Transcripts For CNNW The 20240703

Announcer this is cnn Breaking News. Welcome to the lead, im jake tapper. The war in The Middle East at this hour appears to be expanding as it steps up the gaza offensive. Israel has now formed an Emergency Wartime government in response to the hamas terror attacks that have killed at least 1200 people. 22 or more americans. The Israeli Government is accusing the Iranian Regime of giving the green light to hamas which is funded to carry out the attacks over the weekend. A statement that differs from sources familiar with u. S. Intelligence. If you thought this seriousness of this all, the deadliest day for the jewish people since the holocaust, a war that will cost countless innocent israeli and palestinian lives, risks of a regional conflict. If you thought this would motivate House Republicans to get their act together to elect a speaker, so the u. S. Legislative branch could function, well, you would be wrong. Behind closed doors today, the majority of House Republicans chose congressman Steve Scalise of louisiana to be their nominee to be the next speaker of the house. But 99 House Republicans did not choose him. And instead of coming together behind the Majority Choice of the majority party, the minority is once again rebelling. And the full house vote on the next speaker, which could have been happening right this minute is not happening and it is scheduled for well, who knows when. Lets start on capitol hill with cnns melanie zanona. When will this vote for speaker take place . When is it scheduled to take place and does scalise have enough republican support to win the speakership or will he by that time . Reporter well, jake, at this moment there is no floor vote scheduled for today in the house. It seems very unlikely that is going to happen because of your second question. Which is Steve Scalise does not have enough votes to secure the speakership On The House Floor. Remember, he only won the Party Nomination by a very slim margin, the vote was 11399 and he needs 217 On The House Floor. So he does have some work to do here and he did recognize that after winning the Party Nomination. Lets take a listen. First i want to thank my House Republicans colleagues for designating me as the speaker. Obviously we still have work to do. Were going to have to go upstairs On The House Floor and resolve this and then get the house opened again. Reporter now one thing that might help scalise is that jim jordan, the rival, has offered to give the nominating speech for Steve Scalise On The House Floor and encouraging his supporters to get behind Steve Scalise. But according to our tally, there are at least eight members who say theyre going to vote for someone else other than scalise and an additional eight members who are undecided or noncommittal. So Steve Scalise will have to rally congress but at this point he does not have the votes and while Government Funding Hang in the balance. And what are we hearing from matt gaetz who started this fight by filing the motion to remove former speaker Kevin Mccarthy. Reporter so interestingly matt gaetz is not one the members who is vowing to withhold support for Steve Scalise. Hes cheering on the idea of a Steve Scalise speakership. Lets take a listen. Im excited for him. Cant wait to go vote for speaker scalise. Long live speaker scalise. So matt gaetz seems content to have just taken down Kevin Mccarthy. Hes not seeming like hell make any demands or have any concessions but that is not the case for others. Ken buck, who did vote to take down Kevin Mccarthy wants to see several commitms from Steve Scalise what he will do an owe the funding and what he believed for the 2020 election and neither of them would answer. And The Big Picture is that House Republican conference once again struggling to coalesce around a single candidate, unable to elect a speaker and the house is spatialized until they do, jake. Thank you so much. Lets turn now to our big Breaking News story. Right now the United States government is in talks to establish a humanitarian corridor, away for the innocent u. S. Citizens and palestinians who are in gaza to leave as Israeli Forces carry out hundreds of air strikes there. Pommeling the region. Israel is mobilizing forces along the border with gaza. A number estimated to be around 300,000 troops. Remember israel has conscription. Cnn teams have seen tanks an other Military Equipment rolling toward the border and in a few minutes President Biden is expected to speak at a event with jewish leader, they released this photo of his call this morning with Benjamin Netanyahu after which he affirmed his support for israel. This moment, we have to be crystal clear. There is no justification for terrorism. No excuse and the type of terrorism exhibited here is beyond the pail. As i said yesterday, my commitment to Israel Security and the safety of the jewish people is unshakeable. The United States has israels back. Cnns Clarissa Ward is in ashdod north of the gaza border and you walked through some of the devastation in be er i. What did you see . It was a seen that is hard to get your head around honestly, the scale of the destruction, it took the Israeli Military days