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IDF Strikes Intensify As Ground Operations Expand; Communications Blackout Grips Gaza; U.S., Gaza Officials Spar Over Death Toll. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired October 28, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:32]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Max Foster with our continuing coverage of Israel at War. It's 9:00 a.m. here in London, 11:00 a.m. in Israel, where exactly three weeks ago, a series of brazen terrorist attacks killed more than 1,400 people in southern Israel, with more than 200 men, women, and children taken hostage.

After what it called targeted raids over the past two days, the IDF now says it's expanding ground operations into Gaza. It says its warplanes struck 150 underground targets overnight. This was said to be one of Israel's most intense and sustained bombardments since the war started.

A senior adviser to the prime minister spoke earlier with CNN's Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK REGEV, SENIOR ADVISER TO PM NETANYAHU: We will not live like that any longer. We saw what the capability was. We saw the gruesome, terrible horrific violence they inflicted on us. He refused to live with that sort of neighbor anymore. And we are now going to create a new reality in Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Nearly all communication networks in Gaza are reported to be out of service and have been for many hours.

CNN's Rafael Romo joins us from Tel Aviv.

That's making it difficult to get a full picture from what happened on the ground, but what can you tell us about how intense it was overnight, Rafael.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Max.

Well, even after two weeks of airstrikes and artillery fire on Gaza, and even after several targeted raids into the enclave, it appears Hamas still has the capability to launch rocket attacks against Israel. Our team here in Tel Aviv have to go to a shelter Friday afternoon when the air raid sirens went off once again. We heard several loud booms, and later authorities here said several people were injured after residential building was struck by a missile, including a 20-year-old man who suffered head and limb injuries.

And, Max, once night fell, Gazans told CNN that they were witnessing some of the most intense airstrikes since the war began.

There was widespread power, internet, and cellular service outages across the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian telecom company that provides mobile service to Gaza says that the intense bombardment resulted in the destruction of all remaining international routes connecting Gaza with the outside world, leading to a complete interruption of telecommunications services.

And several United Nations agencies now report they have lost contact with their local staff in Gaza as most of the communication capabilities of the yang cave appear to have been interrupted -- Max.

FOSTER: OK. Rafael, thank you, for more now we're joined by Peter Layton, visiting fellow at Griffith Asia Institute. He's speaking to us from Brisbane, Australia.

Thank you so much for joining us.

I mean, how are you reading what's happening, because this isn't the full ground invasion were expecting, but it certainly bigger than the incursions we've seen recently.

PETER LAYTON, VISITING FELLOW, GRIFFITH ASIA INSTITUTE: It certainly feeling like a large style attack. How I'm reading it is that I think time is running out, and these rallies need to get a move on, if you like. So I suspect that this is the start of this large-scale assault, but I don't think they have very long for it.

What surprises me, most, I suppose, is that the Israeli air force are dropping, reported to have dropped more than 7,000 or 8,000 bombs over the last few weeks. They have caused significant damage to the buildings in Gaza city and north Gaza. So I would think about now the right time for a ground incursion. But I would also ask, what is left now? Hamas is a fairly small organization. That's an awful lot of bombs.

FOSTER: And they're targeting tunnels, aren't they? Because we've reported widely on how Hamas uses tunnels, and the Israeli saying many of those tunnels go under civilian structures like hospitals and schools.

[04:05:03]

But we know from hostages that have been released, they were held in tunnels. So what sort of calculated risk are they taking by attacking tunnels where the hostages might be?

LAYTON: They're certainly taking some reasonable risks there. You'd expect that the bombs are being accurately targeted. Where, I believe, that the tunnels are. There are different kinds of bombs, and some bombs are certainly very good at destroying tunnels. They are penetrating bonds, that detonate deep underground.

And I would expect that those bombs would be collapsing many of these tunnels. It's just that this is dragging on. This is about three weeks now. That that is why I think now is the time, and I would expect the assault to be over the weekend before international forces can force a ceasefire.

