Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703

Welcome to all of you watching here in the United States, canada and all Around The World. Im kim brunhuber. I want to get to our Breaking News this hour. Israel is retaliating swiftly and with force against hamas at this hour targeting sites in gaza and engaging the militants on multiple fronts as the Prime Minister said a short time ago, we are at war. Now this after an hours long barrageover rockets took the country by surprise and set off sirens as far as away as jerusalem. Its worth noting this is the 50th Anniversary of the war in 1973. Most alarming for israelis are confirmed reports of militants infiltrating the territory. The scale, the coordination of these attacks, what were seeing now, just extraordinary. Whats the latest there . Reporter the latest is the Prime Minister declaring this is a state of war. Hes saying in an address to the people of israel and just in the last half hour, citizens of israel, we are at war. Not an operation, not in rounds, at war. The Military Chief Of Staff also distributing an address to the citizens of israel saying the military is essentially flood ing the zone around gaza because of this. Thats been the most alarming aspect of this. The number of rockets is very, very high. I mean, its some of the highest i have seen in recent years. They have been reaching far. We have had to seek shelter and just here in our offices, at least five times because of various air raid sirens, we have been Hearing Ploegss in the sky. Its the infiltration that are the most alarming. We do have reports in the media of soldiers or civilians being kidnapped. We have not confirmed those ourselves. Those are being reported those have been kidnaps from along the border with gaza or the villages within the area around gaza. What we have confirmed from the military regarding those infiltrations is they came in from the sky gliders from the ground and sea. Theres ongoing fighting, as we speak, on the ground in several villages and two army bases and the border station. Between militants and security officials. So thats why they are flooding the zone to get to those people. Were hearing people calling in from these villages saying that im inside my bomb shelter. I hear gunfire and knocks on my door. Please come help me. In terms of the rockets, the military is say 2g,000 rockets have been fired since 6 30 this morning. Thats about six hours ago. In 2011 during that 11day war, there was 4,300 rockets. We have already passed 2,000 just in a few hours to give you a sense of the scale of how many rockets have been fired. In terms of injury, we have confirmed from hospitals, theres at least 140 injuries have been brought to hospital. We at least know 20 those are considers serious. We know of several fatalities including the head of one of the Regional Councils in the south, who he was killed while in an active fire fight with militants. So its not clear among the injuries whether those are from injuries of from rocket fire and shrapnel, from militant fire because we have been seeing visdeos of Pickup Trucks with mill about its in the pedestrians of those Pickup Trucks just firing as they go down the street. Firing and as we heard from the military, there are ongoing fire fights in several of the villages as well as army bases, as well as the border crossing. A completely ununprecedented state of war. Something they have not seen and also the timing is so significant here. Once again, 50 years ago to the day israel was surprised with the war. It is a holiday. Its a saturday. So a lot of people who are religious would be at synagogue. And so they are incredibincredi striking. Hamas has called this operation the storm. But what has been interesting is while theres been tensions at the bomb pound, a place so holily, so hotly contested, there hasnt been any sort of major flareup. No Police Action or anything like that to signal that something could be happening. Thats why this is such a surprise. It was a surprise. There will be a the lot of questions not only just how was israel not better prepared, but also did all of these militants get in. Were they already in israel because thousands of palestinians enter on a daily basis with permits to work. Did they come from the west bank . How did this all happen . Another major question is whether other fronts will get involved as well, especially the north and especially hezbollah. If they get involved in the north, that put this is on a whole different level. I mean, you talked about the surprise here. Certainly, people must be shocked to waking up to this a couple hours ago, such large scale Rocket Attacks and especially the images of people, attackers draifing through the streets armed. It must be terrifying. What is the mood there among israelis now . Reporter its a lot of shock. Its shock this is happening. Its questioning how did the Israeli Military and Israeli Intelligence allow this to happen. Whats really striking as they are watching the news is getting live calls from people in the south who are are hiding in their safe rooms who are are hearing this happening on the streets in front of them who are are reporting terrible things. This is incredibly shocking for them. And thats why you hear the parallels because thats what happened. The holiest day for jews during the year, and they were surprised in the same way. There was a bit of disbelief back then this wahappening. There was a the lot of shock and fear from israelis about what will happen now, how far into israel have these militants got because hamas is calling on all palestinians across gaza, across the west bank, across jerusalem to rise up. Grab anything you want and join our war. Join our war against israel. That will be a major issue if we see what were seeing with those infiltrations in those israeli villages. If we it across israel, thats a major issue in addition to the Rocket Attacks. Well get back to you in a little bit for updates. Thank you so much for that. Appreciate it. We want to go to the found er of the inside the middle east institute. Thank you so much for joining us here. