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Israel Resumes Gaza Military Operation As Truce Ends; NYT: Israel Knew Hamas's Attack Plan More Than A Year Ago; Noa Argamani Held Hostage Since October 7. Dying Mother Pleads for Daughter's Release by Hamas; Israel Resumes Gaza Military Operation as Truce Ends; Qatar Playing Important Role as Mediator; Inside Israeli Hospital Treating Some Freed Hostages. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired December 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)

[01:00:23]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm John Vause at CNN in Atlanta.

We begin with breaking news from Gaza where Israel says military operations have resumed after a deadline to extend a seven day long truce expired an hour ago, dashing hopes for the release of more hostages being held by Hamas. According to the IDF, Hamas violated the truce by firing a rocket towards Israeli territory an hour before the deadline, it was intercepted by Israeli air defenses. Hamas officials in Gaza report Israeli aircraft now over Gaza with the sound of artillery fire in the north. The operational pause was extended on Thursday after last minute deal, and despite Israel's demand for 10 hostages released daily, Hamas released eight. According to an Israeli official, two women were set free initially followed by another six just hours later, who were being held in a separate location in Gaza.

Also Thursday, another 30 Palestinian women and children were released from Israeli prisons as part of the agreement with Hamas. Many had been held under administrative detention and had never officially been charged. There is also new reporting from the "New York Times" that Israel knew a year ago about how Hamas plan to carry out its deadly attack. While the actual date was not known, details in the intelligence report was stunningly accurate, but ultimately dismissed by Israeli officials as aspirational and not operational.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us live from Ashkelon in southern Israel with the very latest. So, what do we know about the ongoing military offensive in Gaza by the Israelis? And is there any word on what Hamas is doing in response?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- the war between Israel and Hamas appears to be very much back on reports of Israeli airstrikes in northern and southern Gaza as well as rocket fire from Hamas air -- targeting areas of southern Israel. In the last several minutes we have seen multiple rocket sirens sounding in different parts of southern Israel, including the town of Sderot as well as areas further south, excuse me, closer to the Kerem Shalom crossing where of course over the last week we have seen as over 100 hostages have been, freed many of them through that very border crossing. We have seen, of course, that this deal has not only seen the release of hostages, but it's also seen hundreds of trucks of aid per day enter the Gaza Strip, and a much needed pause in the fighting and a much needed respite from the relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip for civilians living in Gaza. All of that appears to now be over, as the Israeli military says that Hamas violated the operational pause by firing rockets before that 07:00 a.m. deadline actually hits and saying that the IDF has, quote, "resumed combat operations against Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip." The Palestinian Ministry of Interior for its part Hamas controlled saying that Israeli strikes have resumed in areas across Gaza.

And now the question is will this war widen even beyond what we have seen already so far? For weeks now, Israeli military and political leaders have signaled very strongly that the next phase of this war would involve pushing ground operations further south, into the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Until now, while the Israeli military has been bombing across all parts of Gaza, the ground component has really been focused on the northern half of the Gaza Strip, but we could see that escalate now. And we know that both Israel and Hamas had made clear that if this -- if and when rather this pause in fighting ended, that both sides would very much return to the fight.

VAUSE: Jeremy, I guess the question is, what -- do we know what's happening in Doha right now with regards to these hostage negotiations? This may be impossible to answer. So, sorry for you on the spot. But those negotiations had been ongoing. For some time, they'd been quite successful.

At one point, they were quite optimistic that maybe this truce could be extended for, you know, another couple of days at the very least. Are those negotiations now pretty much done? Is there any hope that maybe they could resume at some point? I guess the question is, is this really the end of any hope of any further pauses or any, you know, temporary truce in the fighting? Are you back now to where we were seven days ago with a full on military confrontation?

