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National Security Council Condemns Hamas Attack On Israel; At Least 40 Killed In Hamas Surprise Attack On Israel; Netanyahu: "Citizens OF Israel, We Are At War". Aired 8-9a ET

Aired October 07, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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[08:00:32]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour now and more of the breaking news coverage. Israel is striking back on Hamas after declaring war just a few hours ago. The country is now carrying out airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. And we're seeing unprecedented fighting inside Israel like they've not seen before.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Gun fights between Israeli and Palestinian forces playing out Hamas forces playing out in the streets of Israel. Hamas fighters even captured on video shooting at this vehicle and also at civilians. And while people are locked in bomb shelters and barricaded in their homes, we're getting reports that the fighters are now attempting to break into those homes. Hamas also claimed to have captured several Israeli soldiers near the border but the IDF is not commenting on those claims.

This is a quickly developing situation. We want to get right to CNN's Hadas Gold who is in Jerusalem. What is the latest, Hadas?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're hearing just now from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who just headed a security Cabinet meeting saying that Israel is been at a state of war saying their number one priority right now is to clear out those militants from those communities near the southern border. We know of something like I think a dozen if not more villages, towns along the Israeli border, including two army bases, including the border crossings that have been infiltrated by militants. We've seen stunning video of militants in the back of pickup trucks firing randomly along the streets. We are hearing harrowing reports from Israeli civilians who are locked in their safe rooms, in their bomb shelters in their homes pleading, calling for help, saying that militants are trying to break into their homes, trying to make their way and that they can hear gunfire. We know that the Israeli military said that they are flooding that zone essentially trying to clear out those militants.

But that is the most sort of high priority right now for the Israeli officials. Netanyahu also going on to say that they will exact an immense price from the enemy from within the Gaza Strip. And that the third objective is to reinforce other fronts so that nobody should mistakenly join this war. That is a reference to the north likely because there is a big fear that if Hezbollah or other militant groups up there choose to get involved that would bring this to a whole other level. We have seen 1000s of rockets fired from Gaza towards Israel since 6:30 a.m. this morning.

That happened essentially what was a coordinated attack those rockets plus these infiltrations. We've gotten multiple air raid sirens here in Jerusalem, we've had to go seek shelter. We've had multiple explosions in the air above us. There are reports of impact sites in and around Jerusalem. All of the -- all schooling in Israel for tomorrow has been canceled.

This is across the country. This is from, you know, elementary school on up, they have cancelled educational activities. And there are reports as you noted of Israeli soldiers capture, that is something that Hamas has claimed. We have seen video of what appears to be an Israeli soldier being pulled from a tank. We know for a fact that there are Israeli military vehicles that have been captured militants and that have been brought into Gaza.

Even emergency services say one of their ambulances was captured and brought into Gaza. There are some other reports potentially of other civilians being captured. Again, we do not have numbers. Israeli officials have not said a word about this. In terms of injuries, we know at least 22 have been killed but likely more because that number is now a few hours old.

And more than 545 people have been injured. Of course, many of them are severely injured. We are also seeing reports, there was a festival a party in nature, sort of a rave in the desert, not far from the Gaza fence. We're seeing reports from attendees, they're saying that they were attacked by militants, several people they say were injured and killed there as well. This is a quickly rapidly unfolding ongoing situation that continues as we speak.

And what's most stunning about this is how Israel was seemingly caught by surprise, and the parallels 50 years ago almost to the day to the 1973 Yom Kippur War when again it was a holiday, today is actually also a Jewish holiday, Simchat Torah, where Israel was caught off guard and was surprised by an attack. Now this is seems to be happening. Once again, there was no clear trigger to this happening. Tensions have been high across Jerusalem, across the occupied West Bank along the border fence between Gaza and Israel but there was no clear trigger. There was no major clash, raid any anything like that that would have signified that something was coming like what we've had in the past.

