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CNN International: Israel Says It Struck 320 Targets Overnight in Gaza; Israel Prepares for Next States of War Against Hamas; Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Intensifies Amid Conflict; Hospitals in Gaza Overwhelmed and Undersupplied. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 23, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Max Foster joining you live from London with our continuing coverage of Israel at war. 9:00 a.m. here in London, 11 a.m. in Gaza, where more than 300 targets were hit overnight by Israeli air strikes. According to the IDF, tunnels and operational command centers belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad were impacted. Israeli forces say they also targeted sites that posed a threat to the forces preparing for a potential ground operation.

These air strikes come ahead of what Israel calls the next stage in their war on Hamas. Sources say the Biden administration is pressing Israel to delay any incursion into Gaza to allow for the release of more hostages and permit the flow of aid into the enclave.

A warning some of the images we're about to show you may be disturbing. Patients are overwhelming the hospital system in Gaza, which is having to scale back on treatments at some locations. Fuel is still scarce and doctors say infants on ventilators remain at risk without a dependable source of electricity.

Journalist Elliot Gotkine joins me here in London. Just bring us up to date earlier on what's been happening over the weekend because we haven't had the incursion yet. But the strikes are still very intense.

ELLIOT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Perhaps the most intense that they've been, and Israel said that it was going to ramp up its air strikes on the Gaza Strip, on Hamas targets, and to that extent, it's been true to its words. So, as you say, more than 320 targets hit in the last day. We're waiting for confirmation as to whether this is the most number of targets hit in any one-day period. But certainly, our very own Nic Robertson, who's down there in Sderot just outside the Gaza Strip, saying that he for -- to his mind, this was the heaviest bombardment he'd heard going on in Gaza since Israel started those air strikes against Hamas in the wake of its terrorist attack on October the 7th.

So as you say, hitting, you know, tunnels, operational, command centers, military compounds, observation post and anti-tank missile cells and also saying that it's been targeting a positions that it says pose a threat to its forces who are preparing for a ground invasion. So just more evidence that this is what is being prepared for if we didn't already have enough evidence with all of those troops massing and all of those tanks and armored, you know, personnel carriers and the like on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip. Of course, we still don't know when that's going to happen, and I suppose it's understandable that the IDF doesn't to give us any specifics. We do still expect it to happen. We had the chief of the General Staff, Herzi Halevi, telling troops we are going to go into Gaza.

But one other thing that we saw over the weekend, this was yesterday, the first clash inside the Gaza Strip on the ground between IDF troops and militants from Hamas. They fired an anti-tank missile at the troops. One IDF soldier was killed, three were injured. Hamas claiming to have destroyed two military bulldozers and also a tank as well. And I suppose that also shows that, you know, that wasn't necessarily the starting gun to a ground invasion. But this kind of buildup seems to be building up further and we do now seem closer to the cusp of this ground invasion that we have been up until now.

FOSTER: One bright spot is this -- is the fact that some aid trucks managed to get in through from Egypt, but not nearly enough.

GOTKINE: No, and the UN refugee agency for the Palestinians, saying that fuel is just as important as food and water, and Israel doesn't want fuel to go inside because it's concerned it says that in the past, Hamas militants have stolen this fuel and used it to help power their war machine. And the Israelis don't want anything like that to happen.

And one of the reasons for all these delays is that Israel is ensuring or they are trying to ensure that nothing gets into the Gaza Strip that could perhaps have a dual use and help Hamas or other militant groups that are there not only to be there to preparing for a fight with Israel, but of course still holding more than 200 hostages. And this was the other thing that happened just before the weekend. Of course, two Israeli Americans released and that's one of the reasons why we understand the U.S. is leaning on Israel to delay this ground invasion --- this much expected ground invasion -- to help allow for more negotiations jointly, perhaps with the Qataris to try to get more of those 200 plus hostages released by Hamas and other militant groups.

FOSTER: And what about the potential other fronts of the north of Israel and these strikes we heard about in the West Bank as well?

GOTKINE: So, in the West Bank, we know that over the weekend Israel struck a command center, being jointly run by Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- according to the IDF.

[04:05:03]

This was underneath a mosque. So the mosque wasn't destroyed. But you can see from video images that a big hole has been ripped on the side of this mosque. Israel saying that Hamas and Islamic Jihad from this position were planning an imminent terrorist attack. And this was an air strike. It's not unprecedented. You may recall back in July, Apache helicopters were called in and we know of major clashes in Jenin. This is at the time -- this is also when Israel discovered the presence of this command center underneath this mosque and they struck it over the weekend as well. That's in the West Bank.

