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CNN This Morning

Tonight, Biden to Give Primetime Address on Israel, Ukraine; Biden Says He's Reached Deal to Get Aid into Gaza; Biden Says, Pentagon Says Highly Unlikely Hospital Blast was Israeli Strike. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired October 19, 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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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden will be addressing the nation from the Oval Office in primetime.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most powerful person in the world uplifted his spirits in this country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Egypt's President El-Sisi, will allow 20 trucks through the Rafah crossing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's in your own interest to allow this humanitarian aid. The Israelis basically said, yes, we agree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have very little resources right now and I just worry for them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We might be the next people that are going to be killed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. government now assesses that Israel was not responsible for the explosion.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: These aren't calm days, of course. You've seen those protests in the region.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: After 9/11, while we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to make sure we destroy Hamas' war machine so that they cannot ever threaten us again.

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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Phil Mattingly with Poppy Harlow in New York. Erin Burnett is on the ground in Tel Aviv, Israel. Arlette Saenz is standing by at the White House and Sam Kiley is in London.

This morning, President Biden is back in Washington and getting ready to give a primetime address to the nation after returning from the war zone in Israel. We're expecting him to make a major push for wartime aid to Israel and Ukraine. But passing an aid package on Capitol Hill all but impossible on Capitol Hill right now, Congress is paralyzed with no speaker.

Now, during his trip, President Biden says he was able to strike a deal with Egypt's president to allow some trucks with desperately needed humanitarian aid to start crossing into Gaza as soon as tomorrow, where millions of civilians are stuck and running out of food, water and medicine.

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BIDEN: If you have an opportunity to alleviate the pain, you should do it, period. And if you don't, you're going to lose credibility worldwide. And I think everyone understands that.

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: President Biden says U.S. intelligence backs up Israel's claim that a malfunctioning rocket fired by Palestinian militants, Islamic Jihad, caused the deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza instead of an Israeli airstrike. New video has emerged.

This is captured by Al Jazeera, what you're watching. And it appears to show a rocket fired from Gaza, make a sudden and sharp turn back toward where it came from just moments before the explosion at the hospital.

CNN has also geolocated a video where you can hear whatever caused that blast. Listen.

MATTINGLY: Now, CNN cannot independently verify what caused the blast.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to pummel Gaza with airstrikes. The Palestinian Red Crescent released this video, you're watching it now, huge explosions near a different hospital last night where it says thousands of people are sheltering.

We have team coverage from Israel to the White House. Let's start with Erin Burnett live in Tel Aviv. Erin, you just spoke with the IDF spokesperson about speaking to the families of what they now say are 203 hostages or those that are missing believed to be held in Gaza. What did he say?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So, you know what's interesting, Phil, here, first of all, that number 203 hostages. That number was 199 for the past few days and prior to that, 150. So, Israel has increased the number of hostages that it says are being held in Gaza.

Also speaking to one of the families, they told us that they were told just on Monday, they have two children missing, one may had seen video of their child with Hamas fighters in a truck. The other child, they thought was dead. They had no idea. The IDF called them on Monday to say, we know your child is a hostage. They didn't say how they knew. They wouldn't talk about proof of life, but they have a lot of intelligence that appears on these hostages.

And just moments ago, when I spoke to Major Doron Spielman, he is with the IDF, he told me that they are still, even now, the soldiers who are in these kibbutz, we were in Be'eri, we walked through and we talked with you all about how we could smell death, a very pervasive and unmistakable smell to any human being, human death.

Well, part of the reason we can smell death is because there are still bodies there. There are still bodies. We saw body bags going out. And this spokesperson for the IDF, in fact, says there's bodies even found last night. Here's what he said.

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MAJ. DORON SPIELMAN, SPOKESMAN, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: Last night in the area of Be'eri, a group of workers went up into an attic and they found a mother and her five-year-old son that were burnt to a crisp.

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I'm sorry to say that on T.V., but they were. They died. They were burned alive in the attic trying to hide from the terrorists.

Even today, we're finding more bodies. There are bodies being uncovered, there are body parts you have to match DNA. This massacre was so vast, it's a horrifically painful process.