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying, we are at war. The symbolism of the timing here, 50 years pretty much to the day of the war in 1973. Yes, thank you for having me. You are correct. In many ways, theres a similarity between the two events. This is not the only similarity. There are other aspects that are like a common denominator when you think about the two different events. I would like to provide a couple insights, trying to put this whole situation into a wider perspective. We are looking at a war that was orchestrated and organized and planned for long period of time. And of course, the biggest question in their perspective is this war the first phase towards a multifront war, particularly when you are talking about hezbollah or also have to be very closely on lebanon. In that regard, i would like to add a strategic dimension. You have to think about the iranian vision plan. Its part of the vision plan in which hamas and Islamic Jihad plays a significant role. They are trying to establish what we call the ring of fire. Namely, surrounding israel from three different arenas. Leb lebanon, syria and gaza strip with proxies that are supposed to attack the state of israel. What we saw this morning is that one of those arena, gaza strip was activated. The biggest question to follow in the next couple days, are we going to see the flareup of the syrian arena. In addition to that, the issue of the Palestinian Territories in the west bank and areas within israel populated by the jews and israel. This is one i want to share. Thats one of the questions i wanted to ask you. Our reporter raised that. Israel authorities seem to be caught by surprise here. Youre a former Israel Intelligence official. It seems to represent a huge Intelligence Failure. Definitely. At this point, even though were in a preliminary stage, its clear that israels major strategy in the context of defending this volatile area surrounding gaza, that strategy basically failed. What we see right now is the manifestation of israels worst scenario where militants are taking over parts of communities and civilians in the gaza strip. So in that sense, definitely. And there are many other aspects that have to be asked in that regard. But with your permission, i would like do go back and provide additional insights and observations. I want talking about the Military Spective and The Master Plan of the ring of fire. Theres another interesting perspective. That fwgoes to the question why did hamas launch that war. One of them is the fact that hamas has been struggling for an ongoing period of time and its been accumulative of criticism of people in gaza strip over hamas. In the last couple months, theres been some relief because israel enabled more and more people to go and to work in israel. So this is one interesting aspect. The other interesting aspect has to be viewed in between hamas on the one hand and Palestinian Authority on the other end. Hamas goes to be the leader of the palestinian. And hamas goes to military action. It says the only way to bring israel down is through military use of power. In that sense, hamas basically is basically say or do what he always say, hopefully that will gain him a credit within the palestinian Public Opinion and so on. Theres another interesting aspect regarding the question why did hamas wage that war. That has to be looked in the context of the normalization and particularly the recent talks between israel and saudi arabia and the reports about it brewing sort of like peace agreement. Now im taking to the palestinian perspective. In that ray iowa recent na, tallahassee growing discontent. They are feeling the arab world are abandoning them. And basically, the palestinian says saudi arabia is the last one to defend us. If the saudis are going to join the process with israel, it means that we have totally been thrown under the bus. What hamas did is actually sending a message to the regime saying the pal still yan are not going to be excluded. They have a say, and they have the ability to impact the trajectory of the israeli conflict, and no one could ignore that war. So i think these are a couple things to look at when we ask ourself why did hamas wage that war because it is a war, and particularly, when you look at the most significant question at this point regarding that, what is going to be israels response. Let me ask you about that. Because thats exactly where i want to go. I appreciate your perspective on the interpretation of the hamas motive here, but i want to ask about israel response. They are meeting in an hour. What are the options do you think in terms of their response and how might that be complicated . Israel is currently in a major dilemma. On the one hand, you have a government in israel reminding