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Israel At War; Former VP Mike Pence Suspends Presidential Campaign; Barrage Of Explosions Heard Near Israel-Gaza Border; Israel Reissues Call For People To Evacuate Northern Gaza; Blinken Announces $150M In New Military Assistance To Ukraine, Faces Opposition From GOP Hardliners. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 28, 2023 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:59:47]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. My colleague, Wolf Blitzer, is live for us in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Welcome to our continuing breaking news coverage of Israel at war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying today the second stage of its war, the ground war, has begun.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. What the hell is that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Just minutes ago, the sound of gunfire and explosions lighting up the sky.

This is CNN's Nic Robertson's position just a mile from Israel's border with Gaza, the new escalation of the conflict with a singular goal according to Israel, to destroy the military and government of Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Our heroic fighters have one goal: to destroy this enemy and to make short the existence in our country. Never again, never again is now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: As each hour goes by, more evidence that the conflict is escalating.

This video was shot by a CNN producer in Gaza. It captures rockets being fired into Israel.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And CNN's Sara Sidner and her team captured this video of a rocket barrage over Tel Aviv earlier today. Israel's Iron Dome defense system intercepted these incoming rockets from Gaza.

Civilians in northern Gaza say they've endured the heaviest bombardment of the conflict last night. Israel says its warplanes struck 150 underground targets, the sophisticated Hamas tunnels that run for miles and miles in Gaza.

CNN's Nic Robertson is joining us now from Sderot in Israel, not far from Gaza.

Nic, you've been seeing and hearing these explosions in the skies going on. What's the latest?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Still hearing fighter jets behind us, Wolf. Still hearing artillery going into Gaza. Some of the fighter jets flying low with their after burners on at times.

So unusually we're able to see them. We can see them on the bombing sorties, coming in, flying low, and then pulling up and turning away. And after they've done that, we've seen big, yellow flashes of bright light on the horizon, illuminating the horizon.

The whole sky seemingly lit up with these big flashes. And following that, huge detonations, missile after missile after missile landing on Gaza. That's been in the past couple of hours. Before that it was heavy, sustained rounds of tank fire being fired out from very closely here, from a few hundred feet away from here, fired into Gaza.

Again, this is something that we have not been experiencing over the past few weeks. The intensity this evening I would say even stronger than last night. Those rounds of artillery -- outgoing, shaking this house.

So what we are witnessing tonight I think is the further evidence of this bigger build-up, this shaping the ground for this next phase of the operation of a larger incursion. Troops already in Gaza.

But what we're seeing from here this evening is the support effects, the tank fire, the artillery strikes, the missile strikes, taking out those Hamas positions. But as we've been able to see from the video coming out of Gaza tonight and what we saw last night, as well, those huge impacts that we feel here absolutely shattering the silence and the darkness in the cities behind us there, Wolf.

It is quite a ferocious night even compared to last night. This build- up, this really big build-up for the supporting the incursion is continuing, Wolf.

BLITZER: Certainly is. Nic Robertson in Sderot, Israel not far from Gaza. Stay safe over there, Nic. Thank you very much.

Joining us now, Michael Oren. He's the former Israeli ambassador to the United States. Ambassador, thanks so much for being joining us. It was good to always see you in Washington. Nice to see you here in Tel Aviv, although I wish we were meeting under different circumstances.

MICHAEL OREN, FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Indeed, thank you, Wolf. Good to be with you, nevertheless.

BLITZER: All right. So let's talk a little bit about what's going on right now. The Israeli defense minister earlier today, and you probably saw the news conference, he said that the Israeli assault on Hamas in Gaza that's ongoing right now, he says will help hostage negotiations. Do you agree?

OREN: I do. I do. And I explained the logic of it because there was a certain theory that by starting the ground operations, we were basically forfeiting the ability to negotiate for the hostages. I think it's just the opposite.

[17:04:52]

OREN: As long as Hamas was sitting underground with the hostages and we weren't on the ground attacking, then Hamas could determine the conditions, and the conditions were far, far more than Israel could ever accept.