[08:05:02]

I want to give you some numbers comparison here. As of a few hours ago, I would say this is two hours ago, the Israeli military said at least 2,000 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel. In the entire course of the 11 day war in 2021 between Hamas and the Israeli military, there were 4,300 rockets fired. So just in the course of a few hours, we are already approaching the halfway mark of the total for an 11 day conflict and we're not even, you know, 10,12 hours into this current route. The biggest priority, though, right now for the Israeli military and Israeli police are those militants in southern Israel.

And that is the biggest fear right now for the everyday Israeli is that roaming around the streets are these bands of militants who could be coming in trying to make their way into their houses in some way. That is the biggest fear right now. And Hamas has called on all Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, across Jerusalem, even those who have Israeli citizenship who live in Israel, proper calling on them to take on arms and to join their fight. Guys.

WALKER: Hadas Gold appreciate your reporting. Thank you very much.

BLACKWELL: Let's bring in now IDF International spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht. Colonel, thank you for your time. Let's first start with these claims of civilians and soldiers captured. What -- how many people by the IDF count have been captured by Hamas.

LT. COL. RICHARD HECHT, INTERNATIONAL IDF SPOKESPERSON: So a very severe morning. Thank you, Amara and Victor for talking to us. A very severe morning here in Israel and a combined offensive by Hamas, grind air and sea. The numbers still are not clear. We're not going to talk about the numbers as we speak, but the numbers are substantial.

A very severe morning, we are very much now focused on sending forces to these locations where there's ongoing fighting as we speak on handling these terrorist. Hopefully by the end of the day, there'll be no more live terrorist inside Israel.

WALKER: You know, I think a lot of people are wondering how in the world did this happen knowing Israel's sophisticated intelligence. And there's also video of the border fence being destroyed? First off, do you agree that this was a massive intelligence failure? And if you could explain how all this unfolded?

HECHT: So, again, from the IDF perspective, we're not focused on that note. I'm sure this will be talked about a lot once this is over. We're now fighting here, mainly around the Gaza for the lives of our civilians. We'll talk about what happened intelligence wise after. I mean, Hamas, they've been threatening for years.

I mean, sometimes there was people that said, no, it's just talk. We saw Hamas' intention. They are a terrorists that want the annihilation of Israel. And they showed their intention this morning, a full course invasion into Israel, with rockets, with people coming on the ground, drops a very, very hard morning for the IDF. And we're fighting now to get control back in the settlements around the Gaza Strip.

BLACKWELL: The latest number we have from the IDF on rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel is 2,000. That's a few hours old now. Do you have an updated number for us?

HECHT: So it's probably as close to 3,000 lane. Again, it was a vast salvo this morning. They're still firing. I assume the numbers are in the three seven lane, but I'm not 100 percent sure. WALKER: What about the civilians there on the ground who are under attack? We have reports of civilians being fired at. We have videos of a car being fired at. We know that a tank was seized, at least from this -- the videos that we've seen on social media. What is being done to secure those residents, those civilians who are under siege right now in southern Israel?

HECHT: So right now, first of all, we've declared the recruitment of our reserves, we're mobilizing forces down to the sides. Right now we have special forces going to each one of these locations where there's fighting. And there's -- as we speak, as firefighters to take control and clean the area where we have terrorists that came in and did what they did. And you saw the visuals, Hadas gave a very good update.

BLACKWELL: Have there been refusal -- go ahead, go ahead, Colonel.

HECHT: What I'm saying is we're now in the emphasis on one division, the Gaza division. We've now put in another division. We've sent in more forces, more commanders. And we're taking -- first of all, our first stage is to bring the security back to the communities there. And again, very, very hard morning. Those pictures -- and you're seeing the pictures.

BLACKWELL: Do you have an estimate of how many reserves have been called up?

HECHT: Thousand, 1000s, 10s of 1000s.

BLACKWELL: Tens of 1000s. Any refusals based on the protest connected to the judicial changes there in Israel?

HECHT: Absolutely no. I will tell you a lot of my friends, some of them were even involved in that across the board, everybody knows that this is a dire moment and everybody's coming to fight for the State of Israel.

