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Israeli Defense Minister Orders Complete Siege Of Gaza; Israeli Airstrikes Pound Gaza After Deadly Hamas Attacks; Israeli PM Calls Militants Savages; Woman Survives Attack on Music Festival; Hospital in Israel Treats Those Wounded in Hamas Attacks. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 10, 2023 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:34]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause at the CNN Center in Atlanta with our breaking news coverage of Israel's war with Hamas.

And Israeli airstrikes continue to pound Gaza, more than 1,000 targets have now been hit. According to the IDF, all of them linked to the militant group Hamas. The Gaza based group, which carried out a surprise attack over the weekend. The deadliest on Israeli soil in 50 years.

And this is just the beginning of an Israeli response, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned will resonate for generations. As explosions continue to rock Gaza, the Israeli Defense Minister has ordered a complete siege, cutting off electricity and water from Israel, as well as food, fuel and other supplies. There's been no lit up and rocket fire from Gaza.

Overnight, mostly targeting southern Israel. Right now, dozens of hostages are being held by Hamas somewhere in Gaza. The spokesperson for the military wing of Hamas, wanting a civilian hostage will be publicly executed in response to Israeli airstrikes on Palestinian homes.

The death toll on both sides has soared to more than 1,500 including at least 900 killed in Israel, where officials are still finding bodies after the surprise attack from Hamas by air, land and sea. Here's Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We have begun and I emphasize we have only begun to strike at Hamas. The images of the devastation and destruction from the Hamas strongholds in Gaza are just the beginning. We have eliminated many hundreds of terrorists and we will not stop there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Hadas Gold has the very latest now reporting in from Jerusalem, and a warning some of the images in her report are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HADAS GOLD, CNN REPORTER (voiceover): The conflict that brought unprecedented scenes to Israel has now entered its third day with the sound of sirens filling up the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as people duck for cover. No place is out of bounds even at this funeral of a young soldier and your British national Nathaniel young killed on Saturday.

In response to the militants surprise attack, the IDF says it has been striking key Hamas and other targets in Gaza. And Israel's defense minister ordered a complete siege of the strip holding the supply of electricity, food, water and fuel.

The IDF of finally saying it has gained control of Israeli towns infiltrated by Hamas militants. Still morning, things will get worse before they get better.

LT. COL. RICHARD HECHT, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: We're still fighting. We thought this morning that we'd be in a better place of focusing now on what we're doing and making sure that Hamas pay a heavy price.

GOLD: Israel now contending with its highest single mass casualty event in its history, as the numbers continue to rise. In Gaza, smoke fills the air after Israeli strikes flattened high rise buildings. While residents work together to try to put out the flames. It's not enough as the death toll continues to mount in the besieged strip.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Come aid people of Gaza, help us. Come to our aid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Please save us the kill this they destroyed us.

GOLD: Neither side show signs of backing down. The international community repeatedly calling for a stop to the violence. But as the escalation continues to grow, it's the civilians on both sides who continue to pay the highest price. Hadas Gold, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: CNN's Nada Bashir is following developments. She joins us live from London. Well, we know the airstrikes have continued overnight by the Israelis. We also know the rocket fire from Hamas has continued from Gaza into southern Israel. So what's the latest set on numbers? You know, what is shaping up to be the number of casualties so far? What are we looking at here?

GOLD: Well, John, that death toll is continuing to rise. More than 900 Israelis killed, more than 600 Palestinians in Gaza killed according to authorities and that death toll is expected to continue rising as we continue to see the exchange of rocket fire.

But of course the focus right now really is on what is next. We heard from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing a response of unprecedented scale and we have seen those airstrikes continuing overnight. Our teams on the ground here hearing the sound of large explosions within Gaza.

[01:05:04]

And of course as we've heard from the Israel Defense Forces, the intention here, according to the IDF is to reach an endpoint where Hamas has military capabilities are reduced to a point where they do not pose a threat to the State of Israel any more.

Now of course, there is real concern for what comes next. We have seen and heard on the ground, Israel ramping up its preparations for what is anticipated to be the NOC (ph) confirmed a potential ground incursion. We have seen tank and artillery formations building up around the Gaza Strip. We have seen hundreds of thousands of Israeli reservists called up and the IDF has called on citizens within Gaza to evacuate.

