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IDF Defends Deadly Strike on Jabalya Refugee Camp In Gaza; U.S. Reports Rise In Hate, Domestic Threats In Wake Of Israel-Hamas war; Thousands of Palestinians Take Refuge in al Quds Hospital; Tensions Flare Along Israel's Northern Border with Lebanon; Medics Describe Atrocities Committed by Hamas on October 7; King Charles in Kenya as it Marks 60 Years of Independence. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired November 01, 2023 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:16]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers from all around the world. I'm Paula Newton with the very latest on the Israel- Hamas war. Israel is defending its deadly strike on a densely populated refugee camp in northern Gaza. Now it is too soon to know the casualty count or the true scope of the devastation in Jabalya. But a doctor at a Gaza hospital says it's received hundreds of dead or wounded people after the attack.

Now as you'll see from the pictures, there are multiple craters in the ground and huge piles of rubble. The Israel Defense Forces was targeting a top Hamas commander involved in the October 7 rampage and succeeded that claim and taking him out.

Now we're told dozens of Hamas combatants were also killed when the underground tunnels beneath the camp collapsed, but innocent lives were also lost and the Israeli military said it's working to determine the number of civilian deaths.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: Now, I'm not saying that there are no civilian casualties. What I am saying is that we struck an important military objective.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: But Hamas spokesperson accused Israel of trying to justify what he called the heinous crime against civilians, women and children. And he denied that the leader Israel claimed to kill was even present in the Jabalya camp at the time of the strike.

Meantime, The White House says that despite the blasts, there are, quote, indications Israel is trying to protect civilians. The National Security Council spokesperson called the deaths tragedies, and said the U.S. would keep working with the Israelis about the need to limit civilian casualties. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNIL: Unlike Russia and Ukraine, and unlike what Hamas did on the seventh of October, the killing of civilians is not a warring of Israel. I'm not denying that it's happening now. Of course it is. And it's tragic.

But it is not the goal of Israeli forces to go out and deliberately take innocent civilian life and they have tried to make efforts to minimize that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Witnesses to the strike are describing horrendous scenes and saying it felt like the end of the world and a warning now our next report contains graphic content. CNN's Nada Bashir has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Horrifying scenes of utter despair. Where is she? This man pleads, with everything here is gone. Part of the Jabalya refugee camp, among the largest and most densely populated in Gaza, now turned to rubble.

The latest target of Israel's relentless air campaign. The IDF has claimed responsibility for the airstrike. The targets, they say, a senior Hamas commander killed in the blast.

LT. COL. RICHARD HECHT, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: We were focused again on a target a senior commander.

BASHIR: But this attack this massacre, as doctors in Gaza are describing it as hit civilians hardest. Response teams work desperately in the hope of finding more survivors. But outside Gaza is overwhelmed Indonesian hospital, corpses line the street. The number of those killed and injured according to the hospital's director already in the hundreds.

SUAIB IDAIS, DOCTOR (through translator): They were just in their homes, children, women, the elderly, we have no idea what to do. The injured are everywhere.

BASHIR: Inside the hospital, mothers with their children, wounded and traumatized. But outside survivors continue to dig through the debris of what once were their homes, desperate to find loved ones buried beneath, but all fearing the very worst.

Some of the videos which have emerged from the aftermath of the airstrike on Jabalya are simply too graphic to show. Doctors tell CNN their bodies were found charred and dismembered. This nightmare comes of the residents in northern Gaza for warned by Israel to evacuate southwards, for many simply cannot leave.

And while Israel denies carrying out collective punishment against the Palestinian people, but scenes like this, reflected across the Gaza Strip, show that it is civilians that are paying the price. Nada Bashir, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:0507]

NEWTON: CNN's Scott McLean is tracking the international reaction and you are with us from London. And of course there is quite a bit of reaction just given some of the scenes we've seen there.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Paula. And look, the American reaction to this that you mentioned earlier on in your show that it's -- the White House's belief is that it is that Israel is trying to minimize civilian casualties. That is in stark contrast to the reaction that you are seeing from leaders across the Middle East.