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BURNETT: It is horrifically painful. The soldiers there in Be'eri, where they found those bodies, you know, one of them, Poppy and Phil, talking about, you know, the exact house where he found a baby on her back shot in head execution-style. I have talked to others who say they have seen that as well with babies, but they are still finding bodies.

And I will say also one significant thing is, when they found those bodies last night, if that mother and her five-year-old son, and you can only imagine them preserved for eternity huddled together, burnt to a crisp, as horrific as that is, they were not included in the hostage number before. Because when those bodies were found, they did not decrease the hostage number, which may indicate that Israel has a greater visibility on who really is a hostage than many are aware of, because they weren't counting those people as possible hostages. They were not. And, obviously, now they have confirmed two more deaths in this horrific massacre.

And this comes as President Biden is set to deliver a primetime Oval Office address tonight, pushing for continued funding. And it is not just for Israel, it is also for Ukraine, where that war wages on as we speak. The president expected to make the argument that supporting both countries is a deep matter of U.S. national security when the world is at an inflection point. Our Arlette Saenz is live at the White House with more. And, Arlette, the president obviously coming off of a trip to Israel yesterday, what does he hope to accomplish with this speech tonight? Obviously, Congress can do nothing because there's no speaker, but what does he hope to accomplish tonight?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, President Biden is hoping that Congress will eventually approve aid for both Ukraine and Israel. But there is a big question about how Congress will decide to proceed with this. And the president will be delivering this primetime address in the Oval Office, a rare evening Oval Office remarks, fresh off his trip to Israel.

Part of the goal during that trip was trying to learn more about the needs Israel will need as they plan their fight against Hamas. And the president is expected to make a direct pitch to the American people about why it's important to not just offer support to Israel but also to Ukraine. One administration official saying the president will make the arguments that the cost of inaction and the cost of walking away is much higher.

Now, it comes as sources have told us that the president is expected to ask Congress for about $100 billion in funding for Israel, Ukraine and other matters as well. And it comes as we have seen polls that have shown that there is large sympathy for the Israeli people as they are reeling from this attack by Hamas and planning their ongoing fights.

There's also polling that shows that nearly a third of Americans believe that the U.S. is providing the right amount of assistance to Israel at this time, 36 percent saying that they're unsure.

Now, while that poll doesn't exactly address the issue of funding, there has been bipartisan support up on Capitol Hill for ensuring that Israel has support going forward. The U.S. already provides about $4 billion a year over a ten-year period based on a previous memorandum.

But then there's the question of Ukraine, which has a much higher uphill battle it is facing in Congress. The majority of Americans, according to an August poll, believe that Congress should not authorize more aid to Ukraine. But the president, while his trip to Israel largely had focused on trying to rally worldwide support, showing that the U.S. will long-term support Israel, today he faces the task of trying to convince the American public to not just support Israel but also Ukraine as these two fights could go on for quite some time.

BURNETT: Arlette, thank you very much, from the White House.

And this comes as a U.S. intelligence assessment now supports Israel's claim that it was not responsible for the deadly blast at a Gaza Hospital. This is an independent analysis by the United States. They say using their own intelligence and missile interception technology, these officials say the explosion was caused by a misfired Palestinian missile. CNN's Sam Kiley is live in London for us. And, Sam, obviously, what happened at that hospital is reverberating around the world. And while facts may not matter on the ground to people's passions and emotions, you have been taking a deeper dive into exactly what happened and what those facts are. What are you learning?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're absolutely right, Erin. And, sadly, this kind of an incident in all probability may well happen again. Let's hope not with the death toll of some 471 people, an astronomical death toll, if that is further confirmed.

But, yes, we've had the United States backing the IDF position that this was not them that bombed the grounds of the church-run hospital in Gaza City. But CNN, as we should, conducted our own investigation.

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KILEY (voice over): A blast of immediate strategic impact. Jordan cancelled a summit with the U.S., Egypt and the Palestinian Authority as news of mass casualty in Gaza emerged. Now, with the Hamas- controlled Gaza's health ministry saying the death toll is over 470 from an explosion in the courtyard of this church-run hospital, there are protests around the world.

