Transcripts For CNNW Israel 20240703

Thank you for joining us. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. As the six hour window Safe Passage Out of Northern Gaza expired last hour, israeli troops were seen amassing near the gaza border. We want to show you video taken in the last hour showing heavy weaponry arriving in southern israel. Inside gaza, Tens Of Thousands of people have left but israel has urged 1. 1 civilians in gaza to relocate. Idf claims hamas is stopping people from leaving. Hospitals have said they cannot and will not leave because if they were to leave, a Death Sentence would then be on their patients and now the u. N. Is warning that many people who are pregnant, are elderly or have a disability also will not be able to leave. This is a humanitarian crisis in gaza. The u. N. Is warning that the situation in gaza is a Matter Of Life And Death and not just for those who are evacuating but also for the 2 Million People who risk running out of clean water. The u. N. Says they need aid sent to gaza now are people will start dying. There definitely is an urgency to this. The u. S. Says its support for israel is ironclad, reiterating that israel has a right to defend itself. Secretary of state blinken is now on the way to abu dhabi. Over the past couple of days, he has met with several top leaders in the region, urging them to use their leverage with hamas to free the more than 100 hostages taken to gaza. On friday, President Biden spoke with Family Members of some of the American Family members being held in gaza. 14 americans are still Unaccounted For after last weeks attack. Going to do everything in our power to find them, everything in our power. Im not going to go into detail of that, but theres, were working like hell on it. Were so the sixhour window for safe passage has expired. What are you learning happens now . There are still countless civilians and innocents that remain in the cross hairs of this conflict even after what the Israeli Military calls a safe passage but the United Nations did not consider this a humanitarian corridor at all. In fact, they were saying it was a violation of the rules of war. Said that it defied basic humanity and called it impossible. Just break this down. 1. 1 Million People. Nearly half of the gaza strip asked in a matter of hours to move southwards regardless of whether they were ablebodied or not and already, you had hundreds of people wounded, injured in hospitals unable to move and theyre being asked to evacuate to where . Thats the question. South of the gaza strip has also been bombarded. Theres Utter Carnage there. Rights groups, the United Nations, have said we simply cannot set up a humanitarian system, infrastructure, to catch all of those people in just a matter of just hours. Then those evacuation croutes. Verified by cnn thshowing one o these routes. Warning, this is graphic material if we can show it. It shows a scene of Utter Carnage, utter chaos. Palestinian Health Officials saying the one of the roofs again on friday that was supposed to be designated for safe passage was struck by artillery. Struck by shelling and that dozens of people were killed and wounded. Bombed quite literally as they tried to flee their homes. Its important to remember that Prime Minister netanyahu says all of this, this unfolding crisis, is only the beginning. As you mentioned, Hundreds Of Thousands of israeli troops are on the border expected potentially to start a ground invasion. Thank you very much. Lets talk about these crossings into and out of gaza. There are two. Theres one at israels border and theres one at egypts border. Well, as we know, the Gaza Crossing at israel is locked down. And as we talk and rafa, there are Palestinian Americans who are waiting there hoping to leave but they have not been allowed to. A Palestinian Border official tells cnn that Concrete Slabs are being put in place to block the gates from the egyptian side. This is according to a local egyptian news channel. Egyptian Authorities Say it wont open until that passage allows humanitarian aid for gaza. We understand there is a plane that arrived from jordan into egypt with medical aid and jordan officials have been pressing israeli officials to open that border for aid. Things are at a standstill. Palestinian americans have been waiting for hours at the border. Jennifer is joining us now from washington. Whats the confusion because the State Department was saying they believed these americans in gaza would be able to cross through . I think this is just a situation thats been incredibly fluid. We saw that notice from the State Department that went out to some of these Palestinian Americans who had requested assistance and it said it may be open this afternoon. Of course, officials weve spoken to have stressed there was never no Firm Understanding in place. They said this morning it was their intention for this crossing to be open but theres just so much we dont know at this point. As you referenced, there is that local egyptian reporting that cairo is blocking this crossing until humanitarian aid is allowed to enter gaza. Another u. S. Official is pointing to hamas. Does control another side of that border and it is unclear if they are letting civilians come in. So there are a lot of questions but at the end of the day, we are hearing from people who have been waiting there for hours on the expectation that maybe they would get the chance to flee to safety in egypt and as of now, theyve had no opportunities to do so. Thank you. The fighting is intensifying on the north border with lebanon. Hezbollah says they launched an attack this morning. Its a small strip of land that is highly disputed territory located in the Israeli Occupied Golan Heights region and borders