to people who were on the ground basically all hell broke loose. Militants stormed the festival. They began killing people. Shooting people, stabbing people, kidnapping people.

Most crucially, Wolf, it's still difficult to know about the fate of some of the people who attended. We spoke as you mentioned to that NGO or volunteer group that basically has been helping to identify some of the human remains. They said that at least 260 bodies have been found there but there are still people unaccounted for, and as I said, we saw the bodies of many Hamas militants along that way. Those bodies have been left out.

We saw evidence that, again, Israeli forces have put up quite a fight there. One situation where an Israeli police truck had T-boned what appeared to be a truck full of Hamas militants. So certainly, it was a brutal, bloody battle. It went on for hours. Some of these young people were hiding. They were calling their loved ones. They were desperately begging to be rescued and so many of these people still don't know where their loved ones are. Have they been taken hostage? Have they been killed and not yet identified -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Such a brutal, brutal attack. Based on what you're seeing and what you're hearing, Clarissa, how secure is Israel's border with Gaza right now? I know they're trying to keep Hamas terrorists from crossing into Israel again. What are you seeing? What are you hearing?

[19:05:07]

WARD: So there have been multiple incidents throughout the day, Wolf, where the Israeli forces have said that they have been directly engaged with Hamas militants. Hamas has claimed that it's had multiple fighters who have been able to infiltrate across that border as early as this morning. We certainly passed the scene or came close to a scene, we had to turn around, where Israeli forces were engaged in some kind of a firefight with what they believed to be Hamas militants on the ground.

And I would say that really is the sort of all pervasive fear at the moment, Wolf. One understands that there are multiple things that Israeli forces are contenting with, but the priority at the moment seems to be very narrowly focused on trying to ensure that these towns, these villages, these border areas are completely cleared out or that Hamas militants are completely cleared out of these villages so that people can safely be extracted from their homes.

Some of them have been sheltering in place now for almost 48 hours. So that is clearly the most burning priority for Israelis on the ground.

BLITZER: The Israeli prime minister, as you know, Clarissa, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said his country is preparing for what he calls -- what he describes as a long and difficult war. I keep hearing from sources I'm talking to in Israel that they're bracing exactly for that. They think this war is only just beginning now. Is that the feeling that you've been hearing from Israelis as well?

WARD: That's very much the feeling that you get when you talk to people on the ground. There are so many things that still need to happen. As I mentioned, the first priority is to stop the infiltration, to fix the border. We saw a lot of materials like heavy building materials being taken, assuming that that was to try to repair these areas where those breaches were made. Then beyond that, of course, you have the priority of trying to rescue these hostages who are being held captive, trying to ascertain how many of them are still alive. Where they're being held.

Then you have the broader issue of how to deal with Hamas' leadership inside the Gaza Strip. There have been a number of air strikes throughout the day but the real question is whether that will be followed up by some kind of a ground incursion. Certainly from what we saw today moving up and down that area along the border, a huge amount of military hardware is funneling in. A lot of reserve is funneling in.

We saw tanks, we saw armored personnel carriers, and we only expect to see that tempo continue. And as you said, Wolf, there is no sense yet of how long this would take but Israel's leaders are certainly telling people to brace themselves for a long fight ahead -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, I think that's good advice indeed.

Clarissa Ward, stay safe over there. As I said, you're one of our courageous journalists on the scene. We appreciate it very, very much. And there are other dramatic stories that are emerging right now from

those who survived this latest Hamas terror attack. Last hour, I spoke with an Israeli journalist about his family's ordeal when gunfire erupted in their small kibbutz right near Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMIR TIBON, DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, HAARETZ NEWSPAPER, ISRAEL: Israel is grieving right now. Yesterday was one of the darkest days if not the darkest 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.

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.

[19:10:06]

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 to 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: "Saba is here." Saba, the Hebrew word for grandfather. The little girls broke out in tears. All of them did in fact. In his "Haaretz" article, by the way, Tibon wrote that the full shock of the event didn't hit him for hours until he was sitting with his family on a bus in the middle of the night evacuating away from their home to somewhere safer further away from the border. A very, very moving article. A powerful story indeed. Thank God they are OK.

