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Hamas Fires Hundreds Of Rockets Toward Ashkelon; Israeli Defense Minister Vows Ground War In Gaza; Biden Calls Hamas Attacks "An Act Of Sheer Evil"; Israel: Civilians "Brutally Butchered" In Kfar Aza; US Discussing Safe Passage For Civilians In Gaza; Growing Concern That Hezbollah May Enter Conflict; 6.3 Earthquake Jolts Parts Of Afghanistan; Israel: Released All Restraint In War Against Hamas; Putin Fails To Condemn Hamas Attack Despite Russian Deaths. Biden Condemns Hamas Attacks; Americans Pleads for U.S., Israel to Bring Hostages Home; Israeli Airstrikes Destroy Palestinian Homes, Fill Morgues. Aired 12-1a ET.

Aired October 11, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN NEWSROOM ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and around the world. We continue our breaking news coverage of Israel at war. I'm John Vause. The death toll in Israel continues to surge with more than 1200, mostly civilians, killed, and close to a thousand Palestinians, again, mostly civilians, now dead in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have been unrelenting, with more than two thousand Hamas targets destroyed, according to the IDF, and with no timeline at this point when those airstrikes will end. Hamas fired another barrage of missiles and rockets at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Tuesday, with three Hamas militants also dying in an exchange of gunfire with Israeli forces. Israel, preparing for the next round of retaliation, calling up more than three hundred thousand reservists and evacuating civilians from areas close to the Gaza border.

Entire cities and communities have been evacuated to safety. Israel's defense minister toured the area where tanks and troops are now amassing. He says the offensive against Hamas may have started from the air but it will also come on the ground. Meantime, Israel says rockets launched from Syria in the north into territory, fell in open areas.

Israel is also adding tens of thousands of troops to its northern border with Lebanon. In Washington, President Joe Biden confirmed at least 14 Americans were killed in the Hamas attacks. The White House says 20 or more Americans remain unaccounted for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, US PRESIDENT: This was an act of sheer evil. More than a thousand civilians, slaughtered. Not just killed, slaughtered. Stomach turning reports of babies being killed. Entire families slain. Young people, massacred. The brutality of Hamas, this blood thirstiness brings to mind the worst rampages of ISIS. This is terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford has arrived in the eastern Mediterranean, and the first plane carrying US ammunition has landed in Israel. Each passing day brings another horrific example of the brutality of Hamas attacks. Israel reporting more than a hundred bodies have been found in a kibbutz near Gaza. CNN's Nic Robertson saw the carnage in another nearby village as well, a warning, his report contains graphic content.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The drive into Kfar Aza is chilling. Evidence of Hamas's butchery, everywhere. This Israel Defense Force general, shocked at what he found.

MAJ. GEN. ITAI VERUV, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: I saw about General Eisenhower that come to the death camp in Europe. Said he brings the press.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): He did the same, inviting about 50 journalists.

VERUV: You will see. It is a big massacre, big disaster.

ROBERTSON: Have you ever seen something like this in your career before?

VERUV: Never. Never.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Less than a mile from Gaza, 70 Hamas fighters stormed in here early Saturday. Some even flying.

ROBERTSON: They're telling us this is one of the paragliders that flew in here. You can see the engine here, the propellers here made of carbon fiber. The fuel tank up here and the frame of it and the seat at the front.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The IDF in control now after a two-day battle. Hamas lie where they fell. Only now, the extremes of their barbarity becoming apparent. Seven hundred plus civilians lived here. How many were killed, still unclear. How they died, brutally apparent. Some decapitated, they say.

VERUV: Kill babies in the front of their parents and then kill parents. They kill parents and we found babies between the dog's and the family killed before him. They cut head of the people.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Each body bag a silent sentinel to the intelligence failure that allowed Kfar Aza and other communities near Gaza to be overrun. And motivation for troops, too.

VERUV: We wait to the switch, to switch ourselves from the defense to the attack because, you know, we defense our people. Until now, we collect the body --

ROBERTSON: And when you say you are going to attack, will you be going into Gaza itself? We can see it here, look, it's on the horizon.

VERUV: You know, now I look to the next hundred yard.

ROBERTSON: You take care of the next hundred yards?

