Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Israel at War; 6-Hour Window for Safe Passage from North Gaza Announced by IDF; IDF Evacuation Order Criticized by U.N. as "Outrageous"; Interview with IDF Spokesperson Major Doron Spielman; Biden Spoke to Family Members of Americans Still Missing After Hamas Attacked Israel. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired October 14, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber with CNN's breaking news coverage of Israel at war.

The Israeli military says it will allow people in North Gaza safe passage to Southern Gaza during a six-hour window that's now in effect. The IDF also says, an airstrike on Friday killed a senior Hamas commander who was behind much of last weekend's carnage. United Nations is slamming Israel for ordering the mass evacuation of Palestinians from Northern Gaza and allowing those people so little time to get out. One official called it outrageous and said it defies, "The rules of war and basic humanity."

Tens of thousands of people have already fled south over the past 24 hours, but many others are staying put. Now, a sudden surge of people into Southern Gaza has put a lot of pressure on the Rafah Border Crossing into Egypt, the only place to actually leave Gaza. Egypt says, they haven't closed it on their side, but its status is unclear due to Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza side.

All right. With us now from Tel Aviv is IDF Spokesperson Major Doron Spielman. Thank you so much for being here with us. So, the U.N. spoke yesterday about a 24-hour deadline to evacuate Gaza City, which is now long since to past. Can you clarify, how long do those in Gaza City have to evacuate?

MAJ. (RES.) DORON SPIELMAN, IDF SPOKESPERSON: So, first of all, the residents in Gaza City are a priority for the State of Israel. Unfortunately, they are not a priority for the Hamas terror organization. Hamas, we really should be asking them, what are your contingency plans? When you came over the border and massacred innocent Israelis, took them off as hostages, what did you think we would do?

And of course, we can say that they assume we would of course, like any normal country, come back and tried to completely annihilate their efforts and never do this again. And just left their civilians as hostages, they took all of them, 2 million civilians are hostages of Hamas in Gaza right now. We are the only ones that are actually trying to save these people by opening a humanitarian corridor. We know it's going to take time. We did create and ask for it to be done within 24 hours, but we're doing everything we can, including taking operational risks so that those people can make it to safety.

BRUNHUBER: The U.N. secretary general, as I said in the intro, they said the order to evacuate is, "Extremely dangerous," and in some cases, not -- simply not possible. How would you respond to that?

SPIELMAN: I think, again, there was no early warning for the Israeli civilians that were slaughtered on Israel's communities. Many families, which are still dealing with hostages and so much difficulty, it is reasonable to ask people to move a few miles, past Wadi Gaza in order to get out of harm's way. Again, Hamas is keeping them there. We know for a fact that Hamas is trying to keep civilians in Gaza there.

We are the Israel Defense Forces. We're here to defend our civilians. Hamas is the opposite. They use their civilians to defend them. So, we're doing everything we can. But I think these questions really need to be addressed to Hamas, which is the authority in the Gaza Strip.

BRUNHUBER: All right. You've announced this safe corridor that extends, I guess, for the next five hours or so. What happens after that?

SPIELMAN: Again, operationally speaking, we are at war with Hamas. We are going to do everything we can to completely degrade their efforts of this ever happening again. This includes targeting the nuke before us which is the main force from Gaza that came in, was trained to take over and slaughter. They actually had plans to occupy much of Southern Israel and supplies. They took back our hostages. They are our major target, including their leader, Sinwar, who was the evil on top of all the evil, that's our objective.

And we're going to be -- we're moving forward with that objective. At the same time, we're allowing and encouraging people in Gaza, Gaza City, we've sent flyers, we've notified them in every single platform possible. There's not a single person in Gaza City that does not know that they need to move out of the way so that we can move forward with our operations.

BRUNHUBER: Now, the U.N. is also calling for humanitarian access to allow Gaza to get fuel, food, and water to reach those in need. Are you planning to do this at all?

SPIELMAN: Look, for years, for years Israel has been providing Gaza with enormous amounts of humanitarian aid, with gasoline, electricity, and power.

