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CNN International: 80 Ambulances at Gaza Border to Receive Injured Palestinians; IDF Says It Killed a Hamas Leader in Refugee Camp Strike; Bodies Line Street Near Gaza Hospital After Israeli Strike; Iran-Backed Houthis Launch Aerial Attack on Israel. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired November 01, 2023 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo, live from London.

It's Wednesday, November 1st, 8:00 a.m. here in London and 10:00 a.m. at the Rafah border crossing where some 80 ambulances have arrived to bring seriously injured Palestinians from Gaza into Egypt. You're looking at live pictures. We're told that the patients are being discharged from hospitals in Gaza that can't provide the surgeries that they need. If all goes as planned, these would be the first Palestinians permitted to leave Gaza since the start of the war.

And minutes ago, word from the British Foreign Secretary that a first group of foreign nationals might also be allowed to exit through that Rafah Crossing.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military is revealing new details about the extent of its bombardment in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces say that more than 11,000 terrorist targets have been hit since the start of the war. That makes an average of more than 440 strikes per day, and that includes the recent bombing of Gaza's largest refugee camp, which has triggered concern and harsh condemnation from around the world. The and has resulted in significant but as yet unknown casualties.

But the Israeli military is defending the surprise attack. The and joining us now to discuss this is CNN's Scott McLean. So Scott, let's begin with this breaking news. About 80 ambulances, we understand being allowed through the Rafah Crossing and now even more reports that we're hearing that possibly foreign nationals might be able to leave. This is a huge development. What's the diplomacy going on behind the scenes?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that that last bit is certainly new. And you know, it's not really clear exactly how this deal came to pass. A, it's surprising that they're allowing even any -- excuse me -- any Palestinians to cross the border into Egypt because Egypt has been extremely reluctant since the outside of the war to take Palestinian refugees. Figuring there might be, you know, if they let a few in there, there might be more and more and then suddenly the conflict reaches -- reaches their territory instead. But as you said, these are Palestinians who require specific surgeries

that simply cannot be done in Gaza, so they're being taken to a field hospital in a place called Sheikh Zuweid City. This is basically the first community that you reach in Egypt outside of Gaza. And what's not clear is whether this will be a sign of things to come. Whether there will be more Palestinians who will be transported to Egypt for medical treatment. We know that the hospitals inside of Gaza have been piling up with patients, some of them being treated on the floor, some of them being treated without anesthetic. Obviously far from ideal conditions that they have there. They have gotten warnings and threats from Israel to evacuate. They have said, look, we have nowhere to go and these other hospitals simply cannot them in either.

When it comes to the foreigners who may be allowed out. This is according to the British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who tweeted just in the last couple of minutes really. He said the Rafah Crossing is likely to open today for a first group of foreign nationals. UK teams are ready to assist British nationals as soon as they are able to leave.

What we do not know at this stage is when it might open and who is going to be left out. Obviously, there are a lot of people who would like to get out. There are some 400 or so American citizens alone who have been unable to leave. Obviously, many, many more Gazans with foreign passports or foreigners who were there for whatever other reason there, who are -- who have been desperate to get out. But for the last 3 1/2 or so weeks have been unable to.

NOBILO: And this video that we're watching, this is from just moments ago. So we'll keep bringing you those live pictures. Scott, the desperation of those who want and need to leave Gaza is put into sharp relief by attacks like what we've seen on Gaza's biggest refugee camp, the Jabalia camp. What more are we learning about the casualties? The weapon that was used. And how Israel is justifying attacking this civilian area?

MCLEAN: Yes, so the Jabalia Refugee Camp is the biggest in Gaza. It's -- we're talking about more than 100,000 people.

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Under normal circumstances, living there in an area which is barely bigger than half of a square mile or about 1.4 square kilometers. And the attack that took place there yesterday, well, the scenes are absolutely horrific. You have several huge craters in the ground. You have chaos and panic everywhere. You have eyewitnesses saying that there were children carrying other children. There were body parts strewn everywhere. There are basically everything is blanketed in this gray dust. And at the hospital you had bodies lined up in white shrouds. Many of them -- we don't have final numbers on how many people would be killed or injured. But the local hospital was overwhelmed with the number of people coming in.

Again, some people being treated on the floor. You had MSF, Doctors Without Borders, saying that there were children coming in with deep wounds and severe burns as well. So just a horrific scene. So why did Israel carry out the strike or these strikes? They say that

they were targeting and killed a Hamas commander, who helped plan the October 7th attack in Israel, and they say that they also killed a large number of terrorists.

Now Hamas denies that that commander that they were targeting was even there at the time. And in terms of the weapon and why Israel couldn't be a little bit more precise with their hit. Paula Newton, my colleague, asked our colleague asked an IDF spokesperson that very question earlier today, and he said, look, it's simply not possible because Israel believed that this Hamas commander was hiding deep underground and so they needed enough firepower, in his words, to actually penetrate that deep.

