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Death Toll Rises In Gaza As Israel-Hamas War Rages On; Palestinian Authority President Condemns Hamas Operation; World on Edge As Israel Preps For Ground Offensive In Gaza; World on Edge As Israel Prepares For Ground Offensive In Gaza; Schumer To Israel: We Have Your Back; Interview With Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO). Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 15, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:01:58]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening.

We begin with breaking news. For the first time since that barbaric terror attack in Israel, the president of the Palestinian Authority is condemning the killing saying, quote, "The actions of Hamas do not represent the Palestinian people." In the meantime, the death toll has now risen to over 1400, including 30 Americans. Sources now tell CNN that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited President Biden to visit even as Israeli forces prepare for a massive ground offensive.

At this hour, troops continue their suffocating blockade the Gaza Strip. Israeli Defense Forces say they had killed one Hamas commander today amid a barrage of some 250 strikes across Gaza. You can see much of the rubble there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL JONATHAN CONRICUS, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: We are hunting Hamas commanders. Everybody from the butcher of Khan Younis, Yahya Sinwar, the political leader, and everybody down from him, are dead men walking. We've been able to kill quite a few Hamas commanders, some of them senior, some of them tactical commanders. And that is a priority in our targeting campaign as we speak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Let's go straight to my colleague Erin Burnett live on the ground in Tel Aviv.

Erin, here we are. Another night waiting to see if this widely expected ground incursion begins. It's 2:02 a.m. where you are. And I know you're watching and waiting as this entire region is just on the edge of its seat right now. What's the latest?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Absolutely, on the edge of its seat, on the precipice, Jim. And, you know, we should say that many have expected that when Israel begins its anticipated ground offensive, it would do so in the darkness because Israel has a great advantage of its Merkava tanks that we have seen so many of in this buildup along the border.

I have sort of a little window, Jim, where you look out. It's sort of I would say like a blue reflective that you might see in sunglasses that some people have. It looks like that from the outside. But it gives them excellent night vision. So they have incredible advantage when it comes to night fighting. So there have been many who have expected that such an assault would begin in the evening.

Obviously, it is still quiet here tonight, and in fact, in these past few hours, quieter than it has been. We've become very accustomed to the thud of explosions in Gaza, here in Tel Aviv, not hearing so many, but I will say we have heard more rocket, incoming rocket fire into Tel Aviv in these past 10 hours or so, maybe six hours. And some of those without accompanying sirens, which interestingly enough, our Clarissa Ward also said she'd experienced to the south of here in Ashkelon.

And I want to turn now to Nic Robertson. He is even further south, just a mile east of the Israeli border with Gaza, in Sderot, where you have been from the very beginning, in of course what is now that buffer and militarized zone.

So, Nic, what are you seeing there at 2:00 in the morning here?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, it feels quiet, it feels quieter than previous evenings, although we have had some big flashes and booms of the occasional missile strike going into the north of Gaza.

[19:05:11]

There was an incoming volley of rockets from Hamas in Gaza over here intercepted by Iron Dome a couple of hours ago. That was the only volley we've had this evening. But it just shows even despite the heavy artillery, the heavy missile strikes going into Gaza, that Hamas, Islamic jihad, other groups still have some capacity to fire back. So they are still there. And the military incursion that seems to be getting ready and being built up in this sort of buffer militarized border area at the moment, we've been down to watch some of their training.

And it does seem as if they're getting closer to being ready. But there's a big -- there's a big if, there's no decision taken, and there's a big question mark for them about how they fight Hamas when Hamas may be hiding behind civilians. And this isn't a new problem. They faced this back in 2014.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Close to Gaza, preparations underway for a much anticipated ground offensive. Troops from different units training together.

There is an urgency here. They have to be ready fast.

(On-camera): Right now this is a rehearsal. If and when there's an incursion, these troops could be at the front of it. Tanks, or for this practice, model ones right now, followed by infantry and combat engineers. A combined force spearheading an incursion.

(Voice-over): If they do, Major Ofek will be near the front.

