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Israel Warns Half Of Gaza's Population To Move South; Relief Groups Call For Aid Protection For Civilians In Gaza; Israeli Siege and Airstrikes Take Toll on Gaza's Children; First Hand Account of Situation on the Ground in Gaza; Woman Dies Shielding Her Son from Hamas Gunfire; Children Recount Day Hamas Killed Their Parents; Protests at U.S. Colleges over Israel-Hamas War. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 13, 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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[01:00:25]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome coming to you live from Studio 4 the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Michael Holmes. We continue our breaking news coverage of Israel at war and we begin with a major development in the Israel-Hamas war.

The U.N. says Israel is ordering more than a million Palestinians in northern Gaza to move to the south. The U.N. said it was told within the next 24 hours and several of those hours have already passed. A U.N. spokesperson calls the request impossible saying it could turn an already tragic situation into a calamity.

Now it's likely the clearest sign yet though Israel planning to intensify its military operations in Gaza following Hamas's attack on Israel to build at least 1,200 people. Tens of thousands of Israeli troops, tanks and other military equipment now gathered along the Gaza border.

Meanwhile, the aerial and artillery assault on Gaza shows no sign of letting up as Israel says it's destroyed Hamas tunnels, weapons caches, rocket launchers and storage facilities. But there is enormous and worsening suffering for the civilians in Gaza.

The Palestinian health ministry there says more than 1,500 people have now been killed by Israeli airstrikes and shelling and without power and water or fuel, Tthe healthcare system is on the brink of collapse.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Jordan right now with meetings scheduled in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. In Israel on Thursday, he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We encountered a nation knit together by grief but also a nation united in resolve. United States shares that resolve. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right, let's go live to London now where journalist Elliott Gotkine is following developments for us. Let's start Elliot with this, the U.N. being told it needs to move more than a million people from the north of Gaza to the south.

What does that suggest about what's the common and how on earth could such a movement of people take place in what is what around 17 hours from now?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Michael, I think it's probably the clearest indication yet that Israel plans to ramp up its attacks on Hamas targets throughout the Gaza Strip. And possibly, this is the, you know, next step towards this expected ground invasion that we've been talking about for the past few days in terms of what happens in Gaza.

So this warning was given by the Israelis to the United Nations just before 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. So around about midnight, local time in Israel and the Gaza Strip. And what Israel was saying is that and this is what the statement says civilians of Gaza City evacuate south for your own safety and the safety of your families and distance yourself from Hamas terrorists who are using you as human shields.

Now this area north of Wadi Gaza, which the U.N. says accounts for about 1.1 million people, that's about half the entire population of the Gaza Strip. So it's about roughly 10 kilometers south from the northern tip of the Gaza Strip, though it does vary.

And what the United Nations is saying or its immediate response was that it is impossible to move that many people south without in its word devastating humanitarian consequences.

Now, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency Anwar has already moved its central operations and stuff to the south. Hamas, while the Gaza media office which of course is controlled by Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, putting out a statement after Israel's warning, saying to Palestinians don't fall for what he described as false propaganda, and also said that it was just part of psychological warfare on the part of the Israelis.

Now the U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has asked for clarification. Israel's envoy to the United Nations has described the UN's response as in its -- in his words, shameful, Michael.

HOLMES: Yes. And we're getting some clarification from the IDF apparently calling on all civilians of Gaza City, specifically to evacuate southward on Friday, which is today. I mean, it's an extraordinary demand. I mean, I'm just failing to see how it's in any way possible to move a million people south in that period of time with bombardment ongoing and a lot of the road roads and infrastructure damage.

GOTKINE: Clearly, it's not going to be easy. The United Nations, as we just said, has said that it is impossible without devastating humanitarian consequences. But clearly what Israel wants to do is to minimize civilian casualties from any expected bombing or shelling or even ground incursion, which is likely to come if it does from the North.

Now, we don't know for sure that it's going to happen, we expect it to happen. And we obviously don't know precisely where or when Israel would go in, but by clearing that northern part of the Gaza Strip, if it's able to do so, and if the Palestinian, the civilian Palestinian population pays heed to that warning, this would obviously make the job that much easier, both from a military perspective.

