Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703

This is cnn breaking news. I want to welcome you to cnns breaking News Coverage. Im abby phillip here in washington. Today scenes of terror, heartbreak and utter desperation as israel officially declares war on the terror group hamas. Just moments ago cnn has learned that three americans have been killed in fighting according to the u. S. Government in a memo. The Biden Administration is also looking into american deaths and those among the missing, some possibly killed by hamas fighters. We are getting in some gruesome, horrible news. What im about to show you is graphic. A rescue group said 260 bodies were found at a Western Festival site near gaza. The survivors describing hamas fighters storming that festival yesterday morning attacking civilians with rifles, rpgs, kidnapping and killing those that they came across. This is one of the atrocities committed by hamas over the last two days against israel. In response, israel has ramped up attacks on gaza. The area controlled by hamas, this was the scene there just a few hours ago as Israeli Forces carried out a round of air strikes. Its hard to know how many civilians were killed in israeli, although a top israeli minister tells cnn that the death toll is now likely over 600. That number we are expecting to rise. Thousands of israelis have also been injured. Civilians have been killed in gaza, including this flattened Apartment Building where a girls body was pulled out of the rubble. The number of there is more than 400. Now today israel is also opening a missing persons command center for family and friends to register the people who are now unaccounted for. Weve heard some reports of Hamas Terrorists stripping children away from their parents, abducting the elderly and in some cases raping innocent israeli civilians. Its confirmed that americans are among the hostages. Secretary blinken says the United States is work being quickly to figure out if that is true but he has described some of the abductions earlier on cnn today. Take a listen. This is massive terror attacks, Indiscriminate Firing of rockets against civilians, thousands of rockets. Men and women and children dragged across the border into gaza, including a holocaust survivor in a wheelchair, gunned down. You can imagine the impact this is having on israel and should be something that revolts the entire world. Our Coverage Starts with nic robertson, who is in israel. I want to start with that brand new information, the horrible news, 260 bodies found at this Music Festival site in israel that was struck yesterday by these attacks. What do we know today . Reporter we know that there were a lot of abandoned shuttered vehicles along the road, the highway, near where that Music Festival was taking place, 20 miles or so south of where we are. It had been going on through the night, a lot of young people enjoying themselves, dancing and enjoying the music as the sun was coming up. And then the missile strikes, the intercepts, and all that confusion and out of that confusion it appears that hamas ran on there and were just killing in a frenzied way anyone that they could reach, anyone that they couldnt sort of pull back and take away and get back to gaza. I was speaking with a doctor whos been here in this area for the last 36 hours or so treating casualties, treating the wounded. He was down to that Music Festival afterwards to try to help with the casualties there and what he describes are scenes of and putting this in context this is a doctor who deals with aftermath, Terrorist Attacks on a routine basis in israel. He told me that this was like nothing hed ever seen before. Were finding everything. I had like a 90yearold woman with a bullet wound. Reporter a 90yearold woman . They are shooting everyone. A 90yearold woman with a bullet wound to her breast. And people who had an rpg blast nearby and had an injury from the chest from that. People lost limbs, people with Bullet Wounds all over the place. It was bad. Reporter he was talking about people being stabbed as well and the rpg, rocket propelled grenade, this is a weapon normally used to break down buildings, to get into armored vehicles. Ha so finding out the death of 260 gives you a sense of the awful scale and the level of brutality. Its understood that there were about because hamas has given us this number, we dont know for sure but they say there were about a thousand of them with weapons that came out of gaza. Even with that number of people, that is a very, very high death toll. It speaks to the brutality, it speaks to the defenseless nature of all the people who were being killed. They couldnt run fast enough. They had no weapons to fight back. They were not threat to those gunmen. They could have run past them and then nothing was going to happen to the gunmen. This is extreme brutality that was executed upon these people and the numbers keep growing because the discoveries keep happening. Its the shock of the numbers that i think is just stunning hl. One of the other stories we are following here, nick, is the situation with hostages. What do we know about how many hamas may have taken and what israel is doing now to get those individuals back . Reporter well, one of the other terrorist groups inside gaza, islamic jihad, say there are about we dont know if theyre fabricating that number. We dont know if its a lie. Is it bigger . Is it smaller . The number is understood to be large, because the bigger number of hostages they