DIAMOND: No, I don't think it's the end of the framework for negotiating a potential additional pauses in the fighting. But for all intents and purpose is this current pause that we have seen over the last week is definitely over. The question now is what would prompt a return to that fragile truce that we saw between Israel and Hamas? Would it be getting back to that original deal of women and children along the same framework in exchange for three Palestinian prisoners for every one Israeli hostage, release the same kind of pause in fighting, the entry of a truck? Or are we looking at an entirely different framework?

[01:05:33]

We know that there were efforts over the last 24, 48 hours to try and continue extending this pause both with the Secretary of State Tony Blinken here in Israel, but also with American, Israeli, Egyptian, Qatari intelligence officials, all getting together in Doha, Qatar to see if they could potentially extend that truce. Clearly those efforts failed in the last hours to try and get an extension past that 07:00 a.m. local time deadline. But we also know that there have been conversations about widening that deal to look at the men and the Israeli soldiers who are being held in Gaza as well. Israeli government officials know that releasing those individuals will come at a much, much higher price. And they have also made clear that they believe that the fighting, that the going on the attack against Hamas would effectively help to try and lower that price by raising the pressure on Hamas.

So, the Israeli prime minister has made clear, he sees the war as part of the negotiating strategy to get those Israelis out of Gaza. The question now is whether or not that will actually work.

VAUSE: Jeremy, we appreciate the reporting. Jeremy Diamond there live in Ashkelon in southern Israel. And again, we'll get back to you should the situation change. Suddenly, we appreciate you being there.

We go over to Washington now. And joining us live is retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and CNN Military Analyst Cedric Leighton. Colonel, good to see you as always. Thanks for being with us.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to be with you, John.

VAUSE: So, I was listening to you earlier, you were talking about this rocket, this missile, which was fired about an hour before the deadline. There was some kind of warning shot by Hamas. Now that we've had about an hour, two hours or so to sort of assess what's happened, what do you think that was all about?

LEIGHTON: Yes, I think it was definitely, you know, a signal from Hamas that they were ready to go back to fighting and, you know, kind of a five sign signal, if you will. But this is -- you know, it was small gesture, in essence, but in some ways, you know, one can almost look at it as a provocation to Israel that Hamas was sending their way and the Israelis have apparently responded based on what we're seeing. So, right now, it looks as if this is, you know, the next phase of this operation, which will have, I think, some repeats of what we saw earlier in the first phase of the operation, which concentrator on Northern Gaza, for the most part.

VAUSE: My sources have told me that essentially the plan now for the Israelis, at least, for the short term, is that they still have targets that they want to hit in northern Gaza. They're not done there yet. And they will stay there for some period of time before moving into southern Israel. And that's when it gets really tricky. Because we've heard from the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in the region on Thursday, he spoke with Netanyahu.

He then also talked to reporters afterwards about this plan about civilian protection zones. I think we have the sound from the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, this is what he told -- we do? No, we do not. He basically told Benjamin Netanyahu that before they begin this next phase of the operation, they want civilian protection plans put in place, they do not want to repeat of the first seven weeks of this war, which ended up with a death toll of mostly civilians, somewhere around 15,000, with every second home in Gaza, pretty much destroyed. But is that going to be possible?

LEIGHTON: I don't think so. And that's where I think there's a real danger in meeting expectations. So on the one hand, the U.S. will have expectations that there will be these civilian protection zones. On the other hand, the Israelis are dealing with their military imperatives. I know they've set the operational goal of destroying Hamas, especially its political and military leadership.

And with that said, I -- the way Hamas is interspersed itself into the civilian population, it becomes very, very difficult to surgically target something like that, even with the best kinds of weapons and also with the best of intentions. Plus, you also need really good intelligence to do that. So, what I'm going to -- you know, what I believe we will see here, I think is not necessarily a repeat of exact repeat of what happened before but it's going to be very difficult proposition for them. When they go into the north it's, you know, as you mentioned it's very much a damaged area with at least 50 percent of all structures have been destroyed or severely damaged. And there are very few things that are left to target, there are some things, and they'll definitely take care of those.

