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Israel: At Least 1,200 Killed In Hamas Attacks; Biden To Call On Congress To Approve More Israel Funding; Fmr. Israel PM Criticizes Major Intelligence Failures; Israel Forces Still Encountering Militants Inside Israel; Latin American Nationals Among Casualties after Attacks; Families Pleading for Release of Loved Ones Taken Hostage; Trying to Flee Gaza. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 11, 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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[01:00:37]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, welcome to viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. We continue our breaking news coverage of Israel at war. It just gone 1:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. I'm John Vause. And the death toll in Israel continues to surge with more than 1,200 mostly civilians now killed with close to 1,000 Palestinians again, mostly civilians, now dead in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have been unrelenting with more than 2,000 Hamas targets destroyed according to the IDF. And with no timeline at this point when the airstrikes will end. Hamas fired another barrage of rockets at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, Tuesday, with three Hamas militants also died in exchange of gunfire with Israeli troops.

More than 300,000 Israeli reservists have now being called up and civilians living in towns and villages near the border with Gaza had been evacuated to safety. On Tuesday, Israel's defense minister toured towards southern Israel, where tanks and troops have been massing for days. Hamas will soon face that military assault not just from the air, the defense minister said, but also from ground forces as well.

Meantime, the IDF says rockets launched from Syria fell in open areas Israel's North. Tens of thousands of Israeli troops have been deployed to the northern border with Lebanon.

In Washington, President Joe Biden confirmed at least 14 Americans were killed in the weekend attack by Hamas. The White House says 20 or more U.S. citizens are unaccounted for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This was an act of sheer evil. More than 1,000 civilians slaughtered, and just go 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, 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 load of U.S. military assistance has now landed in Israel. Meantime, the U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says the White House is not expecting Israel to pursue a complete siege of Gaza as the defense minister audit on Monday.

Still, electricity supplies have been cut so to water supplies. And for now Israeli airstrikes are doing tremendous damage on the road. CNN's Matthew Chance has our report from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Across Gaza, Israel is unleashing its wrath. The civil Gaza port painted from the air. Israel's military says more than 2,000 targets in this densely populated area, including apartment buildings and mosques have been destroyed. Recent attacks by Hamas triggering a devastating response. And in Gaza, it's a bloody one too.

Palestinians are digging through the rubble of flattened buildings as the death toll climbs. Health officials there say more than 900 people have so far been killed.

ZIAD MUSLEH, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): My three sons were killed along with their wives and children. There are nearly 50 martyrs in this building. Israel's military says it's retrieved the bodies of another 1,500 Palestinians who stormed Israeli territory and he's now hunting Hamas down.

Hamas operatives will have nowhere to hide in Gaza vows this Israeli military spokesman. We will reach them anywhere he insists. And that may mean going in even harder. Already, Israel has deployed forces and called up hundreds of thousands of reserve troops in apparent readiness for a land attack. But not only is Gaza, one of the world's most densely populated areas. It's also crisscrossed by a hidden, possibly booby trapped network of tunnels used by militants to move undetected through the area. Israel's widely anticipated ground assault on Gaza if it happens we'll also be fraught with danger

[01:05:09]

Matthew Chance, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: We're live now to London. Journalist Elliott Gotkine is following developments. I guess the question now Elliot is we've seen this Israeli air strike, this air campaign continue for a number of days, we've seen ground forces massing on the border, not far from Gaza. When does this turn from an air campaign to a ground offensive?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Clearly, we don't know for sure, John. And the IDF isn't going to give away specifics. But of course, there isn't going to be an element of surprise rarely if this ground invasion does take place, because Israel is talking about it. And Hamas is not only expecting it, but it's probably going to welcome it because it will give Hamas another opportunity to take more Israelis captive and to try to kill more Israelis.

But it is expected to happen. We don't know when, we don't know how point or if it will be jointly with, you know, airstrikes or anything else. But for now, the attacks or the retaliation from Israel on Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip in the wake of that unprecedented surprise attack that began in the early hours of Saturday morning.

For now, that campaign remains in the air, Israel saying that it's struck more than something like 450 targets over the past 24 hours. And in the last couple of hours. It's also told us about attacks on the port and docks in the Gaza Strip, which is said we're also being used by Hamas militants.

