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CNN International: Israel: Preparing For Combined, Coordinated Strikes; Aid Groups Running Out Of Food & Medical Supplies; Blinken: Key Gaza-Egypt Crossing Will Be Open For Aid; Rallies On Both Sides Of Israeli-Hamas War Taking Place Around The World; Afghanistan Struck By 6.3 Magnitude Quake. 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.
[19:01:48]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: And warm welcome to everyone watching us around the world. I'm Julia Chatterley in New York.
And we begin with the fast moving developments from Israel and Gaza. Israel's military says it's preparing for combined and coordinated strikes from air, sea, and land. But we still have no word for on when. It's a response to the surprise attacks by Hamas on October 7th, in which Israel now says more than 1,400 people were killed.
In Gaza, tens of thousands of people are moving southwards, despite the threat of aerial bombardment. Palestinian health authorities are accusing Israel of directly targeting medical staff, and their families. They also say that the death toll has now passed 2,600 lives. As aid groups say that they are rapidly running out of food and medical supplies.
And on the diplomatic front, the U.S. secretary of state says he believes the Rafah border crossing between but Gaza and Egypt will be open to allow aides to reach those in desperate need. Israel also says it's working with the U.N. to establish a humanitarian zone in Gaza. But for many, time is running out. The U.N. say it's, quote, we only are on the verge of the abyss in the Middle East, and he's calling for immediate humanitarian access in Gaza and for the immediate release of the hostages being held by Hamas.
CNN's Scott McLean has this report on how one city in Gaza south of Israel's evacuation line is coping. And I should warn you, this report does contain distressing images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the frantic scene in front of the hospital in the city of Deir al- Balah. Constant wailing of sirens, and a steady stream of children carried desperately inside. Some bandaged, some seeming alert. Others, not moving at all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this a target? Is this a real target for Israel, this toddler?
MCLEAN: On Sunday, people in that same city gathered to pray over bodies wrapped in white and loaded on to a flatbed truck.
Deir al-Balah located south of the evacuation line declared by Israel and Gaza was hit again on Sunday. Afterwards, heavy machines shifting the slabs of concrete, hoping perhaps in vain to find survivors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They're all women, all children, children, children.
MCLEAN: Across Gaza, Israel says it hit more than 100 military targets overnight, and more on Sunday. In the aftermath of, each people rushed to frantically find victims. Never far from danger. This video, from Gaza City, shows the sheer chaos as distraught men, women, and children try to figure out what to do, and where to go next.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It is, as you can see, destruction.
[19:05:01]
Destruction. They are destroying us.
MCLEAN: Even hospitals like this children's hospital have been told to evacuate from northern Gaza. But with newborn babies and children on ventilators, doctors say they can't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Where will these children go? They are on ventilators. And it's not possible to move them.
MCLEAN: The World Health Organization says that they strongly condemned Israel's repeated orders of evacuation of 22 hospitals, treating more than 2,000 inpatients in northern Gaza, saying, forcing the evacuation of patients south could be tantamount to a death sentence.
Across Gaza, aid groups say that food and fuel are running desperately low. The U.N. says most people already lack access to water.
Foreign aid is being sent by the plane load and truckload to Egypt in hopes of getting it into Gaza. But Egypt and Palestinians on the ground say that the roads near the border are too badly damaged from airstrikes, for trucks to pass. Sunday, CNN asked the IDF whether it was coordinating with the neighbors to ensure that supplies get in.
LT. COL. PETER LERNER, IDF SPOKESPERSON: The IDF and defense ministry are engaged with international communities to try and associate various different things. I think that we need to leave -- I speak on behalf of the IDF, so we are deeply involved in the combat. We are the warriors. We need to leave the diplomacy for the diplomats.
MCLEAN: In just eight days, the death toll in Gaza has already surpassed the number of people killed in the 2014 conflict, which lasted 51 days. With the Israeli ground invasion looming, and supplies running low, there is little hope that things will soon get better for the people of Gaza.