[00:05:03]

VERUV: I fight for the next hundred yards and then look forward.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Forward, to a possible showdown with Hamas. How and when still to be determined. Nic Robertson, CNN, Kfar Aza, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Live now to London, journalist Elliott Gotkine is following developments, he joins us now live. So Elliott, what do we know about the death toll, the rocket fire which continues, where we are with the Israeli, I guess, the massing on the border for a ground offensive? Put it all together, what's the latest from the overnight?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: John, what we heard, of course, from the defense minister Yoav Gallant is that the gloves are off, effectively. And there have been more than 450 targets that Israel has hit in the last 24 hours, according to the IDF. We know that the death toll now, according to the Kan public broadcaster in Israel, is at least 1200. To put that into context, that's around about half the number of fatalities that Israel suffered in the Yom Kippur War 50 years ago in the Gaza strip.

Since Israel launched airstrikes in response to this Hamas attack on Israel in the early hours of Saturday morning, more than nine hundred Palestinians have been killed. So, the death toll is rising, and of course, as we were seeing in Nic Robertson's report just there, that the sheer horror and brutality of this attack is becoming clearer by the day, with Yoav Gallant confirming that some of the victims from Hamas' attack were beheaded, talking about women, children, toddlers, elderly being brutally butchered by Hamas, in the words of the IDF, in an ISIS way of action.

Everyone is now expecting some kind of ground invasion to take place. Israel will know that Hamas is not only expecting them to go in on the ground, but probably wanting Israel to go in on the ground. They will no doubt have booby trapped many buildings, there will be improvised explosive devices, and of course the very real risk that more Israelis -- Israeli soldiers of course in this case, as opposed to the one hundred to 150 people already being held by Hamas, the very real risk that soldiers could be captured as well as the real risk of their being killed as well. We know that from the US, from President Biden, that again, with

another conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressing the US' unwavering support for Israel right now, also using the same terms describing Hamas as ISIS-like in the way that it has gone about its attack. And calling on the international community to rally around Israel as well, for all countries to condemn Hamas' attack on Israel. And the US also putting its money where its mouth is.

We know that secretary of state Antony Blinken is on his way to Israel. We know that an aircraft carrier has been moved to the eastern Mediterranean, that the US has already started supplying Israel with additional ammunition and more interceptors for that iron dome rocket defense system, which of course has been shooting down many of these thousands of rockets that have been fired by Hamas from the Gaza strip into Israel since the early hours of Saturday morning, John.

VAUSE: Elliott Gotkine there, in London there. Appreciate the update, thank you. The Israeli defense minister ordering a total siege of Gaza with nothing going in and nothing coming out. The US is now negotiating with Israel to allow safe passage for civilians to leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, US NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: This is something also that we have been discussing with our counterparts in Israel and with our counterparts in Egypt. And without getting into the specifics of safe passage for civilians and so forth, I will say it's something that the US government is seized with in supporting how we do that operationally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Large crowds have gathered at the Rafah border, on the border there with Egypt, but that crossing point was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday. Well with hundreds who are dead, more than four thousand have been wounded in Gaza according to the Palestinian health ministry.

These are some of the major strikes which have been carried out by the Israeli Defense Forces and Gaza. Israel says its aircraft struck more than 70 targets overnight. Palestinian officials say dozens of buildings, including residential homes, schools, medical institutions, have all been flattened, including parts of downtown Gaza. CNN's Ben Wedeman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BED WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Gaza city neighborhood once known as El Rimal, The Sands, reduced to ashes. Its residents retrieve what they can, which isn't much. Israel continues to pound this strip, targeting, it says, Hamas infrastructure. Residents, in shock, are asking why?

[00:10:04] YAHYA AL-AHWAL, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): I got married this year, says Yahya Al-Ahwal. What did I do? What have we done? You destroyed an entire neighborhood. He says he never fired a rocket.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): And this, one of the most densely populated patches of land on Earth. Bombs crashing into crowded neighborhoods rarely differentiate between fighter and civilian. The death toll rises by the hour. While Gaza's hospitals are overwhelmed with the wounded, including infants. Around 40 percent of the population of Gaza is under the age of 15, according to the CIA.