[01:10:18]

But then, you know, it will become imperative for the Israelis to move on to the central part and then to the south. And when they do that, I think it's going to be a situation where there are going to be a lot of casualties, unfortunately.

VAUSE: We're also learning that as of this hour, those negotiations in Doha, in Doha in Qatar, which are being brokered by Qatari officials, are in fact ongoing. So clearly, there's been an impasse, and both sides have gone back and to carry out the threats that they would resume fighting, should they be no agreement? Is it -- once this fighting ramps up, is it possible, I guess, to just call it, you know, to ramp it down again and back off? I mean, is this sort of maybe this is a false start, we could be into this for a couple of hours, possibly, and then they could go back to this temporary pause in fighting? Are those scenarios on the table here?

LEIGHTON: I think they are. I think they -- all kinds of things are possible. But you know, the first course would be that, you know, potentially, everything fails, and they actually go full bore into combat operations. But what I'm seeing right now seems to be, you know, kind of a tepid movement forward on the part of the Israelis because of that fact that you just mentioned that those negotiations are ongoing in Qatar and that they will continue until they achieve some kind of a result or they break off completely. So I think that it's very possible that we may see something of a pause in the action in the next few hours or the next day or so, that is definitely possible.

The other course, of course, is that it couldn't be, you know, something that, you know, is irretrievably broken, and that things will go into a very bad spiral. But I am cautiously actually somewhat hopeful that there will be some pause in the fighting in the next day or so. But we'll see what happens.

VAUSE: Yes, exactly. I mean, that sort of at this point is the least bad outcome. And so there's all this, it's -- you know, that's what would be in everybody's best interest, I guess, at this point, especially for the hostages, because while the fighting is ongoing there will be no release of any more hostages from Gaza.

I want to ask you about this report from "New York Times," which came out a couple of hours ago that Israel knew pretty much every detail, every battle plan about -- every detail about this attack on October 7 that Hamas was planning. And they knew it a year ago, a year before the attack happened. They didn't know the date, but the details was stunningly accurate from this 40 page document, which was put together by intelligence officials. So it wasn't an intelligence failure, it's more of a failure to, you know, connect the dots, if you like.

I raised this because if they go into the second stage of this war, other concerns that, you know, they've underestimated Hamas, you know, in some kind of way once they're on this ground offensive. Because that's why it is so important that Israel works out where it went wrong in the initial stage and why that October 7 attack happened, because now they're involved in a very dangerous and potentially costly ground war in Gaza, which could go on for quite some time.

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's definitely a possibility. And it's very clear from what happened on the seventh of October that Hamas is undergone a lot of preparation, their execution of their plan was very good. I and it was, you know, from a military standpoint, and it was something that they did with precision, they did it, you know, by their standards very professionally, and it was highly organized. So, that indicates that there is a degree of discipline within the Hamas fighters that perhaps the Israelis haven't counted on. And that could, that could present some difficulties, especially if they move into other areas of Gaza.

Now, of course, no plan is, you know, always successful, you know, in warfare, and it's very possible that their discipline that they exhibited on the seventh of October will fall apart once they actually make a lot of contact with IDF forces. But the Israelis have to be at least prepared for a more disciplined foe, and that is something that could change the equation in some tactical engagements. I think Israel would still prevail in a force on force type scenario. But this war is more about the ideology, and in essence, the popular sentiment as opposed to a actual force on force type issues.

VAUSE: Colonel, as always great to have you with us. Thank you for staying up late. It's quarter past one there in D.C. So, your time, sir, is very much appreciated. We'll be keeping an eye on what's happening in Gaza right now. We'll be looking at those live images where it is just going on 14 minutes past eight. We'll continue to watch what's happening there.