Scott McLean, CNN. (END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due back to Israel Monday with further talks with officials there after a whirlwind few days, a shuttle diplomacy across the Arab world. Lincoln held meetings on Sunday with Egyptian President El-Sisi in Cairo and with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh. Blinken says a main goal of his talk is to make sure that there is no spillover from the conflict to other parts of the region.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: We came here with four key objectives, to make clear that the United States stands with Israel, to prevent the conflict from spreading to other places, to work on securing the release of hostages, including American citizens, and to address the humanitarian crisis that exist in Gaza.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: And Blinken now says that the U.S. is working with the United Nations and other officials to reopen the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, so that humanitarian aid can get through to the billions. Blinken also hopes to evacuate U.S. citizens through the crossing, too.
Hadas Gold is in Washington for us.
Hadas, it has been a flurry of diplomacy this weekend. Conversations, perhaps in some cases, negotiations over each of these nations using their respective influence and trying to extend the humanitarian crisis that we see unfolding in Gaza.
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yeah, and as we heard from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to try to keep the region as calm as possible, not clear, though, how much influence a country like Egypt or Jordan would be able to have on a group like Hezbollah, who had really hold the keys potentially about ratcheting up this conflict even further.
So much of the attention right now is on the immediate humanitarian need in Gaza, as millions, as more than a million Palestinians there have been urged to move south by Israel. Hamas is now trying to urge them to stay put. But as we are seeing, just from the images on the ground, quite a few of them are heeding that advice and going south.
We know that right at the Rafah border crossing are what maybe hundreds, potentially thousands of people who are just sitting there waiting to cross because the State Department did advise even their own citizens saying that you can be as close as possible, in case it opens at any moment.
On the other side, on the Egyptian side, are just convoys of trucks with aid waiting to get in. Now, this is a border that Israel doesn't control. This is controlled solely by Egypt, and by Gaza, and potentially Hamas. We have heard from the White House that Egypt is willing to accept
Americans crossing into their territory, but that Hamas is preventing it. Now, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made reassurance today that Rafah, he said, will be open because Rafah is really the key. That is the key to getting as many people as possible out and the key to getting that desperately needed aid in.
One other thing, though, that's interesting to hear from the secretary of state is, you know, you talk about how the United States always stands behind Israel, and will support, you know, their right to self defense, their right to this military operation. But he did say that the way that Israel does this matters.
[19:10:01]
He says it needs to do it in a way that affirms the shared values of human life and human dignity making every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians.
I think that we are going to start seeing the pressure on Israel ratcheting up. We already heard lots of pressure from other countries that Blinken went to Egypt and Jordan and alike about the civilian population, but especially on things like the water, that Israel says they have turned back on, but other things like fuel and electricity that are so desperately needed. There will be increasing pressure on Israel to at least bring those things back, even as this military operation continues.
CHATTERLEY: Yeah, I'm already seeing that.
Hadas Gold, from Washington there, thank you.
Israel's military says it's they've killed the commander of the Hamas southern district in Gaza. According to an IDF statement, it hid 250 military targets throughout the day on Sunday, mostly in northern Gaza. The IDF says that the command was located through intelligence sources. As much as the sites targeted, dozens of military headquarters and observation posts.
Nic Robertson has more.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Do you want me to toss the donut?
CHATTERLEY: Oh, Nic, I've got you live which is fantastic. Nic, my apologies for that. That was confusing there.
Just explain where you are because I've noticed a process here that you are watching and observing, and talking to people as they're trying to evacuate here ahead of what is expected to be an imminent ground defensive. Just tell us what you are seeing there.
ROBERTSON: We're seeing troops building up on the border. We're seeing them going through training for that. We're seeing continuing airstrikes on Gaza behind us here, and we're also getting continued barrages of incoming rockets from Gaza that are being intercepted as they have been with the Iron Dome rocket system.
Most of the people from this town have left, those evacuation earlier today. The mayor is not forcing people to leave here, but they really should lean for that. All areas on the border is a militarized zone here, most of the smaller villages if you will, the kibbutz is closer to the border, they've already evacuated, the civilians
And in fact, many of them now have really turned it to military staging posts for the possibility of incursion, within what some of those troops are training for an incursion.
(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.
Right now, this is a rehearsal, if and when there is an incursion, these troops could be at the front of it. The tanks, or for this practice, model ones right now, followed by combat engineers -- a combined force, spearheading the incursion.