You have the U.N. ambassador or the Palestinian ambassador to the U.N. saying that the International Criminal Court should be issuing arrest warrants for those responsible for the strikes. You have bitter rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia know in their condemnation of what happened, the Iranians calling this strike barbaric.

And the United Arab Emirates, a country that has been deepening its diplomatic and economic ties with Israel in recent years, says that look, indiscriminate attacks can cause irreparable harm to the region. Egypt calling this inhuman and saying, quote, Egypt consider this as a new flagrant violation by the Israeli forces against the provisions of international law and international humanitarian laws.

By and large, one of the most outspoken leaders in the region since, you know, over the last few weeks of this war has been the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He called Israel's entire war effort, a massacre and said, quote, the Israeli administration backed by the unconditional support of Europe, and America has been committing crimes against humanity in front of the eyes of the whole world for exactly 25 days. We believe that Israel which seems to have completely lost its state of mind, and acts like an organization must be stopped as soon as possible.

Even within Israel, you are seeing some condemnation, the human rights group in Israel, B'Tselem put out this statement saying this criminal harm to civilians is intolerable. And the obvious needs to be stated again, and again, not everything is allowed and warm, including war on Hamas. Targeting civilians is always prohibited, and Israel must stop these attacks now.

You're also even seeing reaction from outside of the region. Chile and Colombia have both recalled their ambassadors over this. And of course, from the West, you have had some outliers, like the Norwegian Prime Minister, saying that Israel has crossed the line in his view when it comes to international law.

But by and large, Paula, the reaction from many countries in the west and in Europe has been that, look, Israel has a right to defend itself, but that it needs to do so within an international law, obviously, the question of whether or not it's doing it within international law, the jury's still out on. NEWTON: That will continue to be, unfortunately, as this war drags on. Scott McLean for us in London, appreciate it.

More now want to bring in Mark Garlasco, he is a military advisor at PAX for peace, and a former U.N. war crimes investigator. And I will get actually to your resume, because it's very pertinent here as well. To make a fine point of it, you actually were in charge of high value targeting at the Pentagon. So, we really want to talk to you to try and understand what went on here.

Of course, it's difficult to at this point, verify the civilian toll. This is a contentious point between Israel and Palestinians. But really, let's be clear, innocents died here, period.

So in terms of how these airstrikes are planned, is Israel's justification rooted in international rules of war, as far as you know.

MARK GARLASCO, MILITARY ADVISOR, PAX FOR PEACE: Yes. So Israel clearly has a right to defend itself. But that right is not unlimited. Right? They have to follow the laws of war. And when we look at it, and the way that I did it, when I was doing targeting during the Iraq war in 2003, you have two different things that you have to consider, basically, right.

One is, you have to always distinguish between a military object and a civilian object. That seems pretty obvious, right? You want to just target the military side. And then you have to do it proportionally. And that means that any military action that you take can't be outweighed by civilian harm.

So when we look at this strike, two of the questions Israel had to ask themselves are one, can we target this densely populated area to Jabalya refugee camp? I've been there. It's one of the most densely populated places on earth. Can we target it in a way that we're not going to spread the harm so wide, that we're going to envelop civilians? But also can we get to that key leader?

And is that leader so important, that the civilian harm that's going to be caused by that strike is going to be justified? And that's the question that the target has had to ask themselves.

NEWTON: Do you think they ask themselves those questions when you see how --

[01:10:02]

GARLASCO: Yes, I think that Israel is playing fast and loose with the law. I think that their interpretation of civilian harm is, is very permissive. I look at when we were targeting during the Iraq war in 2003, we had a number, and that number was 30 civilians killed in any strike that we were going to have against Saddam Hussein.

So, the leader of the Iraqi military and government was worth 30 civilians, you know, as McCobb, as that may seem, that was a calculus that was made. To look at a Hamas leader, no matter how important and to think that he's worth dozens, if not hundreds of civilians killed, you know, we don't know how many people were harmed in this event.

