Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703

All Different Levels of the administrations in both countries to make sure that israel knows the United States has their back and we will continue to make sure they have what they need to defend themselves. Thank you for your time this morning. My pleasure. Thank you. And cnn this morning continues right now. This is cnn Breaking News. The war between israel and hamas is escalating this morning. Right now israel is Pummeling Fwauz with counter airstrikes. Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says this is just the beginning. Take a look at this. We are showing you new drone video of destruction inside of gaza city. We are told up to 150 hostages, including children and likely americans, are believed to be held right now in gaza after being kidnapped by hamas militants. Hamas is threat noing to kill them and televise it. Troops, tanks, Armored Vehicles are massing at the border. This is video a short time ago. The Israeli Military reported it found the bodies of around 1,500 hamas fighters inside israel. The death toll continues to rise on both sides of the border. At least 900 killed in israel. Nearly 800 palestinians are now reported dead. Clarissa ward is near the israel gaza border. What are you seeing there on the ground . Reporter definitely fair to say, i think, phil, its a Fluid Situation along the border. We have just heard in the last couple of minutes the iron dome being activated. We also heard coming from that direction intense gunfire at one point and they have completely, israeli forces, blocked off the road behind me saying it is still not safe for people to cross the road, that they are still engaged in various operations to try to clear it. This is interesting because the idf said they thought they cleared the area previously on this border. Its difficult to know that with 100 clarity. If we move over here a little bit, we will try our luck, because they have been trying to push us back, hopefully, you can run some of that video we shot. We have been seeing a huge amount of armor coming through. We saw tanks coming through. A lot also of Israeli Security personnel coming through. You can probably seae as well i dont know if our photojournalist thats the body of a hamas fighter. This was the scene, one of dozens of breaches along this border where hamas militants burst through and started creating havoc and mayhem and the bodies of the civilians and Israeli Soldiers killed in the battles have been removed. But the hamas militants their bodies have been left out. Its been a few days now, obviously. And so, yes, i would say its still tense here, definitely. Still hearing that gunfire. Still hearing that iron dome, and still not clear that this area despite previous statements has been totally cleared. We can see that in the images. We were playing that video of all of those Armored Vehicles coming in as well as you were talking about it. When you are not on camera with us and when you are speaking with israelis near where you are, what are they saying to you and what are they asking you not only about the threat there from hamas, but also about the threat from hezbollah in the north . Reporter so, its interesting. I mean, generally speaking, i think the israelis are very supportive of journalists being here. We had a few people shout out like . Your job, show the world whats going on here. Its no secret there are some differences of opinion as well here internally within israel. We saw a group of sort of orthodox people had a near clash with another group of people. All israelis. But, you know, this is what democracies are like. People have different ideas and different opinions. I think that right now most israelis though are very focused on this issue of the hostages and trying to find a way to get them out safely. Obviously, the prospect of some kind of a deal with hamas is incredibly unpalatable on one level given the carnage and massacres we have seen over the course of these days. At the same time, the overwhelming sense is there are women there, there are children there, there are families here who are petrified, who are learning about the fates of their loved ones from social media, who are looking for answers, who are looking for clarity. There is a lot of kind of chaos and confusion and misinformation that thrives, poppy, in these types of atmospheres. In fact, a school sent a note to parents saying, listen, delete tiktok from your childrens apps. We are hearing they might release Hostage Videos with hostages pleading for their lives. All of that sort of contributing to a kind of contagion here of terror, of horror, which is exactly, of course what hamas has wanted. Contagion of terror and horror. Thank you to your team and being on the ground there near the gaza border. We will get back to you soon. Joining us to understand where this conflict is unfolding, general wesley clark. We appreciate your time. You want to start with we are taking a look at the map of the region itself. Obviously, we have been talking predominantly about gaza here. But what i want to talk about right now is where the actual attacks that we saw over the