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Officials: At Least 1,200 Killed in Israel, 950 Dead in Gaza; U.S., Allies Warn Hezbollah Against Escalating War. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired October 11, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Presence on the border. We're talking about tens of thousands of troops, including reservists and regular units on the border across by Lebanon, ready for what they believe to be a potential attack by Hezbollah. That will be a huge concern for the region, as a whole.

[06:00:17]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed it will. Nada Bashir, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

And thank you all for joining us. I am Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. We have much more from the region because "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow, along with Phil Mattingly in New York. Our Erin Burnett is live near the Gaza border. And it is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast, 1 p.m. in Israel, where we are following breaking news on several fronts in this escalating war between Israel and Hamas.

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HARLOW: The Israeli military says 300,000 troops with tanks and artillery are massing near the Gaza border as air strikes continue to rain down this morning. A ground invasion looking more possible, as well.

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LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, IDF SPOKESMAN: And they are now close to the Gaza Strip, getting ready to execute the mission that they have been given -- that we have been given by the Israeli government, and that is to make sure that Hamas, at the end of this war, won't have any military capabilities by which they can threaten or kill Israeli civilians. That is our military aim.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: The Israel Defense Force releasing this new video of it bombing a university hours ago. IDF officials say Hamas has turned it into a training center to make weapons.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: And this is a video of the destruction in Gaza this morning. The government there warning that all electricity will completely stop shortly.

Right now we don't know the fate of all the hostages who were kidnapped from Israel and taken to Gaza. President Biden has confirmed Americans are among the captives, and at least 20 U.S. citizens are currently unaccounted for.

The death toll in Israel from Hamas' surprise assault over the weekend continues to rise. Now, at least 1,200 people are confirmed dead as the scale and savagery of the massacre comes to light.

CNN got a first-hand look at an Israeli community center near the Gaza border, where Hamas butchered innocent civilians, including women, toddlers and babies.

Overnight, the first round of weapons and ammunition from the United States arrived in Israel. We've got team coverage from around the region and here at home.

Let's get right to Erin Burnett near the Gaza border. Erin, at this point, what are you seeing? What are you hearing?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: So Phil and Poppy, we are right now just three miles from the Gaza border. And what we've been hearing is a lot of incoming and outgoing fire.

We have heard air strikes. We have -- there's been, obviously, air siren warnings sort of in areas. You can actually literally see them on map (ph). I don't know if you can hear the artillery fire going on right around us.

But it is a very active location right now. As I said, we're about three miles off the Gaza border.

And Poppy and Phil, I just want you to look behind me, because on this ridge -- Albert, our photojournalist is zooming in right now. And these are some of those Israeli forces that you just heard about massing.

What we see here are armored tanks. We see armored personnel carriers. And we counted just along this one ridge about 15 bulldozers. And heavy bulldozers, obviously. Military bulldozers. And obviously, that's significant in the context of where we are: three miles from the Gaza border. An ominous sign of what a ground invasion would look like and what it would really entail, when you talk about 2 million people so densely packed on the other side of that border.

And as we were here, you know, an air strike that we heard, one where we literally ducked for cover as we heard it. As we're standing here pausing within a few seconds, up to 20 people in Gaza were killed in that air strike. So that's what's literally going on at this moment. Very active.

And of course, just a few miles from here in Sderot (ph) where Nic Robertson has been; obviously very active there, too, as well, with a lot of sirens and rockets incoming.

HARLOW: Erin, as we just talked about these 300,000 troops, artillery tanks amassed near the border, it comes at the same time as the White House, Jake Sullivan at the White House said yesterday that they're not expecting Israel to pursue a siege -- that word being critical -- of Gaza.

How does that translate to what you're seeing on the ground? I know it's impossible to predict what's going to happen, but you're there.

BURNETT: Yes. Well, you know, I mean, when you look at what we're seeing behind us, and this is an open field. So they're not just sitting here, right? They're sitting here with a purpose, right? They're sitting here with the purpose of going in and invasion. That's why they're here.

