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Israel At War; 19-Year-Old Soldier Among Missing Week After Hamas Attack; Interview With Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA); IDF: Forces Are "Increasing Operations Readiness For The Next Stages Of The War"; Tens Of Thousands Flee Northern Gaza After Israel Evacuation Order; Doctors Without Borders: Order To Evacuate Northern Gaza "Outrageous". Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 14, 2023 - 17:00   ET

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

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[17:00:58]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Jim Acosta in Washington along with my colleague Erin Burnett in Tel Aviv. Good evening.

It is midnight in Israel and the beginning of day nine of Israel's war with Hamas. Israel prepares the world at this crucial hour. Its military is working toward quote, "the next stages of war" and that likely will include a ground invasion into Gaza.

More than 300,000 Israeli soldiers with heavy equipment are at the border as we speak awaiting orders from Israeli Defense Forces and turning it over to my colleague Erin in Tel Aviv. Erin, what can you tell us?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Jim, you know, the prime minister as you mentioned, those troops are awaiting orders. The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is underscoring their readiness. Today he posted a video online of his visit with troops at the frontline.

Israel as you mentioned has ordered those troops to the border and ordered more than a million civilians to evacuate in northern Gaza for their own safety.

Today the State Department is urging Palestinian Americans in Gaza to move closer to the crossing into Egypt. It is called the Rafah crossing.

Minutes ago the U.S. State Department confirmed that the American death toll in Israel has climbed now up to 29 Americans confirmed dead.

And today, Jim, we visited Kibbutz Be'eri (ph), and that is right near actually where Benjamin Netanyahu actually went in today to visit the troops. 1,100 people lived here, more than 100 were dead.

And you know, we were there today, we could smell the death. I will say it's a distinct and immediately recognizable, horrible smell to any human being.

We saw things like these tractors, airplane toys of children, all burnt out and destroyed. Inside one home, in the kitchen you can see it was the microwave, the fridge still full of food. On a counter, I even saw days-of-the-week medicine dispenser, bullet holes in almost every single home and in Arabic on the side of one graffiti that says a "Al Qassem Brigade", "Allah Akbar" and the word "victory". And everywhere you see next to the destruction IDF soldiers, Jim, on patrol, on-duty in what is now a death zone and an active fighting area.

Incredibly sobering to see it. You see the detritus of life that was just in the midst of being lived. Children's playing guards (ph), kids homework just completely destroyed and shot up. And again, that horrid, horrid smell.

ACOSTA: Absolutely Erin. And one of the things I know you are hearing this time and again and we are hearing it as well here in Washington when we ask the questions of the Israeli Defense Forces and so on is that they want the world to recognize the horrors of what took place during these attacks by Hamas.

And you got that sense up close and personal today. When you talk to people, even at this stage I know everybody is holding their collective breath but there must be a growing sense of awareness as to what is about to happen next.

BURNETT: There is, Jim. And I will say this. There is a feeling that you -- you know, even from a psychological and emotional perspective which ultimately war is on so many levels, you can't sit in such a state of readiness and pause and wait for an entire country for too long. You have to actually decide what that next stage will be and move on it.

You know, you've got a country where businesses are still not fully open. You've got kids not all the way in school. You've got all these things on hold. As you've got those hundreds of thousands of troops amassing on the border.

So there is a very palpable sense. And even when you talk to people. People saying well, they think it will be tomorrow. These are civilians but they get this feeling that it is imminent, that it is about to happen. At least that is definitely the sentiment and the overall feeling that is palpable. There's a great sense of tension and anticipation of something about to happen.

ACOSTA: Yes. And Erin, did you observe some of this military readiness? We talked to a reservist earlier today on this program who was explaining to us, you know, they feel very much prepared to do what is next, what is going to be called of them.

[17:04:59]

ACOSTA: This one reservist I spoke with said, you know, I don't know whether or not I'm going to see some of my friends, some of my fellow soldiers again on the other side of this. You do again, get that sense as to what is about to take place.