[04:05:00]

The very first thing that Hamas did when they launched this attack at us, is they went to the Erez Crossing, which is the humanitarian aid crossing, which by the way, is used by 20,000 Gazans who are crossing into Israel every day to work. Humanitarian aid trucks, doctors and nurses, many people from Gaza that we took into Israel for special surgeries. The first thing they did was they attacked the military force that was patrolling that area, and then bombed the crossing.

Hamas bombed their own humanitarian crossing. If -- they're claiming -- they claim that they are the protectorate of the citizens, the civilians of Gaza. And what they do as a first act is they put a blockage in the only way to bring humanitarian supplies there. We really have to understand how evil Hamas is, despite all of this, as soon as it's feasible for us, of course, to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza, Israel doesn't want to see the people of Gaza suffer. We want to see Hamas suffer and suffer they will.

BRUNHUBER: Now, Israeli troops carried out raids on the Gaza Strip, searching for a hostages, collecting evidence to find the people that were taken by Hamas. What more can you tell us about the search for the -- some 120 hostages?

SPIELMAN: So, we are compiling additional intelligence and creating a very clear platform of the identities, the whereabouts, and how Hamas is, you know, cynically using all these hostages. We know that Hamas, after the massacre in Israel, they ran back into Gaza, and they barricaded themselves in tunnels safely underneath buildings. At the same time, as hard as this is to believe, they told their wives and children -- I know your viewers, any sane person can't imagine this, they said to their wives and children, go to sleep above us in the apartment buildings. It's so absurd.

And we assume also that our hostages, of course, they would be using them for the same cynical purposes. What I can tell you is we are working operationally on the ground in many, many ways to try, of course, and free our hostages. But at the same time, we say clearly to Hamas, our hostages and nothing else you're going to do are going to save you from the dedication of the State of Israel, which has declared war, to completely annihilate any capabilities that they have in the future.

BRUNHUBER: Unfortunately, many people have been killed in the crossfire here. At least one journalist was killed and six others injured on Friday in Southern Lebanon by Israeli artillery fire. Can you explain what happened there?

SPIELMAN: First of all, we have not confirmed that this Reuters journalist was killed by Israeli crossfire. This is being investigated as I speak with you. What I can tell you is, if -- it's a tragedy if any journalist loses their life. These are brave journalists who are on the front lines. Unfortunately, from that area, we have to understand Hezbollah launched an attack on Israel. Israel was responding to an attack launched by Hezbollah.

We have said from the beginning to Hezbollah, it is absolutely not in your interest to enter into this conflict. We don't want Hezbollah involved here. We want them to lay down their arms and let this simply stay out of what's happening. This is a war that we have against Hamas, not against Hezbollah. Having said that, we are completely laid (ph) on the northern border. Israel is now ready, ready for any threat in any place. But we are not looking for this to develop into other areas.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll have to leave it there, but I do appreciate your time. Major Doron Spielman with the IDF, thank you so much.

SPIELMAN: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: All right. I want to turn to CNN's Nada Bashir who's covering all this for us from London. So, Nada, we heard from the IDF there. Lots of points of interest. What stood out to you?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, we're talking about an estimated 1.1 million Palestinians and other citizens in Northern Gaza that have been told that they need to evacuate. This is going to take a long time. And while the IDF spokesperson has acknowledged that this will take time, for those who have been told to flee, this will be a difficult, deeply traumatic process. And that has been the message that we've been hearing from human rights organizations, and NGOs that are on the ground in Gaza.

Now, the IDF has outlined two key areas that they say, two roots that they say will be safe between a six-hour window, but of course, this has been disputed by Palestinian authorities inside Gaza. We heard from the Palestinian ministry of health yesterday, they said civilians were targeted as they attempted to flee Northern Gaza and move southwards. They said, entire families have been killed in the airstrikes, which targeted included three ambulances with paramedics who are injured. And in fact, they have released a video of this before it was attacked. And I have to warn our viewers, it is both distressing and graphic. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:10:00]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Now, at this stage, the U.N. says tens of thousands of Palestinians in Northern Gaza have already (INAUDIBLE), that is just a small portion of those citizens residing in Northern Gaza. Now, as we've heard from human rights organizations on the ground, there are many people in Northern Gaza who will not be able to evacuate for many reasons. Some are disabled, some are in hospitals, some are elderly. They will not be able to leave, and therefore, could fall victim to continued airstrikes that are ongoing.