Of course, overall, you've given the headline figures which have come out this morning, which is that the death toll in Israel more than 1,200 now. And as Matthew Chance was saying in his report, hundreds of thousands of reservists now called out. We're talking about the equivalent about 3 percent of the Israeli population, and with the death toll in excess of 1,200 Israelis. We're now at about half of all the casualties that Israel suffered in the Yom Kippur War, which began almost 50 years ago to the day.

And of course, every day, we're also seeing more and more evidence of the savagery rally and the brutality of this attack by Hamas. Yesterday, our own Nic Robertson was in Kfar Aza, which is just to the east of the Gaza Strip, with IDF soldiers. And the IDF saying that women, children, toddlers, the elderly were brutally butchered, in its words, in an ISIS way of action. And Yoav Gallant the Israeli Defense Minister, talking about some of the Israeli victims who were killed by Hamas militants were beheaded as well.

So really just harrowing tales of what happened. I know we've had a few of them speaking to us. It was all about how they hid under bodies in order to survive that attack on that music festival next to Gaza as well. John?

VAUSE: Elliott, thank you. Elliott Gotkine with the very latest there live at this hour from London. Appreciate it.

David Sanger is a CNN political and national security analyst as well as White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times. As always, David, it's good to have you with us.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good to be back with you, John.

VAUSE: OK. So this first shipment of U.S. supplied munitions arrived on Tuesday in Israel is a little more from the U.S. President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We're charging additional military assistance, including ammunition and interceptors to replenish Iron Dome. We're going to make sure that Israel does not run out of these critical assets to defend its cities and its citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Because of the chaos in the U.S. Congress, U.S. military assistance is coming from existing inventories. And we'll get to that bigger picture in a moment. But first, you know, Israel's Iron Dome, for example, is essentially a modified version of the U.S. Patriot Air Defense System, which has also been deployed to Ukraine. So you know, if Israel is getting whatever it needs, according to the U.S. president, what does that leave for Ukraine?

SANGER: Well, John, in some cases, a lot. And in some cases, there's competition here. For artillery rounds, and so forth, the U.S. use some stocks that it was keeping in Israel, American stocks, not Israeli stocks, to help feed the war in Ukraine. And as you're now hearing, we're seeing ammunition now flow in the other direction.

The Iron Dome system uses a pretty bespoke kind of interceptor missile, which largely the Israelis manufacturer themselves, in fact, they export this system to others. But I -- we've seen over the weekend that the Hamas forces figured out ways to basically overwhelm the Iron Dome system. In this case, they fired so many missiles that they knew that all of the 80 or so missiles in a battery run by the Israelis for Iron Dome would be shot out and then they shot more while this was being reloaded.

VAUSE: So this is now what appears to be a very long extended conflict between Israel and Hamas not like the previous encounters where it's, you know, ongoing for, you know, a few weeks and then there's a ceasefire.

[01:10:007]

SANGER: That's right.

VAUSE: So the bigger picture here is that Israel will need Congress to pass aid, like Ukraine will need Congress to pass a bill for military assistance. But that is on hold, while the Republicans elect a new speaker. And again, here's President Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: When Congress returns, we're going to ask them to take urgent action to fund the national security requirements of our critical partners. This is not about party or politics is about the security of our world, security the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: "New York Times" is reporting fewer than half of House Republicans have publicly announced their support for either of the leading candidates to replace former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. His supporters apparently are trying to engineer a possible vote that him reinstated. It is a mess. At this point, are Republicans going to be way too preoccupied with the internal infighting to help Israel? Or will they just have to stand in line with the Ukrainians? Do they actually need a speaker in the first place?

SANGER: Well, in theory, you could do it with an acting speaker. In reality, they're going to be focused when they get back on the speaker. And this is where these two remarkable stories of dysfunction intersect. You know, we think that one of the reasons that the Israelis may have taken their eye off the ball here was that they were wrapped up in their own arguments about judicial reform, the formation of Prime Minister Netanyahu's very weak government, keeping that coalition together, and Hamas may have seen this opportunity.

Now here in the United States, we are seeing the question of whether or not the Congress can get together and actually elect a speaker in this case, the Republicans elect the Speaker fast enough to begin to pass both what will now have to be both aid for Israel and aid for Ukraine. And there's every indication we're hearing from the White House, that they'll try to tie the two of those together to make it a harder vote.