MAJOR OFEK, IDF TROOP COMMANDER (through translator): We expect to go to war. We expect to destroy the terrorist organization Hamas, kill its governments, and kill every last terrorist. That's what we plan to do and that's how it will be.

ROBERTSON: The last time the IDF went into Gaza, targeting Hamas' leaders, was 2014. Ariel Bernstein was 21, in the special forces, one of the first to cross the border.

ARIEL BERNSTEIN, FORMER IDF SOLDIER/PEACE ACTIVIST: You're just afraid that there is something waiting for you at every corner.

ROBERTSON: But his experiences then have left him questioning the tactics today. Back then, he says the IDF warned civilians to leave and Hamas told them to stay, just as is happening now, but some had stayed. His orders, he says, assume the civilians had left.

BERNSTEIN: So whoever you see is basically engaged in fighting, involved in fighting, and therefore we call it engaging with fire with any home you enter, with any kind of shape of a person that you see from afar.

ROBERTSON: In many ways, Israel's actions are playing out just as they have in the past. 20 21-gun positions freshly dug back in use. And in Gaza, the civilian death toll according to Palestinian health officials already higher than in 2014. And like then, Israel is already facing huge international pressure to avoid more civilian casualties.

JAKE SULLIVAN, WHITE HOUSE SECURITY ADVISER: What we are doing is saying privately what we've said publicly, which is that all military operations should be conducted consistent with the law of war. That civilians should be protected.

ROBERTSON: The problem, the IDF says it faces, just like 2014, Hamas will be hiding among civilians.

MAJ. DORON SPIELMAN, IDF SPOKESPERSON: The whole situation we're talking about with Gazan civilians forcibly embedded is another element of Hamas. Hamas has to be fully defeated.

ROBERTSON (on-camera): So the responsibility is on them and not you.

SPIELMAN: The responsibility is on Hamas for their own civilians. Our responsibility is to eliminate Hamas' capabilities completely.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Major Ofek pausing during training in a mocked up Palestinian town says they don't hurt innocents, only terrorists, but admits if he is sent into Gaza, avoiding civilian deaths won't be easy.

(On-camera): Do you think it's possible there to fight Hamas without civilians getting injured?

OFEK (through translator): We're concerned with overthrowing the Hamas regime and killing the terrorists who are currently in Gaza. If it will be difficult, it will be difficult. Not easy.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Outside the camp gates, as Israel's military ponder their next move, troops are saying their fond farewells.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: And I think all those troops we saw today they feel that they've got a mission to do. They feel that they need to go in there after Hamas, but for many of them, they know that this could be a life-changing experience.

[19:10:02]

They'll experience things, they'll see things they'll never forget. And that was certainly the experience of the former IDF soldier that we interviewed. He said he came away with memories that he cannot erase from his mind and also lost friends along the way.

BURNETT: Yes, Nic, so much loss, and so many of them, when they go in those kibbutz, as they've been saying, it sears the eyes. Thank you very much, Nic Robertson.

And, Jim, back to you.

ACOSTA: Just incredible report from our colleague Nic Robertson there.

In the meantime, joining me now is Ben Wedeman, who is on the ground in southern Lebanon.

Ben, some news to get to you on and get your reaction to. Eight days after this terror attack, we're learning that the president of the Palestinian Authority is now condemning Hamas for what happened. What do you make of that? What's the significance of that?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Jim, let's look at the context within which he made that speech, that statement. It wasn't a speech, it wasn't a message to the United States or to Israel. It came in the form of a report on WAFA, the Palestinian news agency about a phone call he had with Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela. In that phone call, he said that the actions of Hamas do not represent the Palestinian people.

He went on to call for the end of attacks on civilians, but he also said, the so-called Israeli aggression on Gaza has to end. So, yes, this comes in a rather backhanded form of condemnation of the Hamas attack, and rather late in the day, considering how much has happened since the 7th of October.

Sorry, it's starting to rain very heavily here in southern Lebanon. But we should keep in mind that Mahmoud Abbas, he's 87 years old, very unpopular among Palestinians because it's felt he's completely out of touch. He's at the head of the Palestinian Authority that's considered to be very corrupt, very inefficient, and hasn't really achieved much for the Palestinian people. So he's walking a fine line between pressure from Europe and the United States to come out and strongly condemn the Hamas attack.