FOSTER: We understood that on the diplomatic side, there are also discussions about having a large group of hostages released.

How does this military action play into that?

LAYTON: I'm not sure that the Israelis think that is correct. There seems to be a lot of confusion backwards and forwards as you would expect, of course. And while there has been movement. It's been about three weeks, not much has happened. There have been four hostages released, which is very good, but it still is dragging on.

I'm also concerned, of course, that while it is possible that Hamas does have reasonable stories of fuel and water held underground expecting in attack like this, the civilians in the south of the Gaza Strip do not. So their position is gradually getting worse and worse, and will eventually be untenable, of course, clearly people need water.

FOSTER: There were extraordinary scenes, weren't they, last night? In terms of the skyline of Gaza. We've had polls recently that say amongst Israelis there is less support for a full ground invasion.

That's a big challenge, isn't it, for Benjamin Netanyahu, obviously looking at expanding its significantly when you look at what he said last week.

LAYTON: That's why I'm saying that that time is running out. The Israelis themselves are getting more and more concerned. Now, there are issues, of course, about the war expanding from the north, and that will be tying up various ground forces in the north as well, and economically speaking. The world is certainly damaging Israel.

But the Israelis seem to be losing -- I wouldn't say losing interest, but they're becoming more and more concerned about the possible casualties here. Hamas is assumed to be ready and waiting, and wants these rallies to advance and be attacked. Hamas cannot attack Israel very well apart from some relatively small warhead rockets.

So they need the Israeli army to come forward, if you like, so they can score some pyrrhic victories. And die in some sort of hero manner. The Israelis are mounting these raids, which are getting more and more tense, and the bombing last night was very intense, as I said, it looks as though this is the prelude to a ground invasion, and as you just said the domestic situation in Israel is turning against a full scale invasion.

FOSTER: Peter Layton, appreciate your analysis this morning, thank you. Well, as we mentioned, Gaza is largely under a communications blackout amid the looming threat of that Israeli ground offensive as they continue targeting Hamas. A local service providers had most of the phone and internet links have been decimated as Israeli airstrikes pounded the enclave.

As a result, communications inside Gaza with the outside world are severely disrupted. Multiple humanitarian groups say they can't get in touch with their teams on the ground. Some Palestinians who've made to maintain connection reached by CNN said they've split their family, so at least some members would survive in case of an Israeli strike. Others talk about hearing explosions, but without stable communications, they can't check if their families are okay.

The leader of a U.N. agency in charge of Palestinian refugee sent a dramatic message about the humanitarian situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILIPPE LAZZARINI, COMMISSIONER GENERAL, UNRWA: As we speak, people in Gaza are dying. They are not only dying from bombs and strikes. Soon, many more will die from the consequences of siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.

[04:10:10]

Basic services are crumbling, medicine is running out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, the health ministry in Hamas controlled Gaza has responded to U.S. President Joe Biden's public questioning about the reliability of Palestinian casualty figures in the conflict with Israel. But they are publishing what they say are thousands killed since the start of this conflict.

In the wake of the October 7th attack by Hamas that killed at least 1,400 people in Israel, the Israel Defense Forces have launched an air campaign against a militant group and impose a complete siege of the Gaza strip. Israel says that strikes will continue until all of them, all of the more than 200 hostages are released.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports on the controversy around the death toll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Families are mourning and counting their dead. Near endless stream of funerals echoes throughout Gaza. And as Palestinians bury their loved ones, doubt is cast by the U.S. and Israel on the death toll being released by Hamas.

Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, no elections have been held since. The militant group is the political military power here. It controls the government and, therefore, all ministries including the health ministry. President Biden says that's why he has no confidence in the reported

Gaza death toll.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I'm sure innocents have been killed and it's the price of waging a war.