VAUSE: Part of this now is the situation with Americans being held hostage in Gaza, the exact number remains unknown. But according to the State Department, there are efforts underway to try and secure their release. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW MILLER, SPOKESPERSON, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: We do believe that that there are partners in the region who are playing a productive role here and want to help secure the release of hostages. But in terms of details of those efforts, I'm not going to talk to talk about them publicly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Qatar has reportedly tried to intervene. But what do these negotiations look like? How can any country reward Hamas what it's done? At the same time, how can any country not do everything possible to secure the lease of innocent men, women and children?

SANGER: There are two choices here. One is try to get a negotiated release, which might be prisoner swaps and so forth. And the second is to try to do this through a ground invasion when the hostage has clearly been spread out across the Gaza. And it is very likely I would think that a good number of hostages could die in the process of trying to get them liberated.

So my guess is that there's going to have to be a diplomatic solution attempted first. Of course, right now, these are human shields, and they are the main thing keeping Israel from doing a full ground invasion.

VAUSE: David, thanks for being with us.

SANGER: Thank you.

VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, Ehud Barak, former Israeli Prime Minister, former IDF general speaking out about the massive intelligence valleys over the weekend and also laying blame.

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[01:16:03]

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VAUSE: Right now on Afghanistan, which has been jolted by another powerful quake in the northwest. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake was a 6.3 magnitude. The Epicenter located in Herat Province, there are indications for 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 led 2,000 dead, more information, more updates as we get them.

Ehud Barak has served as both a general in the IDF and then later as Israeli prime minister. And from his perspective, the surprise attack by Hamas was a major failure of intelligence. And he blames the current leadership of the coalition government, specifically naming Israel's defense minister, head of the Secret Service and the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Barak told CNN more serious people should be brought in to handle the current crisis. And boiling blood is not a good recipe for successful strategic decisions.

Colin P. Clarke is the director of research at the Soufan Group which provides global intelligence and security guidance with governments and businesses operating in high risk environments. It's good to see you. Thanks for being with us.

COLIN P. CLARKE, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, THE SOUFAN GROUP: Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: OK. So no one has been able to explain fully how Israeli intelligence failed to see this attack coming. And this question is about more than just finding blame, finding out what went wrong. This is relevant to the here and now especially on the eve of what could be a major ground incursion by Israeli forces into Gaza.

CLARKE: Yes, I think, you know, clearly, there's been a failure at multiple levels here, multiple echelons. The Israelis have a world class intelligence service. They have, you know, human intelligence. They have signals intelligence. They've got drones with sensors. They've got Gaza mapped out, from soup to nuts. And so the fact that they miss something of this magnitude is mind boggling.

There's going to be a lot of, you know, blame shifting and finger pointing. But as you note, I think there's a real sense of urgency to figure out what went wrong, why, how, particularly as they gear up for what could be a very messy ground incursion because consider the hostages that are involved. That's what makes this particularly tricky to deal with. And then layered on top of that, you've got a subterranean network of tunnels that Hamas is likely to use and to use to their advantage.

VAUSE: And according to some Israeli reporting, as part of Hamas' preparation, the terror organization built a mock Israeli community to train for the assault which government went house to house in border towns on Saturday killing residents. At the same time they learned how to fly a motorized hang gliders. This was all happening in plain sight. But yet somehow Israel was convinced that Hamas had no real interest in conflict with Israel. I mean was that the essence of the roots here?

[01:20:21]

CLARKE: Well, clearly they underestimated Hamas. I think they, you know, were so focused on domestic political turmoil with all the protests that were happening on a weekly basis, demonstrating against Benjamin Netanyahu's power grab with the Supreme Court. And you know, if you've seen the interviews, there's been plenty of reservists former IDF personnel coming on T.V., talking about how this would impact, negatively impact readiness, military readiness and intelligence.

I don't think anyone could have ever imagined to this extent, this is something that if Hamas was training in plain sight, even as the Israeli shifted attention and focus to the West Bank, it just remains inexplicable to me that, you know, an attack of this magnitude could take place without an intelligence service, like Israel's having even the slightest whiff, that any of this was going on.

VAUSE: Yes, there is one constant sound when you visit Gaza, especially late at night. And that's the sound of Israeli drones overhead, which feed ongoing real time information, real time surveillance, through Israeli intelligence, which literally, as you say, has mapped out every square inch of Gaza into a grid. They also have human intelligence and informants on the ground. Nothing happens in Gaza, really without Israelis getting some kind of wind of what's going on.

So is this the case that they got all the information but drew the wrong conclusions? Or do these Hamas, you know, planners and Jihadis go so deep underground went so low tech, that they managed to pull this off without the Israelis having much of an idea of just the extent of the operation?