It really boggles the mind. And it's hard for me to understand. I think we need to ask the Israelis, if you were conducting this strike, and it was Israeli civilians that were going to be killed? Would you have still pulled the trigger?

NEWTON: Which brings us to the point of proportionality, right. This fight has already been relentless. It's been going on for less than a month. Is that level of intensity necessary? And I asked you as well, is it even smart at this point in terms of protecting Israel's security?

GARLASCO: Well, you know, I think the most important thing here is to protect the civilians in Israel and Gaza. I don't think that the current campaign is doing that thing. What we need to do is ratchet things down, move quickly to a ceasefire and find a political solution to this.

But it's very difficult in the current climate, you know, the civilian harm that was meted out. I mean, clearly, Hamas committed war crimes, and that's evident. The rocket attacks into Israel are war crimes, but the response cannot be one that is such where civilians are constantly paying the price for these strikes.

And I fear that we're just going to continue to see massive civilian harm. In just the weeks of this war, we've seen more dropped more bombs dropped in Gaza, than the U.S. dropped at the height of the war in Afghanistan in any single year.

NEWTON: That's extraordinary. Just you putting it that way, and actually give us giving us an idea of what we've been looking at in the last few weeks. And unfortunately, what the people of Gaza have been living through. Mark Garlasco, thanks so much. Really appreciate your expertise in this.

GARLASCO: Yes, thanks for having me.

NEWTON: So developing story for us, telephones and internet services are completely down at the sour across Gaza. That's according to two Palestinian telecom firms. One company posted on social media that the international routes that were previously reconnected have been cut off again.

CNN staff in Jerusalem have tried calling and messaging contacts with Gaza numbers, but they're not getting through. Independent monitoring groups tell CNN that recent blackouts have been the worst since the conflict began on October 7.

OK, coming up for us, urgent warnings of an increase in extremist threats and acts of hate in the U.S. since the war between Israel and Hamas began. We'll have more on this troubling trend.

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[01:16:51] NEWTON: U.S. Republican lawmakers are battling over how to provide aid to Israel Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to tie Israel funding to more help for Ukraine. But newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing for a standalone aid bill for Israel, that would be funded in part by a cut to spending from the Internal Revenue Service.

Now on the Senate floor Tuesday, the leaders of both parties criticize the proposal. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK SCHUMER, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: The new speaker knows perfectly well, that if you want to help Israel, you can't propose legislation that is full of poison pills. This House GOP proposal is clearly designed to divide Congress on a partisan basis.

MITCH MCCONNELL, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: So at the risk of repeating myself the threats facing America and our allies are serious and they're intertwined. If we ignore that fact, we do so at our own peril.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now speaking to lawmakers Secretary of State Antony Blinken told lawmakers that it is vital for the U.S. to provide aid to Ukraine in Israel together so that Russia and China will not see Washington as quote, playing whack-a-mole in response to global crises.

Meantime, top U.S. officials warned on Tuesday that the war in the Middle East has led to a spike in antisemitism and Islamophobic incidents in the United States and those concerns have been echoed by the leading advocacy groups for Jewish and Muslim Americans. CNN's Brian Todd has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): From America's top law enforcement and homeland security officials a frightening assessment of the atmosphere of fear now surrounding the Jewish and Muslim communities in the U.S. since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: In n the days and weeks since we have responded to an increase in threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab American communities and institutions across our country.

UNIDETIFIED MALE: Director Wray.

TODD: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI director Christopher Wray, in Senate testimony on Tuesday said the ongoing war has ramped up the threat landscape inside the US.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: Our most immediate concern is that violent extremists, individuals or small groups will draw inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks against Americans going about their daily lives. TODD: Wray says it's not just violent extremist inspired by foreign terrorist organizations who are a threat to the Muslim and Jewish communities in the U.S., but also lone wolves who have targeted those groups since October 7.

