Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

IDF: Fighting Ongoing In Israel At Seven Locations; Israel Strikes Gaza As IDF Evacuates Israelis There; Hamas Attack On Israel Prompts Strong International Reaction; Biden Warns Other Countries Against Exploiting Israel; Blinken in Touch with Counterparts in Europe, Middle East Following Hamas Attack on Israel. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired October 08, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:30]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Sunday, October 8th. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Our colleague Becky Anderson is live in Tel Aviv as we continue to follow the developments, of course, in Israel. We will check back with Becky in just a moment.

It is 1:00 p.m. in Israel. Three hundred fifty Israeli citizens have been killed, far more wounded since the intense fighting between Israel and Hamas' attack. Of course, that was yesterday morning.

WALKER: Now, today the focus for the Israel Defense Forces is to take control of Gaza. Retaliatory airstrikes from Israel against Hamas targets have reportedly killed more than 310 people and injured nearly 2,000, that is according Palestinian authorities.

In the past 24 hours. Israeli forces have struck more than 400 targets in Gaza, including 10 towers used by Hamas. A new video shows the moment an Israeli fighter jet hit a compound belonging to the intelligence chief of Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is vowing vengeance again Hamas and warning citizens of Gaza to get out while they can.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): All the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn it into an island of ruins. I am telling Gaza's people to leave those places now because we will take action everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: In southern Israel, police say they have neutralized a vehicle with a suspected terrorist squad on a main highway. They have also taken back a police station that was infiltrated by terrorists. IDF says that more 1,000 militants poured across the border early Saturday and invaded nearby towns. They are still fighting to remove Hamas fighters from eight areas inside the country.

Hamas claims to have captured dozens of Israelis, including children and soldiers. Disturbing video shows Israeli civilians being rounded up presumably taken into Gaza. The IDF is working to figure out exactly how many Israeli citizens have been taken hostage.

WALKER: All right. Let's go now to Israel and CNN's Becky Anderson in Tel Aviv. Becky, so we are talking about the second day the fighting has entered. We are still seeing this exchange of missiles and rocket attacks between Israel and Hamas. What is the latest today?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's be quite clear. This is unchartered territory as far as this region is concerned. At least 100 rockets fired on the Israeli town of Sderot by Hamas this morning alone, according to the militant group Hamas. In the meantime, Israel has conducted series of strikes overnight on close to 500 targets in Gaza now, according to Israeli authorities.

And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing that this is a war that Israel will win and saying that the enemy will pay an unprecedented price. Quite what that war looks like going forward and what the price will be in terms of further lives lost will only become apparent in the hours ahead. What is clear at this point is that there are dozens of Israelis -- and the IDF will not put a precise figure on it as they try and establish exact numbers. But dozens of Israelis, men, women, children, the elderly, they say rounded up in Israel and taken into Gaza as hostages.

And it is clear that that will massively complicate the Israeli Defense Forces' next moves as they consider how, to quote Benjamin Netanyahu, they are going to win this war. Let's get right to CNN's Nic Robertson who is in southern Israel. Nic, what is the latest where you are?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Becky, we are hearing the sound of multiple heavy explosions in the distance behind me towards Gaza, which must be about 35 kilometers away. We are in Ashdod at the moment. We were in Zikim overnight.

[06:05:00]

That was just a couple of kilometers from the border with defense with Gaza. We were able to see Israeli drones in the sky this evening -- early this morning when daylight came. We have seen movement of heavy battle tanks into the area, howitzers and armored personnel vehicles. Not in huge numbers, but an indication of perhaps the amount of military equipment that most people expect Israel to move into the vicinity of Gaza to secure that fence line, to make sure that no Hamas militants can get into Israel.

And that's what happened this morning in Ashkelon between where we are now and where we were in the early hours of this morning, a small team infiltrated. They were stopped, thwarted by Israeli Defense Forces in the town Ashkelon, just a few kilometers down the coast from here.

So, the area where we were last night was an active military area. It still appears to be an area of security concern for Israeli authorities. And even here some 30 plus kilometers away from Gaza, you can hear those multiple explosions.