CLARKE: That's one possible explanation is that instead of going smart and attempting to compete with the Israelis dominance in emerging tech and encryption or cracking encryption, in this case, they went dumb, which is to say they ditched phones, they ditched electronic communications, and they reverted to old school methods like couriers face to face meetings, and the like.

Even still, it would be hard to believe that through all the human sources the Israelis had, and still have, that they didn't find out something was up. And so, you know, there's all sorts of hypotheses about why, were there double agents at play, you know, who dropped the ball? I think, again, there's going to be time to figure that out, once the conflict is over, but it may not be over for weeks, if not months. I mean, we're gearing up 360,000 reservists mobilized. This is going to be a long and drawn out battle. That's one that's likely going to be very difficult, very bloody, and the world is watching. This is going to be something that we're going to be glued to for some time.

VAUSE: And just finally, the question now is moving forward. If they missed all of this, what else is coming down the pike? What else have they missed? How confident can the Israelis now be in their own intelligence service?

CLARKE: Well, I think that's exactly the right question. Not only did, you know, what are the Israelis missed but what did the United States miss? What did regional allies miss? And what could be coming down the pike? I think, you know, my mind turns first to Iran than to Hezbollah, but also some of the other Iranian proxies that are cut from that mold. Shia militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, what's phase two of this conflict, what else does Hamas and its allies have in store? And I think that's really on the minds of intelligence agencies and policymakers all around the world. There's going to be some real tectonic shifts in the Middle East. And there's no guarantee it's going to come out in Israel's favor.

VAUSE: Yes, what happens in Israel often doesn't stay in Israel. Colin P. Clarke, as always sir, thank you. Good to see you.

CLARKE: Thank you.

[01:24:05] VAUSE: Still to come on CNN, one of the biggest call of reservist in Israeli history, now setting the stage for a possible ground incursion into Gaza. When we come back more details on Israel's response to the deadliest attack on Israeli soil in 50 years.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN. More people get their news from CNN than any other news source.

VAUSE: Coming up to 28 minutes past the hour. Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN Newsroom.

In southern Israel, IDF troops are moving door to door in towns and Kibbutz to try and secure the area. And they're finding not just hundreds of bodies mostly civilians murdered by Hamas, but also Hamas fighters who have been laying low as well as booby traps like grenades left in a playground.

This is where IDF troops have engaged with Hamas militants on Tuesday, official say slowly though this operation is moving from defensive to offensive. Israel's defense minister visited the frontline troops Tuesday along the Gaza border. He implied a ground incursion into Gaza will be the next stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Israel has called up more than 300,000 reservists in just 48 hours, one of the largest mobilizations ever in Israeli history. With all indications of ground incursion could be imminent, CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports now from southern Israel, not far from the Gaza border.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three days after hundreds of Hamas militants infiltrated Israel, Israeli forces are still fighting to eliminate the threat.

(on camera): We are here right outside of the Israeli town of Mefalsim where we have been hearing repeated exchanges of gunfire over the last 10 minutes or so. These exchanges, we haven't seen who exactly they are between but we do know that Israeli forces have been continuing to try and clear some of these Israeli towns around the Gaza Strip from those Hamas militants.

[01:29:57]

(voice-over): The IDF later confirming they killed two Hamas terrorists in the battle. But minutes after it ended Israeli Defense Forces rushing a casualty into an ambulance.

But the soundtrack to life in most Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip wasn't gunfire, but rockets. In Sderot, the booms punctuate the stillness of the day.

We've just come into a shelter here where we can take cover from these Iron Dome interceptions and of course they are intercepting active rockets, coming in from Gaza, the booms are very loud, they are directly overhead.

20 minutes later another barrage of rockets headed for the city of Ashkelon.

We are in the city of Sderot where we can now see that barrage that Hamas promised at 5:00 p.m. appearing to head over in the direction of Ashkelon. Now that is exactly where Hamas officials said about an hour ago, that they would fire rockets in that direction.

But there is also another sound in towns like Sderot.

Israeli troops and reservists mobilizing to the Gaza fronts. Part of a massive call up of more than 300,000 reserve troops. Preparations for a potential ground invasion of Gaza.

For some, this moment feels different.

ARYEH EASTMAN, RESERVE PARATROOPER: Then we came in with the concept of full control. This one started with much more obviously even and the playing field is different, certainly. But I think in the last two days, the momentum has shifted.

