Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

IDF Appears on Verge of "Significant Ground Operations"; U.S. Orders Second Carrier Group to East Mediterranean; U.N.: More Than 700 Palestinian Children Killed in Gaza. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired October 15, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST: Hello, and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes, and we continue our breaking news coverage of Israel at war. And there are growing signs this hour that an Israeli military ground operation into Gaza could get underway at any moment.

After a week of airstrikes and artillery aimed at Hamas inside Gaza, and a hastily ordered evacuation of up to a million civilians from Gaza City, Israel declared on Saturday that it is ready to open a new phase in the war with a focus on, quote, "significant ground operations." Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met soldiers on the frontlines, you see him there, offering words of support, telling them to be prepared.

Also on Saturday, Iran warned far-reaching consequences if the Israeli attacks don't stop. The Iranian foreign minister met with a senior Hamas official for the first time since the fighting began, and there is deep concern that Iran and its proxies might try to escalate the conflict, especially along Israel's northern border.

As a deterrent of sorts, the U.S. is sending a second carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean as well as additional fighter jets. Military experts say it is extremely rare for the U.S. to post two carrier groups at the same place. But they say, it underscores the seriousness the Biden Administration places on this crisis.

Elliott Gotkine is covering all of this for us from London. The signs continue to point to a ground incursion by Israel. Bring us up to date on the latest.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Michael, I think ever since Hamas launched this devastating and brutal terrorist attack on Israel, killing more than 1,300 people a week and a day ago, it's been a question of when rather than if Israel will launch a ground invasion.

It does now seem that this ground invasion is imminent. Israel saying that it is preparing foray, in its words, "significant military operation." We don't know specifically when that is likely to happen, but it does now seem imminent. But of course, it's always fraught with danger when Israel has gone in the past. And it did carry out a couple of reconnaissance raids, if you like, into the Gaza Strip before the weekend. But it's always fraught with danger at the best of times.

This time, of course, very much complicated by the presence of more than a hundred hostages that Hamas took when it launched that attack just over a week ago. But Israel, it seems, undoubtedly will go in, and it will go in hard.

Hamas is not only expecting them, but will perhaps even be welcoming them because it will give Hamas a greater -- more opportunity to kill Israeli soldiers and also to potentially abduct them. And let's not forget that Hamas has a kind of warren of tunnels underneath the surface of the Gaza Strip, which it will use, no doubt, for both offensive and defensive capabilities.

At the same time, there is concern about growing violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. And of course, on that Northern Front, as you were mentioning in your introduction, that we've already seen exchanges of fire with Hezbollah, backed by Iran, launching rockets into Israel, Israel retaliating.

We've also seen some fire from Syria and also reports that Israel has also carried out strikes on Syria as well, such as Aleppo airport concern there that Syria may be used as a conduit for additional weapons to its proxy in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah.

So a lot of concerns, a lot of potential for escalation, but Israel saying certainly as a warning to Hezbollah that if it does get involved for real, that, in its words, it will bring the destruction of Lebanon. And of course, this is one reason, as you said, why we're seeing this second U.S. aircraft carrier being deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean to, it is hoped, deter any such escalation at least in the north.

Michael?

HOLMES: All right. Appreciate the wrap-up there. Elliott Gotkine in London for us. Thanks.

And IDF Spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, joins us now from Tel Aviv.

Thanks for coming back, Colonel. Appreciate that.

I wanted to ask you because Hamas has been saying Israeli hostages have been killed in the bombardment. There were also reports the IDF found bodies of abducted Israelis. What do you know about those reports, and what's your reaction to them?

[00:05:00]

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, IDF SPOKESPERSON: Yes. Good morning, and thank you for having me. I would say categorically that any piece of information that comes from Hamas or comes from the Gaza Strip, including the so-called health ministry, should in my perspective be treated with extreme caution, whether it's about Israeli hostages or events that happened or have not happened with convoys of Gaza is trying to flee.

HOLMES: Did the IDF recover the bodies of Israelis had been taken? Because that was reported in the region.

CONRICUS: No, we have not.

HOLMES: OK.

CONRICUS: I assume that you are referring to operations that we conducted a day-and-a-half ago where we launched a few raids in order to obtain information to shed light on the situation and basically identity of abductees or people held hostage. Those operations have ended. We did find some useful intelligence. But unfortunately, we did not recover bodies.