ABDELAZIZ: This is how the Hamas-run health ministry responded, publishing this document, 212-page report listing the ID numbers, names, sex and age of more than 6,700 Palestinians it says have been killed since October 7th. Among them, nearly 3,000 children.

The total figure is expected to be even higher because of hundreds of unidentified bodies, it says. The ministry says it is committed to accuracy and accused some of dehumanizing Palestinian victims.

Our people are not anonymous entities that can be ignored, it said.

The Palestinian Authority which rules the West Bank also hit back.

MOHAMMAD SHTAYYEH, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRIME MINISTER: There are certain leaders who don't want to see reality. The numbers are correct. They are our numbers. These numbers are fed to us from the hospitals of Gaza every single day that are received by our ministry of health.

ABDELAZIZ: Skepticism over the death toll spiked after the explosion the Gaza City's Al Ahli Hospital. Within hours, the Hamas-run health ministry said at least 471 were killed. The U.S. gave the more conservative estimate of 100 to 300 killed.

JOHN KIRBY, NSC SPOKESMAN: It was least a couple of hundred, and that's terrible, and atrocious and sad and all grieve with the families and loved ones who are affected by that. But the numbers are not reliable.

ABDELAZIZ: News outlets, U.N. agencies, rights groups and even the U.S. State Department have cited the Hamas-run ministry of health in the past, but the U.S. now says recent statements and figures from Hamas are unreliable.

Human Rights Watch, an independent body, responded.

OMAR SHAKIR, PALESTINE DIRECTOR, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: We've done research during multiple rounds of escalations and we've always found the ministry of health data to be generally reliable. The conversation should focus on how world leaders can stop further mass atrocities and not nitpicking whether a number that's generally proven to be accurate may be a little bit off.

ABDELAZIZ: And access is limited. Foreign media has been denied entry into Gaza and for local journalists, conditions on the ground make reporting difficult.

CNN and other news outlets cannot independently verify the figures. And while some argue over the death toll, bodies keep piling up.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: While the attack by Hamas in southern Israel has put the Israeli military and high alert in the northern region as well. Details on increasing tensions with Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:18:22]

FOSTER: The White House says it's still working to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza after Israel announced it's expanding those ground operations.

CNN's Alex Marquardt has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Efforts to get Hamas to release the almost 230 hostages being held captive in the Gaza Strip took a blow on Friday when Israel's significantly stepped its operations up in Gaza.

Sources tell CNN that the talks to release hostages, which have been led by Qatar, had been going well and that they were nearing the release of a large number of hostages. Then, after Israel launched the expansion of their operations, U.S. officials insisted that the talks will continue. One U.S. official telling CNN quite firmly that there is no scenario in which, until these hostages are free, the U.S. would stop pursuing talks.

The White House is saying they are having active conversations with Israel about humanitarian pauses, as they call them, because the U.S. believes that those pauses could help get hostages out.

Well, Israel on the other hand argued that more military pressure is what helps free hostages.

Now, the growing Israeli campaign will also make many people more desperate to get out of Gaza, including hundreds of foreign nationals who have been trapped in Gaza and are trying to escape. The U.S. and Israel have accused Hamas of not opening the gate at the crossing into Egypt, which is called Rafah. Egypt has also shown some reluctance at letting people out and allowing foreign officials to be on the Egyptian side of the border in order to process the people coming out.

[04:20:02]

There is little doubt that as Israel ramps up, this further complicates the situation for both those hostages and those trying to flee. Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Sources told CNN there's been significant progress on the negotiations to release hostages held by Hamas, but there are still issues remaining.

Here's Becky.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Clearly, this expanded operation, as the Israelis have described it in Gaza, until the dust settles on that, and we see how long it lasts, and what happens on the back end of it. Difficult to say that the same momentum still exists for these talks. What appeared we were looking at was a significant number of civilian hostages, on the verge of possibly being released.