And at the same time, his people are increasingly angry over the fact that so many civilians are being killed in Gaza itself -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. All right, Ben Wedeman, thank you very much for those insights. Really appreciate it.

Still to come, Israel is preparing for what it calls the next stages of its war on Hamas. What that could look like and what this means as the conflict escalates. It's sure to do that in the coming days, perhaps the coming hours. We'll see. Our special coverage continues right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:16:27]

ACOSTA: As Israeli forces continue to gear up for a massive ground invasion into Gaza, the U.S. is moving a second carrier strike group into the area. The presence of two of the U.S. Navy's most powerful warships is meant to send a message to Iran and its proxies. Don't get involved. But there's no guarantee U.S. troops won't be deployed in the future, with more than a dozen Americans unaccounted for following the Hamas attack in Israel. The Biden administration is not ruling out the use of military forces to rescue those Americans.

I'm joined now by retired Army General Wesley Clark. He's a CNN military analyst and the former NATO Supreme Allied commander. Also with me is Kim Dozier, a CNN global affairs analyst.

Kim, we got the news earlier this afternoon that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited the president to come to Israel soon. What do you make of that? That is a very big gesture from the prime minister, who has sometimes been at odds with Democratic administrations from time to time.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think what it shows is that President Biden's speech embracing the Israeli people and condemning the violence, it was watched widely across Israel and it really hit home. It's a sign of appreciation for what the United States is doing in terms of sending those carrier groups and sending in ammunition, as needed. But I don't think President Biden would -- Secret Service would not approve a trip like that at a time like now.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, I think that that's TBD, no question about it.

General Clark, let me ask you about what Kim just mentioned a few moments ago about these two carrier strike groups moving into the region. You know, it is -- we've been saying this over and over again, this is to send a message to Iran and its proxies and so on. I just can't imagine, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, I cannot imagine a scenario where the Iranians would actually get involved in some way because of what it would trigger, what that would ultimately mean. Is that realistic? What do you think?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think the odds of their involvement are somewhat low, but I think they're situation dependent. So, for example, if the whole world turns against Israel, if Israel has got 300,000 troops beleaguered and besieged inside Gaza City, if it looks like this is Iran's big chance to unleash Hezbollah with decisive effect, they might go ahead and do it. So you can't rule it out.

But they know if they deploy Hezbollah, it's -- the world knows it's their trigger, not Hezbollah's decision. And the world also knows and that the Iranians know that Hezbollah will be destroyed. Whatever damage it does to Israel, it won't recover from this because the Israelis and the Americans will turn on Hezbollah, and that will be the end of it. It might be brutal, it might take casualties, maybe six weeks of fighting, but Hezbollah will have been expended and with that will go Iran's major effort for hegemony on the Mediterranean coast and in Lebanon.

There's plenty of enemies of Hezbollah that will take advantage of a U.S.-Israeli destruction of Hezbollah.

ACOSTA: Yes. And Kimberly, what about this news that just came in the last hour or so, that the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, has now voiced his condemnation for what Hamas carried out in those attacks on Israel. Ben Wedeman was pointing out a few moments ago, perhaps you listened to his live shot where he said, you know, this wasn't said in some sort of speech or official statement.

[19:20:04]

This was made in a phone call with the Venezuelans, of all folks. What do you think about all of this?

DOZIER: Yes, a readout of the phone call, and I'd love to hear what Ben and his producers, since Ben speaks Arabic, think of the original version of this because I looked up the latest English language version on the Wahoo site and it's much more circumspect. Abbas does, as he did a couple of days ago, condemns violence on both sides and states, according to this readout, that the PLO, that his organization, the Palestinian Authority, is the sole representative of the Palestinian people. But it doesn't mention anyone else.

So I can see why, depending on how you read it, you might read it as a condemnation of Hamas, but nowhere in the version that I was able to find does he outright attack Hamas which would be a dangerous thing to do because Hamas right now is riding high in terms of popularity in many parts of the Palestinian world and many parts of the Arab world.

