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Biden Speaks At human Rights Dinner In Washington; IDF: Increasing Readiness For The Next Stages Of War; Iran warns Of "Far- Reaching Consequences" From Gaza Attacks; Tens Of Thousands On Move In Gaza Amid Desperate Conditions; Pentagon Orders Second Carrier Strike Group To Mediterranean; Mourners Attend Funeral Of Journalist; Fake Conflict Videos Going Viral. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 14, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:39]

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Welcome to everyone watching us around the world. I'm Julia Chatterley in New York.

U.S. President Joe Biden is still addressing a human rights dinner in Washington, D.C. He's focused in now on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and talking about the loss on all sides.

Let's continue to listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This shouldn't be about conservative liberal red or blue. It should be about realizing the promise of the Declaration of Independence. It sounds corny, but a promise rooted in the sacred and the secular, but all people are created equal. And (inaudible) created a certainly of rights among them, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

(CHEERING)

Folks, it may sound corny, but we've never fully lived up to that promise, but we've never walked away from it like many want us to do. And we're not going to walk away for it on my watch, I promise you. And all of you here tonight, and all the advocates and allies across the country, I see the light that's going to triumph over the darkness. I see the hope that's going to conquer fear. I see the love that's going to overcome hate in all its forms.

I see a great nation because we're basically a good people. You just remember who we are and we're not the victim. And although we're good folks, we've got to stand up and holler. We've got to stand up and holler. You cannot be silent. Silence is complicity. Silence has been complicity.

Folks, we're the United States --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: We will leave President Biden there talking about the prospect of light overcoming the darkness, which I think is a poignant message at this moment.

In the meantime, Israel says it's ready to dismantle and destroy Hamas military machine a week after those devastating terror attacks by the Palestinian militant group.

We're following the breaking news on the Israel-Hamas war this hour for you. And those remarks by senior advisor to Israel's Prime Minister (inaudible) growing signs that Israeli troops are nearing a potential ground invasion in to Gaza. Troops and tanks have been massing near Gaza now for days.

The IDF says its troops are preparing for the next stages of war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAELI ARMY SPOKESMAN (through translator): We are getting ready in order to fulfill the goals of the war. The idea of the role is to fulfill with all the tools and all the ways that we have. Everything we are going to operate, we will do it with full power. We are going to be extremely ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met soldiers on the front lines, offering words of support, telling them to be ready. And as Israel continues to pound Gaza with airstrikes, activists are sounding the alarm about the growing humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian territory.

On Friday, Israel called for 1.1 million civilians in Gaza. Just to be clear, that's half its population to leave their homes and head southwards. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing. Hamas, however, told residents of Gaza to stay put saying the roads are unsafe.

Hospitals in Gaza are also overwhelmed. The World Health Organization says hospital evacuation orders are, quote, a death sentence for the sick and the injured.

And right now, there's only one viable way out of Gaza, and that's the Rafah Crossing in southern Gaza into Egypt. But huge crowds of people have been stuck there some for days now. And Egypt's foreign minister insisted to CNN a short while ago that the crossing is open, but aerial bombings by Israel have made the roads on the Gaza side inoperable, quote.

The minister told CNN that if foreign nationals can get through the Rafah Crossing, Egypt will help them get back on flights to their home countries. But right now, it's unclear when that's going to happen.

For more on this, let's bring in CNN's Rafael Romo in Tel Aviv for us. Rafael, let's talk about that border crossing. The key word here is if, for those people desperate to leave, when that crossing will be possible, do we have any sense of timing or efforts to reestablish that? RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Julia. Well, it seems like the Egyptian government wants some assurance that they will be able to send humanitarian aid into Gaza before they can decide whether they can take any foreigners into their territory or any Palestinians at all.

[19:05:06]

And the reality is that we got information earlier today that the Egyptian government dropped concrete slabs at the gates to prevent any people from coming into Egypt.

And while this is happening, Julia, a ground invasion into Gaza seems more likely by the hour. Israel's military says its forces are increasing operational readiness for the next stages of the war, including combined and coordinated strikes from the air, sea, and land.

In a statement, it said that idea forces are currently preparing to implement a wide range of operational offensive plans on Sunday. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, we mentioned this before, a pay to visit to the soldiers and reservists. The troops at the front line near the Gaza border.

And he told them, Julia, he told the soldiers that the next stage is coming. And there are new signs that this conflict is being followed very closely beyond Israel's border.