It was not just releasing all the terrorists in Israeli jails, these are people who have killed hundreds, in the case of the Second Intifada, killed a thousand Israelis, ok. So with a lot of blood on their hands.

The Hamas also wanted unlimited fuel supplies for its fighters and it wanted a cease-fire. Now, you understand a cease-fire for Israel is death. Ceasefire means that Hamas gets away with mass murder. It means we can't restore our security, we can't restore our deterrence power in the region, we're finished. So we couldn't accept that.

But as the forces, the Israeli forces move into Gaza slowly and encircle Hamas, Hamas is going to have to use those hostages as sort of a get-out-of-jail free card. They could pull what -- you remember this, what Yasser Arafat did in Beirut in 1982. They'll say, ok, let us out of here and we'll go to -- we'll go to Algeria or something, and we'll give you the hostages.

It also, I think, increased the chances that they'll keep the hostages alive and in good shape because that's their last bargaining chip.

BLITZER: Is it possible that Israel might accept some sort of pause, not a cease-fire but a pause to allow more humanitarian aid to get in to help those civilians in Gaza?

OREN: It's possible. It's very difficult politically here and I'll explain why. While, you know, we don't want to see Palestinians suffer, it's important to move them out of the combat zone as much as possible because they're in the combat zone. The amount of Palestinian civilian casualties will shoot very, very high up.

On the other hand, many Israelis, especially the families of these 222 Israelis who are held hostages are saying why should we give food and fuel to the Palestinians when they won't let us know who they have as hostages. They won't let the Red Cross in to see them. By opening those corridors we're basically giving up the last leverage we have to find out about our loved ones. So very difficult calls for the Israeli government. And I'm not

representing the government now. You know, Wolf, I would say in the long run it's to Israel's benefit because if we -- you don't have that type of humanitarian corridor, you're going to have increasing international pressure on us for a cease-fire which would, as I said before, would be disastrous for us. But politically, it's a heavy lift here.

BLITZER: To go ahead and delay any full-scale ground invasion --

OREN: No, I'm talking about the humanitarian corridor.

BLITZER: To stop that.

OREN: You have to answer to the families. I'm meeting with these families every day. And they all say the same thing.

BLITZER: The families of the Israeli hostages, more than 200 who are in Gaza.

OREN: Yes, 222 are in Gaza. And they all say the same thing to me, whatever you do, don't agree to this humanitarian corridor. As much pressure as you're under by the United States, by the international community -- it's the last leverage we have to find out the status of our loved ones. Many of them don't even know if -- if there weren't some video clips taken of the hostages. They don't really know that they're there. They just know they're missing Aad only a minority were filmed.

So most of the people I'm meeting with don't even know if their loved ones are there, in fact.

BLITZER: As you know, if the Israeli aerial and ground assault intensifies right now, as it clearly is, there's going to be a lot more civilian deaths in Gaza. Is Israel prepared for the international outcry that almost certainly will develop?

OREN: I think Israel's prepared, but we're also prepared for something that is very much close to home, (INAUDIBLE) for Israeli deaths. Understand we're sending our kids into combat here with the knowledge that there will be a certain number who won't come home.

That's why Israel is adopting an interesting military strategy, one we haven't used before. They're actually calling it the American strategy which is you target a certain neighborhood or a village, you bomb that village to clear it out the best you can, you move forces in there, and then you establish that village as a bridge head to the next village or to the next neighborhood.

So it's not a mass of soldiers, moving in as we did in 2014. Remember, we moved the army, all at one time, we suffered a tremendous amount of casualties.

So Israel is going to try to do this as cautiously as possible and slowly, slowly close that corridor, and close the noose, if you will, around Hamas. Also giving more Palestinian civilians more time to flee to the south.

BLITZER: As you heard the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say today, a few times, this is Israel's second independent war. The first was in 1948 when Israel was established.

But this is a war for Israel's existence. He keeps saying that right now. Do you agree?

OREN: I think just about everybody out there would agree with him. Because they may not like the prime minister but definitely agree with him on that because it is, if we don't win. Well not even win, if we don't uproot Hamas, if we don't decisively defeat Hamas, we can't live here.