But of course, it is important to note the context here there is likely to going to be a devastating civilian death toll in Gaza. We're talking about a very small in clay, which is densely populated. It has been under an air land and sea blockade enforced by Israel since 2007. And while Israel has told civilians to flee, there is quite literally nowhere to go.

We've heard from the United Nations warning that there is no shelter for Palestinians in Gaza. They have said that they have more than 130,000 Palestinians in Gaza currently displaced taking shelter within U.N. schools, but they are almost at capacity.

And of course, the fear is that the civilian toll is going to mount but of course we heard yesterday from Israel's defense minister announcing a complete siege on Gaza, that means no fuel, no electricity, no food going in. And of course, as we have seen, while the IDF says it is targeting Hamas positions in Gaza, it is targeting military positions in Gaza, it is almost impossible to avoid civilian death toll there and civilian casualties given the fact that this is such a densely populated area.

VAUSE: Nada, on the Israeli side over the weekend. One of the worst bloodbath if you like of civilians happen at this music festival. Hundreds were killed there and they're still finding bodies. So what more do we know about how that attack unfolded and how many people have died?

GOLD: Well, of course, this attack was both deeply deplorable but also hugely unprecedented. And we not only have we seen a mounting death of at least 260 bodies found according to rescue teams on the ground, but of course we know that there has been a hostage situation as well.

Dozens believe to have been taken captured by Hamas fighters on the ground. We've seen gunmen on the ground at the scene on Saturday, many of them taken hostage and what we have been hearing over the last few days is messages from anxious parents waiting for news of their children. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOLD (voiceover): This was Israel's nova music festival in the early hours of Saturday morning. But in the distance rockets seemingly interception in the dawn sky. Festival then brought to an abrupt, terrifying end. As Hamas gunmen launched a deadly rampage, killing hundreds and taking dozens hostage.

RICARDA LOUK, MOTHER OF FESTIVAL ATTENDEE: They were just shooting at them and taking them by force. They were waiting. My daughter tried to get to her car and they had military people standing by the cars and was shooting so people couldn't reach their cars even to go away. And that's when they took her.

GOLD: 21-year-old Addy Mayzel was also among those targeted in the ambush. Her mother hopes she could still be alive, held captive in Gaza. But fears time is quickly running out.

AHUVA MAYZEL, MOTHER OF FESTIVAL ATTENDEE: I'm a mother who has who is looking for her daughter. She's missing. I think I believe she's hurt. She's blaming someone. And like me, there are more hundreds families that are looking for their beloved. I'm a mother I want to protect my kid. That's all I want to do. And I'm sure that all mothers in the other side in Gaza in everywhere that they are not me. Are thinking the same thing.

GOLD: Dashcam footage geo located by CNN shows Hamas gunmen at the site shooting and killing people at point blank range. The site of Saturday's massacre now stands eerily quiet, charred cars mine nearby streets. Hamas claims it has captured more than 100 Israeli citizens. There are no exact figure yet from the Israel Defense Forces. The result? Dozens of families left in anguish, all hoping against hope for a miracle.

MIRAV LESHEM GONEN, MOTHER OF MISSING WOMAN (through translator): She called and said mom, they're shooting at us. The car has hit. We are all wounded. I don't know how you feel but the nightmare of a parent sitting in here and her child saying mom come and help me and we cannot do a thing, nothing.

[01:10:08]

Only to be with her on the phone and say to her Rami, I love you. Rami hide.

GOLD: But as the anxious wait continues, questions are also beginning to mount as to how an attack of this scale was allowed to take place.

URI DAVID, FATHER OF MISSING WOMAN (through translator): What is happening is unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. I join, we join in the grieving of all the families. We demand answers, not all the answers will be happy ones.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLD: And John, we have had an update from the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations who says it is believed that between 100 to 150 Israeli civilians have been or citizens rather have been taken hostage by Hamas and there is concern for their safety. We have heard from Hamas leaders saying that they will not negotiate on hostage while Gaza is under Israeli fire and even threatened to execute Israeli citizens held hostage.