The streets are more or less deserted here. An elderly couple just walked past before us. They were speaking French. I'm not sure if they were tourists. But this would normally be a much busier spot here.

A lot of people heeding the advice the government is giving them, which is staying close to their shelters, staying home, don't go out if you don't need to and be ready to take shelter if the sirens go off, Becky.

ANDERSON: Let's just pause for a moment and try and establish a sense of what has happened here because in terms of numbers, we have seen 350 Israelis killed and as close to 2,000 injured. Amongst those, some 30 Israeli soldiers killed. As we are reporting, you know, multiple dozens it seems of Israelis having been rounded up and taken into Gaza. And as the militants there have described, littered around the town which is, of course, incredibly tightly populated, which is going to make this offensive, and we should discuss what that looks like, much, much more difficult for the Israelis. Let's be quite clear.

On the Palestinian side, some 300 people killed and also a couple of thousand people who have been injured. It is hard to underscore exactly how significant and shocking what we have seen in the last 30 hours is, Nic. And the idea that these hostages, these Israeli hostages now are littered around Gaza city is going to be really, really tough for the IDF. Explain.

ROBERTSON: It's also a political problem for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hamas will absolutely have video of those hostages at some point. We can expect that.

I think the Israeli government will be bracing itself for the potential that if the IDF has an incursion or there's high Palestinian death toll in Gaza from Israeli airstrikes, then they would expect Hamas to try to put political pressure on the government of Prime Minister Netanyahu by putting hostages on camera, by putting them under duress, and it goes without saying that there is a potential for some of those hostages to be killed if the situation gets more extreme.

So, you have a political decision for the prime minister to decide how to handle that part of what's -- what happens, how he moves forward. But it is unprecedented that the Israeli Defense Force, the government of Israel would be faced with a situation where Hamas has got into Israeli territory, that they have taken hostages into Gaza who can be used against the Israeli Defense Force.

Now when we see incursions here in the past, going back here well over a decade, those incursions by Israeli ground troops are costly in terms of Israeli troops, lives, but also very costly in terms of Palestinian lives because, as you say, this is a densely populated civilian neighborhood and Hamas hides out in those civilian areas.

They have tunnels under houses. They live in those densely populated streets. They are very hard targets for Israel to go in and capture or kill the leaders of Hamas as they appear to be vowing to do.

So, this is an incredibly difficult situation. But I think we are still some way before an incursion because it's going to take some time to put that force in order and make the political decisions. But also, as Israel has witnessed in the past, the higher the Palestinian death toll and it goes high in previous incursions or airstrikes, then international pressure grows on Israel to find a peaceful solution.

[06:10:09]

ANDERSON: Nic Robertson is on the ground. Nic, thanks for joining us. After a call with the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Biden said his administration's support for Israel's security is -- quote -- "rock solid and unwavering" in his remarks on Saturday. Biden even went so far as to warn other countries against exploiting Israel during these attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me say this as clearly as I can. This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage. The world is watching.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: And Biden went on to condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization, calling their actions unconscionable. Well, CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House. And just since Joe Biden last spoke, there is a significant concern about escalation here.

We have been hearing about deadly clashes on the West Bank, Kevin, and the IDF says it has been striking an area in Lebanon after Hezbollah took responsibility for strikes on the Shebaa Farm area inside of Israel. What is the Biden administration's plan at this point?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I can tell you that officials are watching those developments very closely around the clock. And what the plan right now is, is to really kind of determine the scope of Israel's needs as it responds to this crisis. And you see this multichannel effort sort of up and down the military chain to try and determine what direct aid Israel might need at this point in time.

And I am told that that was a point of discussion between the two leaders, President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu, when they got on the phone yesterday. One of the complicating factors there, you'll remember, Becky, is Washington is currently in a state of dysfunction. There is no House speaker.

