Transcripts For CNNW The 20240703

Story. The october 7th attack by hamas which the u. S. Labels a Terrorist Organization left at least 1400 people dead. More than 200 people are being held hostage according to israeli officials, and many more people are still unaccounted for. In response, israel began a Bombing Campaign in gaza. According to the hamas controlled Health Ministry more than 4,000 people have died there so far. The story of hamas is complex. Its roots date back to the formation of israel in 1948. It has many factions including the socalled Military Wing which perpetrated the terror attack. Over the next hour, cnns sara sidner brings us The Whole Story on hamas from how they were formed, what their ideology is, and how they have evolved over the decades. We want to warn you some of the images youll see in this hour may be disturbing. Pure, unadulterated evil. I cant even try to comprehend these monsters. Terrorists. This is not islam. They should be spit out. We cannot expect that israel will continue to blockade gaza. Deprive them of their freedom and assume they will not at some point resist. At some point it is going to boil over. October 7th was different. October 7th changed everything. What happened ongt 7th was absolutely unprecedented. Hamas has certainly targeted israeli civilians before. Thats not new. What is new is simply the scale and just the ruthlessness. Reporter how do you define hamas . Who and what is hamas . Hamas primarily is a social, religious, political movement. Hamas is seen by most palestinians as part of their social fabric. There are plenty of palestinians who Cannot Stand Hamas but they recognize that some of their neighbors, some of their Family Members are hamas supporters. Hamas has several different aspects to it. It certainly does have a Military Wing, but it also has a political wing. It has social services. It sees itself as a movement. It calls itself the Islamic Movement and the movement is a comprehensive one. Hamas is a nationalist movement thats committed to the notion of Armed Struggle for the liberation of palestine. Out of all the different palestinian factions that exist hamas is the only party that has an organized military and a very well resourced military force. What that means is that for many Palestinians Hamas is the only party that can actually defend Palestinian Civilians against israeli aggression. Thats the reality. That is how many palestinians view and consider them. A line of defense. Since 2007, hamas has governed the gaza strip, a 25 mile long, seven mile wide stretch of land with more than 2 Million People largely cut off from the world by an israeli blockade. An area humanitarian Rights Groups have called an open air prison. But the rise of hamas and what led up to its massacre of more than a thousand men, women, and child in israel is a story that begins long before hamas ever existed. This did not start on october 7th. Reinforcements disembarked to help in the protection of the holy land from disorder. The british had a mandate to protect palestine after world war i and it said a couple things. It said you should prepare the territory for independence but you should also facilitate a Jewish National home. The british try various mechanisms to make them agree on some kind of supplement. The british found they couldnt do both so they gave up. They just left after world war ii and handed the problem over to the. N we cant deal with it. The palestine problem moves into another stage of discussion. Reporter the u. N. Sets up a commission that comes to the conclusion the best solution here is to take this land and divide it, roughly speaking half to the palestinians, half to the israelis. The jews accept that deal. The arabs do not. And so war broke out. Arabs and Jewish Nationals fought each other bitterly and relentlessly. As a result of that war the state of israel declared itself and took control not simply of the territory the u. N. Had allotted to it but some other territory as well. A lot of which had significant palestinian population. The new jewish state israel was born in a bath of blood. The birth of the state of israel for palestinians is called the catastrophe, because in order to pave the way to establish israel as a jewish state there needed to be a mass Ethnic Cleansing of palestinians. More than 700,000 palestinians fled outside of the land of palestine and palestine was essentially decimated. Women flee with what belongings they can carry. Israel said were not allowing them to return. You may have thought you were leaving for a week but youre never coming back. By the end of 1948 a newly formed israel had claimed 78 of the land of historic palestine. The palestinians who hadnt fled to neighboring countries settled in the remaining 22 of land that israel had yet to conquer. What is left is the west bank and gaza. So the egyptians control gaza, the jordanians control the west bank. Thats how it was until the 1967 war. When arab armies are massed on israels border. The frontier of the gaza strip just a mere kilometer away. 1967 is one of the biggest historic moments in the middle east. Israel launches a Surprise Attack against egypt. Israeli forces have routed the armed might of the arab neighbors. The israelis conquer the west bank and gaza. And this is a moment of Great Exhileration in israel because they feel as though they have defeated the arab armies in an extraordinary military success. They have not figured out what theyre going to do with the millions of palestinians on that land. After the six day war the millions who fled to gaza and the west bank in 1948 are