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Palestinian Officials: 9,000+ People Killed Inside Gaza; View Inside Jabalya Refugee Camp in Gaza; Gaza City Now Surrounded by Israeli Forces; Vienna Jewish Cemetery Building Burned, Defaced with Swastikas; Hezbollah Leader to Break His Silence with Public Speech; Families Desperate for News of Loved Ones Kidnapped by Hamas; House Passes Israel Aid, Setting Up Showdown with Senate. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 03, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Wherever you are around the world this hour, you're watching CNN's -- CNN's NEWSROOM has ongoing coverage of Israel's war with Hamas. I'm John Vause. It's just gone midnight here in Atlanta and 6 a.m. in Gaza, which is now divided in two by Israeli ground forces battling Hamas forces in the North.

[00:01:20]

Residents have been urged to evacuate to relative safety in the South.

And as dawn breaks, the Israeli military says Gaza City is completely surrounded. And in the past few hours, CNN crews report flares and explosions lighting up the night sky over Northern Gaza, around the city of Beit Hanoun, not far from the border with Israel.

So far, 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the military offensive, which is focused on locating and destroying Hamas tunnels networks, and eliminating explosives and other obstacles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. HERZI HALEVI, IDF CHIEF OF STAFF (through translator): Our soldiers have been operating in Gaza City for the past few days, surrounding it from several directions, deepening the operation. Our forces are in very significant areas of Gaza City.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: On Thursday, more than 20 Palestinians sheltering at U.N. schools were killed in Israeli air strikes, according to officials with the United Nations. And the death toll in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began 27 days ago has now passed 9,000, according to the Palestinian health ministry based in the West Bank, which is relying on information from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Well, the U.S. president has caused doubt on the accuracy of those numbers. He's warned Israel that a surging civilian death toll will cost international support. And the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has been sent back to the region to discuss U.S. concerns directly with Israeli officials. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimize harm to men, women, and children in -- in Gaza. And this is something that the United States is committed to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Scott McLean is live for us this hour, covering all of it from London. So Scott, right now, the Israeli forces are surrounding Gaza City, at least according to the IDF.

The Israeli prime minister is saying this is the height of the battle of what will be a long war. What is the very latest we know on those troop deployments? And exactly, you know, where does this go from here?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, John.

Yes, we know that the Israeli troops have entered Gaza from at least three places. Two in the North, one to the East. Or to the South. There are troops on the ground. There are tanks on the ground, as well.

Beyond that, it is difficult to know precisely where Israeli troops are. They're not saying much for obvious reasons, but as you pointed out, they say that they now have Gaza City completely surrounded.

You also mentioned the flares that we saw overnight. That -- those images were taken from Sderot, which is just Northeast, just to the Northeast corner of Gaza. And they show the town of Beit Hanoun, which is not as populated, not as densely populated as nearby Gaza City.

You can also see in that video what looks to be a smokescreen suggesting that perhaps Israeli troops are moving in that area, although again, it is difficult to know anything to be -- to be certain.

The IDF chief said yesterday that this dense urban environment requires troops to operate in a professional and courageous way, but the -- much of the outrage from the international community is focusing on the civilian death toll inside of Gaza.

The Palestinian Red Crescent says that more than 3,700 children alone have been killed since the outset of the war, and there are some 1,000, more than 1,000 children that are still reported missing under the rubble and presumed to be dead.

And just for comparison's sake, there are more than 500 children that have died in Ukraine since the outset of that conflict about a year and a half ago.

Now, Hamas's political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, put out a video statement yesterday, and in it, he suggested a comprehensive vision to end the war. That would include a cease-fire, a prisoner exchange, and a political path to a Palestinian state.

[00:05:09]

But that -- that bit about the cease-fire is a nonstarter for the Israelis. They say that this war ends only when Hamas is completely wiped out.

But, the Americans privately have been telling the Israelis that, look, there is limited time to carry out this operation before the public outrage over the civilian death toll in Gaza reaches a tipping point.

So now you have Antony Blinken headed to Israel, or on the ground in Israel already, perhaps, carrying that message to Israel. We know that the message about humanitarian aid, perhaps, is starting to work, because there have been more than 100 trucks allowed in yesterday. The question is whether the message on toning down the campaign and really trying to minimize civilian deaths will have an impact, as well, John.