ACOSTA: And General Clark, any sense -- any thoughts on your part as to why we have not seen Israel launch this ground incursion? Why that has not happened as of yet?

CLARK: I think they're -- I think they're collecting intelligence, but also, Jim, this is -- this operation is already underway. Hamas told the civilians to stay. Israel has told the civilians to leave. They're leaving. Hamas is resisting their departure. So Israel is already in this operation and Israel is winning this operation against Hamas.

Now, does it go on like this for another six hours, 24 hours, we don't know. But right now, the momentum is with Israel and against Hamas. Hamas wanted all of those people to stay. It's blown up, put in barricades, it's destroyed transit areas and other things in an effort to fix them in place. And it's losing.

So for Israel to hold off another day or two, it's all to the good. They are more ready. They've got more intel. Also there's some international understanding that the civilian population is important. Most of these people are not fighters. They're just innocent people that happen to live in Gaza.

ACOSTA: Right.

CLARK: They happen to be under Hamas control. So it's in Israel's interest to give them enough time to get out of the way. Hamas wants to use them as civilian shields. They don't want to be used as civilian shields, but inevitably, in a conflict situation, there are going to be civilian casualties here. So the more that leave, the better. So, you know, there's no rush to get into this fight on the part of Israel. Give it a day, give it two days, give it three days. Build up the diplomatic support internationally, and then go in.

ACOSTA: Yes. Perhaps the Israelis are seeing that exodus and they're thinking, OK, let's give it more time.

All right, General Clark, Kim Dozier, thanks to both of you. Really appreciate it.

Coming up, our special coverage continues. We'll talk with Fareed Zakaria, that's coming up. He joins me in just a few moments. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:53]

ACOSTA: With Israel and Hamas bracing for what could be a devastating war, the world is on edge as fears of a broader Middle East conflict continue to grow.

Here to help us to make sense of what's happened over the past week and where we go from here is CNN's Fareed Zakaria. He's the host of "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS."

Fareed, great to see you. I thought of you earlier and I wanted to have you on because a lot of Americans, and I'm sure a lot of people around the world have been just thinking about this over the last eight days, and wondering, how did we get to this point? We've seen this conflict rage on between the Israelis and the Palestinians, it flares up from time to time. There is intense fighting, casualties, loss of life. But nothing like this. How did this happen?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: It's a great question, Jim. I would say, you know, the kind of fundamental fact, if I could take a moment to put the historical context is, the United States was the kind of power broker in the Middle East. And the United States ever since the Iraq war has been stepping back, right? That was part of the whole idea of pivoting to Asia, getting somewhat less involved in the Middle East.

Well, guess what, when the United States steps back, what happens is you create a power vacuum. And all kinds of people fall into that power vacuum. And the biggest shift became a contest between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Who would fill in that power vacuum. And the way the Saudis tried to do it in cooperation with the Israelis, who also were trying to move in, as well as, by the way, the Turks and the Russians a little bit, but the Saudis tried to ensure that their concerns and interests are taken care of, by forging this new alliance between the moderate Gulf Arabs and Israel.

That scared the, you know, the Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, all these actors that are being marginalized now. And most importantly, the Palestinians, particularly Hamas felt they would be marginalized because what Bibi Netanyahu was trying to do was essentially ignore the Palestinian issue, make peace with the Arabs. And as a result of that, Hamas and perhaps some of Hamas' sponsors, but certainly Hamas, decided, we're going to burn the house down.

And this is their way of trying to burn the house down. And so part of what's going on here is that you have had a kind of power vacuum, which all kinds of people have been jockeying for influence and Hamas is watching all this. And they're playing the card they have, which is the most brutal, sadistic card, but that's -- it's their effort to get their attention.

ACOSTA: No question about it. And we were talking with Hadas Gold, who just left Jerusalem. She was our Jerusalem correspondent there for several years. And she said that, you know, when you talk to Israelis, they view this as -- many of them view this as Israel's 9/11. And they feel this deep down in their bones. And I have to think, as we were looking at these images coming out of Gaza earlier today, the intense shelling that is taking place and those buildings that have been leveled, the hospitals are getting filled with children, now they feel like the victims in all of this, as well.