And also, of course, in the if you'd like information war, in terms of the optics, by minimizing civilian casualties, but no doubt scenes of, you know, hundreds of thousands, potentially of Palestinians moving south with, you know, their -- all their worldly possessions, you know, to get out of harm's way is not going to be a particularly good look from Israel's perspective either.

But it feels that this is something that it has to do. And given the gravity of the situation and the brutality of Hamas's attack on Israel in the early hours of Saturday morning, I think this time around, certainly compared with previous wars with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Israel is less concerned about the optics of what it is doing and very much more focused on the military operation and of course, freeing those up to 150 hostages that Hamas took from Israel inside the Gaza Strip. Michael.

HOLMES: Could be some dark days ahead. Elliott Gotkine got going in London. Thanks so much appreciate it.

Now, with Israel facing growing criticism for an apparent intelligence failure before the Hamas attack, the Israeli military says it will investigate the group's use of a half dozen training camps in Gaza after locations were reported by CNN.

According to our reporting, at least six of the sites were within two kilometers of the most heavily patrolled section of the border with Israel. Clarissa Ward with details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Propaganda videos put out by Hamas revealed chilling details about the years of preparations that went into Saturday's bloody attacks right under Israel's nose.

Analyzing metadata from the videos, a CNN investigation can reveal the presence of at least six training sites inside Gaza, one just 720 meters from the most heavily fortified and patrolled part of Israel's border. In that camp, Hamas recreated an Israeli compound with elements of the

nearby border crossing, including an insignia of the Erez Battalion. The videos show the even practice taking prisoners on zip tying their hands at the camp.

Satellite imagery indicates the camp was constructed within the last year and a half. At two other locations in the southern part of Gaza, Hamas trained for their audacious paraglider assault, rehearsing takeoffs and landings.

At all six sites two years of satellite imagery reviewed by CNN shows no indication of offensive Israeli military action. The imagery instead shows that in the last two years, some camps even expanded into surrounding farmland, and that there was activity in the last several months at the camps.

The stunning revelations raised questions as to how Hamas was able to train so openly, so close to the border for so long, and why Israeli officials were unable to pick up on and prevent the October 7 attack. Clarissa Ward, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Quick break here on the program. When we come back, CNN visits the front line in southern Israel as tens of thousands of troops prepare for the next phase of the campaign against Hamas.

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[01:12:53]

HOLMES: Welcome back. The Israel Defense Forces are urging all civilians in northern Gaza including the heavily populated Gaza City to evacuate southwards for their own safety. The IDF says they will announce when it's safe for civilians to return. Israel's military alleges quote the Hamas terrorists are hiding in Gaza City, inside tunnels underneath houses and inside buildings populated with innocent Gazan civilians, end quote.

The United Nation warns a large evacuation of what would be more than a million people on short notice like that could have devastating humanitarian consequences. Gaza of course is already gripped by a crisis that is worsening by the hour. Relief groups say there's an urgent need for a humanitarian corridor so that aid can reach the civilians.

Israel's siege of Gaza has cut off access to food, water, electricity and medical supplies, hospitals are overwhelmed. The Palestinian Ministry of Health says Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 1,500 people and wounded more than 6,000. Israel has been pounding the Enclave with airstrikes and shelling in response to last weekend's Hamas terror attack, which Israel says killed more than 1,200 people.

The White House meanwhile, says it has no plans to put US troops on the ground in the region ahead of an expected military incursion into Gaza. CNN's Nic Robertson reports on preparations. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NI C ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIOANAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voiceover): Israel's newly emerging front line in the war with Hamas heavy howitzers just again, firing on the terror group a few miles away in Gaza.

Part of Israel's massive military buildup since Hamas is attacks Saturday. Many of the 300,000 reservists called up already deployed ahead of a highly anticipated ground offensive into Gaza.

[01:15:05]

ROBERTSON (on camera): These are exactly the same gun positions the Israeli Defense Forces used in that last major confrontation with the Hamas back in 2021. The question now, will this confrontation be different? Will Israel actually be able to crush Hamas, as the Prime Minister says he wants to do.

ROBERTSON (voiceover): Military offensives better than before, and won't be easy now. The Palestinian death toll an unintended consequence of Israeli shelling and missile strikes, is claiming Thursday staunch ally, the U.S. cautioning care.