The northern front, of course, still a very volatile and precarious situation. Still Hezbollah firing rockets, anti-tank missiles and the like towards Israeli positions. Israel retaliating. There have been clashes in Israel, also adding fourteen more villages and towns to evacuate, telling them they're not obliged to evacuate but giving them kind of advice to evacuate. It's voluntary at the moment and the government will pay for them to be put up in guest houses. So we are also seeing a bit of an exodus from northern towns and villages to get out of harm's way and also to give the IDF more wiggle room when it comes to attacks and counter attacks against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.

FOSTER: Elliot, thank you. Well, as Elliot was saying, CNN's Nic Robertson is in Sderot near the border with Gaza and has more on the next stages of the war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Bristling with battle ready troops, farmers' fields north of Gaza churn with the controlled fury of a nation readying for an incursion to strike Hamas. Yet they are waiting with no explanation why.

ROBERTSON: It feels like that early rush for battle readiness has passed. The troops are deployed, standing by. The question is, how long can they be kept out here?

ROBERTSON (voice-over): According to former IDF General, Israel Ziv, as long as is needed, there are military gains.

ISRAEL ZIV, FORMER IDF GENERAL: We are now improving our intelligence and our capacity of targets.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): But the political calculation here is more complicated.

RON BEN YISHAI, FORMER IDF MEMBER AND MILITARY ANALYST: I think both in Washington and in Jerusalem, they understand that the legitimation -- legitimization window is closing quickly.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Civilian losses in Gaza are growing. More than a third of them children, according to Palestinian health officials. Lengthy negotiations have led to two American hostages released as a tiny amount of humanitarian aid has crossed into Gaza that Israel fears ends up in Hamas's hands.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's calculus of when to send in ground troops has never been so fraught. Under pressure from the White House for more hostage releases.

YISHAI: Netanyahu is in real problem. He is -- he cannot say no to Biden, but he cannot say yes to the to the humanitarian aid that drifts into northern Gaza.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): But he is also under pressure at home, too. Military and others hawkish for a decisive blow against Hamas.

ZIV: We are finishing preparing, you know, the ground force because we've changed plans. We are going to -- for heavy maneuvering.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Netanyahu's dilemma, compounded by his dependence on American weapons.

YISHAI: The pressure is from Washington is real. Is real and strong, and the Prime Minister says many times to his ministers, that we are getting from the United States more than you know.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Where less than a week ago, these fields were teeming with tanks, troops making last minute repairs. Today, there are just tracks in the sand.

ROBERTSON: There's a soldiers jacket here, bread in a bag on the table. The question is, where have all the tanks gone? Forward for an incursion or back to base for a pause.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Close to the front line in Gaza these days, more questions than answers. An incursion still highly probable, but when?

Nic Robertson, CNN, Sderot, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Mick Ryan a retired Major General for the Australian army, the author of "War Transformed: The Future of 21st Century Great Power Competition and Conflict." He joins us from Brisbane, Australia. Thanks so much for joining us, mate. I mean, you know what these situations --

MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: It's good to be with.

[04:10:00]

FOSTER: -- are like when you're working with other countries on a mission. Clearly, America leaning greatly on Israel not to go in just yet. How will Israel be dealing with that and balancing it?

RYAN: Well, I think it actually gives Israel time to rethink its position to collect intelligence and to prepare its logistics. Though times on its side, it doesn't need to rush in and conduct some decisive military action that might compromise a longer-term political solution.

FOSTER: Also, I mean we can't call the West Bank and other front, but there are again tensions in the West Bank, and they are linked to Hamas. How concerned are you about that being a distraction for the Israelis if it blows up as well in terms of tensions?

RYAN: Well, there are several other potential fronts that Israel needs to worry about, and not all the mobilized troops will be dedicated to Gaza. So, the West Bank is certainly a potential problem, but so is the North and Hezbollah's threat. So Israel is having to balance off these three threats as well as what's going on with Iranian comments and in Syria as well.

FOSTER: Yes, on the north, they've obviously been evacuating areas near the border. What do you read into that?

RYAN: Well, I think Hezbollah is watching what will happen with the potential incursion. It's not going to do anything until Israel have made some kind of decisive commitment. But we've seen over a dozen attacks over the weekend. We've seen the evacuation of more than a dozen Israel settlements in the north of the country. But I think Hezbollah and Iran are watching what happens and wait to see how Israel goes in Gaza before they make any commitment either way.