And obviously, when you think about Gaza already, you know, what does the word siege mean?

HARLOW: Yes.

BURNETT: You have 263,000 people already displaced, according to the U.N., Poppy. And you know, they say already there's been disruption because of infrastructure strikes by Israel. So sewage is piling up on the streets. Two of their three major mobile communication networks -- centers are already down.

So the situation there already very dire, depending on what word you use.

And I should also say, Phil and Poppy, you know, while we're here, I don't want to imply that they're already sitting here and there isn't more being added.

We see active military -- Israeli military going by on the road right in front of me. And as they go by, on the top of their -- their armored vehicles, there will be someone on the top with a heavy machine gun, manning that heavy machine gun.

So they are very actively moving into this area even as we speak. When you talk about that 300,000, that is literally soldier after soldier moving in.

MATTINGLY: Erin, I think there's been a lot of sense of an inevitable ground incursion. We have no idea what the timeline is. We only know what Israeli officials have said publicly at this point.

Given what you've seen at this point on the ground, do we have any sense of time line?

BURNETT: Well, I can tell you what the feeling is, and the perception is from people around here, is that it's imminent. That doesn't mean that it is. But that is definitely the feeling and the perception.

And I had a conversation with a former deputy defense minister here, Danny Danon, also the former Israeli ambassador to the U.N., and his point of view was, it is inevitable. Because what is Israel supposed to do when you have this much death in a terror strike on your country? That they are really left, they feel, with no other option.

And you heard the defense minister yourself, saying all gloves are off. All restraints was the word that was used. All restraints are off for IDF forces occupying -- who may go into Gaza.

What does that actually mean? We don't know. But as I said, they're here. They are in open air. They are very visible to any militants in Gaza who, as I said, are just a few miles away. There's no attempt here to disguise what their plans are or where they are.

And as I said, I don't know if you can hear it, but you do hear a regular fire and artillery here over in the distance behind me.

MATTINGLY: All right. Erin, live near the Israel-Gaza border. We're going to be checking back with you throughout the morning. Thank you very much.

More on the military side of this operation. The IDF announcing just hours ago that it struck what it called a Hamas advanced detection system for aircraft, as well as bank branches Hamas has allegedly used to fund terrorism and other sites.

All of this happening while, as Erin was just reporting, Israeli troops amass during the Gaza border.

Joining us now is CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Colonel Leighton, we've seen, over the course of the last several days, I think, the ramping up of these air strikes. Obviously, the building up of Israeli troops on the border.

What does this mean in terms of preparations for what could be an incursion that does not have any precedent, based on this conflict?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Phil. This is actually going to be quite -- quite something, because the type of incursion that we're looking at here is one that could conceivably affect everything right in here.

And what I mean by that is this. Let's take a look and put some troops out, out in this area right here. This is really what you're going to be seeing in these areas.

And when you -- when you see some of these areas right here in Gaza, you're going to be finding a very difficult area for them to get into. And as Erin was talking about, you've got a lot of different -- different areas in which the Israelis are going to be responding to each of these -- these areas. And you've got, really, a response that is calculated to, I think,

eliminate a lot of what Hamas' fighting capability is. When we see that, we'll know it. But it looks like the invasion is more inevitable than it was just 24 hours ago.

HARLOW: What about what we've seen develop overnight, and that is the IDF announcing they're striking inside of Lebanese territory? Since Saturday, there had been some strikes from Hezbollah in the South of Lebanon into Israeli territory. But what does this development mean?

LEIGHTON: So, some of the strikes right here, Poppy, into Lebanon, are actually quite important.

Because what the Israelis are trying to do is they're trying to warn the Hezbollah forces and any other forces that are arrayed in Lebanon -- there are several other militias there -- they're trying to warn them to stay out of this.