BURNETT: Absolutely. And today, we were obviously in what I've sort of described as a buffer zone between the actual Gaza border and where the military is essentially blocked off. Obviously, in the settlement we were almost right along that border but there is an area of military readiness. And in there we could observe quite a bit of Israeli artillery that we were driving through. You know, you're sort of on dirt roads and you can see all of that there.

And we have seen a massive buildup with tank brigades, special forces -- it is all very visible. They don't really want you to film it now and that has been sort of a change over the past few days, but it is very much there, it is very much in place.

And again, you have to -- when you have to have hundreds of thousands of soldiers -- a place for them to stay and (INAUDIBLE) for them to eat and continuing that indefinitely without taking action, obviously from a logistical perspective, sort of defies reason.

ACOSTA: All right. Well, Erin, standby, we're going to have more of your incredible reporting -- your team's incredible reporting coming up in just a few moments.

But first I want to go to CNN's Matthew Chance in northern Israel. Matthew, I want to check in with you. If you can tell us where you are, what you're standing in front of. It sounds as though there was a prolonged exchange or rocket fire between Israel and Hezbollah along the northern border with Lebanon. Earlier today, we heard some of that from our colleague, Ben Wedeman. What can you tell us? What are you seeing right now.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, we're on the other side, Jim, of that confrontation with Israeli troops in the north of Israel, very close to the Lebanese border, quite close to the Syrian border as well. It is a short distance from here.

So you can see we are with some Israeli forces that have begun to gather and sort of encamp in this very volatile region. Of course the majority of Israeli forces bolster themselves for a possible assault which we are expecting in the south in Gaza about 250 miles to the north here where people and soldiers are bracing for the possibility of a second front opening, a rocket barrage, of a fear of ground incursion from across the border in Lebanon and possibly elsewhere as well as I mentioned.

There have been some exchanges of fire. You mentioned some artillery fire that has been going out from the Israeli side toward Lebanon. That was in response to a mortar attack, I'm told by the local soldiers here just a short distance from here.

There has also been rockets fired from Syria and there has been an Israeli response to that as well. You can see a huge buildup of forces here in preparation for the possibility of that getting a much bigger confrontation. At the moment, Israeli officials say that the level of confrontation in this part of the country has not got to the point of escalation. That is the phrase they use. It is not big enough yet to warrant a full-scale escalation.

But the Israelis are also warning that if it does breach that point then they will take decisive action. They have appealed to Hezbollah the Iranian backed Lebanese militia to say, don't provoke the destruction of Lebanon. That is an overt threat that if there is a kind of massive barrage of missiles across the border from Lebanon from Hezbollah, the Israelis will respond in kind and with strength.

And so that's the situation here. At the moment it is pretty quiet apart from the isolated incidents that we have spoken about earlier. And Hezbollah has not launched a full-scale strike yet on this part of Israel.

But let's see what happens in the next few days because there is all sorts of concern at what the regional reaction once that very provocative, potentially very bloody ground operation in Gaza gets underway, Jim.

ACOSTA: And Matthew, are you getting the sense that -- and maybe it is impossible to read the minds of what is going on inside Hezbollah -- that Hezbollah is trying to provoke the Israelis into opening up a second front?

I suppose the Israelis have to be wise to that. What is your sense of that?

CHANCE: I don't think so at this point. I think it would be unfair to say the Hezbollah are trying to provoke a second front. But look, I mean both sides are sort of eyeing each other with caution.

[17:09:56]

CHANCE: Israel does not want a second front to open not least because it is preoccupied with the situation in Gaza to the south. But also because it knows very well that the Palestinian rockets that have been fired at its settlements over the course of the past week or so, and of course, beyond that pale into significance compared to the strength of the rocket arsenal, the missile arsenal that Hezbollah at its disposal.

It is heavily supplied of course, directly from Iran. It is essentially under the command of Iran as well and at the moment Israel is doing everything it can to make sure that that full-scale war does not break out.

I think by the same token, Hezbollah is not necessarily gunning for a second front at the moment either because it knows what will come. Not only does Israel have significant antimissile defenses in this region but it is made quite clear it will strike back hard.

