Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Israeli Tanks, Troops Line Gaza Border For Possible Incursion; Dire Humanitarian Aid Needed In Gaza; First-Hand Account Of Life Inside Gaza; Interview With Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) About Aid PACKAGE to Ukraine And Israel; Hamas Hostage-Taking Manual Reportedly Recovered In Israel; Aid Trucks Deliver Medical Supplies, Food, Water to Gaza. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired October 21, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:17]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our continuing coverage of "Israel at War." I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Several major developments are unfolding today to tell you about. This is new CNN video from just outside the Gaza border. Dozens of Israeli tanks, armored personnel carriers and bulldozers are gathered in this area, and several other groupings are nearby. Israeli troops are waiting the order to storm into Gaza.

After days of agonizing delays, humanitarian aid has rolled into Gaza for the first time since the war began two weeks ago. The Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and Gaza is closed again, we should note, after the 20-truck convoy made its way through. Police agencies say many more massive shipments of water, fuel, and food are urgently needed, and that Gaza's hospital system is teetering on collapse.

Also to tell you about this afternoon, an American mother and daughter are one step closer to the U.S. soil one day after being freed by Hamas. Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie, are reuniting with family today at an Israeli military base. Her father says he's expecting her home by Tuesday for her 18th birthday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

URI RAANAN, FATHER OF RELEASED HOSTAGE: I've been waiting for this moment for a long time, two weeks. I haven't been sleeping for two weeks. Tonight I'm going to sleep good. I spoke with my daughter earlier today, she sounds very good, she looks very good, she is very happy. And she's waiting to come home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Palestinian health officials say more than 4300 people have died in Gaza, that number is certain to rise.

Let's begin this hour in the coastal city of Ashkelon in southern Israel, and CNN's Jeremy Diamond is there.

Jeremy, what are you seeing on the ground right now? Do we see any indication that this ground incursion that's been anticipated for days now might get underway this weekend?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, it's not only what we are seeing on the ground but it's also in listening to the top generals of Israel's military. This evening, Jim, Israel's military chief of staff, General Halevi, saying very clearly we will enter the Gaza Strip and telling troops that they will embark on a campaign to, quote, "destroy Hamas operatives and infrastructure."

Again, this follows several other very clear indications from the defense minister, the prime minister, and other top generals that that is indeed the plan to go into the Gaza Strip. And today, we saw massings of hundreds of tanks, armored personnel carriers, and bulldozers all within less than 10 kilometers of the Gaza Strip. All of this indications that they are preparing to move. When exactly we do not know. But it does appear that we are nearing that moment.

Now at the same time, we spent some time here in the city of Ashkelon, which has received more rocket fired from Hamas over the last two weeks than any other city in Israel to get a sense of what it is like to live here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADINA MORDECHAI, SUPERMARKET CASHIER: Go inside, go inside, go inside.

DIAMOND (voice-over): This is life in Ashkelon. The most fired upon city in Israel since Hamas launched its first rockets 12 days ago. Here, fears still grip some. Others carry on ignoring the sirens' wails.

SHLOMO COHEN, ASHKELON RESIDENT (through translator): When we're outside, we're very careful. When we're inside, God is protecting us. Every missile has an address. We don't need to be afraid.

DIAMOND: In a city where 90 percent of businesses have closed, this supermarket is a lifeline.

(On-camera): There's a lot of businesses that are closed.

MORDECHAI: They're closed.

DIAMOND: But the supermarket --

MORDECHAI: It's working because people have to eat. They have to drink.

DIAMOND: So you come, what, once a week or?

ETI GILBOA, ASHKELON RESIDENT: Once a week now. I'm very afraid. Even now, walking, I must lie on the road, and to put my hands on my --

DIAMOND (voice-over): Getting to a bomb shelter isn't an option for everyone here. Prompting the city to help evacuate thousands.

HERZI HALEVI, ASHKELON CEO: We still have around 35,000 people that actually leave without shelters so each and every rocket it means a direct hit for them. So we are trying to find solutions for them.

DIAMOND: More than 1200 rockets have targeted Ashkelon, and while most are intercepted by the Iron Dome, about 200 have made direct hits. Displacing families from their homes, causing casualties, and shuttering businesses like this bakery.