officially under Israeli Occupation. Which left all these people in gaza and the west Bank Citizens of nowhere. They werent citizens of the israeli state so they were just stuck. Palestinians began to say we need to liberate ourselves. Throughout the 70s and 80s bursts of violence between palestinians and israelis were common place. The Palestinian Liberation Organization which is formally recognized by the world was led by Yasser Arafat who was operating in exile outside the palestinian territories. But inside Israeli Occupied gaza a new Resistance Movement was under way. The first intefadeh was one of the biggest mobilizations of Palestinian Civil Society and actors against the military occupation. And the idea was they would disrupt the occupation apparatus. They refused to open shops. They blocked highways. They refused to give tax. Twa is a period of significant agitation. Reporter around the same time gaza and the west bank were shifting focus to a more aggressive approach toward their israeli occupiers and a new armed Resistance Group would emerge officially known as hamas. This was a spiritual leader in the gaza strip and was one of the earliest founders and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood chapters in palestine. When hamas was established in 1987 he emerged as the leader of the movement and in some ways the spiritual guide of the movement. Reporter unlike the secular Palestinian Resistance known as fata the newly established hamas was not interested in Liberating Gaza and the west bank alone. Instead it set out to eliminate the state of israel all together as outlined in its 1988 charter. A goal that made hamas an outsider to any peace negotiations, including the oslo accords. The oslo accords really set off earthquakes in both palestinian and israeli society. As our wars are long so must our healing be swift. What it ultimately resulted in was the plo recognized the state of israel and so conceded 78 of the land of historic palestine and in return the Israeli Government recognized the plo as the sole legitimate representative of the palestinian people. There was jubilation globally and many palestinians despite this historic concession believed this might pave the way to the establishment of a state on 22 of their land. But this was by no means noncontroversial or unchallenged. For hamas specifically this was something that they were fundamentally opposed to. Those negotiations never really got off the ground. One of the reasons was this up surge of violence. One of the deadliest attacks to derail peace came in February Of 1994 just months after the signing and historic White House Photo op. A Jewish Settler entered the mosque while muslims were worshiping there. Dozens of dead and scores of injured were rushed to hospitals in nearby towns. That was a Turning Point because hamas then decided to begin employing Suicide Bombing as a form of resistance. Reporter 41 days after the mosque attack, hamas responded, detonating its first lethal suicide attack, killing seven israelis at a bus stop. The Big Reason Oslo failed was violence. The perception on both sides is that their adversary is not serious, israelis saying arafat is not completely stopping terrorism, palestinians say the israelis are dragging their feet on a pull out. They are increasing settlement building even as they are making promises theyre going to leave. The fundamental reason hamas has gained strength is that the Palestinian Authority, which is their competition, has been seen as fekless, corrupt, and unable to deliver on its core promise, which was a palestinian state. Reporter but to the west hamas was not a negotiating partner. Instead, it became a threat. In 1997 the u. S. Officially designated hamas a foreign Terrorist Organization. If you protest nonviolently and so on you are shot at. You are imprisoned. And so they left only one avenue actually, which is armed resistance. Hamas has decided that it is going to use violence. It is going to use violence against civilians. It is going to be brutal. Reporter over the next decade hamas continued its violence and it would meet more violence in return. Will they go home with a deal . The latest from camp david. This wooded maryland retreat of u. S. President s, camp david, was the site of a potentially historic summit in the summer of 2000. You had Yasser Arafat the legendary leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization who had a lot of credibility with palestinians. You had ehud barak, very distinguished Israeli Military figure, now Prime Minister. And you had bill clinton. Reporter their goal . End decades of hostilities, Forge A Palestinian israeli peace accord. If they cannot make progress now there will be more hostility and more bitterness. It seemed as though they had kind of come to an agreement and then arafat pulls out at the last minute best we can tell because he believed that if he did this, hamas would gain power. So the israeli story on camp david is that the israeli Prime Minister offered segue cant concessions and the palestinians said no. The palestinian view was that they were set up at camp david. That israel and the United States made offers they knew that Yasser Arafat could not accept and as a result they were made to look bad. Reporter just two months after those talks failed to get an agreement, a former Israeli Defense minister who many arabs call the butcher of beirut for israels 1982 invasion of lebanon made a provocative, heavily guarded visit to the temple mount. A holy site in christianity, judaism, and islam. It is also a flash point of contention over who should