Transcripts For CNNW Laura 20240703

Good evening, we have got Breaking News tonight, gaza is under intense bombardment by israeli and strikes tonight. The Israeli Air Force was pounding targets all across gaza with punishing airstrikes ahead of a potential ground operation. With Hundreds Of Thousands of troops that are massing at the border. We know that there is at least 1500 people that have been killed in gaza according to the palestinian hope that number is rising. Since the assault on israel that killed 1200 people. I want to go right now live to cnns Elliott Gotkine who is on the same force and talking about these issues has been really staying aggressive on all of these issues. What do we know about the strikes tonight . I think it is just a continuation of israels retaliatory strikes in the wake of this attack by hamas, which began in the early hours of saturday morning. Israel has repeatedly said that it is targeting infrastructure, weapon storage facilities, and also individuals, and members that it holds responsible for carrying out this attack which has left 1200 people inside of israel dead. Of course, with 100 to 150 hostages that were taken by hamas from israel back inside of gaza. So that is the situation now. I suppose it is a bit more of the same. We will get specifics. They havent said specifically which targets it is trying to hit right now, but certainly, i would say it is more of the same. Part of the same is not knowing where the hostages are. Not knowing when a Ground Entrance will happen and not knowing essentially when the end of this will be. And what we know right now is as we are really seeing more of these bombardments every day. It is clearly a dire situation inside of gaza for the people of gaza, who of course it was not them, but they launched this assault. It was hamas, which the u. S. And the uk, the eu and israel designated as a terrorist organization, which attacked israel in the early hours of saturday morning. But israels perspective, certainly this time around, is that the gloves are off. Israel has to, it feels destroyed hamas completely, and if it can in order to prevent anything on the scale of what we have seen in the past few days happening again. And the result, sadly, is what we see in the gaza strip which is buildings destroyed, and rising civilian death toll, and the humanitarian situation deteriorating rapidly as a result of israels blockade on gaza, petrol, gasoline, and water either. And humanitarian situation deteriorating, but israels stance is that we are not going to give these things to our enemies, if someone else wants to give them to the palestinians inside of the gaza strip, that is fine. But israel does not want to do anything to help hamas, or the militants in the gaza strip, or make it any better for them. It wants to increase the pressure, not just militarily, but from the people of gaza onto hamas and the militants that set this off with that attack on israel in the early hours of saturday morning. We will keep an eye on whether this intensifies and do something more and we will show you what is happening. We will be bearing witness this hour. But i want to talk about something in particular. You know, israel and gaza, they are nearly 6000 miles away from where i am in washington d. C. And maybe farther from where you live and you may be tempted to start to emotionally distance yourself from all of this and it is six thousands of miles away because it is happening somewhere else, you might think. It has nothing to do with our lives specifically here. I think you would be wrong about that, of course. That is because of the personal and frankly the Human Reaction that doesnt really know any geographic boundaries. But also because the political reverberations of war is significant. Now, if a war is kind of like an earthquake, and the seismic activity was felt everywhere, and it includes right here in america. The shot from the innocent men in their own homes and the cannot beings, the hostage takings. Shock from the civilian casualties, shocked from what we just described as the humanitarian crisis that is really already spiraling Out Of Control and already food insecure people are now at risk of starvation as israel is cutting off electricity, water, and fuel until the hostages returned safely home. And we are not just seeing this. We hear are also talking about it some of them are even debating all of this. Beyond the combination of terrorists there are debates happening right now about the causes of the tension in the region, and theres been fingerpointing, that has turned into very heated rhetoric, and lets be honest, the complexity of the history of the conflict is a minefield. And one that many of you are having a very hard time at home trying to navigate in your daily conversations out of fear of maybe saying the wrong thing. However, it is for you to find wrong. At the same time, we are also trying to assess whether any of this could compromise our own national security. Now, thankfully, Homeland Security have been quite clear. There is no specific, and the credible evidence that theres any threat to the United States. But we live in a world where it is not too farfetched to