weekend happened. If you give people a sense of the ongoing conflict, where people like clarissa, Nic Robertson have been, these Kib Kibbutzes represent. First of all, this is a large number of people who penetrated a secured border. They used heavy equipment to get through there. And then they shot and killed indiscriminately and took hostages. Some this is gaza is 2 Million People. Its 25 miles roughly north to south. And what you are looking at in gaza at the Northeast Corner of gaza is where most of the conflict apparently was. But that doesnt mean that there is not a threat elsewhere. So you try to put an armored force, mechanized force around that spot, 25 miles north to south, six miles or so in depth, that takes a lot of forces 24 hours a day. Thats the first thing to do, is to isolate the area. And then while were what were watching is the idf aircraft taking out known targets. There are only so many targets. I have run an air campaign. Its difficult during Something Like this. So that will throw down. Israel is probably going to have to go in on the ground. And thats going to be the real challenge. How well is hamas organized on the ground . Can they defend block by block . Are they discombobulated now as a result of the bombing . Have enough of the leadership been taken out so that the israelis can penetrate and clear quickly, block by block, or is it going to be a terrible fight with snipers in every building and drones and rpgs and so forth. We dont know that yet. Israel has to be prepared for that. So this is going to be a tough fight. At the same time, if you look to the north, you have hezbollah. You have syria. You have threats in the north, already some penetration of the border, forces deployed up there. This could be a weekslong, amongstlong occupation . Gaza. And at the end of it, still have those 2 million civilians to deal with. Whats the end result . How is israel going to handle this now . Since hamas has to be eliminated. Some really tough strategic diplomatic and military issues sheer. For which at this point there is no precedent. I want to walk through some of the things you were walking through. You talked about the attack itself or the decision over the course of the weekend for hamas to strike really came from the northeast. If you look where israel airstrikes have been over the course of the last several days really focused on that very specific area, there is Something Else you mentioned that i think is critical here as you look at the initial strikes and the scale of the strikes. You can go through, including sesk mosquess. Before and after what the strikes have done, making clear as you have heard from idf spokespeople they are going after that are targets and not thinking about what may happen witht. You are seeing pictures of the before and after of three specific mosques saying they were tied to military targets. The actual dense population we are going to show a video. A strike, you see, general, how tight everything is confined. 2 Million People in about the size of chicago, maybe less. Can you talk about the housetohouse fighting that would be required should there be an actual Ground Incursion here . So, the way this would have to be done is to section it off and clear it step by step. And it all depends on whats left standing after the aerial Bo Bombardment and artillery and tank fire, so forth. Where is enemy fire going to come from . You have got to know the street maps, figure out where to penetrate, what you can hold, and work back to clear it. What we havent talked about is the Tunnel Network. There is a deep Tunnel Network and multiple tunnels. So you have to believe that youve got to go into the basements. Youve got to really work this. Otherwise, the enemy is going to come up from behind you. So in the middle of all this are the civilians running around, moving around. You cant tell necessarily the civilians from the enemy fighters. They are not going to be in uniform, wave their flags at you, identify themselves. They are going to wait and they are going to try to attack from the side, from the top with drones. They are going to attack at night it they can. So this is going to be a brutal, tough fight, and that area is big enough its not a this is not like when the United States Ran Into Baghdad and the iraqi opposition collapsed. This is an armed populous, maybe 40,000 people with weapons in there, who are waiting for the israelis to come in. And if you think about it from the hamas standpoint, this is a 12 fight. Its first to provoke the israelis, do as much damage as you can, throw them off balance, and then draw them in where you can pulverize them in urban combat, which is the toughest kind of combat for an armored force or western armored force trying to protect civilians and not create unnecessary damages, finds its hostages, preserve its own force from needless casualties. Its a very tough operation the israelis are moving into. They have got to take it step by step and they have to got toe think through not only the tactics of going block by block, but whats the end game here. This is something the United States has to be helping with right now. No question about