And White House officials have been candid that they don't have a clear answer if Congress would need to pass something for Israel, some kind of assistance package for Israel, they wouldn't be able to at this moment. But certainly, President Biden very clear yesterday in his remarks that he condemned the attacks from Hamas and that he stood with Israel. Listen to a little bit more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Hamas terrorists crossing in Israel killing not only Israeli soldiers, but Israeli civilians in the street, in their homes. Innocent people murdered, wounded, entire families taken hostage by Hamas just days after Israel marked the holiest of days on the Jewish calendar. It's unconscionable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, the other effort that you are seeing behind the scenes is the diplomatic effort. In addition to Prime Minister Netanyahu, the president spoke yesterday with the king of Jordan. And so, you really do start to see American officials calling their counterparts in the region in countries like Egypt and like the United Arab Emirates, like Qatar. Countries that could have some leverage with the Palestinians to try and lean on them to try and defuse this crisis in any way that they can, try and prevent it from spiraling out of control. So, these efforts certainly continuing into the day today, Becky.

ANDERSON: Kevin Liptak is at the White House. Kevin, thank you. Well, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also condemning the attacks by Hamas on Israel. Blinken says he has been speaking with Israeli officials as well as leaders in the surrounding countries and he has called his European and Middle Eastern counterparts to discuss the attacks. CNN's Natasha Bertrand joins me now. What's the latest from your perspective, Natasha?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, the secretary of state has been extremely busy over the last 24 hours. He has been calling his counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, as well as in the E.U. And essentially, the message that he is sending to them is, please try to use whatever leverage and influence you have to promote calm and peace in the region.

Now, the secretary of state has repeatedly condemned these attacks. And in his conversations with his counterparts, he has expressed to them that the United States stands in solidarity, of course, with the Israelis and that the U.S. is working to determine what exactly the Israelis will need in the coming days and weeks in order to support their fight against Hamas.

But, you know, one of the big questions that the administration and that the officials in Washington that we have been speaking to are asking now is what needs to be determined over the next few weeks about how this was missed. The intelligence failure here really was quite spectacular.

[06:15:00]

And the officials are concerned that this blind spot apparently that Israel had when it came to this attack could translate potentially into more chaos. And so, the diplomatic efforts here are really intensifying. And what we have heard as well from administration officials is that they cannot say at this point whether Iran played any role in this attack.

As we know, Iran is a supporter of Hamas and that is something that the administration is also trying to figure out at this point. But Blinken, he has been, of course, very pivotal in terms of this ongoing effort between the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Officials here in Washington also saying that they believe it is premature to say that those normalization efforts are going to be completely sidetracked and destroyed by this terror attack, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yes, the involvement of Hezbollah, the Iran backed Lebanese group, could signal a real ratcheting up and there must be real concern about that in Washington. Analysts, of course, suggested that that military group has at its disposal something like 100 to 150,000 rockets.

The group has said that it is in direct contact with Hamas and other groups around the region and is in contact with the leadership of Palestinian resistance at home and abroad. Something that Washington will be very aware of at this point. Natasha Bertrand, thank you.

Coming up later this morning on "STATE OF THE UNION," Dana Bash will sit down with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. That begins at 9:00 a.m. Eastern on CNN and streaming on CNN Max. And I will have a lot more coverage from here inside Israel throughout the morning. For now, let's get you back to Victor in Atlanta. Victor.

BLACKWELL: Becky, thank you. Within hours of the attack President Biden pledged his support to Israel. But what happens next? Joining us now is Brett Bruen, president of the crisis communications agency, the Global Situation Room, and former director of Global Engagement under President Obama.

Brett, good to see you again. Let me start here and pull a thread of what we just heard from Natasha Bertrand on the question of intelligence. To what degree does this recalibrate the U.S. confidence in the Israeli intelligence capabilities?

BRETT BRUEN, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL SITUATION ROOM: Well, I think we have got to go back to square one and start challenging assumptions. And clearly both on the Israeli side, on the U.S. side, there has been an overconfidence and a belief, I think, that we have things under control, when, quite clearly, we were missing fundamental elements.

We learned, Victor, over the course of the last couple of decades in efforts in the war on terrorism that the adversaries adapt and they understand how we are collecting information and intelligence. And, in this case, clearly Hamas was successful in keeping this under wraps.