And of course, there is a huge amount of concern amongst the Palestinian population in Northern Gaza. They will be evacuated southwards but won't be able to return to their homes. Many have spoken, we've heard them in their social media posts. Many have spoken to our teams on the ground. Saying that they fear that they will be made refugees. That they won't be able to return home. And of course, this is a deeply distressing and sensitive issue. The vast majority of Gaza's population are of course descendants of Palestinians who were either forcibly displaced or fled their homes during the 1947 conflict. So, this is something that is at the forefront of their minds.

And of course, we have to remember that Gaza is still under a blockade, a land, sea, and air blockade enforced by Israel since 2007. And now, currently, is under complete siege. That means no food, no water, no electricity, and no fuel is getting in. Hospitals are running on just a few hours of electricity each day. And so, the U.N. itself has warned now that the humanitarian situation is dire. This could be a humanitarian catastrophe.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Appreciate it. Nada Bashir in London.

U.S. President Joe Biden says his administration is, "Working like hell to get Americans taken hostage by Hamas out of Gaza." Biden spoke by phone to family members of 14 Americans still missing after the attack last Saturday and he spoke about them in an address on Saturday. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're going through agony, not knowing what the status of their sons, daughters, husbands, wives, children are. You know, it's gut-wrenching. I share that my personal commitment to do everything possible, everything possible to return every missing American to their families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: One Israeli American citizen has been missing since his kibbutz was invaded by Hamas militants last Saturday. His father was on the call with Biden and he talked to CNN about it. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN DEKEL-CHEN, STEPSON KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS: What I can say about President Biden, who spent about 45 minutes with us. There were about 20 representatives of about 20 families there. As an American citizen, as an Israeli citizen, as someone who's beloved son, we are sure is being held. Alive, dead, wounded, we don't know. I could not possibly ask for more then President Biden expressed about the United States' commitment to getting these people back, not just the American hostages, but all of the Israeli hostages. And that he and the administration are in this for the long haul.

As crazy is this must sound, and at that moment, as proud as I am to be an Israeli, I was no less proud to be an American as a result of that phone call. And honestly, most of the time, he was listening to people's stories and their desires for his action. And his answers were inspiring. Not that he could give information, I don't think there's much information to give right now. But his willingness to listen, I found it extraordinary. And to empathize with the people who are in enormous pain. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The Biden ministration emphasized its support for Israel as the U.S. defense secretary met with Israeli leaders on Friday. Lloyd Austin vowed, unwavering U.S. solidarity ahead of unexpected U.S. ground incursion into Gaza.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the latest from Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. support for Israel looks like this, a hulking U.S. military transport plane bolstering Israel's war effort against Hamas landing at Nevatim Airbase, where CNN secured exclusive access as airman offloaded its cargo.

DIAMOND: This C-17 military cargo plane just landed here in Southern Israel. It is bringing fresh U.S. weapons and ammunition for Israel's fight against Hamas. Today, the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin coming here to inspect the shipment, vowing that U.S. military support for Israel will continue to flow at the speed of war.

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I know how hard you've been working. You've been really hustling to get this here as quickly as you could. There's a lot more to follow this.

DIAMOND (voice-over): This was the second shipment of military equipment to Israel just this week, delivering precision guided munitions, artillery shells, and Iron Dome interceptor missiles which helped protect civilians from Hamas rockets.

AUSTIN: It's not just a show of support, it is support. It is the leading edge of more to come.

[04:15:00]

DIAMOND: We've already seen some (INAUDIBLE) in Gaza. What kind of assurances do you have from the Israelis about how they'll use these munitions? What kind of assurance --

AUSTIN: Jeremy, this is a professional force that's well led. So, I'm sure they'll do the right thing.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,900 people in Gaza this week, including at least 614 children, according to the Palestinian ministry of health. Palestinian leaders accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure. Israeli officials blame Hamas for firing rockets from civilian areas and using civilians as human shields. Even as he made clear the U.S. Stands with Israel.

