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CNN's Continuing Coverage on the ongoing War in Israel. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 30, 2023 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo, in London.

Israel's military is pledging to intensify its ground operation against Hamas targets in Gaza as it keeps up its strikes from the air. The Israel Defense Forces say that over the last few days it struck 600 targets and overnight the IDF says dozens of terrorists were killed in continued ground operations. According to a CNN analysis of video published by Israeli media, IDF forces have advanced about three kilometers inside Gaza.

But as the ground invasion expands, the United Nations is warning of growing hunger and desperation in Gaza after people broke into warehouses to take survival essentials. The U.N. secretary-general says the situation there is growing more desperate by the hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eyes. More than 2 million people with nowhere safe to go are being denied the essentials for life, food, water, shelter and medical care while being subjected to relentless bomb bombardments. I urge all those with the responsibility to step back from the brink.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Meantime, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society says Israel is continuing to launch airstrikes next to the Al Quds Hospital in Gaza, where it reports extensive damage. CNN's Scott McLean is following developments and joins me here in London.

Scott, what evidence do we have about strikes in the vicinity or on the Al Quds Hospital and the Israelis justification for doing so?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so not on the hospital, Bianca, but the Palestinian Red Crescent says very near to the hospital. In fact, some of the video that you showed just there shows the aftermath of those. We have other videos that show smoke billowing through the hallways as well. They say that there has been damage from the strikes very nearby.

This hospital yesterday said that it had gotten two phone calls from Israel warning them to evacuate. This is something that Israel has been doing since the outset of this conflict, almost telling people in the northern part of Gaza to move further south and that includes hospitals and health care centers, many of whom have pushed back saying they simply cannot.

But the situation with Al Quds in the hospitals more broadly, Bianca, is just one of Gaza's many, many problems. You saw there the looting of some of these aid warehouses. The World Food Program says that it is just evidence of how desperate people have become and how people are growing more and more hungry and frankly losing hope. And when you look at the latest pictures from the ground, it is pretty easy to see why. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCLEAN (voice-over): There isn't much left of the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque in central Gaza. The building was flattened by an overnight Israeli airstrike. People inside the neighboring apartment blocks weren't spared either. Roofs were ripped right off. Everything now covered in a pale shade of gray.

More than a dozen were killed and more injured, according to medical staff at the local hospital, where outside the bodies of those killed are wrapped in white sheets and marked with their names.

Both the IDF and the Israeli prime minister have renewed calls for civilians to urgently evacuate northern Gaza. The apartment buildings next to the mosque were filled with people who had heeded those warnings, believing central Gaza would be safer.

There were no warnings at all, this survivor says. We have seen the entire thing collapsing on us. We didn't know exactly where the hit was. We started running to get our children out. It's a miracle they survived.

This man said there were no warnings. It was a strong airstrike. The people pulled us from underneath the rubble and took us to the hospital.

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment. Israel said that overnight some 450 terror targets were hit and say that some strikes were directed by troops now on the ground inside Gaza.

This was the aftermath of one of those strikes on a family home in Hanunis in southern Gaza. A desperate scramble to move slabs of concrete, hoping to find survivors. Instead, they found at least one body.

By daybreak, the urgency has gone. A pile of rubble is all that's left.

[03:05:03] Hospitals already at the breaking point are only getting more overwhelmed. In Deir al-Bala Saturday, doctors operated on this boy on the floor.

The Palestinian Red Crescent now says that Israeli authorities called El Kut's hospital in Gaza City twice, with a clear and direct threat that the hospital must be evacuated at once. Otherwise, the Red Crescent holds full responsibility for the lives of everyone inside. That amounts to hundreds of patients and thousands more people taking shelter. Israel says it called more than twice since the war began and says the Hamas is shielding themselves inside hospitals.

Foreign aid is entering Gaza at a trickle. With desperation, apparent in this video of people ransacking a U.N. warehouse carrying out bags of food.