Let me tell you, for example, that on social media, the Iranian mission to the United Nations warned of far-reaching consequences if Israel does not stop its attacks on Gaza. Add to the mix the fact that the Pentagon has ordered a second carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Those two U.S. warships are not intended to join the fighting in Gaza or take part in Israel's operations. But the message for Iran and Iranian proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, is very clear.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has confirmed that the American death toll from the Hamas terrorist attacks has climbed by 2 to 29.

Julia, back to you.

CHATTERLEY: Rafael, thank you so much for that. So many angles to discuss, and we will throughout the next hour. For now, thank you. Rafael Romo there.

Let's hone in on the challenges of that crossing point, though, through Egypt. Joining us now is a young Palestinian-American who's been trying to get her mother and sister safely out of Gaza. Mai Abushaaban lives in Houston. Her mother and sister are at the border with Egypt, but they're stuck on the Gaza side.

Mai, good to have you with us. Thank you so much. I know this is a deeply worrying and challenging moment for you and for your family. Just talk to me about when you last spoke to your mother and your sister. I know you've been trying every hour. MAI ABUSHAABAN, MOTHER AND SISTER STUCK AT THE GAZA/EGYPT BORDER: Hi, Julia. So thank you so much for having me on your show. Before we begin, I just want to say that my heart aches for all the Palestinians that are currently suffering, those with family members in Gaza, those with friends, and it's just devastating to see this humanitarian crisis unfold.

The last I spoke to my family in Gaza was probably a couple hours ago. They do not have a Wi-Fi at the moment, and we have to call them via international calling, and sometimes it's really unstable, and it takes anywhere between two to ten attempts just to get on the line.

So it's really terrifying. And a lot of times we don't know what's going on. Everything is up in the air and we're just praying for their safe return.

CHATTERLEY: Do they have any sense, Mai, and I'm glad that you managed to get through to them, because I know I was speaking to you earlier, and this has been a big challenge.

Do they have any sense of when they may be able to make that crossing? Who's helping them there? Who's taking care of them?

ABUSHAABAN: So we have reached out to the State Department and U.S. embassies. They have let us know that they are working on trying to get Palestine-Americans out of Gaza. But like I said, the situation has been really unstable.

Just earlier today, they were informed that the border would be open. Hundreds of people with dual citizenship went to the border. It was not open. No one was allowed in or out, and they had to make the journey back to their homes, which, you know, it is really dangerous and it's risky making that journey to begin with.

And just kind of having that false sense of hope, wondering, worrying, when they're going to leave, is not only terrifying and scary for them, but for us as their family members.

CHATTERLEY: Of course, but everyone worried about family members wherever they are in this region.

Your sister's 20. I believe you're 22. Obviously, she was --

ABUSHAABAN: Yes.

CHATTERLEY: -- born in the United States. Your mother, though, she grew up there. She moved to the United States at 19. But the reason that they were there was because they were visiting family. Your grandfather, I believe, has been unwell. Your grandmother too.

Just talked to me about the situation with them. Because I know they're in Gaza City, or at least they were, but they've now evacuated.

[19:10:01] ABUSHAABAN: Right. So they did evacuate to the south per the instructions by the IDF and local government. And they were able to get in contact with us before that happened. But it was a very difficult moment for us. I mean, we set our good vibes over the phone because we didn't know if there would be another moment where we could connect with one another, whether they would even make it to the south safely.

And my grandparents are both ill and just that journey for them alone was very tiring. And thankfully they don't need access to any medical care right now. But if they were to, you know, hospitals are flooded. They have been getting threats from the IDF and Israel that -- the Israeli government, they need to leave and evacuate.

However, you know, if the hospital gets bombed, what it -- you know, there's -- it's essentially a mass grave, you know. And, you know, the people on the ground are really suffering. Some -- like I told you earlier, when we spoke, it is a major humanitarian crisis. And the people in Gaza are concerned for their welfare, and they're worried about their future and the future of their children.

CHATTERLEY: You played and sent me a message that your uncle had sent. And we're not going to play it, but it was -- it was very poignant to listen to. He said, among many things that for him, Gaza is no more and that he wouldn't believe in if it weren't to protect his elderly relatives, to protect his children. And that was the choice to evacuate.

Mai, what did you think when he sent that message? And why do people stay? Is it a choice, a reason, because they simply have nowhere else to go? Because you've got that sense from him. I got that sense from listening to him.

ABUSHAABAN: Right. So a lot of people are not familiar with the size of the Gaza Strip. It's actually really small, 25 miles long, seven miles wide at its widest point. And it is one of the most densely populated regions on earth.