If Israel's airstrikes on civilians in Gaza continues a huge amount of concern there. Hamas has also said that these Israeli citizens are just as at risk of Israeli airstrikes as Palestinian civilians in Gaza suggesting and indicating that these hostages have been potentially dispersed across the Gaza Strip.

VAUSE: Nada, thank you. Nada Bashir live for us there in London with the very latest.

Tomer Shalom daughter Naom and her best friend missing after Saturday's attack by Hamas. Tomer is with me now live, but for security reasons we're not revealing his location. Thank you for taking time to talk with us. How are you coping?

TOMER SHALOM, DAUGHTER IS MISSING: Excuse me, what do --

VAUSE: How are you coping must be living healthy right now?

SHALOM: Not sure. Oh, sorry. Actually, we are in quite terrible time I can say. It's like beyond understanding. We all here like we were not believing that this is what we're going through. And this is what our daughter and her friends going through. It's like beyond understanding. It's very hard to imagine this thing.

VAUSE: When was the last time you heard from Nam and had some indication of where she was?

SHALOM: Noam called us Saturday morning at 8:30 and she was (INAUDIBLE) in crime, and we could hear gunshots around. And then she was saying that they arrived to kind of a shelter or a place. And I told her well, I'm sure you say don't worry, the people will come to save you. It's -- these things are finished quickly. Don't worry, you're in a safe place. We all couldn't believe that. It's going to happen what happened after that.

But this was the last time we spoke with her. And then after that was in 8:30. And then 9:15, she called a friend from an ambulance because Noam is a paramedic. And she called to -- she called her friend from an ambulance and she was assisting a friend there that was shot in the leg. And actually that was the last call that someone has heard from Noam. And then we never heard since.

VAUSE: Could you tell me some more details of what Noam was actually doing what she had been doing. We have some video of her at that concert. I think there was on the Friday. You know, this is a typical weekend for a typical 20-year-old young woman. This is not where you expect a terrorist attack on this scale to take place. SHALOM: No, no, it's really like I said it's beyond understanding. It's like imagine it's not -- you cannot imagine this situation that kids going to dance and, you know, have fun and going to club or -- and they're not coming back home because they've been captured as war prisoners. This is something that I -- was Red Cross or is UNIFIL was the human rights organization. This is beyond war. This is crime against humanity.

[01:15:00]

VAUSE: Yeah.

SHALOM: And then --

VAUSE: Sorry. There seems to be no other option here for you then what you just got to hope for the best. And try not to think about the worst.

SHALOM: You know, we try to keep ourselves like in a healthy otherwise healthy, otherwise we will collapse. It's very fragile our situation and it's changing from moment to moment where we cannot help our daughter. We haven't spoke with her. We know she's in a bad situation she and her friends. They're innocent. They're good people. They're young. They are beautiful. They're happy. They're like to help people.

There -- it's really wrong. It's really wrong, it's threatening the whole -- global free world. It's -- if we let this thing happen, if we won't raise our voice now, this is -- we normalize this situation and this is threatening all the democratic world, all the free world. We should all raise our voice. This things cannot be happening. You -- it's not allowed to take kids as war prisoners. This is wrong.

VAUSE: Kids at a concert having fun. Tomer, you have a beautiful family. I pray they're all back together, sir.

SHALOM: Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, we'll take a short break. When we come back, Israeli airstrikes have been pounding Gaza all night. We'll have more on the IDF and the conditions of war, right now what lies ahead.

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VAUSE: It is 8:19 a.m. in Gaza and day four of Israel's war with Hamas. A war which seems will continue for much longer than previous conflicts between Israel and Hamas, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning of a military offensive like never before.

The IDF says airstrikes continue to hit us targets in Gaza, which Israel has now effectively sealed off from the outside world cutting electricity and water from Israel, as well as supplies of food and fuel.

Meantime, Hamas says it will execute civilian hostages if Israeli airstrikes continue to strike Palestinian civilians, as many as 150 hostages including Israeli army officers, and children and civilians. I believe they held right now in Gaza.

Joining us now from Tel Aviv is Lieutenant Jonathan Conricus, International spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces. Colonel, thank you for being with us.

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, IDF INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON: Thank you for having me.

VAUSE: So just some facts just off the top in terms of the immediate area around Gaza. Have Israeli forces restored security there? Are you confident the area is now 100% under Israeli control?