The information ministry in Gaza reports that nearly 170 buildings have been destroyed and more than 12 thousand residences damaged. Tens of thousands have fled their homes, seeking refuge in UN schools, converted into shelters. An oven in this bakery in Gaza city has shut down, many of the shelves empty. Life here was already difficult, and now the future looks bleaker than ever.

WAHIBA SIRSAWI, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): Gaza will take five years to raise its head after this, says Wahiba Sirsawi, and after five years, there will be two or three more wars. It's a catastrophe.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): And amidst all this, somewhere in Gaza, only Hamas knows where, are more than one hundred Israeli captives, fates unknown. Tuesday afternoon, Israel struck Gaza's only port, used principally by fishermen. While at the same time, Hamas unleashed a massive volley of rockets towards Ashkelon. The abyss approaches. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: With us now from Tel Aviv is Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, spokesman 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: What's the latest information you have on an exchange of gunfire between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters in the south? One occasion around a kibbutz not far from Gaza, another occasion in an industrial area of the Israeli city of Ashkelon, also in the south not far from Gaza. What do you know about that at this moment?

CONRICUS: The situation is that there's still active fighting in southern Israel. Hamas terrorists have been attempting, and succeeded in a few instances, to get into Israel and attack, trying to attack, Israeli forces and civilians. The difference between Saturday morning and now is that now all of southern Israel is saturated with lots of security forces, and these Hamas attempts have been met with a ready response.

The terrorists have been killed, and we're able to slowly restore order. However, we address southern Israel as an active combat area, where we still proceed with caution until we are one hundred percent sure that indeed all of the terrorists are in fact either dead or taken into custody.

VAUSE: So just to confirm, these are Hamas militants who have crossed over from Gaza into Israel recently, as opposed to say, militants who have been laying low, out of sight, since the weekend attack?

CONRICUS: Yeah, and it's likely that the attack, and this is likely, and I caution my words here, it's still unconfirmed, but it is likely that the attack in Ashkelon was related to a terrorist that crossed the border in the air using a glider or a buckeye, basically a parachute with an engine behind.

And that's how they were able to get in. And it is likely that the terrorists that were apprehended or killed near kibbutz Mefalsim were a group of terrorists that had laid low and waited for an opportunity, or rather felt that time was running out and tried to launch an attack. That is probably the situation, even though the details are still to be investigated and confirmed.

VAUSE: Thank you for that update. There have also been cross border attacks continuing in the north. Is there any indication that these attacks, for example, by Hezbollah, another Iranian backed terror group, as well as other terror groups in the north, are they opportunistic or are they coordinated together with Hamas? Do we know that at this point?

CONRICUS: Yes, well, the situation is that we are actually fighting on three fronts, the Gazan front being the primary one. But a very significant front that could become extremely dangerous is the Lebanese front. And Hezbollah is positioned there. We have had a few attacks, attempted attacks, anti tank missiles, an infiltration attempt that was successfully thwarted, and exchange of rocket fire.

[00:15:09]

Currently, the situation there is tense but with no fighting. And we are deployed along that border with additional troops, lots of infantry, artillery, special forces, intel, and air force capabilities are organized in that area. And we are preparing ourselves and also sending a strong message of us being prepared to the enemies on the other side, which you very correctly pointed out are yet another, and the biggest, Iranian proxy that we have at our doorsteps.

The third and active area of fighting is the Golan Heights. During the night, rockets were fired from Syria at Israel. Luckily, no injuries were sustained. We do not know who fired the rockets. It could be Syrian armed forces. It could be any of the different Iranian proxies that are present in Syria and welcomed by the Syrian regime.

Or it could be Hezbollah units that are also stationed in Syria. We retaliated fire, and we are currently monitoring the situation. So all in all, three open fronts, and quite a tense situation, with us focusing mostly on what's going on in the south. And of course, delivering significant blows to Hamas via the air.

VAUSE: So with regards to the air strikes on targets within Gaza, is there a timeline on how much longer these airstrikes and the artillery fire will continue? Some reports have already, what, two thousand Hamas targets have been hit in Gaza. Is there an idea of how many more there are to go?

CONRICUS: There are many more to go because the Gaza strip is full of Hamas infrastructure. And it is our intention to strike all of that infrastructure. Please remember that the aim of our operations is to achieve a situation where we have been able to take away from Hamas all of its military capabilities. At the end of this war, we wish to see a situation where Hamas won't be able to threaten or kill a single Israeli.