WRAY: We've already seen that with the individual. We arrested last week in Houston who had been studying how to build bombs and posted online about his support for killing Jews and with the tragic killing of a six-year-old Muslim boy in Illinois and what we're investigating as a federal hate crime.

TODD: The top Jewish and Muslim civil rights organizations in the U.S. both report huge spikes and incidents targeting their groups. The Anti-Defamation League says since October 7, there's been a nearly 400 percent increase in anti semitic incidents in America.

JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO AND NATIONAL DIRECTOR, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: This is like a virus is spreading across the country, around the world.

TODD: And the Council on American Islamic Relations says complaints of incidents targeting Muslims in the U.S .have been about three times higher since October 7 than they were during the same period last year.

[01:20:09]

COREY SAYLOR, RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY DIRECTOR, COUNCIL ON AMERCAN- ISLAMIC RELATIONS: There's no way to really give you a sense of the incoming flood of calls. It is 24 hours a day, seven days a week with people reaching out with various requests for help, some of them really traumatized by what has happened to them.

TODD: Like a family in the Chicago area who put up a free Palestine sign in their yard, they got a letter saying remove the sign or burn. In upstate New York, a person is now in custody in connection with a series of threats against Jewish students at Cornell University.

SEAMUS HGHES, EXPERT ON EXTREMISM, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT OMAHA: When you look at the plots and the individuals have been arrested, they're almost pedestrian in nature. These are average citizens that are drawn into an online environment that encourages them to commit these acts.

TODD (on camera): FBI director Christopher Wray says the bureau is combating these incidents on multiple levels, deploying Joint Terrorism Task Forces undertaking hate crimes investigations and gathering intelligence. But experts who monitor extremism tell us we're likely nowhere near an end to the domestic threats connected to the Israel Hamas war. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Joining us now is CNN senior and national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem. She's a professor at Harvard University and a former assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. And in that role, Juliette, I know you have dealt with this a lot. But

what homeland officials are telling us is that it has really peaked in terms of whether it's actions that they're worried about or on line hate.

I mean, there were start comments today, the FBI, Homeland Security all backed up by data. Now, I argue we've already known this, right? It's been a palpable fear, obviously more acute in the Jewish community right now. How do you assess the risk? How do you explain what's going on not just in the United States, but around the world.

JULETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So in that, well, starting with the United States, there's a -- there's definitely a heightened risk environment just based on what FBI director Christopher Wray said, but we certainly just know it. I mean, you just have to go outside and feel sort of I think the attend the tensions in a lot of communities have right now in the United States, that threat environment is heightened, but we wouldn't call it specific. In other words, it's not this synagogue or that synagogue. It's just a generals are heightened threat against the Jewish community.

And also, as Christopher Wray said, the Islamic community, so you're getting sort of the two sides, both feeling, you know, disempowered and targeted by whatever hate is out there. Specifically on the Jewish community, though, of course, because of the threats that you're seeing online, those targeted against synagogues and others is perceiving, maybe not specific threats, but an overall concern for their community. That's why you've seen heightened police presence and others or law enforcement presence at synagogues, Jewish communities and neighborhoods.

NEWTON: Now, can you explain again, something that you've pointed us to this phenomenon, unfortunately, over the last decade, online extremist groups have definitely amplified this type of hate. They've weaponized it. Do we expect to be able to do anything about that?

KAYYEM: Yes, so the -- so look, there's a difference between sort of that hate of the sort of person out there just spewing hate and then, of course, the targeted violence. We don't know how the difference between those two but we certainly know that the pool is different. This is -- the people who are spewing hate, most of them are not going to go to violence. We don't like those people, right. But you basically are better off with that pool, right? Just sort of doing the things that they do online than those who would focus on violence.

That focusing on violence, of course, is often disclosed online, and that's where law enforcement can step in, if someone's or, you know, increases or the threats or specifically target someone. So we are seeing actually some of the, you know, Cornell University here, someone who had went online targeting the Jewish community is has now been arrested. That is appropriate, because you simply cannot do that in the United States under the guise of sort of, you know, the First Amendment or political debate.

