Transcripts For CNNW The 20240702

attack. over the next hour, cnn's sara sidner brings us "the whole story" on hamas, from how they were formed, what their ideology is, and how they've evolved over the decades. we want to warn you some of the images you'll see in this hour may be disturbing. >> pure, unadulterated evil. >> i can't 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 that at some point they will not resist. at some point, it's going to boil over. >> october 7th was different. october 7th changed everything. >> what happened on october 7th was absolutely unprecedented. hamas has certainly targeted israeli civilians before. that's not new. what is new is simply the scale and just the ruthlessness. >> 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 a 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. >> hamas is a nationalist movement that's 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. so what that means is for many palestinians, hamas is the only party that can actually defend palestinian civilians against israeli aggression. >> that's the reality. that is how many palestinians view and consider them. a line of defense. >> reporter: since 2007, hamas has governed the gaza strip, a 25-mile-long, 7-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 children in israel is a story that begins long before hamas ever existed. >> this did not start on october 7th. >> reinforcements disembarked. >> the mandate said a couple things. it said, you should prepare this territory for independence, but you should also facilitate a jewish national home. >> the british tried various mechanisms to make them agree on some kind of settlement. >> and the british found they couldn't do both, so they gave up. they just left after world war ii, and they handed the problem over to the u.n. and said, we can't deal with it. >> the palestine problem moves into another stage of discussion. >> the u.n. sets up a commission that comes to the conclusion that the best solution here is to take this land and to 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 that 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 -- which means 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 lestinians. more than 700,000 palestinians fled outside of the land of palestine, and palestine was essentially decimated. >> arab captives are held for evacuation. >> israel said essentially, we're not allowing them to return. so you may have thought you were leaving for a week, but you're never coming back. >> reporter: by the end of 1948, a newly formed israel had claimed 78% of the land of historic palestine. the palestinians, who hadn't 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. and that's how it was until the 1967 war, when arab armies amassed on israel's border. >> the frontier of the gaza strip just a mere kilometer away. >> 1967 is one of the biggest historic moments in the middle . israel launches a surprise attack against egypt. >> the israeli forces have routed the armed might of their arab neighbors. >> the israelis conquer the west bank and gaza, and this is a moment of great exhilaration in israel because they feel as though they have defeated the arab armies in an extraordinary military success. they have not figured out what they're going to do with the millions of palestinians on that land. >> reporter: 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 west bank citizens of nowhere. they weren't citizens of the israeli state, and so they were just stuck. >> palestinians begin to say, we need to liberate ourselves. >> reporter: throughout the '70s and '80s, bursts of violence between palestinians and israelis were commonplace. the palestinian liberation organization, which is formally recognized by the world, was led by yasir arafat, who was operating in exile outside the palestinian territories. but inside israeli-occupied gaza, a new resistance movement was under way. >> one of the biggest mobilization of palestinian civil society and actors against the military occupation. and the idea was they would disrupt the occupation apparatus. so they refused to open shops. they blocked highways. they refused to give tax. it was a period of significant agitation. >> reporter: around the same time, islamists within gaza and the west bank were shifting focus to a more aggressive approach towards their israeli occupiers. and a new armed resistance group would emerge, officially known as hamas . >> he was a spirititual leader the gaza strip and was one of the earliest founders and leaders of the muslim brotherhood chapters in palestine. and 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, 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 altogether 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 walls have been l long -- >> what the oslo accords ultimately resulted in was that the plo recognized the state of israel and so considered 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 that 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. and 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 upsurge of violence. >> reporter: 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 worshipping there. the 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 say arafat is not completely stopping terrorism. palestinians say the israelis are dragging their feet on a pullout. they're increasing settlement building even as they're making promises that they're going to read. >> the fundamental reason hamas has gained strength is that the palestinian authority, which is their competition, has been seen as feckless, corrupt, and unable to deliver on its core promise, which was a palestinian state. >> reporter: but to the west, hamas was not a negotiate 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. so they left only one avenue actually, which is armed resistance. >> hamas has decided that it is going to use violence, and it's 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. presidents, camp david, was the site of a potentially historic summit in the summer of 2000. >> you had yasir arafat, the legendary leader of the palestinian liberation organization, who had a lot of credibility withth palesestinia. you had ahugugh barack, 