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Netanyahu: "Citizens of Israel, We Are At War"; At Least 22 Dead After Attacks In Israel; IDF: Israeli Forces "Fighting On The Ground As We Speak". Aired 6-7a ET

Aired October 07, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:34]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN this morning. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. We begin with breaking news out of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that Israel is at war after a surprise rocket and ground attack from Gaza militants early this morning. In a video message, Netanyahu addressed the nation saying the enemy will pay an unprecedented price. We concluded his message with this. "We are at war and we will win it."

WALKER: Right now, Israel security cabinet is meeting to discuss the full scale of its response. Already, the Israeli military has begun mobilizing and calling up 1,000s of reserve forces. And we've just learned that at least 22 people have died since the attacks began six hours ago. Let's go now to CNN Hadas Gold from Jerusalem. Bring us up to speed on what's happening on the ground now and the fact that these were surprise attacks. I mean, how did Israel not see this coming?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's a great question. This was an unprecedented surprise attack. Israel essentially now saying that they are in a state of war the likes of which Israel has not seen in 50 years, almost to the day to that Yom Kippur war in 1973, which also caught Israel by surprise on a holiday. Today is a holiday technically at (inaudible). Also catching Israelis by surprise 6:30 a.m. is when this started a barrage of rockets coming from Gaza towards Israel. And it has not stopped since that hour.

We have seen now 1,000s of rockets fired including as far as where we are in Jerusalem. We've had at least five air raid sirens sending us into the shelters. We've heard multiple explosions in the air over Jerusalem. The same has been said for Tel Aviv as well as southern Israel. But even more alarming are these ground infiltrations. The Israeli military has confirmed that dozens if not more militants have infiltrated Israel from Gaza. We've seen videos of them on the backs of pickup trucks on the streets of Israeli villages and as well, as we know from Israeli military that they are currently engaging, actively engaging in firefights with militants on the streets of several villages, as well as to army bases as well as the border crossings. We have heard harrowing tales from Israeli civilians who are hiding in

their safe rooms in their bomb shelters in their houses. They say that militants are firing just outside their door trying to enter their homes. We do have reports of captured and/or killed Israeli soldiers and civilians. We do not have that confirmed yet from the Israeli military. But we have seen videos that warders has published what appears to be at least one tank and an Israeli soldier being taken out of that tank by Palestinian militants.

And in addition, we have seen videos and our own team in Gaza has seen Israeli military vehicles being brought into Gaza. Even the emergency services mod them again to be the dome says one of their ambulances has actually been taken into Gaza. The latest numbers on casualties we have in Israel.

We do not know numbers of soldiers or police officers killed or that we have heard from the police that there are casualties in terms of what the hospitals and the emergency services are saying. They're saying at least 22 killed, something like 545 injuries so far. And we are only an hour six. To give you a sense of the scale.

So far, we know at least 2,000 likely more because that numbers from about an hour ago rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel. In that in that war in 2021, that lasted 11 days. It was something like 4,300 rockets for that entire period. So we're only an hour six and we're already reaching that record in terms of number of rockets. But what is most alarming is these infiltrations.

The Israeli military saying some of them actually came by air, by paragliding into Israel. Some of them came by sea and by foot. There's a big question, of course, how did this happen? How was Israel so caught off guard?

In the previous rounds of conflicts we've seen there's been a clear trigger point. Maybe there was a Israeli police raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is also known as the Temple Mount holy to both Jews and Muslims or a high-ranking military official was captured in some way. There was no -- there have been tensions here. There have been tensions in Jerusalem at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound Temple Mount.

There have been ongoing tensions in the West Bank. We've been reporting on for more than a year and a half. There have been some protests along the border fence between Gaza and Israel but there has been no clear trigger. I think that's why this was such a surprise and it was very clearly a coordinated attack.

Now Hamas has released a statement saying calling this off. They call this an operation calling it the Al-Aqsa storm claiming that they fired more than 5,000 missiles and what's also alarming is that they are calling on all Palestinians across the Palestinian territories, across the occupied West Bank. Palestinian citizens who also hold Israeli citizenship, calling on them to take up arms wherever they can. And that is what is most concerning to the Israeli security establishment is these firefights that are happening on the ground in Israel as we speak. This is an unprecedented state of war for Israel, the likes of which they have not seen in 50 years. [06:05:36]

BLACKWELL: But to ask before I get to my follow-up, I just want to get those numbers right. On the number of rockets, you say that according to the IDF, there has been 2,000, but that's an hour old, so that would likely be updated. Contrast that again, with you said, 4,300 over the course of a war, give us the year in the in the days of that again, just so we get the scale.