[08:10:11]

WALKER: Just quickly, can you tell us exactly the number that you have of how many have been confirmed dead?

HECHT: I cannot tell you the exact numbers.

WALKER: OK.

HECHT: Just a substantial number.

WALKER: What do we know about these infiltration routes? And what is being done to secure those and to track them down so that, you know, they're -- the country is secure?

HECHT: So first of all, we're fully deployed. Also -- the Air Force now is also focused on air coverage to see what's happening. We've deployed the forces to the infiltration -- forces to the infiltration points. And we're -- and again, we're slowly securing the area and trying to get -- take care of all these people that came in. BLACKWELL: I'll accept the answer on both that they're substantial as it relates to the number of dead and the number of those who are captured. But I just want to get some clarity, when you say you cannot tell us, you cannot tell us because you are choosing not to give this specific number or you, at this hour, you're not certain of the specific number?

HECHT: Because I'm in charge of -- also the IDF spokesman who is in charge of exact data, I will not take till we have the full clarification on the numbers. It's hard for me to now say that to the press.

BLACKWELL: OK. You say that the number of rockets that have been fired into Israel is approaching 3,000. Of course, Americans know that Israel is equipped with the Iron Dome. How many of those have actually hit their targets and have not been intercepted by the dome?

HECHT: So we are -- the Iron Dome have been doing a good job. Some of the rockets that came through were actually debris falling from interception. And the Iron Dome has been doing a good job. We're deploying, of course, more capabilities, are also our eyes are not only towards the south, but also looking up north, making sure that we're ready also up in the north. If there's a convergence or other things coming from the north, but the Iron Dome is right now fully deploy and they're doing hard and good job.

WALKER: Can you confirm any attacks that were made by air by Hamas or by those paragliding in?

HECHT: So as you saw, they came in through with a paraglide into Israel, probably ground forces. It wasn't a -- it wasn't -- they weren't the firing advanced precise missiles from these parachutes. They were ordered to land forces inside the -- our communities. So it wasn't like a UAV or something attacking from the air.

WALKER: And how many villages or bases are not under the control of IDF? I mean, are there still a substantial, if you can't give us a number, you know, how many or is it a pretty big number that are not under IDF control?

HECHT: So again, there's not much of control. There's fighting going on. Our special forces are now engaging with these terrorists in these locations. Just to mention a few of them, Zikim as a base, Nahal Oz, Kerem Shalom, the area's crossing. All these locations, we had fire flies, we have terrorists coming in, people harmed and right now we're fighting to bring the situation back to a stable state.

BLACKWELL: I hear the explanation on, I just want some clarity on the Iron Dome again. You say that some of what hit the ground was debris from rockets that were intercepted by the dome. Have there been rockets that have penetrated the dome and actually hit their targets on ground?

HECHT: So there was a -- there was a hit, a direct hit this morning in Ashkelon.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

HECHT: I still don't know what happened with Iron Dome intercept there, probably more to come. Once I know I'll make sure we update you. And there was one hit this morning I saw from Ashkelon, I don't know if it penetrated through our defense.

But again, we always say it's not a hermetic defense. The Hamas are always trying to saturate our systems and create divergence, not only with using ground forces but also saturating the salvos in multiple directions.

BLACKWELL: Understood, especially if we're talking about --

HECHT: To include firing -- to include in our most -- in a very holy day firing Jerusalem.

BLACKWELL: Yes. If we're talking about close to 3,000 rockets by your estimate, and it's single digits thus far of rockets that have hit their target on ground, how many fired back in retaliation into Gaza?

HECHT: So right now the air force is acting in Gaza to take care of Hamas targets. Our response is going to be -- again, our commanders and generals are meeting as we speak, our cabinet is meeting. We will in a composed way respond severely to this inhumane attack by Hamas.