you, a large part of the government or vocal part of this government are coming from the more extreme right wing factors. They clearly put a pressure on the Israeli Government to take over gaza strip areoccupy gaza strip. The question is what will be the other positions of other parts of the government in the Israeli Intelligence community. We are looking at israel after this war, following the initiation of this War T Cannot Go back to the old same story of the military rounds because as of now, hamas won its biggest strategic achievement ever. He basically was able to screen a picture when he was taking control over the communities, apparently taking control of holding as hostages. Now that goes back to the Israeli Government. One of the things that we have to ask ourselves is israel going to launch a massive Military Operation basically taking that specific situation as a point where israel is now actively changing the reality that was formed in the gaza strip when hamas took over the strip since 2007. I would not exclude that scenario. Its very possible that we will witness a massive Israeli Ground operation in gaza strip, basically will aim to try and to change totally from the ground the conditions that have been prevailed for the last almost two decades. This is a pivotal moment. We have to look and see what will be the scale and the volume of israeli retaliation and response. We have to look whether its going to evolve in expanding of this war to another arena. We are looking at critical hours, critical days, definitely. This story has regional ramification, not only domestic ones. Absolutely. We are out of time, but appreciate your analysis. Thank you so much. My pleasure. Thank you for having me. Well be right back. We want to get with back to our Breaking News. Israel is carrying out military strikes against hamas in gaza after the Group Launched a Surprise Attack early saturday. Hamas militants are claiming to have acquired 5,000 rockets targeting airports and military positions. Officials say at least one person has died and at least 100 people have been injured. Israels military says it will mobilize thousands of reservists to take on hamas. Joining me now is daniel levy, president of the u. S. Middle east project. Thank you so much for being here with us. I want to start with your reaction to the unprecedented events were seeing right now. I think the first thing to note is this element of surprise. And the really staggering success in that respect by the palestinian movements, who launched this military effort. I think that will over time play very badly in israel. I think there was a sense of Humanhue Brous that you could not have these reactions. The immediate thing is the jewish community, the political parties, the representatives come around unified, but this will play into an already deep polarization Inside Israel. I think whatever happens next will be considered a significant success for those palestinian movements. Its not clear what happens next. It would be surprising if the israeli response did not also include a Ground Operation. This comes at a time where we would have the most extreme government in israel, endless provocations. You also have what feels like a fragile environment, and i think the palestinian side have looked at those movements. They have looked at the situation in jerusalem. That resinates not only with palestinians but beyond. Issues like prisoners have been treated. They have looked at the Normalization Talks and this has been the response. I think its also an important reminder, as your viewers are realizing this morning, that really the issue in the middle east isnt whether israel is Sauz Raid Normalize or not, its what happens on palestinian front. So many decades of occupation, there will not be security instability. As long as the palestinians dont have their rights and freedoms. It also comes on the 50th Anniversary of the last time Israeli Intelligence had a huge failure, which was the 1973 war with egypt. And so i think that will play into the israeli psyche and the analysis out of israel this morning and in the coming days. In these attacks, we know israelis have been killed. Many injured. Some possibly kidnapped. Were still looking tinto those reports. When we look at the response, especially if we might see a Ground Operation is in gaza, often we see innocent Palestinian Civilians losing their homes, sometimes losing their lives. What will the cost be, do you think . I think youre right to point that out. I think the variable that maybe the most significant in the israeli side of the equation from what you just mentioned is whether there are live israelis who have been taken prisoner in gaza, which impacts what kind of reaction israel can undertake. Lets remember the basic dynamics here. Gaza home to over 2 million palestinians, many who were driven out of israel. Living for decades now, coming on to two decades n what is essentially a blockade, an openair prison. We have seen several ut rations during that time of disproportionate strikes, israel has the sophisticated weaponry. What we have seen on so many occasions is devastation,s massive civilian loss. And unfortunately, we can want expect that again. But daily life for palestinianss throughout the areas controlled, is one that is not normal. So they are waking up to ab abnormal that they live with all the time. Its a question of what is the extremity of that. And when there was the last