GOLD: So that was that -- that was 2021. That was the last time we had a sirens going off in Jerusalem. We were there. We were live on air when the sirens are going off in Jerusalem. And there were 1,000s of rockets fired over that 11-day period. And that was the last time there had been such a market conflict, such an escalation. That was a big deal. But this is bigger, this is much bigger. The numbers we're looking at is much broader than just the number of rockets being fired.

But again, rockets being fired into Israel, even those numbers, those are very high. It is alarming, you know, it's affecting most of the country. But what is even more alarming for Israelis for the Israeli military are these infiltrations, because they just don't know, where all these militants are, how far into Israel they have managed to come into whether they are just around the Gaza Strip, whether they will be coming from the West Bank, that is what is most concerning for them.

That is what is most alarming is not just the number of rockets, you know, there's the Iron Dome. They are sort of used to this sort of conflict, the infiltration. That is something new another thing that Israelis will be keeping their eyes open for is the North to see whether other militant groups like Hezbollah get involved as well. So far, there's no indication that anything is happening on the northern border. If Hezbollah gets involved and joins this fight, this is a whole other level,

BLACKWELL: Israel's Security Cabinet meeting, they're meeting right now. Tell us about that.

GOLD: Israeli's Security Cabinet is meeting but we've already heard from the defense minister, from the Prime Minister from several other officials saying that this is a war and that Israel will win this war. They are calling up 1,000s of reservists, military reserves. We don't have specific numbers on how many of these military reserves are being called up. We are expecting it to be a rather big number, because again, they're not just going to be targeting the Gaza Strip from the air like what we've seen, they're likely going to want to be placing soldiers in strategic points throughout Israel in order to protect from these potential infiltrations that may pop up.

So that's a totally different level because typically, if you're in is in Israeli territory, when these sorts of conflicts are wrapped, you know, the Israelis like to keep going, they like to keep their lives going, no matter what's happening. Air raid sirens go off. Everybody runs to their shelters, they stay there. And then once the sirens are done, they go back out and live their lives. You don't see like military vehicles on the streets of Tel Aviv. You don't see soldiers on the streets of Tel Aviv. I think that will be different this time, because of these infiltrations.

WALKER: Yes. I mean, you're right. It's astounding to think that right now, Israeli citizens may be you know, just feet away from a militant who has infiltrated. And if Israel is in a state of war alert, what does that what does that mean, practically speaking? What does it mean for you and for the residents there?

GOLD: So practically speaking, there are directives like if you live within 80 kilometers of the border with Gaza, that you are supposed to stay in your shelter. For us here in Jerusalem, we've been directed to stay near our shelters not necessarily inside the shelters. For the residents who are within those border communities, right by Gaza, they are telling them stay in your protected rooms, lock the doors, and do not answer the door for anyone.

As I said, we are hearing reports from Israeli civilians who say that militants have been firing at them in their homes trying to get in. We are seeing even more harrowing reports of potential kidnappings. In terms of other day-to-day life, things school has been canceled for most of the country from Tel Aviv essentially the center down including here in Jerusalem for tomorrow.

This is also the same case for many Palestinians because some of these rockets have also landed in some Palestinian areas as well. We know schools have also been canceled there. And there's also keep in mind the residents of Gaza, the civilians of Gaza, we know that the civilians in Gaza have started fleeing the areas around the border. Some of them have started seeking shelters in unsponsored schools, because they know what's coming. They know what's coming is going to be a very, very major air assaults by the Israeli military and we have to keep in mind of course that many of the civilians in Gaza, they don't have the luxury of a bomb shelter like many Israelis have. They have essentially nowhere to go. And this could be and is expected to be one of the most if not the biggest operation that the Israeli military is undertaking against Hamas in yours.

