Good morning. Welcome to cnn this morning. It is saturday, october 14th. Im victor blackwell. And im amara walker. Thanks for being with us as we continue to follow the news breaking news. A Mass Evacuation in gaza. The military in israel have ordered the people in gaza to move south. They have given them a safe sixhour pathway. The idf is accusing hamas of actively trying to stop people from leaving so they can use them as, quote, human shields. But hamas says israel is still carrying out air strikes, killing 70 people after warning them to move out. They posted dramatic video showing an ambulance rocked by an explosion during those evacuations. In israel, the city of surrat is under a red alert after israel fired rockets into the city. Cnn on the ground heard israels iron dome intercepting the rockets anned the sirens going off around the city. The u. S. Says its supporting israel, and its support is ironclad. Two officials made trips there earlier this week. Secretary lloyd austin delivered more munitions. Meanwhile Antony Blinken visited them urging them to work with them. 14 americans are still unaccounted for after last weeks attack. Were going to do everything in our power to find them, everything in our power. Im not going to go into the detail of that, but were working like hell on it. Its been an active morning along israels Northern Front and its border with elebanon as well. Israel has sent a number of air strikes and Drone Attacks on hezbollah. Israel says its in response to an explosion at a Security Fence at the border. They killed terrorists who tried to enter the border. Ben wedeman is at the border. I understand youre at the funeral of one of the journalists killed there. Whats going on . Whats the latest . Reporter this is a funeral for issam abdallah, a friend, a colleague, a cameraman for reuters who was killed yesterday afternoon by Israeli Shelling here at the border. Him and a group of journalists, they all had gear that clearly identified them as journalists. They were all in an open place. But they were struck as a result of this violence thats ongoing on the border between lebanon and israel. What we saw yesterday afternoon was this was in several locations. Issam was in a different location nearer to the mediterranean. We were in the central border area. Lets try to catch up with them. What we saw was shelling on lebanese territory. It appears that hezbollah fired back, targeting one Military Position that took a direct hit as far as we could see. Now, this morning the Israeli Military is saying that they killed several infiltrators trying to cross the border into israel. Last night just after about 1 00 a. M. Local time, we heard several very large explosions in the direction of the border. Now, what we also saw yesterday was a heavier presence of Lebanese Army along the road that runs by the border, trying to keep the situation under control. It doesnt appear that hezbollah at this point is anxious to become involved in a fullscale war with israel, but it does seem to be doing enough to keep the israelis on a high alert. We were overlooking one Israeli Community right next to the wll that constitutes the borders between the two countries. That town was empty. The only people we saw were Israeli Soldiers running from house to house. But at this point it does appear that calm is being maintained, but for how much longer, its hard to say. Yesterday the Iranian Foreign minister made a Visit To Beirut and damascus. In beirut he stressed if israel continues with its operations in gaza, then all scenarios are possible. Obviously the concern is if hezbollah becomes involved, supported by iran, then the Northern Front could be open in this war, and it could be far worse than whats going on in gaza, given that hezbollah is the best equipped, best trained, best led nonstate actor in the middle east. Victor . Ben, i know that you had to walk to keep up with whats happening there. Could you just talk more about whats happening around you right now where you are . Reporter well, this is the town not far from the border, and this was a Funeral Procession for our friend and colleague who was killed yesterday. Its quiet. Theres nothing going on. Its a saturday morning here. The town is obviously everyones come out to this funeral. He was a very popular member of the beirut press corps. Ive known him for years. We worked together in syria, iraq, and here in lebanon, and people have come from all over lebanon to attend this funeral for somebody who was a dear colleague, victor. Ben wedeman, i appreciate you being there and bringing us the sights and scenes there in southern lebanon. Well, u. S. Intelligence warned the Biden Administration of the growing risk of conflict between israel and the palestinians weeks before the devastating attack by hamas that killed more than 1,300 people in israel. The intelligence provided two situations. They warned the Biden Administration of the risk of conflict including possible Rocket Attacks by hamas from gaza. Reporter sources tell cnn there were warnings and indications about possible attacks by hamas 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 mesh and one israeli, in the days leading up to the horrific events on october 7th. The Intelligence Community issued warnings of possible strikes by hamas with rocket fire and the growing possibility of violence around gaza. Then on october 6 there was a third report from israel, a day before the attacks, saying there was unusual activity by hamas. Sources are now telling cn these reports looked nothing like what ended up unfolding in terms of f the