NEWTON: Absolutely.

KAYYEM: Yes.

NEWTON: And to that point, I want you to listen now to the governor of New York --

KAYYEM: Yes.

NEWTON: -- reacting to a lot what's going on and Cornell. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHY HOCHUL, NEW YORK GOVERNOR: Hate to say this, I don't think this is the end yet this -- we have a long way to go to start restoring the civility and the respect for different people's religions and beliefs that has never been perfect, but it's certainly in rapid decline since October 17.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:25:00]

NEWTON: You know, to her point, and to your point, this is going to go on for some time, you know, in your experience, especially after 9/11. What can leaders do to help here?

KAYEEM Yes, I'm so glad you asked that. Because I believe that in particular, you know, younger people, people who are on college campuses where we're seeing a lot of this activity as well. They model their behavior or their tone, the way they talk about different communities off of us. And I think it's an angle off the adults so to speak.

And I think it's incumbent on university presidents, professors, leaders in industry, leaders and NGOs, to try to tame the temperatures that have been unleashed the last couple of weeks here in the United States. It is not to say you have to agree with everyone, but I don't think it helps either side to seem flippant about the violence against them.

I mean, in other words, Hamas did a horrible terror attack against Israel. And also one can also believe that what's going on in Gaza is impacting civilians and children.

NEWTON: So we will look to our leaders for some of that leadership at a time when everyone needs it. Juliette Kayyem for us, really appreciate it.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

NEWTON: Coming up for us, hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza have been displaced by the war. They are struggling to find adequate safety and meet their own basic needs. The latest on humanitarian crisis in Gaza, next.

[01:29:58]

NEWTON: I'm Paula Newton. Welcome back to our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.

Aid workers in Gaza say the stories coming from the Jabalya refugee camp are horrific. The Israel Defense Forces targeted the heavily populated camp with airstrikes Tuesday, saying they killed a top Hamas commander. But the strike killed an unknown number of civilians and laid waste to parts of the camp.

Doctors without Borders says young children came to the hospital with deep wounds and severe burns. One man, just 100 meters from the camp, says he saw children carry other injured children's bodies, and that there were in fact bodies hanging from the rubble. Many were hysterical and dazed civilians walking around the camp.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked the IDF spokesperson why the camp was a target.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Did you know that there are a lot of refugees, a lot of innocent civilians -- men, women, and children in that refugee camp as well, right?

LT. COL. RICHARD HECHT, INTERNATIONAL IDF SPOKESPERSON: This is the tragedy of war, Wolf. We, as we know, we've been saying for days, move aside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, the IDF claims that they've killed approximately 50 Hamas fighters in northern Gaza. And in a statement released on Tuesday, the military says they've been targeting Hamas leaders in the area using underground tunnels as a passage to the coast.

They claim to have seized weapons, military equipment, and intelligence documents in the process. But the IDF also says two of their own soldiers were killed in Gaza Tuesday.

The Rafah crossing is now set to open Wednesday. An Egyptian border official says 81 seriously-wounded Palestinians will be allowed through that crossing to be treated in hospitals in Egypt.

Now meantime, dozens of trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Tuesday. That was through the Rafah crossing. Israel says they only carried, water, food, and medical equipment, and not fuel. The U.S. says it's a start, but it's only a fraction, of course, of the aid that people in Gaza need desperately.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. is working for a goal of 100 humanitarian aid trucks a day to enter Gaza, but he acknowledges that is just the bare minimum.

Now, since Israel declared war against Hamas militants, some one million people, about half of Gaza's population, have been displaced from their homes. Many are seeking shelter wherever they can find it. CNN obtained exclusive footage of one such makeshift shelter, Al Quds

hospital in northern Gaza. Some 12,000 displaced people are camped out there.