VAUSE: Just very quickly, there are reports from Gaza from the Palestinians in particular that the Israelis are dropping white phosphorus on civilian areas, which is illegal under international law. What's your response to that, please?

CONRICUS: I am not aware of any such use of phosphorus. And I can assure you that we are committed to the international law of armed conflict. That is how we act. And that is how we will continue to act, despite the atrocities that we have faced.

VAUSE: Colonel, thank you for your time, sir, very much appreciate it.

CONRICUS: Thank you.

VAUSE: An update now from Afghanistan, which has been jolted by another powerful quake in the northwest. According to the US geological survey, the quake was a 6.3 magnitude, with the epicenter located near Herat province. There are indications the quake may have been relatively close to the surface, raising fears of high casualties and widespread destruction. The area was shaken over the weekend by another powerful quake, which left two thousand people dead.

We'll have more updates on the latest situation from Afghanistan as soon as we get them. Well, it seems Israeli airstrikes on Gaza are only the beginning, with ground forces massing on the Gaza border, there are growing expectations of a major land offensive in the coming days. More on that in a moment. As we head to break, images from Rome, the Arch of Titus, next to the Coliseum, lit up with Israel's colors and the Star of David in a show of solidarity.

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VAUSE: Israel's defense minister says Israeli forces battling Hamas will now be free to operate without restraint. The gunfire between the IDF and Hamas militants has been reported in more than a dozen different locations in southern Israel. And during a visit to a military base in the south, Israel's defense minister told troops Hamas will regret this moment, saying, quote, "Gaza will never return to what it was."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): We started the offensive from the air. Later on, we will also come from the ground. We've been controlling the area since day two, and we are on the offensive. It will only intensify.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: At least four Russian citizens were among those killed by Hamas in Israel, but the Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far chosen not to condemn Hamas. Instead, Putin turned his criticism towards the United States. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has our report, and a warning, some of the images in his report are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After hundreds of Israelis were slaughtered by Hamas near Gaza, condemnation and condolences poured in from around the world, but not from Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Now in his first comments, instead of empathy, Putin blasting the US.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): This is a clear example of the failure of the United States policy in the Middle East, which tried to monopolize any settlement between Israelis and Palestinians.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Kremlin controlled TV following suit, mocking both America and Israel for allegedly being caught off-guard by Hamas' attack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Mossad and its famous counter intelligence, as well as the US and its CIA, slept through Hamas' invasion. It's the biggest Israeli failure in security since 1973.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Russia has long been allied with Israel's staunchest adversaries and Hamas' most important backers, bombing Syrian rebels in support of pro-Iranian fighters battling on the side of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad during Syria's civil war. But Russia also maintained strong ties and security arrangements with Israel. Putin meeting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on many occasions.

SERGEI RYABKOV, RUSSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER: We in no way underestimate the importance of measures that would ensure very strong security of the state of Israel.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): But since Putin launched his full scale war against Ukraine, Tehran has become a key ally for Moscow at Israel's expense, fostering economic and military ties with Iran while Tehran provides the Russian army with scores of Shahed drones the Russians used to hit Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, Kyiv says, even though Tehran denies it.

[00:25:13]

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claiming Moscow's allegiance in the Middle East has shifted towards Tehran. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We see how Russian propagandists are gloating. We witnessed how Moscow's Iranian allies openly lend support to those who attacked Israel.

PLEITGEN: Now, the Kremlin has denied allegations by Volodymyr Zelenskyy that it's trying to inflame the situation between Israelis and Palestinians. However, the former chief rabbi of Moscow who of course fled that country two weeks after the full-on invasion of Ukraine, he said that he believes that the lack of a show of support of Russia for Israel is an ominous sign of deteriorating relations between those countries. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: They're on the same page, US President Joe Biden echoing the Israeli prime minister describing Hamas as being as barbaric as ISIS. The very latest from the White House, when we come back.

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VAUSE: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause at the CNN Center. Time now, just coming to 30 minutes past the hour.

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke again with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday. Both leaders unified in outrage and condemnation of the brutality of the Hamas attacks. The president also announced the first shipment of U.S. military assistance has arrived in Israel.