have, the bigger amount of leverage they have over the Israeli Government and israeli officials are being very careful about the language they use, about the number of hostages. Theyre saying it is in the order of dozens but i was speaking here early this afternoon to a major in the Israeli Defense force, a spokesman and i asked him how are you going to get these back . All right, nic robertson, thank you. Reporter and what he told me was go ahead, nick. Tell us what ehe told you. Reporter he told me that they were going to do everything in their power to get them back, no one would be left behind, he said. But i think i picked up from him the extreme difficulty that it presented here because hamas wont give them up and where theyre scattered, where theyre being held, underground tunnels, bunkers scattered across gaza, it is an almost impossible task. Its going to be a critical story as we go forward here, nick. Thank you very much. And i hope you continue to stay safe where you are. I want to turn now to cnns clarissa war who is on the israelgaza border and sharing some of the most Heart Wrenching images of the attack. A warning again, some of this video is disturbing as well. Reporter just in the last minutes we heard a major barrage of rockets landing in the distance not too far over in that direction. We also were driving up along and down the border with the Gaza Strip El and one we had to turn around because there was an active firefight going on. Its important to stress to our audiences that this is not at this stage an operation solely focused on dealing with the Hostage Situation in the gaza strip. This is about dealing with hamas militants who are continuing to run amuck here. Were going to show you footage now and i want to stress to our audiences its kwies where that open air festival, the super know a Music Festival was taking place, where and its about 6 00 in the morning, it began with a barrage of rockets, very quickly then hamas fighters infiltrated the dance party and began grabbing people, murdering them, kidnapping them, grabbing them, trying to drag them on to the motor bikes to get them back into the gaza strip. When we went today, we could only stay a shore time because, the bodies have been clkted of those who were innocent victims but the bodies of the hamas, you could see lots of vehicles shot up, abandoned. You can see one truckful where a police vehicle. We know that many people were killed. Many the Israeli Government took an unprecedented step today and actually released a and its scores and scores of dead bodies who have been gathered and have been working through the process to try tooid th to i. D. Them. Very intense on the psyche of ordinary people and very intense in terps of the tempo of what were seeing on the ground and that continuing to ratchet up. Clarissa ward, thank you for that. Lets bring in pentagon correspondent oren lieberman. Reporter President Joe Biden and other members promised u. S. Unflinching support for israel. This is part of that. This comes in on the message of deter bens. This and he said other parts are watching this. Thats a reference to hezbollah, lebanon, Military Groups in syria backed by iran. Thats a message to them not to get involved. It is a message as well as a Guided Missile Cruisers and a number of u. S. Those squadrons will be about brp. Some of those were headed and went to the middle east specifically to deal with irani aggression both in syria and the gulf of immelman. Its a message of deterrence to iran, hezbollah and israels adversaries who may see this as a moment of critical weakness. And we also learned three americans are dead here. Is there anything more that we can take frp israel hasnt had a number on how many were willing and able to be taken out, how many might be alive and how many might have been killed. Its difficult for the u. S. To get a number on that. There are a very large number of american citizens in israel, many of them dual de. Caller you spent a lot of time. I want to turn to now retired u. S. Army retired Brigadier General kimmitt. Tell us about other threats in the region. Where does that stand now . I think we need to, as oren oren said, there still remains down here in gaza an al guidia threat. So the worst possible thing for this would be that those military threats are pulled into this fight and now you have israel completely surrounded as part of a military operation. What about the possible threats outside of the region . Thats a very good question as well. Yes, theres a small fight going on down here in gaza. You have the concern about the military threats there but everything that the United States and the other countries have been trying to do over the past few years, bringing peace to syria, the Abraham Accords with saudi arabia and of course the concern about the Iranian Nuclear negotiations. All those could be swept in, the military threats, the diplomatic threats and of course the Counterterrorism Risk that we have going on. Its a key piece of leverage that hamas may have as the Israeli Defense forces are considering deal with wthis hams threat, how Dos Hostages Factor in . Thats everything. The major distraction is that whatever actions they take can be met with response against the hostages. So can you imagine those young men and within so thats going to severely limit the types of operations that they conduct inside of gaza if they decide to go in with large military forces but even the Special Operations trying to do Hostage Rescue