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IDF Announces Safe Passage From Within Gaza, North To South; U.S. Officials Strike Balance Between Supporting Israel, Preventing War's Spread; Egypt's Border Under Pressure At Rafah Crossing. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired October 14, 2023 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Saturday, October 14th. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Thank you for being with us this morning as we follow developments out of the Middle East. First, this Israel Defense Forces says that they have killed the senior Hamas commander who was behind much of last week's carnage. Fighter jets targeted an operational headquarters used by Hamas Friday. They killed the head of the Hamas aerial system. Now, these strikes come as the Israeli military is warning people in Northern Gaza to evacuate now.

There are two hours left of Israel's six-hour safe passage window. That's allowing people to leave and head south. And so far, tens of thousands of people have left, but the request is for 1.1 million civilians to relocate. And leaders in the region are criticizing Israel for ordering the rushed evacuation. Jordan's foreign minister says that it would be a blatant violation of international law and would amount to a war crime.

WALKER: Hamas says that Israel is still carrying out airstrikes while people are trying to evacuate. And CNN has verified videos from the scene of a large explosion along an evacuation route south of Gaza City. We want to warn you that this video could be graphic to some people. The video was taken on Friday before the safe passage window was set up.

We're in that window now, a few hours away from it closing, 4:00 p.m. local. Hamas says, that 70 people were killed in this strike and 200 other evacuees were wounded. On Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in Israel delivering weapons and munitions and reiterating the U.S.'s unwavering support of Israel. When asked about civilian casualties in Gaza and how Israel will use those munitions, this is how he answered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTIN, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: This is a professional force. It's well led. So, I'm sure they'll do the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Becky Anderson is joining us now from Tel Aviv. And Becky, I understand you've been monitoring the evacuations in Northern Gaza, what's the latest?

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, these are evacuations from Gaza City, effectively, down into the Gaza Valley, and the U.N. is warning that the situation in Gaza is "a matter of life and death," as two million people now risk running out of water completely. People are being forced to use dirty water from wells, and they say we need to truck fuel into Gaza now.

If not, they say, people will start dying. As you report, there are sort of "safe corridors" for those who have tried to leave, but this is, this is a monumental task and it very late last night the U.N. was suggesting it is almost impossible we are getting reports from hospitals, not least those run by MSF, saying how on earth are we to evacuate those in hospitals, the elderly, the disabled, those who are ill.

So, getting these sort of humanitarian corridors established immediately on top of what is this sort of "safe zone" for people fleeing into the Gaza Valley is absolutely front and center here. Getting aid, then in through the Rafah boarding crossing is also massively important and I know that's being discussed by regional leaders as they talk to the U.S. Secretary of State, who, of course, is doing the rounds at present.

There is aid sitting on the southern side in Egypt of the Rafah border crossing. The WHO say that they've got medical supplies there. The UAE has told us that they have sent aid and it's sitting on the ground. It's a question of how that aid gets in. We also know that there is some concern about the opening up of that Rafah border crossing because, frankly, we've been told by diplomatic sources that neither Egypt nor Jordan can cope with the potential for Palestinians evacuating out of Gaza completely.

Just consider the enormous impact that Jordan already has with Syrian refugees and Iraqi refugees within its borders. Both Egypt and Jordan, very, very concerned about what would happen if there was a huge influx of Palestinians.

[07:05:14]

So, what we're looking at the moment is a closed border. Gazans are being told to evacuate just down into the southern valley at present, and this is, this is a monumental task. How long this pause is, this window, is unclear at present and what happens next is also very unclear. Are the Israelis building for what was presumed to be a massive assault by air and land on Gaza City in the north? I do want to underscore to you guys just how much concern there is around the Arab world that this war could spread.

They are concerned about what is going on in the Gazan enclave at present and whether this could spread. We were in East Jerusalem yesterday, and people were killed there just yesterday and in the West Bank, and in East Jerusalem. Over the past week, we've already seen more than 50 deaths of Palestinians by settlers and Israeli police, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The IDF reportedly warning settlers not to, quote, interfere with counterterrorism efforts.