And in this war the truth is unlikely to emerge quickly. The U.S., based on its own analysis of the evidence, including secret intelligence, has supported Israel's version of events.

BIDEN: Based on the information we have seen today, it appears a result of an air and rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza.

KILEY: Israel blames Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, a rival Islamist militant group. Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other Palestinian groups say Israel did it. CNN has geolocated videos and stills from the scene and shown all the available authentic evidence to two weapons experts. They agree that the explosion is likely not caused by an airdrop bomb or even a guided missile.

CHRIS COBB-SMITH, WEAPONS EXPERT, CHIRON RESOURCES: I would initially rule out a heavy airdrop bomb. The type of crater that I've seen on the imagery so far isn't large enough to be the type of bomb that we've seen dropped in the region on many occasions.

KILEY: Could it have been a Hellfire-type missile, a guided munition?

COBB-SMITH: Hellfire, I'm doubtful about.

KILEY: Preliminary CNN analysis of the crater suggests that the projectile hit the courtyard outside the hospital from somewhere to the southwest. The Israel Defense Forces say they believe the disaster was caused by the misfire of a missile fired from the southwest of the hospital.

Could this have been a rocket fired from Garz and Territory that went wrong?

COBB-SMITH: It could very well have been a rocket fired from Gazan territory. But, again, we will only know that when the remnants are definitively identified and compared to other types of weapon systems and munitions that are being fired in the area.

KILEY: A senior U.N. weapons expert who asked to remain anonymous agreed.

But in Gaza many blame Israel and its allies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The people who fled considered the hospital as a safe shelter for them. They didn't find any other place to go, but they struck people with those Israeli and American rockets. This is a war crime. It's a big crime killing children and women.

KILEY: An independent investigation would need to be done on the ground to determine the cause of the blast, which is impossible under the current Israeli bombardment and unlikely under Hamas.

You've worked in Gaza before, Chris. Have you investigated rocket misfires in the past?

COBB-SMITH: Yes, I've tried to investigate rocket misfires in the past, most certainly. But on the few occasions this has happened, the local authorities did not give me free access to the area or were very unhappy that I was trying to investigate something that had clearly gone wrong from their point of view.

KILEY: Amid the ongoing bloodshed, entrenched supporters of either side are more likely to believe what they want now regardless.

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KILEY (on camera): Now, Erin, clearly, there's an old cliche about the truth getting lost in the fog of war, but that is the truth very often, particularly in places like Gaza. And I think we all have to remember that armchair analysis or indeed claims by belligerents, whether it's the Israelis or Hamas or other groups that are fighting there, should be treated to the sort of rigorous analysis that we're so well known for.

BURNETT: Yes, Sam, thank you very much.

And, Phil, to Sam's point, right, we know Israel puts out a number every day of how many times they say they strike Gaza. It's hundreds of times a day. They've also put out what they say are more than 400, 450 rockets from Gaza that misfired and landed in Gaza. So, when you just think about the sheer amount coming into Gaza every single day, it is very hard, to Sam's point, to imagine that there will not be another tragedy like this one if this continues going on like this.

MATTINGLY: Yes, almost a certainty. Erin, we appreciate it.

Joining us now, Republican Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who serves on the Intelligence and Armed Services Committee. He attended Wednesday's classified briefing on Israel with top defense and intelligence officials. Senator, I appreciate your time.

I want to start with where Sam ended. Do you have any doubt after the classified briefing that the U.S. and Israeli assessment that this was not an Israeli airstrike is accurate?

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): We believe the assessment is accurate, both from what the Israelis have told us, but more importantly, what our own I.C. community has been able to develop on their own. The evidence is very clear what happened.

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And at the stage of the game, without revealing the sources and the methods, it's the information that you're sharing with your viewers right now is accurate.

MATTINGLY: The one thing that the U.S. side has not been as definitive on as attribution. The Israelis have said it's from Islamic Jihad, Palestinian Islamic Jihad. U.S. officials have been more reticent to do that. Why?

