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CNN International: U.S. Secretary of State Blinken Visiting Middle East; Palestinians: Gaza Death Toll Tops 1,200 After Airstrikes; IDF: Conducting Large-Scale Strikes on Hamas in Gaza; Israeli Authorities Believe Up to 150 Hostages Held by Hamas; U.S. Intel Suggests Iran Surprised by Hamas Attack. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 12, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday, Blinken spoke with reporters about his agenda before leaving the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States has Israel's back. We have the back of the Israeli people. We have their back today, we'll have it tomorrow. We will have it every day. We stand resolutely against terrorism. We've seen the almost indescribable acts committed by Hamas against Israeli men, women and children. We lost 22 Americans. That number could still go up, and it probably will.

At the same time, we have a number of Americans who remain unaccounted. We are working very closely with the government of Israel to determine their whereabouts and if they have been taken hostage by Hamas to work to secure their release.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: The Israeli military is stepping up its air strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza. The IDF says it's been hitting weapons caches and rocket launches today. It also reports ongoing clashes with Hamas militants inside Israel.

FOSTER: The Hamas attacks have united some deeply divided Israeli political factions. Prime Minister Netanyahu has announced an emergency cabinet and wartime cabinets.

NOBILO: For more, now let's bring in journalist Elliot Gotkine. Elliot, tell us about the overnight attacks and also, we're hearing more and more reports about Israeli force amassing on the border.

ELLIOT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Right. So, Israel said, I think it was about 2:00 this morning that it was carrying out a really intensive air strike. On what it describes as terrorist infrastructure, subsequently saying that they were specifically targeting an elite part of Hamas known as the Nukhba elite forces. Saying that they were targeting, as you say, weapons, weapons caches and also actually specific members of this group. Which Israel says was very much involved in this early morning raid on Israel, this terror attack on Israel in the early hours of Saturday morning.

And I think what the IDF spokesman was saying, is that they're interrogating some of the militants that they captured, that they took prisoner and as a result of that, they are getting more intelligence as to who specifically was involved and also where they are and also where other targets might be.

Now. Israel says that more than 5,000 rockets have been fired towards Israel by militants since this attack began on Saturday morning. As we've seen, it's been carrying out, you know, lots of air strikes pretty much constantly as well against targets in the Gaza Strip. And of course, we are also seeing, you know, sadly, you know, rising death toll inside the Gaza Strip now above 1,200, which you know coincidentally, is more or less the number of deaths inside of Israel since Hamas launched this attack on Saturday morning.

FOSTER: Power are about to run out. The hospitals -- everyone's gathering around the hospitals. They see that as a safe space. It's going to get really gruesome there now, isn't it? Because they're, you know, they're all at capacity already.

GOTKINE: Right, they're expected to run out of fuel today and the health ministry there saying there could be catastrophic consequences. We heard the Israeli Defense Minister the other day saying, you know, we are going to carry out a complete closure, a complete siege of the Gaza Strip with no food, no fuel, no water, no electricity going in. And that is inevitably going to be the result.

Now Israel saying -- we heard from Benny Gantz, the opposition leader, when he joined that emergency cabinet, that emergency government saying that there will be hell to pay by Hamas. And I think what we are seeing is that Israel, in contrast to previous flare ups with Hamas, the gloves are really off this time.

And although you know, it says it's, you know, trying to avoid civilian casualties when you do have this densely populated area and Hamas militants embedded within that civilian area and having its, you know, whether it's rocket launchers or weapons storage facilities in those civilian areas. It is inevitable that there is going to be a civilian death toll. And of course, when if and when and they -- and the government and Israel says it hasn't decided yet if and when this expected ground invasion takes place. There is going to be, you know, clearly many more casualties, especially among the population of Gaza, but also on Israel's side as well.

FOSTER: In terms of the siege, obviously the UN saying it was illegal under international law, but the Israelis saying, you know, this is Hamas's responsibility that this has happened.

GOTKINE: Israel's point of view is that everything that is happening in the Gaza Strip right now, whether it's the blockade or whether it's the strikes that Israel is carrying out on targets in the Gaza Strip is on Hamas's head. That Hamas started this, that Hamas launched an unprovoked attack and as a result, Israel is being forced to react. And Israel has repeatedly said that there will be a price to pay. Their plan really was to completely, not just decimate, but completely destroy Hamas's capabilities so that it can never again launch anything on this scale in future.

[04:05:00]

And Israel, you know, as I say, the gloves are off and I think it is less concerned at this point than it would have been in the past about the optics of what it's doing and what the international community may think. Right now, the international community, by and large is rallying around Israel, but as we've seen in previous conflicts with militants in the Gaza Strip that can quickly change.