[15:05:01]

DOR MACHLUF, BAKERY OWNER (through translator): When we got here, everything was in pieces, the door was out of place, there was the smell of gunpowder. A lot of nails and shrapnel were spread out. Everything was destroyed. We are starting to put things right.

DIAMOND: In the basement of an unassuming building, Ashkelon CEO takes us into the city's emergency operations center where officials try and shorten response times tracking incoming rockets headed for the city.

HALEVI: Rescue teams, police, ambulances, everything is going from here.

DIAMOND (on-camera): So before the rocket even lands, you can see where it would land?

HALEVI: Yes. We have some estimation where it's going to land.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Until then the first responders wait, and pray.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND: And Jim, four people have already died in the city of Ashkelon as a result of that rocket fire. 35 have been injured in more than 1200 people have been displaced from their homes as a result of hits on their houses. Just last night, in fact, you know, it's easy to think that the Iron Dome system captures all of these rockets but some of them do indeed get through. Just last night, there were hits on two homes here in Ashkelon as well as one parked car -- Jim.

ACOSTA: And Jeremy, about the Rafah crossing, we saw that some of that aid was able to get through. Those 20 trucks and that convoy got through but then the crossing was shut down again. What can you tell us about that?

DIAMOND: Yes. That's right, Jim. 20 trucks of humanitarian aid finally making it through the Rafah crossing after a week during which there were negotiations, there was finger pointing about who was responsible for the holdup in these aids. Some of it finally getting through. But now aid group say that much more needs to continue to go through and a firm humanitarian corridor, a consistent one needs to be established.

The director of the World Food Program warning that it is a catastrophic humanitarian situation currently inside of Gaza with rampant starvation, urgent need for food and water to get in as well as fuel as well. And we know that the death toll in Gaza continues to rise, more than 4,000 people have been killed in Gaza in just the last two weeks, and that includes hundreds of women and children as well. And in addition to that, Jim, just tonight we are still hearing a

very, very intense air campaign being carried out by Israel as well as artillery fire going out. We can hear that rumbling in the background, and it has been continuing all night -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Jeremy Diamond, in Ashkelon for us. Jeremy, thank you very much for that report.

Joining me now, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus. He's a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces.

Colonel, thanks as always for being with us. We appreciate it. I guess, just to pick up on what Jeremy was talking about a few moments ago, apparently IDF chief of staff has said to commanders that we will enter the Gaza Strip. I think I have that quote pretty much verbatim there. What is the timeline for that?

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, IDF SPOKESPERSON: Yes. Thank you for having me. Your quote is just about correct. And the timeline, you know, that changes according to many variables on the ground, in the air, and across the sea. The important thing is that the IDF will conduct significant military operations in order to defeat Hamas, in order to bring our hostages home, and in order to fundamentally change the security situation that we have in southern Israel and frankly all of Israel.

ACOSTA: Has this ground incursion been delayed somewhat in order to win the release of hostages? We saw the two American hostages were released. Is that entering the equation?

CONRICUS: I am confident that decisions are made by those who make decisions in Israel in order to achieve both of these aims that I said before. To defeat Hamas, and all of the other terrorists in Gaza, and to bring home our people. It is a very difficult equation to square and we are not going to spare any efforts, intelligence, combats, diplomatic, whatever we can do to bring our people home, we will do so.

Those are the words of Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, our chief of staff, and the commitment here is very solid. We will have to see by what means we can get them out. The best would be for Hamas to hand them over safe and sound as they took them. That would be the shortest way which would spare most lives in Israel and in Gaza. If they don't, we will get them back by any way that we can, and they will be back home very soon.

ACOSTA: And what can you tell our viewers about why after nearly two weeks did Hamas decide to free this American mother and daughter? Do you have any sense as to why?

CONRICUS: My assessment is that we're talking about a very cheap and unsophisticated attempt at looking humanitarian.

[15:10:04]

And they even had the audacity, this terror organization, this ISIS of Gaza, had the audacity to include humanitarian in their press release when they spoke about why the release of these two women. I think it's outrageous that they even think of using that after the atrocities that they did on the 7th of October, murdering more than a thousand Israeli civilians, people that we are still trying to identify forensically because the remains were in such horrible condition that not even with the most advanced machinery and techniques are we able to identify people. That's how bad their atrocities were.