of pitched battles to completely clear and gain control of what was once a sort of very tranquil oasis. A community of people that have lived together for a long time. Roughly a thousand or so. So far already they have found the bodies of more than 120 people from that community. There are many others, though, jake, that are missing and it is unclear where they taken hostage and are they in gaza or alive or somewhere else possibly. And it was the first time that journalists have been allowed in and there was a huge group of us that were brought in at the very end of the day. It is difficult in these situations always, jake, you realize youre just starting to get a sense of the scale of the atrocities and it is difficult as well, of course, to put together a coherent picture of exactly what happened. What is clear is that there was an enormous amount of blood shed. You could see blood all over the place. You could see the extent of the fire power that was required to try to take it back. You could see where fires were started by the militants as they basically went through doortodoor executing people, abducting them. We spoke to one resident who has lived there for 30 years, his 8yearold daughter, the first thought he had was his daughter that had gone to her friends house for a sleepover and never came back. He was lucky to be rescued but his 8yearold daughter is among those more than 120 dead. And so youre talking about kind of the kind of loss and the kind of destruction and the kind of hatred that honestly is is difficult to process and understand. There will obviously be a lot of questions to be asked about how this happened and what exactly happened and putting together a timeline and trying to really thoroughly understand the whole anatomy of this massacre. But make no mistake about it, jake, it was a massacre and a horrific one. Clarissa, you visited war zones around the world and blood shed and war is always horrible wherever it is. How does this scene of this particular massacre, these attacks on civilians, not accidental killing of civilians, not collateral damage, but targeted slaughter of children and grandparents and women, how does this compare to other scenes that you have experienced . Reporter i think it is always very difficult to compare. But i will say that there is something so shocking and horrifying about the intimacy of these killings. Right. It is not that one is morally better or worse. But these killings were done eye to eye. These fighters could see who they were killing. They could see that they were civilians. This wasnt a drone strike. Again, im not saying that a drone strike is morally superior in any way, shape or form, im just saying that the psychological impact of seeing that up close, killing or the aftermath of it, it is very shocking. And it is not unusual, sadly weve seen it in ukraine and we saw it bucha for example. But it is something that even after doing this job for nearly 20 years, jake, you never, ever get used to it. And obviously the terrorists of hamas are the ones responsible and they and they alone shoulder the blame. But i have seen video from israel of citizens either speaking to camera on israeli tv or confronting members of the israeli cabinet, yelling at them, holding them responsible for the inadequate military readiness, the delayed response. There is a palpable sense of anger and im wondering what youre feeling there in israel. Reporter there absolutely is, jake. And we put this to the Major General showing the journalists around. How did it take so long . How did this get to this stage . How did this happen . And he acknowledged that there needs to be a very in depth investigation into the series of catastrophic failures that ultimately resulted in the horrors that we are discovering more and more now every day. He also said that he feels, and i think a lot of israelis share this opinion, too, that right now the most pressing issue, he said, is how do i get these hostages outside of gaza. Yeah. Reporter right now the mest pressing issue is how do we go from being on the defense to being on the offense. And so i think that is the mindset certainly of the Israeli Military. Not wanting to necessarily shirk the responsibility, but saying that today is not yet the day for that discussion. Clarissa ward, thank you so much, appreciate it as always. Were learning some of the names an some of the stories of the at least 22 americans who were killed by hamas in this Terrorist Attack. Were standing by to hear from President Biden this hour. Hes convening a round table at the white house e with Jewish Community leaders. Well have much more ahead. Were going to squeeze in this quick break. Stay with us. Youre seeing images of some of the americans that we know that were murdered in that brutal hamas Terrorist Attack in israel over the weekend. Today we learned that that list is growing. At least 22 u. S. Citizens were killed by hamas. According to a State Department official. And an estimated 17 americans remain missing. Whereabouts unknown. Erica hill details now what were learning about those americans who were killed. Deborah was a child of light and life. She went the equivalent to the Berkeley