The responsibility, the IDF reportedly has said, is with the Israeli forces. And then, there's the Lebanon border, to the north of Israel, also a real concern. There have been several incidents over the past three days. U.S. President Biden repeatedly warning other players in the region not to join the conflict and they've, of course, put U.S. warships off, offshore in the region avowing steadfast support for Israel.

The U.S. Secretary of State as I say on a whistle-top stall of the region, he's in Saudi Arabia as we speak. He was in Jordan yesterday where he met King Abdullah and the Palestinian Authority leader. This is what the Jordanian foreign minister who was in those meetings with Blinken and the King told me after those meetings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYMAN SAFADI, JORDANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: So, the priority now, get immediate humanitarian supplies. And when it comes to safe zone, we have to be very careful as well. It has to be within Gaza. We cannot have a population displacement. We cannot have population transfer. And we need to make sure that now, stop the de-escalation, get humanitarian supplies, work on a humanitarian corridor for supplies to come in, stop the fighting, and then start working for our big move as these advocates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: And it's a real, real concern about where this goes next. At the same time, and I'll just close with this, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken is doing the rounds of this region, the Iranian Foreign Minister has been in Beirut. He's been holding talks with the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. He's been in Syria speaking to Assad and in Baghdad. And the Iranian Foreign Minister warning all options are possible if this war continues. Back to you guys.

BLACKWELL: Becky Anderson for us there in Tel Aviv. And I want to talk more about what's happening in Lebanon because Israel's northern border has been active this morning. The IDF struck Hezbollah's targets in Southern Lebanon. Hezbollah in Lebanon claimed responsibility for the attacks on four Israeli locations. That was on Friday.

WALKER: Now, the Israeli military says they killed several militants trying to infiltrate the border this morning as well with a targeted drone strike. They're calling them terrorists. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Southern Lebanon. Ben, you've been at the funeral for a journalist killed covering this conflict. You know this man who was killed, several others were also injured. What's happening where you are? And also, can you talk to us about what led up to his death?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're in the town of Kheyam in South Lebanon, very close to the border between Israel and Lebanon. And it was there to the west of here that Issam Abdullah, a veteran cameraman for Reuters, I've known him for years, we worked together in Syria and Iraq and here in Lebanon as well. What happened was yesterday afternoon, the Israelis claimed that there was an explosion on the border wall, and that set off a series of fire back and forth.

And what we understand is that just before dusk, there was a two- missile strikes on the position where not only Reuters but Jazeera and AFP were gathered together. All of them were wearing press gear, clearly marked press, they were out in the open so there was nothing suspicious about their movements. They had tripods up and everything. Anyway, they were apparently struck twice with missiles. Issam was killed almost immediately. Another journalist with Al-Jazeera, we understand one of her legs has had to been amputated, and others were injured as well.

[07:10:32]

Now, we were at this funeral in Kheyam. This is Issam Abdullah's hometown. And it was just not the people of the town, his loved ones, friends, relatives who came, but also journalists from Beirut. He was a very popular member of the press corps in Beirut, somebody you would run into all over the region. This was somebody who dedicated his life to journalism and now has lost his life doing journalism. Now, the Israelis say they regret the incident, but they don't, they don't know exactly what led to this incident. But certainly, it's the gravest incidents here in South Lebanon. Of course, in Gaza, we've seen seven, eight journalists killed already in this conflict.

WALKER: Yes, so much tragedy. Ben Wedeman, appreciate you joining us. Thank you. Two of America's top national security officials are putting up a united front in their visits to the Middle East. Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, both emphasized the United States' unwavering support for Israel and separate meetings with senior leaders.

BLACKWELL: This is a major diplomatic challenge, as I'm sure you understand. How does the U.S. keep this war from expanding? With us now, is CNN's Jennifer Hansler in Washington, D.C. Jennifer.