AUSTIN: I am here in person to make something crystal clear. America's support for Israel is ironclad.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The defense secretary also reminding Israel of its moral responsibility.

AUSTIN: Democracies like ours, are stronger and more secure when we uphold the laws of war.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Nevatim Airbase.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Fighting in Gaza possibly pushing in other parts of the volatile region over the edge. Still ahead, tensions grow in the West Bank amid concerns they could escalate into far more serious violence.

Plus, New York City on high alert as rallies over the Israel-Hamas war have been taking place. We'll here from intelligence officials next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:00]

BRUNHUBER: Diplomats are concerned the violence in Gaza could inflame the other Palestinian enclave, the West Bank. 12 more Palestinians were killed there and in East Jerusalem on Friday, bringing the total death toll since the crisis began to 47, according to Palestinian officials. Hundreds of others have been injured in clashes with Israeli troops and settlers in the region. As Becky Anderson reports, some of those incidents were caught on camera. Now, we just want to warn you, some of the images in the report are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL NEWS ANCHOR (voice-over): A disturbing sight. An Israeli settler shooting a Palestinian point blank in the South Hebron Hills. While the man who was shot in this video did survive, many others who confronted with settler violence across the occupied West Bank recently have not. CNN has reached out to Israel's police for comment on this shooting but has not received a response.

Nearly a week into the war between Hamas and Israel, at least 47 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by settlers and Israeli forces, with hundreds of others injured. Fears that the violence would spill over into this area are beginning to feel very real.

At the heart of the conflict, this place, Al-Aqsa Mosque, usually filled with tens of thousands of worshippers, gathered for Friday prayers, today almost empty. The Israeli police restricting access to the compound only letting in the elderly. 57-year-old Untama (ph) says, seeing the compound so empty is upsetting.

The atmosphere was so tense. It was difficult getting in, she says. We are just going there to pray. We're not going to fight. We're not going to war. What is a worshipper expected to do?

Meantime, piles of prayer mats as younger Palestinians were forced to worship on the streets. Abbas (ph) was one of them. He says, this feels like an inflection point in this decades-long conflict.

It's very different this time around, he says. This time it feels more difficult. May God grant us relief.

Fridays can be fraught here. Over the years, all too often, these streets have witnessed clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police. And today, stun grenades, tear gas, and skunk water used to disperse local residents and worshippers. Munir Kamal (ph) was reportedly one of them. His nephew, Qasem (ph), said that his uncle was attacked by Israeli police as he tried to pray close to his home after being barred from Al-Aqsa. Like many civilians here, Qasem (ph) fears for his family's safety.

What's happening is very ugly. I can't explain it to my kids. I'm trying to distract them, so they don't get scared, Qasem says. So, many people here scared about what happens next.

They robbed us of our homeland, and now they punish us here in Al- Aqsa, and they punish the people of Gaza. They annihilated this small, tight space. Why? Why do they deserve that, she says.

Becky Anderson, CNN, East Jerusalem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Around the world, demonstrators are taking to the streets to voice their support for people on both sides of the war. Thousands of people turned out in Sydney, Australia on Friday standing in solidarity with Israel. Protesters took to the streets of Cape Town in support of the Palestinian people. Nelson Mandela's grandson, a member of South Africa's parliament, encourage South Africans to stand with Palestinians because they supported the fight against apartheid in his country.

Tens of thousands of people in Yemen joined a mass rally in Sanaa in support of the Palestinians. And here in the U.S., politicians, diplomats, and religious leaders gathered in Washington to show their support for Israel. And hundreds of people waving Palestinian flags and anti-war banners gathered in New York's Times Square.

Now, New York City is putting more police on the streets as rallies over the Israel-Hamas conflicts have been taking place. The city's mayor says, there are currently no credible threats, but is urging people to remain vigilant.

CNN's John Miller reports.