[01:15:11]

With that in mind, let's go down to Washington, D.C., Alex Marquardt. CNN's Alex Marquardt is standing by. And Alex, we understand those negotiations have not completely entirely broken down, that there's still some hope that they will continue. So what's your reporting right now on where things stand with regards to these negotiations?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're told that the negotiations are continuing that they will continue despite what we're seeing tonight, in terms of an official Israeli declaration of a resumption in the fighting. We haven't seen, John, any kind of official statement from any of the parties involved that talks have officially broken down. And so, what it looks like now is that rather than going into an eighth day of pause and an eighth day of hostage release, Israel appears to have decided that Hamas has come up short. Remember that over the course of the past seven days, and it's really quite remarkable that it has lasted this long, Hamas had agreed to release at least 10 hostages per day, they actually ended up releasing more than that. But for whatever reason, and we're still trying to figure that out, Hamas did not offer up a list of 10 people that Israel appears to have found acceptable.

And so now, we see this resumption of the fighting. Of course, earlier in the night and early local time, we did see a rocket flying out of Gaza towards Israel that was intercepted. So, John, the question had been at what point would this pause and it now does appear to have ended after a week. But the Biden administration and other parties involved in these hostage talks had said that those new negotiations would continue. So even amid the fighting, now we're essentially back to a pre pause situation where the fighting will continue. We of course, don't know how aggressive it's going to be, how widespread it's going to be.

But the expectation is that the conversations will continue over these hostages, mediated by Egypt and Qatar, who are in touch with Hamas. And of course, Israel and the U.S. are pivotal players as well.

VAUSE: Yes, absolutely. Alex, we heard from the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken who was in the region on Thursday, and, you know, the other half of these humanitarian pauses or operation pauses, whatever you call them, was the entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, which is so desperately needed right now. Blinken was talking about, you know, ramping that -- those aid convoys up to get more help to the people of Gaza because right now they're basically boiling rocks for soup, if they're lucky. If this fighting then ramps up, that obviously then makes getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza a whole lot harder. So where do things stand with that?

MARQUARDT: It does make it a whole lot harder. You're absolutely right, John. Blinken was saying that they really wanted to see this pause extended both to get more hostages out but also to make it easier for aid to get in and be distributed. Now the U.S. is saying that regardless of what happens or had said before this outbreak in the fighting, renewed outbreak and the fighting, that regardless of what happened that the aid would continue and that they had assurances from Israel that this aid would continue. So the expectation is that food, fuel, medicine, water will continue going into the Gaza strip from the Rafah crossing in Egypt. But John with fighting, it's obviously going to be extremely difficult not just to get in but to be distributed. So that is the big concern here. But the top line is that the U.S. sought assurances from Israel, that regardless of what happened with the hostages and with the fighting that this aid would continue, which is so desperately needed. You have the majority of the Gazan population that is now displaced. They have been getting aid in during this pause in the fighting, but everybody you talk to on the ground whether it's a regular citizen or an aid worker will tell you that it's not nearly enough, so much more is needed.

VAUSE: Alex, thank you for staying up at this late hour there in Washington, D.C. We appreciate the very latest reporting you have done on those negotiations, as well. Alex Marquardt live for us. Thank you, sir.

With that, we'll take a short break of news about the end to the temporary pause in fighting in Gaza. We'll continue in a moment. Right now it's coming up in 19 minutes past the hour on a Friday morning there. The live view from the Israel Gaza border. We will continue to watch this scene there.

We'll see how this plays out. Back in the moment with more of our breaking news. You're watching CNN.

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[01:23:23]

VAUSE: Welcome back. It is 23 minutes past eight on a Friday morning. This is the live view on the Israel Gaza border. You're looking at Gaza where Israel says military operations have now resumed after Hamas. This is according to the Israelis, violated the truce agreement by not releasing the full 10 Israeli hostages which was agreed to on Thursday. By also firing a rocket an hour before the truce was set to expire.

Just over two hours ago, that rocket was launched from Gaza into southern Israel. It was intercepted by Israeli air defenses. It is a day of prayer for many Palestinians, it is the Sabbath, a day of peace in Israel but it will not be that way in the coming hours in Gaza with these military offensive now resuming.