So you already have two million people, half of them being children, living in this region where there is a -- there's limited access to health care, limited access to resources. On top of that, there -- they have a war going on, there's a blockade. And you're asking 1.1 million people to evacuate into a area that is already overly and densely populated.

It's really scary because, A, will they be able to find shelter? And, B, will they be able to safely evacuate?

Just this morning, and I was talking to my family, they mentioned that there were people evacuating on the, um, safe route that the IDF designated for a Gaza residence. And more than 70 people were died or were either injured as a result of the bombing on that road. So, um, evacuating for Palestinians in Gaza, does it necessarily mean that you are going towards safety? You know.

And I think for so many people, they -- we -- in the west, we just can't really comprehend that reality and -- of what they're going through. And I'm -- like I said, I'm just devastated that this is happening. And, you know, my main concern is getting humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, making sure that their basic needs are met and that their children, men and women, are taken care of.

Mai, you used a very important word, I think, which is devastation. And you have a different viewpoint from the people there because you've seen what's happened to in the past week, the devastation, I think, that was caused in Israel by Hamas terrorists too. Can I ask your opinion on that as well as you -- as you call for greater protection for the people in Gaza? What your heart sees about what's created this situation and for the loss in Israel too?

ABUSHAABAN: Sure. So I think it's important. We approach the situation from a broader historical context and really try and understand that Palestinians have been subject to brutal and inhumane living conditions for almost three quarters of a century, you know.

And, you know, what the Palestinians have been experiencing this past week is a continuation of human rights violations that have been escalating for decades.

I mean, regardless of, of Hamas' leadership status, I believe that if we have a moral responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Israel, then we also have a moral responsibility to protect innocent Palestinian civilians.

[19:15:08]

Anyone who disagrees with that does not actually care about preserving human life. So at the end of the day, as I mentioned to you, before we got on the call, we're all human and we all believe the same color and we're all citizens of the world.

And I do not support the killing of innocent civilians on either side. And a lot of times, as a Palestinian, I feel like I have to reinforce that I am not -- that I'm not supporting the deaths of innocent people. And it's sad because that should be something that is, you know, understood. I shouldn't have to explain that I am against, you know, bombing innocent people. It should be something that is understood.

And so my heart goes out to all the people who've lost their loved ones and whose lives will forever be changed by what's going on. I know for me, personally, my mom and sister are there, as you -- like we mentioned. And, you know, I can already see that this is going to have a huge impact on our mental health.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. And to your point, the loss of life, the uncertainty on both sides of this life changing forevermore.

Mai, thank you for your time, and we wish you well. Keep in touch with me, please. And let me know how your mom and sister are doing. Thank you.

ABUSHAABAN: Thank you so much. CHATTERLEY: OK. Let's move on. Iran is warning of far-reaching consequences if Israel does not stop its attacks on Gaza. Iran's mission to the U.N. issued those remarks on social media Saturday. As Iran's foreign minister meets with the leaders of Hamas in Doha, Qatar. It reported the first official meeting between Iranian officials and to Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh since last Saturday's attack.

While Iran and Hamas are longtime allies, U.S. intelligence suggests Tehran was surprised by Saturday's attack.

Coming up next, urgent calls for a humanitarian ceasefire. We have firsthand from those desperately trying to find safety in Gaza and speak to the former head of Human Rights Watch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. There's tens of thousands of people in Gaza flee southwards in a matter of just hours. CNN is seeing images of families killed along the safe passages that have been specified by the IDF. More than half of Gaza's two million residents have been told to evacuate, prompting an outcry from rights groups, a warning that Salma Abdelaziz report contains graphic and disturbing images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[19:20:00]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTENTIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is what running for your life looks like in Gaza. An ambulance with a young girl and wounded woman inside rocked by explosions as they attempt to flee. It is unclear what happened to the pair, but they're among the tens of thousands of people on the move, after Israel's military called on nearly half of Gaza's population, some 1.1 million people to get south in a matter of hours.

But along the safe passages specified by the IDF, utter horror. You're looking at the carnage and chaos on Salah Al Deen Street, one of the designated evacuation routes. In the aftermath of explosions, families killed amid their belongings.

CNN has geo-located this video and four other clips from the horrifying scene. The UN calls Israel's evacuation advisory impossible and a violation of the rules of war. And Palestinian officials accuse the IDF of bombing civilians, even as they fled. Dozens of evacuees were killed or wounded by Israeli airstrikes, according to Hamas. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

The victims are flooding into Gaza's overwhelmed hospitals. And again, it's the youngest caught in the crossfire. Nearly half of Gaza's population is children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): What did the children do to deserve this? This woman says, did they fight you? Did they fire rockets? My niece and her whole family are dead. The only survivor is a 2-year-old girl. ABDELAZIZ: The health care system is on the brink, a complete siege making it impossible to get aid into the enclave. And already, there's a shortage of everything, even space in the morgue.