[04:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST (voice-over): In the morning, at the World Trade Center, a show of force. High visibility counterterrorism teams have been deployed across the city, at symbolic locations including synagogues and mosques. NYPD Chief John Hart. JOHN HART, NYPD ASSISTANT CHIEF OF INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERTERRORISM: So, the strategy is one to show some reassurance to the community, that there is a good police presence out there. That's probably the foremost idea. But secondary to that is we want to be fluid. So, we are going to be moving around. We have a robust deployment. We're hitting just in the counterterrorism realm. We're hitting over 400 locations a day.

MILLER (voice-over): At NYPD's headquarters, a morning intelligence briefing is tracking the threat stream.

MEGHANN TEUBNER, NYPD DIRECTOR OF INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS: So, we continue to see public statements from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic jihad, and other affiliated Palestinian militant groups claiming credit for ongoing strikes, ongoing rocket attacks, et cetera. We also have seen public statements from al-Qaeda and their affiliates as well as ISIS and other like-minded extremists online.

MILLER (voice-over): Rebecca Weiner is deputy commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism.

REBECCA WEINER, NYPD DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERTERRORISM: Everything finds a way of coming back to New York city. As you well know, it's the media capital of the world. It's an incredibly diverse environment with large communities from everywhere where conflict might emerge. And in this case, a large Jewish population, a large Palestinian population.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, everybody.

MILLER (voice-over): The NYPD has been briefing major city police departments, along with hundreds of private security partners as part of operation shield, a global intelligence sharing network. National Jewish organizations are also on high alert as they monitor extremist chat rooms and propaganda channels, including a worldwide call from a former Hamas leader for supporters to, "Show their anger on Friday." While there was not an explicit reference to violence, the messaging caught the attention of people like Mitch Silber, who runs a Jewish communities security organization.

MITCH SILBER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COMMUNITY SECURITY INITIATIVE: We're going to have extra precautions. They were going to advise that institutions take as kids are getting out of school on Friday. As people are going to synagogue on Friday night and Saturday morning. We're in regular talks with NYPD, requesting extra patrols in Jewish areas.

MILLER (voice-over): We asked Oren Segal, Vice President for the Center on Extremism for the Anti-Defamation League to take us inside the threat stream.

OREN SEGAL, VICE PRESIDENT, CENTER ON EXTREMISM AT ADL: Not only are we seeing those who are apologists for Hamas, those who glorify the messages. But we are seeing people on the far-right that have traditionally engaged in violence against the Jewish community, full- throatedly supporting those activities. CROWD: You will not replace us.

SEGAL: Antisemitism is always the thing that brings extremist groups across the ideological spectrum together. We are seeing this now in ways that we have never seen before.

MILLER (voice-over): The ADL and other Jewish groups say, the events in Israel and Gaza are driving a tsunami of threats.

SEGAL: In the last 36 hours, we have seen 1,000 percent increase in nonspecific threats against and Jews and Israelis by groups that we track in the United States.

MILLER (voice-over): And New York has seen the results of propaganda turned into bloodshed, a series of bombings in 2016. In 2017 a ramming in attack that killed eight people on a bike path. And an attempted suicide bomber in the city's busiest subway station. And many more plots that have been prevented, which is what they are counting on.

John Miller, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All right. Still ahead, thousands of Gaza residents evacuated their homes on Friday. But for many, there is little hope of finding safety from the escalating conflict. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:00]

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

BRUNHUBER: And welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."

Right now, there are less than five hours remaining in a safe passage window announced by the Israeli military for civilians to move to Southern Gaza. The U.N. says, tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in Northern Gaza over the past day or so after Israel warned residents to leave. And that's in addition to the more than 400,000 Palestinians who are already displaced by the conflict.

Civilians who are able to cram possessions into cars and trucks and a mass rush towards the south, those without other options walked, carrying what they could. A senior U.N. official calls Israel evacuation order, "Outrageous." And says, "Defies the rules of war and basic humanity."

Now, earlier, the Israel Defense Forces explained why it called for people to leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, IDF SPOKESPERSON: Anybody who wants to prioritize his safety should heed our warnings and go south of the Gaza River. I completely understand that it is far from an ideal situation, but this is the situation that we find ourselves in. And we are doing our best in order to minimize civilian casualties. That's what -- that's why we're calling on them to leave out of a concern for their safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All right. Let's go live now to Israel. And Reuven Hazan is a professor of political science at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Thank you so much for being here with us. So, first, I want to start there with what we heard there with the aftermath of this horrific attack by Hamas and the effect it's now having on so many civilians in Gaza. Is Israel and the IDF doing what they should to protect the innocent here?