School of music in boston. She went to the ramon school in tel aviv where she met her husband. She is a singer and a child of life and the kibbutz in which she choose to live. Israeli american deborah and her husband died protecting their 16yearold son. He were on the phone with deborah as she was killed. We were on the phone the entire day with our son, our grandson rotten as he lay first under her body and then found a place to escape under a blanket in a laundry. A musician and dj and Community Volunteer is being remembered as a brilliant academic byize siblings. They noted the emerging scholar who learned his ph. D at the University Of Washington was deeply committed to Community Service and engagement. He was killed while hiding in a closet with his neighbor. He absorbed all of the bullets into his body. And when i went out, i saw him. He was a wonderful person with a talented he was a funny person and he was someone that wanted to leave. His name is heim and life is the meaning of his name and he gave life to this planet, as he saved me an i was able to save two kids. One sergeant said her son always had a smile on his face. She tells him that he diverted their attention and died as he lived by putting others first, because of his bravery, 12 other soldiers are alive today. New jersey born also in the idf was covering a friends shift when the attack came. His aunt said he was always offering to help. And wanted to serve in the army like his father. The family is devastated. Ita was just 20 years old. Danielle was working at the nova Music Festival. She worked as a medic and served in the idf. She last spoke with her father friday night. Shes everything for me. Without her, there is nobody for life. On wednesday jacobs worse fears were confirmed when he was told his 34yearold daughter had been murdered. Every day we get new information. I do expect that the list of americans who are confirmed dead will rise today. Erica hill, cnn, new york. And our thanks to erica hill for that report. Our next guest attended the nova Music Festival on saturday where hamas kills 260 people. Lee sossy hit for several hours after the attack began. She was able to survive by hiding under dead bodies. And lee sossy joins us now. I cant imagine what you went through. I cant imagine any of it. But it is important that the world bear witness to what you went through. You could describe what happened . I will try to describe. Even to describe what ive been through is not even equivalent to the walking dead movie series. We went to the party, our cousin was a dj, it was performing there as a dj and so we decided to go as a family and to go support. And we went to the party and arrived there around 2 00, 3 00 a. M. And we danced until sunrise. And right when 6 30 a. M. Hit, hell broke loose. We had to run for our lives. We saw rockets shooting in the air and so we ran to the car and we went to the nearest bomb shelter that was down the street outside of the festival. As he got into the im sorry, as we got into the bomb shelter, there was about 35 to 40 people who entered. When we got rescued, seven hours later, only nine to ten survived. Everyone that came into that bomb shelter, i saw get murdered in front of my eyes. My eyes were murdered. My soul was shattered. Just to even talk about it, i cant even cry because it is like my tears are frozen from what i saw. I had to witness firsthand my uncle getting shot, not shot, excuse me, getting blown and exploded by a grenade that was throw on to his stomach. I had to witness a girl getting a grenade hit on her back and her back blew out and i saw her sitting there crying. Her face blowing up. And shes suffering for two hours. I saw so many things that i cant even explain. I saw guts. I had flesh all over my body. We had to bury ourselves under these dead corpse to protect ourselves from these grenades that were hitting and from the rifles and the rpg. You could hear the terrorists laughing from excitement, laughing from happiness that were dying. These people that were with us, we i just found out today that there was two girls that were pregnant in my bomb shelter. Two girls that were pregnant. One survived. Im so grateful. But what happened was like the holocaust 2. 0. I cant even describe to you. I never thought in my life that Something Like this would ever happen to me. After sitting there hiding under bodies for seven hours. We just prayed. All i had to do was pray. I was in shock. I couldnt even cry. I was in survival mode. That is when i knew that it is either now or never. Im not i thought my life was going to end. I thought i was going to die. So that is why i started taking videos. I started filming myself. And i started making videos to my mom, so that way if i die she could see what is going on on my iphone. I sent my icloud information to everybody. I want to apologize. Let me interrupt you for one sect and i want to give a graphic warning to any of our viewers who dont want to see the videos, but lets show these videos. Please show them. This is a video from outside the bomb shelter. Tell us what were seeing here . I dont see anything on my screen. Okay. Sos think a video this is the video that i sent. Yeah. The bomb shelter, that was right when we were rescued. That video was shot at 2 03 p. M. Exactly. 