We're keeping the dead in ice cream trucks so the bodies don't rot, this the doctor says. Gaza is in crisis. Gaza needs help.

For those still able to move south, this is one of the neighborhood's families are expected to flee towards Khan Yunis where Israeli airstrikes have wreaked havoc.

This is a genocide, not a war. It's genocide, this man says. And it's an attempt to force all Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip.

Finding refuge is proving dangerous and deadly. And for the many families desperate for shelter, the fear is there may be no safe places left.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: You just saw images in Salma's report of the city of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. It's where many people are heading, despite the area already having been bombed earlier on Saturday by Israeli forces.

Doctors Without Borders is calling for Israel to establish safe zones and a ceasefire for civilians. As we've been reporting, many of those on the move are young children. Like 5-year-old Jenna, whose mother is sharing this video of what they've been experiencing.

JENNA, 5-YEAR-OLD GIRL IN GAZA: In the morning and the night, there's lots of bombing. And we have to worry about the house shaking. When it's shake, it feels like it's slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly falling.

And if we hear some loud news, I get scared, and mommy hug everybody so we'd be protect.

We are children and not right to do that to children. And we are families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: OK. Let's get more on the calls from rights groups for a ceasefire and the safe passage of civilians. Kenneth Roth is the former executive director of Human Rights Watch and a visiting professor at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs. He joins us now from New York. So thank you for your time this evening.

I think when you looked at the evidence of what we saw this time a week ago, the immediate response was these are war crimes. What took place in Israel was war crimes perpetrated by Hamas terrorists. When you look at what we're now seeing in the aftermath in Gaza, do you think the same? KENNETH ROTH, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: Well, you're absolutely right that what Hamas did a week ago, there was sort of blatant war crimes, slaughtering civilians, abducting civilians back to Gaza. So these are clear war crimes. There's no question about it.

But international humanitarian law is absolutely clear that the duty to respect it does not depend on the behavior of your adversary. It's an absolute duty. And the Israeli government has been violating that duty. We see this in its indiscriminate attacks in, you know, just decimating certain neighborhoods. We see it in the disproportionate attacks the, you know, destroying entire apartment buildings, because I suppose an ostensible Hamas presence someplace but, you know, in one swoop rendering 100 families homeless. We see it in the siege imposed on all Gaza, you know, preventing water, food, and electricity from coming in.

[19:25:05]

And now this latest, you know, Israel, they are giving warnings. You know, they're supposed to give warnings before a military attack if they can. But these warnings are completely double-edged, because where are these people to go? As you just pointed out, they're getting -- you know, they're getting bombed in their homes. They're getting bombed if they go on the routes to the evacuation area in the south.

On the entrance to Rafah into Egypt was also bombed. So these people are absolutely desperate. And it shows that, you know, Israel is not responding to the Hamas attacks in a lawful way, but is violating the same international humanitarian law that Hamas flagged it.

CHATTERLEY: How far do those responsibilities extend, Ken? To your point, if you're giving civilians warning, however complicated the challenges are of evacuating a certain area, how far do those responsibilities extend? And how far does a principal defensive of human rights go in the face of the Israeli people that are also now terrified to a certain extent?

Some of them have been murdered in their beds, some have been taken hostage. I mean, these laws and principles weren't done in isolation. They were established by the largest militaries in the world, including the United States and Israel, to adhere to. But how far does that responsibility extend when their own citizens must be protected?

ROTH: Well, you're absolutely right. International humanitarian law, the laws of war, these were not, you know, written by pacifists or human rights groups. These were written by the world's leading militaries, including the United States, including Israel. They all formally signed on to them. And these are not rules, you know, for nice peaceful times. These are rules for war. These are rules when, you know, you have been attacked when your people are being killed and you're still required to abide by them.

So, you know, this sense, oh, Israel just suffered this devastating Hamas attack. We should be a little easy on it when it comes to humanitarian law. No, that's not what the law requires. Now, one thing, you know, with respect to these warnings that I worry about, the last time we saw warnings like this was in 2006 when Israel fought Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. It issued these broad warnings, evacuate southern Lebanon, and it then targeted and killed anybody who was left, just assuming they were Hezbollah when in fact many civilians couldn't flee. They were afraid to flee.