There's more breaking news we're following. Next, was Iran involved in this attack against Israel? What U.S. officials are now telling CNN. We'll have a live report from the White House. That's coming up next.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:18:08]

BLITZER: We're following the breaking news right now. Israel officially declaring a state of war against the terrorist organization Hamas. And new this evening, U.S. officials telling CNN that the administration has yet to find a smoking gun directly linking Iran to these terror attacks.

CNN's senior White House correspondent MJ Lee is joining us now from the White House.

MJ, first of all, what are you hearing from the Biden administration about Iran's involvement?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, what U.S. officials are telling us tonight is that at this moment, there is no smoking gun yet that appears to link Iran directly to the attack that we saw over the weekend, but there's just simply no denying Iran's history of aiding Hamas. One U.S. official, for example, telling me tonight of course Iran is in the picture. They've provided support for years to Hamas and Hezbollah.

What is interesting, Wolf, is that we are beginning to see more U.S. officials at least pointing to what they say is the likelihood that Iran did play a role in planning and executing this attack on Israel. For example, one Democratic senator I was just speaking to tonight who said that he expects to get a classified briefing tomorrow. He simply said yes, there is the history of Iran funding and offering financial assistance to Hamas, so he personally believes that it is going to be likely that we will soon find out that Iran did have a direct role.

Now the administration, we can also report tonight, is holding a briefing for some key House members. This is supposed to be an unclassified briefing but either way, you can bet, Wolf, that lawmakers are going to have a lot of questions for administration officials about what information they know at this moment in time including on this key question of Iran's potential role in the attack over the weekend.

[19:20:06]

BLITZER: As you know, MJ, President Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today that more U.S. aid is on the way. What exactly did the president and the prime minister based on what you're hearing discuss on their call earlier this morning?

LEE: That's right, Wolf. For the second time since the attack over the weekend, President Biden speaking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and again offering his condolences for the suffering that the country has seen and also pledging the U.S.'s full support. According to the White House's read-out of this call, President Biden updated the prime minister on the intensive diplomatic engagement undertaken by the United States over the last 24 hours in support of Israel.

The president also conveyed that additional assistance for the Israeli Defense Forces is now on its way to Israel with more to follow over the coming days. Of course, this is a reference to U.S. military assets that are being moved quickly to the region at a very rapid clip, and of course, administration officials tell us that they are continuing on a rolling basis to have discussions about what additional aid the U.S. will provide Israel in the coming days.

BLITZER: MJ, is the White House concerned that all the dysfunction in the House of Representatives right now, there's no speaker of the House, for example, that all that dysfunction could hinder America's response to these attacks, namely its ability to quickly provide additional U.S. aid to the Israeli Defense Forces?

LEE: Wolf, I think it is absolutely safe to say that there is a level of concern about the dysfunction as you put it currently playing out on Capitol Hill, really affecting what kind of assistance the U.S. can provide to Israel quickly. As you know, the fact that there is not a permanent House speaker really means that the U.S. is in unchartered territory right now.

Over the weekend, we heard one U.S. official saying that this is simply a unique situation and U.S. officials are trying to sort of figure out given this political situation what exactly can they do, and can they not do. For example, as we were discussing before, if the U.S. determines that it wants to get through Congress an assistance package for Israel, how does that exactly work when you appear to have a not permanent House speaker who isn't able to sort of exercise the full authority that a permanent House speaker would have?

So there is a messy situation on Capitol Hill that the White House is currently having to contend with, but they are being very frank right now that they, too, are sort of figuring out what exactly this means for any future aid that they might want to give to Israel.

BLITZER: MJ Lee, over at the White House for us. MJ, thank you very much.

Amidst all of this, we're now told the Pentagon is sending a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is our Pentagon correspondent, former correspondent for many years in Israel as well. He knows the subject well. He's joining us now alongside retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedrick Leighton.