It is also bad news for many hostages who are currently being held by Hamas in Gaza. Noa Argamani is a young Israeli woman who's one of those hostages. She was kidnapped October 7. Her mother has stage four brain cancer, and in this video she pleads for her daughter to come home. We should note, the family have requested we show it to you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIORA ARGAMANI, MOTHER OF HOSTAGE NOA ARGAMANI (through translator): I have cancer, brain cancer. I don't know how long I have left. I wish for the chance to see my Noa, at home.

Noa, I want to tell you if I don't get to see you, please that I love you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The abduction of Noa on that day was seen around the world when images were posted on social media unforgettable images. Now almost two months later those images are still difficult to watch. She was at the Nova musical festival in southern Israel when her boyfriend -- with her boyfriend, rather, when Hamas militants stormed across the Gaza border, both were taken hostage.

[01:25:14]

Noa was last seen carried away on a motorcycle. Hundreds of others, mostly young people who attended that festival were murdered.

With us now from the Shiva in southern Israel is Shlomit Marciano, a close friend of the Argamani family. Shlomit, thank you so much for being with us. How's Noa's mom?

SHLOMIT MARCIANO, FRIEND OF ARGAMANI FAMILY: Thank you.

VAUSE: How's the health doing? The stress right now can't be doing her any good. How's she doing?

MARCIANO: You know, it's a terrible situation for her. She's very sick. But I'm with the family a lot in the last few days when she seen the women being released. I think she actually looks better. I think she has a lot of hopes.

Actually, yesterday, she told us prepare the room now, he's coming back tomorrow. But you know, this ceasefire has broken, we're very disappointed.

VAUSE: There is still hope that the fighting may once again be put on hold because those negotiations are continuing. That must be one reason to just, I guess, pray that Noa will still make it out of Gaza?

MARCIANO: Yes, of course. We always pray and we -- all we can do is being hopeful and pray for her coming back. But you know, each day is getting harder and harder. And we're very happy for the people and the children being released. But we also want Noa back.

VAUSE: The way Hamas has gone about releasing the hostages, releasing children without their parents, releasing parents without their children, doing to Noa's mom, what they're doing by holding her daughter, it just seems incredibly difficult to endure this process. Let alone for someone with stage four brain cancer to get through this. How has she been able to, you know, deal with the last seven weeks?

MARCIANO: It's very difficult. You know, being hopeful is the only thing we can do. But you know, time is ticking for Noa's mother. And it will be heartbreaking for Noa not to see your mother for -- on both sides and for her father. Noa is an only child, so, this situation is very, very difficult for all of us.

VAUSE: I hate asking this question and forgive me for asking this, but do you even know if Noa was still alive?

MARCIANO: We don't know anything. Actually the Red Cross, part of the agreement was them checking the hostages.

VAUSE: Yes.

MARCIANO: But that didn't happen. And it makes the situation even more difficult. It's not only Noa, there are hundreds of hostages and we met with some of them who seemed picture of their loved one being hurt and not knowing their condition, also Noa's boyfriend is there.

VAUSE: Yes.

MARCIANO: I just can't imagine what they are going through, but it's very difficult for us also.

VAUSE: I want to deliver, you know, that it's important to say this that the Argamani family want us to tell their story. They want the world to see, the images of Noa, they want to see their beautiful daughter. What are they hoping to achieve by doing this?

MARCIANO: Excuse me?

VAUSE: What are they hoping to achieve by telling Noa's story? By being so public about all of this because it is so difficult for anybody to talk about this publicly? I -- your courage is astounding and appreciated. I don't know how you can talk about this publicly and remain so composed. So what are they hoping for?

MARCIANO: First of all, not being alone. You know, we get a lot of love from a lot of people and a lot of support. And, you know, feeling not alone, feeling that it's the target of many people for Noa coming back is very important. And also, you know, we talking about humanity and Noa's mother being sick and might not see her daughter, we want everybody to know how important it is to, you know, not wait a day, another day and another day and Noa still not coming back. Each day is important.