Maybe a temporary lifeline for those people but the U.N. calls it a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down. It's a situation in Gaza only gets worse.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCLEAN (on-camera): So Bianca, when it comes to those strikes very nearby to the Al-Quds Hospital, the second largest in Gaza, the Palestinian Red Crescent says that it believes that Israel's goal of these strikes, three of them as of yesterday morning, is to essentially force the evacuation of this hospital. But look, the hospital director says that it simply cannot evacuate.

There are obviously sick and injured people there, including babies in incubators, there are also 12,000 or so civilians uninjured who are taking shelter there. And he says that the vast majority of them are women and Children. He also very plainly denied the Israeli accusation that hospital and others like it are sheltering Hamas. He said, at least when it comes to his own hospital, it does not allow anyone inside the building who is armed. Bianca?

NOBILO: And Scott, Israel has said that they have conducted strikes on military infrastructure inside Syria and Lebanon now. Why? And does this substantially increase the risk of regional spillover?

MCLEAN: Yeah, so this is part of a pattern, Bianca. We don't have a whole lot of information on this latest Israeli strike beyond the Israelis saying that it was in response to rockets fired in its direction. You had a few days ago.

Israeli strikes on mortar positions, saying that rockets or mortars had been fired toward the Golan Heights, a disputed area that Israel effectively controls largely, but it's disputed by the Israelis. You had a week ago strikes on major airports in Syria and Damascus and Aleppo, which the Israelis did not claim responsibility for, and the list goes on and on.

It is not uncommon, broadly speaking, for rockets fired from Syria to be aimed at Israel, especially when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict boils up. The difficulty now is that you have the U.S. getting involved.

It says that it sustained some 20 or so attacks over the last two weeks or so against seven bases in Syria and Iraq. It blames Iranian- backed militia groups in the area, and it has not been shy about striking back.

The Iranians, though, say that, look, there is no evidence that it's directing these groups. It says that they are acting unilaterally in their own interests, out of anger for what's happening in Gaza right now. But of course, all of this is feeding into fears about a wider conflict. Both the U.S. and Iran says they don't want this to spread beyond Israel. They don't want a wider conflict. But you have the Iranians issuing some not-so-veiled threats against the Americans. You also have the Americans moving aircraft carriers into the region meant as a deterrent against Hezbollah and other similar Iranian-backed groups in the region not to get involved in the situation in Israel.

But at this stage, Bianca, the jury is still out as to whether or not that American tactic here is actually working.

NOBILO: Scott McLean, thank you very much.

The humanitarian crisis is taking an especially heavy toll on Gaza's children. CNN spoke to four children and one adult at the Deir al-Bala refugee camp about their experiences and living conditions as this war continues. Here are some of their stories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJDY ABUL KHIER, LIVES AT DEIR AL-BALAH REFUGEE CAMP (through translator): This is the most difficult war for us because we were going to school like any normal pupil, but heard the sound of rockets, so we went back home. This continued, so we went to our relatives in the city center. We went there, but the war continued, and as a result, we came here.

UNKNOWN (through translator): We have come here to the schools of Deir el-Balah. I don't know how to describe the schools. They are virtually lifeless. Lifeless for the children, grown-ups and the elderly. The elderly cannot go down to the toilets. They walk on the stairs with difficulty. When they go to the toilets, they find them dirty. We don't know what to do.

[03:10:03]

I swear to God, we feel sorry for the children and the elderly. There is no bread, there is no gas, there is no food. Simple food. We can't even sort it out for the children. This child is suffering with burns. She received the burns while we were escaping.