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Amara and Victor. This is indeed an incredible challenge for the Biden administration, and we notice one that is concerning them, given the intensive shuttle diplomacy we've seen over the past days. As you mentioned, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was in Israel yesterday. Secretary Blinken has been engaged in a number of stops in the region. He was in Israel, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, and now is in Saudi Arabia, and their messaging has been multiple-fold.

They have been, of course, offering their full-throated support for Israel to engage in any kind of operation in response to those atrocious Hamas attacks we saw last weekend. Secretary Blinken said yesterday that these would not be retaliatory but defensive. At the same time, we have seen them increasingly speak about the need to protect civilians to address that humanitarian catastrophe we are seeing unfold in Gaza. That is a message that Blinken reiterated this morning in a meeting with the Saudi foreign minister. Take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: As Israel pursues its legitimate right to defending its people and to trying to assure that this never happens again, it is vitally important that all of us look out for civilians. And we're working together to do exactly that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANSLER: We know behind the scenes that Blinken has been pushing Israeli officials to establish safe zones of sorts within Gaza to protect them from any incoming military incursion by the Israelis. It's unclear where those safe zones will be established, whether they will be established in time before this incursion begins. There is also, of course, the issue of trying to prevent the war from expanding even further. At this point, it is just on one front with Hamas.

However, Iran, Hezbollah have threatened to join. And this is something Blinken has reiterated in all of his messages, the need for this to not expand any further. He is pushing those partners who have any sway over these actors to stop them from joining. And there's also the issue of the hostages. We know Blinken has brought this up in a number of his meetings, particularly with the Qataris, to try to get them to release these hostages. Amara, Victor.

WALKER: Yes, Jenny Hansler, thank you very much. Let's talk more about this with CNN Global Affairs Analyst and Managing Editor of the Military Times, Kimberly Dozier. Good morning to you, Kimberly. Let's talk about what's happening, excuse me, in the north at the border with Lebanon. Obviously, there have been explosions and fighting, but for the most part, it's been, the way it's been described is kind of eerily quiet. Do you see this as the lull before the storm?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, the Israelis have had to pause at least their planned ground operations as we suspect that they are planning to do some major incursion into Gaza for long enough for some of the civilians to head south. I think this has come from the public pressure in the days past, the reports outside, from inside of Gaza of the civilian casualties thus far.

And this is exactly the reaction from the Israelis that Hamas likely hopes to provoke because it is now dominating international airwaves, galvanizing populations across the Arab world in support of a Palestinian cause that they hadn't paid much attention to in the past several years, and also creating outcry from the international community, including top European Union officials, that this is a human rights violation and the ground invasion hasn't even started.

[07:15:27]

WALKER: If and when it does, what is the concern in terms of regional reaction and what is the threshold for Lebanon to get involved?

DOZIER: I think the Hezbollah fighting organization is waiting for a green light from Iran, and that depends on the kind and level of destruction we see out of Gaza. It is unclear whether Iran in this situation is just playing a harassing role, having Hezbollah fire just enough rockets to keep the Israeli military's focus split between the north and its operations inside Gaza, or if this is a prelude to a wider two-front war with Iran's backing. Iran knows that if it reveals a direct role, it also risks getting hit by Israel, by missile fire, and it risks further censure by the international community. So, we have no way to know what their calculations are at this point. But the Iranian foreign minister has warned that if the fighting gets worse, things could change.

WALKER: Yes, he did say Lebanon's security is Iran's security. So, obviously, an ominous warning there. Regarding what's happening on the diplomatic front, and you know, we just heard from Jenny Hansler there that Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on this whirlwind multinational tour through the region, meeting with just regional leaders. In terms, of course, you know, the focus is to prevent a wider escalation. But when it comes to the hostages and the talks between the U.S. and Qatar, what kind of role could Qatar even play?

DOZIER: Qatar has not only hosted Hamas leaders, but also been in charge of funneling a great deal of aid, including construction capability into Gaza, basically vouching for the cement that goes in, et cetera, that it'll only be used for civilian construction and not Hamas's military tunnel network. Hamas has bragged that that tunnel network is something like 300 miles long.