control it. Israelis or arabs . The violence that observers believe to be inevitable erupted. Reporter just the first sparks of what became the second intefadeh, a violent and deadly conflict between israelis and palestinians over Israeli Occupation of the west bank and gaza. The second would last nearly five years. A half decade fight in which hamas became known for their routine use of both terror and destruction. Over time more and more of israel came into range. Reporter Israeli Forces demolished over 4,000 Palestinian Homes and arrested thousands. Israel shut down and bombed ministries and infrastructure trying to coerce palestinian leaders to end the violence. Between 2000 and 2005, there were over 4300 registered fatalities, with a palestinian to israeli ratio of just over 31. Finally, in february, 2005, came this announcement from the Palestinian Authority and israel. We have agreed with the Prime Minister ariel sharon to cease all acts of violence. Reporter later that year, israel unilaterally began implementing its socalled disengagement plan to evacuate israels settlements. And military posts from gaza and a section of the west bank. Thousands of settlement residents lost their homes. It was both a physical but also a psychological disengagement on behalf of the israelis from gaza. It was no longer their problem. There was a very, very difficult, painful step for israel to take, to pull settlers out. And how did palestinians respond . By Shooting Rockets and there is some truth to that. Its also true, though, that when israel pulled out of gaza, it continued to envelope it in a blockade. Reporter a blockade to isolate hamas and attempt to prevent smuggling of weapons, but it also severely limited the transport of basic necessities for palestinian citizens in gaza. The blockade was quite horrific. There was an immediate collapse in the quality of life in gaza. Medicines, food items, water, all of the items of a normal life were immediately suspended. And the Immediate Impact was a significant increase in poverty and destitution. The years leading up to the Palestinian Elections in 2006 saw an unprecedent et wave of violence. I remember being in the city where i was raising my young son and feeling unsafe to simply go out about my daily life in the streets. Reporter from gaza, hamas continued to terrorize israel. So israel was operating under the assumption despite 2 million palestinians being imprisoned it could still expect calm. What hamas was doing was during this period shattering that illusion so every few months if not years it would try a rocket in order to force israel to reconsider. Reporter in 2006, nearly a year after the announcement of the ceasefire elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council were held in gaza. This smelly, bleak tunnel reporter cnns chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour covered that election and the aftermath. It was very clear that election was insisted upon by the administration of george w. Bush and Condoleezza Rice and that group of americans who believed that the iraq war of 2003 would bring democracy to the wider middle east. This was a very flawed assumption. And the americans insisted on this election even though the israelis and the Palestinian Authority, the legitimate, internationally accepted and recognized Palestinian Authority, warned the United States not to let this election go ahead because they feared the hamas would prevail and that is exactly what happened. Reporter the Hamas Victory was resounding, winning 76 of 132 seats in the legislature. Shocking results for the u. S. And israeli officials, bringing to power a group the United States had designated as a Terrorist Organization. But a group that had been making a difference in the lives of every day palestinians. For many palestinians, hamas is a life line. For two decades theyve built a Grass Roots Network of affordable social Services Like this Medical Clinic that charges 2 a visit. They provided education. They were very well entrenched with the citizens and civilians. So that is one of the reasons why hamas won in gaza in 2006. So after the 2006 election and Hamas Victory there are questions on the scope of hamas power, is it still under the Palestinian Authority or is it independent . There are questions about who runs particular parts of gaza. In effect it effectively does a coup. Reporter the coup in 2007 known as the Battle Of Gaza was relatively brief, bloody, and left no doubt hamas was not a part of the Palestinian Authority, which governed the west bank. Hamas was a much more extreme and Violent Group now solely in charge of gaza. It seizes power in gaza in 2007 and violently goes after the individuals associated with the Palestinian Authority. Some are thrown from windows. Many are arrested, tortured. But one thing is clear. Hamas managed to do what fatah was unable to do prior to 2005 which is to secure the streets in gaza. To put an end to the rampant lawlessness we were seeing. Reporter having hamas in charge of gaza meant the blockade would continue. So the cutoff of goods going in and out of gaza have a big impact on hamas. They make it hard for hamas to provide prosperity to ordinary gaza. I visited gaza in 2012. You might have power for a couple hours a day. These conditions were getting worse and worse. Inside the Gaza Strip Hamas was not a popular movement. There is no elections, no way to get rid of them or anything like that. So people in the gaza strip just lived with them. Reporter and the conflict between israel and hamas would not abate, hamas attacking israel. That was the