And I'm afraid we may see something like that here in Gaza again. These warnings come out. Many people won't go. They're afraid to go. They're unable to move. If Israel now starts indiscriminately bombing civilian neighborhoods pretending that anybody left is Hamas, that's a blatant war crime. That's repeating what happened in 2006.

CHATTERLEY: You wrote an op-ed in Time today. And the title was, "Atrocity Seeks Extreme Reaction. Don't Give Hamas What It Wants."

When Hamas perpetrated the crimes in Israel last week, they must have known what kind of response would follow. What is the message that you're trying to pass on to those that are now looking ahead towards a ground operation to search for Hamas terrorists to also look for hostages there? What are you concerned about in the aftermath of this and the messaging around it?

ROTH: Well, I think we have to recognize that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. In fact, Hamas could care less about Palestinian civilians. You know, it launched this -- these atrocities in Israel, knowing there would be a devastating response. And it just calculated, you know, that'll be good for Hamas, you know, who cares about all these civilian dead?

And so, yes, I think it's important for the Israeli government, not simply as a legal matter, it's bound not to target, not to fire indiscriminately on civilians, but also just as a strategic matter, you know. Does it -- what's it going to do with the people of Gaza? It may be occupying Gaza. Does it want the people, you know, hating the Israeli government for having slaughtered so many civilians from the air? Or does it recognize that, ultimately, Israelis have to live with Palestinians.

They're in this one small area. The two-state solution, as a practical matter, is dead because of all the settlements. So the Israeli government really faces the choice. You know, how is it going to live with these people? And it's going to be much, much harder if there's this utter hatred because the response to these Hamas atrocities was so devastating.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. Are we sowing more seeds of generational hate? Talk to see anything otherwise.

We just spoke to a young lady, she's an American-Palestinian whose mother and sister are at the border, hoping to cross into Egypt. And one of the things she said was she's tired of having to explain when she says she's a Palestinian, that she's not something worse, and she doesn't favor dropping bombs or violence or committing atrocities. My words, not hers. Do you think there's enough separation of what you just said, Hamas and what they represent from the Palestinian people? And I'm not just talking about the Israelis. I go all the way up to the U.S. government, President Biden, in what we've heard from him this week. Is there enough separation and explanation?

[19:30:00]

ROTH: I mean, no. And let me just begin, if I could, with the Israeli Defense Minister, Gallant, who, earlier this week, you know, referring to the population of Gaza, he said, these are human animals. This is a complete dehumanization of the Palestinian civilian population, and it's a virtual invitation to war crimes. This is something a commander should never say.

Now, with respect to President Biden, you know, he, you know, appropriately expressed, you know, utter outrage at what Hamas did. He called this pure unadulterated evil. It was. But he has been much less outspoken in pressing the Israeli military to respond lawfully, you know, maximizing protection for Palestinian civilians.

Just in the last day or so, there has been concern about humanitarian aid getting to Palestinian civilians, and that's quite appropriate. But there's still -- I've heard nothing about, you know, other than generic references to the laws of war, nothing really focusing on how this war is fought.

You hear, U.S. officials say, oh, you know, the Israelis, they don't target civilians the way Hamas does. That's a very low bar. That's the language Israel's comfortable with.

But what they really do, what we've seen and what they need to be stopped from doing, is indiscriminately bombing civilian neighborhoods, exacting a disproportionate cost on Palestinian civilians. These are the kinds of war crimes the Israeli military is committing, and we're not hearing anything from Washington aimed at curtailing these war crimes.

CHATTERLEY: OK. Good to get your insights. Ken Roth, thank you, sir, for your time.

ROTH: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: Still to come. Tanks on the border and troops at the ready. What we know about Israel's imminent ground invasion into Gaza, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. It's a signal of deterrence as Israel prepares to expand its operations in Gaza. Officials tell CNN that the Pentagon has ordered a second carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean. The first one arrived off the coast of Israel earlier this week. The U.S. warships are not intended to join the fighting in Gaza or take part in Israel's operations.

In addition, officials say a rapid reaction force capable of special operations is also making preparations.

The Israeli military now sees its forces are preparing for what it calls the next stages of war. Israeli tanks and troops have been gathering near the border with Gaza now for some days. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was at that border hours ago. He met soldiers before posting this video along online. Alongside these words, on the front line, we are all ready.

[19:35:03]

Gaza has been pounded by relentless airstrikes since Hamas militants launched a full-scale attack on Israel last Saturday. The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 2,200 civilians, including 724 children, have been killed in Gaza over the past week.