ACOSTA: And what are the hopes for the remaining hostages at this point? What is your assessment as to how those hostages are doing? I know that you don't want to get into sources and methods, but I have to assume that you have some sense as to how they are doing. What can you tell us?

CONRICUS: I can tell you that out of the 210 Israelis that we have confirmed are held in Gaza, some of them by Hamas, some of them by other terror organizations, we have a better picture of who was taken alive, who was taken dead. We know that quite a few corpses were taken by Hamas. They don't only take live persons but they try to trade in corpses as well. And we are constantly piecing together additional parts of information to complete and to understand where they are being held, who is holding them, and most importantly, how to get them out.

At this stage, I cannot elaborate further about much of what is going on. I can only reiterate our commitment to bring all of them home.

ACOSTA: And Colonel, what is the situation down at the Rafah crossing? You saw those 20 trucks, that convoy of 20 trucks come through. Obviously, you've heard from a variety of officials there in Gaza that the humanitarian situation dictates that more relief supplies come in. Is Israel -- is the IDF open to that? Are you open to seeing more humanitarian aid coming through? And are you -- would you pledge to be a part of that process to make sure that that aid does come through?

CONRICUS: You know, in general, I think that we are done taking dictates from various organizations around the world, telling us what we need and need not do when it comes to the situation in Gaza. The organization responsible for what is happening in Gaza is Hamas. They are hoarding humanitarian equipment, and they're using it for their military purposes instead of allowing the civilians.

They have stolen fuel from U.N. facilities. They have taken food from other locations, and they are stockpiling them instead of providing it to civilians. And the situation in Gaza wouldn't be as difficult if the priorities of Hamas were different. Sadly, that is not the case. But the pressure should be on Hamas through their various sponsors around the world, Iran, Qatar, and the others, to provide for the civilians.

ACOSTA: Now, and Colonel, I understand that there is a trust issue, no question about it. But are you saying that no more humanitarian supplies will be allowed through? None of these supplies are going to be allowed through from the Israeli standpoint? Your country is now opposed to this? CONRICUS: Well, I can only speak on behalf of the military, and before

that we got orders from the cabinet that an agreement was made at the request of U.S. President Biden. That request has been fulfilled and honored, and we will see what -- how the situation unfolds. But what is important is also to keep in mind that everything that goes into the Gaza Strip, we have to make sure that it doesn't reach Hamas because these cowards, it wouldn't be beneath them to steal water from a thirsty baby, if they want it for their combatants in order to fight against us.

So we have to make sure, and it is the responsibility of those providing that into Gaza to make sure that it doesn't reach Hamas terrorists and that it isn't used for combat operations against us.

ACOSTA: All right, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, thank you once again for your time. We appreciate it.

CONRICUS: Thank you for having me.

ACOSTA: Thank you.

Coming up, life inside of Gaza. We'll get a firsthand account as food, water, and medical supplies are running out. More on that in a moment.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:44]

ACOSTA: The Rafah crossing along the south end of Gaza was briefly opened this morning to allow the first convoy of aid trucks to enter the besieged territory, but as CNN's Salma Abdelaziz shows us, a lot more humanitarian aid is needed and fast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hospitals in Gaza are crumbling. Everything is running out from surgical equipment to medicine. And the tiniest lives are left hanging in the balance.

We need power. We need access to clean water, this doctor says. Without basic services, this will be a humanitarian catastrophe.

Already seven hospitals and 21 primary health care facilities here are out of service, according to Palestinian officials, because of shortages. After intense diplomatic efforts, prayers of relief at the Rafah Border Crossing as a trickle of aid was allowed in from Egypt. But the 20-truck convoy is only a drop in the ocean of need here, equivalent to just three percent of what entered this enclave daily prior to the conflict.

More than 200 additional trucks of assistance remain stalled on the Egyptian side according to the U.N., and every hour costs lives.

[15:20:06] And so far, no civilians can leave the enclave. Ten-year-old Palestinian-American Aiden is among those trapped.

AIDEN BSEISO, PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN IN GAZA: And we have no place to go. All the streets are bombed. They're literally gone. How are we supposed to go out? How? It's all closed.

ABDELAZIZ: Even if people are allowed out, it will be a limited number, most likely only those with foreign passports. Sealing some two million others, half of them children, into this hellscape. But some refuse to go, even if they could, fearing Israel intends to bomb and besiege them out of their homes, never to return.