VAUSE: We shall see. Scott McLean, live for us with the very latest, reporting in from London. Thank you.

For a third time in as many days, the biggest refugee camp in Gaza has been hit by an Israeli airstrike. The IDF has said the targets were Hamas leaders, as well as the militant group's tunnel built under the Jabalya camp.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has the very latest details. But first, a warning: the images of her report are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The victims of Jabalya, victimized yet again. Some of the survivors of Israel's bombardment took shelter here, a U.N. school, only to be cut down.

Desperate moments after an Israeli strike nearby shown on social media. This is one of four schools in Gaza impacted by strikes in a 24-hour period, the U.N. said, in total, housing some 20,000 displaced people, many of them, frightened young children.

"What did we do?" this boy cries. "We did nothing wrong."

The living conditions in these shelters are unbearable. But families come here for safety. That, too, is gone.

"Bring me my son. Bring me my son," this father screams. It's unclear if his child is dead or alive.

Three straight days of airstrikes in Jabalya have brought horror and bloodshed. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on the latest attacks.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas infrastructure in this densely populated residential area and says it killed a senior Hamas commander with its strike on Tuesday.

But with scores of civilians believed killed, the U.N. Human Rights Council warns what you see here are disproportionate attacks that could amount to a war crime.

Gazans don't understand why the world can't stop this. "We keep pulling out bodies: small children, women. It is a catastrophe," this man says. "If the countries of the world had any shame, we wouldn't be in this situation."

And more suffering is all but certain. Israeli troops are inching closer. And as ground forces, backed by near constant air raids, move towards central Gaza, the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians hang in the balance.

The IDF has warned all residents in the North of the strip to leave, an order deemed inhumane and impossible by the United Nations. So many remain in the crossfire.

"Where is the world?" this woman screams. "Our children are being torn up before our eyes."

And with the death toll mounting, pressure is growing on the U.S. and Israel to stem the violence.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: John Spencer is a retired U.S. Army major who's currently chair of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point's Modern Warfare Institute. He is also the author of a number of books, including "Connected Soldiers."

Thank you for being with us this hour from Colorado Springs. It's good to see you.

MAJ. JOHN SPENCER (RET.), CHAIR OF URBAN WARFARE STUDIES, MODERN WARFARE INSTITUTE: Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: I want you to listen to the chief of staff of the IDF with a few details on the Israeli ground operation ongoing in Gaza. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON (through translator): The forces continue to dismantle the front defense line of Hamas in Northern Gaza, and to take control of central areas. We continue to intensify our operation and to advance according to plan and to the targets that we've set.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: At this point, it seems Israeli ground forces are not taking and holding ground. How soon would you expect to see that happen? And when it does, will that make them more vulnerable as targets for Hamas militants?

SPENCER: I mean, everything I'm seeing right now is a very well- planned, deliberate attack involving moving forward slowly and deliberately, clearing those defensive lines with bulldozers and mine- clearing equipment to where they can do the first step in any large- scale common operation like this.

Like a city, like Gaza City, the first step is to isolate it: to surround it and cut it off, the enemy's ability to move in and out of the area.

[00:10:10]

I wouldn't say that they're not holding ground, not that that's their intention. Their intention is to clear ground. And they've cleared up to that point, actually, a lot faster than I thought they would.

VAUSE: So is this all pretty much going to plan? You know, they issued this evacuation order for the North of Gaza. A lot of residents follow that advice now in the South. They do seem to have a clear run at the moment.

SPENCER: Yes, absolutely. I mean, by -- every civilian casualty is a travesty. By all, really, measures of the history of urban warfare, the IDF have taken extraordinary steps. I mean, they evacuated 80 percent of that million. While the call was impossible was made after 24 hours, the IDF actually has taken four weeks to evacuate as much as possible and continues to call for the evacuation, because you want 100 percent of the civilians out of the combat area. Although that's never happened in the history of warfare.

VAUSE: Here's how "The Times of Israel" described what could be lying ahead for Israeli troops. "Taking Gaza City," they report, "will be a daunting task for Israel's military, whose aspirations of ousting the terror group will force soldiers to fight through the crowded urban labyrinth thought awash with bombs and booby traps and undercut by a vast network of tunnels used by terrorists to ambush or surprise troops."