Obviously, the result, though, is a lot of civilians who are killed and injured. And so now the world is wondering. Is it worth it? You have seen widespread condemnation from many leaders across the region from the Iranians, the Saudis, the Turkish president, the list goes on and on. The Americans were also asked about this. The White House -- John Kirby from the White House was asked about this yesterday. And he said, look, Israel is trying its best to minimize civilian casualties. And I just want to play you a clip of what he said when he was pressed.

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JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Unlike Russia and Ukraine, and unlike what Hamas did on the 7th of October, the killing of civilians is not a war aim 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)

MCLEAN: They have tried to make efforts to minimize that. That is not good enough though for some countries that those efforts, both Chile and Colombia for instance, two countries that seem very far removed from this conflict have actually recalled their ambassadors to Israel in the wake of this bombing at the refugee camp.

NOBILO: Scott McClain, thank you very much for bringing us those updates.

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Horrifying scenes of utter despair.

Where is she? This man pleads. But everything here is gone.

Heart of the Jabalia 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 air strike. The target, 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 -- senior commander.

BASHIR (voice-over): But this attack, this massacre, as doctors in Gaza are describing it, has hit civilians hardest. Emergency response teams worked desperately in the hope of finding more survivors.

But outside Gaza's overwhelmed Indonesian hospital, corpses lined the street. The number of those killed and injured, according to the hospital's director, already in the hundreds.

SAUIB 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 (voice-over): 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.

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Some of the videos which have emerged from the aftermath of the air strike on Jabalia are simply too graphic to show. Doctors tell CNN their bodies were found charred and dismembered. This nightmare comes after residents in northern Gaza were warned by Israel to evacuate southwards, but many simply cannot leave. And while Israel denies carrying out collective punishment against the Palestinian people, that scenes like this reflected across the Gaza Strip show that it is civilians that are paying the price.

Nada Bashir, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: I want to bring in retired Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan, who is a former commander at the Australian Defense College, and he's with us now from Brisbane. Thanks so much for being with us this evening, Sir.

MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: Thank you.

NOBILO: Obviously, a lot of criticism that's being leveled at Israel, justifiably based on the evidence. Pertains to the proportionality of their response to the attacks on October the 7th. When it comes to laws and norms of war, protecting civilians as much as possible and also a proportionate response are very important things. Do you feel like there are other ways that Israel could be approaching this in order to dismantle a terror organization that works underground and uses civilians as human shields, as they claim, in a way which was more proportionate. I mean, what options are actually available to them? RYAN: Well, the Israelis have a very tough problem here and not only

are they dealing with an enemy who hides among the people, Hamas deliberately uses these kinds of facilities to shield themselves. Now proportionality is a very important consideration for these kinds of strikes and -- but so too is the timing and the military effect. So if Israel wanted to minimize these kind of civilian casualties -- which are -- which are awful. They may need to look at, do we need to strike now, and are there other ways we might be able to get this individual later on when he's not surrounded by so many civilians?

NOBILO: Yemen's Houthis have now entered the fray. How does that change Israel's calculus and also what the regional players and the U.S. are thinking here in terms of trying to contain and deescalate this?

RYAN: Well, the entry of the Houthis and the long-range missiles they fired in the last 24 hours changes the kind of air defense capabilities the Israelis need to use to shoot them down. But you know, it also complicates the stance of Saudi Arabia, who at the moment has backed off the normalization talks with Israel. But it's also struggling against the Houthis, so it makes their life a little bit more difficult as well.

NOBILO: U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have been struck -- I believe the last number I saw was at least 24 times since the war began. And these volleys with Iran and Iranian proxies rather seem to be intensifying. But the U.S. is playing that down.

RYAN: Yes, the number I think now is at 27. Last count I saw just before we came on air. I mean, clearly the Americans need to respond to these to deter further attacks. But at the same time, the Biden administration is keen not to escalate the situation. Their instincts to defend themselves but not provide additional rationale for terrorists to attack them or the Israelis. They're on a very careful balancing act, on a very fine tripwire here.

NOBILO: The Iranian rhetoric has been ramping up. There's obviously discussion of violation of red lines. What does that convey to you about what Iran might do next?

RYAN: Well, clearly Iran supports both Hamas and Hezbollah. The red lines that are being crossed at the moment certainly are Iran's red lines. Israel's not attacking Iran. So Iran is fighting through its proxies and Hamas. But it's probably talking with Hezbollah about next steps there. Hezbollah will be watching the situation in Gaza very closely. It will be watching how much of the mobilized Israeli forces committed and where the opportunities might arise for it to up its attacks on northern Israel.

NOBILO: Mick Ryan, thank you so much for joining us today.

RYAN: Thank you.

NOBILO: Telephone and internet services are completely down all across Gaza, according to two Palestinian telecom firms. One company posted on social media that the international routes that were previously reconnected have been cut off once more. CNN staff in Jerusalem have tried calling and messaging contacts with Gaza numbers, but they aren't getting through. Independent monitoring groups tell CNN that recent blackouts have been the worst since the conflict began on October the 7th.

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As we've been discussing, Iran backed Houthi militants in Yemen say that they launched an attack on Israel. How they're getting involved in Israel's war with Hamas. We'll have more on that.