People will not be able to return to the south. The south is 62 percent of the country. Will people live in Tel Aviv even, knowing that tomorrow Hamas or Hezbollah in the north could do the same thing to us without deterrence. And we live in a very, very tough neighborhood. And if people don't fear us, they'll attack us.

BLITZER: Yes. But you and I are sitting in Tel Aviv right now clearly within range of Hamas missiles and rockets coming in from Gaza. But certainly within range of Hezbollah rockets and missiles coming in from south Lebanon into Israel.

Are you afraid that this war could widen to not only include Israel and Hamas but others -- Hezbollah, others in the region?

[17:10:02]

OREN: Including Shiite militias in Iraq and Houthi rebels in Yemen who fired several missiles at us the other night. And fortunately the USS Carney (ph) took them down so thanks to the U.S. Navy.

Yes, of course. And we have a tremendous amount of forces in the north prepared to deal with the Hezbollah contingency. There's a certain debate going on here, I've been part of that debate whether Israel should have attacked Hezbollah first.

Hezbollah has 15 times as many rockets as Hamas has. They have bigger rockets, they're more accurate rockets, they have a terrorist force that has been massacring Syrians for the last ten years. Very, very dangerous.

They're the same people, they do the same thing to our people up north, what Hamas did to our people in the south. It is determined now that Israel's going to deal with Hamas first, and the way we're dealing with it hopefully stage by stage, not a massive onslaught -- that American plan, may be that will lessen the pressure on Hezbollah to intervene. That is the hope. Nothing's guaranteed here.

BLITZER: You were Israel's ambassador to the United States for a few years. You understand Washington. How much pressure is Israel feeling from the Biden administration right now to calm things down?

OREN: I don't think it's pressure, I think it's more like advice. And I know pressure. I know when to feel it. I think that the United States has made -- the president of the United States, first of all, in his speech which everyone was watching here and crying. There was nothing like it, the way he connected his personal pain with our pain -- the unequivocal support for Israel's right to defend itself.

And he's still doing that and he's maybe paying a political price for it within his own party. It's just extraordinary. But what he did which I never would have thought he'd do -- he went beyond what I would have expected -- was he actually moved huge naval forces into this area, two carrier strike forces.

It's a massive naval armada, at a time when, as you know, in Washington -- almost the only bipartisan issue is isolationism, is not getting involved in a war, certainly not in the Middle East. And people are shooting at the Americans. People are shooting at American in Iraq and Syria.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Not only to include Hezbollah, Iranian-backed -- but potentially, God forbid even Iran?

OREN: Certainly who are -- who are firing at American bases in Iraq and Syria right now are Iranian-backed militias. And clearly, they're getting a green light and also getting their ammunitions from Iran.

And the United States has fired back now at some of these positions. But I think when the administration and Joe Biden says to Iran and to Hezbollah "don't", that one word, I think he means it.

BLITZER: What do you think he means?

OREN: I think he means don't try us.

BLITZER: And if they do, what is he going to do?

OREN: I think in the first stage, and this is purely speculation, Iran -- Hezbollah has 150,000 rockets, I mentioned earlier. That would --

BLITZER: 150,000 rockets, potentially that could reach not just Haifa in northern Israel --

OREN: Iraq.

BLITZER: -- but all the way down to -- really?

OREN: Oh yes. Yes, Iraq.

BLITZER: Further south than Tel Aviv.

OREN: The range is not the problem. The range is the accuracy. They have guided rockets. The stuff that you see firing at us, that you saw on the screen, are what we call standup rockets. They go up, they go down --

BLITZER: These are the ones that come from Hamas in Gaza -- OREN: Yes. They go up and they go down and the Iron Dome meets them

here.

BLITZER: The Iron Dome intercepts those rockets.

OREN: Right. But what if you have a rocket that goes like this? It's being guided by a joystick. That's a whole different level of threat.

Now the United States and Israel have developed a system called David's Sling which can take out a cruise missile. But it hasn't been tried that often in combat. And every interceptor costs about $1 million. So it's a pricey system.

And I think with 150,000 rockets would overwhelm pretty much any system we could put above us.