explosion. We just heard one explosion going off. I think it came from that direction over there. Reporter israel firing on gaza. You look to your left, destruction. I reported from both gaza and israel, telling stories of destruction and dismay. Around 3 30 this morning here in gaza city a massive explosion. We know there have been at least four bombardments. And it would only escalate in 2014 after the Israel Security agency identified hamas members as responsible for the kidnapping and killing of three israeli teenagers from a jewish settlement in the west bank. And weeks later, the abduction and murder of a Palestinian Teen whose body was found in jerusalem. Outrage and anger on both sides would not be contained erupted in the 2014 gaza war. Israel put together an operation which consisted of about 50 days with 70,000 israeli call ups for the defense forces. They went in to gaza and on three different axes in the north, center, and south that resulted in 66 israeli deaths of soldiers, six israeli citizens. U. N. Estimates 2100 palestinian and hamas deaths during that same operation. It was after that that the Israeli Government really started taking a different look at hamas and what they were doing in the gaza strip. 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. More than 2100 palestinians were killed. More than 60 Israeli Soldiers were killed. Going in in 2014 into gaza after that sustained bombing you just have this huge sense of the utter scale of the destruction. It was really hard, near impossible to find anyone who genuinely supported what hamas had done. I hope god wont let anyone taste our suffering this woman in gaza said. In the west bank where the majority of palestinians lived the year 2021 was a very bloody year. A flash point has definitely been the possible eviction of some palestinian families some of which have been living there for generations. Reporter according to the u. N. Since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus reelection in 2009 there were over 14,000 instances where palestinians were forcibly removed from their land by Israeli Settlers. This includes east juice juice. There are sirens going off all around East Jerusalem right now. This usually means the potential of rockets coming in. In 2021 was the first time the palestinians mobilized as a single people, demanding a single thing, which is to dismantle israels regime of apart hyde. F for hamas it becomes the mobilization of palestinians. Reporter israel once again fires back. 11 days of bloodshed. 11 days that killed almost 250 palestinians in gaza according to the hamas run palestinian Health Ministry and 12 israelis. Conditions in gaza since 2021 in particular have been hellish. If there is a Hell On Earth it is the lives of children in gaza. Reporter children make up nearly half of gazas population in part because palestinians there simply dont get a chance to grow old. The Unemployment Rate for adults is well over 40 . It is very tight and makes it very hard for people in gaza to have normal lives of any kind. And it is also true that when the israelis have allowed things in those materials are often used by hamas to turn into weapons. Reporter july 19th, 2023, less than three months before hamas Surprise Attack on israel gaza is stronger. Its army is mightier. And its weapons are more advanced said the spokesperson for the brigades, the Military Wing of hamas. There is a lot of evidence that shows that they are going into educational institutions to look for people who would be willing to die for the cause. But theres also evidence that they look for people with Engineering Aptitude and ability to design different types of explosive devices. Hamas has had no shortage of military recruits. Back in 2013 i visited a Military Training Class at a gaza high school. A visit facilitated by hamas education ministry. One of the things these High School Students dont need to be taught is what it feels like to be in war. They have all experienced it. And they all believe that the fight between gaza and israel will never end. I have lost three people dear to me in the war said this one teenager. Therefore, the seat of martyrdom grew enough for the next round. What has also grown is the labrynth of tunnels underneath gaza. Over the last ten years hamas has expanded the tunnels. At one point it was probably 100 miles or so. Now it is exponentially greater. We work around the clock inside the tunnel said a spokesperson for one of hamas armed allies. The tunnels are vital because they allow them to get to the Firing Positions for the rockets. They allow them to move the munition. It is about half the size of the new york subway system. Its almost like theyve built an underground city under there. Look at the military leader, commander of hamas, has been out of sight. As far as anybody knows, he has been living in these tunnels for the last 20 years. Reporter known in arabic as the guest. He is known as the guest because for many years now he is reputed never to have spent the night in the same place twice. Reporter essentially his boss, the leader of all of hamas in gaza. There is an argument that says that hamas line has hardened certainly since 2017 when he took over. He had spent 20 plus years as a prisoner of the israelis. He speaks fluent hebrew. He is able to really understand the workings of the Israeli Defense forces. Reporter hamas hardened leadership combined with renewed foreign support. There were meetings between him and the head of egyptian intelligence in gaza, itself. He also built up the support they were getting from iran. Iran has provided