HOLMES: Oh, I appreciate you clearing that up. Now, Israel urged civilians to flee Gaza City. But of course, not everyone can leave. I mean, there's people in hospitals, as the elderly, the infirm, those without access to transport and so on. What happens with them if this ground incursion does get underway, those who won't or can't move? What happens to them?

CONRICUS: Well, one thing is that everybody should make an utmost effort to evacuate for their own safety. And if they can get help in doing so, then the authorities in Gaza and civil society should definitely help and provide that assistance.

Second, of course, we will not target civilians, but it is our interest to not have civilians in an active combat zone. And that's why we have asked them to do so. In any case, if they stay, we will, of course, take the available precautionary measures in order to minimize collateral damage and minimize the killing of civilians.

But again, we must remember, we are going to fight. If this will be a ground invasion, we are going to fight a ruthless enemy that has no problems using everything available, civilians as human shields and using civilian infrastructure for military purposes. So we have to plan according to that. But bottom line, we will take extreme -- we will take caution not to inflict damage to civilians.

HOLMES: And to that point, what will a ground battle urban combat building-to-building look like in a place like Gaza City? I've been there several times. It is a crowded, cramped, lots of alleyways and narrow streets, and that where you can't maneuver tanks and so on. And how is that going to look? And how does the presence of Israeli hostages complicate the mission?

CONRICUS: Yes. I remember your coverage from Gaza several times. And I agree. Extremely difficult for any modern military to fight in such a dense urban area. And to add to the complexity, if you compare Gaza to other cities where there's been fighting, what we have in Gaza is the subterranean dimension.

And we know that Hamas has an elaborate network of tunnels, both for defensive and offensive purposes, which will for sure compound the complexity of fighting. And we are prepared for that. Fighting will be slow, advances will be slow, and we will be cautious. But we are very determined to get to the Hamas terrorists that currently are hiding underneath -- hiding underneath their civilians in the tunnel system that they have.

Our hostages are the responsibility of Hamas. They are most likely held underground in various locations. And of course, it is a top priority for us to get in and get them out.

HOLMES: Yes. If Israel achieves what it wants to go back in and break the back of Hamas, I think it's impractical to think that all of the militants, all of the leadership will be killed. Isn't the Israeli plan to take Gaza City run the operation but then stay, continue operations from there, occupy the area for a period of time?

CONRICUS: I don't think so. And that's for our cabinet to say. Our current aim is, as you said, in good terms, to break their back, and as I would say, in military terms, to totally dismantle their military capabilities.

HOLMES: We touched on this when we spoke 24 hours or so ago. Israel has in previous conflict -- conflicts said it would crush Hamas, destroy them, and yet they still perpetrated the horrors of the past week had that capability. Why would this time see them crushed? What's different from an IDF perspective?

[00:10:00]

CONRICUS: The main difference is that there was a clear directive on what needs to be done. And I think a widespread understanding in the military and in government, and for that extent, in Israeli society as well, that this is an untenable situation that we cannot allow the day after this conflict a terrorist organization like Hamas to exist on our doorstep. I think that is the foundational difference, and that is what we're going to execute.

We will set the situation straight, and it will be better for Israel, and in the long run, it will be better for Gazans as well.

HOLMES: IDF Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, we do appreciate you making yourself available for the conversation. Thanks so much.

All right. Thousands of Palestinians have fled to Southern Gaza since Israel issued that evacuation order early on Friday. But of course, as we were just discussing there, not everyone can leave. Many say there's nowhere to go. They fear they won't be able to return. Perhaps they don't have transport. Some hospitals in Gaza are refusing to evacuate, saying it's simply too dangerous to move ill patients.

In the south, though, thousands of people have been stranded at the Rafah Crossing into Egypt. The Egyptian Foreign Minister says the crossing with Gaza is open, but he says Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza side have made the roads there inoperable.

Meanwhile, aid trucks have begun arriving in Egypt but can't yet enter Gaza for that reason. One young Palestinian pleading for the fighting to stop.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Interpreted): I want the war to end, go back home, learn, and live like regular people. It's a tragedy. There's no water, no electricity, and I have no money. I'm standing here and hungry, wondering what's left. I want to go back home, learn and live like regular people. I'm not really living right now. I just look like I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Salma Abdelaziz now with more on the plight people in Gaza are facing right now and warning her report contains graphic and disturbing images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is what running for your life looks like in Gaza. An ambulance with a young girl and wounded woman inside rocked by explosions as they attempt to flee.