FOSTER: We were speaking to the IDF last week and they suggested that any attack that came from Hezbollah would be regarded as, you know -- the Lebanese Government would be regarded as culpable. So effectively it would open a front not just with Hezbollah but with the entire nation of Lebanon. Which is a major escalation, isn't it?

RYAN: Well, it would be a significant escalation and we know how the Israeli invasion of Lebanon ended up. Now I'm pretty sure the Israeli government does not want that second front to open up, so it's doing everything it can. And I'm sure it's American partners are doing every -- everything they can to deter that second from opening up.

FOSTER: And just a word on the aid situation. Obviously, everyone desperate to get aid into Gaza, but the Israelis refusing to enforce a ceasefire and also not providing fuel, which is so essential to the hospitals, for example. But of course, it does have this double use for Hamas as well, doesn't it? Which is what the Israelis are concerned about.

RYAN: Well, certainly that's the claim. But I mean, we're not talking about fuel and massive quantities here and it's also hard to see how water and food and electricity might be dual use here. But at the end of the day, as one of your reports just said, the moral legitimacy that Israel and -- has got the outcry that happened after 7 October will drain away the more that foreign audiences see this suffering go on in Gaza.

FOSTER: OK, Major General Mick Ryan in Brisbane, thank you so much as ever for your insight.

Still to come, the humanitarian crisis is intensifying in Gaza. Officials are warning hospitals were overwhelmed amid an acute shortage of that fuel, food and fuel.

Plus, a second convoy of aid trucks crosses into Gaza. But rights groups say it's not enough. Next I'll speak to an official from Doctors Without Borders, without -- about the deteriorating situation in the enclave.

[04:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Aid workers are warning the situation in Gaza has become a humanitarian catastrophe. The Palestinian Health Ministry says more than 4,600 people have been killed in the besieged enclave since the war began, including women and children. Meanwhile, some aid trucks are arriving in Gaza, but they don't include fuel. At least 14 humanitarian relief trucks sponsored by the Egyptian Red Crescent and the UN entered Gaza from the Rafah crossing on Sunday, carrying food and medicine. But officials say it's not enough to meet the needs of the people. CNN's Scott McLean has more now on the situation in Gaza and a warning this report contains graphic images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Those who arrived at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza alive are the lucky ones. There were five airstrikes this morning near the hospital. This video shows the smoke from one rising nearby.

Some 110 bodies were brought here overnight and this morning. One medical source tells CNN the morgue is now full. The rest of the bodies wrapped in white sheets now lay outside in the heat of the day. Relatives try to identify their loved ones, finding them confirms their worst fears.

Inside the hospital children, including a toddler are among the dead. Several of these victims were found with their names written in Arabic on their legs, an increasingly common marking as parents try to make identification easier if they or their kids are killed.

This hospital is located outside of the area of northern Gaza that Israel has been trying to get civilians to evacuate. On Saturday, the IDF dropped leaflets telling people that everyone who chose to not evacuate from the north of the strip to the south of Wadi Gaza might be considered as a partner for the terrorist organization.

In a statement the IDF confirmed it dropped the leaflets but said it has no intention to consider those who have not evacuated from the affected area of fighting as a member of the terrorist group.

Even those who have managed to avoid the bombs are not out of danger. A trickle of aid 20 trucks were allowed to cross the Rafah Border Crossing from Egypt on Saturday. But that's a tiny fraction of what is needed

MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN NATIONAL INITIATIVE: 20 trucks of aid to Gaza will not change much.

[04:20:00]

Gaza needs at least 500 trucks daily of fuel, food, medicines and water. As a matter of fact, for 14 days, Gaza got nothing under the Israeli siege. And its immediate need now is 7,000 trucks.

MCLEAN (voice-over): Satellite images showed dozens of trucks waiting at the border and dozens more a quarter mile down the road all unable to get in. Aid group say that the death toll could skyrocket because of disease and hospitals that are overwhelmed and under supplied.

With no electricity or generator, this shopkeeper in central Gaza is keeping the store open by candlelight. The shelves look increasingly bare. The World Food Program says the shortage of basic supplies is pushing Gaza to the edge of catastrophe.

The IDF says it killed dozens of terrorists overnight. But now is that the number of airstrikes will only increase and an expected ground operation. Meanwhile, conditions for the people of Gaza worsen by the hour.

Scott McLean, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Joining me now from Jerusalem is Leo Cans. He's Doctors Without Borders Head of Mission for Palestine. Thank you so much for joining us. Some positivity I guess over the weekend as we started seeing those aid trucks go into Gaza. But of course, it's not nearly enough, is it?

