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IDF Say, 300,000 Troops Amassing Near Gaza Border; Injures and Damage in Southern Israel After Strikes; Biden Says, Americans Among Hostages Held by Hamas. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 11, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Voting today in that room.

[07:00:02]

Do they emerge with consensus? Do they emerge with a speaker that can win on the floor? That remains to be seen.

And, again, it is so important to put this in context of what is happening in the rest of the world. The United States Senate is on recess this week. They are not in Washington. But until the House of Representatives can find a speaker, they can do nothing for Israel, they can do nothing to deal with the government funding deadline that is coming up on November 17th. And I will tell you, multiple members coming out of a private meeting last night on Capitol Hill were extremely clear, they are not confident that today ends with a new speaker of the House. Poppy, Phil?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. Lauren Fox, thank you for the reporting.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: And CNN This Morning continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Israel right now preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza that appears to be imminent.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These Iron Dome interceptions, active rockets coming in from Gaza.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a minute, it can be all the war everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just cover myself with dead people, just waiting to die.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't have mercy on no one. Better to be dead than be kidnapped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The condition of my friends, my family who survive is unspeakable at this point.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Whole families were executed, parents, children, people even beheaded.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I must be crystal clear, we stand with Israel. There's no justification for terrorism.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He has deployed hostage recovery experts. He has offered to share intelligence.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are the sirens going off again.

There will be retribution and there will be retaliation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was not just barbaric treatment. It was the utter destruction of our communities.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The effect of these attacks really uniting Israel as the country braces itself for what will be the next stage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Good Wednesday morning, everyone. And we are staying with the breaking news. I'm Phil Mattingly with Poppy Harlow in New York. Erin Burnett is live for us near the Israel/Gaza border. It is 7:00 A.M. on the East Coast, 2:00 P.M. in Gaza, where the war between Israel and Hamas is rapidly intensifying. We're following breaking developments on multiple fronts.

This is the scene over Gaza. This morning, the Israeli military says 300,000 troops with tanks and heavy artillery are massing near the Gaza border and getting ready to, quote, execute their mission as those airstrikes and artillery fire continue to rain down

This is an active situation, and our own Erin Burnett had to take cover as Hamas returned fire with rockets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. You hear these sirens? I'm just-- okay. All right, are you coming to us? We're going to be-- I'm not going to be on camera, okay?

Come to us. You can come to us. Okay.

Tell me when I go. Oh my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: This as the IDF is releasing this new video of it bombing a university in Gaza hours ago. IDF officials say Hamas had turned it into a training center to make weapons.

HARLOW: This is video of the destruction this morning in Gaza, the government there warning that all electricity will be cut off shortly. And right now, we do not know the fate of all of those hostages who were kidnapped from Israel and taken into Gaza by Hamas. President Biden has confirmed Americans are among the captives and at least 20 U.S. citizens are unaccounted for at this moment.

The death toll in Israel from Hamas' surprise assault over the weekend, that continues to rise. At least 1,200 people are now confirmed dead. And the scale of the savagery of this massacre continues to come to light.

Overnight, the first round of weapons and ammunition from the United States arrived in Israel. You see it there being unloaded from that plane.

We have team coverage around the region, also here at home. Let's start with Erin Burnett again right near the Gaza border. Erin, extraordinary what you showed us last hour. Just reset the scene for everyone.

BURNETT: So, Poppy and Phil, we are just about three miles from the Gaza border. And you heard the sirens just there in that clip you played from a few moments ago when we were all together. We have been hearing regular sirens, some of them a little bit even far away to hear, some of them very close, and then within a few seconds, a barrage of rockets.

Earlier, a few moments ago, there were dozens and dozens of them. The entire Iron Dome, as it's called, really lighting up above us. And one thing that's important to keep in mind is that dome is designed to protect heavily populated Israeli area. So, under the city of Ashkelon nearby, it's designed to protect there, of course, in more rural areas or fields, such as where we are, they're less likely to use it.

[07:05:03]

So, you have to be careful no matter where you are. And, of course, pieces of those rockets can come down.