CONRICUS: Yes, the area is under our control. But in war, nothing ever is 100 percent. But we have regained control over all of the communities that were overrun and taken temporarily by terrorists. We have been able to clear and evacuate many of these communities in order to allow the civilians there to be in a safer place in central Israel, so that the IDF can enjoy a much larger freedom of action.

And we have taken a lot of engineering steps in order to close back the fence and the barrier that was breached in several locations. And we are now patrolling it guarding it with various means.

VAUSE: What's the latest in terms of rocket fire from Gaza? Is Hamas firing these missiles still indiscriminately into southern and central Israel?

CONRICUS: Yes, indeed they are. Unsurprisingly, rockets continued to rain down on Israeli communities. Over the night, the last hours it has been mostly rockets towards communities in the South. There has not been, sorry, there has not been any fire to walk central Israel this night that Israelis in southern Israel are in shelters, and of course subject to indiscriminate war crime, which is the firing of rockets.

VAUSE: Do you have the latest numbers on Israeli airstrikes inside Gaza? Last report, we had more than 800 targets were hit with the IDF said we're all sites linked to Hamas. Can you update that number?

CONRICUS: Yes, we're nearing, let's add approximately 1,000 to the figure just that you just said. And over the last 24 hours, the IDF has struck many Hamas targets all across the Gaza Strip. We are focusing our efforts on the military components of Hamas. The aim is to degrade their military capabilities and achieve an end state at the end of this war, where Hamas will not be able to threaten or kill or terrorize a single Israeli civilian.

VAUSE: When it comes to the airstrikes on targets inside Gaza. What determines if a target is in fact linked to Hamas if it is a military target, as opposed to a civilian target?

CONRICUS: All of our targeting is done based on updated real time intelligence that has been gathered, assessed, analyzed and vetted over a long period of time. There is a rigorous process of vetting the intelligence and making sure that it is indeed a legitimate military target.

The problem, the challenge that Hamas poses is that there's not even one single building in Gaza with a Hamas sign on it. They don't advertise that they use civilian infrastructure. So for the unknowing eye, you will see a building collapse and you might be mistaken in calling it a civilian building, when in fact it is a building used by Hamas for research and development, command and control, any other topic that Hamas needs office space or otherwise space for.

[01:25:07]

And we go through a long process of collecting the intelligence vetting it before any target is struck.

VAUSE: Very quickly while we still have you the situation to the north of Israel, there had been some militant groups, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, both backed by Iran claiming responsibility for earlier attacks there. Has that situation quiet down? What is the expectation? What's the latest from the northern part of Israel?

CONRICUS: Situation is volatile. We are vigilant. We have added tens of thousands of additional troops along the border reservists as well as regular units in anticipation of a Hezbollah attack. We have strongly urge them to think twice before they embark on any such attack against Israel. So far, the last few hours, the situation has been quiet. And let's hope it remains like that.

VAUSE: Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus. Thank you. So we appreciate your time.

CONRICUS: Thank you.

VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, a look at the years of conflict, bloodshed and destruction in Israel and Hamas, and what could be next in this war like no other.

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[01:30:08]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up on 30 minutes past the hour. Welcome back.

More now on our top story. Israel appears to be preparing for an extended military offensive on Hamas strongholds in Gaza after a militant group launched a surprise attack over the weekend, the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians in 50 years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says anywhere Hamas operates from will be left in ruins. Unrelenting airstrikes could just be the prelude to a ground offensive.

Nearly 700 people have been killed in Gaza. That includes at least 140 children according to the Palestinian health ministry. Thousands more have been injured, tens of thousands have been displaced. For the past two decades Hamas has been slowly improving its military

capability, building deadlier, longer-range missiles; digging an extensive network of tunnels under Gaza; arming and training jihadi fighters better than ever before. The results seem to have come together on Saturday.

CNN's Sam Kiley has more of the animosity between Israel and Hamas over the years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Slick propaganda a blatant threat and published last year. Hamas gunmen training on motorized paragliders. They also show meticulous planning for fighting in built-up areas -- all an historic failure of Israeli intelligence.

Hamas videos at the start of their assault from Gaza were published within hours of its launch. Malevolently bold in execution, Hamas targeted Israeli machine gun nests and command post.