There is also U.S. forces in the aircraft carrier group off the coast of Israel in the eastern Mediterranean that could well be brought in to a confrontation if Hezbollah were to unleash its missile arsenal on northern Israel.

And so look, if that step is taken, if that Rubicon is crossed, then we will be in a very different geopolitical and fighting situation in this part of the world.

ACOSTA: Yes, no question about it. That is a very critical point to make. Matthew Chance, thank you so much.

Stay with us. If you can standby as well. It is a very active, intense night across Israel, across Gaza.

We will have more on all of this as this region looks like it is preparing and is on the brink of a significant escalation in the war between Israel and Hamas.

Stay with us we will be right back in a moment.

[17:11:46]

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BURNETT: Welcome back in Tel Aviv. I'm Erin Burnett.

It has been one week now since Hamas fighters attacked multiple sites in Israel in a devastating, coordinated attack, A slaughter that has shocked the world.

More than a week later many families still do not know what happened to their loved ones. Loved ones who have not been seen or heard from since the horrific attacks.

And among them are the parents of 19-year-old Israeli soldier Roni Eshel. She is in her second year of mandatory military service and was stationed at a base not far from the Gaza border. Her family has not heard from her since a few hours after the Hamas attacks began.

Her mother Sharon, joins me now. Sharon, I know your little girl, your 19-year-old daughter, you are just hoping every moment to hear from her, to hear something about her. Can you tell me what you know, as best as you were able to get from her, what happened that Saturday morning to her?

SHARON ESHEL MOTHER OF MISSING ISRAELI SOLDIER RONI ESHEL: Saturday morning started with a missile attack and I called her and I called and I couldn't get any connection. Finally, she texted me at 9:30 a.m. saying, "Mom I'm ok, don't worry about me, I have no reception." And then I texted her back, "I love you". And she replied, "Mom, don't worry, I love you too."

And that was it. I haven't heard from her since. It has been eight days now from this Black Saturday, as we call it. And I miss her. I miss her so much.

BURNETT: I can only imagine -- I can only imagine, it's your child. The IDF I know has confirmed that she is missing. Obviously, they have not given you horrible news. They say she is missing.

Are they telling you what they are doing to locate her? Have they said whether they think she is being held as a hostage or any sort of information at all, Sharon? ESHEL: The IDF is in contact with us and we are all looking for her.

We believe that she was kidnapped by Hamas by (INAUDIBLE) and we don't know where she is. And there are several more girls from her base and we ask (INAUDIBLE) and we ask for help to get them all back.

We don't know where are they. I don't know where my girl is and I miss her. I miss her so much. You know, every day is like a nightmare because I can't sleep. I can't eat. I can't breathe. I actually cannot breathe.

This is a living hell for all of us since that day. I don't know where is she.

BURNETT: Sharon, in the text that she sent you, you know, you said, she told you I'm in a safe room, there is no reception. And you respond "I love you." I know just to give her support. You know, it's your child, I love you and she says ok Mom, don't worry about me I love you too and then she gives you three hearts. Three heart emojis.

I know that she is in her second year of service with the IDF. Can you tell us about how she felt about being a soldier? How she felt about being on that base and the military?

ESHEL: Well, she loved it. She thought she was doing something important. Her job was important. She has the eyes on the base -- she loved doing it. She felt she is doing something important. She loved doing that.

[17:20:02]

BURNETT: And could you tell us a little bit about her and her plans for the future? What she wants to do. Who she is? We are looking at some of the pictures that you shared with us of her. And she does have that very, you know, contagious smile and a real joy to her that comes through in the photos.

ESHEL: She was a typical teenager. She likes music. She likes to listen to Taylor Swift and Harry Styles and, you know, a few months ago when Maroon 5 was in Israel we went to the concert.