But as we said, dozens and dozens of them being fired, giant plumes of smoke from impact. And on that front, we cannot tell you whether that impact came from Israeli strikes or whether that came from Hamas rockets returning fire. But we can tell you we smell it and it is that smell of war, heavy industrial burning metals and burning fuel. When we get those-- the wind blows this way.

As I said, it was a very brightly sunny day. And now the sun has been marred quite a bit by that cloud right behind me. And you can-- I don't know if you could hear over the loud speaker-- okay.

We're going to be leaving. That is a checkpoint. And I'll just say right now they're asking us, any journalists here to leave.

So, Poppy, I'm going to send it back to you. We're going to go ahead and do exactly as they say and move away from this area where obviously we have seen so much in coming and outcoming fire over this past hour.

HARLOW: Erin, go ahead with your team. We'll get back to you when it's possible and safer. Thank you for that reporting.

And we want to go now to colleague, Jeremy Diamond. He joins us in Southern Israel. Jeremy, what can you tell us and where are you roughly?

DIAMOND: Yes, Erin. Over my left shoulder here, you can see the city of Ashkelon. And then over my right shoulder, you have the Gaza strip. So, that just gives you a sense of exactly where we're located right now. And we did just hear all of those sirens in the city of Ashkelon and in other cities around the Gaza Strip.

We're just hearing now from a Magen David Adom, that's the ambulance service, from a spokesman, that there were two injuries from those rockets in Ashkelon. And I think you guys have images up. I can't see from here right now, but I think you have some images of the damage that is already being reported.

And it's important to note that, look, the Iron Dome obviously takes out a large majority of the rockets that are being fired from Gaza. But with every barrage of rockets, there is always this possibility of what we're seeing right now, big, massive structural damage but also, of course, the possibility of injuries and the possibility of people being killed.

And this is kind of the psychological impact as well of these constant barrages. People are on edge here. People-- you do get the sense that this is a country on a war footing but that it is also a country where people are worried as they go about their lives here, as they try, at least to maintain some semblance of normalcy.

Just yesterday, when we were in the city of Sderot, we had a woman who passed by our live shot location and asked us if we could accompany her to a gas station. Why? Because she was afraid. She was afraid of the rockets. She was afraid of a rocket hitting that gas station while she was simply trying to pump gas into her car. And that just gives you a sense of the situation that people are living with here, the fear that some people have.

At the same time, we get a sense of resiliency from others. We spoke with another woman also in the city of Sderot who was delivering food to reservists. While we were speaking with her, we had sirens go off, Iron Dome intercepts right above us. And as we went into the shelter with her, I asked her, are you afraid? And she said, no. She said, when it's my time, it's my time.

And that just gives you a sense of the other facet of this, the resilience of the people here and the sense of defiance in the face of what has really been a shock to the conscience here in Israel as this surprise Hamas attack unfolded over the weekend and we have seen continued barrages unfold. And, of course, as well, Israeli airstrikes bombarding the Gaza Strip, really pummeling the Gaza Strip, and we have seen the casualty toll in Gaza also rising.

MATTINGLY: Yes. Jeremy, as you have been speaking, as you noted, we have had live pictures to your side of Ashkelon, where there have been a strike, it looks like. Those live pictures are now-- there's a siren. It looks like they're moving for cover right now inside a market.

You can see where the strike had occurred. The camera is off that now, and also onlookers looking around cars that had shrapnel inside.

Jeremy, to that point, both the very real and palpable fear but also the resilience, the unity tied to that resilience in a country that, at least, politically, had been fractured over the court of the last year-plus. That derives in part from the fact 300,000 reservists have been called up. Do we have a sense right now in terms of the preparations for what is an expected ground invasion at some point in the future?

DIAMOND: Yes. Sorry, Phil. I'm looking behind me. We're hearing the familiar booms that indicate some kind of Iron Dome intercept, most likely. I think we might be able to see some of the plumes of smoke in the air resulting from those interceptions.

[07:10:04]

But this is the kind of the cadence that you hear here. This is the sound track of life along the Gaza border in Israel right now.

And now, speaking to that sense of resilience you were talking about, this is a very small country. It is almost impossible to find someone in Israel who is not connected in some way to the terrorist attacks that took place over the weekend. Everyone here knows someone who was injured, who died, who was taken hostage, who is still missing or who lived in an area that has been facing rocket fire. This is just the reality here.