So, Qatar has been this humanitarian and political conduit that has lent Hamas legitimacy. So, they're one of the best possible routes to some sort of compromise. But with every passing hour and every reported civilian casualty on the Gaza side, that means that Hamas's position is likely hardening. Look, the possibility of negotiating the release of the hostages was always very slim. If anyone could pull it off, it's probably the Qataris, and the U.S. --

WALKER: Sorry to jump in there, but do you think that there are active conversations happening between the Qataris and Hamas leadership?

DOZIER: I know that the Qataris were willing to take part in those conversations, and I believe CNN has reported that they've been going on. But with every hour that passes, time is running out.

WALKER: The only exit, I guess, for human passage right now out of Gaza is the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt down south. Do you expect Egypt to step up now in a bigger role to help with the evacuations? I know that humanitarian aid right now is at the border on the Egyptian side ready to go in as we're hearing from Egyptian officials. How do you expect that to play out?

DOZIER: I think humanitarian aid might be allowed in but Egypt doesn't want to become like Lebanon or Jordan with an influx of Palestinian refugees that Israel will never take back, that then becomes Egypt's responsibility. So, I do not think they'll allow Palestinian refugees to leave. I don't know that Israel would allow Palestinian refugees to leave. But I think you might see it open up, at least to perhaps allow American citizens through, German citizens, some E.U. citizens, and for the U.N. and other agencies to bring in things like tents, water, food, things that are going to have to support a large displaced population for likely months to come.

WALKER: Just logistically, I can't even envision how this will work, right? When you have about a million people who may try to make it down south, to the southern half of Gaza, when it's already one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world. Kimberly Dozier, we appreciate, thank you.

[07:20:18]

BLACKWELL: Still to come, tens of thousands of people are evacuating Northern Gaza after Israel's urging. We'll talk with a man whose Palestinian American mother is trying to get out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: So, there are an estimated 500 to 600 Palestinian Americans in Gaza right now and today in collaboration with Egyptian, Israeli, and Qatari authorities. The U.S. intends to open the Rafah crossing to allow the departure of Americans from Gaza to Egypt.

WALKER: Israel's military announced a six-hour time frame for over a million people in Gaza to evacuate south for their own safety which we're more than halfway through that window -- in fact, it's about 2:30 local time there which means they have an about an hour and a half before that safe passage window closes.

We're joined now by Nabil Alshurafa, whose mother, a Palestinian- American, is currently trying to leave Gaza. Nabil, I appreciate you joining us this morning, and I'm sorry about the stress and the anguish you must be going through. How is your mother? When did you last speak with her and where is she right now?

[07:25:32]

NABIL ALSHURAFA, PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN: Thank you very much for having me, Amara and Victor. Right now, my mother is still in Gaza. The last time I spoke to her has been at least over 12 hours. However, I've spoken to my uncle to check up on her about 12 hours ago. I'm not able right now to communicate with her, but I'm hoping that she's OK.

BLACKWELL: I read that she's traveling with, I forgot this number right, dozens of family members. Have they been forced because of the aerial strikes to move around Gaza or have they been hunkered down in one location?

ALSHURAFA: Yes, so recently Israel gave them about 24 hours to evacuate and leave about 1.1 million Gazans to leave from the northern side of Gaza down south. So, my mother, I mean, when she heard that news at first, she was like, I don't want to leave. She's with her siblings, she's with her mother. There are about 50 people in the building. She didn't want to leave at first, but with the bombing just continuously going, she then decided, all right, I have to get out of here. So, right away, they started in groups of, sort of, five or 10 to get into vehicles.

And once they sort of secured a place down South, they started slowly heading down South. Now I have my wife also, who has her grandmother there as well. She didn't leave right away and she waited, sort of, until the last hour of that 24 hour and you know until it got really bad. And then she, she decided that said, I need to get out, but by that time there was traffic, right. And so, here she is my, my wife's grandmother, bombs sort of raining down on her and she's trying to head south and she's having to deal with traffic. So, the situation is just horrible, horrible. It's terrifying.