Before Israel ordered that evacuation of Northern Gaza, the population density in parts of Gaza City was more than 500 people per 100 square meters. Many have left. Others, though, have stayed.

So given how deeply embedded Hamas is within the civilian population, both the infrastructure, the Hamas infrastructure, and the civilian infrastructure, is it possible to destroy Hamas without a painfully high number of civilian casualties? Even though many have left the area?

SPENCER: Absolutely not. Unfortunately, that is modern warfare. Despite all the laws of war that have been created since World War II. I can't point you to a seamless battle, not the battle of Fallujah, not the battle of Mosul, where you could say there is zero civilian casualties. You do everything you can to get all the civilians out. And like you said, that will be a long, bloody, destructive battle if

they move forward into Gaza City. Well, it will look like they indiscriminately leveled the city when they actually didn't. It's unfortunate, the nature of urban warfare.

I mean, even the civilian casualties that we're seeing now, if we believe in the reporting, is not unlike battles that we've seen even supported by the U.S.

VAUSE: On today, nine Israeli soldiers who were on the ground in the Jabalya refugee camp, which is just a few miles Northeast of Gaza city. They were killed when their armored vehicle was hit by an anti- tank missile, fired by Hamas fighters.

Not long after that, the camp was hit by an Israeli airstrike. It's been hit three times now. The death toll, and the devastation, has sparked outrage among Palestinians. Israel says the target was Hamas leader, as well as the tunnel infrastructure.

But my question is would their air strike have been ordered with this ground offensive also in mind? A big part of that camp has now been destroyed?

SPENCER: Yes, I mean, personally, understanding and having been to refugee camps in the West Bank and other, these are, -- they have been camps since 1948. These are cities.

Would that strike have happened? Absolutely. I think by all measures of the law, if that was the targets, the military target, even with the assessment of the intended damage, it could still be viewed as legal. And the greatest thing that can be done is to continue to encourage the civilians to leave the combat area.

VAUSE: Just very quickly, the Israeli airstrikes has cleared out a large part of their camp. And as you say, it's more of a city. It's cement cinder blocks and corrugated iron, that kind of stuff, which has, you know, grown up over 70 years or so.

But would that air strike have been part of the clearing operation, if you like, for these troops to get to Gaza City?

SPENCER: Absolutely. I mean, it's an intel-driven -- it seems more -- it sounds like an intel-driven strike, where a high-value military target, as in a commander and his soldiers in a underground bunker, and forward of the troops along the avenue of approach to achieve that strategic objective. To destroy all military capability of Hamas? Absolutely it would.

VAUSE: Major Spencer, thank you for your time. We've gone a little bit over, but thank you so much for being with us. Very much appreciate it, sir.

SPENCER: Thank you.

VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we get back, waves of foreign nationals now evacuating from Gaza. We'll hear from an American doctor who got out, and head of the aid group he works for.

Also, crossfire on a second front, fueling fears of an escalating conflict. The latest on fighting between Israel and Hezbollah based in Lebanon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:18:36]

VAUSE: Welcome back. Eighteen minutes past the hour.

The IDF reports an escalation in cross-border attacks is Israel's North, with increased rocket fire from Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and the Israeli military ramping up air strikes in response.

The exchange of fire is now at its highest level since the 2006 war between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group. Here's CNN's Jim Acosta [SIC] reporting in from the Golan Heights.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A rocket fired from Southern Lebanon sets the street on fire in Qiryat Shemona. Northern Israel suffered under one of the biggest barrages of rockets since the start of the war.

Our team witnessed the Iron Dome missile system intercept two incoming rockets, though at least one other caused substantial damage. In response, the Israeli military fired back at what it says is the culprit: Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah sits on a massive stockpile of rockets and missiles. Far bigger than that of Hamas. Numbering more than 100,000, many have the range and accuracy to strike deep into Israeli territory, including all the way to Tel Aviv.

And this is one sign of how seriously Israel is taking the Hezbollah threat. We watched Israeli Special Forces and tank units conduct a live-fire exercise, training to defend Israel in case of invasion from the North.

[00:20:00]

SCIUTTO: These are combined arms exercises, Israeli Special Forces, IDF Special Forces here. There's also two tanks involved in this. It is live fire. It's a major of the seriousness of which they're keeping their forces trained up, ready to go, if necessary, in the North.