it. 2 Million People. And of those 2 million civilians with nowhere to actually go, keeping in mind, as you noted, the threats from the north and the east as well. General wesley clark, appreciate it. Thanks so much. Thank you. People Around The World are reacting to the war between israel and hamas. We will show you the global protests ahead. We continue our breaking News Coverage of the war between israel and hamas. Sparking approaches Around The World. Supports of the israeli and palestinian causes held competing rallies in the u. S. And overseas. On the University Of Florida campus at least 30 people were injured last night. A witness says around 1,100 people have gathered for this Candlelight Vigil last night when someone fainted. That startled people and they started shouting and called 911. The confusion triggered a panic and sent the crowd running for their lives. People fell on top of one another. Some were trampled. Broken consultants, ribs, concussions, minor cuts. Thankfully, in lifethreatening Injuries Sbrn reported. Joining us this morning to talk about what were seeing Around The World and what is happening right now on the ground cnn chief International Anchor christiane amanpour, editorinchief of the forward and former New York Times Jerusalem Bureau chief and host of the mo news podcast. Thank you for being here. Krishon, i want to start with you oopd and what we heard from an Idf Spokesperson last night speaking to anderson. Here it is. The issue here is that we have been tasked with mitigating or making sure that hamas doesnt have any military capabilities at the end of the war. And that will be achieved. Is there any way that that can be achieved . Given all your expertise in the regional without a Ground Incursion . So we spoke to him as well yesterday. This is the line coming out of the israel, obviously. They have been shocked beyond belief by what happened. The worst single Mass Casualty since the founding of the state. 900 civilians killed one day. Now we understand some 1,500 hamas bodies have been found as israel tries to secure and says it has mostly secured its border with the gaza at the crossing and hundreds of casualties many civilians according to palestinian authorities in gaza. So what is the end . You just heard from somebody who really knows and that is general wesley clark. As he said, he conducted an air campaign. I covered it. It was the intervention to help save the kosovos from serbian attack in 1999. It was extremely difficult. They didnt go in on the ground because they know how difficult it is and how terribly difficult urban warfare is particularly with the Prison Refugee Camp that is gaza and has been like that for decades. After the Israeli Occupation it is a blighted place of poverty and overpopulation there. The aim clearly, as he i sarks is to get back the hostages. As you heard one of the, if not the most important thing for israelis now, family memband government hostages. We dont know how many. I am hearing stories from people who say that their people, their friends, their relatives have been taken and thats just me. So everybody is hearing these stories. And then what is end game . How do you decimate hamas . How do you degrade them . Up until now, this is the fifth encounter between israel and hamas. This one is different because israel has declared formal war. Before they were, you could say, and its a horrible word because so many people die, skirmishes that ended in truces, sometimes didnt last more than a couple of weeks. That always left hamas in place. There was negotiations. There were hostage releases. There were reasons why hamas stayed in place although israel hoped they would be somehow degraded each time. Clearly, they have not been. And so now the question is, as Benjamin Netanyahu said, we will exact revenge, end this threat once and forever and we want to reshape the middle east or this regional. What does all that mean . Its very difficult to see it, but we know there is going to be some very, very difficult days as He Himselfase for gaza coming up. Yseveral points there that ae really important. One in terms of how many people she knew that knew someone. Its striking the last 36 hours, seems like everyone knows someone. What that means for the country, the collective psyche of israel and also in political situation that had been very fractured over the course of the last several months and longer, what that means Going Forward. It is a very small country, 9 Million People. The impact much 900 dead is like 11 times the number killed in 9 11 here. I was strike in 2014 when i was on the ground and covering the war there that everybody i knew in jerusalem had somebody who had been called up in the reserves. And now its like everybody has that several people called up in the reserves and somebody missing just in the hour since ways on, i was receiving Text Messages from a woman i used to go to spinning class with and she is asking for help from her friends whose son was kidnapped and my rabbi in jerusalem is very Close Friends with vivian silver, who was kidnapped f. A lot of americans know her. So, yeah, its the intimacy of this country and of this conflict