[06:10:22]

BLACKWELL: Hadas Gold for (inaudible) in Jerusalem. Hadas, we will of course check back in with you several times throughout the morning. Thank you so much.

Joined now by CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kimberly Dozier. Kim, let me start first, good morning to you also Managing Editor of Military Times. We now have from Hamas, they confirmed that they have captured Israeli soldiers. Add that to the pictures we're seeing, the reports we're getting, and give us some perspective of the significance and the scope of this clash.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I was there for the first in the second Palestinian uprisings, I've never seen anything like this. As Israelis are saying they haven't seen anything like this in decades, since the last major surprise attack on their country. We've had reports of the militants coming in from air, land, and sea. And now multiple pockets of attacks throughout southern Israel. The Israeli Defense Forces are going to be mopping that up for days.

But meanwhile, the reason I think you've seen the big call-up of reserve forces is, as Hadas mentioned, Israel has long warned against Iranian-backed attack from multiple angles from Lebanon and Syria as well. His villa has more than 100,000 rockets that can reach most of Israel proper, all of its populated areas. Israeli officials have been blunt about briefing publicly about that. And Israel also has targeted in Syria, long-range rockets that they say Iran, long-range missiles that Iran was moving in across Iraq.

So they call it the Ring of Fire. They will be watching for attacks from the north, as well as trying to suppress the attacks from Gaza, and watching to see what's happening inside the West Bank. This is an intelligence failure. When you've got the prime minister himself saying that this was a surprise, that means the Israeli Defense Forces didn't see it coming. So they can't trust any of their previous reports that said, oh, all this common the West Bank. Now they've got to look at every possible opponent and expect that something's coming.

BLACKWELL: Every possible opponent, of course, including Hezbollah, which you've already mentioned. To this day, to this hour, I should say there's been just a message of congratulations from Hezbollah to Hamas on this attack. What are you looking for in Lebanon and what would be the threshold for greater involvement by Hezbollah beyond just acknowledgement of what we're seeing?

DOZIER: Oh, look, I'm channeling Israel's worst fears here in describing this to you this. We have no indication that tactically anything like that has happened. But Israeli military planners have to assume that it might, since it's always been one of their worst fears. And instead, the attack didn't come from the north, as they'd always anticipated. It came from inside Gaza.

I think one of the things that we'll see shortly is Israel considering re-occupying Gaza to root out every last member of this conspiracy and also to figure out where their intel went wrong. How did such a large group of people plan such a large operation without any detection by the Israeli side.

When I've talked to Israeli defense officials over the years, who've practically bragged about how they've infiltrated all Palestinian communications in Gaza and the West Bank, I mean, even if you're using encrypted apps, this was incredible message discipline to use a military term of art on the part of the Palestinians, on the part of Hamas that they were able to gather all these weapons, plan multiple methods of attack and then carry it out with Israel none the wiser on a major high holiday in Israel, which is also Shabbat where you know, half the country on the Sabbath is staying at home with their families. This caught them flat-footed.

BLACKWELL: Kimberly, typically, mediation of clashes like this, and I should probably stop saying clash because Israel has declared war. But mediation comes down to Egypt. Israel I was surprised. How do you think this is resonating in Egypt as they have over the last several months try to negotiate or reach some extended calm between Hamas and Israel? [06:15:18]

DOZIER: Egypt and Qatar both because Qatar has also been involved with this. I think the level of frustration gets to the point inside Gaza and the West Bank that a violence an impetus towards violence and a feeling of hopelessness builds up. Now, yes, Israel has given a larger number of employee vouchers permission to citizens inside Gaza to travel to work outside of Gaza for the past several months. But there's this pent-up demand unemployment, a feeling of political hopelessness within the population. There hasn't been an election in the West Bank, or in Gaza in years, as those people who won the last elections keep finding reasons to put them off. So that fuels the sense of hopelessness, which bubbles up into this kind of violence that fed the previous to uprisings. But it was nothing as violent as this.

BLACKWELL: So you would say that we're looking at a third intifada now.

DOZIER: We'll have to see what happens in the West Bank. Israel put in a lot of security measures to lock up the West Bank building a huge network of walls and roads, lined with Israeli Defense Forces to ring those different cities in the West Bank in to make a third intifada, not as easy to carry out. But this is surely something that will create at least an impetus towards an uprising. Though Hamas and the groups in the West Bank don't always operate in coordination. But there is a lot of anger built up that will surely feel some sort of reaction in the Palestinian territory.