israel, lebanon, and syria. The Defense Forces responded to the recent attacks with multiple air strikes, Drone Attacks against hezbollah in southern lebanon. Ben wedeman is at the border where they have been hearing these prolonged Artillery Fire over the past few hours. What are you hearing now . It went on for about an hour and 45 minutes, victor. Even though its not as intense as it was before, its still ongoing. Now, we received a statement in hezbollah saying that at 3 15, their forces used guided mi missiles to make precise hits on israeli positions in the socalled sheba farms. The Israel Military has responded saying they were initially targeted by 30 mortar rounds by lebanese territory. This they responded to the sources of that fire and that in the course of these exchanges, the israelis say that a group of individuals tried to infiltrate into israeli territory and they were struck. They were hit by an air strike. Now, the israeli newspaper is reporting that there have been casualties on the israeli side. One seriously injured. Two medium wounds. So this definitely represents a rather significant uptake in the amount of fire going back and forth between the two sides. It represents however in The Grand Scheme of things compared to what both sides, hezbollah and israel could be doing, its relatively minor. But it certainly since weve been in south lebanon, it is most sustained and Intense Exchange of fire between the side, the two sides. Ben, thanks so much. Lets take that to ian bremer. Ian, good morning to you. I want to pick up where ben left off there. And what were seeing and hearing from hezbollah. This is more urgent. Nowhere near what it could be, this change between israel and hezbollah. Whats your assessment of the degree to which they are involved and why at this level . Yeah. I think it would be very clear to us if hezbollah was trying to open up a second front. We are nowhere close to that. What i would best assess right now is lack of centralized control. And militants on the border but engaging in skirmishing as well as some incursion over the border. But this is again what we have seen over the course of the last week is that overwhelmingly the fighting is hamas. The fighting has been planned by hamas. The fighting has been perpetrated by hamas and of course gaza is where this war is. And so your expectation is that the idf is aware these four sights in israel territory by hezbollah is not coming from central leadership. So they are not responding with a non proportional degree of force because they know this is not the intervention that it could be. Just as we saw in the first 24 hours when there were a few rockets that were sent by hezbollah forces against an Israeli Military encampment, not against israeli civilians and the israelis responded in virtually direct size and scale against hezbollah immediately. This is again, very, very far from a two front war. The only time that anyone believed it was changing when the israelis suddenly put out this massive amount of material that looked to be coming across the border of israel and it turned out that was a false alarm about an hour later. Theres no reason to believe at this point that hezbollah is involving itself in a broader war. Lets turn to the egyptian border there with gaza and the crossing as we reported today that theres some Palestinian Americans who have been waiting for hours. They received messages from the u. S. State department that said maybe there would be an allowance of Palestinian Americans to cross into egypt to escape gaza. What pressure does the u. S. Have to urge them to get out of gaza . Look, the egyptian e economy is performing badly. The United States has been a humanitarian and direct supporter of the egyptians not to mention providing security support. Secretary blinken directly en engaging with the egyptian leadership. Now thats very different than the plight of the palestinians who right now have no way to get out of gaza. They can leave the area where theyve been told to evacuate north of gaza with a lot of difficulty and with hamas in many cases forcing them to stay. But its not like gaza has open borders at all. And Egyptian Government is going to demand a lot of financial support. Some will come from the u. S. Some can come from qatar and other countries in the gulf but if theyre going to have significant numbers of Palestinian Refugees from gaza, that is certainly going to require much more than just a couple of moments with the Secretary Of State. And my, what i heard from the Egyptian Government is that they are in principle prepared to accept up to 100,000 Palestinian Refugees. That is their in a sense quiet red line. In return, they expect significant report. Now, i suspect those gauc negotiations are going to play out over not just days, but weeks. Secretary of state blinken sis on this i believe secven countr tour. Urging leaders in the region to place as much pressure as they can on hamas to release these hostages. Is there a point at which that becomes more of just an urging . If the qatari leaders do not the offices in doha to be shutdown, that is more than just a request. Theres consequence for hamas to be able to operate these offices in the region. Its hard to see that soon. Especially because we are in an environment where you still have hostages that the israelis are actively trying to go everything to get back. I would say theres engagement to try to stabilize the situation and insure it does not escalate beyond gaza. Were going to see absolute war in gaza. Theres not going to be restraints coming from israel and the americans arent willing to push them on it. So the humanitarian crisis thats going to come, well all be seeing it, well all report it, thats going to limit what the gulf