But, Jake, at this stage, I mean, clearly, we will just have to wait and see what happens and the hours to come overnight, certainly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: In northern Israeli town next to the border with Lebanon has become a ghost town. Civilians have been replaced by Israeli soldiers as the town faces increased risks of attacks from Hezbollah militants.

CNN's Jim Sciutto has reports from northern Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (voice-over): Main Street, Metula, Israel, normally the busy center of town, now abandoned.

Metula's 2,000 residents fled in the wake of the October 7th attacks. Part of a mandatory evacuation of communities too close to Israel's border with Lebanon and too close to Hezbollah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The problem is that there's for many -- from too many windows, we are under threat.

SCIUTTO: Now based here are hundreds of IDF soldiers. We don't identify them due to security.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were attacked here and in other places in the area. So we need to keep ourselves undercover to make sure that we won't be exposed.

SCIUTTO: Metula is surrounded on three sides by Lebanon, by territory controlled by Hezbollah. And that is why the town has been evacuated because of that threat. And soldiers based here now say they face three threats from Hezbollah, sniper fire, rocket fire, but also the possibility of ground incursions. What happened here several days ago, and they're on constant alert for the possibility of the next one. The town's mayor has the job now of relocating residents to safer

areas further south and keeping Metula ready for residents to return. The when is far from clear.

What is clear is that the old status quo is no longer sustainable for those living this far north.

Not with Hezbollah fighters on their doorsteps.

MAYOR DAVID AZULI, METULA, ISRAEL (translated): We don't want a war. We just want to end the current status quo and move Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon. You can either make a pace deal through the Iranians and Americans, or if not, we will have war.

SCIUTTO: The Israeli military does not comment on it plans for the north. For now, this is an operation designed to defend and deter. And the threat is real. We are advised not to linger too long in Hezbollah's line of fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can find more than 400 soldiers looking at you.

SCIUTTO: For the soldiers, their job now is to make sure that someday, Metula can come alive again.

Do you believe people will be able to come back to a town like Metula again, or is it just too close to Lebanon, to Hezbollah?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know that we will do everything to make them feel protected, to make them feel safe. Someone who packed his luggage, with tears in his eyes and asking why, and he told me, I don't know if I will -- if I will return here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO (on camera): That is a new reality here in northern Israel, but also in the south. Communities emptied by the threat from Hamas, in Gaza, and Hezbollah here in the north. Many people demanding increased military action across the border, but that portends costly exercises and operation for Israeli forces with an uncertain military outcome.

Jim Sciutto, CNN, in northern Israel.

FOSTER: Well, a communications blackout in Gaza is now making the crisis even more complicated for people trying to help.

Earlier, my colleague Kim Brunhuber spoke to Dr. Zaher Sahloul, the cofounder and president of MedGlobal, an organization that's on the ground and Gaza helping with the dire medical needs there. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ZAHER SAHLOUL, PULMONARY & CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN: With the blockade and prevention of food and medicine, and medical supplies, and water, clean water, the situation -- I cannot imagine what is happening right now to the civilians in Gaza. Now with a ground invasion, that will complicate it further and cause more attacks on civilians, more bombs, more injuries.

Unfortunately, two third of the injuries are women and children, a very large number of children who were killed and injured.

[04:25:06]

And also, it will probably collapse what's left of the medical system, which is last two-thirds of its capacity because of the consumable -- consuming large number of medical supplies every day and during this crisis, it was consumed in the hospital worth one month before the crisis.

And you can add to it, the lack of clean water that is causing a lot of waterborne infection. Lack of electricity that mean many core functions of the hospital will stop function, including ventilators, incubators, labs, dialysis units, 1,000 patients in dialysis will probably die if there is no urgent supplies of dialysis kits. Besides that 135 newborns who are on incubators, the situation is going to be unimaginable and beyond catastrophic.

BRUNHUBER: As doctors try to help those children who have been hurt with the medical system, as you say, close to collapse. You've been to many different disaster zones yourself. From what you're seeing, I mean, is this the worst you've seen?