within this country is powerful. And i think hard for americans to understand. Some new yorkers feld t that wa with 9 11. But i think the intensity of this is really it is really, really small and it does have somewhat of a family feel. As you said, it is a family that has been fractured in a way that i havent seen this year. So its been very interesting to watch. Yes, there is some unity that we are seeing. We are also seeing, i think, a surprising openness in which people are questioning the governments response and failure to be prepared for this attack in a way i didnt see in 2014 and 2012 during the previous conflicts with gaza. It was clear from our conversation with Admiral Kirby and the white house we are not going to know what President Biden and Prime Minister netanyahu speak about, but there are major questions about iran and if there is any determination that they have not made yet, any direct determination of that, but also the question about how the u. S. Would respond if there is a grand invasion by israel of gaza. Right. How long would the u. S. Let it go on. Given what we have laid out here, a National Trauma at the scale of 11 times 9 11 lighting up the white house in blue and white, thats a scale of support. You havent seen that in a long time. Former president obama saying we will be behind israel as they eliminate hamas. Okay. Significant, right . Given what we saw. So the u. S. Clearly behind the israelis. The question is as the israelis go in, what christiane laid out is the short term, get the hings home, long term, who are you replacing them with . What does gaza look like . Israel has no interest in reoccupying the place. Who is running the place . Who do they ensure is there that the residents feel has legitimacy that wasnt placed there by the u. S. Or israel. There is a lot of questions as they deal with the crisis at the moment. Really what is the strategy long term. They have to focus there because i think if there is mission creep, if things involve, you will see potentially support from the u. S. And other allies start to slip. Krishon, with the time we have left, the palestinian authority. A great source of frustration when i was covering this white house and this administration in terms of trying to find some pathway for them to step up to some degree or to be active players, their atrophy and inability to do so has made things extraordinarily difficult. What is their role here . So this is very, very difficult because separate to this and, you know in the weeks and months leading up, particularly as netanyahu has been catering to the farright flank and there has been a lot of violence in the left bank, a Record Number of palestinians killed this year in violence separate to what we are talking about now. There is a lot of incursions, a lot of, you know, settler violence, a lot of palestinian violence. Of a lot of violence in the occupied west bank. And the question is, i have spoken even in the aftermath of this terrible massacre that we have seen over these last few days, two former israeli Prime Ministers, for instance, two former israeli officials to the current leader of the Opposition Labour Party and current idf spokespeople. Certainly former Prime Ministers are saying, listen, we have to be able to talk to the palestinian authority. It is not an option to just leave this to keep simmering when this is all said and done, when we see what happens after the outcome of this, you know, this war declared now, it cannot go back to status quo ante. There has to be some kind of political resolution and that has been completely ignored for many years because the wall between israel and the west bank has dropped the amount of violence into israel in the last few years. The United States has not had its eye on this region for a long time and this idea of trying to get israel and all the other arab countries in the region to somehow normalize, well, that hasnt worked in terms of tamping down the existential crisis nz the Israeli Palestinian territories which is that. That is according to Israeli Security people the existential crisis that faces israel. So after this is over, as i have been told by all these former around current officials, including idf, where was the army on the day of saturday the 7th, all these questions have to be answered. But now, now its they are not answering them rate now because they have got the rit objective and momentum now. These are very important questions, including the fear of a wider conflagration and how that is going to be avoided. Jody nodding her head alongside as the former bureau chief in jerusalem with those significant huge questions and immediacy of the fighting now. Thank you for joining us. The white house the white house. The house remains speakerless. Congressional democrats are weighing the idea of tying aid to israel to more aid to ukraine. Something many republicans in the house have advised against. We will be joined by Congressman Jim Heinz to show how congress will show its support for israel right now. As we continue to follow the Breaking News out of israel and gaza, we are getting reports of new Air Raid Sirens in tel aviv. Our cnn team