states are willing to do in this conflict because of pressures domestically. Doesnt mean the americans arent getting cooperation. Cooperation to take care of palestinians as they end up in egypt. Also, what happens in gaza following an israeli occupation. The gulf states are going to be asked to play a role there in terms of governance and in terms of financial support. Qatar, you probably just saw in the last diay, worked in refreezing the 6 billion in assets. The americans needed qatar for that. So theres a lot of cooperation happening at the top levels but you have to understand that its not that the gulf states dont want to work with israel. They wouldnt be saying anything about hamas at this point. About the palestinians at this point. But thats not where they are. Ian, always good to have you. Thank you. Still to come, u. S. Intelligence warned of potential for violence days before the hamas attack in israel. Well get you the details of what officials suspected after a quick break. From gaza that could happen but nothing on the level of what we ended up seeing last weekend. There were at least three intelligence reports, two american, one israeli, in the days leading up to the horrific events of october 7th. On September 28th and october 5th, the Intelligence Community issued warnings of cross border strikes by hamas with rocket fire then the growing possibility of violence and gaza. Then on october 6th, there was a third report from israel, the day before the attacks saying there was unusual activity by hamas. Sources are now telling cnn that these reports looked nothing like what ended up unfolding in terms of the scope and the bar barety. Biden Administration Official tells cnn quote, there was no Information Warning about the Terrorist Attack in advance. Instead sources tell us the sense was that if something happened that it would look more like it had an in the past, perhaps rocket fire from gaza, interception then by the Israel Iron Dome and possible responses into gaza by israel. But more profoundly, u. S. Sources say, there was a general complacency that would taken hold in israel underestimating what hamas could pull off and given that gaza and hamas were in israels backyard, american sources say, the ownous is on still the warning by middle east allies about a build up of weapons and growing palestinian anger. This is also raising questions about whether the Biden Administration was taking the hamas threat seriously enough. Joining us now is Cnn National Security analyst, beth. Appreciate your time. What is your take on all this . Theres no doubt that this was a huge Intelligence Failure but i always say that these kinds of failures arent just about intelligence. Its a political failure. Its a security failure. Its an Intelligence Failure. And it all easily gets back to the Human Elements that you know, people are behind whatever information comes in, theres a Human Element in how you look that the information. I think that there was a degree of huberous here. That reminds me of the report after the 9 11 attacks in the u. S. Because no one in america ever imagined that terror would come to our soil in that scope. But how do you explain a failure of imagination in israel when the threat is constant and we know that hamas has been working to destroy israel. I think part of this is just a complete desperation of societies. They do not talk. They do not understand each other. So the israelis are putting everything into the same old box and they did recognize it was looking at hamas more as political organization, they were working with them. They thought they had different goals and they forgot hamas had a basic goal that has never changed. Destroying israel. But at the same time, they just werent watching because i think they had this mindset of hamas is never going to do anything more than than throw a few rockets at us and we can manage that and our technology will protect us. And they just didnt recognize that hamas was learning. And getting better. So sorry, go ahead. No, i just think like you know, they got complacent. There were a lot of assumptions made about who hamas was and what their capabilities were. One of the key things that intelligence analysts do is you have assumptions for any assessment that you make. And the best analysts lay out literally your assumptions and over time, you have to go back and you have to challenge those and say hey, you know, is hamas the same as it was last year . The year before or actually are they better and learning . Instead, they put a big wall up, the line of technology, and i think they just if anyone wants to go back and look at clarissa wards report on training and how they missed it, well find out at a later stage. It is shocking about what israel missed in terms of the training and also the number of weapons and rockets that were amassed. This is the most heavily surveilled part of the world. Its never one thing. Its a lot of things. It happened over a long period of time. They amassed weapons. Bring in components. The political aspect of this forced the idf to make choices so israeli Defense Forces, the people looking at this and a lot of the collection while they maintained things im sure because all of us recognize hamas as a threat, they had to shift a lot of this to the west bank as this very right wing aspect of the Netanyahu Government you know really allowed and pushed similar movements into the west bank and that created a lot of distraction. And so we really have to think this is not just one thing. Also the idf and are still amazing organizations and their resilience and we have to look at their failure with some humility. Weve had failures, too. Yeah, theres going to be a lot of lessons to be learned. Beth sander, appreciate it. Thank