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Israel Says, No Power or Water to Gaza Until Hostages Freed; Happening Now, Secretary Blinken Speaks in Israel as IDF Conducts Large-Scale Attacks on Hamas Targets. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 12, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

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[07:00:00]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Phil Mattingly with Poppy Harlow in New York. Erin Burnett is live near the Gaza border. It's 7:00 A.M. on the East Coast, 2:00 P.M. in Tel Aviv where Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to speak at any moment as the war between Israel and Hamas escalates. He's meeting right now with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Israel continues to pummel Gaza with artillery and airstrikes.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And the humanitarian crisis there is growing more dire by the hour. Hostages, including Americans, are still being held captive. This morning, Israel has issued a new ultimatum, power and water, fuel will stay cut off to Gaza until they return the hostages abducted in that surprise attack.

And the international committee of the Red Cross says, without power, fuel and water, those hospitals will turn into morgues with cancer patients, babies and incubators and the elderly seriously at risk.

MATTINGLY: We have team coverage across the region and here at home, but let's get straight to Erin Burnett live at the hospital in Ashkelon, Israel, it got hit in yesterday's strike, Also treated more than 600 patients from Saturday's attacks by Hamas. Erin, at this point, what are you seeing at the hospital?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So, this has been a hospital that's been very busy since the beginning, Phil and Poppy, of the attacks on Saturday. You mentioned 650 people came here to this hospital in Ashkelon. We're very near the Gaza border, obviously just about seven or eight miles from the Gaza border here, 650 of them originally. We still know at least 30 of them are still here being treated. And then there's the ongoing strikes.

Yesterday, when we came under that heavy assault of dozens and dozens, 60, 70 rockets above us, above Ashkelon, some of those inevitably do come through the dome, either a full rocket or pieces of a rocket. And we have seen places where they have impacted.

A rocket did hit this hospital here yesterday, part of it. But in addition, about 70 people who were injured yesterday in those strikes from Hamas, here in Ashkelon, came here to this hospital. And we understand some of them are still here being treated for that trauma.

So, this is very much in the center of this. It's both a target and a place that people come for relief and for treatment after these strikes in terms of what Israel is dealing with right now.

Also I will say, Poppy and Phil, over the past hour-and-a-half, as we have been here, a lot of thuds coming from Gaza. Over the past half hour, we've heard less of that happen that, but a lot of thuds coming from Gaza, as I said, just a few miles away, where we know that the IDF has been conducting major airstrikes, they say, on terror targets throughout Gaza, throughout this morning.

And as I said, when we came here, those were steady sort of, let's say, every minute, every 30 seconds, we would hear those very loud thuds, and we haven't heard that here in about the past half hour. Although I do know that just south of here and then we just heard one right now, actually.

So-- but just south of here, there have been a lot of incoming rockets over Sderot where-- I know we're going to be talking to Nic Robertson in just a few minutes.

And, Nic, I know you have been seeing a lot of that rocket onslaught so far this morning, dozens and dozens of them, I understand. What have you actually experienced there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. Early this morning, there was a salvo rockets coming in from Gaza. The Iron Dome defense shield intercepted them. However, there-- one property was hit, we understand, that there were some civilian casualties at that property. But where we're at located right now, just outside of Sderot, about three miles, I will say, two to three miles from the border, from this location to Gaza.

And what you're looking at here is Israeli Defense Force, heavy howitzers fire artillery shells into Gaza, at Hamas targets in Gaza. This is a very big concentration of Israeli firepower here. We covered the situation with Gaza in 2021, where there was exchange of artillery fire, rockets by Hamas.

This is on a scale-- I'm just waiting for that explosion there.

[07:05:00]

This is on a scale much bigger. We're seeing more guns dug in here, more support troops around the guns. We're seeing a longer, more intense barrage of outgoing shell fire towards Gaza. While we've been here for the last, I would say, 20, 30 minutes, this has been sustained outgoing fire from multiple, multiple guns.

And in 2021, to give you comparison, the salvos just didn't last that long. They were a few minutes, they were over, they paused, they waited for fresh target instructions. So, this, from my experience here, and the guns were dug in the same positions here back in 2021, this is a much more sustained artillery targeting of Hamas positions in Gaza. We've been hearing the impacts in Gaza from these guns through the night. We've heard the outgoing fire through the night. We've heard the impacts coming from Gaza through the night. We're also hearing them late yesterday afternoon as well, Erin.