And she loved going to parties. You know, what teenagers do at her age. And she didn't have much time between finishing high school and enlisting into the army. And when she was about to get into the army she wanted to go to America. She wanted to have a big trip and maybe later go to university. You know, all the things that --

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BURNETT: Hopefully Sharon, she will be able to do those things. Our thoughts are with you in the unimaginable ways. You say you can't breathe, I know everyone -- anyone watching could understand it is incredible you are even able to speak with us.

Thank you so much for talking about Roni and sharing her with us and we hope that you will be getting good news.

And we will be right back as our breaking news coverage continues after this.

[17:21:43]

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ACOSTA: Looking at some live pictures right now of Gaza. It's 12:25 a.m. in Gaza as the Israeli Defense Forces are preparing for what they are calling the next stages of this war. It sounds very ominous. Obviously, the prime minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu is down at that front earlier today speaking with his soldiers.

And tensions are, of course, mounting across Israel. Tonight we have learned President Biden has spoken with both the leaders of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and of the Palestinian Authority. And we're also learning that the number of Americans killed in last week's attack has now risen to 29 American lives lost.

Let's discuss more with Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts. He serves on the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman, really appreciate you being here.

You know, I guess right now we just don't know what happens next but it sounds as though that something is imminent. What are your thoughts? We were just showing these eerily quiet live pictures of Gaza a few moments ago, but all indications are that something -- an escalation in this war between Israel and Hamas is going to be happening soon.

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Well, I think that's right, Jim. I think it's is pretty clear we all know what is coming which is an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza and there are a lot of different ways this could go.

But as the veteran of a few ground invasions myself, four tours in Iraq, I can tell you there are a lot of mistakes that Israel can make in the coming days. And so it's going to be a very tough operation. It's not going to be easy to fight through an urban environment like that. It would be very difficult.

And if Israel is not careful to make sure that as many innocent lives are preserved as possible, then they run into this problem that we call insurgent math where they risk creating more insurgents, recruiting more people to the cause than Hamas fighters that they actually kill.

So in other words, how Israel conducts this operation is critical not just for the safety of the people of Gaza, for the safety of the people of Israel, but ultimately for their success in this war.

ACOSTA: And earlier this afternoon we spoke with a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces and he was indicating that Palestinians who have been asked to leave, ordered to leave northern Gaza have a little more time to make their way to southern Gaza. Perhaps this is what Israel wants the world to hear. I'm sure that's what it is.

That they want to give the Palestinians as much time as possible to move to that southern part of Gaza. But he was very clear later on in the interview that Israeli Defense Forces are prepared to move in and that they will stay in that part of the world for as long as they think it is necessary to take out the leadership of Hamas.

And I asked him, does that mean days, possibly weeks? And he seemed to indicate that yes, that they are prepared to stay as long as the mission takes.

But that seems to go to the question that you raised, the concern that you raise, which is they may be stuck in some very hard fighting in the days and weeks ahead.

MOULTON: That's right. I mean we went into Afghanistan thinking it would be a few weeks, maybe a couple of months. We went into Iraq thinking probably it would be a few months longer than that. And 20 years later we were still in those wars.

The problem again is that if the mission is to destroy Hamas, but by being there and essentially antagonizing the civilian population, killing innocent people, you are going to recruit more people to the cause.

So you might be killing Hamas fighters but they are busy recruiting more people and it is not that hard to recruit, you know, fighters for the opposition if they see their families getting wiped out.

[17:29:50]

MOULTON: So this is a very difficult operation. It really is a counterinsurgency operation. In the First Marine Division in Iraq, we had our division motto which is "No better friend, no worse enemy than a United States Marine".

Now, of course, that meant that you know, for our enemy, for Hamas in this case, you'll find no fiercer foe. We will hunt you down. We will kill you. Don't oppose us.

But on the other hand, the first part of that phrase, "no better friend," is really important, too.

If Israel doesn't show that they can take care of the civilian population, fundamentally, it is smarter for the civilian population to side with the IDF then to side with the Hamas terrorists, then they are not going to win the long war. They are not going to win the long battle.

What I hear out of Israel, a lot of talk about the tactics on the ground for how they take out Hamas, I don't hear much about this bigger picture strategy to produce a long-term viable political solution for all of the innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip.