ROUNDS: Well, I can't tell you that to identify specifically which particular group would have released it would be based on which group was in control of that part of Gaza at the time that that missile was fired. Whether it was Hamas or another group, I can't tell you that. But we do know where it came from, and the evidence is very clear.

MATTINGLY: Senator, I was struck reading the comments of senators coming out of the briefing yesterday. Oftentimes, these are not always very substantive or necessarily very appreciated by senators when the administration comes up and gives these briefings. This was different. Senators came out and were very clear that it was substantive in the information, in the context, and what was delivered. Why?

ROUNDS: The degree of confidence that we have in the information that was provided was increasing. We had an I.C. meeting the day before, an intelligence committee meeting the day before, and the preponderance of the evidence that was delivered on that day was consistent.

The following day, they had a higher degree of confidence that the accuracy was there, and they were able to share in that closed meeting how we were able to get that information. And so when you can back up not just what the facts are and then show how you got those facts, it really does help.

And so for members of the Senate to receive that much of an in-depth briefing, what was very, very helpful, they don't want to tell the world how we get our information because then that jeopardizes our ability to get that information in the future.

But I think for the vast majority of the members that were there, it was very helpful to understand how we obtained that information and how we coordinated with the Israelis to take their information, but how we got our own information as well.

MATTINGLY: Senator, President Biden is expected to give a primetime speech tonight, just came back from the trip to Israel. How do you assess his performance has been since this crisis started?

ROUNDS: Well, to begin with, any time that we talk about a foreign event, I think we want to rally behind our president. In this particular case, the fact that he took the time to actually go there during a time of war said that we were committed to Israel, which is consistent with our policy. It's consistent with the way that the House and the Senate feel as well. And so in that respect, we are sending a message to the Israelis and to the rest of the world that we will stand by our allies. That was a very important item to achieve.

The second piece on this and the part that we wish we could do a better job of is to send the message to Iran that we will hold them accountable when the people that they are funding, the people that they are helping to get the supplies, the weapons and so forth, and the training as well, that we will hold them accountable as well when these terrorist groups attack and kill innocent people around the world.

And I hope that that is part of the message that the president sends, that we understand that while this attack that there is evidence that Iran did not know specifically the timing of it or the exact planning of it, that they are still going to be held accountable for what they have done to create this terrorist network and other terrorist networks throughout the Middle East.

MATTINGLY: Senator, the president is expected to make it the case for $100 billion-plus supplemental aid package tonight. I know where you are on supporting both Israel, Ukraine, more border funding. My question is, as a senator, when you look across the chamber to House Republicans who still don't have a speaker, what goes through your mind?

ROUNDS: To begin with we have to -- we'll probably start in the Senate would be my expectation. We'll provide them with an opportunity to get through this challenge that they have over there. You know, we in the Senate, sometimes we hear that the House says you know what we can argue, Republicans and Democrats, but it's the Senate that is the real enemy.

And while they say that haphazardly, it's -- and almost comically, the reality is there is a difference between the House and the Senate. And the House was designed by our founding fathers to be emotional, to express the anger, the concerns of a country at the very moment. You see that going on right now as those folks over there are angry with what's going on in the world, they're angry with what's going on with the economy here in the United States. It is reflective of the frustration that they feel.

The founding fathers recognized that but they expected the Senate to work through the issues to find common ground and to be that steady force. And, hopefully, we will be. We will provide the resources necessary for Israel. We will provide the resources necessary for Ukraine.

[07:20:00] Hopefully, we can come to agreement on how we're going to defend that southern border finally, and in the meantime, Taiwan is still there and whatever we can do to slow down Xi Jinping's interest in taking back or taking over Taiwan is something that might very well be included as well.

MATTINGLY: All right. I think it started for the speaker of the House, but I appreciate it. Senator Mike Rounds from South Dakota, always, thank you.

ROUNDS: Thank you.