Oren, this is happening as you well know that Israel is clearly preparing for some sort of largescale campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: So, Wolf, let's take a look at what the U.S. is doing here and what Israel is doing here. What we expect to see with Colonel Leighton. First, the carrier strike group. The USS Gerald Ford. It's headed towards the waters off the coast of Israel. What's its purpose? What is it expected to do here?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: So one of the big things, Oren, that you have to look at with a carrier strike group like this is that it's a presence, it's a military presence in the region, and every time there's trouble in the region, you send a carrier strike group to show the flag of the United States.

This aircraft carrier can have up to 70 aircrafts on it. In some cases all the way up to 90. It holds strike group. And so it's a formidable force. Includes such weapons as the F-35, and also has F-18s on it, so it is a major player in the region anytime it goes into an area.

LIEBERMANN: In addition to the carrier strike group, F-35s are headed to the region. More F-15s we've learned from a U.S. official. They're not expected to head to Israel. Who is this a message to and what role could they play if they're not going to Israel?

LEIGHTON: So these aircraft, F-15s for the Air Force, F-35s for the Air Force and the Navy, they are aircraft that are designed to in essence show the flag in the Persian Gulf region as well as over Syria and over Iraq. So with these aircraft are part of the U.S. presence in the Middle East and they're designed to actually be part of the presence that the U.S. has in the region as a whole, and they send a message to folks like Hamas, like Hezbollah, and to Iran.

LIEBERMANN: Also worth pointing out the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been in very close contact with his Israeli counterpart, talking in two consecutive days. And they expect to remain in touch.

Let's bring it into Gaza here. We've already seen the U.S. -- Israel, sorry, carrying out strikes against Gaza.

[19:25:05]

At this point with what we're looking at, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promising a prolonged campaign, is a ground incursion in your mind inevitable?

LEIGHTON: It's not inevitable but it's certainly possible. And one of the things that you have to look at when it comes to one of the areas that we have here, let's see, let's actually go to this one right here. This is an area where you see the crossings right here, at least some of them, that Gaza has and all of this area is really part of what the Israelis have to be focused on.

When you do a ground incursion, they're looking at coming through certain areas. And one of the key things that you have to look at is, you know, this is a really densely populated area because the way in which all of these areas are mapped out, you have the highest population density in the world in this very small, you know, less than 130 I think square miles area, and that is something that is really, really difficult when you have a whole region like this. This is one hot spot that really never goes away.

LIEBERMANN: Israel has talked about two goals here. And we'll take a look at the Google map here to see how densely populated it is. One of them is to retaliate against Gaza in an incredibly strong fashion and the other is to rescue scores or a significant number of Israeli and other foreign hostages. Can you do both at the same time or does one endanger or make impossible the other?

LEIGHTON: It doesn't necessarily make it impossible, but one of the key things that you have to look at is all of these streets right here are incredibly narrow. So if you just take an area like this, just a circle and assume for a minute that hostages could be in the areas like this, or they could be near the border but in tunnels in these areas like this, what an Israeli force would have to do is they'd have to locate the hostages and not take away from other missions there.

So if they're going to go ahead and do something like this, they have to be very careful that they don't have collateral damage that would then endanger the hostages, endanger their own forces, and create real problems that way.

LIEBERMANN: And for everything we see above ground, and this is very much urban warfare, there is a city underground. Tunnels that Hamas has had time to prepare. That Israel simply has not had time to prepare for in the same way. How much more difficult does that make it for Israel?

LEIGHTON: So it makes it really difficult because they have to learn every single nook and cranny of this place. And if they don't have eyes on target, if they aren't able to get there in a quick fashion and if they haven't been able to do what we call intelligence preparation of the battle space, they won't be able to see everything that they need to see to know what's around the corner. And for special operations missions like hostage rescue missions, you need that kind of intelligence to actually do that.

LIEBERMANN: Another very important question here is Israel has tried to warn civilians in Gaza to essentially get out of the way of the attacks and stay out of the way. But first, Hamas has integrated into the population, and second, we saw how densely populated it is. Where can they go? We have already seen civilians in Gaza killed. Does this become inevitable as the campaign expands?