It is unclear what happened to the pair, but they're among the tens of thousands of people on the move after Israel's military called on nearly half of Gaza's population, some 1.1 million people, to get south in a matter of hours, but along the safe passages specified by the IDF, utter horror.

You're looking at the carnage and chaos on Salah-al-Din (ph) Street, one of the designated evacuation routes. In the aftermath of explosions, families killed amid their belongings. CNN has geo located this video and four other clips from the horrifying scene.

The U.N. calls Israel's evacuation advisory impossible and a violation of the rules of war. And Palestinian officials accused the IDF of bombing civilians even as they fled. Dozens of evacuees were killed or wounded by Israeli airstrikes, according to Hamas.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli Military for comment. The victims are flooding into Gaza's overwhelmed hospitals. And again, it's the youngest caught in the crossfire. Nearly half of Gaza's population is children.

"What did the children do to deserve this?" this woman says, "Did they fight you? Did they fire rockets? My niece and her whole family are dead. The only survivor is a two-year-old girl."

The healthcare system is on the brink of complete siege making it impossible to get aid into the enclave. And already, there's a shortage of everything, even space in the morgue.

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

For those still able to move south, this is one of the neighborhoods families are expected to flee towards, Hanunes (ph), where Israeli airstrikes have wreaked havoc.

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

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

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: The United Nations is once again warning the conflict is inflicting a heavy toll on children. UNICEF says more than 700 children have been killed in Gaza and more than 2,400 have been wounded.

[00:15:00]

It says, quote, "Hospitals are utterly overwhelmed to treat them" and is demanding that, quote, "the killing of children must stop." It is also calling for the release of Israeli children being held hostage in Gaza.

Still to come on the program, Hezbollah targets several Israeli positions at the Lebanon Israel border. What does that mean for this ongoing fight in Gaza? We'll have details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Syria says Israeli airstrikes hit the International Airport in the northern city of Aleppo again, rendering it non-operational. The Syrian military reporting airstrikes on Saturday originating from the Mediterranean Sea. State media reports all scheduled flights had to be redirected through another airport on Saturday. Aleppo Airport was hit by an airstrike earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah says it attacked five Israeli positions in a disputed area near the Lebanon-Israel border. Israel says it hopes the group will not get involved as Israel is trying to avoid getting into a two-front war. Experts say they believe the main fighting is still between Israel and Hamas.

[00:20:00]

IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP: Yes. I mean, I think it would be very clear to all of us if Hezbollah was trying to open up a second front. We are nowhere close to that. What I would best assess right now is lack of centralized control and militants on the border that are engaging in skirmishing as well as some incursion over the board -- over the border.

But this is, again, what we have seen over the course of the last week is that overwhelmingly, the fighting is Hamas. The fighting has been planned by Hamas, the fighting has been perpetrated by Hamas, and of course, Gaza is where this war is. HOLMES: Now, there are, of course, concerns that Israel might still face a war on multiple fronts with Lebanon in focus. CNN's Ben Wedeman with that.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: South of Lebanon remains in a state of high tension, as fire continues to be exchanged between Israel and militants in Lebanon.

Saturday afternoon, artillery rocket and small arms fire echoed across the mountains in the disputed Shebaa Farms area between Lebanon and Israel in the most prolonged exchange yet. The Israeli military said 30 mortar rounds were fired from Lebanon into Israel, while Hezbollah put out a statement, claiming its fighters had used precision weapons to target five Israeli positions, including an Israeli surveillance post. Late Saturday, the group's media wing put out video showing precise hits on communications and surveillance equipment at those positions.

The official Lebanese News Agency reported that an elderly couple was killed when an Israeli round struck their house in the Lebanese town of Shebaa. Hezbollah said one of its fighters was killed in confrontations with Israeli forces.

Earlier in the day, residents of the southern Lebanese town of El Hayyam (ph) came out to mourn the killing of Reuters cameraman Issam Abdallah, well known in the Middle East press corps for his work in conflict zones around the region.