Even as Mahmoud (PH) buries his children, he says he will keep fighting just to exist here.

We will still be patient. As long as we are alive on this earth, we will be patient, he says. We will never leave this land.

After the October 7th terror attacks when Hamas killed more than 1400 people in Israel in a brutal surprise incursion, Israel vowed to wipe out Hamas. But with hundreds of airstrikes pounding the densely populated enclave a day, innocent blood is being spilled.

Innocent children were struck down while they were sleeping, this woman shouts. What did they do? Did they carry weapons? These are innocent children who know nothing. Tell us, when will this end?

There are calls for a ceasefire to get civilians out of the warzone and allow more aid into Gaza, but the pleas fall on deaf ears so far. Israel is preparing for the next phase of its operations, a potential ground incursion that can only bring more suffering.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ACOSTA: That was Salma Abdelaziz reporting.

For more on this, I want to go to our next guest. Yousef Hammash is an advocacy officer for the Norwegian Gaza -- Refugee Council in Gaza.

Yousef, you're on the phone with us, but if you can describe to us what you're seeing on the ground in Gaza right now?

YOUSEF HAMMASH, ADVOCACY OFFICER, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL (via phone): Thanks for hosting me, Jim. Now unfortunately we have to -- we were forced to flee to Khan Younis, southern part of Gaza. I live in the north of Gaza, in (INAUDIBLE). And suddenly Khan Younis doubled its population in one day. And you see people here, and their need for everything. I don't think Khan Younis and the people have the capacity to host all these a lot of people. So people are always in the front of bakeries or trying to fill bottles of water.

People are thrown in the streets, sleeping in the hospitals, sleeping in gardens, in different areas. Another shelter, people who are lucky like me have some relatives here to host them. But unfortunately, there is not enough space, or food, or supplies for anyone here. We lack electricity, fuel, water. It's a miserable situation here, Jim.

ACOSTA: And Yousef, we're looking at some of the video that you've recorded inside Gaza in some of these bombed out neighborhoods. Tell us about what the humanitarian needs are like right now. I know you've described the convoy trucks that entered Gaza, across the Rafah crossing, as being a drop in the ocean in terms of needs. But we are talking to the Israeli Defense Forces spokesman a few moments ago. I don't know if you could hear any of that interview.

But from their point of view it sounds as though they are not in the mood to allow more relief trucks in. I suppose that is not good news, obviously.

HAMMASH: Yes. Obviously we have two million people in the southern city in Gaza. Besieged for more than 16 years, and suddenly we have all this massive war above our heads. Even before this war, more than half of the population was (INAUDIBLE) really on humanitarian aid. After that, and all of this conflict, and lack of water and all of this have been cut in Gaza. These 20 trucks, OK, they were a need for medical supplies. OK. It might (INAUDIBLE) something but it's not enough for everyone.

We understood these humanitarian trucks are mainly medical supplies. But if you are talking about 1,400,000 have been displaced, having nothing, and even, Jim, be me. I fled my house before it was destroyed. I have two jeans and two T-shirts. Where I could find any things to -- I think about this, just to cope again. People are in need for several things here. (INAUDIBLE) for medical supplies. The health sector in general was collapsing even before.

It hasn't been updated because of the siege and all of the other circumstances. So if they didn't allow for more trucks and aid to come into Gaza, every day things became less (INAUDIBLE), the demand became more.

[15:25:07]

So I don't think we can handle it for extra time. Bombing needs to stop, and even if we flee to the south, to safety, it didn't even stop there. Every couple of minutes, there are strikes here and there. So we are lacking our safety and our needs also.

ACOSTA: And the Israeli Defense Forces are sounding as though they may begin this ground incursion, that they may move their ground forces into parts of northern Gaza imminently. We don't know for sure when that will happen, but they're making it sound as though it could happen any day now. What will that do? How would that contribute to the very dire situation from a humanitarian standpoint inside Gaza?

HAMMASH: So thousands of people have fled, but if the ground invasion takes place, the reality, that means more and more people will flee. That will make more and more people who are become displaced with more needs. We cannot cover even the people already displaced, so add to that people who are going to be more displaced. Unfortunately, all the scenarios are in the horizon (INAUDIBLE) if you -- especially with the ground invasion, it's going to be (INAUDIBLE). Actually (INAUDIBLE), if that happens, I don't think I can imagine how are going to be the consequences.