BLACKWELL: Kimberly Dozier, thank you so much for the expertise and stay close. We'll likely lean on you throughout the morning. Of course, we're going to continue to monitor the situation throughout the day.

WALKER: And we're also hearing from E.U. Leaders including the leaders of France and Spain and the E.U. Chief Ursula von der Leyen all condemning this surprise, attack and infiltrations by Hamas. All right. Still to come, the race to fill the house speakership is heating up after a chaotic week on Capitol Hill, but just Trump -- but does a Trump endorsement put Jim Jordan in the driver's seat? Also, there are new vaccines for RSV just in time for fall and winter but getting their kids vaccinated hasn't necessarily been easy for some parents will explain.

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[06:21:51]

BLACKWELL: The House still has no speaker and that means the chamber is essentially paralyzed until it can settle on a new leader.

WALKER: Meanwhile, multiple sources familiar with Alice's speaker Kevin McCarthy's thinking tells CNN McCarthy could step down before the end of his term but McCarthy says he is not resigning and that he still has work to do. CNN Melanie Zanona has details on the race to fill the speaker role from Washington. MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL RESPONDENT: Well, Republicans are bracing for another chaotic week as they scramble to select their next speaker. As of right now, it is a competitive two-way race between Steve Scalise the number two Republican, and Jim Jordan who is the chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee.

I'm told that Scalise has been making the pitch to members in private conversations and phone calls, that he is best positioned to lead this Republican Party in part because he has the leadership experience and also the fundraising capabilities that are going to be necessary to retain their majority. But then you have Jim Jordan, who is really leaning on the idea that he can corral the more far-right elements of the party. He was a co-founder of the Freedom Caucus, and he also just recently picked up an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. Our Manu Raju caught up with him in the Capitol on Friday. Here's what he had to say. You're sitting

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are saying here tonight, you're united. What is different between you and Steve Scalise?

REP. JIM JORDAN, (R) HOUSE SPEAKER CANDIDATE: I think it just this race comes down to two questions. I said this yesterday, who can unite the conference? Who can also unite I guess maybe three questions who can make the conference who can unite conservative Republicans and our party around the country. And then who can go tell the country what we're doing and why it's important to them, to their, to their family, to their business to their community.

And look, I liked the job I got now I never wanted to do this job. But someone has to who can who can bring the team together and can go communicate to the country. That's why I'm running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZANONA: But even though Republicans are scrambling to unify, there was some drama in the speakership race on Friday. It all started when Fox News approached the speaker candidates about doing a televised joint interview from the Capitol on Monday, but almost instantly after it was announced they started receiving blowback from within the party. I was also hearing for moderates who said, this is going to be a circus. They were worried that the optics were horrible, and they expressed those concerns directly to both Jordan and Scalise, who ultimately untold got together, talked it out decided this would not be a wise idea. So they started to decide to pull out from that event. So it's no longer going to go on as planned.

But the big picture here, I think all this blowback really shows that there's just so much emotion and uncertainty right now in the House Republican conference. They really want to get this one right. They don't want to see the same embarrassment and dysfunction that we saw on the House floor when Kevin McCarthy was removed or even back in January, where it took Kevin McCarthy 15 rounds to get the speaker's gavel. So Republicans really concentrated on right now on trying to find someone who can get the votes they need on the House floor. But at this point, it is uncertain whether either candidate can do that. Melanie Zanona, CNN Capitol Hill.

WALKER: All right, Melanie, thank you very much. All right. Let's talk about these political headlines and of course, what is happening in Israel, a CNN Political Analyst and Political Anchor of Spectrum News Errol Louis is here to talk with us.

Good morning, Errol. Really just concerning time right now for Israel, another huge headache to add to the long list of headaches for President Biden. Look, we know U.S. is a staunch ally of Israel. And, you know, with this unprecedented attack by Hamas, these really concerning infiltrations that they're dealing with right now.