Friday afternoon, Abdallah was filming an exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah. When their position was struck with rockets fired, witnesses told CNN, from the Israeli side of the border, six other journalists were injured. All were wearing protective gear with press markings. And Israeli spokesman described Abdallah's death as tragic but didn't concede it was caused by an Israeli strike.

Now, also Saturday evening, the Head of Israel's National Security Council in a televised briefing with journalists said Israel hopes to avoid a two-front war involving Lebanon. He said the current level of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah is, in his words, below the escalation threshold. He also said we hope Hezbollah won't bring about the destruction of Lebanon.

Now, in the past, Israeli leaders have warned, among other things, that if Hezbollah goes to war with Israel again, Israel will send Lebanon back to the Stone Age.

I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Southern Lebanon.

HOLMES: Now, Israel has assembled a considerable force, of course, along its northern border and CNN's Matthew Chance caught up with an Israeli commander to discuss what's ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- about what you're preparing for here. What's the objective right here in Northern Israel?

MAJOR (RESERVE) DOR, 205TH ARMORED BRIGADE: So we have mobilized our troops here --

CHANCE: Yes.

DOR: -- our reserves to be prepared for any scenario that might happen or open up in the northern borders.

CHANCE: But when you say any scenario, you mean whether this area is hit by rockets from Hezbollah or is that what you're worried about?

DOR: That is one of the scenarios.

CHANCE: Yes.

DOR: Could be a similar scenario would happen in Gaza Strip. It could happen here as well. So we are here. It could be joined, could be very direct specific event. We don't know. We'll be prepared, be ready with our troops. We mobilized, and we're here.

CHANCE: It seems that the Israeli Military down south near Gaza were not ready. You're going to make the same mistake here.

DOR: We're here now. So we're not really concerned (inaudible). I haven't heard yet. All the debriefing would actually happen there. So I don't know (inaudible) we're not prepared or if they knew or they did not knew. This is war. Right? We do the best we can. We prepare ourselves with all the restrictions and different ideas of what will happen if, who is more provocative, what act could be presented in such a way by the other side --

CHANCE: Yes.

DOR: -- provocative. And we find ourselves in the situation with it. Now here, we're doing the best we can to not be in that same situation again (ph).

[00:25:00]

CHANCE: Tell me about your troops. I mean, this country has been through a trauma.

DOR: Yes.

CHANCE: It's been through -- so many people killed.

DOR: Yes.

CHANCE: Such a shocking episode.

DOR: Yes.

CHANCE: How -- what's the mood of your soldiers?

DOR: Morals are high. CHANCE: High.

DOR: High, but still very frustrated and sad. A lot of people actually have relatives are from those areas -- from those villages and are -- really can't believe the situation we're in. And -- but we are here, we are motivated, and we are here to stop in any kind of attack that might escalate even further into our nation.

CHANCE: Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Israel indicates its ground offensive in Gaza could get underway soon, but as Israel masses troops for that possible operation, there's a warning coming from Tehran. We'll have that coming up. Also, a look at a nonprofit helping to fund a flight to Israel with Israeli and American citizens who want to help during the war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom with me, Michael Holmes.

A quick update now on the latest developments in the war between Israel and Hamas. Israel says its ground operation in Gaza could begin soon, as it lines up troops and equipment near the border. You see some of it there. But Iran is threatening far-reaching consequences if Israel does not stop its attacks on Gaza.

U.S. is sending a second aircraft carrier to the Eastern Mediterranean as a message to Iran and its allies to stay out of the conflict.

[00:30:00]

Meanwhile, international aid piling up in Egypt unable to get across the border into Gaza. Egypt says the main Rafah Border Crossing is damaged by Israeli strikes on the Palestinian side.

I'm joined now by Dr. Richard Brennan, who is in Cairo, Egypt. He's the Regional Emergency Director for the World Health Organization's Eastern Mediterranean region.

I really appreciate you being up early there for us to talk. What do you know of the situation in the South now that so many Palestinians, thousands and thousands have fled from the North? What if any resources are there to accommodate, feed, or even offer them water?

DR. RICHARD BRENNAN, REGIONAL EMERGENCY DIRECTOR, W.H.O: Yes. I mean, Michael, I think we could describe the situation really as verging on the catastrophic. Situation is very dire right throughout Gaza. We know that there's been high levels of violence. As your colleague mentioned, over 2,000 deaths now, probably close to 8,000 severely injured as well.