prepare and frankly, in light of how the conversations have become so easily inflamed cities and universities have been scrambling to get ahead of all of it. In new york, security is being ramped up in the wake of a former hamas leader, policing a Video Message encouraging the muslim world to, quote, show anger, unquote, tomorrow. Mayor eric adams has been calling for vigilance. I want every new yorker, especially jewish new yorkers and other groups to know that they are currently no credible or a specific threats against our city. But we have largescale protests planned for tomorrow. We must remain vigilant. The u. S. Capitol police are also boosting security on capitol hill. Though they also say there are no non specific threats towards the congress tomorrow. And frankly, police all across the country have been boosting security and communities from los angeles to chicago, to houston, to even salt lake city. Meanwhile, you may have noticed the emotions are running high on College Campuses across this country. Columbia university, for example, is closing its campus for the public today with peaceful rallies taking place. Students who are pro israel roughly about 20 yards or so away from students who were supporting palestinians . At harvard, yet, some students signed a statement blaming israel alone for the deadly attacks by hamas. And this is purported to be the names and photos of those students appearing near the campus. The universitys Jewish Student Organization condemned it and any attempt to intimidate students. And that is just a few of the schools that perhaps are the tip of the iceberg. I have to reiterate again, i dont want to reiterate again, as far as we know there are no, no specific threats currently and we hope that it stays that way. But tensions are high. In College Campuses, through synagogues, two mosques. And no matter what you believe and no matter how many miles away the war might be, the conversations will be on the front line. So, lets have one. Now, we will start with cnns nick watt. He has been talking to students on College Campuses about the feeling. Also how seriously we should take our security right now. The former fbi deputy director, and cnn senior Law Enforcement analyst, andrew mccabe. Let me start with you because we have seen how tense it is right now across khalid College Campuses. What are students telling you about what they are feeling about the conflict . Well, listen, the College Campus is a Perfect Place for all of these emotions to be on show. We have students here from israel, we have many jewish students here at ucla and of course, many palestinian students. And, emotions are running high and both sides think that they are absolutely justified and absolutely right. So it is a bit of a pirate to use. Amongst the jewish students, a lot of them have Friends And Family back in israel who they are worried about. They are obviously in shock over the attacks on saturday morning. And there is also as is common amongst, this feeling of israel is the only country in the world that they see can guarantee them safe harbor. On the palestinian side, of course, they talk about 75 years of occupation and they are also hugely fearful for their Friends And Family and gaza and what will happen to them over the coming days, weeks, months as the idf hits back at hamas. And there is a backdrop to all of this. I have been covering it for a couple of years. A rise in antisemitism on College Campuses in this country. Some of that tied to pro palestinian groups. And you know, something happened here at ucla on monday. One student group, the Cultural Affairs commission, made a statement and included in that statement was this. We honor the palestinians on the front line taking their land and sovereignty back. Now, this organization said listen, we are not antisemitic. We draw a distinction between judaism and zionism. A lot of jewish students do not see the distinction. They see it all as antisemitism. There was a bit of resistance on a bunch of campuses today, including right here in ucla. Also the other day, we were at a pro israel rally just off of campus, we spoke to people, take a listen to what a couple of them have to say. You are holding is an israeli flag. Is that something youd be okay doing on campus . Oftentimes i feel scared to hold a flag if i am not with a big group. There is a lot of antisemitism on campus and it is always felt at all times. Students were screamed at, harassed, and i quote, they have been called terrorists. And someone stated that they would rip their head off. The peaceful nature at which they try to approach the issue, it is completely overlooked. And saturday morning was not peaceful. What is your reaction to the incursions . I think we have to contextualize it with the entirety of the occupation. So, as i say, both sides think they are very right. Both sides are scared. For now, it is largely just a war of words and as you said earlier, lets hope that it stays that way. You know, you think about the campus as being the marketplace of ideas, and thinking about the space for students to learn, and converse, and an area that the debate is ongoing right now. But this is a lot of exploding