FOSTER: OK, Elliot, thank you so much.

NOBILO: U.S. President Joe Biden has spoken again by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Wednesday, Mr. Biden welcomed Jewish community leaders to the White House, where he delivered a message to Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We moved the U.S. carrier fleet to the eastern Mediterranean and are sending more fighter jets there in that region and made it clear, made it clear to the Iranians, be careful. I've known Bibi for over 40 years. A very frank relationship, I know him well. And the one thing that I did say that it is really important that Israel all the anger, frustration and just -- and not explain it -- that exist is that they operate by the rules of war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, the Palestinian Health Ministry says more than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured after the latest wave of Israeli air strikes, and we want to warn you, some of the video you're about to see is disturbing.

NOBILO: The Israeli Defense Forces say that they're targeting Hamas, but civilians are being caught in the crossfire. CNN's Nada Bashir has more on that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Yet another round of Israeli airstrikes. Another neighborhood in Gaza decimated. In Khan Yunis, the injured are many, but so are the dead. In the north of this tiny besieged enclave, survivors of the IDF strike on the neighborhood of Alkarama are left to come to terms with all they have lost.

IMAD TALEB, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): We're civilians, not a single resistance fighter was here. Not a single person here was carrying even a bullet. Why? Why are you targeting civilians?

MAHMOUD RADWAN, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): There are body parts scattered everywhere. There are still people missing. We are still looking for our brothers, our children. It's like we're stuck in a living nightmare.

BASHIR (voice-over): More than two million Palestinians, including almost a million children, live in the densely populated Gaza Strip, an area which has been under a land, sea and air blockade, enforced by Israel since 2007. Israel says it is targeting Hamas infrastructure, focused on destroying the group's military capabilities. But humanitarian workers in Gaza say it is civilians that are paying the highest price.

NAJLA SHAWA, OXFAM STAFF IN GAZA: We are extremely worried that what is happening now is totally unprecedented. We are talking about entire areas, not just one area, entire areas are being wiped, are being destroyed. As we speak, there are airstrikes in the Jabalya camp which is a very, very, very crowded area.

BASHIR (voice-over): According to authorities in Gaza, homes, schools and even medical facilities have been targeted in this latest round of airstrikes. On Wednesday, four Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics were killed while on duty. And as Israel's aerial bombardment of Gaza intensifies, hospitals are quickly being overrun.

YASSMIN ABED RABBO, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): I was sleeping and then suddenly everything started falling on us, 11-year-old Yassmin says. Someone came and helped me out, they took me straight to the hospital, but I don't know what happened to all of my sisters.

BASHIR (voice-over): The Israeli government has declared a complete siege on the Gaza Strip, meaning no food, no water, no electricity and no fuel. A move condemned by the United Nations and characterized by Human Rights Watch as an act of collective punishment, tantamount, according to the NGO, to a war crime. The death toll in Gaza is rising rapidly with more than a thousand people killed so far.

[04:10:00]

But there is also deep concern over the fate of more than a hundred Israeli and other citizens held captive here by Hamas, threatened with execution if Israel strikes Gaza without warning. The IDF has told civilians in Gaza to evacuate, but safe spaces under a blockade are almost impossible to come by. And with the possible Israeli ground incursion on the horizon, for the overwhelming majority of civilians here, there is simply nowhere safe to turn.

Nada Bashir, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Joining us now from Tel Aviv, Israel, is the Defence Forces spokesperson, Major Doron Spielman. Thank you very much for being with us this morning, Sir.

MAJ. DORON SPIELMAN, ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: Thank you.

NOBILO: I'd like to begin by asking you whether or not you think that this approach, an absolute siege on Gaza where civilians are being affected, killed, is ultimately the right thing to do and won't just make the conflict more intractable and diminish sympathy for Israel in the aftermath of a horrific terror attack by Hamas.

SPIELMAN: So our aim is to defeat Hamas terrorists who massacred our civilians, raped our women, the daughters of Israel, dragged them through the streets of Gaza. Captured grandmothers as hostages. I was driving through the wreckage yesterday. Cars strewn on both sides of the road with bullet holes through the glass with blood all over the seats. Baby carriages full of blood. Our goal is to defeat Hamas.

The idea that we should enable Hamas to have electricity and other goods that it could use to further try to massacre Israeli civilians -- and they are trying to continue to massacre Israelis.

There were multiple incursions by Hamas terrorists yesterday. I drove right through Ashdod during the time and three terrorists were out again looking for civilians to kill. The idea that we should provide them with goods and electricity is not only absurd, it would further their efforts to enable them to attack us. And no country in the entire world would allow that to happen.