If they do, Major Ofek (ph) will be near the front.
IDF SOLDIER (through translator): We expect to go to war, we expect to destroy the terrorist organization of Hamas, kill its government, and kill every last terrorist. That's what we planned to do, and that's how it will be.
ROBERTSON: The last time the IDF went into Gaza, targeting Hamas's leaders was 2014. Ariel Bernstein was 21. In the special forces, one of the first to cross the border.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We're just afraid that there's something waiting for you at every corner.
ROBERTSON: But his experiences then has left some questioning the tactics today. Back then, he says that the IDF wanted civilians to leave, and Hamas told them to stay, just as it is happening now. But some had stayed. His orders, he says, assume the civilians had left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): So, whoever you see is basically engaged in fighting, and is involved, and therefore, we call it engaging with fire, with any home you enter, with nay 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. 2021 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, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: What we are doing is saying privately what we have said publicly, which is that all military operations should be conducted consistent with the law of war, that civilians should be protected.
[19:15:06]
ROBERTSON: The problem, the IDF says it faces just like in 2014, Hamas will be hiding amongst civilians.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole situations we're talking about with Gazan civilians forcibly embedded is another element of Hamas. Hamas has to be fully defeated.
ROBERTSON: So, the responsibility is on them and not you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The responsibility is on Hamas for its own civilians. Our responsibility is to eliminate Hamas's capabilities effectively.
ROBERTSON: Major Ofek pausing during training in a mockup Palestinian town says they don't hurt innocents, only terrorists. But admits if they are sent to Gaza, avoiding civilian deaths would be easy.
Do you think that it's possible to fight Hamas without civilians getting injured?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are concerned with overthrowing the Hamas regime, and killing the terrorists in Gaza. If it would be difficult, it would be difficult, not easy.
ROBERTSON: Outside of the camp gates, Israel's military ponders their next move, troops are saying that they have fond farewells.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: There's a lot of military hardware down along the border right now, but from what we've seen, some of it still requires getting troops to it. You know, many, dozens upon dozens, upon dozens of armored vehicles lined up and parked up in fields tail to tail. But, you know, without the troops being deployed on them, then they are not going to be ready to go into Gaza.
So, it's really hard to tell for the troops and for us as observers, about when the decision is going to come that may send them in. Right now, it does seem that diplomacy with the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arriving in Israel on Monday, it does seem that diplomacy is still in play.
CHATTERLEY: Yeah, and we certainly have a discussion about that with the representative of the IDF later on this hour.
Nick, for now, thank you so much for joining us this hour.
More to come. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.
We're now getting confirmation from the Israeli Defense Forces that Hamas is holding 155 hostages. Efforts continue on, several fronts getting them released. Israeli President Isaac Herzog tells CNN he's trying to determine their fate and bring them back to Israel. Herzog also points out, some of the hostages will need special medication and a treatment.
Meanwhile, the U.S. says there are some 14 Americans uncounted for after the Hamas attacks. They say that Hamas now holds a small number of U.S. hostages.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Sunday that the Biden administration is keeping all options open in his efforts to get them released.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKESMAN: There's no plans or intentions to put U.S. troops on the ground to fight in this fight between Israel and Hamas.
[19:20:04]
INTERVIEWER: To retrieve Americans?
KIRBY: We are actively trying to find out exactly where they are. I mean, Shannon, we don't even know how many exactly. We saw -- a small handful we know, but there could be more that we know.
What I won't do is rule anything in or war out when it comes to getting our hostages home. We're working on this literally by the hour.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: President Biden spoke to the families of Americans still unaccounted for on Friday. He says that they are going through agony, and calls their plight, quote, gut wrenching.
Joining us now is you Elad Shdaimah. He's from Pennsylvania. He's grandfather was kidnapped and is believed to be a hostage in Gaza.
Elad, good to have you with us.
Our thoughts and prayers with her, you, and your whole family, who I'm sure are suffering unbearably at this moment. Just explain why you are sure that she is a hostage at this moment. I believe you saw video on social media posted by you think Hamas.