They knocked out Israeli military communications and crippled command and control. They swept into Israeli territory and launched a wave of atrocities, killing at least 900 people in the worst Israeli setback in 50 years.

Once a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas' Sunni movement won Palestinian elections in 2006 on a platform of social reform and resistance to Israel, driven by corruption and incompetence, rival Fattah launched attacks immediately against the movement which denies the right of Israel to exist at all.

In the end, Hamas won control of Gaza. And its grip on the enclave of around 2 million people tightened as Israel and Egypt largely sealed it off causing intense humanitarian problems.

Hamas responded with waves of rocket attacks against Israel that got worst as the years went by. Israel counterattacked from the air and with ground assaults that left thousands dead and Hamas still in charge.

But Iran's influence has been key to Hamas's military power.

FABIAN HINZ, IISS: The Iranians have trained Palestinian engineers and how to establish rocket manufacturing in Gaza. We know that the Iranians have provided certain production equipment which you need for the production of solid propellent rockets to Gaza and other places (INAUDIBLE).

KILEY: In the past, infiltrations were limited to attacks from tunnels. Hamas successfully hid its bigger plans for months. Meanwhile, Israel's right-wing government focused its efforts on growing Palestinian violence on the West Bank.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are extensive meetings with the resistance factions in Gaza and the West Bank and with our brothers abroad about starting that fight. KILEY: This spokesman also told me that he had recently training

forces in Lebanon, most likely alongside Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The next phase that Hamas and its allies will have planned for is Israel's almost inevitable ground invasion. The last in 2014 was chaotic.

HINZ: Hamas had a long time to prepare for exactly this kind of scenario. There's a chance that Hamas (INAUDIBLE) and Islamic Jihad might be the new capability that could have a tremendous impact on this place strategic (INAUDIBLE).

KILEY: Israel knows it must battle Hamas on its own turf, in urban areas latticed with explosive traps and riddled with secret tunnels. And Hamas will draw on the experience of Iran-backed Hezbollah which ravaged Israel's armor in 2006. All the while trying to protect the lives of at least 130 hostages that Hamas says they will kill if Israel's attacks continue.

Dealing with violent groups backed by Iran, a country that is bent on destroying Israel and building a nuclear weapon that could do just that.

Sam Kiley, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining me now from Adelaide, Australia Malcolm Davis a senior analyst of Defense Strategy and Capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Malcolm, thanks for being with us.

MALCOLM DAVIS, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: It's my pleasure, John.

[01:34:51]

VAUSE: When it comes to what did Iran do and when did it do it, in a statement to CNN on Monday Iran's mission to the U.N. said "We emphatically stand in unflinching support of Palestine. However we are not involved in Palestine's response as it is taken solely by Palestine itself."

When it comes to Iranian involvement, is it simply a matter of timing? Maybe there is no direct involvement on Saturday over the weekend, but you know, could Hamas pull off this military attack without the assistance, financial and military assistance from Tehran?

DAVIS: Essentially, the answer is no. They could've not have done an attack this sophisticated and complex without Iran's direct assistance. So that assistance could've involved extensive training, the provision of military capabilities, provision of, you know, ammunition, intelligence support and ultimately, Iran would have been involved probably in political cover for undertaking the operation itself.

The Iranians might not have been directly involved in the actual fighting, but they were directly involved in preparing the attack, in planning it, and probably giving the go ahead for the execution.

We are now hearing from the Israeli prime minister who simply wants to wipe out Hamas. An Israeli ground incursion into Gaza will be a bloodbath waiting to happen on both sides. But is it the least bad option if Israel is serious about wiping out the militant group?

DAVIS: It's the only option. There is no way that they can essentially decisively defeat Hamas and wipe them out from the air. They have to go in on the ground, they have to hold and seize territory. And they have to identify, locate and destroy the key Hamas fighter concentrations including the Hamas leadership.

I think that it's really important for your viewers to understand that there is no quick fix here. It's not just a case of some missile strikes. This is war on the ground, street by street, house by house fighting. Urban warfare is the most complex, the most dangerous but sometimes you have to do it. And I think this is one of those times for Israel.