The innocent civilians need to see a future that is not just a war or they will simply join the other side.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Just shifting to the connection to some domestic politics, and that is the House of Representatives still does not have a speaker at this hour.

What are the risks of not having a House speaker during this major international crisis?

MOULTON: There is significant. They are in two big categories. First of all, we can't do anything as the United States Congress.

We can't even pass a simple resolution to affirm our support for Israel. We can't pass bills to get aid to Israel, any additional aid they might need that requires congressional support.

Of course, we haven't been able to provide any additional aid for Ukraine or any of the other international issues around the globe. That is the fundamental problem that we face right now.

But the other problem is that our adversaries, Russia and China, for example, are looking at the United States right now and just seeing this dysfunction.

The GOP civil war that has consumed the House has the risk of consuming American politics at large.

And that's how our adversaries are making it out. They're saying, the United States, this democracy is dysfunctional. They cannot work.

I think, in the long run, we are going to see that part of the reason Hamas chose this time to attack Israel is because of all of the domestic political dysfunction in the Netanyahu government.

So we are at a national security risk ourselves in America if our adversaries see us as politically week.

(CROSSTALK)

MOULTON: When you don't have a speaker for the first time in American history in the House of Representatives, it is kind of hard to argue that we are not experiencing some serious political dysfunction.

ACOSTA: And I'll follow up on that. Republicans, as you know, have nominated Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan as their next House speaker. Can you work with him?

MOULTON: We will try to work with anyone. Democrats have been offering to Republicans from day one to produce a compromised speaker, someone we can make a deal with.

Democrats might even support in a speaker election, something you never see in the House of Representatives. We are going way out there as Democrats to help the GOP solve this problem.

But speaking to some of my Republican friends yesterday, as they were leaving Washington for the weekend, they are incredibly frustrated to the point of just being angry, despondent at the total dysfunction in their conference.

This is a GOP civil war. Jim Jordan is on one extreme side of that. He is an extremist that Republicans somehow think was going to get enough votes to be speaker.

What my Republican friends say -- and they tend to be more moderate -- is that he is not going to have the votes to be speaker. So he probably won't be speaker.

But we might go through several more days of dysfunction within the GOP caucus as they try to figure out if he can get the votes on the floor.

ACOSTA: Congressman, Seth Moulton, appreciate the time. Thank you so much.

MOULTON: Good to see you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, good to see you.

[17:33:55]

In the meantime, Israel, as we have been reporting all afternoon and this evening, they say they are preparing for the next stages of war. What that might look like, next. Stay with us.

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[17:38:14]

ACOSTA: We are continuing to follow the breaking news at this hour. Egypt's foreign minister telling CNN earlier this evening that the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is open, according to how they view things.

But aerial bombardment has rendered the roads on the Gaza side inoperable, according to the Egyptians, at this hour.

Joining us to talk about this, former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, Juliette Kayyem, and retired U.S. Air Force colonel, Cedric Leighton.

Colonel Leighton, what do you make of what the Egyptians were saying to our colleague this afternoon? That, as far as they're concerned, their side of that crossing is open. That doesn't necessarily answer the question as to whether or not folks can't get across.

That brings up this whole issue of Israelis have said they want Palestinians to leave northern Gaza, headed toward southern Gaza. That is going to create a chokepoint. It will create a problem down there, an humanitarian problem.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Absolutely. A huge humanitarian problem. In essence when the border is open, except it is closed.

Because the road was apparently hit quite severely, it really means that, in essence, the border is not open for any of these people.

So now what we have is -- (CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: So some spin has been coming from the Egyptians, you think?

LEIGHTON: Absolutely. What they are saying is we are opening things up for you. What's the problem? The problem is that it is closed, even though you say it is open.

ACOSTA: Yes.

LEIGHTON: So, that is kind of the game being played right now. They want to look good internationally but they do not, absolutely do not want any of the refugees on their side of the border.

ACOSTA: That's what Kim Dozier was saying earlier this afternoon. They don't want masses of Palestinian refugees coming across.