Hezbollah has basically made noises that they would be supporting Hamas in Gaza and that they would provide some type of aid, potentially, to them in any of these areas.

But that is the kind of thing that we -- that we see here.

And what we could have happen is, basically, a multi-front war. If that happens, that could create some -- some major problems for Israel, because if they work here and here, they could, in fact, have to divide their forces. And that is something that they're going to have to be very careful about.

[06:10:13]

But right now, a large portion of their forces are in Gaza, or near the Gaza border, but they also have a large portion that

large portion of their forces are in Gaza, or a large portion of their forces are in Gaza, or near the Gaza border. But they also have a large portion that is facing the Hezbollah forces and Lebanon in the North.

MATTINGLY: By the way, we just showed video just last hour, I believe, the first plane carrying U.S. ammunition landed in Israel. That's in addition to U.S. military personnel who have come into the region, obviously. Warships were sent into the region, as well.

How critical are the supplies, as U.S. efforts to continue to supply Israel, given what's expected in the weeks ahead?

LEIGHTON: These supplies, Phil, are critical. And the reason for that is that all of the things that are provided right here are really just-in-time provisions for the Israeli military.

They need our support, because they don't have the stockpiles to carry this operation out in a way that would allow for them to respond to what has happened to them in these areas around Gaza. So what they need is as much ammo as they possibly can get. They will

need intelligence support. They will need some other types of special operations support. And these are the kinds of things that are going to be part of this whole effort.

So what we can expect more flights like the one we just saw coming into Israel to provide that level of support. And that's going to continue for as long as this lasts.

MATTINGLY: All right. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you very much.

HARLOW: U.S. government sending a message to Hezbollah. You just heard the colonel talking about that, saying, "Stay out of the war in Israel." That's a quote. We have new reporting on that ahead.

MATTINGLY: And we're learning more about the barbaric nature of the Hamas attacks. New remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying their tactics make them, quote, "worse than ISIS.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We were struck Saturday by an attack whose savagery I could say we have not seen since the Holocaust. And we had hundreds massacred. Families wiped out in their beds in their homes. Women brutally raped and murdered. Over 100 kidnapped, including children. They're even worse than ISIS.

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HARLOW: Welcome back. While journalists are trying to keep the world informed about this war, some are paying with their lives. Press Freedom Organization say at least seven journalists have been killed since Hamas launched its attack.

Three were shot and killed in Gaza. One died with her family when an Israeli air strike hit their home.

And new video this morning shows the funeral procession for two members of the press who died in a bombing on a civilian building in Gaza. What you see there, covered in white sheets, also with those iconic press helmets placed on their bodies as a tribute to their work. A third journalist was also killed in that same bombing.

MATTINGLY: New reports say Israel is counterstriking inside Lebanese territory after anti-tank missiles were launched at an Israeli military post near the border.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it fired on an Israeli site in response to the killing of three of its members on Monday. Now the U.S. and its allies are warning Hezbollah not to take advantage of Israel's war with Hamas and risk escalating the conflict.

Here's Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaking just about an hour ago.

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LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: No other party hostile to Israel should try to exploit these despicable attacks.

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MATTINGLY: CNN's Natasha Bertrand joins us live from the Pentagon. Natasha, the unequivocable drumbeat from U.S., repeating that over and over again. What is the level of concern right now that other actors, including Hezbollah, will get involved?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Phil, U.S. officials are extremely concerned that Hezbollah could take advantage of this chaos to move to enter the conflict.

And they have been sending messages to Hezbollah through a number of channels, including the Hezbollah-aligned speaker of Lebanon's Parliament, to warn them not to join the war. And that if they do, there will be consequences.

Now, France has also been sending messages to Hezbollah through its -- at the request of Israel and in coordination with the U.S., warning them not to get involved, because it could have devastating ramifications.

Now, at this point, U.S. officials tell us, as well as Western diplomats, that Hezbollah does not appear particularly eager to join the conflict. According to one Western diplomat, quote, "The pre- existing will of Hezbollah is there not to escalate for now."