VAUSE: What people don't understand about Gaza is when you say the Gaza refugee camp, it really is not a refugee camp but it is a cinder block houses, made up of cement, made up of corrugated tin over these houses in these tiny little narrow streets. And no one knows what's waiting around any corner, that's why it's a death trap for the Israelis.

DAVIS: That's correct. It's the worst type of urban warfare environment you can possibly imagine. And the Israelis are going to have to go to house to house, and hold each street as they go, clearing out Hamas fighters. They're going to have to make sure that those Hamas fighters that do escape the immediate battle don't that get around behind them and attack them from the rear or from the side.

So it's incredibly complex. They will of course get support from the air wherever possible, but really, it's the fighting on the ground that will be key.

VAUSE: I want you to listen U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and who was speaking over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Right now the entire important focus is on supporting Israel, making sure that it has what it needs as President Biden pledged to Prime Minister Netanyahu when they spoke yesterday, has what it needs to deal with this attack from Hamas, to make sure that it has control over its own territory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: There's every reason to believe this will be an extended war between Israel and Hamas. It's not like the last couple of go-arounds.

U.S. ammunition stockpiles have already been seen as low because of the war in Ukraine. What happens now? DAVIS: Well, that's an interesting question, isn't it? If you are

Moscow, you'd be looking at the situation in the Middle East now as potentially advantageous because essentially the Americans and the Europeans will need to support both Ukraine and Israel. And that could really strain them.

There was a comment made a couple of weeks ago by a European observer in relation to Ukraine where he said we are at the bottom of the barrel in terms of arms supplies to Ukraine. If the U.S. and its European partners now have to support Israel as well as preparing for other contingencies such as, for example Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific, it's really going to put us to breaking point.

But we have little choice, because if we don't support Israel, if we don't support Ukraine, our adversaries gain advantages that could very well place western security directly at risk.

VAUSE: Malcolm as always, great to have you with us. Your insights are incredibly valuable. Good to see you.

DAVIS: Thank you.

VAUSE: Still to come, hear from one of the victims who survived that deadly attack at a music festival.

[01:39:40]

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VAUSE: With Israeli ground forces massing on Gaza's outskirts and with unrelenting airstrikes, Israel is preparing for a military response like no other.

Already more than a thousand Hamas targets have been hit by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, that's according to the IDF. And on the ground the results are devastating.

Palestinian residents say buildings had been hit without warning and Hamas has threatened to kill hostages in response to Israeli airstrikes without warning on Palestinian homes.

Israel says it's putting Gaza under siege, cutting off food, fuel and electricity, as well as water supplies.

At least 260 bodies have been found at the site of the music festival which came under attack near the Gaza border on Saturday. CNN's Jeremy Diamond who spoke to one woman who managed to survive. And as is the case, the images in Jeremy's report are horrific (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you think that you came out of this alive?

MICHAL OHANA, SURVIVED ATTACK ON MUSIC FESTIVAL (through translator): I really don't know. It's a miracle. It's a miracle -- a miracle because people who were next to me did not get out alive. [01:44:47]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With a bullet in her leg and shrapnel in her stomach, 27-year-old Michal Ohana considers herself one of the lucky ones. But when rocket sirens sounded at the Nova Music Festival in Southern Israel and Hamas militants began killing and kidnapping hundreds of festival goers, Michal's fate was far from sealed.

OHANA: It was just shooting and shooting, whoever that could run ran, and then others got killed. After bullets pierced the windows of the car she and her boyfriend were trying to escape and, Michal soon found refuge in a small shed, crammed in with at least 50 other people.

OHANA: There were already people who were injured. Some in their legs, some on their backside, some on their heads. I had a scarf on me and somebody next to me was bleeding, so I gave her a tourniquet on her leg.

DIAMOND: Minutes later, shots rang out.

OHANA: There was silence for a few minutes in the police woman who was there with us simply screamed -- whoever wanted to be alive needs to leave now. Those who could leave, left. Those who couldn't, I don't know what happened with them.

DIAMOND: Michal and her boyfriend let took off running. But Michal panicked, her legs buckled, her boyfriend dragged across the ground and managed to shove her into the window of passing vehicle. But at every turn, more Hamas fighters.