BLINKEN: The Prime Minister and I discussed how Israel does these matters. We democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for a different standard, even when it's difficult.

ROBERTSON: And it will be difficult. Israel is still reeling from the deadliest most barbaric attack on its citizens since the state was founded. Anger at Hamas is high. So too pressure on the Prime Minister to act decisively. His calling for more international support as he plans his offensive.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated. They should be split out from the community of nations. No leader should meet them. No country should harbor them. And those that do should be sanctioned.

ROBERTSON: In the meantime, Hamas is still getting into Israel, this gun battle with them late Wednesday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were multiple incursions by Hamas terrorists yesterday. I drove right through stair road during the time when three terrorists were out, again looking for civilians to kill.

ROBERTSON: The tempo of fire here, far higher than in 2021, a drumbeat that seems to signal a ground offensive, all but inevitable. Even so its outcome, far from certain. Nic Robertson, CNN, Sderot, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right, I want to bring in Gideon Levy, now a journalist and opinion writer with Haaretz, in Tel Aviv. Good to see you. Tragically, this is another bloody chapter, isn't it? Albeit bloodier than others in a cycle of, you know, wash, rinse, repeat what somebody does Israel used to call mowing the lawn.

What is the risk once the dust settles have a return to the status quo ante, if fundamental issues are not addressed, when it just happened again?

GIDEON LEVY, JOURNALIST, HAARETZ: Unfortunately, Israel doesn't learn anything from the past, because we've been there so many times and committed the same attacks on Gaza, killed so many people of Gaza. And few months later, one year later, we are back in square one.

We have to realize that this problem and there is a huge problem, this problem will never be solved only by force. But now I think we are facing a new situation. It's not it seems as it seems now, it's not going to be like in the past.

Israel, at least according to the plans, at least according to the warnings and the threats is going to commit a massive crime of war. If we are going to transfer now 1 million people within 24 hours. This will be unforgivable. That's a tragedy that nobody can know how it will end.

Look on Saturday, there was a barbarian attack on Israel. But this does not mean that Israel can go crazy, you know, and do whatever it wants. And if we're really going to face this, I'm very scared.

HOLMES: Yes. I mean, Israel strikes in Gaza are massive and Hamas, ostensibly at least is the target Hamas is, but Hamas isn't Gaza writ large in terms of the 2.2 million people who live there. Do you think that fact gets lost in what we're saying?

LEVY: Yes, it does. Because by the end of the day, Hamas should be punished and should be smashed. But you can't do it at any price. There are limits. There are legal limits. There are moral limits. You can't do it in any price. Unless you decide that you clean all Gaza and expel all the 2 million people of Gaza or god forbid you experiment -- exterminated them. We are not there and we shouldn't get there. We should do whatever is possible legal and moral but not beyond this because I really feel we are on the edge of a catastrophe.

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[01:23:22]

HOLMES: Welcome back, I'm Michael Holmes. The Israeli military calling on all civilians in northern Gaza, including Gaza City to evacuate southwards on Friday. The U.N. urgently seeking clarification saying such an evacuation order simply isn't possible. It is the surest sign yet that an Israeli ground offensive may be imminent in retaliation for the Hamas massacres that killed 1,200 people.

The IDF says some 300,000 Israeli troops are now massing near Gaza's border artillery and airstrikes against Hamas targets inside Gaza have continued almost non-stop. Palestinians say more than 1,500 people, including 500 children have died so far in those Israeli bombardments.

The U.N. says nearly 423,000 people have been displaced from their homes, food, water, fuel, power, all have been cut off.

All right, I want to bring back Gideon Levy, journalist with Haaretz in Tel Aviv. I'm sorry, we lost audio with you earlier.

I was going to quote you from a piece you did in Haaretz and you said this, the threats of flattening Gaza proved only one thing, we haven't learned a thing. The arrogance is here to stay even though Israel is paying a high price once again. Just briefly explain that for us.

[01:25:00]

LEVY: Those lines were written before I knew how big was the massacre in the south of Israel. And still I stand behind it, because Israel should obviously protect itself. Israel has the right to retaliate, to take revenge, to smash Gaza, not Gaza, to smash Hamas. All this is legitimate.