WALKER: Forgive me if you already mentioned this. Did you say your mother is in Gaza City or where was she when you last spoke with her, if you don't mind me asking?

ALSHURAFA: Yes, she was in Gaza City, but last time I spoke to her, she did lead south, so she did listen. Eventually, with her entire family, they went down south.

WALKER: Are you concerned about this window? It was a six-hour window, which is going to close in about an hour and a half. With all the traffic that your family members have been encountering, I mean, what are your biggest concerns?

ALSHURAFA: My biggest concern right now is the Israeli government has cut off water, fuel, food supplies, medical supplies, so every time when I call my mother, all I hear are sort of bombs in the background, and what's concerning to me is one time I speak to her, I'm able to reach her, half an hour later I'm not able to reach her, so, you know, your mind begins to wonder, is she still alive? Was she another victim of collateral damage?

So, really, and my wife as well with her extended family there is dealing with the same situation too. So, we're constantly calling each other, just checking to make sure, is family, did you talk to someone? Are they OK? Are they alive? And you know, recently, my mother also called me, she was like, Nabil, I turned roaming on. She turned roaming on her cell phone. And then she calls me and she's just like, Nabil, it's not working. Call AT&T.

And so, I go and I'm like, mom, it's probably, you know, the Israeli military bombed one of the cell towers. And so, I go, I'm like, all right, I'll call AT&T. So, I go, I call AT&T, and yes, they did confirm that one of their partner cell towers is down over there. And so, it's really challenging. When they do get a little bit of electricity, due to some generators or solar power generators, they get a little bit of electricity here and there. She's able to connect to Wi-Fi. I talk to her, but then it goes away.

So, it's just, it's really challenging. And then -- and here I am, just trying, you know, trying to be strong for my three little kids that are worried about their grandmother.

[07:30:02]

My wife, that's worried about her family, my mother as well. And I'm just trying to, you know, put emotion aside and just think, you know, we got to -- we got to try to work with our representatives and try to get my mother out. WALKER: We know you're working with Senator Dick Durbin and you've been in contact with the state department. So, hopefully, you'll get some answers soon and your mother back safely.

Nabil Alshurafa, thank you and all the best to you.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, U.S. intelligence warned of potential for violence days before the Hamas attack in Israel. Details of what officials suspected after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: We have more details now about the U.S. intelligence assessments before last week's attack on Israel. Sources tell CNN that while there were warnings of increased activity by Hamas, they did not detail anything like what happened when the attacks unfolded.

WALKER: And it's also unclear if any of the U.S. assessments were shared with Israel.

Here is CNN's Alex Marquardt with more on what was shared and when.

[07:35:02]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Sources familiar with U.S. intelligence tells CNN that there were warnings and indications about possible attacks by Hamas from Gaza that could happen, but nothing on the level of what we ended up seeing last weekend.

There were, at least, three intelligence reports. Two American, one Israeli, in the days leading up to the horrific events of October 7th.

On September 28th, and October 5th, the U.S. intelligence community issued warnings of potential cross border strikes by Hamas with rocket fire, and then, the growing possibility of violence around Gaza.

Then, on October 6th, there was a third report from Israel that was the day before the attacks, saying that there was unusual activity by Hamas. Sources are now telling CNN that these reports looked nothing like what ended up unfolding in terms of the scope and the barbarity.

Biden administration official tells CNN, "There was no information," warning about the terrorist attack in advance. Instead, sources tell us that the sense was that if something happened that it would look more like it had in the past, perhaps, rocket fire from Gaza. Interceptions, then, by the Israeli Iron Dome and possible responses into Gaza by Israel.

But more profoundly, U.S. sources say, there was a general complacency that had taken hold in Israel under estimating what Hamas could pull off. And given that Gaza and Hamas are in Israel's back yard, American sources say, the onus is primarily on Israeli intelligence to have detected the looming plot.

Still, with regular warnings from the U.S. intelligence community and Middle Eastern allies as well about a buildup of Hamas weapons and growing Palestinian anger.