millions, tens of millions, probably more to hamas. Iran benefits from it. It allows it to portray itself as the protector and defender of the palestinian cause. Qatar does not endorse hamas military activities but does provide a lot of humanitarian support which hamas inevitably would like to take credit for. Giving the broad impression to the israelis that hamas was really now focused on much more political activity. Reporter many experts say israel was focused on Political Activities of its own when it comes to hamas. Netanyahu weirdly has preferred to engage with hamas than with the Palestinian Authority. We now have good reporting out of israel saying bb netanyahu at various meetings said this is a way to ensure there will never be a palestinian state because we keep the palestinians divided. We slowly take more and more of the west bank. Reporter i asked a senior palestinian. He told me it is because netanyahu and the increasing far right coalition in israel want to dehumanize the palestinians, want to separate them, and want to ensure that they have a continuing narrative that is palestinians are not partners for peace. Look at hamas. It is people Like Netanyahu whose Hard Line Policies have strengthened hamas and given them some credibility among palestinians. Reporter but just how do palestinians feel about hamas . The ideological commitment to hamas has to be separated a bit from the fact that hamas is the only military power that is able to protect the palestinians from israeli aggression. So often for palestinians who do not support hamas ideologically they would still support hamas resistance. Reporter the palestinians arent looking at the carnage and the death and the destruction of their lives and everything that they know and love around them and saying, hey. Were blaming hamas. Theyre looking at all of this and seeing this as part and parcel of the underlying problem, which is israels control over their lives. Israels denial of their freedoms. Israels long standing occupation and theft of their land. Nobody wants to see civilians killed. Nobody does. But the question is, why do people cry foul when it is israelis and yet for decades israel has been killing Palestinian Civilians . Nobody says anything. Is it true that palestinians who live under israels broad authority, do they live under separate law . Do they face many more constraints on their freedom than palestinians do . The answer is yes. Palestinians are treated differently. Before the october 7th attack according to the u. N. In 2023 alone, 227 palestinians were killed by Israeli Settlers and the Israeli Military. The belief was if the only effect of gaza was a few rockets every few months we could live with that. And that assumption was fundamentally overturned on october 7. Reporter when we return the israeli army werent able to communicate. Reporter reporter hamas has been trying to wipe out israel and israelis for nearly three decades. But their october 7th attacks at the gaza border on Israeli Military bases, at a music festival, and on more than 20 villages and towns are unlike anything its ever done before. This is definitely a whole new level of terror. The number dead reporter at least 1400 People Killed in israel. The number of wounded. Reporter 3400 so far. The number of those who have been kidnapped. Thats off the charts. Reporter around 200 hostages, possibly more, were taken on what was the deadliest day for the jewish people since the holocaust. To put it in american terms, 1400 israelis dead is about 40,000 americans dead. Reporter the scale of the attack was staggering. So was the level of preparation. Made clear by documents discovered on the bodies of slain terrorists and shared with cnn by israeli officials. This document advises attackers to kill anyone posing a threat or causing a distraction, to keep captives away from arms or means of suicide, and to use them as cannon fodder. Hamas also knew the exact number of armed guards at a kibbutz. This document says there were at least 20 civilians and ten soldiers. They knew about the other three or four entrances to the kibbutz. They knew everything. Where the generators are. They knew where the armory is. Reporter it was a similar story at this kibbutz which is next door to a military base. They killed i think 40 soldiers. Some of them in their sleep. Then when they took full control of the military, they went to start butchering the civilians. They knew exactly what they were doing, hamas. If you look at the orders, we have some of their written commands, they knew everything. Reporter and they had knowledge about military targets, too. Ten hamas perpetrators, on five motorcycles. They come to the secret intelligence base. Its not on the maps. Not just that, they know where is the back gate that is unmanned. They explode that gate. They go in. Theyre looking for the secret bunker where the servers are. They go left and right and they dont find it so the commander said to his assistant, give me the map. And he gives him the map of the base of the secret intelligence base. Reporter what happens once they get to where they are ordered to go . This is a bunker that protects secret service. The bunker is heavily fortified but someone forgot one of the doors. So they get in. They throw hand grenades. They kill some of the soldiers. Then they found two soldiers hiding under the bed and they murdered them. Being able to go into where their Communication Servers were caused a lot of chaos where people in the israeli army werent able to communicate with each other for hours after the attack happened. Israel was sick with the sin