What is unacceptable is that now we will punish 2.3 million people in a way that we never punish them before. That's a crime of war. Listen, by the end of the day, in Gaza, they are before anything else, human beings like you and me. And they are in terrible, terrible position.

Now, what where will they run? Where will they find rescue? 1 million people run to the south part of the -- of Gaza, or shall they run into the ocean? I mean, what do we say that because we were victims of a terrible, terrible attack on Saturday now we have the right to do whatever we want with innocent people.

This is really entry above all working with lead. I mean, what will Israel gain out of it? And this what I meant that if you don't learn anything.

HOLMES: Right.

LEVY: Few months, it will be over. Gaza will be rehabilitated. And then what? Who will replace Hamas exactly?

HOLMES: Yes. And you know, I want to ask you this. And you know, obviously, it goes without saying that the Hamas attack was horrible, dreadful, brutal terrorism. But you know, some Israeli analysts say that Israel made a critical strategic mistake by pushing the Palestinian issue to the side, the core issue of the occupation, and so on. Should the core Palestinian issues, the occupation, issues of self-determination, and so on, be part of the discussion once the dust settles, because it hasn't been for a very long time?

LEVY: I couldn't agree more. That's exactly what I meant when I spoke about the Israeli arrogance. We will make peace with all over the world, including the Emirates and Saudi Arabia. We will have a prosperous country with high tech and everything. And in our backyard, there will be 5 million people living in terrible conditions under a brutal dictatorship. And this can last forever.

We normalize the siege of Gaza. We normalize the occupation, but those phenomenas are not normal. And those phenomena can look cannot last forever without paying a price. And here we are. HOLMES: There have been clashes and deaths in the West Bank too where a lot of focus has been. What are the risks of a major uprising in Jerusalem or the West Bank?

LEVY: Is what he's doing on the settlers are doing anything possible to provoke it. They kill now like crazy the settlers, but who cares now, and there is a real risk that this will explode. The problem is that in the West Bank, the Palestinians are very, very weak, very divided and above all, without any chance to do something because they control the Israeli controlling the West Bank is so tied up that I don't see a major development there. The real danger is now from the north, north from the West Bank.

HOLMES: Yes, from Lebanon. We're right out of time Gideon Levy, always a pleasure to speak with you and read your stuff in Haaretz. Thanks so much.

LEVY: Thank you.

HOLMES: Well, relief groups are calling for the protection of civilians in Gaza who continue to suffer in the bloody war between Hamas and Israel. CNN's Nada Bashir reports. Now in a warning her report does contain graphic content.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN REPORTER (voiceover): Gripped by grief and loss of unfathomable scale. Gaza's death toll and the number of civilians wounded is rising with each and every airstrike. In the Shati refugee camp, men dig with their bare hands, desperate to rescue loved ones from beneath the rubble of what once were their left.

Sad (ph) begins to list the names of the children killed in this latest strike. Among them his niece. She was just a few months old. Now she is one of more than 440 children Gaza's health ministry says has been killed by Israeli airstrikes so far.

Israel says it is striking Hamas targets. What authorities here say medical facilities, schools and residential areas have been impacted. And our neighbors said that the Israelis had called and told them to evacuate the area around our home. So we came to stay with relatives here in a shelter, Nabil says.

But the next morning when we woke up to pray at dawn the airstrike happened. There was no warning

[01:29:40]

The densely-populated Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli land, sea and air blockade since 2007, is home to more than 2 million people. Around 47 percent of them are children.

So far, at least 340,000 people have been displaced within Gaza. Many are now forced to take shelter and U.N.-run schools like this one. But civilians here are also now facing what the Israeli government has described as a complete siege on Gaza.

"There's no water for us to drink, no water for us to wash ourselves with so that we can pray," Maram says. "They've bombed our schools, many people have been killed, it's not fair for children like us. Why is this happening to us?

Life under a blockade is all that the children of Gaza have ever known. For some, like 13-year-old Nadine (ph), it is hard to imagine a future beyond this relentless conflict.

NADINE ABDUL LATIF, TEENAGER LIVING IN GAZA: The last couple of nights have been the worst couple of nights I've ever lived in my life. This is not living. This is existing. We're not planning our futures anymore, we're just trying to survive.