SAHLOUL: I've been in Ukraine, I've been in Syria, I've been in Yemen. Actually, I just came from Ukraine a month ago. And this is the worst that I have seen.

I've been in Gaza four times before, and Gaza has witnessed wars before. This is the fifth large war in the last 20 years. But this is the worst I've seen in the whole world. And I think the consequences of this war will continue to affect the people in Gaza, and beyond, for the next generations.

It's not only the physical wounds and the death and the injuries among the families, but also the mental health wounds that will last forever among the children who are witnessing bombing, who lost many of their family members. Dr. Kassam Sofiya (ph) is our lead pediatrician, his last message was 36 hours ago.

He told me if I stayed alive, I would like to talk more about my last patient. Her name is Dima. She's a child. She's only ten years old. She lost all of her family members, her two parents and six brothers and sisters.

And she had a fracture in her skull, and a fracture in her limbs, and injuries in her liver and spleen. And they don't have enough supplies to treat her. And he was very sorry and he told me the saddest thing that he has in his life, that he witnessed many children that he saw in the neighborhoods that now are dead and mutilated. And this is something that should not happen in the 21st century.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, still to come, new video into CNN showing the aftermath of airstrikes in Gaza City, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:31:05]

FOSTER: A top Israeli official tells CNN that the country is, quote, beefing up pressure on Hamas as Israel says it's expanding ground operations in Gaza, this is new video showing the aftermath of new airstrikes in Gaza City. As you can see, buildings are decimated, people are surveying the damage, and in some cases, digging through the rubble.

Israel says its warplanes hit 150 underground targets in the Palestinian enclave overnight. Communication lines are down in much of Gaza. Meanwhile, air raid sirens blared across Tel Aviv on Friday as rockets were seen in the sky.

Joining me now is Dr. Omar Abdel-Mannan, who is a pediatric neurologist. He's worked extensively in Gaza since 2011 and founded Gaza Medic Voices.

Thank you so much for joining us.

I don't know if you're trying to get hold of your contacts in Gaza. I just wanted to get a sense of the comms, because we understand they're all down.

DR. OMAR ABDEL-MANNAN, FOUNDER, GAZA MEDICA VOICES: Yeah, absolutely, Max. Just to update you, we are a team of doctors that have been in touch and direct communication with medics and surgeon on the ground in Gaza since day one of this, which is probably 18 days ago now. In the last almost 24 hours now since 6:00 U.K. time yesterday, which I think would be around 1:00 Eastern Time, we have had zero, zero messages, zero ability to make phone calls, and absolutely no communication with over 300 people that we have tried to contact. These are doctors, surgeons, paramedics, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, friends of ours, colleagues, and we are getting no direct communication whatsoever.

So, there has been literally not a single human soul's voice heard from Gaza since yesterday evening. This is a highly unprecedented situation. This is extremely concerning.

The lack of communication, the Palestinian Red Crescent released a statement yesterday just had the fact there is no commission coming out of Gaza as putting patients, doctors, and the population at risk of mass casualties. They are unable to call ambulances on 101, which is their emergency helpline. They are unable to check on their family members if they're alive or not.

And we are really disturbed by the implications of this blackout. Frankly, this is a new level, new territory that we've never entered before. The U.N., yesterday, I spent all evening while this was happening discussing whether they can have a cease-fire. And they resigned it over a week ago, and warned of a risk, this is directly quoted from the U.N., a risk of genocide happening in Gaza right now. There have been thousands of civilian deaths. Two children are dying

every 15 minutes in Gaza. I am absolutely sure this rate has gone up in the last 12 hours. The majority of deaths are women and children, disproportionate amounts are.

And this continued depravation of civilians, objects indispensable for their survival, food, water, internet to communicate, phone lines to communicate, is suffocating them, literally suffocating them.