ELAD SHDAIMAH, GRANDSON OF DITZ HEIMAN, A HOSTAGE IN Gaza: Right. We have some prior evidence, hearing her screaming for help while she was being carried away, and came out and saw her from being taken away. Further, there is video evidence layered into a propaganda video which Hamas put out on Facebook. My cousins have been scouring their materials, and found this clip of herself being dragged into a car. So, we know that she was captured alive.
CHATTERLEY: Have you heard anything since? What have you heard from authorities and state departments? Have you heard anything?
SHDAIMAH: It's really the most difficult thing for us right now as there has been no news. Anything that we found out had come out a couple days after Saturday. We all had to deal with, things that -- events that occurred on Saturday.
So, it's been pretty demoralizing over here not knowing any information. We are in contact with Israeli authorities. We have sent letters to representatives here in the U.S., kind of pushing for prioritization of hospital relief. But we know absolutely nothing about what has happened to my mother.
CHATTERLEY: You've described her as an incredibly strong woman. She went back to school in her late 40s. She was a social worker until just a few days ago. So it gives you a sense of who she was, a pivotal member of her community as well.
What about her general health? She is 84 years old. What about medication?
SHDAIMAH: I would like to speak specifically about her. She's 84 years old. Beyond that, she does have some existing medical conditions.
Generally, she has been in good health, for an 84 year old. She was able to continue working until she was 80. She retired because she reached the national limit for work. You are not allowed to work past 80 in Israel.
Again, she's a strong woman mentally, as well as physically. But just -- I cannot imagine what kind of condition she is in right now, and what kind of care she is being provided.
CHATTERLEY: How are your family doing? I can see how emotional this moment is for you. How are you staying hopeful?
SHDAIMAH: It's a really hard question. I can't -- I can't speak for everyone in my family. I mean, we've really been communicating constantly with each other. Both extended family, and my immediate family. And the most we can do is talk to each other, really.
But again, I cannot speak for everybody else, but following a week of advocacy and sharing, and storytelling, praying, even though that I'm not a religious man myself. I've just been overwhelmed with a feeling of powerlessness, and hopefulness. I cannot imagine that being a hostage for over a week is healthy for anyone, let alone someone's 84.
So I would like to say, the only hope that I have as my community, and the support that I have been provided by that community. My fridge is overflowing, which has been incredible. In terms of my self, I'm starting to slip.
CHATTERLEY: I understand. That feeling of hopelessness that you described, of powerlessness, I can't help with that. But we do have a platform.
[19:25:00]
If you could say something to her at this moment, if you could get a message to her, if you could get a message to her captors about understanding the person that they're hoping, what would you say?
SHDAIMAH: In English, I would give her kisses. It's always how we ended our phone calls. I tell her and thinking about her every day. I would tell her I know how strong she is, and to know that we are waiting for her patiently. To the people that are keeping her hostage, I would beg that they understand the gravity of the situation.
I would also request they submit to a cease-fire in exchange for returning the hostages. I really just would love some peace at the moment. And just a cease-fire with the hostage exchange, or the hostages returned would be -- would be excellent.
CHATTERLEY: Elad, do you think that's your best hope? But you do say something very important there about some kind of cease-fire and negotiation, diplomacy. Do you think that's her and the others that have been taken, their best hope at this moment?
SHDAIMAH: I think a ground incursion by the IDF is a very risky play. It's not something I know much about, and I'm not up on the intelligence. But I think that it's very risky. I think that the constant bombing of Gaza is not safer for the Palestinian civilians who are not responsible for this attack.
And it's also not safe for the hostages being held there, especially when we do not know where they are being held. We do not even know if they are in a bomb sheltered area, if they are still alive. I would rather see some kind of diplomatic solution, as I would in any situation. I would consider myself to some level, a pacifist. I think that some kind of exchange would be ideal.
However, it really seems like Hamas does not care about the people that they are supposed to be protecting. I find it unlikely for them to exchange a cease-fire for hostages.
CHATTERLEY: Elad, our thoughts are with you, your family, and your grandmother. And we'll stay in touch please. Any news, you let us know. We are thinking of you. Thank you.
SHDAIMAH: Thank you for giving me this platform, I appreciate it.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you.