BASHIR: But survival in Gaza is becoming more and more difficult by the day. The humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating. And while the U.N. has condemned what it has described as Israel's unlawful blockade on Gaza, and the indiscriminate nature of the airstrikes, there is little hope that the bloodshed will end here.

Nada Bashir, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Now, after Israel cut power, water, food, and fuel to Gaza, Norway's foreign minister said blocking access to humanitarian aid for Gaza is, quote, "unacceptable".

Earlier, CNN's Anderson Cooper spoke by phone with a Norwegian Refugee Council spokesman in Gaza and they discussed the situation on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Yousef, an Israeli official said earlier today that Gaza will not be provided with any electricity or water or fuel until Israeli hostages being held by Hamas are returned home. What's the impact so far been in Gaza?

YOUSEF HAMMASH, SPOKESMAN, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: So far, the situation in Gaza is really bad before starting this war. After that -- after this war on Gaza, we have the bombardment, after that like no electricity, no water, no fuel and in a couple of few days, we will have found that all of the stores in Gaza will be empty, there will never be nothing for people to consume in Gaza.

COOPER: Where do people get basic supplies? I mean where are people getting food?

HAMMASH: On a different -- but I had to flee myself and I'm posted with one of my relatives every day and every morning, I have to go to stand in line in front of a bakery almost for two hours just to get a box of bread.

There is not enough supply for anything in Gaza. Sorry. Some bombardments around me, sorry. So as you hear --

COOPER: That was an explosion?

HAMMASH: That was a bomb, yes, yes.

COOPER: And what about water? When you turn on taps in your home, do you get water?

HAMMASH: There is no water in Gaza, especially even though we have other sources like municipality lines in Gaza. But there is no electricity to pump this water up the tanks in the houses. So we collect water in cooking pots, in small gallons, just trying to store water, not only for drinking water, also for hygiene.

COOPER: I'm wondering what people their say about the attack that took place in Israel. Is there a lot of support for the attack that took place? Did you hear from people?

HAMMASH: Honestly, all of us, this 2 million people here on a daily basis have to provide safety at the beginning for their children, food and other needs, the essential needs on a daily basis.

With all of this bombardment over our heads, we don't have space in our head to think about anything but secure our lives.

We cannot of anything in all of this chaotic situation, bombardments, no electricity, no water. What's the world expecting from Gazans to think about?

COOPER: Are people there aware of hostages being held by Hamas?

HAMMASH: The people are aware of the situation but they are unaware of what's in the (INAUDIBLE). Unfortunately we don't see any intervention from the international community to understand it. And until now we don't see anyone who's interfering from the outside world.

[01:34:58]

HAMMASH: People here, living -- I can't say they are living day by day. We are living here second by second. Every day, when we go to find some sleep, especially when the night came, we are praying just to see the daylight again.

The situation here is unbearable. I do not think that anyone on this planet can handle the situation here for one hour.

COOPER: If there is a ground invasion, what do you expect?

HAMMASH: We are terrified of this -- all the news talking about a ground invasion, we are completely terrified from the scenario. With all of this bombardment, add to that a ground invasion. I don't think, it's going to be a horror movie. It's a literally horror here. We are seeing horror in a daily basis, second by second, we see this bombardment around us.

COOPER: Yousef Hammash, thank you so much for talking to us.

HAMMASH: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: If you'd like information about how you can help humanitarian efforts in Israel and Gaza, go to CNN.com/impact. We've gathered a list there of vetted organizations responding to the crisis.

An Israeli woman literally took a bullet for her son to save his life during last weekend's brutal Hamas attack. You'll hear a heartbreaking interview with her children who lost both parents in the rampage.

That's when we come back.

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HOLMES: Funerals were held Thursday for some of the people who had been killed over the last few days. Israeli families gathering in Jerusalem's Mt. Herzl Cemetery to attend the funerals of soldiers killed in the conflict with Hamas.

[01:39:53]

HOLMES: Meanwhile, Palestinians mourning the deaths of five of their own who were killed by Israeli settlers and forces in the occupied West Bank.

The nationalities of the victims of the Hamas attacks last weekend stretched right across the globe. They include Thailand, Brazil, Russia, the U.K., Australia, and Ukraine.