I want to bring in our chief global affairs correspondent, Matthew Chance. He's live in Northern Israel for us.

Now, Matthew, and we can hear sound of that noises behind. Just describe the situation there. Clearly, very tense as we prepare to see Israel step up its operations.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It is very tense, Julia, in this part of Northern Israel. But, you know, as the country braces for -- and the military braces for a land invasion into the Gaza Strip in the south, about 250 miles away from here, it's the possibility of a second front opening in Northern Israel that is, I think, of most concern to the security of Israel, in the sense that we're just a short distance now from here, from the Lebanese border, from the Syrian border as well.

The Iranian-backed Lebanese militia, Hezbollah, is just across there, and they have a vast arsenal of weaponry, of missiles essentially pointed in this direction.

Now, they haven't unleashed them yet, of course. There's been some confrontation, some exchanges of fire. There have been mortars coming over from the last few hours from the Lebanese side, from Hezbollah positions. The artillery run by the Israeli military here of return fire. There have been rockets come over from Syria as well, and there's been an Israeli response to that, too.

But we haven't seen that massive barrage of Hezbollah missiles yet that would constitute an opening up of this -- of this second front, the level of -- you know, the level of confrontation so far, according to the Israeli authorities, has not reached the point of escalation. And so that's something.

But, of course, that situation may change very quickly. Once the ground invasion of Gaza begins. We don't know when that's going to begin, but again, there are lots of troops down there, but lots of Israeli troops up here as well, in preparation for that second front potentially opening up.

CHATTERLEY: I think, to your point, Matthew, the degree of concern emphasized by the Pentagon's decision to send that second aircraft carrier to the region. It's -- I guess, a message of support to Israel, but perhaps we're importantly a message to those surrounding that, as President Biden said earlier this week, may choose to leverage the opportunity that this presents. And then his message, of course, was don't.

CHANCE: Exactly. I mean, look, there's already an aircraft carrier from the United States off the Israeli coast in the Eastern Mediterranean. And the Pentagon says, and the White House says, that's there for deterrence, to make sure that other players in the region and other countries, I think they're talking specifically about Hezbollah, that the militia in Lebanon, do not take that step and launch a strike and join this conflict in northern Israel.

And the fact that the United States is now sending a second carrier group to essentially the same place in the Eastern Mediterranean. It really doubles down on that -- on that message and doubles up the amount of deterrent capability that the United States can bring to bear in the region, not just deterrence, but also strike capability as well.

So if there is action by Hezbollah, or any of the other countries in the region who try to make, who may try and enter the war, once the land invasion of Gaza by the Israeli forces gets underway, I mean, it's possible that the United States could become involved in the fighting at that point, at least in a supporting way to Israeli forces.

And so, yes, the two aircraft carrier groups sending a very potent message to the region to stay out of this conflict inside Israel.

CHATTERLEY: Matthew Chance there. Thank you so much for that.

Now, the IDF statement released Saturday emphasized a potential Israeli ground assault, but it's also made clear that its coordinated strikes could come from the air, the land, and sea.

CNN military analyst, General Wesley Clark is live for us now. General Clark, always a pleasure to chat to you, sir, and great to have your wisdom.

I just want to pull out a quote from the IDF earlier today that they're increasing operational readiness. What does that mean in military terms for the next stage of this war? What does it mean to you?

WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: We've seen the pictures of the tanks and the troop carriers down near the Gaza border. So these would be in assembly areas. So in the assembly area, what the troops are doing is they're getting ready. So they're uploading their ammunition. They're giving their last-minute combat checks. Maybe there's a test firing of weapons.

[19:40:10]

They're going to be given their operational orders and exactly what they're going to be doing when. They're going to be coordinating on communications, logistics, next stages of the operation. All that's going on right now in those assembly areas.

Now from there, they would move to what we would term an attack position where they're actually in the formation that they'll be using for the attack and then they'd be crossing the line of departure or what our British allies call start line at the appropriate time. We don't know exactly when that's going to happen.

CHATTERLEY: General Clark, Hamas provoked this response with a rehearsed and a practiced attack and one can only presume they will also expect a ground offensive to follow. How would you be assessing what Hamas expects from this and perhaps doesn't expect an altering the strategy accordingly?

Well, for Hamas this is a sort of go for broke operation, Julia, so they knew that Israel, if they did what they planned to do, Israel is going to come back full force against them.