It's not only the humanitarian sector, it's more than that. People who are in need, at least people who fled, seeking safety here, could manage to settle down. Add to them other people if a ground invasion happened. It will be a disaster, Jim. It's already a disaster but this is going to increase it in a way that we cannot even take control of it.

ACOSTA: All right. Yousef Hammash, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

HAMMASH: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Still ahead, President Biden is pushing for more money for military and humanitarian assistance for the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, but the chaos on Capitol Hill means that that request can't really move forward at this point. We'll discuss next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:34]

ACOSTA: As the war between Israel and Hamas rages on, President Biden is asking Congress to approve a military aid package to help support Israel. Mr. Biden is asking for more than $100 billion, mostly in military aid to Israel and Ukraine, but the deal would also pay for security along the U.S.-Mexico border and humanitarian aid to Gaza, as well as other areas in the region.

Let's bring in Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. She's a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for being with us. I guess what is your response to what President Biden is asking for here. Would you rather see these aid -- I guess these aid requests be divvied up into different buckets or is it better perhaps from a strategy standpoint to want them all together because of the current situation up on the hill?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): Jim, thanks for having me. And, you know, I think what President Biden made resolutely clear the other night was that if the United States doesn't prevent and stand by our allies, we'll face Russia, China, Iran, and Hamas on their frontlines. We are going to find ourselves on the frontlines in that fight as well. And that our national security interests are seriously implicated and that we have to make sure that there is no tyrant like Putin or a terrorist organization like Hamas that's going to be allowed without response to invade another country, to terrorize another nation's citizens, and the world just shrugs its shoulders. Certainly not the United States.

ACOSTA: But do you think it makes sense from a strategic standpoint to put all of this aid together in one package as the president appears to be seeking at this point? Are we going to see a situation perhaps in the coming weeks, where some of this might get divided up? Or maybe it's just too soon to tell? What do you think?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I mean, look, this is -- as an appropriator, I mean, this is an emergency national security supplemental appropriations request. And, I mean, this is how these things are packaged. They are packaged together. They certainly all have common threats running, whether it's Russia invading Ukraine, the China threat against Taiwan, Hamas' horrendous attack on Israel backed by Iran.

I mean, we have to make sure that we are not -- I mean, look, the Republicans can't even get out of their own way right now. We don't have a speaker and haven't had one for 20 days. It's not like we have a whole lot of time, less than a month before the government shuts down, to pass, you know, individual appropriations bills in order to make sure that we can address our very serious national security interest, and protect and stand by our allies like Israel, and ensure that Ukraine is not taken over completely by Russia.

ACOSTA: And what was your response to the release of those two American hostages by Hamas? What did you think of that and the timing of it?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I mean, relief. I was in the region during the attacks and was in Saudi Arabia having met with leaders the night before, woke up that morning to the reports of the rocket attacks and the horrific assault on Israeli citizens, the worst and most significant loss of life, intentional loss of life since the Holocaust produced on a single day.

[15:35:05]

I've met, this week, Jim, with not only family members but a young girl, 28 years old, who, I mean, Jim, I could have been sitting across from my own daughter. My own daughter spent the whole summer in Israel. I mean, if -- it's all I can think of. If this attack happened three months earlier, my daughter was in Tel Aviv for nine weeks. And I mean, it's there but for the grace of God. And we have to make sure that we're standing by Israel.

Hamas must release the hostages. We have to continue to insist on that, and the United States is working side by side closely with Israel and the International Red Cross and others to ensure that other hostages can get out. But at the same time, Hamas cannot be allowed to just crawl back under its hole to live to fight another day and launch another attack to fulfill their true mission, which is to eradicate Israel and kill Jews.

ACOSTA: And Congresswoman, I guess you probably know not everybody on your party is on the same page on this issue. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, took -- I guess she took some harsh language for the president and what he's been doing, his policy in all of this past week. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-MI): I truly believe this. I truly believe this in my heart, Americans want a ceasefire. They want it stop. President Biden, not all Americans are with you on this one and you need to understand that. We are literally watching people commit genocide and killing the vast majority just like this, and we still stand by and say nothing. We will remember this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Congresswoman, what's your response to that?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Let me just be clear that the loss of civilian lives in any case is tragic and needs to be prevented. And the laws -- and the regulations of war, Israel and any combatant needs to abide by. Of course when you're combatting a terrorist organization like Hamas, they don't pay attention to anything like that. They came in and they massacred 1300 Israelis, just because they were Jewish, and the captured 200 and still holds all of them except for two.