But also, given that where within the site of Syria here, just a few miles from the Lebanon border. This is also a show of force to Iran's proxies in the region.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): A show of force perhaps, to this man, Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah. To his admirers in the Muslim world, he is a leader of the resistance, credited with forcing Israeli forces out of Southern Lebanon in 2000, after an 18-year occupation. To Israel, he is an existential threat on its Northern border. He will

address his followers and the world for the first time since the October 7th Hamas attacks. The question for many: will he order his forces to join the war against Israel more aggressively?

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS (RET.), FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: They have the capacity to do enormous damage, but I'm not certain that they really want to be on the receiving end of what Israel is going to send their way.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): The threat of escalation extends beyond Hezbollah. Yemen-based Houthi rebels also backed by Iran are firing long-range missiles at Israel from the Southeast. Another potential front in a war that would see Israel surround it.

Jim Sciutto, CNN, in the Golan Heights.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been 17 years since Hamas came to power in Gaza, and Israeli officials say the militant group has spent that time building rockets, training for war, and digging a complicated network of tunnels beneath the territory. And for Israeli ground troops, who are now said to have surrounded Gaza City, new public video from Hamas reveals the dangers they could be facing.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Hamas propaganda video shows its fighters emerge from underground tunnels in what appears to be the Northern outskirts of the most populated areas of Gaza. Hiding in the terrain, the Hamas soldiers fire away at Israeli units advancing into Gaza.

One video shows a Hamas soldier stalking an Israeli tank, running up next to it, and placing an explosive device on the machinery, then running away. Seconds later, the device detonates. The Hamas fighter then disappears into the ground through a trap door.

A political leader of Hamas spoke this week about the tunnel's vital role in the Hamas military strategy.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

"We have built the tunnels," he says, "because we have no other way of protecting ourselves from being targeted and killed. These tunnels," he says, "are meant to protect us from the airplanes. We are fighting from inside the tunnels."

While Israel has released thousands of airstrikes across Gaza since October 7th, Hamas is also trying to show off its air strike capabilities. It released this video of a munitions strike dropped from a drone over Israeli soldiers. It's not clear how many casualties it inflicted on the Israel defense force. Several soldiers could be seen running away from the site.

The Israel defense forces released this Hamas propaganda video, which captures the elaborate maze of tunnels, which stretch for dozens of miles underneath Gaza. The militant organization uses the tunnels to store weapons, and to launch airstrikes toward Israel.

Veteran Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar has reported on Hamas for decades. He says the underground tunnels are known as the Gaza Metro.

SHLOMI ELDAR, JOURNALIST: They are hiding their. They've spent billions of dollars. They've built houses, tunnels, paths, and venues. It is a project. It's a huge project.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Israel says dismantling the tunnels is the only way to dismantle Hamas.

Ed Lavandera, Tel Aviv, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The past 27 days have been especially deadly for journalists in Gaza. On Thursday, a reporter with Palestine TV was killed when he returned home just moments after filing a live report.

Mohammad Abu Hattab and 11 members of his family were all killed in an Israeli airstrike, according to his news organization.

CNN has been unable to independently confirm the source of the explosion at Hattab's home, and there's been no comment from the IDF.

Hattab's death sent shockwaves through his NEWSROOM. Here's how one colleague reported the story on air.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): No protection, no international protection at all, no immunity to anything. This protection gear does not protect us, not those helmets. These are just slogans that we are wearing. It doesn't protect any journalist at all. This protection here does not protect us, we are only wearing slogans.

[00:25:12]

We are victims here, live on air. We lose souls one after another, without any price, we pass as martyrs. We await our turn, one after the other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 36 journalists have been killed since the conflict began on October 7th.

As we go to break here on CNN, this is the scene of Gaza right now, at 25 minutes past six. Israeli soldiers are said to be on the ground ahead of -- surrounding Gaza City, ahead of what could be a massive ground operation at some point. The Israeli prime minister says it will be a long war. And it's now at the height of the battle.

Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Coming up to 29 minutes past the hour. Welcome back.

Friday classes at New York's Cornell University have been canceled in the wake of a heated debate over the Israel-Hamas war on college campuses across the U.S.

In a statement, Cornell said, "In recognition of the extraordinary stress of the past few weeks, Friday will be a community day." Police have increased presence on campus, amid a growing number of threats, many aimed at the 22 percent of students who are Jewish.