FOSTER: The Israelis --

ABDEL-MANNAN: There have been no --

FOSTER: The Israelis saying these are very targeted strikes to take out Hamas infrastructure. The problem they're facing is that Hamas is hiding in or below civilian buildings. So it's Hamas that is exposing these civilians.

ABDEL-MANNAN: I'm not a politician. If you want to get into the politicians of who is doing this. But what I can say to you is that these people, these human beings are suffering, are dying in droves.

[04:35:03]

They have no access, no communication to the outside world.

There is -- I am -- any organization or government can do targeted strikes in areas that are appropriate for this. This is one of the densest populations in the world. You have 1 million refugees who have gone from the north to the south. You have tens of thousands of people sitting in hospital corridors waiting, sheltering in what they think are safe zones.

Yesterday, there was a direct attack threat on a hospital north of Gaza, a direct attack threat saying that this was a Hamas wing of operations. And we have sources on the ground, credible sources on the ground telling us that Al Shifa Hospital is functioning as a normal hospital, or not a normal hospital, because in crisis, its breaking point. So, these accusations --

FOSTER: It can be both, right? In operating hospital but also the Israelis suggesting that Hamas, you can effectively get access to tunnels from wards. So, you know --

ABDEL-MANNAN: So I'm sorry, your line of questioning is justifying a fine bomb in a hospital?

FOSTER: I'm not -- I'm literally just reflecting the other point of view that we're getting from Israel, and they're suggesting that these hospitals can be two things.

ABDEL-MANNAN: Sure. So as I said, there can be a ceasefire from all sides. All sides need to sit down at the table to stop this, but this does not allow the fact that a complete media blackout, a complete communication blackout. That you cannot even access or speak to charity aid workers, the people on the ground, who were trying to help to bring humanitarian aid in.

We have to remember this is in the context of 17 years of siege. This -- and yet, this is unprecedented. The levels, or the numbers of civilian deaths that are happening on an hour by hour, minute by minute basis, have not been seen before.

And the West, frankly, and the Western leaders are sitting and not acting. There has been in your own country, in the U.S., there has been, you know, civil -- civil society has mobilized. You've seen grand central station yesterday being overtaken by Jewish support, supporters of essentially an immediate ceasefire.

This is happening on the ground, people are unhappy, civil societies unhappy. The politicians, the people at the top with the power table, essentially, are the ones that are not conducing this.

FOSTER: Okay, Dr. Omar, thank you so much for joining us and your thoughts with everyone -- all the people, colleagues, family who you can't contact at the moment. It must be very worrying for you. Thank you so much for joining us.

For more on the humanitarian situation on the ground, we're joined by Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society joining us from Ramallah in the West Bank.

Can you just take us through the communication issues you're having at the moment?

NEBAL FARSAKH, SPOKESPERSON, PALESTINE RED CRESCENT SOCIETY: Good morning, Max. Thank you for having me.

So to up now, for more than 16 hours, the Palestinian Red Crescent has been completely disconnected with our colleagues right now working in the ground -- on the ground in Gaza. We are completely disconnected from our hospitals, emergency centers, paramedics, all of our colleagues who are working there due to the complete disconnection as Israel cut all landline, cellular communication as well as Internet connection.

So we are extremely worried about the safety of our colleagues there due to the intense bombardment that is taking place everywhere in Gaza. And as I said, up to this moment, we have not been able to hear anything from them due to this kind of communication. Also, we are worried as well how our colleagues are able to get to their responses and be able to provide their lifesaving services to the people in Gaza.

The cut of communication means that Palestinians, over 2 million Palestinians now in Gaza, can call 101 ambulance service in order to get an ambulance and to get the emergency medical service. This means I assume that my colleagues, most probably, are working on the ground based on hearing the voice of bombardment and then trying to reach patients as fast as they can.