All right, Egypt's president says that Israel's response to the Hamas attacks has gone beyond its right of self-defense. In a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, President El-Sisi says that Israel is practicing, quote, a collective punishment against Gaza. He denounced the harming of civilians.
Meanwhile, aid convoys continue to arrive in Egypt preparing to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the crossing will be open after meeting with the Egyptian president.
Our Becky Anderson spoke to the World Health Organization's regional emergency director in Cairo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK BRENNAN, REGIONAL EMERGENCY DIRECTOR, W.H.O.: We have had 20 tons of medical equipment prepositioned just Gaza for the last few days. We've been waiting for the crossing to open, and we've been doing a lot of advocacy on this. We understand there's an opportunity for it to open in the coming hours, perhaps within the next coming 24 hours, and we are ready to go, provide that access is available.
Of course, like other agencies, we've been advocating for a humanitarian corridors. It means not just getting the supplies into Gaza, but it's just making sure that they're perfectly distributed for the health facilities, to the people that need them the most. This will just be the start.
This is not a sprint. This is going to be a marathon. It's going to be the first step. Nor
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Can you give me a sense of this kind of scope of aid built up on the Egypt side of the border at this point?
BRENNAN: Well, I don't have full details. I do know that agencies searches ourselves, and the World Food Programme for the United Nations. They're bringing in supplies. At moderate volume, we still need to scale up. I understand also that governments such as the government of Jordan, with supplies. It's logistically very, very difficult to bring supplies into northern Sinai, a part of Egypt that has been difficult logistically.
[19:30:03]
We are working on that. We've done a huge amount of advocacy with the Egyptian government. We're working with our U.N. partners, and so on.
So, we've got a vital amount of supplies right now, supplies that we are bringing in could mean basic needs for around 300,000 people as well as about 200 patients. We have got a lot of pressure to scale up. We've had another flight arrive in the next couple of days. And then from there, we'll continue to scale up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: More developments from Israel, a humanitarian crisis in Gaza after this. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.
Israel's forces are preparing for the next stages of its war against Hamas. Israel is telling more than 1 million residents to leave in the north of Gaza to move south, and away from areas where it is expected to launch its ground offensive. Israel says they have seen a, quote, strong flow of people moving south on Sunday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that Israel hasn't obligation to do all of that it can to ensure the safety of Gazan residents, even if conditions on the ground in Gaza continue to deteriorate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: As I said in Tel Aviv, as President Biden has said, the way that Israel does this matters. You need to do it in a way that affirms the shared values that we have for human life, human dignity, taking every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: And we are hearing from the United Nations now. It says no one was hurt after a rocket hit its peacekeeping headquarters in southern Lebanon. U.N. officials say they're still trying to determine where the rocket was launched from. But there was an intense exchange of fire on Lebanon's border with Israel earlier.
We are also getting an update from the Israeli defense forces. The IDF says its fighter jets hit Hezbollah military infrastructure in Lebanon early Sunday. An uptick in clashes with Hezbollah raise fears that conflict could spread further.
And Israel is also saying they've killed the head of Hamas's southern district in Gaza.
Joining us now is Israel Defense Forces spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus.
Lieutenant Colonel, good to speak with you once against this evening. I appreciate your time.
Can you just put that into perspective?
LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Welcome.
Can you put that into perspective, that commander, the victim, IDF has confirmed killed?
CONRICUS: Yes, thank you for having me. He's not the first, and he's definitely not the last.
[19:35:05]
From Yahya Sinwar, the butcher from Khan Younis who heads Hamas, all the way down to the last commanders on the ground, everybody involved in planning or executing the brutal attack on Israeli civilians, eight days ago, will play the ultimate price. And that is what we are doing now. We are hunting them from the
ground. In the advanced stages of this war, I'm sure that we will be hunting them with other means as well, until they are all no longer here.
CHATTERLEY: You spoke to my colleague Erin Burnett earlier, mentioning the perhaps up to ten commanders have been killed at this stage. I just wonder if you can tell me that anybody has been captured? I'm thinking in terms of intel, perhaps leading to more information with regards to hostages?
CONRICUS: I wouldn't be able to elaborate on it, but I can say that it is an active effort by the IDF, and across all levels of military operations. First, to kill inside of Gaza, and also to be able to obtain information. At this stage, we focus on simply making sure these terrorists will never again have the ability to plan or execute attacks against our civilians.