2 03 p. M. That girl over there, she was sitting with me. And here is the video from inside. And i told her not to go outside. Here is video from inside of the bomb shelter. Tell us what this is. We were dying. Half of the people on the right side of the the girl where the gunshots, all of those people died. Everyone that was on the opposite direction died. That girl with the curly hair, i dont know how she survived. She was right there where the where the grenades exploded. I was right there in front of her. We cried to death. From our hearts, not crying like actual crying, but we really we thought we were going to die. Lee, How Old Are You . Youre 25 . Im 25 years old. And im a u. S. Citizen. Im from los angeles, california. What do you what do you do . You know, i was im not working right now. Right now i decided that i cant work. I think you could take some time off. And im going to not do anything. I cant focus. I used to work with my uncle running a company but i cant do that. I cant do that right now. So about 30 people went into that bomb shelter and they fired guns into it and they threw agai grenades. And maybe eight or nine people came out, is that what you estimate . Yeah. And then i couldnt describe what i went through. I still cant believe that im alive. But im so grateful. All i did was pray to god and i sent my location to everybody that i knew in israel. To all of my family and all i had to do was hope that someone could come and get us. I raelly thought that i was going to die. I dont know how im here today. I really i went to my cousins funeral today, and he died in a separate bomb shelter. And seeing him being put to the bottom of the ground what was his name . It is like i need to be there. I dont know how im here on the ground looking at just the smell, the smell that i smelled on him, is just gave me back flash of what i was smelling and i didnt understand what this smell was until i went and i actually saw his corpse, not his corpse because they wrapped his body, it is different in the jewish religion, so i could smell his body because he was shot to death. In fact, there is a video of him being shot to death. What was his name . Him running outside of the shelter and hes getting shot to death by seven terrorists. Lee, what was his name . Idora levy. How old was he . I think he was 28, 29. He was young. His girlfriend was with him in the bombsheller. She was four months pregnant. That is my cousin. Im so sorry this happened to you but im so glad that you survived and that you could tell the story. Thank you so much for letting me be here to speak. Im still in shock and i cant believe what im saying. Yeah. But i really hope people i hope people see the videos and see what weve been through. Yeah. The people that survived with us, cant even speak. Theyre, like, theyre not eating, theyre not sleeping and im trying to contact everybody. Yeah. I dont know how im here on camera in front of thousands millions of people watching me. I dont know how im here spreading my story. But i have to. Im an american citizen. This is horrible. This could happen to anybody. This could happen to anybody in All Over The World that wanted to come to this festival. It was a rave. The djs came to the rave from All Over The World. Look at the lineup. There were people from nepal, a dj from brazil and mexico. We had so many lost. So many losses that day. And babies were killed. It is madness. This festival was located down the road where they went and mass murdered families. And babies. I know. Lee and people in front of their friends, raped women and kidnapped them to gaza. I know. Im not going to say anything. Lee, thank you for joining us and thank you for bearing witness and i dont know what else to say. Thank you for joining us today. We really appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it, too. And well be right back. Youre probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. But what if we told you its possible that comcast Business Mobile can save you up to 75 a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers . Its true. Plus, when you buy your first line of mobile, you get a second line free. There are no Term Contracts or line activation fees. And you can bring your own device. Oh, and all on the most reliable 5g Mobile Network nationwide. Wireless that works for you. Its not just possible. Its happening. Nice footwork. Man, youre lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. Now you can stream all your games like its nothing. Yes [ cheers ] yeah woho running up and down that field looks tough. Its a pitch. Get way more into what youre into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. Welcome back. President biden is about to speak now at a round table with Jewish Community leaders at the white house. This comes after the horrific hamas attack over the weekend in israel. The deadliest day for the jewish people since the holocaust. Hes been introduced by the second gentleman, the husband of the Vice President Kamala Harris. It is doug emhoff. Lets listen in. To make sure that hate has no safe harbor in