you very much. The president says the white house is working like hell to free american hostages held by hamas. Ahead, detail of President Bidens call with families of americans on Unaccounted For. Nice footwork. Man, youre lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. Now you can stream all your games like its nothing. Yes [ cheers ] yeah woho running up and down that field looks tough. Its a pitch. Get way more into what youre into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. President biden is reaffirming his commitment to families in israel. He shared some of the details during a speech in philadelphia. Theyre going through agony not knowing the status of their sons, daughter, wives, children. Its Gut Wrenching. I assured them id do everything possible. It is Gut Wrenching and knowing what hamas is capable of, that must be just agonizing for families. Jasmine wright is live at the white house with more. What more can you tell us about that call, jasmine, and whats the Biden Administration doing to find those still Unaccounted For. President biden really promised to use the full mite of the American Government to return loved ones back to their family. We spoke to several who were familiar with the call and they described the call as one taking about 45 minutes and in it, President Biden was mostly listening, they said. They said he listened to families talk about personal storying of their members who were Unaccounted For. Also talk about what they want the government to do in terms of their release. Really President Biden adopting that empathizer in chief role weve seen him adopt multiple times over the course of his presidency. Now, they also described kind of a Gut Wrenching call, emotional as he put it to cnn, talking about just how large the call was. There were folks from the u. S. And israel on it. About 20 representatives of the families who are Unaccounted For really trying to talk to President Biden and hear his per sp perspective but on the call, the president said he reaffirmed his commitment in doing everything in his own power to get him home. Something else he talked about in the 60 minutes interview on thursday. I say were going to do everything in our power to find them. Everything in our power. Im not going to go into detail of that, but were working like hell on it. They have to know the president of the United States cares deeply about whats happening. Deeply. They have to communicate to the world this is critical. This is not even human behavior. So that was a message that the folks on the call said then he didnt want to talk about, diplomatically, the white house and the wider administration said they believe about 14 americans remain unaccounted ffor less than a handful. John kirby told us on friday they are believed to be hostages. Weve seen Secretary Of State blinken on the ground in other countries we know are engaged in this effort trying to get hamas to release some of those hostages. As well as we know that the fbi and other u. S. Officials are on the ground in israel trying to work that as well really trying to show that america is putting on a full court press trying to get hostages, those americans on ground really back to their family. Showing this is a number one priority for this administration, but only time will tell how this all unfolds. Very difficult situation. Jasmine, thank you. Amid the who of the war, we are Hearing Storing of hersurvi. There are so many stories of heroism, how citizens put up a fierce resistance. In one such story a 72yearold Paratrooper Led A Revolt last weekend. Math m Matthew Chance has the story. The attacks by hamas were a blood bath. Israelis slaughtered while taken hostage. Push, push. In a kibbutz near gaza, the militants met their match. One of the things i always told, you should never catch me with my underwear in my hand. Never catch you with your pants down. Never. He suffered shrapnel wounds and an amputated leg but when dozens of hamas fighters tried to breach his fence last weekend, this 72yearold former paratrooper and war veteran swung into action. I decide to take my cagun, te a few magazine with me and tried to enter as soon as i can to show them over the window. Of my car. So you drove towards the attackers and you started shooting at them. Before they came through the fence. Before. In my head, that was the only way to stop them. In nearby jewish communities, hamas attackers Ran Amuck In A Vile Killing and kidnapping spree. But in the home to more than 400 israelis, the small team of armed volunteers trained and led by bah ruk kept the militants at bay. His wife at his bedside told me she has no doubt why. My husband, 20 years that hes in this position and every time that the local young people come in and make the same position and the other people see him, they laugh at him. They said hes a crazy. They said that hes speaking nonsense. Nobody will come. And he defended the kibbutz year by year and they all laughed him. They laugh at him. Said he was paranoid. Its not going to happen. Its never going to happen because we have the army. In fact, the israeli army came under attack by hamas, too. Leaving bah ruk and his team to fight alone for more than six hours. Way longer than expected. Where is the army . They teach if something happens, i always say to my friend, that weve got 35 minutes. One minute that belongs to us. Up to 35 minutes, the army should be here. They should be here. Et cetera, et cetera. But they didnt come. It didnt work. As israelis elsewhere were taken hostage, their communities overrun, barack fought on, severely injured and out of ammo, armed with just a blade. I take ryan, if you should come, you should run. A stubborn determination. His friends and neighbors say helped save them