REUVEN HAZAN, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM: Well, I think they are, but let's draw a clear parallel. A week ago, when Hamas attacked purposefully, Israel's civilian population -- we're not talking about disputed territories, we're talking about Israel proper. We're not talking about military targets. We're talking about civilians. They did not spread leaflets. They did not go on CNN and tell the civilian population that they should clear out.

They targeted them. They butchered them. They massacred people. There is a clear difference between what is happening on the two sides. And yes, regretfully, there will be collateral damage because that is what Hamas has brought upon its own population.

[04:35:00]

I think Israel is doing the best that it can, but this is a horrible situation. And under these circumstances, no good is going to come of it.

BRUNHUBER: Well, the violence has been spreading. There have been clashes and deaths in the West Bank and Lebanon. What are the risks of this becoming a war on several fronts?

HAZAN: Well, I think the risks -- and I hate to say something that I might have to regret soon. I think the risks are diminishing with time because now that the Israeli army is fully mobilized, if Hezbollah up north is going to take some sort of queue to join, they should've done it by now.

So, let us hope that this can be localized. The Palestinian population in the West Bank is, of course, unhappy about what is happening in Gaza. It is regrettable to see them supporting a terrorist organization that butchered over 1,300 people in Israel. But let's also look for the silver lining in the cloud, and that is that the Israeli Arab population, 20 percent of Israel are Israeli Arabs. They have not joined at all. There is actually a poll that was done in Israel that four out of five Israeli Arabs are opposed to what Hamas has done. And of the remaining 20 percent, 15 had no opinion, and only five percent said that they show any support for Hamas' action. So, let's hope that this can indeed be contained even after the ground operation begins. And we rid this region of Hamas.

BRUNHUBER: Well, it's interesting. Now, you've said that Hamas took advantage of the political turmoil in Israel to launch these attacks. So right, now we're seen, of course, much more unity in the aftermath here. How effective, do you think, will this new emergency government be in carrying out this war and also the immediate aftermath of the war?

HAZAN: Well, I think that Hamas trained for this for quite some time. The intelligence will come out after. This took at least a year, if not two. In other words, the domestic turmoil in Israel over the government's horrible judicial reform proposals, this was something that Hamas could capitalize on, but they didn't know that this was going to happen before they began training. So, their goal was Israel. Their goal was killing Israelis.

Right now, I think Hamas is a bit scared. They have managed to unify Israel as we've -- haven't been unified for years. This emergency government will give more legitimacy to whatever actions the government takes. But more important, if you look at the opposition in Israel, those who have still stayed out of the government, they are voting with the government.

So, what Hamas has managed to do is create wall-to-wall support in Israel that we cannot live here whether we on the far-right or on the far left. Whether we oppose Palestinian statehood or support Palestinian statehood. We cannot live here with Hamas.

And Kim, if I may, let's make a clear distinction between the Palestinians national struggle for legitimate rights, and a two-state solution on the one hand, and Hamas on the other hand. Hamas is not part of the Palestinian national struggle. They do not want to two- state solution. They want Israel destroyed. They want Jews killed. And they're willing to sacrifice their own civilian population in order to get to that.

This is not part of the Arab Israeli or the Palestinian Israeli conflict. This is, as President Biden said, sheer evil and it needs to be eradicated.

BRUNHUBER: Well, since you touched on it, let me ask you about the future, I guess. Netanyahu has promised a crush Hamas. Benny Gantz said they will, "Change the security and strategic reality." But what will that reality look like? And if fundamental issues aren't addressed and only just happen again as it has done repeatedly?

HAZAN: I agree with you. I think that what we are witnessing now is an attempt to undo part of Hamas. We cannot destroy Hamas completely. Hamas is also a religious organization. Hamas is also a social organization that we cannot do unless we walk back into Gaza and re- occupy it, and that is not what Israel is doing. But Hamas's military capability, its ability to butcher Israeli civilians in their homes, that cannot exist anymore.