Twenty-one-year-old student Patrick Dai faces federal charges for a series of online posts threatening to kill and harm Jewish students.

In both the U.S. and Europe, there's been a rise in antisemitism since Israel declared war on Hamas. And in Austria, an attack at a Jewish cemetery has brought back disturbing reminders from a truly horrific chapter from the past. Here's CNN's Frederik Pleitgen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[00:30:03]

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Valuable torah scrolls and prayer books reduced to ashes after an arson attack on this ceremonial hall in the Jewish part of Vienna's main cemetery. The last time this very hall was set on fire was almost, to the day, 85 years ago by the Nazis on Kristallnacht, chief Rabbi Jaron Engelmayer tells me.

PLEITGEN: How big is the damage, not just -- not just in terms of the room itself, but spiritually for you, for the Jewish community?

RABBI JARON ENGELMAYER, CHIEF RABBI OF THE IKG VIENNA: I think it takes us back to times when the books were burned. And it is an attack on the spiritual values of the religion and of humanity, which happened here.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): A swastika on the outer wall leaves few questions about the antisemitic nature of the attack.

ENGELMAYER: It should worry us, all of the people in the free world about what's going on. In the streets right now, and those attacks are just the top of the -- what's going on.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Since Hamas's October 7th attack on Southern Israel -- murdering more than 1400 people and kidnapping hundreds -- and Israel's military response in Gaza, which has also caused many casualties, antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed by about 300 percent in Austria, the head of Vienna's Jewish community tells me. OSKAR DEUTSCH, HEAD OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF VIENNA: We were

anxious. We are -- People are thinking about their life. The first thinking is, is Jewish life possible in Austria. The second thinking is, is Jewish life possible in Europe or in the world?

PLEITGEN (voice-over): With pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demos sweeping across the continent, Jewish groups say antisemitism is not only getting more prevalent, but uglier.

From plastering stars of David on Jewish homes in Paris, to a Molotov cocktail attack on one of the main synagogues in Berlin, and near- daily assaults and insults in various European countries.

Today, just hours after the cemetery attack, Vienna's Jewish community hosted Israelis whose relatives were killed or kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th.

Tal Yeshurun's family, four murdered, seven kidnapped. Tal lives in Europe, but while he's publicly advocating for the hostages, in everyday life, he feels he has to hide his Jewish identity.

TAL YESHURUN, RELATIVE OF OCTOBER 7TH VICTIMS: Not to be associated with anything written in Hebrew, not to speak Hebrew. Not to go to places that are considered Jewish, like a synagogue or things like that.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): While many European leaders have come out strongly against the rising tide of antisemitism, the head of the European Jewish Association says it's not enough.

RABBI MENACHEM MARGOLIN, CHAIRMAN, EUROPEAN JEWISH ASSOCIATION: We know exactly when we are in danger. And we are now in dangerous. We need leaders. We need you right now to act. "Never again" is now. Not tomorrow, not next week. It's now.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): But as much as there is fear, there's also a sense of defiance. Rabbi Engelmayer himself painting over the Nazi slurs on the cemetery wall, eager to show his Jewish community will not be intimidated by antisemitic attacks.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Vienna.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And a Muslim-American advocacy group is reporting close to 400 percent increase in Islamophobic incidents since the October 7th Hamas attacks.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations says it has recorded nearly 800 incidents targeting Muslims, Palestinians, and Arabs across the United States.

The White House announced plans on Wednesday for a national strategy to counter Islamophobia. Still, many Muslim-American groups have denounced what they say is President Biden's pro-Israel stance since the conflict began. With that, we'll take a short break. In a moment, an upcoming address

from the leader of Hezbollah, who's been unusually quiet since the start of Israel's war with Hamas. Even though his forces have been exchanging fire with the Israelis. More on that in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:37:23]

VAUSE: Hassan Nasrallah has been unusually silent in recent weeks. But now the leader of Hezbollah is expected to make his first public remarks since fighting erupted in Israel and Hamas last month.

Many from the United States to Israel will be watching for any signs of the Iran-backed militant group's intentions. More now from CNN's Ben Wedeman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The message on clips circulating on social media, ambiguous. But ominous. They're stoking anticipation for a televised speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, scheduled for Friday afternoon.

Daily, since the 8th of October, Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire across the border. It's not a full-blown war, yet.