LEO CANS, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS HEAD OF MISSION FOR PALESTINE: No, not at all. I mean, the good sign for us is that the border has opened for a very short time. But we are extremely concerned because it's 20 trucks, even if it's seventeen more after it's dropped -- it's just a drop in the ocean regarding the needs that the population is facing currently.

FOSTER: What sort of medical supplies do you need? I presumably it's everything, but are you getting the most vital ones in these trucks, do you think?

CANS: Yes, yes, as you said, we need a lot because we are we are in shortage for most of the medicines. What is extremely important now is all the trauma -- trauma kits, surgery kits, narcotics. I just remind that currently in the Gaza Strip, we are doing operation -- surgical operation without the correct dose of narcotics, without the correct dose of morphine. And in term of pain management, it's not, it's not happening. So we currently have people being operated without being -- without having morphine. It just happened to even to kids sometimes.

We have a lot of kids, unfortunately, that are among the wounded. And I was just discussing with one of our surgeon, he received a kid 10- years-old yesterday, burnt on 60 percent of the body surface and he didn't enough have painkiller. And I cannot tell you how distressed healthcare worker is in this -- in this kind of situation. And there is no justification at all to block these essential medicines to reach the population. And we need much, much more than what has entered until now.

FOSTER: Yes, that's a -- and it's a heartbreaking situation, isn't it? I mean, the other big issue you've got is fuel, right? Because you need fuel to run the generators, to run the hospital. But fuel is not included in these aid deliveries because the Israelis are concerned that may end up in the hands of Hamas.

CANS: Yes, exactly. Fuel is key. Fuel is key for the generator of the hospitals and currently they -- re they are going very close to the shortage. They manage until now to not to reach -- not to be in shortage because they managed to get fuel from other places and to rationalize the use of fuel in some hospitals. Some services are closed. Actually, many of the services are closed because the fuel is redirected to the essential and life saving surgery and services. But some people -- the health status of a large part of the population is deteriorating because they do not have access to the normal healthcare and it's become it's becoming worse.

So fuel is essential for hospitals, but I we have to say also fuel is essential for water because all the water needs fuel for desalinization for the water plants in order to desalinate the water of Gaza, which is not drinkable. And then for the borehole to take the water from the ground and same if you don't have fuel, you don't have water and you don't have quality water. And currently what we see and what our team on the ground tell us is that people drink non-drinkable water. We had like 40 cases of diarrheas just information in a school in middle area. So we are very concerned about possible outbreaks that can occurs because of the of the bad quality of the water that people are drinking.

FOSTER: Yes, that's another huge concern, isn't it? The spread of disease, as you know, these supplies run out. Also, we were hearing from Scott McLean a really tragic story that parents are writing the names of children's names on their legs in case they're killed.

[04:25:00]

But actually in a very sort of morbid way, that's I guess, useful for the hospitals that are having a huge amount of casualties come in, a huge amount of bodies to deal with. And they, you know, it does save time, at least, doesn't it? That you're having -- you're able to identify them quickly enough.

CANS: Yes, that's terrible. And you know, on top of that from our colleagues, they told us now they all sleep in the same room because they want to either live together or die together. And in many cases, you know, the family -- some of the family members died because the one side of the of the house is being hit by the strike. So it's heartbreaking.

I mean, what the people are living through now, it's unacceptable. And we are outraged by the indiscriminate type of bombings that is happening now. I don't -- we don't understand why it's so indiscriminate. Even war has rules and it cannot just bomb civilian like this. We have too many children, too many women arriving at the hospitals is not acceptable.

The hospital by themselves, you know, the chief of hospital in where we have an MSF team working, I was talking with director of the hospital yesterday. And he told me it's like around 14,000 people IDPs taking refuge inside the hospitals. And he tells me -- he tells me it's very difficult to work because IDP are everywhere. They are in the corridors. They are outside. They are, they are blocking the entrance. Because people have nowhere safe to go. So they take refuge in the hospitals, which makes it more difficult for the -- for the patient to manage. So yes, yes, it's a -- it's a catastrophic situation and we need to put a stop to this, to the indiscriminate bombing. And we need, we need, we must allow aid to enter in sufficient quantity inside Gaza Strip.

FOSTER: Leo Cans we really appreciate your time and amazing work that you guys are doing. Thank you for joining us.

Still to come, China's Special Envoy to the Middle East will be making the rounds in the region this week. What Beijing hopes to achieve with this diplomatic push.