Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703

In the middle east. The white house just updated the american death toll from the hamas Terror Attack. At least 27 americans killed. 14 still unaccounted for, and less than a handful as the white house describes it, are believed to be held hostage by hamas. Tomorrow, u. S. Charter flights will begin for americans seeking to leave the country. Anderson . A short time ago, the Secretary Of State met with israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing the u. S. Would stand shoulder to shoulder with its ally, and described the overwhelming nature of the atrocities committed by hamas. I just spoke with a commander for the Israeli Defense forces. Heres what he told me about the fight ahead. How difficult is this fight going to be on the ground in gaza . There have been incursions before . I know its a tough place to fight. We will do what we need to do in order to get to this goal t that isis wont govern gaza. And if any country here in the region next to us that hosts hamas isis, theyre risking their own population, but they need to know if they interfere, if they will act against us, my grandfather fled away from germany. We understand completely what we are seeing now. We have no other place to go. I want to go to cnns Jeremy Diamond and ben wedeman is in Southern Lebanon for us. Jeremy, you have spoken to israelis as they took shelter today. Obviously, this is something they are used to, particularly in those areas by the gaza border. What are you seeing now . Reporter yeah. These last couple of hours, anderson, have been very quiet on the israeli side. We have not had any red alert sirens in this area for several hours. Instead, the main thing that we are hearing is the rumbling of Israeli Air Strokes and Artillery Fire on the gaza strip. Very loud, vibrating the windows at our hotel here, more intensity than we have heard in recent nights. Only giving us a small sense of how intense the air strikes must be for people on the ground there. Earlier, we did have two different barrages of rockets on the city here over the course of an hour and a half or so. That second barrage came very close to our hotel. We know that based off of how loud the sound of the iron dome intercepting the rockets was. Then we saw the plumes of smoke right overhead. As i was in the shelter on our hotel floor, we spoke with a family thats from the city that you can see right behind me thats slightly closer to the gaza strip. They left their home because they dont have a bomb shelter inside of their home, and their children, and the man told me that they were so afraid that they could not sleep. So the Hotel Manager here has given them five nights free. I asked him what will you do next . He said hes not sure. Hes taking it day by day. He has a brother in another city and he has gotten outpouring from israelis he knows across the country, offering him a place to stay. That gives you a sense of the psychology and the sense of solidarity and the resilience of people here, after this country was really shocked by the brutality of those hamas Terrorist Attacks over the weekend. Jeremy, we played some of what Secretary Blinken said today alongside Benjamin Netanyahu. Im wondering what stood out to you as someone that covers the biden administration. Reporter yeah, the first thing that Secretary Blinken was trying to do is to show there is no daylight between the United States and israel. You know, there is a sense of solidarity here. Part of that is driven bey the horror of the images. There are perhaps as many as 20 americans held hostage right now in gaza as part of those up to 150 civilians and soldiers who are believed to be held captive in gaza. What was also evident is as he and the israeli Prime Minister were repeatedly drawing on the emotions, on the outrage from those attacks by hamas, what they were also doing is explaining the rational for what is perhaps a wider Military Campaign that is to come. A Military Campaign that will undoubtedly result in more civilian casualties inside of gaza. That is always the case when israel goes to attack hamas inside of that very congested gaza strip. And also from netanyahus perspective, preparing the israeli public in the event of a Ground Invasion, which appears to be likely at this point. Also preparing the israeli public for the possibility of Israeli Military casualties, as well. Yeah. Jeremy diamond, thanks. Want to go to ben wedeman. On the gaza side, an obviously worsening humanitarian crisis in the wake of this attack. Reporter we heard it described as dire, but that may be an understatement. You have a Health System that is in the process of collapsing. Hospitals apparently are completely overwhelmed. The wounded are simply being put on the ground. There are no beds left. The Operating Theaters are simply completely congested. Of course, theres the problem of power. Power, the israelis have cut off all electricity. The power, the only power plant in gaza went out of operation for lack of fuel yesterday afternoon. Which basically means all the modern equipment that is used to keep people alive may not be able to run any more. In fact, the red cross put out a statement that the hospitals in gaza are at risk of becoming a morgue. In fact, it was interesting, our colleague, Christiane Amanpour a little while ago, spoke to a british surgeon who is in gaza at the moment. Ive interviewed this doctor many times in gaza while hes operating on the victims of war. He is saying between 30 p and of the people hes treating in his Operating Theater are children. This underscores how many people are caught in the middle of this war and will have nothing to do with it. It always seems particularly in gaza that its the civilians who pay the highest price. We are civilians who have no connection to political organizations. We