america and the world. As an american jew, im so grateful in this moment of tumult and pain, we have joe biden as president and Kamala Harris as Vice President. It is now my honor to introduce a true advocate for the Jewish Community, please join me in welcoming president joe biden. [ applause ] folks, i came first of all to say thank you. Thank you to all of you in this room. Youve not only cared, but youve been breaking your neck the last couple of years to deal with this overall issue of antisemitism. And i know many of you are personally impacted by what has happened in israel. There are thousands of dual citizens, maybe some of your relatives are there. And doug, i want to thank you for all of the work youve done on behalf of our administration to combat antisemitism. And i apologize, ive been on the phone around the clock with our friends around the world quite frankly. Discussing what is going on in israel. And i want you to know that i want to thank you as well for all of you, for the work youre doing to bring comfort and in this moment of grief for those of you that are grieving as well. And over the weekend, in the synagogue, the torah teaches us that god made stars to, quote, give light aon the earth and separate light from darkness. Give light on the earth and separate light from darkness. You know, it is been hard to find the light during the darkness of the past few days. When terrorists groups like hamas brought not only terror but sheer evil, sheer evil to the world, evil that echoes the worst and matches in some cases exceeds the worst atrocities of isis. More than 1,000 civilians slaughtered in israel. By the way, ive been speaking with a number of israeli leaders and a number of leaders around the world, leaders in the region as well, and, you know, among those who have been victimized, this evil who have been killed, are at least 22 american citizens. This attack was a campaign of pure cruelty. Not just hate, but cruelty against the jewish people. And i would argue it is the deadliest day for jews since the holocaust. The deadliest day since the holocaust. One of the worst chapters in Human History that remind us all that expression i laeearned fro my dad early on, silence is complicit. Im not silence is complicit. It really is. And i want you to know that i think youve already figured it out, i refused to be silent and i know you refuse to be silent as well. [ applause ] you all represent a voice that america has to hear. America cant be silent. You know, we not only reject terrorism, but it goes beyond that. It goes beyond rejecting terrorism. I spoke with Prime Minister netanyahu for, i dont know how many times, but again this morning. And already were surging additional Military Assistance to the Israeli Defense force including the ammunition, interceptors to replenish the iron dome and moved a u. S. Carrier fleet to the Eastern Mediterranean and were sending more fighter jets to the region. And made it clear, made it clear to the iranians, be careful. We want to make it real clear. Were working on every aspect of Hostage Crisis in israel, including deploying experts to recovery and the press will shout to me, and you are, what are you doing to get these folks h home. If i told you i wouldnt be able to get them home, folks there is a lot were doing. A lot were doing. I have not begin up hope of bringing these folks home. But the idea that im going to stand here before you and tell you what im doing is bizarre. So i hope you understand how bizarre i think it would be to try to answer that question. In the days ahead, were going to continue to work closely with our partners in israel and around the world to ensure israel has it needed to defend the citizens and the cities and to respond to those attacks. As i said yesterday, my commitment is to the security and safety of the jewish people is unshakeable. The United States has israels back. And i have yours as well. Both at home and abroad. You know, you could see the pain in some of your faces as i walked into this room. Were going to break away from President Bidens speaking with Jewish Community leader groups. He was reaffirming his commitment to the Jewish Community and saying that the United States and israel had an unshakeable bond. Coming up, questions will whether iran played an arole in the attacks by hamas. A senior israeli official said iran was aware of the operation and gave the green light for the attacks but u. S. Intelligence contradicts that. U. S. Intelligence suggests that the saturdays attack caught Senior Iranian governments officials by surprise. Matthew chance is in tel aviv. Orren lieberman is at the pentagon. This is a change today from Israeli Intelligence extending the extent to which iran was possibly involved. It is a briefing from a senior israeli official who is familiar with the latest intelligence. And to be clear, there is a lot of overlap between what the israelis say an the involvement iran was or is and what the United States said as well. Iran is wellknown to be a funder for a long time, a trainer of hamas militants and a political supporter of hamas as well. This complete agreement on that. Where there is a slight bit of difference, a bit of