CNN's Kayla Tausche has more now, reporting in from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden offering a forceful condemnation --

TAUSCHE (voice-over): -- of terrorism and anti-Semitism in the wake of incredible violence in Israel that has claimed more than 1,000 lives.

TAUSCHE: Biden saying that at least 14 Americans are among those that, in his words, were not just killed, but slaughtered, and that there are still an untold number of American hostages there. Here's the president.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Israel has the right to respond, indeed, has a duty to respond to these vicious attacks. Democracies like in Israel and the United States are stronger and more secure when we act according to the rule of law. Terrorists purposely target civilians and kill them. We uphold the laws of war, the law of war. It matters; there's a difference. Any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of the situation, I have one word, don't. Don't. TAUSCHE (voice-over): As the White House works to pull out all stops

in providing assistance to Israel, reupping ammunition and interceptors for Israel's Iron Dome --

TAUSCHE: -- and pledging a new package of aid to be discussed with Congress upon its return, the White House is also very focused on keeping the war from widening in the region.

To that end, the U.S. has dispatched a carrier strike force to the region and is also deploying military planes with some of this aid that will be landing in Israel.

A senior administration official tells me that, while other assets could yet be deployed as a show of force to other hostile parties in the region, that the White House wants to see what effect those assets have first.

TAUSCHE (voice-over): Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be visiting the region later this week, yet another show of force from the administration as they try to prove --

TAUSCHE: -- that this administration is all in behind Israel, even though they say there is still no intention of putting American boots on the ground.

Kayla Tausche, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Ronen Bergman is a staff writer for "The New York Times" magazine based in Tel Aviv. He's also author of "Rise and Kill First: A Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations."

Ronen, thank you for being with us.

RONEN BERGMAN, STAFF WRITER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES" MAGAZINE: Thank you for the invite.

VAUSE: So the Israelis have made it clear this military operation is just beginning. I want you to listen Mark Regev. He's a senior adviser to the Israeli prime minister. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK REGEV, SENIOR ADVISOR TO NETANYAHU: They've started the war. We'll finish it, and we'll have to finish it on our terms. We can't lose this. We have to win, and we have to have a decisive Israeli victory, nothing short of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So what does a decisive Israeli victory actually look like? They can flatten Gaza. That doesn't mean they can destroy Hamas.

BERGMAN: I think that the Israeli defense establishment, as so the political level, all understand that you cannot destroy Hamas. Hamas is a very long-time social, military, terrorist movement.

But I think the Israeli leadership believed, beyond the sense of retaliation, beyond the sense of doing justice with those armed murderous butchers, beyond dealing with the leaders, Israel needs to have a clear victory. Because if it doesn't, then other jihadist organizations will be the next doing the same.

And so, it's going to be -- Israel will try to do something very different than all the different other past rounds of hostilities with Hamas that more or less ended in the same place that it started.

And meaning or doing something else would be to have a decisive victory. So to disassemble the regime of Hamas, not the movement, but to disassemble the regime, capture or kill the leaders.

And I assume Israel would not want to rule Gaza. And then possibly hand it over to the Arab League or to the -- the United Nations.

But there's going to be a lot of aggression in order to make this point clear, coming from the belief that, if this point is not clear, it will happen again.

[00:35:08]

VAUSE: In terms of where this conflict is actually heading, how much will be determined by what Hezbollah decides to do in the North? If Israel is facing another significant front in the North, how does that change security operations in the South in dealing with Gaza?

BERGMAN: So, first of all, with all due respect to Hamas strength and the -- their ability to execute this horrifying operation, Hezbollah is much, much stronger, and Israel understands that. And the Israeli defense establishment, for the time being, is sending clear messages to Hezbollah of two kinds.

First, that Israel would not initiate hostilities. But second, on everything, even the smallest firing of mortar, Israel reacts very forcefully in order to try to prevent the escalation.

If another front is open for Israel, then, of course, the Israeli army and other defense establishment would need to deal with two fronts. It's going be much more complicated.

But I think that one of the reasons why Israel is using so much force in the South is to show the secretary-general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, to show him what would happen to Beirut in case he intervened.

So it's not just what happened in case of the North, but it's also trying to do something in the South to prevent the North from happening.