from the grim fate of others nearby. Matthew chance, cnn, jerusalem. Extraordinary story. Matthew chance, thank you. The Israeli Military says it has notified the families of all of the more than 100 hostages taken by hamas as an International Diplomatic and military effort is underway to find them and bring them home. Laura coates interviewed a man who shared his concerns about his missing cousin after the attack on his family near the gaza strip. Im terrified because for example, the last time his phone was located was in southern gaza. So maybe he was moved to the north and then theyre going to find them. Maybe hes going to be the first guy to be found in the first house they go into, but maybe as his captives see the army is coming, theyre going to execute him and run away. Thats also very appplausible. This must be just the thought of that and having to think about those possibilities, its unimaginable to so many people. To think that that has to be anticipated. There must have been such an emotional evolution and toll this is taking on you and your family. What has this been like . I i can only describe it as sitting on the edge of an abis full of sorrow and grief. Thats really what it feels like for most of the time. Your mothers whole family i understand was living in the kibbutz and you were texting with them as the attack unfolded. Can you describe what that moment was like . You know, these people have been living there their entire lives. Theyve been through all the assaults from gaza. All the incursions. Everything. They are very tough people. And you know, as we were texting with them, you couldnt tell what they were going through at those very moments. Only later did we find out that my moms cousins, people in their 60s, were locked in their bomb shelters fighting with terrorists on the outside. Inside their homes. Fighting with terrorists to hold the door locked literally holding the door locked for their lives because had people gone in, well, we know how that ended for other people. His wife and young daughter left israel sunday, a day after hamas attacked israel. Right now, theyre being hosted by an israeli family in cyprus. For information on how you can help, humanitarian efforts in israel and gaza, go to cnn. Com impact or use your emot Mobile Device to scan the code on the screen. Republicans are ending the week no closer to electing a new speaker. Coming up, a look at the deep, internal divisions within the party and can jim jordan get enough votes to get the job . With aid to israel on the line, the House Of Representatives has gone more than ten days without a speaker. The republicans did pick a new nominee for the job, jim jordan, but they still have the same numbers problem. More than 50 republicans voted against supporting jordan on the house floor so the congressman does not seem to have the votes to get the gavel. Lets bring in our chief congressional correspondent, manu raju, on capitol hill. Manu . Good morning. The republicans are still in a state of disarray in the aftermath of Kevin Mccarthys historic ouster, which is coming up upon two weeks when the republicans blame democrats the first time in history. Since then, nothing has happened. In fact, no legislation can move. Whether its significant issues, Foreign Policy eissues like aid to israel or keeping the government open. None of that can be passed. No legislation at all until they elect a speaker of the house. But republicans have been so badly divided that they have not been able to figure out their way forward. First, they nominated Steve Scalise to replace mccarthy, but he dropped out of this all together because of opposition within the ranks. Then jim jordan was nominated on friday to be the next speaker of the house. But when he put the question to his conference Behind Closed Doors and asked them how many of you would vote against me wif a went to the floor for a house vote, 55 republicans voted against him. He can only afford to lose four republicans in the vote on the floor. Over the weekend, hes going to try to flip 51 republicans to his side. Thats a very tall order. This all comes as there is growing concerns about how this is impacting the gop. How this is impacting congress and the ability to act on any of these key issues including from the speaker, former speaker of the house, kevin mccarthy. How do you think members have so many reservations . I dont know so much of it is jim jordan as it is maybe with the eight, 4 caused this whole problem and all the democrats. I think thats more. People just dont feel like they should have new leadership, thats why . I dont think about new leadership. I just think they saw eight people work with all the democrats and disrupt the country. I think thats a real problem. How do you get past it . Its not easy. Now republicans as early as tuesday to try to figure out if they can elect a new speaker. Big question if they can get there with jim jordan as their candidate. If jordan decides to bow out, whos the alternative . Can they actually get the vote . Another huge question or will they try to prop up the powers of the interim speaker, patrick mchenry. Thats also a big question. The republicans have stood k divided over that question as well. So many things are looming over republicans as their battles have left the legislative branch essentially paralyzed. The senate can act but the house cannot and can they become unstuck. That is the big question as republicans try to take the weekend off and try to regroup again and come back in the session on monday. All right, manu, thank you. Thank you for watching. Stay with us for cnn newsroom starts in just a few minutes. 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. 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