return here to find that our house has become rubble and the entire area has been destroyed. We have now become homeless and have nothing but the clothes we wear. Reporter of course, they do have nowhere to go. There are no Bomb Shelters in gaza for ordinary people. Even though there are for hamas. And of course, at this point, even though the United States and other European Countries are talking about setting up a humanitarian corridor to get civilians out of gaza into egypt, so far there doesnt seem to be any public progress on that front. Anderson . Ben, can you just explain why egypt has been reluctant in the past to allow gaza residents, you know, safety in egypt . They have very Real Security concerns. Reporter yes, the e jimgsgy have said that time and time again, the top priority is National Security of egypt. But the sinai peninsula, which is a very thinly populated, and the Egyptian Government controls very tightly who gets out of gaza and who gets across the sinai peninsula. Certainly, theyre in a political bind. On the one hand, they dont want palestinians to flood into the sinai, as we saw in january 2008 when hamas blew up a large section of the wall that separated gaza from egypt. I saw Hundreds Of Thousands of gazans flowing out of the gaza strip because they wanted to get out of what has been described as an openair priszon. On the other hand, that egyptian hesitation has to be balanced with the fact that many people in the arab, muslim world are saying for gods sake, help these people. The best way to help many of the civilians in gaza is to get them out of gaza. Anderson . Ben wedeman, thank you. We are learning more about the victims of the Terror Attacks that began saturday morning at 6 30 a. M. One woman just gave birth to her third child, a daughter. This is the grandmother holding her grandchild just two days after this picture was taken, she says that hamas attacked her mother, shot her 14 times. Im sorry for your loss, and im so happy for the birth of your child. How did you learn about your mothers death . So thank you, anderson. Thank you for giving me time to tell my story here on television. The first day i was giving birth for my third child. The next day, i saw my mother for the last time. I didnt believe my husband took a picture of my mother for the last time, the only picture i have right now of them together. The next day, saturday, i was hearing when i was in the hospital, i was hearing the sirens. I was calling my husband and trying to contact me. He said dont worry, we are now in the shelter. But i dont know whats going on with your mother. So after that few hours later, i could not contact my husband, could not contact my children, could not contact my mother. I thought that they were slaughtered, because before i get the phone call that we a message that we have like 40 terrorists of hamas inside that is butchering and killing women, children, and people. And my husband didnt answer me for an hour and a half. I didnt know what was going on with my mother. I was really afraid that i have no family any more. So i was trying to call him, and he answered me. Then after that, i was calling my brothers and told them, listen, i cannot i dont know whats going on. They told me that the army is always getting under the attack of terrorists all over the area. When they tried to get inside and helped to save the babies and the children. If you can just come and help me, i told my brothers. So they came, and we have a few murderers there. And then they got inside my apartment, my house, and they found there my husband and my children alive. But my husband told them, listen, i dont know whats going on with my mother, so please just go and see if she is fine. So they went, they had the guns. They went, of course, to find her. She was stay thing because we had the holiday of course. I she wanted to help us because i was just giving birth. They went to her apartment and then they found her dead. There were 40 bullets inside her body, kalashnikov bullets. Shes 65 years old. And 40 bullets in her. She was on her way to my children and my husband, just to help me, because i had my third child. Then after that, my husband called me and told me that my mother was butchered and killed by the terrorist of hamas. And i heard that a lot of friends were also butchered and killed. Women, children, and babies. Im sorry. Im so sorry for your loss. It is unthinkable. Thank you. How is your baby . Shes wonderful. Shes really shes a light inside all this, you know . She looks beautiful. Were trying to be joyful about what we have. Thank you. Im really grateful that my husband and my children are alive. My mother, she was a wonderful grandma. Just 65 years. She must have been so proud of you and the three children in your family that you have built. Im so sorry for her loss and so sorry she wont be there for the children as they grow. Thank you so much for telling us about her, lior. Thank you. Lior ben sur, i wish you continued peace and strength in the days ahead. Stay with cnn. Well be right back. Were following a lot of breaking news today, including on capitol hill. Steve scalise making his case for house speakership. And sources indicate a vote yielded mixed results. Here is scalise speaking moments ago. Obviously, issues have come up over the last week about the whole process of how we get our conference back on track. But then individually, people have had questions. I felt it would be much better if we did it in fuel view, where people dont think that tlir s that there are side deals going on. The good news is, our support continues to grow. Were continuing to work to narrow the gap. And thats going on and well continue the meetings. Lets get to capitol hill now with manu raju. How are members feeling coming out of the meeting . Reporter lots of frustration and anger among the members