And we're expecting a long healing for Noa. And we want her to do it with her mother together. Time is crucial here.

VAUSE: Yes. So anybody who has anything to do with this, hopefully they're listening. No doubt they'll be doing everything they can. And we wish you all the very, very best. I hope that Noa will be home soon.

MARCIANO: Thank you so much.

VAUSE: Stay strong.

I will be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. Breaking news this hour. 34 minutes past 8:00 on a Friday morning,

this is the scene from the Israel-Gaza border, looking into the northern part of Gaza. You see the plumes of smoke which are now rising into the sky.

That is where we understand Israeli military operations have renewed, at least in part, after, according to the IDF, a truce was violated.

[01:34:50]

VAUSE: The conditions of a truce was violated by Hamas, which fired at least one rocket from Gaza into Israeli territory. That was about an hour before the deadline for the truce to expire.

There was also a violation of the truce agreement by Hamas, according to the Israelis because they did not deliver all women hostages as promised on Thursday.

So once again, a resumption of military operations in Gaza by the IDF at this hour, 34 minutes past 8:00, one hour 34 minutes after the deadline for an extension of a temporary pause in the fighting came and went.

Let's go now to Tel Aviv. Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces. Peter, thank you for being with us. Tell us exactly what is happening at the moment in terms of Israeli operations in Gaza.

LT. COL. PETER LERNER, SPOKESPERSON, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: Good morning, John. Indeed we are currently resuming our operations following Hamas's violation of the terms of the agreement, the understanding is and it has been from day one that Hamas has to go and therefore ou7r operations are targeting Hamas' infrastructure, its positions, its terrorists. That is what we're doing.

VAUSE: How much can you say about the operation at this point? Is it staying in northern Gaza? Are you planning on moving further into the south?

I know there are operational restrictions here on what you can and cannot say, but in broad brushstrokes, what are we looking at here?

LERNER: I would say, in broad brushstrokes, as you said, is we are going to dismantle and destroy Hamas. We've been saying so since October 7th, that brutal day of merciless death and destruction of Israelis and our communities.

And they have to go. The paradigm has to change. We've been saying that since that brutal day. And that is why we are currently mobilizing. We are taking the fight to Hamas. We are engaging them on the ground.

I won't go into specifics, but indeed we are utilizing all of the forces in our capability, from ground forces to labor forces and air forces. And Hamas, they made a big mistake by not fulfilling their side of the agreement. VAUSE: It's not really a surprise at some point though. Peter, we

understand that negotiations are continuing in Doha with regards to, you know, maybe extending or renewing another pause in the fighting. That the hostage negotiations could continue despite this violation in the truce by Hamas and the ongoing Israeli military operations there.

What more can you tell us about that? Is it possible at this point? How difficult is it for the IDF just to simply wind this all back and put another pause back into place? Is that on the cards?

LERNER: Here's a very simple idea. Hamas can unconditionally surrender, give back all of the -- or release all of the hostages, and there would be no need for us to mobilize, would there?

So from our perspective we are responding to Hamas's inability or unwillingness to return all of the hostages. We need to bring them back, every last one of them. We are determined to do so and eventually Hamas has to go.

The reality that a terrorist organization utilized all the powers of government to build a terrorist army to conduct the most brutal, merciless attack against Israeli civilians just exemplifies that they can no longer have that power of the government because they can't be trusted.

VAUSE: How confident is the IDF of these requests or demands, if you, like by the U.S., that the next phase of this war does not repeat the first seven weeks of the war as far as the Israeli military operation goes because of the high death toll and the amount of destruction that was left behind during that seven-week campaign?

They want a much more targeted, a much more precise military operation, and they want the safe zones or protection areas for civilians. How does that now play into IDF plans?

LERNER: We are very attentive to our allies, the U.S. and we're thankful for the support, especially on the military-to-military levels, but also on the government level. Of course it's a very clear message that Hamas has to go.

We conduct our operations within the framework of the laws of armed conflict and take into consideration the basic fundamental need to keep civilians safe, to get civilians out of harm's way.