But look, U.S. officials are not taking any chances here. And for that reason, they are backing up their warnings with action. And that is exactly why we saw the U.S. move that aircraft carrier to the Eastern Mediterranean as a deterrence measure to warn any potential nations as well as non-state actors, including you know, Hezbollah and other groups, against taking action and joining this war in force.

Here's what Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said about this just yesterday.

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JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Let me be clear: We did not move the carrier for Hamas. We moved the carrier to send a clear message of deterrence to other states or non-state actors that might seek to widen this war.

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BERTRAND: Now, there are a number of down sides for Hezbollah to joining this war; have a number of political and economic risks that U.S. officials don't believe they are willing to take right now.

But look, U.S. officials are concerned that some kind of escalation could even happen unintentionally. That things could perhaps spiral out of control at that Northern border.

And we have already seen, as you mentioned in the intro there, Phil, a number of attacks back and forth between Hezbollah and the Israeli army. So far no signs, as I mentioned, that -- that Hezbollah is going to join the war in force with the full strength of its military might. It is a very sophisticated military power.

But, at this point, U.S. officials there just continuing to send these messages through back channels and hoping that nothing seriously escalates here.

MATTINGLY: Yes. And that back and forth, we are seeing in effect there. It's not just shots back and forth. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in an attack on the border with Lebanon, according to the IDF that was released just moments ago.

So we'll see how this continues to play out. The warnings, though, very clear.

Natasha Bertrand, thank you.

HARLOW: Well, today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to Israel to reaffirm U.S. support after Hamas' devastating attack.

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And Blinken's trip comes on the heels of an impassioned speech yesterday afternoon from President Biden, calling for Israel to take any necessary action to protect its citizens. Listen.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My team has been in near- constant communication with our Israeli partners, and partners all across the region and the world, from the moment this crisis began.

We're surging additional military assistance, including ammunition and interceptors to replenish Iron Dome. We're going to make sure that Israel does not run out of these critical assets to defend its cities and its citizens.

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HARLOW: Joining us now from Tel Aviv, Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States. Also joining us this morning, CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier. Appreciate you both being here very much.

Kim, your analysis was very helpful after we heard the president speak yesterday, not calling for restraint from Israel. Can you speak to what you see as a narrow window that Israel has to fully respond here?

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, they're already circling Gaza with 300,000 troops. But reports are coming out, as they pounded the area with air strikes, softening it up, taking out possible opposition before moving in, that civilian casualties are growing.

Hospitals are reporting being overwhelmed with casualties, having supplies running out and also full of Palestinian families that don't know where else to go, don't have bomb shelters. U.N. schools where they sheltered, those are all full. They can't get over the borders. So they're crowding into hospitals.

Those are the kind of photos, videos that are flooding the Arab world and will eventually cause -- especially once an incursion happens, the more civilian casualties are reported, that's going to cause international outcry. Whereas right now, the focus is still, at least in the West, on the atrocities committed, the deaths of Israeli citizens in the attack on Saturday.

MATTINGLY: Ambassador, to Kim's point, the White House, the administration is very aware of this fact and that reality. And yet, the speech from President Biden yesterday was among, if not the most impassioned speeches I've seen him give, and I've watched him fairly closely over the last two and a half years.

You're also a historian, along with your role as a former ambassador. Put that into context, what happened yesterday.

MICHAEL OREN, FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: I've got to put a finer point on it. It wasn't the most impassioned speech that President Biden has ever given, maybe on any subject. It was certainly the most impassioned speech that any president has given in history about the relationship between the United States and Israel.

I was actually shocked. I've known Biden for many years. And I know that he's deeply concerned about the state of Israel. He loves the state of Israel. He comes here and describes himself as a Zionist, but that's far beyond it.

He connected Israel's pain to his personal pain of the loss of family members. He went far further than I thought was possible in the American political context and say, We're going to use American force. That's really quite extraordinary.