VAUSE: There have been a number of cross-border attacks. We know that Hezbollah has initiated, you know, and has fired rockets, as you said, and there has been a response from Israel. Is there any indication that that is just opportunistic at this time, or is that all actually being coordinated with Hamas in any way?

BERGMAN: That's -- that's a question that is under debate between different intelligence agencies, between countries and also "The New York Times," my colleague Fana Sophi (ph) and myself, are getting contradictive reporting from different -- different entities involved.

While Iran -- Iranian and Hezbollah sources claim, usually, that they are coordinated, Israel is trying to play this down and say most of what Hamas is doing is Hamas initiative, and it's not coordinated. Rather maybe the general framework of sending arms, or helping with guidance.

It's clear that these -- the members of the so-called Axis of Resistance, moqavemat, are now much better coordinated. And the headquarters, the headquarters outside of Israel and Palestine, of both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the recent few months, relocated from Damascus, where they felt less safe from Israeli bombing, to the Dahia porters (ph) where the headquarters of Hezbollah is located, and taking shelter over there.

Now when you have all those together with Iranian representatives, you can just imagine the coordination between them has accelerated.

VAUSE: Yes. I want you to listen to a little more from the White House on the Americans who are now missing and maybe held hostage in Gaza. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: We do not know about their condition and we cannot confirm a precise number of American citizens. We believe that there are 20 or more Americans who at this point are missing. But I want to underscore and stress that does not mean necessarily that there are 20 or more American hostages. Just that is the number who are currently unaccounted for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Given the involvement of U.S. citizens now directly in this conflict, some are likely being held hostage in Gaza -- we don't know how many -- does this now means that any kind of attempt, any kind of rescue effort, is that entirely an Israeli operation? Does the U.S. have some kind of input? Are they directly involved? How will this play out?

BERGMAN: I think that we -- we can see from all comments coming from President Biden, the secretary of state, national security adviser, that they are in full support of Israel, and they are, it seems, very much coordinated and in contact with Israeli leaders and -- and commanders.

The decision on the P.O.W.'s or the hostages will be taken by Israel. And I think that, regrettably, at this time, when Israel has a first priority to win this war, as we said before, a decisive victory, the issue of the MIA and POW, the hostages is going to be on a lower priority. I assume Israel will report to the U.S. But Israel has one goal, and

if, again regrettably, that goal is in some kind of contradiction to risking the lives of hostages, I think Israel will have a decision, a hard decision to make.

[00:40:12]

But at the end, will thrive to win and give less emphasis to the issue of the lives of the -- or rescue the hostages, because the other alternative, not fighting Hamas now, surrender to their demands, will according to the Israeli understanding, perception, will just invite more and more of those acts. Something that Israel wants to just put the stop, put an end in this war.

VAUSE: Ronen, you put that in very delicate terms, and the best I've heard anyone say so far. Thank you for that.

Ronen Bergman there in Tel Aviv.

BERGMAN: Thank you so much.

VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, unimaginable anguish in the families of the hostages being held by Hamas, now pleading for help to free their loved ones.

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[00:45:16]

VAUSE: Coming up to 45 minutes past the hour. Welcome back.

White House officials say they're in active conversations with Israel to try and bring American hostages home.

CNN's Becky Anderson spoke with the relatives of some the hostages who are pleading for their governments to do whatever they can. Some of the details in Becky's reports are heartbreaking. Some of the images are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A massacre as it unfolded. Video of armed fighters rampaging through Be'eri kibbutz in Southern Israel, close to the Gaza border.

Towards the end, four bodies lying lifeless on the ground. And more. This video showing some of the bodies being removed.

Be'eri was home to 66-year-old Adrienne Neta (ph), last seen Saturday morning. Adrienne (ph), a nurse, now missing, presumed captured by Hamas.

Distraught, her son Nahar, who grew up on the kibbutz, flew from his home in California as soon as he heard the news. Along with the relatives of three other missing Americans, Nahal pleading for the U.S. and Israel to do everything possible to get their loved ones released.

NAHAR NETA, SON OF AMERICAN HOSTAGE: The Israeli government has to bring back all the hostages. I want also to speak about the responsibility that the U.S. administration, President Biden, and the secretary of state, Blinken, has for the lives of every U.S. citizen that is out there.