So we need the systems aboard the carrier groups. Now, they have a number of very advanced anti-missile systems. They have the THAAD, they have the Aegis, and they the Patriot. And we would call them so the United States would use the systems.

The big question that you're asking is would then Iran or these pro- Iranian militias take a shot at America's ships or would they escalate the fire at American bases in Iraq and Syria. That happens, I wouldn't -- I wouldn't -- I wouldn't push Joe Biden too far.

BLITZER: Yes, you keep mentioning those two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups that are not far from where we're sitting now in eastern Mediterranean. Right over there.

What do you think their mission is?

OREN: I think their mission is to deter. I think --

BLITZER: To deter Iran and Hezbollah?

OREN: And Hezbollah. Understand that this is not just two carriers with a capacity of about 150 warplanes. It's huge. It's the size of an airport. But it's destroyers, it's frigates, probably some submarines. You're talking about some of the biggest naval forces on the planet have been moved here by the president of the United States. And we're very appreciative of it.

But I -- and big question, I get involved with Israelis asking will Joe Biden pull the trigger? Will he pull the trigger? And I believe very deeply that he will if he's pushed into it. And that takes a lot of guts giving American -- that bipartisan opposition to foreign entanglements.

BLITZER: Ambassador, thanks so much for joining us.

OREN: Always good to be here.

BLITZER: Ambassador Michael Oren is the former Israeli ambassador to the United States. We're going to have much more coming up from here in Tel Aviv. We're

following all the breaking news that's unfolding right now and significant developments unfolding.

Much more of our special coverage after this.

[17:14:53]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: A major shakeup today in the 2024 Republican presidential race. Former vice president Mike Pence making a surprise announcement that he's suspending his campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I came here to say it's become clear to me, this is not my time. So after much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Joining us now to discuss is CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp and "Vanity Fair" special correspondent Molly Jong-Fast. Ladies, thanks so much for being with us. It's very busy this Saturday afternoon.

But Molly, let me start with you first. You know, is Pence doing the right thing here? Ultimately, Republicans have said the ones who don't want Trump as a nominee that eventually they're going to have to coalesce behind one challenger to Trump.

This moves them in that direction, although I don't see, you know, these others heading through the doors just yet.

[17:19:58]

MOLLY JONG-FAST, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, "VANITY FAIR": Yes, I mean, I don't think this is a very -- this is not a caucus where people are, you know, coalescing behind one person. I think what's interesting about this Pence decision is that it's really Trump's party, right. I mean, that's what we see. There's no place for someone who Trump really -- I mean I think there's probably no place for a nominee who isn't Trump, but at the very least there's no place for someone who Trump really has, you know, called for violence toward.

And so I think that this was kind of a campaign that always I wondered who it was for. But it is very worth noting that this is very unusual for a vice president not to be able to get the nomination. And like the most -- the other recent precedent to this is Dan Quayle.

ACOSTA: Right. And S.E., I mean to Molly's point, you know, Pence spent years serving Trump. I remember those cabinet meetings at the white House, they would go around the table, they'd praise the dear leader. Mike Pence was usually leading all of that. But he refused to carry out Trump's demand to overturn the 2020

election results. And we can't forget this is what took place on January 6th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I mean S.E., did Mike Pence ever really have a chance?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No. It's been a wild ride for Mike Pence. I was reminded ten years ago I wrote a profile. I went to Indianapolis. He was the governor of Indiana at the time. I wrote a big profile on --

ACOSTA: There it is.

CUPP: -- Mike Pence in which we called him the future of the GOP. He really did have a lot of promise. He was a deficit hawk then. He was a social conservative. He had a lot of evangelical fans, and for fiscal conservatives like me we really, you know, found him to be an important voice.

When he abandoned all of that to carry Trump's water and become the number two for a guy that didn't care about any of the things that Mike Pence claims to care about, he lost a loss of us, a lot of the fiscal conservatives who also didn't appreciate Trump.

And then in carrying Trump's water but not, you know, all the way across the finish line in 2020, he's now seen as traitorous by the other wing of the Republican Party. Who is left?