of vanity and completely under estimating the enemy. You say vanity you mean israels chutzpah, not being humble enough to realize the enemy of israel is smart, capable, and could do something this terrible . Yeah. All of the above. Once the attacks happened details, brutal details were spread across social media. A clear sign hamas has grown and evolved not just militarily but also in how they invoked fear and spread terror. One of the main purposes of this operation was to create the videos. The special Operation Unit of hamas, they were ordered not just to kill civilians and kidnap but to perform the most horrific acts that a human being as much as you can call someone a human being can do to another one, document that, and send it over to Central Command of hamas that in turn put this on social media, those videos meant to break the spirit, the morale of the israeli public. Shortly after the attack happened, i entered. Reporter an Israeli Kibbutz where some of the most horrific atrocities occurred. There was one Terrorist Body over there. We went and just right next to him was a body of this 14, 15yearold. I dont want to get into the details of what they have done to people in the hours until they killed him. Reporter torturing. All of it. More than just torturing. The evil, you know, im writing a book on nazis. You read the descriptions. You just cannot comprehend how someone can do those things. And then you come and you see things that are so much worse. I think that what hamas did was to sentence this region to live on its sword for many generations if not forever because i dont know of many israelis, even the most liberal left wing that after this would sign a peace accord with any ahead. There is no safe place in gaza anymore. Israels military dropped a leaf flits from the sky earlier today, warning the 1. 1 million civilians living in Northern Gaza to evacuate the area. There is no safe place in goslin gaza anymore. Reporter a british citizen who lives in manchester, england was on a family visit to gaza city and was forced to evacuate south. We were told to come here because, by the israeli army because it is supposedly safer, for our safety. But it doesnt feel safer. There is bombing all around us. Every day. And truly i go to sleep and i dont know if i will wake up. I wake up and i dont know if i will come back safe. Food is running out in the shops. We have not had power for more than a week. The water to supply depends on power. For palestinians, all of this movement out of their homes evokes memories of the 1948 expulsion. This is something that permeates the psyche of palestinians just like the holocaust permeates the psyche of israelis. People left their homes just like we did a week ago and they thought it will be over and we will be back in 10 days. Everything will be fine. They have been dispossessed of their lands ever since. The humanitarian crisis in gaza seems to be growing worse by the hour. The dead are piling up. All of this is only the beginning as those troops, Hundreds Of Thousands of israeli troops are amassing on that border. As the world watches and waits, the death toll is already staggering. This cnn graphic detailing fatalities in the conflict over the past 15 years shows more palestinians have died each and every year. The latest findings move in the same direction, with profoundly more loss of life on the palestinian side since the horrific hamas attack on israel on october 7. But the question remains, why did hamas strike now, likely knowing the devastation that it would provoke in gaza . Hamas Spokesman Name checked events at a mosque earlier this year as motivation for their attack. Hamas has called this operation a storm. This is in relation to a compound, the temple mount, a place so holy to both muslims and jewish people here in israel. Reporter they rated during the holy month of ramadan and during the jewish passover. Just Israeli Police stepping inside the mosque is considered incredibly provocative and aggressive. Reporter but many middle east experts say the timing of the attack had more to do with the country that is home to mecca, the holiest of places in all of islam, saudi arabia. Hamas was really concerned about the saudi moves to build ties with israel and the u. S. One concern was that saudi money would bolster the Palestinian Authority and its revival in the west bank. Hamas looks at this world, with emerging alliances between the modern arabs and israel and decides they are going to blow this whole thing up. If the scale of civilian casualties in gaza is high or if there is protracted conflict, there will be strong pressure within hezbollah, within iran to say weve got to wipe the conflict. We have seen hezbollah firing rockets. The possibility of escalation is very real. I fear israel is doing exactly what hamas wants, which is an invasion, which may make hamas more popular. Nothing would be a greater setback to hamas than, after all of this, an israeli saudi normalization. That is the strategic prize for israel. Diplomatic and political progress in the middle east have often come in the aftermath of wars. I was a young reporter. It would have been difficult to imagine that the Spanish Government and extremists could sit down and work things out. That happened. It would have been difficult when things were happening for Northern Ireland to be at peace. It has happened. I have this ray of hope that it has happened elsewhere in the world. Maybe somehow that can happen in gaza, as well. In the days and weeks ahead, there is so much at stake here. Cnn will be here to cover it all. Thanks for watching the