in tel aviv has been asked and has moved to a shelter. We will keep you updated in this fastmoving and Fluid Situation as the morning continues to move on as we reported, Air Raid Sirens now in tel aviv. Later today, President Biden will deliver remarks to the American People that will happen around 1 00 p. M. Eastern time on the evolving war between israel and hamas. He will be delivering those remarks from the white house at 1 00 eastern. The administration and Congressional Democrats are considering tying ukraine aid to an aid package for israel, which is something many House Republicans cautioned against. Joining us is Congressman Jim Heinz, Ranking Member of the house intelligence committee. Thats very much for being us with. There are some resppublicans to like this idea. We heard from mike mccaul, the Foreign Affairs chairman yesterday, saying he thinks a good package would be tying together ukraine funding, maybe taiwan funding with israel funding. Do you believe that there are the votes there at least to tie more aid for israel to more aid for ukraine . Yeah, poppy, thats a hard question to answer because my workplace, the house of representatives, right now is leaderless. We have no speaker. The question you are asking is fundamentally a question for the republican conference. You know, as the democratic party, just under 50 of the house, demonstrated the last couple of weeks, we are uniform in our support for ukraine and israel. Not tote totally, but almost. What you are describing there is the fact that half the republicans have voted against ukrainian aid. Mccaul supports both and he is making the point that that may be the easiest way to get it done. No speaker. Its hard to say how anythings gonna move forward. We will see what happens this week. Tim told phil he thinks you will have a speaker wednesday, but max miller is calling for an extra week to try to figure this out. You are on the intelligence committee. You have been on it ten years. Do you believe we have an extra week at a moment like this . No. I mean, you know, we are demonstrating to the world exactly what putin would have us or president xi of china would have us demonstrate to the world, which is that democracy is dysfunctional. And by the way, its not just the house of representatives. Its Tommy Tuberville who is preventing hundreds of Military Promotions from going through senate. The list goes on. Look, i am very comfortable that we are in the near term going to be able to support israel in the way that any sense of moral reasoning demands. The white house is rvery focuse On Replenishing air defense munitions. This is what israel is going through very, very, very rapidly. So, you know, we will be able to do our job well for about a week or two. Remember, you know, not only to we not have a speaker w he dont have an ambassador to israel. We dont have a full joint chiefs in the pentagon. And really its a moment to get our act together. Next wednesday is when there will be a Senate Confirmation hearing for that. You said this to politico, congressman, quote, something of this size, meaning the hamas attack, could be pulled off is not done without a lot of observable signals. That word. What observable signals do you think there should have been that were missed by so many . Well, i could go on at length, right . This kind of plan doesnt get done without phone calls, without, you know, people communicating by radio. It doesnt happen without observable things from satellites. It doesnt happen without people talking to each other, which is the reason that Human Intelligence exists. If this was a lone wolf, you know, an individual with an ak47, you can hide that. You cant hide what we are very sadly seeing happening in the state of israel right now. So it raises item not ready to make conclusions yet, but profound questions about what our intelligence communities exist for if not to find signs of this kind of brutality and attack. The white house called iran complicit in this. It has not gone as far nor has israel to directly tie iran to this attack. The Wall Street Journal has an oped by Mitch Mcconnell calling for new punishments for iran. Deny iranian planes impounding the shifl vessels around circumvent sanctions, close iranian banks, sees iranian operations of european businesses, treat iranian officials like par eye as and sink Iranian Naval boats that threaten international shipping. Do you agree with what he is recommending . Two points. Number one, we are having this debate about exactly how involved iran was. Of course, we wont know for sure. What we know is that after years and years and years of iran providing money, weaponry, support, training to hamas and to hezbollah, of course they were involved. The question how specifically were they involved in the planning and consent for this particular raid. More broadly, yeah, and as i hear Mitch Mcconnells list of aipgss, of course. Of course. This is not just the only place iran is committing brutal crimes. They are arming the russians to kill civilians in ukraine, taking hostages as a way of sort of, you know, achieving their global strategic aim. So iran and the hard part is that iran