BLACKWELL: I mentioned that the Global Situation Room is a crisis communications agency. So, let's talk about the crisis of freeing these hostages.

The IDF has, of course, begun their retaliatory strikes. What we learned from Hamas is that they say they have dozens of Israeli hostages, prisoners of war. Is there some non-military approach, some diplomatic approach even at this hour, as naive as that may sound, to free those hostages?

BRUEN: Certainly, there will be. And I think Hamas has to be careful here because there has been a lot of international as well as domestic outrage against Hamas for their attacks on civilians. The fact that they continue to hold families, children, civilians does not play well into the public support that they are attracting.

So, Hamas, I think, is going to look at how do we negotiate a deal out of this. Israel, obviously, will very actively be pursuing the return of their citizens. And this may be, Victor, a way in which we begin the process of negotiating on a broader set of issues. Because ultimately, I think this is a challenge both for the Palestinians, the Israelis and, obviously, American leadership to find a way forward here.

This is a moment of momentous transformation. What it ultimately becomes will be decided, I think, in the next 24 to 72 hours.

BLACKWELL: We've, of course, covered the strain between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu over the judicial reforms in Israel, that strained -- that long -- decades-long relationship.

[06:20:04]

But is the U.S. in any different a position to, when the time comes, negotiate, mediate than it was several years ago in 2021 as it worked behind the scenes trying to negotiate a ceasefire?

BRUEN: Well, this is the irony of Hamas' attack, is they have actually driven the Biden administration closer to Netanyahu and his government. That being said, to your question, Victor, you know, I think there have been a lot of strained relations between Israel and the United States over the last several years.

Nonetheless, I think what we are seeing in the statements both publicly and what I'm hearing privately is that the U.S. and Israel are back on the same page. They are going to work hand in glove over the course of the next several days, weeks, months, if necessary, in terms of supplying Israel what it needs and figuring out a path forward. And this is where I think, importantly, the Abraham Accords come in and we are going to really have to see if those new relations that Israel has with Gulf states are able to exact more concessions, more leverage from Hamas in the coming days and weeks.

BLACKWELL: Brett Bruen, thank you.

WALKER: Still to come, Israel is in the midst of a full-scale response to this surprise attack by Hamas. We are going to assess what we can expect over the coming hours and days.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:45]

WALKER: New this morning, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari stated that the current priorities are to put an end to the ongoing conflicts in Israeli communities and address breaches in the fence that separates Gaza and Israel.

BLACKWELL: So, let's take a moment now to understand how this situation unfolded. This is an in-depth analysis now from CNN's Tom Foreman. He dissects the timeline of this attack.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These extraordinary series of attacks began at 6:30 in the morning when Israel was asleep with this massive barrage of rockets flowing out of Gaza. Note this would be the level at which they are most rudimentary rockets would hit, about six miles or so. Then you reach out to maybe 25 miles. And their most advanced rockets, the ones that would most seem to rely probably on some technology beyond them, Iran as many intelligence people would say, would reach up here to Tel Aviv. That's about 45 miles from here.

Whatever the placement of them was, there were an awful lot of them. We don't have an exact count but it appears to be in the thousands. That would matter because that would make it easier to overwhelm Israel's missile defense system, the Iron Dome system, and make sure that some got through even if many were stopped.

More importantly, by doing this, all indications are that laid the groundwork for what came next. At 7:40, an hour and 10 minutes later, that's when armed soldiers, fighters started coming out of Gaza into Israel. Some by knocking down walls and barriers here. Some coming in by air with powered parachutes, some by boats going around here.

This was something, again, that indicated it was a very planned attack. And soon you saw people with rocket launchers and rifles running in the streets. They even went and engaged military bases where you would think they would expect the most opposition, gives an idea of their degree of planning and confidence as they went in to attack the Israelis.

And, of course, we have seen those videos of the towns that have been raided near that area where we had reports of people being taken hostage and other people being killed. All of it speaks to this very notion we have been hearing about from the beginning, that this represents a level of planning and execution that is far deeper than what has typically been seen before.