light between the two countries assessments, i think, is that this israeli official is saying that, look, iran may have not known about the exact timing of this hamas operation, that led to so many israeli deaths. It may have not anticipated the consequences so great but it was aware as far as hes concerned. This israeli official is concerned. That the operation was being planned and that was going to go ahead at some point. Now, that is different, is my understanding, from what the u. S. Is saying is that the whole operation surprised iranian officials according to u. S. Intelligence and it doesnt go so far as to say, well look, iran orchestrated this whole thing from top to bottom. But it is somewhere in the middle, jake. Orren, what is leading u. S. Intelligence to suggest iran did not know, in fact was surprised when the Terrorist Attack was launched . So multiple u. S. Officials familiar with the intelligence and a briefing given to congress say the intel suggests and that is an important word here, suggests and well come back to that but suggests that they were surprised by the attack and that is leading the u. S. To lean toward the conclusion an early conclusion, but the conclusion that iran was not directly involved with the planning or the preparations for this attack. Now those officials caution, why he, of course iran has backed hamas for years and provided them with a finance, the training and much of the equipment, the Military Technology that would be necessary in such an attack. But again, the intel does not paint a direct line from iran to this attack. And that is what the u. S. Is looking at right now. But, it is worth noting, of course, this is early intel and the u. S. And israel are going back through all of the intel they have and trying to figure out how they missed this and if there were signs leading up to this as well as looking at current intel to see if there is any lines of communication. So there is still a lot to go through. But based on the early intelligence that u. S. Officials are looking at, there is no direct evidence linking iran to this attack in terms of knowing about it or having prepped it or giving a immediate green light there. So that is what is leading u. S. Officials to lean towards the conclusion that it was a hamas attack in its planning and in its execution and in the decision on the timing. But ill go back to what President Biden just said, to underscore the links between iran and hamas, whether or not it was directed at this attack or not, but when biden spoke, he said iran, quote, be careful. So the link remains there. And that is one of the things that the u. S. Is watching very closely, to see if the fighting that is currently limited to gaza spreads beyond the region to iran other iranian proxies. Jake. We should extinguish between the iranian people and the iranian people. The Iranian Regime is funding hamas. The people are a whole other thing. Thank you so much. Right after a classified briefing on capitol hill today, u. S. Lawmakers had very different takes on irans possible involvement in hamass barbaric attack on israeli citizens. Take a listen to a republican member of congress then a democratic member of Congress Just minutes apart. It is clear as day that iran made this possible, helped them. But yet the administration is in denial. I heard that in there. Theyre theyre not sure of irans role. B. S. Anybody with a brain knows iran is behind this. There is i think no indications as of right now that iranian leadership were directly puppeteering this attack. Two Military Veterans speaking there. Joining us now for a rare jount interview, the top republican, the chairman and the top democrat, the Ranking Member on house intelligence committee, mike turner from ohio. And democratic ranking miami jim himes of connecticut. Thank you. We appreciate the bipartisan interview. Chairman turner, i have to take care of some business first, because obviously it is actually an issue of National Security as to whether or not congress has a functioning body. And i want to check in with you on this speaker vote. Are you happy with the prospects of a speaker scalise. Well there is a lot of work that needs to be done. We came out of our conference with 110 votes to take to the house floor. He needs 217. At this point hes working to try to communicate how he could bring the conference together. And there are some of those that are undecided and im one of them and there are those that are opposed and he needs to make the case to pull them together. Why are you undecided if i may ask . We needs 217. Hes going to have to give us a message or understanding of how hes going to bridge that gap. And make certain that he brings congress together and not divide the republican conference more. That is going to be an important message. I know hes working on it right now. I wish him well. But there is work to be done to get back to 217. Tell the viewers where there is a disconnect on how republicans and democrats are understanding the same pieces of intelligence. Well i dont think the gap is very broad here. I think because we all know and understand even in public outside of the intelligence, that hamas is a franchise of