CHATTERLEY: I understand. It's clearly been days of raids, as you said it's difficult. With what you can share and what you cannot. Have you provided, or found at least, any evidence over the past few days of where the hostages have been kept? Even if you are perhaps not sure where they are now. Again, any proof of life of this moment.
CONRICUS: It is a three dimensional puzzle. It keeps on moving. It is extremely challenging for our intelligence, the special forces people who are dealing with this complex issue.
So, details are hard to get by, but the work continues based on a very, very firm commitment in the IDF, and in the entire state of Israel to bring our hostages back. Because of the sensitivity of the nature of the issue, I cannot elaborate further. I can tell you that it is an absolute top priority of our intel resources.
CHATTERLEY: We are also hearing of diplomatic negotiations behind the scenes. We just spoke to a relation of one of those that is believe to still be held by Hamas and he said, look to the diplomacy now, perhaps a prisoner swap. He was calling for a cease-fire in order to be able to achieve that. I know it's difficult, but I just want to get your take. Maybe the best way, doing the greatest chance to see these prisoners return and to ensure their survival?
CONRICUS: Yeah, I think it's pretty simple. The best way to end this war and to release the hostages, would be an unconditional surrender of Hezbollah and all of Hamas, all of the members of the military wing, all of the terrorists, all of the financial institutions, and all of the support infrastructure of Hama, unconditional surrender, and a swift, unconditional that would return of the hostages, that would end this war I think rather quickly, I would assume.
And it would alleviate a lot of suffering and save a lot of lives if Hamas wants to do that, then that would be a great thing. If, not the war would continue, and we will continue to operate according to the conflict, and according to our morals until Hamas is completely dismantled from its military capabilities. CHATTERLEY: Are you saying that a cease-fire doesn't allow you to
carry out your plans and operations as far as the war in Hamas is concerned?
CONRICUS: Listen, it's not an option. It's not on the table. We are at war, and we are going to be dismantling Hamas.
If they're going to surrender, then it changes the situation. But if that doesn't happen, we will continue until we will dismantle them.
CHATTERLEY: That message if very clear. You've also describe being patient while Palestinians evacuate from the north into south for their safety. Can I ask how long you are prepared to pause?
CONRICUS: Yeah, we are being very patient out of a concern for human life. We want civilians to the greatest extent possible, out of the active combat zone, which we know is going to be quite violent. And we have, as you said, given many, many hours, more than 48 hours for Palestinians to evacuate.
I think it is appalling that Hamas is actively stopping Palestinians from evacuating.
[19:40:03]
They have put up roadblocks. They have taken car keys, and taking vehicles from the Palestinians and violently stopped people from evacuating. I think that should be condemned unequivocally by any of the many humanitarian organizations that are present, and tweeting and speaking about that humanitarian situation. The focus should be on that situation such that the war can be -- can proceed, and then we can pursue our military aim without hurting civilians.
And I think that should be the focus of the most of the international community, definitely organizations, that are trying to be humanitarian.
CHATTERLEY: Can I ask you a quick question, too, about the U.N. peacekeepers headquarters in southern Lebanon? No lost lives, but it was at least attacks, not necessarily targeted. You know if that was your fire?
CONRICUS: Many things happen, and we are investigating it. We heard the report, we would definitely never target by purpose, clearly. And we are looking into what happened. Of course, it would not be beneath Hezbollah to not do it on purpose, or as a way of causing conflict in the region. What I can say categorically is that, of course, is aware of their location.
They are very careful about their safety. And, of course, immediately, they offered medical assistance if the U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon should need it.
CHATTERLEY: Sir, good to have your time. Thank you so much. I know you're incredibly busy. We will let you get back to work. We appreciate you, thank you. CONRICUS: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: We'll be back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.
Around the world, people taking to the streets to show support from both the Israelis and Palestinians. Jewish communities in the United States have held rallies in solidarity with Israel after the Hamas assault. And several Western nations have stepped up security and synagogues and Jewish schools.
At this gathering in Sydney, Australia, there were calls for peace and justice, and condemnation of Israel's military action against Gaza. In some countries like France and Germany, pro-Palestinian demonstrations have now been banned.