FARAH YASSER NAEEM, LIVES AT DEIR AL-BALAH REFUGEE CAMP (through translator): We were not safe. We are not living like normal people. We would like to go back to our homes. The Zionist occupation destroyed our life, destroyed our beautiful way of living. We have the right to play. We have the right to freedom. The simplest thing a child needs, we have been deprived of. SAJA IHAB ABU-KHEIR, LIVES AT DEIR AL-BALAH REFUGEE CAMP (through

translator): Here we queue up to just get a small barrel of water for 60 or 70 people. This barrel would only last for one day and it's impossible for it to last a second day. We stand in the sun. The children stand from 1 to 4 o'clock in order to get this little bit of water that we get. Sometimes we push each other saying, we need water, we need water. It takes long to get the water in this sweltering heat. No toilets, no water. Sheltering here is difficult. Life is difficult. There is no gas. We are effectively dead here, just existing, not living.

AYA SAMY NAEEM, LIVES AT DEIR AL-BALAH REFUGEE CAMP (through translator): We have lost our right to education and lost our right to play. Life here is not good. Water is scarce, bread is scarce, everything is scarce. Life here is no good. And I wish we go back to Bad Khenoun. There is no water and no electricity. We could hardly get water. Electricity doesn't come a lot, once a day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: CNN conducted these interviews just days ago.

The charity Save the Children says the number of children reportedly killed in Gaza during the past three weeks has surpassed the annual number of children killed in armed conflict globally since 2019. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder explained to CNN what children in Gaza are now facing.

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JAMES ELDER, SPOKESPERSON, UNICEF: What we're seeing with the ferocity, the relentlessness of these attacks, of the bombardments, then when you hear the reports coming out from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, whilst you have a million children just over living in hell, you've got many thousands who are dying there.

So it is impossible now to overstate the gravity of what they are enduring. You have no water, no medicines, no ceasefire. Paula, we're hurtling towards these sort of unimaginable horrors. The difficult thing is that there is a way out. This is very, very clear, and we've been saying this from the very start. And it's actually not as complex as the rest of the world may see. It is a ceasefire, and it is to open those gates and get a massive amount of aid to boys and girls. Otherwise, we are getting reports of literally hundreds, hundreds of boys and girls being killed or injured every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Still to come, as Israel ramps up its ground offensive in Gaza, the U.N. Security Council plans to meet in the hours ahead to address the growing crisis.

Plus persistent fears that the conflict could spread beyond Gaza as tensions continue to flare along Israel's border with Lebanon.

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NOBILO: Welcome back. Diplomatic sources tell CNN the U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday regarding Israel's ground incursion into Gaza. The United Arab Emirates is expected to seek a binding resolution from other Security Council members for an immediate humanitarian pause in the fighting.

The UAE is the only Arab country that's currently a member of the Security Council. To date, the U.S. has vetoed a resolution at the Security Council calling for a ceasefire, and voted against a similar resolution introduced by Jordan at the General Assembly on Friday.

U.S. President Joe Biden stressed the need for more humanitarian aid to get into Gaza in calls with the leaders of Egypt and Israel. Here's CNN's Kevin Liptak with more on that.

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KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Biden spoke for the first time today with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since Israel expanded its assault on Gaza. In that phone conversation, the president reiterated that Israel had a right to defend itself, but he also underscored the need to do so in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law that prioritizes the protection of civilians. And that was from the White House summary of the call.

Of course, this is all illustrative of the fine line that President Biden is walking as he confronts this growing crisis in the Middle East. On the one hand, he is a staunch defender of Israel and certainly a defender of its right to protect itself, but he is also a calling for protection of civilians and calling on Israel to adhere to international humanitarian law and avoid targeting civilians.

And certainly, as the images out of Gaza come to light, there will be pressure on President Biden, certainly from the progressive left in the United States, but also from American-Arab partners to do more and to say more to ease the humanitarian suffering.

And in that phone call with Netanyahu, President Biden did say that there was a need to immediately and significantly increase the flow of humanitarian assistance.

Now we did learn more from the U.S. National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan about those negotiations to free hostages who are being held in Gaza, among them potentially Americans. He said that the expanded Israeli effort in Gaza had not stopped those negotiations, but that so far Hamas had not been forthcoming in releasing the hostages.