Salma Abdelaziz reports, and a warning, some of the images in this report are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Where do you go when the bombs won't stop? Where do you shelter your family when the shelters are full? For many Gazans, the answer is a hospital. The head doctor shows us around.

"All that separates these families and the ICU is this door," he explains. "These are not proper sterile conditions."

Some 12,000 displaced people are camped out in Al Quds hospital in northern Gaza. And every single person you see here has been told by Israel's army to leave and move south, an evacuation order the U.N. previously called inhumane.

"This is not a place for children to play. This is a disaster," the doctor says. "Look, these are sick people, how can a man on a walker be evacuated?

Hospitals are protected under international law. But Israel claims Hamas uses medical facilities as command centers. Aid groups and Palestinian officials deny these allegations.

Either way, this is still not a safe place. Step outside the doors and this is what you face -- nonstop Israeli artillery and airstrikes. Everyone here fears the explosions will only get closer, but there's nowhere else to run.

Across the street, desperate people steal basic supplies. The war, in a suffocating siege is causing civil order to break down, the U.N says.

"Families cannot be expected to flee into this chaos," this father says.

"This is a war against our children. See how scared he is from the bombs? Now we are alive, but tomorrow, he could be dead. Please save us," he pleads.

Less than a quarter mile away from the hospital, this is the aftermath of one of those strikes. Residents pull people out of the rubble of their homes. They can depend only on each other.

Coms are down. No one can call an ambulance.

"Just try and carry him out on your shoulder," someone shouts.

[01:34:52]

ABDELAZIZ: "Are my mom and dad alive," the wounded man asks.

The sound of war never ceases. You could die trying to help the living.

This is one neighborhood during one hour in Gaza -- a tiny glimpse into the horror. The humanity and dignity of more than two million people THAT live here, a casualty of A war so many did not choose.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Now, as the Israeli military pushes further into Gaza, casualties are expected to, of course, increase dramatically. And that is raising fears that skirmishes with Hezbollah near the Lebanon border could grow ever more violent.

Our Jim Sciutto has more now from northern Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Israeli soldiers gazed north toward Lebanon, what they fear could be the next front of this war. And in fact, Israel and Hezbollah are already exchanging fire across the length of the Israeli-Lebanon border. IDF Howitzers firing on Hezbollah targets and Hezbollah firing back. Virtually every village we visit along the border has come under fire.

When you travel along the Israel-Lebanon border, you see things like this multiple times a day. The smoke rising there, the flames from a strike. That's just across the border inside Lebanon, not clear if that was outgoing fire from Lebanon or incoming from Israel.

We did just hear from the IDF a short -- yes, and there's another explosion as we're speaking. And we heard of another exchange of fire just a couple of miles down here. That wall you see along there, that marks the border between Israel on this side and Lebanon on the other.

The threat comes from further afield as well. Today, Israel said its arrow high altitude missile defense system fired for the first time since the October 7th attacks -- responding to a missile launch by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Israeli officials see one nation behind all these attacks -- Iran.

REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: There are many actors who are acting at the behest of Iran, including the Houthis, who are trying to challenge us and to distract us from the war in Gaza. We remain focused. We are focused on the war in Gaza.

SCIUTTO: Gaza remains the main thrust, but the IDF is attacking inside Lebanon and Syria multiple times a day. This strike, the IDF says, hit Hezbollah infrastructure.

Funerals held for the last two days in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah saying nearly 50 of its fighters have been killed since the clashes began.

Jim Sciutto, CNN -- on the Israeli-Lebanon border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: The U.S. Senate has confirmed former treasury secretary Jack Lew as the new U.S. ambassador to Israel. Lew led the Treasury in the Obama administration and also served as White House chief of staff.

Tuesday's vote was 53 to 43 for Lew to fill the vacancy. Now, he faced stiff opposition from Senate GOP members over his involvement in Obama's Iran nuclear deal. Senators Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul where the only Republicans to vote to confirm him.

Still to come for us, the brother of a hostage shown in a video from Hamas says he knows his sister isn't doing well. What else he told CNN about her situation -- that is just ahead.