ANDERSON (voice-over): For these families, the frustration is palpable.

(SOUNDS OF ARTILLERY)

ANDERSON (voice-over): As the fighting intensifies, talk of an imminent ground incursion into Gaza. The fate of the hostages, a terrifying prospect.

In another kibbutz, Nahal Oz, more carnage. This was home to 35-year- old Sagui, now missing, presumed captured by Hamas militants. His father, Jonathan, also pleading for action from the U.S. administration, as he tries to come to terms with what has happened and what happens next.

JONATHAN DEKEI-CHEN, FATHER OF AMERICAN HOSTAGE: My children and grandchildren, who were on the kibbutz, so Sagui's young family and another young family, experienced a living hell for the better part of 20 hours. These are young children and young men and women who cannot be anything other than traumatized by what they witnessed. My job now as a parent is to try to put the pieces back together.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Four families experiencing a living hell, unable to process how this happened and how it will end.

NETA: Give our hope, which is a little bit ridiculous at this stage, to say that the optimistic scenario here is that she's held hostage in Gaza and not dead on the streets of a kibbutz where we grew up.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Becky Anderson, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Coming up here on CNN, a logistical nightmare: getting foreign nationals out of Israel, with nearly all flights canceled. Some countries are airlifting their nationals to safety.

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[00:52:57]

VAUSE: With Hamas missile fire continuing to come from Gaza, commercial airlines have continued to cancel flights into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

So many are left stranded that governments around the world have begun their own evacuation flights. One hundred and thirty-five Mexican nationals were airlifted out on

Tuesday evening. A second military flight scheduled for dozens more who requested to leave is on its way.

German carrier Lufthansa will operate several special flights from Israel at the request of the German government. That's on Thursday and Friday.

Air France is aiming for an evacuation flight Thursday.

Most Palestinians are unable to leave Gaza, as Israeli airstrikes continue. They can leave their homes, but after that, they simply have nowhere else to go.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has the very latest. And once again, a warning: her report contains some very disturbing and graphic images.

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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Parts of Gaza turned into ruins as Israel continues to pound the coastal stretch.

"My whole building, it's all gone," the man behind this camera says.

With countless civilians caught in the crosshairs and under siege.

Israel says it is targeting terrorist sites where attacks emanated from, as it vows to obliterate Hamas's military capabilities, no matter the cost.

But that cost inside this densely populated enclave will be steep. A place all too familiar with suffering, bracing for even more.

This mother among the tens of thousands in Gaza forced to flee their homes.

"Why is this our fault? What did my children do? There's no electricity, Internet, food, or water. Why?" she says. "Now I'm on the street. Tell me, where should I go?"

And in what are only the first days of Israel's military operation, hundreds already dead here. This morgue overwhelmed with bodies.

Among the killed, two Gazan journalists, struck down while doing their jobs, Palestinian officials say. In this graphic video, friends cry over the body of Muhammad Sabah (ph), still wearing his press flak jacket.

[00:55:03]

On the other side of the Gaza wall, the horrors Hamas inflicted here are becoming clear. More than 100 bodies were retrieved from this one small Israeli community of Be'eri, days after the assault.

YOSSI LANDAU, ZAKA SOUTH COMMANDER: Then we thought that everything -- we saw everything, but then it came to yesterday where we went into kibbutz Be'eri, and we saw the -- what was done to the families.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Most of these neighborhoods, now ghost towns, as Hamas rockets continue to rain down, soldiers going door to door to find militants, both dead and alive.

MAJ. GEN. ITAI VERUV, ISRAELI ARMED FORCES: It isn't over yet. We don't know, should we clean up the area? The last engagement with enemy or terrorist here was last night. Myself, 40 years in the military, I've never seen something like this. It's not a war; it's a terror attack.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): And Gaza has yet to bear Israel's full firepower. Prime Minister Netanyahu has vowed a response unlike anything ever seen before. But for now, it's a waiting game, a matter of when, not if.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: If you'd like information about how to help humanitarian efforts in Israel and Gaza, please go to CNN.com/impact. We've gathered a list of vetted organizations currently responding to this crisis on both sides.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. I'll be back with more news after a short break. See you in a moment.