And he also addressed these efforts to get Americans who are stuck in Gaza, hundreds of them, out across the border into Egypt. He did say that the Egyptians are willing to accept foreign nationals and that the Israelis are also not putting up resistance to that effort, but that so far Hamas is making its own demands and putting up resistance to opening that border.

[03:19:58]

So President Biden certainly remains focused on the situation in the Middle East. We also learned that he did speak to the Egyptian president. With him he discussed the humanitarian aid efforts and he also discussed the expanded Gaza offensive.

But interestingly, the two men also discussed the importance of ensuring that Palestinians in Gaza are not displaced to Egypt or any other nation. And so while the Egyptians appear receptive to having foreign nationals cross the border into Egypt, it does not appear as if they are receptive to having Palestinians cross that border.

Kevin Liptak, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Iran's president says Israel has, quote, "crossed the red lines in Gaza." President Ibrahim Raisi warns that Israel's response to Hamas in Gaza may force other nations to take action.

Meanwhile, Qatar's prime minister says he spoke with Iran's foreign minister about the need for an immediate ceasefire. In a statement on X, he said the risk of violence spilling over into other regions would have quote, "dire consequences."

And tensions flaring along Israel's northern border. Israel says its fighter jets struck Hezbollah military infrastructure in southern Lebanon on Sunday in response to shelling toward northern Israel. It's the latest in a series of cross-border clashes over the past few weeks, as CNN's Jim Sciutto reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (voice- over): Towns like Arab Al-Aramshe along Israel's border with Lebanon are mostly deserted now, evacuated due to fear of attacks by Hezbollah.

Makes is one of the few who stayed behind. And from his roof, he shows us where Hezbollah fighters attempted to cross the Israeli border just a few days ago.

Minutes after we arrive, we see the threat is constant.

Hezbollah shells fired from across the border land on the hillside just opposite us.

(on-camera): We are on a border town between Israel on this side and just beyond the fence is Lebanon. And as we've been standing here, if you see the smoke off in the distance, that is the result of Hezbollah artillery fire from Lebanon into Israel. You can see the smoke rising in the distance and speaking to residents here. This is a regular event. It's happening every day.

(voice-over): Makes and his twin brother sent their families south for safety, but stayed behind themselves to protect their homes.

The question for them and others like them is how long before this area is safe again?

(on-camera): Does anybody talk about how long people will have to leave here?

MAKES AHMOOD, LIVES IN ARAB AL-ARAMSHE ALONG ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER (through translator): He hops that a month, other people think until the end of the year, but we don't know.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): As the shelling picks up, we head back south. Minutes later, Israeli soldiers block the road. Warning of more incoming Hezbollah fire.

(on-camera): We're very close to the Lebanon border in northern Israel, and soldiers have just blocked the road here in both directions. We can't go either way. You can hear mortar and artillery fire going out. That is from Israel towards Lebanon. We've also heard artillery fire coming from Lebanon. And the concern is the soldiers telling us that there are possible infiltrations across the border from Lebanon by presumably Hezbollah fighters, and that's why the level of concern is so great.

(voice-over): The Israeli military is focused on Gaza, but the northern front now faces daily attacks.

On Sunday, a rocket fired from Lebanon landed in the city of Kiryat Shmona, setting this home ablaze.

Hezbollah also claimed this strike on an Israeli tank a few days ago, with the IDF responding by targeting Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.

All the while, the constant exchange of artillery fire rumbles across the frontier.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: The U.S. is moving forces to the eastern Mediterranean Sea amid the clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. U.S. officials tell CNN a Marine Rapid Response Force aboard this amphibious assault ship, the USS Bataan, is heading toward the area. While it doesn't have a specific mission right now, one of the forces' task is to conduct civilian evacuations.

Widespread Pro-Palestinian and Hezbollah rallies have erupted in Lebanon in recent days, and Hezbollah has been trading rocket and artillery fire with Israel across Israel's northern border, too. U.S. officials say they want to be ready, should they need to evacuate American citizens.