BURNETT: All right. So, Nic, again, this question, and we can hear obviously that volley of fire where you're standing right now, just a few miles from that border, how would you characterize-- and over the past couple of days here, Nic, as we've been along this border, we've all seen an increase in both the presence, the readiness, the perception of readiness, and what you're hearing right now, the tempo of the back and forth. What do you feel is happening today? Is it even accelerating even more today as we try to understand when the actual assault itself could begin?

ROBERTSON: I don't think we have a good assessment yet of when the assault itself, if there's a decision to have one, which seems likely. But I don't think we have a good assessment yet of how imminent that assault might be.

I mean, the guns that we're looking at here that you can see on your screens now are heavy howitzers. We saw them coming in on flatbed trucks just a couple of days ago. We saw them at this location digging in late yesterday.

Now, we're seeing them today dug in, in action, firing long sustained salvos of this targeted artillery fire at Hamas positions. And you can see the flashes from the guns here. You can see the dust rising up from where they're dug in the field. You can hear the boom of the outgoing shell. What we can't hear from here is the impacts in Gaza itself.

But I think when we try to judge how close any ground invasion incursion might be, my sense is there's definitely-- there are far more troops in position, but it's still a build potentially towards that. I don't think the forces are in place for that, but definitely postured and ready, readying for when it might happen.

BURNETT: All right. Nic Robertson, thank you very much.

And, Poppy and Phil, obviously, we can hear you hear the fire behind Nic. You also hear from where we are, thuds in Gaza, as those airstrikes from Israel continue. It is just a way to remember that all of these locations are just miles from each other, right, that you're talking about a very small distance, that when we're talking about this fire and you're talking about what we're hearing, and it is just something to keep in mind, right, that you are talking about extremely small distances.

MATTINGLY: Yes, no question about it. All right, Erin Burnett, stay with us in the field.

Joining us now, IDF Spokesman Major Doron Spielman, he joins us. Sir, I appreciate your time this morning.

I want to start, given what our reporters are seeing on the ground, Nic Robertson, Erin Burnett, now artillery to go along with the airstrikes and the tempo seeming to tick upward, I want to ask you about something one of your colleagues said earlier this week and asked about the scale of what the response would be to the terror attacks. So, it would be bigger than before and more severe. Should I read into that, that it will be more significant in terms of a ground operation than we saw in 2009 or than we saw in 2014?

MAJ. DORON SPIELMAN, SPOKESMAN, IDF: Absolutely. In the same way that Hamas' attack against us was really unprecedented in terms of really the level of the massacre, the brutality, the numbers of Israelis, men, women, and children that were destroyed, entire-- in the most grotesque way, it became-- Hamas cannot exist in their current capacity because they really will do everything to destroy the state.

As we said, we declared-- a time shift-- that's not an operation, that's not going and hitting a few strategic targets. This is causing a sea change in terms of Hamas in Gaza and destroying their ability to do this to us ever again.

[07:10:02]

So, what you're looking at is something totally different than what we've seen before.

HARLOW: Major Spielman, obviously, there is great concern about the hostages, Israeli-Americans and others still being held, as what you're describing, you know, is potentially about to begin. Has Israel's intelligence within Gaza improved since over the weekend in terms of your confidence that you can execute this, whatever is to come, while protecting them and hopefully getting them out?

SPIELMAN: I'll tell you, you're hitting upon a good nerve, a correct nerve, because I have to explain. The Israeli forces that are in the south, my-- these hostages are not just family. We're such a small country that we actually know these hostages. They are members of people's families. If it's not your own--

HARLOW: Major Spielman, please stand by. I apologize for interrupting. Let's listen to the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Mr. Secretary, my good friend, Tony, thank you for your important visit here today. Thank you. Thank President Biden. And thank you to the American people for your incredible support for Israel in our war against the barbarians of Hamas.

I thank you in English. I want to thank you in Hebrew as well.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

Mr. Secretary, your visit is another tangible example of America's unequivocal support for Israel. Hamas has shown itself to be an enemy of civilization, the massacring of young people in an outdoor music festival, the butchering of entire families, the murder of parents in front of their children and the murder of children in front of their parents, the burning of people alive, the beheadings, the kidnappings of a young boy, not only kidnapped, molested, hurt, attacked. And the sickening display of celebrating these horrors, the celebration and glorification of evil.

President Biden was absolutely correct in calling this sheer evil. Hamas is ISIS, and just as ISIS was crushed, so too will Hamas be crushed.

And Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated. They should be spit out from the community of nations. No leader should meet them. No country should harbor them. And those that do should be sanctioned.

Tony, my friend, I say to you, I say to all of us, there will be many difficult days ahead. But I have no doubt that the forces of civilization will win. And the reason that's true is because we understand what is the first prerequisite of victory. It's what you just said in our meeting, moral clarity.