FOSTER: What are the conditions for the siege? Would they end for -- would it end, for example, if they released the hostages?

SPIELMAN: Israel right now is poised to defeat Hamas. Imagine ISIS. No matter what happens, ISIS, Hamas are not going to be sending little apology letters through the mail to all the victims, laying down their weapons and building hospitals and getting the Nobel Peace Prize. Hamas is out to destroy and massacre Israel.

This cannot end while that enemy exists. Again, I ask any country in the world, the United States or anyone else. If these were your children, your wives and daughters, your husbands. What would you do? Would you allow them to exist now? Our goal and our aim, and we have no choice, is to completely defeat Hamas.

NOBILO: How concerned are you about this conflict spilling over and perhaps making your plight even worse, for example, including the involvement of Hezbollah?

SPIELMAN: First of all, I'm very concerned about all of the citizens in Israel and I want to be clear, I'm concerned with civilians, even in Gaza. I wish that Hamas was concerned with their own civilians, but they're not. Regarding the international sphere with Hezbollah, we've said very clearly, we are poised on the northern border.

Yesterday, the war rockets that were shot there were anti-tank missiles that were shot. We responded and we've said to Hezbollah from the very beginning and all the other actors in the region, it would be a drastic mistake for you to enter into what is happening right now between Israel and Gaza. We have no interest in them in them joining into this.

Just like I will say on Saturday morning, only six days ago, not a single Israeli woke up in their beds in the morning and said let's go and attack Hamas in Gaza. No, that was a normal Saturday morning until more than the 1,000 jihadis came to massacre our civilians. We're not looking for war. What we are going to say right now is we are looking to defeat Hamas.

FOSTER: You've called up something like 300,000 reservists, which is obviously a huge number, particularly considering the size of your population anyway. And I understand they've all been moved to the border with Gaza. Are they part of what would be a ground operation if the government were to give you the go ahead on that?

SPIELMAN: While our forces are not only moving to the border of Gaza, our forces are now allayed around all of the borders of Israel, including inside Judea and Samaria. And all of the eventualities and the different options that had that we have to move forward. It would be carried out by this force.

And I think you make a very important point. We have to understand, Israel is the size of New Jersey.

[04:15:00]

Physically we have 10 -- less than 10 million people here, which means in my own family, the cousins, the brothers, the sisters, the mothers and in every Israeli family, everybody is mobilizing because we're such a small country that parents are, you know, saying goodbye to their children as they go to the borders and certain children, saying goodbye to their parents as they go to the borders.

This is very much a people's army. And so we feel this on one side, we feel the horrors of being attacked and on the other side, we feel the duty that we have to put on a green uniform, otherwise this could happen again. And yes, these are the people. We are the same people that are being attacked, that have to protect our own land because we're such a small people.

FOSTER: OK, Major Doron Spielman, thank you so much for joining us from Tel Aviv today.

SPIELMAN: Thank you.

FOSTER: Now, some Western nations are stepping up efforts to keep their citizens out of harm's way in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

NOBILO: The U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory to Level 3 on Wednesday, telling Americans to reconsider travel to Israel and the West Bank and warning against travelling to Gaza. The UK is also warning against travelling to the region and advising its citizens in Israel and Gaza to register with the government office.

FOSTER: Meanwhile, Canada is sending a military aircraft to Israel to airlift its citizens from Tel Aviv to Athens, Greece.

NOBILO: Flights are available to Canadian citizens, permanent residents and eligible family members who must register with Global Affairs Canada for a flight. Right now, there are no direct commercial flights from Israel to Canada.

Still to come, the faces and the stories of those taken hostage by Hamas. As families face an agonizing wait for word on their loved ones. We'll hear from some of them just ahead.

FOSTER: Plus, a look at how Hamas pulled off the deadly attacks on Israel last weekend and the shadowy militant leader possibly behind the violence.

NOBILO: Later on, the U.S. Congress remains paralyzed another day after some in the GOP say that they'll vote against the Republican nominee for House Speaker. That story, too, is just ahead.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The Biden administration says it's still unclear on the condition of U.S. citizens who may be amongst the hostages being held by Hamas. But U.S. President Joe Biden says he isn't losing hope on rescuing them.

NOBILO: This comes as we learn details about others who've been taken from Israel by the militant group. CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Militants yell as a pickup truck approaches. In the back, 22-year-old Omer Wenkert is filmed lying almost naked and being beaten. Omer was taken hostage at the music festival last Saturday. His uncle tells CNN Omer's parents wanted the world to see this video. The uncle says Omer is in poor health and needs medication.