OHANA: They just went with white pick-up trucks. On each pick-up truck there were at least 20 terrorists with Kalashnikov grenade guns, shotguns, machine guns. I've never seen anything like this in my life.

DIAMOND: Seemingly encircled, Michal once again jumped out of the car and began running, finding an abandoned army tank on the side of the road. Bullets reached her there too. Hiding under the tank, Michal was shot in the leg. Shrapnel from a grenade pierced her stomach.

OHANA: And in that time, we didn't see, we couldn't see anything, and they were taken, some people were taken.

DIAMOND: For six more hours, Michal lay lying underneath that the tank until Israeli soldiers rescued her, and evacuated her to Hadasa hospital, where she was one of more than 60 victims treated.

You thought you were going to die?

OHANA: Yes.

DIAMOND: Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: You're watching CNN. Our coverage of Israel's war with Hamas will continue after a break.

[01:47:26]

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VAUSE: Welcome back.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's promising his country will go after Hamas like never before after the militant group's deadly attack over the weekend. The IDF says fighter jets have struck over 200 targets in Gaza overnight.

Netanyahu's saying that targeting of Hamas strongholds is just the beginning. The Israeli defense minister has ordered the complete siege of Gaza and will stop the supply of food, fuel and electricity coming from Israel.

Rockets are also being launched from Gaza. A spokesperson for Hamas' armed wing warned he will begin killing civilian hostages about 160 being held, and broadcasts those executions live if Israel targets Gaza with air strikes without warning.

After just four days of this conflict, hospitals in Gaza and Israel are already overwhelmed treating thousands of injured civilians; many, suffering horrific wounds inflicted by weapons of war on the unarmed.

For more now CNN's Becky Anderson reports from a hospital in Tel Aviv, and a warning some of the images in Becky's report (INAUDIBLE).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The sound becoming ever more present for so many families caught in the crosshairs of war.

Families like Ishinlu (ph) praying that their beloved Amikai (ph) survives. The 33-year-old was at home with his wife and six kids when militants attacked the area around his house.

As he tried to fight back, he sustained heavy injuries and is now in critical condition. He lives in a kibbutz called Darem Shalom (ph) in southern Israel right next to the border with Gaza.

The location mere steps away from where Hamas militants bulldozed through the border, tearing down a section of the fence. An image that has come to define this historic moment in the decades-long conflict.

"They threw a grenade on the door in front. He flew on his back, I thought he died so I didn't even cry for help," his wife told me. His face badly beaten. One arm amputated, the other left with only two fingers on his hand.

He's being treated here in Sheba (ph) Medical Center, the largest in Israel, it's been taking in victims with the most severe injuries. So far, the hospital says, over 150 of the nearly 3,000 wounded have arrived here since the fighting began on Saturday morning. Yoel Har Even (ph) a director at the hospital says the types of

injuries he has seen are mostly gunshot or shrapnel wounds and blast injuries.

There are currently 42 patients like Amikai in critical condition. The situation he says could get much worse.

We are looking at the potential for a ground incursion. Should that happen, what sort of numbers can you expect here and what sort of injuries?

YOEL HAR EVEN, HOSPITAL DIRECTOR: Unfortunately, but probably would be triple or quadruple the numbers. It could get worse but we are ready in this is what we are training ourselves for many years.

ANDERSON: Sadly this is not the first conflict. How are things different?

HAR EVEN: It's the combination of civilians and military. So usually in the last conflict, most of the casualties were army soldiers.

ANDERSON: And for Amikai's family, this isn't not the first time they are going through this pain. Over a decade ago, they lost Amikai's 24- year-old brother after he was shot by militants during a flare-up of tensions between Palestinians and Israelis.

[01:54:58]

ANDERSON: "He had his whole life ahead of him," his mother says. "Such wickedness, such cruelty, it takes me back 13 years coping with this massacre, this monstrosity. It is so difficult."

But despite the horror, they remain positive. They have no other choice.

"We believe Amikai will get out of this alive and everyone else who is injured will too. We want peace. This is all we want," his wife says.

A desperate plea for hope echoed by so many other innocent families on both sides of this conflict.

Becky Anderson, CNN -- Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.

Our breaking news coverage of "Israel at War" continues with my colleague Rosemary Church after a very short break.

Hope to see you right back here tomorrow.

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