This all comes amidst a strained relationship backdrop between President Biden and Netanyahu they recently met on the sidelines of the UNGA. Where do things go from here and what do we expect to hear from the White House?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning. I think what we're going to find is that there's going to be a real intense look to see how far this goes the extent of these attacks. If this is the kind of uprising that Hamas appears to have called for, that's a whole different situation than if this is simply rocket attacks that are sent by frustrated people who can be dealt a military blow and then sort of contained and return to the status quo. If there's something larger going on, that might even include outside players like Iran, it starts to turn into a much more complicated situation, and we can expect the White House to try and weigh in on that. That's, I think the thing we should all keep our eye on.

If this is a larger, the reigniting of a larger regional conflict and armed shooting conflict, that's a very, very serious situation. And I guess the thing to do is to wait and see what the White House can tell us. The other thing that's really worth noting is that this is an intelligence failure, that is going to have a lot of severe consequences, not only within Israel but really within the United States, you know.

We're not supposed to wake up and see this kind of thing happen. There are supposed to be spies, for lack of a better word, or informants, or drone surveillance, or something that's supposed to give you adequate warning that something like this might happen. They're going to be a lot of questions asked, and they're not going to be friendly questions about how this could have happened.

WALKER: Yes. A huge intelligence failure. And it's shocking that Israel didn't see this coming, considering that it has such a sophisticated intelligence network. And we're hearing just moments ago that Hamas has captured Israeli soldiers. They say, near the Gaza border, and they actually published videos of these Hamas militants, holding three men dressed in civilian clothing at gunpoint, presumably, those are the Israeli soldiers that were captured.

Regarding what's happening and the paralysis that we're seeing in the house, which is obviously impacting foreign policy, because Ukraine is not getting the aid that it desperately needs. Could we see America's response to what likely will become a massive response by Israel, at least in America's support for Israel? Could that be hampered or obstructed in any way? Because there is a vacuum of leadership in at least one chamber of Congress?

LOUIS: Well, you know, I think that, unlike Ukraine, Israel has gotten more than enough arms to do whatever it needs to do in the short term. So I don't think paralysis in the house or even just confusion in the house is necessarily going to have any kind of repercussions in that sense. But there are going to be some real serious questions.

I mean, look, when Israel says they are at war, who will? Who are they at war against? You know, when you look at Gaza, and you say, well, that's not a nation, is it? And there's the whole problem right there, right? Who's going to be on the other side of a negotiation to return those captured soldiers? You know, those kinds of questions really do have to be answered. And that's, you know, you can't do that with a drone. You can't do that with Iron Dome or with technology. That's humans dealing one-on-one with each other back channels, side channels, that kind of thing that the U.S. actually can help with perhaps. But you know, there's a lot of work to be done here. And the chaos in the house is not going to help in any way. I think they're going to be on the sidelines, while both Israel and the U.S. try and work out their own leadership problems.

WALKER: You've been to Israel right now. The Israeli Cabinet is meeting. They began their meeting about 30 minutes ago. What is your sense of which direction this is headed?

LOUIS: Look, they have a government that is famously full of hardliners. People who have said that, you know, maybe there needs to be a one-state solution. Maybe we need to go to war. Maybe we need to take more territory. Maybe we need to change the status of people's rights in Palestinians, whether they have Israeli citizenship or not. Those kinds of questions a lot of -- a lot of pro-peace or pro- negotiation folks were wondering if this government was going to do anything other than take a hard line and resort to military solutions. We're about to get an answer on that.

[06:30:00]

But here again, you know, when hostages are involved, it's hard to imagine that this is going to be the kind of all-out war where there's no consideration for some kind of a ceasefire or peace that has to be on the other side of it. Those are the kinds of questions I imagine they're going to be asking during their council of war today.

WALKER: All right, Errol Louis, thanks so much for pivoting on this conversation. Really appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Up next of course, we'll have more on the breaking news in Israel and unprecedented rocket and infiltration attack from Gaza the latest.

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WALKER: Back to our breaking news coverage Israel At War. Hamas fighters entered Israeli territory in a surprise attack at dawn while launching a massive rocket barrage killing nearly two dozen in injuring more than 200. And now, we have to warn you this next video may be disturbing to some viewers.

Hamas is claiming they have captured Israeli soldiers. This one appears to show an Israeli soldier being dragged out of a tank at the Gaza fence. Israel Defense Forces will not comment on the reported captures but the country has declared war on Gaza militant group Hamas.