There's no other voter in the Republican Party for Mike Pence to get. He had no natural constituencies. And I was saying this in 2020 when, you know, people were saying, oh, Mike Pence will probably run -- for whom? This seemed inevitable from the start.

ACOSTA: Yes. And Molly, it does, as S.E. was saying, I guess conjure up a larger commentary about the Republican Party under Donald Trump. I mean, I remember when the Access: Hollywood thing happened, Mike Pence did not bail on Donald Trump. And just made this bargain, as did the rest of the GOP. And at the end of the day, this fall for Mike Pence, could that be any more emblematic of all of this, that you can't -- you can't put your arms around Trump, bear hug Trump, make Trump, you know, a part of your political career and your political future and then not deal with all the other ramifications that go along with that, everything else that comes along with that deal?

JONG-FAST: Yes. And I think Mike Pence was actually sort of too good at his job. He was brought on to tell Evangelicals that they could trust Trump, that Trump was one of their guys. And evangelicals went along with it, and then they didn't need Pence. Once they had decided that Trump was their guy, Pence almost made

himself obsolete. And so I do think that that has sort of -- he's kind of, you know -- all of his purpose has been served. And everything Trump touches.

ACOSTA: Yes, and S.E., are we going to end up in a place where -- I mean, much of the world is distracted by other things right now. In a very short period of time, the country's going to wake up, the world's going to wake up, and Donald Trump's going to be on the verge of winning the Iowa caucuses because there just isn't any other candidate at this point who is threatening his status at the top of the field.

CUPP: It's not even close. I mean one thing that does happen when Pence or anyone else drops out it frees up some money, frees up some fundraising, could free up some surrogates, some staff, some infrastructure. So that could shake things around a little bit.

But Molly's right, you know, I certainly believe Trump will win the nomination. The base of the Republican Party is still completely addicted to him.

[17:24:49]

ACOSTA: Yes. And Molly, I have to ask you about this -- on the Democratic side, Dean Phillips, the congressman from Minnesota, launching this bid to challenge President Biden. What do you think of that?

I asked Seth Moulton about this in the last hour, and he sort of -- you know, tiptoed around it and said he's with Joe Biden. That was about it. What do you think?

JONG-FAST: I think it's ridiculous. First of all, talk about being an entitled white guy, right? He's a member of Congress, he served, what, two, three terms. He's decided that he is going to run.

You know, the rest of the party has gotten behind Joe Biden, and this guy has no -- has almost no policy differences between him and Joe Biden. He just is -- he just doesn't like the fact that Biden is 80. And I think that comes across as really ageist.

And I also think, you know, you have to have a constituency just like with Mike Pence. Like you have to have people who support you. And he does not have that. And you hear these speeches to empty halls. You see him, you know, surrounded by journalists and no fans.

Like you're not -- he's not -- there is no movement. There's no Dean Phillips movement. The few people who know who he is just think he is kind of a grandstander.

ACOSTA: Yes. And S.E., I mean we were noticing this, the home page for JoeBiden.com -- very similar to the home page for Dean Phillips. I mean, I don't know if we can show that on the screen here, but it's very -- the two campaign Websites are very much the same. I guess because there's very little time for Dean Phillips to mount a campaign. He's like ok, well, the Biden campaign Web site looks pretty good, let's just do that. It's a little late to be doing this for Dean Phillips, isn't it?

CUPP: Yes. It is. It's very late. But listen, I'll say Dean Phillips has identified correctly a problem for the Biden campaign. It is that he is old, and ageist or not, people have some real anxiety about that. Joe Biden's approval numbers are not great.

Now Dean Phillips, having identified the correct problem, has not identified the correct solution because it's not Dean Phillips. You know, he doesn't have the name ID. He doesn't have the movement as molly has said. He's not the guy to be a contrast to Joe Biden.

As you said, everything's the same. He's not even saying that he's running against Joe Biden. He corrected a news anchor by saying I'm not running against Joe Biden. He's literally running against Joe Biden. So --

ACOSTA: Yes --

CUPP: -- you know, correct problem, incorrect solution.