Melissa Bell is standing by in Paris for us.
Melissa, as you and I are discussing yesterday, the longer this goes on, the greater the violence. The more the humanitarian crisis builds, and the greater the anger, of course around the world.
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Julia. The greater the outrage, not just at what is happening in Gaza to the civilians, and their immediate fate, the fears, of course of what happens next.
[19:45:04]
But also the sense shared by many around the world that it's been harder to hear and give the Palestinians their due voice in this crisis. And, of course, what's extraordinary also about what's happening in the Middle East is how far it resonates everywhere. As you mentioned a moment ago, there were been pro-Israeli protests and movements of support. But it was those fears, those antisemitic acts were speech that we did see rises of here and other places. For some countries to ban the protests in favor of Palestinians, and, of course, nowhere where they largely in the Muslim world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PROTESTERS: Palestine will be free!
BELL (voice-over): In Sydney, thousands turned out to express solidarity with Palestinians and oppose Israel's military action in Gaza. The police, all out in full force as well, with organizers warning that antisemitic behavior that had been seen at previous protests would not be welcome. No signs of that chaos here, but the crowds' message to the Palestinian people was loud and clear.
LIQAA DEMONSTRATOR: What's a protest going to do except to win us support? We have no legitimized, legalized, any possible power to do anything to protect them. Shame on the government who do and don't do anything.
BELL: Pro-Palestinian rallies have been held in cities around the world. In France and Germany, where they have been banned, demonstrators gathered regardless.
Some of the largest rally 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 saying from our rallies and all over the Pakistan, that Palestinians are not alone.
BELL: And in Tunisia, anger that more is not being done to protect Palestinians.
SAHER ELMASRI, GAZAN LIVING IN TUNIS (through translator): My people are facing extermination. Gaza is being devastated. Where is the international community? Where the Arabs? Where is the Arab conscience?
BELL: In Tokyo, a smaller crowd with a similar plea.
AWEED SADEED, DEMONSTRATOR: I am here to show that we are united now with Muslims. They're very tired of war. Everyone is very tired of conflicts. And everyone wants justice.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BELL (on camera): The matter was raised also in a phone call today, Julia, between the French president and the Iranian, Emmanuel Macron had taken the opportunity to tell his Iranian counterpart, urged him to help and to de-escalate the situation, not to allow it to spread further. For his part, the Iranian and president took the opportunity to tell Emmanuel Macron his opposition to the ban on the protest.
It gives you an idea of how far these kinds of bans are resonating. Across the world still, in the coming days, according to what's going to happen in and around Gaza, I expect these are protests you will likely see more of. Specifically next Friday. We saw that day of Jihad being called worldwide, worldwide by support of the Palestinians. That, I think we can expect to get next week after many more days no doubt of difficult days for the civilians of Gaza, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: And, Melissa, it is exactly that conversation was going to ask you about, between Iran and, of course, France. What those leaders had to say to each other at this moment.
What's the public response be to that ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations at this stage? What is the public saying?
BELL: Well, there have been those, Julia, there have been those that have been keen to get out of their suits nonetheless on Thursday, but again, on Saturday, legal protests were here in Paris. Arrests made at both. That desire to get out and make their voices heard all the more keenly felt, or strongly given behind these people, trying to get out despite the ban. Criticizing in itself, it was on account of public order that France made its ban. That's what they've said.
You do sense a much greater peace presence here in France over the last couple of days raised even further after the attack on Friday morning, in which a school -- linked by French authorities to what was happening in the Middle East. There are such strong feelings, so strong feelings on both sides. It's in support of the Palestinian frustration, that piece, that we felt very -- at these last couple of days, they are not able to get themselves heard, that they are finding it harder to get their voices out. And the media narrative is not only sufficiently casting a spotlight on what is happening precisely and Gaza.
[19:50:01]
And, again, those protests again are unlikely to -- likely to continue over the next few days, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yeah, and the language matters, the choice of Palestinian rather than Hamas in this case. It needs to be greater, top-down leadership and separation between what the Palestinians are, and what Hamas represents.
Melissa Bell, standing by in Paris there for us. Thank you so much for joining us.