WALKER: Yes, planning that was not picked up by Israel's intelligence. Thank you, Tom Foreman, for that. Joining me now is CNN's military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Good morning to you, Colonel. At last check the IDF was saying that there are eight points of engagement with Hamas in the southern parts of Israel. Strategically, what do you expect is being done to, I guess, root out the threats there in these eight points?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. Good morning, Amara. I think the biggest thing that the Israelis are faced with right now is the fact that they are basically engaged in eight different SWAT-style operations. So, what they are trying to do is they are trying to make sure that there are no more hostages that are being held on Israeli soil by Hamas, the Hamas terrorists.

And so, this is something that will take a long time in some cases, potentially, for them to go through the process of either eliminating the attackers or making sure that they can be captured. So, that's going to be job one for them.

The next thing that they will end up doing is, you know, like I think it was mentioned earlier, shoring up the border area. The IDF has said that they would be doing that. And then, you know, we have seen some of this already, but there will be more airstrikes. I think more artillery strikes against Gaza.

And the other thing that they are going to have to do is they are going to have to go after Hamas' leadership that is just from a purely military standpoint. That last one could potentially be stopped by diplomatic actions, but that's basically how they are going to have to do it. In essence, clean up what is going on in Israel itself, on Israeli soil, and then move forward into Gaza itself. And then, of course, they have to worry about the hostages that the Hamas forces have taken with them into Gaza.

[06:30:04]

So, this is going to be a very complex series of events that's going to unfold over the next, I'd say, 48 to 72 hours.

WALKER: Yes, that's my next question, because as the IDF turns its focus on taking control of Gaza -- and you heard those warnings from the prime minister and from IDF officials to the residents and to the civilians there in Gaza to leave those residential areas immediately. I'm not sure where exactly they could go in this very densely populated, you know, area of 140 square miles, two million people living there.

But also, you mentioned the fact that many of these hostages, Israeli hostages, presumably some of them IDF soldiers, were taken into Gaza. And you have, of course, Hamas leaders there saying -- you know, warning against any kinds of attacks in Gaza. How will the IDF avoid unintended casualties when it comes to hostages and civilians, people living in Gaza?

LEIGHTON: Yes, it's going to be really tough. And Amara, I don't really have a good feeling about this, because I think civilian casualties are unavoidable, unfortunately. This is one of those areas, as you mentioned, it's probably the most densely populated place on Earth in terms of population density. And it is really an area where you can't go anywhere.

So, even though the Israelis have different warnings to people, the area is basically blocked off. You know, some people call it an open- aired prison. And that is kind of what we have. We have a big refugee camp, big Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza. And that is a place where nobody can leave basically. And that is a difficult, difficult situation.

People can't go anywhere, and the IDF is going to be forced to deal with people who are in essence cornered. And of course, cornered people are very dangerous. They fight back. And that's what the IDF is going to encounter. It's going to be a very tough thing if diplomacy doesn't prevail at the point.

WALKER: Yes. And if it doesn't, of course, lots of concerns about a wider-spread regional conflict.

We're going to have to leave the conversation there. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you very much.

BLACKWELL: Hundreds dead, thousands more wounded since the intense fighting between Israel and Hamas began just a little more than 24 hours ago, as spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces joins us next with the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:41]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm Becky Anderson. As the Israeli Defense Forces strike targets in Gaza, the group says it is "ready if fighting extends beyond the area." Israeli communities in Gaza are being evacuated as the IDF carries out what they vowed will be a severe response to Hamas. Thousands of reservists are being expected to be called into service, while the IDF says it has struck more than 400 targets in Gaza.

That includes 10 towers used by Hamas in a compound the IDF claims is tied to the Hamas intelligence chief. The IDF now estimates that 350 Israelis have been killed since Hamas launched its surprise attack Saturday morning dawn. Well, among them, one of the group's senior officers with me now, IDF Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht.

It's good to have you, sir. You've just published the names of the 44 Israeli soldiers who were killed in this. Are you expecting more to come?