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 e accord. >> if theyey cannot t make pror now,w, 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, hahamas would gainin power. >> so the israeli story on camp david is that the israeli prime minister offered significant concessions, and the palestinians said no. the palestinian view was that they were set upup at camp d da thatat israel and d the ununite ststates made e offers they kne that yasir 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 called the butcher of beirut for israel's 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 flashpoint 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 intifada, a violent and deadly conflict between israelis and palestinians over israeli occupation of the west bank and gaza. the second intifada 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 as hamas' weapons got better and better. also the number of missiles and rocketed increased. >> 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 4,300 registered fatalities with a palestinian-to-israeli ratio of just over 3 to 1. 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 implementing its so-called disengagement plan to evacuate israel settlements and military posts from gaza and a section of the west bank. thousands of settlement residents s lost their homomes.. >> it was both a physicacal l b alalso a psychologogical disengagemement on behalf of th israelis from gaza. it was no longer their problem. >> that was a very, very difficult, painful step for israel to take, to pull settlers out. and how did palestinians responond? by shooting rocketets. and therere's some t truth to t. it's also o true, thoughgh, tha whwhen israel pulllled out o of it c continued to envelop it in 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 palelestinian cicitizens i gaza. > the b blockade was quite horrifific. therere was an immedediate coll inin the qualility of life in g. medicines,s, food items, watere alall of the itetems of a norma life were immediately suspended. and the immedidiate impapact wa signgnificant inincrease in n p and destitutution. > the yeaears d directly afa israeli disesengagement from ga in 2005 leleading up t to the palestiniaian elelections in 20 saw an unprecedented 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: and from gaza, hamas continued to terrororize israrael. >> s so israelel was operatitinr the assumpmption despite 2 2 min palestiniaians being i imprison it couould still e expect cacal. what hamamas was doing w was du ththis period,d, shahattering t illusion. every few months, if not years, it would fire rockets in order to force israel to reconsider. >> reporter: in 2006, nearly a year after the announcement of the cease-fire, elections for the palestinian legislative council were held in gaza. >> this feted and smelly bleak tunnel. >> repororter: cnn cororrespond christiane amanpour covered it and its aftermath. >> it's very clear that election was insisted on by the administration of george w. bush and d condoleezzzza rice andnd group ofof a americans w who be that the iraq war r of 2003 3 w bring g democracy y to the widi middlele east. this w was a v very flawed assumption, and the americans insisted on this election even though the israelis and the palestinian authorority, t the legigitimately, , internatioion accecepted and recogninized palestininian authorority, wara the uniteded states nonot toto this electction gogo a ahead be 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 everyday palestinians. >> for many palestinians, hamas is a lifeline. for two decades, they've built a grassroots network of affordable social services, like this medical clinic that charges $2 a visit. >> t they y provided e educatio. they werere very welell entrenc with the citizens and civilians. so that is one of the reasons why hamas s won in gazaza in 20. >> so afteter the e 2006 electc and hamas victctory, there are questitions on thehe scope of f' power. isis it still undeder the palestiniaian authoritity, or r independent? and there are questions about who runs particular parts of gaza. hamas is worried that there will be a coup. as a result, it effectively does a coup. >> reporter: the coup in 2007 known as the battle of gaza was relatively brief, bloody, and left no doubt that 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 it violently goes after the individuals associated with the palestinian authority. rrested, tortured. >> but one thing is clear. hamas managed to do what fattah was unable to do prior to 2005, whicich is to sesecure the stre in gaza, to put an end to the rampant lawlessness that we were seeing. >> reporter: having hamas in charge of gaza meant the blockade w 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 any prosperity to ordinary gazans. >> i visited gaza in 2012. you might have power for a couple of hours a day, and these conditions were getting worse and worse e and worse. insiside the gazaza strip,p, has not a popopular movemement. there'e's no e elections. ththere's no w way to get rid o 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. >> if you look to your left, destruction. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: 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, erupting in the 2014 gaza war. >> israel put togethther an operation n which consisted of ababout t 50 days with 70,000 israeli call-ups for the defense forces. they went into gazaza, and on n three didifferent axeses, on th nortrth and the e center a and south, it resusulted in 66 israi deaths of soldiers, 6 israeli citizens. the u.n. estimates 2,100 palestinian and hamas s 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. c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network. more than 2,100 palestinians were killed. more than 60 israeli soldiers were killed. >> going in in 2014 into gaza after that sustained bombing, you just had 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 won't let anyone taste our suffering," this woman in gaza said. >> in n the west bank where the majority of palestinians live, the year 2021 was a very bloody year. >> a flashpoint 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 netanyahu's re-election in 2009, there were over 14,000 instances where palestinians were forcibly removed from their land by israeli settlers. this includes east jerusalem. >> there are sirens going off all around jerusalem right now. this usually means that there is the potential of rockets coming in. >> in 202021 was the firirst ti ththat the palalestinians mobil as a single e peopople, demandi single thing, which is to dismantle israel's regime of apartheid. and for hamas, it becomes the military power that is protecting the mobilization of palestinians. >> reporter: israel once again fires back. >> 11 days of bloodshed. 