And yesterday, we were also speaking with reservists. More than 300,000 military reservists have been called up for duty, one of the largest mobilizations in Israel's history. And, you know, they don't know exactly what's coming. They haven't gotten their orders yet other than to begin gathering at rally points and to begin heading to their bases. But they are ready, they say.

We spoke with one man yesterday, Ariyeh Eastman (ph). He is a U.S.- born Israeli. He served previously in the 2008-2009 Gaza war, and he is back for this. And he said, this time he says, it feels different in particular because of the position of weakness that Israel felt after it got that surprise attack from Hamas over the weekend. He feels they got caught flat footed. But now, he says he feels like they're getting their momentum back and they are ready for whatever comes next.

Whether that is a ground invasion of Gaza, we don't know. You know, certainly we have seen Humvees in this area, troops beginning to mobilize, setting up at staging locations, setting up tanks, setting up artillery at staging locations around the Gaza Strip. All of that is an indication of a possible ground invasion.

But the question is a political one now. Has that decision been made by the Israeli prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu? Will he move forward with that? There is certainly a sense when you talk to people here, everyday citizens in Israel, that they want to see something, a significant response to Hamas. They want to see a different response than in the past. It feels different than in 2014, in 2021. We will see how massive the Israeli response is in the days to come.

HARLOW: And whatever it is, the White House made clear yesterday, President Biden standing side by side with Israel on this.

Jeremy Diamond in Southern Israel, thank you very much. We'll get back to you soon.

I want to bring back in our Military Analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton. Can you talk to us about where-- giving us a sense of where that strike took place in Ashkelon?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, absolutely, Poppy. So, basically, Ashkelon is right here. That strike occurred right in the-- it looks like right in the city center of Ashkelon, which is a fairly large city in Southern Israel, South Central Israel.

Jeremy is right about here, and that indicates that what you're seeing on the one side in Ashkelon is mirrored by stuff that is happening here in Gaza. So, you've got all kinds of activity going on here. And, clearly, this war is heating up at this particular point.

You have got a lot of things happening, Iron Dome trying to intercept missiles as they approach Ashkelon, may have been successful with that. But you have got all kinds of things happening that indicate ground movement in addition to aerial movement, and that's complicating the picture at the moment.

MATTINGLY: All right. Colonel Leighton, stay with us. We'll be coming back to you throughout the course of the hour.

I want to turn now to the Biden administration response, President Biden confirming that Americans are known to be among the hostages held by Hamas after its rampage over the weekend. At least 20 Americans are currently unexpected for in Israel, according to the administration, though it's not clear they were all taken as hostages.

We're learning more about some of them now. Adrienne Neta is 66. Her son says that he used to be a nurse and a midwife. Adrienne's daughter and son were on the phone with her when they heard attackers break into her home, and a scream, and then nothing.

And 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, we spoke to his parents. Hersh loves music festivals and was at the music festival on Saturday when Hamas began taking hostages. His parents told us they had heard he and a friend took grenades that landed in the shelter and threw them back out. He was badly injured. Relatives of people like Adrienne and Hersh asking for help from the U.S. government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAHAR NETA, MOTHER ADRIENNE IS MISSING: The U.S. government has direct responsibility to the lives of the U.S. citizens that are held hostage by these terrorists. RUBY CHEN, SON ITAY IS MISSING: President Biden, we are sure his heart is in the right place when it comes to Israel and secretary of state to do what they can to make this end for us as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Joining us now is State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller. Matt, I appreciate your time. I know the administration has always made clear this is the number one priority for them, U.S. citizens abroad.

[07:15:04]

How is the administration working to obtain information about these 20-plus individuals who are missing?

MATTHEW MILLER, SPOKESMAN, STATE DEPARTMENT: Thank you, Phil. Let me first start by saying that, of course, my heart breaks hearing those accounts. I cannot imagine what these families are going through, both the families who we know have lost loved ones and the families whose relatives remain unaccounted for.