[07:15:00]

This is a time, a particular time, a special time, that we must stand tall, proud and united against evil. Tony, you are taking that stand. America is taking that stand. Thank you for being here today. Thank you, America, for standing with Israel today, tomorrow, and always.

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: Thank you. Mr. Prime Minister, I'm grateful to be back in Israel in this incredibly difficult moment for this nation, but in fact for the entire world.

If you'll permit me, personal aside, I come before you not only as the United States secretary of state but also as a Jew. My grandfather, Maurice Blinken, fled pogroms in Russia. My stepfather, Samuel Pizarre (ph), survived concentration camps, Auschwitz, Dachau, Majdanek. So, Prime Minister, I understand on a personal level the harrowing echoes that Hamas' massacres carry for Israeli Jews, indeed, for Jews everywhere.

I also come before you as a husband and father of young children. It's impossible for me to look at the photos of families killed, such as the mother, father, and three small children murdered as they sheltered in their home in kibbutz near Oz and not think of my own children.

This was just one of Hamas' countless acts of terror. In a litany of brutality and inhumanity that, yes, brings to mind the worst of ISIS, babies slaughtered, bodies desecrated, young people burned alive, women raped, parents executed in front of their children, children in front of their parents. How are we even to understand this, to digest this?

And yet, at the same time, at the same time that we've been shocked by the depravity of Hamas, we've also been inspired by the bravery of Israel's citizens. The grandfather, who drove over an hour to a kibbutz under siege, armed only with a pistol and rescued his kids and grandkids, the mother who died shielding her teenage son with her body, giving her life to save his, giving him life for a second time, the volunteer security teams on the kibbutzes who swiftly rallied to defend their friends and neighbors despite being heavily outnumbered.

And we're lifted by the remarkable solidarity of the Israeli people, demonstrated in the long lines of people, giving blood. In the hundreds of thousands of reservists who've mobilized, some rushing home from abroad, people around the country opening their homes to fellow citizens displaced in the south.

The people of Israel have long and rightly prided themselves on their self-reliance, on their ability to defend themselves, even when the odds were stacked against them. The message that I bring to Israel is this. You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists, you will never ever have to. We will always be there by your side.

That's the message that President Biden delivered to the prime minister from the moment this crisis began. It's the message that I and my other colleagues in the government have delivered to our Israeli counterparts on a daily, even an hourly basis. It's the message that I bring with me to our discussions today. And it's what I'll affirm when I meet with the members of Israel's newly formed national emergency government. We welcome the government's creation and the unity and resolve that it reflects across Israel's society.

We're delivering on our word, supplying ammunition, interceptors, to replenish Israel's Iron Dome alongside other defense material.

[07:20:04]

First shipments of U.S. military support have already arrived in Israel and more is on the way. As Israel's defense needs evolve, we will work with Congress to make sure that they're met. And I can tell you there is overwhelming, overwhelming bipartisan support in our Congress for Israel's security.

Here in Israel and everywhere, we will reaffirm the crystal clear warning that President Biden issued yesterday to any adversary, state or non-state, thinking of taking advantage of the current crisis to attack Israel, don't. The United States has Israel's back.

We've deployed the world's largest aircraft carrier to the Eastern Mediterranean. We've bolstered the presence of U.S. fighter aircraft in the region. We're providing other support as well. We continue working closely with Israel to secure the release of the men, women, children, elderly people taken hostage by Hamas. We're pursuing intensive diplomacy throughout the region to prevent the conflict from spreading. And I'll be doing that over the course of my trip in the coming days.

Too often in the past, leaders have equivocated in the face of terrorist attacks against Israel and its people. That's why we've been adamant with all countries in the wake of these attacks. There is no excuse. There is no justification for these atrocities. You heard the prime minister say it. This is, this must be a moment for moral clarity. The failure to unambiguously condemn terrorism puts at risk not only people in Israel, but people everywhere. Look at what just happened, individuals from 36 countries killed or missing in the aftermath of Hamas' attacks, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, no region has escaped Hamas' bloody reach. Anyone who wants peace and justice must condemn Hamas' reign of terror.

We know Hamas doesn't represent the Palestinian people or their legitimate aspirations to live with equal measures of security, freedom, justice, opportunity, and dignity. We know Hamas, instead of promoting the well-being of its citizens, rules repressively and dedicates the resources it has to terror tunnels and rockets.