here, because there just does not seem to be any sign that this dysfunctional moment, this historic moment where the house is paralyzed, will find any progress to making it unstuck, to moving on key legislation to try to avoid a government shutdown, to try to provide aid to israel. All things that cannot happen without a speaker of the house. The simple reason why, Steve Scalise does not have the votes yet to become speaker, after the vote last week to oust Kevin Mccarthy, an unprecedented vote pushing him out of the speakership. Theres been nobody atop this chamber. Steve scalise needs 217 votes, that means he can only lose four republican votes. There are up to two dozen that have voiced frustration and some said no. Some of them leaving this meeting saying they are still a no. But he plans to meet with those holdouts to see if there is any progress, and meet again tonight with the larger republican conference in an effort to pick off those votes one by one. But several of these members are indicate thing is just not much time for scalise here before they have to decide another option if he cant get the votes. For whoever the noes are, whatever it is, those guys get in a room, work with steve. If they cant be reconciled, yeah, somebody else needs to stand up. Thats not going to happen in the next 15 minutes. Are you concerned this dysfunction could put your seat at risk . I am. Theres work to be done here. We need to get the economy back on track. Z israel is at war. Im concerned about the military. Im concerned about people from my district who we sent in harms way. Reporter that has been echoed by other members from swing distributes, including a congressman from nebraska who told me he is concerned that his seat could be at risk in the next election, and hes arguing that those individuals, those republicans who want to tank Steve Scalises bid essentially want to be a republican minority. Not the majority party. So you are hearing just a lot of frustration, sharp words traded by members against those members who officially pushed out Steve Scalise, and a number of other members who pushed out Kevin Mccarthy and other members not willing to elevate Steve Scalise at this moment. But this afternoon so critical for scalise. Can he flip any of these holdouts and go back and say im getting closer to 217 votes. And then does he take it to the house floor . All huge questions as the house remains completely paralyzed amid this gop leadership crisis. Boris . A fraught path ahead for scalise as speaker. Manu raju, thank you so much. We are following a fast evolving situation in israel where Hundreds Of Thousands of reservists are gathering at the border with gaza six days after the hamas Terror Attacks on israel. The white house now says 27 americans were killed, 14 remain unaccounted for. Joining us now to discuss is retired u. S. Army general peter zwack. The white house made it clear the recovering of americans being held hostage by hamas is a key priority. How do you see that playing out . Well, its its extraordinarily complicated, because its likely that most of those americans or a percentage of them are also israeli citizens, and theyre intermingled with the other hostages from a number of countries. So my instinct is that we need to fall in and support the israelis while they do the lead effort to work those hostages out. I dont think that its right for negotiation. They can try, but after what hamas has done, i dont think anybody is in the mood for that. But the problem is, what will happen if hamas, as they have shown extraordinary ruthlessness already. Theyre already so deep into this, you know, they can p perpetuate it. What do they do is shoot hostages if they are not getting their demands met. So what point do you go in with major forces or Israeli Special operations . I dont know. Its devilishly complicated. I believe theres a lot of midnight oil being burned in capitals, and what this does do is it just continues to show the depravity of hamas, and i think a key angle is to try to, as much as possible, separate hamas in Gaza Civilians that are caught in the middle of this and are hostage in this awful situation. General, is there any potential for humanitarian corridors, ways for the civilians to get out of harms way . What would you advice be . My advice would be, and im so far away from this, would be youve got, you know, i know were talking to the egyptians and other nations. It would be a hard mission as well, because how do you manage the flow . There will be also a major effort to make sure that any type of outflow, where do the refugees go . Egypt, i dont think they are ready to take on thousands or Hundreds Of Thousands of displaced persons. This is really hard. And i know the whole discussion about sending food and aid up through those corridors makes eminent sense, but does it get to the palestinians who desperately need it in the city, or does it go in to feed hamas and continue . Ill make one other point about hamas. How ruthless and how they the fact that they are Firing Rockets out of builtup gaza shows they have total disregard for the palestinian citizens, who they are using for cover, and that should be, i dont know, through leaflets or narrative, get out to the populations to the palestinian population. That is key in all of this, a couple million of them. Very much appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Our special coverage of israel at war continues after a quick break. 