will be at tremendous risk as well for fear of in. Thank you. And Emergency Services continue responding to Heart Wrenching scenes throughout southern israel. Up next ill talk to aescuer on the ground in the hard rng this. The iran factor in all of didnt they help am as. Youre looking at live pictures over gaza city where its just over 11 20 p. M. We have seen the response to the brutal attacks carried out by hamas this weekend. Now more than 600 people have been killed since, with so many victims in pleat. Im jond right now from one doctor. He works with United Hezbollah of israel, a trauma and Crisis Response unit. Adam, thank you for taking the time to join us tonight. I want to ask you first of all how your team is doing on the ground but also, how are you and your loved ones right now . Thank you. Its very kind of you to ask. A lot of families are going through some very difficult things at the moment. We had a long night and weve got some long rn and were going to forge ahead and do our best for our patients. So so many volunteers in your organization were able to get mobilized in the last 24 hours or so and what kind of support are they providing . So we were and we work with other National Agencies and all the governors you we have self thousand volunteers. So were a large organization. Ins first 24 hours, we were 17 and two helicopters, 4 by 4s, open to Field Hospital and an improvised land and just plow odd rn. So quite ser rufl. What are you the types of things that they are seeing there. In woo where and took a lot of time to get responded with the same scene, Bombed Out Peter and body. I saw peter pal a on round side of the rote, people who have been shot and burned, its really quite harrowing perk prn you talked about pilots being piled up on the side of the road. What is your sense of how many people have been killed in all of this . The number we know is 300. Unfortunately there are still areas which are many. And you know, we have over 3,000 casualties. Weve transported ourselves over 700 of those. You sh rng, angd in our organization, weve used to are, and weve run out of used Combat Application tournament frepgs you was lucky enough to sfooechlts p obviously the intensity and the tempo of operations here has been, you know, anything beyond we were table to plan or supply for. That is really hard to imagine. For your team members that you are working with, this is such a small country and a huge number of casualties as you pointed out. Have any of them had loved ones impacted by these attacks and by the kidnappings that weve been discussing . As you say, in such a small country everyone knows someone who knows someone. And i think were at that situation now where we all know either ourselves or, you know, one of our close Family Members or contacts no someone who is either missing, kidnapped or deceased and thats very difficult. One of our responders has been shot, unfortunately. He looks like hes going to be okay. Hes in hospital and hes been stabilized. So thats obviously a slaert. And its the the personal toll is a very dig toll but for now we have to put the emotions to the side and keep moving poured and the casualties start to come in wide so if theres a kibbutz or a settlement thats been able to recapture that from the terrorist, then suddenly you have a wave of patients who may have no patients an hour and then you may have 20 all the time. So its a ditch. Doctor, thank you for taking the time to join us and thank you for everything youre doing on the ground. My condolences to you and anyone you know experiencing tragedy this weekend. Thank you again. The u. N. Security council is what iran and hamas have said today. Thats coming up next. Is it possible my network could take my business to the next level . It is with comcast business. Powering all your devices with gigspeed wifi. And you get fast downloads and uploads. Pick it up pick it up oh we got this because its powered by The Next Generation 10g network. More speed for your business . Its not just possible. Its happening. Get started for 59. 99 a month for 12 months. Plus, ask how to get an 800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle. Comcast business, powering possibilities. Members of the United Nations Security Council are meeting Behind Closed Doors this afternoon to discuss this crisis unfolding in israel. Before the meeting, israels ambassador to the u. N. Called saturdays attack, quote, israels 911 and called reports of israelis being kidnapped blatant documented war crimes. Israel wants the u. N. To condemn the terror attacks. Joining me is senator ben cardin in the state of maryland. Senator, thank you very much for being here. Abby, its good to be with you. We have been reporting all weekend on these attacks and now learning that at least three americans have been killed. A big question facing everyone right now, how big of a u. S. Intelligence failure was this . You know, were going to have time to evaluate the intelligence failures, why there wasnt more information known and better defense in israel, but right now the depth of this tragedy is just being understood and the consequences are still uncertain. So i think our thoughts now are with how do we keep people safe in israel, how do we deal with those that have been taken hostage, how do we account to the families, our sympathies to the families who dont even know where their loved ones are today and also to make sure it does not spread beyond the current conflict. I think President Biden sent a