I can tell you that there is no higher priority for the president, no higher priority for the secretary of state, and the safety and security of Americans overseas. That includes Americans who are missing, and it includes those Americans who we know, unfortunately, have been taken hostage by this brutal terrorist organization.

What we have done over the past few days, the secretary of state has been on the phone since the early hours after this brutal attack to make clear to any leaders in the region once we knew that it did appear there were hostages who were taken, that if they have any lines of communication with Hamas, any leverage, any influence with Hamas, they need to use that influence to tell Hamas one very simple and clear message, release all of the hostages now.

The other thing we have been doing, as the president said, is making hostage negotiation and hostage rescue experts from the United States government available for consultation with the Israeli government. That work is ongoing. And we will continue to pursue that work. It is our top priority to secure the release of these hostages. It is a very difficult situation, but we will continue to work on it to the greatest extent possible.

MATTINGLY: Have those initial conversations related to countries or leaders that may have contact with Hamas resulted in any type of conversations, consultation, negotiation related to the hostages?

MILLER: You know, I don't want to get into private diplomatic conversations. I don't think it would be productive. I don't think it would be useful to the situation and the ultimate goal that we're trying to achieve. I think we all need to recognize that this was a brutal terrorist organization that we're talking about here, whose depravity was on display when we saw them murdering civilians, children, women, dragging a Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair across the border. So, we very much understand the nature of the group that we are dealing with here. But that said, it is our top priority to try to get these hostages released. Both the Americans citizens, and, of course, the Israeli citizens, it's important to the Israeli government as well. And we're going to continue to work on that to the greatest extent possible.

MATTINGLY: I guess to put a finer point on it, there's an understandable information vacuum here. Do you feel like you know any more today than you did yesterday about the missing Americans that the president and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, referenced yesterday?

MILLER: Every day we get new information. Look, there's a list of Americans who we have confirmed dead. There are Americans who remain unaccounted. I do expect that, unfortunately, that the list of Americans who are confirmed dead will rise today. We continue to work through the list of unaccounted and find that, you know, obviously some of those we will locate or who will report in. Some of them we do find, unfortunately, that are deceased and then others we were able to confirm were taken hostage.

So, it's a moving target all the time. But we always, every hour, are achieving or getting more information, which allows us to shape the work that we do to try to protect the safety and security of Americans in Israel.

MATTINGLY: So, the President said yesterday, confirmed that 14 Americans had been killed. Your expectation is that will rise?

MILLER: I do expect that, unfortunately.

MATTINGLY: In terms of American citizens that are in Gaza right now, Jake Sullivan, when he was at the press briefing yesterday, said that there are ongoing diplomatic discussions, obviously with Egypt, with Israel, about passage out.

I want to play something for you from a Palestinian-American who spoke to our Jake Tapper yesterday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANEEN OKAL, PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN STUCK IN GAZA: We tried to contact the U.S. embassy so many times. Unfortunately, they couldn't tell us at all. I contacted them through the phone, via email. I texted and I called different numbers, but nobody -- I couldn't hear back from any. We are all here feeling abandoned and we're feeling that we're left alone. So, we're really looking for the U.S. embassy to help the U.S. citizens who are living in Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Is it your understanding that there is a passageway out of Gaza for American citizens or dual citizens at this point?

MILLER: There has been, and it is an issue that we continue to work on. As Jake Sullivan said yesterday, we do think it's important that American citizens who are in Gaza be allowed to leave, and it's an issue that we are working on. We're doing that quietly. Like a lot of the diplomatic efforts we undertake, it's not something to speak about publicly, but it is something we're trying to achieve.

[07:20:03]

And I will just say, when we say that the safety and security of Americans overseas is our first priority, that means American citizens anywhere, whether they be in Israel, whether they be in Gaza, whether they be anywhere in the world.

So, trying to help American citizens and protect them is something that is a top priority for us no matter where they may be located.

MATTINGLY: Matt, last one, I'll let you go. Connected to what we were just discussing, there were strikes yesterday near and around Rafah. And I know there have been conversations with the Egypt side in terms of how this can actually open up, how it can stay open at this point. I understand you don't want to telegraph them, but is there some immediate answer or solution, given the fact it seemed like that passage was closed yesterday due to the strikes?