We've got hospitals and clinics that aren't functioning and (inaudible) are only partially functioning. So -- and they've been overloaded with the extra trauma load. And of course, the lack of fuel there, lack of electricity, the loss of some staff, lack of water, and declining medical stocks makes it incredibly difficult to provide that care for the extra caseload.

And now, as you indicate, with all this overcrowding, particularly with the latest population movements into South Gaza, it's really setting ourselves up for a catastrophic public health situation, overcrowding in these collective centers and schools, poor sanitation, poor access to water, big chance of disease outbreaks, and then you've got the mental health dimension as well. So it's a -- from a public health perspective, this is almost as bad as it gets.

HOLMES: You know, I've been to Gaza a few times. I mean, it's never good there. I mean, it's never -- I mean, the infrastructure is always teetering on the edge. It's hard to imagine how much this has pushed up when you don't have food, fuel, water, and so on.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that hospitals have lost their clinical, pharmaceutical -- I mean, when the fuel runs out, the operating theatres, could it collapse?

BRENNAN: Well, yes. I mean, it's really stretched to the brink right now. And therefore, we really do need these humanitarian corridors that people have been talking about for days. And those with the decision-making authority aren't facilitating that. So we just need that Rafah Border opened ASAP. We need access from wherever it's possible.

We need to replenish the medical stockpiles. We need the fuel in. We need clean water flowing again. And I mean -- and that's going to take a long time to get that health system back on some sort of even footing. But these are desperate times. And those humanitarian corridors are absolutely vital.

It's not just getting the supplies across the border, though. We need those corridors to be secured throughout Gaza, so we can reach the vulnerable people in need.

HOLMES: Yes, you get them into the Gaza Strip. You've got to then distribute them. That's absolutely true. I'm wondering what the options are for those who heeded the warning to head south. I mean, potentially 100,000, 200,000, 300,000 people who've gone to the south, which was already desperately poor, it's not like there's empty apartment buildings there for them or the infrastructure to feed or water them as well. What could happen if there is an outbreak of disease?

BRENNAN: Well, it's going to be very, very difficult to control. The diseases that we most worry about would be diarrheal disease. And people who are -- lack of access to clean water, kids are becoming malnourished there. So, an outbreak of diarrhea could be lethal, particularly for vulnerable people like the elderly and young kids. We'd worry about other pneumonias and COVID, other viral infections that can be spread by what we call droplet transmit (ph).

[00:35:00]

So it -- and then the capacity to get on top of those types of outbreaks has been incredibly depleted. So a lot of people could potentially die, and certainly there'll be a lot of suffering.

HOLMES: The risk is always in the situations, conflicts that people become numbers. Palestine health officials, they're now saying 700 children are now among the dead in Gaza. Not just a number, 700 kids. What would be your plea to the world when you see a number like that?

BRENNAN: Yes, well, in fact, the numbers that we have is over 60 percent of those who have died have been women and children. So our plea, of course, is always for peace. Our plea is, you know, we come at this very much from the humanitarian and health perspective.

HOLMES: Yes.

BRENNAN: There can't be winners here. I mean, there's been too much suffering on both side of this conflict for far too long. We need people of goodwill, we need -- we need people of influence to try and bring some peaceful solution for this because I think most of us who are involved in humanitarian action for so much of our professional lives, escalations of conflict never -- never seem to solve anything.

I mean, we're responsible for work in Afghanistan and Syria or in Somalia or in Sudan. And we can see there that when conflict escalates, it never brings a resolution. And it just plunges people more and more into deeper suffering.

HOLMES: Yes.

BRENNAN: So, again, plead for that -- we plead for that humanitarian corridor, and we plead for protection of health care as well. Michael, we've had -- we've documented 41 attacks on health care, 11 health care workers since the start of this conflict.

HOLMES: Yes. It is a dire situation.

Dr. Richard Brennan with the World Health Organization, thank you, and thanks for the work that you and others do to try to get aid in. Thank you very much.

BRENNAN: Thank you. Thanks very much.

HOLMES: Now, flights in and out of Israel have been hard to come by as major airlines have canceled most of them. But that problem has led to the creation of Israel Friends, a charity formed after the Hamas attacks last weekend. The group is helping to fund a private flight with Israeli and American citizens who want to help Israel during the war.