It's hard to see how we just aren't going to get trapped in a quagmire here, in a cycle of violence with no end in sight.

[19:30:15]

ZAKARIA: You know, that's very well put, because what's happening right now is people's emotions are so inflamed.

You know, you start with the Israelis, for whom, yes, this is absolutely a kind of 9/11 for them, made all the more tragic because of the memories of the Holocaust. But as a result of that, one of the things I would urge Israelis to do is learn from the mistakes that the United States made after 9/11. We occasionally reacted and acted through emotion, through fear, through anger, and many times these were not the -- we did not end up with the right policies. We overreacted. We tried to go into Afghanistan and build a whole new democratic nation. We tried to go into -- we went into Iraq. It is not clear that those were the right answers at the time.

So one of the things, Richard Haass was on my program and he said, you know, one of the lessons surely should be -- you know, be careful, be judicious, be discriminating. Don't -- you know, don't get -- don't let the emotions guide you.

You know, Bismarck once said, the Great 19th century German statesman, a fool learns from his own mistakes, wise people learn from others -- other people's mistakes.

So I would say to the Israelis, it is very much like 9/11, but learn from the mistakes the United States made after 9/11.

ACOSTA: And well, from Bismarck to Donald Rumsfeld, if I could make that kind of awkward transition. I heard you mention Donald Rumsfeld and one of his famous expressions from the Iraq War when that was going sideways, which is, as we're killing terrorists, are we creating more of them?

ZAKARIA: Right, you know, as you pointed out with what's going on in Gaza right now, there are 2.2 million people in Gaza, we don't know enough about who supports whom. And, you know, it's important to remember the median age in Gaza is I think, 18 or 19. The last election, which Hamas did win with a plurality of votes, the last election was held 17 years ago.

So the median person in Gaza was one year old the last time there was an election. These people have no -- I mean, we don't know whether they support Hamas, but what we do know is that the easiest way to radicalize them would be through a massive indiscriminate campaign of bombing and things like that.

This is something we saw happen in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and so I would hope that we could recognize, that the Israelis recognize that justified as they are, it was a brutal, awful terror attack that is inhuman. You don't want to further radicalize the Palestinian population.

For people who say, well, they are already radicalized. I think that's not entirely true. Very important and interesting issue you pointed to, Mahmoud Abbas, that the head of the Palestinian Authority finally, you know, summoned up the courage to essentially denounce the terror attack and point out that this is not what most Palestinians believe in, it's not what most Palestinians do on a daily basis.

But the point is not, you know -- I think the Israel is justified in its anger, in its shock, in its horror. The question is, to be strategic about this. And as you've been pointing out, there is a danger of a wider war, and that really is not in Israel's best interest.

ACOSTA: And, Fareed, why do you think we are still watching these live pictures over Gaza and it is just eerily quiet. There are a lot of expectations that this was going to start yesterday or possibly tonight. And it sounds as though the Israelis are giving the Palestinians a little bit more time to get out -- to get out of harm's way, but they are not all going to be gone.

ZAKARIA: No, they're not going to be gone by a longshot.

Look, I think it's mainly because they realized that that would be a terrible humanitarian tragedy, there were too many hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people left in Gaza.

It's also a good counterfire -- it would it would backfire, you know, in terms of the optics, in terms of global support. There is no advantage to Israel moving fast at this point. The best thing to do would be to let as many people from Gaza leave.

What they're trying to do, as they correctly say is to root out the infrastructure of terrorism, the infrastructure of Hamas control. That's something you know -- they can do it three days from now. It doesn't need to happen today.

But if they do it today, the one thing we can be sure, is that many, many people who are innocent will die. Fifty percent of the people who live in Gaza are children, right? Remember the median age is 18 or 19. So these people cannot be held culpable.

[19:35:01]

And the more Israel shows that it is being -- it is being careful, it is being been thoughtful, the more of a contrast it can show and that contrast is real between the barbarism of Hamas and what Israel is doing.

ACOSTA: Yes. All right, Fareed Zakaria, great to talk to you as always, thank you for those insights. We knew you were the perfect person to bring in this evening. Thanks for making time for us.