What my colleague is doing is fanning flames that I'm sure is resulting in more people dying. Endangering people's lives, fanning those flames. That is outrageous and to suggest that Americans don't want to make sure that we eradicate a terrorist organization that is ISIS-like, I don't think she's reading the American people's sentiment right now. And I really would ask my colleague to stand down, turn down the volume.

And let's make sure that we keep the focus on assuring that our national security interests are protected and that we can prevent a terrorist organization like Hamas from ever doing what they are doing again. And ensure that Hamas can't put their own people, innocent Palestinians in harm's way, and caused the death of their own children, women, and elderly, by putting them in harm's way, because Hamas uses their own civilians as human shields. And that's been proved over and over.

ACOSTA: All right, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate it.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Thank you, Jim. Thanks for having me as always.

ACOSTA: Appreciate it. Yes. Thank you.

Coming up, Israel recovered a so-called hostage-taking handbook on the body of one of the terrorists. Next, we'll be joined by someone who has read it. That's live in the CNN NEWSROOM, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:43:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISSAC HERZOG, PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL: This booklet is instruction guide how to go into a civilian premises into a kibbutz, a city, a moshav, how to break in, and firstly what do you do when you find the citizens? You torture them. This is the booklet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: That was the president of Israel referencing a so-called hostage-taking handbook reportedly found with the bodies of Hamas fighters, and it's shedding light on the brutal conditions those hostages might be facing.

"The Atlantic's" Graeme Wood was able to obtain a copy of the document and he joins us now to share his reporting.

Graeme, thanks very much for being with us. It's a really important report. And you say that this handbook tells the hostage-takers -- it's a how-to guide, I suppose, to, quote, "kill hostages expected to resist, others are to be bound and blindfolded and used as human shields." Tell us more about this handbook. It is just awful.

GRAEME WOOD, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Yes. It counsels brutality. It's what they called a field manual. I mean, the U.S. Military has them, other militaries have them, and part of the Hamas military structure published this and it was found amid the possessions of some dead Hamas terrorists. And it is exactly what you say. It's advice on how to brutalize hostages, how to get them to comply, how to use electric shocks.

And it says right at the beginning, if any of them is going to cause you any trouble then you kill the ones who are going to be problematic. So it does not look like a great situation for anyone. It falls to the hands of the people who are working with that manual.

ACOSTA: And Graeme, it sounds as though based on some of the items in that how-to handbook, based on some of the reports that we've seen about some of the hostages who were killed, some of the people who were killed before, some of the other hostages that were taken back into Gaza, that essentially that's what you saw. Some of these Hamas terrorists were following what is laid out in that handbook, or it appears to be that's what they were doing.

[15:45:07]

WOOD: Yes. You know, there were some limited cases where what they were doing was exactly according to the handbook. What's actually kind of interesting is how much of what happened didn't follow the handbook. You know? Not to say that they weren't brutal towards the hostages, they had. But the handbook, it is entirely envisioning situations where there's a prolonged standoff on Israeli soil.

So what actually happened was, of course, almost all the hostages got taken back to Gaza very quickly, whereas it seems like what they were planning for, at least the people who had that handbook, were maybe a bunch of standoffs in the kibbutz scene, in the territory of Israel, and, you know, bargaining for the lives of hostages there, rather than consolidating them all on the Gaza territory.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, do we know why did Hamas take these hostages, so many of them, back to Gaza?

WOOD: I think the easy answer is because they could. You know, Hamas just like the Israelis, they were really surprised by how successful they were. They didn't really encounter any resistance. Certainly not with the full strength of the IDF. And, you know, if you had the chance to just spirit them back into Gaza, taking them on golf carts, on the motorbikes, in SUVs, then you do that, because in Gaza you can put them in tunnels and dungeons, who knows?

Whereas the kind of limited standoffs that were being envisioned I think would be less controlled by Hamas. A lot of the things that they were envisioning they didn't have to do it, they didn't have to consolidate food, they didn't have to consolidate batteries and flashlights. That's the kind of thing that's in the manual. If you just take them home, then you can use the food supplies you have.