over in the incident at harvard. And students signed a statement that was blaming israel for this attack. Now, not every student, obviously, there were a group of students who did this. But now, some of those same students information photos are being posted online, and i might add that herbert has that with no individual Student Organization across campus, it speaks for the entirety of the university so how did it get to that point where the photos of students, the names of students who have signed on, or were posted online were essentially doxxed . Yeah. This escalated pretty fast. So just a few hours after those attacks on saturday morning, a group of more than 30 Student Organizations at harvard put out a statement, and i will read how it began. It began, we, the undersigned Student Organizations, hold the Israeli Regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence. Now, jewish Student Leaders i have spoken to have said that that is just antisemitic. That is just the justifying of murder of, just said in a slightly different way than we have heard over previous decades and centuries. That, obviously, cuts to the there was a backlash, and one Hedge Fund Boss actually posted on twitter asking harvard to name the people who had signed this letter, and the people who are members of this group. That didnt happen, but a conservative group hired a truck and drove it around Harvard Square with the names and pictures of these kids who were members of these groups. And the Hedge Fund Guy said that he wanted to know the name so that he, or anybody else will not inadvertently hire these people in the future. But as you mentioned, the Jewish Organization at harvard said that this is not helpful. This is really not helpful for the discourse in education we are trying to get to. So yeah. It is intense, really absolutely is. Thank you so much for your reporting. I will turn to enter mccabe, because just thinking about the situation, and public talk saying, more broadly, we are now in the era of social media, and cancel culture, more broadly. But also in very trying times where there is rhetoric and emotions could be inflamed. How dangerous is the notion of doxxing . It could be very dangerous. Lets call it what it is. Boxing is an effort to intimidate and threaten and it can certainly act as a call for violence, harassment, others to perform those kinds of activities towards people who are the victims of the doxxing. So you cant, there is really no credible argument to say that boxing is merely a part of the exchange of ideas and this is part of the debate, it is not. It is over the line. It is intimidation. It is harassment. This is a really important point. I want to come back to this as well. Nick watt, andrew mccabe, thank you so much. I want to bring in New York Times columnist, nicholas kristoff, hes been covering the region since he lived in egypt in the 19 80s. Nick, we are getting a reporting from israel that told the u. N. To evacuate the Northern Gaza Strip in the next 24 hours. Explain to us exactly what this means now. I hear that that means that there will be a Ground Invasion which everybody is expecting but there has been no array of doubt about that. And it Ground Invasion of soldiers into gaza i think would be disastrous on many fronts, in my point of view. There are tunnels underground, in much of gaza. So there are fortifications that will help the hamas fighters fight back. There are obviously going to be dangerous to the hostages. So you have risks and you keep the soldiers moving in. Of course, a catastrophe for the civilians. Gaza does not have an underground bomb shelter. It doesnt have any facilities like that for people. In the past, when there have been underground incursions or bombings, the suffering has been enormous. We have a very, very densely populated area which has a population. The idea of what this might look like it is various to point out where we dont know where the hostages. Are we dont know the location. The Secretary Of State, Anthony Blinken, in the region as well. Other dignitaries in the region going there just to demonstrate the support physically, and also diplomatically. As you point out, the dense population, we cant understate or overstate this enough. We are talking about crowded areas. If you look at the aerial map of the zones, the ins and out, and narrow ways of which to actually get around and no Bomb Shelters for civilians, what would that look like if there were a Ground Invasion . So, we have seen some examples, it was iraq which was a disaster for the americans. It was a disaster for the iraqi fighters. And it was in particular, just ask for the local civilians, the russians, you know, there are many examples. And none of them have gone particularly well militarily. And in each case, the civilian count has been enormous. And, you know, israel obviously takes a challenge. It has been instructed us this horrific terrorist attack. And once they hit back hamas, and hamas is keeping its, anything itself right among civilians, it is very difficult to prevent. Civilian casualties, but when you go in with a Ground Invasion, then it is unavoidable that the numbers of children are going to be killed. I