major escalation, you saw what the palestinians saw. You saw popular expressions of opposition to israel. Inside israel, on the streets of israel, you saw it inside the west bank. So one of the real questions is whether we will see that again during the coming days. So much still unknown. Its Early Morning still here on the east coast. We havent heard from the Biden Administration on this. What do you think the u. S. Response will be or should be . I fear there is a significant gulf between the answer to those two questions. What it will be and what it should be. I think what it will be is predictable. Which will be standing in solitarity with israel, recognizing what they will call israels right to defend, never recognizing the palestinian right to resist an occupation and a siege and blockade. So thats one thing youll see. The other thing that will be missing and an appreciation that you cannot keep people under permanent conditions of inhumane, immoral, but illegal occupation, and not expect Something Like this, not expect there to be insecurity for the party that is doing that to the palestinians. And i think the rest of the world may look at this. Look at the inadequate response. To say, wait a minute, in one place, you celebrate setresista. You celebrate people taking up arms against ab invasion, which is correctly considered to be illegal. Thats in ukraine. And in this other place, you run cover for the people who are doing the illegal occupation. And i think in the parts of the world that have woken up already and some that are yet to wake up, they will see this as another example of the very selective american application of the standards it is claiming to uphold in one place and totally negates and undermines in another place. Im not sure the parallels are equivalent, but i take your point. Well have to leave it there. Thank you so much. Really appreciate your perspective on this had. Thank you, kim. Israel declares war on militants in gaza after hamas launches a Surprise Attack on israel and calls for a palestinian jup rising. Well have a live report just ahead. Stay with us. Welcome back to all of you watching here in the United States and Around The World. Im kim brunhuber. This is cnn newsroom. Israel is retaliating swiftly and with force against hamas at this hour, targeting sites in gaza and engaging on multiple fronts. As the Prime Minister said a short time ago, we are at war. This after an hours long barrage of rockets took the country by surprise and set off sirens as far as tel aviv. Numerous casualties have been reported. This is the 50th Anniversary of the war of 1973. Most alarming for israelis are confirmed reports of militants infiltrating israeli territory. Sam kiley is standing by in london, but lets begin our coverage with our jerusalem correspondent. Whats the latest . Reporter we are just getting updated numbers of casualties. This is according to Emergency Services. They say theres been more than 250 injuries. At least 22 of them are dead. These are not final numbers yeyet. These are high Casualty Numbers considering this just start ed t 6 30 a. M. This morning, which is this barrage of rocket fire coming from gaza towards israel. We know that thousands of rockets have been fired to give you context. In a that 2021 11day war, it was considered a large operation and there was 4,300 rockets fired total. Now we are nearing that number and we havent even reached 24 hours yet. Most alarming are the infiltrations. We have seen videos of militants on Pickup Trucks in these villages. We have seen videos of militants on the streets of israel. We are getting reports of civilian citizens in their houses saying they are hearing the gunfire just outside their homes. The military confirming there have been on going fire fights in several israeli villages in the south, including two army bases and one of the border crossings. We have seen reports of soldiers or civilians being captured and kidnapped. Theres a video published of a tank along the Gaza Border Fence Showing Gunmen Drag Ging out an israeli soldier. We have also seen videos in gaza and our producer has seen it with his own eyes of Military Vehicles that have been taken by militants driving into gaza. The military has not confirmed or commented on any sort of soldiers or civilians being kid napped or killed. What we have right now are the Casualty Numbers from the Emergency Services of people within israel. Thats 250 injured, more than 22 of them killed. What is also not clear is how many of those injuries are from rockets or militant fire. We know some of them, including the head of one of the Regional Councils in the south was killed by gunfire while engaging with them on the streets. This is a very fluid, ongoing situation. Were watch ing the news channes right now where they are just getting reports, live calls from people who are sheltering in place in these communities, in the south, with fear of these militants entering. The military is saying some of these entered israel by paragliding in, by sea and by foot. The rockets also have been far reaching, as far as where we are in jerusalem, i counted six rounds of sirens and multiple explosions in the sky. Very fluid ongoing situation, the likes of which israel has not seen in 50 years. Youre bringing us new and disturbing detail there is. Thank you so much. I want to bring in cnns sam kiley who are is in london. You covered the region extensively. I want to get your analysis of what youre seeing now, what strikes you about the attack, about the response and what it could mean going forward. Its on the historic cig conditions of this historic Intelligence Failure by the israelis, because this is a situation that has not been seen since the israelis were effectively ambushed by the a Rack Rabbit World in 1973. 