ZAKARIA: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, thanks.

Just ahead, my colleague, Erin Burnett has an interview with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in Israel the moment that prompted his bipartisan Senate delegation to take cover today in a bomb shelter. Erin has that as well. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Today, a bipartisan group of American senators arrived in Tel Aviv as Israel prepares for its ground offensive in Gaza. The senators were led by the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and they met with Israel's president.

But before that meeting, Schumer says they were forced to rush to a bomb shelter to wait out rockets launched by Hamas. Of course, no one was hurt, thankfully, but we did hear those impact here in Tel Aviv. It is a very real threat for everyone here. I spoke with Senator Schumer earlier today about why he felt the need to travel here. He was of course with Senator Romney and others and what it says about US support for Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: All right, Leader Schumer, thank you so much for your time in Tel Aviv tonight. Obviously, you have had meetings throughout the day with the Prime Minister Netanyahu and others. What did you learn here?

[19:40:06]

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Well, first we came with a simple message to the Israeli people: We have your back. We feel your pain, we ache, and America will stick with you in this most difficult time.

We have three missions: One, to let Israel nowhere for them; two, to find out what Israel's needs are. And we had extensive discussions of the military, diplomatic, intelligence, and humanitarian needs that Israel had; but third, we wanted to show that this was bipartisan.

So I went with two Democrats and two Republicans.

BURNETT: Senator Cassidy, Senator Romney, yourself, Senator Kelly, right?

SCHUMER: Yes. And Senator Rosen.

BURNETT: And Senator Rosen.

SCHUMER: And in this time of such partisanship, this is one area where the Congress is united and I believe we're going to pass very soon, we're going to put together a very strong package. We will pass it soon.

We're not going to wait for the house. We're hopeful that if we pass a strong package with big bipartisan majorities, it will put pressure on the House to act one way or another, however the heck they figure it out.

BURNETT: So Secretary Blinken is coming tomorrow, coming back, right?

SCHUMER: Yes.

BURNETT: So no one had known that this is happening. Obviously, he's coming from other places in the Middle East. He just met with the Saudi Crown Prince. What is his goal? Do you know? Is he trying to have Netanyahu delay this or --

SCHUMER: No, I think his goal is to try and keep the tripartite negotiations that were going on between Saudi Arabia, Israel, and America on track.

Many suspect that Hamas and even Iran did this dastardly, horrible terrorist action to make sure that that didn't happen and he feels very strongly as do most of us that we should keep it on track. And the viciousness of Hamas, I mean, in one instance, cutting the throats of little children.

BURNETT: Yes.

SCHUMER: Having their parents watch, Hamas is trying to say, we're going to intimidate you from doing the things you want to do, including this Tripartite Pact. And I think what Secretary Blinken is saying, and Israel is saying, we are saying you're not going to intimidate us, we're going to move forward.

BURNETT: John Kirby today confirm that there are American hostages in Gaza. He did not -- he said, there are no plans. There is no intention for US troops to be involved, but he wouldn't rule it out. He said I'm not going to rule anything out. Do you think that that should be on the table if --

SCHUMER: Israel has never asked for troops. They have always asked for aid. They've always asked for help.

BURNETT: But I mean for the American hostages.

SCHUMER: No, right now our country -- and we met with -- I've talked to Secretary Blinken about this. We met with some of the families of American hostages.

BURNETT: Yes.

SCHUMER: And the best way to go is to pursue some serious diplomatic channels to put pressure on Hamas through other countries. We can't mention the countries because --

BURNETT: Yes.

SCHUMER: It might mess the whole thing up. But that's the plan.

BURNETT: So as you were on your way here, there was the announcement that there's a second carrier strike group coming from the United States, an incredibly high military posture right off the coast of Israel.

SCHUMER: Yes.

BURNETT: You've obviously got the war in Ukraine going on as well. When you take a step back, Senator, do you think the US is closer to war itself than it has been a long time?

SCHUMER: I think sending the two carriers here will make us less likely to have a war because it's a strong message to Hezbollah in Lebanon and to Iran: Don't mess around here, because we've got a lot of might in the area.