scope and barbarity. A Biden Administration official tells cnn, quote, there was no Information Warning of the Terrorist Attack in advance. Instead sources tell us if something happened, it would look more like it had in the past, perhaps rocket fire from gaza, intercession of the iron dome and rockets into gaza. But more profoundly there was a general Come Play Seasoncy by israel on what hamas could pull off. Given that theyre in israels backyard, the onus is primarily on is rah i wills intelligence to have detected the looming plot. Still, with regular warnings from the u. S. Intelligence community and eastern allies about a buildup of hamas weapons and growing palestinian anger, this is also raising questions about whether the Biden Administration was taken the hamas threat seriously enough. Alex marquardt, cnn, washington. Thank you so much. Joining me is colonel cedric leighton. Good to see you. I want to start with a thread we saw from ben wedeman in lebanon, and its on hezbollah. We heard a number of terrorists struck targets in lebanon yesterday as well. What ben said is theyre not fully in this. Theyre not intervening on behalf of hamas, but in his words, doing enough to keep israel on alert. Why do you u tthink to this deg theyre involved but not a lot. Good morning, victor. The placement of what hezbollah is doing is quite interesting because theyre helping hamas in the sense theyre diverting Israeli Forces to the north. In essence, theyve done that successfully. Theyre putting out smallscale attacks in the direction of israel using rocket fire, you know, some other things that are keeping the israelis off balance just a little bit, and, of course, theres some infiltration across the southern border, so thats just enough to keep people interested and occupied, and it also forces is rah i wills to move more of their forces to the north, more than they would like. The majority of their forces are in the south, and thats going to stay that way until theres more from the north. Theres this expectation of a ground incursion. We have the, i guess, the most recent history in the u. S. Of the iraq war, the housetohouse fighting that happens in a ground war, sending troops in. But considering hamas their sophisticated tunnels and the history of their style of attacks, what should the idf and the rest of us watching expect as the rest of this begins . This might be a slow grinding process. It wont be this steady Rapid Movement at all. It wont be Something Like you would see, for example, in ukraine, when ukraine reached a large portion of the territory that russia has take about from it, but in this particular case, because of the cavernous nature of not only the tums but the streets in gaza, for example, its going to be very difficult to go house to house, but its almost a requirement for the Israeli Forces not at to be surrounded in a tactical sense or strategic sense. So the israelis are going to have to be very careful, very dil diligent, very thorough, and theyre going to have to find the tunnels very quickly. As amara mentioned at the top of the show, were more than halfway through the sixhour win toe to allow the people in northern gaza to move south to avoid the incursion and continued attacks. Theres a Refugee Council who says this relocation amounts to a war crime of forceable transfer. The secretarygeneral of the Norwegian Council says it must be reversed. Before we get into the logistics of it, what is the characterization . Its a false characterization. It would be Something Like the soviets did after world war ii or what happened with india and an in the late 1940s. This is an attempt to protect the civilians, warning them and asking them to leave. Theyre aiding them militarily in order to aid the civilians. The israelis are doing what they can under the interpretation of the laws of war to try to protect the civilians as much as they can. So some of the people in gaza have moved south out of the evacuation zone. What does this portend next for Southern Gaza. If you asked a Million People to leave northern gaza, does that suggest there will be fewer air strikes on Southern Gaza . One would think this is the way its going about to run forward because most of the targets the israelis are interested insofar have beenin in the north. This is going to tax the targeting process, plus hamas can move a lots of its activities to the central or southern part of gaza endangering the refugees when they go the back way. Its a difficult problem to solve. Still to come, the United States presents a united front with israel ahead of an anticipated Ground Offensive as Tens Of Thousands of citizens in northern gaza flee after calls for an evacuation. Were going to talk with a doctor in gaza and find out the situation there. Thats next. Were going to talk with a two of americas top National Figures are looking at the east. They both emphasized support for israel. Behind the scenes a diplomatic challenge is brewing. How does the u. S. Support israel while keeping the war from expanding to new fronts. Joining us now is jennifer of washington d. C. That is the question. That is indeed the question. We have seen this to try to respond to, try to deal with this challenge. Now, publicly we have seen Secretary Austin and secretary blinken be absolutely in lockstep about their fullthroated support for us real and their need to respond to the atrocious attacks last weekend. I want you to listen to some of what they said in their stops both thursday and friday. As the u. S. Secretary of defense, i am here in person to make something crystal clear. Americas support