am afraid, you, know we already had about 1500 gazans killed, we believe i am afraid that that will now go very quickly if there is indeed a Ground Invasion. It is dire in gaza. It has been described in a variety of ways for quite some time over the last 16 years, it has been described as an open air prison, i think was the term. Which is a humanitarian crisis, of course it is also happening. And there is no deal as of now to evacuate citizens. Do you think that within the next 24 hours the alert to the u. N. Is signaling that it will actually be that way and the path out for those who are innocent and not going to obviously hopefully be Collateral Damage . I think that it is unlikely that there will be some sort of exit. You know, egypt could at various points, help people in gaza. It could have had trade, and more people to flow back and forth through its crossing. That egyptian crossing with gaza. And i dont think that it once many of the 2. 2 Million People in gaza to be entering in egypt. So i do not think that it wants to have that conversation. And you know, when israel talks about evacuating people in gaza, where are they supposed to go . There is no housing . People are already crowded and there are no shelters. People are going from place, to please, to place. And, well, while recognizing that israelis need to respond to hamas, i worry that this is going to be the reducks, or 11 reductions, where there is things weve seen before that there is just this catastrophic thing without necessarily creating a Military Advance that you mentioned. Also, we mentioned the preexisting, human toll. Right now, even before this, the income in gaza is a little bit more than in haiti. The level of just daytoday poverty and suffering is already enormous. And now bombs are dropping. This is assuming that we talked about evacuations. People that can move. That can get out. That are in there are not in the hospitals. That dont have other conditions making it possible. This is all of this. Thank you for being here, it is so important to really flush out and discuss. Because there is extraordinary nuance. A lot of questions about what comes next. We are going to keep following our Breaking News tonight, everyone, gaza under intense bombardment by israeli airstrikes. Israel is telling the win tonight to evacuate the Northern Gaza Strip within 24 hours. More Breaking News tonight, gaza under intense bombardment by israeli strikes as we are learning that israel has told the United Nations to evacuate the Northern Gaza Strip within 24 hours. I want to bring in cnn military analyst, retired air force colonel, cedric leighton. Colonel, im glad you are here to help try to explain, and unpack. Because we hear this news, and of course we all begin to lean in, are these strikes the prelude to a Ground Invasion in the coming at this point hours . Well, especially with that warning that they were reporting about the u. N. Being told and also interestingly enough, the department of Public Safety and gaza that were being told to evacuate people south of gaza city. That becomes very interesting because the areas but the israelis told the u. N. And the gaza police to evacuate from are the most Populated Areas of gaza. And you are talking over 1 million plus people. That would indicate more than the actual bombing itself. That warning would indicate that that is a prelude to a possible, and the very least, incursion into gaza. Whether or not it is a full blown invasion. That remains to be seen based on what comes next here. But i think that what we are seeing is the beginning of Something Like this. It is a little more than 50 minutes from now, we will have a sunrise in gaza, usually these kinds of things happen just before sunrise, and that is what we are looking. At just this motion, with the air powered to take down certain things, and certain targets would be multiple times, and then you have the possibility of gun forces coming in right after that, it remains to be seen whether this is just a warning or if the israelis are actually going to follow through with some kind of movement on the ground. I want to be on the same page as you, what is a distinction between an invasion and an incursion for what you have just described . Yeah. That so is basically a matter of scale. When i look at envisioned i think of dday, or Something Like that. It is probably splitting hairs, semantically, but the distinction is, obviously they movements into gaza are going to be nowhere near what happened in world war ii and the day. But an incursion would be a limited group going forward. An invasion would be a full scale takeover. I think that is probably the easiest way to differentiate between the two. This normally happens around sunrise. There is military advantage to do so around that time, but as you mentioned, the population, i mean, it is nearly 2 million gazans trapped if they cant get away from the bombs into any way that invasion orhere incursion or whatever the term we will use does not put civilians in harms way, and we have to add on to that we do not know where the hostages are. If they are in gaza. Exactly, exactly laura. There is no escape about. Not only are you putting