LEIGHTON: Unfortunately, it does because when you look at, you know, one of the key areas, you can go to the explosion again, but we also have, you know, all the different areas here where the Israelis are trying to evacuate their personnel, their civilian population, and when it comes to the Gaza civilians, about the only thing they can do besides going into the sea, which is impossible, would be to go to Egypt, and Egypt is not, as far as I know, opening up its borders to receive civilians from Gaza.

LIEBERMANN: There is an intense diplomatic effort. We simply don't know if that's part of it. If Egypt isn't willing to consider that.

Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you for your time.

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Oren and Colonel Leighton, guys, thank you very much. An excellent, excellent analysis.

We'll have more breaking news straight ahead. We'll have a live report. That's coming up directly from Israel. Stay with us. Lots going on right now including new explosions in Israel. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:33:16]

BLITZER: We are following all of the breaking news, very disturbing breaking news coming out of Israel tonight. a US National Security Council official just reporting just moments ago that several -- "several US citizens" have died following the Hamas terror attacks against Israel.

And Hamas is launching new strikes tonight. Israeli Police say there has been a direct hit on an apartment building in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, Israel formally declaring war this morning following a surprise terror attack by Hamas militants.

Now, as fighting nears the third day, airstrikes had been raining down on Gaza by Israel. At this time Israel says, more than 700 people in Israel have been killed by the Hamas terrorists. More than 2,000 others have been wounded and Palestinian officials say at least 400 people in Gaza have been killed and 2,300 others wounded.

CNN's Clarissa Ward is joining us now live from Ashkelon near Israel's border with Gaza.

Clarissa, tell our viewers what you're seeing there.

WARD: Well, Wolf, we have been hearing rockets being fired off periodically, but nothing that really matches the tempo as we were kind of arriving in the city where I think you just showed that video of just this extraordinary barrage of rockets, the vast majority of them being intercepted by the Iron Dome, lighting up the night sky, but at least two of them actually managing to breach the Iron Dome and make landfall here in Ashkelon. One reportedly hit a bus stop, the other building actually, not too far from here.

[19:35:00]

There are no reports of casualties, but certainly the effect has been very chilling. There are barely any civilians outside on the streets at all, partly, of course, because it's the middle of the night, but partly because most people are sheltering in place.

We did see a few people arriving at various hotels basically looking for shelter, because the situation is so dangerous. And of course, the fear of the rocket attacks is just one of the many threats.

The primary one that I would say people in this part of Israel are focused on at the moment is continued infiltrations by Hamas militants.

We don't know exactly how many there may still be in this part of Israel. But we do know that there have been several incidents throughout the day of Israeli forces firing on or fighting with militant Hamas fighters.

And we actually, as we were driving at one point, were forced to turn around because we saw a firefight in the distance between Israeli Forces and Hamas militants.

So still a fluid situation. We're hearing a lot of activity in the skies in terms of jets. Obviously, there have been continued strikes in the Gaza Strip, and everyone bracing themselves for another long night in what could be one of many long nights to come -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What are you hearing, Clarissa from Israelis? As you travel around, as you walk around, as you drive around, what kind of messages are they giving you? They know you're a correspondent for CNN.

WARD: I think the main message they give right away when they find out you're a journalist is like, please come in, do your job. Show the world what's going on here. I think the primary sentiment that you have is very emotional and a profoundly deep state of shock.

The fact that there are all these hostages being held and these are not a soldiers. Many of them are women, are children, old ladies, that has had a profound effect on the psyche of the Israeli people.

And I think there is a very real and palpable sense of fear and a sense honestly that this will probably change the complexion of life here for quite some time to come in ways that people are only just starting to get their arms around -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, be careful over there. Clarissa Ward in Ashkelon right near Israel's border with Gaza. Thank you very, very much.