[08:15:10]

WALKER: I want to ask you about your next steps and your, I guess, your next front, if there is one, considering that there was no specific trigger to these attacks by Hamas. This is also coinciding, coincidence or not, with the Yom Kippur War anniversary 50 years on. Are you expecting or concerned of another attack coming from the north or some kind of coordination with Lebanon or Syria?

HECHT: So I wouldn't put -- I wouldn't give the Hamas the credit of the putting that -- comparing it to the Yom Kippur War. But yes, Hamas, you know, they stand behind their words. They're a terrorist organization. And yes, we are looking at the north. You saw last Ramadan, there was a some sort of convergence after the events in Temple Mount.

We're ready also in the north in case some Palestinian faction decides to come into this and we'll be ready. There's something, Amara, we're looking at and we're ready for.

BLACKWELL: Will there be substantial ground forces, IDF ground forces going into Gaza? Beyond the aerial attacks that we've seen, will you be going in on the ground?

HECHT: I will leave that to our prime minister and my chief of staff that will probably be talking about all military options. But still not TBD as we say.

WALKER: OK. Do you agree with this assessment from some people inside Israel that this is your 9/11? Would you make that comparison considering that this came as such a surprise? HECHT: I'll leave that to where -- I'll leave these big questions of narratives and events, historic comparisons till we get our security back in Gaza.

WALKER: OK. Well, then what is your -- Colonel, what is your message to the residents there, you know, the people who are, number one, in fear for their lives, concerned about their safety, when has helped going to come, and of course, also angry about the fact that this even happened?

HECHT: The IDF is the people's army. All our boys are right now being deployed there and fighting under risk of life to get safety back into these places. And again, it's not only the soldiers, it's also the brave communities there. There's been one of -- there's a community leader actually that got shot this morning and killed. They have -- each community has reservists that when there's a security event they deploy and they also risk their lives fighting.

So right now, as we speak, we're fighting, Amara. I mean, if we do this interview, maybe tomorrow, I'll have a more sort of holistic wholesome picture. But it was important that we spoke today while this is going on.

WALKER: Oh, please come back tomorrow, we will --

HECHT: People are --

WALKER: Go ahead.

BLACKWELL: I've got one more for you, Colonel.

HECHT: People are really fighting (ph).

BLACKWELL: The number of those killed, I know you say it's substantial, are any of those confirmed IDF forces?

HECHT: I cannot see at this point.

BLACKWELL: OK.

HECHT: You could probably assume by yourself, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WALKER: Wow. OK. OK. Well, we will definitely have you on again tomorrow if you are available. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, thank you for your time during this very difficult time for your country.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, sir.

We're joined now by former State Department, Middle East negotiator, Aaron David Miller.

Aaron, I hope you were able to hear at least some of that conversation with Colonel Hecht. But let's start with your reaction to what you've heard there. AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPT. MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: Thanks for having me, Victor, Amara.

First of all, I think the two of you asked precisely the right questions. And understandably, the colonel was extremely cautious and risk averse in terms of providing any information. I think that's probably a combination of two things. Number one, they really don't have a good sense, certainly of casualties, particularly in the south where you have Hamas penetration of communities, and perhaps hostage situations.

And number two, obviously, as in our own law enforcement situations, I've heard it many times in the wake of shootings, they're very reluctant to be specific without a comprehensive picture, particularly when it comes to individuals who have been -- who have been killed.

A severe morning -- he described this as a severe morning. I think that's probably an understatement. He was reluctant to answer questions with respect to next steps including a ground incursion. Three thousand rockets, that's a precise bit of information which falls somewhere between what the Israelis had previously announced 2,500 and total rockets launched in 2021 by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the range of 5,000.

[08:20:20]

I have to point out to two of you, it's really fascinating. I mentioned earlier that 50 years ago, yesterday, I was in Jerusalem when the Egyptians and the Syrians launched the October War. And the major difference, it's stunning, is that there was no CNN, there wasn't no internet, there was no social media, there were no briefings, we lived in a blackout for days with respect to information. Now you have an extraordinary amount of transparency with respect to this particular set of events that is occurring. It's just a -- it's a dramatic demonstration of how things have changed over the course of decades in terms of covering these wars and conflicts.