This absolutely affects the response and the timing, how they can arrive at locations in a timely manner. Taken into consideration that there are many emergency services, emergency situations, I mean, many patients who have diabetes or whatsoever can't even call the ambulance to get an emergency service. And let's please remember that there is around 5,500 women that they are -- pregnant women, expecting to give birth this month.

[04:40:10]

This means that in such circumstances, and under the intense bombardment, they also are unable to call an ambulance to be transferred to the hospitals.

FOSTER: We're just looking at live pictures of Gaza City, the smoke rising, all reporters have been describing how the bombardment has been unprecedented overnight.

You were describing there the issue with ambulances. This is one of the key, going to be one of the key issues, isn't it, because the ambulances were struggling enough.

What -- you know, I don't know how many are left there. Lots of ambulances have been taken out. But they've been struck enough to get across the city in this bombardment.

But then you've got this other complication that they're not even been alerted to casualties. So what do you expect to see there once comms, communications, are back?

FARSAKH: I expect huge difficulties. People now are struggling to get the ambulance service, and I assume many also are risking their lives trying to evacuate wounded people and transfer them by private cars.

My colleagues now absolutely I assume they are working on full capacity trying to do as much as they can in such challenging circumstances. We call on the international community to ensure the protection of civilians, health care workers, paramedics, and all our health facilities there. As I mentioned, we are extremely worried about their safety, and as you just see the situation is just so much horrific.

You're talking about intense bombardment that has taken at least all over Gaza. Literally, in Gaza, there is no safe place. Last thing we heard from our colleagues before the disconnection of the communication, how much they were worried regarding the last fuel that we have.

We were completely running out of the fuel and the expectation was that we will be completely running out of it within hours. Hopefully, I know they are really struggling to have -- for our ambulances, or even to run our hospitals.

We have two hospitals in Gaza, Shifa Hospital, Al-Quds Hospital. We have patients in the intensive care unit who are connected to oxygen's, to life support machines, so we are also worried regarding our ability to continue providing our emergency services in Gaza, or even our medical services in the two hospitals due to running out of fuel since up to the moment, we were unable to get any fuel into Gaza. FOSTER: Okay, really appreciate your time, Nebal, for joining us and

our thoughts are with you being able to and not contact your colleagues at such a worrying time.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:46:19]

FOSTER: Welcome back.

We will turn to our top story as Israel expanding ground incursion in Gaza, in a moment, but some other stories we're following this hour.

Iranian state media that the teen who was allegedly assaulted by the country's morality police has died. Armita Geravand fell into a coma after activists say that she was assaulted by a metro station for not wearing a head scarf. The report says the 16 year old died today, after being declared brain dead earlier in the week. The alleged assault happened just weeks after legislation was passed in around imposing much harsher penalties for hijab rules. Iranian authorities have denied the assault allegations saying that she was hospitalized due to an injury caused by lower pressure.

A tight-knit community in Maine is now beginning the long road to healing, and mourning the long loss of the 18 people killed in mass shootings. The state's governors confirmed late on Friday the suspected gunman is dead, ending a two-day manhunt that have residents on edge.

Officials the body of a 40-year-old, Robert Card, was found at 7:45 p.m. local time on Friday night, 48 hours after police say Card went on a rampage, at two locations within a matter of minutes. It is unclear how long the suspect's body had been there, and when exactly he had died.

Here is the Lewiston police chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DAVE ST. PIERRE, LEWISTON POLICE: Our work again is not down here. I was very elated tonight when I got the call from Commissioner Sauschuck, advising me of the revelation of what took place, and that Mr. Card is deceased and no longer a threat to our community, or any other community. I just don't want to forget the families that are grieving, and will continue to grieve. I don't want to forget the law officials that worked tirelessly throughout this whole event to come to a good conclusion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, officials say Card's body was found without an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound in a wooded area, about eight miles from where the shooting took place in a neighboring town. In Acapulco, Mexico, the scale of destruction from the category five

Hurricane Otis is still coming to light. An estimated 80 percent of the cities hotels have been damaged, according to local tourist officials. State power company says almost 140 high voltage lines, that deliver most of the electricity to the area have also been damaged.