really clear message to groups around the world that they should not take advantage of this situation. I want to play for you what your colleague in the house said earlier today on state of the union. We do know that iran is behind this. They have financed this every step of the way and theyve trained these terrorists. This must have been planned for months to strike on the 50th Anniversary of yom kippur, the war in 1973. And thats very evident. My question to you is do you believe that iran played an operational role in this attack, not just the general support and financing that they provide to hamas but operationally . I dont know. Im not sure we do know that answer right now but we do know theres been a long standing sport by iran of hamas, giving them the capacity to carry out these types of operations. So clearly iran has some accountable here. Im not sure we do know yet what role they directly played in this operation. For iran what should the consequences look like here . We already recognize iran as a supporter of terrorism. Weve already imposed maximum sanctions and penalties against iran. We will evaluate what role they played in this particular operation and make our judgments that need to be made. But at this particular moment, i think our focus is to work with the israelis, to make sure that people are kept safe, recognizing what ills it will be doing in regards to gaza. These are the immediate steps. There will be opportunities for us to evaluate what additional steps will be taken. Weve been working under the Abraham Accords to strengthen israels ties in the reejgion a really calm things down. The terrorists would like to see that type of effort side tracked. We have to make sure this episode does not stop the normalization talks that have been taking place. We dont want the terrorists to win. Its an importantward. Senator ben cardin, thank you very much for joining us. My pleasure. Good to be with you. Up next, were live in tel aviv and ill speak to a woman who was just where a rocket hit during the hamas terror attack. Welcome back. Youre watching cnns coverage of israel at war. I want to bring in rebecca from tel aviv. Shes an american originally from virginia who has lived in israel for the last ten years. Rebecca, thanks for being with us. Can you tell me a little bit about what you have witnessed in the last 24 hours there . Yeah, of course. We woke up yesterday morning at around 6 30, 7 a. M. To rocket fire and then basically were notified almost immediately what was going on in the south, that hamas militants and terrorists had come through, infiltrated the border. We thought the Security Systems down there were pretty strong and secure. And then almost immediately after you started seeing just news all over the telegrams, its a pretty big way that people get news in this area and the images are just horrific. Theres no family should ever have to see pictures of their loved ones being treated that way. And so these images kept pouring in. Were seeing that theres more rocket fire and then throughout the day we get notified that theres a Music Festival in the south, my sisterinlaw was supposed to have left and been there but luckily our Dipnner Hd Run too long the night before but didnt go. Next thing you know, its in the evening, a constant day of rocket fire and around 8, 9 p. M. There was no rocket fire into tel aviv and a rocket approximately 200 feet from our house. Steel, iron, whatever its made out of that actually shakes against the frame. Its absolutely terrifying. So were here today, its a relatively eerily quiet day. I dont know what that means, if tomorrow will not. The same going on on this side. Y. You mentioned that your sister would have been at that festival. Do you know if other people who experienced some of the violence here and what are you hearing from people around israel right now about what they are seeing around them as these attacks occurred in the last 48 hours or so . Yeah, so its were a small country. The population is roughly 10 million people, so youre only youre never more than one to two degrees of separation from anything going on. There are we didnt have direct friends that were there but there are friends of friends who weve been trying to help their families figure out where their loved ones are and hopefully find them. My sisterinlaw has tons of friends that were there. My colleagues, most of my friendss siblings have been deployed off to some border. My boss is there now. Everyone is for the most part affected in some manner. My partner, his very close friend, him, his wife and his child were in one of the cars. There were hamas operatives that came and they sorry. They basically came, they started attacking, they jumped out of the car, the husband and their child, he ran with the child, they were hiding and they found them but they havent been able to find his wife. So everyone knows someone who has been affected by this. And it doesnt matter where you are. And, quickly, before we go, how long do you think this will all go on for . You know, i really dont know. There is a lot of speculation. Some people are saying that its going to be a long time and it could be a week or two with in terms of other operations weve had in the past, i dont really think this is similar in any other way. Again, its been relatively quiet. We thought that it seems that other terrorists my get involved and it seems they havent. I dont think theres any chance well have a ceasefire within at least the next 48 