I think it's a very sad day. This is going to be a trauma. It's not October 1973, 2,600 plus Israelis were killed and 1000s for -- of Egyptians and Syrians. But it is going to be a trauma particularly because of the clear intelligence failure. The fact is that the Israelis were underprepared and you're going to have communities who are now undergoing infiltration by Hamas terrorists, let's say that attack against civilians is clear terror, who are begging for the IDF to rescue them.

And it's -- this is going to create a huge problem and a real blow, I think, to Israeli self-confidence, which I think is part of the problem. I don't think the Israelis failure of imagination, unwillingness to accept the fact that Hamas -- forget the rockets, that standard operating procedure, but the infiltrations, 60 to 100 armed Hamas fighters, that's what's so stunning and extraordinary.

WALKER: It really is. And we're hearing Netanyahu saying that the enemy will pay a price he has never known. Of course, we're waiting to see what that will look like. Aaron David Miller, we're going to leave it there. Thank you very much for your analysis.

MILLER: We go to the White House now. And Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak has an update for us, what we should expect from President. Kevin.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, yes, certainly we do expect to hear from the President in some capacity later today. And I am told by multiple people familiar with the matter that the president is expected to speak with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu at some point soon. We have heard from multiple officials in the Biden administration this morning expressing serious concern over this exploding violence in Israel. We heard from a National Security council spokesman saying the United States unequivocally condemns the unprovoked attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians. She goes on to say there is never any justification for terrorism and we stand firmly with the government and people of Israel and extend our condolences for these Israeli lost -- lives lost in these attacks.

And she does say that the American National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan did speak with his counterpart. We also heard from the top American diplomat in Israel, the acting ambassador, she said she was sickened by the images coming out of southern Israel of dead and wounded civilians. And she said that she was in contact with her counterparts as well. But guys, this comes at an extremely sensitive moment in U.S. Israel ties. President Biden had hoped that he was in the final stages of negotiating this historic normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

As part of that, it was expected that the Israelis would include major concessions to the Palestinians as part of that deal, including potentially a freeze on settlements, potentially acknowledgement of an eventual Palestinian state. It is hard to see how those concessions can go forward in the current environment. And it certainly puts a President Biden in a situation where he does have to manage this larger geopolitical situation. We do know that President Biden and president -- Prime Minister Netanyahu did meet last month on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. I was there in the room for part of that meeting, certainly, you could see the warmth on display.

And after we the press corps left, they did talk face to face, one on one for several hours. But still, guys, these are two men who have known each other for decades, but their relationship has been under some strain because of Netanyahu's far right government. Certainly the White House and President Biden take umbrage at a number of actions and steps that that government has taken.

[08:25:00]

And you'll remember, the White House, the U.S., President Biden did play a significant role in helping broker a ceasefire the last time that a conflict broke out between Gaza and Israel in 2021. They were sort of working behind the scenes on an hour by hour basis to work with regional partners, Egypt, Qatar, to try and come up with some kind of agreement. But certainly, the U.S. Israel relationship is in a very different place than it was back then. And so I think President Biden, now this morning, is probably trying to determine what the best route forward is in the diplomacy. And you already starting to see the diplomacy really starting to kick in as American officials sort of absorb what is happening on the ground there.

BLACKWELL: Kevin Liptak there at the White House. Kevin, let us know if you get any more about the timing or format of the President's addressing of what we're seeing in Israel. Thanks so much for that report.

We just got two numbers in during Kevin's report, the first one from the Israeli emergency service at least 40 dead. Now that number confirmed expect in this climate, that number will fluctuate but 40 dead. At least they're from Israeli emergency services. And as it relates to the wounded from the Israeli health ministry, 779 people have been wounded. The latest 40 dead, more than 770 wounded in this attack. Israel at war.