DIAMOND: And the entire country is spring into action with those out of uniform bringing food and supplies to troops.

After days of tragedy also a sense of resilience.

"I'm not afraid at all," she said. "When it will be my time, it will be my time."

Jeremy Diamond, CNN -- Sderot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: The Hamas slaughter has extended far beyond Israel. Foreign nationals from at least a dozen countries are among the dead or missing. Many were expatriates moving into southern Israeli towns or kibbutzim.

With formal identification of the dead ongoing, the number of expats and foreign nationals killed by Hamas could rise. Governments around the world are now either sending flights to bring their citizens home or making other arrangements to evacuate their citizens who would like to leave.

Many commercial airlines are curtailing or canceling flights from Tel Aviv. Some nations are scrambling military aircraft or arranging special fights with their air carriers for those evacuations.

Latin American nationals are also among the dead and missing following Hamas' deadly onslaught on Israel. CNN's Patrick Oppmann has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: multiple people from Latin America are confirmed to have been killed or believed to be missing following Hamas' attack on Israel according to governments from across this region.

The largest group comes from Argentina. At least seven Argentines were killed according to the Argentine government. Another 15 are believed to be missing. Two Peruvians were killed according to their government. And then one Brazilian man was killed, his girlfriend said in an interview with CNN Brazil. They were at the Nova Music Festival when Hams terrorists attacked that festival.

They sought refuge in a nearby bunker but then assailants threw smoke grenades into that bunker, they were separated and according to this woman, also a Brazilian citizen, her boyfriend was killed.

Governments from across the region including Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia have sent or will be sending planes to evacuate their citizens. Hundreds of Latin Americans are now awaiting evacuation from Israel, to be brought back home into safety.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN -- Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, families of the hostages taken by Hamas being held somewhere in Gaza, are now holding out hope their loved ones will come home safely. Any rescue operation comes with extreme risk. More now from CNN's Brian Todd, and again a warning some of the images

you're about to see are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is 25-year-old Noa Argamani (ph) screaming, "Don't kill me", as she's taken away on a motorcycle.

Her father, Yakov, described seeing the video for the first-time.

YAKOV: It was Noa, frightened and threatened. You don't want to believe it even though you can clearly see it is your daughter.

TODD: This 12-year-old Erez Kalderon (ph) being shoved around and taken away by militants who attacked a kibbutz. He is one of five members of Gaya Kalderon's (ph) family who are missing.

[01:34:52]

GAYA KALDERON, BROTHER, SISTER, FATHER, GRANDMOTHER, COUSIN MISSING: I see the Hamas taking him, grab him. It was so hard to watch it. I had to protect my brother my whole life, so it was so, so hard.

TODD: Yifat Zailer (ph) told CNN this video is of her cousin and her cousins' two babies, nine months old and three years old being kidnapped.

Speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper she broke down.

YIFAT ZAILER, COUSINS KIDNAPPED IN HAMAS ATTACK: I want my family back. I want my family back. I'm trying to be strong. And speak clearly, but I'm devastated.

TODD: The parents of 23-year-old Hersch Goldberg Holland (ph) say witnesses told them their son is a hero. Throwing grenades back out of a bomb shelter.

RACHEL GOLDBERG, SON MISSING SINCE SATURDAY: Hersch's arm from the elbow down was severed, was blown off.

TODD: They say Hersch managed to walk out of the shelter, but was then taken away.

Yoni Asher (ph) is looking for his wife and young daughters after seeing them in this video. A scarf placed on his wife's head, as they are taken away on a cart. He describes the last moment he spoke with his wife.

YONI ASHER, WIFE, DAUGHTERS AND MOTHER-IN-LAW KIDNAPPED IN HAMAS ATACK: She told me that the terrorists of Hamas entered the house, and later on the conversation was disconnected.

TODD: Ricarda Louk (ph) says she found out her daughter had been abducted also on social media. The video shows her daughter, Shawnee (ph) unconscious in the back of the pickup truck being paraded around by armed militants. RICARDA LOUK, DAUGHTER KIDNAPPED IN HAMAS ATTACK: It looks very bad.

But I still have hope, I hope that they don't take bodies for negotiations. I hope that she is still alive somewhere.

TODD: Hamas is now threatening to execute civilian hostages and broadcast those executions if Israel targets people in Gaza without warning.