BLACKWELL: Hamas says launched thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel and right now the attacks are still ongoing. Warning sirens have been blaring for more than six hours as far north as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. We're joined now by Former State Department Middle East Negotiator Aaron David Miller. Aaron, as we're getting these updates, I want to make sure that I bring them to you and to our viewers.

Israel police is now, since the early morning closed -- crossing for Palestinians wanting to enter Jerusalem from surrounding checkpoints. An attack on this scale, ground, air, sea, and it to come as a surprise. First, just your reaction to the pictures and the reports that are coming in.

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPT. MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: I think it's really stunning, an extraordinary victory. You know, 50 years ago, yesterday I was in Jerusalem and listening to the sirens go off as the Egyptians and the Israelis mounted a surprise attack. And this is not that with respect to scale or severity. But this is a trauma and a political, huge political challenge for the Netanyahu government. The 1973, clearly, there was a massive intelligence failure here that the Israelis didn't know and couldn't anticipate or preempt a cross-border attack that -- that's the unusual thing about this. Rocket attacks between Israel and Gaza rocket wars 2021 had died school I think reported that during an 11-day period, there were 5,000 rockets fired and the IDF is claiming 2,500 in the last 24 hours. That's not what makes this so extraordinary. It makes it extraordinary is the penetration of the border, not through tunneling, excuse me, but through actually taking the crossings and attacking and infiltrating military bases and rural communities and of Israelis proximate to Gaza.

Hostages, an Israeli soldier being taken prisoner. It's a trauma, loss of life. Terrible, at least 22 Israelis have been killed, I was told. And what the Israelis will do is I think the major question. Their options right now are limited. A massive military incursion into Gaza is invariably going to mean many Israeli casualties. And I'm not sure that the Netanyahu government wants that at this stage. But they need to respond and to do so in a severe fashion, given what they're now confronting.

WALKER: Yes. Of course, there's a lot of concerns about, you know, where this will lead. And if Lebanon and Syria, Syria may get involved. But I do want to ask you regarding this intelligence failure because there's going to be a lot of questions being asked about how Israel missed that they were asleep at the wheel.

How much could the domestic turmoil that Israel has been going through, with Netanyahu at the helm trying to push for these judicial reforms we saw over the past several months, unprecedented protests, roiling the country, including military members coming out protesting what Netanyahu was was trying to do. Did you think that could have played a role in this intelligence failure?

MILLER: You know, it's hard to say. I thought about that this morning, whether or not the judicial overhaul has constrained in an undermined Israeli military readiness. And you know, the reality is that most of those reservists in intelligence and the Air Force are the ones that were protesting, and asserting that they would not serve this Israeli government.

I think, though, that this has more to do, frankly. And again, I'm just speculating. With a degree of complacency, a conception on the part of the Israeli intelligence and the IDF that Hamas had no incentive right now, to coordinate an operation like this. This occurred at a time because of his potential Israeli-Saudi normalization, where the Netanyahu government was actually willing to increase the numbers of Palestinians crossing and working in Israel -- working in Israel. So I think complacency and a conception that lock the Israelis into believing that Hamas may be rockets but cross-border attacks with paragliders as many as 100 armed gunmen, there I think is the problem. A predictive predisposition to believe that a man is under these circumstances would not attempt this. And I suspect that may have led to her reduced Israeli security presence in and around Gaza.

[06:35:41]

WALKER: Yes. Just really concerning stuff here. And of course, we heard Netanyahu say hours ago that we are at war. We will win and the enemy will pay an unprecedented price. We'll see what the response will be after this cabinet meeting. Aaron David Miller, appreciate your time. Thank you very much. We'll be right back.

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[06:45:27]

BLACKWELL: We now know that the Biden administration is being updated on the developing situation in Israel this morning.

WALKER: CNN has Kevin Liptak joining us now from the White House. What are you hearing, Kevin?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I can tell you officials that I've spoken to. This morning are monitoring this situation incredibly closely and you do hear this growing amount of concern from Biden administration officials about this exploding conflict in Israel. And we have heard from the top diplomat, American diplomat, and Israel. She's the acting ambassador, Stephanie Hallett and she says I condemn the indiscriminate rocket fired by Hamas terrorists, against Israeli citizens.