But the U.S. isn't sending that Marine Rapid Response Unit just to make the Iranians think twice. As Oren Lieberman explains from the Pentagon, it could also be used to help Americans in the region.

[03:25:01]

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We have been watching very closely as the U.S. has sent considerable forces to the Middle East, to U.S. Central Command. That includes not only the land forces, nearly 1,000 troops, as well as patriot battalions and a THAAD battery, those are air defense systems, but of course the naval troops as well.

One carrier strike group with the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is already in the Eastern Med. Another carrier strike group passed through the Strait of Gibraltar a couple days ago and it's on its way in that direction. We've also been watching an amphibious ready group, the USS Bataan, which is an amphibious assault ship and a Marine Rapid Response Force, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU for short.

Over the course of the past several weeks, they've been operating in the waters of the Middle East. But according to two U.S. officials, they're now in the Red Sea on their way to the Eastern Med.

First, that it's a tremendous show of U.S. power in the waters off the coast of Israel and Lebanon, a clear message to Iran and Iranian proxies not to get involved, and that message we've seen said explicitly from President Joe Biden on down in the U.S. national security chain essentially, but the MEU, that Marine Rapid Response Force, also serves another purpose. It is special operations capable, which is certainly notable and worth remembering, but it's also a critical force in a non-combatant evacuation operation, or a NEO. That's one of its mission essential tasks.

Now, the U.S. said last week that there was no indication or execution for a NEO, an evacuation, right now, but John Kirby, the National Security Council's spokesperson said it would be irresponsible and imprudent not to plan for contingency operations, including an evacuation. Since he's said that, the U.S. has said the risk of this conflict spreading wider in the region is growing and remains a serious consideration for the U.S.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department, the embassy in Beirut, has advised Americans to leave now before a crisis has begun there. There has been some contact between Israel and Hezbollah along the Israel- Lebanese border. It has not escalated too much, but any contact, any exchange of fire on that border, which is already volatile as is, is certainly noteworthy. And that's what the U.S. is watching to see if that escalates.

If it does, those are the situations in which things can quickly get out of hand, and where the conflict in Gaza, which the U.S. is trying to keep separate, can quickly and violently spread to the rest of the region. So that, perhaps one of the reasons that Marine Rapid Response Force is there, in case the U.S. looks at the situation, and looks at the possibility of the necessity for an evacuation if the situation deteriorates.

Oren Liebermann, CNN at the Pentagon. (END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Still ahead, chaos ensues at an airport in a Russian republic when a flight arriving from Tel Aviv is swarmed by angry protesters.

Plus, families are asking Benjamin Netanyahu to do more to bring the hostages home. The Israeli Prime Minister's promise to them, when we return.

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[03:30:00]

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BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

Israeli officials said Sunday that ramped up operations in Gaza that began this weekend will continue to intensify. Israeli troops have advanced some three kilometers into Gaza, according to a CNN analysis of video published by an Israeli media outlet.

Also Sunday, Israel's military said it was increasing the urgency of their calls for people in northern Gaza to flee south. Humanitarian groups have criticized the demand, citing the difficulty of moving within Gaza while it's under attack.

Now to some worrying images of how the conflict between Israel and Hamas is having a ripple effect in other regions.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

This was the chaotic scene at an airport in the Russian Republic of Dagestan. Videos show a large crowd storming the airport, making it onto the tarmac, some of them waving Palestinian flags after a plane arrived from Tel Aviv.

Images verified by CNN show people within the crowd holding anti- Semitic signs. The Dagestan Health Ministry says at least 10 people were injured, two critically. Authorities have closed the airport until Tuesday and are investigating how to ensure it's safe going forward, and a local religious leader appealed for calm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHEIKH AKHMAD AFANDI, SUPREME MUFTI OF DAGESTAN (through translator): As for today's actions, of course, I sincerely say you are mistaken. This issue cannot be resolved in this way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Israel said it is working with Russian authorities to secure the well-being of Jews and Israelis at the site. And the U.S. is calling on Russia to protect Israelis and Jews after this incident.