Israeli rescue operations could be dangerous.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: The hostage takers can kill a hostage. There can be an accident in which the rescuers kill a hostage. Ao typically, a very dangerous time for a hostage is a rescue.

TODD: The government of Qatar has been in talks with Hamas about the hostages, according to a senior U.S. official and a person familiar with the discussions who spoke to CNN. They say the U.S. has been coordinating with the Qataris on this. Analyst Peter Bergen believes the Qataris can be effective as a mediator pointing out they recently played a key role in the release of several Americans being held in Iran.

Brian Todd CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, desperation in Gaza, many Palestinians trapped by airstrikes, and an intensified blockade, leaving them nowhere to go.

[01:37:31]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: 41 minutes past the hour, welcome back.

With the Israeli defense minister ordering a total siege of Gaza, there's nothing going in and nothing coming out. The U.S. is now negotiating with Israel to allow safe passage for civilians to leave.

JAKE SULLIVAN, 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, safe passage for civilians and so forth, I will say it's something that the U.S. government is (INAUDIBLE) with in supporting how we do that operationally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Large crowds had gathered at the border with Egypt but that crossing point was hit by an Israeli airstrike Tuesday. Along with at least 900 dead, more than 4,000 are wounded in Gaza according to the Palestinian health ministry.

CNN Salma Abdelaziz -- 's following the very latest out of Gaza. But first a warning, her report contains some graphic images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Parts of Gaza turned into ruins as Israel continues to pound the coastal strip.

"My whole building, it's all gone," the man behind this camera says, with thousands of 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' 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 Mohammed Subh (ph), still wearing his press flak jacket.

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: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It isn't over yet. We don't know, should we clean all the area? The last engagement with enemy or terrorist here was last night.

Myself, 40 years in the military, I never saw something -- this is not a war, it's a terror attack.

ABDELAZIZ: 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)

[01:44:59]

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, SPOKESMAN, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: 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 location around a kibbutz not from Gaza; another location 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 the moment?

CONRICUS: The situation is that there's still active hiding 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 cure 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 100 percent sure that indeed all of the terrorists are in fact, either dead or taken into custody.

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

CONRICUS: Yes, it is likely that the attack -- and this is likely, and I caution my words here, 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 were apprehended or killed, near kibbutz Misal Sim (ph) where 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've 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 upfront being the primary one, but a very significant front that could become extremely dangerous, sorry, is the Lebanese front.

Hezbollah is positioned there. We've had a few attacks and attempted attacks -- antitank missiles, infiltration attempts, that was successfully (INAUDIBLE) and exchange of rocket fire. 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, as being prepared to the enemies on the other side. Which you very correctly pointed out, yes another, and the biggest Iranian proxy that we have.

The third and active area of fighting is the Golan Heights. During the nights 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 one -- 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 airstrikes 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, 2,000 Hamas targets have been hit in Gaza? Is there an idea of how many more to go?

[01:49:48]

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 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 is your response to that?

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

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

CONRICUS: Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, the brutality and savagery of Hamas attacks on civilians left so many around the world shocked and appalled. When we come back, the international show of support for Israel.

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[01:54:55]

VAUSE: 54 minutes past the hour. These were seen just moments ago in Gaza City, (INAUDIBLE) a very large explosion possibly an airstrike there with Plumes of smoke now coming out from that very built-up area of Gaza City, an area where there are a number of high-rise buildings, as well as transmission towers. Just precisely at this point was hit.

We do not know, but this was a powerful blast from the ongoing Israeli air assaults on Gaza City as they target Hamas infrastructure within the Gaza Strip. There's no timeline on how long that air campaign will go on for but we do know that close to a thousand Palestinian civilians have been killed.

European officials are warning X, the company formerly known as Twitter, against posting misinformation and illegal content about Israel's war with Hamas. A top European commissioner sent a letter to X's owner Elon Musk saying the platform is seriously dangerously close to breaking E.U. law regarding content moderation.

Since Musk bought Twitter and laid off much of its content moderation and policy team and has lowered of verifying accounts. And so if X is found to have violated Europe's Digital Services Act, Musk could face billions of dollars in fines or at least his company X would.

If you like information about how to help humanitarian efforts in both Israel and Gaza, please go to CNN.com/impact, and there you'll find a list of organizations vetted by CNN responding to this crisis.

Thank you for watching the past two hours with me, John Vause.

CNN NEWSROOM continues with my friend and colleague Rosemary Church after a very short break.

See you back here tomorrow.

[01:56:26]

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