[17:39:59]

Juliette, we haven't touched base with you this afternoon. What are your thoughts?

We were shown some live images of Gaza a few moments ago. It is eerily quiet. But when we were talking with the Israeli Defense Forces earlier this afternoon, we were getting all indications that it is a matter of time. This is imminent.

And they are trying to put out a forward-looking face in all of this. They are giving the Palestinians as much time to get out. But it sounds as though we are talking about hours, not days or weeks.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: These are people's homes and it is a dense area. so you are not going to have a fast evacuation.

Cedric was saying, you are pushing against a wall now. We don't have that border that has any capacity to bring, to relieve that stress. You are essentially moving one million people to where there is already another million people.

The Egyptians who want to play this game of saying that they are on the Palestinian side, have always been on -- horrible about the Palestinian issue in Gaza. But now you are going to have this pressure point.

What does this mean? I want to pick up on what the Congressman said. I have no doubt in my mind Israel can do a lot of harm. There's no question about it. It's hard. They will be in an urban warfare.

But they certainly are against an unarmed civilian population. They can do a lot of harm. They say they want to target Hamas leadership.

And how you do that if Hamas is among civilians and you have a couple hundred miles of tunnels is, let's say we have seen that before. Is a very hard mission. The challenge now is, what is going to be for the Palestinian civilian

population soon, so that there are alternatives to either a refugee crisis or radicalization.

That's not going to flow through the IDF for Israel. That's going to flow through the Palestinian suspect.

Whatever we think about the Palestinian Authority, it is better than the terrorist group Hamas. That's what we need to begin to build up. It has to be office.

Unless Israel is prepared to occupy the west Gaza for a very long time. We know what that looks like. We have tried it before in the Middle East.

A viable governing structure has to be simultaneous with a military mission at this stage.

ACOSTA: Yes.

Colonel, Julia raises a good point and this is a difficult military question for the Israelis.

They are saying they want to go into Gaza, root out Hamas terrorists, take out the leadership and so on. But if you are doing it in an urban combat environment, we are talking about two things happening at the same time.

LEIGHTON: Yes. Absolutely.

ACOSTA: I mean, house by house, street by street, trying to go into tunnels, this could be brutal. This is going to be brutal.

LEIGHTON: This will be brutal. The problem is, as they say in the military, every plan falls apart once you make contact with the enemy.

In a case like this, where there is so many friction points, urban combat, all kinds of things can go wrong.

This is one of those moments were any good intention of just going in after the Hamas leadership, taking them out one by one, on en mass, whichever way it is, all of that falls apart once by accident you hit the shopkeeper down the street.

That is the kind of thing that is going to happen. And in this very charged environment, the Israelis are going to have a heck of a challenge when they deal with that kind of fallout. And it is going to be political as well as a military challenge.

ACOSTA: Yes.

Julia, one has to think that the Israelis are mindful of the American experience during the war on terror.

Seth Moulton was making this point that they thought going into Afghanistan was going to take a short period of time and that Iraq was going to take a short time but that is not what took place.

KAYYEM: Right. A war based on retribution or military action may satisfy a particular need at this stage, which is trying to get as much Hamas leadership as possible.

As we have all been said, it is two million people and we certainly know not all of them are Hamas. Either you are committing to the kind of warfare that we know what it looks like, a lot of civilians lost.

We shouldn't talk in platitudes. This is what it means.

Israel will be willing to accept that because it is worth the price of getting leaders of Hamas or you try to get the leaders of Hamas and then build up a governance that will deal with the humanitarian crisis that is unavoidable at this stage.

You move one million people up to a wall, which is what Egypt did, and you have a humanitarian crisis again. The alternatives are the Palestinian Authority and the United States getting Israel to recognize those alternatives.

[17:45:12]

ACOSTA: All right, Colonel Leighton, Julia Kayyem, great points from both of you. I really appreciate the discussion. We will turn back to you as the hours go on.

Thank you very much.