All right. Joining me now on the phone, Dr. Gasan (INAUDIBLE) is a British-Palestinian surgeon working inside (INAUDIBLE) hospital in Gaza City. Thanks for being with us, sir. I really appreciate you making the time.

It's sort of emblematic of the difficulties there that we've got you on the phone and not via video as planned. Now, earlier on Thursday, the International Committee on Red Cross said hospitals at Gaza risk turning into morgues as they lose power and supplies. What's the situation for those wounded in Gaza?

Doctor, are you there? We seem to have lost the line. It's very difficult there in Gaza, obviously, with communications, electricity and so on. We were hoping to get the doctor via video, then telephone. It would seem both have failed.

All right, now we are continuing to hear horrific stories about the violence that played out during the Hamas attack inside Israel last weekend. Debra Matias was on the phone with her father when she and her husband Shlomy were shot and killed in her home. Debra shielded their teenage son from their gunfire with her own body likely saving his life.

The son Rotem was wounded in the attack. He later spoke with CNN's Poppy Harlow along with his two sisters. Poppy asked ROTEM how his recovery is going.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROTEM MATIAS, LOST PARENTS IN HAMAS ATTACK: I am doing very well. I am able to walk now. A few days ago, I couldn't even stand.

The bullet inside my stomach has been taken out via surgery. And I'm feeling much, much better.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: We are showing, as we speak to you, these beautiful pictures of your parents and it was so striking to hear your grandfather earlier this week describe what they did to save you and how your mother bore the brunt of the gunfire and did what every, you know, mother would do for their child.

Could you help tell us about her and your father.

MATIAS: I can't explain them in words that they were the best. They did everything in their power to give us the life that they wanted us to have. They wanted us to be happy. To be whimsical, when to be joyful. They wanted us to be in peace. They didn't want us to be at a situation like this.

And they wanted us to live more than anything. So as you said, mom and dad they sacrificed their lives to save me.

HARLOW: What would you like to share?

SHIR MATIAS, LOST PARENTS TO HAMAS ATTACK: I just want to say, that we are very, very sad that our parents are gone. They were very, very brave. They were good people, and they didn't deserve anything this horrible.

None of the people in Israel, none of the foreign citizens who were here or taken deserve any of this. Sadly (INAUDIBLE) and we are still sitting and waiting to hear anything about them.

HARLOW: Shakked, not only did you lose your parents but you also had to learn -- you learned that they were killed from your brother, Rotem sending you that message. Those moments --

(CROSSTALKING)

HARLOW: Go ahead.

SHAKKED MATIAS, LOST PARENTS IN HAMAS ATTACK: It was very -- I didn't want to believe it, I don't think anyone would want to believe it, the text message said mom and dad are dead -- mom and dad are dead, sorry.

[01:44:42]

SHAKKED MATIAS: And that was when my service was gone and I was cut off. And I was left about 13, 14 hours in the safe room. I had no idea what happened to my parents, if they really are gone.

And I didn't have my brother. He was not here. I was so worried and I was so scared. And we heard bombs everywhere. We heard shooting and we heard screams. And no one should ever have to go through that, ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Hard to listen to, isn't it? We will take a quick break.

When we come back protests that rocked the U.S. college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war. We'll hear from students, coming up.

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HOLMES: French police there using water cannon and tear gas to break up a pro-Palestinian rally in Paris on Thursday. President Emmanuel Macron has banned protests in support of the Palestinian people saying they were quote "likely to generate disturbances to public order". France is home to the largest Muslim and Jewish communities in Europe.

[01:49:57]

HOLMES: In Tunisia thousands of people filled the streets of Tunis to show their solidarity with the Palestinian people. Demonstrators also demanding that any normalization of relations with Israel be made a criminal offense.

Now here in the U.S., tensions rising at college campuses from Harvard to UCLA, over the Israel-Hamas war.

CNN's Nick Watt reports on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A so-called day of resistance on campuses across the country called by National Students for Justice in Palestine, which hails the Hamas terror attacks as a historic win for the Palestinian resistance across the land, air and sea.

JULIA JASSEY, CEO, JEWISH CAMPUS: That's the justification for the murder that we've seen throughout history under a different name.