And yes, hopefully this emergency government will realize that once the fighting is over, we need to have a horizon.

[04:40:00]

We need to have an ability to move forward and hopefully this is not just an Israeli-Palestinian issue, this has to bring the whole region in. We have to have the Egyptians as part of this. We have to have the Jordanians as part of this. And hopefully we, we will get back to normalization talks with important countries like Saudi Arabia and have them as part of this as well. But you are right, this conflict can't be solved militarily, but Hamas needs to be destroyed militarily.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll have to leave it there. But really appreciate your analysis. Reuven Hazan, thank you so much.

HAZAN: Thank you for having me.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll get back to our top story in just a moment. But first, the U.S. House Republicans are headed home for the weekend after nominating Jim Jordan of Ohio to be their next speaker. They're set to return on Tuesday for a vote, but at this point, it looks unlikely they'll be able to reach an agreement.

Manu Raju has details from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR, INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY AND CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Republicans are still in a state of turmoil after a decision by eight Republicans who joined with Democrats to vote out the sitting speaker almost two weeks ago. When Kevin McCarthy was ousted in that historic vote, becoming the first speaker ever to be kicked out of that position by his own colleagues.

Since then, the House has been paralyzed. No legislation can be acted upon until the speaker is elected. And the question is, can Republicans who are in the majority, but barely, get behind a consensus candidate? So far, the answer is no. Steve Scalise, the House Majority Leader was elevated as the nominee for their party to become the next speaker of the House, but he decided to withdraw because he did not have the votes to move forward. He needed 217 votes in the House.

That means, you can't afford as a speaker candidate to lose more than four Republican votes. Then at the end, on Friday, the Republicans nominated Jim Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, to be the next speaker of the House. But this was his problem. When he put the question to his conference saying, how many of you would vote against me on the floor? 55 of them said that they would.

So, they spent the next couple of days over the weekend, trying to convince 51 members to somehow come to his side. If he can't, then they have to confront this issue all over again. This all comes as there are fresh concerns from a wide range of members about how this reflects on the GOP and whether this can affect their ability to hang on to the house in next year's elections.

REP. AUSTIN SCOTT (R-GA): We've got a very small group of people that they have to have everything their way.

RAJU: How does that make you guys look?

SCOTT: It makes us look like a bunch of idiots.

REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): Look, I'm angry for -- I'm angry on behalf of our troops.

Rep. Don Bacon (R- NE): We have individuals today who said they would only vote for Jim, but not Steve. So, we've -- many of us in there feel that's a warning bad behavior if we do that.

REP. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-SD): This is a continuation of a pretty, pretty dysfunctional disease of the 118th. We have a lot of members who just feel like that they will let perfect be the enemy of the good. That is not how any functional government, or any functional marriage, or any functional business works.

RAJU: Now, the question is, what's next for the GOP? They are still trying to assess if Jordan can go forward. Tuesday would be the vote if they want to have on the house floor. But we'll see if that actually happens. If Jordan pulls out, then they got to figure out if another candidate emerges, or if that person can actually get 217 votes on the house floor, or maybe they try to prop up the powers of the interim speaker, Patrick McHenry to allow legislation to move forward.

Because at the moment, aid to Israel cannot be acted upon. Aid to Ukraine cannot be acted upon. They cannot take steps to avoid a government shutdown. All hugely significant issues with many proponents here in Congress to try to deal with that. But no legislation can be acted upon until they figure this out because of this Republican dysfunction they have not be able to, but these are the questions over the next few days. Can they resolve? Can they move ahead? Republicans hope they can. But unclear if they will be able to do so.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Well, these days, social media is flooded with disinformation. And many posts that claim to be about the conflict between Israel and Hamas are false. Just ahead, we'll talk with an expert about fighting misinformation online. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:45:00] BRUNHUBER: The European Commission has launched an investigation into Elon Musk's social media site X over disinformation about the Israel- Hamas war. The probe into the platform, formally known as Twitter, covers its policies and practices on illegal content, how it handles complaints and risk assessment. X claims it has removed, "Hundreds of Hamas affiliated accounts."