We are keeping an eye on what is taking place about to take place in Gaza. Meantime, Doctors Without Borders is urging Israel to maintain safe zones and periodic ceasefires in Gaza. The group's executive director joins us next. Stay with us.

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[17:50:05]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: International criticism continues over Israel's order to more than a million residents of northern Gaza to evacuate to the south of the tiny Gaza Strip.

Doctors Without Borders, the medical group, has been running health care programs in Gaza for more than 20 years.

The international humanitarian organization is calling the timeframe of Israel's evacuation order of Gaza "outrageous." That's their exact word.

The executive director of Doctors Without Borders, Avril Benoit, joins us now.

Avril, I appreciate your time.

I want to try to get an understanding of what you see from people on the ground in Gaza right now. What is the situation for your teams in Gaza right now?

AVRIL BENOIT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Erin, we have more than 300 there and they're fleeing for their lives, if not working in the hospitals trying to maintain what is left of a shattered health care system.

Some of my colleagues are international. The vast majority are Palestinian. They're there with their families. And we are asking for safe passage for them to leave.

Many of them have sheltered in the south. They made the middle-of-the- night very harrowing journey with hundreds of other cars to a U.N. compound. It's a school, actually, where people are sleeping on blankets and mattresses on the floor, fearing the worst.

Because there are thousands of them there. Many people trying to flee and our colleagues are caught up in this as well.

BURNETT: So that evacuation order, obviously, it sounds like, your teams went through that and moved as far south as they could.

Even if they wanted to leave the country, right now, they're not able to. There's no border by which they would be allowed to leave.

What are the immediate medical needs? When you talk about how dire the situation is, what does that mean?

BENOIT: It means a lot of people were not able to flee. It is just unreasonable to expect 1.1 million people to flee.

Mixed into that, you have patients. You've got sick and injured people, people with disabilities, you've got the elderly who may have mobility problems. Not everyone has been able to. It's just impossible to imagine that.

Those who have arrived in the south are reporting that there's a really serious shortage of water. We're asking for clean drinking water at the very least to be assured for these thousands of people.

We also see that there is a looming shortage of food and of just about all the necessities of life.

The health care system is, was always extremely fragile. We considered it a humanitarian chronic emergency over many, many years. And now it's a complete catastrophe.

So with that shortage of water, the inability of people to get out. We're really beside ourselves, just calling for safe passage for people to be able to go through that Rafah crossing and to leave without prejudice, to find safety.

Under humanitarian law, they should be allowed to do so.

BURNETT: And obviously, Egypt has refused to open that border. The United States has been trying to negotiate that for Palestinian- Americans. To be clear, that would not apply to many of the people you're talking

about. Very few of the people in the Gaza Strip. But that border remains closed to absolutely anyone.

What is the time frame here? In terms of, you talk about water, you talk about food. If even putting aside a possible ground invasion, more bombardments, those things Israel is in control of.

In terms of food, fuel, how much time do you have left before you have a truly crucial life-threatening disaster on your hands? Things like water.

BENOIT: Yes. It doesn't take long. It's a necessity of life. And that's why it is so urgent that water be made available to these people.

As I say, you were asking 1.1 million people on an order to shift location in a matter of hours to another part of Gaza. We are going to see people suffering severe consequences of dehydration, including young children. And this is a very young population for the most part.

Also, without access to the functioning health care system, without access to hospitals, where people really were not only being treated for their injuries from the war but all the other things.

You have women delivering babies. Some of them will be premature. There need to be incubators. To run the incubator, you need electricity. If you don't have that, you need a diesel generator.

All these things will create collateral damage. Everyone there feels like they are likely to be collateral damage.

[17:55:00]

BURNETT: Avril Benoit, thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

Of course, no matter what happens, as Israel's operations reaches the next stages, as they call them, there is a humanitarian crisis in the offing.

We are working on breaking news as Israel says it is getting ready for the next stages. Please stay with CNN for the latest. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:01]

ACOSTA: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening.

A short time ago, the U.S. State Department confirmed that the American death toll from the Hamas attacks has climbed.