11 days that killed almost 2 50 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 gaza's population, in part because palestinians there simply don't get a chance to grow old. the unemployment rate for adults there is well over 40%.. >> t the i israeli blockade e i tight, andnd it makekes it veryd 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 says the spokesman for the military wing of hamas. >> there's 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 there's also evidence that they look for people with engineering aptitude and ability to design different types of explosive devices. >> reporter: 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 don't need to be taught is what it feels like to be in war. they have all experienced it, and they all believe the fight between gaza and israel will never end. "i've lost three people dear to me in the war," said this one teenager. "therefore the seat of martyrdom grew in us for the next round." what's alslso grown is the labybyrinth of t tunnels undern gazaza. >> ovever the lastst ten yearsr hamas s has actutually expanded tunnnnels. at o one poioint, it was probab 100 miles or so. now it's exponentially greater. >> reporter: "we work around the clock inside the tunnels" says a spokesperson for one of hamas' armed allies. >> the tunnels are vital because they allow them to get to the e firing positioions for the rockckets. theyey allow them to move ammumunition. >> i it is about half ththe siz ththe new yorkrk s subway syste. itit's almost like they've buil an underground city under there. >> look at the military leader, commander of hamas, he's been out of sight. and as far as anybody knows, he's been living in these tunnels for the last 20 years. >> also knknown n as al daif, w is a arabic for r guguest. > he's s known asas "the gue because for many, many years now, he's reputed never to have spent a night in the same placa wife. >> there is an argument that says hamas' line has hardened since 2017 when sin wa took over. he had spent 20-plus years as a prisoner of the israelis. he speaks fluent hebrew. he's able to really understand the workings of the israeli defense forces. >> reporter: hamas' hardened leadership combined with renewed foreign support. >> there were meetings between asin wa and the head of egyptian intelligence in gazaza itself. he also bubuilt up the supportr they werere getttting g from ir >> iraran has provided m millio tens of millions, probobably m to hamas. . >> iran bebenefits frorom m it. it allows it to portray itself as the protect ter and defender of the palestinian cause. >> qatar doesn't endorse hamas' military activities, but it does providide a a lot t of humanita support whwhich hamas wowould l to take credit for, giving the impression to the israelis that hamas is more focused on political activity. >> reporter: many experts say israel was focused on political activities of its own when it comes s to h hamas. >> netetanyahu weieirdly h has prefeferred to engngage with h thanan w with ththe palelestini authoritity. >> we e now have some good rereporting ouout of isrsrael l says thahat bibi netetanyahu 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 westst bank. >> i asksked a senioior palesti. he told me it is because netanyahu and the increasing far right coalition in israel want to dehumanize the palestinians, want to separate t them, and wa to ensurure that they have a continuingng narrativeve that t palestinians are not partners for peace. look at hamas. >> i it is people like netanyah whose hahard-line e policies h strengthened hamas and given them some credibility among palestinians. >> reporter: but just hohow do papalestiniansns feel abouout t? >> t the i ideologicalal commimo hamas hahas to b be separateted from the fact that hamamas is t only milititary power r that's to protetect palestitinians fro israeli agaggression. soso often foror palalestinianso not supporort hamas ideolologic, they wouould still supportrt h resistancece. >> thehe palestitinians arenen' lolooking at the carnanage and death and d the destruruction o ththeir r lives anand everythih they knonow and loveve a around and d say, hey, wewe're blamini hamas. they're lolooking at a all o of and seeingng this asas part and paparcel of the undederlying problelem, which i is s israel' control ovover their lives, israel's's denial ofof theirir freedoms, israel's longstanding 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's israelis, and yet for decades, israraelis have e been kilillin palestiniaian cicivilians. nobody says anything. >> is it true that palestinians who live under israel's broader party, do they live under separate law? dodo they facece m many, many m consnstraints onon their freedo than isrsraelis do? the answer is yes. palestinians are treated differently. >> reporter: before the october 7th attack, according to the u.n., in 2023 alone, 227 palestinians were killed by israeli settlers and the israeli mimilitary. >> thehe belieief was if the on effefect of gazaza was a few ros everery few months, we couould with that. and that assumption was fundamentally overturned on october 7th. >> repeporter: whehen we returu > thehe israeli army weren'te to communicate. >> this is definitely a whole new level of terror. >> 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 anythingng it's everer done bef. >> this is definitely a whole new level of terror. the number of dead -- >> reporter: at least 1,400 people killed in israel. >> the number of wounded -- >> reporter: 3,400 so far. >> the number of those who have been kidnapped, that's 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 