KARIM EMILE BITAR, PROFESSOR: I feel a sense of doom in Lebanon.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Professor Karim Bitar has lived through all his country's travails.

BITAR: Some of them are afraid that we might be on the verge of the apocalypse. So I have never seen this much tension in this country.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Tensions rising higher Thursday afternoon and evening with the heaviest bombardment yet, both sides of the border.

WEDEMAN: Hezbollah's leader has been unusually quiet since the war broke out in Gaza, but his allies in Iran have made it clear. If Israel crosses red lines in its operations against Hamas, new fronts could open.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): And what are those red lines?

AMAL SAAD, CARDIFF UNIVERSITY: These red lines for Hezbollah, Hamas leadership, Hamas remaining intact as an organization, and of course, the Palestinian people themselves preventing another Nakba from occurring, are Hezbollah's red lines. They are also Iran's red lines. They are Hamas and Islamic Jihad's red lines. They're everyone's red lines in the resistance axis.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): The Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe, is when, in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in what is now Israel. As the fighting in Gaza intensifies, and the civilian death toll

soars, the prospect of regional war looms. And that could spell disaster for Lebanon, a country already in a state of economic collapse and political paralysis.

MAHA YAHYA, DIRECTOR, MALCOLM H. KERRY CARNEGIE MIDDLE EAST CENTER: A war with Israel would literally send the country back, not to the stone ages, but pre-stone ages, probably, unfortunately. It's -- it's not something that the country, it would take ages to recover from.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): On Beirut's Corniche, 70-year-old retired bank employee Beson (ph) waits for the fish to bite.

[00:40:08]

"Nobody knows what's going to happen," he tells me. "Everyone is worried. The situation is not reassuring.

The sea appears calm, but a storm may be coming.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN, more than 200 hostages are still being held in Gaza, amid an escalating Israeli ground offensive, with their families now desperate for any news, CNN's Lynda Kinkade sat down with three Israelis. More than a dozen family members abducted. The youngest is a 13-year-old girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Of all the family members that have been taken hostage by Hamas, the youngest is just three years old. What are your hopes for the coming days, the coming weeks in terms of getting news of your loved ones?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you see the innocence of someone who has her, literally her whole life ahead of her, and then you try to imagine where she is now, under a tunnel, at gunpoint. She's 3 years old. We are at a point where any news is good news.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And we'll have that full interview for you next hour, coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM.

In the meantime, I'm John Vause. WORLD SPORT is up next for our viewers on CNN International. For those watching here in the United States, as well as on CNN Max, I'll be back with a lot more news after a very short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:45:42] VAUSE: For a second day, hundreds of foreign nationals have arrived in Egypt from Gaza. Egyptian officials at the Southern Rafah crossing say more than 340 were allowed over the border on Thursday, as part of a deal brokered by Qatar.

According to the White House, 74 Americans were among them, as well as two doctors with the Palestine Children's Relief Fund. They also arrived in Egypt on Wednesday. The doctors had arrived in Gaza the day before the Hamas October 7th attack on Israel and says she has mixed emotions about leaving.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BARBARA ZIND, PEDIATRICIAN & VOLUNTEER PALESTINE CHILDREN'S RELIEF FUND: I'm doing pretty well. I think I'm in a halo, just relieved to be here, but just feeling awful for the devastation that the Gaza people are going through right now. There's really no safe place for the Gazan people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Steve Sosebee is founder and president of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund. He is with us now from Kent, Ohio.

Thank you for being with us. We really appreciate your time, Steve.

STEVE SOSEBEE, FOUNDER/PRESIDENT, PALESTINE CHILDREN'S RELIEF FUND: My pleasure.

VAUSE: Right now I imagine there's both this sense of relief with both doctors, now with PCRF out of Gaza. Is it difficult, though, to describe this as good news, given the humanitarian crisis they're leaving behind?

SOSEBEE: Well, it's good news for Barb and for Ramona, and they deserve it. They suffered a lot during the several weeks that they were in Gaza.

But of course, they're just two out of 2.2 million people that are all still in Gaza, and living under this terrible circumstance or situation of bombings and food shortages, and the lack of clean water. And that includes over 40 members of our staff who are all, you know, trying to survive. And you know, there are no safe places in Gaza right now.