This is also raising questions about whether the Biden administration was taking the Hamas threat seriously enough.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

BLACKWELL: All right. Alex, thank you.

To analyze these new revelations. Let's get to Shawn Turner, former director of communications for U.S. national intelligence.

Shawn, good morning to you.

(CROSSTALK)

SHAWN TURNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: It is not clear whether this intel or this analysis was shared with Israel. But typically, would something like this be shared with Israel?

TURNER: Well, good morning, Victor.

Typically, this is the type of intelligence that would be shared with Israel. But I think it's important to put some perspective around that. As Alex pointed out in his piece, you know, U.S. intelligence regularly picks up on various aspects of what's happening in Israel and Gaza, related to what Hamas might be planning.

And I think that, as the piece pointed out, you know, what I've been told, and what I experienced when I was in the intelligence community is that this type of intelligence related to this particular area is not terribly unusual.

And so, you get a situation in which you see indications that Hamas might be planning something. And what typically happens is you see that in one location, that intelligence is analyzed, it's shared, and rarely does anything happen.

And when it does, is it's usually -- it's usually dealt with. I think what's different in this intelligence, as I've been told, is that we began to see indications that there was something that was going to happen in multiple locations around the same time, and that certainly raised some alarms.

But again, there is a sense that this is sort of the way that, you know, the environment there. And so, there wasn't a lot of concern with this intelligence was originally seen.

BLACKWELL: So, let's put up the timeline here of the reports, just the days before the attack. September 28th, multiple Intel streams warned Hamas was poised to ramp up rocket attacks.

And then on the fifth, the CIA warned a potential for increased violence. The sixth, U.S. officials circulated Israeli reporting on unusual Hamas activity. And on the seventh, one we could go today were those attacks.

We have in the media, and I think in national security circles, this has been characterized as a failure of Israeli intelligence. Was this a failure of Israeli intelligence alone?

TURNER: No. Not a failure of Israeli intelligence alone. And I'm glad you raised this point, Victor, because it certainly is the case that the Gaza Strip is one of the most surveilled and monitored areas on Earth.

There are cameras everywhere, there are sensors, there are listening devices. Israel has a really strong and solid sense of what's happening there. But it's important to point out that Hamas also understands that the Gaza area is heavily surveilled.

And so, when all of the planning was happening, when all the plotting was happening, it's important that people understand that, that was happening in the context of understanding that they needed to work to stay under the radar.

So, when we look at the after action, we go back and assess what happens here. Certainly, we will see that Israel took its eye -- took its eye off the ball in many aspects, and that contributed to what happened here.

But we will also see that Hamas came up with ways to communicate, that allowed them to stay under the radar.

[07:40:06]

TURNER: They came up with ways to train that did not look suspicious at the -- at the time. So, you'll see a sort of interaction effects here. Sort of convergence of events that led to what will be -- you know, what will certainly be seen as an intelligence failure but not simply -- not strictly on the part of Israel.

BLACKWELL: And, of course, there will be the subsequent commissions and investigations and reports, and probably changes to the Intel sharing between maybe the U.S. and Israel specifically.

Shawn Turner, thanks so much.

WALKER: Coming up, we're going to hear from the uncle of twin babies whose parents were killed trying to save them at the Kfar Aza kibbutz, during the Hamas attack.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:45:09]

WALKER: We are continuing to hear the stories of horror and survival, just miles from Gaza.

This one, at the Kfar Aza kibbutz, where an Israeli couple saved their 14-month-old twins before they were murdered by Hamas militants.

BLACKWELL: Now, the uncle of those babies spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DVIR ROSENFELD, UNCLE OF SURVIVING TWINS: We woke up, we heard a lot of missiles, and bombs starting to fall in the kibbutz. Then, realize that something is happening. But in the beginning, didn't hear, didn't work -- It wasn't too different than other times that they shot -- they shot on us.

But very soon, we started to hear hand grenades and automatic weapons and screaming in Arabic just outside of their houses, just outside of my window. Then, we realized that something different is going on, and we got into the shelter.