Unfortunately Hamas has chosen the battleground. They put Palestinians of Gaza at risk every single day from schools, from mosques, from hospitals. They have no regard for human life. And we're doing extensive efforts in order to minimize and I would say limit the civilian (INAUDIBLE), while Hamas is doing everything to exasperate (ph) that.

VAUSE: Very quickly, humanitarian situation, will those supplies continue to be allowed into Gaza, because obviously they desperately need it.

LERNER: Hello? VAUSE: Peter, are you still with us?

LERNER: Yes, I'm still here.

VAUSE: Just very quickly, humanitarian supplies. Will they still be allowed into Gaza despite the resumption of the military offensive?

[01:39:52]

LERNER: We've had hundreds of truckloads of supplies of food and medical supplies continuously since the beginning of the operation. Indeed there is an increase over the last six days. I don't see any reason why that won't continue, but we'll have to update you on that later on.

VAUSE: Appreciate the updates, sir. Thank you.

Peter Lerner --

(CROSSTALK)

LERNER: It just might not be possible, John. The operational reality might not make it feasible.

VAUSE: Yes. Let's hope it can. It's needed.

Peter, as always, thank you sir for your time. Very much appreciate it.

LERNER: Good day, John.

VAUSE: Take care.

We'll be back in a moment. You're watching CNN.

Breaking news coverage of the resumed military operation in Gaza -- both sides now, back at it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back. 44 minutes past the hour.

Negotiates continue in Doha, Qatar despite the resumption of military operations in Gaza by both Israel and Hamas. Qatar has been front and center in these talks between Israel and Hamas.

And with more of that I'm joined by Mehran Kamrava, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar. Professor, thank you for being with us.

MEHRAN KAMRAVA, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY-QATAR: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

[01:44:48]

VAUSE: So, key to this role, which is being played by Qatar with this very close relationship between Doha and Hamas. I want you to listen to Qatar's lead negotiator speaking to CNN last week. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED AL-KHULAIFI, QATARI LEAD NEGOTIATOR: The political office here in Hamas has proven successfully, especially in this last 46 days, it helps us as a mediator to have this direct line of communication, that even the western communities are relying on Qatar in fulfilling that mediation role.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I guess the question is, how close is too close? And could this backfire for Qatar in many ways, because there now seem to be demands, or at least an agreement that Hamas offers could close.

KAMRAVA: Yes. I think that would be a strategic mistake, because as the lead negotiator said, Qatar has been able to play the role of a liaison between actors that don't always talk to each other. Its foreign policy of maintaining as many friends and as few enemies as possible has enabled it to position itself strategically to talk to all these different parties, particularly at a very crucial time as we are witnessing right now.

VAUSE: What we are seeing, though, is that Qatar over the year has had close relations with al-Qaeda and has negotiated release of Americans being held by al-Qaeda. And also with the Taliban, the Muslim brotherhood, you know, the forebears of Hamas.

We now have sort of this movement I guess in the U.S. Congress. Two Republican lawmakers are among those who are demanding among other things that Doha extradite Hamas leaders and demanding that they leave.

So I guess is that part of a day of reckoning coming for Qatar, you know, with its past relationships?

KAMRAVA: Well, you know, Qatar houses the United States' biggest airbase. So would you prefer to have Hamas be based in Doha, where the U.S. has eyes and ears everywhere? Or would you prefer them to be in a place like Damascus, Tehran, southern Lebanon?

So I think it's a little short sighted to say, well, Qatar sponsors these unsavory characters and therefore we need to compel them to expel Hamas or not talk to the Taliban.

So we saw, for example, the American withdrawal from Afghanistan was facilitated when Doha hosted negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban.

And now Qatar is playing an incredibly critical role in facilitating the release of hostages and the release of prisoners and kind of humanitarian pause, if you like. So I think it's important to have these critical lines of communication.