And we will have much more on the breaking news straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:41:40]

BLITZER: A very grim update just coming in from the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces. The death toll now, more than 700 people in Israel. Horrific details also emerging from the surprise attacks from Hamas. Here's what the IDF spokesman told me in the last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. BEN WAHLHAUSE, IDF SPOKESMAN: We now each certain that over 700 people have been killed since this attack 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, 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We want to bring in CNN national security analyst, Peter Bergen. He's here with me in Washington. And I want to bring in CNN senior international correspondent in London, Sam Kiley is with us as well.

Sam, let me start with you. President Biden has warned other groups not to get involved here. He wasn't necessarily specific, but what are the concerns beyond Hamas?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he wasn't specific. You're absolutely right there, Wolf, but you'll recall, he pointed his finger in that very kind of admonishing way knowing exactly who he meant, and anybody listening would have known who he meant, and by that he means in the first instance, Hezbollah just across the northern border of Israel into Lebanon.

And of course, Hezbollah is backed, some would argue even run by Iran. And of course, it is the Iranians who've also backed, armed, trained Hamas historically.

So in that context, that's who he was addressing -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Peter, you've spent a career studying these various terror groups, whether Hamas, Hezbollah, other terror groups as all of us well know. How worried are you about this current conflict escalating?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, if you accept -- I mean, the IDF spokesman talked to you, just in the last hour and said that Iran has historically supplied weapons, military technology, and money to Hamas, I thought it was fascinating that the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, said last week that anybody who normalizes relationships with Israel is making a mistake, and clearly making a very pointed reference to the US-brokered potential deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

If you think about, those are three of Iran's worst enemies, in a sense, getting together to make a deal. So surely, Iran is very opposed to the potential of this deal? Yes, they have a long relationship with Hamas. And of course, Hezbollah is sort of an arm of the Iranian government effectively.

So, you know, we don't know what's going to happen next. But that's the kind of scenario that we're looking at.

BLITZER: What's the message of the US when it sends this aircraft carrier battle group to the Eastern Mediterranean not far -- certainly not far from the Israel-Gaza border, the sea, but also from Lebanon, and even closer to Iran, for example, what's the message the US is sending?

BERGEN: A very clear one, which is you know, we've got an aircraft carrier with 70 to 90 fighter jets on it and you know, we are prepared to use it.

[19:45:06]

BLITZER: And that message will be heard loud and clear in Lebanon as well as in Iran, I'm sure.

Sam, as you know, Iran is known to support, as Peter just said, Hamas and Hezbollah in all sorts of ways. Are there concerns based on what you're hearing, you're also an expert in this area, that Iran could become directly involved, not just supporting them behind the scenes, but directly involved?

KILEY: I think there might well be. There are concerns, I think that this will be among the options down the line being presented to the Israeli Security Cabinet as what the Israeli military might do is some kind of attack against Iran, particularly if they see a lot of Iranian fingerprints on this Hamas operation, which does have, I have to say, all of the hallmarks of a specialist operation. It is certainly advised by if not devised and supplied by Iran. I think that would be a possibility of sort of direct involvement by Iran.

I don't think that they would want to get any of their personnel directly involved. They have got their personnel, of course in Syria, and they have been hit in Syria in the past by Israel and not retaliated directly using Iranian personnel. But obviously, using proxies such as Hezbollah, and of course, Hamas.

So I think they would rely here on Hamas as a proxy, Hezbollah as a proxy, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which they also back as a proxy, but I think they'd be unlikely to get directly involved.

More likely, though, is potentially -- only potentially down the line, Israel, treating this moment as their 9/11 moment and seeing if they can't, if they were so minded, do some kind of preemptive strike, for example, against the Iranian nuclear facilities.

BLITZER: Peter, you've written a CNN op-ed article in which you talk about what this war between Hamas and Israel right now, the impact it could have on any potential diplomatic breakthroughs that may be out there. What's your bottom line message?

BERGEN: Well, I think the US-brokered Saudi-Israeli potential peace deal looks like it's dead for the foreseeable future--

BLITZER: As a result of this war.

BERGEN: As a result of this war, and surely, we don't know yet exactly if that was part of the calculus, but it seems to me that that's a very plausible explanation.