WALKER: And we are also learning that President Biden is expected to address this ongoing situation in Israel later this morning. So of course when we hear from him we'll try to bring that to you live.

Stay with us on this breaking news coverage as Israel is saying that they are now at war. More after the break.

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[08:30:53]

WALKER: We are following a rapidly developing situation in Israel right now a shocking attack on Israel this morning by the Palestinian militant group Hamas catching everyone by surprise. We're hearing from a number of world leaders condemning the attacks including the U.S. National Security Council.

BLACKWELL: CNN senior international correspondent Sam Kiley is with us now. What's the latest Sam?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, Amara, this has been the most spectacular attack carried out against Israel with the most disastrous failure of intelligence since the Yom Kippur War in 1973 with the Israeli Defense Forces saying that there's been a massive infiltration of Israeli territory by dozens it seems of Palestinian militant gunman sponsored by Hamas following a massive aerial bombardment or rocket bombardment by the militants.

Now on the ground, there are some very graphic videos that have emerged. The first of which we're going to show viewers of course, we give you an advanced warning that these are disturbing images shows the aftermath of one of these incursions, which is showing that quite what the results have now declared 14 minimum dead within Israel, 779 injured in these mostly the infiltration operations here.

Now this is on a highway not very far from Gaza. There are a number of dead civilians, they're in shock that the voiceover is saying or claiming that these perhaps people in this van at least some of them may be our militants. That's unclear.

But we are seeing these random attacks both against civilians and then much more targeted attacks against Israeli Defense Forces bases, one base in near Gaza has lost contact with the IDF following these incursions.

If we look at its second video, you'll just see how brazen this attack has been by these militants from Gaza with them coming into strat attacking, we believe close to the police station there where they're opening fire against a civilian car, that red vehicle there taking a number of shots before it crashes, slides backwards and again comes under yet more live fire from these Gaza militants just one of the many attacks that have happened.

And of course, the Israeli Defense Forces are emphasizing that these are ongoing operations being conducted by Hamas. Now Mohammed Deif, the leader of the military wing of Hamas inside the Gaza Strip has called on Palestinians and other Arabs across the region to rise up against Israel. He's pointedly called for the use of weapons but access clubs, any weapon that could come to hand.

So far, there's been no significant response from Palestinians on the West Bank or indeed, on the Palestinian population living as Israeli citizens within Israel much less, of course, the Hamas allies in the form of Hezbollah in South Lebanon. And that's clearly part of the agenda being attempted strategically by Hamas with this very complex attack that has been clearly many months in the planning.

We've seen the use of infiltration and the IDF have spoken about this of paragliders to get across the fence by militants, they came at by sea. No doubt they use tunnels. And of course, they have also now crossed through the fences. We've even seen them destroying an Israeli murk of a tank allegedly using a drone to do that. And the sort of scene we've seen more commonly out of the recent war in Ukraine after Russia's invasion there.

And then, on top of that, Hamas claims that they have taken a number of Israelis hostage both military and civilian. We understand possibly also some bodies and from one of the tank the -- tank that was destroyed by Hamas, or at least claim by Hamas.

[08:30:00]

We've seen video of course of one crew member of that tank apparently dead being dragged out by militants. So with Benjamin Netanyahu now under very extreme pressure to strike back, possibly not just with aerial bombardments, at least 17 strikes have been carried out against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip.

But in all probability, there will be a strong anticipation that there'll be some kind of ground war in an attempt by the Israelis to try to put an end, which they've tried, of course, so many times before, to Hamas militancy and these ongoing attacks.

But this by far, is the most complex, most brazen, most ambitious attack that Hamas has ever made. And certainly the most disastrous moment for Israel itself, in terms of failures of intelligence since the Yom Kippur war.

BLACKWELL: Sam Kiley with just some awful heartbreaking video and the latest context and reporting. Sam thanks so much. Still ahead. The intelligence failure we'll talk about what happened and how this could have happened. This coordinated attack not just rockets, but by land and see. When we come back.