The families of hostages being held by Hamas are calling on Israel's government to do more to help secure their release. Families and crowds gathered in Tel Aviv over the weekend demanding swift action from the government.

It comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting criticism for a deleted social media post accusing top security officials of not warning him of an impending Hamas attack before it happened. Netanyahu later apologized for that post.

Families of hostages want the Prime Minister to trade all of Israel's Palestinian prisoners for all of Hamas' hostages. Netanyahu vowed to exhaust all options to secure the release of their loved ones.

Joining me now is Boaz Ganor, president of Reichman University and founder of the International Institute for Counterterrorism. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Really great to have you with us to share your thoughts on this.

If you can remind us from your perspective Hamas's intention in taking these hostages and how it continues to make Israel's calculus more problematic as time goes on?

BOAZ GANOR, PRESIDENT, REICHMAN UNIVERSITY: We need to understand that this horrific attack that Israel was facing three weeks ago was planned for more than a year. It was pre-planned by Iran, by Hezbollah, and the executors were Hamas terrorists. It started with an enormous massacre on a holiday in the morning, 1,400 Israelis were butchered.

But the plan was to take with them back to Gaza hundreds of hostages. They took 239 babies, kids, women, elderly people, wounded, altogether. This is an unprecedented situation. We never had this in Israel. Probably we never had this type of attack in the world the magnitude of this attack.

[03:35:01]

The reason that Hamas did that was that they knew that Israel would retaliate against them, and they want to use, first of all, those hostages as human shields to protect their facilities, military facilities, their headquarters, and so on and so forth. On the second stage, they want to use them as bargain chips in order to free all the convicted terrorists from the jail in Israel.

NOBILO: I'm talking to you on a strategic level, which of course sometimes can feel callous given the humanitarian tragedy that is unfolding, but it is really important. Obviously, when we look at the anatomy of terrorism, that the Hydra is often used as an analogy, the idea that you take one terrorist out and two crop up in their place. Do you think that Israel's retaliation is playing right into Hamas's hands from that perspective?

GANOR: Well, you know, Israel didn't really start the full retaliation that Israel said that it would do. The ground operation is very limited as we speak. And many Israelis are wondering why.

Why did Israel didn't immediately retaliate against Hamas, trying to save the hostages, the kids, the babies and the others, and actually to get rid of the Hamas terrorist regime in Gaza?

And the reason, I believe, is because Israel was trying to give a chance for a rapid negotiation with Hamas via probably Qatar, Egypt, and others, in order to have some kind of a deal in which they would free at least what we call the humanitarian deal. They would release the women, the kids, the babies, the elderly people, still holding a few soldiers that they have, and maybe a few men, but in return for relieving the situation on their own population in Gaza and giving humanitarian aid in large scale to Gaza.

It seems that they only stole time. and that's, I think, the Israeli understanding, and this is why Israel started some kind of a ground operation. In my view, it's mainly to pressure them to agree to a humanitarian deal sooner than later.

NOBILO: Interesting. I mean, from your perspective, theoretically, what is an effective counter-terrorism response to the threat of Hamas and what Hamas did to Israel, because we hear so many times over the fact that Hamas has used civilians as human shield. Obviously, the Israeli Defense Force is saying that they have bases of their operations under areas like hospitals, and therefore Israel uses that as justification for bombing civilian targets. What is an effective way of stamping out a terrorist group like that without inflicting devastating humanitarian catastrophe and also turning hearts and minds against Israel?

GANOR: Well, you know, Israeli leaders and the public at large refers to the situation in Gaza, to the war in Gaza, as an existential war for Israel. And one should wonder, how come you have a group of terrorists, huge group, 3,000 terrorists infiltrated to Israel, butchered 1,400 Israeli civilians.

But still, this is not an existential threat to Israel. So how come we refer to that as such? Because we need to understand the bigger picture. And the bigger picture is that Hamas and the Palestinians at large are only a tool in the toolbox of the monster, which is Iran that from the day of establishing the Iranian Republic by Khomeini, they declared as an operative goal to exterminate Israel. I don't know any other president in the world that one sovereign state declared that they have an operative goal to exterminate another country.