And the conditions on the ground there are getting worse every single, day. We were just actually on the phone with our cancer department. We built a pediatric oncology department in Gaza, the first and only department that serves children in Gaza. We were just talking to them, and there were bombs going off all around the hospital.

So you can imagine the terror for those children and the number of casualties that are being inflicted every single day there. Over 100 children are being killed in Gaza every single day from bombs dropping on their homes, on hospitals, on churches, on mosques, schools.

And we're quite concerned with the people and the welfare of the people on the ground there.

VAUSE: You mentioned the conditions that they were living under. And Barbara spoke to CNN about those conditions. Essentially what she had been dealing with for almost a month now. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZIND: It has been scary in the last two weeks. We kept running out of water. And that was water to flush the toilet. We always were fortunate to have drinking water, which is not true of the Gazans that were just outside the fence from us. They were running out of drinking water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: She also tells CNN the situation in Gaza is like a Medieval siege.

So what is your frustration and also the anxiety knowing that -- you know, doctors and your colleague were in danger. They were sleeping in a parking lot. And for the most part, there wasn't a lot you could do. And it seems there wasn't a lot the U.S. State Department could do, as well.

SOSEBEE: I think the State Department probably could have done more. We give Egypt and Israel billions of dollars every, year I'm sure there is some leverage that could have been exercised to get them out.

But I won't talk about that right now. I will say on your first point it was very frustrating for us, because you know, we care very much about Barbara and Ramona. We're responsible for them. And, you know, they are -- they were in a very difficult situation, not only with a lack of food and clean water as Barb mentioned, and a place to sleep.

But also, you know, there were constant explosions and bombings around them. And in addition to that, there were thousands of people who were desperate to get into the U.N. compound, and to find at least some sense of security being around foreigners, that maybe they were safe, as there are no other safe places in Gaza. So we were quite concerned, and we're very fortunate they did get out.

VAUSE: You mentioned the death toll among children, and UNICEF issued a statement regarding -- civilian casualties in Gaza. It reads, in part, More than 8,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 3,400 children, with over 6,300 children injured. This means that more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza every day, a number which should shake each of us to our core."

As someone who founded an organization specifically to help children in Gaza, how do you process that? And are you hoping, is there any reason to hope that Israel will agree to some kind of humanitarian pause soon?

SOSEBEE: Well, it's very hard to process that a human being, let alone somebody who's worked in Gaza for over 30 years. And I know the people there and have great admiration and respect for the Gaza people. I've never been treated with anything but kindness and hospitality by the people of Gaza.

[00:50:12]

And despite their circumstances for so many years, we've treated thousands of children who have suffered these kinds of casualties and trauma injuries over the years. But we've never seen anything quite like this.

And it is extremely concerning for us as an organization, for me as a human being, to see the kind of casualties and suffering that's been imposed on the children in Gaza.

You mentioned 3,500, 3400 children have been killed so far. That's not including over 1,000 children who are buried under rubble from these bombings and homes and residences, and churches and so on, and schools, mosques, and so on.

Those children, there's many of them who are buried alive and who are slowly dying. It's just an unimaginable -- you mentioned the word medieval. I don't even think that that's an accurate description, because we're not in medieval times. This is 2023. There's no excuse for civilized countries or anybody on this planet today, dropping bombs on the homes, or on the residences of families with innocent children.

Am I hopeful, is there a sense of hope? No, not at this point. There isn't. Because we've seen images of kids being pulled out and kids who have had these horrific injuries by the thousands.

And there's been no effort by anyone to put a stop to it, not the least of which is the United States government. So we're hoping. We're hoping there will be some form of ceasefire and that there will be a chance for at least the civilian population to get some kind of protection, and humanitarian aid, which is desperately needed.

VAUSE: It has never been this bad before. And as I say, there's still reason to hope. It does seem slim.

Steve, good to have you with us. Thank you so much. And we are very relieved that, you know, the two doctors are out. That is some good news.

SOSEBEE: Thank you.

VAUSE: U.S. House has passed a $14 billion aid stand-alone bill for Israel. But the Senate is refusing to take up the bill, and the White House is threatening a veto.

CNN's Melanie Zanona reports now from the capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the House passed a $14 billion aid package for Israel, but they passed it mostly along party lines. The final vote tally was 12 Democrats voted in support of the bill,

and two Republicans voted against it. So really, an example here of how partisan even a non-partisan issue has become here in Washington.