And as we know, and we can see, Israel's war on Hamas is taking a heavy toll on the Palestinian people. Now, one country is cutting ties with Jerusalem over what it describes as crimes against humanity. Details of that coming up for you.

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NOBILO: Israel's military says it has thwarted what it called aerial threats around the Red Sea, using its arrow defense system for the very first time to intercept a surface-to-surface missile. The Iran backed Houthi militant group in Yemen says it launched the attack and the world is watching now to see how Iran makes up force through its proxies against its sworn enemy, Israel. Fred Pleitgen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iranian-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen with a show of force.

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While only hitting U.S. and Israeli flags in this exercise, the Houthis say they've also launched a massive, long-distance attack on Israel using ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones.

The Yemeni armed forces affirm that this operation is the third in support of our oppressed brothers in Palestine, the spokesman says.

Israel confirms the attack, saying its defense forces managed to thwart it using modern air defense system.

But both the U.S. and Israel have long accused Iran of providing the Houthis with long-range weapons. We got a rare chance to film some of Iran's drone and missile arsenal at a military fair in Tehran in 2019.

As the Israel-Hamas war continues, the Iranians are now also flexing their own military muscle. A recent large-scale exercise aiming to show Tehran's defense capabilities, but one of the commanding generals also making clear the Islamic Republic's goal is to destroy Israel.

Regarding the message to the Zionist regime, he says, in fact, we announced the destruction of this regime, and God willing, we will witness it soon.

Iran's military is not nearly as modern as the U.S.'s or Israel's. Many of its weapons are U.S.-made from before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, like these Vietnam War-era Cobra attack helicopters.

But Iran influences or controls scores of militias around the entire Middle East, which Tehran says it can mobilize to not only attack Israel, but U.S. assets throughout the region.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Iran's president threatening escalation.

The events we're seeing in Gaza are all red lines that are being breached by the Zionist entity, he says. The killing of women and children, the killing of more than 3,000 children is not something that any human being can reasonably or by conscience accept.

Israel maintains it does not target civilians in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza. And the U.S. has sent two carrier strike groups and additional surface-to-air missile batteries to the region. The Biden administration warning Iran to back off.

JOHN KIRBY, COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: We will take our national security interests very seriously. We will protect and defend our troops, and we'll do it at a time and a manner of our choosing.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: With the situation in the Middle East growing increasingly tense, the U.S. is sending 300 more troops to the region in the wake of the current Israel Hamas conflict. But the U.S. Defense Department says that they won't be going to Israel. The deployment comes as Iranian backed groups have carried out more than two dozen attacks on the U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. U.S. Defense Secretary says the protection of U.S. troops and civilians is the administration's top priority. Lloyd Austin has this stern warning for Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: If this doesn't stop, then we will respond. We maintain the right to respond. We have the capability to do that and we will respond at a time and place of our choosing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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NOBILO: Meantime, Turkey's president is calling for a new security mechanism for permanent peace between Israel and Hamas. Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey's top priority is, quote, preventing the massacre, which is on its 25th day. He says that if such a mechanism is established, Turkey is ready to take responsibility. And that is according to Turkish state media.

Bolivia is cutting diplomatic relations with Israel because of its war on Hamas. The Bolivian Agency of Information says Israel has committed crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people. The announcement came one day after Bolivian President Luis Arce met with the Palestinian ambassador to his country. And Bolivia says it is preparing to send humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Plus, violence is escalating in the West Bank between Palestinians and Israeli settlers. How it could affect Israel's war on Hamas just ahead?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

In just the last hour also, we learned roughly 80 ambulances have entered Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing to receive seriously wounded Palestinian patients. And that is according to an Egyptian border official. When those patients cross into Egypt, they'll be the first Palestinians allowed out of Gaza since the war with Israel began more than three weeks ago. They're expected to receive medical care in Egyptian hospitals.

Meanwhile, we're hearing grim stories from aid workers after Israeli air strikes hit a heavily populated refugee camp in northern Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces targeted the Jabalia camp Tuesday, saying they killed a top Hamas commander. But the strikes killed an unknown number of civilians and laid waste to parts of the camp. A nurse for Doctors Without Borders says young children arrived at the hospital with deep wounds and severe burns.

Al Jazeera says one of its employees lost 19 relatives alone in the strike on the Jabalia camp.

Israel is downplaying a document leaked from its intelligence ministry that proposes the relocation of millions of Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt. The document is dated October 13th, just six days after the Hamas terror attack on Israel. And it lays out three options for dealing with civilians in Gaza. One option caused the relocation of Gaza's civilian population to the northern Sinai, with the security perimeter to prevent them from entering Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu says it's a preliminary paper that has not been discussed in official circles.

But Egypt and Jordan have warned that any plan to remove Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank would escalate conflict in the region.

The European Union's top diplomat is speaking out against attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli settlers. Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell condemned the violence Tuesday, during talks with senior Arab officials in the Middle East. It comes amid news that the IDF demolished a house belonging to a senior Hamas leader in a village.

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