[01:38:25]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: A Hamas spokesperson claims the group will release some foreign nationals held hostage in the coming days. And it comes after Hamas says requests from some of their respective home countries, that they receive those requests, pardon me, through mediators. Hamas hasn't clarified how many hostages will be released or which countries they come from.

Now on Monday, the militant group released a video showing three women believed to be hostages. One of the women demanded Israel continue negotiations to free all hostages although it's unclear if her comments were made under duress.

Her brother tells CNN it's clear though that she is not doing well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORAN ALONI, BROTHER OF HOSTAGE SEEN IN HAMAS VIDEO: What we saw in the video is her in a very, very big distress.

My sister is a calm person. Seeing her like that, hearing her means that she is not well. The fact that she is speaking does not mean that she's well.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Right.

ALONI: And the fact that people are now saying, ok, they look good, that's exactly what they want us to think, everyone is OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Meantime, the streets around Jerusalem's city hall have been filled with empty beds and cribs, each represent one of more than 200 missing people taken hostage on October 7th. More than three weeks after the Hamas terror attack on Israel, CNN's Jake Tapper talked to Israeli first responders who are struggling to cope with the trauma that they witnessed and are sharing stories about the atrocities they saw.

A warning, some the images and descriptions you're about to see and hear are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: As the deputy director of international emergency operations for Hatzalah, Israel's volunteer emergency rescue service, Linor Attias (ph) has seen many gruesome and haunting scene. But nothing could have prepared for October 7th, when she came to the site of death and destruction at Kibbutz Be'eri where bullets and RPGs were still flying because Hamas still controlled some of it and would for days.

After being warned of a grenade, she entered a house where she tended to a wounded soldier.

LINOR ATTIAS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, UNITED HATZALAH: And then I remembered that I turned my head and I saw the family. They tied up the kids. And the parents were tied up in front of their kids. And they shot them.

So much blood and I didn't have the time to feel anything at that moment. I just --

TAPPER: How many people?

ATTIAS: There were four. Two kids, around a girl the same as my girl's age, around 11, and something like a boy, six years old. Honestly, that moment, I just blocked my feelings.

I understood that now I am a soldier, a robotic soldier, if I want to survive that and just to help as many people as we can.

[01:44:55]

ATTIAS: There was a little girl around eight or nine years old. And they cut her hand here -- over here.

TAPPER: They cut her, or they cut it off?

ATTIAS: They just cut it off, no hand. She was still breathing. She was just like shaking.

And I performed a tourniquet, but it was left bleeding. Her left bleeding. I wasn't there earlier to save her. She just lost so many blood for hours, all by herself, no one was near her even. She was so afraid. Her eyes -- all by herself.

TAPPER: How old was she?

ATTIAS: Around ten, around ten or 12, I don't know. Everything just -- I don't know how to explain that. TAPPER: No.

ATTIAS: I don't know how to explain that. I don't -- I don't know what kind of evil demon can create that kind of operation because they thought about everything.

It was well-organized and the world needs to know that right now.

TAPPER: There are going to be people that hear your story and they say how come we didn't hear about it until three weeks later? Just because you don't want to talk about it?

ATTIAS: Now, after three weeks, that I understand the importance to speak about it.

TAPPER: There are people out there who don't believe these, who don't believe these firsthand accounts.

ATTIAS: I don't blame them. I don't want to believe it also. I want to sleep at night. And I don't sleep yet. I don't sleep. And I don't blame them.

TAPPER: As we were leaving, Linor introduced us to another rescue volunteer who went to other parts of Israel that day, David Bader. His first stop was Sderot.

"What I saw there," he tells us, "People strewn, dead bodies, dozens. At the Sha'ar HaNegev Junction (ph) I counted there were 24 bodies," he says. There was also the body of a boy that was thrown. The stroller, the stroller of a baby. Why, why would you kill him?"