ACOSTA: And I saw the Dean name on the bus and I was having flashbacks to Howard Dean. But anyway, that's going back way too far.

CUPP: Yes.

ACOSTA: S.E. Cupp, Molly Jong-Fast, thanks ladies very much. We appreciate it.

JONG-FAST: Sure.

CUPP: Thanks.

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up, we are going to go back to Israel. Israel says its warplanes have hit 150 underground targets overnight. We'll break down what Israel's strategy is to address the complicated maze of tunnels underneath Gaza. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:31:58]

BLITZER: Tonight, our CNN teams on the ground reporting a barrage of explosions near the Israel-Gaza border. This comes as the IDF says they are expanding the ground operation into Gaza right now.

Jim?

ACOSTA: Here in studio with me now is CNN military analyst, Colonel Cedric Leighton.

And, Wolf, Colonel Leighton, I mean, the activity that we're seeing, especially in Nic Robertson's live shot right now, these explosions coming after last night's intense bombardment.

What are you seeing, Colonel? What do you make of this? COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I think this is one

of the most important aspects of this particular phase of the phrase of the operation.

When you think about what Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli defense might bester said, this is the next phase of the operation.

So this is --

(CROSSTALK)

LEIGHTON: This is the second phase. What are they doing? Basically what they're doing is they're coming in in these areas right here, primarily focused on Gaza City, but potentially also here.

And they're moving forward in these directions and doing so incrementally. They are softening up the target area with both tank fire, artillery fire, as well as airplanes, used in bombing missions, using specifically precision guided munitions, or PGMs.

That very fact allows them to soften up the territory here and potentially move forward as they discover various other aspects of what they're going after, especially Hamas' tunnels and command and control nodes.

ACOSTA: Wolf?

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, Colonel Leighton, Israel had already been striking Gaza, as you know. Give us some context on what kind of landscape the Israeli military is likely finding in Gaza now.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely, Wolf. One of the key things right here is to look at how the damage has actually occurred.

And when you take a look at areas with damaged buildings, you see some areas right in this area right here, they have both damaged buildings, as well as impacts craters.

Those impacts craters, Wolf, make a big area here because, and especially in areas like this, you've got both damaged buildings, impact craters, and what that means is you've got total destruction in those areas.

And that means that there's very little movement. And the type of movement that they've got is going to be limited by the fact that a lot of these areas are so narrow that they don't have the ability, Hamas won't have the ability to move around in this area if these strikes continue.

ACOSTA: And Colonel Leighton, what about hitting the tunnels?

LEIGHTON: So the tunnels are extremely important here, Jim, because as you can see, this particular tunnel is built with concrete, a concrete casing.

That's going to be really hard for any aircraft to really impact because about -- bombs can go down to about 100, 150 feet at most, ones that are designed for this kind of activity.

We're talking high impact explosives that could potentially destroy an opening like this.

But if they don't do that, if they don't use that, the tunnels become far more of a difficult piece to actually use. And that then becomes something that they will have difficulty getting into.

[17:35:08]

Very narrow, very tough. You've got a -- once they do the bombing campaign, the infantry has got to come in and take this area over.

ACOSTA: And the tunnels are critical because it's a big piece because the hostages could be in some of these tunnels.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely.

All throughout Gaza, and when we go back to some areas here, all throughout Gaza you've got tunnels that really intersperse the city and these other areas right in this area.

And the problem that the Israelis are going to have is they're going to find tunnels that are used for hostages, for storage areas, for rocket launches, all those kinds of things that will become important.

There are going to be a different set of targets they need to deal with.

ACOSTA: Very good.

Colonel Leighton, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

To Wolf, on his end as well, we appreciate him, as well.

Still ahead, many civilians stuck in Gaza unable to get out as Israel expands its ground operation. We're seeing it unfold this hour. Stay with us. One of those stories is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:16]

BLITZER: The World Health Organization says health workers, patients, and civilians in Gaza spent last night in darkness and in fear.

There are still many civilians who are trapped as Israel says it's expanding its ground operations in Gaza.

We spoke to Abood Okel, who traveled to Gaza with his wife and 1-year- old son to visit relatives. Now he's stranded in Gaza.