iran. They supply them the rockets and the munitions an the training and your reporter was listen all of the things that iran supplies them. So the fact that the hamas would undertake a terrorist action when they are being trained to be a Terrorist Organization and funded by iran is not a surprise to anyone. So there is no Exculpatory Evidence that could indicate that iran is not involved. When we know for all this time that theyre really responsible for hamas as a Terrorist Organization. So congressman himes, there is a disconnect between intelligence. U. S. Sources are telling cnn that Senior Iranian officials in their understanding were caught off guard by the attack even though obviously iran funds hamas as Chairman Turner just said. What is your take on the intelligence . Do you think iran knew that this that the Iranian Regime knew this attack would happen, if not on that day, at least imminently. Gentyeah, jake, i think wer making way, way too much over the statements avof bunch of a members of congress that dont have access that we do. Theyre still pulling bodies out from under butchers and were going to see what iran knew when. The chairman makes the exactly the right point, unless you need to know, by order iran an officials would signed off, we know that for decades iran has provided weaponry, Financial Support and all sorts of other support to hamas. So of course their hands are not clean here. But this is a sort of fog of war situation. Were getting con flicking reports as well. Again, i would suggest that the focus right now needs to be on supporting the israelis, on making sure that we could keep the hostages safe and making sure that we do force protection, meaning that our Men And Women In Uniform are protected abroad. And Chairman Turner, is the u. S. Doing everything it could to help rescue the americans who are likely being held hostage in gaza . I think that the administration in congress are unified in this. I could tell you that when we we had our classified briefings one thing that was clear among congress is there is overwhelming support for israel. An and i know this administration is deploying as rapidly as they can in all of the areas an certainly you heard the president say i cant tell you everything that im doing but i think certainly the administration is committed to undertaking the intervention here. And congressman himes, what is your message to any american who is watching right now who has loved ones missing who likely are being held as pribers to this terrorist group in gaza. Are you confident that persons government is doing everything they could to bring i am. Of course, theres probably nothing you can say to a family who has a Family Member in gaza in control of murderous terrorists. Im not sure theres anything that will make them feel better. But the United States and israel share two things that are very, very important right now. Number one is a set of values that we do not leave people behind. Well spare no expense, well fight any fight to make sure our people are recovered. We will negliotiate and do everything we can do. The second thing we share is remarkable competence in such things. Well have an opportunity to dissect and do an autopsy on what appears to have been an Intelligence Failure with respect to the larger operation. But the americans and the z israelis are about as good as it gets recovering hostages. You know i love the bipartisan appearance. More of it, please. Lebanon is just across the border from israel. The fears that the terrorist Group Hezbollah could join in on this fight against the jewish state. Stay with us. We continue with Breaking News in our world lead. Israelis living here the board we er with lebanon are on alert. Later, the idf said the Warning Sirens were set off in error. Cnns ben wedeman is in beirut. Ben, how involved are hezbollah militants at this hour . Reporter theyre very involved in what are becoming fairly regular and violent skirmishes on the border between lebanon and israel. Today, in fact, hezbollah put out a video that seemed to show a guided rocket or missile being fired at an israeli position, at troops in an israeli position on the border. Now, the hezbollah claims that it killed and injured several israeli soldiers. The israelis have yet to comment on this incident. But certainly, so far, since saturday, we know that three hezbollah fighters have been killed in incidents with the israelis whether thats air strikes, helicopter strikes, mortar or artillery barrages. Israelis acknowledged three of their troops have been killed, as well. We also note in addition to hezbollah being involved, for instance, palestinian and Islamic Militant troops here in lebanon claim to have launched a Cross Border Attack as well earlier this week. But hezbollah it seems wants to do enough to show that its sort of part of the theater at the moment in terms of the war in gaza, without going so far as to cause a fullout war between israel and lebanon or more particular, israel and hezbollah. Jake . Ben wedeman live for us in beirut. Thank you so much. One of our cnn anchors went to a town today that has been hit by strikes in saturdays initial Terrorist Attack. She joins me next