has been subject to sanctions for a very, very long time. At some point the iranian people are going to ask themselves whether their regime supporting russia, supporting hamas, supporting hezbollah, destabilization in the region pores their values. We should put sanctions, but the iranian people need to take the decision that they no longer want to be represented by a murderous band of theological thugs. Hostages. You were involved in getting the american hostages, five of them, held in iran released several weeks ago, one of them, obviously, was one of your constituents. It is believed by the administration that americans are, quote, likely among those being held hostage by hamas. Would you encourage the Biden Administration to use potentially Special Forces or any other Military Action if needed in conjunction with israel to bring americans home if indeed they are being held . You know, look, the subject of hostages, of course, is compli complicated and trochl. One of the bits of missing information being taken advantage of is this notion that this deal for the five americans that the money there was used for this attack which is appallingly wrong and awful. But the answer to your question is, you know, you would really like to get hostages back alive. That suggests the first thing you do is locate them and make it clear they need to be returned. Yes, negotiate, and no one is better at this than the israelis, look at when the israelis freed their hostages in the continent of africa many, many decades. We need to abide by the value we will get these people home. And thats going to be enormously challenging. Whatever it takes . Yeah. Whatever it takes. And thats hard to say until you are the friend or Family Member of one of these hijs. We were just joined by parents whose, you know, son, 23yearold born here in america, is missing. They believe held hostage. Congressman jim himes, thank you for your time this morning. Thank you. Israel now pounding gaza with another wave of airstrikes. We will speak to an american doctor in gaza city on medical mission to treat children when hamas launched its attack. Now she is talk in gaza city and trying to get out. Stay with us. We have a veryh toll to report. The Israelis Embassy telling the United States that more than 1,000 people have been killed in israel since hamas attacked on saturday and happening right now Air Raid Sirens sounding all around israel. Moments ago Jeremy Diamond had to take cover as the iron dome intercepted rockets just above him. Watch this. We are hearing the sirens going off indicating that rocket fire is coming in from gaza. We have yet to hear those iron dome interceptions yet. They should be coming momentarily. That is particularly the cadence you here into these types of situations. We are going to pause for here it is. That was the iron dome intercepting. You can see some of the smoke there, left. Left from those iron dome intercepts up in the air. Those Rocket Attacks continue towards israel. Israel is launching more airstrikes on gaza in response to those hamas attacks. The densely populated area is getting pounded despite threats from hamas to execute israeli hostages. Israel says their fighter jets have struck more than 200 targets and there are signs a Ground Invasion of the gaza strip could be coming soon. An american pediatrician was on a weeklong mission to treat children in gaza and is now trapped there. She spoke to our wolf blitzer last night. Whenever you go to gaza, you know that there is danger, some violence while youre there. But, no, i wasnt sorry. I wasnt prepared for this. Let us know if you need to go into some sort of bomb shelter or whatever because i can hear the explosions going off near you. There are no Bomb Shelters here. She joins us from gaza city. I watched that last night. Just how are things right now . What is the status on the ground there . Well, as far as in our area near our hotel, last night there was a lot of seemed like action that was in close proximity. I think in that interview the windows were shaking during some of those bombs. A little bit quieter today. Still things going on. We can hear things more distant, not as close as last night. Doctor, in your conversation with unfortunately, you talked about your efforts to leave and your communication with, you know, u. S. Officials. Have you had any updates since then . I know you have been look at the possibility of a onehour drive to the southern border with egypt. Right. So thats where israel says people should evacuate, through egypt. Israel has had some explosions near the rafa exit. Yesterday and today. And its been closed, hopefully, just temporarily. So and there hasnt been a safe quarter to find. So we are still proceeding. I think were we still have arrangements made to get from rafa to cairo and they are working on getting us an egyptian visa still and looking at some transport from gaza city to rafa, but thats still a Question Mark and how long and whether the rafa border will be open. I know the u. N. Wants to keep it open to you a low some humanitarian aid to come into gaza. But thats always a question, right. Can you talk about what its you know, what