50 years almost to the day in the war when that Surprise Attack was launched. Now hamas has used a cover they claim of 5,000 rockets. They are saying some 2,000 rockets or more are being fired all the time to launch this complex attack from the sea, infiltrating and then on food. We have seen images of breaks in the fence. Now they are able by being able to infiltrate and now conduct hostage taking operations, potentially, theres some reports, including from my own sources, that they fear there are hostages and dead bodies that have been taken into gaza territory. We have seen the destruction of a tank that is about one of the most sophisticated tanks on the planet. Very sophisticated israeli piece of armor falling to militants on or close to the border fence there in gaza and a humvee being driven through the streets. All of that combining as ab attempt the leader of the military wing inside this strip to make a call to arms right across the middle east, but in particular, trying now to cause forest fire effectively in activity on the west bank and then perhaps ultimately among palestinians who are citizens Inside Israel itself. Where its reported three years ago that some 400,000 weapons are in the hands of ethnic palestinians Inside Israel. If that combined to set off this chain reaction, then israel will be very much on the back foot at a time when there will be extreme pressure, particularly from israels right, and it is the right wing that dominate the government in israel on the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch a very severe counterattack inside gaza, possibly aimed to rid the strip of hamas altogether. But as we have been hearing from daniel levy a few moments ago and other critics on the right within israel, this is seen particularly by the left as an inevitable consequence of bottling up palestinian hopes inside gaza. But the real aim here is to try to cause this chain reaction, an uprising on the west bank with the ultimate aim perhaps this would be the Doomsday Scenario of involving hezbollah out of lebanon. That at the moment is a distant prospect. The next 48 hours and how israel responds will define this. But it is absolutely unprecedented to see infiltration on this scale, effectively infiltration in towns reportedly like where we have seen a number of civilians that have been killed at a bus stop. Theres images of operatives driving around in Pickup Trucks, firing supposedly at random, opening fire on a Police Vehicle and even being involved in combat near the police station. This is the biggest town near gaza. Its some distance from the gaz sa strip itself. Theres been infiltration close to the gaza strip too. I want to mention again we have an updated Israeli Death toll now at 22. Sam kiley, thank you for your analysis. We appreciate it. Well be right back. We want the to get become to our Breaking News. Israel is at at war after hamas launched a Surprise Attack early saturday. Militants are claimed to have fired some 5,000 rockets targeting airports and military positions. Israeli Officials Say 22 people have died. More than 250 have been injured. Israels military says its carrying out strikes in gaza and thousands of rezeservists will mobilized. Well have more on this Breaking News story the at the opt top of the hour cnn this morning. Turning now to news here in the u. S. , President Biden is facing criticism for moving forward with the the construction of new barriers at the southern border. The president s breaking a Campaign Promise to never build Additional Border walls. But biden couldnt stop the move because congress earmarked funds to construct the barriers, which will go up because of migrant crossings. The money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to redirect that money, but they wouldnt. In the meantime, theres nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated. I cant stop that. Do you believe the Border Wall Works . No. We have more details from Priscilla Alvarez in washington. President biden came under fierce criticism over his administrations decision to build Border Barriers in south texas. The president maintained along with officials that they had to do this because of funds appropriated by congress in 2019 for the purpose of physical Border Barriers. Sources i have spoken with said the administration was essentially running up against a deadline, and ity had to use these funds by the end of fiscal year 2023. Now in a notice to the federal register, the Homeland Security secretary said he may have to wave 20 laws to get this construction done, and this is also an area of, quote, high illegal industries. This is going to be up to 20 miles of Border Barriers. It also includes gates, access roads and lights, but the h Homeland Security secretary maintaining this week this is the border wall is not the response. The administrations posture on this has not changed, but it was necessary buzz these funds were appropriated by congress. All of this, though, putting a politically precarious issue at the forefront and leaving the president to defend barriers, which he previously spoken out