He tells us that Kfar Aza was like a destroyed cemetery -- dead, injured, blood everywhere in the houses, in the yards, on the street. You cannot understand what I saw there, he says. It's impossible to understand.

He remembers a family that had been driving in a car until terrorists killed them. The children were charred, just charred, he says. What could a child do to an adult, he asks. He was a baby, strapped into his car seat inside the car.

He guessed (ph) that the terrorist took a firearm, shot and killed the members of the family, and then with a knife cut their throats. David responds like this to skeptics.

"It's a shame that those people didn't come there to see what happened on that Black Saturday," he responds. "Get it out of my stomach, out of my head, everything that happened. Why do we deserve this? Dozens dead, the smell, even now, it's still with me."

"I want the entire world to know, the entire world to know what Hamas did," he says. Children were killed, small children, kids that didn't even know how to say dada or mama. They didn't even know how to say it.

(END VIDEOTAPE) NEWTON: Our thanks to Jake Tapper for that report and for those who continue to talk to CNN about such horrific experiences.

We'll be right back in a moment.

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NEWTON: Parts of northern Italy are dealing with heavy rain and violent winds. Flash flooding on Tuesday pounded Milan and caused Lake Como to overflow its banks. Now, the severe weather took down trees, ripped off roof tiles, and knocked out power. Heavy rains also hammered Tuscany.

Forecasters say the wet weather will last through most of the week. It's been a year of deadly flooding, in fact, in northern Italy. In May, storms killed at least 14 people. More than 20 rivers broke their banks, causing hundreds of landslides, submerging homes, and devastating farmland.

Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla are in Kenya for a state visit. They received a ceremonial visit in Nairobi Tuesday. The visit comes as the east African nation marks 60 years of independence from British colonial rule.

And some Kenyans continue to seek reparations for human rights abuses committed by the British empire.

CNN's Max Foster reports now from Nairobi.

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MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Elizabeth II became Queen while visiting Knya in 1952 on the death of her father. That same year, Mau Mau freedom fighters led by Dedan Kimathi rebelled against British rule.

London responded by declaring a state of emergency and its military rounded up more than 90,000 Kenyans who were tortured, maimed and/or killed, according to the Kenyan Human Rights Commission. Their death warrants, signed by the British, hang in the Tunnel of Martyrs in Nairobi today.

Those who died in the resistance are honored here at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, along with all of Kenya's fallen heroes. King Charles coming here to lay a wreath.

But for many Kenya, they want more than gestures.

[01:54:48]

FOSTER: The British government did concede in 2013 that it sincerely regret the abuses but it hasn't accepted responsibility or liability. But it has paid out a settlement of $30 million to more than 5,000 Kenyans who claimed human rights abuses. This mural depicts Kimathi. His daughter Evelyn wants a full apology

from Charles and reparations from the U.K.

EVELYN WANJUGU KIMATHI, DAUGHTER OF MAU MAU FREEDOM FIGHTER: Though we are not expecting so much because we have tried to reach them, but they're telling us he is not a political leader, and he cannot make any political decision. But he's -- is the winning (ph) power. His goodwill is the one we want.

FOSTER: Would the king go further and offer a full apology? This is what he said at a state banquet held in his honor by President Ruto of Kenya.

KING CHARLES III, BRITISH MONARCH: The wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret. There were abhorrent and unjustified acts of violence committed against Kenyans as they waged, as you said at the United Nations, a painful struggle for independence and sovereignty. And for that, there can be no excuse.

FOSTER: So, short of a full apology and no mention of reparations.

WILLIAM RUTO, KENYAN PRESIDENT: While there has been efforts to atone for the death, injury and suffering inflicted on Kenyan-Africans by colonial government, much remains to be done in order to achieve full reparations.

KIMATHI: We will still continue pushing. Yes, the struggle continues.

FOSTER: As it does in an increasing number of former British colonies across Africa and the Caribbean.

Max Foster, CNN -- Nairobi, Kenya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: I want to thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Paula Newton. I'll be back with the very latest on the Israel- Hamas war after a short break.

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