LT. COL. RICHARD HECHT, INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, IDF: There's more to come, Becky. We've been telling the world for years who Hamas is. And I think we saw yesterday their real color. It's an act of barbarism that we haven't seen for years. The visuals that you're seeing also inside Israel of civilians, grandmothers, children, reminded of ISIS. Some of the names in that list that you just mentioned are my comrades from the military. We've lost some of our best commanders. There's stories of heroism that are still happening as we talk. There's still fighting going on.

ANDERSON: We are hearing reports of Israeli mobilization near the border with Gaza. What's the situation there at present, sir?

So, right now, our main goal is to bring safety back to the communities around the Gaza Strip. Right now, we are holding 29 breach points. The Hamas terrorist, hundreds of them, came into Israel. We're still engaging in certain areas. A terrorist, I mean, you're seeing some mobilization happening. Also, near Ashdod, all the way to Ashdod, there was a vehicle hijack just about an hour ago by four terrorists that started moving up to Ashdod. Still, there's terrorists inside Israel, in Be'eri, in Ofakim, and Kissufim, some hostage situations going on. We are still fighting, hopefully, to end this by the end of the day.

But these, again, are very, very aggressive fights. That's our first goal. We're also responding severely against Hamas in Gaza. The cabinet is meeting, talking. We are presenting our plans in a composed way. We are planning an evacuation of our communities around the Gaza Strip. And also within Gaza, we will do anything we can to evict population and try and minimize collateral damage.

But we are going to go aggressively and severely after Hamas. An event is morning in the north, we responded. And hopefully, none of the players around us will make the mistake of joining in, Becky.

[06:40:23]

ANDERSON: Yes, I'm going to come to that in a moment. I want to just concentrate on Gaza for the time being. Are you mobilizing forces for a ground incursion at this point?

HECHT: Well, we're not talking about our future plans. We are assessing the situation. The IDF is presenting to the political leadership all options are on the table. Right now, as I said, we are focusing on restoring security to the communities. And again, this is very, very aggressive fighting. We're mobilizing a lot of forces down there. We're also trying to keep the situation within our communities. And we're also attacking infrastructure within Gaza, tunnels, command centers, and also these areas are on the fence. We're also trying to keep these breach points that no one comes in.

Just to remind everyone, yesterday, one of the main entry points was the areas crossing, which is a humanitarian crossing, which up till last week, thousands of Palestinians were coming into Israel to work and to bring a living back home into Gaza. They overran that position, killed and slaughtered and carnage soldiers in there.

ANDERSON: How many Israeli hostages are being held inside Gaza? How many are currently being held outside Gaza? And inside Gaza, as you prepare your plans to affect change within Gaza, how will you ensure that civilians don't get hurt and that Israeli hostages' lives aren't at stake?

HECHT: So, we still have very pocketed hostage situations inside Israel, and we have kidnapped civilians and soldiers in the Gaza Strip in the dozens. I won't go into the precise numbers. Again, we will do everything we can to minimize collateral damage. But again, we are focused. We are not -- in the country of Hamas, we're focused on military targets. As a concern, I will have to address it.

ANDERSON: Briefly, just how concerned are you about an escalation? We've seen the exchange of fire across the Lebanon border. We know there are deadly clashes in the West Bank being reported. Just how worried are you that this escalates and gets out of hand?

HECHT: Right now, the Israeli military is united, ready on all fronts. Also, we've ramped up our defenses in the North. We've mobilized reserves. We're also looking at Judean Samaria. We've mobilized more reserves. We're ready for all scenarios. I don't want to use the word worry. We are motivated to defend our country. All differences moved aside. All these cry-outs for people, protest, et cetera, all my friends, some of them in the protests are not all have come to the call to defend our country.

ANDERSON: This has been described as a spectacular failure of intelligence. Is it?

HECHT: Becky, I said that yesterday also to Wolf. I'm sure this is going to be talked about robustly after this thing finishes. Right now, let's focus on beating our enemy, doing what we have to do to get safety back to our civilians. This is a big question. I'm sure it'll be talked about a lot. But let's kick that can down the road for now.