So for the Hamas, this is a two-phase operation. It's a 1,500, 2,500, 3,000 people in the offensive phase to do as much damage to Israel as they could all the ground, continue to fire rockets. Some of those rockets might get through and kill people even proving that they could strike Tel Aviv and the airport up there at Ben Gurion Airfield.

But that's just the first phase. So they knew there'd be a second phase. Second phase would be a defensive phase. In this phase, they would use their prepared positions. Their underground tunnels. They'd use civilians as human shields. They'd use the media around the world to provoke outrage of what the Israeli offensive operation is doing and they'll -- and they'd call on all our allies to stage big demonstrations in Arab countries to have sympathy attacks in Europe, perhaps in the United States. So this is unfolding right now according to the way we look at it exactly is where Hamas has planned it.

Now what they can't know is how effective the Israeli ground operation is going to be. And they can't know whether the Israelis are going to be able to persuade the people of Gaza to get out of the way and that's what the struggle is about today that we're watching.

Hamas doesn't want those people to leave. Hamas wants those families there. Hamas wants that little girl that we saw a few moments ago to be right there in the line of fire and be hurt. That's Hamas' way of waging war and it is a violation of all the laws of land warfare, but that's Hamas. So what Israel is trying to do is get those people out of the way and that's the struggle.

CHATTERLEY: General Clark, what you're describing is two separate wars, conflict on the ground but also the PR, the media battle, the battle for hearts and minds that is the coverage of what's taken place over the past weekend in both locations in many respects.

When you're talking to your officers, when you're talking to your fighters as I'm sure the IDF are doing at this moment as well, how do you ensure that it remains a consistent surgical operation that goes into tackle and find weaponry Hamas fighters and that it doesn't edge into revenge or some kind of well avenging for those that were lost? CLARK: U.S. forces and these Israeli forces operate under pretty strict rules of engagement, it's called. And the soldiers know exactly when and under what circumstances they can open fire. And the people firing the artillery know what the requirements are before they can fire. They're not going to just fire willingly in their buildings.

So there has to be an enemy force that's identified in some way. There has to be an objective. When they're going in there, if there's resistance, they're going to attack that resistance. But if there's no resistance, they're going to just go in there and search, seize whatever equipment is in there and move on. So they operate under rules of engagement. This is the appropriate way to operate. Hamas' rules whatever rules of engagement they had were sort of kill as many people as you can, men, women, children babies. It didn't matter deliberately. We know they did that. They did it deliberately to provoke this Israeli attack.

So their major strategy is to use world opinion against Israel. That's the major effort that's going on here. That's what we all understand and that's why we can expect that the Israeli forces are going to be very precise and disciplined as possible.

[19:45:16]

Of course, they're going to accomplish their objective, but they're -- and they're going to protect themselves but they're going to do everything they can to avoid the collateral damage and the harm to civilians.

CHATTERLEY: Sir, have actually lost connection with you, but I'm hoping that the audience could hear you finish that. And I will thank you very much for your comments and we should continue to see how this plays out.

Thank you once again, Sir. General Wesley Clark there.

OK. Now, to growing concerns that Israel may face a war on multiple fronts. Israel says it returned fire Saturday after the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah launched an attack on Shebaa Farms near the Israeli-Lebanon border. That area is claimed by both Lebanon and Israel.

Earlier, Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group told CNN why he doesn't think Hezbollah is really trying to enter the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP: Yes. I mean, I think it would be very clear to all of us if Hezbollah was trying to open up a second front. We are nowhere close to that.

What I would best assess right now is lack of centralized control and militants on the border that are engaging in skirmishing, as well as some incursion over the border.

But this is, again, what we have seen over the course of the last week is that overwhelmingly the fighting is Hamas. The fighting has been planned by Hamas. The fighting has been perpetrated by Hamas. And, of course, Gaza is where this war is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Ian Bremmer speaking there.

Now still to come here on CNN, dozens of Israelis remain in Hamas captivity at this hour and these families want answers. And, of course, they want their loved ones back. We'll take you to their protest after this.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING)

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CHATTERLEY: One week after the Hamas attack on Israel and the anger is spilling out onto the streets of Tel Aviv. The protest happened earlier outside the Israeli defense ministry. They're demanding for safe return of the hostages still being held by Hamas.

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AVICHAI BRODTZ, WIFE AND CHILDREN ARE MISSING: Children are missing along with another girl that came running to us. I'm here because I want the Israeli government, along with the Hamas organization, both -- I have to say it sounds not so out of context right now, but overall, we're religious countries. Israel is Jewish and Hamas are Muslim, both peaceful loving religions.