pressure on hamas itself, the people that are holding the hostages captive, but youre also putting pressure on the civilian population. The psychological stress, yet along the physical stress, the stresses are going to be enormous on these people, and its going to create some really Serious Problems in so many different ways. You already got the power cut off, you got Food Services cut off. You have all kinds of resupply efforts, medicine, all of this is not existent right now in gaza, being able to be supplied or resupplied. That will be a real serious issue. With the israeli israeli seem to be looking at is a kind of capitulation at the hamas forces. I dont know if they will achieve that. That seems to be what they are going after. In essence, what they want to do is take out the civilian Support Structure that surrounds hamas. In other words, the people that have been to be there, in other words, the mailman or grocery store, anything like that. That goes away. The theory is that then they will not be able to survive the hamas entities that are in gaza at that point in time. That would force the terrace to abandon their plans to further incursions into israel. And their plans to keep the hostages. Well see if that all works out. That is what the theory seems to be at the israelis at the moment. The clock ticking, 24 hours, colonel lay in, thank you so much. You bet, laura. I sat exacerbated by, frankly, because 24 hours from now, what we have seen almost the past one week, the bombardment, the intensification at the bombardment of gaza by israeli air strikes. Theyre seeing blood and images coming out, and of course, the reality of war is if it has not already, it is assuredly settling in for everybody now. Also ahead, her kibbutz was burned to the ground. Nearly a dozen of her relatives are missing, and one of her Family Members actually spoke with hamas while tryining to fid her missing family member. That story is ahead. The power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Home of the xfinity 10g network. Heres why you should switch 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. So we are watching now the intense bombardment of gaza tonight by the Israeli Air Force with Hundreds Of Thousands of troops amassing at the border. Lets bring back andrew mccabe. Also joining a conversation tonight is former congressman, adam kinzinger, also a colonel in the air national guard. I am playing the game with the first. During the break, we talked about the announcement that we are learning more about. Do you think that meant to warn all the civilians to get out or the eu and personal exclusively . Thats a good question. Obviously, we need additional clarity on that reporting but my suspicion that this was the government of israel telling the u. N. , get your you and people peacekeepers, any staff, humanitarian aid workers that they might have in gaza out within the next 24 hours. A broader warning towards the civilian population in general, not a chance that can happen within 24 hours. That does not appear to be any sort of diplomatic resolution as to where those people would go, who would host them and how they would get there. Lean into this expertise, as well, congressman, because you were a member of the House Foreign Relations Committee as well. You understand the nuances of diplomacy. There may not be that vehicle here with the people that we are talking about with hamas who engage in this horrific behavior. But when you look at this and noting what congress can or cannot do or know, what is going through your mind . What is going through my mind is that we have to empower the destruction of hamas. I know what is going on with gazas tragic. Of course, we all know israel should do everything they can to avoid Human Casualties in the tragedy that is going to come, but what we saw was what did we say . It was ten or 20 impact per capita than 9 11 on us. Hamas has made it clear that they want to destroy the state of israel and innocent people. Now, its about allowing people to do what they want to rule out hamas. That does not mean that they will invade and occupy gaza from here on how. They probably dont want to. They tried that before, but to be able to go in and out of us the best they can and allow gaza to set up a different government, whatever the planet is. I think what is clear is that what is happening now is unsustainable. How do you empower that . What does that look like in laymans term to empower . Is that eight, is that weapons, is that the policy, what . Its basically all of it once hamas is out. Keep in mind how hamas came. Israel gave them their autonomy. They elected hamas initially. In the independent election in 2006. They are capable of doing Something Like that, but its clear that they are not a partner that could be dealt with or even tolerated in that area. Look, there is no easy answer here, but i will tell you, if that would have happened here in the United States of america, it would be tough for me to assume that there was some negotiation that could happen to make the same better. I think the only answer to a cancer in the body is a take out the cancer. Did the best you can to protect the rest of the butter, but