And they used two armies for that. The first army is the Palestinian army, i.e. Hamas, that attacked us. This is not Hamas attacking us. This is Hezbollah misusing the Palestinians for that matter. Excuse me. This is Iran misusing the Palestinians for that matter.

But they have another arm, which is Hezbollah. Hezbollah is 10 times stronger than Hamas and is not fully activated against Israel yet. Whatever Israel would do in retaliation to the Palestinians is being learned by Hezbollah. If Israel would not make it clear to Hamas that they actually played it wrong for their own interest and would not force them to pay the price for the atrocity, the crime against humanity that they have done.

[03:40:03] Three weeks ago, Hezbollah in no time will infiltrate to the north of Israel and cause ten times more damages and actually threaten, if it will be simultaneously, threaten the existence of Israel. And this is why we refer to that very, very seriously.

We are fighting as we feel an existential war. And we are fighting against an enemy which is entrenched intentionally within civilian regions. We are calling civilians to evacuate certain neighborhoods in Gaza. They force them to stay there because they want them to die within the military clashes between the two sides.

That's practically the situation that we are facing. And I think that the international community should understand that they have a role here. And the role is not just to stand on the fence and criticize both sides and have some politically correct statements.

They have to call a spade a spade, say Israel was -- was attacked severely, savagely on a holiday with no reason for that by an Iranian army, Israel has all the right in the world to defend itself, of course, under the rules of the international law. Believe me, we are trying to be more proportional and distinctive than any other army under those conditions.

NOBILO: Boaz Ganor, thank you very much for joining us this morning.

GANOR: Thank you.

NOBILO: Still ahead for you this hour, former President Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail, what he's saying about his rivals and his lawyers just ahead.

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[03:45:00]

(VIDEO PLAYING)

NOBILO: Mourners in the devastated community of Lewiston, Maine held a prayer vigil Sunday evening to honor the 18 people killed in Wednesday's mass shooting. The tragedy marks the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. so far this year.

Meantime, troubling new details shared with CNN reveal authorities were warned about the gunman weeks before the rampage. Police tried to conduct a welfare check on Robert Card after concerns he would, quote, "snap and commit a mass shooting." The shooter had a history of mental health issues and violence and his family and the Maine National Guard had shared disturbing details with law enforcement.

Former President Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail where he's praising his current lawyers. He hit the stage at an event in Iowa on Sunday just a week after a third Trump lawyer pleaded guilty in his criminal case in Georgia. Trump told the crowd his legal bills are costing $100 million, but said at least he had good lawyers.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more now from Iowa. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: With a little more than two months before the Iowa caucuses open the Republican nominating contest of 2024, the field is once again entering this week in a reshaped fashion.

Over the weekend, former Vice President Mike Pence made the decision to leave the race. He said it clearly was not his time. Of course, he has been among the candidates in the non-Trump lane, if you will. He's been making his argument that Republicans should not return the former president to the Oval Office talking about his criminal indictments.

Well, as former President Donald Trump campaigned in Iowa on Sunday, he made no mention of his former vice president. He instead spent his time mocking his rivals, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: It's like a wounded bird falling from the sky. Oh, there he is. It's Ron DeSanctimonius. He's falling, falling beautifully from the sky. It's a beautiful thing to watch because I got him elected. Does anybody know who Birdbrain is? He said, you can have her. I will never run against our president. He's one of the greatest presidents we've ever had. I will not run against our president under any circumstances.

ZELENY: His supporters inside the theater here barely responded to his criticism of his rivals. They did come alive, however, to his attacks on President Joe Biden, on his handling of the economy, inflation, the border immigration, and so much more.

So yes, it is clear that the former president has a commanding lead of this race. It's also clear he's not taking his foot off the gas, at least until those Iowa caucuses on January 15th begin the presidential race.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Sioux City, Iowa.