We know Hamas didn't commit its heinous acts with the interests of Palestinian people in mind. We know Hamas does not stand for the future that Palestinians want for themselves and for their children. Hamas has only one agenda, to destroy Israel and to murder Jews. No country can or would tolerate the slaughter of its citizens, or simply return to the conditions that allowed it to take place. Israel has the right, indeed the obligation, to defend itself and to ensure that this never happens again.

As the prime minister and I discussed, how Israel does this matters. We democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for a different standard, even when it's difficult, and holding ourselves to account when we fall short. Our humanity, the value that we place on human life and human dignity, that's what makes us who we are. And we count them among our greatest strength. That's why it's so important to take every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians. And that's why we mourn the loss of every innocent life, civilians of every faith, every nationality who have been killed.

Tragically, the number of innocent lives claimed by Hamas' heinous attacks continues to rise. Among those, we now know that at least 25 American citizens were killed. We joined families in Israel, in the United States, around the world in mourning their measurable loss.

Nearly 15 years ago, my stepfather, who I alluded to earlier, Samuel Pizarre (ph), came here to Yad Vashem to perform the mourners' prayer that he wrote to accompany Leonard Bernstein's third symphony, Kaddish, reflecting on the unspeakable horrors that he'd endured as a boy in the Nazi concentration camps.

He wrote, that man, though created in your image and endowed with the freedom to choose between good and evil remains capable of the worst as of the best, of hatred as of love, of madness as of genius. In this moment, where evil, hatred, and madness have once more taken so many innocent lives, we must stand together, resolve to confront what is worst among humanity with what is best.

We must provide an alternative to the vision of violence and fear, nihilism and terror presented by Hamas. That is what the United States will do, standing with Israel, working together with its people, and all those in this region who remain committed to the vision of a more peaceful, more integrated, more secure, and more prosperous Middle East. Thank you very much.

HARLOW: And there you have it, an unequivocal show of support from Secretary Blinken to Israel, no daylight between the two countries, reminding the world that the United States stands side by side with Israel in this moment and always, and hearing from the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, deep gratitude for the immense support of the United States, and also making clear that Hamas is ISIS and should be wiped out the same way as ISIS.

An update also, as we bring in our colleague, Erin Burnett, Erin, we also just heard from Secretary Blinken an update that 25 Americans, 25 Americans were killed in these attacks.

BURNETT: And 25 Americans killed. There were 17 still accounted for as of this morning, Poppy. So, that number could continue to rise, but it is a somber reality that the death toll of known deaths is still going up. And interesting what you heard there, obviously no daylight between them.

One thing I know we all heard there echoed, Phil and Poppy, was when they described the actual attack itself, they both talked about young people being burned alive. They used those words. They talked about parents being executed in front of their children and children in front of their parents. And it was very clear that those words were -- they had agreed to that. That was very clear and there was no daylight between them.

I will say one thing, Poppy, in that vein, Secretary Blinken could not have been more clear, the United States has Israel's back, then going through the aircraft carrier, the world's largest being deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean, increase in air force, supplies for the Iron Dome, any military need Israel needs.

However, it was interesting, I thought, that he said one thing, how Israel does this matters and striving. for a different standard and that there is value in human life and dignity. It seemed to be as sort of horrific as this is. The value of civilian life is so crucial.

And then he went on to draw the distinction between Hamas as a brutal and repressive terrorist organization and the actual needs and desires and ambitions of the Palestinian people, a distinction that he was very clear to draw, as you all saw, of course, Prime Minister Netanyahu himself still reflecting the shock and rage that so many here feel, using the word evil and talking about spitting out Hamas as the world spit out ISIS. You could feel that rage coming off of him. But I think some important words from Blinken of caution about civilian life as well in this speech. Phil and Poppy?

MATTINGLY: Yes, Erin, it's a great point. There's no equivocation in terms of the support. It has been as robust as we've ever seen from any administration, this administration included.

I want to bring in Nic Robertson, because when you talk about that balance that Erin is mentioning, you heard it from President Biden, you heard it again from the secretary of state of the need for moral clarity, the need for recognizing the Palestinian people as a separate entity from Hamas, and then you listen to Prime Minister Netanyahu who talk about the comparative, the analog to ISIS, which U.S. officials have made as well, in eliminating Hamas as ISIS was eliminated in his words. How does that work given the area for which they will be operating in when an incursion begins?

ROBERTSON: You know, part of how it works is diplomatically. And I think that was part of the appeal from Prime Minister Netanyahu. We heard it from Israel's president a little earlier on in the day that all those -- all international countries should do what they did in outlawing and I suppose the best word to describe with ISIS is not giving them any foothold, any platform to speak.

[07:30:00]

So, when I say some of the things that can be done diplomatically, I was speaking with sources in the region last night.