hours. Rebecca, thanks for joining us and we hope you continue to stay safe today. Thank you. Thank you so much. And ahead for us, the Terrorist Attacks in israel are the newest issue in the president ial race. Several candidates are placing the blame and President Biden. Ill talk with senator tim scott coming up next. Back now with our breaking news. More help is on the way from the United States to israel. Thats what President Biden told Benjamin Netanyahu today. Theyre increasing their presence of fighter jets in the region. The two leaders are expected to stay in close contact as at least 600 people have been killed in an unprecedented attack by hamas. Here to discuss this is republican president ial candidate tim scott of the state of south carolina. Senator scott, thank you for being here. Yes, maam. Good to be with you, abby. This unprecedented attack has started a war that could go on for for some time. What is congress prepared to do to support israel and ensure this does not become a wider conflict in the region . One of the things we should do as americans is to put this into context for ourselves. Ive heard as many as 1,000 deaths in israel right now. In america, that would be translated into 40,000 americans losing their lives because of evil, evil, i cant say it any clearer, an evil attack by hamas on israel. Number two, we should make sure that there is no daylight between america and israel. Number three, we should be very clear in sending the strongest signal and i do agree with sending assets into the mediterranean to be in a positive aggressive, Offensive Posture if necessary, and we must make sure that the americans who have been taken hostage, that we put our resources to work to bring those americans home. And unfortunately, abby, President Biden paying 6 billion for americans only increased the price for an american i will say. I said this several weeks ago that when you raise the price on an american head, basically, youve just created a market to take more americans. And we have seen that play out just in the last 24 hours. Do you believe that the United States should send resources to help recover any americans who may have been taken hostage . I certainly think we should be prepared to send resources to israel without any question. The good news is for the last ten years, we have sent somewhere near 25 to 30 billion helping israel build one of the greatest militaries on the planet. So they have the resources necessary, frankly, to wipe hamas off the map. We want targeted attacks in order to get americans back and, frankly, i think youll see Prime Minister netanyahu go even further as he makes sure hamas cannot have another day like yesterday morning in the state of israel ever again. I do want to you about just that. Would you support if israel took these steps, a Ground Invasion of gaza, even if it meant a longterm or even permanent occupation and perhaps an insurgency that came after that . Would you support that . Well, i will support Prime Minister netanyahu doing whatever it takes to keep israelis safe and the safe return of americans. That must be a clear message. We have had the exact opposite from President Biden over the last two years. We now need strength. Appeasement is a terrible strategy militarily. Weve needed Ronald Reagans doctrine of peace and strength. Its time for us to return to overwhelming force as it relates to any conflict that we must be engaged in. This attack from hamas is coming against a backdrop of United States, saudi arabia and israel having what sounds like very serious conversations about a potential deal to normalize relationships. That would be historic. It would also isolate iran. If you were president , would you pursue this deal . Well, the deal has some very good points and, a, the one thing i would not do is provide a commercial Nuclear Program to saudi arabia. To me, that leads to, b, which is an acceleration of another Nuclear State potentially in the middle east. We should learn the lesson through the jcpoa with israel by giving it with iran, giving iran an opportunity to have frankly a path forward towards a Nuclear Weapon is a terrible decision. Giving saudi arabia, in my opinion, a commercial Nuclear Program would also be a terrible decision. But normalizes relationships between saudi arabia and israel is one of the ways that you make israel safer and you strengthen the bond is very hopeful throughout the entire middle east to see that relationship. I believe that hamas understood that as well. And a part of their strategy was, in fact, to disrupt those negotiations, to stop them in their tracks. That is in the best interest of hamas. Its in the best interest of iran. And thats why iran sanctioned those attacks. Senator tim scott, thank you for joining us on all of this. Yes, maam. Have a good day, abby. Up next, more of your breaking News Coverage ahead, including some new video of the very beginning of those hamas attacks. Plus, i will be joined by the israeli ambassador to the United States live when we come back. From chrome to duckduckgo. Duckduckgo is a browser you download to your mobile and desktop devices. Unlike chrome, the Duckduckgo Browser has privacy builtin. It comes with a private alternative to google search, which doesn■t spy on your searches, and it blocks cookies and creepy ads. And theres no catch. Its free. We make money from ads, but they dont follow you around. Join the millions of people taking back their privacy by Downloading Duckduckgo On Mobile and desktop today