He tells us what the situation is like right now. Listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

ABOOD OKEL, STRANDED WITH FAMILY IN GAZA: We tried to go to sleep last night, but we actually didn't get much of it.

The four of us, my wife, our son and the newest family member that we took in, we all huddled together so close so that, in case something happens, unpredicted, we would all at least face the same fate and would stay together or basically be gone together.

Every night, we try to sleep with Yusef in between us. This way, in case of -- if the house was targeted for some reason or if a nearby bombing happens, in case of any flying debris or shattered glass made its way, at least he would be protected to some degree.

Again, needless to say I think last night was probably the hardest for us since the beginning of the war.

What we've been hearing in the last couple of days and keeps increasing is that fuel supply is really running low, that these filtration stations that are nearby use generators to power stations.

Every time we run for drinking water supply, we're told that their fuel reserve, diesel, is running extremely low, and it's nearly depleted.

So we'll try to go out again today and secure some drinking water when we feel that it's safe enough to step outside.

And in terms of our departure, we still have no official updates from the State Department regarding when we could expect to leave Gaza and head home to safety, back in the states.

We remain hopeful that they're working on our behalf has been communicated to us in the past. And we remain hopeful that it will happen any day.

That's what we tell ourselves. That's the only way for us to keep going because if we -- if we lose that hope or if we believe otherwise, we could end up in a very dark space psychologically.

So we're trying to stay strong and trying to live another day.

(END AUDIO FEED)

BLITZER: We, of course, wish Obood Okel and his family a safe return to the United States and, hopefully, it will be soon.

We'll have much more of our special coverage on Israel at war. That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:48:04]

ACOSTA: And you're looking at live pictures of Gaza right now. We're going to stay on top of that. Obviously, we're not going to take our eyes off all of this as the hours go on.

But while we keep an eye on the situation in Israel and Gaza, Ukraine continues to fight back against Russia 21 months after Russia invaded.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week announcing $150 million in new military aid, including artillery, small arms ammunition and anti- tank weapons.

But any future support may face political opposition from Republican hardliners up on Capitol Hill.

That's where my next guest comes in. Andriana Arakhta, is a senior sergeant in the Ukrainian armed forces and leader of the Ukrainian Women's Veteran Movement.

And, Andriana, thank you so much for joining us.

I just want to note, the last time you were here, you brought us this coin --

SENIOR SGT. ANDRIANA AREKHTA, UKRAINE ARMED FORCES: Yes.

ACOSTA: -- made out of a tank that was --

ARAKHTA: For counteroffensive.

Hello, Jim. Hello, United States. It's a miracle that I'm here, but I'm happy to be here.

ACOSTA: I want to ask you about that. After we last saw you --

ARAKHTA: Yes.

ACOSTA: -- you went back to Ukraine. You helped liberate Kherson. Correct?

ARAKHTA: Yes, yes.

ACOSTA: You fought there, and you almost died.

ARAKHTA: Yes.

ACOSTA: What happened?

ARAKHTA: After liberation in Kherson, I got blown up by anti-tank Russian mine. So my spine, my hand, my jaw were broken. My internal organs were defeated. My spinal cord was defeated.

That's why I just like spent nine months or so for rehabilitation. And now I'm here. I learned how to walk, how to go to the bathroom and eat, and everything that consists of just being a human.

So I'm --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: You had to do that all over again.

ARAKHTA: Yes. Now I'm here, and I'm looking forward to coming back to the front line again because I do not have a privilege not to fight for freedom. So I just -- do not want my son -- had to fight soon.

[17:50:06]

ACOSTA: Yes. The reason why you're here is you're talking to politicians here in Washington to remind them Ukrainians are still fighting for their freedom.

I know one of the things that Ukrainians are concerned about with so much of the focus on Israel and Gaza --

ARAKHTA: Yes.

ACOSTA: -- all of that's very important. You don't want the American people, people around the world to forget about Ukraine.

ARAKHTA: Yes, thank you for asking.