Here's CNN's Stephanie Elam with more.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: About 150 people met up at Los Angeles International Airport in the wee hours of the morning, to board a charter flight to get back to Israel. And this all coming together in just a matter of days, we're told, by a nonprofit humanitarian organization called Israel Friends.

They're looking to get people who needed to get back to Israel. As we know, a lot of carriers are not flying into Israel right now. And they also wanted to get tons of humanitarian aid to the country as well. And the word went out.

And this charter flight gathered these people together, these people come together early in the morning, and we've seen some of them who were there alone, some of them there with loved ones, sad, devastated, but also respecting the choice of their loved ones, to go back to Israel.

And some of the people going as a -- one man that we spoke to who is born and raised here in Los Angeles but to Israeli parents, he said that he just felt that he had to go back and that looking at everything that he had seen, he was just numb to it all and just knew he had to go. Take a listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOREL MEIRI, ISRAELI AMERICAN VOLUNTEERING FOR WAR: I'm American and Israeli. I'm an American Israeli. It's very simple. So my home is here, and my home is there. So I feel obligated and almost a desire and more so a need to go to -- to go right now. So --

ELAM: Like you don't feel like you could just stay. That's not an option for you.

MEIRI: It's not an option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And it's worth noting that many of these people were coming from many places outside of the Los Angeles area. Some live in Israel, like David Frankel, who when the war started, he gathered up his wife and his two young sons and fled to California so that he could leave them with family members here. But he knew he was going to get called back. And he also wanted to go. Take a listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID FRANKEL, ISRAELI ARMY RESERVIST: I'm obviously nervous. I mean, I want to come home safely to my family. I want to see my boys grow up. But you have to put that aside and stop the madness that's happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And Frankel said that he kissed his two young boys goodbye while they were sleeping before heading to the airport. And that's the difficult part for these people. For the people they're leaving behind, they don't know when they'll see their loved ones again, and for the people heading back to Israel, they don't know how long it'll be before things calmed down enough that they can be with their families again.

[00:40:00]

But what we did see while we were in the airport terminal with them was a lot of camaraderie. And even though people didn't necessarily know anyone else in the terminal, they were making fast friends, fast acquaintances because they were unified in their goal to get back and defend Israel.

Back to you.

HOLMES: All right. Still to come here on the program, security tightened in Europe as the fear of antisemitism grows. We'll have a report for you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: At least 12 journalists have been killed covering the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. That's according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The group says eight others have been wounded, two are missing. In a statement, the CPJ pointed out that journalists, the civilians doing critical work, adding that they should not be targeted by, quote, "warring parties."

Palestinian sympathizers marched in Washington on Saturday, gathering in Lafayette Park and on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. Rallies in support of Gaza are expanding across the U.S. this weekend, taking place in San Francisco and outside the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles. On Friday, thousands took to the streets in New York, gathering in Times Square and demanding Palestinian independence.

Meanwhile, a rise in antisemitism in parts of Europe is worrying the Jewish community, understandably so. French police say they have detained 65 people for dozens of antisemitic acts since the Israeli- Hamas conflict began. And the U.K. increasing security as officials report an uptick in antisemitic activity there.

CNN's Melissa Bell with more from Paris.

[00:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Far from the frontlines of the Israel-Hamas war, many European Jews say they're not just feeling the pain of what's happening there but also fearing the potential ramifications much closer to home.

In France, at the Great Synagogue in Massay (ph), a prayer is held for the people of Israel. It's a fervent prayer after reports of antisemitic incidents in parts of Europe, after Hamas launched its assault on Israel more than a week ago and Israel's subsequent bombardment of Gaza.

MARC MEIMOUN, WORSHIPPER (Interpreted): First of all, it's important to be present whenever the Jewish people are in danger. Unfortunately, we're used to this kind of gathering, this kind of prayer. We're tired of it all. Nevertheless, we have to respond in unity.

BELL (voice-over): France is home to Europe's largest Jewish population as well as the largest Muslim population in Western Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron has urged his citizens to remain united, though French police used water cannon and tear gas to break up a recent rally in support of the Palestinian people, which had been banned by French officials citing concerns about public order.

But there are fears of further unrest in France. 10,000 police officers have been deployed to protect synagogues and Jewish schools. And on Friday, France raised its security alert to the highest level. After a knife attack at a school, the French Interior Minister says, was linked to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The U.K. is also stepping up security after reports of increased antisemitic incidents. The Community Security Trust, a British nonprofit organization that monitors antisemitism, says the number of incidents reported to them in the past week has increased by more than 300 percent compared to the same period last year.