ANDERSON: Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht with the IDF, thank you for joining us.

And I do want to note, folks, opposition leader Yair Lapid has told Benjamin Netanyahu that he will put aside differences and suggested that they form what he describes as an emergency narrow professional government together to manage what he describes as this difficult and complex operation ahead.

Yair Lapid's point is that Israel needs to put politics aside for the sake of an emergency government. Report suggests he has demanded that far-right leaders and ministers in this current Israeli government be removed. It's not clear how that has landed with the Prime Minister.

[06:45:04]

Remember, this is a government, the most right-wing government in Israeli history, which includes ministers who have persistently denied the very existence of the Palestinian people.

Coming up, international reaction pouring in after Hamas' assault on Israel. What we are hearing from world leaders, that is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: There has been an outpouring of international support for Israel since Hamas launched its attack on Israel, but not from all countries.

WALKER: Yes. CNN's Nada Bashir joining us now with more on what we are hearing from world leaders, Nada.

[06:50:12]

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: We suddenly seen -- have seen an outpouring of condemnation from the international community as well as an outpouring of symbols of solidarity, at least here in Europe. We've seen across the European Union, in fact, yesterday, messages of solidarity, but also the Israeli flag being raised across several European cities.

And we've heard those statements of condemnation from numerous European leaders, including the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, who issued this statement on Saturday, saying, the E.U. condemns in the strongest possible terms the multiple and indiscriminate attacks across Israel by Hamas and deeply deplores the loss of lives. We call for an immediate cessation of senseless attacks and violence, which will only further increase tensions on the ground and seriously undermine Palestinian people's aspirations for peace.

Now, on the regional front, there have also been a unified cause for a de-escalation to the violence. We've heard from the Turkish government, which has called for an end to the violence, but has also said that it stands ready to support any efforts to bring about peace and to ease tensions. And of course, we've also heard from key regional players, including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

We know, of course, that the King of Jordan has been in touch with President Biden to discuss the ongoing situation. Egypt's foreign minister has warned of the severe risks that come with the prospect of a further escalation. Of course, Saudi Arabia has condemned the violence.

We know, of course, that the Saudi government is in the process of exploring the potential normalization of ties with Israel. But in a statement issued yesterday, the Saudi foreign ministry also highlighted tensions and violence which preceded Saturday's attack saying in a statement that the Kingdom is repeating its previous repetitive warnings of the dangers of the situation blowing up as a result of the continuing occupation and depriving the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights.

Now, of course, the focus at this current point in time is very much on the rising death toll, both of Israeli civilians and Palestinian civilians, and of course, a huge amount of concern around Israeli citizens who have been taken hostage by Hamas. But of course, there is serious concern about what comes next with the prospect of a full- scale Israeli military response.

Victor, Amara?

BLACKWELL: Nada Bashir for us in London, thank you.

Up next, an Israeli mother was on the phone with her two children when Hamas militants broke into their home and kidnapped them. She tells their story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: So, as the attacks continue, we are hearing really terrifying stories from the civilians caught in the crossfire.

BLACKWELL: An Israeli mother told CNN's Jake Tapper that her children called as they were being kidnapped by Hamas militants, and all she could do was listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard online, on the phone, the door break. I heard the terrorists speaking in Arabic to my teenagers. And the youngest, I'm too young to go. They're 16 and 12, so, very, very hard to hear. And the phoen went off, the line went off. That was the last time I heard from them. It was very, very hard day. Many, many people from our place, and other places were taken. They took babies, they took 2-year-olds, 5-year-olds, mothers, just innocents. They did nothing wrong. They were just sleeping in their bed. Even war has rules. They just don't have any morals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, that mother who we're not identifying for her safety says that no one from the Israeli military or government has come by or said anything to her. An IDF spokesperson told CNN that dozens of hostages have been taken, but they're not sure about an exact number.

WALKER: All right, coming up, an unprecedented attack and all-out response, a region in chaos. The latest from Israel after a quick break.

[07:00:00]