i in n american te 1,400 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 kib you cacalls mess all theme. >> they knew about 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 kibbutz nir o oz, whic is next dooror to a militatary . >> they killeded, i think, 40 0 soldieiers, some o of them in t sleep. then when theyey took fullll col of the m military, they went to start t butcheringng the civivi. >> they knew exactly w what the were doingng -- hamas? >> i if you lolook at the ordere have some of their written commands. they knew everything. >> reporter: and they had knowledge e about mililitary tas too.o. >> ten hamas perpetratators on five motorcyclcles, theyey come the e secret intelligence base. ththey know whwhere is the backe ththat is unmannnned. they explolode that gate. they g go inin. they'r're looking g for the bub the e secret bununker whwhere t seservers are.e. they go leleft and right, and ty dodon't find i it. so the commanderer said to his assistant,t, the otherer soldie giveve me the map. and d he gives himim the map o base, the e secret intntelligen babase. >> w what t happens ononce theyo where theyey are orderered t to? >> this is a bunker thatat protects s secret servrvice. ththe bunker is heavavily forti, but somemeone foforgot one of t doors. so they geget in. they t throw hand grenades. they kilill l some o of the sol. 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 weren't able to communicate with each other for hours after the attack happened. >> i israel was sickck with h t of vanity y and completetely undederestimatining the enenemy > you say " "vanity." do you mean, like, isrsraelis s chutzpah, , not bebeing g humbl enough to o realize e the enemy isisrael is smsmart, capable, a could do something this terrible? >> yeah, all of the above. >> reporter: 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 invoke fear and spread terror. >> one of the main purposes ofo this o operation w was to crcree videdeos. the speciaial operatioion unit hahamas, they werere ordered n just t to o kill civiliaians an kidnapap b but to perform the m horrifific acts ththat a humana being, as s much as s you can n someone e like this a huhuman b, can do to another onone, dococu that, and sendnd it ovover to central l command ofof h hamas n its tuturn put thihis on social media. those videdeos that were meant break the spirit, the morale of the israeli public. shortly after the attack happened, i entered. >> an israeli kibbutz, where some of the most horrific atrocities occurred. >> there was one terrorist body over there. and we went and just right next to him was a body of this 14, 15-year-old, head chopped off. i don't want to get intoto the detailils of what thehey have donone to peopn the e hours s until they killel them. > torturingng. all of it. >> morore thanan just torturini. ththe evil.. i'm writiting a bookok on nazis. yoyou read thehe descrcriptions. yoyou just -- you cannotot cocomprehend h how someonene ca those things. and then you come to be'eri and you see things that are so much worse. i think that what hamas did was to sentence this region to live on i its sword f for manany, m genenerations s if not forevere. because e i don'n't know of man isisraelis, eveven the most lib, leftft wing, that after this wod sign a peace accord with any palestinians. they would just not trust them. because of the atrococities. >> ahead -- >> there is no safe place in gaza anymore. israel's military dropped leaflets 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 gaza anymore. >> mohammed galeini, a british citizen who lives in manchester, england was ein family visit to gaza city when he was forced to evacuate south. >> we were told to come here because -- by the israeli army because it's supposedly safer, for our safety. but it doesn't feel safer. there's bombing all around us. every day. and truly i don't -- i go to sleep, i don't know if i'll wake up. i go out, i don't know if i'll come back k safefe. fofood is runnining out in the shops. anand wewe've not had power fofe thanan a week. the water r supply depenends on power. >> foror palestinians all this movement out of their homes evokes memories of the 1948 expulsion. >> the nakba 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, we'll be back in ten days, everything will be fine. and they've 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 only the beginning as those troops, hundreds of thousands of them, israeli troops, are massing 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 and the latest violence moves in the same direction. with profoundly more loss of life on the palestinian side since the horrific hamas attack on israel on october 7th. but the question remains, why did hamas strike now? likely knowing the devastation it would provoke in gaza. hamas spokesmen name-checked events at the al aqsa mosque earlier this year as motivation for their attack. >> hamas has called this operation the storm of al aqsa. this is a reference of course to the al aqsa mosque compound, which is also known as temple mount, a place so holy to both jews and muslims here in jerusalem. >> earlier this year israeli police raided the third holiest site in islam during the holy month of ramadan and the jewish passover. >> just israeli police stepping inside the mosque is considered incredibly provocative and aggressive. >> but many middle east experts say the timing of hamas's 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 concncerned about the saudi moves to build ties with israel and the u.s. one concern was that saudi money would then bolster the palelestinian auauthority, i it revivival in thehe west t bank. >> hamasas looks at ththis worl an emerging alliance between the moderate arabs and israel and decides we're going to blow this whole thining up.. >> if the scale ofof civililian cacasualties in gaza is highgh, ththere is protracted conflict, there will be strong pressure within hezbollah and iran to say we'v've got to w wipe the e con. >> w we've seen hezbollalah fir rockets.s. we've seseen uprisisings in n tt babank. >> t the possibibility of escaln is v very rereal. >> i fear israel i is doing exacactly whwhat hamasas

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