RICARDO GRICHENER, NEPHEW ABDUCTED BY HAMAS: It's horrifying. To see your nephew in this situation basically hit, brutalized, he could get very ill, high fever, getting up to basically physical illness to less certain in this situation. And we, of course, we assume that he will not be treated very good.

TODD (voice-over): This video shows 22-year-old Eviatar David (ph) being led around shirtless in a headlock after being abducted from the music festival. In another video, he's shown tied up in the back of a truck looking horrified. Like others, Eviatar's brother wanted us to show the video, as excruciating as it is.

ILAY DAVID, BROTHER HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: It was very hard to see that video. It made us very angry, very sad, but also a little bit optimistic because we saw that he's OK, that he's fine, that he's not injured.

TODD (voice-over): This video shows people cheering as a kidnapped 85- year-old grandmother from kibbutz Nahal Oz, Yafa Adar, is paraded down a street in a golf cart. Yafa's granddaughter says she can't understand why anyone would want to take her.

ADVA ADAR, GRANDMOTHER KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS: We don't know how long she can stay without her medicine. And I do know that every minute that she doesn't have her medicine, she's in a lot of pain and she's suffering. And you know, I'm sure she's very scared and I'm sure she feels very alone.

TODD (voice-over): When we first saw this video of Shani Louk, she was in the back of a pickup truck, unconscious, a militant draping his leg over her. At least one person spat on her. Shani's mother gave CNN an update.

RICARDA LOUK, DAUGHTER ABDUCTED BY HAMAS: We heard information that she is alive and that she has a bad head injury and is in a hospital. That's all we know.

TODD (voice-over): One analyst says this about the hostages.

NATAN SACHS, BROOKINGS CENTER FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY: These hostages are meant to be as two things. One, human shields, just like the rest of the two million people in Gaza are human shields for Hamas. And second is bargaining chips.

TODD: A diplomatic source tells CNN, Qatar is mediating between Israel and Hamas to exchange women and children being held as hostages in Gaza, for Palestinian women and teenagers being held in Israeli jails.

Meanwhile, traveling with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to Israel is a U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs who will work to try to get Americans released from Hamas captivity.

Brian Todd, CNN Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Coming up, more on the Israeli troops getting ready for a massive ground incursion into Gaza, as that looks more and more likely.

[04:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Welcome back to see CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us here, our top stories this hour.

The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel right now. He's expected to meet with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, today in Tel Aviv. Whilst in the region, Blinken is also expected to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel's military says it's conducting more large-scale strikes against Hamas targets as its troops gather near the border -- the Gaza border -- ahead of a likely ground incursion.

NOBILO: Now those Israeli air strikes are in response to last weekend's unprecedented terror attack by Hamas and questions are being raised about Iran's possible role in it. Iran has been the chief sponsor of Hamas for many years, providing the group with money, weapons and military know how. But multiple sources tell CNN that current U.S. intelligence suggests Iran was caught by surprise by the bloody attack on Israel.

For more on this, we're joined now by Clare Sebastian. It's somewhat of a dubious remark, given that this entire event and the events of the last week were a huge intelligence failure. So to be able to say at this point with any definitive sense of certainty that Tehran was not involved in the planning seems like a stretch.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I think, look, the U.S. has been clear about the officials that CNN have been speaking to, that they're still in the early stages, that this is the initial assessment. And the question is not obviously whether Iran has been providing long term support to Hamas. You know, I think some in the U.S. also believes that Iran might have had knowledge that Hamas was planning something. What no one has yet said definitively is that Iran had any knowledge of the precise timing of this attack. And the U.S., as they say, they think they might have known something, some officials, but not the precise timing.

Even a Hamas officials speaking on Russian state television to RT Arabic, its Arabic station, said that they informed Iran and other allies half an hour after the attack. Which he says, they've been planning for two years.

Now, an Israeli official, a senior Israeli official, speaking to Matthew Chance, did go a little bit further, saying that Iran was aware of the operation and gave the green light to it. Although conceding that again with the precise timing, they may not have been aware. Clearly, I think we can see that surprise was a major element of this.

And of course there are those who believe that the whole debate is semantic. right, that it doesn't really matter if Iran knew in advance because they've been providing all this support.

NOBILO: Well, that's what I was going to ask. What would be the international ramifications for that, that distinction?

SEBASTIAN: Well I think -- I think with the scale of this attack, it would to some degree matter going forward if Iran had some knowledge, it was happening and the sort of scale of it and the precise timing. But obviously looking forward the big worry for the U.S. certainly with Blinken in the region today.

[04:30:00]