And to say he was going to work with a largely dysfunctional Congress to get aid for Israel. It was point after point after point that I really have never heard anything like it.

But to get to Kim's point, there were also some messages behind -- behind the text. And one of them was, we expect -- you have a green light to go ahead and enter Gaza in a ground invasion, but we expect you -- you, the Israelis -- to act according to international law, to the degree that you can. Don't create those bad pictures on the TV that's going to make it difficult for me to help you. And that's what I understood from that line.

HARLOW: Ambassador, I wonder what you make of the argument Tom Friedman made in "The New York Times." This was before the president's speech, but it was three things that he hopes for from President Biden. And one of them was to ask Israel the question, as it considers what

to do next in Gaza, quote, "What do my worst enemies want me to do and how can I do just the opposite?"

He's arguing that the way that Hamas carried out this attack was also in an effort to get Israel to overreact. Now, I'm not sure what an overreaction is to this brutality.

But his argument is, do not get entangled into a situation that will look so much worse than the U.S. in Fallujah in 2004. I just wonder what you make of that argument?

OREN: Well, it's an old argument. And I've, you know, made it myself. Which is we could invade Gaza. We could actually rid Gaza of Hamas, but at the end, we're going to be sitting there holding the keys to Gaza. Who's going to take the keys from us?

And I think that this is a point in which we can enter into an intimate conversation with our American allies of what to do with the morning after.

Can we think of it in terms of, say, an inter-Arab force, Saudi- Emirati forces that could take over from us, or some other type of international forum.

Can we think about some kind of involvement of the Palestinian Authority? It's -- that's a very hard question, because the Palestinian Authority, the last time I was there, was ousted by Hamas.

[06:25:06]

So, it's a difficult question. I understand what Tom Friedman is saying. Right now, Israeli public opinion is close to 100 percent behind a ground invasion, not to go back to that status quo at virtually any price.

MATTINGLY: Kim, last word to you. The efforts from the administration to try and warn off not just Hezbollah but other actors in the region trying to take advantage of this moment.

But to the ambassador's point, behind the scenes right now, diplomatically, what conversations are happening? What are they trying to do to create, at least lay the groundwork, as this invasion looms, for some type of resolution or end game here?

DOZIER: Well, we know that the White House has been working through Qatar and other Middle East diplomats to try to reason with Hamas, to get some of the hostages, at least the women and children released. But it hasn't happened yet.

And the moment an invasion starts, I think diplomatic efforts are going to be off until at least the opening days of the war.

And from Israel's point of view, they've got to take out this apparatus that has grown much larger than they expected. They've got to find as many of the weapons caches, the rocket stores as they can and take those out, because it is an existential threat to their entire country.

Iran knows, however, that while it can get its allies on the ground to do harassing attacks, that were it to do something all-out, were it to launch its own missiles at Israel, then the U.S. is standing by to react.

HARLOW: Kim Dozier, thank you, as always. Ambassador Michael Oren, good to have you, as well. Thanks.

OREN: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: CNN audio has just launched "Tug of War: Attack on Israel," a daily ten-minute podcast. CNN reporters take us on the ground and unpack what this escalating conflict means for the rest of the world.

A key part of the war is the hostage crisis unfolding inside Gaza. We're going to speak to a woman whose 80-year-old parents were kidnapped by Hamas. Their story, that's ahead.

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MATTINGLY: As we continue to follow the breaking news, we want to take you straight to Erin Burnett, who's on the border of Israel and Gaza. Erin, what are you seeing right now?

BURNETT: All right. We're going to let you all listen. We are right here. I'm next to the camera. Albert is filming. You can see some streaks in the sky. We have just seen the Iron Dome here, right about three miles from the Gaza border. A lot of -- there's one right over there coming in. You're going to hear it right up there. Got it. See if we can watch that one. And you can see those Iron Dome interceptions right above us.