Cancer Cutlasses is. We defector who is on the ground, not only the people in gaza there, innocent civilians, who do not support hamas, but you also have major figures, like Secretary Of State Anthony Blinken in the region. If secretary lloyd austin going to the region within a few hours. Does that complicate when this sort of announcement comes in, either the decision to have him go or still be in the region . I would expect that the high level of u. S. Government officials knew that this was coming. They had the ability to plan their travel appearances. I think they probably have that cover. I just have to say, to turn to what the congressman just said. There is not a negotiating position, a realistic or magical negotiation with hamas, and as because they made it clear that they seek the elimination of the state of israel. Israel is not in a position to try to achieve a purely diplomatic resolution with a Terrace Entity that seeks their obliteration from the planet. I am sorry, please go. I think youre right. The question is bringing in that entire range of capabilities of assets, of aid, of addressing the humanitarian issues into the region for the purpose of eradicating hamas. I think where diplomacy can work is, this would be the stick diplomacy, which is how many u. S. Aircraft carrier strikes in the region to make clear that iran has to not expand the war . That is the Stick Portion of the policy. That is important. To make it important and clear to partners that qatar and saudi arabia, to iran, that they cant enter this. There is the policy in that way. Hamas is out. I think israel has made it clear. I think the u. S. Has made it clear. As an organization, they are done. Even if there is somebody that calls themselves hamas after this is over, then never be recognized again by anyone. Its chilling to think about with all that is ahead and the uncertainty and instability in what you both described. Thank you both for being here tonight. I appreciate it. Adam kinzinger and anna mccabe. I mention Secretary Blinken in the region, not only there but actually meeting with families of the victims who were killed or even taken by hamas. That happened today. Hes been vowing to do everything he can to release those being held hostage. Joining me now, abby owen, an american living in israel, one of those who spoke with the Secretary Of State Anthony Blinken, five of her Family Members. You see them on the screen right now, ranging in age from young to older. They were kidnapped. Abby, thank you for joining us again, i appreciate you taking up the time in this very difficult moment. You have Family Hostages who are likely in gaza. What is your reaction to the Evacuation Warning that we are hearing about tonight . Scary, i think that we have been hoping for a diplomatic solution, perhaps a civilian corridor to get hostages out before Something Like this happens. I can tell you from the meeting yesterday, we felt deeply supported by the Secretary Of State. I think you probably saw his Press Conference. He spoke from his heart about the fact that this is professional and personal for him, and let us as people who are dual citizens know that this is a true priority for the United States. I really hope that him being in the region will help ameliorate whatever is about to happen. Abby, we saw part of that Press Conference with netanyahu by his side, of course. What was the feeling in that room, you are there, were others asking of them during the meeting, and what was said . I can tell you that, to a person, everyone said thank you to the Secretary Of State and to President Biden to the support from the u. S. We have seen the deeply unbelievable way that the State Department and the fbi have come together and coordinated to support our families in this time, it is truly surprising and really encouraged us. Everyone was able to tell their story, able to see their family names, able to show photos and videos and to humanize this, which at the end of the day, these are civilians, and its a human issue. Secretary of state did not stop a person once. I remember in our conversation yesterday, just the significance of naming and having the name set at the people, not just thinking about it in very Broad Strokes as civilians or victims, or those who have been kidnapped, we are connecting the individual people, and they are your Family Members, they are your loved ones, as well. I wonder given the presence of people like blinken and secretary lloyd austin arriving in hours, as well, we understand. Do you feel like there are enough leaders and resources involved . Two others and the room feel that way . I think so, yes, because its not just the people in front of us, we are constantly contacted by the United States government. We have updates. We have information, we have names, and i really do feel about half of the u. S. Government, we fully support it. Let me ask you quick, abby, compared to others, where you are a dual american israeli citizen. For those who are not, who are israeli citizens, are you hearing from people in your community that they are having a similar experience for their own government . I think, unfortunately, less. I think the Israeli