HARLOW: So, we do want to update you on something just into CNN. Russia has detained a journalist who is a U.S.-Russian dual national. Her name, Alsu Kurmasheva, has been charged with failing to register as a foreign agent. She's employed as a journalist and an editor for Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty. She is based in Prague. Her employer says she was detained in June in the Russian city of Kazan as she was waiting for a return flight to the Czech Republic.

This is the second American journalist in Russian custody. Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal also detained and charged in March of 2023.

MATTINGLY: Well, President Biden says Egypt has agreed to allow 20 trucks of humanitarian aid to travel into Gaza. But is that enough? More on the situation on the ground.

HARLOW: And British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Israel today. What he hopes to achieve there, next.

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MATTINGLY: We're showing you live pictures of where there was a strike or what appears to be a strike in the southern part of Gaza, in Khan Yunis, near a hospital. It just underscores what has been a continuous bombardment by Israeli Air Force airstrikes since the October 7th terror attack. It also underscores the difficulty residents, individuals, citizens of Gaza have had.

President Biden says Egypt's President El-Sisi has agreed to allow much -needed humanitarian aid into Gaza through its southern border.

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BIDEN: He agreed that what he would do is open the gate to do two things. One, let up to 20 trucks through to begin with.

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MATTINGLY: Now, the president also pledged to send $100 million in humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Joining us now is Dr. Yousef Khelfa. He is the co-founder and board member of the Palestinian American Medical Association. The group supports doctors and hospitals in Gaza. Doctor, thanks so much for your time.

I want to start with what you're hearing about the situation on the ground right now. How dire is it?

DR. YOUSEF KHELFA, CO-FOUNDER AND BOARD MEMBER, PALESTINIAN AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: Well, good morning, and thank you for having me. First, I would like to take one step back and look at the whole picture in the healthcare in Gaza. So, I can see as a co-founder and former president of PAMA, Palestinian American Medical Association, which is a non-profit organization, that for the past ten years, I've been supporting the healthcare in Gaza with (INAUDIBLE). We are talking about medical missions that I went personally in, and I can say that in the last couple of years, I've been to Gaza five times.

I would like to say that I have witnessed firsthand the devastating effect that 16-plus year of siege imposed by Israel on Gaza. We are talking about the huge shortage of medicine for cancer patients, dialysis patients. We are talking about the strain, overall strain on the healthcare there. We are talking about the challenges the patients in Gaza face to seek a surgery outside. This is just a part of an endless list. And then we come to this war now 13 days ago. So, you have already collapsed healthcare system and now you add this to that. So, the healthcare system is on the brink of even greater catastrophe.

So, what we are talking about, we are talking about as of now, 4,000- plus Palestinians were killed by the airstrikes and bomb on Gaza. We are talking about 13,000-plus injuries. We are talking about most and the vast majority of those are vulnerable children and women. We are talking about 2.2 million population, 2.2 million people who live in a densely populated area. We are talking about 140-square-mile area. This is how big the whole Gaza Strip. And you are talking about lack of access to water, electricity, fuel. This is a breeding ground for infection. This is going to be a health care crisis.

Then you are talking about more than half million Palestinians in the past 13 days were displaced in internally in Gaza, and they are looking for a shelter in the schools, in the hospital. And then you bring it back to that, as a physician, as a doctor, as a humanitarian, I am mourning the loss of more than 40 health care professionals. They were killed by the Israeli strike in the past 13 days. A good number of them I worked with during my medical mission. You are talking about doctors, nurses, paramedics. You are talking about ambulances that should be a symbol of hope and help. 22 were damaged by the airstrike. There's more than 24 documented incidents of airstrike on health care facilities. So, this has to stop.

And I can -- I would like to share with you that Al-Ahli hospital, that was, you know, bombed two days ago, is the home of PAMA Youth, psychosocial rehabilitation to the children in Gaza. We mourn the loss of some of those children. We mourn the loss of some of those staff. This should not happen in 2023. And, you know, my message is crystal clear. This war and bombing on Gaza is causing an immense effect on the vulnerable children, women, civilians and health care professionals in Gaza. It got to stop. This imposed blockade should be lifted right now and safe corridors for the medical and humanitarian aid should enter now.

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There should be no delays. There should be no limit about how much that --