BURNETT: What is the status right now of us knowledge of Iran's involvement right now in the ongoing conflict as well as in the act itself? SCHUMER: Sorry. It's still unclear whether Iran knew all the details and pushed Hamas to do this at this time, but one thing is totally clear, there would be no Hamas without Iran, so Iran will be culpable one way or the other.

BURNETT: Here in Tel Aviv, you had to take shelter from rockets, that's the daily life here as they come in. Does that give you a different sense, a more palpable sense that there is a war?

SCHUMER: Yes, when you are here, you see it.

Look, I asked five or six random people, the driver of our car, two people in the hotel, several waitresses at restaurants we were at, every single one of them has a relative or a close friend who died. It's unbelievable.

Look, I think about 9/11 every day.

BURNETT: Yes.

SCHUMER: And I'll think about this every day, and I'm sure every Israeli will for the rest of their lives, but they are a strong people, they are a resolute people. Hamas has decided to intimidate them with the most vicious, brutal kind of terrorism, it is not going to succeed.

BURNETT: Senator Schumer, Leader Schumer, thank you. I appreciate it.

SCHUMER: Thank you, Erin.

BURNETT: Good to see you.

SCHUMER: Good to see you. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: And, you know, Jim, talking to the senators who were in those meetings, you know, they were telling me about some of what they saw and obviously you know, we on CNN have only shown one picture of that baby who was killed, but they were able to see other pictures which they described to me.

One of the things they said they were told was about a group of children who were gathered and they say burned alive. I mean, we continue to hear atrocities, which simply defy comprehension.

[19:45:09]

And it is that is obviously put Israel in the position it's in right with, with these 300-plus thousand troops sitting on a border, waiting, waiting to go in and it is very hard when you have that many to turn back.

ACOSTA: Absolutely, Erin, and the Israelis have set off and they want the world to see these atrocities and that includes having American lawmakers view the evidence of this as well. And so stellar work as always, Erin Burnett, thank you very much for that. Really appreciate it.

As the war between Israel and Hamas continues to deepen, the White House says, getting American hostages out of Gaza is a top priority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: All we can do is to continue to work closely with the Israeli government on hostage recovery options, which we are doing, and then work through third countries to see if there are avenues for release.

Those efforts are underway. Our hope is that they can produce results. We will continue to stay focused on this. It is as high a priority as the president has.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Let's discuss more now with Democratic Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado. He's a member of the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees.

Congressman, really appreciate your time. Your sense of the -- in terms of this mission to get these hostages out. Is that even a realistic possibility at this point given what's about to take place?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Well, Jim, it always has to be a realistic possibility, because the United States does not leave people behind. We will always, always endeavor to bring people home, whether that's through direct action raid, hostage rescue missions, like our Special Operations Forces do, whether it's through diplomacy, or intelligence, and working through our partners as well.

In a situation like this, the best avenue is either diplomacy, or working through the Israelis. You know, we never want to take anything off the table, we never say that our Special Operations Forces will not go do something. But in a dense urban terrain like this, that's highly saturated with enemy forces, you have Israeli Forces working, you have airstrikes, you have missiles, you have rockets going off. It's very, very hard to safely insert a Special Operations team to conduct a hostage rescue mission. So by diplomacy and working through our Israeli partners are probably the best two avenues at this point.

ACOSTA: I mean, is that your assessment because the National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby, he was not ruling out the possibility that American troops could be deployed to help free hostages captured by Hamas.

But I suppose that is what the White House has to say. That's what the administration has to say, they always leave those kinds of options on the table. But it would be just an enormously dangerous and precarious thing to try to carry out, particularly at this very sensitive moment.

CROW: Well, I'm not ruling it out either. You know, it has to be an option on the table, I'm just illustrating the high risk of doing that, and the points of failure, if you were to do it directly. And that there are there are lower risks to working diplomatically, and working through our partners and actually getting that done.

But again, we never take anything off the table, and we will do everything possible to get our people home.