was striking last night, you said there are no Bomb Shelters to go to. The situation on the ground. You know, why you are there in the first place and what that means and could mean given what is expected in the days or weeks ahead for the civilian population there. Right. I mean, i think i people ask, am i scared . You know, i am an American Citizen and i think i will get out and we are working on that. If you live in kbauz, there is no alternative than to stay. I think many families are encouraged to go to u. N. Schools. Those are not Bomb Shelters. But and they have been hit in the past, in past wars. So, really i just think i would be so terrified to be here with my family without being able to leave and really with so few alternatives, no electricity, no water. I mean, really its just awful for people who live here. The work you do is with the palestinian childrens relief fund. I would be remiss if i didnt ask you why you went in the first place . Who are you trying to help and why . Right. I have been volunteering with them since 2010. I see mostly children with chronic diseases, people children donate to sponsor for. I review their medications, childrens relief fund. It helps fill in the gap between medications and treatments that children can get through the u. N. And through the ministry of health, so people have to buy them. And insulin for diabetics. And medications that are really lifethreatening in children dont get them. So, i just help to make sure that what were doing, money people are donating goes to the right things and helps to provide as Good Health Care for the children as we can. Dr. Barbara zind, keep us updated on your wellbeing. And that we hope to leave during the course of coming days or weeks. Okay, thank you. Also this morning, 200 strikes pounding gaza as israeli troops amass in the border. Cnn is live on the ground. Stay with us. In just minutes were expecting to hear from the families of some americans who are reportedly being held hostage in gaza. Theyre going to hold a Press Conference in tel aviv, even as air sirens are currently going off, hamas has threatened to execute hostages if without warning. The next guest covariety of a show fada, and a middle east analyst. Avi, welcome, well get to the show in a moment. Especially the considerations for a plot line that were pushed aside because you didnt think they were believable. To start with, given your work as an analyst, journalist, whats your state of things right now as you sit in tell aviv . Well, its not a big secret that it looks pretty bad, from both sides, by the way. First, hamas, with civilians, killing more than 900 people. Abducted kidnappings, more than 150. So, we know its going to be a hard retaliation. We know its not going to be the classical one of incursion an thats it. Were probably going to face days, weeks days, probably weeks, of just continuously air strikes, Artillery Attacks on gaza, and their aerial proliferation, thats going to cost the lives of People Living in gaza. And many will be incident civilians. But the way that hamas took control over gaza 2007 and the way that hamas is now managing a war, a complete, big war, against the state of israel, there is no other way for the state of israel, except for declaring war in hamas and beating hamas. Avi, as i understand, for your work as a journalist, you met with hamas many months. I wonder if you with the expertise and background were stunned by the sophistication and the scale of the attack, and what indicates to you about their ability Going Forward . I think that its, you know, what misled me, at least as an analyst, but also the intelligence, was the conception. The problem that we had a wrong conception of hamas as an organization that, you know, maybe we can deal with them. Maybe we can do some business with them. Maybe if we allow a spirit in gaza, like allows 19,000 people to get out every day from gaza to israel, that would make hamas more moderate. And in a way, nice. So, we were wrong. Its not that hamas deceived us. Its not that they lied. They said in every possible interview i had with them, every possible meeting, they will never be at peace with israel. Our target is to eliminate israel, simple as that. They said it clear in our face. We just didnt want to believe that. We saw making all of those slogans becoming more popular in the political side, in the political arena. But tat the end of the day, tha is their mission. Thats their ideology. Were dealing with isis, guys were dealing with isis in gaza, and the way to treat isis is just one way, and im sorry to say that. And i want to ask you before you go, weve heard there was some consideration in the show to have an attack like was seen over the course of the weekend, a fullscale attack from several different, from air, land and sea, but it was deemed too unrealistic, and you guys cast it aside. Is that accurate . It didnt seem realistic enough, so, we gave it. You now, we understand that our imagination wasnt that far. Didnt get to the reality that we are facing today. I must say that i came now from gaza, you can still sel see the remains of so many burned cars. Burned motor bikes, all hamas