VAUSE: Yes, talking is always a good thing. Communication is always a good thing. Problems come when people don't talk to each other. With that in mind, here's U.S. President Joe Biden speaking on Friday.

Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Over the past several weeks I've spoken repeatedly with the Emir of Qatar, the President Sisi of and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel to help secure this deal to nail it down. And I want to thank all three leaders for their personal partnership to get this done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: There was a time in the past when Egypt, who you know, Joe Biden referenced there, in the past it was Egypt which seemed to take the lead in talks between Hamas and Israel, be it for a ceasefire or a humanitarian pause.

When did Qatar and how did Qatar become this indispensable player here?

KAMRAVA: That's an excellent question. For Qatar, mediation has long been a central pillar of its foreign policy. And Qatar has often used groups like Hamas, like the Taliban, instrumentally and strategically, so the alliance hasn't necessarily been ideological, but it has been instrumental as a tool in its foreign policy, precisely for moments like this.

VAUSE: Mehran Kamrava in Doha, Qatar, your insights sir, your experience very greatly appreciated. Thank you for being with us.

KAMRAVA: Thank you very much.

VAUSE: We'll take a short break a lot more on our breaking news in just a moment. You're watching CNN.

[01:49:11]

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VAUSE: Welcome back. It is now coming up to 53 minutes past 8:00 on a Friday morning there. This is the view of northern Gaza from the Israel-Gaza border. Just moments ago, thick, black smoke was seen rising above the northern part of the Palestinian enclave as Israel began to resume military operations against Hamas after what turned out to be a week-long truce.

That truce expired 90 minutes -- almost two hours ago now -- with Israel saying Hamas violated the agreement by firing a rocket towards Israel. Sources though tell us negotiations in Doha, Qatar are ongoing, with Qatari and Egyptian mediators despite the resumption of Israeli military operations.

The first step on the road to recovery for many of the released hostages have been trauma centers across Israel.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer takes us inside one hospital near Tel Aviv, where the healing begins for those who survived the living nightmare.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: For these women released from Hamas captivity, this hospital is a key stop on their road to recovery.

DR. ADAM LEE GOLDSTEIN, DIRECTOR OF TRAUMA SURGERY, WOLFSON MEDICAL CENTER: The hospital, you know, since the war began, every hospital turns into a, quote, "war hospital", where we are prepared for anything at any moment.

BLITZER: The team at Wolfson Medical Center has been gathering health records and talking to family members to anticipate any potential concerns.

Thank you so much for all you're doing.

Dr. Adam Lee Goldstein is the head of trauma surgery and saw patients to confirm they didn't have any traumatic injuries.

DR. GOLDSTEIN: Most importantly is for us to make sure they're ok health-wise and to reunite them with their families, which is, you know, just as important as anything else.

[01:54:48]

BLITZER: Still, there is a long road ahead for those who spent weeks in Hamas captivity.

DR. GOLDSTEIN: We've had multi-disciplinary team dealing with all the aspects from psychosocial to nutrition, surgical, infectious.

BLITZER: Those long-awaited family reunions, an incredible relief for loved ones in limbo.

DR. GOLDSTEIN: Families were waiting in the private rooms, and you know, the second that these women saw their families, nothing else mattered really.

When you're dealing with life and death, they're just happy they're alive.

BLITZER: But Dr. Goldstein fears for the fate of other hostages still in captivity.

DR. GOLDSTEIN: We are trained to think about worst-case scenarios and how to treat worst-case scenarios. I just want them to get home.

BLITZER: Despite the trauma, these survivors show incredible resilience.

DR. GOLDSTEIN: When you have one of these women, and the first thing she says to you is, I'm so sorry for making you work tonight, you know, after everything she has been through, you know, you never, it's things you never expect and you know, it shows what type of people these are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: I'm John Vause.

Our breaking news coverage of the resumption of the Israel-Hamas war after that temporary truce continues with Kim Brunhuber after a very quick break.

I'll see you back here next week. Thanks for watching.

[01:56:06]

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