[19:50:08]

I think over the past years, you know, we've gone into a situation we don't know how to get out of and it led to what has happened right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Meanwhile, hundreds gathered in Lebanon to say goodbye to a journalist who was killed covering the clashes. Issam Abdallah was working on the border between Israel and southern Lebanon on Friday. He was killed when Israeli forces fired artillery into the area where he was gathered with colleagues.

Abdallah mother, grief-stricken, is questioning the manner in which her son was killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FATMA KANSO, MOTHER OF ISLAM ABDALLAH (through translator): They don't want the truth to come out. They don't want their crimes to come out. They were sitting where there was no shelling. Nothing. They were filming the shelling from afar. Why would they bomb them?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Abdallah was with six other journalists who were injured in the incident, all were wearing jackets clearly labeled "Press."

Now, the Israeli military says that it did fire artillery at about the same time as the strike in response to an explosion near a kibbutz and that it's investigating the incident.

Coming up next, a look inside the tidal wave of disinformation swirling around the Israel-Hamas conflict. And just how damaging it could prove to be. Stay with us.

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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. The European Union has sent Google and its subsidiary, YouTube, a warning over how they handle fake or graphic content linked to the Israel-Hamas war. It's not the first time the E.U. has stepped in with social media platform, X, having already received a similar letter one week since the conflict began.

Fake videos claiming to show the fighting have been going viral with worrying results. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has more.

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DONIE O' SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One video shows a rocket purportedly fired by Hamas. Another video claims to show Israeli jets bombing Gaza, but neither is real. This video is actually footage from a video game called ARMA 3. And this is actually video of soccer celebrations in Algeria. It's all part of a tidal wave of viral mis and disinformation circulating around the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Adi Cohen works with Memetica, an online threat intelligence service. He's been monitoring misinformation like this, a fake BBC news report that falsely claimed Ukraine had provided weapons to Hamas.

This is relatively sophisticated stuff. I mean, it's got even the same kind of graphics that as the BBC news army would have.

ADI COHEN, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, MEMETICA: Right. And I think what happened over recent years that it becomes very easy, affordable to mimic those graphics visualization.

O'SULLIVAN: In response to the false news report, the BBC told CNN in a statement in a world of increasing disinformation, we urge everyone to ensure they are getting news from a trusted source.

Just hours after Hamas attack began on Saturday, this began circulating on social media. A fake White House memo, falsely claiming the U.S. was immediately sending billions of dollars in new aid to Israel.

This is like some more old school disinformation, a fake White House document circulated pretty widely online. [19:55:07]

COHEN: Right. I do want to point out though, it is an old school tactic that we've seen, you know, for multiple years by now. But with the current tools, you can also create it very quickly and make it more believable.

GRAHAM BROOKIE, DIGITAL FORENSIC RESEARCH LAB, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: There's new information every second, every minute, every hour, and so there's a lot of room for error as things develop on the ground.

O'SULLIVAN: Graham Brookie tracks disinformation with the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab.

BROOKIE: And this conflict is hyper-connected. Israel is a very, very connected country, and so we're seeing an enormous amount of misleading content coming out of this conflict as the world guys are watching it.

O'SULLIVAN: Twitter, now known as X, is a major source of misinformation, in part, because of the changes Elon Musk made to the platform since he took it over, including laying off key employees.

On Thursday, the European Commission announced it was opening an investigation into disinformation on X about the Israel-Hamas conflict.

COHEN: Another component of it, I would say, is that because several platforms have scaled back on moderation. It's much easier to spread rumors and substantiated rumors false information very quick.

O'SULLIVAN: But this isn't just an information war, it's a real war, and false information can be fatal.

BROOKIE: And that disinformation is extraordinarily harmful, including putting folks' lives at risk.

O'SULLIVAN: Now, X, formerly Twitter, says that it is moving resources around at the company after, of course, it had all those layoffs under most to try and address some of these issues. But, look, this is not a problem that is exclusive to X. It is happening on other platforms as well, but right now, it's quite pronounced on X.

You can see false videos, misleading videos, getting hundreds of thousands, millions of views on the platform before anything is really done about them.

And, of course, the real tragedy is here, you know, there is no need to post these fake videos and images. We have seen the tragic footage, the real footage from Israel and Gaza, and, of course, it is upsetting enough. These fake videos and images really just adding to the chaos, confusion, and concern.

Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHATTERLEY: And that's all the time we have this hour. Thank you for watching. I'm Julia Chatterley and I'll be back with more on the Israel-Hamas War in just a moment's time. Stay with CNN.

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