Take a look at these examples of fake images. Now, this viral video claims to show Israel attacking Gaza, except it's actually a celebration in Algeria. And just hours after the Hamas attack, this document began circulating on social media. A fake White House memo falsely claiming the U.S. was sending billions of dollars in new aid to Israel.

All right. Joining me now is Achiya Schatz, executive director of Fake\ Reporter, an Israeli organization that monitors disinformation and hate speech. Thanks so much for being here with us. So, first, just how widespread is the disinformation about this conflict that you're seeing out there?

ACHIYA SCHATZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FAKEREPORTER: Hi, everyone. Yes, the disinformation is quite huge. We need to understand that with the attack, a void of information has occurred as well. Inside that void, endless interest groups have entered and attacked the public that was confused, sad, and very much afraid from the situation itself.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So, I want to show our viewers some examples that you flagged to us. So, this first one that we're going to show, it claims Hamas wasn't targeting civilians, that the IDF were shooting at Hamas from the crowd of civilians. Obviously, not true. But it got more than 4 million views, I understand. Now, the person behind it, from what I could see, seem to be a Russian journalist. So, in general, who is behind much of this misinformation? Is it just people with an agenda to advance, or are there state actors involved here?

SCHATZ: So, we have everyone, everything, both foreign entities trying to use the current events to promote their agenda. It can be Iran and Hamas that are trying to demoralize and praise their own acts, or on the other side, you can see Russians that are trying to promote their own interests. And we see that happening both in information war but also inauthentic behavior. But an all kind of automated machines on their social platform promoting their agenda and their messages.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So, lots of bots out there as well doing this. So, I want to show another example, a recurring meme, it seems. Children in cages.

[04:50:00]

Now, the first example there that we're showing there on the left claims that the children are Palestinians, and then somebody else using, basically the same photo, claims that the kids are kidnapped Israeli children. I mean, overall, it seems, you know, misinformation on social media. It was always happening, but now technology it seems it's easier to make it, faster and more believable as well. SCHATZ: Yes. Everyone are very confused and we need to understand that people are trying to complete the information that miss in their mind with their own narratives. So, as you can see, both from both sides claim that these are the other, like the -- both Palestinian or Israelis in cages, nor is it true. But we see this circulated all around the internet. Some people are refusing to take off this content because they think it promotes their narrative. We are fighting it because we think lies are always hurting people.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. This is happening across platforms, of course. But a lot on X which just happened to layoff so many moderators. Are we seeing the effect of that now?

SCHATZ: Yes. Unfortunately, we see that X has been a target for attack by Hamas and others. We need to understand, the terrorists are going to war not just with weapons, but also with phones, charged, ready to show the horrific scenes that we're seeing now online all over.

The platforms don't do enough to moderate that, but I do want to say that we see a concentrated effort coming in the last few days to tackle that. And we hope that it's concentrated by all the big tech companies and with us to push against those horrific content, will result with some decrease in the harmful content that we see online. And some safety to people and families.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Listen, 20 seconds left, but I feel it's important to ask this. What advice do you have there for people who are monitoring social media? How can they tell what's true and what's not?

SCHATZ: Many times, you can't. But, you know, the most important thing, think twice before you push something forward. Critical thinking is so important. And second, soon, we're going to publish a link that will be one lane for everyone to report on horrific content on any disinformation. Report to us, and we'll make sure it will be removed by the tech companies. And in general, keep everyone safe around you.

And I'm sending lots of love and support to people at home and to the people at home and to the people of Israel. And also, to the people on the other side that are suffering, and I hope that peace will be for all as soon as we can.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, an important message. All right. We'll have to leave it there. Achiya Schatz, thank you so much for talking to us.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:55:00]

BRUNHUBER: Israeli military says its six-hour window is now open to allow safe passage for civilians in Gaza to move to the southern part of the territory. The U.N. is criticizing Israel's order for civilians to evacuate from Gaza City saying it, "Defies the rules of war and basic humanity." All right, that wraps this hour of "CNN Newsroom." I'll be back with more news in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:00:00]