WATT: At San Diego State one pro-Palestinian protester said this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're not for any lives lost, no matter if Palestinian or Israeli.

JASSEY: We found that 67 percent of Jewish students in the U.S. have experienced or seen anti-Semitism, that is before this occurred. Now we are seeing the levels rise, the incidents rise, the complaints rise.

WATT: At Harvard, a statement released within hours of the attacks began "We the undersigned student organizations hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence." Some have recanted after a backlash that included a billionaire hedge fund boss asking Harvard to name members of the groups that signed so none of us inadvertently hire them.

Last night, their names and faces emblazoned on a truck in Harvard Square by a conservative organization. "Such intimidation is counterproductive", said Harvard Hillel, a Jewish student group.

JASSEY: The conversation about what is and isn't productive discourse is something that we are seeing really taking shape.

WATT: A major UPenn benefactor has called on other alums to close the checkbooks after what he said was college leaders' apparent failure to condemn the views of some speakers at a recent Palestinian literary festival on campus.

Even after the Hamas attack, college officials have condemned antisemitism.

In Los Angeles, Tuesday, a pro-Israel rally just a stone throw from the UCLA campus, the Cultural Affairs Commission of UCLA, a student group posted Monday, "We honor the Palestinians on the front lines taking their land and sovereignty back." They say this is not anti- Semitism, "Judaism is separate from the political movement of Zionism."

JADEN PENHASKASHI, UCLA STUDENT: These are UCLA organizations and they have the permission to say these things. It's absolutely absurd.

WATT: I mean you're holding an Israeli flag. Is that something you'd be ok doing on campus?

ROEL HATZOR, UCLA STUDENT: Oftentimes on campus I feel scared to hold a flag if I'm not with a big group. There's a lot of anti-Semitism on campus and it is always felt at all times.

WATT: And now we're on the UCLA campus where today a large pro- Palestinian rally -- listen the tensions are only going to heighten after what happened in the Middle East, what's going to happen in the Middle East and also tensions, particularly on campuses over where is that line between standing up for Palestinian human rights and glorifying murder.

Nick Watt, CNN -- Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: We're still getting heartbreaking stories about the Hamas attack on Israel last weekend. A few hours ago CNN's Wolf Blitzer spoke Betzalel Taijah (ph) an Israeli soldier whose mother was killed in the onslaught. Wolf asked him what he felt when he realized his mother was gone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETZALEL TAIJAH, ISRAELI SOLDIER: It was very, very, very bad feelings when we found out. I didn't believe it. I didn't think -- no way I thought that this is how I would find my mom, it's crazy. Crazy and I cannot really -- now am at war so I don't have really time to sit and cry on my mom. So after we will fight and win this fight on the evil force, we will start to cry.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Betzalel, how is your family processing this really disgusting, this horrendous attack on your mother, the loss in what was supposed to be a celebration of life, a newborn baby?

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TAIJAH: A lot of pressure even in the war zone. A lot of pressure. The grandkids are asking where is grandma, when is grandma coming? Why is grandma not coming?

They understand now already that my mom got murdered to death. Why she got murdered? Nobody understands it. Everybody is crying a lot.

BLITZER: I know you say Betzalel, that you want to fight in Gaza and your mother's name, in your mother's memory. Do you expect you actually will be deployed there?

TAIJAH: All of Israel is under attack. I am fighting wherever they need me the most. For me, we don't have really a difference between Hamas of Gaza and Hamas -- (INAUDIBLE) Hezbollah, everybody tries to kill us. We have so much enemies on Israel. (INAUDIBLE)

It's not even a fight between Israel and Hamas or Hezbollah, it's a fight between good and evil. The other side don't have mercy, no mercy.

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HOLMES: Amid the carnage and destruction in Gaza, a little bit of joy and happiness that the birth of the baby can bring. Baby Abdallah born on Thursday in the maternity ward at a hospital in Gaza City.

His father is a Reuter's journalism who's been covering the Israel airstrikes, the aftermath and funerals in the enclave. And now he is a father of five.

Abdallah was not the only newborn in the ward on Thursday, a baby girl born to a woman who says she had to risk her life getting to the hospital to give birth.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes.

Do stick around. Our breaking news coverage continues with my colleague Kim Brunhuber after the break.

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