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[08:40:10]

BLACKWELL: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells his cabinet Israel's response to Hamas's surprise attack this morning from Gaza will exact a huge price from the militant group and declaring Israel is at war. Israel's emergency services now says that at least 40 people have been killed and more than 770 wounded.

WALKER: And we have some very disturbing videos that are coming into CNN. One showing what appears to be Palestinian gunmen dragging an Israeli soldier from a tank near the Gaza border. Hamas says they have captured several Israeli soldiers but the Israel Defense Forces say they have no comment. And CNN has not verified that claim. CNN's Hadas Gold joining us now from Jerusalem. What is the latest?

GOLD: Well, the sirens indicating incoming rocket attacks have continued mostly concentrated in the areas around Gaza and southern Israel. Here in Jerusalem we haven't had a red alert siren, air raid sirens going off in several hours. So it's been a bit quieter here earlier. We did have at least five or six of those. We heard several explosions in the skies above us.

Tel Aviv as well was getting these sirens. We've heard numbers now of at least 3,000 rockets fired from Gaza towards Israel to give you a comparison of numbers in that 2021 war that lasted 11 days, some 4,300 rockets were fired over the course of 11 days. We're not even 10 hours into this conflict. And we're already approaching that record number.

But what's most alarming for Israelis and for the Israeli military are these militants infiltrations that have happened. They've confirmed now for militants entering even by air from paraglider, by sea, by foot and have been a going into Israeli towns and villages. We've seen harrowing videos of militants just indiscriminately firing upon civilians in some of these villages and towns.

We know also that they have been engaging in active firefights on several military bases as well as the border crossing and these are continuing as we speak. So there are some civilians --

BLACKWELL: A bit of a technical issue there with Hadas' shot. Of course we'll try to fix that and get back to her crucial reporting. We'll take a quick break and we'll be back.

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[08:41:55] BLACKWELL: More now from Israel after this early morning surprise attack by Hamas militants from Gaza. At least 40 people are dead hundreds more wounded.

WALKER: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin released this statement just moments ago, I am closely monitoring developments in Israel. Our commitment to Israel's right to defend itself remains unwavering. And I extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and this apparent attack on civilians.

Over the coming days the Department of Defense will work to ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and protect civilians from indiscriminate violence and terrorism.

CNN senior national security analyst and former assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Juliette Kayyem joining us now.

You know what really stuck with me is, you know, we were talking to Kimberly Dozier the people she spoke with insight, Israel said that this is their 9/11, which also speaks to the surprising nature of these attacks. And of course, the big question is, how did Israel miss this? I mean, this is obviously a huge intelligence failure. Is that your assessment?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY: Yes, and this is the sort of space I work in in terms of sort of counterterrorism or preparedness, just to call this an intelligence failure, I think sort of is too easy. I mean, of course, there's the intelligence failure in the sense of how did Israel not pick up such a planned attack. I mean, they infiltrate these groups, they pay off members of these groups, they do everything that one would want to do to protect yourself as a nation, when you have an internal or close by terrorist threat. And they have a pretty good sense of incursions.

But this is a well-planned attack air, sea, land that they -- what we know right now is they didn't pick up. We may learn later that there was some hints of this or people were trying to get the military to pay attention. So there's that piece on the intelligence piece.

What I also can't believe knowing the professionalism and the and the resources put into Israel's defenses is, is the breakdown in defensive is in on air in land on sea in terms of technology, anti-drone weaponry, and defense. It's just -- it is to say that the system unfortunately broke down for Israel is I think what we're going to learn in terms of their defenses.

It's not their fault. Of course, they should not be attacked by a terrorist group, but it's just those of us who know, the apparatus both on the pre-side the intelligence side and the response side. This is not what we would have expected to see in Israel. And I think that's why you're seeing these responses about the intelligence failure and the equivalent to 9/11.