And the reason why Democrats were against this bill is because of the new speaker, Mike Johnson, and the way he decided to put this bill together.

First of all, he decided to exclude Ukraine money. That's something that has been a priority for the White House, but it has become divisive in the House Republican conference.

And second of all, Johnson decided to include partisan cuts to the IRS as part of this package. He wanted to pay for this measure. He didn't want just a straightforward emergency supplemental, which is really unusual. Typically, those types of bills are not conditioned upon anything.

So that is one of the reasons why the White House has issued a veto threat for this bill. It is going nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate. And one Democrat, Jared Moskowitz, who did vote in support of that bill in the House, even he was unhappy with how it all came together.

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): I'm willing to give anybody the benefit of the doubt when they come into a leadership position. This was it. This was his first full week, first big vote, national security issues to the American people, a national security issue for Israel, a No. 1 ally. And he played politics for it so that he could send out a political mailer.

ZANONA: So the House and Senate really on a collision course here And, meanwhile, the prospects for Ukraine funding are also very much in doubt.

Speaker Mike Johnson has said that he would try to pass a Ukraine aid package at some point in the near future, but only if it includes stricter border security measures, something that is sure to set off a fight with Democrats.

And so at this moment, I'm just really uncertain how this is all going to play out.

Melanie Zanona, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Almost four weeks ago, Hamas carried out the deadliest terror attack in Israeli history, leaving entire communities devastated, as well as taking 242 hostages, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Many of those friends and family of those hostages are remaining hopeful that their loved ones will remain home safely. And they told that to CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Here in Tel Aviv, family and friends come to honor and raise awareness missing and held hostage by Hamas.

But some families don't have anyone to speak for them.

SHIRI GROSBARD, FAMILY FRIEND: I'm here on behalf of the Trupanov (ph) family, basically because there's no one else left from the family to stand up for them. Honestly, I couldn't bear it. These are just good, honest people.

BLITZER: Every member of Trupanov (ph) family was killed or kidnapped from Nir Oz kibbutz on October 7th, according to Israeli officials.

GROSBARD: This is grandmother Irina, Irina Tati (ph). She's a pediatrician, a children's doctor. I know that, you know, if there are kids there, she's taking care of them.

[00:55:02]

This is Lena (ph). Lena (ph) is the mother. Lena (ph). We saw her on the video that Hamas released three days ago.

BLITZER: So you know she's alive?

GROSBARD: We know she's alive. Sasha (ph) is Lena's (ph) son. He's 27. His birthday is up in nine days. Sasha (ph) is a brilliant young engineer. And he had his girlfriend, Zapi (ph). They recently moved in together. And she was with him, visiting his parents for the weekend.

BLITZER (voice-over): Vitaly (ph), Sasha's (ph) father, and Elena's (ph) husband, can't speak for his family. He was murdered by Hamas.

GROSBARD: His body was found ten days later, after October 7th, right at the outskirts of Gaza.

BLITZER (voice-over): Grosbard told us that the Trupanovs (ph) have no other relatives in Israel. They moved here more than 25 years ago after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

GROSBARD: There's a saying in Hebrew, and we say (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE), which basically means that we stand up for each other, and also a third generation Holocaust survivors. Something about this story I couldn't bear it.

BLITZER (voice-over): Shiri Grosbard worked with Sasha (ph) and grew up in a different kibbutz. Since the terror attacks, she's been volunteering at the family farm to raise awareness about the Trupanovs' (ph) story.

GROSBARD: When you live in a kibbutz, and everyone's your family.

BLITZER (voice-over): The Nir Oz kibbutz was hit particularly hard. Out of the 400 people living there October 7th, it is believed dozens were killed, and kidnapped. GROSBARD: I think in a lot of people's minds, they're moving to --

towards the situation and what's happening right now with Gaza with the military and everything. And we're still here. They're still there. And we need to keep speaking up.

BLITZER: Are you at all hopeful that these people will come home?

GROSBARD: I'm 100 percent sure. We're not having it any other way. These are our people. Of course we're bringing them home. One hundred percent.

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VAUSE: Our thanks to CNN's Wolf Blitzer for that report.

I'm John Vause. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I will be back with more news after a very short break. You're watching CNN. Back in a moment.

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