for israel is ironclad, and i extend my deepest condolences to the is r israeli people and those killed in the slaughter by hamas. Israel has the right to defend its people and try to ensure hamas can never repeat what its done. We continue to discuss with israel the importance of taking every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians. And this issue of protecting civilians is one thats come increasingly to the forefront. We know Behind The Scenes they have been trying to ensure that theyre not affected by these military operations. Its unclear when those safe zones will be established, if theyll be put in place before the expected military incursion. At the same time hes also working for americans who live in gaza to be able to evacuate, toe o get to egypt. We were told just this morning by a senior state didnt off official that theyre working to have a Crossing Open for american citizens to be able to leave later today. We will see if that happens. This official noted this situation is incredibly fluid and its possible hamas will possibly block people from being able to access that crossing. Victor, amara . A very difficult situation on the humanitarian front. Jennifer hansler, thank you very much. The World Health Organization is warning that hospitals in gaza are at a breaking point. Lets bring in the doctor with med global which operates three hospitals in northern and central gaza serving about 300,000 people in that portion of gaza as one of the last Government Organizations left there. Doctor, thank you for your time. Youre in chicago, but i know youve been in libya, youve been in most recentletly ukraine, gaza several times before. For perspective, how does the situation now in gaza now there compare . Good morning, victor. Its actually beyond catastrophic. Theres no words to describe whats going on right now in gaza. As you mentioned, i just came back from ukraine where i visited some of the areas that were occupied by russia around kyiv. We have teams there in ukraine. Ive been in syria. Ive been in many other places, in yemen. Whats going on right now is the worst i have seen in Disaster Areas in the last ten years or so. Hospitals are overwhelmed. Theres only t2,500 00 beds in. The whole Hospital System is overwhelmed. Ive seen videos sent to me from a hospital that we support in northern gaza. And ive seen patients on the floor. Ive seen every exam table. There are children screaming, many of them in shock. Of course, there are all kinds of injuries, burn injuries. There were gruesome pictures of two children glued to the dead body of their mom. They were not able to separate them. All of them are dead. Hospitals are running out of medical supplies and medications and theyre running out of fuel thats important to operate their electricity, and theyre running out of food and hope. Doctorses and nurses are not su whether theyll live or not. Several lost their houses and families. Now theres an evacuation older. I was sent a voice mail about this, which is horrible. Let me ask you about this. Do all of your hospitals in northern and central gaza, do they fall under that evacuation order, and how does that come plitt complicate the order . Are they going to take the patients and try to move south . We have nine, three moved south. Six decided to stay. Many are afraid to leave because if they leave theyre not able to go back. Many are decedents of refugees and leaving their homes and villages is a huge trauma. The hospital we support did not evacuate yet, and the doctor told me its near impossible. They cannot evacuate the newborn on incubators and ventilators and its beyond control. The icrc says that once the fuel runs out to these hospitals, they will become morgues. You mention that the fuel sources, the resources are low. How much is there . How long can these generators be fueled . What is the cutoff date if the blockade continues on the fuel to gaza . Our Organization Helps doctors by providing medical training and equipment and supplies. Its necessary to operate ventilators, emergency rooms, operating rooms, incubators, Everything Hospitals will need. Without electricity, hoppets will go back to the middle ages, and we cannot perform and the nurses cannot perform. Thats a tragedy. Were in if need of medical supplies because the hospitals are running out of medical supplies. This is a huge problem. Most of the doctors of hospitals say they will only have fuel for a few more days, and because of the complete blockade, it will exhaust and hospitals will stop running. Let me ask you about the staff who chose to stay behind and the patients who are forced because of their medical needs and the fact we know hamas hides within the civilian population. This is their m. O. They hide in schools and they have Weapons Camps underneath hospitals and residential buildings. How does that impact the safety of the hospitals that you are working with . Amara, thats a good question. Probably its there. I mean doctors and nurses is care more about their patients and whats happening to them and their families. Im not sure how these will factor into their caring for the patients. Their focus is how to stop the bleeding of a child who was pulled out from under the rubble for 48 hours, a pregnant woman trying to have a csection and theres minimal resources or a patient who has had a heart attack. Most is focused on those injured. They want to focus only about their patients, and its a horrible situation, e7 in light of the bombing of many places, the bombing, the ruins, and also draining resources, and the Mental Health trauma thats affecting al