All right. Meanwhile, Israeli President Isaac Herzog describing horrific scenes that he has witnessed in an interview with our Wolf Blitzer. Again, I have to warn you that there are distressing content.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI PREISDENT: I think for entire humanity. You know, I just got back from kibbutz Be'eri. Be'eri kibbutz. The kibbutz as you know is an epitomization of socialism, equality, very pro-peace place. You should know that in that kibbutz, they lost 10 percent of their members, from young to old.
I saw the most horrific scenes. I saw -- I saw of the woman and I saw the skull of the woman in which house I visited in -- house totally destroyed, totally destroyed and they just cut her head off.
I saw a pool of blood in that house where a picture of the children is hanging, the grandchildren are hanging on the wall, with the knives and the hatches, which they went with in. I saw the most horrific scenes possible. I saw bloodshed.
And I was thinking to myself, because in kibbutz Be'eri, there was a special fund to help their neighbors from Gaza. For years, they have been paying money to help their friends and neighbors in Gaza because they advocated peace, and all of a sudden, life was shattered, and the same, life was shattered for the Israeli nation. My nation is bleeding. My nation is in pain. My nation is in sorrow.
And we are faced with an extremely cruel inhumane enemy, which we have to uproot with no mercy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Israel's president speaking there.
We're going to take a short break here. More headlines from around the world, after this.
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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back.
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan Sunday morning just over a week after another earthquake hit the west part of the country. Taliban government officials estimate more than 2,000 people were killed in a tremor in October 7th. Most of them, women and children, as Anna Coren reports.
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ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Beneath crystal blue skies on the outskirts of Herat in western Afghanistan, the sound of vanished hope fills the air.
Under mounts of earth, lie countless bodies, there are no survivors here. Only evidence of Mother Nature's wrath and fury, unleashing further misery on a traumatized country.
Last Saturday, around 11:00 a.m., a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the district of Zinda Jan, completely flattening 11 villages. You can see the state of my home, it's now in ruins, say 56-year-old Sahir. There is no need for words.
Zahir was at home when the earth violently shook for only a few seconds.
[19:55:01]
But when he returned, he found 13 family members crushed to death, including his daughters, sons, and multiple grandchildren.
Simple mud brick structures supported by wooden polls, with the homes in villages on these dusty planes. They have already been reduced to rubble, eight agency tents, and now, their new homes.
Thirty-year-old Sha Bibi (ph) lost two daughters when her house collapsed. The only reason she survived when she was standing under the door framed.
My children were buried under the wall, she explains. Everything is gone. Nothing remains for us.
The Taliban government and international organizations estimate more than 2,000 people were killed across the region during Saturday's earthquake. According to UNICEF, more than 90 percent of the victims were women and children.
U.S. charity too young to web, part of the humanitarian relief effort on the ground say there is a clear reason for this staggering statistic. It's because women and girls are forced to stay at home under Taliban rule, denying their basic rights, banned from education and work, and being part of society.
STEPHANIE SINCLAIR, CO-FOUNDER, "TOO YOUNG TO WED": They've been systematically stripped of the rights over the last two years. Instead of being at school and at work on a Saturday, which is when they have their school week and work week, they were home, confined to their homes, imprisoned in their homes. It is a country where half of the population is under house arrest.
COREN: At this hospital in Herat, makeshift wards have been erected in the courtyard to cater for all the injured.
Lying on a bed, 35-year-old Fatima, who is knocked unconscious when her home collapsed on top of her. While being rescued from the rubble, she worked to discover her seven children, aged four months to 14 years were all dead.
I have experienced a lot of pain and sorrow, she says. We've lost everything in my life. Nothing remains.
With the world firmly focused on the world in Israel, aid organizations are pleading for the international community not to forget the earthquake victims in Afghanistan.
SIDDIG IBRAHIM, CHIEF OF FIELD OFFICE, UNICEF: The children in Afghanistan deserve equally as all children in the world. Things happening the world are not going to stop. It doesn't mean we abandon them.
COREN: Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: And that just about wraps up this hour. I'm Julia Chatterley, thank you for watching. I'll be back with more on the Israel Hamas war in just a few moments time. Stay with CNN.