BLITZER: Sam, you agree?

KILEY: I do. I think he's absolutely right. I think that Peter said at the top of this, that this was part of the intent was to scupper that normalization process. They could have, of course, an equal and opposite reaction, because Iran now will be blamed by those three big elements even though the Saudis are supporting the Palestinians, they will be very unhappy by the use of this very extreme form of violence.

And of course, the hostage crisis is likely now to play out and really dominate all political and diplomatic activity once even after the guns have fallen temporarily silent. That is going to be where the diplomacy will lie. That will be the focus of Israel's efforts and those will involve, no doubt, back channels through Qatar, Egypt, possibly even ultimately, what Hamas wants is direct talks with Israel over these hostages.

BLITZER: Sam Kiley, Peter Bergen, guys, thank you very much.

Straight ahead, we are getting new details right now from this latest attack on Israel, as new explosions are being heard right now.

We'll be back in a moment.

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[19:52:53]

BLITZER: All right, take a look at this, Number 10 Downing Street in London. The home of the UK's prime minister lights up in support of Israel.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted this picture just a little while ago with the message: "We stand with Israel."

Very definitely, there are more disturbing images coming out of Israel right now. Images of Hamas abductions, murder, and sheer chaos, as CNN's Hadas Gold reports, the Hamas attacks are leaving family members begging for help and answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Palestinian militants kidnap a group of distraught women and children. In video posted on social media, it is terrifying to watch, even more so if the people who are being abducted are your family.

Yoni Asher is safe in his home in Israel, but he says he is terrified for his wife and two young daughters abducted by Hamas militants from his mother-in-law's home near the Gaza border.

He says the last days have been difficult. He hasn't slept and desperately wants to send this message to their captors.

YONI ASHER, FAMILY ABDUCTED BY HAMAS: I want to ask Hamas, don't hurt them. Don't hurt little children. Don't hurt women.

If you want me instead, I'm willing to come.

GOLD (voice over): His anguish felt by families across Israel as videos emerge of other kidnappings.

Israeli officials say Hamas has taken dozens of Israelis captives, including women, children, and the elderly. Hamas says they're keeping them in locations across Gaza.

Many hostages were taken while attending an outdoor music festival near the border with Gaza. Witnesses say militants fired at them as they tried to run away while rockets were flying overhead. Many didn't make it out as this next disturbing image shows.

More than 200 people were killed at that festival, Israeli officials say. One video shows militants separating a couple at the festival. The woman named Noa Argamani is taken away on a motorbike leaving her partner with his hands bound surrounded by captors.

The families of both victims say they want the video to be shown in hopes of finding them. Noa's roommate says it's still extremely distressing to watch it.

[19:55:06]

AMIR MOADDI, FRIEND OF NOA ARGAMANI: It's very difficult when you sees someone that is so close to you and you know him so much being treated like this. It's very difficult to see it. It makes you like shocked.

GOLD (voice over): The Israel Defense Forces say they're doing everything it can to find the hostages, and to further protect its citizens, it is evacuating communities around the Gaza Strip, but tells our Nic Robertson the safe return of the missing is a top priority.

DORON SPIELMAN, IDF SPOKESMAN: What I can tell you is that we're not going to stop until we exhaust every means possible of doing so. We will not leave any person behind and we will do anything to make that happen.

GOLD (voice over): Israel has opened a missing persons command center so that friends and family can register people who are unaccounted for and they've been advised to bring items that could be used for DNA matches.

It's an agonizing wait. This mother pleads for help to find her son missing since Saturday. She says "I want my child. I want you to help me find my boy." A pain shared now by many Israeli families, not knowing if a loved one is dead or alive or ever coming home.

Hadas Gold, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thank you, Hadas, and thanks for all your excellent reporting.

And that's it for me this evening. Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in the SITUATION ROOM. I'll see you again tomorrow, of course, 6:00 PM Eastern.

Meanwhile, our special coverage of Israel at War continues right now right after a quick break with Anderson Cooper.

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