MILLER: Again, it's an issue that we were working on. I don't think I can provide a lot of details because it's an ongoing matter and the subject of private diplomatic negotiations. But as I said, it is our top priority to protect the safety and security of Americans overseas.

And I will also say that, as the president said yesterday, we don't want to see civilian deaths anywhere. We want to see civilians protected. We want to see civilians not targeted. We expect Israel to follow the laws of war. That's what democracies do.

It is in clear contrast with the way Hamas has conducted itself when you see them targeting civilians, slaughtering civilians and kidnapping civilians. So, the protection of civilians and, of course, American citizens is a great priority for us and something that we'll continue to make very clear across the region.

MATTINGLY: It certainly will be a focal point for the secretary as he heads to Israel and to the region. Matt Miller, State Department spokesman, we appreciate your time. Thank you.

HARLOW: Very sad.

MILLER: Thanks, Phil.

HARLOW: Very sad update that they do expect more American deaths as well. Of course, we'll keep you posted as we get those numbers.

But coming up, we will also get an update this morning from the IDF following the strikes on Israel that we heard live on air just a short time ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

HARLOW: Welcome back. These are new images showing damage from strikes and counterstrikes in Israel and Gaza. You can see the smoke rising.

Meanwhile, CNN correspondents on the ground have seen firsthand military equipment, a lot of it, gathering at the border with Gaza.

Joining me now from Tel Aviv, IDF Spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner.

Colonel, thank you very much for joining us. And I want to begin with the pressing question on everyone's mind. As our colleagues see your troops amassing at the border, what is the status of what many expect to be a full-scale ground incursion of Gaza?

LT. COL. PETER LERNER, SPOKESMAN, IDF: Thank you very much. The main question is, how are we going to prevent Hamas from ever being able to attack us again. The tools that the IDF has is military force. As you can see, we are conducting airstrikes, targeting Hamas' capabilities, making sure that they are on the run and that they cannot manage another attack that like they did on Saturday, which has killed over 1,200 people, and that number keeps rising. So, I would say the IDF is prepared, and we will take all measures required in order to make sure that that can never end.

We are currently continuing to amass our forces, not only on the border with Gaza, because we also need to be prepared for what potentially could happen from Lebanon. Last night, we had mortar rounds also from Syria. So we are at top alert, and we need to be prepared for a deterioration.

HARLOW: Staying with Gaza for a moment, do you believe that Hamas can be decapitated essentially completely, the organization, without short of a ground invasion?

LERNER: I know that Hamas cannot be allowed to continue to play these two hands of cards, one where they send attacks to us, and one continued to govern unhindered.

So, I would say they need to be dealt with. We can do that with a magnitude of tools. A ground invasion is one, but I would say the most important question is, how do we make sure that they never have the tools to attack us and butcher our families in their homes.

HARLOW: Colonel, do you have any update you can share with us on the status of the hostages? My colleague, Phil, just asked the State Department and I'll ask you the same question. Any update on hostages?

LERNER: I can't share anything with you, unfortunately. I would say this, though. Hamas are accountable and responsible for their well- being. They need to release them immediately. We are taking the fight to Hamas also because of this atrocity that they committed.

We heard from the State Department just reiterating that the United States expects Israel to abide by the laws of war. We also heard from the White House yesterday saying that President Biden and Netanyahu also discussed how, quote, we distinguish between terrorist and innocent civilians when going in and striking in Gaza.

How is the IDF making that distinction?

LERNER: Absolutely. We are targeting Hamas' operational capabilities. They have embedded themselves deeply within the civilian arena, within the urban areas, and putting their own people at risk. When they hide their tunnels, when they hide their command and control positions in houses, when they utilize universities to conduct communication activities, when they use utilized areas, farmland areas for staging grounds against our people, they become targets.

So, we are obviously operating and we only operate it within the world and the area of the laws of armed conflict always. And we do, as we always do, our utmost in order to remove the threat and limit the civilian casualty.

But most important, and this is our message, the people who are responsible for the people of Gaza are Hamas.

[07:30:05]

The people Gaza need to ask Hamas, why did they?