against during his campaign. This time, he is saying it is because of those funds that were appropriated before he took office. Priscilla alvarez, cnn, washington. Mexicos president has denounce d u. S. Plans to build new Border Barriers as a Publicity Stunt ahead of next years election. The mexican president on friday called the new barriers propaganda to win over voters. He criticized the politics saying all u. S. President s either republican or democrats have done it during their term to look good in the eyes 06 americans that dont have all the information. It is full speed ahead for tech giant amazon. Well tell you what they are sending into space and how it could help people on the ground. That story is straight ahead. Stay with us. We have ignition. And liftoff of the United Launch Alliance rocket. Carrying the mission for amazons project kiper. Amazons plans to build constellations to blanket the globe in Internet Connectivity on friday. The first two Prototype Satellites were launched from florida. Now amazon plans to begin building hundreds more satellites, building a network of 3,200 to circle the globe and beam Internet Connectivity to the ground. Heres what an executive had to say about the mission. About half the worlds population lack connectivity or access to good connectivity. We know what a difference that Internet Connectivity can make. Access to shopping, access to health care, access to education. More on this, im joined by tim frerar. Thank you so much for being here with us. So were still a ways away from logging on to amazon internet. There have been setbacks along the road when the rockets that were supposed to be traveling on exploded. It shows how hard this is technically to do. So going forward, what are sol of the Biggest Challenges still ahead in terms of trying to et set up this constellation . Amazon has a long way to go. Its planning to launch over 3,000 satellites, and thats going to take an awful long time. There are dozens of launches and the rockets need to be ready to those launch satellites. As well as the satellites being manufactured, which is going to take at least two or three years to complete all of them. Of course, elon musks starrlink has thousands of satellites already in space. How significant is this competition going to be from amazon . Amazon has a long way to go. Starlink has been in commercial service for about two years. Star jb link is going to have a fiveyear lead by the time a amazon comes to market. Its got billions of dollars of revenue, millions of sub skriezers already. Thats a lot to catch up on. Amazon has a lot of resources. But still, its going to be a challenge. Fiveyear lead, is that too far back to catch up, do you think . It really depends on how big this market is. Elon musk has said he might get tens of millions of subscribers Around The World and some analysts are more optimistic than that. Today if hes only got a couple million customers, if that market doesnt increase very fast, then there wont be many customers left to capture. Who would these customers, these subscribers be exactly . Well, the biggest share of those is going to come from consumers who are in remote areas or a places where they cant get Broadband Internet from wireless or fiber. Theres going to be other customers, as well, in terms of ships, planes, oil rigs, government customers. We have seen starlink have Great Success in ukraine as a source of capacity to help the forces there doing the war. So theres a lot of opportunity here, but its going to come down to whether theres a big enough consumer market. You mentioned ukraine. Starlink has been vital for ukraines war efforts in terms of providing that digital lifeline. But theres been a lot of hand ringing about so much power being wielded by one man who are can literally decide where and when ukraine gets this access. Do you think a. Mazon would provide Military Alternative in cases tliek . I think thats what the government has got to be hoping for is they will have a choice of providers. This will give them more leverage in terms of the conditions under which those services are supplied. They really dont like it if one person can turn off the Satellite System and deny access. Having a choice is always better. Hopefully, amazon will be able to provide that. We have been talking about one person, elon musk, this rivalry between the two companies, between amazon and elon musks starlink, how much of this competition do you think is personal between these two men . I think there is a lot of personal rivalry. They started with rockets and now they have is it in satellites. I dont think bezos wants to see musk win. So hes going to keep pushing very hard. Finally, sort of big picture here, theres so many Satellite Constellations up there already. How do we manage the traffic without collisions and so forth . It really depends on how big the market is. That will be what determines how much satellites or launched. The market isnt big enough to support all those. At some point, the music will stop. People will perhaps return to reality and realize what the size of this market is and hopefully that will happen before we get too carried away. Its fascinating all the possibilities that are still out there that were still exploring. Well have to leave it there. Thank you for being here with us. Thank you. That wraps this hour of cnn newsroom. Im kim brunhuber. Well have more Breaking News from israel on cnn this morning, next