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NOBILO: In Kazakhstan, officials say at least 45 miners were killed in a fire at a coal mine over the weekend. Rescue crews are still searching for one missing person. More than 200 people were reportedly inside the mine when a methane explosion started the fire. A criminal investigation is now underway. Kazakhstan's president declared a national day of mourning and flags were flown at half mast on Sunday.

As accusations increased that both sides may have committed war crimes in the Israel Hamas conflict, an international criminal court prosecutor was on the ground Sunday at the Rafah crossing. That's coming up.

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[03:50:00]

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NOBILO: International aid organizations are pleading with Israel to allow humanitarian goods and services to enter Gaza. The director of the United Nations Relief Agency in Gaza warning that right now the very fabric of society is beginning to break down. He says people are looting logistic and aid warehouses in Gaza and that a humanitarian ceasefire is critical.

Aid for Gaza civilians is coming through the Rafah crossing, but at an extremely slow pace. The Palestinian Red Crescent says it received 10 trucks loaded with supplies Sunday on the Gaza side. That raises the total number of trucks to pass through since the war began to 94.

Also spotted at the Rafah gate Sunday, Karim Khan, a prosecutor with the International Criminal Court. He posted a video statement about the conditions that he was seeing there. And then later Sunday, Khan sat down with our Melissa Bell in Cairo to talk about possible war crimes in this conflict.

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KARIM KHAN, ICC PROSECUTOR: There should be no doubt that every decision-maker, from the head of government to military advisors to lawyers that are making targeting decisions, should be on clear notice that they will be required to justify every strike against every civilian object, whether it's a dwelling house or a school or a hospital or a church or a mosque, because they are protected unless they become military objectives. And that requires analysis and information.

And this is going to be complex. The laws of war are complex because one has to see what it's being used for and has a particular object lost its protection. And then one has to look at proportionality. It has the principle of distinction being observed in the first instance. And then secondly, it is it proportionate to the military advantage that is being sought to be obtained? And one has to have a very forensic approach to this and I think that's why we have an ICC.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Could you give us an idea of some of the possible war crimes that you've seen committed over the last three weeks?

KHAN: Well I can't really comment on that. What I can say clearly is that willful killing and hostage-taking are grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. It's a crime to target willfully civilian objects or civilians. It's a requirement in the Geneva conventions to allow humanitarian assistance to civilians.

[03:54:55]

It can be a crime. It is a crime under their Rome statute to deny that and I think that's again a matter that needs urgent consideration by Israel to make sure that food and medicine go to children and women and men. I mean it beggars belief when one sees the pictures that we all see on CNN of kids covered in blood that if a body is not limp and maybe there's a bit of a flicker of life, what kind of hope does that baby have, does that child have, to medical care if there's no anesthetic, if there's no morphine, if there's no medicine? We must think that these are our children.

BELL: But given that Israel is not a member state, and given that so far you haven't had access to Gaza, how will any of those responsible for alleged war crimes be brought to account?

KHAN: But the hard work is to apply the law to real life and I think it's not an academic pursuit. The ICC can't be a jurisprudence factory to have the effect it should have, that it could have. We require support from states and I think in the end very often self-interest can be very determinative.

The values of states but also the self-interest of state and I think this is why there is a glimmer of optimism after Ukraine because I think there's many wrongs over history, there's many instances of the selective application of the law. But I think perhaps it was potentially, one hopes, one prays, but time will tell, a moment of realization that if we keep going in this trajectory to ignore the law when it's in our short-term national interest or our short-term political interest, the trajectory is going to be on a massive conflagration around the world.

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NOBILO: In his video statement from Rafah, Egypt, Khan described the suffering of men, women, and children on both sides of the conflict as profound, adding, quote, "these are the most tragic of days."

Well, thanks for being with me this morning. I'm Bianca Nobilo, and I'll be back with more on the conflict at the top of the hour for you. So I'll see you then.

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