Tensions at times spilling out onto the streets of London, where flyers of Israelis reportedly kidnapped by Hamas were torn down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is for Palestine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're not mutually exclusive. It's children. It's children. It's innocent people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible) children in Palestine.

BELL (voice-over): Germany, meanwhile, says it has a zero-tolerance policy towards antisemitic acts and will ban all activities supporting Hamas, which is on the EU's list of terror groups. German officials say they can do no less.

FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER, GERMAN PRESIDENT (Interpreted): Protecting Jewish life in Germany as part of the identity of our democracy. The security of Jews in Germany is our democracy at its core. Only if our Jewish citizens live in peace and security can our country as a whole do so.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Still to come, CNN's Anderson Cooper visits the site of the Nova Music Festival where 260 people were murdered, one of the most horrific parts of the Hamas brutal attack last weekend. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: All right. We're going to take a look back at one of the most horrific aspects of the Hamas attack last weekend. It is the story of what happened at the Nova Music Festival, where 260 innocent people were murdered.

Anderson Cooper has this extremely disturbing walk through the festival site. We do warn you, the story might be difficult to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The music was playing, the dance floor packed when the rockets began. Just 3.3 miles from the border with Gaza, it didn't take long before Hamas gunmen arrived. Some party goers were able to get to their cars, but many were killed before they could get away.

REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: They were waiting here with a machine gun.

COOPER (voice-over): Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a soldier all his life, has never seen anything like it.

HAGARI: This is a massacre sin. I don't have any other recall of memory in the history of Israel since it was established, for this kind of event.

COOPER (voice-over): The bodies and body parts of the dead had been removed, but people's possessions are strewn all around. The carnage is clear. Burned out cars, bullet holes, bloodstains on seats.

From some cars, the IDF has retrieved dashcam videos that show Hamas gunmen roaming the site for hours, shooting freely. This one shows a bloodied hostage being led away. Then under the car, you can see another man hiding. He moves slightly, then stops. A gunman runs right up to him and shoots him point blank in the head or upper body.

HAGARI: I don't know how people can explain this. I cannot -- I don't have the words. To extend it and then running away with -- on motorcycles, with girls to Gaza.

COOPER (voice-over): Fleeing east across open fields was the only way out for many, but they were easy targets. Others sought safety in nearby bomb shelters. This is dashcam video of a Hamas gunmen tossing a grenade into a shelter. When a man runs out trying to escape, they fire on him repeatedly.

In another shelter a few miles north of the festival site, about 30 people tried to hide. A man named Noam Cohen recorded inside. You can hear the panic in the voices asking what's going on, are there Israeli soldiers nearby. We aren't going to show you what happened next. Cohen says Hamas gunmen repeatedly tossed grenades into the shelter. People inside were blown apart. It's one of the most gruesome videos we've ever seen.

This is some of the aftermath. Noam Cohen survived hiding under body parts. That's him, terrified, but alive. We found the shelter in the town of Al-Ameen (ph) yesterday evening. Someone had put a curtain up over the doorway, but nothing could hide the smell as you enter.

[00:55:00]

My cameraman, Neil Holdsworth, who's experienced a lot of war, began to retch and had to step outside.

COOPER: There's bloody handprints on the wall. There's blood smeared on the walls. See, probably these are either bullet holes or from the grenades that were thrown in here.

COOPER (voice-over): Body parts have already been collected from here, but blood-soaked clothes and shoes remain.

COOPER: This looks to be a bloody handprint. This shelter is no more than 15 feet long, maybe five-and-a-half, six feet wide. The idea of so many people packed in here, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, terrified, screaming, it's incredible that anybody was able to survive.

COOPER (voice-over): There are other shelters like this. Other tragedies still to be discovered. The full horror of what happened here is just starting to come to light.

Anderson Cooper, Al-Ameen (ph), Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: The effects of the Hamas-Israel conflict can be felt throughout the world on Saturday. Players and fans taking a moment of silence to remember the victims at a U.S.-Germany men's football match in the U.S.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

Thanks for watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Michael Holmes. Do stay with us. My friend Linda Kincaid is going to pick up the coverage next. I'll see you tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)