We'll be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:52:40]

FOSTER: Hundreds of people form a group called Jewish Voice for Peace gathered in Grand Central Terminal in New York on Friday night calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

FOSTER: The demonstration remains peaceful, though there are reports of dozens of arrests and some passengers were delayed. A protest of the scale unusual for Grand Central.

The White House says it is still working to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and Gaza, after Israel announced that it's expanding those ground operations.

Live now to CNN's Eleni Giokos who's in Dubai.

I mean, the big concern within Israel about a ground offensive is the risk it poses to hostages. And, a lot of people looking at those extraordinary scenes in the skyline and Gaza overnight, around the world, we'll be thinking the same thing.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, and we have heard from many sources inside of Israel saying what does this expanded ground offensive mean, in terms of releasing hostages, their safety and also in terms of negotiations and mediation talks.

So, what we saw yesterday in Qatar, specifically from diplomatic sources. The Qataris have been very instrumental in negotiating the release of hostages. But there was a breakthrough that came through yesterday, that there was some kind of hope and momentum that was built to release a number of hostages.

And this is quite important -- there was hope -- talks about yesterday, before we saw the aggressive ground offensive that had occurred by the IDF. That hope has now dwindled, we do not know what this means going forward for negotiations. But the IDF said specifically that we should ignore the rumors of the release of a number of hostages, saying that they have put them down to psychological terror.

The number of hostages also released by the IDF says the number has also increased to 229 right now. And again here, Max, what does this intensive ground offensive mean for negotiations, that is the big question now.

FOSTER: Yeah, and, we have been talking to guests who have been working, from outside of Gaza but with colleagues in Gaza. They said they have had no communications for hours, and hours, and hours, extremely worried about that.

So, what information are we getting about what is actually happening on the ground there?

GIOKOS: Well, importantly, look, the Palestinian Authorities telecommunications minister saying that the last international connection points with Gaza have been struck by Israel, and that is, of course, exacerbating the humanitarian reality on the ground.

Dr. Mohamad Al-Rayan, the head of the nursing section of the ER at the Al Aqsa hospital had told CNN that, you know, because of the communication breakdown, and the blackout, people are not able to call in for assistance, that ambulances are not able to be deployed to strike sites. And that people were bringing embodies, as well as the injured on bikes, on donkey carts, by car, and even by foot.

I want to tell you to take a listen to what he had to say.

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DR. MOHAMAD AL-RAYAN, HEAD OF ER NURSING, AL-AQSA MARTYRS HOSPITAL (through translator): The night has passed with the most intense aggression on the Gaza Strip, where the Gaza Strip is isolated from the rest of the world, with the two mobile networks, Jawwal and Oodedoo, and the Palestinian communication Paltel were cut off, where we could not reach out to anyone in the outside world.

More importantly, the inability to reach locations of injured, or some of the residents houses have been targeted in the areas of central Gaza. There are some solutions to this with the solution was very difficult and dangerous.

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GIOKOS: Also reporting horrific injuries because of the strikes that we are our experienced overnight. The death toll, as reported, by the Hamas-controlled ministry of health now stands at 7,028. Reports also showing that 1,600 people reported missing, stuck under rubble right now.

Look, the White House has questioned the validity, and the reliability of the death toll coming through from Gaza. In response to that, we saw the Hamas-controlled health ministry releasing a 200-page document with 6,000 names, with age, and gender to basically validate the number of lives that have been lost in Gaza.

The IDF now, Max, also saying that Hamas is using hospitals as, quote, to wage war, and that of course creating another element of fear that the people who have gone to hospitals for assistance and for refuge now at risk.

FOSTER: Okay. Eleni, thank you so much for joining us.

I am Max Foster in London. More of our continuing coverage of Israel- Hamas war after the break.