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. In israel today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus Office Released what he says are horrifying photos of babies murdered and burned by the hamas monsters. I want to give you a warning, were going to show you one of these photos. I want to give you a chance to look away from the television before we show you this photo. Two of the photos that israel says two babies burned beyond recognition, we are not going to show you. Were about to show you just one of these images. This photo that you are now seeing is a babys body stained with blood. Cnn cannot verify where these were taken or who the baby is. These have been released to the world and shared with u. S. Secretary of state antony blinken. He spoke about those images today. I want to bring in leon panetta, defense secretary under president obama. With so much violence and outrage about the attack that took place here starting saturday morning, the risk of obviously a wider war growing that might involve certainly other countries, im wondering what you make of this situation that we are in right now . Well, look, these are these are horrific events. Barbaric killing that went on by these terrorists, it is just hard to believe, hard to imagine. And i understand israels reaction to this. We had the same reaction after 9 11, that we were going to go after the terrorists who were involved in 9 11, and we did. It took a while, but we ultimately got those terrorists. And israel is facing the same decision right now in terms of going after hamas. Now, the numbers are a lot larger. They will be cononcentrated. A lot of them will be in gaza. Its not going to be easy. But its understandable that israel wants to go after those who have been engaged in this horrific barbarism that they have witnessed. One of the complicating factors in any Ground Operation in gaza, and even in the bombardment of gaza is the civilian population there. More than 2 Million People there. There are many people who live in gaza that do not like hamas but are powerless to stop them. Is there any chance you believe that egypt would agree to allow large numbers of civilians from gaza to cross over the border and i mean, that seems highly unlikely given egypts refusal to do that in the past. Its not likely. Egypt might agree to some corridors, but its something they havent agreed to in the past. Look, this is this is a situation that im reminded of Colin Powells warning in iraq. I think he called it the pottery barn rule, that if you break it, youre going to own it. If you break it, you bought it. You got it. I dont think theres any question that if there is an invasion of gaza, that its going to be tough, its going to be, you know, building to building, door to door. A lot of casualties. And i guess my hope is that israel is thinking about exactly what are their goals here, what do they want to achieve . I know netanyahu has talked about totally destroying hamas. But what are those goals they want to achieve . And what is an end point ultimately look like . Because if the end result is occupancy of gaza, thats not going to be a pretty picture, either. One of the reasons that this operation, this Terror Attack may have taken place at the time it did was concern by hamas about saudi arabia making a deal in this region with israel, a normalization of relations. Is that something that you think should move forward . Hard to see how that might happen right now, but is that something critically important . Absolutely. Absolutely. I think we still have to focus on how are we going to resolve the issues in the middle east between palestine and the arabs in israel . And it was a positive movement that we were developing the Abraham Accords and getting moderate arab countries to join those accords and recognize israel. And that effort would have been climaxed in many ways if we were able to get saudi arabia to have been a part of the Abraham Accords. Because that would have meant that the major moderate nations, arab nations, would have recognized israel. And then they could all have focused on the palestinian issue and how to resolve that issue. So i hope that we i know its obviously not a good time now, but that we ultimately continue that diplomatic effort. Because ultimately, regardless of what happens with this war, the fact is, we have got to find a peaceful solution to the issue of how palestinians, israelis, and arabs all live together in the same part of the world. Yeah. Secretary panetta, thank you for your time. Our special live coverage continues after a short break. Congressman Steve Scalise is trying to convince holdouts in his conference they should vote for him to become the next speaker. But scalises behind the scenes jockeying does not appear to be helping. Some republicans reportedly now discussing a potential plan b. Lets discuss with Georgia Congressman buddy carter. Thank you for being with us. From manu rajus reporting, there is between a dozen to two dozen holdouts that scalise has to convince. What is your message to them . First of all, we need to follow the rules, the rules of the conference. If you get a majority, then you are our nominee. And Steve Scalise did just that. Weve got an opportunity here to elect the most Conservative Speaker we have ever had in Steve Scalise. Im supporting him, and i think he deserves to be the nominee. However, its important to note that we have a deep bench. Weve got a lot of people that could do a great job. But Steve Scalise ran for speaker, he got the most votes. The rules say the person who gets the most notes will be the nominee. We should move forward and elect him as the next speaker. So you think this should be put to a floor vote and he should grind it out the way Kevin Mccarthy did over 15 rounds in january . Thats why we met today and continue to meet, to try to get this done before we go on the floor and have another 15 rounds. Thats what we are trying to avoid. I take offense to the fact that we followed the rules, he got the majority of the votes. He should be the nominee. That would be like me running in a primary not getting the most votes but then im not going to be the nominee . All of us who are here won a primary, and won the majority of