My wife, myself, and our baby, and slowly, slowly the electricity just fell down. We stayed with no aircon, no light, no air, no nothing.

And slowly, slowly from the messages on WhatsApp, between the friends and family and people in the kibbutz, we realized that it's going on all over.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you know at this stage what happened to your sister and her husband? Did they have a safe room?

ROSENFELD: Yes, all of us have these shelters room. And in the beginning, I think around quarter to seven, 7:00 in the morning, my sister was still on WhatsApp, on the family group, and all of us texted to each other that we alive and we are in the shelter room and everything is all right, at that point.

But slowly, slowly, all of the -- all of us kept texting and except them. They didn't answer. But we knew that all of us having problems with the connection and with the electricity or I don't know, maybe this is the story we wanted to tell to ourselves, to feel better about it.

But after five, six hours, we started to think that something is wrong. And when we got these messages from their neighbor, that he hears the twins screaming, nonstop.

Plus, the fact that they didn't answer us, even text for many, many hours, I think that even though we didn't want to believe, we knew that something is wrong there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:52:49]

BLACKWELL: Well, now to a CNN special investigation looking into the deadly weapons arsenal used by Hamas militants during their surprise attacks on Israel.

WALKER: CNN's Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann has a closer look at what those weapons were and where they came from.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An entire arsenal on display. Weapons fashioned in Hamas's homegrown facilities, but no less deadly.

CNN analyzed dozens of photos and videos of Hamas militants during the surprise assault, to identify the weapons used to kill at least 1,200 people in Israel.

MAJ. MIKE LYONS, RETIRED UNITED STATES ARMY: The most important characteristic of the military equipment they have is that it's easily interchangeable. It's reliable, dependable, and you can get parts for it.

LIEBERMANN: Many, like the Soviet built 50 caliber machine gun, appeared to be Russian, or Chinese firearms, relics from previous wars that made their way into the hands of Hamas.

Ubiquitous among many of the photos and videos, the Avtomat Kalashnikova, the AK-47, the preferred weapon for militant groups, capable of spewing automatic fire with horrific results.

The assault rifles, along with grenades carried by Hamas militants, made them deadly when reached Israeli towns and villages near Gaza.

LYONS: All they are trying to do is provide the shock effect, provide dependability, their weapons have to work. So, they're very rudimentary. But based on their training, based on how they operate them, they are successful with them.

LIEBERMAN: Hamas's main weapon has long been the supply of rockets, short-range, to long-range. The terror attack on Saturday morning began with a barrage of rocket fire, a smokescreen for the imminent attack. Thousands of rockets overwhelmed Israel's Iron Dome air defense system, a tactic Hamas has refined over the years.

LYONS: That's the capability for the enemy, for Hamas, to fire them up against a potentially commercial aircraft. That, I think, is one of the major issues of these terrorist groups, if they have those kinds of weapons in their hands.

LIEBERMANN: Hamas use paragliders to cross the Gaza border. The recreational vehicles are barely maneuverable, and easy to target in the air.

[07:55:03]

But in the chaos of the moment, the plan worked.

Some of the weapons and equipment were decidedly more low tech. Israel built a complex underground barrier to stop tunnels from crossing the Gaza border, so Hamas used a bulldozer to try to tear down the above ground fence.

LYONS: They are just looking to create chaos, with the kind of equipment they have, and the equipment has got to be reliable.

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LIEBERMANN: The weapons we just looked at are only what we've seen so far in the attack that came out of Gaza. But we know Hamas has other weapons. We have seen them use anti-tank or anti-armor missiles in the past, and it's weapons like that making Israeli ground incursion such a difficult proposition.

Victor and Amara?

WALKER: Oren Liebermann, thank you.

BLACKWELL: We'll go live to Tel Aviv with more on the war in Israel. At the top of the hour, thousands of people are leaving northern Gaza in cars, in taxis. Some people, as you see, are walking.

We've got about an hour left in this six-hour window of free passage from Northern Gaza to southern Gaza. Stay with us.

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