Government and military which is far above my pay grade is dealing with an atrocity that could not be imagined. As far as we understand, this is not nice to say but the cataloging of bodies has been massive cog in the process of helping them get to do the other necessary things. We have not felt them at the same way, which is why were so grateful for the u. S. Government, but that being said, ive said this before, israel and the Jewish Community are small and strong in times like this, come together in an amazing way. The people in my neighborhood and my community are fundraising and finding gear, anything for soldiers and taking care of one another. For that, i am so grateful. Abby owen, thank you so much for sharing. Thanks for having me. There is much more ahead on our Breaking News. The Israeli Air Force pounding gaza with strikes tonight. Ahead, a home burned to the ground, and another family, 11 people, including three young girls and a phone call with the terrace maybe the only clue toto what happened. Breaking news, the Israeli Air Force pounding targets across gaza with punishing airstrikes and a potential ground operation, with Hundreds Of Thousands of troops massing at the border. And they israel telling the u. N. To evacuate the north gaza trip within 24 hours. Thats tonight, so many families in israel are searching for answers. What happened to their loved ones taken as hostages . And where are they now . With me now is 11 of her Family Members, including her parents, sister and young nieces remain missing. Her entire family lived and kibbutz, where, on the gaza border. It was one of the four sites overrun by Hamas Terrorists and more than 100 bodies were found or just this week. Thank you so much for being here. Its so painful to even hear about what is your family has gone through. Your grandmother is the only one who is not kidnapped in the attack. She apparently was moved to a field far away until the idf soldiers came. How is she tonight . Shes with us, its hard to say that shes okay, but shes with us. This is so traumatic, i am sure, to even consider, but i understand that a Family Friend who was trying to help find the missing Family Members, one of them actually called and spoke to someone in hamas. What did they say . So, my family was together in the shelter. There were a people in the shelter, another in another shelter. The last we heard of them was 11 30 saturday morning. They said, my father is in big trouble, and that they love us. That was the last we heard from the. So, a good friend of my father tried to call his cell phone over 100 times, nonstop repeated phone calls. About julie, someone answered, we dont know who answered, shot it in arabic to begin with, that set in hebrew [speaking in a nonenglish language] meaning hostage, hostage, gaza. That was the only indication that we received of them being taken by hamas. We have all sorts of other information that actually no one is giving out official information from us has not been released, and he sort of information regarding the hundreds of people its taking into the gaza strip. We just have bits and pieces. I cant imagine what it must feel like to know that someone you know had direct contact with someone who may have even been involved in the kidnapping of your family member. Tonight, the idf believes that hostages are being held in underground titles, 300,000 israeli reservists are mobilizing for what could be a potential incursion into gaza. What do you think this could mean for your Family Members who may be there . I mean, its a big question. My Family Members that are there [crying] including my baby niece and my nephew and my cousin. My niece is only three years old. And most of the hostages taken from a kibbutz are old people and young children. They say that my family told me, one part of it in the larger kibbutz is we dont even know the numbers of kids taken, most of them are women and children and i dont know how to answer your question. I think this is going to the International Community to take action. I think as long as hamas is keeping the hostages, its also keeping citizens of gaza hostage under this crazy war. This is the first step should be everything, releasing the hostages, the women and children out there. We have no idea where they are, what is their position, nothing, nothing. My parents, my uncle, who is disabled and is receivings medicine. We dont know anything. I think this No Information is another Terror Attack. We have knowing no one has been passing official information. Going to stick with me, and the pictures of your Family Members that we have shown on screen, its just unimaginable to think that what you are enduring and the lack of information being a kind of second Terror Attack is indescribable. Thank you so much for joining this evening. Thank you, thank you very much. Again, i really hope that the International Message will be that the hostages first should be released, and i think it would also be good for all of the citizens to get out there. Thank you so much. Thank you all for watching. Stay with cnn for more on our Breaking News, gaza under intense bombardment by israeli airstrikes, livee continues after a short break