But you know, Russia, Iran, North Korea now are united, and this evil just have the same face like in Israel and Ukraine. Ukraine now is not on the top news in the media, around the world.

But I just want to explain to Americans and Congressmen that we have a whole terrible war in the center of Europe now. And the delay of -- for supporting us means a lot of lives of my brother in arms and sister in arms.

That's why we need to fight. We know, in Ukraine, we know how to fight, we know how to gain victory fast --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: You know how to win?

ARAKHTA: Yes, we know how to win.

And we want American as a great partner of Ukraine to be on this victory party with us. That's why we are asking for air superiority, long-range cruise missiles, ammunition, and just to help us to gain this victory fast.

ACOSTA: And your arm there, you have parts of the rehabilitation --

(CROSSTALK)

ARAKHTA: Yes. I have a lot of -- (INAUDIBLE) -- inside me. Like, my spine, my hand. But I --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: In your spine, in your arm. All this --

(CROSSTALK)

ARAKHTA: My jaw.

ACOSTA: Your jaw. ARAKHTA: Yes.

ACOSTA: This was added after you were almost --

(CROSSTALK)

ARAKHTA: Yes.

ACOSTA: What has that process been like for you?

ARAKHTA: It was hard. But I do not have a privilege just to say, oh, I'm ill, I'm -- I'm sick or something like that because my brother in arms are fighting, my husband is fighting against Russians.

And we are fighting like just for freedom and for life of our kids. So I had a strong will to gain victory.

That's why -- they support me and I hopes that Americans understand me that we are fighting for life of our kids.

ACOSTA: You're fighting for your survival?

ARAKHTA: Yes. And for our survival.

ACOSTA: What happens if the American support goes away?

ARAKHTA: Oh, I'm worried about that because it means that we will fight further. But the situation can be that Ukrainian forces will be out of soldiers.

And who will protect stability of Europe and the rest when they bring in armed forces, we'll be out of soldiers. So we need military assistance to Ukraine.

And we know how -- and we also now have a campaign to make Russia pay for our victory, you know?

To take $350 billion from sanctions from oligarchs Russian and put into production of American weapons and to like produce for Ukraine and to gain this victory together.

ACOSTA: And you were just telling me before this segment that you have not seen your family.

ARAKHTA: Yes.

ACOSTA: In a very long time, your son.

ARAKHTA: You know, I just take this time -- my son has a birthday today. He is 8. Happy birthday. Mama and father love you from the earth to the moon and more.

And we will present you a world free and beautiful, happy world for you. We're just fighting for you.

ACOSTA: You are fighting for him, fighting for freedom for all of Ukraine.

ARAKHTA: Yes. Yes.

ACOSTA: Andriana, thank you so much.

ARAKHTA: Thank you.

ACOSTA: I won't grab your hand too hard there.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: I know you're recovering. But this always will mean a lot to me, this coin that you gave me.

ARAKHTA: I will bring you such coin in future from Crimea, OK?

ACOSTA: Perfect. Sounds good. I'll wait for that.

ARAKHTA: OK.

ACOSTA: Thank you. Good to see you. Thank you so much.

Coming up, back to the breaking news in Israel. What a Qatari official tells CNN about ongoing hostage negotiations that are happening right now. Details on that just ahead.

Also, breaking news on the campaign trail as former Vice President Mike Pence has suspended his campaign for president.

[17:54:36]

A very busy night in the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: You are back live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. My colleague, Wolf Blitzer, is in Tel Aviv, Israel, for us.

Good evening. It is 1:00 a.m. in Israel. And our crews say the siege on Hamas appears to be intensifying in recent hours.

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(EXPLOSIONS)

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ACOSTA: That was a short time ago. The sound of gunfire. And explosions lighting up the sky.

This is CNN's Nic Robertson's position just a mile from Israel's border with Gaza. It's a new escalation, a dramatic escalation of the conflict building to Israel's official goal in all this, to smash Hamas and rescue the hostages.

[17:59:56]

Israel's military says it has troops inside Gaza, but it's not clear yet if this is the expanded operation, and whether it's the beginning of that broad ground incursion that was widely anticipated for many days.

Wolf, how are things on your end?