She says that she's in contact with Israeli officials and that the U.S. fully supports Israel's right to defend itself from terrorist attacks. But, guys, this comes at an incredibly sensitive moment in U.S.-Israel relations.

Of course, President Biden is a strong proponent of Israel. He has repeated that Israel has the right to defend itself. You know, many times over the course of his administration, but there have been strains between President Biden and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In particular, over some of the actions taken by Netanyahu is right- wing government. But certainly, President Biden will want to show his support for Israel at some point today. He is here at the White House, certainly going to be monitoring those developments. But one important backdrop to this conflict that you're seeing today is this effort by the U.S. to broker this normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. And really, the expectation of that deal, which is still coming together was that it would include some significant concessions for the Palestinians. That deal I think very much in question this morning.

Of course, what is happening on the ground there, which certainly put Israel, certainly in the crosshairs of Hamas, but certainly, President Biden will want to show his support for Israel as this is all unfolding. Now, the two men did meet last month on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, you know, I was there for part of that meeting covering it and you could really sell a sense of warmth between these two men who have known each other for decades, despite the strains that have emerged in the relationship over the last year or so certainly, they are two men who are intent on working together.

In fact, when I and the rest of the press corps left that meeting, the two of them spoke one-on-one without any aids for quite a significant period of time. So certainly coordination between the U.S. and Israel will be key at this moment. You will remember guys, the last major flare-up of violence between Gaza and Israel in 2021, President Biden was in regular contact with Netanyahu. They were really speaking on a day-by-day basis, and behind the scenes American officials did play quite a significant role and trying to help broker a ceasefire between these two sides, putting pressure on regional players. The Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, the Qatari leader to try and come to some sort of ceasefire. So certainly diplomatic efforts are already likely underway this morning, as the U.S. wakes up to this situation in Israel.

WALKER: Yes. And I'm sure we'll be hearing much more from the White House. Kevin Liptak, thank you. Much more head on this. We're going to take a quick break.

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[06:52:51]

BLACKWELL: In a news, CNN exclusive Hillary Clinton is weighing in on the ouster of Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker of The Republican Party and the 2024 race.

BLACKWELL: Clinton is telling CNN Christiane Amanpour that she thinks Donald Trump will likely be the Republican presidential nominee and she's also talking about whether there's any path forward for bipartisanship.

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HILLARY CLINTON, FMR. U.S. SECRETARY OF THE STATE: At this point, I think, sadly, he will still literally be the nominee and we have to defeat them. And we have to defeat those who are the election deniers as we did and 2020 and 2022. And we have to, you know, just be smarter about how we are trying to empower the right people inside the Republican Party.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And so when you see another matchup between potentially Trump and President Biden, what goes through your mind and particularly, how do you process that this person who defeated you back in 2016 is still at it given all that you've said 91 indictments, you know, civil fraud, sexual transgressions, according to the courts. how's this still happening?

CLINTON: It's a classic tale of an authoritarian, populist, who really has a grip on the emotional psychological needs and desires of a portion of the population and the base of the Republican Party, for whatever combination of reasons and it is emotional and psychological.

Sees in him someone who speaks for them. And they are determined that they will continue to vote for him, to attend his rallies, where his merchandise is because for whatever reason, he and his very negative, nasty form of politics resonates with them. Maybe they don't like migrants. Maybe they don't like gay people or black people or the woman who got the promotion at work they didn't get whatever the reason you know make America Great Again was a bid for nostalgia to return to a place where, you know, people could be in charge of their lives, feel empowered, say what they want and salt whoever came in their way. And that was really attractive to a significant portion of the Republican base.

So it is like a cult and somebody has to break the -- break that momentum. And that's why I believe Joe Biden will defeat him and hopefully then that will be the end and the fever will break and then Republicans can try to get back to you know, fighting about issues among themselves and electing people who are least, you know, responsible and accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: And you can watch Christiane's full interview with Hillary Clinton, Monday on Amanpour. Ahead, we are keeping a close eye on this breaking news this morning. Israel says it is at war after a surprise attack and infiltration from Gaza militants. We are going to go live for the region next.

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