BLACKWELL: So much like 9/11 the after action report will be down the road. There will be a commission like there was for 9/11 to figure out what the failures were. [08:50:00]

But the war is now and quite possibly the attacks will continue to come maybe from the north, maybe including other elements. What is happening right now from an intelligence perspective to try to --

KAYYEM: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- to quell the violence? And does that require a ground incursion into Gaza?

KAYYEM: Yes, I don't even know if the priority right now for Israel is necessarily to quell the violence. I mean, they're going to have to -- Netanyahu is essentially promised a ground war that is what they have prepared for that is what they're building up to use Egypt and other countries.

I'm trying to calm it down. This is not 2021 when the last time there was this kind of incursion or similar incursion, this is much bigger. Netanyahu government is more conservative. His hold over it is based on, you know, sort of a more militaristic responses is not one in which he's going to address with diplomacy first, or trying to calm it first.

So I think we have to anticipate this is a scary time for Israelis and pretend for the Middle East generally. I mean, in the battle, you know, if you look at the intelligence part, the war part, and in the backdrop is with some very hopeful efforts in geopolitics that the White House was brokering with Saudi Arabia for a long term solution to this issue related to the Palestinians.

I can't see how that's on anyone's front burner right now. And whether though -- those diplomatic resolutions that might have come to more concessions to the Palestinians, greater land use offered by the Israelis to the Palestinians, I don't see how anyone is thinking of that right now. So the consequences of this our journey of life and also of geopolitics.

WALKER: Got it. Yes, absolutely. And of course, the security posture of Israel right now has to be extremely, extremely vigilant. Because again, we don't know what happens next, what exactly was planned. We spoke with the IDF spokesperson. And of course, you know, the North is a concern, if there's an attack or there's some kind of coordination with Lebanon, of course, Syria is also up in the air.

But in addition to that, the infiltration routes, I mean, this is something as they're trying to save these hostages and get that situation under control, where you have civilians who are under siege who are barricaded in their own homes, you also have to prioritize finding these infiltration routes from the ground at least. Right?

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. And that is -- that's the ground war part of this, you know, in Israel, right, you should -- you're -- this piece of it right now, this sort of hand to hand, you know, door to door combat is ongoing right now. I don't think we can make that clear enough to viewers, this is not some sort of excursion, you know, by bombs over and we wake up and it's over.

The second piece, of course, is Israel and the population are much more civil defense oriented than then we are certainly. They've, you know, they all serve in the army, but also the population in terms of their readiness is just very different in terms of their training their expectations. So you have a population that also is very scared right now, but also has been trained, knows where to go, knows the resources to protect themselves.

So you're going to have different pieces of this in terms of the Israeli response. I've worked with Israeli Civil Defense Emergency Management, this is the piece where they then, you know, sort of begin to trigger the civil population to protect itself from what could be future attacks assuming that it's not over that Hamas was more organized than just this first launch which was spectacular and all the horrible ways I mean it and unexpected.

BLACKWELL: Yes, there is a heightened degree of vigilance because --

KAYYEM: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- the climate there. Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much. CNN's breaking coverage of this unprecedented situation in Israel continues with Wolf Blitzer right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:58:39]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's Saturday, October 7, 2023. We're following major, major breaking news right now. We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

At least 40 people are dead after a multi-surprise attack by a Palestinian militant group. Thousands, thousands of rockets have been fired from the Gaza strip into Israel. But the bigger concern are the Hamas fighters who have infiltrated, directly infiltrated Israel's borders, a staggering 779 people have already been injured. Israel saying they are now at war, at war against Hamas and it's all playing out on the streets of Israel as well.

We want to warn our viewers what you're about to see is very, very graphic. These new images showing people dead by in cars on the road. This video was taken near the Gaza border in Israel. We don't know if these people are Hamas militants or Israeli civilians. But it just shows how unprecedented this fight is right now.

President Biden, by the way, is expected to speak with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu very soon. And later this morning, President Biden we are now told will address the nation. We will of course bring that to you live once it begins.

Right now I want to go to two CNN's Hadas Gold and Sam Kiley. Hadas, first to you. This is clearly you're there in Jerusalem.