ACOSTA: And does the handbook, in any instructions as to what should be received and return for the hostages? Is that part of this?

WOOD: No. You know, there's clearly a kind of bargaining that was expected. There's also death that's expected, that is the fighters are told what to do with their own dead if there is an attack, would have buried them, I think, but there's no instruction about what you should except for one hostage. There is a clear understanding that each of the lives of the hostages is going to be very valuable so you should try not to kill them, unless you have to, not out of any sentimentality or scruple about killing Israeli civilians of course but because they're valuable.

ACOSTA: Right. I mean, that sadly appears to be one of the last bargaining chips Hamas at this point because if the hostages are killed, one would think that the Israelis are going to go in full force if those hostages aren't alive anymore.

WOOD: Yes.

ACOSTA: And Graeme, if you want to speak to that, go ahead.

WOOD: Yes. That's correct. I mean, Hamas would have known and remembered very well that if they had a hostage that they were able to trade to the Israelis for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, so, you know, each of those lives is extremely valuable in trade.

ACOSTA: And what do you make of the two American hostages who were released? I mean, did not come as a surprise to you?

WOOD: It was surprising that there would be a release of hostages. I do know that one thing that the Israelis are looking for very carefully is to see whether they're the second citizenship, that applies to many of these hostages. For many of them there are. There are (INAUDIBLE) citizens, there are American citizens and so forth, and the reason they're doing that is because it's one thing to take an Israeli hostage but if Hamas is also taking another country's citizen hostage, there are other implications to that.

So it's probably not a coincidence that these two who have been released are American citizens. Not that Hamas loves Americans but what they really want is Israelis. They want Israelis so they could trade to Israel. They're probably less interested in having Russians or other nationalities in their care.

ACOSTA: Yes. It's just -- and, Graeme, just one last question, one of the most disturbing things in all of this is how grandparents, elderly people, senior citizens have been taken hostage. We know that there was one case where there were children who were taken hostage. And I believe one of them was a special needs child. It's just unbelievable that these kinds of people would be taken hostage. Any of that in your reporting that stands out to you as to why Hamas did that?

WOOD: Well, one thing that you do see in the manual is they understand that they are going to be getting whoever they can get. Just whoever is there at the time. So they say, when you get women and children, you do this with men, when you get men, you do this with them, so they were contemplating from the beginning, doing the whole gamut of demography that they might find on site. And so, unfortunately, it's pretty chilling to see this written out as a manual.

[15:50:04]

Not something that you do in the heat of battle. But something you plan out well in advance that you would be taking the lives of children, of the elderly, of non-combatants. That is what they were planning to do and that's what we see them having done.

ACOSTA: Yes. It's just absolutely heinous. Absolutely barbaric.

Graeme Wood, thank you very much for your time. Appreciate the reporting. Thanks.

WOOD: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Still ahead, more on the behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts to get desperately needed aid into Gaza. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:01]

ACOSTA: Twenty aid trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent passed through the Rafah Crossing earlier this morning on their way to provide critical aid to Gaza. President Biden is now addressing that aid delivery.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is live in Delaware. She's with the president. She has details on this.

What's the president saying, Priscilla?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, all of this, Jim, comes on the heels of the president's trip to Israel, and also, following a conversation that President Biden had with Egypt's president, when the two agreed for this Rafah Crossing to be open.

Now in a statement this afternoon the president reflected on those conversations, saying, quote, "I made it clear from the outset of this crisis, in both my public statements and private conversations, that humanitarian assistance was a critical and urgent need that had to get moving. And I expressed my deep personal appreciation for the leadership of the Egyptian president, the prime minister of Israel, and the United Nations to allow for this resumption."

Now, of course, Jim, this remains a challenge. It's 20 aid trucks. Eight organizations have said that is a good start, but simply not enough. So this is something that the administration is continuing to work on, but also critically, the president noted in his statement the work that's being done behind the scenes to facilitate for U.S. citizens in Gaza for their exit with family members.

ACOSTA: All right, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very much. We appreciate that report.

Still ahead, is there any chance a diplomatic solution could be reached to prevent a ground invasion by Israel into Gaza? I'll talk to the former Israeli ambassador to the United States. That's coming up in a few moments.

You're live here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)