the votes in a primary. Thats the way we got here. I take your comparison to a primary, but the fact is, he needs 217 votes to get there. And he can lose no more than four republicans. If there are roughly a dozen that are hardnosed, thats a big path to move forward. It sounds like a lot of members in the conference are concerned that scalise is not ready to drain the swamp, to revamp the way that republicans have conducted business. What do you say to those folks who are just hardnosed beyond, you know, your remarks that he won the nomination . Well, thats what we are trying to work through now. As we speak, steve is meeting with a group who are opposed to him being the next speaker. Hes trying to explain to them how he feels and what his beliefs are. They should know that already. Steve has been a whip, a majority leader, and years of experience with this. So im very comfortable he would be a great speaker. Those who have concerns and reservations, they need to go to steve and talk to him and make a decision. Conk gressman, you did make point that the republicans have a deep bench. So if its not scalise or jim jordan, then who is it . Well, again, were very blessed to have a deep bench. You talk about people like tom emer and tom cole. We have a number of people, but Steve Scalise is the speaker designee, the one we are concentrating right now to get into the speakership, and we need to get someone in there as soon as possible. The world is counting on us to do that. Yeah. Youre alluding to the situation in the middle east, i take it. The ongoing crisis in israel. I want to ask you about comments from former president donald trump. He is the republican frontrunner for 2024. He criticized Benjamin Netanyahu and israeli intelligence. He claimed that before hamas launched their attacks this weekend, thousands of people knew about it and they let this slip by. Are those remarks appropriate right now . First of all, you never want to see anyone really compliment a terrorist. Terrorism is wrong, we all understand this. But i have not been able to see the president s remarks, ive obviously been busy work thing out with the speaker. But president trumps record on israel is clear hes been supportive of israel over the years. He is the one who moved the embassy to jerusalem. So i think hes got a clear record of support for israel. I dont think theres any question about that. The democrats, who are who are criticizing him, they should be looking within their own party to the antisemitism that exist there is and not criticizing the former president. I will say that the remarks are, as quoted from former president trump, alluding to some within israel knew something was going to happen and did nothing about it. I will move on. It seems all but certain we will see a Ground Invasion inside of gaza by the idf. What should the end goal be . How kernged are you about the potential loss of innocent palestinians, women and children that had nothing to do with what we saw unfold over the weekend . This is one of the worst atrocities i have ever witnessed in my life. My thoughts and prayers are with these people. The innocents that are being killed, who are being injured and mutilated here, that is of the utmost concern to all of us, particularly in the republican conference. We are solidly behind israel. We dont want to see any, any citizens killed or injured as a result of this. Congressman carter, thank you so much for the time. We have to leave it there. Thank you. Of course. Stay with cnn for more on our special coverage from israel. Well be back in just a moment. The global impacts of this war are reaching far beyond israel and gaza. The hamas attack on israel further complicates ties between israel and russia. So far russia is citing what they say is, quote, concern but has not outright condemned the Terror Attacks. Cnns Matthew Chance joins me now. It is interesting to see how little Vladimir Putin has said about whats happening here. Well, i mean Vladimir Putin has a relationship with hamas. They regularly go to moscow for constellitations. There have been allegations unproven i think that russia has helped hamas in planning these attacks. Thats what the hamas spokesperson, one of them whos been interviewed on russian television. I think we can overprove the influence rush haw has. Iran is a much bigger player in that regard. Russias influence on Palestinian Militants in general i think is very modest. But that doesnt mean this situation, this crisis, this tragedy isnt playing into the hands of moscow. Its certainly diverting attention away from what russia is doing in ukraine. Well, exactly. Taking attention away from it politically, but also potentially if it goes on for a long time it could divert weapons away from supplies to ukraine as well. If this turns into a broader regional war with the United States backing israel and becoming embroiled into it, obviously that will put Major Pressure on the ability of the u. S. And other allies to provide weaponry to ukraine. And russia had just, you know, hosted north koreas leader. Their weapons going to be flowing from north korea to moscow. All of that is not going to mean the intention it would have. It hasnt. The worlds attention is focused on this, and russia is definitely a part of the axis of powers that are, you know, standing behind this perhaps being blamed for it and standing behind this conflict. If iran is the Puppet Master when it comes to Palestinian Militants and certainly is when it comes to hezbollah, and it has that sort of powerful ally in russia to watch its back. Yeah, and of course iranian drones rockets being used in ukraine as well at the behest of russia. Matthew chance, appreciate it. Im Matthew Cooper in tel aviv. Our coverage from israel and the region continues. Join me at 8 00 for 360. The lead with jake tapper starts after a short break