ACOSTA: And I guess the other question is, with these aircraft carrier strike forces in the region, the strike force groups in the region, is there a possibility, do you think that we will see some activity out of forces? Or are they simply there as a deterrent message being sent to Iran and its proxies do you think?

CROW: Well, I think surging additional forces as a show of force and strength to Iran and Hezbollah that says that if they want to escalate this, if they want to take advantage of this crisis that Israel is experiencing right now and try to spark a broader regional war, that that would be a massive mistake, that we have the capability and our allies have the capability to make that a massive mistake.

So certainly a show of force is no doubt the primary purpose of the surge of this type, but we have to be ready. We have to make sure that we're protecting our own people, our own assets. You know, we have thousands of troops permanently stationed in places throughout the Middle East.

Hamas has called for, you know, regional and even worldwide strikes against Americans and American assets and forces. So we are upping our posture and making sure we're doing all the right things and this administration is doing exactly what we need to be doing.

We're being aggressive, but we're also being intentional and looking at the various risks.

ACOSTA: And Congressman, just very quickly, "60 Minutes" just did an interview with President Biden. This is what he said about eliminating Hamas. Get a quick response from you on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT PELLEY: Do you believe that Hamas must be eliminated entirely?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, I do. But there needs to be a Palestinian Authority -- there needs to be a path to a Palestinian State.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Should that be the US policy that Hamas is entirely eliminated?

CROW: I think so. When you look at the barbarism that occurred last weekend, the acts that have been well-documented on this show and others, you don't negotiate with those people. They must be eliminated, period.

[19:50:19] But the president made a really interesting point here. He pointed out one of the greatest lessons learned of our 20 years of the global war on terror. And frankly, some of the biggest mistakes that America made over the last 20 years, you can't eliminate a threat like this only with military power, you have to make sure that you're pushing in humanitarian aid, that you're being very careful that you're not overreacting, if you're taking innocent civilians out of harm's way. That is actually in many instances, just as important as how you respond militarily, sometimes even more important to make sure that we are not creating more blowback to our partners into the United States into Israel.

So we have to make sure that you have a military response, we have to make sure that we're doing it in accordance with our values, and making sure that humanitarian resources are there as well.

ACOSTA: All right, Congressman Jason Crow, really appreciate your time this evening. Thanks so much.

CROW: Thank you.

ACOSTA: And we will be right back.

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ACOSTA: While the Biden administration and top US diplomats continue to show their ironclad support for Israel, many pro-Palestinian rallies are being held around the world, some expressing a deep anger over the situation that's unfolding this weekend.

CNN correspondent, Melissa Bell has more on that story.

[19:55:14]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Palestine will be free.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In Sydney, thousands turned out to express solidarity with Palestinians and oppose Israel's military action in Gaza. The police out in full force as well, with organizers warning that anti-Semitic behavior that had been seen at previous protests would not be welcome. No signs of that chaos here, but the crowd's message to the Palestinian people was loud and clear.

LIQAA, DEMONSTRATOR: What's the protests going to do except spread awareness and support? We have no legitimize -- legalized, any enforceable power to do anything to protect them. Shame on the government who do and don't do anything.

BELL (voice over): Pro-Palestinian rallies have been held in cities around the world. In France and Germany, where they've been banned, demonstrators gathered, regardless.

Some of the largest rallies for Palestinians were held in the Arab world. Thousands attended a rally in Turkey where crowds vented anger at both Israel and the United States.

Similar scenes of solidarity in Pakistan.

SALMA REHEEL QAZI, DEMONSTRATOR: We are seeing from our rallies and all over Pakistan that Palestinians are not alone.

BELL (voice over): And in Tunisia, anger that more is not being done to protect Palestinians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My people are facing extermination and Gaza is being devastated. Where's the international community? Where are the Arabs? Where's the Arab conscience?

BELL (voice over): In Tokyo a smaller crowd with a similar plea.

AWEED SADEED, DEMONSTRATOR: I am here to show that we are united, now, the Muslims they are very tired of war and everyone is tired of conflicts and everyone wants just peace.

BELL (voice over): Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And our thanks to Melissa Bell for that report.

Reporting from Washington, I am Jim Acosta. Our special coverage continues after the break.

Have a good night.

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